A critical review of the harlem dancer and her storm

A critical review of the harlem dancer and her storm Claude McKay’s â€Å"The Harlem Dancer† is a poem immersed in the rich cultural aesthetic of a cultural renaissance that is unable to conceal its somber song of oppression, even in an atmosphere trying relentlessly to exorcise those sour notes. The infected atmosphere in question is a Harlem nightclub, in which a beautiful, black female dances away her hardships as â€Å"laughing youths,† â€Å"prostitutes,† and the speaker watch. Using the speaker’s unique perspective, and the strict sonnet form, McKay illuminates both the beauty of resilience and degradation of the African American â€Å"self† perpetuated by racial oppression. Initially, a division is drawn between the speaker and the rest of the audience because of a difference in race and perhaps morality. Critic Beth Palatnik agrees, stating that the speaker â€Å"identifies himself and the dancer with blackness† (Palatnik). According to her analysis, the speaker assumes a position of moral superiority over the rest of the audience that sexualizes the dancer’s â€Å"half clothed body† (McKay 2). She notes that the speaker is more preoccupied with the woman’s â€Å"swaying palm† than he seems to be with her scantily clad figure. Though Palatnik seems to believe that this evidence alone proves the speaker’s moral superiority, the speaker is nevertheless an audience member himself in the nightclub, watching this sexualized dance. Therefore, it seems hypocritical to suggest that he is morally superior to those around him who are watching the same show. However, perhaps the difference involves not what the speaker sees, but what the audience does not see during the performance. The other audience members are described as â€Å"laughing,† â€Å"eager,† and â€Å"passionate†; diction that alludes to their unburdened enjoyment of the performance. The speaker is separate from these â€Å"boys† and â€Å"girls,† and the slow, deliberate meter of this sonnet, antithetical to the raucous atmosphere of the nightclub, allows the reader to infer that the speaker is a more reserved and thoughtful presence. Critic Eugenia W. Collier confirms that the â€Å"slow, measured, dignity o f the sonnet† form, contrasts with the â€Å"wild world† of Harlem (Collier). The speaker’s demeanor contrasts with those around him just as the structure of this poem contrasts with its setting. Maybe, as Palatnik suggests, his behavior is derived from his repudiation of the audience-projected eroticism, which she labels as â€Å"cultural rape†or maybe, as Collier speculates, he behaves differently because of the age disparity between him and the other audience members (Palatnik). Yet, it is a third explanation that best defends the critical assertion that the speaker of this poem is morally superior to those around him. In the ending heroic couplet following this sonnet’s volta, the reader learns that the speaker sees the dancer’s â€Å"self† as well as her body, creating a psychological connection rather than just a corporeal fascination. The audience and the speaker are both voyeurs, enjoying the aesthetic pleasure of watching the dancer, but unlike the audience the speaker sees the dancer as a fully actualized being, spiritually separated from her body and gender, if not race. The speaker sees her as a person as well as the attractive subject of his voyeurism, particularly a person similar to himself because of their shared ethnicity. He recognizes the intersection of beauty and pain that both define her humanity and, as the speaker implies, the African-American race. Using the dancer as an archetype, the speaker and poet illuminate the codependence of beauty and adversity in relation to the African-American woman, and the black community in general. In accordance with the philosophy of this poem, adversity begets beauty and this is emphasized through McKay’s use of a storm as an extended metaphor for the hardships faced by the black population through the course of American history. The poem states that the dancer had â€Å"grown lovelier for passing through a storm† (McKay 8). Palatnik is correct in her assertion that this storm is a metaphorical storm of racial oppression, supported with the emphasis on race in this poem and exemplified in the euphonic phrase â€Å"blown by black players,† the description of the dancer’s neck as â€Å"swarthy†, as well as through McKay’s other works that focus on race (ie: â€Å"Mulatto†). Critic Cary Nelson argues that the dancer’s beauty and pride, epito mized through her graceful movements and â€Å"proudly swaying palm,† represent the gains black people had made from overcoming adversity (McKay 5-7). Still, while the dancer may seem beautiful and triumphant, the description of her as â€Å"falsely-smiling† in the final heroic couplet implies that the resilient â€Å"self† that she projects to the audience may be as much of a performance as her dance. Although analysis of the speaker establishes his recognition of the dancer’s â€Å"self,† further examination of the last phrases of this poem suggests that what the speaker is seeing is not the â€Å"self† but the absence of the â€Å"self,† resulting from the dancer’s continued experience of racial subjugation. The speaker states that he knew the dancer’s â€Å"self† was not in the â€Å"strange place† of the nightclub. This line contains two metrical deviations from standard iambic pentameter; a pyrrhic followed by a spondee that emphasize the words â€Å"strange place†. This spondee’s function is to separate â€Å"strange place† from the rest of the line, creating a division between itself and the word â€Å"self† and therefore a thematic separation of the dancer’s internal self from her external environment. This tactic conveys that the dancer has overcome adversity through adaptation, pro tecting the â€Å"self† through separating it from her body, which exists in an environment of racial oppression and sexual exploitation. The music playing in the Harlem nightclub fades with a final somber note. Though triumph is found at the beginning of this poem, it is only a triumph of adaptation. In this poem, McKay insinuates that the oppressive conditions African Americans endured for centuries still persist into his current era and that any projected contentment on the community’s behalf is as much a facade as the dancer’s â€Å"falsely-smiling† face.

How far can conceptual tools such as carrying capacity, limits of Assignment

How far can conceptual tools such as carrying capacity, limits of acceptable change and environmental impact assessment actually - Assignment Example The WTO, World Tourism Organization, defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited"(emoiz.com). Thus, mankind’s fascination with experiencing the unknown, coupled with improvements in technology and rising standards of living around the world have ensured that tourism has percolated into every strata of society, and resulted in rapid growth of that industry. However, tourism to view and admire natural environment and natural wonders (apart from the man-made ones) has started having major negative impacts on the natural environments, even leading to sizable destructions. These destructions not only damages those natural wonders, but also wide range of flora and fauna, whose habitats get destroyed in the process. Thus, with the positi ve activity of tourism turning into a nightmarish activity, there have been calls for sustainable form of tourism. As stated by Hens and Ni (cited in Nath, 1999) no form of tourism exists that does not cause environmental stress, and so the challenge is to find a ways towards sustainable tourism development that harmonises economic benefits importantly with the protection of natural diversity. Implementing sustainability in tourism involves a series of steps that has to be taken by various stakeholders. To actualize that, few conceptual tools can be used particularly â€Å"Carrying Capacity†, limits of acceptable change and environmental impact assessment. Each of these tools can protect the environment and its habitants, even while allowing human exploration of the environment in the form of tourism. So, this paper will discuss how these conceptual tools can be optimally utilized to create sustainable forms of tourism. â€Å"Carrying Capacity† and how it can help to c reate sustainable form of tourism The term or concept â€Å"â€Å"Carrying Capacity†Ã¢â‚¬  can be used in various contexts, however it basically â€Å"refers to the number of individuals who can be supported in a given area within natural resource limits, and without degrading the natural social, cultural and economic environment for present and future generations.† (gdrc.org). Every environment including a tourist environment or spot can have a limit on how many people and how much of their activities, it can support and sustain. If that limit is breached and more people enter that particular area, it could lead to instability and could cause repercussions to the already existing people. Although, the â€Å"Carrying Capacity† for any specified area is not a fixed one, and it can be altered through various means including technology, it is not a positive step. Because any alteration or modification of the â€Å"Carrying Capacity† will always result in p roblems to both the existing people as well as the entering people. Any restriction in the resources, when the â€Å"Carrying Capacity† increases beyond limit will lead to dearth of land, shortage of food, or decline in water quality and availability, which will quickly put the brakes on both types of growth. (Chant 2011). Thus, the tourist department and the authorities can come up with a tentative â€Å"Carrying Capacit

Unpaid Internship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Unpaid Internship - Essay Example In my opinion, the unpaid internship program is perfectly legal. Some institutions offer either a paid or unpaid internship program. For the unpaid internship program, a partnership is entered into between the schools and the training institutions. The institutions include the hospitals, factories, stores, and other unpaid internship entity types. Under both the unpaid and paid internship programs, the students are given an opportunity to experience real-life working conditions. In the internship program, fair exchange occurs. In exchange for the real-life working experiences, the unpaid intern earns educational units (Niles 108). The educational unit credits are in lieu of the interns’ being paid in U.S. dollar or other similar payment methods. For receiving free real work experiences, the greenhorn, neophyte academic learner cannot demand payment of their internship duties (Wong 57). Undoubtedly, the unpaid intern receives equivalent education units in exchange for the entit ies’ free training. Nancy Niles reiterated that â€Å"the unpaid internship program offers management another tool for fill the company’s need additional company recruits (Niles 107). Some entities engage in trial employment (internship) activities. The company tests the intern’s capacity to be hired as another future employee. For the slow-learning lackluster unpaid intern, management may immediately to terminate the internship. An intern who cannot follow the instructions or orders of the clinical instructors or training facilities’ superiors will surely be â€Å"kicked out† of the training sessions (Niles 108). Without a doubt, the unpaid internship program offers the facilities’ officers another tool in its desire to absorb highly qualified interns into the company’s regular employee program. The unpaid internship program increases the students’ job hiring prospects. To be effective, the students must focus quality time and energy to learning everything needed to be successful in the real world, including being hired in one’s dream job.