Category: Others

Beethoven was a person who specialized in music. He loved playing piano and started at four. During his lifetime, he started to have hearing problems and it was getting worse.

Beethoven’s life started out great. His father was a great man and musician. The love of music ran through the family. He was naturally gifted at the skill at the piano and learned much quicker than other people.

Beethoven thought a person named Haydn was the greatest composer alive, so he then moved to Vienna at the age of 22. Beethoven was being crowded by famous musicians, curious, and interested people because of his incredible ability of his piano playing. Aristocrats were very impressed by his skills and he established himself as one of the many famous musicians.

Around in Beethoven’s 20s, his hearing was being damaged while experiencing loud rings in his ears. Being deaf made critical damage in his life because of being a musician, almost everything is about hearing. He thought very solemnly about killing himself because of his hearing loss. his final decision was no.

Although Beethoven did not suicide, he wanted to keep living for the art of music. He was no longer a pianist, but a composer. Beethoven created many pieces and his most famous one was septet when he was in his 30s.

He started to care less about his appearance and his feelings towards others. Beethoven became gruff and moody. He did not care about his manners and only did about his music.

He became even ruder and appearance much less as his hearing began to be much worse. He became very ill and after four operations, his stomach injury got infected and he eventually died. Twenty-thousand people lined to go to his funeral for he was very popular and famous.

Beethoven was a good and bad man. He was a good man for his music and when he was younger. Beethoven was a bad man because of his behavior and appearance although that probably does not matter because he is mostly remembered as a famous musician, pianist, and composer.

In the short story “the Lady, or the Tiger”, the kingdom has a tradition. If one is needed to be on trial, they would have to go into arena, where there are two doors. One with a beautiful lady, the other with a ferocious tiger in the midst of the room. If the person in the arena has chosen the room with the tiger in it, they are considered guilty and a felon. This tradition is considered an entertainment in the kingdom and many find it very enjoyable to watch just as one would watch a T.V. show.

One day, the King’s daughter, the princess, is found being intimate with a very wealthy prince. Since the King is so fond of her daughter, he sentences him to the lady or tiger trial. Even though his daughter loves him so much, she is almost necessitated to watch because she is so entertained by it. Behind the door of the lady, is a lady who is a fangirl of the handsome prince. While, the other door contains the tiger. However, the princess knows which is behind the door and is uncertain which door to direct the prince to. She is envious because she think the prince secretly loves the other girl, but is also afraid to see her lover ripped apart into shreds by the merciless tiger. The intrepid prince is so trustworthy in the princess that when she gives him a laconic point to the right door, he immediately, without hesitation steps towards the door.

This brings me to the theme of the story. This theme also proves that themes can repeat in different stories since I’m going to steal the theme from the short story “the Lottery” .”Don’t blindly follow traditions just because they are traditions.” Even when the princess’s lover is sentenced to the fate of either being married or being eaten alive, she follows the tradition. Even when knowing that it’s wrong. She follows the tradition for the sake of her entertainment and just because it’s a tradition. Just like in “the Lottery”, the tradition could be cause very grievous consequences, as severe as killing your lover.

No matter whether or not you’re into classical music or not, you’ve probably heard about Beethoven, then Mozart. These were the pioneers of classical music. However, there were differences, and it was pretty obvious.

Mozart

Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg. He started playing the piano when he was 4 years old. Mozart was a child prodigy, and when his father realized that, they went to multiple countries, and Mozart was a leading figure in most countries. Mozarts’ music is known for its smoothness. Everything just seems to go the right way and in the right order.

Beethoven

Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn. He also started playing the piano at 4. Beethoven was also a child prodigy. Beethoven’s pieces were mostly based on Mozarts, but there were surprises where you wouldn’t expect it. For example, just when you think you’re about to get some relaxing music, you get a sudden surprise.

Summary

I believe that both composers had complicated lives, composing many different pieces. However, I like Beethoven more than Mozart because his music is like an adventure. There will always be surprises, which I think is perfectly timed in Beethovens’ pieces. On the other hand, Mozart’s pieces are enchanting, but after hearing multiple pieces, it gets pretty dull. There just aren’t enough different patterns. Beethoven’s pieces always have some surprises, and they can vary.

In The Lady or the Tiger, the king has a way of determining if an accused person was guilty or innocent. The guilty person would go into the king’s arena and face two gates. One gate would have a tiger and the other would have a beautiful maiden. If the person chooses the gate with the tiger, that would mean that he was guilty and deserved a punishment, which would be getting killed by the tiger. If the person chose the gate with the maiden, that would mean that he was innocent and deserved a reward, which would be getting married to the maiden. All of the people believed that this was fair because the person won’t know which door is which. It is also exciting for them to watch because they do not know which door the person will choose.

I don’t think the king’s ways are fair. Even though nobody knows what will happen to the person and it will therefore not be biased, but it is still not completely fair. The fate of whichever person is accused depends on chance. The door the person chooses does not necessarily mean that he is innocent or guilty, it is just random. Also, the person might be innocent, but gets killed because he chooses the wrong door, or vise versa. Overall, I don’t think that the king’s ways are fair.

This short story is a fate themed, in which a young princess of a barbaric king falls in love with a young prince. Obviously, the king didn’t like this, come on, which barbaric king would? He was a fate believer and also believed in justice, so fate would decide, but would it?

After all, this is just probability in modern days, fifty fifty chance. Yet, back then, it was fate, (because people were dumb dumb). His plan accommodated of a beautiful, young maiden, and a hungry, vicious tiger. He would summon the prince in front of two doors, one was the maiden, and the other the tiger.

If the prince were to get lucky and chose the maiden, he was forced to marry her. If you got the tiger, it would rip you apart and eat you alive. My sentiment towards this would be, get lucky and suffer, or die.

You might not understand, but this means, you pick the tiger and die a painful, bloody death, or you pick the maiden and get your girlfriend or wife to come after your head. Basically, it sucks both ways. Also, you might not like the maiden, she may be beautiful and all, but her personality is what you look at.

There is an advantage to getting killed by the tiger, it will be a quick, but painful death, whereas your wife could torture with Chinese water torture ( developed by the Chinese, it sucks). Although there is a slight chance you can get away with out getting hunted by your wife.

Also, you haven’t considered the fact that, even if you die from the tiger, you die with loyalty your wife and her family. That is a happy thought.

In the short story “Hearts an Hands” by O. Henry,

In ”Hearts and Hands,” a woman, Miss Fairchild, spots an old friend named Mr. Easton on a train handcuffed to another man. That man calls her friend Mr. Marshal when she sees the cuffs. Turns out, the man is actually the marshal, and Mr. Easton is the prisoner. But the marshal is a kind man, and lies to her that he is the prisoner. He helps save Mr. Easton from the embarrassment of being a prisoner to a friend. He sees the horror on Miss Fairchild’s face when she first sees the handcuffs on Mr. Easton and speaks up. He calls Easton ”Marshal” to detour her thoughts. Later, after he sees that she seems interested in Mr. Easton, he cuts the conversation short without revealing the truth to save her from embarrassment. After that, he helps Mr. Easton get out of the conversation by asking to go and smoke, leaving Miss Fairchild oblivious to the fact that he was the prisoner, although people who were listening knew that Mr. Easton wasn’t the real marshal.

The theme of the story is kindness. He sees that Mr. Easton doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his old friend, and decides to play along with the fact that he was the prisoner, although he doesn’t gain anything from it, and is just being helpful and kind. This is an important lesson, and a pretty interesting story to go with it.

In “Hearts and Hands” by O. Henry, the author demonstrates how subconscious bias can blur the view of reality. Mr. Easton, a well groomed man, is chained to a messy looking marshal who is escorting him to prison for counterfeiting. They get into a coach with Miss Fairchild, who automatically assumes that Mr. Eaton is the marshal because he looks elegant. At the end, all the other passengers who don’t hold prejudice notice what is wrong, but Miss Fairchild still is oblivious.

First, she fails to notice that Mr. Eaton has the chain around his right hand. Something as clear as this should have been noticed, but Fairchild was too focused on his handsome face and wealthy appearance. Next, all the people around her noticed that Eaton was not the marshal. They do not have a bias point of view regarding social class and appearances, so they were able to see the obvious.

All in all, making assumptions based on appearances can alter what one sees. Even when everybody else saw the clear truth, the one who was holding prejudices could only see their narrow point of view.

Curtis Zhang

6/17/20

Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a famous composer born in 1756. His dad was a relatively successful musician, but Mozart was going to be way more famous than his dad. Mozart was a child prodigy and showed off his musical abilities when he taught himself the violin and composed little pieces when he was still a child. His father decided to send him on a tour to show off his abilities(which I think is stupid) and they had lots of troubles along the way.

Mozart got his first job when he was 17 as a court musician for the “Prince Archbishop of Salzburg”, and at first he composed lots of concertos and symphonies, but later, he got bored of his life as court musician, so he left as court musician to go to Paris, but paris had no jobs for musicians, so he went back and this time his dad got him a position as “court organist.” This time his employer treated him as a servant, and after a long time of trying to quit and not being allowed to, he was relieved of duty but humiliated. 

After he was relieved of duty, he decided to be a freelance musician and started publishing his music alone and also got married. He made a wide variety of music and even a few operas. At this point, Mozart’s financial situation was at his best, and he started living in an luxurious apartment. At one point, he was even called “the greatest composer known to me in person and in name” by a famous composer during the time. 

In 1786 musicians were finding a hard time to stay alive during this time because they were losing their main source of money which were the rich people of their country. Mozart started to lose his fame, so he made tours all over europe to try to restart his fame. In 1790, things started to look better, as his financial situation was starting to get better. He made tons of new pieces during this time, but in 1791, he got sick and he frantically wrote his latest piece which he thought was going to be his “funeral piece.” Ultimately, he failed to complete it on time, and he died on December 5, 1791 at age 35 with his funeral piece still unfinished. 

Though Mozart died without being able to live his life through, his short life produced many of the best concertos of all time. He may have had a short life, but he will always be considered by some as the greatest composer of all time.

Wording is very important in communication, whether it be in talking out a problem or conveying a message, and O. Henry’s short story Hearts and Hands is and example of that importance.

In the story, a marshal and the couterfeiter he’s arrested switch roles in front of a high-society lady the counterfeiter knows when they meet on a train (the role switch is the plot twist that readers are given small hints to until the reveal at the end). The marshal is handcuffed by his left hand to the counterfeiter to keep him from escaping, meaning that the counterfeiter, Mr. Easton (who is presumably right-handed) has his right hand cuffed, and to anyone listening to his conversation with the lady, he is the marshal. The lady apparently does not see anything strange about the “marshal” (Mr. Easton) having his right hand cuffed, but another pair of passengers had been watching and thought it odd that the “marshal” should have his right hand cuffed rather than his left.

That is what leads readers to the assumption that Mr. Easton is actually the counterfeiter and the other man the marshal; however, a few other meanings could be taken from that observation, going off the assumption of the observer that Mr. Easton is the marshal and the other man the criminal.

Firstly: that Mr. Easton is left-handed, and the buildup of the plot twist to that point was all just a clever ruse to make readers laugh and groan at the ending. The observer says, “Did you ever know an officer to handcuff a prisoner to his right hand?”, deeming it strange, which is reasonable considering that the vast majority of people are right-handed. Therefore, rather than perceiving the plot twist as the role-switch that the author intended it to be, readers might see it as Mr. Easton simply being left-handed.

Secondly: this is a bit of a stretch, but the twist could be perceived as the two men being a homosexual couple, Mr. Easton being left-handed and the other man right-handed and traveling as officer and criminal to avoid questions and judgement. The author describes Mr. Easton as handsome and having a “bold, frank countenanced” and the other man as “ruffled, glum”, and “roughly dressed”. Two traveling companions so different in appearance would no doubt draw stares, judgement, maybe questions, all unwanted; so to avoid the attention, they play roles that draw upon the people’s implicit bias for authenticity. And Mr. Easton’s right hand is cuffed to the other man’s left, which would explain their being left-handed and right-handed, respectively.

The second alternate perception was not completely serious, but it is as logically plausible as the first one and does still work as an example of how important wording is in communication. I guess the main point of this is to watch what you say as well as what you do, because words are powerful, powerful things and can have impacts just as great, if not greater than, actions.

Mozart is one of the greatest musicians of all time. He was a child prodigy at the age of four along with the rest of his family. at the age of four Mozart repeated classical pieces perfectly when his father gave him the pieces. He even started playing the violin. If he could do such astonishing things at such a young age, think about what he was like when he grew a couple more years older.

When Mozart was at the age of 17, he got a job as a court musician where it was a great opportunity to earn money for his family. Back in Mozart’s time, life was hard because there weren’t any transportation other than carriages. And wages weren’t as high as nowadays. During his time as a court musicians, Mozart thought that operas weren’t performed enough, because he wasn’t happy, he found another job! This job, a court organist, was worse than the other one because he was treated like a slave, but couldn’t quit the job because his employer wouldn’t let him. He finally left the job and felt relieved but was still humiliated.

When he grew a little older, he went to Vienna and was a keyboardist. Vienna loved him very much and appreciated him in the city, which was better than his previous jobs overall. While enjoying Vienna, he even won the heart of who he loves truly, Constanze Weber! Years later, he started performing concerts and had piano concertos reaching out to him to go to their theater and perform. He started to earn money and had a luxurious apartment with his wife.

Sadly, he started to perform less in public and loose his fame and struggled for the next years because Austria was at war. The new operas Mozart wrote were also not admired by the people of Vienna and he was going through a money drought along with other composers. He decided to go to other places to try and make money but there was no luck. Eventually, he started to get back his debt by submitting piece by piece and doing hard work. People liked him again and his life was saved!

In Prague, after Mozart performed one of his pieces, he started to become very sick and kept vomiting. His wife kept watch over him while he was writing his last piece for his funeral. Mozart, unfortunately, died for an unknown reason. There are many theories where people have thought about the cause, the most popular is a rheumatic fever (a sickness that affects the heart, joints, and skin).