The Prodigy

From a child singer to a world star, Michael Jackson was the world’s renowned “King of Pop”. In the 1960s, the emergence of the Jackson 5, a group that comprised of five Jackson siblings, challenged American society’s antipathy towards black people. Fear, anxiety, and hatred about “the afros” did not seem to apply for Jackson 5 (Alban). They soon became the darling of American people. The Jacksons came of age during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, which impacted the way they would present…

on the true life of Eddie Waitkus, a Philadelphia Phillies first baseman whose career was nearly destroyed in an unexpected shooting incident. The kick-start to Malamud’s career, this roman a clef portrays Waitkus as Roy Hobbs, a young pitching prodigy who hopes to one day be the best player in league history. However, his aspirations soon go awry after he is shot by a mysterious woman whom he has fallen in love with. Surviving the event, Hobbs faces a symbolic rebirth, reintegrating himself…

examples on how someone’s culture plays a major role in how they view other people and the world. (Joseph Briscoe) In Amy Tan’s novel “Two Kinds” the inquisitive nationalized young chinese girl is puzzled as to why her mother is forcing her to be a prodigy. Like most Chinese mothers they expect obedience and demand nothing but the best from their child, so the parents tend to be greatly draconian. To the main character, the tasks her mother is demanding is quite boring and difficult. Throughout…

I first became aware of the JET programme a few years ago. I was passing a poster on the way to my Japanese class and it caught my attention. It was A3 in size, portrait, beautifully coloured, and focused on a single phrase: “Do you want to teach English in Japan?”. Immediately I thought to myself, “Yes. Yes, I would really like to do that.”. My curiosity of Japan was sparked at a young age when I first watched Japanese media on the television. From then on, my interest grew steadily over the…

How is music created? Music is a very complicated piece of art in which it is composed of passion, emotion, and tension. During the eighteenth century, music became a great role in people’s social and academic lives. Frederic Chopin was a Romantic Era (eighteenth century) pianist, which meant that he not only composed music during the Romantic Era, but his music was influenced by that era as well. He set aside many hours working on each note, making sure it was perfect and it would not be…

Malcolm Gladwell's, “Outliers: The Story of Success” illustrates the illusion and the blind luck of the “self-made man”. The idea of the self-made man has been alive and well in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people immigrate to the U.S. every year on the dream of a new life full of opportunity and subsequently, success. What Gladwell argues is that there is never any success without ample opportunity. There is no such thing as a real self-made man. Gladwell proves that there cannot…

Many people have different opinions on culture. Some people think it’s just the way you grew up and your heritage, and then there is the others. The others who believe that culture is how you like and what you believe and everything down to what type of socks that you wear. Both of those things are correct is some way or another but does your culture affect the way you see the world? Culture can affect how you see the world sometimes but not all of the time. In the memoir “By Any Other Name” ,…

out of their money. He teaches sermons using fake relics fooling people into buying them to work miracles. The real-life version of the Pardoner, Marjoe, made his living by traveling across the United States pretending to be an amazing preaching prodigy, as a child, thus tricking people out of their money in the same way. Furthermore, the Pardoner entertains his fellow travelers by telling the story of three men who search for death and find riches. The Pardoner’s Tale concludes with the men…

Social acceptance is a key component described in her novels. In Tan's short story “Two Kinds” The protagonist's daughter and antagonist mom find themselves in a constant battle between accepting the person the protagonist would like to be, versus the prodigy her mother wants to make her daughter. This attempt is common as it is a preconceived notion of American success to many immigrant families.(Hunter) Social acceptance is an important characteristic in most of Amy Tans works. Tans ideology…

Re-entering the Game Based on past and current practice, softball should be brought back to the 2020 Olympics. Softball and baseball were recently removed after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The International Olympic Committee, also known as the IOC, decided that they needed to lessen the number of sports in the Olympics and baseball and softball were among the first to be removed. From the first game in the Olympics in 1966, to the last in 2008, the only teams to ever win medals were the United…