... might even say their motto would be similar to a famous Chinese proverb, "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." James gives the name of "healthy-mindedness to the tendency which looks on all things and sees that they are good". The healthy-minded temperament has a ... "constitutional incapacity for prolonged suffering" and a "tendency to see things optimistically...in which the individual's character is set". Also according to James, the healthy-minded religious person "has a deep sense of the goodness of life and a soul of "sky-blue tint". Healthy-mindedness can b...

• Word Count: 652
• Approx Pages: 3

In the novel "The Dead," by James Joyce, Gabriel Conroy is Joyce in character form. James Joyce was an outcast to society and in this novel it is understood that he is because of the way Gabriel Conroy acts. Being uncomfortable with society, Joyce made Gabriel ... angry and he tried to get rid of all signs of his anger before he was to meet up with his aunts and wife. "Which he tried to dispel by arranging his cuffs and the bows of his tie. Then he took from his waistcoat pocket a little paper and glanced at the headings" Gabriel shows that he will not ... that is why he tried to hide his t...

• Word Count: 732
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... contemplating thoughts of past memories, or simply observing an intricate journey of a flock of birds, we become capable of capturing the true essence of life itself. In these passages by John James Audubon and Annie Dillard, two observers are caught in the midst of an engulfing voyage taking place in the sky right above them. Although both seem to be viewing a similar ... puncture, but rather had the might to puncture the mind of another being. In passage two, yet a different perspective is placed upon a similar flock of birds through an observer created by Annie Dillard. In this depic...

• Word Count: 624
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The short story "The Dead" by James Joyce talks about people and their relationship. One of the major themes in the story is miscommunication. This theme arises throughout the story and is mainly ... learning process from the way he sees his wife in the beginning of the story to a different point of view on her in the end. The process is influenced mainly by miscommunication on Gabriels' side. He also comes to a realization regarding his marriage. The story takes place at the annual Misses Morkan's dance. Among the invited people we ... attention to Gretta. It is seen is that Gabriel is thi...

• Word Count: 1393
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... . She would look at something as simple as a corkscrew and depict the flaws and would sketch out her own idea for one. She had many ideas, some not even inspired by existing concepts. She had the idea for a beeper that would attach to a book or tool when borrowed and would sound after 10 days. Only the owner would have the ability ... ...

• Word Count: 1628
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... and to live up to our full potential. This poem has persuaded me to reach beyond my limitations, to accept the fact that I can accomplish whatever I decide I want to do. By examining my flaws and working through them, my confidence will influence others to follow in my footsteps. In conclusion, being afraid of how our imperfections will affect us is something ... ...

• Word Count: 548
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... candidate for Vice President of the United States. Above all, it was quite amusing to read how a person, and in this case a somewhat mentally challenged person, can be made up by the media, especially television. Just as in real life, people only saw what they wanted to see and they only heard what they wanted to hear. This book is a fine ... ...

• Word Count: 434
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... his poem, "Fire and Ice". The poem is very brief, but as with all of Frost's poems, there is much to ponder in each line. Frost simply starts the poem by literally stating that some feel the earth will end in fire and that some feel cessation will come about with ice. More broadly however, Frost is probably trying to give ... ...

• Word Count: 638
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Peter Pan written by J.M. Barrie argues the movement of childhood into adulthood in a fictional story about a young immortal boy who comes in the night to take children to a place called Neverland, where rules do ... growing up and the struggles kids face trying to cope with imagination and dreams. Growing up seems fun when you are younger or in your teens. The idea of living by yourself and being on your own sounds so much better than living with parents who constantly tell you what to do and how to do it. But the story explains ... ...

• Word Count: 783
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

I read the article, "Watson Doesn't Know It Won On Jeopardy!", by Professor John Searle for the University of California, Berkeley. Searle's extrapolated on the idea that Watson, an IBM computer designed to think and answer, was in fact not thinking at ... most caught up on is whether or not Watson can enjoy what it knows. If it has a soul that can relish in a win. It can easily tell you it won, by searching new databases. It can even tell you what winning means. But it can't feel that win. It can't envelop itself in that win. That takes something else. I am not ... ...

• Word Count: 912
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... his family and his home. He continued to the "locked "garage doors, with the rust coming off the handles onto his hands." Reality was beginning to overtake his weaknesses, symbolized by the rust surpassing from the house to his hands and permanently staining him. He could no longer escape reality with his unrealistic explanations of why his life was miserable; the ... not going to change and neither was his sad reality. Ned persists with his uncompromising stance, but he will soon have to accept the truth, and will become permanently marked by the rust on his hand. On his final weak att...

• Word Count: 587
• Approx Pages: 2

... hand and finally notices that his thumb and fingers are misshapen. Not able to remove her glance from the horror, she describes them as "a pliant beast, awkwardly bent, shaken by faint jerks which resembled some sort of agony. The flat, cruel nail of the over long thumb glistened." This sickens the girl and she is somewhat repulsed ... by him now. She exclaims, "And I've kissed that hand!...How horrible! Haven't I ever looked at it?" Even when she wakes up in the morning, the image of the hand is ... ...

• Word Count: 486
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Barbed Wire by Mary Emeny Mary Emeny's poem, "Barbed Wire,"" depicts war as a negative force, destroying every decent aspect of human existence. Written during the Vietnam War, the work displays Emeny's negative views ... they experience as an aspect of their life. The girl "glid[ing] gracefully down the path- (1) and the boy "rid[ing] eagerly down the road- (9) have their enjoyable realities striped by the harshness of war. Likewise, war enters women's lives creating turmoil. The woman who works "deftly in the fields- ( ) no longer is able to experience the offerings of life. The ... ...

• Word Count: 496
• Approx Pages: 2

... front of them. They accept these views as reality and they are unable to grasp their overall situation: the cave and images are a deception, a mere shadow show orchestrated for them by unseen men, just as Oedipus does not fathom the truths behind all that lie in front of him. Oedipus perceives reality through imperfect eyes that are "perplexed and weak" and ... fundamental view of the, of reality, was transformed. Both the prisoners and Oedipus at that point came to see a deeper, more genuine, and authentic reality: a reality that had been marked by reason and had served to be painful t...

• Word Count: 526
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... thoughts ravelled out of reach that makes you think of string or spool of thread that is unravelled and loose. This again refers to a woman doing housework buy sewing clothes by hand with thread and it dropped and rolled on the floor. Overall the poem had an unusual effect. I felt she wrote this to let people know that she is aware ... of her disabilities but can do nothing about it. At the same time she shows a bit sarcasm by throwing in housewife duties. Emily Dickinson poem shows that because of her illness she can't control herself but still she gives hope of trying. ...

• Word Count: 554
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... her goal of climbing the tree, depicting her as a curious and adventurous girl. In the middle of the passage, Sylvia embarks on her quest to climb the monstrous pine-tree by climbing a nearby tree first. The sense of energy in the story increases greatly during this part as she makes her way up the tree ... by creating a tension that the reader can easily feel. The speaker describes Sylvia's journey in detail and creates the image of an incredibly excited child having the experience of a lifetime. In ... life, and it proved to be so in her mind once she made it to the top. The pure jo...

• Word Count: 572
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... describes the blind obsession of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross for a young girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. Burdened by the physical and psychological aspects of the Vietnam War, Cross often finds himself daydreaming and distracted by thoughts about her. Out one day on another one of their seemingly meaningless missions, Cross and his men are investigating tunnels near ... ...

• Word Count: 582
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Time Goes By She held the doll she had had for over fifteen years in her hand. Cleaning her room and packing away for college was a hard time for Melanie. A few months ago a ... was a hard choice. Even well before that, what shade of red to colour the clown's nose in her favourite colouring book. Her choices had been easy then. As years went by, her choices became harder. What type of clothing to where, which friends to be loyal to, and how to handle her young love life were some of the many options ... and pulled out the box and took out the doll. She stared at it once more, and stuffed it...

• Word Count: 759
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... people found miracles in his words. In this book, he also followed certain rules that eventually became his "footsteps" to success. These rules are called the "Seventeen Rules to Live By;" these are the following lines: 1. "Always count your blessings." 2. "Do things more than you are getting paid to do." 3. "Don't look back at your mistakes too long." 4. "Always think about ... and follow all the rules that Mr. Mandino wrote on his other masterpieces. In this book, Og Mandino told people about living their lives as if it is always Christmas by having the spirit of "gift-giving." He sai...

• Word Count: 805
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... describes the blind obsession of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross for a young girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. Burdened by the physical and psychological aspects of the Vietnam War, Cross often finds himself daydreaming and distracted by thoughts about her. Out one day on another one of their seemingly meaningless missions, Cross and his men are investigating tunnels near ... ...

• Word Count: 517
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... I continued to play I became aware of my frustrations and decided I was having "a bad pool day." The women I was playing was a middle aged red head who clearly signified she was a beginner by asking and reassuring me about the rules, not to mention that she had a shot that needed work badly. As the game went on I was in a slump. I could not make a shot ... , I had horrible leaves and she had won most of her games by hitting a ball really hard causing it to wildly bounce off several rails and miraculously dropping the 9 ball. At this point I was mad. So what I did was take in consideratio...

• Word Count: 768
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... power of both belonging and a lack of belonging. "No one wants to listen to how it really is to be fifteen and surrounded by the word no". This highlights Rosie's issue with belonging or "fitting in" with her family. This is portrayed clearly through the ... through Malvina's stream of consciousness the author has illustrated an image of the way Malvina is feeling about her current situation in the book. Highlighted by Malvinas' characters lack of belonging, is the power of how fictional works explore real issues, like the need to belong within society, and ... teenager exaggerates the...

• Word Count: 1421
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... at art, I figured it was only me that caused these feelings. I figured art was simply an artistic expression and nothing more. However, upon reading Art and Agency by Alfred Gell, I finally understood why art makes me feel the way it does. Alfred Gell explains art in almost a mathematical like formula which helps art lovers better understand ... art piece[Gel98]. Agents are more like people with the power to induce and captivate the recipient or viewer. The index is a physical or visible object produced by the agent. The prototype is the entity that the prototype represents or stand for...

• Word Count: 674
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," a short story by Katherine Anne Porter, the last thoughts, memories, and feelings of an elderly woman coming to terms with her inevitable death are retold. As our main ... ; and become a combination of strength, bitterness, and ultimately, fear as she faced her last living moments. Granny's strength came from the people she had felt jilted by. George, her past lover, had left her standing at the altar, her heart hardening in the midst of heartbreak. He never came to her and, though it ... approached, her mind raced and she panicked, hoping that she might...

• Word Count: 834
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... smiling meditation can be practiced everywhere such as in the car, in the kitchen whether you are sitting or standing, washing dishes or eating as stated by Hanh. Then, Hanh explains through healing and transformation how a person can transform his or her negative feelings into good feelings, he/she so can ... his or her relationships, decrease their anger levels, and increase great feelings of peace and joy. Finally, Hanh concludes his book Peace is Every Step by talking much deeper about subjects he mentioned in the preceding parts of the book, in other words he puts in action his inst...

• Word Count: 525
• Approx Pages: 2