The Everlasting No Questions Literature & Language Essay

Full Names
Course No.
Professor
‘The Everlasting No.’
QUESTION 1: PASSAGE EXCERPT
Pitiful enough were it, for all these wild utterances, to call our Diogenes wicked. Unprofitable servants as we all are, perhaps at no era of his life was he more decisively the Servant of Goodness, the Servant of God, than even now when doubting God’s existence. “One circumstance I note,” says he: “after all the nameless woe that Inquiry, which for me, what it is not always, was genuine Love of Truth, had wrought me! I nevertheless still loved Truth, and would bate no jot of my allegiance to her. ‘Truth!’ I cried, ‘though the Heavens crush me for following her: no Falsehood! though a whole celestial Lubberland were the price of Apostasy. (Carlyle 1050 Para 3)
QUESTION 2: List the words you do not know.
Word

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Bate

Refers to an angry mood. Example: ‘he got into a stinking bate’

Jot

A noun referring to a very small amount and is normally used in the negative sense.

Diogenes

It is a proper noun referring to a Greek Philosopher who lived between c.400-c.325 BC). He lived in Athens, in a tub and was also code named Kuōn (‘the dog’) from which cynics got their names. He underscored self-sufficiency and significance of natural behavior.
.

celestial

1 It is an adjective that means belonging or relating to heaven.
2 Also describes something absolutely good. ‘the celestial beauty of music’

Lubberland

It is derived from the noun ‘lubber’ that refers to archaic, dialect or a big, clumsy person. Lubber is a short form for landlubber

Apostasy

A noun that means abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief or principle.

Wrought

1 It is an adjective that means beaten out or shaped by hammering.
2 In combination Made or fashioned in the specified way.

The passage communicates through the use of figurative language. In additional, the author has deliberately flouted countless linguistic rules such as grammar, tense, punctuation and sentence structure.
QUESTION 3: PLOT
The passage appears in the plot at a point in time when the author introduces Diogenes, a Deity, and a key character in the story. In fact, Diogenes provides lifeline to the passage since other characters makeutterances that either affirm his goodness, falsehood or wickedness. The opening sentence “Pitiful enough were it, for all these wild utterances, to call our Diogenes wicked”sets the stage for a turnaround in the storyline. Still, Diogenes is perceived as a cynic since his name "Diogenes Teufelsdröckh" can be interpreted in English as “God-born devil’s excrement”. Furthermore, the passage alerts the reader that the book isa satire, irony or linguistic play.
QUESTION 4: CHARACTERS
The characters in the passage are Diogense Teufelsdröckh, the narrator (author), servants of God (Diogenes) and critics of Diogenes. According to the passage, Diogenes is portrayed as the central theme of the story as the entire passage gyrates around the dialogue between...