My Antonia Important Quotes Essay

1. â€Å"During that burning day when we were crossing Iowa, our talk kept returning to a central figure, a Bohemian girl whom we had both known long ago. More than any other person we remembered, this girl seemed to mean to us the country, the conditions, and the whole adventure of our childhood.† Explanation This passage from the Introduction is the first the reader hears of Antonia. The narrator of the Introduction, who grew up with Jim and Antonia in Nebraska, describes a train ride taken with Jim many years later and details their conversation about Antonia. They agreed that Antonia, more than any other person, seemed to represent the world they had grown up in, to the point that speaking her name evokes â€Å"people and places† and â€Å"a quiet drama . . . in one’s brain.† This quotation is important because it establishes that Antonia will both evoke and symbolize the vanished past of Jim’s childhood in Nebraska. It situates Antonia as the central character in Jim’s story and explains Jim’s preoccupation with her by connecting her to his memories of the past. Finally, it establishes Jim’s character with its implication that Jim shares the unnamed narrator’s romantic inclination to dwell on the past and to allow people and places to take on an extraordinarily emotional, nostalgic significance. 2. â€Å"Why aren’t you always nice like this, Tony?† â€Å"How nice?† â€Å"Why, just like this; like yourself. Why do you all the time try to be like Ambrosch?† She put her arms under her head and lay back, looking up at the sky. â€Å"If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us.† Explanation This dialogue from Chapter XIX occurs as Jim and Antonia sit on the roof of the chicken house, watching the electrical storm. The two have grown apart somewhat following Mr. Shimerda’s suicide, as Jim has begun to attend school and Antonia has been forced to spend her time working on the farm. Jim has found himself dismayed by Antonia’s increasing coarseness and her pride in her own strength. As they sit watching the lightning storm, Jim feels his old intimacy returning, and he brings himself to ask Antonia why she has changed. Antonia understands Jim’s question and, because she is four years older, understands better than he does why their lives have begun to move in separate directions. Jim has opportunities and a bright future ahead of him, but for Antonia, life now means simply helping her family get by. Antonia acknowledges this unalterable circumstance with her customarily wise simplicity: â€Å"Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us.† 3. â€Å"Presently we saw a curious thing: There were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disc rested on the high fields against the horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. On some upland farm, a plough had been left standing in the field. The sun was sinking just behind it. Magnified across the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out against the sun, was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; the handles, the tongue, the share—black against the molten red. There it was, heroic in size, picture writing on the sun.† â€Å"Even while we whispered about it, our vision disappeared; the ball dropped and dropped until the red tip went beneath the earth. The fields below us were dark, the sky was growing pale, and that forgotten plough had sunk back to its own littleness somewhere on the prairie.† Explanation This passage from Chapter XIV, recounts a sunset that Jim and Antonia watch  the summer after Jim graduates from high school. Gradually, the sun sinks behind a plow on the horizon, so the plow is superimposed on the red sun, â€Å"black against molten red.† The passage is an excellent example of Cather’s famous ability to evoke the landscape, creating a sensuous and poetic picture of a sunset on the Nebraska prairie. It also indicates the extraordinary psychological connection that Cather’s characters feel with their landscape, as the setting sun perfectly captures the quiet, somewhat bittersweet moment the characters are experiencing—they care for one another and have had a wonderful day together, but they are growing up and will soon go their separate ways. The image of the plow superimposed on the sun also suggests a symbolic connection between human culture (the plow) and the nature (the sun). As the plow fills up the disk of the sun, the two coexist in perfect harmony, just as Jim recalls the idyllic connection between the natural landscape and the settlements in Nebraska. But as the sun sinks beneath the horizon, the plow dwindles to insignificance (â€Å"its own littleness†), suggesting that, in the relationship between humankind and environment, environment is dominant. 4. â€Å"She lent herself to immemorial human attitudes which we recognize by instinct as universal and true. I had not been mistaken. She was a battered woman now, not a lovely girl; but she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one’s breath for a moment by a look or gesture that somehow revealed the meaning in common things. She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last. All the strong things of her heart came out in her body, which had been so tireless in serving generous emotions. It was no wonder that her sons stood tall and straight. She was a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races.† Explanation This quotation is basically the conclusion. Where we find the adult Jim still contemplating the fascination he feels for Antonia. Here he attributes her  significance to her nurturing and generous presence, which suggests an enviable fullness of life. Antonia evokes â€Å"immemorial human attitudes which we recognize by instinct as universal and true† because she is full of love and loyalty. As Jim portrays it, Antonia is a â€Å"rich mine of life,† an inexhaustible source of love and will from which others draw strength and warmth. This portrayal explains why Antonia lingers so prominently in the minds of so many people from Jim’s childhood (Jim, Lena, the narrator of the introduction). In her presence they have been filled with the love and strength that she exudes, and they will never forget the way it made them feel. Apart from standing as the novel’s final important analysis of Antonia, this quote is important because it reveals the psychological changes that the passage of time has wrought in Jim. Whereas before he avoided Antonia for twenty years because he did not want to see the lovely girl he knew transformed into a hardened, overworked matron, he can now see beyond Antonia’s age to her essential inner quality, which he finds can still â€Å"stop one’s breath.† This newfound connection to the present indicates that Jim can finally move beyond his dreamlike preoccupation with his nostalgia for his youth and contemplate Antonio as more than a symbol of the past.

Discuss Hamlet’s attitude to death and the afterlife Essay

Hamlet a product of Shakespearean times has a different view on death, the afterlife and the divinity of the monarchy to any person today. Everyone in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era believed that there was an afterlife. Everyone believed in God, in witches, fairies and in ghosts. No one saw the dichotomy between their varied beliefs as we do today. Hamlet, as a result of the time in which he was raised, had a very complex attitude towards life and death. This was due to his religious beliefs and his basic morality. Although Hamlet has reasonably strong religious beliefs, he also lived life in the post- renaissance way. The Renaissance era said that there was, more to life than religion and although religion should not be discarded, other things should be considered. ‘Hamlet’ is a typical post-renaissance drama, with several plots interlacing frequently, to produce a complex composition giving meaning through contrast rather than unfolding each event in a single sequence. All the plots involve characters having to kill other characters for one reason or another. For example Claudius plots to kill Hamlet, and Hamlet plots to kill Claudius. It is through Hamlet’s turmoil about whether or not to kill Claudius that his views on religion and the supernatural appear. Although Hamlet wants to kill Claudius, he is prevented from doing so by his religious belief that God gives you life, therefore you have no right to take either your own life of that of another. This is also the reason why Hamlet cannot kill himself. When Hamlet sees Claudius trying to pray, he has a perfect opportunity to kill him but he does not, due once again to the contemporary beliefs about death and the afterlife. He believes that if he kills Claudius whilst he is praying his soul will go straight to Heaven even though he killed old Hamlet. Claudius’ prayers mean that he is in a state of perfect grace, with all his sins forgiven, so therefore, he will go to Heaven. Hamlet obviously does not want this. His father is forced to remain in purgatory and to suffer the misery of wandering the earth night after night because Claudius killed him while he was sleeping and unable to seek redemption. It is not surprising therefore, that Hamlet does not want his stepfather to have the happy ending his father never got. As John Russel Brown says: 1’Within ‘Hamlet’, Shakespeare has created a hero who is compelled instinctively to seek and exact revenge and yet lives in a world created by an all-seeing all powerful, and merciful God. ‘ When Hamlet kills Polonius, he sees himself as ‘Heavens scourge and minister’, as if his violent and instinctive reaction had been in accordance with Gods will. Such references together with various calls upon ‘God’ or ‘Heavenly powers’, remind an audience of secure moral judgements that call for repentance and mercy or for punishment. They mark the play as contemporary, not belonging to a pre-Christian Denmark, and ensure that Hamlet’s progress in revenge does not move him entirely from customary judgements even though he believes he could ‘drink hot blood’ and envisions evil spreading throughout the world. Therefore here Hamlet is showing that although he is a good Christian follower, he seeks revenge for the murder of his father. Laertes, another character to lose his father and his sister, who are both related to Hamlet in one way or another, deals with his feelings for seeking revenge in a very different way to Hamlet. Although at first Laertes believes that Claudius killed his father, his reaction to his father’s death differs greatly. Laertes does not care about morals very much: To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! ‘ He is prepared to go to Hell to get revenge for his father’s death. He then continues to say. ‘I dare damnation. To this point I stand. That both the worlds give to negligence, let come what comes; only I’ll be reveng’d, Most throughly for my father. Laertes is saying that he does not care what the consequences are, he will seek revenge even if he has to damn his soul to get it. Laertes decides that he will murder Hamlet, by poisoning the dagger he will be fighting him with. This, he knows, will definitely lead to Hamlets death. Laertes makes a decision and sticks with it, unlike Hamlet who is considered insane around the time he is thinking about killing Claudius. Hamlet is even considering taking his own life; therefore Laertes would appear to be the more stable of the two. However, much of Hamlet’s procrastination lies in the fact that he intellectualizes the moral issues involved in life and death, good and evil. Both characters end up with the same fate; death. Laertes behaves like a typical hero of a revenge tragedy, rushing headlong into revenge and his own death without pausing to weigh the consequences of his actions. When old Hamlet appears, Hamlet questions whether or not to believe it is his father. Hamlet is in a very emotional state, he is thinking of suicide due to his father’s death, and now he has appeared before him, it is little wonder that he is shaken up. Hamlet’s indecisiveness as to whether the ghost is really his father, is seen when he says ‘I’ll call thee Hamlet, King Father, royal Dane’, until he hears otherwise. He is wary because it was believed at the time that ghosts brought evil and were not good however, because the ghost so resembles his father and because Hamlet mourns him, he is prepared to believe that it is an honest ghost. The ghost confirms his identity, to Hamlet by saying ‘I am thy Father’s spirit, Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confin’d to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burn’t and purg’d away’. Once again, the audience learns something about Jacobean religious views and beliefs. Old Hamlet is telling us that due his being murdered so quickly, he did not have time to repent his sins, and therefore he is stuck in purgatory the place between Heaven and Hell until God forgives them. However Hamlet and Horatio are both men with high academic achievements, and both scholars, therefore it would be unlikely they would imagine such a thing. Both of them see the ghost on the battlement as do Barnado, Francisco and also Marcellus who sees its appearance as a sign that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Although Gertrude never sees the Ghost, its validity and existence is proven by the fact that both Hamlet and Horatio have seen it. 2 The fact that Gertrude has an inability to see the Ghost might suggest the fact that she had nothing to do with the murder of old Hamlet or that she is too insensitive to see it – an idea born out by her insensitively speedy marriage to Claudius. This also appears to be the case in MACBETH another of Shakespeare’s plays, in the banquet scene, when the guilty Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo but no one else does. As a result of the information Hamlet receives from his father about his death, and his mother’s behavior, Hamlet feels that life in Denmark is worthless. He feels now with the death of his father, and the incestuous he feels relationship between his mother and Claudius, that his life is also meaningless and worthless thus he discusses committing suicide. ‘O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew’. He then describes how distraught he is that his father was only dead a month when his mother got married to Claudius, and how he must ‘hold his tongue’. In spite of this he cannot kill himself because God gave him his life, therefore he has no right to take it. ‘The Everlasting ‘has’ ‘fixed / His canon gainst self-slaughter’.

Lack of Fruit or Vegetable Consumption

Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FINER) in 2008, the average Filipino eat less vegetable. Consumption of fruits and vegetables remains low, particularly among children despite of the benefits that can be gained from eating such. Vegetables are significant sources of essential vitamins, particularly vitamin a and c, minerals, ample fiber and . These are needed by the body In order to achieve proper nutrients. Nutritional Inadequacies are a serious problem that most of the people have lack of food supply.Vegetables are very essential to our body especially o the children because it can make their Immune system strong by getting the desired nutrition. One of the problems that we are encountered Is that most of us are not fun of eating vegetables. Other says that they don't Like the taste and the smell of It. Some vegetables possess the taste of being bitter and sour. We are developing product wherein we will eliminate the problem in not eating vegetables but they don't like the ta ste of it and those children are fun of eating candies.Almost every day they take candies as part of the life of a child. We are concern about their health that's why we propose a candy that is made of vegetable. Children are now enjoying eating candy and they can also eat without showing actual vegetables. Objectives There are many contributors to obesity, including excess consumption of â€Å"discretionary calories† (foods high in sugar and fat and low in essential nutrients), lack of fruit/vegetable consumption, and insufficient physical activity.This study contrasted physical activity, fruit/vegetable consumption, and discretionary calorie consumption from selected foods relative to the 2005 dietary guidelines Methodology The study will utilize the descriptive exploratory method of research. Its principal aim Is to describe the nature of situation as It exists at the time of the study and to explore the causes of the particular phenomena. This will adopt to determine how the vegetable may be used as candy through developing it Into product.The study will undergo the following phases: Phase I Inhalant Preparation II Preparation of Needed Materials Ill Formulation of the Product IV Testing Its Acceptability V Packaging/ Marketing Lack of Fruit or Vegetable Consumption By lampooning c, minerals, ample fiber and . These are needed by the body in order to achieve proper nutrients. Nutritional inadequacies are a serious problem that most of the to the children because it can make their immune system strong by getting the desired nutrition.One of the problems that we are encountered is that most of us are not fun of eating vegetables. Other says that they don't like the taste and the smell of it. Some vegetables possess the taste of being bitter and sour. Is to describe the nature of situation as it exists at the time of the study and to the vegetable may be used as candy through developing it into product. The study will undergo the following phases: Phas e I Initial Preparation IV Testing its Acceptability.

Improving High Schools Service Quality in America Essay

Improving High Schools Service Quality in America - Essay Example There are many pieces of evidence that prove that the students are not very happy with the education system and this has made the education system very fickle and ineffective. Hence, the argument lies on the fact that the whole system of education needs modification that caters to the students as well as to the teachers as both of them to need to work together to make an education system a success. The article, â€Å"Put Teachers to the Test† by Diane Ravitch (2008) provides implications to the problems as it provides reasons of increased dropout rate. There are many reasons for a poor education system and one of the examples can be quoted in this article. An investigation was carried out regarding teacher’s role and to everybody’s surprise; it was found that the teachers themselves were not proficient enough to educate the students. When teachers were asked to take a test of 11th grade, a very small percentage of teachers could answer it correctly. Moreover, Diane (2008) states that there is a very less number of High schools teachers who have related education and experience of what they teach. This gap is disastrous for students as the teaching style may not be appropriate, accurate, relevant and reliable. In this regard, it is argued that the education system should have a policy that every teacher should have the license to teach. It is essential that the teachers should have knowledge about pedagogical methods of teaching as well as have information relating to child psychology in order to teach students effectively. The number of low-grade students and dropouts is due to these issues and the evidence is given by Diane (2008)as she states that research was conducted relating to unqualified teachers.

Legal research questions Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Legal research questions - Case Study Example CCA concluded both the errors were insignificant and confirmed that the trial had proved Mr. Evan's guilt beyond doubt. The High Court of Australia allowed the appeal and ordered a new trial. The court held that errors at trail to ask Mr. Evans to dress like the robber and also not allowing his claim for alibi undermined Mr. Evan's defense and that he had not received a fair trail. The court held that there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice1. safety and health of the people as well as the environment. The identification and management of the risks associated with the GMOs and to regulate them is the prime objective of the GT Act2. For the purpose of adopting the GT Act effectively by all the states a 'Gene Technology Regulator (GTR) was established under the Common Wealth Act which authority was given power to act in each state. The national scheme governing the GMOs is regulated by the GTR3. The GTR acts independently on her own subject however to the powers granted by the Act. "Four categories of dealings are exempted from the general prohibition on dealings with GMOs"4These dealings are (a) Exempt dealings; (b) Notifiable low risk dealings; (c) Dealings listed on the GMO Register and (d) Licensed dealings (a) The Kyoto Protocol was a treaty entered into in December 1997 at Kyoto with the objective of reducing the gas house gases which result in changes of climate. As of November 2007 there were about 175 countries which have ratified the protocol framed as a result of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (b) Australia has made an international commitment at Kyoto to be a part of the protocol and to limit the gas house emissions to 108 percent of the 1990 baseline. This projection equals to 30 percent reduction from its 'business as usual' projections5. This commitment was revised on December 2007 to the reduction of 60 percent on 2000 levels by the year 2050. (c) Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has signed the instrument of ratification in December. With this ratification the Kyoto Protocol has become the first Act of the new Government. However under the Kyoto Rules the ratification will take effect only after 90 days from the date of ratification6. Note: The Parliamentary Library in the internet website http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/SCI/kyoto.htm contained useful information on the Kyoto Protocol. Further reference to the Media Release from the government gave information

British and French Colonies. Claire Denis Chocolat (1988) Essay

British and French Colonies. Claire Denis Chocolat (1988) - Essay Example One of her best memories was about their family’s house help whose name was Protee. He possessed a number of desirable traits which included being noble, handsome and extremely intelligent. This movie has a rich history about the colonial empires and it offers a lot of information about the French racial tensions and conflicts and that is the key focus of the following essay. This form of manipulation was portrayed in form of actions occurring in the fields rather than verbally. The French colonists practiced racism both publicly and privately. This was as a result of different people living in different areas and under different circumstances. The movie portrays a very serene environment where France and her family under the care of their father who was a captain in the French army (Beugnet, 2004). Their servants faced racial discrimination both in the house and in the fields. This was clearly manifested by the way the servants, who were all black Africans, were being treated . For example, the servants were forced to do everything in the public, which included taking a shower and eating among others. This was very immoral and unjust according to the societal norms. On the other hand, the whites did everything in private, including sleeping in their bedrooms, bathing in the bathrooms and eating in the dining rooms among others. The French colonial empire also caused unnecessary sexual attraction between members of the opposite sex. This was clearly manifested by Protee, the young boy servant and Aimee. The two were noted to like each other as a result of Aimee always seeing Protee taking a bath in the open field in front of the house. This sexual desire was as a result of the immoral actions brought about by colonialism. This state had both positive and negative effects on the subjects, for the poor little servant, it was a form of humiliation having to be seen naked all the time he decided to take a bath. On the flip side, it also had some positive effe cts, as from it, Aimee developed feelings towards him. The idea of having the power to rule over others led to a lot of conflicts and tensions both within and outside the house. For example, in the kitchen, the black African cook and Aimee had issues due to language barrier and power prevelance. Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players) The film is focused on various aspects that are characterized by social, political and economic elements in India in the beginning of the 19th century. The events that are focused on the movie are mainly drawn from the eve of the rebellion of India against the British powers in the year 1857 (Dube, 2005). These events included appropriation of the kingdom of Awadh by the British powers, politics that surrounded the development of the East India Company which was owned by the British colony and also the inevitable splitting up of the Indian royals. The film is composed of two stories that run concurrently. One is the story of the invasion of the Indian kingdoms by the British colonial powers and the second one is the reaction of two inseparable friends who are deep lovers of Chess. The two friends are so much into the game of chess to a point that they neglect their vital responsibilities including their families. The two go into exile to a village that is untroubled by the rising events caused by the invasion of the British colony so that they can play Chess in peace. The movie brings out various perceptions about the British colonial powers which include their superiority, friendliness and wealthy. The

My Writing Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

My Writing Process - Essay Example My Writing ProcessMy writing process reflects in the picture in the Slide # 6. For me, writing is a medium of expression of feelings, desires, thoughts, emotions, and unsaid words. It is an infinite field where I can play. I generally remain very calm and peaceful but deep inside my mind and heart, there are several not-so-peaceful things going on all at the same time. Crime, violence, and lack of justice make me upset. The sad feelings keep intensifying inside my heart and when there is no more capacity, they start coming out of my pen over the paper like the gas escapes a pressure cooker. I can relate my writing process to the picture in the Slide # 6 as there is gas leaving the fissures with tremendous pressure while the rocks are sitting in the water that symbolizes my calm mood and peaceful nature. It seems like my self-has been translated in terms of the various features in the picture. The feature that specifically translates my thoughts is the steam escaping from the rock fis sures. I let my thoughts out while I am writing. I am a very careless and irresponsible writer generally. One after the other, all my thoughts, emotions, and messages keep emerging on the paper in ink in a disorganized fashion. Once I am done, I review the whole paper to draw conjunctions between different words, sentences and paragraphs so that the final piece of writing conforms to the rules and principles of standard writing.