Sunday, December 29, 2019

Jonathan Safran Foer Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Free Essay Example, 750 words

Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close What did the various photographs in the book mean? In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer’s nine-year-old protagonist Oskar Schells father is killed on 9/11. The book uses the concept of visual writing, using images, typesetting, even empty pages to give it a graphic dimension way beyond that of traditional prose narrative. In normal fictional works, only written words will provide the narrative and movement to a work with only minimal illustrations. However, in this book images are ‘scattered’ throughout and it provides the plot and crux of the story. Images are utilized as a literary technique, connecting to perspectives, emotions, themes and ideas portrayed on earlier pages. 2. Pictures of doorknobs: Is there a pattern? On a basic level a doorknob on a door signifies opportunity, so that opening that door will lead to life full of opportunities to tap. Here the symbolism may be tied to the mysterious key Oskar has. A series of phone messages from Oskar’s father on that fateful morning on 9/11 is the thread that weaves the novel together temporally. We will write a custom essay sample on Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Foer not only spaces out the disclosures of the calls, but also reflects this unveiling in his positioning of visuals, postponing both the reader’s epiphany as well as gratification. The first image – a door, a glass doorknob and a lock below it – is a close up so extreme that it could be seen as a graphic pun of the title. Foer appears to be implying that certain patterns make sense only when viewed repeatedly over time. 3. The falling man in the book? The flip-book at the end? One disquieting, but eventually insightful method Foer uses is to fracture the limits of the frame. He embeds visual devices in the text inventively, recreates an essentially cinematic or ‘moving’ experience that imitates movement with the backward flip book. There are several time-lapse images of a ‘jumper’ leaping to his death on 9/11. Oskar believes the ‘falling man’ may have been his father, who might have jumped from North Tower of the World Trade Center towers. The final fifteen pages of the novel consist of a collection of images of the falling man backwards. In Oskar words, "... I found the pictures of the falling body. I ripped the pages out of the book. I reversed the order†¦ When I flipped through them, it looked like the man was floating up through the sky. " (Foer 325). As the final pages give a flip book kind of feel in the backward direction, the man appears to float in the sky, without failing. This provides a symbolic mean ing related to Oskar father’s death. That is, the man, as he moves backwards through the air is symbolic of Oskar’s father – back to the world in its pre-9/11 order - this is obviously Oskar’s understandable desire – but an impossible one. 4. The writing samples from the pen store? While out looking for clues to the origin of the key, Oskar comes across a test pad in an art supplies store. A few of the sheets have ‘Thomas Schell’ written on them, the family name of Oskar’s family and thus it also implies the name of both Oskar’s father and grandfather. This scribbling of that particular name pushes Oskar to interpret that both his father and grandfather or either of them could have there before in their times. The pad’s sheets covered with scribbles in different handwriting and bright inks are interspersed in the pages of the novel. Foer uses this device to force us to stop and back away from the prose for a while and later reenter the text with heightened awareness and altered perspective. 5. The cover illustration of the book of the hand with writing on it? In a fundamental way the hand signifies karma and the fate that is ostensibly written on it. That is, people always believe that one writes his/hers own fate with hands only. In addition, palmistry also focuses on how certain lines in the hand can decide the fate of the individuals. Thus, the cover illustration shows how hand and people’s lives or fate are correlated. Oskar’s grandfather, who loses his ability to speak after losing loved ones during WW2, also put forward this significance and correlation. In his words, "I went to a tattoo parlor and had YES written onto the palm of my left hand, and NO onto my right palm†¦ I signify "book" by peeling open my hands, every book, for me, is the balance of YES and NO†¦" (Foer 17). So, at a deeper level, the cover art of this novel is a reference to the act of writing about life by both Foer as well as his characters. Works Cited Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. New York. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2006.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

The Conflict Between Syrian Boys And Syrian Girls

As years pass the conflict in Syria continues to grow, as do the attacks on civilian populated areas . One of the latest attacks occurred on November 7th, 2014 hitting a school (Al Hayat Primary School). that resulted in the deaths of 11 children and injuring several other children. . It is clear that this brutal attack was executed in order to end lives of children. The Syrian Government needs to take steps in separating children from the conflict that is occurring. It is reported that Syria has over 258,200 slaves. Most of these slaves are children who are forced to take part in armed conflict. Syrian boys are forced in fighting while Syrian girls are being sold as child brides and forced into marriages .Children are being forced in adult situations every day, Manal a 16-year-old girl stated, â€Å"My father said I have to marry. I felt he was no longer able to support me† . Under international law children have the right to go to school and receive an education, however children in Syria are forced to work in order to support their families. Children do not have access to food, water and hospitals. Khaled was born in a refugee camp in Damascus, when Khaled was 14-months old he was found by humanitarian doctors who claimed that Khaled looked as if he was 5 months old. Khaled has been able to make a speedy recovery but there are many children like Khaled that don’t have access to food and hospitals. Since the conflict has started about 60% of hospitals in Syria are noShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On The Syrian Civil War1708 Words   |  7 Pages2011, and it is now an ongoing civil war between the Syrian regime and Syrian rebels. All the civilians want is democracy in Syria, but the president, Bashar Al-Assad, does not want the government that way. 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Friday, December 13, 2019

Assignment Week 6 Sleep Deprivation, Disorders, and Drugs Free Essays

Any of us if not more than some have experienced some difficulty sleeping. This can happen because of a number of things: We worry about some sort of troubling thing to come or one that has passed, or there is the all too famous insomnia, which gets the best of us from time to time. There are many times in my life that I have had trouble sleeping, whether it was from one of my three children being sick, my husband being sick, me being sick, or my mind just running from here to there which happens quite frequently. We will write a custom essay sample on Assignment Week 6: Sleep Deprivation, Disorders, and Drugs or any similar topic only for you Order Now The last time I recall that I had not gotten enough sleep would have been when my middle child had to have oral surgery. I don’t really know if it was because she was going under and she hadn’t been before, if it was the fact that my little girl was going to have surgery for the first time. I tried for several hours to fall asleep, but my mind would not stay still. I finally decided to get up and try to doze off to the television, after that did not work I made some coffee and worked on my assignment. When it was time to get up my husband and my little girl I was exhausted, as if I was at work all day. I drove us to where we needed to go with no problem, but as we sat in the waiting room I dozed off for a few hours. As I woke it felt as if I had not slept as all, I was still exhausted. After the surgery was over and the care plan for her was set we left for home. I had got a huge cup of coffee from a convenience store, as I drank it I felt more tired. I slept for about 30 minutes on the way home, and when I got there I felt so awake. However, as I went in and settled down for a little bit, I felt more tired than I ever had. Unfortunately though I needed to take care of my other two children, which was a very hard task at hand, even with the help of their father. I was finally able to get to sleep that night however it was a rough start to the next day. When I am unable to get to sleep I tend to sleep more than normal, and as I wake I am dragging all day and feel as I need more sleep. As I read chapter 14 Sleep, Dreaming, and Circadian Rhythms, I am better understanding of why my body reacts the way it does if I get too much sleep or not enough sleep. When reading about the recuperation theories of sleep it made a lot of sense to me. I believe it is reasonable that we need to sleep in order for our bodies to revitalize its self, and that at some point if we were to develop a total sleep deprivation it could result in one’s death. We do know that we are in need of some sleep, however, we are still uncertain about how much sleep we much have. It is also know that many years ago people slept much more and today a person usually sleeps anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep. According to the circadian theories of sleep, we possess an internal timing mechanism, called a circadian clock. I fully support the belief that we are programmed or have developed a habit of sleeping at night. I believe that we choose to rest and relax not only for our health, but also because we like it so much. I believe that we experience Microsleep from time to time as well. Mucrosleeps are short periods of sleep when we shut our eyes for a few seconds either while sitting or standing. I remember while I was working I had stayed up all night, when I went to work I was completely exhausted. I had to get something out of the walk in cooler, since it was a hot day out I sat on a crate and I dozed off for just a second, and ended up jerking awake. We do not know exactly how much sleep a human should sleep and exactly why it is necessary to need sleep. There are many types of sleep disorders, one in particular would be insomnia. There is insomnia that involves disorders of getting to sleep and staying asleep and hypersomnia, which includes disorders of sleeping too much. Causes that can influence insomnia are, for example, if a person is experiencing physical pain. This could influence a person when falling asleep or staying asleep. There are drugs (hypnotics) that can help a person to fall and stay asleep but they have negative effects. Prescribing benzodiazepines, like valium, have side effects as a person can develop a tolerance and might have to increase the dose of that specific drug. In addition, they are also addictive. Another insomnia disorder is called sleep apnea. A person with this disorder stops breathing during sleep, which makes him or her wake up and then go right away to sleep. This disorder is very common in older or overweight people. There is also nocturnal myoclonus (a body twitches and keeps a person awake) and restless legs syndrome. In hypersomnia, narcolepsy is the most well-known disorder. A person with this disorder complains about daytime sleepiness and falls asleep almost anywhere. Another symptom of narcolepsy is cataplexy, in which a person can lose muscle tone while being awake. This can make a person sit down suddenly or in the extreme, cause a person to drop down to the ground. Then there is sleep paralysis (unable to move when going to sleep or awakening) and hypnagogic hallucinations (dreaming while being awake). There are drugs such as stimulants and tricyclic antidepressants that might help; however, they are very addictive and can have side effects like not wanting to eat. There is also the hormone melatonin, a natural hormone produced in the brain, which is also manufactured commercially and is associated with sleeping, but the studies are still inconsistent and debatable. (Pinel, 2011) As we know we need some sort of sleep to function normally or on a normal basis, without it we could face some pretty severe consequences. If there are problems they make medication that can help with those problems, which will allow us to sleep. How to cite Assignment Week 6: Sleep Deprivation, Disorders, and Drugs, Essay examples