Huckelberry Finn Essay Example for Free

Huckelberry Finn Essay I have decided to analyze three different journal articles related to the novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’, written by Mark Twain in 1884. I chose this topic because the novel is widely considered a masterpiece. In fact, Ernest Hemingway described its importance with the following sentence: â€Å"All modern American literature comes from a book by Mark Twain called ‘Huckleberry Finn’. In addition, the topic has a great interest because the novel has always been a subject of controversy due to racial issues and the alleged praise of juvenile delinquency that it portrays. The three articles that and I am going to comment on are the following: 1) Huckleberry Finn and America (Chicago Tribune, January 17, 2002) 2) Huck Finn, Censorship and the N-word Controversy, by Delia Lloyd (www. politicsdaily. com, January 6, 2011) 3) Light out, Huck, They Still Want to ‘Sivilize’ You, by Michiko Kakutani (The New York Times, January 6, 2011). Look more:  satirical play essay In order to compare and analyse these three articles, I am going to focus on two main points: the overall opinion that the authors of the different articles have about the book (which is usually very good) and what they comment on the controversial matters that  novel deals with. First of all, I will concentrate on the overall opinion that the authors express regarding ‘Huckleberry Finn’. On article 1, the author (whose name is not revealed) defines the novel in the following terms: ‘Few books in the U. S history have been as influential—or as controversial—as â€Å"Huckleberry Finn†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. Furthermore, he added: ‘ â€Å"Huckleberry Finn† not only has survived the efforts to bury it, it has thrived and it has grown as a teaching tool’. As we could see, the author praises the novel strongly. In addition, he rejects the most critical opinions and defends Twain’s intentions (†¦Twain was  skewering hatred and racism, intolerance and religious bigotry, royalty and imperialism’). In the case of article 2, the author, Delia Lloyd, does not express a clear opinion about the novel itself. However, she declares herself as â€Å"a devotee of Mark Twain’, so it is likely to think that he has quite a positive opinion about the novel. Regarding article 3, its author, Michiko Kakutani, quotes Hemingway’s famous sentence about Twain at the beginning of the article. Apart from that, there are not any more explicit opinions about the novel itself. However, a thorough reading of the article evidences a strong defence of it, and the author shows a very defiant attitude with those who criticize it. In terms of controversy, the articles express different opinions and ideas, and the authors make clear what they think about the nature and the novel and the convenience of altering it. For instance, it is important to point out the different dates in which the articles were written. Whereas article 1 was written in 2002, articles 2 3 were written the very same day (January 6, 2011) and were triggered by the same cause (a university  professor, Alan Gribben, had written a new version of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ replacing controversial words such as ‘nigger’ or ‘injun’ for more neutral, inoffensive terms). The author of article 1 is very critical with those who aim to disapprove the novel. In fact, he stated: ‘Twain wrote satire, and there are glorious lessons in his books even if they ruffle readers or appear, simply in the telling of the unvarnished truth, to somehow glorify injustice and racism’. In addition, he ends the article with a sentence that leaves no doubt about his opinion regarding racial and social controversy arisen by the novel. (‘Huckleberry Finn is a glorious celebration of friendship and tolerance triumphing over the racism and hypocrisy of the day. That is why it’s a hard book to read—and why it is one of the greatest works of American Literature’). Delia Lloyd express a somehow ambiguous opinion about whether is convenient or not to introduce changes in the novel. On the one hand, she says to be ‘sympathetic’ with several authors quoted in her article, who are in clear contrast with Gribben’s version of the novel (for instance, Matt Blum is quoted as saying ‘How can we expect children to learn real history if we sanitize it for them? ’, whereas Elon James White argues that ‘the only way to get Americans to deal openly and honestly with prejudice is to force students to be uncomfortable with terms that—unpleasant though they may be—are part and parcel of our country’s blatantly racist past’). On the other hand, Delia Lloyd also makes some positive remarks about Gribben’s ideas later on in the article, probably based upon her experience as a mother (‘As a parent, however, I’m less sympathetic to Gribben’s critics’, or ‘†¦there are more practical reasons to think that having a cleaned-up version of â€Å"Huckleberry Finn† isn’t, as Salon’s. Mary Elizabeth Williams’ puts it, â€Å"the worst thing in the world† ‘). Finally, article 3 is opposed to change the original version of the novel. This could already be implied from the title, which misspells the word ‘civilize’. This is a clear reference to the tendency of some characters of the book to pronounce words wrongly. Michiko Kakutani develops this idea throughout the article, refuting Grribben with subtleness and irony. As a result, he sometimes describes Grubbin labour with adjectives in inverted commas (‘improved’) or using aggressive ones to refer to him and his work. (‘Being an iconic classic, however, hasn’t protected the novel from being banned, bowdlerized and bleeped’). To conclude, I must say that, after reading the novel and several articles related to it, I think that the novel should be preserved in its original state. As far as I’m concerned, such a masterpiece deserves to be respected and remain unaltered. In addition, teachers should be very careful when explaining it to children, and try to transmit them the real (and benevolent) intentions of Mark Twain. Bibliography -Huckleberry Finn and America (Chicago Tribune, January 17, 2002). An article  written in the scope of the PBS series directed by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, which appeared shortly after the article. -Huck Finn, Censorship and the N-word Controversy, by Delia Lloyd (www. politicsdaily. com, January 6, 2011). It is an ambiguous article about the necessity of changing ‘Huckleberry Finn’’s most controversial parts. -Light out, Huck, They Still Want to ‘Sivilize’ You, by Michiko Kakutani (The New York Times, January 6, 2011). A strong defence of the novel and fierce critic of those who intend to change it. -Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (Toni Morrison, 1992).

My Big Break :: Personal Narrative Music Popularity Essays

My Big Break I'll never forget the time I made it into my high school's variety show during my freshman year. Every student has dreams of being the most popular kid in school. I was the quiet kid in school. I never caused any trouble, I never asked questions and I never started conversations. I wanted to be popular, but I knew that I needed a new image. I always enjoyed music; I always thought the drums were cool, so I began to play the drums. I formed a band with a few of my friends in hope to gain little popularity. In order for us to get our peer's attention, we had to try out for the variety show. I would have never imagined that playing in the variety show for my peers would transform me from a nobody into a somebody. I had two main goals that I wanted to get from being in the variety show: to gain recognition from the students and to play music on stage in front of a large audience. I formed a band with my friends from middle school. Matt Bochicchio, one of my best friends, played guitar. He was always the hardest to get to practice because he was on the high school soccer team so it was difficult for him to find any free time to practice. Matt was so good on guitar that we made him the lead guitarist. Ian Williams, who was a wanna be badass, played rhythm guitar. Ian was always getting himself into trouble with the teachers. Ian wasn't as good as Matt which I found ironic because Ian had been playing guitar a lot longer than him. Fritz played bass and he was the most terrible bass player that I had ever played with in my entire life. Fritz is his last name; his first name is Matt. We called him Fritz so there wouldn't be any confusion. He only wanted to be in a band so he could get chicks, but his plan didn't work out. Nick Naro, a lady's man in his time, was our singer. He wasn't a really good singer, but he had a PA system and back then, that's all that matte red. The band was originally mine and Matt's, but we lost control of it to Nick whom loved the spotlight. He let his ego go to his head and we would get the impression from him that we didn't matter.

Elisabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish” Essay

Elizabeth Bishop’s poem The Fish narrates the changing attitude of the speaker towards the fish. First, the fish is described as ancient and grizzled, showing signs of death and decay. However, upon closer inspection, the fish is made out to be a survivor of many battles. Through the use of figurative language, the poet shows the speaker’s shift from noting only the fish’s dejection to admiring him for his past glories. Bishop begins with the personification of the fish into a figure of defeat and age. The speaker mentions that the fish had not fought at all, as though he had given up all hope. She compares the fish’s skin to old wallpaper which would not be securely attached to the wall as skin loses firmness with age. In addition, Bishop details the extent of the fish’s injuries, everything from lice and barnacles to the fresh blood of his wounds. Such imagery invokes feelings of decay and abandonment as parasites are allowed to slowly consume him. The speaker also contemplates the fish’s innards, suggesting that his has become a mass of flesh and bone without spirit. The speaker furthers the personification of the fish by looking into his eyes and remarking that he had not looked back fully. Instead, the fish had only shifted his stare a little towards the light, further suggesting lack of will while giving the fish a very human feeling of dejection. Not caring about the face of his conqueror, the fish only seeks to confront death, represented by the light that he turns towards. The focus on the fish’s physical structure denotes the fish’s lack of spirit yet it is this very lifelessness that gives the fish the human emotions of apathy and hopelessness. Through the personification of the fish, the poet shows the speaker’s projection of lack of spirit and hope onto the fish. In contrast, the speaker’s discovery of past hooks imbedded into the fish’s mouth gives him the persona of a fallen war hero who has survived many battles in the past. The speaker’s perception then changes from one of lifelessness to one of courage and animation, denoted by the admiration in the speaker’s tone. Upon seeing the frayed lines, she uses verbs of action and struggle as she imagines the fish fighting and breaking the line. Thus,  the poet’s comparison of the lines to ribbons furthers the fish’s appearance as a hero retaining the medals of his victory. The further comparison of the thread to a beard of wisdom shows the speaker’s admiration of the fish’s accumulation of experience through time. The author then explains that he boat become filled with victory in the appearance of a rainbow. A rainbow can be associated with triumph and survival, as the viewer can enjoy the calmness after a storm, often a scene of chaos and potential violence especially combined with the boat setting. Through viewing the remains of the past struggles that the fish has faced, the speaker’s perception of the fish changes him from a being in decline to the survival of past battles. In The Fish, Bishop transforms an old fish the speaker caught into a glorious figure of reverence. Bishop uses personification and analogies to set up the fish as dejected and lacking in spirit. However, the speaker’s perception changes and tone is markedly more of admiration while symbolism is added as the remains of the fish’s struggle become the trophies of victory. By employing personification and symbolism, Bishop uses figurative language to denote the speaker’s changing understanding of the fish.

Ups vs Fedex Analytical Report - 3748 Words

COMMUNICATION COMPARISON FedEx vs. UPS Background: The basis of the analytical report will be comparing Fed Ex and the United Postal Service (UPS). These two companies are the top in their industry. Each company trying to achieve the role of the industry leader they constantly battle head to head combining strategy and brute force. Fed Ex was incorporated in 1971, but did not officially begin operations until April of 1973. Fed Ex started out delivering to only 25 cities and did not start to expand until 1977. UPS was founded in 1907 starting out with a Model T Ford and a few motorcycles. UPS has since grown its fleet into 15,000+ trucks along with a large fleet of aircrafts and services over 200 countries and territories.†¦show more content†¦In 2009 FedEx launched a multimillion –dollar campaign aimed at its rival UPS, â€Å"Why is mega-corporation UPS trying to use its political clout to get a bailout from the U.S. Congress, leaving you to pay the tab†. Rival UPS calls FedEx the only company in the transportation industry with ‘ground’ employees covered by a railroad and airline law. Most of the forces are from moderate to low besides the threat of intense rivalry which signals that this is an attractive industry to be within. Business Level Strategy: From the beginning UPS and FedEx both had very different strategies in the delivery industry. UPS was focused on ground transportation, as more of a substitute for United States Postal Service. UPS has over 100,000 ground transportation vehicles compared to only 20,000 ground vehicles in service at FedEx. The focus of FedEx has always been to be an air delivery company that is trying to pursue a strategy of being able to deliver a parcel the next day. FedEx proves this focus with nearly 700 jets in service compared to only 300 at rival UPS. FedEx and UPS both say the market of overnight delivery as the direction to pursue. UPS was able to accept this and move forward allowing its ground department to absorb the expense, while FedEx suffered a great deal and we hit with higher cost do to them having to hire independent contractors. Over the years, these two companies have changed their overall positioning strategy in the domestic delivery industry. 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