How Does Steinbeck Present Disadvantaged Characters to Us Essay Example for Free

How Does Steinbeck Present Disadvantaged Characters to Us Essay Steinbeck presents disadvantaged characters to us using a number of techniques. The author does this to encourage us to sympathise and begin to understand the characters, in order to show the problems with prejudice and the various types of it which were endemic in American society in this time. Lennie is firstly presented to us through the author’s use of animal imagery in the description, and the readers first impression of Lennie is how animal like he is when phrases like ‘snorting†¦like a horse’ are used. The author does this to show that Lennie is gentle, like an animal and can be tamed like domestic animals are. It also shows Lennie will only attack on instinct and become violent when he feels threatened or under attack. This is shown when he says ‘I didn’t want no trouble’ showing that he didn’t mean to do any harm and just doesn’t realise his own strength. The author also presents Lennie in this way because animals are innocent and do not have the capacity to act morally or know good from bad. This shows Lennie’s behaviour, when he acts violently, is a result of society as society taunts him until he behaves in this way. Lennie is also presented to the readers as a vulnerable character, through the author’s description of Lennie’s actions, especially after his attack from Curley when he ‘bleated with terror’ and ‘crouched cowering’. This action emphasises his dependence on George as he couldn’t defend himself without George telling him to. His dependence on George is also made totally clear when he says ‘me an’ him goes ever’ place together’ When Lennie panics he starts to loose control and the author presents this to the readers through the structure of the text and Lennie’s dialogue. Lennie’s sentences become short and staccato like when he says phrases such as ‘please don’t’ and ‘now don’t you do that’ showing his evident panic. The readers can also tell that Lennie looses control because the author uses language such as ‘(lennie’s) face was contorted’. The author does this to show Lennie doesn’t mean to kill or hurt and does it out of panic and instinct. This is shown by Lennie himself when he says ‘I done a real bad thing†¦ George’ll be mad’ which shows Lennie realises he can’t control himself and that he has no moral judgement. It also shows Lennie thinks things are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to him depending on what George will think of him. The author presents Lennie to us, as a disadvantaged character, in the way he has a child’s mind in a mans body. This not only enables us to see the way in which society treats people such as Lennie but it gives us an insight into the feelings of black people as lennie, being socially unaware and childlike, does not realise the social boundries of white people and goes to talk to crooks.

Walt Whitmans Drum-Taps :: Walt Whitman Drum-Taps Essays

Walt Whitman's Drum-Taps - The Personal Record of Whitman’s Wartime Experiences Walt Whitman is one of America’s most popular and most influential poets. The first edition of Whitman’s well-known Leaves of Grass first appeared in July of the poet’s thirty-sixth year. A subsequent edition of Leaves of Grass (of which there were many) incorporated a collection of Whitman’s poems that had been offered readers in 1865. The sequence added for the 1867 edition was Drum-Taps, which poetically recounts the author’s experiences of the American Civil War. Walt Whitman was born May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Long Island. His early years included much contact with words and writing; he worked as an office boy as a pre-teen, then later as a printer, journalist, and, briefly, a teacher, returning eventually to his first love and life’s work—writing. Despite the lack of extensive formal education, Whitman experienced literature, "reading voraciously from the literary classics and the Bible, and was deeply influenced by Goethe, Carlyle, Emerson, and Sir Walter Scott" (Introduction vii). Whitman was drawn to the nations capital roughly a year after the Civil War began, at the age of forty-three. The wounding of his brother, George Washington Whitman, who served in the Union Army, precipitated his contact with the carnage of the war. Reading the notice of his brother’s injury in the New York Herald, Whitman went immediately to Falmouth, Virginia, where he found his brotherly only slightly wounded. Perpetually short-handed, Army officials asked the poet to help transport injured soldiers to field hospitals in Washington. Whitman agreed, and began a mission of mercy that would occupy him from 1862 until the war’s end in 1865 (Murray). Drum-Taps is the personal-historical record of Whitman’s wartime occupation. Drum-Taps’ early poems were written prior to Whitman’s contact with wounded soldiers, and betray a starkly different attitude toward the war than one finds later in the sequence. The chronologically earlier poems celebrate the coming hostilities, expressing Whitman’s "early near-mindless jingoism" (Norton 2130). As one progresses through the work, he finds a less energetic, sorrowful, jaded narrator who seems little like the exuberant youth who began. Understandable so, "[Whitman] estimated that over the course of the war, he had made ‘over 600 visits or tours, and went †¦ among from some 80,000 to 100,000 of the wounded and sick, as sustainer of spirit and body in some degree, in time of need’" (Murray). What follows is a contemporaneous review of his work that speaks of the esteem that much of the world extended Whitman as patriot and poet of Drum-Taps:

Aphrodite of Melos

Greek artists tried to create ideal beauty. Statues were not made to represent real, living people, but they were carved to show how the human body should look like. The picture in front of you is a sculpture of Aphrodite of Melos (Venus de Milo, in Roman mythology). For hundreds of years, the statue remained buried in an underground cavern, where it had been damaged and discovered in two parts. It was in 1820 AD (anno domini) when a peasant named Yorgos found her body on the Aegean island of Melos. Later, the sculpture was taken out of Greece under unclear circumstances and was taken to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France where it was admired by the millions of visitor’s of the country. This sculpture is considered by many art historians to be the ideal of Hellenistic beauty. It was carved out of marble and stands approximately 205 cm (6 ft 10 in) high. By looking at her we think, not of wisdom, or force, or power, but just of beauty. She stands resting the weight of her body on one foot, and advancing the other on a bent knee. The posture causes the figure to sway slightly to one side, describing a fine curved line. The lower limbs are draped, but the upper part of the body is uncovered and in some mysterious way, the sculptor has imparted to the marble a seeming softness as of real flesh. The head is as exquisitely set as a flower on its stalk. The parted hair is drawn back in rippling waves over the low forehead. The eyes are not very wide open, having something of a dreamy languor (tiredness). Melting eyes† are indeed characteristic of Aphrodite, and an analytical critic has explained that this effect is produced in sculpture by a â€Å"slight elevation of the inner corner of the lower eyelid. † The nose is perfectly cut. The mouth and chin are molded in adorable curves. Many wise heads have been puzzled to know the position of the missing arms. A hand holding an apple was also found on Melos, and this may have been a part of the figure; if so, Aphrodite was represented as the goddess of the â€Å"apple island†. Some have thought that the goddess carried a shield, and others ave fancied her holding the traditional apple. There have also been many discussions as to the date of the work. Now if the statue had been made in the fifth century B. C. , the goddess would have been fully draped; if in the fourth century, entirely without drapery. Our sculptor then belonged to neither of these periods, and combined the characteristics of both. It is a fault on his part to have placed the drapery in an impossible position, whence in actual life it would immediately fall of its own weight. The beautiful body rising above the drapery reminds us of the myth of Aphrodite emerging from the sea foam. Aphrodite was thus born and arose on a large shell, which was then carried to land,). Her beauty is a union of strength and sweetness, a perfect embodiment of a nature at harmony with itself and its surroundings. Venus de Milo (Aphrodite of Melos), famous marble statue of Aphrodite found on the Greek island of Melos in 1820 and now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Although it is of a grandiose style that recalls the Classical Period, the Venus de Milo is from the late Hellenistic Age. Beside it stood a herma (stone pillar) on which the arm of the goddess rested. On the base of the herma was inscribed the signature of an artist, Alexandros, or Agesandros, from Antioch on the Meander, and by this signature the work can be dated from 150 bc to 100 bc. A hand holding an apple was also found on Melos, and this may have been a part of the figure; if so, Aphrodite was represented as the goddess of the â€Å"apple island† (Greek melos, â€Å"apple†). The original on which the artist based his work was probably an Aphrodite of the 4th century bc, which showed the goddess holding the shield of Ares with both hands. In the Melos statue, however, Aphrodite may have held her garment in her (now lost) right hand.

What Is a Certificate Degree

Certificate programs enable students to master a narrow subject or topic and also offer professional training in a specific field. They are usually designed for adult students and people looking for short-term training with the goal of finding immediate employment. Certificate programs are offered at the  undergraduate and graduate level and include studies in the trades as well as  academic subjects.   Certificate Programs Without a College Education Certificate programs for students with only a high school education can include plumbing, air conditioning, real estate, heating and refrigeration, computers or health care. More than half the certificate programs take a year or less to complete, which makes them a quick way to get a leg up in the job market. Admission requirements depend on the school and program, most students with a high school diploma or GED qualify for admittance. Additional requirements can include  English language skills, basic math and technology proficiency. Certificate programs are offered primarily at community colleges and career school, but the number of four-year universities offering them is increasing. Certificate Programs in Undergraduate Education Most undergraduate certificate programs can also be completed in less than a year of full-time study. Paths can include concentrations in accounting, communications, and specialties like managerial accounting, financial reporting and strategic cost analysis. University certificate program options cover a wide array of possibilities. At Portland State University in Oregon, for example, the psychology department offers a post-graduate certificate program that focuses on therapy with adoptive and foster families, and the criminal justice department offers online crime analysis and criminal behavior certificates. Montana State does a certificate program in student leadership. And Indiana State offers advanced nursing certificates in medical-surgical nursing through its continuing education division. Princeton University offers a certificate program they call a â€Å"certificate of proficiency† which lets students supplement their departmental concentration with study in another field, often an often interdisciplinary one, so they can pursue a special area of interest or particular passion. For example, a student majoring in history can pursue a certificate in musical performance; a student concentrating in literature can pursue a certificate in Russian language; and a student concentrating in biology can pursue a certificate in cognitive science. Graduate Certificate Programs Graduate certificate programs are available in professional and academic subjects. These do not equate to a graduate degree program, but rather they allow students to show that theyve mastered a specific area of interest or topic. Graduate certificates include  concentrations in nursing, health communications, social work, and entrepreneurship which can demonstrate a focus on project management, organizational leadership, negotiation strategy and venture funding. Graduate certificate programs are meant for students who already have an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts or Science. Schools may ask for a minimum GPA and other requirements based on the institution, as well as standardized test scores or a personal statement. About a third of the students who earn a certificate already have a masters or bachelors degree. Theyve gone back to school to get additional training specifically to make themselves more competitive.