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Essay in superstitious
Essay in superstitious
Superstition and society
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We have all seen or practiced a superstition. Crossing our fingers for good luck or avoiding the path of a black cat. Some are as old as the written word. They have woven themselves into the fabric of everyday society. Probably the most superstious group in our society is the athlete.
Baseball players will not step on the foul line as they leave the field of play. Football players have exact pregame rituals that can not be interrupted. The hockey fans of the Detroit Red Wings will throw an octopus onto the ice after their team scores a goal. The Red Sox did not will a World Series all of those years, simply because they trade Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The Cubs are still paying for not allowing a goat into one of their games. While all of these can seem borderline absurd, they are what players and fan alike adhere to in a religious fashion.
These superstitions, like those of the Red Sox and Cubs, are used to explain away years of frustration. The curses placed on them can be the only reason that they have not won the World Series. The Babe’s curse made the ball go through Buckner’s legs and the goat made Bartman reach onto the playing field and take the ball away from the left fielder. The fact that both of these incidents took place in the sixth game of each of these series makes no difference. It was the curse not the team. A curse is a much more colorful, even tangible thing to hold on to. Arguments like, the other team out played us or our team did not play very wel...
Through the use of various factual evidence from several longitudinal studies, Gmelch brings forth the presence of superstition in the long history of America’s favorite baseball players. In addition to factual evidence about quirky habits that sufficed into rituals for professional players, Gmelch incorporates a psychological point of view. Supporting his claims through psychology’s explanations for the supernatural magic believed to bring luck to players, Gmelch ties Skinner’s classical conditioning approach to the concept. It becomes clear to the audience that through an evolutionary approach, as humans we tend to repeat actions that bring us success, allowing for a fair interpretation of the ties to science. Evidently, this can be observed in not only the habits that are believed to bring baseball players luck, but also the success that they bring to Trobriand Islanders when fishing in the open
Ordinary religion shows people how to live well within boundaries, and concern themselves with living well in this current world, not in another. Ordinary religion promotes cultures, traditions, values, and common social acts. In contrast, extraordinary religion helps people to transcend beyond their ordinary culture and concerns, crosses the borders of life as we used to know it and seeks to new better place. It is also believed that people have chance to contact God through spiritual ceremonies and get helped by supernatural power. For instance, ceremonies and rituals of baptism and circumcision for infants, and conformations for adolescents, marriage, and funerals for the dead. Through these spiritual ceremonies, people are crossing the physical boundaries and reaching something supernatural that they believe will give them power to encounter challenges and difficulties during stages of life. There are three elements in religious belief developing most religions in America, which are fundamental, ritual, and tradition. The first element is the fundamental structures which are defined with a myth, philosophy, or theology and limited by the boundaries that create the basic ways in which people, cultures and communities imagine, define, and accept how things are and what they mean. A second essential element of religion is ritual. Rituals are a representative set of
Many cultures ascribe to some kind of superstition, magic, or faith. Merriam-Webster defines superstition as “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation” ("Superstition”). This definition makes superstition sound like it belongs in a lower developed country that lacks the ability to have scientific knowledge. However, magic and superstition are alive and well in developed countries, such as the United States. Sports are rife with superstitions. Many players use “ritual, taboos, and fetishes to manage the anxiety generated by unpredictable events that challenge human control” (Gmelch 266). Superstitions are entirely psychological; a way to create a reason for an event that has occurred. In his article “Baseball Magic,” George Gmelch examines the rituals, taboos, and fetishes of American baseball and how they compare to the magic of the Trobriand Islanders.
Witchcraft started in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Superstition started when women were accused of acting strangely. These superstitions turned into trials, and later lead to mounds of hanged people. Most of the people accused were innocent, but the harsh judge rulings left them with nothing to live for. The only options for the tried, no matter if guilty or not, were to claim guilty, living the rest of their life in prison, or to plead not guilty and hang. Due to both consequences being equally as punishable, many people isolated themselves from society. Unfortunately, some people caused the uprising of the salem witch trials more than others did. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams single handedly attributed to the
In the novel Huck Finn, the author repeatedly uses satire to ridicule the insanity of racial ignorance and inequity of the time period. With his masterful use of role reversal, irony, and the obvious portrayal of double standards, Twain exemplifies the injustices of different races contrasting them with example after example of counter-argument shown through the friendship and adventures of Jim and Huck together.
	In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops criticism of society by contrasting Huck and Jim’s life on the river to their dealings with people on land. Twain uses the adventures of Huck and Jim to expose the hypocrisy, racism, and injustices of society.
The team exchanged tips about throwing the world series so there were eight people involved in throwing the world series. They knew it was gonna be a difficult and risky thing to try to throw the world series and get away with it. The players that were involved too was, pitchers Eddie cicotte and claude ‘’lefty’’ williams (Andrews, Evan). Shortstop charles swede risberg and outfielder oscar ‘’happy’’ felsch, third basemen buck wever. Infielder fred mcmullin and the power hitter shoeless joe jackson. The world series started and the fix was going as planned the white sox were lost the first nine to one and lost three more and then. It all changed when the white sox player got way less from the gamblers then they were supposed to so they called the fix off and started to play to win and they came back winning game six. The white sox players started getting death threats from the gangster gamblers and said they were going to kill their families.they cinnati
Mark Twain applies humor in the various episodes throughout the book to keep the reader laughing and make the story interesting. The first humorous episode occurs when Huck Finn astonishes Jim with stories of kings. Jim had only heard of King Solomon, whom he considers a fool for wanting to chop a baby in half and adds, Yit dey say Sollermun de wises?man dat ever live? I doan?take no stock in dat (75). Next, the author introduces the Grangerfords as Huck goes ashore and unexpectedly encounters this family. Huck learns about a feud occurring between the two biggest families in town: the Grangerfords and the Sheperdsons. When Huck asks Buck about the feud, Buck replies, 搾... a feud is this way: A man has a quarrel with another man, and kills him; then that other man抯 brother kills him; then the other brothers, on both sides, goes for one another; then the cousins chip in ?and by and by everybody抯 killed off, and there ain抰 no more feud挃 (105). A duel breaks out one day between the families and Huck leaves town, heading for the river where he rejoins Jim, and they continue down the Mississippi. Another humorous episode appears n the novel on the Phelps plantation. Huck learns that the king has sold Jim to the Phelps family, relatives of Tom Sawyer. The Phelps family mistakes Huck for Tom Sawyer. When Tom meets with Aunt Sally, he ?.. [reaches] over and [kisses] Aunt Sally on the mouth?(219) This comes as a surprises to her and Tom explains that he 揫thinks] [she] [likes] it?(219) Later, Huck runs into Tom on the way into town and the two make up another story about their identities. The two then devise a plan to rescue Jim. They use Jim as a prisoner and make him go through jail escaping clich閟.
No matter in the past or present, the world never lacks actors and their nauseating affectations can be seen everywhere in life. They are pretending to have all those perfect beliefs and feelings and acting like the greatest people ever while they are really not. Satire is used by Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to depict how all kinds of people say one thing and do another in America in early 1800s, demonstrating that Mark Twain wants readers to be aware of the hypocrisy and ignorance of American society.
An example of this would be the fortune telling hairball and the rattlesnake skin. Jim also states during the first few chapters that his body hair is a sign of his future wealth. The signs have no correlation to their meanings and seem ludicrous and silly to those reading about them. Another moment where superstitions became important would be after Jim and Huck Finn 's separation in the fog. When Huck Finn lies to Jim about their separation being a dream Jim begins to tell Huck his interpretation of the dream as a warning. It shows that to the superstitious, signs and meanings can be applied to everything and anything. Later on in the book, while helping Jim to escape, Tom and Huck Finn lie to Nat about odd occurrences caused by their plans. Because Nat is superstitious he is quick to blame witches and believes Tom and Huck Finn 's lies. This allows Tom 's overly complicated plans to take off without a
Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most classic American Literature Book. It consists of historical backgrounds, universality, and timelessness. But one of the most outstanding chapters of the book is chapter 27 and 28.In the two chapters, Twain’s use of the literary device – Characterization builds the character of Huckleberry Finn and show the different aspects of his character.
Humor, along with its various forms, including satire, is often used to present social commentaries. This is especially true in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In his novel, Twain tells the story of a boy named Huckleberry Finn voyaging down the Mississippi River to free his slave companion, Jim. In doing so, Twain evokes many issues of Southern culture. Through the use of satirical devices, characterization, and story, the author enlightens readers and offers a critique on racism and religion. One of the best, if not the single most important, humorist in American history, Mark Twain, through his satire, paints a portrait of the pre-Civil War American South and all its flaws.
Mark Twain is a one of the famous American author who set a milestone in American literature history. He used a humor and ironic elements in his book to portray the lesson to his readers. Also, he liked to satirize the social system and morality to educate the people. Therefore, in his three famous works, The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, The Mysterious Stranger, he satirized the human’s selfishness, evilness, and greediness.
Every weekend hundreds of thousands of sports fans pack the stadiums of their favorite team and ruthlessly engage in fandom. Some fans tailgate before the game and casually support their team by sporting a jersey and team colors, while others may dress up in absurd outfits, like one Raiders fan who has dressed up in a gorilla suit for the last 16 years. From wicked costumes and body paint, to inappropriate jeers at opposing fans, Eric Simmons was determined to reach a conclusion as to why humans are so entrenched by sports. Simmons does not try to push the world in a certain direction, rather, he utilizes real-life examples, rhetorical questions, and studies and statistics to inform the reader on why fans have developed an intense love for
Finally, baseball fans are insanely loyal to the team of their choice. Should the home team's players lose eight in a row, their fans may begin to call them "bums." They may even suggest that the slumping cleanup hitter be sent to the minors or the manager fired. However, such reactions only hide their broken hearts. They still check the sports pages and tune in to get the score. Furthermore, this intense loyalty can make fans dangerous, for anyone who dares to say to a loyal fan that some other team has sharper fielding or a better attitude could risk permanent, physical harm.