Carlo Levi's memoirs, 'Christ Stopped At Eboli', describe his time spent as a political prisoner in the isolated and desolate

Christ Stopped At Eboli by Carlo Levi Carlo Levi's memoirs, Christ Stopped At Eboli, describe his time spent as a political prisoner in the isolated and desolate village of Gagliano in southern Italy. He tells of the village itself and the surrounding settings and what it is like to be forced to live in a completely different environment to that which he is accustomed. In this literary reminiscence, Levi addresses the themes of impoverishment, religion, social divisions and the ever-present issue of death. The author discusses his own personal struggle with imprisonment and how he interacts with the bewildering individuals from the extremely Fascist mayor to the rough but quiet natured Giulia to the simple, untrustworthy peasants. Levi takes us through a life changing experience where discovering himself is not as easy as looking into 'Narcissus' pool', but is a complex process of finding oneself through people, places, emotions, hardships and different viewpoints. This reflective work is important to Levi but he does not see it as a concluding viewpoint, he simply considers it another point in his life and over all just one stage in his writing career. Levi is a prisoner in the small village of Gagliano and is being forced to live there but throughout the writing Levi exposes the fact that he is not the only prisoner and that it is more than a physical imprisonment that is

  • Word count: 970
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Abolition of The Abolition of Man

The Abolition of The Abolition of Man Clive Staples Lewis, arguably the most influential writer of his time, is nothing more than a callous individual with nothing better to do with his life than to pick at insignificant statements made by less-than-perfect human beings in order to enhance the appearance of his superior intellect. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis attempts to bring out the importance of elementary text books on the human psyche of posterity and how Man will be its own demise due to its constant efforts to conquer nature, but his presentation of the materials both contradicts with itself and will mislead his readers into thinking things that were never meant to be portrayed in the first place. Lewis completely destroys the morale of and belittles two authors who, with some misfortune, placed a few seemingly meaningless statements into their book that could be interpreted in the wrong way. Lewis takes his observations of both this book and his view of nature to the extreme, completely abolishing everything mankind has ever stood for, and for this he is out of line. Lewis opens his book immediately by stating how important elementary textbooks are and how he was given a copy of an English prep book. Immediately he insults the authors of that book by saying, "I shall have nothing good to say of them." A statement like that not only sets the tone of the book,

  • Word count: 1950
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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A Historian must combine the rigour of a mathematician with the imagination of an artist. To what extent, then, can historians be confident about their conclusions?

A Historian must combine the rigour of a mathematician with the imagination of an artist. To what extent, then, can historians be confident about their conclusions? History...what is History? "It is merely a subject that concentrates all the dates of important historical events that have taken place in the last 200 decades." This is how history is viewed among many insular people. These outlandish statements are built on no solid grounds and just demonstrate the enormity of this misconception. An article on any historical event may take as long as years or eve4n decades to publish yet do not contain the absolute truth. Why is this? There are series of never ending obstacles that face all historians; it is entirely up to them to decide how far they want to give up on their quest for obtaining the ultimate truth. The ultimate truth cannot be achieved because it is purely human nature to be biased. It would therefore be impossible for any human being to produce a perfect analysis of any historical event, as we are prone to lean over one side of the story. The Literary Digest conducted a poll in 1936 to determine the result of the U.S Presidential election, which was greatly in favour of the Republican candidate Alf Landon. However "the error arose largely because of biases that caused wealthy people to be over represented in the poll.1" This shows that historians will be

  • Word count: 1113
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Curious Incident Of the Dog in the nightime- Ed Boone speech

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME: ESSAY/SPEECH WRITTEN FROM ED BOONE's PERSPECTIVE AND HIS STRUGGLE TO DEAL WITH HIS AUTISTIC SON, CHRISTOPHER. Good Morning, my name is Ed Boone and my 15 year old son, Christopher, has Asperger's Syndrome - which is a mild form of autism. I am here to talk with you today to give you all an insight as to what it is like having a child with autism, how it is difficult and my experiences. I am a single parent. My wife left me 2 years ago. I believe the continual stress of caring for Christopher ultimately broke up our marriage. I'm an ordinary man and I love my son- but it's been difficult coping with a son who has so many behavioural problems. The thing I find hardest is that my son does not like to be touched. I can never hug him to show him I love him. Whenever anyone touches him he gets upset and reacts violently. He has received a caution for hitting a policeman who grabbed his arm. Because of this, we've come up with our own little system where we stretch our fingers out into a fan and let our fingers and thumbs touch. This means that we love each other. Another problem is that he screams when he is angry or confused and he smashes things. He has difficulty coping with everyday life and puts his hands over his ears, closes his eyes and curls into a ball. Most of the time, I try to remain calm and patient with him and

  • Word count: 1218
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Speaking and Listening eBoating

Boating. Draw Cans in red, Cones in green, Cardinals on board. Don't read, look up a lot at audience. Hello everybody. I hope you enjoy my talk on boating today. I will now talk to you about safety on a boat. First of all before you go out you must make sure that you are prepared. Preparation is the key to safe boating. Firstly I will start talking about what to wear. In wet and cold weather * Waterproof trousers and jackets will protect you against spray, rain and wind. * Wear many layers, or make sure that you have spare layers on the boat with you to keep you warm. * Or an alternative for the colder seasons is to wear a dry wetsuit. They are very effective at keeping the water out! But can be expensive. * Wear shoes, which will give you the best possible grip on the boat. * Thermal headgear such as a woolly hat helps conserve body heat if you are out on a cold day. * Gloves will keep your hands warm, but they will also give you good grip on the steering wheel. In the sun * Sunglasses filter out bright light from the sun, which reflects off the water and off the boat * Make sure everybody on board wears a factor 15+ sun block. * Always carry a lot off water so that no one gets dehydrated. The last thing that you must make sure you have and wear at all times on a boat is a lifejacket. Things that you will need to have onboard at all times, in case of

  • Word count: 956
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Write a comparison of "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" and "The Drowned Giant", commenting on the ways in which the authors use language to convey their respective themes.

Christina Taryoto 11Q Write a comparison of "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" and "The Drowned Giant", commenting on the ways in which the authors use language to convey their respective themes. The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel Marquez and The Drowned Giant by J.G. Ballard are both short stories that explore the ways in which societies react to the arrival of something different in their communities. The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World is about a man who washed ashore near a small village and the impact of the man's presence, which helps the villagers to revive their dreary and barren village into a beautiful and lively place. In The Drowned Giant a giant washes ashore on the beach near a city; naturally this causes attention from city dwellers and the media. The narrator is a researcher who provides critical commentary on the giant's presence and the crowd's behavior towards him. This essay is a comparison of The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World and The Drowned Giant that will include commentary on the ways in which the authors use language to convey their respective themes. Certain aspects of each story will be compared such as characterization, setting, plot and style. Characterization plays a significant role in both stories that helps to augment their respective themes. Throughout The Drowned Giant we see through the eyes of the

  • Word count: 2321
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Begging and Christianity

Begging throughout the centuries has always been a problem even in the Bible there is a reference to Jesus and a beggar.Beggars can put people in awkward positions,making them embarrassed and under pressure to give the beggar money.Therefore beggars are seen as nuisances.Begging has now become targeted at smaller towns such as Newry and Dundalk,this sows it is a growing problem.Most people see beggars as theiving,dirty,dishonest,workshy and shameless people.On the other hand some people see them as people who need the public's pity and compassion. My feelings towards beggars do not have much pity or compassion.I always find myself wondering if my money is going toward a hot meal or just feeding a drug addiction or alcohol abuse.I also find I can't walk on the same side of the street as a beggar to see his or her tearful eyes staring up at me saying "I have a family to support".This is because it embarrasses me which I think shouldn't be the case as I am not the one begging in the street for loose change from complete strangers. I think that when there is shelters provided for homeless and charities to support them then they shouldn't have the right to go out and beg people for money.Many people say that homeless shelters are too strict and they lose their independance and I have taken this into consideration but I think if

  • Word count: 970
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Indestructibility of Human NatureA Comparative Analysis of the Novels We by E. Zamyatin and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by A. Solzhenitsyn

Moscow Economic School Michael Rodzianko 000904-005 English A1 SL World Literature Assignment 1 The Indestructibility of Human Nature A Comparative Analysis of the Novels We by E. Zamyatin and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by A. Solzhenitsyn May 2006 Word Count 1410 The Indestructibility of Human Nature A Comparative Analysis of the Novels We by E. Zamyatin and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by A. Solzhenitsyn Throughout time Russian writers have focused on the workings of the human soul and the interaction between the individual and society. Russia's greatest writers were usually critical of the regimes they lived under and thus often revealed their ideals very subtly through their works. At the same time the most renowned Russian writers believed in and incorporated into their works the power and the initial goodness of the soul (an example of this is Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky: even one of the bleakest characters ever created in Russian literature eventually found the light). All this fully applies to two outstanding Soviet authors A. Solzhenitsyn and E. Zamyatin. Their respective novels One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) and We (1920) were labeled anti-soviet and caused the authors to become outcasts, but by reading deeper into the text we come to the realization that these novels were not written for

  • Word count: 1499
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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What are the views and values conveyed by the author in The Village by the sea? Support your answer with close reference to the text.

What are the views and values conveyed by the author in The Village by the sea? Support your answer with close reference to the text. There are views and values of general and personalized opinions by Anita Desai being portrayed in this novel. The ones that will be emphasized on in this essay are the ones considered to be the main ones such as her views on family life and how it is more important and powerful than anything else in contributing to a child's life. In addition to this, her views on modernization/industrialization and the ways in which she both supports and opposes it and the ways it will affect the ways of living in Thul. In the beginning of the text, a young boy at the age of twelve, named Hari is introduced. He is a boy with lack of education due to how he has to take care of his family as his mother is ill with a disease they cannot afford to treat whilst their father sleeps all day and goes to get intoxicated with alcohol at night. However, with a high held spirit he sends his younger siblings to school each morning and heads off to work to make the little money that barely supports the family. Here they author is conveying the idea of pride and perhaps even guilt. Hari feels that since he is the 'man' of the family now, with his father being asleep all day not bothered with his family, he feels that he must pursue his job in order to support his family

  • Word count: 1239
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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A History of: The Pen.

A History of: The Pen Since the dawn of civilisation Man's earliest writing may have been by using his finger as a pen with the 'ink' being plant juices or even blood. Then by 1300 BC, the Romans had developed this form of writing to the extent that they scribed into thin sheets of wax, which could be melted and re-used. In the first millennium BC the Chinese invented a brush that they used to write with, we now call these paint brushes, about the same time, 500 - 300 BC, the early Egyptians employed thick Bamboo reeds with split, frayed or carved ends obtaining them from other countries. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Monks throughout Europe needed to produce copies of the Christian Church's religious documents, and because printing hadn't been invented, and they didn't have the supplies to make the kind of 'pen' that the Egyptians made, so one monk noticed the similarity of the quill of a moulted Goose feather to reeds and learnt to split and shape the hollow end. The hollow quill held the ink and the split end was the nib, writing pressure giving thick and thin strokes, this was called a quill pen. How ever the quill pen was inefficient as it needed constant re-trimming and a sharpening tool was developed and improved eventually becoming the modern pocket cutting tool - the Pen Knife. Then in 1803 an English engineer Bryan Donkin patented a steel pen point, but

  • Word count: 1542
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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