Essay example --

Symbolism of the Lottery In Shirley Jackson’s short story, â€Å"The Lottery†, she emphasizes on tradition in a small town, which has been drastically lost throughout the years. The community holds on to tradition due to the fear of superstition of the harvesting of the crops. Symbolism is â€Å"the representation of something in symbolic form or the attribution of symbolic meaning or character to something† (Dictionary.com). The villagers show the unwillingness to challenge tradition and superstition. They might mumble about other villages that have done away with lotteries. Their traditional actions include having even the children of the condemned person throw stones; seem to ensure that this tradition of human sacrifice will continue into the foreseeable future. Shirley Jackson uses symbolism throughout the story with the black box, lottery itself and characters names to foreshadow the terrifying outcome of the lottery which is death. The first main symbol in the story is the black box. The black box symbolizes the darkness of ignorance that plagues the villagers of the community. They are reluctant to replace it even though it’s older than the oldest participating member of the lottery. Just as the community is unwilling to give up the ignorance of the old ways for the enlightenment of the new ways like some of the other communities have chosen to do. It also symbolizes the distraught tradition in the town and how it has changed over time. It is the center of the tradition because no matter how old and worn it gets, the villagers refuse to change it due to the tradition that it holds. The box has changed many of the villagers’s view of the lottery but no one can really remember how or why the tradition of the lottery began except to... ...in the story, the reasons for holding the lottery are long forgotten and the rituals connected to it. Other than the making of participant lists, the use of the old black box and the swearing in, have mostly fallen by the waste side. All that really remains is a rigid adherence to the ancient tradition of the town. The black box became the ultimate symbol of death, as it is the messenger that delivers the unfortunate winner’s prize, which is death. The momentum that came from the villagers’ extreme degree of self-interest further propels the storm of immoral and unethical actions. The terrible tradition was carried out once again. Instead of considering the effect that the tradition had on their fellow villager, they were grateful that the little black box had spared them their own lives. As far as they were concerned the sky was blue and the sun was still shining.

Visiting Museums

It’s not a secret that Internet is a great effective source of different information, and if one does not have time or physical opportunity to visit a museum or gallery and enjoy its collections, now it is possible to do this using Internet. A great deal of the world’s museums and art galleries have own Internet sites and present their collections online for everyone to see. Also, such sites usually have a lot of educational information about the artists and their main artworks, different artistic styles and so on. In my opinion, the site of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the most attractive and interesting from the four sties I was looking through. From its first page designed in warm grey and purple tones, the viewer can see and feel the atmosphere of a museum. The site contains a huge database collection, as well as rich educational resources. Tate Online is another very interesting site. This Internet resource is very easy to navigate and anyone can find a necessary item of its collection without a problem. I would, certainly, go to both of these museums after visiting their web-sites. Two other sites are poorer in their design and have obvious lack of artistic approach to the presentation of the materials. I liked the site of the Museum of Modern Art, because it is well-illustrated and has a clear and plane organization. However, it is a bit overloaded with different information and its visitors can get confused. Finally, I have to say that the site of the museum El Museo Del Barrio is too very simple and colorless, so one may think that it is the site of a library or a governmental institution. To my mind, if the employees of this museum want to attract public attention, they should make a better site. Looking through the Internet databases of the Metropolitan Museum, I was especially impressed by the work of Robert Swain Gifford Near the Coast. This painting mesmerizes with its realistic presentation of a coastline in stormy weather. Gray and very low clouds swinging over the shoreline substantially narrow the perspective of the painting and make the observer feel a little distressed, melancholic and, maybe, even feel cold. On the Internet pages of Tate Museum I found the work of Sir David Wilkie The Blind Fiddler. The author focuses on the emotions of the people who are listening to the playing of the fiddler. It seems like only little children are really impressed and response to the music. However, the adults at the painting are deepened in their own problems or thoughts. This work is a beautiful example of classic art presenting social motifs. Finally, the online collection of the Museum of Modern Art contains a lot of interesting works of modern styles, but I paid attention on a drawing of a French artist Charles Camoin Seated Woman. This drawing was made simply with ink and brush on a paper, but it really impressed me with the exact forms and perfect lines of the woman’s silhouette. Despite the simplicity of this work, it is quite deep and very realistic. Certainly, watching artworks in virtual galleries and in real life are two absolutely different experiences. When observing the artworks in museum, broad daylight gives us the opportunity to enjoy their true deep colors and facture. In museum it is possible to see better the forms and details of cubic content of three-dimensional artworks. Also, one can observe the paintings in close approach and enjoy every line or brush-touch. Besides, sometimes the entourage of the museum advantages the artworks and makes them look more beautiful. I used to be an appreciator of classic style in arts, but after visiting the web-sites of these museums I got interested and impressed with some modern artworks, especially drawings and paintings of modern artists in Tate Museum. That is why I will certainly look for modern art exhibitions and visit them with my friends or family. Works Cited: El Museo. El Museo Del Barrio. 5 Apr. 2008

Cheating in Education Today

On the last day of the term, I needed to grade a set of papers while my class was taking the same test in order to distribute exam waivers by the end of the day. Suspecting that students coming to my desk might accidentally see answers on the key for the one multiple choice page, I coded the answers on my answer key the multiple choice responses so that I AB, BC and so on and proceeded to grade papers. My suspicions were correct: Of the fifteen or so students in the room, six came to my desk once or twice, returning to his seat with a smug smile. I felt a twinge of guilt as I watched them quickly scribbling answers, considering the situation had a flavor of entrapment, but decided these students might learn an unexpected lesson. The slickness of their moves was dismaying, but I felt worse seeing which students were cheating-- only those I had held in highest regard. When all papers finally were in, I said I had bad news for all those people who had cheated. Innocent cries of Who cheated, ensued, loudest from those who had. But they ceased when I said the cheaters had reproduced a perfect pattern of wrong answers. I had believed cheating in my classes was tightly controlled. I rarely gave credit for rechecked answers, I kept assignments until students can no longer get credit for turning in copied work, and I rarely gave multiple choice tests. Nevertheless, during final exam week I found a little crib sheet stuck on a shelf and another lying on the floor. Perhaps more telling, a few students who rarely complete their work left the room once they realized cheating on the essay exam would be impossible. Apparently, their experience had given them confidence that they can get away with cheating. I wondered if this confidence made studying seem a waste of time. A Nationwide Problem Survey results about the prevalence of cheating in high school taken by Whos Who Among American High School Students in 1993 revealed that an alarming 89% of high school students thought cheating was common and 78% had cheated.It seems logical to assume that successful cheating in high school inspires cheating at the college level, for surveys taken in 1990 indicate as many as 45% college students cheated in one or two courses and 33%, in eight or more courses. The problem, however, is not just with the students themselves, in a recent U.S. News Poll 20% of adults felt there was nothing wrong with parents completing their childs homework. Resources That Help Detect Cheating and Plagiarism While, discouragingly, there are many internet sites that give examples of slick cheating techniques and sell pre-written term papers, there are many other online resources to help teachers catch cheaters. One of the best is Grammerly, which has a plagiarism checker as well as providing strong grammar checking tools.