Free Essays on Music And Teens

From the Beatles to N’ Sync teenyboppers have had an iron grip on the music industry that as far as any can one tell won’t be released for many years. There are three main reasons that come directly to mind; age, money, and psychological aspects. These three motives will be embellished on later in the essay. Before we start I would like to propose a question that will clarify this essay a little better. Why does such a small portion of the America society indirectly control such a major part of our culture? The first and most influential part of the explanation to this horrible problem is age. Boys and girls just beginning their teen-age years (12-14) don’t drive, probably don’t have jobs and have nothing to really do but go to school and watch MTV. This is age group are the people who’s parents buy the products that are advertised on MTV. There fore MTV is going to run music videos that teenyboppers want to see so that they can sell advertisement space to the companies targeting this age group. Music has turned from an artful expression of emotions to a multi million-dollar business. Money is the second reason that such horrid music like Brittany Spears and Backstreet Boys get such global acknowledgment. Teenyboppers have nothing to spend their allowance. They don’t pay bills, they don’t have cars to put gas in, and they don’t have any real place to hang out accept the mall. This gives another advantage to the teeny-bops industry. Companies can sell CDs, posters, and corny picture books to money totting teenagers. The final and most profound reason for teenyboppers control of the music industry is the psychological aspect of young teenagers. When young people are just entering their teens they tend to follow the crowd so to speak. They don’t take chances and make decisions that stray from the main group. It is an insecurity problem that everyone goes through. That is why so many young people listen to the same m... Free Essays on Music And Teens Free Essays on Music And Teens From the Beatles to N’ Sync teenyboppers have had an iron grip on the music industry that as far as any can one tell won’t be released for many years. There are three main reasons that come directly to mind; age, money, and psychological aspects. These three motives will be embellished on later in the essay. Before we start I would like to propose a question that will clarify this essay a little better. Why does such a small portion of the America society indirectly control such a major part of our culture? The first and most influential part of the explanation to this horrible problem is age. Boys and girls just beginning their teen-age years (12-14) don’t drive, probably don’t have jobs and have nothing to really do but go to school and watch MTV. This is age group are the people who’s parents buy the products that are advertised on MTV. There fore MTV is going to run music videos that teenyboppers want to see so that they can sell advertisement space to the companies targeting this age group. Music has turned from an artful expression of emotions to a multi million-dollar business. Money is the second reason that such horrid music like Brittany Spears and Backstreet Boys get such global acknowledgment. Teenyboppers have nothing to spend their allowance. They don’t pay bills, they don’t have cars to put gas in, and they don’t have any real place to hang out accept the mall. This gives another advantage to the teeny-bops industry. Companies can sell CDs, posters, and corny picture books to money totting teenagers. The final and most profound reason for teenyboppers control of the music industry is the psychological aspect of young teenagers. When young people are just entering their teens they tend to follow the crowd so to speak. They don’t take chances and make decisions that stray from the main group. It is an insecurity problem that everyone goes through. That is why so many young people listen to the same m...

Movie Yasmin Essay Essays

Movie Yasmin Essay Essays Movie Yasmin Essay Paper Movie Yasmin Essay Paper ‘Yasmin is remarkable as a film for its cinematic economy: not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. ’ Explore some elements of the film in relation to this statement. The movie Yasmin, released in 2004 and written by the highly acclaimed writer of The Full Monty, Simon Beaufoy, is an impressive drama about what it means to be an Asian-looking Muslim in Britain of the 21st Century. The story is about the young and vivid Yasmin, a woman who tries to succeed, by the skin of her teeth,[1] in the two worlds she grew up in. On the one hand there is her life at home with her believing father and rebellious little brother, for whom she has to mark time as a dutiful Muslim wife until her arranged marriage can be terminated. [2] On the other hand there is her life outside this domesticity, where she is like a fugitive, maintaining a double life as she changes into Western clothes, wins employee of month award at work and goes to the pub with colleagues. [3] One of the main topics of the movie is the difficult tension between being a religious and respectful woman and integrating into the Western society. Another important theme in the movie is the impact that the terror attacks in September 2001 had on the British Asian community in Britain. Yasmin’s story therefore deals with a wide range of themes such as discrimination, guilt, and the progress of searching for one’s own identity. It is especially remarkable as a film for its cinematic economy (since) not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. There are no fill-ups in this movie, everything has a meaning. This essay will explore some carefully chosen scenes of the movie concerning its sometimes hidden or masked intention and meaning. It will therefore especially concentrate on the beginning scene, which is regarded as being the strongest part of the film[4]. A closer look at the opening of the film is worth it since every well composed novel or film is creating a deliberate relationship between the beginning and the rest of the movie. It will be examined in the following, that additionally in the case of Yasmin the directors develop a consistency, a pattern of the main themes of the film, in the beginning. Everything is already there in the very first three and a half minutes; things shown in the opening reappear later in the movie; conflicts the film deals with can already be assumed in moves, placements, and pictures. It will be proven that, if taken into account every detail, every shot of the scene, the viewer will already be able to see the whole film in miniature in the beginning. The essay will therefore also have a closer look on what is shown in the opening scene and will then search for coherences and connections throughout the rest of the movie. It will hereby not go through the scene chronologically but will pick up separate shots of it and put them together in categories; although it will start with the first shot to which the viewer is introduced in the movie. When Khalid, Yasmin? s father, lopes over a typical grey English street followed by Nazir, Yasmin? s brother, a few steps behind him, Nazir? s bearing strikes the viewer immediately: the way he creeps a few steps behind his father with the hands in his pockets expresses discouragement, maybe even irritation. He seems to be unhappy with the situation, possibly because it? s too early in the morning, since gentle beams of sunrise just touch the wall behind them; possibly because he dislikes the purpose of their walk. His father, however, hastens to raise this purpose: in his hurry he turns around to see where his son has got to. It becomes clear that it is the father who controls the situation- that he is the leader whom the son has to follow. So apart from the obvious, the authority person walking in front might tell the viewer something about the relation between father and son. One could even go further and suggest it might also tell something about their attitude towards life, about their religion, about the way the head of the family is treated in the Islam faith. The scene therefore implicates the parental respect of which is set value in this family. How important this topic is to Yasmin? s father Khalid becomes more and more clear during the course of the movie: he repeatedly calls for respect towards the parental authority over his children. When Yasmin is complaining about her husband and gives him humiliating names, Khalid reprehends her immediately and stresses his will with a slight slap. He even repudiates Yasmin when she dares to apply for a divorce against his will. So the viewer already gets in this very first scene, in the very first seconds, an initial impression of what domestic life in this family is about: about respect and family ties. The two move on and finally arrive at the mosque, which is gated by a metallic blind. After abandoning their shoes, Nazir and Khalid enter the interior of the mosque; and in doing so they pace over a formidable carpet in a remarkable red. It s admirable how strikingly this little scene influences the movie? s atmosphere: after the grey and dusty outside of the mosque with its bleak stone-walls and metallic blinds covering the entrance, the viewer now gets an impression of the inside; the colourful, bright, shining red carpet. The jump is a quiet astonishing little moment: the greyness outside opposes the bright shining colour of the huge carpet these seemingly little people are crossing (amplified by the way the scene is shot: with bird? eye view). Inside the mosque the viewer gets a sense of richness, a glimpse on the whole tradition, an idea about the Islam faith. The scene is not just remarkable because of its visual orchestration, but also in introducing the viewer to this huge and rich religion and the way it sees the world. Later in the beginning scene there is a shot that shows the grey and grim wall of a Yorkshire stone house in the front, again contrasted by the beautiful outlines of the colourful mosque in the background. The two absolutely different styles of architecture standing next to each other implicate a huge imagery: the mosque as a symbol for the tradition and a stonewall which symbolizes the here and now, indicates how the life of the Muslim people in Great Britain stands side by side with the traditional life of the British natives. This deliberate expression of a coexistence of the two traditions is an expression of crossing cultures at its best in this movie, and at this point of the movie it also stands for a successful integration of the Muslim tradition into the British society. This impression is furthermore stressed during the course of the beginning scene: the mosque is using modern techniques; it is using the loudspeaker, the microphone, so a lot of quite modern technology. Satellites are shown. Here the movie is not only supposing the ageing culture of Islam against the modern British culture of science and technology but goes further: it brings it together. There is an interchange going on here through what the viewer can hear (the singing of Nazir) and what he can see (the loudspeakers and satellites). By bringing these aspects together at the same time the fusion becomes immediately clear to the viewer. In another shot of the beginning scene the viewer observes the vivid life of the Muslim community that is taking place in the streets of the town. Even though one quickly might suggest that this shot might be just a fill-up it, in fact, goes further: the viewer here gets an impression of what the life in this Muslim community is like. The reason for that is that later in the film, after the 11th of September 2001, the same streets are depicted deserted, isolated, dead. Whereas the beginning scene expresses the successful integration of the Muslim tradition into the British society, the contrasting scene in the middle of the movie now stands for the failure of this coexistence, for the loss of community. The remarkable contrast of this two scenes is to illuminate Muslims increasing disenchantment with Western society[5] after the terror attacks. So it now comes clear that nothing in the movie is there without reason: showing a typical East-Asian community in a British town is not a fill-in but is a part of the whole effort of later showing a community being disrupted. Nothing in the movie is wasted. One of the most impressing returning scenes of the movie is Nazir singing in front of the microphone. Also this theme is introduced in the beginning scene: after watching the film the first time, the peaceful scene in the beginning immediately reminds the viewer to the very last scene in the movie, when Khalid, the father is putting in a tape into the recorder as an ersatz for the son. This final scene has a huge impact on the viewer since one here really realizes that Nazir has gone off and will not come back. It is therefore a really tragic little moment: it is emotional even though there is no actor playing the emotion. What is on the first glance less striking but not less important is that the image of the son singing comes back three times during the course of the movie; in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. It runs through the film like a red thread: in the beginning it is, as said, introducing not only to the family? s religion but also to the family background itself. In the scene in the middle of the movie Nazir, before he starts, coughs as if he smoked too much. Since the viewer knows that he started â€Å"indulg(ing) in petty drug dealing and consorting with local girls[6], it seems as if he became corrupted by what he is doing with his life. His coughing therefore is again not without meaning but stands for Nazir? s life becoming more difficult to handle. The returning scene is a marker in the film and each time it means something different: in the beginning it is quite straight forward, in the middle it appears as a comment for what happened to Nazir and his life, and in the end it is tragic since he is gone and will never come back. So as a major thread throughout the movie the scene with the singing Nazir displays the different states the movie and its protagonists are currently in. A similar red thread s the theme of dressing and clothes that recurs throughout the film and, again, the theme is already introduced in the opening. By watching Yasmin changing her clothes hidden by one of the typical grey stone-walls one gets an impression of this girl transforming herself into another person. Yasmin makes an enormous effort of putting herself into the trousers, since they are really too tight. She tries hard to fit herse lf in, she even has to jump up and down. The connection is easy to make: this movie is about someone who tries to fit in with two different worlds, tries to force herself in. So here the choice of incredibly tight trousers simply indicate what Yasmin really wants: she wants to make herself fit. If something returns deliberately, a number of times, during the film it becomes a symbolic act: when Yasmin for example dresses up to revolt against her father later in the movie, it symbolizes Yasmin? s wish to break out, to be able to be herself. In the end of the film she switches to traditional Muslim clothes, since she is at this point of the movie staying in the side of the traditional. Here the clothes express how a religious thought became fixed and hardened. Dressing here becomes a signifier for her state of mind. Since it returns later in the movie several times it always tells the viewer something when it comes to clothes. So by following how the dressing in this movie changes throughout the plot one gets a neat impression of how the state of Yasmin’s mind changes with it. The clothes are never chosen without reason in Yasmin, there is an intention in every piece the actors wear. Even though it is just a little detail it strikes the viewer and is therefore very well-thought. So after Yasmin changed her clothes she turns over to her car and plays around with it: she locks and unlocks it with her remote control several times. This car is, as Yasmin later in the movie declares, not a ? t. p. car`, a ? typical paki-car`, but a sporty, feminine little cabriolet in an outstanding red. With this car, she wants to separate herself from those typical Pakistani people, and, even further, wants to declare her independence: â€Å"it gives her a life away from her husband and her home[7]. By buying this car she is able to show herself and everybody else that she is different, what makes it an act of almost deliberate despair. But on the other hand, by playing around with the car, she expresses her excitement. She does it simply because she can. This gives the viewer a sense of how she is playing with things she owns, how she creates the parts of the world around her she can control in the way she likes it. The motif also returns later in the movie, after 9/11: Yasmin gets in the car and there is a news report on the radio about the terror-attacks. Yasmin? s reaction is as playfully as in the beginning of the movie: she just puts a CD in, and listens to the music. She does simply not want to think about, does not want to care. The viewer gets an impression of the ambiguity of Yasmin? life, of how difficult it must be to live in two different worlds, to create her life successfully around the different expectations the people she deals with have of her. The last shot of the opening scene in the movie depicts this challenge in a deliberate way: it shows the long, small, winding road Yasmin has to take day by day to drive to work and back. This road is the connection of the two worlds she liv es in; it is a connecting thread between not only two different locations but two different worlds. Yasmin is having this journey – this transformation, this struggle – every day. By driving over this street she is migrating from one world to another and she has to transform herself before she is accomplished with the migration, since she changes her identity day by day. Furthermore the road is connecting the two different worlds as well as dividing them. That becomes clear through the visual impact of this shot: the road is crossing the whole screen and Yasmin and her little car have to follow its way through the landscape; it deliberately makes the viewer ask: how long will it take her? And how long will she stand this? The struggle of â€Å"balancing two separate worlds in quest to please (a) conservative family, without sacrificing the obvious advantages of the Western environment[8] is depicted as lovely and rich in detail in the movie Yasmin. It is the beautifully realised opening, entirely without dialogue for a good few minutes, (that) is the strongest part of the film[9] as it, as shown, already gives the whole of the movie, its main conflicts, themes and topics in miniature. Although this is a primarily visual scene, dialogue, if used in the movie, is very effectively- Not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. But the dialogue is used economically and not in the opening: it is a visual opening; in general, Yasmin is a visual movie. Every scene, every act, every piece of clothing has a meaning. As the director of the movie, Kenny Glenaan himself, says: obviously the beauty is what you can do within the frame and some people are amazing at doing that. [10] Bibliography Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, i n Close-Up Film, 2003, close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2001, culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. tm Glenaan, Kenny, in a BBC Interview, last updated in September 2004, bbc. co. uk/films/festivals/edinburgh/yasmin. shtml Jennigs, Tom, Tom Jennings’ essay on cinema representations of European Asians Muslims, 2005, http://libcom. org/library/ae-fond-kiss-dir-ken-loach-yasmin-dir-kenny-glenaan-head-dir-fatih-akin-film-review The Hindu Magazine, Being Asian, Muslim and British, Online edition of Indias National Newspaper, 2003, hindu. com/mag/2004/11/14/stories/2004111400270200. htm [ 1 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 2 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 3 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 4 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003, close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm [ 5 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. tm [ 6 ]. Jennigs, Tom, Tom Jennings’ essay on cinema representations of European Asians Muslims, 2005, http://libcom. org/library/ae-fond-kiss-dir-ken-loach-yasmin-dir-kenny-glenaan-head-dir-fatih-akin-film-review [ 7 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003, close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm [ 8 ]. The Hindu Magazine, Being Asian, Muslim and British, Online edition of Indias National Newspaper, 2003, hindu. com/mag/2004/11/14/stories/2004 111400270200. htm [ 9 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003,

Introduction to Business Law - Acts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Introduction to Business Law - Acts - Essay Example The Comstock Act of 1890, named after its chief proponent Anthony Comstock, was enacted to safeguard the society's moral fiber, aimed at safeguarding American society against the destructive effects of "obscene, lewd, and lascivious" books. Upon its enactment, it made it illegal to "selloffer to sell, or to lend, or to give away, or in any manner to exhibit, or shall otherwise publish or offer to publish in any manner an obscene book, pamphlet, paper, writing, or other representation of article of an immoral nature" (Comstock Law 1873). Despite its good intentions, which was meant to target pornography and birth control, which was considered immoral at the time, the act unknowingly, due to the lack of sophisticated understanding regarding artistic forms of expression, became a notorious censorship tool, prohibiting works of art and literature as well. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, on the other hand, named after Senator John Sherman, was enacted to safeguard the country's economy against the monopolistic interests of large business owners and corporations, who controlled most of the economic means during the time.

European Union Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 2

European Union Law - Essay Example Based on similar grounds, directive 2004/113/EC was implemented in order to expand the protection against gender discrimination in different areas of the society1. In the light of discrimination, Article 141 TFEU plays a significant role by obligating EU member states to ensure any kind of discrimination with respect to sex must be prohibited. In this context, Article 157 deals with maintaining ‘equal pay for both male and female workers’ in an organisation for similar job responsibilities2. Discrimination practices in employment can occur in different situations and under different conditions. For instance, when an employee receives treatments which segregate them from other employees bearing same job responsibilities, on the basis of subjective or assimilated criteria such as gender, nationality, religion, disability, age, marital status, parental status, political views, socio economic view and trade union activities, it may be referred to as discriminatory practices. Discrimination and equality are governed by the key principle that an employee must receive equal treatment. Contextually, the code of non-discrimination is used to gender oriented discriminations concerning equal pay for male and female in Article 157 TFEU. This Act is used for avoiding pay gap between the earnings of men and women in an organisation. Under Article 157, an employee is regarded as an individual who performs certain activities under the guidance of another individual in exchange for money for a certain period of time. Therefore, once an individual is considered an employee as described in Article 157 TFEU, the articles of the treaties can be applied to him/her3. Article 157 TFEU provides an explicit commitment to equal pay for males and females, stating that equal pay without discrimination on the basis of gender denotes that the pay for similar kind of work must be calculated on the basis of the same unit of measurement for each employee. Equal pay also denotes tha t the pay for work at certain time rate must be equal for similar kind of job. With respect to Article 157 TFEU, pay comprises not only the basic remuneration committed to the employee, but also his/her overtime pay, extras, special advantages, travelling grants, rewards for appearing in training, termination payments and job-related pensions. Thus far, this has been constantly interpreted by legal bodies to imply that there must be no discrimination on the basis of gender over pay. With respect to any discrimination regarding pay, the European courts consider the link between the notion of pay which is articulated in Article 157 and the practiced social security system4. With respect to discrimination practices, there are two types of acts that can be performed by an organisation which are direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. In this context, it can be stated that Article 157 of the TFEU forbids both direct discrimination on the bases of gender in the area of pay and indirect discrimination. It is worth mentioning in this regard that direct discrimination happens when an individual is unequally treated on the basis of gender; for instance, when a woman is paid less than a man in a similar job. On the other hand, indirect discrimination refers to the discrimination which is the consequence of gender neutral norm, which tends to hamper an individual’s interests on the basis of sex5. With respect to the case of Kate, it can be observed that

Critical Thinking and Ethics Essay Example for Free

Critical Thinking and Ethics Essay Critical thinking is logical decision making. Critical thinker’s decisions are only based on facts and logical thinking. For a skilled critical thinker, decisions are made once the information is clear and concise, as well as being open to alternative end results that are also based off of facts and possible collaboration. For most, being a skilled critical thinker, is learned as we mature and are exposed to more situations where thinking is the only way to find a conclusion. Ethics Ethics are the beliefs of a society and individuals of what is right and wrong. Most people use ethics as a means to direct the choices they make in life as well as the way they treat others during interactions. Ethics are derived from many different places, your parents and close family member in regards to how you were raised, your religious community or lack of religion and the people that you surround yourself with. Ethics can also be described as how you feel, when faced with a choice, this is called your moral judgment. Why we need ethical decision making For many people, you are not solely a critical thinker or an ethical thinker. Most people will listen to their moral judgment as well as review facts before coming to a conclusion. The reason this is so important for society is because not all logical conclusions are ethical. For example, it is law that you may not break into a strangers car, however if you see a baby inside on a hot day, most people would feel that it would be ethically wrong to just walk away while said baby suffers and possible dies. This is an example of a logical decision, do not break into a car, is not always an ethical decision, save a baby’s life. Conclusion Not all facts and reasoning can negate an ethical choice. Sometime, what is logically correct is wrong in the face of someone’s morality. This is why  ethical decision making is important in critical thinking, because sometimes, although a choice may not be critically correct, the ends could save others from pain and heartache, and that is where it becomes an ethically sound choice. References Manias, N Monroe, D Till, J.E. (2013) Ethics Applied Ruggiero, V.R. (2015). Thinking Critically about Ethical Issues. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Bridges Essay examples -- essays research papers

REASEARCH PAPER Bridges have been around sense the beginning of time. The Ancient Roman engineers used two significant innovations, the cofferdam and cement. The cofferdam is when the put wooden spikes in to the bottom of the river then used watertight clay over the spikes to make a bridge. Now today there are more efficient ways to make a bridge then just out of cement and clay. There are Suspension Bridges, Arch Bridges, Covered Bridges and many more. Suspension bridges have become a very common method of bridge construction in the last century. For example the Brooklyn Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. These bridges all use the conventional suspension bridge design were large cables are suspended between towers and smaller cables ar...

Comparison and Contrast Sonny and Charlie Sonnys Blues and Babylon Revisited Essay

Struggling with an addiction is one of the most painful and dreadful experiences one could ever go through. It can start out small or simple, then all of a sudden it is a full on addiction. In James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† addiction is a force that is to be reckoned with. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s â€Å"Babylon Revisited†, paints the perfect picture of what addiction can do at its greatest. These stories can truly substantiate how addiction can put many obstacles up that are very difficult to overcome. It is well established in our society that overcoming adversity can lead to success in many levels. In â€Å"Babylon Revisited† and â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† both addicts have major struggles in facing and defeating hardships in their lives, but when they are finally gone life is back to purpose again. Despite a few dissimilarities â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† and â€Å"Babylon Revisited† , have a lot in common, such as, addiction, imprisonment, and salvation. First, these stories are similar because of addiction. In â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† we find that Sonny is addicted to heroin early on. â€Å"He had been picked up, the evening before, in a raid on an apartment downtown for peddling and using heroin. (434) Sonny had battled a long addiction to the harmful drug before finally getting in trouble and serving jail time. Sonny, unlike the other kids in Harlem, did not act hard or gangster. He had an older brother who tried to look after him as well. He had guidance and advice at a young age but the streets of Harlem took control. Sonny wanted to find an escape from Harlem; he turned to heroin as that choice. In â€Å"Babylon Revisited† Charlie is plagued by the addiction of alcohol. He used to frequent the bars every night. He spent many nights drunk under the influence of alcohol. He had a daughter who kept him on the straight and narrow. She was his motivation to beat the addiction. Charlie searched for meaning in the bottle. The recollection of the past paves the way toward the future. The hole that Charlie seemed to dig himself into with alcohol is something that he will never be able to forget. He has damaged more than just himself because of his addiction. These stories are similar because of addiction. Second, the stories are comparable because of imprisonment. The imprisonment is caused by the addictions. In â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† Sonny is a prisoner to Harlem, he realized early on that he was not going to break the stereotype of being a poor, black, inner-city kid from Harlem. He realized the obstacles and burdens that were ahead of him. His brother warned him several times how dangerous and corrupt life is in Harlem but Sonny never took it to heart. He then turned to heroin to find the escape he had been searching for all along, which led to his jail sentence. Now, Sonny was literally held captive to the very thing he was using for his escape. Yet, when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby brother I’d never known looked out from the depths of his private life, like an animal waiting to be coaxed in the light. †(438) Sonny’s brother had viewed him as an animal who has been trapped in the misery of his life, and now that he is free, he wants to know if he is truly free from the addiction of the past. Sonny’s brother is trying to say that he felt like he never knew his brother before but now that he has suffered the life of prison, he can see the wounds that his dreadful past had caused. But he can still notice the heart of Sonny. He sees that deep down Sonny is the same he has always been regardless of his past. The narrator is finally confronted with the reality that Sonny is in fact his brother and he is now his brother’s keeper, a responsibility he had ran from the majority of his life. In â€Å"Babylon Revisited† Charlie is imprisoned by his past. He will never truly be able to forget his past. He is constantly reminded of it anywhere he goes in Paris. His alcoholism has led him to a life of drunken memories. He also cannot escape his failed marriage. The reminiscence of the past can forecast the future. Because Charlie lost his wife, he is prevented from living with his daughter, which is the thing that will help him bury his past. These stories are similar because of imprisonment. Finally, these stories are alike because they both feature salvation. In â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† Sonny gets his salvation through music. When he is released from prison he is looking to get away from the same life that got him there. He also knows that Harlem is a city full of despair and drugs, which he cannot avoid. But he finds his salvation through music. When he is urged to fall back into his old life he plays music to revive himself from it. â€Å"For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard. There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness. †(453) the narrator describes how music changes his brother into the man he wants him to be. In â€Å"Babylon Revisited† Charlie finds salvation in through his daughter. Even though his friends and family try to bring him down, the one thing he puts his faith into is his daughter. In order to be saved from something you must be consumed by something else. Charlie was consumed in his past and could not let go. But when he is with his daughter he finds relentless joy that he cannot seem to find anywhere else. These stories are similar because of salvation. Addiction consumed Sonny and Charlie. It was something that opened many doors that they did not want opened. It caused them both to lose their entire lives. Even though they lived they are forever haunted by the past of their previous addictions. These stories are similar because of addiction, imprisonment, and salvation.