Light My Lucky – Summary, R. Scholes, N.R. Comley, and G.L. Ulmer

Light My Lucky – R. Scholes, N.R. Comley, and G.L. Ulmer

 Summary

This is a discussion of a “Lucky Strike” Cigarette ad. It points out how clever the ad is and how important it is for consumers to learn how to make a critical scrutiny (review) of ads or any text made for promotional purposes.

Writers describe an advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarette. Cigarettes ads are cleverly presented. The ad looks very simple. It presents a photo of a young, healthy woman, holding an unlighted cigarette in a hand that rests on her head. She is outdoors perhaps suggesting cigarettes can be smoked openly. The words “Light My Lucky” appear in quotation marks perhaps she says this or wants. At the bottom of the photo, there is a surgeon general’s warning: “Smoking by Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, and Low Weight.”

The writers examine the meaning of light and surgeon warning. The word light gives two meanings. It is used in a punning way in the ad. One meaning is fire and another is weightless (opposite to heavy). If we take the word light as fire, it is metaphorically suggesting for sex. Similarly, if we relate the meaning of light with weightless then it means the cigarette is very useful, free from bad ingredients, light cigarettes have less tar and nicotine.

The “light” in Light My Lucky thus refers to both the sexual approach and the healthiness of the light cigarette. Similarly, the Surgeon’s warning is so tricky, that it only warns pregnant women effects of taking Lucky Strike cigarettes. It means others will not be affected by smoking it.

The ad thus shows metonymic associations of the cigarette with beauty, health, and erotic pleasures. This is an extremely clever and well-made ad. Consumers simply come under the influence of pictures and words. They may easily believe that taking Light Strike cigarettes is a symbol of dignity and splendor.

 

*Pun means bringing two meanings in a single word.

*Metaphor is a comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated. A direct comparison Ex- he is a snake.

*Metonymic - It is a way of replacing an object or idea with something related to it instead of stating what is actually meant. Ex -"Give me a hand" means to give someone help.

 Click  Eveline summary

The Etiquette of Freedom summary

The Etiquette of Freedom summary Gary Snyder

The Etiquette of Freedom by Gary Snyder

Summary

Etiquette: a “customary code of polite behavior in society.”, good manners

 

In Snyder’s view, what is often missing in human behavior is graceful conduct. The essay “The Etiquette of Freedom,” reminds us of our ethical (moral) obligation that we are indeed (truly) connected to everything else. Learning the birds and the flowers is local etiquette. It is rude not to know the creature near us. He concludes in this extract that ‘ The lessons we learn from the wild become the etiquette of freedom. To know the wild is to be truly free. Here wild means uncontrolled freedom. There is wildness in us everything comes from there. We need to manage and understand its nature to know the true meaning of freedom 

According to the writer, we are an animal because we are mammals. Our ancestors were animals. Our bodies are wild. Both animals and humans have the same features. Both quickly and automatically turn their head at a shout, feel fear of the danger, breathe, feel relaxed in the quiet moment, to survive both eat food. Therefore, he says our bodies are wild.

It would be a mistake to think that human beings as superior because of language and society.  Animals also communicate extensively (widely).  Language is learned in the house and in the fields, not at school. Without having ever been taught formal grammar we speak correct grammar. We learn vocabulary from the mind. The mind is also wild because the mind takes it automatically or freely.  Likewise, other creatures learn a language from their surroundings. In school, language is refined and grammar is taught. 

There is social order not only in society, it is found in nature too. In fact, it is in nature before the age of books and legal codes. Actually, we are followers of nature's rule. The lessons we learn from the wild become the etiquette of freedom. We human beings only are not present in this world within us other creatures also share equally this earth. They have similar features. The depth of mind, and the unconscious, are our inner wilderness areas. Memories, images, anger, and delights, arise spontaneously in the mind.  We balance it with the outer world. There is uncontrolled freedom in it.  We need to manage it to enjoy a true sense of freedom. Freedom doesn’t mean we harm other creatures. As we all share the same planet. We must live in harmony with each other and establish an etiquette relationship with nature.

 

Every reader has his/ her own understanding so to get the right understanding please read the text. 

Light My Lucky summary

Eveline summary (James Joyce) BBS 2nd Year English

Eveline summary (James Joyce)

Characters:

1)Eveline Hill - main character, an Irish girl of 19

2)Frank - a sailor with a house in Buenos Ayres, he loves Eveline

3)Eveline's father - drunkard and abusive

4)Eveline's mother - made a lot of sacrifices for her family, she died of an unspecified illness.

5)Earnest - Eveline's oldest brother and her favourite. He is also dead.

6)Harry - her another brother, works in church decorating business.

7)Miss Gavan - the owner of the store where Evenline works. 

The story is about Eveline Hill, a nineteen years old girl who fails to take action due to her lack of conscious will. She also fails to manage her life at both the social and economic levels. She lives in Dublin with her father. Her mother and oldest brother Earnest were dead. Her another brother Harry lives out of the house he works in the church- decorating business.

Eveline’s father was nice to her when her mother was alive but later on, he started threatening her. She has to work hard both in the house and shop. Her father takes all her earnings and gives her little money to run the house. In the shop also the owner of the store Miss Gavan single out her and scrutinize (check/spy) more heavily in front of customers. She is fed up with her life she wants to escape from her house in search of happiness. Then she meets Frank a sailor, a kind and open-hearted man with whom she plans to elope.

She is sitting at the window, watching outside, dusty cretonne’s odour is coming in her nostrils. She remembers her past and looks around her house. As being grown up in an Irish Catholic family she is confused about her plan to elope with Frank. On the one hand, she thinks Frank will provide her respect and happiness on the other hand she questions herself whether eloping is wise or not? She appreciates the familiarity and comfort of house. How will be her life after marrying is not sure. Somewhere she mistrusts Frank.  

She has to elope with Frank by the night boat to be his wife. Their passage has been booked. She writes two letters. One for her father another for her brother Harry. She thinks her father is becoming old and will miss her. The odour of dusty cretonne is coming. She remembers the same odour had come just before her mother’s death. It reminds her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could.  She recalls her mother’s voice saying “Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!” (it means maybe “the end of pleasure is pain!”)

She stands up in a sudden impulse of terror. She says she must escape to get happiness and to have a better life. Now she is in the station. She prays God to direct her. The boat arrives and Frank board the ship calling her to come again and again but she stands still. She is in dilemma: remain at home like a dutiful daughter or leave Dublin with Frank to get happiness. There is still conflict in her mind regarding her decision.  She becomes unable to take action due to her lack of conscious will. 

In the end, Frank boards the ship alone. It means she decides not to go with Frank remembering her promise to her mother and her responsibilities for her father and siblings. Moreover, she feels much safer in her own house. She cannot escape just to enjoy her happiness. Now there is no sign of love and recognition in her eyes for Frank. 

Summary in Short

 

 Eveline is the main character of the story. It surrounds around her thoughts, her past memory her present situation, and her desire to come out of her circumstances to have a better life. We know about other characters through her. She has an abusive father who used to be nice to her when her mother was alive. She has to run her house with little money and work in a shop too. She grows up in an Irish Catholic family where girls have strict rules. Her father takes all her earnings. Her brother Harry lives out of the house. Therefore, she lives with her father. Her life is full of hard work. Thus, she wants to escape from her house to get a better life.

She meets Frank, a sailor then she likes him. He tells her different stories. When her father comes to know it, he forbids her to meet him. According to him, he is not a nice man. She decides to elope with him. When the time comes to go in a night boat with Frank who is calling her again and again, there is no sign of love in Eveline’s eyes for Frank. She cannot go with him remembering her promise to her mother to keep the home together as long as she could. She cannot trust Frank at the last moment. In spite of her hard life, she feels comfortable staying at home rather than going to an unknown place.

(please read the original text for full details and for a better understanding.)

Augustus Does His Bit Summary George Bernard Shaw (BBS 2nd Year) English

Augustus Does His Bit - George Bernard Shaw

Characters:

Lord Augustus Highcastle ( Augustus) - 45 years, colonel  in the English army

Mr. Horatio Floyd Beamish (The Clerk)

The Lady - spy woman

"Augustus Does His Bit: A True-to-Life Farce " (1916) is a comic play about a foolishly idealistic aristocrat who is deceived by a spy woman during the war between Britain and Germany. It is an anti-war play, which exposes the false notions of society about war and its heroes.

Here the playwright through the clerk's views shows the negative side of the war and its effect on common people.  Augustus represents an arrogant foolish character who takes war as a serious matter to strengthen the nation.

Augustus was sitting in the Mayor's parlor (room). He was in colonel dress and reading The Morning Post. The clerk came in. He requested Augustus to increase his salary because he didn't want to die of hunger. On the other hand, Augustus ignored it and said it was not suitable to increase salary in the time of war because many gallant armies were dying in the trench. In fact, to save money for war Augustus didn’t want to invest money to sweep the street and wanted to reduce the allowance of petrol by three quarters. He also wanted to replace the gas stove with a grate. 

Augustus had delivered recruiting speech. He told the clerk that it was his best speech which was made for army enrolment for world war first, and his town’s people needed such speech to wake up. However, the clerk showed negative aspects of war. As war is always destructive and fruitless, it brings only pain and misery to human life. It is senseless  and meaningless; therefore, the clerk said, "the country is going to the dogs."

As the clerk’s views were different than him he became furious and sent him out. Then he was informed that a female spy is after an important document in his possession. (control) A beautiful woman visited him. After flattering him by saying how important he was, she told him that she suspected her sister-in-law of being the spy. She told Augustus' brother, Blueloo, had made a bet that Augustus could be easily tricked, and intended to use this woman to prove it. If she became able to get the document, a list of British gun emplacements, and gave it to "Blueloo", Augustus's incompetence (stupidity) would be exposed.

The clerk entered holding the document, which Augustus had left on a coffee table in the hotel. It was the document that the lady wanted to steal. The lady very smartly exchanged the document with a fake one then she called "Blueloo" to tell that she easily outwitted Lord Augustus. Augustus then realized that she was the spy who made him a fool.

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