The Pit and the Pendulum Essay Example for Free

The Pit and the Pendulum Essay There are some stories, where the objects that are described or portrayed play a more important part of the story than what we believed. In The Pit and the Pendulum, a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe there is certain symbolism that adds meaning to the story. The narrator is telling the story from a dungeon in Toledo, Spain as a prisoner during the Spanish Inquisition. In the story, there are certain objects that have important symbolism for the drama, since they lead the narrator to his death. This story is one of Poe’s more popular works since he creates a dark atmosphere, adds suspense and a deep meaning to these symbols. His symbolism transmits the theme of man struggles to survive. The symbols make the narrator face his main problem and emphasize what he feels while characterizing his emotions. The pit is the most important symbol in the story. The narrator almost faces death by falling on the edge of the pit, realizing how close to death he had been because the pit had a deep surface. The pit represents death or descending into hell. It can be interpreted as death because for the narrator, it is something unknown, he didn’t know that the pit was there, or how deep it was. The same happens with death, nobody really knows what happens after we die or where is it exactly where we go. In the story, the pit is portrayed as this frightening symbol that can also be interpreted as hell. Since hell is the belief of a place where people go after death because the y have sinned, the narrator is considered to be guilty of a crime he did not commit, he doesn’t deserve to die in the pit, or according to the symbolism, burning in hell. At the beginning of the tale, the narrator describes the seven tall candles that remind him of angels that later turn into meaningless spectres, with heads of flame. The meanings that Thoreau wants to give to these candles are a sign of hope, followed by disappointment and desperation. The fact that he imagined angels coming to his rescue means that he was holding on to his life, not giving up until those angels turned into devil, and then his perception changed into thinking that he was all alone and abandoned. â€Å"And then my vision fell upon the seven fall candles upon the table. At first they wore the aspect of charity, and seemed white slender angels who would save me; but then, all at once, there came a most deadly nausea over my spirit, and I felt every fiber  in my frame thrill as if I had touch ed the wire of a galvanic battery, while the angel forms became meaningless spectres, with heads of flame, and I saw that from them there would be no help.† The pendulum that is portrayed in the story is a symbol that represents time. As the pendulum descends more and more, the narrator realizes that is coming right to him, willing to take him to his unbearable death. In the story, time is a crucial element, since the narrator has his seconds counted before facing his death, which luckily, he escapes. â€Å"It was the painted figure of Time as he is commonly represented, save that in lieu of a scythe he held what at a casual glance I supposed to be the pictured image of a huge pendulum, such as we see on antique clocks.† The pendulum is an instrument for torture since it involves death itself while counting off the seconds until the end. The symbolism that the objects project in the story emphasizes what Poe wanted to add or represent the meaning that is beyond what he wanted the narrator in the story to portray. The symbols connect the narrator to what is actually happening in the story and make the reader understand better. In t his case, the symbols that were utilized are vital for the story, without them, the story would not have the same meaning and this happens with a lot of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems, it is an element that identifies them. Works Cited Short Stories: The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe. Short Stories: The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. Cover letter: I found the story very interesting I thought that the symbols were not hard to interpret. I decided to analyze the symbols because they are a very important part of the story, even though I did not analyze all of them, but I choose the three that I considered more relevant to the story My essay is concise and easy to read and understand. I included a lot of examples like direct quotes from the text that support my body paragraphs. That was what I liked the most about my essay, the quotes that I included,  because it gives you an idea of the point of view of the narrator and how exactly he felt or what he thought. My introduction is understandable and it gives you the idea of what the essay is going to be about. The body paragraphs explain each of the symbols and I provided examples and analyzed them to make it more clear. My conclusion explains overall what the essay was about and it summarizes the introduction.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck :: Of Mice and Men Essays

Introduction. 'Of Mice and Men' is written by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The novel is set in the 1930s during the great depression in California. The two prominent characters, George and Lennie are farm workers who have a dream of one-day owning their own ranch. They find work in a ranch near Soledad, after escaping from Weed because of George's incident. They are met by different characters on the farm that all have a dream. Lots of farm workers would share the dream of all one day owning some land of their own. This dream became very popular and was named the 'American Dream.' Its people came from every country and background with the one belief that America would bring them wealth and happiness. For very many others, America offered escape from poverty and starvation. It was a new country, an undiscovered one. In Europe land had always been the key to money and status. Only in America could the poor of Europe hope to own their own land. The country became more and more heavily populated as the word got around of gold mines, and new homes and villages developed creating communities. At its simplest the American Dream was the popular idea that America was a country that allowed men and women to make a clean start. Like all dreams the reality did not always match the dream. However the destruction of the Indians, the American civil war and the creation of city slums were all growing pains of a great country. Yet the dream survived. That is this dream survived until the late 1920s. By then there was no more land to be claimed and America had built up its own rules and laws. This marked the start of the great depression. Farming was badly effected, as over farming had caused huge areas of land to just dry up. This was the creation of the famous 'dust bowl.' Poor crops meant that many of the farmers were unable to pay back the debts they had taken out in the first place to buy the land.

John Proctor is the tragic hero of The Crucible Essay

‘ He is showing he will stop at nothing to get her out of prison and reassuring Elizabeth that she has nothing to worry about. In this scene some of his actions however can be proven to be un-heroic such as the way he treats his servant Mary Warren, this is shown when he says to her ‘ I will bring your guts into your mouth’ suggesting that he will kill her but in a more vicious manner than is truly necessary. This quotes however makes a stronger impact on the audience as Mary Warren is still rather young and is sobbing and its not exactly heroic to reduce a young girl to tears. Act 3 is one of Proctors most heroic scenes, it shows him standing up to a very close knit court, Abigail and all the other accusers, especially when he confesses to his affair with Abigail, which for anyone to do in front of a court must be very hard. ‘ I have known her sir, i have known her’ this means he had sex with her. I believe Miller wrote the character of John Proctor as himself writing the play which is standing up to McCarthyism in the way Proctor is standing up to the court. By telling the court about him and Abigail Proctor shows he is so eager to free his wife that he risks putting himself in jail for adultery which is heroic because he is sacrificing himself for what is right, even though he knows his wife is safe for a year because she is pregnant he still goes through with his claim as he knows it is the right thing to do. Another action that proved him heroic was his gentleness towards Mary Warren after the cruel words he said to her in the last act. In act 4 proctor is yet again very heroic and this scene is where the tragic part comes in because he dies. Proctor though slightly sways towards confessing to witchcraft he says ‘ i want my life’. This shows he is not confessing because he is guilty he is confessing because he wants to stay alive and be with his wife and children. He does however while he is confessing refuse to give any names so he can save his friends ‘ i speak my own sins; i cannot judge another’ this is proving just because he was being weak and confessing to being with the devil he will not condemn another person to an awful fate which he ends up having when he is hanged at the end of this scene which is where the play becomes tragic. In conclusion i think John Proctor is a tragic hero because although he did some un-heroic things such as having an affair and sometimes being unnecessarily vicious he came through in the end, he tried to save his friends and wife, went up against the court and went up against Abigail. All those things show he helps, is honest and stands up for his cause which are all quality’s of a hero. He is a tragic hero because in the course of being a hero he died. This is not the only tragic part though, the fact that nothing came from his death for some time is also tragic, even though Abigail runs away he still gets hung because of how society was in that time and also the court was to embarrassed to admit it had been fooled. It was only some time later that the court finally admitted everything. This comes back to the reason Miller wrote Proctor as he was. In the introduction of the book there is a quote from Miller saying ‘ the political question therefore, of whether witches and communists could be equated was no longer the point. What was manifestly parallel was the guilt, two centuries apart, of holding illicit, suppressed feelings of alienation and hostility toward standard, daylight society as defined by its most orthodox components. ‘ This shows that Miller is not comparing witches and communists, he is simply showing how closely related Americas attitude was towards both and how they accused the ‘standard, daylight society’ of crimes they had nothing to do with and how Miller, like proctor, was risking everything to make a point. Olivia Lee 11. DM Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Malaria in Ghana, Africa Essay - 526 Words

In this paper, I will compare the established health data to the data I gathered from my interview. I will analyze the established health data and statistics in order to find out if the actual health issues correlate to the perceived health issues that my interviewee mentioned. According to a study conducted by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004, 61.9% of communicable diseases accounted for the cause of diseases among Ghanaian, 30.8% of non-communicable diseases accounted for the cause of diseases in this population, and 7.3% of injuries accounted for the cause of diseases in this population. Some of the non-communicable diseases are neuropsychiatric conditions, cardiovascular diseases, oral conditions, and neoplasm†¦show more content†¦The health care work force in Ghana is insufficient and not too many people from Ghana represent their health workforce. From statistics conveyed by the WHO from year 2000 to 2009, 1 out of 10,000 per population is a physician, whereas 10 out of 10,000 populations are nurses. The statistics gathered in 2008 by the WHO on utilization of health services shows that 87% of 1-year-olds have immunization coverage for Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) and 86% have immunization coverage for measles among the same age group. According to statistics gathered in 2006 by the WHO, the mortality rate per 10,000 populations is 109 and the preponderance of HIV among adults aged 15-49 years is 1.9%. The population of Ghanaian using ameliorated drinking-water sources has increased from 54% to 82% and the population using enhanced sanitation has increased from 7% to 13% within the period of 1990 to 2008. Based on the information above, the actual health issues in Ghana and the perceived health issues complement each other. The statistics presented by the actual health issues are similar to the perceived health problems my interviewee mentioned. Some of the perceived health concerns acknowledged by my interview were malaria epidemic, HIV/AIDS pandemic, poor sanitation, and abysmal health care system. Although my intervieweeShow MoreRelatedThe Fight Against Malaria, West Africa1638 Words   |  7 PagesIn Ghana, West Africa, the fight against malaria has been on since the 1950’s (Ghana Health Services, 2014). 3.5 million People contract malaria annually, with 25% of the death of children under the age of 5 tied to malaria (UNICEF, 2007). The effect on malaria on life, economy and productivity is devastating and every attempt aimed at controlling this epidemic is well targeted. 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