An unforgettable saga of World War II has to do with the small French coastal town of Dunkirk. There, in 1940, thousands of British troops made a belated escape from the awesome power of the German army and air force. They were removed by an array of private boats, from huge yachts to decrepit fishing …
Kategori: English Learning
Something for everyone
To the derogatory comments from the older generation the teenagers might retort that new fashions and styles are adopted by the elders with alacrity. Though they complain, women emulate their daughters by shortening or lengthening their hems. They may appear reticent about the bother and expense of altering their wardrobe, but they give tacit when …
What Next?
Once the fashion industry has been able to foist a new style on the teenager, the older generation tends to stigmatize it as some form of rebellion. What is often ignored is that the young consumers capitulate to what is originated by someone outside of their group. The feelings of individuality and audacity that the …
The Economics of Fashion
In dress, the fashion appears to be “set” by a few foreign designers and a handful of affluent individuals who purchase these designs. The fashion industry is cognizant of the fact that fashions must change rapidly and often or their economy would become stagnant. For this industry it would prove fatal if it were not …
The Enigma of Fashion
Of all the pressure young people face, the most pernicious is that of fashion. By this is meant the current vogue in dress. The teenagers, who are so glib when they speak of “individuality”, are turned into a homogenous mass by the latest craze in fashion. How can youngster who vehemently resists advice from the …
Amateur Psychologists
The ideas of Freudian psychology have become part of our everyday life. Our language is replete with cliches that have their origin in Fred’s writings. There is a surfeit of amateur psychologists who, with celerity analyze an individual’s problems from the slightest evidence. Despite their dubious education and training in this field, they discuss symptoms …
The Mind’s Secrets
The study of the human mind and behavior has had many prominent practitioners, but no one is more revered than Sigmund Freud. An Austrian physician, he is said to be the father of psychoanalysis. He taught that man has a subconscious mind in which he keeps repugnant memories which come to the surface surreptitiously and …
The Good Life
Thoreau’s book about the austere but happy life at Walden Pond propagated his fame around the world. He built a small hut and began living an ascetic existence. He found it to be a felicitous experience. In this idyllic setting he was able to spend his time reading, studying nature, writing and thinking. Far from …
A Man of Nature
Henry Thoreau attempted to confront the problem and solve the enigma of how one might earn a living and yet not become an ignominious slave to the task. He viewed the industrial revolution with antipathy. Man in a servile role to extraneous possessions was a main target of his writings. He believed that one could …
A Scheeming Heroine
William Makepeace Thackeray was known for his moralistic study of upper and middle class English life. His best known work, VANITY FAIR, has its central character Becky Sharp. She is a perfidious woman who has an insatiable desire to get ahead in the world. She covets the wealth of one man, but when marriage is …