Mickey and Eddie Essay Example for Free

Mickey and Eddie Essay As part of our Drama GCSE unit on Blood |Brothers we were requires to use a vast amount of sills and drama techniques in order to improve our understanding of Blood Brothers; in order to do this we completed various exercises to develop our explorative skills. One of the improvisations we had to partake in was the re-enactment of the finale scene in Blood Brothers. As we had already seen the Blood Brothers production, this acted as both an advantage and a hindrance. This acted as an advantage as we had an idea of both characters and therefore an insight into how we could perform this re-enactment, however the disadvantage was that this may prevent us from having our control over the character, this may also prevent us from using our own imagination to interpret the character and their actions as we would have been heavily influenced to mimic what we had already seen. However though we already had familiarity with the production, as it had been a considerable amount of time from when we had seen the production, our drama teachers refreshed our memories by establishing a class discussion on the subject, and the main themes of Blood Brothers. As a group discussed the main themes, scenes and then discussed the finale scene into depth; while doing this we discussed what body language and facial expressions were used and what we all found particularly effective in the scene. Once we had completed our discussion, we were then given a time frame to work towards. Once we had dispersed into our groups we divided the roles in the scene amongst ourselves; Adrian as Eddie, I was Mickey, Tamara was Mrs Johnston and both Zion and Emma acted as the police officers. I felt that this particular exercise was particularly interesting and beneficial for us all; this is as we had a new insight and understanding of Blood Brothers on a higher level. Through the re-enactment of the Blood Brothers production I also found a new knowledge of each character, particular Mickey (the character I played), this is because as you take on the role and youre in a maximum involvement level you absorb the character and believe in the scene although it is actually happening. This lead to me felling more empathetic towards Mickey as I really felt able to relate to his feelings and his situation, therefore understanding what made him react in the way he did. Mickey reacted in the way he did as he was angry and felt completely betrayed by Eddie, his feelings werent helped by what hed already been through in prison and with him now having to be on medication. Our own re-enactment was fairly accurate to what we had seen in the reduction, however I genuinely feel that we added our own input and originality into the way the final scene was devised and appeared to be (this is inevitable as when you relate to a character, your own feelings and opinions are bound to show through). In our own finale, Adrian (Eddie) opened the scene by thanking the audience for being elected as councillor, while doing so my character then interrupts by running down the stairs and onto the stage. I felt that y my character (Mickey) running down the tiered seating stairs, the audience became more involved in the scene. My character then started pushing Eddie and shouting about his infidelity with Lynda, Eddie then tries to reassure Mickey and justify himself by claiming that both him and Linda are only friends. At this point my character becomes enraged and grabs him by his collar. In our re-enactment there was more physical violence and confrontation on Mickeys part, I felt that this would portray his rage more effectively. I also took a conscious decision to make Mickeys tone of voice, behaviour and body language very erratic; this was in order to portray t the audience that he wasnt in a completely stable state of mind. As b5h character continued in their confrontation, Eddie continues to try and make peace with Mickey and when it reaches the heightened tension of Mickey raising a gun to Eddies head, Mrs Johnston shouts stop and runs onto the scene. At this point both police officers run to the bottom of the stage from separate sides, a voice then circulates the room, saying we have you surrounded, put the gun down. At this point my character then starts to look around, suspicious about where the noise is emerging from; at this point I lower the gun. I feel this part of our re-enactment is particularly effective and original as all the other groups used the same approach as the one used in the production whereas in our own improvisation we devised it to appear as though the police have surrounded the building on the outside and are ready to burst in at any time. At this not Mrs Johnston (Tamara) then reveals to both Mickey and Eddie that they are literally Blood Brothers as they are twins that were separated at birth, at this point both brothers ask why, at this point Mrs Johnston continues to explain. However in the middle of her explanation Mickey makes his final outburst screaming that because of being with her hes ended up with no career or money whereas Eddie has managed to become some great councillor; Mrs Johnston then tries to calm Mickey down and t this point his voice raises, as does his hand and gun and he screams It should be me, at this point the gun goes off and Eddies killed. Meanwhile at the same point one of the police officers (Emma) emerges on scene and reacts to the sound of the bullet by shooting Mickey. I felt particular sympathy for the police offer that shot Mickey as she only reacted to the gun shot she had heard. I also feel that this particular situation gives the audience a real understanding into how difficult the job of a police officer can really be as they are often put in compromising situations in which quick instinct decisions have to be made. Another improvisation we re-enacted was the kids play scene. Our drama teachers explained that the purpose of this is to enable us to lose all inhibitions and feel in essence what its like to be a child again. We were then told about Starkravskis theory on the three essential skills tat needed in order for a person to be a god actor, the most important factor being that of naivatiae. This means to be in a child like state, oblivious to anyone there and t feel completely free, this is as children are extremely nai ve and innocent and with this they can believe in anything, allowing them to have a vivid imagination.

Divisive, But Effectual: Reinstating the Draft Essay -- Military Histo

Ever since World War II, the last war that garnered full American support, the percentage of American citizens enrolling in the U.S. Army has diminished significantly. The U.S. is a major military power in the present world; American soldiers are engaged in many multi-theater positions, consequently dispersing troops over various regions worldwide. As only one in ten citizens has served in the US Army, American knowledge of military conditions is rapidly lessening along with the national harmony that complements such knowledge. Therefore, the comprehension that American security is closely associated with a formidable military never resonated within the greater part of modern American citizens. Although antiwar activists may decry compulsory conscription as unconstitutional, it needs to be reinstated in order to solidify the meaning of being an American citizen, boost the economy by providing jobs, and unify the American people with enhanced homeland security. Generally, reinstating the Constitutional draft would solidify the meaning of being an American citizen. Often, wealthier and more privileged people are able to ask for exemption from serving, which makes representation of soldiers in combat composed of less-privileged citizens. With compulsory conscription, all American citizens, men or women, ages 18-26 are subject to be recruited for the armed forces. In fact, only 4 members of the 107th Congress who voted in favor of the Iraq war had children serving there. Politicians would know how it feels to have loved ones in a war, instead of freely speaking about wartime without experiencing it in any way. 1 (206) Moreover, Americans feel that public support for war in foreign countries is not strong because the soldiers fightin... ...CQ Researcher Outline, January 11, 1991. http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1991011100 (accessed March 19, 2012). "Binding the Nation: National Service in America." U.S. Army War College, 2008. http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/Articles/08winter/grigsby.pdf (accessed March 12, 2012). â€Å"Learn about National Service." Americans for a National Service Act, . nationalserviceact.org (accessed March 19, 2012). Greenblatt, Alan. "Upward Mobility." CQ Researcher, April 29, 2005. http://www.cqpress.com/product/Researcher-Upward-Mobility-v15-16.html (accessed March 14, 2012). Farrell, Brenda S. "Military Personnel: Evaluation Methods Linked to Anticipated Outcomes Needed to Inform Decisions on Army Recruitment Incentives." U.S. Government Accountability Office, September 19, 2008. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-1037R (accessed March 19, 2012).

How Do Poems Use Language to Create Imaginary Worlds?

Poppies by Mary Oliver and A Martian Sends A Postcard Home by Craig Raine, with the use of unconventional metaphors and extremely detailed observation encourage us to look upon the ordinary in a way that leads us to explore our own human nature. Unexpected connections between a previously ordinary object and something that at first seemed totally unrelated can paint a picture of another context within which we can better examine our own existence (Hirsch).This is demonstrated quite well in A Martian Sends A Postcard Home in nearly every stanza, with the alien viewpoint of everyday things leading to considerable thought about the things we take for granted. The line, â€Å"At night, when all the colours die† is a particularly vivid way of describing day turning to night and implies the alien land must be either bright all the time or of another dimension where night and day have no meaning.Similarly, Poppies describes a field of flowers in terms that evoke the passage of life i tself, with lines such as, â€Å"Of course nothing stops the cold, black, curved blade from hooking forward— of course, loss is the great lesson† describing night falling, the death of a flower as it wilts and the blade of a scythe, invoking images of the Grim Reaper (Wu). All these observations are made as metaphors as opposed to similes, forcing the reader to consider each point as being the same thing as that which it is being compared to.In doing so, the reader is actually is involved in surmising the meaning of the passage through the metaphor, in collaboration with the author (Hirsch). This allows the reader to have a deeper connection with the work than merely taking in what the author is putting across, in a way that encourages extensive internal processing of the ideas more than just a literal and factual description of the ideas the author wanted to portray may have.In Poppies, when Oliver says, â€Å"†¦that light is an invitation to happiness†¦Ã¢â ‚¬  the reader is invited to think about not just poppies in a field but their own life and how they have the opportunity to make the best of the life they lead before the â€Å"curved blade† of the night (Wu). In a slightly different vein, A Martian Sends A Postcard Home is suggesting that we pay closer attention to the world around us, a world in which â€Å"Mist is when the sky is tired of flight and rests its soft machine on he ground† and also provokes feelings of nostalgia of when the reader was young and looked up at the clouds, the â€Å"soft machines†, for long periods, looking at them in a new way (Williams 454). The poets also have an eye for incredible detail in the world around us that they use to paint a picture of a scene in layers, allowing the reader to form a three dimensional picture of the scene in their head in vivid detail.In Poppies, for example, the one field of poppies is focused on in at almost every angle; the way they sway in the win d, the way the shine, their â€Å"yellow hair† and â€Å"rough and spongy gold† leading to almost a baptism of flowers, â€Å"washed and washed in the river of earthly delight†. This seeming progression of wonder, joy, light and rebirth through the steady application of description after description of the one object (the field of poppies) give the reader pause to think on their own progression through life.With the occasional interjection about the â€Å"darkness† and the â€Å"deep, blue night† we are reminded that death is looming but it is the happiness we can create beforehand that is important, and we should pay attention to that detail (Wu). A Martian Sends A Postcard Home does not have, on the surface, as much of a singular message to communicate; it presents us with a series of common-day objects perceived through an alien lens as completely new and how they would appear to a being with no frame of reference.However, it is precisely this a lien frame of reference that gives the reader a connection between their observations and their inner thoughts. Lines such as, â€Å"Adults go to a punishment room with water and nothing to eat†, though describing the base act of going to the toilet in a humorous manner also can lead to reflection on the nature of punishment and our own frame of reference for all things around us which we observe when we don’t quite understand their context.It encourages the reader to reach harmony between our â€Å"inner selves† and the universe around them, which some argue is the entire function of poetry itself. Both these poems utilize this detail to create a living imaginary world for the reader to consider the ideas put forth within (Couch 12). In conclusion, when both metaphor and detail are brought together in this way, with the poetic language that is employed in the two pieces, a powerful representation of â€Å"truth† and â€Å"harmony† is communicated to the reader in a way that possibly the standard prose form cannot.In this essay I have shown how the poets, by including the reader in the process of forming the ultimate meaning of what they are reading by the use of metaphor, together with painting their descriptions in great detail but in such a way that obscures instant recognition of what is being described, lead the reader to deeper thought about the issues raised and about their own humanity as it relates to the world around them. Works Cited Couch, Arthur Thomas.Poetry. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1914. Print. Hirsch, Edward. â€Å"Metaphor: A Poet is a Nightingale by Edward Hirsch . † Poetry Foundation. N. p. , 23 Jan. 2006. Web. 7 Oct. 2012. . Williams, David G. â€Å"Elizabeth Bishop and the ‘Martian' Poetry of Craig Raine and Christopher Reid. † English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature 78. 5 (1997): 451-458. Print. Wu, Alexis. â€Å"Mary Oliver's Poppies. † alexiswupoetry. N. p. , n. d. Web. 7 Oct. 2012. .

Mother Teresa Quotes From Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Yugoslavia (see note below), felt a calling early to serve the poor. She joined an Irish order of nuns serving in Calcutta, India, and received medical training in Ireland and India. She founded the Missionaries of Charity and focused on serving the dying, with many other projects as well. She was able to garner considerable publicity for her work which also translated into successfully financing the expansion of the orders services. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She died in 1997 after long illnesses. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19, 2003, and canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016. Related:  Women Saints: Doctors of the Church Selected Mother Teresa Quotations †¢ Love is doing small things with great love. †¢Ã‚  I believe in love and compassion. †¢Ã‚  Because we cannot see Christ, we cannot express our love to him, but our neighbors we can always see, and we can do to them what if we saw him we would like to do to Christ. †¢Ã‚  I will be a saint means I will despoil myself of all that is not God; I will strip my heart of all created things; I will live in poverty and detachment; I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make myself a willing slave to the will of God. †¢ Do not wait for leaders. Do it alone, person to person. †¢ Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. †¢ We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. †¢Ã‚  Suffering is a great gift of God. †¢ There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives--the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them. †¢ There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point. †¢ The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise. †¢ In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997) †¢ It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving. †¢ The poor give us much more than we give them. Theyre such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We dont have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them. †¢ I see God in every human being. When I wash the lepers wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience? †¢ I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness. †¢Ã‚  God does not call us to be successful. He calls us to be faithful. †¢ The silence is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear. The tongue moves in prayer but does not speak. [letter, 1979] †¢ Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. †¢ If you judge people, you have no time to love them. Note on Mother Teresas birthplace: she was born in Uskub in the Ottoman Empire. This later became Skopje, Yugoslavia, and is now Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. About These Quotes Quote collection assembled by Jone Johnson Lewis. This is an informal collection assembled over many years. I regret that I am not be able to provide the original source if it is not listed with the quote.