Friday, January 24, 2020

Social Order in P.D. James’ A Mind To Murder Essay -- P.D. James A Min

P.D. James’ A Mind To Murder - Social Order    One of the basic assumptions underlying any detective novel is a sense of social order. The novelist assumes that the reader agrees that killing people is wrong; it does not matter if the victims are exemplary citizens or odious individuals, it is the mere act of snuffing out another’s life that is against the social order. In P.D. James’ A Mind To Murder, Nurse Marion Bolam’s murder of her stuffy and self-righteous cousin Enid illustrates a situation where the nurse and her invalid mother had suffered from her cousin’s stinginess; James gives us a clear look at the murderer’s fear that if Enid had been given time to change her will as she had threatened to do, the Marion and her mother would never get the money to which they considered themselves entitled. However, James urges us to understand, this does not matter. Murder, for whatever reason it is committed, is still murder, and it is always wrong.     However, the murder of Enid Bolam is not the only violation of the social order which James describes in this book. Chief amongst his other villains is Peter Nagle, the young and attractive porter at the Steen Clinic. Peter is also a gifted painter, and is only working at the clinic to pay his living expenses while he waits for a prestigious arts grant to come his way.   However, Peter is infected with the arrogance of those who feel that their talent entitles them to liberties unavailable to the rest of society. He lives in a magnificent studio apartment, and owns only the very best painting equipment. He obviously cannot afford this on a clinic-porter’s salary, so he figures out a way to, with Marion Bolam’s help, blackmail former patients into paying him fifteen pounds... ...r, who wasn’t really at fault in any of this, has gone to live in a nursing home where she will be well-cared for, since her daughter obviously won’t be there to do it.        This isn’t a perfect solution, but it isn’t a   perfect   world, and it would be false to P.D. James’ premises to assume that everything can be returned to a state of Eden. However, James seems to feel that we as social beings have an obligation to keep everything as close to an ideal social paradigm as possible. Only in this way will everyone be in a position to achieve maximum happiness. The narcissism of Peter Nagle serves as a sober warning that we are not put on earth to ride roughshod over everyone else in our selfish search for happiness, but that happiness is a social construct in which everyone should reap equal benefit and for which everyone should assume equal responsibility.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

A&P/Araby Comparison

Christopher Nguyen Dr. Pedersen, 11:30-12:30 Araby and A&P Araby, written by James Joyce 1914 was about a young boy on a quest to woo over the girl of his adolescent dreams. A&P, written by John Updike in a completely different time period, was a story about a young store clerk trying to impress three teenagers by defending them from his manager. Both story lines are different, as well as the time periods and morals, but somehow and in some way, they share many similarities.Between the two stories, you could find a bunch of examples of how they are similar, but one of the more distinct ones is the fact that both stories are told from a first person point of view. In our first story Araby, it is told from the young boy’s point of view. Although nothing is said much about the little boy himself, we can tell from his point of view that he has a very big crush on his friend’s older sister. We also see from his point of view that he lives with an unappreciative uncle and a c oncerning aunt. From our other story A&P; we go into the life of Sammy.In his point of view, we find out that Sammy is a store clerk for a small-town A&P store down in Georgia. He obviously isn’t excited about his job, but when three teenage girls wearing nothing but bikinis on a random hot summer day, he takes notice. In the end, when his manager comes out and ridicules the girls for coming into the store looking indecent, Sammy decides to quit his job in order to defend the ladies thinking that they would commend him for his efforts. Sadly his actions go unnoticed and that’s when we all realize that life from there on will be harder for him.There’s another element in these two stories that share similar traits. It’s the conflict between the main character and the antagonist. In Araby, it’s the little kid falls for the pretty girl, only to be stopped by the antagonist, this case his drunken and broke uncle. A&P is a bit similar and it starts out w ith Sammy falling for â€Å"Queenie† and eventually Lengel, the store manager, is his opposition. Neither characters end up with what they truly wanted in the beginning, but it makes them realize that this is only the beginning.There is one special similarity between these two stories is so great that the authors hid well in the text was the vast imagery. In Araby, there was a vast amount of imagery and a lot of it referred back to the bible such as when he talks about Mangan’s sister’s holding her spikes, how her brothers were fighting over a cap, and how her hair fell over on side of her dress. In A&P, it referred to how â€Å"Queenie† was in some way a mermaid because of her long, white prima-donna lets and how she came down heavy on her heals.Sammy was in a way, mesmerized like Oedipus had been when they cross paths with the sirens. Although A&P and Araby have different story lines and plots, what they do have in common are hidden messages and dilemma s. Both main characters took the road of chivalry and romance, but obviously it didn’t work out for them. However it did make them realize that nothing in life is going to be so easy, and in order to achieve their goals, they would have to go through more experiences in order to get what they want later in life.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Analysis Of The Poem The Raven - 2111 Words

The Raven versus Ode to a Nightingale â€Å"The Raven† by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of a young adult who has lost the woman he was in love with and is struggling cope. The story-teller compulsorily builds self-destructive understanding of his mourning in a raven’s constant Nevermore reminder to him, until he eventually gives up about being reconnected with Lenore in the new world. On the other hand, John Keats’ â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† is another interesting poem set in London, which tells the story of a nightingale that undergoes pain and suffering caused by a loss of human life but remains alive. Like in â€Å"the Raven† the latter the poem demonstrates clearly that pleasure is temporary and that human beings are mortal (Fogle 81). In the literary piece, Keats envisages the shortcomings of the physical environment and considers his own life gone when the nightingale song sets in. As such, the poet contrasts between the eternal nightingale an d temporal life of human beings in an immensely imaginative way that integrates the primary factors affecting life including weather and natural aesthetics such as flower. Weather rejuvenates the power of the nightingales as evidenced in their covering of the heath. Like â€Å"the Raven,† however, â€Å"Ode to a nightingale† shares the theme of human mortality, spirituality and kindness, and isolation among the bereaved. Form Poe’s â€Å"The Raven† is made up of eighteen six–line verses with seamlessly emphatic rhythm and rhymes. Using â€Å"I† narration toShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem The Raven 1813 Words   |  8 PagesThose that have read â€Å"The Raven† may not fully understand what the young man in the poem is feeling and may question why does he do these things. Have a better understanding of the character’s feelings and what he must have gone through. He closes himself off from others and gains a fascinating raven that flies into his home. Some believe the reason why his is sad and lonely is because he self-torments. Though in reality the young man only misses his beloved so greatly that he can’t help but feelRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Raven 1795 Words   |  8 PagesAnalysis of the Raven (The Poem Itself, and Its Symbolism) â€Å"The Raven† has been one of the most recognizable works in American poetry because of its haunting, music-like quality. It is also known for its hypnotic sound and uniform tone of melancholy. Poe needed to create a masterpiece people could remember him by. He used all of his best writing talents in his poem; repetition, parallelism, internal rhyme, alliteration, and assonance, so that he would be committed to the memories of all peopleRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Raven 918 Words   |  4 PagesAllen Poe’s â€Å"The Raven† has been hailed by critics to be a defining work in the history of poetry. â€Å"Mariana†, a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson draws from similar feelings and themes. As a result, the two poems are intertwined, similar to a startling degree. However, they set themselves apart from the other in several distinct ways. Even though both main characters long for a lost loved one, their psychological responses and states of mind d iffer. Additionally, the themes of the poems themselves divergeRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Raven By Edgar Allen Poe1376 Words   |  6 Pagespoetry and without proper use of it a poem may not be as strong as others. Poetry is a form of art, and a poet uses language as a painter would use color to portray their art. Edgar Allen Poe is one of the greatest poets in history because his mastery of literary elements such as allusion, allegory, symbolism, and figurative language. â€Å"The Raven† by Edgar Allen Poe is a fascinating poem in which he displays excellent use of language. There are many symbols in this poem which help the reader understandRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Raven And Remembered How Good I Thought It Was871 Words   |  4 PagesI was surprised when I started to read a poem for this assignment as I am not what one would call a â€Å"poem reader†. I googled most famous poems of all time then a tons of result came out. However I saw the name Edgar Allan Poe in the list of the poets. I recalled reading his poem â€Å"The Raven† and remembered how good I thought it was. So I decided to dig a little deeper into his poems. In the process I stumbled upon this gem of a poem called â€Å"Annabel Lee†. It was something I read and could instantlyRead MoreAnalysis of Edgar Allen Poes The Raven Essay917 Words   |  4 Pageswriting from poems to short stories. One of his most famous narrative poems is â€Å"The Rav en.† There are many reasons to read the â€Å"The Raven.† One reason to read the poem is because it is a classic. Secondly, reading â€Å"The Raven† can give sight to Poe’s thoughts and feelings towards his life. Thirdly, the poem is a good example of the mind set of someone who has faced a loss. Another reason would be that the poem can represent trochaic octameter form. It can also represent narrative poem form. Of theseRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe (the Raven)1496 Words   |  6 PagesEdgar Allan Poes The Raven Poes The Raven is not only an American classic, its a favorite of high school students around the world, as well as their teachers. That being said, its still poetry and therefore can be difficult to understand. Read this summary to review the contents and get a better understanding. * Stanzas: 1-2 Make everyone in class think youre really smart when you bust out everything youve learned in this summary: Stanza 1:  Its late. The poems speaker is tiredRead MoreLiterary Analysis : The Raven905 Words   |  4 Pages When you are reading a poem or a short story there are so many other things that are connected to the story that people usual do not look at. But when you do break down a story or poem to look for what it really means that it is called literary analysis. A good piece of work to use is Edgar Allen Poe s The Raven. The Raven has a lot of different literature elements at work such as symbolism, theme, POV. In the Raven Edgar writes a poem about a man that is very sad. The man is sad because heRead MorePoes Poetry Essay1269 Words   |  6 Pagesfrightening poems. His poems are best known for being extremely grim and macabre, but with a hint of Romanticism in them. â€Å"The Raven† and â€Å"Annabel Lee† depict Romanticism being described by feelings and imagination. These poems reflect the reality that the author is dealing with different views in the way lovers grieving and the way of dealing with death. He is also able to make two poems that seem very similar completely different. These are all factors in both poems that make these two poems with aRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Dead 1416 Words   |  6 Pages The Dead Muse: A Critical Analysis of The Raven Your Name Your University â€Æ' The Dead Muse: A Critical Analysis of The Raven The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe is a very famous poem which intricately weaves layer upon layer of meaning through singsong verses. Combining allusions to literature, mythology and religion, the poem tells many stories at once while evoking a feeling of nonsense and a descent into insanity. It is hard to understand what the poem is about—if anything at all, and Poe does not