ellauri048.html on line 1885: Cramer was recycling an oft-cited tale of Polish lancers who supposedly charged German tanks at the outset of World War II — making it the very epitome of blinkered futility.
ellauri100.html on line 260: Escape from D.C.: The futility of analytical work (see “Beliefs,” below) led to the purchase of a small publishing company (weekly paper and free shopping guide) in western New York State. Worked like a dog for three years, and brought the habit back to the think-tank.
ellauri100.html on line 315: The urban riots that followed the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. opened my eyes to the futility of LBJ’s social tinkering. I saw at once that plowing vast sums into a “war” on black poverty would be rewarded with a lack of progress, sullen resentment, and generations of dependency on big brother in Washington. (Regarding the possibility that I am a racial bigot, see the note at the bottom of this page. If you don't care to read that far, yes, I am a racial bigot, and how.)
ellauri161.html on line 772: Satire needs more than jokes to be funny, and everyone in this movie is equally stupid. A large cast of familiar faces floats through this painfully unfunny exercise in futility.
ellauri198.html on line 346: William Lyon Phelps (n.h.) proposes three different interpretations of the poem: In the first two, the Tower is a symbol of a knightly dick. Success only comes through failure or the end is the realization of futility. In his third interpretation, the Tower is simply a damn big tunnel.
ellauri270.html on line 403: By having children (even Tessie’s own son) involved in stoning Tessie, Jackson aims to show that cruelty and violence are primitive and inherent aspects of human nature—not something taught by society. Tessie’s attempts to protest until the end show the futility of a single voice standing up against the power of tradition and a majority afraid of nonconformists. Jackson ends her story with the revelation of what actually happens as a result of the lottery, and so closes on a note of both surprise and horror. The seemingly innocuous, ordinary villagers suddenly turn violent and bestial, forming a mob that kills one of their own with the most primitive weapons possible—and then happily going home to supper.
ellauri278.html on line 229: On 30 September, Czechoslovakia yielded to the combination of military pressure by Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and diplomatic pressure by the United Kingdom and France, and agreed to give up territory to Germany on Munich terms. Then, on 1 October, Czechoslovakia also accepted Polish territorial demands. Much of Europe celebrated the Munich Agreement, as they considered it a way to prevent a major war on the continent. Adolf Hitler announced that it was his last territorial claim in Northern Europe. Today, the Munich Agreement is widely regarded as a failed act of appeasement, and the term has become a byword for the futility of appeasing expansionist totalitarian states.
ellauri281.html on line 228: On 30 September, Czechoslovakia yielded to the combination of military pressure by Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and diplomatic pressure by the United Kingdom and France, and agreed to give up territory to Germany on Munich terms. Then, on 1 October, Czechoslovakia also accepted Polish territorial demands. Much of Europe celebrated the Munich Agreement, as they considered it a way to prevent a major war on the continent. Adolf Hitler announced that it was his last territorial claim in Northern Europe. Today, the Munich Agreement is widely regarded as a failed act of appeasement, and the term has become a byword for the futility of appeasing expansionist totalitarian states.
ellauri300.html on line 649: The futility of heresy (Titus 1:10-16, 3:9-11). Foolish people at the Cretan church fool others with “useless talk” about circumcision.
ellauri409.html on line 402: Analysis (ai): This poem displays a cynical and pessimistic tone, expressing the speaker´s frustration with life in October. The poem´s themes are similar to those found in other works by the author, including the futility of life and the search for meaning in a meaningless world. However, the poem´s tone is more explicitly angry and bitter than in other works. This may reflect the author´s own feelings of disillusionment and despair at the time he wrote the poem. Nice use of diction, though I thought the ´crooked old fart´ bit took me away from the depth of the work.
ellauri409.html on line 466: Prufrock sums it up well: “It is impossible to say just what I mean!” Actually Eliot means that the plight of J. Alfred Prufrock and the plight of all humanity are parallel in their morbidity, futility, and failure. It is not just Prufrock who drowns; it is him and us.
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