The Stone Carvers free essay sample

The Stone Carvers is a book of obsessions. Each one of the characters has their own obsessions that at one point they believe to be a natural and helpful to their lives. However each of the characters in The Stone Carvers learns that these obsessions with perfection, love, adventure, or anything end without them being able to be satisfied and on many occasions without achieving what they were obsessing over. The author Jane Urquhart made a compelling story on the nature obsession and the effects of obsession over any matter. The characters of the novel were fixated on a large range of ideas; they were obsessed with ideas from love to architecture and because of the diversity that Jane has shown that obsession of any form will always end without resolve. The conclusion about obsession can be grasped through the various trials that each character of the story is placed under. We will write a custom essay sample on The Stone Carvers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In The Stone Carvers Urquhart is able to show that obsession can never lead to a successful happiness, through a few powerful ideas; when someone is fixated on an idea the task may not be able to be completed, a person’s obsession can be counterproductive to their cause, and fixating on one thing can cause the person to lose track of the rest of their life. When someone is fixated on one task or idea their obsession may not ever be complete in their eyes. In Klara’s love affair with Eamon, Klara is obsessed with staying with and caring for Eamon. When Klara was not with Eamon she was thinking of him; â€Å"All the rest of the day she was thinking of the moments when Eamon’s arm was on her shoulder or his hands were in her hair.† (pg. 121) This obsession of love seems like a natural and healthy idea to have however Klara’s work begins to be influenced by their love and she begins to be jealous of anyone with a relationship with Eamon. Klara becomes particularly upset at one point she exclaimed â€Å"I saw you laughing, Eamon, with your friends outside the brewery. I think you’d forgotten me altogether, that’s what I think.† (pg. 117) Klara’s obsession with Eamon was never able to be complete because she would never be able to complete her storybook obsession of loving him and him loving her. Her obsession eventually led to an extended period of grieving her lost lover. Sometimes an obsession with something can actually blind the obsessed person into actually being counterproductive to their goals. In a minor case in The Stone Carvers Refuto, who broke down because he held himself responsible for his brother’s death, ran from his family to not bear with the pain of reuniting with them. Refuto’s reasoning for not going back to his family was that: â€Å"I could not put the burden of a killer on their shoulders.† (pg. 211) Refuto was obsessed with keeping his name clean and his family safe. When he ran away from home however his family was left to fend for themselves and live without his support. When he and Tilman had become friends was the only time that he realized he had been hurting his friends with his own obsession. When Refuto did get over his obsession and went home, his wife and he talked at length about the family and how they were able to get along for so long without him. Refuto said that â€Å"I was gone but Tilman told me to come back.† (pg. 215) Since his departure Refuto was able to â€Å"clear my head in four directions at once.† (pg. 215) This fixation on Refuto’s name had kept him away from his family but finally he was able to go back and correct what his obsession did to him. His obsession had blinded him to the harm that his actions had caused to his family. Instead of helping keep his family safe he was only harming it and only once he accepted that he had an unhealthy obsession was he able to return to his life with his family. When someone is fixated on an idea they tend to lose focus on other important aspects of their lives. In The Stone Carvers an example of this would be in Tilman and Klara’s mother, Helga. Helga had recently mourned what she thought was her son’s death and became obsessed, as soon as Tilman came home, with controlling where Tilman went and how he would live. Tilman however â€Å"responded neither to her questions nor her attempts at incarceration and intimidation but looked at her with confusion on his perfect face.† (pg. 63) Helga became so hysterically obsessed with keeping him with her that eventually she chained Tilman to the house however â€Å"Helga would never recover – not from his imprisonment and not from his escape.†(pg. 67) Tilman screamed and refused to eat while he was chained and his mother only then realized that she had made a mistake in obsessing over keeping Tilman caged. She pushed Tilman away with her passions for keeping him with her. The Stone Carvers shows that someone who is obsessed with an idea or task is more prone to making mistakes or causing a problem in a related aspect of their life. Throughout the book Jane was able to show her views on obsessions in persuasive undertones and themes throughout the entire novel. Jane was able to show that no matter how justified a fixation may seem the outcome is always negative. Throughout the novel the theme of obsession can be seen from the minor characters all the way to the major events of the story. Jane makes her case with many examples of the ways obsession can lead to the destruction of a person. She does this through showing that when someone has an obsession they might never be able to complete, a person’s obsession could be counterproductive to their cause, and fixating on one idea can cause the person to lose track of the important parts in their life. The persuasive undertones in the story are able to clearly convey the message of obsession being something that only harms the obsessed person. Walter Allward once said â€Å"I have been eating and sleeping stone for so long it has become an obsession with me. And incidentally, a nightmare.† (pg. VI) The inspiration for such a great novel and theme can be found in this quote because the amount of emotion that went into Walter’s work on the Vimy Ridge Memorial but also the tragic way Walter was unable to be truly happy after his most amazing creation. Works Cited

From Memory and By Heart

From Memory and By Heart From Memory and By Heart From Memory and By Heart By Maeve Maddox A headline on the National Public Radio (NPR) site prompted this post: A Self-Taught Artist Paints the Rain Forest By Memory The more common idiom for doing something that is recalled and not seen is to do it â€Å"from memory.† From is more appropriate than by in this idiom because memory may be regarded as a receptacle and not as an agent. For example: Painting from memory can be just as productive as painting from sight. If youve ever repeated a rhyming poem from  memory  in front of an audience, youve given a  recitation. Pewsey clergyman Canon Gerald Osborne is to perform a remarkable feat of faith and memory by reciting in public the whole of Mark’s Gospel from memory. George Doi, a nisei,  reconstructed  the  map from memory  in March 1993. The process of committing something to memory for later recall is â€Å"to learn it by heart.† Learning texts by heart once held a more valued place in the elementary and high school curriculum than it does now. When I was a child, school children were encouraged to memorize poems like Longfellow’s â€Å"Paul Revere’s Ride† and speeches like Lincoln’s â€Å"Gettysburg Address.† In her 90s, my mother could still recite poems she learned as a child in the Chicago public schools. Visiting a family in France one summer, I was treated to the experience of hearing members of three generations recite a tale of Fontaine- in unison and with great mutual pride. Poems learned â€Å"by heart† in childhood enrich the rest of life. Here are some examples of the idiom â€Å"by heart†: Learning poetry by heart ignites the imagination- Andrew Motion. Miss Allan  encouraged us to learn poetry by heart, for which I am everlastingly grateful now that I am registered as blind and still have memories of some of the  loveliest poems ever written. In  Poems to Learn by Heart,  Kennedy stresses the importance of memorizing poetry and presents a collection of poems that she believes everyone should internalize. [David Cameron] said his youngest daughter Florence was so obsessed with the movie [Frozen] that he found he’d learned it off by heart. Note: Learning â€Å"by heart† is not the same thing as learning â€Å"by rote.† Rote learning is more or less mindless. Learning a poem one neither likes nor understands for the sake of reciting it one time for a grade is a pointless exercise. Learning a poem or a speech â€Å"by heart,† on the other hand, is a process that engages the mind and the emotions. Bottom line: We recite from memory what we have learned by heart. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Good At, Good In, and Good WithIn Search of a 4-Dot EllipsisThe Difference Between "Shade" and "Shadow"

Book Emperor Of The Air English Literature Essay

Book Emperor Of The Air English Literature Essay Throughout many of his stories in his book â€Å"Emperor of the Air† author Ethan Canin explores the theme of happiness in relation to his characters. Depending on which source one uses, happiness ranges from the â€Å"quality or state of being happy† to â€Å"a state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy† and according to the Oxford English Dictionary â€Å"Good fortune or luck in life or in a particular affair; success, prosperity†. Based on this, happiness is subjective to the individual. Every story in the book deals with the theme in its various forms but the three pieces I will examine each deal with this subject and its various definitions in their own ways, and I feel are the best representations of â€Å"happiness†. In his second story â€Å"The Year of Getting to Know Us† Canin introduces the idea of happiness directly and very matter-of-factly. Canin first questions the happiness of Lenny while he is at the counselors when he is asked â€Å"You sound as if you don’t want to let people near youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Right?† and Lenny responds with â€Å"I’m a reasonably happy man† (Canin 26). After reading this, we get a sense that maybe Lenny is lying, that he is holding something back. How can someone be happy, going through what he has, and will continue to go through? The events that are explained further in the story: his fathers death and his wife’s affair, impose on this question further. On the very next page Lenny goes on to talk about his life saying â€Å"I am struck by the good fortune of my life† (Canin, 1988). Perhaps Lenny truly is happy, as he early states an exact definition of the word in his thought of â€Å"good fortune†. Despite all that has happened in his life, he remains optimistic, and believes himself to be happy, and maybe he is. The opposition to Lenny’s apparent happiness is the nearly consta nt â€Å"nagging† he receives questioning his emotions and ability to feel anything at all. Canin mentions such an instance immediately after mentioning Lenny’s good fortune in life when he states â€Å"Anne says that I don’t feel things† (Canin 27). Lenny never questions whether or not if he is able to â€Å"feel†, but also never goes out of his way to show any emotion other than stating that he is indeed happy. Even after witnessing his wife’s affair firsthand, the only way Lenny can express himself is by writing down on a napkin â€Å"you are a 40 year old man with no children and your wife is having an affair† (Canin, 1988). Lenny’s apparent lack of any emotion that would come naturally to anyone in the same circumstance is quite intriguing and leaves the reader questioning his feelings, if he has any. Another moment where Lenny’s feelings are under fire comes when he is a child and his mother asks him if he is angry and he responds with â€Å"I don’t know† (Canin, 1988). This shows the reader that even though he was young, Lenny was indecisive about his feelings, and whether or not he felt anything. Canin leaves the decision of whether or not this character is happy or if he can feel, up to the reader.

Defining African Religion and Insiders and Outsiders Essay

Defining African Religion and Insiders and Outsiders - Essay Example African theology is highly felt in present day America due to the presence of the African Americans. Most of the religions are an affirmation of the existence of natural law. Natural laws are sets of unwritten laws that place emphasis on morals and obedience. The cultural practices are passed on from one generation to another. Africans practiced their religions before the interference from the white colonialists. At this time, there was no knowledge of factors such as the Holy Trinity or the Bible. Religious practices are geared toward having prosperity, peace and happiness in the community. Each type of religion has a different set of rules that should be followed to the T. lack of commitment to the religion displays disregard for the community. People who are caught committing an offence face a number of punishments which range from minor punishments to cases of exile (Magesa, 1997). Jacob Olupona offers an alternative view of the practice of African religion in most of the African communities. The writer takes a different outlook towards the practices of different communities. The book thus gets its inspiration from countries like South Africa and Nigeria. Despite the difference of locations, the two countries have some common similarities. Some of the similarities are seen in the use of proverbs. Africans value the opinion of the elder members of the society. Most of the proverbs are created by the ancestors and passed on to the offspring’s. The use of proverbs has thus been incorporated into the religions. They act as a way of guidance in that they have moral codes of behavior. The book mentions the importance of rituals in the African community as a whole. Rituals are reserved for several occasions and celebrations in the community. Each celebration has a special ritual which acts as a symbolic example. In the case of religion, Africans dedicate an immense number of rituals to worship.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 345

Assignment Example Ford’s financials for the fiscal year that ended December 2003 addressed foreign exchange risk management. The company first understands and measures its exposure to various risks. For example, Ford is exposed to foreign currency risks. The firm utilizes cash flow hedges to prevent and minimize the risks. However, Ford hedges only between 25% and 30% of its foreign exchange risks. The firm hedges various currencies including Swedish krone, Mexico pesos, British sterling pounds, Brazilian reals, and Japanese yen (Hyman 32). Ford uses various hedging techniques to minimize the risks. These methods include value-at-risk (VaR) analysis. VaR assists the organization to assess its exposure to variations in foreign currency exchange rates. The VaR model focuses on profit and losses. Therefore, the technique allows Ford to calculate the size of the deviation between the probable profit and a yearly planned profit with a 95% probability. The current currency volatility in Venezuela is Ford’s primary concern. In 2015, the company announced that, it took charge related to its operations in Venezuela that would reduce fourth-quarter net profit by about $700 millions (Reuters 1). Venezuelan bolivars value fluctuates due to the illegal market. Reuters reported that illegal traders exchange a dollar for more than 180 bolivars. Such exchange rate is high compared to the country’s three-tiered exchange rate system. Venezuela’s currency exchange rate ranges between 6.3 bolivars and 50 bolivars to the dollar (6). Overall, Ford has grown significantly since its establishment. Despite the fact that the company experiences many risks in its operations, the firm adopted sound hedging techniques. Similarly, any company operating either locally or internationally might experience different challenges. However, good management strategies would propel the

Applications of a Connectionist Model of Poetic Meter to Problems in Generative Metrics :: Poem Poetry Poet Meter Metrics Essays

Applications of a Connectionist Model of Poetic Meter to Problems in Generative Metrics Meter is one of the most distinctive formal features of English verse. Yet theoretical approaches to metrical analysis have proved problematical for a number of reasons. Traditional metrics, based upon scansion systems derived from Latin forms, is strong and flexible in its ability to describe individual units of a line, but fails to describe well the dynamics of the line as a whole and the lexical and syntactic structures which underlie that line. Moreover, traditional metrics does not address the general issue of metricality: most lines of poetry show some variation from metrical norms through the substitution of irregular units (such as a trochee opening an iambic line). When do such variations, which are permissible in individual units, render the line as a whole unmetrical? Generative metrics does address these issues by analyzing underlying lexical and syntactic structures and formulating rules to describe allowable and unallowable metrical transgressions. In this way, th e theory defines metricality, distinguishing between lines which are metrical and those which are not. This approach has had some success, and yet counter-examples, lines which are unmetrical by its analysis but are found to be used by poets, have proved somewhat intractable. Generative metrics is not, moreover, well adapted to describing verse in its actual performance. While generative metrics does account for some of the factors that affect the metrical rhythm of a line of poetry, such as lexical stress and the syntactic structure of a textual unit, it does not have a place for other features which may impact on the amount of stress that a syllable receives in performance, such as rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and the reader's interpretation of the significance of the word in the poem. Any or all of these features may affect the speaker's decision to give a certain prominence to the word, a prominence which will be realized in performance by stress. Moreover, since stress is measured in comparison to adjacent units, the amount of stress given to one unit will affect other units in its immediate environment. One reader of Keats's line, 'My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains' may stress 'heart', rather than 'aches'; this will aff ect the amount of stress given to 'aches'.

Martin Luther King Memorial in Yerba Buena Gardens Essay

Situated on the corner of 4th St. and Mission St., in downtown San Francisco is Yerba Buena Gardens. Sounds from the hustle and bustle of cars driving and people walking permeate Yerba Buena Gardens, except in one particular location. In one corner of the gardens stands a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. The memorial is breathtakingly beautiful with a fifty foot high and twenty foot wide waterfall that falls over Sierra granite. In the Memorial’s hallway, visitors read quotes from Dr. King himself that are engraved on glass panels and set in granite. The physical beauty of the memorial is undeniable, however many people are not aware of the symbolism lying beneath the memorial’s surface. The memorial’s waterfall symbolizes the realization of Dr. King’s dreams the realization of Dr. King’s dream, the tears shed by millions and of the voices of African Americas The memorial also reminds us of the oppressed African Americans whose voices were drowned out ignored; yet, it is apparent that society was pushed backwards in the race to equality with the mandatory evacuation of thousands of people due to the development of the Yerba Buena Gardens. King Jr. dreamt that all human beings, regardless of skin color, will one day be able to live in a completely free, just, and non-discriminatory society. It was his dream of an equal society that pushed Martin Luther King Jr. to become an advocate for universal suffrage. Even though the United States already had universal suffrage, unfair literacy tests and poll taxes plagued the voting process and disqualified nearly all impoverished African Americans from voting 1. King wanted a colorblind society; a society where all human beings are treated equally and respectfully and given the same personal liberties and political freedom. Martin Luther King argued, in his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech, that â€Å"we are not satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream† 2. This quote from Dr. King’s speech is inscribed on the right end wall of the memorial. After reading the final inscribed quote, it is apparent that the purpose of the waterfall is to signify the realization of Martin Luther King’s dream of a just society. Justice , The United States Martin Luther King’s dream of justice in today’s society; a monumental victory of justice over prejudice. It is so easy to forget about what it took for America to become a truly free and nondiscriminatory nation. The mists are a necessary reminder for people in today’s society that personal liberty and political freedom should never be taken for granted. Though Yerba Buena Gardens is situated in downtown San Francisco, a busy city filled with loud noises, the memorial itself is peculiarly quiet and calm. The memorial’s serenity is due to the overpowering, yet surprisingly tranquil sound of the rushing water from the waterfall. The power of the waterfall to drown out all exterior noise is phenomenal. It is impossible to even hear what someone is saying when they are right next to you. Visitors try to overcome the sound of the rushing water by screaming or whistling, but are unsuccessful. Independent from life’s distractions, visitors are given the opportunity to absorb all that the memorial and Dr. King’s words have to offer. Visitors can take this time to self-reflect and to appreciate the efforts of earlier generations fighting for equality during our nation’s infancy. The undeniable strength of the waterfall’s sound to obscure all external noise makes Being incapable of expressing feelings or thou ghts leaves an unfamiliar and dreadful sensation. People living in today’s society are usually ignorant to this unfamiliar, almost claustrophobic feeling of screaming at the top of your lungs without a single person acknowledging your frustrations. During our nation’s history, however, nearly all African Americans struggled with this same frustration. Helpless against the white minority, blacks throughout history struggled to get their concerns addressed and their votes counted. The visitor’s inability to communicate vocally is short-lived and fortunately, only lasts as long as it takes for the person to walk through the memorial. African Americans, however, were plagued with powerlessness for hundreds of years. Martin Luther King Jr. felt obliged to provide a voice for all African Americans stripped of the right to do so on their own. Due to the hard work of Martin Luther King, civil rights leaders and activists, and President Johnson, on August 6, 1965 the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, which banned the use of literacy tests and also required stricter monitoring of the use of poll taxes in state and local elections† 3. Finally, the time had come when African Americans could voice their opinions and have them be heard, and vote for the political constituent whom carried similar beliefs and morals. The development of the Yerba Buena Gardens, as part of the â€Å"Urban Renewal Project† was not always considered to be something positive and beneficial. During the 1950’s, city planners forced thousands of people living in the South of Market area out of their homes, arguing that the area was â€Å"dangerous ‘Skid Row’ ripe for redevelopment, populated by â€Å"bums† and â€Å"transients† whose fate mattered little† 4. City planners left out the important fact that many people who lived in this area were elderly and poor and had â€Å"little defense against the federal bulldozer† 5. The city did try and relocate as many people as possible, but only had 276 units of new housing to replace thousands of demolished units. Thousands were left homeless and kicked out of possibly the only home they have ever known and will ever know, due to lack of job skills needed to find employment. The irony of placing a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, a man who advocated for equality and justice until his assassination, on land where thousands of impoverished people were evicted just a couple years earli er, is almost too horrific to comprehend. The hypocrisy in the decision to place this memorial at the Yerba Buena Gardens is undeniable and unforgiveable. The memorial’s waterfall is a reminder of the relentless adversity that plagued millions of blacks for thousands of years and the tears they shed. The waterfall also symbolizes the realization of Dr. King’s dream. The eviction methods used during the Urban Renewal period to obtain the land where the memorial sits were ethically questionable, however it is still important to visit this monument from time to time. The memorial stands there in the middle of Yerba Buena Gardens, in the middle of downtown San Francisco, as a silent, yet constant reminder to never take anything for granted and to always remember the blood, sweat, and tears shed by millions in order for people today to enjoy and exercise the complete personal liberty and political freedom that we are so fortunately blessed with.