Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Antihero Walter White essay

Antihero Walter White essay Antihero Walter White essay Antihero Walter White essayMany TV shows represent iconic heroes who demonstrate the best traits of their characters to become trustworthy and well-intentioned in social life, but some TV series â€Å"feature antiheroes who test the limits of society† (Landau 27). Many antiheroes are described as rule-breaking characters. Walter White from Breaking Bad show (2008-2013) by Vince Gilligan is one of them. Initially, he was a mild-manners high school teacher, but eventually he turned into a powerful drug lord. In other words, the Antihero of Breaking Bad show is Walter White. According to the plot of the show, Walter White is â€Å"a mild and beaten down high school chemistry teacher who finds himself diagnosed with lung cancer† (Martin 53). He was improperly insured, had problems with providing for his family and failed to become a scientist. Once he was a promising chemist, one of the founders of the multi-billion dollar company Gray Matter Technologies, but he had to lea ve, selling his shares in business for $5,000. He became an unhappy man and dissatisfied high school chemistry teacher. He makes a decision to start manufacturing methamphetamine in order to ensure his family’s financial support after his death. According to critics, â€Å"the underlying project† Vince Gilligan had in mind was ‘a radical extension of the antihero trend that had by then become the signature of the decade’s TV† (Martin 53). The major goal of this paper is to explore the character of Walter White and prove that he is an antihero in the show Breaking Bad. To start with, it is necessary to define the term â€Å"antihero† in order to find some characteristics that can be applied to Walter White’s role. Antiheroes presented in various literary works, or films, or TV shows are not simply â€Å"the antithesis of the hero†. According to Christopher Vogler, â€Å"antihero is a slippery term that can cause a lot of confusio n†(Lively 44). In other words, an Antihero cannot be regarded as the opposite of a Hero, because an Antihero is a â€Å"specialized kind of Hero† (Lively 44).Walter White is represented as an antihero because his behavior, his actions and his ideas characterize him as a specialized kind of hero. According to VanDerWerff, â€Å"the blackness in his soul seeped out until he was ranting at his wife over the phone, a ploy to get the police off her back that conveniently also let him yell about how everyone around him had failed to recognize his greatness† (1). As a matter of fact, Walter White acts as an antihero in many series, performing the victim of his circumstances, including family, society, job, career, addiction, etc. Walter White can be regarded as an agent of free will.Antiheroes should possess some iconic characteristics, both positive and negative. According to critics, â€Å"this polarity provides all series with the right amount of dramatic heat to su stain it over many seasons† (Landau 31). Let’s apply this polarity to the case of Walter White in Breaking Bad series. First, Walter White starts his career in the crystal meth drug trade as a green band. However, he is also a well-trained, highly professional expert chemist who possesses unique professional skills. Thus, the audience evaluates Walter White’s character as â€Å"simultaneously naà ¯ve and smart† (Landau 31). Second, throughout many series, Walter White demonstrates his strong leadership skills that help him to solve various problems, but, at the same time, he becomes increasingly paranoid. As a result, he has no trust in other people’s ideas. His inability to trust others makes him â€Å"a lone wolf†(Landau 31).   Third, Walter White is represented in the show as a loving and kind family man, who values his family and who would never protest against his family’s decisions in order to keep his family together. At the same time, Walter White’s actions, decisions and behaviors become â€Å"more and more dangerous and reckless,† and he is ready to place his wife and his children into danger in order to achieve his self-interested aims (Landau 31). Finally, Walter White can be characterized as a greedy man who is focused on powers of authority. Nevertheless, he leads a secret double life that makes him change his decisions and his true face, throwing off the mask each time he comes to his family. According to Neil Landau, he has no opportunity to show his enormous power, his potential and wealth, â€Å"despite his growing ego and fortune, he continues to live small† (31). So, Walter White possesses both positive and negative characteristics, which make his an antihero.As a matter of fact, Walter White has become an antihero because of his diagnosis that makes his feel the fear of the coming death. According to critics, â€Å"the motivation that got him off his keister in the fi rst place to becoming a criminal was the fear of imminent death† (Landau 37).   Walter White faces serious life problems and ponders over the meaning of life. Once, he said to his brother, â€Å"You know, I used to worry about everything; it used to keep me awake at night. But since, I got my cancer diagnosis, I sleep like a baby† (qtd. in Landau 37). Walter White is ready to start producing crystal meth in order to become a powerful man. He uses his chemistry knowledge, being involved in the life of crime. In other words, Walter is a man dying of cancer, but he himself can be regarded as a cancer.Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, it is necessary to conclude that Walter White is an antihero in the show Breaking Bad. In the series of Breaking Bad show, the audience has an opportunity to evaluate Walter White’s progress from the so-called white knight family man into a black soul monster. The audience watches how the main character of Breaking Bad series demonstrates his light and dark impulses. Although Walter White can be characterizes as an antihero, he also acts as a survivor. The audience evaluates his failures and successes, and his desire to never give up. In general, Vince Gilligan has created a complex character because Walter White is an antihero in the show. Walter White, a loving father and a loving husband, who works hard to provide his family members with everything they need, without violating the law, suddenly, makes a decision to sheer off the path of goodness and becomes a monster. Walter White makes a choice to be a bad man than nobody. His decision to become a criminal gives him the power he needs and the relevance he will use in his decisions.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The Writing Process

The Writing Process The Writing Process The Writing Process By Ali Hale Whether you know it or not, there’s a process to writing – which many writers follow naturally. If you’re just getting started as a writer, though, or if you always find it a struggle to produce an essay, short story or blog, following the writing process will help. I’m going to explain what each stage of the writing process involves, and I’ll offer some tips for each section that will help out if you’re still feeling stuck! 1. Prewriting Have you ever sat staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank document on your computer screen? You might have skipped the vital first stage of the writing process: prewriting. This covers everything you do before starting your rough draft. As a minimum, prewriting means coming up with an idea! Ideas and Inspiration Ideas are all around you. If you want to write but you don’t have any ideas, try: Using a writing prompt to get you started. Writing about incidents from your daily life, or childhood. Keeping a notebook of ideas – jotting down those thoughts that occur throughout the day. Creating a vivid character, and then writing about him/her. See also How to Generate Hundreds of Writing Ideas. Tip: Once you have an idea, you need to expand on it. Don’t make the mistake of jumping straight into your writing – you’ll end up with a badly structured piece. Building on Your Idea These are a couple of popular methods you can use to add flesh to the bones of your idea: Free writing: Open a new document or start a new page, and write everything that comes into your head about your chosen topic. Don’t stop to edit, even if you make mistakes. Brainstorming: Write the idea or topic in the center of your page. Jot down ideas that arise from it – sub-topics or directions you could take with the article. Once you’ve done one or both of these, you need to select what’s going into your first draft. Planning and Structure Some pieces of writing will require more planning than others. Typically, longer pieces and academic papers need a lot of thought at this stage. First, decide which ideas you’ll use. During your free writing and brainstorming, you’ll have come up with lots of thoughts. Some belong in this piece of writing: others can be kept for another time. Then, decide how to order those ideas. Try to have a logical progression. Sometimes, your topic will make this easy: in this article, for instance, it made sense to take each step of the writing process in order. For a short story, try the eight-point story arc. 2. Writing Sit down with your plan beside you, and start your first draft (also known as the rough draft or rough copy). At this stage, don’t think about word-count, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Don’t worry if you’ve gone off-topic, or if some sections of your plan don’t fit too well. Just keep writing! If you’re a new writer, you might be surprised that professional authors go through multiple drafts before they’re happy with their work. This is a normal part of the writing process – no-one gets it right first time. Some things that many writers find helpful when working on the first draft include: Setting aside at least thirty minutes to concentrate: it’s hard to establish a writing flow if you’re just snatching a few minutes here and there. Going somewhere without interruptions: a library or coffee shop can work well, if you don’t have anywhere quiet to write at home. Switching off distracting programs: if you write your first draft onto a computer, you might find that turning off your Internet connection does wonders for your concentration levels! When I’m writing fiction, I like to use the free program Dark Room (you can find more about it on our collection of writing software). You might write several drafts, especially if you’re working on fiction. Your subsequent drafts will probably merge elements of the writing stage and the revising stage. Tip: Writing requires concentration and energy. If you’re a new writer, don’t try to write for hours without stopping. Instead, give yourself a time limit (like thirty minutes) to really focus – without checking your email! 3. Revising Revising your work is about making â€Å"big picture† changes. You might remove whole sections, rewrite entire paragraphs, and add in information which you’ve realized the reader will need. Everyone needs to revise – even talented writers. The revision stage is sometimes summed up with the A.R.R.R. (Adding, Rearranging, Removing, Replacing) approach: Adding What else does the reader need to know? If you haven’t met the required word-count, what areas could you expand on? This is a good point to go back to your prewriting notes – look for ideas which you didn’t use. Rearranging Even when you’ve planned your piece, sections may need rearranging. Perhaps as you wrote your essay, you found that the argument would flow better if you reordered your paragraphs. Maybe you’ve written a short story that drags in the middle but packs in too much at the end. Removing Sometimes, one of your ideas doesn’t work out. Perhaps you’ve gone over the word count, and you need to take out a few paragraphs. Maybe that funny story doesn’t really fit with the rest of your article. Replacing Would more vivid details help bring your piece to life? Do you need to look for stronger examples and quotations to support your argument? If a particular paragraph isn’t working, try rewriting it. Tip: If you’re not sure what’s working and what isn’t, show your writing to someone else. This might be a writers’ circle, or just a friend who’s good with words. Ask them for feedback. It’s best if you can show your work to several people, so that you can get more than one opinion. 4. Editing The editing stage is distinct from revision, and needs to be done after revising. Editing involves the close-up view of individual sentences and words. It needs to be done after you’ve made revisions on a big scale: or else you could agonize over a perfect sentence, only to end up cutting that whole paragraph from your piece. When editing, go through your piece line by line, and make sure that each sentence, phrase and word is as strong as possible. Some things to check for are: Have you used the same word too many times in one sentence or paragraph? Use a thesaurus to find alternatives. Are any of your sentences hard to understand? Rewrite them to make your thoughts clear. Which words could you cut to make a sentence stronger? Words like â€Å"just† â€Å"quite†, â€Å"very†, â€Å"really† and â€Å"generally† can often be removed. Are your sentences grammatically correct? Keep a careful look out for problems like subject-verb agreement and staying consistent in your use of the past, present or future tense. Is everything spelt correctly? Don’t trust your spell-checker – it won’t pick up every mistake. Proofread as many times as necessary. Have you used punctuation marks correctly? Commas often cause difficulties. You might want to check out the Daily Writing Tips articles on punctuation. Tip: Print out your work and edit on paper. Many writers find it easier to spot mistakes this way. 5. Publishing The final step of the writing process is publishing. This means different things depending on the piece you’re working on. Bloggers need to upload, format and post their piece of completed work. Students need to produce a final copy of their work, in the correct format. This often means adding a bibliography, ensuring that citations are correct, and adding details such as your student reference number. Journalists need to submit their piece (usually called â€Å"copy†) to an editor. Again, there will be a certain format for this. Fiction writers may be sending their story to a magazine or competition. Check guidelines carefully, and make sure you follow them. If you’ve written a novel, look for an agent who represents your genre. (There are books like Writer’s Market, published each year, which can help you with this.) Tip: Your piece of writing might never be published. That’s okay – many bestselling authors wrote lots of stories or articles before they got their first piece published. Nothing that you write is wasted, because it all contributes to your growth as a writer. Conclusion The five stages of the writing process are a framework for writing well and easily. You might want to bookmark this post so that you can come back to it each time you start on a new article, blog post, essay or story: use it as a checklist to help you. If you have any tips about the writing process, or if you want to share your experiences, tell us in the comments! Check Out Other Articles from The Writing 101 Series: The Writing Process Creative Writing 101 Story Writing 101 Letter Writing 101 Business Writing 101 Freelance Writing 101 Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial Expressions26 Feel-Good WordsHow Do You Pronounce "Mozart"?

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Viewpoint of Leopold and Schweitzer about Artificial Destruction of Assignment - 3

Viewpoint of Leopold and Schweitzer about Artificial Destruction of Ecosystem Centers - Assignment Example Various ideas about artificial destruction of ecosystem centers on ethics as a tool of human conscience. The moral obligation of man towards the non-living objects and other living organisms has been proposed by two environmental thinkers in a divergent perspective but convergent basis. Leopold is a proponent of land ethic as a critical moral instrument that should guide human actions towards nature. His claim emphasizes the overriding perception of man that land is a property. His analogy of Odysseus killing his maid servants is a comparative scenario of how man treats land. He argues against the human notion that land should be treated as personal property that can be exposed to destruction at will. Instead Leopold explains that man should consider land as part of ecology in which man is also a member (KohaÃŒ k 88). The point is that land serves as the habitat of several other organisms besides man. In that respect, man’s effort to destroy land interferes with the otherwise complex biotic and abiotic system that constitutes nature.Land ethics is used by Leopold to emphasize the need for a moral conscience of man in his relationship with soil. The description of land in this case encompasses water, soil, wildlife and all living and non-living organisms that make up ecosystem. The relationship that exists between man and land is more of symbiotic and property aspect should not be upheld. The land is considered the source of energy through food chain that ends up sustaining man. Leopold argues that the working of the ecosystem is complex and limited knowledge of man which prompt violent attack on nature is not fair. Man is the only organism with conscience and has the obligation to exercise morality in his treatment of nature. In this respect, Leopold champion for responsibility on the side of man in his desires to satisfy societal needs through nature. Other animals and plants may not have the conscience but it is evident that they always pose limited r isk to the same ecosystem that supports them. The history of evolution and biblical assertions of human superiority over nature assigns moral obligation to do the right thing for sustainable existence.