...ENC 1102 02 December 2010 Ambiguity: Is The Turn of The Screw based on a true story or is it a tale of insanity? The ambiguous writing style used by Henry James in The Turn of The Screw leaves the story open to the interpretation of the individual reader. I will show how this ambiguous writing style does not lead the reader to any specific interpretation, but it is actually used by James to deliberately confuse the reader and foster an atmosphere of uncertainty. This purposeful lack of facts by James throughout the story makes the reader draw his own conclusions about what actually takes place. Many critics have analyzed The Turn of The Screw and most of them have come to the same conclusion; that the story is littered with ambiguity, but this is where the consensus ends. Nearly everything that takes place in the story can be interpreted in more than one way (Beidler 189). This novella penned by James has generated more than three hundred books, articles, and doctoral dissertations over the last forty years (Teahan 349). One critic, Edmund Wilson, wrote in his evaluation “There is a very good reason, however, in the fact that nowhere does James unequivocally give the thing away: everything from beginning to end can be taken equally well in either of two senses” (172). Just a few of the many unanswered questions that get asked are: Why did Miles really get sent home from school, is he as angelic as he is originally portrayed or is he a bad boy? Why does the uncle...
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...A memoir a memory written in the form of a story, fictional story is not always true, but aren’t all stories not true. Everyone who reads loves a good story the juicy but maybe fake details that add emotion and tone to a once dull story, captivate all readers. Fictional stories are just that, stories. A princess banished to a tower lets her long hair down for Prince Charming to climb up and they fall in love and get married. Fairytale stories don’t happen in real life. Disney movies are based off of gruesome tales that they made happy and filled with love stories with lots of augmented details. Memoirs are usually written about a soldier’s war experience or a life changing moment. Memories of these events become embellished over time, details...
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...Whit Johnson John Dillon Irish Ghost Stories February 18, 2013 Pacing at Wildgoose Lodge Truth is stranger than fiction. Exaggerated truth is even stranger. William Carleton’s literary description of the murders at Wildgoose lodge serve to tell a factual story whilst embellishing the details in order to captivate his audience. Although Carleton’s account isn’t perfectly in line with Terence Dooley’s more historically accurate writing of the incident, the former still paints an adequate picture of what happened one night in eastern Ireland, and it is still regarded by many as the best source for what happened. But why? Why would factual truth be less favorable than an embellished one? David Shield’s Reality Hungers offers a glimpse at that answer by providing a different take on what is “real”. Through Shield’s work we can discover why an exaggerated account can be considered more realistic than a historically factual one. Defining reality is at the core of arguing for the legitimacy of Carelton’s story as a description of what happened at Wildgoose Lodge. In my opinion, reality, defined, means plausible human actions and sentiments that are based on fact, which elicits an appropriate emotion from viewers. This view on reality is reflected in the artistically focused Reality Hunger, where author David Shields explores what can be considered real in contemporary literature. This take on reality can be better explained through a brief example conducted by surveying present...
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...English this means word or story. In an academic context, a myth is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation. A myth is any invented story. Myths are ideas or stories believed by many people but is not true, also stories told in an ancient culture to explain a practice, natural occurrence, or some belief. A myth is used a lot in short stories or folktales that have been told through so many generations that are sometimes not so true. These stories are told in a way that the people listening to them actually believe parts of it to be true. I believe there are so so many common mythological themes across different cultures. They are so many that you would take all day to list them. I know I have learned in school that the Thais, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans share the myth about the rabbit in the moon. The Thais believe it is dehusking rice. The Chinese believe it is pounding medicine. The Japanese and the Koreans believe it is making rice cakes. They all differ by what the rabbit is doing. These places are not far from each other but differ in these ways they believe. Belief, knowledge, mythology, and religion all go together in a way that people think or go by. Belief is what someone thinks is true and they know no other way to think. Knowledge is having that belief and knowing what you think is true. Mythology is stories you believe are somewhat true but might really exist...
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...which of the following is given more value ? a. b. c. d. Comprehensive Documentation Customer Collaboration Process and tools Following a plan Q2 : Which of the following is coming from Agile Manifesto ? a. b. c. d. Deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions Make continuous flow of value our focus Following a Plan over Responding to Change Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation Q3: Which of the following is NOT true about the agile team? a. Agile teams are empowered to make the necessary decisions in order to get the work done b. Agile teams are composed of a mix of skills—everyone necessary to create the product increment is on the team c. Agile team members are specialist and has titles based on their job description, their performance is measured based of individuals contribution for the project d. Agile team values power of team members collaborating in person to solve a mutual problem. Q4: Which of the following statement is true about measuring progress of agile projects? a. In Agile we measure project’s progress by the percent complete of the functional milestones (that is, analysis complete, documentation complete, code complete and so on). b. In Agile we measure project’s progress by measuring number of functionality developed c. In agile we trust the team, we trust them for project completion so we do not measure project progress till the project is finish d. In agile we measure progress by...
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...What exactly is the truth? What is true and how do we determine this? Although these questions offer great similarity, they are two completely different questions. In order to determine what is true, we must evaluate what is considered the truth. Absolute statements are often relative to context such as language, setting, culture, and belief, however, although absolute facts might exist in theory, do we really have access to them? I believe that Absolute occurence is indeed irrelevant, just because something happens it doesn't mean it's true and that maybe something that didn't or hasn't happened yet is actually the truth. Human Actions such as exaggeration, perception and a sense of trust come into play when determine the truthfulness of something being told. First of all, absolute occurence is indeed irrelevant. Truth as it seems, doesn't exist. Tim O’Brien has attempted to tackle this subject in his book The Things They Carried. Readers often wonder if this book is true, is it based on facts, or is it real. Even if the occurrences in this...
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...The Stories Ugly Duckling, “Daphne And Apollo” and Metamorphosis all share the theme of transformation. As seen in the present time appearance transformation change the way other views that person. In the Story the Ugly Duckling, the duckling is seen as ugly by the others only because of its appearance, but when everyone realizes it changes it is not a duck, but instead it is a Swan the view and feelings are changed. In Metamorphosis Gregor the main character goes through an appearance transformation overnight his family see him as different and sympathizing with him. In The myth “Daphne and Apollo” Daphne transforms and Apollo’s feelings change in a different way than in the other two stories. In real life there is no unconditional love and...
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...Sindhuja Muppa November 21, 2013 Writing Workshop Mythology “Myths are common stories at the root of our universal existence” (Seger). In the essay written by Scott Russell Sanders, "The Men We Carry in Our Minds" discusses Sander’s perspective on men in comparison to the impression that women carry in their minds. The essay, “Creating the Myth” by Linda Seger shows on how stories are based on our own life experiences. Sander’s argument about how the impressions of men or women are based on ones life experiences relates to Seger’s depiction of myths through the use of rhetorical questions and dialogue. Primarily, Sander uses rhetorical questions in order to discuss how ones life experiences illustrates stories of myths. Sander addresses about when he experienced a situation where he met women telling him men have plenty of joy and privileges. He writes, “and for the first time I met women who told me that men are guilty of having kept all the joys and privileges of the earth for themselves. I was baffled. What privileges? What joys?” (Sander 229). Sander is shocked to find out that women feel that way about men. It is an amusing statement to assume that men have certain stereotypical characteristics in society because it is not necessarily true that woman cannot do some things similar to men. Life responsibilities are equally made for everyone. Sander disagrees and pushes back to how much of a struggle men have to go through in life, equally as women. These questions enable...
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...Aristotle’s Model: The Play as a Whole In Aristotle’s Poetics, Aristotle emphasizes three major elements of a good play: plot, character, and thought. To be more specific, in an Aristotelian play, thought sets the cause of action with character as emotion developer based on plot as the basic form. Besides these three main factors, the idea that a play should be a complete whole is also the basis of the Poetics (Aristotle 61). Therefore, when comparing the choices Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan and The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry for the play of the season, unification and regularity of all three elements. After comparing and contrasting both plays, Lobby Hero fits the Aristotle’s model’s three elements, plot, character and thought better than The Philadelphia Story does because Lobby Hero has a more consistent development of action, characters’ personality and emotions. The imitation of one action is very essential to construct a complete plot. Lobby Hero constructs a smooth unity of action in all of its plots while The Philadelphia Story’s imitation is vague. Although both plays have connected actions that make the structural union of all parts, Lobby Hero has a more surrounded action which is the pursuit of right things. Jeff repeatedly shows his ambition of lending help. For example, he praises William’s kindness when William is baffled by his brother’s incident; he also emphasizes his importance as a “safety specialist” to make himself sound superior. These series...
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...Love Story, (2008) by Taylor Swift demonstrates myth #1 by suggesting to the masses that nothing and no one can separate two people who love each other, even if it requires sneaking around, and lying. Love story also demonstrates myth #10 by promoting that a woman, in this case, must find a mate in order to be “saved” and truly happy, suggesting that without a mate, a woman would be incapable of happiness or worth. Throughout the song Swift, (Juliet), expresses her fathers’ views that oppose her relationship with Romeo, only to suggest that secretly seeing him was not only acceptable if it meant she was with her true love, but that this would ultimately gain her fathers’ approval in the end. When Romeo is nowhere to be found Juliet expresses her sadness, loneliness, and longing for Romeo to save her. In reality, Juliet is capable of finding another person whom may bring her happiness, and that she can fill her own life with joy on her own rather than being dependent on Romeo. Though Love Story was a hit single for Swift, the song contradicts reality and creates a fantasy-like result from otherwise compromising situations in real life relationships. Love Story should be thoughtfully examined and analyzed in order to decipher fantasy versus reality, and promote more realistic probabilities based on rational models....
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...“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.” (34) After reading Elie Wiesel’s account of the Holocaust in his book Night and watching the movie Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni, I determined that, the book, Night has the greatest impact on the reader. Based on the mood and tone of the two stories, the amount of details, and the main characters of the stories, I believe that Wiesel’s account of the Holocaust leaves the reader more impacted than Benigni’s story of the same event. In Elie Wiesel’s literary memoir Night, which he wrote in the nineteen-fifties, after his ten years of vowed silence in respect for those who lost their lives in the Holocaust, Wiesel...
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...will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of In Cold Blood when it delivers facts and the credibility of the work. We will also be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the novel when Capote bends reality and ad some parts of fiction. Capote never intended for In Cold Blood to be a documentary of the multiple murder that happened in the small town of Holcomb. When Capote published his novel, people where not familiar with non-fiction novels. People knew of the murders that had happened and started criticizing the book for not being truthful to what had really happened. This novel can not be looked at as journalism, which is often the mistake people made and still make today. Although there are many facts within the novel, the story that is being told is not always credible. Capote has also been criticized for his method of gathering information, because he did not take notes or record...
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...Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story,” centers on the principle that a reader cannot always trust the narrator of a story to tell the truth. The reader can listen, but must never cease to analyze in order to decipher the truth in each story. In Tim O’Brien’s short story, his narrator is naturally accepted and assumed to be the author of the story. Through this narrator, a story of personal Vietnam War experiences unfolds. Because this appears to be true stories told by O’Brien, the reader is left to assume all the tales are true encounters when in fact, O’Brien mixes truth and fiction in order to make the story believable. It is important to remember that the soldier telling the war story can only relay the facts that he remembers from the event. He may be sincere in telling the events as he remembers, but not accurate in reporting the entirety of the historical picture.. The setting is the Vietnam War; a war filled with controversy, and soldiers and civilians struggling to make sense of it all. In the story, O’Brien creates a believable setting with believable characters. He describes a setting that one would expect to find in Vietnam: rugged terrain, foxholes, jungles and muddy rivers. He also uses the giant canopy of a tree (as one would expect in this area) to tell the details of the death of his friends, Lemon and Rat. Describing the smell of the moss, the white blossoms and the lack of sunlight allowed by the tree, O’Brien creates a soothing feeling...
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...Tragicomedy - Common genres: fiction Subsets of genres, known as common genres, have developed from the archetypes of genres in written expression. The common genres included in recommended Literature from kindergarten through grade twelve by the California Department of Education are defined as:[1] Drama – stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action Fable – narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale Fairy tale – story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children Fantasy – fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality Fiction narrative – literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact Fiction in verse – full-length novels with plot, subplot(s), theme(s), major and minor characters, in which the narrative is presented in (usually blank) verse form Folklore – the songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or "folk" as handed down by word of mouth Historical fiction – story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting Horror – fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread and sometimes fear in both the characters and...
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...Chris Themes of Everyday Use by Alice Walker In the Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use”, two sisters portray their contrasting family views on what they perceive to be heritage. The idea is that a quilt is a part of this family's history. They aren't just parts of cloth put together to make a blanket. The quilt symbolizes their ancestors' lives and tells a story with every single inch of cloth. Understanding the reasoning of why the author wrote this story is very important; valuing the culture and traditions of your family is extremely meaningful. This is shown by the mother’s thoughts on the quilts, “Both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece about the size of a penny matchbox that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War. (367-368)"In the story, Walker presents Maggie, who is the younger sister, as an example of heritage in terms of passing it on through the generations with knowledge and respect. Maggie unlike her older sister knew how to sew and appreciated personally and emotionally on how much time and effort where put into the quilts whereas Dee sees the quilt valued only for financial and aesthetic reasons. Maggie and Dee have very different ideas about what constitutes their heritage and for Maggie, the family heirlooms are filled with the presence of the people who made and used them. Dee on the other hand is angered...
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