...Heart of Darkness Essay Light and dark imagery is one element most commonly used in literature, and has held specific symbolic meanings for hundreds of years. Simply stated, light generally symbolizes good, while darkness symbolizes the complete opposite, evil. More specifically, Conrad uses detailed imagery of light and dark to show that white men can in fact be more savage than the natives. While the contrast of light and dark, white and black, and good and evil is a common theme in his novel, Conrad reverses the meanings of the two. In his story often the light is viewed as more menacing and evil than the darkness, and the white characters more spiteful than the black. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses light and dark imagery and the reversing of their regular meanings as a main focal point throughout the novel. Conrad establishes throughout this the theme that not everything is as it seems. Conrad uses light imagery as a symbol of civilization. Darkness is defined as the absence of light just like the black jungle is defined as the absence of white man’s civilization, a civilization full of corruption and evil. Conrad’s first description of Brussels is an example of this. “In a very few hours I arrived at a city that always made me think of a white sepulcher.” It is significant that Conrad describes the building as a white coffin, because the job there is sending men out to retrieve ivory, ultimately resulting in their death. This cycle of evil begins and ends in...
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...A Response to Anna Quindlen’s “Homeless” In the story “Homeless” by Anna Quindlen, she describes what she thinks of a home as. Quindlen met a woman who claimed to be passing through, but she knew that she had seen this woman more. She also talks about what she thinks a home is and I do not completely agree with what she thinks a home is. A person could have everything they want in a house, but if there is no love and support, then it is not a home. I do not know what it is like to be homeless, but I do know what it is like for a home to not feel like a home. I agree with Quindlen that home is where the heart is, it is a shame there are so many homeless people in the world, and that a home should be a stable place. It is nice to have a roof over my head and I appreciate everything I have, but all of that does not make a place a home. I do not believe that you are where you live, unlike Quindlen (191). Where you come from does not always make you who you are today. A person can come from a terrible home and may have struggles as a child but that does not mean they will grow up to be a terrible person. Home is where the heart is and if you have a good heart, you will make a good home whether it is when you are young or when you start a family. One of the most common rules of life is to learn from your mistakes. Though how you were raised is not a...
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...Voltaire, known as the father of the French Revolution, was one of the greatest Enlightenment thinkers of the 1800s. He was very critical of religion and the world around him, and his satirical works often angered the aristocracy around him. In Voltaire’s Candide, Candide’s adventure is told as a coming of age story. Voltaire wrote Candide this way to comment on the enlightenment ideas of the time through Candide’s responses. Voltaire was “not afraid to debunk the foolish facts and fancy of humanity,” (Academy) and used candide his vessel. Through Candide’s growth, Voltaire emphasizes the importance of exercising one’s own thought instead of blindly following others philosophies. When Candide begins his story in Westphalia, he is innocent...
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... Class: second Semester: summer Year: 2012/2013 The Nightingale and the Rose is a short story written by Oscar Wilde. The story begins with a young Student crying because the daughter of the Professor told him that if he brought her red roses, she would dance with him at the ball, but there are no red roses in his garden. When a nightingale overhears what is the Student saying, she comes to a conclusion that he´s a true lover and that he knows the true meaning of Love. „‘Here, indeed, is the true lover,‘ said the Nightingale. ‚What I sing of, he suffers: what is joy to me, to him is pain. Surely love is a wonderful thing.‘“ So she makes a decision to find a red rose for him. Even before her search we get to know another characters from nature - a Green Lizard, a Butterfly and a Daisy. They think that the Student´s weeping for a red rose is ridiculous, only the Nightingale understands him and thinks about the mystery of Love. So she finds a white rose tree, a yellow rose tree and finally a red rose tree but it´s damaged after the winter and it shall have no roses at all. There is just one terrible way how to build the rose: „'If you want a red rose,' said the Tree, 'you must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with your own heart's-blood. You must sing to me with your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life-blood must flow into my veins, and become mine." The Nightingale decides that the...
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...Many legends and stories have been told, with a hero being the main character, and each time the story seems to be following some sort of a pattern, a pattern that guides all the stories ever told. Essentially, there is just one hero story, with many variations of it – different characters and different problems but basically the same plot. Joseph Campbell discovered this, and gave the pattern a name, the 12 Stages of a Hero’s Journey. Many stories fit into these 12 stages, like The Emperor’s New Groove, for example. Kuzco is the hero in this case, and successfully goes through all 12 stages of a hero’s Journey. Stage 1 At the very start of the hero’s grand journey, he is initially introduced in his usual, common, everyday life - there is nothing out of the ordinary for the hero. Then he...
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...Discussion Board #1: Narcissism Discussion Board #1: Narcissism In many aspects of our lives we feel the need to be appreciated for the things that we do (Fisher 2012). Some of us desire this feeling so much that we become consumed by it. Greek mythology tells us of a story regarding Narcissus, who was so vain that it caused him to fall in love with his self or his image. From this story we derive the personality characteristic known as narcissism. According to Robins & Judge (2009, p.112) “narcissism describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance, requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant.” This personality attribute may have impacts on an individual’s life in many different ways, but when it comes to the workplace there are certain negatively defined impressions. It is not abnormal for an individual to desire for their efforts to accomplish something and if not we may even feel that we have failed (Fisher 2012). “Narcissists overestimate their own accomplishments and seem pretentious; although self-enhancement bias is common, narcissism is characterized by extreme levels of this bias” (Byrne & O’Brien 2014, p.244). These behaviors, especially when found in a leader, can prove to be most damaging to their underlings or even their peers. There is the tendency for narcissists to be exploitive, selfish and even feel as though the existence of others is merely for their benefit (Robins & Judge 2009, p.112). As expected...
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...What Uplift Family Services is trying to do is to get in touch with people who are willing and able to become foster parents can connect with the children that are looking for a foster home. They are searching for the good, kind, and loving families that want to take care of the children so that stories like those of Sophia and Princess Calizaire don't happen. Sophia and Princess were abused not just by their foster families but by also by some of their fell foster siblings. In this NBC article by Nathalie Pozo, Ester Jacobo, the saunter regional director of Florida's Department of Children and Families, stated that "currently, there are just fewer than 20,000 children in foster care statewide and during a two-month span between August and October, there were 127 verified abuse cases across the state of Florida"...
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...Macy Story Haines English 111 27 October, 2014 Lessons Learned from Literacy One is capable to learn a world of information and concepts. Fredrick Douglass was an African American who “was born a slave in 1918 in Maryland” (Douglass100). He was a leader in the abolitionist movement and had a knack for wanting to learn. He never lost sight of what he wanted in his life no matter what he went through. He never stopped his aspiration to read and write, even though it was illegal for slaves to have an education. He learned a lot of lessons from literacy; there is never a lack of things to be grateful for, knowledge is freedom, and the opportunity to become a leader. Douglass grew up with nothing that we have, which is stuff we take for granted today. Douglass never gave up and never had a lack of things to be grateful for. He couldn’t have freedom of speech, knowing when he’s going to eat, knowing what he is going to sleep on, having clothes, and an education. These are basic needs that every person, even children have today. Especially teenagers and children, some don’t even care about their education, but that’s what Douglass lived for, even though he’s been through hell and beyond what any of us today experience. Children are so ungrateful nowadays they don’t take advantage of the free schooling they get, they’d rather skip class, and they haven’t even been through half of what Douglass went through. Douglass fought, and even though he didn’t have much to be grateful...
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...Judy Blagg Mrs. Neal Comp. II 29 September 2015 Character Analysis Essay A story that has very few characters but progresses nicely is “The Necklace”. The two primary characters are Mr. Loisel and his wife, Madame Loisel. They interact with only one other named character who is a friend of Madame Loisel’s, Madame Forestier. Throughout the entire story, the main focus stays on Madame Loisel with her various moods and reactions. However, her husband deserves so much more recognition for his support, than he receives. Without the interactions of Mr. Loisel with his wife, the reader would be at a loss to as why Madame Loisel seems to be so bothered and moved. It’s easy to forget that Mr. Loisel is relevant to the story, for that is the view his wife has. Out of sight out of mind, is what appears when speaking of Mr. Loisel, yet without his support, the story would not read as smoothly. Mr. Loisel is a hard-working man who knows where he stands in society and is content with himself in his place. He is kind-hearted and seems satisfied with his life and his marriage. He goes off to work to be the bread winner for the family and then returns to who should be an adoring wife. Being faced with her constant whining and snooty comments of how mediocre her life is. Mr. Loisel is untouched by his wife’s negativity, always having a quick idea to try to appease her sour demeanor. He tries to make her feel appreciated in ways by complimenting the dinner when Madame Loisel shows disdain...
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...When reading a novel or a short story, the question on why the author creates particular characters will come to mind. There can be significant traits the character possesses that the reader should recognize automatically throughout the story. In other words, characters in a story are one of the main key points that help a reader fully understand the context that the author has written about. Characteristics throughout a story assist with painting the image inside the readers head on the time, surrounding, and appearance of a character. In the Necklace, by Guy De Maupassant character development is illustrated. Character development is an essential element that authors use throughout their stories to make the character become more realistic to their audience. There are several factors that make up the development of a character such as action, setting, and descriptions. Having these factors of character development identified while reading a story can make the text become more realistic to the readers eyes. A characters description is very important when developing a story. For an example, in the short story Sweat by Zora Neal Hurston, the protagonist Delia physical appearance is greatly expresses within the story. Hurston describes Delia as a southern African American washer woman who is so skinny that her legs resemble a chicken’s, and is physically drain from all the hard work she does around her house. Delia physical appearance is not beautiful, because she endures physical...
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...The words sound off with so many bells and alarms going off like a nuclear bomb headed for the area. God’s wake-up call for the many evil hearts of the world, their desires and the burning lusts that resound inside the human flesh is to repent and come to Him. Even with such strong arguments as these, many who are of the blind world will not see but change the text to fit the personal’s lusts for today’s culture. For instance, it is said in many homosexual circles that Sodom and Gamora was about violent rape and orgies and God is against violent rape and unconsented sex but that He wants love expressed between two people who want to express themselves not only in physical sex, but with the love that two people, any two people, carry with them...
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...The Love Suicides Close Reading The Love Suicides at Amijima is a dramatic story written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon about a man who falls in love with a courtesan, Koharu. Because the man, Jihei, doesn’t have very much money, he cannot buy out the rest of Koharu’s contract. Leading them to creative a suicide pact. In this paper I am going to focus on page 53 and page 61. In this close read I will determine that although On page 61 it is important to understand who Jihei is talking to. If we look at the person he is talking to we see his wife Osan. She tells him how outrageous he is acting and how he deserves what’s coming to him. She talks about how ruthless and evil he is for sleeping beside her every night while in love with another woman. This response is what should be expect of anyone who is being cheated on -- disgust....
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...Jenna Erickson THEO 104-D14 5/4/15 Reflection Paper 2 I. Introduction For my second reflection paper, similar to my first, I am choosing two topics in which can somewhat go hand in hand with each other. The two topics I am choosing are: Creation and the Fall of Man. In today’s primarily secular culture, the teachings of creation and the fall of man are topics that are too commonly misrepresented and misunderstood amongst many. Both creation and the fall of man are fundamental foundations to establishing a Christian biblical worldview. In two separate sections, I will present creation and the fall of man, while going in-depth into the theological definitions, biblical foundations, and practical applications for both. I will tackle these topics in the order in which they happened, and discuss how this relates to myself and how this class has helped me to get to this point of a better understanding of the scriptures teachings. II. Part One – Creation a. Theological Definition The ideology of creation preaches that the one true God created ex nihilo, or out of nothing, the universe and everything within it. God created the “heavens, the earth, the fish, the various kinds of species of animals, and man as the crown of His creation” (Townes, Origin). This doctrine claims that there was nothing before His creation; no time, substance, space, energy, beings, area or etc. God’s existence alone stood before creation and is solely responsible for everything there is and continues...
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...Who is God? God is God. God is different to different people, to many He is the Almighty, conquering and definite epitome of a hero. And to some he is a Saviour, friend and companion. And to others, God is everything. He is a friend, the pillow that they cry on, and the One who is with them in battles. He is the Almighty and the friend. And ultimately God is our Saviour. We as humans are needy, according to C.S Lewis, we have this innate need for love, and care and affection; how much ever we try to deny it, called Need-Love. It is the kind of love that we require when we feel alone or scared. We are needy, and we go to God when we are needy. It is this sweet spot that God tells us to translate in ourselves and be kind and generous to those who are in need. We have this need to clean this record of all the wrong and start anew; we can have this with God. We need someone who is going to accept us with grace no matter what our history or track record shows. God tells the Israelites to be Holy for He is also Holy. God calls them out to be generous and kind to those who are needy. God reminds them that they too were once in bondage, and that God had delivered them from this bondage. In the Old Testament, Israelites are shown to do this by adhering to the festival of Sabbath. Sabbath is the day where they follow the example of God, whereby God created the entire universe and rested on the seventh day. The Israelites in the same way practiced Sabbath in their daily lives....
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...Haftom Wineh Eng. 112 08/04/15 Literary Analysis of “The Necklace” In the short story of “The Necklace,” Guy De Maupassant narrates about a woman who just cannot seem to be happy and dreams about being rich. Maupassant uses imagery and symbolism to convey his theme as well as the value of a false materialism in the story. The narrator uses the necklace as a symbol to show us the biggest deception of appearances. At the story’s heart is a masterful depiction of the protagonist, Loisel Mathilde. She is a young, beautiful, charming, materialistic, discontent and snobbish lady. Mathilde agrees to marry a clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction, who always tries to make her happy. Mathilde cares very much about beautiful things and appearances that, in fact, do not match with her reality. She borrows a necklace and loses it, and then spends ten years of hard life paying back the cost of the lost necklace. Maupassant shows ironic situation by using a necklace as a symbol to illustrate Mathilde’s obsession with wealth and her dishonesty, which cause her downfall in the story. The protagonist, Mathilde, lives in middle-class society but longs to be a member of high-class society. She spends most of her time envying everybody with a sweeter life than her own. Maupassant narrates that Mathilde has a little peasant girl who works in her house and washes the...
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