Journey Towards Racial Reconciliation Essay -- The Harlem Renaissance,

The Harlem Renaissance poets had to overcome many obstacles to establish themselves in the world of American poetry. They faced overt racism, harsh criticism, and racial isolation. Out of these impediments came a multitude of great literary contributions. However, some of the best poems came from the critical self-analysis of four highly influential Harlem Renaissance poets. Hughes, McKay, Cullen, and Bennett each wrestled with the issue of uncertain racial identity. Each pair had poems with identical titles: â€Å"Mulatto† for Hughes and McKay and â€Å"Heritage† for Cullen and Bennett. The analysis of each pair of poems and how the respective authors handle the subject material will reveal a distinctive pattern of racial confusion. For many of the Harlem Renaissance poets, establishing a definitive place of belonging was virtually impossible. Their poems portray individuals are conflicted as to where they belong and how they identify themselves. While the differences between the poems are telling in their own right, the similar theme of racial identity is what links all four poets together in the larger context of being â€Å"negro poets†. â€Å"Mulatto† is the strongest case for racial confusion of the two titles that will be analyzed. A mulatto is someone who is classified as a person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one black parent. It is this exact type of person that Hughes and McKay are writing about in their identically titled works. During the 1920’s, when both of these men were writing poetry, people of mixed races were looked down upon by both blacks and whites. They were oddities and not accepted by either ancestral group. This fostered feelings of isolation in these individuals. Conflicted, the... ...Fiction. New York: Atheneum, 1969. Print. Bontemps, Arna. The Harlem Renaissance Remembered; Essays,. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1972. Print. Emanuel, James A., and Theodore L. Gross. Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America,. New York: Free, 1968. Print. Gibson, Donald B. Modern Black Poets; a Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Print. Maxwell, William J., and Joseph Valente. "Metrocolonial Capitals of Renaissance Modernism: Dublin's 'New Ireland' and Harlem's 'Mecca of the New Negro." (2001): n. pag. Modern American Poetry. Department of English, University of Illinois. Web. Nelson, Cary. "Claude McKay." Anthology of Modern American Poetry. New York: Oxford UP, 2000. 314-19. Print. Parham, Marisa. "Hughes, Cullen, and the In-sites of Loss." ELH. Vol. 74. N.p.: Johns Hopkins UP, 2007. 429-47. Print.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 10

Chapter 10 The angel and I had been watching a movie about Moses. Raziel was angry because there were no angels in it. No one in the movie looked like any Egyptian I ever met. â€Å"Did Moses look like that?† I asked Raziel, who was worrying the crust off of a goat cheese pizza in between spitting vitriol at the screen. â€Å"No,† said Raziel, â€Å"but that other fellow looks like Pharaoh.† â€Å"Really?† â€Å"Yep,† said Raziel. He slurped the last of a Coke through a straw making a rude noise, then tossed the paper cup across the room into the wastebasket. â€Å"So you were there, during the Exodus?† â€Å"Right before. I was in charge of locusts.† â€Å"How was that?† â€Å"Didn't care for it. I wanted the plague of frogs. I like frogs.† â€Å"I like frogs too.† â€Å"You wouldn't have liked the plague of frogs. Stephan was in charge. A seraphim.† He shook his head as if I should know some sad inside fact about seraphim. â€Å"We lost a lot of frogs. â€Å"I suppose it's for the best, though,† Raziel said with a sigh. â€Å"You can't have a someone who likes frogs bring a plague of frogs. If I'd done it, it would have been more of a friendly gathering of frogs.† â€Å"That wouldn't have worked,† I said. â€Å"Well, it didn't work anyway, did it? I mean, Moses, a Jew, thought it up. Frogs were unclean to the Jews. To the Jews it was a plague. To the Egyptians it was like having a big feast of frog legs drop from the sky. Moses missed it on that one. I'm just glad we didn't listen to him on the plague of pork.† â€Å"Really, he wanted to bring down a plague of pork? Pigs falling from the sky?† â€Å"Pig pieces. Ribs, hams, feet. He wanted everything bloody. You know, unclean pork and unclean blood. The Egyptians would have eaten the pork. We talked him into just the blood.† â€Å"Are you saying that Moses was a dimwit?† I wasn't being ironic when I asked this, I was aware that I was asking the eternal dimwit of them all. Still†¦ â€Å"No, he just wasn't concerned with results,† said the angel. â€Å"The Lord had hardened Pharaoh's heart against letting the Jews go. We could have dropped oxen from the sky and he wouldn't have changed his mind.† â€Å"That would have been something to see,† I said. â€Å"I suggested that it rain fire,† the angel said. â€Å"How'd that go?† â€Å"It was pretty. We only had it rain on the stone palaces and monuments. Burning up all of the Jews would sort of defeated the purpose.† â€Å"Good thinking,† I said. â€Å"Well, I'm good with weather,† said the angel. â€Å"Yeah, I know,† I said. Then I thought about it a second, about how Raziel nearly wore out our poor room service waiter Jesus delivering orders of ribs the day they were the special. â€Å"You didn't suggest fire, initially, did you? You just suggested that it rain barbecued pork, didn't you?† â€Å"That guy doesn't look anything like Moses,† the angel said. That day, thrashing in the sea, trying to swim to catch the merchant ship that plowed through the water under full sail, I first saw that Raziel was, as he claimed, â€Å"good with weather.† Joshua was leaning over the aftrail of the ship, shouting alternately to me, then to Titus. It was pretty obvious that even under the light wind that day, I would never catch the ship, and when I looked in the direction of shore I could see nothing but water. Strange, the things you think of at times like that. What I thought first was â€Å"What an incredibly stupid way to die.† Next I thought, â€Å"Joshua will never make it without me.† And with that, I began to pray, not for my own salvation but for Joshua. I prayed for the Lord to keep him safe, then I prayed for Maggie's safety and happiness. Then, as I shrugged off my shirt and fell into a slow crawl in the direction of the shoreline, which I knew I would never see, the wind stopped. Just stopped. The sea flattened and the only sound I could hear was the frightened cries of the crew of Titus's ship, which had stopped in the water as if it had dropped anchor. â€Å"Biff, this way!† Joshua called. I turned in the water to see my friend waving to me from the stern of the becalmed ship. Beside him, Titus cowered like a frightened child. On the mast above them sat a winged figure, who after I swam to the ship and was hoisted out by a very frightened bunch of sailors, I recognized as the angel Raziel. Unlike the times when we had seen him before, he wore robes as black as pitch, and the feathers in his wings shone the blue-black of the sea under moonlight. As I joined Joshua on the raised poop deck at the stern of the ship, the angel took wing and gently landed on the deck beside us. Titus was shielding his head with his arms, as if to ward off an attacker, and he looked as if he were trying to dissolve between the deck boards. â€Å"You,† Raziel said to the Phoenician, and Titus looked up between his arms. â€Å"No harm is to come to these two.† Titus nodded, tried to say something, then gave up when his voice broke under the weight of his fear. I was a little frightened myself. Decked out in black, the angel was a fearsome sight, even if he was on our side. Joshua, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease. â€Å"Thank you,† Josh said to the angel. â€Å"He's a cur, but he's my best friend.† â€Å"I'm good with weather,† the angel said. And as if that explained everything, he flapped his massive black wings and lifted off the deck. The sea was dead calm until the angel was out of sight over the horizon, then the breeze picked up, the sails filled, and waves began to lap at the bow. Titus ventured a peek from his cowed position, then stood up slowly and took one of the steering oars under his arm. â€Å"I'm going to need a new shirt,† I said. â€Å"You can have mine,† Titus said. â€Å"We should sail closer along the coast, don't you think?† I said. â€Å"On the way, good master,† Titus said. â€Å"On the way.† â€Å"Your mother eats the fungus from the feet of lepers,† I said. â€Å"I've been meaning to speak to her about that,† Titus said. â€Å"So we understand each other,† I said. â€Å"Absolutely,† Titus said. â€Å"Crap,† Joshua said. â€Å"I forgot to ask the angel about knowing women again.† For the rest of the journey Titus was much more agreeable, and strangely enough, we didn't have to man any of the huge oars when we pulled into port, nor did we have to help unload or load any cargo. The crew avoided us altogether, and tended the pigs for us without our even asking. My fear of sailing subsided after a day, and as the steady breeze carried us north, Joshua and I would watch the dolphins that came to ride the ship's bow wave, or lie on the deck at night, breathing in the smell of cedar coming off the ship's timbers, listening to the creaking of rope and rigging, and trying to imagine aloud what it would be like when we found Balthasar. If it hadn't been for Joshua's constant badgering about what sex was like, it would have been a pleasant journey indeed. â€Å"Fornication isn't the only sin, Josh,† I tried to explain. â€Å"I'm happy to help out, but are you going to have me steal so I can explain it to you? Will you have me kill someone next so you can understand it?† â€Å"No, the difference is that I don't want to kill anyone.† â€Å"Okay, I'll tell you again. You got your loins, and she's got her loins. And even though you call them both loins, they're different – â€Å" â€Å"I understand the mechanics of it. What I don't understand is the feeling of it.† â€Å"Well, it feels good, I told you that.† â€Å"But that doesn't seem right. Why would the Lord make sin feel good, then condemn man for it?† â€Å"Look, why don't you try it?† I said. â€Å"It would be cheaper that way. Or better yet, get married, then it wouldn't even be sin.† â€Å"Then it wouldn't be the same, would it?† Josh asked. â€Å"How would I know, I've never been married.† â€Å"Is it always the same for you?† â€Å"Well, in some ways, yes.† â€Å"In what ways?† â€Å"Well, so far, it seems to be moist.† â€Å"Moist?† â€Å"Yeah, but I can't say it's always that way, just in my experience. Maybe we should ask a harlot?† â€Å"Better yet,† Joshua said, looking around, â€Å"I'll ask Titus. He's older, and he looks as if he's sinned a lot.† â€Å"Yeah, well, if you count throwing Jews in the sea, I'd say he's an expert, but that doesn't mean – â€Å" Joshua had run to the stern of the ship, up a ladder to the raised poop deck, and to a small, open-sided tent that acted as the captain's quarters. Under the tent Titus reclined on a pile of rugs, drinking from a wineskin, which I saw him hand to Joshua. By the time I caught up with him Titus was saying, â€Å"So you want to know about fucking? Well, son, you have come to the right place. I've fucked a thousand women, half again as many boys, some sheep, pigs, a few chickens, and the odd turtle. What is it you want to know?† â€Å"Stand away from him, Josh,† I said, taking the wineskin and handing it back to Titus as I pushed Joshua back. â€Å"The wrath of God could hit him at any moment. Jeez, a turtle, that's got to be an abomination.† Titus flinched when I mentioned the wrath of God, as if the angel might return to perch on his mast any second. Joshua stood his ground. â€Å"Right now let's just stick with the women part of it, if that's all right.† Joshua patted Titus's arm to reassure him. I knew how that touch felt: Titus would feel the fear run out of him like water. â€Å"I've fucked every kind of woman there is. I've fucked Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Jews, Ethiopians, and women from places that haven't even been named yet. I've fucked fat ones, skinny ones, women with no legs, women with – â€Å" â€Å"Are you married?† Joshua interrupted before the sailor started into how he had fucked them in a box, with a fox, in a house, with a mouse†¦ â€Å"I have a wife in Rome.† â€Å"Is it the same with your wife and, say, a harlot?† â€Å"What, fucking? No, it's not the same at all.† â€Å"It's moist,† I said. â€Å"Right?† â€Å"Well, yes, it's moist. But that's not – â€Å" I grabbed Joshua's tunic and started to drag him away. â€Å"There you have it. Let's go, Josh. Now you know, sin is moist. Make a mental note. Let's get some supper.† Titus was laughing. â€Å"You Jews and your sin. You know if you had more gods you wouldn't have to be so worried about making one angry?† â€Å"Right,† I said, â€Å"I'm going to take spiritual advice from a guy who fucks turtles.† â€Å"You shouldn't be so judgmental, Biff,† Joshua said. â€Å"You're not without sin yourself.† â€Å"Oh, you and your holier-than-thou attitude. You can just do your own sinning from now on if that's how you feel. You think I enjoy bedding harlots night after night, describing the whole process to you over and over?† â€Å"Well, yeah,† Joshua said. â€Å"That's not the point. The point is, well†¦the point is†¦well. Guilt. I mean – turtles. I mean – † So I was flustered. Sue me. I'd never look at a turtle again without imagining it being molested by a scruffy Phoenician sailor. That's not disturbing to you? Imagine it right now. I'll wait. See? â€Å"He's gone mad,† Titus said. â€Å"You shut up, you scurvy viper,† Joshua said. â€Å"What about not being judgmental?† Titus said. â€Å"That's him,† Josh said. â€Å"It's different for me.† And suddenly, having said that, Joshua looked as sad as I had ever seen him. He slouched away toward the pigpen, where he sat down and cradled his head in his hands as if he'd just been crowned with the weight of all the worries of mankind. He kept to himself until we left the ship. The Silk Road, the main vein of trade and custom and culture from the Roman world to the Far East, terminated where it met the sea at the port city of Selucia Pieria, the harbor city and naval stronghold that had fed and guarded Antioch since the time of Alexander. As we left the ship with the rest of the crew, Captain Titus stopped us at the gangplank. He held his hands, palm down. Joshua and I reached out and Titus dropped the coins we'd paid for passage into our palms. â€Å"I might have been holding a brace of scorpions, but you two reached out without a thought.† â€Å"It was a fair price to pay,† Joshua said. â€Å"You don't have to return our money.† â€Å"I almost drowned your friend. I'm sorry.† â€Å"You asked if he could swim before you threw him in. He had a chance.† I looked at Joshua's eyes to see if he was joking, but it was obvious he wasn't. â€Å"Still,† Titus said. â€Å"So perhaps you will be given a chance someday as well,† Joshua said. â€Å"A slim fucking chance,† I added. Titus grinned at me. â€Å"Follow the shore of the harbor until it becomes a river. That's the Onrontes. Follow its left bank and you'll be in Antioch by nightfall. In the market there will be an old woman who sells herbs and charms. I don't remember her name, but she has only one eye and she wears a tunic of Tyran purple. If there is a magician in Antioch she will know where to find him.† â€Å"How do you know this old woman?† I asked. â€Å"I buy my tiger penis powder from her.† Joshua looked at me for explanation. â€Å"What?† I said. â€Å"I've had a couple of harlots, I didn't exchange recipes.† Then I looked to Titus. â€Å"Should I have?† â€Å"It's for my knees,† the sailor said. â€Å"They hurt when it rains.† Joshua took my shoulder and started to lead me away. â€Å"Go with God, Titus,† he said. â€Å"Put in a good word with the black-winged one for me,† Titus said. Once we were into the wash of merchants and sailors around the harbor, I said, â€Å"He gave us the money back because the angel scared him, you know that?† â€Å"So his kindness allayed his fear as well as benefiting us,† Joshua said. â€Å"All the better. Do you think the priests sacrifice the lambs at Passover for better reasons?† â€Å"Oh, right,† I said, having no idea what one had to do with the other, wondering still if tigers didn't object to having their penises powdered. (Keeps them from chafing, I guess, but that's got to be a dangerous job.) â€Å"Let's go find this old crone,† I said. The shore of the Onrontes was a stream of life and color, textures and smells, from the harbor all the way into the marketplace at Antioch. There were people of every size and color that I had ever imagined, some shoeless and dressed in rags, others wearing expensive silks and the purple linen from Tyre, said to be dyed with the blood of a poisonous snail. There were ox carts, litters, and sedan chairs carried by as many as eight slaves. Roman soldiers on horseback and on foot policed the crowd, while sailors from a dozen nations reveled in drink and noise and the feel of land beneath their feet. Merchants and beggars and traders and whores scurried for the turn of a coin, while self-appointed prophets spouted dogma from atop the mooring posts where ships tied off along the river – holy men lined up and preaching like a line of noisy Greek columns. Smoke rose fragrant and blue over the streaming crowd, carrying the smell of spice and grease from braziers in the food booths whe re men and women hawked their fare in rhythmic, haunting songs that all ran together as you walked along – as if one passed his song to the next so you might never experience a second of silence. The only thing I had ever seen that approached this was the line of pilgrims leading into Jerusalem on the feast days, but there we never saw so much color, heard so much noise, felt so much excitement. We stopped at a stand and bought a hot black drink from a wrinkled old man wearing a tanned bird carcass as a hat. He showed us how he made the drink from the seeds of berries that were first roasted, then ground into powder, then mixed with boiling water. We got this whole story by way of pantomime, as the man spoke none of the languages we were familiar with. He mixed the drink with honey and gave it to us, but when I tasted it, it still didn't seem to taste right. It seemed, I don't know, too dark. I saw a woman leading a nanny goat nearby, and I took Joshua's cup from him and ran after the woman. With the woman's permission, I squirted a bit of milk from the nanny goat's udder onto the top of each of our cups. The old man protested, making it seem as if we'd committed some sort of sacrilege, but the milk had come out warm and frothy and it served to take away the bitterness of the black drink. Joshua downed his, then asked the old man for two more, as well as handing the woman wi th the goat a small brass coin for her trouble. Josh gave the second drink back to the old man to taste, and after much grimacing, he took a sip. A smile crossed his toothless mouth and before we left he seemed to be striking some sort of deal with the woman with the goat. I watched the old man grind beans in a copper cylinder while the woman milked her goat into a deep clay bowl. There was a spice vendor next door and I could smell the cinnamon, cloves, and allspice that lay loose in baskets on the ground. â€Å"You know,† I said to the woman in Latin, â€Å"when you two get this all figured out, try sprinkling a little ground cinnamon on it. It just might make it perfect.† â€Å"You're losing your friend,† she said. I turned and looked around, catching the top of Joshua's head just as he turned a corner into the Antioch market and a new push of people. I ran to catch up to him. Joshua was bumping people in the crowd as he passed, seemingly on purpose, and murmuring just loud enough so I could hear him each time he hit someone with a shoulder or an elbow. â€Å"Healed that guy. Healed her. Stopped her suffering. Healed him. Comforted him. Ooo, that guy was just stinky. Healed her. Whoops, missed. Healed. Healed. Comforted. Calmed.† People were turning to look back at Josh, the way one will when a stranger steps on one's foot, except these people all seemed to be either smiling or baffled, not annoyed as I expected. â€Å"What are you doing?† I asked. â€Å"Practicing,† Joshua said. â€Å"Whoa, bad toe-jam.† He spun on his heel, nearly turning his foot out of his sandal, and smacked a short bald man on the back of the head. â€Å"All better now.† The bald guy turned and looked back to see who had hit him. Josh was backing down the street. â€Å"How's your toe?† Joshua asked in Latin. â€Å"Good,† the bald guy said, and he smiled, sorta goofy and dreamy, like his toe had just sent him a message that all was right with the world. â€Å"Go with God, and – † Josh spun, jumped, came down with each hand on a stranger's shoulder and shouted, â€Å"Yes! Double healing! Go with God, friends, two times!† I was getting sort of uncomfortable. People had started to follow us through the crowd. Not a lot of people, but a few. Maybe five or six, each of them with that dreamy smile on his face. â€Å"Joshua, maybe you should, uh, calm down a little.† â€Å"Can you believe all of these people need healing? Healed him.† Josh leaned back and whispered in my ear. â€Å"That guy had the pox. He'll pee without pain for the first time in years. ‘Scuse me.† He turned back into the crowd. â€Å"Healed, healed, calmed, comforted.† â€Å"We're strangers here, Josh. You're attracting attention to us. This might not be safe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's not like they're blind or missing limbs. We'll have to stop if we run into something serious. Healed! God bless you. Oh, you no speak Latin? Uh – Greek? Hebrew? No?† â€Å"He'll figure it out, Josh,† I said. â€Å"We should look for the old woman.† â€Å"Oh, right. Healed!† Josh slapped the pretty woman very hard in the face. Her husband, a large man in a leather tunic, didn't look pleased. He pulled a dagger from his belt and started to advance on Joshua. â€Å"Sorry, sir,† Joshua said, not backing up. â€Å"Couldn't be helped. Small demon, had to be banished from her. Sent it into that dog over there. Go with God. Thank you, thank you very much.† The woman grabbed her husband by the arm and swung him around. She still had Joshua's handprint on her face, but she was smiling. â€Å"I'm back!† she said to her husband. â€Å"I'm back.† She shook him and the anger seemed to drain out of him. He looked back at Joshua with an expression of such dismay that I thought he might faint. He dropped his knife and threw his arms around his wife. Joshua ran forward and threw his arms around them both. â€Å"Would you stop it please?† I pleaded. â€Å"But I love these people,† Josh said. â€Å"You do, don't you?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"He was going to kill you.† â€Å"It happens. He just didn't understand. He does now.† â€Å"Glad he caught on. Let's find the old lady.† â€Å"Yes, then let's go back and get another one of those hot drinks,† Joshua said. We found the hag selling a bouquet of monkey feet to a fat trader dressed in striped silks and a wide conical hat woven from some sort of tough grass. â€Å"But these are all back feet,† the trader protested. â€Å"Same magic, better price,† said the hag, pulling back a shawl she wore over one side of her face to reveal a milky white eye. This was obviously her intimidation move. The trader wasn't having it. â€Å"It is a well-known fact that the front paw of a monkey is the best talisman for telling the future, but the back – â€Å" â€Å"You'd think the monkey would see something coming,† I said, and they both looked at me as if I'd just sneezed on their falafel. The old woman drew back as if to cast a spell, or maybe a rock, at me. â€Å"If that were true,† I continued, â€Å"I mean – about telling the future with a monkey paw – I mean – because he would have four of them – paws, that is – and, uh – never mind.† â€Å"How much are these?† said Joshua, holding up a handful of dried newts from the hag's baskets. The old woman turned to Josh. â€Å"You can't use that many,† the hag said. â€Å"I can't?† asked Joshua. â€Å"These are useless,† said the merchant, waving the hind legs and feet of two and a half former monkeys, which looked like tiny people feet, except that they were furry and the toes were longer. â€Å"If you're a monkey I'll bet they come in handy to keep your butt from dragging on the ground,† I said, ever the peacemaker. â€Å"Well, how many do I need?† Joshua asked, wondering how his diversion to save me had turned into a negotiation for newt crispies. â€Å"How many of your camels are constipated?† asked the crone. Joshua dropped the dried newts back into their basket. â€Å"Well, uh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Do those work?† asked the merchant. â€Å"For plugged-up camels, I mean.† â€Å"Never fails.† The merchant scratched his pointed beard with a monkey foot. â€Å"I'll meet your price on these worthless monkey feet if you throw in a handful of newts.† â€Å"Deal,† said the crone. The merchant opened a satchel he had slung around his shoulder and dropped in his monkey feet, then followed them with a handful of newts. â€Å"So how do these work? Make them into tea and have the camel drink it?† â€Å"Other end,† said the crone. â€Å"They go in whole. Count to one hundred and step back.† The merchant's eyes went wide, then narrowed into a squint and he turned to me. â€Å"Kid,† he said, â€Å"if you can count to a hundred, I've got a job for you.† â€Å"He'd love to work for you, sir,† Joshua said, â€Å"but we have to find Balthasar the magus.† The crone hissed and backed to the corner of her booth, covering all of her face but her milky eye. â€Å"How do you know of Balthasar?† She held her hands in front of her like claws and I could see her trembling. â€Å"Balthasar!† I shouted at her, and the old woman nearly jumped through the wall behind her. I snickered and was ready to Balthasar! her again when Josh interrupted. â€Å"Balthasar came from here to Bethlehem to witness my birth,† said Joshua. â€Å"I'm seeking his counsel. His wisdom.† â€Å"You would hail the darkness, you would consort with demons and fly with the evil Djinn like Balthasar? I won't have you near my booth, be gone from here.† She made the sign of the evil eye, which in her case was redundant. â€Å"No, no, no,† I said. â€Å"None of that. The magus left some, uh, frankincense at Joshua's house. We need to return it to him.† The old woman regarded me with her good eye. â€Å"You're lying.† â€Å"Yes, he is,† said Josh. â€Å"BALTHASAR!† I screamed in her face. It didn't have the same effect as the first time around and I was a little disappointed. â€Å"Stop that,† she said. Joshua reached out to take her craggy hand. â€Å"Grandmother,† he said, â€Å"our ship's captain, Titus Inventius, said you would know where to find Balthasar. Please help us.† The old woman seemed to relax, and just when I thought she was going to smile, she raked her nails across Joshua's hand and leapt back. â€Å"Titus Inventius is a scalawag,† she shouted. Joshua stared at the blood welling up in the scratches on the back of his hand and I thought for a second that he might faint. He never understood it when someone was violent or unkind. I'd probably be half a day explaining to him why the old woman scratched him, but right then I was furious. â€Å"You know what? You know what? You know what?† I was waving my finger under her nose. â€Å"You scratched the Son of God. That's your ass, that's what.† â€Å"The magus is gone from Antioch, and good riddance to him,† screeched the crone. The fat trader had been watching this the whole time without saying a word, but now he began laughing so hard that I could barely hear the old woman wheezing out curses. â€Å"So you want to find Balthasar, do you, God's Son?† Joshua came out of the stunned contemplation of his wounds and looked at the trader. â€Å"Yes, sir, do you know him?† â€Å"Who do you think the monkey's feet are for? Follow me.† He whirled on his heel and sauntered away without another word. As we followed the trader into an alley so narrow that his shoulders nearly touched the sides, I turned back to the old crone and shouted, â€Å"Your ass, hag! Mark my words.† She hissed and made the sign of the evil eye again. â€Å"She was a little creepy,† Joshua said, looking at the scratches on his hand again. â€Å"Don't be judgmental, Josh, you're not without creepiness yourself.† â€Å"Where do you think this guy is leading us?† â€Å"Probably somewhere where he can murder and kill us.† â€Å"Yeah, at least one of those.†

Hamlet’s Delay Essay

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character continually delays acting out his duty of avenging his father’s murder. This essay will discuss how Hamlet’s nature and morals (which are intensified by difficult events) prevent him from carrying out the task. In the opening scenes of the play, the Ghost of Hamlet’s late father reveals to him the true means by which King Hamlet died. The Ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius pouring poison into his ear caused his father’s death. He exhorts Hamlet to avenge the murder. Hamlet’s initial response is to act on the Ghost’s exhortation quickly. Hamlet says; â€Å"Haste me to know’t that I with wings as swift†¦May sweep to my revenge, (Roberts, pg. 1370).† Yet by the end of the same scene, his reluctance to murder King Claudius is evident. Hamlet says; â€Å"This time is out of joint, O cursed spite, that I was ever born to set it right, (Roberts, pg. 1374).† Hamlet is like a soldier that is thrown into a war where he has to do some things he rather would avoid doing, but under the given circumstances he bites his teeth and carries himself well (Stratford, 128). In this war, the circumstances brought on by Claudius’s murdering of King Hamlet are Hamlet’s enemy. His dead father is the destroyed country, painful truth that leaves so much hatred and resentment in his heart. Being a loyal prince and son, and one whom entire kingdom respected, he should seek revenge and bring justice back in the royal court. Many theories have been put forward as to the reasons for Hamlet’s delay in avenging the King from hereon in. One theory suggests that Hamlet wished to determine the nature of the Ghost before acting, for he says in Act II: Scene 2 that â€Å"The spirit I have seen may be a devil.† However, even after the ‘play within a play’ through which Hamlet has obtained his ‘proof’ as to the nature of the Ghost and confirmed that Claudius is guilty, Hamlet says † I’ll take the Ghost’s word for a thousand pound,† but fails to act and can only contemplate the event. Similarly, when Hamlet stumbles upon Claudius praying, he does not take the  opportunity to kill the King, rather he makes excuses, saying he does not want Claudius to go to heaven. However, this is little more than a delay tactic, and Hamlet also does not make any further plans to kill the King, for we seem to be puzzled by it (if we were in the audience, the whole scene would have lasted only moments, but as readers, we have the freedom to ponder about it). At least so was Professor Dowden, to name one critic, who holds that Hamlet â€Å"loses a sense of fact† because he puts every event through his mind, filtering it until every deed seems to have an alternative – in not doing the deed, but evaluating it even more (Bloom, pg. 66). In addition, Hamlet was a philosopher rather than a man of action, unlike Claudius and Laertes. He himself sees that one of his problems is to â€Å"think too precisely on the event.† He is intellectual and reflective, preferring to ponder rather than take action. Hamlet is very brave and impulsive Prince, but the plot seems to prevent him from finding an â€Å"external model or a simple solution for conduct,† so that he must depend more on thinking, and less on acting (Stratford, 105). He realizes that killing a King is a great crime The most plausible explanation is that Hamlet’s own nature and values continually hindered him from performing the task. Hamlet is a sensitive, introverted young man, who is naturally prone to melancholia. Coleridge and Goethe would agree with this, holding that Hamlet’s soul is too philosophical and it lacks ability to instinctually act on impulse, and that he is â€Å"too sensitive to avenge himself,† (Grebanier, pg. 159). But if one only reads what goes on in the play, Hamlet could by no means be called too sensitive or passive. The Ghost’s revelation and also the fact that his mother has remarried to King Claudius, intensify his already melancholic disposition. His mother’s remarriage is an abomination in Hamlet’s eyes. This is because the marriage was soon after his father’s death; King Hamlet was â€Å"But three months dead.† This shows little sensitivity to those who are grieving and also implies that their relationship was initiated before King Hamlet died. Secondly, the marriage was against canon law, which made it a sin. Hamlet says to his mother in Act III: Scene 4, â€Å"Have you not eyes? You cannot call it love. O shame! Where is thy blush?† These successive shocks  deepen Hamlet’s depression. In Act II: Scene 2 Hamlet says to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, â€Å"I have of late†¦lost all my mirth.† He falls deeper and deeper into the slough of fruitless brooding. In his first soliloquy he says; â€Å"O that this too solid flesh would melt.† Thus, the task is too onerous for the fragile, melancholic Hamlet. Hamlet also delays killing the King because he is unsure of the morality of carrying out such a task. This factor is important, as Hamlet is a very idealistic and moralistic person. Revenge was prohibited by ecclesiastical law, but the duty of ‘personal honor’ prevalent in Elizabethan times often won through. In the play, Hamlet debates the morality of revenge, saying that â€Å"Is’nt not perfect conscience and isn’t not to be damned to let this canke of our nature come in further evil.† At this stage it is clear that Hamlet is having serious doubts about killing the King. After all, to kill an anointed King, even in an act of revenge, was considered a serious offence. Furthermore, as Hamlet points out in the above quote, he would be carrying out the very act he was condemning. In addition, in regards to his mother’s sin, the ghost had told Hamlet to â€Å"leave her to heaven.† This creates a moral dilemma for Hamlet because if it is God’s duty to deal with his Mother’s sin, surely the same applies to Claudius. In conclusion, Hamlet delays in killing the King because of his own character; he is a philosopher and is of a melancholic disposition. External events in the play do not contribute to Hamlet’s delay, but are rather used to Hamlet’s advantage as excuses to further delay avenging his father’s murder. Works Cited Grebanier, Bernard. The Heart of Hamlet, The Play Shakespeare Wrote. New York:Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1960. Hamlet. Editor Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, a division of MaineLine Book Co., 1990. Hamlet. Stratford-Upon-Avon Study. London: Edward Arnold Ltd., 1963. Roberts, Edgar V. and Henry E. Jacobs. Literature: An Introduction to Readingand Writing, (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc., 2001),pgs. 1349-1451.

3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes

3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes 3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes 3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes By Mark Nichol Rules are made to be broken, but more often they are made to be followed, because violation of those rules, in writing as in any other human endeavor, often leads to unintended consequences. One case is the careless use of quotation marks for emphasis. Scare quotes, as quotation marks employed for this purpose are called, are often used to call out nonstandard or unusual terms, or merely to introduce a word or phrase. However, although this strategy used to be common, scare quotes have taken on a new role that has largely, at least among careful writers, supplanted the old technique: Now, they are better employed to convey derision, irony, or skepticism. For example, a writer who describes how â€Å"the institute offers workshops in ‘self-awareness therapy’† is widely presumed not to be gently preparing the reader for the appearance of an unfamiliar phrase; more likely, they are calling attention to what they feel is preciously New Age-y terminology. Meanwhile, the statement â€Å"The Pentagon’s strategy of ‘pacification’ certainly did make things quieter in the neighborhood† comments on the evasive military euphemism, while â€Å"The ‘new’ model strikes me as less sophisticated than the old one† calls attention to an unjustified adjective. Here are three types of superfluous usage of scare quotes: 1. The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of exoplanets. Exoplanets is a term that has only recently entered the general vocabulary, but neologism is not a criterion for use of scare quotes; simply introduce the word, define it, and move on: â€Å"The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of exoplanets.† (In the article from which this sentence is taken, a definition of exoplanet follows the statement.) 2. They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the musical DNA of their favorite songs. If you use an established term in an unfamiliar but analogous sense, trust readers to make the connection; don’t bracket the term in scare quotes: â€Å"They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the musical DNA of their favorite songs.† 3. So-called â€Å"notification laws† require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed. Never employ scare quotes around a term introduced by the phrase so-called. Yes, you may want to signal to readers your dissatisfaction with the term, but so-called performs that function, so scare quotes are redundant: â€Å"So-called notification laws require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Religious Terms You Should Know20 Pairs of One-Word and Two-Word FormsNarrative, Plot, and Story

Definition and Examples of Rhetorical Questions

Definition and Examples of Rhetorical Questions A rhetorical question is a  question (such as How could I be so stupid?) thats asked merely for effect with no answer expected. The answer may be obvious or immediately provided by the questioner. Also known as  erotesis, erotema, interrogatio, questioner, and reversed polarity question (RPQ). A rhetorical question can be an effective persuasive device, subtly influencing the kind of response one wants to get from an audience (Edward P.J. Corbett). See Examples and Observations, below. In English, rhetorical questions are commonly used in speech and in informal kinds of writing (such as advertisements). Rhetorical questions appear less frequently in academic discourse. Types of Rhetorical Questions Anthypophora and HypophoraEpiplexisErotesis Examples and Observations Something [rhetorical] questions all have in common . . . is that they are not asked, and are not understood, as ordinary information-seeking questions, but as making some kind of claim, or assertion, an assertion of the opposite polarity to that of the question.(Irene Koshik, Beyond Rhetorical Questions. John Benjamins, 2005)Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?(H. L. Mencken)It did not occur to me to call a doctor, because I knew none, and although it did occur to me to call the desk and ask that the air conditioner be turned off, I never called, because I did not know how much to tip whoever might come- was anyone ever so young?(Joan Didion, Goodbye to All That. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1968)The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can be abolished. How long shall we ignore this under-developed nation in our midst? How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long(Michael Harringt on, The Other America: Poverty in the United States, 1962) Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand?(Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? July 5, 1852)Hath not a Jew eyes?Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?If you prick us, do we not bleed, if you tickle us, do we not laugh?If you poison us, do we not die?(Shylock in William Shakespeares Merchant of Venice)Can I ask a rhetorical question? Well, can I?(Ambrose Bierce)Arent you glad you use Dial?Dont you wish everybody did?(1960s television advertisement for Dial soap)To actually see inside your ear canalit would be fascinating, wouldnt it?(Letter from Sonus, a hearing-aid company, quoted in Rhetorical Questions Wed Rather Not Answer. The New Yorker, March 24, 2003)If practice makes perfect, and no ones perfect, then wh y practice?(Billy Corgan) Isnt it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?(George Carlin)Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites, and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back three thousand years, havent yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?(Bill Bryson, Notes From a Small Island. Doubleday, 1995)The Indians [in the Oliver Stone movie The Doors] serve the same function they did in Dances With Wolves: they make the far more highly paid white movie actors seem soulful and important and in touch with ancient truths. Do Indians enjoy being used this way, as spiritual elves or cosmic merit badges?(Libby Gelman-Waxner [Paul Rudnick], Sex, Drugs, and Extra-Strength Excedrin. If You Ask Me, 1994)Rhetorical Questions in Shakespeares Julius CaesarRhetorical questions are those so worded that one and only one answer can be generally expected from the audience you are addressin g. In this sense, they are like the unmentioned premises in abbreviated reasoning, which can go unmentioned because they can be taken for granted as generally acknowledged.Thus, for example, Brutus asks the citizens of Rome: Who is here so base that would be a bondman? adding at once: If any, speak, for him have I offended. Again Brutus asks: Who is here so vile that will not love his country? Let him also speak, for him I have offended. Brutus dares to ask these rhetorical questions, knowing full well that no one will answer his rhetorical questions in the wrong way.So, too, Marc Antony, after describing how Caesars conquests filled Romes coffers, asks: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? And after reminding the populace that Caesar thrice refused the crown that was offered him, Antony asks: Was this ambition? Both are rhetorical questions to which one and only one answer can be expected.(Mortimer Adler, How to Speak How to Listen. Simon Schuster, 1983) Are Rhetorical Questions Persuasive?By arousing curiosity, rhetorical questions motivate people to try to answer the question that is posed. Consequently, people pay closer attention to information relevant to the rhetorical question. . . .At this point, I think it is important to note that the fundamental problem in the study of rhetorical questions is the lack of focus on the persuasive effectiveness of different types of rhetorical questions. Clearly, an ironical rhetorical question is going to have a different effect on an audience than an agreement rhetorical question. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted on how different types of rhetorical questions operate in a persuasive context.(David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen, What Is the Role of Rhetorical Questions in Persuasion? Communication and Emotion: Essays in Honor of Dolf Zillmann, ed. by Jennings Bryant et al. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003)Punctuating Rhetorical QuestionsFrom time to time, people become dissatisfied with the broa d application of the question mark and try to narrow it down, usually by proposing distinct marks for the different kinds of question. Rhetorical questions have attracted  particular attention, as- not requiring any answer- they are so different in kind. An Elizabethan printer, Henry Denham, was an early advocate, proposing in the 1580s a reverse question mark  (ØŸ) for this function, which came to be called a percontation mark (from a Latin word meaning a questioning act). Easy enough to handwrite, some late 16th century authors did sporadically use it, such as Robert Herrick. . . . But printers were unimpressed, and the mark never became standard. However, it has received a new lease of life online . . ..(David Crystal, Making a Point:  The Persnickety Story of English Punctuation. St. Martins Press, 2015) The Lighter Side of Rhetorical QuestionsHoward: We need to ask you a question.Professor Crawley: Really? Let me ask you a question. What does an accomplished entomologist with a doctorate and twenty years of experience do when the university cuts all his funding?Rajesh: Ask uncomfortable rhetorical questions to people?(Simon Helberg, Lewis Black, and Kunal Nayyar in The Jiminy Conjecture. The Big Bang Theory, 2008)Penny: Sheldon, have you any idea what time it is?Sheldon: Of course I do. My watch is linked to the atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado. Its accurate to one-tenth of a second. But as Im saying this, it occurs to me that you may have again been asking a rhetorical question.(Kaley Cuoco and Jim Parsons in The Loobenfeld Decay. The Big Bang Theory, 2008)Dr. Cameron: Why did you hire me?Dr. House: Does it matter?Dr. Cameron: Kind of hard to work for a guy who doesnt respect you.Dr. House: Why?Dr. Cameron: Is that rhetorical?Dr. House: No, it just seems that way because you cant think of an answer.(House, M.D.)I forget, which day did God create all the fossils?(An anti-creationism bumper sticker, cited by Jack Bowen in If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers. Random House, 2010)Grandma Simpson and Lisa are singing Bob Dylans Blowin in the Wind (How many roads must a man walk down/Before you call him a man?). Homer overhears and says, Eight!Lisa: That was a rhetorical question!Homer: Oh. Then, seven!Lisa: Do you even know what rhetorical means?Homer: Do I know what rhetorical means?(The Simpsons, When Grandma Simpson Returns) Pronunciation: ri-TOR-i-kal KWEST-shun

Euro-civlization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Euro-civlization - Essay Example Thus Pope Boniface VIII was tried posthumously for apostasy, murder and sodomy. The Templars were tried as Devil-Invoking heretics. Anyone who could actually read so-called witchcraft texts was often suspected of being in league with the Devil merely because they were literate. Thus the elite were in some way condemned by the spread of a popular culture of fear regarding witchcraft. The "Caroline Code", the basic law code of the Holy Roman Empire (1532) imposed heavy penalties for witchcraft. As society became more literate (due mostly to the invention of the Printing Press in the 1440s), increasing numbers of books and tracts fuelled the witch fears. More people were becoming literate, books were cheaper to print and thus became available in greater numbers and were within reach of more of the population. Witchcraft was thus more likely to occur within the logic of the Witch Craze mindset. A sense of community, both within the wide context of countries and within local areas, was starting to break down because of the growth in a peculiar kind of paranoia. In 1630 the nuns of Loudun provided an interesting view of the Witch Craze and the extremes to which it could go. The nuns conspired to accuse Father Urbain Grandier of witchcraft by faking symptoms of possession and torment. They feigned convulsions, rolled and gibbered on the ground, and accused Grandier of indecencies. Grandier was convicted and burned at the stake. But after his death, and thus after the plot had succeeded, the symptoms of the nuns only grew worse, and they became more and more sexual in nature. This shows the degree of mania and insanity present in such witch trials. Community had often broken down into a series of groups that were always suspicious of others and afraid of being accused themselves. The breakdown of community reflected the wide rift that occurred during the period between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics often accused Protestants of witchcraft, such as when the Jesuits pursued them in Austria for a hundred years after 1560. Protestants in turn did the same, such as occurred during Henry VIII's reign in England in the 1500's. Thus "witch" was used convenient label that could be used as a tool against one's enemies, political, cultural or personal. 2) Language itself-as I have so often mentioned- is a primary source of information about its author's attitudes towards phenomenon described. Do a literary deconstruction of Las Casas' language by making two lists of metaphors- one for Spaniards, the other for Indians- as these appear in his text. It is the tension between theses two sets of images which creates the dynamism in this text. Pay special attention to gender as you do this. Who is masculine, who is feminine and what are the implications thereof Consider the following section from Los Casas' description of the Spanish treatment of the Indians in Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (1542): Yet into this sheepfold, into this land of meek outcasts there came some Spaniards who immediately behaved like ravening wild beasts, wolves, tigers, or lions that had been starved for many days. And Spaniards have behaved in no other way during tla! past forty years, down to the present time, for they are still acting like ravening beasts, killing, terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native peoples, doing all this with the strangest and most varied

Target Corporation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Target Corporation - Research Paper Example Upon this foundation, Target is expanding its business operations internationally. It hopes to start retail chains in Canada by 2013. By moving across borders, Target will follow and provide competition for Wal-Mart. Consequently, it will continue to grow and fund additional projects such as expansion through acquisitions. The success of Target is largely attributable to the culture of the organization, which stresses honesty and community (Rowley 145). In this examination of Target Corporation, we hope to accomplish a comprehensive look at the company’s history, financials, capital, reputation, marketing, and future. This all-inclusive view of the company can thus be evaluated in terms of how Target would like to perceive and how the public actually sees Target Corporation as an asset (or a liability) in their communities. Human Capital Target Corporation employs roughly 355,000 employees throughout the United States, who take part in a variety of operational functions such as managing stores, marketing, and customer service (SEC). Employees at Target are generally happy; however, there is some criticism of compensation and benefit packages offered by the company. For instance, it is alleged by labor groups and current employees that Target, based out of Minneapolis, pays less in some cases than their competitor Wal-Mart. does According to a recent survey by UFCW, Target pays entry-level positions a salary of about $6.25 per hour to $8 per hour, depending on qualifications (Serres). This is below- or at-the-market in terms of large retail chains. Therefore, even though Wal-Mart is often the subject of criticisms and community rejection, it seems that Target has a similar pay scheme for low-level employees to their competitor. In terms of benefits, union groups see Target as less equitable than its competitors do. In the early 2000s, Target dropped all health care insurance coverage for part-time workers, while Wal-Mart has maintained its medical plan available to all workers (Serres). However, many employees still agree that it is a better place to work than some other large retail chains, despite the weaknesses in the health care insurance pr ogram. Target’s benefits packages rate high in terms of flexibility for higher-level employees. The 401(k) plans offered by Target considered some of the best in the industry insofar as it matches dollar for dollar up to five percent of contributions made by employees. In addition, Target offers many other programs including the â€Å"Take Charge of Education† program that allows Target credit-card holders to donate 1 percent a year of their purchases to a school of their choice. This is in line with Target’s explicit commitment to the value of family (Rowley 146). Union Involvement Target Corporation is like Wal-Mart in the fact that they are not unionized. In fact, Target sees unionization as a potential threat to their corporate success (Rowley 141). For that reason, the company has published anti-video literature and videos in order to warn their employees about the dangers of a union. Deborah Weinswig, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney, said that,  "Target is not a union, so it can charge lower prices than other food retailers. In the Northeast, SuperTargets have done extremely well† (Rowley 174). This lends credence to the view that Target would be negatively affected by a unionization of its employees. These efforts were increased in 2009 in response to