The Underdogs Essays

The Underdogs Essays The Underdogs Essay The Underdogs Essay The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela The Underdogs is a novel written by Mariano Azuela. It is based on the Mexican Revolution and tells us the story about the lives of the people Azuela served with. The revolution lasted 10 years, starting in 1910 and officially ending in 1920. The Underdogs is famously known as the classic story of the Mexican revolution. In the novel, Azuela mixes actual historical facts so one can imagine what is was like. He also illustrates many of Mexicos natural landscapes in great detail. This book xamines the political and historical aspects of the revolution as well as the social aspect of the civil war. The novel reveals the prototypes of the kind of people that can be attracted and involved in these movements. The characters in this novel are made to represent different aspects of the revolution from its innocence to its brutality at the most extreme The main character of this book is called Demetrio Macias. His character represents the people who are leaders. In any society there are certain people who stand out and have leadership qualities. We look to these people for answers and an example of this is Demetrio. He is basically the heart and soul of the novel. He is what we can portray as the essence of the Mexican revolution. He is a fearless man, very smart and well built. He leads the Revolutionaries, also known as the rebels, against the Federalists; which are the government troops. Demetrios character seems to be well respected by the Federalist since he has proven to be a strong adversary. However, only good qualities are not what define Demetrio. On the other hand, he has weaknesses. For example, although married, he happens to run into Camilla when staying in a town after one of the battles against the federalists, and convinces her that she should get involved with him. Also, at the beginning Demetrio has a clear head of his purpose in this revolution, fghting against the injustices of the federalist. However, towards the end he seems to lose focus of the reason behind his and his peoples actions. On the other hand we have Luis Cervantes. His character represents the people who change from one team to the other. Many times, one can Join a team with a certain deal and once you are involved you realize that you should be on the opposing team. A perfect example of this is Cervantes. He is a medical student once part of the federalist group but deserted once he felt offended. He saw what they did to innocent people and peasants and realized what the revolution meant for the federalist and decided to Join forces with the rebels. Cervantes is seen as an idealist and maximalist much like Anastasio Montanes, Demetrios best friend. Opposite from Demetrios temporary lose of purpose, Cervantes at many times is the one reminding he Revolutionaries the purpose behind all their efforts. He serves as a voice of reason for Macias. We can clearly see this when he is reminding the rebels why they snou10 contlnue tnelr Tlgnt ana says, We are tne Instruments 0T aestlny wno wlll vindicate the sacred rights of the people. l Cervantes character provides ambition and purpose to this group of people. Anastasio Montanes is a close friend to Demetrio. His character represents the people who follow the crowd. Like any other movement, there are people that get involved and support the ideals without having a real connection to it. In this case Anastasio. He Joined the forces of the rebels only because he is Demetrios friend. He is a very apolitical man yet very intelligent. He was the first person to take in Cervantes as part of the rebels when having intellectual conversations with him and recognizing his intelligence. There are many examples of different aspects of the revolutionary movement pertaining to the characters. Other than the three already mentioned you also have La pintadas character, which represents the female soldiers of the revolution, or Pancracios character that represents the ruthless aspect of the revolution. Another example is Guero Margarito, who is a ruthless man who finds find Justification of his actions in the intensity of these times. Endless aspects were given to every specific character and many prototypes were exposed through each character. All of the characters real or fiction tell us the story of the most violent years of the Mexican revolution. Azuela found a way of telling the story of what he went through during his time serving as a field doctor in the war and the impact it had.

AP Psychology Practice Tests Complete Collection

AP Psychology Practice Tests Complete Collection SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Practice tests are some of the best review tools for AP Psychology. They'll give you insight into your areas of weakness and prepare you for the structure and content of the real test. In this article, I’ll list all the official and unofficial practice tests available online and provide advice on how to use them to get a great score on the AP test. Official AP Psychology Practice Tests It’s best to use official practice tests when preparing for the exam because you can be sure that the questions are faithful representations of what to expect on test day. There’s a limited supply of released official exams, but you should be able to get enough practice out of them (and you can still supplement with some unofficial tests if necessary, which I’ll discuss in the next section). These two tests are pretty old, but there haven’t been any major changes to the exam since they were administered. They’re still valid as practice resources: 1994 Official Released AP Psychology Exam1999 Official Released AP Psychology Exam If you’re looking for a bit of extra free-response practice, you can try working on official free-response questions in isolation. Most of them also have accompanying answer keys to help you better understand what the graders are expecting: Official Free-Response Questions 2002-2016 (accessible with College Board account) Those are the only official practice tests I can legally link to, but you may be able to find additional tests online from other sources. Your teacher will also have access to practice testing materials that are not available to the general public. If you’re looking for more official AP tests, talk to your teacher and see if he or she can provide you with any extra resources. You must wear a nice blazer with a button up shirt when taking official AP practice tests. That's how the test knows that you're also official. If you wear sweatpants, it won't trust you with its secrets. Unofficial AP Psychology Practice Exams Unofficial practice tests can also be useful, although you shouldn’t rely on them completely. They’ll still test roughly the same content as the real test, but their questions may be phrased differently and have a slightly higher or lower difficulty level. Be sure to intersperse official practice tests with these unofficial ones in your studying. Barron’s Diagnostic Test This is a free diagnostic test from Barron’s. It has the same format as the real AP test, so there are 100 multiple-choice questions followed by two free-response questions. You can choose to take the test in practice mode (untimed) or timed mode depending on how comfortable you are with the material. The multiple-choice section is scored for you, and answers to free-response questions are available as well. This means that you won’t have to put in quite as much legwork to see where your mistakes happened. One drawback to the online format is that you can't directly replicate the conditions of the AP test. It will probably take you less time to fill in your answers than it would on a pencil and paper test. Kaplan Practice Tests Here you can find practice quizzes that cover all the different topics in the course as well as two comprehensive 100-question practice tests. Again, you can only take the tests online, so you won’t necessarily get as much out of the experience. There also aren’t any free-response questions, so you’ll have to look elsewhere (preferably the College Board website) if you want to practice them. Shmoop Practice Tests (accessible with free trial) Shmoop has a diagnostic test and two full-length practice examsthat mimic the content and format of the real AP test (free-response section included). You have to pay for an account eventually, but you can start off with a free trial and cancel before the first payment is due if you want. The rate for a student account is $24.68 a month. REA Online Practice Exam ($4.95) This is just one practice test, but it includes automatic scoring, and it analyzes your mistakes for you. The test is also timed, so testing conditions are replicated relatively accurately (minus the fact that it’s on the computer). How to Review With AP Psychology Practice Tests Practice tests can be used throughout the school year and in your final review sessions for the AP test. They are the best way for you to judge how advanced you are in your knowledge of the material. They’ll also help you gain familiarity with the format of the AP test so that you’re not caught off-guard on test day. Here’s some advice on how to use these tests in your studying at different points throughout the year: First Semester: In-Class Test Prep At this point, you’re just preparing for in-class tests and haven’t learned all the information for the course yet. You might decide to use practice sites that include focused questions on specific aspects of the curriculum, like this one. Still, the practice tests in this article may be helpful resources. You can sort through the free-response questions that were asked on previous administrations of the test to find ones that are relevant to what you’ve learned so far. It’s a smart idea to practice free-response questions well ahead of time because they require the most independent knowledge. Most students have a tougher time on this section than on the multiple-choice section because you don't get a list of options that might jog your memory about a certain term or concept. Guessing isn't a viable option, so it's important to prepare thoroughly. Second Semester: AP Test Prep As you head into your second semester, start thinking about prepping for the AP test with full practice exams. You will have learned most of the material by the middle of the second semester, so you'll be able to use practice tests to judge your skills more accurately. I'd recommend taking your first full-length practice test sometime in March. Online tests can be helpful, but make sure you print out some practice tests too. This is the only way to see whether your time management is on point. When you take a practice test, make sure you treat it seriously so that you can learn from your mistakes. After you finish the test, score it and investigate your incorrect answers. There are several reasons why you might answer a question incorrectly. It could be due to poor time management, a careless mistake, or a lack of content knowledge. If one of the first two problems is the source of many of your mistakes, you probably need to take more practice tests to get used to the format while learning to read more carefully and pace yourself better. If your mistakes have more to do with content knowledge, you can narrow your focus further by categorizing your wrong answers by subject (consult the list of topics in this article). This way, you can primarily study parts of the course that you struggle with and avoid wasting time on concepts you already understand. Once you’ve identified your mistakes on the practice test and taken steps to correct them, take another test to check your progress. Again, make sure you take this test with the same time limits as the real AP test. After you take the second test, repeat the steps of scoring it and looking through your mistakes. Continue this process until you feel fully prepared for the exam. It may be productive to practice free-response questions in isolation between full practice tests if you struggle with that section. The more familiar you are with the way free-response questions are asked and what graders expect, the more likely you are to ace the free-response section on the real test in May. These questions will also help reinforce your understanding of psychological terms because they often ask you to apply terms to a hypothetical real-life scenario. Keep working out your test-taking muscles until your brain looks like this dude. Essential AP Psychology Practice Testing Tips In this section, I'll list a few tips that are important to remember while using practice tests to review for AP Psychology. #1: Always Time Yourself I said it before, and I’ll say it again: If you want to assess your weak spots accurately, you need to time yourself as though you're taking the real test. You don’t want time pressure to be your downfall after working your butt off to memorize all the content. If you can get a parent, sibling, or friend who doesn’t have anything better to do for two hours to be a mock proctor for you, that’s even better! #2: Don’t Overthink It’s especially funny to list this tip for AP Psychology, but it’s also especially relevant to the way the questions are structured. You’ll see quite a few questions that seem complex but are actually just a matter of common sense. Try not to second-guess yourself on these types of questions. The test isn’t trying to trick you! #3: Be Direct in the Free-Response Section When some students think about free-response questions, they imagine writing a five paragraph essay. You don't have to do that on this test! All the graders want are the correct answers written in complete sentences. Forget about intros, conclusions, or any other fluffy stuff you’re tempted to include. #4: Put More Faith in Official Test Scores Than Unofficial Ones It’s tempting to believe that a high score on an unofficial test is valid, but it can get you into trouble. Keep in mind that some unofficial tests will be easier or harder than the real AP test because the questions weren't designed by the College Board. You should always include at least one official practice test in your studying so you can compare the difficulty levels and get an accurate reading on your progress. Some tests are LIARS! Conclusion Use the practice tests in this article as tools to bolster your prep for AP Psychology. Official tests and unofficial tests are both valuable resources, but pay more attention to your scores on official tests when judging your progress and skill level. Going over mistakes on practice tests will help you understand where your weaknesses lie and how you can fix them. If you take multiple practice tests, analyze your mistakes, and plan out your studying responsibly, you can expect high scores on the AP test and any in-class tests you take throughout the year. What's Next? Are you looking for more guidance in preparing for this test? Read my complete AP Psychology study guide here! You should also check out our description of Stockholm Syndrome (complete with examples) here. Review books can also be helpful study resources. If you're not sure which one to get, take a look at this list of the best AP Psychology books. What will a high score on an AP test really mean for you in college? Find out how AP classes can lead to college credits. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Doha Development Round Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Doha Development Round - Essay Example To add to that, even USA and EU have strategic differences on certain issues. The most recent round, which was held in 2008, broke down after the member countries failed to reach a consensus regarding agriculture import rules (BBC, 2008). Though these were followed by intense negotiations, they failed to break the deadlock. The World Trade Organization was formed with an aim to supervise and liberalize international trade. The Doha round of talks was a devise formulated to achieve that aim and lower trade barriers around the world, thus facilitating growth in trade globally. Besides that, the talks were also meant to insure that multilateral trading system must benefit the developing countries that constitute over three quarters of WTO members. The Doha declaration declared that the member countries of the WTO should strive to negotiate a policy, wherein the developing countries manage to secure for themselves a share in the growth of world trade in accordance with their respective national economic growth. To achieve the above stated goals, the following twin means were identified- reducing import tariffs, thus allowing the developing countries to have wider access to the global markets, and discouraging domestic and export subsidies, which would enable the over-production of goods at very low prices. This in turn would again boost trade practices. The talks were centered around... Thus, the Doha declaration carefully worked on these strategies and elaborated a set of objectives with stipulated deadlines. The objective was to establish a fair and market-oriented trading system through a program of fundamental reforms. The program strengthened rules, and provided specific commitments on government support and protection for agriculture. The purpose was to correct and prevent restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets. (WTO 2001). As has been discussed earlier, the major emphasis was on decreasing and eventually phasing out export subsidies, reducing support systems that pose a threat to trade relations, and broaden the limits of global markets, thus making them more accessible to the developing countries. Out of the 132 countries that are a part of the WTO, 103 countries are classified as developing or least developed. In majority of these countries, agriculture is the chief occupation for the masses. Thus, all possible steps were taken to ensure that developing countries benefit from the declaration, especially when it comes to the issue of agriculture. The issue was managed under the following dimensions- market access, domestic supports, export competition, and development issues. At certain places, these counties were also rendered special treatment, to alleviate domestic problems of food scarcity and rural development. Recently, however agriculture( more specifically, agriculture import rules) has become the crux of several deadlocks. The reforms were not limited to the agricultural sector alone. Negotiations were also carried out to implement tariff cutting schemes on major non agricultural

Theories in Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Theories in Sociology - Essay Example According to Herbert Spencer, in this world only those can continue to exist, who are the finest and frail creatures have no right for existence. He believes in the theory of survival of the fittest. Spenser has presented a social evolution theory that can be stated as society undergoes transformation and this transformation is for the betterment of society. This transformation will go on until the society creates a hindrance before it. Emile Durkheim presented the theory of collective conscience that states that the society exists in a collective form because of the collective thoughts, principles and objectives of its contributors. According to Durkheim, society is interdependent on its various components for its working similar to a machine, which has inter-reliant parts for successful running. According to Max Weber, a society is composed of diverse people who have varied objectives in their lives and it is only because of these varied objectives that society has many different aspects. The performances of people depend on their varied objectives. Weber identifies rational and irrational attitudes of people. Rational attitude is reasonable and sensible for the society while irrational attitude has no objective at its root and is insensible and unreasonable. According to Karl Marx, society is composed of two kinds of classes, which are working class and aristocratic class. Working class depends on aristocrats and lacks all kinds of possessions while aristocratic class possesses enough resources. It is only because of the difference of possession between these classes that creates social discrimination. Marx gives magnitude to authority and resourcefulness that form the aristocratic class. Sociology emerged as a discipline in the 18th century because of the works of Auguste Comte, Max Weber, Karl Marx and Herbert Spenser as they are believed to be the initiators of

Death Represenataion in Sylvia Plaths Selected Poems Essay Example for Free

Death Represenataion in Sylvia Plaths Selected Poems Essay Death Representation in Sylvia Plaths Selected Poems Mohamed Fleih Hassan Instructor English Dept. / Abstract Death is one of the significant and recurrent themes in the poetry of Sylvia Plath. This paper aims at showing the poets attitudes towards death. Certain poems are selected to show the poets different attitudes to death: death as a rebirth or renewal, and death as an end. Most obvious factors shaped her attitudes towards death were the early death of her father that left her unsecured, and the unfaithfulness of her husband, Ted Hughes, who left her dejected and melancholic. Plaths Two views of a Cadaver Room, Sheep in Fog, A Birthday Present, Edge, and I Am Vertical are selected to outline her various perspectives towards death. Death Representation in Sylvia Plaths Selected Poems Generally speaking, death is represented in literature in various ways shifting from being an ominous terrifying force to a means of fulfillment and new beginnings. Death came to be a recurrent theme in Sylvia Plaths poetry due to the sudden death of her father. His death left the daughter with powerful feelings of defeat, resentment, grief and remorse. So the absence of the father had influenced her emotional life negatively to the extent that it is reflected clearly in her poems. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) passed in periods of depression and there were precursors of suicidal act through fits of breakdown. Among the reasons for her early depression are the early death of her father that left her unsecured and her failure to attend a writing class at Harvard. Though she got a chair as a college guest-editor of the Mademoiselle, but she got monotonous with nothing to fall back on in New York. She broke down with the unfulfillment of her dream of being a successful writer. Therefore, she took an over-dose of sleeping-pills to end her misery, but she was saved. 1 After successful psychiatric sessions of recovery, Plath met Ted Hughes at Cambridge and they got married in 1956. She found in him a motive and substitute for the absence of the father. Hughes believed in her exceptional gift. In that period, the couple got success and fame with their poetic development, especially when they got children. Her poems had been published in Britain and America like, The Colossus 1960, which dealt with Plaths preoccupation with ideas of death and rebirth. Hughes love affair with another woman broke the heart of Plath, who suffered the devastation of the broken marriage. Shifting into a new flat in London, she started writing poems of rage, despair, love and vengeance but her poems were slowly accepted for publication. She suffered the traumatic breakdown and melancholia that she put her head in the oven in 11 April, 1963. 2 Death came to be a recurrent theme in the poetry of Sylvia Plath, and this theme has been represented in different ways in her poems. She did engage the reader either in a personal or an impersonal way to view death either as a liberating force or troubling depressing experience. Her depiction of death is reflected by the use of such techniques as imagery, language, structure, and tone. Her negative attitude towards death is caused by the early death of her father that left her dejected. In her poem Two views of a Cadaver Room (1959), she presents a pessimistic point of view towards death. This poem recounts an experience she had while dating a young Harvard medical student. She followed her boyfriend and some other medical students into an operating room where the students were busily dissecting a preserved corpse. The speaker and her boyfriend are horrified by the experience, the narrator offers two views of the cadaver room as alternate possibilities of depicting death in art; the physical view of death and the romantic view of death. One view is epitomized by the cadaver room contrasting the romantic one of death, which is represented by a detail from a Brueghel painting depicting two lovers, who are spell bounded by one another and careless to the destruction and devastation around them. The poem is written in two parts. The first part creates a futile setting in which things are described in a dissecting room, which suggests a mood of despondency. She did so by the use of wastelandish simile through comparing cadaver with burnt turkey: The day she visited the dissecting room They had four men laid out, black as burnt turkey, Already half unstrung. (II. 1-3) The place dissecting room suggests mercilessness and dehumanization. The dead bodies are anatomized and bones are removed which suggest a horrible image. The poetess compares death with the dissector, in which it takes off the spirit out of the body as did the doctor in dissecting the major constituents of bodies. Death here represents a terrifying force that annihilates mans life. The dissecting room serves as the epitome of scientific space, which is to say death’s space. And this is the space not only of female witnessing and female passivity, ‘she could scarcely make out anything/ In that rubble of skull plates and old leather’, but also of a bestowal from male to female, from male scientist to female poet. The process of dissecting the dead body indicates the savageness and carelessness of the surgeon, who cuts out the heart; the symbol of mans life and feelings. The surgeon is associated with death in the sense that he extracts the heart of the body, He hands her the cut-out heart like a cracked heirloom. The simile presents a very useless pessimistic image for the heart. The heart is not only reduced to a non-functioning machine, but a man hands death to a woman. The heart is the dearest to man and is compared to the heirloom which contains the memory of the dead, but it is uprooted maliciously. Death came to be an unavoidable inheritance. 4 In many of her poems, what Plath perceives is a death-figure which threatens to swallow her up unless she can reassert her living identity by fixing and thus immobilizing her enemy in a structured poetic image. Plath transforms death by assuming the role of a photo-journalist who observes the details in a way as to control the scene with the transforming power of language. She follows the technique of fusing various visual images in a meaningful way. Therefore, she transcends the literal immediacy of what she sees and creates order out of chaos. The second part paradoxes the first in showing a couple who are ignorant of the horrors of death. Their ignorance of the shadow of death around them intensifies their tragic catastrophic end: Two people only are blind to the carrion army: He, afloat in the sea of her blue satin Skirts, sings in the direction Of her bare shoulder, while she bends, Fingering a leaflet of music, over him, Both of th em deaf to the fiddle in the hands Of the death’s-head shadowing their song. (II. 13-19) Plath thinks that the second view was untenable. Confronting the literal physicality of death (as the narrator does in the first stanza), and ignoring that reality (as the lovers do in the Brueghel painting) seem hopelessly romantic and naive. The only way to relinquish the painful awareness of impending death is by relinquishing life itself. Plath committed suicide in her flat moving herself and her work into the domain of myth and psycho-mystical speculation. The second view of death is the bestowal of death that is interrupted by art. Paradoxically, this interruption of death by art is itself a kind of death, a freezing of life. The poem surveys with an eye which is blind and an ear which is deaf. If the lovers’ blindness and deafness to death’s music permits them to ‘flourish’, then this flourishing is ‘not for long’. Paradoxically, the work of art saves from death by paralyzing or fixing the living in an absolute present, which is to say a perfected present, but without future: This stalling of death’s triumph by art, this resistance of art to death, is itself a kind of death, since it reminds us that those lovers captured in art’s absolute present can do nothing at all. Just as there are two kinds of music here – the death’s-head’s and the lovers’ – so art is not placed in any simple opposition to death. 6 There are two kinds of death: on the one hand, death as process, as rebirth or renewal, as imaginary; and, on the other hand, death as end, as factuality. Plath rides into death in Sheep in Fog (1963) but death is no longer conceived as renewal. The objective in ‘Sheep in Fog’ becomes the ‘dark water’: They threaten To let me through to a heaven Starless and fatherless, a dark water. (II. 13-15) The sense of dissolution is overpowering in this poem through thee description of the background of the poem. Each line and each stanza of the poem concerns the disappearance of something. hills step off into whiteness, Morning has been blackening and the starless heaven leave her dejected and wretched. 7 Sheep in Fog suggests that there is a radical sundering of poet and poetry, a death of the poet that is the life of the poetry, if only as that which is in mourning for the poet. The impersonality of Plath’s later poetry is not arrived at through an ethical self-sacrifice of the poet’s empirical, autobiographical self in the interests of a universal validity, a kind of immortality or proof against death. Rather, it is an impersonality in which there is a highly paradoxical and unstable relation between poet and poetry. 8 A Birthday Present (1962) is another dramatic monologue in which terror and death predominate. The persona longs to know the gift presented by his friend. The speaker, her friend, and the object talk to each other in the kitchen. She imagines that the present may be bones, a pearl button, and an ivory tusk. Each of these things has white colour and suggests the nature of the birthday present that she wants. The three white objects—bones, pearl, and ivory tusk—all suggest death because they were once part of living organisms. The persona speaks of the veils around the present. In order to remove the concealing veil, which causes her anxiety and fear, the speaker demands an end to the screening off of death from view. She compares her life at the end of the poem to the arrival by mail of parts of her own corpse. At the end, the speaker demands as her birthday present not the previously mentioned symbols of death or the figure representing death, but death itself: 9 If it were death I would admire the deep gravity of it, its timeless eyes. I would know you were serious. There would be a nobility then, there would be a birthday. And the knife not carve, but enter Pure and clean as the cry of a baby, And the universe slide from my side. (II. 52-58) The poem dramatizes her birthday to be her death. The drama of A Birthday Present is frightening in its transformation of a domestic and happy occasion into a celebration of suicide. It captures the movement of the speakers mind as she throws herself into the sequence of steps that might lead her to kill herself. Plaths second perspective towards death is that it may be chosen by the individual himself as a means of self-destruction, rather than acting as a horrible exterminating force. The poetess aims to show the suffering and agony of the persona in selecting death as a means of liberation of the antagonistic world of the person. This perspective is reflected in Plaths Edge, which was written on 5 February 1963 and is thought to be Plath’s last poem. According to Seamus Heaney, one of the biographers of Plath, the poem was a suicide note, which is to say an entirely personal, autobiographical communication from a distressed melancholic woman. For this reason, the poem is limited by the literal death of the poet, a death that cannot help but be read back into the poem. 10 This death is a negativity that renews, and works within an economy of life. This is not just an imaginary death, but death as a figure for the imagination itself, as a negativity that may be harnessed in the interests of life. This poem carries the reader not only to the very limit of life, but also to the limit of poetry. And yet, if in this poem the woman is ‘perfected’, it is through a death that takes the form of an aesthetic object, but in which the emphasis none the less falls very much on illusion. The speaker in this poem doesn’t endure the anguish of his life and feels that his misery is over: The illusion of a Greek necessity Flows in the scrolls of her toga Her bare Feet seem to be saying: We have come so far, it is over. (II. 4-8) The bare feet symbolize the lack of protection and immunity. The tone looks submissive but it indicates the willingness to accept death as an outlet and escape of the aggressive world. The persona feels alienated in the world around him. No one cares for the personas death even the moon, The moon has nothing to be sad about/ Staring from her hood of bone. Therefore, she starts looking for something beyond death, which is the longing for perfection. Usually roses symbolize purity, so she compares her folding of the dead bodies of children as petals of a rose close. Therefore she thinks that through death, she will have a new beginning. 11 Death as a means of rebirth is reflected in Plaths I Am Vertical. She sets images taken from nature as a background of her poem. This use of nature as a setting for her poem shows death not as a horrible monstrous thing. She presented two fruitful lively images of nature and then she negates her alikeness to them: I am not a tree with my root in the spoil Sucking up minerals and motherly love So that each March I may gleam into leaf, Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted, Unknowing I must soon unpetal. (II. 2-7) The persona feels rejection of the surroundings when the trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odours. I walk among them, but none of them are noticing. This represents the negligence of society and the social restraints that the individual feels. each March I may gleam into leaf suggests the continuity of life and regeneration. She is longing to be united with nature via death; the nature that symbolizes serenity and tranquility, Then the sky and I are in open conversation. The word sky gives death the sense of spirituality and elevation. The speaker is not satisfied in her life and she accepts death as a means for recognition: And I shall be useful when I lie down finally: Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me. (II. 19-20) Plaths life is ended in a world of death and despondency from which there is no rebirth or transformation.

The Democratic Symbol Essay -- Politics Government Symbolism Essays

The Democratic Symbol The word â€Å"donkey† has come to have a negative connotation in today’s society. In Webster’s Handy College Dictionary, the definition for a donkey is â€Å"an ass† or â€Å"a stupid or obstinate person†. One would presume that with such a meaning, the Democratic Party, one of the main political parties in the United States, would not be associating itself with such a negative symbol. The first use of the â€Å"donkey† as the Democratic symbol occurred during Andrew Jackson’s run for president in 1828. Because of his populist views and the slogan, â€Å"Let the people rule†, his opponents tried to label him as a â€Å"jackass†, but Jackson used the name-calling and turned it into his advantage by placing the donkey on his campaign posters (The Democratic). Since its first application in 1828 the â€Å"donkey† is a symbol that is now clearly associated with the Democratic Party. This association is present because the attributes that complement this symbol are some of the many attributes that characterize and define the Democratic Party. Although the masses might view the â€Å"donkey† as a representation of something stupid, or silly, the Democratic Party, on the other hand, has come to view the â€Å"donkey† as a symbol that stands for intelligence, courage, and humility (The Democratic). One of many important characteristics that define the Democratic Party is its member’s ability to solve issues that affects the party or the nation in an intelligent manner. This ability came into play on October 29, 1929, at the start of the Great Depression (â€Å"New Deal†). The inherent instability of the market brought about the Great Depression in 1929, and to resolve this instability, government intervention was necessary t... ...eal.† Wikipedia. 22 Nov. 2004. . Robinson, Dan. â€Å"108th U.S. Congress Nears End of Its Term.† Voice of America. 22 Nov. 2004, Washington, D.C. 22 Nov. 2004. . Rosembaum, David E. â€Å"As standoff ends, Clinton is seeking the high ground†. New York Times. 21 Nov. 1995, New York, NY: A1. ProQuest. George Mason University, Fenwick Library. 22 Nov. 2004. Stinnett, Ronald F. Democrats, Dinners, & Dollars: A History of the Democratic Party, its Dinners, its Rituals. Ames, IA: The Iowa State University Press, 1967. â€Å"The Democratic Donkey.† DNC: The Democratic National Committee. 14 Nov. 2004. . The President, The Public, and The Parties. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1997: 30.

“Changing Our Lives”

After graduating high school, I thought I had all my decisions in place of what I wanted to do with my life. I later found myself letting the choices of my younger days affect what is happening in my life now. I’ve now taken the right steps into getting my life back on track, starting with obtaining the goals that I once motivated myself to achieve after high school.That is why I’ve chosen to further my education beyond a high school diploma to obtain financial growth, my college degree, and successful career opportunities. In the world today, it seems that financial issues are taking their tolls in people’s lives more often than it use to be when everyone thought that their job offered exactly what they wanted. Later they found out that they were not getting the pay needed to support their household with the job that is being maintained with hard work, long hours, and poor benefits.Now after me giving careful consideration as to what I wanted to do in life, I fo und that with the right degree by my side I could benefit so much more in pay options, family support, and not just be in a job working hard but a career where I am actually making a difference one day at a time. With my degree in hand, it not only paves the way for my financial growth, but it helps me be able to show my children how important education can be in the world today.It helps me to feel so much better knowing that I reached my goals, with all the hard work and dedication that came with being a college student. I can truly say that it was not easy day to day trying to keep up with the work, have a job, and raise a family at the same time. But, when I look at the reasons as to why I am doing this all I have to remember is that my family depends on me! Not only does this benefit your family, but it also adds to your list of achievements a long with my high school diploma.I can just imagine when I walk across the stage how great it will feel when I walk away with degree in t he field of study of my choice to success! Once I create so much opportunity for myself with a degree, it will be time to put it to work with getting the job I always wanted. Now, I am the only one who could stop me. There is also now the choice of hours that could put me right where I want to be, and that’s with my family. I would not be constantly working late, missing school programs, lunches, conferences, and more because I made a choice to better myself and my surroundings.Because I chose to get a degree and move into a new line of work of helping others, somebody may actually have a chance of being helped in the ways that I have always imagined giving to someone else. That is now what it is mostly coming to in my heart of how can I put this hard work that I did to work in the most positive way in someone else’s life. I’ve found now that once these achievements are reached, I’m not only inspiring myself, but also my wife and children.Once they see th e hard work that I’ve put in to giving them a better way of life and how it was done, it could make way for their success and family once married and faced with the ways of real adulthood. Some children think that it’s okay just to stop at just a high school diploma because some parents aren’t too interested in furthering past what they have been taught by their parents. So as for me and my family, I’m taking the necessary steps to show my children that education does matter and dreams do come true!

A Red, Red Rose Essay

Robert Burns wrote â€Å"A Red, Red Rose† and edited by Peter Urbani. It was first in printed in 1794 in A Selection of Scots Songs. This was shown in ballad stanzas because it was composed with four – line stanzas or quatrains, having alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines which emphasized that the first and third lines of each stanza had four stressed syllables, or beats whereas the second and fourth lines had three stressed syllables. The line of this poem â€Å"That’s sweet / ly play’d / in tune† was an example of iambic meter in which the first syllable was unstressed and the second was stressed. The implication of this poem was about the thoughts and descriptions of love in a way that exceeded beyond the non – literary sources from which the verse was drawn. The poet first similarly declared his love in a blooming rose in spring and then in a melody â€Å"sweetly play’d in tune. † For me, these similes indicated the beauty and happiness of being in love. The metaphor â€Å"sands o’ life† pointed out the eternal nature of the writer’s love that explained the extent of his love. There were much imagery mentioned here like the color red that meant love and passion and the exquisite image of the rose was represented by the recapitulation of the color â€Å"red. † The word â€Å"Newly Sprung† intended for his sincere and great love. As I analyzed this piece, I obtained the knowledge and information about the true meaning of love. The way he illustrated his love, I observed that for him it was precious and worth keeping for. Burns also declared that once we felt love and it was true, it must be for a lifetime. â€Å"Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun†, meant that no matter how far or near the lovers were, love will always be there and stays forever. The entire logic of this poem is about the unconditional love that he can offer to the one he used to love. The true love in a sensible way was being illustrated by John Frederick Nims in his poem entitled â€Å"Love Poem. † The love that was impossible and unreachable was also the idea being shown by this sonnet. The essence of sticking to the one you love regardless of his imperfect qualities was the theme of this poem. From the metaphors in Nim’s piece, he brought to reality the figure of a very clumsy individual. â€Å"All devotion, at your knees† meant that despite of that unpleasant quality, she was so beautiful, charming and refine. Her good qualities were the reason why those who knew her keep her. From the lines â€Å"So gayly in love’s unbreakable heaven/Our souls on glory of spilt bourbon float,† it characterized that even clumsiness wouldn’t affect his love. The line â€Å"Their souls float on spilt bourbon†, which proved that they were happy with the presence of her fault. The metaphor in the line â€Å"Be with me darling early and late,† meant that they must stayed together during their youth and when they became old. The meaning of this line â€Å"Her hands, which â€Å"shipwreck vases,/At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,† showed the gracefulness of people. , and â€Å"should your hands drop white and empty/All the toys of the world would break,† described that the things she did using her hands wouldn’t fade away but will still remain and unreplacable. There were also symbolic images like â€Å"my clumsiest dear,† â€Å"chip and ring,† â€Å"bull in china† and a â€Å"bur in linen† that showed the partnership of appreciation and condemnation. But in the stanza â€Å"The refugee uncertain at the door/you make at home†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (6 – 7) he commended the quality of his lover as a charitable one. Nevertheless, the whole idea of this poem was about the exposition of the girl he loved, her positive and negative side. He wanted to share the readers that in loving a person, we must adore his good qualities and love them despite of flawed qualities. The two poems are the same in iambic meter and in quatrains. The tone of both writers as they convey their feelings on their loved one’s shows that they are so much in love with love. They are so sincere in expressing their affection and passion towards their lovers with no hesitation and no limitation. When it comes to the voice according to the writers, I can see that Burns is so fascinated to his lover. All the things that he can see are all beautiful and the way he promises his love is so precious for him. As we go deeper beyond the meaning of the poem, the author doesn’t mind the negative traits of his lover nor mentions his flaws. Nevertheless, Burns only indicates how big his love is for the girl whom he loved. Moreover, how he promises that he can offer and sacrifice a lot for the fulfillment of his love. While, Nims obviously starts his poem in a different way. He shows the negative side of his lover. He even mentions the wrong impressions toward his girl. He doesn’t even bother to cover up the flaws of the one he loves instead of covering, he exposes the blemishes of his lover. However, the author doesn’t mean that he just wants to intimidate his girl but proudly tell the whole world and all the readers that despite of her flaws and shortcomings, he loved her so much. Now the difference of the two poems when it comes to declaring the love for their special someone is that the first author loves without looking or even mentioning the flaws of his girl or loving the person unconditionally while the latter explains how to love by accepting the reality that a person has the negative and positive characteristics. The symbols or images use in both poems also differ. Burns uses similes that focus on the natural resources like rose, music, seas, sun, sands, and rocks. For me, it implies that the author is a nature lover. He shares to the readers that when we are in love, the beauty of the things that surrounds us are all that we can see and appreciate and it gives a happy feeling. While, Nims uses metaphors where in the center idea is about the things or toys that can cause noise and to the things that we usually use everyday like vases, glasses, bulls, burs, dime and toys. In here, he shows the poem as if it is in a movie or in a story telling type. He details what are the happenings and how he accepts the flaws of the one he loves. For me, this poem is so interesting because he directs the readers to the exact situation of the things that are happening to him. He never hides the flaws of his girl maybe because the true meaning of this poem is about acceptance. According to my evaluation, accepting the weaknesses of the one he loves will show the true meaning of love. We don’t have to hide the imperfections of our loved ones because if we learn to love and accept them despite of the blemishes of the one we use to love, I think the power of love will strongly manifest and can’t be broken or shaken easily. But for me, both poems are so interesting and appealing. In reality, there are two kinds of lovers. The first one is the one who doesn’t see the negative side of the person that he used to love because he is blinded by his love while the other one is that he sees first the weaknesses of his lover and then learn to love that person. Both kind of love is passionate and ideal. Learning how to love though in different ways depends upon the person but we must love unconditionally, fervently, without hesitation and reservation, with acceptance and forgiveness, and by showing it through actions and words. Works Cited Burns, Robert â€Å"A Red, Red Rose† http://www. poemhunter. com/poem/a-red-red-rose/ Nims, John Frederick â€Å"Love Poem† http://www. poemhunter. com/poem/love-poem/

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Book Notes Is a Free Study Guide on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J. K. Rowling. Essay Example

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Book Notes Is a Free Study Guide on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J. K. Rowling. Essay Example Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Book Notes Is a Free Study Guide on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J. K. Rowling. Essay Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Book Notes Is a Free Study Guide on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J. K. Rowling. Essay Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Book Notes is a free study guide on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J. K. Rowling. The story begins with a description of the Dursleys, an utterly normal family in England, who are left with baby Harry Potter on their doorsteps. Aunt Petunias sister Lily married James Potter and became a powerful couple in the wizards world. They were killed by the evil Voltemort, leaving Harry with a large scar on his forehead and legacy as the only wizard to escape Voltemort alive. Head wizard Albus Dumbledore decides to have Harry grow up with the Dursleys until he is ready to attend Hogwarts, the premiere magic school in England. At age 11, Harry is wisped away to Hogwarts by the giant gamekeeper, Hagrid, to find himself lost amongst a new world of magic and power. Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where he retrieves some of his inheritance from Gringotts, the wizard bank, and purchases his books, wand, and robes from the Leaky Cauldron and Ollivanders. On the train to Hogwarts at platform Nine and Three Quarters, Harry meets his new friend Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. : Everyone is amazed to meet the famous Harry Potter. On the train Harry also meets Draco Malfoy, a boy with whom he develops a distrust and hatred. At Hogwarts, the children meet Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell, all professors and wizards. At the opening banquet, the Sorting Hat decides in which house the children live, sorting Hermione, Neville, Ron, and Harry into Gryffindor, and Draco Malfoy into Slytherin, the house run by Snape and known to have schooled Voltemort in years past. Hermione busies herself with studies, Ron with chess, and Harry with learning about his family and powers. He becomes an expert flyer and is allowed to play Quidditch for Gryffindors team. Draco Malfoy continually tries to get the Gryffindor kids in trouble, by setting them up and dragging them away from their beds at the wrong time. One day, Ron and Harry come across a large troll and rescue Hermione from death. From then on, the threesome spies on Snape and Quirrell and seek to discover the secrets at Hogwarts. They realize that the Sorcerors Stone is hidden by a three-headed dog at Hogwarts and is the secret to eternal life created by Nicholas Flamel. They believe Snape is the culprit behind the evil and try to stop him from destroying Harry and Hogwarts. Meanwhile, Hagrid keeps an eye on Harry and looks out for him. They visit Hagrid and meet his new pet dragon, Norbert. Norbert causes problems for everyone, as dragons are illegal animals. The three send the dragon away to Romania under Harrys Invisibility Cloak and are discovered out of bed doing so. They are branded and punished with detention and stricken of fifty points each. As detention the kids must help clean up the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. They find a unicorn slaughtered, with its blood scattered across the ground, and are frightened by an evil spirit. The good centaur Firenze flies Harry away from danger in the forest as soon as he discovers who Harry is. Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that Voltemort tricked Hagrid into revealing the method by which to get past the three-headed dog and to the Sorcerers Stone. They rush past the dog, and through the chambers to stop Voltemort from killing Harry. Ron gets everyone past the life sized Wizards Chess board, while Hermione breaks the riddle that allows Harry to proceed to the ultimate chamber under ground. He sees the Mirror of Erised, the same mirror that shows the hopes and dreams of the person who looks inside. He finds Quirrell in the chamber without his stutter. He admits to hosting Voltemort and trying to destroy Harry in the forest. When his turban is removed, Harry sees a double face on top of Quirrells head it is Voltemort, and he wants to use Harry to get the Stone and then kill him. Harry discovers the Stone in his pocket and tries to kill Voltemort/Quirrel until he blacks out. Harry awakens in the infirmary to Dumbledore congratulating him. He saved the Stone, Hogwarts, and his own life. Because of his bravery and that of Hermione, Ron, and Neville, Gryffindor wins the House Cup for the year. Harry must go back to the Dursleys for the summer, but looks forward to all the magic he will practice and learn in the future.

How Velociraptor Was Discovered

How Velociraptor Was Discovered Of all the dinosaurs that have been discovered over the last 200 years, Velociraptor comes closest to the romantic ideal of rugged paleontologists trekking across dangerous, windswept terrain in search of ancient fossils. Ironically, though, this dinosaur was nowhere near as smart and vicious as it has subsequently been depicted in movies, the main culprit being Jurassic Parks pack-hunting, quick-thinking, doorknob-turning Velociraptors (which were actually played by individuals of the closely related raptor genus Deinonychus, and even then not all that accurately). The Velociraptors of the Gobi Desert In the early 1920s, Mongolia (located in central Asia) was one of the most remote places on the face of the earth, inaccessible by train, plane, or pretty much anything else except a well-stocked caravan of well-oiled automobiles and sturdy horses. That is exactly what New Yorks American Museum of Natural History dispatched to outer Mongolia, by way of western China, in a series of fossil-hunting expeditions led by the famous paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews. Although Andrews personally discovered and named many Mongolian dinosaurs in the early 1920s- including Oviraptor and Protoceratops- the honor of unearthing Velociraptor went to one of his associates, Peter Kaisen, who stumbled upon a crushed skull and toe claw at a dig site in the Gobi Desert. Unfortunately for Kaisen, the honor of naming Velociraptor didnt go to him, or even to Andrews, but to Henry Fairfield Osborn, the president of the American Museum of Natural History (who, after all, wrote all the checks). Osborn referred to this dinosaur as Ovoraptor in a popular magazine article; fortunately for generations of schoolkids (can you imagine having to distinguish between Ovoraptor and Oviraptor?) he settled on Velociraptor mongoliensis (speedy thief from Mongolia) for his scientific paper. Velociraptor Behind the Iron Curtain It was difficult enough to send an American expedition to the Gobi Desert in the early 1920s; that became a political impossibility only a few years later, as the Mongolian government was toppled by a Communist revolution and the Soviet Union exerted its hegemony over Mongolian science. (The Peoples Republic of China didnt come into existence until 1949, giving the USSR a crucial head start in a Mongolian nation that, today, is dominated by China rather than Russia.) The upshot was that, for over 50 years, the American Museum of Natural History was excluded from any further Velociraptor-hunting expeditions. After World War II, Mongolian scientists, aided by colleagues from the USSR and Poland, returned repeatedly to the Flaming Cliffs fossil site where the original Velociraptor specimens had been unearthed. The most famous discovery- of a near-complete Velociraptor caught in the act of grappling with an equally well-preserved Protoceratops- was announced in 1971. In the late 1980s, following the crumbling of the Soviet Union and its satellites, western scientists were again able to travel in Mongolia. This was when a joint Chinese and Canadian team discovered Velociraptor specimens in northern China, and a joint Mongolian and American team unearthed additional Velociraptors at the Flaming Cliffs site. (One of the specimens discovered on this latter expedition was informally named Ichabodcraniosaurus, after Nathaniel Hawthornes headless horseman because it was missing its skull.) Later, in 2007, paleontologists discovered a Velociraptor forearm bearing the unmistakable imprint of quills- the first definite proof that (as had long been suspected) Velociraptor sported feathers rather than reptilian scales. The Feathered Theropods of Central Asia As famous as it is, Velociraptor was far from the only feathered, meat-eating dinosaur of late Cretaceous central Asia. The ground was thick with dino-birds closely related to the North American Troodon, including Saurornithoides, Linhevenator, Byronosaurus, and the wonderfully named Zanabazar; feathered dinosaurs closely related to Oviraptor, including Heyuannia, Citipati, Conchoraptor, and the (also) wonderfully named Khaan; and a vast assortment of associated raptors. Most of these dinosaurs were discovered in the late 20th century, under the auspices of a talented generation of Chinese paleontologists. What was it about the windswept Mongolian plains that favored this brand of dinosaur diversity? Clearly, conditions in late Cretaceous central Asia  favored small, skittery animals that could nimbly pursue smaller prey or speedily escape from the clutches of slightly bigger dino-birds. In fact, the profusion of central Asian feathered dinosaurs points to the most likely explanation for the evolution of flight: originally evolved for the purposes of insulation and display, feathers gave dinosaurs a certain amount of lift while they were running, and were thus increasingly favored by natural selection until one lucky reptile achieved actual lift-off!

Ancient History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ancient History - Assignment Example The Eastern region was infertile, unproductive and sparsely populated. Its significance lay in the fact that it was a natural buffer zone that secured the western, fertile region from invasions and raids. During this period, Asia was inhabited by many different communities who were quite progressive and developed. The dyes and woolen textiles made in this region were quite famous and in tremendous demand. The Romans saw this region as a rich place for collection of taxes so that they could live lavishly and in style. The area also was quite rich in natural resources. Spices were grown in Asia which seasoned the food of the Romans, and was a crop that had worldwide commercial value.1 The larger cities of Asia were important centers for education and culture. In fact, Asia had everything that the Romans desired and wanted. Riches from Asia allowed them to indulge in a luxuriant life style, build their cities and have the largest armies in the world. Their large armies helped them to co ntrol and manage the territories they conquered.2 During the Roman peace period, trade and other cultural activities flourished in Asia Minor. Roman emperors acknowledged the importance of this region and travelled to different cities in Asia to help and encourage in the development and progress of this province. The Romans were quite adept in constructing roads, and a vast network of roads was built here to connect this part of Asia to the rest of the Roman Empire. During this time many enormous temples and other public construction such as libraries, sewerage systems, fountains etc. were designed by Roman architects and built by the local populating. Answer 2 The Third Mithridatic war fought during 73-63BC was the longest of the three Mithridatic conflicts. It started because the ruler of Bithynia was a puppet of the Romans, and Mitrhridates tried to overthrow him. Consequently, the ruler of Bithynia declared war on Pontus because of encouragement and support provided to him by th e Romans advisors. The two legions of Roman soldiers allied with the army of Nicomedes IV proceeded to invade Mitrhridates’ kingdom of Pontus in 89 BC. Nicomedes and his Roman allies were completed routed.3 Although Mitrhridates was welcomed in Anatolia, his hatred against the Romans persisted, and in 88 BC, he instigated a massacre campaign against the Romans and their Italian allies and eliminated them throughout the entire region. Tigranes the Great, who ruled neighboring Armenia became an ally of Mitrhridates and consolidated his alliance by marrying Mitrhridates’ daughter. Both kingdoms supported each other against Rome.4 The conflict in Asia Minor reflected Mithradte’s desire to defeat the Romans and include Asia in his rule. The second conflict was different because it reflected the ambitions of the Roman general Murena. Since both wars were inconclusive, it was apparent that there was going to be another war because Sulla who had discussed the terms and agreement of the first conflict had died. Sulla was a staunch proponent of peace. 5 Most of Sulla’s allies thought that the peace terms that he had negotiated were too soft, and when Sulla died the Roman Senate firmly refused to approve the agreement. In this war, the Romans defeated Mitrhridates VI of Pontus which ended the Pontic Kingdom and created the Kingdom of Armenia as an allied client of Rome. The importance of these wars was that the Romans gained power and influence in absolutely new territories. The precise dates of the

Quantitative data analysis report based on an independent analysis of Statistics Project

Quantitative data analysis report based on an independent analysis of a large data set of regional economic and social indicators from France and Italy (NUTS2) - Statistics Project Example The sample proportion of France indicated mean for participation rates (M= 100.8, SD=1.6) was significant ≠¥ high tech employments (M = 4.3, SD =1.4), t(20) = 257.4 p =000. Thus we reject null hypothesis as p The indication from the Tables, Italy, is that, at difference of (m = 95.2, sd = 3.8), t(18) = 110 p At 97.7% variance of GDP (2008) the is accounted for the linear combination, with a positive linear coefficient correlation of .99. The bivariate coefficient indicates p There is a highly linear correlation at R2 = 98.2 % of the variance of GDP in the linear equation. P-value GDP of a country is market value per year of all goods and services produced in the country. The value does not include the goods and services produced in other countries (Tucker, 2013). Thus the GDP of a country can measure of the wealth of a nation. The Western Europe countries of Italy and France have a high potential in high tech sectors in that France has a high tech patent rights that contribute a lot in the GDP of the France, where as Italy has more sectors that employ more people in high tech sectors. The education plays the main part in developing the cognitive, physical and social skills. The 4 year old kid develop skills by participating in schools activities thus increasing the enjoyment in leisure, reading books, understanding jokes and playing games (O’Sullivan,