"W;t" - a commentary on the medical profession
The Irony of W;t As the play begins, the narrator and patient, Vivian tells the audience that she dies and that the story is funny. She sets the stage for the story’s inherent irony. The author calls irony, wit. She uses it to reveal the flaws of academia while, also, congratulating education. W;t is a poignant commentary on the medical profession because it contrasts the solution-base outlook of medicine with the innate desire for humans to be treated with compassion. Simply, W;t compares the desires of the heart with the needs of the heart. Vivian tells the truth. She dies at the end. This was not, however, the point of the story. Her survival, or lack there of, was not necessary for the author to make her point. Vivian’s death is merely a dramatic part of the plot that the author segues to comment on the contrast between humanity with knowledge. Vivian is a professor of literature, really hard to understand literature. She is a scholar at poetry but her life is anything but poetic. She is brilliant. She is strong. She is alone. She is hardened. She is proud. She pulls no punches. She is the anti-thesis of poetic. She is also sick with Stage IV ovarian cancer. Her sickness reveals the part of her she has oppressed: Her humanity. Upon learning of her illness, her doctor, Dr. Kelekian, Chief of Medical Oncology asks if she is strong. She doesn’t
Christian Symbolism in Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Rutan Christian Symbolism in Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Biblical Symbolism in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, written in 1797, has been widely discussed throughout literary history. Although critics have come up with numerous different interpretations of this poem, one idea that has remained prevalent throughout these discussions is the apparent religious symbolism present throughout this poem. As Piper says in her book The Singing of Mount Abora, “The Ancient Mariner contains natural, gothic, and biblical symbolism; however, the religious and natural symbolism play the most important roles in this poem”(43). Coleridge uses symbolism to show his belief in the Holy Father, Son, and Spirit as he portrays a Mariner lost at sea and filled with sin only to be saved by God in order to spread his story and faith. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” begins to have a more clearly religious meaning at the end of part one and continuing, and it is after the killing of the Albatross that poem deals with the idea of man’s sin and his redemption through Jesus Christ. The dream like sections of the poem deal with the idea of good triumphing evil, as well as spiritual redemption through an understanding and acceptance of the Lord’s strength. While many scholars believe that this is more of a nightmare poem I disagree
Response Essay: William Faulkners A Rose for Emily
Stephanie Gallagher Dr. McClanaghan English 261-091 25 September 2011 Response Essay: A Rose for Emily Miss Emily Grierson, a woman whose family was upper class, passed away. While alive, her interactions with the community were the source of much community conversation. These conversations, described in detail in William Faulkner’s, A Rose for Emily, provide the reader with an understanding of the past and present social interactions of the townspeople. The stories presented occur in a variety of locations and involve a variety of people. The vast variety of these settings and characters makes it impossible for A Rose for Emily to be told by a single individual. The combination of the townspeople’s memories of their interactions with Miss Emily forms the story. The degree of detail provided when events are described in this short story is astounding. Every event surrounding Miss Emily is painted so clearly that the reader feels like they were there. For example, the “four men crossed Miss Emily’s lawn and slunk about the house like burglars”, in an attempt to find the source of “the smell” that had developed since her father’s death gives the reader a visual description the men moving silently and cautiously around Miss Emily’s estate. It also gives a hint as to the important requirement for stealth in this situation: the town’s Board of Aldermen
What and when was the Harlem Renaissance? The Harlem Renaissance was more than just a literary movement: it included racial consciousness, "the back to Africa" movement led by Marcus Garvey, racial integration
The Harlem Renaissance What and when was the Harlem Renaissance? 919-1934 (After WW I to the Middle of Great Depression) The Harlem Renaissance was more than just a literary movement: it included racial consciousness, "the back to Africa" movement led by Marcus Garvey, racial integration, the explosion of music particularly jazz, spirituals and blues, painting, dramatic revues, and others. The Renaissance was originally called "The New Negro Movement." African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage and to become "The New Negro," a term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain LeRoy Locke. Harlem is vicious Modernism. BangClash. Vicious the way it's made, Can you stand such beauty. So violent and transforming. --Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) Harlem was the “largest Negro ghetto in the world” (E. Johnson 11). The Negro’s “métier is agriculture. To this economy his mental and social habits have been adjusted. No elaborate equipment is necessary for the work of the farm. Life is organized on a simple plan looking to a minimum of wants and a rigid economy of means. The incomplex gestures of unskilled manual labor and even domestic service; the broad, dully sensitive touch of body and hands trained to groom and nurse the soil, develop distinctive physical habits and a musculature appropriate to simple processes. Add to this groundwork
Essay on Japanese literature. In his famous Kana Preface to the Kokinshu, Ki no Tsurayuki, one of the editors of the anthology, introduces the aesthetic value and core functions of Japanese poetry.
Manyoshu and Kokinshu Interpretive Essay In his famous Kana Preface to the Kokinshu, Ki no Tsurayuki, one of the editors of the anthology, introduces the aesthetic value and core functions of Japanese poetry. As the seed that grows into a flower, Japanese songs, or waka, take human heart and flourish as myriad leaves of words. (Shirane 148) As the master poet, Tsurayuki advises his successors to appreciate the beauty of life, rather than understanding it. One of the functions of waka, Tsurayuki asserts, lies in consoling the hearts of the departed and the living, as the beauty of the song has the mysterious power to assuage even the troubled souls of fierce warriors. Despite the lexical parsimony of waka, the master poets of ancient Japan have honored this legacy and strived to bestow poetic beauty even upon the topic of death. In the Manyoshu and Kokinshu, parting with the loved ones is juxtaposed with mysterious cycles of nature to mediate the emotional burden of loss. Nonetheless, the poeticization of death in two anthologies contrasts in poetic deliverance as well as in narrative structure, as the Manyoshu poet focuses on the poetic deliverance of the protagonist’s emotions, while the Kokishu poem respectively focuses on the transience and emptiness of life. The poeticization of death in Manyoshu is characterized by the protagonist’s emotional confession of
FEMINISM IN THE YELLOW WALLPAPER BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (1892)
FEMINISM IN THE YELLOW WALLPAPER BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN (1892) Based on short stories that have been study, Charlotte Perkins Gilman works which entitled “The Yellow Wallpaper” is chosen. The Yellow Wallpaper is told from first person narrator. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote the yellow wallpaper as her expression towards her treatments which eventually disturb her feelings and emotions. The Yellow Wallpaper is a story of character, Jane who is a young middle class woman driven to madness living in patriarchal society in the 19th century. Gilman as an American Feminist deals with the issue of marriage, women oppression and invention of the medical treatment which collapse the young women. Another important work of her critic and oppression is “Women and Economics (1898)” and “Herlend” (1915). During this era, women value is totally rendered and even dismiss from the emerging of industrial capitalism. They only deemed for a job suitable for them such as cook and cleaning. Since the imbalance between man and women in the late 19th century, was constructed and therefore not equivalent to her contemporary, Gilman’s raised the question of equality of women right between the character Jane and her physician husband, John. Jane is a representative of women’s who only placed in the house, where she should only carry her prescribed duty as a mother and wife. On
American Literature: Mark Twain and Realism
[Type text] American Literature: Mark Twain and Realism During the literary time period of Realism, many authors exemplified the characteristics of Realism; however, Mark Twain outstood all the rest. Twain is a great example of the Realist time period for literature. The Realist time period took place from 1850 until the turn of the century and he played a major role in the start of modern literature. Mark Twain really embraces the styles and conventions that the Realistic time period focused on. Realism is “the faithful representation of reality” (Campbell). Realism seemed like real life in the 1800s. Through the late 1800s, Realism emerged as the literary movement to focus on. Realism was the movement that bridged the Romantic time period to the Modern time period. As Realism emerged, it was defined as any work of fiction published in the late 1850s (Campbell). Through the course of this time period, Realism became very popular through different events in history. The major event that took place was the Civil War, 1861-1865. During the war, many soldiers had experienced down time when battles were not being fought. Reading would be a way to pass time in-between battles and this pushed the issue for more books to be published. Although Mark Twain didn’t publish his two most famous novels until 1876, other authors provided the soldiers with good Realist literature
A short commentary on Roland Barthes Mother Courage Blind
Ilkan PasaBenjamin/Barthes12833628 A short commentary on Roland Barthes’ Mother Courage Blind, By Ilkan Pasa There are many men who altered time in creating a different world for everybody else. Some took it for worst, while others changed it for the better. Most of these men were all soldiers of a certain rank or leaders of nations, nonetheless of what they represented or what they done, they all have the same similarities. These men were all leaders. Bertold Brecht was a front-runner of literature, the originator of what we call epic theatre and he was an artistic leader with all of the qualities that was needed to originate this new theatre. Walter Benjamin describes Brechts epic theatre as “[1]appealing to an interesting group of people who do not think without reason” in his essay [2]“What is Epic Theatre” in his illuminations. I will use this as the stronghold to my essay on Roland Barthes Mother Courage Blind and how Bertold Brecht influenced him. Brecht sets Mother Courage Blind and Her Children during the thirty years war, a war that went on for thirty years without reason, in many cases without a reason for the people living during the war. A war that the poor and working class lost what they did not see while the higher classes won with their losses. Brecht writes this play during 1939, the time where Fascism and Nazism were on a rise and Nazi
The Great Gatsby and The American Dream
20th Century Literature Professor Sue Matheson Dawn Cote April 20 2011 The Great Gatsby and the American Dream The American Dream is a reoccurring theme in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Briefly defined the “American Dream” “is the belief that every man, whatever his origins, may pursue and attain his chosen goals, be they political, monetary, or social” (Pearson 638). Throughout the novel Fitzgerald gives examples of various characters so called “American Dream”. Some characters are able to achieve their interpretation of the “American Dream”, others are not so lucky. The novel shows how the concept of the “American Dream” is interpreted as well as corrupted by many of the characters in the story. As Nick Carraway tells his story, we see the characters through Nick’s eyes, a young man looking for his own “American Dream”. As many people before him, Nick has moved away from the Middle-West to the East in search of something new and prosperous. What he finds is a group of individuals who have all the power, money, popularity and in some cases love, that a person would want. Do these people represent the “American Dream” that Nick is in search of? Tom Buchanan’s “American Dream” is to be wealthy and in control. He has achieved both of these, therefore in his opinion; he has achieved the “American Dream”. Tom’s
Much Ado about Noting
Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies that revolves the themes of deception and miscommunication. The play features a dual plot of courtship, one of which focuses on the wooing of beautiful Hero by young Claudio. However, this courtship is halted temporarily by the scheming of Don Pedro's bastard brother, Don John. While Don John is often seen as the source of all disruptions, it is Claudio's weaknesses and susceptible mind that ultimately make him the villain in Much Ado About Nothing. Although Don John comes from a world of privilege, as a bastard son, he can not enjoy the security of that world. Since the beginning of the play, Don John is portrayed as a detached character, a man "not of many words." (1.1.141) Although he is Don Pedro's brother, he does not seem to fit in with his brother or his friends. Since he "cannot hide what I [He] am[is]" (1.113) in society, he resents the world and its social convention. When he hears of an intended marriage from Borachio, he immediately asks whether the marriage "serve[s] for any model to build mischief on," (1.1.44-45) showing his resentment of the legitimacy of the marriage between Claudio and Hero. Don Pedro's conspiracy to stop Claudio and Hero's marriage by telling false stories is merely pathetic, whereas the ease with which Claudio is convinced is frightening. A character with a very