Comparing Language in Baby of the Family and Black Girl Lost :: comparison compare contrast essays

Function of Language in Baby of the Family and Black Girl Lost      Ã‚   African American literature is a genre that has, in recent years, grown almost exponentially. African American novels such as Tina McElroy Ansa's Baby of the Family and Donald Goines' Black Girl Lost are increasingly becoming more popular with the public. Baby of the Family is a wonderfully written "coming of age novel" ("Reviews 2") about a young girl named Lena McPherson as she grows up and must learn to deal with her extraordinary powers. Much unlike this, Black Girl Lost is a "shocking novel" (Goines 208) about a young girl named Sandra, who is forced to live on the streets. Though each of these novels is unique in their own aspect, a common bond can be established between the two through the use of language employed in the text. Because of the various functions that language can serve in literature, it is a rather "fascinating phenomenon" (Blackshire-Belay 1) to study in reference to these two novels. In both Baby of the Family and Black Girl Lost, language is used to reflect the speech patterns of the minority culture, as a portrayal of different worlds within the novels, and acts as a mirror to the life of the main character in order to navigate plot speed.    Language can be defined as "a regularized symbolic code that connects its users in a symbiosis of substance" (Blackshire-Belay 1). Not only are we produced by language, but we produce through language (Blackshire-Belay 1). In other words, language is a very integral part of our lives, especially in literature. It can even be said that literature, "in its most profound sense, is the most complex use of language to create meaning" (Blackshire-Belay 4). Therefore, its importance should not be looked upon lightly. In both Baby of the Family and Black Girl Lost, it seems that language is being used in order to convey the minority experience to readers, whether they be of the African American race or the dominant culture. To accomplish this, each novel displays Africanisms, or qualities that are very common in the African American language. These qualities include emphatic speech such as double negatives, call and response phrases and also metaphorical language.

Let Gays Marry

Let Gays Marry Andrew Sullivan â€Å"A state cannot deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws,† declared the Supreme Court last week. It was a monumental statement. Gay men and lesbians, the conservative court said, are no longer strangers in America. They are citizens, entitled, like everyone else, to equal protection—no special rights, but simple equality. For the first time in Supreme Court history, gay men and women were seen not as some powerful lobby trying to subvert America, but as the people we truly are—the sons and daughters of countless mothers and fathers, with all the weaknesses and strengths and hopes of everybody else. And what we seek is not some special place in America but merely to be a full and equal part of America, to give back to our society without being forced to lie or hide or live as second-class citizens. That is why marriage is so central to our hopes. People ask us why we want the right to marry, but the answer is obvious. It's the same reason anyone wants the right to marry. At some point in our lives, some of us are lucky enough to meet the person we truly love. And we want to commit to that person in front of our family and country for the rest of our lives. It's the most simple, the most natural, the most human instinct in the world. How could anyone seek to oppose that? Yes, at first blush, it seems like a radical proposal, but, when you think about it some more, it's actually the opposite. Throughout American history, to be sure, marriage has been between a man and a woman, and in many ways our society is built upon that institution. But none of that need change in the slightest. After all, no one is seeking to take away anybody's right to marry, and no one is seeking to force any church to change any doctrine in any way. Particular religious arguments against same-sex marriage are rightly debated within the churches and faiths themselves. That is not the issue here: there is a separation between church and state in this country. We are only asking that when the government gives out civil marriage licenses, those of us who are gay should be treated like anybody else. Of course, some argue that marriage is by definition between a man and a woman. But for centuries, marriage was by definition a contract in which the wife was her husband's legal property. And we changed that. For centuries, marriage was by definition between two people of the same race. And we changed that. We changed these things because we recognized that human dignity is the same whether you are a man or a woman, black or white. And no one has any more of a choice to be gay than to be black or white or male or female. Some say that marriage is only about raising children, but we let childless heterosexual couples be married (Bob and Elizabeth Dole, Pat and Shelley Buchanan, for instance). Why should gay couples be treated differently? Others fear that there is no logical difference between allowing same-sex marriage and sanctioning polygamy and other horrors. But the issue of whether to sanction multiple spouses (gay or straight) is completely separate from whether, in the existing institution between two unrelated adults, the government should discriminate between its citizens. This is, in fact, if only Bill Bennett could see it, a deeply conservative cause. It seeks to change no one else's rights or marriages in any way. It seeks merely to promote monogamy, fidelity and the disciplines of family life among people who have long been cast to the margins of society. And what could be a more conservative project than that? Why indeed would any conservative seek to oppose those very family values for gay people that he or she   supports for everybody else? Except, of course, to make gay men and lesbians strangers in their own country, to forbid them ever to come home. Andrew Sullivan, â€Å"Three's a Crowd,† The New Republic (June 17, 1996). Reprinted by permission of The New Republic, (c) 1996, The New Republic, Inc. William Bennett, â€Å"Leave Marriage Alone. † From Newsweek 3 June 1996. (c) 1996,   Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission. Andrew Sullivan, â€Å"Let Gays Marry. † From Newsweek 3 June 1996. (c) 1996, Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Biography and Inventions of Inventor Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio; the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. When Edison was seven his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Edison lived here until he struck out on his own at the age of sixteen. Edison had very little formal education as a child, attending school only for a few months. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother, but was always a very curious child and taught himself much by reading on his own. This belief in self-improvement remained throughout his life. Work as a Telegrapher Edison began working at an early age, as most boys did at the time. At thirteen he took a job as a newsboy, selling newspapers and candy on the local railroad that ran through Port Huron to Detroit. He seems to have spent much of his free time reading scientific, and technical books, and also had the opportunity at this time to learn how to operate a telegraph. By the time he was sixteen, Edison was proficient enough to work as a telegrapher full time. First Patent The development of the telegraph was the first step in the communication revolution, and the telegraph industry expanded rapidly in the second half of the 19th century. This rapid growth gave Edison and others like him a chance to travel, see the country, and gain experience. Edison worked in a number of cities throughout the United States before arriving in Boston in 1868. Here Edison began to change his profession from telegrapher to inventor. He received his first patent on an electric vote recorder, a device intended for use by elected bodies such as Congress to speed the voting process. This invention was a commercial failure. Edison resolved that in the future he would only invent things that he was certain the public would want. Marriage to Mary Stilwell Edison moved to New York City in 1869. He continued to work on inventions related to the telegraph, and developed his first successful invention, an improved stock ticker called the Universal Stock Printer. For this and some related inventions, Edison was paid $40,000. This gave Edison the money he needed to set up his first small laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey in 1871. During the next five years, Edison worked in Newark inventing and manufacturing devices that greatly improved the speed and efficiency of the telegraph. He also found time to get married to Mary Stilwell and start a family. Move to Menlo Park In 1876 Edison sold all his Newark manufacturing concerns and moved his family and staff of assistants to the small village of Menlo Park, twenty-five miles southwest of New York City. Edison established a new facility containing all the equipment necessary to work on any invention. This research and development laboratory was the first of its kind anywhere; the model for later, modern facilities such as Bell Laboratories, this is sometimes considered to be Edisons greatest invention. Here Edison began to change the world. The first great invention developed by Edison in Menlo Park was the tin foil phonograph. The first machine that could record and reproduce sound created a sensation and brought Edison international fame. Edison toured the country with the tin foil phonograph  and was invited to the White House to demonstrate it to President Rutherford B. Hayes in April 1878. Edison next undertook his greatest challenge, the development of a practical incandescent, electric light. The idea of electric lighting was not new, and a number of people had worked on, and even developed forms of electric lighting. But up to that time, nothing had been developed that was remotely practical for home use. Edisons eventual achievement was inventing not just an incandescent electric light, but also an electric lighting system that contained all the elements necessary to make the incandescent light practical, safe, and economical.    Thomas Edison Founds an Industry Based on Electricity After one and a half years of work, success was achieved when an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread burned for thirteen and a half hours. The first public demonstration of the Edisons incandescent lighting system was in December 1879, when the Menlo Park laboratory complex was electrically lighted. Edison spent the next several years creating the electric industry. In September 1882, the first commercial power station, located on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, went into operation providing light and power to customers in a one square mile area; the electric age had begun.    Fame Wealth The success of his electric light brought Edison to new heights of fame and wealth, as electricity spread around the world. Edisons various electric companies continued to grow until in 1889 they were brought together to form Edison General Electric. Despite the use of Edison in the company title however, Edison never controlled this company. The tremendous amount of capital needed to develop the incandescent lighting industry had necessitated the involvement of investment bankers such as J.P. Morgan. When Edison General Electric merged with its leading competitor Thompson-Houston in 1892, Edison was dropped from the name, and the company became simply General Electric. Marriage to Mina Miller This period of success was marred by the death of Edisons wife Mary in 1884. Edisons involvement in the business end of the electric industry had caused Edison to spend less time in Menlo Park. After Marys death, Edison was there even less, living instead in New York City with his three children. A year later, while vacationing at a friends house in New England, Edison met Mina Miller and fell in love. The couple was married in February 1886 and moved to West Orange, New Jersey where Edison had purchased an estate, Glenmont, for his bride. Thomas Edison lived here with Mina until his death.    New Laboratory Factories When Edison moved to West Orange, he was doing experimental work in makeshift facilities in his electric lamp factory in nearby Harrison, New Jersey. A few months after his marriage, however, Edison decided to build a new laboratory in West Orange itself, less than a mile from his home. Edison possessed the both the resources and experience by this time to build, the best equipped and largest laboratory extant and the facilities superior to any other for rapid and cheap development of an invention. The new laboratory complex consisting of five buildings opened in November 1887. A three story main laboratory building contained a power plant, machine shops, stock rooms, experimental rooms and a large library. Four smaller one story buildings built perpendicular to the main building contained a physics lab, chemistry lab, metallurgy lab, pattern shop, and chemical storage. The large size of the laboratory not only allowed Edison to work on any sort of project, but also allowed him to work on as many as ten or twenty projects at once. Facilities were added to the laboratory or modified to meet Edisons changing needs as he continued to work in this complex until his death in 1931. Over the years, factories to manufacture Edison inventions were built around the laboratory. The entire laboratory and factory complex eventually covered more than twenty acres and employed 10,000 people at its peak during World War One (1914-1918). After opening the new laboratory, Edison began to work on the phonograph again, having set the project aside to develop the electric light in the late 1870s. By the 1890s, Edison began to manufacture phonographs for both home, and business use. Like the electric light, Edison developed everything needed to have a phonograph work, including records to play, equipment to record the records, and equipment to manufacture the records and the machines. In the process of making the phonograph practical, Edison created the recording industry. The development and improvement of the phonograph was an ongoing project, continuing almost until Edisons death.    The Movies While working on the phonograph, Edison began working on a device that, does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, this was to become motion pictures. Edison first demonstrated motion pictures in 1891, and began commercial production of movies two years later in a peculiar looking structure, built on the laboratory grounds, known as the Black Maria. Like the electric light and phonograph before it, Edison developed a complete system, developing everything needed to both film and show motion pictures. Edisons initial work in motion pictures was pioneering and original. However, many people became interested in this third new industry Edison created, and worked to further improve on Edisons early motion picture work. There were therefore many contributors to the swift development of motion pictures beyond the early work of Edison. By the late 1890s, a thriving new industry was firmly established, and by 1918 the industry had become so competitive that Edison got out of the movie business all together.    Even a Genius Can have a Bad Day 1890sgreatest failure    A Profitable Product alkaline battery . By 1911, Thomas Edison had built a vast industrial operation in West Orange. Numerous factories had been built through the years around the original laboratory, and the staff of the entire complex had grown into the thousands. To better manage operations, Edison brought all the companies he had started to make his inventions together into one corporation, Thomas A. Edison Incorporated, with Edison as president and chairman. Aging Gracefully In the 1915, Edison was asked to head the Naval Consulting Board. With the United States inching closer towards the involvement in World War One, the Naval Consulting Board was an attempt to organize the talents of the leading scientists and inventors in the United States for the benefit of the American armed forces. Edison favored preparedness, and accepted the appointment. The Board did not make a notable contribution to the final allied victory, but did serve as a precedent for future successful cooperation between scientists, inventors and the United States military. During the war, at age seventy, Edison spent several months on Long Island Sound in a borrowed navy vessel experimenting on techniques for detecting submarines. Honoring a Lifetime of Achievement Edisons role in life began to change from inventor and industrialist to cultural icon, a symbol of American ingenuity, and a real life Horatio Alger story. In 1928, in recognition of a lifetime of achievement, the United States Congress voted Edison a special Medal of Honor. In 1929 the nation celebrated the golden jubilee of the incandescent light. The celebration culminated at a banquet honoring Edison given by Henry Ford at Greenfield Village, Fords new American history museum, which included a complete restoration of the Menlo Park Laboratory. Attendees included President Herbert Hoover and many of the leading American scientists and inventors. The last experimental work of Edisons life was done at the request of Edisons good friends Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone in the late 1920s. They asked Edison to find an alternative source of rubber for use in automobile tires. The natural rubber used for tires up to that time came from the rubber tree, which does not grow in the United States. Crude rubber had to be imported and was becoming increasingly expensive. With his customary energy and thoroughness, Edison tested thousands of different plants to find a suitable substitute, eventually finding a type of Goldenrod weed that could produce enough rubber to be feasible. Edison was still working on this at the time of his death. A Great Man Dies During the last two years of his life Edison was in increasingly poor health. Edison spent more time away from the laboratory, working instead at Glenmont. Trips to the family vacation home in Fort Myers, Florida became longer. Edison was past eighty and suffering from a number of ailments. In August 1931 Edison collapsed at Glenmont. Essentially house bound from that point, Edison steadily declined until at 3:21 am on October 18, 1931 the great man died.

Alcohol Addiction Causes, Treatment And Tips Essay

Alcohol Addiction Causes, Treatment and Tips By Lourdes Amil | Submitted On January 11, 2011 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest Expert Author Lourdes Amil There are many methods to take steps to correcting the significant issue of Alcohol Addiction, review these suggestion listed below. The majority of major Alcohol Addiction plan will consist of some form of these methods. Meditation classes Yoga and physical workout routines Activities like tennis, basketball and table tennis Art sessions including activities like painting and sketching classes Alcohol dependency counseling sessions Religious and spiritual lectures and classes Weekly or monthly chats with the family members of the addict More recently, alcohol addiction has become one of the most common problems that destroys the life of people all over the world. Every year a substantial number of people fall subjects to alcohol addiction. Alcohol rehab centers are the only places with all kinds of facilities that provide patients the direction and support they require to beat this disease. Most alcohol rehabilitation centers are state-of-the-art Facilities and are part of a large campus with many offerings. At theShow MoreRelatedEssay on Alcohol vs Marijuana1537 Words   |  7 PagesAlcohol vs Marijuana There is no culture in the history of mankind that did not ever use some kind (kinds) of drugs. 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How Successful Was Henry Vii in Dealing with Challenges to...

How successful was Henry VII in dealing with challenges to his royal authority in the years 1489 to 1499? Between the years 1489 and 1499, Henry received three main threats to his royal authority: the Yorkshire Rebellion in 1489; the pretender, Perkin Warbeck (from 1491 to 1499); and the Cornish uprising in 1497. All of these threats were quelled successfully; however each one presented problems to Henry and highlighted his instability on the throne. I believe that Henry dealt with the challenges successfully, but his policies suffered as a result. In 1489, the Yorkshire Rebellion arose due to conflict between the Earl of Northumberland and the Commons of Northumberland and Yorkshire, who were reluctant to pay more taxes. The†¦show more content†¦Therefore, although Henry’s swift actions against Warbeck’s invasion successfully dealt with that particular challenge, Stanley’s execution reflects Henry’s paranoia and deep concern. During the years between 1496 and 1497, Warbeck continued to cause Henry trouble – however, Henry became more successful at overcoming these threats. For example, although Warbeck was greeted into Scotland warmly by King James IV, their invasion of England in September 1946 lasted just four days; the English force led by Lord Latimer was too strong. In addition, the northern counties failed to support Warbeck, which is in contrast to his previous international support. At this point, Henry was showing greater confidence against Warbeck. It had seemed as though the marriage of Henrys eldest son, Arthur - to Catherine, a Spanish princess– would be threatened by these anti-Tudor gestures, however the marriage did go ahead in 1501. Despite the failed invasion of England, Henry was still wary of Warbeck’s allegiance with Scotland; he spent the beginning on 1497 raising a huge army to invade Scotland. This dedication – in terms of both time and money – re flects his strength and determination to quell Warbeck once and for all. Unfortunately, 1497 saw the greatest threat to Henry’s authority – the Cornish Rebellion. Described by John Guy as â€Å"the most important revolt in Henry’s reign†, it was sparked by unpopular tax collections (similar to those provoking the Yorkshire

H.G. Wells’s Time Machine Free Essays

The cultural and intellectual climate of the last decade of nineteenth century was dominated by the theory of evolution and socialist ideas. It was an age when aristocratic gentlemen had the time and inclination to discuss and debate upon all kinds of social and scientific things, including time travel. At the very beginning, the novel succeeds in setting a tone of passionate intellectual curiosity and open-minded enquiry. We will write a custom essay sample on H.G. Wells’s Time Machine or any similar topic only for you Order Now Protagonist’s Journey of Plot and Conflict The Protagonist: The novel’s protagonist, identified only as the Time Traveller, is essentially a scientist and inventor. He is very scientifically minded, and comes out as a character whose life is dedicated to scientific advancement and understanding the nature of the world and life. Reason is central to his outlook of the world. In his investigations, he has stumbled upon some radical insights in the structure of reality, which lead him to build his fantastic time machine. The initial events: The novel begins as the Time Traveller invites his friends to inspect his new invention – a time machine. He explains the idea to them†¦ There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time†¦ There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it. (1) Scientists and mathematicians have been talking about a possible fourth dimension before him, but our inventor rightly identifies the fourth dimension not with an extra spatial dimension but with time. He then shows his friends a small model of his invention — a metallic frame with ivory and quartz parts. One lever can propel it toward the future, and another can reverse the direction. He helps one of his friends push the future lever, and the model promptly disappears. Where did it go? It did not move in space at all; it simply went to another time, the Time Traveller explains. His friends cannot decide whether to believe him. Next, the Time Traveller takes his friends to his home laboratory, to see his nearly complete, full-scale model. A week later he finishes the time machine, climbs aboard, and begins a remarkable journey to the future. The narrative is recounted in flash back, after the Time Traveller is back from his adventures. Seated in his time machine, the Time Traveller first presses the future lever gently forward. Then he presses the one for stopping. He looks at his lab. Everything is the same. Then he notices the clock: â€Å"A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at a minute or so past ten; now it was nearly half-past three!† He pushes the lever ahead again, and he can see his housekeeper flit across the room at high speed. Then he pushes the lever far forward. The night came like the turning out of a light, and in another moment came tomorrow†¦. As I put on a pace, night followed day like the flapping of a black wing†¦ Presently, as I went on, still gaining velocity, the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous grayness†¦ I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams. (1) Eventually, the Time Traveller brings his vehicle to a stop. The machine’s dials show that he has arrived in the year 802,701. What does he find? The Conflict: In the distant future where the Time Traveller lands, the human race has split into two species: one, brutish and mean, living below ground — the Morlocks; the other, childlike and gentle, living above ground — the Eloi. The central conflict of the novel revolves around these two groups. The Time Traveller identifies himself with the Eloi, at least to a degree, and among them he finds a lovely young woman named Weena, whom he befriends. Weena can be considered as the protagonist’s love interest. But soon he discovers, to his horror, that the troglodytes living below are cannibals and prey on the Eloi. Several adventures follow. The action scene of peak importance is the Time Traveller reclaiming his Time Machine stolen by the Morlocks escaping. The Climax: The novel has a kind of apocalyptic climax/anticlimax. Escaping from the Morlocks, the protagonist pushes the lever into the extreme forward position. By the time he is able to bring the machine under control, he has moved into the far future. Mammals have become extinct, and only some crablike creatures and butterflies remain on Earth. He explores as far as 30 million years into the future, where he discovers a dull red Sun and lichen-like vegetation; the only animal life in evidence is a football-shaped creature with tentacles. Wells’s Time Traveller witnesses the end of the world, and apocalyptic vision that he carries back to the present. His revelation of finiteness implies that we can expect and must accept an end to life, an inevitable doomsday. The Epilogue: The Time Traveller then returns to his own time and to his friends. As proof of his experience in the future, he produces a couple of flowers Weena had given him, of a type unknown to his friends. After talking to his friends, the Time Traveller departs on his time machine and never returns. The narrator wonders about his fate. Where did he go? Did he return to the future or go instead to some prehistoric realm? Narration The bulk of the story is told from the viewpoint of the Time Traveller. The substance of the story is, however, framed within the narration of one of Time Traveller’s guests. This guest, the frame narrator, introduces the Time Traveller and lets him relate his adventure in an inset narrative. The frame narrator’s outside viewpoint carries a degree of objectivity and gives credibility to the inventor’s   inset narrative. He grounds the story in a reality with which the audience can identify before and after experiencing the wondrous trip in the time machine. With the return to familiar surroundings, the reader, like the Time Traveller, might question the reality of such a strange experience (â€Å"Is it all only a dream? They say life is a dream†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), but the presence of an honorable gentleman in the form of frame narrator gives more plausibility to the narrative of the protagonist who is by nature a dreamer and a visionary. Theme and Meaning Wells’s inventor’s interest in time traveling seems primarily for the sake of scientific accomplishment, to gain knowledge for knowledge’s sake. H.G. Wells’ story begins with, and constantly refers back to, the time machine itself. However, the machine is simply a device allowing the author to present his own perspective on a possible future. The main thrust of the story lies in this form of forecasting and prediction and also in the social comment about the conflicts between different classes or kinds of society. The main intent is not so much to explore the questions of time, but to illustrate the ultimate possible consequence of social and economic divisions of humanity. Thus, this story can be seen more as a social and political criticism than science fiction. The Time Traveller does not have a definite cause and effect explanation for the Eloi’s society. To shape his theories he relies on the scientific method, using empirical evidence to reach conclusion that he reformulates with the discovery of new information. However, his inconclusive conclusions are largely conjectures.   The Time Traveller bases his hypotheses on socioeconomic conditions and theories (especially socialism) prevalent in his own period of the late nineteenth century, and on a metaphorical image of the capitalist and worker. Without knowledge of some causal chain, he lacks definite information to show what other variable elements may have affected mankind to produce the bifurcation of the human species and the predator-prey relationship of the Morlock and Eloi. While such ambiguities raise many unanswerable questions, the message that comes out of them is clear: any kind of widening gap between groups of human race can prove costly in the end. The novel also answers one thing most directly: Eventually there will not be a trace of humanity left, the earth will become desolate and barren. The vision of the end of the world is perhaps the most haunting and yet the most enlightening aspect of this work, to me. I also wonder how it would have been if the Time Traveller pushed further, if only to catch the briefest glimpse into eternity. Conclusion No idea from science fiction has captured the human imagination as much as time travel. We seem free to move around in space at will, but in time we are like helpless rafters in a mighty stream, propelled into the future at the rate of one second per second. One wishes one could sometimes paddle ahead to investigate the shores of the future, or perhaps turn around and go against the current to visit the past. The hope that such freedom will one day be ours is sustained when we observe that many feats formerly thought impossible have now been realized and are even taken for granted. When Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895, many people thought that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible. But just eight years later the Wright brothers proved the skeptics wrong. Flights to the Moon too strictly belonged to the realm of fantasy – until Apollo program achieved it. Might time travel be similar? Wells’s swift-paced classic science fiction tale challenges us to dare to dream the impossible. The idea of time travel gained prominence through Wells’s wonderful novel. Most remarkable is his treatment of time as a fourth dimension, which uncannily anticipates Einstein’s use of the concept several years later. Interestingly, the Time Machine was Wells’ first novel, and enjoyed an instant popularity, rescuing its author from obscurity and poverty. Today it stands as one of the greatest pioneering science fiction tales. I would like to read Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Moon after this. References: Wells H. G. (1898). The Time Machine. Retrieved May 10 2007 from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35/35.txt How to cite H.G. Wells’s Time Machine, Essay examples H.G. Wells’s Time Machine Free Essays The Protagonist: The novel’s protagonist, identified only as the Time Traveller, is essentially a scientist and inventor. He is very scientifically minded, and comes out as a character whose life is dedicated to scientific advancement and understanding the nature of the world and life. Reason is central to his outlook of the world. We will write a custom essay sample on H.G. Wells’s Time Machine or any similar topic only for you Order Now In his investigations, he has stumbled upon some radical insights in the structure of reality, which lead him to build his fantastic time machine. The initial events: The novel begins as the Time Traveller invites his friends to inspect his new invention – a time machine. He explains the idea to them†¦ There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time†¦ There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it. (1) Scientists and mathematicians have been talking about a possible fourth dimension before him, but our inventor rightly identifies the fourth dimension not with an extra spatial dimension but with time. He then shows his friends a small model of his invention — a metallic frame with ivory and quartz parts. One lever can propel it toward the future, and another can reverse the direction. He helps one of his friends push the future lever, and the model promptly disappears. Where did it go? It did not move in space at all; it simply went to another time, the Time Traveller explains. His friends cannot decide whether to believe him. Next, the Time Traveller takes his friends to his home laboratory, to see his nearly complete, full-scale model. A week later he finishes the time machine, climbs aboard, and begins a remarkable journey to the future. The narrative is recounted in flash back, after the Time Traveller is back from his adventures. Seated in his time machine, the Time Traveller first presses the future lever gently forward. Then he presses the one for stopping. He looks at his lab. Everything is the same. Then he notices the clock: â€Å"A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at a minute or so past ten; now it was nearly half-past three!† He pushes the lever ahead again, and he can see his housekeeper flit across the room at high speed. Then he pushes the lever far forward. The night came like the turning out of a light, and in another moment came tomorrow†¦. As I put on a pace, night followed day like the flapping of a black wing†¦ Presently, as I went on, still gaining velocity, the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous grayness†¦ I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams. (1) Eventually, the Time Traveller brings his vehicle to a stop. The machine’s dials show that he has arrived in the year 802,701. What does he find? The Conflict: In the distant future where the Time Traveller lands, the human race has split into two species: one, brutish and mean, living below ground — the Morlocks; the other, childlike and gentle, living above ground — the Eloi. The central conflict of the novel revolves around these two groups. The Time Traveller identifies himself with the Eloi, at least to a degree, and among them he finds a lovely young woman named Weena, whom he befriends. Weena can be considered as the protagonist’s love interest. But soon he discovers, to his horror, that the troglodytes living below are cannibals and prey on the Eloi. Several adventures follow. The action scene of peak importance is the Time Traveller reclaiming his Time Machine stolen by the Morlocks escaping. The Climax: The novel has a kind of apocalyptic climax/anticlimax. Escaping from the Morlocks, the protagonist pushes the lever into the extreme forward position. By the time he is able to bring the machine under control, he has moved into the far future. Mammals have become extinct, and only some crablike creatures and butterflies remain on Earth. He explores as far as 30 million years into the future, where he discovers a dull red Sun and lichen-like vegetation; the only animal life in evidence is a football-shaped creature with tentacles. Wells’s Time Traveller witnesses the end of the world, and apocalyptic vision that he carries back to the present. His revelation of finiteness implies that we can expect and must accept an end to life, an inevitable doomsday. The Epilogue: The Time Traveller then returns to his own time and to his friends. As proof of his experience in the future, he produces a couple of flowers Weena had given him, of a type unknown to his friends. After talking to his friends, the Time Traveller departs on his time machine and never returns. The narrator wonders about his fate. Where did he go? Did he return to the future or go instead to some prehistoric realm? The bulk of the story is told from the viewpoint of the Time Traveller. The substance of the story is, however, framed within the narration of one of Time Traveller’s guests. This guest, the frame narrator, introduces the Time Traveller and lets him relate his adventure in an inset narrative. The frame narrator’s outside viewpoint carries a degree of objectivity and gives credibility to the inventor’s   inset narrative. He grounds the story in a reality with which the audience can identify before and after experiencing the wondrous trip in the time machine. With the return to familiar surroundings, the reader, like the Time Traveller, might question the reality of such a strange experience (â€Å"Is it all only a dream? They say life is a dream†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), but the presence of an honorable gentleman in the form of frame narrator gives more plausibility to the narrative of the protagonist who is by nature a dreamer and a visionary. Wells’s inventor’s interest in time traveling seems primarily for the sake of scientific accomplishment, to gain knowledge for knowledge’s sake. H.G. Wells’ story begins with, and constantly refers back to, the time machine itself. However, the machine is simply a device allowing the author to present his own perspective on a possible future. The main thrust of the story lies in this form of forecasting and prediction and also in the social comment about the conflicts between different classes or kinds of society. The main intent is not so much to explore the questions of time, but to illustrate the ultimate possible consequence of social and economic divisions of humanity. Thus, this story can be seen more as a social and political criticism than science fiction. The Time Traveller does not have a definite cause and effect explanation for the Eloi’s society. To shape his theories he relies on the scientific method, using empirical evidence to reach conclusion that he reformulates with the discovery of new information. However, his inconclusive conclusions are largely conjectures.   The Time Traveller bases his hypotheses on socioeconomic conditions and theories (especially socialism) prevalent in his own period of the late nineteenth century, and on a metaphorical image of the capitalist and worker. Without knowledge of some causal chain, he lacks definite information to show what other variable elements may have affected mankind to produce the bifurcation of the human species and the predator-prey relationship of the Morlock and Eloi. While such ambiguities raise many unanswerable questions, the message that comes out of them is clear: any kind of widening gap between groups of human race can prove costly in the end. The novel also answers one thing most directly: Eventually there will not be a trace of humanity left, the earth will become desolate and barren. The vision of the end of the world is perhaps the most haunting and yet the most enlightening aspect of this work, to me. I also wonder how it would have been if the Time Traveller pushed further, if only to catch the briefest glimpse into eternity. No idea from science fiction has captured the human imagination as much as time travel. We seem free to move around in space at will, but in time we are like helpless rafters in a mighty stream, propelled into the future at the rate of one second per second. One wishes one could sometimes paddle ahead to investigate the shores of the future, or perhaps turn around and go against the current to visit the past. The hope that such freedom will one day be ours is sustained when we observe that many feats formerly thought impossible have now been realized and are even taken for granted. When Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895, many people thought that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible. But just eight years later the Wright brothers proved the skeptics wrong. Flights to the Moon too strictly belonged to the realm of fantasy – until Apollo program achieved it. Might time travel be similar? Wells’s swift-paced classic science fiction tale challenges us to dare to dream the impossible. The idea of time travel gained prominence through Wells’s wonderful novel. Most remarkable is his treatment of time as a fourth dimension, which uncannily anticipates Einstein’s use of the concept several years later. Interestingly, the Time Machine was Wells’ first novel, and enjoyed an instant popularity, rescuing its author from obscurity and poverty. Today it stands as one of the greatest pioneering science fiction tales. I would like to read Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Moon after this. References: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wells H. G. (1898). The Time Machine. Retrieved May 10 2007 from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35/35.txt How to cite H.G. Wells’s Time Machine, Essay examples

Romeo Juliet the tension in Act 3 Scene 1 Essay Example For Students

Romeo Juliet: the tension in Act 3 Scene 1 Essay * Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare in the 1500s, and is the story of two star-cross lovers from two rival families who find love with one another amongst the hate and violence between their two families. * The play belongs to the genre of plays known as tragedies, and more specifically, belongs to Romantic Tragedy, a genre Shakespeare created, and started off with this very play. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy as the two main characters (Romeo and Juliet), die at the end of the play. * The main themes of the play: Love, Destiny, Power, Honour, Masculinity and Manhood. * Socio-historical Context: Male Dominance, Arranged Marriage, Plague, City of Verona-City associated with hot-blooded people. Act 1 Scene 1: * The Elizabethan society was strongly male-dominant, and men had the role of the breadwinner, the person who works and earns income. Women were thought of as mothers and child bearers and were considered subservient to men. Masculinity is a key theme of this scene- servants show off and boast I strike quickly to be moved. Thrust his maids to the wall. * Shakespeare contradicts this widely-held belief of the time in Act 1 Scene 1, where he portrays the wives of Lord Capulet and Lord Montague as being very strong, powerful women, who prevent their husbands from going to war. Crutch! A crutch! Shakespeare could have portrayed them in such a way as he feels that society needs to be rid of these stereotypes, and could have tried to convey this message to his audience in this way, trying to get them to question the male dominancy in society. . Shakespeare could have believed that this view was outdated and that men were just arrogant and irrational. Also, it could be said that Shakespeare merely wanted to show this powerful role of women to appease Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England during Shakespeares lifetime. * The groundlings of the audience were peasants and poor servants. In this scene, Shakespeare shows the Lords and Ladies of Verona to be arrogant and uncaring, whilst the servants are hard-working and loyal to their masters despite being treated unfairly. Shakespeare would have done this to please the groundling crowd, and send a message to the Upper and Middle Classes that they need to change their attitudes and behaviour. * This first scene is also very aggressive and loud, and is used to hook the audience into the play. A large amount of violence is used, with loud arguments and fighting, which draws the audience in and grabs their attention straight away. Act 3 Scene 1: * Shakespeare structures the play in an oxymoron form. The previous scene to Act 3 Scene 1 is very peaceful, and is when Romeo and Juliet get married. The scene is very sweet and calm. This atmosphere is turned on its head and is contrasted sharply with the very tense and violent scene of Act 3 Scene 1. Shakespeare does this to draw in the attention of the audience, and to show the contrast between love and hate, a very core theme of the play. * Shakespeare highlights the faults of the upper-class, and more importantly, of men in this scene. The fight between Mercutio and Tybalt which lead to both of them being killed was caused by the simple fault of arrogance, and the need for upper-class men to live upto their reputation, their manhood, and their need to compete for power. This could have reflected the social situation at the time, and Shakespeare could have been trying to send a message to these men in the upper class of society that their boisterous ways can only lead to unfortunate outcomes. .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 , .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .postImageUrl , .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 , .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75:hover , .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75:visited , .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75:active { border:0!important; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75:active , .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75 .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .udeb86bca0f77bc1ac52b85aa05513c75:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Jonh Keats Essay* At the beginning of the scene, the atmosphere is quite relaxed, yet tense and agitated, due to the scorching heat of the day, and the restlessness of Mercutio. When Tybalt enters the scene, things suddenly become extremely tense; with the hot weather and the agitation adding to the effect (This is called Pathetic Fallacy). * Shakespeare uses dramatic Irony to create tension in this scene. The audience and Romeo know why Romeo cannot fight Tybalt, but the other characters do not. Romeo is now married to Juliet, and Tybalt is now his brother-in-law, something that Tybalt is unaware of. As a results, Tybalt is hell-bent on fighting Romeo to regain his honour, which he considers to have lost when letting Romeo attend the Capulet Banquet. The audience is given the impression here that Tybalt is a stubborn and hot-headed character, while Romeo is calm, collected and more emotionally stable than Tybalt. * This builds tension as the characters get more and more agitated and more closer to fighting. Tension is also created as the audience is aware of the consequences the characters will face if they brawl once more. These consequences plague the minds of the audience who themselves become even more agitated and tense as the tension builds in the scene, which climaxes with the death of (L)Mercutio, which is swiftly followed by Tybalts own death. * Romeo makes a realisation that Juliets love has made him soft, and has prevented him from being a man and retaining his honour. Here, Shakespeare again highlights the irrational beliefs of upper-class men, but also, he may also be sending a message that it is important to love moderately and control your emotions and passions, as it can distract you from the realities of life, and eventually cause the love to die out prematurely. * Mercutio curses the two houses, both Capulet AND Montague, calling for a plague on both your houses. The plague of which Mercutio speaks of refers to the black plague that was rife in most parts of the world at the time. This plague is associated with death and devastation. This is the point at which the play turns for the worst. Before this scene, and this point in the scene, the play was heading towards a happy outcome, with Romeo and Juliet marrying in an effort to join the two families. After this point, Mercutio and Tybalt are killed, and Romeo exiled. It could be said that this curse foreshadows the rest of the play and inevitably leads to the end outcome of the play, with both Romeo and Juliet taking their lives. * Conclusion This scene is vital, as it is the climax of the whole play, and is the point at which the play turns for the worst. This scene creates a feeling of pity and fear within the audience, which is the main purpose of a tragedy play and flips the whole play around, and converts the atmosphere from one of peace and love to one of hate, violence and bloodshed. Shakespeare also points out many of the flaws of Society in this scene, and communicates with the audience, showing them that the beliefs of male dominance and the attitudes of the upper-class must be eradicated to create a peaceful, happier society.