Beauty Definition Essay Example for Free

Beauty Definition Essay Beauty is one of the most prevalent themes in the world. But what is beauty exactly? According to the Oxford Dictionary beauty is A combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. Based on the definition, one would assume that beauty is only on outward appearance but that statement is false. Beauty is not only appearance but it is also what people cannot see. Beauty is about being beautiful on the inside not just the outside. The media has fooled so many people into thinking the opposite. Beauty is not only outward appearance. People are not beautiful because they have the most expensive clothes or the shiniest hair. Beauty is not having the clearest skin; beauty is not about being thin; beauty is not having the fullest eyelashes; beauty is not about appearance at all. Many people look at allure as something they can obtain from putting a lot of time into their appearance. I remember in high school there was a girl named Jenna; Jenna had all the coolest clothes and always made sure she looked good. I remember envying her for her shinny hair and perfect teeth. Everyone seemed convinced that this girl was beautiful even I. Until one day I was walking past a classroom, I could hear faint voices coming out and I knew that there wasnt supposed to be anyone in the class. I creeped closer listening to the whispers when I immediately recognized a familiar voice. It was Jenna’s and she was saying horrible things about her â€Å"best friend†. At that moment I realized that Jenna wasnt so beautiful after all. All the clothes and makeup could not hide the fact that she had an ugly soul. The soul is what makes people beautiful. Being alluring is far deeper than just being attractive; it is about being a good person. You cannot see beauty but you can see what makes people beautiful. The person who stops when they see a stray animal sitting in the sidewalk is beautiful. The person who gives their last dollar to the homeless man is beautiful. The person who goes out of their way to be friendly to everyone they meet is beautiful. The person who puts the greater good for humanity before the greater good for themselves is beautiful. Audrey Hepburn an actress in the 50’s was one of the very first actresses to recognize that beauty isnt always just appearance. She states that â€Å"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wea rs, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway  to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.† Todays media has done a terrific job in portraying allure as something that one can obtain from appearance. Media has convinced the world that beauty is only outward appearance. Today you cannot go five minutes without seeing a beauty ad; theyre everywhere. Turn on the television and you’ll see an ad for shampoo that shows a smiling girl claiming that her hair is now shinier. Drive down the street and you’ll see a billboard for an acne medication that claims it gives you ‘beautiful’ looking skin. These companies are preying on girls insecurities to make money. They claim that if you buy their product, you too can look beautiful. In reality no product can make a person beautiful because beauty is not something that you can see. Many girls look up to stars like Katy Perry, Hayden Panettiere and Emma Stone; all of who are advertising beauty products. When girls watch their favorite stars advertise makeup and other beauty products it gives the girls a false sense of beauty. It teaches our youth that by using a certain product then they can achieve beauty; if they wear a certain makeup then they will be â€Å"beautiful† like their favorite celebrities. Today’s media has put enormous pressure on young girls to be thin. Every commercial and billboard and magazine ad portrays a size zero model, always photoshopped. Young people look at these women and think that in order to be beautiful that they too have to be that thin leading to unhealthy decisions and life threatening illnesses. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 24 million people in the United States alone suffer form some sort of eating disorder. 24 million people think that their body is not good enough to fit societies definition of beautiful. 24 million people think that the only way to be beautiful is by harming their bodies. This number can be lowered dramatically if media stopped putting the emphasis of beauty on physical appearance. Beauty is not outward appearance but inner appearance. Beauty is having a beautiful soul and being a good person all around. Media has given society a false view on what really is beautiful. The next time you find yourself judging someone based upon their looks think again; beauty is not just what you can see, its what you cannot.

Dulce et Deorum Est Essay -- English Literature Essays

Dulce et Deorum Est Wilfred Owen wrote Dulce et Decorum Est about the first World War, in which he had personally fought. It was addressed to Jessie Pope, a writer of other poems concerning the War. Specifically he wrote the poem to counteract her poem â€Å"Who’s For The Game?†. Owen felt that Pope did not comprehend the seriousness of the war in her portrayal of the battle as a rugby game. Pope conveyed the participants of the ‘game’ were admirable and those who sat on the sidelines shunned and disregarded. His poem seems very depressing and gloomy, particularly in comparison, but is it not more realistic? Owen was a soldier himself, would he not know more about the horrors that war brings than the female poet, who could only be permitted to watch from the outside of her competitive yet carefree game of rugby? Personally, I think he would. At the time, Owen was put into a psychiatric hospital because the war had so badly affected him, broken his character. It was there that he met Siegfried Sassoon, who had been put into psychiatric care for writing poems that the authorities thought put the war into a negative light. It was Sassoon who encouraged Owen to become a poet, and they became good friends. The way Owen writes is very much sane and some would say he was quite an influential character. So how does Owen compare the horrors of war? From the very first line you become aware that the poem is not likely to be as light and cheerful as Pope’s poem. The line is; Bent double, like old beggars under sacks which is already a rather miserable tone. We see how Owen has begun to set the mood for his piece already. He describes the soldiers’ crooked stance and compares them to old beggars, uncomfortable and undesirable. In the second line he goes on to say that the men are knock-kneed and compares their coughs to those of hags. Again the undesirable, slightly unpleasant note is illustrated through the diction. The soldiers sound unwell, probably due to their harrowing lives in the trenches, which makes them dirty, sodden and more prone to illness. In the third line the poet describes flares, long flames often used for signalling, as ‘haunting’ to the soldiers. This suggests that they are sick of the war and hate the constant reminders of it. Obviously they cannot get away from the war and the monotonous, dire lifestyle they faced every day in the ranks. E... ...e grotesque lines he has just written, saying that the woman would not tell of the war with enthusiasm if she had experienced it first hand or had witnessed such loathsome episodes. His last two lines are the main subject of the poem and include the title itself. Although these lines are not separated from the rest like the ones discussing how the man reappeared in his dreams every night, they are the most memorable as they are the last and the finality is extrusive within them. The final lines are: The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori ‘The old Lie’ is connected to how he views Jessie Pope’s impression of the war, which he feels is captured in the Latin expression. The Latin itself translates directly as ‘It’s sweet and glorious to die for your country’. Pope’s entire poem is focused on the accuracy of this statement, whereas Owen’s entire poem is focused on contradicting the statement. The poems are in sharp contrast to each other, but Owen’s holds first hand experience and in my view is far more impacting. The lines are a relevant end to the poem and leave the reader with the thought in their mind that perhaps war really isn’t as glorious as they’ve been told.

“Beast” by Richard Wilbur Essay

In â€Å"Beast† by Richard Wilbur, Wilbur uses poetic structures, paradox and the idea of balance between nature and humanity to display in the reader’s mind that nature is something that should not be looked down upon rather should be feared. In the first few stanzas, Wilbur displays the natural process that nature goes through, for example, he introduces paradox when the â€Å"ripped mouse† is â€Å"safe in the owl’s talon† stressing that there is balance within nature itself, additionally highlighting that nature is the source and creator of balance. Furthermore, Wilbur adds another paradox by showing that a â€Å"freed beast is in slumber†, confusing the reader because free beast would roam the world and cause chaos and havoc to those that destroys the beast’s habitat. This further shows that, with nature by itself the beast does not awake; however, with humanity’s interference the beast awakes and is a â€Å"risen hunter.à ¢â‚¬  All of these paradoxes stress the internal balance that nature creates and portrays that any interference with nature causes humanity to mimic the power that nature has; nonetheless, humanity’s interference ultimately leads to there downfall and an imbalance between humanity and nature. As shown in the last three stanzas, humanity â€Å"suitors of excellence† wants to achieve perfection and unwavering power that nature possesses; yet, humanity is always stopped by nature with a â€Å"sigh† because any attempt to achieve nature’s equal makes nature to hunt humanity as a â€Å"risen hunter.† These last stanzas show the power that nature has cannot be copied or taken no matter how hard humanity tries, stressing the point that humanity’s interference with nature causes their own downfall and corruption. Additionally, Wilbur’s poetic structure adds additionally voice into the poem that supports humanity’s interference as unconventional yet eminent. In the first stanza, Wilbur uses musical symbols such as â€Å"major†, â€Å"minor†, â€Å"plucked†, â€Å"dulcet†, â€Å"concordance†, and â€Å"lyric† to imply that nature is peaceful and at rest because there is nothing out of the bal ance that creates discordance. However, Wilbur changes the tone of the poem around line 12 that causes dissonance because not only does the plot take an unexpected turn but also there where â€Å"no such darkness† but diction such as â€Å"warp†, â€Å"painful†, â€Å"werewolf†, and â€Å"sweaty† are type of words not found in the first half of the poem. Furthermore, uses rhetorical shifts, or volta, to change scenes from one place to another to show the difference between what nature is trying to achieve with its power and what humanity wants to do with their power. For example, in lines 12 and 13 a volta is introduced to show not only the change in scenes but also the institution of acceptance verses internal transformation. In conclusion with nature’s overwhelming power, humanity continues on to dream despite their loss, making humanity a very flexible being, shown through their retreat â€Å"from their work construe;† however, through this humanity is free, â€Å"unbridled† adding onto humanity’s flexibility. Generally, Wilbur’s â€Å"Beasts† is a struggle between humanity and nature fighting over for power, but in the end nature triumphs. In other words, nature’s balance with devastation and upheaval is shattered by humanity as they, mankind, attempt to stand alone, which ultimately leads to their downfall and fraudulence.

What You Can Do With a Degree in Sociology

A lot of people take their first sociology course simply to fulfill a college requirement, not knowing much about the field before stepping into that first course. Soon after, however, many fall in love with the subject matter and decide to major in it. If this is you, you may be asking yourself, â€Å"What can I do with a degree in sociology?† Most people who think of themselves as sociologists or have the word sociologist in their job title have graduate training, but B.A.s in sociology apply the sociological perspective to a wide variety of jobs in such sectors as business, the health professions, the criminal justice system, social services, and government. What You Can Do With an Undergraduate Degree in Sociology As a strong liberal arts major, a B.A. in sociology provides several things: The undergraduate degree provides broad preparation for entry-level positions throughout the business, social service, non-profit, and government worlds. Employers look for people with the skills that an undergraduate education in sociology provides, like research, critical thinking, and analytic skills.Since its subject matter is intrinsically fascinating, sociology offers valuable preparation for careers in journalism, politics, public relations, business, or public administration--fields that involve investigative skills and working with diverse groups.Many students choose sociology because they see it as a broad liberal arts base for professions such as law, education, medicine, social work, and counseling. Sociology provides a rich fund of knowledge that directly pertains to each of these fields. What You Can Do With a Graduate Degree in Sociology With advanced degrees (M.A. or Ph.D.), the more likely it is that a job will have the title sociologist, but many opportunities exist--the diversity of sociological careers ranges much further. Many jobs outside of academia do not necessarily carry the specific title of sociologist. These include the following, among others: Sociologists become high school teachers or faculty in colleges and universities, advising students, conducting research, and publishing their work. Over 3,000 colleges currently offer sociology courses.Sociologists enter the corporate, non-profit, and government worlds as directors of research, policy analysts, consultants, human resource managers, and program managers.Practicing sociologists with advanced degrees may be called research analysts, survey researchers, gerontologists, clinical sociologists, statisticians, urban planners, community developers, criminologists, or demographers.Some M.A. and Ph.D. sociologists obtain specialized training to become counselors, therapists, or program directors in social service agencies. Today, sociologists embark upon literally hundreds of career paths. Although teaching and conducting research remains the dominant activity among the thousands of professional sociologists today, other forms of employment are growing both in number and significance. In some sectors, sociologists work closely with economists, political scientists, anthropologists, psychologists, social workers, and others, reflecting a growing appreciation of sociologys contributions to interdisciplinary analysis and action. Updated by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.