English Literature Essay Example for Free

English Literature Essay Hannam University Department: English Language and Literature. Degree: Masters of English Language Literature. Title: The Kite Runner: The novel presents the story of a country and people in turmoil. An abridgment of a THESIS Presented to Professor Kim Ilgu, the Faculty of the Department of English Language Literature of the Hannam University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of English Language Literature. By Uttam Mallick Student ID: 20114012 An brief overview of Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner—Stories Views on education: Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician. He is a citizen of the United States where he has lived since he was fifteen years old. Khaled Hosseini is the first Afghan-American writer to publish a work of fiction in English in the United States. The Kite Runner is Hosseini’s first novel, and his book has achieved a significant amount of success since its publication in 2003-now in its seventeenth printing with over 1. 4 million copies sold-and has repeatedly appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List over the last three years. Even though bookstores and libraries have been inundated with literature about Afghanistan and Iraq, none appear to have achieved the same amount of recognition or success as The Kite Runner. Since the nineteenth century, critics have called into question the literary merits of sentimental fiction for its seemingly unskilled rhetoric and inauthentic sentiment. Although the aesthetic purpose of sentimental literature has been repeatedly trivialized by literary critics, sentimental imagery, language and themes have been effectively utilized by various authors in the past to critique controversial social, historical and political practices of the times, such as slavery in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), and continue to be effectively utilized by contemporary authors, such as perceptions of Afghanistan and its people in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. To complete my final thesis, I will use books and reviews or published by scholarly journals as well as major and minor newspapers to analyze the popularity of the novel, including its literary strengths and weaknesses. I will try to use my own knowledge and criticism about the country and people in turmoil. Some scholarly articles on Afghanistan published shortly after 9/11 will be used to provide a social and historical context for Hosseini’s novel. Lastly, I will use both scholarly articles and books to explain the concept of â€Å"sentimentality† and â€Å"emotional narratives,† and their cultural importance, which will help me further articulate my critical approach to Hosseini’s text. Source of Data: For the research must be my own idea with some paper secondary data will be used.

Grapes Of Wrath Essay -- essays research papers

John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most influential books in American History, and is considered to be his best work by many. It tells the story of one family’s hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Joads were a hard-working family with a strong sense of togetherness and morals; they farmed their land and went about their business without bothering anyone. When the big drought came it forced them to sell the land they had lived on since before anyone can remember. Their oldest son, Tom, has been in jail the past four years and returns to find his childhood home abandoned. He learns his family has moved in with his uncle John and decides to travel a short distance to see them. He arrives only to learn they are packing up their belongings and moving to California, someplace where there is a promise of work and food. This sets the Joad family off on a long and arduous journey with one goal: to survive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this novel Steinbeck set forth with the intention of raising awareness to the general public of the difficulties and injustices these migrants faced during this period in time. It exposed the methods of the California farmer to use the migrants in order to lower their costs and make their profit margin higher. How they starved and cheated the poor, working man, in order to keep him desperate for food and too weak to protest. Above all, it showed everyone that these â€Å"damn Okies† were all simply men, women and children, no different from anyone else, just poorer. They were human beings with feelings and not the uncivilized beasts they were portrayed as at the time. Steinbeck portrays the â€Å"Okies† in a way no one before him had, and also managed to keep their story true to life. He did this by mainly using dialect, and wrote the â€Å"Okie† dialect just as it was spoken, breaking the lines of proper grammar and spelling. If he was con cerned with such things it would have ruined the personality of the characters. His unique writing style to capture the atmosphere of these people and the era is evident in this excerpt from his book:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  &nbs... ...nbsp;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Barror-6 any sort of symbolism to mask the meanings behind his words. He comes right out and states the events that have led up to this point and says there will be a revolt eventually, the question is simply when. They were hungry, and they were fierce. And they had hoped to find a home, and they found only hatred. Okies—the owners hated them because the owners knew they were soft and the Okies strong, that they were fed and the Okies hungry; and perhaps they had heard from their grandfathers how easy it is to steal land from a soft man if you are fierce and hungry and armed. The owners hated them. And in the towns, the storekeepers hated them because they had no money to spend. There is no shorter path to a storekeeper’s contempt, and all his admirations are exactly opposite. The town men, little bankers, hated the Okies because there was nothing to gain from them. They had nothing. And the laboring people hated the Okies because a hungry man must work, if he has to work, the wage payer automatically gives him less for his work; and then no one can get more. (318)

Arranged vs Love Marriages in India

Arrange Marriages vs. Love Marriages Survey by NDTV NDTV commissioned Ipsos, a leading market research agency, to conduct fieldwork for this opinion poll from a sample size of almost 30,000, covering as many as 125 out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the 18 big states. The poll was carried out in 125 constituencies spread over 18 states (these account for over 20% of the 543 Lok Sabha seats). Each Lok Sabha constituency was selected using a statistical formula based on voting patterns of 2009 Lok Sabha Elections.In each Lok Sabha constituency, two to three assembly segments were selected at random where approximately 100 interviews were conducted in homes. For the voting intention question, the respondents were given a mock ballot paper on which the symbols of the parties were set out. They were asked to mark their preference on the ballot paper and then place the ballot paper in a mock ballot box. Source: http://www. ndtv. com/article/india/ndtv-mid-term-poll-does-india-still-want-arr anged-marriages-260295 Survey by Shaadi. com In May, 2011, India’s largest Matrimonial website, â€Å"Shaadi. om†, published the results of a huge marriage based survey that they conducted with research agency IMRB. The Indian marriage survey was based on the opinions of around 150,000 users of the site in 300 Indian cities and towns. Site users, especially NRIs, from UK, US, Australia and Canada were also surveyed. 62% of the respondents were male, of these, over 50% were in the 26-35 age group. In the words of the website, the objective of this large survey was to â€Å"try and understand the psyche of an average marriage hopeful and the way matchmaking trends are changing and evolving†.Listed below are some of the key findings of the Indian marriage survey (â€Å"Shaadi Aaj Kal†). Note that since this is a survey of internet users, the respondents tend to be more tech savvy, better educated, and more urban centric than the average Indian. 1. A large nu mber of women (54%) prefer to stay in a â€Å"joint family† after marriage as against only â€Å"21%† who prefer to stay in a nuclear family. A joint family provides a support system for the married couple. Surprisingly, in a similar survey in 2004, only 40% of the women wanted to stay in a â€Å"joint family†. 2.Almost 50% of the respondents said that they would marry their partner even if they did not get along with their future in-laws. 3. 85% of the male respondents wanted their future wives to work after marriage. Since the respondents are mainly urban centric, this is not surprising; although a high figure of 85% is refreshing. 4. 69% of the women want their partner to be better educated than them, whereas only 10% of the men wanted their potential wives to be better educated than them. This does not mean the Indian male is entirely chauvinistic; 62% of the men would prefer their future wives to be as educated as them. 3% of women and 40% of men would pref er their future partner to be a postgraduate. 5. 34% of the women respondent did not mind marrying a partner who made less than them. The percentage for men was 94%. 6. 72% men prefer to marry a girl who is younger than them. 89% of women prefer to marry a man who is older than her. 7. Men (62%) prefer larger families as compared to women (38%). 70% of the women felt that raising a child is time consuming and 58% also thought that raising a child is a serious commitment. 8. Which celebrity would make the ideal father?Surprisingly, almost 40% of the respondents felt that Salman Khan, the die-hard bachelor, would make the ideal father. At second place is the other bachelor icon, Rahul Gandhi. 9. 47% married couples in India discussed their past relationship before marriage. This trend was more prevalent in East India. Bulk of these couples (66%) wanted to reveal their past relationships because they did not want it to affect their future 10. 49% of the men wanted a â€Å"fair complex ioned† bride. This is up from 41% in the 2004 survey.Women, on the other hand, are more accepting of dark skinned men, with 65% saying that the color of their husband’s skin is not important. 11. For young urban Indians caste is not as important as it used to be. 54% men and 46% of the women said caste was not an important parameter in their selection criteria. for them, finding a compatible partner is more important than finding a partner from the same caste. 12. 69% of women would prefer it if their partner worked for a private sector organization. 13. A large majority of women (90%) were willing to relocate to another country if their husband’s job required them o relocate. 14. Couples are become pragmatic about marriage. 70% of the women and 62% of the men were comfortable with the idea of pre-nuptial agreements. Census data for Indian Marriages: http://censusindia. gov. in/Census_Data_2001/Census_data_finder/C_Series/Age_at_marriage. htm Survey by ZEE NEWS T he survey of women in the age group of 20-30 carried out in various cities, including the four metros, by leading matrimony portal Bharatmatrimony, also revealed that 59% of the respondents consider parent's decision the most important priority in finalising marriage.Only 20% of the respondents felt that profession was the most important aspect in finalising their life partner while ten% said caste was the most important priority and 11% said family nuclear or joint family – was the most preferred. About 49% preferred arranged marriage while 33 per cent ‘arranged love marriage' and a meagre 18% of the respondents favoured ‘love' marriage. The survey titled â€Å"Woman and Marriage† was conducted by ahead of the Women's Day and 1,058 respondents were covered in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Madurai, Mysore, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore and Jaipur, a release said here today.On the right age for a woman to get married, about 71 pe r cent said 21-24 was the ideal age for marriage. Interestingly, the survey said that about 93% of women were interested to study or work after marriage. The survey also said that about 55% women prefer to search life partners through contacts via friends and relatives. Source: http://mm. bharatmatrimony. com/featured-story/527-bharatmatrimony-exclusive-parents-day-survey Survey by Bharat Matrinomy Young Indians believe their parents wouldn’t mind taking a backseat when it comes to their marriage decisions! 66% of Indian parents believe that their children will not tie the knot with a partner not ‘blessed' by them.  ·83% believe that online matrimony gives them more choices and selection in partner search.  ·Amitabh Bachchan & Jaya Bachchan were the most famous Bollywood couple in India, followed by Kajol & Ajay Devgan. The winds of change are indeed sweeping the institution of matrimony in India. Parents as well as unmarried men and women are being influenced by th ese changes, a comprehensive Parents Day online survey involving more than 15400 members of BharatMatrimony has revealed.The findings of the survey conducted by BharatMatrimony to commemorate Parents Day on July 24th this year and released to the media today offered interesting insights, trends and rare nuggets of information about how the youth regard marriages and the role of parents with respect to important marital decisions. When asked whether the views of Indian parents are changing today, 67% of the unmarried respondents said yes and only 13% disagreed while the remaining said neither yes nor no. Yet another change in attitudes was the growing trust in online matrimony.Nearly 83% believed that online matrimony gave them more choices and selection when it came to partner search. Nearly 67% also believed that online matrimony empowered women to make their own choices in marriages. In fact, 47% also felt that marriages arranged through matrimony websites had the same success rat e as traditional arranged marriages. Mr Murugavel Janakiraman, Founder-CEO, BharatMatrimony, commented: â€Å"While the surveys have revealed useful nuggets of information and insights into marriages and its changing facets, people in India continue to see marriage as a sacred bonding where parents have a very special role to play.It is best performed with the blessings of parents, an overwhelming majority feel. However, the survey also proved that more and more unmarried people along with their parents believed in the convenience and wide selection of partners provided by Online matrimony. The new ways of thinking have not diluted the traditional respect and sanctity accorded to marriages in general. † Confirming the special bonding Indians have with their parents, an overwhelming 90% of the unmarried who took part in the survey believed in getting married with the blessings of their parents.About 57% also said that they would not go ahead and marry a person of their choice against the wishes of their parents. 20% however said that they would go ahead despite parental opposition. Nearly 35% said that their parents would be ok with any choice they made; 40% said that their parents would be ok if it was within their religion; only 17 % said that their parents would insist on finding a match for them. Interestingly, 59% thought that a marriage arranged by the parents was better because of their experience.Nearly 76% of the parents who took part in the survey believed that their children would get married only with their blessings. 66% of the parents felt that marriages arranged by them would prove more successful as they had more experience! Again, a similar percentage of parents believed that their children would not disregard their advice and tie the knot with someone they didn't approve of. About 16% of the parents believed that they wouldn't be able to influence marriage decisions! When asked, ‘what do you think are your views on marriage? 20% o f the parents said that they would be ok with any choice made by their children; 23 per cent were also ok with the idea if the partner belonged to the same religion. However 23% insisted that important decisions like this were better left to them. 33% preferred to play a supporting role only, whatever be the decision. At the same time, 76% of the parents who took part in the survey believed that in general the views of Indian parents on marriages of their children were changing. Source: http://mm. bharatmatrimony. com/featured-story/527-bharatmatrimony-exclusive-parents-day-survey

The Great Depression - 800 Words

The Great Depression is remembered as one of the all time lows for economic and financial growth in American history. Companies were unprepared for the economic turmoil that erupted on October 29, 1929 (Buronio, 2012). In order to never repeat the same economic turmoil in the 20th century, companies must constantly be aware of the fault lines that could lead to failure. In some cases, companies must reinvent themselves if they want to survive over a long period of time (Bertolini, Duncan, Waldeck, 2015). An article called â€Å", Knowing When To Reinvent,† was composed by three company leaders, one being a CEO, to inform other company leaders about potential fault lines that have caused many companies to have downfalls. However, to prevent economic downfalls, the authors compiled a list of the downfalls and how to avoid them. Many companies have taken what seemed to be drastic measures to be successful in a changing marketplace. The thesis outlines the five fault lines within the article which are: customer needs, performance metrics, industry position, business model, and talent and capabilities (Bertolini et al., 2015). Several key points are presented in the article for how companies can be successful. The first, is that companies must be innovative and be willing â€Å"to change their core products or business models† (Bertolini et al., 2015, p. 90) to keep up with the change in the marketplace. This may require that they rebrand their product, or change their businessShow MoreRelatedThe Depression Of The Great Depression1223 Words   |  5 Pagesfar-reaching consequences as the Great Depression. This experience was the most extended and severe depression of the Western world. It was an economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until 1939. A large amount of America’s labor force lost their jobs and suffered during this crisis. 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You would think the United States would have learned from their mistakes but it seems we are going down the same road once again without even taking a step back and realizing it. When people talk about the Great Depression not a single person will have anything good to say about it. It caused families a great deal of pain that they will never forget. WithRead MoreThe Great Depression1368 Words   |  6 PagesAfter WW1 the Great Depression had a very late impact on the major film companies in France, when it did, it unfortunately caused several film studios to go bankrupt, then in the late 1920’s to 1930’s many small film companies and groups emerged giving birth to the tendency called poetic realism. Because the large companies who made films with a focus on making money were gone the filmmakers and artists were able to concern themselves with the art of film, they often took poetic innovations thatRead MoreThe Great Depression1133 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,† is a famous quote once said during the Great Depression by Franklin D. Roosevelt. After one world war, great financial fallout, and another world war to follow, the twentieth century was already shaping out to be a handful. When the Great Depression was coming to an end and the economy was trying to turn around, jobs started opening up and a new wave of imm igrants came into New York, the Puerto Ricans. For some the American dream was to come to