Generic Conventions of Documentary

Generic Conventions of Documentary The Purpose of this Essay is to explore the Generic Conventions of Documentary and Documentary photography, comparing the two and to explore how street photography has evolved since its introduction in the late 19th century. This essays primary purpose is to Examine How Street Photography came about and how it has changed since it was revolutionised in the early 20th Century, then it will explore and compare two photographers who forever changed the way that street photography is perceived, The secondary purpose of this essay will be to debate the question, unlike documentary photography, which sets out to record historical events and everyday life, does street photography need a subject in the image in particular with Eugene Atget, who went around photographing various street corners and shops in Paris without a person in the photo. First of all, one must ask the question, exactly what is a photograph? In The Photograph, Graham Clarke Describes the word Photograph as Light Writing, he goes on to say that it also speaks as an underlying concern to control light and time and that the photograph not only signals a different relationship to and over nature, it speaks very much to a sense of power in a way that we seek to construct the world around us Clarke, (1997, P11). In most photographs its left up to the viewer on how they read and perceive a photograph, Graham Clark continues by saying The photograph has a multiple existence which informs its multiple meanings, its seeming simplicity of form and function belies an implicit problematic of sight and representation Clarke, (1997, P11) What Clarke is suggesting to the viewer is that photographs have multiple layers of text conveyed within one image, Clarke wants the viewer to look closer and determine what the photograph means to each person individually and why its being represented in this way In relation to street photography this is the main question to be explored in the second part of this essay. So how does one read a photograph? A picture is worth a thousand words, but how does one interpret them? Every time the viewer sees an image he or she has their own personal view of that image so it falls to the photographer or artist to put their own messages/meanings behind their images and leave the interpretation open to the viewer, Photographic Art Generally falls into four main types of photographic genres, Landscape, Portraiture, Fine Art, and Documentary, each picture in each genre gives off a different emotional response In Particular Eugene Atget and Cartier Bressons Photographic styles would fall into the Landscape Documentary categories. So lets look at what these two categories are, in photography; The Key Concepts, David Bate describes documentary photography as Telling a story with pictures, Documentary photography gave new life and social function, Documentary aimed to show in an informal way the everyday lives of ordinary people, to other ordinary people -ÂÂ   Bate, (2009, P45). This emerged as popular practise following the First World War, and began to develop through the 20th century, after the horrors of the First World War, more and more photographers went out and photographed everyday events happening to normal everyday people out in the streets, this social documentary work went on to dominate the early 20th century with people undertaking projects based on the after effects on war and how it changed the lives of everyday peoples lives forever, One such example would be the 1972 accidental napalm attack in the Vietnamese war, one of the most reproduced images of that time, Robert Haeberles People abo ut to be shot which Clarke describes as An anonymous war machine raining down napalm accidentally on innocent children but such a narrative cannot deflect us from the presence of intense agony Clarke (1997, P160) By looking at this photo the reader is invited to feel all the emotions these children went through, screams, cries and sorrow, but the photographer is trying to invite the reader to understand that although we can see visually how horrible the events were, that theres nothing more horrible than what the innocent subjects were going through, The Photographer Robert Haeberles statement himself guys were about to shoot these people I yelled hold it and shot my pictures, M16s opened up and from the corner of my eye I saw bodies falling but I did not turn to look Rovert Haeberle Clarke, (1997, P160). Next theres Landscape Photography, there are many different narratives that landscape photography could fall in to, but the main thing to think about with street photography in landscapes is what is the photographer attempting to show the reader in a landscape picture? Is it just the environment, the place, or is it perhaps a landscape being dominated by the presence of humans in the photograph, In David Bates Photography, the key concepts, Bate goes on to say what this means is that whatever is seen is always coded via the picture. Therefore HOW the material is seen in the picture, the way it is pictured, is as critical as what is shown Bate, (2009, P90) the photographer is encouraging the reader to think of the bigger picture of what the landscape photograph represents, Roger Fenton, one of the early Pioneers in photography was one of the first to make the reader question and think about what they were viewing, his approach was to places that had been established as tourist areas, places that people already had a view on, places of great beauty and social harmony In his approach to landscape Fenton both reflects a highly specific cultural vocabulary based on literature and painting, this sense of the photographer as privileged tourist is underscored by the way Fenton often photographed tourist areas which had already been depicted in painting and literature his images reflect the leisurely assumptions of a class of people who looked upon landscape scenery in aesthetic and philosophical terms (Clarke, 1997, P56). The photograph often gives off a hint of a unified Britain, but Fenton, a war photographer, is trying the challenge the readers views and make you see the bigger picture, look beyond the picture and think of problems that may have been going on around that area at the time. This brings the essay on to Part two, firstly unlike Documentary Photography, does Street Photography need a person in the photo? As mentioned earlier in the essay this is left very open to the viewer to make their mind up, Eugene Atget didnt think it did, Eugene Atget was one of the main pioneers in 20th century street photography, and most of his work was done on the streets of Paris, his photos that do have people are very surreal, questioning our perception of what is dream and what is reality, looking at one of Atgets pieces of work, A Corner, rue de seine, As quoted by Clive Scott in Street Photography, From Atget to Cartier Bresson Perhaps the most celebrated photograph of this street is the one that Atget took on an early May morning in 1924, a photo of a wedge shaped building at the corner of the rue de seine, The oblique view shown here emphasizes the rapid foreshadowing created by the wide angle lens, the distortion produced by the lens also gives the building a marked pre cariousness, is this tilting to the right a consequence of intoxication or old age? The building has open eyes, only on the third and fourth floors at the near end, everywhere else in the building is sealed in somnolence or death -(Scott, 2007, P178/P180) The Photograph is a very surreal image which is challenging the reader to try decode its many layers, The viewer sees it as an image with a lot of gothic potential, the mist adds to this effect, and the building is shown to be in disrepair, so although the image is shown without subjects, theres a much deeper hidden meaning, a very dark and dreary meaning that could perhaps signal a change in cultures, the building is old, very pre-World War One, perhaps this image also trying to indicate a struggle to adapt to the new world after war, also although most of the text in image is left blurred or too small to read, we can clearly read the words petit bouif which is actually a shoe repair shop, which Atget is also well known for photog raphing,ÂÂ   we also see the pictures of what we assume are lost family pets, again we can relate this back to the time, 6 years after the world war ended what exactly has Paris become. Moving on to Cartier Bresson,ÂÂ   much of his work is not actually considered documentary photographer, he was a revolutionary photographer who couldnt really be placed into any single genre, he did almost every type of photography you could do, but although he wasnt a documentary photographer, one of his most well-known images that Im going to look at is, the photo was taken outside the train station saint lazar, although colour camera did not exist at this time Bresson noticed the rain in the foreground, and the beautiful mist like feature blocking the houses in the background, and by chance he saw a man jumping over the picture which he then snapped on his black and white camera, we can see from the picture that the man was caught in mid motion, the blur that has appeared from the mans speed but also the contrast makes the picture stand out more, so we have to ask the question, had the man not been there jumping over the ladder when Bresson snapped him, would this have becom e arguably Bressons most well-known photograph? Although there is still a lot going on in the picture, such as the ladder and rubble in front of it, the railowsky sign clearly visible in the midground, and even the other person visible near the background, at least in this case although Bresson may not have been a documentary photographer, this picture is a documentary photograph Reference List: Scott, Clive. Street Photography. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007. Print. Bate, D. (2009). Photography. Oxford: Berg. Clarke, G. (1997). The photograph. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Career Of Ray Charles Music Essay

The Career Of Ray Charles Music Essay Ray Charles has been described by many of his contemporaries, Such as Frank Sinatra, who said, Ray Charles is the only genius in the business. I am going to discuss to what extent Ray Charles contributed to popular music. Ray grew up alongside both gospel and country music and was heavily influenced by these two genres. I am going to discuss how through his integration of gospel and rhythm and blues in releases such as I Got a Woman helped Ray create his own musical identity but ultimately helped to create a whole new musical style Soul. Finally I will discuss how his fusion of white country music through Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music helped to break barriers and introduced country music to a mainstream audience. Nat King Cole and pianist-singer Charles Brown, much to similar style of Cole had a great effect on Ray Charles. Ray closely imitated these artists as a teenager and during his time with Swing Time Records, headed by Jack Lauderdale. However, for Ray too be more successful he would have develop his own musical identity. During the 1950s Ray Charles would begin to blend RB and secularise gospel styles, which would ultimately lead to birth of Soul. He would begin to incorporate the chord changes, song structures, call and response techniques, and vocal screams of gospel. The influence gospel had on Ray is present from an early age. Ray grew alongside church music and would listen to Wings Over Jordan and the Golden Gate Quartet. During his time at school he would regularly sing in a choir and also organise his own informal singing group, which would sing rhythmic gospel music. In 1953 Whilst recording for singer Tommy Ridgeley at the JM Studio, New Orleans, Ray would play a couple of tunes after the session. He performed Feeling Sad funeral march and Guitar Slims and Rays I Wonder Who. His performance is characteristically blues, as ray weeps his way through the lyrics as horns drone sombre chords. However as Micheal Lydon states that after re-listening, Ray opens his voice in baby steps, exploring how to shade his vocal textures. This recording shows that Ray would need to push himself further with his emotional range. Around his birthday after Ray begins to widen his emotional range his friends in New Orleans would notice a change he began to sound like a gospel singer. Trumpeter Wallace Davenport recalls The first time I heard him I thought he was Charles Brown, then he started getting into that church thing. As Ray began to incorporate gospel into his music he would listen to gospel radio and read the Braille bible he carried. Renald Richard explained how Ray loves the blues singers like Joe Turner, but most of all he loved gospel singersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦He used to talk about Archie Browne, the lead singer with the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, how much he liked them. He would then begin to sound like them by turning and playing around with his notes, which would be much to the enjoyment of the audience. Later on in December 1953 whilst with Atlantic Records, Armet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler would listen to four arrangements Ray had made on radio station, WDSU. In this you can hear three distinct elements: Jazz, Deep Blues and fervid Gospel, coming together in an early stage, not a sound which is fully refined but one that sounds like Ray Charles. If there was a single turning point in the career of Ray Charles, it probably occurred on November the 18th 1954 at a radio station in Atlanta. It was here Ray and his recently formed band would record I Got a Woman. This was his first hit Ray had with a gospel influence. In October 1954, Ray was touring with his first band toward Indianna. Whilst searching the radio stations he would stop when he found a gospel station. Renald Richard remembered vividly a gospel tune that came on with a good groove and started singing. Ray sang something like I got a woman and I answered yeh she lives cross town then shes good to me. Renald then wrote the song for the next morning to the satisfaction of Ray. I Got a Woman is an archetypal 16 bar secularisation of My Jesus is all the World to me. Others have seen it as a straight rewrite of I Got a Saviour. The songs Ray had performed before like The Suns Gonna Shine had the hortatory tones of a preacher in the pulpit. I Got a Woman was a preacher a t a picnic. Light heartened gospel spiritual joy into sexual delight. It would lift the listener with each of its 4 bar chord change, confirming his optimistic lyrics. Just as the church would joyfully celebrate the glory of God. I got a woman was a record for every happy couple in America, black, white and in-between. The band first performed I Got a Woman for Ahmet and Jerry as they arrived at the Peacock club in Atlanta. Ahmet described how the power and precision had stunned Jerry. Jerry stated that something fantastic had happened, Ray had hatched, ready for fame. Through blending gospel with blues, Ray had the first time fused two strict idioms. In the African-American community the blues and gospel are both part of their culture. However a blues singer didnt sing gospel and a gospel singer didnt sing the blue. It was taboo. Many people believed that it was sacrilegious to mix blues with spirituals says Big Bill Broonzy and American blues singer. However, it quickly rose to the top of the charts in early 1955, the success of I got a woman being down to good attention from both white and black markets. Before, Ray had recorded songs like Mess Around by Ahmet Ertegà ¼n, which were big in the RB charts but not the white charts. A year after its first recording, Elvis Presley would confirm the impression it made by his own cover of I Got a Woman at RCA. In Jan 1955 Billboard quotes as I Got a Woman as one of the most infectious blues sides to come out since the summer. At the following recording session for Atlantic in Miami. Rays defining sound would be clearly and precisely heard. Ray recorded four charts, two straight blues and two gospel charts. The gospel songs This Little Girl of Mine and A Fool For You would reiterate Rays push of his gospel influence. This Little Girl of Mine is an up tempo shouter with a rhythmic Latin feel based on the gospel song This Little Light of Mine. A Fool For You is a 6/8 double time waltz with Rays sanctified singing but without the heavenly lyrics, accompanied by piano gospel licks and preaching horns. Although, like I Got a Woman these two gospel and RB charts was seen as sacrilegious, the mix Ray had created appealed to so many audiences across the nation, and introduced a new music that would have a lasting effect, which would be later labelled as Soul music. As the 1950s progressed vocal groups following Ray Charles, began to add a sense of urgency and meaning- Soul, to their style of music resulting in the groups of Motown and others, including groups like the Chicago based family band called the Staple Singers who had hit songs which were centred around Gospel and RB. Their success followed on into the 1970s. In the late 1950s into the 1960s girl groups joined male Doo-Wop and RR groups, which resulted in groups like The Shirelles, Marveletess and The Supremes. Their material was largely written by the Brill Building writers and received hit records but never usually lasted. As Ray Charles added the gospel influence to his music, such as the call and response backing vocal groups like the Raylettes so too did Aretha Franklin. She reinfused her female backing groups with a gospel influence, which are present in her mid 1960s Atlantic recordings. Other artists like James Brown, who started his career as a singer with the Gospel Starlighters, following the style of Reverends Julius Cheeks and Claude Jeter added RB to their style. The vocal urgency and syncopated dance rhythms of gospel along with top notch RB house bands came together most clearly in the music of James Brown. Combining a Little Richard- style act with other theatrics from Joe Tex and a pleading version of Ray Charles gospel/soul. He then recorded his hit Please, Please, Please. In 1959 Ray released Whatd I Say, a song that became a top ten pop hit and would be one of his last singles with Atlantic before his move to ABC. There are clear gospel influences combined with the sexual innuendo in the song made it not only widely popular but very controversial to both white and black audiences. In the middle of the song. Charles indicated that The Raelettes should repeat what he was doing, and the song transformed into a call and response between Charles, The Raelettes, and the horn section in the orchestra as they called out to each other in ecstatic shouts and moans and blasts from the horns. This improvised interchange between himself and the Raylettes and between the band and audience is much like that of a Preacher and his congregation. Ray also uses gospel dialouge with unuh-uhnnh over charles moans and cries. He also uses phrases like shake that thing and I feel alright, and expression for the body instead of the lord. During Rays early life the influence of country and western music is ever present. When Ray Charles was growing up, the south was full of Country or Hillbilly music. Ray explains how there wasnt a single Saturday night that he wouldnt listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. I loved Grandpa Jones and other characters. I could hear what they were doing and appreciate the feeling behind it. Ray would listen to Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, Hank Williams and later Eddie Arnold. I listened to them all the time, I certainly dug it and paid it some mind. In 1948 Ray joined a Hillbilly band called the Florida Playboys. It took just one audition to convince the Playboys that Ray could play country music with genuine flavour, and they hired him, no questions asked about race. For seven months he gigged with the band, playing current country hits of the day like Kentucky Waltz and Anytime in white honky-tonks in and around Tampa, learning to yodel and singing, Waiting All for You. Even as black, blind man, Ray was accepted and applauded just like anyone else by the audience. I could play the music right and I could do country music with as much feeling as any other southernerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. I had been hearing it since I was a baby. Long before the birth of his own country music, Charles looked back with pride on his stint with the Playboys.Lydon. In an outtake of a 1950s recording, Ray plays a limpid country lick. The producer chuckles over the studio intercom and says that he didnt know Ray could play Nashville. Ray then replies Man, Didnt you know I gigged with the Florida Playboys His time with the Florida Playboys, though brief would plant a seed in his mind that would rise during the 1960s. After leaving Atlantic Records in 1959, Ray joined ABC and at the end of 1961. He asked Sid Feller to get together 40 country hits from the last twenty years with the idea to record a country album. Sid Feller had not know at the time that Ray liked County and Samuel Clark and Larry Newton the executives at ABC Records were adamantly opposed to the idea that Charles brought to them. The ABC executives said, You cant do no country-western things.Youre gonna lose all your fans! However Feller believed that Ray understood Country music. He describes how Ray loved the simple plaintive lyrics, and he felt that giving the music a lush treatment would make it different Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a dozen tunes that runs the whole scope of Nashville from the traditional Careless Love to the rock and roll Bye Bye Love and from Hank Williams to the B-side fail of I Cant Stop Loving You. The tracks alternate from big band to string and voice. However regardless of all the jazz and symphonic effects present, the heart of every arrangement is a simple strummed guitar. Rays bluesy melismas wring every tear out of the country weepers, all the poetry out of their monosyllabic lyrics. I Cant Stop Loving You has a folk song strength, major scale melody, marching up and down over 3 chords and operatic grandeur created by his baritone voice and orchestra. He also uses his trademark letting the chorus lead the lyric with his voice following. Ray sings County in his own way, expanding the country sounds without distorting its colour. Rays own blend obscures the fact that Modern Sounds was his boldest album, which breaks many barriers. Invading white country music in the 1960s was something black pop-jazz singers didnt do. You had to be Country in 1962. After Modern Sounds it became a major player in Rays repertoire and on popular music. His unique blend of Country, Pop, Jazz and RB introduced country music to people of the city and showed to record companies and producers how to arrange their music to reach a much wider audience. Ray Charles played a pivotal role in shaping the course of a seemingly very different genre of popular music. In the words of his good friend and sometimes collaborator, Willie Nelson, speaking before Charles death in 2004, Ray Charles the RB legend did more for country music than any other living human being. The landmark album that earned Ray Charles that praise was Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which held at number 1 for 14 weeks and stayed in the charts for 2 years. His single release I Cant Stop Loving You ruled at number 1 on RB and Easy Listening charts for weeks in the summer of 1962 dipping to 3rd in July and beginning to fall in august. As Charles told Rolling Stone magazine a decad e later, But Charles recognized the quality of songs like I Cant Stop Loving You by Don Gibson and You Dont Know Me, by Eddy Arnold and Cindy Walker, and the fact that his version of both of those country songs landed in the Top 5 on both the pop and RB charts was vindication of Charless long-held belief that Theres only two kinds of music as far as Im concerned: good and bad. Following the massive commercial success and notice of Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, country music experienced an immediate increase in popularity. According to music writer Daniel Cooper, the album raised the genres profile, specifically Nashville sound, of which Charles had covered. Benefiting from this were songwriters, music publishers and country singers who covered the subgenres material. As noted by Cooper, by the end of 1962, Nashville country publishers were being held as the hottest source of music material in the record business these days. Ray Charless success with the stylistic fusion of country and soul on Modern Sounds later lead to country soul efforts from performers, such as Candi Staton and Solomon Burke who were both greatly influenced by Charless Modern Sounds recordings. Many country music artists, such as Willie Nelson and Buck Owens, have cited Charless take on country music and Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music as their major influences. In an interview for Country Music Television, Nelson said of Modern Soundss influence that the album did more for country music than any one artist has ever done. Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music has also been perceived by many critics and writers as a landmark album in American music, as the record was the first to blend the two racially distinct genres of country and soul. Ray Charles all-embracing attitude toward music was one that he developed during his childhood and early career. Ray was immersed in the sounds of jazz, blues, gospel and country in his youth, playing in RB bands and a Country Hillbilly band. Ray Charles pioneered soul music, which had a great effect on popular music. In secularising certain aspects of gospel music with RB, Ray received his first gospel and RB hit I Got a Woman, which received attention from both black and white audiences. Subsequently, further releases like Whatd I Say and the Hallelujah I Lover Her So album attracted a large mainstream audience. His fusion of white country music earned Ray mainstream and crossover success, with his album Modern Sound in Country and Western Music which broke racial stereotypes and exposed country music to city dwellers. It also helped other country artists; particularly them orientated around the Nashville sound, reach a wider audience, raising the genres profile. To him, the bounda ries between those styles of music were made to be crossed, and he made a career out of doing just that having a great effect on popular music.

Buffalo Soldiers :: essays research papers

Daily Life on the Western Frontier Daily life for the troops of the 9th and 10th Cavalries was harsh, but, for the most part, it was similar to that of their White counterparts. During the 1860s and 70s, the frontier forts resembled little more than rundown villages, and the enlisted men's barracks were often poorly ventilated, insect infested hovels. The only bathing facilities usually consisted of the local creek. As a result, diseases such as dysentery, bronchitis, and tuberculosis were a common problem. Rations throughout the Indian campaigns consisted mainly of beef or bacon, potatoes, beans, fresh vegetables from the post garden, and sometimes fruit or jam. The work week was seven days, with the exception of the fourth of July and Christmas. The monthly pay for a private was a mere $13. When available, many of the African-American troops spent leisure hours in schools established to alleviate the illiteracy mandated by slavery. The schools were normally run by chaplains assigned to the Black units, for this purpose. Other leisure activities were few, especially for the African-American troops stationed in west Texas. Only a small percentage of enlisted men were able to bring their wives with them to the frontier posts. The small villages which grew up around the forts were usually little more than a collection of saloons and gambling parlors, inhabited by some of the more unsavory characters on the frontier. Here, partially due to the federal government's harsh reconstruction policies, racial prejudice by both local citizens and law officers was severe. When disputes arose among Buffalo Soldiers and locals, the local law and juries consistently sided against the troops. The most serious problem faced by the Army during the Indian War period was desertion. In 1868, the desertion rate for enlisted personnel was approximately 25 percent. Desertions among White regiments were roughly three times greater than those among Black units.

Frustration and Denial in Morrisons Sula Essay -- Sula Essays

Frustration and Denial in Morrison's Sula A book which is most celebrated for its tale about friendship is found to have a more important theme and role in literature. "In Search of Self: Frustration and Denial in Toni Morrison's Sula," the author Maria Nigro believes Sula has much more important themes in modern literature. "Sula celebrates many lives: It is the story of the friendship of two African American women; but most of all, it is the story of community" (1). And it's not just any community is the community of the Bottom. African Americans who are a working class community. Their main problem is surviving. They must work any job they can get so that they and their families can live a life with food and a roof under their head. These jobs and sacrifices shape each of their lives. Nigro claims this is the most important theme in Sula because working-class people have been left out of modern literature. "literature has been created for the cultural elite, and the rest of us have come to consider literature as a reflection of an elitist lifestyle to which the ordinary person cannot hope to relate" (1). Sula proves to fit this hole missing in the literature world. A community that seems to have all the cards stacked against them. Being black during this era, 1915-1965, means fighting for survival. It means scrimping to get by, doing menial jobs, doing all they can to get by. Nigro continues on describing the women of Sula. The struggles of Eva after Boy-Boy leaves, unable to get a decent paying job because she was a black woman. Finding herself sacrificing her leg for the love of her children. How Eva shaped the lives of her ... ...introduction I believed Nigro thought the novel was important because it gave every working-class person a representation in today's literature. But by the end it's clear she meant it gave the African-American working-class person, if not the whole race a representation in today's literature. Even though each group, African-American's and the working-class community, are missing from today's literature; I think Nigro could have made her purpose or thoughts a little more clear. This article gave me a wider prospective on the whole theme of Sula. And since I have chosen to write about the women in Sula and their struggles to survive I found the article very useful in narrowing down my argument. And even though her thesis might have not matched her entire article, Nigro definitely understood Sula, the women, and the many themes of the novel.

City-States in Lower Mesopotamia :: Ancient Egypt Egyptian History

City-states in Lower Mesopotamia Factors that contributed to the emergence of city-states in Lower Mesopotamia and the influence the landscape played in the formation of the civilization which emerged. For this essay I considered the question of what factors contributed to the emergence of city-states in Lower Mesopotamia and the influence the landscape played in the formation of the civilization which emerged. Through my research on this topic I found that there is much evidence to support the claim that landscape was a very large influence on the emergence of civilization and that most of the contributing factors were, in some way, linked to geography. In order to fully understand the topic, I first explored what the definition of civilization is. The first criterion for civilization, that I could think of, is domestication and an agricultural economy capable of producing a stored surplus. From this, I felt the need to examine the origins of Mesopotamian agriculture. With the glacial retreat after the last ice-age (roughly 10000 BC) the Mesopotamian climate improved and many modern plants and animals began to become concentrated in specific areas. Around 9000 BC the vast majority of Mesopotamian peoples were hunter-gatherers. With the concentrations of plants and animals being in specific areas these hunter-gatherers soon began to domesticate those plants and animals and a sedentary village farming pattern arose. This became the predominant way of life around 6000 BC. This change from food collecting to food producing was one of the major transformations in human history. Early peoples no longer had to live the nomadic life of hunter-gatherers but could settle down in permanent housing and produce their own food. It also began an economic change that altered social and political institutions, religion, etc. Domestication is the process of altering plants and animals so that they are no longer bound to the natural habitats of their wild ancestors. In essence they become more productive and useful to people. This process sometimes even includes changes in the genetics of the domesticated plant or animal. In Mesopotamia the major domesticated species of plants were wheat, barley, chickpeas, peas, grapes, olives, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, apricots, dates, and figs. The major domesticated species of animals were cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Some of the genetic changes brought about through domestication and the careful breeding of plants and animals include plants that were bred to have more and bigger useful parts and animals that were initially bred to be smaller and less aggressive, and only later to have more of their useful parts.

The Method of Teaching Conroy’s Used

The â€Å"Water is Wide† takes place on the coast of South Carolina and Yamacraw Island during the nineteen sixties. A man by the name of Pat Conroy offers to teach over on the island, many people on the island have no education and are illiterate. When Conroy gets over to the island he finds himself very disgraceful. The teachers at the school believe that the children cannot be taught. His method of teaching is very different from others. One of Conroy†s goals was to teach the children about America. So he showed them movies and let them listen to American musicians. After doing this about every day, it made an influence in the children†s lives. Big C and Lincoln were the class clowns. They hated the principle because every time they did something bad she would beat them. During most of his time on the island, Conroy stayed with the Skimberry†s. The Skimberry†s were a nice couple named Zeke and Ida. When Halloween came around Conroy decided he wanted to take the children over to Bluffton, South Carolina, or Halloween so they could â€Å"trick or treat.† None of the kids even knew what â€Å"trick or treating† was. After making field trip forms and sending them home with all the children. The children came back with one of them signed. So Conroy went door to door asking begging each of the parents to let their children go. Throughout the story Pat Conroy took the children many places. Unfortunately Mrs. Brown and Ted Stone accused him of doing many wrong things. He was not able to return the next year. Even if Conroy did not teach the children anything, he still felt they would be able to survive in the outside world. I like this book. It made me very thankful that I have a good education. I also like the way Pat Conroy writes. In the future, I hope to read some of his other books. My favorite part of the book was when they would listen to the music of different artists, I also liked when they would play outside and he would tell about how they played so roughly. This was the best book I have read in a long time. The one part I did not really like was how it did not really tell when the story took place. I also did not like all the description. I think people of all ages should read this book. The Method of Teaching Conroy’s Used The â€Å"Water is Wide† takes place on the coast of South Carolina and Yamacraw Island during the nineteen sixties. A man by the name of Pat Conroy offers to teach over on the island, many people on the island have no education and are illiterate. When Conroy gets over to the island he finds himself very disgraceful. The teachers at the school believe that the children cannot be taught. His method of teaching is very different from others. One of Conroy†s goals was to teach the children about America. So he showed them movies and let them listen to American musicians. After doing this about every day, it made an influence in the children†s lives. Big C and Lincoln were the class clowns. They hated the principle because every time they did something bad she would beat them. During most of his time on the island, Conroy stayed with the Skimberry†s. The Skimberry†s were a nice couple named Zeke and Ida. When Halloween came around Conroy decided he wanted to take the children over to Bluffton, South Carolina, or Halloween so they could â€Å"trick or treat.† None of the kids even knew what â€Å"trick or treating† was. After making field trip forms and sending them home with all the children. The children came back with one of them signed. So Conroy went door to door asking begging each of the parents to let their children go. Throughout the story Pat Conroy took the children many places. Unfortunately Mrs. Brown and Ted Stone accused him of doing many wrong things. He was not able to return the next year. Even if Conroy did not teach the children anything, he still felt they would be able to survive in the outside world. I like this book. It made me very thankful that I have a good education. I also like the way Pat Conroy writes. In the future, I hope to read some of his other books. My favorite part of the book was when they would listen to the music of different artists, I also liked when they would play outside and he would tell about how they played so roughly. This was the best book I have read in a long time. The one part I did not really like was how it did not really tell when the story took place. I also did not like all the description. I think people of all ages should read this book.

Literary Genre Essay

Literary genres are determined by literary technique, tone, content and by critics’ definitions of the genres. A literary genre is a category, type or class of literature. Major forms of literature The major forms of Literature are: * Novel * Poem * Drama * Short story * Novella Various forms of literature are written in and further categorized by genre. Sometimes forms are used interchangeably to define genre. However, a form, e. g. , a novel or a poem, can itself be written in any genre. Genre is a label that characterizes elements a reader can expect in a work of literature. The major forms of literature can be written in various genres. Classic major genres Genre is a category characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. The classic major genres of Literature are: * Drama * Romance * Satire * Tragedy * Comedy * Tragicomedy Genre categories: fiction and nonfiction Genre may fall under one of two categories: Fiction and Nonfiction. Any genre can be either: a work of Fiction (nonfactual descriptions and events invented by the author) or a work of Nonfiction (a communication in which descriptions and events are understood to be factual). Common genres: fiction Subsets of genres, known as common genres, have developed from the archetypes of genres in written expression. The common genres included in recommended Literature from kindergarten through Grade Twelve by the CaliforniaÃ'Ž Department of Education are defined as:[1] * Drama – stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action * Fable – narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale * Fairy tale – story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children * Fantasy – fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality * Fiction narrative – literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact * Fiction in verse – full-length novels with plot, subplot(s), theme(s), major and minor characters, in which the narrative is presented in (usually blank) verse form * Folklore – the songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a people or â€Å"folk† as handed down by word of mouth * Historical fiction – story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting * Horror – fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread and sometimes fear in both the characters and the readerÃ'Ž * Humor – Usually a fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain and sometimes cause intended laughter; but can be contained in all genres * Legend – story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, that has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material * Mystery – fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secretsÃ'Ž * Mythology – legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods * Poetry – verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates emotional responses * Realistic fiction – story that is true to lifeÃ'Ž * Science fiction – story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets * Short story – fiction of such brevity that it supports no subplots * Tall tale – humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with nonchalance Common genres: nonfiction * Biography/Autobiography – Narrative of a person’s life. A true story about a real person. * Essay – A short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point. * Narrative nonfiction – Factual information presented in a format which tells a story. * Speech – Public address or discourse. * Textbook – Authoritative and detailed factual description of a topic. Literary fiction vs. genre fiction Literary fiction is a term used to distinguish certain fictional works that possess commonly held qualities that constitute literary merit. Genre works are written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. Literary fiction may fit within a classification of market fiction, but also possesses generally agreed upon qualities such as â€Å"elegantly written, lyrical, and †¦ layered† that appeals to readers outside genre fiction. Literary fiction has been defined as any fiction that attempts to engage with one or more truths or questions, hence relevant to a broad scope of humanity as a form of expression. There are many sources that help readers find and define literary fiction and genre fiction. Literary element A literary element is an element found in the whole works of literature. Literary elements are not â€Å"used† by all authors; instead, they exist inherently in forms of literature and are derived by the readers of a work in question. [1] This distinguishes them from literary techniques, which are less universal and are used intentionally rather than being emergent characteristics of a literary work. For example, characterization, conflict, setting, and point of view would be considered literary elements, whereas irony or foreshadowing are considered literary techniques. Literary elements are most frequently used to help discussion on a work or better understand a work of literature. For instance, the New York State Comprehensive English Regents Exam requires that students utilize and discuss literary elements relating to specific works in each of the two essays,[2] much like many other state-level high school exams nationwide. Literary elements  * antagonist * archetype (prototype/original/classic/model) * characterization * climax * conflict * dialogue * diction * denouement (resolution) * dramatic structure * falling action * language * mood * moral * motif (feature/recurring design) * narrative mode (point of view) * narrative structure * Peripheral (minor/not a central important)Ã'Ž * plot * protagonist * rising action * setting * speaker * syntax * theme * Tone * Literary Analysis: Using Elements of Literature Students are asked to write literary analysis essays because this type of assignment encourages you to think about how and why a poem, short story, novel, or play was written. To successfully analyze literature, you’ll need to remember that authors make specific choices for particular reasons. Your essay should point out the author’s choices and attempt to explain their significance. Another way to look at a literary analysis is to consider a piece of literature from your own perspective. Rather than thinking about the author’s intentions, you can develop an argument based on any single term (or combination of terms) listed below. You’ll just need to use the original text to defend and explain your argument to the reader. Allegory – narrative form in which the characters are representative of some larger humanistic trait (i. e.greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life. Although allegory was originally and traditionally character based, modern allegories tend to parallel story and theme. * William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South * Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- man’s struggle to contain his inner primal instincts * District 9- South African Apartheid * X Men- the evils of prejudice * Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking â€Å"racial purity† Character – representation of a person, place, or thing performing traditionally human activities or functions in a work of fiction * Protagonist – The character the story revolves around. * Antagonist – A character or force that opposes the protagonist. * Minor character – Often provides support and illuminates the protagonist. * Static character – A character that remains the same. * Dynamic character – A character that changes in some important way. * Characterization – The choices an author makes to reveal a character’s personality, such as appearance, actions, dialogue, and motivations. Look for: Connections, links, and clues between and about characters. Ask yourself what the function and significance of each character is. Make this determination based upon the character’s history, what the reader is told (and not told), and what other characters say about themselves and others. Connotation – implied meaning of word. BEWARE! Connotations can change over time. * confidence/ arrogance * mouse/ rat * cautious/ scared * curious/ nosey * frugal/ cheap Denotation – dictionary definition of a word Diction – word choice that both conveys and emphasizes the meaning or theme of a poem through distinctions in sound, look, rhythm, syllable, letters, and definition Figurative language – the use of words to express meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words themselves * Metaphor – contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or theme without using like or as * You are the sunshine of my life. * Simile – contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or theme using like or as * What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun * Hyperbole – exaggeration * I have a million things to do today. * Personification – giving non-human objects human characteristics * America has thrown her hat into the ring, and will be joining forces with the British. Foot – grouping of stressed and unstressed syllables used in line or poem * Iamb – unstressed syllable followed by stressed * Made famous by the Shakespearian sonnet, closest to the natural rhythm of human speech * How do I love thee? Let me count the ways * Spondee – stressed stressedÃ'Ž * Used to add emphasis and break up monotonous rhythm * Blood boil, mind-meld, well- loved * Trochee – stressed unstressed * Often used in children’s rhymes and to help with memorization, gives poem a hurried feeling * While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, * Anapest – unstressed unstressed stressed * Often used in longer poems or â€Å"rhymed stories† * Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house * Dactyls – stressed unstressed unstressed * Often used in classical Greek or Latin text, later revived by the Romantics, then again by the Beatles, often thought to create a heartbeat or pulse in a poem * Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies. The iamb stumbles through my books; trochees rush and tumble; while anapest runs like a hurrying brook; dactyls are stately and classical. Imagery – the author’s attempt to create a mental picture (or reference point) in the mind of the reader. Remember, though the most immediate forms of imagery are visual, strong and effective imagery can be used to invoke an emotional, sensational (taste, touch, smell etc) or even physical response. Meter – measure or structuring of rhythm in a poem Plot – the arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story * Foreshadowing – When the writer clues the reader in to something that will eventually occur in the story; it may be explicit (obvious) or implied (disguised). * Suspense – The tension that the author uses to create a feeling of discomfort about the unknown * Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces. * Exposition – Background information regarding the setting, characters, plot. * Rising Action – The process the story follows as it builds to its main conflict * Crisis – A significant turning point in the story that determines how it must end * Resolution/Denouement – The way the story turns out. Point of View – pertains to who tells the story and how it is told. The point of view of a story can sometimes indirectly establish the author’s intentions. * Narrator – The person telling the story who may or may not be a character in the story. * First-person – Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited knowledge/vision. * Second person – Narrator addresses the reader directly as though she is part of the story. (i. e. â€Å"You walk into your bedroom. You see clutter everywhere and†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) * Third Person (Objective) – Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a detached observer). Does not assume character’s perspective and is not a character in the story. The narrator reports on events and lets the reader supply the meaning. * Omniscient – All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The narrator knows what each character is thinking and feeling, not just what they are doing throughout the story. This type of narrator usually jumps around within the text, following one character for a few pages or chapters, and then switching to another character for a few pages, chapters, etc. Omniscient narrators also sometimes step out of a particular character’s mind to evaluate him or her in some meaningful way. Rhythm – often thought of as a poem’s timing. Rhythm is the juxtaposition of stressed and unstressed beats in a poem, and is often used to give the reader a lens through which to move through the work. (See meter and foot) Setting – the place or location of the action. The setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. It often can symbolize the emotional state of characters. Example – In Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, the crumbling old mansion reflects the decaying state of both the family and the narrator’s mind. We also see this type of emphasis on setting in Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice. Speaker – the person delivering the poem. Remember, a poem does not have to have a speaker, and the speaker and the poet are not necessarily one in the same. Structure (fiction) – The way that the writer arranges the plot of a story. Look for: Repeated elements in action, gesture, dialogue, description, as well as shifts in direction, focus, time, place, etc. Structure (poetry) – The pattern of organization of a poem. For example, a Shakespearean sonnet is a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter. Because the sonnet is strictly constrained, it is considered a closed or fixed form. An open or free form poem has looser form, or perhaps one of the author’s invention, but it is important to remember that these poems are not necessarily formless. Symbolism – when an object is meant to be representative of something or an idea greater than the object itself. * Cross – representative of Christ or Christianity * Bald Eagle – America or Patriotism * Owl – wisdom or knowledge * Yellow – implies cowardice or rot Tone – the implied attitude towards the subject of the poem. Is it hopeful, pessimistic, dreary, worried? A poet conveys tone by combining all of the elements listed above to create a precise impression on the reader.