what s in a face_8 - Oboulo.com

4 word format

Language : english

literature

school essay

date published

17/12/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : Advanced

requested 0 times

Summary

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the definitive post-colonial, African novel, focuses on a character who is in constant struggle with his tribe and with himself. Okonkwo, a purveyor of masculinity in his society, has many reasons for his actions in the novel. The continuing cultural violence in the novel and within the culture (often started and ended by Okonkwo), some argue, is inherent in the contradictions of the Igbo culture (Hoegberg, 69-77). Okonkwo’s actions, as well as the actions of others in the novel, explain a culture very sacred to Achebe, and through Okonkwo’s various actions and thoughts throughout the novel, the culture seems both precious and brutal, cultural relativism aside. Okonkwo is a character whose chi is in constant conflict, and Okonkwo himself is in constant conflict with himself over the masculinity, overall violence demanded by his honor based Igbo culture, and his relationship with his father.

$3.95

4 word format

Language : english

literature

book review

date published

08/08/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : Advanced

requested 3 times

Summary

“What if someone wrote a novel about homosexuality and no body [sic] came?” Ed Cohen writes of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (75). Actually, at the time the book was written, the term “homosexuality” was nonexistent. Wilde, himself, became one of the leaders of the movement that defined homosexuality. Oscar Wilde, one of the most (in)famous homosexuals of the nineteenth century, portrays through the three main characters in Dorian Gray, the difficulty of coping with the life of secrecy that unavoidably went hand in hand with being a homosexual male in nineteenth century England.

Table of Contents

The Picture of Dorian Gray most likely reflects Wilde's own feelings and experiences regarding society's perception and treatment of homosexuality
Obviously, Wilde was well aware of his society's homophobia, but perhaps he did not know exactly what he was up against
Lord Henry Watton theorizes about indulging in one's passions but never actually does
As the title suggests, the plot of Dorian Gray revolves around a picture that is painted of Dorian by Basil Hallward
On the other hand, Wotton's massive influence over Dorian does lead the latter to begin to investigate his own desires
Sensual descriptions such as the previous one, although shocking to the nineteenth century public, are quite prevalent in the novel.
Like Oscar Wilde himself, Dorian Gray does not hold that critical distance from his passions that is so necessary to avoiding the dangerous consequences that he subsequently experiences

$5.95

6 word format

Language : english

literature

presentation

date published

12/10/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : General public

requested 0 times

Summary

Temptation preys upon what we wish for and what we dream for. Want a flashy car: a cherry red, nitrous infused Lamborghini with leather seats, a thumping sound system and a set of wicked hydraulics? Sure it sounds good, but how possible is that on such a measly salary? Maybe, but only after working 60 hour work weeks and cutting your budget so that you’re surviving on toast and ramen noodles. Do this for the next decade or more, working to the break point and sacrificing everything comfortable, and only then would you be able to afford your dream car. But that is why your dream car is still a dream; the plausibility of purchasing it is so far out of your reach that you can only imagine it and dream about one day owning it. You continue to dream and hope, thinking about your fantasy becoming true, but you are positive the closest you will get to owning a Lamborghini is when you ogle it at the dealership as you drive by. What would happen if a person just offered a Lamborghini to you? That mysterious new guy from accounting approaches you and tells you he can grant you anything you want…all you have to do, is wish for it. Would you do it? Of course you would! If someone could offer you your dream car for doing no work at all, automatically, your first response would be “yes!”, but after a minute, you would remember nobody offers anything for free and you would ask: “Ok, what’s the catch?”

Table of Contents

Temptation preys upon what we wish for and what we dream for. Want a flashy car:
There is never a free lunch; there is a consequence for every action, however direct or indirect it may be.
Dr. Faustus knew the power of temptation all too well.
The monkey's paw may hold the power to fulfill wishes, but it is Sergeant-Major Morris, the visitor to the White's house, that enlightens the family about the power of the paw.
. The Sergeant could have brushed aside the story behind the monkey paw, but that would mean he would have to die with the power of the paw dying with him as well.
Despite the subconscious thought that the paw brought about the death of her son, Mrs. White cannot resist the temptation to cheat death.
One night, Charles walks to the playground and is greeted by a solemn little boy that is in fact the son of his friend Thomas Marshall.
In both The Monkey's Paw and The Playground it is a person that offers a Faustian-Bargain to the character or characters.
As if the lake could hear the fearful sounds of Hugh's wishes, it responded by forming into a familiar shape. And a shape began to emerge.
The devil tempts a person with an unattainable wish being granted, but the consequences of dealing with evil usually cost that person his life.

$3.95

4 word format

Language : english

humanities/philosophy

presentation

date published

05/06/2008

review : not yet assessed

level : General public

requested 0 times

Summary

At first glance, the poetry of the reclusive scholar T’ao Ch’ien seems like a layman’s simple affirmation of Daoist life in the country. But even though T’ao Ch’ien feels he has chosen the right principles for himself, his poetry contains a definite tension: the weather threatens the crops, often he lacks bare necessities, his family is unhappy with his decision and he himself still longs for the old world. The essential Daoist text, the Tao Te Ching, with its many injunctions and advice on how to be a proper sage, promises that the Way will provide if only it is followed. T’ao Ch’ien’s material circumstances seem like an eyesore in that light, but throughout his poetry T’ao Ch’ien uses natural imagery, metaphors of drunkenness, and other literary techniques to illustrate how he is able to detach himself from worldly sorrows and cares and achieve an understanding of the Way.

Table of Contents

T'ao Ch'ien sets up this tension almost immediately in the chronology of his poetic world.
Crop failure is not the only trouble T'ao Ch'ien must face.
T'ao Ch'ien has inserted many dissenting elements into his poetry, his own doubts and the doubts of others.
Another way that T'ao Ch'ien creates distance from the cares of the world is through metaphors using drunkenness
T'ao Ch'ien's almost philosophical love of wine recalls another of the joyful elements of Peach Blossom Spring
T'ao Ch'ien does not try to justify one choice of life over the other solely through logic.

$6.95

7 word format

Language : english

literature

research papers

date published

27/05/2008

review : not yet assessed

level : General public

requested 0 times

Summary

Arthur Miller once wrote that the reason so few tragedies exist is because the world is in lack of heroes and the common man thinks too little of himself to be otherwise. The reluctance to be anything more than ordinary is attributed to the inherent assumption that heroes can only come from sophisticated and complex individuals superior in form who are exceptionally courageous in the face of adversity. Intimidated by such a misconception, persons fully capable of committing virtuous acts are unable to. The pedestal that heroes are put on seems impossibly and hopelessly high from a distance, but at a closer look, it is in fact within reach. Even the most laudable of heroes who during great moments of peril choose altruism and put the lives of others before their own walk on earth afterwards like everyone else. Though putting one’s life at stake is heroic, a hero is not merely defined by that one act but by his or her state of mind and admirable qualities that are put to use in matters of serving the greater good. And for the common man, because human beings are intrinsically entitled to govern their own lives, he has the choice to be more than himself and by that, choosing to fight for a just cause regardless of its outcome merits him the title of a hero in his own right.

Table of Contents

Introduction.
Hamartia.
Expectations.
Death and effect.
Conclusion.

$1.95

2 word format

Language : english

linguistics

presentation

date published

07/08/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : Advanced

requested 8 times

Summary

It is easy to recognize when one is held captive by the unfamiliar, but the crippling effect of familiar forces is not so easily realized. Throughout American captivity narratives, typically female Anglo-Americans are ensnared by Native Americans, the “other” of early Anglo-American culture. The early Anglo-Americans imagined the Native Americans as the “demonic barbarians” against which they defined their own opposing “pious civilization.” The Anglo-American women’s Indian captivity narratives supported and helped construct this dichotomy with horror stories in which they came to prove themselves exemplary Christians in the face of satanic peoples. The “colonial” characters of James Joyce’s Dubliners strongly identity themselves as Anglo-Irish just as the protagonists of women’s Indian captivity narratives view themselves as Anglo-Americans. The Dubliners also fear and dream of the “other,” the exotic inhabitants of the Orient as well as the Protestants that potentially lurk around the corner. However, in Joyce’s tales it is everyday forces that hold the Dubliners captive instead of the other. As Anglo-American women find God while trapped among the other, Joyce’s characters discover the lack of God and hope while held in the grip of the seemingly familiar, the Catholic Church.

Table of Contents

It is easy to recognize when one is held captive by the unfamiliar, but the crippling effect of familiar forces is not so easily realized
Joyce's characters express their sense of Anglo-Irish identity through varying opinions of the other
The Catholic Church controls much more than the boys' curriculum
The story of Father Flynn and his young companion is not the only example of the cycle of captivity that the Church instills on Dublin

$7.95

8 word format

Language : english

literature

presentation

date published

07/08/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : Advanced

requested 1 times

Summary

Humor is a powerful tool that can be harnessed by the alternative media in an effort to give a voice to the disenfranchised and to attract an audience for alternative thought. For the purposes of this project, “alternative media” is an amorphous term that can be applied to any media that is owned by an independent company rather than a mainstream corporation or media that gives significant attention to views not normally expressed by that of the mainstream. This project will examine the uses and reactions to comedy in the alternative media, as well as study the alternative media that use comedy as a way to usurp the mainstream media’s hold on the way news is delivered and discussed. These forms will include television, such as news spoof shows The Daily Show and The Colbert Report and printed sources, such as the satirical newspaper The Onion and several alternative political cartoons.

Table of Contents

There is a long and well-documented history of comedy as an instrument for political and social dissent. In his book Sudden Glory
I Get my New from a Fake Anchor: Comedy News Programs
All the Fake News That's Fit to Print: Satire Newspapers and Cartoons
Make Them Laugh: The Link between Comedy and the Alternative Press
No One Will Take You Seriously: The Problems with Political Comedy
But the Couch is so Comfortable: The First Step

$1.95

2 word format

Language : english

literature

book review

date published

19/10/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : Advanced

requested 9 times

Summary

There is a basic purpose to the literature of Holocaust survivors: to bare witness. Many believe they survived to perform such a duty, to fulfill such a debt to those who did not. As witnesses, they record living history, for they record the history of their own lives. But what happens when a witness does more than witness? When a witness not only questions the Holocaust, but questions the state of the world? In The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, Simon Wiesenthal questions. And the world answers.

Table of Contents

The Sunflower itself is the story of Wiesenthal's experiences in numerous ghettos and concentration camps.
This decision plagues Wiesenthal until the day of his liberation.
The Dali Lama and Desmond Tutu are individuals known throughout the world for their relationships to peace and genocide.
At the core, Wiesenthal's dilemma is a religious dilemma, a crisis of faith.
Many of the contributors question Karl himself. They question why he asked for a random Jewish prisoner instead of a priest.

$1.95

1 word format

Language : english

human resources

cover letters

date published

23/10/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : Advanced

requested 6 times