The Use of Laughter in Poetry by Langston Hughes Jessie Fauset explains in her essay The Gift of Laughter that black comedy developed not as a method for blacks to make people laugh, but as a necessary emotional outlet for black people to express their struggles and hardships. The "funny man" took on a much more serious emotion than appeared on the surface level. Comedy was one of the few means black people had available to them to express themselves. The paradoxical definition of laughter is applicable to all human beings; the limited means of expression is unique to those in an inferior place in society, such as the black Americans of the Harlem Renaissance. In a sense, what makes the struggles represented by the black comedian comic is the white audience member's ability "to retain mastery over himself and the situation" (Swabey 184). The white audience can laugh at the struggles and hardships on stage because of their refusal to accept the role they have played in the oppressions that caused them. Marie Collins Swabey also writes in her book Comic Laughter that "By uncovering neglected hypocrisies, illusions, vanities, and deceptions in the behavior of persons and societies...while making us laugh, also removes in part our blindness with regard to certain factual and moral weaknesses in mankind" (11). Generally speaking, comedy makes us aware of certain character flaws. Fauset entertains this idea in her essay by wondering, "...if this picture of the black American as a living comic supplement has not been painted in order to camouflage the real feeling and knowledge of his white compatriot" (161). Whether or not the black comedy of the Harlem Renaissance caused an epiphany for the white audience is not cl... ...nd His Continuing Influence. Ed. C. James Trotman. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1995. 119-129. Phelps, Thomas C. "An Introduction to Arnold Rampersad." Langston Hughes: The Man, His Art, and His Continuing Influence. Ed. C. James Trotman. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1995. 19-34. Rampersad, Arnold, ed., and David Roessell, assoc. ed. The Collected Poems ofLangston Hughes. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Simpson, J.A., and E.S.C. Weiner, eds. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd Edition. Vol. VIII. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Swabey, Marie Collins. Comic Laughter. Archon Books, 1970. Tracy, Stephen C. "Langston Hughes: Poetry, Blues, and Gospel--Somewhere to Stand." Trotman, C. James, ed. Langston Hughes: TheMan, His Art, and His Continuing Influence. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1995: 51-61.
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12/23/2019 0 Comments Becoming an AdolscentChildhood to adolescences Eventually, everything has to change. Whether it is for the best or the worst is to be determined. In this short story Steven becomes more realistic about the nature of breaking up and he also learns to consider the feelings of others. Steven gains a deeper understanding of himself and figures out who he wants to become. In “breaking up†by Susan Beeby and Paul Lima, Steven experiences a transition from childhood to adolescences. Steven’s view of being in a relationship is not realistic because he does not know what commitment entails. He attended his girlfriend’s birthday party, where he made her a cake and gave her a special birthday gift. His girlfriend said “when he gave me a gold band for my birthday, I thought our relationship was solid. â€(Beeby and Lima 1) Steven did not recognise the sentimental values a ring has for a girl. He did not think about the commitment he just made to her, resulting in a very immature choice. Steven is now seeing his ex-girlfriend not acting like she is upset or mad about him breaking up with her. She is not giving him the satisfaction that he craves for. Steven than proclaimed “and every time I saw her afterwards- laughing with her friends, but looking at me with icicle eyes- I almost gagged on what I said. â€(Beeby and Lima 1) He is now taking more accountability for his actions. Steven is realizing he should have never made a commitment when he was not ready because it hurt him more in the end. He started out making immature decisions and he made progress through the story by taking more responsibility for the actions he chooses. In addition to that, Steven takes more steps to becoming more of an adult. Steven gets the opportunity to understand how to respect others feelings. His girlfriend was expressing how their relationship was not perfect. “the romance did have its weaknesses, Steven would sometimes break our dateâ€(Beeby and Lima 1) said his girlfriend. Steven did not take into consideration that maybe his girlfriend was really looking forward to their date. He did not think about her feelings. More into the story, Steven’s girlfriend explained how he has changed. sometimes he brought me flowers and wrote me poems†(Beeby and Lima 1) his girlfriend expressed. He is now realizing he should respect his girlfriend’s feelings and he should make her feel special. By this time he is not just thinking about himself. Steven makes a transition from acting very immature to more mature, and is now actually treating his girlfriend with respect. With the ability to respect others, he finds out who he wants to become. Steven has more of an understanding of himself. He is analyzing what he thinks a poet should do about love. love means commitment and real poets don’t commit themselves, not to no body. â€(Beeby and Lima 1) Steven is relating himself to what a poet would do, not to what he thinks is best for himself. He also experiences a wide awakening of who he thought he was. Steven was questioning if he was really a poet. “but I should have known I wasn’t a poet because I was afraid of how far we could go on the name of poetry. â€(Beeby and Lima 1) Steven made an adult decision realizing he was not a poet because he actually loved her. He finally understood that you can be your own version of a poet and do not have to follow all the guidelines of a poet. Steven takes a huge step from being a child to becoming an adult. He experienced the aftermath of a break up. Steven also now knows how to consider other people’s feelings not just his own. He realizes who he wants to become; Steven took some time to figure out his faults, but in the end it all worked out to better him. The only question is will he stay an adolescences or make his way back to becoming more of a child?
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Higher education has proved to be beneficial in voting matters also. Education is an asset. It has provided benefits like self awareness, ability to think wisely and critically, having the ability to meet different people, which are less tangible and will help a child to grow up being a better individual. However, there are certain costs that have to be incurred for going to college. The opportunity costs of going to college include several components. First, the opportunity cost of one going to college includes the money that he or she would have earned instead of attending classes. It also includes the amount of wages that were foregone by not doing work and just attending college. In opting for going to college, one has also lost the opportunity to build up a career and the associated income that could be earned instead of not going to college. The greatest opportunity cost of going to college is the wage income that the individual has to forgone for attending classes. 2. The margin is considered to be a very significant concept in the area of business and economics. In economics the concept of margin is related to a wide range of topics including utility, revenue, costs, profit, product, etc. We are quite familiar with the terms of marginal utility, marginal revenue, marginal costs, marginal profit, marginal product and so on. The term margin mainly stands for the difference in the value of a variable when one additional unit of some other variable is used. For example, marginal utility of a product refers to the increase or decrease in total utility of an individual due to one unit increase in the consumption of the product. The concept of margin is very essential in economic decision making. The level of p of goods, the level of production of goods, etc are always determined by considering marginal requirement. For example, a firm is a profit maximizer in the sense it will always produce a commodity in such a way that its profit is maximized. In a perfectly competitive market, the firm will maximize its profit when marginal costs will b equal to its marginal revenue. The firm will continue to increase its production until marginal revenue becomes equal to its marginal cost. The point of equality is considered to be the equilibrium point of the firm. Thus the concept of margin is very important in economic decision making. Without the consideration of margin requirement it is not possible to conduct economic activities in optimum ways. However, it is not always necessary that all kinds of economic decisions are taken using the marginal concept only. For example, in a perfectly competitive market the break even point of a firm is not determined by any marginal concept. The break even point is relevant in short run production. This point mainly refers to the point of shutting down of production. A firm in a perfectly competitive market will shut down or stop production in short run when its average variable costs become greater than its average revenue, i.e. its average revenue even fail to cover the firm’s average variable costs. Thus the concept of average is important in taking shut down decision. 3. There has been a huge debate over the tax cut policy by bush administration in 2001 and 2003. Bush tax cuts mainly refer to two important tax policies created and implemented during the Presidential era of George W. Bush. Through these policies, the Bush administration mainly lowered tax rates in the United States. These tax policies effectively lowered marginal tax rates for almost all |