A Latin Christmas Essay Example for Free

A Latin Christmas Essay In Martin Espadas Latin Night at the Pawnshop, the poet examines the Latin culture during Christmas time in a young, but still growing community of Latino immigrants. The poem proposes that during some time in America, people of Latino descent could not enjoy themselves during the holidays as they would if they were in their own country. Therefore, the theme of the poem is heavily influenced by the demise of Latin culture in America. Espada augments his poem to make the theme clear by using the following elements of poetry: diction and tone, symbols, and imagery. Diction and tone play a critical role in Espadas poem. In the first line, Espada uses what I think to be the most important word in the whole poem, apparition, to bring about a vision he has of a salsa band through the window of a pawnshop. The word apparition means a ghostlike image. By evaluating this word and its context, the poem itself has created a tone right away. We can say that the mood of this poem is very gloomy and depressing when all one can see is a ghost and nothing else. The poem then continues with descriptive words to describe other aspects. For instance, the word gleaming is introduced. The word gleaming means to shine brightly. By introducing this word, the poet draws emphasis on how important this salsa band is to him during Christmas. However, locked in the shop are gleaming instruments that cant play no more and Christmas to him is left in utter silence. Moreover, Espada mentions two distinct colors, a golden trumpet (line 4) and a silver trombone (line 5). Both silver and gold help represent the time of Christmas. Almost all Christmas trees use silver and gold ornaments as a decorative feature. Also, the poem ends with another word worth noting, morgue. A morgue is a place where dead bodies are kept. Ironically, during Christmas, we dont associate death with such a joyful time. However, in this poem, a connotation for the word morgue could include death. Now, putting all these elements together, we can conclude that Espada is revealing a very dark Christmas he had gone through. A Christmas where there was no trumpet blowing, no trombone playing, no congas drumming, no maracas swinging, no tambourines shaking, and that all present was just the thought of it-no real Christmas. Espada also uses symbols to further develop his point. The three major symbols in this poem are indeed the pawnshop, the instruments, and the price tags. First, the essence of the pawnshop itself is important because it tells a story, beyond itself. Sometimes money gets in the way of a persons happiness. As a result, we pawn the stuff we really cherish for a quick buck. Espada is trying to explain that on top of the struggles Latinos face, they also must sacrifice the things they love. Second, the instruments tell us a great deal about the demise of Latin culture in America. Instead of being played and making great music during the holidays, they sit there unused. Espada in his poem creates an unwanted feeling. Lastly, the price tags that resemble that of a dead mans toe are equally important. The tickets symbolize the presence of death where there should be life. The Latin culture in the town of Chelsea is completely dead. Latinos have given up on their culture in place where its not truly accepted. These elements create the point Espada is trying to express. Imagery is also an important aspect to this poem. The poet creates imagery that attacks several senses and by doing so, it also helps pinpoint the importance of different ideas. Espada writes, gleaming in the Liberty loan pawnshop window, (line 2). As one reads, you cant help but imagine seeing this bright light coming out through a window and showing you a salsa band. Furthermore, Espada mentions several instruments. With this inclusion, one can imagine hearing the sounds of these lovely instruments playing coherently and in sync together. However, Espada also writes, all the price tags dangling like the city morgue ticket on a dead mans toe, (lines 7,8,9). This image develops a kind of chilly and nervous feeling about whats actually going on in the poem. All in all, by putting these sources of imagery together, you notice what the poet is trying convey. Espada is drawing our attention to a salsa band and all of its instruments, but in the end things arent always what we want or expect. The Latino culture is nothing more than an illusion, in a land that does not treat its immigrants well. Thus, in Latin Night at the Pawnshop, Espada creates a poem that expresses  his concerns about Latin culture in Massachusetts in the late 1980s by using different elements of poetry. The power of diction and tone, symbols, and imagery, enrich the central theme the poet wants to make. Espada does a great job converting one simple moment, into a thousand words and ideas.

Affirmative Action and Higher Education Essay -- Critical Thinking Essa

Affirmative Action and Higher Education    Two people stand in a room looking at a vibrant painting and receive a totally different image. This is something we all realize can happen. It is our different perspectives that make us valuable too each other. When trying to solve a problem or create a new idea, we need each other to bring forth considerations and concepts that would never occur otherwise. This concept is something most of us grasp in theory, yet it never ceases to confound and confuse us if someone draws a conclusion tangent from ours when presented with the same information. This situation lies at the heart of the argument over affirmative action. Policies that are viewed by some as righting past wrongs are viewed by others as creating a level playing field or even instigating a new phase of unjust discrimination. Part of this confusion is because the range of views not only shifts between people, but also over time. Policies that once appeared to be necessary can, in a few decades, seem excessive. When Justice P owell, along with the rest of the United States Supreme Court, handed down the decision in Regents of University of California v. Bakke in 1978, he attempted to give a rational for affirmative action in higher education that did not rely on retribution for one race; however, over time modest progress improving minority representation in schools have combined with the frustrations of a new generation to create a present situation that puts the past's policies under new political and legal scrutiny. When the Bakke decision was handed down it set standards for what affirmative action programs should be like. Specifically, it referred to the Harvard process (Schauer 592), but abstractly it was more gener... ...ronicle. November 5, 1998. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/11/05/MN16107.DTL. National Center for Policy Analysis. "Racial Preferences Don't Help Students Graduate." Idea House. June 11, 1997. http://www.ncpa.org/pd/affirm/pdaa/pdaa12.html. Regents of the University of California. "Text of Resolutions SP-1 and SP-2." Representations Online. Summer 1996. http://violet.berkeley.edu:7000/R55/regents.html. Schauer, Frederick and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. The Philosophy of Law. Harcourt Brace College Publishers: Austin. 1996. Sparks. District Judge. Hopwood v. The State of Texas. August 19, 1994. http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/hopwood/hoptxt.htm. Sowell, Thomas. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. "Body Count versus Education." AEI On the Issues. August 1997. http://www.aei.org/oti/oti7919.htm.

Example of Argumentative Essay Essay

History shows reiteratively throughout the recorded times that the mark set for students will be predominately that which they aim for and mostly stop therein. If students are not shown any higher level of knowledge the students should at no time be expected to aim for that which they did not perceive. Students will indeed float to the mark you set. History has shown us many valuable illustrations; one of them would be the vast comparison between students during the Ottoman empire and students in the reign of the Spartan empire, the Spartans were taught that knowledge is crucial, if it helps you to fight, whilst the Ottomans were taught that knowledge was imperative if it was beneficial in any way. Because Spartan pupils were finite to knowledge that did not pertain to warfare, they were infinitesimally limited in any other area, and to no degree were able to match the heights of knowledge of the Ottoman student body, the mark for these learners had been set considerably inferior tha n that for the under-graduates of the Ottoman empire, and so the students attained the mark that was set and were prescribed no reason to surpass it. Therefore it is clear to recognize that the objective a teacher sets for their pupil is all that their pupil will ever feel the demand to accomplish. Students are comparable to a kayak in the sea trying to reach an island to anchor on, and the teacher is the equivalent of the current, the stronger they push to try to reach and help the students, the closer they get to the island. Because students are reliant on their instructors to provide them with an objective to grasp, the supervisors specified a mark, and the students float to the mark that was decided. Therefore the students need only fulfill that which their instructor has itemized for them, and that would be the mark that was stipulated. Since pupils will only feel the need to do what was required in distinction to them, they will inevitably isolate themselves to the mark that was set before them.

Social Problems Of Economy And Employment - 1325 Words

Economy and employment has always been a big topic in the United States. There is always some kind of problem that will lead into arguments between people. In this society, it is difficult to live the â€Å"American dream† or have â€Å"a house with a picket fence†. Everything is so expensive these days that it leaves low and some people in middle class struggling to feed their families. If a certain individual does not have a average paying job, the person will struggle and will not have a rewarding career, fulfilling life, and will not retire in comfort. There are many social problems of economy and employment. To achieve the â€Å"American dream† type of life, it costs about one hundred thirty seven thousand dollars per year for a family of four. Only one eighth of these families achieve this in the United States. Next, welfare becomes a problem in this society. Not everyone gets the opportunity to go on welfare, which creates problems for people. Most people on welfare on it for a short period of time. Even though they cannot stay on it for life, welfare people get the chance to have food stamps, live in subsidized housing. Some people get no co-pays, reduced or free lunches, and some pay pell grants for college. This leads to the working poor of the society. 25% of employed people use some kind of social services, 52% of fast food families receive social services, and 33% of bank tellers receive a form of social services. In this situation, the government does helpShow MoreRelatedCauses Of Unemployment In Nigeria1 482 Words   |  6 Pagespsychologically. Nigeria economy since the attainment of political independence in 1960 has undergone fundamental structural changes. The Nigerian economy relatively grew in the greater parts of the 1970’s with the respect to the oil boom. 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