Etymological survey of Old English vocabulary free essay sample

Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of 700 years, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century, sometime after the Norman invasion. Examination of the origin of words is of great interest in establishing the interrelations between languages and linguistic groups. Word etymology throws light on the history of the speaking community and on its contacts with other peoples. The Old English language, as is believed by many scholars, was formed during the period from the 5th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. However, some of the scientists suppose that its beginning can be only taken as the 7th century when the first written evidence appeared. The object of our study is the vocabulary of the Old English language. The aims of this work are: 1. To learn the general overview of the Old English Vocabulary; 2. To explore Latin, Celtic, Norse influence on Old English; 3. We will write a custom essay sample on Etymological survey of Old English vocabulary or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To understand the process of word-formation. 1. History Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was  spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southern and eastern Scotland, more specifically in the England Old Period, between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon. It is a West Germanic language closely related to Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Old English had a grammar similar in many ways to Classical Latin. In most respects, including its grammar, it was much closer to modern German and Icelandic than to modern English. It was fully inflected with five grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), three grammatical numbers (singular, plural, and dual) and three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter). The dual forms occurred in the first and second persons only and referred to groups of two. Adjectives, pronouns and (sometimes) participles agreed with their antecedent nouns in case, number and gender. Finite verbs agreed with their subject in person and number. Nouns came in numerous declensions (with deep parallels in Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit). Verbs came in nine main conjugations (seven strong and two weak), each with numerous subtypes, as well as a few additional smaller conjugations and a handful of irregular verbs. The main difference from other ancient Indo-European languages, such as Latin, is that verbs can be conjugated in only two tenses (vs. the six tenses – really tense/aspect combinations – of Latin), and have no synthetic passive voice (although it did still exist in Gothic). Gender in nouns was grammatical, as opposed to the natural gender that prevails in modern English. That is, the grammatical gender of a given noun did not necessarily correspond to its natural gender, even for nouns referring to people. For example, seo sunne (the Sun) was feminine, se mona (the Moon) was masculine, and ? at wif the woman/wife was neuter. (Compare German cognates die Sonne, der Mond, das Weib. ) Pronominal usage could reflect either natural or grammatical gender, when it conflicted. From the 9th century, Old English experienced heavy influence from Old Norse, a member of the related North Germanic group of languages. The Old English vocabulary was almost purely Germanic, except for a small number of borrowings, it consisted of native words inherited from PG or formed from native roots and affixes. 2. Native words Native Old English words can be subdivided into a number of etymological layers from different historical periods. The three main layers in the native OE words are: a) common Indo-European words; b) common Germanic words; c) specifically OE words. Words belonging to the common IE layer constitute the oldest part of the OE vocabulary. Among these words we find names of some natural phenomena, plants and animals, agricultural terms, names of parts of the human body, terms of kinship, etc. ; this layer includes personal and demonstrative pronouns and most numerals. Verbs belonging to this layer denote the basic activities of man; adjectives indicate the most essential qualities. The common Germanic layer includes words which are shared by most Germanic languages, but do not occur outside the group. Being specifically Germanic, these words constitute an important distinctive mark of the Germanic languages at the lexical level. This layer is certainly smaller than the layer of common IE words. Semantically these words are connected with nature, with the sea and everyday life. The third etymological layer of native words can be defined as specifically OE, that is words which do not occur in other Germanic or non-Germanic languages. These words are few, if we include here only the words whose roots have not been found outside English: OE clipian ‘call’, OE brid (NE bird) and several others. However, they are far more numerous if we include in this layer OE compounds and derived words formed from Germanic roots in England, e.  g. OE wifman or wimman (NE woman) consists of two roots which occurred as separate words in other OG languages, but formed a compound only in OE. 3. Influence of other languages In the course of the Early Middle Ages, Old English assimilated some aspects of a few languages with which it came in contact, such as the two dialects of Old Norse from the contact with the Norsem en or Danes who by the late 9th century controlled large tracts of land in northern and eastern England, which came to be known as the Danelaw. Latin influence A large percentage of the educated and literate population of the time were competent in Latin, which was the scholarly and diplomatic lingua franca of Europe. It is sometimes possible to give approximate dates for the entry of individual Latin words into Old English based on which patterns of linguistic change they have undergone. There were at least three notable periods of Latin influence. The first occurred before the ancestral Angles and Saxons left continental Europe for Britain. The second began when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity and Latin-speaking priests became widespread. See Latin influence in English: Dark Ages for details. The third and largest single transfer of Latin-based words happened after the Norman Conquest of 1066, when an enormous number of Norman (Old French) words began to influence the language. Most of these Oil language words were themselves derived from Old French and ultimately from classical Latin, although a notable stock of Norse words were introduced or re-introduced in Norman form. The Norman Conquest approximately marks the end of Old English and the advent of Middle English. One of the ways the influence of Latin can be seen is that many Latin words for activities came to also be used to refer to the people engaged in those activities, an idiom carried over from Anglo-Saxon but using Latin words. [citation needed] This can be seen in words like militia, assembly, movement, and service. The language was further altered by the transition away from the runic alphabet (also known as futhorc or fu? orc) to the Latin alphabet, which was also a significant factor in the developmental pressures brought to bear on the language. Old English words were spelled, more or less, as they were pronounced. Often, the Latin alphabet fell short of being able to adequately represent Anglo-Saxon phonetics. Spellings, therefore, can be thought of as best-attempt approximations of how the language actually sounded. The silent letters in many Modern English words were pronounced in Old English: for example, the c and h in cniht, the Old English ancestor of the modern knight, were pronounced. Another side-effect of spelling Old English words phonetically using the Latin alphabet was that spelling was extremely variable. A words spelling could also reflect differences in the phonetics of the writers regional dialect. Words also endured idiosyncratic spelling choices of individual authors, some of whom varied spellings between works. Thus, for example, the word and could be spelt either and or ond. 3. 2 Norse influence The second major source of loanwords to Old English were the Scandinavian words introduced during the Viking invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries. In addition to a great many place names, these consist mainly of items of basic vocabulary, and words concerned with particular administrative aspects of the Danelaw (that is, the area of land under Viking control, which included extensive holdings all along the eastern coast of England and Scotland). The Vikings spoke Old Norse, a language related to Old English in that both derived from the same ancestral Proto-Germanic language. It is very common for the intermixing of speakers of different dialects, such as those that occur during times of political unrest, to result in a mixed language, and one theory holds that exactly such a mixture of Old Norse and Old English helped accelerate the decline of case endings in Old English. Apparent confirmation of this is the fact that simplification of the case endings occurred earliest in the north and latest in the southwest, the area farthest away from Viking influence. Regardless of the truth of this theory, the influence of Old Norse on the lexicon of the English language has been profound: responsible for such basic vocabulary items as sky, leg, the pronoun they, the verb form are, and hundreds of other words. 3. 3 Celtic influence Traditionally, and following the Anglo-Saxon preference prevalent in the nineteenth century, many maintain that the influence of Brythonic Celtic on English has been small, citing the small number of Celtic loanwords taken into the language. The number of Celtic loanwords is of a lower order than either Latin or Scandinavian. However, a more recent and still minority view is that distinctive Celtic traits can be discerned in syntax from the post-Old English period, such as the regular progressive construction and analytic word order in opposition to the Germanic languages. Word-building means in Old English Word Structure According to their morphological structure OE words fell into three main types: 1) simple words (â€Å"root-words†) containing a root-morpheme and no derivational affixes, e. g. land. 2) derived words consisting of one root-morpheme and one or more affixes, e. g. be-Ð ·innan. 3) compound words, whose stems were made up of more than one root-morpheme, e. g. mann-cynn. 5. Ways of word-formation OE employed two ways of word-formation: *derivation * word-composition Word-derivation Derived words in OE were built with the help of: * affixes: prefixes and suffixes (Etymologically OE suffixes can be traced to several sources: old stem-suffixes, which had lost their productivity, but could still be distinguished in some words as dead or non-productive suffixes; derivational suffixes proper inherited from PIE and PG; new suffixes which developed from root-morphemes) *sound interchanges (The earliest source of root-vowel interchanges employed in OE word-building was ablaut or vowel gradation inherited from PG and IE. Ablaut was used in OE as a distinctive feature between verbs and nouns and also between verbs derived from a single root). *word stress (The role of word accentuation in OE word-building was not great. Like sound interchanges, the shifting of word stress helped to differentiate between some parts of speech being used together with other means). Word-composition Word-composition was a highly productive way of developing the vocabulary in OE. Word-composition in OE was more productive in nominal parts of speech than in verbs. The pattern â€Å"noun plus noun† was probably the most efficient type of all: mann-cynn (NE mankind). Compound nouns with adjective-stems as the first components were less productive, e. g. wid-s? ‘ocean’ (wide sea). Compound adjectives were formed by joining a noun-stem to an adjective: dom-Ð ·eorn (â€Å"eager for glory†). The most peculiar pattern of compound adjectives was the so-called â€Å"bahuvruhi type† – adjective plus noun stem as the second component of an adjective, e. g. mild-heort ‘merciful’. Conclusion This library research paper has given an account of some basic information about etymological survey of Old English vocabulary. The main issues which occur are connected firstly, with the history of Old English and then in the work is considered the classification of OE vocabulary, that gives us information about native words and borrowing. And secondly, as a result, we understand how much of the vocabulary and what features have appeared as a consequence of the influence of the Old English language. Other paragraphs are related to the process of word formation, which helps us to realize the structure of words in old English and helps to get enough understanding of the language of that period.

Death of a Salesman Literary Analysis Essay Example

Death of a Salesman Literary Analysis Paper Trent Beebe Beebe 1 Mr. Arena 4th hour AP Lang Comp 12/17/09 Death of a Salesman Essay The story, Death of a Salesman, is a story that has many literary devices that help to make it the deep and riveting story that has become an American classic. The use of symbols in the story adds to the overall effect and theme and also creates a different mood that the reader must infer from it. The symbols not only represent something in the story as literally a symbol, but of much importance because of the numerous times they appear in the work. There are countless symbols in the story that help to give the reader a different feeling for it but there are a select few that really represent the most important themes and ideas from the book. The use of seeds in the story as a metaphor for Willy Loman’s life gives the reader a short and simple thought of Willy’s thought on life. Willy believed that if he worked hard and set a good example for his kids that he would in turn be successful and they would eventually be successful. His thought was the same as that for the seeds; you plant them, put some effort into trying to grow them, and they will grow to be big and strong. We will write a custom essay sample on Death of a Salesman Literary Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Death of a Salesman Literary Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Death of a Salesman Literary Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer His boys would be like the plants in a way that they would grow to be big and strong and successful and provide for the family but that never ended up happening and Willy was disappointed about this. Willy was mainly disappointed because he felt like a failure as a father to Biff. Biff had everything going for him, All-American football player, ladies man, anything he wanted he could get. Willy thought the highest of Biff and eventually Biff never really made anything of himself and was basically a bum. All of what had happened to Biff reflected back onto Willy and Willy felt that it was his fault and felt he failed as a father. Another use of symbols is almost a minor one because of its little insignificance to the play, but its broad idea can be easily understood when fully examined. For all of Willy’s life, his son Biff, was the ultimate athlete. He was college bound to play football and had everything going for him. He was missing just one thing; His academics. He flunked math and was not able to graduate, meaning he could not play college football unless he passed. Biff’s friend and â€Å"study buddy†, Bernard, assured Biff that if he didn’t study he would flunk math and not graduate. Biff ignored this idea and instead went to practice to become a better football player. This event comes full circle when Biff eventually becomes a bum all due to the fact that he never passed math and Bernard is a big successful lawyer. A decade after this whole ordeal went down, Willy goes to visit his neighbor Charley, at his office. Willy is surprised to see Bernard there and has a quick chat with him about how he became so successful. Through this process, Willy noticed that Bernard had a tennis racket, and asked Bernard what he needed it for to go on this trip. Bernard eventually told him that it was to play tennis at one of his friend’s house in Washington D. C. Willy is surprised by this and feels happy for Bernard. The whole point to that part of the story was to use the tennis racket as a symbol showing the significance that hard work has on people. The old saying goes, â€Å"you work hard, you play hard†, and Bernard worked hard and is now getting to play hard and Biff never worked hard and now his life is dull, boring, and he has become a bum mooching off of his parents. A third symbol used in the story as a literary device was the thought of getting rich and making it to the top, and that meant going to Africa with Willy’s brother Ben to find diamonds, the main source of becoming rich. Years back, Willy’s brother Ben, asked Willy if he would want to travel to Alaska during the gold rush to try and hit it big. Willy refused because he wanted to make it big by way of the American Dream. Willy did not know it then, but he was making a huge mistake. Ben went the wrong way to Alaska and ended up in Africa, only to become very rich by hitting it big with diamonds that he found in a mine there. The diamonds he find make him rich and he one day comes back to Willy to tell him off his intangible wealth. Willy is quite surprised and ponders at the decision he made. The diamond and the thought of being rich were Willy’s ambitions in life and what he strived for to achieve for his family. Towards the end of the story, Willy thinks about his way to find the diamonds and realizes the only way he could get it would to be by killing himself and having his life insurancego to his family so they could finally have what Willy worked for all those years. Willy did follow through in his plan and he felt that killing himself was meaningful toward the betterment toward the family and he found his diamond that he had been searching for his whole life. The story, Death of a Salesman, used these and other symbols to add the theme of the book and allowed for the story to be a literature dream. The symbols not only represented broad topics of it, but also the significance of minor details that add to the story and make it that much better for the reader. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.

Free Essays on Controversy Of Tracking

The Controversy of Tracking The idea of â€Å"tracking† came about in the beginning of the 20th century, and has been surrounded by much controversy. According to James Rosenbaum, â€Å"tracking refers to any practice which creates homogeneous classed stratified on the basis of achievement or career goals. The aim of homogeneity is to allow instruction to address the achievement level (or interests) of students more closely than would be possible if students were highly diverse†. There are many different types of tracking in different grades ranging from kindergarten to secondary education. Examples of tracking according to author Steven Brint, there are groupings according to ability in primary schools (reading groups), there are vocational, general education, and college prep courses in middle school and high school and there are basic and honors courses available at most high schools. There are many different views on whether tracking is a positive advantage in the schooling structures or that it is a negative disadvantage that needs to be reversed. . Society is hierarchical, as explained by Oakes, and tracking gives every student a different knowledge, so this leads the students to continue supporting the hierarchical society today (Oakes, p.75).... Free Essays on Controversy Of Tracking Free Essays on Controversy Of Tracking The Controversy of Tracking The idea of â€Å"tracking† came about in the beginning of the 20th century, and has been surrounded by much controversy. According to James Rosenbaum, â€Å"tracking refers to any practice which creates homogeneous classed stratified on the basis of achievement or career goals. The aim of homogeneity is to allow instruction to address the achievement level (or interests) of students more closely than would be possible if students were highly diverse†. There are many different types of tracking in different grades ranging from kindergarten to secondary education. Examples of tracking according to author Steven Brint, there are groupings according to ability in primary schools (reading groups), there are vocational, general education, and college prep courses in middle school and high school and there are basic and honors courses available at most high schools. There are many different views on whether tracking is a positive advantage in the schooling structures or that it is a negative disadvantage that needs to be reversed. . Society is hierarchical, as explained by Oakes, and tracking gives every student a different knowledge, so this leads the students to continue supporting the hierarchical society today (Oakes, p.75)....

Fibromyalgia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Fibromyalgia - Research Paper Example In the United States, more than six million people are likely to suffer from this disorder. This paper will provide details of the disorder including symptoms, diagnosis and the available treatment. Although research has been done in a bid to identify the causes of Fibromyalgia, there is still limited success; therefore, the causes of Fibromyalgia have remained unknown to many specialists. However, the findings from the recent research have associated Fibromyalgia with certain factors; for example, individuals who come from a family with an evident history of the disorder are likely to develop Fibromyalgia in their life (Elrod 76). This suggests that there is a genetic susceptibility to the disorder. Additional research has also associated the development of Fibromyalgia with the exposure to traumatic events such as involvement in car accidents, repetitive injuries, different types of illnesses or even participating in a war. Moreover, having certain diseases make an individual more prone to developing Fibromyalgia. Such diseases include, lupus diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and other types of arthritis. Prior to the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, an individual may be compelled to seek the help of different specialists because of the persistent pain and fatigue which are the primary symptoms of the disorder. In the past, these symptoms have been confused with the symptoms of other diseases. This served to place a difficulty in the efforts to diagnose the condition. Many doctors have remained unaware of the condition and its symptoms a factor that hindered positive diagnosis. Therefore, many patients suffered without specialized treatment for the condition. However, in the modern day there is increased understanding of the characteristics of the disorder a factor that has led to a possible diagnosis (Ostalecki 56). Many doctors usually consider the patient history

Case study of a company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Case study of a company - Essay Example The aim of this project is to examine Nike's branding strategy in order to identify the structure, challenges and recommendations for potential improvement. In order to attain this end, the following objectives will be explored: 1. A critical analysis of the strategy for success used by Nike over the past two decades. 2. An examination of the current challenges of the company. 3. Recommendations for the improvement of Nike's existing branding strategy 4. An identification of the branding model used by Nike which can be applicable to other companies. The report will involve a critique of the branding systems and strategies that Nike has used to attain results in its operations. It will analyse the dominant patterns and trends that are used by the company and the main approach which has resulted in the successes of Nike as a major global sports brand. The report will entail a review of the methods and approaches used by the company. The fundamental approach will be through a review of relevant literature. The review will cover the various internal dealings of the Nike and how it has paid off in the area of branding. 2.0 Literature Review This section will examine the important elements and components of the research and study. The section will critically evaluate different groundbreaking definitions and ideas that form the basic framework of the study. They will serve to define the core aspects and of the study and provide an understanding that will create the foundation for the fieldwork and actual research that will be conducted in this study. 2.1 Brand The question of what a â€Å"brand† is plays a significant role in this whole study. This is because the research provides a discussion brand-related matters in Nike, hence it is important to understand the concept of brand and its role in organisations' operations and activities. Kotler defines a brand as â€Å"a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of this intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors† (Knoweles et al, 2010, p91). This implies that a brand is a unique identity or a unique representation that defines a given company's product or offering. This makes the company's offering different from what other companies in the industry are presenting to companies in the industry. To this end, Nike's offering is the popular symbol which makes it different from other competitors like Adidas and Puma who have very different symbols. The idea is to get a unique representation that is protected by law which sets each of the sports manufacturers apart from the other manufacturers. A brand creates and identification for the products in a given entity and builds an emotional connection that acts as basis on which communication with consumers can proceed (Schultz, 2009). This implies that the brand creates a basic and simple representation that other consumers can easily build some kind of connection to. The fundamental position of branding is to provide a means through which easy communication can be conducted. In other words, a brand creates an all-encompassing image which the consumers can identify with through minimal efforts. Once a brand is created, various concepts and ideas of the product offerings are woven into the brand and advertising and other marketing communication ventures are

A Failure To Communicate

A Failure To Communicate What we have here is a failure to communicate. This famous quote from the 1967 film, Cool Hand Luke, characterizes the plight of the characters in the short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. A Temporary Matter, When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, and Interpreter of Maladies, three stories in Lahiris book Interpreter of Maladies, demonstrate how a failure to communicate dooms the relationships between the characters in each story. Not every breakdown in communication is for the same reason, but it is usually neglect for the partners interests. This failure of the relationships is portrayed in these stories as due to a failure of one or both of the partners of the relationship to realize the needs and desires of the other. Lahiri portrays her characters as oblivious to the other partners feelings or self-directed, only focusing on their own situation. In Lahiris stories she lets us walk in the shoes of another person where she points out the obvious flaws that the protagonists seem to miss. The story, A Temporary Matter, begins with a notice that for five day electricity would be cut off for an hour in the neighborhood of Shukumar and Shoba, a young Indian couple. After the death of their baby, who died at birth, the two are going through depressions. They constantly avoid each other, only meeting up to have a silent dinner or have an awkward check-up on the other. The love in their relationship had become none-existent and the images of when they did love each other haunt Shukumar. Before the night of the first blackout Shukumar prepared dinner for Shoba, hoping to rekindle something between them. They had dinner by candle-light in silence, until Shoba brought up a little game where they had to tell each other something they had never told the other before. They did this every night until the first night after the blackouts. Shukumar had set up the dinner table as if the blackouts were still happening, but Shoba turned on the lights and brought up a serious subject. Sh e revealed to Shukumar that she was preparing for a life without him. Shukumar then retorted with something that was equally as hurtful. Lahiri ends the story with the two sitting at the table weeping. Lahiri uses her first story to illustrate to the reader how the neglect of one or both people in the relationship can cause it to fail; the inability to meet someones needs or make sacrifices in a relationship ultimately dooms it. By the time of the nightly power outages, they had become experts at avoiding each other, neither Shukumar nor Shoba was willing to face the other for fear of having to deal with the tragic loss of their baby (4). In their mutual depression they are both unwilling to help themselves and unable to relieve the stress they are living under, much less helping each other. They refused to let go of this tragedy, The film in his camera still contained pictures of Shoba, in the yard, when she was pregnant (15). The pictures represent a happier, idealized time in their relationship, and by keeping the pictures in his camera it shows that he is unwilling let go of this image and face the reality of the present. He cannot accept that their relationship is failing and neither can Shoba. They are unwilling and unable to move forward, dragged back into depression by the constant reminders of the death of their baby. The more they could not help themselves move on, the more they could not help the partner. Shukumar is stuck in a malaise and Shoba does everything to distract herself. They did not have the ability or the willpower to help themselves or each other; therefore they were stuck in a dying relationship. To illustrate the fact that Shukumar and Shoba are too busy wallowing in their self-centered misery Lahiri snuck in the image of the dying plant in dried up dirt in the midst of all this misery, Even though the plant was inches away from the tap, the soil was so dryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he had to water it first before the candle would stand straight (10). The plant and soil are a metaphor for the relationship. His relationship had life and many chances, but he neglected those chances. He was unwilling to water the plant, just like he unwilling to help his relationship. Even at the end, the plant is dead but he is still using the soil. He does not even watering the plant for the plants sake, but using it for his own needs; just like when they have these intimate moments during the blackouts, he is not to keep his marriage alive, he is doing it to get his doubts and secrets off his chest, It happened over fifteen years ago. He felt relief now, having told her (17). These confessions were not meant to help mend the relationship but were used instead to relieve their conscience and ultimately ended up hurting each other, Our baby was a boyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he promised himself that day (the day the baby was born) he would never tell Shoba, because he still loved her then (22). He knew this would hurt Shoba, but now he did it for personal gain and vengeance. Their self-centered attitude toward their relationship ultimately drove them apart. In the short story When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, the title character, Mr. Pirzada, a botanist from Dacca, India, leaves his wife and six daughters behind to study plant life in New England. Ten year old Lilia and her parents, an Indian family, invite Mr. Pirzada to come over to have dinner with them. While in the U.S. a war broke out in India and Dacca was hit. Mr. Pirzada would come every night to the house of Lilia and eat dinner with them. One of those nights in October, Lilia began to accept his constant visits, and even carved a pumpkin with him. On Halloween night Lilia was about to venture out trick-or-treating for her first time alone until Mr. Pirzada got worried and asked if he should go. Fearing losing her independence she told him not to worry, he sulked back surprised into the doorway. They do not talk again, and the family does not hear from him for months until one day they receive a letter from Mr. Pirzada telling them that he found his family and all were safe. When Mr. Pirzada finds that the communication between him and his family is flawed, he slowly opens channels with Lilias family. Mr. Pirzadas need for communication was shown Each week [when] Mr. Pirzada wrote a letter to his wife, and sent comic books for his seven daughters (24). However this proves to be an unsatisfying way of communication because it is one way communication; therefore he looks toward Lilia and her family to fill the void of the lost relationship with his daughters and his family. As Mr. Pirzada begins to go to dinners, he starts to treat Lilia more and more like his daughter. The turning point in their relationship is the carving of the pumpkin, Yes, lets carve it,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ For the first time we all gathered around the dining table (35). Before the carving of the pumpkin the height of the interaction between Mr. Pirzada and Lilia was when he gave her candy each night. They realized that they had to give up a little bit of comfort for him. He accepted the f amily because they took him in during his time of need. The whole family and Mr. Pirzada gathering around that table represented that Mr. Pirzada was part of the family. Through Mr. Pirzadas interactions, Lahiri illustrates that when one loses a line of communication, they look for it somewhere else. A relationship is doomed to failure if one of the sides of the relationship neglects the needs of the other side. On Halloween night, fearful of losing her independence, Lilia chooses to spend the night with her friend instead of spending it with Mr. Pirzada (something typical for the American culture, but difficult for Mr. Pirzada to understand), and tells him, Dont worry' (38). Disregarding Mr. Pirzadas fear that hell lose another daughter, Lilia neglects his needs and his pains. This act shows that she lacks the understanding that in order to help Mr. Pirzada she needs to sacrifice some things in order to keep her relationship with him alive. The communication between the two is broken down due to her obliviousness to the causes of this self-centered act. As such, their relationship fails: For a long time we did not hear from him. Our evenings went on as usual, with dinners in front of the news (41). Through her failure in communication, their relationship disintegrated. Throughou t the days with Lilias family, Mr. Pirzadas ties with them deepen, but when Lilia becomes oblivious to his needs, the relationship fails. In Lahiris third story Interpreter of Maladies, Mr. Kapasi is a working man in India with two jobs, an interpreter for a doctor and a tour guide. He is stuck in a dysfunctional relationship after the doctor could not prevent the death of his child. One day he is assigned the Dass, a young, irresponsible, and equally dysfunctional couple with nothing that holds them together except three children. Mr. Kapasi is made aware of this very early on in the story, with the Dass allowing their children to do whatever they want. Midway through the trip, Mr. Kapasi tells them about his job as an interpreter. Mrs. Das takes a sudden interest in Mr. Kapasi that she did not display with her husband or kids, saying that his job seems à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦so romantic (50). Mr. Kapasi becomes deeply enamored with Mrs. Das, feeling that her interest means that she loves him. He spends the rest of the story fantasizing about how their friendship would bloom, and worrying about leaving Mrs. Das or losing her interest. In order to spend more time with the family, he takes the family to the Sun Temple. Once there Mrs. Das stays in the car with Mr. Kapasi, where Mrs. Das confesses her failing relationship, her inability to get her stress off her chest, her affair, and that her youngest is not actually Mr. Dass. She asks Mr. Kapasi for a cure to make her feel better and make the pain go away, but Mr. Kapasi asks her, Is it really pain you feelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ or is it guilt? (66). She becomes angered by this and storms off to her family, where she finds that her son has been beaten by the monkeys for his food. The story ends with Mrs. Das kneeling down to take care of her child as the paper with the address of Mr. Kapasi (that she was going to use to mail him) flutters out of her bag. Lahiri brings these two dysfunctional relationships together to display the different types of neglect: neglecting another and neglecting ones self. Through these two different types of neglect, she shows that without neglect a relationship is much more functional. In the very beginning Mr. Kapasi realizes that Mr. and Mrs. Das were a bad match, just as he and his wife wereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the bickering, the indifference, the protracted silenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (53). Although we see Mr. Kapasi care for and try to help his depression stricken wife, The countless other ways he tried to console his wife and to keep her from crying in her sleepà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, he knew that his wife had little regard for his careerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (53). Lahiri brings up the point that it only takes one to neglect and ruin a relationship. He began to understand that the reason he does not get along with his wife is because she neglects his feelings and help. The indifference for his job and the constant bicke ring is due to the wifes jealousy and self-centered thinking, she resented the other lives he helpedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (53). This is why Mr. Kapasi is love-stricken by Mrs. Das, When Mr. Kapasi thought once again about how she had said, romantic, the feeling of intoxication grew, because she seems to respect him and seems to makes him feel like his job is actually something worthwhile (53). The bickering, indifference, and silence was non-existent; she seemed genuinely interested in him. He feels like she realizes his troubles and does not neglect them like his wife does, therefore his affection grew. Due to the fact that his wife neglects his needs for respect, he looks for a new relationship elsewhere. However in the same story, Lahiri reveals the other side of the spectrum: how neglecting ones self can tear apart a relationship. Mrs. Das reveals her unwillingness to reach out and search for an outlet or a friend, when she tells Mr. Kapasi that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦she did not make many close friends. There was no one to confide in about [her husband] at the end of a difficult day, or share a passing thought or worry (63). Simply put, she neglected her own needs. Instead of going to the trouble of finding someone to fill this need, she decided to cheat. She felt the ability to relieve herself of some of her stress, but this is ultimately unsatisfactory. In her continuing effort to relieve stress, she tells Mr. Kapasi some of her stories and secrets. It is only after the talk with Mr. Kapasi, she realizes that she is neglecting her own needs and neglecting the needs of her family, When she whipped out the hair-brush, the slip of paper with Mr. Kapasis address on it fluttered away in the w indà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (69). She realizes that she needs a loving family and he children need her. She stops neglecting her children by the act of brushing the hair of her beaten boy. It is clear that the communication had been rekindled between her and her family from there. The paper fluttering away represents that Mr. Kapasi will be unneeded as an outlet for communication because now she has her family. She is no longer oblivious to the fact that she needs her family as an outlet. Mrs. Das realizes that due to her neglecting herself she is neglecting her family, and therefore chooses to fix her problem of communication by reviving the relationship with her family. In these three stories by Lahiri, failure of communication is caused by neglect. This is demonstrated by either one or both of the characters in the relationship acting oblivious to the other persons needs and/or is self-centered enough to not care. Oblivious neglect is the inability to recognize the needs of another and self-centered neglect is when one is unwilling to help or recognize these needs. The communication between Shukumar and Shoba breaks down due to their inability and unwillingness to help themselves or each other. The relationship between Lilia and Mr. Pirzada fails due to Lilias obliviousness to the effects of her self-centered want for independence from Mr. Pirzada and her family. The failure between Mrs. Das and her family was caused by her obliviousness to her own need for an outlet of stress, while Mr. Kapasi failing relationship is due to his wifes selfishness and unwillingness to let Mr. Kapasi help her. Each of these relationships is different, yet the common thread is communication, or the lack thereof.

Broken Child Essay

The documentary â€Å"Broken Child† explored the lives of people, both children to adults, that have been impacted by drug and alcohol abuse, it also showed children who’ve been affected by violence and neglect. Both types of children have one thing in common, a high likelihood to repeat the mistakes of their parents. Whether they’ve grown up living with one or both parents, are adopted, or live in foster care they are at risk. Factors that impact a child’s life are whether their mother abused drugs or alcohol while pregnant, and if they’ve grown up in difficult living situations, but there are some solutions offered by this documentary. You’re pregnant,† are the words some people dread, people like teenagers and drug users. Drug users, whose only concern is becoming high and acquiring money for drugs, will not properly care for a child. In some cases mothers continue to abuse drugs and alcohol throughout their pregnancy because they are too addicted to stop. This causes their babies to have defects, mental and psychological problems. Children can be born with damaged brains, and growing up isn’t easy for them. One such child is Jonathan, he’s an eight year old boy who’s had a hard life. His biological mother was an alcoholic and a drug abuser, when she was in labor she was also drunk. This caused Jonathan to have severe mental and psychological problems, including emotional detachment and violent episodes. He was adopted by Alison and Randy, who are the only people who can control him during an episode. Because of his episodes Jonathan cannot have babysitters, also because he was arrested at the age of seven for holding a knife to a babysitters throat. Jonathan takes many medications to help him control himself and calm down. This does not, however; mean that Jonathan has broken his family’s cycle. There are signs that show him to still be on the path, such as his thoughts about hurting and even killing himself, or his weakness towards weapons and violence and his impulse to such things. Even though he does not speak to his biological mother or know any relative he is still very damaged in the head. Showing that it’s not only the environment that impacts a child’s life but their DNA as well. Drug and alcohol abuse are not the only things that can affect a life, exposure to violence and neglect at a young age can create damaging effects ike PTSD, violence towards other people, and a difficulty to learn. Some forms of neglect are undernourished, dehydrated, unchanged diapers, no running water, dirty clothes and children left home alone. When things become unbearable children are taken from their parents by CPS(Child Protective Services) and placed in foster homes. While a foster home may be a better alternative to living at home, sometimes it’s just a meager half step. Foster parents abuse their foster children and in some cases so do the other children in the foster home. This leads to scared and later angry children who have been set to repeat a negative family cycle. In other situations, there are children, who take care of younger siblings. This occurs when parents are constantly at work or are neglectful. A seven year-old should never have to have the life of another in his or her hands. They are children themselves who should be enjoying their youth. Forcing children into a role of responsibility too big for them at home pushes them to their anger and frustration in other places, such as school. In school they are just another student, just another name on a desk, just another paper to grade. It’s a place to blend in and become the person they must suppress at home. Full of anger and built up hate these children are prone to fighting which earns them a bad name to teachers who don’t know the whole story. These types of kids mix with PTSD effected children who’ve seen someone die or who are accustomed to multiple gunshots each night as they sleep. A mixing of this proportion means that children don’t focus on school because their too busy picking a fight. All these causes, foster care, children parents, and violence exposed children, add up to a single effect; the continuation of a negative family cycle. In spite of these long, and seemingly endless cycles of negativity I believe that there is a solution to this problem. That is a school. A school with teachers trained to handle out of control students, with small classes, and with after school activities to keep kids off the streets. The teachers will have smaller class sizes which will allow them to have a better handle on the kids. Smaller class sizes will also allow teaches to focus on the students more as individuals rather than one of thirty. Teachers will be trained to handle tempers, fights, and outbursts by children. The after school activities will include things such as homework time, crafts time, sports times, and a weekly counseling session for kids who need the help. These programs will ensure that younger children have a place with a good environment after school and that older children stay off the streets and away from drugs, alcohol, and prostitution. They counseling sessions will be to help stabilize the minds of the children and know when to step in take action. This, to me, seems a good solution because kids are in school for a majority of the day and because things like family counseling will not work on closed minded people. It would be funded by the state, and be a free public school. Children seemed destined to fall into a negative family cycle, but with the right kind of help I believe that can be changed. Children can be born normal, children can enjoy life if only the right steps are taken.