Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Clerk's tale
Poem Response -- "The Clerk's Tale"
The narrative of the poem called "The Clerk's Tale" is a slice-of-life vignette apparently taken from the poet Spencer Reece's real biography. (Reece, p.2) the poem is set when Reece is thirty-three, and working at an expensive clothier. The location is rife with contradictions. On one hand, Reece is gay, and working with another gay man who wears bracelets, Clinique bronzer, and smokes Benson & Hedges cigarettes like a Hollywood starlet. However, both of these gay men sell their clothing to a largely heterosexual clientele, "with wives and families that grow exponentially" and they must call the men "Sir," as if they are respectful butlers rather than employees of a store. Because of their mutually shared sexuality, the two men enjoy a special sense of fellowship away from the customers. They make bawdy jokes, together although Reece hints that there is "bittersweet' acceptance in his colleague's sexual identity. With the customers: "We are more gracious than English royalty." In other words, their professional demeanor is always very different than their personal demeanor. They must wear a false face.
The poem ends as the two men close up the shop, taking a certain amount of subtle pleasure from closing the door in the faces of the late customers. As they leave, the poem reveals that they are working the Mall of America, a particularly "garish" place. Only Reece knows that the leather bag the security guards examines before they can leave was bought while his colleague was traveling with his lover in Europe. Then, the two of them part, and are alone in the busy, sprawling metropolis. "This is how our day ends. / This is how our day always ends," Reece writes. The poem ends on a note of profound sadness, as apparently the man no longer has a companion, and Reece himself is alone, lost in America, lost in a place where he finds very few touchstones for his alternative sexual identity, other than this older man.
Works Cited
Reece, Spencer. "The Clerk's Tale." From the Clerk's Tale. New York: Houghton
Mifflin, 2004.
This, in turn, will also affect the overall economic situation of the country. A particular country's condition will also affect its neighboring country, hence, everyone is the world is affected. Usually, children are the common victims of the adverse effects of tobacco. Babies of smokers have greater chances of being born pre-maturely or having low birth weight. Moreover, secondhand smoke can trigger sudden infant death syndromes. Cigarette smoke can also
Today, each country implements the quotas it finds most suitable, leading as such to major fluctuations in the taxes, their percentage in the price and the final retail price. The federal authorities generally explain the high cigarette taxes as a means of reducing the consumption of cigarette, with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of smokers and protecting the health of the individuals. Nevertheless, fact remains that the fares
.." (Fleenor, nd) it is related that it did not take long for this to spread into other U.S. states with trucks all around the United States being hijacked and robbed of their cigarette cargo. The following tables lists the state excise tax rates on cigarettes for January 1, 2007. State Excise Tax Rates on Cigarettes (January 1, 2007 TAX RATE per pack) RANK STATE TAX RATE CENT PER PACK Alabama (1) Nebraska Alaska (3) Nevada Arizona New Hampshire Arkansas New Jersey California New Mexico Colorado New York
Cigarettes Why do people smoke? All of know that smoking is a dangerous, even potentially lethal habit - and one moreover that now carries an increasing weight of social stigma. And yet still people do it. There must therefore be compelling reasons why people should endanger their health to such a degree and the most obvious of these reasons is the one that smokers themselves offer up the most often: Smoking
When in adulthood, people start smoking because of different reasons, mainly because they encounter various problems in their lives. Smoking is commonly identified as a solution to stress, and, people get a feeling of relaxation after smoking. People that smoke are normally thinner than those that don't, and, accordingly, some overweight persons might take up smoking in hope that it would make them slim. Tobacco smoking reduces appetite and people's
Cigarette Advertising Campaign If we look at the case of Mary and RJR there is a contract formed between them for Mary to undertake a year long advertising campaign to present the companies cigarettes in a positive light, her remuneration was to be 25% of the increase in sales that the campaign created. It was also recognised that this was a very vague amount, and may be difficult to assess, as