The Importance of Being Earnest Free Essay Example, 1000 words

Wilde also draws the reader’s attention to the difference between the older and the upcoming nobility (Bristow 54-56). Examples of satire are evident throughout The Importance of Being Earnest. For example, in the first act Jack makes a snide remark about people’s cleverness. The protagonist laments, â€Å"I am sick to death of cleverness; everybody is clever nowadays†¦the thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to God we still had a few fools left† (Wilde 28). This is an assertion that people in Jack’s society are filled with a heightened feeling of self-importance and absolute knowledge, yet this is not necessarily the case. Wilde also satirizes the pretentious lives of the upper class. For instance, Jack poses as Earnest, a fabricated character, whereas Algernon excuses himself from social obligations by citing a non-existent invalid friend who constantly summons him to his bedside. Algernon actually considers the idea of living a double life, to be normal. This shows the extent of pretense pervasion in society. The other laughable aspect to which Wilde draw s significant attention is the fact that Gwendolen wants to marry Jack, solely based on the idea that his name is Earnest. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Earnest or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now She even threatens to break the engagement, when she realizes that Earnest is not Jack’s real name (Jordan 102). Gwendolen’s mother, Lady Bracknell is opposed to the union between Jack and her daughter. However, this is not because she finds it irrational to marry a person for their name. She is primarily concerned that Jack does not have a high social standing and he is, therefore, not socially fit to marry Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell is clearly a representation of the Victorian nobility that Wilde is keen on ridiculing. This becomes even more evident when Algernon informs her of his marriage proposal to Cecily. The Lady embarks on a series of questions, meant to examine Cecily’s social connections. Her patronizing demeanor infuriates Jack, who gives her civil, but sarcastic answers, waiting until the last moment to inform her about Cecily’s immense fortune inherited from her grandparents. It is only after this discovery that Lady Bracknell develops genuine interest in Cecily, revealing her pretentious and condescending side. The trivial perceptions of marriage depicted by the different characters are clearly laughable (Balsega 2). For instance, Algernon seems to consider champagne to be more essential than companionship and love offered by marriage. This is apparent when he exclaims â€Å"Good heavens!

Essay on Kate Chopins The Awakening - 1246 Words

Kate Chopins The Awakening In Kate Chopins, The Awakening, Edna Pontellier came in contact with many different people during a summer at Grand Isle. Some had little influence on her life while others had everything to do with the way she lived the rest of her life. The influences and actions of Robert Lebrun on Edna led to her realization that she could never get what she wanted, which in turn caused her to take her own life. In the Creole culture, outward affection and expression were a common thing. Edna, being brought up in Kentucky, was at first a little confused. . .by the Creoles gentle caress. She was not accustomed to an outward and spoken expression of affection, either in herself or in others, (Chopin 22).†¦show more content†¦Although Robert left to get away from Edna, he might have actually made things worse. He promised to write to her, but never did. By Robert not writing to her, it left Edna in agony. She longed for him even more when she did not hear from him. Not knowing that Edna would eventually read the letters, he wrote to Mademoiselle Reisz unintentionally professing his love for Mrs. Pontellier. After reading the letters, Edna realized that the feelings were mutual. Edna came to the conclusion that she wanted to get away from her house, husband, and anything that reminded her of the such so she decided to move into a small apartment around the corner. The biggest mistake that Robert made was actually returning home after Mexico. The feelings that both he and Edna had for each other were rekindled. She saw the same tender caress, with an added warmth and entreaty which had not been there before - the same glance which had penetrated to the sleeping places of her soul and awakened them, (130). At first Robert tried to keep away from Edna but realized that it was useless and gave in to his feelings. Even though Robert left for Mexico because he did not want anything to happen between Edna and him, he gave into her kisses when she kissed him at her house. He led her on to believe that something could actually happen between the two of them even though she was a married woman. HeShow MoreRelatedThe Awakening on Kate Chopins The Awakening1745 Words   |  7 Pages The time period of the 1880s that Kate Chopin lived in influenced her to write The Awakening, a very controversial book because of many new depictions of women introduced in the book. The Awakening is a book about a woman, Edna Pontellier. In the beginning, she is a happy woman with her husband and 2 kids vacationing at Grand Isle. While there, Edna realizes she is in love with Robert Lebrun and that she was just forced into an unloving/dissatisfying marriage with Mr. Pontellier. 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Although Ednas ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for womenRead More Kate Chopin’s The Awakening Essay4153 Words   |  17 PagesKate Chopin’s The Awakening Kate Chopin’s The Awakening should be seen as depicting the discontentment that comes from self-gratification rather than the glorification of delighting in one’s fantasies. Chopin describes the central idea of one who is seeking to please her personal needs and desires and, in the process, neglects to notice how her actions affect others. The protagonist, Edna, is not able to find peace or happiness in the accepted daily life that a woman of her era and socialRead MoreKate Chopins The Awakening1176 Words   |  5 PagesIn Kate Chopin, â€Å"The Awakening†, longing for passion and freedom Edna Pontellier leaves the safety of her gilded cage, only to find that death is her only salvation. In the 1800’s the main role in society for a female was to be a wife and mother, women at this time were the property of their husbands and had little say in anything. Which for Edna was the opposite of what she wanted, she wanted to be free from these responsibilit ies and to live her own life. Although Edna is not a victim in theRead More Kate Chopins Awakening Essay1448 Words   |  6 PagesKate Chopins Awakening Kate Chopins depiction of â€Å"The Awakening† is realistic as she develops Edna Pontellier’s character from a socially and morally respectable individual to an individual that turns her back on everything closest to her as she births her new self-being. Edna Pontellier struggles between her subconscious and conscious thoughts as unusual feelings stir unfounded emotions and senses. Some of Chopin’s characters lend themselves in Edna’s â€Å"awakening†. Through examination of LeonceRead More Kate Chopins The Awakening Essay1350 Words   |  6 PagesKate Chopins The Awakening Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening expresses the difficulty of finding a woman’s place in society. Edna learns of new ideas such as freedom and independence while vacationing in Grand Isle. Faced with a choice to conform to society’s expectations or to obey personal desires for independence, Edna Pontellier realizes that either option will result in dissatisfaction. Thus, Edna’s awakening in Grand Isle leads to her suicide. Edna’s awakening occurs duringRead More Kate Chopin’s The Awakening - The Feminist Awakening Essay2094 Words   |  9 PagesThe Feminist Awakening    Women’s rights have evolved over time; beginning with being homemakers and evolving to obtaining professions, acquiring an education, and gaining the right to vote. The movement that created all these revolutionary changes was called the feminist movement. The feminist movement occurred in the twentieth century. Many people are not aware of the purpose of the feminist movement. The movement was political and social and it sought to set up equality for women. Women’s groupsRead MoreFemale Empowerment in Kate Chopins The Awakening7915 Words   |  32 PagesHeinrich-Heine-Università ¤t Wintersemester 2010/11 Vertiefungsmodul Kurs: American Realism and Naturalism - Short Stories Seminarleiter: Georg Schiller Datum der Abgabe: 16.04.2011 Female Empowerment in Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Awakening† Anjana Dhir BA Englisch KF, Geschichte NF 3. Semester Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. The FrenchRead More The Shocking Ideas of Kate Chopins The Awakening1864 Words   |  8 PagesIdeas of The Awakening Ideas that resist existing social boundaries commonly are rejected at first, because people don’t want to wake up from their reliable lives. Kate Chopin, however, believed that an awakening was in order, and she attempted to open the eyes of society through her novel The Awakening. The public’s reaction to Chopin’s novel was not one of acceptance. Too strong a drink for moral babies, and should be labeled ‘poison,’ was the how the Republic described Chopins work (Seyersted

Communism In The American Education System Essay Example For Students

Communism In The American Education System Essay -Heather McIntyreSenior Seminar17 January 2001Communism in the American Education SystemAt the height of the Cold War, a new cartoon emerged. Little blue people called Smurfs sang and skipped into the hearts of the American populace. The good, clean antics of the Smurfs were the model of American values, or were they? One should look closely at the Smurfs, their values, their cultures. Surprise! The Smurfs were not capitalistic at all. They were Communists! Communist practices and doctrine have not only infiltrated American television, but they have also become integral parts of America itself. Communism has even become a part of the American education system. How has communism been adopted into the American educational system? Some examples of this infiltration into the classroom include one of the Ten Planks of Communism, atheism, controlled learning, propaganda, school to work programs, and busing. Communism as it is known today was first proposed by Karl Marx in 1848 when he published The Manifesto of the Communist Party (Leone 13). Marx envisioned a Utopian society where everyone was equal. Such a society would combine growth with fairness by allowing the bureaucrats to make most of the decisions concerning the economy (Samuelson). As in The Smurfs, there would be no money, and everyone would contribute what they could and receive what they needed (Schmidt). There would be one manor source of income, and the entire collective would contribute to that source. At the time of Marx, communism stiff fell under the category of socialism. During the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century, there was a split in the Socialist Party, and communism began to be recognized as a movement of its own. The original Communists were small extremist groups of revolutionaries within the European socialist movement. It was not until the Russian Revolution in 1917 that socialism and communism finally parted ways (Leone 14). By 1985, over one-third of the population of the world claimed to be Marxist, including countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America (Fienberg 2). Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seized power when he led the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution and ruled the Soviet Union until his death in 1924 (Remnick). One of Lenins chief advisors was a man by the name of Trotsky. After Lenins death, a power struggle ensued between Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. When Stalin won, he immediately started executing and exiling those who opposed him. T rotsky was forced to flee the Soviet Union and was later assassinated (Leone 46). Somehow, between Marxs writings and Stalins regime, communism had chanted from a system of beliefs for those without power to a system of beliefs brutally imposed on the working class by the government (Fienberg 6). While writing his thoughts on the perfect society in 1948, Karl Marx published his famous Ten Planks of Communism. Marx stated that any country that had all ten planks in practice was a communistic state. The tenth and final plank calls for Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of childrens factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc. (Courageous Lion). Stated more clearly, the tenth plank advocates free government education and a combination of schools with the marketplace. In the United States, citizens are taxed to send children to free public schools, and schools often have some program that connects the classroom to the workplace. The NEA, Outcome Based Education, and The Department of Education itself all fall under Marxs tenth plank of the Communist Manifesto (Courageous Lion). According to Marx, the perfect Communistic society is atheistic. In the USSR, religion was banished from all curricula and banned from all public roles (Fienberg). American schools are put in an interesting position. Due to the First Amendment, all children have the right to practice their varied religious customs. However, the clause that separates church from state ensures that the government does not favor one religion over another. Thus, any government-funded school cannot teach religious doctrines or institute school prayers, etc. In a letter addressed to all school principals, the United States Secretary of Education said, ?School officials may not endorse or favor religious activity or doctrine, coerce participation in religious activity, or seek to impose their religious beliefs on impressionable children (qtd. in Secretary of Education). The Secretarys statement means that while students are allowed to express their religious beliefs, teachers are not. In the same letter, th e Secretary stated, ?The right to engage in personal voluntary prayer or religious discussion free from discrimination does not include the right to have a captive audience listen, or compel other students to participate (qtd. in Secretary of Education). It was with the former guidelines in mind that Congress banned all faculty or student-led prayers at football games, graduation ceremonies, etc. Thus, although freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Constitution, the practice of expressing religion in a government funded education system is prohibited. Another facet of Soviet education is controlled learning. In the USSR, the State decided what and where each child would study. Courses in Marxism-Leninism were mandatory, and students in universities were required to pass an exam in Marxist ideology. Science and other fact-based fields mostly escaped politicization, but economics and social sciences were reshaped to conform with Marxist principles. Therefore, ideology governed how history and philosophy were to be taught. Curricula, textbooks, and instruction were related to teaching Communist values (Tift). Trying to share a broader view of history than what was officially acknowledged by the Soviet government was an ordeal. Some teachers managed to form a bond of trust with their students by smuggling forbidden information into classrooms. Others who tried this approach were reported and ended up losing their jobs or worse. Teachers had to choose between either scrapping the government approved syllabus and living at risk or follo wing orders by lying to their students (McMullen). A Visit to the Norton Museum EssayEight states received funding in the first year. New York received the largest grant of eight million dollars for the first year and more than sixty million dollars over five years. New Yorks system included skill standards, skill assessments, skill certificates, and performance-based assessments. Parents, teachers, employers, etc. were required to be involved in determining proper preparation for the workplace. Efforts supported by allocated funds were required to provide equal opportunities for all students. Today, School to Work initiatives in the United States are seen as commonplace (Glass). Another idea instituted by the Soviet Union was busing. While the Soviet Union was still young, Lenin announced that he was upset that the government was doing almost nothing for the rural districts outside official budgets or channels. At this time, relationships between town and county were showing positive effects throughout the country. Lenin wanted to methodically, systematically, and consciously improve the relationship between town and country by getting the government involved. Lenins idea was to attach urban groups to village groups in order to give everyone the same cultural experiences so that everyone would have equal opportunities in life (Basgen). Busing took a slightly different approach in the United States. An outgrowth of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954, busing was introduced in the early 1970s as a way of achieving racial balance in the schools (Craver and Ozman). In Bradley v. School Board of the City of Richmond, a 1972 Virginia Supreme Court decision, the court of appeals overturned a court-ordered consolidation of Richmond schools because the segregated schools were not a result of legal actions. Rather, the segregated conditions were caused by residential patterns. This pattern held true in many states. In cities including Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis, courts ordered schools to bus black students from the cities to white suburban schools in order to desegregate the school systems. Compulsory busing ended in Los Angeles after state courts ruled that a 1981 referendum banning busing unless the segregation was intentional was Constitutional. In 1986, the Supreme Court declined t o review a busing issue case from Norfolk, Virginia. The court was thought to have been signaling that a city can end court-ordered busing once the schools have been integrated. In 1991, the Supreme Court ruled that court-ordered busing in Oklahoma City could end short of integration if everything practicable had been done to eliminate discrimination and segregation. Busing backfired in the sense that compulsory busing to achieve integration accelerated the flight of white families to the suburbs, thus resegregating urban schools; however, it is interesting to note that the academic performance of minority children improves when they are in classes where middle-class white pupils are the majority (Craver and Ozman). Communism is a part of every country. Marxs ideas of the perfect society were not far off. The problem is that the human race is corrupt. The Soviet Union and other Communist countries corrupted a brilliant idea with their greed. It is in no way wrong to share some good ideas with other people. However, it is wrong to not admit to these similarities. The American school system still has a long way to go before it will realize its full potential. Maybe a touch of Communism is just what this ailing country needs. After all, the Smurfs managed rather well. BibliographyWorks CitedBasgen, Brian. On Education. Pravada 33 (4 Jan 1923): 462-66. reprinted Lenin Internet Archive n.pag. Online. Internet. 26 Oct. 2000. Available WWW: http:// www.marxists.org. Courageous Lion. The Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto Translated. Geocities Home Page Online. Internet. 27 Oct. 2000. Available WWW:http//:www. geocities.com/7006/com-man.html. Craver, Sam and Howard Ozman. n.tit. The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia Version 1.5. CD-ROM. 1992 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 2 Jan. 2001. Fienberg, Barbara S. Marx and Marxism. New York: Franklin Watts, 1985. Glass, Gene V., ed. n.tit. Education Policy Analysis Archives 31 Mar. 1999 n.pag. Online. Internet. 1 Dec. 2000. Available WWW:http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/ v711html. Leone, Bruno, ed. Communism- Opposing Viewpoints. 2nd ed. St. Paul, Minnesota: Greenhaven Press, Inc, 1986. McMullen, Matthew S. Higher Education Finance Reform in the Czech Republic: Transitions in Thought and Practice. Education Policy Analysis Archives 11 Jan 2000: n.pag. Online. Internet. 6 Dec. 2000. Available WWW: http://epaa/asu.edu/epaa/v8n6.html. Molnar, Alex. The Commercial Transformation Americas Schools. Department of Education Homepage n.pag. Online. Internet. 5 Dec. 2000. Available WWW:http//www.uwm.edu/Dept/CACE/documents/cace-00-01.htm. Noah, Harold J. Soviet Educations Unsolved Problems. Education Policy Analysis Archives 11 Jan. 2000: n.pag. Online. Internet. 7 Dec. 2000. Available WWW:http://www.hku.hk/cerc/4a.html. Remnick, David. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Time 13 Apr. 1998: 82-3+. Samuelson, Robert J. Economics Made Easy. Newsweek 27 November 1989: 64. Schmidt, Marc. Socio-Political Themes in The Smurfs. Geocities Home Page 1988: n.pag. Online. Internet. 27 Oct. 2000. Available WWW:http://www.geocities. com/Hollywood/cinema/3117/sociosmurf2.htm. The Scopes Trial. The Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia Version 1.5. CD- ROM. 1992 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 3 Jan 2001. Secretary of Education . Letter. To All Principals in Public Schools. 27 Jan. 1998. Tift, Susan. Expelling the Ghosts of Marx and Lenin. Time 23 Apr. 1990: 70, 75. Political Issues

The DVD Revolution Essays - Consumer Electronics, Audio Storage

The DVD Revolution The DVD Revolution Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the features and advantages of DVD video. Central Idea: The DVD video format has superior audio and visual quality to VHS, as well as more special features, which is why it should eventually occupy the place of the VCR in American households. Introduction I'd like to start things out by taking a survey. How many of you remember having a CD player in your house fifteen years ago? Not very many of you, I see. Of course, we all have CD players now. It took a little over a decade and some major price drops, but eventually we all threw out our old vinyl and cassettes and opted for the excellent sound quality and convenience of CDs. Just as the CD took the place of cassettes, many people believe the DVD, or digital versatile disc, will soon take the place of VHS tapes. Many of you may not even know what a DVD is, so before I go any further, let me show you what one looks like. (Take out DVD disc) It's the same size as a CD, but it has two sides. Just like a VHS tape, it plays movies directly on your television. DVD video players were originally released in early 1997, and their first year sales were twice that of CD players, which is strong evidence that the DVD is here to stay. Why is the DVD so popular, and what makes it better than VHS? There are three main reasons: sound quality, picture quality, and special features exclusive to DVD. (Transition: Let's start with the sound quality of DVD) Body I. The sound quality of DVD is far superior than that of VHS. A. DVD discs utilize digital technology, which is the same technology used by compact discs. 1. This means that you will get crisp and clear sound equal to CDs. B. DVD players are also compatible with all surround sound formats. 1. For those of you who don't know, surround sound is a system of speakers set up across a room that provides a listening experience similar to being I in a movie theater. 2. The combination of a surround sound system and CD quality sound is best realized when listening to musicals like "Singing in the Rain", or action films with a lot of sound effects, such as "Starship Troopers." C. You have the ability to listen to different audio tracks. 1. This means that on just one disc, you can listen to a movie in a number of languages, usually English, French, and Spanish. 2. You can also listen to just the musical score, with the dialogue and sound effects turned off. 3. Some discs even feature a running commentary by the actors and director while a movie is playing. (Transition: Now that you know a little abound the sound, let me tell you about some of the visual features of DVD) II. Movies have never looked better than on DVD. A. The picture on a DVD player is twice as sharp and clear than VCR players. 1. As Entertainment Weekly writer Micheal Glitz put it, "( Colorful movies like The Wizard of Oz are) so beautiful you'll want to freeze some scenes and leave them on your TV the way others hang works of art on their walls." 2. The picture is already perfect, so you'll never have to fool with tracking again. B. You can watch the movie from two different screen ratios. 1. You can watch a movie in widescreen format, which is when the screen has the little black bars at the top and the bottom. This is the way movies are viewed in theatres. 2. You can also watch the movie in "pan and scan" format. This is how things normally appear on a television screen. You won't have the black bars, but you also won't be seeing the entire picture. C. You can watch some movies with subtitles in several different languages. 1. Subtitles allow the hearing-impaired to watch movies without having a closed caption feature on their televisions. 2. Many people enjoy watching foreign films with subtitles, rather than dubbed voices. This allows them to hear the original actor's voice, and not a translator. D. Some titles allow viewers to adjust the camera angle on a scene. 1. You can step into the director's chair and call the shots. You get to control the camera and look at a scene the way you want. 2. This feature is excellent to use on sports programs. You can watch a play from multiple angles and scrutinize every move made. (Transition: In addition to superior picture and sound, you also get additional features found only on DVD.) III. DVD