Saturday, January 25, 2020

Charles Fraziers Cold Mountain Essay -- Charles Frazier Cold Mountain

Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain In Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier describes the epic journey home of wounded Confederate soldier Inman from Petersburg to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Inman’s physical voyage home is paralleled by the mental journey made by his sweetheart, Ada, in her transformation from ‘city girl’ into ‘mountain woman’. The story is woven around the experiences of Inman and Ada trying to rebuild their lives from the desperation and disaster of the war, all the while trying to find a way to see each other again--whilst they are so far apart. It also blends the horrors of war into their current lives, and the corruption that has scarred them forever. Inman and Ada’s respective ordeals help develop the themes of war, homeland, women and children which this essay aims to reveal. The motivation behind Inman’s desertion, when he â€Å"set his foot on the sill and stepped out of the window†, is not an issue that Frazier ever invites his readers to question. Having been surrounded by the dying, having witnessed the horrors of the first industrialized war which pitted countryman against countryman through the eyes of Inman, one feels deep sympathy. The horrifying battle scenes further add to the sense of the impermanence of escape offered by the war: â€Å"The fighting was in the way of a dream, one where you foes are ranked against you countless and mighty. And you are weak. And yet they fall and keep falling until they are crushed.† Frazier’s somber cataloging of the horrors of war creates enormous sympathy for his protagonist’s desertion, making it eminently justifiable. Inman’s disinterest in the issues of the war serves to show the lie of the common soldier’s involvement in the war. Frazier would posit that it is the job of the common soldier just to die, and in the most inhuman way possible: "Inman could hear the firing, but also the slaps of balls into meat. A man near Inman grew so excited, or perhaps so weary, that he forgot to pull the ramrod from his barrel. He fired it off and it struck a Federal in the chest. The man fell backward, and the rod stood from his body and quavered about with the last of his breathing as if he had been pierced by an unfletched arrow." Inman’s return home to a deeply changed place where he no longer has a role is indicative of the common fate of soldiers. What he has seen and done marks him out so distinctively fr... ...ich their mothers had been before their assimilation of each others characteristics. In the light of the horrors of the Civil War, and of Inman’s death after having journeyed home, it is also spiritually important for the novel that something of worth is seen as coming from all the hardship. There is nothing which could possibly equate with the magnitude of the birth of a child, offering hope where Inman’s wasteful death had seemed to banish it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Odyssey, closely alluded to in Cold Mountain, imposes a multitude of trial and tribulations on Odysseus and Penelope. Inman takes on the role as the modern American hero who is irreversibly changed by the circumstances of the war, enduring ‘rainy days’ and waves of hardship to return to his sole hope-giver, Ada. The individual experiences of the young couple liken to peeling an orange; each peel unveils images of the horrors of war, the romance with one homeland, the women’s strength and of the importance of children, all of which construct the themes that soundly define the novel. Biblography This paper aims to discuss the themes in the story "Cold Mountain", that is revealed through Inman and Ada’s respective ordeals.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Analysis of Online Article

Student Name LING 305W Project #1 Final Draft – Handout 23 February 2012 Genre Analysis of the Online Article, ‘Superfoods’ Everyone Needs Genre: online article Author: Susan Seliger Target Audience: variety of ages; healthy people, healthy cooks, people who want to eat better, people with illnesses, diseases, or other health ailments Article Title: ‘Superfoods’ Everyone Needs Source: www. webmd. com Date: February 2007 Author’s claim: â€Å"A healthy diet incorporating a variety of†¦ superfoods will help you maintain your weight, fight disease, and live longer. (para. 4) My analysis tool: COLFV model, which stands for five elements—content, organization, language, format, and values Blueberries—one of the superfoods Seliger describes. Source: www. sciencedaily. com My claim: Using the COLFV model to analyze the genre of this informative online article, I find that Seliger effectively uses organization, language, and values; however, the content and format of the text could be improved. CONTENT: Feature 1 – Percentages * In reference to the outside source, Elizabeth Somer, Seliger includes percentages. I’d say about 50%-70% of suffering could be eliminated by what people eat and how they move: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension can all be impacted. † (para. 3) * By including these percentages, the reader can easily refer to them in the text. * Percentages make the comment more tangible. Feature 2 – Comparisons * The author compares age with calcium levels for adults (para. 12). For example, the author includes: â€Å"Age 9-18 – 1300mg; age 19-50 – 1000mg; age 51 and over – 1200mg,† in bullet point format on separate lines. These comparisons by age and level of calcium help readers find which level fits them. * These comparisons are important, however, the ages are limited to adults. Albeit the first group includes children from ages 9-18 , it can be useful for readers to be informed about the levels for younger children. ORGANIZATION: Feature 1 – Classification * Seliger classifies each highlighted superfood in the subheadings. For example, blueberries are the â€Å"antioxident superfood† (above para. 5) whereas tea lowers cholesterol and inhibits cancer (above para. 1). * These classifications help distinguish the beneficial properties of each superfood. Feature 2 –Expansion * Describing the preferred form of beans to purchase for the superfood, fiber, Seliger cites Dr. Ann Kulze (para. 10). Kulze expands beyond the dried, fresh and frozen form of beans by mentioning that consumers should try to avoid canned beans as they contain high amounts of sodium usually. LANGUAGE: Feature 1 – Informal * The author uses vocabulary like â€Å"guess what? † (para. 1) and â€Å"yummiest† (above para. 3). * Seliger does a great job of connecting to her more general audience by using infor mal vocabulary. This shows readers that an expert, like Seliger, is more similar to them. Feature 2 – Acronyms * â€Å"ECGC† is described as a powerful antioxident by the author (para. 11). * Including acronyms can help reduce reading time for readers. * This particular acronym is not defined by each of its letters. This leaves members of the target audience to search for its definition or to overlook it. FORMAT: Feature 1 – Subheadings â€Å"Soy – Superfood to Lower Cholesterol† (above para. 9) and â€Å"Calcium† (above para. 12) are two of the subheadings used by Seliger. * Subheadings nicely guide the reader to the specific content. Specifically, each superfood receives its own section with a subheading and a paragraph description. Feature 2 – Bullet points * Fourteen items (superfoods) after the fourth paragraph and the comparisons by age after the twelfth paragraph receive their own lines with bullet points. * Bullet points help a reader quickly and easily follow emphasized text. Seliger does a great job of including the fourteen superfoods with bullet points as it resembles a shopping list. In fact, a reader could potentially print this portion of the article and refer to the bulleted items as a shopping list at the supermarket. * The comparisons could be enhanced for better reader interpretation if the content were inserted into a table or graph rather than in bullet points. The reader could refer to a visual such as a table more easily and compare each age group side-by-side. VALUES: Feature 1 – The author and the target audience share the same interest in good health. â€Å"A healthy diet incorporating a variety of the following superfoods will help you maintain your weight, fight disease, and live longer. † (para. 4) * For the readers (as described in the target audience on page one of this handout), this line directly connects the benefits of eating superfoods. Feature 2 – The aut hor and the audience share the same understanding that health can be improved. * The author refers to Somer in regards to an additional benefit of Omega 3s being a depression reducer (para. 7). * For the target audience, additional benefits support Seliger’s plea to eat superfoods. Reference Seliger, Susan.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Hamlet Insane or Sane Essay - 783 Words

Hamlet- Sane or Insane In Shakespeares play Hamlet the main character Hamlet experiences many different and puzzling emotions. He toys with the idea of killing himself and then plays with the idea of murdering others. Many people ask themselves who or what is this man and what is going on inside his head. The most common question asked about him is whether or not he is sane or insane. Although the door seems to swing both ways many see him as a sane person with one thought on his mind, and that is revenge. The first point of his sanity is while speaking with Horatio in the beginning of the play, secondly is the fact of his wittiness with the other characters and finally, his soliloquy. After talking with the ghost, Hamlet,†¦show more content†¦The final point to prove that he was a sane person through out the play is his famous soliloquy (Act 3 sc1 line64-98). At this point in the play he should be thinking about the outcome, but instead he contemplates weather it is better to be alive or dead. Is it nobler to fight his troubles and end them or to die? He asks himself if it is better to be asleep forever, or suffer the pains of life. He talks about when we sleep we dream and what happens if there is a bad dream and you cant getup. He dreads of something after death and wants to know if he should suffer his sorrows, which he is used to, or travel to the unknown and kill the king, but he is afraid of the unknown. He believes that a conscience is bad and that all it does is make a coward of all, conscience makes cowards of us and clouds instinct. He then realizes he is too intelligent to do this. To summarize his thoughts, he has basically said why do we choose to live when death is an easy response to misery, but he answers his own question and then goes on to describe his burden but then sees what his action of revenge must be. Does an insane person go through this type of mental thought. Most think not, showing that he is well witted and knows what life is and what he mus t do. Insane, no, more or less a manic depressant. One with a quick change of mood, not in and out of sanity. In conclusion, Hamlet wasnt a person who wasShow MoreRelatedSanity in William Shakespeares Hamlet Essay1037 Words   |  5 PagesShakespeares Hamlet Hamlet is a play about a man who has had a father killed by his uncle, after this act of treachery the uncle then marries Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet is sane in this play because prior to going â€Å"insane† he informs us he is going to. If Hamlet were truly insane he would not be able to tell others that he is going to act insane as of a certain point in time. Hamlet would try to deny insanity, not pride himself in the fact that he is insane. 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