In a Grove free essay sample

In A Grove There are different types of points of view in fiction. In the story, â€Å"In A Grove† by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, a high police commissioner investigates a recent murder. The police commissioner gathers different testimonies from six different people. Each one of those testimonies has inconsistencies about the details of the murder. Different points of view were shown in the story. A woodcutter was first to be questioned. His testimony states that he found the dead body in the woods, about one hundred fifty meters off the Yamashina stage road. The man died by a single sword-stroke to the chest. The body was lying on its back in a bluish silk kimono and a wrinkled head-dress of the Kyoto style. The blood was already dried up. The bamboo blades had fallen which resulted from a violent battle. He did not find a sword and horse but he found a rope at the foot of a cedar and a comb. We will write a custom essay sample on In a Grove or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The second person to give his testimony was a traveling Buddhist Priest. He says that he saw the dead man with a woman on horse-back, who was his wife, on the road from Sekiyama to Yamashina noon on the day before the murder. He described the woman to be four feet five inches tall, dressed in lilac-colored suit and a scarf hanging from her head. Her horse was a sorrel with a fine mane. He described the man to have been armed with a sword and bow and twenty odd arrows in his quiver. A policeman was the third to give his testimony. The policeman was the one who arrested a notorious brigand, Tajomaru, on the bridge at Awataguchi.. Tajomaru was arrested after being thrown off a sorrel with a fine mane horse. He was dressed in a dark blue silk kimono and a large plain sword. He was also carrying a bow with leather strips, black lacquered quiver, and seventeen arrows with hawk feathers. The next to be questioned was an old woman. She was the mother-in-law of the dead man. She says that his son-in-law did not come from Kyoto. He was a samurai in the town of Kokufu. His name was Kanazawa no Takehiko. He was described as a twenty-six years old man and was of gentle disposition. He did nothing to provoke the anger of people. Her daughter is Masago. She is a nineteen year old woman with a small, oval, dark-completed face with a mole at the corner of her left eye. She was described as a spirited, fun-loving girl but never knew any man except Takehiko. The couple left yesterday for Wakasa. Tajomaru was next. He confessed that he committed the murder. He met the couple and fell in love with Masago ad figured out a way to get her without killing her husband. He told Takehiko that there was treasure in the woods and brought them there. When it was a convenient spot, he seized him. He tied him up to the root of a cedar and gagged his mouth with fallen bamboo leaves. After this, he tried getting Masago. Even if she tried slashing Tajomaru with her small sword, he was able to evade her attack. When he was about to leave them, Masago started crying and clung to his arm. She had asked to either kill her husband or he dies. She was ashamed of what had happened and wanted to be the wife of whoever survives. He decided to follow and untied Takehiko and told him to fight. Tajomaru killed Takehiko after twenty-three stroke. After Takehiko’d body fell, Masago had already left. Tajomaru decided to leave on Masago’s horse with Takehiko’s sword and bow and arrow. The fifth person was Masago. She stated that Tajomaru had seized her and Takehiko was watching helplessly. She could see the agony his husband was facing. When Tajomaru left, Takehiko felt shame, grief and anger. She told him that she cannot live without him. She wants to die but he must die along with her. She could not find his sword, and bow and arrow but she found her small sword. Takehiko had difficulty speaking but she could see in his eyes that he wanted to die. She stabbed him in the chest and untied him afterwards. She tried committing suicide multiple times, like stabbing her own throat and throwing herself into a pond at the foot of the mountain. She somehow lives after these attempts. The last testimony came from Takehiko, as told through a medium. He said that after the violent act, Tajomaru comforted Masago. He was trying to tell his wife to not believe the robber. But Masago did not notice him and believed in Tajomaru and wanted to run away with him. She told the robber to kill her husband. Hesitant at first, Tajomaru soon agreed. Masago suddenly ran away and Tajomaru took Takehiko’s sword, and bow and arrow. After freeing Takehiko from his bonds, Tajomaru disappeared. Takehiko found his wife’s small sword and stabbed it into his chest. Blood flowed out of his mouth. When he only saw darkness, he felt that someone took the sword and more blood flowed out of his mouth. The inconstancies of the testimonies vary. The woodcutter mentioned a comb but it was no longer mentioned by the others. The fallen leaves where the violent battle had occurred was mentioned by the woodcutter and Tajomaru. The woodcutter says that the cause of death was a single sword-stroke to the chest but in the testimonies of Masago and Takehiko, a small sword was stabbed into his chest. The woodcutter claims that Takehiko was wearing a Kyoto-style suit but Masagos mother says that he was not from Kyoto. The traveling Buddhist priest remembers that there were twenty arrows in the Takehikos quiver but the bounty hunter says that there were only seventeen. Tajomaru does not mention how Masagos dagger disappears. In Tajomarus and Takehikos testimonies, Masago and Tajomaru have a conversation. Afterwards, Masago is willing to run away with Tajomaru and wants her husband dead. This was not mentioned in Masago’s testimony. It is impossible for Masago to live after her suicide attempts, especially stabbing her throat. Takehiko mentions that blood flowed out of his mouth after the small sword was taken out of his chest. In the woodcutter’s testimony, the blood was dried up. The story uses third person limited. There were a lot of inconsistencies from the testimonies. No one really knew what really happened in the murder. Their testimonies were based on what only they have seen or experienced in the story. Therefore, they are unreliable. Most of them were even lying and was trying to hide something important from the commissioner.

Your Rights and Responsibilities As a New U.S. Citizen

Your Rights and Responsibilities As a New U.S. Citizen Becoming an American citizen with all the freedoms and opportunities this nation has to offer is the dream of many immigrants. Those who are fortunate enough to be in a position to pursue naturalization gain the same rights and privileges of citizenship as natural born American citizens save one: naturalized U.S. citizens are not eligible for the Office of the President of the United States. With these new rights, citizenship also brings with is some important responsibilities. As a new U.S. citizen, it is your duty to you give back to your adopted nation by fulfilling these responsibilities. Rights of U.S. Citizens Vote in federal electionsServe on a juryBring family members to the United StatesObtain citizenship for children born abroadTravel with a U.S. passportRun for federal officeBecome eligible for federal grants and scholarship Responsibilities of U.S. Citizens Support and defend the ConstitutionServe the country when requiredParticipate in the democratic processRespect and obey federal, state, and local lawsRespect the rights, beliefs, and opinions of othersParticipate in your local community (Source: USCIS)

Rainwater Harvesting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rainwater Harvesting - Essay Example Furthermore, the tanks have a 15-year warranty and use up-to-date technology to ensure the water is safe for human consumption (JFC n.p.). The availability of different sizes makes the system ideal for areas without water security. The installation process is cost efficient as the tank can be backfilled with pea-gravel instead of backfill. Furthermore, the assembling of the tank can take place on-site, and the assembly instructions provided eliminating the costs of hiring a crane. The Stormsaver provides high-quality rain harvesting systems at competitive prices. It provides its services for domestic and commercial use. Testimonials from users of the system argue that the installation has halved their water bill, and the installation budget is small. According to John Thorne, the Stormsaver System cost  £2,500 and an extra  £5,000 to install (Stormsaver n.p.). The plant reduces domestic consumption as the water covers toilet flushing and sprinkler systems. Furthermore, the company offers free servicing, maintenance and installation, reducing the cost of purchase and

Discuss The Controversy Surrounding The Chapman Brothers Rectified Essay

Discuss The Controversy Surrounding The Chapman Brothers Rectified Works of Francisco Goyas Disasters of War Series - Essay Example The best in Goya came during the period of war in Spain and this shows that wars really bring out the best in men. The controversy that surrounded the rectification of his work by the Goya Brothers was borne out of the love that this critics had for this great artist and his art work. The Chapman brothers have been accused of defacing the etchings they purchased from Goya’s Disasters of War as the Chapman Brothers’ Insult to Injury had some funny faces that made their collections controversial in nature. The Brothers have been accused of intentionally defacing the appearance of Goya’s Disasters of War and some have even said that they used their Insult to Injury to mock Goya’s works. Although the Chapman Brothers have claimed that Francisco Goya was their model, the fact however remains that the rectification of his Disasters of War actually disproves this notion if one considers the fact that they tried to transform the work of their so called ‘mode l’ in order to produce their own work that is different from his work in several ways (Chapman). The Chapman Brothers succeeded in transforming Goya’s work into sheer pornographic Surrealism but it should be underscored that Goya was more into Romanticism. The issue that has been raised by the critics is that the Chapman Brothers bought a set of 83 etchings from Goya’s Disasters of War and vandalised it. The critics have claimed that the Chapman Brothers were aware that this great art work by Goya is one of the most venerated series of prints in existence (Mey, 2007, p.1). The Chapman Brothers have not only made attempts to erase the memories of the artists from the hearts of men, but they have also destroyed and obscured a great artwork, thus attracting lots of controversies to themselves and their rectified art work. Controversy based on Semiotics The Chapman Brothers unscrupulously rectified the works of Francisco Goya’s Disaster of War Series, which G oya himself used to represent the horrors of the war between 1810 and 1820. In the original work of Goya, he used symbols of humans as an allegory to the sufferings of humans during the war and to express his dissatisfaction and horror at the disgusting lunacy of war. In rectifying the works of Francisco Goya’s Disaster of War Series, the Chapman Brothers used cartoon images to represent the sufferings of humans that Goya was trying to depict through his images and the fact that Chapman derailed from the original message of Goya made people to criticize the revised works of the Chapman Brothers. â€Å"Typical in their broad-brush detestation of Enlightenment tradition are Jake and Dinos Chapman, postmodern artists most famous for ‘Insult to Injury’, their vandalized or ‘rectified’ appropriation of Goya’s Disaster of War prints, in which they pasted fiendish clown and puppy heads over every victim’s grimace....† (Broderick, 2005, p.9). The controversy that surrounded the works of the Chapman Brothers was caused by the cartoon images that they superimposed in their work as they used the symbols of puppies or clowns as figures to represent the human sufferings that Goya intended to show people through his Disaster of War

Looking At The Impacts Of Fashion On Society Cultural Studies Essay

Looking At The Impacts Of Fashion On Society Cultural Studies Essay The 1950s were a fascinating time in the United States that left an impressive mark on our society. Fashion during this unforgettable time was extremely imaginative and expressive, and overtime evolved into iconic images that are repeatedly replicated in fashion today. The now famous styles are historical icons in our culture that are recognized by the majority of Americans. The fashion of the 1950s is very memorable to our society because it was, rebellious, captivating, and unique. The 1950s are often thought of as a time with conservative families who had well-behaved children that listened to their parents rules, and lived in cookie cutter suburban communities. While for many this was true, there was also a great deal of teenage rebellion that came out of this era. As the 1950s opened, Americas adolescents were basically a conservative, unrebellious lot.  [1]  At the very start of the 1950s teens idolized the same older generation figures as their parents, so factors for a rebellion were simply not there. However, in the early part of the decade younger idols arose and new cultural factors began the start of a teenage rebellion and, By the late fifties Americas teenagers had acquired a distinct subculture of their own. They had their own money, music, movies, television shows, idols, clothing, and slang.  [2]  They had found their own fashions and they centered on casual dress, instead of the upright fashion of older generations. This rebellion was ea sily expressed through exciting new fashions that had never been seen before. These styles became a vital aspect to the 1950s era that are now recognized and imitated in the fashion world today. The fresh clothing ideas for teenage girls included, rolled-up jeans, full dresses with crinolines, skirts paired with sweaters, casual blouses, blazers, tube dresses, sack dresses, two-piece bathing suits, and brown and white saddle shoes. High school boys were regularly seen in sport shirts, denim jeans with rolled-up cuffs, baggy pegged pants, pleated rouge trousers with a white side stripe, V-neck sweaters, slacks with back buckles, button-down striped shirts, blazers, and loafers.  [3]  Favorite color pallets and designs incorporated into these styles were polka dots, dramatic bright colors, and pale pastel colors.  [4]  One of the up-and-coming teen idols was Rebel without a Cause, James Dean, whose iconic look consisted of a white tee shirt and sport jacket.  [5]  This rol e model led to the same age group of boys showing their own rebellion through a tough attitude, black leather jackets, jeans, and tee shirts with rolled sleeves to hold cigarette packs. This highly rebellious crowd became known as Greasers, a very recognizable subculture. To continue, style in the 1950s was captivating for many Americans of the time. While the style of the rebellious teens is sometimes the spotlight of Fifties fashion, older generations also embraced new fashion ideas. Americans in the 1950s were caught up in many popular fads. Perhaps to take their minds off the looming threats to Americas Securityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚  [6]  In 1950 popular fashion designer Christian Dior created designs for his concept of the New Look, and it quickly became the epitome of fashion for women at the time. His model emphasized an hourglass shape (still popular today), skintight tailoring, narrow waist, and a full flared skirt. Along with this latest fashion ideal, it was also popular for Fifties women to wear fashion staples such as, stiletto heels, bright red lipstick, hats, and gloves. In the 1950s it was common for women to be housewives, but many were also working outside the home, Although womens roles were changing, the most popular fashions of the 1950s emphasized womens femininity and sexuality.  [7]  Overall, for women a look of professional feminism was portrayed, but with young girls a more fun look was trendy. The most memorable of these looks was that of the bobby soxers, consisting of two-tone saddle shoes, ankle socks, white shirts, soft sweaters, neck scarves, and poodle skirts. Poodle skirts are a staple of the 1950s that were frequently worn to Sock Hops and were, full circular skirts decorated with felt patches of well-coiffed French poodles and were the fashion rage for teen girls.  [8]  A sense of style was even welcomed by young children because of the popularity of Western television shows; therefore, children would often mimic the look of their favorite cowboy.  [9]  Even male fashion began to take a more attractive and less stiff turn, clothing such as smart suits, sports jackets, and trousers with permenant creases.  [10]  In conclusion, the 1950s appealing fashion gave women a look of sophi sticated feminism, gave men a look of relaxed professionalism, and gave younger generations a look of carefree fun. Finally, it is easy to observe that the clothing styles and fashions of the generations were unique to the time, but conformity was also an accepted idea at the time as well. Even the most self-expressive group desired to fit it, Teenagers were also very conformist: They were very concerned about what their friends thought of their dress, behavior, and ideas, and they tried very hard to be part of the group and not be labeled an oddball or individualist.  [11]  It could be surmised that the reason for this need to be the same through fashion may have stemmed from the emerging suburban lifestyle in the United States, which was all about conformity through appearance. Therefore, fashion during the 1950s was most often not about being an individual with your own personal style, it was based off of being apart of a universal style. The fashions were so highly received that they could be seen on almost everyone of the decade. For example, powerful businessmen of the time sported the i nfamous gray flannel suits, which were paired with narrow brimmed hats.  [12]  As a result of televisions invading homes, and movie theaters growing, admiration of stars like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, added to the aspiration to achieve a trendy look of glamorous sophistication and elegance.  [13]  Of course, there were exceptions to the conformity ideal, and these groups were known as The Beatniks. These were citizens who detested conformity and separated themselves from the popular fashions by wearing black turtleneck sweaters, blue jeans, and sandals for men and black leotards and short skirts for women. Ironically, the style that they developed to protest being the same became a conformity in itself.  [14]  To sum up, even though 1950s fashion could be vastly conformist, the styles themselves were definitely unique and something that the country had never experienced, but quickly loved and would continue to adore for generations to come. In conclusion, the fashion of the 1950s was filled with blends of trendy, relaxed, fun, elegant, and sophisticated styles. The original fashions of this beloved decade are still treasured in society today, and these fashions are often still imitated in various styles in the fashion world. Because 1950s fashion was rebellious, captivating, and unique, it has evolved into a memorable part of history that will always have an element of current fashions for years to come. The Fifties style sums up everything that is flattering, does not appear to be a contrived fashion statement, and shows classic good style.  [15]  

Female Foeticide in India Essay

Save the girl child, or Beti Bachao, Beti Bachao Andolan in Urdu, is a campaign in India to end the gender-selective abortion of female fetuses, which has skewed the population towards a significant under-representation of girls in some Indian states. The â€Å"Beti Bachao† campaign is supported by human rights groups, non-governmental organizations, and state and local government in India. Contents [hide] 1 Female foeticide 2 Beti Bachao awareness campaign 3 National support 4 Effectiveness 5 See also 6 References Female foeticide[edit] Further information: Female foeticide in India Sex-selective abortion, or female foeticide, has led to a sharp drop in the ratio of girls born in contrast to boy infants in some states in India. Ultrasound technology has made it possible for pregnant women and their families to learn the gender of a foetus early in a pregnancy. Discrimination against girl infants, for several reasons, has combined with the technology to result in a rise in abortions of fetuses identified as female during ultrasound testing. The trend was first noticed when results of the 1991 national census were released, and it was confirmed to be a worsening problem when results of the 2001 national census were released. The reduction in the female population of certain Indian states continues to worsen, as results of the 2011 national census have shown. It has been observed that the trend is most pronounced in relatively prosperous regions of India. [1] The dowry system in India is often blamed; the expectation that a large dowry must be provided for daughters in order for them to marry is frequently cited as a major cause for the problem. 2] Pressure for parents to provide large dowries for their daughters is most intense in prosperous states where high standards of living, and modern consumerism, are more prevalent in Indian society. Rates of female foeticide in Madhya Pradesh are increasing; the rate of live births was 932 girls per 1000 boys in 2001, which dropped to 912 by 2011. It is expected that if this trend continues, by 2021 the number of girls will drop below 900 per 1000 boys. 3] Beti Bachao awareness campaign[edit] Beti Bachao activities include large rallies, poster campaigns, wall paintings, billboards, and television commercials and short animations and video films. Celebrities such as video director Jagmeet Bal, and Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, have become involved in â€Å"Save the girl child† initiatives. National support[edit] The Beti Bachao campaign is supported by numerous medical organizations in India, including the Indian Medical Association. 4] Government support at the state level has provided funding for Beti Bachao publicity activities in particular. The expenditures related to the campaign have been a source of political controversy in Madhya Pradesh, which launched its official Beti Bachao Abhiyan campaign in 2012. [5] Effectiveness[edit] The campaign has reported some success in parts of India. In 2009, it was reported that in Gujarat, rates of female births increased from 802 to 882 for every 1000 male births. Beti Bachao activities were credited with this improvement. [6]

How Technology Helps in Communication Essay

If we talk about what are the tools that we can use in developing communication, than I say that â€Å"technology is one of the tools that we can use for communication†. Worlds are globalizing, we cannot depend on only one medium. We are lucky to have science gift that is technology. Communicating involves giving, receiving and making sense of information. Children do this by using non-verbal means of communication, talking, listening, thinking, and understanding. In time, the skills of reading and writing enrich this experience. Communicating is a two-way activity; as well as learning to share their experiences with others children also learn to interpret what others are sharing with them. They communicate in many different ways including facial expressions, gestures, body movements, sounds, language and for some children, through assistive technology. Children’s language is more than words, phrases and sentences. It includes art, Braille, dance, drama, music, poetry, pictures, sculpture, signing, and stories. While most children eventually master spoken and written language as their key means of communicating, they continue to speak through their gestures, body movements and expressions to a greater or lesser extent. Some children with special educational needs may need additional and consistent support throughout their lifetime to practise, learn and perfect the art of non-verbal communication. Language technologies are information technologies that are specialized for dealing with the most complex information medium in our world: human language. Therefore these technologies are also often subsumed under the term Human Language Technology. Human language occurs in spoken and written form. Whereas speech is the oldest and most natural mode of language communication, complex information and most of human knowledge is maintained and transmitted in written texts. Speech and text technologies process or produce language in these two modes of realization. But language also has aspects that are shared between speech and text such as dictionaries, most of grammar and the meaning of sentences. Thus large parts of language technology cannot be subsumed under speech and text technologies. Among those are technologies that link language to knowledge. We do not know how language, knowledge and thought are represented in the human brain. Nevertheless, language technology had to create formal representation systems that link language to concepts and tasks in the real world. This provides the interface to the fast growing area of knowledge technologies. In our communication we mix language with other modes of communication and other information media. We combine speech with gesture and facial expressions. Digital texts are combined with pictures and sounds. Movies may contain language and spoken and written form. Thus speech and text technologies overlap and interact with many other technologies that facilitate processing of multimodal communication and multimedia documents. Although existing LT systems are far from achieving human ability, they have numerous possible applications. The goal is to create software products that have some knowledge of human language. Such products are going to change our lives. They are urgently needed for improving human-machine interaction since the main obstacle in the interaction between human and computer is merely a communication problem. Today’s computers do not understand our language but computer languages are difficult to learn and do not correspond to the structure of human thought. Even if the language the machine understands and its domain of discourse are very restricted, the use of human language can increase the acceptance of software and the productivity of its users. Language technologies helps in developing listening and speaking skills Being a good communicator is crucial to children’s development. The adult encourages children to communicate by listening to them, interpreting what they are saying, responding to them, and by modeling good communication. The adult also provides an environment which motivates children to interact with each other and the adult, and with the objects and places in it. By capturing children’s interest and curiosity and challenging them to explore and to share their adventures and discoveries with others, this environment can fuel their thinking, imagination and creativity, thereby enriching communication. These early experiences support children in becoming confident and competent communicators Natural language interfaces enable the user to communicate with the computer in French, English, German, or another human language. Some applications of such interfaces are database queries, information retrieval from texts, so-called expert systems, and robot control. Current advances in the recognition of spoken language improve the usability of many types of natural language systems. Communication with computers using spoken language will have a lasting impact upon the work environment; completely new areas of application for information technology will open up. However, spoken language needs to be combined with other modes of communication such as pointing with mouse or finger. If such multimodal communication is finally embedded in an effective general model of cooperation, we have succeeded in turning the machine into a partner. The ultimate goal of research is the omnipresent access to all kinds of technology and to the global information structure by natural interaction. In an ambitious but not too far-fetched scenario, language technology provides the interface to an ambient intelligence providing assistance at work and in many situations of daily life. Language technologies can also help people communicate with each other. Much older than communication problems between human beings and machines are those between people with different mother tongues. One of the original aims of language technology has always been fully automatic translation between human languages. From bitter experience scientists have realized that they are still far away from achieving the ambitious goal of translating unrestricted texts. Nevertheless, they have been able to create software systems that simplify the work of human translators and clearly improve their productivity. Less than perfect automatic translations can also be of great help to information seekers who have to search through large amounts of texts in foreign languages. The most serious bottleneck for e-commerce is the volume of communication between business and customers or among businesses. Language technology can help to sort, filter and route incoming email. It can also assist the customer relationship agent to look up information and to compose a response. In cases where questions have been answered before, language Technology can find appropriate earlier replies and automatically respond.