Usage of Magic and Supernatural Elements in Childrens Literature Research Paper

Usage of Magic and Supernatural Elements in Childrens Literature - Research Paper Example Women began to slowly make their voices heard as an oppressed gender and philosophers were beginning to gain a greater understanding of the workings of the human mind. The child, often considered either a sinful and wild creature or a miniature adult, was beginning to be recognized as something still developing. There was a â€Å"veritable explosion of information about this period of physiological and cognitive development in human beings† and literature became â€Å"a central vehicle for expressing ideas about the self and its history† (Steedman 5). Although perhaps initially introduced as a means of breaking with the strict moralistic attitudes of the past, the use of magic and the world of the supernatural proved effective in teaching children in a way they could understand. Breaking from the ‘normal’ world with the introduction of the supernatural or the magical realm makes it possible for authors to personify various behaviors, values and character traits and thus give children more accessible avenues to complex concepts in keeping with their varying levels of understanding. Cognitive ability begins with birth, but improves upon skills acquired during the preschool years to apply to things outside of the self. There are four main categories of skills developed during this period (Santrock 1997). The first of these are self help skills in which the child learns to take care of their everyday needs such as dressing themselves. They also learn social help skills in which they begin to perceive the importance of helping others through activities such as household chores and demonstrating their ability to think outside of themselves. School skills are introduced in which the child learns the academic tools necessary for success in that arena, particularly in developing the analytical skills necessary for logic and mathematics. The final main category is play skills, in which the child

Whats at Stake in The Graduate :: Movie Film comparison compare contrast

What's at Stake in The Graduate    Every time somebody rents a video or watches a movie on television there is always that little blurb right before they begin viewing about the picture being formatted for the screen. Usually, it is ignored or merely taken as a cue that the film is about to start. That little forewarning actually holds a lot of significance, for when one views a movie in its original, wide screen version, a whole new world opens up. When a movie is altered from its initial state, and cropped in the editing room for home viewing, an overwhelming amount of the film is unsuspectingly missed. This has become extremely obvious when viewing any movie, and in The Graduate a lot of innovative things are adjusted and lost. There are various shots edited, cut off, and many dynamic camera techniques lose their effect when The Graduate is transformed from the intended wide screen version to the formatted television edition. Edits are a very apparent change in The Graduate when one witnesses the wide screen version compared to the cropped format. For example, in one of the beginning scenes, when Mrs. Robinson is asking Ben for a ride home, she casually tosses his keys into the fish tank behind him. In the letter boxed edition, the viewer is able to see her deliberately throw the keys over Ben's shoulder and into the fish tank in one single shot, thereby watching Ben actually follow the arc of the keys' path, and their decent into the water. In the formatted version there is an edit, splitting the two characters into different shots. All the viewer sees is a medium shot of Mrs. Robinson throwing the key, then an immediate medium shot of Ben turning around and then all of a sudden the keys are floating in the tank. The viewer does not see the obvious attempt of the throw, the actual flight of the keys, nor Ben's reaction to it, therefore missing the important effect that reveals Mrs. Robinson's immediate c ontrol over Ben. Another example is in the scene at the Robinson's house, immediately following Mrs. Robinson's seduction as Ben is talking with Mr. Robinson. The two of them are talking in the foreground, when Mrs. Robinson is finally seen descending the stairs. In wide screen, Mrs. Robinson is shot walking in the distance right between Ben and Mr.

Hume vs Kant: Causality

Hume s ultimate goal in his philosophic endeavors was to undermine abstruse Philosophy. By focusing on the aspect of reason, Hume shows there are limitations to philosophy. Since he did not know the limits, he proposed to use reason to the best of his ability, but when he came to a boundary, that was the limit. He conjectured that we must study reason to find out what is beyond the capability of reason. Hume began his first examination if the mind by classifying its contents as Perceptions. Here therefore [he divided] all the perceptions of the mind into two classes or species. First, Impressions represented an image of something that portrayed an immediate relationship. Secondly, there were thoughts and ideas, which constituted the less vivid impressions. For example, the recalling of a memory. From this distinction, Hume decreed that all ideas had origin within impressions. From the distinction of perceptions, Hume created his microscope in order to trace all ideas back to impressions. He did this to search for the limits. If an idea could not be traced back to its impression, it was too abstruse. Hume separated the objects of human reason into two categories. First, the relation of ideas, which represented all that is a priori. Secondly, he created the category of matters of fact. Matters of fact made up the a posteriori piece of the spectrum of reason. Matters of fact are contingent, meaning they could be otherwise. In order to go beyond the objects of human reason, Hume proposed that reasoning was based upon cause and effect. Causal relations help us to know things beyond our immediate vicinity. All of our knowledge is based on experience. Therefore, we need experience to come to causal relationships of the world and experience constant conjunction. Hume stated that he shall venture to affirm, as a general proposition which admits no exception, that the knowledge of this relation is not in any instance, attained by reasonings a priori, but arises entirely from experience. (42) Unfortunately, our experience of constant conjunction only tells us about the past. Rationally, that is all it tells us. We can expect the effect to follow the cause, but it is not a sufficient basis to assume the effect will come from the cause in the future. These things are contingent- they could be different. The connection between these two propositions is not intuitive it is always inferred. Hume asserted that the future will resemble the past. This is the assumption underlying all our ideas of causality. If the future does not resemble the past, then all our reason based on cause and effect will crumble. When Hume proposed questions such as Is there any more intelligible proposition then to affirm that all trees will flourish in December and January, and will decay in May and June? (49), Hume demonstrates that it is not a relation of ideas that future will resemble the past; it is possible that the course of nature will change. Therefore, what happens in the future is neither a relation of ideas, nor a matter of fact. It is impossible, therefore, that any arguments from experience can prove this resemblance of past to future, since all these arguments are founded on the supposition of that resemblance. (51) Now Hume proposed that all inferences come from custom, not reasoning. Through custom or habits, we have become accustomed to expect an effect to follow a cause. This is not a rational argument. This argument centers on the theory of constant conjunction, which does not fall under either fork of reason. All inferences from experience, therefore, are effects of custom, not reasoning. (57) Hume analyzed the idea of causality by emphasizing the three demands that can be verified through observation. First he argued the aspect of constant conjunction. In this aspect, the cause and effect must be spatially and constantly existent. Secondly, he asserted that it must have temporal priority, in that, the cause had to precede the effect. Lastly, the event must have a necessary connection- we must develop an understanding of why a cause produces a certain effect. Hume s critique of causation is that we cannot see it, we must infer it. For example, two billiard balls, one moving toward the next demonstrate temporal priority because one ball is moving first. Secondly, constant conjunction occurs because the balls exist together spatially and constantly. But, there is no necessary reason why this happens. Hume asserted that we can imagine a world in which the effect would be different. He then concluded that we can t get an impression of a necessary connection, we can only experience constant conjunction and temporal priority. Experience only teaches us how one event constantly follows another, without instructing us in the secret connection which binds them together. We therefore conclude that reason is a limited faculty and that we have no reason to trust our common methods of argument or to think that our usual analogies and probabilities have any authority. (83) In conclusion, Hume asserted that since we do not have any impression of necessary connections, it is our expectation that believes the effect will follow the cause. The appearance of a cause always conveys the mind, by a customary transition, to the idea of the effect. (87) Since we are trained to expect the impression of necessary connection, the idea of it comes from our minds. Therefore, our belief in necessary connections of the universe is based on a rational facts. Immanuel Kant, a philosopher after Hume, sets out to reform metaphysics. Kant believed that if Hume was right, metaphysics would be impossible. But, Kant was unwilling to surrender to Hume s skeptical argument, so Kant sets out to do a critique in order to explore the possibilities and reform metaphysics. Kant begins his critique searching for a priori knowledge within philosophy. Kant began to search for the a priori principles that were rationally deductible in order to explain why we perceive the things we cannot perceive. Kant believed that the only way that we could get to things necessary and universal was through a priori. Kant found that the concept of the connection of cause and effect was by no means the only concept by which the understanding thinks the connection of things a priori, but rather that metaphysics consists altogether of such concepts. (8) Kant began to examine pure a priori reason by establishing his critique. He stated that there are boundaries and contents. He set out to find what is inside the limitations and what is outside. Kant examined the three bodies of knowledge: math, physical science and metaphysics. Kant said that science must have necessity and universality. This places math and science within reason. Kant first divided judgement into two kinds of knowledge- analytic and synthetic. In the Prolegomena, Kant criticized Hume for having regarded mathematical judgements as analytic. Had he realized that they were synthetic, Hume would have been able to conclude that some synthetic judgements can be made a prior. Kant concluded that math and science fell under a priori synthetic judgements. This gives us universality, but it also tells us something. For Kant, knowledge must be necessary and universal qualities must come from a priori synthetic judgements. They have to tell us something we don t know, something completely independent of experience. This idea of Kant s, completely contradicts Hume. Hume had asserted that anything based on empirical facts had no necessity, and therefore was contingent. Hume also stated that empirical facts couldn t give us universality either, because we can t know future will resemble the past. Kant stated that all Hume s beliefs centered upon the fact that nothing but experience could furnish us with such connections. For Hume, all science was empirical, and we could only know what happened so far. In contrast, for Kant, he said that scientific laws claim necessity and universality. It is only from a priori that we get universality and necessity. Kant then continued his critique to decipher if metaphysics is possible. Kant separated the faculties of the mind and the way it thinks into three distinctive categories. First, he stated that math was exhibited through intuition. The forms of intuition were a priori and had two capacities. First, intuition gave us space and time through pure intuition, and sensory data through empirical intuition. Then, Kant set up a metaphysical distinction between numena and phenomena. Numena represents the things in themselves, while phenomena represents the things for us. In this dichotomy we have no access to numena. The only way we can get to things outside us is through intuition, but intuition has these forms. This shows our limitations. Mathematics is not applicable to numena. We can have mathematical knowledge of phenomena. From this we can infer we have inter-subjective knowledge. Kant has given us universal and necessary knowledge in the phenomenal realm. Kant points out that the error may arise owing to an illusion, in which [he proclaim] to be universally valid what is merely a subjective condition of the intuition of thing and certain only of all objects of senses, namely for all possible experience. (39) Kant has just suggested that the error and base for all metaphysics is not distinguishing between phenomena and numena. Finally, Kant explained that everything is a distinction of phenomena and numena. We receive necessity and universality through this distinction and also from the projection that phenomena comes from certain a priori aspects. Therefore, the future will resemble the past, because we make it resemble the past. Kant used understanding, the second faculty of the mind to explain causality. As the understanding stands in need of categories for experience, reason contains in itself the source of ideas. (76) The function of understanding is thinking, and thinking must use concepts to be an objective thought. The presence of this objective thought verifies its actuality. Therefore, causality, for Kant, was the way in which mind puts together experiences to understand them. Kant found many problems within Hume s account. Through his endeavors to prove that metaphysics is possible, and his analyzing of causality, Kant solved the problems he saw within Hume s account. Specifically, in the Prolegomena, Kant stated that Hume justly maintains that we cannot comprehend by reason the possibility of causality. (57) Kant also attacked Hume s ideas by describing Hume s treatment of the concept of causality to be a bastard of the imagination, impregnated by experience. (5) Kant succeeded in re- establishing the objectivity of causality, a task that Hume had rejected as impossible.

Personal Narrative Essay A Beautiful Autumn Day - 716 Words

What a beautiful autumn day it is today. A nice ,breezy, cool day with a robin’s egg blue sky. The view of all the aged leaves scattered across the ground, and the tree still holding onto some that arent ready to fall yet. That certain smell of the crisp fresh air with the golden and rust colored leaves scattered around me reminds me of when I would take long walks with a girl named Mary, who I used to be in love with. Mary and I would take walks through the parks for as long as we could, just talking. Until one day over a minor disagreement she decided to move on; I became lonely and heartless. Eventually, I found my way, the path I’m walking on is great.; it’s very peaceful. There’s hardly anybody on it; normally, you could hear a†¦show more content†¦She replied, â€Å"My husband and I have three children; I work in the Bursars office at Columbia.† We waited a few minutes to say some more, then all of sudden she says, â€Å"My 6 year old’s name is Bill by the way.† This made me think that she’s still holding onto the past just like the tree holding onto the leaves. After we stopped talking, I noticed the a distant way she was looking, as if she was searching for something to say or she was lost in a past memory. I needed to say something quick, so I asked her where she lived now. She told me that she lived on Central Park West and how my family should come see hers. So being nice and wanting to meet her kids, I gladly accepted and told her how her family should come and have dinner with mine. Suddenly, there was an ear-piercing noise; as we look up there is black smoking coming out of the back of the bus. This was Mary’s bus; this meant she had to leave to go home to her family. I told her goodbye. Mary got on that old worn-out bus and as she went on her way I remembered something. I never told her my address, and she never gave me hers. So I stood there waiting for something to h appen like a tree waiting for it’s leaves to change color and become renewed, but nothing ever did. I looked at my watch, and noticed it had been thirty minutes since we started talking, but it felt like only been five. I started my route back home andShow MoreRelatedAn Analysis of H.G. Wells’ Short Stories â€Å"Mr Skelmersdale in Fairyland†, â€Å"the Door in the Wall† and â€Å"a Dream of Armageddon†14742 Words   |  59 PagesEnglish I Have Dreamed a Dream†¦ An Analysis of H.G. Wells’ Short Stories â€Å"Mr Skelmersdale in Fairyland†, â€Å"The Door in the Wall† and â€Å"A Dream of Armageddon† Lars Wallner C Course: Literary Specialisation Autumn, 2008 Supervisor: Helena Granlund â€Å"I have dreamed a dream†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lars Wallner, Autumn 2008 Table of Contents Introduction.............................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 1: Failing to Recognise What Is Right in FrontRead MoreAlfred Lord Tennyson As A Master Of Poetic Rhythm2606 Words   |  11 PagesAll five poets in this essay have experience some form of personal, psychological or physical conflict in their lives. Poet Laureate, Alfred Lord Tennyson was one of the most celebrated and respected poets during the Victorian era. He was hugely influenced by Romantic poets and created powerful and vivid images throughout his poems. Tennyson is also considered to be a master of poetic rhythm. Unlike Tennyson, Simon Armitage a poet of the modern era, studied the effects of television violence on youngRead MoreSimilarities and Dissimilarities Between Shelley and Keats6975 Words   |  28 Pagesappreciate the physical beauty of Nature. Both writers happened to compose poems concerning autumn in the year of 1819, and although the two pieces contain similar traits of the Romantic period, they differ from each other in several ways as well. Keats poem To Autumn and Shelleys poem Ode to the West Wind both contain potent and  vivacious  words about the season and both include similar metaphors involving autumn. However, the feelings each writer express in their pieces vary greatly from each otherRead MoreThe Journey: Symbolism of â€Å"a Worn Path† and â€Å"the Road Not Taken† Final2218 Words   |  9 Pagesworks share are presented differently throughout each piece. However, both pieces speak about the paths, roads and choice in life. â€Å"A Worn Path† tells the story of Phoenix Jackson, an elderly African American woman who lived in the South. Phoenix’s narrative is about her voyage from her discreet rustic life in the country as she embarks on a journey into the city in order to get medication for her beloved grandson whom accidentally, swallowed lye. As old lady Phoenix travels to her destination she encountersRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald2128 Words   |  9 PagesUSA. For this purpose, the literary analysis below highlights how the book is efficient in its classic portrayal of the American dream. Plot Summary Primarily, the story revolves around a young millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and his affection for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Social upheaval, decadence, and resistance to change are some of the crucial themes that contribute to the story’s plot. Most events in the book unfold during the summer of 1922. After graduating from Yale, Nick Carraway works inRead MorePopulation Problem in Bangladesh14871 Words   |  60 PagesThe Bangladeshi English Essay Book An Analysis by Robin Upton, January 22nd 2006 Public Domain under (cc) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0 Jan 2006 - Robin Upton - http:// www.RobinUpton.com/research Contents Purpose........................................................................................................... 1 Introduction to Essay Books .......................................................................... 1 Impact of Essay Books .................Read MorePantene Marketing Plan6904 Words   |  28 PagesExecutive summary The first part of the essay is mainly talking about the internal and external situation of Pantene. The internal analysis includes branding analysis, objectives, target market, company and brand analysis, industry, product, price, consumption value, financial trend and distribution channels. The external one contains political, economic, social, technological and environmental forces. In competitive analysis, Pantene has a competitive advantages promotion and strong distributionRead More65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays 2nd Edition 147256 Words   |  190 PagesGRIFFIN NEW YORK 65 SUCCESSFUL HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL APPLICATION ESSAYS, SECOND EDITION. Copyright  © 2009 byThe Harbus News Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For-information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010. www.stmartins.com Library of Congress Cataloging...in..Publication Data 65 successful Harvard Business -School application essays : with analysis by the staff of The Harbus, the Harvard Business School newspaperRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 Pagesoffprint from Gales For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.  ©1998-2002;  ©2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design ® andRea d MoreFor Against by L.G. Alexander31987 Words   |  128 PagesBy the same author SIXTY STEPS TO PRECIS POETRY AND PROSE APPRECIATION ESSAY AND LEITER ·WRITING A FIRST BOOK IN COMPREHENSION PRECIS AND COMPOSITION ras CARTERS OF GREENWOOD (Cineloops) DETECTIVES FROM SCOTLAND YARD (Longman Structural Readers, Stage 1) CAR THIEVES [Longman Structural Readers, Stage 1) WORTH A FORTUNE [Longman Structural Readers, Stage 2) APRIL FOOLS DAY [Longman Structural Readers, Stage 2) PROFESSOR BOFFIN S UMBRELLA (Longman Structural Readers, Stage 2) OPERATION MASfERMIND