Art Gallery Essay Example for Free

Art Gallery Essay In completion of this assignment the art gallery that I chose to visit was Mark Gallery in Englewood New Jersey. When you walk up to the establishment there are floor to ceiling glass windows that allow you to see everything inside. Facing the gallery there were so many colors that enticed you to enter. The arrangements and art work was spaced out nicely not causing clutter. This allowed you to individually take in each piece on by itself. All of the pieces were very nice but the artist that caught my attention was Mr. Mark Oberndorf. Oberndorf was born in New York but is currently residing in Bergren County New Jersey. He is a contemporary realist painter. Since the age of 10 he has been interested in the visual arts. At an early age some of his beginning works were illustrating his school yearbook to painting murals on his elementary school building. From 1995 to present Oberndorf has had art in various group and solo exhibitions and galleries. Currently his work is currently represented by Mark Gallery of Englewood New Jersey and Westwood Gallery in Westwood New Jersey. I found several of his pieces interesting because they were so basic. Not meaning they did not have levels or dimensions but they put me in the mind of simpler times and relatable memories. His pieces display three dimensional effects on a two dimensional surface with natural lighting effects. All painting are created with oil on linen canvass. Such pieces as the â€Å"Wyckoff Train Station†, â€Å"Dairy Queen† and â€Å"Gas† all represent the Bergren County area and parts of New York prior to the gentrification phase. â€Å"Gas† depicts an old two pump station as you would see it in the 1970’s. The piece of the â€Å"Dairy Queen† shows the classic franchise that was shaped somewhat of a barn prior to the new modernized look you may see today. I can remember as a kid having one of these in our neighborhood. We frequently visited it for a Sunday cone after attending church. I could not wait to stand in line for my soft serve on a cone. Lastly the â€Å"Wyckoff Train Station† is truly a classic single standing building not so big on the side of the tracks. Much dated compared to the enormous train stations and subway stations you see in the big cities such as New York. Through viewing these pieces I would think this is his way of holding on to a piece of history, before all common landmarks that held tradition and memories were torn down. Prior to gentrification in many of our communities there were several sites or establishments that were a common thread to our community. Be it the mom and pop store on the corner to the old fashioned ice cream stand. Gentrification has erased these things with more modernized establishments that help to bring economic wealth for some but forces others out of the neighborhoods and communities that they have been a part of for quite some time.

Hamlet - the Character of Ophelia :: Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

Hamlet - the Character of Ophelia      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ophelia is in love with Hamlet, but like so many women, she is at the beck and call of her family first and foremost. Ophelia is not unintelligent, she is simply weak-willed. She doesn't know what she wants, so she lets other people decide for her, namely her father and brother. Hamlet's love letters are at odds with her father's wishes, and, because she is not able to form individual thoughts and opinions, she becomes confused as to what she really wants. Ophelia's weakness of mind and will, which catalyzes her obedience to her father and thus destroys her hope for Hamlet's love, finally results in her insanity and eventual death.    When her father had challenged the honor of Hamlet's intentions, Ophelia could only reply "I do not know, my lord, what I should think" (III, iii). Used to relying upon her father's direction and brought up to be obedient, she can only accept her father's belief, seconded by that of her brother, that Hamlet's "holy vows" of love were simply designed for her seduction. She was to obey her father's orders not to permit Hamlet to see her again. Her father also wanted to prove Hamlet's madness to the king. He used Ophelia as bait so he and the king could listen to Hamlet's words. Ophelia willingly obliged to her father's desires. By not thinking for herself and only doing as her father wished, she ruined her chances of love with Hamlet.    Hamlet put pressure on Ophelia by expecting her to surpass his mother's shortcomings and be an epitome of womankind. He searched her innocent face for some sign of loving truth that might restore his faith in her. He took her mute terror for a sign of her guilt and found her to be a false person, like his mother. In his letter to her, he addressed the letter to "the most beautified Ophelia" and he terminated the letter with "I love thee best, O most best, believe it" (II, ii). He used the word "beautified" to display a sincere tribute, and it is apparent he still loves her. His attempts to win her affection are not triumphant. Ophelia is still too much under the influence of her father to question his wisdom or authority, and she has no mind of her own to understand how much she has made her lover suffer.

The Outsiders Literature Response

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton original copyright 1967 The protagonists in the book are the Greasers and the antagonists are the Socs. The main characters are Darry, Soda, Dally, Bob, Ponyboy, and Johnny. Darry is tall, muscular, smart and very strict towards Ponyboy. Darry yells at Ponyboy and always seems to expect better from Ponyboy. For example, Darry yells at Ponyboy on page 49, â€Å"Where the heck have you been? Do you know what time it is? He was madder than I had seen him in along time. I shook my head wordlessly. † Soda is always optimistic and lighthearted. One of the only things that bring Soda down is the fact that he is a school dropout who works at a gas station. Soda tries to support Pony when Darry is mad at him but tries not to take sides. Soda explains how he doesn’t like when Darry and Pony fight when he says, â€Å"It’s just†¦I can’t stand to hear y’all fight. Sometimes I have to get out or†¦it’s like I’m the middleman in a tug o’ war and I’m being split in half (page 175). † Dally’s actions, like robbing a store, makes him seem like he is mean and tough but actually he is a very caring person on the inside. An example is when Dally enters the burning church to save Pony and says, â€Å"For Pete’s sake, get outa there! That roof is going to cave in any minute. † Bob is rich and undisciplined by his parents who make him feel like he has the power to do anything he pleases. Bob is intimidating to the Greasers like Johnny and Pony because he has the ability to do almost anything he wants. An example of Bob picking on Pony and Johnny is when he orders a Soc to give Ponyboy a bath in the park fountain by drowning him as a sort of cruel joke (page 55). Ponyboy is more emotional than all of the Greasers and takes feelings in to deeper consideration. Pony is not as violent as other Greasers and is very friendly. An example is when Pony went to the drive-in movie; he easily became friends with the popular Soc cheerleader, Cherry. This shows a lot about his personality because most Socs wouldn’t even want to talk to a Greaser. Johnny is shy, defenseless, and small for his age. He is harshly bullied by the Socs and by his parents. For instance on page 33, Pony describes how Johnny was mugged by the Socs, â€Å"They caught him and one of them had a lot of rings on his hand—that’s why they had cut Johnny up so adly. It wasn’t just that they had beaten him half to death—he could take that. They had scared him. † The setting takes place in a rough town somewhere in the U. S. around the 1960’s. The town is infested with crimes and delinquents. It’s socially divided into two parts, the east where the low-class Greasers live, and the west where the rich Socs live. The Greasers and the Socs are strong rivals who always take the opportunity to fight each other. Therefore, it makes walking down the street a dangerous task with the possibility of being mugged. An example of the environment of this town is in the scene where Ponyboy is mugged by the Socs while he was walking himself home from the movie theater. It’s dangerous for people like Pony to even walk on the city streets without risking being cut up by a Soc. The story starts out with Pony being jumped by the Socs until Pony’s gang rescues him. The next night Pony, Dally, and Johnny go to a drive-in movie and meet two girl Socs, Cherry and Marcia. By the end of the night Pony and Cherry become good friends. Before returning home Pony and Johnny go to a vacant lot to talk. They both fell asleep in the lot and woke up around 2 A. M. Pony goes back home only to find Darry as mad as ever. Darry lectures Pony about his curfew and ends up hitting him. Ponyboy becomes overwhelmed and decides to run away with Johnny. Pony and Johnny walk to the park until they notice the Socs approaching them. Bob is mad that the Cherry and Marcia were interacting with the Greasers; so he decides to mug both Johnny and Pony. The Socs begin to drown Ponyboy in the fountain until Johnny stabs Bob. The Socs then began to flee. Ponyboy and Johnny need help from Dally to run away while avoiding being arrested for murder. Dally tells them how to escape to Windrixville and survive behind an old church. Dally checks up on them in a week and tells Johnny that Cherry had testified that the murder had just been an act of self-defense. Johnny decides to turn himself in; so Dally drives them back until they notice that the church was on fire. Pony and Johnny run inside and rescue the kids that are trapped. Pony barely escapes, but Johnny was more severely hurt and ends up dying in the hospital. Dally becomes depressed because of all the misfortunes so, he commits an armed robbery at a grocery store. The police chase Dally to a lot where they kill him for armed robbery. Pony becomes traumatized because of all of the drastic events and deaths of his close friends. The main conflict in the story is when both Pony and Johnny are jumped at the park by the Socs. The Socs start to drown Pony in the fountain until Johnny stabs Bob. The Socs immediately fled to their cars and drove away. This conflict type person vs. person, in this case it would be the Socs (particularly Bob) vs. Johnny and Ponyboy. This conflict was external because it was made up actions. A minor conflict would be when Ponyboy is in great sorrow because of Johnny’s recent death. Pony can’t get over the fact that one of his closest friends, who actually deeply cared about him, died just overnight. This conflict type is a person vs. self; this is internal because it involves Pony’s feelings. An example of a person vs. nature conflict is when the church burns down. Johnny and Pony frantically enter the burning church to save the children form the fire. This is a person vs. nature conflict because the fire, which is part of nature, burns down the church which affects Ponyboy, Johnny, and the children who are trapped inside. The story is told for Ponyboy Curtis’s point of view. The author may have chosen this point of view because it would be easier to understand the story through a fourteen year old boy’s perspective and it may also make the book more appealing to teenagers. This point of view is critical to the story because it’s from the perspective of an outsider who thinks life isn’t fair to them. This story would have been altered if it were from the point of view of a Soc because the Socs feel as if they can do what ever they want and get what ever they want. If that had happened then the story would have been talking about how bad the Greasers were and how fabulous the Socs were. The mood in this story is bitter and unruly, especially for the Greasers because of their low status in life. The atmosphere is violent because of gang fights and various crimes. The story’s mood and atmosphere change when Pony and Johnny go to the country. The mood changes from harsh to quiet and relaxed because of the smaller population in the country. Here is an example of a mood and atmosphere change in the country (pg 63), â€Å"We lay in the tall weeds and damp grass, breathing heavily. The dawn was coming. It was lightening the sky in the east and a ray of gold touched the hills. The clouds were pink and meadow larks were singing. † The underlying message and theme of the story is the line, â€Å"Stay gold. † Stay gold means that you should remain young and wondrous because nothing stays gold forever. Johnny’s letter to Ponyboy explains that you are gold when you are a kid. Johnny says that the way Pony like sunsets is gold and to remain gold forever.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N.K. Sandars and...

Throughout history, there have been countless stories, legends, myths, and tales featuring larger-than-life heroes that metaphorically or even physically go to the ends of the earth achieving heroic feats and gathering companions along the way, each playing their own role in the heros story. Many of these epics have the same plot structure and similar character archetypes that make these stories stand out from the rest, giving them a distinct and unique style. The story The Epic of Gilgamesh translated by N.K. Sandars and the film Mel Gibsons Braveheart are two classic sagas that are alike in many ways such as their similar plots, their general character archetypes, and finally their central theme. In comparison, both The Epic of†¦show more content†¦After the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh laments for seven days and seven nights before departing on a journey to achieve everlasting life and defy the Gods curse of mortality upon men. In Braveheart ¸ the Scottish hero William Wallace loses his father and older brother to an English ambush at a very young age. He is taken abroad by his uncle Argyle and taught Latin and French as well as how to fight with a sword. Upon his return to his clan in Scotland, he falls in love with his childhood love Murron MacClannaugh. They marry in secret to avoid the right of Prima Nocta, where the English lord has all sexual rights with the bride on the first night of union. Wallace attempts to live a peaceful life of a farmer without having any conflict with the English. This dream is shattered when he fights off a group of English guards trying to rape his wife. As they try to escape, Murron is captured and publically executed by the Sheriff . After slitting her throat, he announces an assault on the Kings soldiers is the same as an assault on the King himself.(Gibson, 1995). After learning of Murrons death, Wallace and a group of villagers attack the English fort and kill off the entire Garrison. Wallace executes the She riff in the same manner that the Sheriff murdered his wife. After this daring assault, hundreds of Scots and Irish rush to join Wallaces militia as he continues his campaign to liberate