American novel Essay Example for Free

American novel Essay Inspiration is something that some people have difficulty finding, whether to write the great American novel or simply to get out of bed in the morning. Creative inspiration is much more delicate a subject, as when one does not feel the desire to create, the product most often suffers greatly. However, for me, creative inspiration comes from almost everywhere I look, as long as I manage to see beauty before me, and luckily, the world is a beautiful place. Beauty is truly everywhere; it can be in a sunset, a work of art, or in a masterpiece of architecture. There is manmade beauty and natural beauty, and both have unique appeals that inspire to humans in many different ways, including creatively. Along with the millions of writers, painters, and poets that came before me, I find creative inspiration in noticing the beauty of things, no matter how common or rare. I can also find beauty amidst things that are ugly, if anything gaining an increased appreciation for the beautiful moments of peace and lightness. No matter how much I suffer or observe suffering, it is easy for me to remember that life is indeed beautiful, and this often inspires me to continue creating beauty of my own. Human physical beauty is also something that inspires me creatively. It is impossible to deny that certain men and women are not beautiful, for a perfect face and body attracts many people from all around; however like the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, everyone else may not universally agree upon the external and physical beauty of these people. Some people make think blonds are beautiful, while others prefer brunettes; some people may like blue eyes, while others only find brown beautiful. This shows the subjective nature of beauty, which begs the question as to whether this beauty is significant at all or merely a matter of taste. However, like the beauty of Helen of Troy, legendary and often referenced in all arts, beautiful people inspire me to create. But, while physical beauty can inspire me to create, it is most often the beauty I find within people and myself that most inspires me. I believe the greatest and most inspiration beauty in life comes from within; and this kind of beauty can be achieved by everyone without pills, painful operations, or costly beauty treatments. I have learned not to put too much stock in the media’s representation of beauty, because I feel it robs from the more significant beauty that can be achieved in society when people think of each other and treat each other with equal respect and consideration. I do my best to live by the golden rule, and find situations the most beautiful when others do the same. I feel that many of the popular conceptions of beauty are based on half-truths and blatant deceptions, encouraging people to hide their flaws rather than love themselves. For me, honesty is beautiful and inspirational, and I try always to be honest, and subsequently inspired. Life is beautiful enough without having to worry about perfecting physical attributes, and the truth is that aesthetic beauty is not nearly as lasting or inspirational as emotional, spiritual, and mental beauty. These are the kinds of beauty to which I aspire and have successfully managed to cultivate in my efforts to harness creative inspiration. While beauty may truly be in the eye of the beholder, I feel confident in my own beauty because I treat everything in life as it is: beautiful. From this view, it is easy for me to find creative inspiration in just about everything I see, hear, and feel. I find joy and inspiration in everything, and I try to make everyone share in the beauty that I possess and inspiration I find, hoping that they can also create his or her own. I try to be truthful in all regards, and try never to feel insecure that my beliefs in my own beauty are false. I refuse to adopt the media’s perception of beauty, and prefer to find my own conceptions in what I see is true beauty: generosity, compassion, and joy. All I have to do is sit back for a moment, reflect on the wonders of existence, and I will inevitably be convinced of the beauty of life, and subsequently inspired to create some of my own. For me, this is the truth, and like the words of John Keats, â€Å"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know† (Keats, 1901). For me, beauty is truth, and truth is inspiring. REFERENCES Keats, J. (1901/1999). Ode to a Grecian Urn. The Oxford Book of English Verse. Ed. Quiller- Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir. Bartleby. com. 31 Jul 2008. www. bartleby. com/ 101/625.

Fantasy and Dream work in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Essay -- Cabinet

Fantasy and Dream work in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari The silent expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari exposes psychological guilt and insanity through the main character's fantasies and delusions. This character, Francis, brings the viewer into a nightmarish world through his story-telling. He recounts the story of the mad Dr. Caligari and the somnambulist Cesare who is under his control. The doctor's arrival in Francis' hometown results in a string of murders, the death of his best friend Alan and the kidnapping of his beloved fiancà ©e Jane. Francis tells this story as if it were true, but in the end he is revealed as a patient in a mental hospital. The film does not confirm whether Francis' story is reality, but Freudian theory suggests that this story is a wish fulfillment. Francis' neurotic mind created and mistook this fantasy for reality in order to displace the guilt over his friend's death by means of dream work and displacing his guilt onto the somnambulist Cesare. Neurosis is characterized by a retreat into ones imagination and alienation from reality. According to Freudian theory, this is also typified by believing a fantasy to be the truth. "Neurotics turn away from reality because they find it unbearable; the most extreme type of this turning away from reality is shown by certain cases of hallucinatory psychosis which seek to deny the particular event that occasioned the outbreak of their insanity" (Freud, 301). In this passage, Freud describes the psychological techniques that a neurotic mind uses in order to cope with a traumatic event. Instead of coming to terms with their trauma, the mind will alter the events and shape them around a delusion in order to produce a more pleasing conc... ...ing fantasy. In addition, Dr. Caligari and Cesare are not real people; they are fragments of Francis' psyche and serve the purpose of objects onto which the blame is displaced. The filmÕs ambiguous ending leaves the validity of Francis' story unknown because his illness is not explicitly confirmed. However, Freudian theory clarifies this uncertainty by showing that Francis has fantasized the entire story to satisfy his guilty mind. Bibliography The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Dir. Robert Wiene. Perf. Werner Krauss, Friedrich Feher, and Condrad Veidt. Decla-Bioscop AD, 1920. Freud, Sigmund. The Freud Reader. Ed. Peter Gay. New York: W.W. & Norton. ---. Writings on Art and Literature. Ed. Niel Harz. Janowitz, Hans, and Mayer, Carl. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. (1920). http://www.cs.nyu.edu/kandathi/scr/caligari.txt

The Affects of the Media on Society

The term media can be defined as a wide variety of things. For the purpose of this paper, it will be defined as the American Heritage Dictionary defines it; as â€Å"†¦an agency, by which something is accomplished, conveyed, or transferred† (2000). The co.uk/todd-gitlin-summary-on-media/">media’s role in society is an extremely prevalent topic especially in today’s day and age. The media has continuously been used as a scapegoat for the lack of other excuses for abnormal behaviors in America’s teenagers. This was obvious with the April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School near Denver, CO. The media is the easiest and most common thing to blame for teen’s behavior. Their video games, their music, everything that they listen to or watch on their own time is to blame for their behaviors, rather than poor parenting, lack of support at school or lack of noticing on anybody’s behalf that something was wrong with these two boys. Columbine is the number one instance that pops into our minds from recent memory when we contemplate the notion of media affecting our society and our societal behaviors. It was taken to the point that Marilyn Manson was being interrogated in regards to how he felt about the massacre. Parents, teachers and community members alike all believed that his music had a major influence on Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two gunmen, and their actions that day in April. To this day, it is still a widely debated subject as to what caused these two teenagers to kill twelve of their classmates and one of their teachers before killing themselves. As far as teen behavior in general goes, it is common that society blames the media for the actions of the youth even when they as a society are the ones that create the media and the guidelines for it to be presented to the youths. Video games are the main thing that society is blaming, but television shows such as â€Å"Jackass† and â€Å"Viva La Bam† are holding their own in the lineup of things to blame. Teenagers are in a moldable, mutable state in the first place without being influenced by images of idiocy and lack of respect for everything. Thus, the reason behind why parents are putting their foot down in regards to video games such as â€Å"Vice City† and the recent â€Å"Super Columbine Massacre RPG!† The creators of the video game â€Å"Super Columbine Massacre RPG!† are not just sitting back listening to the criticism of their game. They have something to say about the reason it exists in the first place. They say â€Å"†¦This game is intended to deepen the understanding of the shooting and its possible causes. What the player takes out of it is ultimately dependant upon what the player puts into it† (Ledonne, 2005). It is easy to blame video games for abnormal behaviors, but in reality, people are just indirectly blaming themselves. Society demands a certain type of media, and so, that is what they get. They get a game full of violence, killing, stealing cars, etc. All because that is what society is begging the video game industry to produce whether they know it or not. This is not to say that there are teenagers out there that are indeed being influenced by this craze that has swept the nation in recent times. According to an article on the SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) website, in Sarasota, Florida apparently â€Å"†¦Influenced by the movie Jackass, three trespassing teens leap[t] from atop a condominium building aiming for the pool. Two ma[d]e it. One hit[] the side, fracturing both legs and an arm and cracking his pelvis†¦.† (Wallace, 2003). Although it is easy to claim that the media, such as video games and television, has a minor affect on teens in today’s society this is not always true. There are always going to be those few kids that think it would be fun to do what they see on TV or on their videogames. Overall, when all media, including video games are taken to account, it is fairly clear that although we cannot completely blame the media for the actions of teenagers in America, we can blame it for a lot of what they do. A teenager’s main goal in life is to be cool. Simple, clear cut. They just want to be part of the cool crowd. So what do they do? They look to things that the cool crowd watches, wears and how they act. They then try to mimic these things in a futile attempt to become cool. Sometimes, teens get out of hand, and things such as the kids in Sarasota, FL happen. It is only then that we realize how much of an influence the media does indeed have on us, and not just us but our posterity as well. Citations (2000). Medium. Retrieved February 12, 2007, from The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition Web site: http://www.bartleby.com/61/51/M0195100.html Ledonne, Danny (2005). Super columbine massacre RPG!. Retrieved February 12, 2007, from Super Columbine Massacre RPG! Web site: http://www.columbinegame.com/ Wallace, Stephen G (2003). Short Circuit. Retrieved February 13, 2007, from SADD:Students Against Destructive Decisions Web site: http://sadd.org/oped/short.htm

The Cultural Values Of The Brazilian Culture - 1286 Words

Looking around the world there are so many different kinds of cultures and subcultures. There is no way to completely understand all of them. But looking at pieces of a culture can help us better understand the culture as a whole. There are many parts of cultures that are hard to understand, especially when it seems like their values are different from our own. But taking what I know to be true in the American culture, I can use it to understand a few aspects of the Brazilian culture which differ from my own. Some of Brazilian’s cultural values that differ from the American culture include communication, cleanliness, and views on vacations. Brazilians say what the think and this comes off as blunt and absurd to those who grew up in America. In an interview by a women that went on a mission trip she states how she was called fat but not in a degrading way. She though this was inappropriate because in America this talk was inappropriate. I found that the reason why they are more blunt to us Americans is because of the translation. â€Å"When Brazilians use English with native speakers of English, sometimes they will sound more blunt than they mean to. Similarly, when nonnative speakers of Portuguese use Portugeuse with Brazilions, they will also sound more blunt then they mean to,† â€Å"Do not be surprised when Brizlians ask you to calm down, when all along you think you are being calm. And on the other end, do not be surprised if Brazilians sound overly happy, nice and supportiveShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Dimensions of Cultural Context1339 Words   |  6 PagesThe Dimensions of Cultural Context â€Å"The cultural context in which human communication occurs is perhaps the most defining influence on human interaction. Culture provides the overall framework in which humans learn to organize their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in relation to their environment† (1). 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