What three jobs did Geoffrey Chaucer have?

had many jobs in his life, including that of a noblewoman's page, an esquire in the royal court,
comptroller of the customs for the Port of London, and clerk of the King's works. He also spent
time in the Army.

In 1357, household records list Chaucer as the page to
Elizabeth de Burgh, the Countess of Ulster. He obtained the job through his father and it helped
him make connections with the royal court, since she was married to the King's second living
son.

Ten years and several jobs later, Chaucer became a valet de chambre for
the court of Edward III. It's not quite clear exactly what he did, but it likely meant managing
the household affairs of the royal family. It was a prestigious appointment. 

In 1374, he became the comptroller for the Port of London. He would have overseen the
financial issues and accounting for the port. It's believed that he wrote many of his most
popular pieces while he was in this position. 

In 1389, he was appointed to
the position of clerk of the King's works. He organized building projects, though no major ones
took place while he was in the position. He did oversee repairs on Westminster Palace and
Windsor. The job increased his salary by more than 300 percent over what he made as a
comptroller. 

Chaucer is remembered primarily as a writer, but he mostly did
his writing while he engaged in others jobs. 

What is the effect of Plath's choice to write the poem from a mirror's perspective?

It is
startling and disorienting to have this poem written from the point of view of a mirror. A
person looks into a mirror to receive reassurance or confirmation about their own appearance or
reality. We expect that if we see something amiss in our appearance in a mirror, we can quickly
fix it. We expect a mirror to provide a reflection of ourselves and nothing more. Beyond its
purpose in reflecting us, a mirror seems empty.

It is startling, therefore,
to think a mirror could look back at us, see us, and judge us, not merely reflect us. It is
disorienting that we might not only see ourselves but that the mirror itself might have a
consciousness that could see us clearly and objectively.

A mirror is an object women look into both to see themselves and, in the second
stanza, to try to see into their own soulsto see their depths, as in a lake. However, Plath, by
personifying the mirror and giving it a personality, a consciousness, and...

How is freedom, slavery?? And can you have sections of the book where I can look for evidence as quotes?

I see freedom
being slavery in life when we make a choice with our freewill that over time becomes something
we are bound to.

's entire point in writing had to do
with warning even the capitalists in the world that they to can be bound. Sometimes, with the
effort to make money, we become dependent on what it does for us. Then we are in a cycle of
addiction. Once in the cycle, an unforeseen problem often occurs. Greed causes human
relationships to fail or even deteriorate. Many other things can bind us and keep us
from...

In 'Shooting an Elephant', what is Orwell's attitude to imperialism as revealed in the first two paragraphs?

s
attitude towards Imperialism is one of antipathy, and this comes through quite strongly in the
opening two paragraphs. The narrator of the story uses negative terms throughout to describe
himself and his situation as a serving officer of empire. At the same time, although he hates
the empire and his own part in it, feeling 'an intolerable sense of guilt, he empathises with
the natives only in theory; in actuality he resents and despises them even as they resent and
despise him. He describes them variously as 'petty', 'bitter', 'wretched', 'hideous'. In fact,
at one point he expresses frankly murderous feelings towards them:

With one part of my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny, as
something clamped down, in saecula saeculorum, upon the will of prostrate
peoples; with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a
bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts.

 The narrator here
displays not just hate but real viciousness towards his colonial subjects. However, it is
important to realise that he is not naturally ill-disposed towards the colonised peoples; rather
it is the whole system under which he serves that causes him to feel like this. Such destructive
feelings are 'the normal by-products of Imperialism, as he sardonically remarks. It poisons his
whole outlook and leaves him with nowhere to turn.

The narrator is looking
back in retrospect to this time; his older, wiser self can see more clearly the confusion and
rage that affected his younger self. Although he observes that the British Empire was not as bad
as some other empires, he recognises that Imperialism has a detrimental effect on everyone, both
the rulers and the ruled, and renders normal, decent human intercourse
impossible. 

What facts do you know about Nick in The Great Gatsby, and what do you infer about him? What kind of a narrator do you think he will be?

At the
very start of , the narrator, , shares some advice his father gave him and
tells us "Im inclined to reserve all judgments."

However, as Nick
continues to narrate the story, we see that he does make judgments. In the first chapter, he
describesas having "arrogant eyes" and a "supercilious manner." While Nick's
observations may be correct, Fitzgerald establishes Nick as an unreliable narrator, as he has
already proved himself false.

As Nick leavesand Tom's house, he remarks
"I was confused and a little disgusted as I drove away." This is another example of
his judgment but also is a clue to Nick's feelings as we keep reading. We can infer that he is
not like his cousin and does not agree with the Buchanans' attitudes and lifestyle.

Nick tells us he is from a prominent and well-off family, but we see that he rents a
smaller and not-so-extravagant house. Nick thinks of himself as an intellectual and has a
hopeful attitude. We see this when he describes the...

what are some examples of doublespeak or doublethink (1984) in real world?

Doublethink is
the ability to hold two contrasting ideas, , arguments at the same time, i.e. to believe that
one thing and its opposite are both true; doublespeak is its speech counterpart, physically
uttered by a member of the Inner Party. In , it is elevated to political
custom because it allows complete manipulation of the masses: the slogans are perfect examples:
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. However, the book does not depict a
distant reality: scenes and situations were taken from the political arena at the time of
writing (1948-49). Doublethink is a direct product of Stalins propaganda in the USSR, especially
in the 30s. Stalin came out a victor over the Nazis at the end of World War II even if he had
struck a non-aggression deal with Hitler (known as Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). Obviously, there
have been disconcerting cases in very recent years, such as the war in Iraq - which was hailed
as an attempt to bring democracy to a dictatorial state through the epitome of violence.
Guant¡namo is also a striking instance of doublethink: Mr Bush ordered the incarceration of
many people without trial ostensibly to protect our civil rights. Doublethink constitutes the
bone of political discourse; 1984 is all the more important as a book
exactly because it increases our awareness of this process.

What is the greatest movie ever? The Godfather is my all time favorite. Citizen Kane Forest Gump The Shawshank Redemption The Dark Knight...

Film is
a form of art.  As with all types of art, selecting which examples of the form are
"best" is entirely subjective.  The American Film Institute, as authoritative a source
as one is likely to find, listed what it considers the 100 best American movies of all time.
 While most of the list, in my opinion, is fine, there are selections that I believe are greatly
overrated.  "Tootsie" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," for example, are on the
AFI list, while many of my own favorites are not.  

"Citizen Kane"
is the most respected film ever by film scholars and critics, yet, great as it is,...