John McPhee's In Search of Marvin Gardens Im his essay In Search of Marvin Gardens, John McPhee examines Atlantic City, New Jersey, the city upon which the board game of Monopoly was based. In his writing, he touches upon both the board game and the physical city equally which begs the reader to ponder the purpose of McPhee’s essay. Did he write his essay to provide for the reader the physical basis for the game of Monopoly? Or did McPhee wish to expose the once glamorous AtlanticCity as a city in its present near-squalor state? As nothing is withoutpurpose, so to must this essay strive to convey something to its readers. It is the purpose of this critique to analyze McPhee’s In Search of MarvinGardens in order to uncover the true purpose behind his writing.Through narrative analysis processes, the true meaning of McPhee’s will be uncovered. McPhee begins his essay with the description of a turn in Monopoly. He then quickly movesto a description of a street (specifically Vermont Avenue) from the actualcity of Atlantic City. He continues in this fashion throughout the essay.As he moves from property to property in his game, he moves descriptivelyfrom street to street and from sector to sector in Atlantic City. McPheebrings in a bit of history as describes each "property" for the reader.From Anthony J. Drexel Biddle and the Brighton Hotel to changes that havetaken place concerningthe type of criminals held in the prison, McPheeoffers us a now and thencomparison throughout and all the while continuinghis game of Monopoly. In order to analyze the essay and answer the question, a systematic analytic approach mustbeset forth. In the case of a narrative analytic approach, there are twomainsteps. First, the piece ... ... middle of paper ... ... been about theMonopoly, the narrator’s style may have been one similarto a play-by-playsports cast or one more or excitement. The final, and mostimportant, literary aspect is that of temporal relations. McPhee uses thisaspect todraw comparisons between the former state of Atlantic City andthe presentstate of the area. The historical facts and stories have basicallyno relevanceto the game of Monopoly and serve only to enhance the overallpurpose of theessay which is that of the city. Although the story CharlesDarrow does providesome history of the game of Monopoly, in the end thishistorical fact is usedto support the contrast between the old and presentcity. In the old city,a simple plumber like Darrow had a chance to oneday have his bust in frontof the bank. In today’s Atlantic city, however,the people carry a senseof hopelessness in that this is not possible.
In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. uses his personal experience to convince others of the importance of revising the segregation laws that were in place during 1960’s. In paragraphs 13 and 14 in particular, there is a lot of language used to persuade the reader’s opinions and emotions toward King’s argument. He does this not only convince his fellow clergymen, but to inform others of the reality that African Americans faced in the 60’s.
Moreover, Wideman ends up having difficulties trying to represents what his brother is “saying” because he ends up writing his own personal opinions and thoughts. Although it was something he was trying to avoid considering it would be a manipulation of the story. Throughout the essay, the reader can observe how Wideman analyzes his past experiences with Robby, and how their relationship has transformed over the years. For instance, the author conveys the bonds he had with his brother in order to express that after all this years they still shared “common history, values, and style developed within the tall stockade of family, and that was enough to make us care about each other” (Wideman 674). In addition, he tells the reader how he wanted Robby to know that he was thinking about “Our shared roots and destiny” (Wideman 674) and how that thinking was getting him closer to Robby.
During the 1920’s, Atlantic City was famous for gambling and drinking. People all over would visit for entertainment and to get rich. After world war two crime and corruption took over the streets causing the city to enter an economic decline. Also following the war, cars became more available which led to the decrease of time spent at the city, people no longer had to wait for a train, they can now visit for a little and leave whenever. Less people staying at the hotels for longer, took away more of the cities money. In 1972, “ The New Yorker” published an article called the The Search for Marvin Garden’s by John McPhee who was smart and talented monopoly player. In the article, McPhee persuades Americans to be weary of what trying to become rich in order to be happy can produce and instead search for happiness in
A major theme in the novel is exposing Wall Streets greed and brutality. The Story begins with Solomon Brothers chairman John Gutfreund challenging board member John Meriwether to a game of Liars Poker, a card game, with one million dollars at stake. Meriwether raises his bet to ten million, setting the scene for the brutish and greed filled novel. Once at Solomon, Lewis is first placed in the training program on the forty-first floor. The training program, as well as the rest of the floor, is mostly comprised of white men in perpetual competition with each other. In the front row of the program are the attentive, nerdier trainees while the back row is described as rowdy and mischievous. The forty first floor was ruled by “The Law of the Jungle” where the traders beat down on the trainees, the back row trainees always stirred up trouble and the only focus was money. Good, bad or evil didn’t matter as long as it made the firm, and the traders, rich. The trading floor at Solomon Brot...
All through their lives Pharoah and LaFayette are surrounded by violence and poverty. Their neighborhood had no banks, no public libraries no movie theatres, no skating rinks or bowling allies. Drug abuse was so rampant that the drug lords literally kept shop in an abondoned building in the progjects, and shooting was everywhere. Also, there were no drug rehabilitation programs or centers to help combat the problem. Police feared going into the ghetto out of a fear for their own safety. The book follows Pharoah and LaFayette over a two year period in which they struggle with school, attempt to resist the lure of gangs, mourn the death of close friends, and still find the courage to search for a quiet inner peace, that most people take for granted.
Colson Whitehead ponders the essence of New York in his collection of essays titled, The Colossus of New York. Throughout the entire collection of essaysWhitehead inquires about what New York stands for based on the journey’s of its inhabitants and visitors. By establishing a sense of authenticity and creating an intimate relationship between him and the reader, Whitehead effectively provides his readers with a genuine account of New York. This genuineness found in Whitehad’s writing has not been met without criticism. Wyatt Mason’s critique of Whitehead’s essays reiterates throughout the review that Whitehead’s account go New York isn’t unique to New York and that the essayist isn’t particularly attentive to detail. While I agree with the
In the game of life man is given the options to bluff, raise, or fold. He is dealt a hand created by the consequences of his choices or by outside forces beyond his control. It is a never ending cycle: choices made create more choices. Using diverse, complex characters simmering with passion and often a contradiction within themselves, Tennessee Williams examines the link of past and present created by man's choices in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a pastor, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Mr. King was a man of honor and respect even in the troubling situations of serving jail time. People who were supposed to support him questioned his actions, Dr. King still stood by what he believed in. In Birmingham, Alabama Dr. King hoped that the white religious leaders will come to his aid but instead found reluctance and opposition. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. refutes his critics claims through the use of passionate tones, metaphors, and allusions.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of a peaceful movement to end segregation in the United States this mission led him in 1963 to Birmingham, Alabama where officials and leaders in the community actively fought against desegregation. While performing sit-ins, marches and other nonviolent protests, King was imprisoned by authorities for violating the strict segregation laws. While imprisoned King wrote a letter entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, in which he expresses his disappointment in the clergy, officials, and people of Birmingham. This letter employed pathos to argue that the leaders and ‘heroes’ in Birmingham during the struggle were at fault or went against their beliefs.
Sidewalk is a book written by Mitchell Duneier, an American sociology professor at Princeton University, in 1999; where the book has gained a lot of favorable reviews, leading its winning the Los Angeles Times Book prize and C. Wright Mills Award. Similarly, the book had become a classic in urban studies, especially due to the interesting methodology, which was used by Duneier while he was conducting his research. The book is based on observations, participant observation and interviews, which gave the author the ability to live and interact with the book and magazine vendors on daily bases. Although, this gave him an insight into the life of the sidewalk, many methodological issues have concerned scholars and students of sociology since the day this book was published. Duneier had admitted during the book that he couldn’t be completely subjective while conducting his research and writing his book due to his involvement and personal relationship with people who work and live at the sidewalk, which raise the question, whether the research is still relevant if the researcher is only giving us an objective outcome?
The school system of the Sumerians set the educational standards for Mesopotamia culture and other cultures to follow. Their studies included mathematics, botany and linguistics. Some students tha...
Why was this early civilization formed? There are many reasons as to why the Sumerians established the world’s first society. Many of the reasons evolved out of basic necessity or out of simple convenience. One of the most significant reasons was food, which until early cities evolved, finding food often meant traveling from place to place looking for food. Finding food was also usually done alone or as a group of family members. The Sumerians establishment of an early civilization helped to greatly reduce that burden, by staying in one region as a community and taking advantage of what was available nearby. This created a communal approach to finding food sources as well as significantly reducing the amount of energy consumed by constantly moving from place to place in search of food.
The Grapes of Wrath is set in the horrible stage of our American history, the Depression. Economic, social, and historical surroundings separate the common man of America into basically the rich and poor. A basic theme is that man turns against one another in a selfish pride to only protect themselves. For example, the landowners create a system in which migrants are treated like animals and pushed along from one roadside camp to the next. They are denied decent wages and forced to turn against their fellow scramblers to simply survive.
Students have been writing essays since education was formalized centuries ago. There are several formats that they are taught throughout the course of their formal education, two of the most common being; Narrative, and Descriptive. Both of these have distinct characteristics that define them, and while they share many similar qualities and are developed to make the reader immerse themselves in the story. Narratives tend to have the power to capture and persuade on a deeper level than most descriptive papers. Two prime examples are the narrative I Want a Wife by Judy Brady and the descriptive essay Fish Cheeks by Amy tan. While they both do an exceptional job at delivering a lesson Brady’s causes you to think from the beginning, her use of the rhetorical devices such as pathos, ethos, and logos are incorporated with a heavy use of sarcasm and harsh remarks that claws for the reader’s attention.
Lost in the City,” is about the lives of black people living in Washington. D.C., during the 1960’s and early 90’s. The character in his title story “Lost in the City” chooses to be lost. The title is symbolic of cultural traditions, memories, photographs, black history, and being black in America. Other characters are lost through circumstances rather than choice. However, getting “lost in the city” was a problem for some and an opportunity for others. His characters are all lost in the city at one point in time. According to Jones, “he writes about the residents too often ignored—those who don’t live in the D.C. or found on postcards. Jones’s most compelling themes is “the daily struggle of ordinary people against terrible odds.”