Lake Essays - Flavored Fortified Wines, Fortified Wine, Pejoratives

ts. They drink ?gin and grape juice, Tango, Thunderbird, and Bali Hai, [sniff] glue, and ether and what somebody [claims] [is] cocaine.?(112) What starts out as a harmless prank on the third night of their summer vacation turns into a situation where they get into a fight, attempt to rape a girl, find a dead body and see first hand the destruction a bad character can do to an automobile. The night they lose their ?badness? is nothing special. After the requisite bad character activities: egging mailboxes and hitchhikers, driving up and down Main Street, eating, drinking, and smoking pot. They decide to go up to the local hangout, *u*Greasy Lake*/u*, to see if anything is going on. They cruise up to the lake with their ?lemon-flavored gin,? requisite pot and the itch for some action. There is no better place, for these three bad characters to hang out - *u*Greasy Lake*/u*, is an important place for bad characters to learn an important lesson. The lake, like the events about to unfold, is ?fetid and murky?mud banks glistened with broken glass [,] strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires.? (112) There are only two vehicles in the whole parking lot, ?the exoskeleton of some gaunt chrome insect, a chopper leaned against its kickstand.? (113) And a, ?57 Chevy, mint, metallic blue.? (113) No excitement, ?expect some junkie halfwit biker and a car freak pumping his girlfriend.? Whatever they are looking for they are not going to find it up at the lake. All of a sudden, they see a friend?s car. This is all the three need to know; now things will get interesting, maybe it is not a wasted trip after all. They flash the headlights and honk the horn, a harmless prank to pull on a friend, ?for all we [know] we might even catch a glimpse of some little fox?s tit. And then we [could] slap backs with red-faced Tony, roughhouse a little, and go on to new heights of adventure and daring.? (113) In their haste for a little excitement and adventure, they fail to re alize it is not Tony?s car after all, but someone else?s car. This is the second mistake. The first is dropping the car keys in the grass. The owner of the car, a greasy booted character, does not find this childish prank funny. He comes out of the car, with fists flying, feet kicking. He is not about to let these guys get away with this so-called harmless prank. This guy is bad; he takes on all three of the friends, and thoroughly beats them up. Even after this, they still think they are bad. ?[He] [goes] for the tire iron under the car seat.? (114) The narrator still holds onto the idea he is bad, ?[He] [keeps] it there because bad characters always keep tire irons under the driver?s seat, for just such an occasion as this.? (114) Everything the narrator thinks is associated with the image of being bad. The reality is this guy has used the tire iron, not for other fights, but to change a flat tire. As for fighting, this bad character has been in only one other fight in his life ?i n the 6th grade, when a kid with a sleepy eye and two streams of mucous [descending] from his nostrils hit me in the knee with a Louisville slugger.? (114) The situation is taking on a life of it's own, a situation the narrator cannot stop.?[The] antagonist [is] shirtless? he [bends] forward to peel Jeff from his back like a wet over coat?Mother*censored*er, he [spits] over and over, and [the narrator] is aware in that instant that all four [of them] ? Digby, Jeff and [the narrator] included ? [are] chanting mother*censored*er, mother*censored*er as if it were a battle cry.? (114) The adrenaline is pumping, hearts racing; the smell of fear is in the air. They are actors in a play watching from the stage, they are bad. In the heat of the moment; ?[I] [go] at him like a kamikaze, mindless, raging, stung with humiliation ? the whole thing, from the initial boot in the shin to this murderous primal instinct.?

Literary Analysis Things Fall Apart Essays

Literary Analysis Things Fall Apart Essays Literary Analysis Things Fall Apart Essay Literary Analysis Things Fall Apart Essay Essay Topic: Things Fall apart One of the many themes represented in Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, was both Europeans and Umuofians, like the protagonist in the story, Okonkwo, were facing challenges of cultural change within their groups. After reading much of the story, it’s obvious that the two cultures knew nothing about each other. Although the Ibo people were more accepting of cultural changes, it was never made clear if they were willing to completely educate themselves of other cultures, specifically the British culture. Eventually, there is no hope for either groups to change, resulting in tension between the two. Finally, it became obvious that cultures clashing caused many problems; instead of diffusing within each other, there were many instances of force used upon the two leading to negative outcomes. The first issue that led to the negative result of cultures clashing was the lack of knowledge the two groups had of each other. The Umuofians believed the white man that showed up at their village was albino, later informed he was not albino but something they’ve never seen before. The fact that both cultures did not feel the need to learn about one another led to more tension, including unable to accept each other once it was too late. As it seems force becomes an issue led by the Christian missionaries of the British. They began telling the villagers that they worshipped false gods and had no tolerance for the beliefs of the Umuofia people. They began force-converting the villagers to Christianity, believing that it is the supreme religion. Although the Uumofia people taught their concept of the oracle and the egwugwu, the clan’s ancestral spirits, the missionaries still rejected it. It is further believed that the British people were not at all interested in learning anything about the culture of Umuofia but rather forcing their culture onto the villagers. They believed that they could exploit the villagers because of how oblivi

The idea of love in john donne and shakespeare Essay

The idea of love in john donne and shakespeare - Essay Example It is like a little song that states a problem, explores the implications and resolves the dilemma. In many ways, Shakespeare’s and Donne’s poetry are familiar but have contrasts as well. This paper will focus on the idea of love as portrayed by the two in their sonnets (Blair, 2005). Shakespeare’s sonnets are divided in three groups as they address three different people while Donne’s are divided in two parts; the witty love and religious merit. Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 shows how he makes fun at the courtly conventions during those days. This love sonnet mocks how other people think of love but it does not undermine his mistress’s beauty. While other people compare the lips to coral, in the sonnet he says that â€Å"coral is far more red than her lips†. Shakespeare says she would love her even if her breast were ‘dun’. In his love sonnets, Shakespeare writes for a wider audience and tries to convince them to see things fr om his perspective. Shakespeare uses a different language to express love, for instance he quotes â€Å"if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head†. In love poems, many poets will make the hair look soft, long and probably golden (Shakespeare and Booth, 2000). In a love sonnet, the reader will not expect a language like black wires on the head or ‘dun’ breasts. ... Shakespeare uses a dark lady to depict beauty and love which is the opposite of renaissance love poetry. This interprets love to be an internal force that have power even over the external forces such as looks. According to Shakespeare, love is more than the looks, material things and romance (Martin, 2010). In sonnet 73, Shakespeare seems to be the speaker, and is pleading for love to grow stronger. He uses a soothing and humble tone in this sonnet. In sonnet 116, the ideal love according to Shakespeare is the kind that perseveres and does not wear with time. He states â€Å"love is not love, which alters when its alterations finds†. When a love relationship is broken, it is accompanied by heartaches and in his opinion; love can also hurt, as written in sonnet 147 (Shakespeare & Booth, 2000). Looking at Donne’s second sonnet ‘song’, speaker uses impossible actions and fantastic language to show love. For example, â€Å"Teach me to hear mermaids sing†. His emotions and how he feels about love can be strongly felt through his poetry. His sonnet, ‘the canonization’ talks about two lovers whose love cannot be understood by anyone else (Donne & Redpath, 2009). Donne seems to tackle the ideal love from his experiences in life. He had eloped with his underage love Anne, and it is not clear whether this poem portrayed how his father and the society failed to understand and objected their marriage. Despite the hardship, the couple loved each other deeply. In this sonnet, nobody believed that these lovers should be allowed to be and that is why they talk ridiculously behind their back. This is a metaphor to show that they will talk and ridicule them but they will long to have a deep love just as theirs (Donne, & Stringer, 2005).