The Lottery Essays (1156 words) - A Good Man Is Hard To Find

The Lottery Mario Cruz M. Seiferth Eng 1302 Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Flannery O'Connnors A Good Man Is Hard To Find are stories that deal with mans inhumanity to man by illastrating different situation, but lead to the same conclusion and with no thought of the consequences. Jackson and O'Connor use central characters to show how man has the power to distort reality into something the people accept into everyday life. Jackson uses tradition in The Lottery when she uses Mr. Summers as the announcer of the lottery every year. Mr. Summers was a person who believed in the lottery and never thought of ending this tradition. Every year Mr. Summers spoke about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. When the people were asked to get in like to pick a paper, they had done it so many times, they half listened to the directions, (Jackson 235). For generations the lottery was always performed on the twenty-seventh of June, but the orginal box was lost, the rituals were forgotten, but the villagers did remember to use stones. Tradition in A Good Man Is Hard To Find O'Connor goes a different path of traditon but lead to same consequences. The Misfit like Mr. Summers is messanger of death, but for different reasons. Like the people of The Lottery the family in A Good Man Is Hard To Find both have a destination and a purpose and that is to meet their maker. The person in The Lottery is killed for being unlucky, and in A Good Man Is Hard To Find the Misfit was inprisoned for a reason he does not remember. It was in the best way to keep up his reputation as a killer, to go ahead and kill the entire family, and in this way in his mind he is saving them from sinning again. These stories were of manupalation of the mind. Jackson used two main characters to make the people go along and continue the lottery. The people of the village had been so brainwashed by Mr. Summers and Old Man Warner that they did whatever they said to do. When Mr. Summers raised one hand high and said, Adams. A man disengaged himself from the crowd and came forward(Jackson 235) Old Man Warner was the oldest person in town and always talked about the lottery in that it was a good thing because when the lottery is performed corn be heavy soon. (Jackson 236). The people have lack of independent thought when they follow Mr. Summers, and Old Man Warner tells the villagers to finish Mrs. Hutchinson quickly. Without hesatation the crowd picks up stones and start stoning Mrs.Hutchinson with no thought of why or if it's even right to do this act. When O'Connor had her characters manupalate the rest, the grandmother was loudmouth, know it all, always giving her son Bailey suggestion on how to go about the vaction they planned. When she suggested to her son to go to the house with the secret panel, she told him that it would be a good educational trip for the children. Bailey was not thinking for himself when he was following his mothers directions to the secret panel house. If it weren't for the grandmothers cat Pitty Sing they would have never come across the Misfit. When the Misfit did arrive on the scene he was in total control of his men, Bobby Lee and Hiram. The Misfit was in charge of everything that went on from that moment on. The only time in the story that he was a follower or lacked the indepence to question, was when he was inprisoned for something he could not remember. The only thing he was told was that he killed his father and that prison had papers on him. The Misfit blames the penatentary for the way he acts and his actions. The Lottery is a story that was about self-preservation of ones self. Old Man Warner had lived seventy-seven years and had never been the chosen one, so he was always for the lottery. To him the lottery was not bad because he was never the one

Free Essays on Religious Symbolism In The Middle Ages

Literature can influence people’s lives, tell a story, and teach a history lesson all at once. The time in which an author lives, the people he surrounds himself with, and his or her upbringing, all affect their personal style of writing. Authors do not simply grab ideas out of thin air or from the sky. Author’s stories come from their experiences and from their elder’s experiences-stories that were retold and past on to them. Authors of the middle ages were one of the first to put story to paper. Popular topics for the first early works were the current topics of the day, whether it was a war, peacetime, or a time of transition. Religion ruled the land and people, in the early centuries. In reading the literature from these times, it is highly evident that religion played a major influence in these early works. Almost all of the stories/poems in class so far has contained some kind of religious reference. Two stories that have strong evidence of the role a nd impact of religion in society is shown in the epic poem Beowulf of the eighth century and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales of the fourteenth century. Geoffrey Chaucer lived in one of the darkest ages in history. Due to poor medical conditions, the plague would kill thousands of people at a time. When sickness was spreading rapidly, many people turned to the church for help and looked to God for answers. Geoffrey Chaucer, was born between the years 1340 and 1344. He wrote The Canterbury Tales in the late fourteenth century in England. Religion dominated this time period in history; so therefore, it played a major role in literary work of the time. The Canterbury Tale's storyline is based on a very religious practice, a pilgrimage. Chaucer uses a narrator to tell the tale. The narrator of the tales starts out by saying that he is "Bifel that in that seson on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay, Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage To Canterbury with ful devout... Free Essays on Religious Symbolism In The Middle Ages Free Essays on Religious Symbolism In The Middle Ages Literature can influence people’s lives, tell a story, and teach a history lesson all at once. The time in which an author lives, the people he surrounds himself with, and his or her upbringing, all affect their personal style of writing. Authors do not simply grab ideas out of thin air or from the sky. Author’s stories come from their experiences and from their elder’s experiences-stories that were retold and past on to them. Authors of the middle ages were one of the first to put story to paper. Popular topics for the first early works were the current topics of the day, whether it was a war, peacetime, or a time of transition. Religion ruled the land and people, in the early centuries. In reading the literature from these times, it is highly evident that religion played a major influence in these early works. Almost all of the stories/poems in class so far has contained some kind of religious reference. Two stories that have strong evidence of the role a nd impact of religion in society is shown in the epic poem Beowulf of the eighth century and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales of the fourteenth century. Geoffrey Chaucer lived in one of the darkest ages in history. Due to poor medical conditions, the plague would kill thousands of people at a time. When sickness was spreading rapidly, many people turned to the church for help and looked to God for answers. Geoffrey Chaucer, was born between the years 1340 and 1344. He wrote The Canterbury Tales in the late fourteenth century in England. Religion dominated this time period in history; so therefore, it played a major role in literary work of the time. The Canterbury Tale's storyline is based on a very religious practice, a pilgrimage. Chaucer uses a narrator to tell the tale. The narrator of the tales starts out by saying that he is "Bifel that in that seson on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay, Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage To Canterbury with ful devout...

A Critical Evaluation of the Inside Job Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Critical Evaluation of the Inside Job - Essay Example These people have commented on the reasons of the global economic crisis, their role in the crisis and about their reaction when the financial meltdown began. The Inside Job basically means that there are behind the door interactions among the banks, governments and the academia to a certain extent, which triggered the global financial crisis in 2008 (Bradshaw). The documentary shows how the concepts of keeping a balance in the economy for the safety and financial soundness of the nation were violated by the capitalists who destroyed the economic stability in the country with the help of various influential people (Bradshaw). These were government officials, who had once been bankers and were now making liberal policies in which bankers could make money, on the expense of risking the financial stability of the region. They used political appointees and people from academia who provided forged evidence of the advantages of excessive deregulation. Some people in the government, like Ba rney Frank, tried to regulate this process in order to prevent the economy from breaking down, but their efforts went in vain in face of the high influence of the supporters of deregulation. This process still exists and continues to prevail today, but at a slower pace (Bradshaw). The documentary has been first of its kind, highlighting the change in the banking system after the deregulation of banks in 1980’s. It clearly describes how the risk of the loans previously lived with the lender, which was the bank which made the bank responsible in granting the amount of loans. Gradually, the process of securitization started whereby, the high risk loans were bundled together and were offered to risk taking borrowers on high interest rates. The loans were securitized, and the banks no longer held the responsibility to collect the loan back. This subprime market offered high returns for the banks; therefore, the banks lent large sums of money without anticipating that they could de fault by providing such risky assets. On the other hand, securitization itself is not as harmful as shown in the documentary (Epstein). The securitization process allows the investors to diversify their portfolios by holding a large pool of credit card debt. In this way, investors are not exposed to a single debt risk. It is also a flexible process whereby, the securitizers customize the pools of debt according to the preferences of the investor (Lee). The risk of default lies on the assets on which the securities are formed (Epstein). If those assets are high risk subprime mortgages, there is a high risk of default, which is exactly what happened with the banks in the United States. After the deregulation, in the period from 1987 to 2006, the movie shows how banks and its employees enjoyed a favorable time. Bankers became drastically rich and thought of their richness as a result of their smartness. The perception prevailing among the bankers has been clearly portrayed in the movie , as the Bankers thought of themselves as clever providers of prosperity to the nation and that they deserved to be rich (Bradshaw). However, this led to the concentration of huge sums of money amongst a handful of CEO’s, economists and members from the government. One of the most excruciating realities of the financial world came to the forefront when Charles Fergusons’s documentary highlighted that not only banks and government officials were involved in the excessive deregulation of the banking system, but members from the academia had a vital role in promoting the liberalization process (Bradshaw). The greed of bankers and government o

EM670 Week 1 Conf Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

EM670 Week 1 Conf - Assignment Example Again, this is because the positions are at a point where the holder will have to provide leadership to other people who are below them. The other common trait among the jobs was the coordination skills of the holder. This shows that the positions will require the holder to have good coordination skills to be able to carry out the functions of the office that the holder is managing. Together with this trait, the jobs also required that the aspiring candidate be able to have very good independent decision making skills that will make it possible for the person to make sound and strategic decisions alone, without having to consult all the time. This trait and that of coordination skills seemed to complement each other in that they both have to be there for each to benefit the job holder. According to Jacobson (2001), it is important to match traits and skill because having the right trait may not automatically mean that the person will manage the job. The skills required for the jobs were also common in that they all revolved around the management of human resource. However, for the different counties, job descriptions differed in terms of the level at which the candidates skills in personnel management were. For instance, some of the job descriptions in other places required that the aspiring job holder will have to have skills at the executive level while others required the skill to be at the management and operational level such as recruitment. The other common trait between the job descriptions is development of policies and procedures. The job descriptions all seemed to have this skill as a central requirement for the candidates who will hold the position. This means that all EM jobs may need a person who not only has the ability to conceptualize ideas and policies, but whose knowledge of federal law and regulations are very high (James, 2006). This is because policy development is very much dependent on this knowledge of federal laws

Should central banks be independent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Should central banks be independent - Essay Example They all have different origins hence the difference in the roles and functions that they are expected to play. While some of them were established as a special purpose upon which the government banks were brought up to bring about order in the way that bank notes are issued, others were developed to act as sources of funding for the governments (Downes & Vaez-Zadeh 92). There are other central banks that started off as large commercial banks that dominated and subsequently were able to boost the economy by offering the monopoly rights to provide bank notes. Most of the central banks started their operation during the 20th century as central banks that held the public policy agencies to conduct the functions related to central banking. However, the bundles of functions associated with the central bank have always differed in a substantial way from one country to the other. In this paper the main functions and roles of the central banks will be analyzed and an evaluation performed o w hether the central banks should be made independent (Touffut 52). The key functions of the central bank revolve around the fact that the central bank is an agency that is expected to perform the conducts of monetary policy and provide the means through which it can be settled. In the past, they functioned as the government’s bankers, the monopoly of issuing notes, the banker’s bank, the last resort lender, controller and regulator of credit and the maintenance of external stability (Goodhart xiii). The most important function of the central bank has been linked to the role of financial stability. However, it is considered as the objective that extends or goes beyond the objectives of functions, which contribute towards financial stability. Nonetheless, it is still applicable in many countries where for example in China, it is the role of the People’s bank to ensure that financial risks are mitigated with the effort to provide financial stability

Analysis of the Penan Culture in Malaysia

Analysis of the Penan Culture in Malaysia Introduction: The Penan is one of the groups in South East Asia and they are live in Sarawak, Malaysia. There are about ten thousands Penan live in Sarawak and only about two hundred of them are nomadic Penan people left. The nomadic Penan is the people who are move from one place to other new place in every month to get new places to stay and food. The most important in Penan community make me feel proud is they are not discriminate toward female and children. All the people are equal in dividing food and sharing food. They are fair in distributing item and especially in food. The hunters hunt animals and divided meat equality to each family. The most unique I think that in Penan community is their forest sign language. Forest sign language is very important to Penan people in the forest. The Penan has their forest sign language in the forest and it is a complex forest sign language. For instance, the sign like they hunting in the forest and went to this way. So, the other Penan people will know that they went to that way. In addition, there is also a sign can know that whether the person leaving the sign is in the good mood or not. Culture in Penan community: Culture mean learned behavior in any particular society includes those ideas, techniques and habits which are passed on by one generation to another. This learned behavior or social inheritance, of any society is called its culture. It is the possession of a common culture and the ability to communicate and pass it on to others that distinguishes the human being from other animals. Human are human because they share with others a common culture, a culture which includes not only the artifacts of its living members but also those of members of past generations. Human beings are able to develop and pass on their culture by means of language. (Tony Biton, Kevin Bonnett, Philip Jones, Michelle Stanworth, Ken Sheard and Andrew Webster, 1987, pg 11 and 12). Culture in Penan has already changed especially in materials culture. They have influence by western country materials like they have wearing jeans, t-shirt, shoes, and using plastic. The Penan can get the western materials when they ex change item with the loggers. The processes lead to culture change is diffusion. Diffusion is the movement of things and ideas from one culture to another. The logging companies are the cause of the culture change in Penans culture. Loggers influence the Penan people by change item with them. The item usually change are knifes, cloths, cooking item and so on. Most of the youngest are influence by the western culture. But the eldest not really influenced by western culture, they wear traditional cloths and traditional tattoos. Besides that, they have using traditional hunting like using blowpipes. The Penan hunters usually use blowpipes to hunt wild animals. Blowpipes are the weapon that can use by them efficiency to kill wild animals. Blowpipes are made by hard wood and it got two holes at the beginning and the end of the blowpipes. The Penan hunters also have shotgun but they not often use it, because shotgun is very expensive to own one and hard to get shotgun. Short blowpipes are usually use in the short range in the forest. Blowpipes are use with the poison dart in order to kill the wild animals. Poison darts make from the milky latex in the tajem tress and warmed by fire to produce the darts. Specious darts are use to kill big animals while simple darts are use to hunt small animals. During hunting, the Penan hunters usually carry two knifes. One is long knife and the other is the shorter knife. These knifes are use to cut meat, blowpipe darts and so on. In religion, Penan people are belief in Christian since many years ago. Christian has brought into Penan communities by British since colonial time. The definitions religion includes beliefs about the existence of superhuman beings or forces, the practice of rites and rituals, the institutional forms that religion takes and the power relationships believed to be involved between human being and suprahuman beings. (Robert Van Krieken, Daphne Habibis, Philip Smith, Brett Hutchins, Michael Haralambos and Martin Holborn, 2006, pg 390). But, they still strong believe in myths and spirits in some place. For example, some rituals can expel bad luck in hunting and unsuccessful in hunting. By doing the ritual the hunters can change their hunting bad luck become good luck in hunting. Besides that, blood pacts are one of the cultures in Penan community and usually happen between the Penan leaders and neighboring tribes. In some of the cases, the leaders would shed blood onto tobacco and then it smoke together, and then consuming each other blood and preventing future conflicts. If got a breach of this pact was believed causing vomiting blood and violent death. Economy in Penan Community: The term economy, from which we get economics, comes most directly from the Old French word economie, meaning management of a household. The French adopted the term from the Latin word oeconomia, which was in turn derived from the Greek word oikonomia. Oikonomia came from the word oikonomos, which separates into oikos, meaning house, and -nomos meaning managing. (Mankiw, 2008, page 4). Economy in Penan community is based on the animals meat that they hunted, rattan make by themselves, sago and so on. Most of the item they sold is meat that their hunted in the forest to the loggers. The Penan people get their profit by selling these items to the companies. The Penan people were trade for manufactured goods like knifes, cooking item, cloths and so on. Gaharu is the one of the goods sell to other country like China, Taiwan and Japan to get more profit from it. Gaharu is for medicinal, religious purposes and making perfume. The patterns of economic subsistence are foraging and horticulture in the Penan community. Foraging is the most ancient of human subsistence patterns in foraging for wild plants and hunting wild animals. Most of the Penan hunters are hunting in a small group of relatives and friends. They have their own settlements that are not permanent which they can live in there while hunting. There are three major variations of the foraging subsistence pattern that is pedestrian, equestrian and aquatic. Penan hunters are using pedestrian while hunting wild animals. Pedestrian is diversified hunting gathering on their foot. Hunting is the common activity in Penan to obtain meat from wild animals. Government has give permit to Penan for hunting in the forest. Male are taking part in the hunting activity. Most of the animals hunt by the hunters is wild pigs. They also hunt small animals like birds, squirrels and so on. Before logging begins, many wild animals can be hunted by hunters. After logging started in their forest, wild animals become less and the animals loss their habitant. Trees are chopping down and animals are decrease. So, the hunters become harder to hunt animals where animals are becoming less. The Penan people have involved in the horticulture. Horticulture is the small scale and low intensity of farming. This subsistence pattern involved at least part time planting and tending of domesticated food plants. They have grown their own plants for food and they also keep the chickens and other relatively small domesticated animals are raised for food. Most of the foods are used by them and the surplus of meats will be sold to the loggers. They will gain profit when they sell their own meats to the logging camps. Family and Gender in Penan community: The family may then be defined as a small group of closely related people who share a distinct sense of identity and a responsibility for each other that outweighs their commitments to others, this group is commonly, but not necessarily, based on marriage, biological descent, or adoption. (James Fulcher and John Scott, 2007, pg 447). In Penan community, most common forms of the family distinguished in the literature are nuclear families and extended families. The nuclear family is usually defined as two generation unit consisting of parents and unmarried children. A distinction is generally made here between the family of origin and the family of destination. (James Fulcher and John Scott, 2007, pg 448 and 449). Nuclear families in Penan community are less if comparing to the extended family. They usually live with their parents and their children in their own hut in the forest. The extended family includes other family members. It extends vertically to include at least three generat ions that is at least grandfather and grandmothers. It extends horizontally to include in law, cousins, aunts, uncles, though how far it extends will vary and depends upon perception of the composition and boundaries of the family. (James Fulcher and John Scott, 2007, pg 448). Most of the families in Penan community are extended family. They live together in a big family with their relative. Most extended family live in bigger huts in the forest. Gender refers to differences in the way that men and women in a particular society are expected to feel, think, and behave. Thus, males are typically expected to feel, think, and behave in a masculine way, and females in a feminine way. (James Fulcher and John Scott, 2007, pg 156). There are some differences in gender roles in Penan community. For instance, males are taking part in hunting activity and rough activity. Females are most likely doing soft works like taking care their children, making rattan, finding firewood and so on. Gender roles are that specify the ways in which men and women are expected to feel, think, and behave. These prescribe not only the kinds of work that men and women are expected to do but the feelings they can express and everyday aspects of their behaviour , such as the way that they speak and dress. (James Fulcher and John Scott, 2007, pg 159). But, in Penan community, females, males and children are taking parts in making sago flour. There is no gender stratification in making sago. Logging: Sarawak forest has been logging seen 1970 years. The purpose of logging is to processed timber. The government of Sarawak has given permit to logging companies to log in the forest. It can enhance the local profits and become the first world in 2020. Most of the timber export to other country like Japan, India and Europe. The logging companies using bulldozers to clear up the forest and cutting down trees. The logging companies which include Shin Yang, Samling and Interhill are logging in Sarawak. The company workers usually live in the houses that they have build when they logging. The problem face by Penan is logging in the jungle where they live. Logging can cause many problems toward Penan people. Penan are very hard to live in the jungle where are many logger are logging in their habitant. The changes in the jungle will make them fill difficult to stay at the jungle. The change in the sound of the machines chop trees, the light in the jungle become brighter because of less trees and the temperature become higher than before. Besides that, Penan also facing problems like hard to hunt animals in the jungle where logging activities are started. All the animals run away from the jungle and animals are dying during logging. Penan also hard to get medical plants and food when many trees are destroys by the logging companies. The fruits tress and the sago palm become less after logging has started in Penans forest. So, Penan people feel difficulty in getting the food and sago. The water in the river become mudding when raining. The mud from the trees has been chop ping down. The Penan people cannot get clean water from the river. Social change and development: Social change is about change in the nature, social institution, social behaviour or social relations of a society, or other social structures. It also can also be said as any event or action affects a group of individuals that have shared values or characteristics. The factors that lead to social change are physical environment and poverty. Physical environment refers to the trees in the forest have been cut down by logging companies and the Penan people have to face the new change in their habitants. They are not able to adapt the new life. This is because some of the changes like temperature, light and sound in the jungle have been changes. The dirty water in the river is also one of the social changes. They have to get use to it. Poverty is also one of the factors that lead to social changes. Logging can cause them into poverty. This is because they have less wild animals to hunt and less meat to sell to people. Less trees in the forest making them hard to find fruits in the fore st and it is hard to make rattan when logging started. Furthermore, oil palm plantations have forced them into poverty. There is nothing left for them anymore. The loss of their forests, the Penan is force to poverty and suffers illness because of not enough foods and polluted water. The government has promises to give development to Penan but until now there is no development in their community. Besides that, the Penan also not trust the government and they also do not want development. The government also does not understand why Penan does not want development. The logging companies have given the Penan people the broken and abundant house that the logger had made during logging. So, the Penan people do not feel there has been development in their community. According to Wallerstein (1991), development simply means more, which is a capitalist definition referring to the accumulation of wealth and as a result of this accumulation, one area will remain poor as a result of exploitation by the rich (powerful). Conclusion: The Penan was live in Sarawak since many years ago and there are no troubles in their community. After logging companies come to their forest cutting down the trees and making the Penan suffer from many problems. Logging makes changes in Penans culture, their social, development, economy and so on. In my opinion, the companies should stop logging from destroying the forest and the Penan habitant. Logging will also cause to global warming and it will create disaster toward Penan people. The government also should be more careful in making decision in timber industry. The government must be more consider about the Penan feeling when logging in their forest. Reference: Tony Bilton, Kevin Bonnett, Philip Jones, Michelle Stanworth, Ken Sheard and Andrew Webster (1987), Introductory sociology, second edition, The Macmillan Press LTD, London. James Fulcher, John Scott (2007), Sociology, third edition, Oxford. N. Gregory Mankiw (2008), Principles of Economics, Fifth edition, South Western Cengage Learning. Robert Van Krieken, Daphne Habibis, Philip Smith, Brett Hutchins, Michael Haralambos and Martin Holborn (2006), Sociology Themes and Perspectives, third edition, Longman. James H. McDonald (2002), The Applied Anthropology Reader, Allyn And Bacon.

Langston Hughes The Weary Blues Essay examples -- Music Blues Jazz Mu

Langston Hughes' The Weary Blues   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jazz music is often associated with long, lazy melodies and ornate rhythmical patterns. The Blues, a type of jazz, also follows this similar style. Langston Hughes' poem, "The Weary Blues," is no exception. The sound qualities that make up Hughes' work are intricate, yet quite apparent. Hughes' use of consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, and rhyme in "The Weary Blues" gives the poem a deep feeling of sorrow while, at the same time, allows the reader to feel as if he or she is actually listening to the blues sung by the poem's character.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Blues musical move was prominent during the 1920s and '30s, a time known as the Harlem Renaissance. Blues music characteristically told the story of someone's anguish, the key factors, and the resolution of the situation. This is precisely what Hughes' poem, "The Weary Blues," describes. Hughes uses the rhythmic structure of blues music and the improvisational rhythms of jazz in his innovative development of "The Weary Blues." The poem opens by first setting the scene. "Down on Lenox Avenue" the speaker heard a "mellow croon" (lines 2 and 4). The tune was played on a piano and sung by a man with the emotions coming from the "black man's soul" (15). The piano man expresses his feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction with his life in lines 19-22 and 25-30: "Ain't got nobody in all this world,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ain't got nobody but ma self.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I's gwine to quite ma frownin'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  And put my troubles on the shelf."   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  "I got the Weary Blues   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  And I can't be satisfied.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Got the Weary Blues   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  And can't be satisfied-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I ain't happy no mo'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  And I wish that I had died." The piano man, in a slightly backward order, tells how he wished that he had died because he feels so alone. But, instead of an ultimate end, the piano man decides to "put his troubles on the shelf," or rather, push them aside and continue living without the distraction of those pains.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The tone of "The Weary Blues" is quite dark and melancholy. This matches the sorrowful theme of the poem. Sound patterns play a key role in this poem. They enhance the already somber mood by way of consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, and rhyme patterns. Consonance is found within the first line of the poem. "Droning a drowsy?" brings a hard 'd' sound to... ...  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  O Blues! The end of each of the above lines has the long 'u' or 'oo' sound but doesn't exactly rhyme with the preceding line or lines. This off-rhyme gives this blues poem more dimension. With precise rhyme, the poem would seem too forced but with this off-rhyme, the true flow of the blues is apparent and works very well. Additionally, the near rhyme of the long 'u' or 'oo' sound reinforces, once again, the sorrowful and melancholy theme of the poem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the consistent use of consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, and rhyme patterns of "The Weary Blues," Langston Hughes produces a poem with a great deal of emotion. The feelings of sadness and loneliness resonate throughout the poem. The long, lazy melodies and ornate rhythmical patterns of jazz music and the blues are really brought to life in "The Weary Blues" via Hughes' intricate workings of sound patterns that are cleverly implemented in every nook of the poem. Because of these descriptive sound words, I can almost picture myself walking down Lenox Avenue and hearing the old piano man and his "Weary Blues." Bibliography: Hughes, Langston. Selected Poems. New York: Random House/Vintage Books, 1987.