...“Luck, Greed & Money” Success or failure brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions is Luck; which Hester understands but still is not willing to give up their luxurious lifestyle. D. H. Lawrence describes their living style in “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” in a pleasant house, with a garden and servants to feel superior to anyone in the neighborhood. Hester marries for love, and it turns into dust. She had two little girls and a boy, whom she tells that luck is everything, and her “good luck” is ruined by her husband’s “bad luck.” They did not live a poor life style, but Hester is to compete with other families by having the best and most stylish living. She is always looking for ways to earn more money, but fails. This greed was turning Hester into a Heartless mother, she complains about not having enough money that the house starts to echo the phrase, "There must be more money!" This statement caused her son Paul, feel the need to help find more money. He does this by gambling with the gardener at the horse race track and wins a lot of money. As he wants to start giving his mother some of the money on yearly basis, she ends up wanting it all. The more she gets, the more she wants, without realizing where it was coming from. Everyone in the neighborhood thinks Hester is a good mother, who adores her children, but only she and the kids knew that it wasn’t true. She always showed love to her kids but could not feel it in her heart because there wasn’t enough...
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...INTRODUCTION Folklore has for centuries associated black cats with superstition. Historically, in the US but also in UK, black cats were associated with witchcraft and evil. Black cat was sign of poverty in China, in Europe is bad luck to have a black cat cross your path. In Canada, bans on the adoption of black cats on Halloween were common until a few years ago. But, is some cultures, black cats they were celebrated and seen as a sign of good luck. In UK, Japan and Australia it is quite the opposite: black cat is a sign of good fortune and good luck. For 19th century sailors black cats were kept on ships as they believed it would bring them luck. Fisherman’s wives would keep black cats while their husbands were away to sea, believing they...
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...Erica Simser Superstition and Religion According to most definitions of superstition, religion is a superstition. But ironically, most religions forbid or denounce its practice and belief. Also ironic is the many superstitions based on religions and held by many religious people. Christianity is one of the religions that expressly condemn superstition, yet many superstitions come from Christian origins. For instance, crossing your fingers for luck was originally another form of making a cross during prayer. Knocking on wood was akin to touching the cross and becoming closer to Jesus, not an act to ward off something you didn’t want to happen. Walking under a ladder was first an omen in ancient Egypt. They believed in a trinity of gods, so the triangle (the shape made when a ladder is open or leaned against a wall) was considered sacred and walking through it was a desecration to them. Christians borrowed this idea for their Holy Trinity as well. The number 13 being unlucky is believed to have been a result of the 13th member of “The Last Supper” being Judas Iscariot, Jesus’ betrayer. I personally don’t believe in superstition but my grandmother was a big believer. There are a lot on things that I remember her doing to ward off bad luck. One was when we would be at a checkout line at a store, if the amount due on the cash register was $6.66 (or anything that had those three numbers in it), she would grab a pack of gum to change the total. I also remember her throwing salt...
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...While at sea the old man, Santiago, not only faces battles of strength, but also perseverance. Santiago has had more than a person should have of bad luck within his fishing career. Despite his old age, he wants to make up for all of the fish that he didn’t catch in his eighty-four days of bad luck. The relationship that the old man has with the sea and the creatures of the sea is what gives him hope and the endurance to not give up. Endurance is having the strength and courage to keep moving forward to reach your goal, no matter what battles may try to get in the way of that goal. On his fishing journey, the old man catches a big marlin that really puts his endurance to the test. One quote that was said by Santiago was, “I may not be as strong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.” (23) This quote from the book is saying that the old man is aware that he is not as strong as he used to be when he was a young fisherman; however, he is wise enough to keep moving forward. He has had enough experience at sea to know what to do when something goes wrong, and he knows how to control a strong fish that puts up a fight such as the marlin that he caught. Santiago was willing to do anything to hold on to the big fish and to stop it from getting off of the line....
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...is ("outliving" remains of long after forgotten. related to the Latin word superstes or "surviving"), referring to the ideas and beliefs that continued their original meaning had been 3 Superstitions are considered as relics of outmoded ways of thinking. Superstitions are often passed down through generations; often, the origin of a superstition is lost to history. "Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs." - Marlene Dietrich 4 Superstition-Definition 5 A superstition is the irrational belief that future events can be influenced or foretold by specific, unrelated behaviors or occurrences. Superstitious beliefs are more common among certain groups of people than others, and vary from culture to culture: For example, the number thirteen is considered by many in western society to be inherently unlucky whereas in Japan the number four is often considered unlucky. The number 13 ?? 6 Reality or Myth The broken mirror with its bad luck, the ladder, or the black cat. How did all these items acquire significance in our society? Why do you cross your fingers when awaiting the answer to an uncertain situations? In other words, if you cross your fingers hoping that something will occur, and if in fact it does occur, you assume that it‟s because you‟ve crossed your...
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...Walking under a ladder brings you bad luck, wishing on a wishing star as it tails off in the sky, and crossing fingers for good luck are examples of the many types of unreasoned rituals that are very common nowadays. This is what superstition is all about. It is about incoherent beliefs and customs carried out with increasing popularity, by people all around the world. It is an irrational belief that does not have any fact or reason to support it. Its essence therefore lies in blind beliefs and habits that are generally accepted in a particular society and are scientifically unexplainable. There are literally hundreds of different types of superstition beliefs around the world. Some people take these very seriously but others just laugh them off. Superstitions may have begun hundreds of years ago when people didn't have the knowledge that we have nowadays. For instance people used to think that their shadows or reflections were part of their souls, because they didn't understand the concept of the sun or moon making shadows. Moreover, it is likely that learned people used superstitions as a means to make the general population abide with certain basic principle of life in order to ensure safety precautions or prevent a situation of fear to arise. For instance walking under a ladder leaning against a wall is perceived to be dangerous, as knocking against it can, not only be dangerous to the person standing on the ladder but also to the person walking under it. Therefore to...
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...because we have had the opportunity to work with so many of you amazing interns. The prize for the winner is a $2000 scholarship that goes towards any school expense. The application process is quite simple; write a two (2) page essay telling us about your financial situation and what this scholarship can do for you professionally. In addition to a recommendation letter from someone you worked with whether it is at school or at a job, please no personal references. Applications are limited to one essay per contestant. The deadline date for all applicants is November 30th 2011 at 9 pm. Please send all essays to the email address provided below. If anyone has any questions please feel free to email me and I will help best I can. Good luck to all, and I look forward to announcing the winner. Email address: kristinanesbit@gmail.com Sincerely, John Done Communications Executive 24 Harlow Drive, Scarborough, ON M1J5K9 December 2nd, 2011 John Done 29 Grapevine Circle, Toronto, ON M1X1X5 Dear Paul Lemieux, The Communications department of MTV would like to thank you for your submission to our intern scholarship competition. We regret to inform you that you were not chosen as the winner. Due to the vast amount of submissions of high quality essays, our decisions were exceedingly difficult to make. Unfortunately, you do not fit the criteria for the financial need for this scholarship. As you can imagine, it...
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...conform to societies standards. A good example of this is how he refuses to believe in any organized religion, and when he forced to by miss Watson he doesn’t feel like he gets anything out of it. He has tried praying but every time he asks of God for something he does not see any results. Huck has his own type of religion though; he finds God in natures beauty. He appreciates nature in all of its splendor and there are many examples of this throughout the book. Huckleberry Finn is also a very superstitious boy. Huck’s superstition tends to revolve only and around things that cause bad luck not good. This can be seen multiple times in the book. One morning Huck accidently spills the salt, he quickly realizes what he has done and hastily tries to throw some salt over his shoulder to counter his actions. Miss Watson quickly stops him from doing it and as a result he is on the lookout for bad luck for the rest of the day. Huck is also a liar. He loves to lie, and not just little lies here and there, but big and very complex lies. His greatest lie of all is when he fakes his own death to escape his abusive father. He goes about doing this by first using an axe to chop a considerable hole in the door. Then he kills a hog with the same axe to make it appear as if it is the murder weapon and spreads the blood around on the floor. Finally he drags a bag of rocks to the river to make is look like the “murderer”...
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...pursuit of desire, and how if you take it to a certain extent it can result in tragedy if the individual chooses not to conform. Paul wants to please his mother because his mother feels that there family has no luck, but Paul believes that he is lucky. Paul suddenly becomes consumed with this sudden spree of good luck and feels this is the only way he will be able to gain to the affection of his mother. D.H Lawrence reveals that Paul has a certain flaw that turns him to believe that the only way he will be able to gain his mothers love and affection is by winning money in the horse races. He leads this pursuit of desire to the standards he thought he wanted to, but not to the standards that would have achieved what he wanted, which leads to his down fall. When individuals desire love from another, they may choose to conform their beliefs and actions to that person. At first they may feel successful, however if they sacrifice everything, in pursuing this kind of goal, they may pay a heavy price instead of gaining there hearts desire. Paul desire his mother’s love more than anything. However he believes he needs to prove he is lucky. He struggles to prove that he is to make his mother happy. Paul wants his mother to love him more than anything. For Paul’s mother money equals luck, and this will gain her love. “There must be more money”(19). He hears these voices throughout the house. They hear these voices when they are receiving items of joy, especially around Christmas time. The...
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...CHARACTERS: Anastacia Agueda Agueda’s daughter Don Badoy Montiya Voltaire – the grandson THEME: * Life is always full of regret, for we always realize what we have when it is gone. * Love was blinded and it turned into hatred * Love cannot be based on passion alone. CONFLICT: External conflict, Man vs. Man. We can see that Agueda and Badoy after having a bad married life with each other, used to regret the past that they’ve been together and it is revealed with their hatred for each other and how Agueda used to describe the devil to her granddaughter as if it was Badoy and same way as Badoy describing the witch in the mirror to his grandson as if it was Agueda. LITERARY MOVEMENT: GOTHIC FICTION with REALISM The story happened in the year of 1847 and it has a little blend of horror and fiction because of the superstitious belief of fortune telling as well as the devil and witch that will come out in the mirror if everything in the ritual will go wrong. ANALYSIS: Agueda and Badoy’s bitter marriage all began on that May night. Agueda and Badoy are two, completely different people. Agueda is a girl ahead of her time. She is bold and liberated unlike most girls her age. She stands out from the broad range of followers of her era. The tragedy is when Badoy’s heart forgets how much he felt for Agueda. The tragedy is how both were not careful enough to mend their drifting marriage. Both Badoy and Agueda perceived their marriage to be a taste of hell. Instead...
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...striking story about a 1. little boy, Paul who secretly rides his rocking horse to pick the winning horse in the various horse races that took place. After the beginning of the story, there is a short conversation between Paul and his mother about luck, and it was the conversation that started the whole dramatic episode which lead to Paul's death. The conversation between Paul and his mother, the phrase that is constantly heard in the house and the rocking horse itself are the main ideas covered in the scope of this paper. The dialogue between Paul and his mother is mainly about luck and how a person can get money if such a person is lucky. From the story, the reader should be aware of Hester's crave for money and her expensive taste, therefore, it is not surprising when she talks her son into believing that luck brings money. We could also establish at this point that the family is at least living comfortably, meaning they were not very poor; "They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants." Paul's mother tells him that his father is not lucky and because of this, she is no longer a lucky woman. The conversation ends with Paul believing that he is a lucky boy, and the action he takes in finding this luck is what brings his demise in the end. The phrase "there must be more money" was mentioned in the story over ten times. The phrase symbolizes the insatiable desire the family has for money. In the early parts of the story the phrase was being...
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...A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush: Having something that is certain is much better than taking a risk for more, because chances are you might lose everything. A Blessing In Disguise: Something good that isn't recognized at first. A Chip On Your Shoulder: Being upset for something that happened in the past. A Dime A Dozen: Anything that is common and easy to get. A Doubting Thomas: A skeptic who needs physical or personal evidence in order to believe something. A Drop in the Bucket: A very small part of something big or whole. A Fool And His Money Are Easily Parted: It's easy for a foolish person to lose his/her money. A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand: Everyone involved must unify and function together or it will not work out. A Leopard Can't Change His Spots: You cannot change who you are. A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned: By not spending money, you are saving money (little by little). A Picture Paints a Thousand Words: A visual presentation is far more descriptive than words. A Piece of Cake: A task that can be accomplished very easily. A Slap on the Wrist: A very mild punishment. A Taste Of Your Own Medicine: When you are mistreated the same way you mistreat others. A Toss-Up: A result that is still unclear and can go either way. Actions Speak Louder Than Words: It's better to actually do something than just talk about it. Add Fuel To The Fire: Whenever something is done...
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...Latoya Griffin ENG 125 Instructor Anna Morrison May 28, 2014 The Pool Players The poem “The pool players” outlines the actual reality in which different youth from any diverse tends to face after leaving school. The poems’ content is systematically in a order simply because it opens up with portraying the ultimate scene of seven boys who surrounded a pool hall which was named the Golden Shovel. This line exposes the actual scene which the play had represented certain small gang who were in need of luck in order to achieve certain goal in their lives. Also the content of the play seemingly interested as result of implication whereby it implies the youngness of the players (Brooks, 1959). The poem`s content also exposes the certain illegal activities which were practiced by the boys discussed. What interested me are narrator words when exposing the facts by use of secret word “Lurk late” which shows that, a certain activities were taking place in the dark. The identification shows that, too much exposure to darkness makes somebody to be what he or she ought to be. The narrator uses the word “strike straight” showing that, the boys where seemingly trying to do something menacing. Perhaps, they committed crimes, rapes and murder as well since they were all undergoing through a rite of passage in their development (Brooks, 1959). The form of the poem “the pool players” was identified to have been determined by Colloquial rhythm (Haikus type of poem) the narrator tried...
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...Hermalin Consulting “The Nerd in the Know” TM To: Mr. William Jaeger From: Benjamin E. Hermalin, ph.d. Re: Harvesting Decision I have analyzed your harvesting decision problem. Figure 1 represents your problem in terms of a decision tree. Botrytis [.4] 2 storm [.5] 4 wait 5 no storm 3 [.5] sell as bulk $12,000 + C $42,000 good luck [.4] okay luck [.4] bad luck [.2] $36,000 [.6] no Botrytis 1 bottle $24,000 - R $67,200 $30,000 $34,200 harvest now Figure 1: The harvesting decision represented as a decision tree. In Figure 1, R denotes the monetary value of the loss of reputation you would suffer from bottling an inferior wine, while C denotes the cost saving from not bottling your own wine, should you choose to sell in bulk. Assuming the information you gave me is correct (more on this later), R and C are irrelevant to the problem. Given the information you provided, it seems safe to assume that C < $15, 000.∗ Even assuming the worst, R ≥ $12, 000 and C = $0, the option of waiting has a greater expected value than the decision to harvest now: $35,640 versus $34,200.† If the worst is not true (i.e., R < $12, 000 or C > $0), the the option of waiting is even more valuable. Consequently, unless you strongly dislike risk, you should wait to harvest. Your expected gain from waiting is at least 4% (worst-case scenario). If the very best-case scenario in which the node (labeled as ①) is worth $28,200 (see Technical Appendix for underlying calculations), your expected gain...
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...reach eudaimonia. “Nonetheless, happiness evidently also needs external goods to be added, as we said, since we cannot, or cannot easily, do fine actions if we lack the resources …” Aristotle believes that external goods such as wealth, power, and friends are all used to reach eudaimonia. We need external goods such as these in order to succeed and prosper in our endgame of reaching happiness, as it will be extremely hard without these goods. Aristotle deems that happiness needs to have prosperity or wealth, opulence, luxury, and the good life in order to be achieved. As prosperity tends to be associated with success and affluence, some people identify happiness as good fortune. This good fortune has results from favorable outcomes, good luck, destiny, and fate. Other people associate happiness with virtue. Virtue is the way people act in showing high moral standards. This focuses on the individual and includes virtues of being moral, having integrity, dignity, rectitude, honor, and decency. Aristotle states that it will be much harder for us to reach eudaimonia if we don’t use our external goods, because resources help us achieve our endgame much faster with guarantee. In realizing how much those goods help us along the way, so many people believe happiness...
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