Have you ever wondered if there is a price to knowledge that we learn and get at any cost? In the poem “American Flamingo,” Greg Pape, (see Fig.1.) he is basing his knowledge on what he knows in the painting American Flamingo by John James Audubon, (see Fig.2.) what he did not know, and showing how smart he is with the knowledge he has. The painting has caused an ethical dilemma regarding knowledge. When I first read the poem by Pape I was confused because he writes about the “the tongue is lined with man small/ tongues (lines 4 and 5), and “the blue eye” (line 10). When looking at the painting Audubon did not draw the mouth of the flamingo open, that I lead me to think that Pape poem is demonstrating his knowledge on what is knows about flamingos …show more content…
when he started it off by writing “I know he shot them to know them” (line 1). The first time when I looked at the painting the flamingo stand out more from the flamingos behind it and the details were very defined on how a flamingo looks like. When I look at the painting I can not tell where Audubon was when he saw the flamingos to paint them, but Pape mentions “in the heavy Miami light”. At that moment I found out that Pape is basing this on the knowledge that he knows because he has seen the flamingos himself and describe how it felt to see the flamingos. He also mentions that in Hialeah, Florida he describes how the flamingos take wing and fly over a Florida racetrack (“American Flamingo” Ekphrastic): “slow swirls of grace from the old world/ that made tickets fall from hands” (lines 38 and 39). Pape started the poem off by writing “I know he shot them to know them (line 1). To me, this means that in order for Audubon to paint the American Flamingo he had to kill a flamingo to be able to paint how they actually look liked. Audubon is known to paint the American birds to their actual size and at eye level of every detailed and aspect of the flamingo’s life in nature (“American Flamingo” Picturing). Audubon killing the flamingo lead him to know the difference between female and males flamingos (“American Flamingo” Audubon). Audubon and Pape both want to show the aspect of life and nature that a flamingo lives in.
Audubon has painted eight other flamingos behind the flamingo that takes up most of the painting, and they are in different postures to show how flamingos move their body in different ways. Pape has described the eight flamingos as “eight stunning movements in the ongoing/ dance of the flamingos” (lines 23 and 24). To show that flamingos may move in the same way but they move in different postures of life and stay in that posture like a dance that is being performed in front of their eyes. Audubon and Pape want us to know that there is much more to know about life and the world around us, also that there is more to come our way in …show more content…
life. While Audubon was sailing he saw a flock of flamingos flying above and he was excited at what he saw for the first time (“American Flamingo” Audubon). He found the purpose of studying the flamingos, that he watched them fly with their wings beating and the pilot, Mr. Egan, offered to shoot one but the head of the flock had deviated away from Audubon. They had seen the flock of the flamingos again but they had veered away from them one again (“American Flamingo” Audubon). Audubon watched their movement of being able to sail away without beating their wings. When Audubon had shot a flamingo, “it continued to fly … until nearly half a mile off, when it sailed downwards, and resumed its wonted low flight” (“American Flamingo” Audubon). Audubon was able to shoot a flamingo but there was no effect toward the flamingo falling to the ground. As I already mentioned, Audubon killed the flamingo and other birds to be able to paint them how they are.
As humans, we have studied the body of a dead animal to have knowledge of how the animals use their bodies to live, like how we study the human body to know how our body works and the functions. I know this because of Andreas Vesalius had experimented on pig’s spinal cord to further is knowledge by observing on how the body works (Gunderman, Richard). But is killing an animal worth the knowledge to know at the very moment? To think about the cost of knowledge leads to an ethical dilemma to know what is the greater good and the lesser evil. The greater good would be that killing animals lead us to know more about the world around us and how animal function differently from a human. The lesser evil would be we would be taking away children from mother nature and taking a life from this earth. Furthermore, we would be taking away a family member to their kind and children, like humans have family and children. The price of knowledge can be argued both ways, but there are people who might think that there is no point in taking a life to have
knowledge. Overall, Pape and Audubon have both shown/written about this aspect of the life of the flamingo by showing the different postures, tongue and where they live. Also, to know the length that Audubon went through in order to paint the American Flamingo and that Pape is demonstrating his knowledge on flamingos in his poem. There is no right or wrong answer to know the ethical dilemma in the painting is for the greater good, to have the knowledge now or the lesser evil, is killing worth the knowledge that we want to obtain.
“The Charmer” by Budge Wilson is a short story about a Canadian family that finds misfortune and conflict within their lives. Conflict being the predominant theme which directly affects all the participants in the family. The story is written in third person and narrated from the young girl Winifred’s point of view. Budge Wilson uses Zack’s smothered childhood, charming personality and irresponsible behaviour to create emotional conflict between members of the family.
reacts to the crosser. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker’s first impression of the swamp
The book “A Long Way From Chicago” is an adventurous and funny story. The story takes place at Joey Dowdel’s Grandmothers farm house in the country. Joey and his sister Mary Alice were sent to their Grandma’s house during the summer because their parents had to go to Canada for their work. At first, Joey felt uncomfortable with his Grandmother because he had never met her before but eventually he got to know her and they became close friends.
Drifters by Bruce Dawe This poem is about a family that’s always on the move, with no place to settle down for long, hence the poem was titled ‘Drifters’ to describe this family. ‘Drifters’ looks at the members of this family response to frequently change and how it has affected them. This poem is told in third person narration in a conversational tone. This gives the feeling as if someone who knows this family is telling the responder the situation of this family.
Knowledge can be the key to success and can lead people to happier life. However, there are some instances that you can not gain any more knowledge because of how it would change your whole life. The drive of wanting more and more knowledge is best portrayed through two well -known books. In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, and in Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon, both the creature and Charlie are ostracized by society because they are different from everyone else but this distinction gave way for distinct fallouts because of their quest for knowledge beyond their reach to achieve happiness.
In the short story “Cornet at night” by Sinclair Ross, Tom Dickson is a young farm boy who lives on a farm with his parents. He is very naive and has not had a chance to experience the outside world for his own. He knows only what he learns from the farm and school, but now that he gets to go on a small adventure on his on, he grows up in a variety of ways. One way in which Tom grows up is when he goes to town by himself. He has gone before, but with the security of his parents with him, and for a young boy to go to another town “eight miles north of here” is a large task for such a young boy, thus showing one way that he matures. To illustrate this, as Tom rolls into town with Rock he says, “I remember nothing but a smug satisfaction with myself, an exhilarating conviction of importance and
The short story, Ashes for the Wind by Hernando Tellez, the central conflict is focused around two groups, the all-powerful government and powerless farmers. The struggle that is going on is one that is commonly seen in poor third world countries where the government controls everything and where the people make up the complete work force. The story reveals Juan Martinez’s inner beliefs, that he is a stubborn yet proud man that will stand for everything that he owns even if that means death. Even after voting for the wrong side, Juan protects his family from the evil that is the law. Arevalo’s motivations were such that he did not stand up for the family that he grew up with. His betrayal of the political system and his father leaves Simon’s
In Craig Lesley’s novel The Sky Fisherman, he illustrates the full desire of direction and the constant flow of life. A boy experiences a chain of life changing series of events that cause him to mature faster than a boy should. Death is an obstacle that can break down any man, a crucial role in the circle of life. It’s something that builds up your past and no direction for your future. No matter how hard life got, Culver fought through the pain and came out as a different person. Physical pain gives experience, emotional pain makes men.
The fundamental characteristic of magical realism is its duality, which enables the reader to experience both the character’s past and the present. In the novel, Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson uses this literary device to address the the trauma and mistreatment of the Haisla community in Canada by unveiling the intimate memories of the protagonist, Lisamarie, and the resulting consequences of this oppression. Monkey Beach illustrates how abuse in the past leads to another form of self-medication in the future - a neverending, vicious cycle for the members of the Haisla community. Many characters in Monkey Beach are scarred from childhood sexual abuse and family neglect, and resort to drug and alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism. These appalling memories are an account of the impact of colonization on the Haisla territory which continues to haunt the Aboriginal community throughout generations.
“Let Them Talk!” written by Wayne E. Wright is an article that focuses on the idea of promoting English Language Learners (ELL) oral-language skills in the classroom instruction time to improve their literacy and academic achievement. Too often are an ELL’s speaking and listening skills overlooked and not given enough attention to, even though it is one of the most important parts of communication. Wright encourages teachers working with ELL students to allow time for the student to adjust, not to pressure them into their language development, respect their various stages, bring them into whole class and small group discussions, correct simple language errors in speaking that impeded comprehension, and have them interact and communicate in the classroom for meaningful purposes.
As a journalist in 1920 for the New York Herald Tribune, Sophie Treadwell was assigned to go to Mexico to follow the situation after the Mexican Revolution. (Mexican Revolution 1910-1917) She covered many important aspects of the Mexican Revolution during this time, including relations between the U.S. and Mexico. She was even permitted an interview with Pancho Villa in August 1921 at his headquarters. This interview and other events that she experienced in Mexico are presumably what led her to write the play Gringo. In Gringo Treadwell tries to depict the stereotypical and prejudicial attitudes that Mexicans and Americans have about each other. There is a demonstration of how Mexican women are looked at in the Mexican culture and how they see themselves. The play also corresponds to similar events that occurred during the Mexican Revolution.
“Wild Geese” is very different from many poems written. Oliver’s personal life, the free form of the poem along with the first line, “You do not have to be good,” and the imagery of nature contributes to Oliver’s intent to convince the audience that to be part of the world, a person does not need to aspire to civilization’s standards.
The poem America by Claude McKay is on its surface a poem combining what America should be and what this country stands for, with what it actually is, and the attitude it projects amongst the people. Mckay uses the form of poetry to express how he, as a Jamaican immigrant, feels about America. He characterizes the bittersweet relationship between striving for the American dream, and being denied that dream due to racism. While the America we are meant to see is a beautiful land of opportunity, McKay see’s as an ugly, flawed, system that crushes the hopes and dreams of the African-American people.
The novel Upside Down, by Eduardo Galeano depicts the injustices and unfairness of several branches of the global society. The differences between the colonized and the colonizer as Galeano writes is always growing and so is the gap between rich and poor. The author challenges western and eurocentric minds as to why on average, countries in the northern hemisphere have a higher standard of living than countries in the southern hemisphere. At first as a reader I thought the writer was whining about the unfairness of the world, but it is the social opiates such as the false idea of capitalism and choice that keeps us in check in this so called democracy. The author forces the reader to open their hearts to a concept that today's capitalist, power hungry society has almost forgotten
Production of knowledge is generally seen in a positive light. However, when ethics and morality become involved in the process of production, judgements will undoubtedly be made that may seem to limit the availability of that knowledge. Ethical judgements are made by the combination of a knower, his or her standard of value, and the situation itself. In the field of the arts and natural sciences, ethics plays a crucial role in the extent one may possibly be allowed to go when discovering new knowledge. Reason and emotion are important ways of knowing that help guide knowers in making certain moral decisions.