A List I Wrote to The American Public About Shipping Their Stuff

TOP TEN (THERES MORE BUT THESE RANK AS THE TOPS)


1. SCOTCH TAPE IS NOT PACKING TAPE

2. CEREAL BOXES ARE NOT PACKING BOXES ( NOT EVEN IF YOU WRITE PLEASE DONT CRUSH ON IT)

3. TUPPERWARE CONTAINERS ARE NOT STURDY ENOUGH TO GO THROUGH OUR MACHINERY SO THOSE COOKIES FOR THE HOLIDAYS ARNT SAFE IN GLADWARE

4. IF IT HAS A POINT TO IT AND COULD SPEAR THROUGH FLESH IT WILL SPEAR THROUGH PACKING TAPE AND THEN MY FLESH. PLEASE APPLY A CORK TO THE TIP OR MANY LAYERS OF PADDING PLEASE

5. IF IT WEIGHS MORE THAN, SAY, A HUMAN BEING ( I.E. 50 GRAPEFRUITS FROM FLORDIA) DO NOT PACK IN A COPY PAPER BOX WITH SCOTCH TAPE. THIS REQUIRES A LARGE TUPPERWARE CONTAINER WITH BUBBLE WRAP INSIDE AND HEAVY WRITTEN ON IT. OTHERWISE, GRAPEFRUIT JUICE WILL ARRIVE AT THEIR DOOR

6. IF YOU ARE MAILING OUT A LOT OF PAPERS THAT END UP AMOUNTING TO THE SIZE OF A BOOK PLEASE USE A BOX NOT AN ENVELOPE. JUST LIKE FAT PEOPLE TRYING TO FIT IN SKINNY JEANS>> SEAMS DO BUST. AS A MATTER OF FACT, DONT SEND ANYTHING FAT IN SOMETHING SKINNY PLEASE!!!!!!

7. PIZZA BOXES ARE NOT PACKING BOXES. ESPECIALLY OILY USED PIZZA BOXES (COME ON NOW, REALLY)

8. IF YOU OR YOUR FAMILY CAN'T READ YOUR HANDWRITING NEITHER WILL OUR COMPUTERS. WRITE LEGIBLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. IF YOUR SHIPPING OUT A DARK COLORED BOX DONT WRITE THE ADDRESS IN DARK INK WRITE IT IN WHITE, DONT HAVE WHITE INK YOU SAY, TRY WRITING IT ON A PIECE OF CLEAN WHITE NOTEBOOK PAPER AND TAPING WITH PACKING TAPE TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE BOX.

10. IF YOU THINK IT COULD BREAK, WRITING FRAGILE ON IT DOESNT PREVENT BREAKING, PROPER PACKING DOES WITH SUCH INVENTIONS AS BUBBLE WRAP AND/OR LOTS OF CRUMPLED NEWSPAPERS, ETC.



        IT MAY BE OUR JOB TO GET YOUR PACKAGE TO ITS DESTINATION ON TIME AND IN THE CONDITION IT WAS GIVEN TO US IN BUT COME ON PEOPLE WERE NOT GENIES IN BOTTLES WIGGLING OUR NOSES TO GET YOUR PACKAGES THERE. WE ARE PEOPLE WORKING ON MILLION DOLLAR PIECES OF MACHINERY THAT ARE SORTING MAIL BY THE THOUSANDS PER MINUTE. TRY TO USE COMMON SENSE ABOUT PACKING TO AVOID DELAYS DUE TO REWRAPPING OR BREAKAGES DUE TO IMPROPER PACKING. WE'RE ALSO NOT YOUR PERSONAL SECRETARIES SO... SINCE IT IS ILLEGAL TO SEND BOXES ANY WAY BUT AT THE WINDOW NOW, PLEASE ASK FOR TAPE IF YOU NEED IT OR FOR HELP PACKING YOUR STUFF IN THE APPROPRIATE BOX/ENVELOPE/ CONTAINER WE WILL BE GLAD TO ASSIST YOU. IF YOU DO NOT ASK WE DONT KNOW YOU NEED HELP AND IF YOU JUST THINK IT'S STUPID TO ASK THEN WE THINK... WELL, WHAT DO YOU THINK WE THINK...

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READS THIS AND PASSES IT ON TO THOSE WHO MIGHT NEED A LESSON IN PROPER PACKING OR A LAUGH.

Literature and Politics in the 1920s

            The 1920s was the decade when the Republican Party nominated Warren G. Harding for President and Calvin Coolidge for Vice President. In this decade World War I may have just finished up but its impressions still lingered on and the trial over evolution was just beginning. The Victorian Age of decency was crashing to a halt and sexuality was being spoken about with more liberty. People like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernst Hemingway, E.E. Cummings, John Dos Passos, and Langston Hughes lived this era, felt this era and wrote this era. They lived the segregation in the south through the post was drama, and through the social classes that were being defined more and more. In this decade literature was written and politics happened, and one way or another, literature reflected the politics of the 1920s.

        It seemed that the more the world changed, the more the United States governed its people. The more the United States governed its people the more the people had to say about it; and oh what they had to say. Attitudes were formed and if a person’s social status wasn’t of Bourgeois, the norm for that time, then it was of the poor and no respectable person of that time was poor. It seemed that money helped define the social status and keep the people pf this decade segregated. People like Dorothy Parker and Langston Hughes, in response to the Bourgeois, headed up the Harlem Renaissance of African American writers. These writers had no trouble expressing their troubled times. They didn’t believe in the only good social status was the rich, white, American, male and they wanted to world to know that. They wanted the world to know that they were not poor by choice and they were not bad people, they were just people like everyone else. Langston Hughes wrote a poem Southern Gentle Lady that expressed the hard times that African American people went through in the 1920s. He speaks of “Southern gentle lady, do not swoon. They’ve just hung a black man in the dark of the moon.” In this section, he takes the typical African American woman working to feed her family and announces to her that in the shadow of the night they hung a man based on the color of his skin, and please don’t cry. He then says “They’ve hung a black man to the roadside tree in the dark of the moon for the world to see.” Again that in the shadows on the night a man was condemned for the color of his skin and he was hanging there for all the world to see, though the world was not allowed to see this act in progress. Lastly, he states “How Dixie protects its white womanhood. South gentle lady, be good! Be good!” establishing that again this act only happened due to the color of his skin and were he a white man the Dixie land of America would never have let this happen but because he was a southern black man he was left unprotected. Also that that southern gentle lady, while having every right to be mad at the times and the intolerable cruelty must rise above the hate and be good, as to not stoop to the white man's level. It is clear in Langston Hughes's poem that he was affected politically by Dixie’s ability to protect the white but not the black and therefore writing about how the American government in the 1920s still saw the black race as a separate but not yet equal part of the American society.

        It then was said that, “Politics became an arena for defending traditional rural values. The revival of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s manifested itself in the political conflicts associated with Prohibition, which divided Americans according to race, religious beliefs, cultural practices, and residential local.” (American Decades 1902-1929, page 758) This proves the extent of the contempt toward the African American culture but also establishes political contempt during the 1920s for any individual or group that fell outside of tradition. This brought about the Lost Generation of white writers who, just like those of the African American race, expressed their same trials and tribulations with society, the prohibition, and their anti-war beliefs. This group consisted of writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernst Hemingway, and E.E. Cummings, just to name a few, who wanted the whole world to know what money on margin and world wars were really doing to the American Bourgeois and post-war veterans. F. Scott Fitzgerald presented us with characters such as Jay Gatsby, the man who made his money off bootleg booze to try and establish himself to win over Daisy only ending in Gatsby’s emotional and physical demise. Ernst Hemingway created Lady Ashley the “perfect product of the postwar world” whose main activities included “ having drinks, lovers and passionate moments”. She was in Hemingway’s mind the perfect reflection of a “hard-boiled flapper” she could drink anyone under the table and she could always explain why six cocktails grew where one grew before. She displayed all the attributes of a typical woman of the 1920s who enjoyed living the bohemian way of life because the American government felt it necessary to do away with alcoholic beverages. E. E. Cummings wrote The Enormous Room where he “suggested a philosophy of war compounded equally of resignation, hatred for all authority, and an almost abstract cynicism.” (Twentieth-Century American Literature, page 569) Many went on to say that this book was the “first to express for America the emotions of those artists, students and middle-class intellectuals who were to constitute the post-mortem war generation, and whose war experience was to transform their conception of life and art.” (Twentieth-Century American Literature, page 567)

        It was plain to see that in the 1920s not all writers believed America needed to involve itself in wars to end all wars. They believed that politics was inflicting itself to heavily on the American people and that people from all over the world were taking advantage of the kind-hearted nature of the Statue of Liberty. John Dos Passos was one such writer who felt this way, he said that Americans from all over the world, came and turned our language inside out” and “took the clean words our fathers spoke and made them slimy and foul.” He wrote the History of the Republic in which he proclaims that the Italian anarchists have inflicted and corrupted the entire labor force, politics, and the values of our great nation. He couldn’t believe that our government would back so heavily the Italian mob. In this decade World War I may not have made the world safe for democracy, but it did help lay the groundwork for a decade of American economic expansion. Gigantic houses out on Long Island like those in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and the stocks that bankrolled the travels for the characters in the Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway would not have been culturally correct if it weren’t for the economic boom in the 1920s. This decade was something to love, something to live, and something anyone who lived during it will never forget. This decade is showed so wonderfully through the writing of its time. Those who lived through this decade were impacted so much by the new technology beginning to surface due to the economic boom and the political debates that it is hard to understand this decade without understanding how the politics of this time affected people. The literature of this decade really captured those feelings and debates well. Therefore it is clear that the war to end all wars impacted everyone in this decade somehow and the political-economic system of buying on margin made almost everyone rich. It is also clear that the jobs created by the war and political incentive to move forward created the topics for a whole score of remarkable books capturing with great detail the roaring twenties. Now every time F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, or anyone of the many authors of that time are read it will be apparent just what was felt and going on it that incredible decade.


                                                                     Works Cited:

• Peggy Whitley, Http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade20.html, May 2002
• Harold Bloom, Twentieth-Century American Literature, Volume 2-3, Pages 567-569
• Judith S. Baughman, American Decades 1920-1929, Volume 3, Page 758.

Analysis of The Great Gatsby

            The Great Gatsby by F. Scotts Fitzgerald is an intricately patterned piece of literature. It bears no comforting message about the simplicity of life, but more so establishes the ironies of life’s tribulations. It is fashioned around money, land ownership, financial success, and the misconception of love; all things that can be explained through Karl Marx’s economic theory Marxism. Marxism will help illustrate a sub theory on commodities that can be found littered all throughout The Great Gatsby. In this book we do not see complexity written for the sack of complexity, we see it written in a stylish, symbolic, culturally functional way for its time. Illustrating the creative mind of F. Scotts Fitzgerald we see through flashbacks a chronological reconstruction of events; Jay Gatsby’s rise and fall that the reader is responsible for interpreting. At the beginning of the story we are introduced to Nick, the narrator, who tells the whole story of how Jay Gatsby a self-made American wealthy success story falls in love with Daisy, the one who got away. We learn of all the riches Gatsby acquires and his thought process that he can win Daisy’s love with money. We start to realize Gatsby’s failure to develop through specially picked settings, styles, and symbolism that Fitzgerald carefully wove together to create the ultimate paralysis of Jay Gatsby.

        The Great Gatsby is set in the roaring 1920s from April to November of 1922. It takes place in what they considered Long Island New York to be at that time the “Valley of Ashes”. Here everyone lived in accordance with their social status. Gatsby lived in a “palace” in West Egg (the part of Long Island that housed those of the newly rich status), Tom, a friend of Gatsby’s, lived in his “Georgian Colonial” of East Egg (the part of Long Island that housed those of established wealth), and Nick lived in his Bungalow next to Gatsby. But they were all following the sophisticated money trail of America's high-class society. In Marxism philosophy, this can be considered the motivation to gain economic power and separate the social statuses into a “Super Structure” where the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. Thus we see commodities in The Great Gatsby. Those would be the items that are valued on their monetary value rather than what they contribute. The more commodities a person owns the higher their social status. In The Great Gatsby, we see this in the Mansion Gatsby owns, the marble swimming pool he never uses, the forty-acre lawn for guests he entertains, and the abundance of food and drink everyone but him partakes in. This can also be seen in the $350,000 string of pearls tom gives to his wife-to-be.

        In this time period, we also had jazz music that was at the center of the souls of most individuals and the music that was played at many of the memorable evenings on the terrace of Gatsby’s estate. Gatsby did not only provide the setting for these memorable events he provided the bootleg booze for them as well. Gatsby was a part of the bad parts of the 1920’s just as well as the good and he played his cards mysteriously close to his vest when it came to revealing his financial successes. Given these settings, we see the paralysis of this one location that is torn apart by the two social classes of West Eggers and East Eggers. Then within those confines, we are confined again to the sweltering summer heat that only empties the soul from life. Emptying it till it is dry and brittle, till the summer sun bleaches its color and paralysis’s its freedom. Gatsby became caught up in this heat rising with the spring flowers and dying among the fallen leaves of autumns end.

“ About five o’clock our procession of three cars reached the cemetery and stopped in a thick drizzle beside the gate- first a motor hearse, horribly black and wet, then Mr. Gatz and the minister and I in the limousine, and, a little later, four or five servants and the postman from West Egg in Gatsby’s wagon, all wet to the skin. As we started through the gate into the cemetery I heard a car stop and then the sound of someone splashing after us over the soggy ground. I looked around. It was the man with owl-eyed glasses whom I had found marveling over Gatsby’s books in the library one night three months before.” (Page 183)

        F. Scotts Fitzgerald has a layered style of writing that lends itself well to The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald didn’t just regurgitate Gatsby through a drunken epiphany; he spent years perfecting the incredible man of Jay Gatsby. He poised Gatsby with social class and created him to be a character with typical human personality traits such as a relatable ignorance-of-love quality. This style of writing lent to the stagnation Gatsby was in. Actually, it is quite conceivable that Fitzgerald felt a little stagnation in writing The Great Gatsby and therefore turned his emotion into Gatsby’s, it is said that Gatsby is a literary representation of Fitzgerald himself. Gatsby was a true romantic dreamer and even though we are being narrated to by Nick, we feel what Gatsby feels. Fitzgerald seemed to create Gatsby to exude the characteristics and style of a typical American explorer dreaming of conquering the world in the 1920s. He gave Gatsby a materialistic ideal with the adolescent faith to try and win Daisy with granger. With all these characteristics in place, Fitzgerald knew he created a mood. He gave Gatsby a poetic dialect and placed him in the right lighting and the most descriptive settings with all the grey under and overtones one could imagine. Gatsby was stuck in a beautiful montage of a dream world he created for himself and stylishly kept himself there day in and day out.

“Already it was deep summer on roadhouse roofs and in front of wayside garages where new red gas pumps sat out in pools of light, and when I reached my estate at West Egg I ran the car under its shed and sat for a while on an abandoned grass roller in the yard. The wind had blown off, leaving a loud bright night with wings beating in the trees and a persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life. The silhouette of a moving cat wavered across the moonlight and turning my head to watch it I saw that I was not alone- fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbors mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens.” (Page 25)

        Symbolic meanings pour from the pages of The Great Gatsby especially in reference to Gatsby himself. They are integrated so well into the text that they seem to flow freely adding dimension to the text rather than weighing it down. Marxism’s commodities can also be seen as the texts rich symbols that help create Gatsby’s paralysis to money and love with his love of money. Gatsby himself can stand amidst a roomful of party invites and still stand alone. Gatsby has made such a habitual life pattern of keeping people around himself at all times that he has secluded himself. He stands as a silent among a faded timetable of guests that appear at his parties to serve as a social class conquer rather than true friends. Its Gatsby’s parties alone that express how quickly time flies by, how discarded we can become, and how dreams can be crushed by the simplest most delicate golden white fingers. Where once a green light of opportunity stood at the end of Daisy’s dock at the end of chapter one, we see only a light bulb by the end of the story that becomes burnt out. Upon burning out it can be thrown into the heap of garbage in the “Valley of Ashes” to be broken down among modern America's manufacturing waste. Much is the way Gatsby feels as he learns of Daisy’s non-interest in West Eggs new money. Much is what he sees as the dust from the “Valley of Ashes” reaches closer and closer to Gatsby as the summer draws to an end. Fitzgerald symbolizes Gatsby’s life into an ironic depressing mess with Dr. T.J. Eckleburgs gigantic sightless eyes of God watching from above.

“But above the grey land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic- their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens and then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.” (Page 27-28)

        Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby with painstaking effort and perfectionism. He gave no room for misinterpretation just personal interpretation. He showed us through Jay Gatsby that money does not buy happiness; it buys selfishness, loneliness, and social misconception wrought with romantic dreams that never become reality. Fitzgerald draws us into the mysterious yet exciting life of Jay Gatsby and effectively plays on our emotions. Letting us feel the endless downward spiral of Gatsby’s need for Daisy and Daisy’s rejection. Letting us feel Gatsby’s paralysis of life through his self-made financial success. For Jay Gatsby sometimes succession is in the omission of defeat.


                                                                       Works Cited:

• The Great Gatsby, F. Scotts Fitzgerald, pages 25, 27-28, 183.

Buddah

                                                                             Buddha

        Even before the class that we had that discussed religion, I was interested in Buddhism, but it was only after the class that I actually reached into it. I wanted to enlighten myself as to the ways in which that religion is different from any other. I was baptized catholic and raised catholic as well but have found much pf what they say to be very one-sided and incomprehensible for me to understand completely and be able to adhere to in my everyday life. Therefore I decided that maybe the best thing for me was to look elsewhere for the faith I needed. My father has always been interested in the eastern religions so it was not hard for me to acquire information on the subject as well as the wealth of information you can find on the Internet. Though if it wasn’t for the class we had the discussed religion I might not have taken the time to look into it further, or at least it would not have been anytime soon. In this paper, I would like to explain why the Buddhist culture has made a difference in my world.

        In class, we learned that Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha, lived around 6th century B.C. in northern India and while there he lived unhappily and had an intuition that there was something more to life so he went out in quest. Eventually, he found a tree to sit under where he discovered 3 main truths and they were 1. Life is suffering 2. The root of all suffering is desire and 3. In order to give up suffering, we must give up desire therefore gaining enlightenment. He also came up with the eight-fold path that states it’s “ all about the moment”, also that the value of experience is more important than knowledge and that the mind does not equal knowledge. After learning this I decided to investigate this subject some more. I learned the Buddha truly means “he who is awake” and Siddhartha Gautama became awake after many tries at finding the true answer to his dyer question of how one loses the feeling of suffering. He was born prince of Sakya, a tribe in Nepal, and about the time he was twenty-nine he went out in search of this answer. He left his wife and new son to eventually find himself immersed in life under a fig, or bodhi, tree. He went first through deep concentration to free him of mind filling worries, and then through mindless meditation, which brought him freedom of all thought. Once free of all thought he was brought to sheer enlightenment that allowed him to see all his previous lives and all that was going on in the world. With this enlightenment, he went around for forty-five more years teaching what he had been privileged to experience under that tree.

        After reading about how Buddha came to be I wanted to learn what it was that he had to teach. I found the Seven Factors of Enlightenment were:

• Mindfulness
• Investigation
• Energy
• Rapture
• Tranquility
• Concentration
• Equanimity

Then the Five Hindrances:

• Sensuous lust
• Aversion and ill will
• Sloth and torpor
• Restlessness and worry
• Skeptical doubt

After that was the Ten Perfections, or Paramus:

• Generosity
• Morality
• Renunciation
• Wisdom
• Energy
• Patience
• Truthfulness
• Resolution
• Loving-kindness 
• Equanimity

Then the Four Aggregates, or Skandhas, which form Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water:

• Feeling (Pleasant, Unpleasant or Neutral)
• Perception
• Volition
• Consciousness

Then Lastly the 10 Fetters of Existence:

• Self-delusion
• Doubt
• Clinging to ritual
• Sensuous lust
• Ill will
• Greed of fine materials
• Greed of material existence
• Conceit
• Restlessness
• Ignorance

I learned so much more but it would take pages upon pages to explain it all so I will stop at this.

        In conclusion, because of my Communication Skills IV class, I learned more about Buddhism and what it took to get me to look into it more so that I would gain a greater appreciation for it and about it. I will leave this class this semester taking that with me in hopes that it will bring me greater peace in the long run so that I may approach my goals in my education and life with less stress and greater appreciation and love for the people and things around me.

Goth

                                                                             Goth

        Goth is the one co-culture that most parents dread their teenagers ever becoming involved with. Why? What is gothic? How can one co-culture be any worse than any other? Stereotypes are one reason, and misconceptions of what the true gothic subculture is, is another reason. The true definition for gothic doesn’t even have anything to do with its subculture we have grown to know it by. The true definition pertained to a literary style of fiction that was around in the 18 and 19 centuries. We disregard this definition and look to Marilyn Manson, the sole product of the media, to provide us with the real definition. I would like to explain in this paper the gothic scene and why looking at it from another angel might shed light on a dark subject.

        The gothic co-culture is full of ambiguity and misconceptions. Marilyn Manson and vampires may be gothic looking but are in fact not gothic at all. Bands like Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, and Alice Copper are actually in the heavy metal shock rock category while Industrial and classical are the music of choice for those practicing true gothic living. The same goes for vampires they may look very gothic and dark but movies like the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, which is funny and upbeat are sooner watched than “Interview with the Vampire”. Like any true co-culture, the real definition of who is truly gothic is subject to change all the time depending on the person. The Gothic co-culture is more about being an individual than being part of a specific definition.

        The date of origin has been placed back to 1979 when “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” was released by the Bauhaus band. Due to its eerie sound, it inspired a co-culture later defined as gothic. Many are not sure if it was the band or the media that coined the term gothic but whichever it may be it has sucked for over twenty years. The United Kingdom is where the first generation of gothic followers originated around the early eighties with the release of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”. The gothic co-culture also originated as a stem off of the punk subculture. By the mid-eighties, the first generation of gothic children started to subside but by the early nineties, a new group of children revived it with bands like The Shroud, Rosetta Stone, and London After Midnight. The early nineties was also when the gothic co-culture gained ground in the United States, pushing as many limits as it could on its way. The third generation of gothic children then came out in the late nineties, making enemies with the first and second generation Goths. Most of the older generation Goths wanted to be unassociated with the younger generation Goths due to the attention from the media brought on by bands like Marilyn Manson, Pantera, and Prodigy. The older generation was not into the exposure that this brought to the co-culture they established and were proud of. This was becoming a movement from the underground to the sound stage. It was hard after that for the older generation to respect the younger generation, and to not question their authenticity and wonder what was going to happen to the quiet co-culture they had established twenty years prior as it moved through the 21st century.

        Fashion is one of the biggest parts of this co-culture. It explains visually the mood of the culture and the attitude of the individual. Just by the symbols they wear and the clothes in which they choose to display, they are able to let whoever crosses their path know that they are not without feeling. Their fashions are also a reflection of their actions and motivations for those actions. Even if they wear no symbols and only black in the simplest form it says something very loud about that person’s character. Though not everyone who is in this co-culture is in it for what it truly stands for, and many consequently do not know why they are wearing what they are wearing besides the reason, “it looks cool”. Most dress to express. Fashions include anything black, deep blue or deep red in color; silver jewelry instead of gold, maybe a spike collar or a ribbon around the neck. Black and stark white make-up is worn with black lipstick and black eye-liner for both men and women to display paleness and pureness. Some like to look stark white for an authentic Victorian nobility look or because they are protesting in their own way to skin cancer-causing tanning. Dying of the hair is also a way to display ones self, many choose black, others may choose red, purple, or whitish/blond. Anything leather, patent leather, latex, plastic, velvet, rubber, vinyl, P.V.C., or with a corset can be worn as everyday clothing. Lingerie and cloaks are also acceptable to be worn under or over one's everyday clothing. The list actually goes on and on for the possibilities that are out there for one to wear as acceptable in this co-culture. One thing remains throughout all of it and that is that you are showing how you want to be seen, that it is dark, and that it is comfortable to fit your mood. The theme in the gothic co-culture is not really what you wear but how you wear it, why and what does it explain about your specific personality.

        This co-culture is different because of its likes and dislikes, its views on society and the world as a whole. The true gothic co-culture is not destructive or to cause specific chaos but to be as one with each other and be different than the typical sports team cliques known to be in every high school across the whole world. Gothic interests include anything artistic and creative, literature, history, and philosophy and going to plays. Going out for a cup of coffee in the middle of the night or sitting in a graveyard discussing anything that interest them are other things Goths typically like to do. This co-culture is one with dimension; it has three major components to it and many sub-components that makeup why Goths are the way that they are. One way is their social scene; Goths are not unlike other co-cultures in the sense that they provide a sense of belonging for the members of the group. However, they establish hierarchies between the members and conduct themselves a certain way when out in public that is unlike that of most other co-cultures. Second would be the gothic personality, much like other groups, to be gothic is to be unlike any other. There is a main focus on anything intellectually stimulating and controversially dark. Things most people would not dare to discuss they do with bluntness and assertiveness. They believe in who they are and are not about to hide their inner hurt, disgust, pain, or angst just to please someone else. Third is gothic music, just like those of the techno co-culture or the hip-hop co-culture, the gothic co-culture has a form of music all their own. It can be easily said that the group is driven and bound together by its music. After all, it was started and centered on music.

        On a personal level, I choose this co-culture to report on not because I didn’t know anything about it but because I do know something about it. I myself do not dress the typical part nor do I listen to their kind of music alone but I do enjoy the quiet aspects of life. I enjoy the part of life that not many people talk about, the part where you look deep within and see the inner demons, face them, and conquer them. It makes me happy when others show pain, it shows me that they too are human and go through the trials and tribulations in life that make us all different and worth the space we take upon this earth. I appreciate this co-culture because of their views on society and their close-knit relationships with their members. I also admire them for their guts to dress the way that they do and speak the way that they speak and act the way that they act. In my communication skills class, we have learned that in most instances we have terministic screens up and can’t or won’t look beyond the very obvious right in front of us. I hope that after reading this paper my reader will be more open to the possibilities of the world around him/her and realize that to be a part of all society you do not have to change outer appearances but inner outlooks on the world.

        In short, the gothic culture may seem more depressed than the rest of society but if you look at it in another light maybe the gothic culture is expressing outwardly the depressed feeling that societies feel inwardly. No matter what the case is, know that it is okay to feel dark and gloomy sometimes. Just like the weather can’t always be sunny everyone in the world can’t always look happy. Nothing could ever be that perfect and while it may be a fact that the members of the gothic co-culture are capable of feeling immense sadness they are also able to feel incredible happiness as well. There are no rules or guidelines to this co-culture stating so. Goth is all about the beauty that lies under every rock. I hope that I have shed a new light on this gloomy subject for all those reading this.

Once Upon A Time.. (Class Assignment)

Once upon a time...

                                 There lived a fair young princess named Angela Dannon. She was the sweetest and the most intelligent girl in her family. She had two sisters Brenda and Christine and a father, Zack. Her mother, a ravishing beauty queen in her own right, was however taken from Angela when she was only 5. The reason was never known, or at least not by Angela. She doesn’t remember much of her mother, but the one thing she'll never forget is the Flinstones bedtime stories her mother would read her. They lived in one of Europe’s only remaining castles that overlooked the beauty of the Atlantic. The house they were living in now wasn’t where Angela grew up as a kid. They moved after her mother untimely death. The house they lived in had so many memories it was painful to live there. The new house they moved into was perfect though it had more space for the girls to grow up in, and plenty of hidden treasures they found over the years. Plus they were right next to the park, which was really nice since they loved to play. One day they all decided to go to the park and play a game of soccer with the guys. Soccer had to have been their all-time favorite sport and they had to have been the biggest tomboys. Seeing as how they grew up around all men it's quite understandable how they became tomboys. Their father, aside from being away at work most of the time, was a great big influence on them and they did have an older brother Randy. He, however, was 4 years older than Angela and away at college at the present time. Between those two and a full male staff at their house they knew everything there was to know about guys, especially what they do. So they grew up around sports and now love them immensely. Forgetting it was spring and Angela having allergies the more she roughhoused around playing soccer the worse they got. Forgoing out that one sunny but windy day Angela ended up missing out on the chance of a lifetime “The annual Beckman’s spring ball”. The Beckman’s were one of the richest people in their neighborhood and as soon as you turned 16 you were allowed to attend the ball. Anyone who was anyone went to the ball, because it was the event of the year. Angela was devastated at the fact she had been so naive. She had been looking forward to this event for 7 months and now for the last 3 days, while her sisters fancied up, she spent her time all alone. She sat in her room with her television trying so hard not to pay attention to the magnificent sun calling her name from her bay window across from her bed. There was no one to take care of her except Pedro, this Italian guy her father just recently hired. He was gorgeous, kind of a 'Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome'. He had the most incredible eyes and dark skin and hair. Angela couldn’t help wondering if she were better if he would go to the ball with her as her escort. Pedro was the sweetest as he waited on her hand and foot, and he felt extremely bad for her. He knew her dad was in Milan taking care of business and the rest of the house was in ball frenzy. As he waited on her she started feeling even worse than he wasn’t out having fun preparing for the ball. Though, when she asked him if he had planned on going he said at first, “yes”, then retracting that he changed his mind and said, “but I know you'll need me so, no.". This iced her cake as she was determined to get better in time and now there was no way she was going to keep him home that night, whether he was taking her or someone else. Though no matter how much medicine she took or rest she got she just wasn’t getting any better. She still couldn’t breathe and sneezed constantly. She even felt so bad she begged him to go and leave her there and then come back and tell her all about it. He wouldn’t give in. He was willing to give up that night to be there with her. It made her want him even more but she bit her tongue and said nothing. The day of the ball came around quickly and Angela still sounded terrible. It was 3 o'clock and here came Pedro waltzing through her bedroom doors with the usual tasteless junk, antihistamines, decongestants, cough syrups, water, and a fresh box of tissues. Angela loathed taking medicine and getting her to take it was like pulling teeth. At first, Pedro thought of pulling her teeth just so she wouldn’t lock them together when he tried giving her the medicine but as she grew to like Pedro more she resisted less.

"I have an incredible surprise for you." He said turning down the television. 

"Excuse me that was Days of our Lives you just turned down." She retorted.

"You'll live." He said back to her completely ignoring the insulted expression on her face.

"This better be good if you’re making me miss the show that I live to see." She stated as she sat up in her bed and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Well, you won’t know that till later. Right now you have been beckoned to see your sisters."

"Why is it that Days has to get interrupted, why not the Young and the Restless?” she grumbled as she wrapped her moon and stars rob around her self and walked out of her room. 

        Pedro followed her as she sniffled and muttered under her breath. He just smiled pleased at what he had planned for her later. He was so pleased with his little surprise, he almost spilled the beans to her 3 times that day. She started to get frustrated with him around the 1st time and was just plain edgy by the 3rd, but he didn’t tell her, he caught himself every time. 7:00 rolled around pretty quickly and Brenda and Christine came down the front steps looking more immaculate than last year. They have already been to the ball 2 or 3 times. It made Angela so mad especially knowing it was her own fault for going out when she knew the consequences of it were going to make her sick. Brenda was all decked out in diamonds like their mother used to be and Christine was covered in pearls from head to toe. They looked so beautiful. Their dates were even decent looking this time. Christine's date Edward looked like a prince. He had sandy blond hair deep brown eyes, and if he wasn’t going with Christine, Angela would have definitely wanted him for herself. In the 10 minutes it took them to leave Angela started yearning to go even more and got even more disappointed and mad at herself. As the limo finally pulled out of the driveway the only ones left in the house were her and Pedro. The rest of the staff had the night off on account of the beautiful job they did preparing for the event. As she looked around she couldn’t find Pedro anywhere, it was almost like he left too. Finally, she found him waiting for her in the kitchen with a cheese pizza, a bottle of bubbly Sprite, and a television with VCR.

"What's all this for?" she asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Well since I purposely made them call you out of your room during Days I taped it for you, so we could have something to watch together tonight." He said sitting on one of the four barstools that sat around the island they had in the middle of the kitchen, where he had his surprise all set up.

"So you had this whole thing planned? You're slick." She sat down next to him and poured herself a glass of Sprite.

"I know I try, and by the way, I would have said yes if you would have asked me to go."

        She didn’t know how he knew she wanted to go with him because she told no one, but it didn’t matter to her because now she knew he would have gone with her and that’s all she cared about. The rest of the night was perfect they watched the rest of Days and took a walk together. Then when her sisters got home they stayed up till 4 a.m talking about how beautiful the ball was. Funny no matter what her sisters said to her after they got home mattered to her. She didn’t feel bad anymore cause she ended up having her own fun in her own way and there’s always next year.

Reviews of Plays I've Seen

                                                                   The Real Thing
                                                        By:


        In the play the Real Thing the two main characters Henry and Annie had a true relationship filled with trouble. Verbally you could hear it through the choice of sarcasm Henry used when Annie decided to do Brodies play. You could also hear Annie’s cry for love when she would turn her back to henry and walk away to the other side of the stage with her arms crossed or swinging down by her hips stiffly when he wouldn’t support her wanting to do Brodies’ play. He couldn’t understand why she would want to do such a terrible play written by and untalented actor. When it wasn’t about the play at all it about her need to feel needed and loved. The way that the co-star in Brodies’ play Billy would make her feel when henry and Annie weren’t together. Annie’s eyes also conveyed the hurt she felt inside. They showed her guilt when she looked into Henrys eyes after she had been with Billy all day and night. She expressed through her non direct communication of vague conversations on the telephone and talking over her shoulder while fidgeting with something in the apartment that she felt very sad about what she had done to Henry but that she didn’t want to feel guilty about it. She knew that it wasn’t bad to need love and attention and she didn’t want to feel wrong for having to go to someone else for it when henry wouldn’t give it to her. Music was played throughout the play as well and that helped they audience to know what was coming up. Slow depressing music was playing when they showed Annie and Billy together and Henry sitting in another spot thinking something was going on but not certain of it and trying to drown his presumptions away with alcohol. Lightening also played a key roll in this play by divulging what we were supposed to look at based on the scene and where. There was no dead space in this play either all the actors utilized all of the set that they needed to from front to back and left to right.

        In conclusion if I had a chance to go see this play again I would go in a heartbeat. It had lighthearted humor in it with the 80’s punk rock daughter and with the pie in Brodies face at the end. That was followed by a cheerful smile to Henry from Annie when he said a comment about marriages to actresses gave the play a good outlook on the future after being such a serious play about what women need from men and men need from women. They also used British accents that gave them a very proper and sophisticated sound to themselves. All in all I give the play two thumbs up and encourage those to partake in its wonderful portrayal of men and women and there needs towards and from each other. I also like it because it came along at a time in my life where I was going through the same problems with my boyfriend so I related quit nicely to Annie.







                                                             The Credeaux Canvas
                                                 By:


        This play had to have been the most moving piece of art I have ever seen in my entire life. Amelia, the girlfriend of Jamie, was portrayed with such drama and heart you feel it in every word that Jaime St. Peter, the actress portraying Amelia, said. Through out the play Jaime St. Peter expressed through the fidgeting of clenching her fists that she was stressed about the situation. And her constant movement all over the stage with her head tilted to the floor that she had some real reservations about being an accomplice in Jamie’s’ scheme to scam an art conasewer. Jaime St. Peter also had a way of speaking that she could make her voice quiver with ease when she was shaky about posing for the painting. She also cried with ease when she revealed to Jamie that she wasn’t in love with him that she was in love with his roommate Winston. The way that she quickly dropped her outfit when the appointing was to take place and squinted her nose and bit her lip to show her anxiety towards the whole situation. Then when it came to talking to Winston on a personal level in the play before he started to paint her she spoke with ease. Almost as if it was really her life up there for the audience to see and her passion for the character came from her own personal experience. I also thought it ironic that they played ‘I Can See Right Through You’ just before Amelia and Winston get naked and have their heart to heart talk and love scene. Almost implying that they can see right through each other to the true people that they are and have some internal connection. So that was a good choice in music to accompany the spectacular performance.

        In conclusion this play in my mind was an incredible piece of art. It told a story common to those of there age and the struggles that teenagers go through when it comes to love and money and how they choose to resolve their problems. Not only did Jaime St. Peter do an awesome job portraying Amelia but Michael McMillian and Jarrod Fry also played their parts to a perfection with as much heart and soul as 3 actors could put into one two hour long production. If in my life I ever get the chance to be an actress on stage and got to pick my role I would pick the roll of Amelia.







                                                                      The Serpent
                                                       By:

        A very deep portrayal of history and religion put together using as little verbal communication as possible. This play, however not the best I have seen, did pose the question, through their very unprofessional way, does the violence of yesterday and today have to do with Adam and Eve and what they start in motion many thousands of years ago? They actors/actresses did not consist of main characters, a plot, or climax. Instead it showed a time in history through various timed movements in slow motion that impacted our lives greatly. It showed a story of David and Goliath and Adam and Eve not for the purpose of being politically correct or giving us a historical accurate depiction of that time but instead a depiction of the consequences that came from one wrong decision. The actors/actresses wore specific outfits made of all white to stand for the purity of humanity while moving around in as little light as possible to give the effect of evil. They took complete use of their stage and spared no room, they also utilized the audience to keep them interested in what they were trying to say. Though not all together done in the greatest of taste the play did seem to have a strong message that without much verbal communication makes its audience think about what it has just saw. They used loud clear voices when they did speak, with the help of spot lights and certain phrases that were used over and over gave the words they did speak that much more power. Their eye contact with the audience was incredible, as they wanted you to know and understand what was going on. They also used their hands not to fidget with but to help describe and say what their words did not.

        In conclusion this play may not have been the best one that I have ever seen however I can say that I was thinking when I stepped out of the theater. It impacted me without the use of many words. So it goes to show that sometimes it’s not about what you do say but also about what you don’t say. Makes the statement believe more of what you see and only have of what you hear because actions speak louder than words seem as true as the gospel word. I wouldn’t recommend this play to anyone who did not have a completely open mind to the different aspects of art and speech but to those who can understand intended meanings and hidden messages I do recommend this play ideally.





                                                                  Fuddy Meers
                                                     By:

        Very appropriate title for a very fascinating and enlightening play. The character of Claire was played with ease. Almost as if the actress herself had no idea what was happening in this characters mind. That seemed to add the questionable tone to her voice when she spoke. She had no trouble looking directly at the audience and including us in on her personal thoughts about what she couldn’t remember. Claire’s’ lack of costume change also adds to the creative touch of the play. It expresses the lack of time she doesn’t realize she has and also that the other know they have. The way Claire hangs on to the book that her husband made her when she first developed the disease shows her need to hang on to something in a world where she feels she has nothing. Though the story was very touching and truly sad a tremendous amount of humor was added that not only caught the attention of the audience but also kept it while the story of why Claire had no memory unfolded. With mama’s lack of coherent speech, that was just plain perfection in speech control, to Binky the filthy swearing puppet, mixed with the pot head son and the way to pleasant for anyone’s good second husband the play seemed in all a well rounded piece of comedic genius. They all spoke with amazing clarity even mama who was suppose to be unclear. Not one character ever had his/her back to the audience making the audience that much more welcome feeling. Plenty of alliteration was used with similes for humor. Accompanied by a very well put together set, with lighting hitting only what the audience needs to see and music to enhance the flash backs, that Claire keeps having of her father and the dogs and the carnival music all create this wonderful masterpiece of theater.

        In conclusion, if you could not already tell I very much enjoyed this play. Not as much as I enjoyed the Credeaux Canvas but it ranks very high up there with it. The humor caught me from the beginning in the fact that her husband is like a male cheerleader with his fake all day long smile and kept me till the end where mama hurt Binky. I would by far recommend this play to anyone looking to enjoy a night of serious but lighthearted comedy.

Fairy Tales Affect the Human Psyche

                                                                           Abstract:

By having characters in fairy tales who believe in anything to satisfy human needs in turn effects the psyche of the children who listen to them. Maslow discusses how the human psyche needs to satisfy the physiological needs, the safety needs, the love, esteem, and self-actualization needs before it can obtain pure satisfaction out of life. Maslow explains what these needs are and by applying these definitions to “Cinderella” and “Puss in Boots” it is easy to see why Cinderella and the framers son do and think the things that they do. These fairy tales have such a strong impact on children, they inform the heart as well as the mind. They help children to uncover the mysteries of childhood in such a way that they do not come up with more questions to their initial question. Bruno Bettelheim also analyzes fairy tales and the child’s psyche when he talks about how important it is for children to believe in something like fairy tales. Children learn from these stories and develop their thought patterns around the theories taught throughout these fairy tales. Most fairy tales have a message that they’re trying to explain to children. Fairy tales open doors for children to learn and apply what they have learned to their life. Gale Encyclopedia and Amanda Craig also elaborate on these ideas. So basically fairy tales in themselves achieve needs such as safety, esteem, and love. While also giving children as well as adults something to think and dream about.

                                              Fairy Tales Affect the Human Psyche

        Sometimes we think of fairy tales and think of how much fun they are and miss that they have secret intended meaning. Fairy tales are meant to entertain us by using incredible imagery that just takes our breath away but they also have messages that they try to convey to us. However, since most fairy tales are geared toward the younger generation their explanations for who, what, where, when, and why are presented in such a simple way that most forget that they are trying for more than entertainment. This theory can be backed up by “The Uses of Enchantment” by Amanda Craig and “Fantasy” found in the Gale Encyclopedia. Examples of good fairy tales are “Puss in Boots” and “Cinderella”, found in The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. In these two fairy tales wonderful imagery is presented when they talk of the prince's ball and of the talking cat and all the wonderful activities it does to help its master out but along with being very colorful and imaginative, they both have a moral. The moral is that sometimes people believe what they know they should not because they cannot help themselves; they discover they have an inner need that must be satisfied.

        “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs” by George Norwood explains this very well. Maslow discusses how the human psyche needs to satisfy the physiological needs, the safety needs, the love, esteem, and self-actualization needs before it can obtain pure satisfaction out of life. Bruno Bettelheim also analyzes fairy tales and the child's psyche when he talks about how important it is for children to believe in something like fairy tales so they can obtain the knowledge needed to make important life decisions. Children learn from these stories and develop their thought patterns around the theories taught throughout these fairy tales. A child’s needs and thought process is also affected by the characters in the story. Each character has a need to fulfill, and through the story shows the child how to fulfill that need. Cinderella shows that she needs to be loved and show the right affection by trusting in the image of the fairy godmother. The farmers’ son shows that he needs to be self-sufficient by trusting in the talking cat to get him to a higher social status. How can someone put his or her whole future into something that doesn’t seem real? They can do this because the human psyche has an instinctive need for comfort and security that can cause them to believe almost anything that might satisfy that need. Having characters in fairy tales who believe in anything to satisfy human needs in turn effects the psyche of the children who listen to them.

        Amanda Craig explains the difference between a story and a fairy tale so well, she says that “Everyone knows that there are two kinds of stories for children: one in which good children live happily doing ordinary things; the other in which life is transformed by magic and adventure. "Fairy tales have such a strong impact on children, they inform the heart as well as the mind. Making a simple story like Cinderella into a teacher that says a prince will come looking for his princess one day and then the little girl waiting will be set and she will be able to live happily ever after. Puss in Boots turns into a teacher about going from nobody to somebody in a short amount of time with a little help from your friends. These fairy tales may present the happily ever after theme at the end but they also convey that the main characters were weak in their psyche to believe in things that were so far from reality. Meeting a dream man and becoming someone important with power almost overnight isn’t impossible but the likelihood of a fairy godmother creating the scene for it to happen and a black talking cat doing all your dirty work for you is beyond the realm of reality. Why did these two trust in figments of their imagination?

        Abraham Maslow believes that “ We are supposedly rational beings; however, we do not act that way.” (Maslow ) Instead, we believe, think, or do what we have to in order to satisfy our 5 basic needs. Those needs would be physiological, safety, love, esteem, and a self- actualization need. These needs would also be considered prepotent. “ A prepotent need is one that has the greatest influence over our actions.” (Maslow) Therefore Cinderella’s prepotent need was to find true love. She had the “desire to belong to a group such as a family because we need to feel loved and accepted by others.” (Maslow) Since Cinderella lost her mother and father at such a young age and was taken in by her evil stepmother and stepsisters and treated like a slave she had a dyer need to feel love, affection, and acceptance from others around her. So in her mind, she manifested a fairy godmother to satisfy her need. Because her need was so strong she believed with all her ability that her fairy godmother was really there. While in “Puss in Boots” the framers sons’ proponent need was self-actualization. He had the need to “become more…to become everything that one is capable of becoming.” (Maslow) Since he came from a run-down farm where he wasn’t sure how he was going to survive he strived to fulfill his need to be self-sufficient.

        Both of these fairy tales fit the Gals Encyclopedias definition of what fantasy is, and that is “ an important function that helps children confront their fears and desires in a safe context that they can control.”(Gale Encyclopedia) So for Cinderella going to the ball to meet the prince fulfilled her desire to be more than just a housemaid. Her desire became so great that it became a need for her to get out and go to the ball, therefore conjuring up her fairy godmother who made it possible for her to go. “ While fantasies often serve as a means of wish fulfillment, they can also express fears.” (Gale Encyclopedia) Like the fears that the farmers’ son had about not being able to survive with what his father left him when he died. His fear of amounting to nothing became so great he developed a need to self-actualize himself. Therefore conjuring up the talking cat that allowed him to achieve his need of high stature and never needing anything again. So here their desires and fears have manifested themselves into these indisputable needs to better their lives, where they conjure up images, more commonly known as imaginary images or friends, that they can confide in and trust to help them achieve their goals.


        In Bruno Bettelheim's essay “ The Child’s Need for Magic,” he goes in-depth into how important an imagination and fairy tales are to a child. “Fairy tales leave to the child’s fantasizing whether and how to apply to himself what the story reveals about life and human nature.” (Bettelheim 56) This is saying that a child will develop based on what he hears and decides how to apply it into his life based on the story.

        “However, realistic explanations are usually incomprehensible to children, because they lack the abstract understanding required to make sense of them. While giving them a scientifically correct answer makes adults think they have clarified things for the child, such explanations leave the young child confused, overpowered, and intellectually defeated. A child can derive security only from the conviction that he understands now what baffled him before- never from being given the facts which create new uncertainties.” (Bettelheim 57)

        This was his most powerful point of view because he says exactly what fairy tales do for children and that helps them understand adult concepts. Fairy tales help children uncover the mysteries of childhood in such a way that they do not come up with more questions to their initial question. Therefore, they make discoveries about the real world while developing an imagination and a sense of creativity, which will in turn help them throughout their life.

        Fairy tales are significant to children because they give children an imagination, and then expand upon it so that they may develop a better one throughout their adult life. Imagination is a very important attribute to have; it allows the mind to wander off and think about whatever it feels the need to think about. It also contributes to the understanding of right and wrong and to the realities of day-to-day life and the events that may occur. Most fairy tales have a message that they’re trying to explain to children. Most of the time it is a message that is hard to comprehend when told in blunt adult terms but when told in fairy tales, the message is geared toward smaller minds. Fairy tales make everyday life sound fun and uses a lot of fantastic imagery that for a child is easy to understand because it is related to something a child would know about. They also build up a child’s creativity and that is something that can be carried throughout one’s life. Just by depicting a pumpkin turning into a carriage and a little cat defeating a chameleon ogre gives a child the ignition to create his own fairy tales out of his own experiences. “Fantasy provided through fairy tales…can play an important role in helping children interpret events in their lives and deal with fear, anxiety, anger, jealousy, and other frightening emotions.” (Gale Encyclopedia) This fantasy then extends into creativity that will help the child as he or she grows up with schoolwork as well as in the workforce and surely comes in handy with relationships. Fairy tales also give children a chance to sit down with someone they know and hear a part of history that has been passed down from generation to generation. “Cinderella” and “Puss in Boots” are over 100’s of years old and have been passed down so that all those children who come afterward can enjoy those timeless classics and learn their indisputable lessons of life. On every generation it leaves an imprint in the minds of all those it has touched; and with those imprint, in the minds of children, they start to understand what was once a mystery to them. Fairy tales are also good for grownups to hear as well because they bring them back to their youth and lets them remember all their good times in life. They remember the first time they heard Cinderella and how she swept her way into the prince's heart. They remember the words he spoke when the clock struck midnight, “ No one else shall be my wife but the maiden whose foot fits this golden shoe.” (Brothers Grimm 90) Or they remember sitting there listening to “ Puss in Boots” and dreaming about the day their cat starts talking and says “Listen, there is no need to kill me…. Have some boots made for me instead? Then ill be able to go out, mix with people, and help you before you know it.” (Brothers Grimm 652) No matter what fairy tale is being read there will always be something that imprints an image on the mind of the reader of the child listening. Fairy tales are just one of those things that are so significant because they give people young and old something to dream and think about.

        In conclusion, no matter what fairy tale it is they all have a character in it that has a need to full fill. Whether it be a physiological, safety, love, esteem, or a self- actualizing need there is still that desire that drives to make life better. While the main character is achieving his or her goal to become a better, more well-rounded person the child listening to the story is learning how to achieve those goals as well. Fairy tales open doors for children to learn and apply what they have learned to their life. It allows them to grow as a child and make decisions for themselves that best fit what they need in their life. Fairy tales also in themselves achieve needs such as safety, esteem, and love. When a parent sits down to read a fairy tale to a child they are assuring the child that no matter what happens in the story they are safe. The story also can give a child self-esteem, the child may think if Cinderella can become a beautiful princess after being a housemaid then its all right if their not the most beautiful they could still end up a happy young woman with a great guy. Or let the child know that even if they come from a poor background they can still become very powerful, well known, and wealthy. They can also feel love when someone reads to them. They feel accepted and part of a group or family. So fairy tales can affect the human psyche on many different levels from the characters to the children listening to the story, and no matter what the fairy tale has a creative way of dealing with the problems presented.


                                                                  Works Cited:

• Bettelheim, Bruno. “The Child’s Need for Magic.” The Conscious Reader. Eds. Caroline Shrodes et al. 8th ed. Neesham heights: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. 56-63.
• “Cinderella.” The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Zippes, Jack (translator). Bantam Books: New York. November 1992.
• Craig, Amanda. “The Uses of Enchantment.” New Statesman. Issue: December 4, 1998
• “Fantasy.” Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence. Gale Research, 1998 
• Norwood, George. “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.” Http://www.connect.net/georen/maslow.htm. June 1996. Last accessed May, 2001.
• “Puss in Boots” The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Zippes, Jack (translator). Bantam Books: New York. November 1992.