Betty Keller’s essay Tea Party is one of her best works. It demonstrates the talent of the author as far as the reader may observe how many themes may be covered in such a short story (Betty Keller). This essay is like a hymn to the remote love between two sisters who have survived despite all insurmountable obstacles. This love is eternal and it does not die away even if the whole world forgets about the existence of these two single elder women.
Betty Keller’s essay presents the story of two sisters waiting for a newspaper boy who seems to forget about them. Alma and Hester reminisce on the past events from their life during this long waiting. These main characters are depicted as long ladies who are forgotten even by the outside world represented in the essay by the paperboy who goes by without saying a word. The author uses symbols in her essay. The process of tea drinking and the image of the paperboy is symbolic in this essay.
Tea party and all their reminiscences demonstrate their love which has lasted since their youth. The paperboy is the symbol of the outer world that has forgotten about these single ladies but their love has survived despite all these obstacles.
This short story is penetrated with emotions and tension. The high point of tension is the occurrence of the paperboy (Kaladjian, Roof, and Watt). Although this story is too short to present the characters in development it demonstrates a lot of things about the main characters. The choice of plot and the use of tone and diction help to present the characters in a full way. The tone is considered to be of lonely pathos (Roberts and Jacobs). Alma and Hester are left alone with their reminiscences. The author pays a lot of attention to the details such as the name of a ship or Charlie’s choice of the drink whether it was cocoa or tea. All these details help to demonstrate mental support taking into account the fact that old age is connected with memory gaps.
Factually, this conversation shows the warm feelings of sisters to each other. Despite tiny disagreements, they do not quarrel. On the contrary, they try to keep a warm atmosphere by drinking tea. Betty Keller has chosen the process of drinking tea deliberately as far as it helps to pass the warm atmosphere to the reader. They spend a lot of time together and they hope that people remember about their existence but they do not. There is nobody in the world who takes care of Hester except her sister.
The same situation is in Alma’s case. The world is indifferent to such elder people and they have to keep together to survive in this world. But it is not a sort of responsibility for them, they love each other and that is why they keep together. It is the strongest love that has been lasted from their youth till their old age. There are a lot of common reminiscences that united their life. Their love has survived despite all the difficult obstacles of their life and even if the whole world has forgotten about them they do not leave each other. But they hope till the last moment that the paperboy remembers about him.
The reader may make such a conclusion from their conversation: “Alma: He’s gone by. Hester: You must have had the day wrong. Alma: No, he collected at the Davis’. Hester: He couldn’t have forgotten us” (Keller, 126). The author points out that both of the sisters realize a real situation. They understand that their connection to the world has been lost and this paperboy who is a sort of interlink for them has forgotten about these alone elder women. It is a typical situation when youth do not take care of old age. Why does the paperboy pass by? Does he really forget about them or he does not want to devote his time to these old women? It is not clear from this story. But the reader is aware of the fact that these women get through all these insurmountable obstacles only with the help of their remote love for each other.
Alma and Hester help each other to survive in the world which has forgotten about them. They support each other physically, mentally, and emotionally. Hester is elder than her sister and she sits in a wheelchair. Her sister, Alma takes care of her disabled sister and prepares tea with chocolate cake for them. It may seem that Alma treats her sister as a baby. The reader may have such an impression from the following cues: “Hester: You haven’t forgotten the chocolate biscuits? Alma: No, dear, they’re on the plate. I’ll bring them in with the tea” (Keller, 124). Alma physically supports her sister helping her to do all things that she is not able to do due to her age and disease.
More than that, they support each other mentally and emotionally. The reader does not really understand the true facts about their past events and the name of the ship but it is a good demonstration of how the sisters support each other mentally reconstructing these events from their memory. Even if one of them forgets some details, the other one supports her with the reminiscences. As for emotional support, the whole atmosphere shows that these two sisters keep together to support each other.
Despite the painful fact that the paperboy has forgotten about them, they go on to drink tea and talk about their past events trying not to pay attention to this fact and get upset. Generally speaking, the atmosphere in their house is warm and positive. They are not alone. Although they understand the real situation they do not get into despair because of their love and support. Their life is a good example of remote love overcoming insurmountable obstacles.
Works Cited
Betty Keller. 2010. Web.
Kaladjian, Walter, Roof, Judith, and S. Watt. Understanding Literature. USA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2003. Print.
Keller, Betty. “Tea Party”. Trick Doors and Other Dramatic Sketches. Ed. Betty Keller. USA: November House,1974. 123-127. Print.
Roberts, Edgar and Henry E. Jacobs. Literature: an Introduction to Reading and Writing. New York: Prentice-Hall Professional, 2002. Print.
The Culture Of Modern Greece
Modern Greek culture has evolved from ancient times, and is intertwined with all aspects of life. Greece is a country of diverse interests and traditions. Its modern culture has been greatly influenced by its geographical position and years of occupation by other nations. The Greek people take pride in their national heritage and feel strong national and ethnic identity. In order to better understand their culture, it is necessary to learn about the country’s dominant traditions and religion, as well as learn about Greek language, music, and art heritage, and even try the traditional cuisine. Otherwise, this rich culture will not be understood to its fullest.
Since ancient times, art has played an important role in Greece. Nowadays, dramatic performances are staged in antique theaters, where ancient Greeks used to watch plays. Modern art can be found anywhere in Greece. The Greek artists juxtapose ancient with new ideas and combinations, creating provocative and creative exhibitions in ancient sacred places. Modern philosophical ideas can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (Tziovas, 2014). Modern dance and theater performances are held in the ancient Herodion Theater.
The Greek language is probably the oldest language in Europe, and the Greek alphabet has been in existence for almost 3,000 years. Today, the Greek language forms the basis of any Indo-European language thesaurus; in addition, scientific vocabulary quite frequently reflects Greek origin. The modern Greek language is represented by the southern dialect adopted as the standard version of the language, but it is very different from the old artificial language introduced by the right-wing parties many years ago (Tziovas, 2014). Even today, you can see the names of the streets and places in the old language, which can confuse visitors of the country.
Approximately 98% of Greeks are Orthodox, and the rest of the population are Catholics, Jews, and Muslims. Religion is a significant part of the life of the Greeks and consequently, many holidays in Greece are religious in nature, such as Easter, Christmas, Epiphany, Holy Saturday and so on. Religion is an integral part of education and politics (Tziovas, 2014). In almost all Greek schools, pupils have religious studies and practice collective praying. Apart from that, many important events (e.g., weddings) are held at churches.
Other important aspects of the modern culture are cinema and music. The country’s beautiful architecture and picturesque landscapes have made Greece one of the locations loved by contemporary movie directors. One famous contemporary Greek is Costa Gavras, a film director and producer. With regard to music, the folk song is very popular nowadays (Tziovas, 2014). One of the famous composers and songwriters from Greece is Mikis Theodorakis. Musical festivals held in Athens attract many people from around the world; all of them come to enjoy the commercialized folk music.
An important characteristic of the modern culture in Greece is the versatility of forms and expressions. The contemporary culture shows that national identity of Greek citizens is strong, and it is inherent in all the forms of cultural expression such as music, art, religion, and more. The new form of cultural interaction includes the understanding of ethnic and social identity. The modern Greek culture is a combination of original ideas and philosophy, where ancient and modern are closely intertwined and are in constant dialogue with each other.
References
Tziovas, D. (2014). Re-imagining the past: Antiquity and modern Greek culture. In D. Plantzos, E. Yalouri, K. Zacharia & E. Papazoglou (Eds.), Material culture and performances of the past (pp. 147-209). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Globalization: Impact And Consequences
Globalization is an incredibly complex phenomenon, all aspects of which are not fully understood. Politics, economies, and cultures are all affected by the process of globalization. While some might view it positively and believe that globalization leads to a greater cultural and economic integration which benefits the world as a whole, others see it as an aggressive expansion of the dominant cultures that detrimentally affects less strong and developed nations and cultures.
It is worth noting that globalization is not exactly a recent phenomenon. Some of the trends of globalization can be seen throughout history, as most nations strived to cooperate with each other to a mutual benefit. The process, however, grew momentum in the late twentieth century, when technological advances allowed for quick and simple communication and the model of a free market economy was accepted by most of the world. Due to these factors, the world has changed rapidly in the last few decades. It is now generally agreed that there are both positive and negative sides of globalization.
From a cultural point of view, some people worry that globalization does not create a diverse mix of cultures, but rather enables cultural expansion that leads to smaller cultures being assimilated by the dominant ones. The opponents of globalization believe that the emerging global culture is largely based on the Western one and that this process resembles a softer version of colonialism. However, others deny that notion. Hassi and Storti (2012) note that “globalization makes individuals aware of the diverse national cultures in the world which are multiple in numbers and distinct in nature. Hence, globalization strengthens national cultures rather than undermine them” (p. 9). Technological advances play a very important role in that because they allow people from different nations to listen to and communicate with each other easily. That creates a more open world for everyone and deters a dominant culture from imposing its values.
Globalization can also incentivize nations to spread around their beliefs and ideas, rather than show off their military strength. Relying on promoting nation’s values in order to win over the hearts and minds of people around the world is a policy known as “soft power”. An example of that is how American popular culture was used as a propaganda tool during the Cold War (Crothers, 2012). Soft power is an important factor in politics, and it is evident that it would be beneficial to the world if more countries attempted to gain influence through promoting their values and their way of life, instead of imposing them in armed conflicts. Supporters of globalization also believe that the process will inevitably assist with spreading democracy around the world, as oppressive societies will have to open up to be able to compete in the integrated world (Crothers, 2012).
There are also conflicting opinions on the effect of globalization on the economy. It is generally agreed that the effect is mostly positive since it allows for free movement of workers, goods and services, and means of production, which increases the average global prosperity (Bozyk, 2012). However, there are some concerns that less developed countries might suffer from the harsh conditions of the free market competition. In addition, cultural influence of the main actors also plays a role, since it allows for corporations to easier infiltrate the markets.
Globalization is a complicated process that combines many different aspects. While there are some dangers associated with it, there is also a great amount of benefits. Regardless, it appears that globalization is a natural process and it might be better to adapt to it, rather than fight it.
References
Bozyk, P. (2012). Globalization and the transformation of foreign economic policy. New York, NY: Ashgate Publishing.
Crothers, L. (2012). Globalization and American popular culture. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Hassi, A., & Storti, G. (2012). Globalization and culture: The three H scenarios. New York, NY: INTECH Open Access Publisher.