The Norton Introduction to Literature Essay Example for Free

The Norton Introduction to Literature Essay My Papas Waltz was written by Theodore Roethke in XXXX. Many critics believe that â€Å"My Papas Waltz† lacks the strength of Roethkes later works like â€Å"The Lost Son† and â€Å"The North American Sequence. † However, this particular poem is one of Roethkes most well loved, read, and discussed pieces of poetry. The narrators ambiguous recounting of his fathers waltz causes drastically different interpretations of the exact meaning of the poem. Many people claim that it is a tender poem of a positive interaction between a father and son and a joyful childhood memory. While still others believe that it is a sad retelling of the abuse of a child by his drunken father. â€Å"My Papas Waltz† is a solid example of how poetry can be greatly influenced by the readers past. It was Roethkes goal to create a piece of prose which was not his alone but belong also to the reader and his/her personal experience. He leaves the poem open for interpretation by the use of several literary devices. The duplicity of meaning in â€Å"My Papas Waltz† is supported by Roethkes use of meter, alliteration , and juxtaposition of images. â€Å"My Papas Waltz† offers such strikingly different responses from readers that often the technical grace of Roethke is overlooked. This poem is short in length it is rich in several traditional and strict approaches to poetry. Alliteration is when the initial sounds of words are similar and place together. In line 4, â€Å"Such waltzing was not easy. † Here the repetition of the gentle â€Å"w† contrasts the simile of death used in line 3. The alliteration gives the impression that the waltz peaceful however when combined with the idea of death, it is clear that the waltz is â€Å"not easy†. See more: how to write an academic introduction â€Å"My mothers countenance / Could not unfrown itself† (lines 7-8) has the alliteration of the hard â€Å"c† sound. Compared that hard sound to the joyful stanza it is found in. The â€Å"c† becomes a sign of caution and carefulness. In lines 9-10, â€Å"The hand that held my wrist / Was battered on one knuckle; â€Å" the placement of the words hand and held together create a soft sound which contrasts the image of the â€Å"battered knuckle. † The use of alliteration allows the reader to interpret the actions within the poem as lighthearted or abusive. Image is another literary device used to create duplicity of meaning. The images of â€Å"dancing† together, a positive interaction, juxtaposed by the bruised knuckles is suggestive of violence. This negative interpretation is further supported by the image of the father holding not the sons hand but his wrist. This is a much more aggressive act than hand holding and gives the impression that perhaps the child is being forced to dance. In lines 13-14, â€Å"You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard by dirt,† is once again an image of violence. It is obvious that the narrator could mean â€Å"keep time† instead of â€Å"beat time†. In which case, the image suggest a father playing the drums lightly on his sons head. However, the introduction of the word â€Å"beat† creates a rough tone to the lines and references in sound the word â€Å"battered â€Å" from line 10. Meter allows the reader a choice of what the poem truly means. The true skill of Rothkes meter is often missed if â€Å"My Papas Waltz† is not read out loud. Roethke uses patterns of syllables to parallel the actual movement of the waltz. For example in line 1-2, â€Å"The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy;† but should be read with the following emphasizes â€Å"The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy†. The meter continues as above and rhyme scheme traditionally known as iambic trimeter. However, in line 11, mid way through the poem and continuing throughout the rest of the poem the meter is slightly different from the waltz. Roethke here is trying to mirror the appearance of a drunk man trying to do the waltz. In line 14, there is a complete break in the rhythm of the poem because there is an extra syllable. The word â€Å"hard† is not necessary at all. Remove hard from the line, and it still makes sense. The interruption of meter which mirrors the units of three that compose the waltz draws attention to that line. The reader must question why is the author giving that line special attention. One conclusion is that the poem is not about a son dancing with his tipsy father but with a child enduring regular physical abuse. Another viewpoint is that it represents another silly misstep by the father that the son enjoys. Through the use of several literary devices Roethke creates a piece of poetry which is technically perfect and thematically ambiguous. Alliteration was used to create dual meaning by pairing soft sounds with harsh images. Images of tender moments between father and son were juxtaposed with violently aggressive words. The poem parallels the actual steps of the waltz which contrasts striking with the slurred actions of a drunk father. With the use of alliteration, images, and meter, Roethke allows the poetry to be unclear which forces the reader to make up his own mind about the content and theme of the poem. One of the goals of modern literature and therefore modern authors was not to merely describe their environments or their emotions. But to inspire, evoke, and tempt the reader. Roethkes wanted to not only reach his audience but include his audience in the creation of the poetry. Certainly, by writing â€Å"My Papas Waltz† which offers dual meaning, he allows for all his readers to gain a different understanding of his writing. He effects readers with a great childhood by writing a poem which is lighthearted and nostalgic for their younger years. He also effects readers who have some form of abuse in their childhoods by assuring them by the retelling of his story that they are not alone in their experiences. The most important influence of â€Å"My Papas Waltz† is its ability to stimulate conversation and debate between different readers. It is in the absence of choice by the author that allows the freedom of choice for the audience. Roethkes breathes new life into the oldest theme in literature – appearance versus reality. In life very few things are ever as they appear. People, relationships, and memory are multi-layered and extremely complicated. Perhaps Roethkes true intention was to create a piece of writing which explores the ambiguous nature of memory and suggests that remembering is neither good or bad and but a simple combination of both. Works Cited Roethke, Theodore. My Papa’s Waltz. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 6th ed. Ed. Carl E. Bain, et al. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1995. 769.

Grapes of Wrath :: Essays Papers

Grapes of Wrath4 In John Steinback’s masterpiece novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the novelist uses Ma as the loving, caring, and physical backbone of the family. She is the prime example of the novel’s theme: in order for survival to be successful, people must join together and form a "we" environment as oppose to an "I" environment. Her strength that she instills throughout the novel, her leadership role that she has to help keep the family together, and her love she nourishes to her family shows the readers the true meaning of Ma as Steinback expresses her. Her outstanding characteristic is the essential need for the family’s unity. As the emotional and physical backbone of the Joad family, Ma demonstrates her leadership skills throughout the journey to California. There were many situations in the story, in which, the family began to drift apart and Ma would shift to a position of active leadership. Ironically, the father is usually the head of the family, but as the days continue in the long journey to California, Ma develops into the role of the father. Some situations in which Ma shows her leadership role is when they are camped at the Colorado River, she wields a skillet when confronting an officer who orders the family to leave. "Ma’s face blackened with anger. She got slowly to her feet. She stooped to the utensil box and picked out the iron skillet." Another situation, where Ma’s control is used, is when they are traveling and Rose of Sharon talk’s about living with Connie in a town. "Well, we talked all about it, me an’ Connie. Ma, we wanna live in a town." After hea ring her story, Ma became in a state of shock, proclaiming "We don’ want you to go ‘way from us. It ain’t good for folks to break up." Ma demonstrates her leadership and love by telling Rose of Sharon that she should stay with the family and not go off with Connie and begin a new life. Although Ma is seen as a leader, it does not mean she is motivated to be one. Her primary desire is to continue nurturing the family and keeping it together. "Twenty families became one family, the group was welded to one thing." Ma’s primary responsibility is to take care of her family and to provide them food, upraise, support, and love.

My Dream Essay

Hello everybody, i’m Doan Phuong Ly and i have been studied at Saigontech since 2012. My main major is Business Management. And i will have 2 more semesters to finish this program. I do really enjoy the business so that after graduating from this college , i hope that i can afford myself to attend the higher business program like MBA or rather , i will attend some Advanced Diploma certification which is necessary to my business in the future. As a person who are interested in business, i need to know the essential needs and basics of business so when i joined this course i feel it seems very useful and necessary to achieve my goals in my work life now and in the future. Eventhough, this course is short but it includes alot of content about the business such as the business environment, how to creating – financing – marketing and managing a business. In my life now, i have quite a lot of problems when i want to open my own business, such as opening my fashion shop, i’ve met quite a lots of trouble to identify and find out the best way to reach to my purpose. Fortunately, when participating in this course, there are too many things in books and also my instructor support a lots of business knowledge. It helps me to apply to my business work now, and if i can go further, i can understand the economic situation so that i may manage my business more effectively and i will achieve much success in my future.

When Stalking Goes Online - Examples of Cyberstalking

Most of us know what stalking is; what we don’t know is how pervasive it is. And with the advent of advanced technology and communications stalking just went cyber: In 2003 a US woman sought protection after claiming that someone had provided her personal information (including her description and location) to men via an online dating service. The victim discovered the identity theft when she was contacted by a man who said they had arranged a casual encounter through the Lavalife.com dating service. Shortly thereafter she was contacted by a second man following chat with her about arranging a separate encounter. She commented You dont even have to own a computer to be the victim of an Internet crime any more. A 44 year old publishing executive named Claire Miller was harassed by strangers who were responding to verging-on-pornographic promises someone had made in her name online. These postings included her home address and telephone number. A Glendale businessman stalked his ex-girlfriend using the GPS tracking device on a cell phone. He purchased a Nextel phone device that has a motion switch on it that turns itself on when it moves. As long as the device was on, it transmitted a signal every minute to the GPS satellite, which in turn sent the location information to a computer. The ex planted the phone underneath her car, paid for a service to send him the information and would log on to a website to monitor her location. The victim would suddenly ‘bump’ into him at the coffee shop, LAX, even the cemetery. She knew something was up — it wasn’t hard to realize as he was also phoning her 200 times a day — but police couldn’t help her. It was only when she called police after seeing him under her car that she got action (he was trying to change the cell phone battery). Amy Lynn Boyer was found by her stalker using online technology. Liam Youens was able to get Boyer’s place of employment and SSN by paying an online investigations agency a mere $154.00. They easily obtained her relevant information from a credit agency report and gave it to Youens. None of the people giving out Boyer’s personal information took responsibility to find out why Youens needed it. This is why: Youens went to Amy Boyer’s workplace, shot and killed her. These are some of the few documented cases of cyberstalking, when someone uses technology to maliciously target a specific victim with the intention harass, threat and intimidate. It’s just like â€Å"traditional† stalking, but totally anonymous, thanks to the sophisticated technology we rely on everyday. Cyberstalking Article Index: What is Cyberstalking?When Stalking Goes Online - Examples of CyberstalkingCyberstalking and Women - Facts and StatisticsI Was a Victim of Cyberstalking - One Womans StoryCyberstalking, Spyware, and Privacy ProtectionCyberstalking and Your Credit RatingWhat is Datafurnishing?How Cyberstalkers Obtain Your Personal Information12 Tips To Protect Yourself From Cyberstalking