Discussion about the Play “A Raisin in the Sun” Essay Example for Free

Discussion about the Play â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† Essay If the dreams between people clashed in a way that their desires are going towards different unparallel directions, will it be a significant factor that can suggest that the dream will no longer be achieved? Or will it remain to be a matter of what to do and dependent with the ability to adapt with all the situations – To create a new one or to stay as a victim of the failure that happened? Moreover, it can be the test of whether the dream will be created by a person or the situations like failures will create the dreamers. Either way, it is up to the dreamer which one he will allow to happen. The play A Raisin in the Sun portrayed a family bound with dreams, subjected for possibility and risks of failures and tended to stand up once again to bound themselves again with different dreams and start all over. Situations had become too oppressive that they found themselves sometimes, in the midst of dilemmas that are more likely to be considered as lack of options. Each members of the family has repressed wish that distinguished their character from another. In a way, this is the typical American family with their economical and social structure and reacting normally with the involvement of the other big factor that made the twist of the story – the factor of Money. With the flow of the story, the struggles the family had in dealing with their situations after the death of the father caused them to create the ideal situations in their head of what needs to be done. There remained their intentions to have better life for their family and better life for themselves individually. This later tested their grasp with their family ties. With the individual conception of what is good, what can only go wrong is the inability to be in alignment of what you wanted with what other family members wanted. It can also become a consequent question of whether you hold fast to your dreams or hold on to the bigger picture of what needs to be done as part of the family (Mintz and Kellogg 38). The characters of the play supplied the dreamers role and collectively, a set of contrasting roles carrying ideas and subjects. Set in mid 1800’s, the story was centered in the dreams of the Younger Family and clashes with prejudices that the characters had as they strive to have a better position in their community as a whole. Perspective to be used in the Analysis There are schools of thoughts that are highly applicable with the study of the family being portrayed in this play written by Lorraine Hansberry: first, we can see it in the perspective using functionalism or second, it can be through interactionism. Later, this will be used to reveal how the dreams are being formed and what the motivations that determined the creation of these dreams are. These are the schools that traced the families in America with their way of being developed, managed and designed. The material variable in the family structure can be seen through the role they are playing and be analyzed objectively. Also, we can also see it from the perspective of an interactionist who is primarily concerned with the way the people are acting in response to other people or situations. Yes, these schools have difference with the primary objects of their concern, but essentially they contribute with the thorough understanding with the functions and interactions aspect of a family (Hamilton 47). It can give us the ideas of where the dreams of the characters in the story are actually directed. The Dreamers, their Motivations, and the Clash It all started with Ten Thousand Dollars. The characters of the play provided the audiences with the humanistic range of possible thought process that can be derived from a single source of stimulus. There was an emphasis given earlier with the role of Money in this story for this is the stimulus that moved the characters to make their stand. The money pertains to the $10,000 insurance amount that Lena Younger, the maternal character not just a mother figure, got after her husband passed away. Lena is also called Mama in the story and she possessed the maternal qualities that exhibit a picture of a loving, caring, and understanding woman. Such a woman only has one goal in life – To make her children happy or happier with all of her ability. The material figure that conveyed this goal of Mama is the house that she bought for $3,000. It symbolizes the unity, stability, and economical status that she believes to be important for her family (Morrin and Hansberry 35-38). The picture of the house portrayed the whole dream of Lena. It extends from the social ground of its manifestation to the subtle emotion a mother could possibly feel. This dream clashes with her son’s concerns. Walter, the son, has concerns about the Money that can be categorized as the dream for continuous economic stability of the family. When it comes with the nature of his character, he can be the figure that represents masculine authority of the story. He supplied the protagonist role but with his racial prejudices paired with his conflicts while performing both role of a son and a husband makes him supply his own contrast as an antagonist. Walter became not excited about the house bought by Mama. He has ulterior motives for the money and had a clear image in his mind on what to do with the money. For quite a long time, he has a dream of participating in a business involved in Liquor products (Morrin and Hansberry 47). As a masculine role, the story puts more authority in Walter’s hand as he got the control over the Insurance money and managed it. Lena put his trust on Walter and this shows how Lena is more than willing to give whatever her child wants. Though this doesn’t show any touch of negligence in her part. The acquisition process of the dream in this context doesn’t have any conflict yet. The conflict happened with the aftermath of the decision that placed Walter in the position of higher authority with the Money. The first clash of dream is done with the two given characters and the structure of both dreams must be observed carefully. We can notice the function of money ranges from how it fueled the quest for the dream to the conflict the two characters had. The conflict didn’t last since one of these two dreams was restructured. Lena, whose dream is to provide what her children wanted still managed to achieve it in a way by fueling Walter’s procedure of achieving his dream. There was a conflict because the functions of the house Lena bought don’t go with the alignment of Walter’s dream. It was settled because Lena followed that alignment as a response without violating her desires that is basically structured solely for the happiness of her children. The other child of Lena is Beneatha, the twenty year old woman, who had dream of being a physician. She is considered as intellectual and also an ambitious college student and required Money for the matriculation of the course. The conflicts Beneatha had are related to the money she required for her education and this is directed to Walter who has the control over it. Her sole dream of becoming a doctor will be compromised without the money. She got mad at Walter when she learned that Walter did not put any amount for her study. It seems like a big turnaround from all of her aspirations and she went depressed. This clash is apparently hard for Beneatha since, if money is the fuel for her actions in making her dreams realized, then it is a big contrast to have none of it. Her dream almost vanished. How did she turn out to continue seeing hoe despite of what happened? There is another character named Asagai who became the voice of realization. He made Beneatha realized the key thing about this vision of the dream she formed in her head. The dream had already been in her thoughts even prior to the death of his father, so it means that equating money to her dream is a big nuisance. It would be similar to the terrible equation of his father’s death hand in hand with the money. This showed that there remained to be ways on how it could be fulfilled without that so-called fuel of money. It can be money coming from different source instead. Beneatha realized this important thing, found her hope, continued dreaming. With the structure of their dreams, it is apparent that money equates house, then money equates liquor store and finally, money equated matriculation. With its many form, money remained to be the prime motivation that was shown in the play. The big question would be, along this clash of dreams, for how long can money control or determine the actions of the characters? On the mid part of the play, Walter was betrayed by his business partner leaving him with no money. There came the confrontations with Walter and the other characters especially with his wife, Ruth, who was also driven by dreams of having financial stability. It made them start from the scratch and all realizations that they need were established. Money is just a motivation but never a determinant of the quality of life that a harmonious family could have. Moreover, the dreams are manifestations that we are living while seeking whatever we want out of life. Money is not much important although, yes, it rates reasonably as oxygen. Lorraine Hansberry’s approach in tackling the concept of American dream showed that Money can either be seen as a fuel or an obstacle. The dreams that we have though is a picture of what we can do. At the same time as what we can see in the play is the motivation that money can give us but it doesn’t match the quality of motivation that important people can give. Works Cited Hamilton, Peter. Reconsidering Blummer’s Corrective Against the excess of Functionalism. Talcott Parsons: critical assessments. 4 (1992), 47-49 Mintz, Steven and Kellogg, Susan. Domestic revolutions: a social history of American family life. New York: The Free Press, 1988 Morrin, Maxine and Hansberry, Lorraine. A raisin in the sun. USA: Research and Education Association, 1994.

Style Analysis of Blog Writings :: Teaching Writing

Style Analysis of Blog Writings What is â€Å"style† in writing? After reading Strunk and White’s The elements of Style and Joseph William’s Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, I have come to understand what style is: I always thought of â€Å"style† as being your own, but through these books I learned that that’s not entirely true. â€Å"Style† is a mixture of many things and individualism only being one part, but for me the most important. Style is a way of writing clear, cohesive, grammatically correct and true to one’s self. White says in the last chapter of Elements of Style â€Å"style in the sense of what is distinguished and distinguishing.†(Strunk and White 66) Good writing is not that hard to achieve, any one can write well. If you write true to yourself it will make your writing better. Williams talks about â€Å"your voice† and so does Strunk and White. White says â€Å"All writers, by the way they use the language, reveal something of their spirits, their habits, their capacities and their biases.† (Srunk and White 67) Williams says â€Å"Writing well, they believe, has to do with being sincere, or writing how they speak, or finding their authentic voices, or just being born with the knack. (Williams 1) Good writing lets us know something about the writer even if it is technical. To be interesting we need some insight into the person’s feelings and thoughts. Writing should be something we enjoy not something that we dread or fear. Most people, students especially, have come to hate writing because they don’t know the â€Å"rules† and are afraid to make mistakes. It seems that people are more concerned with correct grammar then content. It is important to have good grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but what you have to say is the most important. People spend so much time worrying about what their paper looks like, then what it sounds like. Sitting down to write a paper can be intimating and sometimes it is hard to organize our thoughts to put them down on paper. I feel that reading books like Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace is helpful, but practice is the key to good writing. I had never heard of Blooger.com until I was introduced to it by my English class. I found the blog entries to be a helpful assignment, because the best way to become a good writer is by practice. Style Analysis of Blog Writings :: Teaching Writing Style Analysis of Blog Writings What is â€Å"style† in writing? After reading Strunk and White’s The elements of Style and Joseph William’s Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, I have come to understand what style is: I always thought of â€Å"style† as being your own, but through these books I learned that that’s not entirely true. â€Å"Style† is a mixture of many things and individualism only being one part, but for me the most important. Style is a way of writing clear, cohesive, grammatically correct and true to one’s self. White says in the last chapter of Elements of Style â€Å"style in the sense of what is distinguished and distinguishing.†(Strunk and White 66) Good writing is not that hard to achieve, any one can write well. If you write true to yourself it will make your writing better. Williams talks about â€Å"your voice† and so does Strunk and White. White says â€Å"All writers, by the way they use the language, reveal something of their spirits, their habits, their capacities and their biases.† (Srunk and White 67) Williams says â€Å"Writing well, they believe, has to do with being sincere, or writing how they speak, or finding their authentic voices, or just being born with the knack. (Williams 1) Good writing lets us know something about the writer even if it is technical. To be interesting we need some insight into the person’s feelings and thoughts. Writing should be something we enjoy not something that we dread or fear. Most people, students especially, have come to hate writing because they don’t know the â€Å"rules† and are afraid to make mistakes. It seems that people are more concerned with correct grammar then content. It is important to have good grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but what you have to say is the most important. People spend so much time worrying about what their paper looks like, then what it sounds like. Sitting down to write a paper can be intimating and sometimes it is hard to organize our thoughts to put them down on paper. I feel that reading books like Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace is helpful, but practice is the key to good writing. I had never heard of Blooger.com until I was introduced to it by my English class. I found the blog entries to be a helpful assignment, because the best way to become a good writer is by practice.

Report on Sir Isaac Newton Essay

Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician and physicist. He was considered one of the greatest scientists in history. Newton was also the culminating figure in the scientific revolution of the 17th century. Newton was best known for his discovery that the force called gravity affects all objects in space and on earth. .Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642, in the hamlet of Wollsthorpe, Lincolnshire (R.S.W. 17) His Father died only three months before he was born (Sir Isaac Newton 1). When he was three years old Isaac’s mother, Hanna, placed him with his grandmother so that she could remarry a man named Barnabas Smith, a wealthy man from North Witham (Dr. Robert A. Hatch 1). When his mother returned to Woolsthorpe in 1653, Newton was withdrawn from school to fulfill his birthright as a farmer. Newton failed at farming, and returned to King’s School at Grantham to prepare for entrance to Trinity College, Cambridge. A turning point in Newton’s life was when he left Woolsthorpe for Cambridge University in June of 1661 (Dr. Robert A. Hatch 1). Although Cambridge was a marvelous center of learning, the spirit of the scientific revolution had yet to enter its curriculum. In 1665 Isaac Newton took his bachelor’s degree at Cambridge without honors or distinction (Dr. Robert A. Hatch 2). In 1665 the university was closed because of the plague. At this time Newton returned to Woolsthorpe. There, in the following 18 months, he began revolutionary advances in mathematics, optics, physics, and astronomy (J. A. Schuster 1). During the plague years, Isaac Newton laid the foundation for elementary differential and integral Calculus. He invented the â€Å"method of fluxions† which was based on his crucial insight that finding the area under its curve is the inverse procedure to finding the slope of the curve at any point (J. A. Schuster 1). Also during the plague years he made remarkable discoveries in optics. He had reached the conclusion that white light is not a simple, homogeneous entity. He proved this by passing a thin beam of sunlight through a glass prism which created a spectrum of colors on the wall opposite. Isaac argued that white light is a mixture of many different types  of rays, that the different types of rays are refracted at slightly different angles, and that each type of ray is responsible for producing a given color (J. A. Schuster 2). Newton’s greatest work was in physics and celestial mechanics. In 1666, Newton had formulated early visions of his three laws of motion (J.A. Schuster 3). Also during these years he examined the elements of circular motion and, applying his analysis to the moon and the planets, found the inverse square relation that the radially directed force acting on a planet decreases with the square of its distance from the sun. This was later crucial to the law of universal gravitation (Sir Isaac Newton 3). When the University of Cambridge reopened after the plague in 1667, Newton put himself forward as a candidate for a fellowship (Sir Isaac Newton 3). He was elected to a minor fellowship at Trinity College but, after being awarded his Master’s Degree, he was elected to a senior fellowship in 1668. Before he had reached his 27th birthday, he succeeded Isaac Barrow as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics (Dr. Robert A. Hatch 2). In 1672, shortly after his election to the Royal Society, he communicated his first public paper, a controversial study on the nature of color (Sir Isaac Newton 4). The paper was generally well received but Hooke and Huygens objected to Newton’s attempt to prove, by experiment alone, that light consists of the motion of small particles rather than waves. Although his hypotheses was not convincing, his ideas about scientific method won universal assent along with his corpuscular theory. These reigned until the wave theory was revived in the early 19th century (Newton, Sir Isaac 2). Newton’s relations with Hooke soured. Newton withdrew from public discussion for about a decade. After 1675, he devoted himself to chemical and alchemical researches. He postponed the publication of a full account of his optical researches until after the death of Hooke in 1703. Newton’s Opticks appeared in 1704. Newton’s Opticks dealt with the theory of light and color and with Newton’s investigations of the colors of thin sheets. It also contained â€Å"Newton’s Rings† and the phenomenon of diffraction of light  (Newton, Sir Isaac 2). In 1689, Newton was elected to represent Cambridge in Parliament. During his stay in London he became acquainted with John Locke, the famous philosopher, and Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, a brilliant young mathematician who became a friend. In 1693, however, Newton suffered a severe nervous disorder (Dr. Robert A Hatch 4). There are many interpretations to the cause of this disorder. Some of these interpretations include overworked, the stress of controversy, and perhaps mercury poisoning the result of nearly three decades of alchemical research. After his recovery Newton sought a new position in London. In 1696 Newton was appointed Warden and then Master of the Mint (Dr. Robert A. Hatch 4). In 1703, Newton was elected president of the Royal Society and was annually reelected until his death (Dr. Robert A. Hatch 5). In 1705 Isaac Newton was knighted (Margret C. Jacob 390). His time as president has been described as cruel, and his control over the lives and careers of younger disciples was all but absolute. Newton could not stand for contradiction or controversy; his quarrels with Hooke provided a single example. Later disputes, as president of the Royal Society, Newton used all the forces he could muster. An example of this is when he published Flamsteed’s astronomical observations without the author’s permission. In the end, the actions of the Society were extensions of Newton’s will. Until his death Newton dominated the landscape of science without rival (Dr. Robert A. Hatch 5). Issac Newton died in London on March 20, 1727 (R.S.W. 20). In conclusion, Sir Issac Newton was one of the greatest scientists in history. Newton was also the culminating figure in the scientific revolution of the 17th century. Many of his theories have become foundations for many areas of science.

Commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. at University of...

PART I Write a paragraph about why you think the University of Michigan devotes part of every January to commemorate the life and work of Martin Luther King. Use the following articles to help you. Above all, University of Michigan commemorates Martin Luther Kink to honor his work and memory. It is because of people like him and other civil rights leaders that African-Americans have been afforded the multitude of opportunities that they have today. King stood for not only blacks but for all people, including the disadvantaged and impoverished, and believed in the power of a divisive society creating a unified society, of bloody riots being transformed into peaceful gatherings. He believed in the power of non-violent demonstrations†¦show more content†¦3) What did you like about the event? What did you dislike? What did you learn from the event (BE SPECIFIC)? I really enjoyed the fact that Deval Patrick did not just lecture the audience but told stories of his own past and integrated many valuable lessons that tied back to Dr. King’s ideals within his stories. He shared his struggles as a child, fighting to make ends meet. He was supported and guided by his teachers allowed him to imagine what it would like to be like to be a citizen of the world. His words were very clear, concise and inspirational. I also enjoyed his honest and acuteness during the QA. He always responded to every question by addressing the person who questioned him by his/her first name. I particular enjoyed his response to a question asking for his view on the policy of expulsion and suspension of African American youths in Massachusetts. He replied that educational success does not depend on one path. Small classes matter. A student’s behavior of misconduct may be due to the fact that the child is hungry, distracted or scared. It is vital to realize tha t children are hungry for the attention of adults to notice them care for them and love them something that they may not be receiving from their own home. My only negative comment would be that the presenter’s speech that introduced Mr. Patrick and list off all his accomplishments was very long and notShow MoreRelatedCivil Rights Leaders3949 Words   |  16 Pagesachieve their goals although, the efforts of these movements did lead to improvements in the legal rights of previously oppressed groups of people. Table of Contents Malcolm X†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..pg. 3 - 5 Martin Luther King Jr. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦pg. 6-7 Rosa Parks †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.pg. 8- 10 Stokely Carmichael†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦pg. 11-14 Marcus Garvey†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦pg. 15-17 Frederick Douglass†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..pg. 18-20 John Brown†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦pg. 21- 23 Medgar Evers †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦pg. 24- 25 Nat Turner†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦