Essays on Bad Luck

Superstitions in American culture

Superstitions refer to belief in magic and fear of the unknown, which leads individuals to adopt irrational behaviors. The influence of superstitions on individuals has remained strong throughout human history, but this influence has been declining with increased urbanization and education of the masses. The Halloween superstition reflects a fear of some power by human beings, which is beyond their understanding and control. However, some superstitions remain prevalent in American culture and other industrialized societies. During Halloween it is traditionally believed that it is a period that common myths, omens and folklore have more weight for the people who ...

Problem Statement

Understanding the impact of culture on student learning is very critical to the provision of good quality education to learners. The global population is made of people with different cultures. In learning institutions, it is common to find a class made up of students and instructors from different communities with different cultural perspectives. Culture defines people’s way of life and comprises beliefs, knowledge, symbols, values, and behaviors. In a learning environment, there is a student’s culture, instructor’s culture, and the culture of people in the surrounding environment. Culture in such a case can be homogenous (where ...

The tradition of celebrating Halloween dates back from the ancient legends and folklore across the world. In Catholic countries, November 1 is the All Saints Day, which marks a special celebration of the saints’ good deeds here on earth. November 2 is considered as the All Hallows Eve, a day said to believe that spirits of the dead return to the land to visit their loved ones. Originally, the tradition of Halloween dates back since the Middle Ages, based on the ancient pagan festivity in Ireland. This celebration is called ‘Samhain,’ (pronounced as sow-een) which means ‘the end of summer’. This ...

Thesis: Based on Aristotle’s definition of not only a tragic hero but also of tragedy, Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice could rightly be described as a tragedy due to the main character’s lack of knowledge as well as due to the play’s depiction of a community and adherence to tragic guidelines. - Othello as a Tragic Hero - Noble and Admirable Characteristics - Common, Human Elements - The Issue of Race in Separating Othello from Other Characters - Othello’s Tragic Flaw or Mistake - Adherence to Greek Tradition - Presence ...

Movie Paper

The movie, North Country has shown the controversial nature and the ugliness of the sexual harassment issue that is still prevailing in the developed as well as in the developing countries (Collin-Vezina, Dion, and Trocme). The story of the movie is an indication of the fact that the prejudice and bias against the women have never concluded in spite of the persistent claims of the theories regarding the efficiency of the law in promoting the equality between men and women. The movie North Country, has, however, also pointed out towards the fact that how the declared official equality of ...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This report has covered the major marketing concerns that need to be undertaken by the new company, to flourish their operations in an effective way. Report has considered the most important aspect of marketing that is branding starting with an overview of global airline industry and its current operations, in the first part. While discussing the issues and importance of branding, it has recommended the desired brand identity for a new airline company. Second part has focused on strategies, to launch the airline service internationally, nationally and regionally. This part includes justified marketing mix for the airline company. Followed by ...

Essay on the Book “Holes”

Holes “Holes” is a novel written by Louis Sachar published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1998. The novel won the award for United States National Award for Young People Literature in 1998. The novel also won the most distinguished contribution to the American literature for Children award “Newberry Medal” in 1999. Later, Walt Disney Pictures filmed the book in 2003. The story of the movie revolves around the boy, Stanley Yalnats, who is from a poor family. The family is cursed due to the grand grandfather’s stealing a pig. Police wrongly accuses Stanley for stealing a pair of shoes ...

There are two men discussing a short story that they had previously read. These two people have different points of views; however both their opinions about the story are relevant. The story in which they are discussing is entitled “The Necklace”, by Guy de Maupassant, a French writer. The first man is named Trent, he believes in a functionalist society where everything does not just co-exist, they work well together. Along with this belief, he thinks that things happen for a reason; good or bad it is the will of fate. He is friends with another man named Trevor who is a realist, he ...

African American music is a collective term used to refer to various musical styles made popular in the early centuries. It encompasses European and American influences in music that created an entirely new musical genre. It has traces of diverse cultural backgrounds and beliefs mixed with real-life happenings voiced out through meaningful lyrics and music. The combination of such musical influences paved the way for the development of a range of music styles such as blues, jazz, gospel, and rap music, among others. In all these developments, Jewish Americans have been in the forefront in introducing and influencing the African American ...

A Saint on Death Row by Thomas Cahill

A saint on death row is a story that was written by an Irish-American author Thomas Cahill. In this tragic and heart wrenching story of a death row inmate known as Dominique Green, Thomas brings out the injustices and flaws that surround the American legal system. The issue of racism also comes up because the death row inmate (Dominique Green) was African American.

About the Author

Thomas Cahill is an American scholar born in New York in 1940 to Irish- American parents. Cahill grew up in Queens and the Bronx. He studied at Greek and Latin Literature, scripture and theology as well as medieval ...

Introduction

After all the enlightenment and modernization that has actually taken place in the modern world, the superstitious beliefs still exist in our societies. Each individual to some extent believe in these absurd superstitious beliefs. Cultural superstition is therefore a belief in the supernatural causality (Owens-Meyerson 17). Thus, one event contributes to the cause of another event without any physical process that links the two particular events. These events include; omens, witchcraft, astrology among others and which contradicts the natural science. For that reason, superstitious belief is the notion that an activity or a ritual can have a negative or positive impact on ...

Blues music often tells us much more about the attitude of a singer - it can tell us the attitude of the place where the song is set as well. Blues often captures the feel of the American locales that inspire their artists, or helps to solidify the problems that these people have with where they are. Blues singers use setting to infuse that blues identity into their songs, and likewise infuse those places with the blues identity by singing about them. Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago", The Paul Butterfield Blues Band's "Born in Chicago," Albert King's "Born Under a Bad ...

The traits of character which come to one’s mind when someone mentions the words “Hemingway’s code hero” are bravery, intelligence and honesty. “Hemingway’s code hero” refers to the several typical characters from the books written by this author. A bright example of such personage is Santiago from the novel The Old Man and the Sea.

Santiago is the main character of the novel. He is an old Cuban fisherman who has recently been having extremely bad luck, for he hasn’t caught a single fish in the course of eighty four days. This man for certain possesses ...

Nature imagery

Frankenstein is a novel based on a monster created by a scientist who wished to know much about physical science. This scientist is called victor Frankenstein. Victor works very hard on his creation but falls asleep after he finishes the creation. He does not give the creation a name and thus its lack of identity as it traverses the poles seeking to revenge since it has been rejected by the human race. It blames victor for creating it and not giving it an identity. Nature is a form of reprieve and consolation to the characters in this novel The novel’s setting is ...

This short story is about a man in his first winter, as a newcomer in the land, a chechaquo. Jack London's cold and amazing observations of the man and his foolish confidence in the midst of nature's power, forms the basis of the story "To Build a Fire." As the man, who is the main character, and his animal companion decide and take a less-traveled path into their Yukon camp, they encounter a tale of wilderness survival and terrible circumstances. The characters in this story are the man --whose name is not mentioned, the dog, the old timer, and the boys. In this work, I ...

Abstract

This essay will discuss how Mark Twain uses superstition to develop the plot of his novel while also satirizing religious belief in the America of the 1800’s. I will discuss how the author uses his characters to reflect his own views and uncertainty in this subject while also discussing how these superstitions relate to real-life.

Superstition runs though Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and is infused into the plot and character development process. Often, the superstitious qualities relate directly to the ideas of hope and fear and the characters tend to equate their actions with having an effect ...