The Indian Camp By Ernest Hemingway And Two Words By...

Summer Reading Assignment The short stories which are to be examined in this document are The Indian Camp by Ernest Hemingway and Two Words by Isabel Allende. Both stories were manufactured in brilliant yet ostensibly natural fashion that ignites in the reader, a fusion of profound interest and awe. Ultimately, the stories unite in their tackling of the sacred solemnity of love and death and the thin filament that separates yet binds both entities. Both tales dwell and arguably thrive in their deficiency of intense complexity, so to speak. They feature a sheer sense of clarity that eases the reader’s perception and comprehension of the narrative. This clarity is attributed to the author’s usage of relatively basic, minimal and graspable words/phrases for the common individual. This is perceptible in both writers’ portrayal of the setting in which a certain portion of the tale occurs. For instance at the culmination of Indian Camp Hemingway writes, â€Å"They were seated on the boat, Nick in the stern, his father rowing. The sun was coming up over the hills. A bass jumped, making a circle in the water.† (Hemingway- 7) In Two Words, Allende illustrates the setting of Belisa prior to her encounter with the Colonel and his men in an equally minimal manner as Hemingway: â€Å"One August morning, several years later, Belisa Crepusculario was sitting in her tent in the middle of the plaza, surrounded by the uproar of market day†¦..† (Allende-3) Through the author’s utilization andShow MoreRelatedShort Story : Indian Camp 1114 Words   |  5 PagesJules Yurand Paredes IB English HL 1 Mrs. James 1B Summer Reading Assignment The two short stories, â€Å"Indian Camp† a short story by Ernest Hemmingway and â€Å"Two Words† another short story by Isabel Allende, are very similar but have a few differences. The two stories share theme with both main characters Belisa and Nick. However they are also different when it comes to the purpose of the story and its outcomes. The two short stories are similar in a coming of age sense yet the way the theme is delivered

Romania s Struggle With Communism - 1851 Words

To the world outside, the masked country of Romania, although rarely viewed in media, was known as a picturesque country filled with many profitable resources such as its fertile land, petroleum, and mineral deposits, however, behind the Iron Curtain, lay a more secretive nation, deprived of its rights, ignored by its leaders, and suffering under the taxing regime of Communism. Before Communism was administered, Romania had a trivial communist party which was often overlooked in politics. At the turn of World War II, in 1941, Central European ideals influenced Romania, bringing light of a regime that valued civil equity. During the war, to prevent Russia from overthrowing Romania, they sided with Germany, causing Soviets to occupy in†¦show more content†¦In its claims to make Romanian children receive the finest education in the world, Communist leaders, including Stefan Voitec, the Minister of Education, limited the access of education and narrowed educational rights in ord er to indoctrinate Communist values and instill a sense of faithfulness to Communism in the Romanian youth. Throughout the years 1947 to 1989, although the regime was not embraced, communistic beliefs were integrated into the educational system forcefully, and all â€Å"resistance towards the reforms were squandered† (Phillips 7). In order to encourage and inflict their values upon students, special privileges were given to Communist children, trained professors in universities and secondary schools were purged and replaced with pro-Communist politicians and intellectuals, and university acceptance was based off of political alliances rather than pre-university scores, ensuring that educational advances would only be provided to Communist learners. The Church, which promotes Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stating that â€Å"everyone has the right to education,† teaches that the gift of knowledge is a basic human right that all individuals mus t receive despite their religious, ethnic, or political disagreements, however, when educational facilities deny the acceptance of a bright individual who supports a different regime, it is seen thatShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Fall of Communism1064 Words   |  5 PagesThe era that preceded the formation of the Soviet Union was earmarked with social unrest, famine, and failed governments. After many struggles, many smaller soviet republics joined to form a large conglomerate nation, known as the Soviet Union in 1922. Vladimir Lenin, leader at the time, replaced the failing capitalist government with a communist government. . At the end of WWII, most of Eastern and Central Europe’s countries were being occupied by the soviet army. They came to be controlled by theRead MorePuse, Mark Diego C. Pol Eco Current World Issues T-Th1591 Words   |  7 Pagesarmy) broke out. The Reds won and along with the victory, the USSR expanded into four separate territories namely, Russian SF SR, Transcaucasian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, and Byelorussian SSR. These territories include modern day Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia creating the first socialist state, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December, 1922. Vladimir Lenin was the first leader of the State and theRead MoreThe Soviet Union And The Cold War1693 Words   |  7 Pagespowers want to have worldwide run as a capitalist country. A capitalist country values their freedom before they value the country needs. The capitalist also fears a communist country. 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Ethnography free essay sample

The description may be of a small tribal group in an exotic land or a classroom in middle-class suburbia. David M. Fetterman, 1998. Ethnography is a social science research method. It relies heavily on up-close, personal experience and possible participation, not just observation, by researchers trained in the art of ethnography. These ethnographers often work in multidisciplinary teams. The ethnographic focal point may include intensive language and culture learning, intensive study of a single field or domain, and a blend of historical, observational, and interview methods. Typical ethnographic research employs three kinds of data collection: interviews, observation, and documents. This in turn produces three kinds of data: quotations, descriptions, and excerpts of documents, resulting in one product: narrative description. This narrative often includes charts, diagrams and additional artifacts that help to tell the story (Hammersley, 1990). Ethnographic methods can give shape to new constructs or paradigms, and new variables, for further empirical testing in the field or through traditional, quantitative social science methods. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethnography or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Ethnography has it roots planted in the fields of anthropology and sociology. Present-day practitioners conduct ethnographies in organizations and communities of all kinds. Ethnographers study schooling, public health, rural and urban development, consumers and consumer goods, any human arena. While particularly suited to exploratory research, ethnography draws on a wide range of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, moving from learning to testing (Agar, 1996) while research problems, perspectives, and theories emerge and shift. Ethnographic methods are a means of tapping local points of view, households and community funds of nowledge (Moll amp; Greenberg, 1990), a means of identifying significant categories of human experience up close and personal. Ethnography enhances and widens top down views and enriches the inquiry process, taps both bottom-up insights and perspectives of powerful policy-makers at the top, and generates new analytic insights by engaging in interactive, team exploration of often subtle arenas of human difference and similarit y. Through such findings ethnographers may inform others of their findings with an attempt to derive, for example, policy decisions or instructional innovations from such an analysis. VARIATIONS IN OBSERVATIONAL METHODS Observational research is not a single thing. The decision to employ field methods in gathering informational data is only the first step in a decision process that involves a large number of options and possibilities. Making the choice to employ field methods involves a commitment to get close to the subject being observed in its natural setting, to be factual and descriptive in reporting what is observed, and to find out the points of view of participants in the domain observed. Once these fundamental commitments have been made, it is necessary to make additional decisions about which particular observational approaches are appropriate for the research situation at hand. VARIATIONS IN OBSERVER INVOLVEMENT: PARTICIPANT OR ONLOOKER? The first and most fundamental distinction among observational strategies concerns the extent to which the observer is also a participant in the program activities being studied. This is not really a simple choice between participation and nonparticipation. The extent of participation is a continuum which varies from complete immersion in the program as full participant to complete separation from the activities observed, taking on a role as spectator; there is a great deal of variation along the continuum between these two extremes. Participant observation is an omnibus field strategy in that it simultaneously combines document analysis, interviewing of respondents and informants, direct participation and observation, and introspection. In participant observation the researcher shares as intimately as possible in the life and activities of the people in the observed setting. The purpose of such participation is to develop an insiders view of what is happening. This means that the researcher not only sees what is happening but feels what it is like to be part of the group. Experiencing an environment as an insider is what necessitates the participant part of participant observation. At the same time, however, there is clearly an observer side to this process. The challenge is to combine participation and observation so as to become capable of understanding the experience as an insider while describing the experience for outsiders. The extent to which it is possible for a researcher to become a full participant in an experience will depend partly on the nature of the setting being observed. For example, in human service and education programs that serve children, it is not possible for the researcher to become a student and therefore experience the setting as a child; it may be possible, however, for the research observer to participate as a volunteer, parent, or staff person in such a setting and thereby develop the perspective of an insider in one of these adult roles. It should be said, though, that many ethnographers do not believe that understanding requires that they become full members of the group(s) being studied. Indeed, many believe that this must not occur if a valid and useful account is to be produced. These researchers believe the ethnographer must try to be both outsider and insider, staying on the margins of the group both socially and intellectually. This is because what is required is both an outside and an inside view. For this reason it is sometimes emphasized that, besides seeking to understand, the ethnographer must also try to see familiar settings as anthropologically strange, as they would be seen by someone from another society, adopting what we might call the Martian perspective. METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES Following are three methodological principles that are used to provide the rationale for the specific features of the ethnographic method. They are also the basis for much of the criticism of quantitative research for failing to capture the true nature of human social behavior; because it relies on the study of artificial settings and/or on what people say rather than what they do; because it seeks to reduce meanings to what is observable; and because it reifies social phenomena by treating them as more clearly defined and static than they are, and as mechanical products of social and psychological factors (M. Hammersley, 1990). The three principles can be summarized under the headings of naturalism, understanding and discovery: 1. Naturalism. This is the view that the aim of social research is to capture the character of naturally occurring human behavior, and that this can only be achieved by first-hand contact with it, not by inferences from what people do in artificial settings like experiments or from what they say in interviews about what they do elsewhere. This is the reason that ethnographers carry out their research in natural settings, settings that exist independently of the research process, rather than in those set up specifically for the purposes of research. Another important implication of naturalism is that in studying natural settings the researcher should seek to minimize her or his effects on the behavior of the people being studied. The aim of this is to increase the chances that what is discovered in the setting will be generalizable to other similar settings that have not been researched. Finally, the notion of naturalism implies that social events and processes must be explained in terms of their relationship to the context in which they occur. 2. Understanding. Central here is the argument that human actions differ from the behavior of physical objects, and even from that of other animals: they do not consist simply of fixed responses or even of learned responses to stimuli, but involve interpretation of stimuli and the construction of responses. Sometimes this argument reflects a complete rejection of the concept of causality as inapplicable to the social world, and an insistence on the freely constructed character of human actions and institutions. Others argue that causal relations are to be found in the social world, but that they differ from the mechanical causality typical of physical phenomena. From this point of view, if we are to be able to explain human actions effectively we must gain an understanding of the cultural perspectives on which they are based. That this is necessary is obvious when we are studying a society that is alien to us, since we shall find much of what we see and hear puzzling. However, ethnographers argue that it is just as important when we are studying more familiar settings. Indeed, when a setting is familiar the danger of misunderstanding is especially great. It is argued that we cannot assume that we already know others perspectives, even in our own society, because particular groups and individuals develop distinctive worldviews. This is especially true in large complex societies. Ethnic, occupational, and small informal groups (even individual families or school classes) develop distinctive ways of orienting to the world that may need to be understood if their behavior is to be explained. Ethnographers argue, then, that it is necessary to learn the culture of the group one is studying before one can produce valid explanations for the behavior of its members. This is the reason for the centrality of participant observation and unstructured interviewing to ethnographic method. 3. Discovery. Another feature of ethnographic thinking is a conception of the research process as inductive or discovery-based; rather than as being limited to the testing of explicit hypotheses. It is argued that if one approaches a phenomenon with a set of hypotheses one may fail to discover the true nature of that phenomenon, being blinded by the assumptions built into the hypotheses. Rather, they have a general interest in some types of social phenomena and/or in some theoretical issue or practical problem. The focus of the research is narrowed and sharpened, and perhaps even changed substantially, as it proceeds. Similarly, and in parallel, theoretical ideas that frame descriptions and explanations of what is observed are developed over the course of the research. Such ideas are regarded as a valuable outcome of, not a precondition for, research. ETHNOGRAPHY AS METHOD In terms of method, generally speaking, the term ethnography refers to social research that has most of the following features (M. Hammersley, 1990). (a) Peoples behavior is studied in everyday contexts, rather than under experimental conditions created by the researcher. (b) Data are gathered from a range of sources, but observation and/or relatively informal conversations are usually the main ones. c) The approach to data collection is unstructured in the sense that it does not involve following through a detailed plan set up at the beginning; nor are the categories used for interpreting what people say and do pre-given or fixed. This does not mean that the research is unsystematic; simply that initially the data are collected in as raw a form, and on as wide a front, as feasible. (d) The focus is usually a single setting or group, of relatively small scale. In life history res earch the focus may even be a single individual. (e) The analysis of the data involves interpretation of the eanings and functions of human actions and mainly takes the form of verbal descriptions and explanations, with quantification and statistical analysis playing a subordinate role at most. As a set of methods, ethnography is not far removed from the sort of approach that we all use in everyday life to make sense of our surroundings. It is less specialized and less technically sophisticated than approaches like the experiment or the social survey; though all social research methods have their historical origins in the ways in which human beings gain information about their world in everyday life. SUMMARY GUIDELINES FOR FIELDWORK It is difficult, if not impossible, to provide a precise set of rules and procedures for conducting fieldwork. What you do depends on the situation, the purpose of the study, the nature of the setting, and the skills, interests, needs, and point of view of the observer. Following are some generic guidelines for conducting fieldwork: 1. Be descriptive in taking field notes. 2. Gather a variety of information from different perspectives. 3. Cross-validate and triangulate by gathering different kinds of data. Example: observations, interviews, program documentation, recordings, and photographs. 4. Use quotations; represent program participants in their own terms. Capture participants views of their own experiences in their own words. 5. Select key informants wisely and use them carefully. Draw on the wisdom of their informed perspectives, but keep in mind that their perspectives are limited. 6. Be aware of and sensitive to the different stages of fieldwork. (a) Build trust and rapport at the entry stage. Remember that the researcher-observer is also being observed and evaluated. b) Stay alert and disciplined during the more routine middle-phase of fieldwork. (c) Focus on pulling together a useful synthesis as fieldwork draws to a close. (d) Be disciplined and conscientious in taking detailed field notes at all stages of fieldwork. (e) Be as involved as possible in experiencing the observed setting as fully as possible while maintaining an analytical perspective grounded in the purpose of the fieldwork: to conduct research. (f) Clearly separate description from interpretation and judgment. (g) Provide formative feedback as part of the verification process of fieldwork. Time that feedback carefully. Observe its impact. (h) Include in your field notes and observations reports of your own experiences, thoughts, and feelings. These are also field data. Fieldwork is a highly personal experience. The meshing of fieldwork procedures with individual capabilities and situational variation is what makes fieldwork a highly personal experience. The validity and meaningfulness of the results obtained depend directly on the observers skill, discipline, and perspective. This is both the strength and weakness of observational methods. SUMMARY GUIDELINES FOR INTERVIEWING There is no one right way of interviewing, no single correct format that is appropriate for all situations, and no single way of wording questions that will always work. The particular evaluation situation, the needs of the interviewee, and the personal style of the interviewer all come together to create a unique situation for each interview. Therein lie the challenges of depth interviewing: situational responsiveness and sensitivity to get the best data possible. There is no recipe for effective interviewing, but there are some useful guidelines that can be considered. These guidelines are summarized below (Patton, 1987). 1. Throughout all phases of interviewing, from planning through data collection to analysis, keep centered on the purpose of the research endeavor. Let that purpose guide the interviewing process. 2. The fundamental principle of qualitative interviewing is to provide a framework within which respondents can express their own understandings in their own terms. 3. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different types of interviews: the informal conversational interview; the interview guide approach; and the standardized open-ended interview. . Select the type of interview (or combination of types) that is most appropriate to the purposes of the research effort. 5. Understand the different kinds of information one can collect through interviews: behavioral data; opinions; feelings; knowledge; sensory data; and background information. 6. Think about and plan how these different kinds of questions can be most appropriately sequenc ed for each interview topic, including past, present, and future questions. 7. Ask truly open-ended questions. 8. Ask clear questions, using understandable and appropriate language. . Ask one question at a time. 10. Use probes and follow-up questions to solicit depth and detail. 11. Communicate clearly what information is desired, why that information is important, and let the interviewee know how the interview is progressing. 12. Listen attentively and respond appropriately to let the person know he or she is being heard. 13. Avoid leading questions. 14. Understand the difference between a depth interview and an interrogation. Qualitative evaluators conduct depth interviews; police investigators and tax auditors conduct interrogations. 5. Establish personal rapport and a sense of mutual interest. 16. Maintain neutrality toward the specific content of responses. You are there to collect information not to make judgments about that person. 17. Observe while interviewing. Be aware of and sensitive to how the person is affected by and responds to different questions. 18. Maintain control of the interview. 19. Tape record whenever possible to capture full and exact quotations for analysis and reporting. 20. Take notes to capture and highlight major points as the interview progresses. 1. As soon as possible after the interview check the recording for malfunctions; review notes for clarity; elaborate where necessary; and record observations. 22. Take whatever steps are appropriate and necessary to gather valid and reliable information. 23. Treat the person being interviewed with respect. Keep in mind that it is a privilege and responsibility to peer into another persons experience. 24. Practice interviewing. Develop your skills. 25. Enjoy interviewing. Take the time along the way to stop and hear the roses. SITE DOCUMENTS In addition to participant observation and interviews, ethnographers may also make use of various documents in answering guiding questions. When available, these documents can add additional insight or information to projects. Because ethnographic attention has been and continues to be focused on both literate and non-literate peoples, not all research projects will have site documents available. It is also possible that even research among a literate group will not have relevant site documents to consider; this could vary depending on the focus of the research. Thinking carefully about your participants and how they function and asking questions of your informants helps to decide what kinds of documents might be available. Possible documents include: budgets, advertisements, work descriptions, annual reports, memos, school records, correspondence, informational brochures, teaching materials, newsletters, websites, recruitment or orientation packets, contracts, records of court proceedings, posters, minutes of meetings, menus, and many other kinds of written items. For example, an ethnographer studying how limited-English proficient elementary school students learn to acquire English in a classroom setting might want to collect such things as the state or school mandated Bilingual/ESL curriculum for students in the school(s) where he or she does research, and examples of student work. Local school budget allocations to language minority education, specific teachers lesson plans, and copies of age-appropriate ESL textbooks could also be relevant. It might also be useful to try finding subgroups of professional educators organizations which focus on teaching elementary school language arts and join their listservs, attend their meetings, or get copies of their newsletters. Review cumulative student records and school district policies for language minority education. All of these things could greatly enrich the participant observation and the interviews that an ethnographer does. Privacy or copyright issues may apply to the documents gathered, so it is important to inquire about this when you find or are given documents. If you are given permission to include what you learn from these documents in your final paper, the documents should be cited appropriately and included in the bibliography of the final paper. If you are not given permission, do not use them in any way. ETHICS IN ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Since ethnographic research takes place among real human beings, there are a number of special ethical concerns to be aware of before beginning. In a nutshell, researchers must make their research goals clear to the members of the community where they undertake their research and gain the informed consent of their consultants to the research beforehand. It is also important to learn whether the group would prefer to be named in the written report of the research or given a pseudonym and to offer the results of the research if informants would like to read it. Most of all, researchers must be sure that the research does not harm or exploit those among whom the research is done. ANALYZING, INTERPRETING AND REPORTING FINDINGS Remember that the researcher is the detective looking for trends and patterns that occur across the various groups or within individuals (Krueger, 1994). The process of analysis and interpretation involve disciplined examination, creative insight, and careful attention to the purposes of the research study. Analysis and interpretation are conceptually separate processes. The analysis process begins with assembling the raw materials and getting an overview or total picture of the entire process. The researchers role in analysis covers a continuum with assembly of raw data on one extreme and interpretative comments on the other. Analysis is the process of bringing order to the data, organizing what is there into patterns, categories, and basic descriptive units. The analysis process involves consideration of words, tone, context, non-verbals, internal consistency, frequency, extensiveness, intensity, specificity of responses and big ideas. Data reduction strategies are essential in the analysis (Krueger, 1994). Interpretation involves attaching meaning and significance to the analysis, explaining descriptive patterns, and looking for relationships and linkages among descriptive dimensions. Once these processes have been completed the researcher must report his or her interpretations and conclusions QUALITATIVE DESCRIPTION Reports based on qualitative methods will include a great deal of pure description of the program and/or the experiences of people in the research environment. The purpose of this description is to let the reader know what happened in the environment under observation, what it was like from the participants point of view to be in the setting, and what particular events or activities in the setting were like. In reading through field notes and interviews the researcher begins to look for those parts of the data that will be polished for presentation as pure description in the research report. What is included by way of description will depend on what questions the researcher is attempting to answer. Often an entire activity will be reported in detail and depth because it represents a typical experience. These descriptions are written in narrative form to provide a holistic picture of what has happened in the reported activity or event. REPORTING FINDINGS The actual content and format of a qualitative report will depend on the information needs of primary stakeholders and the purpose of the research. Even a comprehensive report will have to omit a great deal of the data collected by the researcher. Focus is essential. Analysts who try to include everything risk losing their readers in the sheer volume of the presentation. This process has been referred to as the agony of omitting. The agony of omitting on the part of the researcher is matched only by the readers agony in having to read those things that were not omitted, but should have been. BALANCE BETWEEN DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS In considering what to omit, a decision has to be made about how much description to include. Detailed description and in-depth quotations are the essential qualities of qualitative accounts. Sufficient description and direct quotations should be included to allow readers to understand fully the research setting and the thoughts of the people represented in the narrative. Description should stop short, however, of becoming trivial and mundane. The reader does not have to know absolutely everything that was done or said. Again the problem of focus arises. Description is balanced by analysis and interpretation. Endless description becomes its own muddle. The purpose of analysis is to organize the description in a way that makes it manageable. Description is balanced by analysis and leads into interpretation. An interesting and readable final account provides sufficient description to allow the reader to understand the analysis and sufficient analysis to allow the reader to understand the interpretations and explanations presented. Try It Yourself Why do people see things differently? The importance of ethnographic research Apple Example Thomas Kuhn suggests that what people see depends on what â€Å"previous visual and conceptual experience has taught† them. This suggests that what we look at and what we see are two different things. Anthropologists Anne Campbell of Washington State University and Patricia C. Rice of West Virginia University give an excellent example of how what we look at and what we see can be different things, depending on who perceives a situation or thing. Try this: * gather two to three people and mentally place an apple on a table in front of the group. * Without any prior discussion, each group member should take a moment to individually write down what it is he or she sees. * After a few minutes, compare notes. What do you find? Did everyone see the same thing? What color was the apple? Are there specific colors given to the apple? What about the type of apple on the table, did anyone acknowledge if there was a difference between a golden delicious and a Macintosh? What about the size of the apple? Did anyone include size as a characteristic of the apple? What this example shows is that no two people see the same thing. We may understand what an apple is, but in terms of describing it and â€Å"seeing† it much of our sight comes from pervious â€Å"visual-conceptual† experiences. Someone knowledgeable in produce may know that there are many types of apples, just as someone interested in quantities of food may take note of the size of the apple.

The Butchers Daughter Essay Example For Students

The Butchers Daughter Essay Some called her the first French feminist. More to the point, Olympe de Gouges was quite likely the first woman to be executed for forthright opinions about womens rights. This obscure French heroine has sparked the imagination of playwright Wendy Kesselman, and the result is a stylistic departure for the author of such powerful but intimate dramas as My Sister in This House. Kesselmans broadly-painted story of this wild but marginalized figure from the French Revolution is called The Butchers Daughter. The work is receiving its premiere through April 11 at the Cleveland Play House. Despite the Play Houses early involvement with the play, The Butchers Daughter was originally written for New York Citys Ubu Repertory Theatre. Back in 1989, Ubu artistic director Francoise Kourilsky received a grant to commission a play about any relatively unknown French heroine from the Revolutionary era, and put Kesselman to work. Although Kesselman knew little about the period, she had already become fascinated with the subject of executioners while researching in France for My Sister in This House. Although guillotines were at their sharpest during the Revolution, the last guillotining took place as late as 1976, with the practice not officially outlawed until 1981. As members of one of the few professions fully able to withstand any changes in the political climate, the gentlemen who chopped off heads as a vocation were a strange bunch, Kesselman discovered. Throughout French history, executioners were much-feared figures who took for themselves the airs and proclivities of nobility and an almost-spiritual level of self-dignity. Their families frequently intermarried; executioners daughters were also often married off to up-and-coming butchers. The daily life of an executioners family was engulfed in superstitiontheir loaf of bread, for example, was always turned upside down by the baker. We will write a custom essay on The Butchers Daughter specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Historically, the only incontrovertible connection between the first French feminist and that odd breed of bureaucrat was that de Gouges was guillotined by one of them. So Kesselman set out to forge a history between the harbingers of death and the revolutionary young womanwho was, after all, the adopted daughter of a butcher. The playwright came across de Gougess story completely by accident in Oliver Blancs Last Letters, a collection of the final missives written by guillotine victims. Kesselman was hooked: That discovery changed my life. I read so much that I couldnt stop. Born free and equal   Olympe de Gouges was the illegitimate child of an aristocratic father and ignoble mother. She would grow up the daughter of a provincial butcher, unacknowledged by her birth father. After running away to Paris, the wild-spirited de Gouges became a radical playwright and found herself embroiled in the French Revolution, torn between her aristocratic and proletarian selves, her loyalty to the fickle King and her revolutionary idealsespecially those that emphasized women. De Gouges is probably best known for her Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen, a 1791 document that makes a compelling case for extending the promise of the Revolution to both sexes. De Gougess assertion that woman is born free and lives equal to man was widely reviled at the time. Kesselman decided to combine a fictional story of the executioners with the historical truth of the life of Olympe de Gouges. She achieved this by writing a play with two interwoven plots, one based around de Gouges and another focusing on a fictional daughter of the Executioner of Paris, whom she named Celeste. Linking the two narratives is a storyteller, a singing narrator-prophet based on actual individuals who passed on news of political machinations to common people throughout France. Although de Gouges and Celeste barely interact in the play, Kesselman draws numerous parallels between their twin struggles for freedom and peace. Much of the stylized dramatic language and action has a strong erotic charge, emphasizing de Gougess free, cheerfully sexual personality. But sexuality in the play also has a much darker purpose, as Kesselman links physical desire with the lust for blood and power. .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 , .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .postImageUrl , .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 , .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8:hover , .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8:visited , .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8:active { border:0!important; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8:active , .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8 .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ufc03b7530482ced7b7228e02993d26d8:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Fortune Theatre in London EssayAs the project became more and more complex, its cost became prohibitive, and a number of theatres read the play and then passed on the option of producing it. But Cleveland Play House artistic director Josephine Abady, who has been outspoken about the need of the American regional theatre to get away from small-cast, televisionesque dramas, felt strongly enough about the work to press hard for its inclusion in the season. Happily for Kesselman, the Cleveland Play House received one of four $50,000 grants awarded by ATT as part of the companys New Plays for the Nineties project to give the play a green light in Ohio. Women doing big things   The premiere marks the mainstage directing debut of Play House artistic associate Leslie Swackhamer, who had served as dramaturg for the plays original reading. Swackhamer, who has been working with The Butchers Daughter for two years, says she was particularly attracted by the plays combination of feminist sensibility with epic dramatic action: The heroes are women doing big things. They are confronting the world on their own terms. With a set designed by Tony Straiges, Swackhamers production features a scaffoldlike structure backed by a projection of a turbulent, moving sky, designed to track the desires and frustrations of the central characters. The wild Olympe is usually found outdoors, looking in on the sets innumerable small rooms, while the trapped executioners daughter usually appears inside looking out. At the climax of the play, Straigess design takes the form of a giant guillotine, which overwhelms and consumes the characters lives. Paul Tazewells costumes find their inspiration in the 18th century, but have a contemporary look, part of the collaborators desire to give the play immediacy. The Play House has put together an intriguing ensemble cast, led by Mabou Mines veteran Frederick Neumann in the role of the cello-playing executioner, a gentle, loving man forever dislocated from his chosen profession. Beth Dixon plays the executioners wife, with newcomers Jennifer Rohn and Anney Giobbe playing the two young women at the plays heart. After attending each and every reading across the country, the irrepressible Kesselman is clearly delighted that her play (now in its 43rd draft) has finally come to life. This year marks the 200th anniversary of de Gougess death, an appropriate time to afford her some delayed recognition. For her part, Swackhamer sees the piece as an important statement by the Play House: This work will break the barrier of how people here view womens plays.