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 if a manor 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.
-- John Donne
This poem is the exact opposite of "The Island" by Armin Greder. This poem tells you that everyone is connected to each other in some ways, while "The Island" shows that the people of the island can't accept the little man for who he is. Donne wrote "any man's death diminishes me this line shows that even if it was a stranger that dies, it may affect you in some ways and in "The Island", the little man's arrival affected all the people by scaring them, they all told lies about the man and used him to scare children. "No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, apart of the main" wrote Donne, this line really stands out to me because it's saying that it's not possible to survive on your own, while the people of the Island is completely isolating themselves from all the other people. They built a tall wall around the Island so that NOBODY ever gets in or out of the Island. They shot all the seagulls because sometimes, people on boats follow them, and the people of the Island want to be separated from the rest of the world.
Video by: Jason van Genderen
I think that the whole message of the video is listen to others, maybe they have an interesting story to share, and to be humane and not ignore all the homeless people on the streets, and just listen to them. The film shows how the 2 cities (New York and Sydney) are joined together by hope and hunger. "I walk by you today, I always look away" describes most of the people that were in the video. The homeless people are just there, sitting, while the luckier people just look away and not help. I have personally experiences this on the weekend. I was in the Great Eastern mall and there was a stand in front of Cold Storage. It was a deaf art stand. I found it really pretty, but didn't tell my parents that I wanted one.The whole trip home felt like a guilt trip. Not helping others makes me have this feeling in my stomach that won't go away for a few hours. Van Genderen took pictures of the words that make up the sentence showing negative things, and that if you show that you care, you might make the person's day, giving them hope, and sort of telling them that someone cares. It also says that nobody's different from each other. Everyone thinks like we do, sure, we might look different, think of the different things, and speak differently, but we're all human. Lending a hand can make a difference to somebody's life.
