Human and Evolution Essay Example for Free

Human and Evolution Essay Human desire is unlimited, everyone also will hold a laziness attitude, so to own desires, human need to work harder to satisfy their own, therefore society in constant evolution! Sigmund Freud once said that human evolution is mainly has two conditions as the driving force, one is sex and another is eager to greatness. However, this is unscientific if we observed from another perspective. Through understanding and awareness the history of Europe and Asia, we can assume this argument exists only in the view of philosophy and cannot afford to ponder in reality. With the era and knowledge progress, people have analyzed the reason of human evolution to be more simplified and clearly, it can be summarized in a word: survival. Evolution is a process of fittest survives, not suitable people will be eliminated, each of the persons genetic are constantly changing, and is non-directional, genes control human’s activities of all life. In addition, when people confronting difficulties or changing, some mutant gene fit, but some do not, so those who do not fit will naturally died and eliminated. Generally, humans will choose to make changes and through evolution to maintain their patterns of life. According to Plato, â€Å"human is an animal that have no feathered and stand on two feet, the selection of human walk upright, maybe just to make walking easier.† Through some scientists verification, as the substantial change in the natural environment, such as the climate was changed erratically and deforestation cause the forest reduce, using walking upright is more conducive to human migration between the various settlements. This real case of human history is showing the evolution of standing and walking firstly to make the human brain has been gradual evolution and improvement. On the other hand, to stand up for walking and running, human need to balance the body and motor coordination of body parts, for the cerebellum of evolution has played a significant role in. Moreover, because of the evolution of standing and walking, human’s hands and feet also gradual evolution of division of labor. Besides that, because of people habit of laziness, there are more and more inventors to create something to provide life convenience for human, such as paper to convenient human communication and armillary sphere, seismograph to facilitate the people to observed celestial bodies and natural disasters. All of these are the inventor’s creative inspiration that obtained by the evolution. After a long time, those items are cannot satisfy peoples needs, then people will have to evolution to reform it or create another items. At the time of human invented complex instruments, the item is also forcing humans to adapt to its complexity, which in turn will promote human accelerated pace of evolution. Until today’s living environment has already evolution to become high tech, human science and technology has been rapid improvement and the invention and use a variety of tools are also complicated, for example: mobile phone has became the main item to work, to connect people communicate, replace people entertainment and vehicle became main transportation for people to move, all of the people who are following in this environment are also affected. So, they have only one way to avoid being eliminated the social environment, and that is evolution together. Everyone needs to make changes by themselves, learning and contacts more stuff, broadening their horizons.

The Laugher Of The Medusa | Analysis

The Laugher Of The Medusa | Analysis Throughout history, women have been excluded from any kind of writing that could allow them the participation in the making of history and culture. Being considered as creatures of lesser rank in mental capacities and intellect, women have been, over centuries, kept in the dark by a patriarchal system that has successfully muted their needs for expression, be it physical, oral or written. In her fundamental essay The Laugh of the Medusa, Hà ©là ¨ne Cixous, French philosopher and feminist critic, openly introduces this idea of womans need for writing as a biological drive which intimately relies on her ceasing back and mastering her own body that has been violently miused by males rhetoric , as Toril Moi asserts that always and everywhere, the rational, active, masculine intellect operates on the passive, objectified, feminized body (189). Its only from the bodily experience that women, according to Cixous, can give birth to an  «Ãƒ ©criture fà ©minine  » which will subvert the phallocentric discourse of masculine writing, along with the logocentric representational system through which it functions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the key insights that the author explores in her essay, mainly the feminine writing  [1]  with the idea of sexual differences. It is, also, necessary to consider, in the following stages, how Cixous makes use of Freuds and Lacans psychoanalysis and Derridas deconstructist theory to disrupt the phallocentric assumptions, hence to break up with all forms of repression against women. A particular focus will be on the critics contribution to French feminism and Anglo-American feminist theory. Le Rire de la Mà ©duse was written by Cixous in 1975, and translated into English as The Laugh of the Medusa in 1976 by Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen. This influential essay, essentially adressing women in order to  « bring them to writing  » (Cixous 875), is expressed in a beautiful and poetic language to convey the idea of the existence of an à ©criture fà ©minine, which is already used by the author. As with many of her writings  [2]  , Cixouss The Laugh of the Medusa revises sexual differences between men and women from past to present, anticipating a future radical change in the perception of this notion which would only take shape if woman takes back a body that is hers, from the masculine repressing language, in order to employ it as a cause and effect of a new genre of writing which Cixous introduces as the feminine writing. The whole premise of the essay is that  « Woman must write her self: must write about women and bring women to writing .  » (Cixous 875). In the light of this idea, the critic goes on to relate womens writing to their bodily experiences that represent a source of desire and urge for creativity. In other words, for a woman to be able to break up with the old traditional doormat in her skin, she must trace her own body with a feminine language. As a result, women will create their own tradition of writing, embarking from the past and its repressive language. Over centuries, masculine discourse has been the dominant and the stronger one. Women had no word to say in a patriarchal universe where, as Cixous states, they were regarded as  « dark  » and  « dangerous  » (878). Women have, accordingly, developed a sense of resentment for other women and themselves under the influence of the masculine ideology. To break up with this complex, Cixous calls woman to manifest through a writing that belongs to her ; but which can neither be defined nor theorized (883) since, as it can be deduced, language is males property, and there is no room to theorize a feminine writing within the masculine dominant discourse. However, the feminine mode of writing can be described as revolutionary against the phallocentric language and thought (888). Cixouss point is to approach this genre of writing in relation to sexual differences and gender in order to demonstrate how these differences have served historico-cultural purposes to hinder womens intellect ual capacities. She goes further to discuss the traditional idea of bisexuality as neutrality- that engenders the fear of lacking  [3]  , contrasted with a bisexuality, that allows one to identify one self as having sexual orientation toward the two sexes. From this equation, Cixous concludes that  « woman is bisexual  » by the nature of her organs and the turning shifts of events; whereas man cannot be so without losing his phallocentric masculine identity (884). In the same way, she believes that writing is bisexual, for women should write to women and men without no exclusion. Throughout the article, Cixous sensibilizes women to the urgent need of a universal revolution against the phallocentric discourse to which they have been the signified subject. By creating their a discourse of their own, women will fly through and, at the same time, steal back that which is already theirs  [4]  , their voices that have been repressed. The author points out to the fact that this subjugation has resulted in creating a female voice consciousness which, aware of the difficulties that women have undergone, reclaims their socio-cultural identity and their natural rights. She also argues for womens freedom to have children or not to have any, without being  « threatened  » or blamed for the choices they make in life (890). The main purpose of this study is to analyze the key insights that Cixous discusses in The Laugh of the Medusa, along with the major influences that affect her writing, namely the Derridian deconstruction and psychoanalytical theory. As its title indicates, the essay includes the  « Medusa  » as a metaphor to portray womans beauty, oppression and intelligence at the same time. By using this Greek mythical figure  [5]  , Cixous hits two birds with one stone : she firstly alludes to women being treated badly by their male counterparts, as Medusa was once ill-treated and raped. On the other hand, the author also hints to womens jealousy of and hatred to other women under the influence of the masculine worldview. Cixous goes on to develop this idea when she argues that men  « have committed the greatest crime against women. Insidiously, violently, they have led them to hate women, to be their own enemies  ». In the same way, the Medusas metaphor is associated with the modern psychoanalytic interpretations of Sigmund Freud who refers to the Medusas head as  « the supreme talisman who provides the image of castration associated in the childs mind with the discovery of maternal sexuality and its denial  » (Freud). Cixous takes on the idea of castration, by which the phallocentric mind is haunted, and relates it to the Medusas image so as to prove that man is unconsciously weak at the sight of the feminine sex, to the point that he is  « consumed, as Freud and his followers note, by a fear of being a woman  » (884). At this level, the critic implicitly alludes to the French psychoanalytist Jacques Lacan, who follows Freud in his concept of Wunsch  [6]  to arrive at a  « desire  » that is associated with a lack. According to Lacans theory of Lack, as explained by Joel Dor in his Introduction to the Re ading of Lacan, womans desire towards the masculine body does not originate from the body itself as the object of desire ; rather, it originates from her lacking a penis ( Dor 236). Ironically, Cixous refutes this  « phallocratic  » analysis arguing that her personal desire of the other is for the other, and that  « a desire originating from a lack  » is much poor and lacking(891). She goes further to criticize women who madly fetishize the masculine sex, treating them of  « the woman of yesterday  » who is either kept in the dark ages, idolizing the traditional way the big penis takes her ; or falsely modernized with naive virtuous thinking as Cixous affirms here :  « They still exist, easy and numerous victims of the oldest of farces: either theyre cast in the original silent version in which, as titanesses lying under the mountains they make with their quivering, they never see erected that theoretic monument to the golden phallus looming, in the old manner, over their bodies. Or, coming today out of their infans period and into the second, enlightened version of their virtuous de-basement, they see themselves suddenly assaulted by the builders of the analytic empire and, as soon as theyve begun to formulate the new desire, naked, nameless, so happy at making an appearance, theyre taken in their bath by the new old men, and then, whoops! Luring them with flashy signifiers, the demon of interpretation  » (892) Following this idea, Cixous is harshly attacking the masculine phallocentric values in the personae of Freud and Lacan, whom she accuses of exploiting the new version of  « modern  » woman to satisfy their sexual needs while theyre reducing them to an inferior and negative position. One cannot understand Cixouss ideas without going back to the Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic theories. If we examine Freuds interpretation of sexual differences which place man in a superior position for biological reasons  [7]  , it would then be obvious why he has been criticized by feminists  [8]  , including Cixous. Though she mainly builds her theoretical legacy on psychoanalysis, precisely Freuds, Cixous uses this latters analysis of developmental theory and gender roles -which are based on the biological differences between man and woman- as a counter-argument to assert that, though there is a sexual difference, women should be treated equally, and not in terms of the Lacanian binary oppositions, as she states :  « writing has been run by a libidinal and cultural-hence political, typically masculine-economy; that this is a locus where the repression of women has been perpetuated, over and over, more or less consciously, and in a manner thats frightening since its often hidden or adorned with the mystifying charms of fiction; that this locus has grossly exaggerated all the signs of sexual opposition (and not sexual difference), where woman has never her turn to speak  ». (879) In the same way, Cixous criticizes Lacans theory of phallocentrism which posits the phallus in the centre of the masculine being. Furthermore, the critic employs this primacy of the phallus in the Derridian deconstructist critique of logocentrism to coin the term  « phallogocentrism  », which refers to a (superior) masculine language centered upon the phallus, opposed to a (deficient) feminine language which lacks a phallus. In other words, her writing is a deconstructist one through which she undermines the phallocentric ideology that dominates language (Tidd 98). In addition to the medusas image which is used by the author to overcome Freuds  « castration  » and Lacans  « lack  », is the metaphor of Dora  [9]  that strongly disturbs Freuds legacy in psychoanalysis and therapy. When she directly adresses Dora as  « the true mistress of the Signifier  » (886), Cixous evokes the story of humiliated girl who was manipulated by her father as a pawn in a sexual game between him and his mistresss husband, and later by Freuds therapy that tried to convince her of the necessity to play the game. As a result, the girl was a subject of a double oppression, applied firstly by the father, and secondly by Freud. The case of Dora in the essay, if it alludes to patriarchal ideology and oppression of the females voice, it does not fail to deconstruct the Freudian assumptions of male superiority and the Lacanian theory of  « the Name of the Father  » which prescribes the father as a symbol of law and order. For Cixous, the name of Dora repr esents more than an example of the psychological violence caused by males oppression; she rather employs it as an icon of females revolution and manifest (Showalter 332). The Laugh of the Medusa is the most significant example of Cixouss  « à ©criture feminine  ». Rich of artistic metaphors and innovative ideas, this influential essay is inscribed as a fundamental work of art within literary and critical theory. Influenced by the deconstructist and differentialist thought, Cixouss writing has been effective in undermining the patriarchal dominance over language. By revising the question of sexual differences existing in the psychoanalytical theories of Freud and Lacan, she deconstructs the equation of the binary oppositions applied to the couple man-woman, while intelligently adopting the difference to prove the equality rather than the opposition between the sexes. The idea is recognized through feminist critiques like Shiachs  « Their Symbolic Exists- it Holds Power  » in which she notes :  « Cixous has represented the process of differentiation in more social terms, and has offered the possibility of more hopeful conclusions: the construction of new sorts of identity, which cut across dual hierarchized oppositions  ».( 165) Her poetic language and feminine style is a demonstration of what she calls  « à ©criture fà ©minine  ». Influenced by her reading of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, Cixous seems to take up their experimentation and modernist mode of writing, herded with a feminine sensual voice and experience, as essential features of a new form, which is the feminine writing. Consequently, introducing this idea, among many others, into the critical theory has undoubtedly made of Cixous one of the most prominent figures of French feminism. When translated into English, Cixouss The Laugh has gained international interest, mainly by Anglo-American feminists. Admittedly, the author has been often criticized  [10]  for considering the sexual differences and making them as a basis for her argument, which, for certain critiques, cannot but reinforce the unequality, hence, repression. To make sense of her ideas, however, one has to contextualize them within a poststructuralist framework. Being a deconstructist par-excellence, Cixous emphasizes the differences in order to deconstruct them. For a deep understanding of her writing, it is crucial to be familiar with psychoanalytical concepts of Freud and his readers, so as to make sense of them in a Cixousian shape. Karen L. Taylor recognizes Cixouss legacy, against Morag Shiachs critique  [11]  , when she states : Furthermore, through her writing, Cixous engages in a psychoanalytical exploration of the feminine. Reading and writing are, for her, the means to grapple with the enigma of male / female relations. She has been criticized for her psychoanalytical style, influenced by Jacques Lacan, and marked by a superabundance of images. Nonetheless, Cixous has been instrumental in establishing a new form of literature that lies somewhere between myth and novel.  » ( 70) What Cixous does is more than claiming equal civil rights for women with regards to their male counterpart. What she does is deconstructing the patriarchal language that hierachizes woman into inferior positions, calling at the meanwhile for a new mode of writing that inscribes the feminine as equal to the masculine, hence, anticipating a possibility of change in social structures. Through the  « à ©criture fà ©minine  », the feminine body  « will produce far more radical effects of political and social changes than some might like to think  » ( Cixous 882).

Runaway Statues: Platonic Lessons on the Limits of an Analogy :: Philosophy Plato Analogy Essays

Runaway Statues: Platonic Lessons on the Limits of an Analogy ABSTRACT: Plato’s best-known distinction between knowledge and opinion occurs in the Meno. The distinction rests on an analogy that compares the acquisition and retention of knowledge to the acquisition and retention of valuable material goods. But Plato saw the limitations of the analogy and took pains to warn against learning the wrong lessons from it. In this paper, I will revisit this familiar analogy with a view to seeing how Plato both uses and distances himself from it. Plato's best-known distinction between knowledge and opinion occurs in the Meno. The distinction rests on an analogy that compares the acquisition and retention of knowledge to the acquisition and retention of valuable material goods. But Plato saw the limitations of the analogy and took pains to warn against learning the wrong lessons from it. In the next few pages I will revisit this familiar analogy with a view to seeing how Plato both uses and distances himself from it. Recall Plato's analogy. To acquire an untied work of Daedalus is not worth much, like acquiring a runaway slave, for it does not remain, but it is worth much if it is tied down, for his works are very beautiful. What am I thinking of when I say this? True opinions.(1) When one owns a valuable statue fashioned by a great artist, one becomes responsible for its security. So life-like it is that it may "run away and escape," jokes Plato, the point being that because fine statues are attractive to other people, their owners must take precautions against their loss by tying then down. Opinions, on this analogy, are potentially flighty, like a slave who runs away from an owner. A slave who runs away is, from the slave-holder's point of view, "worthless." Plato writes, For correct opinion, as long as they remain, are a fine thing and all they do is good, but they are not willing to remain long, and they escape from a man's mind, so that they are not worth very much until one ties them down by (giving) an account of the reason why... After they are tied down, in the first place they become knowledge, and then they remain in place. That is why knowledge is prized higher than correct opinion, and knowledge differs from opinion in being tied down.(2) A valuable statue bought and put in a garden must be "tied down.

Unbroken :: essays research papers

Unbroken I wouldn't know how to describe a painting or a sonata, but I can tell someone how I feel, though they rarely know what I mean. Words fail me often, but nobody notices. They aren't listening anyway. One person knows me. When I talk to him I feel like a knife in a drawer, because my words have power. The possible damage would be irreparable. He and I are like a house falling apart. Our sidewalk is askew and our mailbox is missing. It is painted pink and yellow. We love it, it's unique. Last night I stomped my feet through the floorboards because I wanted to feel my toes in the earth. I pushed my hands through the ceiling and kicked down the walls. I know he wonders why I do things like that. I just wanted to let some air in. I said, "Look hon, now we can see the stars." He brushed off the debris and put me to bed. He won't sleep tonight. His thoughts stay up with the moon trying to exercise the demons in his mind. Too intelligent, too spiritual for his own peace. A shaman, unstuck in time. A stroke of genius and a slap in the face of this world. Always restless, searching for answers. Impulsive and inspired, writing down his thoughts. Funny stories about Elvis and his followers, the Elvi, or dirty poetry. Painting his visions on sheets that hang from the eaves or painting me with psychedelic designs. It doesn't matter which. All of it makes me want him more. Some things I say to him are like sour notes played too often. I'm out of tune. He always sings along. Our waltz is better than most, I suppose. We know the steps by heart. The world moves quickly around us and our quiet drunken pace, but we don't care. Our minds move quickly despite this world's petty distractions. It's us and them, and we're the only two sane people left. He makes me nervous, still. His dreams are bigger than both of us. When we speak the words fall from my lips. They aren't enough to explain who I want to be. I am so flawed. He says, "Sometimes people have imperfections that are worth living with. You're a little eccentric. It's part of your charm." This man knows me, and loves me anyway. He is crazier than I am. Eight years might as well be a thousand where we're concerned. History has roots that go deep. They go to the center of the earth and back and wrap

Marcus Mosiah Garvey :: rastafarianism, reggae music

Marcus Mosiah Garvey was a powerful black revolutionary and race leader who influenced a great many people in his time and continues to do so through reggae music. Many of Marcus Garvey's lessons and ideals have found a voice in the lyrics of conscious reggae musicians past and present. From internationally famous musicians such as Bob Marley and Burning Spear, to the music and words of The Rastafari Elders, reggae musicians have found inspiration in Marcus Garvey. For many reggae musicians, their work is about more than music, it is a tool for teaching the masses. Peter Tosh at a concert in California told the audience the reason why he was there."Don't think I come here for entertainment. I and I come to flash lightening, earthquake, and thunder in these places of destruction and unrighteousness."2 Tosh and many musicians like him are taking reggae to a higher level, one where the musicians are prophets of Garvey and Rasta. Much of the teachings of reggae are based on a Rastafarian view, as this is the religion of many of the conscious reggae musicians that preach the Garvey message. Rastafarianism owes a lot to Marcus Garvey, as he is credited as the founder. The religion was born on the words"Look to Africa for the crowning of a Black king."3 They waited and in 1930, the prophecy was fulfilled when, Ras Tafari Mekonnen was crowned emperor of Ethiopia and took the name Haile Selassie. Working from the bible and their own interpretations of it, the Rastafarians found evidence to support their claim and a religion was born. Marcus Garvey is considered part of the Rastafari Trinity, and"is second only to Haile Selassie,"4 the Rastafari God. Whether singing directly about Marcus Mosiah Garvey, or about Rastafarianism, reggae musicians are helping to spread the teachings of this black prophet and revolutionary to millions of music listeners all over the world. Marcus Garvey was born in 1887 in the St. Ann's Parish in Jamaica. He came from a large, poor family and due to lack of money, when he was fourteen Garvey left school and became a printer's apprentice. By the age of eighteen he had become a master printer. Garvey had always been a quick learner and when he became the foreman of a printing company in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica,"he continued his education by reading extensively, taking advantage of the company library."5 However, Marcus Garvey's political feelings soon got in the way when the workers went on strike in 1909.

Guide to Web Research and MLA Essay

The World Wide Web is the broadest source of information today. Other than this fact, it is also accessible through the computer, given that it has Internet access. Since it has a broad source of information, people use it for academic research, besides its use for entertainment. However, one major problem with Web searches is the published material’s credibility since it is often open to a wide variety of audiences and contributors. Since the students’ reliability on Web research is increasing, then there is a need to address the issue about the web sources’ credibility. One way to ensure the sources’ credibility is to evaluate the details on the website itself—like the author, date published, and web site title. These details can help one to understand the worth and uniqueness of the information on the website since some information tend to be rehashes of the original one. To make things simpler, it is quite advisable to look at academic websites—like university databases—and online scholarly journal sites. Most of the time, the information here is quite credible since the authors from such websites have the credentials to prove their words’ worth. I believe everyone already had their fair share of frustration from web research. More often than not, the information that appears on the first page tend to come from websites ranging from slightly reliable to non-reliable. Other than that, I have also encountered links to websites wherein payment is required in order to gain access to the information—like many online libraries. These problems can discourage students and force them into accepting the information regardless of its credibility. Furthermore, it can also exhaust the energy of students, making them more timid. The Modern Language Association or MLA is a language and writing institution developed in order to create a common guide of academic writing that the students, scholars, and members of the academe could follow. It basically provides a network upon which members from different places could share information and academic trends with others (MLA, 2008). Since the organization has a myriad of members wherein most are experts in the academe, their guide becomes a requirement in order to help the students and other members of the academe to organize their academic papers properly. Fighting Until the Very End of Life The poem Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas shares the struggle of a dying person or a person’s grief on the gradual loss of a dying loved one. Basically, the poem centers on the theme of not giving up and fighting until death. Once a person succumbs to the thought of death, then he or she may already be considered dead. In a nutshell, the first stanza entails a persona telling the reader (or to whom the poem is dedicated) to not give up easily and go fight against death and weakness—basically, to become fierce. In stanzas two to five, the persona gives out specific examples of fierce men never giving up, which in turn supports the first stanza. In stanza six, the persona addresses the reader (or to whom the poem is dedicated) to show him or her the fierceness that he or she once had, or the fierceness of his or her soul, which would make the persona happy (Thomas, 1971). The persona of the poem may be Dylan Thomas himself, as he wrote this poem for his dying father—growing weaker from old age and blindness. Throughout the poem, he sought to encourage his father to fight on for his life, no matter how inevitable death was (citation). Besides him being the persona, it could also assume the role of a dying person who encourages others to fight on and to never give up until the very end. The persona assumes a sad yet encouraging tone throughout the poem. The phrases Do not go gentle into that good night and Rage, rage against the dying light are also reiterated throughout the poem in order to give emphasis to the theme of the poem. The persona also constantly reminds the reader and the target person to never go down without a fight since giving up life early would mean that the person is just as good as dead already. The two connotative words that have been heavily used throughout the poem is night and (dying) light. Basically, night here could be referring to the dying person (not the persona) accepting his or her fate peacefully, although there may as well be other connotations for this word. On the other hand, light or the phrase dying of the light could be pertaining to death, or at least weakness. The poem follows an alternating rhyme scheme, wherein the key words to follow are night and day. There is also a repetition of the two phrases Do not go gentle into that good night and Rage, rage against the dying light which gives more emphasis to the theme of the poem. The poem’s form and tone seem too soft and gentle for the poem’s subject which is death. This creates an irony that the persona is asking the dying person to become enraged against death. Metaphors and personifications are used throughout the poem, in order to give a hopeful tone for the persona’s beseeching of the dying person, instead of a tone associated with grief and loss. An example would be the stanza: â€Å"Though wise men at their end know dark is right, / Because their words had forked no lightning they / Do not go gentle into that good night† (4-6). References Thomas, D. (1971). Do not go gentle into that good night. Poets. org. Retrieved July 4, 2009 from http://www. poets. org/viewmedia. php/prmMID/15377. MLA. (2008). About the MLA. Retrieved July 4, 2009 from http://www. mla. org/about.

History of Modern Painting Essay

The rise in popularity of primitivism can be united with two other prevalent forces in Europe during the late 19th century, theology and industrialization. Naturally dissatisfaction with European life increased, steeped in centuries of monarchies, wars, feudal wars, and multiple revolutions. Christ symbols, towering church steeples, and scads of spiritually historical iconography permeated nearly all of the Europe, even while its principles waned. Meanwhile, Europe began to feel the effects of its going industrial centers. In the 1860s, Paris radically rejuvenated itself under Napoleon III and Haussmann’s city restructuring. Apartments, streets, transportation, and commerce were all restructured, becoming new, uniform, sleek, and systemized. Conditionally, primitivism is understood as the ‘other’ through Western perception. This implies that outsiders to Europe are different inherently, and deserve special attention. While Europe idolizes themes of cleanliness, efficiency, and puritan values, the ‘other’ offered an escape into a world that was perceived as exotic, mystically spiritual, and entirely natural. In â€Å"Avant-Garde and Kitsch,† Clement Greenberg says that avant-garde criticism â€Å"has not confronted our present society with timeless utopias, but has soberly examined . . . the forms that lie at the heart of every society. † Vincent Van Gogh, in an attempt to recover simplified realism, focused on less urban subjects. He moved to south France and began painting provincial scenes using thick impasto paint application. Paul Gauguin joined Van Gogh to establish the Studio of the South in Arles in 1988; however, even this is not removed enough from modern Western values. Gauguin had â€Å"studied medieval art (sculpture, tapestries, and stained glass), Primitive woodcuts, and certain types of exotic art which he had seen at the World’s Fair of 1889. † Comparatively, the Western projection of art appeared to him dystopic, and he sought renewal in submersing himself in Tahitian culture. Warily, Gauguin traveled to a country under French rule at the time, guaranteeing him ‘safe’ primitivism than un-Colonized areas. In Tahiti, Gauguin painted with no shaded areas of depth and rounded, blunt features, loose applications of representative color, as seen Maternite II. All this, added with mythical looking mist and bare women give a sense of pastoral serenity of antiquity, while also remaining distinctly different than the European spectator who enjoyed the painting. The women are all dark-skinned and blissfully exposed, while engaging the viewing to partake of the serenity of the scene. Gauguin used Primitive representative techniques, by favoring simplified, unenlightened forms or expression. As Imperialism extended the relations between Europe and civilizations that were previously untouched by European ideology. Simplified, organic forms of nature and natural life were fluidly exposed to European culture, including Gauguin’s paintings. It was completely antithetical to anything appreciated in the West in form, staging, or perspective. Another feature of Westerners embracing primitivism can be found in Samuel Butler’s novel Erewhon. In the utopia/dystopia world of Erewhon there is a complete absence of machines, simply because any variety of them could prove potentially dangerous. This novel was published at a time when industrialized nations began relying more on machines in industry, and features an extreme alternative that demonstrates the allure of the Primitive who live the ‘other’ lifestyle. Those who see modern Western life as a dystopia can find its ultra alternative in the Primitive. Thus artists flee for simpler, idyllic or virginal locals, consequently implying that something is inherently wrong with the Europe, its industry, theology, and ideology. References: Greenberg, Clement. Art and Culture: Critical Essays. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971. Read, Herbert. A Concise History of Modern Painting. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. , 1957. Schwartz, Robert . â€Å"France in the Age of Les Miserables. † Mount Holyoke College. 4/19/2009 .