I’m Nobody Essay Example for Free

I’m Nobody Essay â€Å"I’m Nobody! Who are You? † is a poem written by Emily Dickinson. The poem conveys the main idea of being alone, isolated from the society – or being â€Å"nobody†. This is partly influenced by the social gender status of Dickinson’s time – 19th century featured the inequality of sexes, where females were expected to stay at home and serve their husbands, thus disconnected from the society. As a result Dickinson had adapted and perhaps taken pleasure into being an outsider, whilst she found it boring to be part of the society – or to be a â€Å"somebody†. These are all various ideas reflected through Emily Dickinson’s poem. The poem has 2 stanzas very typical of Emily Dickinson’s style. Her choice of language in this poem is also very simple and succinct – but at the same time meaningful and pithy. The first line, â€Å"I’m nobody! †, shows how Dickinson admits to be a â€Å"nobody† willingly. Being a â€Å"nobody† can mean an outsider – a person who is isolated, alienated from the rest of the world and society. The second phrase of the line – â€Å"Who are you? † shows that the poem is directly written to a target. This person – shown on the second line of the first stanza, is a â€Å"nobody† too – perhaps even a friend of Dickinson. The poet also realizes the fact that being a â€Å"nobody† is to be loathed by the society. This is shown in line 3, when she advises the other â€Å"nobody† not to tell, as she states in line 4 â€Å"They’d banish us†. The word â€Å"They† in the beginning of lines 3 and 4 suggests the rest of the society – people who are â€Å"somebody†, as opposed to Dickinson’s â€Å"nobody’. The use of dash in line 3 shows the furtiveness of the phrase â€Å"don’t tell! †, emphasizing the hatred or dislike they face from the society. The same effect is achieved by the use of exclamation mark in line 3. Lines 3 and 4 can also be interpreted as that after she finds another â€Å"nobody†, they are a pair – not longer belong to a group of â€Å"nobodies†. She does not want to be banished from the status of being â€Å"nobodies†. A conclusion can be drawn that she feels more secure to be a â€Å"nobody†; she feels comfortable to be treated as a â€Å"nobody† by the rest of the society. The second stanza sees a noticeable change in Dickinson’s tone. The repetitions of â€Å"How† and â€Å"To† in the beginning of each line give a more secure and commanding tone. This can be explained by the â€Å"discovery† of another â€Å"nobody† stated by the poet in the first stanza – she feels more assured that to be a â€Å"nobody† is not too unacceptable as she is not the only one. Also perhaps because she feels more secure to be with a person who feels the same as she does and understands her, she is more willing and daring to express her more inner feelings. The poet states that it is â€Å"dreary to be somebody† in line 5 of the second stanza. â€Å"Dreary† refers to being boring or dull; and â€Å"to be somebody† suggests to be recognized by the society and belong to it. Hence Dickinson is suggesting that to be part of a society is tedious and meaningless to her, which can also implies being a â€Å"nobody† is the contrary – interesting and meaningful. A further implication may be that being â€Å"nobody† allows her to write poetry – as it is not part of the â€Å"traditional role† of women at her time to write poetry, and instead women were expected to serve only their husbands. However, being a â€Å"nobody† in the society helps her to escape her role of being a â€Å"women†, granting her freedom instead. Hence we can see that poetry is meaningful to her. She also compares that to be â€Å"somebody† is like to be â€Å"public†, another indication that Dickinson likes isolation – which is proven correctly as one would learn that she locked herself in her house for the majority of her life. Dickinson uses a simile to compare â€Å"somebody† to a â€Å"frog† in line 6. This can be explained by the fact that â€Å"frogs† are considered noisy with the sound they generate. Combining with line 8, â€Å"To an admiring bog! †, it suggests the idea that frogs create noise to be noticed – but only by â€Å"an admiring bog†. A bog is the environment in which a frog dwells – this creates an irony. Emily Dickinson is suggesting that although being a â€Å"somebody† means being noticed by the public, but the public to â€Å"somebody† is like a bog to a frog – it is not really a relationship, or friendship, as no one would say that a bog is the friend of a frog. Also the word â€Å"admiring† creates a whole sense of sarcasm to the idea – and the technique of personification is used to describe the â€Å"bog† as well, perhaps to emphasize the sarcasm of the simile. Overall the poet suggests that to be â€Å"somebody† might mean to be well-known, accepted by the society; however the relationships are often shallow, distanced or impersonal. The rhyming of the words â€Å"frog† and â€Å"bog† also suggests a congenial relationship between â€Å"Somebody† and her targeted audience – conveying the idea that the poem is a direct criticism against the â€Å"somebody† – the general public. Through the use of contrast and irony between â€Å"Nobody† and â€Å"Somebody†, her strong will to be a â€Å"nobody† is shown, as well as her despise towards â€Å"somebody†. This poem reflects Emily Dickinson’s life and perhaps her more inner and cryptic feelings – it was probably written from the heart. She imprisoned herself for the most of her life, completely isolated from the rest of the world. This may contribute to the reason why she thinks being an â€Å"outsider† is better than being â€Å"somebody†, and that she does not value â€Å"friendship† in the same way as normal people do. However at the same time it was also proven in the poem – for instance she found another â€Å"nobody† in the first stanza – that she is not totally a recluse, and that she treasures the very few friendships she had.

Essay --

Sondra Haywood 11/21/13 English period 3 Research Paper The Pros and Cons of Standardized Tests Every year, the average American student who attends public school is forced to prepare for standardized tests even though it is not necessarily beneficial to his or her education. Standardized testing has become a main focus in modern day schools across the U.S nation, causing a monumental increase in the amount of time a student prepares for a test. On an estimate, students are expected to study a staggering amount of 60 to 110 hours a year in order to get decent, meaning and average C or higher, on the standardized tests. Not only is standardized test producing a large amount of unnecessary work in order to score the apparent intelligence of the body of students, but it also comes at a high expense. â€Å"Including the cost of lost instructional time (at $6.15 per hour, equivalent to the per-student cost of adding one hour to the school day), the estimated annual testing cost per pupil ranged from $700 to more than $1,000 per pupil in several grades that participated in standard ized testing†. (Strauss). Even though standardized tests are commonly known for benefitting the country as a whole, it is not improving the education in America because it is not enabling young American students to reach their full potential. Even though standardized tests often decrease the potential ability of students all over the U.S, it does improve the educational system in some areas. For example, standardized test can be a reliable and consistent mean for education to students who attend underprivileged schools. That means, young students of America who attend schools that would ordinarily be below the educational standard bar, are not falling behind d... ...very poorly. Standardized tests have done more harm than good in numerous ways including diminishing the chance of opportunity, bringing down the standard bar of schools across the nation, and creating a boring perception of knowledge. Even though standardized tests can bring up schools education in some cases, it would be better if standardized tests were discontinued. Discontinuing the use of such harsh and prioritized tests will promote a good sense of opportunity to both low-income and high-income students, bring up the standard bar of schools, and provide a creative educational environment where students strive to learn. The thirst of knowledge is so critical to the world today because it provides an inspiration to make the world a better place. The use of standardized test diminishes the chance of creating a better education for the students of the modern day.

Knock’s Educated Man

The â€Å"Disadvantages of Being Educated† examines contemporary society’s preference for building specialized skills at the expense of liberal education. Albert Knock believes that today’s curricula have changed its orientation from helping create the Renaissance Man from the tabula rasa into the mechanic of Ford or the programmer of Silicon Valley. Knock pointed out that this is training and should not be synonymous with education. Being proficient or trained in something could categorize one as trained but not educated. Training is not synonymous to having been educated. Knock’s man has cultivated his intellect and character to the point where his options for the future included, in his words, â€Å"what he could become and be instead of what he could get and do†. What is surprising for him is contemporary society’s not distinguishing between the difference between training and education which was not the case before. During the Medieval period, scholars of classical works were looked upon as learned men. The cobbler, builder, stonemasons, tinkerers, and town criers were on a subordinate level far below that of the scholastics. Carrying on with Knock’s line of thought, we could imagine the manual laborers of the Dark Ages as having become shoe stylists and fashion models, engineers, computer programmers and technicians, and TV hosts of today who are good in their fields and perhaps below mediocre in dialectics. Yet, the honor of having â€Å"made it† is easily applied to them by contemporary society than to the stereotyped harried-looking teacher of a university. Knock has nothing against the emphasis on specialization. He argued that specialization and liberal education are relevant. Both could be had instead of having one being preferred at the expense of the other. Knock expressed regret this is not so today. The educated man that he had in mind would be hard put to find his place in today’s modern setting. His educated man is open to other fields of interests that would encourage the thinking process: argue the ills of society, participate in dialectics, and develop a mind that is always inquiring and trying to discover what is good for the best kind of life. Since today’s trend in life is getting the proper or specialized skill that could ensure one a high-paying job, Knock’s educated man would have difficulty connecting with his contemporaries. He would not be in agreement with their having narrowing the focus of their concentration and energy to the mundane ambition of having an eight- to- five job that could buy them a Superbowl ticket and ensure a healthy pension after working as a cog or bolt in an assembly line. He would not even care to become the main nut in that assembly line. Each field created its own complexities and somebody having found himself a niche in his chosen field could claim a consultancy fee. I could be a consultant to the Tupperware Company if my scientific expertise resulted to inventing a fireproof plastic. The skill acquired in such a field may be hopelessly irrelevant during the Renaissance period but the pay is hopefully and insanely more than sufficient to ensure a comfortable life while still pursuing new plastic discoveries. One can only stay in the business if he or she will continue to update with new developments or make new developments himself. Failure to do so would condemn oneself to irrelevance in his chosen field. Meaning, the acquisition of knowledge on plastics will have to continue until the moment I die, perhaps induced by having to work with plastic. The competition for the American dream is rigid and I could not afford to pause for a breath asking the meaning of life while everybody else is plunging down to their success. As a student, Knock would prefer me to be the educated man that he has in mind. He wouldn’t agree to my cultivating a mindset that looks forward to having just a job to enable me to pay for my daily meals, ensure payment for my cable bills, and after work enabling me to be a couch potato. Knock would love see me entertain ideas for ideas’ sake and look at them as an educated man would look: objectively and disinterestedly. Knock perhaps sees the mainstream as a flock of sheep narrowing their vision on the grass before them and seldom raising their heads to appreciate the greater perspective. For most of us-including me- the trend is acquiring skills; the more specialized the skill, the greater the opportunity for a well-placed and well-paying job. The past-paced world that we have today is unkind to thinkers. Why pursue the meaning of life when what is life has already been defined by the American dream? Consumerist society measures a man by his capability to purchase the hottest and the latest pick. For someone to indulge in the search for the meaning of life would be condemning oneself to a meaningless life of penury and from the viewpoint of the mainstream-irrelevance. The social construct on success has already been insinuated, defined, and considered as an end. Knock may quote Longfellow and implore me, â€Å"Be not like dumb, driven cattle, be the hero in the strife†. Yes, I have already heard it in the required subjects in the first year and it is difficult to indulge myself in them when I am about to major in something useful. History, reexamining its ills, could not buy my cappuccino at Starbucks; Moliere and his wit could not pay for my taxicab fare; and I have no time to waste on Kant’s â€Å"Critique on Pure Reason† when I have to attend a workshop on plastics. Free thinking could free the soul, nourish the intellect, and strengthen the character. This is quite noble and at best, the preoccupation of the Renaissance Man. This is tempting but it would be difficult to explain myself to my friends in when we met to socialize or even to my family during a reunion.

Price Elasticity of Supply

This is the third article in this series on the economic concept of elasticity. The first explains the basic concept of elasticity and illustrates it using price elasticity of demand as an example. The second article in the series considers Income Elasticity of Demand.  Ã‚   A brief review  of the concept of elasticity and of price elasticity of demand appears in the section immediately following. In the section following that income elasticity of demand is also reviewed.  In the final section, price elasticity of supply is explained and its formula given in the context of the discussion and reviews in the previous sections. A Brief Review of Elasticity in Economics Consider the demand for a certain good—aspirin, for example. What happens to the demand for one manufacturers aspirin product when that manufacturer—which well call manufacturer X—raises the price? Keeping that question in mind, consider a different situation: the demand for the worlds most expensive new automobile, the  Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita. Its reported retail price is $4.8 million. What do you think might happen if the manufacturer raised the price to $5.2M or lowered it to $4.4M?   Now, return to the question of the demand for manufacturer Xs aspirin product following an increase in the retail price. If you guessed that the demand for Xs aspirin  might decline substantially, youd be right. It makes sense, because, first, every manufacturers aspirin product is essentially the same as anothers—theres no health advantage whatsoever in selecting one manufacturers product over another. Second, the product is widely available from a number of other manufacturers—the consumer always has a number available choices. So, when a consumer selects an aspirin product, one of the few things that distinguish manufacturer Xs product from others is that it costs a little more. So why would the consumer choose X? Well, some might continue to buy aspirin X out of habit or brand loyalty, but many very probably would not. Now, lets return to the Koenigsegg CCXR, which currently costs $4.8M, and think about what might happen if the price went up or down a few hundred thousand. If you thought it might not change the demand for the car by that much, youre right again. Why? Well, first of all, anyone in the market for a multi-million dollar automobile is not a frugal shopper. Someone who has money enough to consider the purchase is unlikely to be concerned about price. Theyre concerned primarily about the car, which is unique. So the second reason why the demand might not change much with price is that, really, if you want that particular driving experience, theres no alternative. How would you state these two situations in more formal economic terms? Aspirin has a high price elasticity of demand, meaning that small changes in price have greater demand consequences. The Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita has a low elasticity of demand, meaning that changing the price doesnt greatly change buyer demand.  Another way of stating the same thing a little more generally is that when the demand for the product has a percentage change thats less than the percentage change in the products price, the demand is said to be inelastic. When the percentage increase or decrease in demand is greater than the percentage increase in price, the demand  is said to be elastic.   The formula for price elasticity of demand, which is explained in a little more detail in the first article in this series, is: Price Elasticity of Demand (PEoD) (% Change in Quantity Demanded/ (% Change in Price) A Review of Income Elasticity of Demand The second article in this series, Income Elasticity of Demand, considers the effect on demand of a different variable, this time consumer income. What happens to consumer demand when consumer income drops? The article explains that what happens to consumer demand for a product when consumer income drops depends upon the product. If the product is a necessity—water, for instance—when consumer income drops they will continue to use water—perhaps a little more carefully—but theyll probably cut back on other purchases. To generalize this idea slightly, consumer demand for essential products will be relatively inelastic  with respect to changes in consumer income, but elastic  for products that are not essential. The formula for this is: Income Elasticity of Demand (% Change in Quantity Demanded)/(% Change in Income) Price Elasticity of Supply The price elasticity of supply (PEoS) is used to see how sensitive the supply of a good is to a price change. The higher the price elasticity, the more sensitive producers and sellers are to price changes. A very high price elasticity suggests that when the price of a good goes up, sellers will supply a great deal less of the good and when the price of that good goes down, sellers will supply a great deal more. A very low price elasticity implies just the opposite, that changes in price have little influence on supply. The formula for price elasticity of supply is: PEoS (% Change in Quantity Supplied)/(% Change in Price) As with the elasticity of other variables If PEoS 1 then Supply is Price Elastic (Supply is sensitive to price changes)If PEoS 1 then Supply is Unit ElasticIf PEoS 1 then Supply is Price Inelastic (Supply is not sensitive to price changes) Incidentally, we always ignore the negative sign when analyzing  price  elasticity, so PEoS is always positive.