Analyses of Short Stories Essay -- Nathaniel Hawthorne Kate Chopin Ess

Analyses of Short Stories Nathaniel Hawthorne, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† Goodman Brown was not asleep in this short story. As I read, I believed that Goodman did indeed meet the devil in the forest. If he had indeed dreamt about the trip he was sent on and meeting the devil, I think his nervousness would have been described in more detail then it was. Concentrating more on the anxiety he was feeling would have led the reader to believe that the events were not real. I also saw this story as an allegory. I saw the allegory after reading the story two times. I think it is centered on Goodman Brown having a bumpy past and that he wants to go beyond his past and reach heaven. The characters names also show the religious allegory in the story. The names Goodman and Faith are used and the characters are then soon faced with terrifying evil. I think that Goodman Brown and his wife, Faith’s names symbolize that they are good, religious people and that Goodman is making up everyone being evil in his head. I found an essay by Alexa Carlson that described the symbolism in light vs. dark, forest vs. town, nature vs. human, and fantasy vs. reality. In her paper, Essay #1: Young Goodman Brown, she states that â€Å"†¦fantasy vs. reality are employed to reinforce the idea that good and evil have been set up as strict categories into which no one, not even the religious figures of the community, fit neatly.† As she later writes, if Hawthorne was apprehensive about â€Å"what he considers right and wrong in terms of human behavior, I think he would have spend more time building up his tragic end.† â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† was a pretty sad story because he was happy with all the locals and his faith until the trip came into Goodman Brown’s life. Goodman is pure going into the forest, but in a sense comes out of the forest somewhat evil. He comes back thinking he is better than everyone else and ends up isolating himself to lead a very lonely life. Source: Carlson, Alexa. Essay #1: Young Goodman Brown. www.crwl.utexas.edu Nathaniel Hawthorne, â€Å"My Kinsman, Major Molineaux† I read some information about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life and then thinking back to this story, I see his life somewhat reflected in the main character. I saw him relating himself to Robin and parallel the emotions and similarities to that of his own life. I remember reading that Ha... ...d have smothered him to death. Sure that may be hard to believe but that was the only reasonable explanation I could come up with. I saw foreshadowing in the story that brought me to believe that she smothered him. Miles was banished from school because of things he said. I assumed it was dirty language and he passed those words onto other children, including his own sister. Flora probably did not learn the appalling language from the ghost of Miss Jessel but most likely from her own brother. In the article from www.gradesaver.com, they talk about the governess’ reaction to Miles and his confession. The governess was given adequate information about why Miles was expelled from school. They also talk about how â€Å"the governess’s behavior is having a dangerous effect on the boy. The sweating, hard breathing, and weakness she describes begin even before she tells the boy that Quint is present.† The governess seems to get even more upset and then begins s haking the boy. I liked this book more than I thought that I would. I was not expecting it to a ghost story at all and was really quite surprised by the ending. Source: www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNote/screw/about.html

Concert Report Essay

Thesis statement: â€Å"This report will simply discuss how Ludwig van Beethoven integrated old and new musical ideas into his work, thus creating an unconventional but transcendent and influential quartet, based on the String Quartet No.9 in C, Op. 59, No.3 â€Å"Razumovsky† performed on the concert.† On 22nd Nov, Shanghai Quartet, one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles, performed two musical works. They are Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No.9 in C, Op. 59, No.3 â€Å"Razumovsky † and Antonin Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No.2 in A, B. 155, Op.82. In this report, I will focus on discussing Beethoven’s work. 1Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic period in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential icon for all composers. His best-known compositions include 9symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. 2The String Quartet No.9 in C, Op. 59, No.3 â€Å"Razumovsky† was written in around 1805-1806, when Beethoven was aged 35 and was at the height of his productivity. It is called the ‘Razumovsky’ quartets because it is commissioned by a Russian count of that name, who was the Tzar’s ambassador in Vienna, a keen amateur violinist and a confirmed music lover. The quartet consists of the following four movements: 1. Andante con moto – Allegro vivace (C major) 2. Andante con moto quasi allegretto (A minor) 3. Menuetto (Grazioso) (C major) 4. Allegro molto (C major) I will focus on discussing how Beethoven integrated old and new ideas into the second, third and final movements The second movement brings us to an unconventional territory. Beethoven tried something radical and that is an entire Russian movement. The ‘exotic’ flavor of this movement is easy enough to hear in the augmented second intervals of the opening violin melody, the frequent pizzicato accompaniment of the cello in which as if it imitates a ‘folk’ instrument such as guitar of harp and especially in the long passages of static harmony. Indeed, Beethoven is successful in conjuring up this  sense of geographical distance that the movement sounds very similar to the ‘nationalist’ inspiration from decades later, by Romantic period composers like Dvorak or Borodin or Chaikovsky. But the extreme modulations and patient logic of the tonal return betray it back to its time and composer. While the second movement gives an unconventional feeling and goes for something new during that time, the third movement gestures in the opposite direction. During Beethoven’s ‘middle’ period, he tended to avoid the Minuet and Trio format and try to use the robust Scherzo in his works; but here he returns to the somewhat-old-fashioned form, in a movement with a characteristic rhythmic motive in the opening seamlessly exchanged between instruments. As if to complete the ‘old-fashioned’ mode, the Trio’s uncomplicated dance character and rising ending melodies even bring us back to the world of early Haydn, who is a Classical Period composer. Everything in this quartet has been a surprise so far, and the last movement is no exception. It is led by a gentle coda to the third movement that ends on a question mark. But then, of all things, we are presented with the start of a traditional fugue, led off by the viola at a furious tempo. Again we have a sense of traveling between the new and the old. Fugues were by now an ancient, learned device; but Beethoven integrates this one into the most extrovert and ‘public’ of moods – as a display of evident virtuosity for the four soloists. What is more, as soon as the four entries have been completed, there are not any formal counterpoints and Beethoven explores instead the grandiose, ‘symphonic’ modes, especially that flamboyant celebration of an enormous C-major space on all four instruments. All in all, Beethoven is so successful in integrating old musical ideas, coming from the Romantic or even the Classical period, and his new thoughts into this quartet. While I listened to it, it acts like a time machine, bringing us to travel between old and new. No wonder it is regarded as one the most transcendent quartet composed by Beethoven.

Ida Lewis Lighthouse Keeper Famous for Rescues

Ida Lewis (February 25, 1842 - October 25, 1911) was lauded as a hero in the 19th and 20th century for her many rescues in the Atlantic Ocean off the shore of Rhode Island. From her own time and for generations after, she was often featured as a strong role model for American girls. Background Ida Lewis, born  Idawalley Zorada Lewis, was first brought to the Lime Rock Light lighthouse in 1854 when her father was made lighthouse keeper there. He became disabled by a stroke only a few months later, but his wife and his children kept up the work. The lighthouse was inaccessible by land, so Ida early learned to swim and to row a boat. It was her job to row her younger three siblings to land to attend school daily. Marriage Ida married Captain William Wilson of Connecticut in 1870, but they separated after two years. She is sometimes referred to by the name of Lewis-Wilson after that. She returned to the lighthouse and her family. Rescues at Sea In 1858, in a rescue that was given no publicity at the time, Ida Lewis rescued four young men whose sailboat capsized near Lime Rocks. She rowed  to where they were struggling in the sea, then hauled each of them aboard the boat and rowing them to the lighthouse. She rescued two soldiers in March of 1869 whose boat overturned in a snowstorm. Ida, though she was herself sick and didnt even take time to put on a coat, rowed out to the soldiers with her younger brother, and they brought the two back to the lighthouse. Ida Lewis was given a Congressional medal for this rescue, and the New York Tribune came to cover the story. President Ulysses S. Grant and his vice president, Schuyler Colfax, visited with Ida in 1869. At this time, her father was still alive and officially the keeper; he was in a wheelchair but enjoyed the attention enough to count the number of visitors who came to see the heroine Ida Lewis. When Idas father died in 1872, the family remained at Lime Rock Light. Idas  mother, though she too became ill, was appointed keeper. Ida was doing the work of the keeper. In 1879, Ida was officially appointed the lighthouse keeper. Her mother died in 1887. While Ida didnt keep any records of how many she rescued, the estimates range from a minimum of 18 to as high as 36 during her time at Lime Rock. Her heroism was touted in national magazines, including  Harpers Weekly, and she was widely considered a heroine. Idas salary of $750 per year was the highest in the United States at that time, in recognition of her many acts of heroism. Ida Lewis Remembered In 1906, Ida Lewis was awarded a special pension from the Carnegie Hero Fund of $30 per month, though she continued working at the lighthouse. Ida Lewis died in October  1911, shortly after suffering from what may have been a stroke. By that time, she was so well-known and honored that nearby Newport, Rhode Island, flew its flags at half staff, and more than a thousand people came to view the body. While during her lifetime there were some debates as to whether her activities were properly feminine, Ida Lewis has often, since her 1869 rescues, been included in lists and books of women heroines, especially in articles and books aimed at younger girls. In 1924, in her honor, Rhode Island changed the name of the tiny island from Lime Rock to Lewis Rock. The lighthouse was renamed the Ida Lewis Lighthouse, and today houses the Ida Lewis Yacht Club.