Friday, December 27, 2019

Go for It With Pa’lante

Palante is not a word you will find in any standard Spanish dictionaries. Spanish teachers might even cringe upon hearing it. It is a Spanish slang word loosely translated as onward, go ahead, or go for it. Where Pa’lante Comes From Palante  is a well-understood  slang  word apparently originally used in Caribbean Spanish-speaking areas and seems to be gaining popularity in other parts of the Spanish-speaking world. Its a shortened version of para  adelante, a fairly common phrase made up of the  preposition  para, often meaning for, and  adelante, an  adverb  (sometimes functioning as other  parts of speech) meaning forward. What is unique about this word and its use is that  contractions and  apostrophes  are rarely used in Spanish. In fact, using apostrophes to indicate letters are missing is usually thought of as an Anglicism. For some inexplicable reason, palante is sometimes spelled as palante and is listed that way as slang in the Collins Spanish Dictionary. But the spelling of palante is far more common. It is not listed in the Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary (known as DRAE for its Spanish initials), the languages most authoritative reference source. Famous Word at Rallies Palante is something commonly heard at rallies usually used to rile up a person or group to action. As evidence of its burgeoning spread outside of the Caribbean, the word was used as part of a slogan at pro-Hugo Chà ¡vez rallies in Caracas, Venezuela:  ¡Palante Comandante!  Chà ¡vez was the president of Venezuela from 2002 to 2013. A literal translation of the rhyming phrase  ¡Palante Comandante!, would be something like Forward, Commander! although that direct interpretation does not capture the subtle connotation nor the colloquial nature of the phrase. El  CotVmandante  was a popular reference to Chà ¡vez. In the context of rallies, other translations of palante might be go ahead, onward, go for it, hang in there or keep on going. Pop Culture References Pop icon and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin brought the word mainstream in his 1995 musical hit,  Marà ­a. A popular line from the song: Un, dos, tres, un pasito palante Maria! The line translates to, One, two, three, one little step forward, Maria!  The song topped the charts at the time and became Martins first international hit single. Before and after Martin, Spanish music artists have been using the slang word in music hits. Other famous titles with the word include Echa  Palante, by  Mexican recording artist, Thalia, made popular in 1997. The song was featured in the 1998 dance competition movie Dance with Me in a memorable scene starring  Vanessa L. Williams  and  Puerto Rican  singer  Chayanne. As an example of the words use in song prior to Martin, Puerto Rican-American Latin jazz great, Tito Puente released a song, Palante, which he subtitled Straight in English.   Palante con Cristina (Palante With Cristina) is a popular show on Telemundo, a U.S. cable TV network. Related Phrases One related phrase that is widespread is echado para adelante. The sentence Estamos echados para adelante can mean something like, Were all ready to go for it. Sometimes echado para adelante is shortened to something like echao padelante. These phrases are not considered formal Spanish, but would most likely be used in the context of colloquial speech or familiar conversation.   Palante in Names of Programs or Groups Palante has become word often used in the names of organizations on programs to help convey they idea of progress. Among them: Mujeres Palante is a cooperative employment organization of and for the benefit of women. It is based in Barcelona, Spain.Palante Harlem is a New York tax-exempt organization devoted to housing issues.Echar PaLante is a campaign devoted to the betterment of Puerto Rico.PaLante Pacà ­fico is a philanthropic effort connected with the University of the Andes (Universidad de los Andes) in Bogotà ¡, Colombia.The PaLante Afterschool Program is for elementary children in Allentown, Penn. Key Takeaways Palante is an increasingly common Spanish slang word that isnt listed in most dictionaries.Palante is used to indicate concepts such as encouragement, enthusiasm, resolve, and progress.The word can be found in song titles and names of organizations throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

The Death Of Dreams By F. Fitzgerald - 1385 Words

Stephanie Webb Mrs. Pagel English 3, Period 6 10 March 2015 The Death of Dreams Sometimes the very thing someone may be reaching for is not what it seems. The American Dream is something that can be known as what it is for most people; a dream. In Scott F. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the main character, Jay Gatsby, throws huge parties in West Egg, New York, that many people from all over come to, in order to find his goal and to achieve his dream. Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby’s parties as a symbol of the corruption of the American Dream; the immoral actions, shallowness of the party guests, and impossibility of his motives reveal the flaws of the American Dream. At Gatsby’s parties, the alcohol symbolizes good times and no†¦show more content†¦When Gatsby finally meets Daisy after all of the lost years, he feels he no longer needs the illusions of the parties to bring her in, so he can finally embrace his view on reality. Fitzgerald uses the parties as a symbol of the moral debase of the 1920’s, especially about the i mmoral actions of the party, â€Å"One of the men was talking with curious intensity to a young actress, and his wife†¦appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond, and hissed: ‘You promised!’ into his ear† (Fitzgerald 51). The party now settles down throughout the night, and reality strikes for many people, similar to the man and wife arguing about the actress. What started off as a wonderful night to go out now becomes just another night of couples fighting and people crying, just one of the consequences of the wrongful acts people commit, which turns into even more acts of sinning. This is parallel to the â€Å"amazing and wonderful† lifestyle of the wealthy, but it is only on the outside appearance that the middle class and the poor think and desperately want of the rich. Dan Seitler also agrees with the symbol of light in the story: â€Å"†¦Darkness offers a more realistic picture than light does† (Seiter 3). In a different way , Dan says that the light in the parties and all around are fake.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Analysis of “the lumber room” by H. Munro free essay sample

The text under analysis is a short story by a British novelist and short-story writer Hector Hugh Munro who was born in Akyab, Burma when it was one of the parts of the British Empire 1870, he was killed on the French front during the first world war in 1916, he is better known by the pseudonym Saki, and he is considered a master of the short story and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. Beside his short stories, he wrote a full-length play, The Watched Pot, in collaboration with Charles Maude; two one-act plays; a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire, the only book published under his own name. It is necessary to mention that after his mother’s death he was sent to England with his siblings and they were brought up by their grandmother and aunts in the early of childhood. And the character of the aunt in this story is created based on one of his aunts, by the words of Munro’s sister. The story is about a boy’s expedition in a lumber room. He is called Nicholas who is in disgrace by putting a frog into his bread-and-milk. On the contrary, the other children are to be driven to the sands at Jagborough. Actually, it is a special way of punishment created by their aunt who is a woman of few ideas. Nicholas is in disgrace so he is not allowed to get into the gooseberry garden. In fact Nicholas is determined to get into the lumber room, he knows where the key is kept and he even practiced with the key of the schoolroom door. In the end he achieves his aim and spends a great time in the lumber room, the picture on the tapestry, the candlesticks, the books and so many other subjects, which are claiming his attention. Suddenly, an abrupt voice of his aunt comes from the gooseberry garden, exactly from a rain-water tank. Nicholas doesn’t give his hand to his aunt, because he considers the voice sounds like the Evil One’s but not aunt’s. This story ends again in the dining room, where all children are tired and aunt is in a big irritation, however, only Nicholas is content to thinking about the things he has seen in the lumber room. This story is a masterpiece of narrat ion and description, first of all, the plot is funny and attractive, we can see in the exposition how a little smart boy gets a punishment by bringing a frog into his basin of bread-and-milk, and his funny words about the older, wiser, and better people. The other children who are sent to the sands get a special treat. Then the story reaches its first climax when Nicholas is in  the lumber room and the description of the subjects and his imagination are unforgettable. From Nicholas’ youthful eyes, I find even the lumber room can also be so wonderful, which is not worse than Alice’s Wonderland. When the place changes from the lumber room to the gooseberry garden it gets to its second climax. It seems unusual for me that Nicholas doesn’t help his aunt when she drops into the rain-water tank. But I see Nicholas is still smart and unusual by saying the sound of Evil One’s. The most interesting thing is the resolution of the story; all gather again in the dining room but the dinner seems to be more silent than the breakfast. The children are so tired and there have been no sands to play on. Aunt is anger. Nicholas also keeps silent; he is thinking about the huntsman, he believes he can escape from the wolves. There are two main characters in the story, Nicholas and his aunt . All the rest are minor characters, his boy-cousin Bobby, girl-cousin and the kitchen-maid. The relationship between the children (esp. Nicholas) and their aunt is rather antagonistic. Even though, the two main characters are considered to be the protagonists of the story, the character of Nicholas is the positive one as the character of the aunt seems to be is more negative. As the protagonist, Nicholas is round and dynamic. According to the development of the story, I can see Nicholas from different sides. By bringing a frog into the breakfast Nicholas is likely to be a disobedient boy, but when I understood that is just one of his strategies for getting into the lumber room, I could not help admiring his tactic; he is rather clever and quick-minded. As though he is a little thin boy, age may be about 8 to 10, because he’s breakfast is still something like wholesome bread- and –milk. Besides, the author directly says â€Å"a small person like Nicholas could slip in there (the gooseberry garden) he could effectually disappear from view amid the masking growth of artichokes, raspberry canes, and fruit bushes† and â€Å"by standing on a chair one could reach a shelf on which reposed a fat, important-looking key†. Those details directly tell us Nicholas is quite small but intelligent. The epithets in words â€Å"fat, important-looking† show how big the key is and at the same time how important it is for Nicholas to get into the lumber room. Instead of it, he is rebel and brave. First, Nicholas is not scared of taking a frog from the garden and being in disgrace. Second, he is rebel enough to prove the older, wiser, and better people are not always right. And he is  persistent, as I see in the text â€Å"he repeated, with the insistence of a skilled tactician who does not intend to shift from favorable ground†. By using a military word â €Å"a skilled tactician† the author metaphorically shows how clever and strong Nicholas is. One another detail which is about Bobby’s tight boots can also show his courage. Nicholas notices this matter to his aunt though he might get another punishment. The aunt doesn’t care even ignores the children’ problems. Bobby tells her twice about it, but she didn’t listen, she often doesn’t listen when the children tell her important things as Nicholas says. The words by Nicholas might irritate his aunt, because she changes the subject quickly, nevertheless, Nicholas does it in his own way. In addition, I find Nicholas not only clever but gifted. He is rich of imagination; I understood it when he is in the lumber room. For a little boy as Nicholas, the subjects in the lumber room are so interesting, as the author writes â€Å"often and often Nicholas had pictured to himself what lumber room might be like†, an inversion of the adverbial modifier – often and often reveals that Nicholas has been imaging about it for a long time, and if Nicholas is not fantastic he would not picture to himself what lumber room looks like, t he verb to picture is used metaphorically. When he at last gets into the room, the impression is so exiting, for him â€Å"it was a storehouse of unimagined treasure† a suitable metaphor. And â€Å"there were wonderful things for the eyes to feast on†, another epithets emphasize how Nicholas likes the subjects in the lumber room. The one of the most interesting things must be the piece of framed tapestry; it is a â€Å"living breathing story† to Nicholas, there I can see the using of metaphor and epithets help get such feeling, in the first place, it shows Nicholas is interested in so much. In the second place, it is clear that Nicholas has an independent mind, unlimited imagination. Sitting in the room, as if Nicholas falls into the picture, â€Å"he sat down and took in all the details of the tapestry picture†, to take in is a very important detail added by the author, we can understand that Nicholas is a careful boy, I dare to say that he is like a little cautious scientist. Besides, he is good at analyzing something difficult. The author gets such effect by the inner speech of Nicholas when he see the picture: â€Å"it could not have been a difficult shot because the stag was only one or two paces away from him† or when he see four galloping wolves he thinks that â€Å"there might be more than four of them  hidden behind the trees, and in any case would the man and his dog be able to cope with four wolves if they made the attack?† a question in the narration reflects Nicholas unlimited imagination and his care to the hunter’s destiny. Nevertheless, he is quite optimistic because after that in the dining room he is still thinking about it and believes that the huntsman would escape from this dangerous situation. Instead of the story of the poor hunter, there are other objects claim his attention, like candlesticks in the shape of snakes, and a teapot fashioned like a china duck, and the books of birds, he is so exciting of them that why a piece of inner speech â€Å"such birds!† is used. From this detail, I can see that Nicholas is fond of nature, especially the animals, like dogs, wolves, ducks and birds. It is natural for a small boy loving animals, having dramatic imagination. Above all I can say that the character of Nicholas is a symbol of childhood, of a beautiful, wonderful and poetic world. On the contrary, the character of aunt is a symbol of a selfish adult, of a silly, dogmatic and pedantic world. The story is written in an ironic mood and aunt is exactly the butt of the author’s irony. He ridicules her foolish, he says that â€Å"she was a woman of few ideas, with immense power of concentration† the using of periphrasis gets an ironic effect. The ironic effect is also achieved on a verbal plane, e.g â€Å"older and wiser and better people had been proved to be profoundly in error in matters about which they had expressed the utmost assurance†. Aunt thinks that older, wiser, and better people like her never make mistakes, if compare wi th Nicholas, aunt is older of course but might not be wiser and better, unfortunately, judging by her acts, she isn’t wise. The first thing I should mention is her ridiculous methods of treatment, she punishes one child by rewarding others, in her mind, she may think that the child who is in disgrace must be suffering from the envy. The whole story is covered by the trace of ironical elements, such as â€Å"aunt, who insisted, by an unwarranted stretch of imagination, in styling herself his aunt also, had hastily invented the Jagborough expecdition in order to impress on Nicholas.† Aunt is not only a shallow-minded but also is an intolerant unreasonable woman. It is achieved by employing of the Ironical metaphor, for instance, when she falls into the rain-water tank, the author writes: â€Å"came the answer from the other side of the wall† â€Å"came the voice from†¦rather impatiently† and â€Å"said the prisoner in the tank†. As for aunt,  the most important trait is her misunderstanding of love; she is not good at loving children even herself. I guess that she is a Christina by using the religious words like sin, yield, the Evil One, tempt, paradise, etc. however, she is not really faith in God because she lies to children, punish them, she does not love, all she has done is just to fall fill her duty. And that is why she becomes a bad exemplary to the children. It is no doubt to understand why Nicholas does not help her when she is in the rain-water tank, because she does not teach him to help and forgive someone who hurt you before. As for me, I feel little pity for aunt, because she is also a victim of that kind of family rearing. Her parents or aunt may also treat her in that way in her childhood, and now she just repeats the same thing and continues the same idea. She does not recognize the changing of the surround world. The society is changing and the children are different, so the family educat ion should be change obviously; a new method of children’s upbringing should be made. From that point of view, I’d like to concentrate my attention on the rearing of the children. In this story, it is clear that aunt is not a good exemplary to the children. She doesn’t love children and never listen them; she punish them in a strange way; her own conduct is not good to follow, she lies easily and often to the children. So summing up the main problem which the author wants to raise is how to be a good parent. The first thing is to love your children and let them know it. Then a good parent should be able to keep balance between praising and criticizing the children. We should criticize not the child but the bad behavior. From my speech class I knew the rearing of children is so strict in England, and they say â€Å"spare the rod, spoil the child†. It means that we should punish our children if they do anything wrong. As for me I partially agree to this statement. Because children can learn discipline by being punished, their behavior can be directed into a right way. It is very important to help the children understand what is wrong and what is right. I love the story so much, because as I have mentioned the author gives us a good example for the young parents to follow.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Literary Interpretation Critique Paper Tim OBriens The Things They Carried

Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a fusion of stories derived from both fact and fiction regarding the Vietnam War, which conveys the emotions and experiences of a soldier during and after the war. The title of the book is associated to the author’s description of characters not by their personality, but by the items they carried (O’Brien 7).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Literary Interpretation Critique Paper Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The main narrative device in the book is repetition, which is employed by the author through creation of a slightly surreal yet factual ambience for the reader. For example, the author repeats the phrases â€Å"the things they carried† and â€Å"they carried† throughout the book. O’Brien tells the story interchangeably as his present self and through â€Å"Tim the soldier who describes the experiences of O’Brien through a second person narrative† (Nagel 130). The result is an alternating form of realism and imagination, which the author acknowledges when he states that â€Å"the thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in the head. There is the illusion of aliveness.† (O’Brien 230). In reference to the statement, the author in essence questions the actuality of a â€Å"true war story,† which is also sustained by the fact that according to Tim, his story is merely a dream (Beidler 122). â€Å"O’Brien creates an element of doubt in the book by interlinking fact and fiction by extensively employing imagination and reality† (Nagel 128-129). For example, in chapter eleven â€Å"The Man I Killed,† he imagines that the man he has killed â€Å"was born i n 1946. His parents were farmers. He was neither a Communist nor a fighter and all he hoped for was that the Americans would go away†¦He had delicate fingers and might have been a scholar. The other boys at school might have teased him because he may have had a woman’s walk and a love for mathematics† (O’Brien 129-130). However, in the chapter titled â€Å"Notes† O’Brien goes on to define real events in his life such as in 1975 when he received a handwritten letter from Norman Bowker that describes the effects of the war on a former soldier and encouraged O’Brien to write about the effects of the Vietnam War (Nagel 138). The difficulty in writing truth about war arises from the fact that wartime conditions are unstable, rushed and marred with confusion. A soldier’s emotions and senses are exclusively focused to staying alive and conquering the enemy which â€Å"creates a ‘tunnel-vision’ mindset, superseding senses as sociated with hindsight and recollection† (Nagel 142). In addition, soldiers are trained to be brave and confident but, as humans, they are still â€Å"prone to natural reactions such as fear and cowardice in addition to fatal mistakes such as killing a fellow soldier by mistake† (Nagel 142).Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, the acknowledgement of such a mistake may lead to criticism or punishment, which compels soldiers to only â€Å"portray their actions as heroic regardless of their experiences† (Nagel 145). As a result, the stories of war are biased which greatly compromises the integrity of facts, which is possibly â€Å"the main reason why narrator Tim states he will conceal parts of Jimmy Cross’ story† (Nagel 151). The truth is especially slanting when war occurs in an isolated region such as Vietnam as compared to a large-sca le war such as World War II. The writer applies diction to achieve in creating more vivid events to emphasize on the emotions in a certain event. This is so because he wants to sway the audience to feel what he felt. For example, in the story Good Form, O’Brien gives reasons why he tells stories. â€Å"What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again.† (180) The writer emphasizes on how his emotions can be expressed in both imaginary and fiction narrations. To achieve in making a story important, he must express his feelings by narrating the event in a way that influences the reader’s perception by placing a reader on the battle field and this is achieved by effective enunciation (Ringnalda 78). O’Brien uses imagery in his writing, for example in â€Å"The Man I Killed†, the author writes, â€Å"His jaw w as in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star shaped hole, his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman’s†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (124). This is a clear description of use of imagery as a figure of speech. Imagery exactly captures and expresses feelings to the audience by creation of images in the audience mind. Juxtaposition is another figure speech that is able to express fiction importance by fully showing how similar and close it is to reality in a story. O’Brien explains how in a happening-truth that â€Å"there were many bodies, real bodies with real faces, but I was young then and I was afraid to look† (180). In this statement, the writer explains the reality of the story as if he was still there (Biess and Moeller 45). When Norman circles the lake in his hometown, having in mind all the things he had lost it symbolizes Norman as a satellite that is unable to resist the magnetic force of the lake. Finally, whe n he submerges himself in the lake, it symbolizes his later suicide. In ‘Field Trip’, the narrator judges the field with the same old emotions, not knowing the outcome would not be the same. Embarking to the location of Kiowa’s death twenty years later, he is surprised to find the field at peace and more strangely is the absence of the feeling he felt whenever he was approached with the place that has symbolized everything vulgar and violent from his past.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Literary Interpretation Critique Paper Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Surprisingly, when the narrator enters into the fields, he re-emerges with a new outlook, finally having freed himself from the shackles of bitterness the fields were redesigned for baptism and he cleansed himself from the destruction of the war (Beidler 132). Mark Fossie’s lover who is from America is a symbol of the goodness in America. Inâ€Å"Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong†, however, reflects the changes that happen to the innocent girl. When she is trans-located from Cleveland suburbs and settles on the mountains of Vietnam. The occurrence of the war and the loud silence of the mountain have a seductive effect on the young girl. Once innocent girl is now able to amass instinctive ransacks and to lock off channels, the innocence she had fades so does the love Mark had for her. She rubs off her youthful dreams of getting married to Mark after his return and they finally separate (Biess and Moeller 55). Works Cited Beidler Philip. Re-writing America: Vietnam Authors in Their Generation .Georgia: University of Georgia, 1991. Print Biess, Frank, Robert Moeller. Histories of the Aftermath: The Legacies of the Second World War in Europe. London: Berghahn Books, 2010. Print. Nagel, James. The Contemporary American Short-Story Cycle: The Ethnic Resonance o f Genre. California: LSU Press, 2004. 119- 148. Print. O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print. Ringnalda, Don. Fighting and Writing the Vietnam War. Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This essay on Literary Interpretation Critique Paper Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried was written and submitted by user Gary Mcfarland to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.