Everyday Use Analysis - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 1 Words: 335 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/09/14 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? In Alice Walkers Everyday Use, the three main characters are necessary in revealing the underlying concepts of the story. The critic Timothy Sexton asserts that the older daughter, Dee, is the embodiment of the struggle for a unifying identity (par. 4). In contrast with Dee, the critics Houston A Baker, Jr. and Charlotte Pierce-Baker consider Maggie to be a guardian of history, or griot (164). On the other hand, David White describes Mama as having an inherent understanding of heritage, something less apparent among the two children (par. 3). Dee, Maggie, and Mama serve as artistic representations of the various aspects of African Americans culture and heritage. In addition, they are our creative guide to understanding the identity struggles that African Americans faced during that time period. Dee is a selfish and egotistical character with a superficial understanding of her inheritance. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Everyday Use Analysis" essay for you Create order She characterizes the confusion and misguidance of young African Americans in the late 60s and 70s. This is apparent in her interactions with her mother and sister. As Sexton notes, Dee considers herself as cultured, and beyond the abased quality of the lives lived by her mother and sister (par. 3). She makes her feelings clear when she attempts to take the quilts Mama had promised to Maggie: Maggie cant appreciate these quilts shed probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use (Walker, 103). By using the quilts for purposes other than their original intent she believes that she is respecting her heritage, but this is not the case: her desire to put them on display is really not quite so different from the white capitalist cashing in on ethnic artworks (Sexton, par. 4) Not only is she conforming to the worst of American ideals, but she is rejecting and disrespecting her own cultural heritage all under the pretenses of preserving it. It is in this sense that she is the embodiment of the struggle for a unifying identity, because she has not yet come to understand her place in society as both an African and an American

A Clockwork Orange Essay - 553 Words

A Clockwork Orange We are first introduced to Alex (Malcolm McDowell) in the company of his posse, strangely sipping drugged milk in a freakish bar with anatomically indiscrete manikins serving as tittie-taps and tables. The ensuing scenes flash from Alex and his three droogs brutally beating an old man to a violent rape scene to a semi-chaotic gang-brawl. The story is of Alex and his love of the old ultra-violence, his act of murder, his betrayal and imprisonment, and his cure (twice). Adapted from Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel, A Clockwork Orange is in part a response to psychological behaviorism and the age of classical conditioning. While in prison, Alex is selected for a special treatment that will cure him of his impulses to†¦show more content†¦The juxtaposition of classical cultural icons including Beethoven’s symphonies and Pomp and Circumstance with sexual violence and crime creates a grating tension between conventionality, conformity, and chaos. Another advantage of the visual/audio media to Burgess’ work is the fluidity afforded his unique Russo-anglican dialect. For all its artistry, however, the sad truth is that Kubrick’s adaptation of A Clockwork Orange to the big screen is painful to watch from beginning to end. Ultimately, I believe it fails as a film. The unfortunate consequence of Kubrick’s constant barrage of horrific scenes is that the most thoughtful, psychological, philosophical components of Burgess’ novel (that made it important enough a work to put on the big screen in the first place) are muddied and masked behind the very distracting shock value of the violence, which is, quite simply, too â€Å"in your face†. Let’s face it, the pornography is distracting. The important thematic questions having to do with free will and ethics in the age of psychological behaviorism, are present but unclear. Following his release from treatment, Alex, deprived of his ability to fight, is repeatedly victimized and beaten, and eventually driven to an attempted suicide by Beethoven’s 9th. If the filmâ₠¬â„¢s intent is to provoke its audiencesShow MoreRelatedA Clockwork Orange1450 Words   |  6 PagesAnthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel set in an oppressive, futuristic state. Published in 1962, A Clockwork Orange is an extremely intense, graphic, and, at times, horrifying novel. A reader begins to question their own values as they become numb and desensitized to the violence at hand. Both behaviorism and free will is occurring throughout A Clockwork Orange. A Clockwork Orange brings up a question, how much control of our own free will do we actually have? Do we reallyRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay: Blindness in A Clockwork Orange970 Words   |  4 PagesBlindness in A Clockwork Orange In the novel, A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess has tried to show the importance of individual freedom over doing the right thing. He has taken an extreme example of violence and perverse acts to accent his strong belief. It is my opinion that Burgess has been blinded to some essential truths in his quest to ensure personal freedom. Personal freedom can be described as acting upon your own accord and not becoming restricted by the social paradigm in which youRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay551 Words   |  3 Pages A Clockwork Orange Authors who write of other times and places help us to better understand our own lives. Discuss A Clockwork Orange in terms of that statement. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;A â€Å"clockwork orange† can be described as something that has a convincing outer appearance yet in the inside is merely controlled by outer influences, such as a clock set in motion by its owner. In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess takes us into the future where violent criminals are forced to be â€Å"goodRead MoreEssay on A Clockwork Orange916 Words   |  4 Pages I think that A Clockwork Orange is a book worth reading because it is relatable, makes you think, and is interesting. The author, Anthony Burgess, was born February 25, 1917. At the young age of two his mother passed away. He was brought up by his aunt and later his stepmother. Even with such an unstable childhood Burgess continued on to enroll in college and major in English. He had a passion for music, which he expressed in the main character of A Clockwork Orange. Burgess wrote several accomplishedRead MoreAnthony Burgess and A Clockwork Orange987 Words   |  4 PagesImagine existing in a world run by sadistic and insane street gangs who reek havoc on innocent civilians, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Anthony Burgess created this world through his novel, A Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess was born in 1917 and died in 1963. A lot of social changes occurred during this period of time, such as: the roaring twenties, prohibition, the Great Depression, World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and many more. Burgess not only lived through thoseRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay612 Words   |  3 Pages A Clockwork Orange nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;To leave out the final chapter of A Clockwork Orange is to change the entire meaning of the novel; as Burgess says in the introduction, his story is transformed into a fable. Without the last chapter the reader is left with a dark and pessimistic theme, that absolute good and evil exist in this world and it is possible for a man to be pure evil. Alex is conditioned and unconditioned, and in the end all indications point to a malicious life of crimeRead MorePleasantville And A Clockwork Orange Essay1335 Words   |  6 Pages Pleasantville and A Clockwork orange are both films that have certain things that are abnormal. Pertaining to Pleasantville it begins in black and white and end to be in color because of being exposed of certain things. In a Clockwork Orange that is exposed with violence robbery is highly unusual because it is not something morally right to do. While analyzing both of these movies they both have certain distortions that can be covered that make their own individually, out of ordinary, a tad shockingRead More Clockwork Orange Essay example2225 Words   |  9 PagesClockwork Orange In all of my reading, I have come to the conclusion that Anthony Burgess is one of the greatest literary genius’s of the twentieth century. His masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange, is unrivaled in obvious depth, insight, and innovation. The novel is a work of such quality, such perfection, that it seems to be genuinely written by a literary demigod. The novels main theme deals with free choice and spiritual freedom. More specifically, [The ethical promise that A manRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay2139 Words   |  9 PagesA Clockwork Orange Eat this sweetish segment or spit it out. You are free.amp -Anthony Burgess Anthony Burgess has been heralded as one of the greatest literary geniuses of the twentieth century. Although Burgess has over thirty works of published literature, his most famous is A Clockwork Orange. Burgess’s novel is a futuristic look at a Totalitarian government. The main character, Alex, is an amp;quot;ultra-violentamp;quot; thief who has no problem using force against innocent citizensRead MoreA Clockwork Orange, by Stanley Kubrick1139 Words   |  5 Pagesadaptation of Anthony Burgess’ 1963 novel, A Clockwork Orange has been used to explore contemporary anxieties. A Clockwork Orange takes place in an outlandish and dreary vision of future Britain governed by an oppressive, totalitarian super government. In this society, ordinary people have fallen into a dazed state of complacency, unaware of the sinister growth of a rampant, violent youth culture. Anthony Burgess wrote his short novel A Clockwork Orange in 1962 as a way of coming to terms with the

nature of racism Free Essays

Racism, though long deemed to have been eradicated in modern society, is unfortunately more ingrained than once thought. It is not only centralized in America, where slavery was once a dominant issue, but it has roots everywhere in the world that humans have reached. As George Orwell recounts in his narrative, â€Å"Shooting an Elephant,† racism feeds upon numerous psychological factors. We will write a custom essay sample on nature of racism or any similar topic only for you Order Now These are the same psychological factors that Memmi also outlines in his essay, â€Å"Racism and Oppression.† The intersection of their works, which is seen through tracing the psychological foundations of racism, provides a framework in which to examine this universal condition. The first point of intersection between the two works is in Memmi’s declaration that â€Å"to be big, all the racist need do is climb on someone else’s back.† This someone else is the most obvious victim of racism: the poor, the weak, and the unfortunate. The racist does not try to oppress those who are known to be â€Å"strong,† as they know they cannot step on these people on their way to perceived superiority. Instead, they turn their attention to those who are already defeated, to the people who have all but given up fighting. These were the people who were the perpetual victims, never the victors. Hence, they focus all their racist attention on the people who, with very little effort, acquiesce to them, as they have already been shown to be defeated time and again in the annals of history. And indeed, this is how the British came about to conquer the Burmese. When the elephant began ravaging the town, Orwell was called to restrain the animal, as â€Å"the Burmese population had no weapons and were quite helpless against it.† If the people had no weapons to protect themselves from a creature they were in daily contact with and one that they knew could very well erupt in a rage anytime, then hopes for any sort of sophisticated weaponry to ward off their invaders is dim. Furthermore, these people were very poor, living in â€Å"a labyrinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palmleaf.† Contrast this with the homes of the Europeans back in their own country, which utilized advanced architectural technologies and materials. With the flimsy materials the Burmese used to build their houses, the Europeans knew that they were a backward people, one that history left behind in the past. As such, they realized that it would be easy to conquer and subjugate the Burmese. However, Memmi’s point is refuted in Orwell’s realization â€Å"of the real nature of imperialism [and] the real motives for which despotic governments act† as he sets out to shoot the elephant: †¦[The crowd was] watching me as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick. They did not like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I was momentarily worth watching. And suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly. And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East. Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd – seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but I reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind. I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys†¦To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at. The white man, in this scenario, is the one who is now being controlled, manipulated, and even, in a way, subjugated by the Burmese. Through colonizing, they themselves have become the ones colonized. The Burmese people, instead of being the ones stepped upon by the British, have become the ones who are stepping on the backs of these â€Å"historically strong† people. As they know the British are fastidious about cultivating an appearance of power and authority, the Burmese exploit this weakness for their own advantage. A second point that appears in Orwell’s literary work is that there exists â€Å"the surprising racism practiced by the oppressed man himself.† In theory, people who are victims of abuse and oppression should bond together, for it is through one another that they are able to weather the cruelty and subjugation imposed on them. In number, they should find strength. In practice, however, this fails to hold. Even the people who have been victims of racism can inflict and carry out the same kind of abuse on others and becoming racists themselves. In â€Å"Shooting an Elephant,† Orwell illustrates this reverse form of racism by depicting the various ways in which both he and his fellow Europeans were insulted and jeered at by the Burmese. Being a â€Å"sub-divisional police officer of the town,† Orwell became the favorite target of the anger, ire, and anti-European sentiment of the Burmese. This is because he was extremely visible, going around the town as he went about his duties. Furthermore, it was his job to enforce the rules, which are made by the British Empire.   Though the Burmese had no â€Å"guts to raise a riot,† they certainly carried out their insults in more personal ways. One time, during a soccer match, Orwell was tripped by a Burmese player and the referee, another Burmese, simply looked the other way. The crowd roared with laughter, and the Burmese players, knowing they could get away with such an insult, continued tripping Orwell on the football field. As a result, whenever he was spied on the streets, insults were continuously thrown at him when he was already several meters away. Finally, Memmi points to a universal conclusion about racism, that â€Å"everyone, or nearly everyone, is an unconscious racist, or a semi-conscious one, or even a conscious one.† It encompasses people from all cultures, races, and religions, including the most-liberal minded man, the most politically sensitive nation, and the highest-educated woman who do not necessarily fit into the mode of the stereotypical racist. Different people approach racism differently, offering differing logical reasons and interpretations, though it always boils down to the same thing – we are all guilty of being racists in one way or another, overtly or covertly. Orwell’s â€Å"Shooting an Elephant,† by presenting ideas that side with and vie for the Burmese people, can seem to be anti-racist. Indeed, Orwell explicitly states his disgust with the empire: â€Å"theoretically – and secretly, of course – I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British.† Yet, Orwell is not the morally scrupulous anti-racist he paints himself to be. Just a few lines after this declaration of being â€Å"all for the Burmese,† he describes them as being â€Å"evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make [his] job impossible.† His â€Å"greatest joy in the world,† on the other hand, â€Å"would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest’s guts.† These sentiments, he said, were simply â€Å"the normal by-products of imperialism†¦Ã¢â‚¬  On the other hand, if Orwell was one of those people whom Memmi described as being an unconscious racist, his fellow British were the fully-conscious types. When Orwell was discussing with some other officers his act of killing an elephant for killing a coolie, the younger men in the group responded that he was wrong for doing so, â€Å"because an elephant was worth more than any damn Coringhee coolie.† For them, the worth of a human life, especially one of their colonized victims, is negligible compared to the worth of an elephant. It is simply another way of saying that the life of the people under their rule was not important. Orwell and Memmi both present the universal problem of racism. Though they do not agree on all points, they do agree that racism comes at a huge cost, both for the racist and the victim. How to cite nature of racism, Essay examples

Model for Warehouse Product Allocation and Design free essay sample

Allocating the warehouse space to the 3 typical functional areas within a warehouse- Reserve-where products(SKUs) are typically stored for a longer uration prior to shipping Forward-where fast moving products are stored for a shorter duration and also activities like collating, processing and other value added activities may be carried out prior to shipping. Cross-Dock-where products are taken in from the receiving dock and immediately transferred to the shipping dock 2. Allocating the products (SKI-Is) to these functional areas within the warehouse. The author argues that current practitioners make these decisions sequentially, however for an optimum design, these two criteria have to be analyzed together. Once the warehouse space has been distributed among the functional areas, the allocation of products gets limited to the constraints set by the previous design problem. However, if carried out in tandem, the result will be lower costs and optimum allocation considering the warehouse space and product flow. We will write a custom essay sample on Model for Warehouse Product Allocation and Design or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The focus of the paper is on development of a mathematical model to solve the problem and a heuristic which is typically used for a larger number of SKUs where a mathematical model will not be able to handle vast amounts of data. The author starts by describing the literature review for the paper and also a general verview of the functional areas within a warehouse and the decision making procedure currently used by practitioners. They then go on to formulate the mathematical model followed by the heuristic and a practical example. Mathematical model: This is a linear programming problem where the authors identify several parameters associated with warehouse design and product allocation. The costs involved in the process are the storage costs and handling costs per SKU per allocated flow (receive- crossdock-ship, receive-reserve-ship, receive-reserve-forward-ship, receive-forward- ship). The problem is formulated to find out % of total if Product i is assigned to flow J, otherwise. To find out the storage and handling costs, the authors have suggested an equation to get these values based on warehouse investment/leasing costs, material handling equipment costs, labor costs etc. However, they require the knowledge of which product (SKIJ) is assigned to which flow a decision variable in the primary problem. Hence they suggest to make an initial allocation to find the costs and then go on solving the problem to determine the optimum allocation and design as a 2 stage rocess. This model can be solved for upto 3000 SKUs on a conventional solver like LINGO. However for larger warehouse design problems the authors also suggest a heuristic which, as described in the example gives extremely close results as the mathematical model itself. The organization of the heuristic is an iterative process which starts by considering each product and then allocating it to a particular flow where the costs are the least. Based on these allocations and using the equations (constraints) in the LP model the % allocation to the functional areas is calculated. If these values are within the limits prescribed for these areas, we have arrived at the optimal solution. If not then the products which cause the areas to exceed the bounds are identified and transferred to the other areas such that the total cost remains as low as possible. The author finally compares the results obtained by these two methods on a cost, allocation and CPU time/memory perspective by considering an example. The author concludes by re-iterating the fact that the decisions involving warehouse functional area design and product allocation should be carried out together for optimum results.