Matt Murphy Non-Film Response February 28th, 2012 In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: Chapter 4 The book, In the Basement of the Ivory Tower, delineates the major flaws in higher education from the biased perspective of a struggling adjunct professor who assumes the pseudonym “Professor X”. In the Professors somewhat cynical, highly sarcastic style of writing, he explains his critical (arguably controversial) point, that not every person is fit for higher education and that America itself is to blame. His misanthropic attitude towards the education system seems to be a product unquestionably trying life experiences, which in turn makes it hard to gage the legitimacy of all his criticism. In chapter 4, The four stages of a plot, Professor X compares his experiences and struggles in real estate to the classic four phase literary form of short stories; exposition, rising action, climax and denouement. He describes his lower class upbringing in the exposition, his slow but steady progression to middle class in the rising action, and his poorly considered big move to a substancial home putting him in major dept and forcing to become an adjunct professor for extra income in the climax.
k Goldsworthy’s novel ‘Maestro’ uses a first person, reflective narrative to recount the memoires of Paul, a precocious teenage musical, with particular emphasis on the relationship he has with his instructor, the retired concert pianist, Eduard Keller. The author presents Keller (the ‘maestro’) as enigmatic, reclusive and tainted by the horrors of the Second World War, in particular the murder of his wife and son. Keller displays flashes of brilliance, but his appreciation of music is clothed in his world weary cynicism, which stems from his troubled past. Keller inculcates in Paul his own rigid, dogmatic worldview and a wariness of beauty, thus destroying Paul’s own idealism, an aspect which had been crucial to Keller’s early success as
Goodman Brown has left the comfort of the cave of confusion and is beginning to discover the imperfections of the world and of its people. A teacher, who had “an indescribable air of one who knew the world”, leads Goodman Brown from the cave. His teacher continually leads him along the path to enlightenment despite Goodman Brown’s attempts “to return whence I came.” Goodman Brown learns that people are not perfect and that “good” people sometimes do “bad” things. People who Goodman Brown views as perfect, like the governor and his Sunday school teacher are exposed as imperfect people who lie, cheat, and steal by using the images
One example of bad criticism is from Infinity Book Reviews. Josh Barkman states, “ I really didn’t like the concept the author used for this series. He used the society’s (more specifically, the youth’s) desires to fit into their concept for ideal beauty, and created a world wherein turning “Pretty” was the ultimate achievement that can be attained in life. In this world, all of the “Uglies” undergo an operation when they come of age and turn into party-freak “Pretties” my feel is it down right degrading as a human being.” The reviewer shows he doesn’t like the way Westerfeld writes the novel by taking the concept of girl’s self-conscience and making a huge twist on it. Another bad critique of Uglies is from Imaginary Books.
Frankenstein/Charlie Gordon Essay To be shunned by everyone and be treated like you are nothing, are the worst feelings a person could face. The Frankenstein monster and Charlie Gordon were both outcasts, they were rejected by all. The Frankenstein Monster and Charlie Gordon shared similar qualities that led them to be left out by all. They both wanted a companion, a person that they could call a friend and talk to. Both were treated unfairly and weren’t liked by people.
Maestro “To what extent do you see Keller as responsible for Pauls disappointments as well as his success.” Maestro is a novel about disappointments and success. Paul Crabbe is a young man who moves from Adelaide to Darwin. Moving to Darwin, Paul hoped to pursue his music career in playing the piano. He is a very talented pianist. When Paul first moved to Darwin his parents arranged a piano tutor for him, a man by the name of Eduard Keller also known as “Maestro”.
It is a biggest nightmare of their lives. The horrendous health devil of depression is making their mind fatigue and they are unable to overcome or rescue the recession problem. The last dialogue of the cartoon “Sell” tells us that the author highlights the downfall of the stock and business that nobody is ready to buy or sell anything, and all the businesses ended into extensive destruction. Adam Zyglis cartoon is effective in many ways. First the selection of the title clearly tells us that what is the cartoon about and what message is he trying to convey through the selection of his dialogue throughout the cartoon.
Yet, even worse than Chillingworth’s rude and evil nature was her suffering caused by Dimmesdale. Indeed that her love for Dimmesdale was causing her great pain and anguish. From seeing his agony and pain, she suffered by knowing that she was, in some part, responsible for it. “Hast thou not tortured him enough?”.. “Has he not paid thee all?”..“It was myself!” cried Hester, shuddering” “It was I, not less than he. Why hast thou avenged thyself on me?”(Hawthorne
The insurmountable disappointment of Paul’s mediocrity is too much for him to bear. This fact bores into his soul, causing Paul to lose his will to live. His frustration is the basis of Willa Cather’s short story, “Paul’s Case.” She uses selection of detail, diction, and symbolism to brilliantly characterize Paul as an ordinary boy who can not cope with his inability to achieve his goal. Willa Cather uses her selection of detail to show the average qualities Paul possesses. The features Cather exploits tell a lot about Paul’s character.
It would seem that every character that we are introduced to in Steinbeck’s novella are indeed crippled in some way. There are the emotionally crippled, like George. There are mental and physical cripples, like Lennie and Candy. Then there are those who are crippled both physically and emotionally, such as the luckless Crooks. Throughout the story, we never really get a grasp of any sort of happiness in these people’s lives, so for these bleak men and women, an equally bleak ending seems almost unavoidable, if not expected.