The Novel Gravity Journal, By Gail Sidonie Sobat

To improve is to change Thinking about death is scary. Humans tend to avoid thinking about these topics as it gives them complex negative feelings and thoughts about afterlife. Many people on their death beds are asked, â€Å"What would you do differently if you were a teenager again?† In response, many victims of this natural but frightening process say, â€Å"I wish I had a bit more time to care about myself, and didn’t let people’s ideas and thoughts about me, and my appearance affect me.† The novel Gravity Journal, is written by Gail Sidonie Sobat who is a Canadian writer, educator, and singer that works as a teacher with kids who have eating disorders. Gail wrote the novel by her experiences at the school of anorexic victims over the course of four years. In this novel, a lot of characters play a critical role in developing the plot and the universal theme of the story. These characters include, Anise the protagonist of the story, Marcel, Anise’s brother, Boyd, her boyfriend, Morgan, Anise’s therapist, and Dr.Z, Anise’s doctor. The story takes place in Eliza Petraclark Memorial Hospital, also known as the 4Phsych-O located in Edmonton, Canada. Anise Jasmine Luther is diagnosed by Anorexia, an eating disorder that makes the victim obsessed with losing weight. Anise finds it difficult dealing with everything, her brother Marcel, her parents, and the hospital. Thoughts and plans of committing suicide wonders her head, night and day. Cutting herself is the only escape plan. Anise

Satire in Ch 5 of Great Gatsby Free Essays

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald satirizes how newly wealthy Americans acted during the 1920’s through Jay Gatsby. The 1920’s was nicknamed the ‘Roaring Twenties’, and during this time period, many people were much more wealthy and were only interested in big, extravagant things. We will write a custom essay sample on Satire in Ch 5 of Great Gatsby or any similar topic only for you Order Now Jay Gatsby is an example of this. He was born poor, gained his wealth, and now he throws big parties at his mansion to impress hundreds of people. In the beginning of Chapter 5, Nick arrives at West Egg to find Gatsby’s mansion lighting up the night sky. Nick said to Gatsby, â€Å"Your place looks like the World’s Fair† (81). The significance of Nick’s statement shows how Gatsby tries to be â€Å"old money†, when really he is â€Å"new money†. Gatsby tries to show off his wealth by turning on every single light in his mansion, but he lacks the class of those who really are â€Å"old money†. This satirizes how wealthy people were during the 1920s; they were obnoxious and did not have the same class as those who were wealthy before that time period. Another example of this is when Fitzgerald tells the reader what Gatsby is wearing for when Daisy comes over Nick’s house. Fitzgerald wrote, â€Å"Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in† (84). Daisy knows Gatsby as a poor man that she used to love, but couldn’t be with because her family didn’t approve. Gatsby still loves Daisy, and he dresses like this because he wants to impress her. Newly wealthy people during the 1920’s always wore expensive clothing. Gatsby dressing like this just satirizes those people, and shows he truly isn’t â€Å"old money†, no matter how hard he tries to be. Later in the chapter, Gatsby invited Daisy and Nick over to his house because he wants to show off his mansion to Daisy. Gatsby said, â€Å" I want you and Daisy to come over to my house† (89). Gatsby brought Daisy to his house, and even though she was impressed with what he has become, even Daisy realized that everything he owned is inelegant, and doesn’t have the same type of possessions that â€Å"old money† people have. This satirizes how people during the 1920’s tried to show off their flashy possessions, but they don’t truly have as much worth. Fitzgerald’s use of satire of newly wealthy people during the 1920’s are truly expressed through Gatsby’s actions and belongings. How to cite Satire in Ch 5 of Great Gatsby, Essay examples

Women in the Civil War free essay sample

Women wanted to begin to stand up for themselves and what they believed in. Both the Union and the Confederacy forbid women being enlisting into the war. As time went on the roles of the women during the Civil War changed dramatically. As the Civil War began the women felt the need that they should participate and take action in the war. Women came up with masculine names and disguised themselves as men so they could join the military. Since the females went unknown there is not a certain amount of women who participated in the war. Other women who did not feel the need to take action in the military contributed in many other ways to the war. Many women took care of family farms and businesses, took charge of slaves, and took over multiple jobs and roles that were dominated by men. Women took over local industries, teaching jobs and provided the Union and Confederacy with necessities that were needed. We will write a custom essay sample on Women in the Civil War or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In addition women took on the role of nursing that was normally occupied by men. The women took care of the Union and Confederacy’s wounded soldiers as best as they could since they did not have proper schooling on nursing. Roughly two thousand women, from both the North and the South, served as volunteer nurses during the Civil War. The women had witnessed things they’ve never experienced before from amputating limbs, disease, damaged bodies and death. Nursing was one of the most distinguished military roles during the war. The nursing portion of the war began when small groups of women made organizations to care for the wounded soldiers who returned back home. In 1861, a woman named Clara Barton quickly began to collect medical supplies needed to aid the soldiers from her Massachusetts community. As Barton gathered her supplies she traveled alongside the Union army ambulances and nursed the wounded soldiers. Other women just like Clara Barton were an important impact and well needed factor for the Civil War. Women before the Civil War were not taken so seriously and were looked down upon men. As the war begun and went on women felt the need to show the ociety that women were just as equal as men and could help out during the war too. Following the Civil War women were faced with several new opportunities available to them. Multiple job openings became presented to the women and a lot of women became employed. Women were given the opportunity to stay on the farm with their families or make some extra money working in the industries. More money and time was available to women so they were able to become involved with social causes, such as t he suffrage movement. Although women were still not seen as equal to men, they were not paid as much as men were while working in the factories. Women after the Civil War were admired and acknowledged for what they did to contribute to the war but still were not seen as equal to men and their abilities. The Civil War gave the women the chance to prove to themselves and others that they could help out and not just stand by waiting for their men. Women in the Civil War had a big impact on society which gives them opportunities later on in life. Women contributed in many ways throughout the Civil War.

Macbeth And Justice Essays - Characters In Macbeth,

Macbeth And Justice Even though people in retributive justice feel satisfaction, the perpetrator can also suffer. William Shakespeare's powerful Macbeth shows the deterioration of an honourable and respectable general, Macbeth, who becomes a tragic hero after temptations from the witches and his wife to perform murders. Macbeth soliloquies enable the audience to experience the conflict within Macbeth and thus, gain an understanding of the reasons for his behavior and decisions. As a result, the tremendous reversal of Macbeth's fortunes in the end leaves the audience filled not with pity, but also awe, at the realization that people can suffer greatly. Macbeth's soliloquies before the murder of Duncan shows the vigorous internal struggle of himself, as his conscience is fighting against his evil minds. Also, they shows Macbeth has brought his own downfall upon himself. The audience will then feel pity about Macbeth's deterioration brought by himself when witnessing his choice of following the evil. Macbeth is a courageous and honourable general in Scotland. His success in the battle against the invaders of Scotland gains respect from the King Duncan and his fellow soldiers. However, the demonic forces, symbolized by three witches, temptates Macbeth. The witches hail Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis and Cawdor who will be king and hail Banquo, who is a nobleman of Scotland and Macbeth's friend, as one who will become the father of a line of kings. Macbeth ambition deep in his heart starts growing at that time. In Act I, scene iii, when Macbeth is thinking about the fulfillment of the two prophecies given by the witches before, "My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes my single state of man"(I, iii, 139- 140) In this soliloquy, Macbeth reflects his idea about the "two truths" told by the witches. He is ambitious to become king, as he reacts nervously when the witches mention his fate. The very idea of murder "shakes his single state of man". However, at this! point, he is loyal to the king, and he rejects the idea of murder, "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir."(I, iii, 143-144) The predictions by the witches may have strengthened the criminal intentions that he had probably never yet dared to express clearly, even to himself. He is not alliance with crime, he is neutral, but obviously temptation is working upon him. Yet, he might overcome the promptings of his evil ambition by an effort. After the battle, Macbeth is greeted with effusive thanks by Duncan. Duncan then announces that he will make Malcolm heir to the throne. In Act I, scene iv, Macbeth in his aside states that this announcement is a bar to his ambition and calls upon darkness to cover what he wishes to be done: That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see (I, iv, 49-54) As Duncan makes the announcement, Macbeth starts wondering if murder is the only way in which he can achieve the kingship. His ambition overcomes his finer nature. He calls upon the stars to hide their light, indicating that his "black" desires comes out, and he thinks it is too evil to be seen. Macbeth's image of the eyes' winking upon the work of the hand is expressive both of his intense aversion to the deed and of his intense desire to get what the deed will accomplish. At the same time his "let that be" marks the point at which his fascinated contemplation of the thought of murdering Duncan becomes a resolution, although he will waver from it. The opposition between eye and hand is indicative of the civil war within him. In Act I, scene iv, shortly after Duncan's arrival to Macbeth's castle, Macbeth gives voice to his feeling concerning the rashness and the awfulness of the projected murder: If it were done when ?tis done, then ?twere well it were done quickly. If th' assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch, with his surcease, success; that but this blow might be the be-ball and the end-all -- here. But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we'd jump the life to come. But in these cases we still have judgment here. (I, vii, 1--8) At this point, Macbeth's character has fallen to the point where he

Erre Moscia - Dispelling Linguistic Myths and Legends

Erre Moscia - Dispelling Linguistic Myths and Legends ​ The bulk of our linguistic competency is learned at an early age- normally before we even show signs of having acquired this ability. We listen to pronunciations, intonations and cadences, and use it all to fashion our own way of speaking. As adults, we can watch this process taking place in young children learning to talk. What we dont usually observe is that we begin to form opinions about another person based solely upon the way he or she speaks. Accents define us in more ways than we care to admit. Usually these preconceptions remain subconscious, only revealed, for example, when we believe someone with a heavier accent less intelligent than ourselves. Other times, the notions are much closer to the surface.One such highly debated presumption of Italian phonology centers on the misunderstood letter r which is typically pronounced as an alveolar trill in the front of the mouth. However, in some parts of Italy, notably Piedmont and other parts of the northwest near the French borde r, r is produced as a uvular sound in the back of the mouth. This is known as erre moscia or soft r and many Italians have crowned this unfortunate pronunciation wrong, going so far as to say that all those who speak with erre moscia are either snobby or have a speech impediment. Before making such assumptions about erre moscia, we must understand a few simple facts about its background. The History of R The letter r has a distinct history in many languages. In the phonetic table of consonants it hides under the label liquid or approximant, which are just fancy terms for letters halfway between consonants and vowels. In English, it is one of the last sounds to be developed, possibly because children arent always certain what people are doing to produce the sound. Researcher and linguist Carol Espy-Wilson used an MRI to scan the vocal tract of Americans saying the letter r. In order to produce r, we must constrict our throats and lips, position our tongue and engage the vocal cords, all of which requires a lot of well-timed effort. She discovered that different speakers use different tongue positions, yet exhibit no change in the sound itself. When a person does produce a sound differing from normal r, that person is said to exhibit signs of rhotacism (rotacismo in Italian). Rhotacism, coined from the Greek letter rho for r, is an excessive use or peculiar pronunciation of r. Why Piedmont? The phrase no man is an island relates just as well to human languages as to human emotions. Despite the efforts of many language purists to prevent influences from other languages entering their own, there is no such thing as an isolated linguistic environment. Wherever two or more languages exist side-by-side, there is the possibility of language contact, which is the borrowing and intermingling of words, accents and grammatical structures. The northwest region of Italy, because of its shared border with France, is in a prime position for infusion and mixing with French. Many of Italys dialects evolved similarly, each changing differently depending on the language with which it came into contact. As a result, they became almost mutually incomprehensible. Once any alteration has taken place, it remains within the language and is passed from generation to generation. Linguist Peter W. Jusczyk has conducted research in the field of language acquisition. It is his theory that our capacity to perceive speech directly affects how we learn our native tongue. In his book The Discovery of Spoken Language Jusczyk examines a number of studies which demonstrate that from approximately six to eight months of age, infants can distinguish subtle differences in every language. By eight to ten months, they are already losing their universal ability to detect delicate phonetic differences in order to become specialists in their own language. By the time production begins, they are accustomed to certain sounds and will reproduce them in their own speech. It follows that if a child only hears erre moscia, that is how he will pronounce the letter r. While erre moscia occurs in other regions of Italy, those instances are considered deviations whereas in t he northwest region erre moscia is perfectly normal. It is no secret that r- at least in the beginning- is a very difficult sound to produce. It is one of the last sounds children learn to say correctly, and has proven a rather difficult hurdle for people trying to learn a foreign language who claim they cannot roll their rs. However, it is doubtful that people who speak with erre moscia have adopted that sound due to an inability to pronounce another kind of r. Speech therapists who work with children to correct a variety of impediments (not just for the letter r) say that they have never witnessed a case where a child substitutes a uvular r for another one. The idea doesnt make much sense because erre moscia is still a version of the letter (albeit not the popular one) and still requires complicated positioning of the tongue. More likely, a child will substitute the semivowel w sound which is close to the letter r and easier to pronounce, making them sound like Elmer Fudd when he shouted Dat waskily wabbit! As for a snobbish affectation, there are certainly examples of wealthy, prominent Italians who speak with this accent. Actors who wish to depict an aristocrat from the 1800s are said to adopt erre moscia. There are even more recent examples of wealthy Italians who speak with erre moscia, such as the recently deceased Gianni Agnelli, industrialist and principle shareholder of Fiat. But it should not be ignored that Agnelli was from Turin, the capital city of the Piedmont region where erre moscia is part of the regional dialect. Certainly the phenomenon of erre moscia in Italian speech is not the consequence of any one variable but rather a combination. Some people may choose to use erre moscia in an effort to seem more refined, though considering the stigma attached, it would seem to defeat the purpose. It doesnt appear to be a speech impediment because erre moscia is not any easier to produce than the normal Italian r. More likely it is the result of language contact with French and adoption as part of the native dialect. However there are still many questions surrounding this unusual sound and the debate will continue among speakers of Italian, both native and foreign.About the Author: Britten Milliman is a native of Rockland County, New York, whose interest in foreign languages began at age three, when her cousin introduced her to Spanish. Her interest in linguistics and languages from around the globe runs deep but Italian and the people who speak it hold a special place in her heart.

Media and the International Olympic Movement Essay

Media and the International Olympic Movement - Essay Example Los Angeles placed the bid for hosting the 2016 Olympics, battling Tokyo, London, New York, Chicago, Paris, Madrid and Moscow for the honor. London was chosen as the host city for the 2012 games, receiving 54 of 104 votes by members of the International Olympic Committee. Interestingly, Atlanta has not submitted bids for hosting of Summer Olympic games Since 1996, while Los Angeles has submitted bids for several Olympic games. This could be due to the fact that the City of Atlanta invested so much money into building infrastructure, facilities and the relocation of public housing that it has yet to realize the kind of revenue that was expected to be generated by hosting the games in 1996. Atlanta was also plagued by the negative publicity surrounding the bombing that occurred in the nearby Olympic Village. New of the event made headlines globally for three consecutive weeks, and continued periodically for an extended period of time. Los Angeles city officials, on the other hand, plan ned for such events and other possible catastrophes or emergencies. It secured extra space for medical treatment facilities and extra public service workers to handle crime and traffic issues. The 1984 Summer Olympic Games went well without any major mishaps or negative newsworthy events. It can be argued that chance comes into play here. Emergencies that are unexpected tend to occur while those that are planned for do not.

Martin and Malcom & America A Dream or A Nightmare Essay

Martin and Malcom & America A Dream or A Nightmare - Essay Example Martin and Malcolm both had similar philosophical thinking. They were both religious leaders who took a political position in campaigning for black civil liberties groups. It is uncommon for religious leaders to assume political role, and Individuals still find it strange that Malcolm and Martin engaged themselves in America’s politics. Secondly, Martin and Malcolm base their ideology on a supernatural being. They have common theoretical thinking as they both believe in the existence of a super natural being. Martin believes that God is an all complete God that finished work of creation alone, while Malcolm believes that his God is a reachable God who invites mankind to help in completing his creation work. Martin and Malcolm both advocated for civil rights using their religious principles that human beings were religious creatures, and thus should be awarded the freedom and the dignity they deserve. 1They both considered that God is the only being who rob human beings of thei r rights. They believe that he is the divine force that is behind all deeds on the planet. Martin and Malcolm had different political approaches in their civil right pressure groups and fight for the African American freedom. They both had their individual ways of fighting and supporting the civil rights pressure groups. They were communitarians who selflessly advocated for the rights of the African American and additional minority groups in America. Martin used his religious philosophies in fighting for freedom, while Malcolm was not anything close to that, and attained his philosophies through surrender. Martin achieved his philosophies through agape. 2Martin believed in a diplomatic society as he derived his teachings from Gandhi. He believed the only approach to attain equality in America was through peaceful negations and manifestations. He did not believe in the race factor and was strong