Free Essays on Mice And Men

English coursework: who is the loneliest character in of mice and men? The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is basically about two characters that travel together, Lennie and George. They settle down at a ranch for work. Together they hope to pursue their American dream. It follows up on various other men at the ranch, and issues faced during the time of the American depression. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in the fictional town of Soledad, in southern California, situated on the Salinas River. Steinbeck set the different scenes from his own knowledge as he worked at a ranch himself. The first chapter is set beside the river with Lennie and George hiding from some people, while the main part of the novel is focused at the ranch. The final scene takes place were the journey started. The novel is mainly evolves around the misfit characters but also involving others who make the story more realistic. Men during the American depression laboured at ranches having no family or no relationship with woman. The only place they had a physical relationship was at a brothel. Throughout the novel the men threat the only woman at the ranch as if she is alien to them. Perhaps because of curlys wife’s seductive attitude. Steinbeck shows that most of the characters are uneducated by the using colloquial language, for example ‘they come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head’. Steinbeck also makes use of colours and sounds to describe his characters, such as the Curly’s wife who is linked with the colour red ‘her fingernails were red; she wore a cotton house dress and red mules’. Steinbeck also based his novel in Soledad meaning loneliness in Spanish, a key theme in the novel. Steinbeck also refers to Lennie as an animal, ‘dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws’, because his muscular body and animal like behaviour. Lennie and George’s relations... Free Essays on Mice And Men Free Essays on Mice And Men English coursework: who is the loneliest character in of mice and men? The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is basically about two characters that travel together, Lennie and George. They settle down at a ranch for work. Together they hope to pursue their American dream. It follows up on various other men at the ranch, and issues faced during the time of the American depression. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in the fictional town of Soledad, in southern California, situated on the Salinas River. Steinbeck set the different scenes from his own knowledge as he worked at a ranch himself. The first chapter is set beside the river with Lennie and George hiding from some people, while the main part of the novel is focused at the ranch. The final scene takes place were the journey started. The novel is mainly evolves around the misfit characters but also involving others who make the story more realistic. Men during the American depression laboured at ranches having no family or no relationship with woman. The only place they had a physical relationship was at a brothel. Throughout the novel the men threat the only woman at the ranch as if she is alien to them. Perhaps because of curlys wife’s seductive attitude. Steinbeck shows that most of the characters are uneducated by the using colloquial language, for example ‘they come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head’. Steinbeck also makes use of colours and sounds to describe his characters, such as the Curly’s wife who is linked with the colour red ‘her fingernails were red; she wore a cotton house dress and red mules’. Steinbeck also based his novel in Soledad meaning loneliness in Spanish, a key theme in the novel. Steinbeck also refers to Lennie as an animal, ‘dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws’, because his muscular body and animal like behaviour. Lennie and George’s relations... Free Essays on Mice And Men The theme of loneliness in ‘Of mice and men’ The novel of 'Mice and men’ by John Steinbeck is set in the 1930s. This was a time of economic depression in the United States. Depression was a time where there was not a lot of money around so people had to move around to find jobs. His inspiration came from his own life experiences. The book is manly about George and Lennie they are two farm workers travelling through California during the depression. Their dream is to save enough money to buy their own farm with lots of animals and rabbits because Lennie likes rabbits very much. George is bright and knows the way of the world and has always looked after Lennie, who is big and strong, but "isn’t too bright". Lennie often gets into trouble because he doesn't know his own strength, he also gets frightened when things go wrong. The story tells us how strong lennie is when he finds a mouse he starts to stroke it but since he does not know his own strength the mouse was killed. Candy is the old ‘swamper’ who cleans out the bunkhouse. He is a ‘tall stoop-shouldered old man’. He is cripple and only has one hand. He knows lots of gossip and tells George and Lennie about how the boss victimizes Crooks. Candy is lonely his only friend is his dog. He has had it since it was a puppy but everybody else in the ranch is threatening to kill it because it is useless. This is exactly how Candy feels that they will ‘can’ him soon as he is old. Crooks is the only black man on the ranch; he lives alone in a dark and gloomy room all by himself. Everybody stays away from him because of his colour. Once in the story Lennie came into Crooks’s room and they started talking because they were both lonely and they started to become friends. Crooks shares the same dream as George and Lennie which is they will live ‘off the fat of a land’ and have rabbits to tend and look after the acres they hope they will have. Curley’s...

Critical Appraisal of Compassion in Care by Van der Cingel Research Paper

Critical Appraisal of Compassion in Care by Van der Cingel - Research Paper Example The writer has employed a qualitative investigation of in detail interviews to achieve this knowledge. The investigation finds that sympathy has seven scopes- attentiveness, listening, tackling, participation, helping, charisma, and consideration. The investigation concludes that compassion is of worth to nurse and patient relationship as it inspires both in establishing an affiliation to realize the best result of care. Research Design Qualitative research is the apparent approach of collecting in-depth comprehension of emotions, opinion, and conduct. The writer further expounds that the employ of grounded hypothesis and in exacting the emergent fit method in other terms gathering hypothesis from statistics and then illustrating that theory. Stable comparative investigation, analytical initiation and oretical sensitivity are therefore employed in order to understand the empirical data. Nevertheless, there are risks in using the budding fit mode. Artinian and Giske (2009) depict that even though this technique allows the writer to build upon the exertion of preceding research, in the event that the research’s variables were found from the review of literature then they might be faulty. Recruitment Strategy The writer expounds the reasons why these meticulous individuals were selected for the investigation but does not show how. The research centres on older people residing with a chronic disease and therefore only above 65 years (with a continual illness) were selected. In some instances, nurses projected clients to the writer. Opinionative, this might leave the outcomes open to query, thus bias could inadvertently occur. Data Collection The data collection setting was threefold. To begin with, the centre for rehabilitation for chronic diseases followed by a home care administration and lastly an outpatient’s health centre. This is warranted by the author’s declaration that compassion is not universal in proficient settings. Nonetheless, th is is based on results available in print six years ago. Moreover, this information has been criticised because of van Heijst’s detest of rationalisation and nationalisation in care and wellbeing. It is made clear that data was composed in semi-structured interrogations carried out by the author, helped by students, and centred on a questionnaire that is included in the article. The interrogations were tape recorded and afterwards written out until data infiltration was attained. Nevertheless, there is no sign of the way these interviews were carried out. Data Analysis The writer does, however, gives an in-depth explanation of the procedure of data analysis. Data was put down and then investigated with Atlas-Ti that is a computer software programme. This software is employed broadly in qualitative investigations and data investigation. This aided the author to establish a list of perceptions general in compassion- attentiveness, listening, tackling, participation, helping, ch arisma, and consideration.

Employment relationship Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Employment relationship - Assignment Example Based on this research industrial relations are considered to be a multi-disciplinary field that studies the various facets of employment relationships. The predominance of non industrial employment relations has made the term employment relations more meaning and importance. The examination of various employment situations and conditions and also the ones which does not come with a unionized workforce is studied under the field of employment relations. The three main faces comprising employment relations are science building, ethics and problem solving. In the face science building, employment relations are considered to be social science which understands the various employment relationships and institutions through rigorous and high quality research. In the face of ethics, industrial relations are a reflection of very strong normative principles on employment relationships and workers. This is especially with regards to the treatment of workers as a mere commodity in favor of cons idering them as human beings having human rights in democratic communities. ‘Human relations’ is a term which refers to the entire field of relationships prevailing out of the collaboration between men and women in their recruitment process in the modern industry. It is considered to be that particular part of management which is directly related to the management of organizations and enterprises including skilled workmen, machine operators and managers. It not only deals with the relationship existing between employers and the state but also workers organizations and the relationships existing between occupational organizations. Most importantly, the problem solving aspect of industrial or employment relations seek to create and design such institutions and policies which help in better working of the employment relations. Scholars have brought forth various frameworks and theoretical perspectives as per their understanding and analysis of the workplace situations and relations. In this context mention must be made of the two main theoretical perspectives, namely, unitary and pluralist perspectives respectively. The above two approaches have their own perspectives and interpretation of workplace conflicts, job regulations, role of unions etc. The main purpose of the project is to explore the different perspectives and evaluate their presence in modern organizational settings. It tries to understand the ideologies that underpin the managerial perspectives and the way they reflect in organizational life. The extent to which each of the perspectives predominates over the other is explored in the project (Wilton, 2010, p.36). Unitary perspective One of the most competing approaches towards the study of employment relations is based on the conservative ideological position called ‘unitary’. The most distinguishing characteristic which differentiate the unitary ideological perspective is the assumption that every work organization is consi dered to be an integrated entity which has a shared goal and a common purpose. Employment relationship according to the unitary perspective is based on the mutual harmony and cooperation of interest between the organization and its employees (Bray, 2011, p.21). It does not consider the possibility of conflicts between capital owners and workers. They are all considered to be belonging to the same team and having the very same objective which rules out the possibility of conflicts. Wherever there is prevalence of an industrial conflict, it is either treated as a temporary phenomenon or the result of abnormal behavior (Green, 2011, p.245). This behavior is commonly considered to be raised by trouble makers, bad communication and poor management. Moreover, in such cases unions are considered to be always being in competition with the management in order to gain commitment and loyalty of the employees (Bray,

LOVE. - Forecasting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

LOVE. - Forecasting - Essay Example The most significant result of bad forecast is immense damage in the supply chain management system. If a company’s forecast is higher compared to the expected demand then it has to bear additional costs due to high level of inventory, useless products, and extra inventory carrying costs. Similarly, if the forecast of a company is lower than expected, it can make customers switch to the other companies. As a result, the company can face loss of competitive advantage in the market (Firestone, â€Å"How to Thrive with Inaccurate Forecasts†). In reality, forecasts cannot be 100% accurate; however, it should be able to provide an approximate picture about the future demand or trend in the market. Forecasting incorrectness imposes substantial effect on the demand planning of an organization. For instance, in service organizations, a bad forecast can possibly result in unnecessary workforce and redundant expenses, or insufficient workforce which can negatively impact on customers’ requests. Every organization, irrespective of size, maintains a buffer level which is preserved according to the demand, and bad forecasting can result in keeping a wasteful buffer level which is uneconomical for the organization (Voudouris, C. & Et. Al., â€Å"Service Chain Management: Technology Innovation for the Service Business†). There are several types of forecasts used by organizations for business, such as sales forecasts, financial forecasts, demand forecasts, supply forecasts, and economic forecasts among others. The most useful among them is the demand forecast. The reason is that numerous operations depend on accurateness of demand of any product or service, and through demand forecast, business organizations can prepare themselves accordingly. The demand forecast can determine the quantities which need to be purchased or made available in the organization’s stock or buffer in order to provide rapid service. In present day’s competitive environment, business

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Do you struggle to find equilibrium between excelling at work and spending productive, quality time with loved ones at home? With the technology that is available in the twenty first century, it is now possible for educated professionals to decide whether they would like to work from home and collaborate with family members to meet work demands. Alesia Montgomery is an African American Ethnographer who wrote â€Å"Kitchen Conferences and Garage Cubicles: The Merger of Home and Work in the 24-7 Global Economy†. This study was one of many published in 2008’s book entitled The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class: Reports From the Field, which focused on â€Å"providing insights into the changing nature of working families in the United States† (1008). Montgomery’s main argument is that today’s modern society and global economy have enabled families to â€Å"merge work and home in quasi-entrepreneurial ways† (1018), which will in turn deepen the attachment between family members. Her secondary claim is that the merging of these two worlds does not come without a downside; your home will no longer â€Å"serve as a refuge from job pressures† (1018) and job demands may be â€Å"made more invasive by the use of innovative communication technology† (1019). The main purpose of this essay is to identify and analyze Montgomery’s main and secondary arguments, to describe two types of support she uses, how they help her claims, and to identify her intended audience. Montgomery proposes that â€Å"transformations in gender relations, management strategies, and technological practices† (1018) play integral roles in the opportunities for families to decide how to combine or balance their home lives with work demands. She goes on to state that women’s access to equal education and equal employment opportunities have â€Å"expanded the possibilities for spousal collaboration in technical professions† (1010), and that being able to collaborate on work projects at home will create a more intimate and interdependent family. She then provides statistics showing the percentage of women graduating with a degree in engineering jumped 16. 5% in just 30 years (1011). The statistics provide hard evidence to her claim that women are gaining increasing access to technology based jobs, and appeals to the reader’s logos. Montgomery spent a period of five years in the field following a couple in their thirties, who were living in one of these collaborative, â€Å"job-sharing† (1012) middle class families in order to obtain â€Å"a view of the world from their perspective† (1008). Basing her argument off this research provides a stronger emotional connection to the writing than if Montgomery were to use sweeping generalizations throughout. Montgomery structures her essay in a narrative format, writing in the first person. She was successful at attempting to appeal to her audience’s ethos by making her writing less formal while keeping an educated voice. The writing opens with an introduction to Marjenah and Steve, who share a home with Marjenah’s parents in Silicon Valley. Montgomery appeals to her readers’ pathos by illustrating the family’s world: â€Å"Emails, faxes and phone calls linked their home to high-tech firms within Silicon Valley. Although there were no parking lots or numbered suites, their neighborhood†¦was, in some sense, a busy industrial park† (1009). Montgomery recalls the different ways in which they rely upon each other, and states that the interdependence this family possesses is an opportunity for each member help one another handle job demands. She details the countless nights Steve spent on his wife’s projects after getting home from his job as well as the way Marjenah was needed to proof read Steve’s reports and to review her mother’s paperwork for her department store job. The father worked at an outside tech firm, but served as the family’s technical support (1016). This ethnographic research directly relates to her main point that equality in the education within a family has enabled collaboration in the home, and allows us to spend more time with those we love. Combining the statistics that show women gaining access to technical jobs are increasing with the representation of a modern, job-sharing family that include both sexes collaborating on high-tech projects helps validate the essay’s argument. Montgomery’s goal is to inform families of new opportunities on how to balance work and home life, so in order to provide a full picture; she explores the potential downsides to living in a modern job-sharing family. Montgomery’s secondary claim states that working collaboratively on â€Å"job tasks at home† (1018) will increase â€Å"family cohesion† (1018), but that this combination will in turn eliminate the idea of your home being an escape from job pressures. She helps substantiate this argument by referring again to the subjects of her study, an emotional appeal. Steve summarized his perception of the situation, explaining that â€Å"job demands limited the control that they had over the time and space of family life† (1019). Montgomery makes her audience connect to this point on an emotional level by describing the conflicts the couple experienced because of the stresses their job-sharing created. She details Marjenah having to â€Å"constantly manage sounds† (1015), as well as the couple getting into arguments over the amount of energy each puts into one another’s work, citing that sometimes the main incentive for them to make up was the pressure of work calling again. It is clear to the reader that Montgomery is simply making an argument to explore this alternative lifestyle. She uses many different types of support throughout her writing in order to make her argument more informative; two will be analyzed further. Montgomery continuously includes professional opinions with quotes from past studies that are on the same topic as her own work. This gives the reader necessary background knowledge on the topic, by allowing the audience to have a more complete understanding as to how the economy has been playing a role in the decisions we make regarding how we balance our lives, since the Industrial Revolution. She opens with a quote from nineteenth century writer John Ruskin, which states home will only be home, until â€Å"the anxieties of the outer life penetrate into it† (1008). This grabs her reader’s attention, and provides a possible thesis for her writing. Montgomery explains separating work and home life has not always been the normal ideal, giving her reader a brief history on the â€Å"transformation of family labor from agrarian to high-tech work† (1010). She does this with quotes and ideas from over ten different sources, many of the sources she chose are known in the fields of Anthropology and Sociology. This is extremely helpful for her ethical appeal, because it shows Montgomery took the time to gain an understanding of the contextual relevance of her selected topic. Some of the work she cites claims things such as â€Å"In the early twentieth century, corporations supplanted many family firms, credentialed engineers replaced informally trained mechanics, and ‘big science’†¦rose to prominence. †(1011) and that â€Å"Industrial transformations†¦increasingly removed production from the home, while cultural transformations valorized home as a haven from the harsh work world† (1010). This relates to the quote she opens with, because Ruskin was one of the numerous writers pushing to get the â€Å"rising middle class to embrace this new ideal† (1010), raising the question of the motives behind said quote. Including other pieces of writing that claim technology is what played a key factor in changing the way individuals and families balanced their two lives, historically, helps her introduce the idea that â€Å"separate spheres are not necessarily the most desirable family and work forms† (1018). Montgomery uses examples to support her arguments, which helps create a mental image in her audience’s mind while reading her work. Her research gathered while with Marjenah’s family, is her most used example, and is a very effective form of support. In Montgomery’s eyes, â€Å"Marjenah’s family exemplifies how new technologies, management strategies, and gender relations are changing the possibilities for work collaborations within households† (1012). She refers to their specific situation as a way to personalize Montgomery’s generalized emphasis on women’s equality in education and job opportunities as being the main factor in society once again giving families the option to â€Å"draw in† and collaborate on work. She uses examples while giving her audience background knowledge of this topic. She starts with an example describing how â€Å"employers relied upon fathers to discipline family work units in some early factories† (1010). She makes the claim that shop-keeping families saw â€Å"kin as sources of income† (1010), more specifically using examples such as â€Å"the baker’s wife iced cakes a few steps from her husband, the butcher and his son chopped meat on the same counter, and for the family of grocers home and work merged† (1010). These examples support her statement that â€Å"the separation of spheres was neither decisive nor abrupt. † (1010). Montgomery does a sufficient job regarding the amount of support she provides her audience with to back up her argument. Every writer has an intended audience. Montgomery’s study was published in a book that has a goal to highlight how culture shapes family life during shifting social and economic landscapes, so it should address a fairly educated audience. The background information provided implies that she was keeping in mind the fact that not everyone who picks up her book will have an understanding of the different norms our society has gone through regarding the separation of work and home life. To conclude, Montgomery was very successful in presenting her argument that â€Å"contemporary gender relations, management strategies and technological practices enable divers family and work forms†¦Far from weakening family bonds, these mergers of work foster family cohesion† (1010). She appealed to her audience’s logos by providing facts, statistics, expert opinions, and by citing other pieces of work on her topic. This also helped her ethical appeal, as did the personal afterward detailing her background and her credentials. Using the example of Marjenah’s family, along with the baker, butcher and grocers, helped Montgomery emotionally appeal to her audience, and to get her point across. Overall, Montgomery presented her argument very clearly; it was fact based, and very informative which makes her exploratory purpose a success.

junk :: essays research papers

Cody Harris World History – 3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  March 24, 2002 Chapter 21 Vocabulary 1. Philip II- son of Charles V, he inherited Spain, and Spanish Netherlands, and the American colonies. He was shy, serious and deeply religious. When the king of Portugal died without an heir, he gained the empire by being a nephew. His empire provided him with a enormous wealth. He also helped to drive the Muslims out of Spain. 1588, he launched the Spanish Armada but was defeated. 2. El Greco- real name Domenikos Theotokopoulos but called by the Greeks as El Greco meaning â€Å"the Greek†. His art often puzzled the people of his time. He used brilliant colors, sometimes clashing. His paintings showed deep Catholic faith of Spain, painting saints and martyrs as huge long-limbed figures that have a supernatural air. 3. Divine Right- the idea that God created the monarchy and that the monarch acted as God’s representative on earth 4. Absolute monarch- kings or queens who believed that all power within their state’s boundaries rested in their hands. 5. Edict of Nantes- a declaration that the Huguenots could live in peace in France and set up their own houses of worship in some cities. 6. Cardinal Richelieu- the ruler, in effect, of France under Louis XIII (1624), he had been a hard-working leader of the Catholic Church in France. He tried sincerely to lead according to moral principles, he was also ambitious and enjoyed exercising authority. He moved against the Huguenots, believing that Protestantism often served as an excuse for political conspiracies. He also sought to weaken the nobles’ power. He ordered nobles to take down their fortified castles. He increased the power of government agents who came from the middle class. He also wanted to make France the strongest state in Europe, and in order to do this he involved France in the Thirty Years’ War. 7. Skepticism- the idea that nothing can ever be know for certain 8. Descartes- a brilliant thinker wrote Meditations of First Philosophy. Later became an important role in the Enlightenment. 9. Louis XIV- the most powerful ruler in French history. His reign began as a 5-year-old boy. He became king in 1643, with the true ruler of France being Cardinal Mazarin, since Louis was so young. Mazarin’s greatest triumph was ending the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. Louis gained control at the age of 23 when the cardinal died. He made it a point to be surrounded by nobles for two reasons, it made the nobility totally dependent on Louis.

Personal Response to Cold Comfort Farm

Cold Comfort Farm By Stella Gibbons What was a main theme in the novel and how can it be applied to my lifestyle? Cold Comfort Farm is a novel centred around recently orphaned Flora Poste who goes to stay with her cousins living on a farm. I thought that a reoccurring theme in the novel was shown in the way in which Flora got people to look beyond their horizons and imagine a more realistic lifestyle. Thanks to Flora’s encouragement and manipulation the characters living at Cold Comfort Farm look beyond their horizons and become much more interesting people.Like Aunt Ada Doom, I have come to realise that I lead a very routine lifestyle only occasionally leaving Karori and barely ever venturing outside of Wellington. I can admit right here that I am not a enthralling person but I am not living a lifestyle which requires as dramatic a change as flying to Paris and living the High Life like Aunt Ada Doom does after reading an issue of Vogue. So really this theme didn’t pro voke any reaction in me at all other than how I hope I don’t see anything too nasty in the woodshed that would make me live in a bedroom for the rest of my life.How did I identify with the protagonist, Flora Poste? Throughout the novel I found myself comparing my attitudes to Flora’s as she is a practical and sensible young woman completely ready to take on any medieval, melodramatic family that she feel the need to â€Å"tidy up. † Flora is like a catalyst; she is the baking soda of the hokey-pokey, Flora shakes up delayed reactions and causes unusual emotions. I typically find this happening whenever I walk into a room as I normally end up saying something embarrassing that causes total controversy and many shocked expressions.Flora does the same thing by suggesting that Adam, a farm hand, uses a scrubbing brush to clean the breakfast dishes rather than a twig. Adam said: â€Å"’I don’t want a liddle mop wi’ a handle. I’ve used a t horn twig these fifty years and more, and what was good enough then is good enough now. ’† Seeing the logical and practical side is something I have in common with Flora however I do not consider myself quite as cunning or manipulative as Flora proves herself to be throughout the novel. â€Å"’But,’ suggested the cunning Flora†¦Ã¢â‚¬ If you had a little mop and could wash the dishes more quickly, you ould have more time in the cowshed with the dumb beasts. ’ Adam stopped his work. This had evidently struck home. † While getting changed after Ballet two weeks ago a girl I dance with stated how she ‘didn’t read. ’ I was disgusted and replied ‘I can see it is cool to be illiterate these days’ the response ‘What does illiterate mean’ could only result in an astonished silence from me. I then took it upon myself to help her with her homework every Tuesday before ballet. I think that Flora and I a re both modern for our times and have little tolerance for unnecessary ignorance.What was a device used by Gibbons to hold my attention throughout the novel? Stella Gibbons was a poet before she became a novelist with her first publication being a book of poems The Mountain Beast, and her melodramatic insertions of landscape descriptions are proof of this. â€Å"**Dawn crept over the downs like a sinister white animal followed by the snarling cries of a wind eating its way between the black boughs of the thorns. The wind was the furious voice of this sluggish animal light that was baring the dormers and mullions and scullions of Cold Comfort Farm. Gibbons warns us whenever she starts this by placing a couple of asterixes in front of the paragraph. The reader is then snatched from this world and back into the sensible yet cynical views of the young protagonist, Flora Poste. I thought this made the book ahead of its times as it was only written in the 1930s when it just wasn’t the done thing for women to write comedy. However, sometimes this would confuse me and I would have to go back and read the paragraph again as a beautiful description of rugged landscape would switch to how Graceless the cow’s leg fell off.Bizarre occurrences like these made me do something that can only be described as a double take to make sure I had read the passage correctly. I couldn’t leave the cow-leg incident alone and spent my lying-in-bed-pondering-before-sleep-time speculating over how a cow’s leg simply falls off. Did I find the novel relevant or interesting to me as a reader? I was highly recommended to read this book by my parents, knowing I like a laugh, they told me it was hilarious and then proved how little they know about my sense of humour.Despite having interesting characters, poetic techniques and a solid theme I found the novel as a whole: disappointing. I didn’t learn anything of great epiphany significance, and no valuable life l essons, there was no exciting climax but the most disappointing thing was the lack of humour. The only thing I really laughed at being Aunt Ada Doom unable to get past how she ‘Saw something nasty in the woodshed when she was a little girl,’ and then spending the rest of her life sulking about it in her bedroom.Maybe I didn’t understand the humour so much because I am only fifteen and have not experienced enough of the world and its literature to understand the adult humour within the story but I did not react to the novel at all, in fact I thought that the setting was rather dull, and reminded me of a rainy day on a farm only more bleak, the events in the story were unrealistically rushed and happened much too quickly and the perfect solutions to each problem that arose were idealistic and cliche, however I am sure it is a classic for a reason and maybe I need to live a little before I revisit it in a few years time. Personal Response to Cold Comfort Farm Cold Comfort Farm By Stella Gibbons What was a main theme in the novel and how can it be applied to my lifestyle? Cold Comfort Farm is a novel centred around recently orphaned Flora Poste who goes to stay with her cousins living on a farm. I thought that a reoccurring theme in the novel was shown in the way in which Flora got people to look beyond their horizons and imagine a more realistic lifestyle. Thanks to Flora’s encouragement and manipulation the characters living at Cold Comfort Farm look beyond their horizons and become much more interesting people.Like Aunt Ada Doom, I have come to realise that I lead a very routine lifestyle only occasionally leaving Karori and barely ever venturing outside of Wellington. I can admit right here that I am not a enthralling person but I am not living a lifestyle which requires as dramatic a change as flying to Paris and living the High Life like Aunt Ada Doom does after reading an issue of Vogue. So really this theme didn’t pro voke any reaction in me at all other than how I hope I don’t see anything too nasty in the woodshed that would make me live in a bedroom for the rest of my life.How did I identify with the protagonist, Flora Poste? Throughout the novel I found myself comparing my attitudes to Flora’s as she is a practical and sensible young woman completely ready to take on any medieval, melodramatic family that she feel the need to â€Å"tidy up. † Flora is like a catalyst; she is the baking soda of the hokey-pokey, Flora shakes up delayed reactions and causes unusual emotions. I typically find this happening whenever I walk into a room as I normally end up saying something embarrassing that causes total controversy and many shocked expressions.Flora does the same thing by suggesting that Adam, a farm hand, uses a scrubbing brush to clean the breakfast dishes rather than a twig. Adam said: â€Å"’I don’t want a liddle mop wi’ a handle. I’ve used a t horn twig these fifty years and more, and what was good enough then is good enough now. ’† Seeing the logical and practical side is something I have in common with Flora however I do not consider myself quite as cunning or manipulative as Flora proves herself to be throughout the novel. â€Å"’But,’ suggested the cunning Flora†¦Ã¢â‚¬ If you had a little mop and could wash the dishes more quickly, you ould have more time in the cowshed with the dumb beasts. ’ Adam stopped his work. This had evidently struck home. † While getting changed after Ballet two weeks ago a girl I dance with stated how she ‘didn’t read. ’ I was disgusted and replied ‘I can see it is cool to be illiterate these days’ the response ‘What does illiterate mean’ could only result in an astonished silence from me. I then took it upon myself to help her with her homework every Tuesday before ballet. I think that Flora and I a re both modern for our times and have little tolerance for unnecessary ignorance.What was a device used by Gibbons to hold my attention throughout the novel? Stella Gibbons was a poet before she became a novelist with her first publication being a book of poems The Mountain Beast, and her melodramatic insertions of landscape descriptions are proof of this. â€Å"**Dawn crept over the downs like a sinister white animal followed by the snarling cries of a wind eating its way between the black boughs of the thorns. The wind was the furious voice of this sluggish animal light that was baring the dormers and mullions and scullions of Cold Comfort Farm. Gibbons warns us whenever she starts this by placing a couple of asterixes in front of the paragraph. The reader is then snatched from this world and back into the sensible yet cynical views of the young protagonist, Flora Poste. I thought this made the book ahead of its times as it was only written in the 1930s when it just wasn’t the done thing for women to write comedy. However, sometimes this would confuse me and I would have to go back and read the paragraph again as a beautiful description of rugged landscape would switch to how Graceless the cow’s leg fell off.Bizarre occurrences like these made me do something that can only be described as a double take to make sure I had read the passage correctly. I couldn’t leave the cow-leg incident alone and spent my lying-in-bed-pondering-before-sleep-time speculating over how a cow’s leg simply falls off. Did I find the novel relevant or interesting to me as a reader? I was highly recommended to read this book by my parents, knowing I like a laugh, they told me it was hilarious and then proved how little they know about my sense of humour.Despite having interesting characters, poetic techniques and a solid theme I found the novel as a whole: disappointing. I didn’t learn anything of great epiphany significance, and no valuable life l essons, there was no exciting climax but the most disappointing thing was the lack of humour. The only thing I really laughed at being Aunt Ada Doom unable to get past how she ‘Saw something nasty in the woodshed when she was a little girl,’ and then spending the rest of her life sulking about it in her bedroom.Maybe I didn’t understand the humour so much because I am only fifteen and have not experienced enough of the world and its literature to understand the adult humour within the story but I did not react to the novel at all, in fact I thought that the setting was rather dull, and reminded me of a rainy day on a farm only more bleak, the events in the story were unrealistically rushed and happened much too quickly and the perfect solutions to each problem that arose were idealistic and cliche, however I am sure it is a classic for a reason and maybe I need to live a little before I revisit it in a few years time.