Allegory for War in "Battle of the Ants" by David Thoreau The reading journal that I chose was "Battle of the Ants" by David Thoreau. I chose this essay because I felt that it was a strongly written piece about a somewhat interesting topic. When I first read it I was taken aback by its seemingly uninteresting nature of topic, but after I read it a couple more times I began to see its true beauty. The story is about government and war and depicted by ants battling to the death. "The legions of Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with all the dead and dying, both the red and the black," the ants represent humans struggling for freedom and power. There are two types of ants: the red ones who represent the rebellious soldiers fightin...
In the book Anthem by Ayn Rand, Prometheus is a man who must overcome his collective society to find himself. Prometheus is born into a society where everything is equal. Without concern for consequences, he loves a woman and looks and discovers knowledge of the past. After his discovery is rejected he flees to the forest, and his lover follows. In the forest is where he finds the meaning of the word I. There is where he says "... we crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost in the gray of it," he talks about what his society did to the differences of man, after he had run away. After Prometheus finds the house he says, "My happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end," which means his happiness is special and achieving this happiness is his final goal. Lastly, "I am, I think, I will," is the final sign that Prometheus has acknowledged himself as one being. Prometheus' quotes show that his emergences from his past, longing for happiness and realizing that he is a being make Prometheus the...
Hate is a powerful tool: it can break barriers, create violence, establish revenge, or destroy people entirely. Leaving behind rationality; “hatred is a way to shut down the mind to a degree, in order to handle overwhelming stress or trauma”(Wilson 2014), through hatred people detach themselves from practicality and inevitably ensue themselves with violence and revenge. The main character Zits in the novel Flight by Sherman Alexie goes on a spiritual journey to find out what hatred, violence, and revenge can cause. The cause of Zits hate, the violence from his past, the effects violence has, the symbol of Zits hate-Justice, and the change seen in Zits at the end of the novel all shows how hate develops throughout the story. Confronted with
The book I chose to read is called, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by: Richard Louv. I chose this book for a few different reasons. One reason I chose this book was because I’ m highly interested in the whole concept of the book and feel very passionate about its reasoning. I also thought it would be a great read to guide me towards a topic for my main project at the end of the Lemelson program. On the plus side, I “read” this book through audible, which enabled me to listed to the book on my drive to and from work everyday. I commonly do this because of my forty-five minute commute from Truckee to Spanish Springs.
“The Thaw” by Henry David Thoreau has a couplet and two quatrains. The couplet, the first stanza does not rhyme though the two quatrain does. The rhyme scheme for Henry David Thoreau's poem, “The Thaw” has an A/B rhyme scheme; the first line rhymes with the third line, the second line rhymes with the fourth line, and so on. Furthermore the “The Thaw” has ten syllables in each line.
Authors use figurative language to express nuanced ideas, those that beggar literal description. Such language provides the author an opportunity to play with his reader’s imagination and sense. A piece of literature that uses figurative language is more intriguing and engaging than a writing that aims only to explain. Ralph Ellison’s use of figurative language in “The Battle Royal” paints a powerful and unique story of oppression and the struggle for self-discovery. His juxtaposition of literal and figural language gave the story a dream like quality, all while creating a profound and vivid image.
In this particular essay I chose to write about “A&P” by John Updike. This story to me seems to have an interesting transformation about the main character Sammy. He is able to provide us with his thoughts and actions because it is told in first person point of view. The story “A&P” gave me an outlook that was based on Reality because I was able to understand his reactions to the series of events that occurred throughout the story. We were able to see from the beginning to the end how Sammy was transforming without him possibly knowing of the changes himself.
To understand Hobbes’s argument for why the State of Nature is a State of War it is important to understand Hobbes’s meanings of the terms State of Nature and State of War. The State of Nature is the condition where mankind is forced in contact with one another in a society where there is no authority to enforce power or laws. In this state, the lack of authority encompasses the lack of political institutions and the connotations associated with them: no national allegiances and no punishment. All men in this state have the right to any actions, even to harm one another and none of these actions are unjust. The resulting atmosphere created by this Sate of Nature is the State of War where all rational people live in constant fear of violent and brutish attacks. The State of War is a state of uncertainty and insecurity. It does not always necessarily consist of actual fighting but instead consists of the constant awareness that everyone is ready to fight everyone else. To substantiate his argument that the State of Nature is a Sate of War he relies on three assumptions.
One that stood out to me was Discovering Wes Moore by Wes Moore. This book was exceedingly fascinating and inspiring. It was absolutely bizarre how two people who started off with such similar lives could end up in completely different places. Both of these men are named Wes Moore, grew up without a father, did poorly in school, and were raised in the same neighborhood. Wes Moore, the author, obtained a Rhodes Scholar and served as a military officer. In contrast, the other Wes Moore is in prison for murdering a police officer. Wes Moore wrote his book in a way where it was almost like a diary. The start of the book was him as a child, and he grew older as the book went on. I found that to be very interesting because his book was a timeline of all the significant events that has happened in his life, and I don’t normally read books that are formatted in that particular way. We were assessed on this book by writing a letter to Wes Moore, the author himself. This project helped me grow as a student because I had never written anything to an author before. It was a new and fun experience that I’m glad I was a part of. It has shown me that if I try something new, I might learn to like
Next, we should look at the brilliantly and elaborately detailed armor of Ares. The shield’s handle, the rivets along its edge and the circular decoration around the inside of the shield are meticulously done. Additionally, the shadow created with the change in hue, saturation, and value on the inside of the shield help create the depth and curvature of the shield. The body armor also implements a well-crafted mixture of shadows and smooth curved lines as well as color change to create depth. Had this not been so craftily accomplished, the shield would have taken on a flat and dull appearance. This is true for the lion head on the shoulder of Ares , which is able to convey the concept of layered gold on top of iron without using the layering of paint to create the three dimensional character. The more time I spent viewing the particular parts of the armor, the more admiration I had for Batoni as an artist. The helmet, with the golden dragon atop and ram around the lower front are also finely detailed.
The structure of Faulk’s Birdsong allows us to observe the impact of the War upon numerous individuals across the generations. Throughout the novel, even outside the 1914-1918 time-frame, Faulks continues to maintain a link between the past and the present through his use of a number of motifs and themes. The lasting impact of the War suggests that history should never be forgotten, which is the paramount message in Birdsong.
Timothy Findley was a famous Canadian novelist who wrote for various television series and stage performances. Before his death on June 21, 2002, Findley completed one of his most renowned short stories called “War”. Findley wrote this story revolving around the life of a young boy named Neil. Neil is dreading to accept that his father is joining the army and going off to fight in the war. Throughout the story, Findley demonstrated numerous characteristics that uncovered Neil’s inner conflicts. Firstly, Neil’s character starts off being shown as fragile. Secondly, Neil exposes his stubborn characteristics, which are triggered by his inner feelings of neglect. Finally, aggression is another one of Neil’s characteristics Timothy Findley emphasizes
For my book I chose to read The Body by Stephen King. This novel is about four young boys taking a journey to find a body somewhere in the woods that is at the county line. This story is about more than just four boys going on an adventure its about them becoming closer to each other and learning real life lessons along the way. The four boys are all going into their first year of middle school so this is a time in their life when they learn things that will help them in life.
As I mentioned earlier all my experience with books and reading were not bad. I was in middle school when I read two books that I really captivated my attention. One was a biography of Harriet Tubman and the story of the Underground Railroad. I admired Harriet Tubman for her selfness and dedication to freeing slaves.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The State of War" elegantly raises a model for confederative peace among the states of Europe, and then succinctly explains its impossibility. Rousseau very systematically lays out the benefits of such a "perpetual peace" through arguments based only in a realism of pure self-interest, and then very elegantly and powerfully turns the inertia of the self-interest machinery against the same to explain why it can never come to be. However, this final step may be a bit too far; in his academic zeal for the simple, I will argue that he has overlooked the real, or at least ignored the possible. His conclusion may be appealingly reasoned, but it is still insupportable.
I never had any interest in writing before entering high school, I never enjoyed writing essays. I believe the reason was I did not find it necessary to write a 5-page essay on 'To Kill a Mockingbird '. In the real world we will write a page or two for job opportunities and some for the job itself, but hardly ever will you need to write an essay on some book or event in time;