Amy Tan, Two Kinds Essay Example for Free

Amy Tan, Two Kinds Essay This storys main events take place in Chinatown throughout the 1950s and perhaps early 1960s. The main character of the story, who is also the protagonist, is the author herself: Amy Tan. The antagonist happens to be her own mother, who is always pushing Amy to discover some hidden talent and be someone she is not. There are a few other minor characters in the story. There is Lindo Jong (who she calls Auntie Lindo), who is a close friend of Amys mother. Waverly Jong is Auntie Lindos daughter, who is close to Amys age. Amys piano instructor, who she calls Old Chong, plays a small role in the story. Amys dad is included in the text, but does not play much of a role. In Two Kinds, the exposition is clear in the first couple of pages. The story begins by explaining that Amys family moved to America when she was a baby, in 1949. Her mother is clear in her goals: she wants Amy to be a child prodigy (a person with exceptional talent) and famous. Although in the beginning Amy seems accepting of her mothers goal, there are some undertones which are clear to the reader that her mother may go too far. Symbolism in literature might include visual or sound elements as well as language. Amys piano was the main symbol of this story. In the end of the story, the fact that she had it tuned and actually sat down to play shows us that she really cared about her mother-and the piano-after all. The songs that she plays at the end are also a symbol of the story, itself. She mentions playing two songs. The first is titled Pleading Child, and the second one: Perfectly Contented. These are songs that she had played when she was a child. She notices for the first time, after all of these years, that these two songs are actually two halves to the same song. The song represents Amys life. This is how the story ends. We get a pretty good idea of what Amys story is about and the theme behind it. She regrets not trying her best, and the way she has taken her mother for granted in her life. A strong message like this makes us reflect on our own lives and relationships with the ones we love. Amy constructs the story in a way that makes the plot flow, and we are interested in what will happen to her next. Some of us may even feel like she is too hard on the protagonist-her mother. The ending resolves these feelings, because we discover she feels this, too.

J.R.R.Tolkien: Master of Fantasy Essay -- John Ronald Reuel Tolkien Bi

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (J.R.R.Tolkien) was a philologist in the very strict sense of the word. This term, philologist, comes from Greek [φÎ ¯ÃŽ »ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€š (philos) and ÃŽ »ÃÅ'ÃŽ ³ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€š (logos)] and literarily means ‘love for words’. According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is â€Å"the scientific study of the development of language or of a particular language†, which is precisely what Tolkien did all through his life. Tolkien was, as has been said, a profound lover of words, which he begun developing from a quite early age. In 1900, when he and his family had to move to Birmingham in order to be closer to King Edward’s School, Tolkien discovered Gaelic, a language toward which he showed a great interest and which â€Å"opened him to another linguistic world† (â€Å"le abrià ³ otro mundo lingà ¼Ãƒ ­stico†, Carpenter, 2002:37). When he returned to King Edward’s, after a year in St. Philip’s School, he started learning Greek; he already knew Latin as his mother had taught him at home. When his literature teacher read The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, in the original Middle-English â€Å"he decided to learn more about the history of the language† (Carpenter, 2002:39), â€Å"why languages are as they are† (â€Å"por quà © eran como eran† Carpenter, 2002:46). His discovery of Anglo-Saxon was also an important element in his approaching to philology. As can be seen, his encounter with these ‘new-old’ languages was continuous: Old Norse, Gothic, etc. It was also the starting point of his creation of private languages (Naffarin). Thanks to his deep study of these languages we have today works like The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, or The Lord of the Rings, as Tolkien’s imagination came not from any other place but from language itself, as Segura (2008) states saying that â€Å"his imagination was... ...o. -Carretero, M. -â€Å"Catastrophe†. Oxford Learners Dictionaries. 2014. http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/catastrophe -Coleridge, S.T. 1984. Biographia Literaria. P.6. Princeton: Princeton University Press. -â€Å"Eucatastrophe†. Oxford Dictionaries, Language Matters. 2014. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/es/definicion/ingles/eucatastrophe -Lewis, C.S. 2002. On Stories and Other Essays on Literature. EE.UU: Mariner Books. -Segura, E. 2008. J.R.R.Tolkien: Mitopoeia y Mitologà ­a, reflexiones bajo la luz refractada. Spain: Portal Editions. -Segura, E. 2001. El Viaje del Anillo: Mapa narrativo de la Tierra Media. -Tolkien, J.R.R. (lecture given in 1939). On Fairy Stories. -Tolkien, J.R.R. 19. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. -Olsen, C. 2010. On Fairy-Stories. http://www.festivalintheshire.com/journal5hts/5tolkienprofessor.html

Criticism of the Church in the Canterbury Tales Essay

The Canterbury Tales, a collection of tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, was written in Middle English at the end of the 14th century (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011). It is considered to be the best work of literature in English in the Middle Ages (Johnston, 1998). Chaucer uses literary devices as no one had ever done. In addition, he chose to use English instead of Latin. This masterpiece is structured in a similar way as Bocaccio’s Decameron. The tales are organized within a frame narrative (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011) explained in the General Prologue by the narrator: a group of pilgrims that are going to visit St.  Thomas Becket in Canterbury’s Cathedral. These pilgrims are from different estates of the medieval society: nobility, the church and peasantry (The Norton Anthology, 1993: 76). Through the characters, Chaucer reveals some aspects of the society he lived in. In other words, instead of creating typical role models, the characters are exaggerated individuals very different from the prototypical idea. The author uses hyperbolic characters and irony to create humour and criticism. For example, the knight is not the typical medieval soldier the reader would expect. He avoids conflict being a very romantic person. In a similar way, the characters that are part of the Church are also very peculiar. At the time when Chaucer wrote this poem, the Catholic Church was very powerful and rich. The clergy enjoyed great fortunes and a high quality of life compared with the peasantry who was starving and dying. In this essay, I’m going to deal with the criticism towards the Catholic Church analysing the ironic portrays of the Prioress, the Monk, the Friar and the Pardoner. Chaucer begins writing about the hypocrisy of the church in the General Prologue when the Prioress is introduced. The Prioress is a nun with very good manners (e. g. she wipes her lips before drinking, lines 133-134) that behaves as if she were a lady of the court (e. g. she speaks French but with a very bad accent, lines 124-125). The Prioress is also very romantic as we can see in her brooch and her motto: â€Å"Amor vincit omnia† -â€Å"Love conquest all†- (Dr. Melillo, 1996). She is also very kind and sensitive. For instance, she cries when a mouse falls in a trap and feeds her dogs meat so they do not starve. This image of nice person contrasts with the reality of the time. If her words and actions are analyzed, the audience can understand that this was not the typical behavior of a nun. She is more worried about her pets than the commoners who actually did starve and rarely ate meat. The narrator is portraying her as a very naive person in a very nice tone that hides the irony. Nevertheless, the audience was aware that she is not fulfilling the aim of the Church: take care of people (The Norton Anthology, 1993:76). The Monk is the following pilgrim described in the General Prologue. According to his description he is very interested in hunting and in horses (line 166). A monk should not be riding and hunting but obeying, praying, copying and studying. In addition, the Monk is fully aware that his order does not allow these practices and he admits that he does not follow the rules of his order (Jokinen, 2010) (lines 174-175). When the portrait of the Monk finishes in the General Prologue, the man described is bald, fat and well-dressed. Any person in that time that heard this description would immediately think about a lord not a monk. Although the narrator likes the life style of the Monk and his description is not very acid, we can see how Chaucer is criticizing some monk’s lives. Monks are supposed to be obedient and to embrace vow of poverty not to reject rules and live the life they want. After analyzing two characters against who the narrator does not show great rejection, I am going to analyze the Friar and the Pardoner who the narrator describes in a very ironic and bitter tone. A friar is a roaming priest that begs for living whose goal is to help beggars and lepers selflessly. On the contrary, this friar really detests this kind of action because he does not get any benefice from it (lines 242-247). He likes to enjoy life and pleasures. He shows that he is not like a normal friar implying that he is above (lines 210-211) like an aristocrat (Knapp, 1999). In this sense, he acts like the Prioress does, pretending not to be who he really is, a beggar. The reader also knows that he accepts bribes and gives easy penance for extra donations so he can live better. He justifies his conduct explaining that giving money is a sign of repentance. Nevertheless, the Friar, as the Monk, is supposed to have done the vow of poverty. Contradicting any preconceived ideas the reader may have about friars, he has a good quality life thanks to keeping the money he should give his order nd receiving extra incomes. In the description of the character, the audience understood how Chaucer is condemning the abuses of the Church by creating a person who does not follow any of the prototypical characteristics of a good Christian friar. Finally, I am going to explain in detail the character of the Pardoner. The Pardoner resembles the Friar in the fact that both get money from people (with a religious reason behind) for a living and keep it for themselves. However, there are some differences: the Pardoner is not part of an order whereas the Friar is; and he does not believe in what he does either while the Friar justifies it. The Pardoner is considered the most hypocrite character of all because he embodies all the sins he preaches against. He sells papal indulgences in exchange of donation that he keeps for himself showing avarice (lines 389-391). In addition, he admits that he does not feel guilty and that the relics he sells are a fraud. Furthermore, he tells the other pilgrims his tricks implying that he lies and manipulates people to get money. Ironically, after he has admitted that he is a liar, the Pardoner gives a kind of sermon against gluttony, drunkenness, gambling and swearing. Moreover, his tale can be considered an exemplum (Patterson, 1976) that warns against avarice and drunkenness. He gives an instance of the kind of person he is when he tries to sell one of his relics to the Host even when he has already told them they are forged and useless. Apart from being described as, what we would call now, a con artist and a sinful person, there are allusions to his condition of homosexual and eunuch (Jokinen, 1998). All these characteristics make him appear in the margins of society. As I said before, this character is the one that better represents the hypocrisy that Chaucer shows in this work. As I said, he represents all the sins he preaches against: he drinks (his finishes his drink before stating the tale); he lies (about his relics, line 394), and he is greedy (he keeps the money, line 409). Through this character, the author shows a very sinful and corrupt church away from their goal. To conclude, Chaucer shows a very hypocrite and selfish members of the Church in The Canterbury Tales. In the 14th century, the Catholic Church was very influential and religion was present in everyday life. The purpose of the Church was supposed to be the caring of the people. Nonetheless, the characters in this poem do not worry about anything else that themselves and their actions are directed always to their own benefit. Through their words and actions described ironically by the narrator, the characters reflect their sins and their corruption and by extension, the sins and corruption of the Church. It can be concluded that in The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer makes a social criticism showing the dishonesty of the Church. However, it should be pointed out that the characters are an exaggerated version of the original people because the main aim of this work is to be enjoyable for the audience.

Gang Brutality Is A Dangerous And Affected The Community...

Gang brutality is a dangerous and has affected the community socially and economically. â€Å"About 95% of hardcore gang members are high school dropouts† (Think Twice 2011). Gangs influence people of all different ages and backgrounds. It is a group of youngster convicts, who are often to themselves unless around their social group, who comes together to be on their worst behavior. Gang involvement in the world has caused a big problem in society today because of their widespread influence. People often get into to gangs by offending members of the gang through a disagreement, debt, or for protection. Every day accidents happen new to the area or not, we may not always know our way. In some way shape or form, anyone can disrespect a gang member by simply bumping into them without purpose, angering the specific member causing more conflict between the gang member and the person that bumped into him leading the person into to the gang. Gang members try to help people that are in debt by getting them into to selling things illegally or stealing things. Researchers have found that â€Å"Teens also join gangs because of the mistaken belief that membership will protect them. But gang members are more likely to be victims of crimes than people not in gangs† (Klein, 2009) the realization of that person is soon realized when they or the gang comes to an end. Even though most gang members either ends up in jail, injured, or dead. People still see a safety in gangs leading to further conflict.Show MoreRelatedThe Niger Delta Struggles: Its Implications for Resource Control.17990 Words   |  72 Pagess oil belt has been the site of a generalized ethnic and regional struggle for self-determination since 1998, the location of often-violent confrontations between local ethnic communities and agents of the Nigerian state and oil companies involved in the extraction and exploitation of oil in the area. What began as community agitation has undoubtedly undergone several transformations. The first involved the flowering of civil society, which mobilized a popular civil struggle. The second saw the extensionRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesBrier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David MRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pagespart-time employee. Whether or not you are currently employed, we encourage you to seek out skill practice opportunities in all aspects of your life, including working in assigned teams in this and other courses, planning social events for a campus or community organization, counseling a troubled sibling or friend, managing end-of-semester deadlines, or handling a difficult issue with a boy/girlfriend or spouse. The sooner you begin—and the more you persist in—practicing what you learn in this course, the