Ralph Emerson was a principal figure in the Transcendentalist movement of the 1840s, in addition to, he was also a well-known essayist and poet. His 1841 essay, “Self-Reliance”, emphasizes the importance of people acquiring their identity along with being true to themselves. Throughout his essay, Emerson strains the significance of individuals avoiding conformity and following their own thoughts and judgments. Emerson obtains his goal of conveying his message by generating multifarious allusions to compose his point. Allusions help connect the ideas within a piece of writing to the bigger picture; they also demonstrate that the author is indeed educated, contributing to their writing's credibility.…
Throughout the first reading assignment for My Ántonia Willa Cather uses vivid imagery to accentuate Jim Burden’s journey. The first signs of imagery are noted in the introduction where an unknown narrator describes the Nebraskan fields as “never-ending miles of ripe wheat.” There, under the “burning summers when the world lies green and billowy beneath a brilliant sky,” Burden’s childhood rears his love for the great country and he soon begins “to lose himself in those big Western dreams.” He later becomes a lawyer for the railroads, retaining his “fresh color and sandy hair and quick-changing eyes.” The imagery is carried through into the first four sections of the first book.…
The situation starts off with a letter being sent to Seaver an executive of Grove Press whom Coca-Cola is trying to make Grove Press get rid of their slogan since Coca-Cola sees that it is similar to their slogan "It's the real thing" and also the slogan belongs to Coca-Cola. The next letter is Seaver's response to Herbert's letter to which he sarcastically disagrees with and is satirical throughout his letter in the means of mocking Herbert for the statements made in his letter. In the end, Seaver had the more persuasive case due to the use of more rhetorical strategies. Herbert's letter lacked forms of rhetorical strategies that would have helped him have a more persuasive case which was just him using logos to state that Coca-Cola owns the slogan "It's the real thing" for use of the slogan for 27 years. In addition, Coca-Cola wants the Grove Press to discontinue their use of the slogan "It's the real…
Finding Squanto If someone is in a new, unfamiliar place, with friends and family getting sick and dying around them, what reason would one have to carry on? The Puritans had a reason, and that is that they had an unwavering faith in God, which William Bradford, a leader of the Puritans, is a good a representation of. He wrote of their times of struggle, the voyage, and the suffering that ensued soon after landing, and especially their prosperous times, where they met a helpful Native American tribe, and they certainly saw God’s hand through it all.…
The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is filled with many layers of symbolism that include both characters, such a Faith, and objects, such as the staffs. These symbols are used in various events to create a structure for deeper meaning in the novel. Such events include Young Goodman Brown’s constant turning back towards his wife and his acceptance of the staff. The final culmination of these events is a moral theme that accounts for both the literal and symbolic angles that the story is told from. The moral of “Young Goodman Brown,” illustrated through symbolism, is that sinfulness is inherently intertwined with human nature and the more anyone concerns themselves with it the more havoc it wreaks on their life.…
Deuteronomy 32:4 says “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” Metaphors about God and Jesus abound in The Bible. God is commonly referred to as a rock, as in this example.…
Thoreau was a simple man, one who decided that living on his own in the woods was the only way to reach clarity. His philosophy is one that has changed the way that many people have looked at themselves and their place in society. However his society is a thing of the past. His society is one that had different values and norms. Stating that possessions create complication is obsolete, although his ideas are very relevant in terms of obsession, society has created a way for people to connect with the world around them and live fuller lives.…
When thinking about what the conversation meant in a theological aspect led me to reading more in depth with Imagining Redemption by David H. Kelsey. I refer back to his back a lot because of his writing style. I feel as if he is having a conversation with me. He expresses how the story of his son is nothing special. The line I loved the most said, “it is absurd to suppose that such stories can be ranked and graded as to their horrendousness.”…
The Many Allusions of Bartleby “Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” is a complex story with many different components that contribute to its depth and meaning. One of the most important components would be the allusions, because they incorporate more subtle descriptions of the characters and allow the reader to interpret a whole other meaning to the story. The allusions within this story allow the reader to discover the deeper themes of isolation and corrupt American capitalism that Melville are trying to portray. Multiple allusions that come from “Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street” refer to passages and events from the bible.…
In Anne Bradstreet’s poem “Verses on the Burning of our House,” the speaker discusses her attempt to reconcile the loss of her earthly possessions with religious tenets and, in doing so, highlights the struggle of Puritans to maintain the religious ideal of valuing only spiritual worth, as depicted through the concept of weaned affections. Frequently in her poem, Bradstreet emphasizes the dichotomy between her emotions as she experiences the transpiring events and what she wants to feel through her employment of various literary tools. Her personification of her heart as she depicts “to my God my heart did cry / To straighten me in my Distress / And not to leave me succourless” (Bradstreet 8-10) emphasizes the strength of the speaker’s emotional…
Biblical Allusions “Viva La Vida” alludes to a parable given by Jesus about a fool who built his house on sand and a man who built his house on rock. The song says “And I discovered that my castles stand. Upon pillars of salt, pillars of sand” because in the Bible the fool did not listen to Jesus and built his house on sand and it fell when rain came unlike the man’s house built on rock (salt). Pillars of salt is also a reference to Genesis 19:26, in which Lot’s wife was told if she looked back she would be turned into a pillar of salt, which she did and was, as promised, turned into a pillar of salt.…
Old School The novel Old School was written by Tobias Wolff and published in 2003 after three portions of the novel were published in The New Yorker as short stories. Wolff was born on June 19, 1945, in Birmingham, Alabama. He had a rough life growing up and bounced around from state to state with his mother who eventually remarried. The man she married was very abusive to Wolff both physically and mentally.…
The word gospel means the absolute truth. In This is Gospel, by rock band Panic! at the Disco, the truths about addiction and our society come to light. A story is told throughout the song, about helping a friend with an addiction. The social issue of drug abuse is also evident in the song, as it directly relates to the plot.…
American citizens do not realize how everyday actions contribute and continually influence both the American and puritan societies. In Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards asserts that with continuous sin, puritans will be released to hell by God and by also not following the puritan way of life. Throughout the sermon, Jonathan Edwards uses similes, repetition and scare tactics to emphasize the fact that with sin, any Puritan will be sent to hell. Faith and fear have extensive contributions to the overall influence of the American society which Edwards addresses in his sermon. Faith plays a role in the society due to the fact the puritans know they are not supposed to sin, however they do so anyways which…
The famed psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that human beings have an innate lean toward and interest in death, known as the Thanatos drive (Kli). At some point in the life of every individual, the reality of ever-approaching death drives them to scrutinize their decaying bodies. In his poem, In Media Res, Michael McFee relies upon thoughtful imagery, biblical and literary allusion, and unexpected connotative language to examine the eerie experiences of a middle-aged man as he struggles to come to terms with his aging body. Through the use of imagery, Michael McFee illustrates the man’s dour outlook on the process of aging. The poem begins by describing the man unable to fasten his old wedding pants.…