The Great Gatsby8 essays

The Great Gatsby8 essays In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is a mysterious man living in the West Egg district of Long Island. Gatsby is extremely wealthy and owns a mansion with a large swimming pool, a fancy car, and dozens of servants. Every Saturday night, he throws extravagant parties which many people, most of whom haven't even been invited, attend. No one really knows anything about Gatsby, except that he is rich and generous. However, many rumors are created about him. Some say that he was a German spy during the war and some say that he killed a man. As the summer progresses, Nick Carraway the narrator who is also Gatsby's neighbor, learns more about who Gatsby really is, or rather who he isn't and reasons why he lives his life as he does. Nick doesn't approve of Gatsby's lifestyle and the way he earns his money, but nevertheless he sees Gatsby as superior to those who surround him. Nick admires the romantic hope that motivates Gatsby to pursue his dreams. Jay Gatsby's greatness is a result of his naive belief that he can make his dreams a reality. In the beginning of the novel, Nick sums up Gatsby's character and the reasons why he respects him. "...Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him...This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name if the 'creative temperament'it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which is not likely I shall ever find again."(6) Nick makes it very clear that he doesn't agree with the way Gatsby makes and uses his money. Although Nick comes from a very wealthy family himself, he was taught to work hard for his money. Nevertheless, he does find himself admiring Gatsby. He values Gatsby's hope, no matter how false...

The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks

The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks Last week I wrote an article about quotation marks, and I did not cover the topic of their overuse. Quotation marks are often used to emphasize a word when they are grammatically unnecessary or incorrect. Thankfully, another blogger has taken on the gallant task of locating errant quotation marks so that I can take a rest on this one. I just had to share!   the blog of unnecessary quotation marks Also note: Using single quotation marks is also not grammatically correct, unless you are quoting something within a quote. For instance: Grandma always used to say, I live every day by the words, A stitch in time saves nine.' Single quotation marks simply dont belong anywhere else. And thus concludes Part 2 of the Quotation Mark Quandary.

Lab report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Lab Report Example The initial angle’s complementary values result in the same range but the heights are different. 45o is the projection angle with the maximum range. For this experiment, the velocity is still constant in the x-direction (vox = vx = constant). The only difference is that the velocity has a y-component (vo = (vox2 + voy2)Â ½ ). For both experiments, the initial velocity is the same (vox = vo cos q and voy = vo sin q). To find the motion’s equation, Δy = v0y t + Â ½ a t2, t was solved: There is a significant difference between the theoretical range and the experimental range. Errors could have occurred due to incorrect readings because of parallax and calculation errors because of rounding off. These experiments, despite having quite evident errors, the angles with the highest range are 400 and 450. The experiment further emphasized the independence of x- and y-components in projectile motion (Serway, Vuille & Faughn,

Technical Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Technical Paper - Case Study Example Moreover, there are some limitations associated with the SIEM such as number of events per second to be generated, based on the logs being generated from the system and pulled by the SIEM agents Firewall. (2007). Vulnerabilities in network security are regarded as the â€Å"soft spots† that are evidenced in every network. These vulnerabilities exist in the network as well as individual devices that constitute the network. HTTP, FTP, and ICMP are not secure essentially. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and SYN floods are associated with the inherently vulnerable structure upon which TCP has been designed Various types of network equipment such as firewalls (Agnitum outpost persona firewall pro 2.0.2004), switches, routers; all have security weaknesses that must be acknowledged and safeguarded against. Those include the following weaknesses: Network administrators or network engineers are required to understand the configuration weaknesses and accurately configure their computing and network devices to counteract the common configuration weaknesses. This common problem occurs upon turning on JavaScript in web browsers which enables attacks by means of hostile JavaScript whilst accessing untrusted sites. Some complications also take place due to IIS, Apache, FTP and Terminal Services. Significant security problems come about because of misconfigurations of the equipment itself. For instance, misconfigured routing protocols, certain access lists or even some SNMP community strings can open up large security holes. The unauthorized discovery and mapping of systems, services, or vulnerabilities is referred to as Reconnaissance. It is also known as information gathering and it commonly manifests before an actual access or denial-of-service (DoS) attack. Reconnaissance is rather comparable to a thief casing a neighbourhood in search of vulnerable homes to break into, like easy-to-open doors, windows left

Presidents of the Vietnam War Essay Example for Free

Presidents of the Vietnam War Essay President Nixons move to end the war in Vietnam and propagate peace there is the most noble move compared to that of the John F. Kennedys and Lyndon Johnson, who, at that time have deployed 500,000 soldiers, more than 300 of which are held prisoners. More so, the citizens were divided over the purpose of the war. Nixon plotted a strategy to end Americas involvement in that struggle without sacrificing the dignity that it has upheld in the global scene. With his strong intentions, he was instrumental in the signing of a peace treaty that benefited both countries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   John F. Kennedy views the war as only a small part of a bigger struggle between freedom and communism, an idea that he widely advertised to the Americans. His stand on Americas defense for freedom in Vietnam is rooted from the legal relationship that it tried hard to uphold. With this, JFK pursued all possibilities of winning the war. His pledge to â€Å"pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty† (John F. Kennedy, 1962) was considered ambitious.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lyndon Johnsons move to give support to Diem in order to make sure that the waging of war against the communist was not effective in the course of the Vietnam War. His obvious support to continue waging war and sending young soldiers made him the antagonist by many Americans who felt that by doing so, it is synonymous to genocide with a different purpose.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   President Nixons intentions handled the Vietnam War best since he made sure that the war was fought in a manner he knows will be a win-win situation to both countries. Works Cited Herring, George C. Americas Longest War The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975. America in crisis. New York: Wiley, 1979. Small, Melvin. Antiwarriors The Vietnam War and the Battle for Americas Hearts and   Minds. VietnamAmerica in the war years, v. 1. Wilmington, Del: Scholarly Resources, 2002.

Comparing Female Identity in To The Lighthouse, Heat of the Day and Under the Net :: comparison compare contrast essays

Female Identity in Virginia Woolf’s, To The Lighthouse, Elizabeth Bowen’s, Heat of the Day and Iris Murdoch’s, Under the Net After reading Virginia Woolf’s, â€Å"To The Lighthouse†, readers are left with the disturbing reality of the role of a woman during this time period.   The characters of Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe portray these demeaning roles.  Ã‚   However, instead of completely giving in to the domination of men, they are starting the woman’s movement of resistance in the period of the beginning of World War I.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Likewise, in Elizabeth Bowen’s novel, â€Å"The Heat of the Day†, different female roles emerge from the characters which help present change in the identity of women and power.   The two main female characters, Stella Rodney and Louie Lewis, among others in this World War Two time-framed novel, carry working class jobs.   They are starting to change the stereotypical views of women just being housewives and serving their â€Å"husbands†.  Ã‚  Ã‚   These characters allow readers to plainly see that women are capable of and deserve equality on the same level as men.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This essentially paves the road to other novels of this time after World War II, such as Iris Murdoch’s, â€Å"Under the Net†.   In this novel women are starting to receive respect for their positions in the world.  Ã‚   Men are recognizing their significant value in society.   This can be seen by the relationship between the characters of Jake Donaghue and Anna Quentin. Victoria Glendinning further exemplifies the correlation between these 20th Century novels.   She is a contemporary fiction writer and biographer of Bowen, Rebecca West, and Trollope, among others.   Glendinning states that,   â€Å"She [Bowen] is a major writer†¦She is what happened after Bloomsbury†¦the link that connects Virginia Woolf with Iris Murdoch and Mrielk Spark†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These highly regarded and well-respected female authors are showing that women can and do hold power in our society.   These authors send the message to readers that women throughout time have been and still are fully capable of thinking for themselves.  Ã‚   They can hold their own ground without having to subject themselves to the dominance of the males, be it in writing novels, raising a family, working in a factory, or pursuing a singing career.   Thus, they as all women, deserve to be held in respect for their achievements and deserve equality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In reference to Virginia Woolf’s novel, â€Å"To The Lighthouse† she takes the major female characters of Mrs.

How does Stevenson use the specific technique to explore the idea of good and evil? Essay

In this essay I will explore how good and evil is presented in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson. At the age 35, Stevenson produced his masterpiece. It is very rare for a novel so old to be still commonly read now. This shows just how well written this novel is. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a story about an enthusiastic scientist fascinated with life and death. Curious about human life, Jekyll is determined to change his physical appearance/personality. After successfully engineering his own physical appearance, people are shocked, appalled and astonished at the outcome of it. Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh. He was from a prosperous family, containing members of the legal professions and ministers of the church. His nanny and a nurse called Alison Cunningham taught Stevenson about good and evil. Good and evil and her taught influenced him to write Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll is a scientist/doctor who covered up the secret of life full of cruel accomplishment. He feels that he is battling with himself between what is good and what is evil. In chapter 9 after drinking the potion the respectable Jekyll transform himself to younger, cruller and barbarous Mr. Hyde. Dr.Jekyll has many friends and friendly personality but Mr. Hyde has not. He becomes mysterious, secretive and violent. Mr. Hyde grows in power as the time goes by, he takes the potion again and he is no longer confident letting go of his evil side. Religion and science were two dominant forces during Stevenson’s time. The rapid development of science caused controversy throughout the churches man was questioning religion and it is trustworthiness. I believe that Stevenson was trying to demonstrate this in the novel. An eager, apprehensive doctor was delving in to the realm of unknown. Transforming a life is no simple everyday experiment meddling with the power of God can have serious consequences. In Jekyll’s the consequences were fatal. Jekyll’s love of doing experiments and being evil caused the death of innocent people and his eventual demise. Perhaps Stevenson was trying to prove that being evil must have its limitation. Even knowledge has its boundaries. I came to believe that Stevenson was trying to pass the message to people that there is light and dark in all mankind and he wrote Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to portray his emotions that he thought about good and evil. In this way Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde story is the same, as Macbeth who wants to be a czar and famous forever or also them both wants to be as powerful as god is. But they both are failure, not successful, they cannot be gods. Now I am going to examine how the specific techniques that are used to explore the idea of good and evil. In the Victorian times London was city of poverty, disease and desperation. At the same time London was a city of crime, where theft or violent assault happened either in early hours of the morning or late at night. In the novel of Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Places are used as a metaphor to show apprehension, uncertainty and enthusiasm. In the Novel of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the Buildings is described as ‘Sinister block’ to give us an image of Jekyll’s building describing it as vile, nasty and a terrible place to be and live in. When Stevenson was writing Jekyll and Hyde, lots of crime was happening in London. ‘London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity’ this quotation suggests that a vicious criminal activities were happening in London, one eminent murderer at the time was jack the ripper, a serial murderer who murdered prostitutes during the night time. The area where Mr. Hyde lived were dingy and crowded at night it was the kind of place where you would meet beggars, hobos and criminals ‘The dismal quarter of Soho’ indicates that he did lived in a Dodgy area which was not very nice, and Stevenson mention this to display how dangerous it could be for some ordinary people . Moreover I think one of the reasons why Robert Louis Stevenson describes the places such as this in detailed is because at the time there was no TV or cinema and people would have to see the places from Stevenson’s description. London is described as one of the most atrocious city `like a district of some city in a nightmare` Stevenson is comparing London city to a nightmare and giving his audience an image of old, offended and an extremely obnoxious place to imagine with. In the novel of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde weather is used to create a chaotic and evil atmosphere to emphasis something very surprising is going to happen ‘Fog rolled over the city, night was cloudless†¦ but the wind was continually changing†¦ it was a wild, cold, seasonable night of March’ this quotation suggest that heavy mist was in London, night was bright but the wind was constantly wavering. And also in this quotation Stevenson is using ferociousness of the weather to show sign of Danger and create an evil atmosphere to grab the reader’s attention and change its readers mind. Further more it tell us that something hideous is awaiting and going to happen and that can be sign of ‘Jack the ripper’ Murdering a prostitute. In Dr.Jekyll and Mr Hyde Satan is recognized as a symbol of ultimate evil. Mankind’s reaction to temptation has been revealed to us in the Adam and Eve story. In the novel Stevenson was trying to compare Satan to Mr. Hyde by saying that he has ‘Satan signature’ which means that he has similar attitude, style and has all the ingredients in a way for him to be a Satan, Stevenson is trying to explore how bad some individuals can be. Stevenson explores how Dr.Jekyll is going to transform himself in to Hyde. He also tell us what Jekyll is to say about himself before being transformed† He thanked me with smiling nod, measured out a few minims of the red tincture and added on of the powder† He says that he always wanted to do what he loved mostly doing experiment which shows he is happy with himself and doesn’t care about what other people think about him when they sees him. I think this is a magnificent example from Stevenson exploring that no one is born evil; however they are transformed in to a brutal person. The Victorians believed that animals were a lower form of life and man was superior to animals. In the novel Mr. Hyde is compared to a beast and in Victorians view he is lower than man and they thinks that he should be excluded from their society. â€Å"Great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane and carrying on-as the maid described it — like a madman† this quotation suggest that he is trampling his victims under foot and Stevenson displays him like a beast, unwanted, and portray him like a dog. Furthermore this quotation suggests that beast cannot be a form of their society because Victorians were strong fundamentally religious. When Stevenson was nine years old Charles Darwin published ‘The origin of species’ introducing theory of evolution. Many people saw this as an attack on religion because it is impossible to believe that God created the universe in seven days. A lot of people in the Victorian era came to believe that they had to chose between the two, but some people thought that science had become dangerous and was interfering in the matter which only God had control over. Stevenson describes character of Mr. Hyde immoral, because he trampled on a girl and clubbed an old man to death is significant because they are the most vulnerable people in society and so it is especially atrocious. The effect of Mr. Hyde in the other characters is disgraceful, outrageous and unbelievably terrifying. One day when Utterson and Enfield was walking they past Jekyll’s window, as they have not seen him in for a long time and his facial expression terrify them. His expression change to †abject terror and despair† Enfield and Utterson both describes him as dreadful, hopelessness and monstrous human being that other human are scared of him. Dr Lanyon become seriously ill and dies as result of seeing Jekyll transform into Hyde in front of his eyes. In here the readers view change about science and also they might start to acknowledge the fatal consequences of science and its effectiveness to mankind. And Mr. Hyde actions reveal that how bad some individual can be? His life is †shaken to its roots† this quotations suggest that he (Utterson) is horrendously scared to death. Other character like Dr. Lanyon and Utterson is described as good Because I strongly believe that Stevenson is trying to pass the message to people that we can be good or evil, it is our choice, but he is also trying to pass the message to people that in reality being good known its foundation, but being evil not, so Stevenson in sensibility is trying to say being evil should known its disadvantages. Mr Hyde is described as †Solid reliable yet full of contradictions† which means he says something but does something else completely strange and unusual and embarrassing. He is not completely evil neither he is good. In my opinion Stevenson is trying to portray many of his personal views in this novel. His thoughts on how society can turn an innocent person into a cruel vicious person are imperative in the novel Jekyll and Hyde. I believe that due to mass rejection and overall prejudice shown. Stevenson is trying is to prove that no one is born evil; how ever they are turned in to a creature of appalling nature by their respective surroundings. In conclusion I think that Stevenson was really successful in using specific technique to explore the ideas of evil. Characters like Utterson were described as `large, well made, smooth faced man` in the novel. He is a good lawyer and well respected in the community, I think Stevenson uses him to represent the rational lives of Victorians and may also express that weren’t all people in Victorians era bad like Mr. Hyde but there were mostly well respected, like Mr.Utterson a truly amiable man indeed . When Utterson think about Mr. Hyde he says â€Å"If he be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek.† Which I think is very clever and funny, clever because ones he catch Mr. Hyde he might call the police to take him away. Funny `cause they are like want to play a game. Describing Mr. Hyde as ugly, deformed, small, dissipate and hairy in the novel, I think Stevenson was trying to reveal dark side of a person to its Victorian audience, saying everything is unpleasant about Hyde. when Mr. Hyde murders sir Danvers crew an important member of parliament at the time, after that he roughly wanted to change himself, avoid using anymore violence, stops killing other innocent people but can’t because the power of science seem too strong for him and he realizes that he is battling between himself in trying to freeze his evil side behind but it seem impossible to transform back to his friendly and entrusted character which was the dignified Mr. Jekyll and I think this is one of the most remarkable techniques but adequately true at the same time used by Stevenson to answer the Victorians question about Charles Darwin’s ideas that human’s had a dual nature and ones they get in to their evil habit they can’t change it and it look like Dr.Jekyll would be Mr. Hyde permanently. Stevenson is using Charles Darwin idea to express his own idea about science. He is saying that scientists (Jekyll) who play with the nature have to understand what they do that affect people’s life’s, they had to be responsible and make sure they are not harmed. Robert Louis Stevenson used Mr. Hyde in this novel to personify many of his feeling and thoughts. The downfall of the Dr.Jekyll from an intelligent and caring being to a homicidal beast shows just how society can play a part turning someone in to a real individual. I thought that Stevenson has successfully achieved his aims in clarifying the commingled of human being. Overall I thought, evil is explored using many different devices. Stevenson creates an evil atmosphere using the weather to set the scene. He uses animal imagery- like descriptions for Hyde to show that nothing that evil can be human. However, evil is not always so distant from good as Dr. Jekyll was a combination of both.

The Message in Girl in Translation

There always have been immigrants since the early days in the United States. The number of immigrants continues to grow throughout periods of time. â€Å"As in 2006, the number of immigrants is 37. 5 million. After 2000, immigration to the United States numbered approximately 1,000,000 per year. A recent survey by Gallup showed that there are about 165 million adults worldwide named the United States as their top country where they would like to migrate permanently† (Immigration, Wikipedia).What is the reason why there are such a large number of people wanting to go to America, even though they are well aware of the difficulties awaiting for them there? Girl in Translation is one of the books that can help to answer the above question as it tells the story of Kimberly, an immigrant in America. Through Kimberly, I can see that despite many hardships, an immigrant can still achieve the American dream of a better life through hard work, persistency, and determination. Like most o f the immigrants, the first difficulty Kimberly and her mother encountered in America is the language barrier and the culture shock.They arrived from Hong Kong with little English which became a serious problem for Kimberly when she started school. On her first day at school, she could not understand what Mr. Bogart was saying, he was angry at the things she did not understand, he thought she was a cheat and gave her a zero (25-27). Kimberly must have been very afraid and humiliated. Back home at Hong Kong, she had been the top student of her class, she was used to receive praise and prizes from her teacher, but now, she thought that she was â€Å"a stupid student with a weight on [her] heart†. The American culture was a far cry different from Kimberly’s culture.She was taught to show respect to the teachers by sitting straight with hands folded behind her backs, standing up when spoken to and addressing Mr. Bogart sir. However, these gestures are not common in America and they seemed to make Mr. Bogart think that Kimberly was mocking him. The other hardship Kimberly and her mother had to endure in their first years in America was their living condition. They arrived from Hong Kong with nothing but debt. That debt was to no one else other than her aunt Paula. There was a saying: â€Å"Blood is thicker than water†, but unfortunately, this saying was not true in Kimberly’s case.Her aunt thought that Kimberly and her mother owned her a life debt that could never been repaid, because she had brought them to America (256). She gave them an illegal place to live. The author described the way they lived so vividly that filled the readers with emotion. Their apartment was in a terrible state. It lacked heat and real furniture. The wind can blow through the windows where â€Å"the windowpanes were missing or cracked† in the middle of New York City winter. They had to live under the same roof with roaches and mice running around. They had to keep the oven on during the winter days as it was their only source of heat.They had to cover their body with layer and layer of clothes but still, that was not warm enough. What really helped her family survive that winter was the cloth used to make stuffed animal in the toy factory trash. They wanted to take the warm material home right away but they were afraid of being late for work. It is very emotional when they kept worrying that other people might take it, that it might not be there when they finished their job. The material, which only was trash to other people, was really a treasure to them, made them â€Å"laugh with joy†.I could not help feeling sad for them when reading this scene: We must have been a funny sight, dressed up at home as tow large stuffed animals, but we didn’t have the luxury of minding. Since then, I have wondered if we would have survived the winter without that gift from the gods. The material was heavy and carpet like, not having been intended as clothing, and when I slept under our new blankets, I woke with my limbs aching from the weight. However, at least they covered our entire bodies at once, unlike the piles of clothes we’d used in the past, and they were warm (77).To earn a living, Kimberly and her mother worked at the clothing factory managed by Aunt Paula’s husband. Due to the author’s superb description technique, readers can imagine and have a clear image of the factory and feel the need and desperation from the people who work there. The immigrants were working in an unhealthy environment, they are always covered with sweat and fabric dust, they were â€Å"deafened by the roar of a hundred Singer sewing machines†. They had to stay all night when there was a shipment going out. They were paid 1 to 2 cents a piece, which is illegal.There were other children like Kimberly working at the factory, they all hoped to help their parents finish their work earlier and earn some more money. Some of these children would finally end up replacing their parents to work in the factory while their children, like them, would come to help. It was the circle of the factory life that many immigrants could not escape. Kimberly’s mother did not want this to happen to her child, she said to Kimberly: Most people never leave this life. It’s probably too late for me. My days of being a refined music teacher are over.That’s what a parent is for, to do whatever is necessary to give her child a good life. But you, don’t forget you were the smartest student our primary school in Hong Kong had ever seen. Nothing can change how bright you are, whether your current teacher knows it or not. Most important, nobody can change who you are, except for you (48). Then, Kimberly said: â€Å"I’m going to get us both out of here, Ma, I promise. † (48) She had a great desire to save her mother and she from this miserable life filled with backbreak ing labor. She decided to use her talent for school to make that dream come true.First of all, she needed to perfect her English. Therefore, she bought a dictionary, which cost a fortune, and â€Å"try to memorize all the words†. She borrowed books from the library, began with â€Å"the embarrassingly thin ones for little kids† (86). She was good at math and science but she had to struggle with other subjects that contained too much English. While the other kids in her class were giving up when they had trouble with Mr. Bogart, Kimberly tried harder at school because she wanted the accomplishment of a top student again as well as she realized that education was the only way to escape the factory life.Her hard work resulted in her scholarship to Harrison school, where she could develop her learning ability to the fullest. And finally, she was given a full scholarship to Yale. Kimberly was a strong girl. This side of her personality was proven when she fought Luke, the b ully in the sixth grade. She did not run, instead she strengthened her mindset by thinking that her ancestor was one of the greatest warriors and so was she. Besides, she thought that if she did not solve this problem right away, it would follow her day after day (90-91). This was exactly the way she fought against her situation.She did not run from it and give up. She would go to school and tried to be an exceptional student, regardless of her weak English and being out of place with other students. Then she would go to work at the factory and do her homework at night. Kimberly was very tolerant to these hardships. There is no success without any sacrifice. Kimberly’s greatest sacrifice was giving up Matt and raised their son alone. It was selfish of her when depriving her son of the right of knowing his father. However, I cannot blame her. Matt could have been a block to her success as he did not share Kimberly’s ambition for a brighter future.Matt told Kimberly to s tay in China town and not go to Yale. Matt was old-fashioned and he thought that the man was the person to support the family, not the other way round. He just cared about the present when he and Kimberly were happy and that was enough (266-67). Matt said: â€Å"Kimberly, my climbing can’t reach your heights (226). † Matt seemed tough on the outside but he lacked the fighting spirit, the willpower to fight against his situation. He accepted his life in China town even though it is a not very good living condition. He already gave up school to work full time.Matt could not look far into the future; he did not have Kimberly’s ambition for a better future and her desire to get out of their poor life. Through Matt and Kimberly, readers can see that while many immigrants are caught up in the challenges of cultural and financial difficulties of life, the one that are able to get out of their situations is achieved through education and hard work. Kimberly took a bette r choice of working toward her long-termed goal. She sacrificed her love, and was able to overcome that through determination and great willpower for the hope of building a better future and getting out of her current situation.Girl in translation is a typical story of an immigrant. Just like Kimberly, many immigrants have a great desire to become successful, as they know how it is to live in poverty. As long as they work hard and have determination, they can make that dream come true as America is the land of opportunity. Education was the way Kimberly chose to get out of the hardship. The other immigrants can also choose this way to become success since America has one of the best education systems in the world.

THE HISTORY OF THE GUITAR Essays - String Instruments, Guitar

THE HISTORY OF THE GUITAR Essays - String Instruments, Guitar THE HISTORY OF THE GUITAR The guitar is a fretted, stringed instrument, and is a member of the lute family. It originated in Persia and reached Spain during the twelth-century, where it?s versatility as both a solo and accompanying instrument were established. The theory of the guitar was discovered in the early centuries. They found that the sound of a bowstring could be enhanced by attaching a resonating chamber -most like a tortiseshell- to the bow. From the bow came essentially three main types of stringed instruments: the Harp family, which was the sound of plucked strings indirectly transmitted to an attached sound box. The second was the Lyre family, which was strings of a fixed pitch are attached to the directly to a sound chamber. And the third was the Lute family, this was were the pitch of strings was altered by pressing them against a neck that is attached directly to a sound chamber. Within the Lute family came two groups. The lutes proper which had rounded backs and the guitar type instruments w ith their flat backs. Guitar-shaped instruments appear in stone bas-relief sculptures of the hittites in northern Syria and Asia Minor from as far back as 1350 B.C. The word guitar also has origins in the middle and far east, deriving from gut, is the Arabic word for four, and tar, the Sanskrit word for string. The earliest European guitars did have four courses of gut strings. A 2 course is a pair of strings tuned in unison. These early guitars were distinguished from lutes by body sides that curved inward to form a waist and by four courses of strings. Some but not all early guitars had a flat back, while lutes always had a flat back. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance the lute was the dominant fretted instrument. The lute with was pear-shaped and had five or more courses of strings was generally regarded as a higher class of instrument. By 1546 the guitar had gained enough popularity to merit the publication of a book of guitar music. By this time guitars had added another course, and modern tuning had come into existence. Chord positions were the same as they are today. The frets of the early guitars were made of gut and tied around the neck. This made placement of frets very difficult. The early guitars were also much shorter in length than todays guitars. The second most popular instrument during the Middle ages was the cittern. It was more like the modern guitar than any other during that time. It had metal strings, fixed frets, a fingerboard that extended onto the top, a flat back, and a movable bridge with strings anchored by a tailpiece; and it was played with a quill or plectrum(pick). But this modern instrument soon lost its popularity and disappeared by the late 1600?s. Through the 1600?s and 1700?s the guitar design changed very little, although interest increased around luthiers. In the 1770?s the first guitars with six single strings appeared, 3 blowing the evolutionary lid off the instrument. Within the next few decades, numerous innovations followed: body waists became narrower and body bouts changed shape, becoming circular in northern Europe and more oval shaped in southern Europe. Inlaid frets of brass or ivory replaced the tied on gut frets and the neck was extended one full octave(12 frets) clear of the body. Metal tuners with machine heads began to replace friction pegs, and strings were anchored by bridge pins, replacing the method of tying strings to the bridge. By the 1820?s most of the fingerboard extended all the way to the soundhole. As rapidly as the guitar changed so did it?s acceptance. By the 1800?s the Lute had all but disappeared. One of the best known makers of this new-style of guitar was Johann Georg Staufer of Vienna. Staufer and another maker Johann Ertel in 1822 designed a fingerboard raised off the top of the guitar, and experimented with different fret metals, settling on an alloy of brass,copper,silver, and arsenic. The first half of the 19th century was a time of great experimentation for the guitar. And many of the innovations that were credited to 20th century makers were actually tried a

A History of Camels in the US Army

A History of Camels in the US Army A plan by the U.S. Army to import camels in the 1850s and use them to travel through vast stretches of the Southwest seems like some comical legend that never could have happened. Yet it did. Camels were imported from the Middle East by a U.S. Navy ship and used in expeditions in Texas and California. And for a time the project was thought to hold enormous promise. The project to acquire camels was masterminded by Jefferson Davis, a powerful political figure in 1850s Washington who would later become the president of the Confederate States of America. Davis, serving as secretary of war in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce, was not a stranger to scientific experiments, as he also served on the board of the Smithsonian Institution. And the use of camels in America appealed to Davis because the War Department had a  serious problem to solve. Following the end of the Mexican War, the United States acquired vast tracts of unexplored land in the Southwest. And there simply was no practical way to travel in the region. In present day Arizona and New Mexico there were virtually no roads. And going off any existing trails meant venturing into country with forbidding terrain ranging from deserts to mountains. Water and pasturage options for horses, mules, or oxen were non-existent or, at best, hard to locate. The camel, with its reputation for being able to survive in rough conditions, seemed to make scientific sense. And at least one officer in the U.S. Army had advocated for the use of camels during military campaigns against the Seminole tribe in Florida in the 1830s. Perhaps what made camels seem like a serious military option were reports from the Crimean War. Some of the armies engaged used camels as pack animals, and they were reputed to be stronger and more reliable than horses or mules. As leaders of the American military often tried to learn from European counterparts, French and Russian armies deploying camels in a war zone must have given the idea an air of practicality. Moving the Camel Project Through Congress An officer in the U.S. Armys quartermaster corps, George H. Crosman, first proposed the use of camels in the 1830s. He thought the animals would be useful in supplying troops fighting in the rough conditions of Florida. Crosmans proposal went nowhere in the Army bureaucracy, though it apparently was talked about enough that others found it intriguing. Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate who spent a decade serving in frontier Army outposts, became interested in the use of camels. And when he joined the administration of Franklin Pierce he was able to advance the idea. Secretary of War Davis submitted a lengthy report which took up more than an entire page of the New York Times of December 9, 1853. Buried in his various requests for Congressional funding are several paragraphs in which he made the case for appropriations for study the military use of camels. The passage indicates that Davis had been learning about camels, and was familiar with two types, the one-humped dromedary (often called the Arabian camel) and the two-humped central Asian camel (often called the Bactrian camel): On the older continents, in regions reaching from the torrid to the frozen zones, embracing arid plains and precipitous mountains covered with snow, camels are used with the best results. They are the means of transportation and communication in the immense commercial intercourse with Central Asia. From the mountains of Circassia to the plains of India, they have been used for various military purposes, to transmit dispatches, to transport supplies, to draw ordnance, and as a substitute for dragoon horses.Napoleon, when in Egypt, used with marked success the dromedary, a fleet variety of the same animal, in subduing the Arabs, whose habits and country were very similar to those of the mounted Indians of our Western plain. I learn, from what is believed to be reliable authority, that France is about again to adopt the dromedary in Algeria, for a similar service to that in which they were so successfully used in Egypt.For like military purposes, for express and for reconnaissances, it is believed the dromedary would supply a want now seriously felt in our service; and for transportation with troops rapidly moving across the country, the camel, it is believed, would remove an obstacle which now serves greatly to diminish the value and efficiency of out troops on the western frontier.For these considerations it is respectfully submitted that the necessary provision be made for the introduction of a sufficient number of both varieties of this animal to test its value and adaptation to our country and our service. It took more than a year for the request to become a reality, but on March 3, 1855, Davis got his wish. A military appropriations bill included $30,000 to fund the purchase of camels and a program to test their usefulness in Americas southwestern territories. With any skepticism tossed aside, the camel project was suddenly given considerable priority within the military. A rising young naval officer, Lieutenant David Porter, was assigned to command the ship sent to bring back the camels from the Middle East. Porter would go on to play a critical role in the Union Navy in the  Civil War, and as Admiral Porter he would become a revered figure in late 19th century America. The U.S. Army officer assigned to learn about camels and acquire them, Major Henry C. Wayne, was a West Point graduate who had been decorated for valor in the Mexican War. He later served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The Naval Voyage to Acquire Camels Jefferson Davis moved quickly. He issued orders to Major Wayne, directing him to proceed to London and Paris and seek out experts on camels. Davis also secured the use of a U.S. Navy transport ship, USS Supply, which would sail to the Mediterranean under the command of Lt. Porter. The two officers would rendezvous and then sail to various Middle Eastern locations in search of camels to purchase. On May 19, 1855, Major Wayne departed New York for England aboard a passenger ship. The USS Supply, which had been specially outfitted with stalls for camels and a supply of hay, left the Brooklyn Navy Yard the following week. In England, Major Wayne was greeted by the American consul, future president James Buchanan. Wayne visited the London zoo and learned what he could about the care of camels. Moving on to Paris, he met with French military officers who had knowledge of using camels for military purposes. On July 4, 1855, Wayne wrote a lengthy letter to Secretary of War Davis detailing what he had learned during his crash course in camels. By the end of July Wayne and Porter had met up. On July 30, aboard USS Supply, they sailed for Tunisia, where an American diplomat arranged a meeting with the countrys leader, the Bey, Mohammad Pasha. The Tunisian leader, when hearing that Wayne had bought a camel, presented him with a gift of two more camels. On August 10, 1855, Wayne wrote to Jefferson Davis from about the Supply, anchored in the Gulf of Tunis, reporting that three camels were safely aboard the ship. For the following seven months the two officers sailed from port to port in the Mediterranean, endeavoring to obtain camels. Every few weeks they would send highly detailed letters back to Jefferson Davis in Washington, detailing their latest adventures. Making stops in Egypt, present day Syria, and the Crimea, Wayne and Porter became fairly proficient camel traders. At times they were sold camels which exhibited signs of ill-health. In Egypt a government official tried to give them camels which the Americans recognized as poor specimens. Two camels they wanted to dispose of were sold to a butcher in Cairo. By the beginning of 1856 the hold of USS Supply was filling up with camels. Lieutenant Porter had designed a special small boat which contained a box, dubbed the camel car, which was used to ferry camels from land to the ship. The camel car would be hoisted aboard, and lowered down to the deck used to house the camels. By February 1856 the ship, carrying 31 camels and two calves, set sail for America. Also aboard and headed to Texas were three Arabs and two Turks, who had been hired to help tend to the camels. The trip across the Atlantic was plagued by bad weather, but the camels were finally landed in Texas in early May 1856. As only a portion of the Congressional expenditure had been spent, Secretary of War Davis directed Lieutenant Porter to return to the Mediterranean aboard USS Supply and bring back another load of camels. Major Wayne would remain in Texas, testing the initial group. Camels in Texas During the summer of 1856 Major Wayne marched the camels from the port of Indianola to San Antonio. From there they proceeded to an army outpost, Camp Verde, about 60 miles southwest of San Antonio. Major Wayne began using the camels for routine jobs, such as shuttling supplies from San Antonio to the fort. He discovered the camels could carry much more weight than pack mules, and with the proper instruction soldiers had little problem handling them. When Lieutenant Porter returned from his second voyage, bringing an additional 44 animals, the total herd was about 70 camels of various types. (Some calves had been born and were thriving, though some adult camels had died.) The experiments with camels at Camp Verde were considered a success by Jefferson Davis, who prepared a comprehensive report on the project, which was published as a book in 1857. But when Franklin Pierce left office and James Buchanan became president in March 1857, Davis left the War Department. The new secretary of war, John B. Floyd, was convinced the project was practical, and sought Congressional appropriations to purchase an additional 1,000 camels. But his idea received no support on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Army never imported camels beyond the two shiploads brought back by Lieutenant Porter. Legacy of the Camel Corps The late 1850s was not a good time for a military experiment. The Congress was becoming increasingly fixated on the nations impending split over slavery. The great patron of the camel experiment, Jefferson Davis, returned to the U.S. Senate, representing Mississippi. As the nation moved closer to Civil War, its likely the last thing on his mind was the importation of camels. In Texas, the Camel Corps remained, but the once promising project encountered problems. Some of the camels were sent to remote outposts, to be used as pack animals, but some soldiers disliked using them. And there were problems stabling the camels near horses, who became agitated by their presence. In late 1857 an Army Lieutenant named Edward Beale was assigned to make a wagon road from a fort in New Mexico to California. Beale used about 20 camels, along with other pack animals, and reported that the camels performed very well. For the next few years Lieutenant Beale used camels during exploratory expeditions in the Southwest. And as the Civil War began his contingent of camels was stationed in California. Though the Civil War was known for some innovative experiments, such as the Balloon Corps, Lincolns use of the telegraph, and inventions such as ironclads, no one revived the idea of using camels in the military. The camels in Texas mostly fell into Confederate hands, and seemed to serve no military purpose during the Civil War. It is believed most of them were sold to traders and wound up in the hands of circuses in Mexico. In 1864 the federal herd of camels in California was sold to a businessman who then sold them to zoos and traveling shows. Some camels were apparently released into the wild in the Southwest, and for years cavalry troops would occasionally report seeing small groups of wild camels.

Ethics In The Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethics In The Media - Essay Example In order to establish this concept of ethics in media, the method of self-regulation is used. Self-regulation in essence, aims to set minimum standards on ethics to guarantee that journalists pertain to rules of conduct while representing information through the media. Ethics become necessary in this regard because any source of media would be regarded as untrustworthy by the people if it presents distorted information. In the current generation the high levels of competition in the media industry could result in severe losses. Many problems could arise due to not respecting the ethics in a particular situation. Ethics ensure a reliance on a culture that understands personal boundaries of people, refrains from lies and deceitful dealings and does not use unfair means to achieve personal gains (Chiyamaka 4). Applying ethics to media would obviously mean by extension that no social, moral or professional harm should be caused to those involved. When these ethics are applied in the form of rules, it would guarantee the general public that their private lives are respected and no personal harm is caused to any of them. The spirit of democracy is hampered if a code of ethics is not followed by the media because no freedom is present since, people are controlled through the watchful eyes of the media lurking to catch up on their every move. Therefore, the judgements should always be rational on the part of media, keeping in mind the fact that there are lives and sensitive matters such as the relationships between different countries involved (Chiyamwaka 3). A prominent book basically covered the idea of social and religious factors when it comes to ethics in the research media. A case was the recent publication of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish Newspaper, which was an offence intended towards all Muslim readership (Ward & Wasserman 142-143).The whole idea that a religion is being disrespected is horrendous and does not respect any of the rules of et hics. This caused a tremendous outcry in the media and people carried out mass protests against this act because it went out rightly against a particular system of belief. This also occurred upon the planning of the international Burn the Quran Day (Ward & Wasserman 143-145). This was shown on different news channels without having a hint of hatred or realization that this act was wrong. The reason why this might be so popular in the United States is because of the reason that media has been given the same freedom as human beings. This is one of the articles in the constitution, which says: â€Å"Congress shall make no law†¦ abridging the freedom of speech or of the press† (Johnson et al 1). This was passed in 1971 as the 1st Amendment, in the Bill of Rights in the U. S. Constitution. According to this concept, the U. S. claims that every system has a presence of checks and balances. This means that the media will try to establish the fact that internal checks and balanc es will control and mishaps in the media (Johnson et al 4). Ethics are synonymous with fairness, justice, impartiality and their presentation of truth just as it is. These ethics play a significant role in shaping a society, especially for its reformation. The media plays a major role in the lives of people today all