Definition and Examples of Subjunctive Mood in English

In English grammar, the subjunctive is the mood of a verb expressing wishes, stipulating demands, or making statements contrary to fact.  Etymologically, the word subjunctive is from the  Latin, subjoin, bind, subordinate.  Pronunciation:  sub-JUNG-tif  mood The present subjunctive is the bare form of a verb (that is, a verb with no ending). It does not show agreement with its subject. (Example: I strongly recommend that he retire.) Two patterns of the present subjunctive are generally recognized: Formulaic SubjunctiveMandative Subjunctive The only distinctive form of the past subjunctive is the word were. It is used with singular subjects in conditional sentences and with the subordinating conjunctions as if and as though. (Example: I love him as if he were my son.) Guidelines for Using the Subjunctive The subjunctive may be used in the following circumstances in formal writing. Contrary-to-fact clauses beginning with if:If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?(Abraham Lincoln)Contrary-to-fact clauses expressing a wish:At that moment, I had the most desperate wish that she were dead.(Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich in Presumed Innocent, 1990)That clauses after verbs such as ask, demand, insist, propose, request, and suggest:I demand that he leave at once.Statements of necessity:Its necessary that she be in the room with you.Certain fixed expressions:as it were, be that as it may be, far be it from me, heaven forbid, if need be, so be it, suffice it to say Additional Examples and Observations I wouldnt bring up Paris if I were you. Its poor salesmanship.(Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca, 1942)Even the dog, an animal used to bizarre surroundings, developed a strange, off-register look, as if he were badly printed in overlapping colors.(S.J. Perelman, quoted by Roy Blount, Jr., in Alphabet Juice, 2008)Well sir, all I can say is if I were a bell, Id be ringing!(Frank Loesser, If I Were a Bell. Guys and Dolls, 1950)If music be the food of love, play on.(William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night)The public be damned.(William Henry Vanderbilt, Oct. 8, 1882)If I see one more shirttail flapping while Im captain of this ship, woe betide the sailor; woe betide the OOD; and woe betide the morale officer. I kid you not.(Humphrey Bogart as Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, 1954)If there were a death penalty for corporations, Enron may have earned it.In the night he awoke and held her tight as though she were all of life and it was being taken away from him.(Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, 1940) The Were-Subjunctive (Irrealis Were) Teachers call this by a formidable word, subjunctive, meaning lacking in reality. What it refers to is actually the Fairy Tale Syndrome. If I were a rich man, could be such a mood. It refers to something that is not possible. If the possibility exists, the sentence would read: If I was a rich man. (Val Dumond, Grammar for Grownups. HarperCollins, 1993)Unlike the mandative subjunctive, the were-subjunctive in counterfactual if-clauses is a recessive feature of standard written English. It is not being replaced by a modal but, instead, by indicative was. Would be instead of were in counterfactual if-clauses is still largely confined to informal, spoken English. It is meeting with strong prescriptive reaction, especially in the US. One side-effect of this, so to speak, is hypercorrect use of were in non-counterfactuals. (Geoffrey Leech, Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair, and Nicholas Smith, Change in Contemporary English: A Grammatical Study. Cambridge University Press, 2012) Advice As with the misuse of whom instead of who, . . . using the subjunctive wrongly is worse than not using it all, and will make you look pompous and silly. (David Marsh and Amelia Hodsdon, Guardian Style, 3rd ed. Guardian Books, 2010)The subjunctive mood is in its death throes, and the best thing to do is put it out of its misery as soon as possible. (Somerset Maugham, A Writers Notebook, 1949) The Lighter Side of Subjunctives Detective Sergeant Lewis: All that stonework, must take months to do the pointing.Chief Inspector Morse: Youre not a bloody mason, are you?Detective Sergeant Lewis: No such luck. I might have been a Chief Inspector by now if I was.Chief Inspector Morse: Were, Lewis, if you were. Youll never get on if you cant master your subjunctives. Keep touching your forelock, we may be back in Oxford before lunch.Detective Sergeant Lewis: Shouldnt that be might?(Kevin Whately and John Thaw in Ghost in the Machine. Inspector Morse, 1987)Dancer: [reading a book titled English Grammar and Usage] Julie, you take this whole business about the subjunctive. I dont know.Julian: All right, Dancer, all right. Whats so difficult about the subjunctive?Dancer: Well, you take this, for instance: If I was you. You know? Thats all wrong. It says here, If I were you. How far can you go with this speech stuff?Julian: It sets you up, Dancer. It sets you up. Remember that. How many characters do you know hang around street corners can say, If I were you? How many, huh?Dancer: If I were you. If I were you.(Eli Wallach and Robert Keith in The Lineup, 1958)

The Downfall Of Affirmative Action - 1317 Words

Downfall of Affirmative Action Many colleges in United States are composed of an ethnically diverse student body. One of the reasons why the student body is full of diversity is because of the Affirmative Action. It is the policy that gives a special incentives to minorities and women to help promote diversity in school. Though it is a great idea to promote diversity in every college in United States, it is also a bad idea to continue this system. Many â€Å"A† students who are not minorities tend to get the same treatment as the â€Å"B† students who are minorities. Although accepted into school, these students who barely met the minimum criteria may have a tougher time at school because they may not be able to keep up with the pace of the classes since the schools have high expectations of its students. Furthermore, students who have worked hard to get good grades might be overlooked because the students who have lower grades will be accepted simply to fulfill the quo ta. Although promoting affirmative action is a great idea to seek diversity through different views from many different ethnicities, it will also take away people’s hard work, as well as producing more drop out students since they cannot keep up with what the university is expecting from them. Therefore, it is not morally justifiable or socially beneficial for the students since they may have a lower chance of succeeding at school. Affirmative action will treat the majority students the same way as the minorityShow MoreRelatedAffirmative Action : The United States956 Words   |  4 PagesAffirmative Action Affirmative Action has been around for many decades from around the 1940s. Although it has not always been called affirmative action, the official title was not introduced until the 1960s. Back then affirmative action was more known as segregation or discrimination in the workplace or there lack of. 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These aspects of America life define the racial marginalization of African Americans as part of Roscigno et al (2012) evaluation of the downfall of public institutions to regulate and control racism in the workplace. Also, Wilson’s (2008) study also confirms the cultural differences of Afro-Caribbean immigrants that endured the same cultural alienation that Nigerians endure, yet without theRead MoreA Time Of Revolution And A Reflection Of Modern America1563 Words   |  7 Pagesof the large numbers of women who entered the work force. This dramatic change in American society was accompanied by a great deal of controversy and prejudice directed towards women. It was predicted that female employment would bring about the downfall of society and the change of the American family. While a large portion of the public was appalled by the thought of independent young workingwomen, they were also fascinated. Therefore, the attitudes of the public toward these women can be seen

A Leap of Faith free essay sample

I am in my rock climbing class climbing up a thirty foot pole to do something called â€Å"The Leap of Faith.† I have to jump from the pole and grab a trapeze that hangs several feet away. I am short. I do not think I can reach it. What made me think this class was the appropriate way of pushing myself out of my comfort zone? I am standing up on the pole now, trying to distribute my weight evenly between my feet which barely fit within the pole’s diameter. I glance down and the ground seems to move away from me making my potential drop distance look exponentially larger. I am afraid of heights. I look away. Maybe if I focus on a point on the horizon, I can take my mind off the height. The Colorado wind hits my back, threatening to push me over the edge if I do not jump soon. We will write a custom essay sample on A Leap of Faith or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I have been up here for several minutes wondering when I will get the second of courage I need to jump. I am strapped into a harness for safety and my classmates hold the ropes that are supposed to save me if I miss. But what if they mess it up? From the ground, my teacher screams at me to jump, and I feel like yelling profanities back at him. I do not want to jump to my potential death. I could end up paraplegic for life. I want to climb down, but something tingles inside of me. The only thing worse than jumping from the pole and missing, is climbing down and giving up. I stare at the trapeze. What if my classmates do not catch me? What if they do? I jump. There is a moment mid-jump, when I feel as though time slows down. I am flying through the air, reaching my arms out for the trapeze. It is right there; I can grab it. I can. I miss and fall. I am going to miss my family. I am caught safely on the ropes by my classmates and I am filled with a sort of overwhelming pride. I stood face to face with a challenge and I accepted it. Now I cannot wait to try it again. My family was born and reared in Puerto Rico. I was born there and when I was eight, I moved to Colorado. My parents took a chance in moving to Colorado. They knew that the United States would provide better academic opportunities for me. They also knew that the move could be traumatic for me. Language and cultural barriers could prove to be obstacles that would make the entire move be counterproductive. I could be seriously frustrated because I did not understand or because I did not excel as well as I was used to. I could have been bullied or teased by the other kids because I had an accent and made countless mistakes when I talked. I could have had an impatient teacher who did not want to wait for me to understand what was going on. My parents took a risk and none of those things ever happened. I did not care how many times I butchered a word’s pronunciation or spelling. I kept trying anyway. Buk. Buuk. Book. I would try and try again. My classmates did not make fun of me because I spoke differently; in fact, they seemed to like me for it. My teacher took on the challenge of having a student who could not speak English and made sure I had every tool I needed to succeed, including the proper encouragement. My third grade year was not anything less than a blessing. I took a chance in seventh grade and tried tennis. I had never held a racket before. I can proudly say that there were others worse than I. By freshman year, I had made the varsity team. By my junior year, the team had voted me captain. I also took Rocky Mountain High which is a rock climbing class, and the sole purpose of my taking it was to conquer my fears, in this case, a fear of heights. I ended up learning much more. I learned team work, I learned friendship, and most important, I learned trust. Now, I am making my way up another pole getting ready for my next jump. I am fighting for a chance to go to the college of my dreams. My effort and hard work have paid off. I have realized how big an impact a little risk can have. There is one thing that has primarily made me who I am. I have learned to acknowledge that sometimes in life you have to take a Leap of Faith.

Edward Albee Essay Example For Students

Edward Albee Essay Written by Edward Albee, is a play that takes us into one evening of the lives of one couple entertaining another. This play has very dramatic characters that are very diverse and dynamic. Albee explores the dangerous fun and games played by one married couple and how they use two seemingly innocent people as pawns in their games. By the end of the night, a stunning revelation is revealed that threatens both couples emotional sanity. The play is soaked in imagery and above all symbolism that Albee uses to portray and dismantle the perfect American dream. Edward Albee was born in Washington, D. C. on March 12, 1928. Two weeks later he was adopted by Reed and Frances Albee and taken to live in the family home in Westchester, New York. Albees adoptive father owned a nationwide chain of vaudeville theaters, which meant that young Edward got much early exposure to theater personalities. Albees childhood was very comfortable. He had many servants, tutors, riding lessons, winters in Miami, summers sailing on the sound and an inexhaustible wardrobe housed in a closet that was as big as a room. His father was believed to be dominated by his wife, which is a very evident in, Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? In the play, Martha is very omineering and controlling of the meek and suppressed George. Albee attended the Choate school from 1944 to 1946, when he enrolled at Trinity College, a small liberal arts institution in Hartford , Connecticut. (Burns 2523) His stay there was brief, but he gained some dramatic experience playing the role of characters in plays. Over the years, Albee has introduced thirteen plays to the American stage. He is an important figure in the American theater no only for his works, but also for his efforts to introduce new opinions. (Albee ii) In Albees own words, his plays are an examination of the American Scene, an ttack on the substitution of artificial for real values in our society, a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, and emasculation and vacuity, a stand against the fiction that everything in this slipping land of ours is peachy-keen. (Flasch 283) The title of the play (Virginia Woolf) is the name of a famous British novelist who went insane and drowned herself. The title of the play is also related to the nursery rhyme, The three little pigs. When the characters of the play are drunk, they go around singing Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? much like Whos afraid of the big, bad wolf? The play consists of four characters. George is a middle-aged professor of history in a small New England who is married to the daughter of the president of the college. Martha is Georges wife, seven years his senior. She is a very domineering woman who goes between loving and hating her husband throughout the play. Nick is a new addition to the small faculty who is young and very ambitious. Honey is Nicks wife. She is very timid and childlike. There are several themes in the play that often overlap and support one another in ways that make the play very complex. The theme of truth and illusion is apparent in the play. George and Martha have to face the fact that the imaginary child that they have created and that possibly holds their marriage together must now be destroyed. In addition, the truth behind each character seems to show itself. The loud and vulgar Martha is really vulnerable and needs to be protected by the outside world. George, who seems passive at first, is the one who finally takes control of his and Marthas lives. Nick, the stud turns out to be impotent in bed with Martha. That leaves Honey, the seemingly simple minded girl has been deviously using birth control to prevent pregnancy. This is the plays most important theme: that people today have been forced to create illusions for themselves because reality has become too difficult and painful to face. .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 , .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .postImageUrl , .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 , .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029:hover , .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029:visited , .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029:active { border:0!important; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029:active , .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029 .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u8d00661ac60af5f73656ea7bb3ba2029:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Lady Of Shalott EssayA very important part of this play is the symbolism involved. On one level, George and Martha portray the American dream gone wrong. Their imaginary child is shown to us as all of their unsuccessful hopes and dreams. On another level George and Martha are chosen to symbolize George and Martha Washington as the founding parents of our country, whose child (America) has died because of all the greed and cruelty in the world nd the greed and cruelty they have shown each other. Daniel McDonald stated that, A more honest or moral playwright does not exist. And if what Albee is doing is giving us a sentimentalized view of ourselves rather than one as harshly and starkly unsentimental as any I know, why didnt those theatre party ladies buy it up ahead of time as they do all those other technicolor postcards which pass for plays? Or is Albee not rather dedicated to smashing that rosy view, shocking us with the truth of our present-day behavior and thought, striving to purge us into an actual confrontation with eality. (McDonald 64) Another critic, Wendell Harris was not as impressed by the play as McDonald was. Harris stated, I am outraged at a theatre and an audience that accepts as a masterpiece an insufferably long play with great pretensions that lacks intellectual size, emotional insight, and dramatic electricity. Im tired of play-long metaphors-such as the illusory child of Virginia Woolf-which are neither philosophically, psychologically, nor poetically valid. Im tired of plays that are badly plotted and turgidly written being excused by such palaver as organic unity or inner form. Im tired of morbidity and sexual perversity which are there only to titillate an impotent and homosexual theatre and audience. Im tired of Albee. (Harris 252) As the critics have concluded, there are many different opposing opinions on the play, Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , Like in any great form of literature there will always be conflicting beliefs. I would rather agree with McDonald in his statement that A more honest or moral playwright does not exist. (McDonald 64) Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? highlights the different personalities, fears, and beliefs held tightly by the American public even in todays times. Albee was able to portray all of these themes into one beautifully written and well-crafted play. We are able to go from the loss of one dream, George and Marthas imaginary child that they use to throw at one another for the pure purpose of pain. To the hope of another dream, George and Martha facing the truth about their lives to one another and the new hope now that Nick and Honey will not end up in the same fun and games emotional battle that George and Martha have been in. In a way, Nick and Honey have come to represent the lost child of George and Martha, yet Nick and Honey have the chance to live on to the next day.

Explore the way Wilfred Owen and Sebastian Faulks present the physical and mental suffering of soldiers in the First World War Essay Example

Explore the way Wilfred Owen and Sebastian Faulks present the physical and mental suffering of soldiers in the First World War Essay Both Sebastian Faulks in his novel Birdsong and Wilfred Owen present suffering in soldiers fighting in the First World War in both physical and psychological ways. They present the discomforts that came from everyday living conditions in the trenches, they both present the serious physical injuries produced by the war and the haunting effect this has on them in the short and long term. Both writers present these things in a vivid and poignant style. The living conditions in the trenches were extremely poor, wet weather led to men living in deep mud and contracting trench foot. The soldiers in the trenches would have had to live with constant shellfire; this could result in shell shock where the untiring bombardment had worn away their nerves to the point of insanity. We can see an example of this in Birdsong when Faulks is talking about the spasmodic explosion of shells. We can see from the use of language here that Faulks relates to the shelling as insanity. As if the spasmodic explosions are not only the explosions but also fits of the men themselves. Owen also talks about the effects of shelling in his poetry. We can see an example of this in Dulce Et Decorum Est when Owen talks about an attack; stating; Deaf even to the hoots, of gas-shells dropping softly behind We will write a custom essay sample on Explore the way Wilfred Owen and Sebastian Faulks present the physical and mental suffering of soldiers in the First World War specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Explore the way Wilfred Owen and Sebastian Faulks present the physical and mental suffering of soldiers in the First World War specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Explore the way Wilfred Owen and Sebastian Faulks present the physical and mental suffering of soldiers in the First World War specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Owens use of the word deaf brings a sense of irony to his writing. It shows that the incessant shelling has destroyed them emotionally and physically as if there exposure to war has dulled their senses. Both writers present fatigue in their works. The character Jack Firebrace is marching: Twice he jerked awake, realizing he had been walking in his sleep. Wilfred Owen presents a very similar incident in the poem Dulcà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ et decorum est: Men marched asleep All went lame, all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf. It appears that the exhausting life they lead has dulled their usual senses to the extent of seeming intoxication. This is shown again in Birdsong with a description of the character Wrayford: His movements had a dreamlike quality, as though the air about him were very thick and had to be pushed slowly back. Faulks also presents the unclean lifestyle they were living; He thought of the stench of his clothes and the immovable lice among the seams. Wilfred Owen also comments on the environment theyre in: frost will fasten on this mud and us, shrivelling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp (from the poem Exposure). Faulks and Owen present serious physical harm in a particularly graphic way, presumably to inform the reader of the severity of the situation the soldiers were in. They both write about victims of gas attack, they write about their injuries in detail. The effect of the gas seems to be that of burning or quickly dissolving the flesh that comes into contact with it. In Dulcà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ et decorum est; And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, his hanging face like a devils sick of sin blood came gargling from the froth corrupted lungs. Whereas Owen uses a simile to describe the extent of injury sustained, Faulks uses a straightforward comparison; he is clinical in his descriptions. Faulks writes about gas victims in a French hospital; when they unplugged his dressings, fluid leapt from his flesh His body was decomposing as he lay there, like those who hung on the wire going from red to black before they crumbled into earth leaving septic spores. They seem to want to sicken the rea der into realisation and its very effective. Sebastian Faulks produces some of the most disturbing physical situations imaginable; Brennan anxiously stripping a torso with no head. He clasped it with both hands, dragged legless up from the crater, his fingers vanishing into buttered green flesh. It was his brother. Faulks often writes about physical injuries sustained with such an obvious style but apart from in Dulcà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ et decorum est Owen tends not to. This could be because Owen had actually seen such horrific scenes and had become less sensitive to them. The physical destruction may have become less significant and so he did not include it in his poems. Or perhaps he repressed gory memories and subconsciously avoided writing about them. Owen also writes of long-term injuries being sustained but is generally much less graphic and makes the same point in a subtler way. In the poem Disabled Owen describes how a soldier has been so seriously injured that he shall never regain good health: Hes lost his colour very far from here, poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry. If Faulks wished to convey the intensity of an injury sustained hed be more likely to write he thought of the hole in Douglass shoulder where he had pressed his hand through almost to the lung. Owen seems to be a more creative and subtle writer whereas Faulks seems more obvious and graphic. This might come about merely because Faulks is writing a novel and Owen poetry. Owen might have to be more creative to convey the same meaning in fewer words. Poetry being a condensed emotional form of language. He uses metaphors and similes to help us understand without explaining every detail. However Faulks does not have to be as creative and isnt as he wrote a five hundred and three page novel. To live under the extreme circumstances that the soldiers do both writers explain that the soldiers build up psychological defences. The ability is grown to numb their emotions and adapt so as to be able to cope with seeing the death of men everyday, some of which were friends. Faulks explains how the process might happen using his character Stephen Wrayford as an example he watched the machine gunners pouring bullets into the lines of advancing Germans as though there was no longer any value accorded to a more human life He grew used to the sight and smell of torn human flesh. Owen describes much the same thing himself, though once again without the need of graphic descriptions; Dullness best solves the tease and doubt of shelling Their hearts remain small-drawn. Can laugh among the dying concerned. Nor sad, nor proud, nor curious at all By choice they made themselves immune. (from the poem Insensibility). Faulks wrote a prime example of this insensibility: A boy lay without legs wh ere the men took their tea from the cooker. They stepped over him. If the soldiers do not build up some emotional defence mechanism then Faulks and Owen show that the soldiers cannot handle stress and it leads to emotional breakdowns. Owen tried to describe what this breakdown/madness is in The Chances; wounded, killed and prisner, all the lot, the bloody lot all rolled in one. Jims mad. I think he means that to be insane is like being wounded and to be a prisoner of your own mind. They both explain how the haunting scenes send men this way from Birdsong; There was an arm with corporals stripes on it near his feet, but most of the mens bodies had been blown into the moist earth. Owen also reports of the haunting scenes hes seen in Dulcà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ et decorum est; In all my dreams before my helpless sight. He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. Also in the Sentry: Always they must see these things; Batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles. Faulks presents one of his characters being haunted. As the character is so tormented his mental state is obviously seriously affected. He spends two years in silence; His life became grey and thin, like a light that at any moment be extinguished; it was filled with quietness. Both writers describe the insanity caused by life at the front line. They describe the disorientated and debilitating symptoms. From the poem Mental Cases: Who are these? Why sit here in twilight? Wherefore rock they drooping tongues from jaws that slobthese are men whos minds the dead have ravished. Faulks also shows the results of these breakdowns in the long term with the character Brennan: Brennan began to talk again, looping from one random recollection to another they put him in the loony bin. They bring me this tea. My brothers good to me though. You should have seen the fireworks'. This being an example of the insane ramblings produced. Faulks presentation of death is obviously far less sensitive than Owenss. The deaths presented in Birdsong appear quick and meaningless whereas Owen shows the opposite, being far romantic and sentimental. Captain Weir is one of the main characters in the novel. We learn of his relationship with his parents, hi sex life, his superstitiousness and his friendship with character Stephen Wrayford. We become intimately acquainted with him. However, his death is presented suddenly and completely without compassion; A snipers bullet entered his head above the eye causing trails of his brain to loop out onto the sandbags of the parados behind him Owen presents death romantically trying to provoke sympathetic feelings. Move him into the sun-, gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown(Futility). Owens language coveys a sense of emotional turmoil. By his use of words like gentle he emphasises his emotional sympathy for this mans death, making the body have a sense of fragility. Owen refers to home to heighten the emotional significance and sadness in order to convey the significance of his death. In conclusion, it is my opinion that Wilfred Owen and Sebastian Faulks write quite differently about the suffering of soldiers in the First World War. Owen seems to write more poetically and spiritually. This could be because he knew the people who dyed or were mutilated and so was more sensitive around the subject. Also he was writing poetry so he would have had to convey more sentiment or information in a smaller amount of text. Owen could have been more sentimental because of the closed-off position he was in. Whereas Faulks wrote retrospectively, knowing what happened throughout the war. He wrote more objectively and less personally. Faulks could not relate in the same way and so tends to write more obviously and graphically.

Social Mobility essays

Social Mobility essays In a world where it is hard to get ahead, some people do manage to do it. Most of us spend our lives within our strata in the stratifications system because it is very difficult to move up in the world, as we know it today. While it is quite easy to move down a strata it can also require some effort to just maintain a strata. But for some people, moving up a strata is bound to happen, whether it is a result of structural mobility, or just positional mobility as read about in Chapter 5, they seem able to accomplish a surmountable wall in search of the American dream. Although moving up a strata is very rare in today's society it can be done. A good example is Steve Case, a CEO for America Online, who happens to be the subject of a Newsweek article called Case Study by Jared Sandberg. Steve Case grew up with his family in Honolulu in part of the old white Anglo establishment. Some of his earliest marketing experiments included the Case Company in which he used his paper route to gain access to his neighbors' houses so he could sell them anything from seeds, to personalized Christmas cards. In college he kept it up with anything for limos to rock concert tickets. Now he is CEO for one of the World's largest Internet access companies while it deals with Time-Warner in a possible merger of the two companies. Making him worth an estimated $1.4 billion. Social mobility is defined as movement through the stratification system, particularly as a result of changes in occupation, wealth or income. There are two types of social mobility; there is intergenerational mobility and intragenerational mobility. In this article over Steve Case, his is a case of intragenerational mobility, because it has happened within his lifetime, as defined by the definition of intragenerational mobility. Steve Case obtained his strata jump as a result of both structural mobility and positional mobility. Structural mobi ...

Key elements from the philosophies of Hegel and Husserl Essay

Key elements from the philosophies of Hegel and Husserl - Essay Example According to existentialism, existence comes before the essence of life. Hegel was also of the same opinion albeit he put forth certain conditions or situations when human beings have this kind of free will. According to his ‘Philosophy of Right’, human beings are free to act or decide for themselves only if they are part of any particular system or area concerning the free will. According to Hegel, freedom should not be linked with arbitrariness (doing whatever one pleases). Hegel believes that, â€Å"We are free only when we overcome ‘particularity’ and act ‘universally’ or ‘objectively’, according to the concept of the will† (Wood, 2003). Usually people misinterpret the meaning of freedom; they feel that freedom means nonexistence of hurdles in doing anything of one’s choice. But when we view it with practicality, the situation is somewhat different. on the contrary, Hegel feels that human beings cannot be said to b e free â€Å"unless social institutions provide considerable scope and protection for arbitrary freedom† (Woods, 2003). Another element of Hegel’s philosophy relates to the civil society. Hegel says that human beings are free to decide what work they choose for their livelihood but they cannot completely deny the fact that their actions will not affect the society. It should be a give and take system where individuals contribute towards the society and in turn the society looks after the broader interests of all human beings. Any work that we do indirectly helps the society as a whole; â€Å"As members of this society, individuals have the duty to support themselves through labor which benefits the whole, while civil society as a whole owes each individual the opportunity to labor in a way which provides a secure, respected and self-fulfilling mode of life† (Woods, 2003). Philosophy of Phenomenology Edmund Husserl was the founded the ‘Philosophy of Phenome nology’. He was a mathematician and all his anticipations and explanations were based on mathematic calculations or to be more precise, the inferential system. The motive of Husserl’s Theory of Phenomenology, â€Å"is to study the units of consciousness that the respective speaker presents himself as having – that he gives voice to – in expressing the proposition in question (for instance, while writing a mathematical textbook or giving a lecture)† (Beyer, 2011). Husserl relates the actions of human beings to their perceptions. According to him, it is quite possible that while performing any action, a person is hallucinating. Means that he/she may think he/she is being watched while doing the act. Also, â€Å"from a first-person point of view, one cannot, of course, decide whether in a case of what one takes to be, say, an act of perception one is currently performing, there actually is an object that one is perceptually confronted with† (Be yer, 2011). In Tel Asiado’s words Husserl’s philosophy claims that ‘consciousness is ‘directedness towards an object.’ The mental state and the object of the state exist together in consciousness without implying that there is any ‘material’ object answering to the call† (Asiado, 2009). Husserl’s apprehensions are more towards the doubts on the ‘information about self’ rather than the ‘information about things’. Husserl’s philosophy can be summarized to be â€Å"as both an early direct reference theorist (headword: