The Mirror And The Lamp Analysis

The Mirror with a Memory was an interesting read which analyzed Jacob Riis’ photos from the 1900s during Industrial America. The author argued that Riis’ images were influential for historians and captured what was before the lens in an unbiased way that no one ever saw before. He objectively told Riis’ journey behind exposing the extreme poverty levels in New York City, New York during his time and how he fought to spark political actions to improve conditions through his photographs and writings. The article allows its readers to understand the importance and limitations of photography while showing the significance of new inventions during this era.

In Ross’ short story “The Lamp Lit at Noon” there is person vs person and person vs nature conflict throughout the story. Conflict is to come into collision or disagreement. It is also known as the struggle between opposition. Paul and Ellen have different opinions on what they want. Ellen wants to leave their farm on the prairies because the vicious storms are preventing them from going anything. Paul believes in the farm and is strong with his opinion to stay. There are two types of conflict present in this literature: person vs person and person vs nature.

In the stories “The Lamp at Noon” and “The Painted Door” by Sinclair Ross, loneliness might seem the source to the tragic ending. Rather, determination for an ideal life caused the characters to take such drastic measures. In particular. Ellen and Ann both were determined to change their lives and tried to change how their husbands are. Both men in the story, Paul and John, tried to change their wives point of view of things so they could agree with the lifestyle the men like.

The subject of this essay is to define postmodern time and the relationship between art

Writer, James Baldwin believed as an artist, one must pursue and attain a “state of being alone” to find one’s way. (Baldwin, Creative America, p. 1) Like Baldwin, aloneness was a “silence” that painter Beauford Delaney described and which he found in light, a spiritual as well as atmospheric light. Each man needed this “light,” this “silence,” and this “aloneness,” as Baldwin said, to “illuminate [the] darkness;” to delve into their individual creative spaces, explore their shared cultural backgrounds, and embrace their trans-global identities.

The romantic movement swept across Europe during the nineteenth century. Poets, artists, and musicians at this time encompassed romanticism’s characteristics into their works. These documents will help to gain a better understanding of the characteristics through analysis and explanation. Romanticism is significant due to its characteristics of emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both artistic and personal life.

Historical criticism strives to cognize a literary work by examining the social, cultural, and intellectual context that essentially includes the artist’s biography and milieu. Historical critics are more concerned with guiding readers through the use of identical connotation rather than analyzing the work’s literary significance. (Brizee and Tompkins). The journey of a historical reading begins with the assessment of how the meaning of a text has altered over time. In many cases, when the historical context of a text is not fully comprehended, the work literature cannot be accurately interpreted. For example, three literary works that entail the reader to better understanding the historical context are: “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, “London”

1980s pop megastars were responsible for guiding pop culture into a revolution of emerging trends. A decade full of discrimination, immigration, homosexuality, poverty, and health crises, where the public looked towards celebrities for inspiration. Michael Jackson, King of Pop broke more social barriers than any other icon of his time. Michael’s 1987 hit, “Man in the Mirror” was an upbeat pop song that inspired a revolution. The soulful melody brings attention to the need for change in a world full of discrimination, narcissism, and neglect, while provoking the thought that change begins with ‘you’.

Ronald Takaki a renowned pioneer in the field of ethnic studies has over the years authored numerous books on diversity in American society. As a grandson of Japanese immigrants who became the first black studies professor at UCLA, Takaki for many years has continually tried to bridge cultures and ethnic groups in the United States. In his book “A different mirror: A history of multicultural America”, Takaki addresses the idea of multiculturalism in our society, and also talks about how for many years we have been told to acknowledge the notions that the core principles of our nation uprooted only from one group rather than a contribution from other various cultures as well. The ‘master narrative’ posed by Takaki describes the growing

‘The Romantic Revolution’ by Tim Blanning is renowned for its insight into the romantic revolution and its effects on the world as we know it today. In this essay, this book will be reviewed by focusing on, if the aims he sets out were met, was the book reader friendly and was his argument sufficiently made and backed up. His book has a lot of information crammed into 180 pages and he bases a lot of work off the assumption people have previous knowledge of the people, works and ideas he discusses. Despite this being a famous piece of work, it is definitely not without flaws.

For the Formal Analysis Essay, I have chosen the artwork of Vincent van Gogh to discuss: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890), The Night Café, 1888, oil on canvas, approximately dimensions 70.0 x 89.0 cm, describing the Le café de nuit in France. The subject of Vincent van Gogh’s The Night Café

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a short novel written by Robert Stevenson, shocking the audience with its sudden twist. Told mostly from the view of Mr. Utterson, Jekyll’s lawyer, he goes through the mysterious connection between Jekyll and a horrible man named Mr. Hyde. In the end of the novel, it is discovered that Jekyll is Hyde, taking a potion to transform into the hideous man. After several transformations into Hyde, Jekyll finally glances into a mirror, seeing a short, hideous and hairy man, much different from the tall and clean Jekyll. In the novel, Stevenson uses mirrors to represent Hyde’s physical manifestation, an object that reflects within the person, and he uses the mirrors to show the unstable duality of the individual's psyche.

Although some may argue that the direct contrast of light in the mirror itself displays the vanity of the subject, I argue that the contrast of the light skinned model and heavenly clouds with the gilded mirror imply a godliness of judgement in a human activity — reflection. Created by the interaction of lines, pastel colors, and similar organic ovals, the focus of the painting is on the gaze of the model who carefully looks inward and suggests that the viewer utilize the painting as a mirror of self

The theme of appearance extends further in Dorian’s life. Dorian’s outer beauty allows him to get away with almost anything, due to the fact that people equals his outer beauty to him being a good person. In reality, Wilde makes it very clear that Dorian Gray is not a good person.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of Oscar Wilde’s masterpieces, portrays one of the most important values and principles for him: aestheticism. As a criticism to the life lived during the Victorian era in England, Wilde exposed a world of beauty a freedom in contradiction to the lack of tolerance a limitation of that era; of course inspired due to Wilde’s personal life. All the restrictions of the Victorian England lead him to a sort of anarchism against what he found to be incoherent rules, and he expressed all this to his art. His literature is a strong, political and social criticism. He gave a different point of view to controversial topics such as life, morality, values, art, sexuality, marriage, and many others, and epigrams, for what he is very well known, where the main source to the exposure of his interpretations of this topic.