A Critical Discussion of Blaise Pascal's The Wager In the gambling world bets are made based on odds, the probability or likelihood that something would happen. In the court of law, cases are decided upon by the weight of evidence presented by the respective parties. The common link between these general scenarios is that decisions are made based on some outside evidential factor. The more probable something is likely to happen, or the more evidence presented in favor or opposed to something
Feminism and Insanity in Virginia Woolf's Work The critical discussion revolving around the presence of mystical elements in Virginia Woolf's work is sparse. Yet it seems to revolve rather neatly around two poles. The first being a preoccupation with the notion of madness and insanity in Woolf's work and the second focuses on the political ramifications of mystical encounters. More specifically, Woolf's mysticism reflects on her feminist ideals and notions. Even though she ultimately associates
The African Trilogy - ‘writing back’ to Mister Johnson The African Trilogy has been the subject of much critical discussion since the publication of Things Fall Apart forty years ago. Some of this critical work has focused on the trilogy as a postcolonial work, ‘writing back’ to the previous colonial works on Africa, such as those produced by Joseph Conrad and Joyce Cary. Achebe has himself alluded to these works as part of his motivation for becoming a writer, calling them “appalling novels”
thoughts from fragments of memory and fantasy. Its vividness and genial, bittersweet speculation help make it one of Frost's most popular poems, and because its shifts of metaphor and tone invite varying interpretation it has also received much critical discussion, not always admiring. The poem moves back and forth between two visual perspectives: birch trees as bent by boys' playful swinging and by ice storms, the thematic interweaving being somewhat puzzling. The birches bent "across the lines of straighter
Horror and Self-punishment in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex An ancient plate portraying Oedipus listening to the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus Rex is a play whose qualities of inscrutability and of pervasive irony quickly come to complicate any critical discussion. It is a play of transformations in which things change before our eyes as we watch; where meanings and implications seem to be half-glimpsed beneath the surface of the text only to vanish as we try to take them in; and where ironical resemblance
serious flaws, however, and what they may be, is less certain, for it is here that opinion varies. Of particular interest to some is the allegory of Sin and Death (II. 648-883). Robert C. Fox wonders that it has not been the subject of much more critical discussion, asking "Is it that Milton's readers are puzzled by this episode and, unable to explain its significance, prefer to pass it over in silence? Or do they regard it as so obvious in meaning that no interpretive remarks are necessary?" ("The Allegory"
psychoanalytical approach. While this paper will somewhat attempt to move away from a psychoanalytical methodology, it is valuable to examine the existing scholarship and the departures from this approach. Within this theoretical structure, the critical discussion further breaks down into two separate, though not incompatible, groups: those who see Woolf’s use of mysticism as a feminist statement and those who see Woolf as a mystic. I contend that both perspectives are valid and are inherent in Woolf’s
author's own vision and experience. While acknowledging the Judeo-Christian content, these other symbols are just as important, and an exploration into their use in Steinbeck's work, reveal their real significance. Much of the existing critical discussion of The Grapes of Wrath has focused on the pervasive Judeo-Christian symbolism of the work, particularly the identification of Jim Casy with Jesus Christ. Undeniably, Steinbeck intended this association; but to attempt to force the book's
crucial, then, is the relationship between inner justice and acts which brings about a just polis. I. The Unimportance of Ordinary Justice The issue of the relationship between inner justice and ordinary justice has been the subject of critical discussion since it was famously raised by David Sachs. (1) In this essay, I shall argue that the relationship between inner (or 'Platonic') justice and ordinary justice (conceived as doing acts which Glaucon, Adeimantus and the rest of the gathering consider
A Critical Discussion of the Psychological Explanations of Prejudice Gordon Allport described prejudice as “aversive or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he belongs to that group, and is therefore presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to that group”. Prejudice is assuming things about a person putting them into a group. The aim of this essay is discuss the attempts to reduce prejudice and explain how successful they have been. In this
Definition Essay - What is Art? There are few questions quite as esoteric or as futilely subjective as the philosopher's "What is…?" Yet posing and answering this question in reference to the identity of art is critical to further discussions of our subject matter in this course. There is no way for us to discuss art until we have a working definition of what art is; we can't adequately use the term until we've defined it. To this end, I would like to submit this as a working definition:
such thing as class discussion) taught me merely to interpret the works as critics had in the past. I did not enjoy the reading or writing process. As a freshman at Loras, I was enrolled in the Critical Writing: Poetry class. For the first time since grade school, my writing ability was praised and the sharing of my ideas was encouraged by an enthusiastic and nurturing professor. Despite the difficulty of poetry, I enjoyed reading it. Because of my wonderful experience in Critical Writing, my love for
The Character of Norma Jean in Shilo Norma Jean Moffit is a major character in Bobbie Ann Mason's "Shilo" who undergoes a profound, yet subtle change. She had to marry at the age of eighteen to the man who got her pregnant, and in a cruel twist of fate, the child dies suddenly of crib death. Now at the age of 34, she is ready to have the life she feels she always should have had, however she is stuck in a loveless marriage to a man whose interests are the opposite of hers. Her decision to leave
Gatsby and Nick show examples of pride. C. Interactions between other minor characters show pride throughout the novel. III. Discussions arise that give Nick certain biased or critical opinions, these opinions reflect his pride and other people’s opinions reflect it as well. A. Discussions about money and other financial issues help flesh out the idea of pride. B. Discussions about social situations and interactions between certain couples show Nick’s concern over his pride. 1. Nick talks or discusses
Using Listservs and Discussion Groups in the English Classroom Virtually everyone is on the Internet these days from my 85-year-old grandfather to my five-year-old nephew. We are checking our emails from long lost friends and next-door neighbors. As adults we are paying our bills, filing our taxes, and scheduling our appointments. But the phenomena is not exclusive to adults; teens are on there more than ever communicating with one another, shopping, and finding out information about endless
of "Burnt Norton" it has been a critical commonplace to regard these portions of the text as at once its most conceptually profound and its most formally prosaic. Of course, the Quartets offer enough cues toward this critical attitude that it may fairly be said to reside within the poem at least as much as it is imposed from without. As the text of the poem itself apparently gives license to the view that its "poetry does not matter," the preponderance of critical attention to the Quartets' non-lyrical
of the documentary richly contextualize the literature that Wright produced. In that sense, the documentary synthesizes a great amount of historical, social and cultural information about the twentieth century. It can be used to prompt extensive discussions, to stimulate students to undertake special research projects, to write papers or combine the arts and/or cultural knowledge into a learning experience. Since the documentary is ninety minutes in length, planning and scheduling viewing time for
that science can create. Some discussion topics for my class would include animal testing, cloning, genetic research, DNA research, water and air pollution, and overpopulation. My students would research the topic and its effects, prepare a paper, give a speech, and lead the class discussion of the topic sharing their own viewpoint. This process would develop my students’ critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making skills. By employing class discussions, cooperati... ... middle of
and one of the most paradoxical. She was a Catholic and she was an anarchist. She condemned poverty and she advocated it. She founded the Catholic Worker, a loose aggregation of 'houses of hospitality,' communal farms, newspapers and round-table discussions for 'further clarification of thought' - and called her memoirs 'The Long Loneliness.' The movement was wary of authority, yet revered her as its leader (Rosin). If Dorothy Day is ever canonized, the record of who she was, what she was like and
Role of Women in My Antonia The role of the women in My Antonia as the showcased laborers and workers in the new community does not, certainly, alleviate the questions of patriarchal influence offered in the discussions of gender. Certainly, the fact that Ántonia is deprived of the education she longs for and yet cannot have, because it is she who is responsible for her family's success--"'School is all right for little boys. I help make this land one good farm'" (94)--cannot be seen as entirely