The North American Free Trade Agreement - 894 Words

The North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8th, 1993, went into effect on January 1st, 1994. By December of 1994, Mexico underwent a deep economic crisis, which saw the devaluation of the Mexican peso, a deterioration of wages, rampant unemployment, as well as extensive personal and corporate bankruptcies that led to the poverty and malnutrition of many of its citizens. As we explore the economic effects that NAFTA has had on Mexico, we must consider what economic disparity has meant for the citizens of Mexico, and how it has impacted migration patterns from Mexico to the United States. Under NAFTA, Mexico s per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has grown twenty-two percent, from $10,238 in 1980 to $14,400 in 2010, an increase which is less than the growth rate average for all other Latin American countries, which has hovered at thirty-three percent during that thirty-year period. In that same period, the United States has seen a GDP growth well above that of Mexico, at sixty-six percent. Furthermore, enacting NAFTA has provided Mexico the slowest rate of economic growth out of all previous economic strategies since the 1930 s; under NAFTA, Mexico s GDP grew at a meager .89 percent per year. Still, some economists consider NAFTA a success, due to the GDP growth in the United States and Canada. What these economists fail to consider is the fact that the jobs created in Mexico are not luxurious, orShow MoreRelatedNorth American Free Trade Agreement Essay1398 Words   |  6 Pages North American Free Trade Agreement During the most recent race for the White House we heard very little of substance from both parties, but one thing both parties seem to agree on is that free trade has been bad for the U.S. worker. One candidate proclaimed that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs and another distanced herself from free trade agreements all together. It has been over twenty years since the implementation ofRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1711 Words   |  7 PagesThis paper will discuss four components of the North American Free Trade Agreement: Background, events, pros and cons. Upon the research, you will discover four online articles to provide more detail and examples. This research will indicate how it was developed and the reasoning on why it would benefit the nation. Also, it will provide events that occur after the agreement was signed by congress and the recession the countries experience during the e arly 2000s. There will be a chart locatedRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement Essay1420 Words   |  6 Pagessubstance from both parties, but one thing both parties seem to agree on is that free trade has been bad for the U.S. worker. One candidate proclaimed that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs and another distanced herself from free trade agreements all together. It has been over twenty years since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and many have criticized it as a bad deal for the U.S. It can be shown thatRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1036 Words   |  5 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement also referred to as NAFTA produced results on January 1, 1994. A trade agreement was made between each of the three of nations of North America. The United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Canadian Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, the Mexican Presiden t, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and previous U.S. President George H. Shrub initiated the agreement. Connections between the nations were at that point on great terms, particularly between The United States and CanadaRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement Essay1863 Words   |  8 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, is an accordance between the United States, Mexico, and Canada that was put into effect in January 1994. This agreement was unprecedented because it integrated three countries that were at extremely different levels of economic development. It changed the economic relationship between North American countries and encouraged trade and investment among the three countries to grow considerably. The purpose of the creation of the North American FreeRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement Essay1356 Words   |  6 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement negotiated by three countries; Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The main purpose of NAFTA is essentially to reduce trade barriers in order to promote international commerce, and open up different industries to trade, in particular textiles, agriculture, and automobile sectors. The introduction of NAFTA completely transformed North American economic relations and led to unparalleled cooperation between the U.S. Canada and MexicoRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1486 Words   |  6 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), an agreement signed by three countries in creating rules in trade in North America. NAFTA, when being presented, was described as genuine for helping Mexico and Canada. But was NAFTA really helpings those counties or really just helping N orth America? Initially North America was being genuine about NAFTA when talking to Mexico and Canada but in reality the NAFTA caused some uneven development as the years went by. I have two stories thatRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1804 Words   |  8 Pagesunderstanding the elements of trade blocs that enable open markets between member nations while also decreasing the cost of conducting business within a country is essential in making strategic logistical decisions. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has provided one such trade bloc that encompasses the countries of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Since the inception of NAFTA in 1994, significant financial results have been achieved regarding increases in trade revenue and increases inRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement1018 Words   |  5 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA, is a trilateral trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Signed January 1, 1994, NAFTA’s main purpose was to reduce trading costs, increase business investments, and help the United States be more competitive in the g lobal marketplace. The agreement would eliminate all tariffs on half of all U.S. goods shipping to Mexico and introduce new regulations to encourage cross-border investments. According to President Bush, tradeRead MoreThe North American Free Trade Agreement920 Words   |  4 PagesThe North American Free Trade Agreement (NATFA) shoved the American worker down a flight of stairs in the name of Globalization NAFTA or a bill similar had been floating around Washington since 1979 a year before Reagan took office. NAFTA truly went no where for over a decade. The â€Å"North American Accord† was first proposed by the Reagan and the GOP were always in favor of passage but, it was the Progressive wing, along with many other pro-union members in the Democratic party who held NAFTA at

The Exposition That Tells The Story Of Antigone s Father

The movie starts out with a back story otherwise known as the exposition that tells the story of Antigone’s father. Her dads name was Oedipus and he was the king of Thebes. When he was younger his mother sent him to an oracle that told him his future. The oracle told him that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Therefore, his mother shipped him off to the mountains in the middle of nowhere. While alone and abandoned he was found and raised by a women and a man. When he found out his destiny he left to find his real parents in Thebes. When he got their he got into an argument with a â€Å"stranger,† and killed him. He then got to the kingdom and fought a sphinx to win the right to rule Thebes and the hand in marriage of the widowed queen. Little did he know the widowed queen he married was his mother. Then he spent years trying to figure out who killed the king only to find that he killed the king. Then his mother/wife realized she married her son and hung her self. As a result, he took two needles and stabbed his eyes. Oedipus and his mother had four children together; Eteocles, Ismene, Antigone, and Polyneices. After the king Oedipus dies Eteocles seized the thrown. Polyneices started a war against Eteocles and they both died in battle. Now the new king of Thebes was Creon and Antigone was to marry his son Haemon. Antigone wanted to bury her brother Polyneices but the new king Creon forbid anyone from burying the body. The story then starts and begins to explain theShow MoreRelatedThe First Six Lessons And William Shakespeare s As You Like It Essay1351 Words   |  6 Pagesmust detail the conventions associated with the production. One must ask themselves if the play a presentational or representational piece? In this paper, I will be comparing staging conventions through Antigone, Acting: The First Six Lessons and William Shakespeare s As You Like It. Antigone is a battle between opposition, while As You Like It is a tongue and cheek melodrama. Acting: The First six Lessons stands out for its depiction of parental nurturing and teaching. It is a play devoted toRead Moretheme of alienation n no where man by kamala markandeya23279 Words   |  94 Pagesï » ¿ANTIGONE KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING This tragedy is set against the background of the Oedipus legend. It illustrates how the curse on the House of Labdacus (who is the grandson of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, and the father of Laius, whose son is Oedipus) brought about the deaths of Oedipus and his wife-mother, Jocasta, as well as the double fratricide of Eteocles and Polynices. Furthermore, Antigone dies after defying King Creon. The play is set in Thebes, a powerful city-state north of Read MoreA Doll House by Henrik Ibsen7379 Words   |  30 PagesMa. Jennifer S. Yap Dr. Sherwin Perlas World Literature January 14, 2012 A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen Translated by Rolf Fjelde I. Introduction During the late nineteenth century, women were enslaved in their gender roles and certain restrictions were enforced on them by a male dominant culture. Every woman was raised believing that they had neither self-control nor self-government but that they must yield to the control of a stronger gender. John Stuart Mill wrote in his essay, â€Å"The Subjection

Night World Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3 Free Essays

string(35) " by grandeur while eating Cheetos\." She’s not looking so good,† Kestrel said, peering over Rowan’s shoulder. Rowan said, â€Å"Oh,dear,† and sat down Great-aunt Opal was a mummy. Her skin was like leather: yellow-brown, hard, and smooth. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Almost shiny. And the skin was all there was to her, just a leathery frame stretched over bones. She didn’t have any hair. Her eye sockets were dark holes with dry tissue inside. Her nose was collapsed. â€Å"Poor auntie,† Rowan said. Her own brown eyes were wet. â€Å"We’re going to look like that when we die,† Kestrel said musingly. Jade stamped her foot. â€Å"No, look,you guys! You’re both missing it completely. Look atthat!† She swung a wild toe at the mummy’s midsection. There, protruding from the blue-flowered housedress and the leathery skin, was a gigantic splinter of wood. It was almost as long as an arrow, thick at the base and tapered where it disappeared into Aunt Opal’s chest. Flakes of white paint still clung to one side. Several other pickets were lying on the cellar floor. â€Å"Poor old thing,† Rowan said. â€Å"She must havebeen carrying them when she fell.† Jade looked at Kestrel. Kestrel looked back withexasperated golden eyes. There were few things they agreed on, but Rowan was one of them. â€Å"Rowan,† Kestrel said distinctly, â€Å"she wasstaked. â€Å" â€Å"Oh, no.† â€Å"Oh, yes,† Jade said. â€Å"Somebody killed her. And somebody who knew she was a vampire.† Rowan was shaking her head. â€Å"But who would know that?† â€Å"Well †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Jade thought. â€Å"Another vampire.† â€Å"Or a vampirehunter,†Kestrel said. Rowan looked up, shocked. â€Å"Those aren’t real.They’re just stories to frighten kids-aren’t they?† Kestrel shrugged, but her golden eyes were dark. Jade shifted uneasily. The freedom she’d felt on the road, the peace in the living room-and now this. Suddenly she felt empty and isolated. Rowan sat down on the stairs, looking too tired and preoccupied to push back the lock of hair plastered to her forehead. â€Å"Maybe I shouldn’t havebrought you here,† she said softly. â€Å"Maybe it’s worsehere.† She didn’t say it, but Jade could sense her next thought. Maybe we should go back â€Å"Nothingcould be worse,† Jade said fiercely. â€Å"And I’d die before I’d go back.† She meant it. Back to waiting on every man in sight? Back to arranged marriages and endless restrictions? Back to all those disapproving faces, so quick to condemn anything different, anything that wasn’t done the way it had been done four hundred years ago? â€Å"Wecan’t go back,† she said. â€Å"No, we can’t,† Kestrel said dryly. â€Å"Literally. Unless we want to end up like Great-aunt Opal. Or†she paused significantly-â€Å"like Great-uncle Hodge.† Rowan looked up. â€Å"Don’t even say that!† Jade’s stomach felt like a clenched fist. â€Å"They wouldn’t, she said, shoving back at the memory that was trying to emerge. â€Å"Not to their own grandkids. Not to us.† â€Å"The point,† Kestrel said, â€Å"is that we can’t go back,so we have to go forward. We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do here without Aunt Opal tohelp us–especially if there’s a vampire hunter around. But first, what are we going to do withthat?† She nodded toward the body. Rowan just shook her head helplessly. She lookedaround the cellar as if she might find an answer in a comer. Her gaze fell on Jade. It stopped there, and Jade could see the sisterly radar system turn on. â€Å"Jade. What’s that in your jacket?† Jade was too wrung-out to lie. She opened thejacket and showed Rowan the kittens. â€Å"I didn’t know my suitcase would kill them.† Rowan looked too wrung-out to be angry. She glanced heavenward, sighing. Then, looking back atJade sharply: â€Å"But why were you bringing them downhere?† â€Å"I wasn’t. I was just looking for a shovel. I was going to bury them in the backyard.† There was a pause. Jade looked at her sisters and they looked at each other. Then all three of them looked at the kittens. Then they looked at Great-aunt Opal. Mary-Lynnette was crying. It was a beautiful night, a perfect night. An inversion layer was keeping the air overhead still and warm, and the seeing was excellent. There was very little light pollution and no direct light. The Victorian farmhouse just below Mary-Lynnette’s hill wasmostly dark. Mrs. Burdock was always very consider ate about that. Above, the Milky Way cut diagonally across the sky like a river. To the south, where Mary-Lynnette had just directed her telescope, was the constellation Sagittarius, which always looked. more like a teapot than like an archer to her. And just above the spout of the teapot was a faintly pink patch of what looked like steam. It wasn’t steam. It was clouds of stars. A star factory called the Lagoon Nebula. The dust and gas of dead stars was being recycled into hot young stars, just being born. It was four thousand and five hundred light-years away. And she was looking at it, right this minute. A seventeen-year-old kid with a second-hand Newtonian reflector telescope was watching the light of stars being born. Sometimes she was filled with so much awe andand-and-and longing-that she thought she might break to pieces. Since there was nobody else around, she could let the tears roll down her cheeks without pretending it was an allergy. After a while she had to sit back and wipe her nose and eyes on the shoulder of her T-shirt. Oh, come on, give it a rest now, she told herself.You’re crazy, you know. She wished she hadn’t thought of Jeremy earlier. Because now, for some reason, she kept picturinghim the way he’d looked that night when he came to watch the eclipse with her. His level brown eyes had held a spark of excitement, as if he really cared about what he was seeing. As if, for that moment, anyway, he understood. I have been one acquainted with the night, amaudlin little voice inside her chanted romantically, trying to get her to cry again. Yeah, right, Mary-Lynnette told the voice cynically. She reached for the bag of Cheetos she kept under her lawn chair. It was impossible to feel romantic and overwhelmed by grandeur while eating Cheetos. You read "Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3" in category "Essay examples" Saturn next, she thought, and wiped sticky orangecrumbs off her fingers. It was a good night for Saturn because its rings were just passing through theiredgewise position. She had to hurry because the moon was rising at 11:16. But before she turned her telescope toward Saturn, she took one last look at the Lagoon. Actuallyjust to the east of the Lagoon, trying to make out the open cluster of fainter stars she knew was there. She couldn’t see it. Her eyes just weren’t good enough. If she had a bigger telescope-if she lived inChile where the air was dry-if she could get above the earth’s atmosphere . . . then she might have a chance. But for now . . . she was limited by the human eye. Human pupils just didn’t open farther than 9 millimeters. Nothing to be done about that. She was just centering Saturn in the field of viewwhen a light went on behind the farmhouse below. Not a little porch light. A barnyard vapor lamp. Itilluminated the back property of the house like a searchlight. Mary-Lynnette sat back, annoyed. It didn’t reallymatter-she could see Saturn anyway, see the rings that tonight were just a delicate silver line cutting across the center of the planet. But it was strange.Mrs. Burdock never turned the back light on at night. The girls, Mary-Lynnette thought. The nieces. Theymust have gotten there and she must be giving them a tour. Absently she reached for her binoculars. Shewas curious. They were good binoculars, Celestron Ultimas,sleek and lightweight. She used them for looking at everything from deep sky objects to the craters on the moon. Right now, they magnified the back of Mrs. Burdock’s house ten times. She didn’t see Mrs. Burdock, though. She could seethe garden. She could see the shed and the fenced-in area where Mrs. Burdock kept her goats. And shecould see three girls, all well illuminated by the vapor lamp. One had brown hair, one had golden hair, and one had hair the color of Jupiter’s rings. That silvery.Like starlight. They were carrying something wrapped in plastic between them. Black plastic. Hefty garbage bags, if Mary-Lynnette wasn’t mistaken. Now, what on earth were they doing with that? Burying it. The short one with the silvery hair had a shovel. She was a good little digger, too. In a few minutesshe had rooted up most of Mrs. Burdock’s irises. Then the medium-sized one with the golden hairtook a turn, and last of all the tall one with the brown hair. Then they picked up the garbage-bagged objecteven though it was probably over five feet long, it seemed very light-and put it in the hole they’d just made. They began to shovel dirt back into the hole. No, Mary-Lynnette told herself. No, don’t be ridiculous. Don’t be insane. There’s some mundane, per fectly commonplace explanation for this. The problem was, she couldn’t think of any. No, no, no. This is notRear Window,we are not in the Twilight Zone. They’re just burying-something. Some sort of †¦ ordinary †¦ What else besides a dead body was five-feet-andsome-odd-inches long, rigid, and needed to be wrapped in garbage bags before burial? And, Mary-Lynnette thought, feeling a rush ofadrenaline that made her heart beat hard. And. And†¦ Where was Mrs. Burdock? The adrenaline was tingling painfully in herpalms and feet. It made her feel out of control, which she hated. Her hands were shaking so badly she had to lower the binoculars. Mrs. B.’s okay. She’s all right. Things like thisdon’thappenin real life. What would Nancy Drew do? Suddenly, in the middle of her panic, MaryLynnette felt a tiny giggle try to escape like a burp. Nancy Drew, of course, would hike right down there and investigate. She’d eavesdrop on the girls from behind a bush and then dig up the garden once they went back inside the house. But things like that didn’t happen. Mary-Lynnette couldn’t even imagine trying to dig up a neighbor’s garden in the dead of night. She would get caught and it would be a humiliating farce. Mrs. Burdock would walk out of the house alive and alarmed, and Mary-Lynnette would dieof embarrassment trying to explain. In a book that might be amusing. In real life-she didn’t even want to think about it. One good thing, it made her realize how absurd her paranoia was. Deep down, she obviously knew Mrs. B. was just fine. Otherwise, she wouldn’t besitting here; she’d be calling the police, like any sensi ble person. Somehow, though, she suddenly felt tired. Not up to more starwatching. She checked her watch by the ruby glow of a red-filtered flashlight. Almost eleven-well, it was all over in sixteen minutes anyway. When the moon rose it would bleach out the sky. But before she broke down her telescope for the trip back, she picked up the binoculars again. Just one last look. The garden was empty. A rectangle of fresh darksoil showed where it had been violated. Even as Mary-Lynnette watched, the vapor lamp went out. It wouldn’t do any harm to go over there tomorrow, Mary-Lynnette thought. Actually, I was goingto, anyway. I should welcome those girls to the neighborhood. I should return those pruning shears Dad borrowed and the knife Mrs. B. gave me to get my gas cap off. And of course I’ll see Mrs. B. there, and then I’ll know everything’s okay. Ash reached the top of the winding road andstopped to admire the blazing point of light in the south. You really could see more from these isolated country towns. From here Jupiter, the king of the planets, looked like a UFO. â€Å"Where have you been?† a voice nearby said. â€Å"I’vebeen waiting for you for hours.† Ash answered without turning around. â€Å"Wherehave I been? Where have you been? We were supposed to meet onthat hill, Quinn.† Hands in his pockets, he pointed with an elbow. â€Å"Wrong. It was this hill and I’ve been sitting righthere waiting for you the entire time. But forget it. Are they here or aren’t they?† Ash turned and walked unhurriedly to the open convertible that was parked just beside the road, itslights off. He leaned one elbow on the door, looking down. â€Å"They’re here. I told you they would be. It was the only place for them to go.† â€Å"All three of them?† â€Å"Of course, all three of them. My sisters always stick together.† Quinn’s lip curled. â€Å"Lamia are so wonderfully family oriented.† â€Å"And made vampires are so wonderfully . . . short,† Ash said serenely, looking at the sky again. Quinn gave him a look like black ice. His e-mail, compact body was utterly still inside the car. â€Å"Well, now, I never got to finish growing, did I?† he saidvery softly. â€Å"One of your ancestors took care of that.† Ash boosted himself to sit on the hood of the car,long legs dangling. â€Å"I think I may stop aging this year myself,† he said blandly, still looking down the slope. â€Å"Eighteen’s not such a bad age.† â€Å"Maybe not if you have a choice,† Quinn said, his voice still as soft as dead leaves falling. â€Å"Try beingeighteen for four centuries-with no end in sight.† Ash turned to smile at him again. â€Å"Sorry. On my family’s behalf.† â€Å"And I’m sorry for your family. The Redferns have been having a little trouble lately, haven’t they? Let’s see if I’ve got it right. First your uncle Hodge breaks Night World law and is appropriately punished-â€Å" â€Å"My great-uncle by marriage,† Ash interrupted in polite tones, holding one finger up. â€Å"He was a Burdock, not a Redfern. And that was over ten years ago.† â€Å"And then your aunt Opal-â€Å" â€Å"Mygreat-auntOpal-â€Å" â€Å"Disappears completely. Breaks off all contact withthe Night World. Apparently because she prefers living in the middle of nowhere with humans.† Ash shrugged, eyes fixed on the southern horizon. â€Å"It must be good hunting in the middle of nowhere with humans. No competition. And no Night Worldenforcement-no Elders putting a limit on how many you can bag.† â€Å"And no supervision,† Quinn said sourly. â€Å"Itdoesn’t matter so much thatshe’s been living here, but she’s obviously been encouraging your sisters to join her. You should have informed on them whenyou found out they were writing to each other secretly.† Ash shrugged, uncomfortable. â€Å"It wasn’t againstthe law. I didn’t know what they had in mind.† â€Å"It’s not just them,† Quinn said in his disturbingly soft voice. â€Å"You know there are rumors about that cousin of yours-James Rasmussen. People are saying that he fell in love with a human girl. That she was dying and he decided to change her withoutpermission. . . .† Ash slid off the hood and straightened. â€Å"I never listen to rumors,† he said, briskly and untruthfully. â€Å"Besides, that’s not the problem right now, is it?† â€Å"No. The problem is your sisters and the mess they’re in. And whether you can really do what’s necessary to dean it up.† â€Å"Don’t worry, Quinn. I can handle it.† â€Å"ButI doworry, Ash. I don’t know how I let you talk me into this.† â€Å"You didn’t. You lost that game of poker.† â€Å"And you cheated.† Quinn was looking off into a middle distance, his dark eyes narrowed, his moutha straight line. â€Å"I still think we should tell the Elders ,† he said abruptly. â€Å"It’s the only way to guarantee a really thorough investigation.† â€Å"I don’t see why it needs to be so thorough.They’ve only been here a few hours.† â€Å"Your sisters have only been here a few hours.Your aunt has been here-how long? Ten years?† â€Å"What have you got against my aunt, Quinn?† â€Å"Her husband was a traitor. She’s a traitor now for encouraging those girls to run away. And who knowswhat she’s been doing here in the last ten years? Who knows how many humans she’s told about the Night World?† Ash shrugged, examining his nails. â€Å"Maybe she hasn’t told any.† â€Å"And maybe she’s told the whole town.† â€Å"Quinn,† Ash said patiently, speaking as if to avery young child, â€Å"if my aunt has broken the laws of the Night World, she has to die. For the family honor. Any blotch on that reflects onme.† â€Å"That’s one thing I can count on,† Quinn said halfunder his breath. ‘,’Your self-interest. You always look after Number One, don’t you?† â€Å"Doesn’t everybody?† â€Å"Not everybody is quite so blatant about it.† There was a pause, then Quinn said, â€Å"And what about your sisters?† â€Å"What about them?† â€Å"Can you kill them if it’s necessary?† Ash didn’t blink. â€Å"Of course. If it’s necessary. For the family honor.† â€Å"If they’ve let something slip about the NightWorld-â€Å" â€Å"They’re not stupid.† â€Å"They’re innocent. They might get tricked. That’swhat happens when you live on an island completely isolated from normal humans. You never learn how cunning vermin can be.† â€Å"Well, we know how cunning they can be,† Ash said, smiling. â€Å"And what to do about them.† For the first time Quinn himself smiled, a charming, almost dreamy smile. â€Å"Yes, I know your views on that. All right. I’ll leave you here to take care of it. I don’t need to tell you to check out every human those girls have had contact with. Do a good job and maybe you can save your familyhonor.† â€Å"Not to mention the embarrassment of a public trial.† â€Å"I’ll come back in a week. And if you haven’t got things under control, I go to the Elders. I don’t mean your Redfern family Elders, either. I’m taking it all the way up to the joint Council.† â€Å"Oh, fine,† Ash said. â€Å"You know, you really ought to get a hobby, Quinn. Go hunting yourself. You’re too repressed.† -252Quinn ignored that and said shortly, â€Å"Do you know where to start?† â€Å"Sure. The girls are right †¦ down †¦ there.† Ashturned east. With one eye shut, he zeroed in with his finger on a patch of light in the valley below. â€Å"At Burdock Farm. I’ll check things out in town, then I’ll go look up the nearest vermin.† How to cite Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3, Essay examples

Night World Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3 Free Essays

string(35) " by grandeur while eating Cheetos\." She’s not looking so good,† Kestrel said, peering over Rowan’s shoulder. Rowan said, â€Å"Oh,dear,† and sat down Great-aunt Opal was a mummy. Her skin was like leather: yellow-brown, hard, and smooth. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Almost shiny. And the skin was all there was to her, just a leathery frame stretched over bones. She didn’t have any hair. Her eye sockets were dark holes with dry tissue inside. Her nose was collapsed. â€Å"Poor auntie,† Rowan said. Her own brown eyes were wet. â€Å"We’re going to look like that when we die,† Kestrel said musingly. Jade stamped her foot. â€Å"No, look,you guys! You’re both missing it completely. Look atthat!† She swung a wild toe at the mummy’s midsection. There, protruding from the blue-flowered housedress and the leathery skin, was a gigantic splinter of wood. It was almost as long as an arrow, thick at the base and tapered where it disappeared into Aunt Opal’s chest. Flakes of white paint still clung to one side. Several other pickets were lying on the cellar floor. â€Å"Poor old thing,† Rowan said. â€Å"She must havebeen carrying them when she fell.† Jade looked at Kestrel. Kestrel looked back withexasperated golden eyes. There were few things they agreed on, but Rowan was one of them. â€Å"Rowan,† Kestrel said distinctly, â€Å"she wasstaked. â€Å" â€Å"Oh, no.† â€Å"Oh, yes,† Jade said. â€Å"Somebody killed her. And somebody who knew she was a vampire.† Rowan was shaking her head. â€Å"But who would know that?† â€Å"Well †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Jade thought. â€Å"Another vampire.† â€Å"Or a vampirehunter,†Kestrel said. Rowan looked up, shocked. â€Å"Those aren’t real.They’re just stories to frighten kids-aren’t they?† Kestrel shrugged, but her golden eyes were dark. Jade shifted uneasily. The freedom she’d felt on the road, the peace in the living room-and now this. Suddenly she felt empty and isolated. Rowan sat down on the stairs, looking too tired and preoccupied to push back the lock of hair plastered to her forehead. â€Å"Maybe I shouldn’t havebrought you here,† she said softly. â€Å"Maybe it’s worsehere.† She didn’t say it, but Jade could sense her next thought. Maybe we should go back â€Å"Nothingcould be worse,† Jade said fiercely. â€Å"And I’d die before I’d go back.† She meant it. Back to waiting on every man in sight? Back to arranged marriages and endless restrictions? Back to all those disapproving faces, so quick to condemn anything different, anything that wasn’t done the way it had been done four hundred years ago? â€Å"Wecan’t go back,† she said. â€Å"No, we can’t,† Kestrel said dryly. â€Å"Literally. Unless we want to end up like Great-aunt Opal. Or†she paused significantly-â€Å"like Great-uncle Hodge.† Rowan looked up. â€Å"Don’t even say that!† Jade’s stomach felt like a clenched fist. â€Å"They wouldn’t, she said, shoving back at the memory that was trying to emerge. â€Å"Not to their own grandkids. Not to us.† â€Å"The point,† Kestrel said, â€Å"is that we can’t go back,so we have to go forward. We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do here without Aunt Opal tohelp us–especially if there’s a vampire hunter around. But first, what are we going to do withthat?† She nodded toward the body. Rowan just shook her head helplessly. She lookedaround the cellar as if she might find an answer in a comer. Her gaze fell on Jade. It stopped there, and Jade could see the sisterly radar system turn on. â€Å"Jade. What’s that in your jacket?† Jade was too wrung-out to lie. She opened thejacket and showed Rowan the kittens. â€Å"I didn’t know my suitcase would kill them.† Rowan looked too wrung-out to be angry. She glanced heavenward, sighing. Then, looking back atJade sharply: â€Å"But why were you bringing them downhere?† â€Å"I wasn’t. I was just looking for a shovel. I was going to bury them in the backyard.† There was a pause. Jade looked at her sisters and they looked at each other. Then all three of them looked at the kittens. Then they looked at Great-aunt Opal. Mary-Lynnette was crying. It was a beautiful night, a perfect night. An inversion layer was keeping the air overhead still and warm, and the seeing was excellent. There was very little light pollution and no direct light. The Victorian farmhouse just below Mary-Lynnette’s hill wasmostly dark. Mrs. Burdock was always very consider ate about that. Above, the Milky Way cut diagonally across the sky like a river. To the south, where Mary-Lynnette had just directed her telescope, was the constellation Sagittarius, which always looked. more like a teapot than like an archer to her. And just above the spout of the teapot was a faintly pink patch of what looked like steam. It wasn’t steam. It was clouds of stars. A star factory called the Lagoon Nebula. The dust and gas of dead stars was being recycled into hot young stars, just being born. It was four thousand and five hundred light-years away. And she was looking at it, right this minute. A seventeen-year-old kid with a second-hand Newtonian reflector telescope was watching the light of stars being born. Sometimes she was filled with so much awe andand-and-and longing-that she thought she might break to pieces. Since there was nobody else around, she could let the tears roll down her cheeks without pretending it was an allergy. After a while she had to sit back and wipe her nose and eyes on the shoulder of her T-shirt. Oh, come on, give it a rest now, she told herself.You’re crazy, you know. She wished she hadn’t thought of Jeremy earlier. Because now, for some reason, she kept picturinghim the way he’d looked that night when he came to watch the eclipse with her. His level brown eyes had held a spark of excitement, as if he really cared about what he was seeing. As if, for that moment, anyway, he understood. I have been one acquainted with the night, amaudlin little voice inside her chanted romantically, trying to get her to cry again. Yeah, right, Mary-Lynnette told the voice cynically. She reached for the bag of Cheetos she kept under her lawn chair. It was impossible to feel romantic and overwhelmed by grandeur while eating Cheetos. You read "Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3" in category "Essay examples" Saturn next, she thought, and wiped sticky orangecrumbs off her fingers. It was a good night for Saturn because its rings were just passing through theiredgewise position. She had to hurry because the moon was rising at 11:16. But before she turned her telescope toward Saturn, she took one last look at the Lagoon. Actuallyjust to the east of the Lagoon, trying to make out the open cluster of fainter stars she knew was there. She couldn’t see it. Her eyes just weren’t good enough. If she had a bigger telescope-if she lived inChile where the air was dry-if she could get above the earth’s atmosphere . . . then she might have a chance. But for now . . . she was limited by the human eye. Human pupils just didn’t open farther than 9 millimeters. Nothing to be done about that. She was just centering Saturn in the field of viewwhen a light went on behind the farmhouse below. Not a little porch light. A barnyard vapor lamp. Itilluminated the back property of the house like a searchlight. Mary-Lynnette sat back, annoyed. It didn’t reallymatter-she could see Saturn anyway, see the rings that tonight were just a delicate silver line cutting across the center of the planet. But it was strange.Mrs. Burdock never turned the back light on at night. The girls, Mary-Lynnette thought. The nieces. Theymust have gotten there and she must be giving them a tour. Absently she reached for her binoculars. Shewas curious. They were good binoculars, Celestron Ultimas,sleek and lightweight. She used them for looking at everything from deep sky objects to the craters on the moon. Right now, they magnified the back of Mrs. Burdock’s house ten times. She didn’t see Mrs. Burdock, though. She could seethe garden. She could see the shed and the fenced-in area where Mrs. Burdock kept her goats. And shecould see three girls, all well illuminated by the vapor lamp. One had brown hair, one had golden hair, and one had hair the color of Jupiter’s rings. That silvery.Like starlight. They were carrying something wrapped in plastic between them. Black plastic. Hefty garbage bags, if Mary-Lynnette wasn’t mistaken. Now, what on earth were they doing with that? Burying it. The short one with the silvery hair had a shovel. She was a good little digger, too. In a few minutesshe had rooted up most of Mrs. Burdock’s irises. Then the medium-sized one with the golden hairtook a turn, and last of all the tall one with the brown hair. Then they picked up the garbage-bagged objecteven though it was probably over five feet long, it seemed very light-and put it in the hole they’d just made. They began to shovel dirt back into the hole. No, Mary-Lynnette told herself. No, don’t be ridiculous. Don’t be insane. There’s some mundane, per fectly commonplace explanation for this. The problem was, she couldn’t think of any. No, no, no. This is notRear Window,we are not in the Twilight Zone. They’re just burying-something. Some sort of †¦ ordinary †¦ What else besides a dead body was five-feet-andsome-odd-inches long, rigid, and needed to be wrapped in garbage bags before burial? And, Mary-Lynnette thought, feeling a rush ofadrenaline that made her heart beat hard. And. And†¦ Where was Mrs. Burdock? The adrenaline was tingling painfully in herpalms and feet. It made her feel out of control, which she hated. Her hands were shaking so badly she had to lower the binoculars. Mrs. B.’s okay. She’s all right. Things like thisdon’thappenin real life. What would Nancy Drew do? Suddenly, in the middle of her panic, MaryLynnette felt a tiny giggle try to escape like a burp. Nancy Drew, of course, would hike right down there and investigate. She’d eavesdrop on the girls from behind a bush and then dig up the garden once they went back inside the house. But things like that didn’t happen. Mary-Lynnette couldn’t even imagine trying to dig up a neighbor’s garden in the dead of night. She would get caught and it would be a humiliating farce. Mrs. Burdock would walk out of the house alive and alarmed, and Mary-Lynnette would dieof embarrassment trying to explain. In a book that might be amusing. In real life-she didn’t even want to think about it. One good thing, it made her realize how absurd her paranoia was. Deep down, she obviously knew Mrs. B. was just fine. Otherwise, she wouldn’t besitting here; she’d be calling the police, like any sensi ble person. Somehow, though, she suddenly felt tired. Not up to more starwatching. She checked her watch by the ruby glow of a red-filtered flashlight. Almost eleven-well, it was all over in sixteen minutes anyway. When the moon rose it would bleach out the sky. But before she broke down her telescope for the trip back, she picked up the binoculars again. Just one last look. The garden was empty. A rectangle of fresh darksoil showed where it had been violated. Even as Mary-Lynnette watched, the vapor lamp went out. It wouldn’t do any harm to go over there tomorrow, Mary-Lynnette thought. Actually, I was goingto, anyway. I should welcome those girls to the neighborhood. I should return those pruning shears Dad borrowed and the knife Mrs. B. gave me to get my gas cap off. And of course I’ll see Mrs. B. there, and then I’ll know everything’s okay. Ash reached the top of the winding road andstopped to admire the blazing point of light in the south. You really could see more from these isolated country towns. From here Jupiter, the king of the planets, looked like a UFO. â€Å"Where have you been?† a voice nearby said. â€Å"I’vebeen waiting for you for hours.† Ash answered without turning around. â€Å"Wherehave I been? Where have you been? We were supposed to meet onthat hill, Quinn.† Hands in his pockets, he pointed with an elbow. â€Å"Wrong. It was this hill and I’ve been sitting righthere waiting for you the entire time. But forget it. Are they here or aren’t they?† Ash turned and walked unhurriedly to the open convertible that was parked just beside the road, itslights off. He leaned one elbow on the door, looking down. â€Å"They’re here. I told you they would be. It was the only place for them to go.† â€Å"All three of them?† â€Å"Of course, all three of them. My sisters always stick together.† Quinn’s lip curled. â€Å"Lamia are so wonderfully family oriented.† â€Å"And made vampires are so wonderfully . . . short,† Ash said serenely, looking at the sky again. Quinn gave him a look like black ice. His e-mail, compact body was utterly still inside the car. â€Å"Well, now, I never got to finish growing, did I?† he saidvery softly. â€Å"One of your ancestors took care of that.† Ash boosted himself to sit on the hood of the car,long legs dangling. â€Å"I think I may stop aging this year myself,† he said blandly, still looking down the slope. â€Å"Eighteen’s not such a bad age.† â€Å"Maybe not if you have a choice,† Quinn said, his voice still as soft as dead leaves falling. â€Å"Try beingeighteen for four centuries-with no end in sight.† Ash turned to smile at him again. â€Å"Sorry. On my family’s behalf.† â€Å"And I’m sorry for your family. The Redferns have been having a little trouble lately, haven’t they? Let’s see if I’ve got it right. First your uncle Hodge breaks Night World law and is appropriately punished-â€Å" â€Å"My great-uncle by marriage,† Ash interrupted in polite tones, holding one finger up. â€Å"He was a Burdock, not a Redfern. And that was over ten years ago.† â€Å"And then your aunt Opal-â€Å" â€Å"Mygreat-auntOpal-â€Å" â€Å"Disappears completely. Breaks off all contact withthe Night World. Apparently because she prefers living in the middle of nowhere with humans.† Ash shrugged, eyes fixed on the southern horizon. â€Å"It must be good hunting in the middle of nowhere with humans. No competition. And no Night Worldenforcement-no Elders putting a limit on how many you can bag.† â€Å"And no supervision,† Quinn said sourly. â€Å"Itdoesn’t matter so much thatshe’s been living here, but she’s obviously been encouraging your sisters to join her. You should have informed on them whenyou found out they were writing to each other secretly.† Ash shrugged, uncomfortable. â€Å"It wasn’t againstthe law. I didn’t know what they had in mind.† â€Å"It’s not just them,† Quinn said in his disturbingly soft voice. â€Å"You know there are rumors about that cousin of yours-James Rasmussen. People are saying that he fell in love with a human girl. That she was dying and he decided to change her withoutpermission. . . .† Ash slid off the hood and straightened. â€Å"I never listen to rumors,† he said, briskly and untruthfully. â€Å"Besides, that’s not the problem right now, is it?† â€Å"No. The problem is your sisters and the mess they’re in. And whether you can really do what’s necessary to dean it up.† â€Å"Don’t worry, Quinn. I can handle it.† â€Å"ButI doworry, Ash. I don’t know how I let you talk me into this.† â€Å"You didn’t. You lost that game of poker.† â€Å"And you cheated.† Quinn was looking off into a middle distance, his dark eyes narrowed, his moutha straight line. â€Å"I still think we should tell the Elders ,† he said abruptly. â€Å"It’s the only way to guarantee a really thorough investigation.† â€Å"I don’t see why it needs to be so thorough.They’ve only been here a few hours.† â€Å"Your sisters have only been here a few hours.Your aunt has been here-how long? Ten years?† â€Å"What have you got against my aunt, Quinn?† â€Å"Her husband was a traitor. She’s a traitor now for encouraging those girls to run away. And who knowswhat she’s been doing here in the last ten years? Who knows how many humans she’s told about the Night World?† Ash shrugged, examining his nails. â€Å"Maybe she hasn’t told any.† â€Å"And maybe she’s told the whole town.† â€Å"Quinn,† Ash said patiently, speaking as if to avery young child, â€Å"if my aunt has broken the laws of the Night World, she has to die. For the family honor. Any blotch on that reflects onme.† â€Å"That’s one thing I can count on,† Quinn said halfunder his breath. ‘,’Your self-interest. You always look after Number One, don’t you?† â€Å"Doesn’t everybody?† â€Å"Not everybody is quite so blatant about it.† There was a pause, then Quinn said, â€Å"And what about your sisters?† â€Å"What about them?† â€Å"Can you kill them if it’s necessary?† Ash didn’t blink. â€Å"Of course. If it’s necessary. For the family honor.† â€Å"If they’ve let something slip about the NightWorld-â€Å" â€Å"They’re not stupid.† â€Å"They’re innocent. They might get tricked. That’swhat happens when you live on an island completely isolated from normal humans. You never learn how cunning vermin can be.† â€Å"Well, we know how cunning they can be,† Ash said, smiling. â€Å"And what to do about them.† For the first time Quinn himself smiled, a charming, almost dreamy smile. â€Å"Yes, I know your views on that. All right. I’ll leave you here to take care of it. I don’t need to tell you to check out every human those girls have had contact with. Do a good job and maybe you can save your familyhonor.† â€Å"Not to mention the embarrassment of a public trial.† â€Å"I’ll come back in a week. And if you haven’t got things under control, I go to the Elders. I don’t mean your Redfern family Elders, either. I’m taking it all the way up to the joint Council.† â€Å"Oh, fine,† Ash said. â€Å"You know, you really ought to get a hobby, Quinn. Go hunting yourself. You’re too repressed.† -252Quinn ignored that and said shortly, â€Å"Do you know where to start?† â€Å"Sure. The girls are right †¦ down †¦ there.† Ashturned east. With one eye shut, he zeroed in with his finger on a patch of light in the valley below. â€Å"At Burdock Farm. I’ll check things out in town, then I’ll go look up the nearest vermin.† How to cite Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 3, Essay examples

Black Orpheus A Mythical, Musical Story Essay Example For Students

Black Orpheus: A Mythical, Musical Story Essay Subterranean rhythms  Orpheus, the dauntless son of Thracian King Oeagrus and the muse Calliope, is one of historys most renowed poet-musicians real or invented. The god Apollo presented him with a lyre whose ethereal sounds had power to soothe savage beasts and cause rocks and trees to move. When his beloved wife Eurydice abruptly died from a venomous snake bite, Orpheus descended to Hades to rescue her a first for a mortal.  That mythical journey has proved a rich and irresistible metaphor for artists. The hero Tamino of Mozarts The Magic Flute (1791) is based on Orpheus; centuries earlier Virgil, Ovid, Plato and Pindar reconfigured the myth to their own purposes. More recently, Jean Cocteaus 1949 film Orphee, a mesmerizing experiment in surrealism, centered on a modern-day poets obsessive fascination with his own mortality; and in 1959, Marcel Camuss Academy award-winning French-Portuguese film Black Orpheus, set in Brazil during Mardi Gras, vividly retold the story of the i ll-fated lovers yet again. In the latter film, Orpheus is a philandering streetcar conductor who must venture through a paper-saturated bureaucratic agencyand a sesuous swirl of holiday revelryin his attempt to free Eurydice.  New Jerseys Crossroads Theatre Company is exploring the oft-told tale with a sense of humor and merriment in its current production Black Orpheus: A Mytical, Musical Story, inspired by the much-loved Camus film. The first full production to be staged in the companys new $4-million space in New Brunswick, Black Orpheus runs through Jan.  There are very few Afro-centric classics in the history of world cinema, and this is one of them, says crossroads artistic director Ricardo Khan. To do the stage adaptation, Khan chose OyamO, the author of such works as Let Me Live, a jarring prison drama presented last year by New Yorks Working Theatre, because of the writers sense of rhythm and poetry.  OyamO created the character Sweet Mout Virgil to introduce the action and serve as resident philosopher and social commentator in the productions play-within-a-play structure. The Orpheus story is told by Sweet Mouts theatre troupe which sings and dances among the ruins of a Caribbean sugar plantation. Orpheus is an apprentice electrician and Eurydice is a young innocent who has run away from home, believing that Death is chasing her. She meets Orpheus through her uncle Apollo, the guitar maker, who (in an echo of the myth) builds Orpheus his instrument for the Carnival.  Khan, who has family roots in Trinidad, decided to place the fantasy story there, where striking natural beauty complements the tale of heroes and otherworldly happenings. Designer Daniel Troetts set juxtaposes new life and decay; a backdrop of azure sky and emerald sea peek out from jagged cliffs, and lush foliage envelops steps leading up to the crumbling porticos of the plantation manor. In the plays second movement Orpheuss descent into the underworld these steps magically split open to reveal the River Styx and Hades.  There are lots of myths floating around in contemporary society the myth of false history and the myth of racial superiority, to name just a few, says OyamO, who suggests that his adaptation is essentially about what happens when you confuse reality with myth. Although the Campus film uses the orgasmic music and masses of sexy, undulating bodies of Rios Mardi Gras as a picturesque setting for a love story, the Crosswords variation aspires to incorporate Trinidads Carnival into the realm of mythology itself. The revelers of the Carnival, dressed in spectacular costumes as Pluto, Poseidon, Charon, the Sirens and other creatures o f the underworld, actually become those characters in the Hades scene, in which Orpheuss ideals and love for Eurydice are put to trial. .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea , .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .postImageUrl , .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea , .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea:hover , .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea:visited , .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea:active { border:0!important; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea:active , .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u8f2b010566f99c0fba2ec364b25921ea:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Theatre and poetry Essay  With its delineation of Carnival in the first half and the underworld in the second, Black Orpheus takes a keen look at various planes of reality from the mundane world of the docks where Orpheus works, to the intense, Bacchanalian world of Carnival, to the hyperreal environs of the underworld.  One of the productions biggest challenges was fostering an organic fusion between the first and second movements, says director Khan. In the Hades segment, music and lighting change and the mood becomes hushed, rushed and unstable, not unlike the nightmare-in-retrograde world of Cocteaus Orphee, where shattered mirrors and underground winds represent the land of the dead.  Although the production concludes on a jubilant, life-affirming note, the final image of Orpheus is a tragic one that of a disoriented young man summoning the sun to rise while cradling the drowned body of a beautiful girl, hoping against hope that the morning light will awaken her from a profound slumber.