In Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story, "The Lottery", the text shows that superstition and narrow-mindedness can lead to dangerous behavior of those who aren't superstitious. ... Literary devices are strongly used to show evidence of manipulation through the setting and clever signs of foreshadowing, which are based upon supporting superstitious acts and the set up of the main character Mrs. ... This suggests a specific and clear meaning to her arrival, but the fact that the laughter is soft indicates that there is something amiss. ... Unfortunately, when superstitious acts take pl...

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• Grade Level: High School

Jim, a superstitious runaway slave, eventually becomes Huck's "real" father and influences Huck's moral improvement. Therefore, by observing the changing of Huck and Jim's relationship, the reader would understand the underlying meaning of Twain's writing. ... Using his superstitious and unreliable knowledge, Jim predicts and avoids disasters that could have caused a huge damage to both of them. ... This has a significant meaning. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

Other classes fall under NOS, meaning "not otherwise specified". ... They also function inter-personally, meaning they confide in themselves. ... They also have impulse control, meaning they do things without thinking. ... They are extremely superstitious and tend to share a bond with immediate family members rather than close friends. ... They experience social anxiety and tend to be "metaphysical" meaning "more abstract". ...

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• Grade Level: High School

In the story the black box from which the slips of paper are selected holds a meaning of tradition.There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village there (367).? ... When other members in the town discuss getting rid of the lottery, Old Man Warner seems superstitious because he states,Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon (369)?... Through the symbolism of the black box and the characters opposing sides to the lottery, Jackson creates an underlining meaning tha...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Many who were involved in this event were good, innocent Christian people who were caught up in their own web of superstitious and fanatic religious beliefs. ... Love is a big part of integrity, meaning loving yourself as well as the people in most importance in your life. ...

• Word Count: 569
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Human Habits People and their strange habits. Where does this strange behavior come from? During this past week, I was able to observe many of my peers. From this, I noticed some unusual habits of theirs. While sitting in my speech class at Harbor College, I watched my classmates give introdu...

• Word Count: 534
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• Grade Level: High School

The very names of the characters in the story are laden with meaning. ... The irony here is that even though the old are know for being wise, Old Man Warner seems to be a very ignorant and superstitious being who blindly follows tradition. ...

• Word Count: 512
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• Grade Level: High School

"The Yellow Wallpaper": In the Mind of a Disturbed Wife "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is told from a feminist point of view, but I believe the story has a deeper meaning when read through the disturbed wife's eye. ... She shows us that her husband does not approve of her feelings or beliefs because he is not superstitious, and being a doctor, John only believes something if it is documented. ... A complex meaning lies within these next lines, which begin to show us her abysmal thoughts. ...

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Although there are many superstitions in my religion, I still believe in most of them because it seems like I was brought up to be very superstitious, and I find them very interesting. ... If I never learned Chinese, I would've never been able to understand the true meanings of the literature. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

I always questioned meanings of stories told to me, but I was never given the answers I was looking for. ... I will not use this story though, for purely superstitious reasons (just in case). ... In a dream context, the rich symbolism of Cinderella's story clearly has meanings lurking beneath the surface of her unconsciousness. ... In dream analysis the animals have significant meanings. ...

• Word Count: 1361
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• Grade Level: High School

Stonehenge followers and archeologists believe that the Windmill Hill people constructed and gave meaning to Stonehenge through their genius and primitive tools. ... Even if the Druids did not actually assemble these ruins, they may well have executed rituals there and comprehends its astronomical meanings and purposes. ... This unfathomable theory is based on religious and superstitious beliefs, and it is hardly based on research concluded by astronomers and archeologists. ...

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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Elizabethans also gave superstitious explanations for changing weather and season, phase of life, and sickness and death (59-63). ... He was still a young man so he was happy to enjoy the realities of life rather that ask about its meanings (Schiller 200). ... He doesn't attach any particular meaning or significance to them, nor does he give them any special powers or control over humans. ...

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Jane continues to describe her experience with the laugh: "I really did not expect any Grace to answer; for the laugh was as tragic, as preternatural a laugh as any I ever heard; and, but that it was high noon, and that no circumstance of ghostliness accompanied the curious cachinnation; but that neither scene nor season favoured fear, I should have been superstitiously afraid." The laugh is just as otherworldly and supernatural as Bertha is, since Jane calls it the most preternatural, meaning supernatural laugh she ever heard. ...

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Certain superstitious and religious beliefs like the importance of the Oracle of the Hilles and Caves are also highlighted. ... Other tales which gives meaning to their culture include: their human sacrifices, mutilation of a diseased Ogbanje child, the Osu practice, the belief in juju medicine, the spirit possession, and the belief of the divinity of a python. ...

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If they are described with more meaning, these items would take over some of the importance emphasized on the emotional burdens. ... Because he carries his girlfriend's pantyhose to bring good fortune, the reader is clued into his superstitious nature. ...

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It is significant to point out and compare the superstitious beliefs of the characters in King Lear to indicate just how deeply ingrained these tendencies were in the mindsets of Elizabethan citizenry. ... So, Ursa Major has no astrological meaning in that sense at all. ...

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It is not until the next sentence that Hawthorne disclaims the phenomenon by writing: "A superstitious old woman was the only witness of the prodigy- (Hawthorne 1283). ... As not to leave the reader unsatisfied, during the course of the funeral scene, Hawthorne twists the same story to enlighten the readers of the true meaning of the veil. ...

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Characters in tall tales are often considered "larger than life,"" meaning they exhibit extraordinary qualities (Wilson 21). ... Critics have recognized Jim as a complex character, at once a superstitious and ignorant stereotype but also an intelligent human being who conveys more depth than the narrator is aware of. ... In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Injun Joe is known as a "half-breed,"" meaning he is half-white and half Native American. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

I'm very superstitious and believe in dreams and powers beyond us, that in the end everything can amount to some good, and some bad. ... Dreams or experiences often hint to things or have a meaning. ...

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The reader also discovers, with the introduction of Pluto into the story, that the narrator is superstitious, as he recounts that his wife made "...frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise." (p.12) Even though the narrator denies this, much as the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" denies that he is insane, the reader becomes increasingly aware of his superstitious belief as the story progresses. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

Macbeth Coursework Essay Throughout Shakespeare's "Macbeth," the main character, Macbeth, is conveyed both as a tragic hero and as an evil tyrant. He is a tragic hero, as he falls from grace after being at the top, and suffers with dignity when all have deserted him, especially when the English a...

• Word Count: 3194
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• Grade Level: High School

Born and raised as a Roman Catholic, my parents tried their best to mold me not just into a kind and obedient kid but to be a girl with a strong faith in God. I remember that our apartment didn't have just one but a couple of altars. At a very young age, I was taught how to make the sign of the cros...

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Like a tutor preparing the student for a test, O"Brien quizzes Winston on the history of Oceania and the meaning of subjective reality. ... "Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted as small" (Act2, pg 65) Things like this were not accepted in a superstitious society like Salem. ...

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Why the English Came to America? 1. Economic Reasons: - Inflation- The Spanish drove prices up because of their wasteful spending. - Unemployment- There were not enough jobs in England and debtor prisoner were becoming overcrowded. - Businessman looking for investments, raw materials, and new m...

• Word Count: 3431
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The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely is currently the mother church of the Diocese of Ely. It is referred to as Ely Cathedral and is also known as the Ship of the Fens, because "Wherever you went in the Fen country you had only to look up and see it there, riding the sky like a great ship" (Ely Cathedral History and Heritage n.d.) The Fens have been described as "a place well suited for to those who wished to devoted themselves to God: relatively inaccessible, remote from worldly distractions, yet so blessed with natural resources necessary for sustaining life of a rel...

• Word Count: 4695
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School