Frederic Chopin.
Frederic Chopin Some regard Frederic Chopin as one of the greatest composers of music for the piano. Even though most of his output was confined to relatively short pieces, Chopin poured out a steady stream of wonderfully inspired music distinguished by exquisite melody of great originality, adventurous harmony and subtle rhythm. No one understood the piano better than Chopin, who could make it sound more truly romantic and poetic than anybody else. Frederic Chopin, born in Poland, February 22, 1810, was the second of four children. Months after his birth, his family moved to Warsaw. His musical talent became apparent extremely early on, and it was compared with the childhood genius of Mozart. He began to study piano at the age of four. His first professional piano lessons lasted 6 years, when, at age 12, his skills surpassed that of his own teacher. Young Chopin had a good education and studied music privately with Joseph Elsner, founder and director of the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1826, Chopin became a full time student at this conservatory. Elsner, after recognizing that Chopin's style was too original to force into traditional patterns, granted him the freedom to develop along is own distinct personal lines. Without a doubt, Chopin is one of the few composers whose style took shape in his formative years and remained very much the same throughout his lifetime.
The Great Gatsby setting anaylsis
The year is 1922, the First World War had just ended four years prior and the nations of the world were different because of it. Many Americans were celebrating the success of involvement in the war and were on a high horse. Even though the United States had recently outlawed the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol, it was not hard to find if you had enough money. Bootleggers and rumrunners were going into business all over the US and getting very rich from it. The criminal underground flourished and mobs and gangs were expanding and becoming very successful and prominent members of society. The American Dream seems easier to achieve in this get-rich-quick America. The gap growing between the rich and poor was getting substantial and the Great Depression following this roaring decade will settle this growth. The setting in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is characterized by this world. The title character Jay Gatsby is a mysterious man that is suspected to have close ties to this criminal underground of bootleggers and is a rich and seemingly successful man because of it. We find out in the end that Gatsby's money and amazing parties do little to acquire him real friends that care about him as a person. The main character in the story, Nick Carraway, lives on Long Island in New York in the area known as West Egg. West Egg is a place where "newly" wealthy
Examine the Conflict that Arises in the Stories "Desiree's Baby" and "Crackling Day".
Examine the Conflict that Arises in the Stories "Desiree's Baby" and "Crackling Day" Racism has been an issue throughout time, and in some societies it is still present. The belief that an individual of a different race or colour is not equal to an individual, who is "white", has caused many fights, arguments and deaths. In the nineteenth century, the slave trade was at its height, as we see in "Desiree's Baby". The conflict between different races is also shown in "Crackling Day". Although both stories were written at different periods and set in different continents, both challenge the idea of racism. "Desiree's Baby" is set in the deep south of Louisiana. It shows prejudice against the "blacks" by Armand Aubignys , a cruel plantation owner, "Young Aubigny's rule was a strict one, too, and under it his Negroes had forgotten how to be gay". Armand is a very important man, as he owns a plantation, this also means that he has power over "his Negroes". Armand is full of self-importance, "what did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?" and very proud of his family and his origins. Within this society it is important to know a person's background, as there was an order within the society. For example Armand would be one of the men at the top of this order, whilst "his Negroes" would be at the bottom. As Armand
Discuss the role and character of the two women in 'The Story of an Hour' and Desiree's Baby'.
Kate Chopin Assignment Kate Chopin, born in 1850, was an American writer who lived in New Orleans and then in rural Louisiana. Her father died in a train crash when she was very young and she was brought up in an all female household. In 1870 she married Oscar Chopin and had five sons and one daughter. She enjoyed a happy marriage and was seen as a loving wife and a devoted mother. After her husband's death, she took over the running of the cotton plantation that her husband worked in. After having started her literary career she published two major novels and nearly hundred short stories, essays, poems, plays and reviews. She died ten years later after writing her last novel, 'The Awakening', when published in 1894. Two of Kate Chopin's short stories, which are 'The Story of an Hour 'and' Desiree's Baby were set in the mid 1800s and both were also set in Louisiana. 'The Story of an Hour' is about a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who her husband was believed to be in a train crash and after all the excitement of feeling 'free' her husband shows up unexpectedly and was awfully shocking for Mrs. Mallard to handle! 'Desiree's Baby' is about Desiree who Armand, a rich slave owner, falls in love with. When Desiree was a girl she had been abandoned as a baby on a neighbouring plantation and brought up as a daughter of the house of Valmonde. As no one knew her true origin, after having a son
Desiree's baby
Ben Adams 24th October 2001 DESIREE'S BABY This story is written in the turbulent times of the 19th century in the southern states of America, an area renowned for its plantations and slavery Although Desiree's appearance at Valmondes is a mystery she may have been abandoned by a Texan wagon train or she may have roamed away, she was found sleeping in the shadow of a large stone pillar. Desiree may have had a turbulent start in life but she grew up to be "beautiful, gentle, affectionate and sincere". Armand fell in love with her almost at once that day. He had known her since he was 8 yrs old when he had returned from Paris he likened falling in love and described it like "an avalanche" or" a prairie fire". On wanting to marry Monsieur Valmonde reminded Armand that Desiree's origins were a little obscure and she was also nameless Armand looked in his eyes and did not care he was about to give her one of the oldest and proudest names in Louisiana. Armand house was certainly not a home it lacked the touch of a mistress as his own mother had died in France many years earlier when he was eight, Armand like many of his era treated his slaves badly they were property to him not human beings. Just after the birth of Desiree's baby she tells Madame Valmonde that Armand had mellowed out and had not punished a slave since his son's arrival she also expressed that "Armand
In Crime and Punishment, both Sonya and Dunya are the embodiments of Christian virtue, which they demonstrate in their self-sacrifice, abasement, and suffering.
Chelsea Greenlee Dostoevsky 6 April 2011 Women as Images of Christian Virtue and Sacrifice During the 19th century, author and philosopher Fyodor Dostoyevsky used his novels as a means to explore human psychology and perception in the troubled political, social, and spiritual context of Imperial Russian society. While in prison serving a sentence for his membership in the liberal intellectual group the Petrashevsky Circle, Dostoevsky underwent a powerful conversion experience, which greatly strengthened his Christian Orthodox faith and encouraged him to extol the virtues of humility, submission, and suffering. The incredible impact of Dostoevsky's conversion experience and the subsequent strengthening of his faith are evident throughout his novels, in which characters, most often women, fully embody these Christian values. As is characteristic of his writings, Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment communicates his admiration of Christ-like virtues and his great respect for "proud women," using remarkable but tortured female characters, such as Pulcheria, Katerina, Sonya, and Dunya, to illustrate spiritual and social truths. This is especially true of the novel's two most prominent female characters, Dunya and Sonya. In Crime and Punishment, both Sonya and Dunya are the embodiments of Christian virtue, which they demonstrate in their self-sacrifice, abasement, and
In what ways, and to what extent, does Mrs Dalloway illustrate Woolfs intention to use her novel to criticise the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense ? (Woolf, A Writers Diary, 1923)
Mrs Dalloway. In what ways, and to what extent, does Mrs Dalloway illustrate Woolf's intention to use her novel to "criticise the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense" ? (Woolf, A Writer's Diary, 1923) This essay will be investigating to what extent Woolf used her novel Mrs Dalloway to criticise the social system. To do this I will be taking into account the year the novel was written, and examining the social situations which the reader could have perceived to be critical. Also, it will be important to acknowledge that some of the socially critical situations Woolf uses had not been encountered before, and to reason that perhaps Woolf wrote Mrs Dalloway to try and draw public attentions to the reaction to events that the general public, politicians and all the social classes had no idea how to deal with. At the same time the essay will use these points to connect the novel and Woolf to its modernist roots. Woolf began writing what would become Mrs Dalloway in the summer of 1922 shortly after World War 1 had ended. Public suffering from the war was still inflicting its massive after effects, and Woolf wanted to write an expression of what she felt was happening. On my initial forays into researching Virginia Woolf my opinion was very closed, I felt she was very insular. Commenting on the outside world from the safety of her own well educated and
George Orwell: Rebel to Patriot
Amber Boyd 5-10-02 George Orwell: Rebel to Patriot When the Spanish Civil war broke out, George Orwell was very much a political rebel. Orwell was a Democratic Socialist in England during a time when Socialism was not accepted. He joined the Spanish militia to help fight the fascist coup when the English government would do nothing to help the Spanish democratic government. Events that occurred while Orwell was in Spain, as described in Homage to Catalonia, and after he returned home caused Orwell to question his political views and the views he held toward his own country. These new, more patriotic, attitudes are expressed in the essay England, Your England. When Orwell arrived in Barcelona, a form of socialism had taken hold of the area. Orwell described it as such, "It was the first time that I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle. In outward appearance it was a town in which the wealthy classes had practically ceased to exist." Orwell's immediate reaction to the situation was to find it odd, even dislike it, but at the same time, find it "worth fighting for." The Spanish militia was organized in a similar classless way. Everyone from private to general received the same pay, lived in the same conditions, and shared what little they had. Orwell gave part of the credit for success of socialism's early stages in Spain to the Spanish
Huck and Jim The development of Huck through Jim - In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Huck and Jim The development of Huck through Jim By: Ashik Kabir In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many themes arise to the surface of the story. Perhaps one of the more recognizable themes is the one that deals with the development of Huck and especially with his feelings about Jim. Through the eyes of Huck, one must first look at the society that he lived in to understand what America was like during the time of this Twain's story. Next, one must look at the way in which Huck was raised in order to see how Huck developed his own moral beliefs, a set of moral beliefs that were very different from that of the societies. Finally, by analyzing the moral "dilemma" through the relationship that Huck has with Jim, we will be able to see that Huck does indeed develop his attitude towards Jim for the better. From the very beginning of the story, readers are aware of the time in which this book was written (or the period it was written for). The corruption of society morally fit the people's need of that time. For example, Huck lived with his aunt in the beginning of the story. When his father returned to town, he demanded that Huck be returned to him. A court date is set to decide with whom Huck Finn should stay with. The Judge turns the custody back over the Huck's abusive, careless, alcoholic father. Later, when Huck fakes his own death, we see how
Response to “The Awakening”
Response to "The Awakening" Kate Chopin uses a dreamlike realm in order to better describe the enlightenment that Edna Pontellier experiences in "The Awakening." She uses this technique throughout the novel to enhance the reader's perception of the surreal experience engulfing Edna. In chapter 10, when Edna first begins to feel this strange empowerment over her body, Chopin incorporates fantastic language. "A feeling of exultation took over her, as if some power of significant import had been given to her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim out far, where no woman had swum before...She turned her face seaward to gather in an impression of space and solitude, which the vast expanse of water, meeting and melting with the moonlit sky, conveyed to her excited fancy. As she swam she seemed to be reaching out for the unlimited in which to lose herself (567)." Chopin is clearly describing a surreal occurrence here. This is also one of the most defining moments in the story, when Edna realizes that she can swim, sanctioning her with a new sense of worth and being. She is overwhelmed with a desire to let the ocean fulfill her needs of her senses being awakened and her wishes discovered. Furthermore, in this supernatural chapter, Robert describes a