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An essay about the importance of friendship
An essay about the importance of friendship
An essay about the importance of friendship
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Modern friendships are like a ticking time bomb of events that include support, betrayal, and an assortment of variability. Sun-Tzu once spoke the immortal words,” Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Sun Tzu was no stranger to strategizing and when he wrote The Art of War, in which the quote originated from, his advice spoke of pure strategic intelligence. Sun-Tzu recognized that to be successful in life and in war, an individual had to surround himself with enemies who could conspire against him rather than friends who would remain loyal to him. A Little Princess, which was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, uses the relationship between Miss Mincin and Sara Crewe to illustrate the importance of keeping one’s enemies close rather than keeping them at a distance.
The film A Little Princess tells the story of Sara Crewe and Miss Minchin who have entirely different interpretations on life. While Sara Crewe feels that all girls are princesses in their own way, Miss Minchin feels that girls were put on earth to take life as is and work productively and efficiently. Throughout the film, Miss Minchin and Sara’s upbringings provide a clear understanding of why their characters act and behave as they do. Sara Crewe lived in India with her father, Captain Crewe and they moved because Captain Crewe had to fight for the British Government in World War One. Their father-daughter relationship is filled with love and support for one another. Sara subsequently is enrolled in Miss Minchin’s Seminary for Girls where she meets her future adversary, Miss Minchin. Miss Minchin is a tired old woman with a fierce attitude and two grey streaks in her hair. She desires nothing more than money and maintaining class. While the film does not show...
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...g Sun-Tzu’s words of keeping one’s enemies close rather than at a distance, Miss Minchin kept Sara as a servant despite her ability to throw Sara into the streets. Gaining two servants, rather than one, Miss Minchin is able to obtain yet again another precious item, servitude without pay. Miss Minchin does not gain any money whatsoever but now, she does not need to pay anyone to be a servant or a maid. Throughout the film, each time Miss Minchin gains something there is a connection between Miss Minchin and the students or Miss Minchin and Sara Crewe. This demonstrates that by maintaining closer bonds with individuals who one can feel are inferior or simply an enemy, can be more profitable than maintaining closer bonds with friends of loved ones who would remain loyal to anyone they call family or friend.
Works Cited
A Little Princess- Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
One of the most memorable friendships of the early 2000s is portrayed in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. When the two main characters Napoleon and Pedro meet, they become fast friends. Napoleon and Pedro stay loyal to each other throughout the entire movie, despite what others might think. This is similar to how John Steinbeck portrays friendship in his novella Of Mice and Men. The friendship between the main characters of the novella, George and Lennie, is unexpected. They choose to stand by each other regardless of society’s expectations. Through this, Steinbeck communicates the theme that a loyal friend can be a haven in a heartless world.
...attacks, and burning from flame throwers. The Germans are relentlessly hostile toward the British and Canadian soldiers, saving no lives but disposing of many. The Germans are truly enemies of these soldiers; however, in this case they definitely do not act as friends, which ultimately disagrees with Timothy Findley’s assumption that one’s enemy is their closest friends. The saying, “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”, is truly substantiated within the text The Wars. For one’s “enemy” will not hurt them, as no trust is deposited into an enemy, however one’s friend will, since as a friend, one invests plenty of trust into another and by having this trust broken one is hurt more than anything. Timothy Findley deconstructs the concept of friend and enemy within his novel The Wars, by illustrating that one’s enemy will turn out to be their closest friend.
Literary critic, Walter Wells, states this in his analysis of the two pieces, writing that “both protagonists have come to realize that romantic gestures -- in fact, that the whole chivalric world view -- are, in modern times, counterproductive” (Wells 3). Both protagonists, being either a child or just a year into his adulthood, lacks a true understanding of the world around them. Motivated by their incomplete knowledge of the world and the people around them, they act out in a grand gesture, hoping to attract the attention and admiration of Mangan’s sister for the narrator in Araby and Queenie for Sammy in A&P. However, due to the same, flawed ideology of the workings of the world that motivates them to carry out their plan, it ultimately leads to their downfall. In conclusion, both pieces of literature show that life is a process of maturation by learning from one’s failures. Both the Narrator from Araby and Sammy from A&P fail in their original goal of gaining the affection of the girls through their grand gestures. Furthermore, both characters, in acting out their plan, realize their lack of understanding of the world and thus loose their innocence. Finally, through their growth, they are able to, by
In James Poniewozik's "The Princess Paradox" (323-325) the author explains how the idea of a feminist, independent woman becoming a fairy tale princess is a paradox and that society is engaging in a paradox through the belief of it. He utilizes the recent bout of Cinderella retellings to show the paradox of how girls cannot be both completely independent and a fairytale princess, and yet society perpetuates the paradox through believing that this is not only possible, but realistically attainable as well. Poniewozik exposes the contradictions that surround these new Cinderellas to defy these "realistic" stories that society has come to embrace. By showing how truly constrictive and illogical these fantasies are, Poniewozik also shows how hypocritical society has become for idolizing them and why this new princess is a true paradox.
I, the editor, think that Beau Davis should be arrested for stealing Louie Pardee’s famous guitar. He came to Memphis to try to start a career in music, found a liking to Louie’s guitar, and had to steal it. He put offers to buy the guitar and had to be the one to steal it.
It is apparent that during war time emotions are checked at the door and ones whole psyche is altered. It is very difficult to say what the root causes of this are due to the many variables that take play in war, from death of civilians to the death of friends. However, in "Enemies" and "Friends" we see a great development among characters that would not be seen anywhere else. Although relying on each other to survive, manipulation, and physical and emotional struggle are used by characters to fight there own inter psychological wars. Thus, the ultimate response to these factors is the loss and gain of maturity among Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk.
Ms. King masterfully downplays the importance of the little convent girl by not giving her a name, even the steamboat captain and crew members refer to her as "the little convent girl". As a result, the reader is led to believe that the story is not really about the little convent girl. She is merely the instrument chosen by the author through which the reader will experience a steamboat adventure. King further misleads the reader by offering paragraphs of information about the complexities of navigating the river, the habits of the crew members, and the skill of the steamboat pilots. On those occasions that the reader is provided bits of information about the little convent girl, King immediately misdirects the reader back to the overt theme of a steamboat adventure.
Orenstein explores the rise of Girl Power in the 1990s and the differences that are in today’s society. The rise and fast spreading message that girls receive from the Disney Princesses is one of her biggest issues. Not only does she disagree, but other mothers from Daisy’s preschool do as well. In the second chapter Orenstein invites all the mothers with daughters that are obsessed with Princesses to discuss the subject, one mother states that she sees no problem with encouraging being feminine and then states, “On the other hand, I a...
Most women in their childhood had probably dreamt of being a princess and meeting their charming prince. As Walt Disney’s figures have been influential in this sense, the ideal portrayal of princesses still attracts young girls who imitate them, their lifestyle and their physical appearance. In Sleeping Beauty (1959) and in The Little Mermaid (1989) the narration is focused on the search for true love, personified by a prince, for self-accomplishment. It is crucial to differentiate the representation of femininity of the two protagonists in the two movies to better understand if the role of Princesses has changed over those last thirty years. The main figures in both movies
Over the years, Disney has presented many movies to their audience—most having a Princess as the protagonist. These movies became a babysitter for most parents in the early stages of their child’s life. Most people found these movies as relatively harmless. The obvious assumption about the Disney Princesses is that they only desire true love since almost every movie ends in romance. Parents just viewed these movies as romantic movies on a child’s level. However, these movies were not solely intended for an audience of an age that can be counted on both hands. They were intended to speak to “an intelligent and active audience” (Sumera 40). However, there are many people who disagree with the ways of the Disney Princess movies. The disagreements lie within the portrayal of women gender roles in these movies. It is argued that Disney portrays women as a being nurturing individuals without any control over their identity. The women are unable to think for themselves, because they are uneducated, and they are quick to fall in love with the first man that pays them any attention. However, this is not completely true. The people that are against the portrayal of women in the Disney movies are failing to recognize the underlying concepts in these movies. For example, Belle, in Beauty and the Beast, was well educated, Mulan went to war despite the consequences, and Merida, in Brave, stood up to her mother in refusal to marry. The Disney Princesses desired intelligence, bravery, strength, and independence—not true love’s kiss.
The force of submission to the upper-class allows a character of sympathy, humbleness, and modesty to shine through Danielle. In Ever After and Schectman’s portrayal of the many Cinderella stories, the lowest class often “feels harried and abused” and perhaps, that is when the definition of Cinderella’s character is created (Schectman
The plot of “The Little Match Girl” is simple, yet very complicated at the same time.
Once given birth to a beautiful baby girl, often parents refer to her as their little princess; when having a newborn girl, that baby girl will often get all the attention from her surroundings, she will be showered in the most adorable dresses; cute shoes , baby clothes that say “princess” on it and either a bow or a bedazzled head band, perhaps a room that is nothing but pink, letters on her wall over looking her crib saying “Mommy’s little Princess”. There is nothing wrong with spoiling your baby girl. But as time goes her idea of her gender role begins to develop. Buying her princess toys, surrounding her with pink, and watching the Disney movies about how princesses are beautiful, always gets her prince charming, and lives an enchanted life for ever after, is a dangerous “reality” to create for young girls. Eventually, while growing up from child years to young adults, girls in this type of environment can develop a gender constructed identity that, they are superior and deserve an enchanted life. It’s a dangerous reality for these young girls because they will grow up to believe that, they’re entitled to the fairy tale life, having pure beauty , marry her dream man, conceive beautiful children and live happily ever after, but sometimes life is not a fairy tale and you don’t always end up getting what you want.
The experiment given by Aronson and Cope tested the attractiveness and punishments given by a person based on their relationship with another person. Forty male and forty female were randomly assigned to get a harsh experimenter and pleasant experimenter, harsh experimenter and harsh supervisor, pleasant experimenter and pleasant supervisor, or pleasant experimenter and harsh supervisor. The people who participated in the experiment thought they were participating in a study on creativity. The college students had to write a creative story on each picture that they were shown. The graduate student, who was the experimenter, always had a negative reaction to their stories but was either considerate about letting them know or was really harsh and rude about informing the students about their not creative stories. Then the experimenter would put his foot on the on the vent in the room and that would signal the supervisor to come interrupt the session to let the experimenter know if they had done a good job or bad job on the research that he had been conducting. This research is ba...
This flex paper will be written on the impact that Disney princesses have on little girls. The article this paper is based on looks at how parents and their little girls are at acceptance with the girly-girl culture through the Disney princesses’ franchise. The article stated that the Disney Princesses entered the life of psychotherapist Mary Finucane’s 3-year-old daughter. And from then on out her three year old daughter began refusing to do or wear things that princesses didn’t do or wear, “ Finucane, who created the Disney Princess Recovery blog, said of her daughter after she started watching Disney’s princess movies and accumulating princess-emblazoned products.” She explained that her daughter the loving playful daughter who would claim trees like a monkey and get dirty playing kick ball had stopped running and jumping because princesses didn’t do those things. Doctor Finucane stopped waiting for the phase to pass once she noticed everything her daughter was stopping because it wasn’t princess like. I find this to be extremely interesting because I have a niece and she’s only two but she loves watching Disney movies just as much as I do and I am twenty two years old.