Death on Pine street Essay Example for Free

Death on Pine street Essay In this essay I will be comparing two detective stories. Sir Arthur Conan Doyles story The Speckled Band was written in the 1890s and set in England. It follows Sherlock Holmes as he investigates the unusual death of a young woman. Through clever logic he manages to solve the case entirely by simply investigating the scene of the crime. Death on Pine Street was written in the 1930s and set in America. The detective in this is a more street-wise roughed up detective, investigating the murder of a womans husband. His sly and even dishonest methods of investigation solve the case, however there are a few complexities. Both stories are first person narratives. In The Speckled Band Dr. Watson is the narrator but in Death on Pine Street, the Op himself tells us the story. This means that in the Holmes story the reader is kept in the dark about what is happening because we only know what Watson knows and, therefore, have to wait to the end of the story for Holmes to explain how he solved the crime to Watson. In the other story, because the Op is the narrator we know what he is thinking and what is happening to him. This different style works well, because although we know what he is thinking, we still have to wait to the end for the Op to explain how he solved the crime to the police; this way it doesnt ruin the element of interest that keeps the reader going on. The detectives in the two stories, Sherlock Holmes and the Continental Op, have some things in common, but are also very different characters. This is due to the very different places and times in which the stories are set. Both are private detectives solving crimes for money. They are both loners with no wives, families or girlfriends. They are both quick thinking, clever and observant they see clues and evidence that nobody else can see. They are both brave and strong, and can use weapons and know how to defend themselves. These are important factors in a good detective, which I think is why they share these traits whilst being from such different places and times. Sherlock Holmes was the first fictional detective ever, so it is probable that some of the inspiration for the Continental Op came from him. However they differ in many ways. Holmes is a more upper-class, well spoken and well-educated man. The Continental Op is more of a slang-talking, lower-class working man. He works for a company, and has to travel to meet clients. Holmes works from home; Miss Stoner comes to see him. He seems to do detective work simply for enjoyment, he tells Miss Stoner she need not pay him. Holmes seems more calm and collected, he doesnt carry a firearm or get into fisticuffs the Continental Op does both of these. Since Watson is narrating The Speckled Band, we get a good description of Holmes; the Continental Op does not describe himself at all infact the only description of him is given by the Tenant, referring to him as our little fat friend. The Continental Op is always skulking around bad areas and apartments, Holmes usually takes a safe journey to the scene of the crime (in this case a mansion). It is the difference in location and time that plays an integral part in shaping these completely different characters that share similar and almost universal traits. Death on Pine Street is set in America in the 1930s; this was during the Great Depression when times were very hard on people. Unemployment was high, many people could barely afford to live and so naturally people were more highstrung or ill-tempered, and crime rose. It was this kind of tough way of life that forms the environment and the character in Death on Pine Street. The Speckled Band is set in England, in the 1890s, a fine period for upper-class people. Holmes would have been raised comfortably, and it would not have been a necessity for him to be tough like the Continental Op. He does not deal in the same way as the Continental Op; he quietly investigates a single place, and works without any interrogations or interviews. This greatly seperates the feel of the story from Death on Pine Street, as the Continental Op interracts far more, with many more characters.

Movie Review: Yentl Essay -- essays research papers

Movie Review: Yentl Everyone at one time or another has felt out of place. Feeling unsure of one's place in society is an experience that every young adult faces but deals with differently. Some rebel while others comply with whatever has been set out for them by society or their parents, or both. The role of the woman in society is forever changing. Where women were once obligated to stay in the home and dote on their husbands, they are now working in the same types of jobs as their husbands. What was typically the male role has been blurred and practically obliterated. Religious roles have followed society's lead in their evolution. For example, since its creation over five thousand years ago, the Jewish religion has evolved in some movements to involve women and men equally in ceremonies. The orthodox movement has always remained traditional in its belief that women have their place in the home, cooking and raising children, and serving their husbands. Education remains the man's duty. The movie Yentl starring Barbara Streisand, shows this traditional belief through its plot, characterization, music, lights, camera angles, and symbolism. Set in Eastern Europe in 1904, Yentl captures the essence of the Jewish woman's eternal struggle. It is the story of a young girl, in love with learning but forbidden to do so by Jewish tradition. Upon her father's death, Yentl disguises herself as a boy to attend a yeshiva (religious school) and continue her studies. She befriends Avigdor, a male scholar at the yeshiva, and falls in love with him. Driven by her love for him, Yentl will do all that she can to ensure that he is near her and that her secret is not revealed. Yentl struggles with her secret until the day she can no longer remain silent. She tells Avigdor what she has done, and of her love for him, but he cannot accept a woman who refuses to act as a traditional woman should. So Yentl departs for America in hope of a different mentality, but never forgetting her love for Avigdor and all that she has learned. Based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's acclaimed short story, "Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy," the story is somewhat unrealistic but serves its purpose in proving a point; the point being that women have always been just as capable as men in studying and education, an... ...e bird, is able to soar - through the prejudices of her traditions and through the world of knowledge for which she so longs. She displays this thought in the last line of the movie when she sings "Papa watch me fly." As well, when Yentl transforms herself into Anshel, the boy, she looks at herself in a cracked mirror and cuts her hair. This displays her uncertainty of herself and her place in Jewish society, and the cutting of her hair symbolizes her transformation and the beginning of a new life for her. Symbolism throughout the film, contributes to the film's theme of self-discovery and role reversal. The plot, characterization, lighting, camera angles, and symbolism reveal thoroughly the plot of this highly thought-evoking film. The plot mainly contributes to proving that a woman's place is not solely in the home. That "story books for women, sacred books for men", as the bookseller says at the beginning of the story, is not an accurate assessment of a woman's intellectual capabilities. Because of Barbara Streisand's fabulous and complete characterization of Yentl, this movie comes to life and touches the hearts of its viewers.

Diversification of Agriculture Essay

Diversification in this case (agricultural diversification) involves the realocation of a, or some of a farms resources, to a new product or products. The prime resource of that time being sugar and the new products being the wide variety of crops that were produced and re-introduced by peasants. Peasants are a class of people of a lower status, who depends on agricultural labour for subsistence. The peasant life could be placed and termed in different categories. According to Mintz 1961,† a peasant style of life was worked out by the people while they were still enslaved, these people were refered to as proto-peasants. † he also makes mension of runaway pesantries or marrons, whome he described as, â€Å"those who formed communities outside colonial authority, build on subsistance farming in mountainous or interior forest regions†. This research will higlight how the peasants produced a wide variety of crops and the reintroduction of old ones. The purpose of this research is to show that the diversification of the caribbean economy was beecause of peasant initiative. had it not been for their efforts, the old sugar monopoly would have prevailed in the post emacipation period sustaining a system of bankruptcy and decay. Woodville K Marshall wrote, â€Å"our pesantry starts in 1838 an comprises of ex-slaves who started small farms on the peripheries of plantation wherever they could find land – on abandon plantations and in the mountainous unknowns of various teritories. † the first aim of the ex-slaves was to move away from the forced and unpaid labour. Many others preffered to stay in their own homes amongs friends and relatives with expectations of earning enough cash to purchase certain commodoties that they were unable to gain as slaves. The feeling of complete freedom, of the plantation was only recodnise by free people if they could aquire there own lands. the simplest methods of getting propperty was to buy unoccupied land, either from land belonging to plantations which was not farmed by owner and crown lands. these crown lands was most popular in Trinidad, British Guyana and the interior of Jamaica. Land ownership also came about by squatting on unused land in the the remote interious of the large colonies. People who purchase property outright were more fortunate than squatters, they gainned written proof of ownership and the land they bought was already cleared and close to markets. however outright purchase was the exception, not the rule. The exslaves were aslo able to aquire land in other intances through missionary help. These include popular missionaries such as James Phillips and William Nibb. In 1835 Phillips, bought 10 hectares in the mountains behind Jamaica Spanishtown, subdivided the land into small lots for sale on easy term to his congregation. the new community named sligoville was the only settlement during apprenticeship. In july 1838 William Nibb shared the belief that planters would try to force extra work from their free labour by dramatically increasing rent on estate fig. 1 Newcastle, free village, in the Jamaica blue mountains. homes. William took up the mantel to help his congregation, he told them about a loan of ten thousand pounds that was granted to him by a friend from england. Knibb then said, â€Å"that sum should be apropriated to the purchase of land on which you may live if your present employer force you to quit the properties on which you now live. † Williams predictions came through, the planters acted as he had foreseen and by 1839 he was constructing several ‘Free Villages’ for labourers who did not want to risk increases in rent on the plantations. The missionary society was quite abdoman in the development of the pesantry. Upon discusing the success of the pesantry one must give an account for the stages of development which includes the period of establishment (1839 – 1850-60). This was highlighted by the rapid land ownership, and the incresing number of peasants. observers of the caribbean stated, â€Å"the great and universal object of the ex-slave was the aquisition of land, however limited in extent. † Larger population, small size and a long established sugar industry left few oppertunities for land aqusition for peasants of island territories such as Barbados, St. Kitts and Antigua. Ex-slaves from these colonies had to think emigration. However, countries like Jamaica and the Windward Islands the sugar industry left underdeveloped montainous interiors . In Trinidad and Tobago and British Guyana a small population and young industry created many oppertunities for land aquisition. Efforts of the exslaves were so successful in the named countries that emmancipation officials were reporting an almost daily increases in number of free holders. Another stage of development is the period of consilidation in which the peasantry continues its growth in numbers and most important, a marked shift by the peasants to export crop production. For example in Jamaica (only teritory with complete figures for small holdings) the number of holding between 5 and 49 acres increased from 13 189 in 1880 to 24 226 in 1902 to 31 038 in 1930. However the most important phase of the development is what Eisner calls a ‘new pesantry’. Eisner national income estimate for Jamacia for 1850 and 1890 reveal a shift from maily provison production to mixed provisions that could be exported by peasants. a very good example of income was the value of the export crops (sugar, coffee, rum, pimento, ginger) in 1850 its estimated by Eisner at 1 089 300 pounds, of which small settlement contributed 133 500 pounds or just over 10%. The variety of products continued to grow, and shares rising until the third period (1900 and beyond). At this stage the pesantry did not expand and evidence shows that it might have been contracting. Table 2 below shows an example of evidence of a decrease in peasant holdings in Jamaica. Initially, before the growth of the peasantry, ex-slaves decided to set up themselves as peasants because although slavery had ended the principle of forced labour, had only changed to contolled labour upon those who remain on the plantations. Many who stayed in hopes of becoming wage owners, plans were shattered within a few years becasue of different reasons. Amongs these different reasons the system of tenancy which compelled the slaves to labour ‘steadily and continuosly’ on the estates in return for secure residence in the house and ground which he had occupied as a slave, insecurely of tenure, as well as relatively low wages and increases in rent reinforced many ex-slaves determination to seek new and better oppertunities away from the estates accross the caribbean. a small population of the slaves were skilled which meant those who could’nt be masons, carpenters, barrel makers, wheel wrights and cart builders had to turn to the best known alternative, the ‘soil’. Only this time there hard labour would of been for their survival and not to fill their masters stock. The peasantry afforded them with the oppertunity to become wage earners. On the basis in which the pesantry was running, it was basically characterise, the pure plantation economy and society. Although the peasants were producing a great quantity and variety of subsistence food and livestock, they strove to expand their boundaries by introducing new crops and or re-introducing old ones. Bananas, coffee, citrus, coconuts, cocoa, spices (ginger and pimento), and log wood in Jamaica; Cocoa, arrowroot, spices, bananas and log wood in Windwards, were the most popular crops introduced and or re-introduced for exports. the Leewards grew arowroot as a staple export crop. It has been recorded that St. Vincent alone sold 613 380 kilograms. Small holders in Grenada exported coffee, cotton, cocoa, copra, honey and beeswax. In Trinidad squatters sold the timber they gainned from clearing crown lands for charcoal burning and export some for boat buiding and later exported coffee and cocoa. The guyanese was one of the few that was into the exportation of the rice crop. Most of the caribbean teritories were at some point in time producing certain crops for export and gathered profitable incomes. It is quit evident , that the pesantry has accumilated musch success. With the help of the missionaries and the income gainned, peasants were able to initiate the convension of plantation socities. they adapted to building local self-generating communities and used funds that they had alocated from exports along with babtist missionaries ( missionary help was popular mainly in Jamaica) who were quite abdoman in helping the peasants organise free villages and the construction of school such as Cadrinton primary school in barbados, which was run by missionaries and churches for learning and worship. They also clamoured for expansion of education facilities, communication and better maketing schemes and facilities. The peasants were able to start local co-operative movement (sou-sou, box hand and partner hand) which later develop banks some which may still be in exsistance today.

How to Contact the Prime Minister of Canada by Email

According to the Office of the Prime Minister: The Prime Minister greatly values the thoughts and suggestions of Canadians. Canadians may submit a letter or query online, send email, send a letter via post, fax or call the Office of the Prime Minister. Email pmpm.gc.ca Mailing Address Office of the Prime Minister80 Wellington StreetOttawa, ON K1A 0A2 Phone Number (613) 992-4211 Fax Number (613) 941-6900 Request for Birthday or Anniversary Greetings A Canadian may make a request online for a birthday, wedding anniversary or union greeting  from the prime minister, also this can be done via post or fax. The prime minister sends congratulatory certificates to Canadians celebrating significant birthdays, such as 65th birthdays and up, at 5-year intervals, as well as 100th birthdays and up. The Prime Minister sends congratulatory certificates to Canadians celebrating significant wedding anniversaries or anniversary of life together unions for 25th anniversaries and up, at 5-year intervals. Gifts for the Prime Minister and Family Many Canadians choose to offer gifts to the prime minister and family. The Office of the Prime Minister considers these as kind and generous gestures. Security regulations and the Federal Accountability Act passed in 2006 prevent and preclude the prime minister and family from accepting many gifts. All monetary gifts and gift certificates will be returned to the sender. Some items, such as perishable goods, cannot be accepted for security reasons.