eye of the beholder essays

eye of the beholder essays The theme of the book, Eye of the Beholder, by Jayne Ann Krentz, is to stop and take a breath before jumping to conclusions. Twelve years ago, Trask's father was killed in a car accident. He had driven his car off Avalon Point. Because of the sharp curve, this was not unusual. Everyone in town just believed that Trask's father was another fatality. Trask knew it was more. He believed his father's death was murder. Trask believed Kenyon had killed his father because of a business deal gone bad. Trask's father, Kenyon, and Guthrie had been working on the deal for months. Trask's father had found a problem and believed the plan would cause the men to go bankrupt. With this information, Trask's father decided to take his money and get out of the deal. Immediately after Trask found out about his father's death, he went to Kenyon's home. Trask went with his gun in hand. He wasn't sure of his own plans; he only knew that someone was going to pay for his father's death. Probably for the best of them all, Alexa walked into the room in time to see Trask pull out his gun. Trask left when Alexa got to the phone and threatened to call the police. The opening of the newest of the Avalon hotel chain couldn't have been planned more perfectly. Trask knew it was perfect. He had been in the business for years and was quite good. So far, all of his hotel's had been a great success. He was unsure of this one though. Most of the town believed that if Trask ever did come back, it would be for revenge. Trask had left the night of his father's death and hadn't been seen since. Many had heard of the successful business man he had become and praised him for it. The night of the opening ceremony, Alexa was upstairs by herself. She knew Trask would be at the hotel and had done her best to avoid him. Everyone in town believed Trask was back for revenge and had chosen this sight for a hotel as an excuse. Alexa felt she would ...

Blood, Components and Blood Cell Production

Blood, Components and Blood Cell Production Our blood is a fluid that is also a type of connective tissue. It is composed of blood cells and an aqueous fluid known as plasma. Two major functions of the blood include transporting substances to and from our cells and providing immunity and protection against infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. Blood is a component of the cardiovascular system. It is circulated through the body via the heart and blood vessels. Blood Components Blood consists of several elements. The major components of blood include plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Plasma: This major constituent of blood comprises about 55 percent of blood volume. It consists of water with several different substances dissolved within. Plasma contains salts, proteins, and blood cells. Plasma also transports nutrients, sugars, fats, hormones, gases, and waste material contained within blood.Red Blood Cells (erythrocytes): These cells determine blood type and are the most abundant cell type in the blood. Red blood cells have what is known as a biconcave shape. Both sides of the cells surface curve inward like the interior of a sphere. This flexible disc shape helps to increase the surface area-to-volume ratio of these extremely small cells. Red blood cells do not have a nucleus, but they do contain millions of hemoglobin molecules. These iron-containing proteins bind oxygen molecules obtained in the lungs and transport them to various parts of the body. After depositing oxygen to tissue and organ cells, red blood cells pick up carbon dioxide (CO2) for transportat ion to the lungs where the CO2 is expelled from the body. White Blood Cells (leukocytes): These cells play an important role in the immune system and lymphatic system by defending the body against infection. These cells locate, destroy, and remove pathogens and foreign matter from the body. There are several different types of white blood cells, each with different functions. Examples include lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils.Platelets (thrombocytes): These cell components are formed from pieces of cells found in the bone marrow called megakaryocytes. Fragments of the megakaryocytes circulate through the bloodstream and play a major role in clotting. When platelets encounter an injured blood vessel, they clump together to block the opening in the vessel. Blood Cell Production Blood cells are produced by bone marrow within the bone. Bone marrow stem cells develop into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Certain white blood cells mature in the lymph nodes, spleen, and thymus gland. Matured blood cells have varying life spans. Red blood cells circulate for about 4 months, platelets for about 9 days, and white blood cells range from about a few hours to several days. Blood cell production is often regulated by body structures such as the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, and kidneys. When oxygen in tissues is low, the body responds by stimulating the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. When the body is infected, more white blood cells are produced. Blood Pressure Blood pressure is the force at which blood exerts pressure against artery walls as it circulates throughout the body. Blood pressure readings measure systolic and diastolic pressures as the heart goes through the cardiac cycle. In the systole phase of the cardiac cycle, the heart ventricles contract (beat) and pump blood into the arteries. In the diastole phase, the ventricles are relaxed and the heart fills with blood. Blood pressure readings are measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) with the systolic number reported before the diastolic number.Blood pressure is not constant and can fluctuate depending on various conditions. Nervousness, excitement, and increased activity are a few things that can influence blood pressure. Blood pressure levels also increase as we get older. Abnormally high blood pressure, known as hypertension, can have serious consequences as it can lead to hardening of the arteries, kidney damage, and heart failure. Persons with elevated blood pressure often experience no symptoms. Elevated blood pressure that persists for the majority of the time can lead to increased risk for health issues. Blood Type Blood type describes how blood is classified. It is determined by the existence or lack thereof of certain identifiers (called antigens) located on red blood cells. Antigens help the bodys immune system to identify its own red blood cell group. This identification is crucial so that the body will not build up antibodies against its own red blood cells. The four blood type groupings are A, B, AB, and O. Type A has A antigens on red blood cell surfaces, type B has B antigens, type AB has both A and B antigens, and type O has no A or B antigens. Blood types must be compatible when considering blood transfusions. Those with type A must receive blood from either type A or type O donors. Those with type B from either type B or type O. Those with type O can receive blood from only type O donors and type AB may receive blood from any of the four blood type groups. Sources: Dean L. Blood Groups and Red Cell Antigens [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 2005. Chapter 1, Blood and the cells it contains. Available from: (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2263/)What Is High Blood Pressure? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Updated 08/02/12 (nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hbp/)

Reflection of tuesdays with Morrie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection of tuesdays with Morrie - Essay Example As a result, they do not have much idea about learning how to die, but so much knowledge about the learning on how to live. According to Morrie, â€Å"once you learn how to die, you learn how to live†. To analyze the context of this point, one must understand first that these words form a statement that came from a person who has eventually accepted the idea of death, it is Morrie. Morrie, in his situation is not oblivious of the thought that the possibility of his physical death is at any moment and that could be depicted as like someone who is lurking around the corner and is ready to gouge him to death at any time. It is at this point in time that Morrie has eventually appreciated many things about life, which is something that many people do not appreciate, because they are too busy or being preoccupied earning a living for them to survive. However, behind all of these things, they are oblivious of the fact that they might have been missing something important or essential. They might have not appreciated the simple things, which eventually are the things based on the point of view of Morrie a s essential to survival. These things if properly appreciated will eventually lead a person to live a life free from stress and full of contentment. Thus, Morrie is just trying to show the idea that unless a person will never know things concerning on what it takes to be dying, the things that are truly essential for living can hardly be recognized by them. This is evident to the point of Morrie when he is certain of the perspective that people are too involved in material goods and their own egotism (Albom, 2009). While relying on an oxygen tank to survive, Morrie eventually appreciates the things outside of his window, but unfortunately he is no longer able to go outside and enjoy some of these things. However, the thought of contentment in his mind is the ultimate force that continues to

Discuss the findings of the OFGEM report with regards to the UK energy Coursework

Discuss the findings of the OFGEM report with regards to the UK energy market; and discuss if more competition between the big six UK energy firms may benefit UK consumers - Coursework Example However, the fact that consumers don’t complain about the market operations provokes thinking that the market is fair to both buyers and sellers. But this is not the case since consumers silence might be led by the inelasticity of demand. The main mandate of OFGEM is to set rules and regulations, implement them and maybe punish firms who act against customer satisfaction. With close link t the government, OFGEM ensures that energy regulatory system remains sound in that it protects consumers as well as ensuring a cost effective investment. So far, OFGEM has initiated new entrant protection plans such as regulating the big six firm’s tariff plans made to bar customers from shifting. As matter of fact, each policy that OFGEM, as it will be shown later in this essay, reduces the big firms power making the environment better for consumers and new entrants The UK energy sector is divided into three sections; energy generation, energy transportation and energy supply. The three sectors are open and allow other firms to enter. However, the six firms tend to combat the market making it hard for new entrants. As matter of fact, government does not produce energy in UK, neither does it control price. Therefore, the quantity of energy supplied barely depends on market forces and so does the price. The existence of several suppliers gives the buyer an opportunity to choose where to buy from. The big six offer many options for customers to choose from. There are also independent suppliers. As noted earlier, prices are higher than the competitive market price, and increase more than the cost of production. The price of gas and electricity showed an increasing trend between 2007 and 2013, and is expected to rise higher by 2020 if not regulated. This increment signifies a rise in supplier’s power to raise prices and hence, a prove that the market is not a competitive market structure (Sloman and Garratt 2013). Moreover, firms in the generation

Analysing Structure Of Stories Literature Essay

Analysing Structure Of Stories Literature Essay This chapter focuses on the structure of stories in different mediums. Storytelling and the development of media have alternately influenced each another, and each new medium has established a new kind of storytelling. A story is more than actions and events. The sequence of actions and events according to a meaning creates a specific kind of structure. A storys structure is not the meaning of a fixed order but more the rules and the ways of combinations of events that creates a meaning. Therefore, understanding a storys structure is important in the narrative development process. Transmedia storytelling The structure of each medium allows for a different performance and affects how the meanings of stories are created and shared. Performativity need not be solely on the stage. Auslander stated that we live in a mediatized world, and that performance has spread across media, infecting the other media with performative spontaneity from both performers and audiences (Auslander, 1994). The stories we have heard, seen and read in a single medium have not lacked impact, but incorporating several media offers a whole new experience as Jenkins mentioned about transmedia. Transmedia is a term coined by Henry Jenkins to describe how stories can be told across media in such a way as to take advantage of what each medium do best. As Jenkins stated, Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story. (Jenkins, 2007) With transmedia experiences, where it is basically impossible for someone to have expertise in every medium, we may actually see a strengthening in the individual media as authors and artists focus on their expertise and return to specializing and mastering their medium of choice (Davidson, 2008). This means that the choice of media is not by content of the story but more by the expertise. Although the term transmedia emerged in the 21st century, the characteristics of transmedia can be identified in the wayang tradition. Mrà ¡zek stated that the media or the arts are more like artistic techniques than materials, or more like musical instruments than sound waves. He stated that the media in wayang narration, dialogue, puppets and puppet movement and their particular ways of working and functioning are creations of an artistic tradition, rather than universal, pre-existing categories (Mrà ¡zek, 2005). Puppet movement and puppet compositions, narration, dialogue, and music are combined and used to build the whole of the performance. Narration and dialogue appear to be in a class apart because they both use verbal language; but the case is not as simple. During both of them, the puppets are on the screen, and both the narration and the dialogue closely interact with the images. In the case of the dialogue, this is immediately obvious: it is the characters, acted by pu ppets on the screen that are represented speaking; the voice and the words are fused with them. In the case of narration, the interaction with the visual image is also close; the narration describes the scene and the characters and their actions, and is always closely juxtaposed to the visual images. Dialogue and narration are never quite purely verbal media they are connected to the visual images and constantly interact with them. However, if we want to see the separation between the media more clearly, we can look at the structuring of the performance in time. There is a very clear separation into three kinds of moments that what could be called: Narration moments Dialogue moments Puppet-movement moments During the puppet-movement moment the opening of the audience is represented in the medium of puppet movement, and there is no dialogue and no narration; then the dalang or the puppeteer narrates (the puppets are immobile, arranged into pictorial composition), and then comes the dialogue, during which the dalang only moves the hands of the puppets. The moments are represented by periods of music. In each of the moments, one medium comes to the fore, even though it is not necessarily in any pure form, that is, the other media may play a minor function. The media themselves are rarely clearly separate, but the different moments (in each one medium predominates) are (Mrà ¡zek, 2005). In this study, the web is used as a medium to revive traditional storytelling with puppets. Virtual worlds cannot substitute the rich experience of performing with real puppets and a face-to-face audience. But instead this study wants to ponder the potentials of the web and its design for this field. This study is also inspired from statements from Brenda Laurel. The performative nature of the web, one type of hypertext and hypermedia on computers, has led Brenda Laurel to look at computers as theater. For Laurel, computers have the capacity to represent action in which humans could participate (Laurel, 1993, p. 1). The readers are performers within the hypertextual narrative, shaping the actions and outcomes by the choice they make. A part of this study also focuses on the structure and process of narrative in hypermedia, in particular the web, and explores the potential application to support telling stories. Hypermedia refers to dynamic multimedia objects that have hypertextual aspects. As Landow and Delany stated, hypermedia is a multimedia extension of hypertext that is more complex and interactive, integrating visual and auditory experiences as well as text and links to give more contextual synthesis of the information explored (Delany Landow, 1994). For example, a web page with java scripting and interactive graphics, videos and sounds is a hypermedia object (Davidson, 2008). A characteristic of hypermedia is non-linearity structure, which allows us to navigate through an information space using associative linking. This leads to idea of intertextuality as we describe in the next section. Intertextuality Intertextuality refers to the numerous implicit references in each text to other texts. No text is written completely isolated from other texts and can stand entirely by itself. Hyperlinks in hypertexts and hypermedia documents emphasize such intertextuality in a way that is impossible in printed texts: they can lead directly from the hyperlinked terms, phrases or images to other contexts in which the same terms, phrases or images are meaningful, whether inside or outside the given hypermedia work itself (Delany Landow, 1994). Intertextuality can also be understood as the process of drawing on ones experience with multiple texts and making connections between these various texts and the present text being experienced (Davidson, 2008). Long and Strine illustrated how the process of experiencing a text necessitates that the audience brings an intertextuality to bear in order to understand the text being experienced (Long Strine, 1989). When we read a book, we bring our intertextual experiences of all the other books we have read to play with the current text itself, and from this playfulness, we assemble a deeper meaning of the text(s) involved. The appreciation of traditional textual objects, such as novels and films, is dependent to a certain measure on the decoding of intertextual references to other media in these texts. Thus, the pleasure of consuming these texts can be seen to be contingent to a certain extent on the users ability to identify and decode these allusions. This intertextual element also exists in new media, especially since media content is increasingly brought to the consumer through different channels simultaneously. Intertextuality can be found in wayang tradition also. For example, a character is used not only in one story; he or she can appear in different stories with different meanings and actions. A story is a part of another story or a story is a biography of an actor from another story. For this study, we want to use this characteristic in the system to provide a suggestion to children when they want to combine or connect stories. A theme of a story or actors in a story will be proceeded to bring out suggestions. With this kind of suggestion, the process of story-building is expected becomes simplified. Structure of a story Stories impose a structure on the events that we narrate so that listeners (including the storyteller) can understand them, and thereby gain some particular perspective on the events (Polanyi, 1989). A schema of narrative composed of four characteristics: setting, character, theme and plot (Davidson, 2008). Event schemas or scripts are knowledge structures which even very young children use to organize their general knowledge about events. Scripts also guide childrens comprehension and their recalling of stories about familiar events (Hudson, 1988). A storys structure as a topic of education fosters the ability to detect a meaning by reading. Models for developing good stories have been proposed for thousands of years. Around 2300 years ago Aristotle wrote his treatise called Poetics, in which he focused on tragedies, or serious drama. Many aspects of poetics are useful for authoring multimedia stories as well; the most important being the plot. According to Butcher, Aristotle said that [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] for by plot I here mean the arrangement of the incidents [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] But most important of all is the structure of the incidents [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] so the plot, being an imitation of an action, must imitate one action and that a whole, the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of them is displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed.; and every story must have a beginning, middle and end (Aristotle, 2008; Lee, 2001). In the next section, a structure of a dramatic work such as a play or film, focusing on Gustav Freytags analysis of ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama is discussed. The discussion continues by analyzing the geometric structure variations of stories. Freytags Pyramid Freytags Pyramid (see Figure 3.1) is a way to analyze a plot that consists of five elements in an ascending and descending manner, introduction (exposition, inciting moment) rising action climax falling action denouement (catastrophe, resolution) (Freytag, 1900). In the introduction, the plot, characters, and complications are introduced. This leads to the rising action, or the events that lead to the climax of the plot. At the point of highest dramatic tension, or at a major turning point in the plot, the audience finds the climax. This decisive moment in the narrative is when the rising action is reversed to falling action. The falling action, then, is made up of the events that follow the climax and lead to the denouement. The final outcome, result, or unraveling of the main dramatic complication is called the denouement. The denouement may involve a reversal in the protagonists fortunes, usually as the result of a discovery (recognition of something of great importance previo usly unknown) by the protagonist. Figure 3.1. Frytags dramatic pyramid Frytags dramatic pyramid can be used to analyze the dramatic structure of wayang performance. Wayang performance in general has three acts: Pathet Nem, Pathet Sanga, and Pathet Manyura. The performance usually starts at 9.00 pm and will be end at 4.00 am. The following part describes the structure of a wayang performance in detail: Act One (Pathet Nem) Pathet nem is symbolizing childhood, performed from 9 pm until midnight, and consists of 6 scenes: Jejeran Raja: symbolizes that the baby begins to be accepted and nurtured by his mother. Paseban Jawi: symbolizes a child who is already getting to know the real world. Jaranan: symbolize the immature nature of children. Perang Ampyak: symbolizes a child who has begun to mature. Sabrangan: symbolizes a child who has grown but his character is still dominated by emotions. Perang Gagal: symbolizes a person who does not yet have a definite purpose in life. Act Two (Pathet Sanga) Pathet sanga is symbolizing adulthood, performed at midnight until 2.00 am, and consists of 3 scenes. In this act, the hero is thinking about problems, and subversive clown figures enter and dispense wisdom and ribald humor. Bambangan: symbolizes a person who has begun to obtain knowledge. Perang Kembang: symbolizes a growing adult. Jejer Sintren: symbolizes a person who has set a goal in his life. Act Three (Pathet Manyura) Pathet manyura is symbolizing seniority, performed from 2.00 am until 4.00 am, and consists of 3 scenes. This act contains resolution of conflict/problem with many battles. Jejer Manyura: symbolizes a person who already knows the purpose of his life and is close to achieving his dreams. Perang Brubuh: symbolizes a person who has reached his life goal. Tancep Kayon: symbolizes a person who has died. In this study, it is of interest to look at the process of performance of the wayang story rather than at the dramatic structure of wayang stories. The story of wayang is performed in a linear process, always starts from act one, continues with act two and ends with act three. But there is still a possibility to change the storys sequence for some stories. In wayang there are four types of play or Lakon: Standard play (Lakon Pakem) is played strictly following rules from the book. Improvisation play (Carangan) is played following the rules with improvisation. Contemporary play (Sempalan) is played completely out-of-the-book. Biography play (Lakon Banjaran) is played covering a biography of a certain figure. Wayang stories besides having the linear structure also have a non-linear structure, e.g., a contemporary play. This situation gives us an opportunity to perform wayang stories in a medium that supports non-linear structures, e.g., the web. Before the exploration of story structures which are appropriate with the authoring tool is proceeded, the variation of story structures will be discussed in the next section. Geometric design structures of stories Every story has a structure that can be visualized as a process. Linear stories have linear processes; non-linear stories have non-linear processes. Ten geometric structure variations from Samsel and Wimberly is explored in this section: sequential, branching, conditional branching (branching with barriers, branching with forced paths, bottlenecking, branching with optional scenes), exploratorium, parallel streaming, worlds, and multilinear (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). Sequential (Linear) Sequential structure is the basic building block of both interactive and linear media projects as shown Figure 3.2. User navigation follows a strictly defined procedural path one after another. The user cannot jump from node A to node C, for example, without having first traveled across node B. Figure 3.2. Sequential structure Sequential with Cul-de-Sacs Sometimes a linear sequence of nodes can diverge into isolated nonlinear deviations offer the user the choice to step off the procedural path into areas that in no way fulfill the critical objective of the piece. Such digressions are called cul-de-sacs usually puzzles, games, or sidebars that explore the themes of the work, but in no way affect the outcome of the story or objective of the work. The interesting thing about a cul-de-sac is that its entrance is also its exit, as shown in Figure 3.3. This applies to interactive cul-de-sacs as well and is especially important for the software designer who is trying to help us tell an interactive narrative. An interactive corporate training title, for example, might have a node that demonstrates a crucial concept. Several key words or phrases within that node may be hot. Clicking on one of the words might send the user to another node that shows that word, along with its definition. This sidebar or footnote has no impact on the training lesson itself. It is only there to enhance the users understanding of the key words and phrases contained in the material. Once the user has finished reading the definition, he or she has only one option to return to the lesson. Figure 3.3. Sequential structure with cul-de-sac (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.25) Many childrens edutainment CD-ROMs, such as Mindscapes The Animals! use sequential storytelling techniques e.g., a trip to the zoo and link them to archived data (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). A child can travel through the story and click on an object within a scene. This action will transport the child to a cul-de-sac a self-contained node of information such as a video clip of a lion, a photograph of a pelican, an audio clip of a monkey, or a text description of a polar bear. Once the information has been delivered and digested by the child, it can either replay the information or return to the main body of the zoo story. The cul-de-sac simply enhances the user experience. Branching In an interactive program, branching offers the most rudimentary course of extending how users navigate throughout the program. In a typical branching structure, the user is presented with several choices or options upon arriving at certain predesignated Forks in the road. Based on which path the user chooses, the program follows a new node of content. Figure 3.4. Traditional branching structure Branching structures are popular because they easily demonstrate the fundamental concept of interactive theory user choice. Namely, when confronted with a path decision, the user must choose one from several options A, B, or C in order to proceed to the corresponding node, as shown in Figure 3.4. The danger of branching structures is that they can spiral out of control very quickly. Author Neal Stephenson refers to this type of structure as the tree of death, where the story line keeps forking until there ends up being an unmanageable number of outcomes (see Figure 3.5). Figure 3.5. Extended branching structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.26) Conditional Branching: Branching with Barriers A subset of branching is conditional branching, which requires the user to abide by the rules of a predetermined condition along the branch in order to proceed through the program. Often, these conditions are puzzles or other obstacles that are slapped down in the middle of the application. The user is forced to solve the puzzle before he or she can continue (see Figure 3.6). Figure 3.6. Branching with barriers structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.27) Conditional Branching: Branching with Forced Paths Conditional branching often limits user choice in other ways. While appearing on the surface to offer many choices and options, the program will often continue regardless of the users actual choice. In essence, the program offers the illusion of choice without actually allowing the user to alter the program in any way. The validity of interactivity is strictly limited by the choices offered by the writer. Figure 3.7. Branching with forced path structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.28) A branching structure as seen in Figure 3.7 using forced paths or critical paths offers the end-user more options and/or more paths to choose from, but only one solution advances the story. Conditional Branching: Bottlenecking Another type of condition placed on branching structures (especially when the structure is used in an interactive narrative) manifests itself as bottlenecking. Bottlenecking is when various branching nodes are brought back into the spine of the story in order to rein everything in. This is a crucial structural procedure when you consider the exponential possibilities created by traditional branching structure (see Figure 3.8). Figure 3.8. Branching with bottlenecking structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.29) When the various story nodes are folded back so that they converge into a single story spine, the interactive narrative becomes more manageable. This type of design structure has been implemented in a number of popular media games and interactive movies over the past several years, including Origins popular Wing Commander series (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). Conditional Branching: Branching with Optional Scenes Sometimes the user gets to choose between alternative scenes that spin out from and return to the primary spine of the application whether that spine is a story (as in an interactive narrative) or an objective (as in an informational multimedia application such as a training title). Alternative scenes are commonly found in education and training programs, where it is necessary to demonstrate numerous concepts (see Figure 3.9). Figure 3.9. Branching with optional scenes structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.29) Exploratorium Exploratorium is empowering structures that allow the user to pause during the program to explore a world within a world. Many interactive storybook titles utilize exploratoriums from the humorous Living Books titles, Arthurs Birthday and Just Grandma and Me to Disneys Pocahontas Animated Storybook to simulated environments such as Imergy/Simon and Schusters Star Trek Captains Chair (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). The exploratorium structure can be seen in Figure 3.10. Figure 3.10. Exploratorium structure. Letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H are hot spots or entertainment click-ons imbedded into program (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.32). Parallel Streaming Parallel streaming describes many states or paths that exist simultaneously at various levels within the same application. In an interactive narrative, this type of structure allows the writer to create a single linear story, while allowing the user to switch between perspectives, paths, or states. The user can then experience the same series of events from multiple points of view (see Figure 3.11). Figure 3.11. Parallel streaming structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.33) Worlds When two or more environments are interconnected by a common thread be it a theme, goal, mission, or story we have the basis for a world structure. Add to that world series of predefined events or tasks that the user trigger/accomplish in order to move the story or mission forward and you have a design structure that works very well with interactive media programs (Samsel Wimberly, 1998). In a world experience, exploring the surrounding is just as important (and fun) as completing the story or achieving an objective. This poses a unique set of problems for the writer. Figure 3.12. World structure. Notice that the world is in the shape of funnel (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.36) The player is free to roam through an enchanting environment in search of clues to the story. The act of exploration is just as important as the act of discovering the narrative. Each activity has equal merit. The player advances the story by triggering certain author-defined events. Exploring all the worlds, uncovering all the clues, and interacting with all the triggers leads the player to the end of the game (see Figure 3.12). Another way to look at a world structure would be an overhead view, as if looking down into the center of a funnel or cone. The plot points or tasks that user must accomplish are represented by the eight outer nodes. The eight inner nodes in the carousel represent the next set of tasks (see Figure 3.13). Figure 3.13. Carousel entry into a world structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.37) Multilinear or Hypermedia Another type of design structure, known as multilinear (see Figure 3.14), either encompasses every type of user path imaginable or no path at all. The World Wide Web, hypertext fiction, MUDs (multi-user domains), MOOs (Multi-user object-oriented environments), and many simulations are good examples. Multilinear structure demands a different kind of involvement from its user than do puzzles, branching games, or linear narratives. That is because it is the users themselves who must traverse their own unique paths through an environment. The writer sets the boundaries and rules of interactivity, but the users must chart their own course through the material. Hypermedia structures, in much the same way as the World Wide Web or a hypertext fiction title, allow the user to become an interactor a facilitator of the story. While surfing the web, the user decides which homepage to start from and selects which links to follow through the electronic universe. User action determines a pathway through the material. Similarly, hypertext fictions are about the journey as much as they are about the narrative that waits to be pieced together. Figure 3.14. Multilinear and hypermedia structure (Samsel Wimberly, 1998, p.39) Relevance to the research One of the lessons that has been learned from this section is that the sequence of events and actions is important in a story. This sequence leads the reader to follow a dramatic flow of the story. There are causal connections between the events or ideas in the story and these connections tend to be related to the main elements of the story. Through these comprehension processes, readers develop an understanding that extends beyond words and sentences, to reach comprehension of paragraphs and extended text. This knowledge forced the researcher to design a space for children to learn and to practice in building a storys sequence in order to support them their narrative development. A good plot and dramatic story structure of a story will keep the readers curiosity and their emotional engagement. When a user accomplished a task by using a computer, she/he followed a certain sequence process which is offered by the system. The actions and events of the system and user build a kind of story. It is needed to keep the user attention and their engagement with the system in order to reach their goals. Therefore, the researcher found that the knowledge of the storys structure and the dramatic flow can be used to design interaction between user and system. Summary This chapter introduced a conceptual thinking of transmedia storytelling from Jenkins which described how stories can be told across media in such a way so as to take advantage of what each medium does best. The stories we have heard, seen and read in a single medium have not lacked impact, but incorporating several media offers a whole new experience. A schema of narrative composed of four characteristic: setting, character, theme and plot. The four characteristics are the building blocks of narrative. Event schemas or scripts are knowledge structures which even very young children use to organize their general knowledge about events. This chapter has explained the dramatic structure from Freytag and explored ten geometric-structured variations of stories from Samsel and Wimberly: sequential, branching, conditional branching (branching with barriers, branching with forced paths, bottlenecking, branching with optional scenes), exploratorium, parallel streaming, worlds, and multilinear. In wayang tradition, multiple non-linear structures can be found within wayang stories. The audience can follow its own combinations of presented and remembered additional stories according to their own experiences and knowledge. This study focuses on analyzing whether the same character in different stories can enable a similar multiple storylines as well. The concept of intertextuality in this context will be used to provide suggestions for children to help them to build multiple storylines by character.

Explain the Importance of the Outsider in the Novel ‘of Mice and Men’

Explain the importance of the outsider in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ An outsider is someone who is not accepted or is isolated from society. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is set in the 1930’s, where society considered many people as outsiders. During this period, many people were racist, sexist and prejudice towards disabled people. This is shown with several characters in the novel including Crooks, Curly’s wife and Candy who are all considered as outsiders in this novel, since they each had something that the society at that time were prejudice towards. In the 1930’s black people were highly discriminated against. This was mainly because many black people started to migrate form the south to the north in order to find employment. Many blacks stared to establish their own neighbourhoods, businesses and restaurants. All this activity caused competition to grow with the whites already living in these areas and many white people weren’t used to black people living in their community and this caused a lot of tension between whites and blacks. Furthermore, because of the Great Depression many people lost their jobs and had to find new jobs, and the blacks who had migrated up north, started to take available jobs. The white people living in the north became angry that the blacks were taking over their positions. The character Crooks from the novel, is an old black man with a crooked back. He is probably the most discriminated against since he is black and disabled, which means he can’t do as much work as the other. He works as a stable buck at the ranch, but although he has a job, we can assume that he gets the lowest wage on the ranch because he is black. This is shown in the novel since he doesn’t have a proper bed; instead he has ‘a long box filled with straw, on which blankets were flung. This is probably because of his low social status and therefore doesn’t get the same as the other workers on the farm, which includes a proper bed. Furthermore he is separated form the other workers, since he lives in ‘in the harness room; a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn’ rather than in the workers room, like the rest of the workers. Crooks himsel f shows this when he says â€Å"I ain’t wanted in the bunk house†¦ ‘Cause I’m black†. Again, this is probably because of his low social status, and because of this he is excluded from the rest of he workers. We are shown just how low his social status is when we find he must share his medicine with the animals, â€Å"a range of medicine bottles, both for himself and for the horses†. This shows us because of his skin colour, he has to use what is available, rather than having his own possessions, and that he is almost equal to an animal, in the eyes of the society. Crooks often acts like he doesn’t want anyone in his space, for example when Lennie enters his room he says, ‘You’ve got no right coming in my room. This here’s my room. ’ He acts like this because he feels that if he isn’t aloud in the white people’s houses, they shouldn’t be aloud in his. However his desire for company ultimately wins out when he invites Lennie in his room. Also when Candy comes into his room, Steinbeck tells us ‘It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger. ’ This shows us that although Crooks wants to act like he doesn’t want people coming into his room, he actually is happy when people talk to him, since he is an outsider and doesn’t have any company. Another character who is considered an outsider in the novel is Candy’s wife. In the novel, she is never given a name and this is probably since she has no importance in society. During Steinbeck’s time, women were not held in high regard, but were just present to serve men. Curly’s wife is neglected by Curly and because of this she is always seeking attention. This is shown by the way she dresses with ‘Red mules’ and ‘Bouquets of red ostrich feathers’. She is ‘heavily made up’ and has ‘rouged lips’ and ‘her fingernails were red’. Steinbeck uses this imagery to portray her as provocative, since red was a very provocative colour in this period. She dresses like this since she knows her beauty is her only power in this society and is they only way to get attention, which she doesn’t get form Curly. However, by trying to get the attention of other men, she steps outside her role as a married women, and this is probably why she is often called a ‘tramp’ or a ‘tart’. Straight away George senses that she is trouble and says ‘You keep away from her, cause’ she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one. ’ George knows that Curly would be very angry if he caught one of the men flirting back with her, but not because he is jealous but because he see’s his wife as his property, rather than a person, and this is probably another reason why she is named as Curly’s wife. Just like Crooks, since she is an outsider, Curly’s wife is looking for constantly looking for company and the perfect opportunity to talk to someone is when goes Curly is out with the workers. All who are left are ‘the weak ones’-herself, Candy, Crooks and Lennie. She even says it herself- ‘Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs-a nigger an’ a dum-dum and a lousy ol’ sheep-an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else’. However, she is so desperate for companionship that she talks to them anyway. She is ‘breathing strongly, as though she had been running’; again this shows us just how desperate and lonely she is as an outsider. In addition, Candy is another character who can be considered as an outsider. He is an old man, left with only one hand as the result of an accident at work. Because of his disability he cannot do the labour that the others do, and so has a demeaning job as a ‘swamper’- the man who cleans out the bunk house. We know he is old, since when Steinbeck first introduces him, he describes him with lots of words that show him to be old and weak, such as ‘old man’ and ‘stoop shouldered’. He often uses lots of anecdotes which show that he remises on the past, like many old people do and that he has been on the ranch a long time. Also, he often repeats himself, which shows that his memory is deteriorating and he is ageing. Candy knows that he is getting weaker, and that soon his boss will soon declare him as useless and he will lose his job- ‘They’ll can be pretty soon. Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no more bunk houses they’ll put me on the county. ’ Because he can’t afford to lose his job he doesn’t challenge anything. When they shoot his dog, since it’s too old, he feels even lonelier since his dog was his only real friend. Also it reminds him that when he becomes old, he will no longer be needed. Candy even says to George, ‘you seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself or nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me to. ’ He says this because without a job he will have nowhere to go since because of his age, disability and the Depression he can’t get another job. Candy is excluded from the workers social life by his age, his disability and his demeaning job, but also by his own choice-‘I didn’t go in there. I ain’t got no poop no more. ’ He knows he is too old to socialize and this makes him an outsider since he can’t do what the other workers do since he is too old. In conclusion, I think Steinbeck uses outsiders, such as Candy, Crooks and Curly’s wife, to try to show the discrimination against gender, race, age and disability in 1930’s society and how it affected the life’s of outsiders of 1930’s society.

Nineteen Reasons Why By Jay Asher - 1710 Words

Suicide, a big concern in today’s society. It is everywhere and happening every second, but no ordinary person ever thinks of these situations on a daily basis. But one man, Jay Asher, stepped in and decided to write about suicide in a more entertaining and relatable form. Thirteen Reasons Why, written by Jay Asher, is a novel about a teenager that leaves tapes behind with recordings of her own voice that explains why she took her own life. Jay Asher dropped out of college to pursue a writing career, he had a total of eleven manuscripts submitted to publishers which ended up all being rejected. He soon worked as an assistant children’s librarian and as a bookseller, he got inspired to write Thirteen Reasons Why from a lot of young adult†¦show more content†¦I believe that banning this novel is a big disadvantage for younger audiences since they won’t have the chance to acquire some sort of knowledge of the topics that are considered to be censorable mate rial. Thirteen Reasons Why should not be banned since doing so doesn’t only remove knowledge material from younger audiences, but it also silences the authors, it prevents the authors to have a say and let everyone know their thoughts and statements. Freedom of speech immediately brings up in mind the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects the freedom of speech, meaning we are able to express freely in any form of communication with no worries of getting in trouble. For example, we have the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances freely. There have been some conflicts with the First Amendment and censoring materials. But problems with freedom of speech are not as bad as other areas in the world â€Å"One example is the ‘so-called right to be forgotten,’ which allows negative information to be deleted from the Internet. Abrams stresses that even repugnant statements are more broadly protected in the U.S. speech than under many European democracies.† (Abrams, 66). Protecting and taking care of the First Amendment should be done properly and constantly to keep everyone sane. I believe that with the First Amendment everyone gets a chance to speak and tell their own side of the argumentShow MoreRelatedNineteen Reasons Why By Jay Asher952 Words   |  4 PagesThe novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher would be a very good addition to this course because of the unique way Asher defines haunting. In the novel, a boy, Clay Jensen, receives a box of cassette tapes from an anonymous sender. Upon finding an old cassette player, he begins listening to the tapes and discovers that they are from his classmate Hannah Baker. The only problem with this is that Hannah Baker killer herself a couple weeks before Clay received the tapes. On the seven tapes, Hannah tellsRead MoreNineteen Reasons Why By Jay Asher1169 Words   |  5 PagesThe novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher explores every nitty-gritty topic that the children of today are sheltered from. Those of which include suicide, sex, rape, underage drinking, drugs- you name it. If the topic s uncomfortable and shoved deep into the recesses of the media, you can guarantee this book covers it. Now, whether this is a just cause for the prohibition of the novel, is debatable. In my opinion, banning this novel should be a crime, censoring this text is unrealistic,