Blood Brothers Essay Example for Free

Blood Brothers Essay Her gestures towards Eddy were quite fidgety, she was always fretting over him- making sure his clothes and hair was neat so he looked respectful. This constant need to make Eddy look neat would be so the Lyons family kept up their reputation and Mrs. Lyons may have also been trying to cover up any likeness between Mickey and Eddy, so she was constantly fidgeting over him. This attitude was also reflected in the atmosphere she generated, as she was always quite nervous and twitchy, because she was always worried that the public or her husband would find out that Eddy wasnt her child and that he was the offspring of a working class family. You can see this nervous attitude from her facial expression as she always carried a worried look, and also from her body language as her hands always flustered nervously. Mrs. Lyons relationship with Mrs. Johnstone got more impersonal as the play went on. They stood further apart from one another and they spoke in raised voices. Mrs. Lyons was very protective of Eddy so she walked and sat very close to him all the time and didnt like feeling that she has no control over him. Narrator Phillip Stewart: I think that the narrator was the character that had the highest status on stage. He didnt emotionally relate to any of the characters. You could see this reflection of impersonality towards the characters when he was face to face with a distraught Mrs. Johnstone or an excited Mickey his facial expression didnt alter, showing he had no understanding of the characters emotions. The fact that the narrator didnt relate to any of the characters, means that they fear the narrator and are intimidated by him. Further more, the fact that the characters were actually aware of the narrator is unusual as most narrators are kept separate from the characters. This may be because the narrator acted as something more spiritual, like he was a figure of destiny or life who is moving the actors around like chess pieces. He would creep up on people, or pull them away as he had the power to do this. He stood tall, had a domineering presence and was the person with the most authority. His accent, like his costume, was neutral, his tone was quite deep and the volume of his voice was load throughout the whole of the play. Mickey Johnstone Stephen Palfreman: Mickey was brought up in the Johnstone family so he had the same accent as his mother- Liverpudlian. 7-8yrs: He was amazingly energetic and he completely took over the stage when he came on. He shouted, ran around madly, spoke in a high-pitched voice, muddled up his word and so reflected a seven year old boy in a physical and intellectual state. When he first came on stage he was banging on his door and sat down like this: He started picking his nose e. t. c. He fidgeted constantly, scratching himself, and typically stretching his jumper over his legs. To reflect his age he spent a lot of time on the floor, as it was an adult playing a seven year old this made him look shorter. He was very over powering, so when he was talking to the other characters there was about an inch between them-nearly nose to nose, so obviously like any seven year old he had no sense of personal boundaries. 12-14yrs: At this age he was desperately trying to impress Linda so he was doing typical guy poses and walking with a skip in his step to try and look cool. He also talked to her in a deep, what he thought to be, manly voice. He really wanted to impress Linda but he was also very nervous especially in Act two, Scene 1 when Linda asks Mickey to help him over the gate and as he approaches her she screams be gentle, be gentle Which puts him off completely! 18+: Now he seemed a lot more serious because as hes on his own. When hes in prison you could see him slowly going mad. The carefree attitude he used to have had now disappeared. He was always very edgy, and he barely moved. In prison he was edgy but he felt safe, once he was out of prison he got even worse. He got angry with Linda when he didnt get his tablets and he was constantly sweating. His relationship towards Linda was reflected in his body language, as he seemed to stop showing affection towards her and never liked standing to close to any one. This distance was in contrast to the seven year old Mickey. Eddy Lyons -Mark Hutchinson: Eddy took after his mother in his accent as his was also quite posh. The tone of his voice was quite feminine and it was like this through all ages. 7-8yrs: Unlike Mickey, Eddys voice was quieter and his movements were timid but once he was with Mickey and wasnt being over shadowed by his mother he could let go. A typical example of this would be when Eddy, Mickey and Linda get caught by the police throwing stones through windows, and the policeman asks him: Whats your name? And Eddy replies: Adolph Hitler! So you can see that Eddy could be brave, even more so than Mickey and Linda, he just needed to be let out of his shell. Eddys lexis was a lot different to Mickeys as he used words like smashing and goodness; whereas most of Mickeys lexis consisted of swear words. Eddy didnt seem to change that much from the age of 7-18 years old. He still has quite a feminine voice he just sounded matured. As he grew up Eddy spent less time on the floor so he was taller, Mickey also used this tactic. Also, Mickey didnt influence him quite as much. Eddys relationship with the characters was reflected in his distance between them and his body language. When Mrs. Lyons was fidgeting over him he tried to stop her. At first the distance between him and Mrs. Johnstone was far but as the play went on they got closer showing that their relationship was growing closer. Linda Louise Clayton: Linda 7-8yrs: She had come from the same class as Mickey so she had a Liverpudlian accent too. Her voice was quite high pitched she was also very energetic. Her gestures and the distance between her and the other characters reflected her affectionate personality and like Mickey she had no sense of personal boundaries but she was a little more gentile than Mickey was! 12-14yrs: Now she was very confident especially towards Mickey. She was constantly telling Mickey that she loved him in public even though he didnt really like it that much. Her gestures were quite sexy towards Mickey as was her movement-swaying her hips as she walked was one example. 18+: Her tone was now a lot more mature and so were her clothes. When she went to go and visit Mickey in prison she always put on a happy face. As she was older she had more responsibilities so she wasnt as energetic and happy as she used to be. Marriage seemed to have trapped Linda and all she wanted to do was to go back to her old carefree life. This was probably why she kissed Eddy because it was like starting again but you could always see that she still really cared for Mickey. Once Mickey was out of jail Linda tried to get close to him and to understand him but he just turned her away. The fact that she stayed with him showed just how much she cared for him. Her body language and gestures towards him werent as confident as they were when she was fourteen. It was Mickey who had the most comical value out of all the characters. When he first made his appearance in Act 1, Scene 2 as a seven year old, fidgeting madly and pulling his jumper over his knees it was really funny. When he was a teenager and he was trying to impress Linda he spoke in a deep voice, which made the whole audience laugh out load! When sadder moments in the play came the lights were usually blue. The final scene of the play was a mixture of passion, fear, tension and sadness. When you were sitting on the edge of your seat wondering who was going to shoot whom, you could sense the tension in the auditorium. You could see the passion between Mickey and Eddy as they found out they were brothers from just looking at their faces and the fear from Mrs. Johnstone and Mrs. , Lyons as they feared that Mickey was going to kill Eddy. I thought that the play was very thought provoking as it made you think about the social injustice of our society today. This social injustice was the plays main theme along with superstition as the narrator frequently quoted superstitions like-new shoes on the table. Social Injustice is the basis of many other plays like Teechers by John Godber. This play sends the message through the ideal of school, and the social injustice at the school. I really enjoyed the play and I would definitely go and see it again. I thought that all of the actors performed their characters brilliantly and showed absolute commitment to their role throughout the whole of the play. They seemed to have got into their characters and know them of by heart.

Plots, Characters, and Relationships in Anna Karenina Essay -- Tolstoy

Plots, Characters, and Relationships in Anna Karenina    "Reason has been given to man to enable him to escape from his troubles."1 These words, spoken by an unknown woman on a train minutes before Anna took her own life, proved cold comfort for Vronsky's mistress. Unable to reason her way out of her despair, she flung her body under a train in an act of vengeance and escape. She failed in her personal quest, one for fulfillment that she shares with the other main protagonist in the novel, Levin, who makes corresponding attempts to reason through his own dilemmas. Anna Karenina is an epic, through which are interwoven the parallel accounts of the personal struggles of Anna and Levin, developed in tandem. One ends in death and tragedy, the other in spiritual fulfillment. It is a novel of balances; not only of plots, but also of characters, and relationships between characters. Tolstoy's choice of title immediately sets up expectations in the reader; expectations that are destined to be disappointed. Although the reader may anticipate a straightforward tale of a woman's descent into adultery, they will find that that element is enclosed by and permeated with the equally dominant tale of a man's quest for harmony and love, and a good deal of extraneous material. Levin serves as a mouthpiece for Tolstoy's beliefs, and on occasions his activities take on a pseudo-biographical aspect. At times it seems that Anna's involvement in the novel is minimal - with episodes involving her being sparsely distributed - and the reader may well wonder why the novel is so entitled. Although it is difficult to be certain of Tolstoy's motives, this essay will argue that he so named the novel because of the utterly pivotal and essential fu... ...nt, independent, and thoughtful character, there is an undertone running throughout he novel that suggests that she has failed to adopt the befitting social role for a woman. Ultimately, she is portrayed as irrational and emotionally labile, driven by insatiable desires: "I don't know myself," says Anna as she sinks near to her lowest ebb; "I only know my appetites, as the French say."15 Bibliography Tolstoy, Leo, Anna Karenin, translated by Edmonds, Rosemary, Penguin, London, 1978. End Notes 1 Tolstoy, Leo, Anna Karenin, translated by Edmonds, Rosemary, Penguin, London, 1978, p. 799. 2 Ibid., p. 508. 3 Ibid., pp. 588-9. 4 Ibid., pp. 796-7. 5 Ibid., p. 490. 6 Ibid., p. 491. 7 Ibid., p. 798. 8 Ibid., p. 532. 9 Ibid., p. 672. 10 Ibid., p. 800. 11 Ibid., p. 853. 12 Ibid., p. 832. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid., in "Introduction". 15 Ibid., p. 793

History of Jazz Concert Report Essay

Since I have been in university, most talk of live music has revolved around â€Å"what club has a special on tonight?† or â€Å"which DJ is going to be in town this weekend?† I have nothing against electronic music but sitting in a packed bar near the Halifax Harbor listening to jazz and conversing in a booth with my friends, instead of shouting to clear the volume of dance music, has been one of the most enjoyable nights of my time at Dalhousie. I had always wanted to see some live jazz or blues here, but without the extra push of this assignment I couldn’t seem to get out to listen to any. I went to see the Charles Mingus Tribute play on Thursday, Oct. 9th at Stayner’s Wharf Pub and Restaurant with some friends in the history of jazz course with me, and with some from out of the class. The performers were Dave Staples (piano), Chris Mitchell (saxophone), Martin Davidson (saxophone), Danny Martin (trombone), Tom Roach (drums), and Tom Easley (bass). As I was listening to the jazz I was trying my hardest to take in my surroundings and analyze how the environment catered to the music, see who was in attendance, and most of all enjoy the show. When listening and watching live performances, the venue is almost as important as the music itself. The venue that the Charles Mingus Tribute played at the night I saw them was a restaurant and bar called Stayner’s Wharf. I had been there before, but in the middle of the day with no live music. The change I saw in atmosphere from that first time I experienced the restaurant to the second was tremendous. A tucked away stage with six musicians squished onto it all playing their hearts out transformed the boring restaurant into something so much more alive. The venue was a little odd because it wasn’t positioned around the players, so many people couldn’t see the stage from their tables or stools. However, even if you couldn’t see the musicians you could hear the sound so clearly throughout the entire place. It was very busy. People were standing with drinks, leaning on tables  or walls, or sitting in booths with too many people on each bench. The staff was working like crazy trying to cater to the needs of each customer and was doing an excellent job. Luckily, even though we arrived slightly late, we were able to get a booth seat with a great view of the stage. This affected the experience immensely. Being able to see clearly the onstage chemistry and improvisation was very cool. There were certain times, in between solos when two musicians would exchange head nods and other gestures to indicate when someone should start playing and other technical things that I’m sure I don’t know about. Although the music wasn’t always collective improvisation, the ability of the individual players to adapt to what the others were doing was apparent and so was the skill that goes along with that ability. Overall I think the venue was perfect for the type of jazz they were playing, and the mood that each musician seemed to be in. The musicians seemed happier, too, because they could step off and enjoy a beer in betwe en sets. Since it was after 9:00 PM and there was live music, the event was labeled a â€Å"no minors event†. This put me as definitely the youngest person in attendance, as I was yet to turn 19 at the time. My age posed as a slight problem when trying to get in, but after explaining that we were here strictly for the jazz, the manager made an exception and allowed us entrance to the event. I think the fact that I was one of the only people there not indulging in alcohol changed the way I listened to the music, especially as the show continued. Everyone I was sitting with never had an empty glass in front of them and even the musicians were drinking casually, which reminded me of speakeasies and had me imagining myself in Chicago in the 1920’s. As the audience got drunker the volume of their voices increased, and so did the applause and cheers at the end of each solo or song. However as the audience got louder and more rambunctious the musicians seemed to match the mood and volume perfectly. It was a real happy party atmosphere. In between songs, the band members would shout out to friends of theirs in the crowd or sometimes even to people they didn’t know who were there celebrating a special occasion. The special thing about the audience was how much everyone wanted to be there and to be immersed in the music. People would close their eyes and move their heads to the music and I was constantly tapping my toe on the floor or my finger on the table along with the rhythm of the drums  and bass. Overall, it was a warm audience of people from many different age groups who were there because they wanted to be there and it was clear that everyone loved the jazz. The band itself was an absolute pleasure to listen to and watch perform. It consisted of two lead saxophonists, a lead trombonist, a piano player, bass player, and a drummer. The two saxophone players were very different in their stage presence. Chris Mitchell, the older of the two, had a wild and eccentric way of playing the saxophone. Some of his solo’s reminded me almost of those by Charlie Parker. They were very fast and almost abrupt or sharp in the way they jumped out at you. As one friend of mine put it, â€Å"his stage presence was similar to that of Bobby Keys† who is most famous for playing saxophone for the Rolling Stones. On the opposing side, the second saxophone player was unbelievably young and seemed to have not quite come into his own stage persona yet. Where Chris Mitchell would move with the music, Martin Davidson seemed slightly more rigid. This didn’t detract from the sound or quality of his playing though. It was almost like watching a more experienced teacher and his student prodigy playing together in front of us that night. The band was playing jazz compositions mostly by Charles Mingus such as â€Å"Jump Monk† and â€Å"Pussy Cat Dues. So after the show I went home and listened to the titles as performed by Mingus to compare the two. I decided that I liked the live version that I saw more than the recorded version of Mingus. I think this is because of my ability to actually see the jazz and feel it around me when I was at Stayner’s Wharf. It’s hard for me to come up with any faults in the performance because of how much fun I had and how little experience I have with live jazz in general. One thing I would have liked more would have been to hear more piano over all. I have played piano since I was in grade one and advanced through my exams until grade 10 classical piano, after which I took two years of jazz piano lessons. So it is easy to say that piano is one of my favorite instruments, but I realize it isn’t usually a lead instrument for a jazz band like this. With that one personal preference aside, I had no bad things to say about the band. I thought they were charismatic on stage, sounded great and improvised together perfectly. The type of jazz played was more an art music than a popular music. It’s hard to label what jazz was being played, because Charles Mingus himself didn’t like to label any of his songs into one genre, and the band was playing his songs. But I think there was a lot of collective improvisation on stage and the styles ranged from New Orleans styled jazz to Be Bop at points. It was almost like a â€Å"mixed bag†. I think that is why I enjoyed the performance so much, because there were surprises and no song or solo sounded the same. I didn’t have the opportunity to fall bored like some people could if the musician was someone like Bill Evans, who plays slower and quieter jazz. The Jazz was definitely center of attention in the bar and was the main attraction for the night unlike other restaurants that have musicians as a sort of background music. One song, the first song we heard when we came in, had a â€Å"four on the floor† rhythm to it. I remember wa lking in and thinking â€Å"Hey! I know what that is!† Overall, the night was a success and everyone I was with thoroughly enjoyed it. After the jazz, some of my friends went to a nightclub and said that the clashing of the two experiences made them realize how much different the music of today is from the music of the past. Whether it’s a good difference or not is in the eye of the beholder. The venue, though it was small and packed, was a great place for the musicians to play. The audience was all happy, which might have had something to do with the alcohol, but it made the entire atmosphere happy as well. The Charles Mingus Tribute did an excellent job of transferring the music of Mingus to the audience that night; the soloists were unbelievable; and the collective improvisation on stage was very cool to watch. I have already decided with a group of friends that we will be going to another live jazz event in November, and I am looking forward to seeing if I can apply some more jazz knowledge learned from class at this event as well.

Elie Wiesel Reflection - 991 Words

Throughout human history, most people have endured many types of tragic experiences that have changed their way of being. For example, the Holocaust involved the Jewish community and was considered one of the most tragic life changing experiences for many. Most notably, the murderous travesties the Jewish people were subject to. Additionally, it changed our views about how the world would view the future of human history. A Holocaust survivor by the name of Elie Wiesel was involved with the horror of the Holocaust. After surviving the traumatic incidents of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel wrote a book called, â€Å"Night†. In his book he details his experiences in what took place in the concentration camps, as well as, many other daunting memories.†¦show more content†¦I often sat with him, after services, and listened to his tales, trying to understand his grief. But all I felt was pity.†. In this scene, Moishe, one of the poorest Jewish persons in Elie’s vil lage, went door to door telling people his story trying to cross the Hungarian border and about Malaka. The village believes that he has gone crazy. In this event, Elie was caring and full of love before he went to Auschwitz. He cared about the people around him, even though they might have been crazy or had an unspoken personality, he would be there for them. Furthermore, Elie had many valuable traits before he went to the concentration camp known as Auschwitz. But throughout his time in Auschwitz, these traits started to fade off and new traits appeared. Subsequently, after Elie spent a couple weeks in Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp made by the Germans to liberate the Jewish People, new characteristic that Elie didn’t realize he had come out. In the book â€Å"Night†, on page 57 Wiesel wrote â€Å"I stepped forward. A crate! he ordered. They brought a crate. Lie down on it! On your belly I obeyed. I no longer felt anything except the lashes of the whip.†. While he was at work, the Kommandos came and called roll call, made a short speech, called Elie to come forward, then they beat him. In this scene, we can see that Elie starts to become more afraid of the SS officers and anxious to get the beating over with. Also, in the book â€Å"Night†, on page 65 Wiesel addsShow MoreRelatedElie Wiesel Reflection867 Words   |  4 Pagesan American tank standing at the entrance of the gates. This young boy was Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the gruesome events that occurred in concentration camps during WWII. E lie shares a chilling memoir about his experience in his book Night. Throughout the novel, Elie and other Jewish inmates constantly used their families as their primary motive to overcome hardships even while being challenged by tough circumstances. 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While Wiesel details hisRead MoreThe Holocaust: Night by Elie Wiesel1635 Words   |  7 PagesSix million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. The Jews were persecuted, tortured and slaughtered in concentration camps (â€Å"The Holocaust† 1). Night by Elie Wiesel is the powerful memoir of his experiences during the Holocaust. Night shows the tragedy of the Holocaust through the use literary devices, including the themes of loss of faith and cruelty toward other human beings, night as a symbol of suffering and fear, and the use of first person narrative. Night allows the reader to emotionallyRead MoreThe Writing Style of Elie Wiesel Essay895 Words   |  4 PagesThe Writing Style of Elie Wiesel In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel uses a distinct writing style to relate to his readers what emotions he experienced and how he changed while in the concentration camps of Buna, during the Holocaust. He uses techniques like irony, contrast, and an unrealistic way of describing what happens to accomplish this. By applying these techniques, Wiesel projects a tone of bitterness, confusion and grief into his story. Through his writing Wiesel gives us a window intoRead MoreNight, By Elie Wiesel1476 Words   |  6 PagesIn Night, by Elie Wiesel, one man tells his story of how he survived his terrible experience during the Holocaust. Wiesel takes you on a journey through his â€Å"night† of the Holocaust, and how he survived the world’s deadliest place, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Elie Wiesel will captivate you on his earth shattering journey through his endless night. Elie Wiesel’s book Night forces you to open your eyes to the real world by using; irony, diction, and rep etition to prove that man does have the capability to