Maturity Even though the fourteen-year-old Nita Callahan thought battling magical creatures was tough, but in Diane Duane's "A Wizard Abroad," she discovers that the heaviest burden isn't wielding magic, but shouldering the responsibility that comes with it. Sent on a solo mission to Ireland, Nita trades her usual partner, Kit Rodriguez, for a talking dog named Ponch and a crash course in unfamiliar magic. Tasked with preventing a powerful artifact from falling into the wrong hands, Nita must navigate not only mischievous fairies and wary leprechauns, but also the consequences of her own actions in a land where magic holds ancient and unpredictable power. As she confronts cultural misunderstandings and unforeseen dangers, Nita learns that true …show more content…
Initially, she views it as a childish symbol she's outgrown, tucking it under her shirt as if embarrassed. However, as she faces increasingly difficult choices in Ireland, the necklace becomes a tangible reminder of her power and the accountability that comes with it. When confronted by a powerful and dangerous entity, Nita instinctively clutches the pentacle, realizing, "It wasn't just a symbol anymore. It was a promise... a promise to use whatever power she had to keep things from getting worse" (Duane, 215). This moment highlights the shift in Nita's perspective; the necklace transforms from a mere symbol of her magical abilities into a physical representation of her commitment to using those abilities responsibly, even when facing fear and …show more content…
Used to the more structured rules of wizardry in her own country, Nita discovers that Irish magic is wilder and less predictable. When she attempts a seemingly harmless spell to understand the local language, she inadvertently unleashes a powerful entity that throws the balance of the magical world into disarray. Reflecting on her actions, Nita realizes with a jolt, "It wasn't just a matter of knowing the right words and the right way to move her hands anymore. It was knowing what might happen if she got it wrong" (Duane, 285). This realization marks a significant shift in Nita's understanding of responsibility. It's no longer enough to simply know how to use magic; true responsibility requires anticipating potential consequences, even – and especially – when those consequences are unintended. This experience underscores the thesis by highlighting that responsible magic demands careful consideration, adaptability, and a willingness to learn from mistakes, ultimately emphasizing the complex and nuanced nature of responsible decision-making. In conclusion, through Nita's transformative journey in "A Wizard Abroad," Diane Duane crafts a compelling narrative about the multifaceted nature of responsibility. Nita's evolving relationship with her pentacle, her encounters with Irish magic, and her struggles with unintended consequences all
Symbolism- “You’re supposed to ask yourself what the ring means. Obviously it has something to do with love, rings always do, and since she’s taken it off, obviously something has gone wrong in the love relationship.” (Arnason, page 228)
Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.
In "Our Secret" by Susan Griffin, the essay uses fragments throughout the essay to symbolize all the topics and people that are involved. The fragments in the essay tie together insides and outsides, human nature, everything affected by past, secrets, cause and effect, and development with the content. These subjects and the fragments are also similar with her life stories and her interviewees that all go together. The author also uses her own memories mixed in with what she heard from the interviewees. Her recollection of her memory is not fully told, but with missing parts and added feelings. Her interviewee's words are told to her and brought to the paper with added information. She tells throughout the book about these recollections.
Susan Griffin's "Our Secret" is a study in psychology. It is a look into the human mind to see what makes people do the things they do and in particular what makes people commit acts of violence. She isolates the first half of the twentieth century and in particular the era of the Second World War as a basis for her study. The essay discusses a number of people but they all tie in to Heinrich Himmler. He is the extreme case, he who can be linked directly to every single death in the concentration camps. Griffin seeks to examine Himmler because if she can discern a monster like Himmler than everyone else simply falls into place. The essay also tries to deduce why something like the Holocaust, although never mentioned directly, can take place. How can so many people be involved and yet so few people try to end it.
Humans are curious people, knowing how things work and knowing how things fit together has always interested our minds. When we are presented with an idea that we don’t know we want to solve it. That is exactly the purpose of mystery and detective stories. Mystery stories capture our attention and makes us strive to find out and understand the story and this is why we keep coming back to them.
Human; relating to or having characteristics of a person(Merriam-Webster). A human is truly just a soul combined with characteristics of other people, and this is proven by Jenna Fox; the main character in The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. After finding out what her body is made up of, Jenna along with other characters think she is not human. Despite this Jenna Fox has always had the key elements it takes to be a human been. Jenna for one has a past and memories that make up her life even after the accident. More importantly it is unfair to call her a “monster” when she shows characteristics similar to that of other humans. Needless to say, Jenna just as any other human isn’t perfect, and she later learns that in order to be one hundred percent human she must have the same chances of succeeding in life as any other human would. Jenna Fox is human because she has a soul regardless of her differences.
Maggie Nelson’s work The Argonauts is a genre-blending memoir, which at its core explores the imitations of love and language by offering brazen and intense firsthand accounts into the complexities and delights of making a gender fluid family. Traditional aspects of unconditional love, specifically in the nuclear family, are rarely present in this work. Does Nelson believe that love and language have their own limitations? Or is she pushing the boundaries by questioning the definition of “unconditional love” and if there is even such a concept in the modern world? This question is initially exemplified in The Argonauts when it states: “the conviction that words are not good enough. Not only not good enough, but corrosive to all that is good,
Imagine discovering that you’re not an ordinary person, but a wizard with magnificent, magical powers. Imagine attending a school where you’ll study transfiguration and charms instead of trigonometry and chem. Imagine the thrill of flying across the sky on a broomstick. These adventures and many others are waiting to be experienced in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by novelist J. K. Rowling. This fanciful and entertaining tale has taken the youth of the nation by storm, and its sales have only been surpassed by the book’s sequels, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
The thought of magic, witches, and sorcery to be fact is seen as preposterous in modern America. Coincidence is accepted as such and accusations of possession and bewitchment is extinct. When North America was first colonized by Europeans, however, the fear of magic and the like was all too real. Alison Games’s “Witchcraft in Early North America” describes the effects of the Europeans’ on the Native Americans and vice versa. As decades progressed, the ideas on witchcraft of the Spanish and British changed as well. “Witchcraft in Early North America” introduces different beliefs and practices of witchcraft of Europeans before colonization, Native Americans after colonization, the Spanish of New Mexico, and the British Colonies.
In Kate Chopin's "The Awakening," Edna Pontellier's tragic end is the cause of her lack of self-fulfillment. However, her experiences suggest that her ultimate decision may have been influenced by underlying mental health struggles, depression and possibly bipolar disorder. Through an analysis of key passages and events in the novel, as well as an exploration of Edna's concept of self-fulfillment, it becomes evident that her mental health plays a significant role in shaping her fate. Edna Pontellier's ultimate decision at the end of "The Awakening" is closely tied to her long-standing struggles with depression and bipolar disorder than to a lack of self-fulfillment, as shown by her recurring episodes of loss of courage, her detachment from societal norms, and the sad similarities between what Edna's recurring episodes of sadness and anguish suggest an underlying mental health condition rather than a lack of self-fulfillment.
Since Homo-erectus appeared in the African continent over a million years ago humans have evolved from beasts into men and women that are capable of advanced thought processing and complex ideas. Part of this evolution has been the creation of that supersede the corporeal such as good and evil, morality, and love; likewise, as proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow humans evolved from requiring simple basic needs to seeking self-fulfillment and finding a purpose. In the short story The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James the reader is able to witness this quest for a greater purpose in a proverbial like tale or what Carol Dell'Amico calls, “the story's fable-like quality”. To convey the moral and theme of the story, the necessity to live in
The book dabbles with the genre of fantasy and coming of age, solely bringing out the child-like sense within you
The Necklace also displays distinctive realism in the use of socioeconomic influences which are essential to the plot. The major conflict in the story would be absent and the theme would not be obtainable without Mathilde Loisel’s insecurity about her own socioeconomic reputation. An example of Loisel’s self-deprivation nature is presented when she realizes she does not have a necklace, she says “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party” (Maupassant, sec. 3). Another example of the self-conflict caused by social pressure is Loisel’s immediate attempt to replace the necklace and her reluctance to speak to her friend Madame Forestier about the necklace for ten whole years. If she were not conflicted by societal pressures she might have avoided the whole situation altogether. The Necklace establishes a realistic difference in value between the necklaces and proposed clothing. Her husband proposes flowers which were valued 10 franks so in any case if she had chosen the flowers there would have been an insignificant economic loss. Her decision not to tell her friend about the necklace ends up costing her seven times the worth of the original. The roses symbolize the simpler things in life to the theme of the story. Mathilde Loisel’s withered appearance at the end
As I did research on how others interpreted the story, the same conclusion would pop up. The necklace was used as a symbol of higher class of wealth. We use symbolic items to try and fit into societies belief of “fancy”. The deeper meaning is within the true value of the necklace. It is a fake just as she is! She is trying to be something she is not and ends up losing the necklace which holds a false value as well. This is why a person should not take everything as it
In today’s modern world, societies from all reaches of the globe are closer than ever. Events in one society often end up resulting in some kind of domino effect in which they end up occuring in another. Often ideas of witchcraft and sorcery tend to fade away as societies become more globalised and far greater connected. However, in some parts of the world , witchcraft and sorcery serves as a very real phenomenon. By means of various ethnographic examples, this essay seeks to show how witchcraft and sorcery can serve as an explanation for the occurance of various tragedies in a society and also manages to spread throughout the contemporary globalised world.