Modern Art as Creative Expression Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Modern Art as Creative Expression - Essay Example The essay "Modern Art as Creative Expression" analyzes modern art. It is true that in some modern art, some non-representational designs found its way in museums and art exhibits to provide lessons on the aesthetic approach by seeing the surface of things, not their meanings, subjects, and all the connotations they may have for us. Personally, the issue should not really be whether one hates or loves modern art. Each and everyone is entitled to one’s personal opinion. However, one must closely evaluate what values have modern art provided today’s generation – what legacy would it give to the future generations. Modern art, as averred by Bishop through The Spirit of Modernism was shaped by turbulent events like war, fascism and the rise of the mass society. These factors have profoundly influenced the unconventional, non-representational designs expressed by contemporary artists. Jackson Pollock’s painting which removed all subject matter in consideration could either be treated as a subject of the I-thou (or intrinsic relation) leaving viewers to a feeling of resignation by leaving things as they are. It, however, provides the opportunity for practicing the aesthetic approach in humanities. Definitely, the artist has a reason for creating art in the way that was presented. The interesting part is to decipher diverse angles, dimensions, and perspectives accorded by non-representational art works. Modern art offered artists with opportunities to go beyond traditional rules in art and expression by a free flow.

Philosophy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Philosophy - Assignment Example Therefore this distinct and clear perception of Descartes depends on assumption that the Almighty God exists, which also depends on the criteria of distinct and clear perception. It is therefore a common knowledge that what we clearly and distinctly perceive as true always exists like Descartes clearly and distinctly perceives that God exists and that He (God) cannot lie. Loeb contrasts Descartes current belief of clearly and distinct perception that something exists. Loeb compares a time when one is not able to currently perceive something a clear and distinct perception, but he/she can previously recollect a clear and distinct perception of something that existed in the past. He calls this a recollected distinct and clear perception unlike the current distinct and clear perception that has no basis at all. He therefore puts it that beliefs that are based on distinct and clear perception, as either recollected or current distinct and clear perceptions. He (Loeb) therefore, says that a current distinct and clear perception will include a current assumption and current theorems. But recollected distinct and clear perception will include recollected assumptions and theorems. This is unlike Descartes who had invoked the distinction between recollected and current theorems in his passages to the circle. It is therefore clear that any psychological doctri ne that can use recollected distinct and clear perceptions will be dislodged by the doubtful supposition, and that it will seem more acceptable because doubt is a state that can destabilize belief. (Loeb, pg 96) Again Loeb finds a problem in the Cartesian cycle that claims that the rule of knowledge of truth is a complete condition for stability of beliefs that are based on distinct and clear perceptions. This is by the supposition that claims the skeptical hypothesis as true.

The Effects Of Deforestation On The Atmosphere Environmental Sciences Essay

The Effects Of Deforestation On The Atmosphere Environmental Sciences Essay Deforestation had been a sounding issue since the past decade. Not because of its contribution to human and urban development but to it brings many effects to the earth as a whole. This article will be focusing on two main effects that is caused by deforestation, which is damage on the atmosphere and biodiversity. The effects of deforestation on the atmosphere is the increase of carbon dioxide gases, gradually leading to the greenhouse effect and the global warming. The carbon cycle is also disrupted due to the reduction of trees for carbon dioxide absorption. The effect of deforestation on the biodiversity that humans, plants and animals are all harm without us noticing. Endangered animals and plants are facing extinction everyday as we speak. Humans health are also affected by the increasing level of carbon dioxide gases in the atmosphere. Introduction Deforestation is simply defined as the removal of forest for land usage in a large scale, mainly conducted by humans. Deforestation had been very active in the past decades. As mentioned by Apan and Anderson (1998) Deforestation of tropical lands has become an issue of worldwide signi ¬Ã‚ cance. At the global level, the loss of biological diversity and the issue of arti ¬Ã‚ cial greenhouse effect are the major concerns, frequently the subject of international debates. (p. 137) Developers in the past decades had no conscious of the effects of uncontrolled deforestation, resulting in a serious lack of forest in this decade. There are many effects of deforestation which includes, drought, climate change, flora and fauna extinction, reduction of water yields, global warming, emission of greenhouse gases and many more. These effects of deforestation can bring severe harm in a local, regional and global scale. This article will be mainly focusing on the effects of deforestation on the atmosphere and biodiversity. The main question of the article is, whether deforestation will cause the climate to change and affects the biodiversity. There is a closely related link between deforestation, the earths atmosphere and biodiversity. The alteration of forest brings a huge impact on both the atmosphere and wildlife. Biodiversity is the to the term to describe all living things on this planet which involves faunas, floras, food chains and basically the whole ecosystem. The importance of biodiversity is far important than what we imagine. The reduction of biodiversities will surely disrupt the balance of this planet, as all these species are also part of the human food chain. The atmosphere refers to the layer of gas surrounding the earth. The atmosphere is very influential to the earths weather and consequently the temperature. As heat is transmitted from the sun, through the layers of atmosphere, then reaching to the earths surface, the atmosphere can be a shield or a magnifying glass depending on how we, humans manage our forest. Human development and increasing of population is a main contribution to deforestation. In order to save the world from deforestation, the root of the happening of deforestation must be discovered and solve. More land is required to support to growth of population, as a result, more deforestation will occur. However, if the rate of human development from an intellectual aspect increase, the actions that are brought out to handle population growth and deforestation will be handled in a more wise way. Effects on the atmosphere The carbon cycle is the transaction of oxygen and carbon dioxide between animals (humans) and plants. Humans produces carbon dioxide through respiration, while plants produces oxygen during photosynthesis. In the opposite, humans need oxygen to survive while plants need carbon dioxide to carry out photosynthesis for food. (Ragsdale, 2007) This is a perfect cycle which is able to maintain an equal volume of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere. If deforestation occurs, the amount of trees will decrease. As a result, the rate of carbon dioxide absorption will gradually decrease as photosynthesis occurrence has decrease. This phenomenon will cause the volume of carbon dioxide to increase in the atmosphere. When the volume of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, these excessive carbon dioxide will be considered as greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are entrapment agents that contribute to the rising of temperature in atmosphere. Greenhouse gases is a layer of gases between the surface of the earth and the earths atmosphere. When sunlight is directed to the surface of the earth, without the greenhouse gases, the sunlight will be reflected back to the sun without any obstacles. However, with the existence of the greenhouse gases in a layer form, when sunlight is directed onto the earths surface, the sunlight will be reflected back to the earths surface due to the entrapment by the greenhouse gases. As a result, when the energy from the sun has no place to escape, it will make the earths temperature increase. The volume of carbon dioxide is not only existed in a excessive manner, it is also emitted in an uncontrollable manner. When deforestation happens, trees falls and degrades for a period of time. The outcome of this degradation process is also known as forest biomass. As mentioned by Fearnside and Lawrence (2004) , forest biomass is the one of the main source of carbon dioxide emission when trees were burnt after they were chopped down. The forest also acts as a filter for carbon dioxide and air pollutants which in other words, the forest can provide us a cleaner and fresher air. However, inconsiderate farmers and agriculturalist would burn the whole deforested area for the sake of their own convenience. As mentioned that greenhouse gases will cause an increase in the atmospheres temperature, thus, global warming and deforestation is interrelated. When the volume of carbon dioxide increases, the temperature in the atmosphere increases as well, resulting in global warming. The main danger of global warming is that, when the earth heats up, glaciers in the north pole will melt and gradually more floods ad tsunamis will happen. Effects on the biodiversity Biodiversity is defined as all living things on earth which includes plants and animals, the entire ecosystem and basically the whole planet. Sofie (2007) said human dominance of the biosphere has signi ¬Ã‚ cantly changed ecosystems, thereby often impairing their capacity to provide ecosystem services crucial for our survival. (p. 2753) When deforestation occurs, animals will lose their habitat and plants will be removed for good. Many animals gain their food from their own habitat and their habitat would be the only place for them to find for their suitable food. When the animals habitat is destroyed, many animals would starve to death and gradually leads to extinction for some rare and endangered animals. The same thing that will occur to the floras, when deforestation occurs, tall trees with will be chopped off, while plants that grows on the ground would be also remove during the loading process of the tree trunks. Rare and endangered plants will be extinct during the process of deforestation. Forest canopy blocks the sunlight from entering the forest surface. Some plants that are sensitive to sunlight will wilt when the forest canopy is removed. Biodiversity is not only about plants and animals, it also involves humans. When the volume of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere due to deforestation, humans health will be affected. Carbon dioxide gas itself is an acidic gas, excessive inhalation will cause many side effects such as dizziness, headaches, drowsiness, increase in heartbeat rate and blood pressure, suffocation and unconsciousness if the concentration of carbon dioxide gas is high. Besides, the roots of the trees holds the ground of the forest together. If deforestation happens, the forest ground will be loose and eventually causes the happening of landslides and flash flood. Who will be the main victims of these following event? Humans. Solution to deforestation Many methods are used to solve deforestation all over the globe. Reforestation is the best method to solve deforestation. The concept of reforestation is saving what was damaged. Planting one tree after chopping one tree is not enough to reduce the rate of deforestation. At least three trees should be planted at the same time when one tree is chopped down in order to keep the number of trees increasing. (Galan, Matias, Rivas Bastante, 2009) In a local view, farmers and agriculturist should be considerate and aware of the importance of the forest and the serious emission of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. The main reason why deforestation occurs is because of ignorance and lack of knowledge on environment issues. As mentioned by Koop and Tole (2001), when the rate of human development is high, the rate of deforestation will be low. The human development rate is obtained through a countrys education quality, intellectual level, income level and life quality. In other words, when the majority of a country hare a high intellectual level, they would be aware of the importance of the forest and try their best to preserve the remaining forest and conduct reforestation. Governments and education ministries should start to instill the importance of forest to the country to primary, secondary and tertiary students. For they are the future leaders, they would be aware of the serious deforestation occurring in their country if they have the acknowledgement of this issue. Besides, the government should also play their role to reinforce the laws and regulations on environmental issues. The government has the responsibility to preserve the remaining forest and conduct reforestation as the effects of deforestation is drastic especially to the people in the country. Penalties should be charged on deforestation offenders such as illegal lumberjacks, ruthless developers, ignorant agriculturist and so on. Discussion All in all, deforestations effect is devastating no matter in a local, regional or a global scale. The victims of deforestation are commonly animals, plants and we, humans. The atmosphere is already facing critical problems, especially the carbon dioxide issue. Excessive carbon dioxide is bad to both humans and the climate. Actions must be carried out by all human race to save the earths atmosphere. With the reduction of paper usage, the demand for trees will be decreased and this would surely paralyze the increasing rate of deforestation. Extinction is also a worrying issue nowadays and the main cause of this event is because of loss of habitat. Animals need their habitat in order to survive and reproduce. Food and water supply is easily obtained from their original habitat. Animals that lost their habitat will either starve to death or killed by humans for trespassing in to residential areas. We would not want our next generation to miss all these beautiful creation due to our irre sponsibility in preserving the environment. Conclusion The reason why I am interested in this topic is because, the forest is a wonderful creation of God, there are many fascinating creatures in the forest waiting to be discovered. Deforestation prevents scientists and zoologists from doing so. Besides, I am aware that the reduction of forests will not only affect our current generation, but also our following generation. I truly hope that governments can start to act before it is too late. Educate the people on environmental issues, reinforce laws and regulations regarding environmental issues and preserve the forest before deforestation outruns the efforts of reforestation.

Romanticism in Tim OBriens Going After Cacciato Essay -- Going After

Romanticism in Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato       Critics of Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato have examined its narrative technique (see Raymond) and its position in literature as metafiction (see Herzog).   Still other critics have commented on the motif of time (see McWilliams) and the theme and structure (see Vannatta).   On the last point, critics find the structure of the novel is fragmented to reveal the nature of the United States' involvement in Vietnam.   Unfortunately, this fragmentation makes the novel appear structurally weak.   Critics have found no unifying element to the parts to affirm the sense of wholeness readers feel after completing O'Brien's novel.   Nevertheless, the reader senses that the seemingly random construction of the novel serves to underscore the random nature of the Vietnam war.   However, to lightly dismiss O'Brien's organization as simply fragmentary does great disservice to this American author.   A critical examination of a traditional element found in American Literature since its inception--the symbolic use of Nature--unifies Going After Cacciato and places the work firmly in the Romantic tradition.   Just as Romanticists have always relied upon Nature to unify and add substantial depth to their novels so, too, has O'Brien.   Specifically, a different element of Nature appears in each of the sections of the novel.   The novel divides into three distinct parts: the observation post chapters, the recollected history chapters, and the chasing Cacciato chapters.   In the observation post chapters, Nature is represented by the sea.   In the recollected history chapters, Nature is represented by the land and the fresh water.   In the chasing Cacciato chapters, Nature becomes ... ....   Nevertheless, the defeat by the land provided O'Brien with a refreshingly new revitalization of the traditionally romantic motifs of water and land, while also exploiting the ambiguous nature of war.         Works Cited       Herzog, Tobey C.   "Going After Cacciato: The Soldier-Author-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Character Seeking Control."   Critique 24 (Winter 1983): 88-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   96.    McWilliams, Dean.   "Time in Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato." Critique 29 (Summer 1988): 245-255.    O'Brien, Tim.   Going After Cacciato.   New York: Delta/Seymour   Ã‚  Ã‚   Lawrence, 1978.    Raymond, Michael W.   "Imagined Responses to Vietnam: Tim   Ã‚   O'Brien's Going After Cacciato.   Critique 24 (Winter 1983).    Vannatta, Dennis.   "Theme and Structure in Tim O'Brien's Going   Ã‚   After Cacciato."   Modern Fiction Studies 28 (Summer 1982):   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   242-246.

Introduction to Modernism in an Architectural Context

Introduction to ModernismModernism Architecture is a manner of architecture that emerged around the clip of the Second World War in many western states. The roots of Modernists can be traced back to a Russian designer by the name of Berthold Lubetkind ( 1901-1990 ) and his architecture pattern TECTON. Specifying Modernism, nevertheless, may look as an unlikely undertaking. This is because as a manner, it lacks clear boundaries and is by and large less coherent. Besides that, it besides incorporates a big assortment of gustatory sensations, design manners and esthesias. Due to this fact, many critics would reason that modernism is non a remarkable manner and many interior decorators say that they follow no â€Å"style† . A clear illustration of this is Frank Lloyd Wright. The celebrated designer objected to be placed in the same group as modernist. However, without him, modernist architecture would ne'er hold been the same.Features of modernismThe first and most obvious of mode rnism architecture’s features is that the design of the edifice is inspired by map. â€Å"Form follows Function† was said by Frank Lloyd Wright’s wise man, Louis Sullivan. Sullivan expressed that in his sentiment, functionalism was the riddance of decorations so the edifice could show its functionality and this functionality would order the signifier of the edifice. Besides that, Modernism architecture promoted simpleness in design or as the expression goes, â€Å"Less is more† . This phrase was coined by the German-american designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. As we can infer from the stating, modern architecture typically enjoys clutter-free designs and is missing of unneeded elements. Parameters of the design are determined early in the design stage and merely needed characteristics are included into the edifice. This causes the focal point to switch from the decor or inside informations of the edifice to the infinite itself. Buildings, particularly places, will be clean, functional, and simple. The following feature we notice when analyzing modernism architecture that instead than hiding the nature of their edifices, modernists prefer to expose the interior workings and the true nature of their designs. Alternatively of painting or covering up, the stuffs of the edifice is exposed and bare. Nothing is hidden or modified. This includes structural elements like columns and beams are shown. This gives birth to the impression of â€Å"Truth† in a place where all stuffs and elements are exposed. On that topic, Modernists besides prefer adult male made stuffs. For illustration, concrete, steel, and glass. Another thing that can be said about modernism is that interior decorators that pattern modernism love lines. This can be seen rather obviously in modern designs where one can easy happen strong, bold, additive elements every bit good as perpendicular and horizontal characteristics. When planing as infinite, modern designers will to the full use the columns, beams, Windowss, floors and etc. to farther heighten the creative activity of a additive infinite. It is rare to see curving, organic lines in modernism though non impossible. . Besides, as a mark of rejection of historic precedency, it is highly rare to see a modern house with a triangular or pitched roof. Modern designers prefer to force the envelope with horizontal, bold, level roofs. For illustration, edifices can hold multiple roof degrees at different highs. This provides the edifice with a alone silhouette and adds complexity/sophistication to the design. An mixture of lines, domed ceilings, overhangs and unusual additive elements are all arms in a modern architect’s armory to make a more alone statement. This leads to the rule that the edifice is more than merely a construction but an artistic and sculptural statement. â€Å"Architecture is frozen music† –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In add-on to the points above, another characteristic that we have in modernism architecture is the presence of an copiousness of natural visible radiation from Windowss. Modern places frequently feature floor to ceiling Windowss, window walls and skiding doors. Occasionally, clearstory Windowss are besides seen in modernist design. These are Windowss that are located high in the walls to let visible radiation to come in while continuing privateness Next, attending should be paid to the agreement of the interior walls of modernism edifices. Modern designers are post-and-beam designers. They prefer utilizing indirect division of infinites like sunken or raised countries as opposed to walls. Even in the state of affairs where walls are built, they are likely to be non-loading walls and function to merely split the infinites. Either that or they will be â€Å"pony† walls. These are walls that don’t make the ceiling therefore leting the suites to portion airing and visible radiation. Because of this, modern edifices tend to hold more unfastened programs when compared to programs from other manners. The concluding features that we shall analyze is the revamping of out-of-door infinites by modernists. Modernism blurs the boundary between interior and exterior infinites with big Windowss. Besides that, multiple suites can open onto a terrace or an atrium to widen square footage. Besides, modernists attempt to integrate the topography of the land into their designs ( Internet Explorer. Fallingwater ) . This is similar to Frank Lloyd Wright’s belief that a edifice should be â€Å"one with the land† and non merely applied on top of it.Celebrated designers in modernismIn this portion, we shall present a few of the more celebrated designers of the modernism manner and some of their plants.Frank lloyd WrightName: Frank Lloyd Wright Born: 08-06-1867 Location: Wisconsin, USA Education: University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1886 Frank Lloyd Wright ( bornFrank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959 ) was an American designer, interior interior decorator, author, and pedagogue, who designed more than 1,000 constructions and completed 532. Wright believed in planing constructions that were in harmoniousness with humanity and its environment, a doctrine he calledorganic architecture. This doctrine was best exemplified by Fallingwater ( 1935 ) , which has been called â€Å" the best all-time work of American architecture † Selected Plants: Fallingwater, Pennsylvania, 1935 FallingwaterorKaufmann Residenceis a house designed by architectFrank Lloyd Wrightin 1935 in ruralsouthwestern Pennsylvania, 43 stat mis ( 69km ) sou'-east ofPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The place was built partially over a waterfall onBear Runin the Mill Run subdivision ofStewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in theLaurel Highlandsof theAllegheny Mountains.paradoxical sleep koolhaasName: Remment Lucas â€Å"Rem† Koolhaas Born: 17-11-1944 Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands Education: Architecture Association London, 1972 Rem Koolhaas is a Dutch designer, architectural theoretician, urbanist and professor. Selected Plants: Netherlands Dance Theater, the Hague, 1988 The Netherlands dance Theater was completed in 1987 and was originally conceived in 1980. It is a Dutch Contemporary Dance Company. Nexus Housing, Fukuoka Japan, 1991 This undertaking is a sum of 24 houses in the kasha District of Fukuoka, each three narratives high. Each house has a private perpendicular courtyard that allow visible radiation and extra infinite.Im PeiName: Ieoh Ming Pei Born: 26-04-1917 Location: Canton, China Education: B. Arch. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) , 1940 M. Arch. Harvard Grad School of Design, 1946 I.M. Pei is known for utilizing big, abstract signifiers and crisp, geometric designs. His glass-clad constructions seem to spring from the high tech modernist motion. Pei is popularly known for planing theRock and Roll Hall of Famein Ohio. However, Pei is more concerned with map than theory. His plants frequently incorporate traditional Chinese symbols and edifice traditions. Selected Plants: The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York, 1973 TheHerbert F. Johnson Museum of Art ( â€Å" The Johnson Museum † ) is anart museumlocated on the northwest corner of theArts Quad on the chief campus ofCornell University. The Johnson Museum has one of the finest aggregations of art in New York State and is recognized as one of the most of import university museums in the state. Dallas City Hall, Texas, 1977 Dallas City Hallis the place of Dallas municipal authorities, located at 1500 Marilla in theGovernment Districtofdowntown Dallas, Texas ( USA ) . The current edifice, the metropolis ‘s 5th metropolis hall, was completed in 1978 and replaced theDallas Municipal Building.mies van der roheName: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Born: 27-03-1886 Location: Aachen, Germany Education: Worked in the office of Bruno Paul ( Berlin ) Worked 4 old ages in the studio of Peter Behrens Believing thatless is more, Mies van der Rohe designed rational, minimalist skyscrapers that set the criterion for modernist design. Selected Plants: Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, 1950 It is a one-room weekend retreat in a once-rural scene, located 55 stat mis ( 89km ) sou'-west ofChicago ‘s business district on a 60-acre ( 24ha ) estate site, bordering the Fox River, South of the metropolis ofPlano, Illinois.decisionBased on the points, presented in the study above, we can pull our ain decisions on the pros and cons of Modernists architecture and how it has affected history. The Modernism Architecture manner has risen and fallen but hasn’t wholly left our society. Even till this twenty-four hours, we can still see the influence of the modernist design on our modern-day architecture. To wrap up this study, we leave you with a quotation mark from William Morris to sum up what we have learned from Modernism. â€Å"Have nil in your house that you know non to be utile or believe to be beautiful.† Thank you.

Fun Home

About the book: Alison Bechdel’s father Bruce was a high school English teacher, a funeral home operator, and a man who worked tirelessly to restore his Victorian-era home to its original glory. He was a husband and father of three children. On the outside, the Bechdels were a functional nuclear family. However, soon after Bechdel came out to her parents, she learned her father was also gay and that he had sexual relationships with his students. Months after her announcement, her mother filed for divorce – and two weeks after that, her father got run over by a truck. Was it an accident? Was it suicide?Bechdel thinks it was the latter, and in Fun Home, she analyzes her memories, books, and family letters in an attempt to understand who Bruce was and why he chose a life that dissatisfied him so deeply. What I liked: Bechdel’s analysis of her and her father’s lives, and her ability to wed it to distinct visuals, was inventive and involving. I remember one pag e in particular where she mapped out the places where her father was born, lived, and died, and circumscribed the area within one tidy circle to reveal that all of these important things happened within one mile’s distance of each other.The narrative loops back and forth upon itself, and parcels out new information at a measured pace, showing the readers new facets of the same story as it progresses. I appreciated Bechdel’s depth of focus in both her writing and her visuals – nearly everything is in its right place. I admire how much effort went into writing and drawing something so emotionally painful, and how much more effort went into making it all look seamless. Summary: Alison Bechdel grew up with a father who was alternatingly distant and angry, an English teacher and director of the local funeral home (or â€Å"Fun Home†, as Alison and her siblings called it).Their relationship grew more and more complex until Alison was in college. Shortly after A lison had come out to her parents, she learned that her father was also gay†¦ but before she had more than a brief chance to process that news, he was dead. Whether the accident that killed him had been truly an accident or a suicide, Alison would never know, just one of the many mysteries left by her father for Alison to slowly and painfully unravel here. Review:The â€Å"look at my terrible childhood† flavor of memoir is my least favorite flavor, and is responsible for me thinking I didn’t like memoirs in general until relatively recently. I’ll happily grant Fun Home an exception, however, even though it technically does fall into that category. There are several reasons that it sets itself apart from the rest of its peers, but I think the primary reason is that Bechdel is not using her the trauma of childhood for laughs (although there are some humorous touches throughout) or for dramatic potential (although there’s certainly plenty of that as wel l).Instead, there’s a very palpable sense that she’s writing this memoir because she’s really trying to figure out her relationship with her father, and what it meant, and that putting her memories down on paper is the best way she can hope to make sense of it all. The narrative flow does jump backwards and forwards through time, repeating some parts of the story from different angles as they come to bear on different topics, giving it a feeling of â€Å"thinking out loud,† but even so, it doesn’t come across as feeling scattered or unpolished.It also helps that her analysis, both of her father and of herself, is extremely penetrating, with enough emotion to make it powerful but enough age and maturity to make it thoughtful. Bechdel’s prose is similarly both elevated and immediate, verbose and vocabulary-ridden, but still clear and forceful. The book is rife with literary allusions and direct textual comparisons, some of which I got, some of which surely went over my head, but which certainly set the intellectual tone of the book.Bechdel’s art is also great, and I really liked the juxtaposition of her own detailed drawings with the drawn reproduction of photographs, printed text, and her own diary entries. Overall, this was a very thoughtful and penetrating book. I’m sure that there are layers of meaning about homosexuality and the process of coming out that I, as a straight person, didn’t latch on to. But I think there’s also a message that’s applicable to everyone, about the secrets that our parents keep, and about who they really are, and how we, as children of our parents, can manifest those secrets without ever truly understanding them. out of 5 stars.Summary The entire story is present from the first few pages, in the antique decadence that contrasts peculiarly against father Bruce’s strict, volatile perimeters; his cut-off jean shorts; his nose stuck in The Nude by Kenne th Clark; and in Alison’s tomboyish supplication as a child for his affection, channeled instead into the house’s restoration, a House of Usher in reverse. â€Å"It was his passion. And I do mean passion. Libidinal. Manic. Martyred,† writes Bechdel, showing Bruce carrying a porch column bent over his back, wearing only shorts that would make the Village People blush.After Alison types and mails a letter from college telling her parents she is gay, her mother informs her that Bruce, a high school English teacher and part-time funeral home director, had been with men throughout their marriage. The first had been a farmhand at 14; one was even her babysitter, Roy. â€Å"I had imagined my confession as an emancipation from my parents, but instead I was pulled back into their orbit†¦ Why had I told them? I hadn’t even had sex with anyone yet. Conversely, my father had been having sex with men for years and not telling anyone. Four months later, Bruce die d in puzzling (read: suicidal) conditions. Alison impulsively links his death to her sexual revelation — â€Å"the end of his life coincided with the beginning of my truth. † Bechdel traces the fear of this correlation back and forth in time through bizarre, coded interactions with her parents. Watching her narrate cyclonically around this traumatic core — â€Å"a sort of inverted Oedipal complex,† the assertion of her â€Å"erotic truth† destroying her repressed father’s life — is a devastating, bittersweet head-trip.It is the reading equivalent of a photo mosaic: hundreds of tiny images of Alison forming an inescapably dominating image of Bruce. Fun Home also pulls off a portrait of how the invisible histories and private lives of parents impress unwittingly upon children emotionally and psychologically. Plenty of books attempt that, but fewer pull it off without connect-the-dots associations or posturing, fewer still with Fun House ’s effortless juggling of past, present and future.

Madama Bovary & Anna Karenina Essays - Film, Fiction, Literature

Madama Bovary & Anna Karenina Essays - Film, Fiction, Literature Madama Bovary & Anna Karenina Reading provides an escape for people from the ordinariness of everyday life. Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, dissatisfied with their lives pursued their dreams of ecstasy and love through reading. At the beginning of both novels Anna Karenina and Emma Bovary made active decisions about their future although these decisions were not always rational. As their lives started to disintegrate Emma and Anna sought to live out their dreams and fantasies through reading. Reading served as morphine allowing them to escape the pain of everyday life, but reading like morphine closed them off from the rest of the world preventing them from making rational decisions. It was Anna and Emma's loss of reasoning and isolation that propelled them toward their downfall. Emma at the beginning of the novel was someone who made active decisions about what she wanted. She saw herself as the master of her destiny. Her affair with Rudolphe was made after her decision to live out her fantasies and escape the ordinariness of her life and her marriage to Charles. Emma's active decisions though were based increasingly as the novel progresses on her fantasies. The lechery to which she falls victim is a product of the debilitating adventures her mind takes. These adventures are feed by the novels that she reads. They were filled with love affairs, lovers, mistresses, persecuted ladies fainting in lonely country houses, postriders killed at every relay, horses ridden to death on every page, dark forests, palpitating hearts, vows, sobs, tears and kisses, skiffs in the moonlight, nightingales in thickets, and gentlemen brave as lions gentle as lambs, virtuous as none really is, and always ready to shed floods of tears.(Flaubert 31.) Emma's already impaired reasoning and disappointing marriage to Charles caused Emma to withdraw into reading books, she fashioning herself a life based not in reality but in fantasy. Anna Karenina at the begging of Tolstoy's novel was a bright and energetic women. When Tolstoy first introduces us to Anna she appears as the paragon of virtue, a women in charge of her own destiny. He felt that he had to have another look at her- not because she was very beautiful not because of her elegance and unassuming grace which was evident in her whole figure but because their was something specially sweet and tender in the expression of her lovely face as she passed him. (Tolstoy 76.) In the next chapter Anna seems to fulfill expectations Tolstoy has aroused in the reader when she mends Dolly and Oblonskys marriage. But Anna like Emma has a defect in her reasoning, she has an inability to remain content with the ordinariness of her life: her marriage to Karenin, the social festivities, and housekeeping. Anna longs to live out the same kind of romantic vision of life that Emma also read and fantasized about. Anna read and understood everything, but she found no pleasure in reading, that is to say in following the reflection in other people's lives. She was to eager to live herself. When she read how a heroine of a novel nursed a sick man, she wanted to move about the sick room with noiseless steps herself. When she read how Lady Mary rode to hounds and teased her sister-in-law, astonishing everyone by her daring, she would have liked to do the same. (Tolstoy 114.) Anna Karenina was a romantic who tried to make her fantasies a reality. It was for this reason she had an affair with Vronsky. Like Emma her decisions were driven by impulsiveness and when the consequences caught up with her latter in the novel she secluded herself from her friends, Vronsky, and even her children. Anna and Emma both had character flaws that made them view the world as fantasy so that when their fantasy crumbled they resorted to creating a new fantasy by living their lives through the books they read. Books allowed Emma Bovary to withdraw from her deteriorating life. They allowed her to pursue her dreams of love, affairs, and knights; from the wreckage of her marriage with Charles. Emma's, experience at La Vaubyessard became a source of absurd fantasy for Emma, and ingrained in her mind that the world that the