Peaches Essay -- Character Analysis, Marcus, Reginald McKnight

In the story â€Å"Peaches†, Reginald McKnight introduces his main characters, one being Marcus. Marcus is a good guy, but he is described in many different ways, due to his bad temper and immaturity level. Throughout the work, author Reginald McKnight takes great care to illustrate situations and describe feelings and personalities that many men experience. This way, even though Marcus is having trouble controlling himself around other people and arrogant at times, he still tries to be a better person for Rita and for himself. He does this by going out of the country to experience other cultures and enhance his morals. Although Marcus is strong and eager, he is actually an easily irascible, impatient, immature, manipulative, unstable man whose inexperience does not prepare him for the frequent mishaps in his life. Marcus himself is white, and like most guys he is constantly nitpicking at not just anything, but everything he says and does. Even in realizing that he is being a complete neurotic, one can see that Marcus actions are a sign of his impatience. He has habits of always unknowingly insulting himself and exclaiming, â€Å"I’m the one who needs to change,† (73) two practices that reveal his insecurity and contradict his belief that, â€Å"If anything, I can give you more because my world is so different from yours† (74) which he stated to Rita. Even when Rita re-assures Marcus that â€Å"It’s got nothing to do with your beliefs. Really. I’m just preoccupied†¦..we can talk about this tomorrow, at dinner?† (74) His first concern is himself and asks Rita â€Å"Is it because you think I got no soul or some crap like that, isn’t it?† (74). He feels that his race is the reason Rita has been avoiding him. He reasons that the tension e xisting between him a... ...ially drawn to Rita, not for her â€Å"frizzy, uncombable black hair, or burdensome breasts, but the face that he insisted no guy on campus could forget, and the legs he insisted were not birdlike† (73). Due to Marcus’ personality traits he did not seem to notice that he was sabotaging any possibility of ever having anything serious with Rita. In creating a character so obvious in his irascibility, duality and selfishness, Reginald McKnight also creates a character we can sympathize with. McKnight created a sense that Marcus was an eager individual, who set himself apart from society, but in doing so, he set himself up for failure. This, if anything, makes use aware that negative remarks and statements can lead to a very negative end result. We are forced to form our own conclusion and conform to the fact that no matter how many miles away, one person may never change.

Class Classifications

The following essay is based on the movie Elysium which conveys a futuristic view of humanity's evolution whereby Earth's wealthiest fled the planet to preserve their way of life leaving the financially unstable and the sickly behind. Social inequality In the film Elysium Is constructed by depicting a dyspepsia society (Elysium 2013) This can be evidenced through the Imagery, architecture, agricultural landscape, language, Ideas, values and norms portrayed In the movie (Giddiness, A 2009). Social Inequality In the film Elysium is constructed by depicting a dyspepsia society.Elysium explores sociological themes such as class issues, poverty, immigration, over population, healthcare and exploitation, social inequality, mobility. Social inequality is depicted on earth whereby its citizens were classified as a minority group and were limited to their social status and class stratification (Elysium 2013). First we consider material inequality which was evident in the movie due to disparit ies of income, property and wealth. Secondly, inequality associated with employment and the labor market and thirdly, inequality arising from the lack of healthcare resources and education yester.Social mobility Is the movement of an Individual or a group in a social position to upper or lower classes In the means of health status, literacy and better standard of living through migration to Elysium as asylum seekers to escape their socio- economic level as refugees (Dodd, J. J 2010). Attributes such as age, gender, race or ethnicity further distinguish people in terms of class and status in context of femininity and hegemonic masculinity, depicting the dominant social position of men and women in Elysium and on earth on how gender in terms of employment are resent on earth as well.Most importantly how all these pieces of popular culture is reflective to the current Australian society in their similarities and disparities. Social mobility is essential to the plot of the movie as most of the citizens on earth aspire to a higher social class for a better standard of living (Dodd,J. J 2010). Social inequality is constructed in the film In the film by depicting a dyspepsia society. This Is evidenced through the Imagery of earth, the architecture of buildings In ruins, landscape, language, Ideas and norms.The infrastructure on earth Is dilapidated, not maintained and cared for, the environment Is a barren wasteland with high levels of pollution from industrial outlets. Earth was mainly used for the manufacturing of droid's where the lead character was employed for assembling them. Droid's were utilized to police and keep order on the vastly populated earth. Lack of educational facilities on Earth affected children who became â€Å"dreamers† for a better world with an inevitable future of despair (Elysium 2013). The work force on these druid factories wowed the disparities of status in the employment hierarchy.John Carlyle the CEO of Marlene, had a separate of fice whereas the employees and supervisors were on the floor. The CEO only Intervened when there was adherence in production. The character portrayed emotional detachment to the employees treating them as If they were mere objects. (Western, M & Baxter, J 2007). In Elysium, the environment had a very sterile and futuristic look, well planned and Idyllic to the citizens. Everything on earth Is In despair and decline, the rich on the other hand have every resource available to them in their paradise in space.The landscape is beautifully maintained, two worlds is evident and the introduction of the movie constructs this accurately for the viewer's portraying the severe inequality in the social class stratification. On Elysium the privileged strive to preserve their prestige lifestyle whilst on Earth the citizens are left to fend for themselves to struggle amongst overpopulation, poverty, low healthcare standards. (Garage, B 2002). Australia is an egalitarian society, however social ine quality exists to quite a large extend.There are numerous inequalities present in the Australian society which has a propensity to divide the community into different groupings (Heinlein, J, Passim, A & Passim-linseed, A 2014). According to (Garage, B 2002) Mar's approach has been extremely useful in understanding inequality in Australia today. However, the revised approach from Erik Olin Wright argues that importance of education in the twentieth century led to groups arising whose economic roles were determined by educational qualification and expertise rather than work done with hands (Garage, B 2002). Inequality inAustralia is largely dependent on differentiation of social classes. The working class represents the largest class in the workforce and the capitalist class the smallest portion of the workforce. (Heinlein, J, Passim, A & Passim-linseed, A 2014). In (Dodd, J. J. 2010) the possibility of upward social mobility is strengthened through belief in one's own life and these ideas are re-in forced through movies and the American culture. Social mobility can be understood as the â€Å"movement of individuals and groups between different class positions as a result of changes in occupation, lath or income†. Giddiness, Dunedin, & Applesauce, 2007). Material inequality of the labor force and poor work management led to the main character Matt Damon being lethally exposed to radiation. He was given a bottle of pills but no proper medical care. Matt Damson's character was exploited by the capitalist class for capital gain and once he was no longer able to contribute to the workforce he became a liability and let go. As a result of, the main character had no choice but to go through intergenerational mobility, a change in class position.Social interaction is drastically sacking on earth, there is no face to face interaction. The robots act as authority figures and do not react in relation with the citizens. They follow standards of conduct and behave ac cordingly, showing no emotions which are key elements of social interaction (Furze, B, Saw, P, Bryn, R & Lie, J 2008). The belief of a possible upward social mobility is are reinforced in the movie and in the modern Australian society. Upward social mobility is central to the plot and the outcome of the story in Elysium.According to Marx, class is defined as where a person stands in regards to reduction (Capital Industry) whereby the democratic society of Elysium act as the â€Å"bourgeoisie† who own the means of production and dictate to the residents on earth who are the â€Å"proletariat's† and perform labor intensive and manual tasks. Both the bourgeoisie and proletariat's had opposing interests leading to hostility and conflict. In Elysium the opposing interests between the capitalist and working class led to hostility and conflict.The working class became impoverished and disadvantaged which led to a revolution for upward social mobility to improve their circumst ances Garage, B 2002). Another very key issue that was portrayed in the movie was the concept of ethnicity, looking at Australia which has a complicated history where Just under a quarter of its population are first generation migrants. It is a multi-cultural cultures of people residing together which made them feel a sense of belonging towards one another based on cultural similarities like language spoken, religion, food and lifestyle patterns.On Elysium the residents were indifferent, all vastly wealthy and are almost white compared to earth. They built hierarchies and lassie people into categories mostly on the basis of class and status. Since they were wealthy they believed they were far more superior and smarter to the lower class thus forcing them to seek refuge on earth to perish or survive the atrocious conditions on earth. Popup,J 2002) States that Australia is an immigrant society. Continual immigration has attributed to the affluent society that we have present today.Ass imilation due to the increasing number of immigrants in the Australian Society meant disappearance of many characteristics which differentiated individuals room each other. Popup, J 2002). Since Earth being a manufacturing and industrialized society, the idea of masculinity was interpreted and men were usually bread winners as hard labor was required. Femininity was constructed as the women on Earth were utilized in domestic duties and offered health care services to the sick and injured (School, S, Buskin,J & Long, J 2002.On Elysium feminism in regards to gender plays a pivotal role where Jodie Foster who plays the role of Secretary of Defense shows no tolerance to refugee/ asylum seekers and orders execution even before they reach Elysium (School, S, Buskin,J & Long, J 2002). However, the CEO and the president are male in gender which portrays patriarchy depicting a male dominance hierarchy in governance (Bolton, T, Bonnet, K, Jones, P, Lawson, T, Skinner, D & Stonewort, M 2002).T he citizens on earth who strives to migrate into Elysium were a minority group which was further distinguished into small groups, in context with ‘mechanical solidarity Druthers stated that † what holds these small groups together is a ‘shared collective† where there is not much differences in the beliefs of the society once they expanded (Day, G 2006). It was the sameness of status that the citizens had which made them work together as a unit through understanding each other's values and norms (Day, G 2006). Staying on earth was not out of free will.It was taken away from the lower class thus they were treated like slaves. Women were perceived as a minority group in context with class stratification whereby they did not have equal privileges in the society. It is understandable that social inequality does exist in the current Australian society however, the lower classes have the opportunity to halogen the set social order and improve their class status thro ugh upward social mobility. Education plays a significant factor as the well learnt can strive for high income earning positions that will contribute to their personal and capital wealth.In Australia, education is available to people of all classes and there is no barrier to it. Thus, the opportunities and privileges previously available to the higher social class can now be attained by an individual from a lower class allowing them to be socially mobile and to better their lifestyle. Class and ethnicity play a significant role in the rent Australian society as it distinguishes individuals. Individuals in the same social class may not experience the same status as modern societies are more complex and can be stratified in several ways.

CSU Long Beach Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public university with an acceptance rate of 31%. Established in 1949, Cal State Long Beach is the third largest university by enrollment in the California State University system. The most popular undergraduate majors at CSULB are business and visual and performing arts. Considering applying to Cal State Long Beach? Here are the admissions statistics you should know, including average SAT/ACT scores and GPAs of admitted students. Why CSU Long Beach? Location: Long Beach, CaliforniaCampus Highlights: CSU Long Beachs 322-acre campus sits just a few miles from sand beaches and the Pacific Ocean. CSULBs athletic facilities include the iconic Walter Pyramid.Student/Faculty Ratio: 23:1Athletics: The Long Beach State 49ers compete in the NCAA Division I Big West Conference.Highlights: Students at The Beach can choose from over 150 academic programs. Acceptance Rate During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, Cal State Long Beach had an acceptance rate of 31%. This means that for every 100 students who applied, 31 were admitted, making CSULBs admissions process competitive. Admissions Statistics (2017-18) Number of Applicants 69,578 Percent Admitted 31% Percent Admitted Who Enrolled (Yield) 22% SAT Scores and Requirements Cal State Long Beach requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 95% of admitted students submitted SAT scores. SAT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile ERW 520 620 Math 520 630 ERW=Evidence-Based Reading and Writing This admissions data tells us that most of Cal State Long Beachs admitted students fall within the  top 35% nationally  on the SAT. For the evidence-based reading and writing section, 50% of students admitted to Cal State Long Beach scored between 520 and 620, while 25% scored below 520 and 25% scored above 620. On the math section, 50% of admitted students scored between 520 and 630, while 25% scored below 520 and 25% scored above 630. Applicants with a composite SAT score of 1250 or higher will have particularly competitive chances at Cal State Long Beach. Requirements Cal State Long Beach does not require the SAT writing section. Note that CSULB will consider your highest score from each individual section across all SAT test dates. SAT Subject test scores are not required, but if the score meets a benchmark, it may be used to fulfill certain core course requirements. ACT Scores and Requirements Cal State Long Beach requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 27% of admitted students submitted ACT scores. ACT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile English 19 26 Math 19 26 Composite 20 26 This admissions data tells us that most of Cal State Long Beachs admitted students fall within the  top 49% nationally  on the ACT. The middle 50% of students admitted to CSULB received a composite ACT score between 20 and 26 while 25% scored above 26 and 25% scored below 20. Requirements Cal State Long Beach does not require the ACT writing section. Unlike many universities, CSULB superscores ACT results; your highest subscores from multiple ACT sittings will be considered. GPA In 2018, the average high school GPA for incoming Cal State Long Beach freshman was 3.56. These results suggest that most successful applicants to CSULB have primarily B grades. Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph California State University, Long Beach Applicants Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph. Data courtesy of Cappex. The admissions data in the graph is self-reported by applicants to California State University, Long Beach. GPAs are unweighted. Find out how you compare to accepted students, see the real-time graph, and calculate your chances of getting in with a free Cappex account. Admissions Chances Cal State Long Beach, which accepts fewer than a third of applicants, has a competitive admissions process and is one of the more selective schools in the California State University System. What makes the difference between an acceptance and a rejection? Unlike the  University of California System, the  California State University  admission process is not  holistic. Except for EOP (Educational Opportunity Program) students, applicants do  not  need to submit letters of recommendation or an application essay, and extracurricular involvement is not part of the standard application. Admissions are  based primarily on an  eligibility index  that combines GPA and test scores. To be admitted, you must have completed and achieved a C grade or higher in required college preparatory courses which include two years of history and social science, four years of college prep English, three years of math, two years of laboratory science, one year of visual or performing arts, and one year of a college preparatory elective. Additionally, a separate STEM eligibility index is calculated for admission to science, technology, engineering, and math majors. Applicants should be aware that California State University, Long Beach is designated as  impacted  because it receives more applications than can be accommodated. In the scattergram above, the green and blue dots represent accepted students. The majority of students accepted to California State University, Long Beach had GPAs of 3.0 or higher, SAT scores (ERWM) of 950 or higher, and ACT scores of 18 or higher. Chances of acceptance are best for students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher and a combined SAT score of 1100 or above. In the middle of the graph, note that there is some red (rejected students) hidden behind the blue and green. Some students with grades and test scores on target for CSULB still get rejected. All admissions data has been sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics and California State University, Long Beach Undergraduate Admissions Office.