Abstract This paper looks at how title of Thomas Hardy's poem "The Voice" reveals a lot about its mode of delivery. It examines how the audible whispers of the woman calling are conveyed to the reader through literary devices such as rhyme and rhythm. It evaluates how "The Voice" of the woman becomes a symbol of the narrator's memory, which is tainted by illusion and attachment to the past. It analyzes how although the poem might be about a long-lost love, a past or failed romance, a memory he struggles to retain, Hardy progresses from an initial feeling of hope in the first two stanzas to an acceptance of reality in the last two. "The Voice" is a whisper of the past and a memory of his lover's language.
From the Paper "In his natural surroundings, the narrator envisions and hears his lost lover. She is ?much missed.? This fundamental fact is made clear in the first stanza of ?The Voice,? underlining the importance of the relationship. The narrator is estranged from the woman whose voice he hears. She was ?the one who was all to me,? the narrator's soul mate. However, there is no indication of the nature of the breakup. She could be dead or with another man; she could simply be away traveling. Regardless of the actual situation, the narrator longs for times past, ?when our day was fair.? The present moment is not bleak, but the past offers rich memories. Before the remainder of the poem is read, it would seem as if the narrator is simply hanging on to a hopeless romance. Clearly, this is not the case. Although he becomes aware that he is "faltering forward" by the end of the poem, the narrator does not seem lost or emotionally distraught."
The paper seeks to determine why women in world religion are viewed primarily in terms of their menstrual cycle and how it pollutes and contaminates societal order, and whether this is a legitimate approach to understanding women in world religion.
Abstract The first section of this paper illustrates how "sexuality" is a social construction and a link to "power" which results in the notion of normative versus deviancy. The androcentric nature of this form of power is also identified. This paper also attempts to identify, through use of the Purity and Pollution paradigm, the relationship between a specific symbolic construction of the feminine and cultural practices that marginalize women. The third section focuses on the Zoroastrianism faith and whether or not it complies with the paradigm. The final section seeks to challenge the Purity and Pollution paradigm by pointing to some of its primary weaknesses, especially its inability to make audible the female voice by seeking women's self-perception.
From the Paper "The existence and continuation of cross-cultural taboos concerning menstruating women has sparked an interest in the field of anthropology by scholars who have noticed such a phenomenon. These taboos result from a specific symbolic construction of the feminine with the potential to pollute, which result in cultural practices that publicly marginalize women. Anthropologists have noticed the cross-cultural occurrence of menstruation taboos and, consequently, sparked the formation of an analytical lens. Focusing on purity and pollution"the notion that menstrual blood is polluting and contaminating to societal order and women, consequently are the polluters"has become a universal analytical lens through which to view women in world religions. The following seeks to examine the reason for this phenomena and its legitimacy as a tool with which to examine women in world religions."
Abstract Bram Stoker's masterwork and greatest novel, "Dracula", has been and remains one of the most culturally pervasive novelistic tropes of the last 100 years. Indeed, in multiple film versions, as well as in the novel and myriad other mediums, it remains a deeply pervasive cultural idea. The paper shows that part of the inspiration for the story no doubt takes elements from Stoker's own life and fictionalizes and dramatizes them to the point where the elements of personal struggle remain only as barely audible echoes within the text. Nonetheless, the paper shows that the main aspect of "Dracula" that has ensured its continuing popularity is its resonance with the Freudian concepts of Thanatos and Eros, which were some of the most important and prominent ideas in 20th century Western culture and continue to be of major importance today.
From the Paper "Indeed, the very concept of a Vampire is one that uniquely combines and links Thanatos and Eros in a strange and complex fashion that no normal figure in literature (even Masoch) could do. Indeed, one need only consider the very basic element that differentiates vampires and humans: vampires feed on humans. In order to fulfill their desires, their literal cravings, vampires must feed on human blood and kill them in so doing. Thus, in the very concept of what they are, vampires combine their most literal urges and desires (eros) with the legitimate and necessary connection of human death (Thanatos). The two are so completely and inextricably linked that to think otherwise would be the very apex of foolishness."
Abstract This paper explains that Wangari Maathai delivered a powerful speech to the audience of the Nobel Peace Laureate award, which appealed to the democratic inclination of her physical audience, expressed the desire for African power and freedom and drew on her childhood images of nature. The author points out that, while her speech was shifty and erratic in organization, her ability to cut to the heart of an issue and remind people of the actions required by the ideals for which they stand, achieved a clearly audible level of power in her lecture. The paper contends that, ultimately, she was able to overcome her basic problem of not being well known to her audience by highlighting the simplicity of her program and the universal ideals to which it appeals.
From the Paper "Maathai addressed three groups in her speech; the first was physically present, the second was implied, and the third was global. At the ceremony itself was the award committee, a select group of Swedish elites employed by the Nobel Foundation and distributors of the award. Also in attendance were former winners like Elie Wiesel, Leon Ledermen, and Stanley Pruisner; members of high regard in the larger community were also there in celebration, including the President of the European Central Bank, the Chinese Minster of Science and Technology, and the Chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara. While the audience present at the lavish ceremony was the direct recipient of the speech, Maathai verbally directed much of her discourse on hope and the necessity of environmental and democratic resolve to those with whom she has worked and those who have benefited from it. Additionally, because the awards are covered so internationally, the speech was broadcast across the world, providing an international digital and media-conscious audience of which Maathai was aware."
Abstract This paper examines how the acoustics in Greek theater spaces have ultimately proven to play a vital role in spectatorship and performance. It looks at how theater spaces and design were a necessary construct at the time in compelling audiences to become absorbed into the fullest theatrical experience possible, while simultaneously obligating actors to deliver the finest deliverance of dialogue.
From the Paper "Whether by accident or design, there exists some fundamental objections to the theatre spaces that are the foundation of the acoustics. For example, often noise from any section of the auditorium can be distinctly heard in the others. A rowdy audience therefore could ruin the performance. We may recall the tradition, dating from the early days of the theatre before the buildings had assumed permanent stone form, that audiences drummed their heels on the wooden benches to show their disapproval of a play. In a theatre with naturally good acoustics, this must have been devastating. It illuminates the necessity, both for tragedy and comedy, of embodying additional attention-holding devices, and the dangers of allowing a huge crowd to be distracted."
Abstract The traditional literary canon of the early 20th Century makes readily apparent the virtual disconnect between women and popular literature. An authentic female voice was a faint if at all audible contingent within what preceded modernist authors. Even rarer, were the voices of women who spoke against the normative restraints of their culture. The paper shows that the writings of Virginia Woolf offered significant contributions to this emerging literary demographic, both in the areas of women writing about women and, more specifically unique to her modernist experimentalism, the exploration of female-to-female intimacy. Woolf was a pioneer in her incorporation of these themes into her work. She creates characters who embody the struggle that she and other women experienced in early 20th century Britain. The paper shows that, beginning with her young protagonist, Clarissa, in "Mrs. Dalloway", Woolf explores the social constraints that limit agency and suppress these yearnings. The paper shows that with the later works of "To the Lighthouse" and her unfinished and posthumously published novel, "Between the Acts", lesbian desire is squelched by popular convention and its oppressive alienation robs her characters of the chance to possess the objects of their desires and withholds from them a social environment wherein it is plausible to assume a lesbian or woman-centered identity.
From the Paper "The construction of character around the concept of artistic authorship is repeated in Between the Acts in a way that allows for art to function as a vehicle to express a marginalized or misunderstood subjective vision. This time, it is Miss La Trobe, the director and playwright of a community theatre exercise, who worked to transform their annual play into an opportunity to bring reflection and enlightenment to an otherwise limited congregation of intellectual commoners. Yet, her vision is grossly misinterpreted."
Abstract This paper examines the works of the world's greatest composers and looks at how their music was influenced and shaped by the environment in which they lived. The paper explains how classical music of the west breaks down into a handful of major periods and that each great change in musical tastes can be traced back to corresponding developments in society and civilization. Bach and Handel, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven are just a few of the composers discussed in this paper.
From the Paper "Romanticism differed from the earlier periods because of its appeal to raw emotion. This is not to say that the works of Bach and Hayden are devoid of human feeling. Rather, it is a different kind of emotional response that is being elicited. In a sense the compositions of the Romantic Era ask the listener to suspend reason, and to listen only with the heart. The Nineteenth Century was a time of great change in Europe. The early years of the century had seen the Old Order torn to bits, and a new, and much more completely secular order take its place. Governments now commanded loyalty not on the basis of their leaders' closeness to God, but on the extent to which these leaders tended to embody, or represent, the "national spirit." Wagner's Ring could never be fully understood outside the context of a rampant German nationalism. The newly unified German Empire wanted to demonstrate that it had arisen out of a proud and ancient past. The fact that the Ring is based on old Teutonic Legends is indicative of the extent to which Wagner himself had become enmeshed in the supposedly primal lore of his people - it is Wotan and not Jupiter who occupies center stage. The prominence given to non-Classical legend represents a major break with the Europe of the previous four centuries."
Abstract The paper details an experiment that examined the three senses of taste, touch and hearing by determining the thresholds and the localization of their specific receptors. The paper describes the materials and methods used and includes graphs and charts to display results. A discussion on the findings of this experiment is also provided.
Outline:
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
From the Paper "In this experiment, three senses were analyzed by determining the thresholds and the localization of their specific receptors. The chemical sense of taste can be divided into five distinct qualities: salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami (Goldstein, 2007), of which the first four were investigated in this experiment. The surface of the tongue contains four different papillae: circumvallate, fungiform, foliate and filiform. The first three house the taste buds. Each taste bud contains receptor sites for different types of chemical, depending on its papillae type (Zungia, et al, 1993). When a chemical contacts the appopriate site, transduction occurs down its nerve fiber. Fibers from the same receptor types synapse with the nucleus of the solitary tract, which eventually leads into several areas of the frontal lobe. These are the insula and the frontal operculum cortex, which receive the taste signals and the orbital frontal cortex, which combines these signals with input from the olfactory system (Goldstein, 2007)."
