The Hands of Both a Mother and a Sinner

The miller’s daughter leaned against the top of the brown spinning wheel, bearing all her weight upon it. Tears poured down from her stormy blue eyes as she pictured the terrifying new life she had begun. She considered herself a martyr for giving herself up for what could be seen as the greater good while she considered her father to be a selfish, undignified slob. As she sat staring at the decaying, brown spinning wheel, her thundering eyes glazed over the figure of a small man leaning against the open door. The man’s eyes were black as a raven’s wing and seemed to be filled with the devil himself. His wooden leg dragged behind him with a considerable weight that seemed to anguish his every move. “Dearie”, his voice screeched like tires halting to a stop. “Let me spin that straw for you in exchange for your necklace”. The miller’s daughter who put too much of her faith into the books she read rather than her belief in God and miracles sullenly stared at the tiny demon. “How am I supposed to assume you will finish the task”, she said haughtily. The tiny man replied, “Because without me you are doomed”, and from that point on she reluctantly put her faith into the little wooden-legged pest and allowed him to spin the long strands of straw into rich yellow gold. To become queen, the daughter promised the man many things, one of those being her child, and therefore, the man came for three more days and spun the straw into gold until the godly prince decided it was time to marry the despairing miller’s daughter. During the wedding, the sky began to turn a deep, stormy purple color while pitch-dark blackness descended upon the miller’s daughter and her prince. The daughter couldn’t escape this darkness, and during the ascension of it, she gave birth to a severely malnourished baby girl. She looked at the child, disgusted with it and the idea of it. This child would be the rot of her existence, the detriment to her capability as queen. Once she gave it up, her reign would be over, the power that she had begun to develop would fall threw her fingers like the ashes of her dead father. However, she remembered the promise she had made the devil: if she figured out his name, she could keep the child and her power. How she was going to do this, she knew not. At this precise moment, the child bit her and dug its tiny, little teeth into the miller daughter’s finger until a dark flow of blood came out. As the blood flowed from the daughter’s finger, the darkness began to depart and a blood red-orange sky appeared. The beams of rays seemed to stretch out to the ends of the kingdom enveloping the residents in a warm glow of orange, yellow, and red. The miller’s daughter’s vision of her bleeding finger became blurred and then became replaced with a vision of the wooden-legged man skipping through the very depths of hell. He was chanting something over and over again as he pushed a cart of what seemed like babies and young children closer and closer to a burning fire. “These are the sins of the weak, the mild, the afraid. These are the sins I collect. Me, it’s time to collect. Me, Rumpelstiltskin, I’m coming to collect!” The vision disappeared and the woman woke up to a pool of her blood and her baby in two mangy, old hands. Her now piercing, sky-blue eyes looked straight into the raven-winged eyes of the monster while she screamed “Rumpelstiltskin!” The widening smirk on his face began to slowly shrink into a partial smile and finally into a definitive scowl. His once black eyes blazed with the depths of hell, the depths of fire, the depths of anguish and suffering. The sky turned blue again and the Miller’s daughter touched her baby with the hands of both a mother and a sinner.

"As Rock-Solid as the Presidential Jaw of Abraham Lincoln"

Thesis: Although this copper coin may be seen as "unnecessary" and "outdated", the penny remains an important, popular memoir of American values and history and therefore should not be abolished based on the sole grievances of some individuals such as representative Jim Kolbe about its size and usage.

Source B gives examples of specific American leaders (i.e. Paul Revere and Abraham Lincoln) who are tied to the production of the penny. These specific examples create a bond between the penny and the United States' history. In addition, this source draws on a statistic from the "National Association of Convenience Stores" that shows that "handling pennies [only] adds 2 to 2.5 seconds to each cash transaction". This concludes that not only does the penny serve as a stronghold for American history, but it also does not prove to be as "unnecessary" and "pesky" as it was previously described by Jim Kolbe.

Source D utilizes a common man's letter to American representatives regarding the impracticality of abolishing the penny. Through this letter, he explains that the penny is "popular with the public" and "important to our pricing system". Both the public and the writer of this letter, most likely feel that the penny remains an American heirloom that is engraved into our society's every day life and because of this should not be removed.

Source E is a poll that includes statistics on who favors abolishing the favor and who opposes abolishing the penny. Each category, including the lower income categories, had more people opposing the abolition of the penny than people who favored the abolition of the penny.  Even though the lower income individuals might be told that the penny is useless to them and will be more difficult to use financially, they still believe in the penny because it is so much a part of the American culture. Perhaps these statistics also embody the historical American notion of patriotism as both the lower class and the upper class agree on the fact that the penny should stay as it is a great part of the American lifestyle.

"Imagine This Is Yours"

This image cleverly depicts the inhumanness of hunting animals for game or pleasure. The use of a young, innocent face of a baby in lieu of a head of a moose or reindeer draws empathy from the viewers for the stuffed, dead animal. The dark, blurred, fur-like background behind the baby draws attention to its face, the main focal point of the advertisement. The antlers coming out of the child’s head create a link between the innocence of the hunted, dead animal and the child.  In addition, the juxtaposition of the innocent face and the bottom half of a rifle creates a violent image of using a rifle to hunt animals, particularly young animals. The contrast between the powerful, dangerous rifle and the helpless, innocent baby alludes to the powerlessness of the hunted animal in the face of the rifle. Moreover, the positioning of the rifle, which is seemingly placed on top of a fireplace in a family room, connects the viewer to the action of the rifle. Since fireplaces and family rooms are found in most households, the placement of the rifle entails feelings among viewers of participation in the rifle's actions. These feelings of participation in the rifle’s actions spark feelings of outrage among the viewers, which result in a sense of duty to protect the baby and hence the represented animals. The words, “imagine this is yours”, elucidate the atrociousness of the act of hanging a dead, hunted animal as a prize on a family room wall. The statement draws on the parental instincts of protectiveness and safety, which instill a sense of urgency around stopping this act of hunting for pleasure. By comparing the image of an innocent baby with a stuffed reindeer or moose, the WWF’s advertisement draws on the viewers’ empathy and parental instincts to illuminate the heartless shooting and stuffing of innocent animals.

The Decaying House Itself

They looked up the drive at the square paintless house with its rotting portico 

We reached the gate and entered and went to the fence and stood side by side

It wasn't anyone's room

The bones rounded out of the black vines

The clock tick-tocked, solemn and profound

Watching the bones where the buzzards ate Nancy

We ain't got the room we used to

They sounded like coffins French Lick

We have sold Benjy's pasture so that Quentin may go to Harvard

Bringing empty trucks down the attic stairs

We ran up the steps and out of the bright cold into the dark cold

Dead and stereotyped transience of rooms in assignation houses

Dragged the swift shadows up out of the shabby garden, over the broken fence and across the fence

The dry pulse of the decaying house itself.

Dodgeballs vs. Rifles

This ad cleverly depicts the violence created by assault rifles through the ironic contrast of the simple game of dodgeball, which is banned, versus the legal use of dangerous weapons. The graphic images contrast both the aspect of a child-like innocence against the hideous violence of a large black assault rifle. The advertisement conveys the message that our nation’s priorities toward violence are without proper focus. The ad creates wonder at how this huge rifle in the hands of a young boy which can create so much death and destruction has not been banned while a simple, bouncy dodgeball so comfortably held in the other child’s arms next to him is seen as too violent and banned. The placement of the two children in a school gymnasium is simple and effective as the images of the littered basketballs and dodge balls help create an air of innocence contrasting against the air of violence emanating from the large rifle. The use of the game of dodgeball contrasted with the assault rifle is also effective as dodgeball is a recognizable game known to cause injury and bring out ferocity within children. However, by contrasting the dodgeball with the rifle, the effects that dodgeball has in creating competitive game situations is greatly overshadowed by the effects that assault weapons have in creating mayhem and death.  Similarly, the ominous looking, dripping red shirt of the boy holding the rifle looks like the outpour of blood after a gunshot furthering the idea of the death and destruction caused by assault weapons. In conclusion, the ad’s ironic contrast of children playing games versus playing with guns portrays the message that assault weapons should be banned.

“The Immigrant” vs. “The Exile”:

            In “Two Ways to Belong in America”, Bharati Mukherjee focuses on the varying reactions to America and the American lifestyle by immigrants. Mukherjee, an Indian immigrant herself, uses the views of her immigrant sister Mira and herself to show the two different approaches to living in America an immigrant can have. Mukherjee establishes in her title “Two Ways to Belong in America” (280), that there are two ways to approach American culture, however, she emphasizes why she believes her approach, the approach of adapting the American culture, works better than the approach of living as just an “expatriate Indian” (283). Through techniques such as metaphors, comparison, and contrast, Mukherjee effectively presents the different sides of an immigrant experience while further detailing her own experiences.

            Throughout the essay, Mukherjee uses the similarities and differences between her sister and herself to accent the divide between immigrants on how to adapt to America. Using the experiences of two sisters is especially effective as it establishes how differing immigration experiences can instill different views of the country for even two people who started out with identical beliefs. Mukherjee explains how initially both her sister and her dreams were almost identical as they both planned to “endure our two years in America, secure our degrees, then return to India to marry the grooms of our father’s choosing” (280). She then concentrates how their paths began to differ as she explains, “we probably pitied one another. She, for the lack of structure in my life, the erasure of Indianness…I for the narrowness of her perspective”(281). By first establishing the sisters’ similar dreams and then contrasting their future ideals, Mukherjee shows how drastically immigrant beliefs and attitudes towards America can change due to differing experiences.   

            Mukherjee brings in a metaphor to further describe the two different ways to exist as an immigrant in America. Mukherjee first uses the literal example of either marrying or not marrying ones country as she speaks of her own marriage to an American citizen and her sister’s marriage to an Indian. She then compares her immigrant experience of completely adapting the American culture to a loving marriage as she says, “America spoke to me—I married it—I embraced the demotion from expatriate aristocrat to immigrant nobody” (282). On the other hand, Mukherjee compares her sister’s immigrant experience to a “long-enduring comfortable yet loveless marriage” (282) to show that her sister never accepted American. By using this metaphor of a “loveless marriage”, Mukherjee is able to emphasis her point that immigrants cannot expect to be “loved”, or accepted into a country if they themselves do not “love”, or accept the country.  

            Mukherjee’s use of comparison and contrast is effectively tied into every single part of the essay contributing to a tone of severe divide over this topic of adaption of immigrants to the American culture. Additionally, the use of metaphor comparing marriage to adaption to American culture is effective as most readers can either fully identify to the idea of either a loving marriage or a loveless marriage. Through these techniques, Mukherjee fully establishes the two different ways an immigrant can exist in America: as a transformed citizen or as a reluctant exile.

"Jack and Diane"

"Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp is a song written about a couple living in rural America with big hopes and dreams for the future, however, through the song, it is seen that they were not able to accomplish these dreams. This is similar to how Willy Loman believed that his son would be successful in the sales business, however, Biff never lived up to his father's idea. Likewise, Willy's life as a salesman was filled with failure as he can never achieve anything he strives for. The lines "Oh yeah life goes on/Long after the thrill of living is gone" relate to how nothing in Willy's life changes for the better as he continuously works in this job of a salesman but never accomplishes any of his dreams. "Long after the thrill of living gone" relates to how Wily is holding on to a past and false hope that he can accomplish what Dave Singleton or his brother accomplished.

The Deadly Drip

This awareness poster is effective in showing the threats of global warming. This poster focuses on one major risk, which is the rising sea level as the ice caps continue to melt. The poster presents a clear hourglass containing two different images. The use of an hourglass in this case effectively indicates that time is running out to fix the growing scare of global warming. The top bulb of the hourglass contains an image of cracking, melting ice caps floating apart with a polar bear and a penguin on two different ice caps. The poster depicts only one polar bear and one penguin to emphasize that global warming is causing the population of these two animals, and other animals living in arctic habitats, to decrease.  The slow drip of the bright blue water into the bottom bulb of the hourglass indicates the false impression of many people that time is not of the essence and global warming is not an imposing threat.

Unlike the top bulb of the hourglass, the bottom bulb is filled with a sphere-shaped image of a bustling city surrounded by bright green fields. The sphere-shape reminds the viewer of the earth and the city reminds he or she of a bustling city like New York or Chicago. However, the city image is being engulfed by water as the slow drip of the bright blue water from the top bulb of the hourglass begins to fill the bottom. The water creeping along the sides of the sphere-shaped city image show that the rising level due to global warming is occurring more quickly than thought. The water already fills a quarter of the bottom half of the hourglass and continues to rise. The lowercase words, “we are running out of time act now before it’s too late”, are placed above the images to emphasize the importance of acting quickly. In conclusion, the poster effectively emphasizes the importance of working to stop global warming before time runs out, or before the hourglass runs out.  

Falls the Shadow

        The “hollow men” are afraid of not being remembered for anything other than perfection. They are afraid of being remembered as “lost violent souls” and if they can’t obtain a remembrance of perfection then they want nothingness, to feel nothing. This is why they are plagued with this idea of afterlife as they worry that “is it like this in death’s other kingdom/walking alone”. Their life is meaningless and even though they do fear the meaningless of their existence they also fear that they will find meaning but it will be worthless meaning.
       Everything surrounding the hollow men is broken, fragmented, and depressing. The broken images of “broken glass”, a “broken column”, a “broken stone”, and a “broken jaw” connect the four beginning sections of the poem. All of these images: the glass, the column, the stone, and the jaw are items of structure as glass can provide perspective, a column provides structure, stone provides foundation, and a jaw provides speech. Alluding to all of these images being broken emphasizes that the hollow men live in this state of no structure or meaning. They are alone as there perspective and speaking ability is broken. The hollow men are forced into monotonous, isolated lives without any communication with each other. The description of a shadow falling between “the idea and the reality”, “the motion and the act”, “the conception and the creation”, “the emotion and the response”, “the desire and the spasm”, “the potency and the existence”, and between the “essence and the descent” alludes to the brokenness of the hollow men’s existence.  The shadow interferes with the potential, “the potency” “the conception” “the motion” and does not allow for the “creation”, the actual. It takes away the ability of the hollow men to communicate with each other and creates an even more isolated world for the hollow men in which they cannot communicate their thoughts at all forcing them into a meaningless existence.