Friday, January 31, 2020
To Build a Fire Essay Example for Free
To Build a Fire Essay The Yukon setting in To Build a Fire is used by the author, Jack London, as a sort of shorthand whereby even the most casual of readers will be able to understand the potential lethality and bodily danger such a wilderness presents to the main character of the story, an understanding which is essential to the storys overall theme, plot, and impact. The Yukon setting is also important because it provides and underlying motivation for the storys protagonist, a newcomer in the land, a chechaquo to be in such a hostile environment in the first place: profit. The all-too-familiar lure of profit, for gold or for other salable resources forms an underlying motivation for the storys protagonist who is bound for the old claim on the left fork of Henderson Creek, where the boys were already and the protagonist himself is going the roundabout way to take a look at the possibilities of getting out logs in the spring from the islands in the Yukon all of which begs the question: why is a newcomer choosing to go it alone in the Yukon? (London, 1998, p. 342)           This central question forms the fulcrum upon which the theme and plot of the story turn. Because the reader will immediately fear for the fate of the protagonist, from the opening paragraphs of the story, a sense of suspense and character-sympathy is generated. However, in order for reader identification with the protagonist to genuinely take hold, it is necessary for London to reveal just a bit more of the protagonists internal state, his personality, beliefs and flaws.              The following information about the protagonist is revealed on the first page of the story: But all this-the mysterious, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it allmade no impression on the man. It was not because he was long used to it but because he was without imagination and therefore unable to extrapolate from the immediate moment to the probable future. in other words he was unable to understand or visualize the possible consequences of his actions or decisions.  (London 341,42)            Such a disadvantage is less of a liability when it pertains to certain logistical capacities, which the character, indeed, uses in a futile attempt to build a fire and escape his own death as the perils in the story increase. The protagonist is quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances; so, to him, Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty-odd degrees of frost and nothing more. He may acknowledge that the conditions are cold and uncomfortable but these realizations fail to alert within him an sense of his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon mans frailty in general, and this seems to indicate that London intends the protagonist of his story to stand, in some ways, for the entire human race: in ecological terms, out of balance with nature and oblivious to the consequences of ingenuity and technology (London, 342).            The revelation of the characters internal flaw increases reader-identification and sympathy, which is essential to the unfolding of the storys climax and thematic resolution. Because London intends the story to function in some ways as a cautionary tale about the perilous consequences of humanity exploiting nature and living out of harmony with nature, the reader must be lured into identifying with the storys protagonist as deeply as is possible. london accomplishes this by allowing the protagonists ingenuity, intelligence, and determination to win several small victories along the way to the storys tragic resolution. Each time the protagonist is able to think his way to a temporary solution to his challenges and deathly obstacles, the reader is led to identify more intensely with him and root for his victory over indifferent nature.            In effect, London is leading the reader to root for humanity as represented by the storys protagonist: the reader is encouraged when the storys protagonist manages to build a fire against all the odds and begin the process of thawing out his clothes and body; the reader is deeply disappointed and fearful when a small shingle of snow falls on that fire, extinguishing it and with it, all realistic hope of the protagonists survival. Because the reader has been led to identify deeply wit the protagonist, and with his logistical abilities and even his hard headed realism, this even in the story, the extinguishing of the protagonists fire, lands a symbolically charged blow right on the readers sense of pride in humanity, revealing that the protagonists previously identified flaw: lack of imagination, is actually a variant of pride or self-absorption. In this way, London makes it clear that the human races reliance upon science, technology, capitalism, and pride are the very aspects which bring about a discord with nature. This discord is not portrayed as being merely unfortunate, but it is revealed as being the kiss of death, of extinction, for humanity and all of humanitys achievements. these vast aspects are personalized through the story and demonstrated in microcosm through the sue of symbolic imagery.            Londons story is intended not only to engage each individual reader but also the collective of humanity as a whole. The themes of To Build a Fire are universal. I have personally been guilty of pride with disastrous consequence on many occasions; it remains to be seen whether or not the ecological aspects of this story will play a constructive or merely ironic role in determining my own future behavior or the behavior of the human race in general.                                                           Works Cited London, Jack. The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories. Ed. Earle Labor and Robert           C. Leitz. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Comets :: essays research papers
COMETS      Comets have been witnessed ever since man has been speculating about objects in the nighttime sky and appear in records from the beginning of recorded civilization (Schweighauser 20).      Comets are made up of four distinct features. The first is the nucleus. The nucleus is made up of frozen gases, mostly water vapor with lesser amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, and imbedded in the frozen gases are interplanetary dust and tiny fragments of stony and metallic meteoric material. Some comets, the larger ones, have a nucleus of 10 kilometers (Schweighauser 22). The second feature of comets is the coma. The coma is composed of atoms and molecules of gas that travels with the nucleus. The coma may be up to 100,000 kilometers in diameter. The third feature of a comet is the head. The head is just the name given to the coma and nucleus. The last of the features of the comet are the tails. Most comets have two tails. One tail is made from dust particles and the other, called ion tail, is made gases. As a comet approaches the sun, the frozen gas becomes unfrozen which causes the dust particles to become free. Light pressure from the sun and some other forces cause these materials to move away from the head of the comet and in the opposite direction from the sun. According to Charles A. Schweighauser in his book, entitled Astronomy from A to Z: A Dictionary of Celestial Objects and Ideas, he states that we see comet heads and tails because they not only reflect sunlight, but they also fluoresceâ€â€give off their own lightâ€â€when comets are near the sun. The tails from the comet may be up to 150 million kilometers long each or together. Comets have a predictable orbit. There are one thousand comets that have been charted. Some comets go by the sun once and others, which are called periodic comets, pass the sun repeatedly following a predicable pattern. I have chosen a periodic comet called Tempel-Tuttle. Ernst Wilhelm Liebrecht Tempel and Horace Parnell Tuttle discovered this comet. This comet has been witnessed as early as 1366. The best apparition was that of 1366 when it passed 0.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Irony in “Top of the Food Chain†by T. Coraghessan Boyle Essay
T. Coraghessan Boyle’s â€Å"On Top of the Food Chain†is more than just a narration of a selfish person’s mistakes. The narrator’s tone is a literary element used to show man’s indifference for organisms that are of no immediate benefit or are a nuisance to them. _†The thing was, we had a little problem with the insects†¦Ã¢â‚¬ _ The narrator’s tone in â€Å"Top of the Food Chain†is quickly shown as self-centered in working for his comforts and indifferent to the havoc his choices make on the environment. Humans believe that we can solve everything that is put upon us, but there is always a catch. In this story, Mother Nature proves us that she can always be ahead of how humans perceive things. From the very first sentence, the narrator is portrayed as a self-serving person. In charge of a group bringing health care to a third-world village, his choices to improve the lives of the villagers lead to wreaking chaos on the local food chain. The improvements start by poisoning the flies. When the geckos that feed off of these flies die due to starvation, the cat population also diminishes. When the cats are gone, the rat population is left unregulated and is allowed to spread disease to the humans and ruin their crops. The narrator’s condescending tone towards these disastrous events is the most significant factor that Boyle uses to develop his theme. The narrator assumes he is at the top of the food chain, and he has no problem killing off the smaller species. However, the narrator is too indifferent to realize that by hurting the lower members of the food chain, he has hurt himself. This is what shows the true irony in the story. The narrator did something that he believes is good for him, but instead it ends up being entirely the opposite of it. The story reflects that humans can do immoral things, without thinking well of the consequences and the effect it is going to have on others. â€Å"Top of the Food Chain†is ironic since Mother Nature got back at all of the selfishness that was portrayed in the story. Global Warming is a great example of how nature can get back to humans because of our own selfish actions. Human activities contribute to climate change by causing changes in Earth’s atmosphere in the amounts of greenhouse gases, aerosols (small particles), and cloudiness. The largest known contribution comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere. The release of carbon dioxide damages the atmosphere, which cause drastic changes in the climate. However, his tone following the severe circumstances that played out in the story implies that he simply does not care about anything other then what he wants. The narrator’s arrogance and belief that he can do what ever he wants without hurting himself reflects his idea that he is Top of the Food Chain. Unfortunately, he learns the hard way that his selfish actions turn around and hurt him in the end, which ends up being ironic. T. Coraghessan Boyle demonstrated us that nature can always get back to humans despite of whatever we do; selfish or unselfish.
Monday, January 6, 2020
The Shortcomings Of Trumps Presidential Position In The...
These early instances of political trouble are further reflected in Trump’s exceptionally low approval ratings, which indicate the public’s swelling dissatisfaction with the current operation of government, the weakening of the Reagan regime, and the looming possibility of political disjunction. Recent polls establish Trump’s approval rating at 38 percent--a number largely unprecedented so early into a president’s first term (Gallup). Disjunctive presidents often suffer from the lowest approval ratings of other regime leaders because of the shortcomings and disadvantages they already face when they first enter office. Carter experienced similarly low public favor relative to other presidents during the F.D.R. regime, garnering an average†¦show more content†¦This tone directly contrasts Congress’s GOP-led attempt to gut the independent ethics committee, and as a result, House Republicans faced backlash from the president over Twitter: †Å"With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority†(Trump, 2017). Additionally, Trump’s promised agenda, however nebulous and fickle it may be, proposes massive infrastructure spending, sharp tariffs on specific imports, and some flip-flopping opposition to regional trade deals and treaties such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), North American Treaty Organization (NATO), and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). These aspects of his potential agenda do not align with those of his more traditional Republican predecessors, and while the Trump administration has yet to enact legislation or an executive order that openly clashes with the establishment, his foreshadowed divergence from longstanding conservative ideology parallels the relationship Carter had with the New Deal regime. Certain presidents, especially late-regime affiliates like Trump, are forced towards this point of departure by the conglomeration of different problems that festered long before their tenure. As a result, these presidents severe from the â€Å"standard formulas and priorities set in the old agenda,†but in the processShow MoreRelatedThe Decline Of Nation State And The End Of The Rights Of Man Essay1475 Words  | 6 Pagesdomino effect, the exertions of WWI dismantled the European aggregation of nations beyond repair. In addition, inflation, unemployment, civil wars, and migration caused the rise of stateless individuals, those who have lost the protection of their government and who therefore rely on international agreements for safeguarding. However, following World War II (WWII), the term â€Å"statelessness†was replaced by the term â€Å"displaced person,†no longer recognizing the pandemic obstacle and implying that theRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words  | 1573 PagesExtreme Jobs 610 Appendix A Research in Organizational Behavior 616 623 Comprehensive Cases Indexes Glindex 637 663 About the Authors Stephen P. Robbins Education Ph.D. University of Arizona Professional Experience Academic Positions: Professor, San Diego State University, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, University of Baltimore, Concordia University in Montreal, and University of Nebraska at Omaha. Research: Research interests have focused on conflict, power, and
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