ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Evaluation FOR LEARNING - Essay Example The in-class conversation along these lines makes an inviting domain for understudies to have the option to pose the inquiry about the zones where they didn't comprehend (OECD, 2010). The best thing about these conversations is that the understudies are capable see the substance from each other’s perspective therefore making is straightforward the topic far and away superior. In-class introductions This evaluation goes about as both a developmental and summative appraisal in light of the fact that the consequences of the appraisal are additionally mulled over during the checking of the last evaluation. The understudies are approached to introduce a specific thing in class at specific achievements in the learning procedure. The understudies can present and show their abilities and the aptitudes they have learnt. These introductions additionally go about as an approach to recognize if the understudy has had the option to comprehend the substance. Useful evaluations These are don e so as to survey the student’s functional abilities. This is with respect to the instruments which the understudies must figure out how to use so as to have the option to complete their occupations. Down to earth appraisals help the understudies to have the option to have the option to show their viable abilities on utilizing the different machines, for example, communicate cameras. These appraisals are likewise significant in distinguishing any territories where the understudy may require additionally preparing (Campbell, et al., 2012). It encourages the instructor to have the option to distinguish any territories where the class as entire or individual understudies may require additionally preparing. These reasonable evaluations are additionally significant in giving the understudies a hands on understanding and furthermore gain from one another. Composed appraisals Written evaluations are likewise utilized in the evaluations of the understudies. Understudies are given var ious subjects to expound on. As Matthews (2002) says, these evaluations are significant in that they offer the educator a chance to perceive how the understudies are fairing in the class and furthermore to see their comprehension of different topics. The composed assignments are likewise exceptionally valuable developmental evaluations for the appraisals parts as well as an approach to assist the understudies with learning more and become progressively familiar with different issues. This is on the grounds that the understudies must have the option to explore the different subjects given to them and ensure that they comprehend the topic altogether. The substance of the understudies composed evaluations can be utilized to figure out where the understudy is missing and where the understudy may require additionally mentoring. Composed assignments are additionally significant in light of the fact that they are individualistic and subsequently may help in distinguishing the particular is sues influencing the particular understudy (Clift and William, 1981). P3: legitimacy and dependability of three principle kinds of appraisal techniques. Conversations In-class conversations are helpful as appraisal strategies as a result of various significant issues. Be that as it may, as Middlewood and Cardno (2001) says, there are some other negative issues which may influence in-class conversations and which may influence the legitimacy just as the viability of class conversations as an evaluation strategy. One such negative factor is the way that a few understudies might be better ready to show their abilities in conversations than others. Class conversation includes a great deal of talking and verbal contentions. Those understudies who might not have great verbal abilities may appear not to have the correct aptitudes, and it is significant for such understudies to be given a superior path for evaluation. While utilizing class

Humanistic Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda

Master Vivekananda was an intellectual and scholar of the most noteworthy request. The Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda is a good news of humanism, for man is the focal mainstay of his life and lessons. Man, masculinity, man-production these were the steady mantra all the rage. It sprang forward truly from his own acknowledgment of the Divine that existed in himself what not. He along these lines raised the pride, and worth of man to the apex of perfect greatness. He exemplified man in his widespread measurement which communicated in a worry for him all over the place and in each field of his life. It made him the type of humanism as much profound as huge in enlightening the entire of humankind from time to endlessness. Master Ranganthananda opines about Swami Vivekananda as: â€Å"What was one of a kind about him as a profound instructor of humankind, be that as it may, was his profound enthusiasm for man and his untiring work for all out human turn of events and satisfaction all over. Also, this intrigue and work, we ought not neglect to note, was not only strict in the restricted feeling of that word †simply helping people to make sure about the salvation of their spirits, as all other otherworldly educators have done †yet secured all parts of human life, as much monetary and social as good and strict. Truth be told, this inside and out human intrigue shaped the focal topic of Swami Vivekananda’s life and work. † Romain Rolland talks about Swami Vivekananda’s humanistic way of thinking of man, as he exemplified man in his all inclusive viewpoint, and not in the limited racial, national, or partisan angles. That widespread measurement communicated in a profound worry for man all over the place and in each field of his life; it made them the types and models of humanism, as much profound as wide, as much mentally animating as profoundly rousing. What is humanism? The term ‘humanism’ is gotten from the Latin word ‘humanitas’ inferring ontological independence and the journey for the flawlessness of the human soul through the fulfillment of man’s natural possibilities is subjectivist and hopeful in its direction. Humanism is in this way a methodology n study, or the training that centers around human qualities and concerns, joining prime significance to human endeavors. Humanism isn't a statement of faith or code yet the totality of a subjective improvement of the enthusiastic and cogitative potencies of the experimental human, Jiva that is the object of mission of the humanist. In the expressions of the Buddhist Tripitakas it very well may be said that â⠂¬Ëœliberality, civility, consideration, unselfishness under all circumstances’ and ‘concord of fraternity’ mark the life of the humanist. Master Vivekananda’s Humanistic Philosophy Master Vivekananda acclimatized and altered the philosophical thoughts of the Vedanta, adjusting them to the states of the new life. As opposed to the materialistic perspective on man, Vivekananda's humanistic way of thinking has numerous highlights of dynamic humanism and in his intense want to hoist man he set forward the possibility that the most noteworthy awesome substance Brahman is embodied in millions. â€Å"†¦ the perfect of Vedanta is to know man as he truly may be, and this is its message, that in the event that you can't venerate your sibling man, the showed God, how might you love a God who is unmanifested? The uniqueness of Vivekananda was to reevaluate this way of thinking of man that is on the double imaginative and engineered and utilizes it for accomplishing most noteworthy human greatness. Master Vivekananda saw man as a multi-leveled being, a composite of physical, mental, enthusiastic, scholarly and profound resources. Master Vivekananda plainly appeared in his piece of four yogas that the different resources of man must be outfit for one’s otherworldly development. Master Vivekananda is of the supposition that when man can incorporate the entirety of the resources, he accomplishes the masculinity in whole. He encourages the young to have a solid body. â€Å"You will comprehend the Gita better with your biceps, your muscles, somewhat more grounded. You will comprehend the compelling virtuoso and the relentless quality of Krishna better with a tad bit of solid blood in you. You will comprehend the Upanishads better and the magnificence of the Atman when your body stands firm upon your feet, and you feel yourselves as men. In this manner we need to apply these to our requirements. † â€Å"Makes your nerves solid, what we need is the muscles of iron and nerves of steel. †¦ Stand on your own feet and be men. The staff of reason ought to be developed to saddle the maximum capacity of being human. Master Vivekananda says: â€Å"Why was reason given us in the event that we need to accept? Is it not colossally impious to accept against reason? What right have we not to utilize the best blessing that God has given to us? I am certain God will acquit a man who will utilize his expla nation and can't accept, as opposed to a man who accepts aimlessly as opposed to utilizing the resources He has given him. † Swami Vivekananda feels that, religion is certifiably not a different interest separated from the lowly of life. Then again, it encompasses the entire life. The manner in which man takes a gander at himself, his origination of his own tendency, oversees all his different ideas. The estimation of the reorientation of man's perspective on himself reaches out from an incentive to the person in the improvement of his character to the humankind all in all. This reorientation of man's perspective on himself brings about another sort of all encompassing mindfulness where the alleged qualification between the strict and common evaporates. Alluding to this methodology Sister Nivedita in her Introduction to the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda says: â€Å"†¦.. No differentiation from this time forward among holy and mainstream. To work is to implore. To overcome is to deny. Life is itself religion. To have and to hold is as harsh a trust as to stop and to keep away from. This is the acknowledgment which makes Vivekananda the extraordinary minister of Karma, not as separated from, however as communicating Jnana and Bhakti. To him, the workshop, the investigation, the farmstead and the field are as obvious and fit scenes for the gathering of God with man as the phone of the priest or the entryway of the sanctuary. † She proceeds, â€Å"All his (Swami Vivekananda) words, according to one perspective, read as an analysis upon this focal conviction. Workmanship, science, and religion†, he said once, â€Å"are however three distinct methods of communicating a solitary truth. In any case, so as to comprehend this we should have the hypothesis of Advaita. † There is a confidence in the significance of man as communicated through his distinctive socio-social exercises in this material world. He e mphatically feels that, it is a biggest sin to call the individual is a miscreant. He is possibly divine. Be that as it may, there are boundless inventive prospects in man, past this constrained humanistic examination. For this Vivekananda clarifies this imagination as the expected unendingness or godlikeness in man as profound man. This thought of man doesn't just clarify the material or individual presence of man with the material improvement of life. Then again, it combines the material and the profound component of man and accordingly assesses the material or individual, group or social and otherworldly or supernatural estimations of existence with their appearances in agreeable structures and habits. So as to clarify the endless strength of man, Vivekananda brings up: â€Å"Do you know what amount of vitality, what number of forces, what number of powers, are as yet prowling behind that casing of yours? What researcher has realized all that is in man? A great many years have gone since man initially came here, but however one minuscule piece of his forces has been showed. Along these lines you should not say that you are powerless. How would you realize that prospects lie behind that debasement on a superficial level? You know yet little of that which is inside you. For behind you is the expanse of endless force and blessedness. † along these lines Vivekananda argues for the otherworldly Man, communicating the innovative multi-natured godliness as the ‘ocean of vast force and blessedness. Man, in the perception of Vivekananda, has a boundless store of vitality which isn't completely depleted in satisfying his constrained material or organic requests. The boundless vitality in man, communicated through various imaginative realities, build up his limitless character as the indication of his expected flawlessness as the feeling of solidarity. In this way out of sight of the assessment of the thoughts of man and humanism as otherworldly humanism progressed by Swami Vivekananda, we get a manufactured perspective on ‘multidimensional man' in the profound procedure of creating singularity and comprehensiveness. Such a manufactured view will encourage a progression of Unity in various realities in various degrees. His significant otherworldliness, the shining splendor of his mind and the nearness of his character put resources into him with an enchantment interest which none could disregard our stand up to. Here was a man who expressed rousing words to the majority like Messiah who has come to spare their lives from obscurity and wretchedness. Here was one who represented old learning in most elevated applause, and yet encouraged that we lose the shackles of show. He was of the customary and progressive, whose strategic not just stiring the individuals to an awareness of their extraordinary legacy yet additionally to make them know man who could make another India. â€Å"I consider that the incredible national sin is the disregard of the majority, and that is one of the reasons for our defeat. No measure of legislative issues would be of any profit until the majority in India are again accomplished, all around took care of, and all around thought about. They pay for our instruction, they fabricate our sanctuaries, however consequently they get kicks. They are for all intents and purposes our slaves. Through his tenet of the expected godlikeness all things considered, Swami Vivekananda looked to realize an extreme change in the general public. To qu

Warm Bodies Chapter 16 Free Essays

string(25) flips it around for me. ‘Julie,’ I state, propping to admit my last sin. ‘I need . . We will compose a custom article test on Living, breathing people Chapter 16 or then again any comparable theme just for you Request Now . to let you know . . .’ Blast. The Stadium’s field incandescent lamp flare like suns and 12 PM becomes sunlight. I can see each pore in Julie’s face. ‘What the hell?’ she wheezes, whipping her head around. A puncturing alert further breaks the night’s quietness, and afterward we see it: the Jumbotron is aglow. Dangling from the upper compasses of the open rooftop like a tablet dropping from Heaven, the screen plays a blocky movement of a quarterback running from what gives off an impression of being a zombie, arms outstretched and grasping. The screen flickers among this and a word that I think may be: Penetrate ‘R . . .’ Julie says, frightened, ‘did you eat someone?’ I take a gander at her urgently. ‘No ch . . . no choi . . . no choice,’ I stammer, my style crumbling in my condition of frenzy. ‘Guard . . . halted me. Didn’t . . . mean. Didn’t . . . want.’ She squeezes her lips together, her eyes drilling into me, at that point gives a solitary shake of her head as though banishing one idea, focusing on another. ‘Okay. At that point we have to get inside. God damn it, R.’ We run into the house and she hammers the entryway. Nora is at the highest point of the steps. ‘Where have you folks been? What’s going on out there?’ ‘It’s a breach,’ Julie says. ‘Zombie in the Stadium.’ ‘You mean him?’ The mistake in her answer makes me jump. ‘Yes and no.’ We hustle into Julie’s room and she kills the lights. We as a whole sit on the floor on the heaps of clothing, and for some time no one talks. We simply sit and tune in to the sounds. Watchmen running and yelling. Gunfire. Our own overwhelming relaxing. ‘Don’t worry,’ Julie murmurs to Nora, yet I know it’s for me. ‘It won’t spread a lot. Those shots were most likely Security taking them out already.’ ‘Are we free, then?’ Nora inquires. ‘Will R be okay?’ Julie takes a gander at me. Her face is inauspicious. ‘Even on the off chance that they think the break began from a characteristic demise, that monitor clearly didn’t eat himself. Security will know there’s at any rate one zombie unaccounted for.’ Nora follows Julie’s eyes to mine, and I can nearly envision my face flushing. ‘It was you?’ she asks, stressing for impartiality. ‘Didn’t . . . mean. Was . . . going . . . slaughter me.’ She says nothing. Her face is clear. I meet her gaze, willing her to feel my devastating regret. ‘It was my last,’ I state, stressing to compel language once again into my moron tongue. ‘No matter what. Pledge to the skymouth.’ A couple of anguishing minutes pass. At that point Nora gradually gestures, and addresses Julie. ‘So we have to get him out of here.’ ‘They shut everything down for penetrates. All the entryways will be bolted and protected. They may even close the rooftop in the event that they get frightened enough.’ ‘So what the heck are we expected to do?’ Julie shrugs, and the motion looks so hopeless on her, so off-base. ‘I don’t know,’ she says. ‘Once once more, I don’t know.’ Julie and Nora fall rest. They battle it for a considerable length of time, attempting to think of an arrangement to spare me, however in the end they capitulate. I lie on a heap of jeans and gaze up at the brilliant green roof. Not all that simple, Mr Lennon. Regardless of whether you attempt. It appears to be paltry now, a meager silver covering on a tremendous dark tempest cloud, yet I think I’m figuring out how to peruse. As I gaze toward the luminous universe, letters meet up and structure words. Hanging them into full sentences is still past me, however I appreciate the vibe of those little images clicking together and blasting like cleanser air pockets of sound. In the event that I ever observe my significant other again . . . I’ll at any rate have the option to peruse her unofficial ID. The hours overflow by. It’s long after 12 PM, however splendid as early afternoon outside. The incandescent lamp smash their white light against the house, crushing in through splits in the window conceals. My ears tune to the sounds around me. The girls’ relaxing. Their little moving developments. And afterward, at some point around two toward the beginning of the day, a telephone rings. Julie comes conscious, gets up on one elbow. In some far off room of the house, the telephone rings once more. She loses her covers and holds up. Unusual to see her from this point, overshadowing me as opposed to groveling under. I’m the person who needs securing now. One slip-up, one brief pass of my recently discovered judgment †that’s all it took to unwind everything. What a monstrous duty, living as a good being. The telephone continues ringing. Julie leaves the room and I finish her the dull, resounding house. We step into what gives off an impression of being an office. There is an enormous work area shrouded in papers and outlines, and on the dividers different sorts of phones are in a bad way to the Sheetrock, various brands and styles, all from various times. ‘They rerouted the telephone system,’ Julie clarifies. ‘It’s increasingly like a radio at this point. We have direct lines to all the significant areas.’ Each telephone has an ID sticker stuck beneath it, with the area Sharpied onto the clear. Hello there, my name is: Nurseries KITCHENS Stockroom Carport Arsenal Passage 2 GOLDMAN DOME AIG ARENA LEHMAN FIELD Etc. The telephone that’s ringing, a pea-green rotating dialler canvassed in dust, is marked: OUTSIDE Julie takes a gander at the telephone. She takes a gander at me. ‘This is abnormal. That line is from the telephones in the relinquished external areas. Since we got walkie-talkies no one uses it any more.’ The telephone thumps its chimes, uproarious and obstinate. I can’t trust Nora is still snoozing. Gradually, Julie gets the recipient and puts it to her ear. ‘Hello?’ She pauses. ‘What? I can’t under †‘ Her temple wrinkles in focus. At that point her eyes enlarge. ‘Oh.’ They slender. ‘You. Better believe it, this is Julie, what do you †‘ She pauses. ‘Fine. Better believe it, he’s right here.’ She holds the telephone out to me. ‘It’s for you.’ I gaze at it. ‘What?’ ‘It’s your companion. That fat fuck from the airport.’ I get the telephone. I put the earpiece to my mouth. Julie shakes her head and flips it around for me. You read Living, breathing people Chapter 16 in class Paper models Into the recipient I inhale a staggered, ‘M?’ His profound thunder snaps in my ear. ‘Hey . . . darling boy.’ ‘What’s . . . Where are you?’ ‘Out in . . . city. Didn’t know . . . what might get with . . . telephone, yet had . . . to attempt. You’re . . . okay?’ ‘Okay however . . . caught. Arena . . . bolted down.’ ‘Shit.’ ‘What’s . . . going on? Out there.’ There is quietness for a second. ‘R,’ he says. ‘Dead . . . as yet coming. More. From air terminal. Different spots. Parts . . . of us now.’ I’m quiet. The telephone meanders from my ear. Julie takes a gander at me eagerly. ‘Hello?’ M says. ‘Sorry. I’m here.’ ‘Well, we’re . . . here. What now? What ought to . . . do?’ I lay the telephone on my shoulder and take a gander at the divider, at nothing. I take a gander at the papers and plans on General Grigio’s work area. His procedures are all rubbish to me. I have no uncertainty it’s immeasurably significant †food allotment, development plans, weapon conveyance, battle strategies. He’s attempting to keep everybody alive, and that’s great. That’s primary. Yet, as Julie stated, there must be something considerably more profound than that. The earth under that establishment. Without that firm ground, it’s all going to crumple, again and again, regardless of what number of blocks he lays. This is the thing that I’m intrigued by. The earth under the blocks. ‘What’s going on?’ Julie inquires. ‘What’s he saying?’ As I investigate her restless face, I feel the jerk in my guts, the youthful, anxious voice in my mind. It’s occurring, cadaver. Whatever you and Julie activated, it’s moving. A decent illness, an infection that causes life! Do you see this, you imbecilic screwing beast? It’s inside you! You need to escape these dividers and spread it! I edge the telephone towards Julie so she can tune in. She inclines right up front. ‘M,’ I state. ‘Yeah.’ ‘Tell Julie.’ ‘What?’ ‘Tell Julie . . . what’s happening.’ There’s a respite. ‘Changing,’ he says. ‘Lots of us . . . evolving. Like R.’ Julie takes a gander at me and I can nearly detect her neck hairs remaining on end. ‘It’s not simply you?’ she says, moving ceaselessly from the telephone. ‘This . . . restoring thing?’ Her voice is little and speculative, similar to a young lady jabbing her head out of a reinforced hideout following quite a while of life in obscurity. It nearly shudders with tight-restricted expectation. ‘Are you saying the plague is healing?’ I gesture. ‘We’re . . . fixing things.’ ‘But how?’ ‘Don’t know. Be that as it may, we need to . . . accomplish a greater amount of it. Out there . . . where M is. â€Å"Outside†.’ Her fervor cools, solidifies. ‘So we need to leave.’ I gesture. ‘Both of us?’ ‘Both,’ M’s voice snaps in the earpiece like an overhang dropping mother. ‘Julie . . . some portion of it.’ She eyes me disastrously. ‘You need me. Thin minimal human young lady. Out there in the wild, running with a pack

Childhood Nostalgia Essay

Cherished recollections never blur effectively, and I long for the existence I had as a kid, the same number of others do. Sentimentality will consistently be a piece of me, as my youth was basically extraordinary and superb. At the point when I was a youngster, I lived with my grandparents for some time, as my folks are both occupied with work in their organization. I despite everything have an unmistakable visual memory about my grandparents’ conventional Chinese house. The old wooden entryway with dark rings on the two sides shows the run of the mill Asian climate. At the point when I open the door, I promptly smell the smoke of consuming wood used to warm the house. The split kindling is stacked as an afterthought mass of the house, enough for a few winters. The front yard is canvassed in green new grass which transforms into yellow dry grass as winter draws near. A few stones are imbedded in the grass like a scaffold to the house from the door. It was genuinely a view not many different spots can contend, and it’s a break from the solid urban wilderness I was utilized to in the urban communities. A medium-sized pomegranate tree is planted toward the side of the yard, and its sweet harsh natural products are picked and eaten. These natural products are the absolute most heavenly I’d ever had, I despite everything long for them each and every day. As a youngster, I was constantly astounded how the tree bore the red delightful natural product consistently. It was then I understood how food consistently tastes better when you develop them yourself. At long last, there is a titanic rectangular structure that appears to be basic fit as a fiddle yet complex in different viewpoints. The dark tiled rooftop, as I would like to think, is the most engaging quality of the house as those many tiles are engraved with sensitive examples, making the tiles uneven and coarse. Under the rooftop, there is a little home of swallows which represent harmony and joy in China. The morning at my grandparents’ house is invited regularly with the consonant tunes that the flying creatures give. These fine subtleties of the house consistently wait in my mind, convincing me to visit my grandparents, as these recollections are just immortal.

GM crops food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

GM crops food - Essay Example he clients or the modern world buyers assume a huge job in the GM crops food, as they are the potential premise on which the biotechnology association can assess the impacts of these nourishments on human wellbeing (Canavari, 2009). For the biotechnology business of GM crops food, web based life could be a superior apparatus of correspondence as it will give data to the general population about his item, the administrations, and the undertaking itself. From this instrument, the industry can hear back the thoughts from others and attempt to correct where pundits are experienced. This can enable the makers to investigate the wellbeing part of the food in a superior manner (Smith and Zook, 2011). Buyers then again can utilize direct sends to the associations at whatever point they discover an issue with respect to the item. This targets causing the providers to act quickly to basing on the criticism from the clients. A case of a standard mail might be a recommendation for a specific strategy to diminish the wellbeing dangers in the nourishments. Recovered 2 Dec. 20120 from http://ic.galegroup.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/Viewpoints

sibling dynamics at MIT

sibling dynamics at MIT A little while ago, I got my first(?) mention on MIT Confessions, and exploded with laughter in the middle of my physics lecture as soon as i saw it: I thought OP probably was a reader of the blogs, because if you know either Nisha or me in real lifeâ€"even tangentiallyâ€"you’d probably realize that we’re related. More than a few people have approached me assuming that I’m Nisha, and I hear “Ankita, I thought I saw you at East Campus but realized it wasn’t you” nearly every other week. Well, it turns out that looking like twins, being from the same small state, and having the same damn last name isn’t enoughâ€"at a blogger meeting, we were laughing about the confession, and a Blogger Who Must Not Be Named came to the realization that Nisha and I are, indeed, sisters. As unprompted as this epiphany should have been, I’m actually pretty happy that they had no idea of this fact; clearly, I’m doing a decent job of distinguishing myself…? PROOF! To be fair, we’re completely different. I’m more outgoing and extra, while she’s more laidback and chill. I’m chaotic and memey, and she’sa functioning adult, I guess?? I dance and she fences, and we live on opposite sides of campus, so our social circles barely overlap. In fact, our lives don’t overlap much; I’ve bumped into Nisha around campus a grand total of three times in all these months here. This is nothing but reassuring to me. When I was considering going to MIT, I was afraid of being “Nisha’s little sister” forever; we’ve been going to the same school for most of our lives, so I wanted to finally separate myself from her in college. With good reasonâ€"in high school, we both were captains of the math team and quiz bowl teams and presidents of the Japanese Club; we took the same classes and had the same teachers and guidance counselor. The impressions most people had of me were shaped by Nisha, which was never a bad thing, just frustrating. I desperately wanted to distinguish myself in some way, but I always felt that she was better than me at math and Japanese and writing and quiz bowl and everything else I was passionate about.   And as a result, I was really fucking insecure. I trudged through high school with the belief that everyone was comparing me to my sister and pointing out my inadequacies. When I finally applied to MIT, I told myself not to expect too much since I was an inferior carbon copy of her: Nisha, but more random, irrelevant hobbies and less STEM; Nisha, but notably less accomplished. And as soon as I got in, I was accosted by a lurking suspicion that it was because of sibling legacy.01 spoiler alert: this is not a thing It was a strange and unsettling brand of imposter syndrome. It plagued my thoughts for a while, but when I thrust myself into the world of adMITtance (aka the MIT Class of 2023 Facebook group), I stopped thinking about it. My perspective hasn’t changed since thenâ€"who cares if I belong here or not, I was admitted, so I’m intent on making the most of it. Here at MIT, we’re [hopefully] all so busy getting work done that we don’t have time for high school-esque drama or petty judgments of others’ success. Hell, I definitely don’t have time for sibling trauma anymorenot that I give a damn about making comparisons between Nisha and I since we’re pursuing such different things.   My metrics for success have entirely changed. I’m my own person now! I have a different set of activities and classes and friends, and it’s wonderful. I can’t say I’ve become much less reliant on Nisha since I ask her for advice pretty often, but heyâ€"what are older sisters for?   I’m really proud of Nisha for all her accomplishments, and I’m glad that she’s found her space here. I’m grateful for how supportive she is; even though she criticizes a significant number of my life choices, I know she has my best interests in mind. It’s great to be able to rely on someone on campus, but it’s also great that I’ve formed my own identity here.   OP, hope that answers your question :) back to text ?

Life in a Small Town - Literature Essay Samples

Small towns are often considered a safe place to grow up. Many who are born into these small towns never leave, perhaps because they are too frightened to leave all that they have ever known. These towns, however, are not without their problems. Rural small towns, especially in the South, carry a stigma of being prejudice against those who are different, which can still unfortunately be true to this day. In John Kennedy Toole’s first novel, The Neon Bible, the negative stigma associated with living in a small town is explored. Toole, being a southern man himself, was able to display an accurate adolescent’s view of a rural Southern town in the 1930’s. A major theme in Toole’s novel is the prejudice that can occur in a small town and he uses his characters to present his commentary on the topic. The first example of Toole’s take on small town judgment is the town’s reaction to Aunt Mae. Her flashy clothes and exposure of skin attract dirty looks and judgment from the woman as well as mockery from the men. David, the protagonist and Mae’s nephew, recalls a time when Aunt Mae first came to live with them. He remembers, â€Å"When I was four Mother gave a party for some of the wives of the factory workers, and Aunt Mae came into the living room in the middle of the party wearing a dress that showed almost all her front, except for the nipples, which I knew you could never show. The party ended soon after that, and as I was sitting on the porch, I heard the woman talking to each other as they left. And they were calling Aunt Mae all sorts of names like I had never heard before and I really didn’t know the meaning of until I was almost ten years old† (Toole 6). Toole was able to use this situation to exemplify how pity, jealous, and shallow small town women can be. This four-year- old boy was subjected to hearing some awful things said about his Aunt that these women would have never said to her face. She chose to dress differently than these judgmental women and there is nothing that brings people closer together than a common enemy. In a larger environment, like a city, little things, like outfits, are so much more irrelevant than they are in small towns where there is not much to talk about. Aunt Mae is actually a very caring and kind woman but these small town women judge her character based on the way she presents herself. This specific interaction with the townspeople and Aunt Mae represents the judgment that was often a large part of the small town mentality. While the women judged Aunt Mae, the men both ogled and mocked her for having the audacity to show some skin. David recalls, â€Å"the men were always nice, though, but used to laugh about her when she wasn’t around. It made me feel bad when they did, because there wasn’t a man in town that Mae didn’t like† (Toole 10). Ironically, the men are even more two-faced than the women in this small town. They are kind and even sometimes flirty to her face but then they make fun of her with each other behind her back. David, the narrator, looking back and remembering how terrible he felt for Aunt Mae when he was so young makes the reader realize how judgmental the townspeople really were. Toole was able to make the reader see the ugly side of small towns with the various negative reactions to Aunt Mae purely based on her appearance. Aunt Mae was the first object of reticule for the town presented in the novel, but unfortunately, she was not the last. David’s entire family was very harshly judged after David’s father lost his job. David’s first teacher, Mrs. Watkins, vocalizes the things that have been going around about David’s family to David in an attempt to humiliate him. When he is late to class one day, she says, â€Å"’He’s one of the poor folks that lives up on the hills and don’t have the money to buy an alarm clock’† (Toole 43). Then, after David accidentally lets out a belch, Mrs. Watkins slaps him hard across the face and says, â€Å"I hope the Lord will be merciful with you for your behavior to those trying to instruct you in His path. You and your family are fallen-away Christians. You are not on the church rolls anymore. I see that. I see all those things† (Toole 44). Mrs. Watkins is judging David’s family, who barely has enough money to buy food, for not tithing anymore. Toole was able to present the unspoken rules of a religious, small town society with these statements from Mrs. Watkins. Although families are not forced to give to the church weekly, if they do not, their faith is questioned and their â€Å"sins† are judged by those who follow Jesus Christ, a man who ironically stressed forgiveness in his teachings. Another point that often came up in Christ’s teachings was to love thy neighbor, but the people in the valley were never able to illustrate that lesson. During the time frame of the novel, World War II was taking place and many of the boys in the valley were drafted to fight. Some, like David’s father, never came back. Others came back and married girls who they had known their whole lives, but there were a few that came back with foreign women. When the revival comes to town, the boys of the valley had not yet returned home. Bobbie Lee Taylor, the revival’s speaker, vocalizes the fears of all the mothers of the soldiers in the audience by saying, â€Å"‘Every day more soldiers and sailors and marines and colonels and privates and lieutenants are taking up with foreign women and even marrying them! Do you want your son to return home with a foreign wife, maybe even a heathen? †¦ Do you want a Chinese in your house taking care of your grandchildren, nu rsing them from her breast?’† (Toole 69) Bobbie Lee Taylor may not have been from the valley, but he expressed the fears of most everyone in the crowd with his sermon. These people were afraid of that which they did not know, and these women from Europe and Asia who their sons were bringing home were too different. They did not want their family bloodline being soiled by other races and believed these women were â€Å"heathens† just because they were a different ethnicity. Toole highlighted the racist, prejudice, and elitist mindsets that were synonymous with living in a small town in the south at that time. One of the audience members that Bobbie Lee’s speech particularly affected was Flora, a woman from the valley. After the sermon was over, Aunt Mae and Flora had a conversation about Bobbie Lee’s words. David recalled, â€Å"She worried about what Bobbie Lee said†¦ She told Aunt Mae she didn’t want any Chinee grandbabies on her knee with their dangerous-looking mother hanging around the house† (Toole 75). Regardless of who the woman was or how much the son cared about the woman, Flora would not have accepted this woman that her son brought home or the children he conceived with her. The very idea of her son marrying someone of a different race scares her enough to write him a letter warning him. Many of these small town types can be very closed minded and ignorant, using prejudice as a defense mechanism for that which is different and strange to them. While some of the townspeople, like Flora, only talked about their fears, others, like the Preacher, actually took action. After the war was over and the soldiers returned home, David recalls, â€Å"Some of the men came back to the valley with women they married in Europe. The town people wouldn’t have anything to do with them, so they all got together and moved to the capital. On the radio the preacher said it was good riddance and that he didn’t want to see the good American blood of the valley lose its purity. That won a lot of the town people back on his side, so pretty soon the church rolls were filled again and kept on growing. Some got together in the church hall and organized a society to keep the valley blood pure and Christian and free from the heathen blood that might ruin it and bring damnation to the valley. Not everyone in town joined it, but it had a pretty big membership. It met once a week for a while until all the soldiers who weren’t killed go t home, and then they didn’t need it anymore† (Toole 95). The preacher is a prime example of small town prejudice. He does not hide the fact that people from outside of the town, especially those of differing races or ethnicities, are not welcome. If they do try to establish themselves in the valley, they will ultimately be forced out, allowing the town to retain its purity. These couples are forced to move to the capital where mixed marriages are far more accepted than they are in the valley. By mentioning this â€Å"society,† Toole was able to present how ridiculous he thought the close-mindedness associated with small towns was. The narrator, David, never specifically gives his opinion about the prejudice against the foreign women, but the tone in which the recollection about it is written expresses Toole’s disapproval. Toole uses the preacher to exemplify this small town discrimination again when the preacher decides to institutionalize David’s mother, regardless of the family’s wishes.