Sunlight on the Grass Essay Example for Free

Sunlight on the Grass Essay For the purpose of this assignment I will analyse two stories. Firstly I will examine the â€Å"Compass and Torch† by Elizabeth Baines and will demonstrate how the objects in the title relate to the characters of the story and represent key themes. I will then discuss â€Å"Something Old, Something New† by Leila Aboulela and highlight the ways in which the title relates to the story. Firstly the â€Å"Compass and Torch† is a story about a young boy setting out on a camping trip with his estranged father. The compass and torch are used symbolically throughout the narrative to reflect the boy’s feelings and relationship to his family. I feel that the compass symbolises a lack of direction or the absence of a relationship between father and son. This can be demonstrated when they are about to leave the car for their journey together at the bottom of the hill. â€Å"The man looks up – for the first time – at the path they will take, which runs from the gate to the brow of the hill. Then he groans: I didn’t bring a compass†. The lack of compass showing with nothing to guide them the chance for them to get closer in their relationship is doomed. However, the narrative continues to suggest that the compass is not required, that with love and hope in their hearts, father and son will always be bonded. â€Å"Compasses are things boys and dads tend to have, but which, when they are alert and strong at heart, they can leave behind.† The compass can also be seen as a metaphor for the pull of the boy between his divorced parents. This idea is shown when the boy had gone upstairs looking for his torch and overhears his Mother and her boyfriend Jim talking in the kitchen. â€Å"The boy might have remembered it, the compass, as they were leaving. But he couldn’t wait to get going, for it all to be over †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ And the way his mother said hardly anything, and made her face blank whenever Dad spoke to her or looked her way†. This text demonstrates that mother and father remain hostile following their divorce and reflects the boy’s awareness of this and feelings of being in the middle of it all. The story demonstrates how the camping trip is an opportunity to strengthen the father son relationship, with the torch signifying the path of reconciliation, used as a tool to light the way to a new future. This is highlighted when, as the boy is sitting in his father’s car, he shows him he has brought his torch, representing the boys longing to bond with his dad.â€Å" as the man drops into the driving seat something in the boy’s chest gives a little hop of joy and he cries excitedly, ’oh I brought my torch!’†. This idea is further reinforced in the narrative when we discover both father and son have torches, â€Å"Two torches are for lighting a bigger space in the wilderness, for lighting it together. Two torches are for father and son to back each other up.† Furthermore, the colour of the torches seems to hold some significance. It is shown that the boy has a red torch whilst the father has a green one. I feel this is deliberate and hold connotations similar to a traffic light system where the red torch symbolises the lack of relationship with this father, with no way of moving forward whilst the fathers green torch reflects the idea of rebuilding the relationship, with the possibility of new horizons. Although not in the title of the story the horse is also symbolic of the boy’s mother and highlights further how Baines uses symbolism to represent characters throughout the narrative. For example whilst on his journey with his father a horse appears. â€Å"The horse comes up to the car. She nudges up, puts her nose over the edge of the door. The man bats her away† I feel this represents the mothers need to protect her son and the struggle the boy feels between his parents. The quote above illustrates the father not wanting the mother to be involved, to take a step back. Similarly â€Å"the horse nuzzles the rucksack top and the man pushes her away†. In Something Old, Something New, Leila Aboulela writes about a wedding due to take place between a Scottish man and his Sudanese bride. The title is therefore appropriate to the story as the popular wedding phrase something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. However, the title goes deeper than that and relates to the story in many more ways representing a number of key themes. The groom is depicted as a man desperate to find himself. He has dropped out of medical school and is unsure on which direction his life should take. He converts from Catholicism to Islam and his new spiritual world seems to have saved him. Indeed, the narrative demonstrates how his view of Islam is different to his brides. â€Å"She associated Islam with her dark skin, her African blood, her own weakness. She couldn’t really understand why anyone like him would want to join the wretched of the world. But he spoke with warmth†. Religion for her seems a flaw, but for him represents a new beginning in life. This theme of conflicting ideas of old and new is also depicted when he arrives in Egypt to meet his bride and her brother. Back in Scotland, her ethnic difference seemed exotic, exciting but once in her home country he realises its nothing new any more â€Å"He became aware that everyone looked like her, shared her colour, the women were dressed like her†. The author also utilises the Nile as a metaphor for the proposed marriage. The Nile is one of Egypt’s most anticipated sights, but on closer inspection the groom finds it is not as he expected â€Å"yes it’s beautiful he replied. But as he spoke he noticed that the rivers flow was forceful, not innocent, not playful. Crocodiles no doubt lurked beneath the surface.† I feel this represents the marriage that his idealised view of his wedding and his bride suddenly turning fearful, with the lurking crocodiles a metaphor perhaps for her overbearing brother. With this fear in place, the groom begins to yearn for the comforts of home and staying at the Hilton hotel represents to some degree the characters longing for home comforts. The Hilton used as sign of the Western world in contrast to the barren landscape of Egypt. †The hotel lobby was impressive, the cool tingling blast of the air-conditioner, music playing, an expanse of marble. He felt soothed somehow, more in control†. Another example of this is when the character struggles to follow the strict Islamic custom of mourning following the girls Uncle’s death. â€Å"He shrugged, he did not want to talk about it, was numbed by what had happened, dulled by the separation from her that the mourning customs seemed to impose.† Furthermore the anxiety he feels about this new culture is noted again â€Å"He had thought, from the books he’d read and the particular British Islam he had been exposed to, that in a Muslim country he would find elegance and reason. Instead he found melancholy, a sensuous place, stripped to the bare bones†. The idea of a new life and a new culture suddenly turning sour in his mind is reinforced with the theft of his British passport contributing to a feeling of a loss of identity. To conclude I feel I have demonstrated how the stories titles relate to the overall meaning of the story and how symbolism is used to portray characters and to enhance the mood and tone of the narrative. Where possible I have provided key examples to support my ideas and to illustrate my understanding of the texts.

Perfection :: Personal Narrative Teaching Papers

Perfection I need to capture this moment. I need to paint a picture so that many years from now, when my adventures are long since over, when I have nothing but my memories to look back on a life spent as a student trying to understand the intricacies of different cultures, I can recall this brief moment in my life. When I am old and gray and am waiting for the light of my life to expire, I can read this and truly feel the same thing I am feeling right now. I need to hold on to this memory. I’m 23 years old and very much alone in a country that is not my own, where faces do not look like mine, where every place I go I am stared at because I am the oddity in the everyday pattern of life. I’m always conscious of myself, of my every step, knowing that whatever I do or don’t do, whatever I say or don’t say, someone is judging me, my character, and my country because of my actions. It’s not an easy way to live. But, there is one place in this culture where I feel like I am home, where I want to run when I just want to fit in with the rest, where people don’t stare or gawk at me because I am a white face in the middle of Korea. I run to the girl’s high school where I teach English. I enter the walls of Jung Ang Girls High School and I know that I am where I belong for the time being, that no matter what, I will not feel like the outcast of society. In Korea, this is the place that I can truly call home. Teaching at an all girl’s high school in the middle of Jeju Island, South Korea is one of the best things that has happened in my 23 years of existence. Everyday I watch my students’ progress, not only with their English ability, but also with their understanding of the world. Everyday I teach them about the wonders of the world, never focusing too much on all things American because we are just one country in the world. What they need to learn from me is not how we celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Perfection :: Personal Narrative Teaching Papers Perfection I need to capture this moment. I need to paint a picture so that many years from now, when my adventures are long since over, when I have nothing but my memories to look back on a life spent as a student trying to understand the intricacies of different cultures, I can recall this brief moment in my life. When I am old and gray and am waiting for the light of my life to expire, I can read this and truly feel the same thing I am feeling right now. I need to hold on to this memory. I’m 23 years old and very much alone in a country that is not my own, where faces do not look like mine, where every place I go I am stared at because I am the oddity in the everyday pattern of life. I’m always conscious of myself, of my every step, knowing that whatever I do or don’t do, whatever I say or don’t say, someone is judging me, my character, and my country because of my actions. It’s not an easy way to live. But, there is one place in this culture where I feel like I am home, where I want to run when I just want to fit in with the rest, where people don’t stare or gawk at me because I am a white face in the middle of Korea. I run to the girl’s high school where I teach English. I enter the walls of Jung Ang Girls High School and I know that I am where I belong for the time being, that no matter what, I will not feel like the outcast of society. In Korea, this is the place that I can truly call home. Teaching at an all girl’s high school in the middle of Jeju Island, South Korea is one of the best things that has happened in my 23 years of existence. Everyday I watch my students’ progress, not only with their English ability, but also with their understanding of the world. Everyday I teach them about the wonders of the world, never focusing too much on all things American because we are just one country in the world. What they need to learn from me is not how we celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.

Teachers Responsibility Should Be Replaced by Robots

TEACHERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES SHOULD BE REPLACED BY ROBOTS For ages, human beings learn from teachers over the world to live their life. They learn how to read, to count and even to speak. However, certain parties have recently proposed that the teachers responsibilities should be replaced by robots; the fully programmed machines. People with sound mind and wise thinking would strongly believe that the proposal is ridiculous. They are totally opposed this issue in terms of reducing the quality of human touch, increasing number of unemployment and wasting money.Naturally, robots cannot replace human beings as teachers because they do not have what human have; feeling, passion, love and determination. So, let us turn back to the purpose of school in the first place. It is not only about passing the examination or obtaining good grades, but it is about becoming a good Samaritan as whole. If we pull out the presence of teachers in class, the spiritual and emotional quotient of the st udents would be disturbed by this action. It is a big waste to produce human capital without human value that can distinguish them from the machines.Equally important, increasing number of the unemployment will also take place. In the country itself, we are facing with the situation where a lot of people are unemployed. By replacing the teachers with robots, it will exacerbate the condition. The principle of utilitarianism should be applied as to reduce the problem of unemployment. Presently, if the government were to purchase the robots, and to replace the teachers, the compensation money that should be paid to the teachers is too costly for the government.Even after purchasing all the robots, the government will still need to pay for the monthly maintenance of those robots. Isn’t that consumed more money? Many would say that by having robots as teachers in school, the education system would be standardized. No more good and bad teachers. However, this misconception should b e tied off quickly. The system that is programmed to the robots, is not sufficient to cater all types of student as in reality we have excellent, average and weak students in our schools.This is a very serious issue that will need an extra attention from the government before accepting the proposal. All in all, it is strongly believed that teachers responsibility should not be replaced by the robots because they are lack of human touch, exacerbate the matter of unemployment plus it will be a waste of money. Thus, in order to have a better education system, we should have a good quality teacher that owns the x-factor to teach the students to become a perfect human beings as whole.

Geography, Climate and Species of Earths Arctic Region

The Arctic is the Earth region that lies between 66.5Â °N and the North Pole. In addition to being defined as 66.5Â °N of the equator, the specific border of the Arctic region is defined as the area in which average July temperatures follow the 50Â °F (10Â °C) isotherm (map). Geographically, the Arctic spans the Arctic Ocean and covers land areas in parts of Canada, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States (Alaska). Geography and Climate of the Arctic The majority of the Arctic is composed of the Arctic Ocean which was formed when the Eurasian Plate moved toward the Pacific Plate thousands of years ago. Although this ocean makes up the majority of the Arctic region, it is the worlds smallest ocean. It reaches depths of 3,200 feet (969 m) and is connected to the Atlantic and the Pacific via several straits and seasonal waterways such as the Northwest Passage (between the U.S. and Canada) and the Northern Sea Route (between Norway and Russia). Since the majority of the Arctic is the Arctic Ocean along with straits and bays, much of the Arctic region is composed of a drifting ice pack which can be up to nine feet (three meters) thick during winter. In the summer, this ice pack is replaced mainly by open water that is often dotted with icebergs that formed when ice broke from land glaciers and/or chunks of ice that have broken away from the ice pack. The Arctic regions climate is very cold and harsh for most of the year due to the Earths axial tilt. Because of this, the region never receives direct sunlight, but instead gets rays indirectly and thus gets less solar radiation. In the winter, the Arctic region has 24 hours of darkness because the high latitudes such as the Arctic are turned away from the sun at this time of year. By contrast in the summer, the region receives 24 hours of sunlight because the Earth is tilted toward the sun. However because the suns rays are not direct, summers are also mild to cool in most parts of the Arctic. Because the Arctic is covered with snow and ice for much of the year, it also has high albedo or reflectivity and thus reflects solar radiation back into space. Temperatures are also milder in the Arctic than in Antarctica because the presence of the Arctic Ocean helps moderate them. Some of the lowest recorded temperatures in the Arctic were recorded in Siberia around -58Â °F (-50Â °C). The average Arctic temperature in the summer is 50Â °F (10Â °C) although in some places, temperatures can reach 86Â °F (30Â °C) for short periods. Plants and Animals of the Arctic Since the Arctic has such a harsh climate and permafrost is prevalent in the Arctic region, it mainly consists of treeless tundra with plant species such as lichen and mosses. In the spring and summer, low-growing plants are also common. Low growing plants, lichen and moss are most common because they have shallow roots which are not blocked by the frozen ground and since they do not grow into the air, they are less prone to damage by high winds. The animal species present in the Arctic varies based on the season. In the summer, there are many different whale, seal and fish species in the Arctic Ocean and the waterways surrounding it and on land there are species such as wolves, bears, caribou, reindeer and many different types of birds. In the winter however, many of these species migrate south to warmer climates. Humans in the Arctic Humans have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years. These were mainly groups of indigenous peoples such as the Inuit in Canada, the Saami in Scandinavia and the Nanets and Yakuts in Russia. In terms of modern inhabitation, many of these groups are still present as are territorial claims by the aforementioned nations with lands in the Arctic region. In addition, the nations with territories bordering the Arctic Ocean also have maritime exclusive economic zone rights. Because the Arctic is not conducive to agriculture due to its harsh climate and permafrost, the historic indigenous inhabitants survived by hunting and gathering their food. In many locations, this is still the case for the surviving groups today. For example, Canadas Inuit survive by hunting animals such as seals on the coast during the winter and caribou inland during the summer. Despite its sparse population and harsh climate, the Arctic region is important to the world today because it has significant amounts of natural resources. Thus, this is why many nations are concerned with having territorial claims in the region and in the Arctic Ocean. Some the major natural resources in the Arctic include petroleum, minerals and fishing. Tourism is also beginning to grow in the region and scientific exploration is a growing field both on land in the Arctic and in the Arctic Ocean. Climate Change and the Arctic In recent years, it has become known that the Arctic region is extremely susceptible to climate change and global warming. Many scientific climate models also predict larger amounts of climate warming in the Arctic than on the rest of the Earth, which has raised concerns about shrinking ice packs and melting glaciers in places like Alaska and Greenland. It is believed that the Arctic is susceptible mainly because of feedback loops- high albedo reflects solar radiation, but as sea ice and glaciers melt, the darker ocean water begins to absorb, instead of reflect, solar radiation, which further increases temperatures. Most climate models show near to complete loss of sea ice in the Arctic in September (the warmest time of year) by 2040. Problems related to global warming and climate change in the Arctic include loss of habitat critical habitat for many species, rising sea levels for the world if sea ice and glaciers melt and a release of methane stored in permafrost, which could exacerbate climate change. References National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (n.d.) NOAA Arctic Theme Page: A Comprehensive Resrouce. Retrieved from: http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/ Wikipedia. (2010, April 22). Arctic - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic