The united States Constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The united States Constitution - Essay Example First passed by the Senate in April 1864 and by the House on 31st January 1865, the amendment was adopted the same year on 6th December (GPO-CONAN 1793-4). Section 1 of the 13th amendment explicitly maintains the abolishment of slavery and involuntary servitude from all parts of the country, as well as the territories outside the USA under American jurisdiction, in these words: â€Å"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction† (GPO-CONAN 1796). In Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3, 20 (1883), the Supreme Court held that the amendment under-examination concentrates upon the eradication of slavery and involuntary servitude only with the aim of introducing an absolute freedom in the country (109 US 4, 20). Somehow, the court further exclaims, that denial of equal accommodations in public places does not impose any mark of slavery; instead it actually infringes the rights had been protected by the law abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude. In other terms, despite the reality that SC applies observing of equality at public places; nevertheless, it does not enforce the strict banishment of ethno-racial or religious prejudice and bias being demonstrated by the (white) subjects at the public places towards their black counterparts (Parks 24). However, the judgment issued by the court expressively turns down the prevalence of wide-scale ethno-racial prejudice in the country (109 US 62, 20). Similarly, through its verdict in 392 U.S. 409 Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (No. 645), the court held in its Para 2 (a) that Section 1982 completely bars any type of racial discrimination to be observed with regards to the sale and purchase of any property. In other words, witnessing of racial bias in property-related business has been declared

Changing World Lasting Values Essay Example for Free

Changing World Lasting Values Essay You hear many tales nowadays — that the world is absurd, that everything has changed, that old moral values have died. This is all non-sense, for if you look for reality beneath the clutter of words which hide it, you will rediscover the eternal man. True values were not invented for the pleasure of senile moralists. They exist because without them, neither society nor happiness could survive. Here, then, are a few rules as old as civilization itself which remain true despite the advances of science and technology. The first is that man must live for something other than himself. The man who meditates ceaselessly about himself finds a thousand reasons to be unhappy. He has notaccomplished everything he wanted to or should have done; he has not gotten everything he thought he deserved; he has not been loved as he dreamed of being loved- But if he lives for ideals outside of himself — for his faith or his country, for his friends, his wife and family, he miraculously forgets all his petty worries. In trying to make others happy, he also makes himself happy. The veritable inner world is the veritable outer world. The second rule is that man must act. The joy of the soul is inaction. Instead of lamenting the absurdity of the world, let us try to transform our own little corner. It is not impossible. We cannot change the whole universe, but who hopes to do that? Our objective is much more simple: to do our job and do it well, to become a master at it. Each one works in his own field. I write books, the carpenter assembles my bookshelves, the policeman directs traffic, the engineer, constructs, the minister governs. All of them, kept busy at work which they know how to do well, are happy. This is so true that when people have leisure time, they keep busy with apparently useless activities such as games and sports. As for useful action, we know from experience that it is effective: an active mayor makes a city prosperous; an active priest brings vitality to a parish. Happy are those in whose eyes men look for order. The third rule is that one must believe in the power of the will. It is not true that the future is predetermined- A great man can change the course of history. Any man who has the courage and the will can change his own future. Naturally, none of us is all- powerful. Each mans freedom has its limits. Freedom lies between the border of the possible and the will. It is beyond my power to prevent war, but I can perform an act which, multiplied by millions, will be effective. It is not possible for me to win a battle, but it is up to me to be a courageous soldier. Since this limitation of the will is dependent on what one dares, one must not worry about his limitation; but do the best he can. Finally, the fourth, and most precious of all values, is faithfulness, Faithfulness to promises, contracts, to others, and to oneself. One must be among those who can be counted upon. Faithfulness is not an easy virtue. Thousand of temptations are thrown across our paths. Faithfulness in marriage, said Bernard Shaw, is no more natural to man than the cage to the tiger. Undoubtedly, faithfulness is natural. It is born of a voluntary decision, constantly renewed, which helps us to rise above our natures. But it gives us the lasting joy of being at peace with ourselves. I may forego an immediate pleasure to assure myself the great joy in the future of looking at my past without shame, but with pride. Every society in which citizens live for naught but fleeting pleasures, where men no longer trust each other, and whose members let themselves go is doomed. When Rome let go and ceased to set store by the values which made her great, she perished. When France clung to eternal values she was saved. Modern technology may change ones modes of action, but they change neither its values, the reasons for it, nor the duty of faithfulness. Thus it was in the beginning and so it will always be.

Online Social Networking and Politics Essay -- Facebook, Twitter, Pint

Introduction The internet is one of the most dynamic inventions in the history of mankind. It spreads knowledge and allows for rapid communication amongst untold numbers of people on a scale previously unimaginable. It has revolutionized countless aspects of the modern world, ranging from its effects on business practices and the economy to creating new forms of leisure activities and educational content. The multitude of ways the internet has affected the modern world is truly astonishing. Online social networking is a relatively recent phenomenon of the internet. Online social networks have permeated their ways into millions of peoples’ lives. People create digital identities of themselves, updating and maintaining their online profiles, allowing users to more easily keep in touch with family, friends, and the world around them. Groups and micro-societies are formed when users rally behind a common interest, activity, or goal. This user-managed method of organizing people and information has quickly found its way into varying aspects of our culture. One important area in which the internet and online social networks have found their way is American politics, and they are changing it like it has never been changed before. Howard Dean The rise and fall of former Vermont governor Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential campaign marked the beginning of a new era in American politics. Dean was a game changer. He was the first candidate to utilize the power of the internet and online social networks for campaigning purposes, without which he would have not risen to (at one point) be considered a front-runner for the Democratic ticket. As his campaign manager Joe Trippi notes, the Dean campaign started out small in both the num... ... Vargas, Jose Antonio. 20 November 2008. â€Å"Obama Raised Half a Billion Online.† The Washington Post. sec. Politics http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html Walsh, Kenneth T. 17 January 2008. â€Å"The Battle Cry That Backfired on Howard ‘The Scream’ Dean.† U.S. News & World Report http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/01/17/the-battle-cry-that-backfired.html Wilgoren, Jodi and Jim Rutenberg. 1 February 2004. â€Å"Missteps Pulled A Surging Dean Back to Earth.† The New York Times sec. 1 p. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/us/2004-campaign-former-governor-missteps-pulled-surging-dean-back-earth.html?pagewanted=1 Willard, Terri. March 2009. "Social Networking and Governance for Sustainable Development." International Institute for Sustainable Development. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2009/social_net_gov.pdf

Icon of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe

Icon of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Virgin of Guadalupe. It is a most famous and most popular Roman Catholic image of a Virgin Mary in Mexico. The legend says that Virgin appeared to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Indian convert, in 1531 and the witness of that miracle required commemorating it by erection of a church, known as a Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  There were two apparitions of the Virgin Mary and after the second an icon was painted which is, actually, now one of the most famous in Mexico. This event was historically significant as following it a great number of Indians of Mexico converted into Christianity. According to the information provided in encyclopedia Britannica â€Å"in 1754 a papal bull made the Virgin of Guadalupe the patroness and protector of New Spain, and in 1810 she became the symbol of the Mexican independence movement when the patriot-priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla raised her picture to his banne r.† (Encyclopedia Britannica)The story of Virgin’s apparition is derived from the Nican mopohua which is thought to be the original source of that event.   Nican mopohua, written in the indigenous Nahuatl language gives an account of the encounter between Virgin Maria and Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in 1531 on Tepeyac. It says that a widowed convert Juan Diego was traveling to â€Å"attend to divine things† the woman in a bright shine appeared in front of him and said that she was a mother of God and asked Diego to tell the Bishop about her request to build a temple on this hill. She promised to come to those people who, would pray in this temple, and help them.The Nican mopohua is not the only work related to the apparition but it is considered to be the most explicit and most trusted. There is another work relating this story, but this time it is the first Spanish-language apparition account written by Miguel Sanchez. It is this document that for the first tim e refers to Our Lady of Guadalupe as to a symbol of Mexico. He mentions it in the context that â€Å"this New World has been won and conquered by the hand of the Virgin Mary†¦[who had] prepared, disposed, and contrived her exquisite likeness in this her Mexican land, which was conquered for such a glorious purpose, won that there should appear so Mexican an image† (Brading 2001).When in 1810 Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his army fought for the independence of Mexico they used the image of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe as a sign on their clothes and also as an insignia of their campaign. After Hidalgo’s death a mestizo priest led the army during revolution. He also relied on the holy image and as Krauze in his book states he was confirmed that â€Å"New Spain puts less faith in its own efforts than in the power of God and the intercession of its Blessed Mother, who appeared within the precincts of Tepeyac as the miraculous image of Guadalupe that had come to comfor t us, defend us, visibly be our protection† (Krauze, 1997).The Mexican calendar even contains the holiday to honor the Virgin, that is December 12, inscribed by the priest-revolutionary. (Matovina, 2001) Thus during the independence struggle people treated Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe as the symbol and patroness of patriots. They offered up numerous prayers at moments of difficulties and used her image on their ensigns. In this way, Brading observes, political exaltation intervened with religious faith â€Å"to produce a vehement fervor in favor of the sacred cause of liberty. The veneration for this image in Mexico far exceeds the greatest reverence that the shrewdest prophet might inspire† (Brading, 2001). In this way the icon of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe became not only the sacred symbol of Mexico but also it acquired a profound political implication, the embodiment of the struggle for the independence, so desired by the Mexican people.Though there are still a lot o f disputes as regards the verity of the legend about Our Lady of Guadalupe’s apparition its authority still remains very strong in Mexico. In addition to the reputation of the image which inspired people to fight for independence the Virgin is also the symbol of Catholicism in Mexico. As it was stated before the temple was build on the place were Saint Mary was met by Juan Diego, and it was the starting point of active conversion of indigenous people, Aztecs, to Christianity.Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is still a sound support to the Catholics in Mexico and in other parts of Latin America. Starting from 1737 Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe was recognized to be a saint protectress of Mexico City and then almost two centuries later her protection spread all over the South America. Nowadays, hundreds of people pilgrimage to the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe located on the Cerro of Tepeyac. There are even cases when people do not just walk but crawl on their knees to the church to pray to Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, as it is believed that in this way they can merit the cure for their sickness or gain help in the hardship. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe said to have been miraculously imprinted upon Juan Diego's cloak is displayed there.The woman depicted in this image dresses and looks like an Aztec maiden of the early 16th century. She has brown skin; Meso-American features, and is clothed in a turquoise tunic and a rose colored robe. In short, Our Lady of Guadalupe looks like the Aztecs and not like their European oppressors. The iconic resemblance between themselves and the woman depicted in that image was frequently noted by the contemporary Mexican pilgrims. Many Mexicans love their protectress and often call her with diminutive Virgencita. Pilgrims visit the basilica not only because of where it is, but also because of what it has.The Mexicans often feel admired that she is just like them dark-skinned with black hair and brown eyes. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is much more than a mere depiction of the woman Juan Diego claimed to have seen in his visions. It is also a complex collection of floral symbols, astronomical imagery, and other signs that are distinctively Aztec (Barber, 1997; Castillo, 1995). These symbols reinforce the indexical and iconic connections between Our Lady of Guadalupe and the non-Christian religious traditions of the Aztecs. The floral designs that adorn Our Lady of Guadalupe's tunic are symbolic as well as decorative (Barber, 1997). In accordance with the conventions of Aztec glyphs (standardized pictographic designs used by the Aztecs to convey symbolic meanings) the flowers are rendered with a flatness that allows viewers to see them in full.One of the flowers included in the image, the quincunx, appears only once. It is positioned over the Virgin's womb. According to Barber, this flower represented: the four compass directions of the world, with heaven and the underworld vertically encounterin g earth in the canter, in the â€Å"navel† of the world, or, to use the metaphor, in the navel of the moon, as they call the Valley of Mexico. (p. 72) The placement of this flower over the woman's womb signifies that she bears an important child. That the Virgin is pregnant is also indicated by the black sash she wears around her waste, an Aztec symbol of pregnancy (Castillo, 1995). Located just below the sash is another floral symbol, the nagvioli. According to Castillo, this flower â€Å"represented Huitzilopochtli, the great ferocious sun god of the Aztecs† (p. xix). Our Lady of Guadalupe is thus symbolically linked to Coatlicue, an aspect of the goddess Tonantzin, who was the mother of Huitzilopochtli. This link acknowledges her connection with the goddess she is supposed to have replaced.Also included among the image's floral imagery are nine large, triangular, heart-shaped flowers–the Mexican magnolia–which were traditionally used to represent the n ine levels of the Aztec underworld. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the name for these flowers is yolloxochitl. As explained by Barber, â€Å"Yollotl, is `heart' in Nahuatl, and xochitl, `flower'† (p. 76). According to Barber, â€Å"Yolloxochitl was an Aztec metaphor for the palpitating heart torn from the body of sacrificial victims† (p.76).Human sacrifice played a prominent role in the pre-Christian Aztec religion. Barber goes on to state that yolloxochitl can also be â€Å"read as another glyph, too: tepetl, hill, and precisely, Tepeyac Hill† (p. 76), the hill upon which Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego and the location of the shrine of Tonantzin that had been appropriated by the Spanish missionaries. This flower, then, ties the Virgin to Tepeyac, the hill's previous pre-Christian tenant, and to ritual practices valued by the Aztecs. Some of the flowers that adorn the tunic of Our Lady of Guadalupe are connected with the Aztecs' rich astro nomical symbolism. According to Barber the eight-petaled flowers: can be identified with a Nahuatl glyph for Venus, the Morning and Evening Star. Venus as Morning Star was associated with their god and culture-hero, Quetzalcoatl, who after his self-immolation was taken up into heaven as themorning star. (p. 73) The image's astronomical symbolism is not limited to flowers that adorn the Virgin's tunic. There are also solar, lunar, and stellar symbols. The most significant of these is the crescent moon upon which the Virgin is situated. To the Aztecs, this symbol represented the Valley of Mexico, their geographical, cultural, and spiritual center.Once it officially affirmed Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Church embraced her with a great show of public enthusiasm. Over the years, the Church has assigned to her such honorific titles as Patroness of Latin America and Empress of All the Americas.Works Cited ListBarber, J. â€Å"The sacred image is a divine codex.† In A handbook on Guad alupe (pp. 68-73). New Bedford, MA: Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, 1997Brading, D.A. Mexican Phoenix. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition Across Five Centuries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Castillo, A. â€Å"Introduction†. Goddess of the Americas/La Diosa de las Americas: Writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe Ed. A. Castillo (pp. xv-xxiii). New York: Riverhead Books, 1995.Krauze, Enrique. Mexico, Biography of Power. A History of Modern Mexico 1810-1996. New York: HarperCollins, 1997Matovina, Timothy â€Å"Hispanic Catholics: ‘El Futuro' Is Here† Commonweal. 128. 15. September 14, 2001â€Å"Guadalupe, Basilica of.† Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.   22  Mar.   2006  

An analysis of Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Essay

In this essay my aim is to demonstrate how the author parodies the different narrative techniques, how he uses the â€Å"time-shift† device, how he introduces the relationship between the narrator and the reader, how he addresses the reader and how he makes use of the â€Å"hobby-horses†. For an introduction I would like to mention some aspects of the novel and its reception. Sterne is best known for his novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, for which he became famous not only in England, but throughout Europe as well. Sterne wrote Tristram Shandy between 1759 and 1767. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1760, and seven others following over the next ten years. According to a literary webpage it was not always thought as a masterpiece by other writers such as Samuel Johnson who said in a critique from 1776 that â€Å"nothing odd will do long. Tristram Shandy did not last†; but in opposition to that European critics such as Voltaire and later Goethe praised the book, â€Å"clearly superior†. (www.sparknotes.com/lit/sterne). â€Å"The novel may have been for Sterne and his contemporaries an excitingly new form, but Sterne manages to bring home to the reader what a novel could not do as well as what it could†. (Ricks,15). According to Andrew Sanders this novel is: †¦Ã¢â‚¬  the one that is freest of insistent linearity, the one that makes the most daring bid to escape from the models established by the epic or by history. It glances back to the anecdotal learning of Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy, to the bawdy ebullience of Rabelais, and to the experimental games of Swift and the Scriblerians, but it is ultimately an unprecedented, and still unrivalled, experiment with form†. (Sanders, 317). In this novel, Sterne broadens the possibilities of the novel form, and yet †¦Ã¢â‚¬ unlike most novels, it is concerned explicitly with reminding us that there are things which you cannot expect a novel to do. The greatness of Sterne is that, with humour, and sensitivity, he insists all the time that novels cannot save us†. (Ricks, 13) To begin my analysis, first I would like to look at how Sterne parodies the different narrative techniques. According to Jeffrey Williams the novel demonstrates an extraordinary form in novelistic sense due to the fact that the narrative of Tristram’s autobiography and the history of the Shandy family are incomplete and intermitted. The arrangement of the plot is quite exceptional concerning the conventional plot forms because it is disorganised and has a non- linear schema. (Williams, 1032) An essayist, namely Viktor Shklovsky, gives the answer to that unique form that â€Å"†¦the disorder is intentional; the work possesses its own poetics†. (Shklovsky, 66) Following the previous statement from Jeffrey Williams, the narrated events are often interrupted by Tristram who calls for the importance of narration. He explains that Tristram Shandy is an embedded narration, which means that the interrupted parts and comments make a linear narrative. The main character is the narrator, Tristram Shandy, who tries to acquire the best he can when recounting the history of the Shandy family from 1695 till 1711. (Williams, 1033) As Shklovsky puts it, â€Å"Tristram Shandy is the most typical of novels because it so overtly inscribes its own narrative, its own act of narrating†. (Shklovsky, 66). To continue with this theme, the time of narrating is worth mentioning. In an essay by Jeffrey Williams, Genette Gà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½rard distinguishes four types of narration according to temporal position and places this novel into the simultaneous form, meaning narrative in the present contemporaneous with the action. (Williams, 1036) From this explanation it turns out that Tristram Shandy, as part of Tristram’s autobiography, is a narration in the past. The other basic device Sterne uses is the â€Å"time-shift† technique â€Å"which brakes whatever action may seem to be developing† (Shklovsky, 67) To illustrate what Shklovsky means by the â€Å"time-shift† device, he takes an example from the book. In the first volume, Sterne tells us about the interruption of a sexual act (in which Tristram was begot) by Mrs Shandy’s question. The anecdote is figured out as the following: â€Å"Tristram’s father sleeps with his wife only on the first Sunday of each month; the same evening he winds up the clock in order to get â€Å"out of the way at one time all family concernments, and be no more plagued and pestered with them the rest of the month†. As a conclusion, an irresistible association of ideas became established in his wife’s mind; as soon as she heard the clock being wound up, a totally different matter came to her mind, and the other way around. That is the reason for her question, â⠂¬Å"Pray, my dear, [†¦]have you not forgot to wind up the clock?† (Shklovsky, 67; also qtd by TS., 35) and the interruption of Tristram’s father’s activity.†. (Shklovsky, 67). He pointed out in his essay that this anecdote is presented into the book through different steps. The initial step is the comment about the irresponsibility of parents, then the mother’s question without a reason for its significance. The reader may think that the question interrupted what the father was saying but this is only Sterne’s trick which aims at our misconception: â€Å"- Did ever woman, since the creation of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question?† (T.S.; 36 also qtd. by Shklovsky). This device determines the novel from the beginning. Shklovsky states that Sterne mentions the purpose only after the actions, which is his constant device. Following the â€Å"time-shift technique†, another device Shklovsky presents is the usage of sewing together the novel from different short stories. â€Å"Sterne seems to manipulate and expose the novel’s very structure: formal devices and structural relations made perceptible by violating their ordinary employment, which make up the very content of the novel. Sterne permitted actions to take place simultaneously, but he â€Å"parodied† the development of the subplot and the intrusion into it of new material.† The description of Tristram Shandy’s birth is the material developed in the first part, occupying many pages, almost none of which are devoted to the account of the birth itself. What is developed, in the main, is the hero’s conversation with Uncle Toby.† (Shklovsky, 68-69) ____† I wonder what’s all that noise, and running backwards and forwards for, above stairs, quoth my father, addressing himself, after an hour and a half’s silence, to my uncle Toby, ___ who you must know, was sitting on the opposite side of the fire, smoking his social pipe all the time, in mute contemplation of a new pair of black-push-breeches which he had got on;___ What can they be doing, brother?____ quoth my father, we can scarce hear ourselves talk. I think, replied my uncle Toby, taking his pipe from his mouth, and striking the head of it two or three times upon the nail of his left thumb, as he began his sentence,____ I think, says he: ____ But to enter rightly into my uncle Toby’s sentiments upon this matter, you must be made to enter a little into his character, the outlines of which I shall just give you, and then the dialogue between him and my father will go on as well again.† (TS., 87; also qtd. by Shklovsky, 69) As the former example demonstrates, the technique of intrusion is used by Sterne constantly, and it is obvious in his funny remembrance of Uncle Toby. â€Å"He not only recognizes the hyperbolic elaborations of his development, but plays with that development. This method is for Sterne the canon.† (Shklovsky, 70). The next topic relating to the novel is how the relationship of the narrator and the reader is presented. For this matter, I will use an Internet source, namely an essay by Aimed Ben-hellal. According to Aimed Ben-hellal, in the beginning of the novel Tristram Shandy declares that â€Å"Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for a conversation (†¦)† (T.S., 127, also qtd. by Ben-hellal). This statement will determine his writing all the way through the book. Tristram’s speech defines the continuous dialogue between narrator and reader. In the above example the reader is addressed in an informal and communicative way. Tristram tries to lure the reader from the beginning of the novel and tries to get as much of his attention as he can, which means that the reader is â€Å"brought on the stage to become the true character of the book† (Ben-hellal, 1). In the opening chapter of the book, Tristram addresses the reader as the following: â€Å"___ Believe me good folks, this is not so inconsiderable a thing as many of you may think it (†¦)† (T.S, 36, also qtd. by Ben-hellal). In this quotation, the narrator attempts to catch the attention of his reader to point out his understanding of the sad circumstances of his destiny. The hero’s life and his adventures are presented to the reader in order to get to know him. The narrator manages to establish the first contact. â€Å"The appellation â€Å"good folks† is usually indicative of the distance which initially separates the actor from his spectators. (Ben-hellal, 2). Three chapters later this distance lessens: â€Å"I know there are readers in the world, as well as many other good people in it, who are readers at all, __ who find themselves ill at ease, unless they are let into the whole secret from first to last, of every thing which concerns you†. ( T.S, 37, also qtd. by Ben-hellal, 2). Ben-hellal states that Tristram invites different kinds of people, occasional readers or literature addicts to try to deal with the unfolding of the narrative. â€Å"Tristram’s story begins ab Ovo (â€Å"from the egg†), in defiance of the Homeric epic tradition that begins stories in the middle of things and then allows the background to unfold along with the action. The alternative, seemingly, would be to begin with the beginning; Tristram takes the possibility to an almost ludicrous extreme by beginning from his conception rather than his birth†. (www.sparknotes.com/lit/sterne) Tristram tries to select the kind of readers that will best understand him due to the fact that †¦Ã¢â‚¬ a novel crucially depends on a reader†. (Ben-hellal, 2) The following quotation clearly illustrates that: â€Å"To such readers, however, as do not choose to go so far back into these things, I can give no better advice, than that they skip over the remaining part of this Chapter; for I declare before hand, ’tis wrote only for the curious and the inquisitive.† (T.S, 38; also qtd. by Ben-hellal,2) As Ben-hellal pointed out in chapter six, volume one, the narrator and a reader become much closer to one another. In the novel this intimacy referred to as â€Å"you†, â€Å"Sir†, or â€Å"my dear friend and companion†. The personal pronouns, â€Å"I†, and â€Å"you†, emphasize the informality of the conversation. â€Å"As you proceed further with me, the slight acquaintance which is now beginning betwixt us, will grow into familiarity; and that, unless one of us is in fault, will terminate in friendship.(†¦) then nothing which has touched me will be thought trifling in its nature, or tedious in its telling† (T.S, 41, also qtd. by Ben-hellal, 3). This chapter turns out to be the beginning of intimacy and sociability. The narrator’s main concern is to be friendly with the reader, and to sympathise with the unfortunate hero. (Ben-hellal, 3) â€Å"Tristram’s frequent addresses to the reader draw us into the novel. From Tristram’s perspective, we are asked to be open-minded, and to follow his lead in an experimental kind of literary adventure. The gap between Tristram -the- author and Sterne-the-author, however, invites us not only to participate with Tristram, but also to assess his character and his narrative.† (www.sparknotes.com/lit/sterne) A quotation quoted by Ben-hellal illustrates the number and frequency of apostrophes, which indicates that Tristram’s relationship with his readership become quite intimate. † Tristram addresses the reader approximately three hundred and fifty times during the course of the book as ‘My Lord’, ‘Jenny’, ‘Madam’, ‘your worship’, ‘Julia’, ‘your reverences’, ‘gentry’,(†¦). It is as though the reader has invaded the book and Tristam’s confidence in a single statement rest on determining the unknown readership†. (Ben-hellal,3) â€Å"This considered, we might safely infer that the concept of readership is significantly manipulated in Tristram Shandy†. Tristram’s behaviour differs according to changes in the identity of his imaginary reader. From chapter six on, the type of reader identities becomes wider and more varied. ( Ben-hellal, 3). The following passage will best illustrate how the narrator addresses the reader: â€Å"Your son! __ your dear son, ___ from whose sweet temper you have so much to expect. ___Your Billy, Sir! ___ would you, for the world, have called him Judas? ___ Would you, my dear Sir, he would say, laying his hand upon your breast, with the genteelest address (†¦) ___Would you, Sir, if a Jew of a godfather had proposed the name for your child, and offered you his purse along with it, would you have consented to such a desecration of him?† (TS, 78; also qtd. By Ben-hellal, 4). â€Å"Pleading in favour of his father’s theory about the influence of names on the destiny of new-born children, Tristram addresses the reader in the liveliest manner. Exclamation and question marks punctuate the whole passage to convey an impression of lively exchanges. As he tries to demonstrate the validity of Walter Shandy’s viewpoint, Tristram humorously implicates the reader and the reader’s son â€Å"Billy†. To make his point the narrator stages a tailor-made reader (and his son), for the space of a single representation and asks him if he would have accepted to christen his hypothetical son with the name of Judas† (Ben-hellal, 4). The most comical dialogues in the novel are when the imaginary female reader is addressed by Tristram. â€Å"___How could you, Madam, be so inattentive in reading the last chapter? I told you in it, That my mother was not a papist. ___ Papist! You told me no such thing, Sir. Madam, I beg leave to repeat it over again, That I told you as plain, at least, as words, by direct inference, could tell you such a thing. ___ Then, Sir, I must have miss’d a page.___ No Madam, __ you have not miss’d a word. Then I was asleep, Sir.__ My pride, Madam, cannot allow you that refuge.___ Then I declare, I know nothing about the matter.___ That, Madam, is the very fault I lay to your charge; and as a punishment for it, I do insist upon it, that you immediately turn back, that is, as soon as you get to the next full stop, and read the whole chapter over again† (TS, 82; also qtd. By Ben-hellal, 4). According to Ben-hellal, the female reader is introduced because the narrator wants to discipline her and the reason lies in the act of reading. Punctuation is again present, showing the concept of conversation. Reading through the quotation, Tristram resembles as an authoritarian narrator, who instructs the Madam what to do and how to do things. The narrator accuses her of not reading attentively. (Ben Hellal, 5) In Chapter twenty, Tristram says: â€Å"I wish the male-reader has not passed by many a one, as quaint and curious as this one, in which the female-reader has been detected. I wish it may have its effects; __ and that all good people, both male and female, from her example, may be thought to think as well as read.† (TS, 84) In the above quotation, the narrator tries to highlight the importance of thinking and reading. He points out the example of the Madam to others, in order to learn from it. The last topic I would like to touch upon is how the reader is associated with the idea of the â€Å"hobby-horse†. â€Å"There is nothing inherently sinister about these hobby-horses; most people have them, and Tristram confesses readily to having a few of his own†. (www.sparknotes.com/lit/sterne) In an article about the idea of the hobby-horse, the writer, namely Helen Ostovich, deals with the reader-relationship between the narrator and a female reader, Madam. Tristram usually treats Sir ___ his male reader ___with casual indifference, and showers his mighty or fashionable readers , whether secular or clerical __ your worships and your reverences __ with genial contempt. He lumps the male readers together with other good, unlearned folks in his conception of the collective reader as recalcitrant hobby-horse†. (Ostovich, 156) The female reader represents a special kind of hobby-horse to Tristram. Madam is in comparison with the Spanish horse, Rosinante. â€Å"She is, like Rosinante, ‘the HERO’s horse †¦ a horse of chaste deportment, which may have given grounds for a contrary opinion (†¦) __ And let me tell you, Madam, there is a great deal of very good chastity in the world, in behalf of which you could not say more of your life†. (TS, 47-48; also qtd. by Ostovich, 156) According to Ostovich, this quotation suggests that the horse’s physical appearance and the rider’s imagination are related. â€Å"Man and hobby-horse are, in Tristram’s opinion, are similar to body and soul: â€Å"long journeys and much friction† create electric charges between the two that redefine both, so that ultimately â€Å"a clear description of the nature of the one †¦ may form a pretty exact notion of the genius and character of the other†. (T.S, 99; also qtd. by Ostovich, 156) By getting on a horse and riding it well means a good experience. This happens in the case of the writer; if he writes with pleasure, the reader will bear him so the experience provides its own answers. (Ostovich, 156) To conclude my analysis of Tristram Shandy, one can say that this novel is not a conventional one due to its most noticeable characteristics; its time-scheme and its discursive style. Works Cited 1. Ostovich, Helen. â€Å"Reader as Hobby-Horse in Tristram Shandy.† In: New, Melvyn, ed. Tristram Shandy. (Contemporary Critical Essays). London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1992. 2. Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. Oxford: Oxford UP Second Ed., 1994. pp. 317-318. 3. Shklovsky, Viktor. â€Å"A Parodying Novel: Sterne’s Tristram Shandy.† In: O Teorii Prozy. Moscow, 1929. 4. Sterne, Laurence. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. London: Penguin Group., 1967. 5. Williams, Jeffrey. â€Å"Narrative of Narrative.† (Tristram Shandy). Modern Language Notes. 105(1990): pp. 1032 – 1045. 6. www.sparknotes.com/lit/sterne 7. www.univ-mlv.fr/bibliotheque/presses/travaux/travaux2/benhellal.htm

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