I opened my eyes and found myself looking into a sizable mirror atop a colossal mahogany desk. The dark wood was cool and smooth beneath my fingertips and brought goose bumps to my skin. The room was dark but I could still see the rich blue paint on the walls and the classic paintings on the wall. There were paintings by Monet, Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci and other world-renowned artists. I wanted to rush over to the paintings and exam every last detail and commit it to memory. Something pulled me back to the mirror and I was entranced by a pair of eerily similar smoky grey eyes.
Although the eyes are identical to mine, the reflection looking back it me is not my own. The man looking back at me is enormous, taking up nearly the whole mirror. He is muscular and you can see the bulge of his muscles beneath his designer suit. His golden blond hair is longer then I am used to seeing and is halfway down his ears. His hair is streaked in silver which betrays his older age despite his young features. He has dark circles under his eyes that gives away how exhausted and stressed he is. He has a sizable moustache so the stubble on his face means he hasn’t shaved in a few days.
His black suit looked disheveled and he his golden tie haphazardly loosened, but still around his neck. He ran shaky hands through his hair before removing a small black leather box from his pocket and placing it on the desk out of the way. On his left ring finger he wore a white gold wedding band with two small
In Dr. Hyler’s article, “The Woman in the Mirror: Humanities in Medicine”. He contends the importance of studying the Humanities for physicians to be successful doctors.
In The Lie by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Eli Remenzel is a thirteen-year-old boy on his way to The Whitehill Preparatory School with his parents. Little do they know that Eli is keeping a big secret from them: he didn’t get accepted to the school. As the story unfolds Eli finally cracks under the pressure of the lie as the headmaster informs his parents that he wasn’t accepted at Whitehill. What happens next is a disaster. As I was reading the story I noticed a lot of qualities in the different characters that are traits I see in myself. Eli, his mother Sylvia, and his father Doctor Remenzel all have different characteristics that reflect me. These
The universe is created for society to cherish all God’s creations; it could be anything to admiring nature to loving all animals. The expectations for the world are difficult to maintain, so unfortunately, society often leads to major destruction. There is unnecessary homicides, animal cruelty, toxic waste in the rivers and many more heart-wrenching actions that deteriorates the world. As a society, we have to turn a negative into a positive, but firstly, we have to change ourselves before we help others. Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”, exposes all of the humanity issues and suggests that we should fix the world by recognizing our flaws first. The theme of the song is about self-improvement and imagery, tone and repetition are the poetic devices that are used in the song.
This paper primarily explores Michael Jackson’s song, "man in the mirror." The song "man in the mirror" is inspirational about making a positive impact and personal redemption in the world. It was released in 1988. This catchy song tries to explain that changing the world is possible (Wallerstein 2). Many sociological concepts are displayed by Michael Jackson in the context of song’s lyrics. The band of the song tries to express their concerns with the actions and views of the world of the present day. Basically, the band reflects upon the world's realism as their question the mentality. This song is surrounded by the
Sure, some of us have this great confidence within ourselves about looking great, but that does not hold true for everyone. I understand the pain or disgust, or even disappointment one feels when they look in the mirror and say, “I wish I could change this or that about myself”. Although this piece is written about the author’s life, it holds meaning and connects with for many people; one only has to dig deep enough to find one. For me, it was to realize what is important in life can change, adapt and that we must explore our inner selves and find our own path in life.
Takaki’s book, A Different Mirror, offers the multicultural history of the United States. This book provides the reader with the American experience of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Irish Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Jewish Americans. During this time, America demonstrated manifest destiny and the Master Narrative. They were led by the belief of “white purity,” which these ethnic groups threatened. America exhibited supremacy over all of these ethnic groups. Takaki’s work allows me to become aware of the history and the outcomes of manifest destiny and the Master Narrative.
"Life is for each man," states Eugene O'Neill, "a solitary cell whose walls are mirrors." In other words, one can fool himself, but a mirror reflects only the truth. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, mirrors are used as a literary device to convey a message. Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Hester, and Pearl each judge themselves with mirrors. Through the use of mirrors, The Scarlet Letter provides an insight into the faults, or lack thereof, of the four main characters.
Ronald Takaki, in his book, “A Different Mirror,” tackles the traditional narrative of American History. His concern lies in the diversified structure and inclusion of parts of their world, and their relation with daily interaction between people. The problem lies, however, in that the structure of American History, is heavily dependent on a Eurocentric idea of conquering the weak. With Takaki’s narrative experience, from the beginning of Chapter 1, he reveals how through history education, ordinary Americans, generally, are subsequently narrow minded and are ill prepared to adjust to the change in demographics throughout next decades, and thereof.
John Szarkowski is an American photographer and curator, whose opinions on a photograph’s narrative and direction are highly valued. In his time he analyzed many works of art, and produced many different interpretations, one being the ideals of mirrors and windows.
The poem the Mirror is about beauty standards. She talks about how, as a mirror, she shows exactly what she sees and she tells no lies. The narrator states, “I am not cruel, only truthful.” When the narrator becomes a lake, she can also only show truth and reflection of one’s self. The Mirror represents the truth of who we actually are, even if society has portrayed us as or forced us to be someone else.
Throughout history, dominant ideologies have often clashed with other ideologies, causing contradictions. In Chapter 7 of A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki writes about the contradictions found in ideologies in US history, especially those concerning the Mexicans in Texas and California. In the 1800s, the market revolution ran the country. As new inventions, such as the cotton gin, were introduced, Americans sought to make raw goods faster and cheaper. As a result, they looked for cheap labor and more land. Believing in the Manifest Destiny, they looked westward, where there was an abundance of land. In moving west, the Americans encountered Mexicans that had recently become Americans due to the change in the Mexican-American border. This
"Man in the Mirror" was written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett and co-produced by Michael Jackson, and released from the album Bad on August 31,1987 and released as a single January 16,1988 (YouTube). Siedah Garrett had an idea about a man looking in a mirror in her head for quite some time and took her ideas to her writing partner Glen Ballard. Once Garrett shared her lyric ideas, Ballard added some soulful vocals to help make the song become more powerful, which helped make the lyrics even stronger. The straightforward lyrics about making a change to yourself first caught Michael Jackson’s attention for his album Bad he was working on. “His chemistry with Garrett was so strong that he invited her to duet with him on another Bad single” (Yahoo! Music). The uplifting lyrics of making a change to yourself first, with the combination of Michael Jackson’s voice took off on the charts in no time. “Even though it wasn't a song he wrote himself, it was a message that was strongly identified with him and reflective of his own philosophies, as demonstrated through his actions and expressed in some of his own lyrics” (YouTube). “Man in the Mirror” became a world-wide hit in the late 80’s helping to inspire people to make a change within themselves and to help others.
“Man in the Mirror” is about a man who believes that only by changing himself will he be able to change the world. The main focus of the song is a man’s struggle to improve himself morally after witnessing his inability to impact the lives of those in need. Michael Jackson reflects on how the world around him is suffering while he lives a life of comfort, and the guilt triggers his decision to change himself so that he can eventually help the world. . The song raises up questions such as,“What purpose does an individual serve in a community? How can we bring about positive changes to the world? How can one person make a major impact in the world? “Man in the Mirror” sends a very universal message, basically telling the world to improve themselves individually so that the whole improves as a result. The discussion will focus more on the symbolical lyrics because there is a lot of straightforward vocabulary in each verse.
After reading the novels assigned in this Asian American class, it seems that many Asian American experiences are similar. One similarity that is outstandingly prominent is how an outside culture impacts either directly or indirectly a foreign society. Often, the influences of the powerful yet glamorous American lifestyle lead to self-hatred of one's own society and culture. We see this in "Obasan," by Joy Kogawa, and in "Dogeaters," by Jessica Hagedorn, where many of the characters cease to acknowledge their own identity by living vicariously through movies, music and other American influences. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the portrayals of this self-hatred, and analyze how America
What concepts, principles, or ideas that you have learned, do you think you will remember the most after you leave this class?