Please score my practice essay

Yofool
Sat, 27 Jul 2013 19:32:32 +0000

Assignment: Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?

As seen in both literature and the real world, knowledge does not always work to peoples’ benefit and rather is a dangerous thing to have. Although knowledge has helped greatly in advancing our lives as a human species, it has also held us back in many ways and given us many challenges in our personal lives as well as our lives on a grand scale of the whole world.

Literature has always served as a resource which reminds people of how dangerous knowledge can really be for us. In many works, one so being the tale of “Oedipus Rex,” individuals take it upon themselves to learn things that have led to their downfall. This new-found knowledge, which otherwise could have been left unknown, exemplifies the burden which it holds. Specifically in the life of Oedipus, he was warned by the seer that his search for what should be left hidden would lead to his downfall, and even when he was warned of this danger, he pursued the truth, and sure enough, he soon gouged his eyes out and lost his thrown.

Another testament to the burden which knowledge brings with it is our own modern world. In today’s society where everything functions due to the benefits that science brings, there is also a looming reminder of how destructive science can be. With out scientific endeavours, not only were instruments of peaceful living invented, but so were weapons of war and desolation. The pinnacle of this technology is the atomic bomb as well as its many relatives. The day this weapon was dropped on Hiroshima was the day eyes began to open and see the true danger of possessing knowledge. The desolate wasteland which Hiroshima became served to show how everything has its own dark side. The city’s people were all torn from the lives they once had and could not return to them in any way. This burden of knowledge became very clear to people in power of nations and treaties to prevent the further use of these weapons followed- even though the presence of these destructive forces still exists.

As can be seen throughout time, knowledge carries a large burden for those who possess it. Its effects even carry a large burden for those who live peaceful lives without it. In many aspects of our lives, knowledge is there to remind us how destructive it can be.