Chaucer’s “The Parliament of Fowls” and “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” both explore order and disorder in an animal society. By using animals rather than human beings, Chaucer is able to approach with a dichotomy, simultaneously emulating and parodying human society. Chaucer seeks to show the necessary co-dependent relationship between order and disorder. Disorder is characterized as compulsory for order to exist or function. It is this necessary duality that lies at the heart of both texts, and makes the narratives so intricate and compelling.
Author: Christopher Wang
Introduction
The moral justification of Spanish presence in Latin America was the proselytization of Christianity. Religion would continue to have an unparalleled impact on the consolidation and maintenance of colonization. Christianity was often the first form of communication between the Spanish and indigenous. It was a key factor in the subjugation of Amerindians. Religion is the perfect grounds for determining the potency of Amerindian identity in the colonial era. One mode of exploring the role of religion in colonial identities is through architecture. As the colonizers conquered and consolidated Latin America, new structures were erected and existing ones modified.
J. M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians examines the actions and thoughts of the Magistrate, who becomes conflicted as the Empire he is a part of becomes increasingly violent against the perceived barbarian threat. Central to the Magistrate’s turmoil is the perceived superlative nature of the Empire with its objective history and absolute truths, and the irreconcilably immoral actions the Empire performs. The idea of history being written on the body is integral to this supposed unequivocal nature and history of the Empire. Literally, the barbarian captives are written upon. On a more metaphorical level, the torture of prisoners can be seen as an extension of the Empire’s writings. Torture provides an objective narrative, pain, on the subjective body. It absorbs and converts the subjective into the objective, so that only the history of the writer (i.e. the history of the Empire). remains. As articulated by Hegel, the modern Western idea of civilization has long rested on the union of history and its written record(Moses 117). The writing of history on the body then is the Empire, representing Western civilization and colonization, consuming the uncivilized colonized. At its core, Waiting for the Barbarians is about the Magistrate’s search for truth. Coetzee charts the evolution of the Magistrate’s beliefs from objective to subjective, from a Hegelian and teleological perspective to a post-modern and post-structural perspective.
How many hair products do you use? Shampoo, conditioner, gel, mousse, wax, hairspray? It might take ages, and cost a fair chunk, but the end look is worth it, right? Your hair is shiny and light. It looks like there is a perpetual wind flowing your long tresses back. When you step out of the shower, it is a Dove commercial.
But what did cavemen use before Dove Damage Therapy Daily Moisture? Did they just walk around with greasy scalps and dirty locks as they hunted dinosaurs? For that matter, what did people in the past century use? Modern shampooing only emerged in the 1930s.
Let’s talk about ironing.
“Ironing?” I hear you ask. “Is he being ironic?” you wonder, even as you congratulate yourself on your unintentional joke.
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Walking Like a Supermodel
So you religiously read Vogue, Elle, Leacock’s, and every other literary powerhouse in the fashion world.
Your sartorial choices are more than adequate, but something’s missing. As you walk down the street, there’s a profound sense of misplacement and loss. Something’s terribly wrong: no one is paying you any attention.
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FAQ: Tailors for Men
You’ve probably passed by tailor shops before, and had an inexplicable urge to go in. But something held you back. What exactly are you supposed to do? What can you get tailored? And isn’t it going to be awfully expensive?
Look no further for your answers! After this FAQ, you’ll be strutting into all the tailors in Montreal like you own the damn place.
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The Constant Vanity in Araby
James Joyce’s “Araby” follows a nameless narrator as he pursues a girl for the first time, seeking to win her affections by bringing her a gift from the titular bazaar. The short story can be interpreted in many different ways depending on the different facets the narrator is being viewed through. Despite the different commentaries that stem from the multi-dimensional characterization of the narrator, there is nonetheless an overarching, central thesis, surrounding man’s vanity and his desire for an ideal.
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Superhero Fashion
“The New 52″ is perhaps DC Comics’ most ambitious project event: a complete revamp, reboot and relaunch of all superhero titles. Cultural icons Superman, Batman and other superheroes have all been given a blank slate, making it the perfect time for someone to start reading comics.
Not only have histories been reset, but most heroes have been given new costumes. Here are some of DC’s biggest icons’ new looks, and what they’re doing right and wrong.
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Stanza Structure in The Fish and The Force
Marianne Moore’s “The Fish” and Dylan Thomas’ “The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower” are complex and ambiguous poems that explore the paradoxical forces in a monistic universe where everything is intertwined. Time, nature and humanity are all connected and shown to have contradictory, twin faces: one of creation and one of destruction. Focus will be given to Moore and Thomas’ use of stanza structure to emphasize and reflect their ideas. The stanza structure of “The Fish” and “The Force” are largely different with subtle similarities, but effectively convey the same message, themes and ideas.