Writing Tips, Samples and News for Students

Critical Essay on “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver

A first glance of Carver’s “Cathedral” gives one the impression that a religious theme is involved in the story. However, this perception is far from the actual content of the story. For instance, no cathedrals are mentioned until in the story’s third section. Even when a cathedral is introduced into the story, it is clear that no single character is actively religious. From this, one can argue that the title does not fit this particular story.

Furthermore, the narrator in Carver’s story uses a conspiratorial tone to present his thoughts and experiences. To the reader, the story appears as if the narrator merely talks to the reader, not to pass any vital message, but rather to keep the reader amused. Additionally, from the narrator’s tone, one gets the feeling that the narrator is attempting to relate certain happenings in terms that are clear as well as precise. In recounting his feelings, the narrator does not get emotional or attempt to persuade the reader to develop a liking for him. A further implication from the narrator’s tone is that the story is about relating the incidents from a particular time, without influencing the reader’s feelings concerning the incidents. However, the reader can detect some sincerity in the narrator’s tone. The narrator does not attempt to hide the desperate situation he is in, nor does he attempt to deceive the reader into thinking that he is highly optimistic about recovering from what befalls him.

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Informal Essay about Friendship

Friendship can be defined as a personal relationship between two or more individuals, grounded in feelings of concern for one another and includes intimacy to a certain degree. Given that human beings are generally considered social, friendship is an important part of every individual’s life. Most people dedicate a portion of their day to interacting with friends, whether face-to-face or by phone or on the computer. Given the vital role that friendship plays in the lives of almost all human beings, it is prudent to friendship from different perspectives, including the nature of friendship.

How does one know what true friendship is? Friendship is demonstrated through mutual care, acts of intimacy, and activities that individuals share with those whom they consider friends. Friendship is always valued and justified by examining both its individual importance and social worth. Individual value of friendship is gauged from the perspective of an individual who considers the amount of resources, time, energy that he or she is willing to invest in the relationship. The value an individual places on a friendship can also be measured from the perception of whether the friendship makes one’s life feel better or worse. Whether an individual appreciates the friendship of another, though, is sometimes tied up with how that person feels about himself. If one does not value himself, that person is less likely to value someone else or the friendship offered by someone else.

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Cause and Effect Essay on Bullying

In recent decades, one thought of bullying on the college or university level as a form of hazing carried out by upper-classmen on freshmen. Many schools turned a blind eye on the practice, and freshmen simply endured the hazing as a ritual, expecting it to last only for the first year of college. Over time, bullying in colleges and universities has been reduced significantly. This does not, however, mean that our society is bullying-free. In contemporary societies, bullying still takes place, although in different forms. Bullying can take place in schools, at places of employment, and even in neighborhoods, involving adults and children. However, parents often miss the bullying that goes on within their own homes.

For instance, younger children face a significant degree of bullying from their older siblings. For example, whenever elder children are assigned some domestic tasks, they entice their younger siblings to do the tasks for them. Should the latter refuse, they are threatened, abused physically, or denied food.

The causes of this form of bullying are widespread. Research has shown that families in which there is sibling bullying tend to be low-income. In other words, there is substantial scarcity of basic needs to the point that children literally fight over the meager resources available.

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Argumentative Essay on Plastic Surgery

An earlier article in this document explored the writing of argumentative essays. The present article will rely on the guidelines provided earlier to present a sample argumentative essay on plastic surgery. Beauty has always enjoyed great value in every society, irrespective of the conservative traditions that may prevail in that society. Right from childhood, human beings are taught that a beautiful person always has a prize attached to the beauty. This explains why children exhibit an unconsciousness tendency to describe awesome experiences as being beautiful. In ancient African societies, the embracing of beauty was seen in some communities painting their faces with bright colors. Among the Maasai of Kenya, for example, red ochre was used to paint the face. The trend of appreciating beauty took a different twist as time went by. The Indians pioneered the art of doing nose lifts. It was perceived that women with pointed noses were more appealing to the male generation. Other cultures aped this art, and the practice of face lifting and organ firming developed. In the modern world, the term “plastic surgery” is not new, especially with the rise to fame of the deceased rock musician, Michael Jackson.

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How to Write a College Essay on Yourself

Writing a college essay on yourself is the equivalent of writing a personal statement. You write a personal statement for different purposes, such as when you are making an application for a scholarship, internship, or employment. This means that you have to evaluate the context within which you are writing your college essay. As a college student, you have a lot of pertinent information about yourself that you can include in your college essay.

Nonetheless, an excessively wordy essay bores the reader. You do not want the reader to push your essay aside on grounds of it being unnecessarily lengthy. This is why you should adequately understand the context of your essay, and limit the scope to suit the objective. That said, writing a college essay on yourself must begin by an identification of your personal career objective. More often than not, many college students do not identify a succinct career objective until they are in their final academic year. This is all right, provided you can draft an objective as and when required. A viable recommendation to follow when writing a college essay on yourself is to be acquainted with the objective of the organization or group to which you are writing the essay. To the greatest extent possible, you should align your personal objective with the mission of your potential employer or sponsor. However, this must not be a cut-and-paste job, in which you copy mission statement. The objective should come first in your essay, and should be highlighted either in bold or in block letters.

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