Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde Essays

Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde Essays Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde Paper Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde Paper Teenagers do not always long to grow up. The term hanging fire refers to a firearm with its trigger pulled but is delayed in igniting. In this case, of the poem â€Å"Hanging Fire† by Audre Lorde, it represents the girl being hesitant and insecure about her future, therefore is neglected in going on, as in the bullet that is supposed to fire. Lorde’s focus is on several issues that confront the teenager within the poem and affect teenagers in the extended world: the preoccupation with death, the problem of living in a sexist society, and the fear of isolation within the home that will be the recurring problem which ultimately causes the young girl to be traumatized. Lorde uses short sentences to present the complex idea that resonates with women all over the world – the stereotype of nagging is used as an excuse for problems to be ignored. In â€Å"Hanging Fire,† the speaker talks about that time in a girl’s life when she is not yet a woman, but she is not just a girl either. The feeling of growing into one’s own skin is not comfortable for anyone, but this speaker puts this agonizing process into clear concise words. This speaker explores both the physical and the emotional aspects of puberty. The speaker, who is fourteen, speaks of her skin, her room, her braces, her boyfriend, her grades, and her clothes in a tone of despair. She talks about these things in such a desperate manner that the audience can picture their own experience vividly. She talks about how she feels ignored by her mother. Though tragic, many women can relate to this experience of self-wallowing and uncomfortable changes. That desperation and frustration cause her to think about her fear of death. Throughout the entire poem, the teenager is preoccupied with death and dying. In the first stanza, she frets, â€Å"what if I die / before morning† (8-9). In the second stanza, she worries, â€Å"suppose I die before graduation† (15). In the final stanza she is trou :

The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview

The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview â€Å"The distance between me and my readers is the internet† An interview with Bob Mayer How can indie authors use eBooks to their full advantage, creatively exploiting their potential to be adapted over time and linked to an author’s whole output?Bob Mayer is a New York Times Bestselling Author who is not afraid to explore the incredible new opportunities available to authors. With 60 books published - both traditionally published and indie-published - Bob has sold over four million books. He and is also a leadership speaker and consultant, coaching authors on many aspects of writing and publishing. He is also CEO of Cool Gus Publishing and his latest book Time Patrol has just come out. On top of all that, he is the only West Point Graduate and Former Green Beret we’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing! We talk about his work as a hybrid author, his marketing techniques, and Italian book covers†¦ It’s really great to be interviewing Bob this afternoon - a New York Times bestselling author, writing coach, who also writes a lot about publishing and self-publishing. Firstly Bob, it’d be great to start with your writing course Write on the River, how is it going?I’ve been doing writing workshops for a number of years - I used to hold small intimate workshops and various bed and breakfasts. After my wife and I moved to the Tennessee River, we got a nice big house, so a couple of times a year we bring four writers into the weekend, working with them on their books. The weekend after this  I’ve got four people coming down.So you work with them on all sorts of things, structure and character development, that type of thing?I change it for every group because every group is a little different. I’ve had number one New York Times bestsellers here - usually it’s published authors with some experience, but occasionally I’ve had a new auth or. We usually spend a lot of time on the ‘idea and conflict lock’ and a lot of time talking about the business, because so many things are up in flux right now.Many authors - even established authors - are wondering right now, â€Å"should I become a hybrid author?†, â€Å"should I keep traditionally publishing?†, â€Å"should I self-publish?† One of our authors came down here for the weekend and she’s publishing with Cool Gus, so she’s become a hybrid author.You are a hybrid author who has published a number of different ways, could you tell us a bit more about that?I was published in New York for 42 books - Random House, St Martins - many big houses. Then I went self-publishing as I had a huge backlist to which I owned the rights and formed my own publishing company Cool Gus.I knew from the very beginning what I wanted was to sign with 47 North, Amazon’s Science Fiction imprint. The main reason I did that was because of their marketing capabilities. They have tremendous power to market you on their site. So I’ve got a book we’re going to publish May 5th. I’ve got a book coming back from 47 North that’s due out in August, so I alternate writing science-fiction for amazon and thrillers for my own company.What is it specifically about their marketing that interested you?They have reach: they call it ‘merchandising’. They really know who the readers are and have huge databases. They know everyone who has bought one of their previous books and send them an email. They also do pricing - in the UK they have a ‘book for a pound’ - they pick a number of titles and promote those. There is a huge difference sales-wise when you use any of these platforms - whether Amazon, Apple or Audible ACX - they give you some ‘merchandising’ and your sales can skyrocket.Yes, we’ve found with many authors that email lists are really helpful, because you ar e talking to an engaged audience, and that it’s worth slowly building them upYes, we don’t send many newsletters out because we feel many people are bombarded by them, but we are focusing on building our list this year. The other thing we have is a private Facebook group called ‘The A-team’: we’ve got about 30 people in there. These are people who really like my books. It’s a small intimate group where we chat about what I’m writing. If you can get a core of about 40-50 readers who talk about you and promote you, that’s huge. The book - Time Patrol (Area 51: The Nightstalkers Book 4) - just came out yesterday and I’ve already got a handful of reviews, mainly because of those types of people.I like the idea of nurturing a small but dedicated small fan group. They are the one’s you can have a personal connection to.The most important thing is readers. I’ve got a huge Twitter following, but I don’t reall y think it sells books; I don’t think a huge Facebook following sells books - although these things aren’t bad of course. The distance between me and my readers is the internet. I can communicate with them and respond to every email I get or every mention on Twitter. I think that’s key.There’s lot of resistance in the publishing industry to change - I think that’s because so much of it doesn’t change: it’s always going to be about great content and writing. But, of course, things are changing: are there any new developments that are interesting to you?Subscription is big. A lot of people are complaining about Kindle Unlimited for sales dropping, but Kindle Unlimited occurred at the same time as the content flood hit the eBook market - there’s just so much content out there and that’s not going away.We don’t fight those things. Yesterday we got a cheque from Draft2Digital and the Scribd subscription service. We use those things; we use Kindle Unlimited. I broke one of my non-fiction books into 15 shorts, dedicated totally to Kindle Unlimited. I think writers waste a lot of time tilting at windmills they can’t change. They need to look at the publishing landscape and use everything out there to the best of their abilities.Yes, and I think they could anticipate change a lot more than they actually do.Ha! Yea, although I don’t think anyone could tell you where we’re going to be a year from now. It does always come back to good content though. The good thing is that I think if you write a good book, that’s a big part of it and then you do have to get out there and reach the readers. The readers have to know the book exists.You’ve said in the past that this is the moment in publishing you are most excited to be a part of because the author has control.Absolutely! What I’m doing right now didn’t exist ten years ago. Ten years ago I would hold the rig ht to 50 books and be able to do absolutely nothing with them. I wouldn’t be able to sell them to anybody - I couldn’t get them in the bookstore. Now, they are in virtual bookstores, I can sell them to readers. One of our saying is â€Å"If you haven’t read it, it’s not backlist†. I was reading my first book from 1991 and I realised to someone reading it now, it’s a brand new book.One of the interesting things right now is how publishing is relating to other media. People talk about how it is conflicting of complementing other media - cable TV, movies, games, etc - but do you think also that a lot of writers could learn about how they market these media?I see writers say â€Å"go kill your TV†, but my wife and I watch a lot of TV and the writing is fantastic. Marketing-wise, if you look at what Netflix did with the Kevin Spacey show, where they released it all on the same day, I think that’s something to think about.People want instant gratification now. It used to be that in traditional publishing, I have to give a book a year, but I had to write under three pen names because they would not allow me to publish more than a book a year. Now, you cannot publish fast enough, or write fast enough to keep up with demand from readers!Yes, maybe you could experiment publishing lots at once, gaining a core reader group, then change your strategy, slow down or create anticipation.Yes one thing we’re doing is we’re putting out a book every three months this year and what I’m doing personally is I’m racking my books together. I just had a book come out yesterday that loops back to my early Atlantic series, so what I’m doing is connecting the dots over 25 years of books.At the end of the book, I say â€Å"if you want to know more about this character, go to this series†, â€Å"if you want to know more about this world, go to this series†. I think that gives readers mor e options to go through the back story.Now your books are always out there - they don’t grow old, so you can create these links in ways which weren’t previously possible.One thing I often talk about in my business is that an eBook is not like a print book: it’s very, very different. It’s organic. It’s changing. We have so many titles that when we bring out a new one, we have to go into the back and change all the links in it, we have to change the metadata.Yesterday my new book came out and is called Time Patrol and I asked my business partner, â€Å"by the way, do these books have another subgenre on Amazon of ‘time travel’, because this is actually another best seller list!† and she’d already taken care of that. So it’s just constant change, and I think it’s caught traditional publishers a little by surprise, because they are used to the ‘fire and forget’ method. They published a book and itâ €™s out there, it’s never going to change. An eBook changes constantly. I’m not talking the content - although you can do that - I’m talking all the things around it: the cover the endman, the metadata, so it’s a constant churning of things.Have you experimented with changing covers?Oh yea! We’ve changed covers. Actually, you often have to change covers, like on Amazon, where there are certain promotional things you can’t get into if you have things like a gun on the cover. I totally understand, because people complain, but you have to change the image and remove the gun, simply to get in these marketing programs!I think it’s endlessly fascinating how in different countries, different covers just work and different ones just don’t work. I think you can learn a lot about individual countries by the book covers they like!I was in a book store in Italy where it was always a scantily-clad woman on the cover with an atomic blast in the background and there was no woman in a bikini in the book! They just stick it there because that’s what sells.So much of indie publishing seems to require a certain kind of author: entrepreneurial and someone who can effectively manage their own business. Do you think that may change? Do you think it could incorporate other types of writers who are perhaps not entrepreneurial, but who still want control and the best of indie-publishing?Well, that’s a little what we do at Cool Gus. A handful of authors we work with just want to write, yet they want the freedom, so we take care of all the things for them, but we give them final say. So they don’t have to get caught up in the actual doing of it, but we’ll say, â€Å"What do you want on your cover?† - and they get the final say on that, cover copy, everything! So I think that’s a different business model.And so that they have a team to help themYes, I think it’s really hard to do it all well. There are people that do it, but it’s much easier to send someone an email and say â€Å"Please take care of this†.Where do you think agents may fit in the future?I think agents are evolving. Kristen Nelson who works with Hugh Howey is an example of an agent that’s really changed the way she looks at things. And I actually think traditional publishing is not going to die: it’s evolving and they are learning, changing and adapting. I’m querying agents right now because I need help with foreign rights. I can’t really travel to the London Book Fair, for example, so I need an agent to take care of those things for me.I think the reason publishing is so interesting is because it is a very complex industry and there are so many different things to be doing. What are you thinking about experimenting with in the next couple of years?It’s more about the creative part. I’ve been doing it so long, that what I realise is that I can produce better books faster and the market is there for it. I have so many series going, and at the same time I put a few experimental things out there. And I don’t have to sit there and worry, will my agent like it, will my editor like it, will my publisher like it, will the sales force think they can sell it? All I’ve got to care about is ‘will the readers like it?’ I don’t think that’s going to change: that I like. I can directly reach my readers and either they can hit that buy button or not, and that tells me if it’s working or not.That’s a really great message to send to our readers. Thanks so much for your time Bob!Follow @Bob_Mayer and @ReedsyHQ on TwitterDo you think too many authors waste time fighting things they can’t change? Where do you see agents fitting in in the future? Leave us your thoughts, or any question you have for Bob, in the comments below!

Globalization, Education, and Cultural Identity Assignment

Globalization, Education, and Cultural Identity - Assignment Example As the essay declares in recent decades, the push towards globalization had been unrelenting. Seen mainly as a means by which countries could improve its competitiveness in the global market for goods and services, nations of the world embarked on an all-out race to adopt the international (read: Western) manner of speaking, dressing, and acquiring a taste for music on the MTV, products sold on eBay, or movie stars on HBO. Children are especially vulnerable, because their minds are much like a blank book for anyone to write in, so unguarded are they in discerning right from wrong. It is therefore a valid concern for policy makers to determine whether educational stress on globalization benefits a country economically at the expense of its unique cultural heritage. Answering this would provide direction for institutionalized education on how to deal with unfolding developments in this area. As the paper discusses Christoph Wulf, professor of general and comparative educational sciences in Freie University in Germany, outlined some crucial points in the transmission and learning of intangible heritage. Focusing, for example, on the cultural element of rituals and practices, Wulf is of the view that what makes rituals and other practices socially and culturally effective is the performative character of the body. Rituals are valuable social functions. They help to organize the transition from one social status to another, at socially and existentially central moments such as marriage, birth and death.

Research paper on Europeans in America Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

On Europeans in America - Research Paper Example In around 1000 A.D., Leif Eriksson is said to have discovered North America (Ingstad, 2000, p.1). The early European explorers were trying to identify sea routes, which would lead them to Asia. The first officially known explorer of these routes was Christopher Columbus who undertook his sailing by order of the monarch of Spain in 1492. He made three expeditions before his death in 1506 and was able to identify the Caribbean Islands in the Bahamas. After his death, the Spanish continued the further explorations of new lands. In 1499, Italian navigators Amerigo Vespucci and Alonso de Ojeda sailed to the northern coast of South America and referred to the newly found land as a new continent. The European mapmakers named the new continent America in honor of Amerigo and Alonso de Ojeda. In 1513, a Spanish explorer Vans co Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and became the first European explorer to see the Pacific Ocean. In the same year, Juan Ponce de Leon explored the Bahama s and Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth (Space and Warren, 2011 p.4). In 1497, John Cabot, a navigator from England, traveled to the new world. French explorers Giovanni da Verrazano and Jacques Cartier explored the Atlantic coast of the present US in 1524 and 1534. As European explorers continued to look for the shortest sea routes to Asia, they also thought of colonizing the newly found land. As a result, Spain by hands of Hernan Cortes invaded Mexico in 1519 and Francisco Pizarro invaded Peru in 1532. The Early Settlement in America-New Spain Of all the European nations, Spain was the pioneering one to the colonization of America. Cortes invaded Mexico and defeated the Aztec Empire in the period 1519-1521. By 1533, Pizarro had conquered the Incas of Peru. The Spanish in their search for rumored piles of gold and silver in America sent expeditions to Kansas and Colorado under Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Hernando de Soto and Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. These early explo rers were searching for cities made of gold and silver, but they did not find them. Instead, in 1545 they discovered silver at Potosi, in what is presently Bolivia, as well as in Mexico in the same year. The new American gold and silver mines remained a powerful base for Spain’s wealth and power for a century. After the Spanish conquest in the new world, the Spanish Jesuits attempted to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. Mission centers were established in the new empire, in Florida, in New Mexico and in Virginia. After defeating the Native Americans, the Spanish established a system of forced labor known as ecomienda which was later abandoned after the Spanish religious and government authorities witnessed the brutality of the system. The Spaniards, therefore, started establishing large estates of land known as haciendas. In the beginning of the 17 century, the Dutch, Swedish, French and English colonists started arriving in the New World. By then, the Spanish col onies in New Granada (Colombia), Caribbean, New Spain (Mexico) were a century old. The colonies were a major source of power for Spain and became the main source of jealously from other European nations. French Settlement in New World By the year 1530, the French explorers had navigated the coast of America from newly found lands to Carolinas; a French explorer Samuel de Champlain had build a foundation of what came to be known as French Canada (New France) in

Tragic Flaws Of Othello Essay -- essays research papers

Jealousy and Gullibility: The Devastating Flaws of Othello â€Å"The tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw.† – Aristotle The plot of William Shakespeare's Othello is a tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal; however, the characters, themes, and attitudes of the works are different, with Shakespeare's play being a more involved study of human nature and psychology. Othello is considered to be a prime example of Aristotelian drama. It focuses upon a very small cast of characters, one of the smallest used in Shakespeare. Also, it has few distractions from the main plot, and concentrates on just a few themes, like jealousy. In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello is an excellent example of an Aristotelian tragic hero. His gullibility and jealousy are the main reason of his downfall. Othello deals with love lost because of gullibility and jealousy. The main character, Othello, is a classical example of a tragic hero, and he has the basic elements that match him up to be a true hero defined by Aristotle. His stature, that of a tall, dark, African Moor, combined with his personal magnetism, assist him in gaining the respect and allegiance of the Venetian people and senators. Othello, being a soldier all his life, is seen as a very honorable man. His title alone, governor-general, presents an air of nobility, confidence, and strength. The title defines someone who is held in tremendously high esteem by the people of Venice. An example would be when the Duke and a few Senators are discussing issues around a table when Othello enters the room. It's clear that Othello is held in high esteem when, as he enters, one of the senators states â€Å"Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor†(3:1:33: 55). Othello's confidence in himself, another of his positive attributes, is clearly portrayed as he defends himself and his recent marr iage to Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. In his defense, he associates himself with one of the â€Å"great ones† of the world. He also demonstrates confidence in himself and his actions when Brabantio, Desdemona's outraged father, accuses the Moor of witchcraft. Dignity, courage, a strong belief in religion, self-control and sound judgment is a few of Othello's other positive attributes portrayed in the play. His confidence in himself and his courage are... ...baseness as jealous ones are, it were enough to put them to ill thinking."(3:4:153:26-29) She judged Othello opposite to what he really was. She did not suspect that Othello would suspect her for an affair. In reality, Othello is a gullible person who is drawn into jealousy and falseness by Iago. Othello accomplished his plan of killing his wife and destroying a marriage that had no reason to be torn apart. In conclusion, because of Othello’s gullibility and jealousy, and Iago’s skills and intelligence, lives are ruined, and bad mistakes are made, which leads to Othello’s downfall, and death. Even though Othello was well respected, and very confident, because of his tragic flaw he was unstable, and led him to believe lies by Iago. His trusting nature, overwhelmed him, because he decided to trust and believe Iago over Desdemona, which eventually led him to kill her in the end. In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy and gullibility, are flaws of the main character, Othello. His flaws completely put him in a different frame of mind, and cause him to make poor decisions. So, be careful of jealousy and gullibility. It is mysterious and can do harmful things to people it takes over. Tragic Flaws Of Othello Essay -- essays research papers Jealousy and Gullibility: The Devastating Flaws of Othello â€Å"The tragic flaw is the most important part of the hero and the events that occur in the work is a reflection of that flaw.† – Aristotle The plot of William Shakespeare's Othello is a tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal; however, the characters, themes, and attitudes of the works are different, with Shakespeare's play being a more involved study of human nature and psychology. Othello is considered to be a prime example of Aristotelian drama. It focuses upon a very small cast of characters, one of the smallest used in Shakespeare. Also, it has few distractions from the main plot, and concentrates on just a few themes, like jealousy. In Shakespeare's Othello, Othello is an excellent example of an Aristotelian tragic hero. His gullibility and jealousy are the main reason of his downfall. Othello deals with love lost because of gullibility and jealousy. The main character, Othello, is a classical example of a tragic hero, and he has the basic elements that match him up to be a true hero defined by Aristotle. His stature, that of a tall, dark, African Moor, combined with his personal magnetism, assist him in gaining the respect and allegiance of the Venetian people and senators. Othello, being a soldier all his life, is seen as a very honorable man. His title alone, governor-general, presents an air of nobility, confidence, and strength. The title defines someone who is held in tremendously high esteem by the people of Venice. An example would be when the Duke and a few Senators are discussing issues around a table when Othello enters the room. It's clear that Othello is held in high esteem when, as he enters, one of the senators states â€Å"Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor†(3:1:33: 55). Othello's confidence in himself, another of his positive attributes, is clearly portrayed as he defends himself and his recent marr iage to Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. In his defense, he associates himself with one of the â€Å"great ones† of the world. He also demonstrates confidence in himself and his actions when Brabantio, Desdemona's outraged father, accuses the Moor of witchcraft. Dignity, courage, a strong belief in religion, self-control and sound judgment is a few of Othello's other positive attributes portrayed in the play. His confidence in himself and his courage are... ...baseness as jealous ones are, it were enough to put them to ill thinking."(3:4:153:26-29) She judged Othello opposite to what he really was. She did not suspect that Othello would suspect her for an affair. In reality, Othello is a gullible person who is drawn into jealousy and falseness by Iago. Othello accomplished his plan of killing his wife and destroying a marriage that had no reason to be torn apart. In conclusion, because of Othello’s gullibility and jealousy, and Iago’s skills and intelligence, lives are ruined, and bad mistakes are made, which leads to Othello’s downfall, and death. Even though Othello was well respected, and very confident, because of his tragic flaw he was unstable, and led him to believe lies by Iago. His trusting nature, overwhelmed him, because he decided to trust and believe Iago over Desdemona, which eventually led him to kill her in the end. In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy and gullibility, are flaws of the main character, Othello. His flaws completely put him in a different frame of mind, and cause him to make poor decisions. So, be careful of jealousy and gullibility. It is mysterious and can do harmful things to people it takes over.

A Farewell to Arms: a Classic Display of Literature Essay

Ernest Hemmingway’s † A Farewell To Arms† is a classic display of literature. The way he develops his characters is ingenious. In the beginning of the story I did not like the way it was going. As I read deeper into the book, â€Å"A Farewell To Arms† I discovered the complexity of the characters themselves. I discovered that Frederic Henry was a rather complex character as well. When you are finally given the full picture of Frederic Henry, you realize that he can be described in several different ways. First, Frederic Henry is a round and very dynamic character. You also realize that because Mr. Henry’s mannerisms are so easily recognizable, he is a stock character as well. The point of view in the story is written in first person. The first person point of view is that of Frederic Henry. The stories underlying theme is identity. Throughout the whole story Frederic Henry is revealing himself to the audience and discovering himself at the same time. A secondary theme in the story is that Catherine, Frederic’s love interest, is slightly crazy. Throughout the story, I was intrigued by the things that Frederic Henry revealed to the audience. While reading the story it was as if you were right there with Frederic, going through the same things he did, and knowing every intimate detail. The aspects that Frederic Henry display are the aspects of a well developed character and a true war hero. The first aspect I would like to touch on is that Frederic Henry is a well-rounded character. As the story progresses we learn more and more about the character Frederic Henry. Though it may seem like a small point, a good example of how we learn more about Frederic as the story progresses is the fact that he is nameless in the first four chapters. Throughout the first four chapters, Frederic Henry is referred to as â€Å"lieutenant† by his peers and â€Å"baby† by his girlfriend. Its not until chapter five that he is referred to as â€Å"Mr. Henry†. Then we learn his full name, Frederic Henry, in chapter thirteen. Another example of Frederic Henry being a round character is that he is closely involved in just about every part of the story. Of course he would have to be involved in the majority of the story because it’s basically the confession of his life. The entire story we learn about Mr. Henry, and we watch him grow to become a good man. Even when Frederic is not involved in the seen, he is still involved in many aspects of the scene. As other characters converse we still learn more about Frederic Henry and his relationship with each character. The second aspect of Frederic Henry as a character that I would like to display is the fact that he is a very dynamic character. Throughout the entire story Frederic Henry grows and changes. In the beginning Frederic is part of a group of soldiers. But as the story progresses and he and Catherine fall more into love Frederic begins to isolate he and Catherine from the group. Instead of saying â€Å"we† in accordance to his group of friends he uses â€Å"we† to represent him and Catherine. Aside from isolating himself from his group of friends Frederic Henry changes from a rather self-centered person to a caring person. Instead of planning for his future and living to fulfill his needs he begins involving Catherine in the picture as well. Not only does he change in respect to Catherine but he changes in respect to other characters as well. Mr. Henry begins to look out for others needs, particularly in the battles he is involved with. A great example of this is when Frederic gets injured badly he insists that the other soldiers be treated first. (Lewis, 46) There are countless other times when Frederic tries to help other soldiers, showing complete selflessness, but unfortunately fails. Though he failed to save Catherine, he showed major change from the way he was at the beginning of the story when he did all he could to save her. As the story progresses Frederic grows more and more familiar to the audience and his personality becomes more audience friendly. The third aspect of Frederic Henry’s character is that he is a stock character. A stock character is a character that is easily identifiable by the way they behave. Frederic Henry is very easy to identify. First off he almost always speaks in the plural form. For example, when he buys himself a gun he turns to Catherine and says, † now we are fully armed†, as if she too is armed. (Monteiro, 71) Another characteristic that Frederic Henry has, is that he is always trying to help other people. Throughout the entire story there are examples of he and his men out on the battlefield, and Frederic coming to someone’s aid. Since this behavior takes place so many times you automatically know that it is Frederic Henry who is coming to the rescue. The event that is most memorable is when Frederic and his men are captured and Frederic manages to help all his men escape. Upon the escape Frederic rows he and his crew for over twenty miles to safety, in Switzerland. (Gellens, 45) The point of view in â€Å"A Farewell To Arms†, is a first person point of view. The interesting thing is that even though it’s a first person point of view, it’s a first person point of view that is expressed in a plural sense. All threw the story Frederic Henry uses the phrase â€Å"we† to refer to himself and his group of friends. Another interesting thing is that later into the story Frederic’s usage of the word â€Å"we† changes from referring to his group of friends to his relationship with Catherine. The story is also a confession in a way. It’s a confession because as he tells the story he admits to his shortcomings early on. Not only does he admit his shortcomings but it’s as if he needed to expresses his regret for the people he was not able save. (Lewis, 46) The entire story is told from Frederic Henry’s perspective. You see things as they happen through his eyes only. While telling the story Frederic Henry sounds almost apologetic, and when he retells his adventures, he uses a negative tone. The theme in the story is identity. The whole point of the story is Frederic Henry revealing himself to the audience and essentially explaining who he is. Time after time Frederic lets the audience in on intimate details. By explaining himself and his actions it is easier for the audience to identify with Frederic and put themselves in his place. By putting the audience member in his place, he forces you to participate in every adventure he goes through. A secondary theme is presented as well. The secondary theme is one that portrays Catherine. Some skeptics think that Catherine’s central theme is craziness. (Lewis, 46) throughout the storyt she is called crazy and is referred to as the crazy one. Catherine even refers to herself as being crazy. An example of when Catherine refers to herself as crazy is when she says, â€Å"I haven’t been happy for a long time, and when I met you perhaps I was a nearly crazy. † She questions her sanity again when Frederic says † I don’t want you to get Scotch and crazy tonight† and the Catherine replies â€Å"I am Scotch and crazy†. (Lewis, 102) Some interesting points about Frederic Henry’s character is that he is actually the antagonist as opposed to the protagonist. (Lewis, 46) The evidence for such an argument is all throughout the story. Time after time Frederic tries to save people, but fails almost every time. Such a quality brings hope into the eyes of the audience but then lets them down time and time again. Though there were several successful escapes and rescues the failures still outweighed the successes. In the beginning of the story Frederic’s self-centeredness is rather annoying and makes you dislike him. Self-centeredness is the quality of an antagonist. Ernest Hemmingway’s â€Å"A Farewell To Arms† was all in all a good story. It displayed the trials and tribulations of an American soldier during wartime. The character Frederic Henry is a well-rounded and dynamic character. The fact that Frederic Henry was a stock character made him easy to recognize and therefore made the story easier to follow. Though the story was told through a first person point of view Ernest Hemmingway kept the story interesting by telling it through a plural first person. The underlying theme of the story was identity. Frederic spent the whole story explaining who he was to the audience. The way Frederic told the story, he made it easy for the audience member to identify with him, therefore making it easier for the audience member to put themselves in his place. An interesting secondary theme is the theme that implies Catherine is crazy. Because of things Catherine says and does the crazy theme seems to fit her personality. Throughout the story there is plenty of evidence of all these things and these aspects made the story even better and much more fun to read. Gellens, Jay. Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Farewell To Arms. Englewood Cliffs, N. J. 1970. Lewis, Robert. A Farewell To Arms (A War With Words). New York, 1992. Monteiro, George. Critical Essays On: Ernest Hemmingway’s A Farewell To Arms. New York, 1994.

Gilmans Short Story Characterization - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2129 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/05/08 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Did you like this example? Gilmans short story characterization and plot development, explores her diagnosis and treatment to express a womans perspective and frustration with eras prevailing definition of gender roles in a biased society where stereotypes equated femininity to weakness. The difference in intellect between men and women is accepted across the society hence women are denied the power and opportunity to exercise their choices in the community. Compared to their male counterparts, female members in Gilmans community are classified as the ?other gender. In this power relationship, women are excluded from education, philosophy, politics and any other activities that required an expression of intellect (Carey, 2011). The place of women in ?The Yellow Wallpaper is besides their husbands who demand total obedience reducing their wives to mere spectators forced to confirm to every whim of their husbands at the expense of their happiness and well-being. The Yellow Wallpaper is a womans way of challenging these cultural settings of in patriarchal community. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Gilmans Short Story Characterization" essay for you Create order While she is genuinely suffering in hands of the medical professions and her husband who accuse her of engaging her ?obsessive fantasies, Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses her story to expose the rigidity of the masculine dominated society where women are no different to infants. In a culture dictated by gender roles and identities, the author champions a far gender equality by shedding a light to the unhealthy extremities of cruel power imbalances between the men and women. Based solely on gender, males wield all the authority and intellectual capacity while the females have to trust in their judgments without question. The cultural context of The Yellow Wallpaper denies women power and control over their lives in a masculine dominated society where patriarchy enforces the notion that any expression of female self-interest is unreasonable, childish and disloyal. In response why she wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilmans story behind the story begins with the criticism and negative publicity her narration of events presents. The men in the society opposed to women empowerment feel threatened hence choose to take a defensive stand and label to the poor woman mad. According to a Boston Physician, such a story ought not to be written, he said; it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it (Gilman, 1914). In the same of reasoning, another physician labels Gilmans work as the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen (Gilman, 1913) which is an attempt to invalidate her opinions. Incipient is the direct translation of the Latin word incipere which refers to a beginning or start. The physician deliberately chooses to use this word to insinuate that the authors mental problems were triggered by her decision to engage in a task reserved for men. The views and ideas of Gilman are rejected by the medical profession but this is a profession comprised of men. Just like her husband, all men agree that the authors health problems are directly related to her mental involvement which is unaccepted in women. This extreme level of criticism and ridicule coming from the medical profession has nothing to do with the quality of her story but the gender of the author. Due to the fact that they incapable of understanding the female psyche, the professionals already feeling threatened by a woman disregard the underlying issues and blame her writing for the ongoing mental problems. The experiences of the author represent the cultural context of a society where women are forced to play second fiddle to clueless men based solely on the anatomical differences (Treichler, 1984). This community relies on gender roles to subject women to oppression and enforce the notions of a weaker gender requiring women to subscribe to the concept of ?womanliness which reduces them to willing subjects. The authors descent to madness in the short story explores the feminine perspective of the womens powerless, gender inequality and an attempt at challenging the social structure through personal experiences. Gilman attacks these oppressive cultures and uses her unfortunate experience with mental illness to achieve the desired effect. In the masculine dominated society, men have the need to remain in control which invalidates women. To maintain this power structure, stereotypes and gender biases become the order of the day complicating the life of women at every turn. In her marriage, Gilman is reminded of her inferiority through belittling names like blessed little goose or little girl (Gilman, 1892) by her husband because he believes she is no different from a helpless child . While Gilman already knows that women are capable of more than their male counterparts are willing to accept, she is powerless and incapable of expressing her wishes without becoming an outcast in the society. The desire to retain and exercise this authority determines the fate of women in the society. In marriage and other social institutions, men disregard women and refuse to accept their input because they believe they are incapable of making any decisions. Gilman and other women in the Elizabethan Era are forced to accept and confirm to this oppressive power structure because they have no platform or voice. When her mental illness presents, Gilman seeks the help of a wise man who concludes that she is sick because she is free to engage her obsessive tendencies. Rather than accept the fact that he does not understand the complexity of her mental illness, Silas Weir Mitchell, prescribes ?rest treatment which has no medical value to the patient. This is similar to the misguided notion discussed by John Harvey Kellogg in The Ladies Guide in Health and Disease where a patriarchal male figure in the masculine dominated community equates womanhood to motherhood (Kellogg, 1883) and directs women on acceptable mannerisms to perfect the baby production process. Just like Mitchel, Kellogg explores a mixture of medicine and gender assigned roles when approaching women mental issues. The only value these perspectives attach on members of the female gender is tied to their ability to produce healthy babies. These two professionals agree that behold childbearing, women are unreliable hence they have no business engaging in physically or mentally demanding activity because their weak bodies and minds are incapable of dealing with these pressures. Gilman is, therefore, sent home with a prescription of living a domestic life. Domestic living in the prescription sums up the cultural context of The Yellow Wallpaper. The physician implies that Gilman health complications are as a result of her failure to confirm to the defined gender roles. The educated doctor thinks that doing things behold her domestic life is exposing her to the mental problems because women are incapable of nothing behold motherhood. To return to her docile state and operate at her mental level, Gilman should have less than two hours of intellectual life and refrain from touching a pen, pencil or brush again (Gilman, 1982). The doctors views imply that a woman is feeble minded and incapable of intelligent activities like reading or writing because such activities are strenuous and only reserved for the male members of the community. Kelloggs work focuses on the mind calmness of women in society which is important for their fickle minds. Explored as simple and mentally weak, women should be allowed only pleasant and harmless diversions to overcome Puerperal Mania which is a form of mental disease. In the treatment of Puerperal Mania, Kellogg advices complete seclusion from family and visitors which is the exact form of treatment prescribed to Gilman after her diagnosis. The seclusion according to these assumptions prevent women from experiencing great excitements which are assumed to hinder rationality. Women mental issues in this culture are completely ignored by the men who only require them to produce babies thus women are blamed for inviting the mental illness by taking on more than their feeble minds are capable of handling. Mitchel in his speech extraction From the Evolution of the Rest Treatment, argues that the domestic life prescription was based on his understanding of nervous excitability related to extreme weakness when women over exert themselves. Mitchel, therefore, diagnosis the patient and prescribes rest because of what he thinks she has been through physically and mentally. In his speech, he describes another female case as follows; she was a lady of ample means, with no special troubles or annoyances, but completely exhausted from having had children in rapid succession and having undertaken to do charitable and other work to an extent far behold her strength (Mitchel, 1904). Basing his argument on charity work and other work, the physician is absolutely sure the patient suffered from handling responsibilities that were not appropriate for women. Similar to the case of Gilman, the doctor simply assumes that mental and physical exertion was responsible for the mental complications implicating women because this was not a part of their gender assigned roles. By woman of ample means and devoid of any annoyances, the physician uses culture as a guide to describe women as the property of men. They have no business venturing outside the comfortable cocoon of marriage where husbands assume all the responsibilities of providing the psychological, mental and material needs. Those presenting with any mental problems in this category are prescribed rest cure because the physicians believes engaging in more activities only resulted in a mental strain to the women because they lacked the level of intelligence that made men capable of handling such activities. Gender roles and cultural norms, values and traditions in a community where womanhood is confused to motherhood enslaved women in marriage using biased gender assigned roles. Women in this community are considered incapable of making any intelligent decision which has impacted her relationship with her husband and the rest of the community. While men are required to be the rational thinkers in the community, women are forced to confirm to these cultural views by playing the role of obedient and dutiful ideal woman who confirm to their husbands every whim. The narrator becomes a victim of the oppressive cultures and suffers silently because she cannot engage in anything forbidden by her husband. While she loves reading and writing, Gilman is forced to remain imprisoned in her lifeless home because her husband and his doctor agreed that she was in need of rest to overcome her mental problems. Even when she is actually sure that the treatment approach if failing, Gilman cannot challenge the authority of her husband who is a doctor and the intelligent one in their marriage. Kept in a state of ignorance by a culture that prevents females from attaining their full development, Gilman has to confirm to his husbands assumption of superior wisdom that the patriarchal society has employed to dominate and patronize women. The cultural context of The Yellow Wallpaper denies women power and control over their lives in a masculine dominated society where patriarchy enforces the notion that any expression of female self-interest is unreasonable, childish and disloyal. Gilman is forced to preserve the image of a loyal and dutiful wife at the expense of her health and wellbeing. To confirm to the oppressive cultural demands, Gilman has to endure the seclusion of the silent and idle cure because his husbands commands it. Women in this community are completely passive because culture demands it hence the author is unable to expresses her imaginative power which leads to insanity. When locked in her room that has been decorated like a childs nursery or play room the author longs for intellectual and emotional outlet but the powerless woman has no power to disagree with or question the wishes of her husband. The cruelty and inefficiency of resting cure is, therefore, enforced by the oppressive gender roles defined relationship that infantilizes wives. Through gender roles, husbands in the society abuse this form authority and demands subordination even when dealing with female things that they do not understand forcing women to accept and uphold their position as victims in the society. Through culture, Gilmans physician and husband drive her to mental agony because they equate her to a child with no mind of her own. Just like all women of her time, Gilman is forced to behave like an infant and stick to domestic duties while leaving all the important decision making process to the intelligent and mentally capable masculine members of the society because no one trusts her opinions and views. References Carey, E. (2011). Controlling the Female Psyche: Assigned Gender Roles in The Yellow Wallpaper. Magnificat. Gilman, C. P. (1892). The Yellow Wallpaper. The New England Magazine. Gilman, C. P. (1913, Octobar). Why I Wote The Yellow Wallpaper. The Forerunner. Kellogg, J. H. (1883). Ladies guide in health and disease: Girlhood, maidenhood, wifehood, motherhood. New York: WD Condit Company. Mitchel, S. W. (1904). From the Evolution of the Rest Treatment. Treichler, P. A. (1984). Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in The Yellow Wallpaper. Tulsa Studies in Womens Literature, Vol. 3, No. 1/2, Feminist Issues in Literary Scholarship, 61-77.