What the Utopian World Created Essay Example for Free

What the Utopian World Created Essay Divergent by Veronica Roth and â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, are stories of a dystopian world that take away peoples power and control. In Divergent the leader took over the people’s minds and psychologically controlled them to do what the government wanted to do. In â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† such as the government wanted power so they psychologically controlled people by handicaps where a buzzing sound go off in your ear. In doing this people would lose their train of thoughts, so the people would never know what the government was doing. The government did this so no one would ever gain more power than them, people may have noticed that the government did not do this to make things equal because they did not do it to their selves only to the people. The government/ leader used psychological control in Divergent and Harrison Bergeron through serums and handicaps, making both worlds dystopian societies. In Divergent serums is used to make people be psychologically controlled so the government can have them get rid of another faction. This is a world where they have 5 factions, which are futures for the people to live in. The Erudite which is a faction that all the smarts people live in do not like the Abnegations who are the more selfless people, so they had the dauntless faction take serum so they would kill the Abnegations. The thing is the serum does not work on the divergent people. Divergent people are people that are good at everything and dose not really fit in to a faction. Being Divergent is risky and rare so they enter a faction so no one would know they were Divergent. Beatrice the main character was divergent and found out about the serum because she was not psychologically controlled because she was Divergent, and went to the leader/government. When she got there the government said â€Å"Everyone is awake, but everyone is silent†¦they are sleepwalkers†¦of course. Eric said every Dauntless was injected yesterday. So now the entire faction is brain dead, obedient, and trained to kill† (Roth 416-417). This in psychological control because they use serum to take over a whole faction minds to do what the leader said, which made this world dystopian. In â€Å"Harrison Bergeron† handicaps were used in this a dystopian story to have psychological control. The government of this world would put handicaps on people; a handicap is something that makes the people not be able to perform their talents. Some of the handicaps were a buzzing sound that goes off in your head every 30  second so people lose your thoughts, if you were strong you had to wear weights to make people weak, and if people could see you had to wear glasses to make you see worse. â€Å"A buzzer sounded in George’s head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm† (Vonnegut). This is an example of George who was Harrison Bergeron; the main characters dad loses his memory which is psychological control. The government wanted to make a perfect society by making everyone equal but in doing that they had to use psychological control (handicaps) which turned the utopian world which they were trying to make a dystopian world. The government/ leader used psychological control in Divergent and Harrison Bergeron through serums and handicaps, making both worlds dystopian societies. With saying that the world were both try to have equality and be a perfect societies and by doing that the government had to do things to make it a dystopian. These stories are both great example of psychological control though handicaps and serum.

The Discipline Of Comparative Literature

The Discipline Of Comparative Literature Comparative Literature as a discipline implies transcending the frontiers of single languages and national literatures. For a comparatist, any literature is basically a literature which has to be studied with reference to other literatures, generally on a bilingual/ multilingual basis. The multilingual consciousness, which has often been distinguished from a polyglot situation, is characterized by the paradoxical desire to be one and yet remain many. Here we shall here make an attempt to bring together, and thereby compare and contrast, a few fundamental aspects of theme with regard to Kamala Das and Balamani Amma. Towards the conclusion of the above process, we shall try to bring forth and analyze some elements of intertextuality, prefiguration etc. which act as subliminal links between the two poets par excellence. As S.S. Prawer says, comparative thematology enables us to examine and contrast the spirit of different societies and epochs as well as those of individual talents: for the same reason, literary studies cannot be divorced from study of literary style (102). Influence studies have acquired a quite justifiable disreputation in the present times since they have been generally pursued in a mechanical, unimaginative way. Though influence cannot be totally separated from questions of analogy, affinity and tradition, it implies impulsion rather than imitation, and it is precisely the lack of mutual influence which makes the comparison interesting and meaningful (Prawer Influence, Analogy and Tradition 52). We have to remember the fact that influence is not confined to individual details, images, borrowings or even sources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ it has to be considered as something organically involved in the production of artistic works, and that there are comparable manifestations in form or i n content, in different authors, at different times with no apparent direct relationship to each other. As J. T. Shaw says, juxtaposition of comparable works may have great value in the criticism of each of them (90). We must also be aware that the study of influence can lead us to questions of intertextuality, though the manifestation of intertextuality does not by itself presuppose influence. What will be attempted here, consequently, will not be direct analogies or affinities between Kamala Das and Balamani Amma, but instances of impulsion, intertextuality, and prefiguration. The thematic and structural complexity of Kamala Dass poetry is a quite natural outcome of the more complex nature of the modern world, when compared to that of her predecessors. However, it can be seen that her basic themes boil down to a few distinctive types as demonstrated below. Though the criticism that Kamala Das is subjective and does not bother for the world around her is levelled against her, we can easily refute it by citing a few poems she has written against communal violence. For example, the poem The Inheritance is about Hinduà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœMuslimà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœChristian hatred for each other and our false belief about the superiority of our own religion. We had the inheritance of peaceful coà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœexistence, but now everything is upset. She says when at sundown, the muezzins high wail sounded from/The mosque, the chapel bells announced the angelus, and/From the temple rose the brahmins assonant chant, But now lunacy speaks: slay them who do not/Believe, or better still, disembowel their young ones/And scatter on the streets their meagre innards. In A Certain Defect in the Blood ? she states the bitter memories of having to suffer discrimination because of her nonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœAryan blood. They were in the grip of fear and were trying to crouch like spiders into tight balls, trying to escape by sleep. She refers to July 1983, probably ethnic violence of a racial base : It was a defect In our blood that made us the lands inferiors, A certain muddiness in the usual red Revealing our non Aryan descent Death has always been Kamala Dass pet topic, and it was almost like an obsession. She was for many a time in deathbed due to cardiac problems and had seen death face to face. She grew up in a strained family atmosphere where her mother belonged to royal heritage and her father peasant folk. She often says that she nourished a fascination for Death the Leveller who could level the shame of her swarthy skin, plain features and Dravidian blood. The Cartà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœHorse is about the sorrow of young and old carthorses. Lucky is the decrepit horse which falls on the way and dies spurting pink foam from its mouth. But the old people who see the young horses being shot purse their mouth and tremble when they think of the inevitability of death . In Cerebral Thrombosis, a man of eighty is in his sick bed and the relatives are sleeping (weary, three nights in a row and not even a pillow for their heads). The last line reads: Only the oxcart stumbling on and on. The images of the deathbed, delirium, death etc are brought forth to make us aware of the inevitability of death. She has time and again brought in the issue of frustration due to various reasons. The poem The Testing of the Sirens is about her experiences with a man other than her husband. He makes love to her and takes her outside for sightseeing. But in the end, she realises that there is no more night, no more love or peace, but only the white sun burning. Finally she asks, Why does love come to me, like pain again and again and again? Towards the last part of the poem Daughter of the Century she writes about how she promises to control her lust, although she was enamoured by the white man who had whiter limbs. She is fully aware of the futility and meaninglessness of life. Disillusionment is powerfully expressed in lines like No God seems too keen to preserve us. We mated like Gods but begot only our killers Each mother suckles her own enemy And hate is first nurtured at her gentle breast She had many a fear about ageing, children leaving her when they grow up, friends disowning her, words failing her etc. In the poem Tomorrow she is fearful of the onset of tomorrow. She refers to her love and devotion for her child who called her Amma, and to her dreams unfulfilled before being persecuted by the cruel world. In Womens Shuttles she appears to be very sad about ageing. She can no longer enjoy the privileges that she had enjoyed during her younger days : At my age there are no longer Any homecomings. Nothing can Bring back a twinkle in those eyes That took root in memory During those innumerable Trips behind a dear ones hearse. She did not hesitate to raise her voice against false culture and snobbery: The first part of the poem The Snobs is about her house in Calcutta. The second part registers her strong protest against snobbery and false pretensions, against the cruelty of children who disowned their mothers because their hands were workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœworn. She realises that we too, someday, by our children may be disowned. The poem Nani is mainly about a pregnant maid who hanged herself in the privy one day. They mistook the dead body for an expression of comic dance. When once she asked her grandmother about Nani she asked Who is she? It is also an expression of her philosophic thoughts about life, death and truth. She just cannot tolerate the indifference of the rich towards the poor. The poem Vrindavan hints at soothing extraà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœmarital relationship. She generalises it by saying that Vrindavan lives on in every womans mind and the flute is luring her; regarding the long scratch on her brown areola and flushed cheeks she lies to her husband that she tripped over the brambles in the woods. In Love she expresses her admiration for the man who has satisfied her desires: Until I found you I wrote verse, drew pictures and went out with friends for walks. Now that I love you, curled like an old mongrel my life lies, content in you In poems like Summer in Calcutta she speaks of the transience of human relationships. She drinks in the April sun like orange squeezed into her glass. She is intoxicated and wants him only for a moment. She realises how brief is the duration of her devotion and how brief is his reign inside her mind when she drinks the juice of April sun: Dear, forgive this moments lull in wanting you, the blur in memory. How brief the term of my devotion how brief your reign Though Kamala Das is labelled as a feminist poet by some, it seems that she broke herself away from the common kind of feminisms. Her feminine sensibility does not merely argue for gender equality, but for tender care and consideration from the male counterpart. An example is the poem The Old Playhouse, in which she says: I came to you but to learn What I was and by learning, to learn to grow, but every lesson you gave was about yourself. You were pleased with my bodys response, its weather, its usual shallow convulsions. You dribbled spittle into my mouth, you poured yourself into every nook and cranny, you embalmed my poor lust with your bitterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœsweet juices, you called me wife, Adumbrations of motherly love do not often figure in discussions on the poetry of Kamala Das. In the poem Jaisurya she tells us how proud she felt at the birth of her child and how dedicated she was to her new born baby. She wants to disregard the man who branded her with his lust à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ what matters is only the soft stir in womb, the foetus growing : They raised him to me then, proud Jaisurya, my son, separated from a darkness that was mine Poems depicting motherly love constitute the major chunk of Balamani Ammas poetry. It is often remarked that Balamani Amma is the poetess of motherhood. In the anthology titled soopaanam twenty three poems directly represent motherly love and there are many more poems which represent motherly love indirectly also. A typical example is maatru chumbanam (Kiss of the Mother). She is proud of being the mother of a human being. She kisses her child on the mouth, forehead, locks, head etc. The child is compared to a bud. The spring has come to add to the beauty of the bud fondled by the father and mother. She blesses her child to be able to face the harsh realities of life. ammayum makanum (Mother and Son) is the story of the beginning of a spiritual transformation. She is overjoyed when she first touches her baby boy. Thereafter, there is no place for selfishness in her mind. She pledges to live for her son. Tears of joy rush down her cheeks. She decides to refine her ways. According to h er, no philosopher except the mother could ever interpret the babble of the child. In the poem veenugoopaalan (Lord Krishna), the child is compared to Lord Krishna himself. At the height of devotion, even the objects of worship turn out to be God. For gods who do not have ageing or death, the transient childhood might appear attractive. That might have been the reason why they were that much interested in the music of young Lord Krishna. Any mother who vows to serve the son can see God himself in her son. Only foolish people search for God in sacred texts. Only the mother is privileged to envision God in her son. However, when we take up kavipreeyasi, (Wife of a Poet) we are told how the wife of a poet controls her feelings before him who spends his time involving himself in noble things. Half way through cooking and not even combing the hair she climbs the steps to see her husband. There he was sitting, writing poetry, addressing the universe. Her earthly desires are about to rouse him from the state of concentration. She is remorseful about wasting her youthful years. But her husbands words that their youthful days are not meant for enjoyment and merrymaking stop her from going near him. But she sees her husband kissing the ring she gave him and hears him praising her. Then she understands the depth of the love he has for her. She is very much moved by this, which is why she is ready to go back silently. In mangalyaraatri (Marriage Night) a bride forgets her past and clings to her husband, it is because all her thoughts are centred on him. The soul which has achieved Godà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœrealization is afraid if it would lose this faculty if it gives importance to worldly things. She is attracted to the beauty of the earth. The poet says that one can ultimately reach God only by learning to appreciate the beauty of the earth. Her husband becomes her whole universe. In kavanapeetattil (On the Stage of Poetry) a poet, bent on creating a worthwhile poem, looks at the roof thoughtfully, when his wife comes and stands at the door. She appears very beautiful and his concentration is lost when he sees her. Her voice makes the house a heaven and according to him, he has got a world of pleasure for himself through marriage. But she pretends as if she does not know what is in his mind. The artist knows that whatever be there, a heart eager for his presence is essential for his perfection in the field. And finally he understands that the beating of a tender heart is sufficient to melt any heart of stone. The ideology of nonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœviolence is proclaimed in prabhaatam (Dawn).This is the poets asking her soul to wake up in the morning to worship God and to bow her head in mutual love. The life based on rites and rituals make it difficult for one to reach the shore safely. Unless there is the strong oar of friendship, the boat is likely to be shattered against the walls of hatred. Life was wasted in search of vain things and is now suffering from misfortunes. If we want to make our life enjoyable, we must believe in the principle of nonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœviolence. Those who desire to hear the voice of God must not like the sound of mutual fights. When we leave all ill feelings and aspire for Godliness, fraternity and equality, me reach God realization. Similarly, she protests against social inequality and cruelty in ksheetraviidhiyil (On the Threshold of the Temple). This poem was written to celebrate the Guruwayur Temple Entry Proclamation. The poet seems to be fully conversan t with the social and political issues of her time. Till 1107, backward communities were not allowed to enter the temple to worship God. But several freedom fighters and social activists fought for years together to eke out this privilege. The poet praises all those who made that feat possible. She ends her poem by declaring that the revolution which can wipe the tears of the downà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ trodden is the only true kind of revolution. The comparative / contrastive study of themes has been termed differently by different theoreticians à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ thematics, thematology, stoffgeschichte Prawer identifies five prototypal subjects of investigation in this field, viz. (i) natural phenomena and mans reaction to them (ii) recurring motifs (iii) recurrent situations (iv) the literary representation of types and (v) the literary representation of named personages ( Prawer Themes and Prefigurations 99-100). Prawers remarks about the benefits of comparative thematology are of special significance with regard to the present study (102-3). First of all, the comparative study of themes and motifs enables us to see what type of writer chooses what type of material, and how the material is dealt with at various times. For example, Balamani Amma has a genius for combining themes and motifs from the most varied sources and integrating them into unified works of art, but Kamala Das weighs, filters and distils her themes. Secondly, thematic studies enable us, to examine and contrast the spirit of different societies and epochs as well as those of individual talents. Balamani Ammas tentative adumbration of physical love transforms, as we have seen, into Kamala Dass clinical prognosis of foreplay and coitus. Discussing the problematised and elusive concept of influence, Rene Wellek (qtd in Prawer, Influence, Analogy and Tradition 51) says that the whole conception of a cause in literary study is uncritical; nobody has ever been able to show that a work of art was caused by another work of art, even though parallels and similarities can be accumulated. A later work of art may not have been possible without a preceding one, but it cannot have been caused by it. Now, this casual admission of fact by Wellek can be taken as an excellent launching point, though his statement may be somewhat too broad in reference. Putting things in this broad frame of reference one can well argue that all texts have been influenced in some way or another, and that all works of literature are intertextual in nature. Speaking about literary indebtedness, J. T. Shaw (85-6) says that an authors literary debts do not in effect diminish his originality, since originality is not best understood in terms of innovation. Many great authors have openly admitted the influence of others on them, and some, like Salman Rushdie, have even paraded their indebtedness to others. They seem to have felt that originality consists, not exclusively or even primarily in innovation in materials or of style and manner, but in the genuineness and effectiveness of the artistic moving power of the creative work. The innovation which does not move aesthetically is of interest only to the for malist. What genuinely moves the reader aesthetically and produces an independent artistic effect has artistic originality, whatever its debts. The original author is not necessarily the innovator or the most inventive, but rather the one who succeeds in making all his own, in subordinating what he takes from others to the new aesthetics of his artistic work (Shaw 85-6). What emerges from the aforesaid is that the juxtaposition of comparable authors as well as their works has rewards richer than we might imagine. The kind of quasià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœdiachronic comparison we are attempting here will be seen to expose hitherto ignored or unperceived aspects of awareness concerning both the mother and the daughter. From the foregoing, it would almost be tautological to say that we have here two poetic minds operating on entirely different milieu. Creative power is, as commonly observed, fed and controlled by the timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœspirit. Since Balamani Amma had written most of her poems during the Indian struggle for independence, we have a natural preponderance of themes like patriotism, reverence for God, concern for the poor and the afflicted etc in her poems, combined with a dominant lucidity of style. But on the other hand we have Kamala Das, a product of modern lifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœsituations. She is the spokesperson of the subtle but powerful eruptions of the complex modern psyche. Identity crises, phobias, inhibitions, unfulfilled and uncertain relationships à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ all form the natural makeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœup of the raw material before the modern poet; and hence we have the ensuing complexity and innovativeness of both theme and style. Intertextuality is a potential mi ne for significant discovery of links which exist, directly and subliminally, between the mother and the daughter. What follows is an attempt to concretize some facets of intertextuality which exist between them. (a) PREOCCUPATION WITH THE DIVINE For Balamani Amma, manà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœGod relationship is not enigmatic at all. She was convinced that the way to God lies in self sacrifice, and almost all of her poems in this category centre on this keynote. paniniirppuuv , mannambalam, vandanam etc are good examples. In her poem paniniirppuuv we see that though man has access to high ideals and spiritual thoughts which are said to be capable of leading him towards ultimate Bliss, Godà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœrealization occurs only when he is willing to place everything at the feet of the Almighty. The poem vandanam is another triumphant acclamation of the manà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœGod relationship. The poet says that the troubles of this world à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ disease, discomfort, loneliness or anything à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ cannot destroy her faith in the Almighty. One of her other similar poems, Benediction, (aasirvaadam translated by the author) deserves special mention, where she felicitously combines the mundane with the spiritual: The first cry of the child was a Mantra Sanctifying their love No wonder. The child has come with the key of Heaven held tight in his curling fingers, Fingers that have to scribble the first lessons of selfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœsacrifice on her mothers bosom (Balamani Amma, Thirty Poems) Kamala Das on the other hand has considerably problematised the concept of God, especially in some of her Anamalai poems. In poem No. 10 she says: There is a love greater than all you know/ that awaits you where the red road finally ends its patience proverbial In poem No. 4, God or eternity is presented from another angle: If only the human eye could look beyond the chilling flesh where would death be then, that meaningless word, when life is all that there is, that raging continuity that often the wise ones recognize as God? For her, the concept of God or heaven is totally free from religious insinuations, and the way to God does not need to involve selfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœsacrifice in any form. For her, the wise one is he who is able to escape the stranglehold of the immediate, one who has enough perspective to view life as starting from the infinite and proceeding towards the infinite, with the occasional intrusion of death which cannot spell finality. (b) THE FEMINIST SEARCH FOR IDENTITY AND FULFILMENT The overtly feminist stance of Kamala Das has been exegetically discussed during the recent years. Almost aggressively individualistic, she systematically disposes of patriarchal codes in the various facets of human relationship, arguing for a just balance: Fond husband, ancient settler in the mind Old fat spider, weaving webs of bewilderment, be kind. You turn me into a bird of stone, a granite dove, You build round me a shabby drawing room and stroke my face absent mindedly (From The Stone Age) Kamala Dass poetry has a special force and appeal for us primarily because of the honesty and candour with which she asserts her right to exist as an individual with a distinctive identity and to be her authentic self even if this involves breaking the moulds of traditional ethics and propriety. Her poetry voices a vehement protest against the senseless restrictions which compel a sensitive and intelligent woman to lead a vapid kind of existence. She refused to fit into any scheme devised by the categorizers. The frank, confessional quality of her poetry is her main strength, though in the absence of a mature selfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœrestraint we can also notice in it a dash of callow exhibitionism particularly when she has to flaunt her flamboyant lust in order to retrieve her undermined dignity. The bitter irony and anguish of a woman who find herself tied down to a meaningless routine of household activities can be noticed in many of her poems. We see them in The Siesta where we find the poet asking herself ironically if she could have the courage and the sense : to pick herself an average identity, to age through years of earthly din gently, like a cut flower until its time to be removed . . . Through her defiant self-assertion, Kamala Das increases our awareness of how the dead weight of outworn values can block the emotional and individual growth of an individual. How painful, frenzied and self-consuming the life of an ill adjusted, sensitive individual can be in the rotting and decaying society is well brought out in many of her poems. However, it is more interesting to see the same streak of rebellion in the poetry of Balamani Amma, although in different form. The telling effect of zeità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœgeist upon her poetry diverted the force of her attack, so much so that she has had to project her feelings via an artificial context, many times resorting to using a third person, which would be of help in coming round the delicate problem of involving ones own husband. For example in her poem kalyaanaveedimeel (Upon the Wedding Stage) she evocatively highlights the picture of a potential groom afraid of his own natural impulses. Apparently, his whole life is dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, and he cannot understand what knowledge the prospective bride would be able to impart. Though in his heart of hearts he looks forward to the pleasures of marriage, his conscious self considers it a weakness to have decided to marry. In another poem a girl, a sages daughter, shuns all lures of conjugal life. In spite of her fathers efforts to persuade her to marry one of his disciples, she remains adamant and shuns all worldly pleasures thinking that she has attained supreme enlightenment, and that she must not condescend to be a mere consort to a man. Later her father dies, and after many years when the charm of her youth has ebbed away, she meets a young sanyasi. The young man likes her and wants to be near her always. But she does not want to enchain his youthfulness to old age and decides to dissolve every particle of her existence in the foam of the ocean waves. This strange story inexorably justifies the reality and validity of all human passions. Kama or carnal pleasure has its validity in life, and repression of basic urges will only lend to psychological abnormalities. Balamani Ammas philosophy is one which embraces life on this earth with all its defects and deficiencies, and gives due recognition to th e psychological truth that asceticism has its martyrs. In the poem, kavanapiitattil (In the Poets Study) we have the silhouette of an artist working late into the night. His young wife, having been fighting it out with loneliness for quite some time expectantly makes a tentative appearance at the door, with age old human desire adumbrating her face. As the poet describes it, the artist, then at a supreme moment of creation disposes of this potential casualty by amicably reminding her of the importance of what he is doing, and the possible hazard which can be caused even by a minutes relapse. His obedient and understanding wife then beats a silent retreat. Poems like these express, albeit subtly, what the poet wants to say. Balamani Amma had to go by the canons of contemporary zeità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœgeist which advocated restraint, circumvention moderation rather than explicitness. But it can be seen that the same fierce individualism and plea for gender justice which marks off Kamala Das preà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœfigures forcefully in the poetry of her mother, though in a form not substantial enough to attract common notice. However, the mother could later find vicarious realization of suppressed rebellion through the poetry of her daughter, although after many years. In her poem To my Daughter written in 1965 she says: Your mind may grow restless with sad thoughts Your body may be weary of household tasks But about you I hold no fear. Your power of turning worms into butterflies Comforts me.

The Military: An Impetus for Social Reform :: essays papers

The Military: An Impetus for Social Reform Revolutionary War The military since the Colonial Era has been an impetus for social reform in the United States. The Revolutionary War afforded Black Americans an opportunity to escape from the toils of slavery and fight for freedom. Some Black Americans even earned their freedom by fighting for the Colonists, but still the freedom they fought for wasn’t their own. However, the military was responsible for the freedom of many slaves and some of these freed slaves became legendary soldiers like Salem Poor. His performance in battle gave credibility for future arguments about blacks being allowed to serve. In the colonial era slavery was permissible by law in every colony. Blacks were 20% of the overall population of the 13 colonies and only 8% of them were free blacks (www.history.org). Colonists commonly used African slave labor despite the question of whether slavery was morally right. Life for blacks in the revolutionary period was one of slavery and discrimination. Only 8 percent of blacks were free [Edgar A Toppin. â€Å"Blacks in the American Revolution† (published essay, Virginia State University, 1976), p 1] and this so-called freedom merely meant that they could own and defend property. They weren’t allowed to mingle with whites and were wholly segregated. Blacks during this time period worked predominantly in the fields planting and harvesting Tobacco. They worked long hours and were likely to be sold at some point in their lives. This separated families and kept morale very low. Plantation slaves were also subject to brutal punishments because they weren’t regarded as having high value. However, with the onset of the Revolutionary War, the British invited blacks to join the British Army and in return, they would receive their freedom. Thoughts of wholesale desertion of slaves to the British regiments created a fear that swept throughout the colonies and led colonists to allow blacks to fight for the local militias and even the army. Serving in the Revolutionary War enabled many slaves to earn their freedom, but to their dismay, not equality. Although blacks served in segregated units, the military gave them opportunity to gain respect through acts of courage and valor. Black soldiers like Salem Poor gained respect from white men. Lemuel Haynes used his military experience to fight for abolition of slavery by writing the essay â€Å"Liberty Further Extended.

The Five Themes Of Geography :: essays research papers fc

The Five Themes of Geography During the 1980's the United States showed unacceptably low test scores on simple Geographic tests. The point Committee on Geographic Education could only attribute these results to Geographic Illiteracy, not only on the part of the students, but more importantly on the educators themselves. By 1984 it had become inexplicably clear that immediate action must take place to counteract this ongoing problem in our educational institutions (Journal of Geography 89). In response, the Joint Committee on Geographic Education produced a landmark publication entitled "Guidelines for Geographic Education". This document contained a scope and sequence in Geography with suggested learning results for the nations primary and secondary school systems, as well as suggested educational strategies for analysis on the part of the students and teachers. Most importantly, this article provided the Five Fundamental Themes in Geography, which have evolved to become an integral element of social studies education, because they take the world of geographic study beyond the realm of basic memorization, and into a new plane of analysis and implementation. These five themes include location, place, human-environment interactions, movement, and regions. Location answers the question of "where?". If you plan to meet someone at a specific time, and a specific place, the question of "Where will you meet?" must first be answered. To resolve this situation, Geography employs Absolute Location, and Relative Location. Absolute Location applies a grid-matrix system to the earth's surface in the form of coordinates. These coordinates, longitude and latitude, allow geographers to pinpoint exact areas of the earth's surface, and other planetary bodies as well. If Geographers wish to apply satellite technology to observe an area of the earth's surface, coordinates are used to pinpoint an exact location. Relative Location answers the simple question of where you would meet a person. For example: "Let's meet at Martin Hall, the building next to the Library." But, relative location is much deeper than simple location. It also involves interdependence of a location based upon its resources, people, and environment. If one wishes to build a ski resort, the location of that resort must be relative with the environment of the location. It would be illogical, and non- profitable to build a ski resort in the Mojave desert. However, it would be logical to build a resort in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Idaho, or Montana. Every area on the surface of the earth is defined by some type of characteristic. Siberia is known to be very cold, but also a part of the Soviet Union, a formerly communist country. Belize is known to be very warm, but it is

A Stillness at Appomattox Essay -- Bruce Catton American Civil War Ess

A Stillness at Appomattox â€Å"All up and down the lines the men blinked at one another, unable to realize that the hour they had waited for so long was actually at hand. There was a truce†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Bruce Catton’s Pulitzer prize winning book A Stillness at Appomattox chronicles the final year of the American Civil War. This book taught me a lot more about the Civil War than I ever learned through the public school system. Bruce Catton brought to life the real day to day life of the soldiers and the generals who led them into battle. The day to day life for the regular soldier was not glorious. Many times the regiments were low on supplies such as food and clothing. They lived in the elements. Medical conditions were grotesque because of the lack of advanced equipment and anesthesia. â€Å"Discipline was enforced with brutality† as if all the other conditions were not bad enough. The author is graphic in his detail of the people and the places of importance during this time in history. The book is written more from a Northern point of view and so I didn’t get quite the same perspective of the Southern side but still learned more than I knew before. A few chapters into the book the war year of 1864 begins with a changing of the guard again with President Lincoln appointing Ulysses Grant to lead the Army of the Potomac. Grant has an illustrious past. People talked about his being a drunkard but Catton says â€Å"He was simply a man infinitely more complex then most people could realize.† Grant, even though he was a West Point graduate, never wanted to be a soldier or to have a life in the military. He wanted to be a teacher. What Grant did bring to the Army of the Potomac was his ability to relate to the soldiers and made them his army. He completely retrained and re-organized the armies, and re-enlisted troops that were going to go home. They all realized that under Grant the Army of the Potomac changed which meant now that the entire war would change. The Battle of the Wilderness was a very unusual battle because it was fought in the woods. The terrain and the trees wouldn’t allow for the smoke to clear and it was dark anyway because of the trees. The men described it as eerie. Both sides fired blindly because of the smoke. Artillery was abandoned because they could not transport it through the woods. So those soldiers became... ... or ending the war, because it was the only rail junction connecting Richmond to the rest of the Confederacy. Faced with the need to defend a line running continuously from north of Richmond to Petersburg, the Confederates were stretched thinner and thinner. Eventually their line broke. Within a little over a week it was over. The final year of the Civil War was something new in the history of warfare - never before had two large armies remained locked in continuous combat for such a long period of time. In the past the armies would fight, retreat, regroup, and usually meet at some later date and place but in 1864-65 even though they moved around some it was almost one continuous fight to the end. On the final day the Union soldiers were told that â€Å"if they hurried this was the day they could finish everything† although that inspired them, they were also promised that once they reached Appomattox Station rations would be handed out. Many of the men later admitted they did so â€Å"because they figured it was the quickest way to get breakfast.† After a small skirmish near Appomattox Station Lee decided to surrender his army right before the Union carried out their attack.

Marketing Research and Promotional messages Essay

Marketing messages are a key component to attracting attention and lead the targeted consumer through the sales cycle and to purchase (Consumer Behavior and Targeting Audience). When a company is looking to create a marketing communication message it is important to understand the type of consumer they are marketing towards. The company needs to look at the type of consumer they are targeting then analyze their needs, perceptions and attitudes. These three things will help a company develop an effective marketing communication message to target their consumer. Consumer Women are the number one consumers in the United States, influencing over 80 percent of the goods and services purchased (Murray Skoloda , 2009).They are big spenders whether it is household, corporate or small business. In the last decade women have become more educated, are working harder and making more money than years past. If a women is earning at least half of the household income then she has a large say involving household purchases. Women are juggling more at work and home, marketing has become more media based. There are more women using multi-media than ever like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Consumer Needs When looking at consumers purchasing trends, wants and needs drive the marketing decisions. Looking at a women’s aspirations can help understand the wants and needs behind a purchase. Examples of wants and needs: Make a better home Help and want kids to be successful Have time to do what you want Travel more Look more attractive Be healthy Be healthier and have a nice body Look younger Women need to take care of themselves, their families and their household duties. When targeting women with marketing strategies the focus should be on getting ahead, having fun, looking fabulous and taking care of household duties. You have to market around the consumers needs, for example, Pantene shampoo commercials focus on how shinny, soft and healthy the hair will look after using the product. Victoria Secret focuses on the look and feel of their products. All of these marketing and promotional strategies focus of what the consumer wants and needs. Perceptions Consumer perception is the understanding behind the motivations that drive buying behaviors. Understanding consumer motivations help companies create marketing strategies. Women are motivated by emotion, intuition and experience (Blank, 2014). Finding what makes them happy, what they are proud of, and what they cherish and enjoy will help create a marketing strategy that will help promote and sell the product. For example, women that have small children will always look at products that are safe, and sometimes even look at safety ratings before purchasing. This means the marketing strategy should be built around safety. Another example, women are always looking to feel and look younger so it would be smart for the cosmetic industry to focus on anti-aging and blemishing products. Usually when women have a great experience or find a product that they like, they will stay loyal, and tell their friends. Over all you need to market the product toward the targeted consumer and their needs. Attitudes Attitude plays an important role in marketing strategies, it is the attitude towards a product, group or brand that drives the consumers decision to purchase the product. Consumers have pre formed attitude towards some of the product and brands and once formed it is hard to change those attitudes (Masterman & Wood, 2006). Women are very open to trying new products and brands but once they have a bad experience or customer service experience, that will change their attitudes towards the product and it will be hard to rebuild the trust. It is important to thinking about the marketing  strategies when looking to change attitudes and bias options on products. Looking at marketing communication it is important to consider the consumer you are targeting and their needs. Learning about the consumer and their needs helps build a strong marketing strategy that can drive the purchase of the product. Understanding the consumer and how they perceive information helps with the sale of the product. Looking at the consumers attitudes will help build strong relationships and help brand the product. Reference: Masterman, G., & Wood, E. H. (2006). Innovative Marketing Communications: Strategies for the Events Industry . Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Blank, C. (2014). Consumer Perception Theory. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/consumer-perception-theory-40176.html Murray Skoloda , K. (2009). TOO BUSY TO SHOP Marketing to â€Å"Multi-Minding† Women . Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND TARGET AUDIENCE DECISIONS). Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/

Love love life

The recently released air quality study from Alarm Quality Management District (CAME) showed that Carson had a higher level of carcinogens than a comparable city because of the excessive use of cigarette smoke. In this year alone, he Surgeon General reported an Increase of deaths by 20% due to cigarette smoking, I. . , emphysema, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The pollutant level from cigarette smoke has increased the likelihood of a health related illness and/or death by 40%. COW Lives Wellness Inc. Has proposed to reduce cigarette smoking by 30% over the next three years. Our comprehensive program Includes two components. One component target individuals who do not smoke and the other component target individuals who want to stop smoking. Although the programs are different in approach, they share the same outcome. CHEVY has partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Carson and the older.By using electronic media, posters, pamphlets, and sched uling site visits, COW will be a constant and continual presence, enforcing the effects of cigarette smoking on health and the community. We will have guest speakers talk about youth and cigarette smoke, filmstrips to hospitals and respiratory centers, and the program culminates with a visit to the county medical examiner's office where the students will see a posthumous lung, esophagi, and larynx that were affected by cigarette smoke or second hand cigarette smoke. The second component deals with individuals who are currently smoking.This program includes a medical program where the client would meet with a medical doctor prior to moving on through our variety of treatment and counseling and education programs. The participants in this component will also be required to work with the participants in the prevention component to give a â€Å"real-life† perspective on what smoking has done to them in their lives. Our eager and passionate team consists of our President, Eire's W icks, MD. , MBA, specializing in pediatric behaviors, with 12 years of experience in operating a successful non-profit organization; Vanessa Knee, Ph.D. De. , Vice President and Director of Education, with 10 years of experience creating educational curriculum for K-12 schools; Hydra. Hearer, Vice President and Chief of Communications, Master's degree in Communications and Community Relations. Ms. Hearer has 10 years of experience in Public Outreach and Media Relations; and Chris Anderson, Director of Operations and Case Management. Mr.. Anderson has a dual Master's Degree in Psychology and Sociology, and has 10 years' experience specializing in chemical dependency and addition;COW mission is clear, and we are equipped and ready to save lives. We request that you partner with us by funding $80,000. 00 to help bring this life saving program to fruition. Sincerely, Eire's R. Wicks President Carson, CA has a population of about 92,000, 76% are adults, and 24% are people under the age o f 18. The community is inundated with poor air quality due to industry and cigarette smoking. With an overwhelming number of documented smokers (13. 7%), and the increase of new smokers, the community is in dire need of an intervention.Recent studies have shown an increase in smoking related deaths ever the past year and Air Quality Management District has deemed Carson as the unhealthiest city in the South Basin. If this community is not given an opportunity to receive professional help to end smoking addiction in addition to smoking prevention programs, the city of Wildfowl will slowly self-destruct. Worse yet, this problem would reach further than the City of Carson, economic impact would spread to the County, State, and Federal Government who would incur the medical costs and lose the worthwhile contributions to society that would have come from this thriving immunity.Project Abstract COW Lives Inc. Is seeking grant funding to improve air quality and reduce smoker related illnes ses and deaths in the community of Carson, CA. Smoking cigarettes is proven to be one of the most preventable causes of death in the United States. Studies show that cigarette smoking is one of the most highly addictive and destructive behaviors of modern mankind. Documented consequences of cigarette smoking include high risk exposure to deadly diseases such as lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease.The number of people under the age of 70 ho die from smoking related diseases exceeds the total figure for deaths caused by breast cancer, AIDS, traffic accidents, and drug addictions combined. Dating back to the sass's the US Surgeon General has warned that cigarette smoking is hazardous to human health. Many public awareness attempts have been made over the years to warn against cigarette smoking however there remains much more that needs to be done to target and prevent children from starting the addictive behavior of cigarette smoking and educating addicted smokers on available pr oven methods to stop the addiction.Carson, CA is a community located in the East Los Angles area of Southern CA with a population of 15,000, 65% adult and 35% children under the age of 18. Current statistics show that 85% of the adults in Wildfowl have smoked cigarettes for all of their adult life with 40% starting before reaching the age of 18. Additionally studies released by the regions' Air Quality Management District (CAME) reported Wildfowl as having one of the highest rates of airborne carcinogens in the southern basin. Miming to gather more activists' against smoking, our project proposes to reduce make and tobacco use in the targeted community of Carson by 30% over 3 years. To conduct our project we have a team of (10) college pre-medical and graduate study students consisting of (3) medical students, (3) sociology majors, (2) psychology majors, and (2)K-12 education majors. The community of Carson has seven K-12 public schools; (4) elementary, (2) middle, and (1) senior. T he largest employer of adult workers is Aerospace Incorporated, an industry with two major manufacturing plants in Carson employing 80% of the adult working population.