Barbara Kruger Contemporary Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Barbara Kruger Contemporary Art - Essay Example The essay "Barbara Kruger Contemporary Art" talks about the Contemporary Art of Barbara Kruger. For instance, in Your Body is a Battleground, Kruger chooses a common font style, which is strongly emphasized against a somewhat monochromatic photo of an attractive woman. However, in this particular work, the woman depicted in the photo is split down the middle, with the left side of her face exhibiting a rosy-colored, somewhat positive expression. The right side of the subject's face is shaded, in a somewhat obscured light, with the artist using a variety of antiquing processes to add further emphasis to the message Kruger is attempting to relay. Further, it is important to identify what specific message is attempting to be sent in this poster image titled Your Body is a Battleground. It is vital to realize that during the latter portion of the 1980's, civil unrest and global demands for independence were being heard around the world. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to radical changes in feminism and women's rights, it is no wonder why Kruger chose to blend contemporary imagery and the written word (usually using red as the font color of choice) to exhibit the pain, suffering, joy, and outright complexity of being a woman in modern times. Having offered this, some individuals viewing Kruger's artwork may consider her attempts at expressing feminism as being somewhat outlandish due to its simplicity. However, using simple materials, such as photography, words, and collage-inspired designs.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Analysis

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Analysis Thesis: When boundaries like social, cultural physical and separations constrained Bruno’s life, it never prevented him from forming a forbidden friendship Sana Ibrahim -3202 John Boyne is an Irish novelist born in Dublin. He wrote 70 short stories and many novels focused on adults and young readers. The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is a novel focused on a younger audience. Several film adaptations were done to this film and in 2006 film adaptation was an award-winning Miramax. Furthermore, the novel won 2 Irish awards and received positive reviews by many papers. For instance The Guardian reviewed as, â€Å"A small wonder of a book†¦this is what fiction is supposed to do† (Boyne, 2010-2014). The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is a fable which captures a hint of the holocaust but still has a great impact on our emotions. This is a story written from a 9 year old boy’s perspective, who lived during World War II. In this story the 9 year old Bruno along with his family moved from Berlin to Poland due to his father’s job promotion. His father was a Nazi officer who was recently appointed to the commander by the Fuhry. As a result they were sent to an isolated area near the â€Å"Out With† concentration camp. (In reality it is Auschwitz Concentration camp in Poland). In this story Bruno felt the loneliness of the place very much. This is because they were home schooled and he had no friends to play with unlike in Berlin. Bruno being a curious and adventurous explorer started to explore the house he lived paying no heed to boundaries. One day he sneaked from the back door and ran through the forest and ended finding a boy near a fence. He met the Jew boy Shmuel fo r the first time. They shared same birthday and age. Bruno sneaked every day to meet his friend near the fence as their budding relation prospered. One fateful day Bruno being a loyal friend to Shmuel decided to help find his dad trapped in the concentration camp. So he disguised in the striped pajama and crawled down the fence. Unfortunately, they ran into a death marching group leading to a gas chamber. They were naà ¯ve about what was about to happen as they walked into their death. It was their ill-fate that they were among the Jews who became the victims of the incinerators (Boyne, 2006). Despite the fact that Bruno was taught to hate the Jews as mortal enemies and his parents’ constant warnings, he proceeded with his virtues. When boundaries like social, cultural, and physical separations constrained the 9 year old boys’ life, it never prevented him from forming a forbidden friendship. Bruno’s family was portrayed as a rich family in Berlin as well as at Auschwitz. In Berlin they had a 5 story building in a position that entire city can be seen. Bruno says this in the story as he could see right across Berlin if he stood in his tiptoes as he held onto the window frame tightly. When they shifted to Poland they had a three story house with a rich life. There were servants attending to every need. However, in Bruno’s room through the only small window, he sees a farm like place from a distant. The area doesn’t look as lively as he thought it would be. His first impression was, â€Å"I don’t think other children look at all friendly,† (Boyne.p.18) even though his mother taught him not to prejudice others. Furthermore, Bruno is brought up in a place where he couldn’t interrupt his mother in any case. While they were about to leave the Berlin house, when the servant Maria interrupts, Bruno immediately recalls the rule of not inte rrupting his mother. Likewise, he cannot disturb his father unnecessarily. His father pays importance in maintaining disciple and the kids are forbidden to question their parents’ authority in decisions (Boyne, 2006). Judaism is considered as a religion by most scholars but the Germans describe Judaism as ethnicity (Hollingshead.p.4). During the holocaust due to this the two different groups were separated while the Jews behind a barbed fence deprived them from their lives. The Boy in Striped Pajamas reckons vast discrimination of Jews and Germans. For instance when Bruno and his family were travelling to Auschwitz they travelled by a train in which there were plenty of spaces for people to sit. On the one, Jews were tightly packed into the trains with undesirable conditions for a human being to breathe or live. â€Å"†¦transport arrived in Auschwitz on September 5, 1944 with 1,019 Jews on board. Men and women were separated† (United States of Holocaust Memorial, 2013). Jews were treated badly because they belonged to a certain ethnic group even though both groups were headed to same destination. During the time when Shmuel described how they came to the camp Bruno found it hard to bel ieve this since there was nothing like that in the trains they travelled. Moreover, having seen the documentary which shows the conditions and how the people were treated greatly influenced his little mind to believe things with in the camp were good (Boyne, 2006). As the two kids came to know each other more they ultimately believed each other more than the parents. This is the main reason why Bruno in the end with natural reluctance, joined his friend in the concentration camp. While the Nazis separated the two groups of people, they however failed to recognize their own type. This proves that what they actually hate is the religion not the people. While the Jews survived in misery, Germans had the choice to live. In this story Bruno was given all the freedom he wants within the household and beyond that he is deprived from this. For example the back door physically separated him from the surrounding. As he was not allowed to cross the door and the boredom pushed him to explore beyond it. Just like his tutor Herr Liszt encouraged in exploring, Bruno went pass the back door into the forest to discover new and interesting things just like the great explorers Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci (Boyne.p.56). On his first venture he found the boy sitting near the fence and their small talks resulted to build the trust in which each promised to be friends for life (Boyne, 2006). During World War II Jews and Christians were separated by the Germans providing bad conditions within the concentration camps. The Nazi officers removed their clothing and forced them to wear one â€Å"striped pajama† as in the story. In this story Bruno asks Shmuel why do they always wear pajamas and he responds that is the only type of clothing they get to wear unlike Bruno who wears different clothing every day. The Jews barely get to eat and almost every day when Bruno meets Shmuel he is hungry and longing for food. When Shmuel was brought to commanders house to clean the wine glasses Bruno offered Shmuel the fancy foods they eat which ended poor Jew being beaten by the officer (Boyne, 2006). During this time children were subjected to child labor and many were killed just as they arrived the camp. This is because the Officers believed that they are â€Å"useless eaters† (United States Holocaust Memorial, 2013), and immediately killed them in gas chambers.† On ly 6 to 11% of Europes prewar Jewish population of children survived† (United States Holocaust Memorial, 2013). Shmuel, Paul (who comes to peel vegetable) and other Jews in the camp are always sad, whereas the Germans are happy despite their brutality to humans. Bruno however worries and questions Shmuel about these although some answers are hard to believe because of the good conditions they have been subjected to in their lives. â€Å"Holocaust was an event of such consequence and philosophical significance it seems to transcend the boundaries of time† (Hollingshead, p.1).Through the eyes of Bruno the people inside the fence makes him sad. Although his sisters comment that they look â€Å"filthy† he rather says, â€Å"but maybe they don’t have any baths† than agreeing to the fact that they look dirty (Boyne, 2006). In a life where everything of Bruno is controlled by someone to a certain extent he manages to question certain behaviors and things even though he is not allowed to act differently in any circumstances. Bruno is a free spirit and at such a young age he considers his own thoughts over others. He finds his own ways to overcome the boredom at his new house. One day he makes a swing for him although he gets hurt at the end. He formed a strong bond with the dirty Jew boy he said at the beginning making him believe what is important in life is to accept people for who they are. References Boyne, J. (2010-2014) The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas http://www.johnboyne.com/fiction/younger-readers/the-boy-in-the-striped-pyjamas/ Boyne, J. (2006) The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas http://www.anderson5.net/cms/lib02/SC01001931/Centricity/Domain/222/The%20Boy%20in%20the%20Striped%20Pajamas.pdf Hollingshead, A. (2005-2006) G-d was not in Auschwitz http://www.gwu.edu/~uwp/fyw/euonymous/2005-2006/06-hollingsheadfinal.pdf United States Holocaust Memorial. (2013, 6) Plight of Jewish Children http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006124 United States Holocaust Memorial. (2013, 6) Children during the holocaust http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005142 Word count 1526

Why the Play is Called The Crucible :: Essay on The Crucible

Why is the play called the Crucible? Webster and his book the dictionary defines a 'crucible' as, 'A container in which metals are heated, involving a change. A severe test or trial.'; Author Miller in his play, uses the title 'The Crucible' as an analogy for the situation. The actual container- the crucible, is the town of Salem Massachusetts. The contents of the container are the people of Salem, the emotions and feelings of these people are what change. The events that take place in the town are what fuel and heat the people's emotions and are what affects their actions. Miller also puns on the other meaning of 'a crucible' which is: 'a severe test or trial'; to tie in with the events that take pace in the play- the trials of the accused witches and the extent of the consequences (death by hanging.) The 'severe test or trial ' referred to above is an inquiry carried out to see whether people's souls are still with God. This shows the extremity and extent of the trials. It shows how important a part religion plays in the community. Seeing as people's life styles revolved around working and praying. If people were not working or farming their lands, they are praying. On holidays they pray, there are hardly any moments of recreation or 'fun.' The people of Salem are deeply religious and to drift on to the side of the devil is the most serious 'sin' or 'crime' imaginable in the community. Just as it was a sin drift on to the side of the devil in the time of the crucible, it was the same to drift on to the side of communism in the 1950's, when Arthur Miller wrote this play. In the 1950's Senator Joe Macarthy set up a campaign to rid the United States of all communist supporters. These communist trials would be broadcast on national television. It would involve the accused to admit their guilt even though they were completely innocent, and give the names of 10 other would-be communists or face exile, torture, invasion of family privacy etc. Arthur Miller uses the events of the Salem witch-hunts to represent and show what the communist trials of the 1950's were. They were both based on false premises and paranoia, and as more people got involved, more people suffered, this can be summarised by calling it the 'Snowball effect.

The European Union Sets Guaranteed Prices to Farmers

The European Union sets guaranteed prices to farmers for agricultural products. This is in order to encourage production. Show how this can happen with a supply and demand diagram. The provision of food is extremely significant for the human well-being so agricultural markets have always been treated in a different way by governments. There are various factors on which the success of farmers depends. It is not a simple production that needs a certain amount of resources to manufacture a certain amount of products which will bring expected profits.Variable determinants of the agricultural market like the weather or natural disasters create a situation in which in order to maintain a particular amount of food available on the market, governments encourage farmers to produce more. They tend to do it in a similar way, often, by providing them with subsidies and setting guaranteed prices of the products. Pic. 1. This diagram shows us the correlation between the supply and demand curves in the farming sector. Both of them are quite inelastic, because of a constant need for agricultural products and their regular provision.We can see that the excess of supply is cause by the encouraging policy of the EU, increasing the competition among the farmers. This leads to a greater supply which is often far above the real demand. The difficult matter to solve for authorities is setting the actual minimum price, because the consumers would obviously prefer a lower price than the farmers. This leads to many misunderstandings and mistakes in the chain of supporting the agricultural production. The European Union decided to create a whole system of subsidies for the farmers.However, to maintain the food safety within its borders, the EU established guaranteed prices for products. This particular system of intervention is called the Common Agricultural Policy, The CAP. The farming sector is protected and purposefully kept stable. The most important aim of CAP is to sustain regular supplies from the farming branch. Bad weather conditions or natural disasters usually harm the harvest and decrease the amount of agricultural products. To maintain a particular amount of food available on the market, he EU decided to encourage farmers to grow more crops, developing the competition among them, but what is even more important, increasing the number of suppliers. This means that generally more products are available, even in extreme situations. Guaranteed prices also allow to keep farmers’ income during good harvest when prices would be driven down and protect consumers form incredibly high prices during a bad harvest. Moreover, more farmers are assured that they do not really risk their expected income and they develop their methods of growing.Provided with generous subsidies, they can invest more capital to increase their long term profit. Such a situation results as a higher productivity and efficiency of the farming sector. On the other hand, extended usage of lands is a cause of ruining the environment. Overdeveloped sense of competition among the suppliers leads to more crops being grown, and more lands being used. Most farmers easily avoid an environmental laws and limitations which are not really executed. Regular polluting waters and grounds with overdosing insecticides result as a natural catastrophe and are not survivable for the local fauna and flora.Furthermore, such actions undertaken by the EU led to overproduction. Because of an extremely high number of suppliers, the market was overwhelmed with products. As a result, governments were forced to sell the excess onto the world market and by doing it, they harmed farmers form countries that do not provide such support. Most of them, developing countries, whose economy is based on the farming sector, were instantly defeated on the market, finding it impossible to compete with such a system, because the prices offered by Europeans were too low for them to sustain their regular income.To sum up, guaranteed prices strongly support farmers in the European Union, maintaining the provision of food at a sufficient level. However, over-usage of such a way to encourage them to be more efficient and competitive, leads to problems like environment pollution and threatening developing countries. Moreover, in long term such actions harm the interest of consumers, who cannot benefit from any changes on the agricultural market and even expect lower prices from massive suppliers.

Theme Analysis ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ by Oscar Wilde

‘Nineteenth Century Short Stories' is a collection of tales from the nineteen hundreds. This essay will concentrate on just one of these stories. It will include a thorough analysis of the story including my views and opinions towards the language, imagery and setting that the author uses. The story I have chosen to analyse is ‘The Nightingale and the Rose', by Oscar Wilde. This is one of many children's stories that he wrote, as he is well known to have ‘used the form of fairy tale to reflect on modern life and to debate ideas'. ‘The Nightingale and the Rose' is a very poignant story following the theme of love.The theme is conveyed in this story through the actions of the Nightingale. It demonstrates how one life would sacrifice itself in order to make another happy. From the Nightingale's point of view, this is a tragically ironic story. For she thinks that the Student must be a ‘true lover' – she thinks that he would give anything for one nigh t with the Professor's daughter. ‘She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses†¦ yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched', the Nightingale hears him cry; and on this evidence alone she bases her opinion: ‘Here at last is a true lover.'When in fact the only feelings the Student has for the Professor's daughter are those of material love. He is only interested in her beauty. He says to himself ‘She has form – that cannot be denied to her' but then he says ‘She would not sacrifice herself for others', which is exactly what the Nightingale is about to do for him. She is willing to sacrifice her life for love; for the Student to be able to spend one night with the girl he supposedly admires. An interesting point to note is when the Student mentions that the Professor's daughter ‘has some beautiful notes in her voice.What a pity it is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical good. ‘ Now Nightingales are renowned for having beautiful voices, but the Student does not appreciate the wonderful art of music. A few paragraphs before these lines the Nightingale sings to the Student telling him of how she intends to sacrifice her life for him; ‘be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. ‘ Although he cannot understand them, these words are, in fact, deeply meaningful to the Student.And as for music doing no ‘practical good', well, what would you call the outcome of the red rose? The Nightingale died and the rose was born. Music made that red rose. The Student does not realise how wrong his judgements are. We find out that the only ‘true lover' was in fact the Nightingale. She was the only one with sincere feelings, and she was prepared to sacrifice her life for those feelings, even though she knew she would not gain anything from it. The fact that she was doing it for love, and that she was making someone happy, was enough for her. She was really the only one who deserved love – the only one worthy of it.The Nightingale was love. She went to the greatest extremes to find a red rose for the Student to give to the Professor's daughter. She flew all around the garden trying to find a red rose. She flew to ‘the centre of the grass-plot', and 'round the old sun-dial', and finally ‘beneath the Students window', where she eventually found a red rose tree. But the tree was damaged, and would not bear a red rose. the only way the Nightingale could obtain a red rose from this tree, would be to ‘build it out of music by moonlight', and stain it with her ‘own heart's-blood'; and that is what she did.The story is set in a garden of fantasy – it is full of talking creatures and trees; not unlike the Garden of Eden in the Bible, which had a talking snake. Perhaps the author used a garden because in the Bible it is very symbolic, and its story has many lessons and meanings. Maybe that was what Oscar Wilde was trying to convey in his writing.