We contemplate our thoughts and writers’ ideas by reading the writings of history’s most fascinating minds. Reading is a practice in empathy or walking in someone else’s shoes for a moment, and it trains our imaginations to dream big. Character, setting, theme, and world perspective are essential considerations for all fiction writers. While these components determine whether a novel succeeds or fails, historical fiction has the added task of bringing the past to life. Richard Wagamese is regarded as a significant stylist in contemporary American literature. His style is full of emotions and is developed substantially through the use of phrases, and it is characterized by short plain structured sentences and colloquial language. Richard’s novel Medicine Walk illustrates his enthusiasm for life and the pursuit of adventure, as well as the themes of loss, connection to nature, and the importance of stories.
The literary theme in the novel Medicine Walk is the central idea and the underlying meaning Richard explores in the novel. The theme expresses the truth about human behavior and thought in a way that words cannot. It allows the readers to empathize with the characters and their hardships and become emotionally invested in the ending. The theme of a work of fiction is its perspective on life and how people act, but it is not provided directly to the reader; instead, it is designed to teach the reader. Medicine Walk is a literary fiction that tells the narrative of Franklin Starlight, an unusually mature 16-year-old who an elderly family friend raises after being abandoned by his drunken father. On the other hand, he enjoys the virtual peace of not dealing with his immediate relatives.
Medicine Walk themes are essential because they are the story’s reason and idea. Franklin’s journey toward acceptance and forgiveness of his drunk father, a journey that begins to heal the traumas of a parentless childhood, is symbolized by the title medicine walk. The theme of loss is just one of the many parts that make up the story, exemplified by the protagonist. The central characters in Medicine Walk are confronted with significant losses, to which they respond in a variety of ways. Eldon Starlight has suffered several losses, one of which is his estrangement from his mother, also his greatest friend.
Eldon’s love, Angie, dies in labor due to neglect, and she was killed in the Korean War. Eldon’s drinking impacts his wife since it contributed to her death. “She had a chance if she had made it here in time” (222), the doctor explains to Eldon as he approaches him as Eldon drinks to cope with his losses. Bunky, on the other hand, copes with the loss of Angie by deciding to raise her kid, Franklin, because Eldon is unqualified to care for him. “He said he would raise ya cuz he owed Angie,” Eldon says when he initially brings Frank to Bunky’s farm. I did not get it, so I asked him, and all he did was stare down at you for the longest time. Then he said she “brought him back to life.” Bunky copes with his loss by giving Frank life the same way that Angie had given him life.
On the other hand, Franklin must bear all of these losses, including his father’s death. “Sometimes when something gets taken away from you, it seems like there is a hole at your center where you can feel the wind blow through,” Bunky says as Frank returns home from burying his father. “I always went to where the wind blows,” (170) he tells Frank, to cope with his loss. The novel implies that genuine love often leads to significant losses through the relationship between love and sadness. As a result, people react to grief in different ways: accepting the loss, which leads to increased love for others, as in the case of the older man, or resisting it, which leads to increased anguish, as in the case of Eldon.
Franklin’s relationship to nature is another central theme in the story; due to Bunky’s upbringing, he is at ease in nature, which provides him with peace and a link to his ancestors. Both Eldon and Bunky have suffered traumatic losses, but while Eldon reacts by turning to alcohol, he respects his loss by rearing Franklin. For both Frank and the old guy, nature is a source of comfort and security. The countryside of the land in British Columbia is nearly a character in and of itself, where the land is the kid’s closest companion aside from the old guy. He defines the open land as a “genuine location where a person can learn to see properly—whether by pursuing an animal for hours through the forest or simply understanding the rhythms of it” since it is “free from artificial structures like a school rather than childhood hobbies” (290), he finds calm and contentment.
Regardless of Frank’s academic challenges, the older man teaches him to cherish what is true, as the terrain had become what the old man referred to as accurate by the time they got down the other side. Eldon has never been able to connect with nature in the same way for the majority of his life, and he suffers immensely as a result. Because he struggled to live as a child, Eldon does not have Frank’s attachment to nature. His family was very busy looking for jobs to hunt and live off the land, so he spent his time in the woods salvaging wood to sell. As a result, he spent his life bouncing around from place to place, never settling down.
Medicine Walk is based on several different memories and story threads. The central theme follows the little boy traveling into the wilderness with Eldon’s dying father. Along the way, Frank recalls experiences from his childhood bond with his father, and the father, more importantly, reveals memories from his own life. Eldon only has the father’s stories to pass on to the child before he dies, and Frank only has his mother’s stories, who died before he was born. When the child contemplates his father’s stories, he finds it challenging to piece together disparate memories. He tells the older man his father’s stories when he returns home following Eldon’s death, as he repeats the rhythms of their life together.
The Medicine Walk novel indicates that no one’s stories are their own and that people’s self-understanding is dependent on the stories others tell them. It is based on the kid’s process of hearing his father’s stories and hesitantly absorbing them into his life that Eldon spends his life avoiding levels because they remind him of his sad background. Storytelling is crucial to being a whole person. It not only has an emotional impact on him, but it also hinders him from opening up and chatting to others. Frank loved the stories his mother told him by candlelight as a boy, but the stories attracted a lover who abused her and drove Eldon out of his mother’s life for good. Eldon begins to believe that stories only bring suffering due to this, and he begins to hold his own stories inside and becomes quiet about them.
Though he opposes it, Angie begins to influence Eldon’s perspective on stories, and he takes a long time to act on it. She observes Eldon’s inner monologue and advises that hearing a narrative “takes you back to a story you have been carrying for a long time.” (280). Frank gives Bunky the entire narrative of Eldon’s life at the end of the book because Eldon is no longer alive to tell it himself. It indicates that Frank has absorbed Becka’s lesson—that people are, in the end, their stories—and has recognized the importance of tales in the healing process. Hearing Eldon’s experiences have given him a more profound sense of wholeness, and he now offers Bunky the same opportunity, bringing things complete circle.
In conclusion, Medicine Walk is a deliberate period set aside for delving deeply into a particular subject, entering a condition of profound listening, and connecting with nature as a powerful mirror. Through the channel of open time and spontaneous travel in a natural setting, Richard’s characters in Medicine Walk novel urge the readers to examine their relationship with nature and the characters’ life paths. The three main themes in Medicine Walk, love and loss, connection to nature, and the concept of memories and stories, all exhibit this
Works Cited
Wagamese, Richard. Medicine Walk: A Novel. Milkweed editions, 2015.
Threats Defense Argument Sample Paper
Introduction
“Promoting the social value of global health research performed in low-resource settings has become a fundamental priority in global research ethics,” according to a statement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. People’s health is prioritized because it affects everything else in a person’s life, and that effect will have a ripple effect on everything else in the world that is affected by that person. In a given community, the population’s health is viewed as having significant economic and social consequences. Examining poor population health from a global perspective clarifies why the element is ranked the least important. One of the many reasons for this ranking is that environmental factors, such as pollution, have no effect on people’s health and hence cannot pose a threat. Freshwater and air are essential for human life. Millions of people’s health could be put at risk by activities that pollute the water and air. Diet has a significant impact on health, which includes both the type and amount of food consumed. However, the population may become malnourished and hence incapable of conserving the ecosystem if human activities such as civil conflicts damage food sources.
Poor Health as a Healthcare Threat
Poor health is ranked as one of the most diminutive dangers to global environmental health due to the worldwide population’s immune system makeup. A person’s genetic markers can influence a person’s immune system. As a result, a situation where the health of the entire population is poor is rare. This means that a certain proportion of the world’s population will be in good enough health to engage in environmental conservation efforts (White et al., 2011). Certain regions in various countries have been well preserved, and population growth and the resulting threat to species have been effectively addressed. The health status of the population is different depending on who you ask. Certain diseases can be passed down via families, but others are contracted by direct contact with pathogens. People’s reactions to these illnesses can likewise vary widely. Some infections are long-term and debilitating, while others can be treated. In the event of an outbreak, health agencies worldwide have put in place necessary processes. As a result, certain parts of the population can maintain their current level of health, helping to protect the environment. In light of the considerations above, it is reasonable to infer that the poor health of the world population poses the most minor, significant threat to the environment and hence does not require immediate care. This also implies that world health and environmental sustainability will be jeopardized if the considerable risks aren’t appropriately addressed.
Privately-Funded Health Care
Protesters in British Columbia gathered with placards and banners to voice their opposition to the gradual establishment of a two-tiered health care system. It was a symbolic act aimed at drawing attention to the region’s illegal extra-billing by private clinics. As stated by the Canada Health Act, extra-billing is charging a patient who has health insurance for a medical service for which the government has already spent more than the patient has been reimbursed. The federal government has only penalized B.C. once in the last 16 years for illegal overbilling by withholding transfer payments dollar for dollar. Solutions include raising funds to expand non-physician healthcare practitioners’ areas of practice. Out-of-pocket fees or private health insurance have been suggested as ways to improve private financing of Canada’s healthcare system (Flood & Archibald, 2001). For-profit surgical clinics say others might cut down on surgical wait times by taking on more patients from publicly financed hospitals. For individuals who can’t afford private services, wait times may go up as doctors and nurses split their time between publicly and privately funded facilities, with less time spent in the latter.
Cyber Bullying and Attacks on Healthcare Workers
Governments, regulators, and social media firms have done nothing to protect Canadian healthcare employees from the alarming surge in aggressive online harassment. It is claimed that those who speak out against anti-vaxxers and other online assailants are being specifically targeted to scare and ultimately silence them. Online abuse victims believe the government must do more, law enforcement agencies, regulatory authorities, or social media firms to stop their constant attacks before they worsen (Coventry & Branley, 2018). Patients and health care employees have been protected against harassment and intimidation by a new federal law. In light of the recent uptick in threats against doctors and other healthcare professionals, both on social media and in the privacy of their own homes, these new safeguards are welcome.
Conclusion
There are multiple threats to healthcare, and this necessitates a thorough examination of all probable elements to develop effective responses. Because healthcare is an issue that affects the entire world’s population, it needs to be looked at from a global perspective. Various international stakeholders have investigated several concerns to help identify potential healthcare threats. A threat’s impact on the general population can be divided into low and high impact.
References
Coventry, L., & Branley, D. (2018). Cybersecurity in healthcare: A narrative review of trends, threats and ways forward. Maturitas, 113, 48–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2018.04.008
Flood, C. M., & Archibald, T. (2001). The illegality of private health care in Canada. CMAJ, 164(6), 825–830. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/164/6/825.short
White, H. L., Matheson, F. I., Moineddin, R., Dunn, J. R., & Glazier, R. H. (2011). Neighbourhood deprivation and regional inequalities in self-reported health among Canadians: Are we equally at risk? Health & Place, 17(1), 361–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.11.016
Titanic Film Review Free Writing Sample
Jack and Rose’s titanic film characters made me fall in love with the film because of their love storyline with action bits. The use of directional skills and character development was crucial to ensuring the audience felt that it could have happened in real life. The cinematographic effects, sound, and framing are the two things that provide the most significant impact on the audience. This is because they help the film determine and elaborate the film’s message. Technically, the Titanic film constitutes a love story of Jack and Rose based on factual and historical information. Typically, the film was produced in the year 1997 by James Cameron. The film is based on tragic events in 1912 when the ship hit an iceberg that caused it to sink to the bottom of the North Atlantic.
The higher budget associated with the film suggested that the director concentrated on the visual significance of the titanic tragedy. Fundamentally, the visual importance of the film was achieved by taking opening shots underwater in order to ensure that the crew involved in the production of the film explored the Titanic artifacts. The cameras were placed at strategic angles points to help the audience see the ship at the bottom of the sea. Doing this allowed the crew members have an easier time making the audience create a sense of anticipation as the crew went to the bottom of the ocean. There were plenty of camera shots throughout the whole film production, together with medium close-ups and pan-down shots. The medium close-ups and zooms were of great importance because they helped introduce citizens who came from the upper class by displaying their appearances and feelings. The medium close-ups were also crucial to demonstrate the scenes of partying and when the ship was sinking. On the other hand, the pan down shots came in hand when showcasing the ‘I’m Flying’ by Rose and Jack. Jack and Rose stood on the ship’s rails during these scenes, showcasing their psychological position of being proud and unfearful despite social class tensions.
Conversely, the director of the film also used low-tracking shots. This helped the audience create a sense of action and movement in depth which are crucial to the film (Gerstnerp, 1-22). Also, to showcase the different perspectives of the film, the directors made sure to use different camera angles to dominate the screens. Low camera angles were used during the I’m Flying’ scene and when the ship was sinking. The high camera angles and crane shots were also used during the sinking part to illustrate the helplessness and vulnerability the passengers experienced. The film’s producer also ensured editing techniques, especially when the ship hit the iceberg. The editing scenes were showcased when Jack and Rose were being chased, where the camera cut back and forth the moment the ship hits the iceberg. This helped the crew members illustrate a sense of suspense to the audience, thus acknowledging that things could change in an instance.
Primarily, the directors also used mise en scene so that the audience could see the distinction in social class and the characters’ emotions. The mise en scene was also evident during the I’m Flying scene, where the director used soft sunset colors to convey the romantic mood to the audience. To showcase the difference in social class that existed during those periods, the director used different dress styles such as fancy hats and dresses to represent women from the upper class and costumes that were similar to those of farmers to describe individuals that came from lower-class (Skarics p, 161-177). The difference in social class can be seen in Rose and Jack’s clothes. Following this, the audience was able to conclude to themselves that Jack was from the lower class and Rose originated from the upper class. During the editing part, the audience sees the ship being hit by the iceberg, but they also jump to the scene where Rose is trying to let go of Jack while at the same time escaping since the water was beginning to rise above the ship. The directors used different sound effects during these events in the film. Some of the sounding techniques used include diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The diegetic sounds were mainly utilized during the parting scenes, whereas the non-diegetic settings were used during panic scenes. As a result, the director was able to create tension in the audience, thus making the film more interesting.
Class differences were also seen when the ship was sinking, where individuals from the upper classes acted with the utmost hatred of taking all lifeboats for themselves, leaving the lower class individuals with none. The director used this to showcase to the audience that power was the only technique for survival and that the fate of the individuals was entirely dependent on the class they originated from. The film’s lighting also played a crucial role in determining the type of scenes. The film used lowkey lighting during the scene where the ship hit the iceberg. The lowkey lighting was used to ensure that the audience saw the moon as the only lighting source. The high key lighting with a hint of yellow lighting was seen in the scene where Jack meets Rose. Consequently, the yellow lighting was only present at the highest level of the ships, thus creating a high culture and high class to the film.
Conclusion
The use of cinematography technique, musical sounds, and visual effects were successfully showcased in the Titanic film. These effects were also crucial in explaining the plot and the film’s compelling narrative. Following cinematographic techniques, the film was able to demonstrate the use of different themes such as romance, social class tensions, thriller, and horror. The working together of these themes due to the cinematography techniques aided in constructing an epi narrative with unique effects that ensured the audience experienced the film’s reality. Moreover, the audience was able to remember memories of the historical tragedy in 1912, when the events took place.
Work Cited
Gerstner, David. “Unsinkable Masculinity: The Artist And The Work Of Art In James Cameron’s Titanic”. Cultural Critique, vol 50, no. 1, 2002, pp. 1-22. Project Muse, https://doi.org/10.1353/cul.2002.0007.
Skarics, Marianne. “Undercover-Religion In James Camerons Film “Titanic””. Communicatio Socialis, vol 37, no. 2, 2004, pp. 161-177. Nomos Verlag, https://doi.org/10.5771/0010-3497-2004-2-161.