Phoenix Rising Essay Example for Free

Phoenix Rising Essay The Young adult novel Phoenix Rising: or how to survive your life by Cynthia D. Grant is a candid sensitive story about the serious effects of seventeen-year-old Helen Castle’s death from cancer on her family. The story is told through the eyes of Jessie who has been traumatized by her older sister’s death. Jessie and the other members of her family begin a healing process, while Helen, whose world we see through Jessie comes to terms with a life that seems capricious and unjust to Jessie. She feels pain, anger, loneliness, confusion and withdrawal throughout the novel. The family is shattered. Its new dynamics are realistically revealed with the already strained relationship between Lucas, and the father that become explosive. Jessie reads on in the journal to learn Helen’s feelings as her cancer progresses, which ranges from morbid despair to soaring hope that is made more poignant to the readers reading along with her. The setting of the story is white, comfortably middle-class, California suburbia. The characters in Phoenix Rising are of average intelligence and are raised above being stereotypical characters by the pain, reflection, and eventual growth of Helen’s death forces upon them. They remain true to their backgrounds and natures throughout their trials and adjustments. It is the mark of Cynthia D. Grant’s talent that the reader never doubts they are reading this novel through believable teenage eyes. The central character of the novel is Jessie, and the one who is most dangerously affected by the older sister’s death. Jessie’s tendency is not only to idealize her sister making her feel worthless, and unattractive but she also feels that she has failed to reach Helen and talk to her about her illness making Jessie shut herself off from her father, mother, her friend Bambi, Helen’s boyfriend Bloomfield, and their next-door neighbor; little Sara Rose. Jessie not only stops eating toward the end of the novel, she also shuts herself off more ultimately refusing to leave her room. Jessie’s brother Lucas is the kind family philosopher. On the surface, however he plays a role of a rebellious youth whose love for loud rock music. He is an exceptionally good electric and acoustic guitarist and this puts him at odds with his father, whom he engages in arguments at the slightest opportunity. Jessie’s hard-working architect father seems fixated on his role as a family provider and Lucas as the antagonist. Jessie tells the reader â€Å"My father thinks he won’t cry as long as he keeps screaming. It is as if the father and the other members have been so traumatized by the Helen’s death that a kind of static role-playing is easier for them than facing their world and moving on with their lives. Jessie’s mother seems simply to have been bludgeoned into being a relatively passive person who can do little more than to keep up with the necessary household chores, to weep for her oldest daughter, Helen as well as the self destructive, Jessie and to drink several glasses of wine to dull her pain. Two more important characters round out the characters in this novel. One is Bloomfield, who is always called by his last name. He is Helen’s boyfriend and the other is Bambi. Bambi is both sister’s plump, loud mouthed, and mildly sex-crazed friend. Jessie reads further into the Helen’s journal and discovers Bloomfield is not the fair-weather friend she has criticized him as being. Similarly, she finds there is more to the tattooed, fake nailed Bambi than meets the eye. She is surprisingly admirable for her down-to-earth, her common sense ability to cut through the silliness that ordinarily surrounds her.

Archetypes in John Keats La Belle Dame Sans Merci: A Ballad Essay

Archetypes in John Keats' "La Belle Dame Sans Merci: A Ballad" During the Romantic Movement in literature, numerous writers fed off one another’s ideas; thus, creating various patterns which reoccur throughout literary works. According to â€Å"The Literature Network,† John Keats is â€Å"usually regarded as the archetype of the Romantic writer.† Therefore, Keats himself is thought to be the original model for the writer during the Romantic Era. In his poem, â€Å"La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad,† Keats uses various archetypes which provide added meaning and depth to this work of literature. The archetype may be defined as â€Å"the original model from which something is developed or made; in literary criticism, those images, figures, character types, settings, and story patterns that†¦are universally shared by people across cultures† (Murfin and Ray 29). Analytical psychologist Carl Jung believes that archetypes are â€Å"embedded deep in humanity’s collective unconscious and involve ‘racial memories’ of situations, events, and relations that have been part of human experience from the beginning† (Murfin and Ray 29). Therefore, the archetype reoccurs over and over again in literary works from all time periods, such as seasonal connotations. For example, the season of spring is commonly associated with comedy, while summer is affiliated with romance. Archetypal, or Jungian, criticism focuses on the various archetypes which occur in literature. It emerged in the 1930s and primarily â€Å"focuses on those patterns in a particular literary work that commonly recur in other literary works† (Murfin and Ray 28). Northrop Frye, author of The Anatomy of Criticism, â€Å"viewed the vast corpus of literary works as a ‘self-contained literar... ...ot present within the poem, readers would not automatically associate the characters and images with a prior memory; thus, readers would not be able to become aware of the circumstances and nature of the characters quite as easily. Therefore, the archetypal characters and images in Keats’ â€Å"La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad† provide important insights into the depth and meaning of the characters and occurrences within the poem itself. Works Cited â€Å"John Keats.† The Literature Network. 21 Feb. 2006 . Keats, John. â€Å"La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad.† The Norton Anthology of English Literature Seventh Edition, Volume 2. Ed. M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. 845-846. Murfin, Ross & Ray, Supryia M. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms: Second Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.

How I Know My Mother Loves Me Essay

When I was very young, I was a sickly child. In fact, I had to spend most of my life away from school and in bed. Not surprisingly, I was miserable. I fretted a lot and constantly demanded my mother’s attention. I was a spoiled brat.During the day, I would demand that my favorite delicacies be served to me and that my favorite stories be read to me. At odd hours of the night, I would ask for a hot drink or a cookie, or just some company.†Mummy, stay with me!† was my constant whine.Not once was that demand refused. Not once did my mother groan or grumble. She answered every unreasonable demand of mine with unfailing patience. My mother would put everything aside to comfort me.My world was very small then. There was just me and Mummy. My world consisted of the feel of her cool palms soothing my brow and her floral scent as she leaned over me to tuck in my blanket. I remember her low voice, hushing me as I fretted about the pains in my joints. Most of all, I remember the look in her eyes, of deep concern for her sick child. That was how I knew my mother loved me then.Miraculously, I have outgrown my childhood ailments. Now that I am on the threshold of adulthood, my world has grown to include many exciting friends. Set free from the prison of the sickbed, I revel in the fun that the world has to offer.My relationship with my mother has suffered from my wild pursuit of fun. She criticizes my choice of friends and tries to enforce rules and regulations to curb my activities.Two nights ago, I stayed out way, way past my â€Å"curfew† hour, which is eleven o’clock. It was almost 1 a.m. when I reached my house. To make matters worse, I had been unable to call home to inform my mother that I would be delayed. There were no phones where we were â€Å"hanging out†. I knew that I was in for it!My mother flung open the door the minute she heard my friend’s car pull in. Her face was red, sweat was pouring down her temples. My friends made a quick exit as she ranted at me, her arms waving wildly. I didn’t say a word, in case one of those hands should find its mark on my face. I was ordered straight to bed.As I got into bed, she stood in my room, still ranting at me for my disobedience and â€Å"wild behavior†. I was tired. I just wanted to sleep. I looked up at her face to try to gauge if her scolding would be continuing much longer.Then I saw something familiar about the look in her eyes. It was the same look of concern that she had always had when I was so sick. I saw in her eyes all the fears that she had suffered that night as she waited for her daughter to return safely.This is how I know my mother loves me now.

Privacy Policies And The Effectiveness Of Do Not Track

Privacy Policies and the Effectiveness of â€Å"Do Not Track† Introduction The Privacy Act of 1974 was established for the fair use, collection, and dissemination of personally identified information (PII). These records are systematically maintained by several agencies in the United Stated about its citizens, and residents. The disclosure of this information is prohibited but can be accessed either by the consent of the individual or another agency with a warrant. With the internet now being the free-flow mainstream of information, as well as the common place for transfer of personal data, for the use of different servers, new laws and legislations must be implemented to regulate the control of such sensitive information. There are a number of countries that have collaborated on this issue (such as France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany). The European Union (EU) has uniformly mandated several provisions on the collection and use of PII. While Switzerland does not have an affiliation with the EU, it remains compelled to sponsor, and aggregate leg islation that complies with the EU standard. In the US, there is currently no federal law that officially mandates and regulates digital information. US states independently debated on this issue regarding whether digital information is privy to the protections of privacy standards. Users that traverse the internet develop digital footprints, which are an established form of obtaining digital information in a unique pattern.Show MoreRelatedPublic Challenges Of The Australian Public Faces885 Words   |  4 Pagesinto the online activity of all Australians, a subversion of the legal presumption of innocence by treating all individuals as potential suspects through â€Å"pre-criminal† investigation tactics. As a citizen, I believe this policy embodies the most fundamental violations of human privacy. 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