A Day in the Life of a Psychotic Cat

Every morning, at precisely 9:42, Rhudolf is awoken by an angry clash of aggressive rapping, mingled with the heavy odour of cigarette smoke wafting over his pillow. This morning his right eye popped open first, as usual. Rhudolf paused, looked straight up at the circling blades above him, and pounced. The shrill war cry he emitted sent his owner storming in and without hesitation he turned his focus on her. Dark, greasy hair lay limp on her brow, and satanic tatoos were imprinted, forever clawing their way up her pock-marked arms. Rhudolf narrowed his eyes; crust crackled along the creases of his eyes as he narrowed in on his target. Blood-shoot eyes met blood shot eyes and a flash of fear seamed to flicker in the human pair. And then it was gone, and only contempt remained. Cracked lips drew back over fuzzy, yellowing teeth. "Stupid cat" the woman spat, leering at Rhudolf. But Rhudolf already had his nose pressed up hard against the cold glass of the window, his eyes manically darting back and forth-scanning the empty concrete lot for any sign of the infamous dog.

New Shoots Submission

Curtains

Sesquipedalian chemicals dripped into her veins; the drugs seeping into every inch of soft tissue. An empty box of Lucky Strike's were crushed on the clean plastic floor, lying next to an out-dated purse while air forced it's way through cracked lips, getting caught in thick bubbles of congealed mucous as it wisped its way out from blackened lungs.

The boy sat, his hand rested on the distended belly of the dying. Deep in between the corridors of his mother's veins a heart beat faltered. The boy was quiet, watching the long white gowns as they floated in and out from behind the curtains. They tampered with the white plastic boxes; twisting dials, cranking knobs, jamming lights

Term 2 Free Assignment

Term 2 Project

The Influence of Progress on Art and Sciences, Comparatively

         

Science is, by nature, a progressive field - something that builds from the pre-existing and proves itself either right or wrong as time carries on. In contrast, both Art and Literature, while often inspired by the works of the past, are fields that capture "the human soul" (William Long), and exist not to provide information, but to appeal to the artistic nature of man. In this way, Art and Literature are both articles that can never be proved "wrong", and are therefore not associated with progress in the same way that Science is. This is shown in the way Art and Literature of the past are treated in the modern, as well as in the definition of Literature given by William Long in his textbook “English Literature: Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World”.

         

          Because scientific hypotheses and predictions change with the information available, Science is something that is continually evolving as more and more information becomes accessible. Comparatively, the innate nature of being human is something that never changes, and thus Art and Literature do not progress in the sense of improvement, but instead change only in terms of contextual approach. Individuals today and individuals thousands of years ago have the same inner workings, and it is for this reason that the Art and Literature of centuries ago still resonate with people today. This understanding of Literature and it’s characteristics is expressed by Long in three points; “The first significant thing is the essentially artistic quality of all literature”, the second “is its suggestiveness, its appeal to our emotions and imagination rather than to our intellect”, and the third, “arising directly from the other two, is its permanence”. If we choose to accept these beliefs as truths, we can conclude that Literature is a field untouched by the concept of progress. This view of Art and Literature is clearly expressed in the way we approach Literature today..

Even long after their creators have left us, we continue to study the musings of Shakespeare and marvel at the work of Da Vinci. The Bible, for example, something produced hundreds of years ago, contains sentiments that remain heavily prevalent in the way we conduct ourselves, and even play a role in global politics. That being said, the scientific aspect of the Bible is something that holds much less credibility today than it would have at the time of its creation; it has been scientifically proven that the world was not created in 7 days, Earth is not flat, and dinosaurs and humans did not co-exist. Despite its inaccurate nature in terms of scientific realities, however, the artistic and literary aspect of The Bible is still widely accepted as an appropriate guide on how best to go about life. This shows the relative longevity of Art and Literature in relation to the considerably more tentative nature of scientific exploration. Science is, by nature, a progressive field - something that builds from the pre-existing and proves itself either right or wrong as time carries on. In contrast, both Art and Literature, while often inspired by the works of the past, are fields that capture "the human soul" (William Long), and exist to appeal to the artistic nature of man, rather than simply the predictions and hypotheses of an individual, Art and Literature are both fields that can withstand the test of time, unlike many scientific studies and hypotheses. Children and people today around the world are still encouraged to "treat others the way you would have them treat you" and "[Bible quote]"; sentiments directly from the Bible.

          Art is something that occurs as a result of the nature of the human condition; it is “the expression of life in forms of truth and beauty” (Long). This depiction of Art and Literature as statements of truth, rather than as a collection of hypotheses, as Science is largely made up of, allows us to determine that progress is not associated with Art and Literature in the same way that it is associated with Science.

           

Citations:

Long, William. English Literature: Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World. Project Gutenburg EBook. January 6, 2004.