Reading In The Dark Essays - Paranormal Television,

Reading In the Dark In his novel, Reading In the Dark, Seamus Deane tells the story of an Irish Catholic family in Northern Ireland between the late Forties and early Seventies. He traces the path taken by a growing boy searching for and finding the truth about his family during this very tumultuous time and having to come to terms with what he discovers. Deane uses this family to illustrate the issues surrounding history that are central to the deeper understanding of his novel. He shows how the British government's and the Catholic church's differing agendas affect these people's history and the consequences of not dealing with their history and past resulting in their subjugation and passivity. The theme of haunting plays a major role in the history of this family and the overall society of this people illustrating the problems of not confronting and not knowing the past. The hauntings also further illustrate how various forms of authority affect the way history is written and hidden. Deane begins the novel with the haunting of the family's home which starts to hint at the importance of history and the failure to deal with it. 'There's something between us. A shadow. Don't move,' (Deane 3). This is the first reference to there being something dark and sinister to this family. The shadow here is the ghost that haunts the family, but in fact represents the true history of the family that has not been exorcised. By calling it a shadow, this brings up dark and ominous connotations about what has happened in their past. This shadow is also between the mother and son, a clear indication that the existence of it keeps them apart emotionally. The secret of their history builds walls between the members which will destroy the relationships among their family. 'No, nothing, nothing at all...All imagination...There's nothing there, (Deane 4). The mother ignores the truth and fails to deal with it. She attempts to ignore it by burying the past inside her. The truth about thei r history becomes nothing more than a ghost in this family, festering inside those who know the truth, but don't tell it, which in the long run will destroy themselves and others around them. The house itself is haunted which is used by Deane to illustrate the strength and affect of how history and the failure to deal with it affects the surroundings around a person, in this case the family. We had a ghost, even in the middle of the afternoon...The house was all cobweb tremors. No matter where I walked, it yielded before me and settled behind me. (Deane 5) Deane reestablishes the secrets of the family by saying they had a ghost in the afternoon. This only helps to strengthen that this is not the typical ghost and haunting, which in the usual sense would take place at night. This is something more, the history of the family that will not go away unless it is brought out. This hidden history and truth is so strong that the house becomes a sort of ghost and haunts the family as well. The house, which further represents Northern Ireland, becomes the past and history that they refuse to deal with, whichconstantly surrounds them. He describes the house as cobweb tremors implying that the secrets of their history are old, since the image of cobwebs creates the vision of something long and unattended to. It is this truth about their past that has been unattended to or rather not dealt with. The use of the word tremors describes that this secret still affects them, though it is very old. This reveals Deane's larger concern of how history and no t dealing with it can affect everything no matter if it is alive or inanimate. These issues take on a life of their own, unpredictable and uncontrollable. In Eddie Deane begins with the stories of what may have happened to the narrator's uncle, commenting on who writes history. I wanted him to make the story his own and cut in on their talk, (Deane 8). The story being referred to is that of what happened to the narrator's Uncle Eddie in the distillery shoot out, something that still remains the hidden history

The Role of Family Traditions †Sociology Essay

The Role of Family Traditions – Sociology Essay Free Online Research Papers The Role of Family Traditions Sociology Essay Traditions are one of the most continues concepts that humans like to do often. That’s why the role of traditions in my family has been growing from generation through generation. These traditions are growing because of various aspects that makes them very important for us. Traditional naming is one of the most casual traditions in Jewish families. In most cases the father’s and mother’s sons, have the name of his grandfather. The same thing happens with women. They take their grandmother’s name. For example: my name is Salomon Jacobo Cohen. Salomon is my grandfather’s name and Jacobo, which is my middle initial, is my father’s name. That’s why my fathers name is Jacobo Salomon Cohen. This naming tradition comes from long time ago. If you read the bible, you can notice that in most cases they mention the persons name and then all his older parents follow this name. At this point, you can notice the naming tradition from biblical references. There are other kinds of traditions in my family. Making mistakes is an inevitable part of life. That’s why we have the tradition to do â€Å"Teshuva† (repentance) which is the Jewish response to deal with those mistakes that sometimes we do. We have an especial year period for the Teshuva. We do it during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This period is called â€Å"Slijot†. The word Slijot means forgiveness. That’s why we do it on this period, which is forty days long. In my family, parents have the tradition to teach their children the four steps of the Teshuva. First of all, you have to realize that you have done something wrong, then you have to feel bad about what you did and take some steps to correct the mistake you have made. Finally, you have to ask to the other person for forgiveness and then pray to God and ask him for forgiveness. Teshuva is very important for my family. That’s why we have this family custom to discuss and tech our kids about it. We also have the Shabbat. That’s wer e we eat our traditional foods. Jewish people call Shabbat the day that God rested while he was making this beautiful earth. That’s why we celebrate Shabbat every Friday. God started building this earth on a Sunday and he rested on the 6th day, which is Friday. Shabbat is the most important and significant Jewish holiday. It is more important than Yom Kippur. On Shabbat we say the Kiddush and the Hamotzi, which are two blessing for God before eating the food. Then we eat our traditional food. I love Shabbat because of the traditional foods that my grandmother cooks. Especially the â€Å"Kibehamda† which is a lemon soup with meatballs, potatoes, carrots and other things that makes a very especial taste to it. We also have the â€Å"Yavrah†. Yavrah is tomatoes filled inside with rice and meat and they taste delicious. Actually, we have a lot more of traditional recipes but I will never stop writing if I mention all of them. Something that I couldn’t forget to mention is the tradition of li ghting the candles on Fridays before Shabbat starts. Parents bless their children. The biblical blessing for the boys is: â€Å" God make you like Ephraim and Menasseh†. For girls, we replace Ephraim and Menasseh for the foremothers Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. Finally, family traditions are growing because of various aspects that makes them very important for each member of the family. That’s why my family is trying to practice and teach this traditions to our younger generations so the can transit them from generation to generation. That’s the only way to keep family traditions. Research Papers on The Role of Family Traditions - Sociology EssayThe Spring and AutumnEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoQuebec and CanadaGenetic EngineeringInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married Males19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraWhere Wild and West MeetAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

An Introduction to Obsolete Words

An Introduction to Obsolete Words Obsolete word is a temporal label commonly used by lexicographers (that is, editors of dictionaries) to indicate that a word (or a particular form or sense of a word) is no longer in active use in speech and writing. In general, notes Peter Meltzer, the difference between an obsolete word and an archaic word is that, although both have fallen into disuse, an obsolete word has done so more recently (The Thinkers Thesaurus, 2010). The editors of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2006) make this distinction: Archaic. [T]his label is attached to entry words and senses for which there is only sporadic evidence in print after 1755 . . ..Obsolete. [T]his label is attached to entry words and senses for which there is little or no printed evidence since 1755. In addition, as Knud Sà ¸rensen points out, it sometimes occurs that words which have become obsolete in Britain continue to be current in the United States (compare Amer. Engl. fall and Brit. Engl. autumn) (Languages in Contact and Contrast, 1991). Following are some examples of obsolete words: Illecebrous Illecebrous [ill-less-uh-brus] an obsolete word meaning attractive, alluring. From a Latin word meaning to entice.(Erin McKean, Totally Weird and Wonderful Words. Oxford University Press, 2006) Mawk The underlying meaning of mawkish is maggotish. It was derived from a now obsolete word mawk, which meant literally maggot but was used figuratively (like maggot itself) for a whim or fastidious fancy. Hence  mawkish originally meant nauseated, as if repelled by something one is too fastidious to eat. In the 18th century the notion of sickness or sickliness produced the present-day sense over-sentimental.(John Ayto, Word Origins, 2nd ed. A C Black, 2005) Muckrake Mudslinging and muckrakingtwo words commonly connected with the pursuit of an elected office and the flotsam the campaigns leave in their wake.Voters seem fairly familiar with the term used to describe malicious or scandalous attacks against opponents, but the latter m word may be new for some people. It is an obsolete word describing a tool used to rake muck or dung and used in reference to a character in John Bunyan’s classic Pilgrim’s Progress [1678]the Man with the Muck-rake who rejected salvation to focus on filth.(Vanessa Curry, Don’t Muck It Up, and We Won’t Rake It. The Daily Herald [Columbia, TN], April 3, 2014)| Slubberdegullion Slubberdegullion is n: a slobbering or dirty fellow, a worthless sloven, 1610s, from slubber to daub, smear, behave carelessly or negligently (1520s), probably from Dutch or Low German (cf. slobber (v)). Second element appears to be an attempt to imitate French; or perhaps it is French, related to Old French goalon a sloven. Century Dictionary speculates the -de- means insignificant or else is from hobbledehoy. Snoutfair Snoutfair is a person with a handsome countenance (literally, a fair snout). Its origins are from the 1500s. Lunting Lunting means to walk while smoking a pipe. Lunting  is also the emantion of smoke or steam from a tobacco pipe, or the flame used to light a fire, torch, or pipe, The word lunting originated in the 1500s from either the Dutch word lont  meaning a slow match or fuse or the Middle Low German lonte meaning a wick. With Squirrel With squirrel is a euphemism that means pregnant. It originated in the Ozark Mountains  in the early 20th century. Curglaff Curglaff is commonly felt by people in northern climes - it is the shock that one feels when first plunging into cold water. The word curglaff originated from Scotland in the 1800s. (Also spelled curgloff). Groak To groak (verb) is to watch someone longingly while they are eating, in the hope that they will give you some of their food. The origin is possibly Scottish.   Cockalorum Cockalorum is a little man who has an over-inflated opinion of himself and thinks himself more important than he is; also, boastful speech. The origin of cockalorum  may be from the from the obsolete Flemish word  kockeloeren of the 1700s,  meaning to crow.

Mesozoic History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mesozoic History - Essay Example The sediment part from the bone is removed. Acid is used for preservation but in a very little amount as the bone is constructed of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate. Ascetic acid and formic acid are commonly used for the purpose. The dinosaur bone that I own is from the Mesozoic period. Dinosaur bones are very helpful as index fossils and there are some specific reasons behind this phenomenon. First of all, dinosaur bones can be traced very easily. Understanding the age to which they belong is not hard if someone deals with the index fossils. Invertebrate Life: there were a few life forms existing during this period. Shells of silica and calcium carbonate are the two main forms. Class Sardonica was very important during this time. Marine invertebrates developed rapidly during the Mesozoic period. Vertebrate Life: there were three distinguished sections in Mesozoic vertebrate life and they were: sauropod, theropod and ornithischian dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were among the best known creatures which dominated the world at that period. Plant Life: this was the era when some of the major plants existed. Among them the mentionable ones are ginkoes, ferns and cycads. There were also some flowering plants present in the Mesozoic era too. Insect pollinating was one of these plants' characteristics. Mesozoic was a period the dinosaurs are believed to have become extinct from the world.

Organizational Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organizational Communication - Research Paper Example Effective leadership and novel and innovative organizational communication strategies aimed at integrating the efficiencies of a talented workforce with strong leadership are the only means available at the disposal of organizations today, to sustain their competitive positioning and market domination (Burke and Cooper 5; Driskill and Brenton 936). At Ogilvy & Mathers’ (O & M) special efforts are made by the leaders and managers to translate the corporate challenges encountered by them into success stories by encouraging a system of smooth uninterrupted communication and building an environment that honors and elevates the status of employees to that of highly competent and motivated individuals. Introduction: Ogilvy and Mather is a reputed international advertising firm headquartered in Manhattan, U.S.A founded in the year 1948 by David Ogilvy and spread in over 169 cities. Over the past 60 years the firm has managed to build a strong brand name and encouraged an impressive c orporate culture that has helped build some of the most recognizable brands in the world namely American Express, Ford, Shell, Barbie, Sears, Dove, IBM, and Kodak among others (O & M). The overwhelming success achieved by the firm stems from its persistence and relentless pursuit of excellence which it managed to achieve by developing and implementing innovative workplace practices and strong leadership. Some such leadership and organizational communication strategies adopted and applied by O & M over the years that helped the brand in achieving unprecedented success, are discussed in the following sections. Leadership at O & M: According to Wrench (182) coaching strategy of leadership is one of the most significant strategies adopted by modern leaders which entails the use of one-on-one interactions by the leaders as a means of communicating with their followers and subordinates in a bid to enhance their performance. This strategy was successfully applied by David Ogilvy - the foun der of O & M one of the most renowned international advertising firms. Ogilvy's leadership entailed an innovative coaching style which included long and deep conversations with the employees which were not limited to the problems and issues faced by them within the organization but extended beyond the boardroom into their personal space, where the employees were encouraged to discuss their personal beliefs, dreams, goals well as career related hopes (Wrench 183). Coaching style of leadership: This style of leadership was first introduced by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard in the late 1960s (Poole 104) and later popularized by Daniel Goleman (Cherniss and Goleman, 43). Wright (237) defines coaching leadership as leadership that "delegates responsibility for elements of the organization's strategy". One of the key traits of a leader as a coach is the ability to listen to their employees via a one-to-one communication method and establish rapport and mutual trust. Good leaders according to this leadership style are those that excel in the art of listening and guiding their employees to identify their strengths and weaknesses and contribute towards their productivity and performance by helping them to identify the resources required to enhance their outcome as well as ways to find the same (Wright 237). Ogilvy & Mather has always endorsed the ‘leader as a coach’ brand of leadership whereby the leaders are encouraged to

The Personification of Death in Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus Essay -- Movie

The Personification of Death in Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus The personification of Death is done by means of a princess of the Underworld in Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus. This Princess is very powerful, yet surprisingly vulnerable. For no one is allowed to love in the Underworld, the Princess falls in love with a famous poet named Orpheus and goes to drastic measures to be with him. But in the end she cannot be with her love, and she realizes this and does what is forbidden in the Underworld and defies time and sends back her love to whom he loved before her. Death in Cocteau’s Orpheus is not only powerful and vulnerable, but she also changes throughout the course of the movie. Three elements support that the Princess changes throughout the course of the film and what brings about this change. These elements are dialogue, clothing and appearance, and actions. One way that Cocteau creates the Princess’ character by the usage of dialogue. The powerful Princess Death is a very harsh, and controlling character at the beginning of the movie. She is seen as very authoritarian and demanding. The first scene in which the viewer encounters the princess, she orders Cegeste, Heurtebise, and Orpheus. This is the first time that the princess is ever seen by Orpheus and the first words that she speaks to him are very harsh and demanding. The Princess is accompanied by a young poet named Cegeste, and when Cegeste is killed by the motorcyclists she orders Orpheus to help her and to come as a witness. She then continues her orders by ordering the chauffer, Heurtebise, to not go to the hospital, but to go â€Å"the usual route†. She continues in her harsh tone of voice by ordering the motorcyclists. Every person that the Princess converses with in the begin... ...s also seen when she can kill people with a single glance and then raise them to be her servant in the Underworld. She chooses to raise Cegeste to be her personal slave. Her vulnerability is displayed when she watches Orpheus sleep. Despite the Princess’ power, she becomes vulnerable and defies the rules of the Underworld and return’s Orpheus back to life. This action proves that the Princess has a true love for Orpheus and does not worry about the consequences of doing what her heart feels right. Cocteau suggests that there is a higher power than even Death itself. The Princess personifies Death, but she is controlled by the Committee of the Underworld. If she were the most powerful facet of Death, then she would not be controlled by anyone or anything. Therefore, the Princess in Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus represents not Death, but one of the many faces of Death.

Discuss the Importance of Dreams Essay

‘Death of a Salesman’ was a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949. It is a story of an ordinary man and his family’s struggle for success in America, the ‘land of opportunity’. The American Dream is the concept that one can begin in life with nothing and through hard work and confidence gain power, wealth and status. There are constant references to this in the play, but it is not portrayed as a perfect system by any means. Other types of dreams too are prominent in ‘Death of a Salesman’ – the protagonist’s (Willy Loman’s) disillusion and dissatisfaction with his lifestyle lead him to indulge in unrealistic fantasies and altered memories of the past. His hopes and ambitions are almost identical to the ideals of the American Dream, as are his struggles typical of those associated with it. In this way, Willy Loman is symbolic of the common American man and this is shown through the pun on ‘Loman’ (low man). Dreams are important in the play because they are the play’s most important structuring device, and also go some way towards explaining why the characters behave in the way that they do. Flashbacks steadily reveal the reason behind Willy and Biff’s animosity, the secret that only Biff knows, and Happy’s need to prove himself. Their other effect is to make the play’s structure non-linear and more like Willy Loman’s continuous stream of consciousness in his last days of life. The other type of dreams – fantasies, hopes and ambitions allow the audience to empathise with the characters. In the play, the only dreams which we do not see are those that happen while sleeping. Willy’s dreams infiltrate his life, becoming more and more frequent. They are almost hallucinations, and later on in the play he becomes less able to discern between reality and fantasy. For example, whilst he is in a restaurant with Biff and Happy, he becomes confused between the door of the restaurant’s washroom and the door of the hotel room in which he committed adultery – â€Å"the washroom †¦ the door †¦ where’s the door? â€Å". The effect of this line on the play is to blur the line between past and present a little, letting the audience feel some of Willy’ confusion. It also creates a sense of danger as to whether his secret will be exposed. Biff and Happy do not experience the same degree of intensity in their dreams, but Happy shares the tendency to exaggerate with his father, for example when he is in the restaurant with Stanley, he tells a girl that Biff is â€Å"one of the greatest football players in the country†. The importance of dreams to the play is emphasised by stage directions and staging, and the non-linear nature of the play. The Lomans’ house has no solid walls, and the apartment buildings can be seen through the back of the house. The apartment buildings symbolise the deterioration of the quality of life that came with increasing urbanisation, and Willy complains about them close to the beginning with ‘the way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks’. The lighting around the Lomans’ house is described as an ‘angry glow of orange’ and gives it ‘an air of the dream’. I think that Miller is attempting here to make the set seem menacing and surreal, like a nightmare which steadily worsens. To further this impression, the imaginary wall lines serve as a vehicle for the characters’ (namely Willy) dreams. When the characters are in the present, they enter through the ‘doors’, but during flashbacks they step through the walls, letting the audience know that this is unreal. Other devices used to signal a flashback are the gradual fading in of voices from the past, and in the memories of happier times, the flute. The flute is an instrument symbolic of nostalgia and originates from Willy’s rural, happier childhood. As the time period of the play jumps from past to present with memories and fantasies, it gives the effect of a stream of consciousness rather than a narrative play. Consequently, ‘Death of a Salesman’ could be interpreted as Willy’s train of thoughts leading up to his death. In real time – all the parts of the play which are not dreams – the play is the last twenty four hours of Willy’s life. The flashbacks are cut against real time and the effect of them is firstly to delineate the play’s structure, and secondly to concentrate the audience’s attention on both what will happen to the characters and what did happen in the past to shape them into the way they are now. Willy is only truly happy in his memories or when, as Happy says, ‘he’s looking forward to something’, but this is only his false hope showing through. He spends so much time absorbed in his memories because in the present he is a failure – it isn’t satisfactory. Additionally, we cannot even be sure that the past happened like that as what we are seeing is Willy’s memory, which may well be distorted to fit with his perfect image of the past. This is likely, because even in his memories Willy lies to Linda about his income – â€Å"Well, I – I did – about a hundred and eighty gross in Providence. Well, no – it came to – roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip† Linda knows he exaggerates, and later on she even reveals she knows that he borrows money from Charley so it looks like his salary, but she never questions him because she believes it would insult him. The effect of this maintained secrecy is firstly to show how fragile Willy’s mental state is, and secondly the plight of Linda, who also suffers silently, we find later on, with the knowledge of Willy’s suicide plans. She is keeping up the facade for the sake of her family and perhaps she thinks she can fool herself into believing everything is all right. Although unspoken for much of the play, this is Linda’s way of creating a fantasy as opposed to her unsatisfactory life. The importance of the American Dream in ‘Death of a Salesman’ is very significant. The Lomans are each affected in their own way by the pressures placed upon them by the society they live in. Willy is not ruthless enough to be able to really make it in the business world, but distorts reality to convince himself that all is well. Biff is pressured by Willy’s high expectations of him and his insistence that Biff has ‘greatness’, yet he says himself that â€Å"I don’t fit in business† and all he really wants to do is work in the country ‘with your shirt off’. It is ironic that, in the ‘land of opportunity’, citizens are restricted from attaining their true ambitions (Biff’s idyllic dream) by the pressures placed on them to become wealthy, successful and popular. Happy has a relatively steady job unlike his father and brother, but it lacks status. He is one of two assistants to the assistant buyer, and so feels the need to lie and exaggerate about business, women, his family and so on. Linda is not directly pressured by the American Dream, but suffers because her family are all affected, particularly Willy who she remains loyal to throughout. Biff is the only character who ever questions the American Dream and rejects Willy’s ambition. He is at first deluded by Willy’s insistence that â€Å"Biff, you’ve got greatness in you† but comes to realise that he is nothing special. At Willy’s funeral, he condemns Willy’s ambition with â€Å"he had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong†. Exasperatingly, Happy still hasn’t given up, and vows to achieve the success Willy couldn’t – â€Å"He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him†. This shows the vicious circle of disappointment and frustration – and a parallel between this and recurring nightmares – that can be created by the ‘dark side’ of capitalism and of the American Dream. Capitalism and consumerism are massive parts of the American Dream. The capitalist system of business means that when people are no longer useful they are fired, which is exactly what happens to Willy. Howard, his boss, symbolises the ruthless businessman who does well in capitalism. He is similar to Ben, Willy’s successful brother who will step over anyone to get what he wants. Ben’s ruthless nature is shown when he trips Biff in a play fight – â€Å"suddenly comes in, trips BIFF, and stands over him, the point of his umbrella poised over BIFF’S eye†. The prominence of consumerism is shown in the goods that Willy buys, only to have break down shortly afterwards, and in the importance of advertising to Willy – ‘Whoever heard of a Hastings refrigerator? Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it’s on its last legs! The refrigerator consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things. They time them so when you finally pay for them, they’re used up. † Willy here expresses his dissatisfaction with capitalist culture – connected with the American Dream – and how products are designed (in his view) to bleed as much money from the consumer as possible. The complaint has an air of unfamiliarity with the culture – Willy is idealistic and has a running fantasy that people are far less ruthless than they really are, and that they should make an exception for him due to his ‘popularity’ and his well-connected father.