Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Essay Example for Free

Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Essay The two poems I am comparing; Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat by Thomas Gray and To a Mouse by Robert Burns were both written in the eighteenth century, which makes it interesting to make a comparison of their content, style and techniques, to see how poems of the eighteenth century differ from each other.  Both of the poems feature an animal as the main subject of the poem. In Grays poem he has a house cat as the main focus of the poem whilst Burns dedicates his poem to a field mouse. Both these animals come to an unfortunate end. The cat due to curiosity tumbled headlong into a tub of gold fishes This supports the well known phrase curiosity killed the cat In the poem it refers to the cat as actually loosing 9 lives: Eight times emerging from the flood  She mewd to evry watry God.  No one arrives to save her:  No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirrd :  Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heared.  The dolphin is included in the list of possible rescuers because it is a reference to the classical legend of the harpist, Arion, being saved by a dolphin which had been entranced by his music, much in the same way the cat wanted to be saved by someone who heard its meowing.  Ã‚  In Burnss poem the mouse unlike the cat does not actually die, but it is made clear that the prospects for the mouse are bleak due to its home being destroyed by the plough and the fact winter is coming and the mouse has no time to build another home for itself: Now thous turnd out, for a thy trouble,  But house or hald,  To thole the Winters sleety dribble,  Ancraneuch cauld!  The poems are both basically about a particular ill-fated animal but each has a deeper meaning and message through anthropomorphism.  The cat in Grays poem is given feminine characteristics: a fair round face illustrates the ideal image of an eighteenth century womans face. Gray also uses metaphors to describe the cat which also apply to a ladys jewels and adornments: The velvet of her paws,  Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,   Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes.  In verse four the comparison of the cat to a woman is made even clearer:  She stretchd in vain to reach the prize.  What female heart can gold despise?  What cats averse to fish?  It is clear here that Gray is illustrating how women are seduced by the desire for gold as cats are seduced by the desire for fish. The anthropomorphism continues in verses 5 and 7:  Presumptious maid and  From hence you Beauties, undeceivd  Know one false step is neer retrieved.  The last lines of the poem contain a moral:  Not all that tempts your wandring eyes  And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;  Nor all that glisters gold. Through the cat Gray created a cautionary tale specifically aimed at women. Its a warning not to be tempted by what is not rightly theirs, and not to be seduced by glittering appearances because it may not be as good as it looks on the outside.  Gray is very direct with his message of warning to women but he writes in a light-hearted way throughout. However, Burns poem is much more serious and sombre. He uses anthropomorphism like Gray to get his message across through an animal, in this case the mouse is used to highlight the social and moral problems that he felt existed in both the public and in his own family His father died after eighteen years of hard work as a farmer. After his fathers death they had little money, leaving them no choice but to sublease a farm in order to keep their home. These experiences were brought through in to his poem when the mouse had its home destroyed by the plough:

Privacy of Digitized Personal Information Essay -- Private Privacy Inf

Privacy of Digitized Personal Information Privacy of personal information is a fundamental right of any person. No one wants his/her private details to be known to other people, especially ones who they are not familiar with. However, human society is based on cooperation between people. Society simply cannot function without this vital interaction between two human beings. No one is that capable or skillful enough to fulfill his/her daily requirements alone. The very fabric of society exists because a person has to depend on other people to get things done. Whenever one person talks to another, he/she unknowingly reveals a certain amount of personal information such as physical features, personality, character, etc. It is impossible to hide this information as revealing of this information to other people is unavoidable. In order to fulfill has/her daily wants and needs, a person has to trust quite a number of individuals with some unique information. The process is reciprocal, i.e., the individuals have to also reveal certain information to build an atmosphere of trust. However, human avarice knows no bounds. People always face incidences where their private information is revealed to unscrupulous individuals, who take undue advantage of this information for their own ends. In most cases, this results in loss of credibility or harm to the victims. This is called as identity theft. Therefore, the pros and cons of releasing one's personal information have to be carefully weighed and examined before any hasty so-called remedial actions can be taken. Technology has revolutionized the realm of commerce and industry that we know today. The Internet is the central axis around which all these financial and marketing activ... ...use and propagation of this information to respect the privacy of the individual. Only time will tell if an innovative solution is found to balance the two. Personally, I would prefer the utilitarian approach, as lack of privacy is not going to drastically affect anybody. As a matter of fact, it could mean saving thousands of lives. I wouldn't bother too much if anybody could access my personal information, unless it is used to malign or denigrate me in any way. The Utilitarian approach is not perfect, as it can still be misused. But, it still appears as the best choice. Sources Cited: http://www.nasscom.org/download/Data_Privacy.pdf http://ethics.acusd.edu/theories/Rights/index.html http://ethics.acusd.edu/theories/Utilitarianism/index.html http://ethics.acusd.edu/theories/Aristotle/index.html http://www.stanford.edu/~hammond/SienaLect.pdf

Sub-Cultures within the Latino Culture in America

There are many different cultures and people from different ethnic backgrounds throughout all of the United States. We have many different people that migrated here from all types of countries and from all of the continents. The main culture I will be talking about today in my interviews is the Mexican culture. The Latino culture contains many sub cultures including many South American countries and Central America. This will be an in depth interview of Mexican culture, but it is only a small fraction compared to the amount of different cultures we have in our country today.The first person that I interviewed was my girlfriend, Amarise Christine Morales. Amarise was born in Tulare, Ca, but has lived in Fresno, Ca most of her life. Her family originated from Guadalajara, Mx. She says her family has many traditions for different types of events or purposes. For example, every New Years her abuela will cook a big 5 gallon pot of menudo. Every Christmas Eve her family will get together a nd make tamales for the holidays. â€Å"It’s a very fun time with the family and we all stay up late eating and opening presents† said Amarise.On Christmas Eve it’s a tradition for them to go to Midnight Mass and afterwards they open up their gifts. â€Å"One thing that’s easy to notice about my family, we all speak Spanish† said Amarise. â€Å"If you’re around my family and you want to speak to my grandparents, you must speak to them in Spanish. If you do not, its kind of like insulting to them. † Church is also a major tradition in Mexican Culture. Amarise was baptized when she an infant. She made her communion when she was in the fourth, her family was very proud. She then continued to make her confirmation in her early teenage years.This made her grandparents even more proud of her and showed her obedience to Jesus El Padre. When Amarise turned 15 years old she had a quinceyera. She says it was her favorite birthday out of them al l. She had a huge party at a hall with her friends and cousins in the quince. They were all dressed so nice and formal, and Amarise had a beautiful turquoise dress that her Abuelita had bought for her. Over 150 people attended and she had received many gifts and lots of money. One thing that she kept saying was that there are no better fiestas than a Mexican fiesta.She describes her family get togethers with lots of food and appetizers like chips and salsa, guacamole, and drinks like horchata. They love barbequing for the days when their favorite soccer team, Chivas, play on tv. During Christmas time a week before the 25th, her family will take a trip to Mexico to visit her great grandpa. Usually the family will come back after Christmas, but her Abuela will stay until February. Her great grandpa passed away about 6 months ago at the age of 95. He was a great man that owned his own dairy in Mexico, he left his dairy and all his belongings to all of his kids.Amarise’s Abuela e nded up receiving all of the livestock and she sold them to another dairy in Mexico for well over $200,000. I asked Amarise about any folk tales or scary stories she used to hear as a kid and she told me about three main ones. First was the Chupacabra, which is a made up legend about a weird animal that is mixed species and it kills livestock and sucks their blood dry. I’ve also heard of this story when I was child so it wasn’t knew hearing it. Another story was about the llorona, which meant the lady that cries.She was a lady that drowned her children in a river, and whenever Amarise went camping she said her older cousin would always tease her and scare her about it. The last urban legend was the Cocui, which was the Mexican Boogey Man that lived under your closet and bed. All of these are Mexican stories and folktale that many familes pass on. The second person I interviewed was Amarise’s grandmother, Maria Guadalupe Carpio Morales. I had to have Amarise tran slate our questions and answers because my Spanish isn’t fluent enough. Maria Morales was born in Guadalajara Mexico on May 25th 1945.Her mother Sophia and father Carlos Carpio lived on a 50 acre ranch in Guadalajara, Mexico. They owned their own dairy farm and sold many goods such as livestock, dairy products such as milk, cheese, and butter. Maria’s mother Sophia died when she was a young child at the age of 10 years old. It was devastating but their family of eight kept strong and continued to survive. When Maria was 14 her family decided for them to have a better life then they should come to America. He wanted his children and their children to have more opportunities than he did. So their brothers and sisters ended up getting heir legal papers in Mexico, and then drove across the boarder for a long trip to Stockton, California.Her father stayed in Guadalajara to manage the family business with her oldest sister Sophia, named after her mother. That summer Maria an d her brothers and sisters started working in the fields in Stockton. Maria’s job was packing fruit like apricots, peaches, strawberries and all other types of fruits and vegetables. She also did a lot of the harvesting at Beacon’s Island. To Maria, Mexican culture revolves all around your family, morals, and traditions and religion. You have to be proud of where you come from, Mexican culture is about being proud of who you are† said Maria. â€Å"My Father taught all of my brothers and sisters to look out for one another because with out family you have nothing. † Ever since Maria born her family has been very religious. She was baptized in a church is Guadalajara, but she does not recall the name of it. She has been a practicing Catholic woman since all she can remember. Every Saturday even until this very day she attends mass at 6:45pm to 7:30pm. She refers to Jesus as Mi Padre Jesus.There are many traditions that Maria has in her life and that she has taught to her family. When a person dies she prays the Rosery prayer to the Virgin Mary for nights in a row to essentially pray that persons soul into heaven. She also practices lint, which is 40 days before Easter Sunday when Jesus walked 40 days and 40 nights without eating anything. So on Ash Wednesday she gives up something that’s valuable to her, but she did not tell us what that was. She said its not good to flaunt what you given up because its disrespectful to who your doing it for, Jesus.During Lent Season to avoid eating meat on Fridays Maria will cook either fish, like ceviche or shrimp to substitute for the meat. She loves making shrimp cocktail as well as her kids and grandkids. The only time she ever worked was in the fields. Later on in life she moved to Los Angeles with her sisters. It was there where she met Elano Morales, her husband until this day. She stopped working once they became married to raise a family and take care of her three children. One of thos e children was Carlos Morales, the first generation to be born here in the United States.He is the father of Amarise who I earlier had interviewed. Maria now lives in Tulare, CA with her husband and some relatives. She continues to pass on the traditions and morals that were passed onto her and only hopes that her grandchildren will continue to her families story. I learned many new things about Mexican culture when interviewing my girlfriend and her grandmother. But I also realized that I wasn’t much different from them. A lot of these things I have already heard of or learned about. For example, all the folklore and scary stories were stories my grandparents told me.Another thing that is similar is that my grandparents also worked in the fields when they were young. This shows me that everyone’s connected in a way and we know more about one another than we thought. Even though we all come from many different backgrounds, there are many similarities. I believe that th is assignment made me a better person and less judgmental of people that do not know how to speak English, regardless of their race. This project really opened me up to new ideas and showed me a different side to the word culture and what it means to Latinos and Latinas.

Why Do Italians Consider Friday the 17th Unlucky

When Friday the 13th comes around in the Western world, people start talking about possibilities of unfortunate things happening, and while the superstition runs deep in many countries, including America, Finland, and the Philippines, you won’t find anyone in Italy stressing out on the 13th. In fact, the number 13 is considered good luck in Italy! That’s because in Italian culture, the number 17—not 13—is considered unlucky, and when it comes to Friday the 17th, some would even call it â€Å"un giorno nero - a black day†. So why all the fuss about Friday the 17th? Why 17 Is Considered Unlucky Some believe that this belief started in Ancient Rome  because when the number 17 is viewed as the Roman numeral XVII, and then changed anagrammatically to VIXI, it reminds Italians of the Latin language phrase which translates to I have lived, which can be understood as, My life is over. What’s more, in the Old Testament of the Bible, it’s said that the great flood happened on the 17th of the second month. So why Friday? It’s said that Friday is considered unlucky because of Venerdà ¬ Santo, known as Good Friday, which was the day of Jesus’ death. Furthermore, the unluckiest day of all would be if Friday the 17th fell in November because November the 2nd is a memorial day to the deceased in Italy. This surprisingly beautiful holiday is called All Souls’ Day and directly follows All Saints’ Day on November 1st. When that occurs, November is called the month of the deceased. How Strong the Superstition Is While many people won’t bat an eye at the seemingly unlucky date, many will take the day off of work to avoid leaving the house, won’t have any important meetings, get married, or make any important decisions. There are others who carry around lucky charms, called i portafortuna, like a rabbit’s foot. Italians also carry charms, like a small, red horn pendant, a horseshoe, or an old hunchbacked man in their pockets, bags or homes, which are all derived from the Neapolitan tradition. You may hear a proverb, like â€Å"Nà © di venere, nà © di marte ci si sposa, nà © si parte, nà © si da principio allarte! It means â€Å"Not on Friday nor on Tuesday one marries, one leaves, or one starts something.† When it comes to businesses, the Italian airline carrier, Alitalia, does not have a seat 17 in the same way that many hotels in America don’t include the thirteenth floor. Renault sold its R17 model in Italy as R177. Finally, at the Cesana Pariol the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Cesana, Italy, turn 17 is named Senza Nome. Important Vocabulary Here are some key vocabulary words, so you can bring unlucky Friday the 17th up as a topic with your Italian friends and family. Portare sfortuna - To bring bad luckIl portafortuna - Lucky charmLa sfortuna/sfiga  - Bad luckLa zampa di coniglio - Rabbit’s footL’Antica Roma - Ancient RomeI superstiziosi - Superstitious (people)Thirteen - TrediciSeventeen - DiciassetteFriday - Venerdà ¬Un giorno sfortunato - An unlucky dayLa bibbia - The bibleL’Antico Testamento - The Old TestamentIl diluvio universale - The great floodLe leggende - LegendsLe credenze - BeliefsI miti - MythsIl Giorno dei Morti - All Souls’ DayLa Festa di Ogni Santi - All Saints’ Day