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Significance of dreams essay
Significance of dreams essay
Significance of dreams essay
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Elephant
Imagine a world without dreams; would it not be empty and meaningless? Have you ever wondered how your life in the end will turn out to be? Have you at any time really taken control of you own life or do you simply not care? No one can live without dreams and aspirations, goals to reach. You have to strive for something in life; otherwise your life is at risk of becoming monotonous and uneventful. Having no dreams tends to isolate you. It is not unlike living in a box, an empty box, where everything feels the same. William, the main character in “Elephant”, deals with this problem every day.
The Author, Polly Clark, is a Canadian writer renowned for her poetry. Her writing scrutinizes all facets of the human experience, ranging from the highest ecstasy to the deepest grief. In the short story “Elephant”, which was published in 2006, the author explores the depths of the human mind.
The story starts in medias res, we just jump straight into the thick of things without much information and, furthermore, it is written in the past tense utilizing a third person narrator that follows the thoughts and feelings of William, who is the main character, closely. Overall the story has a chronological structure, however there is one flashback. The narrator often directly describes actions, such as “William wrote biographies of pop singers” (page 2, line 19). By way of this sentence, the reader is informed of the main character’s profession, and later finds out that William would have rather preferred to write about male film stars from the golden age instead. The narrator also tells the story in such a way that invokes feelings of empathy towards William due to his many problems.
William has a flashback of a childhood incident...
... middle of paper ...
... takes to write: “When you had the material stacked up, right there beside you, a pile of notes and facts, there was absolutely no reason for being unable to proceed with the next step.” Eventually though, he quits his writing career, which was based on these principles because it made him unhappy, and this, perhaps, can be interpreted as Clark’s commentary on her own job as an author, a cautionary tale of sorts, teaching that writing ought to always be based on creativity and inspiration and not the mere mechanical stroke of a pen, much like we as individuals need creativity and inspiration in our lives if we are to be truly content. In short, to produce his best work, an author, of both life and works of literature, needs to fuel his creation by his own honest feelings and experiences and fill the blank pages with all the ‘blue elephants’ he can possibly muster.
Barbara Gowdy’s White Bone is a novel that is written about the perspective of a herd of elephants living in Africa. The main characters are Mud, Tall-Time, Date Bed, and Torrent. All of which develop immensely over the course of the beginning to the end of the first half of the book. The story revolves around their separate and combined journeys towards finding the white bone, a mythical bone which will lead any elephant to where they want to go in life. The story also is powered by the idea that elephants do not forget anything that happens to them in their lives, they remember everything and that if an elephant is not killed prematurely, and then in old age it will go insane and senile with so many useless memories.
...s, and why he writes them at all. Instead of judging him, she tries to understand and fix it her own way, and it affects how he sees his writing:
In her book, Bacon speaks of E.B. White who “strongly cautions against writing that calls attention to itself” (Bacon 9). But, she thinks the opposite of this. She believes that “the best writers also seek pleasure, perhaps for themselves as they write and certainly for us as we read” (10). Seeking pleasure from writing can come in multiple forms. At Boston University, Doyle read multiple stories, all of which are true, that he felt pleasure from and a connection with. To Doyle, a story shows so much more than just what meets the eye. A story should make you feel a connection. In “Joyas Volardores,” Doyle writes with much emotion, saying in it that “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment” (Doyle). From his guest lecture at Boston University, one can conclude that Doyle enjoys writing for the purpose of telling an enjoyable
Elephants'." Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 75-77. Literature Resource Center. Gale.
Clark accurately described Robbins as an extremely clever writer, but unfortunately also one whose uncertainties of tone and stylistic overreaching affect nearly every page. (9)
Love is a very powerful emotion which is achieved by overcoming many hurdles and acting with courage. This bravery can be shown towards anything and anyone, including humans and animals. In Sara Gruen’s Water For Elephants, courage is a key aspect for characters that portray their love for other individuals and the animals. The characters, Jacob and Marlena love each other bravely, despite knowing the consequences for their actions. Not only does Marlena love Jacob, she also portrays affection for her horses as she protects them heroically. However, she is not the only one that admires the animals. Jacob is also fond of the animals in the circus and portrays it with valour.
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
Orwell, George. “Shooting an Elephant.” Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays. Ed. Sonia Orwell. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1950. 3-12.
It is fascinating to me to read the articles “Why I Write,” by George Orwell and Joan Didion. These authors touch on so many different topics for their reasons to writing. Their ideals are very much different, but their end results are the same, words on paper for people to read. Both authors made very descriptive points to how their minds wander on and off their writings while trying to write. They both often were writing about what they didn’t want to write about before they actually wrote what they wanted too. In George Orwell’s case, he wrote many things when he was young the he himself would laugh at today, or felt was unprofessional the but if he hadn’t done so he would not of been the writer he became. In Joan Didion’s case she would often be daydreaming about subjects that had nothing to do with what she intended on writing. Her style of writing in this article is actually more interesting because of this. Her mind wandering all over on many different subjects to how her writing came to her is very interesting for a person like me to read. My mind is also very restless on many different unneeded topics before I actually figure some sort of combined way to put words on to paper for people to read. Each author put down in their articles many ways of how there minds work while figuring out what they are going to write about. Both of the authors ended ...
Dreams can be defined in two ways. Firstly, dreams are the desire to strive for and accomplish something that has always been in a dreamer’s heart. For example, these dreams can be anything from being a professional athlete to a chef. Another way it can be defined is the mental visions one has when sleeping. The Corr’s song Dreams and Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist both imply that when following dreams, unimportant things will come and go, but if dreamers keep their vision clear, they will see what’s truly meant to be. In the novel, the main character Santiago encounters plenty of people and opportunities. Many of them making him choose between his heart and his head. He is always hitting bumps in the road, but constantly sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Moreover, in the song Dreams, it questions whether a dreamer is really up to overcoming these obstacles by listening to his/her heart and knowing when everything should come to an end.
It made me think about how there are professors out there who go home and reflect on the way their teaching their students. That care is so essential and dear to me that I would respect and put more effort into engaging in a class if I knew that much about my professors think and reflect. Moreover, William Stoner was a man that went through intense labor in the farm most of his life and spent the rest laboring in teaching. His sickness only forced him to stand down from his teaching position which I admire so much. He truly loved his position. the only reason he would step down is for forced retirement. Otherwise, no human being on earth could have made William Stoner step down from his position as a literature professor. The type of commitment and dedication that Stoner had, pushed me to reflect on how I treated my studies. The qualities that William Stoner conveyed as I mentioned above are very remarkable and admirable. I felt his love and perseverance for literature through the pages of
In “Shooting an Elephant” writer George Orwell illustrates the terrible episode that explains more than just the action of “shooting an elephant.” Orwell describes the scene of the killing of an elephant in Burma and reveals a number of emotions he experienced during the short, but traumatic event. Effectively, the writer uses many literary techniques to plant emotions and create tension in this scene, leading to an ironic presentation of imperialism. With each of the realistic descriptions of the observing multitude and the concrete appeal of the narrator’s pathos, Orwell thrives in persuading the audience that imperialism not only has a destructive impact on those being governed under the imperialists’ oppressive power, but also corrupts
“Reading to Write” by Stephen King discusses the importance of reading and writing and what it means to him while also adding his own personal experience as insight to support his claim. In “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell he gives a personal descriptive essay about his experience in Moulmein,Lower Burma in an anti-European society as a sub-divisional police officer and the turn of events he experiences when he encounters a runaway elephant. These two essays are magnificently told. With themes and recurring message on top of the effectiveness the authors use when using pathos and ethos, these essays successfully gains the reader's support.
Kamala Das mentions in her autobiography ‘My Story’, ‘A writer’s raw material is not stone or clay; it is her personali...
"Shooting an Elephant" is perhaps one of the most anthologized essays in the English language. It is a splendid essay and a terrific model for a theme of narration. The point of the story happens very much in our normal life, in fact everyday. People do crazy and sometimes illegal moves to get a certain group or person to finally give them respect. George Orwell describes an internal conflict between his personal morals and his duty to his country to the white man's reputation. The author's purpose is to explain the audience (who is both English and Burmese) about the kind of life he is living in Burma, about the conditions, circumstances he is facing and to tell the British Empire what he think about their imperialism and his growing displeasure for the imperial domination of British Empire.