Fiction Charles Dickens Hard Times Essay Example

Fiction Charles Dickens Hard Times Essay Home GCSE English English Literature Prose Fiction Charles Dickens Hard Times Page 1Zoom in Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Level: GCSE Subject: English Word count: 3142 Save View my saved documents Submit similar document Share this Hard Times explore several issues from Dickenss point of view on Victorian Society, including education, marriage, industrialisation, the relationship between the middle class and the working class, and how Dickens uses different methods and techniqu Download this essay Print Save GCSE HARD TIMES An extract from this document Hard Times In the novel Hard Times, Dickens reveals the Victorian Society as apathetic, harsh and depressing. Both the environment and characters are shown to be dark, dull and drab. Dickens uses a variety of techniques to show these. I am going to explore several issues from Dickenss point of view on Victorian Society, including education, marriage, industrialisation, the relationship between the middle class and the working class, and how Dickens uses different methods and techniques to present all these. I will refer to chapters one, two, five, eleven and fifteen while discussing all these different aspects. In chapter 2, Murdering the Innocents, the title immediately tells us that someone is going to react in a certain attitude towards someone else. This is an effective way to start the chapter as it gives a hint to the reader about what will happen in the chapter. Dickens is basically trying to show us as the reader how boring and demanding life was at school in Victorian Society in this chapter. He uses phrases like Girl number twenty unable to define a horse! We will write a custom essay sample on Fiction Charles Dickens Hard Times specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Fiction Charles Dickens Hard Times specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Fiction Charles Dickens Hard Times specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer And Bitzer, your definition of a horse to show how the pupils were being treated by Mr Gradgrind. Mr Gradgrind is described as dictatorial and square which means that he is a tyrannical person and he likes to order people to do things for him because he thinks he has more power than other people. A good example of this is when Mr Gradgrind talks to Sissy Jupe. He asks her for her name and when she replies, he immediately changes her name for her dont call yourself Sissy, call yourself Cecilia. This shows exactly how strict and harsh time was for the pupils. Dickens has chosen the characters very carefully in this novel like the name Mr Gradgrind it basically means he grinds on and on and on about things just like the way he teaches his students. He created this character because he is wanting us to react in a certain emotion and feeling. A good example of this is when Gradgrind talks to Louisa about the marriage proposal, You have been well trained, you are not impulsive, you are not romantic, you are accustomed to view everything from the strong dispassionate ground of reason and calculation. From that ground alone, I know you will view and consider what I am going to communicate. This tells us how Gradgrind brings up Louisa and how hard life is for her. He always tries to fill the pupils with facts waiting to be filled so full of facts and he also tries to take all their imagination and excitement away. When Bitzer explains the definition of a horse quadruped, graminivorous, forty teeth, namely twenty four grinders, four eye teeth and twelve incisive. Here Dickens is trying to show us how the students are being taught and trained by Mr Gradgrind. They are all brought up with facts, facts and facts and they eventually become not impulsive and with no imagination at all. Dickens totally hates the education policy in Victorian Society; he gives a few examples of showing this. In the first paragraph in chapter 1, Dickens shows straight away that life was a misery for the pupils now what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts! Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else and root out everything else. This is the principle of which I bring up my own children and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. This dialogue from Mr Gradgrind automatically shows that he doesnt like anything apart from facts and that he is trying to make all these pupils including his own children to follow his footsteps, Facts alone I wanted in life is what Mr Gradgrind believes and tells his students. Another point Dickens tries to tell us is that the pupils dont have their own freedom and individuality, they are known as different numbers instead of their name, girl number 20! This suggests to us that they are being trained and looked after like animals in a zoo. The setting Dickens has chosen in this chapter is in a very plain and dull classroom described as, plain, bare, monotonous vault of a school room This is not a good place for education as it is dull, ray of sunlight which, darting in at one of the bare windows of the intensely whitewashed room. Dickens uses all these different techniques to express his views on education. Dickens shows us that Mr Gandgrind is a bit selfish, demanding and aggressive. He only looks at one point and believes he is always right and other people are wrong, with a rule and a pair of scales, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature and tell you exactly what it comes to. Dickens has used this phrase to describe Mr Gradgrind, and it is a very effective phrase because it creates an image in our heads of how demanding he is and how obsessed with facts he is. Mr Gradgrind thinks his way of educating is excellent but really, he is destroying all the students precious lives and his own children as well, he keeps them in a small private study room and never allows them to see the real world. An example of this is when Louisa and Tom goes and visits the circus, peeping at the circus. Dickens is trying to suggest that Louisa and Tom are sick of their lives and they really want to visit the outside world. They have no other friends at all apart from each other and they can not communicate with any other people outside their house or class, I am sick of my life, Loo. I hate it altogether and I hate everybody except you! This shows how dull and boring their lives were and how bad they were brought up by Mr Gradgrind. When Mr Gradgrind finds out that they were in the circus, he was very furious because he thought circuses were foolish things and wasnt anything to do with facts, Thomas and you to whom the circle of the science is open; Thomas and you, who may be said to be replete with facts; Thomas and you, who have been trained to mathematical exactness; Thomas and you here! In this degraded position! Yet, he is still talking about facts when he is telling them to go home! Dickens really puts a picture in the readers mind that Mr Gradgrind is totally obsessed with FACTS and he finds nothing else interesting or entertaining. Because of Gradgrinds obsession with facts, this has leaded on a huge effect on Louisa. When Louisa got older and older, she became more dispassionate. Even when a marriage proposal was being made, she act as though she didnt care about it and marriage was a huge commitment. Dickens shows an interesting point on marriage. He suggests to us that life was unfair for people who got married and wished to get divorced because there were strict laws to punish them and he also shows that marriage wasnt about real love in many cases. Dickens shows this by using phrases like, there is a law to punish me when Stephen Blackpool asks for advice about ending a marriage with Mr Bounderby because he is sick of his wife and he can not stand it anymore, I cannot beart nommore! Blackpool tries very hard to get divorced and he even pays his wife a lot of money to keep her away from him, I ha paid her to keep awa fra me but it never worked because she kept coming back and coming back. Dickens is trying to suggest that there is no love at all in their marriage and that Stephen Blackpool is really suffering from marriage. Another reason why Blackpool wants to get divorced is so that he could marry Rachel instead, he wishes to be free, to marry the female whom he speaks Dickens is showing us how much Stephen Blackpool loves Rachel here. After the conversation between Blackpool and Bounderby, Bounderby could not help him because Stephen needed a lot of money on order to get divorced and Bounderby wouldnt lend him the money. This chapter reveals that Mr Bounderby is a very law abiding citizen and that he wont go out of his way to help other people. Another interesting point that Dickens suggests about marriage is when Mr Gradgrind talks to Louisa about the marriage proposal. When she hears the news from Gradgrind, she had no emotion at all, she never said a word and without any visible emotion. This suggests that she doesnt care who she gets married to even to the person she hates the most, a good example of this is when Mr Bounderby kisses Louisa on the cheek (Chp 4) and when he left, she immediately rubbed her cheeks furiously, you may cut the piece out with your penknife and I wouldnt cry! In this marriage proposal situation, Dickens makes it look more like a contract in Gradgrinds mind rather than a real marriage because the proposal was offered directly to Gradgrind instead of Louisa herself. Dickens is suggesting that the marriage proposal wasnt really about love but more like a question and an answer, the question I have to ask myself is, shall I marry him? That is so, is it not? Dickens is basically showing that he doesnt agree with marriage at all in the Victorians Times because once people got married, they could not be allowed to get divorced regardless of happiness, family problems or even money etc Dickens doesnt agree with many aspects of Industrialisation at all. He uses many examples to show how Industrialisation affects both the people and the environment. He uses techniques like Imagery and Phonic Pattering to create an impression of the environment and Coketown itself. Firstly in Chapter 11, Dickens uses words like crashing, smashing and tearing of mechanism these words really tells the reader what the industry is like because it creates noises in the readers minds (noise of metals being cut into pieces and the machines roaring) Dickens also uses phrases like monstrous serpents of smoke and melancholy mad elephants doing their heavy exercises to create a picture of what the factories were like (full of pollution and tired workers working in blackened factories. He used these metaphors which were very effective to create an even better image, there wasnt really serpents in the sky but he used those words to make it seem as though there was. And when he uses the phrase, mad elephants, polished and oiled up for the days monotony, were at their heavy exercises again he basically is wanting to compare the elephants to the workers as though they were both at hard work and the same old boring routines everyday. Throughout the introduction of Chapter 11, Dickens has mentioned the word monotonous and it basically means extremely boring. He is trying to make the reader feel sorry for the workers because they have to work very hard and they are surrounded by pollution and also in an extremely dull environment. This shows how depressing lifes the working class had. Dickens also tries to make a point about human nature in this chapter because he makes the machine sound as though they were taking over the workers, there were more and more machines and factories being built which would produce a lot more pollution, in the waste yard outside, the steam from the escape pipe, the litter of barrels and old iron, the ashes everywhere. A way that Dickens uses to help him create the impact of Industrialisation is by describing Coketown itself. In chapter 5, he uses the phrase, it was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allow it. This suggests that Coketown was absolutely filled with smoke and that buildings were turning black because of it. This gives us a picture of a very dull town and a very polluted town. Another example Dickens uses to show the town was polluted is by saying, serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever and never got uncoiled. This means that the smoke will never die out and it will last on forever polluting the town. The way Dickens describes Coketown makes it sound extremely tedious, boring and over-filled with waste and pollution. He uses the phrase, large streets all very like on another, small streets still like one another, people like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, to do the same work everyday. This phrase is really effective because it describes the inhabitants of Coketown, all very similar and even the streets and their type of work are the same, this shows how boring lives were for people in the Victorian Times. Dickens shows us that he totally hates the impact of Industrialisation because all the natural things like trees and land were being replaced with factories and buildings. This was terrible because it produced a large amount of waste and pollution and it turned the whole town into a polluted and hard-working town, saw nothing in Coketown but what was severely workful. He is suggesting that the town is only to do with work and facts and nothing else. Dickens also describes the town as savage which means it is unclean and ferocious, black canal and a river that ran purple with ill smelling dye. This also shows how sickening the town was for people. Dickens uses all these different techniques and phrases to express his views on Industrialisation and it really gives a full picture of how the environment looked like and how dull and boring the workers lives were. Dickens also creates a circus in the novel to show that there was some hope for a bit of joy and entertainment for people and it wasnt just about work but this leads straight on to the different classes between people because in Chapter 2, when Sissy describes her fathers job, Mr Gradgrind (middle class) redefines his job straight away, describe your father as a horse breaker. This starts to show that Gradgrind doesnt like the working class people and he doesnt want anyone to mention anything about them at all, we dont want to know anything about that here Another point Dickens uses to suggest that Gradgrind doesnt like the working class is by saying he keeps his own children in a private study room where they get privately educated whereas the other students just get educated in one big hall. Gradgrind does this in order to keep his children away from the lower class students so they dont get influenced, he doesnt allow them to go anywhere at all so its really like a prison. This shows how much Gradgrind hates the working class people. Dickens shows us that Bounderby doesnt like the working class as well as Gradgrind. He uses a number of phrases to show this, firstly, when Bounderby, Gradgrind and Sissy were walking towards the circus, Sissy talks about what her father does in the circus and when she said they bruise themselves very badly, Bounderby immediately replies, serves them right for being idle. This means that Bounderby thinks the working class are useless and act like fools. Another phrase that Bounderby uses to show that he hates the working class is by saying, you see my friend, we are the kind of people who know the value of time and you are the kind of people who dont know the value of time. Bounderby is basically trying to say that he knows a lot more things that the working class and that he is always right and they are always wrong. It also shows that Bounderby thinks he is more important than them because he has more power. A good example of showing Bounderby as a selfish and bossy person is when he talks to Stephen Blackpool. Bounderby considers him to be in a different class to him and this is partly why Bounderby wouldnt lend him the money to get divorced and because of the fact that he is a bit selfish. All of Bounderbys workers follow what he says but Stephen on the other hand follows what he believes is right and this leads on to Stephen being sacked and thrown out of the group. This reveals that Bounderby likes to control people around and he doesnt like the people obeying his orders. A big difference between the working class and the middle class is the way they talk and treated, example, Stephen Blackpool in the working class doesnt speak properly because there are a lot of contractions in his speech, I ha gone t th brigg whereas Gradgrind and Bounderby in the middle class speak very clearly and understandable. Another example of this is when Bounderby talks to Mr Childers in the circus, the people in the circus all have funny names and strange words and Bounderby didnt understand any of it, nine oils, merrylegs, missing tips, garters, banners and ponging, eh He then takes a great and evil laugh at them because he thinks they are fools and they use words that means nothing to him, with his laugh of laughs, queer sort of company. He shows no respect to them at all and this is how Bounderby treats the working class. Dickens uses all these points to show that he is totally against the way the middle class treats the working class all just because they have less power and less wealth. Overall, Dickens reveals that Victorian Society was a very harsh, unfair and depressing society. He shows he absolutely hated the way the education system was set up because it almost destroyed the innocent lives of the students and all their excitement. Dickens also shows that he totally disagrees with the way the middle class treats the working class and he believes that the middle class were selfish and arrogant whereas the working class lived horrible and unfair lives. Dickens hated the entire industry in Victorian Times because it was filled with pollution and workers lives were downtrodden because they had to work in blackened factories and towns. Dickens also shows that he didnt like the laws of marriage because people were suffering from it and they couldnt get divorced because of the laws. Dickens hated all of these aspects and therefore he created the novel Hard Times to go against it all.

Wake Up to a Great Morning With These 10 Sunshine Quotes

Wake Up to a Great Morning With These 10 Sunshine Quotes American songwriter Jimmie Davis once wrote, Sunshine is a welcome thing. It brings a lot of brightness. Hes absolutely right. When the first rays of the sun pours into your bedroom window, you will squint at it under your sheets, but it sure brings a welcome smile on your face. Most parts of the earth receives sunshine throughout the year. I wonder how I would survive the dark, sunless months, if I lived closer to the poles. We dont pay much attention to the gift of sunshine, simply because it has always been available to us in abundance. In the freezing months of December, when the sun looks bleak, we wish for a little warmth and brightness. When summer comes rolling by, with the sun merrily basking us with golden rays, we forget how blessed we are to receive this wonderful gift of nature. Why the Sun Is Your Best Friend Wouldnt you rather wake up to the morning glow instead of the incessantly screaming alarm clock? Would you not feel more alive after a brisk morning walk in the sun, instead of gulping down your low-fat decaf? It is an established fact that those who wake up to the first rays of the sun are less likely to feel lethargic, and low in enthusiasm than those who force themselves to wake up to artificial mechanisms. Your body clock, when in sync with nature, helps improve metabolism, productivity, and satisfaction. Your body will thank you for the extra bit of sunshine it receives, as it boosts your immunity, hormone production, and memory. Say goodbye to skin, bone, and muscle ailments with that extra dose of sunshine on your body. How Much Sunshine Is Too Much Sunshine While medical experts vary with the amount of sun one needs. While on one hand, lack of sun exposure has lead to an alarming increase in Vitamin D deficiency in the general population, too much exposure to sun increases the risk of skin cancer due to ultra violet radiation. While the jury is still out on what is the correct amount of sunshine needed for good health, lets go with a balanced approach. A good amount of sunshine that would make you look slightly flushed and bring a glow to your skin is safe. Make sure to take as much sun protection as needed, in order to avoid burning. If however, you come home looking like a red lobster, you know you have gotten yourself way too much sun. What better place to enjoy sunshine other than the beach? Head to the closest beach with your sun protection and beach basket to soak in some golden rays and dig your feet deep into the soft sand. Theres nothing more therapeutic than enjoying a sunny day playing with the waves or frolicking on the beach. If beaches are not your favorite, head to the hills. While you can enjoy the cool mountain breeze, you will also enjoy the warmth of the sunlight that will feed your body with the energy to go on. Sunshine Is Your Best Bet for Good Health Dont fear the sun. The sun is the reason for life on this planet. It has been around for millions of years, and will continue to do so for many more million years. Enjoy the sun and feel yourself growing alive as you turn your face towards the sun. Harper Lee, To Kill a MockingbirdSummer was on the way; Jem and I awaited it with impatience. Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the tree house; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill. Ralph Waldo EmersonLive in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. Helen KellerKeep your face to the sunshine and you will never see the shadow. Charles Dickens, Oliver TwistThe sun,the bright sun, that brings back, not light alone, but new life, and hope, and freshness to manburst upon the crowded city in clear and radiant glory. Through costly-coloured glass and paper-mended window, through cathedral dome and rotten crevice, it shed its equal ray. Anne BronteA light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine. Lillie LangtryAnyones life truly lived consists of work, sunshine, exercise, soap, plenty of fresh air, and a happy contented spirit. Joey TolbertFor every day that there is sunshine, there will be days of rain,its how we dance within them both that shows our love and pain. Ken KeseyYouve got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise youre just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you. John RuskinSunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great GatsbyAnd so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.

Tramatic Brain Injury Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Tramatic Brain Injury - Research Paper Example TBI is also associated with closed head injuries as oppose to penetrating injuries of the skull and brain stem, although not always exclusively since there can be multiple characteristics of initial injuries with both penetrating and non-penetrating effects.. (Papanicolaou) There are an estimated 20 to 50 million people [worldwide]are injured or disabled in road traffic accidents every year with those between ages 18 and 25 experiencing the greatest incidence. According to the Centers for Disease Control, individuals over age 75 are at high risk for TBI due to falls. By 2020, the World Health Organization projects that road traffic injuries will be the third leading cause of global disease or injury. Motor vehicle accidents are a major cause of TBI in less developed countries and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality (Bay, Kreulen, Shavers, and Currier 141) TBI severity is grouped into three general classifications: mild, moderate, or severe. The diagnosis is dependent upon seve ral factors, the depth and length any coma that was induced by the TBI, the duration of any posttraumatic amnesia, the overall time to respond consistently to stimuli, as well as the neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies, and measures of brainstem function. â€Å"As severity levels increase, the range and extent of possible long-term physical, cognitive, and psychosocial impairments increases.† (Degeneffe 257) These classifications have been further codified by the introduction of the Glasgow Coma Scale, which was originally developed to help practitioners diagnose the level of consciousness of a patient after a head injury. It has now been adapted to rate TBI survivors in the mild, moderate or severe classification. The scale is reproduced in Appendix I. There is certainly a general lack of understanding regarding individual how have suffered a TBI and the resultant issues arising from it. This results in many TBI sufferers receiving treatment by medical, psycho-soci al or other personnel who do not have experience with TBI. This is especially true in cases of Mild TBI where the patient is presented with headache, vomiting, dizziness; work-related difficulties, forgetfulness, or mood disorders without mention any current head trauma thus impairing a proper diagnosis and treatment. By informing medical practitioners about the general symptoms of TBI, there would be a better chance of asking if the patient had suffered a recent head injury. (Bay, Kreulen, Shavers, and Currier) Once a TBI has been diagnosed often the first medical professional to be alerted is the neuropsychologist. Neuropsychology is a complex field of psychology for it incorporates a variety of other sciences such as psychiatry, neuroscience, neurology as well as cognitive psychology. The general theory of Clinical Neuropsychology will provide the basic tools and techniques necessary to assist individuals with TBI in developing the appropriate coping skills and strategies needed to reclaim their lives. This will allow them to return to a life of greater independence in order to live successfully in the community. The conducted research and readings surrounding Clinical Neuropsychology has an in depth understanding of the organic component of brain damage in those with TBI, giving a keener insight into the treatment and therapies that

Geomorphology Lab 3 Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Geomorphology 3 - Lab Report Example Further, a model for predicting age can be succinctly tested based on weathering degree. The class split into three groups and recorded the varying degrees of weathering for different tombstones at the Murray Cemetry. The characteristics of the 20 tombstones were recorded by each group. The characteristics recorded for each tombstone include height, width, length, name, thickness at bottom and thickness at top, texture, lithology, tilt and visual weathering class. The data obtained were entered into an excel spreadsheet as shown in the result section. As shown in the above the graph, with the help of a best fit line, there is a general trend observed between weathering class and age. A positive gradient indicates that there is a positive relationship between the two and as the age increases so does the weathering class of tombstone increases. As shown in the graph, there is a general trend between weathering class and height of the tombstone. The equation gives a positive gradient, showing that as the height increases there is a positive effect on the weathering class. The weathering class increases with increase in height. A line of best fit, as shown in the graph, indicates that there is a considerable relationship between weathering class and length. The graph shows that an increase observed in length leads to an increase in weathering class. The positive gradient shows that there is a positive relationship between the two. The results obtained were able to support the initially listed hypotheses. For age, there was observed consistency in its relationship with weathering class as shown in the graph. Hence, from the methodology used, the hypothesis â€Å"The degree of tombstone weathering is related to tombstone age† is sufficiently supported because there was observed consistency with a positive gradient. The results supported hypothesis two which stated that â€Å"The degree of tombstone weathering relies on the height of the tombstone† given

Art, Drama, Music and Elements of Play

Art, Drama, Music and Elements of Play Art is important. Even as adults, we do enjoy engaging in different form of arts. The art has been associated with private leisure experience, separated from the main business of life. The arts are naturally playful however we should not associate it as unrealistic or lack of seriousness (Swanwick, 1988). Playing is part of learning and arts can help children flourish personally and emotionally (Swanwick, 1988). The arts are complementary part of a broad education; the arts when taught well can help raise attainment in other areas as they are intimately entwined with other learning areas (Arts in Schools Project, 1990). Drama comes naturally to young children and they are often engaging in pretend play. Children dramatic experience should be supported in school with activities that develop the childs ability to use his or her imagination, body and voice. Drama allows preschoolers to express themselves freely and interact with others. Some dramatic activities in which have been conducted in class since the taught module was drama games and role-play. The activities conducted were the Jungle game (similar to fruit salad) and freeze game. Through the activities, the children were encouraged to explore the limitations and the possibilities of movement inside a given space. The children learnt to share space with others and how to relate to others playful way. They explored how space, and people or objects in space, can have symbolic and dramatic meanings (Winston and Tandy, 2009). During the period of time, we were working on the theme of animals, thus I made use of some of the games taught during the module and modified a little. The children were from the age range 4 to 6 years old. There were two new children who were in the class for less than a month. They were Chinese expatriate and did not understand English. One child was more shy and withdrawn. He usually only interacts with the other child who was also from China. However during the activity, all the children were seen engaging in the activity. At first during Jungle game the children were given new role which are different types of animals in the jungle. They had to swopped places when their animals were called; when hunter is called out, everyone had to swop places. In the process, some children were seen knocking into each other and most only went to the few seats away from them. However, after a few rounds with the game, they were able to explore the possible movement inside the specified place. The children were able to explore and share the space without knocking into each other. Even the two China boys were able to engage in the activity and pretended to be the animals by imitating their movements as they move in the circle. As for the freeze game, the children pretended to be animals moving in the jungle, avoiding to be caught by the hunter. It was surprised that the children imitated the sounds of the animals as they moved when it was not told to them that they had to. It was amazing how dramatic games can lead children into different world showing their different side and creativity. Another activity conducted was interview of the character in the story. During that period we were working on the theme of animals, thus I made use of the story The forest child and pretended to be the hunter. The children were really involved in the activity and took turns to ask questions. That was the first time that we engaged in this kind of activity thus the children were excited and eager to ask questions. After several questions, I was surprised that the boys from China actually put up their hands and asked question: Why you so angry. I did not think that they could understand the activity we were engaging in, not to even say ask question using English language, which was a foreign language to them. Through this activity, the children could enter into the world of the story and try to find solutions. As the children are familiarised with the activity, they took turns to be the hunter. Through the activities, the children learnt to take turns by respecting others contribution, develop spatial awareness, and explore own body possibilities through imitating of different characters. Minimum props were used during the activities to encourage more imagination. Through imaginative play, children are experimenting with and learning how to manage the core elements of drama, those of time, space, people, action objects and subject matter (Winston and Tandy, 2009). Drama is a great way in providing children the opportunities to learn about themselves and others. It encourages interaction with each other and learn about body and spatial awareness. During drama, children are also encouraged to think differently. During role-play, they can become others, enhancing the creativity, and encouraging them to think about what certain people might think, say, or do in a given situation. It allows children to hide behind a mask and to be different. Music Music is a way of knowing the life of feeling (Langer as cited in Swanwick, 1988). In our preschool setting, we did not have much chance for musical activity during lesson time. It was usually during enrichment programmes which several children will go for their music lessons. During the module, many fun and meaningful activities were taught which could be implemented into the preschool setting. The activity that was conducted with the children was making music through musical instruments. I made used of the activities planned with my group during the module presentation, which was regarding the story of Big Al. The children were provided with musical instruments such as bells, tambourine, cymbal, maracas, drum, triangle and some other traditional musical instruments that were made of bamboos. The children were given the opportunities to choose and play the instruments according to different emotions and scenarios of the story. Music was combined with drama work in this case. Half of the children in the class acted out the story while the others created effects for the dramatisation using the instruments. The children had to imagine that they were in the story. According to Swanwick (1988), young children enjoy very loud and very soft sounds and are fascinated by tone and timbre and they can begin to see music as expressive. It can be observed during the activity. The childr en enjoyed exploring the loudness of sound produced from musical instrument. When it was exciting situation, they played the music fast and loud, and soft when sad. They were able to determine the speed of music by playing the various musical instruments. The children were able to create different expression using music. During the activity, two older boys were observed to be leading the group in the change of the music. Working in cross-age groups enables younger children to observe and learn from more experienced learners, while the opportunity to scaffold the learning of younger children enables the older children to clarify their thinking (Duffy, 1998, p.116). According to Duffy (1998), children need sufficient place to work and easily accessible resources if they are to make the best use of creative and imaginative experiences. Thus educators should provide more experience for art activities even when outside of lessons. After the module, I tried the method of giving the children freedom of recording. Recorder was introduced to the children and it was placed in the music corner in the classroom. After a week, to my surprised, I heard the voices of the two boys from China with a few other children from the recording. At first they said their name and begun humming some unfamiliar music (probably self-composed) with accompany of the musical instruments. When they sang louder, the music became louder too. This showed that they could make use of the tempo and dynamics according to the different emotions. There was expression in the music formed. Through the activities, the children could develop musical awareness and skills in terms of tempo and dynamics. Elements of play According to Swanwick (1998), the three elements of play significant to learning through arts are mastery, imitation and imaginative play. All these three elements were evident during the implementation of the activities. For mastery, the children were able to learn to work with others to make dramatic meaning and control of the musical instruments, keeping consistent rhythm. For imitation, the children were able to deal with the expressive nature of the art form. They were able to make musical sounds that suggest different scenarios. Lastly for imaginative play, the children could experiment with musical instruments until it suggest the appropriate scenario. The children were also seen experimenting with different movement during dramatic play. Practice motivates children as practice teaches them how to concentrate which in turns leads them to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of art they are learning and the pleasures of producing work of quality (Winston, 2010, p.77). If we wish chi ldren to be creative, we should ensure that all children feel valued and accepted; thus children will feel secure to take risks or make mistakes (Duffy, 1998). That was apparent in the case of the two Chinese boys who were at first withdrawn from the group and slowly got into the activities, engaging with the others. Conclusion As children grow, it seems that much of the school day is taken up by core subjects; creativity and imagination are often treated as additional or luxury. Thus it is the role of the educators in helping to ensure that the children have opportunities to engage in creative and imaginative experience (Duffy, 1998). A cross-curricular approach allows us to draw on the appeal ad potential of creative experiences to encourage learning and development in all areas of the curriculum. Children should be active participants in their learning. With appropriate planning, we can connect art with many other areas of the curriculum. This can provide valuable opportunities to place learning in real life experience by making stories and living through them, rather than hearing them told by the teacher. Arts provide creative release for children; children will have fun while they are learn, enhancing a lifelong desire for learning.

Henri Cartier-Bresson :: essays research papers

Henri Cartier-Bresson   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the world’s most influential photography Masters. With his small hand camera he unobtrusively photographed people’s lives around the world. He was solely responsible for bridging the gap between photojournalism and art. He has published more than a dozen books of his work. The greatest museums in the world have shown his work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From my start as a photographer, I was always drawn to taking photographs of people. I feel it was only instinct that made me interested in this type of photography. Other people pushing their ideas on me would come much later. For a few years I made photographs on my own, exploring a whole range of imagery from sports to still life, but I always felt images of people were my strongest. Then I went to college at a very intensive school for photography. From the start I was pushed into the world on Cartier-Bresson and his style. I started concentrating on this documentary style of photography and began to pull away from experimenting in other genres. This was fine with me because I was fairly successful with documentary photography and was being praised be my professors. After a while I became stuck in my ways and found it very hard to shoot in any other manner. At the present my portfolio is based solely on black and white documentary photography. I still am very proud of working in this manner, but I am quite frustrated with finding work as a documentary photographer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My ties to Cartier-Bresson and his work start from the beginning of my career as a photographer. He was totally responsible for bringing photojournalism into the mainstream art world. Just for this accomplishment alone Cartier-Bresson has made it possible for many documentary photographers to work today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cartier-Bresson along with David Seymour and Robert Capa started the cooperative photo agency known as Magnum. Magnum was born because of a struggle between photojournalists and magazines. Magazines were constantly taking advantage of photographers. Magnum was established to end this by having its members band together as a group and establish strict guidelines for magazine payment and usage rights. Magnum represents only its members and its members stand behind one another. Over the years Magnum has evolved into kind of an elite club. I believe it only allows one new member per year; this is done by votes cast by all Magnum members.

Modern Family Essay

In ‘Modern Family’s’ episode 15 of season 1 a number of societal norms are addressed, some of which challenged others reinforced. Norms such as the ones relating to gay couples with children, typical teenagers, and extended families, in other words the rich older man with the young â€Å"hot† wife and step kid. Modern Family as by its name offers us a more modern view of family in today’s society. The premise of Modern Family is a mock documentary-style sitcom fabricated around three very different families that all share kinship: a gay couple, who’ve just adopted a baby daughter from Vietnam; a husband and wife with three kids; and a May-December marriage between an older man and a woman who has a son from a prior marriage. This particular episode is based around Valentine ’s Day and follows three different stories of Jay and Gloria, Cam and Mitchel, and of course, Phil and Claire. Claire and Phil plan a Valentine’s Day excursion which leads them to role playing at a hotel, while Jay and takes Gloria to a David Brenner show where Jay gets picked on for being an older husband and is mistaken for Gloria’s father, and oh yeah! He also bought her diamond earrings with this fat wallet. Cam and Mitchel however decide to say at home since Mitchel has had a long day at work but the two of them are able to help out a much desperate Manny (Gloria’s kid) with a crush of his own. One of society’s biggest norms is the conflict of marriage and the age at which one is expected to be married and his/her partners age. As shown in Modern Family Jay is significantly older than Gloria who is your typical trophy wife. The show clearly challenges the accepted norm of marriage and how we as a society have come to accept the so called ‘limitations’, (i. e. age), of marriage. Episode 15 illustrates in a scene where Jay takes Gloria to a comedy show featuring David Brenner (who is from Jay’s generation) for Valentine’s Day, however she wants to go salsa dancing. Once there David Brenner mistakes Jay for Gloria’s father and pick on him for being an older husband. The show clearly challenges the accepted norm of a traditional family/marriage and displays the May-December marriage as an accepted view of the modern family. It also shows how Jay is not the ‘classic husband’ due to his age difference. As this norm is being presented, the same norm is being challenged in a different way. Earlier in the episode Jays is shown to give Gloria a diamond earring which demonstrations that Jay is a typical husband, one who is expected to buy his wife diamonds earrings, necklaces, etc. Through this example, Jay demonstrates the traits that are exhibited in the ‘classic husband’. In today’s society the issue of gay marriage is a delicate one, where gay marriage is becoming more and more accepted in society but is still illegal in some states of the U. S. An even bigger issue lies with same-sex couples adopting babies, which is clearly not yet fully accepted by society and is not an image that forms when a picture of a typical family is cast. These norms are tested when the show follows the story of Cam and Mitchel (Jays Son) on Valentine’s Day. Cam and Mitchel are a gay married couple, who decide to stay at home for Valentine’s Day. In Modern Family, Mitchel is not shows as a typical gay man instead he’s busy with his work and wearing shirts without any flowers or patterns, does not act like the norm gay man. While Cam on the other hand is a very prototypical gay man, always wearing colorful shirts with patterns, dressing up Lilly (Cam/Mitchel adopted daughter) in costumes for Valentine’s Day. These two characters are quite unlike one another where one reinforces the typical gay man, the other see to challenge the typical gay man. The couple also has an adopted Vietnamese daughter, again challenging the norm in society of a traditional family. Cam and Mitchel while staying at home agree to babysit Manny who is upset over a girl who he has written a poem to, hoping it would impress her. Manny, unlike other kids who hang-out with their friends and ride their bikes, writes poems and is not the least bit self-conscious. He is very mature and intuitive for his age and is often shown doing adult-like things, such as writing poems, challenging the norm of a usual 13 year old kid. Fathers in past years have been considered to be stricter on their kids, teaching them discipline and to focus on school. Phil however does not follow that same norm, instead he try’s very hard even in fact goes out of his way to be a â€Å"funny† dad/husband. Challenging the societal norm of what is known as a typical father. Claire conversely is a very common stay at home, minivan driving house wife who looks after the kids. She reinforced the utmost ideological norms of what a middle class house wife should be like. Talking care of the kids and being a loving mother. Claire and Phil like a normal couple exchange only cards and go to a restaurant on Valentine’s Day which is what they’ve been doing for years. However this all changes when the couple decides to go role playing at a hotel. The two meet at the hotel bar and he â€Å"picks her up†, she then goes to the bathroom and comes back wearing her coat with no clothes underneath. As they prepare to go upstairs she gets her coat stuck in the escalator, which she cannot take off. The circumstances turn worse when they begin running into different acquaintances from work and school, all of whom recommend that she take the coat off. These sequences of event illustrate how much distinct Clair and Phil are from a classical couple, challenging the norm of the traditional couple. The norm for a 13 year old boy is quite simple, a goofy, mischievous, and fun-loving boy who is not very bright. This norm is supported in Modern Family through Luke (Clair’s son). As the episode begins Phil and Luke come running into the house laughing over something they call a water weasel, a water pipe attached to a nerf ball. Luke is the standard of a typical 13 year old. Phil however is not 13 yet acts like one at times, further challenging his norm of a typical â€Å"Dad†. The norm for the young teenage daughter has changed completely over the past decades, now the norm for a teenage girl is almost expected her to be rebellious, wild and care free. A norm which Haley (Clair’s daughter) most definitely reinforces. As illustrated in this episode Haley’s boyfriend Dylan give Haley a picture portrait of Haley and himself half-naked in bed, which of course terrifies her mom and she takes it away. Haley patently reinforces the norm of a typical modern day teenager. In conclusion, the norms presented in Modern Family are mostly challenged to that of a typical nuclear family as an ideal, but yet in some instances as in the case of Haley and Claire the norms of the young teenage daughter and the stay at home house wife are confirmed. The show does need a balance of both, to reinforce norms and challenge them to become a successful comedy. Most of the norms that are challenged are all done in a fun-making manner. The show for the most part encourages the viewer to work for or at least echo on the need for change in society. The episode mostly challenges thoughts of consumption and view’s the show’s audience as citizens not consumerist. Modern Family without a doubt offers us a look into what in today’s society is viewed as a â€Å"Modern family†.