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However, later trick films begin to abandon the “one-shot” principle. In Congress of Nations (1900), there are two distinct conceptual shots of the same scene; the viewer can tell that they are two separate shots because they are separated by a noticeable dissolve. In the first shot, the magician conjures up nationals of several different countries; this dissolves into the second shot, wherein the magician is gone, replaced by a tableau of characters. Likewise, in the later film The Martyred Presidents (1901), there are two separate scenes (shots) separated by a dissolve. It also begins to signify a break from the cinematic tradition of old towards the newer dramatic format. The film, which was released after the assassination of President William McKinley, does tell a sort of story; the first scene (shot) shows a series of pictures of murdered Presidents, and the second shows McKinley’s murderer kneeling at “the throne of Justice” in a sort of repentance for his sin. In this film, a technologically innovative matte effect is also used, where the main shot of the woman looking at the frame overlays a second shot that contains the images of the Presidents.
Edison’s trick films shared many characteristics with earlier trick films by George Méliès and Alice Guy-Blaché, who he liberally borrowed from. Just like Méliès’s early trick films, Edison’s are short and filmed from the perspective of a center-front-row theatergoer. However, Edison’s later trick films begin to copy innovations made by Méliès, such as longer-form multiple-shot and multiple-scene films that become less about surprising illusions and more about narratives.
In this reading from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he makes several claims regarding the nature of virtue. In Book I, he first claims that all human actions are undertaken to fulfill one basic, intrinsic desire: that of happiness. Secondly, he contends that to be happy, a human person must live a fulfilled life, a good life. Thirdly, he states that the good human life is one that is rational and, therefore, virtuous. In Book II, Aristotle derives his definition of virtue. There are two main parts to his definition of virtue; he contends that virtue is attained not only through knowledge (as Socrates did), but also through habitual action. He also claims that virtue is a means between excess and defect (similar to Confucius). An example of this mean would be courage; an excess of it may be termed rashness and a defect of it may be called cowardice. Finally, he points out that some traits are purely vices and do not have a mean; for example, there is no right degree with which somebody should be a murderer.
One of this passage’s key quotations is: “It is well said, then, that it is by doing just acts the that the just man is produced and by doing temperate acts the temperate man; without doing these no one would have even a prospect of becoming good.” | 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n |
You see, that day wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I didn't want to see my goddamn brother, because I knew that he was gonna ask for some goddamn money again. Jeez. I was already hungover, and somebody was coming to ruin my day. Of course it'd be my luck. So I invited him in, just 'cause I'm a nice kind of guy, and we sat down in the living room.
"How've you been?" he asked, almost like a phony robot who'd been programmed to ask.
"Fine," I replied, rubbing my eyelids. My eyes sure didn't want to stay open, that's for sure.
Anyways, he asked, "I need fifty dollars." More like demanded, but he's my brother, so what can you do? I reached into my wallet, pulled out three twenties, and stuffed them in his hands. "Here. Have a great life."
He soon left, almost in a hurry as he had come in, and I went back to the kitchen to finish my damn breakfast cereal. I stared down at the bowl, full of pinkish milk and soggy, floating bits of pink cereal. I stared at the box of cereal sitting in the cabinet. Man, those people who take the pictures for cereal boxes are real liars. What kind of phony people give you a perfect picture of nice, round cereal, only to give you crappy misshapen bits that you can't even eat?
So after that, I decided that I might as well get dressed, 'cause I had to go to school that day. I mean, I didn't really have to, 'cause the professor wouldn't have checked anyways, but I thought I might as well go to classes that day anyways. Man, did I dread going to classes, though. having to sit next to all those phonies in a crowded hall while they ask their damn stupid questions. Why can't everybody just shut up and listen instead of asking these damn obvious questions. Who knows. The point is, I went back to my bedroom, quickly threw on a shirt and a garish pink tie, and ran out the door, slamming it behind me.
I sat at the bus stop, staring out at the empty, barren landscape. Man, it gave me the creeps. I shivered as the wind blew 'cross my face, and I pulled out a pack of cigarettes from my coat pocket. I took one out, lit it with a pocket lighter, and brought it to my mouth. I could tell the woman sitting next to me was just staring down at me, condescending, as if to tell me to put the cigarette out. I paid her no attention. People should just mind their own business anyways.
The bus finally pulled up, and the awkward silence of having to wait with a stranger subsided. As she sat down in the front of the bus, I made my way back, sitting the hell away from everybody else.
| 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n | Although Vonnegut presents this theory of time to the reader, he does not endorse it; the concept is only presented in order to prove their absurdity and to offer a rebuttal. In addition to providing discussion fodder, “[the] Tralfamadorian sections of the novel may also serve another function since they provide a form of comic relief from the unbearable tension that builds as Billy approaches the day of the actual fire-bombing”. The Tralfamadorians’ unusual, comedic nature casts doubt on their viewpoint of time; readers question whether they actually exist, or are figments of Billy’s imagination.
Vonnegut’s central theme, that a meaningful life is characterized by free will, is further realized through Billy Pilgrim’s apathy and unresponsiveness; Billy’s lack of action throughout the novel shows that a belief in fatalism leads to a miserable existence devoid of meaning. One of Vonnegut’s dry descriptions presents one of the best glimpses into Billy’s attitude of inaction: “Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present and the future”. The matter-of-fact tone seems to convey the hopelessness and absurdity of a person without free will, a person who is forever stuck in the fires of Dresden. The bleakness of the description brings awareness to Vonnegut’s argument that what Billy experiences is not life, for life requires constant changes, decisions, and adaptations. Vanderwerken expounds on this idea by arguing, “In short, Billy lacks the ‘wisdom’ to see that Dresden is of the past and cannot be changed, but that the bombing of North Vietnam lies in the present and can be changed. However, to protest the bombing requires moral ‘courage,’ a quality obviated by his Tralfamadorian education.” By attacking Billy’s character, Vonnegut advances the idea that, although the past is permanent, the future is not. Even though Billy’s war experiences cannot be undone, he, along with the rest of humanity, has the power to ensure that the Earth does not become consumed in wars (such as the Vietnam War).
Looking beyond the superficial existence of Slaughterhouse-Five as a work of pure fiction, it is readily apparent that the novel also serves as a quasi-memoir for Vonnegut himself. To fully understand the novel, a thorough examination of Vonnegut-as-character must be attempted. Much as the character Billy invents Tralfamadore in order to hide his pain, Vonnegut uses the novel Slaughterhouse-Five to shield himself from his own suffering. In effect, Billy Pilgrim is the proxy of Vonnegut, the author, himself. Through Vonnegut’s psychological separation of himself via a proxy, the reader is made to understand that the savage events the author has seen are, still to this day, mentally traumatizing. Although the main story is told through the character of Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut acknowledges, “All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty true”. Vonnegut tacitly acknowledges that the horrors that Billy Pilgrim sees are the same atrocities that Vonnegut has witnessed. | 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n | For the most part, Crusoe’s island serves as a temptationless model of the Weberian ethic, where Crusoe exemplifies how capitalism allows men to work towards their individual prosperity and spiritual salvation. However, society is not a perfect Weberian construct, and Defoe’s world beyond the island acknowledges how capitalism does not always follow Weber’s path to salvation. Nevertheless, Defoe supports capitalism as a system that encourages industry, even as he disdains the mindless acquisition of wealth. Crusoe’s character illustrates how capitalism, like any path to salvation, can be twisted into a justification for the sins of the wicked.
Defoe asserts through Crusoe’s dichotomous nature that capitalism fosters the Protestant work ethic despite the fallible nature of humanity. The inconsistencies of men such as Crusoe cause them to exalt money while reviling it as a “drug” and to climb to Heaven while falling the other way. Defoe views capitalism not as the cure-all Weber prescribes but as the worst economic system except for all others that have been tried.
Kurt Vonnegut, having witnessed the firebombing of Dresden when he was an infantry scout in the Second World War, wrote Slaughterhouse-Five as a testament to the horrors and incomprehensibility of war. Although the story is based on Vonnegut’s experiences, it is told with layers of abstraction, through the eyes of a young, naïve soldier named Billy Pilgrim. Through Vonnegut’s dark humor, the reader is presented with Billy Pilgrim’s view of the war, inevitable and unstoppable, while simultaneously asked to consider the alternative viewpoint, that war can be ended through the courage of human beings. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut argues against the weak Billy Pilgrim’s mantra of determinism in order to posit the ideal that humanity can create for itself a future without war.
The context of Slaughterhouse-Five can be traced back to Vonnegut’s service in World War II and his chilling experiences on the front lines of warfare. At times, events in the novel seem not very far removed from the reality of history. For instance, a direct comparison can be drawn between Billy’s imprisonment by the Germans and Vonnegut’s term as an American prisoner of war in an underground factory, the eponymous “Slaughterhouse-Five.” During his imprisonment at Dresden, Vonnegut witnessed the Allied forces’ bombing of the city, which wiped out perhaps more people than the atomic bomb did in Hiroshima. The fire-bombing of Dresden, the “Florence of the Elbe,” made Vonnegut question whether the atrocities of war could ever be justified. It would take him two decades before he could muster the strength to recount the tragedy of Dresden in a novel. At the time that Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse-Five, another war was raging—the Vietnam War. Thus, the novel is also targeted to Americans who idly stood by as young Americans left for Vietnam, never to come back home. It serves as a reminder to Americans that they have the power to prevent history from repeating itself.
| 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n |
Our ancestors from a century ago would, without a doubt, call the food we eat today “Frankenfood.” Processed food may conjure images of frozen-and-reheated McDonald’s grease, but human tinkering is evident even in the origin of our food: the seed. For decades, agricultural technology companies have worked to perfect the lowly seed into a marvel of human invention. The most widely known of these companies is Monsanto, who produce the familiar “Roundup” weed killer and accompanying “Roundup Ready” soybean seeds engineered to resist Roundup herbicide. Genetically modified (GM) plant products, such as those from Monsanto, have helped increase crop yields, preparing the world to feed the massive population boom of the twenty-first century.
By tweaking certain genes in plant seeds, scientists can produce crops that withstand many harsh conditions, creating crops that can survive a hard winter or a rainless Austin summer. In these infantile seeds lies the power to eradicate hunger in many impoverished parts of the world that do not have access to large-scale, Texas-sized agriculture. In places such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the arid climate is not advantageous to many nutritious crops, such as wheat. The proliferation of engineered seeds would allow farmers to become more self-sustained, producing enough food for their families and not having to wonder if the climate will destroy their source of income for the year.
In the grasp of human technology, we have the power and intelligence to selectively breed plants more quickly than any other generation before us. Whereas farmers a century ago would have to breed manually for desired traits, a process that could take months or years, we can simply harness the power of the genome in order to create seed products with the desired, improved traits. For example, we would not have to wait around for a certain plant, such as melons, to develop a seedless mutation. We could simply engineer the melon's genome to produce seeds that give rise to seedless melons. This can also be used to solve problems that have plagued farms for millennia, such as disease. By selectively tweaking plants' genomes, we can introduce favorable mutations that make crops more resistant to diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens.
One of the trends repeated throughout history is that settled agriculture breeds society and civilization. The difficulty of agriculture in Africa has resulted in the underdevelopment of many countries as compared to Europe and the Americas, where the tropical to temperate climate is ideal for growing many different crops. By innovating in the field of agricultural technology, companies like Monsanto have the ability to level the playing field in the world and provide for a coming generation that will demand more from the Earth than ever. “Frankenfood” isn’t a dirty word. It is simply the product of human ingenuity. We should not decry these products because they are "unnatural." The fact is, people have been producing "unnatural" plants and food for centuries.
| 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n | This quotation relates to Aristotle’s idea that a person must not only have knowledge of good and evil; he must express it in his actions to be virtuous. In addition, a simple virtuous act does not make a man virtuous; it is through repeated, habitual action that a man learns virtue.
One of the questions I have regarding Aristotle’s concept of virtue is whether his definition can be extended to creatures that are not human. (This was also discussed in Plato’s Laches, where Socrates generally believes that virtue cannot extend to animals.) His argument seems to imply that habitual action must be rational action in order to form virtue. From this, it follows that animals that we normally ascribe virtues to, such as lions, cannot possess virtues such as courage because they are incapable of carrying out rational thought, which Aristotle claims is the unique function of humans.
There are numerous examples from life that support Aristotle’s claim. The function of an orator is to speak. No man is born with oratory skills; he must learn them through practice—not just speaking anything, but by speaking the right things. Similarly, artists must practice not just splashing paint on a canvas, but giving the paint order and composition. If the function of a man, then, is to be rational, a good man will learn to reason well—what we call virtue. However, there is one objection: do not some functions arise intrinsically and irrationally and not from reason? The dancer may be predisposed to have better grace and skill from the genetic structure of his feet and his body. Likewise, is there not a part of virtue that is intrinsic to us, that is unlearned? A mother may be virtuous when she instinctually protects her child without rational thought—it is innate.
In this excerpt from John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, he argues that ethically correct actions are those that have the greatest utility, that is, moral actions are those that cause the greatest pleasure and the least pain. When looking at an action’s utility, we must look at its consequences on all those involved—namely, society as a whole. However, this does not mean that we must go through the stringent moral calculus of determining an action’s utility to society; Mill argues that secondary principles, such as “do not murder” are paths to utility. Neither should we discount the action’s effect on individual happiness; the happiness of the many individuals leads to the happiness of society as a whole.
A key quotation from this passage is: “…actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” Thus, the consequences of the actions are most important (in contrast to Kantian ethics, where the intent of the action determines if it is virtuous). Mill argues that the pursuit of pleasure is not a hedonistic ideal, but a noble one, for human pleasures, such as intellectual activity, are of a greater quality than animal pleasures.
| 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n | Throughout the novel, Vonnegut approaches the topic of war in an unorthodox fashion, using ominous stylistic elements in order to bring about a dark, humorous tone. The language advances Vonnegut’s personal claim that war is cruel, not heroic as historians often present it. The first major example of Vonnegut’s dark style is presented in Slaughterhouse-Five’s repetitions of odd, incongruous statements, which allow the author to moralize and depict how humanity has become desensitized to war. An oft-repeated refrain, “So it goes,” ritually trails every scene of death. In one harrowing example, the phrase signals Billy’s own death: “In the next moment, Billy Pilgrim is dead. So it goes”. The unpretentious diction and simple syntax cause a somber tone, as if the narrator were sighing; the straightforward response to a sorrowful event jars with the expectations of the audience. In fact, phrases such as this are intended to “[keep] the reader steadily aware that the text is the highly subjective product of a troubled mind at work behind it”. Thus, the repetition of the statement allows Vonnegut to remind the reader that the novel is not merely a silly story, but his own somber tale of morals.
A second example of Vonnegut’s ominous style lies in his usage of the onomatopoetic “poo-tee-weet” to otherwise fill a silence; the sound of a bird’s call brings attention to Vonnegut’s opinion that the only response to warfare is to be speechless. Paradoxically, it is the inclusion of a sound that brings attention to the silence. The novel is ended simply, darkly: “There was nothing going on out there... Birds were talking. One bird said to Billy Pilgrim, ‘Poo-tee-weet?’” In this case, the sustained silence contributes to a somber tone. Raymond Olderman argues in Beyond the Wasteland, “Poo-tee-weet represents a ‘cosmic cool,’ a way of viewing life with the distance necessary to cope with the horrors that both Billy Pilgrim and Eliot Rosewater [another Vonnegut character] experience”. Again, the stylistic device makes the novel personal to Vonnegut; the sound “poo-tee-weet” represents his own internal silence at the horrors he has seen.
Delving deeper into the novel, a thematic analysis begins to unfold. Vonnegut presents the general theme that a life without free will is not worth living. The treatment of thematic conflict between this concept of free will and the opposing notion of fatalism, or the idea that destiny is predetermined, causes the reader to question whether the world is as Billy Pilgrim presents it. This thematic conflict is initially addressed through alien creatures called Tralfamadorians, who introduce to Billy the disputed concept of time being nonlinear and permanent. According to the Tralfamadorians, “...we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber... Only on Earth is there any talk of free will”. The idea that time is “amber” is presented as a direct, incompatible contrast to Vonnegut’s central theme. | 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n | If they saw ordinary people blogging about their crusade through social media, our Founding Fathers would identify rabble-rousing pamphleteers such as Thomas Paine. In ideology, we cannot differentiate these modern revolutions from the American campaign for independence two hundred years ago. We should not glorify our own roots in red, white, and blue while reproaching these world citizens for a struggle equal in fervor and patriotism. The Arab peoples are battling real tyrants, such as Hosni Mubarak, who continue the tradition of dictators such as George III. Their actions began small, much as American colonists began their protest through boycotts and the Boston Tea Party. Nevertheless, the actions of a million Davids will coalesce to defeat any Goliath.
The world knows what happened in the aftermath of the American War of Independence, and, as the old adage contends, history repeats itself. Britain found themselves on the losing side of history, forsaking their claim to millions of acres of fertile American land. Only after the War of 1812 did relations fully heal between her and her former colonies. History also warns us that these uprisings will not contain themselves. Although many believed that the American nation would crumble, it endured, endowing the world with novel democratic principles that still shape our governments today. A similar situation exists in the Arab Spring, where their new political systems may affect future societies across the globe, including ours. We must not dismiss these revolutions as one-off acts. Just as our forefathers’ daring actions sparked the French proletariat into overthrowing the bourgeois, the success of our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters may one day catalyze the liberation of people as diverse as the Chinese and the Burmese.
I only hope that the millions of other Americans who shared my thoughts have an opportunity to learn more about the heroic plight of their brothers and sisters in the Middle East. The uprisings and insurrections may be a world away, but they intimately affect every human being on the face of the Earth. Just because these people have a different skin color and a different religion does not mean they are not the twentieth-century equivalents of George Washington, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. In time, people will remember them as patriots, cloaked in red, white, black, green, and a host of other colors.
By any stretch of the imagination, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights does not depict the traditional “happy ending.” But looking at the characters, they have reconciled themselves amiably at the end of the novel. Although the final pages are marred by Heathcliff’s untimely demise, it does resolve many of the real conflicts facing Brontë’s characters: their archaic, unshakeable Victorian class conflict, their relentless campaigns of vengeance, and their atrophied ability to love. According to Weldon, the ability of the characters to better themselves, even in death, is the true happy ending. | 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
n | Both spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation are evident in Brontë’s resolution to Wuthering Heights through Heathcliff’s realization that his vengeance was in error, his eventual peaceful burial next to his beloved Cathy and her husband, and the newfound love between Hareton and young Catherine.
Throughout the latter part of the novel, Heathcliff leads a life that has only one purpose: to revenge himself upon those who have slighted him. It is not until the end of the novel that he finally witnesses the decay that surrounds him and realizes that his inability to forgive has hurt not only those he loved—his revenge has also hurt himself. In the events approaching his death, Heathcliff becomes wracked with guilt, finding that “when I look for [Hareton’s] father in his face, I see [Cathy] every day more”. This sudden onslaught of guilt demonstrates that Heathcliff is beginning to doubt his actions, to feel a small bit of remorse. Heathcliff realizes that he has spent his life in vain, not treasuring Cathy’s existence and love, but turning her world into “a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her”. This spiritual reassessment of his life is fundamental to the novel in that it allows Heathcliff to resolve his internal conflict. The only way that Heathcliff can move past the wrongs in his life is to forgive his enemies and, most importantly, forgive himself. Brontë’s ending where Heathcliff falls into delirium is not sorrowful; it is an indicator that Heathcliff is still a man worthy of sympathy and not a brutish fiend.
As Heathcliff loses his mind and eventually dies, he is buried next to Cathy and ascends to Heaven to be with her. Although his end is tragic and his burial scandalous, it is pivotal that he dies; death is the only way in which he can truly reconcile himself with Cathy. His being with Cathy would give his “soul bliss,” but it would also unfortunately “[kill his] body”. Ultimately, it is only in Heathcliff’s death that he can truly be happy and Catherine’s ghost can truly be appeased. In death, class no longer divides the two, nor does Heathcliff’s agenda of retribution. They are perfect angels in God’s eyes and are able to love each other once again. In death, Heathcliff is also reconciled with his former enemy Edgar Linton. The burial of the two in the same cemetery as equals is symbolic because it represents the dissolution of the arbitrary social classes that they were born into.
Heathcliff’s derangement and death also indirectly benefits Hareton and young Catherine because it enables them to finally develop a meaningful relationship. Their relationship in the novel contrasts against the failed relationships in the first half of the novel, providing a glimmer of hope against the disastrous love of Heathcliff and Cathy. | 18 | English | male | some college | student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | There was no evidence that the students had the opportunity to choose their own reading materials or subject matter during the examiner’s observation. The classroom did not have a library of books, but there were boxes of Spanish-language magazines in a variety of topics, such as People en Español, AutoMundo (Car World), and the now-defunct SI (Sports Illustrated) Latino. These magazines are geared toward advanced readers and native speakers and many include jargon that could be considered difficult even to a seasoned learner of the Spanish language. .
The BRI was administered to find Manolo’s independent, instructional, and frustration reading and comprehension levels using graded word lists, oral reading and comprehension exercises, and listening comprehension exercises. The BRI was administered over the course of 3 consecutive Wednesdays in the first period of the day for about 20 minutes each. After Manolo was seated at the table, the examiner briefly explained the different portions of the BRI and what was expected of Manolo.
The Graded Word Lists were the first portions of the BRI to be administered, and produced the following results:
This portion of the BRI allows the examiner to assess Manolo’s word recognition skills and the strategies he employs when he encounters a word he does not immediately recognize. This portion of the test allowed the examiner to determine Manolo’s independent, instructional, and frustration levels in terms of word recognition. The graded word lists revealed that Manolo’s independent level for word recognition is sixth grade level, although he did not achieve 100 percent until tested on the fourth grade level. The word lists for grade levels seven, eight, and nine were all in high- to mid-level instructional. The examiner administered the test starting one grade level above his current grade and worked backward, so Manolo met frustration at the eleventh and tenth grade word lists.
Manolo attempted to pronounce each word on the lists quickly and the examiner had to ask him to slow down. In between words, Manolo would look up from the list and look in the direction of his classmates as they were doing work. He often substituted more common words with similar spellings for the more unusual words on the lists or used Spanish pronunciation and emphasis. In Spanish, the second to last syllable in a word always receives emphasis unless there is an accent mark, which denotes the accented syllable. Each Spanish vowel has a single sound that is always made with no exceptions, with diphthongs created when two vowels are next to each other. Manolo would improperly emphasize the second to last syllable in many of the incorrectly pronounced words or substitute Spanish vowel sounds for English vowels, especially the vowel u, which is pronounced as an “ooh”. For example, he pronounced obituary as o-bi-TOO-airy, saturate as sah-TOO-rate, slur as sloor (rhyming with “floor”), and chauffeur as chow-FAY-oor. (Capitalized syllables denote emphasis). | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | He appeared very impatient with the assessment, and the examiner is still not entirely sure if he gave his best efforts, either out boredom and the desire to “get it over with” or out of suspicion or worry based on his immigration status (The examiner would like to note at this juncture that she has been accused many times of being an INS agent, including twice in one of Mrs. S.’s other classes.) Unfortunately, Manolo’s mindset cannot be remedied by anyone other than Manolo himself, and even then only when he is ready.
The following recommendations are based on the results of the BRI and are intended to help Manolo meet his reading potential.
Choice: In order help change Manolo’s mindset about reading and school, when it is appropriate Manolo will be allowed to read on topics that are of interest to him. Mrs. F. has agreed to give him more leeway in Biology class to research topics that may be of interest to him.
Reading Guides: Manolo will be provided with reading guides during reading assignments, particularly during challenging textbook readings. At first these will explicitly ask for details and specific information from the text and to use background information to enrich the content. As Manolo’s reading improves, the guides will be altered to be less specific until he does not need them at all.
Additional Testing: Due to indications of inability to multi-focus, Manolo may benefit from additional testing to see if there is any underlying learning or sensory issues.
Maintain a Personal Dictionary: With the support of his teachers, Manolo will create and regularly add to a personal dictionary of English terms he encounters during classroom and reading assignments that he does not know. He will record the term, a definition, and the use of the term in a sentence. Mr. F., who has Manolo for study hall, has agreed to allow Manolo computer access to online dictionaries and thesauruses to help him find proper pronunciation and similar words. This will allow Manolo to build his vocabulary, practice using words in a sentence, and connect the spelling to the proper pronunciation. This way, when Manolo sees these terms in the future he will be able to recognize them and be able to apply the correct meaning. To be used in conjunction with Vocabulary Memory Improvement (below).
Vocabulary Memory Improvement: The attached lesson plan outlines an introductory lesson plan to help improve Manolo’s memory in a less stressful way.
After following the above recommendations for several weeks, Manolo should be reassessed with the Graded Word Lists and Oral Reading Comprehension portions of the Basic Reading Inventory. The steps taken to help Manolo progress in both word recognition and comprehension should result in improved performance on these test components. This extra practice should continue and be modified as needed in order to continue Manolo’s progress toward his reading potential. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | While he did not elaborate on most answers, his answers were, for the most part, sufficiently correct to earn at least a half point. He still did very well with questions regarding topic, evaluation, and inferences, and his responses to factual questions improved; but he still did poorly with vocabulary questions, which implies his struggles with vocabulary and unfamiliar and uncommon English words may be impeding his comprehension. Removing the necessity for him to “choose” between correctly reading the words and retaining the information allowed him to concentrate solely on the information, which proved beneficial.
During this section of the assessment, Manolo’s body language was much different than it had been previously. While he still did not look the examiner in the eye, he turned his seat towards her and sat back in a more relaxed manner. He did not look up at his classmates, nor did he tap his hand and foot as he had in other sections of the assessment. He was more likely to take his time to think instead of quickly insisting he did not know the answer.
The BRI Assessment revealed some confusing data on Manolo. On the whole, he is frustrated or on the threshold of frustration at grade level (tenth grade) and a grade lower (ninth grade). He is instructional at seventh grade level in most sections of the assessment, even accounting for the strange data presented. This BRI assessment definitively placed Manolo’s independent reading level at sixth grade level.
The results of the BRI revealed that Manolo has the potential to perform at grade level (tenth grade) with appropriate support.
Manolo is very strong in listening comprehension and gathering information from discussions; this could be why he has a high B average in his English class, which is a discussion-based class. This could also possibly indicate Manolo is an auditory learner, which, in the examiner’s past research, proves common in many populations of Hispanic immigrants to the United States.
Additionally, Manolo has several weaknesses that need to be addressed so he can reach his reading potential. He has a tendency to fall back on the pronunciation and emphasis patterns of his native language, especially with vowel sounds in unfamiliar words. He also substituted long, unusual words with shorter, more common words, most of which were two syllables; consequently, the passages made much less sense and made it more difficult to work with context clues. His inability to focus on both proper word recognition and oral reading comprehension simultaneously could be indicative of a deeper issue, such as a learning disability.
Manolo has difficulty with passages that mention numbers or contain numerals, and had a difficult time remembering information in those segments of the passages; this could be connected to his failing grade in Statistics.
One final potential barrier to Manolo’s progress is his mindset, resigning himself to a life of manual labor without the benefits of a college education. This mindset potentially renders all school learning unnecessary and frustrating. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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Como Agua Para Chocolate is the original Spanish title for the 1989 book (and subsequent 1992 film) “Like Water for Chocolate” by Mexican author Laura Esquivel. I chose this book to reexamine because it (and the film) was used in my third-year Spanish class in high school. It was the first time I really remember feeling confident that I could read in Spanish, and the first time I was able to watch a film in Spanish without panicking about needing to read subtitles.
The book begins each chapter with a receta, a recipe. They seem like serious recipes at first, but they segue into stories in the life of Josefita (Tita) de la Garza. Tita is the youngest of three daughters of Mama Elena on a ranch near the U.S. / Mexico border during the Mexican Revolution. Tita’s fate as the youngest daughter, according to family tradition, is to never marry and take care of her mother until the mother dies (Tita’s father dies when she is a child, and bears almost nothing on the plot).
Tita is raised in the kitchen as an apprentice to the cook, Nacha, where she becomes a phenomenal cook with a very deep, personal connection to food, to the point where her emotions become imbued in every dish she makes (the novel falls into the Magic Realism genre, where the supernatural is treated as commonplace). Tita is in love with ranch hand Pedro, who returns her affections. When Mama Elena refuses to consent to their marriage because of the aforementioned tradition, Pedro marries Tita’s eldest sister, Rosaura, to be closer to Tita. The recipes explore what happens with the ups and downs of that relationship and the food Tita produces because of it: tears in the batter of the wedding cake cause everyone at Rosaura and Pedro’s wedding to become very ill, and the sadness kills Nacha; a lusty dish of quail in a sauce of petals from roses given to Tita by Pedro cause middle sister Gertrudis to literally start a fire with lust and run off into the arms of a passing revolutionary soldier, etc. Pedro and Tita become even closer, arranging secret meetings under the context of him seeking to feed Roberto, his son with Rosaura, because Rosaura cannot breastfeed. Mama Elena suspects the relationship between Tita and Pedro, and insists that Rosaura take her husband and son and move to San Antonio. Roberto dies very shortly thereafter, but Rosaura manages to have another child before being rendered sterile: a daughter named Esperanza.
Tita takes Roberto’s death very hard, and, following an argument with Mama Elena, she secludes herself in the chicken coop (or, more properly translated, a dovecote). Doctor John Brown is called to institutionalize Tita, but decides to take her to his home and care for her there with his son, Alex. They become very close, almost as family, but Tita forever loves Pedro. Dr. Brown understands this, and lets Tita go. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | Many students, especially if they are younger, have an innate desire to know where things come from, why things are the way they are; This may be a ploy to get the teacher off track, but it begs a very interesting question- how much should the past of a language be explored with people seeking to learn it today? English classes are taught with an air of “it’s this way because that’s the way it is.” English-speaking children won’t argue with that because it’s the language they were brought up with; even if they don’t understand why something sounds incorrect, they know it is wrong. Is this even what Hallam means by that phrase at all?
The article also goes on to explore why foreign language teachers in particular need to be aware of the way they act and treat the students and the subject matter, especially now that foreign language education is becoming mandatory at almost all school levels. The students need to feel safe about trying something new and different, especially if they did not have a choice in the matter, and if the teacher is enthusiastic about the subject matter, the students will follow suit. This is a very logical point, especially in an environment like a foreign language classroom where there are many mistakes to be made and the teacher needs to continue to encourage children who may desire to give up, even to the point where a mediocre student could be inspired to greatness and achieve fluency.
The final major point of the article explores how a teacher becomes a “favorite” teacher. The research was conducted by collecting over 5,000 stories of favorite teachers and analyzing what the teachers all had in common. While the results are still being analyzed, the number one answer appears to be that the teachers cared about their students and believed in them. This was followed by the teacher’s ability to make learning fun and meaningful and teacher’s knowledge of content area. The article finishes by stating that the best teachers use their short time in front of students to make changes in the students’ lives that last well beyond the classroom, creating lifelong learners and helping the students achieve their personal best. This is also a fair point, something that many young teachers aspire to- the opportunity to change a life for the better, even if they never know about it. The goal of a teacher is not only to shove material at a student, but to instill in them the desire and courage to learn new and different things.
In all, though the article is only 4 pages long (one of which is a full-page photo), it presents some very interesting, if cliché, points about how a teacher’s behavior, especially in a foreign language setting, where mistakes are the norm, can affect the student. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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The process to acquire a foreign language has five fairly basic, defined steps to it, although the exact defining lines between them vary from person to person and become slightly more blurry depending on the age when the learning commences. The first step is called preproduction, called the silent period. In learning a native language, this is the point where words have little or no real connection to their meaning- children utters “Mama”,” receives positive reinforcement, and repeats themselves to the parents’ delight. The child may not realize that “Mama” is a specific person, or that there are other people who also respond to “Mama”, or that there are variations such as “Mom”, “Mommy”, or “Mother”. They may have a vocabulary of about 500 words and may parrot back what is said to them, but the vocabulary is not really functional or able to produce verbalization of thoughts. At this point, high reliance on repetition and visuals is helpful in order to ingrain the vocabulary into their mind.
Eventually, the language learner will be able to solidly connect an idea or a concept to a verbalization. This is step 2, early production. This is when a child specifically says, “Mom!” to get their mother’s attention, and can say simple, one- or two-word phrases, such as “Doggie silly!”, understanding that a dog balanced on its hind legs in a tutu is, indeed, silly. Or, they may use “Doggie silly!” to express a need to go to the bathroom, understanding those words can go together, but not necessarily connecting them to the correct point of reference because their vocabulary is only about 1000 words. At this point, the best strategies are to continue with the repetition and visuals, but step it up a bit in terms of asking them to respond to questions with a yes or no, or present an either/or scenario, accepting the short answer without much push for an explanation. For school-aged language learners. the introduction of short, simple reading can help improve their vocabulary and help them understand, write, and structure sentences beyond a few words.
The next step in the process is speech emergence. This is when the child can string together short sentences that mean exactly what they want them to mean, but may not be grammatically perfect, like “I go to bathroom?” as opposed to “May I go to the bathroom?”. They begin short, simple conversations, such as being able to introduce themselves and polite pleasantries, and begin to understand readings with pictures. At this point they can match words to pictures but also start to be able to define words, explaining in a little more detail, perhaps, what a bathroom is and what is usually contained therein. Teaching techniques at this time rely on assisting the students with their pronunciation through speaking dialogues as well as building vocabulary with flashcards, journals, and readings. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | One final reading difficulty that presented was a tendency to substitute unusual or uncommon words for more common or easier ones: bistro for boisterous, deseed for deceased, bridge for brigade, Uranus for uranium, etc.
While Manolo attempted to pronounce each word, he fidgeted profusely, rhythmically tapping his left hand and left foot in a synchronized manner that may have suggested impatience. He spoke very quickly, did not make eye contact with the examiner, and would look up at his classmates in between words and lists, again suggesting impatience.
The next portion of the BRI was the Oral Reading Comprehension component. Manolo was asked to read a series of written entries aloud and then answer ten comprehension questions based on the readings. This portion revealed two different sets of data- word recognition and comprehension. The results of this portion of the BRI are as follows:
This portion of the BRI allowed the examiner to assess Manolo’s word recognition skills when he was reading words in context and his reading comprehension and retention skills. This section allows the student to see words in context and use context clues to identify words if necessary. This portion of the assessment records the number of significant miscues Manolo made while reading passages aloud. The examiner considered word substitutions, omissions, or mispronunciations that altered the meaning of the sentence or passage as significant. The examiner had Manolo read two eighth grade level passages, one expository (Form A) and one a longer narrative piece (Form LN). The examiner found the results somewhat peculiar: Manolo read the Form A passage with only 2 significant miscues (one a word substitution and one mispronunciation- dropped syllable) at independent/instructional level, but when it came time to answer the reading comprehension questions, he could only answer 50% of them, signifying frustration level. The other 50% of the time he stated he did not know the answer and would not even guess. Student stated that he had forgotten there would be questions and wanted to try another passage so he could answer more questions correctly. When given Form LN, Manolo was able to answer 15% more questions (for 65%, Instructional/Frustration) at the price of additional significant miscues. Two passages at the ninth grade level were given, Form LN showing frustration in both word recognition and comprehension. Form LE showed instructional/ frustration threshold in word recognition while showing solid frustration in oral comprehension. This peculiar data led to the administering of grade 7, Form A which showed an independent/instructional threshold in word recognition and instructional/frustration threshold in comprehension. Finally, two short passages from the sixth grade level, forms A and B, were used to attempt to find Manolo’s independent reading level. Again, when attempting to concentrate on pronouncing the words properly, he was not as well prepared to answer comprehension questions and vice versa; however, an independent threshold was reached in both sets of data. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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Intermediate fluency is the next stage in the process, wherein the students have an active vocabulary of at least 6000 words and can create more complex, multi-verb or multi-tense sentences, such as “I need to go to the bathroom because I cut my finger.” They will still have many errors, but have an easier time understanding the errors they have made as they work toward correcting them. They can move to more complicated literature, but may still be translating their work into their native language and back to ensure understanding.
The final stage is advanced fluency, what most people think of when they are told somebody is fluent in a language. This could take between four and ten years of study, when one can have near-native conversational and comprehension ability and vocabulary recall. At this point the best thing to offer the students is continued practice; this is the point where most ELL students are exited from the program and completely mainstreamed.
The process of learning a new language, be it English, Spanish, or Sanskrit, sounds simple on paper, but the actual process can take many years to get the basics and a lifetime of practice to maintain it. However, hopefully, as the world becomes more compact with all the ways to communicate with the world at large, more people will be willing to put in the effort to make themselves more marketable on a global level by achieving fluency in at least one language other than the language of their parents.
In the Hallam article, the role of the teacher in the process of learning a foreign language is reviewed. The focus is on the disposition of the teacher, and the most important factors are: effective teachers believe themselves to be effective; they believe all students can learn, that it’s just a matter of how to reach them; they have a “broad frame of reference and see the larger purpose behind their teaching,” meaning they are not only teaching their content area, they are teaching the children how to learn; and they look at what is called “the people element”.
The people element is not very clearly defined, but seems to be relating all teaching back to the human species, both the students learning and the other people they may encounter in their life’s journey. While these are good points that can be applied to any teacher, the lack of definition for many of the terms is bothersome; how can a teacher hope to measure up to such cloudy standards? A foreign language teacher especially must consider a large number of people: the people who created the language, the people who currently use the language on a regular basis (including dialects), and the people who are learning it as a second language. But who are the more important people in that equation, the ones that need more concentration. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | The data makes it very difficult to pin down exactly where the thresholds for independent, instructional, and frustration are, as, depending on his focus that particular passage, his efforts would improve one side only to sacrifice the other.
Much like the word list portion, Manolo tried to read the passages quickly and had to be asked to slow down. He followed the text with his finger as well as his eyes. As Manolo read, he would frequently substitute more common words for ones he did not know (random for radium, e-mail for enamel, etc.), which were significant mistakes. He did not make any more attempts at Spanish pronunciation, but did still use penultimate syllable stressing on unfamiliar words.
After Manolo read the passages, the examiner asked him questions about the passages. The types of questions included topic, facts, inferences, evaluation, and vocabulary. Again, the peculiar nature of the data and signs of frustration in the student make it very difficult to find the independent, instructional, and frustration levels for the reasons discussed above. During questioning, Manolo still refused to make eye contact with the examiner, focusing instead on his classmates straight ahead. He did not turn his head toward the examiner once while questions were being asked. He also resumed foot and hand tapping during this juncture. Manolo did not attempt to answer questions he did not know or was unsure of, simply stating “I don’t know” and moving on. Manolo did very well with questions involving topic, evaluation, and inferences, but generally stumbled with questions regarding vocabulary and facts, especially if the facts contained numerical figures.
The final portion of the BRI was used to assess Manolo’s listening comprehension level to discover his independent, instructional, and frustration levels. The results of this assessment reveal Manolo’s potential for growth in reading achievement. For this portion, the examiner read a passage out loud to Manolo, and then asked him ten comprehension questions based on what he heard. The questions were in the same format as those used in the Oral Reading Comprehension portion of the assessment. The results were:
Based on the somewhat confusing results of the Oral Reading Comprehension portion of the assessment, the examiner began with an eighth grade passage. Manolo had two incorrect answers, which established him at independent/ instructional level. The examiner had no other ninth grade passages to give, so skipped forward to the tenth grade passage. Here the examiner awarded Manolo some half-points for portions of a correct answer. On the tenth grade passage, Manolo was instructional/frustration level. The eleventh grade passage was squarely frustration level. Having found the frustration level (and assuming ninth grade would be instructional level), the examiner sought his Independent level using seventh and sixth grade passages. Manolo’s independent level was at sixth grade, with seventh and eighth grade both coming in at independent/instructional.
Manolo’s response to listening comprehension questions was much better than his response to the oral comprehension. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | The other native speaker in the class reacted to the perceived insult, stating loudly she was from Columbia and punctuating the remark with a Spanish curse word while Manolo looked down at his desk. After the bell rang, Mrs. S. made a comment to the examiner with a similar observation.
Mrs. S. was able to provide some basic information about Manolo’s academic background. She was only able to access his high school records, and he is progressing through high school at the expected rate. He has never had IEP accommodations, nor has he ever received assistance from the ESL /ELL program. According to school records, he has regular attendance to both school and Mrs. S’s Spanish II class. At the time of observation and test administration, Manolo had a mid-B average in Spanish, English, and Biology, but was failing Statistics and Art. Delaware State Testing Program data was not available.
The examiner was able to observe Manolo in his Spanish II class several times. The school goes by block scheduling, with students having the same 5 classes every day in the same order, so Manolo’s class was always the first observed (first block). Manolo’s Spanish II class is an inclusion class with seventeen students. He is one of fifteen regular education students in the class. He is one of two native Spanish-speakers in the class.
The classroom setting is devoted to Spanish topics. Mrs. S. has decorated it with maps, flags, cultural artifacts, and vocabulary words relevant to the current learning units of her four classes- College Prep Spanish II, Honors Spanish II, College Prep Spanish III, and College Prep Spanish IV/V. Each class has its own whiteboard with assignments and its own section of a Word Wall. Mrs. S. offered several different learning activities in the class that would engage them in the different aspects of both language arts and foreign language learning- reading, writing, speaking, thinking, and listening. Manolo and his classmates were frequently asked to complete in-class projects that required them to write multiple grammatically correct sentences in Spanish and illustrate them. These projects would then be presented to the class orally, where they would be graded based on pronunciation and proper grammatical structure. When introducing new vocabulary, Mrs. S. would model the pronunciation and usage of the word in a sentence using words and phrases with which the students were already familiar; they would then take turns reading a script in their text and watch a dramatization of it on a DVD featuring native speakers. At the end of the period, the students would play a review game such as charades or Piccionario (Pictionary), depending on the subject matter of the vocabulary. The examiner observed Manolo spent most of the class periods with his head down on his closed book, although he would answer Mrs. S. when spoken to directly and would actively participate in competitive games on a team with his classmates. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | The teacher must be aware of their output as well, making sure to speak clearly and enunciate into the microphone.
CAPD has risen to prominence since it was first isolated as a disorder in the 1950s; there are many groups continuing to do research to determine how to best assist persons diagnosed with the disorder. Current and future teachers must make sure to stay up to date on the advances made and be mindful of students who enter their classrooms that need such accommodations.
Manolo (not his real name) is a 17 year old sophomore at Christiana High School in Newark, Delaware. Two of Manolo’s teachers Ms. F. (College Prep Biology) and Mrs. S. (College Prep Spanish II) referred him as a participant in a Basic Reading Inventory because they wanted to know more about Manolo’s strengths and weaknesses as a non-native English speaker in reading and comprehension.
A limited case history was obtained from Ms. F. and Mrs. S., which the examiner supplemented with an interview with the student. School records indicate Manolo lives with his parents; it is unknown if he has siblings. It is known that he immigrated to the United States from Mexico prior to entry to Christiana High School, however when he came and his immigration status are unknown. Both teachers find him generally polite, but Ms. F. states he can be a bit standoffish and highly disorganized, and prefers to talk to another native Spanish speaker in Biology class. He has no plans for college, and has given the two teachers two different career aspirations- he has told Mrs. F. he wants to work in HVAC, while Mrs. S. stated he wanted to work on cars. Both teachers stated they know very little about his personal life. During the interview, the examiner asked Manolo about school and his reading habits. Manolo reports that he likes to read magazines about cars and sports, but does not find the books and work assigned in school interesting. He stated he could not remember the name of the book he was currently reading in English class (To Kill A Mockingbird), or the names of anything he had read earlier in the year or last year, even when prompted. He answered questions succinctly and did not volunteer extra information. He did not make eye contact with the interviewer, and during test administration, he kept pausing and looking up at his classmates, who were working on an in-class project. After the interview, Manolo rejoined the class to play a team game in which he was pitted against the other native Spanish speaker in the class. When a third student erroneously stated both Manolo and the other student were from Puerto Rico, Manolo did not correct him. In the examiner’s previous work, a strong sense of national pride has been observed in Hispanic immigrants for their mother countries (called “orgullo” in Spanish); this can stem from things as trivial as pride in their countries’ fútbol (soccer) teams to larger, still-unresolved political and social disputes. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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Some of the behavioral characteristics that can be considered “red flags” for a patient are “difficulty understanding spoken language in competing messages, noisy backgrounds, or in reverberant environments; misunderstanding messages; inconsistent or inappropriate responding; frequent requests for repetitions, saying “what” and “huh” frequently; taking longer to respond in oral communication situations; difficulty paying attention; being easily distracted; difficulty following complex auditory directions or commands; difficulty localizing sound; difficulty learning songs or nursery rhymes; poor musical and singing skills; and associated reading, spelling, and learning problems” (Ferre). However, every person’s brain functions differently, so the individuality of the case must be taken into consideration.
A regular classroom teacher who may have to teach mainstreamed students diagnosed with CAPD should first familiarize themselves with the records of the student in question and be aware of what equipment may be needed or what changes they may have to make to their teaching style. The most common way to deal with a CAPD diagnosis is through auditory training, which may include, but is not limited to “procedures targeting intensity, frequency, and duration discrimination; phoneme discrimination and phoneme-to-grapheme skills; temporal gap discrimination; temporal ordering or sequencing; pattern recognition; localization/lateralization; and recognition of auditory information presented within a background of noise or competition” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005). The teacher must be made aware of the student’s individual strengths and weaknesses, and a benchmark system may be put into place to chart the student’s growth in terms of measurable outcomes.
Classrooms can be modified to reduce excess noise and echo, including removal or covering of unnecessary reflective surfaces (covering an unused chalkboard with a decorative tapestry, putting an area rug on linoleum tile), or with acoustic dividers (like plants) put into place to minimize sound vacuum. The student should be put in acoustically preferential seating toward the center of the room, away from distractions like the heater and the doorway but within view of the board. The teacher should also endeavor to use written direction as much as possible, and have multi-step instructions clearly listed either on the board or on an individualized worksheet.
In addition to classroom arrangements, the student may also have accommodations to be allowed to wear a personal FM receiver in class. A personal FM receiver is a variation of a personal radio, which can be worn as a body pack or a headset, with the frequency being the teacher’s voice coming from a microphone the teacher wears, either on their shirt or as a headset. This allows the other noise to be cancelled out of the room and the student can tune in to the teacher’s voice, effectively an audio trainer. However, while “[t]he benefits of personal FM and sound-field technologies for the general population and individuals at risk for listening and learning are well documented, but little data has been published documenting the efficacy of personal FM as a management strategy for students with CAPD” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005). | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
w | After a while, both Mama Elena and Rosaura die, leading to a night of passion for the true lovers... but all does not end well, as Pedro dies happily making love to Tita; Tita is tormented by the ghost of her mother, and, feeling nothing but loneliness, she begins to eat matches and candles. Pedro’s memory sparks a flame within her that consumes Tita, Pedro, and the entire ranch, leaving ashes. The story is revealed to be told by Esperanza, who is getting ready to marry Alex. She also states that in the ashes of the ranch, Tita’s cookbook was found, from whence come all the recipes mentioned.
I was introduced to this book and the film when I was 16, in an all-girl, private Catholic school. At that age, all of us in the class (ranging from me, the youngest, to age 19) wanted anything we could get away with in terms of sexuality and male nudity. I can see why, to a parent, that might be problematic, especially in today’s political climate. While the book makes mostly fleeting mentions, the corresponding film is R-rated for sexuality and full frontal nudity, both male and female. However, it was presented to us more as an introduction to the genre of Magic Realism, a gateway to more complicated works like Cien Años de Soledad (“100 Years of Solitude”), than anything from which we should adopt lifestyle choices.
While I would not be able to personally use these resources at this time (teaching middle school), I highly recommend them for other teachers teaching high school or college students. One of my college professors once told her Teaching Foreign Languages class (which I was unfortunately not a part of) that the number two rule of being a successful teacher (after “Work to develop your ‘teacher handwriting’) was “Talk about sex every now and then. Your students WILL pay attention.” The book is fairly easy to read, with fairly simple verb tenses and sentence structure, and can easily be incorporated into different types of lessons: we had it incorporated into a review of food words, but it could also be used for a unit on the Mexican Revolution of in literary genres classes, especially for Magic Realism and Bildungsroman. The teacher will have to ensure that the students are mature enough, as a whole, to handle what is being presented to them, but the book and the film are incredibly enriching looks at modern Mexican writing and filmmaking.
The process of learning a foreign language is becoming more and more important as America and other countries are becoming increasingly diverse. In America, many schools now offer ELL (English Language Learning) courses of study for children of recent immigrants. The process of learning a language is important to help both children learning English from another language or older English-speakers learning a foreign language for the first time. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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This paper covers three areas of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). First, a brief definition of the disorder is provided. Next, diagnosis is explained, with common characteristics, or “red flags”. Finally, the paper concludes with ways that a teacher in a mainstreamed classroom environment can assist a student with CAPD.
Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), or Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) “refers to the efficiency and effectiveness by which the central nervous system (CNS) utilizes auditory information. Narrowly defined, (C)AP refers to the perceptual processing of auditory information in the CNS and the neurobiologic activity that underlies that processing and gives rise to electrophysiologic auditory potentials” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005), meaning it is a disorder wherein the central nervous system (i.e. the brain) cannot properly process things that are heard. People with CAPD can hear normally, and are therefore not considered “hearing impaired”; rather, the area of the brain that translates what we hear, separating words or differentiating conversation from background noise does not function as it typically should.
The earliest mention of the disorder that became CAPD is from the mid-1950s, called “auditory imperception” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005) when researchers were evaluating children with communicative disorders. The Italian research team of Bocca, Calearo, and Cassinari began developing tests for these children in 1954; in 1961, Kimura “introduced dichotic testing and formulated a model to explain the physiology of the CANS underlying dichotic perception” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005). A national conference was held in 1977 that stimulated research on children with CAPD.
CAPD manifests itself in multiple ways: the person suffering may not be able to localize or hear sound in space; may have difficulty discriminating between two or more “acoustic events” (sound occurrences); may not be able to recognize sound patterns; may not be able to differentiate changes in speech (like detecting sarcasm based on change of voice); one sound may be blocked by a subsequent sound; may not have the ability to synthesize sound clues (that is, interpret in a meaningful way that they can then act upon); and may not be able to determine the sequence in which auditory information is presented (Ferre).
In order to diagnose CAPD, the patient must be screened with “systematic observation of listening behavior and/or performance on tests of auditory function”, which may be conducted by “audiologists, SLPs, psychologists, and others using a variety of measures that evaluate auditory-related skills” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005). This may include questionnaires and surveys, observation of auditory behaviors, including how the patient responds to certain stimuli. There is, at this time, no one tool or test that is used consistently to a high rate of diagnostic success, and there is no known cause for the disorder. Many tests used present the patient with multiple, simultaneous auditory stimuli and then ask for them to differentiate certain items, like a series of words or numbers. More advanced tests include recording acoustic signals within the ear and measuring the responses to the signals. | 25 | English | female | Some Graduate School | Unemployed Spanish Teacher | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | He calls this the ‘problem-posing’ method, which ‘accepts neither a well-behaved present nor a pre-determined future’ and ‘roots itself in the dynamic present.’ (pg 327) ‘Problem-solving’ here describes what the human experience already is - a constant re-interpretation of society and the actions that shape its nature. Based on the context of his work, Friere may be suggesting that the ability to intervene, to take action and be revolutionary is the real nature of the educational system he proposes. Here, banking itself is an extension of a government’s absolute authority and defying its edicts is the only way to be human. If banking, the depositing of ‘ultimatums’ by the system into the individual’s mind, is accepted then they are forever doomed to unreality.
Or are they?
It seems almost ludicrous to suggest that, without breaking from the structure of banking towards formal integration of problem-solving, one is nothing more than an object. Merely existing - even observing (as dreaded as the action may seem through Freire’s eyes) - anywhere leads to a heightened sense of awareness. This awareness of both oneself and others is apparent in the ‘developed’ individual, who uses a variety of sources, from personal memories to second-hand information, to form beliefs and opinions on all sorts of subjects. Even when one is idling about, whether they be staring at a television screen or watching passersby in the park, their mind is absorbing what is around them. Through cooperation of the conscious and subconscious, all that information obtained is processed into coherent thought; the ability to do so is what ‘humanity’ is all about. Thus it seems an impossibility not to be, in some way, ‘human.’
In the modern day, the youth are displaying a remarkable attraction towards revolution despite (and perhaps because of) the education that is given to them. Social media and an increased wealth of knowledge are the underlying factors of this desire for change. Behind the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution, the first of many major Middle Eastern protests in recent years, was was an increasing frustration with the continued poverty and poor living standard despite advances in literacy and education among the youth. Though technically spurred on by a merchant’s self-immolation, it ws largely organized by students and those in the under-25 section of the population over Facebook. As one activist participating in the Cairo protests that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak posted on Twitter, "We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world." (Howard) The use of such sites has allowed millions of those directly involved to plan mass demonstrations, with nearly incomprehensible turnouts. But the usage of said media is not limited to the coups of the Arab Spring; dissatisfaction with the economic status quo has inspired an ongoing protest in New York City known as ‘Occupy Wall Street.’ | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | “As in the case of most ’simple’ plans, the situation soon became quite complicated(McDonald, p 2).” However, their scheme was far from a solution and as the nation would soon find out, the beginning of an even larger problem.
Another one of the underlying causes of this situation can be seen in the mass sales of land in the western United States. As discussed earlier, the federal government hoped to sell its vast territories of unclaimed land. For just $1.25 per acre at a minimum of 40 acres of land, they put over 1 million square miles of undeveloped land so that their financial troubles could be assuaged(McDonald). Many citizens jumped at this opportunity to claim wealth and fortune, to form farms and industries. Speculators were the first to purchase the largest tracts of land at this price before reselling their territory to settlers at higher prices. When settlers could not afford to these prices, They simply borrowed money from the banks that originally had funded the federal government’s war; these state-chartered banks in turn would ask the Bank of United States(which by the end of the war had been reinstated) to pledge these mortgages as collateral for loans. “In practicality, the Bank of the United States was loaning the speculators' purchase money back to the banks that the speculators themselves owned.” This system was a delicate balance; should the settlers fall behind on obligations to those that sold land to them, which they did as prices on crops declined in 1819(Rothbard) , a domino effect would take place. Since their money would be insufficient, the speculator’s banks’ payment to the United States government would also be insufficient. Americans who had been using these state banks, with the deflation of crop prices, rushed to withdraw their funds; the state banks were already strained with pressure from the Bank of the United States, so with this additional factor to the situation they were unable to provide the funds. With many unable to withdraw their own funds, mass panic ensued over the loss of their own funds and the reduction in the circulation of money as a result of bank failures. The Panic was on its way to full swing as the American financial system began to collapse.
With the failure of the bank funds, one by one the entire nation’ s economy began to collapse. Although there were laws that required all monetary sources to be backed in gold, private banks tended to simply issue their own banknotes without following these requirements since they were not regulated. This fraudulent method led to further problems economically. Depositors found that their assets were rendered worthless by the failing banks that could not obtain the funds from the banknotes. Since no one could accept notes from banks no longer functioning , the amount of circulating money dropped rapidly. Businesses could not acquire their materials or pay their workers’ wages, so widespread unemployment and trade deficits became a serious issue. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | On the other hand, this may simply be a sign that his obsession with the idea of suicide has grown.
Mortality is addressed in a number of ways in Hamlet. The play revolves around death, with nearly all relevant characters dead by the end; uncertainty dominates each in different ways. At the beginning, the reader and characters themselves question the circumstances surrounding the late monarch’s death. The mere fact that he is no longer alive sets the stage for the other events of the play, famously prompting Hamlet’s question - ‘To be or not to be?’ The protagonist’s consideration of suicide is the prime example of mortality’s relation to the theme of uncertainty. He is at a crossroads, debating to himself as to which path to take - one to spare himself from the sufferings of the living world or the other to continue on to prevent descent into hell. Hamlet’s hesitancy is witnessed in other portions of the play as well, procrastinating on avenging his father through multiple scenes. The fates of Ophelia and Polonius, too, were surrounded by uncertainty. Polonius’ death was, to the general public, a source of doubt. Without a clear explanation, Laertes for example, believed Claudius to be responsible. Ophelia, meanwhile, succumbs first ot grief and second to madness. It is believed by other characters that Polonius’ death was at the root of her misery, but her strained relationship with Hamlet could have been as much a factor. Furthermore, while the priest at her funeral suggests that she committed suicide, she drowned when a willow tree branch broke and dropped her into the river; thus the possibility remains that Ophelia did not intend to die that day. The role of death in Shakespeare’s play certainly helped to shape the strength of uncertainty.
Innuendo and suggestions of incestuous desire between multiple characters also leave the reader in a place of doubt. In Act III, Hamlet mocks Ophelia using suggestive commentary, effectively distancing himself from her. This could imply that their relationship may have been sexual (or the courting of Ophelia not so honorable), especially since she was in a state of inward mental confusion, with both father and brother giving her advice on such matters earlier on in the play. Some have suggested also that Laerte’s dive into her grave and proclamations of love went beyond the platonic. Queen Gertrude herself brings up more questions than answers when analyzed as well. The motivations for her marriage to Claudius so soon after her first husband’s death are never fully explained. It is unclear whether she truly loved either or was taking action to ensure her place in the royal court. Hamlet’s fixation on his mother brings up suspicions as to the nature of their relationship, whether that passion is of an incestuous nature, as well as if it is one-sided or not. The usage of moral ambiguity to form the connections between characters makes for a work rife with unanswered questions. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | Private bank corruption ultimately drove the nation’s economy to the brink of destruction.
Speculator greed and corruption was merely a subdivision behind the United States’ financial dilemma; the common man was just as guilty. Although the common man of course did not have control over the majority of the finances as did speculators, a large portion of settlers abused their credibility when purchasing land and, by improperly managing their financial decisions, added to the force pushing America towards the Panic of 1819. These Americans spent lavishly under the presumption that they could afford to do so; when their profits were not enough to push them out of debt when it came time for tax collection, these citizens rushed to borrow and withdraw money(). Their debt caught up to them and no party could step in to help; state banks could do nothing to help because their funds were insufficient without the money the common man owed to begin with, while the federal government‘s bank, having only been re-chartered two years ago, got its money from the speculator‘s pay-offs which were also quickly declining. A vicious cycle of financial troubles was launched upon the nation as a result of these groups’ troubles.
America’s financial crisis in 1819 can be attributed to the nation’s faulty economic cycle at the time, yet it is their misunderstanding of another cycle that may have been the largest problem. The United States economy is based around a capitalistic, “supply-and-demand” mindset. Most economic scholars will agree that one of the factors leading up to the Panic of 1819 were of the U.S.’ inexperience with the nature of the system, where boom-bust cycles are bound to occur. Declines in prices in the market were meant to be normal occurrences following periods of inflation, yet when crop prices declined in 1818, citizens panicked and tried to recover as much of their money as possible. Of course, the private banks could not provide sufficient amounts This inexperience was just one step in the ultimate crisis, but a crucial point as their irrational panic was the basis of the dilemma.
In the same way that the Panic of 1819 was in part caused by troubles with the federal government, the financial problems of America today are partially due to federal troubles. One possibility regarding the current situation may stem from the Community Reinvestment Act of the late 20th century. It was passed to help banks meet the needs of borrowers, but many economists argue that this act encouraged banks to make unsafe loans, including the main problem - subprime mortgages. Another situation arising from federal actions - or lack thereof - comes in part from its regulation policies. The CRA does not necessarily review all loans that it supposedly regulates, and with its riskier loans the chance for economic trouble greatly increases. Furthermore, the government seemed to do little in regulating institutions handing out many of these risky loans, including those not regulated by the CRA; the federal government failed to assuage the growing problems with debt. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | Most of my involvement at [Company Name] revolved around creating promotional sets for potential and current customers of the company. I researched products on the private ASI member company base under various criteria, sorting and consolidating them into smaller sets based on target consumer groups (i.e. political organizations, corporate events, etc). I then wrote letters advertising said promotional packages for each individual consumer group. My writing was not limited to those e-mails; I also created customer surveys for possible changes in location and further letter blasts regarding changes in company operation. As far as my graphic design activity goes, I primarily assisted in edits to existing graphic works in CorelDraw and FlexiStarter, software used in the process of screen-printing logos and designs. I also was involved for a short time in ‘weeding’ the logos from the screen print pages during busy periods.
In so far as accomplishing my project goals, I personally believe that I accomplished them, although not all aspects were covered as thoroughly as expected. Among the skills I learned were operation and usage of screenprinting software and machinery and methodology for certain business practices. Another aspect of learning came from witnessing first-hand the work that goes on behind-the-scenes in creating custom apparel and other products such as engraved plaques. Most of the work done for graphics consists of editing existing logos or text, and I had hoped to see more of the design aspect; generally, my work was based on knowledge I already had or concepts that I could catch up on through previous use of technology. It is understandable that pure creation of logos is not something typical of the business, however. I also did not see much with social media integration since [Name], the graphics artist responsible for that aspect, stopped working on-site fairly early in the experience. As I am already fairly knowledgeable in that regard (usage of Facebook, Twitter, etc.), it was not a big issue. In the field of communication I felt I exceeded my expectations, having never before typed thorough business or advertisement letters at such a professional level nor had much experience interacting with customers aside from some work as a lifeguard. I also did learn a lot about the processes of screen-printing and embroidery, and about the effort put in from the moment a client places an order through to the moment it is ready to ship. Creating the promotional packages for [Company name] was also very educational, having set the criteria for item selection almost entirely independently. All in all, the mentorship was a rewarding experience.
As with any endeavor, one needs to try to maintain a positive and motivated character to succeed. My work renewed my desire to learn and furthermore showed me that I had a great deal of self-discipline. Most of my time at the mentorship was independent of the [Company Name] staff, and minimal supervision was given. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | Plain-clothes police officers, not even an hour later, had effectively dispersed the group with the threat of violence. Activists re-appeared several times on other dates, scaling down their actions to ‘strolling’ rather than marching, but were again and again made the objects of physical violence. As time wore on, fewer protestors appeared. This may be due, of course, to the lack of efficient communication available. The word ‘Jasmine’ has been banned from all lines of communication, and even selling of the flowers in the marketplace is impossible. When asked, many Chinese citizens in even urban areas are completely unaware of the revolutionary attempts. Those that are must choose their words carefully as well, as overstepping the ‘neutral opinion’ territory outlined by the government could land them in a cell along with foreign reporters. With widespread ignorance and/or fear regarding discussing the matter, the Chinese Jasmine Revolution seems less powerful than the governmental opposition it faces. It seems those in favor of democracy for the PRC face a long uphill struggle if they are to accomplish anything close to the results of the Arab Spring.
The very nature of society suggests that no method of education can prevent reality from its students. However, it can be a real struggle to present reality to a portion of these people. Whether the teacher is one found in a classroom or behind a podium, whether banking or problem-solving is chosen, whether the fight is won with words or weapons - none of these things are singularly the determinants of ‘humanity.’ It is up to each person to use what has been given to them to form a unique individual experience - their own version of reality.
After going over the process involved in writing my essay, it seems as if my strengths could also be my weaknesses. When I wrote my first draft, I wanted to provide arguments for and against the banking concept with the most complex (and still comprehensible) writing structure I could. Personally, I feel that my writing ability itself is strong, but sometimes I might be too fixated on making sure that the structure is exactly the way I want rather than directing my ideas towards new content. It was honestly a bit disappointing for me personally to find that the level of writing skill was not to be ignored, persay, but generally unimportant compared to the content of the paper.
Initially, I thought that what I had written was reasonably high level thinking, but I later realized I needed to do something more. My drafted essays talked mainly about the merits and faults of banking education, and I had been able to incorporate elements that could be considered working both with and against the grain before the rubric was even revealed. Based on the feedback I received from my peers, I tried to elaborate more on the ideas that were already present. However, I had not expanded much beyond education and learning styles in my revision. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u |
Aldous Huxley criticizes the upcoming threat of both technology and the capitalistic structure by which it is reinforced through the creation of a dystopia in the novel Brave New World. Its people value community above the individual, and are conditioned from the very beginning to pursue immediate happiness above all else. The citizens are revealed to be pawns in a larger game, confined to one ideology as dictated by the World Controller. By examining the work under the lenses of Marxist theism, one notices the underlying suspicions of the author in regards to the development of aforementioned systems. Frequent terminology in Marxism, such as homogeny and reification, among others, reinforce the idea that Huxley’s novel is a commentary on the faults in the emerging economy from his time on.
Capitalism is satirized through the use of the Marxist thesis known as false consciousness. Essentially, the common citizenry is prevented from knowing true relations to other classes in economic terms, as they are primarily interested in their own gain. It is said to be the result of ideological control of the proletariat and common laborers, something quite obvious by the conditioning of the people in Brave New World. The common classes, Delta, Gamma, etc., have no true will of their own; through hypnopædia the drive to consume, to spend, to indulge is strengthened above all else. This is manipulated, as previously stated, by the World Controller. Hegemony, essentially the idea that groups of social classes are dominated by a separate group of individuals in totality, is obviously used in this case. The lower classes are entirely unaware of the manipulation, quite literally ‘[buying] into an ideology that supports that structure’ (i.e. capitalism & consumerism). ’ Upper classes are born with the ability to be aware of it but do nothing ; few Alphas or Betas beyond characters like Bernard do much more than likewise accept their place. In fact, the interactions of the social classes, as will be discussed in greater length, are significant indications of the perceived oppression of capitalism.
Relationships between disparate individuals does not exist in Brave New World. The novel seemingly refuses to distinguish the characters - they are, even among major characters, lacking depth. Perhaps Huxley is suggesting that the rise of technology and capitalism together deprive man of their free will and expression. Love does not exist, nor do the extremes of any one emotion; rather, interactions are kept superficial, portrayed distinctly through the males remarks about women primarily about their physical appearance (i.e. pneumatic quality), and the females’ unashamed comments about their encounters, so to speak. Furthermore, each societal class’ complacency with their status in the hierarchy indicate the socioeconomic effect of capitalism. Their absolute obedience of their part in the community is an indication of Marxist thought on the proletariat, who are falsely ensured of their own superiority over all else so long as they continue to consume, to obey, to stay in line with the rest of their peers.
| 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | The government’s actions was, in part, responsible for the economic failures of today.
Another similarity between both financial crises lies in loaner’s avarice. Speculators in current times, much like those of the Panic of 1819, sought to take advantage of the market by selling land based loosely on credit and with the assistance of loans. These people sought to take advantage of the common man regardless of the likelihood of foreclosure because they could then obtain whatever funds their borrowers could not pay off. Because of the massive amounts of haphazard loans being handed out, foreclosures and debt reached alarming levels and, just as in the past, caused a widespread panic and pushed America’s economy over the edge. The corruption of speculators, like in the Panic of 1819, are a vital factor in destroying financial stability in the United States.
Despite many warnings held in history’s stories, common American citizens sought to “live beyond their means” and thereby triggered much of the failure of today’s economy. Like in the Panic of 1819 those who could not immediately afford to buy land or those who purchased land that their income could not sustain tended to borrow money from banks. These same people then proceeded to spend lavishly on all sorts of products, accumulating expenses. When prices again fell due to the boom-bust cycle, many found themselves borrowing more and more money. Soon enough, they wound themselves up in another vicious cycle of financial troubles identical to that of the Panic. Once again Americans had tried and failed to find and easy way to surpass their economic stance at the expense of an entire nation.
Financial failures induced in the United States have similar underlying causes. Federal actions were just one cause behind them. The inability of loaners/banks and the common citizen to control their greed, as well as misunderstandings of the inner workings of the economic system, were also detrimental to America’s economy. Both the Panic of 1819 and the current crisis afflicting this nation can be attributed to similar actions.
Going into the senior mentorship program, I wanted to experience more of the creative end of business careers. While the school certainly is thorough in reinforcing the ideas of an engineering world, it lacks a curriculum with much depth in the arts. Thus, I decided I would pursue a mentorship experience that would allow me to explore my interests in graphic design and art while also gaining knowledge of the aspects of business such as networking and communication. Over the course of the spring semester, I worked with the staff at [company name] to attempt to accomplish these goals. In retrospect, I was able to gain a lot of valuable experience that fed my interest in graphic design further.
My project goals included improving in the following areas: web/graphic design, communication and business, and social media integration. Another aspect of my work during the mentorship experience was data entry, which primarily meant editing customer files in the database. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u |
Despite an American education that can be seen as the new age of banking with ‘teaching for the test’ methodology, activists of all ages (but again, largely consisting of the young population) have come to their own conclusion about the real state of affairs in the United States today. Protesters demands fit under the umbrella of change: change in the policies for corporations, corruption prosecution, job market, businesses’ influence on the White House, etc. But these largely peaceful demonstrations have spurred a violent wave of police brutality, perhaps our own version of what Freire seemed to have suggested - a suppression of reality.
The army protects a country’s people from other countries’, the police force protects people from themselves. But what we have found is that those people who are meant to protect citizens from one another are in fact protecting and serving themselves. In the Egyptian revolution, the divide between the military and police was obvious; the people spat upon the name of the latter, who threw tear gas into non-violent crowds, while lauded the former, their own people, who eventually assumed leadership after Mubarak’s resignation. Here in the U.S., opinions of said forces are not nearly as unified, but the distinction in roles is nevertheless clear. The following excerpt comes from an article in the Boston Review written by Jeanne Mansfield.
as evidenced by the quote, the police force here did not follow the laws of their own occupation. Even where there was no one to defend from another in the crowd, they took it upon themselves to act with violence anyway - and those who were responsible were those who had something to lose. The ‘white-shirts,’ as Mansfield called them, are in fact sergeants, the kind of officer one usually finds supervising office headquarters. They are meant to delegate yet, somehow, the common officers are the ones who stand idle while their superiors are running about; surely this oddity cannot be ignored. Considering the goals of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, it is not a far-fetched conclusion that the alleged influence of corporations on politicians has perhaps spread to the public servants. But people have not allowed themselves to be ‘clubbed into dank submission,’ (Bukowski) neither literally nor figuratively. As evidenced by reports not only from official news sources but also media such as Facebook and Tumblr, support for the movement has continued to increase. Much like the Arab Spring, regions all across the United States have begun their own protests with similar goals, showing that, even with the increasingly banking-oriented structure in place today, people will always have the will to be freely human.
Stemming from the ongoing Arab Spring is a movement that threatens the stability of the Communist Party – at least in their eyes. Following the Tunisian revolution known as the Jasmine Revolution, named after the country’s national flower, Chinese pro-democratic groups have taken to the streets in protest against the absolute authority that dominates the nation’s government. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | Thus one can figure out the agricultural lifestyle of the Chinese during the time period the character was in use, and when the plough became obsolete; once the ox-drawn plough was introduced, li came to mean power instead, and a different li, which includes the character for ox, replaced it.
Hessler chooses those living outside mainland China for a variety of reasons. One is fairly obvious; a diverse range of voices may prove useful in developing an accurate depiction of the country. It creates a personal side to Chinese history and also shows the perspectives of people as the nation underwent major changes. In his writing, Hessler depicts the conflict between modernization and traditional aspects of the culture: how Chen Mengjia, an oracle bone scholar, struggled against the Cultural Revolution when a transition from traditional characters to purely pinyin/alphabetic writing was attempted; how the minority groups such as the Uighurs are politically marginalized; how.
The causes behind the Panic of 1819 can also be attributed to the financial crisis of today’s economy. The government’s various decisions preceding the Panic may be a cause of the modern-day situation Americans were excited by financial opportunities and sought to take advantage of the economy. However, this enthusiasm in an economic system most did not fully understand would soon prove detrimental to the entire matiom. Just as their inexperience in the system itself caused a large-scale crisis, the people of today’s society did not properly prepare themselves for the consequences of their financial choices. .Financial crises in America seem to be instigated by similar occurrences.
The Panic of 1819 was a massive economic crisis - the first one America experienced primarily due to its own nation’s troubles. One of the theories behind the cause of the Panic of 1819 lies with the banking situations created by the government. Robert W. McDonald suggests that because the Bank of the United States was not re-chartered as was due, the federal government’s source of revenue was disrupted. When James Madison vetoed the bill in 1811 to re-charter the bank as part of his opposition to Federalist ideals, he made the bank’s funds become redistributed into private and state banks. As a result, the federal government could not directly access most of its funds. With the onset of the War of 1812, America found that they could not finance the war; the state banks were now in charge of selling the bonds, and only after these were sold could funds be sent to pay for federal debt. At the end of the war, the federal government faced a daunting task to recover and pay back the money it had used to finance the war. With tariff and excise taxes only generating a small bit of revenue as foreign trade only recently revived, the American government resorted to the sale of land, a simple plan they hoped would solve the problem. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u |
Shakespeare has masterfully utilized the theme of uncertainty. He has created for his characters a sense of ambiguity, leaving those reading his works to sort out for themselves the motivations and nature of said characters. The element of sanity vs. insanity, the concept of mortality, and the potential immorality of the relationships between many have contributed greatly to the major theme of uncertainty. From Hamlet’s own mental state to his relationship to his mother, both the reader and the characters themselves are left with unanswered questions. It is undeniable that, throughout Hamlet, it is uncertainty that dominates.
Countless sources of history recount the perceived inferiority of women in traditional Chinese society. Ancient texts recount the role of an ‘ideal’ woman as one who is subservient to her husband and to males in general. She must willingly do what is expected of her as a wife and mother; she must willingly accept blame for any changes in the family dynamic; she must never play the roles designated for men. Literature from various periods, including during the Song dynasty, reflect on the necessity of female inferiority and in this regard are deplorable. Even the language itself reinforces sexism, with the character for woman an adapted form of one kneeling in obedience. Their place in society is largely driven by the Confucian virtue of filial piety, which had a major influence on Chinese culture and outlines the moral responsibilities each individual in a family must follow. As with most that are concerned with ethical matters, many of the concepts presented are both reasonable and commendable. However, when put into practice, said principles ultimately serve more to foster a sense of supremacy among men and strengthen patriarchal dominance than to promote family unity.
In Jian Zang’s Woman and the Transmission of Confucian Culture in Song China, the tale of one man lending his wife to another is recounted. One is ‘tragically’ without an heir, and so, dutifully, his friend offers to allow the sharing of his wife, who already bore him a son. Afterwards, the woman is passed back and forth between the families. Her objectification in the story parallels the reality of a female’s position in Chinese society – women are favored only in respect to their ability to produce a male (to carry on the family name). Prospective husbands needed to pay a ‘bride price’ to the natal family; the true exchange was not permission for marriage, but for the rights to control every aspect of her life. She needed to show respect to her husband and never try to interfere and perform her obligation of providing him with a son. If child after child turned out to be daughters, the family was willing to go so far as commit infanticide to reduce the economic burden.
Sima Qian refers to the Xiongnu as barbarians and it is clear through some of his descriptions that the Chinese considered themselves superior to these people and others like them through the frequent use of the word ‘barbarians.; | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | Retaliation and preventative measures through censorship and police brutality, perhaps on a scale greater than the protestors’ actions themselves, have limited the growth of the movement. In analyzing the characteristics of the modern uprisings upon which this second Jasmine Revolution was inspired and comparing them to that of the circumstances behind China’s current status, one may find that the situation is could veer in an entirely different direction.
Based primarily on recent events in the Middle East, the modern revolution seems to be following a few important trends. One of these is that the protest groups seem to be composed largely of young and mostly educated. This is important because higher rates of literacy are observed in these countries without much governmental reform. As such, combined with disparity between the economic classes and general discontent as to the standard living conditions, much unrest has brewed. Pro-democratic efforts has caused civil war to break out, but generally speaking, the protestors’ are guilty only of civil disobedience until police brutality becomes a factor. It is also notable that, in several cases, there is a division of loyalty in which the army sides more often with the people than its domestic forces counterpart. Social media, however, is possibly the most important characteristic. Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed the activists to spread the word and coordinate events for massive turnouts. Muslim officials’ knowledge regarding these ‘Westernized’ media seems to be limited. China’s, on the other hand, may very well have too strong a grasp of social media for successful communication to occur.
Understanding on the Asian nation's current situation involves knowledge of its current sociopolitical system. In the past, under Mao Zhedong, China followed a 'Marxist revolution,' adopting a communistic model for government. Although the nation has become more liberal with socialistic reforms in response to globalization, it is still primarily a communist nation. It justifies its various actions using sinocentrism, an extreme form of Chinese nationalism. All critical opinion, not necessarily (but normally) directed at the Chinese government, is 'neutralized' through censorship. Blanket bans on major websites, including Wikipedia, Facebook, and Google, have been issued from time to time. Even text messages are filtered. Naturally, this has not gone unnoticed; foreign reporters from around the world have flocked to cover the issues surrounding Chinese censorship, and have paid the price for their curiosity. Lawyers, news reporters, artists, activists - all sorts of individuals have gone missing or placed in captivity by even attempting to bring up deemed sensitive by the government. As a result, protests historically generated limited success in stimulating change by comparison to those of the Middle East.
The Jasmine Revolution in China, named after its inspiration in Tunisia, began February 20, 2011, and is technically an ongoing effort to remove the CPC from power. Protestors gathered at well-known locations (i.e. McDonalds gathering in Beijing) in various cities in response to a call to action issued online. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | Reification, or distortion of innocent concepts into, simultaneously, the grotesque and concrete, is portrayed in the novel by the use of soma. It represents the human desire for happiness, packaged in the form of a little pill. Soma causes a sense of complacency to overtake the consumer, relieving them of both physical and emotional pain. It reflects the dangers Huxley felt could compound from the use of technology, early death and false resolution among them. Huxley’s apparent disgust with the use of technology to ease all human burden makes reification an obvious component of his work, as any and all problems in the way of the characters is relieved by soma, while the ‘free-thinking’characters ridicule its usage. Maintenance of constant happiness is almost like a religion to them, but it is a different concept that they hold in a higher regard. In a sort of reverse reification, Ford and his assembly-line cars have become like deities. It is a bastardization of the concept of faith, to worship cold metal and unfeeling, and is another instance of their society’s discouragement of extreme emotion. According to the rulers, such things would ‘upset them too much’ -throwing them off the balance from their expensive daily sport, from golf to centrifugal bumblepuppy. Economy and productivity have taken the place of humanity.
Aldous Huxley’s novel may be a cautionary tale against a disturbing trend modern society is steering towards, or simply an attack on the social hierarchy founded by capitalism. In either case, it is undeniable that certain elements characteristic of the Marxist ideology exist within the layers of his writing, a suggestion that the socioeconomic conditions under the emergence of technology will bring certain turmoil.
The banking system of education confines its pupils from the very start, sealing away their individuality into uniform boxes. Within each box houses all the knowledge and potential that they can ever expect to realize. At least, that’s what Friere seems to believe.
How can something inherently human possibly become an automaton? The banking system is characterized as an oppressive system in which those who are being taught are in fact being primed for dehumanization. He seems to declare that, by allowing the method to persist, society is developing a world of ‘unreality’. Among the travesties of banking is the idea that a teacher must ease their students into society, must ‘adapt them to the world...[so that] she or he is a better “fit” for the world.’ But even cliches echo the truth: learning does not stop in the classroom. We are not created nor shaped solely by school instructors; for better or worse, we are all influenced by those around us and our personal experiences. So long as we refuse to be defined by the limitations of ‘banking’, we can never be one-dimensional.
Friere seems to assert that to truly become human a person must constantly question the world around them rather than simply absorbing what is told to them. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | In the final paper, I chose to talk about the currently ongoing protests in New York City, adding in information I already knew about the Arab Spring, since the underlying message of Freire’s work dealt with ‘revolution.’ It was somewhat of a struggle to do so not because I had no knowledge whatsoever of either topic, but because it was hard to determine where I absolutely needed to cite information, especially since the most poignant of updates regarding Occupy Wall Street are in fact from sources generally not considered reputable. As for the topic of the Middle Eastern revolution, I felt it would be too obvious a topic choice if I had talked about those protests alone, but I also didn’t want to disclude it entirely as it had been of special interest to me. The criteria for the essay forced me to look beyond education in terms of the classroom experience, but it also gave me an opportunity to talk about current issues that actually are relevant to me. Merely being able to explore such topics may have strengthened my writing.
Uncertainty encompasses Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, at times driving forth the plot and at others delaying the progress of action. It is not completely accurate to say that other thematic elements of Hamlet are of lesser importance, for they all can be traced back to the central idea. Rather, other major themes, such as sanity vs. insanity and mortality, are contributors to the weight of uncertainty. The protagonist’s supposedly feigned insanity, among others, leaves the reader in a gray area as to his true state of mind, while his contemplation of death has left Hamlet himself in a place of indecision. Morally questionable relationships between various characters also serve as evidence of the theme of uncertainty’s pervasiveness throughout the play. Indeed, it is a combination of elements that make the world of Hamlet and the realm of indecision essentially one and the same.
When Hamlet’s sanity is questioned, who is in the right? All save his closest companions – and the readers themselves – are told he is sane, the rest of his world led on by his act of madness. The ghostly illusions and his actions have lead many to doubt his clarity of mind. Shakespeare has left both reader and character in a state of doubt. Some characters in the play seem to reveal their own suspicions, remarking that his words, though surely odd, are not that of an outright madman. This would imply that Hamlet is indeed faking his descent into insanity. Similarly, both Claudius and Gertrude are unable to pinpoint the reason for his erratic behavior, perhaps a hint at that it is all merely an act. However, his encounters with the ghost in the form of his father may indicate just the opposite. His willingness to follow the specter, despite Horatio’s warning that Satan may be misleading him, suggests that Hamlet may be mentally impaired. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
u | In part of the text that is cited in Ebrey’s work The World Beyond China, he states that the Xiongnu people despise the old and weak and favor the young and strong, giving the best food to the latter and the worst to the former. This is highly contradictory with China’s idea of filial piety, which puts family and elders above all else. Similarly, the tone in which Sima Qian describes some of their military tactics hints at a sense of disdain for their principles. He states that ‘concern for propriety or duty does not inhibit the pursuit of advantage,’ which would certainly be unwanted in a nation that heavily enforced the citizen body’s obligation to serve the state.
The Forbidden City was built in such a manner that it would mimic their concept of the kingdom as in direct communication with Heaven. The emperors considered themselves like gods; thus the original design included 9999 rooms as compared to a god’s 10000 rooms. The yellow color on the roof tiles also reflected this belief, as yellow, an earthly color, was considered a representation of the center of everything. The city also reflected the sheer grandeur of the imperial authority. The large and imposing Meridian gate that at the time towered over all else in Beijing is mentioned early on in Barme’s work; its position in the true north/south had the ‘power to impress and to even intimidate emissaries.’ this, along with the large mote meant to defend the city, served to impose. The order and design of the city was so meticulous that it seems to imply a government should be run efficiently and in line with morality, promoting peace and harmony (the reality of course was that corruption existed throughout the history of Chinese empires). The court buildings were organized in groups of three, an auspicious number, and the Meridian gate also had this number of arches. The Tiannamen Gate had five arches, which was also a lucky number. Nine, symbolizing longevity, was the number of auspicious creatures featured on the rooftops of buildings. Animals such as cranes were also there to symbolize longevity.
Chinese writing’s early characters were much like hieroglyphs in that they were depictions of their definitions. For example, the early character for ri, or sun, was essentially a circle, while the original character for woman depicted a person kneeling. Combinations of basic characters, radicals, formed other words that were related to the radical. For example, combining tree characters gives the word for forest. This is particularly relevant in understanding Chinese belief that the nation is at the center of the world, as the name Zhong Guo is literally ‘Middle Kingdom.’ The way the ancient writing looked also gives insight into the life of the ancient Chinese. Li, a radical meaning power, was synonymous with the plough in ancient writing and the curve in its form also resembles the object. | 18 | English | female | Some college | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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Many a great thinker has postulated an intimate connection between ethics and aesthetics, between truth and beauty. I believe that at a fundamental level there is a reason for this. As John Keats says in “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty- That is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” Much of what we know in life is learned via education or experience. However, we seem to appreciate ethics and aesthetics, as Keats implies, without being taught in these expected ways. Both ethics and aesthetics are an attempt to describe rather then prescribe. Our studies of morality and beauty are, for the most part, attempts to explain why a piece of art or literature is beautiful, or why an action is moral, rather than a set of rules for judging, or creating, good art or moral behavior.
More to the point, criticism of art or morals is never able to fully capture the essence of what is good or what is beautiful. A conversation about the worth of da Vinci's Mona Lisa, for example, may center around concepts like foreground, background, contrast, or cultural context, but in the end, these do not describe why it is good art. Rather, when one is asked about a favorite work of art or literature it is common to hear a phrase similar to, “There's just something about it” preceding a more complex or critical explanation. I believe that both art and morals can never be completely reduced to a description of their qualities. As Flannery O'Connor says, “A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way . . . you tell a story because a statement would be inadequate.” No matter how completely we describe the properties of a work of literature, there is something transcendent which is still left. I believe that ethics has this same property. As Wittgenstein says, “It is clear that ethics cannot be expressed. / Ethics is transcendental. / . I suggest that it is this “something”, this je ne sais quoi, which is art and morality's most powerful attribute, and that this transcendental nature of both ethics and aesthetics provides a connection point between them.
I believe that morality and art are so closely related because we experience both of them most powerfully at a noumenally, to use a Kantian term. They impact us at a level that can be experienced, but not fully explained. This link is even stronger when it comes to the art of literature. As McKean says, “What most distinguishes literature from the other arts, what is, in truth, unique about the art, is its moral quality. It may be that moral standards are inappropriate to other arts, music, for instance, but they seem to be as relevant to literature as they are to life itself. Living necessarily involves values. . . . Literature is important to us precisely because of the values we find there” .
| 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | They were unwilling to accept blacks as part of the Other toward whom they had responsibility, as Levinas says. An unwillingness to view the individuality and Otherness of others, and a refusal of our responsibility toward them, is a primary effect of prejudice and racism. The journey toward acceptance that Huck takes is meant to invoke a parallel journey for the reader. At the beginning of the novel Huck sees all slaves as the same; he describes Widow Douglas and Miss Watson for pages, and then gives only one sentence to their slaves, saying, “By-and-by they fetched the niggers and had prayers, and then everybody was off to bed” .
As time goes on, Huck comes to learn of Jim's individuality, and comes to know him as a person, and as a friend. Throughout the novel we are shown that Jim is truly the most noble of the characters. He is kind and selfless, despite being treated as inferior. As the novel progresses, Huck discovers Jim's Otherness, and learns that Jim is more than just a nigger, more than what he has been taught that he is. The conflict between society's teachings and Huck's new-found love for Jim as a person, as Other, comes to a head when Jim is captured by a local farmer in order to claim a reward. Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson, Jim's owner, turning Jim in, and is about to send it, when he begins to have second thoughts . Twain describes Huck's feelings in one of the most moving passages in literature. He says:
I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn't do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking—thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell. And went on thinking. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me all the time: in the day and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a-floating along, talking and singing and laughing. I'd see him standing my watch on top of his'n, 'stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog; and when I come to him again in the swamp, up there where the feud was; and such-like times; and would always call me honey, and pet me and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was; and at last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had small-pox aboard, and he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the ONLY one he's got now; and then I happened to look around and see that paper. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | The author's willingness to subordinate both plot and protagonist is made evident a few chapters later. The protagonist has undergone the electroshock therapy, which is supposed to “produce the result of a preforontal lobotomy without the negative effects of the knife . . . the result is as complete a change of personality as you'll find . . . He'll experience no major conflict of motives, and what is even better, society will suffer no traumata on his account” .
It is certainly possible that part of the reason that Invisible Man was so powerful in effecting political and cultural change is because of Ellison's focus on message rather than on his protagonist. However, this also reduces the power of the novel as great literature. By viewing the work through the lens of Levinas we are able to see that one reason that Ellison's focus on message is detrimental to the literariness of the novel is because it does not respect the Otherness of his characters.
The third philosophy that I want to view literature through is Heidegger's concept of language and truth. He claims that truth is that which uncovers, that which connects us to more of the world. He says that everything has an infinite relation with everything else, and that it is the pathways between things that give meaning . In other words, language helps to create the way that we view the world, and the way that things connect to one another for us.
I believe that all good literature is good, at least in part, because it uncovers a part of ourself, or humanity, or a way of thinking, that we had been previously unable to see. It makes new connections between things. In this case, I think that looking first at an example that fails will increase the contrast between the good and bad, and will show more distinctly how the principle applies to literature.
Although there are an unfortunate number of texts that would fit the bill for a failure in this category, I have chosen to focus on the particularly painful Mutant Message Down Under, by Marlo Morgan. Morgan takes the interesting subject of her time with an aborigine tribe in Western Australia, and turns it into a long fable instead of a work of art. She has fascinating and meaningful experiences with these people, but insists on telling the reader the connections that should be made. For example, when she first meets the tribe she thinks that she is going for some sort of awards ceremony, but instead they make her take off all of her clothes, jewelry, etc., and they throw it all into a fire. Instead of allowing the reader to judge for himself the importance and meaning of this experience, Morgan ends the chapter by saying:
Only in retrospect would I understand the symbolism being played out as I removed my valuable and what I considered very necessary jewelry. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | Instead of making Christ all God, Dostoevsky emphasizes both His perfection and His humanness. The only explicit action that Christ takes during his time with the Inquisitor is at the end of the Inquisitor's very long diatribe against him. “He saw the Prisoner had listened intently all the time, looking gently in his face and evidently not wishing to reply. The old man longed for Him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But He suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on his bloodless aged lips. That was all His answer” . There is no walking on water, no raising the dead, no thunderbolts and lightning. Christ's action itself is very human, but the ability to remain compassionate after such verbal abuse is truly divine. Dostoevsky's ability to impart humanity to characters which are meant to be the very embodiment of good and evil is part of the great power of the work.
Another aspect of Kant's philosophy of treating humanity as an ends is a willingness to discuss and examine the issues that are important to humanity. I believe that this principle is closely tied to Keats's “negative capability”. In order to create great literature an author must be willing to respect the doubt and confusion and lack of clear answers that is an integral part of what it means to be human. Again, Dostoevsky proves to be a master. This short passage deals, and deals deeply, with faith and doubt, justice and mercy, love and expectations, forgiveness, compassion, and belief and action. The conversation between Alyosha and Ivan toward the end of the passage is so powerful because it is so human. All of us have been Ivan - doubting, tired of searching for elusive Truth, and we have all been Alyosha, having our faith confronted with the harsher realities of the world. The attitudes and emotions they have when dealing with these big issues are complex and confusing and utterly human. Dostoevsky gives no pat answers, but this is why we are able to understand and identify with his characters. By recognizing that it is the humanity that is so much of the genius, and by reading through the lens of Kant, we better appreciate the respect that Dostoevsky has for his characters, and by extension, for us as readers. In addition, we are able to recognize a new beauty in the work, by seeing how the very humanity of his characters connect us to the ethereal and eternal concepts of good and evil.
Alternatively, I believe that Kant's philosophy can also be used to show why some bad literature is bad. With an advance apology to those who may enjoy the works that I criticize, I will begin with Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Her characters are painfully manipulative. Manipulative to each other, but even more dastardly, manipulative toward the reader. Ironically, Rand uses Kant's very terms in her preface, claiming, “This is the motive and purpose of my writing: the projection of an ideal man. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | Because of political instability and infighting, there is little chance of any native language becoming an official or even de facto replacement for English in most of these countries. Many of these languages are oral, or have only recently adopted a written form. The long literary history of English and other European languages allows for shades of meaning that are simply not possible in many of these languages. In addition, English is the source of economic and social mobility, as well as the access point to world literature and education. With so few native speakers of many indigenous languages, the only way to expose the cultural and political issues that a writer cares about to a larger audience is through the use of a non-indigenous language.
Conversely, English is seen by many authors as the language of the oppressor, and of unwelcome Westernization. At a more basic level, English is not a local language, and therefore authors view it as unable to convey local cultural meanings as effectively. As Szeman points out in Zones of Instability, the complexities of postmodernity make the emergence of a national literature even more tricky. He says, "What makes the creation of a national culture an especially difficult and ambiguous task in these regions is in part the number of discourses with which these writers have to contend and work through: anti-imperialist and imperialist discourses; the discourses of nativism and Western philosophy; modernist discourses promising progress and development . . . and discourses concerning the role and political efficacy of literature, which of necessity must deal with imperialism, modernism, and nationalism all at once."
Post-colonial authors deal with these pressures in different ways. Some, like Senghor, embrace European languages and modes of thought as useful tools for examining local culture, and for bringing local issues to a worldwide forum. Others are much more reluctant to use English or other European languages for their works. One of the most extreme in this camp is the Kenyan writer wa Thiong'o. began his career writing in English, but has become more and more adamant in his opposition to English as a medium for post-colonial repression. He now writes his books originally in Gikuyu, and only later translates them into English.
Even in English, however, constantly reminds the reader that his books are not Western, but are African. He accomplishes this through a few different means. I will use his novel Devil on the Cross as a case study for the techniques that he employs. Most obviously, deals with post-colonial issues and struggles as the foundation for his narrative, but I will examine how he uses not only narrative, but literary techniques to reinforce his localist agenda and to make his novel more African and less Western.
First, Africanizes the English that he uses. As Kasanga and Kalume discuss, uses African syntax, African idioms, African word formation styles, and African lexical items to make his novel feel foreign to the native English speaker. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | Hopefully, showing the interrelatedness between moral philosophy and literature shows that the two disciplines are deeply linked, in ways that cannot be fully explicated or understood. It is time that we accept the fact that morality and aesthetics are inextricably and inescapably connected, and that any judgment of literature is a moral judgment. In order to understand one or the other we must try to study and understand both.
Modern technology has created a new era in the history of language. Means of travel, and especially means of communication, fashioned a world that is truly interconnected. Due to the economic and military dominance of America as the world's only superpower, English has become the language of this globalization. Although the era of Imperialism has come to a close, the sun still never sets on speakers of the English language. As Paul Jay suggests, this globalization of English is having dramatic implications on the study of English literature, and the force of these globalizing factors will only increase. He claims that literature should no longer be studied from a nationalist perspective, but can only be understood from the context of a local culture (inter)acting with(in) a global culture. The study of British literature, from this perspective, must be the study of global literature, and the study of how all English language literatures and cultures affect one another. It is on this theoretical perspective that this paper will be based, believing that an overview of the current cultural status of English language literatures is a vital background to truly understanding British literature.
Before exploring the effect of global culture on specific literature and literatures, it is important to examine some of the factors that make contemporary English so unique, and its impact so difficult to understand.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of English is just how widespread it is. Not only is English the de facto language of the Internet, international business, and diplomacy, but there are large populations of native English speakers on every continent in the world. Never has any language had the sort of global diffusion, not to mention international power and prestige, that English currently has. One effect of this dominance is a dramatic increase in the number of English learners. By some estimates, there are currently between 750 million and one billion people learning English at some level. That means that there are currently far more people learning English than there are native speakers of the language, with many learners presumably being taught by other non-native speakers. This makes English a very vibrant and diverse language, with much variation in lexicon, semantics, and even syntax as it is affected in different ways by different cultures that it comes in contact with.
These attributes of contemporary English are unique in the history of language, and there will certainly be some monumental changes in the language as more and more non-European speakers learn it. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | For example, he uses the term a knot in my heart to refer to having a serious problem. This is a role outside traditional English semantics for that idiom, but never explains what it means. Even when does tell the reader what a term means, he is somewhat condescending and alienating, as his footnote describing the semantic range of heart. He says, "It must be remembered that in Gikuyu the word 'heart' means many things: soul, spirit, conscience, mind, inner man, essence and so on." Even though heart has a very similar semantic range to standard English, he intentionally localizes the novel again, and reminds Western readers that they are reading an African work.
At times, also makes his subversion of English more explicit. He chooses to italicize non-Gikuyu words that appear in the original Gikuyu novel. In most English novels that use non-English words, it is these non-English words that are italicized. In Devil on the Cross, however, italicizes not only French and Swahili borrowings, but even English words that appeared in English in the original work. Thus he continually reminds us that this novel is a translation, even an unnatural translation.
Even more explicitly, dedicates his novel "To all Kenyans struggling against the neo-colonial stage of imperialism." His painful irony is that in order to communicate his message to the outside world, must communicate in the medium of the oppressors. However, instead of bowing to English conventions, he chooses to treat the language of the oppressor as a tool to be manipulated for his local, Kenyan, aims. As author, the manipulated thus becomes the manipulator.
Reed Dasenbrock sums up the position of and like-minded authors, saying "This African critical position insists therefore on African literature's being African first and universal only second, if at all." seems to have translated his work into English not to make it intelligible to the Western world, but to show the Western world that there are cultural boundaries that even a common language cannot overcome.
The third type of literature is that which comes from the new English learners in non-native English countries. As the English-speaking population continues to grow in these cultures, this type of literature is becoming increasingly common. It generally finds its expression when an author from a non-native culture immigrates to a native English culture, like Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, or when the child of immigrants grows up in an English-speaking culture, but writes about the culture and experiences of her non-English background, like Maxine Hong Kingston. These non-colonial authors generally do not have the same sort of conflicting feelings toward English as post-colonial cultures. They have chosen to learn English voluntarily, and generally see it as a means of social and economic mobility more than as a tool of oppression. Where intentionally makes his novel unintelligible to the English reader, these authors are eager to use English in order to introduce their culture to the Western world. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | Because fewer members of their cultural community speak English, there is less pressure to be local in English language literary production. In addition, the post-colonial guilt of Britain and America have caused a dramatic increase in cultural awareness and the desire to understand and come in contact with other cultures, and English language novels provide a way for them to come in contact with different societies.
As my case study for this type of novel, I will be using The Kite Runner, by Kholed Hosseini. Hosseini introduces Afghan ideas and vocabulary into his novel, but he is careful to contextualize them. One way of doing this is by giving a translation of new words in the text itself. For example, his character Hassan declines to move into Amir's house because "it was a matter of ihtiram, a matter of respect" and a story about Amir's father "would have been dismissed as laaf, that Afghan tendency to exaggerate." Another technique is to put the Afghan words in context, so that the reader can guess at the meaning of the word, without explicitly defining them. For example, in a very different dedication from that in Devil on the Cross, Hosseni dedicates his novel "to Haris and Farah, both the noor of my eyes, and to the children of Afghanistan. Although we don't know the exact meaning of noor, which is princess, we can guess that to be the noor of someone's eyes means that you are very important to them. As another evidence of Hosseini's desire for intelligibility, where italicizes words foreign to his culture, Hosseini italicizes words that come from his culture, and are foreign to the English reader.
In addition to local terms, when Hosseini introduces cultural concepts that are foreign to the Western reader he is also liberal in his explanations. For example, he spends three pages describing the Afghani tradition of kite flying and kite running. Throughout the book, Hosseini introduces and explains other elements of Afghani history and culture. These explanations are only necessary because he is consciously writing for a Western audience.
At times these non-colonial authors may use terms that confuse or disorient the reader, in a process that Reed Dasenbrock calls "culturally coded defamiliarization". Dasenbrock says that the reader is defamiliarized when a writer uses a term that natives to the writer's culture would understand without difficulty, but that non-natives do not immediately understand. He gives the example of the term "ghost" in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior. She attaches the non-standard semantic meaning of "foreigner" to the term, as well as the traditional definition. As readers grasp this new meaning of "ghost" they are able to see Chinese culture in a new way, and "learn a good deal about Chinese perception of us." Dasenbrock says,
Writers can therefore choose to make moments of their work more difficult to understand, less immediately intelligible, because they know that the reader will work for their meaning. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | The portrayal of a moral ideal, as my ultimate literary goal, as an end in itself—to which any didactic, intellectual or philosophical values contained in a novel are only the means. . . . Let me stress this: my purpose is not the philosophical enlightenment of my readers” .
Rand's characters are used as means to promote her own ends. Rand does her best to make the reader respect and appreciate Roark, because she knows that accepting him is to accept her philosophy. In fact, Howard Roark is not a man, he is a philosophy embodied . In short, she uses his humanity as a means to make us emotionally accept her philosophy. In opposition to her hero, Roark, Rand creates Ellsworth Toohey. He is less intelligent, less talented, and physically weaker than Roark. If that were not enough, Toohey is a master manipulator, and we are repeatedly shown how he uses others for his own ends. It is easy for the reader to choose which side he is on – whichever is opposed to a man like Toohey, which also happens to be Roark's side. In truth, Toohey's character is a masterful diversion. By making Toohey's manipulation explicit Rand hides the fact that she is being manipulative herself. Instead of real interactions, Rand sets up caricatures of people in order to emotionally connect us with her personal philosophy. By using Kant's ethical philosophy we are able to see what Rand is trying to do, and why this manipulation works. Instead of respecting humanity as an ends in itself, she is using it as a means.
Another important moral philosophy is Levinas's concept of our moral obligation to respect the alterity, the Otherness, of those around us. He says the Other, whoever they may be, is, “someone for whom I am answerable” . In fact, it is only in respecting the Other that we truly become part of the human family. This idea is explicitly understood and explained in a literary context by Flannery O'Connor, who says, “a story is a dramatic event that involves a person because he is a person, and a particular person—that is, because he shares in the general human condition and in some specific human situation. A story always involves, in a dramatic way, the mystery of personality.” We may be tempted to use these principles to judge how characters treat the Otherness of one another within a text, but I believe that we can more ably judge the literary value of a text by examining how the Otherness of the characters is treated by the author.
One text which deals powerfully with Otherness is Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Finn was first published in 1884, some twenty years after the American Civil War. Twain seems to have realized that the Emancipation Proclamation may have granted blacks freedom from slavery, but that equality and respect have not accompanied that freedom. In 1884 most Americans still viewed blacks as different and inferior. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | I was yet to learn that time for these people had absolutely nothing to do with the clock hours on the gold- and-diamond watch now donated to the earth forever.
Much later I would understand that the releasing of attachment to objects and certain beliefs was already indelibly written as a very necessary step in my human progress toward being.”
Nearly every chapter ends with a similar retelling of what moral the author learned, and by extension, what the reader should learn. Another chapter ends by saying, “It is truly amazing that after fifty thousand years they [the Aborigine tribe] have destroyed no forests, polluted no water, endangered no species, caused no contamination, and all the while they have received abundant food and shelter. They have laughed a lot and cried very little. They live long, productive, healthy lives and leave spiritually confident” .
This insistence on making explicit the moral lessons, the connections between literature and life, has two negative effects on the reader. First, because every conclusion is prepackaged and delivered, the reader is discouraged from trying to uncover other truths or lessons. They become overshadowed by those which are spelled out in the novel. Second, we are more likely to question and reject even the lessons that are presented. When we are allowed to make our own connections we make them in ways that are meaningful to us, and we make them in many directions at once, often without even realizing it. This makes our personal conclusions much more powerful and motivating. Works like Morgan's, however, do not resonate with us aesthetically because they never become ours. The author's refusal to allow the reader to make his own Heideggerian uncoverings and connections hurts the aesthetic value of the work.
Alternatively, great literature teaches us page after page, but teaches us at a much deeper and more personal level. The master at this, as at so many things, is William Shakespeare. The reader of Shakespeare is forced to think grand thoughts and examine grand issues, but he is never led toward Shakespeare's personal conclusions. In this way the reader can make multiple connections, and multiple uncoverings, in different directions. Although any of Shakespeare's works could be chosen as an example, I will briefly examine a few passages from the classic King Lear. In the first scene of the first act, Shakespeare brings to the reader's attention the issues of filial and paternal obligations, the Catholic doctrine toward bastards, the effects of sexual promiscuity, the power of language, the conflict between duty and compassion, and the nature of love, among others.
In the first lines of the play Shakespeare is already questioning, probing, and causing us to think about our beliefs. The Earls of Kent and Gloucester are speaking, and Kent quickly learns that Gloucester's son, Edmund, is illegitimate. Upon learning this, Kent says, “I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so / proper” .
| 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | Later in this same scene King Lear is choosing how to divide his kingdom before he dies. He asks his three daughters “which of you shall we say doth love us most?” . The king subsequently takes away Cordelia's portion and gives it to her older sisters. In these few lines Shakespeare again causes the reader to question and to make connections. We learn of the power of language to persuade and influence the beliefs of others, but this concept is quickly undermined by Kent's plea with Lear to think about the actions of each of the daughters instead of simply what they said. This leads the reader to question whether love should be judged by the actions or the words directed toward a beloved. We might then ask ourselves whether, as Cordelia seems to be claiming, actions motivated by duty can be a sufficient basis for real love from child to parent. We are also led to wonder about the higher duty of those who love us – whether they should support us in our decisions or attempt to dissuade us from our bad decisions, as Kent does with the king.
The magic of the text is that each of these issues are interwoven and seamlessly connected one to another. Amazingly, the play never explicitly asks any of these questions, and certainly does not hand out any of the answers. Instead, the reader can make the connections on his own, and is free to connect the story to his own life and experiences in the way that is most meaningful, without being told where the puzzle pieces should fit. It is this malleability of good literature, its ability to touch and to uncover the world to us at an individual level, which describes much of its power. Shakespeare provides these nodes, these points of connection, throughout his work, and seeing his work as an act of uncovering and making connections helps us to understand yet one more facet of why it is so moving. As with the other philosophies, Heidegger helps us to view beauty in a new and puissant way.
As readers and as people who must make decisions, we must have a way to judge what we read and what we do. I believe that the modern world has stolen from us an important tool in making these judgments. Many 18th century thinkers saw themselves as just that – as thinkers, willing to examine the issues of life with all available tools. Since then, the capitalistic structure of the modern university has helped to cause us to understand learning to be more compartmentalized. Students and professors consider themselves as English majors or Political Science professors instead of as thinkers, as connoisseurs of knowledge in general. I believe that reestablishing the links between disciplines can help to remedy this problem, and will yield important discoveries and breakthroughs. I have attempted to show how one such link, namely between moral philosophy and literary analysis, can help us to see the beauty and power of good literature in new and exciting ways.
| 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | Instead of focusing on the future of our language, I will instead discuss the effect that the present social and demographic situation has on various types of English writers.
The first type of literature that I will focus on is the traditional English language literatures, primarily British literature. These literatures have an established canon, and a sort of literary confidence. We would expect that they would be the least affected by the changes of globalization. Because of their economic and cultural power, the syntax and lexicon of American and British English is the standard to which new English learners aspire. There are, however, some pressures for even these writers to adapt to a more global English. Because there are so many non-native speakers, there is a huge market for literature that uses a smaller lexicon, in order to be more accessible to English learners.
There are also other non-market forces affecting literary production in these established cultures. British literature in particular is at an interesting point in its history. Post-colonialism is also post-empire, and Britain has gone from the empire where the sun never sets to a small island where it often feels like the sun never rises. English literature is the last bastion of English Imperialism - Britain may no longer be the economic or military superpower, but it still sees itself as the cultural center of the English-speaking world. The fact that this attitude is accepted is evidenced somewhat in the cultural prestige of the Booker Prize. Perhaps the most prestigious English language literature award, Booker Prize winners must be British or Commonwealth writers. The implied message is that the best literature is still coming out of England, or is at least a product of British society.
McEwan's Atonement is one example of the continued British fascination with Empire. McEwan sets his novel at the beginning of World War II, just as the Empire was beginning its decline. Cecilia and Robbie, the heroine and hero, are all that is good about Britain. They are bright and capable and upright. The new post-colonial world, however, no longer has a need for the old England, and it is only in the post-colonial imagination of Briony as Britain that they live on, and that they are important. Other authors, like Kazuo Ishiguru in The Remains of the Day, also focus on this period of history. It does not seem coincidental that so much of contemporary British literature expresses this longing for past glory, albeit through the lens of the post-national postmodernist.
The second type of novelist is the post-colonial writer. Although technically America, Canada, and Australia are all post-colonial cultures, for the scope of this paper I will be focusing on countries recently granted independence from Great Britain, primarily North African countries. In these countries there are strong pressures both toward and away from English literary production. In most North African countries there are hundreds of mutually unintelligible languages spoken, and English has become a lingua franca, enabling disparate tribes to communicate. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | Because of this relationship between literature and ethics, I believe that the disciplines can be profitably intermingled, and that each can be enriched by viewing it through the lens of the other. Although I believe that this intermingling can be beneficial in both directions, this paper will focus on how the greatness of a work of literature can be better understood by viewing it through the lens of the study of morality. In particular, I will examine various works of art from the perspective of three schools of moral philosophy. As a disclaimer, I am no expert in philosophy, and my interpretations of each of the moral philosophies presented is a basic one. However, I believe that my understanding is deep enough for my intentions: namely, to show that the principle of mingling the two disciplines can be useful in fostering a greater understanding of both.
The first philosophy that I will use is Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative to always treat humanity as an end. Kant attempted to rationalize morality, giving rules and maxims for determining whether an action is moral. In his Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Kant explains the categorical imperative of treating humanity as an end, saying “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means” . My position is that viewing a work of literature from the framework of this philosophy can help us to put one more face on why it is either good literature or bad literature. One specific way in which we can use Kant's categorical imperative is to examine the way that an author treats the humanity of his characters. Many a bad author uses his characters as a means of leading the reader to a predetermined philosophical position. All great literature allows its characters their liberty, and allows them to be themselves.
One example of this is Dostoevsky's “The Grand Inquisitor”. Although Dostoevsky is teaching, and explicitly teaching, he does not allow his personal aims to overshadow the humanity of his characters. The Inquisitor, Ivan, and even Christ, contribute toward Dostoevsky's ends, but they do so of their own accord, retaining their individuality and humanity; they are not used simply as means. For example, Dostoevsky's Inquisitor is evil, but he is not a caricature of evil. The remarkable thing about the Inquisitor is the depth of his humanity. He is directly opposing Jesus Christ, in person, telling him things like, “Tomorrow I shall condemn Thee and burn Thee at the stake as the worst of heretics,” and , “Be angry. I don't want Thy love, for I love Thee not” . Dostoevsky masterfully creates a character whose very evilness is motivated by love. He not only does not treat the Inquisitor's humanity as a means, but rather helps to uncover and draw attention to it.
This respect for humanity also works in the other direction. | 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
mm | But somehow I couldn't seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind.
It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself:
"All right, then, I'll GO to hell"—and tore it up.
I believe that one of the reasons that this passage is so moving is because it is about accepting the Other, and our responsibility toward the Other. Huck really believes that he is choosing between heaven and Jim, and still chooses Jim. Even against the pressures of society, Huck realizes that he is morally responsible for ensuring Jim's “irrevocable and inalienable” rights as a human being . Interestingly, by showing Jim's Otherness, his individuality, Twain also shows us his Sameness – namely, that he is the of the same type, the same species, the same kind, as Huck, and as the reader. Ironically, we recognize us in him because Twain shows us that Jim is unique, that he is not us, and more importantly, that he is not just a black man. Again, by viewing the work through a moral philosophy we are able to see a new beauty, or at least to better understand the beauty which we saw before.
Simply dealing with Otherness is not enough, however, to make a work great. Again, with a brief apology for the necessity of pointing out flaws in works that may be better appreciated by others, I believe that Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is not as great a work of literature as it could be because it violates Levinas's moral philosophy. Ellison focuses so much on creating a character who is the quintessential twentieth-century black American that his protagonist is robbed of his individuality, of his Otherness. In fact, Ellison goes so far in his attempt to make his character representative of his invisible race that he never even gives him a name. He is intentionally made to be interchangeable and without a real personality. This lack of a name is representative of how the Otherness of the protagonist is subjugated, over and over, to the aims of the author.
Ellison has the protagonist go through an almost unbelievable series of events in order to bring him into situations where Ellison can get to the issues or symbolism that he wants to. For example, at one point in the story the protagonist gets a job at a paint factory, where they make white paint on the back of black labor. In case we miss the symbolism, Ellison has the protagonist remember the jingle for the company: “If you're white, you're right” . And all of this within twenty pages! Ellison, quite simply, uses his protagonist and his plot as a tool to allow him write about the topics that he wants to address, with little regard for the individuality of his characters.
| 29 | English | male | BA | Localization Consultant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
f | Hoover responded that it was, and requested authorization to wiretap King not only at the locations suggested by Kennedy but “at any future address to which he may move,” though Kennedy reversed his request and denied authorization at the time. By October, Kennedy reconsidered yet again, signing another request for authorization from Hoover, this time specifically limited to King’s office in New York. Days later, he extended the authorization to King’s home, though he requested that the wiretaps “be evaluated at the end of 30 days in light of the results secured so that continuance of these surveillances could be determined at that time.” The end of this temporary approval coincided with John F. Kennedy’s assassination. This possibly accounts for Robert Kennedy’s failure to ask for the evaluation, though Hoover to maintained technical surveillance on King until Kennedy’s successor, Nicholas Katzenbach, learned of the program and shut it down in 1965. In this way, Hoover successfully acquired the authority to wiretap King, along with the loophole regarding King’s future addresses. With creative interpretation, the Hoover and the FBI would use Kennedy’s provisional authorization as the precondition for additional wiretaps at “future addresses” such as hotel rooms.
Throughout this period of increased activity by the FBI regarding King, Hoover sought a more complete picture of the relationship between civil rights and communism as well to define the Bureau’s approach to handling the growing movement. In this vein, he directed William Sullivan, one of his subordinates, to prepare a report on this issue in which Sullivan found no substantial evidence suggesting that the Communist Party possessed any significant influence over civil rights leadership as of August 1963. Hoover, however, saw the circumstance differently, writing “this memo reminds me vividly of those I received when Castro took over Cuba… Time alone proved you wrong. ” This prompted a new memo from Sullivan, in which he altered his position on the matter essentially arguing that even though the evidence does not support the conclusion that African Americans are under Communist influence, drastically increasing FBI efforts might reveal the truth that they are. Sullivan went on to note, “in the light of King’s powerful demagogic speech yesterday he stands head and shoulders over all other Negro leaders put together when it comes to influencing great masses of Negroes. We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.
Hoover, however, would not accept such a cursory change of opinion even when Sullivan was only attempting to validate the director’s view, writing, “No I can’t understand how you can so agilely switch your thinking… I don’t intend to waste time and money until you can make up your minds on what the situation really is.”
| 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | Two years later, in November of 1964, Hoover held a rare press conference in which he called King “the most notorious liar in the country,” creating a public relations debacle. In fact, he had also called King “’one of the lowest characters in the country’” and “gave an affirmative response” to a question regarding the rumored links between King and communism. This led to a meeting between Hoover and King in early December at King’s request, where publicly they appeared to resolve their differences and emerge in a tenuous state of cooperation. While King emerged feeling as though he was simply talked at, Hoover’s subordinates actively sought to meet with other African American leaders to discuss replacing King. The news article discussing the meeting notes that Johnson had waived the mandatory retirement age of 70 that Hoover was soon approaching. Hoover had been in power for decades with no plans of retiring, and even though Johnson had waived the rule Hoover saw his position as the weakest in years, perhaps helping to explain his willingness to make public amends with his foremost enemy at the time.
While the public’s knowledge of the activities of Hoover and King in 1964 and 1965 was limited to this and other minor comments in the press, this was the year when Hoover switched tactics and tried to destroy King personally instead of only through linking him to communism. The wiretapping revealed little about King’s ties with communists, but did record King’s sexual promiscuity in detail. In a January 1964 memo, Hoover ordered surveillance in Milwaukee although his agents believed visible police presence would dissuade King from engaging in sexual activity, reasoning, “I don’t share the conjecture. King is a ‘tom cat’ with obsessive degenerate sexual urges.” Hoover believed that evidence of King’s immoral behavior would discredit him, ending the threat. Threats and blackmail related to an individuals private behavior, particularly when it came to immorality or, worse yet, homosexuality, was both an often-used and effective tool for Hoover. One oft-cited rumor surrounding Hoover was that he himself might be homosexual, the evidence for this being his unusual relationship with his number two at the FBI, Clyde Tolson. However, none of his usual news sources were interested in using the information, and it did not have the desired effect on other civil rights leaders or public figures.
The culmination of the personal attacks, while most likely not directly involving Hoover though there was little in the FBI he was unaware of, was a particularly ominous package sent by the FBI, under Sullivan’s orders, to King in November 1964. Opened on January 5th, 1965, by King’s wife Coretta, the package contained a spliced-together highlight reel of King’s sexual escapades caught by FBI microphones as well as a letter. In what can only be described as blackmail, the FBI’s letter threatens, “King, look into your heart. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | You know you are a complete fraud and a great liability to all of us Negroes… You are no clergyman and you know it. I repeat you are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that… King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days… You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.” The New York Times reported on the same day that King received this package that the day before, King had announced a need for a break due to exhaustion. Thus, it is fair to say that King’s mental state was already suffering at this time, a fact corroborated by FBI wiretaps. King, for his part, correctly suspected that the FBI was behind the package, and grew highly distraught. The exact role that Hoover might have played in this situation is unclear, but it is evidence of the extent to which his subordinates followed his logic and standard tactics. The letter reads as though Hoover had wrote it himself, as it refers over and over to King’s immorality and asserts that he was a fraud, two views that Hoover expressed time and again. Hoover also shared intelligence regarding King’s sexual activities with many people, including Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. While not the damning information that would destroy King’s capacity to work with either one, Kennedy and Johnson both were affected by it. Kennedy saw it in a more personal way, as King had been taped making a joke about John Kennedy shortly after the assassination and Robert disapproved of the sexual activity, and Johnson in terms of the hypocrisy, though he distinctly enjoyed the reports. With evidence in hand but no one willing to either leak the information or publish it in the press, Katzenbach’s action to revoke the wiretaps on King met with little resistance by Hoover and the FBI slowed their investigation of King, though physical surveillance remained in place. This transition was greatly aided by the FBI’s development of a valuable informant in the SCLC, revealed by historian David Garrow as Jim Harrison.
The last phase of heavy FBI investigation of King revolved around King’s opposition to the war in Vietnam and his Poor People’s Campaign. King’s famous Riverside Church speech on April 4, 1967, led the FBI to resume intensive surveillance. An FBI report on the speech noted that King’s positions “parallel the propaganda line which the Communist Party, USA, has been projecting regarding the war in Vietnam.” Days later, the FBI considered warning Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller that King was under communist influence, as “Martin Luther King has clearly become a puppet in the hands of Levison and Wachtel… His recent vicious condemnation of the United States in a public speech shows how much of a communist puppet he has become and illustrates the danger he represents in the hands of the scheming communists.” | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | Ivie Anderson follows with the melody in lyrics before ending the song with scat singing mirroring Nanton’s introductory solo, incorporating a similar elegant downward glissando to launch into the chorus for a final time. Slightly earlier, in Ring Dem Bells, a lively, solo-driven piece, Ellington uses scat singing in a call and response pattern with a saxophone. The idea of voice as instrument played a significant role in Ellington’s work, as did the idea of attaining a vocal quality through instruments.
Nanton, as a master of the “growl and plunger” techniques, is an example of someone who allowed Ellington to cater to the strengths of his band members. Because of Nanton’s particular abilities, Ellington featured him when a piece required a rough and “earthy” sound. Long tenures by stylistically unique players such as Nanton, Johnny Hodges, and “Cootie” Williams, to name some of his main soloists, aided Ellington in crafting his sound. By carefully crafting music with the styles and sounds of each band member in mind, Ellington was able to experiment with tone with great success.
Pieces such as Mood Indigo, Daybreak Express, Dusk, Harlem Air Shaft, and Happy Go Lucky Local demonstrate, in varying ways, Ellington’s ability to create focused and evocative themes, or tone poems. To do so, Ellington manipulates the traditional roles and sounds of instruments in order to capture specific moods through careful orchestration and innovative thinking. In Mood Indigo, for instance, Ellington uses a small ensemble for a subdued and contemplative piece. Ellington’s genius lies in the orchestration; the clarinet, trumpet, and trombone create chords in a non-traditional fashion, so that a muted trumpet is the highest tone, a muted trombone the middle, and a clarinet the lowest. The result is a distinctive sound that seems to lend the piece an almost spiritual nature. Ten years later in Dusk, a similar reflection on mood and tone, Ellington employs low reeds to back a higher muted cornet. Recorded with eight more players than Mood Indigo, Dusk is more developed and allows Ellington to explore more fully the inversions of tone that create the elegant and subdued sound of the piece.
While Mood Indigo and Dusk display Ellington’s abilities to write intricate and innovative slower pieces, evoking romance and warmth, Daybreak Express, Harlem Air Shaft, and Happy Go Lucky Local are lively pieces that demonstrate the fullness of his vision for the big band era. Daybreak Express uses the idea of a train accelerating to full speed as the framework for a tightly orchestrated piece. Ellington’s compositional skills dominate the entirety of the recording, layering sections to capture the speed and power of a train and featuring an intricate soli by the reed section.
The success of Daybreak Express lies in the cohesion of the group’s sound, a quality of Ellington’s larger orchestras that is evident in Harlem Air Shaft and Happy Go Lucky Local. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | One example of this was his investigation of the civil rights movement, specifically Martin Luther King, Jr. Beginning in the early 1960s and in full force at the time of King’s assassination, Hoover and the FBI conducted surveillance and intelligence operations, frequently crossing the line to harassment, with the goal of discrediting King as the leader of the civil rights movement as well as limiting the progress of the cause. While modern scholars agree that Hoover’s power was immense and that he created an FBI answerable only to himself, the extent to which the investigation of King was an obsessive, personal fixation of Hoover’s or a larger, more structural product of society remains a subject of historical debate.
FBI interest in Martin Luther King, Jr., began as a result of his relationship with Stanley Levison, whom the FBI considered linked to the Communist Party, and the possibility that Communists were influencing King’s decisions and actions. In a memo dated May 22, 1961, King’s brief biography and his possible connections with communism bear two notations by Hoover. In response to the statement that the FBI has not actually investigated King, Hoover asked “Why not?,” and requested more information regarding a speech King gave at an alleged “Communist Party training school seminar.” This beginning, where the FBI sought increased information about a possible Communist, illustrates the lens through which Hoover saw the world. It also legitimizes the initial steps taken by the FBI, as investigating the Communist threat was a core responsibility of the agency and supported by a population living in a Cold War mentality. Upon the discovery of the relationship between King and Levison in 1962, Hoover concluded that King was guilty of association. Levison had been on the FBI’s radar for a decade as a involved with the Communist Party in the early 1950s, and Hoover promptly informed Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General and Hoover’s immediate superior. As surveillance of Levison increased exponentially, with wiretaps and physical intelligence being employed, so did the information on King and Levison. As Hoover kept the Robert and John Kennedy informed on the situation, the President and Attorney General grew concerned with the implications of either the allegations being true or creating controversy, impeding their civil rights agenda and other political maneuvers. This culminated in 1963 with President Kennedy telling King bluntly to get rid of Levison and another suspected Communist, to which Levison and King acquiesced, at least in terms of direct communication, in order to maintain the alliance with the White House. In the background, however, Hoover pushed hard to obtain approval to expand his investigation.
The instigation of this effort, however, came from Robert Kennedy. In July of 1963 Kennedy asked the FBI to determine whether placing “technical surveillance” on King was feasible at his home and office at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | It was Daviess firm belief that Wilkinson “[has] been, for years, a pensioner of Spain, and [has] held secret intelligence with that power; and you [Wilkinson] were engaged in Burr’s conspiracy and deserted him.” These insights by Daviess are particularly important, as in truth Jefferson’s embrace of Wilkinson as an informant and witness skewed the facts and ultimately affected the course of the trial. The sudden change in Jefferson’s attitude toward the situation is difficult to explain, as he went from inaction to extreme effort in dealing with Burr. As Jefferson postured against Spain, perhaps he was willing to allow Burr latitude in threatening to invade Mexico, but as the situation changed to where war was no longer seen as inevitable and public opinion turned against Burr, he found a way to satiate his “hunger for evidence of something loathsome to believe of Burr.” Regardless of the specific cause of Jefferson’s interest, as the trial in Richmond began, he was heavily invested in seeing a guilty verdict.
One of the most highly publicized and significant aspects of the trial was the presiding judge, Chief Justice John Marshall. As head of the judicial branch and a stalwart Federalist, he had a record of high profile showdowns with Thomas Jefferson. One of the first of these was the case Marbury v. Madison, regarding the last-minute appointments of justices by John Adams. Jefferson refused to recognize Marbury’s commission because he believed that there was a technical and procedural blunder in delivering it, aside from his political bias against the appointment. Marshall ruled against Madison, effectively against Jefferson, in upholding the commission. His decision set one of the foundations of United States law, in that “a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.” The ruling was a blow to Jefferson, as Marshall limited his power and strengthened the role of the judiciary. In addition to this and other court rulings, Marshall and Jefferson were known to be enemies politically and, one could say, personally. Marshall was unhappy and angry to have the duty of administering the oath of office to Jefferson for his first term, because Jefferson was someone he thought could ruin the country. This occurred after the presidential election of 1800, when Jefferson and Burr had tied under the electoral college system. Despite pleas from Hamilton, Marshall refused to endorse Jefferson because of their bitter differences regardless of his ambivalent feelings towards Burr. Following all of this was Marshall’s work, The Life of George Washington. “The single greatest source of personal antagonism between the two statesmen,” Jefferson felt that it was a skewed Federalist history and a propaganda tool, and devoted a significant amount of time refuting the series. With these and other sources of tension in their past, the trial of Aaron Burr would prove to be a politicized, personal, and high-stakes event in the careers of both, with understandably significant effects on how the executive and judicial branches defined their powers and responsibilities.
| 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | It has greatly advanced the concept of law enforcement by introducing scientific methods and professional disciplines.” However, the FBI’s investigation of Martin Luther King, Jr., is surprising and shocking in the extent that it was about personal destruction. The authors of a 1977 Department of Justice task force report shift much of the blame for this on Hoover, stating that the investigation should have been shut down in 1963. There do appear to be three major parts of the investigation: the initial probe into Levison and King’s relationship with communism, a marked shift in focus to King’s personal life, and a movement back to King’s ideology. Defenders of the FBI can cite legitimacy in the Bureau taking an interest in King in the first and last phases, for it was ostensibly the job of the FBI to identify domestic threats particularly in dealing with Communism. In addition, both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations knew that Hoover possessed a great deal of information on just about everyone, particularly King. Robert Kennedy approved the first wiretaps on King, and Johnson enjoyed frequent updates on King’s sexual escapades. Hoover, while he had a great deal of autonomy and power, did not occur in a vacuum. Rather, the institutions surrounding him failed to limit him in any significant way, tacitly condoning his status as unchallenged national policeman. The conduct of the FBI reflected the leadership of Hoover, but it was a larger societal force of generational and racial conflict that led to Hoover’s actions regarding King. Perhaps above all the role of the FBI was to suppress extremists of any kind, though it was Hoover and other members of the establishment that wrongly labeled King as one.
Common historiography surrounding the creation of the United States focuses on the triumphs of the founding fathers, the small group of leaders at the top of the political hierarchy. These men are now venerated and celebrated, to the point where they are national icons thought of with few faults. Lost in this is the bitterness of the politics of the years and those following, when extreme tests of the principles of the new nation became clouded with personal vendettas and disputes. One such example is in the conspiracy and trial for treason in 1807 of Aaron Burr, a man who nearly was president and had served as vice-president. Substantiated facts about what precisely Burr planned or hoped to accomplish in personal land and power acquisition, or even the division of the United States as his enemies thought, are obscure, but the result was a highly publicized and politicized trial that pitted Burr against the sitting president, Thomas Jefferson. In the center of the chaos was John Marshall, a Federalist Chief Justice who had a history of tensions with Jefferson. Presiding over the trial, Marshall had to face issues central to how the new nation would define itself, such as the definition of treason, separation of powers between executive and judicial branches, and the danger of presidential tyranny. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f |
Duke Ellington’s legacy in jazz derives in large part from his longevity and, by extension, his creative abilities to shape his orchestra. Ellington’s presence on the piano is subtle in many of the compositions selected for this assignment, but as a composer Ellington excelled at creating rich and complex pieces that showcased the individual abilities of band members. Ellington crafted the framework in which a soloist could freely improvise, in addition to writing tightly orchestrated pieces and phrases that called on the particular style of band members to highlight musical ideas. In doing this, he also emphasized the tone of the orchestra more generally, creating coherent and original sounds to fit each piece. Ellington’s mastery of the individual players’ sound, as well as how they fit together in a growing ensemble, enabled him to write some of the most innovative and brilliant pieces in jazz history.
The Grove Music dictionary, in discussing Ellington’s sound and innovation, mentions Creole Love Call in reference to using voice “as a jazz instrument” throughout his career. This is an early example of Ellington’s use of voice to add texture and color without the hindrance of lyrics. Creole Love Call also demonstrates Ellington’s ability to compliment the style of his soloists, something that is evident throughout his career. This slow, deliberate twelve bar blues piece contains six choruses, as follows:
Chorus 1: Call and response between voice and reeds, where the voice begins smooth and melodic, then transitions to a rougher sound towards the end.
Chorus 2: Muted trumpet solo that elaborates on the basic melody and emphasizes several extended blue notes.
Chorus 3: Sweeping clarinet solo in a high register, backed by a subtle syncopated piano phrase.
Chorus 4: Full band echoes the first chorus with a call and response by the brass and reed sections.
Chorus 5: The climactic chorus of the piece, as the reeds now begin the call and response in a high register, backed by syncopated stop time from the brass and rhythm sections.
Chorus 6: A return to the structure of the first chorus, with call and response between voice and reeds. In this chorus the voice takes on the sound of the “growl” technique, soloing as an instrument.
Tag: Brief tag featuring a vocal run and a dissonant novelty ending by a trombone.
Ellington’s use of voice to add a dimension of tone color to this piece is one example of a stylistic trait that permeates his work.
In Hot and Bothered, recorded a year later, Ellington combines his skill at tight orchestration with his ear for tone color. A call and response phrase between “Bubber” Miley on muted trumpet and Baby Cox’s scat singing uses the vocal elements of Miley’s playing and instrumental aspects of Cox’s voice to create a rich and complementary sound. It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) extends these ideas, as Ellington uses Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton, a mainstay in Ellington’s orchestra, to great effect in introducing the melody on muted trombone. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | This speech, in fact, was King’s famous “I Have A Dream” address during the March on Washington, an event to which some historians attribute Hoover’s fixation with King and desire to personally destroy the movement that seemed to be growing every day.” Thus, in September, Sullivan attempted yet again to satisfactorily delineate the threat of communism in relation to the civil rights movement. In essence, Sullivan states again that the lack of proof does not mean innocence and that King was a subject of extreme interest to the FBI. This memo illuminates the influence of Hoover on the attitudes and decisions of his subordinates as Sullivan addressed the errors of his original findings:
As we know, facts by themselves are not too meaningful, as they are somewhat like stones tossed in a heap as contrasted to the same stones put in the form of a sound edifice. It is obvious to us now that we did not put the proper interpretation upon the facts which we gave the Director… May I repeat that our failure to measure up to what the Director expected of us in the area of communist- Negro relations is a subject of very deep concern to us in the Domestic Intelligence Division. We are disturbed by this and ought to be. I want him to know that we will do everything that is humanly possible to develop all facts nationwide relative to the communist penetration and influence over Negro leaders and their organizations.
Hoover accepted Sullivan’s position this time, as well as his recommendation to prepare and distribute the FBI’s interpretation of the matter to government officials, but not before making his only note on the memo next to Sullivan’s statement that Communists had not yet obtained control over the movement, “Certainly this is not true with respect to King.” In October, as the FBI sought authorization for wiretaps from Robert Kennedy, Hoover commented on another memo, stating “We must do our duty” to possible resistance from the Attorney General, as well as “I am glad that you recognize at last that there exists such influence.“ This entire episode illustrates the influence of the Director on FBI policy and personnel, as well as into the rationale of the FBI regarding the communist threat. It is apparent that King and civil rights had become the foremost arena in which Hoover would wage war, in his mind, yet again with communism. Hoover’s standard of evidence was simply what he thought, and his subordinates feared him enough to adapt their thinking to conform to his.
In addition to the perceived threat of King in terms of his links to communism and subversion, there was a personal quality to their animosity. In November of 1962, King had loudly criticized the FBI, stating that the presence of racism in the Bureau and its agents created an ineffective and discriminatory environment when it came to enforcing civil rights legislation and protecting African Americans.
| 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | At Burr’s defense was Henry Clay, in addition to the skills of Burr himself, and though Daviess “was quite an attorney… he had his hands full with Clay... Daviess had no chance at all.” The grand jury found Burr innocent, and Daviess took the decision personally, writing with some sarcasm that “ A great majority of that jury, were honest simple men… but the active instruments of that address, made it, no doubt, wholly with a personal view, to bury alive a man, who should stir a question that brought to the peoples mind the old Spanish business; and thwarted our good saviour, mr. Burr, in his patriotic endeavors to give a wider spread to republicanism.” These early proceedings against Burr demonstrate the difficulty Daviess had in proving his firm belief that Burr intended treasonous action, as well as provide a window into the nearing trial that held the interest of the nation and particularly obsessed Jefferson.
As one of Daviess’s purposes in writing his pamphlet was his frustration with Jefferson, Daviess saw immense irresponsibility in how Jefferson responded to the entire situation, from dealing with Daviess himself to waiting for Wilkinson to betray Burr before acting with any sense of urgency. Wilkinson, named by Daviess as working for Spain, had indeed taken an oath to Spain and was in their employ as a spy. However, in Jefferson’s message to Congress on January 22, 1807, he offers his own interpretation of the events and actions of Burr, based heavily on information provided by Wilkinson himself. In the message, Jefferson pointedly claims that through information gathered, “neither safety nor justice will permit the exposing names, except that of the principal actor, whose guilt is placed beyond question… the prime mover… was Aaron Burr.” He used a letter from Wilkinson to distill his interpretation of the conspiracy, resulting in the claim that “one [object] was the severance of the Union of these States by the Alleghany mountains,” the basis of the act of treason that Jefferson would pursue tirelessly. In addition, Jefferson took Wilkinson at his word so much that he put him in charge of dealing with Burr’s actions and wrote him repeatedly with words of encouragement, saying, “You have doubtless seen a good deal of malicious insinuation in the papers against you. This… begot suspicion and distrust in those unacquainted with the line of your conduct. We, who knew it have not failed to strengthen the public confidence in you… be assured that you will be cordially supported in the line of your duties.”
Daviess vehemently objected to this twisting of the truth as he saw it, as Wilkinson and Burr had been working together. In his pamphlet, Daviess attacks Jefferson for waiting until the conspiracy “had been completely crippled by Wilkinson’s defection [before a] great deal of zeal and orders were exhibited,” as well as Jefferson’s willingness to “order, or to sanction or ratify such outrages as Wilkinson has committed… a prostration of that part of the constitution most intimately connected with the citizen’s liberty.” | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | It also focused on the fact that the indictment concerned an assembly of men on Blannerhassett’s Island as the overt act, and the testimony provided by the prosecution did not clearly demonstrate that it was a military force, or coherently show that it was organized, let alone by Burr who was in Kentucky at the time.
On August 31, Marshall issued his decision, what came to be a landmark in constitutional law and in defining treason for the United States. With little precedent other than a related case that Marshall ruled on shortly before the trial of Burr, he relied upon historical interpretations of treason, the principals of increased protection against state persecution, and the Constitution, which he held as the supreme doctrine in answering these issues. With respect to his previous decision on treason, US v. Bollman and Swartwout, Marshall had to justify the logic that led to the conclusion that “those who do not bear arms may yet be guilty of treason,” through a slight departure from that stance as well as differentiating between the specifics of the cases. Marshall then struck a direct blow to the prosecution, ruling that the indictment “can be supported only by testimony which proves the accused to have been actually or constructively present when the assemblage took place on Blannerhassett’s Island,” before continuing “it is further the opinion of the court that there is no testimony whatever which tends to prove that the accused was actually or constructively present when that assemblage did take place. Indeed the contrary is most apparent.” The exact definition of an overt act, to Marshall, had to be a display of force for which Burr was responsible, in addition to evidence to this fact by two witnesses as stated in the Constitution. In this light, the prosecution had nothing further to offer due to their case being contingent on the idea of conspiracy and Burr’s intent to cause an uprising, instead of his actively taking part in the supposed overt act of levying war.
September 1st, then, the jury convened and issued their verdict, specifically referring to the course of the trial, stating “We of the jury say that Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty under this indictment by any evidence submitted to us. We therefore find him not guilty.” This result meant defeat for Jefferson in what he desired most, though the trial dragged on for weeks afterwards on lesser charges. Burr, however, had beaten the most serious charges, and would eventually be committed for violating the Neutrality Act but allowed to post bail to face charges in Ohio. Burr instead went north, later heading to Europe to escape his notoriety. Jefferson’s response to the outcome of the trial was predictable: outrage and anger, mostly at Marshall. In a letter to Wilkinson, he called the events “equivalent to a proclamation of impunity to every traitorous combination which may be formed to destroy the Union; and they preserve a head for all such combinations as may be formed within, and a centre for all the intrigues & machinations which foreign governments may nourish to disturb us. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | In a letter to Hay before Marshall issued his opinion and the subpoena, Jefferson responded to the request by Burr with his belief that “reserving the necessary right of the President of the U S to decide, independently of all other authority, what papers, coming to him as President, the public interests permit to be communicated, & to whom, I assure you of my readiness under that restriction, voluntarily to furnish on all occasions, whatever the purposes of justice may require.” After hearing of the subpoena, Jefferson exploded, arguing “the leading principal of our Constitution is the independence of the Legislature, executive and judiciary of each other… but would the executive be independent of the judiciary, if he were subject to the commands of the latter, & to imprisonment for disobedience…?” In a draft, Jefferson is even more explicit in his anger towards Marshall for having the nerve to “convert [the] Trial into a contest between the judiciary & Exve Authorities… and take the first step to bring it on.” In all of these letters, Jefferson conceded that he would and had sent the information, but would never subject himself, as President, to appear in person. This confrontation, akin to the more substantial Marbury v. Madison decision, is one of the foundational episodes that determined how the judicial and executive branches would interact and exert their respective authority. Marshall did not press Jefferson to attend, but asserted a measure of the judicial branch’s authority in requiring evidence to be turned over to the court, whereas Jefferson clearly defined the limitations of direct oversight between co-equal branches.
Following the indictment of Burr, the case moved to the true trial and opened in early August. After the opening statements and several rounds of testimony, on August 21st, the defense made a motion to suppress the evidence given by the prosecution on the grounds that it constituted constructive treason, not treason as defined by the constitution. Edmund Randolph, an attorney for Burr, stated four questions regarding the line of reasoning taken by the prosecution:
First. Whether there can be treason in levying war without the employment of force. Secondly. Whether, under the constitution… a person, who it is admitted would be an accessory in felony, can be considered as a principal in treason in levying war. Thirdly. Whether, under the form of this indictment, charging colonel Burr with having done the act personally, any evidence of a derivative or accessorial agency can be admitted. Fourthly. And if such evidence of a derivative or accessorial treason were to be admitted, under this indictment, whether the real principal ought not to be first convicted.
This argument called upon the specific definition of treason as written in the U.S. Constitution, which states “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.” | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | In addition, Johnson was particularly hostile towards King’s opposition to Vietnam, feeling betrayed after his efforts on civil rights legislation. Considering King’s opposition to the war a symptom of a larger idea of subversion, the FBI considered King’s Poor People’s campaign in a similar light. In an unsuccessful request for wiretap authorization to Attorney General Ramsey Clark on April 2, 1968, Hoover indicated that Clark had denied a similar request in January regarding King’s plans for the massive demonstration in Washington D.C. However, “in view of the recent developments in Memphis, Tennessee, where King led a march that ended in a riot, it is reasonable to assume the same thing could happen later this month when King brings his ‘Poor People’s March’ to Washington, D.C.” Hoover attributes the decision to continue plans for the demonstration to Levison, “his principle advisor and long-time secret Communist Party member.” The growing militancy of the civil rights movement concerned the FBI, and King’s evolving philosophy was interpreted as a precursor to revolutionary activity. King saw Vietnam, rioting, and materialism as evidence that America was in a highly tumultuous situation, and that the political reaction might be a shift away from the progress of the civil rights movement. After the riot in Memphis, King was extremely depressed and uncertain of his leadership powers. An FBI wiretap on March 29, 1968, just days before his assassination and informing Hoover’s memo to Clark days later, reveals King afraid that public criticism of the violence would translate into a broad assessment that King’s powers of persuasion and success through nonviolence had failed, confiding to Levison, “I think our Washington campaign is doomed.” Taken together, King’s efforts regarding Vietnam and the Poor People’s campaign combined to reactivate the FBI’s interest in his activities. Hoover feared that the communists had finally achieved control over King in his opposition to war, and opposition to government policy had long been a catalyst for FBI investigation. The Poor People’s Campaign, then, contained strains of radical thought, insofar as King saw large, concerted action as necessary to altering the power dynamics within society and the economy in order to bring economic and social justice to African Americans and other disadvantaged citizens. Hoover appeared to have mostly dropped his efforts at personally destroying King, focusing instead on gathering information about his developing political ideology and how his activities might disrupt society. While certainly not excusing Hoover’s actions, the FBI was adhering closer to its purpose than in years past.
It is difficult to speak of the FBI during Hoover’s reign as director without characterizing the Bureau as an extension of Hoover. One contemporary news article called him “an authentic American folk hero,” noting, “The FBI, which has been built in Mr. Hoover’s own image, is generally acknowledged to be the finest police and investigative force in the world. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | Harlem Air Shaft, Ellington’s attempt at capturing the variety of life, sounds, smells, and energy of Harlem, leans on the contributions of three signature pillars of Ellington’s band, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Nanton on trombone, and Williams on trumpet. The piece’s “jubilant, spirited, carefree” quality, as Ted Gioia terms it, stems from Ellington’s careful orchestration, as he uses the fifteen-member band to create differing and intertwining lines of melody and harmony. In addition, Gioia specifically mentions the three instances in which the melody slows and the rhythm section drops out, only for the band to come back in full swing, as “masterpiece[s] in deferred gratification.” Harlem Air Shaft also demonstrates Ellington’s ability to incorporate the freedom and improvisational sounds and foundations of early jazz with big band and swing.
Happy Go Lucky Local is another tone poem, evoking the resigned feeling of taking a local train that plods along to every stop, but with the swing, attitude, and force that a seventeen-player band and eight-member brass section provide. The piece is heavily derived from the blues, featuring a dizzying array of extended blue notes in solos as well as stunning, unearthly sounds from several instruments. Ellington’s experimental side is on full display in Happy Go Lucky Local, maximizing the potential of each instrument and player to create unusual and unique textures and tones.
Ellington’s incorporation of blues elements into his music spans his career, though his ability to innovate with structure is most notable in Jack the Bear. Upon listening, one can discern full choruses of the twelve bar blues, but intermixed with different structures and styles. Gioia goes into depth about the particular structure Ellington created for the song, but suffice it to say that Ellington’s capacity for complexity and brilliance in modifying styles, composing for a big band, and creating unique tone qualities is vast. Like almost everything else about Ellington, his ability to innovate with regard to structure crossed categories such as the size of the band. An example of this is The Clothed Woman, performed by a much smaller ensemble of six. Here, in a six-person ensemble, Ellington’s piano playing takes the forefront, as he uses “ hints of atonality mixed in with elements of stride and blues.” Ellington’s stylistic trait of molding different aspects of different styles into cohesive pieces was one source of his endless creativity as a composer. As his legacy suggests, Ellington was a gifted, prolific, and charismatic composer, bandleader, and pianist who earned his place as one of the most important figures in jazz.
J. Edgar Hoover successfully amassed an unprecedented level of power within American government and society throughout his five decades as director of the FBI. The release of FBI documents and increased public scrutiny of his years at the FBI that resulted from his death in 1972 led to the discovery that Hoover had extensively abused his position. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
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Conditions in the United States at the turn of the 19th century afforded mobile, enterprising men like Burr ample opportunities to further their own power and sense of agency. After serving as vice-president and notoriously killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, Burr saw the possibility of remaking himself in the loosely settled western United States. As the United States sought expansion to the West, it encountered Spanish power controlling the space it desired. This area caught Burr’s attention, particularly an idea “proposed by General Wilkinson, commander of the Army of the United States- the conquest of the Spanish colonies, particularly Mexico, based on a war with Spain, then impending.” Looking to capitalize on this opportunity, and finding in it prospects of increased fame, fortune, and power, Burr headed west.
In this endeavor, however, Burr’s true intent is a matter of contention. The United States District Attorney in Kentucky, a man by the name of Joseph Daviess, was one of the first people to see an ulterior motive for Burr’s expedition. Daviess, in a pamphlet written in May of 1807, sought to explain his role in bringing this issue to light, and also to excoriate President Jefferson for his handling of the situation. Daviess writes that as of late 1805, he “had satisfactory information that several of our citizens were pensioners of Spain… that a revolutionary scheme in the West had been projected… with great secrecy, under the superintendence of Mr. Burr and General Wilkinson.” In light of what he thought to be a dangerous scheme developing, he wrote a letter to President Jefferson in January of 1806 to warn him. In the letter, he names Wilkinson specifically as being in Spanish employment, and indicates, “A separation of the union in favour of Spain, is the object finally.” Clarifying in the pamphlet, he states that the plot had four sides, one for Spain, one for “enterprising adventurers,” a side for the “multitude,” and a side for Burr. Daviess, in his diligence, continued to write to President Jefferson and his top aides as his investigation revealed more aspects of the plot, but received little reply and nothing in the way of concern or instructions from the President.
Taking matters into his own hands, Daviess pursued Burr to the best of his ability. In Burr’s correspondence, he reacts to Daviess’s efforts to obtain “a warrant to apprehend me for treasonable practice, or on some suspicion thereof. The charge is not well-defined… but the substance is ‘a design to attack the Spanish dominions, and thereby endanger the peace of the United States.’” He continues in a later letter, “It is impossible for a man to make any calculations of his time, when he is liable to be detained by public prosecutions- You have doubtless heard of the ridiculous proceedings against me in this State by Messrs. Davies & Co.” After failing first due to the absence of a witness, Daviess tried a second time to indict Burr, to no avail. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | The trial of Burr for treason occurred in Richmond, Virginia, a “sleepy little town [that] became the cynosure of all eyes.” The courtroom could not hold the crowds, forcing Marshall to move the trial to the House of Delegates, a larger space, and among those in town were Andrew Jackson, a young Washington Irving as a journalist, and Winfield Scott. The first opinion issued by Marshall concerned precisely with what charge or charges should Burr be held accountable and detained before a grand jury heard the case for indictment. One aspect of this was a potentially damaging letter produced through Wilkinson, but was not the original copy. Though Marshall stipulated that the evidence needed to commit Burr did not have to be as stringent as that which might produce an indictment or conviction, he discussed at length the problems surrounding the authenticity and accuracy of the letter before committing Burr for violation of the Neutrality Act, or “setting on foot and providing the means for an expedition against the territories of a nation at peace with the U.S.,” but not for treason.
This small victory for Burr was compounded by a statement by Marshall that seemed directed at Jefferson in particular, that “the hand of malignity may [not] grasp any individual against whom its hate may be directed, or whom it may capriciously seize, charge him with some secret crime, and put him on the proof of his innocence.” This, though forcefully worded, elicits Marshall’s underlying principal that the prosecution, particularly Jefferson, was running roughshod over individual rights and acting counter to the spirit and text of law. It also marks the beginning of Marshall’s consistent judgments that the charges must be proven in the context of the law, not merely in public perception. After striking this blow against Jefferson, Marshall committed what might be seen as an ethical blunder. Invited to a dinner by John Wickham, a lawyer on Burr’s counsel, Marshall arrived, stayed, and dined although Aaron Burr himself was also in attendance. The press discovered this and publicized it, and the trial that “was already political…became hopelessly so. Everything Marshall did from now on would be under a cloud.” Though still before a grand jury even indicted Burr, passions on all sides were roused.
A letter from Burr to his daughter, Theodosia, describes both the general atmosphere as well as one early point of contention in the trial, the makeup and prejudice of the grand jury:
The grand jury is composed of twenty democrats and four federalists. Among the former is W.C. Nicholas, my vindictive and avowed enemy- the most so that could be found in this state (Virginia). The most indefatigable industry is used by the agents of government, and they have money at command without stint. If I were possessed of the same means, I could not only foil the prosecutors, but render them ridiculous and infamous. The democratic papers teem with abuse against me and my counsel, and even against the chief justice. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
f | Nothing is left undone or unsaid which can tend to prejudice the public mind, and produce a conviction without evidence… They [the attacks] are practiced against me… not only with impunity, but with applause; and the authors and abettors suppose, with reason, that they are acquiring favour with the administration.
This letter serves to highlight the bitter public battle occurring, with those supporting Jefferson campaigning to discredit not only Burr, but Marshall as well. Jefferson at this point was committing the resources of the presidency to secure public opinion and a conviction. The mention of Nicholas as a highly prejudiced juror reflects the proceedings of the trial itself, when Burr challenged the objectivity both Nicholas and another man, William Giles. This resulted in Marshall brokering a compromise, stipulating that those who had publicly stated an opinion regarding Burr’s guilt could not serve. Although everyone had heard about and presumably had some opinion to Burr’s guilt or innocence, Marshall attempted to preserve some sanctity in the process due to the extreme nature of the case, that of treason.
Jefferson’s fixation with the trial went beyond shaping public opinion, but also to shaping the prosecution itself. George Hay, the lead prosecutor of the case, received no less than fourteen letters from Jefferson from late May through early September in 1807, the most heated months of the summer-long trial. Jefferson was direct in his letters, providing specific instructions on strategy, what he expected from Hay, and information that could help convict Burr. In one such letter he expressed his past frustration with Marshall, stating, “ I [Jefferson] have long wished for a proper occasion to have the gratuitous opinion in Marbury v. Madison brought before the public, & denounced as not law; & I think the present a fortunate one, because it occupies such a place in the public attention. I should be glad… [if] you could take occasion to express the determination of the executive, that the doctrines of that case were given extrajudicially & against law.” Jefferson continues, imploring Hay that even “if this opinion should not be your own, I would wish it to be expressed merely as that of the executive.” In other words, Jefferson wished not only to make the trial about Burr and his presumed guilt, but also a referendum on Marshall and their past confrontations.
Meanwhile, Marshall again issued a decision antagonizing Jefferson, in response to a request by Burr for a subpoena to Jefferson regarding a letter used by Jefferson in addressing Congress and proclaiming Burr’s guilt. Marshall, after lengthy debate by both sides, issued the subpoena and justified it through the right of the accused to have access to documents and testimony that are relevant to his defense. Again, Marshall stood by his belief in providing as fair a trial as possible, even when the issue at hand is requiring action by the chief executive. Jefferson, for his part, vociferously objected to this action. | 24 | English | male | B.A. | Teacher | N,N,N,N,N |
vv | The fact that the spaniel instinctively slinks away means the following two things: first, he doesn’t like Dunsey; and second, the dog expects an argument to ensue whenever the two brothers are in a room together.
When one first reads the phrase “Godfrey’s face parted with some of its gloom…” one would expect the phrase to continue on to say that Godfrey’s face parted into a smile. Instead, the reader is surprised when they find out that Godfrey’s face actually parts into a frown. This is because one would expect grown siblings to get along with each other by this point in their lives. The fact that two siblings hate each other says there is something wrong with the family situation. In short, the sentence fools the reader into expecting the sentence to end a certain way, and it does not.
The initial description of Dunsey paints him as an arrogant, irreverent malcontent. The phrase “heavy-looking” implies a dark quality in the character: heavy, as in burdened with faults or sins; heavy as in overweight; or heavy, as in carrying a dark secret. Although Eliot clearly portrays Dunsey as a malcontent, she still makes him seem a little mysterious by not letting the reader in to Dunsey’s full potential as a villain. After all, Dunstan is described as a deviant, but the reader is never keyed into the exact crimes that Dunstan has committed.
Eliot also makes the character Dunsey seem mysterious by not telling us the motivations behind his tendency towards deviance. Was he born that way? Was he influenced by his father or brother? Was it caused by the death of his mother? Or had he just decided early in life that the lazy way is best? From the passage, one might ascertain that Dunsey realized early on that he already had what everyone else works for all their lives (money and a good reputation), so he had no real reason to have a work ethic. The way he addresses his brother implies a certain resignedness Can be reworded?a certain resignation to his fate:“I was obliged to come when you sent for me.” The first part of his utterance: “You’re my elders and betters…” implies that all his life, Dunsey was expected to be the mild younger brother who defers respectfully to everyone else. In a way, Dunsey does live up to this—he calls his brother “Master,” after all, but with a humorous twist. He comes when Godfrey summons him, but he makes sure to deliberately do so right after he has gotten drunk. On the surface Dunstan appears to be obedient, but he is also being subtly disobedient at the same time. Dunsey says, “I’ll do what you want, but only in my time and on my terms.” In a way, this is the worst form of disobedience. It is passive rebellion disguised as semi-obedience. In this way, Dunsey is almost controlling his older brother. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | The interpretation of the Adam and Eve story during that time period also effectively stifled any early attempts at a women’s rights movement, because it decried women as being the cause of sin in the world.
It is evident from Bassanio’s speech in Act 3 Scene 2 that Law and religion are two professions easily tainted by silver and gold: gold, both in the literal and the metaphorical sense. In religion, golden symbols can be mistook for idols, and also religious people often wear articles made of or adorned with silver and gold. Also, lawyers often speak with a gilded tongue, and can be bribed to sway one way or the other. Bassanio’s two examples reveal his reasoning by illustrating his impressions of the silver and gold caskets. Bassanio realizes that just as lawyers and priests can be lead astray by money, so are Portia’s suitors being deceived by the silver and gold caskets. Bassanio deduces that since it is human nature to be attracted by bright, shiny things, the gold and silver caskets must be traps for greedy or non-intelligent suitors.
The fact that this speech follows Shylock’s money hungry tirade in 3.1 reinforces the idea that men are easily swayed by outwardly attractive things. In 3.1, Antonio is feared to have lost some money to the wiles of a tumultuous sea, while Shylock bemoans the money he has lost because he daughter Jessica ran away. In both of these cases, the men’s fates are being controlled by the amount of money they have. Antonio’s fate is doom if it turns out that he has really lost all his fortunes in the sea; likewise, Shylock’s reputation is doom if his daughter never returns, and spends up all the money she stole. Antonio had fooled himself into believing that his money would see him through and allow him to pay off his loan to Shylock. Shylock fooled himself into believing that his docile, beautiful daughter would not disgrace his family by running off.
Lorenzo’s speech in 3.5.37 reinforces the idea of gilded words that Bassanio refers to in his speech in 3.2 (“…what plea so tainted an corrupt/But, being seasoned with a gracious voice,/Obscures the show of evil…”). Interestingly enough, both Lorenzo’s and Bassanio’s speeches reinforce different aspects of Shylock’s speech that might seem questionable to the reader. The first aspect, as expressed by Bassanio’s speech in 3.2, is the easy way in which men are led astray for the sake of money (“…The seeming truth which cunning times put on/To entrap the wisest…”) While saying his speech, Shylock tries to pretend like he cares about his daughter. But at times it seems like he misses his gold more than his daughter, especially evidenced by the fact that he uses the word “ducat” five times during the course of his speech, and uses the word “daughter” only four times. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | He runs away from school, engages in underage drinking, and even hires a prostitute—all as a means of rebellion, as an attempt to escape from the societal constraints that seem to weigh down on him like an invisible force. In this way, Holden is an antihero: a bewildered, deluded teenager who at times acts in a rather unheroic manner. At his core, the boy is a good person, but one whose flight from society eventually ends with his being put in a mental institution. The question the novel seems to be asking is: who is more crazy, the boy, or the society in which he lives?
Although Holden’s actions are somewhat minor compared to the rife delinquency of Astrid in White Oleander (she engages in drinking; drug use; and promiscuity, on one occasion prostituting herself in exchange for drugs), his actions would have been considered scandalous during the 1940’s, the time period during which the book was written. Holden Caulfield is comparable to the protagonist played by James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause—a loner who acts out of place because he is unable to make sense of the world around him. At first glance one would consider such characters to be spoiled, naughty children. However, on a closer look, one realizes that what these children are searching for is justice, in a world where justice is not always doled out to whomever justly deserves it. In a sense, the sole purpose of a hero is the search for justice, a search which has far more literary ramifications than a search for morality. For although morality defines justice, there can be no true morality without true justice. In other words, just as an ambiguous world is necessary for the existence of an antihero, so is a clear moral code necessary for the existence of justice.
A book in which an antihero faces a similar dilemma—at least in a metaphorical sense--is Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. The main character is Yossarian, a military man who is scared of flying for psychological reasons, and as a result has major issues with being sent on flying missions during World War II. Colonel Cathcart’s insistence on increased flying missions for the soldiers threatens to send Yossarian over the edge, much like Holden went crazy as a result of too many societal pressures. Both characters end up running away in order to escape their problems, and both appear to be the only sane people in an otherwise insane world. Whereas Yossarian is mostly fighting against government/military bureaucracy, Holden is mostly rebelling against his parents and teachers. Yossarian’s struggle is undoubtedly on a larger scale, but in the end both characters can be seen as antiheroes trying to make sense of a morally ambiguous world. (Potts, 84)
In writing The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen revealed his innate ability to understand not only what things people do, but why they do them at all. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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The play Twelfth Night seems to say that although disguise is in fact useful in perpetrating long bouts of deception, in the end a person must reject that newly formed guise, or else risk losing themselves forever in the process. A big problem with ending a deception, however, is that one may find themselves alienated in the process. Therefore, in the end, one must decide between one’s own self preservation, or the preservation of relationships with those around them. For although some will respond neutrally to discovering that they’ve been tricked, still others will not take the deception so lightly, and will be likely be offended by the whole charade.
The topic of deception in gender role reversal is especially problematic, because it brings up many side issues, perhaps the most important one being, why? Why does the subject feel the need to shirk their own identity and take up a disguise in the form of the opposite gender? In Viola’s case, it is obviously a form of self protection.: “I’ll bring you to a captain in this town/ Where lie my maiden weeds, by whose gentle help/ I was preserved to serve this noble count…” (5.1.247-249)
Having newly arrived in a foreign land, Viola feels it necessary to pretend to be a man to protect herself from would be attackers. Viola’s plan works, but it also alienates her from the women around her, cutting her off from an important support system. To make matters worse, she is apparently so convincing at appearing to be a man that Olivia confuses her with Sebastian, and in effect falls in love with her. “Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay.” (5.1.138) On top of that, she also has to deal with suppressed romantic desires between her and Orsino: “Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times/ Thou never shouldst love woman like to me.” (5.1. 260-261)
Although this may be a somewhat progressive attitude, to the modern reader, Twelfth Night may be seen as an illustration of how deception may help facilitate the unveiling of suppressed emotions, especially in the cases of Olivia and Orsino. Certain passages seem to hint that the aforesaid characters may have unexpressed subconscious desires that the appearance of Viola/Cesario forces them to deal with. For instance, is Olivia attracted to Cesario because Cesario appears to be a man, or does Olivia really secretly harbor feelings for women? One would argue that this is probably not the case, because Shakespeare’s character Olivia seems more likely to be parodying those people of his time period who judge others only upon their looks.
This is evidenced by the ease with which Olivia switches her romantic ardors from Cesario to Sebastian, and begins to regard Cesario/Viola as family rather than a love interest: “A sister, you are she.” (5.1.315)
| 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | Shylock’s impassioned speech is in anger against the Christians around him who have treated hun differently because of his religious preferences. Shylock argues that he has as much feelings as any Christian does, so he should be treated on the same level. Likewise, he believes that justice and revenge should not be doled out based on someone’s religious background. (“If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example?” 3.1.57-58)
The basic theme of the two speeches can be found in line 55 of Shylock’s speech: “And if you/ Wrong us shall we not revenge?” In other words, Shylock and Emilia both think that people in their respective demographic groups have a right to act how they please, in order to take revenge on those that oppress them. This sentiment is echoed in line 98 of Emilia’s speech: “And have we not affections, /Desire for sport, and frailty, as men have?” Emilia believes it is Desdemona’s right to cheat on Othello if he cheats on her first; and Shylock thinks it is his right to exact revenge on the Christians who treated him unfairly because he is of a different religion.
Shylock’s words find a fitting place in Emilia’s mouth because during this time period Jews often found as much oppression from Christians as women found from men. Men believed that women were inferior because they were “the weaker sex,” having less physical and moral strength. If a man cheated, it would be blamed on the woman--if on anyone--because supposedly the woman was not fulfilling her husband’s needs. If a woman cheated, she was still blamed, because her cheating was attributed to her weaker moral nature.
In a similar light, Jews were oppressed because Christians saw themselves as superior to anyone with a different religion. Since Christians thought the only way to heaven was through their own faith, then naturally they saw anyone from another religion as morally weaker. Therefore, in legal and business matters, a Christian would see it as his moral duty to persecute anyone deemed morally inferior. The helplessness of both women and Jews in these matters was exacerbated by the fact that the ruling class of the time period consisted primarily of Christian men. Since Jews and women were in the minority, then they had a hard time maintaining their rights in general.
Furthermore, since the Bible was seen as the book of ultimate moral authority during this time period, both women and Jews were out of luck. The first book of the Bible blames women right away for the evils of the world, based on the story of Adam and Eve. And the New Testament undermines the tenets of the Jewish religion by admonishing every good Christian to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This basic difference between Christianity and Judaism was enough to cause great inequalities for Jewish people living in predominantly Christian areas. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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As for Sebastian’s reaction versus Olivia’s reaction, it would seem obvious that from the beginning of the section of lines, Olivia would be staring quite fixedly at Sebastian, until he finally speaks his line at 204, “You throw a strange regard upon me…” This implies that Olivia, caught up in the knowledge that her twin brother stands before her, has been staring at him nervously, wondering how to approach him on the topic. Conversely, in this scene Sebastian would be more distracted by the sight of the injured Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and so might only bestow a passing glance on his sister, not quite realizing her identity. He would only begin to wonder when he sees Olivia staring at him intently. Then, as Olivia and Sebastian converse, each of them would trade looks filled with astonishment and joy, as their conversation reveals them to be related to one another. Also, with each line, Olivia would become less like the male servant Cesario, and more like the girl Olivia, whose guise she had concealed in an attempt to protect herself. Throughout this conversation, the two characters’ attentions would be fixed entirely upon each other, until Orsino breaks in at line 257.
Throughout Silas Marner, George Eliot makes great use of imagery and color to paint a vivid picture of the emotional states of the characters involved in each scene. Eliot uses carefully chosen words when describing the background setting, and these words seem to enhance the mood felt by the characters. Also, the colors and shadings in the background seem to effect the emotional layers of the characters.
In paragraph one, the description of evening is well in alignment with Godfrey’s mood. When one thinks of gloom and depression, grey is a color that comes to mind. Words like “dimly,” “flung,” “half-choked,” and “destitute” also reflect Godfrey’s state of mind. The fact that Godfrey is standing and waiting reflects the amount of indecision he feels in his life. Godfrey is the kind of person that has a hard time making up his mind; this fact is summed up in the image of him standing there: “He seemed to be waiting and listening for some one's approach…” On a metaphorical level, it appears that Godfrey is standing there waiting (living life passively) in order for someone to step in and save him, or at least to provide a catalyst for change in his life.
The contrast of the items strewn in the room says that although the Cass family has much material wealth, it is lacking in love, which is symbolized by the half-choked fire:
“The fading grey light fell dimly on the walls decorated with guns, whips, and foxes' brushes, on coats and hats flung on the chairs, on tankards sending forth a scent of flat ale, and on a half-choked fire, with pipes propped up in the chimney-corners: signs of a domestic life destitute of any hallowing charm, with which the look of gloomy vexation on Godfrey's blond face was in sad accordance.” | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | At the end of the novel, the author shocks readers by having Ingrid acquitted of her crimes. After all, in a morally fair world, it would only seem right that Ingrid would remain in jail, and Astrid would go on to live a happy life free of her mother. But the author seems to argue that this is not always the case. In fact, Ingrid is not the only supposed antagonist in the novel who seemingly escapes justice. Many of the people Astrid meets in her foster homes—from pedophiles to racists to neglectful husbands—seemingly escape justice, while all the woes of the world seem to befall Astrid at the drop of a hat. Heller’s character Yossarian from Catch-22 aptly sums up the hypocrisy and lack of justice in the world presented to a typical antihero:
“How many honest men were liars, brave men cowards, loyal men traitors, how many sainted men were corrupt, how many people in positions of trust had sold their souls to blackguards for petty cash, how many had never had souls?” (Heller 414).
Throughout the novel White Oleander there seems to be an underlying cynicism, a certain bitterness, a resignedness to one’s fate that is summarized in the following dialogue between Astrid and her friend Paul Trout:
“ ‘Do you ever want to go home?’ I asked Paul.
He brushed an ash from my face. ‘It’s the century of the displaced person,’ he said. ‘You can never go home.’ ”
The dialogue between Astrid and Paul explains some of the motivating forces behind the actions of many antiheroes: a feeling of loneliness and of being displaced. In Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver feels extremely out of place upon returning to England, because he had learned to view the world differently during his travels. He also feels misunderstood by his fellow humans, who do not seem interested in the wisdom he tries to impart upon them from his travels. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden feels perennially misunderstood by those around him. Astrid in White Oleander does not feel so much misunderstood as betrayed; although a misunderstanding between two people could be seen as a betrayal in and of itself. In a way, the mentality of an antihero is similar to that of a teenager who is just learning about how the world really works. If one considers “home” to be that place/state of mind in which one feels that everything will be okay (e.g. childhood) then in that respect, one can never go home, once one has discovered that in life, things do not always work out.
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“It also seems to me that in a particularly disillusioned age, with hardly a semblance of hope that our critical apparatus can make even a minor dent in the machinery of the technocracy and the consumer state, we're left with the death of certain kinds of hope or idealism, and also the death of religion as a sufficient provider of meaning. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | Another bit of unusual imagery is that, although the hall in which Godfrey stands is full of material wealth (various hunting paraphernalia, clothing strewn about, containers of ale), there is no mention of any family photos in the room. In a sense, the “large, empty entrance hall” in which Godfrey stands represents the general lack of emotional warmth in the Cass household.
The fire can also symbolize Godfrey’s detestation of his current wife—the half-choked fire being the lack of passion in their relationship. After all, Godfrey cannot love his wife Molly very much, if he secretly marries her and then promptly forgets about her. It is true that his wife is a drug addict, but he should at least feel pity for her, and this emotion is never expressed by him throughout the entire novel. Whatever affection he and his wife formerly had for each other is as dim as the small flame in the fireplace.
The fire also represents Godfrey’s half-concealed, intense anger towards his brother, which flickers through quietly against the gloom of his current state of mind. “The scent of flat ale” adds to the general feeling of stagnation in the hall, and in the house in general. All the different objects—the fire, the ale, and the description of hunting gear—put more weight on the idea that the house is pervaded with a “domestic life destitute of any hallowing charm.”
As far as colors go, they describe Godfrey’s mood precisely. The first paragraph implies that a grey dimness clings to everything, much like the fact the Godfrey’s mood is constantly tinged with gloom. The flickering of orange fire can be interpreted as parallel to the brief flare of anger that Godfrey feels as his brother enters the hall. The fact that Godfrey stands with his back to the fire means that he barely knows how to deal with his anger, or is barely even aware of it. If one sees color as representing the mood of the household in general, then one might determine that there is no love (represented by bright colors) in the family; only gloom and anger (represented by dim colors.)
As Dunstan enters the room in the second paragraph, he gives off contrasting signals: a heavy step, and a cheerful whistle. A heavy step implies reluctance, over-confidence, or drunkenness. A whistle implies a certain nonchalance, or an attempt on the character’s part to appear nonchalant, even if he does not really feel that way. Although Dunstan is trying to appear fearless, his heavy steps betray him. Heavy steps can also be interpreted to represent a certain guilt or reluctance on the part of the person involved in such actions. Therefore, the words conveyed in the paragraph seem to imply a certain arrogance and reluctance on the part of Dunstan.
The imagery implicit in the scene with the spaniel slinking under the chair instantly alerts the reader to the mood of the situation: any peace loving person would rather be anywhere else than in the same room as these two brothers. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | The word antihero has actually been around since 1714, but the use of an antihero as the main character of fiction has become more widespread only in recent years. (Merriam-Webster Online)
One might say that moral ambiguity plays a key role in the development of the antihero. In essence, there can be no antihero unless there is first a world of unclear morals in which the antihero stumbles about. The antihero is defined by the way in which he interacts with the world around him—traditionally an interaction that is unusual at best. In the essay entitled “Animal Rationis Capax,” Kathleen Williams seeks to explain how one of the main purposes of Gulliver's Travels is to sum up "the nature of man and...his proper behavior in a difficult world."(Bloom 37) Gulliver remains a hero throughout most of the book, but becomes an indisputable antihero when he returns from his travels in foreign lands. Having learned from a species of intelligent talking horses that the way humans do things is largely uncivilized, Gulliver returns to the world of men to find that he sees everything he knew in a much different light. Suddenly he is a moral compass of sorts to his fellow men, being the only one of them who is aware of the superior way of living that was taught to him by the horse people.
Perhaps one of the great antiheroes of literature is Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye. In this novel J.D. Salinger is not so much concerned with morals, but with whether or not one should believe in these morals. As a review by Virgilia Peterson in A Catcher Casebook puts it, Holden is at heart a good kid, but is also very much a believable character, with inherent character flaws. (Marsden 3) In the foreword of A Catcher Casebook, Holden is called the “epitome of the real American.” (Marsden foreword) Unlike all the adults and children around him who walk around in a conformist state—seemingly anesthetized to the way things are—Holden is honest with himself, and admits that a lot of things that happen in the world today do not make very much sense to him:
“The cause of …[Holden’s] alienation is placed at the doors of schools, churches, business houses, government bureaus. They are charged with thwarting human aspirations, frustrating conscience, outraging sensitivity…The young man is full of love and courage, innocent and good, a wise sheep forced into lone wolf’s clothing. He pierces the shams and deceits and vulgarity of a phony society which botches things so terribly that at last Holden has no escape except a mental institution.” (Marsden, 35)
Holden looks authority in the eye and spits right in its face. He senses that something is very wrong with how the world works today, yet feels helpless to do anything about it. Unable to articulate himself in a responsible manner, he turns to delinquency as a means of self expression.
| 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | Jonathan Franzen seems to aptly sum up some of the basic sentiments of the antihero in the following passage from an interview conducted by Dave Weich of Powells...” (Powells.com Interviews – Jonathan Franzen)
The antihero is, in essence, the modern era’s response to the breakdown of conservatism, conformity, and religious hierarchy. As more authors continue to seek to portray reality in their works of fiction, they will gradually turn towards a more harsh, non-religious bent on reality, in the hopes of making their writings seem truly authentic. Whereas earlier works such as Gulliver’s Travels dealt with a moral man in an immoral world, The Corrections deals with confused people (sometimes) striving to be moral in an ambiguous world. (All in the Family: Franzen Almost Lives Up to His Own Standards) Such, then, is the struggle of the modern antihero: to realize that the world is crazy, while at the same time keeping from going crazy himself.
In Act 5, Scene 1 of Twelfth Night, the climax of the play is revealed. At this point, all the major characters in the play meet in one spot, in order to unravel the main complexities of the play, once and for all. Not only are Sebastian and Viola’s true identites revealed, but also all the desires of the other interrelated characters are revealed. Olivia finally realizes that Cesario, who she had been in love with, is a woman. Orsino discovers that the serving boy whom he had strong feelings for was, in fact, a woman.
Amidst this flurry of switched identities and revealed desires, there is often room for feelings of confusion, especially on the part of the audience members. At the point where Sebastian and Viola finally reunite, there has already been so much diverse information given to the audience that one needs a brief pause to soak it all in. Hence, when Viola stops and carefully goes over several familial details with her twin brother, it is partly to provide extra information to the audience members, in case they have neglected to pick up certain details during the course of the play. Also, this slow reunion gives Viola a chance to gradually resume her role as Sebastian’s twin sister. Carefully going over the details of their shared, tragic childhood allows Viola to remember her place as a woman in a well-to-do family.
While Sebastian has long been unacquainted with Viola, in a way Viola has also been unacquainted with herself for a long while as well. Switching gender and identity has forced Viola to take on a role entirely different from the traditional female sibling of a wealthy household. Also, the slow way in which Sebastian and Viola unite gives less central characters such as Olivia, Orsino, and Antonio time to absorb the shock of what is being revealed to them. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | In the words of author Janet Fitch, “Art distills meaning from experience, which is often hard to do in reality.” (Author Interview: Janet Fitch) In other words, it is the job of the author to interpret the motives behind people’s actions, and this Franzen does with a sterling accuracy. Such accuracy is necessary in a work portraying an antihero, because in order to objectively portray the strengths and flaws of a character, the author needs to be brutally honest in describing the character.
The Corrections is essentially a book about the flaws of modern society; its characters are representative of American society today, in all its flaws and virtues. In this sense, all of the characters in the novel can be seen as antiheroes; specifically Chip Lambert, the main character, is the best example of a classic antihero. Chip goes throughout life with the best of intentions, yet somehow always ends up with the short end of the stick. For instance, Chip writes a script which he thinks is brilliant, and ends up actually getting it noticed by a script reader named Eden. Eden strings him along until one day he accidentally finds out that she had no intention of ever reading the script, and had in fact given the script to her daughter to use as drawing paper.
Unlike Holden Caulfield and Yossarian, Chip Lambert does not go crazy upon realizing that the world itself is crazy. He tries to make the best of things, and ends up managing to somehow survive it all. However, there are some defining moments in his dialogues with his sister Denise in which he echoes some of the sentiments expressed by Holden Caulfield:
“ ‘I’m saying the structure of the entire culture is flawed,’ Chip said. ‘I’m saying the bureaucracy has arrogated the right to define certain states of mind as ‘diseased’…The very definition of mental ‘health’ is the ability to participate in the consumer economy. When you buy into therapy, you’re buying into buying. And I’m saying that I personally am losing the battle with a commercialized, medicalized, totalitarian modernity right this instant.’ ” (Franzen 31)
Reviewer Katie French characterizes The Corrections as a blend of social satire and remarkable characters. The way in which the book is written allows one to see inside the minds of each character, and as a result, all of the character’s flaws are left gaping out in the open. Take, for example, this passage from the book, in which Chip’s brother Gary Lambert—a normally conservative guy--gets very drunk and tries to justify it to himself:
“He needed to sleep well tonight for at least six hours. He upended the vodka bottle over a shaker of ice and brazenly let it glug and glug, because he, a veep at Centrust, had nothing to be ashamed of in relaxing after a hard day’s work…he now made a second [martini]…and officially considered it his first…In plain view of his entire family he made a third (officially: a second) martini and drank it down. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | To accomplish this, he planned to drink two vodka martinis and hit the sack before ten.” (Franzen 229)
In Janet Fitch’s novel White Oleander, the protagonist Astrid exemplifies the struggle of the antihero in that she is constantly at the mercy of a brutal, uncaring world. Fitch’s work does not so much stress the need to be moral, but the need to keep one's sanity and dignity intact in the face of a worldly onslaught of oppression and strife. In itself this novel contains a far more pessimistic viewpoint than many earlier works. Hope lies not so much in Astrid’s attention to morality, but in her will to survive. Although the people around the main character Astrid are at times morally reprehensible, the author does not seek to judge the characters, she merely observes and comments on their actions:
“I believe a quality that serves us well in the real world is the ability to embrace the various emotional tones of experience. And to insist that reality reflects some ideal, I think, is a dangerous point of view. This is the basis of some of the philosophical arguments of mother and daughter [Astrid and Ingrid]: do you impose a view on the world, or do you look at the world and see what is there.” (Author Interview: Janet Fitch)
The preceding quote from the author helps illustrate what is presumably the intention of most modern writers in deciding to use an antihero as a protagonist. In a post 9/11 society where nothing seems certain, it would hardly be realistic to write about perfect people doing perfect things, let alone expect anyone to read such works. In an interview Janet Fitch mentioned that fiction “…reminds us that we are here to understand and care about the human condition, to become more human.” (Author Interview: Janet Fitch) Arguably, then, the antihero would be the ideal vehicle with which an author could express his or her views on the human condition and life in general. Everyone knows that humans are inherently flawed; therefore, the antihero is an ideal representation of the everyman, being inherently flawed as well.
At times the reader strongly feels like he or she can identify with the character of Astrid. A well-meaning girl with a kind heart, she tries to do the right thing, yet situations constantly seem to come up that work against her—much as with Chip Lambert. Although most people have not lived through such a harrowing foster care experience, at times all people can surely identify with the emotions that Astrid goes through, and her struggles to decipher what is right and wrong in the world around her:
Some more evidence for moral ambiguity in the novel is the resolution of Ingrid’s murder trial. Throughout the novel as she waits in jail, Ingrid gradually develops of following of literate people who see her as a victim, even though she obviously murdered her boyfriend. | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | The same can also be said for Orsino, who quickly switches from seeing Cesario as a friend, to seeing Viola as his love interest: ”…And since you called me master for so long,/ Here is my hand. You shall from this time be/ Your master’s mistress.” (5.1. 312-315)
Although in the end it is revealed that Orsino is actually in love with a woman, the fact of the matter is that he was attracted to Viola while she appeared to be a man. And the following line hints at even more potentially disturbing evidence:
“…Cesario, come--/For so you shall be while you are a man;/ But when in other habits you are seen,/ Orsino’s mistress, and his fancy’s queen.” (5.1.372-375)
In the above passage, Orsino does seem to say that he prefers Cesario as a woman. However, there almost seems to be a tone of regret in his voice, as if he will miss having Cesario at his side as a daily male companion.
Above all, deception is best seen as a means of protecting the most personal self, at a time when a person feels particularly vulnerable. Disguise is utilized by not only Viola, but by other characters in an emotional sense. Orsino must hide his feelings for Cesario until he discovers that she is a woman, because for him to profess affections for a man during this time period would have been looked upon as socially unacceptable. Twelfth Night seems to say that the most essential use for deception and disguise is as a means of self preservation.
When Emilia says her speech in the presence of Desdemona on page 2160, it is because she suspects that Desdemona has done something wrong, based on Othello’s actions in the previous act. Emilia understands that her mistress is not the type to participate in infidelity, but she can’t help but wonder at the reason behind Othello’s anger at Desdemona, and his reasoning behind calling her a whore (“Was this fair paper, this most goodly book,/ Made to write ‘whore’ upon?” 4.2.74.)
It seems that regardless of Desdemona’s actual actions, Emilia is defensive of her mistress, and of the female gender in general. Emilia recognizes the apparent double standard concerning infidelity in marriage, and she argues that it is unfair for the woman to receive more of the blame than the man in such matters (“But I do think it is their husband’s faults/ If wives do fall.” 4.3.84-85) The maid argues that women are just as passionate as men, and should be given certain moral freedoms, especially if their husbands cheat on them. (“Then let them use us well, else let them know/ The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.” 4.3.100-101)
Emilia’s speech is similar to Shylock’s speech on p.1116 in that both speeches talk about an oppressed group of people getting revenge on those that oppress them.
| 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
vv | Shakespeare seems to be hinting that Shylock cares more about money than family; but being a good playwright, he does not say this outright, and instead puts the opinion in the mouth of his character Bassanio.
The second point, which is reinforced in Lorenzo’s speech, is Shylock’s ability to manipulate people through words (“…How every fool can play upon the word!”) In Shylock’s tirade-like speech in 3.1, he uses many superfluous words to hammer home the point that he feels he is being mistreated on the grounds of his culture and religion. At 3.1.46-49, instead of merely saying that Antonio disgraced him, Shylock gives the reader exact details on how Antonio has made his life miserable (“…He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned/ my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated/ mine enemies…”). Shylock does this to lend his speech dramatic effect, in the hopes of gathering sympathy for himself. Shakespeare again does not outrightly condemn this character trait of Shylock’s, but instead uses Lorenzo’s speech and the subsequent characters’ dialogue in 3.5 to illustrate how easy it is for any man to manipulate words to his own liking. Thus in an indirect way, Shakespeare uses the speeches of Shylock, Bassanio, and Lorenzo to comment on human nature.
The phrase “fiction,” by nature, covers a wide range of sub-genres in modern literature, from drama to mystery to fantasy epic. However, there is one uniting force behind all forms of fiction writing. One might say that without this element, a work of fiction would be impossible. That element is the hero, the character whose actions lead the narrative along, and through whose eyes we often see much of the action contained in a work of fiction. It is the struggle of a hero—whether against the world or himself—that leaves readers captivated, and causes them to continue reading to the end of a work.
As society has evolved, the literary device of the hero has essentially been replaced by the antihero, a protagonist of ambiguous moral standing who is merely trying to make his way in a similarly morally ambiguous world. As Christianity has started to release its grasp on Western cultures, the conventions of the traditional hero have fallen away, leaving many members of society today in such a state that they can more easily identify with the latter than the former.
The term antihero has been defined as referring to “a protagonist notably lacking in heroic qualities.” (Merriam-Webster Online) In more specific terms, an antihero is “…a protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. [A character who] may be bewildered, ineffectual, deluded, or merely pathetic. Often what antiheroes learn, if they learn anything at all, is that the world isolates them in an existence devoid of God and absolute values.” | 28 | English | female | bachelor's degree | administrative assistant | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
aa | Reasonable limits are needed to be set because hunters, sport shooters, and homeowners can own their weapons without going overboard with unneeded guns intended to kill as many people as possible as efficiently as possible. Reform has been put into place with gun registration for each weapon and owner, such as motor vehicle registration and driver's licenses (Ballaro). Background checks, waiting periods, regulation of secondary market sales, child-safety laws, concealment laws, assault weapon laws, and bans on small and lightweight guns are all needed to make the United States safer (Lee).
The Second Amendment explicitly guarantees American civilians the right to bear arms, but many gun laws would take away rights granted by the Constitution (Bowman). Stricter Laws don't prevent gun violence, and sometimes they even spawn it. If all guns were made illegal or there was a drastic cutback in gun ownership, it would make it much easier for criminals to commit crime. They would become less scared of running into another person with a gun, and they would be able to get away much easier because they would still carry weapons unlike the general public (Lee). Those against gun control counter that National Guard soldiers do not keep their weapons inside their homes, and in case of emergency they would be too slow to help. Also the National Guard would not be able to help citizens needing emergency personal defense (Bowman).
School violence is a social, mental health, political, and educational issue and has little to do with guns and gun control laws. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that school violence peaked in 1993 and has actually decreased in the following years. In 2006 the American Psychological Association determined "get-tough" policies have done very little to nothing to make schools safer, but in fact increased negative behavior and dropout rates. Educators differ on the effectiveness of D.A.R.E., zero tolerance policies, mandatory school uniforms, metal detectors, and armed guards. They are much more supportive of increased funding for school mental staff, anti-bulling curriculums, stronger school-parent programs, and safe school initiatives instead of inflexible, one-size-fits-all solutions proposed by the government (Driscoll).
There have been many reports of harsh punishments for accidental breaking of zero tolerance policies. Little kids have been expelled for innocently playing with paper guns or using plastic knives packed in lunches. Teens have been expelled for accidentally leaving a knife in a car or saying "threatening" things to other students and teachers that would be considered normal vocalizations of anger. Privacy issues have also come up. The Virginia Tech shooter wrote about violence, but it would be wrong to inspect everything students write and to take any hint of violence as a threat. Also normal speech might be perceived or over-exaggerated as a threat. Also violence and gun use has been prevalent in cultural media since Wild West films to the provocative song lyrics, video games, and other media of today. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | The Second Amendment reads, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" (Bowman). The Second Amendment was originally ratified on the thought of the danger of national security being threatened (Bowman). The United States were just being formed and had just come out of a great war to gain their freedom. The American Army was essentially comprised of many small militias. These were volunteer groups of citizen-soldiers who were mostly untrained farmers and town citizens. The right to assemble a militia and own firearms provided the new country an army. When the Founding Fathers granted the undeniable right to firearms the only gun known was the flintlock, which was very inaccurate and not nearly as deadly as the guns today. Two hundred years later guns are much cheaper to manufacture, easy to use, highly accurate, and incredibly lethal (Bowman).
The writers of the Constitution were thinking of foreign invaders when they ratified the Second Amendment, but they were also thinking of internal conflict. The Constitution prohibits the government from suppressing its citizens mainly with the Second Amendment. If the government could prohibit personal firearms, they could demand cooperation through force and threats. The Founding Fathers did not want the great country they had just created to turn into a tyranny like the monarchy of England that they came from (Bowman). In 1871 two Union officers founded the National Rifle Association in order to protect their personal right to firearms. To this day it is one of the biggest and most powerful non-government organizations that stands to protect firearm rights, hunting rights, promote shooting as a sport, educate firearm safety (Lee).
Ever since the ratification of the Second Amendment politicians and citizens have been lobbying to cut down on personal gun ownership. There have been many laws and regulations enacted to help stop gun-related violence and death in the United States. In the 1930s during Prohibition the National Firearms Act and the Federal Firearms Act were introduced in reaction to violence by organized crime. These Acts banned machine guns, put a tax on gun sales, and regulated certain types of sales and shipment of weapons. In 1968 the Gun Control Act was put into place banning mail order gun sales after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was created in 1972 in order to issue gun licenses, inspect dealers, and enforce laws. In 1994 the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act initiated a mandatory five-day waiting period and background check on all unlicensed individuals trying to purchase a firearm (Lee).
Gun Control is "any action taken by federal, state, or local government to regulate the sale, purchase or use of guns by individual citizens"(Lee). Some say that the heart of the gun controversy is not gun control, but gun culture (Bowman). | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | These reductions in crime seem to correspond with a number of gun control laws that were implemented during this time, including the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.
The correlation is not valid, however, because the statistics have become compounded with many other factors. Improved law enforcement, more severe sentences for criminals, better policing methods, and a stronger economy all contributed to the lower crime rates. A prime example of this compounding effect was shown in Chicago in the 1980's and 90's. A ban was placed on the sale and possession of handguns in Chicago in 1982, but high homicide rates persisted until police practices were changed in the late 1990's. This real-life scenario illustrates how increased gun control laws do not always mean less crime, and that the correlation witnessed during the 1990's is not true statistical causation.
Few gun control supporters recognize the fallacy in the popularly held belief that guns always produce violence, while gun control always reduces it. But gun ownership by law-abiding citizens also deters criminals. Guns permit people to defend themselves, their property, and their families. Criminals are disinclined to commit crimes against citizens who may likely be armed. Professor John Lott and graduate student David Mustard of the University of Chicago examined violent crime rates in cities across the country based on reports from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, and found lower rates of violent crime in states with fewer restrictions on concealed weapons. John Velleco defends personal gun ownership as the "most effective means of self-defense available" because of a gun's level of intimidation and power when compared to being unarmed or being armed with a knife. Paul Bucher illustrates this point, "If the person you're fighting has a gun and all you have is your fists, you lose."
Guns are used thousands of times more often for self-defense than to commit crime. The number of successful cases of guns being used for self-defense has been measured from a low 650,000 to a high 2.5 million using police records from around the country. This number far exceeds the cases of guns being used for crimes, and provides evidence that guns are a positive tool for self-defense. It would be best if all law-abiding citizens would own guns and know how to use them safely and responsibly. An America full of gun carrying citizens would drastically drive down crime rates simply because criminals would be too scared to come into contact with armed civilians. Also the few "moment of anger" shootings produced from escalated arguments would be far overshadowed by the number of people saved each year by the reduction in criminal shootings. The risk would not be worth the return, as every time a criminal would attempt to commit crime, they would have to face the high risk of being shot (Velleco).
Gun laws do not accomplish their purpose; in fact, they do the opposite. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | He is showing how easy it would be for our government and leaders to mislead us and reduce our rights by not even giving us a choice in the matter at hand. During the time that Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 people were starting to become more lax and comfortable with what their leaders chose to do because they thought that they could not change anything anyway. They would rather sit back and not worry about the problems of the world, but instead let someone else deal with it and make the hard choices. Bradbury is urging Americans to snap out of this mindset and try to deal with problems themselves by voting and voicing their ideas so that their rights would not be taken away.
At the time that Bradbury published his book, radio and television were starting to gain large audiences. He wanted to warn that some of the content on radio and television was okay, but that everything on the air was not. He could see that the broadcasters were simply airing programs that were entertaining and had no real intrinsic value. He knew that one should not believe everything heard or seen as truth, but investigate it further. He foresaw how television could take hold of people and make them slaves to entertainment. He saw how people would pay fortunes and even go into debt just to watch television. In the story Mildred said, "It's really fun. It'll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a wall-TV put in. It's only two thousand dollars". He could see how, in the American culture, everyone wants the new, biggest, and greatest things because we feel entitled. Bradbury wrote to a very consumerism society where when someone wanted something they would simply go out and buy it.
Will stricter gun control laws prevent the 20-25,000 murders in the United States each year? (Harwood). The Second Amendment was ratified in 1791 preserving the right for all citizens to own and operate firearms, but ever since that time people have been fighting both for and against gun control laws (Lee). Some say that gun control laws infringe on their Constitutional rights to own weapons. Others say that the purchase and use of firearms needs to be strictly regulated to help prevent and reduce violent crimes and murder. Both sides of the gun control debate have relevant points, but it will be up to the citizens of the United States to make the right decisions to balance Constitutional rights with the safety and well being of the country.
Since the formation of the United States of America, people have used firearms for hunting, survival, and to expand land ownership. When the country was first being settled every man knew how to shoot (Lee). | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
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Imperialism played a significant role in shaping American foreign policy. America used significant power many times when dealing with other countries during the 19th and 20th centuries. America never admitted that it was taking colonies and spreading out into an imperial force, but it did show several signs of being imperialistic. America's early uses of force and its imperialistic nature set a precedent for how it would deal with other countries and "colonies" in the future.
By the late 19th century when America was shaping its foreign policy, America had fulfilled Manifest Destiny. America was not "land hungry" as Document B shows. America had already colonized all the land west to Pacifica Ocean and had more land and resources than it knew what to do with. The government was literally giving away free land to people who would live and work on it. America was acting in an imperialistic manner because it was trying to control the Western Hemisphere as stated in Monroe Doctrine. America had long said that the Americas were closed to colonization from European countries, and America had, in a sense, adopted the Americas and felt responsible for their well being.
America felt like the patriarch of the Americas and acted like it. America felt like it was their duty to look after the welfare of the countries around America. As Document A displays, America felt that it was important, even God's plan, for America to "uplift and civilize…and educate" the Filipinos. America saw the horrors that Spain had committed against the Filipinos, and so America took it upon herself to fix things and make the people civilized in order that one day they might act like a respectable culture and govern themselves. Document G says that America denounced what the Spanish were doing to the Filipinos, but against our early plans, America turned it's Filipino friends into enemies when it committed just as many atrocities against them as the Spanish had. America basically started a war because it thought that it was important to set up the country's government because the natives were too simple and savage to manage on their own.
America always has its eyes first on its wallet. America took many islands such as Hawaii, Midway, and Guam into our "care" because we needed places to refuel ships crossing the Pacific. America also created exclusive trading deals with Hawaii that proved to be very lucrative. One of the biggest reasons for forming "colonies" and keeping peace abroad was to keep trade revenue up. America had begun to manufacture more products than it could sell nationally so it had to trade internationally to continue making profits and keep up with competition. Teddy Roosevelt sent the "Great White Fleet" to Japan to open up their ports to international trade, so that we could sell our products to a new market. We turned Japan from a small country that stayed entirely to themselves, into a world power that was influential in WWI and even more in WWII.
| 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
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Montag had rarely seen that many house lights. 'Oh, just my mother and father and uncle sitting around, talking. It's like being a pedestrian, only rarer. My uncle was arrested another time-did I tell you?-for being a pedestrian. Oh, we're most peculiar.' 'But what do you talk about?' She laughed at this. 'Good night!' She started up her walk. Then she seemed to remember something and came back to look at him with wonder and curiosity. 'Are you happy?' she said. 'Am I what?' he cried. But she was gone-running in the moonlight. Her front door shut gently." This passage gives great background information about Montag and his society and begins the chain reaction of his rebellion.
This passage was put in the beginning of the story in order to involve the reader's mind about Montag's rebellion and the problems surrounding his society from the very beginning. The reader finds out many weird issues with the society that may shock them such as: the lack of talking, billboards are two-hundred feet long because the cars race by at high speeds, pedestrians are rare, people do not ever stop to experience nature, and books are burned because they are illegal. Bradbury wants to show how strange the culture is, and how a "normal" person (Clarisse) is seen as the strange one. He wants the reader to understand and see first hand how deranged the society is so that they will see why Montag rebels, and so that the reader is on his side and wants him to succeed and see the society changed back to better, more human society. He uses logos and pathos to show the reader the horrors of the society. The logos and pathos come from reading about how horrible the society is, and how unhappy and sad all of the people are. His purpose in writing Fahrenheit 451 is to show Americans and other readers how bad society could become if they did not change the current direction that they were headed as a whole. This comes because the readers knew about the advancements in technology and thinking were greatly changing life as they knew it.
Bradbury succeeds by writing in a way that makes one support the views and characters that he wants you to support. He writes about Clarisse so that the reader will trust her and be able to connect with her in a special way because she is one of the only people in the book that are like people in our culture today.He also makes the reader have compassion for the society as a whole because they have been lied to their entire lives, and also to have compassion on the firemen because they have all been lied to about their jobs and role in society. Bradbury ends Clarisse's talk with Montag with her asking him if he was happy which greatly affects the reader emotionally because happiness is such an important part of our lives and culture.
| 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | The United States of America runs well because of the system of checks and balances in the government. The Second Amendment provides civilians with an important "check" to the power of the government. The right to bear arms stands as an important part of freedom and liberty, because it gives people a way to fight tyranny both at home and from abroad. When laws are passed regulating gun ownership, it is only the first piece in a progression of violations of freedoms. A prime example of the power of personal gun ownership to fight tyranny can be seen in Poland and other European countries during the beginning of World War II. One main reason that these countries were taken over so easily was because of the lack of personal gun ownership by their citizens. And after moving into an area, the Nazis would confiscate any stray firearms owned by civilians and strictly forbid personal gun ownership, making the civilians utterly powerless to defend themselves when the Nazis began to commit atrocities. The NRA supports the power and importance of the Second Amendment when it claims that "the Second Amendment remains the first right among equals, because it is the one we turn to when all else fails".
Public opinion favors the Second Amendment's protection of gun ownership, as a U.S. News and World Report poll found that seventy five percent of Americans felt that gun ownership is a right protected by the Constitution. The Supreme Court also supports the Second Amendment as evinced by the 2008 case of District of Columbia v. Heller. The Court ruled that the Second Amendment gave individuals the right to bear arms, finding a controversial D.C. law that banned handgun ownership unconstitutional. Then in the 2010 case of McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme Court ruled that all state and local governments must also follow the Second Amendment as outlined by the 2008 case. This shows that even the most powerful group in the United States government-the group charged with the sole responsibility of judging the constitutionality of the nation's laws-agrees that the Second Amendment adamantly protects American citizens' right to own guns, and that this vital Constitutional freedom must never be threatened.
Just as the Constitution functions to protect citizens' freedoms and liberties, gun control laws are designed to prevent people from abusing guns and harming others. If gun control legislation stopped criminals from committing crimes and murders, and left legal gun owners alone, there would be no argument. Congress passes gun control laws because they are believed to reduce violence and save lives. Statistics from several large cities, including New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and others, show a reduction in the number of gun-related crimes during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that in 1993 more than 582,000 murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults involving guns took place, but in 2003 that number dropped to 348,000. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | There are three main aspects of the gun control controversy: sociological, ethical, and legal. The sociological aspect is the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness that gun control laws have on reducing violent crimes. The ethical aspect is the protection of the United States citizens and protecting them from crime. The legal issues revolve mainly around the Second Amendment and how it is interpreted, and the laws and regulations associated with it (Lee).
Gun control activists blame the wide use and availability of lethal weapons for the United States’ high murder and crime rates. There are over 30,000 deaths resulting from gunfire every year. More than half are murders, a little less than half are suicides and the rest are fatal accidents. Several hundred of these victims are children (Ballaro). Gunfire deaths from 1980 to 1997 equaled close to four hundred thousand. That is more than the casualties from WWI and WWII combined, and would equal the death toll of nearly eight Vietnams (Harwood). The United States has some of the highest gun-related violence rates in the developed world. This is due to the number of guns Americans own, the availability of extremely powerful and lethal guns, and the lack of comprehensive, uniform laws. If gun control laws limited the availability of guns, it would lower homicide rates. Just as the now regular use of bicycle helmets has greatly reduced the amount of head trauma injuries (Ballaro).
One of the biggest reasons for the United States’ shockingly high gun-related violence rates is the sheer amount of firearms owned. One in three homes has guns. The total amount of arms in the United States is close to two hundred and forty million (Ballaro). American citizens own between fifty and seventy million handguns. Handguns escalate disputes into fatal incidents because they are easy to conceal and transport (Harwood). Supporters of gun control state that the formation of the National Guard over a hundred years ago nullified any need for militias, and the all-out legality of guns should be questioned (Bowman).
The police force in the United States is in danger from the large arsenal of weapons and the overwhelming lack of gun control legislation. In 1997 the Los Angeles police were authorized to carry assault rifles after a shootout with gunmen armed with AK-47s. In September of 2007 the Miami police chief John Timoney made the same decision. He said the decision was undesirable, but mandatory due to fact that the criminals his men faced wielded extremely high caliber weapons. In the previous year fifteen of the seventy-nine gun related homicides involved assault weapons (Ballaro). Criminologist Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins of the University of California conducted a large-scale study on gun related violence and homicide in the United States compared to other countries. They discovered that the United States have similar crime rates as other developed countries, but much higher homicide rates (Harwood). The gun violence seemed to correlate to the stringency of gun control laws of each of the countries. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | He sees that the great armies and navies that England is amassing have no other purpose but to attack the colonies. He tries to show that they must prepare now for the imminent attack so at least they can be prepared and not caught off guard.
He is not only speaking to the men attending the Virginia convention in 1775, but also all the men living in the colonies. He knows that persuading the convention is very important to be able to prepare for war, but he also knows that it is even more important to convince the normal men that they should go to war. Although Henry does not say so directly, he apparently assumes that it the common man who will do the actual fighting, and he has to have their full support to fight a war with England. He is speaking to a convention and a republic that has been tormented by taxes and laws without any representation. He knows that many of the people in the colonies would want to be free from the tyranny or even the rule of England altogether. He uses this to form his speech in a way that creates emotion and positive platform for a call to arms. I wholeheartedly endorse what Patrick Henry calls "An appeal to arms" because without it there would have been no revolution, and we would not be living in The United States of America today.
Henry uses very creative diction and syntax in his speech. He uses words like disrespectful, slavery, struggle, and violence in his description of English rule in the colonies before the war. He uses such words to bring about feelings that life was already like a painful war just living under the power of the British of anger. Henry wanted the men to realize how oppressive the English were, and he wanted them to stand up and fight. He uses many short sentences and hyphens to add emphasis and show importance. Several times he uses several quick questions to deliver description and thought provoking ideas. He uses figures of speech and juxtapositions to add flavor to his speech. Throughout the speech, but especially in the last sentence he makes you almost want to rise out of your seat on the spot and go fight for freedom, liberty, and justice.
I was sneaking our family’s archaic VCR into my bedroom, tip toeing to keep the hardwood floor silent. I had borrowed some small screwdrivers from my dad’s workshop, and was now crawling past my parents’ bedroom as if I was James Bond, trying to keep my presence unknown as I transported my treasure to my room. I meticulously took the VCR apart piece by piece for hours, and I was startled as my mom found me surrounded by hundreds of small electrical components, screws, and plastic bits. This was the first moment that I discovered the pleasure of engineering.
| 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | Guns can also successfully stop shootings in progress, as Assistant Principal Joel Myrick did in Pearl, Mississippi, in 1997. Few media outlets reported the use of a gun to stop 16 year old Luke Woodham, but Myrick in fact retrieved a handgun from his car and returned to the school where he subdued Woodham before he could cause any more damage (Eisen).
Schools are also partially to blame for school shootings due to inattentiveness and incompetence in relation to possible warning signs. A student in Santee, California, told several adults and students that he was going to shoot up the school, and no one acted on that information until it was too late (Kopel). The same is true of the Virginia Tech shooter. Seung-Hui Cho had a background of mental disorder and often talked and wrote about shooting up the campus, but was never suspected to actually act on his threats. Gun control activists blame the gun and call for more gun regulations when school shootings are brought up, but unstable students, not guns, are to blame for school violence.
Americans should always fight for their Constitutional freedoms as the government tries to take them away, so that the great nation of America may never fall to tyrannical rule and further oppression. Public safety should never be seen as more important than basic personal freedoms. Public safety remains, of course, an important goal, but it should never be put so high up on a pedestal that it overshadows and replaces all other freedoms. How far would public safety go if freedom of speech and religion were taken away? Gun ownership should always be protected because of its importance in insuring that all Americans may continue to enjoy all basic freedoms without the threat of tyranny and oppression.
There is a very complex rhetorical triangle in relation to Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury is writing to a society that is growing ever more complex. This society has recently acquired the capacity to create very large problems. With the invention of new technology and news ways of looking at the world, the American society was like a ticking time bomb. Bradbury was trying to show the average American the possible negative consequences that might arise if the country continued down the road that it was on. Most Americans did not have a clue of any danger that might be in the future, so they continued to live their lives happy and dumb to the truth.
Bradbury did not write Fahrenheit 451 as a view of what would come, but as a warning of what could come. He wanted to open people's eyes, and make sure that they never gave up any of their rights in order to have more fun and entertainment. Bradbury explains by writing, "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war". | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | The workers could never get out of the cycle because many of them were foreigners and could not speak English let alone get a job somewhere else. To make the point even more, they had no way of moving or the time to look for a different job because their pay was so low that they had just enough money left over each week to eat. I agree with Jurgis' decision to run away because of the great despair he saw all around him in Packingtown, but I believe he should have given more thought to the people he was leaving behind and the immense burden he was putting on them.
Millions of people die from cancer, disease, and car wrecks each year. These horrible tragedies deserve attention, but murders are often seen with a higher level of emotion. Accidental and unpreventable deaths are always sad, but do not seem as vicious and stinging as murder and violent crime. Maybe the horror of murder is based on the atrocious idea of one human taking the life of another or the pain of forever having to wrestle with the question of "why?" All deaths that are not a result of natural causes should be addressed, but violent crime and murder deserve a greater amount of attention. America needs to figure out how it can combat the nearly 350,000 murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults involving guns each year . Every American wants a safe community to raise a family and live a happy, peaceful life. No one wants to see violence and murder in the streets. Gun crime remains an important issue that must be dealt with in order to maintain unity and safety in our society.
Guns are an important part of American culture. Everyone owned guns during the formation of the country, and men used privately owned weapons to protect their families and countrymen. During the 1930s gun control became a controversial issue as the government began to pass gun control laws. Throughout the years, gun control laws have become more rigid, and groups, both in support of and against gun control, have become more adamant in their stances. Critics contend that gun control laws infringe on the Constitutional right to own guns, while supporters claim that firearms must be strictly regulated in order to reduce gun related violence. Whatever the solution, America must find a way to balance personal freedoms with public safety.
One of the most persuasive pieces of evidence against gun control rests in the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This Amendment is part of the Constitution, the first and foremost authority of American government and the source that the Supreme Court uses to evaluate laws and court cases. Due to the Second Amendment's overriding power, any legislation prohibiting gun ownership conflicts with the plans of the Founding Fathers and is a direct "threat to freedom".
| 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
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I believe that The Jungle shows how human beings deep down inside are naturally greedy and self-centered. They only want to look out for themselves and make their lives as good as possible, but never look out for anyone lower then themselves. The Jungle shows this in many ways. The main obvious area is the owners and managers of the great factories. All they want to do is make their companies and factories as big and great as they can be. They do not care about anyone or anything that gets in their way or anything that gets hurt because of their advancements. According to Upton Sinclair's work, "The line of the buildings stood clear-cut and black against the sky; here and there out of the mass rose the great chimneys, with the river of smoke streaming away to the end of the world". Sinclair is trying to paint a picture of the great damage that this pollution is creating. He shows that the owners have no regard for any person or animal that might get hurt. They do not care about the great plumes of smoke billowing out of the factories or the animal feces and urine runoff from the thousands of pens around Packingtown.
The owners and managers also did not care about their employees working to make them rich. They would do anything to make or save an extra buck, "So from the top to bottom the place is simply a seething cauldron of jealousies and hatreds; there is no loyalty or decency anywhere about it, there is no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar". They force their employees to work awful hours and then without even a day's notice they might layoff multitudes of people at a time without any compensation or help finding a job. During the era The Jungle is set in there were not many, if any, laws or regulations protecting the workers safety or well being. This allowed the managers and owners to run wild, forcing their employees to speed up progress and work in terrible conditions. Although the book never says it directly, the people who lived and worked themselves to death in Packingtown were simply expected to deal with the horrible conditions both while working in the factories and living around them. There were no agencies or organizations set up to provide information or help to the workingman. There were unions that were formed, but these often did more harm than help as they made money off of the poor workers. The workers were so badly treated and had no way of escaping the system of Packingtown that they were described as slaves, "Here is a population, low-class and mostly foreign, hanging always on the verge of starvation and dependent for its opportunities of life upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers; under such circumstances, immorality is exactly as inevitable, and as prevalent, as it is under the system of chattel slavery." | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | More often, they hinder legal gun owners while doing nothing to stop criminals from illegally owning guns. Criminals are unaffected by gun control laws because they are already trained to break the law, so they simply acquire guns illegally. Gun control laws do, however, affect legal gun owners, making gun ownership for hunting, sport shooting, collecting, and of course self-defense, inconvenient, expensive, and time-intensive. Those who oppose gun ownership can never differentiate between legal and illegal guns or between authorized gun owners and crazed killers. This leaves legal gun owners defenseless to criminals because they are extremely under armed (Update).
Certain weapons unfairly labeled as illegal “assault weapons” have also received an excessive amount of regulation because they have been deemed too dangerous for civilian ownership. Assault weapons that had previously been illegal under The Federal Assault Weapons Act of 1994 do not pose serious threats to public safety. The Act was allowed to expire under a "sunset" provision in 2004, but response is needed to keep it from being reenacted (Assault). Assault weapons are too large to conceal, thus being very undesirable to criminals. Law-abiding gun owners purchase "assault weapons" because they are useful in sport and target shooting and hunting. Gun control activists and supportive politicians made the assault weapon laws very stringent, including many moderate weapons with very little threat to public safety, making many popular hunting and sport rifles illegal. Another important piece of the assault weapon regulations is the large-capacity clip ban. Magazines that hold over ten rounds of ammunition were banned under the assault weapon law. Larger clips are in fact very important to legal gun owners because of self-defense needs. Police officers and military personnel carry magazines that hold more than ten rounds for protection reasons, showing that law-abiding citizens should be able to receive the same amount of protection from their weapons (Assault).
Military reserve and National Guard troops need guns in order to train while they are not fighting overseas. Reservists and other non-active soldiers often train as civilians with weapons such as the AR-15, similar to the M-16 active-duty weapon, that had previously been illegal for personal ownership under the assault weapons ban (Assault). Soldiers need to be able to practice with guns that are as close as possible to the actual guns that they will be fighting with, in order for them to stay battle-ready, so that they can successfully protect the country.
Gun control activists are also misconstrued when they cite school shootings as reason for more gun control laws. They believe that with tighter gun regulations, school children will be safer, and not fall victim to tragedies such as those at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Columbine in 1999. The gun is usually blamed for school shootings, but, in fact, it is far more common that media and student's emotional and social situations are more to blame for school violence than guns, which could easily be replaced with homemade bombs or knives as the weapon of choice. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | Both England and Japan have some of the tightest gun control laws as well as some of the lowest gun related homicide rates (Ballaro). The United State's homicide rates are twenty times greater than England and Wales, ten times greater than France and Germany, and only exceeded by a few Latin American countries (Harwood).
Proponents of gun control laws also cite school shootings as point for the need of more and tougher gun control legislation. In 1966 twenty-five year old ex-Marine and college student Charles Whitman fired a sawed-off shotgun from a tower on the University of Texas campus killing fourteen and wounding thirty-one. In 1999 seniors Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed twelve classmates and a teacher and wounded two dozen others at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado. After the Columbine shooting President Bill Clinton set up a task force to study school violence. Congress tightened restrictions on purchases at gun shows (where the students purchased the weapons used). Many schools installed metal detectors and security cameras, hired armed guards, and initiated zero-tolerance policies (Driscoll). A thirty-two year old man killed and wounded over a dozen girls in an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania in 2006 (Ballaro). In September of that year a fifty-three year old man killed a female student at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado after he took several other students hostage and sexually assaulted them (Driscoll).
In April of 2007 the worst school shooting in United States history occurred at Virginia Tech. A troubled college student named Hui Cho killed thirty-three people and wounded over a dozen others (Bowman). Today work is being done to prevent people with a history of mental illness to buy guns because Hui Cho was allowed to purchase a Glock handgun even though he had voluntarily stayed at a mental heath facility (Ballaro). In 2008 a mass shooting occurred at the Northern Illinois University where seven people including the gunmen were killed. Seventeen others were wounded. In the 2005 to 2006 school year the National Center for Educational Statistics reported twenty-one homicides of children under the age of eighteen and 136,500 other violent crimes on school campuses (Driscoll). Of the fourteen worst school shootings in world history in the past century, one half have occurred in the United States (Ballaro). Several laws have been enacted to help to reduce gun violence among youth and at schools including the Youth Handgun Safety Act and the Gun-Free School Act, which mandates a minimum one-year expulsion for possessing a firearm of other weapon on school property (Driscoll).
Much of the gun control reform that has been enacted has become ineffective. In 1994 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was created banning various types of assault weapons, but was allowed to lapse in 2004 (Lee). High-powered weapons create a public safety crisis. Gun crime declined because of the assault weapon ban from the 1990's to early 2000's. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | Although I never got the VCR back together properly, and I did not know the term “engineering,” I knew that I had a passion. Whenever I got the chance to take apart an old piece of equipment, now with my parents’ permission so I would not face punishment again, I would sit in intense concentration for hours unscrewing pieces and keeping meticulous order of where everything came from. I started to get to a point where not only could I put the devices back together, but sometimes I could actually fix them back to working order. I was overjoyed when I could find something that my dad had thrown away and be able to bring it back to him fixed. He supported and encouraged me immensely, helping me to continue to explore this “engineering.”
my grandfather would explain as I sat on his lap for hours. After telling my grandfather of the great inspiration I received from his engineering stories from NASA, he advised me that I must always do my best in school and earn good grades in order to find an exemplary engineering job. He always made sure to tell me that I did not have to follow in his footsteps of aeronautical engineering, but that I should pursue whatever career that interested me the most.
I intend to go into a career in mechanical engineering. I hope to improve automotive safety through my advances in safety research. I know that I would like to pursue a career in automotive safety because last year I followed a researcher as he developed new seat belts. I was very fascinated by the processes that the researcher employed to create new designs. As his pencil first touched the blueprint and he began the design process, I drew in a breath as I saw the innovations transpiring on the page. He furiously drew out his ingenious new seat belt design that mimics the full safety benefits of a five-point safety harness, while maintaining the comfort and ease-of-use of a traditional three-point seat belt found in most consumer automobiles. While doing some of the "basic" number crunching on paper, he entered the data from his blueprints into the computer that rendered a full computer model in mere minutes. The design was not completed until after I left, but if put into mainstream production, I will be able to see the carbon fiber enhanced substrate restraint system that I helped develop, in whatever small ways, make millions of cars safer worldwide.
When I saw how many lives I could save and how many families I could keep intact, I knew that I had to become an automotive safety designer. A college student is heading home from his shift at the local pizza parlor, and his car is suddenly and violently struck from the side as he attempts to cross an intersection. The young boy was just hit by a drunk driver, and both cars are crushed into unrecognizable heaps. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
aa | The FBI has shown that even after every precaution taken to stop gun-related school violence knives are used more than three times more than guns in school incidents. Even if, theoretically, the gun control laws worked to stop all gun-related violence, there would still be over three-quarters of the violence seen in schools today (Driscoll).
In a 1999 case, District Judge Sam R.Cumming ruled that the Second Amendment protected the right to own and carry a firearm even to an individual under a restraining order. In 2008 the United States Supreme Court found in the case of the District of Columbia vs. Heller that the Second Amendment to protect the right to bear arms. It struck down DC legislation including the law that mandated firearms kept in homes must be fully disassembled or be fitted with a trigger lock. Legislation has risen on the subject of "stand your ground" bills. Citizens have been given the right to defend themselves with deadly force (Lee).
The gun control controversy is a very heated debate. Every American citizen should know the facts so that they can make an educated decision on the stance they support, so that they can be as safe as possible. Both sides of the argument have valid points and are quite persuasive. There are many people who support gun control citing violent crimes, horrific murders, and school shootings as reason enough to implement more stringent regulations. Others are fiercely against gun control and argue that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to firearms, guns are needed for self defense, current laws often do more harm than good, and sport shooters and hunters would be greatly impeded by new inflexible laws. Will the United States make the proper decisions on the gun control debate in order to protect its citizens?
This speech by Patrick Henry is a great call to arms. Even now, over two hundred years later, this speech still brings forth emotion to stand up and fight. Patrick Henry was a great orator of his time and even today would be seen as one of the great speakers. He speaks in a way that includes many different literary styles, techniques, and methods of persuasion.
Henry's purpose in presenting this speech was to show how inevitable a war with England was, and how now was the time to fight. He saw that the colonies were not gaining any ground asking and petitioning Great Britain to alleviate the laws and taxes that the colonists were opposed to because of the great pain that it brought on them. He shows that it was time to fight by saying, "Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other," Henry is insisting that there is no question of if there is going to be a war, but when there will be a war. | 24 | English | male | High School | construction worker | N,N,N,N,N |
z | I chose to approach Senator Feinstein with my legislation because as our elected representative she has a vested interest in the health and well-being of the citizens of California, and a responsibility to her constituency to protect our lives and ensure the safety of our highways. Because Ms. Feinstein helps legislate the state with the largest number of licensed drivers in the nation, I feel she is uniquely qualified to push this legislation through.
A variety of lobbying groups and governmental agencies would be viable candidates for providing support in Washington for my legislation. The more likely sources I would approach (many of which have already been cited above) would include:
The cost of implementing this legislation, other than the cost involved in the actual passage of the bill itself, would be relatively minor. No additional programs would need to be created, and no tax dollars would need to be acquired for implementation. In reality, the legislation would be highly cost-effective in long-term application. The cost of teen morbidity and mortality behind the wheel goes beyond the dire emotional toll brought to bear on America’s families. Another cost that could be circumvented is the nearly exorbitant cost of insuring underage drivers. Even when discounts for good grades apply, the cost of insuring teen drivers is high, and given the accident statistics stated above, it is no wonder.
If Americans truly believe that our children are our future, it is my opinion that we are morally obliged to protect our teens from the overt dangers of driving and ensure that our children make it through adolescence and into responsible adulthood.
The history of the earthen house, in particular the cob house, is a long one. But it is a history with marked gaps in evolution. This paper explores that evolution and considers the relatively recent upsurge in interest about natural building techniques such as cob. Part I introduces two specific cob structures, one in California and one in Oregon. Part II zooms in for a close-up view of cob: How is cob made? Just how can you design a house made of mud? Part III takes a look back at the architectural history of cob; who knew mud could be so durable! Finally, Part IV explores the evolutionary leap in cob design; I will look at ways in which cob design and other “simplified” building methods combine sustainable housing design with the desire for a simplified lifestyle.
Finding a cob house or building to “interact with” in the Bay Area was something of a challenge, and I was forced to go a bit farther afield. I found two specific cob projects to focus on. One is a unique backyard cob gazebo, complete with fireplace and freeform cob sculpture, designed and hand-built by Sacramento-area schoolteacher Dana Jenks; the other is “Heart House,” a cob cottage built by landscape architect Ianto Evans and therapist Linda Smiley in Oregon, a current-day cob enthusiast’s Mecca. | 54 | English | female | Master's degree | Writer | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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