Bernard Malamud Short Stories - 1443 Words

Zinsule Bonner Pride Comes Before the Fall In the short stories â€Å"The Bill† (1951) and â€Å"Take Pity† (1958) by Bernard Malamud, the author focuses on the theme of victimization that can be associated with the characters’ pride, and in their cases, willfulness. In â€Å"The Bill,† Ms. Panessa, an elderly woman who partners with her husband in a family-owned delicatessen, unwittingly victimizes herself and others with her own sense of honor. Similarly, in â€Å"Take Pity,† the main character, Eva Kalish, owns a grocery store with her husband in a â€Å"dead neighborhood† (175). Akin to the relationship Panessa develops with Mr. Schlegel in â€Å"The Bill,† when Kalish becomes a widow, she is caught in a vicious cycle wherein her pride and†¦show more content†¦In this case, Mrs. Panessa’s pride victimizes her own husband, and consequently, he â€Å"falls.† Similar to the Panessas, Eva and Axel Kalish have two daughters, and they have, likewise, purchased a grocery store. The Kalish family were polish refugees, and the father and husband, Axel Kalish, was a hard worker. When he got to America, he saved up as much money as he could so that he could buy this grocery in a â€Å"dead neighborhood where he didn’t have a chance†(175), as said so in the story. Rosen new that they would make it, and warned his that buying this store was a mistake because he didn’t want the family to have to suffer. Rosen said, â€Å" ‘Here they will bury you if you don’t get out quick!’†(175), sharing his strong feeling about the Kalish family and their investment in the run-down grocery. Unlike the parent/child relationship the Panessas have with their children, Mrs. Kalish values her relationship with her younger daughters. Furthermore, while Eva admits that she never expects to become a millionaire, â€Å"all [she] wants is †¦ a little living and [to] take care of [them]† (177). In an effort to accomplish her goals, she and her husband purchase the small grocery. Despite their best intentions, it becomes clear that the bout of entrepreneurism, her sense of pride Eva has about her past, as well as her refusal toShow MoreRelatedBernard Malamud : Stories Of Celebration And Expiation1602 Words   |  7 PagesBernard Malamud: Stories of Celebration and Expiation As he prepared to write his second novel, Bernard Malamud noted that he â€Å"felt [he] would often be writing about Jews, in celebration and expiation,’ but noted that â€Å"perhaps that was having it both ways.† His success as an author depended not on stories of celebration and expiation individually, but on the careful union of these two principles. Malamud recognized the contradiction between atonement and praise. For expiation to occur, there mustRead MoreAnalysis of The Jewbird Essay1017 Words   |  5 PagesIn â€Å"Jewbird,† Bernard Malamud skillfully uses three elements—theme, characters, and conflict to show the issues surrounding personal identity and assimilation among American Jews. The dominant themes in this short story are the human capacity to foster hatred towards those who are different in the form of anti-Semitism, and the conflict that exists between Jews who have assimilated into American culture and those who have not relinquish ed their Jewish identity. Humor and irony can be found throughoutRead MoreAn Alcoholic Case By F. Scott Fitzgerald And My Son The Murderer954 Words   |  4 PagesPeople might sometimes find themselves in a situation in which there is nothing they can do to help those who they care about, but they do it against all odds anyway. In both â€Å"An Alcoholic Case† by F. Scott Fitzgerald and â€Å"My Son the Murderer† by Bernard Malamud, the deuteragonists are dealing with the effects war had on them: one falling into alcoholism and the other into depression. Meanwhile the protagonists, the Nurse and Leo respectively, are trying to prevent them from suffering with no favorableRead MoreA Jew Of Gentiles By Mark Twain4267 Words   |  18 Pagesaudiences to see the Jews as one of two opposites: heroic survivors or the emotionally debilitated. Both disregard the raw emotion of the Jewish culture, that which Bernard Malamud would later prove universal. Furthermore, the criti cal tendency to categorize twentieth-century American authors by ethnically-oriented labels has done Malamud a great injustice, as the restrictive â€Å"Jewish writer† label causes audiences to read his works from a narrow outlook by the nature of the appellation. Admittedly,Read More Symbolism in Bernard Malamuds The Natural Essay2422 Words   |  10 PagesSymbolism in Bernard Malamuds The Natural   Ã‚   The role of symbolism in Bernard Malamuds The Natural is important in helping the reader understand the theme and meaning of the novel as well as the time period in which it took place.   Malamud ¡Ã‚ ¦s use of symbolism defines the character of Roy Hobbs and shows how the events occurring around him affected his decisions and, eventually, his career.   Ã‚   Symbolism in The Natural takes the form of characters, such as women who strongly influenced Roy;Read MoreComparison Of Internal And External Conflicts And Their Affects On Lives1221 Words   |  5 Pageslives. Essay? HOOK: The story Blue Winds Dancing by Thomas S. Whitecloud demonstrates the experience of a native man transitioning to his life into a white society. It exhibits the internal and external struggles in the native’s life that he encounters throughout his life. However, the native is an outcast and has a longing to go back to his native reserve. In comparison, Angel Levine by Bernard Malamud describes the life of a Jewish man, named Manischevitz, whoRead MoreBlack Is My Favorite Color by Bernard Malamud2463 Words   |  10 PagesAbout the short story The short story Black is My Favorite Color by Bernard Malamud is about Jewish-Black relationships in America similarly to several of his other novels (such as The Assistant, 1957) and short stories. Bernard Malamud (1914-1986) was born in Brooklyn as an offspring of Russian Jewish immigrants. Along with Saul Bellow, Philip Roth and Paul Auster, Malamud is one of the most important Jewish-American writers. Black is My Favorite Color deals with prejudice in general and positiveRead MoreThe Characters Of Arthurian Hero In Bernard Mallamuds The Natural1194 Words   |  5 PagesAmerican novelist and author of The Natural Bernard Malamud once said, â€Å"Without heroes, we are all plain people and dont know how far we can go† (Brainy Quote). The Natural features a young baseball phenom named Roy Hobbs as the story’s hero. His journey to become an aspiring baseball player for the Chicago Cubs is cut short as he meets multiple enemies that bring his dream to a halt. Later in his career, Roy returns to baseball as a player for the New York Knights where he encounters even moreRead MoreBlack Is My Favorite Color by Bernard Malamud2450 Words   |  10 PagesAbout the short story The short story Black is My Favorite Color by Bernard Malamud is about Jewish-Black relationships in America similarly to several of his other novels (such as The Assistant, 1957) and short stories. Bernard Malamud (1914-1986) was born in Brooklyn as an offspring of Russian Jewish immigrants. Along with Saul Bellow, Philip Roth and Paul Auster, Malamud is one of the most important Jewish-American writers. Black is My Favorite Color deals with prejudice in general and positiveRead More Cynthia Ozick993 Words   |  4 PagesJames to become a worshipper of literature. In 1952, at the age of twenty-four, she married Bernard Hallote. After Mr. Hallote received his degree, they moved back to New York where he became a lawyer for the city of New York. During the first thirteen years of her marriage, Ozicked devoted herself exclusively to work on a philosophical novel, Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love, which she called â€Å"MPPL† for short. After several years she abondoned this effort and worked on her massive novel, Trust, between

Are Todays Tv Shows Making Us Smarter - 2025 Words

Are Todays TV Shows Making Us Smarter? I recently read an essay written by American author Steven Johnson entitled Watching TV Makes You Smarter. Millions of Americans who are engrossed in today’s TV programming might be surprised at the concept. You see, for years, sitting down to watch TV was thought of as a lazy way to turn off your brain and veg out (to spend time idly or passively). (Britannica) While this may still be true, Johnson argues that the increased complexity in today’s TV shows forces us to become intellectually involved as opposed to merely entertained. The idea of TV increasing our intelligence would be a fantastic idea to most viewers. Dana Stevens (movie critic for Slate Magazine) offered a rebuttal in response to Johnson’s piece, struggling to make sense of his claims in her piece Thinking Outside the Idiot Box. Just from her title of describing the television as an ‘Idiot Box†, you can easily guess her thoughts on the subject. I believe that Johnson has presented some very intriguing evidence to back his claims while Stevens’ rebuttal offers little to no evidence to the contrary. Steven Johnson bases his argument on the observation of increased complexity we have seen in TV shows over the last thirty plus years. In spite of this, most critics continue to argue that TV has a way of dumbing down our culture. Instead of focusing on the aspects of values, violence, sexual content, and obscenity in TV, Johnson focuses on how much mental work is requiredShow MoreRelatedThinking Outside the Idiot Box by Dana Stevens vs. â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter† by Steven Johnson1125 Words   |  5 PagesEnglish Comp I Kayal 11/5/13 TV Does Not Make You Smarter There is no doubt that television holds a purpose in our society today, but is that purpose brain-numbing or actually beneficial to our brain development? The television, also known as: TV, the boob tube, the idiot box, as well as many other nicknames, has been around for almost a hundred years. Ever since cable TV became popular in the 1950’s, there has always been a worry that people watch too much TV. Most people believe that with exorbitantRead MoreWatching Tv Makes You Smarter967 Words   |  4 PagesWatching TV Makes You Smarter In his essay â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter, Steven Johnson - an author specializing in media, pop culture and technology - claims that watching TV is actually healthy for the viewers mind as contemporary television requires more cognitive thinking than it did previously. Johnson supported his claim by explaining about his sleeper curve throughout the essay. â€Å"The most debased forms of mass diversion – video games, violent television dramas and juvenile sitcoms thatRead MoreDoes Television Make Use Dumber? Essay535 Words   |  3 Pages Television is a big part of society today. The shows on television entertain most of America, along with conveying information to viewers. Many people today look down on television and blame it for problems we have in society along with making viewers dumber. Johnson’s Watching TV Makes You Smarter and Stevens’s Thinking Outside The Idiot Box have near opposite positions on the issue of television, both describing wha t they feel is the right answer when it comes to television and society. ThroughoutRead MoreCan Tv Be Making You Smarter?1444 Words   |  6 Pages Can Tv be Making You Smarter In Steven Johnson’s â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter†, he argues the growing complexities of contemporary TV shows through time. Johnson explains, because of the developing intricacy of TV plot lines people are having to spend more time paying attention to the TV episodes. 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The main problem with pop culture is that some people think that it can dumb us down, and also that it promotesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie Thinking Outside The Idiot Box By Dana Stevens And Watching Tv Makes You Smarter937 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"The Evolution of Television Show’s† As television viewers, we tend to slouch in front of this electrical box after a long day’s work, many of us don’t think or know about how much television programming has changed since our parent’s childhood. In â€Å"Thinking outside the Idiot Box† by Dana Stevens and â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter† by Steven Johnson, both writers give their thoughts and opinions about how television programming has evolved over the last three decades. These gentlemenRead MoreReality Television : Is It Reality?849 Words   |  4 Pagespoint in time. Today, reality television is a part of the society’s popular culture (Johnson 289). The question is why? Reality television is a genre of television programming that focuses on members of the public living in conditions made by the creator, and displays how people are intended to behave in everyday life (Johnson 290). Reality television is debasing and should be strictly controlled, if not banned altogethe r (Johnson 293). Reality TV is very dishonest (Cox). Reality shows make for corruptingRead MoreTelevision : A Blessing And A Curse940 Words   |  4 Pages Television: A Blessing and a Curse Televisions first came about in the 1900s, originally being used for advertisement and adult entertainment shows. When television began, one of its objectives was to present the news to society. It was a branch of broad communication, airing presidential news and news covering other states other than your own. Over the years this goal has altered, and now we can find all kinds of programs with different resolutions. There are many different forms of entertainmentRead MoreHow Tv Makes You Smarter1532 Words   |  7 Pagestelevision is making people smarted. People all over the world turn on their television each night and watch a few moments to a few hours of television and it is hard to miss a reality show which on almost any channel. If they were to pause on one of these shows they might not know it but they would bettering themselves on a personal level. Based on the ideas of Steven Johnson the average person could learn a thing or two from reality TV. In his article called, â€Å"Watching TV Makes You Smarter† JohnsonRead MoreHow Media Has Impacted Society1158 Words   |  5 Pagesand oh let us not start with cell phones†¦. In our view, teenagers and young adults, find no harm is watching â€Å"too much† television and relying on our mobile devices to often. Some topics to be discussed are: Sleeper Curves, realism, linguistics, and overstated context. The point of this paper is to reflect how mass media has effected society in a positive and successful way although many people do not believe it. They, as in editor and writer Steven Johnson in Watching TV Makes You Smarter, celebrate

The Concept of Globalisation Free Essays

There are a plethora of factors that have played a role in influencing world politics in the 20th century. There are the political ideologies, each with their own agenda, conflicting or similar, such as Communism, Fascism, Nationalism, Capitalism and Socialism. There are the various worldwide treaties and agreements, such as the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations and the United Nations. We will write a custom essay sample on The Concept of Globalisation or any similar topic only for you Order Now Accompanying these are economic agreements, which have an ever-increasing role in world politics, like the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), plus regional trade agreements and customs unions such as the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), the European Union (EU) and the Asia Pacific Economic Community (APEC). Even the two World Wars have had an influence. However, the single force that has had the greatest impact on world politics in the 20th century is Globalisation. Globalisation is a concept with many differing definitions. Bayliss Smith (1998, p. 15) define globalisation as the ‘intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. † Globalisation is a process that entails the movement of capital, goods, services and labour around the world. Globalisation is the massive control of the world†s economy by big business, transcending national boundaries. The underlying factors in all of these definitions are that globalisation involves worldwide integration of both political and economic ideals. Furthermore, Strachan (1998, p. 159) argues that it involves legal and cultural integration also. But does such integration undermine a country†s sovereignty? Can such integration be achieved without violence and conflict? In order to answer these questions, this essay will examine the driving forces behind globalisation, its downfalls and cultural adaptability. Globalisation is an ever-increasing force, even today, as technological advances literally make the world smaller by increasing communication and decreasing travel times, or what can be referred to as the ‘Communication Revolution† (Durst, 2000, p. 5). Through massive and rapid improvements in the Information Technology industry; telecommunications, exponential increases in computing power coupled with lower costs and the development of electronic communications and information networks such as the Internet, communications are now possible almost instantaneously between any two points on the globe. The threads of global web are computers, facsimile machines, satellites, monitors and modems-all of them linking designers, engineers, contractors, licensees and dealers worldwide (Sims, 1989, p. 21). Physical distance is now irrelevant. This improvement of communications this century from sailing ship to satellite has contributed directly to the globalisation of the world†s economies and political systems (Rimmer, 2000, p. 3). This has taken place across cultural and physical boundaries, effectively eliminating the capacity of countries to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. A prime example of this is China. For most of its existence, China has kept its doors closed to the rest of the world. No outside influences reached China and it remained unchanged and untouched. In recent times however, China has relaxed its legislation to accommodate foreign investment and trade. Its economy has improved and new information on how to do things more efficiently has been introduced. Borders no longer act as boundaries, especially with respect to the movement of information and finance. Furthermore, borders are becoming increasingly difficult for governments to define and maintain. Regional conflicts are arising everywhere; Sierra Leone, the coup in Fiji, Chechnya, Southern Lebanon and Kosovo. As a result, national governments are being forced to redefine their roles, responsibilities and policy relationships. Thus, globalisation has raised fears that the sovereignty of nation states is being undermined. If sovereignty can be defined as the ability to exercise control without outside interference, then nation states are clearly experiencing diminished sovereignty. Governments have no choice but to recognise and work on the assumption that most issues they are required to deal with are affected by or will affect the international competitiveness of the country. Government†s own responses to globalisation or the search for joint solutions to global problems have further effects on sovereignty. Participation in international organisations or the adoption of international agreements puts limits on policy options available to governments (Rimmer, 2000, p. 5). Instead of independence, the world is now pursuing interdependence. Proponents of globalisation argue that unilateral action is not the most effective way to achieve policy goals. In combating environmental problems and international crime, the interests of individual nations can only be protected by collective action. This belief has led to competition between countries on almost all fronts. International investment is encouraged by the activities and mobility of multinational corporations, meaning that most domestic policies such as education and training, taxation, social protection, economic regulation and labour legislation have become international. Even a country†s domestic management policy is a matter of great concern to its trading rivals, because this will ultimately affect a country†s efficiency and competitiveness. Therefore, government policies must increasingly be made more consistent with, or competitive to, those of their trading rivals. Robert Reich is a strong supporter of globalisation, publishing the book entitled ‘The Work of Nations†. In his book, Reich argues that it is already too late to stop globalisation. His view is supported by Joan Spero, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, who states that capital now moves around the world with startling speed. Each day over US $1 trillion is traded in a global foreign exchange market that never closes. (Spero in Strachan, 1998, p. 156). Reich (1991, p. 112) argues that there is no such thing as an American product anymore, giving the example of an ice hockey stick. It is designed in Sweden, financed in Canada, assembled in Cleveland and Denmark out of alloys patented in Delaware and fabricated in Japan and finally distributed in North America and Europe. There are many criticisms of globalisation and Edward Herman (1999, pp. 3-5) classifies his criticisms into a number of categories. Two of those are that, firstly, globalisation is undemocratic and secondly, that it is an assault on labour. In the United States, public opinion polls showed the general public was against NAFTA, even after incessant propaganda, but the mass media supported it and it was passed. In Europe as well, polls have shown persistent majorities opposed to the introduction of the Euro, but a powerful elite supports it, so it moves forward. Globalisation has been a tool serving elite interests. This contradicts the democratic and egalitarian utopia that these regions have been relentlessly encouraging during the 20th century. Globalisation has also steadily weakened democracy because the containment of labour costs and scaling down of the welfare state has required the business minority to establish firm control of the state and remove its capacity to respond to the demands of the majority (Herman, 1999, p. ). One of the main objectives of Transnational Corporations (TNC†s) movement abroad, for example Nike manufacturing shoes in Korea, has been to tap cheaper labour sources. Labour is often cheapest, and least prone to cause employer problems, in authoritarian states that curb unions and enter into virtual joint venture arrangements with foreign capital, as in Suharto’s Indonesia and PRI’s Mexico. Once again, this directly contradicts government†s agendas. Publicly, politicians speak out in support of foreign aid, human rights and equality, while behind closed doors they are endorsing and funding TNC†s operations that exploit cheap labour in third world countries. Another criticism of globalisation is that it is against the very nature of culture. Culture derives its diversity from the differences between different human communities and the distinctions between their respective geographical roots and historical experiences. Globalisation disregards these factors and ultimately aims to treat the entire world population as if they have the same tastes, personalities, customs, traditions and language, through a universal government system. If this were to be so, the world would be a very boring, robotic, monotonous place, devoid of any form of culture. The ramifications of this are wide-ranging. Diversity, variety and room for change are lost and forgotten. Identities of oneself are lost; ‘I† is replaced with ‘we†. Power is placed into the hands of a select elite few, very oligarchic and undemocratic. If a group of countries were to unite under a common government, equality would not be established. Such a grouping would encompass a wide spectrum of political views, ideologies, religions, races and colours. Instead of one whole body, there would be many minority groups. This transfers an unequal balance of power throughout the states. As the regional conflicts in East Timor, Yugoslavia and Chechnya have shown, conflict shall arise. There are too many barriers to overcome which only leads to frustration and violence. A Commission on Global Governance (COGG) has been established since 1992. In a report published in 1995 entitled ‘Our Global Neighbourhood†, the commission argued that countries have to accept that in certain fields, sovereignty has to be exercised collectively (Strachan, 1998, p. 155). Once again we have a contradiction in terms; by definition, collective and sovereign are exact opposites that are mutually exclusive. Having stated all the above criticisms, it is important to mention that there is no perfect system in society today that is capable of running a country absolutely efficiently. In fact, conflicting ideologies often correct each other. Communism corrects the equality problem of democracy and democracy corrects the problem of efficiency of communism. By choosing one system or the other, up risal and discontent from the people is inevitable. But is it possible to combine the two? Hitler and Mussolini argued that fascism was the ‘third way†; an alternative to capitalism and socialism. However, fascism led to the death of more than six million Jewish people, so it justifiable to be wary of anyone offering a third alternative. So globalisation has had the greatest impact on world politics in the 20th century, mainly because of the technological advances in telecommunications and information technology. This is most likely to continue through this the 21st century. The criticisms of globalisation are that it undermines sovereignty, exploits third word countries and is undemocratic. However, there is no feasible alternative at this time and globalisation is already well-spread and embedded in economics and politics. For now, the world will just have to go with it. How to cite The Concept of Globalisation, Essay examples