The Beach By Alex Garland Essay Example For Students

The Beach By Alex Garland Essay Jason Black The Beach by Alex GarlandAs for me Im fine. I have bad dreams, but I never saw Mister Duck again. I play video games. I smoke a little dope. I got my thousand yard stare. I carry a lot of scars. I like the way that sounds. I carry a lot of scarsThese are the words which Richard uses at the end of The Beach to summarize just how he feels after the experiences he had gone through during his time spent there. Just reading this conclusion alone instantly makes me feel that a lot has happened to this character which has changed the way his life was running until then. After reading the whole novel, I discovered that the events which caused this, not only made him change his thoughts on life, but also caused a breakdown of his mind which eventually lead to hime becoming insane. In this evaluation, I will investigate how Richards search for paradise eventually leads to the destuction of his sanity. We will write a custom essay on The Beach By Alex Garland specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now There are three main thems which I will deal with, the first being curiosity and ambition. This theme is mainly dealt with at the beginning of the novel as it is here that Richard finds out about the beach from the curious character, Mister Duck. It is in the first chapter Bitch that we discover that Richard is a backpacker and has been all over the world, not knowing where his next destination was going to be. This instantly creates a sense of discovery and curiosity as he was willing to go wherever he felt that he would discover something different from what he was used to back in England or wherever else he had been. When Richard is first told about the beach, he reacts in a way in which even although he was unsure about exactly what Mister Duck was talking about; he was already slightly curious about what the big deal about the beach was. I was curious, partly, just wanting to know what the big deal about what was with this beach of hisAs soon as he meets Francoise and Etienne, he has to tell them about the map and the beach as if he doesnt think its right to keep it to himself. As if he would prefer to share this experience with other instead of alone. This may suggest that that even at the beginning, Richard was not strong enough to cope with this experience himself. Or perhaps he thought it would be selfish to keep it to himself. Whatever way it was, it showed that Richard Movies and Cinema Essays

Free Essays on “The Jungle,” By Upton Sinclair And It’s Effect On American Society During The 19th Century

One of the strongest impulses in late 19th century and early 20th century American literature was the attempt to rebuild urban society. Journalists aimed to direct the citizens’ attention to social, economic, and political injustices. They came to be known as muckrakers, after Theodore Roosevelt accused one of them of â€Å"raking up muck,† through his writing.(Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation.630) They were committed to exposing scandal, corruption, and injustice to the public. Upton Sinclair, a Socialist, and dedicated humanitarian, was one of them, and wrote The Jungle, the first of several novels aimed at exposing industrial ills, and calling for reform. In 1904 Fred Warren, the editor of the socialist journal, â€Å"Appeal to Reason,† commissioned Sinclair to write a novel about immigrant workers in the Chicago meat packing houses. Julius Wayland, the owner of the journal provided Sinclair with a $500 advance, and after seven weeks in the stockyards researching, he wrote the novel, The Jungle. The Jungle was published serially in the â€Å"Appeal to Reason,† in 1905. In spite of the work's immense popularity, it was extremely difficult to get The Jungle published in book form. Publishers were unwilling to touch it without censoring the manuscript, although demands for back issues of the newspaper containing the novel ran high. Eventually Doubleday, Page and Company published the book in 1906, after checking that the facts in it were true. The public reaction to the book was not what Sinclair expected. His main aim had been to highlight the plight of the workers and present Socialism as an alternative to the ill’s of capitalism. However these aspects were surpassed by the chaos over the unsanitary manufacturing practices in the meat industry. Sinclair states, "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach." (spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jupton.html) Public rea... Free Essays on â€Å"The Jungle,† By Upton Sinclair And It’s Effect On American Society During The 19th Century Free Essays on â€Å"The Jungle,† By Upton Sinclair And It’s Effect On American Society During The 19th Century One of the strongest impulses in late 19th century and early 20th century American literature was the attempt to rebuild urban society. Journalists aimed to direct the citizens’ attention to social, economic, and political injustices. They came to be known as muckrakers, after Theodore Roosevelt accused one of them of â€Å"raking up muck,† through his writing.(Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation.630) They were committed to exposing scandal, corruption, and injustice to the public. Upton Sinclair, a Socialist, and dedicated humanitarian, was one of them, and wrote The Jungle, the first of several novels aimed at exposing industrial ills, and calling for reform. In 1904 Fred Warren, the editor of the socialist journal, â€Å"Appeal to Reason,† commissioned Sinclair to write a novel about immigrant workers in the Chicago meat packing houses. Julius Wayland, the owner of the journal provided Sinclair with a $500 advance, and after seven weeks in the stockyards researching, he wrote the novel, The Jungle. The Jungle was published serially in the â€Å"Appeal to Reason,† in 1905. In spite of the work's immense popularity, it was extremely difficult to get The Jungle published in book form. Publishers were unwilling to touch it without censoring the manuscript, although demands for back issues of the newspaper containing the novel ran high. Eventually Doubleday, Page and Company published the book in 1906, after checking that the facts in it were true. The public reaction to the book was not what Sinclair expected. His main aim had been to highlight the plight of the workers and present Socialism as an alternative to the ill’s of capitalism. However these aspects were surpassed by the chaos over the unsanitary manufacturing practices in the meat industry. Sinclair states, "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach." (spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jupton.html) Public rea...

Challenges in The Music Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Challenges in The Music Industry - Essay Example The music industry is going through a hard time due to a decline in CD sales over the years. This is mainly due to the free digital downloads from file sharing sites. The artists are no longer earning much from royalties since the record companies are not selling as much as they once did. This has created the need for the artists and the record companies to seek other alternatives. The music industry is a massive one and consists of producers, artists, retailers, songwriters, marketing agencies, publishers, record studios, record labels engineers, manufacturers and distributors. Essentially, artists, who could also be songwriters, are signed under contracts by record companies to produce a given number of albums or singles. More often than not, record companies pay for the production, manufacture and marketing of albums worldwide. Any revenue generated from album sale goes towards covering the cost of its production. A number of record companies also have ownership rights to the back catalogue of artists. This in essence means that they can decide how this catalogue will be used. For instance, another artist may wish to re-record the song, or an advertising agency may want to use it in its campaign. The record company has the discretion of deciding whether or not to reissue the material. This could probably be in a reformatted version consisting of bonus tracks or could be completely re-mastered. In numerous cases, certain types of music do not have sufficient demand to warrant spending of a lot of money on them. As a result, the record company may make big losses on that artist. The record companies usually regard the artists they work with as among their product portfolio. This leads to very successful artists effectively subsidizing lesser known ones. Record companies therefore base their business on the ability to provide music capable of satisfying the consumers' wide range of tastes. They therefore have to manage their product portfolio carefully to make sure that the cash that flows into the business is adequate in maintaining all its liabilities. Many record companies are usually owners of other companies that they may either have set up or bought. For instance, Universal Music Group also owns other companies such as Deutsche Grammophon and Verve. The company also owns a number of labels distributing both rock and mainstream pop material. It is therefore common for the industry to be dominated by five or so major companies accounting for about 75 per cent of all recorded music sales worldwide. However, within these five companies may be many other companies and labels, which may be well- known in their field of operation. These smaller companies may actually have been set up or acquired by their parent companies. The challenges A number of record labels have seen their sales fall tremendously over the years. This fall has been attributed to increased piracy that has greatly affected the music industry. Artists get their royalties from their music's sales by the record companies. Piracy means that any sales made are not official, and therefore no payment for the artists. The advancement of technology has not made the situation any better. It has led to an increase