Acoustic Cryptanalysis of RSA and Its Counter Measure

Acoustic Cryptanalysis of RSA and Its Counter Measure Prof. J P Agrawal Saurabh Sharma Siddharth Gupta ABSTRACT Acoustics has come up as a new vulnerability in the field of information security. The RSA encryption algorithm, although h very hard to break mathematically, has been broken recently by using acoustics and power analysis of emanations. Acoustic Cryptanalysis is the side-channel attack which targets implementations of cryptographic algorithms. The cryptographic algorithms are quite secure at the mathematical level, but inadvertently leak secret information through signatures in power consumption, electromagnetic emanations, timing variations, and acoustical emanations. This paper presents a software based countermeasure which is based on application of specific mitigation techniques to ensure that even if there is leakage of information it would bear minimal useful information. INTRODUCTION Acoustic cryptanalysis is a form of side channel attack that aims at deriving the private key in a public key cryptography system using acoustical vibrations of a laptop. A side channel attack is basically an attack that gives attacker an additional channel of information about the system, the noise generated by computers is one such potential channel other channels include keystroke acoustic emanations, acoustic emanations from printers, power analysis via the USB port and timing attacks. Side channel attacks can only be performed on public key cryptography system because the encrypted text i.e. ciphers text depends upon the text that is encrypted. So while decryption the cipher text produces a unique acoustic spectrum which helps the attacker to extract the key. In this case we put our emphasis on a different source of computer noise i.e. vibration of electronic components like capacitors and transistors in the circuit of the CPU. These acoustic vibrations are related to the system activity since the amount of power drawn from the CPU depends upon the operation which is performed. As a study case, we will focus on the GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard), a cross-platform, open-source implementation of the OpenPGP Standard. We will demonstrate a key extraction attack that can extract 4096-bit RSA secret keys when used by GnuPG running on a laptop computer by analyzing the vibrations generated by the computer during decryption of chosen cipher texts. RELATED WORK Analysis of acoustical vibrations is relatively a newer practice commonly used in military context such as identification of vehicles through the sound signature of their engine. Similarly computer programmers monitor the functioning of their systems by listening to sound generated by mechanical components. Some of the successfully implemented experiments involving side channel attacks include : à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Electromechanical ciphers. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Keyboard acoustic emanations. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Acoustic emanations from printers. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Power analysis. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Power analysis via the USB port. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Timing attacks. THE EXPERIMENTAL SETUP (A) laptop on which the decryption is being performed (B) Brà ¼elKjà ¦r 4190 microphone capsule mounted on a Brà ¼elKjà ¦r 2669 preamplifier held by a flexible arm. (C) Brà ¼elKjà ¦r 5935 microphone power supply and amplifier, (D) National Instruments MyDAQ device with a 10 kHz RC low-pass filter cascaded with a 150 kHz RC high-pass filter on its A2D input (E) laptop computer performing the attack. Here, the microphone power, amplification and some filtering are done by an integrated, battery operated Brà ¼elKjà ¦r 5935 microphone power supply. After a self-built 10 kHz RC low-pass filter cascaded with a 150 kHz RC high-pass using capacitors and resistors, A2D conversion is done by the compact, USB-operated National Instruments MyDAQ device. The MyDAQ device captures at 200 K sample/sec. The Brà ¼elKjà ¦r 5935 amplifier is limited to a frequency of 100 kHz. OBSERVING THE ACOUSTIC LEAKAGE 1. Distinguishing various CPU operations We can distinguish between various operations performed by CPU by analyzing the low bandwidth leakage of acoustical emanations. Our analysis begins by taking into account simple operations like: HLT (CPU sleep), MUL (integer multiplication), FMUL (floating-point multiplication), main memory access (forcing L1 and L2 cache misses), and REP NOP (short-term idle). We concluded that these operations exhibit a unique frequency spectrum on execution. 2. Distinguishing various code lengths These acoustical emanations can also determine the length of loop being executed. For example the leakage produced by a code executing 10000 ADD instructions in an infinite loop will have a different acoustic spectrum than a program executing 20000 ADD instructions in an infinite loop. 3. Leakage source The observed acoustical emanations are not caused by the rotation of the fan, hard seeks or audio speakers as it is verified by disabling these components. Rather it is caused by the capacitors and resistors in the power regulation circuit of the CPU. The precise source of the emanations is difficult to characterize, since it is different in every machine and it is typically located in hard to reach places. Acoustic localization is also difficult due to mechanical coupling of capacitors and resistors and because of acoustic reflections due to other components. PERFORMING THE ATTACK The attacker sends an encrypted email to the target machine. This email when received by the target machine undergoes the process of decryption so as to extract the data that has been sent. The email which is sent involves sending a chosen ciphertext, it cannot have any random data in it. The data which is sent via the email has to be a specially crafted ciphertext. Through this attack we try to get the ‘q’ i.e. one of the prime factor of the key ‘n’. Enigmail provides an integrated graphical user interface and handles e-mail encoding and user interaction; the actual cryptography is done by an external GnuPG executable. Received e-mail messages are decrypted upon the user’s request. In addition and by default, Enigmail automatically decrypts incoming e-mail messages. Thus, an attacker can send a suitably-crafted e-mail message to the victim, containing a chosen ciphertext. When this e-mail message is fetched by the target computer, the attacker observes the acoustic emanations during decryption, and obtains a bit of the secret key. The attacker then sends additional e-mail messages, until all key bits are recovered. If the messages are backdated or made to look like spam messages, they may even go unnoticed. But this doesn’t affects our attack as it will still be decrypted by the email client. Choosing the ciphertext q is a 2048 bit number q2048 q2047 q2046 q2045†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ q2 q1 GnuPG always generates RSA keys in which the most significant bit of q is set, i.e., q2048 = 1. Considering we know the first i-1 bits of q e.g. i=4 , we know q2048 q2047 q2046 =110 Now we need to find the next bit of q , which can be 0 or 1 So , we create a ciphertext with first i-1 bits equal to that of first i-1 bits of q, the next bit 0 and the remaining bits to be 1 q2048 q2047 q2046 0 111111†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.11111 Recording the emmisions We use our experimental setup to record the acoustic emissions that are created during the decryption. Placing the microphone with respect to the laptop body has a large influence on the obtained signal. Laptops have cooling system for heat dissipation. It has a fan that requires large intake of air and some exhaust holes. Also, there are other holes and gaps for ports such as USB, Express Card slot, SD card reader, and Ethernet port. Any of these ports can be used as a position for the microphone. Typically, the best microphone placement is near the Ethernet port or the fan exhaust vent. We record the sound using the LABVIEW software. We compute the sliding-window Fourier transform of the trace, yielding a sequence of spectra, and then aggregate these spectra by taking the median value of each bin. (The use of median effectively rejects temporally-local outliers, such as transient spikes.) The spectrum is truncate to the frequency range of interest (determined manually). Extracting the key The most significant bit of a prime number is always 1. Using this fact we create a desired ciphertext and obtain the power frequency templates for 0 and 1. Thus, if the attacker were to have two spectrum templates describing the leakage of zero and one bits, he could classify an unknown signal by checking the similarity between it and the templates he has. Concretely, in our case a template is a vector of real numbers describing the signal power at each frequency bin. The classification is based on computing the correlation of the Fourier spectrum of the leakage with the two templates. Recall that q is chosen to be a prime such that its most significant bit is always set to one. Moreover, this information is known to an attacker. Thus, obtaining an example of a leakage of a one bit can be done by measuring the leakage resulting from the decryption of g2048;1. Obtaining an example of a leakage of a zero bit is more tricky. This is because the attacker does not know in advance the location of the first zero bit in q. However, this problem can be easily avoided. Consider any number l such that q 2048 1). Notice that the reduction of l modulo q is equivalent to computing l q and will cause the bits of the result to be random thus achieving a similar spectrum as the sound of zero bits of q at the beginning of the attack. After this we compare the data acquired with the templates of 0 and 1 and the output of the comparison gives one bit of the q. Then this attack has to repeated 2048 times to get all the bits of q. These templates are updated dynamically in the matter of 20 bits. After receiving the acoustic spectrum of every attack bit we try to match the frequencies with the ones in the predefined templates. Whenever we get a matching frequency we check it’s corresponding value for power if this value is in range according the given threshold of the template we classify the bit as 0 or 1. By repeating this same procedure to attack every bit we obtain all the 2048 bits of prime q and in turn find the key. COUNTER MEASURE Cipher text randomization : One countermeasure that is effective in stopping our attack ciphertext randomization. If we have a cipher text c, instead of decrypting c immediately what we can generate a 4096 bit random value r, compute re and then decrypt re* c and multiply the result by r^-1. Since ed = 1 mod (n) It does not stop the attacker from extracting the key but it masks the original key so that even if the attacker is able to extract the key he doesn’t has the correct key. In implementation we have used the random library of python. Using this library random.randint(range) generates a random integer which can be multiplied to the value of cipher text and it changes the acoustic spectrum of the ciphertext which masquerades the original key. Why software based countermeasures are better than hardware based countermeasures? Enforce a proper layering can seem to be an effective countermeasure. Unfortunately, such low-level physical leakage prevention, is most of the times, impractical due to the significantly bad cost vs. security tradeoff because of the following reasons : (1) Suitable manipulation at the higher levels can amplify any leakage remnants, similar to what we do in our chosen-ciphertext attack (2) Low-level mechanisms try to protect all computation, even though most of it is insensitive or does not induce easily-exploitable leakage (3) Essential performance-enhancing mechanisms produce leakage as an inevitable side effect. REFRENCES [1] M. Hanspach and J. Keller, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢In guards we trust: Security and privacy in operating systems revisited,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Proc. 5th ASE/IEEE International Conference on Information Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust, Washington D.C., USA: IEEE, Sept 2013. [2] M. Hanspach and M.Goetz, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢On Covert acoustical mesh network in air, revisited,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- in Journal of Communications Vol. 8, No. 11, November 2013. [3] R. Otnes, A. Asterjadhi, P. Casari, M. Goetz, T. Husà ¸y, I. Nissen, et al., Underwater Acoustic Networking Techniques, ser. Springer Briefs in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Springer, 2012. [4] R. Frankland, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Side channels, compromising emanations and surveillance: Current and future technologies,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- Department of Mathematics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, England, Tech. Rep., Mar. 2011. [5] Daniel Genkin, Adi Shamir, Eran Tromer, RSA Key Extraction via Low-Bandwidth Acoustic Cryptanalysis December 18, 2013. [6]Nikita Borisov, Ian Goldberg, and David Wagner. Intercepting mobile communications: the insecurity of 802.11 [7] H. E. Bass and Roy G. Keeton. Ultrasonic absorption in air at elevated temperatures. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. [8]Taher ElGamal. A public key cryptosystem and a signature scheme based on discrete logarithms.IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 31(4):469–472, 1985. 1

Electronic Case (Corporate Finance) Essay

1. Tom believes the company should use the extra cash to pay a special one-time dividend. How will this proposal affect the stock price? How will it affect the value of the company? Electronic Timing, Inc. (ETI) needs to be careful on how it dispenses the extra cash as a dividend. Issuing the extra cash as a dividend would mean that the shareholders collectively will probably drop by the same amount because of the transfer of wealth from the company to the shareholders individually. Hence, the economic value of the company will also decrease. 2. Jessica believes that the company should use the extra cash to pay debt and upgrade and expand it existing manufacturing capability. How would Jessica’s proposals affect the company? Jessica’s proposal will support an expansionary policy for the company which can result to a higher growth rate for ETI. As to the company’s dividend policy, not issuing the extra cash as a dividend signals to the market that there are still better and more efficient uses of the cash than using it for dividends. 3. Nolan is in favor of a share repurchase. He argues will increase the company’s P/E ratio, return on assets, and return on equity. Are his arguments correct? How will a share repurchase affect the value of the company? A share repurchase if done correctly should be equivalent to the issuance of a cash dividend with the same amount as regards to effects on shareholders’ wealth. The way the share repurchases should be done in a way that it does not diminish or create shareholder wealth. Hence, Nolan’s argument that the company’s return and assets and return on equity will increase is not correct. However, the P/E ratio might go upwards for a time until the market corrects it. 4. Another option discussed by Tom, Jessica and Nolan would be to begin a regular dividend payment to shareholders. How would you evaluate this proposal? A plan to issue a regular dividend to shareholders is a start in establishing a dividend payout policy. A dividend policy signals to the market that the company is making a commitment to its shareholders and hence the company strategies will have to be aligned with that commitment. Therefore I would evaluate the proposal as regards the company’s ability to stick to it. For example, it adopts a stable dividend policy – will it be able to have cash to honor such policy year on, year off? Another factor would be does a regular dividend matter to ETI’s shareholders? Or do they prefer a different method of transferring wealth to them aside from a cash dividend? 5. One way to value a share of stock is the dividend growth, or growing perpetuity, model. Consider the following: The dividend payout ratio is 1 minus b, where b is the â€Å"retention† or â€Å"plowback† ratio. So, the dividend next year will be the earnings next year, E1, times 1 minus the retention ratio. The most commonly used equation to calculate the sustainable growth rate is the return on equity times the retention ratio. Substituting these relationships into the dividend growth model, we get the following equation to calculate the price of a share of stock today: What are the implications of this result in terms of whether the company should pay a dividend or upgrade and expand its manufacturing capability? Explain. The substituted dividend growth model is Dt=Dt-1(1+rb). This equation implies that the future dividends of the company are directly related to the amount of earnings it retains and the rate of return if makes from its investments. However, in order to attain the company’s targeted rate of return it also needs to retain more of its earnings in the company for upgrading or expanding its manufacturing plant rather than using it for cash dividends. In the expansionary phase, the company has to make trade offs – lower dividends for higher growth. 6. Does the question of whether the company should pay a dividend depend on whether the company is organized as a corporation or an LLC? No, an LLC can distribute earnings to its owners; however that distribution is not called a dividend, but rather distribution of cash or property to the partners. It is still a dividend in a different name.

Symbolism in the Road Not Taken, “A Worn Path”, and I Used to Live Here Once

2Symbolism in Literature Published by susansteppe, February 27, 2011 Symbolism in â€Å"The Road Not Taken†, â€Å"A Worn Path†, and â€Å"Used to Live Here Once†. When looking at the short story and poem it is impossible to see it all in a literal form. There is always some sort of symbolism that occurs within the body of the text, but what is symbolism. It can be defined differently by many people. Even when looking at a dictionary it does not typically give a thorough answer. It is because symbolism is created by the author. However, it can be contradicted or have a completely obscure meaning to the reader. This is the exact reason why symbolism cannot be defined. However, it can be interpreted. Understanding the journey that characters take and their symbolic nature is definitely worth decoding. In fact, the symbolism of the journey is usually the basis behind the literary work itself. One of the well-known literary works with a symbolic journey is Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken. † In the poem there is a man who has come to a crossroad in his life. One path is traveled on frequently while the other path is not. He has to make a decision as to what path he should take. No matter what, he knows that he cannot turn back once he has made the choice, but it is implied. He chooses the path less traveled and, in turn, it happens to be the best choice he had ever made. Many have analyzed this poem and many have come up with different ideas of what it actually means. Some say it is about suicide, some say it is about life changes, while others insist it is about life changes. When is the interpretation wrong? The reader gets what they must out of the poem as they read it. It depends on what life situation they are going through at that time. The author, Robert Frost, knew what he was writing about. Therefore, the interpretation of the poem actually merges itself with the reader. Regardless, there is a journey that occurs throughout this poem. To analyze the literary work there needs to be a beginning. Read more in Poetry  « Does a Sonnet Always Have 14 Lines? Poetry Comparison Essay – â€Å"The Evacuee† and â€Å"Death of a Naturalist†  »In the first two lines of Robert Frost’s poem he says: â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010; section 2. 2). There is a certain symbolism in the yellow wood. It is not that the forest was filled with yellow trees. It was obviously at the beginning of fall. Fall is the season that everyone slows down from the summer. The anticipation of winter is coming and can cause a sort of depression in some people. It would explain why he wanted to travel both. The following line says: â€Å"And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010; sec 2. 2). Here the reader comes to understand that the man took his time looking down the path. This could symbolize patience or a lack of movement, which would again go along with the idea that the man was depressed. Another aspect of the idea of depression, one path had leaves on it while the other was grassy. When someone is depressed they do not want to go down a dreary path. Instead, they would want to go down the grassy path that looked less traveled. Perhaps then something would change in their life. The actual symbolism of the paths themselves goes right along with that idea. However, the man was obviously optimistic because he did think about saving the one path for another day. He does contradict himself when he doubts that he will come back. The symbolism occurs with his doubts. He knows that once he goes down one path that he will not be able to come back at all. When the reader thinks about it there is an ordinary situation with this scenario because the entire poem is about a man who stops when he comes to a fork in the road. Nevertheless, the road actually is a symbol for life. That is where the imaginative language is used, and it is used in order to create emotion. Should the man go down the path with the leaves covering it? What are the leaves representing? The leaves were not scattered everywhere, so the road was less traveled upon. In fact, the leaves represent the difficult trials that were to follow. Basically, it is easier to walk a path that has nothing in the way then one that does not. Therefore, the images that are particularly effective are the two paths and the leaves. These symbols change the tone of the poem to confusion, but it actually provokes deep thought when the traveler states that he took the one less traveled by. In the short story â€Å"A Worn Path† symbolism of the journey also occurs. Yet, it is much different from Frost’s â€Å"A Path Not Taken. In Frost’s poem he has the choice of two different paths, but in â€Å"A Worn Path† the old woman, Phoenix Jackson, takes the same path over and over again. The path that Phoenix takes is a path that she has taken many times before in order to get medicine for her grandson. The symbol of the path is life’s long journey. After all, she is an old woman who has dealt with many things in her life. The symbolism of the pendulum in a grandfather clock also pertains to her age. She is an old woman, a poor one at that, who walks with a cane made from an old umbrella. She was very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her steps, with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grand-father clock† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010 sec 6. 3). When Phoenix hears the noises in the thicket she is determined to make sure they stay away. This represents her strength of mind. Her willpower is a large part of the symbolism within the story because of the long journey she has to take. She is not on a mission to help herself. Instead, she is on a mission to help a part of her family. Therefore, it is a purpose driven trip, so when the animals make noise in the distance she does everything possible to make sure she scares them off. It is a life-saving task in which she cannot fail. It is then that Phoenix has to climb a hill that is almost too difficult for her. The hill actually symbolizes the struggle of life. When everyone is a child it is easy to do anything. Hills are no big deal to climb, bicycles are easy to ride, and running everywhere is as simple as eating. However, as a person ages it is more difficult to do things. That is where the hill comes in to play. She needs to climb the hill in order to conquer aging. There was no way that she could give up easily because of the journey she was taking. Also on the hill is a bush that catches her dress. The bush signifies the obstacles in her life. She obviously lived a hard life. She had many wrinkles, her clothes spoke for themselves, and she had not been able to clean herself every day. The fact that she was poor epitomizes the fact that she had lived a hard life up until this point. Once she freed herself from the bush it characterized her willpower again. Nothing was going to stop her from completing her task. Another important factor about the bush was that she yelled at it. She called in a pretty green bush. That symbolizes the fact that she did not recognize the many of the obstacles in her life until they actually came to pass. After she struggles with the bush she sees the sun. The sun signifies the importance of dealing with the struggles in her life. Basically, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. She was freed from that turmoil that happened in her life and she could go on. There was a new beginning, or she could start things anew. Unfortunately, that was not the end of her struggle through life because there was the large log in the way. The log embodies the act of accomplishment. No one could stand in for her. She, Phoenix, had to overcome her own tussle. Once again, a fight for security is symbolized with the barbed wire fence. On her journey she sees a buzzard, which is a symbol of death. When thinking about a buzzard many imagine them circling around a carcass. It is their way of claiming their meal for the day. Nevertheless, this one was just sitting there. The fact that he was not moving could symbolize death waiting for her. Yet, Phoenix was not ready for death. She may be getting old, but there was no room for death in her excursion. Shortly after she sees the buzzard she comes upon a scarecrow. Buzzards, crows, and other birds usually sit on the arms of a scarecrow. That exemplifies death as well, but instead of avoiding the scarecrow she dances in front of it. She was mocking death, or telling death in her own way that she would have no part of it. After all, she was on a mission to help her grandson. He had a throat condition, probably asthma, which prevented him from doing many things. There was no way she was going to give up her exertion. When Phoenix finally reached her destination it was a symbol of accomplishment. When thinking about the entire path it indicates the journey throughout life. As a baby everything is taken care of. There are no worries within life because there is someone to lean on. That is the first part of the path. The second part of the path, the hill, is the beginning of hardships. Each tribulation got bigger and bigger the older Phoenix became until she came to a point in her life when her burdens were easier to overcome. Yet, when she does get the medicine for her grandson she has to go through the entire trip over again. Again, it symbolizes more difficulties in life and the many obstacles that she had to deal with in her life. â€Å"A Worn Path† is the perfect depiction of how many people’s lives turn out. No one gets a free ride in life, which means everyone has to deal with their own miseries, troubles, and sufferings in order to become better people. Phoenix is a strong-natured, strong-willed, and head-strong woman because she dealt with her ordeals in life. It may have been difficult at times, but she became an accomplished woman in her own right. Another short story that symbolizes life’s journey is â€Å"Used to Live Here Once. † The first trek of her journey was the rocks in the stream. Each rock represents a significant part of the trials everyone has to deal with in life. For instance, the round unsteady rock symbolizes the rocky road people must endure throughout life. No one truly gets the easy way out of life because there is always something that makes the journey unstable. The safe stone represents childhood. When someone is a child they do not need to be dependent on themselves in order to get through their distresses in life. A mother carries her newborn, feeds them, and cares for them. Basically, the newborn has no worries. Even as a child growing up there are really no burdens to deal with. There might be anxieties, but the child’s mother, or father, is there to catch them when they fall. They can look around as long as they want at their life and perhaps where they might be in the future. The rock, itself, is the parents. The next rock was no so safe because it was slippery and when the water rose it would be covered. This rock indicates the time of life when there are trials and tribulations to endure. The first is, of course, becoming a teenager. There are worries, distresses, pains, and hardships to deal with. The rising of the water actually designates the rush of life after becoming an adult. A person is on their own with no one to catch them, but themselves. They need to have a watchful eye whenever difficulties arise, and sometimes those ordeals can be overbearing. There are even times when that person falls, but they always get up again. Reaching the other side of the stream designates or symbolizes the triumph over the tribulations in life. It is safe, so there is nothing to fear. The ground is secure and it is easy sailing from there. The road that the woman travels on is much wider than it used to be. It says in the story, â€Å"The road was much wider than it used to be but the work had been done carelessly† (Clugston, R. W. , 2010, sec 7. 5). This can be interpreted a couple different ways. One way is that life is unpredictable. In other words, there is no telling what could happen next because no one knows their future. The second way of understanding the wider road is to signify change. When people become older and go through their struggles, or heir rocks, they become different people. Everything that a person endures allows them to grow into the person that they are. For instance, a child that has had a mellow life growing up suddenly decides to join the military when they become of age. They go to boot camp one person, but come back someone completely different. It is because they dealt with obstacles throughout boot camp and had to grow up int o an adult. That is a forced measure of growing up, but the concept is the same. Each trouble or ordeal they go through makes them into a better person. When the woman gets near the house she sees more changes. A house gone and one built a car, and items that were no longer there. Yet, she is so excited about coming back to place she grew up she does not really care. This, again, symbolizes the changes in life that occur. Once life has changed and the hardships are endured nothing is the same. Trials in life either become more difficult or easier to deal with. There is no telling but, nonetheless, the changes stay. Then the woman comes upon the two children playing in the yard. She attempts to say hello, but the children ignore her. She thinks it is because she is colored. The woman gets closer to the children and she attempts to say hello again. However, they do not answer still. When she gets very close to the children one of them say it is cold, so they leave. This is when she realizes that she is no longer among the living. Therefore, the entire trip she took symbolizes the entire cycle of being born to the moment of death. In conclusion, the symbolisms between â€Å"The Path Not Taken,† â€Å"A Worn Path,† and â€Å"Used to Live Here Once† are quite similar. All three are about life’s challenges and the struggles throughout life. There are always decisions that need to be made through life and there are always going to be obstacles that get in the way. It is getting through those tribulations that are the trick. Not only that, but it is crucial not to give up. The stories portray that indefinitely. In â€Å"The Path Not Taken† the man takes the road less traveled. Yes. He had to go through many troubles throughout his life, but in the end he chose the right path. In â€Å"A Worn Path† the old woman pretty much has to go through the same difficulties throughout her life, but her endurance presides over her. Therefore, she has made the right choice. Last, but not least, in â€Å"Used to Live Here Once† the woman path symbolizes the entire trek through life from birth to death. These three literary works are definitely worth reading, but they are also there to teach about life itself. References Clugston, R. W. (2010) Journey into Literature. San Diego, CA. Bridge point Education. (http://content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 1/sec2. 2) (http://content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 1/sec6. 3) (http://content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 1/sec7. 5) Phillips, R. T. (March 1986) Diverging and Converging Paths: Horizontal and Vertical Movement in Robert Frost’s Mountain Interval. Vol 58, Issue 1, pg. , 17 p. American Literature. Moberly, K. (Winter 2005/Spring 2006) Toward the North Star: Eudora Welty’s â€Å"A Worn Path† and the Slave Narrative Tradition. Vol. 59, Issue ? , p. 107-127, 21p. Mississippi Quarterly. Piwinski, D. J. (Winter 2008) Mistletoe in Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path. ’ 16 (1): 40-42. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews Flag It Spam Adult Content Plagiarism Insufficient Quality Wrong Category Select the Right Category about Writing Autos Books Business Computers Creative WritingDomesticGamingGeneralHealthInternetMoviesMusicNewsOff eatPetsPoetryRecipesReligionScienceShort Stories Society Sports Television Travel Women Selected for you by a sponsor: 10 Signs You May Be in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship (HeathCentral. com) What Happened to Marie Osmond's Face? (Style Goes Strong) You might be interested in: A Summary and Review of The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox: A Gu ide for Thinking Executives – and Those Who Want to be One (Book stove) Childhood Phrases and Their Darker Meanings (Book stove) Tahrir Flame Flame (Trifter) The Stupid King (Trifter)

The Secret of Seinfeld’s Humor Essay - 650 Words

Review: The secret of Seinfeld’s Humor: The significance of the Insignificant The Secret of Seinfeld’s Humor: The significance of the Insignificant, an article written by Jorge Gracia briefly outlines what the author believes to be the origin of the humour with which the popular television show Seinfeld achieved such broad based success. A show that embraced the ordinary of everyday life, while atypically avoiding the mainstay of violence and sex of most of today’s popular visual media and culture. Gracia (19) begins his article by posing the question â€Å"how, can a show that deals with ordinary, everyday occurrences have such wide appeal†? This is a very general question that could be analysed in any number of ways. The author however,†¦show more content†¦I also suspect that some of this information may have been contradictory to the authors main arguments. To his credit however, Gracia does, however offer to distinguish between the sad and the funny. We laugh, claims the author because we see in it â€Å"the significance of the insignificant, while we cry because through it we grasp the insignificance of the significant†. Not a new concept states Gracia, given that we are so often faced with both emotions on a regular basis. This simple statement is the core of Gracia’s argument. By stating this, he is necessarily saying that laughter derives from a new perspective on ourselves. One that illuminates, idiosyncrasies, customs and peculiarities which are given minimal attention during day to day activities, but which have great significance. Comedy draws on these factors to identify the ordinary as extraordinary. Thus Seinfeld lives up to its moniker ‘a show about nothing’. The show necessarily underscores that the commonplace is indeed pertinent, this is reinforced by the audience being aware of the significanc e of what is happening while the shows characters remain in the dark. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Conversley the author argues that sadness in respect to laughter is the opposite. That is, it originates from the significant, and it is a degree of insignificance encapsulated within these ‘tragedies’ that elecits sadness.