Fiction and Literary Works Essay Example for Free

Fiction and Literary Works Essay With that said, it is important to remember that all literary works cannot always be easily classified into a single genre. Moreover, literary works which might be classified as belonging to one genre might possess many qualities more typical of other genres. For example, Shakespeare’s Macbeth is classified as drama, but in many respects takes the form of poetry. In other words, sometimes the differences between categories like drama, poetry, and the short story are not so easily defined. Often a short story might contain poetic or dramatic qualities, or a poem might include narrative and dramatic features. In your post, summarize the major similarities and differences between the forms of drama, poetry, and the short story. Demonstrate your ideas with textual examples from the course readings. In your response, include at least one example of each literary form. If you wish, you may also point to examples which indicate the blurring of literary genres (e.g., the poetic qualities of Macbeth or the dramatic elements of Gift of the Magi). There are so much to say when it comes to similarities with drama, poetry and a short story. Personally I see that all three have some subliminal message for the audience whether it is lessons learn or an experience personal to the writer. In literary perspectives, like mentioned above, sometimes a poem or short story can merge with another genre such as drama. An example of a short story that can be drama is perhaps â€Å"The Necklace† because the story is about a lady who borrows and loses something her friend lent her and went through so much trouble to replace it instead of coming clean with the friend. A drama is meant to have characters that perform and we see this is a short story known as â€Å"I’m Going† where we see the characters clearly speaking and also we get narrative information to help the audience understand the plot and setting. Poetry is written in different formats or rhythms but can also tell a story but does not always have a plot. All have some sort of tone to set the seriousness or relax humor of the literary work. â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† is a poem which tells a story of a father and son yet there are also dramatic features as the story is told.

Baden-Powell :: essays research papers

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, more affectionately known as "B.-P.", was born in London, England, on February 22, 1857. At the age of 12 he received a scholarship from Charterhouse School, one of England's famous public schools. The school was then located in London, but it soon moved to Godalming in Surrey. There were some woods just outside the school, these were "out- of-bounds" for the pupils. It was here that B.-P. practised stalking wildlife. He is said to have snared rabbits and cooked them over a small fire so that smoke didn't give him away to the school masters. (This was to be valuable training for later in his career.) Choosing a military career, B.-P. served in campaigns in India, Afghanistan and South Africa. He became world famous during the Boer War for the defense of Mafeking, a small town in South Africa. With 800 men, he was besieged by a force of 9,000 Boer soldiers. His small force held out against these immense odds for 217 days -- until a relief column of British soldiers arrived. At Mafeking B.-P. organized his "Messenger Cadets". Trained in efficiency, obedience and smartness, they performed many tasks -- relieving soldiers for active defense of the town. After the Boer War, B.-P. organized the South African Constabulary and designed a uniform for them that later became the basic Boy Scout uniform. While still in Africa, B.-P. wrote "Aids to Scouting" -- a manual designed to train soldiers to become army scouts. Many youth and organizations in Britain used ideas from this manual as the basis of adventurous programs. He discussed this matter with Sir William Smith, the founder of the Boy's Brigade, and other leading youth workers. He planned a camp to test his program ideas. The camp was held from July 25 to August 9 in 1907 on Brownsea Island. The "Scoutmaster" was Lt.-Gen. Robert Baden- Powell. His assistants were B.W. Green, H. Robson and P.W. Everett. The camp was a tremendous success. Based on this experiment B.-P. wrote his book "Scouting for Boys" which was published in 6 parts starting in January, 1908. It has been printed in many editions -- the current edition is the last one edited by B.-P. By the end of 1908 this book was translated into five other languages. The sketches in the book were all done by B.-P. -- most of them based on his own exciting career. In 1909, King Edward VII, who had taken a great deal of interest in this new Movement, made the founder a Knight in recognition of his work for boys. At this time B.-P. was Inspector General of

Human Nature Essay

Human nature is based on self-preservation and selfishness in both Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. In The Lottery human nature is selfish because they kill someone in the community for their own personal gain. Selfishness also has a negative effect in Rashomon due to the harmful extremes the servant takes to stay alive. The way human nature is portrayed in these two stories is sometimes similar to the way people act in real life. In Rashomon the servant turns into a thief for the purpose of staying alive. He knows better than to steal from a woman who is already poor and living amongst corpses but he steals from her anyway. He tries to justify his actions when he says â€Å"You won’t blame me, then, for taking your clothes. That’s what I have to do to keep from starving to death. † His words show that he knows what he is about to do is wrong, but stating his reasons for why he needs to do it makes him feel better. At the beginning of the story he has no intentions of becoming a thief. Soon he realizes how bad his conditions are, this weakens his morals and his first priority becomes survival. This shows that when it comes to staying alive people become selfish and less concerned with other humans well being. Humans will go to extreme measures to get what they need even if that involves harming others. This story uses a lot of animal imagery to show how people become violent and tend to forget their morals when it comes to survival, it becomes almost like â€Å"dog eat dog. † An example of this is when the woman is picking hair out of the corpses to make a wig in hopes of selling it for money; this behavior is animal like. Why is it that people resort to crimes and immoral acts before considering other options when it comes to survival? In The Lottery the community is selfish because they sacrifice someone so their crops will grow. They need their crops to flourish so they will not go hungry; this is a form of self-preservation. In real life we have laws to stop people from committing various crimes. In The Lottery there are no laws to stop them from acting like animals and stoning each other. The fact that we have laws proves that we have them because some people do not have morals or choose to ignore them in certain circumstances. Laws were created to keep communities in order and civilized. Self preservation makes people forget about the well-being of others and instead focus on themselves. We see this in The Lottery when it says, â€Å"Mrs. Delacroix picked up a rock so large she had to use both hands to lift it. † In the beginning of the story Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs. Hutchinson are friends but at the end of the story when it comes down to her crops flourishing or her friend; Mrs. Delacroix is selfish and stones Mrs. Hutchinson to death. This example shows people are selfish and put their own needs first. Another example of this is when Mrs. Hutchinson say’s â€Å"it’s not right, it isn’t fair†, she is not talking about the lottery she means it is not fair that she was chosen. She would have no problem stoning someone else to death so that she could live and her crops could flourish. Human nature is portrayed the same way in Rashomon and The Lottery. In both stories the people are selfish and harm other people to benefit themselves. In Rashomon he beats up a woman and steals her clothes so he can survive and in The Lottery the community kills Mrs. Hutchinson so their crops will flourish. Their reason for being so selfish is self-preservation. The servant doesn’t want to die so he steals from a woman who has less than him. The community in The Lottery needs food to survive so they take part in the lottery. In both stories the people act like animals because they have no laws or rules to stop them from doing so. The difference between these stories is that in Rashomon it is only two people acting immoral but in The Lottery a whole community is acting uncivilized. In both stories human nature is portrayed negatively. In comparing this to current times, I find that Hurricane Sandy brought out the worst and the best in people. I live in a waterfront community that was badly affected by the hurricane. Some people’s homes were destroyed or flooded but that didn’t stop people from robbing homes in my neighborhood. At night we had police driving around with spotlights checking on homes and properties. Some people chose to steal generators right off others driveways. News reports talked about opportunist who broke into damaged businesses and stole whatever they wanted. Criminals broke into flooded homes and took what little salvageable items were left. When faced with a problem people have the option to rise to the occasion or not too. Unfortunately more people choose not to. This is what makes human nature selfish for the most part. After reading the newspaper this morning stealing generators seems pretty insignificant. I came across a story I can’t seem to get past. The Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newton Connecticut. I cannot understand how someone could go into an elementary school and shoot innocent children for their own selfish reasons. I cannot comprehend how someone could kill his or her own mother over a petty argument and feel no guilt. It scares me to know we live in a generation where human nature is so selfish that sending your children to school has become dangerous. Because human nature is so selfish children at such a young age are exposed to so much hatred. No six or seven year old should have to watch their classmates die for no reason other than the killer was simply having a â€Å"bad day† and needed to take his anger out on someone. The one aspect from this story that shows me human nature is sometimes still selfless is Victoria Soto. Victoria hid her students in closets and other spaces so the killer could not find them. When the killer approached her classroom door and asked where her students were she replied the gym; she was then shot. Victoria Soto may not have been able to save herself but she saved an entire classroom of innocent children. It is sad that a horrific event like this needs to take place before human nature changes because for twenty-seven children it’s a day too late. In both Rashomon and The Lottery the people go to immoral extremes for selfish reasons. In The Lottery the community stones someone for their own personal gain. In Rashomon the servant harms a woman in worse conditions than him self for the means of survival. The way human nature is negatively portrayed in these two stories is unfortunately similar to the way people act in real life.

Individual Subjectivity And The Question Of Selfhood Essay

Individual subjectivity and the question of selfhood have been common themes in Caribbean literature throughout the years, as the Caribbean has struggled to find its own identity. This search for selfhood is most evident in the work Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid. In this text, Lucy, a young woman from the Caribbean, moves to America to work as an au pair for a rich couple, Lewis and Mariah. However, she has not moved here for the money alone. Instead, Lucy is trying to escape her Caribbean roots and find a new identity in North America. To what extent, then, is Lucy able to change her selfhood? How malleable is a person’s individual subjectivity? To answer these questions, it is important to evaluate what affect various factors had on Lucy’s sense of self, paying close attention to her race and gender, the other people and the society that she chooses to surround herself with, and her own internal desire to change who she is. After exploring these topics, it should be safe to conclude that altering one’s individual subjectivity is extremely difficult, if not impossible, and Lucy is no exception. While there are many personal factors and situat ions that dictate Lucy’s experiences growing up and her opportunities in life, there are none as dominant as her gender and her race. Being a woman impacted Lucy in many ways, from her job opportunities to her sexuality. However, the impact of her gender on her life is most evident through her relationship with her mother. ThisShow MoreRelatedDisenfranchisement In â€Å"Franchise†. Isaac Asimov’S 19551170 Words   |  5 Pagessupercomputer, known as Multivac. In order to work, a single citizen is selected to answer a series of questions; Multivac uses that person’s responses along with other information to determine who the winner of an election is. 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It emphasizes the subjective realities of individual existence, individual freedom, and individual choice, and holds that the only way to assert one self over the absurd condition of humanity is through one’s own pronouncements. While such responsibility for ones actions brings about anguish in each person, the freedom Read MoreCultural Translation : The Location Of Culture1824 Words   |  8 PagesHumanities SLCE Master Program 2016/2017 Cultural Translation SADIK SAMLALI Homi K. Bhabha: The Location of Culture (1994) INTRODUCTION â€Å"Locations of culture† In his book The Location of Culture (1994), Homi. K Bhabha tries to explore the question of how can we understand postcolonial cultures and to know where can we locate them. It is a seminal work that can be located within the sphere of multi-cultural awareness which emerged in 1990s to open horizons for studies on how hybridity and cosmopolitanism