It is the husband’s birthday and his wife had prepared a surprise for him. This surprise came in the form of a “small but glossy birthday cake, with one pink candle” (2). The text states that he got a small cake, reinforcing the idea that he is not rich. In addition, the quote states that there was one pink candle atop the cake. Firstly, he had one candle, showing the public once again, that he lacked money. Next, the color of the candle probably offended and humiliated him because pink was considered a feminine color as this story was published in 1946. At that time, gender stereotypes were very significant and the wife gave the man a pink candle, embarrassing him. The man’s humiliation proves that he cared about his own image more than someone’s good…
In the 1950s the newly introduced plastic, hot pink flamingo was not only a yard ornament but also a symbol of a progressive and forward-thinking generation of Americans. In “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History” Jennifer Price uses the bold symbol of the flamingo to reveal her view of United States culture.…
In Tan’s story, “Fish Cheeks”, a Chinese-American girl is not only embarrassed by the food she loves, but all of her family’s traditions. In the beginning of the story, the young girl, Amy, states, “For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose” (Tan). Amy’s wish for an American nose symbolizes satisfaction and happiness because it’s a quality that she desires to change. The use of symbols to represent ideas allows readers to see Amy’s in herself.…
In "The Thing in the Forest," by A.S. Byatt, many children are evacuated from London as a result of war bombings and brought to the countryside to be sheltered. Penny and Primrose, two girls from different classes are amongst the evacuees. The two venture off into the forest where they encounter, "The Thing," which in the story, Byatt tells the readers that "The Thing" has many traits in common with the war.…
Hunt describes how her mother taught her in purple and gold, but wore wash-grey. Her mother pretended to be special and wealthy even though she was average like anyone else. She lived on a “filthy street” with “broken molding” but “reached for beauty.” Much like her, Willy has a false idea of how important and well-liked he is. He convinces himself that he is a great salesman, when…
In “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History.” author Jennifer Price explains that the lifeless bird symbolizes Americans are lead on by the media and will purchase just about anything to prove their wealthiness.…
“Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams.”…
I totally agree with what you said for number 4. The Confederacy was based on the idea that whites and blacks were different and should not have the same rights. I also agree that this flag is against American principles that all men were created equal, and therefore it is a symbol of racism and…
In this excerpt, from A White Heron, by Sarah Orne Jewett, a number of literary techniques were used. All of them contributing to the excerpt's excellent flow. This essay will focus on three literary techniques Jewett used "" imagery, tone, and symbolism.…
2) The Lost Symbol begins with Harvard Professor Robert Langdon receiving a call form a long time friend and powerful Mason, Peter Solomon. His friend asks him to present a speech in D.C. that day, and Professor Langdon agrees, and takes the next flight to D.C., only to discover that Peter Solomon never really invited him! The initiation turned out to be a fraud, and Langdon quickly discovers his dear friend is in terrible danger. He is told to cooperate with the mysterious person that caused all this trouble or risk Peter’s life. The strange man asks for a sort of “key” that Langdon possesses.…
A cultural universal (as discussed by George Murdock, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Donald Brown and others) is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all human cultures worldwide. Evolutionary psychologists hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations.[1] Some anthropological sociological theorists that take a cultural relativist perspective may deny the existence of cultural universals: the extent to which these universals are "cultural" in the narrow sense, or in fact biologically inherited behavior is an issue in the "nature versus nurture" controversy. Some of the cultural universals would include Appearance, Belief System, Communication, Dates, Entertainment, Food, Government, Homes, Jobs, Kind of Environment, and Language and cognition. Ethnocentrism is viewing one’s own culture as superior to all other cultures Brown further develops his classification of universals into four types; near universals such as fire and keeping domestic dogs; conditional universals such that if a culture values handedness it usually chooses the right hand; statistical universals such as using the words for “little person” in unrelated languages the the pupil of the eye; and universal pools such as limited set of sematic contrasts such as sex and generation used to describe the kinship systems of most societies. Cognitive anthropologists have searched for universals through studying the way people classify plants, animals, and colors. Universal’s affect the way we socially and independently behave; also with a strong influence in what we believe religiously. It affects our perspective or our view on life and its path we take. Culture is a web of values, meanings, and behavior that is deeply embedded in our experience of daily life and shared with others who belong to the same group. Cultural universals are anything that is part of every culture, but varies from culture to culture. Some…
A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a play about an African American family in 1950s America. The Younger family struggle through racism and family turmoil that threatens to split the family apart. But throughout it all they persevere and the result is a new fresh beginning. Mama’s plant is a shining symbol of the Younger’s for the following reasons.…
In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, one of the main characters, was able to notice through multiple events that love is an aspect that is needed in every human being. The book shows that love is when someone cares deeply for someone else, and he or she puts that person’s well being before his or her own. As Hermoine, another main character, and Harry, looked on Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore’s grave in Godric’s Hollow, there was a quote signifying that wherever your treasure may be, “there will your heart be also” (325). When someone loves another being as if they were the only treasure they need in the world, that person is able to find their own love hidden deep in the other person’s heart, beating in unison. Dumbledore, the dead headmaster of Hogwarts, told Harry Potter at King’s Cross after he died that “power was [his] weakness and [his] temptation” and those who are suited to power are the ones “who have never sought it” (718). Power leads people to become cold-hearted who do not know anything about compassion and care for others, since they are not able to balance the two aspects out. Dumbledore also comments that people should “pity the living” instead of the dead and “above all, those who live without love” (722). The dead are in peace since they are not tempted by greed or by power unlike the living are. Money and fame makes a person become self-centered and not think about the sake of others. What a person truly needs besides knowledge and friends is love, nothing more and nothing less. Harry was able to walk calmly to his death for the people he loved and return back to face Lord Voldermort, the antagonist, and kill him with the motivation of…
visible luxuries: the rest is the irreducible minimum of poverty’s needs” (1,21) In her room she has a birdcage which could symbolize how she is trapped in poverty, and strives for freedom. Also, Eliza has a gas…
Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.…