New Pearl Ending :: essays research papers

The Pearl   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Against the sky in the cave entrance Juana could see that Kino was taking off his white clothes for dirty and ragged, though, they would show up against the dark night. His own brown skin was a better protection for him. And then she saw how he hooked his Amulet neck-string about the horn handle of his great knife, so that it hung in front of him, and left both hands free. Juana had given up her prayers of magic and tradition by this time. She felt them to be pointless after all she had been through. However she did whisper her hail Marys, against the black inhuman thing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  She looked down the cliff and could see, only the cigarette of the man with the rifle, and hear only the water, of the little spring. Then she heard something else, something stirring on the ground, near the water. It was one of the men. She knew only because she heard them talking. She could not make out what they were saying, but wondered if they were talking of Kino, who by now, was probably pretty far down the cliff.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kino was nearly down the cliff now. He had been very quietly, slithering down the cliff, hearing nothing but his own footsteps, and the music of the enemy, which was getting louder as he got closer. He had turned his neck-string so that the great knife hung down from his back and could not clash the rock, because he knew that any sound, alien to nature, would get the watcher’s suspicion up, and he would be on his guard.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once he got to the bottom, it seemed to take forever for him to get close to the men. He stopped about twenty feet away from them when he heard them talking and moving. One man was still sleeping, but the other was up talking with the watcher. Kino looked over the watcher. He was dressed in brown leather pants, and a nice shirt, all under a large black duster. The long clack coat ran all the way down to his black boots; He wore his cowboy hat low, over his eyes, so Kino couldn’t really see his face, above his big mustache.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The man talking to the watcher walked off into the bush, out of sight. With one man still sleeping, the watcher sat, holding his rifle, staring into the horizon, where the moon would soon rise.

Function of Music in Theatre Essay

QUESTION #1 Discuss the dramatic functions of music in two works of Music Theatre, including some consideration of the relationship between music and other elements of the performance event. Music and drama have the capability of not only integrating to create spectacular visual and aural events in theatre, but they have a distinct capacity to support each other – to heighten one-another to innovative, intrepid and even excessive levels. These levels reached are rarely paralleled in real life, at least not as effortlessly as they are in musical theatre. It seems that in some cases, the two elements aren’t complete unless they form a relationship – just as hydrogen and oxygen bond to produce water. ‘Music is created from sound as life is created from matter’ (Reti, 1961). Music in drama is somewhat a broad topic, as this communicates the infinite range of subtleties of music in drama, but the approach to evaluating this form of theatre is particularly important; is the focus upon the effect of the music upon the drama, or the drama upon the music? Is the focus upon the unity of the two, or their distinctions? This report will focus upon the use of music in theatre as an amplifier. The aim of this document is to hold a metaphorical magnifying glass over two individual pieces of drama: Lionel Bart’s music in ‘Oliver!’ and Elliot Goldenthal’s music in ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’. The two pieces of drama are poles apart when relating the plots, themes, settings and a great many others, but although the two works have over 30 years between them in production, there are particular conventions to be found within the composition of their music scores, which both illustrate the effectiveness of the basic systems in music to develop the drama, and the revolutions occurring in the new generation of drama for today’s new generation of audience. Although the music analyzed in this report can be easily disregarded by the audience as ‘backdrop’ music, there is a much deeper and arousing basis to the composer’s production of this music, which is there for much more than simply saying to the audience â€Å"This is where the character is†. ‘The great composers were fully aware both of the thematic principle and of the technique through which they materialized it.† – (Reti, 1961) The music used in these examples were not used simply for a pleasing auditory ‘spanner in the works’, but to achieve a new level of understanding especially from the point of view of particular characters. The music of the composers Bart and Goldenthal, successfully achieves a more intense portrayal of their characters featured, through the use of both subtlety and supplement. ‘Oliver’ will be the main focus for the initial component of this report, so that the two pieces of drama can be analyzed chronologically. ‘Oliver!’ is a musical interpretation of Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ and is a tender account of an orphan boy who runs away from the orphanage and journeys to London. He endeavors to â€Å"pick-a-pocket-or-two† for his new lodger Fagin, but gets caught. As Fagin tries to save him, Oliver decides that all he wants now is go to his newly discovered uncle, and live a good life. Oliver premiered on Broadway in January of 1963 and ran for 774 performances. It was converted into a film later that decade and subsequently won 6 academy awards including best picture for 1968. Throughout the duration of the Musical, the audience is drawn into Oliver’s world – hauled into his story through the use of melody and song. The initial scene where Oliver Twist first enters London is a defining component of the Musical, where (in film version) you see him gaze adoringly out at the clock tower above from underneath a dozen cabbages – the symphony slowly building as he pulls together the impulse to jump out form the basket and then stumble out into the middle of the street to view this living, breathing city before him. The music now escalates at this point and creates a strong resonance whilst he gawks with innocence and naivety at every moving spectacle around him. A brass fanfare erupts in unison with Oliver’s eruption from the basket and strongly accompanies the other sounds of the city such as the hustle and bustle of loaded carriages, trains blasting their whistles, people rich and poor alike scurrying about busily like ants – oblivious to the music unlike Oliver. This scene captures almost every conceivable aspect of the city from Oliver’s eyes and packs it tightly into song with The Artful Dodger’s swift introduction, reception and invitation in the song â€Å"Consider Yourself†, at which point he takes Oliver on an excursion around the busy city. A humorous contrast is provided here in this scene – where Dodger sings the lines â€Å"Consider yourself at home, consider yourself one of the family† whilst at the same time, both he and Oliver are being scrutinized by policemen and chased by merchants as they weave and bob their way through the immeasurable stream of dancing butchers, grocers, paperboys, fishmongers, etc. Soon after this scene, Fagin gives Oliver a lesson on how to â€Å"Pick a Pocket or Two†. The music in this scene is lighthearted and comedic but offers many subtleties to be investigated, such as the deep brass used to convey the sense of danger, the sense of capture or discovery, but the underscore of flutes happily tooting away at Oliver’s new found conception that the art of thievery is all just a game – not something evil or punishable at least. Interestingly, when you meet up with the character Bill Sikes (a fiendish henchman with a violent and deadly temper) there is an immediate shift in music, just as if his entrance creates a wind that pushes the high-spirited music out of the room to make space for his deep, rich and threatening score. Although Oliver is a high-spirited production, there are strong hints of the dilemmas of poverty and violence brought into three dimensions with song, but more contemporary dramatic works have required more than these fundamental methods to bring the characters and scenes to life – literally. ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’ was released as a full-length feature film in 2001. This feature however was different to any other as the entire film was animated. The story of ‘Final Fantasy’ is set in the year 2065 where the remaining inhabitants of earth are locked in a battle to take back the Earth from marauding alien invaders. Led by a strange repeating dream, Dr. Aki Ross may be the only one who can save the human race from extinction. Elliot Goldenthal was provided the challenge of bringing the synthetic characters to life through his musical composition. ‘There seemed to be only one logical answer for me, which was to amplify the humanness in any place that was dramatically possible. I wanted to treat the character’s emotional interactions, for example, as one would treat them in normal drama, with a lyrical sweeping melody.’ (Goldenthal, 2001). Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, Goldenthal’s music for ‘Final Fantasy’ attempted at every point to bring life to the characters in the story both emotionally and physically. This is evident in the very first scene of the film where the audience is introduced to Aki, when she is having her repeated dream. The introduction of the accompanying piece is led by the sound of a glass harmonica to convey the potential sensitivity and fragility of Aki’s character. She wakes from the dream and finds herself on her spacecraft, revolving across the surface of the earth. In the next scene, she descends to earth accompanied by an almost military fanfare of brass and strings coming together on a strong Eb chord, giving a feeling of purpose and decision to this descent. Her ship touches down on the desolate, empty streets of New York, and the music instantly stops in a parallel with the apocalyptic emptiness of the long-dead city. Further on in the movie, Aki’s love interest Gray Edwards becomes critically infected by one of the aliens and is given only a matter of minutes to live unless treated immediately. Aki is forced to work against time in an attempt to save Gray, The dramatic tension in this scene is heightened by Goldenthal’s Score â€Å"Code Red†, composed basically of intense strings and strong percussion symbolizing a clock, and also signifying the value and importance of time. The music steadily builds in pitch, volume and intensity as the timer next to the operating table nears 0:00, but the tempo remains the same due to the fact that the time on the clock cannot speed up or slow down. At the climax of the scene, Aki saves Gray with only seconds to spare and as soon as the operation finishes the music abruptly ends, leaving the audience somewhat temporarily suspended in a moment of heightened tension. In a later scene, Gray and Aki are engaged in a private conversation where Aki speaks of a terminally ill eight-year-old girl she once spent time with before her death. In this scene where Aki reveals her emotional vulnerability for the first time, Goldenthal chose for this to be the first moment in the film where a piano is used. He decided on this due to the fact that the characters are so far away from any type of home in a desolate land, instead of going high-tech, a more earthy instrument is needed, something not basic, but elementary in musical design. The piano in this scene reminds the audience of home and connects the animated characters with images of a soft and sympathetic reality. A scene later in the film shows General Hein, (the villain of the film) in his office speaking of how his wife and child were killed by the aliens. Throughout the earlier scenes of the movie, the General is composed in a gloomy light, but in this particular scene, he is viewed musically in a sympathetic light. The music is tender and wistful as he unconsciously shows why his contempt for the aliens proves to cloud his judgment. There is a reference in the music that although there is compassion within this character, it is somewhat suppressed to an almost dormant state, overshadowed by hate and resentment. ‘We must always rely on the music as our guide toward our understanding of the composer’s conception of the text. It is this conception, not the bare text itself that is authoritative in defining the ultimate meaning of the work.’ (Kerman, 1989). The function of this music being strategically used in drama is for the benefit of the audience not only because it has the ability to paint a scene, but it also opens up the dialogue and opens up the characters and lets the audience see what is going on inside of them. The function is ‘to supply certain kinds of meaning to the drama, meanings that enrich immeasurably, and enrich dramatically, and that cannot be presented in any other way’ (Kerman, 1989). Drama alone can hopelessly attempt to convey some of the aspects of life that music can convey in just a few notes, and music can ridiculously hope to fulfill all the needs of a script without any real actions or dialogue, but in the end, the two combined provide an infinite array of possibilities and interpretations to be searched. In conclusion, if the composer is faced with the challenge of creating music to accompany drama, there is no unambiguous method of composition that one has to follow, but the impartiality between the two elements requires a strong correspondence at every point where they meet, or else the implication, sensation or meaning you are trying to convey will become caught in some redundant crossfire and the audience will lose the chance of gaining something extra from a piece of theatre capable of reaching outside of it’s three dimensions. – B. Daly Clark REFERENCES Goldenthal, E. (2001) The Composer’s Challenge. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, New York: Marca Registrada Kerman, J. (1989) Opera as Drama, London: Richard Clay Limited. Lippman, E. A., Hatch, C. (1999) The philosophy & Aesthetics of Music, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press Reti, R. (1961) The Thematic Process in Music, London: Faber and Faber Limited.

Case Study: Neglect

This case involves a 16 year old male and subsequently four of his younger siblings. In elementary school, the client earned â€Å"A† and â€Å"B† grades. However, this did not continue in high school. Additionally, the once active boy began to isolate. He stopped playing basketball and spent more time in the counselor’s office just to avoid the other children as they often made fun of him. The client began seeing the school counselor when he was ten years old. His parents were both alcoholics and were involved in using and selling illegal substances. The living conditions at home were unbearable. There was often no food, electricity, or water in the home. The client reported that the windows were only screen, leaving the home freezing. The client also reported that his parents would lock him and his siblings in their room to ensure they did not tell authorities the truth about what was going on in the house. This typically occurred when the parents got word that the police or the Department of Family Services was on their way over. There was five children in this family, the client was the oldest, four child were currently still in the home. In addition to the neglect the client experienced, he also experienced abuse. This case study mentioned one obvious incident. When the client returned to his parent’s home after staying with his aunt’s because of neglect charge, he came back to school with a broken arm. This was the only indication of physical abuse during this case study, however the client did not discuss what happened. Additional physical abuse or any other type of abuse is unknown. This client was also responsible for his siblings. He made sure they were dressed and feed for school. He also assisted his siblings with their homework. This responsibility left no time for him resulting in poor grades and his social life decreased. The client also displayed symptoms of hopelessness, suggesting depression. The school counselor made note of possible diagnoses, however, it does not appear that the counselor ever made an official diagnosis. The counselor did mention Depression as a primary diagnosis due to the client’s negative doom related vocabulary. Treating this client for depression may be helpful. To meet a diagnosis of Depression the individual must experience at least five of the following symptoms in the same two weeks: depressed mood, weight loss or gain, too much or too little sleep, increased or decreased psychomotor activity, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, poor concentration, or suicidal ideation. These symptoms must be significant enough to cause marked impairment in work or school. This client did display many of these symptoms. For example, the therapist stated that the client said the word â€Å"hopeless† often. The client also looked underweight, had difficulty in school both academically and socially, and did not receive the proper amount of sleep (DSM-IV-TR). Finally, these symptoms must be more severe than the common blues everyone experiences from time to time. While this client was probably suffering with some degree of depression, there were other factors which better explain these symptoms. This client was the victim of child neglect and abuse. As noted above the children in this family often went without their basic needs. This is a better explanation for the client’s symptoms than depression because when placed in a more nurturing environment, the client’s symptoms dissipated. The client displayed this change in behavior when the courts sent the children to the aunt’s home after the client called the Department of Family Services to file the neglect report. During this time, all the children were going to school clean and feed. The children’s homework, including the client’s was completed. This dissipation of symptoms was seen a second time when the client was placed in foster care. Again, he was going to school clean and feed and with homework completed. Once at his foster parent’s home, the client was also able to go back to playing basketball again. During the course of the client and school counselor relationship, the client saw the counselor on a weekly basis. The school counselor designed these meetings to assist the client in problem solving with regard to caring for his younger siblings. The counselor’s recognition of the client’s needs in this regard was definitely a factor in the client’s ability to make it through this difficult time. This is not always the case in turn causing the client to feel that therapy does not work. Additionally, the counselor did not push the client for information or action so a healthy relationship was able to develop. The counselor was able to slowly earn the client’s trust by showing him she was there for him. This benefited the client in a number of ways. He was able to develop a positive supportive relationship with an adult role model and he was able to gain the courage and strength to put an end to the neglect he was experiencing. As the client progressed in his problem solving and decision making skills the therapist should modify the methods and goals of the therapy sessions. Once the client moved from his biological parents and later adopted, his roles and responsibilities changed drastically. With the new family he lived as a normal child, he was clean, well feed, and rejoined the school’s basketball team. He no longer had to care for younger children in a parenting capacity. At this point therapy should move the focus to resolving the issues of abuse and neglect so the client can come to terms with his past. The use of psychoanalytic therapy would be an appropriate therapeutic method. With this type of therapy the client is able to talk out his issues. With the help of the therapist, the client will learn how to forgive and cope with these issues. What is unfortunate in this case is the fact that the other children ended up going back to the parents. Shortly after that reunification, the old ways came back. However, since the client was not there to act as the caregiver for the other children, the oldest sister took over that role. Here the cycle continues. Although the other children were not as open with the school counselor, they need close monitoring just as their bother received in the past. This close monitoring may be able to stop further neglect and abuse from occurring. Additionally, it would be wise to continue monitoring and providing therapeutic services to this client. There may still be some deep seeded issues he will need to deal with. Finally, the client will need help adjusting to his new family and the issues they have brought him, specifically the separation of his adoptive parents. In addition to ensuring that this client is adjusted in his new life, additional support and therapy can monitor the presence of future mental health related problems. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is often seen in individuals who have experienced abuse. Because of the life situations this client had endured as a child, he is susceptible for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. If this disorder develops, the client will experience flashback type symptoms. This may hinder his ability to cope with past and future life events. Additional problems associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder include impulsive behaviors, insomnia, nightmares, avoidance issues, poor concentration, hypervigilance, and increased startle response. Because Posttraumatic Stress Disorder occurs after the individual experiences the trauma, symptoms may not appear until later in adulthood. Also common in individuals with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is alcoholism and substance abuse. Again, this client is at a higher risk for these issues because of the genetic component of both alcoholism and substance abuse. A diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence includes behaviors that include neglect of responsibilities. Individuals who abuse alcohol also will continue to use despite the fact that they know it is causing problems in their life both physically and socially. With continued therapy and support, the client will be able to work out these childhood issues and therefore decrease the probability of future problems. Continued support will also give the client the skills necessary to cope with life’s stressful events. The client will be equipped with the tools need to deal with his problems in a healthy way as opposed to turning to drugs and alcohol. Continued therapy will also allow the client to work out any feelings he may have regarding his siblings who were sent back to his parents. This aspect was not noted in the case study; however, he may harbor feelings of guilt or regret, knowing that his siblings are still in a neglectful situation. It would also be beneficial to the client to join support groups in order to increase his support system. References American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. Washington, DC: Author.      

Writing Genres essays

Writing Genres essays Fiction is usually thought of as prose, while poetry is given a separate classification. Essays are a form of prose usually differing from fiction in that the essay is considered a real document and not a tale. The distinction among these three forms is not always that clear, and often the genres are deliberately blurred. For that matter, critics often find elements of one type or writing echoed in another. A writer such as Thomas Wolfe, for instance, is often cited for the poetic nature of his prose. Steinbeck wrote what are called the intercalary chapters in The Grapes of Wrath in the form of essays on topics related to the larger fictional portion of the novel. Some poetry reads more like prose than what is thought of as poetry until the reader analyzes the interior tensions of the words selected and how they fit into the whole. In much modern fiction, the three elements may be used in various ways in the same work in order to achieve some purpose or to illustrate some conc ept more fully. How these three can be fit together can be seen with reference to the poetry of She Tries Her Tongue: Her Silence Softly Breaks by M. Nourbese Philip and the more prose work Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. The way the different genres are mixed depends on how they are mixed. Poetry and prose can be differentiated strictly in terms of the way language is used in each, but there are also distinctions to be made in terms of subject matter and the treatment of subject matter. When critics say prose is poetic, they often mean the choice and use of language, but they may also mean the way certain subjects are treated. Similarly, the essay form may be adapted to either poetry or prose when the writer adopts the sort of personal account style that infuses so many essays today, an approach that can make fiction seem more real and that can tie together a book of poems that otherwise might be treated only as individual works. These t...

Why Cant I Trust Microsoft essays

Why Cant I Trust Microsoft essays Microsoft has been in the sights of the US Government for almost eleven years now. According to a Wired News timeline way back in 1990 the Federal Trade Commission began to investigate a possible conspiracy between IBM and Microsoft. After that Microsoft had been in and out of courtrooms for about five years without any punishment. Then in July 1994 Microsoft settled antitrust charges with the Justice Department, signing a decree that forbid Microsoft from using its operating systems dominance to squelch competition. (Wired News) That decree was used against Microsoft in the courts for the next four years. According to the article U.S. Justice Department attempts to rein in Microsoft in Information Intelligence Online Newsletter, The main complaint is that Microsoft was illegally forcing retailers to bundle Microsoft programs with new PCs or else they would not grant them official retailer licenses. The biggest complaint was that Microsoft was designing windows with an already incorporated web browser, taking away customers from Netscape and its navigator web browser. In October of 1998 Microsoft was taken to the US court on charges of violating the Sherman Antitrust act of 1890, This was the first time that Microsoft had actually been formally charged of being a monopoly that hurt US consumers. The trial was drawn out and went through many appeals from both Microsoft and the FTC before it would come to an end. After 76 days of testimony lasting nearly eight months, the trial adjured on June 24, 1999. On November 5, 1999 Judge Thomas Jackson issued his initial findings of fact. He found that Microsoft held monopoly power and used its power to harm consumers, rivals, and other companies. Microsoft had finally been convicted of being a monopoly; in response Microsoft filed an appeal to try to get the case thrown out for various reasons. The biggest of those being the merger between Time-Warner and AOL. Micros...

Why do women earn less than men examine the gender pay gap in an Essay

Why do women earn less than men examine the gender pay gap in an industry your choice and evaluate what can be done to close the pay gap - Essay Example Gender pay disparity has been associated to a number of factors, which have been discussed in various research publications. In this paper, the gender pay disparity within the healthcare industry will be evaluated based on the different professions within the industry and the disparity that exist in their pay. The paper will also discuss various approaches that can be used to seal the gender pay gap and create uniformity and motivation across the two genders. Within the healthcare industry, women have traditionally been considered to fit well into the nursing profession, an area that is considered auxiliary to the mainstream medical profession. As a result, nurses and other medical professionals such as clinical officers, laboratory technologists and other technical staff within the facility have a high population of women. However, access to equal educational opportunities has seen an increase in women medical doctors, men nurses and equal representation of the two genders in the different healthcare professions. Despite this gender progress, women have continued to receive minimal pay as compared to their male colleagues in the same job groups (Hook, Hagan, & Pettit, 2009). One of the core oiling factors in the gender inequality issue in or societies that have led to the determination of the responsibilities for the two genders is stereotypes. This has remained as the major determinant in the social inequality issue as it has continued to build on the perception that men are superior to women and should therefore be responsible for superior roles in the society. Our language that gives the male gender more dominance as compared to the male gender has supported this stereotype and this has led to a new definition for their roles (Caliendo, Lee & Mahlstedt, 2014). Women surgeons and doctors in the United States, for example, earn 71% of the total amount

High Budget Deficit and the Growth Rate of the Economy Essay

High Budget Deficit and the Growth Rate of the Economy - Essay Example The nation with high private saving will offset the moderate deficit financing in a much better way to provide for investment capital necessary for the growth of economy. Thus, for future economic growth national savings matter highly. National saving is the measure of the accumulation of financial and other real assets overtime. Future national income will largely depend upon this accumulated stock of assets. Unfortunately, deficit financing coupled with nil or negative private saving has made the national saving negative. In this perspective, deficit financing on a sustained basis cannot help US economy. Higher Interest Rates Macguineas (2011) argues that ever increasing deficit financing will exert upward pressure on interest rates thereby increasing the cost of capital. Budgetary deficits are financed through government borrowings. When government borrowings rise to a high level, the government may have to offer increased interest rates so that sufficient buyers are attracted to buy government debt. Obviously, higher interest rates will tend to retard the economic growth rate. Higher Borrowing Leads to Higher Interest Payments Increasing borrowings year after year will necessitate higher spending on debt-interest. Higher interest burden eats away the productive deployment of the capital necessary for the economic growth. As a result, the needy sectors such as education, health starve of the funds that are necessary to provide impetus to the economy. Defense Spending and Budgetary Deficit Korb et al. (2011) of the center for American Progress (CAP) argue that defense spending has created the current fiscal crisis. The experts from the CAP believe that the massive deficit is the result of increasing defense budget during 2004 through 2012. It...This essay offers a comprehensive review of the effects, that the high levels of budget deficit exercise on the economic development of the country, using the example of the US. In 2011, it was the third straight year when the gap between American government's income and spending remained negative to the tune of $1 trillion or above. In percentage terms, the deficit is hovering at around 10 percent of gross domestic product in last two years. This was causing serious concerns at several quarters on soaring national debt. The national saving rate is important for future economic growth and budgetary deficit has a direct bearing on national saving rate. Since last many years private saving is meager in the US and in last couple of years it has gone even negative. With such a low/negative saving, it is difficult to obtain economic growth and US productivity at desired rate. Ever increasing deficit financing will exert upward pressure on interest rates thereby increasing the cost of capital. Budgetary deficits are financed through government borrowings. When government borrowings rise to a high level, the government may have to offer increased interest rates so that sufficient buyers are attracted to buy government debt. Higher interest rates retards the economic growth rate. It can be concluded that when the government incurs debt, it is important to know what government does with that money. If the money are deployed for productive purposes, it can certainly help the economy of the present as well as future generations.