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Study of soap
Study of soap
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I was standing in the kitchen with my boyfriends' t-shirt and basketball shorts on. He had just left for the club and I was at home alone again, so I decided to take a stab at making soap. I took a bar of soap, a cup of water, and lavender-scented oil then added it all into a small pot. Even though I had never made soap before everything seemed to be going wonderful to start. The soap had melted and it had started to bubble, so I began to stir all the ingredients together. Suddenly, soap was popping everywhere. I turned the fire off and moved the pot off the eye but it continued to pop. POP! In 2004, at my apartment in Phoenix, AZ, I got a scar on my left ring because I attempted to make soap. As a result, I still have a scar on my finger, a reminder of a bad relationship, and now I'm very skeptical of the guys I date.
The bubbling soap popped up and left a burn that may never go away. It was like being burned by grease except soap immediately dries, so it dried up on my finger. Once I was able to get the soap off, it left a blister full of pus for a few weeks. To even touch it was excruciating, so I tried to do things with my right hand to avoid any painful contact. One night my boyfriend and I were coming home from the store when he grabbed my hand to run across the street. Unfortunately, he grabbed the burned hand and his tight grip ruptured the blister. As a result, pus and blood began to ooze out. At the time I didn't see it as anything except a burn, however I was upset that it was on my left ring finger. I was going to need a nice size ring to cover this scar. As luck would have it, my boyfriend proposed and it seemed that my dreams had come true.
Like making the soap, staying in that relationship wasn't my best idea. I was so wrapped up in thoughts of my upcoming wedding and future that I didn't see the signs of a bad relationship. The arguments were becoming more frequent, he was disappearing more often, and accusing me of sleeping around. I wanted to believe that we could make it work because I found out I was pregnant, so I ignored anything that could take away my happiness.
In the article “Courtly Love: Who Needs It?” by E. Jane Burns, the author establishes what would be considered the quintessential female persona as it appears in medieval literature, particularly in the romance genre. She begins by calling attention to the similarities between the expected mannerisms of women in the structure of courtly love and the modern book The Rules. The text is a self-help guide for women who are looking to attract a husband by employing medieval methods of attraction (Burns 23). It employs outdated strategies to encourage women to become unemotional and disinterested, but also subservient, with anticipation of attaining the unwavering affection of a potential suitor. Thereby perpetuating the well-established “ideology
Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun was released in 1994, a year in which over seven decades of communism were undoubtedly still a vivid memory in the eyes of the Russian people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy left them with no choice but to try and disregard their past in order to better accept the many changes that the future would bring. In Burnt by the Sun, however, the director focuses on the characters' human emotions rather than condemn their ideology or their motivations. He thus brings us close to these individuals who are clutching the remnants of the ideals they originally fought for, and who, with the return of an old friend, are suddenly forced to simultaneously confront their future and search through their past. Throughout the whole movie this is the main theme the viewer is given to reflect on: the clash between the sweet, safe, nostalgic past and the forthcoming of a bitter, dangerous, uncertain future. This theme is particularly alive in the sequence 'Arrival of Summer Santa'. By analyzing the opening segment of this sequence, we realize that it is the editing which renders the conflict so palpable. From one cut to the next, we learn Nadia and Mitia's implicit memories and desires; during their conversation, the cutting alone makes us realize what will happen; near the end of the sequence, one simple cut says more than a minute-long scene ever could have done. Thanks to the editing, we become involved with the characters, and grow fully aware of the symbolic opposition between Nadia and Mitia, between past and future.
Everyday, people are faced with choices. Some of life’s choices are simple, such as deciding what to wear to school or choosing a television station to watch. Other choices, however, are much more serious and have life-altering consequences. Being pregnant has many choices, whether or not to keep the baby. There are many choices such as adoption, or abortion. I decided that I would keep my baby because I knew in my heart that I would regret it in the long run if I didn’t. Throughout my pregnancy I suffered from depression, which is the condition of feeling sad or despondent mentally. My depression was mainly due to the fact that I was sixteen, alone, and scared, I was a waitress at a local restaurant, but that job couldn’t pay for all the financial needs it takes to raise a child. I left my baby’s father when all the arguing and physical abuse began. I couldn’t deal with that and I definitely wasn’t going to raise my child through it. Although I knew deep down that this big decision was for the best, it was still difficult and very painful. Just the thought of raising a child alone was scary. My parents were so disappointed in me they really didn’t have much to say, especially my mother. That made my pregnancy worse because I felt as though I had no one to talk to. I had friends to talk to but most of them didn’t understand what I was going through.
Even though it didn’t work out and neither did many other relationships after that. I refused to give up on being alone, or bitter for the rest of my life. I wanted my children to have a better childhood and life than I had, and this is where the stage of generativity vs. stagnation in my middle adulthood changed my life and made me the amazing person I am today. I began to look at the bigger picture, and what laid ahead in my future. I wanted things I never imagined were possible because of my family morals, and early stages and experiences through my development. I met my husband that I’m married to now for 24 years, and began to feel loved, wanted, cherished. My children saw me as supermom, loved me even though I had flaws. I wasn’t the perfect parent, but my kids loved and excepted me, and as they grew so did I, not only was I teaching them family values, and morals I never had, they were teaching me how to love myself and grow with them. I became very productive, went back to school to earn my high school diploma, and am now earning a college
Everyone has scars, they can remind us of the past and they can remind us that wounds heal. We can pick to let the scars renew the pain they cause when they were made of we can use them to look back and see how well we’ve improved. They may always be there but they don’t have to affect us.
Every person reaches a point in their lives when they must define themselves in relation to their parents. We all come through this experience differently, depending on our parents and the situation that we are in. For some people the experience comes very early in their lives, and can be a significant life changing experience. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” Colonel Sartoris Snopes must decide either to stand with his father and compromise his integrity, or embrace honesty and morality and condemn his family. This is a difficult decision to make, especially for a ten year old boy that has nothing outside of what his father provides. Sarty’s decision to ultimately betray his father is dependent on his observation of Abner’s character and the conflict he feels concerning Abner.
I Married a Witch (1942) conveys the tale of how Jennifer, a powerful witch, which no mere mortal man could ever control ends up falling in love with Wallace Wooley, a man whose descendants angered her in which she cursed them for centuries. She fights over a series of unfortunate events: going against her father, destroying Wallace Wooley’s wedding, running away with him, marrying, and losing her powers; in the end Jennifer is successfully able to lead a happy domestic life. This film reflects society’s norms, limitations, and standards for women during the 1940s-1960s era. These ideologies of women being obedient, having no real power, and the expectations to get married really was an outcry to the so-called privileges women had.
“The Bridegroom” by Ha Jin, is a short story about a man struggling with homosexuality in modern day China. The narrator, Old Chang, is the non-biological father of a young woman named Beina. Old Change promised to take care of Beina after her father, a close family friend, passed away. Beina then gets married to a very handsome man named Huang Baowen. Baowen quickly becomes the focus of this story. The climax of this short story is Baowen being revealed as a homosexual. This short story highlights Jin’s theme of homosexuality and shows the internal and external struggles of both Baowen and Old Cheng, through first person narrative, setting, and emotional appeal.
If I were rearing the end of my life and I had stayed in a toxic relationship it would be obvious to me at that point that I had not lived a life worth being happy with.
"Barn Burning" is a sad story because it very clearly shows the classical struggle between the "privileged" and the "underprivileged" classes. Time after time emotions of despair surface from both the protagonist and the antagonist involved in the story.
My boyfriend and I were so happy; we were such a “perfect couple.” He was truly a great guy, and I ,a well rounded character. I thought I knew him but fate would prove me wrong. He once told me that we would make it through anything, but I knew this was different he had dreams, and so much potential, this would surely detour him from his goals in life. My partner knew as well as I did that me getting pregnant was an accident but in the end he did not hesitate walking out on me, and there my chaos began.
When I think of an American Hero I immediately think of someone who is strong, intelligent, handsome, and daring. Upon closer examination, many different qualities than these become apparent. Courage, honesty, bravery, selflessness, and the will to try are just a few of the overlooked qualities of an American Hero. The definition of heroism changes with the context and time. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines heroism as "heroic conduct especially as exhibited in fulfilling a high purpose or attaining a noble end; the qualities of a hero". Heroes of the past are not necessarily heroes of present time and vise versa.
I told my boyfriend who was the captain of our football team three weeks after I found out, about the pregnancy. ?What?? He yelled out in surprise, with his six feet four inches, two hundred and ten pounds body shaking from fear. ?We can work through this baby? I told him, trying to soothe his spirit. I remembered Jake and I always being happy, we were the perfect couple. I thought I knew him but with the condition I was in he proved me wrong. ?I love you and with this love we will conquer anything that becomes an obstacle,? he once told me. This situation on the other hand was different. He had dreams, and with so much potential, the last thing Jak...
Throughout A Burnt Out Case, the theme of love is continually delved into and dissected. Many characters allow their love for things like religion, women, or vocation to lead them astray from what others would consider the “morally right” path. Religion was also a common motif, it’s pros and cons being portrayed through the words and actions of characters like Father Thomas, Doctor Colin, Querry, and Rycker. These two concepts went hand-in-hand to deliver the powerful overall theme; Love is dangerous.
This amounted into years of heartache for me and my two sisters and I was left with trauma.