Jonathan Safra Foer Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) Literature review

Jonathan Safra Foer Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) - Literature review Example For instance, in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies the innocent respond to the apocalypse by hopelessly degenerating into abject crudeness and barbarity, thereby questioning the supposed nobility of human existence and the lofty achievements of human civilization (Otten 1982). In contrast, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee shows the innocent witnessing the rampant social injustices with their inherent simplicity and artlessness, without attempting any analytical or immaturely logical approach towards trying to figure out things (Sterne 1994). In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the innocent succumb to the defilement of cherished intimacy and friendship before an abject sense of helplessness and painful unconcern (Shivani 2007). In that context, Jonathan Safran Foer, in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close affects a unique treatment to the theme under consideration, in the sense that it celebrates the survival of innocence, signified by its very ability to feel pain , trauma and loss and its adamant stubbornness to seek out a meaning in the surrounding gloom and apathy. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, nine year old Oskar is an innocent from the 21st century, who, though, inflicted by the sorrow and loss affected by a very contemporary apocalypse, refuses to give up. On the contrary, he chooses to squarely grapple with the bizarre aftermath wrecked by the apocalypse, painstakingly and deliberately looking out for solutions, trying to eke out explanations, desperately desiring to cull out some sense out of the world obsessed with nihilism. Story of Oskar depicts how the innocent collide with reality in the modern times. According to Claude Peck, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is not as much a novel about 9/11, but rather a literary after-effect, which tends to illustrate the varied imaginative and psychological dimensions of the apocalypse (2005). To explore this modern day apocalypse, Foer had to improvise an offbeat format marked b y vivid pictures, photos and illustrations portraying themes and scenes from the novel, empty pages and pages having only one sentence, coloured graphics, doodles, typographical oddities and a strange ending involving multiple pages showing a man falling from a skyscraper (Peck 2005). The novel vividly delineates how innocent Oskar tries to come to terms with his personal loss and trauma, his resultant bouts of anxiety, insomnia, self-mutilation and depression (Peck 2005). In many ways, Oskar is an exceptional nine years old, as he is a vegan, regularly corresponds with Stephen Hawking, can converse in passable French and is an avid and ingenuous inventor. However, one thing that Oskar has in common with all the New York children, and actually with many of the New Yorkers, is his deep seated sense of remorse and despair over the 9/11 World Trade Centre attack (Peck 2005). Surprisingly, Oskar responds to this tragedy by zealously trying to translate his anguish into pragmatic action, into some meaningful search that culminates into something life affirming, a possible resuscitation of the bruised yet indefatigable spirit of modern humanity (Peck 2005). Sadly, Oskar’s approach towards facing reality is not so liked by some prophets of the yore. Perhaps, as usual they consider innocence and naivety to be synonymous. In a review written for the New Yorker, John Updike commented on the futility of filling a 300 plus page book with â€Å"

Personal Responsibility Essay Example for Free

Personal Responsibility Essay Personal responsibility means that I have the discipline to put a plan together. This allows me, to create achievable goals. In order to succeed during each of my college courses. My overall success in my college courses is very important to my end goal. My end goal is to attain my degree in Psychology. The psychology degree is to be able to better work with and help children in the child protective services system. Time and stress management are the two biggest obstacles, which I must overcome. To manage my stress; I need to utilize a calendar to create a schedule. Utilizing a calendar, in which I make a schedule will not only overcome my stress and time obstacles, but also my procrastination. The utilization of a calendar will allow myself the time break down each part of my day and week, I can effectively devote time to my family, homework and working around the house by dividing up my day accordingly without wasting or losing time. Dave Ellis, author of becoming a Master Student, said it best â€Å"Time is an equal opportunity resource. All of us, regardless of gender, race, creed, or national origin, have exactly the same amount of hours in a week. No matter how famous we are, no matter how rich or poor, we get 168 hours to spend each week-no more, no less. Time is something I cannot afford to lose when it comes to my family or school and in some cases there is not a do over button I can press. Time and stress management will be the two biggest hurdles I must master for the sake of my success at the college level. Not only will must I master these hurdles for the sake of my college success but also my professional goals. My team mates must attempt to master these goals as well. As a student I will be working with teams throughout the entire time I am in college. Working in teams is a part of the fundamental, we are taught as children to work together with others to complete a task. The one way I see to succeed with a team is by creating a network of activity as outlined in chapter 8 of Project Management written by Jack R. Meredith and Samuel J. Mantel The way the authors talk about a project and are creating a network of activity which shows the activity and event relationships between the tasks in a project. This shows what specific task each individual will undertake, who they will coordinate with and what resources they will use. It ensures that proper communication takes place and identifies when the project will be completed to include which processes will take the longest and how long each person can take without delaying the project. This will ensure that my team and I keep our personal responsibilities in perspective without failing the class and ourselves. By using this method, everyone will know what the expectations are while completing an assignment. When it comes to being a responsible student, I know that my own personal responsibility is important to how well I do in college. I have to make a plan from the start. This plan I make will include all of my long term goals as well as my short term goals. I will be able to keep my long term goals, in sight while making small changes to my short term goals to keep myself on course. I will begin my plan by using a yearly calendar for each year along with each college year. This way I can write down all of my long term goals up to graduation on the calendars. The calendars will break down into daily increments of time. I can use the days or weeks to mark down short term goals or make changes to them as I need. These calendars will also allow me to include time out of my day to devote to my family and other activities. The use of calendars and reminders will also assist in my team projects when communication is necessary I can pencil in the time I need to set aside for team work projects. The use of daily planners is will assist me beyond my college responsibility. They will also help to keep me on time for personal events with my family and court hearings for my foster children. Using calendars will keep all of my planned times with homework and other activities from bleeding over into each other. This plan of action will allow me to achieve all of my goals and keep me on course so I can complete my degree. The completion of my degree is my responsibility so that I may complete my goal to become a child psychologist. It is my personal responsibility to pay for my college classes and materials and study for the courses I take. Responsibility is essential for my success as a student, so that I do not take my education lightly and waste the time of my instructors of class mates. I must take into account that my instructor and class mates depend on my personal responsibility to attend class and complete my assignments in a timely fashion. In conclusion by taking personal responsibility of my actions in my education and professional and personal life I will become a successful individual. I will be able to complete my short term and long term goals and commitments, when taking responsibility. I can translate these small victories and experiences into college success for my class mates, team mates and myself. I must keep in mind and never forget that it is my personal responsibility to attend class and complete all my course work for my degree. Once I have the personal pride in knowing and seeing the achievements of my personal responsibility, I will be able to share this with my family. Finally, once I have passed each and every one of my college courses this will also lead to my attaining my long and short term goal and also lead to becoming a college graduate.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Essays -- Biography

Biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt, popularly known as FDR, was born on January 30, 1882 at the family estate in Hyde Park, New York. His father, James, graduated from Harvard Law School, married, had a son, and took over his family?s rights in coal and transportation. Despite the fact that he lost a good deal of money in financial gambles, he remained wealthy enough to travel by private railroad car, to live comfortably on his Hudson River estate at Hyde Park, and to travel at length. After his first wife died, James waited four years to remarry to Sara Delano, a sixth cousin. She was also a member of the Hudson River aristocracy, and although she was only half of James? 52 years, she settled into their Hyde Park estate quite comfortably. The marriage worked well until it was broken by James? death in 1900. Young Franklin Roosevelt had a secure and pleasant childhood. His half-brother was already an adult when Franklin was born, and so he had no rival for the attention of his parents. During the summer months he would travel with his parents to Europe, to the seaside in New England, or to Campobello Island off the coast of New Brunswick, where he developed a love for the ocean and sailing. Until the age of 14 FDR received his education from private tutors. FDR?s most lasting educational experience was at Groton School in Massachusetts, which he attended from 1896 to 1900. Groton?s headmaster, Reverend Endicott Peabody, instilled the virtue of public service in Franklin, and this would be something that he would carry with him throughout his life. At Groton FDR was not academically outstanding, nor did he gain vast popularity,? Franklin struggled to fit in?but he was only a spindly five f... ...peril. But both did so while at the same time holding free elections in which their opponents might have won the office. Through vast national support, Roosevelt was able to rekindle America?s spirit in itself, ?A man who could not walk became president of a country that had lost hope. With a simple set of beliefs- a belief that things could be improved, a belief in the Democratic process- he transmitted his own confidence to the nation? (Morgan 772). And the nation followed his lead. Bibliography: Works Cited Davis, Kenneth S. FDR: The War President 1940-1943. New York: Random House, 2000. Miller, Nathan. FDR: An Intimate History. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1983. Morgan, Ted. FDR: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. Robinson, Edgar Eugene. The Roosevelt Leadership 1933-1945. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1955.

Roman and Early Christian Architecture

Explain the techniques used by roman architects and describe the types of buildings they created. Use examples to support your essay. The building techniques the Roman architects used were the arches and domes. They were very skilled at building with bricks and stones. These materials helped them develop new roof forms. To create arches they used wedge-shaped stones or bricks called vigorous. They placed the narrow ends on the inside of the arch and the wide ends on the outside. The Romans typically used round or pointed arches to span openings n walls or to support heavy roofs.One of the arch buildings they created was the Arch of Constantine. It is the latest triumphal arch in Rome. It was also the largest setup in Rome since the end of the Severna dynasty. Much of the decorations provided were from earlier monuments of Trojan, Hadrian, and Marcus Tutorials. They included the heads of the earlier emperors. The Pantheon was the dome creation. This was the Temple of all Gods. The dom e of the Pantheon is 142 feet high. It provides light entering through a central opening to the sky.Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unrecorded concrete dome to this date. Sanitaria, G. M. (2011, September). Roman architecture. Retrieved from http:// www. Marilynn. Com/ancient Rome/roman architecture. HTML 2. What features did Early Christian architects take from Roman builders, and what new techniques did they develop? Discuss specific features from three buildings. The features that the Early Christian architects took from Roman builders were the arches and domes. But with new techniques they developed such as the flying turrets.For example the Old Saint Peter church resembled Roman basilicas. It had a wide central nave with side aisles and an apse at the end. Unlike Roman basilicas, instead of doorways on one long side opening onto an aisle, they had an obvious long axis opening. When the worshipers arrived in Saint Peters nave, they were able to view the altar in the apse, framed by the chancel arch dividing the nave from the transept. Santa Sabina is another basilicas church. It is famed for its 5th-century wooden doors that have biblical scenes carved in them.It also has 24 columns of marble completely coordinated with Corinthian columns and bases. The spandrels of the arches have decorative marble designs in green and purple to represent the Eucharist. The Santa Stanza Church design was along the favorite of the Western Christian world. One of the most important historical aspects of Santa Stanza were the use of Apses and Central Dome which give prime examples of early Christian art and architecture. Klein, F. S. Gardener's Art Through the Ages; The Western Perspective. Fourth teen Edition.

October Sky Movie Essay

October Sky†¯is a movie about how a hillbilly†¯accomplished his dream of building rockets and got out from the falling mining hometown named†¯Coalwood. Homer Hickam, the main character of the movie, would never succeed in his rocket dream without the extraordinary inspiration and encouragement from Miss†¯Riley. An outstanding educator will focus on enlightening students and†¯extending†¯their†¯limits instead of instructing strict rules and following rigid†¯formats. The teacher in the movie, Miss Riley, recognizes the potential in every student, not only the ones with visible ability.†¯ She would use†¯philosophical†¯stories and her experience and observation to help her students to orient their dreams. All†¯the positive impacts on the students came†¯from the unique personality of the instructor. There is a remarkable†¯dialogue†¯that touches my heart and wins my approval in the†¯movie October Sky. When Homer and his partners were going to launch their rocket, some of the town residents had found their blockhouse and had been waiting for†¯their†¯launch. Miss Riley said to Homer, â€Å"You do not have to prove anything to anybody.† Miss Riley said that to the boys to make them feel more relaxed and try to comfort them from†¯nervousness. Even Homer’s father, John Hickam,†¯didn’t†¯believe his son could be successful in†¯building†¯rocket. Miss Riley gave support to the rocket boys and helped them to approach their goal as much she could, such as ordering a book for Homer. In the beginning, Principal Turner reprimand Miss Riley for giving her students false hopes and wasting their time; and confiscated Homer’s rocket and the book about rockets. It was Miss Riley helped to get Homer’s things back and directed him to pursue his goal even though there would be obstacles along the way and he should not fear.†¯ Homer’s father, John Hickam, and Ike†¯Bykovsky†¯both†¯had influence on Homer’s coming of age. The†¯effects from them were definitely not the elements that motivated Homer to achieve his ambition, but they taught Homer his responsibility to the family. Ike rather stayed at mining†¯for higher salary†¯than†¯go back to work in car shop. For the reason that his family was in poverty, his choice headed him to†¯death. In another accident, John was severely wounded, Homer picked up the responsibility to support family as his father had done. John was one of the major†¯obstacles for Homer to†¯accomplish†¯his rocket†¯dream. His father wanted to make Homer to be an exceptional miner in†¯Coalwood then take his place in the Company, so he threw Homer’s rocket equipment out and  sneered at†¯Homer. John had constructed his plan for Homer’s future;†¯nevertheless, Homer hated to be a†¯miner. John’s unsupportive actions towards Homer’s rocket dream were absolutely†¯negative†¯to Homer. But John gave Homer a†¯positive†¯lecture about how to treat friends when John saved†¯O’Dell†¯from his†¯drunken†¯stepfather†¯ou tside the police station. Homer shaped his outlook and grew up to be a man from Ike†¯Bykovsky†¯and John†¯Hickam’s valuable lectures. In†¯this tangible world, educators do not†¯necessary†¯have to be human being. Anything that inspires us can be our role model. The similarity between a physical object or an event and an instructor is that they both can give students positive impacts through affirmative representations. There is another movie that inspired†¯me named,†¯Life of†¯Pi. It is a sad story about how an Indian teenager survived from a marine peril with a tiger.†¯Ã¢â‚¬ ¯When Pi was a child, he converted himself to several religions, and his father told him that having several different faiths in the meanwhile is equal to not believing†¯in anything at†¯all. His mother explained a different idea to him which is, science takes over†¯our outside†¯world and it never gets inside†¯our heart,†¯only†¯faith does. This short†¯conversation†¯in the movie has its own†¯charm;†¯it reveals some truth to me, and affects me on†¯developing†¯my†¯standard of treating the world. Pi’s experience of sailing the sea taught me†¯that†¯no matter how slight the chance†¯is we should never†¯lose†¯hope. Even though the movie did not convey these ideas directly to us, it gave us†¯the direction to imagine. As the interpretation above,†¯great educators always use stories and their experiences to enlighten†¯students.†¯Ã¢â‚¬ ¯That†¯is where usually the positive sources come from. In October Sky, Quentin, one†¯of the rocket boys, could also be†¯seen as†¯a great teacher to†¯Homer. It was him who introduced Homer the basic†¯ideas†¯about†¯rocket; Homer would probably never recognize his hidden potential without Quentin. Before making friends with Homer and the other two Rocket boys, Quentin was the biggest geek in their school. He continued school without having a social life†¯and†¯friends.†¯Ã¢â‚¬ ¯Quentin came from a poor family in the poor†¯Coalwood neighborhood; he had†¯nothing†¯but a clever†¯brain. Rocket Dream joined Quentin and Homer together, and they were attracted by each other’s qualities as well. Homer desired Quentin’s†¯knowledge, and Quentin†¯wanted Homer’s†¯bravery and compassion†¯which encouraged him to pursue his†¯dream. They were not only a good friend to  each other, but also†¯a good teacher to each other. Educators giving great positive impact and support to their students do†¯not require obtaining a high diploma, but the ability to recognize the student’s potential and discover their possibility for greatness. Great educators come with a unique personality.†¯ The most primary job of educators is not to make their†¯students to be†¯solely erudite, but to offer them confidence and understanding to pursue†¯their†¯dreams,†¯just†¯like what Miss Riley have done for the rocket boys.