| Papers [1-15] of 100 :: [Page 1 of 7] | | Go to page : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 —> | Search results on "MATERIAL THINGS MEANING CONSUMERS": |
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Material Things, Meaning and Consumers, 2008.
The paper explores the debate between Sut Jhally and James Twitchell entitled "On Advertising" that looks at their views on consumerism, advertising and the relationship between people and material things.
1,252 words (approx. 5.0 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 42.95
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Abstract
The paper explores the perspectives of Sut Jhally and James Twitchell on the relationship between material things and people as manifested by advertising communications. The paper explains both positions but argues in support of Twitchell's view as the more realistic of the two, given its grounding in the reality of human conduct rather than in the idealistic projection of what human actions should or might be.
From the Paper
"In order to explore the perspectives of Jhally and Twitchell it is first necessary to understand the basic ideas and concepts that inform their arguments. Scholars conducting research in fields adjacent to communication studies, such as Jhally and Twitchell, tend not to see material objects as simply artifacts of human construction that take up space and may have ranges of value attached to them by human individuals and collectives. Rather, these material things are visual vehicles of meaning."
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Deal with the Small Things the Big Things will Follow, 2002.
A look at the Broken Windows Theory in connection with acts of crime.
1,595 words (approx. 6.4 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 52.95
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Abstract
This paper provides a detailed look at the Broken Windows Theory. The writer of this paper provides the reader with an overview of the theory as well as some examples of where the theory would apply. In addition the writer argues that the theory is correct and if minor offenses were more harshly judged and punished then larger crimes would be deterred.
From the Paper
?As we go through history we see crime that is becoming increasingly violent. We have children killing children, people climbing clock towers and taking aim at innocent residents and serial killers seem to be on the rise. We also have gang related violence occurring each day as well as robberies and stabbings. Car- jackings have become a past time it seems and those who are victims of it are often brutally beaten before they lose their car. Everywhere we turn violent angry crimes seem to be more accepted than ever before.?
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"Superfluous Things", 2006.
A review of the book "Superfluous Things: Social Status and Material Culture in Early Modern China" by Craig Clunas.
1,497 words (approx. 6.0 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 49.95
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Abstract
This paper reviews and discusses Craig Clunas' historical book, "Superfluous Things: Social Status and Material Culture in Early Modern China". According to the paper, Clunas' book is less a historiography with a clear thesis than it is a biography and translation of particular persons of interest to the era who wrote about a diversity of subjects from health to art to tea making.
From the Paper
"Clunas' extended translation of Zhenheng's different expressions of the various progressions of modern Chinese men of his day through different stages of life show the Chinese writer's attention both to superfluity and detail, and how such details outline a general, far-reaching aesthetic, even though they apparently focus on minutia. Consider the guide provided by Chapter 23, Article 12, where Zhenheng writes in detail about how he believes that a person retired from office should build a small hut near a hill by his home, which must be furnished with teawares. The author dictates that this ideal retired man must also hire a boy as a tea servant to take care of his errands so he can entertain his guests and chat or sit in solitary confinement. "
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Review of "The God of Small Things", 2007.
This paper explores gender roles and the "big" and "small" things in Arundhati Roy's novel "The God of Small Things."
1,146 words (approx. 4.6 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 39.95
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Abstract
This paper reviews the book "The God of Small Things" from a perspective of gender roles. The book's author, Arundhati Roy, focuses her story not on the major events that shape a society, but rather on the small daily events that shape a home. In this paper, the concept of "big things" is evaluated in terms of the adult world and male world, while the "small things" are the realm of children and women. The paper analyzes the characters in the novel in relation to this idea.
From the Paper
"Arundhati Roy's book The God of Small Things has many instances where gender and the idea of "Big" and "Small Things" occur. In a society where there is caste system, political affliations, and marriage, she focuses on the "small things" which in turn can be taken with the gender roles of the novel. There are many characters such as Estha and Rahel that have strong personalities which play a distinctive role in the novel. Furthermore, the women characters in the novel seem to be transgressive of what seems to be acceptable. Roy forms her characters in a way where gender roles can be seen and political views can be taken."
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Material Feminism, 2005.
This paper discusses material feminism, a social movement of the mid-nineteenth century, which believed that women could improve their material condition by reducing their traditional domestic jobs.
1,540 words (approx. 6.2 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 50.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that material feminists attributed women's oppression to their physical and spatial environments, namely that of the home and kitchen. The author points out that, while the material feminists' beliefs concerning the way women's work should be organized differed from that of the middle class women who practiced domesticity, it was the reform activities the domestic women engaged that paved the way for the more vocal, extreme form of female activism in which the material feminists were involved. The paper relates that many of the middle-class women who adhered to the ideology of domesticity also engaged in reform activities, utilizing the nurturing aspects of their character to help the population and were active members of church groups.
From the Paper
"Because of the growth of specialized businesses, women's role in the home took on a new dimension from which the ideology of domesticity ultimately emerged. Women were now at home alone, no longer playing a significant role in the economic life of the family. Female housewifery, therefore, took on a new meaning. The newly private sphere of the home became a uniquely feminine domain. It defined not only the activities that a woman should engage in, but the characteristics that she should display as well."
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?The Things They Carried?, 2004.
A review of Tim O'Brien's Vietnam war novel, ?The Things They Carried?.
1,342 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 5 sources, MLA, $ 45.95
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Abstract
This paper examines ?The Things They Carried? by Tim O' Brien, the story of 12 soldiers, members of the Third Platoon, Alpha Company, Fifth Battalion of the 16th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade of the American Division in the Vietnam War of 1969. It looks at how O?Brien relates his and his companions? desolate and fatal experiences during that war and how he uses those experiences to explore the complications of memory and trauma, the most lasting of the things he and his companions endured, and which have remained with him to this day. It examines how it lists the many things they carried into war that were more real and terrifying than bullets, guns, grenades, and disease, such as the deaths, injuries, and sicknesses, and the overall brokenness they had to face in fighting.
From the Paper
"O?Brien gives major focus on the death of his closest friend, Kiowa throughout the book. It was a freak incident in that his own platoon killed him by mistake when it camped in a latrine on the banks of the song Tra Bong. It was plain to see why the author held Kiowa closest to his heart: Kiowa shared his sentiments about the cruelty of war. Kiowa was also a very compassionate and intelligent man, but precisely because of the kind of soul he was that O?Brien gave greater coverage of Kiowa?s very costly death than his life. It was a gutting loss he carried with great pain and could never get over with."
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Motivating Consumers, 2002.
This paper discusses consumer behavior and advertising.
1,900 words (approx. 7.6 pages), 5 sources, $ 71.95
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Abstract
This paper relates the things that motivate consumers to purchase one item or brand over another. The author points out the susceptibility to mass-market advertising. The paper evaluates consumers who the crowd and the differences between genders in advertising reactions.
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"The Need of Being Versed in Country Things", 2004.
This paper discusses Robert Frost?s "The Need of Being Versed in Country Things" and compares it to another poem by Frost, ?The Road Less Taken?.
805 words (approx. 3.2 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 28.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses Robert Frost?s ?The Need of Being Versed in Country Things? by stating that Frost uses simple country imagery, not only to describe the beauty of nature, but also to comment on the needs of modern people to understand the simpler knowledge of everyday things. The author points out that the birds in the poem are an allegory for the cycle of life; whereas a person may walk by the house and think how sad it is that it is burned down, the birds see it as a home and regard it as ?the lilac renewed its leaf?. The paper relates that Frost accomplishes his view on city folk by establishing, at the end of his poem, that ?one has to be versed on country things? to appreciate the beauty and metaphor of the house and the new residents.
From the Paper
"Frost begins his poem with simple imagery of a house that has suffered through a fire and ?now the chimney was all of the house that stood? (line 3). Frost accomplishes a true ?country? feel by comparing parts of the house and barn to imagery often seen in the countryside, rather than in the city. The chimney, for example is compared to a flower when he describes it as ?like a pistil after the petals go? (line 4)."
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"Things Fall Apart", 2002.
This paper is critical analysis of the book "Things Fall Apart" by African author, Chinua Achebe.
2,009 words (approx. 8.0 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 63.95
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Abstract
This paper summarizes the major events, characters and themes throughout this classic novel, "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua which chronicles the life of Okonkwo, a prominent tribesman in the Ibo clan who lives in the Umuofia village of Nigeria. The paper shows that since this book was first published in 1958, in the midst of the struggles of many African nations for independence, it has been extremely influential on definitions of fashion, status and material culture.
From the Paper
"Through the eyes of this proud, aggressive man we get a detailed view of what life was like in Umuofia, and watch his greatest fears manifest themselves as the culture, beliefs, and traditions of his people are destroyed with the coming of the white man. The story is written to show that these traditions were just as legitimate as those of their European conquerors and reveals how barbaric and hypocritical the Europeans were in trying to destroy them. The novel is divided into three parts; the first describes Okonkwo?s background, his fear of failure, his family?s lifestyle and responsibilities within the tribe. The second describes his exile from Umuofia, and the last describes his return home to find his tribe divided by the whites? arrival."
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Patriarchal and Martial Values in "Things Fall Apart", 2007.
An analysis of whether Okonkwo goes too far in his display of patriarchal and martial values in "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe.
2,585 words (approx. 10.3 pages), 4 sources, MLA, $ 78.95
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Abstract
This paper examines how in Chinua Achebe's novel 'Things Fall Apart', the main character Okonkwo, believes that the measure of a man's success is based on two elements, material acquisition and growth, and physical prowess. It discusses how this is ironic for Okonkwo since his people's typical idea of success seems to be constructed of a complex, strong spiritual culture, seemingly able to deal in traditional ways with any challenge in nature and human experience. Further, the paper analyzes how it is this basic dichotomy between Okonkwo and his own culture that directly lead to the tragic fall of Okonkwo and his ultimate disgrace. Additionally, the paper examines how Okonkwo represents the patriarchal values of Igbo society.
From the Paper
"Okonkwo was a man driven by with success. This manifested itself in many materialistic ways. First, he started out with nothing since he inherited nothing from his debt ridden father. He was forced to borrow seeds from a wealthy man. This was something he hated doing, but realised it was completely necessary become the man whom he wanted to be. "I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers' breasts. If you give me some yam seeds I shall not fail you." (Achebe 1996:16). Here we can see that Okonkwo started adulthood, in fact supporting his family, at a very early age. He began to cultivate his farm before many of the other townspeople. "
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Tim O'Brien's, "The Things They Carried", 2002.
This paper discusses the different themes found in Tim O'Brien's book, "The Things They Carried."
2,155 words (approx. 8.6 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 67.95
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Abstract
This paper examines Tim O'Brien's, "The Things They Carried," which is a compilation of several short stories or vignettes, about the experiences of the men who fought in the Vietnam War. The author uses commentary from two other literary sources who have analyzed the materials that were covered in O'Brien's book. The author discusses how O'Brien's background influenced the structure and content of the book. Some of the themes found in the different stories include courage, loneliness and memories and how the men carry all of these, along with their supplies, with them througout the war. This writer feels that it was the stories and the intimacy of the sharing of these feelings that helped many of these men survive the war, relatively intact.
From the Paper
"Characterization is one of the most important parts of this novel, and O'Brien manages to create vivid characters that are sympathetic and very real at the same time. How can a man named Rat be sympathetic? It is partly because of the thread of storytelling that is the backbone of the novel. "For Rat Kiley. . . facts were formed by sensation, not the other way around, and when you listened to one of his stories, you'd find yourself performing rapid calculations in your head, subtracting superlatives, figuring the square root of an absolute and then multiplying by maybe" (O'Brien 101). Much of O'Brien's novel reads like the folktales of old, passed down orally from generation to generation. Rat Kiley is clearly a born storyteller, for he makes his listeners think and think hard while he spins his tales."
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"The Things They Carried", 2002.
An examination of Tim O' Brien's novel "The Things They Carried".
1,443 words (approx. 5.8 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 47.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses how O'Brien presents the negative effects war has on people, especially on soldiers. Through a variety of short stories focused primarily on the Vietnam war, O?Brien illustrates the horror of war through exquisite detail of the violent nature that each soldier seemed to have adopted as time went on in Vietnam. It shows how he focuses not only on the physical things the men carried, but also on the intangible things and how the reader can easily relate to the emotional cost of an ambiguous war.
From the Paper
"The violence that seems to become embedded in the soldiers is a major topic in O?Brien?s novel. Through elaborate details that reveal the drastic change within the men, O?Brien creates within the reader an sense of understanding of the what of war does to people. This is an effective technique, as he ties these effects into the title of the book. For example, O?Brien has this to say about one of the soldiers, ?Norman Bowker, otherwise a very gentle person, carried a Thumb. . .The Thumb was dark brown, rubbery to touch. . . It had been cut from a VC corpse, a boy of fifteen or sixteen? (13). Before Vietnam, Bowker was a very good-natured person; however, war turned him into a hard-mannered, emotionally empty soldier, carrying a severed thumb as a trophy. The transformation shown through Bowker is an excellent example of the emotional change that a soldier might go through."
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?Things Fall Apart?, 2004.
A review of ?Things Fall Apart? by Chinua Achebe.
919 words (approx. 3.7 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 32.95
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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book, "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. Specifically, it evaluates how the arrival of the Europeans in Nigeria transformed everyday life for the Nigerian villagers. It presents an argument about whether, overall, these changes improved society as a whole. It also looks at how the arrival of the white man in Nigeria spelled the end of a way of life for the Ibo and the other native tribes in the area and how the white men required strict control over the natives and wanted to make them "white" in almost every sense. In doing so, they took away the natives natural and simple way of life, and "things fell apart."
From the Paper
"The natural world is primary in the Ibo's life, and the author subtly shows this repeatedly all through the story. He uses the elements of fiction, such as simile, to show how a corn cob is like the face of an old woman. "The name for a corn cob with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi, or the teeth of an old woman" (Achebe 36). This not only shows again, the Ibo's closeness to the natural world around them, it illustrates what they will lose as the white man changes their way of life. They will lose the ability to see the beauty of nature around them, and the ability to see beauty in the missing teeth of an old woman."
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"Giving Things Names", 2004.
A brief analysis of S.I. and Alan Hayakawa's book, "Giving Things Names."
858 words (approx. 3.4 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 30.95
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Abstract
In "Giving Things Names", S.I. and Alan Hayakawa argue that the words that we use to classify things originate in our reactions to them, but that these classifications can also act to define our understanding. The paper explains how they carefully develop their thesis by using examples and move from the general to the specific in order to create a logical basis for their potentially controversial discussion of 'race', 'nationality', and classification.
From the Paper
"Hayakawa and Hayakawa take a number of carefully reasoned steps in order to develop their thesis. First, they use a relatively simple example to illustrate how things come to be named based upon what they mean to us. They give the example of a village where a number of animals live. These animals are either large or small, and have round or square heads, or curly or straight tails. One villager notices the small animals eat grain, and names these animals gogo. Another villager notes that the ones with square heads bite, and names these daba, while a third villager notes that the ones with curly tails kill snakes, and names these busa (paragraph 2). Here, each animal is named based on what it means to the person who named it."
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"The God of Small Things", 2005.
A review of "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy.
900 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 4 sources, $ 35.95
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Abstract
This paper reviews the book "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy. According to this review, the "magical realism" and the "sound of small things" in the book are created by the perceptions of the characters themselves.
From the Paper
"The mythical sound of history, although often constructed of child-like phrasing and odd word strings, reverberates from Roy's text to create an ephemeral world that is much less tangible than the hard imagery of other modern novels. Some fasten terms like "magical realism" to her text or blame it on culture, likening her to Indian literary icons such as Salman Rushdie (Reena). Roy herself denies this, saying: No, what I am writing is what the characters are experiencing. What the reader is reading is the character's own perceptions. Those images are driven by the characters. It is never me invoking magic! This is realism, actually, that I am writing (qtd. in Reena)."
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