Young Goodman Brown Essay Example for Free

Youthful Goodman Brown Essay The individuals living in the United States of America are probably the most freed individuals on the planet. Most of the individuals living in this nation are very much aware of their strict opportunity and human rights. It is in this manner difficult to envision that over 300 years prior, there was a gathering of individuals living in Massachusetts who couldn't endure others; particularly those whose perspectives are not in adjustment to their own. The Puritans were both celebrated and censured ever. In any case, for Nathaniel Hawthorne the manner in which they mistreated non-traditionalists caused him to detest them. The main issue is that he is identified with probably the most infamous figures of that time. He composed a noteworthy number of attempts to assist him with managing his association with this men and the Young Goodman Brown is one best case of how he attempted to exorcize the devils of the past. The Author Nathaniel Hawthorne was conceived on July 4, 1804. He was conceived in a spot used to be called Salem, Massachusetts. His old neighborhood was later renamed to Danvers, Massachusetts and most likely in light of current circumstances. In 1692 there was a genuine witch chase in this town. Suspected witches were hanged and consumed. His predecessors were driving men of Salem. One of them was William Hathorne who settled in the province in the early piece of the seventeenth century and afterward proceeded to get one of Salem’s otherworldly developers and made a huge commitment in making a religious society (Meltzer, 10). William Hathorne held numerous workplaces including judge and as a military chief who constrained the Indians out of their country. Later on Nathaniel Hawthorne will utilize a portion of his endeavors and wrongdoings as the foundation for his accounts. So as to have some point of view, in the year that Nathaniel Hawthorne was conceived, it was likewise that year that Thomas Jefferson was reappointed leader of the United States and about a similar time when Lewis and Clark set out on an undertaking to investigate the West (Meltzer, 15). It implies that when Hawthorne composed Young Goodman Brown America was as yet a moderately youthful nation and subsequently the exercises of the past are still new in the recollections of numerous most particularly the individuals who originated from the essential settlements, for example, in Massachusetts. For Nathaniel Hawthorne his darkest mystery lies in the way that his predecessors â€Å"†¦earned the notoriety of pursuing down the underhanded like a bloodhound† (Meltzer, 12). The accompanying best depicts the circumstance in the Salem witch preliminaries: While the witch-chase rage kept going, people, youthful and old, were imprisoned, their property reallocated and they had to design declaration against guiltless others. The court’s focal point was to get an admission out of the charged. Around fifty individuals surrendered to the extreme weight and some were executed (Meltzer, 11). It will get obvious later on that Nathaniel Hawthorne made an acknowledgment; that he could take care of the disgraceful activities of his predecessors by turning into an essayist. Be that as it may, as referenced prior American in the mid-nineteenth century was not actually an exceptionally industrialized country. This is awful news for a hopeful essayist like Hawthorne since this implies it is incredibly hard to procure a tolerable living composing short stories and books. He had a harsh beginning as an essayist. Yet, at that point he discovered his specialty, he discovered his own interesting style and the rest is history. The Story The Young Goodman Brown is one of the more significant works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and it is about the strict experience of a youngster named Young Goodman Brown. The fundamental character was hitched to a young lady named Faith and one day chose to take on an unusual excursion profound into the forested areas directly after dusk. It is an inquisitive opportunity to begin venturing out to another town or to a specific area. For reasons unknown, Young Goodman Brown was welcome to go to a surreptitious gathering in the darkest piece of the forested areas. The story took an unexpected turn when the profoundly strict Young Goodman Brown was found to meet with the fiend in essence (McCabe, standard. 1). Hawthorne made a mysterious presentation of the demon when he composed the accompanying: But the main thing about him that could be fixed upon as amazing was his staff, which bore the similarity of an extraordinary dark snake. So inquisitively created, that it may nearly be believed to curve and squirm itself, similar to a living snake. This, obviously, more likely than not been a visual trickiness, helped by the questionable light. Hawthorne didn't detailed why the devout youngster assented to a gathering with the fiend. This trouble is exacerbated by the revelation of Young Goodman Brown who stated: We are a people of petition, and acts of kindness, for sure, and stand no such evil. The previously mentioned extract may help answer that question †Young Goodman Brown was tricked and didn't understand from the start that he was conversing with Satan. In any case, that isn't the most fascinating piece of the story. The story turned out to be progressively confused when Young Goodman Brown saw the most profoundly regarded individuals in Salem town participating in the said mischievous gathering. The youngster couldn't accept the obvious reality when he saw Goody Cloyse, Deacon Gookin, and the old pastor of Salem. The disarray was made increasingly extraordinary by the nearness of realized miscreants including the abhorred magicians from the rapscallion clans. The strict individuals of his town criticized their sort but all are accumulated under the trees, appearing to appreciate each other’s organization. It was likewise uncovered to Young Goodman Brown that the tidy and legitimate women in Salem town are blameworthy of either murder or unbridled desire. He was stunned to get some answers concerning the false reverence and the double dealing. Be that as it may, his life was going to be decimated by what he saw straightaway. In the start of the story Hawthorne clarified that beside religion Young Goodman Brown’s reason in life is to adore and appreciate his significant other, Faith. He was not just frantically infatuated with his young and wonderful spouse however he considered her as his grapple and causes him keep center. At the peak of the story nonetheless, Young Goodman Brown saw his better half in the gathering and eagerly took part in the wicked ceremonies. Obviously, the youngster was squashed and he could never recoup. He proceeded to live for quite a while. At his burial service he was made due by a more established looking Faith, by his kids and grandkids. In any case, he kicked the bucket a messed up man brimming with anguish that his family never tried to engrave anything in his headstone. It appears that it is best for him to bite the dust as opposed to live. The Context As it's been said it is about setting. The story can be deciphered various ways yet the right translation should have a comprehension of the specific circumstance. One pundit gave the underlying invasion into the investigation of setting when he composed, â€Å"Despite Hawthorne’s notoriety as a romancer who wanted to make a ‘neutral domain, somewhere close to this present reality and pixie land’ †¦ he gave cautious consideration to recorded settings for a large portion of his artistic works (Person, 16). Hawthorne put together his story with respect to authentic realities yet above all he put together it with respect to the activities of his predecessors. A more profound assessment of his ancestry will uncover that, â€Å"Puritanism and the historical backdrop of early Massachusetts settlements †Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Salem †structure one significant setting in which to comprehend Hawthorne’s writing† (Person, 16). It must be noticed that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s extraordinary incredible extraordinary granddad was William Hathorne. William Hawthorne was notable for requesting one Quaker lady †Ann Coleman †to be whipped while strolling the boulevards of Salem. John Hathorne the child of William Hathorne was likewise made famous by directing in the similarly scandalous Salem witch preliminaries in 1692. One ought to likewise take note of that the letter â€Å"w† is absent from the last names of the previously mentioned progenitors. This could imply that the creator was not exactly excited to be related with these men. Indeed, â€Å"†¦Hawthorne alluded to every one of these precursors as a ‘bitter persecutor who had all the Puritanic characteristics both great and malice. Hawthorne felt frequented by these progenitors and took disgrace upon himself†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Person, 17). It very well may be said that Nathaniel Hawthorne needed to correct what was done in the past through his accounts and books. The connection to the Salem witch preliminaries and the plot of Young Goodman Brown can be found in how Hawthorne utilized subtleties from the preliminary and fused it into the story. The most significant part of the Salem witch preliminary that Hawthorn utilized was typified in an idea called â€Å"specter evidence† (Person, 18). This is the conviction that individuals could allow Satan to emulate them in a powerful manner and afterward utilizing that similarity, the villain could then move openly inside the network to entice others. In Young Goodman Brown the idea of â€Å"spectral evidence† was utilized as far as possible. Pundits affirm that the individuals that Young Goodman Brown experienced are the phantoms of everybody he knew (Person, 18). Sadly, the youngster accepted the ghost to be the genuine article and accordingly his life was flipped around. The feeling of anguish felt by Young Goodman Brown is nevertheless an impression of what Hawthorne felt since what his progenitors did he was unable to overlook, â€Å"It was a family bloodstain Nathaniel Hawthorne would never freed himself, of considerably after in excess of a hundred years had gone since those predecessors died† (Meltzer, 14). Be that as it may, he attempted his best. The Intentions of the Author In light of the first conversation and dependent on a cautious examination of Young Goodman Brown no doubt Hawthorne had in any event three goals when he started to compose this bit of writing and these are recorded as follows: 1. Hawthorne needed to show that it is counterproductive to have legalistic networks; 2. Hawthorne needed to show that strict biased person

Chinese government Essay Example for Free

Chinese government Essay Simulated intelligence WeiWei obscured the lines between the tasteful and the political. As indicated by the web, tasteful is characterized as worried about excellence or the valuation for magnificence. Artificial intelligence WeiWei utilized workmanship to â€Å"protest† against the Chinese government. Computer based intelligence Weiwei was an imaginative man who thought of thoughts how to speak to the names of the considerable number of kids who were executed in a destructive tremor. A pundit in the film guaranteed that Ai WeiWei was carrying out a responsibility that the legislature ought to do. A savage tremor crumbled numerous structures including homes and schools. A huge number of youngsters were slaughtered and were left unrecognized. Artificial intelligence WeiWei wasn’t going to release this. He amassed a venture, brimming with volunteers to assist him with looking for the names of the youngsters who were murdered in the debacle. He put each individual name on his divider. The venture roused him to make more bits of fine art to rebel against the Chinese government. Man-made intelligence WeiWei was a brave man. Simulated intelligence WeiWei was exceptionally engaged with online life. He utilized twitter to share to the world how degenerate China’s government was. He left China when he said â€Å"Fuck You Mother Land. † Cameras are in some cases illegal in China. Computer based intelligence WeiWei was ambushed by a cop, yet that didn't prevent him from taking pictures in front town halls or of an official who was at the scene when he was assaulted. Computer based intelligence WeiWei made a divider brimming with rucksacks to make others mindful of the youngsters that passed on in the seismic tremor. During the second commemoration, Ai WeiWei requested that his adherents pick a name and record it on tape and offer it to the world. Man-made intelligence WeiWei was sharing his involvement with China of the degenerate government with a large number of individuals around the globe. Man-made intelligence WeiWei made individuals mindful of what was happening in China. Computer based intelligence WeiWei turned out to be notable through his gem. He communicated his thoughts through his work. Not exclusively did his craft make him notable, Ai WeiWei caught numerous supporters to rebel against the degenerate framework. Man-made intelligence WeiWei was a man with no narrow-mindedness. He paid special mind to other people and he was continually looking and scanning for thoughts that would support him and his devotees. Man-made intelligence WeiWei was not scared of the results, as long as he knew it was for the acceptable.

Fresh Ink April 1, 2014

Fresh Ink April 1, 2014 HARDCOVER RELEASES Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell (Katherine Tegen Books)   Rule One:  Nothing is right, nothing is wrong. Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of lifeâ€"the only way of life she has ever known. But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One and go from there. Katherine Ewell’s  Dear Killer  is a sinister psychological  story that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe. No Book But the World by Leah Hager (Riverhead)   At the edge of a woods, on the grounds of a defunct “free school,” Ava and her brother, Fred, shared a dreamy and seemingly idyllic childhoodâ€"a world defined largely by their imaginations and each other’s presence. Everyone is aware of Fred’s oddness or vague impairment, but his parents’ fierce disapproval of labels keeps him free of evaluation or intervention, and constantly at Ava’s side. Decades later, then, when Ava learns that her brother is being held in a county jail for a shocking crime, she is frantic to piece together what actually happened. A boy is dead. But could Fred really have done what he is accused of? As she is drawn deeper into the details of the crime, Ava becomes obsessed with learning the truth, convinced that she and she alone will be able to reach her brother and explain himâ€"and his innocenceâ€"to the world. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige (HarperCollins) Somewhere over the rainbow…something has gone terribly wrong. A twister has hit Kansas again, and this time it whisks away a girl named Amy Gumm. At first, Amy is thrilled to have left her trailer park life behind. But instead of the magical land where troubles melt like lemon drops that she knows  from the  books and the  movies, she discovers the place has been destroyed. And it’s all Dorothy’s fault. Amy soon joins up with the Revolutionary Order of the Wickedâ€"a group of deposed witches and warlocks who are determined to end Dorothy’s oppressive reign, and who need Amys help. They teach her the secrets of witchcraft and combat and then they give her an impossible mission: steal back the Tin Woodman’s heart, the Scarecrow’s brain, and the Lion’s courage. And when she’s done, Dorothy must die. The Revolutions by Felix Gilman (Tor Books)   In 1893, young journalist Arthur Shaw is at work in the British Museum Reading Room when the Great Storm hits London, wreaking unprecedented damage. In its aftermath, Arthur’s newspaper closes, owing him money, and all his debts come due at once. His fiancé Josephine takes a job as a stenographer for some of the fashionable spiritualist and occult societies of fin de siècle London society. At one of her meetings, Arthur is given a job lead for what seems to be accounting work, but at a salary many times what any clerk could expect. The work is long and peculiar, as the workers spend all day performing unnerving calculations that make them hallucinate or even go mad, but the money is compelling. Things are beginning to look up when the perils of dabbling in the esoteric suddenly come to a head: A war breaks out between competing magical societies. Josephine joins one of them for a hazardous occult explorationâ€"an experiment which threatens to leave her stranded at the outer limits of consciousness, among the celestial spheres. Arthur won’t give up his great love so easily, and hunts for a way to save her, as Josephine fights for survivalsomewhere in the vicinity of Mars. Worst. Person. Ever. by Douglas Coupland (Blue Rider Press)   Worst. Person. Ever.  is a deeply unworthy book about a dreadful human being with absolutely no redeeming social value. Raymond Gunt, in the words of the author, “is a living, walking, talking, hot steaming pile of pure id.” He’s a B-unit cameraman who enters an amusing downward failure spiral that takes him from London to Los Angeles and then on to an obscure island in the Pacific, where a major American TV network is shooting a  Survivor-style reality show. Along the way, Gunt suffers multiple comas and unjust imprisonment, is forced to reenact the “Angry Dance” from the movie  Billy Elliot, and finds himself at the center of a nuclear war. We also meet Raymond’s upwardly failing sidekick, Neal, as well as Raymond’s ex-wife, Fiona, herself “an atomic bomb of pain.”  Even though he really puts the “anti” in antihero, you may find Raymond Gunt an oddly likable character. The Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude Morgan (St. Martins Press)   There are so few established facts about how the son of a glove maker from Warwickshire became one of the greatest writers of all time that some people doubt he could really have written so many astonishing plays. We know that he married Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant and six years older than he, at the age of eighteen, and that one of their children died of the plague. We know that he left Stratford to seek his fortune in London, and eventually succeeded. He was clearly an unwilling craftsman, ambitious actor, resentful son, almost good-enough husband. But when and how did he also become a genius? The Secret Life of William Shakespeare  pulls back the curtain to imagine what it might have really been like to be Shakespeare before a seemingly ordinary man became a legend. The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz (Disney-Hyperion)   Once they were inseparable, just two little girls playing games in a formidable castle. Now Princess Marie-Victoria, heir to the mightiest empire in the world, and Aelwyn Myrddyn, a bastard mage, face vastly different futures.  Quiet and gentle, Marie has never lived up to the ambitions of her mother, Queen Eleanor the Second. With the help of her Merlin, Eleanor has maintained a stranglehold on the world’s only source of magic. While the enchanters faithfully serve the crown, the sun will never set on the Franco-British Empire. As the annual London Season begins, the great and noble families across the globe flaunt their wealth and magic at parties, teas, and, of course, the lavish  Bal du Drap dOr, the Ball of the Gold Cloth.  But the talk of the season is Ronan Astor, a social-climbing American with only her dazzling beauty to recommend her. Ronan is determined to make a good match to save her familys position. But when she falls for a handsome rogue on the voyage over, her lofty plans are imperiled by her desires. Meanwhile, Isabelle of Orleans, daughter of the displaced French royal family, finds herself cast aside by Leopold, heir to the Prussian crown, in favor of a political marriage to Marie-Victoria. Isabelle arrives in the city bent on reclaiming what is hers. But Marie doesn’t even want Leopoldâ€"she has lost her heart to a boy the future queen would never be allowed to marry.  When Marie comes to Aelwyn, desperate to escape a life without love, the girls form a perilous plan that endangers not only the entire kingdom but the fate of the monarchy. The Remedy by Thomas Goetz  (Gotham) In 1875, tuberculosis was the deadliest disease in the world, accountable for a third of all deaths. A diagnosis of TBâ€"often called consumptionâ€"was a death sentence. Then, in a triumph of medical science, a German doctor named Robert Koch deployed an unprecedented scientific rigor to discover the bacteria that caused TB and soon embarked on a remedyâ€"a remedy that would be his undoing. When Koch announced he’d found a cure, Arthur Conan Doyle, then a small-town doctor in England and sometime writer, went to Berlin to cover the event. Touring the ward of reportedly cured patients, he was horrified. Koch’s remedy was either sloppy science or outright fraud. But to those desperate for relief, Koch’s cure was worth the risk. As Europe’s consumptives descended upon Berlin, Conan Doyle returned to England to become a writer, not a scientist. But he brought Koch’s scientific methods to the masses through the character of Sherlock Holmes. Capturing the moment when mystery and magic began to yield to science,  The Remedy  chronicles the stunning story of how the germ theory of disease became fact, how two men of ambition were emboldened to reach for something more, and how scientific discoveries evolve into social truths. PAPERBACK RELEASES The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jameson (Graywolf Press)   Beginning with her experience as a medical actor who was paid to act out symptoms for medical students to diagnose, Leslie Jamison’s visceral and revealing essays ask essential questions about our basic understanding of others: How should we care about each other? How can we feel another’s pain, especially when pain can be assumed, distorted, or performed? Is empathy a tool by which to test or even grade each other? By confronting painâ€"real and imagined, her own and others’â€"Jamison uncovers a personal and cultural urgency to feel. She draws from her own experiences of illness and bodily injury to engage in an exploration that extends far beyond her life, spanning wide-ranging territoryâ€"from poverty tourism to phantom diseases, street violence to reality television, illness to incarcerationâ€"in its search for a kind of sight shaped by humility and grace. The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn (47North)   Twenty years ago, the mysterious death of his aunt left Aaron Holbrook orphaned and alone. He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesnt come easy. Someone-or something-has other plans. Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it the devils den. Aaron doesnt believe in the paranormal-at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if hes losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House… a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aarons sorrow, biding its time . Lexicon by Max Barry (Penguin Books)   At an exclusive training school at an undisclosed location outside Washington, D.C., students are taught to control minds, to wield words as weapons. The very best graduate as “poets” and enter a nameless organization of unknown purpose. Recruited off the street, whip-smart Emily Ruff quickly learns the one key rule: never allow another person to truly know you. Emily becomes the school’s most talented prodigy, until she makes the catastrophic mistake of falling in love. Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich (Picador)   New York City, the near future: Mitchell Zukor works on the cutting edge of corporate irresponsibility, and business is booming. A brilliant mathematician, he spends his days calculating worst-case scenarios for FutureWorld, a consulting firm that indemnifies corporations against potential disasters. As Mitchell immerses himself in the calculus of catastrophe, he exchanges letters with Elsa Bruner-a college crush with her own apocalyptic secret-and becomes obsessed by a cultures fears. When Mitchells darkest predictions come true and an actual worst-case scenario engulfs Manhattan, he realizes that he is uniquely prepared to profit. But what will it cost him? Reboot by Amy Tintera (HarperTeen)   Wren Connolly died when she was twelve years old. She woke up 178 minutes later as a Reboot. The longer a Reboot is dead, the stronger and less human she becomes when she returnsâ€"making Wren 178 the perfect weapon. Callum 22, on the other hand, is practically still human. He’s the worst trainee Wren has ever had, yet there is something about him that makes her feel alive. When Callum refuses to follow a direct order, Wren is commanded to eliminate him. She has never disobeyed before, but now she’ll do whatever it takes to save Callum’s life. Stokers Manuscript by Royce Prouty (Berkley Trade)   Joseph Barkeley has a gift. Without the aid of chemical testing, he can accurately determine the authenticity and age of any document, seeing details within the fibers the way a composer picks out the individual notes of a symphony. But rarely does Joseph get a job this delicate and well-paying. A mystery buyer has hired him to authenticate the original draft of Bram Stoker’s  Dracula. When he travels to Transylvania to personally deliver the manuscript to the legendary Bran Castle, Barkeley, a Romanian orphan himself, soon realizes that his employer is the son of the infamous Vlad Dracula. Imprisoned in the castle and forced to serve “the Master,” Barkeley must quickly decipher cryptic messages hidden within Stoker’s masterpiece to find the Master’s long-lost brideâ€"or risk wearing out his welcome. But as he delves into the history of Dracula and his own lineage, Barkeley discovers that his selection for this job was based on more than his talent with rare books. Now, he has a perilous decision to makeâ€"save his life with a coward’s flight, or wage a deadly battle with an ancient foe. The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell (Berkley Trade)   onfessions are Rose Baker’s job. A typist for the New York City Police Department, she sits in judgment like a high priestess. Criminals come before her to admit their transgressions, and, with a few strokes of the keys before her, she seals their fate. But while she may hear about shootings, knifings, and crimes of passion, as soon as she leaves the room, she reverts to a dignified and proper lady. Until Odalie joins the typing pool. As Rose quickly falls under the stylish, coquettish Odalie’s spell, she is lured into a sparkling underworld of speakeasies and jazz. And what starts as simple fascination turns into an obsession from which she may never recover. The Cemetery of Swallows by Mallock (Europa Editions)   One day, Manuel Gemoni travels to the other end of the world to kill an old man in the Dominican Republic. When questioned by police, Manuel can only explain his bizarre actions by saying, “I killed him because he had killed me.” Unable to comprehend why an ordinary family man with no history of violent behavior would go to such lengths to kill a man he didn’t even know, Police Commissioner Amédée Mallock decides to investigate. In order to save Manuel from death, the misanthropic Mallock must immerse himself in the harsh tropical jungles of the Dominican Republic and the snow-covered streets of Paris. The Shelter Cycle by Peter Rock (Mariner Books)   Francine and Colville were childhood friends raised in the Church Universal and Triumphant, a religion that predicted the world could end in the late 1980s. While their parents built underground shelters to withstand the impending Soviet missile strike, Francine and Colville played in the Montana wilderness, where invisible spirits watched over them. When the prophesied apocalypse did not occur, the sects members resurfaced and the children were forced to grow up in a world they believed might no longer exist. Twenty years later, Francine and Colville are reunited while searching for an abducted girl. Haunted by memories and inculcated beliefs, they must confront the Churchs teachings. If all the things they were raised to believe were misguided, why then do they suddenly feel so true? What the Family Needed by Steve Amsterdam (Riverhead Trade)   “Okay, tell me which you want,” Alek asks his cousin at the outset of  What the Family Needed. “To be able to fly or to be invisible.” And soon Giordana, a teenager suffering the bitter fallout of her parents’ divorce, finds that she can, at will, become as invisible as she feels. Later, Alek’s mother, newly adrift in the disturbing awareness that all is not well with her younger son, can suddenly swim with Olympic endurance. Over three decades, in fact, each member of this gorgeously imagined extended family discovers, at a moment of crisis, that he or she possesses a supernatural power. But instead of crimes to fight and villains to vanquish, they confront inner demons, and their extraordinary abilities prove not to be magic weapons so much as expressions of their fears and longings as they struggle to come to terms with who they are and what fate deals them. As the years pass, their lives intersect and overlap in surprising and poignant ways, and they discover that the real magic lies not in their superpowers but in the very human and miraculous way they are able to accept, protect, and love one another.