Research Paper:
Section A: Compare Short Story with Drama
Drama is more similar to short stories. In a story, the author extensively describes the events and describes to detail of environment and thinking as well as feeling of the individual characters. In Drama, ‘emotions or thinking’ and ‘environment’ of the characters are not ‘narrated’ but rather, ‘presented’ (Barnet, Berman, Burto, 1993). In this case, environment is presented on stage design and thinking or emotions of the individual characters are presented at the background music while at the same time observing facial expressions of actors (that is, characters). Short stories proceed in the form of plain description of the interrelated courses of narrative events (Bates, 2004).
They state the background of the story just as oral narration but the rest of the story’s proceedings are ‘evolved’ out of describing the environment as well as interactions between characters (Brereton, 2006). This means that the author of the short story does not tell the whole story to the readers, as the readers need to understand the proceedings of the story out of the descriptive situations, which are faced by the characters. This is plainly, because they are well out of dialogues that exist between the characters. In Drama, all events, especially the background, dialogues and emotions between characters are presented and not ‘described’ (Barnet, Cain & Burto, 2010).
References:
Barnet S., Berman M., Burto W., (1993) An Introduction to Literature: Fiction/Poetry/Drama. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers
Barnet S., Cain W., Burto W., (2010) Literature for Composition: Essays, Stories, Poems, and Plays. New York: Pearson Education
Bates A., (2004) The Drama Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization. New York: Kessinger Publishing
Brereton J., (2006) Living Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Pearson Longman
Section B: Themes of the play
The main theme in Parkhurst's play 'The Beggar and the King' is poverty. Poverty is seen to affect the society in a number of ways including reduction of the society’s development rate. It also reduces the society’s economy rate. This is evident from the way that the beggar is crying for bread. In the beggar and the king, it is evident that the king has amerced wealth while the beggar continues to suffer (Pankhurst, 2012). The king orders his servants to make the beggar’s life miserable by torturing him because of his complaining. 'The Beggar and the King' maintains that it out rightly affects the people’s lifestyle.
Climbing out of poverty is difficult for anyone, perhaps because, at its worst, poverty can become a self-perpetuating cycle. Those born into poverty are at an extreme disadvantage since their life style ensures continued poverty. The cycle ends up repeating itself until the pattern is somehow broken. Some of the factors that Parkhurst observes poor people identify as a trend of poverty include precarious livelihoods, excluded locations, physical limitations, gender relationships, lack of security, abuse by those in power, disempowering institutions, limited capabilities, weak community organizations and problems in social relationships (Leonard, 1921).
References:
Parkhurst, W. (2012). The Beggar and the King - a one-act play by Winthrop Parkhurst. One-Act Plays. Retrieved August 5, 2012, from http://www.one-act-plays.com/comedies/beggar_and_the_king.html
Leonard, S. A. (1921). The Atlantic book of modern plays,. Boston: The Atlantic monthly press.
Leonard, S. A. (1926). The Atlantic book of modern plays: ed. with introduction, comment and annotated bibliography. Boston: Little, Brown.
Section C: Review:
The name of the play being reviewed is The beggar and the king written by Parkhurst, Winthrop in 1921. The play captures the horrors of the negative effects of poverty as well as the misuse of power. From the play, it is evident that the King abuses his power (Parkhurst, 1921). He does this to try to silence the beggar in the play. This is a common day problem whereby in some countries dictators have been known to use their power to oppress the poor (Shay, 1923). It also examines the common day issue of poverty (Parkhurst, 1921). Poverty around the world is a major issue that many governments are dealing with. Many countries have adopted radical approaches such as controlling overpopulation. Controlling overpopulation could also bear much benefit to the society. Most argue that overpopulation as well as inadequate access to birth control could lead to population increase, which exceeds food production as well as other resources. In conclusion, the play is excellent and will stay relevant for a long time (Leonard, 1942).
References:
Leonard, S. A. (1942). The Atlantic book of modern plays. Boston: Little, Brown.
Parkhurst, W. (1921). The beggar and the king. New York: Sage.
Shay, F. (1923). A treasury of plays for men,. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.
Section D: Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets can be used for a wide range of applications. Spreadsheets can be able to do mathematics, use formulae, create charts, figures, as well as create planning sheets. One of the most evident uses of spreadsheets is to mathematics. This is enhanced by the fact that spreadsheets have the capability of utilizing a wide range of mathematical formulae from sums to statistical formulae (Balakrishnan, Render, & Stair, 2007). In addition, spreadsheets can be used to draw mathematical charts such as pie charts and bar graphs that can be used to compare mathematical values. Another use of spreadsheets is to create ‘To Do’ lists. Spreadsheets are an excellent way of organizing To Do lists. Activities are entered in one column of a spreadsheet and colour coding can be used to mark activities that have yet to be completed (Dillon, 2003).
Teachers can use spreadsheets in classroom management. Teachers can make a spreadsheet that contains names of students in their class. This spreadsheet can be used for class attendance as well as tallying student test scores. Another way which spreadsheets are used is to create simple mailing databases (Dillon, 2003). Organizations or individuals who want to send a large number of similar letters to different individuals can use a mailing database. A spreadsheet can be created that contains the name, phone number, address, and email of the recipients. Finally, spreadsheets are used to create project schedules and activity plans for a project. The activities are entered in one column and the dates can be entered in another column. The start date and finish date are entered in other columns (Dinwiddie, 2000).
References:
Balakrishnan, N., Render, B., & Stair, R. M. (2007). Managerial decision modeling with spreadsheets (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Dillon, A. (2003). Spreadsheets. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
Dinwiddie, R. (2000). Spreadsheets: creating worksheets. London: Dorling Kindersley.
