No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
These words by John Donne from the 1624 Meditation 17, is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
How do these texts explore similar themes?
In all 3 texts, the main exposing idea is we live in a society that includes many, many of us, every one is connected to each other. Every one should help each other but not abandon or mistreat them. Like John Donne's "No Man Is An Island", every man is a piece of the whole and every man's death decreases the contient and make it worse. In the video "MANKIND IS NO ISLAND", it shows us how many people is affected by poverty deeply and therefor they sleep on benches or even on the ground, some of them are begging for money. But the people who walked by them did not help, they ignored the poor people and went on what they are doing. The same thing happend in the picture book The Island by Armin Greder. It's about a man was washed onto an island asking for help, but only one man stood out and spoke for the man, at last, the man was sent back to the ocean and the man spoke for him got punished too; it's just because the man was different from other villagers. It presents the now world, where people are busy making money and have no time and no mind in helping the poor people. Because of the "difference", no one gives a hand to the ones who are suffering. But despite the skin-colour, languages, opinions, we are all the same. We are all one specie -- humans.
How do the texts provide insights into prejudice and "otherness"? In all 3 texts, the main exposing idea is we live in a society that includes many, many of us, every one is connected to each other. Every one should help each other but not abandon or mistreat them. Like John Donne's "No Man Is An Island", every man is a piece of the whole and every man's death decreases the contient and make it worse. In the video "MANKIND IS NO ISLAND", it shows us how many people is affected by poverty deeply and therefor they sleep on benches or even on the ground, some of them are begging for money. But the people who walked by them did not help, they ignored the poor people and went on what they are doing. The same thing happend in the picture book The Island by Armin Greder. It's about a man was washed onto an island asking for help, but only one man stood out and spoke for the man, at last, the man was sent back to the ocean and the man spoke for him got punished too; it's just because the man was different from other villagers. It presents the now world, where people are busy making money and have no time and no mind in helping the poor people. Because of the "difference", no one gives a hand to the ones who are suffering. But despite the skin-colour, languages, opinions, we are all the same. We are all one specie -- humans.
John Donne's poem describes a respectful world, however, the video and the picture book describes more of a modern world. In The Island, the man is prejudged as "other people" because he is thin and naked while the islanders looked fat and wearing clothings. Islanders refused to treat him like themselves based on his looking. As a result, the islanders dehumanized the man with animal-treatment and spreading rumors. In the video, the poor people lied down on ground begging for money but people walked past them and never returned.
Why do people make distinctions between "us" and "them"?
Because all people is scared of differences, its a kind of self-protection, and selfish too. The people judge us by knowing where we come from, what religion do we believe, what language do we speak... etc. When they don't know enough information of how we are, people will automatically be suspicious about us and when they don't trust us, they'll try to make their profit as large as they could. All in all, it's just a human nature.
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