Write a commentry on the wedding photograph, 1913 by Judith Wright, taking into account the effect of diction and imagery in helping to establish the meaning and tone of the poem.


The Wedding Photograph, 1913 by Judith Wright is a melancholic poem, with powerful diction and moving imagery, allowing the poet to bring across her messages effectively. Wright writes the poem in the first person, making the reader to react sentimentally to the poem, as the poet seems to be writing from her personal experiences. The “sepias” picture allows the poet to perceive much more than just a photograph, causing nostalgia to the audience.
The poem has a calm and sorrowful tone, sprinkled with instances of hope, joy and innocence. Wright establishes this tone by putting together dejected imagery such as “tweed shoulder sobbed-on”, with happy images like “ birds or pansies eyebrows”. She also uses contrasting diction – harsh words such as “increasing pain” and warm words such as “gentle”, “happy crowd”, and “smiling confettied”. This juxtaposition causes the poem’s meanings to come across strongly.
Despite all the difficulties that Wright may have faced, she seems to have an ironic appreciation for life and its pains. In A Grain of Wheat, by Ngugi Wa Thiong’O, Mugo, a hermit, has a similar situation – “ He was at the bottom of the pool, but up there, above the pool, ran the earth; life, struggle, even admist pain and blood and poverty, seemed beautiful”. Wright seems to find the same beauty that Mugo did. She uses phrases such as “moralities imparted shyly”, putting quaintness into something negative. She gives the audience a pleasing image of the “country couple smiling confettied outside the family house”, when she knows that the marriage will bring problems. She “lifts a glass” to the couple, showing admiration for their struggles.
Wright partial pessimism of life may stem out of her intricate childhood, as seen in many instances in the poem. She has the normal “dependent” nature, and is also rather “rebellious”. She seems to have had to make changes, and taken on adult problems – “through all I had to learn and unlearn, absorb and fight against”. She may have been suffocated by this. As a result, she sees herself as separate from others. Her detatchment is seen from the ‘overlooking’ tone of the poem. “Let me join the happy crowd of cousins, sisters and parents”, seems to be only a temporary arrangement.
Her closeness to her family is questionable, as she questions , “I look at you and wonder if I really knew you”. This could be a representation of relationships in general. It is questionable how much a person is able to know and understand someone else, despite what they may believe. Human nature is complex in itself, and attempting to comprehend the nature of a fellow human may extend to the realms of impossibility. Wright also explores the fragility of relationships – “She never thought of that, her second bridegroom standing there invisible at her right hand”. This image is strong, pondering upon the end of the relationship when it is simply beginning. This leads to another one of the major messages of the poem: the monotony of life, “Fathers and mothers enter an old pattern”. The poem’s title itself represents monotony: most people get married at one point or another, it almost becomes an obligation. In Louis Macniece’s ‘Prayer Before Birth’, he explored humanity as if it is “a cog in a machine, a thing”. Society is so caught up within its own rules, that a person’s individuality is usually overshadowed. Though the poem explores the idea of cycles and continuation, Wright seems to believe that “the pain increases, death is final, that people vanish”. People believe in the continuation of life after death, another cycle, but Wright seems to eliminate this idea. It is said that “Ignorance is bliss”, and Wright seems to agree with this. She, with hind sight, knows the result of the marriage, but she wishes them “The best of luck.. Be happy always”. One of the most admirable qualities about the people described in the poem is that they seem hopeful about their future, and this seems to reflect their innocence, in that they are not aware of their fate. The poem contains ‘innocent’ imagery, such as “faun-look, ears spread wide, she with her downward conscious poise of beauty”, establishing the message. Wright puts her messages across to the reader powerfully, using juxtaposition in her imagery and diction. She allows her audience to relate to the poem, as most of us have had a similar experience of reminiscence when facing an object from the past. Her influential imagery and resounding diction makes the poem stay with the reader, making them question the monotony of their own lives.

Evaluate the leadership role of Martin Luther in the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s

Martin Luther King is one of America’s most controversial figures. Contemporaries and historians were divided bitterly in their assessment of him. He was considered to be a Communist and a radical to some of the whites, an “Uncle Tom” to some of the blacks. Other contemporaries, black and white, admired him greatly. Martin Luther King can be seen as a great inspiration to the people involved in the Civil Rights movement. However, he was a moderate leader, whose organization skills were limited, and tactics which were sometimes neither successful nor admirable. Though the end result was often satisfactory to King’s cause, he was frequently led by others rather than leading them.
When comparing Martin Luther King with the other black leaders in the Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s, there are various reasons as to why Martin Luther King can be seen in a positive light. The leader that comes to mind is Malcolm X, who believed in black power. While black Muslims said only physical violence could defeat American Racism, Kind knew violence stood little chance against the military strength of the American government. While Malcolm X wanted separation from white supremacy, King w

Evaluate the leadership role of Martin Luther in the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s

Martin Luther King is one of America’s most controversial figures. Contemporaries and historians were divided bitterly in their assessment of him. He was considered to be a Communist and a radical to some of the whites, an “Uncle Tom” to some of the blacks. Other contemporaries, black and white, admired him greatly. Martin Luther King can be seen as a great inspiration to the people involved in the Civil Rights movement. However, he was a moderate leader, whose organization skills were limited, and tactics which were sometimes neither successful nor admirable. Though the end result was often satisfactory to King’s cause, he was frequently led by others rather than leading them.
When comparing Martin Luther King with the other black leaders in the Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s, there are various reasons as to why Martin Luther King can be seen in a positive light. The leader that comes to mind is Malcolm X, who believed in black power. While black Muslims said only physical violence could defeat American Racism, Kind knew violence stood little chance against the military strength of the American government. While Malcolm X wanted separation from white supremacy, King wanted integration, which proved to be a more practical approach. Malcolm X’s extremist approach failed to bring about much change and influence, the Black Panthers having only 5000 members. However, for Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech, about a quarter of a million turned up, showing his popularity and efficiency as a leader.
When compared to Malcolm X, Martin Luther King can come out in a negative aspect when looking at his leadership role in the 50’s and 60’s. Malcolm X’s radical approach gave the black people inspiration and the confidence to ask for their rights. Malcolm X refused to go down to the white people, which can be seen positively. King was often accused of deferring to white authority. Malcolm X, even with only a limited number of followers, can be said to be a better leader, in the sense that he had better organization skills than Martin Luther King. If King had some of Malcolm X’s attributes as a leader, much more could have been achieved in the civil rights movement.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was the first instance that Martin Luther King was able to use his leadership qualities. The choice of Martin Luther King to “front” the protest proved to be prophetic. As a minister, King preached his non-violent political message at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. As an outsider, a minister and as an effective speaker, Martin Luther King was able to forge links between different African American groups into the MIA. The Boycott’s success can be said to be a reflection of King’s ability as a leader.
King’s leadership role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott can be undermined in various aspects. Though the feeling developed that King was the focal point of the boycott, but King himself said “I just happened to be here…If M.L King had never been born this movement would have taken place…there comes a time when time itself is ready for change. That time has come in Montgomery, and I had nothing to do with it”. One local activist agreed, it was “a protest of the people…not a one-man show… the leaders couldn’t stop it if they wanted to”. It was the local NAACP activists that had started the protest, and they can be said to have led King rather than King leading them.
Martin Luther King was able to act as a leader again when he was elected President of SCLC in 1957. He acquired responsibility for masterminding a civil rights campaign in the south. He aimed to attract national attention to the segregation of America. He began by holding a march, the high point of which would be his eloquent exposition of black problems. He led a pilgrimage to Washington. He was the most popular speaker before a crowd of about 20 000 people outside the Lincoln Memorial, allowing his oratory and leadership qualities to shine.
SCLC brought out one of King’s greatest weaknesses, which damaged his role as a leader: organization. SCLC’s early disorganization and lack of inspiration seemed to prove that. One-off events such as marches were relatively easy to organize and gained maximum publicity for minimum work. Sustained local campaigns for specific gains proved more difficult. Poor organization and the lack of salaried staff and of mass support hampered SCLC’s ‘Crusade for Citizenship’, which aimed to encourage Southern blacks to vote.
King was brought forward as a leader again in the SNCC and the Sit Ins. It began in Greensboro, North Carolina. Four black college students spontaneously refused to leave the all-white Woolworth’s cafe when asked. Other students took up and retained the seats, day after day, forcing the cafeteria to close. The sit-ins spread across the South. King’s talk of non-violent protest might have been inspirational. Atlanta students begged King to join the in the sit-ins. With King’s leadership, the sit-ins brought some successes. Atlanta’s schools and stores were soon desegregated. Black students were more mobilized.
As with the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, King can be said to have been led rather than leading, throwing a negative light onto his role as a leader in the civil rights movement. King himself said ‘What is new in your fight is that it was initiated, fed, and sustained by students’. With the divisions that arose between the black organizations such as SCLC, SNCC and NAACP, blacks desperately needed a single leader who could unite all activists. King never managed to fulfill that role, but others such as Rob Wilkins were probably far more culpable than him.
Birmingham could be said to be the first time that King actually “led” the black people rather than being led himself. His initial aim was fulfilled, portraying him as an able leader. As King expected, Connor reacted appropriately to the mass action. His police and their dogs turned on black demonstrators. King defied an injunction and marched, knowing his arrest would gain national attention and perhaps inspire others. His wife Coretta called the President, who got King released. King mobilized marches again, and O Connor reacted with high pressure water hoses, which tore the clothes off student’s backs. The event was greatly publicized, exactly what King wanted. ‘There was never any more skillful manipulation of the news media than there was in Birmingham’ said a leading SCLC staffer. SCLC had shown America that Southern segregation was very unpleasant, which was far more important than the speed of desegregation in Birmingham stores. Extra donations poured into SCLC. The Kennedy administration admitted that Birmingham was crucial in persuading them to introduce civil rights legislation. ‘We are on the threshold of a significant breakthrough and the greatest weapon is mass demonstration’ said King. King had shown that he could lead from the front and gain change, but through rather artificially engineered violence which could lose him both popularity and credibility, were it to get out of hand.
King’s leadership role in Birmingham, which contributed greatly towards the civil rights movement, could be criticized in various ways. King made miscalculations. SCLC failed to recruit enough local demonstrators, because the local SCLC leader was unpopular. Many blacks felt the recent electoral defeat and imminent retirement of Connor made action unnecessary. King was aware that there was ‘tremendous resistance’ amongst blacks to his planned demonstrations. SCLC had to use demonstrators in areas where there were lots of blacks to give the impression of mass action and to encourage onlookers to participate. Despite considerable local opposition, SCLC enlisted black school children, though King himself questioned the morality of this action. It was only these students that gave SCLC the essential numerical support. When King gave a one day halt to the demonstrations, he infuriated a local black leader – ‘Well Martin, you know they said in Albany that you come in, get the people excited and started, and you leave town… Oh, you’ve got a press conference? I thought we were to make joint statements. Now Martin, you’re mister big but you’re soon to be mister nothing… You’re mister big, but you’re going to be mister s-h-i-t”.
The March in Washington in 1963 showed King the leader at his best in the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s. Marches were a favorite tactic of civil rights activists and Washington DC a favorite location. It aimed to encourage the passage of a civil rights bill and executive action to help blacks. The crowd was around a quarter of a million. A quarter of them were white. King’s memorable ‘I have a dream’ speech emotionally appealed to documents and beliefs enshrined by white American history, for example, the Declaration of Independence, with its ‘all men are created equal’ – “I have a dream that my four little children will one-day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” Naturally, his speeches were virtual sermons, with appeals to the Bible and the typically black emphasis on the Old Testament God who freed his enslaved people. That appealed to America’s Christians and Jews of all colours. He uniquely and repeatedly tapped the emotional well springs of American history and culture in a way as to lead thoughtfully patriotic whites to conclude that King’s dreams of equality should be made into a reality.
The March on Washington reflected King’s weakness at organization again, undermining his role as a leader of the civil rights movement. The March revealed the problems and opportunities of inter organization co-operation. It would have been far more effective if all the black organizations participated. Roy Wilkins participated, but hesitantly. President Kennedy wasn’t supportive either. Their opposition worried King. King felt the march the march would maintain black morale and advertise the effectiveness of non – violent protest. ‘The negro is shedding himself of his fear’, he said, ‘and my real worry is how we will keep his fearlessness from rising to violent proportions’. He feared that non-violence was losing popularity.
King was able to fill the shoes of being leader again in Selma in 1965, one of the important events of the civil rights movement of the 50d and 60s. King announced that Selma had become a symbol of bitter-end resistance to the civil rights movement in the Deep South. It promised exploitable division within the white community. While some black activists feared that SCLC would ‘come into town and leave too early’ or ignore them, others said that as SNCC had lost its dynamism there it was an ideal opportunity for SCLC. Selma’s white officials could be trusted to act as brutally as Bull O Connor, which would result in a nation wide publicity and revitalize SCLC and the whole civil rights movement. The historian Stephen Oates described as ‘the movement’s finest hour’. King thought the nationwide criticism of ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Selma was a ‘shining moment in the conscience of a man’. There were sympathetic interracial marches in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York and Boston. Johnson and congress probably would have not delivered the Voting Rights Act without Selma. The positive outcomes of Selma allowed King to shine as a leader.
King himself admitted that he didn’t fulfill his role as a leader in Selma, which was essential to the Civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s. Selma didn’t prove to be as explosive as King expected. Although NAACP had been very supportive in the law courts, there were now black divisions. SNCC publicly criticized SCLC: All SCLC left behind was a ‘string of embittered cities’ such as in St Augustine, which were worse off than when SCLC first got there : SCLC just used people in those cities to make a point. Disgruntled St Augustine black activists claimed King and SCLC had ‘screwed them’. Selma’s activists felt betrayed by the SCLC’s withdrawal. SCLC had raised a great deal of money because Selma was in the headlines, then SCLC left and spent the money elsewhere. SNCC gleefully quoted an arrogant SCLC representative who said ‘They need us more than we need them. We can bring the press in with us and they can’t’. SNCC also accused SCLC of ‘leader worship’ of King.
In Chicago in 1966, King attempted to lead the SCLC, and he could have been said to fill the role properly for various reasons. King hoped he could demonstrate his leadership skills for the first time in the North, which he thought suffered from ‘bankruptcy of leadership’. King had the press following his moves in the ghettoes, allowing the American public to see the atrocities and their demeaning conditions. In one of his peaceful marches in the ghettoes, he got hit by a rock: this news made the national press. When the press asked him how he could justify the demonstrations that turned violent, King said that demonstrations might stop greater violence – “you’re asking us to give up the one thing that we have when you say ‘Don’t march’. We are being asked to stop one of our most precious rights, the right to assemble, the right to petition. We’re trying to keep the issue so alive that it will be acted on. Our marching feet have brought us a long way, and if we hadn’t marched, I don’t think we’d be here today.’ King managed to make Daley agree to promote integrated housing in Chicago.
Chicago saw Martin Luther King’s failure as a leader in the Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s. The New republic said ‘so far, King has been pretty much of a failure at organizing’. His achievement with the integrated housing was merely a ‘paper victory’. Most blacks remained stranded in the ghetto. Althought the SCLC obtained a $4 million federal grant to improve Chicago housing and left behind a significant legacy of community action, local blacks felt SCLC had ‘sold out’ and lapsed into apathy. An SCLC staffer in Chicago said the voter registration drive was a ‘nightmare’ largely because of the divisions in Negro leadership. Chicago’s race relations had always been poor, and King could be said to have had worsened the situation. Black hopes were raised and dashed. One of King’s closest admirers described the Chicago venture as a ‘fiasco’ and a ‘disaster’.
To conclude, Martin Luther King played a very important role in the civil rights movement. He was an inspiration to millions of people in America, as well as across the world, his “I have a dream” speech being a perfect example. His tactics of getting the media to notice the plight of the black people was excellent, and his effort in organizing all the marches and protests, especially staying in Chicago in the ghettoes is extremely admirable. However, as Ella Baker said, “the movement made Martin rather than Martin making the movement”. Most of the time, King was led rather than leading, as he was no great organizer. King played a greater role as a visionary and a unique inspiration, than he ever would as a leader in the civil rights movement.

Economics

What are the sources of market failure?

Market failure is a situation in the free Market system that prevents the most efficient allocation of economic resources. An optimum allocation of resources is said to exist when it is impossible to make on e member of society better off without making at least one member of society worse off by reallocation the resources to produce a different range of goods and services. Market failure is a situation where the free market fails to achieve an optimum allocation of resources, and this may come about because of (a) market imperfections (b) externalities and (c) public goods and merit goods.
Market imperfection describes a situation in which the market behavior differs from what it would be under perfect competition. A monopoly or an oligopoly may control the market and prevent other firms from entering the market, restricting supply, the monopoly and oligopoly firm may be able to fix higher prices than they would be under a free market. Just as a monopolist may dominate the market, a monopsonist is a single buyer in the marker. Monopsonists may exert control over the marker and buy at lower prices from the suppliers. Thus, market power is a cause of market failure. Another factor accounting for market imperfection is that households may buy out of ignorance because they may not have complete and accurate information about all goods and services that are available. Finally, firms may not be able to respond as quickly as desired to changes in market conditions. They may not be able to cut back on production immediately if demand falls, or enter into a new industry suddenly if demand rises. This slow response of the price mechanism to changes in demand is an imperfection that creates inefficiency in the allocation of resources.
Externalities are costs or benefits related to a good or service that fall on others besides the buyers and sellers of that particular good or service. They are sometimes called spillovers, neighborhood effects, external costs or benefits, or external economies of diseconomies. Thus externalities may be beneficial or detrimental to the well being of those affected. They are not reflected in free market prices. Positive externalities are the uncompensated benefits that are received by individuals who are not directly involved in the production of consumption of goods. The act of producing or consuming goods generates benefits to third parties who do not have to pay for them. Some examples of positive externalities include restored historic buildings and immunizations. Negative externalities are the uncompensated costs that are borne by individuals who are not indirectly involved in the production or consumption of goods. The act of producing or consuming generates costs to third parties who are not compensated to suffer or endure them. Some examples of negative externalities include cigarette smoking and vehicle exhaust. Externalities arise because the free marker mechanism fails to take into account the differences between the private and social costs and benefits in an economic activity. The free marker only responds to purely private price signals. In other words, private costs and private benefits determine what goods and bought and sold in the free market.
Pure public goods have very strong spillover of externalities. They are characterized by non-excludability and non – rivalry. Examples include defense, law and order, street lighting and lighthouses. It is generally not possible to exclude people from these services. Public goods are also non-rival in that one person’s use of the good does not deprive any other person of the use of the good as well. For example, if one person benefits from the peace and security in a country that is provided for the armed forces and the police force, this does not mean that this person can use up this peace and security. It is non rival in that there is exactly the same quantity and quality of peace and security that the other persons can benefit. The non excludability and non rivalry in the use of public goods means that there will be no economic incentive for people to pay for these goods. There will also be hordes of free rides. Hence, it is argued that public goods should, in general, be provided by the government and financed out of general taxation.
Merit goods are good that are deemed to be desirable. Examples include education, culture, museums, public parks and health care services. These goods confer benefits on society as a whole in excess of the benefits enjoyed by individual households. Such goods are considered intrinsically worthwhile to provide in greater volume for the long term benefit of the people as a whole. If these goods are supplied entirely through the market, then they will be underused by people. This implies a sub-optimal allocation of resources. Therefore, it is argued that the government should encourage the consumption of merit goods by providing them free of charge to households or subsidizing them to lower their market price to make them more affordable. It is, however, important to notice that unlike public good, merit good may be produced by the private sector.
Demerit goods are goods that impose negative externalities on society as a whole. Examples of demerit goods are pornography, addictive drugs, tobacco and cigarettes. The harmful affects of cigarette smoke are well known. Notwithstanding the high axes on a packet of cigarettes, the price that a smoker pays for cigarettes does not including the cost of providing health care to the smoker, and to other non smokers affected by the passive smoke. The cost of cigarette smoking is borne by the government providing health care services and the nation, as there will be a loss in national productivity. This implies a suboptimal allocation of resources because the market price is less that the true price of consumption, and thereby encourages over consumption of such goods.
It has been argued that the free market fails to allocate resources efficiently according t o what the people and society needs. A major criticism of the free market mechanism is that it allocated resources based on effective demand, that is, demand back by purchasing power than on demand based on the needs of a society.
The free market system is able to allocate scarce economic resources efficiently if private costs are the same as social costs, and private benefits are the same as social benefits. But in the most cases, they are not the same. It is then argued that the price mechanism fails to take into account social cost and social benefits, and therefore fails in its role to allocate resources to their optimum use. Market failure is the result of a sub optimal allocation of resources in a country.

D H Lawrence...reminds me of Porky Pig.

Discuss the use of language in this passage and its effectiveness as the opening of a short story




Tickets Please by D H Lawrence is a detailed opening of a short story, setting the scene of the short story that will unfold. The audience is brought on a tram, exploring the emotions that the physical settings that the industrious area invokes. The passage is filled with juxtapositions, long sentences, and unsteady rhythm. The story is told as if it is a commentary, with phrases such as ‘draws near’ and ‘in a few minutes’. The opening can be said to be panoramic, giving us an overview of how industrial society has developed in the midlands.
The passage has depressing and gloomy words, establishing a bleak tone and atmosphere. Lawrence uses words such as “ugly place of industry”, “cold town”, “gloomy country” to describe the physical attributes of the industrialised area. Lawrence brings out dark and depressing colours in his passage, such as a the ‘collieries’, and the ‘smokes and shadows’. Lawrence seems to be subtly criticising industrialization, as he points out the negative impacts it has had on a rural setting. This description is effective as the opening of a story as Lawrence has already established one of the underlying messages of the text.
The passage is filled to the rim with opposites and contrasts. A contrast can be seen in the way the passage begins and ends. It starts on a negative note, “ugly villages”, but ends with “green as a jaunty sprig of parsley out of a black colliery garden”, reflecting life amongst the dead. Perhaps Lawrence is trying to bring some optimism into the obscure context, showing that there is still hope. The city cars are said to be crimson and cream coloured, almost like blood on skin, a harsh image to describe cars.
The extract is structured like the journey of the tram – first there are seven lines, one whole sentence, showing the movement of the tram. Then there are two lines, another sentence, signifying the stopping of the tram, and then the tram begins to ‘plunge’ again, another sentence consisting of seven lines. This meticulous approach allows the audience to feel as if they are riding the tram themselves. The unsteady rhythm of the text – “plunges off into the black, industrial countryside, up hill and down dale, through the ugly villages of workmen’s houses” – also helps in creating the rickety feeling one would get when riding a tram. The vocabulary used, such as ‘boldly leaves’, ‘plunges’, and how the tram itself goes ‘up’ and ‘under’ or ‘in a rush’, how it ‘pauses’ and ‘purrs’ before there are more ‘reckless swoops downhill’ with ‘breathless slithering’. The ‘speed’ of the tram can be seen as a reflection of the speed of industrialisation in the area.
The journey of the tram is monotonous, just like the lives of the people living in the “long ugly village of workmen’s houses”. They are ‘cogs in a machine’, having to work in the “ugly place of industry” day after day, and going to the “rural church” every Sunday. Their lives seem insignificant, even pointless to an extent .Lawrence may be reflecting on how industrialisation has ruined the individuality of the people, perhaps the reason why he does not describe ‘people’ in the passage : they are all the same. The only way that they can perhaps be happy in this dreary atmosphere, is to fool themselves into thinking that each waking day, they start “once more on the adventure”.
The text is written like a commentary, in the present tense, bringing emotions to the reader as they are surveying the Midlands. One of the setbacks of this approach is that Lawrence does not allow the reader to form their own opinions about the scene. He uses vocabulary such as ‘ugly’ and ‘gloomy’, establishing an unpleasant image of the Midlands in the mind of the reader. However, Lawrence could be said to be using this technique effectively, as he puts the reader into the exact mood that he wants, in order for them to wholly understand the message of the text.
D H Lawrence wrote his text in the 1900s, when the industrial revolution was at full throttle. As well as bringing prosperity, the revolution also brought pollution, deforestation, and destruction in its various forms. Lawrence depicts in his text very effectively, rarely showing any natural life in his text – “factories”, “fat gas works”. The tram itself is a result of industrialisation. The “ash trees” seem to be a reflection of the pollution itself, “ash” being a dull grey colour of smoke. As Lawrence is so critical of industrialization, the story might concentrate on the negative aspects of industrialization as whole. However, as the text is full of contrasts, the story may unfold concentrating on a particular event or a character.
To conclude, the passage is extremely effective as the opening of a short story, as it sets the scene perfectly, creating a dismal atmosphere. We are given a pessimistic view of the Midlands, but with the “jaunty sprig of parsley”, we are given a ray of optimism, signifying that something better may unfold by the end of the story.