...Everyone believes in having a big American Dream. The House On Mango Street, which is the title, is also authored by Sandra Cisneros. In this story the main character is Esperanza. Esperanza is a young girl that lives in Chicago in the 1980’s that has a tough life and is very poor. Her family isn’t very wealthy. The struggles to the American Dream are honesty, poverty and trust. The first struggle to the American Dream is honesty. In the story Papa and Mama lied. They told Esperanza that they were going to live in a big nice and a way better house then the one they live in now. They promised her that was going to happen. When they moved into the house on Mango St Esperanza was very mad because it wasn’t what she imagined. Come to find out...
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...Percy Bysshe Shelley Axel D. Gonzalez Ms. Bowcock English III 18 May 2012 I. Thesis Based on the Romantic time period as well as the poet’s own life, Percy Bysshe Shelley composed “The night” which displays themes of II. Time Period a. Romantic b. 1770’s c. III. Biography a. Percy Bysshe Shelley b. September 4, 1792-July 8, 1822 c. IV. Analysis (example # 1) a. To Night To Night Swiftly walk o'er the western wave, Spirit of Night! Out of the misty eastern cave, Where, all the long and lone daylight, Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear, Which make thee terrible and dear,— Swift be thy flight! Wrap thy form in a mantle gray, Star-inwrought! Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day; Kiss her until she be wearied out, Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land, Touching all with thine opiate wand— Come, long-sought! When I arose and saw the dawn, I sighed for thee; When light rode high, and the dew was gone, And noon lay heavy on flower and tree, And the weary Day turned to his rest, Lingering like an unloved guest. I sighed for thee. Thy brother Death came, and cried, Wouldst thou me? Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed, Murmured like a noontide bee, Shall I nestle near thy side? Wouldst thou me?—And I replied, No, not thee! Death...
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...Author Ursula K. LeGuin once claimed, “Success is somebody else’s failure. Success is the American Dream we can keep dreaming because most people in most places, including the thirty million of ourselves, live wide awake in the terrible reality of poverty.” LeGuin essentially claims that in order for one to succeed, another must fail; however, success stems from one’s own failure. LeGuin mentions the American Dream, which, for years, has been perceived by most as the hope of success and prosperity. Closely akin to this is the American Spirit. Since the early settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, we Americans have done nothing less than to keep our heads held high and do whatever it takes to achieve success. As concluded by Claudia O’Keefe in The Traveling Bra Salesman’s Lesson, “Only when we admit that the future awaits us can we embrace a more inclusive and thrilling successor…” O’Keefe reminds us how important it is to live for the future – not necessarily the moment. It is exactly this that the American Spirit adheres to, as remarked by President Barack Obama in his Independence Day address on July 4, 2009: “…It is what has always led us, as a people, not to wilt or cower at a difficult moment, but to face down any trial and rise to any challenge…” This has been exactly how we, as Americans, have conducted ourselves since the settling of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. We make our mistakes, do our due diligence, and make success a reality. In this way, success stems from, and is...
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...losing something or someone. Loss comes in many different forms. Some examples from the short stories outlined in the following paragraphs are loss of possession, loss of a life, and the loss of what you thought you knew by learning the truth. Loss destroys peoples lives. In the short story “Was it a Dream?” written by Guy De Meapassant, man is mourning after the loss of his beloved wife, only to discover after her death that she was unfaithful to him. The guy is lost because his entire world is turned upside down because not only has he lost his partner, but he's lost the reassurance that was helping him cope by thinking his wife truly did love him even though she didn't. “The Gift...
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...Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000) will blow your mind. It may be one of the most disturbing films ever made, not in the sense of gore, but in the sense of commonplace situations that are relatable to any person in today’s society. Requiem for a Dream grabs you emotionally and gives you a slap on the face, with its intense drama and striking visuals. This is the simple story with a plot concentrating on addiction and human weaknesses, based on the novel by Hubert Selby, Junior. Aronofsky narrates the tales of four addicts. Three of them are young junkies, Harry Goldfarb (portrayed by Jared Leto); his girlfriend, Merion (Jennifer Connelly); and his buddy Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). The movie is memorable for Ellen Burstyn's role as Sara Goldfarb, the mother of Harry. Her most memorable quote, summing up most of her character: “Purple in the morning, blue in the afternoon, orange in the evening, and green in the night.” It shows that even things that are considered normal, such as medication prescribed by doctors, can backfire and jumpstart an addiction for naïve patients. Sara’s dream is to get back into a red dress, nostalgic of her younger days when she was thin and conventionally beautiful. A lonely house, a refrigerator, a television set symbolizes the empty and mundane life of the elderly Sara Goldfarb. Striving for her dream, she seeks medical help to go on a diet. The doctor does not hesitate to prescribe her four medications to take daily. She is hopeful about...
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...speaker comforts him until he falls asleep. The next three stanzas recount Tom Dacre's somewhat apocalyptic dream of the chimney sweepers’ “heaven.” However, the final stanza finds Tom waking up the following morning, with him and the speaker still trapped in their dangerous line of work. There is a hint of criticism here in Tom Dacre's dream and in the boys' subsequent actions, however. Blake decries the use of promised future happiness as a way of subduing the oppressed. The boys carry on with their terrible, probably fatal work because of their hope in a future where their circumstances will be set right. This same promise was often used by those in power to maintain the status quo so that workers and the weak would not unite to stand against the inhuman conditions forced upon them. As becomes more clear in Blake's Songs of Experience, the poet had little patience with palliative measures that did nothing to alter the present suffering of impoverished families. What on the surface appears to be a condescending moral to lazy boys is in fact a sharp criticism of a culture that would perpetuate the inhuman conditions of chimney sweeping on children. Tom Dacre (whose name may derive from “Tom Dark,” reflecting the sooty countenance of most chimney sweeps) is comforted by the promise of a future outside the “coffin” that is his life’s lot. Clearly, his present state is terrible and only made bearable by the two-edged hope of a happy afterlife following a...
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...Daniel Ochefu Baseball, Justice and the American Dream Final Paper Due: 5/1/2015 I ‘Like’ Baseball Before taking this course baseball was one of my least favorite things to do in any way simply because I did not know about the sport and the impact it has on many people’s lives to respect the time that the players spend preparing to perform. I was always critical of the amount of work that was put in physically for baseball compared to other sports like basketball, football, hockey and others. I always thought it was not that much because there are almost no physical collisions in games and that was all I really needed to know after I was told that on average games are three plus hours. From everything I have learnt about baseball in this course, there is a respect that I now have for it that I definitely did not have for it before. Being America’s pastime, baseball has been the one constant in America because of its deep history that it promotes and the pride that the fans exhibit. Even during unfortunate events that shake the whole country, baseball finds a way to bring the country together. The most recent one that stood out to me being how the Boston Red Sox brought together a whole city after the terrible Boston Marathon Bombings of 2013 by winning the World Series and using that to help strengthen a city that had been hurt badly by a terrible event. The World Series celebration is normally extravagant and well televised but this one brought all Americans together...
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...After the Industrial Revolution, human beings no longer think themselves as a part of nature; contrary, anthropocentrism got its stage, became accepted by more people. Last week, we’ve watched Akira Kurosawa’s movie – “Dreams”; therefore, our group are going to have further discussion about the movie, and what are those things of which Akira Kurosawa wanted to remind us. First, anthropocentrism, it is the belief that human beings are the central or most significant species on the planet. Because of it, we have done many terrible things to the earth. In the “Dreams”, Akira Kurosawa tried to remind us of some crucial points. In the first dream, the boy peeked foxes wedding, regardless of his mother’s warning. Consequently, his was blamed for...
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...author of Night, describes his terrible sightings during the Holocaust. He was fifteen when his family, along with himself, arrived at Auschwitz, a death camp. Elie was separated from his mother and three sisters, but remained with his father. In Night, Elie Wiesel uses foreshadowing, symbolism, and tone to portray the inhumane conditions that occurred during his experiences and the ripple effect of harm it caused. Elie uses foreshadowing to hint that something terrible is coming. “Moishe was not the same. The joy in his eyes was gone. He spoke only of what he had seen. But people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity, that he was imagining things” (7). Moishe has seen what was hurdling towards them. He had already lived through it. The...
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...He says when a person is asleep; he is not ‘thinking’, ‘behaving’ or ‘doing anything significant’. Monroe in his 30’s started having these strange “dreams”. Dr Gordon, his family doctor and explained his situation as ‘not physical’. Monroe used to feel vibrations in his body. Soon he realized he will have to deal with it himself, he started experimenting and taking notes. At first his ‘dreams’ were normal. He could walk here and there in his sleep while still being conscious. Thus he called his experience as ‘journey’. He recorded that someone is helping him in the...
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...R.I.P Although people may have the best intentions and carefully-laid plans, factors outside their control can prohibit their dreams from becoming reality. Throughout Lennie and George's journey in the Novel Of Mice and Men we are introduced to a variety of characters. Each character is different in their own way and have different feelings for George and Lennie. Through the character of Candy, Steinbeck shows that issues outside the control of an individual often limit the achievement of an individual’s dreams. What makes Candy's dream special is that he shares it with George and Lennie. While eavesdropping on lennie and George's conversation he hears George explaining the dream to Lennie, Candy is fascinated about the idea of their dream. Having a farm with a lot of land is very appealing to him, so Candy buds into the conversation and attempts to get in on the dream. Candy quotes “ Suppose I went with you guys. That's three hundred and fifty bucks I'd put in. I ain't much good, but I could tend the chickens...
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...refers to the child not being able to speak clearly to say sweep. This child fate appears to have been sealed when his mother died; it also appears the child would make his father appear cruel and unloving. Because the child says “my father sold me...” it does not state my father sent me to work. This poem has a sense of sadness in the beginning, until the child narrator being to talk to Tom. Tom was having his hair shaved off and I am sure it was not a comfortable moment, but the child narrator begins to comfort Tom. It appears he wants to tell him it will be alright. Through there was disappointed with Tom losing his hair, a sense of peace was recovered because Tom became quiet and went on to sleep. The child narrator, shares Tom’s dream, with so much joy when he said “As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!” He begins...
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...I remember a sound in my dream that was telling me that I should make the most out of my life. The sound was saying that I am the captain of my own ship. However, I ignored the sound because I thought that I had all that I ever wanted in life. After waking up in the morning, I thought to myself. I reflected on all the terrible things I had done with my life and thought that the sound was right. However, I told myself that it was just but a dream. Little did I know that the sound was trying to drive me out of the bad things that I was doing into engaging into a righteous lifestyle. However, I thought that a righteous lifestyle was meant for those people who were desperate in life. I therefore continued to live my life as I used to without caring about tomorrow. However, after I was declared jobless and I had spent all my resources on lavish activities, I sat down and thought about the voice that was once telling me to refrain from the lavish activities. I started thinking that the voice in my dreams was trying to direct me on the right path but I ignored it. Now is the high time that I am beginning to think of the things that I should have done when I first heard the voice in my dreams telling me that I should make the most out of my life. I am now aware that I should have listened to the inner voice that was telling me about molding my life when I still had the chance to do...
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...The American Dream of today is all about being given everything without working for it. However, during the 1900’s it was all about working hard. People packed up everything and moved for a chance at a better life. This was a great risk and negatively impacted many people. There wasn’t enough jobs so people became poor. Also, the living conditions were terrible because of how many people had moved to find a better life. In the story Of Mice and Men the author, John Steinbeck, shows the reader that everyone works hard for the American Dream of the 1930’s but it is rarely attainable. One way the American Dream is unattainable is how it is just a dream. For example, the dream that George and Lennie had of them owning their own land seemed like a possibility, but it was crushed when Lennie killed Curley’s wife. This shows how anything that a person does can ruin their chances of attaining their perfect life, or the American Dream. Another example is: “More than a dream of land or property or riches or even a house of one's own, George's vision encompasses a broader range of values—freedom, abundance, fairness, nature, and companionship—that are universally desired by the novel's characters, even if they too often remain tragically unfulfilled” (Zeitler). This shows that no matter how much someone...
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...about the streets./ O Caesar, these things are beyond all we/ and I do fear them.” (II.ii.16-26) Calpurnia is presented as a very anxious lady, deeply concerned about the safety of her husband. She pleads with Caesar to not go to the Senate because there were reports of very bizarre happenings in Rome and she has a terrible dream. Calpurnia saw some people murdering Caesar and the people of Rome washing their hands in Caesar’s blood. In her dream she saw some unnatural things, and she interpreted that something bad was going to happen....
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