African Americ The Fear Of Success - 1077 Words

African American The fear of success in blacks can also be looked at through many angles. Socially blacks tend to hinder each other by viewing success as â€Å"Acting white.† In the article Scholars Debate Theory that Blacks Equate Academic Success with Acting White , Dr. Ronald F. Ferguson argues how success often equates to acting white in the black community. Ferguson argues, â€Å"Blacks value education and good grades just as much as whites, what it comes down to is time spent leisurely reading or doing extra work that is considered white† (page). John Uzo Ogbu another professor that argues in the article Black Students School Success: Coping with the Burden of Acting White, argues that this acclaim that blacks do n’t read leisurely isn’t true. â€Å"This isn’t true, and that kid’s answer questions to what they think the adult wants to hear, and the only way to make that assumption is to actually observe the kids†. I think that there is some tr ue in both of their statements, but neither is all the way right. Blacks kids do not associate education as acting white, but see being educated and being able to speak properly as being white. In ‘You Talk White:’ Being Black and Articulate’, Keith Powell states in, â€Å"Being smart, black, young and American had become a liability. People seemed to think I was some kind of walking oxymoron. I was often asked to be more â€Å"urban and it never seemed like the right time or place to launch into a diatribe about how I was born in West

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1093 Words

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has been celebrated as one of the greatest, if not the greatest American novel. Yet this is sudden for the overall population, which has so hailed the book, is unequivocally that which is rebuffed all through it. Politically, the American dream was a foundation of guidelines and trusts for any and every American single individual. Especially, one of the convictions was an American dream free of class refinement; that every individual has the opportunity to be whomever they might want to be. In a sort of Cinderella-like style, it is in a broad sense an immaculate of social versatility and adaptability. The social reality, of course, is far crueler. Because of the coldblooded truth of social†¦show more content†¦Utilizing her sexuality and disgusting demeanor, she gets to be false for surrendering and rejecting her own particular social establishment, and like Nick, we as perusers are shocked by her twisted methodology to entering the rich class. At one point, and hilariously to the knowing passerby, Myrtle grumbles around an administration accomplished for her that was expensive to the point that when she gave Myrtle the bill you d of thought she had her a appendicitis out. Clearly abusing her wording, it is amusing simply because she is making a decent attempt to fit into the highbrow privileged persona, and fizzling pitiably. Her rudeness becomes more apparent when she rejected the compliment about her dress by raising her eyebrow in disdain. She is so false in her manner that Nick observes that she had changed her costume†¦and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress. This understandable portrayal of Myrtle catches her fakeness. She was not being herself, however practically faking it to execute as a privileged woman. It is an abominable, eager strategy to pursue social prevalence. An alternate strategy is her issue with Tom Buchanan, who speaks to the rich high society. This issue and relationship with Tom addresses the falseness and decay in class capability. Outside the domain of importance, Myrtle s political

Investigate a Type of Public Speech Such as Political Speech, School Assembilies Etc. Free Essays

A political speech is a type of public speech; public speeches are usually prepared with the intentions of informing, influencing or entertaining an audience. The main purposes of a political speech are to transmit information among others, motivating people to act either for or against something or to tell a story. A good orator should be able to change people’s emotions and keep the audiences interest. We will write a custom essay sample on Investigate a Type of Public Speech Such as Political Speech, School Assembilies Etc. or any similar topic only for you Order Now For my language study I am analysing David Cameron’s speech to his campaigners in Brighton before the election 2010 because I thought it would be an interesting topic as it is in current news. Firstly, David Cameron’s excessive use of pauses is interesting. They seem to be the most used technique in the transcript, for instance David Cameron says ‘we’ve got the ambition (1) to make this country great again (2) and as you go out there (1)’ this shows that there are a lot of long pauses in just one utterance, a pause can sometimes be just a hesitation but in political speech is it more likely to be deliberate. It is an interesting technique because when the orator has paused, even if only for a second, it gives the audience a chance to reflect on what has been said and interpret the information said across in their own way. However, many people may not realise that whilst letting the utterance play on the audience minds it also gives the speaker the chance to develop and prepare in his head how he will express his next point to the crowd, the longer pauses in this particular transcript seem to be after every main point so the crowd will remember those points in particular when they come to vote. Secondly, David Cameron uses pragmatic phrases in his speech such as â€Å"when we get knocked down we don’t roll over and die we get up and fight (1)† pragmatic phrases are common in political speeches to create humour or to give what is being said a second interpretation, some people make take this point literally and think about the current wars in Afghanistan but others may think of it as a personal comment made directly to them to tell them that they should never give up on what they believe in and that they should always be determined. The purpose of the pragmatic phrase in this particular speech is probably to make the audience relate to the points being made and think that they can relate to the orator themselves. Another intriguing technique is the use of repetition in this speech, â€Å"another day we’re not gripping our problems (1) another day we are wasting our opportunities (1) another day when this country is not being all that it could be (2)† repetition in this utterance is powerful because it gives the speech more drama and make more of an impact and stick in the audiences minds for when it is really needed, at the polling station. The orator might choose to use repetition to make the speech easier to remember if he does not want to seem like he is reading off a sheet because a good orator needs to at least try and look like he is delivering it naturally because that is what the audience would want. Also, in the transcript quote above the main points are emphasised, words that are emphasised are more likely to be remembered because they are spoken louder and clear than all the others. . In political speeches, language is affected because it is slowed right down and is spoken more precisely, because in theory, a speech is a performance and you would want people to listen and not think, boring! A political speech is prepared, but that does not mean that the audience does not want a natural delivery, they would not want any false starts, that are seen in normal face-to-face conversations, because that would make the audience lose confidence in the speaker, also there is no slang unless that is the way the speaker wants to put the speech across. Generally, in political speeches politicians tend to use words that the audience don’t really understand, the audience might not like this because they feel that politicians’ should talk in a way that every educational ability can understand and try not to diverge away from them, however that’s what is so interesting in this speech is the lack of political jargon, i would have thought there would have been a lot. However, i realise that the orator may not want to speak in political jargon because he may want to act like one of the public and speak in a way they are more likely to understand because if the audience understands the pitch they are more likely to vote for the one they actually know what was said. The delivery of a speech welcomes peoples own interpretations and opinions, and politics is all about opinions. How to cite Investigate a Type of Public Speech Such as Political Speech, School Assembilies Etc., Papers

Don Giovanni the Characters and Their Music free essay sample

The Characters and Their Music Giving Characters character is one of the most interesting challenges in operatic composition; another is composing for all the specific characters. A composer has to distinguish between characters through his music. Jan cant sound like Fran, and Dan cant sound like Stan. Each character must have his/her own traits. Mozart opera, Don Giovanni, provides us with many different characters to compare and contrast. One scene In particular lends Itself to the comparison of Don Galvan, Leprosy, and The Commentator. Scene fifteen of Act two, places all three characters In close interaction with each other, making it easy to compare and find out how Mozart and his Librettist Lorenz dad Pone brought them all to life. The libretto provides the main character traits of Don Giovanni, Leprosy, and The Commentator. It gives an easy way of distinguishing between the characters. Don Giovanni is portrayed as being smart, charming, and brave, yet selfish, arrogant, womankind, and pompous. We see all of these traits In the final dinner scene. These opposing traits set up a love hate relationship between Don Giovanni and the viewers.Leprosy on the other hand, is wimpy, subservient, nervous, and a bit dumb. He is often the butt of Don Giovanni Jokes, and is always being bossed around. He can be thought of as the comic relief of the opera. In the dinner scene we get a definite feeling of Leprosy being a wimpy idiot. After being slain by Don Giovanni, the Commentator returns as a statue. He Is portrayed as being a mighty, powerful, and ominous. He tries to make Don Giovanni repent for all the terrible things he did. In the dinner scene he Is truly a powerful being from beyond. His power is demonstrated when he sends Don Giovanni down to hell.The above character descriptions are what Lorenz dad Pone et up for Mozart to compose his music to. We now can observe how Mozart used musical devices to give each character his own flavor. One area to compare is the rhythmic traits of each characters musical lines. Leprosys nervousness and fear In the dinner scene Is exemplified through a very Jumpy unsteady rhythmic vocal line. Mozart really makes his nervousness obvious by Glenn him notes no longer In value than a quarter note. Mozart uses dotted eights to sixteenth notes to make his part especially disjointed. This creates the effect of someone shaking from fear as they are trying to speak. Mozart also uses a continuous triple pattern, which begins at measure 470, to create a rambling effect. Leprosy seems to have lost his sanity from fright of the statue, and Is now babbling Incoherently. Don Giovanni and the Commentator have very different rhythmic vocal parts then Leprosy. They are much more bold and brave then Leprosy, so Mozart gives them a more solid rhythm. The Commentator has the most stable part out of all of them. He has many whole and half notes. The stability of the rhythm adds to the confidence and power of his character.The only time his rhythm becomes quicker is when he is yelling at Don Giovanni to repent. Don Giovanni shares many similar rhythmic traits as the Commentator, although It has a little more diversity. Don Galvan shifts from being appropriately varies the speed of Don Giovanni rhythm. An example of this occurs at measure 522. Previous to this measure, Don Giovanni has a stable rhythm with most words occurring on the strong beats. It abruptly changes to a short offbeat eight note. Rhythm is not the only musical area that Mozart crafts specifically for each character. He also uses certain melodic lines for each character.The Commentators musical lines are the most striking. He often has huge leaps in his part, giving the listener a full dose of the impeding force he is. The space creates a feeling of something bigger and more powerful then a mortal. It is important to note that a lot of these giant leaps are not easy. There are many augmented fourths, minor sevenths, and other strange intervals that he has to navigate through. An example of the strange interval leaps can be found from measure 552 to 461. This little section takes a break from having a key center and instead floats around between diminished chords.This only adds to the something not of this earth leaning the Commentator gives us. Mozart also uses repeated notes to produce a powerful effect. The orchestral motive moves up by step each measure while the Commentator stays on the same note. This occurs between measures 465 and 470 and again between measures 475 and 478. Don Giovanni once again has similar qualities as the Commentator. The large Jumps are present but they are tonally different. They are often very key oriented, outlining triads or doing some sort of five to one motion. The harmonically stable nature of his vocal part lends itself to his personality.Some of his lines almost sound like fanfares. Fanfares are very bold sounding. Appropriately his fanfare like lines begins at measure 504 when he starts bragging that he is not afraid of anything, even Gods wrath. Without the appropriate use of dynamics, none of the above would come of, as they should to the audience. Mozart makes good use of dynamics by making Leprosy very quiet when he is afraid and hiding. The Commentator is always forte or fortissimo so that his power is evident. Don Giovanni is once again a blend of the Commentator. He has a wide range of dynamics because he has a wide range of emotions throughout the dinner scene.The above examples are Just a few things that Mozart and Lorenz dad Pone did to make sure that the opera was as effective as possible. The next step is to Observe how musicians interpret and express what Mozart and dad Pone created. Ere two productions of Don Giovanni in comparison are The Goldenberg Summer Opera Festival video and the Opera Film Drama socio by Joseph Loose. The two different productions are very good, but they definitely have their own opinions regarding many aspects of the opera. The first major difference was obviously the method of performance. The Goldenberg version was a live production and theLoose version was video with lip-psyching. I felt that neither medium was better then the other. I place the integrity of each version in the hands of the performers. Which had the best singers? The singer who performed Don Giovanni was much better in the live version. Ruggeri Raymond of the video version gave a very good whats on the page performance. On the other hand, Benjamin Luzon of the live version went beyond whats on the page. I really felt like Don Giovanni was on the stage rather then some singer acting as Don Giovanni. He changed his voice and is so much more emotional than the video Giovanni.The video Giovanni keeps the same exact voice for like an emotional person would. An example of this occurs when he takes the Commentators icy hand. He lets us know that Giovanni confidence is frozen and shattered by that icy grip. The video Giovanni reacts as if he touched a cold soda. I also had the same feeling towards the singers who portrayed Leprosy. Stafford Dean of the Goldenberg Festival Opera performed Leprosy amazingly. I think he Nas the best out of all the performers at capturing the true spirit of Leprosy. He seemed much more scared then Joss van Dam of the video version.I thought that the died Leprosy seemed almost too confident at times. He didnt give true Justice to the fear Leprosy actually had. When Don Giovanni is being taken to hell, Leprosy is singing come mi FAA terror, mi FAA terror which translates into, I shall die of fright. Ere video version didnt convince me of that fear. I also thought the video Leprosys triplet sounded out of time. I dont now if this was done on purpose, but I actually thought it helped get the babbling of Leprosy across. Overall I thought the live performance was better, but there were a few things I really liked about the video erosion.Most of the better qualities dealt with the Commentator. I thought John Macaulays singing was more appropriate. In particular I liked his use of vibrato. He Nas very hesitant to let it get too wide. Instead he used a more straight voice; it helped him sound bigger and more ominous. The singer in the live version used a more active vibrato, which caused him to sound like Don Giovanni. The above thoughts are about a very complex piece of music. The fact that it appears to be simple, is a result of the genius of Mozart and his incredibly ability to write music. Is opera works so well because Mozart made it so accessible to regular people. He achieved this simplicity through his meticulous detail to each characters personality. He made sure that Don Giovanni sounded like he should sound: bold, cocky, and charming. Mozart truly wrote an opera that almost performs itself. I feel that if a person can sing the notes, then most of the point has gotten across. If the singer is boring, the listener can still understand the character through his or her melodic line or the rhythmic patterns of the part. Overall, Mozart composed the perfect music for ;ACH character.