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!