The Godmother of All the Pretty Horses Essay -- Essays Papers

The Godmother of All the Pretty Horses In analysis of the character, Duena Alfonsa, in the novel All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, facets of her character are clearly revealed. From her physical deformity to her feelings of her father keeping her exiled in her own country, seventy-two year old Alfonsa is filled with a lifetime of complex situations. Her character was consistent and motivational in wisdom and provided greatness in her role in the novel. She is a grandaunt and godmother of Alejandra, a young teenager still in school. The Duena, one could say, is the "Godfather" of the novel. She literally "goes to the mattresses" in protecting her grandniece from a man. After seventy-two years of life, Alfonsa speaks of her life's experiences at an elevated level of knowledge. She is formal, polite, and full of assuredness. McCarthy describes Alfonsa's appearance as an "elegance chilling" (McCarthy 227). Her knowledge came from reading books. McCarthy writes of Alfonsa, "By the time I was sixteen I had read many books and I had become a freethinker" (McCarthy 232). Alfonsa's complexity included her physical deformity. She describes the loss of her last two fingers of her left hand in a shooting accident when she was seventeen years old where the barrel of the gun exploded while she was shooting for live pigeons. This placed her with several perspectives. Two of her perspectives in becoming deformed were, first, it lead her to the feelings...

The poems Valentine and In Mrs. Tilchers Class both experience :: English Literature

The poems' Valentine and In Mrs. Tilchers' Class both experience dramatic change throughout the course of their poems. They are both very similar in their structure because they both start off in a very positive way. For example the poem "Valentine" uses the words 'Red rose' and 'satin heart' in the first line, which also is the first stanza. Like this, in the poem "In Mrs. Tilchers' Class" the word 'laugh' is used in the first stanza. From this we can see that both poems are conforming to normal standard, by starting off very positively. In "Valentine" Carol Ann Duffy starts off the poem by describing the state of the relationship and uses the words 'like the careful undressing of love' to create a simile of sexual nature. As the poem progresses, we find out that Carol Ann Duffy is, in fact, ending the relationship with the person concerned. She uses phrases like 'possessive' and 'lethal', which certainly does not conform to most Valentine poems of today. Unlike the beginning of the poem where she uses a lot of very "loving" words like 'truthful' and 'lover', towards the end she talks about how the scent of the onion will 'cling to your knife'. The word 'knife' is the keyword in this line, and Carol Ann Duffy has purposely chosen it because it is not usually linked with Valentine poems. The word is a strong contrast towards the beginning of the poem. We can link the word 'knife' as the last word in the poem, to the last word in the first line which is 'heart'. We can now more clearly see the contrast Duffy is trying to make. The whole poem "Valentine" is an extended metaphor concerning the onion. Duffy uses the onion to describe the relationship. From words like 'undressing', 'fierce kiss' to 'tears' and 'grief' she chooses her language so that you can identify and relate to what she is writing. The poem is not only easy to relate to because of its language but also because it is written based on real life. Duffy wrote the poem for a lover, so this also makes it easier to understand. Carol Ann Duffy makes the change in "Valentine" between the fifth and the sixth stanza. The first three stanzas of the poem focus on the content of the relationship and we see the contentment of it. However there is a change. The sixth and seventh stanzas describe an event and its consequences. The reader can see that when Carol Ann Duffy says ' I give you an onion. Its fierce kiss will stay on your The poems' Valentine and In Mrs. Tilchers' Class both experience :: English Literature The poems' Valentine and In Mrs. Tilchers' Class both experience dramatic change throughout the course of their poems. They are both very similar in their structure because they both start off in a very positive way. For example the poem "Valentine" uses the words 'Red rose' and 'satin heart' in the first line, which also is the first stanza. Like this, in the poem "In Mrs. Tilchers' Class" the word 'laugh' is used in the first stanza. From this we can see that both poems are conforming to normal standard, by starting off very positively. In "Valentine" Carol Ann Duffy starts off the poem by describing the state of the relationship and uses the words 'like the careful undressing of love' to create a simile of sexual nature. As the poem progresses, we find out that Carol Ann Duffy is, in fact, ending the relationship with the person concerned. She uses phrases like 'possessive' and 'lethal', which certainly does not conform to most Valentine poems of today. Unlike the beginning of the poem where she uses a lot of very "loving" words like 'truthful' and 'lover', towards the end she talks about how the scent of the onion will 'cling to your knife'. The word 'knife' is the keyword in this line, and Carol Ann Duffy has purposely chosen it because it is not usually linked with Valentine poems. The word is a strong contrast towards the beginning of the poem. We can link the word 'knife' as the last word in the poem, to the last word in the first line which is 'heart'. We can now more clearly see the contrast Duffy is trying to make. The whole poem "Valentine" is an extended metaphor concerning the onion. Duffy uses the onion to describe the relationship. From words like 'undressing', 'fierce kiss' to 'tears' and 'grief' she chooses her language so that you can identify and relate to what she is writing. The poem is not only easy to relate to because of its language but also because it is written based on real life. Duffy wrote the poem for a lover, so this also makes it easier to understand. Carol Ann Duffy makes the change in "Valentine" between the fifth and the sixth stanza. The first three stanzas of the poem focus on the content of the relationship and we see the contentment of it. However there is a change. The sixth and seventh stanzas describe an event and its consequences. The reader can see that when Carol Ann Duffy says ' I give you an onion. Its fierce kiss will stay on your

The Tell Tale Heart Essays -- Poem Poetry Analysis Edgar Allen Poe Sym

In the â€Å"Tell-Tale Heart† by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is extremely uncanny due to the reader’s inability to trust him. Right from the beggining the reader can tell that the narrator is crazy although the narrator does proclaim that he is sane. Since a person cannot trust a crazy person, the narrator himself is unreliable and therefore uncanny. Also as the story progress the narrator falls deeper and deeper into lunacy making him more and more unreliable, until the end of the story where the narrator gives in to his insanity, and the reader loses all ability to believe him. In the first lines of â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†, the reader can tell that narrator is crazy, however the narrator claims the he is not crazy and is very much sane, because how could a crazy person come up with such a good plan. â€Å"How, then, am I mad? Hearken! And observer how healthily – how calmly I can tell you the whole story,† (Poe 74). The reader can see from this quote that narrator is claiming that he is not insane because he can tell anyone what happened without having a mental breakdown or any other problems that people associate with crazy people. This is the begging of the unreliability of the narrator. Here the reader is merely questioning the amount of details. The narrator then goes on to explain how he didn’t hate the old man but he hated his eye. Upon reading a little bit into the story the reader finds that the narrator likes the old man or rather doesn’t having anything against him, except for his eye. The pale blue eye was the focus point for his rage he hates but not the old man. How can anyone just hate someone’s eye without being mentally unstable? â€Å"I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture – a... ...o trust him at all. The reader cannot really believe that the narrator could hear the beating of the dead man’s heart. So they think and they might realize that it is one of the police men’s pocket watch, because earlier in the story the narrator describes a beating heart as a pocket watch wrapped in cotton. Now with narrator completely mad and his reader confused and dazed Poe ends his story to leave it filled with suspense. Thought the entire story there is a constant uncanny element, the unreliable narrator, and with it the questioning reader. In â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† by Edgar Allan Poe, the reader is forced to think whether they should believe the ramblings of a crazy and unreliable narrator or not. This really brings out the uncanny in the story. Works Cited Poe, Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan Poe: The Gold-Bug and Other Tales. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1991.

Choosing the best project for the company Essay

I would like to thank you for providing me with the essential information from your previous email to analyze the following projects Juniper, Palomino, and Stargazer. This information has provided me guidance with choosing the best project for the company. This email will provide you with the recommendation and proposal of the most beneficial project for the company. The project that fits our company’s expectations and requirements is the Stargazer project. This project is efficient and the expectation of the project being completed on time is high and obtainable. According to the project descriptions, $450,000 has been spent on the product and they average a total of $575,000 being spent in order to bring the product to the market. Even though the dollar amount spent in this project is high, the return on investment for this project is high; by the third year the product is forecasted to have a return of investments of $750,000. The product life of this project is forecasted to be 7 years. Because this product has not been used we would be the first company to launch the product to the market which would create an innovative style allowing our company to be the leader in the industry. The method I used to make this decision was utilizing the feasibility study. This method allows us to determine how beneficial or practical the Stargazer project would be to the organization. The four phases associated with the feasibility study are: operational feasibility, technical feasibility, schedule feasibility and economic feasibility. The operational aspect informs whether the project is worth solving and evaluating for business usage. The technical feasibility allows us to evaluate if the proposed technology is practical. Technology feasibility also informs us if we currently possess the necessary technology to implement the project. The schedule feasibility informs us if the project  deadlines are reasonable, which they are. The economic feasibility informs of our benefits; tangible or intangible benefits. The key deliverables for the project are not just the clients but also the external stakeholders. The break-even analysis is a financial analysis tool that determines if the project needs to be justified in terms of cost not the benefits. This is why this tool was not utilized in the decision for the Stargazer project. Based on the break-even analysis for the Juniper project it basically shows the company will not, or barely break-even, during the life cycle of the production due to technology advancements causing this product line to become obsolete after three years. It has a cost of $325,000 and ROI only producing $250,000 for the two to three years of production with the third year being the end of life for this product. If the company chooses the Palomino project it will also have a hard time breaking-even and producing revenue streams over the life-time of the production with a 5% margin of error with the seventh year being the end of life for the product. The strength of the economy plays a large determining factor in this forecast due to 5% differential in the life cycle of this product. Palomino will cost $655,000 with the ROI being $450,000 over a five year period with that 5%, plus or minus, margin of error. Profit would then start to be recognized in the sixth and seventh year of the life cycle which is way too long. Each of the five phases of the project management was evaluated in order to reach the best decision. Initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing were the primary outline for the decision. Project management requires processes to be done at each of these levels in a detailed step. These steps outline the idea into a general flow for the best project.

Brick Support Tower

The team thought that to be able to have a strong structure, the tower must have support on its edges (or corners). Aside from providing support, the pillars would give the tower the necessary height to lift the bricks several inches from the ground. The team came up with only one design, and was not able to conceptualize any other design because of the time constraints. The team built a brick support tower using only five (5) pieces of note cards and some of the tape. Four of the five note cards had their short end sides cut to put slits into them.The slits were made to have a way of interlocking the cards. The note cards were then rolled in their long side to form cylinders. The fifth card was placed in the middle covering the four standing cylinders, with one cylinder standing in each corner of the fifth note card. The team didn’t have any idea as to how many bricks will it be able to support. Because of the short time allotted, the team was not able to utilize the remainin g note cards to build what could have been the next layer of the tower. Conceptual DevelopmentThe design that the team utilized provided sturdy columns, supporting the weight of the fifth note card, and also, the weight of the loading. However, the design proved to be weak in the middle part because no support was provided. Again, due to the time constraints, the group was not able to come up with other designs. The team only used the first thing that came to their mind, and immediately, set out to prepare the note cards for that design. Results and Discussion The team was only able to come up with a one-level structure of a tower.After construction, the team immediately proceeded with testing the strength and stability of their structure. The tower was only able to hold the weight of one brick. The structure turned out to be weak in the middle portion because of no added support. Another cylinder could have supported the middle part, where the center of gravity is located and thus, putting more stress and leading to eventual sagging of the middle note card. Achieving the highest performance index for a tower supporting one or more bricks was the goal of this activity.The performance index can be computed by multiplying the distance from the floor to the bottom of the lowest brick (height in inches) with the number of bricks that was supported. The team’s design’s performance index is __, which was calculated using the height measured multiplied by 1 (only one brick was supported). Given that the tower was only single-layered. The index is relatively high. Recommendations and Closure The structure could have supported more bricks if only more of the note cards were rolled into cylinders and used as base.Though the structure is single-layered, the performance index could still be higher because more bricks will be supported. Another approach would have been building a higher structure from the note cards (about two layers) but the number of bricks it may be able to hold will remain one. The team should have come up with several designs and thought over carefully which among their designs should they use. Of course, the design must be something that is sturdy and yet, easy to do, given the limited time allotment.

Effects of Computer Use on Children’s Health Essay

Nowadays, computers have become prevalent around the world. There are more and more children playing computers in their home. However, many studies of children’s computer use show that there are some negative effects on children. The essay will explain the possible negative effects of computer use on children’s health and physical development in three aspects: children’s physical health, displacement of activities for physical development and children’s mental health. Computer use may have negatively affect children’s physical health. According to Shields and Behrman (2001), children who have escalating time on computers can suffer from the pains on their eyes, backs and their wrists. In addition, as what workers have injured because of staring too long at a computer screen, children can also have a harmful effect on their vision. Another side effect on children’s physical health is that taking more time to use computers will increase the risk of obesity. Because of excessive time on watching TV, more and more people are getting obese. Furthermore, children will have the same risk if children increase their time on computers (Shields and Behrman, 2001). As Shields and Behrman (2001) advise, parents should have a limit on computer use to decrease the risk of those pains. Children’s activities for physical development can also be displaced by the extensive computer use. Since computer use can take up a lot of children’s time, it can displace activities for health development. According to Shields and Behrman (2001), the use of computer is escalating over time. There were nearly 21,000,000 children and teenagers began to surf the internet in 2000. Many of children, whatever gender they are, use the internet to surf music they like, chat with each other and send email (Shields and Behrman, 2001). Furthermore, as what Subrahmanyam says, computer use may not decrease the time of TV. Therefore, because of computers, videogames and television, the screen time increases, which makes children have less time to do outdoor activities for their physical development (Subrahmanyam, 2001). Another disturbing effect of computer use on children’s health and physical development is children’s mental health. The research of Subrahmanyam and colleagues (2001) shows the proportion of aggressive computer games is increasing time after time. Children who play violent computer games have different experiences from those playing educational games. For instance, if children play Duke Nukem and Doom for a long time, it can expose children to aggressive behavior (Shield and Behrman, 2001). Those suggest that children’s mental will get more violent. In addition, the study that launched among third and fourth grades shows children playing aggressive computer games act more violent than children playing outdoor activities, such as basketball (Subrahmanyam, 2001). In a word, children who are exposed to violent games for a long time may be more aggressive, which has a side effect on children’s mental health. In conclusion, although there are many children use computers, it has negative effects on children’s health and physical development. As much time is spent on playing computers which increases children’s screen time, children’s outdoor activities are displaced. What is worse, computer use can make children get pains on their eyes, backs and wrists. Just as troublesome, children’s mental health can also be negatively affected by playing aggressive computer games. Therefore, it is important to set a time limit on children’s computer use. Bibliography Shields, M.K. and Berman, R.E. 2001 Children and Computer Technology Analyses and Recommendations available at http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2827 Subrahmanyam, K. et al. 2001 The impact of Home Computer Use on Children Use on Children’s Activities and Development in Children and Computer Technology available at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/-/kraut/Rkraut.site.files/articles/subrahmanyam00-computer&kids.pdf

Relative ethics Essay

Relative ethics is where decisions are made with the circumstances in mind. For instance the culture and traditions of the place, the individuals, and society. Examples of relative ethics is utilitarianism and situation ethics. Relative ethics can be seen to be a fair approach to decision making because it is tolerant of different values, it is more realistic that nothing is right or wrong, it is more open to atheists, and is considers emotions as important. However it is more complex and makes decisions harder, it can be used as an excuse to act in an immoral way, it implies that we should not have laws and it does not protect worldwide human rights. Relative ethics is tolerant of different cultures. For example just because in one place it is considered wrong for women to have an education in one country e.g. Islamic countries, it doesn’t mean that in the UK women should not have an education. The UK is not morally superior and should not try to implement its own morals on any other country. This may seem fair in one way but it actually means that any act can be acceptable and doesn’t protect our human rights, sexism is wrong and women should never be discriminated against no matter their religion. Some laws need to be absolute. Someone in a different country may claim that for example kidnap and torture are part of their culture, but we know this is wrong. Relative ethics can be seen as fair because in it there are no absolute objective rights or wrongs. The right thing to do depends on the situation. For example, if a woman stole food out of greed then it would be wrong. However if she stole food to feed her starving children then this is right. It is fairer than absolute ethics because an absolutist would say that the woman shouldn’t steal even if he children are dying of starvation. Obviously, this is wrong and so the relativist view if a fairer approach to decision making The idea that there are no objective rights or wrongs can make relative decision making a slow process. In Utilitarianism, the consequences of each option have to be predicted and consequences. When each individual situation has to be considered, it can cause complications and ensuring every person gets a good result is difficult. Some may argue that the time it takes to make a decision about the morality of an act is causes those involved more suffering and is unjust. In conclusion I think that relative ethics is the best approach to making fair ethical decisions. However, I believe that some actions are wrong no matter the culture or time or individual. For example, discrimination is always wrong and torture of innocents and kidnapping is wrong. Despite this, relative ethics is tolerant of all cultures and does not believe that in any situations that one persons or country’s morals are superior to anothers.