Personal Narrative- Transformation of a Hurting Teen Essay -- Personal

Personal Narrative- Transformation of a Hurting Teen Before I lost my innocence I was care-free, and full of love. But I grew up and my peers began to tease me. â€Å"Am I really fat, ugly, stupid and dorky†? I thought. Every loving part of me was torn apart piece by piece by my young peers like wolves on the prowl. Every fault and every flaw I owned was brought to my attention. This teasing spawned an anger in me so strong that every aspect of my life was destroyed. I began to rebel towards any kind of authority as a way to protect myself. I felt that every breathing thing was out to hurt me. When I was fifteen years of age, this rebellion turned juvenile and I began to get into quite a bit of trouble with my parents and teachers. I was sent to House of Hope, a home for hurting teen...

The Power of the Sun in F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby :: F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby

The Power of the Sun in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, there is a constant feeling of movement and the desire to get away. Nick, Gatsby, Wilson, Tom and Daisy all move, or have the intention of moving. Not only does this movement seem to foreshadow events in the book, but it also seems to lead to the conclusion that society as a whole in the 1920's was rather unstable and was undergoing constant change. Not all the characters move in the same way, and this shows how different their backgrounds and lifestyles are. The main movement seems to be from west to east. Throughout the decades man is said to be progressing through the steps of evolution and toward the setting sun, or east to west. The characters move in opposite direction from which the sun sets, which seems significant to the physical and psychological patterns of the characters. The two main characters that movement affects are Nick and Gatsby. The movement of Nick and Gatsby in this direction shows us how their personalities and feelings change as the sun goes down. There are also the various meanings that the sun has, that seems to map out, or affect their near future. The sun foreshadows Nick and Gatsby's actions and emotions, which in turn are affected by the many representations the sun has. Jay Gatsby is a character that the sun affects in such a way that it becomes a symbol of his ability to direct his will and, when put together with his dream, this gives him a sense of purpose. Jimmie Gatz was born in a town in Minnesota. After changing his name to Jay Gatsby, he moved to West Egg, Long Island in order to start a new life revolved around impressing Daisy. Here the sun represents a psychological belief that surpasses time and place, otherwise known as Gatsby's dream. This means that Gatsby's dream is so important to him that the sun rises and sets in the sky, but he still doesn't see the

The Scarlet Letter: Themes Alive Today

Mike Esposito Mrs. Forstrom American Literature – 1 7 November 2012 The Themes Are Still Alive Today Ah The Scarlet Letter, whether we like it or not, it is now a book we have all read and have most likely come to hate. Whether it be because of the old setting in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston that we cannot relate to or the old English language in which it is written, Nathaniel Hawthorne just failed to create a novel that most teenagers of the early twenty-first century can enjoy and appreciate.It must be pointed out that first, it’s doubtful he cares, and more importantly that this just simply should not be the case. We juniors should pay more attention to the novel, especially with the thought that the messages Hawthorne tries to convey are still relevant today. Think about it. With all of the experiences of Hester Prynne and other characters in the novel, we interpret concepts that are still correlated with those of today.In Hawthorne’s the Sc arlet Letter, two crucial themes of sin and what it can do to people and the different degrees of evil directly relate to today’s society and modern ideas. As it is known, Hester committed a sin in the novel with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale that the Puritans in her society thought to be one of the worst that could ever be committed: adultery. They conceived a child together, their daughter Pearl, which is a sin that takes a toll on both characters in many different ways.Beginning with Hester, the protagonist, the sin is something that identifies her, and she becomes one with it. At the beginning of the novel, you should recall that she has to take her first punishment of being humiliated on the scaffold and ridiculed by many people of the community while wearing the letter â€Å"A† on her chest to indicate that she committed adultery. But she does not just stick any regular printed letter on her.She goes beyond, as Hawthorne describes, â€Å"But the point which drew al l eyes and, as it were, transfigured the wearer—so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time—was that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by herself† (51-52). Hester makes the Scarlet Letter so beautiful because it is a part of who she is and it determines her identity.Also, throughout the book, Hester shows she accepts her sin, especially through the fact that she wants to stay in Boston instead of leave to go elsewhere. She does this because she does not want to pretend that the situation never happened and deny a part of who she is. This tremendously demonstrates the message that sin can give someone fortitude. In addition, forgiveness is something that can also result of sin. This is demonstrated very creative ly through the changing of the letter A on Hester’s shirt.It first symbolized the sin she committed, but later in the novel, changes to mean other positive things, such as â€Å"able† and â€Å"awe†. The change of what the letter means shows that her sin was made up for and that she is forgiven. However, in complete contrast to Hester is Dimmesdale, the father, who shows what can also result from sin. No one ever finds out that until late that he was on the other end of the affair with Hester, which was not a good thing for Dimmesdale. Throughout the novel, his psychological turmoil worsens as he unintentionally inflicts his own punishment of self hatred and guilt.He gets vitally ill and sicker as time progresses, which is reinforced with him always having his hand over his heart. One night his agony and remorse sleepwalks him to the scaffold that Hester was embarrassed on years earlier, as Hawthorne words it, â€Å"he had been driven hither by the impulse of t hat Remorse which dogged him everywhere† (144). This clearly portrays the message of hiding a sin can be too much to handle and can destroy a person. Now that the theme of the different things sin can lead to is discussed in The Scarlet Letter, let’s relate it to our life.As the Christian religion will preach, everyone in the entire world sins all the time. Whether the sins are small or really serious, they are a part of our life all the time, and mostly those that are seriously poor decisions can have a great affect on us. As is illustrated with Hester in the novel, those poor choices can be made up for and can give us strength in our later life. For example, steroid use in baseball is a very popular issue. Ryan Braun, outfielder in the MLB, was suspected to have used performance enhancing drugs after a failed urine test.Clearly, taking steroids was a bad choice for him to make, and although it is not commonly thought of as one, it is a sin. However, Braun came back th e next season after the scandal and had a career year. He recognized his mistake and came back stronger than ever, which is quite relatable to Hester and how her sin made her bold. Also, on the other side, sins can lead people today into having too much guilt to be able to handle, no matter how venial or mortal the sin may be. You may lie to your parents and just not be able to hold back a confession because you feel bad.Or, it may be as serious as a murderer who could not live with himself anymore and turned himself in. Whatever the case may be, what Hawthorne wrote about sin in the 1800’s in The Scarlet Letter still relates to aspects of life today. Roger Chillingworth, that doctor that we know and love, presents another major theme in the novel: there are many levels of evil. As we know, Chillingworth was the husband of Hester before she had the affair with Dimmesdale, which obviously is an evil to the Puritans of the colony.One of the details that you may have missed is t hat the marriage between Chillingworth and Hester was arranged, and that she had no say in it. On a side note, Chillingworth was about double Hester’s age, which makes the marriage worse, and kind of gross. But this plays a role in that Hester more likely committed the sin because she wasn’t really in love with Chillingworth, and was with Dimmesdale. This is the justification of her doing what she did. And in addition to the evils that Hester and Dimmesdale carried out, Chillingworth also does.You should remember that as Dimmesdale was sick, Chillingworth, the â€Å"brilliant acquisition†, was chosen to be his doctor and he had to try to save the colony’s well loved minister. As he did this, he suspected something interesting going on with Dimmesdale, and he figured out that he was involved with Hester and realizes his suspicions are correct. So instead of curing him, he begins to torture the minister. This act of malice is definitely more widely consider ed evil than the acts of Hester and Dimmesdale to us, which is exactly what Hawthorne wants us to think.He demonstrates the theme bluntly in Dimmesdale’s speech to Hester when he talks about Chillingworth’s evil, â€Å"There is one worse than even that polluted priest! That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so! † (191). Hawthorne clearly wants you to realize that the evil found in Hester and Dimmesdale’s lovemaking is not nearly as bad as evil in its most poisonous form of the cruel revenge taken by Chillingworth.Evidently, the theme of different levels of evil is clearly presented in the novel, but it also occurs in real life. It is a very upsetting fact, but it is true: evil has not gone away. It existed in the eighteenth century, the time period where The Scarlet Letter takes place, the nineteenth century, when the novel was written, and ri ght now, where it is still around today. We know that evil can be something that is somber, such as a serial killer that just doesn’t have a conscience and will never grasp the concept that death is something so mind bogglingly terrible and should never be done to a person.That is one extreme. Evil can also be used to describe your teacher, even if the only reason why is because you didn’t like that she gave you a pop quiz that you failed. This may seem barely related to evil talked about in The Scarlet Letter, but it is not, however. This is because as the Puritans call the acts of love of Hester and Dimmesdale â€Å"evil†, we still don’t really think that they were necessarily evil for doing so, just like the hypothetical teacher probably does not have much of an evil soul.So, there are many different degrees of evil, and they exist in modern context as well as in the wonderful novel. As you now well educated pupils should realize, the novel written hun dreds of years ago, The Scarlet Letter, about a world that we can’t seem to be able to relate to, is still very useful in today’s modern society because of the relation between the novel’s major themes and their relation to today’s modern society.Sin and what it can do to people is a large concept that is a lot to grasp, and it is discussed thoroughly in the book and is clearly alive today. Additionally, the different degrees of evil in the world is definitely a focus of both the novel and our current lives. So no more calling the book bad and difficult and boring. Respect its greatness. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1988. Print.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon According to legend, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, considered one  of the  seven Ancient Wonders of the  World,  were built in the 6th century BCE by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his homesick wife, Amytis. As a Persian princess, Amytis missed the wooded mountains of her youth and thus Nebuchadnezzar built her an oasis in the desert, a building covered with exotic trees and plants,  tiered so  that it  resembled a mountain. The only problem is that archaeologists are not sure that the Hanging Gardens ever really existed. Nebuchadnezzar II and Babylon The city of Babylon was founded around 2300 BCE, or even earlier,  near the  Euphrates River just south of the modern city of Baghdad in  Iraq. Since it was located in the desert, it was built almost entirely out of mud-dried bricks. Since bricks are so easily broken, the city was destroyed a number of times in its history. In the 7th century BCE, Babylonians revolted against their Assyrian ruler. In an attempt to make an example of them, Assyrian King Sennacherib  razed the city of Babylon, completely destroying it.  Eight years later, King Sennacherib was assassinated by his three sons. Interestingly,  one of these sons ordered the reconstruction of Babylon. It wasnt long before Babylon was  once again flourishing and known as a center of learning and culture. It was Nebuchadnezzars father, King Nabopolassar, that liberated Babylon from Assyrian rule. When Nebuchadnezzar II became king in 605 BCE, he was handed a healthy realm, but he wanted more. Nebuchadnezzar  wanted to expand his kingdom in order to make it one of the most powerful city-states of the time. He fought  the Egyptians and the Assyrians and won. He also made  an alliance with the king of Media by marrying his daughter. With these conquests came the spoils of war to which Nebuchadnezzar, during the course of  his 43-year reign,  used to enhance the city of Babylon. He built an enormous ziggurat, the temple of Marduk (Marduk was Babylons patron god). He also built a massive wall around the city, said to be 80 feet thick, wide enough for four-horse chariots to race on. These walls were so large and grand, especially the Ishtar Gate,  that they too were considered one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World until they were bumped off the list by the Lighthouse in Alexandria. Despite these other awesome creations, it was the Hanging Gardens that captured  peoples imagination and remained one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. What Did the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Look Like? It may seem surprising how little we know about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. First, we dont know exactly where it was located. It is said to have been placed close to the Euphrates River for access to water and yet no archeological evidence has been found to prove its exact location. It  remains the only Ancient Wonder whose location has not yet  been found. According to legend, King Nebuchadnezzar II built the Hanging Gardens for his wife Amytis, who missed the cool temperatures, mountainous terrain,  and  beautiful scenery of her homeland in Persia. In comparison, her hot, flat, and dusty new home of Babylon must have seemed completely drab. It is believed that the Hanging Gardens was a tall building, built upon stone (extremely rare for the area), that in some way resembled a mountain, perhaps by having multiple terraces. Located on top of and overhanging the walls (hence the term hanging gardens) were numerous and varied plants and trees. Keeping these exotic plants alive in a desert took a massive amount of water. Thus,  it is said, some sort of engine pumped water up through the building from either a well located below or directly from the river. Amytis could then walk through the rooms of the building, being cooled by the shade as well as the water-tinged air. Didthe Hanging Gardens Ever Really Exist? There is still much debate about the existence of the Hanging Gardens. The Hanging Gardens seem magical in a way, too amazing to have been real. Yet, so many of the other seemingly-unreal structures of Babylon  have been found by archaeologists and proven  to  have really existed. Yet the Hanging Gardens remains aloof. Some archaeologists believe that remains of the ancient structure have been found in the ruins of Babylon. The problem is that these remains are not near the Euphrates River as some descriptions have specified. Also, there is no mention of the Hanging Gardens in any contemporary Babylonian writings. This leads some to believe that the Hanging Gardens were a myth, described only by Greek writers after the fall of Babylon. A new theory, proposed by Dr. Stephanie Dalley of Oxford University, states that there was a mistake made in the past and that the Hanging Gardens were not located in Babylon; instead, they were located in the northern Assyrian city of Ninevah and were built by King Sennacherib. The confusion could have been caused because Ninevah was, at one time,  known as New Babylon. Unfortunately, the ancient ruins of Ninevah are located in a contested and thus dangerous part of Iraq and thus, at least for now, excavations are impossible to conduct. Perhaps one day, we will know the truth about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

mythology Research Paper Example

mythology Research Paper Example mythology Paper mythology Paper The role of women in ancient Greek life was insignificant compared to that of Greek men. A womans Job was to take care of the children and to cook and clean unless she had servants or slaves that would do it for her. Yet, in Greek mythology, women were often written as major characters. Well-known Greek plays contain many well- written, complex, female characters. Female individuals in Greek mythology were often seen as very powerful and fierce Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the ature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of Ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself. l] Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives, and implicitly in Greek representational arts, such as vase-paintings and votive gifts. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and dventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and mythological creatures. These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; today the Gre ek myths are known primarily from Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Two poems by Homers near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias. Archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan ycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. [2] Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes. [3] mythology By monicalhouston

Learning to Write Chinese Characters by Hand

Learning to Write Chinese Characters by Hand Learning to write Chinese characters is one of the most difficult aspects of learning Mandarin Chinese. There are thousands of different characters, and the only way to learn them is by memorization and constant practice. In this digital age, it’s possible to use a computer to write Chinese characters, but learning how to write Chinese characters by hand is the best way to gain a thorough understanding of each character. Computer Input Anyone who knows Pinyin can use a computer to write Chinese characters. The problem with this is that pinyin spellings can represent many different characters. Unless you know exactly which character you need, you will likely make mistakes when using the computer to write Chinese characters. A good knowledge of Chinese characters is the only way to write Chinese correctly, and the best way to gain knowledge of Chinese characters is by learning to write them by hand. Radicals Chinese characters may seem incomprehensible to anyone who doesn’t know the language, but there is a method to constructing them. Each character is based on one of 214 radicals -   the basic elements of the Chinese writing system. Radicals form the building blocks of Chinese characters. Some radicals can be used as both building blocks and independent characters, but others are never used independently. Stroke Order All Chinese characters consist of strokes which should be written in a specific order. Learning the stroke order is an important part of learning to write Chinese characters. The number of strokes is used to classify Chinese characters in dictionaries, so an added benefit of learning strokes is being able to use Chinese dictionaries. The basic rules for stroke order are: left to right and top to bottomhorizontal before verticalhorizontal and vertical strokes which pass over other strokesdiagonals (right-to-left and then left-to-right)center verticals and then outside diagonalsoutside strokes before inside stokesleft verticals before enclosing strokesbottom enclosing strokesdots and minor strokes You can see an example of stroke order in the illustration at the top of this page. Learning Aids Workbooks designed for writing practice are widely available in Chinese-speaking countries, and you may be able to find them in cities with a large Chinese community. These workbooks usually illustrate a character with the proper stroke order and provide lined boxes for writing practice. They are intended for school children  but are useful for anyone learning to write Chinese characters. If you can’t find a practice book like this, you can download this Microsoft Word file and print it out. Books There a several books about writing Chinese characters. One of the better ones is Keys to Chinese Character Writing (English).

Case Study BA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case Study BA - Essay Example Few widely known facts about the terminal 5 are: Information Systems employed by BAA seems to have incorporated great ideas but they forgot to actually implement the ideas. They had ample car parks and had segregated car parking spaces for public and staff but people and staff could not find the car parks and spent lot of time trying to look for parking spaces. The problem being, the details of parking spaces (no. of slots, in use, empty etc.) were not updated in the information system database and were not displayed at appropriate places for people to see. One of the biggest faults in their system was that the staff at baggage handling and sorting section were not able to log on to their computers. This affected both incoming and outgoing baggage. The security checkpoints were not updated to the staff. There were no maps or location guidelines. Search facility was not ready for both staff and passengers. As far as the methodical preparations for terminal 5 are concerned, BA Authority did have some Information Systems in place. However, the Information System was highly ineffective. The reasons for it being ineffective may be incompetent people in the IT management team, lack of exposure of IT engineers with regard to such a large scale implementation as was terminal 5 of Heathrow airport or any other. The ineffectiveness of the Information Systems can be realized due to the following problems that occurred in terminal 5 on the very first day of its opening. Car Parks and parking spaces were not well managed. No software was employed to keep track of full and available parking spaces. Designated car parks for staff were not available and there were no sign board or any other means to locate the car parks due to which public and the staff spent lot of time looking for parking spaces. There was no signage at any place in the terminal. The terminal should have been equipped with monitors displaying the map of