Keep up the Trainspotting Essay Example for Free

Keep up the Trainspotting Essay Escaping has been the main focus of many pieces of literature. Escaping from an actual place, reality, or even ones self. In each case the person who is trying to escape is in reality escaping from some sort of underlying persecution. The idea of escaping is very comparable to many peoples drug habits. The journey of finding an escape is prevalent in two major themes in Irvine Welshs Trainspotting. In Trainspotting Welsh tells the story of a group of friends in a run down Scottish town that are addicting to heroin. Their heroin use is not only an escape from reality but also serves as a metaphor for them trying to escape from their town. Renton, the main character in Trainspotting, (Irvine Welsh) and his group of friends wander in their neighborhood causing trouble and trying to find a fix. In their lives the trains passing was a sad reminder of them being stuck. Their dream of finally escaping is very similar to another group of people from another generation, The Merry Pranksters. Ken Kesey was the founder of the pranksters. Kesey along with friends bought a 1939 International Harvest school bus. They traveled the country experimenting with acid and video taping their journey. The Pranksters were Hippies. Hippies came after Beatniks. Jack Kerouac, who coined the phrase Beat Generation (Kesey) was not on the bus. However, Beat Neal Cassady, was on the bus, in fact, he drove the bus. Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor who garnered recognition as the LSD Guru when he coined the phrase, Turn On, Tune In Drop Out, (Online Database) was not on the bus. Many Hells Angels were on the bus and the rock group the Grateful Dead was on the bus. The Pranksters hoped the Beatles would get on the bus, but they never showed up. Kesey and the Pranksters lived out the dream of escaping. An escape, is how many drug users see their habit as. To get away from reality by taking one more hit. But what are they really escaping to a high that they will just come down from leading to an endless cycle of emptiness. They lie to themselves by saying that they just need one more hit. This lie just reveals an existential honesty, which is that they are trapped. This honesty is very prevalent in Irvine Welshs Trainspotting. Trainspotting was written in several separately published chapters. The book is more of a collection of related characters, motifs and schemes. At first I thought that this might dilute the focus of the story however, it was quite the contrary. The chapters featured different points of view, which gave the book a higher-level insight. Train spotting is a British pass time where people stand around a railroad station for hours, in all kinds of weather, writing down numbers of passing railroad cars. In one part of the story, Renton and his friend Begbie are standing in an abandoned train-station. The trains are a metaphor for getting away. Just as the train station has no trains anymore, neither do Renton and his friends have a way to escape their lives. As they are looking at the empty railroad tracks, an old wino says, Keep up the Trainspotting. (Welsh, 167) In other words, keep looking for an escape. This hobby of noting down numbers on trains in notebooks is another metaphor for the pointless lives of Britains young working class. In Trainspotting Mark Renton, the main character is addicted to heroin, which results strictly in depravity. This is Rentons escape. His four friends Spud, Sick Boy, Tommy, and Begbie are a group of crooks, liars, and psychos. Spud, is a shy, inoffensive junkie. Sick Boy, is a vicious, duplicitous con artist whos obsessed with Sean Connery. Tommy, is a virtuous young man fighting the temptation of heroin who eventually is convinced to do it by Renton. Lastly, Begbie, is a nutcase whose escape is not drugs, but beating up other people Begbie didnt do drugs he just did people (Welsh, 32). In the end, Renton chooses life against anything else. However, during the story its a struggle. When Renton is on heroin it is almost like an illusion, an illusion of happiness, much like a LSD experience. Images fill the mind, sometimes images of despair and hopelessness. Especially when Renton is off of it and struggling with coming down from his high, much like a bad trip.

Cancer Taking Lives :: Personal Narrative Writing

Cancer Taking Lives The East Pennsboro elementary school raised money for a statue at a local park. The statue was a ring of children that were holding hands. There was one child missing; the link was broken. The statue was dedicated to East Pennsboro students that did not make it to their graduation. My sophomore year of high school inspired this piece of artwork. Mid December during my sophomore year I found out that a friend of mine had lost her struggle with cancer. Tiffanie was diagnosed with two rare forms of ovarian cancer during seventh grade. Having either type of cancer is very rare, so the fact that she had both types was unbelievable. I had been best friends with Tiffanie during elementary school. We had lost touch in middle school, but our friendship never ended. She had her ups and downs during her illness, but I never expected her cancer to be fatal. I was told at the beginning of December that the doctors didn’t expect her to live until Christmas. Because she was in my grade, my class sent cards to her. I made a funny story about the two of us growing up. I sent the story with an angle ornament. Christmas had to be celebrated early this year, and I thought that an angel would be appropriate. If anything did happen to her, her mom could keep the ornament in memory of her. She died a week later at the young age of 16. I found out about her death two days after it occurred. I was in church getting ready to play my flute in the choir. My best friend was with me. I guess she knew that I didn’t see the news. I can remember still remember what she said. She told me that she was at a friend’s house on Friday night. They were getting ready for a dance that I did not go to. Her mom told them that something had happened. She conveyed the message to me by saying â€Å"Meg†¦I think that Tiff died.† She couldn’t just tell, because she knew that I would be devastated, but I knew that it was no mistake. I ran to the bathroom and began to grieve for my friend who never even got to receive her driver’s license. That night, I watched the news. Her cancer story had been televised for years, so when she finally past, the local news stations began showing clips of her throughout her life as a final memorial.

Analyzing, Interpreting, and Assessing Visual Art Essay

The Great Wave off Kanagawa is the most well-known Japanese woodblock art ever created in the history of Japan (Sayre, 2010). The masterpiece was created by Hokusai Katsushika, known to be the honorable Japanese printmakers of the 19th century. The Great Wave off Kanagawa set precedent for the first of 36 views of Mount Fuji, 1823-29 (Sayre, 2010). I will discuss the six elements of visual design, go in detail of the elements that was present in The Great Wave off Kanagawa, and evaluate the quality. The Great Wave off Kanagawa has several elements in this masterpiece. For example, how vessel ships lines up with the waves making the vessels appear to be flowing with the high tide waves. The painting â€Å"The Great Wave of Kanagawa† is a great example of line. This painting has very bold, emphasized lines that help to define the water from the sky. As well within the water, the line helps to determine the different part of the water, the foam, or the curves of the waves. Hokusa i makes it very easy for one’s eyes to follow the moving of the water. Also, how Mt. Fuji in the distance looks like it could be part of the wave too. This was very clever of the artist to give the impression that all the triangular shapes appear to be the waves themselves. In order for the artist to make this impression, he used light blues along with dark blues for the waves depicted in the drawing. The light blues represent a higher tide and the dark blue the sea. The artist simplified the waves to an array of flat patterns with a black outlining for more intensity. The drawing depicts vessels that are probably carrying food and supplies this was especially relevant back in the 1800s. It is hard to tell what time of day that the drawing possibly could have been created, but I am going to assume during the day giving the light blue hues and how one can see Mt. Fuji in the far distance. When analyzing the work in terms of five principles, the central theme here is not the wave but the Mount Fuji;  however at first glance, it almost reads as another cap of foam. But precisely, it is its consistency with the lines and colors of th e piece, as well as the construction of the picture around it which achieve the unity of the composition. Indeed, the Mount is placed in the right central part of the composition, which has to be read from the right to the left (instead of reading from the left to the right, as occidentals use to). Furthermore, it is painted with the two main colors of the picture. The message uniting this piece is conveyed through the contrast between the distant, quiet, and unchanging mount in the background and the violent and ephemeral foreground scene. While evaluating the artwork of the artist, Hokusai, it appears all the attention wasn’t just about the waves. He was able to balance the drawing by adding the people in the cargo ships. A person can see as the wave intensifies the situation of the sailors. The great wave commands the picture plane, dramatically overshadowing the distant peak of Mount Fuji. Reconciling the essential contradictions between the movement of the water and the stillness of the mountain, this print captures and fixes the wave so that it paradoxically becomes a static, elegant, and poised structure rather than something fluid and ephemeral. While the wave’s sheer scale and claw like extensions are threatening, the potential for violence is undermined by the aesthetic artifice of making the small wave in front of it a visual double for Mount Fuji. The viewer’s gaze is deflected; the subject is distanced and generalized, but here the curling wave in the foreground swallowing up the boats drawing any viewer into its orbit, creating an extraordinary immediacy of experience. The disturbingly low, water-level viewpoint gives the illusion that we are seeing the wave from within its vortex. After carefully reviewing the picture â€Å"The Great Wave off Kanagawa† I would say that this art holds cultural value to it. This painting is one of the most famous works of art in the world, but debatably the most iconic work of Japanese art. There have been thousands of copies of this painting produced and sold cheaply. Despite the fact that it was created at a time when Japanese trade was heavily restricted, Hokusai’s print displays the influence of Dutch art, and proved to be inspirational for many artists working in Europe later in the nineteenth century. The flattening of space, an interest in atmospheric conditions, and the impermanence of life; all visible in Hokusai’s prints and both reaffirmed their own artistic interests  and inspired many future works of art. It does not on the other hand hold historic value because it does not depict anything in history that has occurred. Reference Sayre, H. M. (2010). A World of Art Chapters 4-8 (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

Truman s Life Is Real For Many Reasons - 1480 Words

1. Truman begins doubt whether or not his life is real for many reasons. The first reason being the light that falls from the sky, which he’s never seen anything like that before and has no idea what to think about it. Another reason is that Truman sees his father who â€Å"died† in a boating accident when he was a child. Truman seeing his father is what really pushed him over the edge into realizing that nothing in his life was actually real. The third thing that pushed him to question his entire life is when Truman is driving to work and then the guy on the radio starts talking about all the turns Truman was making. Finally, Truman sees the same people, and car drive around the block in repeat every few minutes. It is entirely rational for Truman to start to believe that his life isn’t entirely real. For one, the same things happen every day, there is no real change in his life other than as he was growing up. Another reason is that all the things that were happening to him in the movie was not the first time that something strange had happened to Truman. For instance, when Truman was a child and a man pops out of his Christmas present to tell him the life he’s living is not real. The girl he is actually in-love with isn’t allowed to talk to him, and when they are caught together she magically ends up having to move to â€Å"Fiji†. And then there’s the elevator incidence when he goes to get in the elevator and sees the cast behind the scenes eating and not an actualShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Movie The Truman Show 1439 Words   |  6 PagesThe Truman Show that was released in 1998, distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Peter Weir, and includes stars such as Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Natasha McElhone and many more. 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