Thursday, December 19, 2019

The Terminal Stages Of Asbestosis Or Mesothelioma

â€Å"I do not know how many people here have seen the terminal stages of asbestosis or mesothelioma. Not only is it not pretty, but it is damned ugly, and if that is what lies in store for me, I want to control my own exit.† Jim Fitzpatrick MP (Lab, Poplar and Limehouse): 11 Sep 2015: Column 666. â€Å"We are here to protect the most vulnerable in our society, not to legislate to kill them.† This statement might come across strange, unclear and also contradictory to some people, but to some it seems very normal, clear and understandable. This statement simply concludes the fact that some people would rather take their life than go through a serious, painful and life threatening illness. The original word given to this kind of statement is â€Å"Euthanasia†. Euthanasia can be defined as a process which painlessly helps a terminally ill person to die on their request . There are different types of Euthanasia which includes; Voluntary, Involuntary, Non-voluntary, Passive and Active Euthanasia. Voluntary Euthanasia involves situations where the person wants to die and makes it known and the death is being carried out by someone. In cases like this, the people involved usually refuses any medical treatment or any help which might have been given or suggested to them, they just have made up their mind to die. Involuntary Euthanasia this usually does not involve the consent of the patient. Although the patient is able to express his will and also able to make a decision, but

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Debate over the Strength of Central Government free essay sample

The period of 1783-1800 was shaped by the debate between those who supported a strong central government and those who wanted more power given to the states. This period dealt with issues surrounding the formations of factions that threatened to split the young nation, the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, and the constitutionality of a national bank. Factions divided the people into those who supported a strong central government and those who wanted more power given to the states. These two groups had differing viewpoints, which influenced decisions regarding the addition of a Bill of Rights and the formation of a national bank. The two major factions that almost disrupted the developing nation were formulated at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. At this convention, delegates representing all states expect Rhode Island formed a new type of government with the creation of the Constitution. In the ratification process America was divided in two, the federalists and anti-federalists. Federalists were in favor of a strong central government and hence supporting the new Constitution, while anti-federalists were in favor of giving the states a greater amount of power, thus opposing it. The opposition to the Constitution spreads from a mistrust of central government due to the grievances of English monarchy. The rights obtained by the central government took away states’ rights as seen in Sections VIII and X of the Constitution of the United States of American (Document 5). Most people who lived in cities, manufacturers, and northern merchants supported federalist views and most small farmers, southerners and frontiersmen sided with the anti-federalist views. Key federalists included Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, John Marshall, John Jay, and James Madison. In order to promote ratification Hamilton, Jay, and Madison published a series of Federalist Papers, (Document 8). On the anti-federalist side, important figures included Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Aaron Burr, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry. These men were in favor of the Article of Confederation, which greatly limited the powers of the central government and maximized the powers of state rights. One major flaw that the anti-federalist expressed concerning the Constitution was the lack of a Bill of Rights. A Bill of Rights would secure the rights of the people and prevent the central government from becoming too powerful. The federalists argued that the system of checks and balances would prevent tyranny. However, when many states ratified the Constitution they attached a list of amendments to be added in a Bill of Rights. James Madison compiled these amendments and presented twelve of them to Congress. Ten were passed and added to the Constitution resulting in the American Bill of Rights. One of the most significant amendments is the tenth amendment, which states â€Å"All powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states or to the people,† (Document 6). This declared that whatever was not restricted or allowed in the Constitution was a right retained by the people or states. The most heated debate amongst federalists and anti-federalist was over the constitutionality of a national bank. Anti-federalists believed the central government did not have the authority to create a national bank, while the federalists believed it was stated in the elastic clause of the Constitution. The United States Constitution was written in a vague terminology by the Founding Fathers, which added to the contention amongst Americans. Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, proposed a national bank to â€Å"wish the most proper and speedy measures may be taken, to discharge both foreign and domestic debt,† (Document 7). The anti-federalists, in particular Thomas Jefferson, who favored a strict interpretation of the Constitution, rejected this notion and claimed it was unconstitutional because it was not a power directly stated in the document. However, Hamilton argued that the â€Å"elastic clause† as seen in Article I Section VIII, the powers of congress (Document 5), allowed the central government to establish a bank because it was necessary and proper and constitutional, (Document 1). Hamilton, along with the other federalists, favored a loose interpretation of the Constitution. The debate of having a national bank was resolved by giving the national bank a twenty year charter to test it out. This debacle leads to further issues on the topic of government rights versus state rights, and almost leads to the destruction of the country. When the Constitution was in its ratification process the small states sided with federalists in wanting a stronger central government, while larger states sided with anti-federalists in wanting more state rights. This was seen in two important proposals to the Constitutional convention surrounding the executive branch. First, the New Jersey Plan or the small states plans, wanted one house that has equal representation, with one vote per state. This would make small states more powerful and have the same say in the government as the larger states did. Second, was the Virginia Plan or the large states plan (Document 4), was to have a bicameral legislative, with one house with representation based on population, and the other elected through that house. This gave more power to the states, the larger states gaining a clear advantage as well. These two plans clearly portrayed the different ideas of federalists and anti-federalist and demonstrated how vital a role states played throughout this period. This dispute was settled with the great compromise, proposed by Roger Sherman, making a bicameral legislature with the Senate with equal representation for each state and the House of Representatives based on population and direct election. The debate between those who supported a strong central government and those who wanted more state rights truly shaped the period between 1783 and 1800. It dealt with the creation of two factions that could have potentially destroyed the emerging nation and the debates over a Bill of Rights and a national bank. If it were not for the ideas, factions, and development that occurred during the making of the Constitution and the continued building of our nation after, the government of America would not have been as successful as it is today. The Idea that were fought over from 1783 to 1800 has shaped our country and allowed us to be the great nation that we are.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

The Papacy as represented in Peruginoapos;s The Gift of the Keys Essay Example

The Papacy as represented in Peruginos The Gift of the Keys Paper The Papacy as represented in Peruginos The Gift of the Keys Before I discuss the importance of various symbols in Peruginos The Gift of the Keys, it is important to note that the vast majority of my knowledge about the significance of the participants and architecture in the painting come from the writing of art historian Carol Lewine, whom in her recent book discusses the fifteenth century frescoes of the Sistine Chapel (65-74). I will be following her identifications, and adding to them my own interpretations of the contribution of artistic conception and composition to meaning and effect. What makes Peruginos painting significant are the strong political, religious, and social comments made through the powerful symbols in Peruginos work. One of thefirst, and most important, elements to notice in The Gift of The Keys is the way nearly every object in the painting manages to focus attention on the central figures of Christ and Peter. Even though the two are not physically separat ed from the rest of the figures in the scene, it becomes immediately obvious to the viewer that Christ and Peter are the principal subjects of this painting. To the left of Christ stand six apostles, the other six apostles (counting Peter) positioned immediately to his right. Also flanking Christ and Peter are the dual representations of the Arch of Constantine, and immediately in bac of Christ and Peter is the glorious Temple of Solomon. The important aspect of this centralization of Christ and Peter is that it shows that even with all of the other symbols in the painting, the most important one is the gift of the keys. When Christ hands the two keys to Peter, he symbolically hands him the power to distinguish between good and evil, and the power to bind and loose or to absolve sinners after appropriate penance, as Lewine puts it. (70 Lewine) Peter is often thought of roughly as thefirst pop

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Analytical Essay Sample on #8220;The Importance of Being Earnest#8221; by Oscar Wilde

Analytical Essay Sample on #8220;The Importance of Being Earnest#8221; by Oscar Wilde Oscar Wildes farcical comedy The Importance of Being Earnest is subtitled A Trivial Comedy for Serious People. The playwright himself penned this, so the reader is inevitably inclined to ask himself whether this deprecating subtitle is accurate. Despite the simple humor, the play is not trivial, but rather a biting and relevant social commentary on Victorian era values and principles that undoubtedly serious people can decipher within the lines of the comedy without feeling threatened about their own beliefs. In fact, the title of the play alone gives the reader some inclination as to what the story is about; the importance of being serious and resolute, which not coincidentally are two of the most important Victorian ideals. First performed in London in 1895, The Importance of Being Earnests plot centers on two couples who must overcome many hilarious obstacles on their journey to marriage. The play was critically acclaimed from its first performance and was instantly accepted by the public; a foreshadowing of the stories timelessness. Underlying the story line, Wilde illustrates the polite conventions and restrictions of Victorian society (Worth 126). This is aptly by Wilde in his droll depictions of aristocratic British men and women at the end of the nineteenth century. Despite his critical tone, Wilde does not alienate the members of his audience, but rather sheds light on the absurdity of societal traditions, such as courtship, engagement and marriage, while at the same time reaffirming the beliefs of his audience. To explore Wildes criticism of the absurdity of British culture and its implications in modern life, one must first examine the characters and plot of The Importance of Being Earnest. The two central figures are Jack and Algernon who are friends in spite of their seemingly artificial oppositions. Jack is a responsible, serious man who firmly announces his intentions of marrying Gwendolyn from the very beginning of the play. Algernon, on the other hand, is depicted as a sly, deceptive, yet likeable man who according to his aunt, has nothing, but looks everything (Wilde, act 3, 497). The two men, who the audience later discovers are brothers, are actually not as different as they first appear. Outwardly, they act very differently and constantly criticize one another on his actions, but in reality, both have the same ulterior motive and acts solely for his own benefit. Jack pretends to have a brother so that he may travel to London to see Gwendolyn. Similarly, Algernon, despite his claim that marriage is extremely problematic (act 1, 446), pretends to be Jacks brother so that he may journey to the countryside to see Cecily, the girl he has never met but wishes to marry. Both men pretend to be named Ernest in order to impress Gwendolyn and Cecily (obviously another pun on the title of the play). Hilarity ensues in both action and dialogue in terms of what the characters continually call nonsense. Jack and Algernon both pursue women who could be labeled modern women (relative to the contemporary Victorian woman). Gwendolyn is well educated and very opinionated in her beliefs, as evidenced by her desire to not be labeled perfect because that would limit her intentions to develop in many directions (act 1, 441). Likewise, Cecily, while not as well educated, is steadfast in what she wants from Algernon, such as her insistence that his name be Ernest. Gwendolyn and Cecily create much of the comedic elements of the play through their relentless demands of Jack and Algernon. For instance, when in act three the women discover the deceptions of Jack and Algernon, they do not submissively forgive the mens antics, but rather refuse to speak to either man until he delivers an adequate explanation and apology. These young men about town and revolting daughters (15), called so by critic Peter Raby, create a distinct dichotomy to the stern Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism, Cecilys governess. There is a sense of old society versus new society whenever Jack, Algernon, Gwendolyn, and Cecily interact with the older characters. As Gwendolyns mother and Algernons aunt, Lady Bracknell is excessively concerned with image and money. When she hears of Jacks desire to marry Gwendolyn, she questions him about his financial wellbeing and his personal habits. She is offended when she discovers that Jack has been adopted because it displays contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life (act 1, 450). Despite Jacks protest that his parental status has nothing to do with Gwendolyns happiness, Lady Bracknell refuses to give her approval of the engagement because in her superficial world, everyone is forced to live in an age of surfaces (act 3, 495). To Lady Bracknell, marriage has nothing to do with love and affection, but rather solely relies on the respectable social image that is created. Lady Bracknell is the stereotypical Victorian woman whose utmost concern is outward appearances and societal impressions. Money, status, and manners are the only necessities in life, without which one is destined to become associated with the detestable lower classes. In addition to Lady Bracknells archaic beliefs, Miss Prism and Doctor Chasuble also illustrate conventional Victorian ideals. It is evident that the two are in love, but repress their emotions because unruly behavior is not proper. Their relationship is an obvious contrast to Jack and Gwendolyns and Algernon and Cecilys, who admittedly are guilty of nonsense and reckless extravagance (act 1, 436). Surprisingly, in act three, the audience discovers that Miss Prism is the author of a novel of revolting sentimentality (act 3, 502) and more shockingly is an unwed mother. These revelations about Miss Prism blatantly contrast with Victorian acceptability. In spite of her deviations, Doctor Chasuble professes his love for her. This is yet another way in which Wilde portrays modern relationships and love. With his depictions of Bracknell and Miss Prism, Wilde creates an obvious paradigm between what a proper woman should be. Through their characters he is mocking the Victorian standard for woman because the audience can see that Gwendolyn and Cecily are truly the better women in thought and action. These ground-breaking elements contrast and spoof Victorian ideals, yet are subtle and humorous enough that the audience (especially at the time of the plays debut) is not offended by the plot or the characters. In todays world, there is nothing offensive about The Importance of Being Earnest, but it is necessary to keep in mind that compared to contemporary plays and novels, this is somewhat more modern. It still has the classic elements of a story line of that period: male-oriented, god-fearing, white, moneyed, and aristocratic (Raby 7). Although a majority of the characters live entirely for pleasure, the audience can still relate and enjoy the play. In such a hierarchical society where white men dominate, Wilde is careful not to offend or marginalize his target audience while launching a social critique. According to interviews (taken at the time of the plays production), Wilde adamantly insisted that The Importance of Being Earnest is not realistic because Realism is only a background, it cannot form an artistic motive for a play that is to be a work of art (39). In other words, reality has no bearing in his art, which perhaps is why he included the word trivial in his title. However, in relation to the play, is it accurate to say that reality is completely separate from art? Obviously Wilde recognized the absurdity of Victorian culture; otherwise, he could not have created a play whose humor is so relevant to both its contemporary and present-day audiences. The dialogue between characters, not the actions, is what makes The Importance of Being Earnest so humorous and transcendental (77). The characters revelations are true and consequently the farce is extremely comical. The Importance of Being Earnest set many precedents. It is one of the first plays to deal with modern issues, such as the New Woman. Wilde influenced many other artists to explore and critique societal norms and their ridiculousness. The Importance of Being Earnest will withstand the test of time through its satirical comedy and relevance to all audiences, because all audiences and readers, regardless of the time period, can relate to love, marriage, and the absurdity of society.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

How It Feels to Be Colored Me, by Zora Neale Hurston

How It Feels to Be Colored Me, by Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neal Hurston was an author that was widely acclaimed. A genius of the South, novelist, folklorist, anthropologist- those are the words that Alice Walker had inscribed on the tombstone of Zora Neale Hurston. In this personal  essay (first published in The World Tomorrow, May 1928), the acclaimed author of Their Eyes Were Watching God explores her own sense of identity through a series of memorable examples and striking metaphors. As  Sharon L. Jones has observed, Hurstons essay challenges the reader to consider race and ethnicity as fluid, evolving, and dynamic rather than static and unchanging -Critical Companion to Zora Neale Hurston, 2009 How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston 1 I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mothers side was not an Indian chief. 2 I remember the very day that I became colored. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclusively a colored town. The only white people I knew passed through the town going to or coming from Orlando. The native whites rode dusty horses, the Northern tourists chugged down the sandy village road in automobiles. The town knew the Southerners and never stopped cane chewing when they passed. But the Northerners were something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. The more venturesome would come out on the porch to watch them go past and got just as much pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village. 3 The front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, but it was a gallery seat for me. My favorite place was atop the gatepost. Proscenium box for a born first-nighter. Not only did I enjoy the show, but I didnt mind the actors knowing that I liked it. I usually spoke to them in passing. Id wave at them and when they returned my salute, I would say something like this: Howdy-do-well-I-thank-you-where-you-goin? Usually, automobile or the horse paused at this, and after a queer exchange of compliments, I would probably go a piece of the way with them, as we say in farthest Florida. If one of my family happened to come to the front in time to see me, of course, negotiations would be rudely broken off. But even so, it is clear that I was the first welcome-to-our-state Floridian, and I hope the Miami Chamber of Commerce will please take notice. 4 During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there. They liked to hear me speak pieces and sing and wanted to see me dance the parse-me-la, and gave me generously of their small silver for doing these things, which seemed strange to me for I wanted to do them so much that I needed bribing to stop, only they didnt know it. The colored people gave no dimes. They deplored any joyful tendencies in me, but I was their Zora nevertheless. I belonged to them, to the nearby hotels, to the county- everybodys Zora. 5 But changes came in the family when I was thirteen, and I was sent to school in Jacksonville. I left Eatonville, the town of the oleanders, a Zora. When I disembarked from the riverboat at Jacksonville, she was no more. It seemed that I had suffered a sea change. I was not Zora of Orange County anymore, I was now a little colored girl. I found it out in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the mirror, I became a fast brown- warranted not to rub nor run. 6 But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all but about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more of less. No, I do not weep at the world- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. 7 Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said On the line! The Reconstruction said Get set! and the generation before said Go! I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep. Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. It is a bully adventure and worth all that I have paid through my ancestors for it. No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to think- to know that for any act of mine, I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center of the national stage, with the spectators not knowing whether to laugh or to weep. 8 The position of my white neighbor is much more difficult. No brown specter pulls up a chair beside me when I sit down to eat. No dark ghost thrusts its leg against mine in bed. The game of keeping what one has is never so exciting as the game of getting. 9 I do not always feel colored. Even now I often achieve the unconscious Zora of Eatonville before the Hegira. I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background. 10 For instance at Barnard. Beside the waters of the Hudson I feel my race. Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again. 11 Sometimes it is the other way around. A white person is set down in our midst, but the contrast is just as sharp for me. For instance, when I sit in the drafty basement that is The New World Cabaret with a white person, my color comes. We enter chatting about any little nothing that we have in common and are seated by the jazz waiters. In the abrupt way that jazz orchestras have, this one plunges into a number. It loses no time in circumlocutions, but gets right down to business. It constricts the thorax and splits the heart with its tempo and narcotic harmonies. This orchestra grows rambunctious, rears on its hind legs and attacks the tonal veil with primitive fury, rending it, clawing it until it breaks through to the jungle beyond. I follow those heathen- follow them exultingly. I dance wildly inside myself; I yell within, I whoop; I shake my assegai above my head, I hurl it true to the mark yeeeeooww! I am in the jungle and living in the jungle way. My face is painted red and yellow and my body is painted blue. My pulse is throbbing like a war drum. I want to slaughter something- give pain, give death to what, I do not know. But the piece ends. The men of the orchestra wipe their lips and rest their fingers. I creep back slowly to the veneer we call civilization with the last tone and find the white friend sitting motionless in his seat, smoking calmly. 12 Good music they have here, he remarks, drumming the table with his fingertips. 13 Music. The great blobs of purple and red emotion have not touched him. He has only heard what I felt. He is far away and I see him but dimly across the ocean and the continent that have fallen between us. He is so pale with his whiteness then and I am so colored. 14 At certain times I have no race, I am me. When I set my hat at a certain angle and saunter down Seventh Avenue, Harlem City, feeling as snooty as the lions in front of the Forty-Second Street Library, for instance. So far as my feelings are concerned, Peggy Hopkins Joyce on the Boule Mich with her gorgeous raiment, stately carriage, knees knocking together in a most aristocratic manner, has nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads. 15 I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My country, right or wrong. 16 Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? Its beyond me. 17 But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless. A first-water diamond, an empty spool, bits of broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still a little fragrant. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held- so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place- who knows?

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Animated Sitcom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Animated Sitcom - Essay Example projected by the animated characters, because it gets neutralized in the audience perception, as being resorted to more out of an intention to create fun, rather than being something serious and somber. It goes without saying that many a times, hiding behind the perceived intentions of creating fun, the animated sitcoms do comment on the politically sensitive issues like race, gender and age in a very thought provoking and unsettling manner. The animated sitcoms do mostly afford to challenge or disturb the social status quos, because the society mostly perceives them as being something created to be inherently funny and ridiculous. No wonder, if something is being perceived as being quintessentially funny and ridiculous, the nonconventional social comments and observations made by such a genre are more than often forgiven, because of being taken as something light and imaginary. It goes without saying that the animated sitcoms realized the complete extent of poetic license they carry over a period of time, through much trial and experimentation. If one analyzes the animated sitcoms in a historical context, one simply cannot fail observing the fact that the families found in the animated sitcoms have gradually graduated from being normal, to funny, to being outright subversive. The animation aspect of these sitcoms allows the artists to portray even the most socially horrifying and sensitive aspects of life in a way that appears and sounds less offensive to the viewers. Certainly, the controversy that the animated sitcoms are able to dilute and mitigate in their peculiar format is something that perhaps even the most popular of live action shows cannot get away with. However, the more serious connoisseurs of animated sitcoms do know that the comedy inherent in the animated sitcoms is definitely not mindless and flimsy. Actually it is in a way the projection of a visual social commentary which does have the capacity to give way to meaningful discussions and