ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: family

The image of Medea presented by Euripides in the exodos is undoubtedly largely horrifying and appalling to the audience. Medea manifestly presents her desire for revenge and it is difficult to sympathise with her character. However, in many respects her character fits the image of a tragic hero. Although, it is widely controversial to associate Medea with heroic aspects in modern days, from an ancient Greek’s perspective her actions and personality might well match aspects of the tragic hero such as consistency, appropriation, noble state, and tragic flaw.
Topic: family

This essay will explore whether her presentation in the exodos as well as her actions in other circumstances justify her tragic hero status. First of all, Medea has always enjoyed a good reputation and high-rank in society. Her heroic identity symbolises the fact that she is a grand- daughter of the Sun. Moreover, Medea was a princess of Colchis and displayed a vast knowledge of enchantments and medicine. When Jason abandons her in a foreign land she becomes a ‘stateless refugee’ and her pride suffers.
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‘Of all pains and hardships none is worse Than to be deprived of your native land’. [L. 651-652] It seems intolerable for her to be rejected & homeless in a foreign land. We can infer this by the use of words such as ‘pains and hardships’ which emphasises her dramatic position through an accumulation of two similar meanings. Also, the word ‘deprived’ implies that Jason has taken her land almost physically.
Topic: family

Her behaviour has been farther explored by E. R Dodds who states that members of an ancient Greek society acknowledged ‘anything which exposes a man to the contempt or ridicule of his fellows, which causes them to “lose face,” … as unbearable’. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must hold noble, respected social status. It can be argued therefore that Medea’s murder of her children in exodos was a desperate and impulsive response to ‘the pressure of social conformity’ (Dodds) and a diseased attempt to gain back her reputation.
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Such actions are common in Greek tragedies such as The Oresteia where Atreus admitted an even larger horrific act of revenge against his brother who had affair with Atreus’s wife. Similarly, while Medea loses face when Jason abandons her, Atreus’s reputation suffers when his wife commits adultery. Nevertheless, later Atreus’s takes care of his brother’s son. This, as opposed to Medea, can be considered as tragic hero’s sense of guilt or, perhaps, the way to dispense justice. On the other hand, Medea doesn’t regret her actions. Her sense of guilt does not exist.
Topic: family

Contrarily, she seems to be proud of her murder as she uses cynical and sarcastic techniques while she responds to Jason’s accusations in stichomythia: ‘Go home; your wife waits to be buried. ‘ The mention of Jason’s would-be wife is extremely cruel and tactless as previously, Medea mercilessly murdered her. In the exodos, Medea and Jason have a short and sharp exchange after Jason sees the dead bodies of his children. Questionably, Medea appears here to be extremely exultant, victoriously using cynical techniques untypical for the tragic hero such as ‘You grieve too soon.
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Old age is coming’. It is clear that Medea identifies her murder with a triumph over Jason. This opposes the fact that Medea can be regarded as a tragic hero because members of an ancient Greek society, despite their desire for high reputation, had a sense of guilt and justice which is described by E. R Dodds as a ‘gradually growing sense of guilt… which transformed into a punishment’ and ’embodiment of cosmic justice’. This implies that Medea as a tragic hero should regret her actions however, this never occurs.
Topic: family

Instead, at the ending of the play, Medea and the bodies of her children are taken away by the gods in the shape of Deus ex Machina. Up until the exodos, Medea has had some features of a tragic hero. However in the exodos, the absence of any kind of regrets opens up a debate over whether Medea’s presentation can be truly regarded as a tragic hero. Here, the gods seem to appear strangely sympathetic in her murderous sufferings and surprisingly shocking in supporting Medea’s actions and punishing Jason.
Topic: family

It can be argued that the gods support Medea and Deus ex Machina occurs in order to dispense justice by not allowing Jason to bury his children and leaving him unsatisfied. Although, the gods not always seem to make ‘right’ decision and sometimes their will performs as cruel and unmoral. It isn’t just the fact that Medea kills her children that seem to be questioning Medea’s heroic aspects. It is also true that Medea does not die. The play is in fact the only surviving Greek tragedy where the tragic hero doesn’t die.
Topic: family

Furthermore, Medea is a woman driven by ‘male desire’. Her desire for revenge leads to her overcoming the sense of maternal instinct. Therefore, the Greek audience couldn’t completely regard Medea as a tragic hero and ‘yet the audience (… ) shudder at the ruthless of her anger and passion for vengeance’ (Easterling). It is unclear whether Medea aims to portray herself as a woman or to employ the “heroic ‘male’ weapon”. She often sympathise with females as a group ‘We were born women – useless for honest purposes.
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But in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners’ [l. 406-407] Here, Medea uses first person plural verb in order to become a representative of females. However, the fact that she lacks her maternal instinct and kills her children in ‘reaction to her dishonour’ and ‘her violence, which she herself abhors’ follow the idea of a male desire. At this point, it is difficult to define Medea as a tragic hero because she evidently contradicts the idea of consistency in that she portrays herself sometimes as a representative of oppressed women and sometimes as a ‘male hero’.
Topic: family

It is largely controversial to argue that Medea’s presentation in the play (particularly in the exodos) is ‘good and appropriate’ (Aristotle). The tragic hero’s character should be ‘good if the purpose is good’ (Aristotle). Euripides’s presentation of Medea at the beginning of the play is to make the audience pity her dramatic position however, if we consider the fact that previously Medea has committed two acts of murder in order to marry Jason it is difficult to sympathise her. The murder of her children is a highly horrifying act of the play as the children plead for help (‘Help, help, for the gods’ sake!
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She’s killing us! ). The repetitiveness of a word ‘help’ and their imprecations gives us a sense of their desperation. In this way, Medea fits her image of a tragic hero because according to Aristotle, ‘fear and pity must be aroused’ in circumstances in which a ‘tragic incident between those who are near or dear to one another’. Indeed, we pity characters in the exodos as the act of murder has been done at the expense of innocent children pleading for help.
Topic: family

On the other hand, it has been investigated by P.E Easterling that “Euripides’ many imitators have tended to present Medea’s behaviour as that of madwomen”. This is because the way in which Medea murders her children is largely brutal as she uses a sword and seem to be murdering them in a mercilessly pattern. Therefore, even the Ancient Greek audience seems to reject the idea of Medea being ‘good and appropriate’.
Topic: family

Therefore, in context of Medea, the equivalent of ‘something beyond’ can be considered her excessive pride and obsession with the ‘laughter of my enemies’. Even if the audience does not point out any indication of the ‘laughter’ of Medea’s enemies, she still insists their presence. She does not perceive the support of the women of Corinth (meaning the Chorus) or -perhaps, she does not want to perceive it.
Topic: family

Therefore, Medea’s obsession with the ‘laughter’ of her enemies can be considered as the catalyst of her tragic downfall. However, it might be believed that this obsession cannot be regarded as the catalyst of her tragic downfall because it is clear that Medea fully acknowledges her flaws and in her horrific act in the exodos she recognises that what’s she’s doing is wrong. In the line 1077 she says: ‘I understand The horror of what I am going to do’ Evidently, Medea appears to be aware of her tragic flaw and to accept the consequences.
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In this case, Medea cannot be regarded as a tragic hero because she acknowledges her flaws. Therefore, the Greek audience could not be entertained or surprised by Medea’s actions. We do not pity her because she accepts her tragic flaws throughout the play. Medea’s self-awareness of her immorality contradicts Anderson’s belief that ‘the message of tragedy is that men are better than they think they are. The message needs to be said over and over lest the race lose faith in itself entirely’. There is a large distinction between the recognition of a tragic hero in Ancient Greece and the modern world.
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We associate heroic aspects with goodness, appropriation and a well-developed sense of forgiveness. The presentation of Medea in the exodos as well as her actions throughout the play, strongly contradict with the principles of Christianity and her character appears as irrelevant to modern ideas. Unfortunately, Medea from the Ancient Greek’s point of view can be regarded as a tragic hero to a significant extent. The horrific act of murdering her children is insane and sickening; however, it is without doubt that it fits with the image of a tragic hero in a several respects.
Topic: family

The poems ‘The Worlds Wife’ reflect Duffy’s own, very feminist, view of the world. Explore this statement using either two or three in detail or ranging more widely across the collection. Carol Ann Duffy was born on December 23rd 1955 in Glasgow and is a very strong feminist, in ‘The Worlds Wife’ Duffy explores what it is like to be a woman and uses dramatic monologue in many of her poems to convey her thoughts. The speakers of the poems are all female but we also hear the male voice, be it mediated through the female voice.
Topic: family

Throughout the collection Duffy casts an ironic eye on heterosexual relationships; she gives the woman the dominating voice and the upper hand. Duffy also explores the anger and even horror involved in failed or dysfunctional relationships, for example the horror of the relationship between the Devil and the Devil’s Wife. In ‘The Worlds Wife’ heterosexuality is rejected, and homosexuality is affirmed. Meaningful relationships tend to be found in communities of women.
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The twin sister is a nun and leads a contented life, in the second stanza the nun receives an appreciation stare from the ‘Reverend Mother’, she ‘digs the way I move my hips / Just like my brother. Homosexuality is not widely explored in the collection although it is treated positively when mentioned. The ‘Black Queen’ in ‘Queen Herod’ is a self-assured, imposing figure, who stares at ‘Queen Herod’ with ‘insolent lust’.
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‘The Kray Sisters’ also show their dislike of some of the other women in the firm, who are ‘well out of order’, get ‘engaged’ or become ‘some plonkers wife’. In ‘Queen Herod’, the Queen welcomes three Queens to the palace, they bring gifts for her newly born baby girl, the Queen swears to protect her daughter from male exploitation and orders the death of all sons in her land. When the three Queens come to visit Queen Herod they warn her to look out for a ‘star in the East’, signalling the birth of a boy and the omen of male domination.
Topic: family

The Queen fears her daughters’ exploitation and the threat posed to the child’s identity; she orders death to all of the boy children in her kingdom to ensure the safety of her daughter, possibly wanting her not to have any heterosexual relationships. The poem is written in free verse, the lines run heavily with symbolism and the meanings multifaceted. The new star ‘pierced through the night like a nail’ represents Christ’s Crucifixion. In the poem however the star presages suffering towards the female child, and the matriarchal line, we can therefore assume that the birth of a boy represents masculinity, rather than specifically Jesus.
Topic: family

‘The Husband. Hero. Hunk… Adulterer. Bigamist … The Rat’ all terms that the three Queens use to refer to men, especially the new child that has just been born, once again showing Duffy’s view on the male species. The black Queen takes out Queen Herod’s breast and, in an act which can be seen as both sexual and nurturing, puts it into the baby’s mouth; this appears to be an allusion to the attractions of lesbianism and the power of motherhood. ‘The Kray Sisters’ explores the criminal underworld that the Kray Sisters rule in; the sisters are clearly supporters of the women’s movement.
Topic: family

The poem begins with the sisters recalling what their lives used to be like and the impressions that they made on the local ‘geezers’. The image of them ‘walking down the frog and toad’ with men shouting at them immediately strikes a tension between the masculine and the feminine. Typical male clothing, ‘a whistle and flute’ becomes translated into a bolder feminine stance to ‘flatter’ their ‘thr’penny bits’; this image conjures thoughts of cross-dressing. The use of a single voice throughout the poem avoids the use of dialogue and accentuates their sisterhood and commitment to feminism.
Topic: family

In the poem there is a reference to ‘Cannonball Vi’, the sisters grandmother and a suffragette, someone that fought for women’s rights, this strength and fight for women clearly still lives on in the Kray sisters as by the time they ‘were six’ they were ‘sat at her skirt’, showing that they clearly admire her. The fourth verse shows how men should be regarded as merely sexual objects, and how relationships with men are regarded as ‘consorting with the enemy’, ‘Rule Number One – A boyfriends for Christmas, not just for life’, this idiom reflects the sisters’ opinions on love and relationships.
Topic: family

The sisters talk about their first club, ‘Ballbreakers’, in the club they offer women ‘protection’ – this could be seen as the literal protection of women against violence, pregnancy or euphemistically to protection that is usually provided by gangsters. In the poem ‘Elvis’ Twin Sister’ Elvis’ sister describes life, she is a nun, and admired by the Reverend Mother for the way in which she ‘wiggles her hips’. She once had a life of loneliness and heartbreak, but now she has achieved a state of grace and, for once, is happy.
Topic: family

Duffy takes the ironic figure of Elvis and created a satirical poem. Duffy shows that Elvis and his twin sister are complete opposites in all aspects of their lives; Elvis lived a thoroughly indulgent life, whereas the twin sister leads a simple and happy existence. In the poem Duffy invites the reader to enjoy the feminist view that Elvis’ alter ego is a contented female, living in a community of women. In the last verse of the poem Duffy focuses of the theory that Elvis is still alive, ‘I’m alive and well’.
Topic: family

Elvis was not only a sex symbol, but had a reputation as being a womaniser, Duffy conveys her thoughts on this man and how he treated women with a careless disregard and did not give them respect. To conclude many poems in Duffy’s collection explore her feminist views. In ‘Queen Herod’, we are shown how a radical feminist wants to protect her daughters from male domination so much that she is willing to kill every boy child in the land, just so that her daughter’s identity is not over-powered by the ego of a man.
Topic: family

‘The Kray Sisters’ explores Duffy’s view by showing that women can do the same things as men, and how women, such as the Suffragettes, fought for women’s rights, without these people women would have no rights, the poem, in some way, pays tribute to ‘Vi’ who fought for women today. In ‘Elvis’ Twin Sister’ we are shown how women are the reason why some men are so famous, this is also the case in ‘Mrs Darwin’, who claims to have started the idea of the Theory of Evolution in Darwin’s mind. Duffy’s poems are all very feminist and she shares her views through humorous, yet sometimes aggressive, tone.
Topic: family

In the majority of episodes of The Simpsons, the plots are similar in the respect that one or more family members are involved in a predicament that always has a comical element, and involves Homer Simpson saying ‘D’oh! ‘. The plots are more often than not character driven, for example, in the episode ‘Brother Where Art Thou? ‘ Homer Simpson finds out that he has a half brother that he never knew. Homer then embarks on a journey to find him, when he does; he discovers that his brother is a millionaire.
Topic: family

Homer Simpson is a beer drinking couch potato who likes nothing more than to watch the football game on the television. Marge Simpson is a maternal housewife and a possible nag of the family. Contrary to the point I previously made, I think that the children in the family are stereotyped; Bart, who is the ‘Dennis the Menace’ nuisance and underachiever, Lisa who’s intelligence is far greater than anyone else’s in the family, and Maggie, who never speaks, but still manages to indulge herself in a little mischief.
Topic: family

By the writers using stereotypes in the programme, they make it easier for people to relate to the characters, and enable the viewer to understand the plot more. For example in the episode ‘Bart’s Dog Gets Out’, Santa’s Little Helper (i. e. the dog) escapes, and Bart’s first instinct is to get out and find him. With Homer, he would probably propose getting a new one, or discourage his family from looking for him. The relationships in The Simpsons are not stereotypical because that would make the programme less comical.
Topic: family

Even in the opening sequence however, we still get an indication of the type of characters they are. Marge has a strong relationships with Maggie, and we see them rushing from shopping, which shows Marge’s role as the housewife. We see Bart in school writing lines on a blackboard, and then weaving in and out of pedestrians in his rush to get home; this shows that he is troublesome at school, but also virtually carefree. Lisa is playing in the school band, but then breaks off, and is sent out, seemingly because she plays too well for the rest of the class to keep up; this illustrates her talent.
Topic: family

She also rides a bicycle, which one could argue, means that she is a conservative person, which she is. Homer races off from work, and in doing so ends up with a glowing radioactive rod in the back of his radiation suit, which shows he is both careless, and lacks common sense. I think that the show itself is aimed at younger audiences, for example teenagers and young adults because; the programme has some unrealistic features such as the Simpson’s skin colour and the fact that they have four fingers. Although the programme has other cultures (i. e.
Topic: family

Indians and Black people), the main family, which are the Simpsons, have yellow as a skin colour. Their skin colour can be argued whether it is realistic or unrealistic because, yellow may have been used because it is a primary colour, and primary colours are attractive and eye catching, but; on the other hand it may have a meaning which could be ‘universal’ because it is neither black nor white. Using yellow as a skin colour makes it known to viewers that racism is ruled out and I believe that yellow is a good example for this because it is warm, bright and welcoming; and this makes a good statement.
Topic: family

Another argument could arise that their skin colour is yellow because if they were to be a real life equivalent you would assume them to be Caucasian; and so their skin is drawn as yellow to combat the idea of the common ‘black or white’ situation. The fact that all the characters in The Simpsons have four fingers shows that they are all a unique and unified community despite age and race, this also makes a good statement. Both the skin colour and the four fingers are attractive to young viewers but they also have meaning to older viewers, and different parts of the show are aimed at different audiences.
Topic: family

An example of this would be in the episode ‘Lisa’s Pony’; it could be argued that it is aimed at younger children, especially girls. The episode ‘Brother, Where Art Thou? ‘ would be aimed at the older audiences, especially men, but whatever the case it is possible for a variety of age groups to watch and enjoy the programme. The allusions in the show itself prove to the audience that the show is up to date, and it gives the show a sharper angle of realism, which again would attract people to watch the show.
Topic: family

An allusion from the film E. T. was used in The Simpsons. The film E. T. is most known for the contact of alien and human with their finger touching each other. This was like a connection. This connection was seen when Lisa and her mother did the same thing. That one moment in The Simpsons held much meaning, it showed the personal relationship with Marge and Lisa, and Marge’s maternal and loving side. It also showed that Marge is a significant figure in Lisa’s life. This allusion can be very heart-warming for viewers to see.
Topic: family

‘One bite, dead. How great, breakfast in bed, he said.’ Likewise, Duffy indicates the manipulative nature of males. ‘Lesson one that night, breath of the wolf in my car, was the love poem’. The poem shows Duffy’s view that men are weak and easy to tempt with potential customers of satisfaction of the flesh. ‘I made quite sure he spotted me, sweet sixteen, never ever been, babe, waif, and purchased me a beverage’.
Topic: family

This poem depicts in various derogatory terms, showing an attack on men in general. Thetis, the next poem to be discovered in the collection, takes a look at males from a different perspective. Whereas Little Red Cap represents men as weak and pathetic, Thetis shows how males can be overpowering and possessive. Throughout the poem, the woman is trying to get away from the man. She changes herself into several animals in order to run away from him, but it is all in vain. ‘I diminished myself to the size of a bird in the hand of a male.
Topic: family

Sweet, sweet was the small tune that I sang, till I felt the capture of his fist’. This presents the reader with a really powerful, manly image, depicting males as controling and taking in. ‘Mermaid, me, big fish, eel, dolphin, over the waves the angler came with his hook, his line and his sinker’. Nevertheless much she tries, the woman can not get away the man in her life’. Mrs Tiresias, a poem explaining the sex modification of the storyteller’s hubby might be viewed as one of the most sexist poems in the collection.
Topic: family

In the poem, Duffy mocks men, ridiculing them for showing weakness. In particular, lines 43-46, describing the man, very distressed at starting his period, ridicule men for not being able to cope with such trivial things that women have to cope with all the time. At the end of the poem the narrator spites the man by introducing him to her lover, a female. This is Duffy being derisive towards men, gaining the last laugh, for when the man leaves the narrator to become a woman; she gets him back in the most ironic and spiteful way possible.
Topic: family

Queen Herod is a blatant attack on men, the entire poem being centred around the killing of men to protect the Queen’s innocent daughter. She orders each mother’s son to be killed so her daughter will not get her heart broken. Duffy uses various derogatory terms to refer to men including: ‘Adulterer, Bigamist, the Wolf, the Rip, the Rake, the Rat, the heartbreaker, the Ladykiller’. This poem accuses men of being malicious and selfish towards women and implies that women are always right in these assumptions. Mrs Faust is certainly very critical of men.
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In this poem, Duffy projects men as greedy: ‘He wanted more’ adulterous: ‘Then take his lust to Soho in cab’ and frivolous: ‘Faust was Cardinal, Pope, knew more than God, flew faster than the speed of sounds around the globe, lunched; walked on the moon, golfed, hole in one; lit a fat Havana on the sun’. I can agree that feminism is a strong theme in The World’s Wife; however, there are exceptions to this. Anne Hathaway is not ridiculing men in anyway it is merely celebrating love.
Topic: family

The poem is made up of the reflections of Anne Hathaway (William Shakespeare’s wife) about their life together. She reminisces about the way he touched and spoke to her: ‘A verb, dancing in the centre of a noun’ and how she still remembers their romance and passion. I conclude that, although The World’s Wife could be viewed as quite sexist, a closer examination of the content of the collection, for example the inclusion of Anne Hathaway contradicts the statement that the collection is a ‘callous feminist attack on men’.
Topic: family

Of all mothers, Mother Jones advertises itself as “smart, fearless journalism. ” If only we all had mothers who looked this deeply through current events. This is a unique journal which holds itself to high standards in both a journalistic and moral sense. As the website says, they look for articles that are “Hard-hitting, investigative reports exposing government cover-ups, corporate malfeasance, scientific myopia, institutional fraud or hypocrisy, etc. ” It’s a journal that likes to get facts, shocking facts, about what people care about.
Topic: family

But that begs a question; what kind of standards? It’s tricky to lay a claim on whether this journal is liberal or democrat, let alone identify any defining moral statement as it has articles reflecting both sides of the generalized views of those parties. Perhaps this sentence taken from the websites advertising policies page can help explain the confusion; “we’re in business to produce great public interest journalism, no strings attached. ” Or maybe this one; “Mother Jones respects and values free expression and dissenting voices.
Topic: family

” Sounds very intelligent and fair – idealistic almost – but what’s the catch? Well it’s clear that a magazine is a business, and like any business you have to sell. Mother Jones does this with shock value. They publish articles about torturing children and one entitled “Gay by Choice? ” It also has an article depicting news corporations as bias and even creating “fake news. ” Mother Jones tells their readers all about the things they cannot trust, and reasons why from the experts who claim it.
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The writers for Mother Jones are experts to say the least. Most of their columns are written by freelancers, but darn good ones. Their cover story “School of Shock” was written by Jennifer Gonnerman after a yearlong investigation. Gary Greenberg is a contributing writer who is also psychotherapist, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker and Best American Science and Nature Writing. It’s clear that they editors believe, as their website claims, that they “assume that our readers are sufficiently smart and skeptical.
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” Though, when reading the articles it is clear that a degree is not needed to read this journal. Technical terms are not used freely or thoughtlessly. All in all, this journal claims, and lives up to those claims, to be a smart and justifiable journalism. It’s a publication that’s not a slave to it’s advertizers, and respects different viewpoints. I could see favor given to stories with shock value, but the overall theme of the journal, of global responsibility, would not be compromised. A Journal of Interest
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In Jennifer Gonnerman’s article “School of Shock,” she describes the extremely controversial disciplinary actions of the Judge Rotenberg Educational center located in Massachusetts. The center was originally set up for children with such extreme behavioral problems that they could not be a part of a normal classroom. Electric shocks are used on about half of the 234 children within the facility which charges $220,000 a year for each student. These children are diagnosed with sever autism, metal retardation, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or are emotionally disturbed.
Topic: family

By relaying the stories of children who have been through traumatic events in the facility, as well as her own personal experience interviewing them and visiting the school, Gonnerman creates a very emotional piece. After reading it myself, tears nearly ran down my cheek; and I’m a man who rarely tears. Surprisingly, most of the article is factual, with some informative narrative. The voice of Gonnerman is present, as are her thoughts and opinions, but they are not stated outright.
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By doing this she lets the reader feel through the facts and experience rather than preach to them. It could be very easy to push such an article in the face of readers with strong visual images, but instead the images are simply those of children sitting or standing, usually with an adult looking over them. There are no images of children being shocked, but there are also no pictures of children misbehaving. In this way, the article is neutral in it’s portrayal of the school.
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Though I cannot imagine anyone who believes that shocking a child with the voltage described is an ok thing to do, the article voices both sides of the argument. Numerous examples are given of a extreme behavior such as inducing vomiting, biting chunks out of his/her own tongue, setting fires and cutting him/herself. It’s a place where any child can go, despite their history or severity of behaviors. In some ways, it sounds like a necessary evil. The writing is clearly seeking to shut the school down, but it does not give a solution for its necessity.
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It does not give any alternatives for students or parents. I leave the article wondering how else to handle such violent and disturbed children. A Journal of Freelance Of the articles published in Mother Jones, most of it comes from freelance writers. That doesn’t mean, however, that just anyone can write for them. A slew of experts and highly educated, and highly published, writers contribute to this journal. But if you don’t want to go and get your doctorate just to be published, here are a few things to think about in order to get published: Subject, Experience, and Tone.
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The Subject, first and formost, must be one of large consequence. Either look to meet a large interest with a large number of people, or look for a topic that would shock a large number of people. Also, the topic must be something that can be affected or has subsequent consequences. To sum it up in a few words, it should be a new view on a popular subject. As for your experience with the subject, well years of schooling aren’t required to write for Mother Jones, but years of experience might be.
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Not only will this journal hold your writing and journalistic talents to a high level, but many people who have written on a subject for the journal have also written a book about it; and it’s been published. If you’ve been published in big name journals like The New Yorker, or Rolling Stone, that might work also. And finally the tone of your writing must be affirmative action. The editors of this magazine seek to change the world with it, so think along the lines of that. Other than a lot of research, aim to persuade readers to take action. Who knows, maybe Mother Jones will change the world some day, and you could be a part of it.
Topic: family

The poem, as the name recommends is a tune where the poet is rejoicing her relationship with her mom by using simple but powerful images. It is essential to note that unlike the commemorative poems that are typically composed by Western authors, “Applaud for My Mother” does not have a requiem like elegiac state of mind. The overall tone of the poem is enjoyable. “Applaud Song” is a panegyric on the author’s mom. in which she commemorates a female who gave her both roots to grow from and wings to fly with.
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Her mom utilized to offer piano lessons. The first 8 years of her life that she spent in a town left an imprint on her that shows in the poem too; the rhythm of music and the beat of pan, the call of the fisherman and the fruit supplier, the odour of mud and salt when she went crab hunting (“the crab’s leg”), the entire of the morning sky, the whole of the night sky, (“daybreak” and “moon’s eye”). The poem is also recurring, ‘replenishing renewing’. The poet may have gone with this since it brings a sense of childhood as a kid would duplicate words.
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Nichols wants to use this effect because the repetitive content relates to a child’s attitude, which will then recall the memories Nichols had of her mother when she was a child. Food is a very important part of Caribbean culture and tradition. The home-cooked food is something that does not have any alternative. The writer’s memory of her mother is not complete without thinking about or mentioning the food she used to cook. This intensifies the sacrifice that the writer’s mother had to make for her daughter’s brighter, “Wide futures”.
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As Nichols once pointed out, “Like a beacon in London, every now and then I get this craving for my mother’s food. I leave art galleries in search of plantains, salt fish, sweet potatoes; I need this link, I need this touch of home, swinging my bag like a beacon against the cold. ” Praise song for my mother Fat Black Woman Tropical Death Grace Nichols puts the image across that the issue of culture is extremely important to her. Through her poems we understand that she is confused of her identity. When she moved to London she felt as though she was living in an alien world.
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Grace Nichols was longing for a cultural identity in Britain and she tends to describe Britain negatively and the Caribbean positively. This is why throughout the poems she applies her own dialect of Creole, which is the official dialect of the Caribbean. She also uses Creole because she feels as though she should preserve it. She maintains that her Caribbean language is ‘genuinely exciting’ and that Creole’s aspects are very vivid which concludes her to believe that there is no equivalent in the English language.
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Nichols has successfully carved a niche for her culture and poetry in the existing canon of complex poets and poetry by writing in a laymen’s register. This is a poetry that everyone can understand and read. This is a poetry that everyone can identify with. This is the poetry the Nichols has written for her countrymen, for her mother, for her roots- it is a tribute to her roots back at home. We get a clear sense of this in ‘Praise Song for My Mother’, in which she talks of a mother who is ‘deep and bold and fathoming’ and who ‘replenishes’ her whenever she needs comfort.
Topic: family

What is the true meaning of family? A support system. A unit that guides you through life. People that always have your best interest at heart. They are and will always be there for you. You are yourself around them and they never expect you to hold back. Joy and sorrow. Laughs and tears. All elements shared with family. This is not the case in all situations as seen in the poem elegy for my father’s father. Elegy for my father’s father is one stanza poem of sorrow and sadness.
Topic: family

‘A chain of sods in a day he could slice and build high as the head of a man And a flowering cherry tree On his walking shoulder held under the lion sun’ the persona finally gives an unexpected positive remark about this man. They honor his strength and endurance seen in his youth. He did intense amount of work and was able to accomplish it in the harshest of conditions. He was a ‘workaholic’. This could have been a way to ensure people kept off. The persona however jumps back into the negative comments. When he was old he had nothing to do except sit in his curved chair all day the kitchen fire.
Topic: family

Perhaps a sense of pity for him. His family watched him waste time he could have made so much out of. He was quiet and observant. He scrutinized every detail but he kept all his observations to himself. He confined his feelings and wisdom. He was very mysterious. A lot of imagery is used in the lines describing this. The last eleven lines of the poem are all imagery. They show how the old man never spoke in times of joy. ‘This heart had never spoken in song or bridal bed’ He was shockingly also distant to his wife. A person who he should have at least been able to trust and express himself to.
Topic: family

He was unable to reveal himself on his honeymoon. This shows how great his separation from all those around him was. The poem is of a mixed tone as there is an element of sorrow but at the same time there is celebration of life and reminiscing of the old man’s youthful days. The poet uses descriptive words that carry out the task of giving vivid illustration to the reader. The poem however does not have a flow as has no rhythm regularity. The poem is cyclic as the reader is taken through the old man’s life. The theme of family and its great impact on one’s life is seen throughout the poem.
Topic: family

One of the primary focuses of William Wycherley’s comedy, ‘The Country Wife’, is the concept of satirising the pretence and artificiality surrounding marriage particularly during the Restoration era and its rebellion against the prior strictness of the Puritan rule. Traditional marital values of love, fidelity and trust are distorted by intense emotion and lust, and these qualities are applicable to the typical comic characters of rakes, and adulterous wives who cuckold their husbands. The play may simply expose the ignorance of conventional fools to provide humour using dramatic irony and may not be deriding the amoral quality of marriage.
Topic: family

Throughout the play, nearly all characters are preoccupied with their reputation, and thus lie; but as the play ends with the restoration of order and inevitably the truth comes out, Sparkish, the stock fool, explicitly portrays the reality of marriage. Revealing his real attitude to his marriage vows, he declares he would have cast off Alithea “with as much joy as I would after the first night, if I had been married to you.
Topic: family

” The candid language stresses the lack of respect and affection he ever had for her, and hence his indifferent view of marriage. The men, for instance Sir Jasper Fidget, are also completely preoccupied with business “which must be preferred always before love and ceremony with the wise”, and Wycherley’s disapproval of this is evident as he has created Sir Jasper as a fool, who ends up being cuckolded by his wife, Lady Fidget. Arguably, it is only human nature for a man to desire to be upwardly mobile; however valuing your profession higher than that of your wife surely indicates the unpleasant morals of this society, which the writer is criticising.
Topic: family

Likewise, we see the wives in all of the marriages, the adulterous town wives (Lady Fidget, Dainty and Squeamish, and the stock character of the country bumpkin, Margery) end up being unfaithful as “a woman of honour loses no honour with a private person”. Clearly, they do not care for their husbands, and would do anything to satisfy their own sexual desires. It is arguable that, in reality, men may actually deserve to be cuckolded if they discard their wives whilst they “go abroad indecently alone” and this view will definitely be employed by a modern, feminist audience.
Topic: family

Furthermore, it is often noted that women in the play are dominated by the power of the male sex. At the end of the play, during the complete chaos and confusion, typical of a comedy, Horner crudely “resigned your sister to him” (in reference to Alithea and Harcourt). Regardless of the fact Alithea wishes to wed Harcourt, it gives off the sense that women do not get a say in such matters, and are prohibited to have their own voice and opinions, especially when it comes to marriage. In an equally patronising and sexist view of women, it is apparently necessary to “provide innocent diversion for a wife as to hinder her unlawful pleasures; and he had better employ her, than let her employ herself.” Likewise, Pinchwife, the squire, always locks Margery away, and does not allow her contact with human civilisation, in the fear she may turn into “a mere notorious town-woman” (the urban lifestyle is traditionally linked with corruption). This also provides the 20th Century view of an inequality in marriage, which will be more relevant for a modern day audience.
Topic: family

Moreover, the lack of respect for the female in a married relationship is clear throughout the play in the presence of the language used against them. Margery, the eponymous character, is referred to as “baggage” by her husband throughout the play – a derogatory term which derides her to a mere object. Through food imagery, women are also likened to “a private feast” as something to be consumed, to satisfy the men’s hunger and sexual appetite. Pinchwife also uses money and business imagery to extend this notion saying he will give “five thousand pound” to Sparkish “to lie with my sister.” It is clear that the male’s intentions revolve around copulation, demeaning the personal and profound qualities of a married relationship. This language is also reflected in the, perhaps comic, perhaps unsettling, constant threat of violence from the aggressive caricature of Pinchwife to Margery; although he never actually hurts her, a married man should never even threaten to lay a hand on his wife.
Topic: family

The ending, although conventional in that everything gets resolved and everyone is brought together, clearly depicts how the characters do not care who they marry. Lucy, the stock character of a clever servant, fixes everything and everyone merely pretends that everything is alright, and returns to the status quo. Pinchwife tells himself “Cuckolds like lovers should themselves deceive”, hence believing what has been said although beneath it all he knows it is not true, illustrating how the marriages in the play are purely based on lies and deceit.
Topic: family

Not only this, but some who go through (or say they will) with marriage purely do it to preserve their honour and virtue, and make petty excuses like “The writings are drawn, sir, settlements made; ‘tis too late, sir, and past all revocation.” Without any mention of romantic love, Alithea here gives her reasons for continuing her arranged marriage with Sparkish, the fool; her obligatory language lending to make the matrimony sound like a bleak, loveless business arrangement. Alithea does not love him and stays with Sparkish even though he treats her as an animal and a possession saying he will “get me a wife”, “a wife of mine”, and uses her as something he can show off to his friends: “do you approve my choice?” Here, Wycherley attacks the idea of women’s ‘entrapment’ in marriage. The audience recognises the writer’s view because Sparkish has been created as the stock character of a fool, and at the end of the play he is punished (he loses Alithea to Harcourt), whereas Alithea has been depicted as one of the more honourable and moral characters, and she is rewarded with a husband at the end.
Topic: family

Arguably, the implied marriage at the end of the play, between Alithea and Harcourt, does indeed provide some comic resolution – and more importantly implies love and marriage as triumphant. The sincerity of their relationship is manifest; we see Harcourt as the noble courtly lover who will go to any extent to gain her love, by the comic means of deception and disguise. Harcourt betrays Sparkish, in an attempt to steal his wife, when he disguises himself as a “parson”, and demands “nobody else shall marry you” in a double entendre. What makes his character more honourable though, and makes the potential marriage more meaningful, is the fact that he is the only character on stage at the end to believe and proclaim Alithea’s innocence, despite all evidence being against her: “I will not only believe your innocence myself, but make all the world believe it.” This absolute trust and his desire to fight to preserve her name, reflect attributes vital to any married relationship, and he also states “’tis possible for me to love too, without being jealous”. Harcourt is therefore presented as an ideal husband, especially in contrast to the other men who are mistrustful and consumed by the prospect that their wives will cuckold them if not “in our closets under lock and key.”
Topic: family

Surprisingly, Horner, the stock character of a rake, offers a contrasting and less superficial opinion of women; perhaps proposing that women in a married relationship offer more than just sex and wealth (central motifs in the comedy). Valuing intellect and personality in a woman, he states “me thinks wit is more necessary than beauty, and I think no young woman ugly that has it, and no handsome woman agreeable without it”, his speech providing a more encouraging exemplar of a man’s authenticity in love. Nevertheless, the play opens amid an informal conversation regarding the spread of a rumour of “damned malady”, devised only so the protagonist, Horner, can sleep with other men’s wives. It is here when the writer begins to censure the corruption of matrimony in Restoration society, and despite Horner offering some positive views of women, it is this rumour that totally encapsulates the entire play, and thus discloses Wycherley’s attack against the sadly typical marriages of the Restoration period.
Topic: family

Through his comedy, Wycherley persistently confronts the lack of “matrimonial love”, and the affectation and hypocrisy that is present throughout Restoration marriages and their corrupt urban lifestyle. Satirising the pretence of the society, Wycherley employs the caricatures of Pinchwife and Sir Jasper Fidget to paint a representative picture of the paranoid and ignorant male personas that ironically lead their wives into the hands of rakes; the large majority of female heroines conform to the stock character of the adulterous wife. Conclusively, it can be taken that although there are subtle hints at hopes of real love entwined throughout the comedy, Wycherley has undeniably crafted a play that carefully attacks the artificiality of marriages in Restoration society.
Topic: family

The evocative and vivid language which the ghost employs in speaking to Hamlet about purgatory is highly significant as it encourages Hamlet to spur to action in avenging his father’s death. The ghost states that he is ‘doomed for a certain term to walk the night’ and in the day to “fast in fires”. The alliteration in the last phrase places emphasis on the suffering which he is going through. He further describes purgatory with the imagery of a “prison house” and says, in a simile, that should he detail Hamlet on the secrets of purgatory, his hairs would stand on end like quills upon a ‘fretful porpentine’.
Topic: family

The ghost also informs Hamlet that he was “cut off in the blossom of… sin” , meaning that he was killed before even being allowed to ask for forgiveness, and thus he was still in purgatory. This later influences Hamlet’s actions as he does not kill Claudius at the opportunity he gets when Claudius is praying, believing that Claudius would then go “… to heaven. ” Little does he know that Claudius is not actually praying, as Claudius confirms in the rhyming couplet, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. / Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
Topic: family

” The fact that there is a ghost present in the play influences several other things. One of these is the fate of the protagonist, Hamlet. Hamlet is obliged to do as the ghost says, and thus situations are beyond his control. The ghost charges him to avenge his father’s death and, should he slack, the ghost reappears to urge him to carry out the revenge. For instance, the ghost appears when Hamlet is being violent towards his mother later on in the play, rather than paying full attention to what he had been charged to do- to revenge.