Critiscisms Of My Antonia Essays - Literature, American Literature

Critiscisms Of My Antonia In the past, critics have ad moralized and/or brutalized every writer they could get their pen on. This is seen from criticisms of Henry Adams to William Butler Yeats. These writers critique everything about the writer and his/her works. For instance many critics criticize Willa Cather's novel, My Antonia. Their criticisms lie on the basis that My Antonia is based on cyclical themes with no structure holding each of the My Antonia's books. In other words, as a collection of five different accounts remembered by the main character, Jim Burden, My Antonia is characterized by a loose plot structure yet the existence of common themes is expressed in a cyclical nature. According to James E. Miller, Jr.'s 'My Antonia': A Frontier Drama of Time, Willa Cather's novel, My Antonia, is defective in structure. (Bloom 51) Its structure is basically based on the narrators', which is Cather herself, point of view about when the main character, Jim Burden, remembers specific moments in an abstract pattern in his life about his Antonia. This is so because the collection of books that make up the novel, My Antonia, is about Willa Cather; the narrator's idea of what and to what point Jim Burden remembers. Miller also states that the novel lacks focus and abounds in irrelevancies. (Wells 1) This is due to the fact that Cather didn't provide and consistent character portrayal throughout her novel. Another critic, Kim Wells, asserts Miller's opinion on the novel. Because as he states the novel has many variations from a theme. (Wells 1) For instance the section about the hired girls and also the part when Peter and Pavel, two lonesome Russian Settlers, tell Jim and Antonia a tragic tale that horrifies and fascinates the children. This tale was about when Peter and Pavel drove a sled with a bridal couple across dark, snowy Russian country and were attacked by hordes of ravenous wolves, where the wolves killed both the bride and the groom. These examples are divergences which weaken the overall structure of the novel. (Wells 1) Even though both critics say that the novel has a loose structure, they also state that the only thing that resembles any type of structure is the constant use of cyclical themes. For instance as Miller puts it, the cycle of the seasons of the year, the cycle of the stages of human life, and the cycle of the cultural phases of civilization. (Bloom 59) In Miller's essay he states that in The first book of My Antonia, The Shimerdas, introduces from the start the drama of time in the vivid accounts of the shifting seasons?portraying the terrible struggle for mere existence in the bleakness of the plains' winter, dramatizing the return of life with the arrival of spring, and concluding with the promise of a rich harvest in the intense heat of the prairie's summer. This is Jim Burden's remembered year, and it is his obsession with the cycle of time that has caused him to recall Antonia in a setting of the changing seasons. (Miller 55) Book one, The Shimerda's, introduce the beginning of two cyclical themes. One of which is the cycle of the seasons of the year, which begins in the narrators'/Jims' mind in the autumn when the Shimerdas move to Nebraska, the winter when Mr. Shimerda commits suicide, then spring followed the death of Mr. Shimerda, and finally summer in the cyclical theme of the seasons of the year which created another cyclical pattern within itself. This imbedded cyclical theme is on the stages of life is based on the fact that Antonia moves into adulthood while Jim stays as a child as stated by Kim Wells. (Wells 1) This happens because in the section the hired girls Antonia moves into the city from the farm where she used to live. The movement from a rural to an urban area made Antonia mature quicker so she would be able to survive in the city. While on the other hand Jim leaves the farm to go to college, in which inclosing walls unlike that of Antonia protects him. Then Antonia moves into adulthood with a marriage and birth while Jim is at college toiling on the prospect

Free Essays on Uncle Toms Cabin3000

Uncle Tom manages the Shelby plantation. Strong, intelligent, capable, good, and kind, he is the most heroic figure in the novel that bears his name. Tom's most important characteristic is his Christian faith. God has given Tom an extraordinary ability. He can forgive the evil done to him. His self-sacrificing love for others has been called motherly. It has also been called truly Christian. AUNT CHLOE- Aunt Chloe, Uncle Tom's wife, is fat, warm, and jolly. She is a good housekeeper and a superb cook, and justly proud of her skill. She loves Tom, and urges him to escape to Canada rather than to go South with Haley. After Tom is sold, she convinces the Shelbys to hire her out to a baker in Louisville and to use her wages to buy Tom's freedom. She is heartbroken to learn of his death. - MOSE, PETE, AND POLLY - Mose, Pete, and Polly, the children of Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe, are playful and rambunctious. Polly is Tom's special favorite, and she loves to bury her tiny hands in his hair. ELIZA HARRIS - Eliza Harris is raised by her mistress, Mrs. Shelby, to be pious and good. Described as light-skinned and pretty, Eliza dearly loves her husband, George Harris, and their little boy, Harry. When she learns that Harry is about to be sold, Eliza carries him in her arms to the Ohio River, which she crosses on cakes of ice. Although generally a modest and retiring young woman, Eliza becomes extraordinarily brave because of her love for her son. GEORGE HARRIS- George Harris, portrayed as a light-skinned and intelligent slave, belongs to a man named Harris. He is married to Eliza, who lives on the Shelby plantation, and they have a son, Harry. HARRY AND LITTLE ELIZA - Harry and little Eliza are the children of George and Eliza Harris. Harry, born a slave on the Shelby Plantation, is bright and cute, and sings and dances for Mr. Shelby and Haley. He is so beautiful that he is disguised as a girl in order to escape into Canada. Once there, he does ver... Free Essays on Uncle Toms Cabin3000 Free Essays on Uncle Toms Cabin3000 Uncle Tom manages the Shelby plantation. Strong, intelligent, capable, good, and kind, he is the most heroic figure in the novel that bears his name. Tom's most important characteristic is his Christian faith. God has given Tom an extraordinary ability. He can forgive the evil done to him. His self-sacrificing love for others has been called motherly. It has also been called truly Christian. AUNT CHLOE- Aunt Chloe, Uncle Tom's wife, is fat, warm, and jolly. She is a good housekeeper and a superb cook, and justly proud of her skill. She loves Tom, and urges him to escape to Canada rather than to go South with Haley. After Tom is sold, she convinces the Shelbys to hire her out to a baker in Louisville and to use her wages to buy Tom's freedom. She is heartbroken to learn of his death. - MOSE, PETE, AND POLLY - Mose, Pete, and Polly, the children of Uncle Tom and Aunt Chloe, are playful and rambunctious. Polly is Tom's special favorite, and she loves to bury her tiny hands in his hair. ELIZA HARRIS - Eliza Harris is raised by her mistress, Mrs. Shelby, to be pious and good. Described as light-skinned and pretty, Eliza dearly loves her husband, George Harris, and their little boy, Harry. When she learns that Harry is about to be sold, Eliza carries him in her arms to the Ohio River, which she crosses on cakes of ice. Although generally a modest and retiring young woman, Eliza becomes extraordinarily brave because of her love for her son. GEORGE HARRIS- George Harris, portrayed as a light-skinned and intelligent slave, belongs to a man named Harris. He is married to Eliza, who lives on the Shelby plantation, and they have a son, Harry. HARRY AND LITTLE ELIZA - Harry and little Eliza are the children of George and Eliza Harris. Harry, born a slave on the Shelby Plantation, is bright and cute, and sings and dances for Mr. Shelby and Haley. He is so beautiful that he is disguised as a girl in order to escape into Canada. Once there, he does ver...

Hip-hop in Colombia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hip-hop in Colombia - Essay Example What began as a music practice common among the economically underprivileged groups like the Latinos and the African-Americans transcended into an art form, without national boundaries in a very short time. Hip-hop in Columbia is not only viewed as a simple music form but as a media to express powerful feelings by the youth. The hip-hop music has international reach and the Columbian artists are using it efficiently to underline their plight to the world community through rapping. Hip-Hop appeared in Columbia by late 1980s shortly after the art form had established itself as a distinguished sub-culture in the US. Los Generales R&R, an Afro-Columbian group is reported to be one of the first groups to entertain Columbian music lovers already mesmerized by MC Hammer and NWA. Los Generales broke up shortly after releasing their first CD. But, they were followed by groups like Gotas de Rap and La Etina in the early 1990s paving way for steady growth of Columbian hip-hop. Both the groups were known for expressing their social concerns through their lyrics, and adapting a very independent style which served as an inspiration for the development of later Columbian hip-hop style. Their experimentation was followed by Asilo 38 band which released famous albums like La Hoguera and La Descarga, by experimenting with new controversial sound. This gave way to Puerto Rican Reggaeton style music in Columbia for a short period. Hip-Hop revived its former glory again from 2006 through the contribution of groups like ChocQuibTown. Though there are several famous hip-groups, this paper will explore about five famous groups, Ghettos Clan, Flaco Flow y Melanina, Choc Quib Town, Carbono and Voodo SoulJhas. Hip-Hop in Columbia is not just a regurgitation of US subculture. Columbian hip-hop has distinct African sounds, usage of local anecdotes, and several autochthonous music forms. Folklore based lyrics mixed with ethnic

Analysis of a primary research article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analysis of a primary research - Article Example The null hypothesis for the second study is the diarrheal outbreak at a day care center was not caused by E. coli O145. In both studies, the independent variables were demographic and environmental characteristics in both settings while the dependent variable was the presence of either of the E. coli strain in stool samples. There was no multivariate analysis or standardization of variables in both studies. The first study is a case control study and the cases were defined as individuals with laboratory confirmed E. coli 0157:H7 or those with a clinically compatible diagnosis (Jay, Garrett and Mohle-Boetan). The cases were healthy individuals. The second study lacks defined cases and controls (Wahl, Vold and Lindstedt 7). The presence of E. coli in both studies was established by culture and typing and the units of measurement for the concentration of the organism were Colony-Forming Units per milliliter (CFU/ML). In both studies, statistics on laboratory diagnosis of the different E. coli strains were presented. Positive culture and typing results were used to support the hypothesis on the presence on an outbreak in both studies. The outbreaks were caused by the E. coli strains in the two studies. Based on the results of the two studies, the authors recommend routine surveillance in an effort to detect future outbreaks. Although no limitations were identified in the first study, the authors in the second study reported limitations in the study design and results. Another limitation in the second study was that the symptoms were self-reported; hence, the study was subject to variations between clinical data and what was reported (Wahl, Vold and Lindstedt 8-9). Wahl, Erik , et al. "Investigation of an Escherichia Coli O145 Outbreak In a Child Day-Care Center -Extensive Sampling and Characterization of eae- and stx1-Positive E. Coli Yields Epidemiological and Socioeconomic Insight." BMC Infectious Diseases 11.238 (2011):

Easter Island Essay Example for Free

Easter Island Essay In the article, â€Å"Who Killed Easter Island† by Jared Diamond he states that people can affect and destroy our environment and natural resources. Easter Island can be used as a warning that cultural and environmental dangers exist due to overexploitation. Although, civilizations have vanished from the island it still has a remaining mystery and history to its untouched landscape. Easter Island was formed out of an ancient volcanic eruption; the island is only sixty-four square miles with habitable land and subtropical weather that makes the soil fertile. Easter Island was name by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, on Easter in 1722. Easter Island is famous for its tight-lipped statues that stand across the island, which were erected by the Rapa Nui people between the 10th and 16th centuries AD. These are ancient wonders of the world that are still being studied to get a full understanding of how and why these statues were created. From written history the explorer’s first impression of the island was that it was a waste because the people who lived on the island represented it as being of insufficient and ruthless to them. With all the current studies that have consumed the island many are fascinated with the history and abundance of Easter Island. Many questions have arisen to Easter Islands existence because the people who are putting time and effort are very interested and curious. They have come to conclusion that many of the natural resources of the island were used in order for the first settlers to survive from using the forests to gather food and build canoes and also using the ocean to fish and drink. Remains that have been left on the island have been from fish, porpoises, rats, birds from both the land and sea, and even seals have been linked to the food chain of the people of Easter Island. Researchers have also linked cannibalism to the people of Easter Islands’ meat consumption. With today’s rising population around the world we have been exhausting our natural resources to fish more, ruin our tropical forests and create more fossil fuel that if we do not learn to conserve more that we will not have left for our children of the future. After reading this article by Jared Diamond, it has given me a better understanding that we as humans can and are damaging our own personal environment. We already have many extinction of animals and plants in our society today that we are busting our butts to learn to preserve and protect them. We have over done our part from over fishing, hunting, cutting down trees from out vital rain forests, polluting our rivers and oceans only to satisfy our craving for that moment then to conserve and protect for the future of not only ourselves but also the remaining people who will walk on this earth. If Easter Island can be still a habitable piece of land but have no people living on the island then what are doing to the rest of the lands that we have readily available and use at our discretion. We have to protect and consume less for not only the people who are living today but also for the animals and plants that will be protecting us in the future. Everyone on this planet has created their own catastrophic environment for themselves. We have to fight harder in order for us to be able to use our resources for our children’s future and our children’s children’s future and so on. Many questions have to be asked and the answer have to be legit because we are building skyscrapers left to right but what land are we building it on and whose environment are destroying by having these skyscrapers built. We are only benefitting human life but not thinking of the animal and plant life that have help us to be where we are today. With the way that we live today there might not be anything left for anyone in the world but where do we start first?

how important were the actions of Roas Parks? Essay -- essays research

How Important were the actions of Rosa Parks to the civil rights movement? Explain your answer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rosa Parks was a black American who it has been said, started the black civil rights movement. Rosa Parks was fro Montgomery, and in Montgomery they had a local low that black people were only allowed to sit in a few seats on the public buses and if a white person wanted their set, they would have to give it up. On one bus journey Parks was asked to move for a white person, she refused and the police were call and she was arrested and convicted of breaking the bus laws.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The black people of Montgomery decided that the best way to show their anger at what had happened and how they were being treated would be by boycott, not use, the local bus service. One the first day of the boycott the buses were almost empty. The black community worked together and arranged another forms of transport such as car pool, or waling. Black taxi companies only charged back passengers the price of the bus fair and some white people who could do without their servants even when to pick them up form their homes. During the boycott the bus company lost 65% of their earnings. This showed people who powerful non-violent protest could be, by challenging black segregation laws without committing a crime. It also showed the black people how powerful they could be if they worked together.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When...

Summary and critique of Stanley Milgram

The experiment on â€Å"Behavioral Study of Obedience† was conducted by Stanley Milgram in July 1961. It was barely three months after Adolf Eichmann had been tried over the criminal activities committed during the Nazi war. The research was designed to address the questions about the peoples who were the masterminds of the infamous Nazi torturing ordeal that were responsible for the deaths of millions of the innocent people. It was intended to find out the people who would prefer to be submissive to the authority at the expense of human life. The experiment also sought to measure the willingness of individuals to obey an authority figure who instructs them to do certain things that are against their personal conscience. The question that the researchers were asking was, â€Å"Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?† The hypothesis was that there was likelihood that that during the Nazi war it might have been that Adolf Eichmann and his accomplices were just being submissive to the orders from higher authority (against their will) to murder the innocent people. The research question was very instrumental in helping to unveil how one can alter another person’s behavior, beliefs and mind-set. Before giving the results of the experiment the researcher predicted that only a negligible number of the participants would obey the orders and persist on to administer maximum shock. The range was 0 – 3%. That meant that out of 100 participants only 3 would administer the 450 volt shock. Method The people who participate in the experiment (subjects) were drawn from different social status background within New Haven area. They comprised people from a wide range occupation with characteristic characters include clerical officers, teachers, salespersons, engineers and drudges. The group was a representative of all educational levels; from elementary school to doctorate and other professional degrees and aged between 20 – 50 years in their right state of mind (Milgram, S., 1963). The dependable variable in this experiment was the maximum shock that the subject, S, was willing to administer to the victim L up to that point when he resist to follow the instructions given to him by the experimenter. The independent variables were the learner (an experimental confederate) and the experimenter’s orders. There were two participants in each case. They were; a naà ¯ve subject who played the role of a â€Å"teacher† and was provided with a 450 volt electric shock generator and the second one a confederate who played the role of a â€Å"learner.† The task of the â€Å"teacher† was to read to the â€Å"learner† a list of word pairs. The â€Å"learner† on the other hand was to respond correctly to these pairs of words by pressing the button as an indicator of his response. In case of a wrong answer the â€Å"teacher† was to administer an electric shock to the â€Å"learner†. For each subsequent wrong answer, the â€Å"teacher† would increase the voltage. Even though the subject believed that the learner was receiving the actual shock, the learner, being in a separate room, sets up a tape recorder which had been incorporated to the electric shock generator. This tape played sounds which had been pre-recorded to march each shock level. The presupposed victim (â€Å"learner†) would start to bang the wall separating him from the subject at given numbers of voltage increase. He would continue banging on the wall and complaining of heart condition until all the responses from him ceased. The data collected was based on how much electric shock the subjects were willing to inflict on the victim. This was to indicate their level of obedience and to see their willingness to obey the orders; if it they were doing it deliberately or did it against their will. Results Eventually it was discovered that out of the 40 participants 14 subjects showed explicit signs of nervous laughter and smiling which were inapt and weird. Three of the subjects developed irrepressible convulsions. According to the results obtained, it is evident that while responding to the demands prompted by the appraisals, 40 themes exceed the projected break-off point. None of them administered the electric shock below 300 volts, a point when the victim starts to kick the wall and provided no answers to the teacher’s questions. 5 of them stops at the 300 volt level; 4 of them proceeds to 315 volt level; 2 breaks of at 330 volt level; 3 others drop off at 345, 360 and 375 volts respectively. These 14 subjects were defiant to the experimenter’s instructions. They were recurrently in a frantic and enraged condition. However 26 of the 40 subjects were obedient enough to proceed on to punish the victim till they attain the shock of 450 volts. But they do this against their will. They could be observed to be in consternation once the experiment was brought to a halt. Discussion The results obtained imply that there are people who, despite receiving orders from authority, would choose to defy and stick to what they believe is morally acceptable. In this case the 14 subjects held this belief and would not inflict pain on another person against his/her will. It was however observed that some people would choose to act against their conscience and submit to authority even if what they are ordered to do is against moral principles. This what the 26 subjects did; despite expressing some signs of displeasure in shocking an innocent person, they still go on to obey the commands to the end. This implies that obedience to authority can cause harmless and non-hostile individuals to turn inhuman. The results seems to be in contrast to those predicted in the questionnaire where only 3 out of 100 respondents said they would proceed to administer electric shock to their victim up to the most maximum and risky shock of 450 volts. In this case however, the figure was surprisingly high; 26 out of 40. It had also been expected that a subjected would basically terminate or proceed as dictated by his conscience. However the subjects exhibited tension and emotional strain in their response to the commands. Critique The experiment was well conducted and its objective was attained. The volunteers were got through a New Have (Connecticut) daily newspaper advert and direct mail to some informing them take part in the study of reminiscence as well as the learning designate conducted in a laboratory at Yale University. The real purpose of the experiment was hidden from the subjects until the experiment was over; they knew that the experiment was a study of memory and learning yet it was about study of obedience to authority. Another thing was that the entire volunteers were to play the role of the teacher while that of the student was played by an experimental confederate. In addition, the generator that the teacher used was just but of 45 volts sample shock with the generator not wired to shock the learner. Lastly, the kicking of the wall by the learner, screams and his rejection to proceed and the commands/orders of the experimenter to the teacher were all skillfully fabricated. These indicate the researchers’ thoroughness in the design of the experiment to answer their specific research question. Most importantly, at the end of the experiment subjects underwent some procedures to assist them go back to normal well being. The researchers did not however deal with any feasible alternative explanation for their results. This might be attributes to the fact that they expected the subjects to show some level of obedience. Also, the subjects might have been expected to act accordingly and participate fully to make the research successfully bearing in mind that the real objective of the experiment was hidden from them. It should be stated here that there are some people who will not, at any cost, accept to administer any level of electric shock to another person. The research was also not well represented in terms of gender or the researchers did not specify the sex of the participants. This raises the question about the criteria that was used in selecting the subjects. But all in all the experiment was quite essential as it the positive and the negative nature of human beings. Reference: Milgram. S. (1969); Study on behavioral obedience, Journal of Abnormal and social psychology; 371-378. http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/0155060678_rathus/ps/index.html