Ernest Hemingways Big Two-Hearted River Essay -- Big Two Hearted Rive

The world of Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"Big Two-Hearted River† exists through the mostly unemotional eyes of the character Nick. Stemming from his reactions and the suppression of some of his feelings, the reader gets a sense of how Nick is living in a temporary escape from society and his troubles in life. Despite the disaster that befell the town of Seney, this tale remains one of an optimistic ideal because of the various themes of survival and the continuation of life. Although Seney itself is a wasteland, the pine plain and the campsite could easily be seen as an Eden, lush with life and ripe with the survival of nature. The world in the story exists as two separate but connected places. The first that Nick encounters is the charred remains of the town of Seney, where there is â€Å"nothing but the rails and the burned-over country.† The second place is the â€Å"alive† pine plain. The river, interestingly, runs through both parts, showing how they are interconnected. The river is a means of natural connection, while the man-made railroad is another form of connecting one town to the next. By combining these two forms of connection, it could be said that every place is interconnected. Using only the river as the natural form, it connects all forms of life within the world to one another. Seney exists as the wasteland, having been ravaged and destroyed by fire to the point of complete desolation. The town is described by what it is lacking as a contrast to what Nick had remembered to have been there, yet Nick does not display any sensation of loss. He had merely â€Å"expected to find† the town as it was before the fire, but when he does not, he simply goes to the river to watch the trout. It the trout that s... ...Nick is not yet ready for. In this way it could represent his return to civilization, which he is not yet ready for, and he therefore will continue his Edenic hiatus. While Nick himself does not react to his world as either specifically wasteland or Eden, the reader must realize that the story is a commentary on survival. Survival is a quality of an anti-wasteland, and although the town of Seney has been destroyed it will someday re-emerge. Even if it does not happen immediately, survival will go on in other places, and this is certainly an optimistic view of life. Whether it is Nick and the black grasshoppers’ temporary means, or the eternal survival of all of nature, the entire world cannot ever become an all enveloping wasteland. Work Cited Hemingway, Ernest. â€Å"Big Two Hearted River.† In Our Time. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 42~43

PART THREE Coconut Angel 42 Bedfellows Just before dawn, Tuck crawled through the bottom of the shower like a homesick cockroach, scuttled out of the bathroom under the mosquito netting and into bed. There were things to do, big things, important things, maybe even dangerous things, but he had no idea what they were and he was too tired and too drunk to figure them out now. He had tried, he had really tried to convince the Shark men that the doctor and his wife were doing horrible things to them, but the islanders always came back with the same answer: â€Å"It is what Vincent wants. Vincent will take care of us.† To hell with them, Tuck thought. Dumb bastards deserve what happens to them. He rolled over and pushed the coconut-headed dummy aside. The dummy pushed back. Tuck leaped out of bed, tripped in the mosquito netting, and scooted on his butt like a man backing away from a snake. And the dummy sat up. Tuck couldn't see the face in the predawn light filtering into the bungalow, just a silhouette behind the mosquito netting, a shadow. And the shadow wore a captain's hat. â€Å"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking because I'll give you six to five I do.† The accent was somewhere out of a Bowery Boys movie, and Tuck recognized the voice. He'd heard it in his head, he'd heard it in the voice of a talking bat, and he'd heard it twice from a young flyer. â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Yeah, you're thinking, ‘Hey, I never wanted to find a guy in my bed, but if you got to find a guy in your bed, this is the guy I'd want it to be,' right?† â€Å"That's not what I was thinking.† â€Å"Then you shoulda taken odds, ya mook.† â€Å"Who are you?† The flyer threw back the mosquito netting and tossed something across the room. Tuck flinched as it landed with a thump on the floor next to him. â€Å"Pick it up.† Tuck could just see an object shining by his knee. He picked up what felt like a cigarette lighter. â€Å"Read what it says,† the shadow said. â€Å"I can't. It's dark.† Tuck could see the flyer shaking his head dolefully. â€Å"You know, I saw a guy in the war that got his head shot off about the hat line. Docs did some hammering on some stainless steel and riveted it on his noggin and saved his life, but the guy didn't do nothing from that day forward but walk around in a circle yanking his hamster and singing just the ‘row' part of ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat.' They had to tape oven mitts on him to keep him from rubbing himself raw. Now, I'm not saying that the guy didn't know how to have a good time, but he wasn't much for conversation, if you know what I mean.† â€Å"That was a beautiful story,† Tuck said. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because the steelhead hamster-pulling ‘row' guy was a genius compared to you. Light the fuckin' lighter, ya mook.† â€Å"Oh,† Tuck said and he flipped open the lighter and sparked it. By the firelight he could read the engraving: VINCENT BENNIDETTI, CAPTAIN U.S.A.F. Tuck looked back at the flyer, who was still caged in shadow, even though the rest of the room had started to lighten. â€Å"You're Vincent?† The shadow gave a slight bow. â€Å"Not exactly in the flesh, but at your fuckin' service.† â€Å"You're Malink's Vincent?† â€Å"The same. I gave the chief the original of that lighter.† â€Å"You could have just said so. You didn't have to be so dramatic.† Tuck was glad he was a little drunk. He didn't feel frightened. As strange as it all was, he felt safe. This guy – this thing, this spirit – had more or less saved his life at least twice, maybe three times. â€Å"I got responsibilities, kid, and so do you.† â€Å"Responsibilities?† Now Tuck was frightened. It was a conditioned response. â€Å"Yeah, so when you get up later today, don't go storming into the doc's office demanding the facts. Just go swimming. Cool off.† â€Å"Go swimming?† â€Å"Yeah, go to the far side of the reef and swim away from the direction of the village about five hundred yards. Keep an eye out for sharks outside of the reef.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"A guy appears out of nowhere in the middle of the night saying all kinds of mystical shit and you ask why?† â€Å"Yeah. Why?† â€Å"Because I said so,† Vincent said. â€Å"My dad always said that. Are you the ghost of my dad?† The shade slapped his forehead. â€Å"Repeat after me – and don't be getting any on you, now – one and two and three and ‘Row, row, row, row, row†¦'† He started to fade away with the chant. â€Å"Wait,† Tuck said. â€Å"I need to know more than that.† â€Å"Stay on the sly, kid. You don't know as much as you think you do.† â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You owe me.† Two armed ninjas followed Tuck to the water. He watched them, looking for signs of microwave poisoning from the radar blasts, but he wasn't sure exactly what the signs would be. Would they plump noticeably, perhaps explode without fork holes to release the inner pressure? That would be cool. Maybe they'd fall asleep on the beach and wake up a hundred times larger, yearning to do battle with Godzilla while tiny people whose words didn't match their mouth movements scrambled in the flaming rubble be-low? (It happened all the time in Japanese movies, didn't it?) Too good for them. He pulled on his fins and bowed to them as he backed into the water. â€Å"May your nads shrivel like raisins,† he said with a smile. They bowed back, more out of reflex than respect. The far side of the reef and five hundred yards down: The ninjas were going to have a fit. He'd never gone to the ocean side of the reef. Inside was a warm clear aquamarine where you could always see the bottom and the fish seemed, if not friendly, at least not dan gerous. But the ocean side, past the surf, was a dark cobalt blue, as deep and liquid as a clear night sky. The colorful reef fish must look like M to the hunters of the deep blue, Tuck thought. The outer edge of the reef is the candy dish of monsters. He kicked slowly out to the reef, letting the light surge lift and drop him as he watched the multicolored links in the food chain dart around the bottom. A trigger fish, painted in tans and blues that seemed more at home in the desert, was crunching the legs off of a crab while smaller fish darted in to steal the floating crumbs. He pulled up and looked at the only visible break in the reef, a deep blue channel, and headed toward it. He'd have to go out to the ocean side and swim the five hundred yards there, otherwise the breaking surf would dash him against the coral when he tried to swim over the reef. He put his face in the water and kicked out of the channel until the bottom disappeared, then, once past the surf line, turned and swam parallel to the reef. It was like swimming in space at the edge of a canyon. He could see the reef sloping down a hundred and fifty feet to disappear into a blue blur. He tried to keep his bearing on the reef, let his eye bounce from coral fan to anemone to nudibranch to eel, like visual stepping-stones, because to his left there was no reference, nothing but empty blue, and when he looked there he felt like a child watching for a strange face at the window, so convinced and terrified it would come that any shape, any movement, any play of light becomes a horror. He saw a flash out the side of his mask and whipped around in time to see a harmless green parrot fish munching coral. He sucked a mouthful of water into his submerged snorkel and choked. He hovered in a dead man's float for a full minute before he could breathe normally and start kicking his way up the reef again, this time resolved to faith. Whatever, whoever Vincent was, he had saved Tuck's life, and he knew things. He wouldn't have gone to the trouble to have Tuck eaten by barracudas. Tuck ticked off his stepping-stones, trying to gauge how far he had come. He would have to go out farther to see past the rising surf and use the shore as a reference, and besides, what was above the water's surface was irrelevant. This was a foreign world, and he was an uninvited guest. Then another flash, but this time he fought the panic. Sunlight on something metal about thirty feet down the slope of the reef. Something waving in the surge near the flash. He rested a second, gathered his breath, and dove, swooping down to grab the object just as he recognized what it was: a set of military dog tags on a beaded metal chain. He shot to the surface and hovered as he caught his breath and read: SOMMERS, JAMES W. James Sommers was a Presbyterian, according to the dog tag. Somehow Tuck didn't think that a thousand-yard swim was worth finding a pair of dog tags. But there was the swath of fabric still down there. Tuck hadn't gotten a good look at it. He tucked the tags into the inside pocket of his trunks and dove again. He kicked down to the swath of cloth, holding his nose and blowing to equalize the pressure on his ears, even as the air in his lungs tried to pull him to the surface, away from his prize. It was some kind of printed cotton. He grasped at it and a piece came away in his hand. He pulled again, but the cloth was wedged into a crevice in the reef. He yanked and the cloth came away, revealing something white. Out of breath, he shot to the surface and examined the cloth. Flying piggies. Oh, good. He'd risked his life for Presbyterian dog tags and a flying piggies print. One more dive and he saw what it was that had wedged into the crevice: a human pelvic bone. Whatever else had been here had been carried away, but this bone had wedged and been picked clean. Someone wearing flying piggies boxers had become part of the food chain. The swim back to the channel seemed longer and slower, but this time Tuck forgot his fear of what might lurk behind the vasty blue. The real danger lay back on shore. And how does one, over dinner, proffer the opinion that one's employers are murdering organ thieves? â€Å"Stay on the sly,† Vincent had said. And so far he seemed to know what he was talking about. 43 Boiling the Puppets â€Å"Oh, come in, Mr. Case. Sebastian is out on the lanai.† She wore a white raw silk pant suit, cut loose in the legs and low at the neck, a rope of pearls with matching earrings. Her hair was tied back with a white satin bow and she moved before him like the ghost of good housekeeping. â€Å"How do you feel about Pacific lobster?† â€Å"I like it,† Tuck said, looking for some sign from her that she knew that he knew. There was no acknowledgment of her appearance in his room last night or that she had any suspicion of him at all. Tuck said, â€Å"I feel like I'm taking advantage coming to dinner empty-handed. I ought to have you and the doc over to my place some evening.† â€Å"Oh, do you cook too, Mr. Case?† â€Å"A few things. My specialty is blackened Pez.† â€Å"A Cajun dish?† â€Å"I learned to make it in Texas, actually.† â€Å"A Tex-Mex specialty, then.† â€Å"Well, a fifth of tequila does make it taste a little better.† She laughed, a polite hostess laugh, and said, â€Å"Can I get you something to drink?† â€Å"You mean a drink or some liquid?† â€Å"I'm sorry. It does seem constraining, I'm sure, but you understand, you might have to fly.† She had a large glass of white wine on the counter where she had been working. Tuck looked at it and said, â€Å"But performing major surgery under the influence is no problem, right?† That was subtle, Tuck thought. Very smooth. I am a dead man. Her eyes narrowed, but the polite smile never left her lips. â€Å"Sebastian,† she called, â€Å"you'd better come in, dear. I think Mr. Case has something he wants to discuss with us.† Sebastian Curtis came through the french doors looking tall and dignified, his gray hair brushed back, his tan face striking against the gray. To Tuck he looked like any number of executives one might see at a yacht club, a retired male model perhaps, a Shakespearean actor finally finished with the young prince and lover roles, seasoned and ready to play Caesar, Lear, or more appropriately, Prospero, the banished wizard of The Tempest. Tuck, still in his borrowed clothes, baggy and rolled at the cuffs, felt like a beggar. He fought to hold on to his righteous indignation, which was an unfamiliar emotion to him anyway. Sebastian Curtis said, â€Å"Mr. Case. Nice to see you. Beth and I were just talking about how pleased we are with your work. I'm sure these impromptu flights are difficult.† â€Å"Mr. Case was just suggesting that we keep an eye on our alcohol consumption,† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"Just in case we might have to perform an emergency surgery.† The jovial manner dropped from the doctor like a veil. â€Å"And just what kind of surgery might you be referring to?† Tuck looked at the floor. He should have thought this through a little more. He fingered the dog tags in his pocket. The plan was to throw them on the table and demand an explanation. What had happened to the skel-eton, the owner of the tags? And for that matter, what would happen to Tucker Case if he threw this in their faces? Mary Jean used to say, â€Å"In ne-gotiations, always leave yourself a way out. You can always come back later.† Go slow, Tuck told himself. He said, â€Å"Doc, I'm concerned about the flights. I should know what we're carrying in case we're detained by the authorities. What's in the cooler?† â€Å"But I told you, you're carrying research samples.† â€Å"What kind of samples?† It was time to play a card. â€Å"I'm not flying again until I know.† Sebastian Curtis shot a glance at his wife, then looked back to Tucker. â€Å"Perhaps we should sit down and have a talk.† He pulled a chair out for Tucker. â€Å"Please.† Tuck sat. The doctor repeated the gesture for his wife and then sat down next to her, across the table from Tuck. â€Å"I've been on Alualu for twenty-eight years, Mr. Case.† â€Å"What does that have to do†¦?† Curtis held up a hand. â€Å"Hear me out. If you want answers, you have to take them in the context that I give them.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"My family didn't have the money for medical school, so I took a scholarship from the Methodist Missions, on the condition that I work for them when I graduated and go where they sent me. They sent me here. I was full of myself and full of the Spirit of the Lord. I was going to bring God and healing to the heathens of the Pacific. There hadn't been a Christian missionary on the island since World War II, and I was warned that there might be a residual Catholic influence, but the Methodists have liberal ideas about spreading the Word of God. A Methodist missionary works with the culture he finds. But I didn't find a Catholic population here. What I found was a population that worshipped the memory of an American pilot and his bomber.† â€Å"A cargo cult,† Tuck said, hoping to move things along. â€Å"Then you know about them. Yes, a cargo cult. The strongest I'd ever heard of. Fortunately for me, it wasn't based on the hatred of whites like the cargo cults in New Guinea. They loved Americans and everything that came from America. They took my medicine, the tools I brought, food, reading material, everything I offered them, except, of course, the Word of God. And I was good to them. The natives on this island are the health-iest in the Pacific. Partly because they are so isolated that communicable diseases don't reach them, but I take some credit for it as well.† â€Å"So that's why you don't let them have any contact with the ship when it arrives?† â€Å"No, well, that is one of the reasons, but mainly I wanted to keep them away from the ship's store.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because the store offered them things that I couldn't or wouldn't give them, and the store only accepted money. Money was becoming an icon in their religion. I heard drums in the village one night and went into the village to find all the women crouched around a fire holding wooden bowls with a few coins in the bottom. They were oiled and waving their heads as if in a trance, and as the drummers played, the men, wearing masks fashioned to look like the faces on American currency, moved around be-hind the women, copulating with them and chanting. It was a fertility ce-remony to make the money in the bowls multiply so they could buy things from the ship's store.† â€Å"Well, it does sound better than getting a job,† Tuck said. Curtis didn't see the humor. â€Å"By forbidding them to have contact with the ship, I thought I could kill the cargo cult, but it didn't work. I would talk of Jesus, and the miracles that he performed, and how he would save them, and they would ask me if I had seen him. Because they had seen their savior. Their pilot had saved them from the Japanese. Jesus had just told them that they had to give up their customs and taboos. Christianity couldn't compete. But I still tried. I gave them the best care I could. But after five years, the Methodist Missions sent a group of officials to check on my progress. They cut my funding and wanted to send me home, but I decided to stay and try to do the best I could without their support.† â€Å"He was afraid to leave,† Beth Curtis said. Sebastian Curtis looked as if he was going to strike his wife. â€Å"That's not true, Beth.† â€Å"Sure it is. You hadn't been off this island in years. You forgot how to live with real people.† â€Å"They are real people.† As amusing as it was to watch the perfect couple illusion go up in flames before his eyes, Tuck put out the fire. â€Å"A Learjet and millions in electronics. Looks like you did pretty good with no funding, Doc.† â€Å"I'm sorry.† And he looked as if he was. â€Å"I tried to make it on what the islanders could raise by selling copra, but it wasn't enough. I lost one of my patients, a little boy, because I didn't have the funds to fly him to a hospital that could give him the care he needed. I tried harder to convert the natives, thinking I might get another mission to sponsor us, but how can you compete with a Messiah people have actually spoken to?† Tuck didn't answer. Having spoken to the â€Å"Messiah† himself, he was convinced already. Sebastian Curtis drained his glass of wine and continued. â€Å"I sent letters to churches, foundations, and corporations all over the world. Then one day a plane landed out on the airstrip and some Japanese businessmen got out. They wouldn't fund the clinic out of charity, but if I could get every able-bodied islander to give blood every two weeks, then they would help. And every two weeks the plane came and picked up three hundred pints of blood. I got twenty-five American dollars for every pint.† â€Å"How'd you talk the natives into it? I've given blood. It's not that pleasant.† â€Å"They were coming on a plane, remember? Airplanes are a big part of these people's religion.† â€Å"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, huh?† â€Å"They always brought something on the plane for the natives. Rice, machetes, cooking pots. I got all the medicines I needed and I was able to get the materials to build most of this compound.† Beth Curtis stood up. â€Å"Oh, as much as I love hearing this story, I think we should eat. Excuse me.† She went to the kitchen area, where a large pot was boiling on the stove, reached into a wooden crate on the floor, and came up with a large live lobster in each hand. The giant sea bugs waved their legs and antennae around looking for purchase. Beth Curtis held them over the pot, puppeting them. â€Å"Oh, Steve, you got us a room with a hot tub. How wonderful,† she made the left lobster say. â€Å"Yes, I'm very romantic,† she said in a deeper voice, bouncing the bug with the words. â€Å"Let's go in now. I'm a little tense.† â€Å"Oh, you're wonderful.† Then she dropped the lobsters into the boiling water. A high-pitched squeal came from the pot and Beth Curtis went to the crate for another victim. â€Å"Beth, please,† the doctor said. â€Å"I'm just trying to lighten things up a little, ‘Bastian. Be still.† She held the second lobster over the pot, then looked at Tucker as she began her narration. â€Å"This is the crazed doctor talking. There's always a crazed megalomaniacal doctor. It's traditional.† Sebastian Curtis stood up. â€Å"Stop it, Beth!† She affected a German accent. â€Å"You see, Mr. Bond, a man spends too much time on an island alone, he changes. He loses his faith. He begins to think of ways to improve his lot. My associates in Japan came to me with a proposal. They would send me to a seminar in San Francisco to brush up on organ transplant surgery. I would no longer be selling blood for pocket change. They would send me specific orders for kidneys, and I could deliver them within hours for a cool half-million apiece. A dying man will pay a lot for a healthy kidney. In San Francisco I met a woman, a beautiful wo-man.† Beth came out of character for a moment, grinned, and bowed quickly, then went back to terrorizing the lobster. â€Å"I brought her here, and it was she who devised the plan to get the natives to comply with having their organs removed. Not only beautiful, but a genius as well, and she had a degree as a surgical nurse. She used her abundant charms on the natives† – she held the lobster where it could have a good view of her cleavage – â€Å"and the savages were more than happy to donate a kidney. Meanwhile, I have become rich beyond my wildest dreams, and as for you, Mr. Bond, now it's time for you to die.† She dropped the lobster into the pot and began to shake with a diabolical laugh. She stopped laughing abruptly and said, â€Å"They should be ready in about ten minutes. Salad, Mr. Case?† Tuck couldn't think. Somewhere in that little puppet show of the damned was a confession to cutting out people's organs and selling them like so much meat, and the doctor's wife not only didn't seem to have any regrets about it, she was absolutely gleeful. Sebastian Curtis, on the other hand, had his head down on the table, and when he did look up, he couldn't make eye contact with Tuck. A minute passed in uncomfortable silence. Beth Curtis seemed to be waiting for someone to shout â€Å"Encore!† while the good doctor gathered his wits. â€Å"What I'd like you to understand, Mr. Case, is that I – we – couldn't have taken care of these people without the funds we've received for what we do. They would have no modern medical care at all.† Tuck was thinking again, trying to measure what he could say and what he wasn't willing to reveal. He couldn't let them know that he knew any-thing at all about the Shark People, and, as Vincent had implied, he'd better find out more before he threw down the dog tags and Pardee's notebook. The doc was obviously stretched pretty tight by the situation, and Mrs. Curtis – well, Mrs. Curtis was just fucking scary. Play it chilly. They'd brought him here because they thought he was as twisted as they were. No sense in ruining his image. â€Å"I understand.† Tuck said. â€Å"I wish you'd been a little more up front about it, but I think I get all the secrecy now. But what I want to know is: Why can't I drink if you guys do? I mean, if you guys can perform major surgery when you're half in the bag, then I can fly a plane.† Beth said, â€Å"We wanted to help you with your substance abuse problem. We thought that if you weren't exposed to other drinkers that you'd relapse when you went back home.† â€Å"Very thoughtful of you,† Tuck said. â€Å"But when exactly am I supposed to go home?† â€Å"When we're finished,† she said. The doctor nodded. â€Å"Yes, we were going to tell you, but we wanted you to become used to the routine. We wanted to see if you could handle the job first. We're going to do the operations until we have a hundred million, then we will invest it on behalf of the islanders. The proceeds will assure we can continue our work and that the Shark People will be taken care of as long as they are here.† Tuck laughed. â€Å"Right. You're not taking anything for yourself. This is all a mercy mission.† â€Å"No, we may leave, but there'll be enough to keep someone running this clinic and shipping in food and supplies forever. And then there's your bonus.† â€Å"Go,† Tuck said. â€Å"Go ahead.† â€Å"The plane.† Tuck raised an eyebrow. â€Å"The plane?† â€Å"If you stay until we finish our work, we will sign the plane over to you, plus your salary and any other bonuses you've accumulated. You can go anywhere in the world you want, start a charter business if you want, or just sell it and live comfortably for the rest of your life.† Tuck shook his head. Of all the weirdness that had gone on so far, this seemed like the weirdest, if only because the doctor seemed so earnest. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was one of those things that a guy hopes all his life he is going to hear, but convinces himself that it's never going to happen. These people were going to give him his own Learjet. He didn't want to do it, he fought not to do it, he strained, but nevertheless, Tuck couldn't stop himself from asking. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because we can't do it without you, and this is something that you can't get any other way. And because we'd rather keep you than have to find another pilot and lose the time.† â€Å"What if I say no?† â€Å"Then, you understand, we'd have to ask you to leave and you would keep the money that you've already earned.† â€Å"And I can just go?† â€Å"Of course. As you know, you are not our first pilot. He decided to move on. But then again, we didn't make him this offer.† â€Å"What was your first pilot's name?† The doctor shot a look at his wife. She said, â€Å"Giordano, he was Italian. Why?† â€Å"The aviation community is pretty small. I thought I might know him.† â€Å"Do you?† she said and there was too much sincerity in the question for Tuck to believe that she didn't know the answer. â€Å"No.† Sebastian Curtis cleared his throat and forced a smile. â€Å"So what do you think? How would you like to own your own Learjet, Mr. Case?† Tuck sat staring at the open wine bottle, measuring what he could say, what answer they not only wanted to hear, but had to hear if he was going to leave the island alive. He extended his hand for the doctor to shake. â€Å"I think you've got yourself a pilot. Let's drink to the deal.† An electronic bell trilled from the bedroom and the doctor and his wife exchanged glances. â€Å"I'll take care of it,† Beth Curtis said. She stood and put her napkin on the table. â€Å"Excuse me, Mr. Case, but we have a patient in the clinic who requires my attention.† Then the whiplash mood swing from officious to acid. â€Å"She presses that buzzer so much you'd think it was attached to her clit.† Sebastian Curtis looked at Tuck and shrugged apologetically.

Fahrenheit 451 Pg 113-129 Journal Essay

â€Å"What is there about fire that’s so lovely?†¦ It’s perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did†¦ What is fire?†¦Its real beauty is that is destroys responsibility and consequences†¦clean quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical† (Bradbury 115). This section of reading is without argument dominated by fire and its effects. For the society in F 451, fire is the magic elixir for cleansing life of its hardships and enigmas. Montag uses fire to cleanse his life of the restraints that are holding him back from freedom. Before Chief Beatty sends Montag to burn his own house, he informs Montag that fire is the solution to everything. Beatty sends Montag into his home with a powerful weapon. This powerful weapon is simply an explanation. To the reader’s dismay, the explanation is later used against its dragoman. As Montag begins to enjoy burning his own house down, he begins to concur with Beatty that fire is the solution to anything and everything. Bradbury makes it evident that Montag enjoys burning his house by using descriptive accounts like â€Å"it was good to burn† (116) and â€Å"Fire was best for everything† (116). As he fires each shot of liquid fire, Montag is incinerating his past into ash. Fire plays a contradictory role in this reading. Montag uses fire as his liberator against his past, while at the same time violates its vast power. Since Montag‘s past has held him down for so long, he is feeling pleasure getting rid of it. To do so, he uses fire’s sheer dynamism to justify his problems, a lesson he derives from Chief Beatty. Montag’s cowering back to his old way of thinking shows the reader that he may not have changed as much as he believes he did. This is the case until he gets rid of the seconds thing that is holding him back from total edification. The barrage of quotes and explanations that Beatty radiates help prevent Montag from becoming completely contumacious and incorrigible against power. To eliminate the force that prevents him from being liberated, Montag uses fire to kill a pundit of fire. Ray Bradbury has filled F 451 with instances of irony, so unsurprisingly he uses a major one in the climax of the novel. Beatty uses fire to defend his mentality and the mentality of society, but ironically the bulwarking of fire leads to Beatty’s demise. In tonight’s reading, Montag successfully exterminates two of the three things that hold him back from outright emancipation. To eliminate Chief Beatty and his past, Montag uses fire. Up to this point, Montag uses fire as a tool for dissipation. In this section, however, Montag uses fire as a tool to free himself from the restraints of a vacant life. Bradbury depicts to the reader that Montag craves change by writing â€Å"burned the bedroom walls and cosmetics chest because he wanted to change everything† (116). The third and final obstacle that is holding Montag back from utter freedom is his own conscience. If he can learn to control his feelings and reasoning, Montag will be free once and for all.

Political Economy Theory Essay

The political economy in mass media theory argues that â€Å"the structure of the industry influences content.† _(Andrejevic M, 2007)._ This theory will be demonstrated by analysing an article entitled _'†Sky’s the limit† for MySpace’_, published on _News.com.au_ on August 10th 2007. The presumption of the theory is that media content is influenced by a combination of the media owners (individuals or corporations), advertisers, competitors/other media, government regulations and viewers or readers. In the case of media ownership, â€Å"Private individuals decide what information should be provided to the public based on what earns them the most money.† _(Andrejevic M, 2007)_ The _News.com.au_ article on _MySpace_ appears in the National News section and describes the firm grasp and incredible influence the social networking site, established in 2003, has on the internet and throughout the business world. The article is saturated with references to the innovations and stunning success of _MySpace_. For example the opening sentence reads â€Å"Social networking website _MySpace_ has more than 115 million members around the world and already plays a key role in launching music careers, political campaigns and the way people communicate in general.† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ At this point a discerning reader should recall that _News Corp_ bought _MySpace_ from its co founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe in July 2005. _(Malick O, 2006)_ The propaganda model developed by Edwards S Herman and Noam Chomsky asserts that information presented to the general public via mainstream media outlets will be biased in relation to the interests of the multinational organisations or media conglomerates that own them. _(Herman & Chomsky, 1988)_ By publishing an article promoting the dominant discourse that _MySpace_ is a popular, thriving production with unlimited potential, _News Limited_ are encouraging awareness of the website, which in turn provides it with traffic and publicity. Since _News Corp_ owns _MySpace_ and is a holding company for _News Limited_, this is a chief example of the  propaganda model and reinforces the political economy theory that media content is affected by media owners. The positive language used in the article demonstrates the power of linguistic controls in promoting a discourse. The writers of the article use phrases such as â€Å"it’s just the tip of the ice berg† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ to imply there is a wealth of possibilities for _MySpace_ to accomplish. The website is described as â€Å"a platform for individuals to express themselves and socialise.† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ This quote is relevant to today’s society as ideas of non-conformity, individuality and creativity are attractive to today’s youth. Of all the quotes available from the interviews with the co founders, there is a deliberate choice on behalf of _News.com.au_ to feature words such as ’emerging’, ‘prominent’, ‘innovate’, and ‘evolve’ that connote ideas of positive change and progression. This gives the impression that _MySpace_ is at the forefront of the online social networking phenomenon with millions of individuals flocking to be involved. These terms are deliberately chosen by _News Limited_ to appeal to advertisers who wish for their products to be seen and purchased by the â€Å"trend-setters† in society, and this will consequently benefit its parent, _News Corp_. The article also suggests the potential power MySpace has for advertisers in the future. â€Å"Mr DeWolfe said mobile advertising would be a lucrative fund source and video would take a more prominent place in the way people communicated and shared their art.† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ It should be noted that _News Corp.,_ along with other media conglomerates, is ultimately a commercial organisation. By using _News Limited_’s article to draw attention to the incredible infiltration ratio of _MySpace_ (four million unique accounts in Australia, and 50% of all internet users in America) _News Corp_ is securing advertisers’ interest in _MySpace_. The statement by Walt Disney Corporation CEO, Michael Eisner, is particularly powerful in demonstrating the reality of what drives media conglomerates: â€Å"We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.† _(Andrejevic M , 2007)_ Newspapers, TV networks and magazines rely on advertisers to finance their business, so to encourage advertisers to buy space in their publication they commodify and promote their audiences. According to Dallas Smythe â€Å"audiences are bought by advertisers on the basis on income, age, sex, ethnic and class specifications.† _(Stevenson N, 2002:10-11)_ Rupert Murdoch outlined his plans for the future of _MySpace_ in a 2006 interview at the Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference. He revealed that an instant messenger client with voice capabilities, increased worldwide penetration, and free video downloads were in the works. (The free video downloads have been successfully incorporated into the website since the interview.) Following this, Mr Murdoch said â€Å"We’ve got the biggest mass of unsold inventory. We have the third most page views of the Internet in America,† and explained that _News Corp_ had met with advertising networks to â€Å"judge whether they can sell it better than we can.† _(Burns E, 2006)_ In conclusion, the political economy theory, which highlights the a link between â€Å"ownership and †¦ content of media production† _(Stevenson N, 2002: 41)_, can be applied to the _News.com.au_ article about _MySpace_ to reveal how much ownership, among other things, can affect the information the public receives from mass media outlets. As demonstrated in the way that _News Limited_ portrayed _MySpace_ in a positive light for the economic benefit of its parent firm _News Corp,_ it is important for audiences to be aware of the political economy theory, and to detect not only bias but the possible reasons behind such bias in media texts they consume. BIBLIOGRAPHY Andrejevic M (2007) _The Mass Media: A Political Economic Approach._ Lecture slides for JOUR2211 Week 2. Available from https://my.uq.edu.au/blackboard_frame.html Accessed on 12/08/07 Burns E (2006) _Murdoch discusses future of MySpace.com._ Available from Accessed on 10/08/07 Gadd M (2007) _’Sky’s the limit’ for MySpace._ Available from Accessed on 10/08/07 Herman E S and Chomsky, Noam. (1988) _Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media_. New York: Pantheon Books Malick O (2006) _Why Murdoch Really Bought MySpace._ Available Accessed on 11/02/03 McQuail D (2002) _McQuails Reader in Mass Communication Theory._ Sage publications. Stevenson N (2002) Understanding Media Cultures: Social Theory and Mass Communication. Sage publications. pp10-11

Fast Food and Childhood Obesity Essay

In the past decade there has been a rise of obesity in children. I believe along with many credible sources that a lot of the reoccurring obesity problems we face with children have to do with fast food. You could almost say that fast food is kind of like a drug for kids. It is always fun to go out to eat as well as take in food that is high in calories and saturated fat. Although fast food may be a large factor in childhood obesity, it is also safe to say that it’s not the only factor. Are we placing too much blame on the fast food industry for making our kids obese, or is it our fault as parents and caregivers? Fast Food Then and Now Compared to how fast food chains functioned when they first opened and how they operate now you will see a huge difference; not only in their food selection but also in the portion sizes. For example, when McDonald’s first opened in 1955 their cheeseburger was only 1. 6 ounces and now you can get a cheeseburger for almost 8 ounces (Monte, 2008). The sizes are almost a 400 calorie increase—400 calories could be more than one whole meal for a child. Every year portion sizes are essentially getting larger and larger. A small now would have been a medium just five years ago (White, n. d. ). Not only have the portion sizes gotten larger but so has the menu. Fast food chains now have been offering smoothies, sundaes, pie slices, and even cinnamon rolls. They offer more menu options that offer more calories and saturated fats. Along with these they have also gotten better with offering some healthy options too like apples and low fat milk, but who goes to a fast food restaurant to get apples and milk? There are 3,039 possible kids’ meal combinations and out of that only 12 combinations meet the nutrition criteria for preschooler’s and 15 for all other children (Oren & Dodson, 2010). The only kind of company who would essentially poison children like that is ones who are trying to make a fast buck and that is the goal for all of these fast food companies. They don’t realize or they do and just don’t care that they are poisoning our youth and even adults. Advertisements For the past ten years or so fast food chains have been advertising to children. Kids spend more time watching TV than any other activity they do besides sleeping (Nestle, 2006). Fast food chains have taken advantage of this by placing most of their ads on programs like Nickelodeon, Disney, and even PBS. They know that if they spend millions on advertising on children networks that they will get their return on investing in them. Children see more than 32% more fast food ads on TV now than in 2003 (Oren & Dodson, 2010). In 2009, McDonald’s spent the most out of all the fast food companies on advertising to children. They spent almost 900 million dollars targeting ages 6-11. Subways was in a very far out second spending a little over 400 million dollars targeting 12-17 year olds (Harris, Schwartz & Brownell, 2010). Studies have also shown that Hispanics and African American children see more than 50% more fast food ads than white children (Oren & Dodson, 2010). With this there are more fast food chains in African American and Hispanic dominated neighborhoods. Family Statistics You can probably assume that every family in the U. S. goes to fast food restaurants on occasion but some go more than others. Studies have shown that families with lesser income are more exposed to fast food than other families who have a higher income (Block & Scribner, 2004). With the economy the way it is, much more people are making much less and this is causing more and more families to visit fast food places rather than eating at home. You can go to a fast food joint and spend ten dollars for the whole family to eat rather than spending hundreds of dollars at a grocery store. In an article I just read, less than one third of Americans are eating their meals from scratch; meaning actually cooking and serving them to their families (Voigts, 2005). This was published seven years ago—just think of where we are now! I conducted an interview with my sister, Morgan Dutton, who is an extreme fitness guru, health nut, and she also has children. I asked her what she thought about this obesity epidemic in our youth and she said, â€Å"I cannot believe all of the staggering statistics regarding kids and fast food. I am not sure why parents wouldn’t want their kids eating the healthiest food option rather than the fastest. Kids are starting to get diabetes earlier and it reduces their life span by years. Fast food is essentially killing our kids, it may be slowly but it is happening (personal communication, October 15th, 2012). † Drawing the Line So whose fault is it that our children’s generation is getting more and more obese? Should we blame it on fast food—when can we blame ourselves? As a parent I want my child to live the longest healthiest life they can live and when I take them to places like McDonald’s and Burger King I am basically poisoning their body. It may be fast food that is making them obese but isn’t it our fault for taking them there in the first place? Exposing them to that kind of food especially early on in their life is only going to make it harder for them when they get older and can make their own decisions. Conclusion Rather than placing blame for the obesity problem with our children maybe we should be taking action. You could blame fast food chains for making your kid obese or you could even blame yourself because you took them there. Parent’s need to start making better decisions on what they are putting in their kids bodies because they may outlive their own child. There are so many chemicals and toxins in fast food that people are not aware of. Fast food may be cheap and it may be fast but in the long scheme of things, it is killing our kids.

Contract Performance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Contract Performance - Research Paper Example The Federal acquisition Regulation provides federal agencies with different means of considering firms’ past performance and prior experience with regards to how well these firms have performed in similar work. Federal Acquisition Regulation The Federal Regulations Requirement sets particular regulations with respect to solicitation procedures, as well as conditions and terms of contracts performance of the firms offered the contract, procedures of terminating contracts and controlling cost (Cushman and Myers, 1999, p.1623). Federal agencies that offer contracts include U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Public Buildings Service (PBS), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Contract awarding in these agencies are usually based on procurement decision by the respective departments. In this case, past contract performance data is mainly based on the above named agencies with respect to regulations, procedures, and policies applied in awarding contracts to firms. However, co ntract performance review results cannot be generalized to all federal agencies contract procurement with consideration top past performance and experience. Consideration of past performance and prior experience of firms by federal agencies is applied during three phases of awarding contracts. The three phases include preparing solicitations, responsibility determination, and proposal evaluation with regards to whether firms to be awarded contracts have the potential and capability to perform satisfactorily. In addition, Federal Acquisition Regulation provides a broad spectrum of decisions-making processes by federal agencies with respect to methods of acquisition, evaluation aspects, relative comparisons alongside past performance and prior experience. Nevertheless, contract performance consideration factors outweigh price factor among federal agencies when determining factors to consider in awarding contracts to firms. Federal agencies use negotiated procurements and sealed biddin g to award contracts to firms. Although sealed bidding focuses on lowest price bidder, it puts into consideration that all bidders have attained required performance standards and responsibility. Lowest-price technical selection process is used in awarding contracts that require a clearly defined technicality, where there are minimal chances of unsuccessful performance of the contracts. Negotiated procurements use one or more processes of source selection processes such as trade-off processes, which consider non-price aspects of evaluation. In contracts where development work is required, contract performance considerations can be achieved through best-value trade-off selection process when awarding the contracts. Decisions by federal agencies to award contracts to particular firms is based on factors of evaluation and sub factors that are of key significance and importance to contract performance consideration. The Federal Acquisition Regulation generally requires that every select ion decision-making process should evaluate costs of the contracts to the government alongside quality consideration factors of the service through putting into consideration non-cost evaluation aspects. According to FAR cost principles, the contractors should follow specific criteria such as billings, contract proposals, and claims submitted to the government. Cost accounting standards seek to provide governments with an opportunity

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 11

Case Study - Essay Example Following this we will list 5 specific strategies you would use to deal with this issue and discuss how office productivity by implementing this strategies. Malaysia is a conservative and predominately Muslim country in which patriarchy and deference to authority remain important priorities. From a cultural perspective, Farah may be resistant to say something from her supervisor due to the fact that male touching is inappropriate in her context. Thus, in Malaysia it would be highly inappropriate for a male supervisor to touch a female colleague and in Farah’s case this is what she is experiencing. Farah is also a Muslim which makes the inter-sexual mingling even more taboo. Because her society is conservatively minded, this is the third reason which may account for Farah’s resistance to her boss’ comments and unwanted attention. Due to the fact that Malaysian society is patriarchal, Farah, as a woman, may feel uncomfortable approaching her male supervisor and telling him that his behavior is unwarranted. Finally, because Malaysian society is conservative and hierarchal in nature, Farah will not feel as though she ca n approach her supervisor and let him know that she does not appreciate his behavior. As a woman coming from a society in which male to female touching is not appropriate in a business context, Farah may thus feel uncomfortable discussing her problems with her supervisor. What are the important strategies which can be used to deal with issues surrounding intercultural miscommunication in an office setting? There are a variety of measures which can be undertaken in order to mitigate the fallout from Farah’s unwanted touching by a male supervisor. First and foremost this involves speaking with the supervisor directly and letting him know that touching female colleagues, no matter how friendly, can be