Death Of The Air, Blowing The Wrong Way

The idea of death can be, and is an enormously disturbing, unknown issue in which many people can have many different opinions. To some individuals, the process of life can progress painstakingly slow, while for others life moves too fast. In the excerpt We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates, a innocent farm boy named Judd Mulvaney has an eye-opening encounter by a brook near his driveway. During this encounter, Judd faces a chain of feelings and emotions that lead to his change of opinion of the issues of life and death, and change as a character. This emblematic imagery of life and death, as well as jumpy, and retrospective tones benefit the development of Judd as an innocent child as he begins to change into a more conscious and aware adult.

Throughout world history people have enjoyed watching two men compete in hand to hand combat. Professional boxing made its debut here in America around the turn of the 20th century. Unlike boxing, mixed martial arts is a relatively new sport. Both sports are very technical and require their fighters to be in superb condition. Many fighters train all their life to make it big, but few ever get there. Although both sports are immensely popular, one stands alone as the dominant sport. In this paper I 'll prove that the sport of MMA is more technical, more exciting, and much safer than boxing.

The ultimate goal of a boxing match is a knock out. The knockout punch brings satisfaction to the winner of the boxing math and the crowd. This one punch can make a fight exciting. However, if there is not a knockout punch, the fight is often times dull. After a knockout punch, one man loses consciousness while the other man dances around the ring raising his hands in victory and is swarmed by his coaches and the press. Oates continues to argue that boxing is the cruelest sport by comparing a boxing match to a tragedy. If a fight has no knock out by the end, it seems like the fight is missing something. The knockout punch is a cruel but key aspect to boxing which makes people love

Hurst develops the idea of death, and it is symbolic towards Doodle and his family. The idea of death has come over Doodle’s family. Doodle is the smell drifting across the cotton field into the room. “The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead”

     Another rule of chivalry is to never do battle to obtain goods. Well this is the rule that is the most broken in our world in my opinion. I always see on the news have robberies are made and how things are stolen. Sometimes people get hurt in the process of this and that is just not right. I wish that the convicts of the world would take a lesson in what is right from the Knights of the Round Table.

In the beginning of the short story, as Brother reflects on Doodle’s life, the author uses personification and foreshadowing to create a mood of remorse. As he gazes out of the window into his backyard, Brother states that “the graveyard flowers were blooming. ...speaking softly the names of our dead” (Hurst 1). The flowers provide flashbacks of the past, and foreshadow a loss of life. The loneliness felt by Brother causes readers to consider how they would feel if their loved one was gone. As Brother observes the seasons, it is noted that “summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born” (Hurst 1). The personifications of the seasons as stages in the cycle of life and death creates an unsure and uncertain mood. The shift between seasons creates an idea of change and uncertainty of events to come. Hurst creates a mood of remorse through

This section of the novel created a mood of depression and death. All of the men had to dig through the field to find their good friend.

Gorn goes to discuss the rules and regulations of boxing, stating; “The two athletes settle on a site for the fight. Strip to their shirts, roll their sleeves up…” (Gorn, pg.37) By adding this information and going to such detail as he does; “At the end of the fight the boxers are bruised, disfigured, and covered with blood, which they spit out, vomit out, or drip from the nose.” allows the reader to get a feel for how violent these fights were but also to allow readers to dive into the fight with their feet first. Gorn goes on to discuss more fights and discusses ‘The Great

Boxing in the 1960’s was one of the biggest sources of entertainment to most American’s. Back in the 60’s one could compare a heavyweight championship fight to our modern day super bowl. If American’s didn’t have a television, they would be standing by their radios listening. Unfortunately during the same time period race relations were at an all-time low. Boxing was integrated, although black boxers were still under pressure to conform to white America’s social limitations. One man stayed true to himself, so that others would find courage to do the same.

“He stepped back from the quicksand about a dozen feet or so, and, like some huge prehistoric beaver he began to dig” (Connell 26). Rainsford had dug a huge hole and covered the bottom with sticks pointing up, it was covered with a pile of sticks and leaves to blend it in. “The he felt an impulse to cry aloud with joy, for he heard the sharp crackling of the breaking branches as the cover of the pit gave way; he heard the sharp scream of pain as the points made there mark” (Connell 27).

Fight for no reason but just to do something out of the norm. After the two men began to fight one another just for fun, later on down the line others saw there selves drawn to the adrenalin and excitement of the concept to release their anger. This is how fight club began.

Sometimes it came in degrees, like the cold; sometimes you were very brave up to a point and then beyond that point you were not so brave.” (O’Brien, 141). For some reason, Bowker just couldn’t pull himself together and pull Kiowa out of the mud, he was hesitant. When Bowker, O’Brien, Cross, and others refer to the mud field, they all still have vivid detail. They can’t forget the smell, they can’t forget what has been ingrained into their mind.

(75). He continuously shot at the animal until it was a bloody mess. Then Rat runs off to be alone. This leaves everyone in the platoon in shock, yet it still normal reaction for many soldiers. Each of them had a different mechanism to cope with the

For the knights this code was known as chivalry. There was not an official code of chivalry, but was a moral system understood by all. The knight’s code of chivalry as described by the Duke of Burgundy consists of twelve words as follow, “Faith, Charity, Justice, Sagacity, Prudence, Temperance, Resolution, Truth, Liberality, Diligence, Hope, and Valor” (“Knights Code”). The same is true for the cowboys as well. Their rule of conduct was not official, but was understood by all.

Carson instills fear among her audience at the farmer's lack of emotion towards bloodshed, leaving the reader to question who is to blame. Sparking the reader's interest, Carson introduces an authority, who she describes as having a direct affiliation with the farmers who were, "persuaded of the merits of killing by poison" (paragraph 2). The farmers are misinformed and act without reason, only following what was told to them. The violence against blackbirds provides benefits or "merits" of death that outweigh moral reasoning and the consequences of using "poison". The war between an unknown authority and animals is a one sided one, which involves exterminating the helpless and the innocent with a substance that has deadly effects. Acting on orders, without emotion, farmers made the fatal decision and, "they sent in the planes on their mission of death" (paragraph 2). Carson uses the term "mission of death" to symbolize the authorities sending in soldiers in a war who are ordered to kill anything in sight. Comparing a war to the farmer's actions brings memories of blood, fear, and endless suffering to the reader. Carson relates to the reader's experiences of war and uses the negative associations to connect it the farmers. Armed with planes, the farmer's "mission of death" resulted in the "deaths of over 65,000 victims of blackbirds and starlings". Carson writes that "casualties most likely gratified the farmers", that the deaths were the spoils of war.