«In any unfavorable situation, we seek a solution and if there is none, then a way out. When one of main characters of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible finds herself in a vulnerable position, she not only manages to escape her problems, but also succeeds...» Document abstract
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literature
book review
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03/06/2008
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SummaryIn any unfavorable situation, we seek a solution and if there is none, then a way out. When one of main characters of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible finds herself in a vulnerable position, she not only manages to escape her problems, but also succeeds in placing the repercussions of her actions on the heads of others. An unmarried and orphaned young woman, Abigail Williams comes from a modest social class. She served in the well-respected Proctor household, but only briefly, as Elizabeth Proctor dismissed her shortly after discovering her husband’s affair with Abigail. With no real buttress of any kind in her life, Abigail only has her good name to lose. The niece of Reverend Parris, Abigail not only fears for her reputation if the word of her relationship with John Proctor were to be known, but also the contempt of her only relative in the town and with him, any chastisements the church may administer. Abigail also fears being an outcast, someone on a rung of society’s ladder that is even lower than her own. With her reputation ruined, she would be forced to live in shame as a so-called harlot.
Table of Contents
- The niece of Reverend Parris, Abigail not only fears for her reputation if the word of her relationship with John Proctor were to be known.
- Abigail is mainly motivated by her need for power and control.
- Abigail faces no single test, as her crucible is presented several times throughout the story, each time with more severe consequences as odds.
- Abigail Williams is crucial character in Miller's play and serves to answer the reader's question, 'How could something like this happen??
A critical review of ‘A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War by Harry V. Jaffa
«A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War by Harry V. Jaffa is the long awaited sequel to the author’s 1959 book, Crisis of the House Divided. Although the specific objective of the A New Birth of Freedom is to examine...» Document abstract
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SummaryA New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War by Harry V. Jaffa is the long awaited sequel to the author’s 1959 book, Crisis of the House Divided. Although the specific objective of the A New Birth of Freedom is to examine Lincoln’s development of the Gettysburg Address, what makes the text so unique is that it focuses on Lincoln as a scholar. This aspect of Lincoln’s personality is often overlooked in the context of autobiographical data on Lincoln.With the realization that Jaffa spends so much of he text focusing on Lincoln as a scholar, this investigation seeks to provide a clear understanding of Lincoln in this light. By examining what Jaffa writes about Lincoln as a scholar and comparing this to what others have written on this historical figure, it will be possible to demonstrate that Jaffa’s work makes a notable contribution to scholarly understanding of Lincoln as both a man and a leader.
Table of Contents
- With the realization that Jaffa spends so much of he text focusing on Lincoln as a scholar, this investigation seeks to provide a clear understanding of Lincoln in this light.
- Jaffa goes on to argue that Lincoln's interpretation of the Declaration of Independence is what served as the basis for him to support the abolition of slavery.
- To illustrate this point one only needs to consider Francis Fisher Browne and John Y. Simon's recent biography which chronicles the everyday life of Abraham Lincoln.
- Other writers examining Lincoln's life also appear to be quite preoccupied with Lincoln's ability to fit into his surroundings.
- Neely maintains that Lincoln typically became rigid and inflexible in his attitudes and opinions, preferring to rely on to the strict interpretations provided by the Constitution.Although this may provide for provocative read material it does not appear to provide a fair and accurate picture of this historical figure.
- In the end, Jaffa's work provides a strong historical analysis of how Lincoln was able to effectively serve as president of the United States.
«References to Asia often bring to mind the stunning beauty of the Orient. Rich cultural tradition coupled with unique design and architecture make Asia appear to be an almost mythical culture to Western citizens. While it is indeed true that Asia is...» Document abstract
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03/06/2008
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SummaryReferences to Asia often bring to mind the stunning beauty of the Orient. Rich cultural tradition coupled with unique design and architecture make Asia appear to be an almost mythical culture to Western citizens. While it is indeed true that Asia is associated with an exotic culture deeply entrenched in historical discourse, researchers examining this region of the globe have note that the region is also struggling to come to terms with maintaining culture in the wake of rapid industrialization and globalization. Although countries such as China have worked hard to balance tradition and progress, it is clear that the changes that have taken place in the country have placed notable stress on citizens. At the present time, many Asian citizens are being economically marginalized because of such rapid development.
Table of Contents
- Introduction.
- As family struggle to survive, many women and girls have found work in the brothels of large Asian cities such as Bangkok.
- World Health Organization (WHO) (2001) undertook an extensive investigation of the problem.
- . The United Nations has firmly supported the development of human rights policies that protect the rights of society's most vulnerable citizens
- Conclusion.
«Over the course of the twentieth century there have been a number of issues that have promulgated debate. Prayer in public schools, gun control and abortion are among the most notable issues to garner attention. While each of these issues has...» Document abstract
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Language : english
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03/06/2008
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SummaryOver the course of the twentieth century there have been a number of issues that have promulgated debate. Prayer in public schools, gun control and abortion are among the most notable issues to garner attention. While each of these issues has significant ramifications for the development of society, there is one particular issue that continues to polarize debate and unsettle even may of the most liberal politicians. This issue is the capital punishment.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- The Death Penalty and Minorities
- Placed in this context it becomes evident that there are notable disparities between the African Americans and Whites sentenced to death.
«It is arguable that today it is commonly, if subconsciously, accepted that nationality is the most important aspect of one’s identity. Whether it is a national sports team, a national representative at Eurosong, a national author…etc. one’s...» Document abstract
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Language : english
humanities/philosophy
term papers
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03/06/2008
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SummaryIt is arguable that today it is commonly, if subconsciously, accepted that nationality is the most important aspect of one’s identity. Whether it is a national sports team, a national representative at Eurosong, a national author…etc. one’s nationality has become the most basic marker of identity. It would be logical then to assume on this basis that having a nation expressed in territorial terms would of the highest priority, and some might even say that this feeling of nationalism and self-determination is an inherent right of all peoples. What is unclear, however, is how these nations come to define themselves, and why they feel they must define themselves in a specific way. For many nations today these questions are taken for granted because they haven’t had to defend them (in their lifetime of course, almost all nations at one point or another have had to “assert” themselves). Today we have certain common markers of identity that distinguish us from other nations and make us unique. These criteria are most commonly seen to be language, religion, a shared history, a common goal, and a common culture (including literature, music, food, mythology, sport, symbols…etc.).
Table of Contents
- Since its annexation by Britain in 1801 Ireland has been fighting for independence from that same nation.
- During the Irish fight for Independence religion was used as a clear marker of difference.
- Another very similar case of identity-forming as a result of a nationalist movement can be seen in Bosnia.
- Just as in Ireland, language and culture were also being used as a means of disintegration.
- It is evident from these two cases that markers of identity such as language, culture, religion and others are manipulated by individuals or groups.
Hospitable Hosts, Educated Elites: Relativism vs. Absolutism in the writings of Alberuni and Ibn Battuta
«In exploring nations and cultures outside of their own, Alberuni and Ibn Battuta encountered ideologies, customs, and practices that stood in opposition to the beliefs and ways of life they personally upheld. Faced with foreign behavior and thought,...» Document abstract
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SummaryIn exploring nations and cultures outside of their own, Alberuni and Ibn Battuta encountered ideologies, customs, and practices that stood in opposition to the beliefs and ways of life they personally upheld. Faced with foreign behavior and thought, the authors found themselves in a position to judge, to criticize or compliment the outside culture. Both authors incorporated cultural relativism (the doctrine that all judgment is relative, and that one must look at a culture from an insider’s point of view to judge it) in some instances of their texts, and adopt culturally absolutist standpoints (judgment based on an absolute, universal scale without considering different cultural circumstances) in others. Though neither is clearly absolutist or relativist, the authors have separate reasons for reserving judgment.
Table of Contents
- Alberuni's relativism in the qualitative sciences.
- Relativism ceases when Alberuni is discussing the sciences of numbers and measurement.
- He shows remarkable relativism when discussing the 'educated' Hindu.
- Another factor in Ibn Battuta's relativism is his level of personal security.
- Ibn Battuta makes no special claim to objectivity as does Alberuni.
- Alberuni's scholarship determines his relativism toward educated classes and toward qualitative sciences.
«The anthropological study of capitalism is rendered difficult by the inaccessibility of capitalist subjects as informants, the political legacy of Marxist and socialist movements, and the continuing disagreement over the origins and productions of...» Document abstract
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02/06/2008
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SummaryThe anthropological study of capitalism is rendered difficult by the inaccessibility of capitalist subjects as informants, the political legacy of Marxist and socialist movements, and the continuing disagreement over the origins and productions of capitalism, among other things. However, there are a great many texts that cover the theoretical ground needed to evaluate the competing claims about political economies under conditions of capitalism. Three such texts are Immanuel Wallerstein’s The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System, Dipesh Chakrabarty’s Two Histories of Capital, and Arjun Appadurai’s The Social Life of Things. This paper puts these texts in conversation to explore some of the problems encountered when we try to specify the reach of capitalism and commodities around the world.
Table of Contents
- What emerges from this intertextual give-and-take is a set of helpful and not-so-helpful ways to think about capitalist practices.
- Identifying units of analysis.
- internalizing-via-contradiction.
- Marxist critics like Chakrabarty and Wallerstein are not unaware of this totalizing thrust within their own works.
- historian 1 and the labor of abstracting.
- Rethinking labor and production
- Universal aspirations.
- Conclusion: the end of history (one).
«On the occasion of International Women’s Day, I find myself wanting to write about feminism. I don’t know what wave I am—4th, or maybe some unknowable iteration in the process of being born and matured. But I do know that I think a lot about what it...» Document abstract
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Language : english
humanities/philosophy
presentation
date published
30/05/2008
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SummaryOn the occasion of International Women’s Day, I find myself wanting to write about feminism. I don’t know what wave I am—4th, or maybe some unknowable iteration in the process of being born and matured. But I do know that I think a lot about what it means to be a woman wielding her power in the world, and today I thought I’d share some of those thoughts with you. They don’t have much to do with Nepal, except peripherally, so my apologies.
Table of Contents
- We (women) be able to choose with whom and under what circumstances we have sex, have a baby, and get married
- For years we have fought to get equal pay for equal work, we have had to be better than our male counterparts.
- After all that has come before, it should be obvious that the feminist movement served more than one purpose.
- There are continua upon continua of discrimination, of disrespect, or turning-a-blind-eye on the part of the world.
«At the very beginning there is the structure. The structure is a skeleton, the premise, the base on which the flesh is arranged, systematically, so that a body maybe created. It may not always make itself palpable but if there is a structure then...» Document abstract
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date published
30/05/2008
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SummaryAt the very beginning there is the structure. The structure is a skeleton, the premise, the base on which the flesh is arranged, systematically, so that a body maybe created. It may not always make itself palpable but if there is a structure then there must also be a center. A structure without a center is both incomplete and dysfunctional. This is because the lack of a center deludes the very purpose of organization the structure is meant to serve. The center maintains this strict level of organization in a variety of ways. For the purpose it not just ‘orients’ and ‘balances’ the structure, but also effectively reduces or ‘limits’ the extent of ‘play’ in it. The center therefore is a reductionist tool. Its inherent purpose is at the level of ‘reducing’ or ‘neutralizing’.
Table of Contents
- Introduction.
- The ‘Absolute' and the Central Absence.
- Pinter has remained stubbornly unapologetic about the apparent lack of a concrete closure in his plays.
- The Pinter'esque Masks.
- The Known and the Un-Known: Pinter's Character Division
- Onstage and off: A Pinter pause.
«To what extent does Nietzsche impose his ideals on the reader or create an open and flexible world-view? Upon closing his arguments in On the Genealogy of Morals Nietzsche imagines a reader asking him “’What are you really doing, erecting an ideal...» Document abstract
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SummaryTo what extent does Nietzsche impose his ideals on the reader or create an open and flexible world-view? Upon closing his arguments in On the Genealogy of Morals Nietzsche imagines a reader asking him “’What are you really doing, erecting an ideal or knocking one down?’” (95). He answers with a rhetorical question: “But have you ever asked yourselves sufficiently how much the erection of every ideal on earth has cost?” (95). By this we are not to assume that he must therefore be knocking down an ideal, he is simply questioning the nature of the act of ideal creation. Rather than erecting ideals there seems to be latent in his text the idea of a different kind of ideal creation which turns back to the womb, to the potentiality of pregnancy and new generations, and finds in the mother an opportunity for rebirth of society through her artistic gift to and manifested in the child. Crucial to the development idea is an examination of the imposed, which Kant first began in his essay “What is Enlightenment?”
Table of Contents
- The answer, Kant says, is 'Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage?
- Nietzsche's critique of the history of religious guilt and its developments appears to be in line with Kant's belief
- One of the more interesting ways he does this is by examining the religion of these nobles.
- Aside from the rhetorical brilliance of this passage, Nietzsche is creating a remarkable synthesis of ideas.
- To return to our original question, what is Nietzsche imposing and what is he leaving open?
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