"An Episode of War" is a story written by Stephen Crane, an American writer. In this story, he presents a very inhuman picture of war in the battle field or in the barracks or at the hospital. Here we find the scene of seriously wounded soldier who makes tremendous effort to live a normal life.
Theme of the text:
The writer wants to convey that war doesn't do good to anyone; it is always inhuman and destructive in nature; it is everywhere in the world.
Summary
The Lieutenant is the main character of the story but his name is not mentioned. Once, he was distributing the coffee powder in the barracks. Corporals and other representatives of each squad (groups) were in queue. The Lieutenant was very busy in his duty. Suddenly, he cried out because he was shot. The other soldiers also cried out after seeing the blood in Lieutenant's sleeves. He fell dangerously on the ground and straightens his body. He looked towards the forest and found puffs of smoke appeared after the fire. The Lieutenant tried to continue his work but he failed because his wounded hand did not support him. At the same time, a sergeant appeared forward and kept the sword in his scabbard. Then, the Lieutenant left the place holding his right wrist and set out for the hospital.
While passing through the line of battle, he could see many new things. He was always there but did not know some people. He noticed a general in black horse come to the field as soon as he reached there., a bodyguard appeared and saluted him. The guard also handed him a piece of paper which indicated a historical painting. Everything around the officer was in motion. He heard the thud of hoofs and the cries of some soldiers. The Lieutenant looked at the troops until they disappeared. The battle was continued. The scene was tragic and devastating. He saw the smoke rolling upward and some people moved to different place. Some soldiers followed the Lieutenant and showed him the way to hospital.
The Lieutenant saw another scene at the road side. A brigade was making coffee for the passers by He also halted different staffs for some time and noticed that several officers came to the brigade and asked about the unknown thing or tricks but he resumed his journey to hospital. After sometime he reached he hospital compound and saw the low tents in the hospital. Two ambulances were covered with deep mud and a crowd of bandaged men were moving around. Others were sitting under trees caring about their wounds. Even at the hospital, he heard continuous cries in wailing.
At the hospital a surgeon greeted him with a friendly smile. Later on his face turned serious after seeing the wound in the Lieutenant's hand. He examined the wound with hatred and brought the Lieutenant to the operation theatre. At this point, the Lieutenant was very much worried about his arm, He doubted that it might be cut off. His doubt came true. Thus, his hand was amputated His family cried after seeing this tragic scene. And the Lieutenant felt ashamed and said that the hand was not as important as anything else - that is duty towards the nation; name and fame in the world.
The poem, "When Icicles Hang by the Wall " is taken from Shakespeare's play "Love's Labour Lost". It is a song to criticize the winter season but poem doesn't present the direct and strong criticism. Poet is able to manage modest criticism to select the objective words. In the poem, the poet very cleverly to shows his dislikeness towards winter season.
According to the poem, when winter comes it brings several influences, the walls are covered with ice, everything including human's life get influenced by the cold and due to extreme cold, each phenomena come to freeze. To prevent excessive cold, Dick blows his nail and Tom Carries fire logs into the house. Milk freezes as soon as it is poured into the pail. The blood of living creatures comes to freeze. The snow has covered the way and made it muddy. The staring owl sings at night while Joan is keeling kitchen pots. Priests is unable to deliver his preaching due to his old age and coldness. Birds sit for brooding into their nests to skip away from the cold and due to heavy cold Marian's nose becomes red and raw. These all are the symptoms of winter season mentioned in the poem that shows the arrival of winter season. All people used to sit around the fire-place and the sounds of the roasted crabs could be heard. They ate and drank to prevent the coldness of winter season. Through all these images, we can notice winter is not pleasant in England.
"The Qualities of the Prince" is an extract from "The Prince (1513)" written by a 16th century political scientist, writer, historian and military expert Nicollo Machiavelli. The extract is a practical guide for ruling. This is equally influential today as it was in Machiavelli's time. Like it's message(advice), the text is brilliant in use of rhetorical strategies. Machiavelli, a powerful writer was three rhetorical strategies which I will contend to discuss in following paragraphs.
The first and the most beautiful strategy of Machiavelli is "Announcement of his primary point". In this writing, he usually refers to the historical account to support his idea; then he explains why his idea is the best one by appealing to both common sense and historical experience. For an instance: Machiavelli claims that a prince or any other men expert at military matters can win the state and the state authority. To support this idea, he refers to Francesco Sforza, who became Duke of Milan for being expert in military affairs. Similarly Machiavelli says that the man who busies himself during peace time in physical training and mental gymnastic is likely to win wars. To support this Machiavelli presents historical evidences that Alexander-The Great, Caesar and Scipio were successful in different wars by mind during peace time. In some cases, in which Machiavelli suspects that reader will not share his views whole-heartedly. He suggests an alternate argument and explains why it is wrong. This is a very forceful way of Machiavelli in presenting his ideas. He gives an a presenting his ideas. He gives an appearance of fairness and thoroughness in his presentation.
Another notable rhetorical device Machiavelli applies in his writing is discussion of opposites including both sides of an issue. From the very beginning, he makes number of oppositions, the art of a war and the art of life, generosity and miserliness, liberty and stinginess, the fox and the lion and so on. This method is very simple in itself but is forceful and important because it employs one of the basic techniques of rhetoric- the topic of comparison.
One of the three rhetorical devices Machiavelli uses in " The Qualities of the Prince " is aphorism. The aphorism is a saying which has been accepted as truth. Machiavelli tells us to be feared is much safer than to be loved; any men who tries to do good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Such definite statement has several important qualities. One is that they are pithy- they seem to say a great message in a few words. Another quality is that they appear to contain great deal of wisdom. Machiavelli makes ample use of such statements with certainty and spontaneity that help the audience be convinced in his principles. His statements are so powerful that we accept them readily without being skeptical in his idea.
In a nutshell, Machiavelli's use of language has appearance of truth that is most likely to be accepted by readers because of expert fusion of afore stated three rhetorical devices- Announcement of Primary Point, Discussion of Opposites and The Use of Aphorisms. These rhetorical devices make Machiavelli's expression lucid (clear), plain and spontaneous and convincing as well as reliable and effective.
"The Origin of Civil Society" is an extract from "The Social Contract (1762)". This extract is as significant in rhetorical strategies as in its message. Rousseau, a man of letters uses wide range of rhetorical devices to make his argument influential and persuasive. Of rhetorical devices analogy, analysis, topic of testimony, interrogation and paradox are most significant.
The most impressive technique Rousseau has used in it's master piece "The Origin of Civil Society" is that of "analogy". Analogy is a comparison between two objects and ideas having similar characteristics and nature. His comparison of family with the state is most remarkable in which Rousseau looks for the similarities between two - such as the children as the people and father as the head of the state. Such analogy is enlightening and easily convincing to the readers.
In addition to that, another key rhetorical device Rousseau has used in the essay is "analysis". Rousseau's analysis is forcible and convincing because it is very much logical. He proposes a statement which seems, on the surface to reassemble: then he analyzes part by part until he proves to the reader that either it is to be accepted or rejected. He is meticulous in the application of logic. In his section "Of Slavery" he proves that slavery is not justifiable and legitimate on any ground, including the widely held ground are the prisoners of war legitimately made into slave because they owe their lives to the winner. Use of such analysis makes Rousseau's argument irrefutable.
In the essay, while Rousseau provide analysis he occasionally stops to provide "definition." He defines the terms and circumstances or the concepts in the simplest possible way so that his intention of expression is easy to catch (understand). It is usually during the process of definition that Rousseau clarifies his point so that truth can be easily identified. This technique is not only simple and effective but also significant and powerful to us (readers) to examine his point of argument.
Another effective and powerful rhetorical device Rousseau brings into use in "The Origin of Civil Society" is the reference to other authorities. In the domain of writing the reference to the other is called "the topic of testimony". In order to present his argument convincingly, Rousseau refers to a few authorities specifically Hugo Grotius who was the Dutch legal authority and thomas Hobbes who was English social philosopher. They are most prominent in the selection and they provide basic points that are indispensable for the argument. The rhetorical device is easy for us to use and highly affective for arguing prepositions.
Similarly, Rousseau's writing is masked with clarity due to the use of "interrogation". In the very first paragraph, he first presents a thesis statement and then puts a question. e.g Man s born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Many a men believes himself to be masters of others who is no less than they, a slave. How did this change take place? I do not know what can make it legitimate? This technique of putting services question and then trying to answer them is quite effective because the clarity of question and answer structure is immediately apparent to readers. Rousseau has a very lawful balance of questions and answer which helps us to understand his point without any confusion but with the highest degree of accuracy and clarity.
The next significant rhetorical device that Rousseau has applied in the text is "paradox". paradox is a rhetorical device that is designed to draw the attentions of readers and to promote serious thought. Rousseau's skill n applying paradox is unique in itself and makes his argument strong. It is so strong that we can not help complaining with Rousseau's seriousness in finding out the reasons. Besides application of paradox is most compelling and appealing for attention as well as reason of readers which sustains considerable degree of attention to the author's argument. This technique help Rousseau make his writing not only effective but also appealing.
Wrapping up, Rousseau most thoughtful and thought provoking essay, "The Origin of Civil Society" is probably one of the best written texts regarding the application of variety of rhetorical tools. The tools are easily noticeable in his writing and has been used so carefully that make the text beautiful in expression and strong in argument. Rousseau can be said a master of rhetorical device who is unrivaled, unequaled by writers of his time.
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anjila
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Summary
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The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece is an extract from "From The Golden Bough(1890)" written by Sir James Frazer(!884-1941). Below is a thorough summary of the text.
Custom of sacrificing scapegoat seem to be originated as precaution of possible calamity, crisis and danger but the scapegoat was likely to come from the poorer class. Modes of sacrificing scapegoat differs from culture to culture. But the underline objective/purpose of sacrificing in every culture is same i.e purification of sin. Other objectives of scapegoating were to prevent calamity, disasters, starvation, suffering, tragedy and so on.
It was believed that scapegoating helped regain the fertility of the soil and vegetation(crops) yielded as expected by husbandsmen. Similarly practitioners of scapegoating believed that their offering of scapegoat would herald (to bring something surprisingly) good fortunes and happiness. Besides, tradition of human scapegoating was widely practiced in different parts of ancient Greece with an aim of averting evil spirit and malignant force. Though rational behind offspring scapegoat cannot be justified, it is deeply rooted in various cultures as an essential part of culture.
Sir Frazer concludes that through scapegoating, it practised with specific mission, ultimately it is nothing but search of power or search of support of super power. He also concludes that tradition of scapegoating shows that there is abundant use of power. It is the fact that the one who is made a scapegoat come from socially outcast group or from powerful class of people. At the same time it is noticeable that powerful ones offered powerless as scapegoat with an expectation of having good fortune and success.
