A Wallet Full of Money and a Life Full of Nothing Essay Example for Free

A Wallet Full of Money and a Life Full of Nothing Essay In â€Å"Citizen Kane†, Orson Welles shows the viewer how an adult’s life can be tormented by their divested childhood. In his movie, Welles portrays Kane to be a man with the world in his hands yet he possesses nothing of sentimental value. Not being able to appreciate the people who surround him the way that they appreciate him, Kane turns to money and power to fulfill the love and affection he didn’t receive as a child. Welles portrays Kane’s robbed childhood, his vanity, and his hunger for power as the cause to Kane’s failed relationships and his lonely death. Shortly after the beginning of the movie, Welles uses symbolism to expose how Kane’s childhood innocence and purity had been taken from him at an early age. In this scene, Kane is out playing in the pure and white snow, which can be interpreted as Kane enjoying his innocent years in the essence of purity that comes with childhood. When his parents, along with Thatcher, go outside to inform him about his trip, Kane uses his sled as a defensive tool against Thatcher. This can be a reflection on why Kane never accepted Thatcher’s attempts at discipline and guidelines. Kane saw Thatcher as the person who deprived him of his childhood and took him away from his most prized possession, which was Rosebud, his sled. Towards the end of the scene, the sled is left out in the snow for years as the snow begins to pile up on it; this could be seen as a metaphorical correlation to Kane leaving his innocence and the purity of his childhood to become a man with a polluted soul who is ruled by money and power. As Kane grows up to become a man of wealth and power, many of his personality issues can be traced back to his childhood upbringing. The viewers are given an insight to the controlling and manipulative person Kane is when they come across the scene where Kane walks into the Inquirer and tells the editor-in-chief that he is literally going to live in his office. Because he couldn’t control his unsatisfactory childhood upbringing, Kane grew up to be an awfully controlling man. His controlling personality then led him to publish subjects that would on ly bring him attention. As a child who was taken away from his parents at only eight years old, he wanted all  the attention possible, hence the deceptive subjects he would publish. Kane’s childhood lacked the essentials of parental love and attention, which later transformed him into an egocentric, power-hungry monster. Possessing both money and power, Kane became obsessed with himself; the more power he obtained, the more he felt in need of it. At the age of twenty-five, Kane buys the New York Inquirer without even the slightest clue on how to run a newspaper business. One can thus determine that Kane would use his money to help him gain a voice. Kane never cared about his money, or the spending of, because he had plenty of it. What Kane really wanted was to affect the people. His original plan, when taking over the Inquirer, was to help and become the voice of the poor and underprivileged, but he quickly forgot about his promises, as he continually grew more and more corrupt by printing stories that would only get him attention. His hunger for power became bigger than him when he ran for Governor of New York and would print insulting cartoons of his opponent. Kane started out with a plan that would affect the people in a positive way but consequently became a highly unlikeable man who would only t hink about the power his money could bring to him. Not only was Kane a man who wished for more power but also he was a man who was also ruled by vanity. Throughout the movie, Welles interprets Kane’s vanity by showing the viewer how Kane would use his controlling personality to make sure all his surroundings were nothing but perfect. A good example of this is when Leland writes a newspaper article about Susan’s mediocre singing skills and Kane reads it. After he reads Leland’s notice, he is determined to make Susan a better singer so he forces her to train and perform in numerous cities. Because of his vanity, Kane is concerned with the public’s opinion of his wife. He does not want to be known as the man who married a singer with amateur singing skills. Welles also does a magnificent job in portraying Kane’s vanity in the scene where Susan leaves him and all Kane is truly worried about is all the guests in Xanadu who might witness her departure. How he appears to the public is much more important to him than the fact that his own wife is leaving him. As a man who was drunk on his own power and rule d by his vanity, Kane failed to see how much he would hurt the people who were closest to him, especially his second wife, Susan. Ever since he met her, the first sign of his complicated personality was shown when he demanded her to sing for him. In that scene,  the viewer could foresee the kind of controlling and demanding spouse Kane would be. Throughout their relationship, one could notice how he would treat Susan more as an object than his wife. By forcing her to perform and become a better singer, he was treating her as one of his statues. His statues were beautifully sculpted and that is what he wanted Susan to be. A beautiful woman who lacked a beautiful voice was not an option for the wife of Charles Foster Kane. As Susan grew tired of Kane being absent most of the time and being forced to live in their home as one of his many statues, she decided to leave him. Kane always treated people as if they were his property and Susan was no exception. When she informed Kane of her intention to abandon him, he said to her, â€Å"you can’t leave me† which goes to show how he thought of Susan as one of his statues. Kane’s statues would literally and physically never leave him, which is why he was shocked by Susan’s decision. When she does leave and Kane can’t do anything about it, he becomes f ull of anger and destroys Susan’s room. For a man who was just left by his wife, his anger towards her is also a big sign to the viewer that Kane only saw her as his property. Because of so many failed relationships throughout his life, a man of endless wealth and power ends up in his deathbed alone with no one to care for him. Throughout the movie, as Thompson goes on a search to figure out the meaning behind Kane’s last words before his death, the viewer is exposed to the many reasons why Kane died a lonely man. His relationship with Thatcher never developed further because Kane always saw him as the person who robbed him from sharing his childhood years with his family. The friendship he had with his closest friend ended when he fired him because of a simple statement that offended his vanity. The relationship with his first wife not only ended because of his infidelity but also because of his need for more power. Kane would spend more time at the Inquirer than with Emily, which made the relationship bound to terminate. Last but not least, his relationship with Emily was a complete failure because he saw her as an object as opposed to his wife. Every person who would get emotionally close to Kane would eventually end up leaving him. As a result of his big ego, Kane never managed to develop relatio nships with those who surrounded him therefore, the only company he had while lying in his deathbed was a snow globe and his childhood memories. As one can conclude, because of his miserable childhood, Kane grew up to lead a life  full of luxury and riches but he lacked the true meaning of life- to live. Money only bought him objects and power but never bought him true love of any kind. His last words were in reference to an object that he owned as a child and that goes to show that his only happy memories were back when he lacked the fortune he now had. Kane’s robbed childhood, vanity, and his hunger for power were the reasons why Kane lived such a lonely and unfulfilled life up until the day he died.

American Oil Dependence Essay -- Economy Economics Oil Essays

American Oil Dependence Since the oil embargo of 1977, there has been an increased awareness of our nation's energy security. As global population and energy consumption rise, the need for a stable energy supply has become a hot topic and a politically volatile issue. As our negative trade balance grows larger by the day, the United States finds itself in a rather precarious position. We are becoming more and more dependent on Middle East oil. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) predicts that domestic petroleum consumption will increase to 60 Btu by the year 2025. This statistic, in and of itself, is a matter of concern with respect to the greenhouse gas emissions that result from petroleum combustion. However, perhaps more disconcerting is the fact that U.S. oil production peaked in 1970 and has continued to fall since then (Campbell et. al., 1998). Therefore, the American public has turned to foreign oil, in particular Middle Eastern oil, to supplement its increase in demand. In an age where terrorism is at the forefront of people's minds, we still continue to import oil from the same nations that supposedly harbor so-called terrorist groups. The fact is that we are unwilling to responsibly face our energy future and instead choose to maintain a policy of increasing oil supply through importation. One of the main problems with this strategy is that it is a short-term remedy. Studies conducted by M. King Hubbert in 1956 predicted the rise, peak, and subsequent decline of global oil production. He predicted that global oil production would rise until around 2002 and then start declining (Campbell et. al., 1998). If one takes the oil embargo of 1977 into account, effectively decreasing the rate... ...to a fuel that, upon exhaustion, will mark our retreat from the global economic spotlight. Works Cited: Campbell, Colin J., Laherrere, Jean H. "The End Of Cheap Oil." Scientific American Mar. 1998: 78-83. Flo, Gary. "Lecture on Fossil Fuel Consumption." 8 Sep. 2003 N.A. "Environmental Advocates Statistics In Hand." 2003: www.geocities.com/Rainforest/Canopy/2743 Assoc. Press. "U.S. Auto Sales Hit 2003 High In July." USA Today 1 Aug. 2003: www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-07-31-autosales_x.htm Mills, Mark. "25 Years After OPEC's Embargo." Environmental News Jan. 1999: www.heartland.org N.A. "www.skyaid.org." 2003: www.skyaid.org/skycar/us_auto_statistics.htm Staff Writer. "Bureau of Land Management Maximizing Energy Development, Minimizing Environmental Protection." NRDC 7 Aug. 2003: www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/airenergy_publiclands.asp#1383

How Far do These Sources Suggest that Young Henry VIII was an Impressive Figure as a King?

How far do these sources suggest that young Henry VIII was an impressive figure as a king? In the 16th century an impressive figure of a king would mean that he demonstrated power both physically and economically and a good education. However as source two suggests, Henry might be considered less than impressive as he shows insecurities. A stronger argument though is that Henry did demonstrate the features of an impressive king as he had all the attributes listed above which is clear from all three sources.It might be inferred that Henry was less than impressive as he was clearly insecure. Source two shows Henry seeking to compare favourability with his rival king Francis I of France. He persistently asks the Venetian ambassador whether he is more physically impressive than Francis e.g. Henry asks ‘what sort of legs has he got?’ Such insecurity might encourage challenges as Henry could be seen as unconfident about his own authority. This argument could gain weight from t he fact that the ambassador would be seeking to provide accurate information to the government of Venice. It could however be seen as the only one incident by a king who had only been on the throne for six years. Also it is not sustained in the other two sources.The strongest argument suggests that Henry VIII was an impressive figure as king. From source two it might be inferred that Henry is very well educated as it shows Henry addressing the Venetian ambassador in French, †His majesty addressing me in French†. During his time on the throne only rich, well educated people could speak more than their native language. His good education also shows that he has an attribute of an impressive figure of king.The strongest argument which suggests that Henry was an impressive king gains weight from the Venetian ambassador being a reliable source. Source two is a written article so it is more likely to be reliable than a painting. The Venetian ambassador is also likely to be spea king the truth as he wants to tell the Venetian government accurate information and has no reason to lie.Source one also lends weight to the strongest argument that Henry VIII was an impressive figure as a king. Source one implies that Henry is a very rich and powerful king as it shows us spending time practicing his archery with  his guards. â€Å"The king was practicing archery in the garden with the archers of the guard.† It could be inferred from this that Henry has free recreational time as he is already in control of everything else. The argument that he is an impressive king gains weight from this because he has power over everyone, and that he gets people to do the jobs he would normally have to do.This can be inferred from source one as Henry spends his time in the garden â€Å"practicing archery with the archers of the guards.† This suggests that Henry has appointed other people to do the jobs he would have to do whilst he is in the garden practicing archer y. It could also be inferred that he is wealthy because he would be paying these people to do jobs for him. The source is a written document taken from a personal diary of the king’s Chaplin, John Taylor in 1513; he was also a royal official.The source is likely to be accurate and reliable as it is a personal diary. John Taylor would have been recording what he sees and as it is personal, there is no need to lie. Therefore we can infer that source one is a reliable source, this lends weight to the strongest argument that Henry VII was an impressive figure as king.Henry tried to portray himself as a warrior king during his early reign showing his impressive figure as king. Source two implies that Henry was an impressive warrior king because he says â€Å"look here and I also have a good calf to my leg†. This shows that he is physically impressive, a characteristic of an impressive warrior king. We can rely on this source as it was taken directly from the Venetian ambass ador’s report to his government. We can also infer from source three that Henry is physically impressive as the portrait shows a large man with broad shoulders. This agrees with source two and therefore supports the strongest argument that Henry was an impressive figure as king.However this portrait is by an unknown artist therefore it is very unreliable. It is also highly likely that Henry has paid the artist to make him look like an impressive warrior king. The argument that Henry was an impressive warrior king is also strengthened by source one. We can infer from source one that he had characteristics of a warrior because it tells us of how he was practicing with his guards at archery. Not only was he practicing with them, he also beat them as he hit the mark in the middle. We can rely on this source as it is taken as an extract from a personal diary written by the king’s Chaplin.The strongest argument suggests that henry was an impressive figure as king. This can b e inferred from all three sources. Source one implies that Henry is an impressive figure as king as he is superior to all of his guards as he beats them at archery, hitting â€Å"the mark in the middle†. We can also infer from source one that he has power over everyone else. He has enough time to practice archery; this means that he is employing people to do his jobs he would otherwise have to do. Source two also implies Henry was an impressive figure of a king as it tells us that Henry was physically impressive. â€Å"I also have a good calf to my leg†.The argument that Henry was an impressive figure as king is also supported by source three as Henry VIII’s portrait shows a physically impressive King with broad shoulders. We can also infer from source three that Henry VIII is very wealthy as he is wearing a lot of jewellery. Source two also implies that Henry was well educated as it shows Henry addressing the Venetian ambassador in French, â€Å"His majesty ad dressing me in French.† nery was HHhffAll three sources suggest that Henry was an impressive king as he demonstrates power both physically, economically and he has a good education.

Cultural Elements in Translation Essay

Different languages result in different world views. Different languages direct their speaker to a certain way of thinking and paying attention to certain aspects of the world around them. So translation is not only finding the best equivalent but also finding appropriate ways of saying things in another language. The main problem for a translator is to maintain the local color of source text (foreignization) or to adjust the text according to the culture of the target audience (domestication). One of the main goals of literary translation is show the sensibilities of the source-language culture to the target-language audience. Transmitting cultural elements is not an easy task. The translator should not only be a bilingual but also a bicultural. S/he should be familiar with the author’s intentions and readers’ expectations. S/he should study the history, social structure, religion, traditional customs and norms of both source and target texts which s/he is going to translate. Some of the problems which an Indian translator (or maybe any translator) faces during translating culture-specific items are as follows: * Translating proper names * Translating grammatical forms which show respect and euphemism * Translating social relationships * Translating life-style and values * Translating symbols * Translating habits * Translating national or religious ceremonies * Translating customs and traditions * Translating religious acts, myths and legends * Translating geographical and environmental phenomena So the translator should not stick to word-by-word translation but s/he should substitute certain elements in the work. S/he should attempt to transmit cultural quality from one language to another.

Examples of Plural Tantum in English

Examples of Plural Tantum in English Plurale tantum is a  noun that appears only in the plural and doesnt ordinarily have a singular form (for example, jeans, pajamas, tweezers, shears, and scissors). Also known as a lexical plural. Plural:  pluralia tantum. Jeans, scissors, trousers, and glasses are great examples of plural tantum  nouns in the English language. Singular Tantum A noun that appears only in the singular formsuch as dirtis known as singulare tantum. Etymology of Plural Tantum Latin  for plural only Examples and Observations Richard Lederer [in Crazy English, 1990] asks, Doesnt it seem just a little loopy that we can make amends but never just one amend; that no matter how carefully we comb through the annals of history, we can never discover just one annal; that we can never pull a shenanigan, be in a doldrum, or get a jitter, a willy, a delerium tremen, a jimjam, or a heebie-jeebie? Lederer is alluding to pluralia tantum: Nouns that are always plural. Because they are not the result of pluralizing a singular, the complete plural form, -s and all, has to be stored in memory. Pluralia tantum in a sense are irregular regulars, and indeed they are happy to appear inside compounds: almsgiver (not almgiver), arms race (not arm race), blues rocker (not blue rocker), clothesbrush, Humanities department, jeans maker, newsmaker, oddsmaker, painstaking.(Steven Pinker, Words and Rules. Basic Books, 1999) Items of Clothing Lets take a look at other pluralia tantum in the pants/trousers family:(Mark Liberman, Language Log, Feb. 15, 2007) Outergarments: pants (orig. pantaloons), trousers, slacks, breeches/britches, bloomers, jeans, dungarees, bell bottoms, chinos, tights, shorts, trunks, Bermudas (extended to brand names: Levis, 501s, Wranglers, Calvins)Undergarments: underpants, long johns, skivvies, drawers, panties, knickers, boxers, briefs, undies, tighty-whities (extended to brand names: BVDs, Fruit of the Looms, Jockeys) How to Turn Lexical Plurals Into Count Nouns Nouns for articles of dress consisting of two parts are also treated as plural: [A] Where ​are my trousers?[B] They are in the bedroom where you put them. But such plural nouns can be turned into ordinary count nouns by means of a pair of or pairs of: I need to buy a new pair of trousers.How many pairs of blue jeans do you have? (Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik, A Communicative Grammar of English, 3rd ed. Routledge, 2013) Lexical Concepts, Not Linguistic Classes The definitional property of having no singular turns out to be shallow and sometimes accidental, often (as in English) practically impossible to define and circumscribe. The state of affairs resembles the status of the mass-count distinction. . . . While they remain necessary as descriptive concepts, mass and count cannot be defined as grammatical properties of lexical items outside of a context, as Borer (2005) cogently shows. In the same way, I think, pluralia and singularia tantum are indispensable descriptive concepts, but they are not genuine linguistic classes. Therefore, we cannot build a notion of lexical plurals around that of pluralia tantum.(Paolo Acquaviva, Lexical Plurals: A Morphosemantic Approach. Oxford University Press, 2008)

Sumerian Civilization essays

Sumerian Civilization essays After hearing about many different ancient civilizations I feel that the Sumerians were the most advanced and the best civilization of their time. Not only did they come up with their own system of writing but they also became advanced in fields such as astronomy and math. All of their achievements come together to prove their wisdom and advanced thinking skills of their time. Out of all of their achievements the Sumerians biggest accomplishment was their system of writing. Their unique system called cuneiform consisted of arrangements of wedge-like strokes generally impressed with a stylus on wet clay tablets. This system was later adapted by other civilizations such as the Babylonians and the Persians. Because the Sumerians were predominantly agricultural they also became skilled at building canals and at developing effective systems of irrigation. Some of their other contributions came from objects such as pottery, jewelry, and weapons. These show that they were also skilled in the use of metals such as copper, gold, and silver and had developed by 3000 B.C. fine artistry as well as considerable technological knowledge. There are many reasons why the Sumerian civilization can be considered better than the many other ancient civilizations. One reason is that they were able to come up with their own system of writing rather than adapting it from another preexisting civilization like the Persians and Babylonians did. Another thing that made the Sumerians better than some of the other civilizations was their use of the calendar which they divided into twelve months based on the cycle of the moon. Since a year consisting of twelve lunar months is considerably shorter than a solar year, the Sumerians added a "leap month" every three years in order to catch up with the sun. This interest in measuring long periods of time also led the Sumerians to develop a complicated knowledge of astronomy and the first human invention of the zodiac ...

Definition and Examples of Theme-Writing

Definition and Examples of Theme-Writing Theme-writing refers to the conventional writing assignments (including five-paragraph essays) required in many composition classes since the late-19th century. Also called school writing. In his book The Plural I: The Teaching of Writing (1978), William E. Coles, Jr., used the term themewriting  (one word) to characterize empty, formulaic writing that is not meant to be read but corrected. Textbook authors, he said, present writing as a trick that can be played, a device that can be put into operation . . . just as one can be taught or learn to run an adding machine, or pour concrete. Examples and Observations: The use of themes has been maligned and vilified in the history of writing instruction. They have come to represent what was bad about the Harvard model, including an obsession with correcting the themes in red ink, but the womens colleges typically used themes to get students writing regular essays based on common topics. . . . Theme writing, as David Russell notes in Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1870-1990, continued to be a model for required composition courses at small liberal arts colleges much longer than it did in the larger universities, in large part because the universities could no longer keep up with the labor-intensive practice of having students write multiple essays over the course of a semester or year.(Lisa Mastrangelo and Barbara LEplattenier, Is It the Pleasure of This Conference to Have Another?: Womens Colleges Meeting and Talking About Writing in the Progressive Era. Historical Studies of Writing Program Administration, ed. by B. LEplattenier and L. Mast rangelo. Parlor Press, 2004) Camille Paglia on Essay Writing as a Form of Repression[T]he present concentration on essay writing at the heart of the humanities curriculum is actually discriminatory against people of other cultures and classes. I think its a game. Its very, very obvious to me, having been teaching for so many years as a part-timer, teaching factory workers and teaching auto mechanics and so on, the folly of this approach. You teach them how to write an essay. Its a game. Its a structure. Speak of social constructionism! Its a form of repression. I do not regard the essay as its presently constituted as in any way something that came down from Mount Sinai brought by Moses.(Camille Paglia, The M.I.T. Lecture.  Sex, Art, and American Culture. Vintage, 1992)English A at HarvardHarvards standard, required composition course was English A, first given in sophomore year and then, after 1885, moved to the first year. . . . In 1900-01 writing assignments included a mix of daily themes, which were brief two- or three-paragraph sketches, and more extended fortnightly themes; topics were up to the student and thus varied widely, but the dailies usually asked for personal experience while the longer ones covered a mix of general knowledge.(John C. Brereton, Introduction. The Origins of Composition Studies in the American College, 1875-1925. Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1995) Theme Writing at Harvard (Late 19th Century)When I was an undergraduate at Harvard our instructors in English composition endeavored to cultivate in us a something they termed The daily theme eye. . . .Daily themes in my day had to be short, not over a page of handwriting. They had to be deposited in a box at the professors door not later than ten-five in the morning. . . . And because of this brevity, and the necessity of writing one every day whether the mood was on you or not, it was not always easyto be quite modestto make these themes literature, which, we were told by our instructors, is the transmission through the written word, from writer to reader, of a mood, an emotion, a picture, an idea.(Walter Prichard Eaton, Daily Theme Eye. The Atlantic Monthly, March 1907)The Chief Benefit of Theme-Writing (1909)The chief benefit derived from theme-writing lies probably in the instructors indication of errors in the themes and his showing how these errors are to be corrected; for by these means the student may learn the rules that he is inclined to violate, and thus may be helped to eliminate the defects from his writing. Hence it is important that the errors and the way to correct them be shown to the student as completely and clearly as possible. For instance, suppose that a theme contains the sentence I have always chosen for my companions people whom I thought had high ideals. Suppose the instructor points out the grammatical fault and gives the student information to this effect: An expression such as he says, he thinks, or he hears interpolated in a relative clause does not affect the case of the subject of the clause. For example, The man who I thought was my friend deceived me is correct; who is the subject of was my friend; I thought is a parenthesis which does not affect the case of who. In your sentence, whom is not the object of thought, but the subject of had high ideals; it should therefore be in the nominative case. From this information the stud ent is likely to get more than the mere knowledge that the whom in this particular case should be changed to who; he is likely to learn a principle, the knowledge of whichif he will remember itwill keep him from committing similar errors in future.But the theme from which one sentence is quoted above contains fourteen other errors; and the forty-nine other themes which the instructor is to hand back to-morrow morning contain among them about seven hundred and eighty-five more. How shall the instructor, as he indicates these eight hundred errors, furnish the information called for by each one? Obviously he must use some kind of shorthand.(Edwin Campbell Woolley, The Mechanics of Writing. D.C. Heath, 1909)