The Breakfast Club Essay Example for Free

The Breakfast Club Essay The plot follows five students at fictional Shermer High School in Shermer, Illinois as they report for Saturday detention on March 24, 1984. While not complete strangers, the five teenagers are each from a different clique or social group. The five students Allison, Andrew, Bender, Brian, and Claire who seem to have nothing in common at first, come together at the high school library, where they are harangued and ordered not to speak or move from their seats by the antagonistic principal, Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason). They are to remain for a period of eight hours and fifty-four minutes (from 7:06 A.M. to 4 P.M., the only indication of time being on a clock that is 20 minutes fast). He assigns a 1,000 word essay (in which each student must write about who he or she thinks they are) and then leaves them mostly unsupervised, returning only occasionally to check on them. Bender, who has a particularly negative relationship with Mr. Vernon, disregards the rules and riles the other students; mocking Brian and Andrew, and sexually harassing Claire. Allison remains oddly quiet except for the occasional random outburst. The students pass the hours in a variety of ways. Gradually they open up to each other and reveal their inner secrets (for example, Allison is a compulsive liar, Bender comes from an abusive household and Brian and Claire are ashamed of their virginity). They also discover that they all have strained relationships with their parents and are afraid of making the same mistakes as the adults around them. However, despite these developing friendships the students are afraid that once the detention is over, they will return to their very different cliques and never speak to each other again. At the request and consensus of the students, Brian is asked to write the essay Mr. Vernon assigned earlier (the subject of which was to be a synopsis by each student detailing who you think you are), which challenges Mr. Vernon and his preconceived judgments about all of them. Brian does so, but instead of writing about the actual topic he writes a very motivating letter that is in essence, the main point of the story. He signs the essay as The Breakfast Club and leaves it at the table for Mr. Vernon to read when they leave. There are two versions of this letter, one read at the beginning and one at the end, which are slightly different; illustrating the change in the students judgments of one another and their realization that they truly have things in common.

The Use of Intensity and Passion as Resources for Social Transformation

Baldwin saw his race lynched, beaten, and emotionally tormented, alongside white America’s indifference towards this social problem. He witnessed firsthand the shortcomings of his country. Meanwhile, his father obfuscated this intense reality, which likely paralleled a similarly hidden reality of white people his age whose parents repeatedly eluded such inequalities because it was easier than facing them head-on. For Baldwin, trouncing social injustice requires the white man’s knowledge of how to love the Negro, to love one must suffer reality by facing their fears of experiencing the wicked and unknown. Ironically, the only wicked and unknown is that of the white man’s private fears and longings projected onto the Negro, fear of the burdensome reality that life is tragic and death is inevitable. The Negro more or less accepts his eventual death, since throughout American history he was raped, tortured, humiliated, and experienced a loss of human identity and human authority from confronting the twisted beauty of suffering (Baldwin, 98-99). The Negro was forced to face sensuality, that which Anglo-Teutonic, anti-sexual Whites have not (Baldwin, 43 & 30). â€Å"The [white] person who distrusts himself has no touchstone for reality—for this touchstone can be only oneself† (Baldwin, 43). It is for this reason that the Negro must rise-up, assuming that any potential for social justice rests in his hands. The few relatively conscious whites and relatively conscious blacks must, â€Å"like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of others† (Baldwin, 105). Up to this point in American History, blacks and whites have instead experienced universal joylessness (Baldwin, 43). To the white man’s benefit, love for the Negro absolves his ... ...rm their own lives, at the same time the members desire to learn from the students and from inspired self-reflection about how they can transform their own lives. On the other end of the spectrum, extremist examples of passion and intensity used as resources for transformation include groups like Wikileaks.org, Al-Qaida, and the Dove Community Outreach Center. Such resources may invoke the spirit of war, rebellion, and deceit, detract from societal progress and antagonize tensions already rooted in sensitive geopolitical relationships. However, we must recognize that outside the western world, many people see these resources as positive for social and personal transformation. Ascertainable from these diverse resources is that passion and intensity may be leveraged regardless of geographical, political, or social divides, to effect diverse social and personal change.

Symbolism in The Jade Peony Essay

Symbolism is used in this story. Such like the wind chimes, the jade peony and the cat. The most significant symbol in this story is the white cat, with its red eyes, that appears outside the house. This â€Å"cat† symbolizes that grandma’s time has come, and that she must move on to her next life where she will be reunited with â€Å"the juggler†. This cat bring backs memories and old feelings she had for her lover, and is therefore a significant symbol in this story. At the end of the story the cat revels that he is the symbol of grandma’s old lover. Grandma said that the cat’s eyes were pink, and the pink was also the color of her spirit. She thought the cat was sent by her old lover to take her back. The cat was also the symbol of death. After grandma saw the cat, she was already prepared to die and refused to go to the hospital, because she was a very traditional person, the cat was to bring her back, so there was no way to stop her from dying. The symbolism also shows that the tradition of grandma. Wind chime is a symbol of freedom for the family, who together searched to find the pieces to put it back together. It represents something that can be passed down through the generations and symbolizes their Chinese culture. For example, before grandma died, she and the author made a wind chime and grandma told the author that hang it on the window, so the family will know that when she is coming back and visit the family. Grandmother treasured the jade peony, because she had lived the majority of her life in China and to her it would always be home. In addition, to the Chinese, the peony was regarded as a national flower. The same applied to jade that the historically prized was above gold and silver in Chinese’s mind. So grandmother might regard them as a symbolic reminder of their Chinese heritage and cultural roots.

Regal Carnation Hotel Copy - 2045 Words

Problem Statement The Regal Carnation Hotel in Guam is suffering customer service failures. Additionally, the expectations set forth by Regal Carnation Hotel’s website are not being met. Hypothesis 1: There is a level of inequality that exists with respect to how guests are treated based on their nationality. Once Steve McKenzie and his wife arrived at the hotel they were very disappointed by the check in process that was supposed to be very quick and simple. The check in process took 25 minutes and should have been much faster since there were 2.73 employees per guest. The main problem with check in was the young Japanese women working the front desk who apparently were interns who had a very limited knowledge of English. Since†¦show more content†¦When you think of a three star hotel at the very least McKenzie would’ve expected to have a clean room. It was being described as having stained carpet that was pretty worn. The three star image that was being publicized on the website was a total farce in comparison to what he saw. Not only that but it was a daily struggle to even have the bed sheets changed every day. A sign was needed to be place on pillow, a sig n that was tucked away on a shelf in the bathroom. Now, a very interesting part about this was the interaction McKenzie had with the staff that really strengthens the claim of staff not being held to three star standards. One major thing is the dishonesty. McKenzie had not only been lied to about having pillows delivered to his room, but he had other instances of deceit and dishonesty. McKenzie and his wife had called down to the front desk and wanted to acquire a luggage rack. Not only did they have to describe what a luggage rack was to a hotel but they also were promised one would be sent to them. It was a promise that was not fulfilled. Many times McKenzie would run into the employees in the hallway and they were described as being unhappy, underpaid, and undervalued. He sometimes would hear those speaking English then when he tried to interact with them they would act as though they couldn’t understand him. Another key element was how many employees