Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift | Analysis of Satire

Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift | Analysis of Satire Abstract: this thesis provides a possible insight into Gullivers Travels by analyzing Jonathan Swifts satires rather than reading it as a childrens book. Swiftian satires about humanity in the four books are to the fullest. The whole novel is like a mirror by which human flaws are reflected. It probably would long have been forgotten if the book did not carry critical thinking about humanity. An analysis of Satires in Gullivers Travels I. Introduction 1.1 About Jonathan Swift As the greatest satirist in the English language, Jonathan Swift was both admired and feared in his own time for the power of his writing and hugely influential on writers who followed him. At the age of fourteen, Swift entered Trinity College in Dublin University, where he stayed for seven years. After graduation in 1688, he went to England to work as a secretary and personal assistance for Sir William Temple. In 1694, he was ordained as a priest in the church of Ireland (Anglican Church) and assigned as vicar (parish priest) of Kilroot, a chruch near Belfast (in Northern Ireland). In 1692, Swift received a M.A. from Oxford. He returned to working with Temple in1696. Meanwhile, he continued working on satires which deal with political and religious corruptions surrounding him. A tale of a Tub and A Battle of the Books are two of them composed during this time. He also wrote lots of political pamphlets for the Whig party. When Temple died in 1699, he returned to Ireland, becoming Chaplain to lord Berkley. In 1702, he received a D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) from Dublin University. After a few conflicts with the Whig party, he joined the more conservative Tory party in 1710. Unfortunately for Swift, the Tory government fell out of power in 1714. Before the fall of Troy government, Swift hoped his services would be rewarded with a church appointment in England. However, the best position he was rewarded was the Deanery of St. Partricks, Dublin. Again, he returned to Ireland. During his stay in Dublin, some memorable works were composed: Proposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture (1720), Drapiers Letters (1724), A Modest Proposal (1729). His works e arned him status of a patriot. Also during the same period, he began to write the masterpiece Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, better known as Gullivers Travels. Much of the material reflects his political experiences of the preceding decade. Fist published in November 1726, it was an immediate sensation. A total of four printings were arranged from Nov. 1726 to early 1727. 1.2 About Gullivers Travels Gullivers Travels is regarded as Swifts masterpiece. It is a novel in four parts recounting Gullivers four voyages to fictional exotic lands. His travels is first among diminutive peoplethe Lilliputians, then among enormous giantspeople of Brobdingnag, then among idealists and dreamers and finally among horses. Each book has a different theme, but their common trait is to deflate human nature. Gulliver had a shipwreck and boarded a rowboat with six other crewmen to escape. Soon the rowboat capsized. Gulliver managed to swim on shore. He fell into sleep. When he woke up he found himself bound by numerous tiny threads. Some diminutive people marched on his body. Some other people armed with bows and arrows stand by around him. They are ready to deal Gulliver with violence if he attacks. Overall, they are hospitable. Gulliver eats more than one thousand Lilliputians combine could and they feed him despite the risk of famine. He is presented to the emperor and is satisfied by the attention of the royalty. Eventually, Lilliputians take advantage of Gullivers strength and hugeness to fight against people of Blefuscu. The two factions oppose each other in that they have difference ways to crack eggs. But things change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for urinating on the palace to save the emperors wife from a fire. He is condemned to be shot in the eyes and starved to death . Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he finds and repairs a broken boat and sets sail for England. After staying in England with his family for two months, he sets sail again. The voyage takes him to a land of giants Brobdingnag. A field worker finds him and takes him home. Initially, the field worker treats him as a pet. Eventually, he sells Gulliver to the queen who makes him a courtly diversion and is entertained by his musical talents. Gullivers life at this point is easier but still is not enjoyable. He is often repulsed by the physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are many times magnified by their huge size. He is disgusted by their skin pores. He is often frightened by the animals that endanger his life. There is once when he wakes up on the bed of the farmers wife and is attacked by two rats. Even Brobdingnagian insects leave slimy trails on his food that makes eating unpleasant. On a trip to the frontier, the cage Gulliver is in plucked up by an eagle and dropped into the sea. He successfully leaves Brobdingnag. Gulliver undertakes next voyage after staying at home in England for only ten days. The ship undergone attacks by pirates and Gulliver ends up in Laputa. The floating island is inhabited by theoreticians and academics governing the land below, called Balnibarbi. The scientific research carried out in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seems completely useless and impractical, and its residents too appear totally out of touch with reality. Taking a trip to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to witness the conjuring up of figures from history, such as Julius Caesar and other military leaders. After visiting the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which are senile immortals who prove that age does not bring wisdom, he is able to sail to Japan and from there back to England. Gulliver stays for five months in England but then leaves his pregnant wife to set sail as a captain. Many of his crewmen die of illness, so he recruit more along the way. His crewmembers mutiny under the influence of the new sailors to become pirates. They lock him in a cabin. After a long confinement, he arrives in an unknown land. The rational-thinking horses, Houyhnhnms and humanlike creatures, Yahoos live in the land. The brutish Yahoos serve the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver again endeavours to learn their language to narrate his adventures to them and explain things in England. He is treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is enlightened by their noble culture and rational thinking. For the first time in his voyages, he does not yearn for leave to come back to humankind. He wants to stay with the Houyhnhnms, but his bared body reveals to the horses that he is very much like a Yahoo. Therefore, he is banished. He is very reluctant to leave but agrees. He builds a cano e and makes his way to a nearby island. He first decides to live there with the barbarians there rather than return to live with English Yahoos. He was hurt by an islander and picked up by a Portuguese ship captain who treats him hospitably. However, Gulliver cannot help deeming him and all human as Yahoolike. After returning home, Gulliver buys two horses and converses with them every day for four hours. 2. Satires in Gullivers Travels Gullivers Travels reflects conflicts in British society in the early 18th century. By narrating Gullivers adventures in Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and Houyhnhnm, the novel reveals and criticizes sins and corruption of British ruling class and their cruel exploitation towards people of Britain and neighboring countries in the capital-accumulation period of British history. Gulliver is treated differently in different countries. The author depicts every situation at great length, which makes readers feel like experiencing them personally. The greatness of the work lies in the authors proficient application of bitting and profound satires. Swift makes satirical effects to the fullest by using techniques of irony, contrast, and symbolism. The story is based on then British social reality. He not only satirizes on then British politics and religion, but also, in a deeper facet, on human nature itself. Swifts superb rendering of satires leads Gullivers Travels to becoming a milestone l ooked up to by future literary persons in satirical literature. There are at least three types of satirical technique presented in Gullivers Travels: verbal irony, situational irony and dramatic irony. First, verbal irony means using words in an opposite way. The real implied meaning is in opposition to the literal meaning of the lines in verbal irony. In other words, it uses positive, laudatory words to describe evidently ugly and obnoxious matters in order to express the authors contempt and aversion. The book carries verbal irony from the beginning to the end of the story. Second, situational irony occurs when there are conflicts between characters and situation, or contradiction between readers expectation and actual outcomes of an event, or deviation between personal endeavors and objective facts. In Gullivers Travels, the plot development is often the opposite of what readers expect. Third, dramatic irony is when words and actions possess a significance that the listener or audience understands, but the speaker or character does not. Swift also uses contrast as a rhetorical device to construct satirical effects. In order to reach the purpose of satire, he puts contradictory subjects together to describe and compare. There are at least three evident pairs of contrasting subjects. First is Gulliver and Lilliputians. They differ hugely in figures and in characters. The height of Gullivers body exceeds Lilliputians in the proportion of twelve to one. As to character differences, Gulliver is kind-hearted and grateful with a sense of justice, whereas Lilliputians are more cunning. They want to make full use of Gulliver in the war fought with its conflicting country: Blefuscu. He helps them against invasion from it but refuses to serve for them in their invasive territory expansion. Second, in Part II, figures of the citizens and Gullivers again form a stark contrast. In Brobdingnag, he is put in a carriage and carried to the marketplace to perform his tricks. He tries to please those giants by showing them his little c oins and perform tricks with his sword. He comes into conflict with the Queens favorite dwarf and they scheme against each other. On the other hand, the erudite King of Brobdingnag governs his country with reason, common sense, justice and mercy. The political system in Brobdingnag is very ideal and orderly, in which law guarantees freedom and welfare of the nationals. Gulliver introduces to the King Englands society and political system and embellishes the truth. He describes how great England is, how judicious the politics is and how just the law is. However, he could barely defend himself facing the Kings question. Besides, the comparison between the Kings liberal governance and rule under Englands bourgeois class reveals corruption of its politics. Third, the ruling class of the country of the Houyhnhnms are horse-like beings of reason, justice and honesty, whereas the ruled class (yahoos) are heinous, greedy and pugnacious creatures. The contrast between the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos is extreme. The horses are clean and sweet-smelling; their diet is temperate and vegetarian. Their habits constitute the temperance that the eighteenth century thought characterized reasonable man. The Yahoos, on the other hand, are human in form and feature. They are filthy and they stink. They are omnivorous but seem to prefer meat and garbage. Satire refers to a genre of literature which is often used by literary persons as a witty weapon to hold up vices, follies and shortcomings in a society to ridicule, usually with the intent of mocking individuals or society into improvement. Samuel Johnson (1709-84) defined satire as a poem in which wickedness or folly is censured. Besides the fact that few, if any, would nowadays confine satire to poetry, the rest of the definition works well enough. Satire condemns, either overtly or covertly, what it believes to be wrong, generally with a view to achieving reform. It works best when there is general agreement among its readers about what is right or normal. It may be directed against an individual, a group or humanity in general. Irony, ridicule, parody, sarcasm, exaggeration are common satirical techniques, in which the first is the most common employed one. As a major technique of satire, irony involves a difference or contrast between appearance and reality that is a discrepancy between what appears to be true and what really is true. Three kinds of irony have been recognized since antiquity. First, dramatic irony derives from classical Greek literature and from theatre. It refers to a situation in which the audience has knowledge denied to one or more of the characters on stage. In other words, dramatic irony occurs when a character states something that they believe to be true but that the reader knows is not true. The key to dramatic irony is the readers foreknowledge of coming events. Second or more reading of stories often increases dramatic irony because of knowledge that was not present in the first reading. For example, in Twelfth Night composed by Shakespeare, Malvolios hopes of a bright future d erive from a letter which the audience knows to be faked. Second, verbal irony, sometimes known as linguistic irony, occurs when people say the opposite of what they really mean. Therefore, it often carries two meanings: the explicit meaning and a often mocking meaning running counter to the first. This is probably the most common type of irony. Third, Socratic irony takes its name from the ancient Greek writer Socrates, who often in his philosophic dialogues asks apparently foolish questions which actually move the debate in the direction he wants. Nowadays, two further conceptions have been added: structural irony and romantic irony. The first one is built into texts in such a way that both the surface meaning and deeper implications are present more or less throughout. One of the most common ways of achieving structural irony is through the use of a narrator, whose simple and straightforward comments are at variance with the readers interpretation. Swift applies this technique in Gullivers Travel by setting Gulliver as the narrator of the stories. In Romantic irony, writers conspire with readers to share the double vision of what is happening in the plot of a novel, film, etc.. In this form of writing, the writer sets up the world of his text, and then deliberately undermines it by reminding the reader that it is only a form of illusion. 3. An analysis of Satires in the Four Parts 3.1 Satirical targets in Part 1 Swifts satirical attacks on humanity are relatively mild in Book 1. Disgust for human in this book is not yet detectable and apparent. A series of amusing and ridiculous happenings in this part provide readers a relaxed atmosphere. For example, the part describing how Gulliver saves the palace and the emperors wife is hilarious. I had the evening before drunk plentifully of a most delicious wine, called glimigrim (the Blefuscudians call it flunec, but ours is esteemed the better sort) which is very diuretic. By the luckiest chance in the world, I had not discharged myself of any part of it. The heat I had contracted by coming very near the flames, and by labouring to quench them, made the white wine begin to operate by urine; which I voided in such a quantity, and applied so well to the proper places, that in three minutes the fire was wholly extinguished, and the rest of that noble pile, which had cost so many ages in erecting, preserved from destruction. (Swift 2007: 25) Many descriptions in Part I employs the technique of verbal irony. For instance, in Chapter III, Swift ridicules the Lilliputians arrogance and ignorance by describing how mathematicians in Lilliput measure Gullivers height by the help of a quadrant. They having taken the height of my body by the help of a quadrant, and finding it to exceed theirs in the proportion of twelve to one, they concluded from the similarity of their bodies, that mine must contain at least 1728 of theirs, and consequently would require as much food as was necessary to support that number of Lilliputians. Swift ridicules, by which the reader may conceive an idea of the ingenuity of that people, as well as the prudent and exact economy of so great a prince. He makes good use of the technique of verbal irony in this this laughable, thought-provoking and seemingly ordinary ironic narration to achieve satirical effects. In Chapter V, despite the fact that the conflict between Lilliput and Blefuscu is blatantly ri diculous, Gulliver depicts it with total seriousness. The tone with which Gulliver tells the story is serious. However, the more serious he is the more ridiculous and laughable the conflict is. This again is the employment of verbal irony. Swift expects us to understand that the history Gulliver relates parallels European history. The High-Heels and the Low-Heels correspond to the Whigs and Tories of English politics. Lilliput and Blefuscu represent England and France. The conflict between Big-Endians and Little-Endians represents the Protestant Reformation and the centuries of warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Through these representations, the author implies that the differences between Protestants and Catholics, between Whigs and Tories, and between France and England are as silly and meaningless as how a person chooses to crack an egg. The egg controversy is ridiculous because there cannot be any right or wrong way to crack an egg. Therefore, it is unreasonable to legis late how people must do it. Similarly, we may conclude that there is no right or wrong way to worship God—at least, there is no way to prove that one way is right and another way is wrong. The Big-Endians and Little-Endians both share the same religious text, but they disagree on how to interpret a passage that can be interpreted in two ways. By mentioning this incident, Swift is suggesting that the Christian Bible can be interpreted in more than one way and that it is ludicrous for people to fight over how to interpret it when no one can really be certain that one interpretation is right and the others are wrong. In these chapters, Gulliver experiences Lilliputian culture, and the great difference in size between him and the Lilliputians is emphasized by a few examples through which the authors satires of British government are explicitly expressed. For instance, government officials in Liliput are chosen by their skill at rope-dancing, which Gulliver regards as arbitrary and ludicrous. Clearly, Swift intends for us to understand this episode as a satire of Englands system of political appointment and to infer that Englands system is similarly arbitrary. The difference in size between Gulliver and the Lilliputians reflects the importance of physical power, a theme that recurs throughout the novel. Gulliver begins to gain the trust of Lilliputians over time, but it is unnecessary: Gulliver could crush them simply by walking carelessly. Despite the evidence in front of them, they never recognize their own insignificance. This is clearly the use of dramatic irony in which the reader knows the truth but the characters in the stories deny it. They keep Gulliver tied up, thinking that he is under control, while in fact he could destroy them effortlessly. In this way, Swift satirizes humanitys pretensions to power and significance. 3.2 Swiftian Satires in Part II Compared with Book I, Swifts satire is more clearly implied in the second book and attacks on political issues and humanity are more apparent. It is evident that Swift begins to express his discontent over Europe as the worlds dominant power and its practice of colonialism in this section if the historical context is considered. Swift wrote Gullivers Travels at a time when Europe was the worlds dominant power and when England was rising in power with its formidable fleet. The English founded their first colony Virginia in America in 1585 due to competition with the Spanish. Then they continued the process of colonization and expansion throughout the world. In this section, Gullivers initial adventure in Brobdingnag is not so desirable. At first, the farmer almost tramples on him. The family virtually enslaves him, making him to perform tricks to paying visitors. This enslavement emphasizes the fundamental humanity of the Brobdingnagians-just like Europeans, they are happy to make a quick buck when the opportunity arisesand also makes concrete Gullivers lowly status. Swift also plays with language in a way that both emphasizes his main satirical points about politics, ethics, and culture and makes fun of language itself. (SparkNotes Editors, 2003). In the beginning of this adventure, Gulliver uses naval jargons (sprit-sail, fore-sail, mizen, fore-sheet, downhaul) to depict the various attempts his ship makes to deal with the great storm at sea. The description is complicated and full of obscurities. One probably cannot help wondering why Swift bothered writing these difficult-to-understand words since they seems with the least importanc e to the whole story. However, it is not a waste of effort. The words are meant to be incomprehensiblethe point is to satirize the jargon used by writers of travel books and sailing accounts, which in Swifts view was often overblown and ridiculous. (SparkNotes Editors, 2003) By making Gulliver use jargon to such an extreme, Swift mocks those who would try to demonstrate their expertise through convoluted language. Mockeries like this one repeats elsewhere in the novel. Swifts main purpose is to criticize the validity of various kinds of expert knowledge that are more showy than helpful, whether legal, naval, or, as in the third voyage, scientific.(SparkNotes Editors, 2003). 3.3 Swiftian satires in Part III Swifts satires in the third book shift focus from ethic and political aspects to academic field, since most part of this section contributes to description of impractical scientific experiments and workings of certain things. For instance, descriptions Gulliver makes about the technique used to move the island are convoluted. Also, The method of assigning letters to parts of a mechanism and then describing the movement of these parts from one point to another resembles the mechanistic philosophical and scientific descriptions of Swifts time. (SparkNotes Editors, 2003). From these, Swift again successfully satirizes specialized language in academic field. Laputa is more complex than Lilliput or Brobdingnag because its strangeness is not based on differences of size but instead on the primacy of abstract theoretical concerns over concrete practical concerns in Laputan culture. However, physical power is still an important factor in Laputa. Here, power is exercised not through physical size but through technology. The government floats over the rest of the kingdom, using technology to control its subjects. The floating island represents the distance between the government and the people it governs. The king is oblivious to the real concerns of the people below. He has never even been there. The noble men and scientists of the island are also far removed from the people and their concerns. Abstract theory dominates all aspects of Laputan life, from language to architecture to geography. Swift continues his mockery of academics by describing the projects carried out in the cities below Laputa. The academy serves to create entirely useless projects while the people stare outside its walls. Each project described, such as the extraction of sunbeams from a cucumber, is not only false but also purposeless. Even if its scientific foundation were correct, it would still serve no real purpose for the people meant to gain from it. The result is a society in which science is promoted for no real reason and time is wasted as a matter of course. This again is the use of dramatic irony where the reader knows certainly that those scientific projects are a waste of time while the scientists in the story are striving for success of the experiments. 3.4 Swiftian satires in Part IV In the fourth part, disgust for human is expressed to such an extreme that readers often feel uncomfortable reading this section. Swift deflates humankind very straightforwardly by portraying the Yahoos humanlike and associating humankind with Yahoos. Gulliver tells the horse that in his country, the Yahoos are the governing creatures. Moreover, after he introduces Europe to his horse-like master, he admits that Gullivers humans have different systems of learning, law, government, and art but says that their natures are not different from those of the Yahoos. Situational irony occurs when there are conflicts between characters and situation, or contradiction between readers expectation and actual outcomes of an event, or deviation between personal endeavors and objective facts. The plot development in Gullivers Travels is often the opposite of what readers expect. For example, in this part, Gullivers crewmembers mutiny when they are near Leeward Islands and he is abandoned in an unknown landthe country of the Houyhnhnms. The Houyhnhnms are horse-like, physically strong and virtuous beings. Gulliver is regarded as likable as a yahoo by them. He tries to prove to the Houyhnhnms that he is not a Yahoo in nature although he looks like one. He talks at length about wars fought for religious reasons, Englands legal system, and his great love of his native country. However, the more he tries to cover up human flaws, the more they are known when he is questioned by the Houyhnhnms. The readers expectation may be Gullivers stay in the country of th e Houyhnhnms for his feverish passion for the Houyhnhnms. However, at last, they conclude that Gulliver is a yahoo in disguise because he has all traits a yahoo possesses and refuse his request to live there. Gulliver undergoes a stage of transform in book four, where he develops a love for the Houyhnhnms to the point that he does not want to return to humankind. He has an identity crisis although he is not aware of it. He thinks of his friends and family as Yahoolike, but forgets that he comes from English Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms think that Gulliver is some kind of Yahoo, though superior to the rest of his species. He asks them to stop using that word to refer to him, and they consent. This once again expresses disgust for human. 4. Functions of satires in Gullivers Travels 1. Stress the sense of absurdity Throughout much of Part I, Swift satirizes European practices by implicitly comparing them to outrageous Lilliputian customs. In these chapters, Swift also plays with language in a way that pokes fun at humanitys belief in its own importance. When the Lilliputians draw up an inventory of Gullivers possessions, the whole endeavor is treated as if it were a serious matter of state. The contrast between the tone of the inventory, which is given in the Lilliputians own words, and the utter triviality of the possessions that are being inventoried, serves as a mockery of people who take themselves too seriously. Similarly, the articles that Gulliver is forced to sign in order to gain his freedom are couched in formal, self-important language. But the document is nothing but a meaningless and self-contradictory piece of paper: each article emphasizes the fact that Gulliver is so powerful that, if he desires, he could violate all of the articles without much concern for his own safety. 2. reveal the snobbish nature of human culture In Gullivers adventure in Brobdingnag, many of the same issues that are brought up in the Lilliputian adventure are now brought up again, but this time Gulliver is in the exact opposite situation. Many of the jokes from Gullivers adventure in Lilliput are played in reverse: instead of worrying about trampling on the Lilliputians, Gulliver is now at risk of being trampled upon; instead of being feared and admired for his huge size, he is treated as an insignificant curiosity; instead of displaying miniature livestock in England to make money, he is put on display for money by the farmer. As a whole, the second voyage serves to emphasize the importance of size and the relativity of human culture. In the last part, Swift shifts attacks to defects in human nature represented by yahoos. His description about the country of the Houyhnhnms reveals corruption of human society and states a view that only those who live in a natural state are pure and noble. Just like Gulliver puts it, I must freely confess that the many virtues of those excellent quadrupeds placed in opposite view to human corruptions, had so far opened my eyes and enlarged my understanding, that I began to view the actions and passions of man in a very different light, and to think the honour of my own kind not worth managing. 3. make fun of expert languge Gullivers initial experiences with the Brobdingnagians are not positive. First they almost trample him, then the farmer virtually enslaves him, forcing him to perform tricks for paying spectators. Whereas in Lilliput, his size gives him almost godlike powers, allowing him to become a hero to the Lilliputian people, in Brobdingnag his different size has exactly the opposite effect. Even his small acts of heroism, like his battle against the rats, are seen by the Brobdingnagians as, at best, tricks. Swift continues to play with language in a way that both emphasizes his main satirical points about politics, ethics, and culture and makes fun of language itself. While Gulliver is still at sea, he describes in complicated naval jargon the various attempts his ship makes to deal with an oncoming storm. The rush of words is nearly incomprehensible, and it is meant to be so—the point is to satirize the jargon used by writers of travel books and sailing accounts, which in Swifts view w as often overblown and ridiculous. By taking the tendency to use jargon to an extreme and putting it in the mouth of the gullible and straightforward Gulliver, Swift makes a mockery of those who would try to demonstrate their expertise through convoluted language. Attacks like this one, which are repeated elsewhere in the novel, are part of Swifts larger mission: to criticize the validity of various kinds of expert knowledge that are more showy than helpful, whether legal, naval, or, as in the third voyage, scientific. 4. criticize excessive rationalism Gullivers third voyage is more scattered than the others, involving stops at Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg, and Japan. Swift completed the account of this voyage after that of the fourth voyage was already written, and there are hints that it was assembled from notes that Swift had made for an earlier satire of abstract knowledge. Nonetheless, it plays a crucial role in the novel as a whole. Whereas the first two voyages are mostly satires of politics and ethics, the third voyage extends Swifts attack to science, learning, and abstract thought, offering a critique of excessive rationalism, or reliance on theory, during the Enlightenment. 5. Conclusion Gullivers Travels is not only rich in content, but also deep in meaning. His satires about humanity in the four books are to the fullest. Satires are both implicitly and explicitly constructed throughout the four books. Disgust for human steadily increases as the narrative proceeds. The greatness of this novel does not plainly lie in Swifitian satire. The whole novel is like a mirror by which human flaws are reflected. It probably would long have been forgotten if the book did not carry carry critical thinking about humanity.

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Producing Your Own Play Recently, two friends and I structured a piece of theatre involving three characters and their journey through life. Throughout the play themes such, alcohol abuse, child abuse, drug addiction and many other themes showing the mental ability as the characters come across hard dissions during their journey through life. The play is about three characters who are faced with many temptations in which all resulting in some sort of addiction and later resulting in the character ending up in a mental hospital. The play is fast moving and perceptive entertains and thought provoking, funny yet ultimately tragic. Throughout the planning of our production we came across a few difficult disicions, one that really stands out in my mind was how to show the audience a sub-consion veiw of the characters thoughts, we wanted to really show the depth of these characters giving the veiwer the ability to understand the characters choices. To enable this we decided to use fiction in certain scenes showing an angel and a devil both giving adive to each indivdual character. We wanted to give the play a theme of 'Black Comedy' this keeping the audience more intreaged. My partners and I decided we could create our own characters, I decided that when my character first enters the play aged 9 years old I wanted to play this child to the best of my ability, I found this difficult at first for I had never played a character who was suffering with child abuse. After thinking about how I would play my character I decided that to give the veiwer a deep insite of my characters thoughts to acomplish this I tried to come across as a very insicure child, growing up with no love or affection in his life, this suggesting I would keep my voice in a quiet pitch and also while my character grows older and discovers he is a free person he still is traped with his father torment constant in his mind, this resulting in him turning into a more visiuos man with a very controversal veiw upon women this veiw growing into an addiction, growing to the ecstent wher the only pleasure was when he would kill women; '' GRABBING EVERY WOMEN IN SIGHT INTO DARK ALLYS LATE AT NIGHT'', in certain scenes we used ryme to give a stronger affect.Later on in the play my character finds himself in a mental hospital, my characters mind was no loger stable and useing very simular insicure body language like when I was a child I tried to give an affet where I was trabbed in my childhood

A Child Called It Encourage Speech Essay

Hello guys I’m Grace and I am a volunteer of this youth center, below I just to ask do you have these feelings before? Desperate, depressed, desolated. I believe these emotions will bump out in every one of your mind when you think you are in a disadvantaged situation, and sometimes you think the whole world owes you, aren’t you? But indeed, are you really that pathetic? For me, people used to say I’m a pessimism. Yet, after reading a book based on a true story of a boy, it blows my mind. And it changes my mind in way in seeing the world with cherishing and forgiveness, and now I want to share this with all of you and I hope it will change yours too. The boy who gives me such an impact is called Dave Pelzer and he is the author of the book called ‘A child called IT’. He was being abused by his mom since he was a child, starving, pain, hopeless are what he gone through, but in the end, he was being rescued. The state of California said that it may have been the worse case of child abuse in the history of state. I guess you could imagine how tough the life was for Dave. However, despite of all these memories, he still managed to survive and become a bright person. So first of all, the precious of survival is the first thing Dave had taught me. In our daily lives, our often take everything for granted, just take a simple example. When we are eating our cereal breakfast, we would complain from our mom and say ‘ How come it’s the same taste again! I have ate this cereal for whole week! I’m bored of it! while you are complaining with things you are not satisfied, Dave was managing not to starve to die. From the book, his mother rarely treated Dave as a son nor a human being, he is just an ‘it’, a non-existence. Eating is not a normal right for Dave, he had to finished all his chores in order to have a mouth of food, finding food from the trash and stealing food from a grocery store and classmates was the way to keep him alive. Just think about it? We are really l ucky aren’t we? As all us sitting in here and no need to worry about tomorrow’s live and will we survive or not. And it’s time to back to basics, don’t focus on things we don’t have but the things we have! We have friends, families and everyone sitting next to you in this youth center, what we got is far more than survive, and we should better treasure it, and not focus on the dark side. As I about the dark side, you might think Dave’s heart was full of hatred to his mum because her mum treated him so badly. But in contrast, Dave teach me forgiveness—the art of letting go. No matter what lies in their past, they can overcome the dark side and press on to a brighter world and turn tragedy into triumph’ Dave said in the book. How come a person can let go of his anger and bring love to her mum and his loving child, that’s Dave. Look at what happened to us, sometimes people or ourselves makes mistakes and the hatred will last in our heart, but actu ally what’s the point in remembering all those tragedy? Why don’t we move on? Just forgive ourselves and forgive others, your friends, your family. Then, you will find you heart is brighter and clearer than ever, just like Dave. In conclusion, I think this book is remarkable and incredible as Dave’s experience do change my way in looking in the world in more perspective such as survive, forgiveness, love, courage and faith, but the time is limited so I have to stop here. Lastly, I just want to say we could always let go of the bad things happened to us and treasure everything we got, be positive! Everyone in the youth center would support you. Even the darkest will end and sun will rise. Thank you.

Understanding Media and Communication

Understanding Media and Communication Introduction Films are lengthy plays recorded on electronic devices, which focus on telling factual, mythical, tradition, scientific and fictional stories. A film results from the creative skills of the producer who writes the script that the actors follow while acting. Most films attempt to replicate real situations, which have transpired in the past. Conversely, music is a composition that consists of lyrics. However, visual images as evident in the presence of images and sounds lack in music.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Understanding Media and Communication specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Evidently, such media platforms pass information to the mass in an extensive manner. Nonetheless, they make use of different styles thus translating the intended messages. This paper aims to contrast the two media platforms based on certain aspects that include ideology, realism and audience. Transmedia narratives are story narrated over different media platforms. A story falls into this category once it conforms to three or more media platforms. The exponential developments in the media world have facilitated the growth of transmedia narratives. Diversification of media platforms will be the predominant factor driving the growth of transmedia narratives by creating more platforms. The discussion below compares two media platforms thus music and film. The discussion exemplifies the techniques and devices used in storytelling in music and films (Abba 2009). Ideology Ideology is a general term that describes certain ideas or values that people follow. Overtime, mass media has been an avenue that fosters definite ideas. This means media platforms can lead to changes in ideologies. Films have the capability to tell lengthy and complex narrative because they can accommodate a dynamic cast. In addition, they make use of sound and picture in messages. Film uses different techniques to suggest its significance . On the contrary, music uses few techniques since it faces limitations. Music only makes use of sound. Therefore, it cannot integrate all the techniques and devices into sound. However, films can integrate the techniques and devices into sound and images. The visual ability in films means that they have the capability to influence persons. Music can influence ideologies due to its rhythms and creatively used lyrics. Essentially, both are influential; however, films seem to exude significant influence. With the digital advancement, a filmmaker can now film complex pieces. In order to enforce certain ideologies, films use devices such as rhetoric techniques. Music and film have applied rhetoric relatively equally. Evidently, rhetoric refers to any part of the story where the storyteller asks a question yet the artist comprehends the answer. The style is evident significantly in film than music (Post and Gold, 2006). Audience Transmedia narratives exude diverse story lines. Transmedia narratives require fanatical audience that will endeavor to follow the variety of stories that exist. These narratives capture a wide range of audiences because they are present on numerous media platforms. It worth noting that music commands a large crowd than film because it is cheaper.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A vital element of transmedia narratives is that they bring the audience on-board. Once the audiences participate, they can adjust the storyline making it linguistically and ethnically suitable for the industry. This means that the audiences have a certain level of responsibility to add to the entire plot. This makes transmedia narratives more acceptable. The level of participation in altering the plot would be minimal since film involves diverse issues that include cast and resources. Conversely, altering the plot would be easier since it involv es lesser people and resources. This means the flexibility of music gives it an edge over films, which are rigid. Transmedia allows a single story telling on a multitude of ways. With the technological advancement, transmedia will help to explore previously untapped market. Indeed, it would suit audio oriented stories while film would be suitable for graphical and audio oriented stories. â€Å"Form of realism† Realism involves making a representation of real life situation in literature of arts. It fundamentally involves replicating a real situation. In contrasting the two media platforms with regard to realism, it is imperative to analyze their capability to replicate situations and scenarios. Films are competent of replicating situations exemplarily since it has both visual and audio capability. When they have a trained cast, they can bring out any story magnificently well. However, films require a substantial amount of resources to support the crew and equipment. Story tel ling on film requires an assortment of skills. This is because a film requires a script, which captures the basis of the story. Conversely, the process of storytelling in music is considerably simple but requires a gifted person. Telling a story in a song requires the singer to blend in the ideas, which is not an ordinary fit. However, storytelling through music is much simpler and inculcates fewer techniques and devices. On the contrary, storytelling through films involves many devices since it can accommodate a larger cast. This means that it can have antagonist protagonist, narrator, foil, and confidant. The antagonist, narrator, and antagonist represent the varying views, which may exist due to a certain story. The use of such a cast gives depth to the story telling in films since the story has to give space to allow the varying speakers to assert their views. Such diverse thought brought about by the cast will trigger the audience to pay attention. This means that the audiences are not just ordinary listeners. It is challenging and impractical to integrate such a cast in a song because it would lose certain aspects such as rhythm. Indeed, films have the capability to replicate a situation given the right cast and resources. These are attributable to the sound and visual aspect of films. In addition, film allows the audience to see the narrators and members of the cast. Music integrates poetry into lyrics to create rhyming words and thus improve rhythm in the song. Poetry represents the most incorporated style in music (Khlentzos 2011).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Understanding Media and Communication specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More â€Å"Modes of representation† These modes present model of film making utilized in the past. These modes represent the patterns that film production engaged. These modes apply in film making by providing guidance to the filmmaker on the procedures to follow. This reveal an aspect of film making that is procedural (Isaken Dorval 1992). Therefore, storytelling through films is more technical and procedural than through music since set procedures are non-existent. This reveals filmmaking as a bureaucratic procedure that requires a certain set of processes followed. This represents a key difference between story telling through music and film. In music, there is no set procedure and the quality depends on the creativity of the musician. The artist has the responsibility to merge various genres to create a magnificent presentation. Filmmaking seems to follow a procedure in storytelling to guarantee a given quality to the listeners. Conversely, the modes are likely to lead to a good story telling since the set procedures facilitate quality work. Both media platforms have definite facets, which work in tandem. These two media outlet provides minimal avenue for feedback. In storytelling, it is imperative to create an avenue for feed back as it contributes to the overall plot of the story. In addition, it makes the audience an active participant in storytelling. Media platform such as blogs sites are pioneer in this field since they provide an avenue for the listener to articulate their feeling with regard to a given story. Interaction between the storyteller and the audience is crucial since the audiences are able to contribute to the plot of the transmedia narrative (McWilliams, 1998). Conclusion Transmedia narratives have become a predominant force in the 21st century communication. This is because most people are on social media and other correlated platforms. Music and films have been critical in creating this new media phenomenon. Music or songs only last for a diminutive phase while films are relatively lengthy. Basing on time, films can inculcate more styles, techniques, and devices to spruce up storytelling. The styles applied include ambiguity, rhetoric and a diverse cast. Overall, films use more devic es and techniques than music. Music and film are primarily different since the latter makes use of both images and sound while the initial only utilizes audio. The ability of film to make use of both sound and images has granted it advantage over music in storytelling. Nonetheless, the use of music in story telling surpasses the use of film despite its advantages. List of References Abba, T 2009, Hybrid stories: Examining the future of transmedia narrative, Liverpool  university press, 2, 1, pp 59-75.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Isaken, S Dorval, K 1992, Mode of symbolic representation in a cognitive style, Web. Khlentzos, D 2011, Challenges to Metaphysical Realism Web. McWilliams 1998, Effective Storytelling Web. Post, D Gold, L 2006, Literary Devices Web.

Free Essays on The Color Purple By Alice Walker

â€Å"The Color Purple† by Alice Walker is a novel that is written in letterforms. In the novel Alice Walker writes about several ideas, such as courage, friendship, and independence. â€Å"The Color Purple† is told through the eyes of a fourteen year old girl named Celie, who is repeatedly raped and impregnated by her stepfather. What does the color â€Å"purple† symbolize ? Why did Alice Walker title her novel the â€Å"The Color Purple†? The color â€Å"purple† is an important symbol because it concern the life of young Celie and the pains and sorrows she lives through. Alice Walker’s novel concerns the life of a woman through her life. â€Å"Alice Malsenior Walker was born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia, the eighth and youngest child of Minnie Tallulah Grant Walker and Willie Lee Walker† (Jackson). In 1982 Alice finished her novel "The Color Purple." â€Å"The Color Purple† is not like most novels. Writing the novel in letterform Alice Walker does not write a lot about the characters, the setting, and why the characters behave the way they do. When the novel opens, Celie is a young black girl living in Georgia in the early years of the twentieth century. She is an uneducated girl, and writes her letters in common language. Celie is entering her adolescence believing her father raped her and that he killed both of their children. She writes to god, because she has no one else to write to. Celie feels that what happened to her was so terrible that she can only talk about it to someone she feels loves her. Although she knows her younger sister, Nettie, loves her, she is too young to understand. Nettie has lived somewhat of an easier life. She was sheltered from the abuse by her older sister, and was always good at academics. When she ran away from home, she went to the house that Celie now shared with her husband, who is known as Mr._____ . Mr._____ had always wanted Nettie, but when she ... Free Essays on The Color Purple By Alice Walker Free Essays on The Color Purple By Alice Walker â€Å"The Color Purple† by Alice Walker is a novel that is written in letterforms. In the novel Alice Walker writes about several ideas, such as courage, friendship, and independence. â€Å"The Color Purple† is told through the eyes of a fourteen year old girl named Celie, who is repeatedly raped and impregnated by her stepfather. What does the color â€Å"purple† symbolize ? Why did Alice Walker title her novel the â€Å"The Color Purple†? The color â€Å"purple† is an important symbol because it concern the life of young Celie and the pains and sorrows she lives through. Alice Walker’s novel concerns the life of a woman through her life. â€Å"Alice Malsenior Walker was born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia, the eighth and youngest child of Minnie Tallulah Grant Walker and Willie Lee Walker† (Jackson). In 1982 Alice finished her novel "The Color Purple." â€Å"The Color Purple† is not like most novels. Writing the novel in letterform Alice Walker does not write a lot about the characters, the setting, and why the characters behave the way they do. When the novel opens, Celie is a young black girl living in Georgia in the early years of the twentieth century. She is an uneducated girl, and writes her letters in common language. Celie is entering her adolescence believing her father raped her and that he killed both of their children. She writes to god, because she has no one else to write to. Celie feels that what happened to her was so terrible that she can only talk about it to someone she feels loves her. Although she knows her younger sister, Nettie, loves her, she is too young to understand. Nettie has lived somewhat of an easier life. She was sheltered from the abuse by her older sister, and was always good at academics. When she ran away from home, she went to the house that Celie now shared with her husband, who is known as Mr._____ . Mr._____ had always wanted Nettie, but when she ...

Auctions - Microeconomics 3rd Year Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Auctions - Microeconomics 3rd Year - Essay Example As the auction proceeds, the price starts declining. A bidder can stop the auction at any time, claim the object, and pay the ongoing price. This particular type of auction is also described as a descending bid auction and has been traditionally used by the Dutch in flower markets. This is the most commonly used format. Bidding starts at a low price. The bidders compete by submitting ascending bids until only one bidder is left. This bidder wins the object and pays the ongoing price. It is the opposite of the Dutch auction and is described as an ascending bid auction. The eBay auction is a variation of this type of auction. This mechanism is similar to the first-price sealed-bid auction, with the exception that the highest bidder pays the second highest bid. It is also referred to as the Vickrey auction. It is seldom used but is commonly used in theoretical work because of its simplicity and closeness to the English auction. The Dutch auction and the first price sealed bid auction are strategically equivalent regardless of the information structure (independent private value or common value) and risk preferences (risk neutrality or risk aversion). A strategy is a complete description of instructions to be played throughout the game. The strategic form of a game is the set of alternative strategies to each player and their corresponding expected payoffs from following them. Two games are strategically equivalent if they share the same strategic form. In a Dutch auction, each bidder needs to decide at which price he would want to claim the object, assuming that it is still unclaimed. This is also true for the first-price sealed-bid auction. When a bidder is in a first-price sealed bid auction he thinks about whether to bid  £95 or  £100. He is actually trading off winning with a lower bid between  £95 and  £100. This is exactly the same considerations that are given in the Dutch auction. The English auction and the Second-price

ANTIGENS, ANTIBODIES AND THE IMMUNE RESPONSE Essay

ANTIGENS, ANTIBODIES AND THE IMMUNE RESPONSE - Essay Example This essay shall discuss antigens, antibodies, and the immune response, including what can happen when a patient has an immune reaction to a blood transfusion. First and foremost, the skin itself is the body’s first line of defence. The skin defends the body as it makes it impenetrable to organisms (Kauffman, et.al., 2002). The oil and sweat glands of the skin helps prevent the growth of microorganisms; moreover, sweat has lysozymes which then break down bacterial cell walls. Aside from the skin, the digestive and respiratory tracts also have natural defence mechanisms (Raven, 2006). The cells lining these tracts contain bronchi and bronchioles where mucus is secreted and where microorganisms are then trapped. They are then naturally expelled through coughing, sneezing, vomiting, and diarrhoea. The second line of defence of the body is the cellular level line of defence. Such line of defence includes cells of the body which mostly function for the specific management and elimination of microorganisms (Gorbach, et.al., 2003). The macrophages are the large and irregularly shaped cells. They usually eliminate microbes by ingesting them using the process of phagocytosis. In the macrophage, the lysosome is fused with the bacteria and the microbe is then killed with free radicals in significant quantities released (Raven, 2006). Macrophages also consume viruses and dust particles. They are located in the extracellular fluid and their actions support the actions of other parts of the body, mostly the spleen and the bone marrow. The neutrophils are another type of cell which helps fight off microorganisms (Hornef, et.al., 2002). These are leukocytes which ingest and then kill bacteria, also applying the process of phagocytosis. They also release chemicals which kill the bacteria. The natural killer cells do not directly attack the