Analyzing Romanticism in Pushkins The Shot

Analyzing Romanticism in Pushkin's "The Shot" A theme that is immediately apparent in Pushkin’s The Shot is â€Å"the noble man with a romanticized view of life†. This theme was common during the Romantic Era, the period in which Pushkin wrote, but is important for more than historical reasons; in many ways, such romanticization guides the entire experience of reading Pushkins storyline. As it often did, this theme takes place in an emotionally charged, descriptive narrative. Yet the true importance of Pushkins romanticism, here, is the manner in which romantic ideals guide the life of the Silvio, the character central to The Shot. From the onset of the story, Pushkin makes his protagonotist an outsider. While he lives in a military outpost surrounded by Russian men, his name is â€Å"Silvio†, which is clearly not of Russian origin. He is older than the rest of the men and has mysterious qualities to him. His personality traits are paradoxical; he is inviting and keeps the door to his home open for all, yet mentally he is aloof from the rest. This aloofness makes the other men simultaneously respect and fear him. Pushkin wrote that â€Å"nobody knew what his circumstances were, or what his income was, and nobody dared to inquire about them† (23). While Silvio keeps his life separate from everybody else’s, the other men all scramble to understand what makes him seem so powerful. Pushkin makes the reader curious about this aloof character when he writes that Silvio’s walls â€Å"were riddled with bullet holes, and were like a honeycomb in appearance† (23). The idea of a noble ou tsider is already romantic and embodies the greater romantic theme of the isolated, heroic man. The reader knows from the start that there is something heroic about Silvio. Even his name sounds subjectively heroic. Pushkin writes that â€Å"nobody knew the reasons that had prompted him to resign his commission and settle down in a wretched little town† (22), making it clear that Silvio’s life was once much more important. Silvio also rejects material wealth; his â€Å"rich collection of pistols was the only luxury in the wretched mud-walled cottage in which he lived† (23). Even before the Romantic Period, going back to religious philosophy in Buddhism and Christianity, people who rejected their material wealth were historically viewed as heroic. Heroism stemming from individuality was an important theme in literature during The Romantic Era because it paralleled the surrounding environment that Romantic Era authors lived in. Many authors writing during the Romantic Era, such as Pushkin, experienced oppression from their government and expressed their free will through writing. Writers would often brighten their otherwise bleak reality by writing imaginative stories where an outsider, just like them, stood up against a formal, oppressive lifestyle to live passionately. The setting of this novel parallels Pushkin’s own struggle to do that; a group of men are entrapped in a monotonous military outpost where â€Å"there was nothing to look at but each other’s uniforms† (22) and they create a more arousing life for themselves by regarding Silvio as â€Å"the hero of some strange tale† (24). Silvio is a hero to them because he practices individuality in an otherwise conformist setting. Pushkin continues to slowly reveal more details about Silvio’s life to the reader. The reader finds out that Silvio had once entered a duel that ended in an unusual way. Pushkin romanticizes this duel in its entirety. At the beginning of the duel, Silvio offers the first shot to his opponent, who would not agree to take it (27). A duel in which one’s life is at stake is not the time to try to be heroic, or, I guess in the case of a Russian Romanticist novel, it’s the perfect time. Next, Pushkin focuses on psychology and introspection, giving the reader a glance into the thoughts of a man that is about to shoot another man. When telling his story to the narrator, Silvio says: â€Å"He stood in range of my pistol, selecting ripe cherries from his cap and spitting out the stones so that they almost fell at my feet. His indifference infuriated me. ‘What’s the use’, I thought, ‘of depriving him of his life when he sets no value upon itâ€⠄¢Ã¢â‚¬  (27)? While duels are considered barbaric in the present day, Pushkin presents the duel as a showcase of pride and sentiment that is valued above a victory. The reader ultimately finds out that Silvio was waiting to finish the duel when his opponent began to value his life. Silvio waited five years for his opponent to become a happily married man, and every day during those five years he practiced his shooting skills. When Silvio continues the duel, he ends it by forcing his opponent to shoot at him, and then tells his opponent, â€Å"I am satisfied. I have seen your alarm, your confusion; I forced you to shoot at me, and that is enough. You will remember me. I commit you to your conscience† (32). Silvio waited to not even take this man’s life, but to make this man remember him indefinitely. Silvio then took a shot, marking a bullet hole above the one his opponent made, showing that his opponent’s life may well have been his. Knowing that Silvio had trained five years to become a perfect shot just to nobly let his opponent keep his life makes the ending emotionally charged and romanticizes the ideals of honor and pri de. Works Cited Gibian, George. The Shot. The Portable Nineteenth-century Russian Reader. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Penguin, 1993. 22-33. 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E-Commerce Application Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

E-Commerce Application Development - Essay Example There are five types of e-business models that form the basic structure on which websites are based. These five models are vanity, billboard, advertising, subscription and storefront. Many sites also combine these basic models. All sites incur cost of development and maintenance, though they may not be deriving direct revenue from it. The five models of e-commerce have unique characteristics. The Vanity model, as the name suggests, cater typically to individuals who start it as an outlet for expression, to share a hobby, promote a cause such as an environmental or social agenda, etc. The site then acts like an online forum, to bring people together. A very good example for such a site is greenpeace.org. The site brings together people who are conscious about the degradation of the environment and helps raise a voice against issues such as climate change, endangered species, deforestation etc. The revenue models for such Vanity sites build up through advertisements of related organisations, services and products. In the case of Greenpeace, the site is maintained mainly through donations. The costs of vanity sites are either born by the individual or by philanthropic institutions such as associations, universities or may be businesses. This e-commerce model is designed to work like a billboard. Also called the brochure or information sites, Billboard models derive economic benefit indirectly through referred sales and reduced cost. The sites creates product awareness through the online medium, however, the actual buying and selling takes place off-line. Netizens surf and view the sites and the model functions in the same way as a billboard on a highway. The success of the site is measured according to the hits or viewership it gets. The site influences people to buy the product. The perfect real world example of this model is billboard.com. The site gives you music news, reviews, articles, information about live shows and more. You can listen to music, and download free music. The site also ranks music and ranks the best songs for any genre. The revenue model, what is apparent from the site, are advertisements related to the music world. For example you can buy Billboard magazine from the site. The Advertising model, in e-commerce, is similar to the model followed by radio, television and the print medium, among other things. The programme and the content are totally funded by the advertiser's money and the 'viewership' of the site decides the advertisement rate and volume. Surveys conducted by the websites can establish the 'viewership' of the sites and the advertising rates are decided likewise. The various forms of advertising for e-commerce are banners, sponsorships, ezine ads and other promotion methods. The Subscription model, though very well established in the 'real' world, has not become so prominent in the e-world. Consumers have not yet accepted the culture of subscriptions on the web. The subscription models, on the web, target particular niches of individuals with specific needs. These sites are often specialized with expert content and timely information. The subscriptions fund the development and

The Public Needs to Know Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Public Needs to Know - Essay Example Adams and Brantner (2006) reveal that cancer is the number one killer disease in the United States today. The research showed that over one million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with the cancer every year. This is a worrying statistics considering the fact that no drug has been developed that can cure the disease today. The only hope currently is for one to obtain regular screening to aid early detection, which research shows to increase survival chances if treated immediately with the available drugs. Despite this being the case, cancer treatment is very expensive and many American citizens lack the health insurance. Therefore, to arrest the situation, there is urgent need to develop drugs capable of treating this killer disease. The aim of this discourse is to explore the major issues that might arise due to the development of a cancer treatment drug. The issues to be discussed include economic issues and the special needs of the population being served. In addition, the paper w ill describe the processes that will be involved in the development of the program and its benefits to the population. Economic issues Cancer treatments are the most expensive medical treatment in the United States today. ... Analysts argue that this cost is not only worrying, but is also unrealistic in this day and age when the American economy is struggling to recover from recession. Furthermore, everyone involved in this problem is left wondering how we will be able to afford the cost of cancer in the next decade. It is believed that doctors will only recommend treatments depending on the out-of-pocket spending by patients. Currently almost everyone in the country is worried of how the cost of cancer treatment will be met in the future. As a result, the company’s intention to develop a new cancer treatment drug will be of immense benefit to economically. It will result in a reduction in the cost of healthcare, which would lead to a reduction in the government spending on cancer-related treatments (Jonsson and Wilking 2011). Special needs Currently physicians depend use mainly chemotherapy and radiography to treat cancer. However, patients are concerned that these treatment methods are not only e xpensive and not affordable to many, but are also painful. As a result, patients need a new treatment method that is not only cheap and affordable, but also safe and does not involve a painful experience. This special need can only be addressed through the development of a new treatment drug for cancer. Developing the drug will make the treatment of cancer easier and safer than the methods used today. Furthermore, it will enable the treatment of cancer possible even if cancer is diagnosed very late (Adams and Brantner, 2006). The image shows a patient diagnosed of cancer of the skin. Process involved in the development of the program The process involved in the development of a cancer treatment drug is normally cumbersome and takes from 7 to