Unsettling Language in Elizabeth Bowen’s The Demon Lover Essay

Unsettling Language in Elizabeth Bowen’s The Demon Lover Elizabeth Bowen retells a popular folk tale in her short story, "The Demon Lover." The title suggests that the plot consists of a woman being confronted by a demon lover from her past. Bowen does not stray far from this original tale. Instead of originality, Bowen's prose relies on the use of subtleties to keep the story interesting. The story's subtleties feed us questions that continually grab our interest. Bowen immediately begins to create a sense of uneasiness in the first paragraph. As Mrs. Drover, the protagonist, walks toward her London house, "an unfamiliar queerness had silted up; a cat wove itself in and out of railings, but no human eye watched Mrs. Drover's return" (36). The author's use of the word "queerness" puts the reader on guard for something out of the ordinary. She then follows it by the description of a cat-a mysterious creature-wondering down the street with no regard to any passersby. The phrase "no human eye watched" seems to be overstating the situation. Instead of just saying that nothing was watching Mrs. Drover, the author chose to say that no human was watching her. We are led to question whether the cat was the only non-human watching her or not. And, if not, what else was watching her? The feeling of uncanny continues throughout the next paragraphs. The house Mrs. Drover enters is given characteristics that suggest that it is living. There is a "bruise in the wallpaper" and a piano "had left what looked like claw-marks" (36). On their own, these descriptions would not have created uneasiness. But, the house that bruises and furniture that leaves claw-marks contribute to the sense of uneasiness that had already begun to develop. W... ... no resulting rescue (40). Her screaming leads us to believe that she had in fact gotten into the demon lover's taxi. As the driver "made off with her into the hinterland of deserted streets," we are still left questioning who exactly the driver was, how he had come back from the dead, what Kathleen had promised him, and whether she had actually remembered her promise and had used it as an escape to her monotonous life (40). All of the unanswered questions, along with subtle uses of unsettling language, create an unsettling effect throughout the story. The title, "The Demon Lover," gave a good general idea of what Elizabeth Bowen was writing about, but her clever writing left interesting questions lingering throughout the story and even after its end. Works Cited Bowen, Elizabeth. "The Demon Lover." Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen. New York: Knopf, 1981.

An Analysis of the Correlation Between Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Essay

Conflict theory is based entirely in power and how those in power do all they can to hold the majority of the population down and to keep them from gaining power, so as to secure their own position. Conflict theorists would say that obesity is a product of the living conditions, stress and poor quality of food and health education. Obesity is seen as deviant and problematic and therefore conflicts with the ideal society of being fit and thin. The more obese the less power and stature you have in society. Conflict theorists might say that those that are in power, law makers, Fortune 500 CEO’s, for example, make cheaper good, make goods more unhealthy, and so the poor might only be able to afford cheap, unhealthy bulk food and become susceptible to obesity. Conflict theorists might say that food education might be controlled by larger government forces, for example the Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture. These are the members of society who look out for their own bottom line and corporate interests from sponsors and lobbyists. They might limit education about food intake and what is healthy and unhealthy, they might suggest certain foods like beef or milk is healthy to appeal to the dairy industry, to keep our politicians funded with billions of dollars in donations. There is also the argument that by keeping people obese it allows for discrimination at work, in which they must work harder at getting raises because they cannot keep up with their thinner counterparts. Obese people have difficulty with their social lives and early death and numerous health complications that might further ensure the status of the powerful few at the top of the food chain. The Structural Functionalism theory argument is that obesity is a necessary part of society. Functionalist’s major argument is that everything that exists must have a meaning and must be useful towards society as a whole. Functionalists might argue that obese people will bring attention to the problems in health care and obesity might help in teaching those in power more our emotional connection to food and to further explore man’s relationship with eating and nourishment. The obese population might inspire others to be healthier and might inform and educate society as a whole about the dangers of obesity and its overall impact. Functionalist would say that to the obese would be bring an overall benefit to society. The symbolic interactionist theory demonstrates the effects towards obese people when they feel they are being perceived in a negative or unflattering way. The verbal and nonverbal cues that a fit or thin person demonstrates might create an obese person to withdraw even further from society and or turn to food as a coping mechanism thereby increasing weight. Obesity is most correlated to social discrimination and a feeling of being unworthy or weak due to the inability to resist food, for personal and emotional reasons. Obesity in society is a symbol of unhealthiness and unattractiveness which produces feelings of disgust, but obesity is a symbol in and of itself because our society makes us associate those things with obesity. There are cultures and societies around the world where being obese means status and power and it was seen as sexy and desirable. Everything we do is socially constructed as is our reactions and treatment of obese people.

“Voluntold” to Serve Essay - 867 Words

Public prosecutors, accounting specialists, military personnel and law enforcement officials are just a few of the public services jobs filled by voluntary citizens from all walks of life, but what if a two year service of this kind was mandatory for all high school graduates? It could be said that this would bolster public services with an influx of personnel to provide a more robust service. Would the reasons to implement this type of service outweigh the consequences though? I don’t believe so. In fact, I believe that compulsory public service would only cause complications for the military, increase government spending and would be a direct violation of the Thirteenth amendment. Admittedly, public service could instill a sense of†¦show more content†¦This process also consumes time, generates otherwise unnecessary paperwork and senselessly diverts the attention of military leadership from their primary function. Eliminating recruiting cost in order to save money is another argument that could be made in favor of making it mandatory. While it is true that this cost would be eliminated, with the elevated number of personnel, it is very probable that, not only would there be no savings, government spending would actually increase. For instance, in 2008 between all active duty and reserve forces there were 324,737 people who entered military service (Khomar, 2009). The average cost of recruiting is 11,000 dollars per member (Powers, 2011). If a mandatory service policy had been in effect, it would have saved approximately 3.5 billion dollars in Government spending. That’s impressive, right? Maybe, but consider this: The number of students projected to graduate in 2011 is 3.2 million and there is a cost of 35,000 dollars per member just to complete basic training (Powers, 2011) (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008). That would be 112 billion dollars! This would increase the nation’s average annual expenditure on basic military training by 97 billion dollars. Granted, not all 3.2 million graduating students would be military, and there would even be many that would be completely disqualified for public service, but the foreseeable cost of implementing a screeningShow MoreRelatedWomen During Combat - Rough Draft1609 Words   |  7 Pagescombat Infantry and Special Forces units. I celebrate the decision to lift the previous ban on a social basis for women’s equality, but my personal experiences and knowledge of the way war is experienced makes me ultimately opposed to allowing women to serve in direct ground combat positions. There are many different arguments from various feminist groups, politicians and even average Americans. Many of these individuals have never experienced day to day life in a war zone and generate their opinionsRead MoreThe Military Of The United States2081 Words   |  9 PagesNational military Establishment.) The department of Defense was encompassed the Army, Navy, and the new branch the Air-Force. The Air–Force Expeditionary Force (AEF) created in the late 1990s which allowed active duty, reserve, and air National Guard to serve together; this allowed the forces to join together and complete missions, instead of one being deployed for years on end. This concept came about because it faced declining budgets and personnel, so in order to continue they had to change the way it