Category: Book Review

Chaos Theory is a branch of mathematics studying dynamic systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions.​ This theory can be applied to life and more specifically, the two lives of Wes Moore. The nonlinear progression from the starting point of a cycle can create a nearly unpredictable result. The two Wes’s lives can be analogized as a pendulum, with disparities in the starting point causing a huge chain reaction of difference. Working backward, we can theorize what exactly sets the two Wes’s apart in their fate. In the novel, ​The Other Wes Moore​, Other Wes is unsuccessful because of these three distinct reasons: he was involved with drug dealing since a young age, his family influenced him poorly throughout his life, and he lacked the education to ascend in the economic ladder.

First, Wes’s involvement in drug dealing is a concurrent source of failure throughout his life. He gets in trouble with the law, he gains bad relations with his family, and his role in the game hinders his high school education. Living in low-income cities in the early 80s, both Wes’s were exposed to the growing drug epidemic at a young age. A segment from Author Wes’s monologue where he instantly recognizes a crack-addicted beggar (Moore 50) serves to remind that even as children, substance abuse in the community is a looming truth. Other Wes first indulges in drug usage when he accidentally finds his mother’s stash of marijuana while skipping school. When lying in bed, drunk and stoned, he realizes, “There is definitely money to be made” (Moore 62). Thereafter, his role in the drug game became his primary source of income. His drug dealing gig keeps him out of high school, in jail, and without his brother’s approval.

However, his role in peddling drugs began directly from the influence of his family. This correlates with his behavior and problems, most stemming either directly or indirectly from his family’s impact on him. Mary and Joy led the two Wes’s by example, Mary starting Wes’s involvement in the drug game by indirectly providing him with Weed, and not confronting him about the usage of it, meanwhile Joy putting her every effort to keep her children away from anything having to do with drugs. Tony is guilty of the same but seems to care more about Wes’s well-being then Mary at most points of the book, and throughout the novel one of the only decisions she makes to try to help Wes to get out of the drug dealing world is flushing his stash.

The second greatest familial influence for the Wes’s must be their fathers. Other Wes states in jail while speaking to Author Wes that, “Your father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, my father wasn’t there because he choose not to be” (Moore 1). Author Wes having a positive father figure to look up to postmortem is an influence that Other Wes didn’t have. Likewise, Other Wes’s first memory with his father (Moore 25) consists of tension and an unnerving realization.

Next, his lack of education cost him opportunities that could have kept him out of poverty. While it is true that Author Wes was privileged with attending Riverdale Private School, Other Wes failed himself equally of that the school system failed him. Wes became another high school dropout on the streets of Baltimore by choice. With nowhere left to turn and his earned GED only providing him with jobs that “the only consistency in his employment was inconsistency” (Moore 144), Wes turned back to the streets to provide him cash. Being that 1/7 of the city’s inhabitants were addicts (Moore 51), drug-dealing was an easier, and more stable job. Wes’s lack of education ultimately caused his fate as a drug dealer to be sealed.

In the end, Other Wes’s failures stem from influence and choice. There is no denying that Other Wes comes from a disadvantaged environment, but his own actions led him to his fate. Overall, the three distinct reasons why Other Wes failed was because he was involved with drug-dealing since his youth, his family continuously influenced him poorly throughout his life, and he lacked the education to provide for himself and his family. The message taken away from this book is that even though you can’t change your family, you can make the right decisions. The decisions that the Other Wes should have made were graduating high school and taking his brother’s advice on not involving with the drug game.

Citations:

1. Malcom, Ian. “Chaos Theory.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Oct. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory.

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights was first published in 1847 under the name Ellis Bell. The novel follows Gothic and Romantic traditions of the time, complete with images of natural grandeur, literal and metaphorical sublimity, and elements of the supernatural. Throughout the novel, Brontë uses descriptions of the dark landscape and stormy weather to reflect the tumultuous emotions her characters embody. The images generated throughout the text emphasize the possibility that the natural elements portrayed can be thought of as metaphors for the characters themselves. Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights after the sublime had been well established as an aesthetic principle; first by Longinus and then refined and reimagined by Edmund Burke during the 18th century. Due to this popular aesthetic, every aspect of Wuthering Heights can be connected to the idea of sublimity. These aspects include a wild, untamed depiction of a gloomy landscape and a passionate love between the main characters Catherine and Heathcliff; facets that are dangerous and destructive, yet mysterious and awe-inspiring.

The ancient Greek text, On Sublimity, has been one of the most influential classical works in the tradition of European criticism since the eighteenth century. Even though the author and date of composition remain unknown, critics typically refer to the author as Longinus (Leitch 144). The ancient text provides a good foundation for the idea of sublimity, which Edmund Burke would develop further, defining sublimity as “a kind of eminence or excellence of discourse” (Longinus 147). He goes on to say that “grandeur produces ecstasy” and that “the combination of wonder and astonishment always proves superior… because persuasion is on the whole something we can control, whereas amazement and wonder exert invincible power and force and get the better of every hearer” (147). He claims there are five sources of sublimity; the power to conceive great thoughts, strong and inspired emotion, figures of thought and speech, noble diction, and dignified and elevated word arrangement (148-9).

Edmund Burke fleshed out the idea of sublimity in the eighteenth century. He claimed that “[w]hatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger… in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime” (Burke 471). He continues this line of thought, indicating that the sublime is a product of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling, and then contrasts the sublime with the ideals of beauty. For Burke, sublime objects are “vast in their dimensions” while “beautiful ones comparatively small”; “beauty should be smooth, and polished; the great, rugged and negligent;” and “beauty should not be obscure; the great ought to be dark and gloomy” (473). Boiled down, beauty brings pleasure where the sublime brings a kind of desirable, pleasurable pain.

In Wuthering Heights, one area in which the sublime is highlighted is through the gloomy landscape. In the first volume, Lockwood’s description of the sheer physicality of Wuthering Heights and the heath and brackish mud he had to wade through to reach the house foregrounds elements of sublimity, most notably in the dangerous, yet awe-inspiring setting:

“Wuthering” being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there, at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few, stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones (Bronte 2).

Brontë’s imagery of Wuthering Heights serves as a visible symbol of Heathcliff’s cold and harsh character, and the physical barriers depicted may represent the restrictive forces of the social classes found throughout the novel. Her choice in diction, such as the words “tumult”, “stormy”, “pure”, “excessive”, “stunted”, and “strong”, illustrates the fervent, sublime love that overcomes Heathcliff and Catherine.

Later, the night that Heathcliff disappears angrily into the moors and vanishes for three years, the tempestuous weather reflects that of Catherine’s emotional turmoil:

“About midnight, while we still sat up, the storm came rattling over the Heights in full fury. There was a violent wind, as well as thunder, and either one or the other split a tree off at the corner of the building; a huge bough fell across the roof, and knocked down a portion of the east chimney-stack, sending a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen fire.” (75)

The storm is personified as “furious, violent, and destructive,” thus a sublime emulation of Catherine’s own destructive reactions as “her obstinacy in refusing to take shelter, and standing bonnetless and shawl-less to catch as much water as she could with her hair and clothes” left her “ thoroughly drenched” and ill from her longing for Heathcliff to return (75). This is a fantastic metaphor as, according to Longinus, “[t]he right occasions [for metaphors] are when emotions come flooding in and bring the multiplication of metaphors with them as a necessary accompaniment” … and “metaphors conduce to sublimity, and that passages involving emotion and description are the most suitable field for them” (157-8).

Sublime wildness and tumultuous weather aren’t only found in the landscape of Wuthering Heights. It is also represented within the characters themselves and their identities. The passion that Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship portrays might be identified as one seeking transcendence, or perhaps one that seeks to combine two, isolated individuals into one larger, sublime entity.

Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship was never simplistic. In childhood, she found herself “adopt[ing] a double character” (59). While at Thrushcross Grange, where “she heard Heathcliff termed a ‘vulgar young ruffian,’ and ‘worse than a brute,’ she took care not to act like him; but at home she had small inclination to practice politeness that would only be laughed at, and restrain an unruly nature when it would bring her neither credit nor praise” (59).

While later in the novel, as Catherine lies ill, she tells Nelly:

Oh, I’m burning! I wish I were out of doors — I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free… and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I so changed? why does my blood rush into a hell of tumult at a few words? I’m sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those Hills… (111).

These passages clearly indicate that the moors represent more than fond memories surrounding sunny, childhood endeavors. Instead, they signal the notion that Catherine’s wild nature developed out in the moors, alongside Heathcliff, and that they have become an escape for her; a manifestation of Heathcliff and a characteristic of her true nature. These fevered memories suggest that the moors are where she belongs, and despite the decisions she made, she was not meant to stay inside as the lady of a manor. Her desire to be outside and succumb to the natural elements reflects her desire to revert to her old being; one where she was carefree, untamed, and beside Heathcliff. In this way, Catherine falls victim to the sublime as she gives in to its omniscient powers, drawing her away from the comforts of her life and into a tumultuous uncertainty fueled by passion, energy, and a yearning to be free.

Catherine and Heathcliff both challenge ideas of identity, by breaking down traditional ideas of personality and individuality. Here, however, they do not violate boundaries but transcend them, thus achieving sublimity. They each identify so strongly with the other that they feel they have a single identity, a single soul shared between the two of them. “[H]e’s more myself than I am,” Catherine declares. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” (63). This intimate connection she shares with Heathcliff does not seem at all strange to her. She says to Nelly, “[S]urely you and everybody have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here?” (64) To be a singular entity is an alien thought to Catherine. She says:

My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff’s miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it . . . My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.

Introduction

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the first installment of one of the most successful movie series ever made. The movie was directed by Chris Columbus, produced by David Heyman and based on J.K Rowling’s book carrying the same title. In this movie, the audience is presented with an imaginary new world: the magic community inhabited by Wizards. The interaction between this and the non-magic community, also known as Muggles, is one of the series’ major themes. Harry, who is an orphan child and lives with his uncle, aunt, and cousin, discovers, at the age of 11, that he is a wizard and that he will attend a school where young wizards and witches learn how to perform magic. Together with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione, Harry fights against his greatest enemy, Lord Voldemort, the most evil wizard of all times. Voldemort tried to kill Harry when he was 1 year old, before disappearing for many years. Harry soon discovers from Dumbledore, the Headmaster of his school that Voldemort will return. Although the events described in the movie are entirely fantastical, they reflect one way or the other the real world and present concepts and situations that are important to anyone who is interested in social psychology. This paper focusses on some of the psychological concepts and issues represented in the movie, namely conformity, compliance and obedience, social facilitation and finally prejudice and discrimination.

Analysis

In this Harry Potter essay example, I explore the perspective of the socio-psychological angle on Harry Potter. Social psychology is “the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior, feelings, and thought in social situations” (Baron & Branscombe, 2012, p.5). In any social setting, people are often influenced by the thoughts and behaviours of those around them. People tend to change their behaviour to go along with the group, even if they do not agree with the group either because they want to fit in or because they feel that the group is competent and has the correct information. This is known in social psychology as conformity. Wood, Wood, Boyd, Wood and Desmarais (2015) define conformity as “changing or adopting a behaviour or an attitude to be consistent with the norms of a group or the expectations of others” (p. 283). Compliance is a form of conformity, where a person acts “in accordance with the wishes, suggestions, or direct requests of another person” (Wood et al., p.285). Another form of social influence is obedience to authority. Obedience is the change of an individual’s behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure (Wood et al., 2015). People often comply with the request because they are concerned about a consequence if they do not comply.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone provides the perfect setting in which these concepts and how they affect people’s behaviour can be studied. As the movie opens, Harry is portrayed as a very obedient child. He sleeps in the cupboard where he is told to, wakes up when he is told to, and makes the Dursleys their breakfast in the way they want him to. He never objects or questions their unfair treatment or challenges their unreasonable demands. Harry’s compliance can, in part, be explained by his desire to fit in, to belong to this group of people whom he lives with. His aunt and uncle are the only adults, it seems, in his life and despite their miserable treatment, he accepts their judgment. Not to mention that he might also want to avoid the severe punishment his uncle threatens to inflict upon him if he is not obedient.

This inclination to obey changes as soon as Harry receives a letter formally addressed to him. He has finally been singled out as an individual, and he becomes determined to learn the letter’s contents and its sender’s identity even if he disobeys his uncle. This new tendency to defy authority intensifies with Hagrid’s arrival. The knowledge Hagrid gives him about himself empowers him to stand up against the abusive Dursleys. Harry continues to show a growing independence by his tendency to break rules, almost from his first day at Hogwarts, as demonstrated by his ignoring Madam Hooch’s command at the flying lesson that all students remain on the ground during her brief absence. This rule-breaking attitude, however, is never motivated by rebellion or to engage in mischief; he instead feels justified if he believes his actions serve some noble purpose, such as retrieving Neville’s Remembrall or preventing Voldemort from stealing the Philosopher’s stone.

Just like Harry, Hermione’s character also develops as the film proceeds. Before the incident with the troll, Hermione is portrayed as an annoying rule-abiding person who keeps nagging Harry and Ron about memorizing and obeying every school rule. Ron describes her saying, “Honestly she’s a nightmare! No wonder she’s not got any friends!” (Heyman & Columbus, 2001, After Floating Spell Class Scene). Later that night, she changes to someone who is willing to lie to her superiors, use magic against Snape and go out after curfew to protect her friends. This can be explained, at least at the beginning, by her need to fit in with Ron and Harry who saved her life and who regarded her obsession with rules as an extremely annoying trait. In other words, her disobedience is her means of conformity.

Social facilitation is one more phenomenon that occurs within group setting and is clearly presented in the movie. Social facilitation can be defined as any positive or negative effect on performance produced by the mere presence of others (Wood et al., 2015). One common example is sports. Skilled athletes will be more likely to perform better when surrounded by a cheering audience than when playing alone in the gym. That is exactly what happens with Harry Potter.

At Hogwarts, as with any school, sport plays an important part in student life. That sport at Hogwarts is Quidditch. Harry discovers that flying on a broomstick is something magical that he can do, not only naturally and well, but better than anyone else in the class. This skill that he has inherited from his father earns him the position of Gryffindor Quidditch team new Seeker. During the match, and despite his broom being jinxed, Harry outperforms his more experienced rivals and wins the match for the Gryffindor House as his mates and friends cheer him.

Social psychologists, however, claim that “the presence of others will improve individuals’ performance when they are highly skilled at the task in … but will interfere with performance when they are not highly skilled—for instance, when they are learning to perform it” (Baron & Branscombe, 2012, p.374). On the train, for example, Ron fails to perform a magic trick that his brother has taught him, and has probably at least done once at home, because his new classmates, Harry and Hermione are watching.

Prejudice and discrimination are another set of psychological concepts that are portrayed in the movie. Whereas prejudice describes the negative attitude towards others based on a number of factors (e.g. gender, religion, race etc.), discrimination is what happens when this attitude is translated into behaviour (Wood et al., 2015). This can be clearly demonstrated by the Dursleys’ treatment of Harry, which Harry’s aunt explains the reason for when Hagrid visits on Harry’s birthday. After Harry’s mother received her Hogwarts letter, his aunt became convinced that Harry’s mother was a freak, and that the wizarding world and anything or anyone tied to it, is ‘abnormal’. Instead of trying to learn more about her sister’s new magic world, she resolved to stay as far away from it as possible and her husband shared the same opinion. “I am not paying for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!” (Heyman & Columbus, 2001, Hagrid’s visit Scene). This biased view is a classic example showing how human ignorance and fear tend to go hand-in-hand. In a vicious circle, their ignorance causes them to be frightened by magic, while that fear prevents them from developing a better understanding of it. They have since brought out their bitter resentment and animosity onto Harry. The Dursleys’ refusal to allow Harry to attend Hogwarts is clearly intended to deny him what they know he wants most. They want to keep him at home out of pure prejudice.

Conclusion

Obviously, Harry Potter has earned its reputation as a global phenomenon. Although its primary audience are children, the movie series has enough depth to appeal not only to teenagers and adults, but to social psychologists as well. From a psychological point of view, the movie clearly shows how our need to belong to or fit in can have a tremendous effect on the way we behave, how our success or failure can be influenced by the situations we find ourselves in and the people we interact with and finally how cruel our prejudices can make us be. The movie managed to change how obedience is regarded as a positive thing. Sometimes it is the ethical and more responsible choice to disobey as Harry has repeatedly shown us. Harry Potter will continue to educate, motivate and inspire viewers for decades to come.

References

1. Baron, R. A., & Branscombe, N. R. (2012). Social psychology. Boston: Pearson. Retrieved from https://diasmumpuni.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/robert-a-baron-nyla-r-branscombe-don-byrne-social-psychology-13th-edition-prentice-hall-2011.pdf
2. Heyman, D. & Columbus, C. (2001). Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone.
3. Wood, S. E., Desmarais, S., Wood, E., Boyd, D. R., & Wood, E. G. (2015). The world of psychology. Toronto: Pearson Canada Inc.
4. Baron, R.A. & Branscombe, N. R. (2012). Social psychology. Top of Form

Refugees are regular people forced to flee from their home country because of the fear of persecution for many different reasons such as war and natural disasters. While fleeing home, their lives turn inside out because of many reasons. Some are war, the fear of persecution, and natural disasters. While finding a home, their lives turn back again because of resettling in a new country, adapting to their environment, and moving on to the present to try and make the best of it. Ha is a 10-year-old girl who lives in Saigon. Ha is a fictional character with a stubborn and defiant personality, who learns to listen as well as stay calm as time goes on. Ha’s life is turned inside because the North Vietnam communists took over Saigon. Ha and her family had to leave her beloved papaya tree, their home, and her captured father as she fled on a boat to go escape Saigon. Ha’s life turns back again when they moved to Alabama and Ha was able to make two friends and her family had gotten a letter from her father. No matter who refugees are, where they are from, or why they flee, all the experience can be pain/suffering, relief, and death or loss. In the end, refugees do find some solace if they can find shelter such as refugee camps so refugees can find a happy ending in the next page of their lives.

The lives of refugees turn ‘inside out’ when fleeing home because of death/loss, war/danger, and homelessness. Ha experiences loss and/or separation from her family when her father was captured during the war. Like Ha, some refugees experience loss and death while fleeing their homes. In the poem ‘Inside Out & Back Again’, on page 12, it states “Father left home on a navy mission on this day nine years ago when I was almost one. He was captured on Route 1 an hour south of the city by moped.” This quote shows how refugees can be separated from family and friends such as Ha’s father and his family. In the informational text, ‘Children of War’, refugees experience danger. In the informational text, ‘Childrens of war,’ it states “After the war started, you could not even go out of your house. I had to crawl through my apartment on my hands and knees or risk getting shot.” This quote shows how some avoid dangers in their country but sometimes it’s not enough to avoid danger. In the informational text, ‘Refugees: Who, Where, Why’, refugees experience homelessness. In the informational text, ‘Refugees: Who, Where, Why,’ it states, “Some refugees cannot return home, nor can they stay in their country of asylum. They must resettle in an unfamiliar country.” This quote shows that refugees sometimes can’t return home and must resettle elsewhere. The lives of refugees can also turn ‘inside out’ when finding home because they might get bullied or alienated when they start to resettle in an unfamiliar place. In the poem, ‘Inside Out & Back Again,’ it states, “By the end of the school, he yells an answer: She should be a pancake. She has a pancake face.” This shows that Ha, a refugee, doesn’t exactly fit in with the rest of the children and they aren’t exactly trying to show some sympathy for what she has gone through but hopefully, it will get better.

The lives of refugees turn ‘back again’ finding home because of resettling, adapting to their new environment (comprehending the language, fitting in, making friends, etc.), and moving on to the present to achieve the best of the future. Ha, experiences begin to brighten when she definitely starts to be accepted by two classmates at school and make friends with them. In the poem, ‘Inside Out & Back Again,’ Ha states, “So someone is always saving lunch seats for me, Pem, and SSti-Ti-Van;” This quote shows how she is definitely beginning to get accepted at school instead of being laughed at the entire time. In the informational text, ‘Children of War’, refugees experience peace and asylum as it is stated that it’s “better than being a refugee in Croatia. Here people don’t judge you by your religion.” This excerpt shows that even though refugees flee their homes, they can nevertheless find asylum somewhere else and start fresh. In the informational text, ‘Refugees: Who, Where, Why’, refugees experience resettling in places such as the United States as it states “The United States has traditionally been a sanctuary for refugees.” This shows that refugees have resettled in places such as the United States while additionally providing a place that some refugees flee to as well. When refugees finally find a home, their new life is different, but still, they discover ways to make the best of their situation and be thankful for what they have now as well as a fresh start to life.

On the journey fleeing home, refugees experience death/loss, war/danger and homelessness. These challenges impact their lives because they have to adjust. Some learn to adjust from losing/being separated from their loved ones, and the dangers of being killed. They also might have to adjust to losing their homes which means they might not be able to go back home. On the journey to finding a home, refugees experience not fitting in/adjusting to their unfamiliar surroundings. Although many encounters affect their lives forever, their lives eventually begin to turn back. When the lives of refugees turn ‘back again,’ they begin to feel more at home from adjusting to their surroundings, comprehending the language, and making friends. These solutions aid refugees because it makes them feel not so alienated from their new surroundings anymore and it would allow them to look into the future and make a better future for them and their loved ones.

1. The text I am adapting is a short story called “Lamb To The Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. In this text, there were a lot of things that interested me. In the story, Roald Dahl uses the themes of death and murder. Patrick Maloney is one of the main characters. He is a detective who becomes a victim of a crime when his wife murders him by hitting him in the back of the head with a frozen leg of lamb. There is also a lot of stereotypical gender roles such as the fact that Mary is a housewife who is frequently giving into her husband’s needs, she always has a drink prepared for him, she always wants to comfort her husband, and is always willing to make her husband food. Suddenly when Maloney says he’s leaving her since he loves another woman, she feels stripped off her identity as a wife to him. She also shows that she feels betrayed which affected her mentality. This betrayal had brought out the murderous side of Mary. This is one of the main themes of the story since it reveals the dynamic character of the story. These themes are important to the story since they connect all parts of the story such as characters, plot, and events.

2. For “Lamb To The Slaughter” I chose to create a play. I chose a play because it gives viewers the ability to see various emotions within the characters which cannot be found within a short story. It is also easier to visualize what the viewer is seeing in comparison to reading a short story. When reading a short story, there is too much information to take in and infer which can make it harder to understand and visualize. That is why I chose to do a play as it is very direct to the reader.

3. The changes I made to “Lamb To The Slaughter” were based on my imagination. I changed the characters’ names from Mary to Linda, Maloney to Drew, Sam to Levon, and Jack to Dennis. I changed the name of the characters because I wanted to avoid plagiarism and I also wanted to use my creativity to find names that I felt were better for the story. I decreased the number of characters in the story because I wanted to keep it short and to the point to make sure the audience would not get bored. In my play, I made Mary being a pregnant woman a complete surprise to Maloney as it would be a shock to the audience. When the couple was arguing I put some of the words in caps to indicate that they are yelling. This shows more emotion to the play, while in the story you can’t tell if they are yelling because they are just lines that are quoted. When Maloney gets hit in the head, I made him see his wife swing the lamb leg at his head before getting hit which would allow the play to be easier to visualize than the story. For the ending, instead of Maloney dying on the spot, I changed it to him disappearing and leaving a bloodstain, because it will raise the audience’s curiosity on what happened to Maloney. Mrs. Maloney then had a police officer put her in handcuffs and send her into a police car, the driver of the police car was Maloney who had looked at her with disappointment. I changed the ending to show when doing something bad there will always be consequences, no matter what. That was a small change that I wanted to make as it shows viewers that they can’t run away from the problems that they create.

Wuthering Heights Author

Emily Jane Bronte was born in 1818. She was a British novelist and poet. She is famous for her most renowned work Wuthering Heights. She also had a pen name ‘ Ellis Bell ‘. She died in 1848 due to tuberculosis.

Wuthering Heights Themes

There are many themes of the novel Wuthering Heights. But the main thing that everyone should know is the love between Catherine and Heathcliff. Although they love themselves madly, still they were parted due to the rising culture of capitalism at that time. The other themes are:

Clashing Between Economic Classes

The novel was set in such a time when capitalism was changing not only the economy of the society but it changed the traditional practices also. As we go further reading the novel we will see that the love between Catherine who belonged from a very wealthy family and Heathcliff who was an orphan had slowly turned into an act of highly convoluted revenge and hatred.

Childhood and Family

The love between Cathrine and Heathcliff was so in balance that it was not just mere sexual desire. Their love for each other was strong but because of their age, they didn’t understand their depth of love for each other. Cathrine compared her love for Linton to seasons while her love for Heathcliff to rocks. This depicts how much she loved Heathcliff and her love for Linton.

Wuthering Heights Summary

Wuthering Heights is a book that contains the elements of gothic fiction. It was written in the Victorian Era. It is now considered a classic in English Literature. This book has inspired many adaptations like drama, radio, ballet and even a song by Kate Bush. This book has many critics because of the presence of extreme cruelty, the difference in social class, and childhood abuse.

This is just an overview of the entire novel. If you want to read and enjoy the whole novel, then you have to read the book. So, without wasting any more words lets jump to the summary. Hope you like it!!!

The story took place in 1801 when Mr. Lockwood was trying to find peace, lived in the south of England. He met his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff who lived in a remote land in his own farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There Lockwood found strange things. He found Mr. Heathcliff to be a gentleman with a very poor and rather a very aggressive person, Joseph, an old servant with very ill-temper, a mistress in her mid-teens and a man looks like a family member yet dressed and spoke like a servant.

It was snowing outside, so Mr. Heathcliff agreed to let Mr. Lockwood spent a night with them. Everything was going well. After dinner when he entered his room, he saw a few graffiti and books. Later he found that it was left there by a former member of the family, Cathrine. That night when he went to sleep, he dreamt about Cathrine. It was not like some other regular dreams. What he dreamt was that the spirit of Cathrine was trying to enter his room through the window. He woke up in fear and screamed and was gasping for air. Mr. Heathcliff came down and he uncomfortably opened the window in the hope to let Cathrine enter through the window.

Mr. Haethcliff showed his room to Mr. Lockwood and he stayed in that room for that night.

The next morning, Heathcliff took Lockwood to Thrushcross Grange. After he visited Wuthering Heights, Mr. Lockwood fell ill and stayed there for a few days. He was also provided with a maidservant, Nelly Dean. Later Nelly told the whole story of both families of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

From here we will see the actual story and history of both the families. Mr. Lockwood wrote everything in his diary that Nelly told him. From there we get the story. Actually it is a story told to us by Mr. Lockwood. As we see that Lockwood has already become frightened so much that he becomes ill due to it. So, basically the story has already got spooky. Lets what happens next!!!

From here we will basically read Mr. Lockwood’s diary. Everything started about thirty years ago. Then the owner of Wuthering Heights was Mr. Earnshaw. He lived with his son Hindley, his daughter Cathrine and young Nelly Dean who was Hindley’s servant as well as at his age. On his visit to Liverpool, Mr. Earnshaw found a little homeless boy and felt pity for him. So, he took the boy and brought him to his home and named him Heathcliff. As the day passed, the bond between Mr. Earnshaw and Heathcliff grew stronger and stronger. This made Hindley very jealous of him. Cathrine and Heathcliff also became closer. They played together and started to spend time together.

When Mr. Earnshaw came to know about Hindley’s jealousy, he sent Hindley to study at university. After three years Mr. Earnshaw passed away. Now Hindley became the legal owner of Wuthering Heights. He returned to his home with his wife, Frances. He agreed to let Heathcliff stay in that house as a servant. He not only did that but he regularly misbehaved with him too.

After a few months of Hindley’s arrival, Heathcliff and Cathrine started to spy on the Lintons’ of Thrushcross Grange. Lintons’ were brother and sister, Edgar Linton and Isabella Linton. When they were caught they tried to flee but were caught. Cathrine was bitten by the guard dogs and was taken into house whereas Heathcliff was sent home. Lintons’ were known as gentlemen at that time. They were very influential and belonged to the elite society. While Cathrine was in the Lintons’ house, she was groomed as a girl and how to behave like one. So, when she came back to Wuthering Heights, almost all her behaviors had changed and became more girly. To Heathcliff, she was a completely new girl. She even laughed at Heathcliff because of his untidy clothing and stuff. Next day, when Heathcliff came to know that Lintons’ were coming to Wuthering Heights, with the help of Nelly’s advice he dressed at his best to impress Cathrine, but everything was ruined when Heathcliff and Edgar started arguing themselves and as a result of that Hindley locked Heathcliff in the attic. Out of anger and pain, he vowed to take revenge on everyone who was responsible to ruin his life.

The Realism period (late 1800s-early 1900s) was a shift in expression which turned to focus on the everyday, middle class life. Rejecting the trend of the Romantic period, Realism modernized the everyday classing between wealth, power, social class, and more. The Industrial Revolution was directly involved in the social and economic changes, distinguishing the working class from the wealthy. This led to a gap between the rich and the poor-the middle class-that many artists wanted to explore. Writers wanted their works to show the realistic details of suffering lives and create relatable content. They wanted to go against the social structure and resented the gaps of power in society. There was an expansion of education in the Realism period, which led to many more people learning how to read and easily acquiring the works of writers. This helped writers appeal to more of the masses. Going against the status quo was a bonded front between art and literature alike.

Period Analysis

There are many elements of Guy de Maupassant’s, “The Necklace” that represent the Realistic period and the themes of its time. One theme of this story, Reality vs. Illusion, directly reflects the Realism of society. Mme. Loisel lived a middle-class life, embarrassed to attend any events in which the wealthy outshined her. Maupassant’s character gives the illusion of wealthy appearances, while realistically living a plain life. The greed and materialism shed from Mathilde show how dire it was for her to have money and be a part of a better social class. This relates to the Realism period events of a structed social class based on power and wealth. The author gives realistic views of the story by not letting the audience understand why the characters want what they want, but instead just simply telling about them. “The Necklace” also shows the theme of suffering and sacrifice that many people in the realistic age had to make. M. Loisel was a simple clerk who gave up his saved money for his wife’s gown, his inheritance for her necklace, and 10 years of hard labor to repay his debt from them. He did so for his wife to have a spectacular night, which in turn led to suffering in their actual lives.

The Realistic period rejected Romanticism, which is reflected in “The Necklace” through Mme. Loisel. Her relationships with both her husband and her friend are not deeply explored, while it is instead shown that she puts herself before them. She speaks ill of her life to her husband when he makes a gesture for her happiness and she is not honest with her friend about losing the necklace. This also displays the irony present in the story. After so long of being un-honest, after the debts have been repaid and the Loisel’s lives have wretched, Mathilde finds out the necklace was a fake and it was all essentially for nothing. If she had been truthful in the first place, her life would not have continued farther away from her wants and desires. This also caused her beauty and essence to diminish to the point that her friend did not even recognize her. The end of the story is a great twist of events that is defined in one sentence alone. There is no explanation of what happens next or how the characters react. This ending displayed the realist trend of writing on how actions come with consequences, without detailing too much information on them.

Humanities Contribution

Guy de Maupassant was a popular French author who is considered to be a father of the modern short story. His life ranged from 1850-1893 and he had the given name Henri Ren Albert Guy de Maupassant. During his younger life, he fought in the Franco-Prussian war, where he witnessed great suffering and tragedy. This later inspired many of his short stories. After his time serving, his friend and mentor, Flaubert, led him to be a great author. He showed Maupassant the naturalistic writing style, which was the foundation for his career. He was very popular in newspapers and was always in demand to publish new stories. In his young adult years, Maupassant contracted syphilis. Without modern medication, this led to him having a mental illness and it showed in his stories. They became abnormal and darker than his previous works. He attempted suicide in 1892 but remained living in an asylum for 18 months before eventually passing. In his lifetime he wrote around 300 short stories and 6 novels. His stories were later compared to Stephen King novels and he was an inspiration for many famous authors such has O. Henry, W. Somerset Maugham, and more. His contribution to the short story is what made them what they are today.

“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl is a short story about the murder of police detective Patrick Maloney by his wife Mary. Driven to homicide after her husband’s unexpected announcement that he’s leaving her and their unborn child, Mary quickly regains her senses after fatally killing him with the leg of lamb. This short story made me think about of trust base on people and betrayal.

The main theme of this short story is deception. “She began to cry her heart out. It was easy. No acting necessary.” This quote shows Mary has begun her almost impeccable deception. I think this is really a shock to me, and it made me think about nowadays in China some older people being dishonest to others. I’m reminded of the time on the new says: “Good Chinese Young Man Been Blamed After Helping Fallen Elderly”, Elder people started using their age advantage to defraud young people who are willing to help, thus get a small benefit of compensation. Although the benefits make our lives more convenient, as we gain more self-profits, we gradually forgot the importance of trust. Nowadays, people in society are increasingly promoting third-party software to prevent scams, but they have lost the simplest communication between people. -Trust

Another important theme in this short story is Betrayal. “So, there it is. And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way. Of course, I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.” This quote shows Patrick has betrayal his wife Mary, and brings the story to the peak, when he tells her he’s leaving her, she doesn’t just feel betrayed; she feels stripped of her identity as a wife and a woman. We need to read this short story as a warning. This reminds me of the cause of the betrayal according to divorce. With less communication and not stable relationships, the relationships between couples have become much worse. Ten years ago, the divorce rate used to be none, but now with high technology used in our society, this is a luxury. Although we are still young we should do what we can to make a difference, and build awareness of these family and society issues.

Mrs. Loisel isn’t the brightest person and can be seen as selfish, which signifies her only thinking for and about herself. The title of the short-story is ‘The Necklace’ and written by Guy De Maupassant. To give a brief overview, the Loisels aren’t very wealthy, in fact they struggle financially. Mrs. Loisel day-dreamed about having riches they couldn’t afford, and when she was invited to a party, she wanted to be the most beautiful and the most radiant. She asked her best friend to borrow her paste, which is an artificial gem, and ended up misplacing it. There were many character traits that could determine Mrs. Loisel as a person such as snobby, impatient, ashamed, desperate, and whiney, but only a few lingered and rose above the rest and those were ungrateful, manipulative, and materialistic, and you will be provided evidence and an explanation as to why these traits define Mrs. Loisel.

To tackle the most distinguishable trait, Mrs. Loisel is seen as ungrateful by most due to numerous amount of reasons shown. Ungrateful means showing lack of appreciation for the actions of others. Paragraph three indicates, ‘She grieved over the shabbiness of her apartment,the worn-out appearance of the chairs, the hideousness of the draperies.’ To evaluate, Mrs. Loisel would be analytical to the surroundings she lived within. Inserting the word ‘grieve’, gives the impression to the reader that she is not satisfied with what she is provided. Another piece of evidence that stood out was surfaced in paragraph twenty-four. It states, ‘It’s embarrassing not to have a jewel or a gem. I’ll look like a pauper, which means poor, I’d almost rather not go to that party.’ This shows her being ungrateful on another level. Her husband had recently bought her a five-hundred francs dress. As if that hadn’t cost a little too much, she still begs Mr. Loisel for jewelry to go along with it. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to buy her jewelry due to having to remind her that she could borrow jewelry from her friend. To end things on that note, Mrs. Loisel showed numerous signs of being ungrateful which then leads to the next topic.

The second most transparent characteristic was Mrs. Loisel being simply materialistic. Materialistic means caring or showing interest in inanimate objects or things. To prove that she is materialistic, paragraph five gives an idea on why she is focused on inanimate items. It specifies, ‘She would dream of fashionable dinner parties, of gleaming silverware, of tapestries making the walls alive with characters out of history, and strange birds in a fairyland forest.’ To go into specifics, she shows interest in non-living artifacts. She doesn’t appreciate what or how she is living. She also doesn’t think about how other people may have it worse, when she hardly even has it that way. The second piece of concrete detail is in paragraph thirty-three and it portrays, ‘All at once she found a superb diamond necklace and her pulse beat faster with longing.’ This is enough to make it official that she is just that obsessed. Due to ‘her heart pulsating faster through her veins’, this gives the idea that she is really shallow when it comes to what she wants. To conclude, Mrs. Loisel being materialistic results in her being ignorant to what matters leading to the next discussion.

The third and final trait to label Mrs. Loisel would be manipulative. The definition of manipulative is skillfully being able to have control over people emotionally, or mentally. Mrs. Loisel illustrates signs of being manipulative in paragraph sixteen stating, ‘Mr. Loisel stopped talking, dazed to see his wife bursting out in tears.’ He then continued to say, ‘What’s the matter?’ In explanation, Mrs. Loisel is manipulating her partner to feel guilty for not buying her the dress she desired. Truth is, Mrs. Loisel is being unreasonable with him, but he doesn’t know when to speak his mind. In continuation, paragraph twenty-two exclaims, ‘I’ll give you four-hundred francs, but try to get a nice dress,’ which is said from Mr. Loisel. This is the moment after Mrs. Loisel gave her cry of plea, and shows that he was taken advantage of. Mrs. Loisel is obviously delighted with her outcome, but is still missing something else. In summarization, Mrs. Loisel being manipulative is given as indirect characterization.

To bring everything back together, materialistic, unappreciative, and manipulative defines who Mrs. Loisel is as a person, named ‘The Necklace’ and written by Guy De Maupassant. Her reason for being ungrateful was due to her feeling like she didn’t have enough, leading to her never being satisfied. Her not being thankful led to her being materialistic, which led to her being manipulative to gain what she desired the most.

In the book, “The Other Wes Moore”, the author elaborates how two men that are born into a similar position – broken and underrepresented backgrounds, share similar discriminations, exposure to violence, and have identical names. The difference among the men is how widely different their lives turn out to be by unraveling the decisions that each took by highlighting both luck and choices that shaped their overall life. Being African American and living in a broken environment, both men face major exposure to drugs, violence, and being marginalized for being a person of color. Based on these factors, the trajectory of the two individuals takes an unexpected outcome, resulting in one being successful while the other facing a life sentence in prison.

As the book progresses, the author Wes Moore highlights key moments at which he made responsible decisions, juxtaposing to Wes’s. For instance, when Moore was sent to military school, the assumption revolving that idea was a negative connotation as if it will be useless to him. Nevertheless, Moore ended up thriving in military school by embracing the philosophy of discipline and respect. Similarly, the other Wes could have taken an alternative decision in a moment that put him behind bars. It was seen when he steals his mother’s marijuana, and of course when he participates in the robbery that results in the murder of a policeman, thus forcing Wes’s life imprisonment. Behind the two events that both Men went through, depicts the actions each took and essentially taught the essence of choice. Although they both grew up around violence and drugs, the change of mentality was an obstacle that they faced and of course, is seen through the outcome. Other factors contributing to their choices were family. Wes’s family wasn’t traditional and gave a path of violence and poor choices because of the lack of guidance. His brother, Tony is so invested with the drug world and his sister being alcoholic, Wes became frustrated with the world of crime and decides to move pass it. However, he finds that it’s impossible and felt that there were no longer other options available to him. As for Moore, he adapted to his choices because of the action of his mother. With the aid of military school and change of mentality, his values changes and he come to understand the importance of discipline, education, and compassion.

The environment surrounding Wes and Moore represents an important sense of inclusion and exclusion. Both boys experience a sense of community throughout their lifetime. As Moore moves through life, he is inducted into a series of successes. First through military school by valuing discipline and then John Hopkins University by admiring education, but soon was hesitant about applying. Despite being encouraged to do so, he believes the university is “…full of kids who did not look or sound like me.” Eventually, Moore saw light and inspiration from an assistant director of admissions, similar in identity and proceeds to submit his application. As a result, he thrives on success. On the other hand, Wes does not remain in academics. When Wes experiences being a boyfriend and a father, he became incapable to sustain the relationship due to his lying and criminal activity. It is not until he is in prison to understand inclusion and finds way to an Islam community. Although his religious community supports him, it cannot undo the fact that Wes is permanently excluded from the outside world and cut off from his family. Both Wes and Moore remain excluded and marginalized within American society because of the color of their skin and being African American. Being in a predominantly black neighborhood, race and class is the primary attack, everyone is prone to being poor and excluded by the means of America.

In retrospect, the inequality, injustices, and discrimination are significant contributing factors that play a role in choice and luck upon Wes and Moore. The exposure of negativity is essential to affect those with vulnerability and is seen with both boys but because of their differences in family, the outcome is evident. In the events of drugs, crimes, discipline, and success, greatly influenced the trajectory of the author Wes Moore and “Wes”, resulting in life values, success, and despair. Overall, the book conveys these pivotal events to illustrate the struggles both boys encountered and how they choose to overcome them.