Heroic subjectivity in frank miller's the dark knight return

The genre of superhero is challenging. How does one explain the subjectivity of the hero with superpowers , morality norms, justice orders and ideological backgrounds? Many authors and critics interpret superheroes in cultural, political, religious and social contexts. However, none has investigated a superhero's subjectivity as a dynamic and in-process phenomenon. The present paper examines the relationship between hero and subjectivity through Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986). Miller shows the necessity of subjective dynamics for the sublime in a model of sub-jectivity that echoes with questions about the subject that has flourished within literary, psychoanalytic and linguistic theories since the mid-twentieth century. Thus, this study employs Julia Kristeva's concept of subject in process with the aim to indicate that subjectivity is a dynamic phenomenon in Miller's superhero fiction

Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in Don Delillo's Falling Man

This article looks at 9/11 trauma and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Don DeLillo's Falling Man. This asserts that 9/11 has brought about not only political, social, economic and cultural consequences but also caused victims on the personal level. This paper demonstrates how Keith, the protagonist of the novel, has been affected by 9/11. In other words, this article examines Keith's traumatic experience of witnessing his close friend’s death, the falling man, and escaping his own impending death in the north tower and how these horrible scenes affect Keith's perception of self. Eventually, this article concludes that DeLillo's Falling Man presents the reality of what the survivors have experienced during and after the attacks, and the complication of trauma and PTSD that turns their world topsy-turvy

Body metamorphosis in dystopian cyber-capital of Don Delillos Cosmopolis

This study examines the metamorphosis of the body in cyberspace. From the late twentieth century to the early twentieth-first century, we have witnessed a remarkable development of new technologies that have affected our concept of being. The body has been metamorphosed into pattern and has lost its possession in order to gain immortality. Its function or meaning no longer depends on an interior truth or identity, but on the particular assemblages it forms with new technologies. In this study, we draw on the work of Hayles, Haraway, Deleuze and Guattari among some other scholars to explore what happens to the body when it is rethought as pattern in Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis (2003). In the present study, we argue on a departure from capital to cyber-capital with the idea of futurity. We also demonstrate the construction of a megalomaniac in the virtual realm and that how technology and cyber-capital have affected the human body

Ambivalent colonal relations in octavia butler’s wild seed

This article explores postcolonial powers of ambivalence in Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed (1980). It will offer an in-depth analysis of the thematic and ideological characteristics of selected work. We will mainly focus on the theme of the mutual relationship between the colonized and the colonizer in the novel. This relationship is specified to the concept of ambivalence that incarnates the dual, yet, uncontrolled relationship between the colonized and the colonizer. Nevertheless, the colonized considers the colonizer as oppressive but an envious power; and the colonizer judges the colonized as inferior but indigenous. The colonial relationship will also be revealed by using the concept of self-other. Such concept scrutinizes the way the colonized and the colonizer perceive and resist each other. Thus, the study’s main focus point is the power relationship developed in the light of colonial ambivalence and self-other continuum. The colonial characteristics of this study offer a new interpretation of the colonial relationship depicted in the novel. Accordingly, the ambivalent relationship between the colonized and the colonizer will be equal (i.e. both of them have positive and negative attributes). This interpretation paves the way for other discourse studies interested in the depiction of the colonized and the colonizer relationship in postcolonial literature in general, and in Butler’s fiction in particular

Stephan’s Brave New World: A Deconstructive Reading on James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1914) is considered to be one of the major examples of the genre bildungsroman (the novel of the artist). This study concerns the search of the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, for identity and meaning, which encompass a time period from his infancy to his late adolescence. In quest of identity and meaning, Stephen breaks from two totalities- nationalism and Catholic Church- that rule over his life. The present study reads the novel within a deconstructive perspective.  Stephen like Nietzsche wants to talk about “the death of god” to pave the way for his exploration of meaning and identity. He tends to rebel and go beyond what Lyotard calls “the grand narrative”.Key words: Deconstruction; Metanarrative; Nationalism; Catholic Church; Simulatio

Dystopian cybernetic environment in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five

Cybernetics is particularly well-suited to cultural history since it resonated with an American cultural mood that included World War II anxieties and worries that communism indicated that human beings could degenerate into unthinking, perfectly intelligent machines. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) illustrates people who become enslaved to a controlling system of cybernetics that carries out its power through time and war. In this study, I examine Slaughterhouse-Five in which the cybernetic system creates a dystopian society and reduces human beings into obedient robots. Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five demonstrates that cybernetics as a metaphor for control of the mind leaves no space for individuals to decide for their own lives. This analysis investigates the ways through which cybernetics manipulates human beings in Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five

An insight of marxist-feminism in thomas hardy's tess of the d'urbervilles

Marxist-Feminism highlights the unjustifiable inequality faced by the working class citizen. The effect is especially evidently shown on women who have been subjugated and oppressed in so many ways by men. This study addresses the issues of subjugation and subordination faced by Tess, the Victorian woman, in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. The impact of cultural hegemony is carefully structured and presented by Marxist-Feminism. Such constructed ideology is brilliantly created to show the misleading superiority of men over women. The huge influence of Capitalism in the 19th Century is shown through the treatment women received in both public and private spheres. The active enrolments of women as Productive and Reproductive labours go unrecognised. Textual evidences are extracted to facilitate, support, and solidify the purpose of study

An evaluating study on ESP medical textbook: instructors and learners needs analysis

Textbook evaluation is determining the productivity and value of textbooks with respect to stated objectives, standards, or criteria. This study was an attempt to evaluate the ESP medical textbook, which is taught at some universities in Iran. To gather the necessary data, two researcher-made questionnaires and one interview protocol were used. Iranian Medical instructors and learners answered to a 28-item questionnaire to express their attitudes towards the content, exercises, and topics of their ESP course book. In addition, some members of both groups participated in an interview to gain in depth information about the study. They were both male and female. The findings revealed that the content and the topics of the ESP medical textbook are based on the learners and instructors’ needs. The results of this study have a number of implications for medical instructors, learners, and syllabus designers

The identity of female cyborg in William Gibsons Neuromancer

This study aims to examine the identity of female cyborg in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) based on Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto. In Neuromancer the main character, Molly Million does not fit in the stereotypical female characteristics. When a male is the protagonist, females will be seen as a feminine stereotype and being depicted as helpless and weak. She is in fact the reversal of feminine stereotype. Henry Dorsett Case, the male protagonist of the story, was given a job opportunity and being partnered up with Molly to fulfil their mission. When Molly and Case are together, Case is always on the safe side while Molly aggressively moves around getting her things done. Being a cyborg is to be fierce, fast and bold just like Molly and being a goddess will be a typical female. It is a metaphor used to conceptualize socialist feminism in the modern society. The boundary breakdown between organism and machine portrays the boundary breakdown between Molly and Wintermute, an Artificial Intelligence (AI), because Molly and Wintermute are representatives of organism and machine, respectively. When Molly and Wintermute could put up with each other, it indirectly shows the connection between human and technology that can then be brought to another level as dualism of mind and body that are considered as one in the cybernetic world just like how high technology and scientific culture are interrelated. Mind which symbolizes Artificial Intelligence is the ultimate power which controls the body. The technological enhancements in Molly are the symbolised power which gives her the difference in stereotypical female role