Jemima J essays

Jemima J essays Jemima J by Jane Green is a classic story of ugly ducklings and swans for the Internet age. Jemima Jones is an employee at the Kilburn Herald, a small London newspaper. As she eats her way through her disappointments, her model thin, fly-by-night flat mates treat her like a maid. Two people touch Jemima very much in this story, Geraldine, a money-hungry, gorgeous co-worker who uses Jemima's writing abilities to her advantage. Then there is the striking and talented Ben Williams is also a co-worker. However, he also happens to be the love of Jemima's life, unfortunately, he is ignorant to the fact that Jemima has any feelings for him. As the Kilburn Herald goes online, she meets Brad, a wonderful California hunk, in an Internet chat room. After that day, everything changes for Jemima. To Brad, she is known as the slim, hip, spellbinding, glamorous, "JJ". Brad and her talk for some time and come to the conclusion that they should meet, there is only one major problem, Jemima isn't not the JJ that Brad thinks that she is and she much change in order to meet his expectations. Once Jemima is in California there are many people and events that help her to realize that California is not that place for her and that Brad is not the man he led her to believe he was. The theme of Jemima J is: outer beauty isn't worth all of the pain and struggle. Throughout the novel, Jemima struggles with her appearance. Whether it is getting passed over for assignments at work for a less-talented, more attractive Geraldine, getting treating like a maid by her roommates or getting the surprise of her life in California when she finds out just how vain Brad is. As the novel begins Jemima tells the reader a little about herself and her daily routine. This routine includes getting up in the morning only to feel horrible about her looks, going to a caf for breakfast and looking at magazines at the faces and bodies of the stunning mo...

Origin of the Roman Satire Genre

Origin of the Roman Satire Genre Roman literature began as an imitation of the Greek literary forms, from the epic stories of Greek heroes and tragedy to the poem known as an epigram. It was only in satire that the Romans could claim originality since the Greeks never split satire off into its own genre. Satire, as invented by the Romans, had a tendency from the beginning towards social criticism- some of it quite nasty- which we still associate with satire. But the defining characteristic of Roman satire was that it was a medley, like a modern revue. Menippean Satire The Romans produced two types of satire. Menippean satire was frequently a parody, blending prose and verse. The first use of this was the Syrian Cynic philosopher Menippus of Gadara (fl. 290 B.C.). Varro (116-27 B.C.) brought it into Latin. The Apocolocyntosis (Pumpkinification of Claudius), attributed to Seneca, a parody of the deification of the drooling emperor, is the only extant Menippean satire. We also have large segments of the Epicurean satire/novel, Satyricon, by Petronius. Verse Satire The other and more important type of satire was the verse satire. Satire unqualified by Menippean usually refers to the verse satire. It was written in dactylic hexameter meter, like epics. Its stately meter partly accounts for its relatively high place in the hierarchy of poetry quoted at the beginning. Founder of the Genre of Satire Although there were earlier Latin writers instrumental in developing the genre of satire, the official founder of this Roman genre is Lucilius, of whom we have only fragments. Horace, Persius, and Juvenal followed, leaving us many complete satires about the life, vice, and moral decay they saw around them. Antecedents of Satire Attacking the foolish, a component of ancient or modern satire, is found in Athenian Old Comedy whose sole extant representative is Aristophanes. The Romans borrowed from him and other than extant Greek writers of comedy, Cratinus, and Eupolus, according to Horace. The Latin satirists also borrowed attention-grabbing techniques from Cynic and Skeptic preachers whose extemporaneous sermons, called diatribes, could be embellished with anecdotes, character sketches, fables, obscene jokes, parodies of serious poetry, and other elements also found in Roman satire.