His Eighth Sonata
You would think that having four jobs in the family would be able to support the three of us, but apparently not. As I see my sister enter the surgical facility, I contemplate all that we have lost this last week to save her life. It cost me my two hands and a leg. And my mom, well, her forest green eyes are now in some rich guys head. It's still a little unsettling seeing her with two red spheres in her eye sockets, instead of the shade that always reminded me of the first days of spring. My mom already sold her heart last year when we were far behind on rent. She claims she couldn’t even feel the plastic. At least if she avoids mirrors she can pretend not to be a Fake.
My hands however, we all agreed were our biggest sacrifice. Even without them, my fingers twitched on the table, attempting to play Prokofiev's Eighth Sonata with my now clumsy silicon fingers. Even without the piano I could tell that I could not achieve the speed of the increasing and decreasing notes. If anyone looked closely they could notice how fake my hands were, but at least they gave some illusion of reality as they were covered in a thin layer of silicone to simulate my skin. My leg, however, does no such thing. Under my skin, a collection of synthetic neural sensors connect at the base of my spine. The large metallic platelets start to appear around my lower waist, attempting to cover the ball joint underneath. A large metal tube extends, replacing my thigh then at my knee an enormous cylindrical connection allows me to move. At my foot I instead have one of the pre-designed shoes. We asked for a simple design so that could we could easily find a similar left pair for my real foot. But the fakeness of my foot is visible everywhere an...
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... no. I need to get out of here. Please let me out. I try to cry. I don't deserve this. I work hard, I go to school, I don't get into trouble. All I have ever wanted for my family is a chance to move up. All I have worked for will no longer matter. All because I'm a Fake, and Fakes never amount to anything. And now I never will.
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A month later a boy of fifteen is on stage. He goes over the first few lines of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in his head, before he places his grafted hands on the keys. They land and start to play. But it's the wrong music. His fingers move with such an aptitude and speed that the boy closes his eyes and lets them go on. At first he doesn't notice the different tune. This song had been in his hands since he got them. But up until that very moment he had not been capable of naming what his hands had been playing, Prokofiev's Eighth Sonata.
I can still recall how the book smelled; it wasn’t the crisp sweetness of a new book, it was more of an oddly reassuring, “I’ve been around the world,” smell. A page or two at a time was enough for a six-year-old girl to fall more and more in love with the enchanting story. Comparable to Daniel Felsenfeld’s experience in “Rebel Music,” the connection was instantaneous. From the moment the Beethoven song began, Felsenfeld was awestruck, as if the music was fashioned for his ears only. After finding himself a bit lost in his mid-teens, Felsenfeld was introduced to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by happenstance. This introduction led him to fall in love with many other classical pieces, consequently guiding him to a career as a composer. Just as Felsenfeld experienced, there was no way to know that a seemingly harmless book would start a love affair with reading that would last a lifetime, from The Chronicles of Narnia to the Harry Potter series, I was officially fascinated by the magic of reading novels.
How much are you willing to sacrifice for another? Whether they are a family member or a complete stranger. In the novel The Kite Runner Baba was was willing to risk his life when he had stood up and was trying to stop the Russian soldier from rape the young woman as payment for letting them pass through one of the checkpoints. Then there had been Amir it was when he had suffered extreme injuries, nearly losing his life when he had fought Assef, so that he could save Sohrab for the abuse he was suffering from the Taliban. Both Character Baba and Amir were willing to sacrifice themselves for another person, regardless of who they were. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teaches the reader sacrificing your life can lead to another person’s happiness through Baba saving the woman from the Russian soldier and Amir fighting Assef.
In today’s society, sacrifices play a big role in our everyday lives. They range from small, such as sacrificing that piece of cake to keep you feeling healthier and a little better about yourself, to big sacrifices such as a firefighter sacrificing his life for a complete stranger. At the end of the day, they all all make a difference for better or for worse. In the play “The Crucible”, many various sacrifices were made during the process of exposing the possible witchcraft that was going on in Salem. These sacrifices were a result of fear. People were afraid that they would be accused of witchcraft and would do anything to avoid being pinned. A few of the sacrifices that were made were people 's lives, the happiness
The Hero's Journey is a theory created by Joseph Campbell and expresses the idea that most heroes are essentially the same person embodied in different ways. Lawrence C. Rubin describes the monomyth as, “The hero, or mythic protagonist, from birth to death is on a journey, replete with demons, both inner and outer, challenges both great and small, and a cast of characters, some enemies, others allies and companions” (265). The 2001 animation Osmosis Jones is no exception to this assumption. In the film, a white blood cell named Osmosis Jones goes on an epic adventure to save the life of Frank and prove himself to the people of his community. In the beginning of the movie, Osmosis starts off as an egotistical jerk who believes he can do everything on his own; however, as the film progresses, Osmosis realizes that sometimes two brains are better than one. Jones finds out the hard way that without a helping hand, there is little he can achieve alone. Osmosis’s journey through the monomyth develops the theme of teamwork because help from others proves to be essential to Osmosis’s triumph.
Individuals everywhere grimace at war. Images of the strike of the gun, the burst of the bombs, and the clash of the soldiers all elicit a wince and a shiver. Moviegoers close their eyes during gory battle scenes and open them again only once the whine of the bullets stops rattling in their ears. War is hell, as the common aphorism goes, and the pain of war is equally hellish. Most individuals naturally accept this conclusion despite never experiencing war themselves. Without enduring the actual pain of war injuries, individuals still argue the importance war and its miseries. Individuals rely on media and entertainment for education about the suffering and evils of war. Writers provide an acute sense of a soldier’s physical and mental burdens through vivid imagery and relatable metaphors. Books can express the seemingly inexpressible pain of war through graphic descriptions. Individuals may then assess war—its how and why, its causes and effects—with greater insight. The writer may use the audience’s acquired understanding of war’s pain to address the significance of suffering. Through the clarity and horror of war descriptions, a writer may successfully convey the pain of war and his or her perspective and purpose to a general audience. Through the use of startling imagery, both Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried and Laura Hillenbrand in Unbroken effectively recreate the pain of war for an audience which could not otherwise fathom its magnitude. However, while O’Brien uses his descriptions to criticize the evils which cause the pain, Hillenbrand employs her equally vivid images to praise the resilience which results from the pain.
New Wark or New York A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a story of great sacrifices being made for the sake of principle. There are many examples of this throughout the book made by many of the characters, but some more evident than others. In Book The First, entitled “Recalled to Life,” the most obvious sacrifice for the sake of principle was made by Dr. Manette. He was imprisoned for eighteen years in the Bastille, for no apparent reason.
When we watch any military motion pictures or documentaries we perceive that youthful troopers are taught that they ought to be prepared to give up their life whenever for their country. What does self-sacrifice actually mean? It’s an ability to willingly give up something good for something better. Envision a soldier fighting in the war where he has to establish a hard decision which includes either to relinquish his life to spare thousand different lives or be narrow minded and let others bite the dust. What do we anticipate from the soldier? Nearly all of the people will concur that he will give his life, and it’s true that he will as it’s his task to defend his nation. It’s not a child’s play to sacrifice happiness and spirit; one requires a large deal of strength and courage to act thus. Mot of the savants believes that one can’t evaluate the strength of someone by merely expecting at their physique, only by the readiness of self-sacrificing themselves for the betterment of others. In the movie Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring directed by Peter Jackson, the main character Frodo Baggins, his companions Marry and Pippin and a wise wizard Gandalf self-sacrificed their comfort, serenity and life in order to successfully complete their quest and to stop Sauron from crushing the Middle Earth. Sometimes individuals face compelling circumstances in their lives where they need to make life altering choices. The film proposes that by the act of self-sacrifice one can achieve internal strength that may have never existed before.
In many instances, people make sacrifices for the people around them to survive. In The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, written by Louise Murphy, Magda and the Stepmother both sacrifice their lives. In Night, by Elie Wiesel, in many cases, Elie protects his father by making sacrifices. Both novels share the same controlling idea of survival. Each of the characters make focus on morality by making sacrifices for their loved ones and putting others before them in order to survive the harsh times during the war.
It has often been said that what we value is determined only by what we sacrifice. The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, includes one specific character who makes a sacrifice that demonstrates what she truly values in life. Mariam, a major character in the book, sacrifices her life in order to save Laila and her children. This sacrifice allows the reader to view what Mariam truly cares about: the survival of Laila, her happiness, and her children. Mariam’s sacrifice highlights her willingness to do whatever it takes to save the ones she loves, allowing for a deeper understanding of Mariam and how sacrifice is a major theme in the novel.
The narrative Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, tells the true story of a young boy’s dangerous path from Mexico to the United States, in hopes of reuniting with his mother. Along Enrique’s trek he sacrifices his safety, well-being, and even the possibility of his life to be with his mother once again. Lourdes, Enrique’s mother, gives up the ultimate sacrifice of missing her children grow up, causing their love and affection they once held for their dear mother to dwindle, all of which so she can provide money and security for her family. Sacrifice is a key theme in this narrative because without the difficult decisions made and the loss the characters so tragically endured, then they would not have been able to reap the reward of a reunited,
Joseph Campbell defines a hero as “someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself ” (Moyers 1). The Hero’s Journey consists of three major parts: the separation, the initiation and the return. Throughout a character’s journey, they must complete a physical or spiritual deed. A physical deed involves performing a daunting and courageous act that preserves the well-being of another person. A spiritual deed calls for action that improves another individual’s state of mind. While fulfilling their journey, a hero must undergo a psychological change that involves experiencing a transformation from immaturity into independence and sophistication.Campbell states that these events are what ultimately guides a hero into completing
One can easily be caught up in high action movies, such as Batman, Avatar, or Iron Man. Many children want to be like the heroes in these movies. They dress up to look like them on Halloween. Some even sleep in their favorite hero’s outfit. Unfortunately, today's society has lost the actual meaning of heroism. In an essay titled Hollywood’s Hero Deficit, by James Bowman, the author laments over the loss of genuine heroism. Bowman states that: “Heroism can continue to exist only on a plane far removed from the daily lives of the audience.” True heroes are not violent warriors. They try to do what is right. Heroes, like Odysseus, have a noble quest: to get home. Heroes are clever, not contentious. Today’s view of ‘Heroism’ can only exist in fairy tales, for todays heroes only show bravery through violence. Even worse, these acts of bravery bring happiness to the hero. The pure heroism that comes from moral victories has been missing in today's society for several decades, and has impoverished our society..
The Gift of a Lifetime: Sacrifice in a Tale of Two Cities. Some men are engraved eternally in the hearts and minds of those he inspired. It is done so in a fashion that allows his name to live eternally, long after his ephemeral existence. However, what truly sets a man apart from his lesser counterparts is his willingness to give without taking.
All eyes are on Kousei, a young prodigious pianist, who people often refer to as a human metronome due to his incredible musical accuracy when performing. He’s winning tournaments left and right, and many spectators believe that he’ll be able to go pro. However, when he mother dies unexpectedly, Kousei breaks down and is no longer able to hear the sound of the piano into which he’s invested so much of his life. Two years later, Kousei is in middle school with his friends Tsubaki and Ryouta, and he still continues to avoid the piano. However, when a fateful meeting with an unpredictable violinist named Kaori be able to shake up his world enough to get him back into the music world?