Of mice and men Essay Example for Free

Of mice and men Essay In the novel of mice and men many of the characters are lonely. They have no one that really cares for them. This could be because that individual is coloured, female or that the person doesnt fit in with anyone. One of the characters that are lonely in this novel is Characters such as crooks who are lonely because hes black (coloured). Crooks spend the vast majority of his time in the barn. The only way he can socialise with the other men is when theyre all playing horse shoes. Other times, hes not allowed in the bunk house. For example Lennie, candy and Crooks were talking in the barn house and Curleys wife came in and they all wanted her to go. Crooks stood his ground to her as they were all arguing. He said You got no rights comin in a coloured mans room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus get out, an get out quick. If you dont, Im gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more. Curleys wife replied with Listen nigger, you know what I can do to you if you open your trap. The book then reads Crooks seemed to grow small, and he pressed himself against the wall. Yes, maam. What Curleys wife meant by saying what she could do to crooks is that all she has to say to Curley or anyone, is that Crooks has been coming on to her and harassing her. Once she has said that, Curley will be after Crooks and beat him. No one will want to listen to Crooks side of the story simply because hes black (coloured). Other characters in the novel such as Curleys wife are also lonely. John Steinback purposely didnt give Curleys wife a name because it shows that she was not treated as a normal human being. In the novel Candy has his dog that is simply known as Candys dog. This is shown of what Curleys wife means to everyone in the novel. All that she was to everyone was Curleys property or owner. An example is in chapter three was, Did you see that girl? You mean Curleys girl? Like crooks, Curleys wife does not have a say in anything. In the novel Lennie is another character who is also lonely. He is mentally ill, and has the mind of a child who is five years old. He imitates quite often what George is doing, just like a child would do to someone else for example, He pulled his hat down a little more over his eyes, the way Georges was. He also has the tendency to forget things that he has been told, and is quite often called a crazy bastard by George. For example, So you forgot awready, did you? I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ, youre a crazy bastard. Like Crooks, And Curleys wife, Lennie cant go out with the other men, such as when the whole group went into town Lennie had to stay behind with Crooks. He can not do this because he cant be trusted with meeting strangers, such as like what happened in Weed when he supposedly raped that little girl. What really happened was that he just wanted to feel the girls dress because he likes to feel soft and furry materials, and he panicked and the only thing he could do was to hold on until George had to sock him. Lennie also is Lonely because he does not have the choice to do what he wants, George has to give him instructions and tell him whats right and whats wrong. At the near beginning of the novel Lennie wanted to keep a dead mouse which he said he had found dead, however George told him to give the mouse over to him and Lennie, (who loves to pet mice and furry things) and Lennie handed the mouse over to George and obeyed him. Its only a mouse George A mouse? A live mouse? Uh-uh. Jus a dead mouse, George. I didnt kill it. Honest I found it. I found it dead. Give it here, said George. Aw, leave me have it, George. Give it here! Lennies closed hand slowly obeyed. Lennie is also a tall built man who isnt aware of his own strengths. He likes to pet mice but always kills them because he doesnt know his own strength. E. g. They was so little, he said apologetically. Id pet em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and they was dead. Lennie has also often been compared to animals in the novel. All these things about Lennie like being a bit dumb, being forgetful or just being childish are what I think make him so lonely in the novel. He is nothing like anyone else, he doesnt ever want to cause trouble but he does it all the time without knowing what hes getting himself into and because of that he can not socialise with many other people which I believe is resulting in his loneliness in the novel. Another character in the novel of mice and men who is lonely is Candy. Candy only has his dog to keep him company, and was very sad to see the dog go after he was shot due to his bad smell. Candy has only his dog and has always been devoted to it. When he was told to shoot the dog he looked at it for a while and replied. No, he said softly. No, I couldnt do that. I had Im too long. Not only does Candy require his dog for companionship but the dog needs Candy for basic survival, the dog obeys Candy. E. g. Come on boy. Come on, boy,he said gently. The old dog slowly and stiffly to his feet and followed the gently pulling leash. Even though the dog has been physically damaged, Candy still wants to stay with it and keep it. Ill put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with. Aint nothing left for him. Cant eat, cant see, cant even walk without hurtin. Candy even didnt except another little pup from slim because he loved that dog so much. So despite the dog being physically damaged and not being able to do anything, Candy needs the dog because its the only thing he has got and he loves it and has really gotten use to it. He was left feeling lonely after it was shot.

Models of Communication Essay Example for Free

Models of Communication Essay Communication Model: A model is an abstracted model of reality. A good model comes as close to reality as possible and discusses and explains the reality. But being an abstraction, a model is not a reality; it is only a representation of reality. For e.g: an architectural model is only a model of the house giving a fair idea of the number of rooms, layout etc; but it is not the house per say. Defination: communication model is a pictorial representation to show the structure of communication process in which various components/ elements are linked. They are based on assumptions that theorists make as to how communication functions and what effect it has upon individuals and society.a a variety of models exist, all of which strive to explain the different components of communication and the role each part plays in the total process. Advantages of models: * They allow us to ask questions * They clarify complexity by reducing the process to simple, more familiar terms. * They lead us to new discoveries by positioning hypothetical ideas and relationships. Limitations * Can lead to over-simplification. * Can lead to confusion between models and the actual behavior it potrays. * Models can be confused with reality. By looking at the models we hope to: * Represent the main lines of thought above the process of mass communication. * It provides us with historical review of the progress in human understanding of how communication works. Functions of models: * Providing images of the whole that one may not otherwise be able to see. * Helps in understanding information in a simplified way which would be otherwise complicated and ambiguous. Evaluation of communication models: * How general is the model? How much material does it organize? * How fruitful is the model? How helpful is it in discovering relations, facts or materials? * How accurate and original is the model? * How important is it to the field of enquiry? History: * Models started with a simple ‘source- message-channel-receiver’ process but were rapidly modified during the 50’s. * The 1950’s was a fertile period; critical aspects to the communication process were added to develop a more comprehensive picture. * During the decades of the 60’s and 70’s the interest in relevant model building had shifted towards search on specific aspects of the model rather than the process. * Also increasing complexity of understanding of the process made diagrammatic representation difficult. Aristotle’s model of communication: Writing 300 years before the birth of Christ, Aristotle provided an explanation of oral communication that is still worthy of attention. Based on five basic elements, his model is focused more on public speaking rather that interpersonal communication.

What Is A Sexual Revolution?

What Is A Sexual Revolution? Answer: Sexual revolution is a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationship throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s. At the end of the Second World War, Wilhelm Reich introduced American readers to some of his earlier writings under the title The Sexual Revolution (1945). Explaining that this revolution went to the roots of human emotional, social, and economic existence, he presented himself as a radical (from Latin radix: root), i.e. as a man who examines these roots and who then fearlessly speaks the truth that sets humanity free. The truth, according to Reich, was that Western civilization had made people sick by imposing on them an unnatural, destructive sexual morality. However, thanks to various modern social and scientific upheavals, the natural human life functions were finally awakening after a sleep of thousands of years. The future would restore sexual health and, for the first time, bring full human autonomy. In 19th-century France and Germany several new small revolutions tried to speed up the process of modernization and to expand individual rights, but they failed. Repressive marriage and family laws and the denial of suffrage kept women in their place. Literary censorship hampered the free flow of ideas and kept the public sexually ignorant. Nevertheless, when technological progress made the mass production of condoms possible, many men and women began to plan the size of their families and thus quietly started a contraceptive revolution. As a result, they gained at least some measure of sexual self-determination, even if it remained unrecognized by the state. Eventually, however, the gap between traditional ideology and practical reality grew so wide that a drastic readjustment was all but inevitable. This readjustment was brought about by the First World War which announced the collapse of the rigid old political order. In 1917, when the revolution came to Russia, it expressly inclu ded equal rights for women and universal sexual freedom in its program. Thus, for the first time, a sexual revolution became official government policy. By the same token, in the bourgeois, capitalist societies of the West which are dedicated to individual freedom, the sexual revolution continues. The right to sexual self-determination is considered as important as ever, and, indeed, various sexual liberation groups are working hard to extend it. In the United States, the struggle for an Equal Rights Amendment, legal abortion, the repeal of sodomy, prostitution and obscenity laws, and an end to discrimination against homosexuals are perhaps the best known current examples. At the same time, more and more people also take advantage of those sexual rights that have already been granted. Thus, the movement toward sexual emancipation is still gaining in strength. It is this change in attitude, more than anything else, that amounts to a revolution. Instead of blindly following inherited customs, we now decide for ourselves what sexual activity is proper. Therefore, even if our overt behavior remains the same, it now has a different meaning. We have learned that there are alternatives, that there is nothing eternal or sacred about our sexual morality. We no longer submit to blanket taboos or suspend our judgment. In short, we have become used to questioning the legitimacy of our traditions. At least in this sense, the talk about a sexual revolution is fully justified. We have to remember that significant social changes occur not only when people change what they do. It may be enough that they change the way they think about it. It may be enough that different behaviors become defensible, that moral options develop which did not exist before. The old sexual standards seemed unassailable as long as they were taken for granted. However, today radical changes of all sorts have become conceivable and even plausible to many formerly uncritical men and women. Thus, past and present are no longer reliable guides to the future. Religious dogmas have been replaced by scientific hypotheses, certainties by doubts. At the same time, our choices and responsibilities have increased. There is cause for great joy as well as for great anxiety, in the area of sex, as in so many other areas of life, virtually anything seems to have become possible. b) Why do societies control peoples sexual behavior? Answer: Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons. Sexual activity normally results in sexual arousal and physiological changes in the aroused person, some of which are pronounced while others are more subtle. Sexual activity also includes conduct and activities which are intended to arouse the sexual interest of another, such as strategies to find or attract partners (mating and display behavior), and personal interactions between individuals, such as flirting and foreplay. Human sexual activity has psychological, biological, physical and emotional aspects. Biologically, it refers to the reproductive mechanism as well as the basic biological drive that exists in all species and can encompass sexual intercourse and sexual contact in all its forms. Emotional aspects deal with the int ense personal bonds and emotions generated between sexual partners by a sexual activity. Physical issues around sexuality range from purely medical considerations to concerns about the physiological or even psychological and sociological aspects of sexual behavior. In some cultures sexual activity is considered acceptable only within marriage, although premarital and extramarital sex are also common. Some sexual activities are illegal either universally or in some countries, and some are considered against the norms of a society. For example, sexual activity with a person below some age of consent and sexual assault in general are criminal offenses in many jurisdictions. c) How does sexuality play a part in social inequality? Answer: sexuality play an important part in the social inequality such as interpersonal behavior. Day-to-day interaction between women and men perpetuates male dominance. Gender differences in conversational patterns reflect differences in power. Womens speech is more polite than mens. Women end statements with tag questions (dont you agree? you know?). Men are more direct, interrupt more, and talk more, notwithstanding the stereotype that women are more talkative. Males typically initiate interaction with women; they pursue, while females wait to be asked out (Eitzen, 2000:260). Of the issues discussed in this chapter (prostitution, teen pregnancy, pornography, sexual violence and abortion) which do you think is the most important for Malaysian society today? Why? Answer: From the sex video created by Umno to topple Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim right down to the MACC officer caught watching smut in office, Malaysian news now only have one major point to highlight: sex and pornography The production and distribution of pornographic movies are economic activities of some importance. The exact size of the economy of pornography and the influence that it plays in political circles are matters of controversy. In many countries it is legal to both produce and distribute pornography featuring performers age 18 or older; however there are often restrictions placed upon such material. If we were to stop for a moment and take the time to properly assess the community impact of internet pornography, it would soon become clear that internet pornography is not the height of evil which do-gooder parliamentarians and parental groups profess. Indeed, it is probably one of the main factors contributing to a Professor Damato suggests there are two predominant reasons why an increase in the availability of pornography has led to a reduction in rape. First, using pornographic material provides an easy avenue for the sexually desirous to get it out of their system. Second, Damato points to the so-called Victorian effect. This dates back to the old Victorian era where people covered up their bodies with an immense amount of clothing, generating a greater mystery as to what they looked like naked. Damato suggests that the free availability of pornography since the 1970s, and the recent bombardment of internet pornography, has de-mystified sex, thus satisfying the sexually curious. You may well ask while this positive correlation between an increase in pornography (specifically internet pornography) and a reduction in rape has been demonstrated in the United States, do the statistics in Australia present a similar positive correlation? Ana Mendieta and Jenny Saville: Compare and Contrast Essay Ana Mendieta and Jenny Saville: Compare and Contrast Essay Compare and contrast the work of two contemporary women illustrators or artists. Situate their work in a social and historical context and examine how their work addresses questions of gendered identity. In this essay, I will examine the work of Ana Mendieta and Jenny Saville, two contemporary women artists from two separate movements in history; The Womens Movement of the 1970s, and The Britart Movement of the 1990s. I will compare and contrast the different approaches they take on female subjectivity, and then conclude with whom raises questions of gendered identity the most effectively. Jenny Saville was sprung into the art world when Charles Saatchi famously discovered her work and set her up in a studio to paint more pictures for him to buy. She joined the ranks of other young British artists to be part of the movement known as Britart, an explosion which culminated from media and political hype at that time, namely Cool Brittania. Saville read extensively on the subject of feminist theory, with particular interest on why, as feminist art historian Linda Nochlin pointed out, there have been no great women artists. Her paintings are often compared to old masters Rubens and Courbet, but most usually to contemporary painter Lucien Freud. As such, she is typically described as a New Old Master based on the technical aptitude and sheer scale of her female nudes which are implicitly related to the male-dominated art history. Unlike those male predecessors, Saville paints from a starkly female point of view. Her figures are not the idealised stereotype of beauty painted with the male gaze in mind; their flesh takes on all manner of mottled tones and their bodies are far from erotically posed.The history of art has been dominated by men, living in ivory towers, seeing women as sexual objects. I paint women as most women see themselves. I try to catch their identity, their skin, their hair, their heat, their leakiness. I do have this sense with female flesh that things are leaking out. A lot of our flesh is blue, like butchers meat. In history, pubic hair has always been perfect, painted by men. In real life, it moves around, up your stomach, or down your legs. (Independent interview, 1994) Plan, 1993, a 9ft high nude self portrait, towers above the viewer like a mountain of flesh. The figures arm is drawn across both breasts in a gesture which suggests negativity while the scale of the canvas and perspective makes the body look gargantuan; the contours of the flesh are marked as if Saville is on a hospital trolley waiting for her fat to be sucked out by a cosmetic surgeon. Alison Rowley asks if Saville worries about her size in an article on scale. it would be possible to read as signified by the size of the canvas for Plan Savilles figuration of the psychic dimensions of her own body, as it is constructed at the intersection of her physical body with all those discourses, of the fashion and cosmetics, the diet, health products and plastic surgery industry, that operate to produce the sign desirable feminine body for this culture as something other than her size and shape. The composition of the figure within the frame strengthens this signification: not only does it n eed a canvas 9 x 7 to accommodate it but even then its a squash to get it in. As I understand it, Saville addresses her gender through challenging the expectations placed on women to look good in a male-dominated society. She herself admits I havent had liposuction myself but I did fall for that body wrap thing where they promise four inches off, or your money back. and she states beauty as being the male image of the female body. (Independent Interview, 1994) She frequently uses herself in her images but the exaggerated folds of flesh speak volumes in an age where we are obsessed with our bodies. The standard reaction, particularly from a male view point is to recoil in disgust, prompting us to question how the media has so effectively brainwashed a society to think plastic surgery is normal; when in fact the horrifying reality is that women now feel a desperate sense of urgency to have their bodies prodded, probed and sliced in the name of beauty. By materializing the abject female body, Saville reveals what lurks in the feminine imagination. That is to say, by representing a specific idea of femininity, she speaks to the disparity between the way that many women feel about their bodies and the reality of how those bodies are perceived by others. Michelle Meagher. Jenny Saville and a Feminist Aesthetics of Disgust. Page 34 Jenny Savilles monumental paintings speak up for women with a strong political message for the age we live in. She pushes her brilliant and relentless embodiment of our worst anxieties about our own corporeality and gender Nochlin, Linda 2000. Floating in Gender Nirvana. Art in America 88. Page 97) with shocking reality and is a testament to how history and society has shaped us. In the series Closed Contact, Saville took a diversion from paint to collaborate with fashion photographer Glen Luchford. The resulting grotesquely distorted self-portraits were achieved via manipulation of the flesh upon a plane of perspex. The same strikingly similar effects were created in a work entitled Glass on Body from 1972 by the artist Ana Mendieta. She, as Saville, manipulated her face, breasts, hips, thighs and buttocks against a sheet of glass, thus interpreting her body as sculpture to provocative effect. Saville refers to her body as a prop, saying in an interview with Elton John Its like loaning my body to myself. So the flesh becomes like a material. In the photographs the flesh was like paint. Those pictures all came out of my exposure to plastic surgery. I worked with this plastic surgeon in New York for quite a few months, and I saw all of this manipulation of flesh and liposuction and surgeons fists moving around inside breasts. (Interview. Elton John. October 20 03.) I think a reference to Mendietas manipulation of her own malleable flesh against the glass and the resulting carnivalesque perversion of her once recognizable figure turn body art toward such feminist issues as the normative construction of beauty and the female body as monstrous other. Blocker, Jane Where is Ana Mendieta? Identity, Performativity, and Exile (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999) P.11 is an equally appropriate understanding of Savilles art. Anna Mendieta emerged during the womans art movement of the 1970s. Being exiled from her native country of Cuba when she was 12 years old resulted in feelings of displacement, and she addressed issues of cultural identity as well as her gender through performance and body art. Unlike Saville, who traditionally uses paint in a realist sense, Mendieta explored these relatively new mediums when she realized my paintings were not real enough for what I wanted the image to convey and by real I mean I wanted my images to have power, to be magic. (Ana Mendieta: Pain of Cuba, Body I Am Kaira M. Cabanas Womans Art Journal, Vol. 20, Page 12) While dealing with taboo subject matter she could directly change the male gaze from one customarily of desire and give a voice to the female nude that for centuries before did not have one. In a performance in 1972, Mendieta had a male friend shave off his facial hair as she applied the pieces to her face, thus assuming the symbols of male identity. Savi lle addressed the same issue with Passage, 2004, which features a transvestite between genders.Thirty or forty years ago this body couldnt have existed and I was looking for a kind of contemporary architecture of the body. I wanted to paint a visual passage through gender a sort of gender landscape. (Saatchi Gallery) Although both artists focus on the female body, Mendieta used her own for every art piece she created and, unlike Saville, she took her work out of the studio. Her Siluetas series combined issues of race and identity when she left imprints of her body in the landscape. These earth-body sculptures were created with natural materials such as flowers, earth, fire and blood and, as with most of her works, were linked to the rituals of Santeria, a religion that grew out of the slave trade in Cuba and which Mendieta studied to get back to her roots. The Siluetas seem to change form and shape from one to the other, and some take on the exaggerated appearance of a vagina, the uniquely female thing that appears central to most feminist art. by creating a fusion with nature, Mendieta affirms, through their common fertility, a feminine specificity. The Earth-mother in this respect constitutes an all powerful, truly mythical generality, in which Mendietas body literally melts, and in a certain s ense becomes lost; the affirmation of a collective identity so clearly implying the dissolution of personal identity. Creissels, Anne From Leda to Daphne, Sacrifice and Virginity in the Work of Ana Mendieta in The Sacred and the Feminine, Imagination and Sexual Difference, ed. By Griselda Pollock and Victoria Turvey Sauron (London: I.B.Tauris, 2007) p. 183 The problem is that women working with nature is regarded as a uniquely feminine approach and has the disadvantage of contributing to the perpetuation of a system of domination founded on the opposition of the sexes. Creissels, Anne From Leda to Daphne, Sacrifice and Virginity in the Work of Ana Mendieta in The Sacred and the Feminine, Imagination and Sexual Difference, ed. By Griselda Pollock and Victoria Turvey Sauron (London: I.B.Tauris, 2007) p. 183 An earlier work from 1973, Rape Scene, was a performance in which Mendieta smeared herself in blood and tied herself face down on a table to be discovered by colleagues she had invited to her apartment. It dealt with violence against the female body and aimed to expose the violence and control that can lie behind the (male) gaze, which for them (us) is neither novel nor escapable. (Where is Ana Mendieta? Jane Blocker. Page 15) A photograph documenting the scene appears remarkably as if intended to look like forensic evidence. Blood was frequently used in Mendietas performances to spark controversy. A Self-portrait from 1973 shows Mendieta with blood running down her face as she looks down into the lens of the camera. This compares with a piece by Saville entitled Reverse, in which the artists head is shown sideways on a reflective surface. Both Mendietas and Savilles faces look bloodied and brutal, as though they had been beaten up. The eyes in both are empty and listless. Lips are parted. The depiction of Savilles face in Reverse as swollen and scabbed actually comes from her fascination with plastic surgery and the women who underwent such operations. However, she would never call her paintings self-portraits as she is not interested in the outward personality. I dont use the anatomy of my face because I like it, not at all. I use it because it brings out something from inside, a neurosis. (Under the skin, The Guardian, Suzie Mackenzie, 22/10/2005) Ana Mendieta and other artists involved with the womans art movement did accomplish a lot by breaking the boundaries and bringing to light the injustices women have to bear just for being female thus establishing a place for womens art. The visual language raised by Mendieta in her performances had an ethereal poignancy reflecting her traumatic childhood experience. However, as other female artists of the era were creating art with their bodies while spiritually bonding with nature it was easy to term them as Goddess Artists Edelson, Mary Beth, Male Grazing: An Open Letter to Thomas McEvilley in Feminisim-Art-Theory, an Anthology 1968-2000, ed. By Hilary Robinson (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001)P.593 a category they vehemently objected to, but nonetheless, creating giant vaginas and frolicking naked in the leaves can detract from the serious feminist angle. Jenny Savilles art cannot be taken anything but seriously. Her uniquely female perspective of nude women which have historic ally been painted by men for centuries begs the question, has a patriarchal art history defined beauty? The expectations placed on women to look a certain way are crushingly everywhere. The female form is nothing but an object of desire for the very men that moulded this ideal and the women who desire that unattainable ideal. In a society where women are controlled via a visual media which has evolved from pictures made by man, Saville has opened my eyes to the rituals I perform in the upkeep of being female. In contrast, Mendietas ritualistic performances, although captivating and thought provoking, seem more about self-cleansing and embedded in the spiritual to compete with men in a patriarchal art world.

A True Patriot: Walt Whitman Essay -- essays research papers fc

A True Patriot: Walt Whitman When one talks of great American Poets, if the person has any since of intelligence, then they can in now way fail to mention Walt Whitman. Whitman is unmistakingly a great American poet, So great, that Ralph Waldo Emerson said that he was an â€Å"American Shakespeare† (Tucker 247). While the debate still goes on about that comment, there is no debate about the greatness of Whitman. Walt Whitman was born in West Hills, NY on May 31, 1819 on Long Island. He was the second of nine children. He never developed a close relationship with his father, but he was very close to his mother. When he was four, he moved to Brooklyn where he went to school for six years and, when he was eleven, dropped out and began work as a clerk in a Law Office. Shortly thereafter, he became a typesetter’s apprentice. He then began to teach school on Long Island. Bored by this, he began to edit and publish the Long Islander, an area newspaper (Funk 293). But this attempt at a steady job was unsuccessful as well, he then began to write political essays and started to write what would become his life's work Leaves of Grass. He would write various books of poems, most of which would be added to Leaves of Grass, which he re-published nine times. Whitman spent his last days as the sage of Camden, New Jersey, where he died on March 36, 1892 (Magill 406). Walt Whitman, through his admiration for a fallen President, condemnation of war, and his theme of camaraderie, illustrates a definition of patriotism. Walt Whitman was an American, and he loved President Abraham Lincoln. He had the upmost respect for the sixteenth President of the United States. His admiration was shown in his most famous work, O’ Captain, My Captain. This is without a doubt the most popular poem of Whitman’s career. In it, he repeats the word Captain; this word refers to Abraham Lincoln, the fallen President. He uses phrases like â€Å"fallen cold and dead† to tell of the mournful death of Lincoln. Whitman mentions a â€Å"ship†, which is the Union in the Civil War. He also uses the â€Å"voyage† to symbolize the Civil War. The overall mood of this elegy to Lincoln is grievance for the lost loved one of Whitman. He had a deep reverence for the President and it was a great pain for him when Lincoln was assassinated (Whitman 63). Another poem that Whitman wrote, that is famous for its grievance of the fallen Presi... ...d have to be close with those around you. The only way to counteract the horrors of war is the camaraderie of the soldiers, if they developed friendships then they could look past the horrible thing that is war (Magill 406). A patriot is defined as a person who loves his or her country. If there is anyone that has ever lived in this great country that can be called that, then it should be Walt Whitman. Whitman showed his love for his country and his allegiance to his president. One can deny that he is the greatest American poet, but no one can deny that he is a great American patriot. Works Cited Magill, Frank N. ed. Magill’s Critical Survey of Poetry. 7 vols. Englewood Cliffs, 1987. Tucker, Martin ed. Moulton’s Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. The Mid-Nineteenth Century to Edwardianism. Englewood Cliffs, 1975. Unger, Leonard ed. American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. 7 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1974. Whitman, Walt. Drum Taps. Grosset & Dunlap New York: NODATE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Whitman, Walt. â€Å"Leaves of Grass.† Timeless, Timeless, Themes: The American Experience. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2000.

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues - The Struggle of Sexual Minorities Es

The Struggle of Sexual Minorities Explaining how to challenge the discriminatory attitudes that remain rampant throughout the world, Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a recent article, quotes the incisive words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "We are all of equal worth, born equal in dignity and born free and for this reason deserving respect. . . . We belong in a world whose very structure, whose essence, is diversity almost bewildering in extent, and it is to live in a fool's paradise to ignore this basic fact." The archbishop's words lay bare an essential, wonderful truth about humanity, ignorance of which continues to create suffering for people everywhere. One group of people for whom the question of respect for diversity and individual freedoms comes into stark relief are those belonging to so-called sexual minorities. The struggle for acceptance by sexual minorities is almost universally undertaken in the face of strong and often even violent prejudice and misunderstanding. This year, from March 8--11, SGI-USA held its first Gay, Lesbian, ...

Church And State :: essays research papers fc

Church and State The theory of evolution is at odds with the views of many religions, and many people want to allow a religious view of creationism to be taught in the public school system. The foundation of evolution is based upon the belief that the origin of all ordered complex systems, including living creatures, can be explained by natural laws without the initiation or intervention of God. A person who believes in the biblical model of creation is viewed by some non- believers as a naive, narrow-minded religious fanatic who is not willing to look at the observable evidence with an open mind. Because the evolutionary idea of origins has been so widely accepted by the scientific community, many people have reasoned that the creation model should be completely rejected without fairly examining its claims. Even many Christians who have deep trust and faith in the Bible have never really understood the claims of the creation account (McLean 11). Over the past several years, a great deal of controversy surrounding the creation-evolution issue has been generated by scientists who have based their claims on the creation model and have been willing to let their reputations stand. Creationists have openly requested that when the discussion of origins occurs in the public school system, both the model of creation and evolution be presented side by side. Initially, scientists and educators who have accepted the theory of evolution without question were reluctant to pay any serious attention to creationism; however, it has now become apparent that substantial numbers of people are taking creationism seriously. Many evolutionists view this trend as a serious threat to the advancement of science and have vowed to do everything in their power to stop the teaching of creation in the public school system. Most evolutionists now view creationism as nothing more than a particular version of fundamentalist Christianity with no valid scientific content. One hundred-fifty years ago such a theory for the origin and history of the earth and life would have been termed absurd. Today, however, those who reject the idea of random evolutionary processes being responsible for designing life and shaping the geological features of the earth are termed religious, unscientific fanatics. Today, throughout the industrialized world, the moment children are able to respond to their environment, they are constantly bombarded with the doctrine of evolution. Faith in the biblical concept of creation by the hand of God is ridiculed and rejected by the secular system of education. Humanistic thinking widely accepts evolution as fact, even though "The all-too frequent picture of evolution as a progression from ameba to man, is, and always has been, utterly

Hierarchical in organization Essay

The most essential yet fundamental thing to remember with the Japanese in terms of business is their giving significance to personal relationship first before business considerations. Putting enough time and resources for relationship building is necessary for achieving success in business. Japanese business structure is hierarchical in organization with specific roles to perform. Team work and group orientation are ways of life observed in all corporate life at all levels. The Japanese do not really engaged themselves in formal trainings on teambuilding; they are just by nature collectivists that use the consensus approach in all issues of concern. Strength and purpose of any Japanese business organization came from the sense of belongingness. Involvement and commitment in the workplace are based primarily from compromise and collaboration in terms of decision making. Top-down approach, where the flow of information comes from subordinates and forwarded to higher-ups is the Japanese management style. Therefore, the policy is always initiated at the middle management. This approach is advantageous, because everyone in the company took active involvement in the creation of rules and procedures. For the Japanese being a valuable boss is not founded on having strong personality and being influential. Humbleness and non-aspiring must be the maintainable characters of any manager as he climbs the ladder of the hierarchy. A Japanese manager should always be available at all times and ready to contribute his expertise without hesitation to his people. Excellent management and teamwork can be attained through a harmonious employer-employee rapport. In meetings, being punctual is a sign of respect for the Japanese. Although, it is very hard to conclude the finality of a decision in terms of time, because they always think in a consensus style, patience is much needed. Before the start of any meeting, attendees usually talk about non-business topics such as food, hobbies, and health etc to set up the relationship-building process, which is necessary for the success of the business meeting. Wa or harmony is at all times part of any meeting. Debates, confrontations and disagreements are to be avoided, though at time indispensable in searching for a solution. Since reaching a decision should undergo a process of consensus-building plus the conservation of Wa, endurance in time is really important. During serious meeting, bringing in humor is considered out of place. The biggest issue of worry when undertaking business transaction with Japanese is communication difficulties. What Japanese publicly says in words and what he really thinks is often contradictory; that causes trouble and confusion to the non-Japanese in terms of conversation. Troubles in communication is made complex by the reality that few Japanese are good English conversant and foreigners as well do not speak good Japanese. In addition, Japanese people hardly use body language, as they are very motionless and unusual to make feedback. In order to check the situation it is necessary to ask several questions for understanding. To further clearly understand each other, clarification is best to be undertaken in order to make problem-solving and decision-making prompt. Culture in Canada Canada, often referred to as â€Å"nation of nations†, is twice the geographical area of the United States with approximately 30 million people living in it. It was founded by the rich heritage of French and English with combination from non-French and English countries. Canada has two official languages, English and French. The country’s national advantage is its cultural diversity, which is the reason for prohibiting bias against person on the basis of race, color, religion, or gender. Canada takes pleasure in a society that is open and relatively free of class difference. Citizens of the country are proud that all of them enjoy equal rights and respect and dislike remarks that lack respect to anyone coming from a specific background. Canada has the highest per capita level of postsecondary education participation of any industrialized country. The entire universities are publicly funded institutions; however students still shell out for tuition fees. National and provincial support programs are in place to lend a hand to students in postsecondary schooling. Christianity is the primary religion. The principal language in Canada is English. There are however, at least three varieties of French that are acknowledged: Quebecois in Quebec, Franco-Manitoban all the way through Manitoba and for the most part in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg, and Acadian. The Italian language is the third language in Canada owing to a huge arrival of Italian immigrants after World War 2.