Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road Essay Example for Free
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road Essay Life can be cruel. In most cases, it squeezes the hell out of us. Nevertheless, the challenge is to come out unscathed. But do we always achieve this? And if so, what do we get out of every excruciating pain we have to endure?            The road to recovery has so many twists and turns. It is a test of strength but more so of faith. It is about believing in something we do not even see. The kind of person we become out of life’s most ultimate test defines who we are.            How many of us could actually say that living life is a breeze? Who have not known pain? Who can claim that life was pure pleasure? Who has never cried a tear?            All of us have been tested by time at one time or the other. We have been bitten by its pangs a couple of times over. We have been bloodied at countless instances. We have cried a pail full of tears.            Yet, we continue to breathe. The sun sets and rises every single day of our lives. We battle it out today for tomorrow has a challenge of its own. We have to gain as much strength as we have lost or if possible, much greater. This is all because pain will not die at the end of day. Most probably, it will wake up the same morning we open our eyes from sleep. Throughout the course of our life’s struggle we do not usually travel alone. Someone keeps us company. Even just for a while, we journey life’s path with a companion. It makes the burden a lot easier and even more meaningful. We are reminded that life after all is about building relationships that sees us through the most trying of times. Life gives us people to guide and accompany us as we thread down the road. Sometimes they live long enough to witness our feat. But usually they do not. Nevertheless, they serve their purpose. They provide comfort whenever we are afraid. They wipe our tears dry and lull us to sleep to regain lost strength. They give us hope in the most miserable of circumstances. They teach us to see another day as a chance to turn things around.            When every one else have left, who do we turn to? When the material wealth we have is none, how can we move on? When fate turns against us, what is the chance for survival? When it seems to be the world versus one man, is success hiding beneath the clouds of doubt? Whenever life robs us of our possessions, may we find comfort in knowing that we have not lost it all. Our family will remain to be the wealth exclusively our own. Neither fate nor circumstance can take it away from us. It is something ours, and ours alone.            A father’s love can be the only thing that can make us possibly walk another mile. It could ease the pain in our hearts knowing that someone is guiding us through. Whenever doubt seems to restrict every movement we make, let us be reminded that our father’s strength runs through our veins.            The story about a father and a son is not uncommon for many of us. Universal as a literary theme is its message. It transcends age, culture, race and tradition. It speaks a language known by all. It is something that lives and outlives generations and beyond.            A father and son’s story is about strength. It is about keeping tears from falling even if you just wanted to succumb and cry. It is about learning to be a man as fate continues to challenge his ability to remain brave and undefeated. Nothing can be more painful than seeing death happen right through our very eyes. Nothing can be more frightening than the thought that the next victim could possibly be me. Nothing can be more frustrating than realizing that tomorrow will just be like any other day of violence and death. Nothing can be much harder than believing that things happen for a reason.            How can we possibly live when life on earth seems to be empty, both literally and figuratively? We all know that it would not always be a bed of roses. But why does it seem to be usually a bed of thorns? How much pain can a man endure? What is the real essence of suffering?            Cormac McCarthy’s novel entitled The Road, is dedicated to his son, John Francis McCarthy. The novel a finalist of the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and a recipient of both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Pulitzer Price for fiction unfolds the journey of a man and a boy across a post – apocalyptic panorama. The background signifies what was left after a great cataclysm made existence on this earth almost unheard of (McCarthy, 2006). Whoever said that life must go on may not know of a lot about surviving death. Whenever we witness death, it feels like a part of us has also stopped breathing. It leaves us numb and unaware that the world around us continues to run its course. Life must go on indeed. This statement must be true after all. No matter how hard and how unimaginable it may seem we are all compelled to do it just the same. We cannot pause for a moment and recollect our lost selves before anything else. Time passes by and once lost, it can never be regained. Sometimes, we just got to keep on moving no matter what. Move on and go on and trust that life may lead us to rest right when we need it the most. Death should remind us that life is lived just once. We may not be able to control what lies on the bend of the road, but we still have to thread it, nevertheless. Death reminds us that we have to give meaning to our existence. This is the challenge we all have to face. In the dark tunnel of death, life is the light at the end of it. It may be seen as a symbol of a cycle. Every end can be the start of something new. For every chapter of life that has been told precedes another story yet to unfold. This is but the cycle of life. It is a never ending story about life and death. More importantly, it is a challenge of living a life of worth to make death as important. For death could mean something only if the life lost left a void. There may be times when giving up is all too tempting. Enduring the most painful events of life is really too exhausting. These are the moments when we beg of death. These are the times when life appears to be worthless. We are sometimes too consumed by pain that we seem to believe that life is hell on earth. Life does not come without pain.  Every once in a while or sometimes a little too often pain is thrown on our way. Whenever it does, it reminds us that we are very much alive. It makes us feel so human. It makes things so real. The sweetness of pain lies on our ability to bear its bitterness. Even so, life may not really be all about pain and suffering. We can surely get some sweetness from it when we squeeze it dry. There is some kind of balance in the world we live in. Goodness surely lies on some corner. It may take time and a lot of effort in between, but it is there as it has always been. The most challenging of all circumstances teaches a lesson or two. Things happen not to make man resolve into thinking that life is a crazy game of pessimism. While there is ruthlessness, there is goodness. Goodness comes in the most unexpected of packages. It comes during the most unanticipated of times. It comes when we have almost given up. It comes at just the right moment to remind us that it was worth it to hold on. Holding on is oftentimes the only thing left to do. It may not be the most logical but it could possibly be the most practical. Some people come into our lives and quietly go but they leave us a message that speaks so clear and sound. It is from strangers that we gain the wisdom we would not have otherwise known. And this could be the beauty of life. That after all the pain, we may be able to smile again. Just when we thought that we can never know life to be kind, someone teaches us the value of optimism. When gravity seems to pull us down while trying to hold on with all our might, a helping hand extends for the taking. Just when we get so near the end of our rope, let us find comfort that someone is at the other end to take over.   They pull us through when we might have lost all the strength that is left. They are once a stranger we crossed paths with. But before the road takes us to yet another bend, each other are no more strangers. For that walk we shared has left some of the most important lessons we can never forget. Life is hard but we are tougher. It can take away everything but we can always leave some bit of hope deep inside our hearts. We may not have anymore tears left to cry. We may be left with broken bones and battered ego. But if we continue to struggle along the road and combat every imaginable obstacle there is, we can still be hailed victors of the finest kind. May we not lose hope on the promise of yet another sunrise no matter how painful life has made known itself to man. Life takes on a whole new meaning when it is lived not for thy self. A life lived in this way is noble in all the ways that matter. References BBC.co.uk. (2007, April 17). Novelist McCarthy wins Pulitzer. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6563291.stm Chabon, M. The New York Review of Books. (2007, February 15). After the Apocalypse. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19856. Conlon, M. Reuters. (2007, June 5). Writer Cormac McCarthy confides in Oprah Winfrey. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0526436120070605?pageNumber=1. Empire. (2007, April 2). John Hillcoat Hits The Road An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=20573. Guardian.co.uk. (2007, October 30). Civilisation ends with a shutdown of human concern. Are we there already? Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2201594,00.html. Jones, M. (2006). On the Lost Highway. Newsweek. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://services.newsweek.com//search.aspx?offset=0pageSize=10sortField=pu bdatetimesortDirection=descendingmode=summaryq=on+the+lost+highway site-search-submit.x=33site-search-submit.y=7 Keller, J. (2007). Oprah’s selection a real shocker; Winfrey, McCarthy strange bookfellows. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/1246151131.html?dids=12461 51131:1246151131FMT=ABSFMTS=ABS:FTtype=currentdate=Mar+29 %2C+2007author=Julia+Kellerpub=Chicago+Tribuneedition=startpage=1 desc=Oprah%27s+selection+a+real+shocker+. Kennedy, W. (2001). Left Behind. The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/books/review/Kennedy.t.html?ex=1189396800en=6d113b5a5cbaf19bei=5070 McCarthy, C. (2006). The Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. National Book Critics Circle. (2006). NBCC Awards Finalists. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=finalists
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Comparing the Mothers in The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun Es
Comparing the Mothers in The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun      The plays, The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun, deal with the love, honor, and respect of family. In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda, the caring but overbearing and over protective mother, wants to be taken care of, but in A Raisin in the Sun, Mama, as she is known, is the overseer of the family. The prospective of the plays identify that we have family members, like Amanda, as overprotective, or like Mama, as overseers. I am going to give a contrast of the mothers in the plays.      In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, we embark on the task of seeing a family living in the post WWII era. The mother is Amanda, living in her own world and wanting only the best for her son, Tom. Tom, a dreamer, tired of Amanda’s overbearing and constant pursuit of him taking care of the family, wants to pursue his own goals of becoming a poet. He is constantly criticized and bombarded by his mother for being unsuccessful. This drives him to drinking and lying about his whereabouts, and eventually at the end of the play, he ends up leaving. An example of Amanda and Tom’s quarrel I when he quotes, â€Å"I haven’t enjoyed one bit of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it. It’s you that makes me rush through meals with your hawklike attention to every bit I take.†(302) Laura, on the other hand, is shy and out of touch with reality because of a slight disability, in which she is comfort...
Monday, January 13, 2020
Family Vacations to Disneyland
After packing four adults and one child into a small car and traveling for two days we finally reached our destination. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the front entrance of Disneyland; finally my childhood dream had come true. I was overjoyed with emotions that I was able to not only fulfill a dream of my own, but provide a vacation for my kid that he would never forget. After getting through the front gates it seems like your day flies by without you even noticing.There’s so much to do and so little time in a day to get through all the exciting rides. I was just as sad as my kid when we had to leave the park when closing hours came. With our stuffed animals, Mickey ears, and cotton candy in hand we left the park glad that we had one more day to come back to enjoy the fun. Many years ago a vacation such as this might not have been as feasible as it is now for the average American family. Theme parks including Disneyland have for a long time served as a cultural symbol f or our country that thrives off being entertained.Families need places where they can go that everyone can have a good time and not have to worry about work or school. With as many resources available now, there has become more opportunities for families to provide vacations to theme parks such as Disneyland. The term theme park didn’t catch on until the beginning of Disneyland. Before then places like Coney Island were where families could go to get cheap thrills. Disneyland may not have been the first theme park but it certainly brought new ideas that no one had done before.The combination of development of audio-animatronics, themed sections of the park, shopping and food made for a place with mass appeal. Having been famous in film certainly helped in the popularity of the park as well. The first place that a lot of people might think about for a family vacation is Disneyland. Besides Disneyland being a fun place for a vacation, it has also been seen as an American staple for a dream family vacation. It’s a place specially made for people of all ages to truly enjoy themselves.Going on a family vacation not only can be fun and relaxing but provide for time to build and strengthen bonds, create everlasting memories, and create chances to learn new things. Even in times where money can be tight, by researching your possibilities and providing ample time for planning, vacations don't always end up breaking the bank. Bigger family vacations, such as Disneyland, need ample time to save up money for and can't just be planned over a couple of weeks. With all the resources that we have now compared to what there used to be, it helps for planning.There are all kinds of travel websites that have packaged deals for hotels, flights, and rental cars. Along with added packages for trips like Disneyland that provide park tickets and discounts. It seems like in today's busy world that family time isn't held as important as it once was and can be easily pushed aside. More and more parents have to work longer hours or weekends to make ends meet. Also the rate of single parents has increased dramatically over the last couple decades, which can cause a struggle for having quality time together.Even though my family and I all have hectic schedules we have always found spending time together to be extremely important. Whether that be playing board games, going on walks, or even reading a book. It not only keeps us close but also helps instill good values for our kids to pass down. This is one of the reasons why my husband and I wanted to take a vacation to Disneyland. We wanted to provide a vacation that would give us time to not have to worry about schedules or homework and be able to just relax and have fun.Another reason why I hold strong values on family time is because I didn't come from a family that had any. I've seen how not spending time can impact you as a kid on up into adulthood. American families now spend more time apart from ea ch other than together. This causes families to grow apart; parents have a hard time relating to their own kids and even struggle to know how to talk to them. Though coming from a family that did struggle so much with connecting has made me really cherish every moment that I spend with my own family.Disneyland has been a symbol of American culture for over 50 years and will continue to be for years to come. Being a country that loves our entertainment, theme parks will continue to trend in popularity. With better technology over the years family vacations to places such as Disneyland have become easier for families to access. Hopefully over time more and more families will understand the importance of spending time together and going on vacations. Making everlasting memories together is something that can never be taken away and will hopefully be passed on for generations to come.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Labor Relations - Union Management - 805 Words
Weekly Written Assignment, Week 2, Chapters 4, 5 and 6 Union and Management: Key Participants in the Labor Relations Process Why and How Unions are Organized Negotiating the Labor Agreement October 30, 2014 Case 5-3, Did the Company Violate....?, p. 232; and Case 5-5, Bulletin Board Use, p. 236. Answer the questions at the end of each case in typewritten format, 3 - 5 pages. 1. Was this matter within the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board? The statements made by the employer appear to coincide with an unlawful promise of benefits, and therefore, are unacceptable in relation to the act. The concept of â€Å"positive coercion†is addressed in the case study, and these actions directly influence the manner†¦show more content†¦An employer may not interfere with its employee’s ability to communicate union messages or discriminate between union communications and non-union communications. Barry Marcks violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by barring union employees from using the employer’s e-mail system for union business. Case 5-5, Bulletin Board Use p. 236 1. Is an employer required to have bulletin boards at the workplace? No, I do not believe an employer is required to have a bulletin board. My company does not have a bulletin board; with the use of technology such as email and intranet websites, a traditional bulletin board is not needed. 2. If an Employer did not provide bulletin boards at the workplace, would employees have a right to provide and mount their own bulletin boards? I do not think an employee would have the right to bring in a bulletin board. I think if they want a bulletin board they should discuss it with their supervisor and if agreed, let the company provide it. If the employee brings in the board, they may feel like they can dictate what is posted and it may not be work appropriate. It could cause conflict if other employees want to post something on the board. Items posted could violate a non-solicitation policy and other workplace rules. To avoid this situation, employees should not be allowed to bring in their own bulletin board. 3. If there are company-provided bulletin boards at the workplace, does the Employer have a right to restrict the purpose orShow MoreRelatedLabor Relations Paper1115 Words  | 5 PagesA union is an organization of workers who join together in order to have a voice in improving their jobs and the quality of work within the organization. In many occasions, unions help employees of an organization negotiate pay, benefits, flexible hours and other work conditions that may arise. Unions have a role because some degree of conflict is inevitable between workers and management (Noe, 2003). 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