Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Character Development in Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free
Character Development in Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Writers usually make use of and incorporate certain literary elements into their novels in order to make character development possible. Literary elementsâ€â€Conflict, Theme, and Symbolismâ€â€were employed by Twain, Austen, and Potok in varying levels as well as executed using their own literary styles and techniques in order to show the characters development and growth throughout the novels.            In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Huck braved that eras social conventions (including his own personal prejudices) by associating with a black man and later helping that person escape from slavery. Jane Austens Emma is a lighthearted story about a young womans disastrous foray into the pursuit of romantic matchmaking. It shows how Emmas false presumptions can conflict with the real intentions of the people whose lives she meddles with, and how her misguided actions can create unfavorable results. In Chaim Potoks My Name is Asher Lev, the young man, Asher, was embroiled in the clash between his passion and the sensibilities of his family and religious congregation.            The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn presents social conditions and attitudes during the late 1800s in America, particularly that towards racism. It chronicles the adventures and misadventures of Huck wherein he faces numerous moral and ethical dilemmas. And just like Twains novel, Austens Emma is a study on the sensibilities and social norms of her time. It tells the story of Emma, a rich and beautiful girl with a lot of idle time on her hands. Although she lives a trouble-free life, it is uneventful and devoid of excitementâ€â€she is a woman, hence, she has no true career prospects. But then Emma discovers that she has a knack for matching couples. She discovers that this endeavor provides her with great amusement so she goes off pairing up the people around her. Lastly, Asher, in My Name is Asher Lev, struggles as he is confronted by two cultural influencesâ€â€that of the Orthodox Jewish subculture that he grew up in, and that of the pervasive, secular Western culture. He is presented with the dilemma of choosing between art and his religion. Just like Hucks and Emmas stories, Ashers story chronicles his quest for truth and self-discovery.            Many authors use the element of conflict to bring about and affirm certain facets of a protagonists character. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck faces the conflict between the societys expectations and what his conscience tells him is right when he is given the opportunity to help Jim, a black man, escape. He struggles to see beyond the black stereotypeâ€â€what the society has taught him to be right. In the end, Huck chooses to follow what his conscience dictatesâ€â€that Jim is a human being who deserves the same rights as everybody else. He admits about Jim: I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n (Twain, 1999, p. 141). In the end, Huck developed a pure, undiscriminating sense of morality that many people of that era did not posses.            In the novel Emma, the conflict lies in Emmas inability to understand the true desires and intentions of the people around her, including her own. Emma does not realize this, and fancies herself as a good matchmaker, and as Austen describes in one episode, Emma was amusing herself in the consideration of the blunders which often arise from a partial knowledge of circumstances, of the mistakes which people of high pretensions to judgment are for ever falling into (Austen, 2003, p. 89). Ironically, what Emma thinks of other people (as evinced in the previous sentence), actually applies to her. In the end, Emma realizes that its no good making decisions for others and manipulating their lives because only they know and therefore should decide whats best for them. This discovery also leads her to mature and develop emotionally, and in the end, makes her realize what her heart truly desires.            In his novel, My Name is Asher Lev, Potok portrays the kind of pain and emotional anguish one can carry when one chooses to embrace those things that come in conflict with ones upbringing and religious ideologies. In a lecture wherein he reveals the analysis to his novels, which included My Name is Asher Lev, Potok states: â€Å"Ideas from this secular world inevitably impinge upon an individual born in a church community or a synagogue community, especially when that individual embarks on a college experience†(Potok, 1896, par. 7). As a young boy, Asher tries to break free from the conservative Hasidic community that shuns the very thing that he was passionate aboutâ€â€art. However, his dream is met with condemnation from almost everyone around him, including his family. The following litany succinctly expresses the kind of backlash and emotional turmoil this conflict has brought upon him: So strong words are being written and spoken about me []: I am a traitor, an apostate, a self-hater, an inflicter of shame upon my family, my friends, my people; also, I am a mocker of ideas sacred to Christians (Potok, 2003, p. 3). Another point of conflict deals with Ashers relationship with his father. Amidst the weight of the conflict bearing down on him, Asher chooses his own path and tries to discover his own truths. By confronting these issues, he grows as a human being, artistically and emotionally.            One dominant theme in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is that of racism and slavery. The novel is set in a time where blacks are considered to be no more than property. As the story develops, so does Hucks character and value-system. Eschewing the societal and cultural norms of the time, he adopts a different moral outlook towards the people around him, especially when he decides to help a black man escape from slavery. In a climactic episode, Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson, Jims owner, to tell her where Jim was, but then tears up the letter and says to himself: â€Å"All right then, I’ll go to hell†(Twain, 1999, p. 193)â€â€here, he finally decides to ignore social convention and help Jim.            Marriage is a major theme in the novel, Emma. In the 1800s, marriage was one of the most important concerns for women, especially since they were financially dependent on men and could not have their own careers. Emma takes this into consideration when planning her match-ups and decides on unions which will yield the best material benefit for both parties. However, Emma eschews the idea of marriage for herselfâ€â€when her father tells her not to do any more match-making, Emma replies: I promise you to make none for myself, papa; but I must, indeed, for other people. It is the greatest amusement in the world! (Austen, 2003, p. 10). But in the end, she realizes that she too can fall in love, after all.            One important theme in My Name is Asher Lev is that of Individualism. This was explored in the context of Ashers adolescent struggle to assert his identity in an environment that rejects the very thing that makes him stand out. When an uncle compares his work that of Chagall, he replies: â€Å"No, my name is Asher Lev†(Potok, 2003, p. 313). Asher is a visionary and has prodigious painting skills, but he is pressured to conform to the conventions of his society. He tries to discover his role as an artist and reconcile it with his faithâ€â€this paves the way to his personal development, not to mention the realization of his gifts significance.            In Twains novel, the Mississippi river figures greatly in the story. It is used to symbolize life; the rivers ebbs and flowsâ€â€its movementâ€â€shows the ever-changing nature of life. The changing tides causes Huck and Jim to come in contact with different people and situations. It represents mans capacity to changeâ€â€the same way Hucks attitude and personality changed to embrace the greater morality regarding human existence. Its also a symbolic representation of freedomâ€â€in the confines of the raft, they are safe. They are in a world where laws do not apply, far from the reaches of society. Huck says: â€Å"We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft† (Twain, 1999, p. 107).            In Emma, charades and word games are symbolic of the misunderstandings in the story. The same way that its hard to guess the intimations and desires of the other characters in the novel, word games are meant to be elusiveâ€â€one can easily go wrong and perceive a totally different meaning. In a gathering, Frank makes words for the ladies to decode, but each lady attaches different interpretations to them. Such is Emmas situation: she does not perceive everyones feelings correctly so she makes a lot of false assumptions. This is more evident when she tries to hook-up Harriet and Mr. Eltonâ€â€she construes Mr. Eltons words and actions as proofs of his adulation for Harriet, when in fact it is Emma the he is interested in. When she finds out, she woefully reflects: The picture!â€â€How eager he had been about the picture!â€â€and the charade!â€â€and an hundred other circumstances;â€â€how clearly they had seemed to point at Harriet (Austen, 2003, p. 106).            Symbolism, particularly those in paintings, also plays a significant part in the novel, My Name is Asher Lev. Paintings were used to convey the abstract and intangible; Asher said: â€Å"I worked for – what? How could I explain it? For beauty? No, Many of the pictures I painted were not beautiful. For what, then? For a truth I did not know how to put in words. For a truth I could only bring to life by means of colour and line and texture and form†(Potok, 2003, p. 369) In his controversial painting, Asher uses the crucifiction scene as a symbolism of his mothers sufferings, much to the chagrin of his religious community. But even with all the antagonism towards art, he feels that painting was but a natural way to express his feelings.             Literary elements give writers the means to project the qualities as well as develop the personalities of their characters. All protagonists in the aforementioned books were presented with points of conflict that each of them must address and contend with. Various symbolic representations, those that attribute certain intangible meanings to things, events, and other sensuous manifestations, were also utilized in order to highlight the protagonists personal issues and struggles. Thematic concepts tell what the stories are about and help reveal how each character progresses. References  Austen, J. (2003). Emma. New York: Oxford University Press. Potok, C. (2003). My name is Asher Lev. New York: Random House. Potok, C. (1986). On being proud of uniqueness. (J. Gladson, Ed.) In La Sierra University         website. Retrieved July 24, 2006, from http://www.lasierra.edu/~ballen/potok/Potok.       unique.html. Twain, M. (1999). The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Oxford University Press.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Al capone Essay -- essays papers
Al capone There have been a lot of things written and said about Al Capone in newspapers and magazine articles, books, and movies that is completely untrue. One of the most common fictions is that like many gangsters of that era, he was born in Italy. Absolutely not true. This amazing criminal was strictly domestic, taking the Italian criminal society and fashioning it into a modern American criminal enterprise. Certainly many Italian immigrants, like immigrants of all nationalities, frequently came to the New World with very few assets. Many of these immigrants were peasants trying to escape the lack of opportunity in Italy. When they came to the American port cities they often ended up as laborers because of the inability to speak and write English and their lack of professional skills. This was not the case with the family of Al Capone. Gabriele Capone was one of 43,000 Italians who arrived in the U.S. in 1893, from Naples, Italy. He was a barber by trade and could read and write his native language. Gabriele, who was thirty years old, brought with him his pregnant twenty-seven-year-old wife Teresina, his two-year-old son Vincenzo and his infant son Raffaele. Unlike many Italian immigrants he did not owe anyone for his passage over. His plan was to do whatever work was necessary until he could open his own barbershop. Along with thousands of other Italians, the Capone family moved to Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Gabriele's ability to read and write allowed him to get a job in a grocery store until he was able to open his barbershop. Her fourth son and the first to be born and conceived in the New World was born January 17, 1899. His name was Alphonse, also known as Al. Al came from a large family and was the fourth oldest of nine children. As a child, Capone was very wise when it came to living on the streets of New York. He had a clever mind when it came to street smarts. As far as school goes, Al was near illiterate. Education was not a top priority for immigrants. At the age of five in 1904, he went to Public School 7 on Adams Street. The school system was deeply prejudiced against them and did little to encourage any interest in higher education, while the immigrant parents expected their children to leave school as soon as they were old enough to work. At about the age of ele ven Capone became a member of a juveni... ... was released to the care of his family. For his remaining years, Al slowly deteriorated in the quiet splendor of his Palm Island palace. Mae stuck by him until January 25, 1947 when he had a massive brain hemorrhage and died. His body was removed from his estate in Florida and transferred back to the seen of his underworld triumph, Chicago. The family held a private ceremony at the cemetery, but were afraid of grave robbers taking the body so they reburied Capone in a secret place in Mt. Carmel Cemetery. In his forty-eight years, Capone had left his mark on the rackets and on Chicago, and more than anyone else he had demonstrated the stupidity of Prohibition; in the process he also made a fortune. Beyond that, he captured and held the imagination of the American public as few public figures ever do. Capone's fame should have been a passing sensation, but instead it stuck permanently in the consciousness of Americans. He redefined the concept of crime into an organized vent ure modeled on corporate business. As he was at pains to point out, many of his crimes were relative; bootlegging was only criminal because a certain set of laws decreed it, and then the laws were changed.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Time Lags in Discretionary Fiscal Policy
When congress or the president proposes fiscal policies to correct unhealthy economic conditions, the time it takes from the recognition of the problem, to the proposal of a solution, to the implementation, up to the time that the effects would yield some result normally takes a considerable amount of time. These time lags can be grouped into three different phases, the recognition time lag, the implementation time lag, and the response time lag. Time lags in Discretionary Fiscal Policy, besides consuming some considerable amount of time, are also very unpredictable.Studies have shown that â€Å"discretionary actions have shown little consistent response over time†(Taylor, 2003). With these three time lags adding up together, we can say that when the government generates one proposal to ease out economic health, one must foresee that within the period of lag, there are no roadblocks or events that could alter the eventual outcome of such a solution. Given the initial informat ion that time lags are very unpredictable, it makes it more difficult to know what range of time needs to be foreseen.So within the period of the time lag, the conditions may alter in such a way that when the discretionary policy is already in place it is no longer applicable, or it could make the situation worst where the change of conditions within the time lag would work in such a way that it makes things worst. Let us focus first on a condition where discretionary fiscal policies would end up useless or delayed as the chain of events within the time lag would make it inappropriate.One example is President George Bush response to the September 11 attack where he immediately requested $40 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations. In the late October of that same year, he added additional stimulus that includes, â€Å"reduced taxes for low- and moderate-income households, accelerating the tax cuts passed in 2001, allowing partial expensing on business capital equipment, el iminating the corporate alternative minimum tax, and extending unemployment benefits†(Cooper, 2002). Five months later President Bush added expensing provisions and unemployment benefits.The result was that the people believed that the added policy was short and late. This is because there was no way for the President to directly quantify the needed policy to ease out the economic stress after the September 11 attack. The delay took so long that the needed effects came late. The events that occurred due to sentiments and fear where overlooked while the effects of the discretionary policy were not yet in effect. According to Auerbach (2002), â€Å"the impact of policy on current activity depends on expectations about the future†.The worst scenario would occur when discretionary fiscal would actually work against what it was intended for. This is because discretionary fiscal policy is an inexact science with congress having different agendas trying to work out with the P resident using present data that are already in effect and taking time to generate a corrective action for the present conditions. For example â€Å"temporary investment incentives may work in the opposite direction strengthening the immediate response but also, potentially, weakening prior investment†(Auerbach, 2002).This is because when the data are collected and fiscal policies are put in place, the progress of investment within this period could well be depending primarily on prior investment that are expected to boom during the period where the discretionary fiscal is still in the process of being implemented. Upon implementation of the discretionary policy, these prior investments could be affected by massive competition of new investment resulting in a scenario where the discretionary fiscal will worsen the economic condition.In the end, this document does not discourage the use of discretionary fiscal policy but puts caution that discretionary fiscal policies should be well thought off, assessing the possible future risk before it is being implemented. Effective discretionary fiscal policy is just like mastery of any art, that a group of body, the congress and the president, must become a guru in order for discretionary policies to be effective. References Taylor,J. (2003). Reassessing Discretionary Fiscal Policy. Stanford University, Retrieved September 15, 2007 from http://www.stanford.edu/~johntayl/Papers/Reassessing+Revised.pdf Cooper, K. (2002). Monetary Policy. Economics: Principles, and Policies, 16/e.. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from https://www.esa.doc.gov/Speeches/NABEFINAL.doc Auerbach, A. (2002). Is There a Role for Discretionary Fiscal Policy?. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Retrieved September 15, 2007 from http://www.kansascityfed.org/publicat/Sympos/2002/pdf/S02auerbach.pdf
Saturday, January 4, 2020
“Frankenstein†Or More Commonly Known At The Time “The
â€Å"Frankenstein†or more commonly known at the time â€Å"The Modern Prometheus†was wrote and published by a young girl named Mary Shelly in 1818. The novel had to be published anonymously because women were seen as incompetent to write such a piece. However, she later revealed that she was the writer, yet some critics were still skeptical of this and believed Percy Shelley was actually the original writer. Shelley lost her first child soon after she gave birth and some think this is where she thought of the idea of the main character in the novel Victor Frankenstein, who is so engulfed in the idea of bringing the dead back to life. This is not really a hard idea to fathom because a mother losing a child is a horrific event, however as we†¦show more content†¦The letters continue and it is about him being lonely and feeling out of place. However he promises to keep in touch with his sister and that he misses her greatly. Robert later encounters a man who is stranded at sea and they pull him aboard. Robert takes care of him and it takes two days before the person can speak to finally say a word to Robert. This person was no other than Victor Frankenstein and he would only speak to Robert. Robert described Victor as an â€Å"interesting creature, his eyes have generally an expression of wildness, and even madness†(11). Having a â€Å"melancholy and despairing†(11) way to him. Victor explains to Robert that he was in the North searching for something that fled from him. Which we later on discover that his creation fled him so Victor would not kill him for tormenting him for years. Victor opens up to Robert and tells him his whole life story and all that has become of it. Victor grew up with his mother and father who were much respected members of the community. They adopt a young girl who was extremely poor because his mother always wanted a daughter. They adopted the beautiful Elizabeth whom Victor immediately fell in love with her, later he also became close friends with a boy named Henry Clerval. Victor fell deeply obsessed with books about natural philosophy, and studied it, however when Victor was sent to the University of Ingolstadt at seventeen mo st of his philosophers ridiculed him. Only one saw potential inShow MoreRelatedMary Shelleys Frankenstein: A Gothic Novel1595 Words  | 7 Pages Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is one of the greatest Gothic novels to come out during the Romantic Period. Frankenstein is a prime example of what a Gothic novel should present to its reader through the genre’s twisted themes. Even though it was written in the Romantic period, Mary Shelley still wrote Frankenstein to be a Gothic work of literature. Many characteristics of Gothic novel can be seen within this novel. 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