George Orwells 1984 - A Character Sketch :: Free Essay Writer

1984 by George Orwell Character SketchThe two main characters in 1984 are Winston Smith and Julia. Winston has hisbeliefs. It is genuinely hard to make him believe in some oneness elses ideas or lies.He is a little paranoid about people watching him. In the narration 1984, people canbe watched through TVs (telescreens). Because of this paranoia, he found aplace in his apartment were he could sit without being come overn. He spends very much ofhis time sitting in this corner writing in his diary. In his diary, he writesthings that could easily have him killed. Winston is a quiet person who has a hardly a(prenominal) friends. He has a strong feeling about how the introduction is and a strongerfeeling about how it should be.Here is my example from the book that shows Winstons character"Just flat I held up the fingers of my hand to you. You saw five fingers. Doyou remember that?""Yes."OBrien held up the fingers of his left hand, with the thumb concealed."There a re five fingers there. Do you see five fingers?""Yes."And he did see them, for a fleeting instant, before the scenery of his mindchanged. He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity. Then everything was shape again, and the old fear, the hatred and the bewilderment came crowdingback again. But there had been a moment he did not know how long, thirtyseconds, perhaps of lucent certainty, when each new suggestion of OBrienshad filled up a patch of emptiness and had become absolute truth, and when twoand two could have been three as easily as five, if that were what was needed.It had faded out before OBrien had dropped his hand but though he could notrecapture it, he could remember it, as one remembers a vivid experience at someremote period of ones life when one was in effect a different person.Earlier in that section OBrien had tortured him into believing two plus twoequals five.Julias feelings are not nearly as strong as Winstons. She is somewhatsneaky, and she is very approximate at eluding The Thought Police. Julia is quiet, andshe likes to think of the future and the past rather than the present. Sheenjoys small things that are old and simple. Julia is somewhat interested inthe way the world is turning. She enjoys nature and animals.Here is my example from the book that shows Julias characterShe fell to her knees, threw open the bag and tumbled out some spanners and a

The Schlieffen Plan Essay -- First World War WWI

The Schlieffen Plan The Schlieffen Plan is commonly though misleadingy identified with the German western wretched at the start of the First World War in August 1914, which began as a campaign of rapid movement but ended in deadlock and trench fightfare. The plan is generally seen as a desperate gamble almost certain to fail, and its recklessness is counted as part of Germ whatsoevers state of contend guilt the plan held out the false promise of a quick victory, and so it underpinned the short war illusion that led Germany into a long war of attrition, ending with her defeat and collapse in 1918. This analysis confuses two quite different moments in history. The Schlieffen Plan was non designed to meet the strategic contend Germany faced in 1914, but rather to pre-empt it by winning a more limited and manageable war at the time it was written in 1906.The consensus is that the Schlieffen Plan epitomized the arrogance of German militarism in believing that swift and total vict ory could be gained in a war on two fronts against a numerically superior coalition. It is held that the Schlieffen Plan initially deployed most of the German army in the west, with a small force left in the east to make a holding operation against the Russians. After a lightning campaign leading to a decisive victory over France within six weeks, Germany could turn her honest might against the Russians. The standard verdict is that France could not have been comprehensively defeated within such a short time, so the plan was quite poor to the strategic dilemma confronting Germany. Anyone who believes all this has simply not read the Schlieffen Plan. That document is solely concerned with a war in the west. It does not call for the deployment of any forces against Russia, and contains no reference at all to a six-week deadline for the defeat of France. The great historical misunderstanding has been to regard Schlieffens plan as a dotty scheme for fighting a war on two fronts, whe n it was in fact a carefully reasoned scheme for fighting a war limited to the west, at a time when this seemed to be a distinct possibility. The German west-front war-plan in 1914 was devised by the younger Helmuth von Moltke, and while it bore some simile to Schlieffens proposal, it was extensively adapted to the changed circumstances, in particular to the necessity of now deploying against Ru... ... of a two-front war in which both enemies would immediately go onto the offensive. He could not deploy the whole of the German army in the west, even though he needed a quick decision there to release reinforcements for the easterly front. It was the Moltke Plan, not the Schlieffen Plan, which required a victory over France within six weeks. Nor could Moltke contemplate swinging a part of his right wing all the right smart around Paris, since that again needed more time and troops than could be spared in a war on two fronts. Moltkes right wing, already much weaker than Schlieffens, was further depleted during the course of the operation when he pulled out two of its army corps and transferred them to the east. The German army that was forced back from the Marne in September 1914 was but a pale shadow of the one that is drawn up against France in the Schlieffen Plan. Moltke held to the basic idea of that plan, but under the time and manpower pressures of a two-front war he was unable to make the right-wing attack as powerful and sustained as Schlieffen had prescribed for a one-front war in 1906. It was a diluted version of the Schlieffen plan that failed in 1914, not the original concept.

Colonialism and Imperialism - Heart of Darkness and Post-Colonial Theory :: Heart Darkness essays

Post-Colonial Theory and Heart of Darkness      Heart of Darkness begins and ends in London on the Nellie on the Thames. The most part, however, takes place in the Congo (now known as the Republic of the Congo). The Kongo, as it was originally known, was inhabited first by pygmy tribes and migratory Bantus and was discovered by the Portuguese in the 14th Century. The Portuguese brought with them Catholocism European missionaries. The Congo was ruled by King Alfonso I from 1506 - 1540 and Shamba Bolongongo from 1600 - 1620. The slave trade was rife in the Congo, from most 1500 until 1830. King Leopold of Belgium ruled, between 1878 and 1908, and would have been King at the time Heart of Darkness was set. Conrad himself actually arrived in the Congo on 12 June 1890, and it would be off the hook(predicate) to say that he would have used his experience in the Congo when write Heart of Darkness. At its time of writing for Blackwoods Magazine (December 1898), Britain w as in its last years of Victorian rule. Queen Victoria was actually the niece of King Leopold of Belgium. Britain was the most powerful and influential nation on Earth its Empire circle throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Joseph Conrad, born in the Ukraine in 1857, as Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, as the author, was an outsider looking out. Neither British nor African, he seemed to be the perfect candidate for writing about two countries he had knowledge of - England and the Congo. African exploration was quite popular in Conrads day, Livingstone died in 1873, in Ilala, Africa, and Stanley returned from his final African expedition in 1890. As exploration was popular, so was the adventure story - tales of African exploration were available in abundance. Imperialism was also a popular theme at this pane in the late nineteenth Century. Conrads novella, whilst to contemporary critics (Achebe, for example) may appear racist at the time was accepted as another piece of work from a very much published genre. The novella is literally filled with literal and metaphoric opposites the Congo and the Thames, black and white, Europe and Africa, good and evil, purity and corruption, civilisation and triumphant bestiality, scintillation and the very heart of darkness.   Conrad portrays British imperialism in the perhaps naive character of Marlow, who is glad to see the vast amount of red on the Companys map signifying the British territory.

Torture Throughout The Ages :: World History

Torture Throughout The AgesWhoevers listening, Do you k now what an Iron Maiden, a Garrote, or mayhap water supply Torture are used for? No? Well heres the answer they were all forms of torture a long time ago. Iron Maidens were female effigies constructed of woodwind instrument or iron with the inside hollowed out and filled with sharp iron spikes. The iron maiden would be opened up and the offender placed inside. The person would then be embraced by the iron maiden, being impaled by all the spikes. A Garrote was anything that was tied around someones neck that would tighten and eventually they would suffocate. Water Torture was when water was poured on top of the prisoners head and a large bucket of water was also placed under their chin to simulate the spirit of drowning. Torture started because people thought the levelheaded codes should be tougher. Reasons for this was simply that people thought that criminals, traitors, or just wrong-doers should be tortured instead of kill ed because they will put across sometime anyway so they didnt consider it much of a punishment. Because of this they began torture. As time went on and civilizations grew, the need for a code of laws came. Because of this code of laws, people could now perform torture only on enemy tribes and animals. In many cultures, religious sacrifices were the start of torture practices. The early European codes were usually based on the principle of Lex Talionis, who gave the idea of an eye for an eye in the Bible. Punishment for crimes should be similar to the offense is the Law of Hammurabi, written around 2000 BC. This civil code would shortly be expanded to include some other crimes in the Mosaic Code 1000 years later. This code formed into the basis of Hebrew, Greek and Roman legal systems. The Greeks and others were still operating under the Law of Lex Talionis and at the time, torture was mainly used as a means of extracting retaliation for real or imagined (accused) crimes or wrongs . Public displays such as stoning (throwing stones at a person) or crucifixion were used mainly to discourage other criminals from committing crimes. The savagery of torture had not yet entered into the European culture yet. All this, however, would soon change. Early Roman rulers were actually quite humane it was only Julius Caesar that tortured his conquered enemies as an example for other likely adversaries.

Self-Hate in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye Essay -- Essays on The Blu

At a time when blue-eyed, pale spit out Shirley Temple is idolized by white and black alike, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove desperately seeks appear beauty for herself. In order to attain beauty in her culture, Pecola must do the impossible find white beauty. Toni Morrison shows the disastrous effects that colorism and racialism can have on a whole culture and how African-Americans will tear each other apart in order to fit into the graces of white society. The desire to be considered splendid in the white world is so compelling, that the characters in The Bluest Eye loathe their own skin color and feel shame for their culture. These feelings of self-loathing and contempt pass on from the adults to their children, creating a continuous cycle of negativity and self-hate. Here was an ugly little black female child asking for beautyA little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes (Morrison, 174). By petitioning for white beauty, Pecola Breedlove is desperately attempting to pull herself out of the pit of blackness. Because Pecola has dark-skin and authentic African-American features, black and white society has conditioned her to believe that she is ugly. Pecola.s physical features ensure her to be a victim of classical racism classical racism being the notion that the physical ugliness of blackness is a sign of a deeper ugliness and depravity (Taylor, 16). This notion allows the mistreatment of dark-skinned nation because their blackness is a link to a dark past and to uncivilized ways. Pecola does not epitomize white society.s standards of beauty because she does not have light skin and trademark blue eyes therefore, she must be ugly and ba... ...Melus 19.4 (1994) 109-127. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 March 2014. Lobodziec, Agnieszka. Theological Models of Black Middle-Class Performance in Toni Morrison.s Novels. Black Theology An International Journal 8.1 (2010) 32-52. Academic Sear ch Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 March 2014. McKittrick, Katherine. Black and Cause I.m Black I.m Blue. transverse racial geographies in Toni Morrison.s The Bluest Eye. Gender, manoeuver & Culture A Journal of Feminist Geography 7.2 (2000) 125. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 March 2014. Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York Penguin, 1970. Print. Taylor, Paul C. Malcom.s Conk and Danto.s Colors or tetrad Logical Petitions Concerning Race, Beauty, and Aesthetics. Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism 57.1 (2000) 16-20. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 March 2014.

Self-Hate in Toni Morrisons The Bluest Eye Essay -- Essays on The Blu

At a time when blue-eyed, pale skin Shirley temple is idolized by white and black alike, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove desperately unwrapks out beauty for herself. In order to attain beauty in her culture, Pecola must do the unsurmountable find white beauty. Toni Morrison shows the disastrous effects that colorism and racism can have on a whole culture and how African-Americans will tear each another(prenominal) apart in order to fit into the graces of white society. The desire to be considered beautiful in the white world is so compelling, that the characters in The Bluest Eye anathematize their own skin color and feel shame for their culture. These feelings of self-loathing and contempt pass on from the adults to their children, creating a continuous cycle of negativity and self-hate. Here was an ugly dinky black girl asking for beautyA little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her total darkness and see the world with blue eyes (Morrison, 174). By petit ioning for white beauty, Pecola Breedlove is desperately attempting to pull herself out of the pit of blackness. Because Pecola has dark-skin and authentic African-American features, black and white society has conditioned her to believe that she is ugly. Pecola.s physical features ensure her to be a victim of classical racism classical racism being the notion that the physical ugliness of blackness is a sign of a deeper ugliness and depravity (Taylor, 16). This notion allows the mistreatment of dark-skinned people because their blackness is a link to a dark past and to ferine ways. Pecola does not epitomize white society.s standards of beauty because she does not have light skin and trademark blue eyes therefore, she must be ugly and ba... ...Melus 19.4 (1994) 109-127. schoolman await Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 March 2014. Lobodziec, Agnieszka. Theological Models of Black Middle-Class Performance in Toni Morrison.s Novels. Black Theology An International Journal 8.1 (2010) 32-52 . Academic count Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 March 2014. McKittrick, Katherine. Black and Cause I.m Black I.m Blue. transverse racial geographies in Toni Morrison.s The Bluest Eye. Gender, Place & Culture A Journal of Feminist Geography 7.2 (2000) 125. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 24 March 2014. Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York Penguin, 1970. Print. Taylor, Paul C. Malcom.s Conk and Danto.s Colors or Four Logical Petitions Concerning Race, Beauty, and Aesthetics. Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism 57.1 (2000) 16-20. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 March 2014.

“Of Mice and Men” Prejudice and Alienation Essay

Prejudice of many groups of people was prevalent in America during the Great Depression era. In the 1930s when the sustain took place, there was an extreme amount of racism and sexism, little to no knowledge of mental disability, and assumedly a great deal of ageism. In _Of Mice and Men,_ put-on Steinbeck uses prejudice to illustrate the theme of insanity through ageism, racism, sexism, and ableism. sugarcoat was an anile man who lived on the farm who lost his hand in an accident duration working. The ranch detainment constantly tortured Candy by telling him that his dog was too old for his own good, and that he would be better slay dead. Candy relegates this personally, assuming that they were insinuating that he was also worthless to the ranch, and too old for his own good. The old man realizes that this is the only job hell ever have, considering he only has only had one hand and is too old to do hard labor and said, When they can me here I wisht somebodyd flash me I wont have no place to go, an I cant get no more jobs (60). The other men take in this and exclude Candy for his differences. Slim, another ranch hand, blab outing ab forth Candys dog said, I wisht somebodyd shoot me if I got old and a cripple (45). Candys dog is an obvious parallel to Candy and his physical conditions that pr til nowt him from working.To show racism, Steinbeck uses the use Crooks, a black stable displume who lives on the ranch. Although some ages in the book it seems that Crooks isolates himself, it is clear towards the end of the book that the other men avoid associating with him because of the color of his skin. Many of theother ranch hands refer to Crooks as nigger, an extremely offensive term, instead of his actual name. Crooks avoids getting into trouble by staying in his room (which is in the barn with the animals) and staying out of the way of the rest of the men.At one point, Crooks aggravates Curleys wife, and as a response she threatened, Well you keep you r place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so fast it aint even funny (87). When Crooks is talking to Lennie and Candy, he confides in them about his loneliness, admitting, A guy sets all here at night, maybe readin books or thinkin or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin, an he got nothin to tell him whats so an what aint so (73).Sexism is another major part of the novel, and it is shown through the character of Curleys wife. Curleys wife, is who she sounds like she is, because shes married to Curley, the son of the head of the ranch. She is never disposed a name, which was probably to show the reader that the only relevance she had was that she was Curleys possession in a way, because she was his wife and was not allowed to talk to anyone but him. Curleys wife constantly cries for attention because she, like many of the other characters in this novel, feels lonely most of the time. The men do not understand why she does, and take it as thought she is just be ing slutty in a sense because she didnt like Curley.George is talking to Candy when he says his first impression of Curleys wife. George said, Well, seems Curleys married a tart, because he didnt empathize Curleys wifes loneliness (28). In turn, Curleys wife is alienated for her gender, and admits to Crooks, Lennie, and Candy that she wishes she had people to talk to and have conversation with. While talking to the three other outcasts on the farm she admitted, I cant talk to nada but Curley. Else he gets mad (87). It is more and more apparent throughout the book that the other ranch hands dont want to make Curley illogical by talking to his wife, but in the end she is still alienated because she is a woman.The most recognizable prejudice in this novel was the ablelism toward Lennie. Lennie, the main character of the book, had some type of mental disorder that prevented him from remembering things and also from controlling the motor function and decision making concerning his hand s, but of course inthis time period there was no knowledge of such diseases. Lennie was the most kind-hearted, innocent character in this book because he doesnt understand superficial alienation or prejudice toward someone because of their sex, race, age, etc. He cant take care of himself, so his best friend George tells him what to do. During one part of the book when George is talking to Slim, George talks about how he used to treat Lennie I used to have a hell of a lot of fun with him. utilise to play jokes on im cause he was too dumb to take care of imself (40). Soon after, George told Slim that he stopped messing with Lennie because he told him once to endure into a river, and Lennie almost drowned and died because he didnt know how to swim, and didnt know any better than to just listen to what George says. At the end of the book when Curley institute out that Lennie had killed his wife, he took it out in anger because he did not understand that Lennie couldnt control himself , ordering, When you see um, dont give im no chance, shoot for his guts (97). Lennie is alienated in this novel because of his disability and is isolated (and killed) as a result.In sum, Steinbeck uses ageism, sexism, racism, and ableism to convey the theme of alienation in _Of Mice and Men_. In the scene with all four of the alienated characters in Crookss room, Curleys wife said in frustration with the fact that she has not one to talk to, Standin here talkin to a bunch of bindle stiffs- a nigger an a dum-dum and a lousy ol sheep- an likin it because they aint got nobody else. (78) This line is very significant because it shows that even though they are all excluded from the majority of the ranch hands, and from society in general, they realize that they can turn to each other when they feel lonely.

Mean World Syndrome Essay

Mean World SyndromeIn the picture palace, The Mean World Syndrome, George Gerbner argues that populate who watch a large amount of television tended to think of the world as an intimidating and unforgiving place. Gerbner researched the effects of television on lodge. He focused on the commercial media system that thrived on violence, stereotypes, and the cultivation of anxiety. The film argues that the more television people watch, the more likely they atomic number 18 to be insecure and timid of others. Is it the media that makes us more violent or do we become more scared of violence happening to us?Mass media made viewers regard that the world was more dangerous than it actually was. The film showed how these media-induced fears and anxieties provided grounds for intolerance, extremism, and a paranoid style of politics that threatened basic democratic values. He talked slightly(predicate) the governments power over the mass media that leaves Americans in a state of perpe tual fear. The result was a fascinating and exposed introduction to debates about media violence and media effects. Yet across the board, on issue after issue, studies have repeatedly shown that the very things that scare Americans the most have little to no buns in fact. Media violence inundated every home with choreographed brutality. It was and still is a relentless exposure to violence.All of the information that he provided was astonishing and really opened my eyes. A few statistics that he talked about where that children see on average 8,000 murders by the end of elementary school and 200,000 acts of violence by age 18. This is perfectly ridiculous. It makes me think twice about letting my children someday television. There is even happy violence, meaning that most fairytales, artistic shows, or journalistic features lead to a happy ending. Its simply sugar coated with humor or happy violence. Now really thinking about it, it is so true. We dont even realize it but mass me dia messages have a direct influence on the audience.As I am writing this paper I have the news on and 80% of the news seems to be negative. It is all about killings, stabbings, robberies, fires, or some sort of crime in the area. In the film they stated that 61% of all stories on the news are crime, violence, deaths or fires. This Mean World causes usto magnify our fears. In a violent and ponderous world we are readier to fear others. We mistrust more, and retract into our groups in pursuit of the protection. A Mean World is a more divided world, less equal to achieve compromise and progress. A Mean World makes us more prone to the ill effects of chronic stress. And as Gerbner put it a society in which most people or many people already expect a higher degree of victimization, sooner or later they are going to get it.Media doe project violence every day into our homes and lives. A world that feels more violent and threatening than it is makes us all more worried than we need to b e. For me this film has opened my eyes about what I read and what I watch on the television. I think Gerbner did a with child(p) job of bringing awareness to this issue. Now with all the mass killings that have gone one, we really have to look at what our young children are honoring and listening to these days. If the mass media is pumping this violence into our homes and lives then maybe it really does have a long term affect on our culture.Viewers integrate and absorb a sense of danger, of mistrust, of meanness in the world it is what we call the Mean World Syndrome. George Gerbner

Dividend policy decision Essay

Dividend policy decision is one of the important decisions of corporate finance. A dividend policy should be such that it maximizes the shareholders wealth and provides adequate financing to the firm. A firm with fluctuation dividend policy is considered risky by the investors. (Shim & Siegel, 1998) Usually a stable dividend payout policy is well-kept by companies. Leverage which is given by total debt/total assets, is negatively related to the dividend payments, that is higher the leverage in the firms capital broken iner is the dividend paid.Companies with less debt and sizeable tangible assets usually pay more dividends as it is usually stable. (Aivazian & Cleary, 2003) However, this has been contradicted by the signaling possible action which says that the companys which watch high dividend payout symmetry scarper to be financed by debt and companys which beat low dividend payout ratio are more inclined to be financed by equity. (Chang & Rhee, 1990) The agency theory and revenue preference theory suggests that there is a positive relationship between the institutional ownership and the dividend payouts.(Jenson, Solberg & Zorn 1992) However, both numbers of shares owned by institutional investors as well as proportion of institutional ownership does not significantly affect the dividend payout ratio. This is because the companies will not have to enter the capital markets for additional cash in hand if they are owned by institutional investors which mean less compliance procedures and monitoring by the external authorities. On the other hand signaling theory advocates a negative relationship between the proportion of institutional ownership and dividend payments.There is a strong positive relationship between the profitability that is the lapse on equity and dividend payments. The return on equity is given by net income/ shareholders equity. The higher the income would mean firms would have more money to distribute as dividends, and this would also convey better performance. (Ho, 2003). A firm with high business risk is inclined to pay lower dividends and the firm with stable earnings and low risk would pay high dividends.This is because the firm would be more likely to go bankrupt than a firm with low business risk as the earnings and crystal clearity position is not predictable. The agency theory of dividend policy says that there is a negative relationship between fixed asset ratio given by fixed asset by total assets and dividend payout ratio. The more money is blocked in the tangible fixed assets, the less is available to computer memory short term assets, which can be used as collateral security to finance the short term borrowings.The firms would not be able to have access to short term loan and would therefore depend on the retained earnings to meet the short term requirements. Firms which have high liquid assets would pay more dividends than firms with less liquid assets. Liquidity position of a company is measured by current assets / current liabilities. High cash availability would enable firms pay more dividends. Moreover if the liquidity position is high the probability of bankruptcy also reduces. Large firms would pay more dividends as they would have easy access to capital markets than small firms.As large firms are more diversified and less susceptible to financial distress, they pay more dividends to the shareholders than the smaller firms (Gul & Kealey 1999). The higher the growth opportunities the higher is the possibility of firms distributing low dividends. The profits would be retained by the firms in order to finance the expansion plans. Market to nurse value ratio is used as a proxy for growth opportunities. Hence, there is a negative ratio between market to book valley and dividend payments.Thus we find that all the factors play a role in formulation dividend policy. Some have significant impact while others factors may not have a considerable effect. Reference Aivazian, V . , Booth I. , Cleary S. , (2003) Do emerging markets firms follow different dividend policies from the US firms? Journal of financial research, 26(3) pp. 371-387 Chang, R. P. , Rhee, S. G. , (1990) The impact of personal taxes on corporate dividend policy and structural decision, Financial management, 19(2) pp. 21-31 Gul, F. A. , Kealey, B. T., (1999) Investment opportunity set and corporate debt and dividend policies of Korean companies, Review of quantitative finance and accounting, 13(4) pp. 401-414 Ho, H. , (2003) Dividend Policies in Australia and Japan, International Advances in economic research Jensen, G. , Solberg, D. , Zorn, T. , (1992) Simultaneous determination of insider ownership, debt and dividend policies, Journal of financial quantitative analysis, pp 247-263 Shim, Jae K. , Siegel, Joel G. , (1998) Schaums outline of theory and problems of financial management, McGraw-Hill Professional, USA

Our Time Essay

In Mary Louise Pratts essay, Arts of the Contact Zone, we atomic number 18 introduced to the idea of clear up zones, autoethnography, and new delegacys of looking at common ideas. I wanted to look some examples of what she was really talking about. After reading John Edgar Widemans Our fourth dimension we can see that Pratts ideas and terms argon accurate beca habituate they can be applied to this reading as surface as others. Our Time is an autoethnography because it uses diffeerent points of chance, not however oneself, to give information about someones upbringing and cultural growth. In Pratts essay, she often referred to the term autoethnography.These emerge from involvement zones. Autoethnographies are used as a method to oppose the views of oneself that e genuinelyone else sees. For example, if there are pack in your neighborhood that get under ones skin a label on your home and family, you might go linchpin end and sort out them how your life actually is. Mary Louise Pratt goes on to tell us that a contact zone is a place where people from different cultures and communities enter together. Here, these different people share ideas and interact with each other. It is almost a type of hybridization. Multiple cultures or societies come together, and mash. They can join together, or exchange some treasures, or be overrun by one another. Within these contact zones, people are open to see the way others see them and interpret them. From there, they would be able to see themselves through different eyes, and from a different perspective. In relation, autoethnographic texts are texts in which people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them (Pratt 487). They are not texts written toBolduc 2explain how the writer sees themselves, barely how they are seen by others. This is to maximize the credibility, and that there isnt too much bias. Writers put together these texts from others understa ndings and viewpoints of them, as well as interpretation of others. Similarly, Pratt also refers to the term transculturation oftentimes in her essay. The definition of transculturation is when values or ways of life and habits from the dominant culture are passed d give birth to smaller subordinate cultures. From there, those cultures choose what materials they would like to use as well as trying topersuade the dominant culture to use some of their ideas.In Pratts essay, she uses Guaman Pomas New Chronicle to back up her claims. She refers to the reading as an autoethnographic text. This text involves a selective collaboration with appropriation of idioms of the metropolis or the conqueror (Pratt 488). In the New Chronicle, Pomas floor is written in two languages, Spanish and Quechua which is an Incan language. Spanish is considered the dominant language, or culture, whereas the Incan language is considered to be the subordinate language and culture. Poma writes his story from th e Incan point of view where he attempts to rewrite history through their eyes rather than the Spanish. Transculturation is represented because he uses the main ideas from the dominant culture, such as whirl and Eve, and then in turn incorporates the Incan culture while pushing some of their ideas back on the dominant culture. This is where you see two cultures interact, and form very different cultures from their original state, but more similar to each other. On the equivalent note, Poma writes the story based on representation others have made of them, and by incorporating both cultures, the story can be considered an autoethnographic text. Similarly, Widemans text can also be considered an autoethnographic text.We see both of these terms represented in Widemans Our Time, as well as the ideas from Pomas story. Wideman does a great job of incorporating different idioms to representBolduc 3himself, as well as his brother Robby, in order to paint an accurate picture of the conjunc tion and culture in which they are each a part of. For example, in the preface, the terms ghetto and gangster are used to describe their black community of Homewood which can be referred to as indigenous idioms. Indigenous idioms are the common way of speaking within ones own community. A quick example of this would be how some stated refer to soda as soda, or pop, or coke, while they are all referring to the same thing. In the text, the community of Homewood is considered to be the subordinate culture. This culture stems from the dominant culture of Pittsburgh showing how the story can be considered an autoethnographic text. This is because Wideman is using the autoethnography to sort of push back against the typical Pittsburghculture, and show people how it actually is. John and Robbys family moved from the dominant culture to Homewood. With them they brought ideas from both communities together creating a contact zone. Due to them growing up in a white community, Robby became in trigued with the black community from a very young age. This is because he grew up surrounded by whites who would never tell him about it. As he says in the text, I decided Id find out what it was all about.Didnt care if it killed me, I was divergence to find out (Wideman 678). This helps us see why Robby immersed himself in the culture of Homewood, while also getting in touch with Robbys voice in the text. Because of Robbys fascination, he gets sucked win a path of crime, which eventually becomes to jail. On the other hand, Wideman finds himself more immersed in the dominant culture. He goes through a serial of very fortunate events, leading him to becoming a masteryful, established writer. Both brothers grow up in similar communities but found themselves going down very separate paths, showing the diversity within the contact zone. Widemans stopping point in this story is to try and figure out why Robby and himself morose out so differently. Therefore, he wants to go throug h specific events in order to figure this out. HeBolduc 4writes Our Time in a way that most readers are not used to. Instead of writing a basic story of his brothers life, he sooner incorporates himself into it, as well as his thought processes throughout. Because he writes his story based on his brother, parts of this reading can be considered ethnography. Ethnography can be defined as a text that is based on someone other than the writer, just as Wideman writes about Robby. Widemans goal is persuade us to find value is his project. Readers also mix his ideas with theirs, in which they develop their own ideas based on Widmans story, as well as give feedback. This gives a sense of transculturation, because just listening to Widemans points al broken us to adopt some of his culture. Wideman explains to us the different ways he thought about starting the story as well as certain habits he must scourge in order to make his project successful. He ends up starting off with a story expl aining the death of his brothers friend, Garth who died of a disease because he did not receive proper treatment, due to being black. This can be considered a contact zonebecause the dominant culture represents themselves as the superiors in this situation, showing the diversity of the contact zone. Not only does this paint a picture of the world they live in, but also gives us some back round on reasons why Robby ended up living a life of crime that eventually lead him to jail. Garths death shook Robby and his community. They knew he had been treated unfairly and because of that they had hatred towards the dominant culture.This could be a reason why Robby chose to rebel against it, and dive into the Homewood community and culture which showed him the life of crime. Garths death is one of the many instances in which we see the community that the brothers lived and grew up in. Wideman writes this section using Robbys point of view as a way to try and understand why Robby ended up lik e he did, which is an example of ethnography. For instance, Wideman shows Robbys point of view when he describes Garth. Explaining that he looked bad. Real Bad. Inchabod Crane anyway, but now heBolduc 5was a skeleton (Wideman 658). Here, Robby is providing us with a description of what Garth looks like, but Wideman is writing it, qualification it ethnography since it is not from Garths person. Along with that, Wideman shares with us another moment in time which he considered starting the story from. His other way was with the daylight Robby was born. Robbys birthday was surrounded by times of death and sadness. It was almost as if it was completely overshadowed by it, almost as if there was a low gloomy storm cloud above it. Wideman shows us the effect it had on his brother by saying that Robby cried a lot on his birthdays (Wideman 684). This instance could have a lot to do with the way Robby ended up in jail. He was never truly celebrated on his special day instead it contained t ears and depression. Wideman uses this as an example of the factors that lead to his life of crime. He uses his own view of Robby to portray autoethnography. He writes it so that we see the way others view Robby in this situation, as well as they way Robby feels viewed, and then puts it into his words. I wondered why he switches points of view mid story. But then I realized that the full-length reason he included Robby in his story was to counter ideas about Robby, whether they be his own, or other people in town. By switching to Robbys voice, it gives a different insight. One that Is from Robby, and this helps strengthen theautoethnographic element by opposing whatever claims and judgments that Wideman or even the reader may have, and shows us how things actually are.throughout the story we see examples of what we can call Indigenous texts, where Wideman is trying to connect to what Robby is saying. In order to connect with Robby in the way that he wants, Wideman realizes that he has to overcome some of his habits. The biggest habit he had to overcome was listening to himself listen to him (Wideman 672). He had the tendency to hear Robby in his words rather than really listen to Robbys point of view, which is important in order to create and autoethnographic text. Therefore, when putting material togetherBolduc 6he had to focus on breaking this habit. He had to see Robby through Robbys eyes in order to make his project successful, which he did. Another habit Wideman had to overcome was to avoid having his story sound poetical and fictional. He wanted us to truly hear Robbys voice and get an accurate idea of his community, and to do that he had to drop some of the lovingness words and phases so it didnt overshadow the true point of his project. A third habit he had to overcome was the feeling of guilt about success and luck he has received throughout his life. He questions multiple times in the text why they turned out so differently. He feels unrighteous that his brother ended up in jail and he turned into such a successful writer. In conclusion, Wideman shows his side of the story along with his brothers, creating a piece of writing that differs from what we may consider to be usual, or conventional writing. Wideman steps out of the norm by describing his process of writing throughout the story. By doing this, along with providing different perspectives, he was able to create an autoethnographic text while also incorporating ethnography. Also, by giving us a glimpse of different cultures and communities that they grew up in, Wideman was able to create transculturation as well as show us the contact zones that come up within the story.All of these ideas lead back to Pratts ideas of contact zones, as well as Guaman Pomas New Chronicle, providing us with instances to portray Pratts significance as well as Widemans. Widemans goal was to show us the ways in which he and his brother turned out so differently, and I think he succeeded. He was able to master Pratts idea of contact zonesand show us his personal experience of the diversity within them. Also, he was able to help us understand the ambit behind Robbys life of crime and accurately show why they ended up on different paths. This is what made Widemans project successful.Bolduc 7Works CitedWideman, John. Our Time. Ways of reading. 9th ed. Editor David Bartholomae & Anthony Petrosky. Boston Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. 655-694. PrintPratt, Mary. Arts of the Contact Zone. Ways of reading. 9th ed. Editor David Bartholomae & Anthony Petrosky. Boston Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. 655-694. Print