The Lives of a Cell

By: Lewis Thomas

    Mankind is no greater than any other organism to inhabit this planet called Earth.  Every species is created equally; every species plays a part in this “long and tedious biological game” (Thomas 360).  The belief that the human race is a delicacy to this planet is only a result of the ignorance that mankind beholds.  At the end of the day, Earth is simply “a single cell” (Thomas 360); mankind is solely helping it function.   That is the point Lewis Thomas tries to get across to his audience in his essay The Lives of a Cell.  For those not familiar with Lewis Thomas, Thomas is a Harvard medical school graduate from Flushing, New York.  Through his years after college, Thomas took many teaching jobs as well as research posts before winning the National Book Award for his highly anticipated Lives of a Cell.  Within this essay, Thomas brings it upon himself to explain to his audience, or mankind itself, that every living thing is made up of cells.  There is nothing special about the human race; “We are not made up, as we had always supposed, of successively enriched packets of our own parts.  We are shared, rented, occupied [by cells]” (Thomas 358).  While Thomas stresses the idea that all living beings are composed of cells, he also contradicts himself by mentioning how evolution determines who stays and who does not stay in this game of life.  With viruses racing from organism to organism however, Thomas points out how this can further lead to the mutations of species.  While many species will die out eventually, they will continue live on through their heredity which may in fact end up being an entirely new species.  Although it is clear to Thomas that not all species are the same, it is clear to him that all species work towards a common goal: to maintain life on Earth.  With Thomas’s uses of both vivid imagery and similes throughout his essay to back up his views, Thomas manages to undoubtedly achieve his goal in getting his point across to his audience.

thobewill.deviantart.com
Home
No matter how different we are from one another, we are all apart of one home at the end of the day

The Doomed in Their Sinking

By: William H. Gass
 

    Suicide: there are many different reasons for it; many different ways to achieve it.  Many try to make excuses for the act, however, in the end “Death will not fill up an empty life and in a line of verse it occupies only five letters of space” (Gass 380).  Death merely marks the end; that is all it can stand for.  No matter the reason for why someone commits suicide, it in no way can bring meaning to one's life.  William H. Gass, a National Books Critics Circle award winner and philosophy major, attempts to bring this point across to his audience in his essay The Doomed in Their Sinking.  Through his usage of both imagery and analogies between different views on suicide, Gass works to present to the reader what may go through someone's head when contemplating suicide.  Being that Gass lost his mother to suicide, it is evident throughout Gass’s writing that he himself is also somewhat confused as to why someone may want to commit such an act.  It is almost as though Gass is trying to figure out what went through his mother's head when she ended her life.  Due to this, it can also be inferred that Gass is trying to relate to an audience that includes individuals who may have also lost someone close to them to suicide.  Gass soon ends off his essay with by stating that “The world of the suicidal is, in a certain sense (for all its familiar elements: pain, grief, confusion, failure, loss…), a private and impenetrable one” (Gass 381).  Suicide is a decision chosen by the doer; although many may feel responsible, there was only one person who made the decision in the conclusion of it all.  While Gass’s essay is well written, due to Gass’s urge to change subjects, it is often difficult to follow what Gass is trying to communicate to his audience.  Being that this is the case, I believe that Gass executed his goal well enough to get his point across, however, the constant change in subject took away the essays full potential.

dubsmashit.com
Beauty in the Darkness
Even when everything else seems to turn dull, there is always something truly beautiful deep down that is worth waiting for.

Bop

By: Langston Hughes

 

    In an essay dedicated to both black culture as well as the struggles the African American population faces, Langston Hughes goes on to explain the everyday struggles of the average black man through the meaning of bop.  According to Hughes, a highly acclaimed African American writer and Lincoln University graduate, bop is a form of African American music brought upon the media through the cops brutal tactics on the black community.  Through Hughes essay Bop, a man by the name of Simple goes on to explain to the main character, who is left unnamed, the history of bop music and how its popularity grew among the community.  With the addition of both colloquialism as well as the usage of onomatopoeia, Hughes manages to further bring his essay to life in a way that it is interesting to all readers of both African and Caucasian descent.  While the essay was most likely aimed towards the black population, as times have changed since the publication of this essay, this essay’s audience and purpose has also seemed to change.  In a society where equality is stressed more than ever, this essay's audience has expanded to those who wish to learn more about the black vernacular as well as possibly the African American influence on pop culture today.  While the use of colloquialism may spark confusion at time for certain readers, I believe that without it, the essay would be that much less appealing to the average reader.  Through Hughes usage of rhetorics, Hughes manages to not only inform us about the daily struggle of the African American population,  but also put us in the place of the average black man himself.  While Simple in the essay Bop stresses that “Folks who ain’t suffered much cannot play Bop, neither appreciate it” (Hughes 191), Hughes manages to make his reader respect the black race for the challenges they faced everyday.

notyourjukebox.com
Brighter Songs; Brighter Days

Every song is a new episode; every side is a new chapter.  While some songs may be more depressing than others, the times will always change for the better.