The Pardoner's Tale

           In the story, The Pardoner’s Tale, Chaucer demonstrates irony throughout the whole story. The Pardoner is not the best character. He definitely has certain flaws about him. He gained his money from selling pardons to the upper class people. In other terms, He told people that it was okay that they sinned and in his own way “saved” them. That, in the church’s eyes, was morally wrong. He preached to the people about how it was wrong to drink, yet, he drank himself. He preached about how wrong it was to steal, yet, at the end of the story he stole money from two other men and killed them. 

         The Pardoner preached about how wrong it was to drink alcohol and gamble. All of the people who listened to his sermons did not know the real Parson, considering the fact that he drank and gambled himself. It is hard to call him a hypocrite. His deals, for example, giving the upper class pardons for their sins, were very underhanded and secret. He was religious for all of the wrong reasons. He felt if he did not show people that he was religious then he would not be able to sell the pardons to the upper class. His main reason for being religious is for the money. 

         In the story The Pardoner’s Tale, there was a scene that strikes the readers attention. Three rioters were sitting, drunk, at the bar. One of there other friends were killed. The three men set out on a hunt to “defeat death”. They stumble across an old man who claims to have left “death underneath a tree. The men find, under the tree, gold florins. They try and think about how they will get the money back home. The youngest gets chosen to go into town and get supplies. Meanwhile, The other two rioters are sitting and plotting a way to kill the youngest to get more money. What they did not know, the youngest rioter who was in town buying poison and wine, was actually plotting on killing the other two rioters. When the youngest gets back from the town, he is killed by the two rioters. As they sit and drink the poisoned wine, they were killed instantly. There was more than one irony to this part of the story. The first bit of irony was the fact they were plotting on killing each other for the money, yet, none of the rioters even lived. The second bit of irony was how the old man said he “left death under the tree” and all three greedy rioters died. The rioters completely did not listen to the old man’s words.

         The over all irony of The Pardoner’s Tale is how the Pardoner worked for the church and preached about how wrong it is to sin. He gave pardons to the upper class people who sinned and it “saved” them. He basically went against the churches morals and told people “It is okay to sin because I will just give you a pardon.” He made his money that way. The Pardoner was religious for all of the wrong reasons. He was in it just for the money. It seemed as if people payed him so they could sin. At that point the church was corrupted. 

        In conclusion, The Pardoner’s Tale showed many different points of irony. The story mainly demonstrated the Pardoner’s way of preaching about something and then turning around and doing it him self to gain more money for himself. 

Pygmalion Essay

        Reading Pygmalion, I was intrigued by the themes that appeared. Some themes were easier to point out than other. There were two themes that really stood out from the rest of them. I can relate to changing and/or being forced to change my identity. I can also relate to the feeling of changing my appearance and the difference it makes in my social life. Pygmalion was written back in the day when the way a woman looked and spoke defined her as a person. As I sit and think about the story, I find myself asking “have things changed much since then?”

Identity is defined as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.” Eliza Doolittle was simply a flower girl who had an atrocious way of speaking and dressing. Professor Higgins made a bet with Pickering that he could improve Eliza’s speech and appearance. Eliza wanted to better herself by allowing Higgins to help her improve. The way that I looked at this story was Eliza knew she was different and she was ashamed. She changed her whole identity to become someone whom she was not. Moving around the country throughout my life, I have experienced changing my identity, becoming someone completely different from who I was before and starting fresh. When I moved to Arizona, I practiced every day for the longest time to lose my southern dialect. I did the same thing that Eliza did. I lost a sense of myself, although, I eventually “fitted in” with the other people that surrounded me. 

Appearance and identity tie into each other in Pygmalion. When someone changes their identity, they sometimes change their appearance. In the story, Higgins was determined to transform Eliza into a high-class beauty. He was successful in changing her speech and appearance. One thing that I noticed when Higgins became successful, Eliza received more attention. Her social life boosted and she gained more respect from the high-society members. This theme reminded me of when I moved to Phoenix and lived in a very high-society area. I did not have the trendiest haircut, or the most fashionable clothes and shoes. I was considered a “nobody”. After a few months of being ignored and disrespected because of the way I looked, I went out and bought clothes that were up to everyone else’s standards. I craved to fit in with the other people at my school. When I came back to school with my brand new appearance, I received more attention from the other kids. I got asked to the school dance and joined a good group of friends. I thrived off of the attention. I, again, changed who I was to fit in.

This story contained many meaningful themes; themes that some people can relate to. Although Eliza changed dramatically in Pygmalion, she continued to be a flower girl and opened up a shop. That must have been my favorite part of the story because she gained back a little of her old self even after the transformation. 

It's Here! Senior Year!

Senior year has finally started. Though I never thought that I would ever reach this time in my life, I’ve always had a plan. The day I started kindergarten, I wanted to be a “Flower Picker”. I was 5 at the time and all I knew was that I loved flowers. As I got older I changed from aspiring to be a Flower Picker to wanting to be a teacher. I have changed my mind numerous amounts of times since that first day in Kindergarten. I have so many goals in life now, and it is making my head spin. 

Your senior year in high school is supposed to be “the best time of your life”. However, I have found it to be quite stressful. Thinking about college and knowing how much it’s going to cost is taking its toll on me. My main goal for senior year is to get as many grants/ scholarships as possible. High school, in general, has been stressful for me. I get caught up in the gossip, and the drama, and tend to be unfocused. This year, to reach my goal of receiving grants/ scholarships, I will not allow the triumphs of high school to stand in my way. 

My parents sat me down and asked me where I saw myself in the next 10 years. I answered with “I will be a teacher”. The next question they asked was “What is your dream?”. Immediately, I responded with “I want to work with homicides. I want to investigate them and find who committed them”. After I said that, I realized that’s what I wanted to do. I was settling for teaching because it seemed easier. My goal after high school is to become a homicide investigator. I want to find a school that has an outstanding forensics program, and succeed in everything I do. To reach my goal, I will find all of the information that I need and save the money that I need. I’ll keep my eyes on the prize.

I know what career I want to have and I know what I have to do to reach that goal. One dream/goal I have is to start a family. I want a little family to come home to at night, and to love. I want kids. I want to be a wife and a mother. A goal for my future family is to never get so caught up in work that I forget to make enough time for my family. I want to be Santa and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. I want all of the good and the bad times. To reach my goal of not being so busy making a living that  forget to make a life, I need to learn how to divide my time equally among work and family.

I have a long year ahead of me, and plenty of time to figure out more ways to reach all of my goals in life. It seems so unreal that this time has arrived where I am thinking about graduation and the rest of my life. Im so excited to see what is in store for me. I am determined to reach all of my goals.