Ted Hughes' 'The Jaguar' Essay

First, the story begins with a scene involving the main character (Rainsford) and Whitney. They start out the conversation, both agreeing that hunting is a great sport. Despite this, Whitney still acknowledges the feelings of the Jaguar when she says, “Not for the jaguar…I rather think they understand one thing-fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death.” Rainsford,

“Steam rising from ovens and showers like mist across a swampland” has a double meaning, steam rises from ovens and showers, but also in summer, as it rains on a hot highway, steam rises. It is comparing the lives of the people living in these houses to the disorder of a swampland by using the simile “like mist across a swampland”. It may also be suggesting that as cities expand, more land is being stolen from nature. The last line of this stanza “The cricket sound of voices and cutlery” is appealing to the reader’s sense of sound, indicating that the people on the highway can hear the noise of the people in the houses. It is likening the noises of the people to noises made in nature by crickets. In the next stanza Foulcher has written, “Only the children remain outside”, which informs the reader of what it is now like, with all of the adults gone inside. He describes the children as, “bruised with dirt and school”, this gives the indication they are both covered in patches of dirt, and bruised, which are similar colours. Also informs that they are relaxing by play after a hard day at school.

Ray Bradbury is the author of this story. He has written various novels, short-stories, screenplays/teleplays and plays. His craft in this specific story is comparing almost everything to make it easier for the reader to understand and to give them a better picture. This engages the reader because it can make them feel more like they’re more of a part of this story, being able to get a specific picture or emotion to know what’s going on. There’s many instances when he does this, whether it be him trying to describe an object or someone's attitude. “The tyrant lizard raised itself. It’s armored flesh glittered like a thousand green coins. The coins, crusted with slime, steamed. In the slime, tiny insects wriggled, so that the entire body seemed to truth and undulate, even while the monster itself did not move, It exhaled. The stink of raw flesh blew down the wilderness” (41). This paragraph paints a picture in your head of what the dinosaur looks like, it doesn’t leave you wondering what it looked like by just saying, the dinosaur raised itself, terrifying. Instead, it goes into detail, as to give the reader a better experience in the story overall and so they're not left questioning what it looks

The lecture and reading are both about merits and demerits of collecting and buying the fossils by private collectors. The author of the reading states that rare and scientific fossils that are being sold to private collectors would have many negative consequences to scientists and general public. The lecture casts doubt on the claim made in this argument. She thinks that private collectors have rather benefitted for the public and scientists in further exploration of fossils.

The first chapter of the book discusses the way we can use fossil records to study the biological world. Fossils are one of the major lines of evidence we use to understand ourselves. Surprisingly, we are able to discover them with a high amount of precision and predictability. In particular, field paleontologists have it easier than it has ever been before due to the current information age. The physical hunt for important fossils, however, is much like it has always been. Three factors limiting the number of useful fossil sites include rock age, type (whether or not it can preserve fossils), and number of exposed rocks. So, it takes a bit of luck to reliably find fossils. Thankfully, rock

The third stanza describes the snake as “cool and gleaming as a braided whip” (9-10). Describing the snake as a braided whip demonstrates the intricate woven pattern of the snake’s scales and the poet’s appreciation for nature and its’ beauty. The snake is not a useless piece of rubber, but a beautiful and vibrant part of nature. “He is as beautiful and quiet as a bead brother” (10-11). The snake is quiet, makes no sound, and snuggles into

Fossil discoveries are extremely significant to science and they help people better comprehend the world they live in. Without these discoveries science wouldn’t of grown like it has and people would not know much about the Earth. The fishapod and the dinomummy are two fossil discoveries that have made a gigantic impact on science. The fishapod helped fill the gap between land animals and water animals and the dinomummy proved that dinosaurs vertebrae are different than scientists have been placing them. However, the most important part is the preservation of these two ancient creatures. If they hadn’t of been preserved like they had, then they would never of been discovered and scientists wouldn’t get to learn from the remains of these creatures.

Throughout the book, Shubin illustrates the life of a paleontologist through engaging stories. Paleontologists work long hours, days and even years just to make one meaningful discovery, however each discovery contributes to a missing puzzle piece in evolution.. Shubin compares searching for fossils in the Arctic as “worse than finding the proverbial needle in the haystack” (Shubin, 2009). While reading through Shubin’s accounts of discovering fossils the reader will feel as if they are there uncovering new insights into the history of evolution. One can expect to learn about the arm, hand, teeth, head, nose, eyes and ears of

At the time, although it was understood that fossils were the hardened remains of dead animals, it was not yet accepted that these animals might be extinct species from hundreds of millions of years ago. So, when Anning showed up with a giant marine reptile fossil (the world’s first Ichthyosaur) it caused quite a stir, because at the time the Bible was widely used for interpreting scientific ideas and religion ruled people’s lives. Hence Anning’s findings encouraged the largely creationist population, to rethink the history of the Earth. Her fossils had helped scientists understand how things

The author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils because amphibians that look dissimilar to fish were discovered in 365 million year old rocks, while fish without amphibian characteristics were discovered in 385 million year old rocks. Thus, it is possible that the evolutionary intermediary, or the “missing link” between fish and amphibians, would be discovered in 375 million year old rocks, between the two time periods. The rocks examined were sedimentary in composition, as the gradual and relatively gentle formation of sedimentary rock under conditions of mild pressure and low heat are conducive to the fossilization of animal remains. Sedimentary rock is also often formed in rivers and seas, where animals are likely to live. This site provides a resource that describes means by which fossils are formed and how the fossil record may be interpreted, and shows some examples of fossils demonstrating evolution through geological periods: http://www.fossilmuseum.net/fossilrecord.htm. In 2004, Shubin and his colleagues were looking for fossils on Ellesmere Island, in northern Canada. This location was chosen because of its lack of human development, as well as of obstructing natural formations and life forms such as trees, which

The detractors of “Nonavian Feathers in a Late Triassic Archosaur” believe that the feather-like impressions in the fossil are not even feathers at all. Based on the angle and shape of the imprints, many paleontologists believe that they were left by ‘highly modified scales’, or possibly even ferns that had fallen on the animal’s body after death.4

In the opening scene, a mysterious black monolith is bestowed upon the prehistoric apes. It appears in the cool desert dawn as the sun rises with blinding light. Prior to the rising of the monolith, the apes lived in a very peaceful manner. Once, the apes reached in

Judith Wright extensively uses the structure of her poems to convey many ideas and themes. The structure of a poem is crucial to delivering its key message as it determines both the tone and how the poem is read. She shows the reader throughout the poem how the dust, which is symbolic of the barren emptiness that has “overtaken… dreams” of beauty and comfort as well as financial dependence, will consume the earth if the current environment is not conserved and protected. Wright’s use of title emphasizes this point in the clearest way she can and re-enforces her major concept to the audience. Another example of how structure is used in this poem is juxtaposition. The first and second stanzas are strategically placed next to each other because of their greatly opposing descriptions. In stanza one, the new world of dust and wind, many negative adjectives are used, such as “harsh”, “grief” and “steel-shocked”. Stanza two, which talks about the past, contains a wide range of positive adjectives such as “good”, “kinder” and “beautiful”.

     After he threw the log at the snake and the snake disappears he "immediatly regetted it." He "thought of the albatross" this of course is an allusion to the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge called the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". "Snake" does indeed seem to be similar to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner when the snake came and drank, and the albatross came for food or play". When the snake appears at the water trough, the narrator is honoured and happy to see the snake, this is like when the "Albatross came through the

The first stanza focuses on the tigers and creates an impression of majesty and power, such as with their ‘sleek chivalric certainty’ (l.4). In psychology and literature, ‘the symbol of the cat was related to the redemption of something feminine’ , and so Rich’s use of the tigers as a predatorial and strong member of the cat family demonstrates Aunt Jennifer’s internal power that derives from her being a woman. The word ‘chivalric’ is traditionally associated with knights and military prowess, and Rich subverts this typically male adjective to the feminine tigers and their representation of Aunt Jennifer’s inner strength (l.4).