The Terminal Tale of Today Will Be A Quiet Day :: Today Will Be a Quiet Day Essays

The Terminal Tale of Today Will Be A Quiet Day  Ã‚        Ã‚   After reading "Today Will Be A Quiet Day" by Amy Hemple, I had an eerie feeling that something bad was going on behind the scenes. I feel that the father has a terminal disease and he wants to happily live out the last few days of his life. I think that there is conclusive evidence that "Today Will Be A Quiet Day" is not a happy story, but in fact a sad one. First of all, death plays a huge role in this story. Death is brought up so many times in this story one can only conclude that there is some kind of foreshadowing going on. For example, the very first line of the story deals with disaster and death. In the first paragraph the boy talks about what would happen if an earthquake occurred while they were on the bridge. He says, "I think if the quake hit now the bridge would collapse and the ramps would be left" (1202). At the end of the first page the father remembers a boy who went to his son’s school who committed suicide. Another part of death in this story is the mention of the family dog that was put to sleep five years ago for biting a little girl. The daughter had always thought that the dog had gone to live in the mountains, but when she finds out that the dog was put to sleep, she gets all upset about her loss. Even the joke about the guillotine that the girl tells involves death. All of these examples are h ints that there is a death in the near future. The fact that the mother is not mentioned throughout the whole story implies that she is no longer around to take care of the children. The father, then, makes little hints about his departure such as, "Who will ever adopt you if you don’t mind your manners" (1204). Although, this may have been a joke it is far too serious to let go. This is a serious sign of a fatal illness. Yet another sign of fatality is the mention of the tombstone, and this is tied directly, and significantly, to the title of the story.

Mount Everest Hillary and Tenzing Contrast Essay

Farah Aboufakhr 6th hour Hillary vs. Tenzing: To the top of Mount. Everest! Sir Edmund Hillary’s, View from the Summit and Tenzing Norgay’s, The Dream Comes True were very interesting articles on Mount Everest. Climbing though the chilling Himalayas, they had to overcome difficult obstacles. In each of their essays, they have some things they agreed upon, and some they did not. Each perspective brings out a sharp contrast in the personality of both of these men. They did share several similarities like a few of the obstacles they had to overcome.Two of these obstacles were the navigation of the steep section also known as a crag and  the clotting of ice around oxygen equipment. Each of the authors had their own reasons for writing their stories. Hillary wrote his story View From the Summit as a story of his excitement and triumph! Emphasizing on himself as more important than the other characters in the story like focusing on Tenzing’s struggle to breathe with the clotting of the ice around the oxygen equipment. He himself had some of the same problems. Then I brought Tenzing along to join me,† said Hillary (page 33) hinting at the fact that he was first and leading. Also depicting that he, Hillary, was leading, he said, â€Å"I got Tenzing to establish a belay† (page 34) making it seem as though Tenzing was useless to this. Tenzing Norgay wrote his story attempting to fix his image, which was slightly tarnished by Edmund Hillary’s account. He told the truth about who made it to the top of Everest first so that people would stop pestering him as to the truth and he also thought that he must be truthful to the people and the mountain.He stated that both had trouble with the clotting ice around the oxygen equipment whereas Hillary stated, â€Å"I noticed that Tenzing was moving rather slowly†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (page 33) depicting that only Tenzing had trouble. Hillary made it seem as though Tenzing had trouble climbing when he said, â€Å"I waved to Tenzing and brought in the rope as he, too, made his way laboriously up the crack and dragged himself out beside me, panting for breath. † (page 34) Hillary though was encouraged as how well he was moving. In Tenzing’s account it was as if he had 2 different works in the one story.For a few paragraphs he would talk about the climb with a voice filled with awe and respect for the place he was blessed to walk through. He would then talk about a fact that Hillary wrongfully stated like the height of the crag and in one instance where he got into talking about who got to the top first his tone became very annoyed. Hillary’s account was filled with excitement and daring moments of heroism like when the piece of ice slid down and he almost lost is footing and when he helped Tenzing clear the ice out of the oxygen mask and when he supposedly pulled Tenzing up a 40 foot crag which Tenzing considered only a 15 foot crag.Hillary’s account could be described as bragging and exaggeration of events. Why do fame and fortune cause people to lie about their experiences? Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay both wrote essays containing versions of their journey to the South Summit of Mount Everest. Each author had his own unique point of view. Although the sections were very different, they did share several similarities like a few of the obstacles they had to overcome.In Hillary's View from the Summit, he exaggerates his version of the climb to gain a bigger name for himself. When in actuality, he made himself appear conceited. Norgay, in The Dream Comes True, is very honest. He is a hometown mountain climbing guide who joined Hillary in the long hike mostly for the joy of climbing Mount Everest. Norgay deserves respect in the modesty and honesty he shows in his essay of climbing Everest. Both though, had accomplished a great thing in reaching the top of Mount. Everest.

Book Report on Apology Essay - 797 Words

Book Report on Apology In the â€Å"Apology†, Socrates tackles his accusers against certain accusations made against him in the Court of Law of Athens, Greece. The nature of the accusation that has caused him to stand trial is such that â€Å"Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others† (Plato. The Republic and other plays. pg-449. Doubleday publishing; New York- 1989). Socrates begins with first identifying the type of accusers he has, which consist of those who are in direct contention with him, the primary accusers, since they are the ones who contrived the accusations. Then there†¦show more content†¦pg-454). He then explains that if he was corrupting others, he too would have been corrupted long ago and there would be no good left. Also he rebuttals the charge of not believing in Gods while believing in higher divinities. T he charge, he shows how ludicrous was indeed in nature since how can anyone believe in flute playing and not the flute player (Plato, pg-457). How can one believe in spiritual and divine agencies, and not in spirits or demigods? But ultimately Socrates’ defense is his self-lessness. He attributes his deeds to his duty towards God. He makes it clear that the obligation to truth is far more closer to God than any other social one that is marked by malice. His poverty, his unchanging and impartial ways that he followed all his life to search for the truth and when having found it, give it to others without taking into consideration what the government in power would say or do about it in itself is an evidence and a virtue that rises above all others to prove him innocent. His defense is simple and artless because it is the truth, within which some more properties emerge. One of these can be identified as the simplicity of truth and the other is its universality. Truly, although several impugn Socrates of wrong-doing and misguiding the youth, he was not the first or the last one tried on such a charge. This points to the nature of truth to be unchanging. Despite all the advances a society may claim to havingShow MoreRelatedHawaii s Annexation Led Cultural Differences Between The American Government And The Hawaiian Tribes1531 Words   |  7 Pageswas not reinstated back into her throne. Closely related to the Apology Resolution was the Blount Report, otherwise known as the report by the special investigator Cleveland had hired to Hawaii. It detailed the overthrow of the Hawaiian government and the ruthless uprooting of Queen Liliuokalani’s position. Milner S. 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