Mexicans and Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Mexicans and Discrimination Essay Wetback, spic and beaner are a few of the words people use when talking about a Mexican. Mexican Americans have been the victim of discrimination throughout the history of the United States. Mexicans have a very big stereotype against them. One of the main reasons that they are discriminated against is because of their illegal immigration into the United States. Like many other groups Mexicans immigrated to the United States in search of a better life. Many Mexicans are left with no choice but to come to the U. S illegally because of the cost and obstacles that one has to go through to become a citizen. Because many Mexicans come to the U. S. illegally they are often forced to work physically demanding jobs for less money. Mexican Americans have a long history of experiencing nativism and racism which has resulted in a number of discriminatory conditions and consequences such as, social and geographical segregation, employment discrimination, patterns of abuse at the hands of law enforcement officials, vigilante murder and justice, substandard education, electoral fraud, exclusion from petit and grand juries, forced dislocations from their neighborhoods, voter intimidation, and language discrimination. (Galaviz 2007) Mexicans work under the secondary sector of the Dual labor market. The secondary Dual Labor market has low incomes, little job security, and little training. There are also no rewards apart from wages. Mexicans are forced to work for very low wages either because, as non-citizens, they lack options, or because they may realistically perceive themselves as best off here, even at very cheap wages, than they were back home. (Aponte 1990) For example, many companies offer very poor working conditions and minimum wage because they know that illegal immigrants have no choice but to accept these conditions because of their status. After the United States victory in the Mexican-American War in 1848 a forced treaty was signed. The treaty was known as Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty required Mexico to give up over half its land to the United States in exchange for 15 million dollars. Land given up by Mexico included California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo also guaranteed that Mexican citizens living in surrendered lands would be able to keep property rights and would be given United States citizenship if they remained in surrendered lands for at least one year. However, the property rights of Mexicans were ignored by the United States government and local officials. Mexicans were slowly forced from lands which their families had held for generations in many cases. Many organizations, businesses, and homeowners associations had official policies to exclude Mexican Americans. In many areas across the Southwest, Mexican Americans lived in separate residential areas, due to laws and real estate company policies. This group of laws and policies, known as redlining, lasted until the 1950s, and fall under the concept of official segregation. In many other instances, it was more of a general social understanding among Anglos that Mexicans should be excluded. For instance, signs with the phrase No Dogs or Mexicans were posted in small businesses and public pools throughout the Southwest well into the 1960s. Mexicans were also restricted from being jurors, even if the case involved a Mexican. Schools also discriminated against Mexican children and eventually Mexicans were made to open their own schools. Though times have changed Mexicans are still discriminated against because of the stereotype they are associated with. Many believe that all Mexicans come over here illegally and do not deserve the same rights as citizens do. Even now people believe that Mexicans should be sent back to Mexico and an example of that is Phoenix, Arizona and its Immigration Law.

The presidency of thomas jefferson

The presidency of thomas jefferson The Failures Of The Presidency Of Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson is generally regarded as one of the most popular and successful of the United States Presidents. In reviewing his Presidency, it is found that Jefferson had one of the toughest times as the nations leader. Jefferson made many mistakes during his two terms in office, some of which adversely affected the entire population of the United States. With an embargo that destroyed the homeland economy, and hypocritical negotiations with the terroristic Barbary pirates, Jeffersons few mistakes were some of the most detrimental and failed plots in the countrys history. These events and the specific actions taken by Jefferson while in office adversely affected the social and economical steadiness of the nation, creating a political imbalance that—by the end of Jeffersons second term—led to the War of 1812. The year was 1807, and the British and French had been at war with each other for around fifteen years. Jefferson was in his sixth year as President. Although the United States remained relatively uninvolved in the Napoleonic Wars up until this point, Britain announced that their naval fleet would be more aggressive in their policy of reclaiming deserted British soldiers who were now working on American ships. Around this same time, Napoleon Bonaparte, the French leader, proclaimed that because their country was at war with the British, their fleet would attack any ship carrying goods to or from Britain. These two threats required a response from Jefferson; shipping to and from Britain would have to cease because the French would attack American vessels, and ships could no longer travel around Europe because the British would reclaim their subjects. It was clear that the British did not want American trade to support the French, and the French did not want trade going to the British. This dilemma was considered an extreme priority; economy, foreign relations, and American lives were all at stake. Jefferson was convinced that he should act immediately. Jefferson consulted his cabinet and close officers and decided to ask Congress to pass an embargo. This embargo would not only bar all American ships from trading with Britain and France, it stopped trade overseas completely. Jefferson believed that while keeping Americans safe, he was also punishing Britain and France for their threats against America. Jefferson also believed that because the embargo blocked all trade completely, and because the United States was a part of the European economy, Britain and France would suffer from not having goods from America. (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica) Jefferson was clearly wrong. The great nations of Britain and France did not need American trade after all, as they could import from anywhere else. One of the only things that both countries learned from the lesson was that neither of them required trade from the United States to succeed. The second that the embargo took place, over 30,000 jobs were lost. Not only were jobs lost, but people who still had jobs suffered even more than those that didnt. Farmers, who were used to shipping materials overseas, could not sell surplus amounts of what they produced. Port and dock workers had no cargo to unload or ships to manage, and ship owners had boats that sat—empty. This was the same for every major port city. Hoping that the embargo would be repealed, producers piled American-made merchandise by the docks. All of these items ready for the European economy, with no way to get there—legally. Smuggling became an industry under the embargo, with people so desperate to make mo ney in this minor depression of trade and economy. Smuggling went from ships sailing across the Great Lakes into Canada to merchants and traders breaking the embargo altogether. With the market in clear struggle, trade being the forerunner in the American economy, Jefferson did nothing about a possible repudiation of the embargo. Jefferson even stated that it was â€Å"necessary to maintain the laws of embargo.† (Jefferson) Smugglers who were caught were not convicted of their crimes, as even grand juries disagreed with the ridiculous act. Smugglers became heroes to the American people, and Jefferson became a persecutor. The Embargo Act was the complete antithesis of the idea of â€Å"promoting the general welfare;† rather, the restriction denied welfare, oppressing many groups of workers and people. (Malone) A constant embargo with duration of fifteen months proved that Jeffersons actions had failed. Britain and France experienced no trouble or effect of the embargo. The Embargo Act smothered American economy, fortunes, and businesses. It created a new industry for criminal behavior, and ruined Jeffersons image as a hero. In a letter that Jefferson wrote while preparing to leave the White House, he stated, â€Å"Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power.† After leaving office, Congress replaced the embargo with the Non-Intercourse Act, reinstating trade with every nation save Britain and France. Although Congress eventually repealed the Embargo Act, it was too late for Jefferson himself to reverse the action that he took based on his originally good intentions. (WhiteHouse.gov) Moving backward into the first term of Jeffersons presidency, another major error is found. In 1801, the first year of Jeffersons first term, the First Barbary War broke out. This small war was fought between the United States and the Barbary States, a group of independent nations in North Africa. In the first few weeks of Jeffersons term, Yusuf Karamanli, a high-ranking official of the Barbary States, demanded $225,000 from Jeffersons new administration. Jefferson immediately refused the demand, and Karamanli declared war on the United States. Two other nations followed their Tripolitan allies and declared war as well. Jefferson responded to this declaration of war by sending a group of frigates to defend other American trade ships and people in the Mediterranean Sea. Congress never voted on the declaration of war, but they did approve Jeffersons request of sending the frigates. While the American navy was relatively strong, tensions increased and battles broke out. The fleet of Tri poli captured the USS Philadelphia. All of the crew, including the captain, was taken as hostages and the ship was turned against other American ships. (Toll) Almost nine months after the Philadelphia was captured, Stephen Decatur led the very first Marines to Tripoli and onto the Philadelphia. The men overpowered the Tripolitan crew and set fire to the ship, in order to ensure that the Philadelphia would not be used against American forces anymore. Jeffersons mistake of denying the ransom of around a quarter of a million dollars led to many deaths and unnecessary battles over a period of four years—but this was not the worst part of his decision. While Jeffersons position on paying ransom in 1801 was firm, he asked Congress to pay a ransom in 1805, thus ending the war. This hypocritical stance was not a fair way to end the war, as they had already been fighting for four years. Many of the members of the State Department believed that the honor of the United States was lost when it abandoned the crew of the Philadelphia in 1803, but paid a ransom for their release in 1805. The worst part of this decision was the fact that the sixty- thousand dollar ransom that was paid in 1805 only released the sailors, but did not create a peace agreement with the Barbary States. This mistake led to various fleets from the Barbary States seizing American ships and crewmen, starting back up a mere two years after the ransom had been paid. Clearly, the paying of the ransom did nothing but support the terroristic ways of the Barbary States. The way that the United States agreed to negotiate with the radical regime did not â€Å"secure the blessings of liberty,† but it led the leaders of the Barbary States to believe that the United States would pay ransom for hostages, which led to the Second Barbary War. All of the money, life, resource, and honor that were lost in both the paying of the ransom and the Second Barbary War would have been saved if the war would have been finished in 1805 and a treaty agreement signed, rather than Jeffersons agreeing to support the severely corrupt Ottoman Empire. (Gawalt) It is clear that in reguard to honor and heroism, Thomas Jefferson is one of the most popular and well-respected of the Founding Fathers, as well as the United States Presidents. Although Jefferson was a successful leader in American History, his presidency led to a decline in respect for him politically. The two fatal failures of the presidency of Thomas Jefferson are the relations with the Barbary Pirates and the Embargo Act, both directly stimulating American involvement with the war of 1812, thus ruining American neutrality. Jefferson did not have a failed presidency, but a flawed one. Jefferson made mistakes just like any other man, but his actions led to a decline in the economy, the loss of life, the inbalance of the infrastructure of the United States, and even another war with the tyrants of the Barbary States. â€Å"Action will delineate and define you.† – Thomas Jefferson Works Cited Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. Embargo Act. 2009. Embargo Act (United States [1807]). 2 October 2009 . Gawalt, Gerard W. The Thomas Jefferson Papers. January 2009. America and the Barbary Pirates: An International Battle Against an Unconventional Foe. 1 October 2009 . Jefferson, Thomas. Eighth State of the Union Address. Speech. Washington, D.C., 1808. Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President: Second Term 1805 1809 Volume V (Jefferson and His Time, Vol 5). Chicago: Back Bay Books, 1975. Toll, Ian W. Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy . New York: W. W. Norton Company, 2006. WhiteHouse.gov. Biography of Thomas Jefferson. 2009. 3 October 2009 .

How Charles Dickens Depicts Women

How Charles Dickens Depicts Women Dickens and his view towards women- Is it really progress? The Victorian Age is a period of great progress in multiple fields such as industry, trade, literature and so on. The role of women in society also improved considerably and many laws were passed safeguarding their rights during this age. By the fin de sià ¨cle, the concept of a New Woman is born. Charles Dickens is one of the most famous novelists during this era as his novels were read widespread by the general populace. His works always favoured progression of the working class, and the effects of industrial revolution like in Hard Times. But his portrayal of women in his works easily fall under the Victorian stereotypes of women and this aspect does not really portray him as a progressive writer for women. David Holbrook, in Charles Dickens and the Image of Women, says when it came to the problems of man-woman relationship, he (Dickens) was seriously hampered, not only by the attitudes of his age but also by his own emotional makeup and psychic pattern (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 7, Pg. 172) To establish this, I will analyse Dickens Great Expectations and attempt character sketches of the women portrayed in that novel. The reason for choosing this specific novel is due to the fact that it was fairly popular during the time of publishing and it has different types of women characters presented in the novel. This novel is also highly controversial as it has two endings because the general populace was not satisfied with the original ending and Dickens had to rewrite it to please his audience. Great Expectations follows the protagonist Pip and it chronicles his life. The novel could be even considered as a bildungsroman. Pip encounters various types of women in society and his interactions and perspective of these women gives a clear idea of Dickens mindset towards these women. The character Pip and Dickens share a lot of similarities- for example, Dickens father was arrested and the theme of prison runs strong in Great Expectations, Pip and Dickens did not have good relationships with women and so on. The women of Great Expectations can be put into categories but these categories are not definite as some characters can be a mix of two or more categories. These categories are as follows: The angels of the house, the eccentric women, and the independent women. The Angel of the house is the idealised stereotype of a Victorian Woman and how she should behave. This idea was popularized by Coventry Patmores poem, The angel of the house where he describes his wife as an angel who takes care of the household. She is someone who is meek and doesnt challenge the authority of the household leader, the man. She is subservient to him and fulfils his wishes with the utmost devotion. She is also someone who upholds moral values such as truth , charity and purity. This is the kind of woman that the Victorian society and many authors preferred. Some would say Dickens himself preferred these kinds of characters and usually, they have a good ending, like the titular character in Little Dorrit. In Great Expectations, the role of the Angel of the house is taken up by Biddy. Biddy is the childhood friend of Pip, the protagonist of Great Expectations who appears to take on the mantle of a kind and nurturing mother. The first description of this character is seen in Chapter 7, when Pip goes to Mr. Wopsles great aunt to study in her evening school. It is here he meets Biddy, who manages the shop which Mr. Wopsles great aunt runs. She was an orphan like myself; like me, too, had been brought up by hand. She was most noticeable, I thought, in respect of her extremities; for, her hair always wanted brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel.(Chapter 7, Pg. 76) From the above description, it is clear that Pip did not have that high of a regard towards Biddy, though they were similar in being brought up by hand. She was just a regular commoner, according to Pip. In Chapter 10, Biddy readily agrees to teach Pip everything she knows. She is also described as the most obliging of girls which is one of the traits of the Angel of the house. When Mrs. Joe gets injured by Orlick, Biddy is brought in to take care of her which instantly helps relieve some stress around the household. Biddy seems to be experienced in taking care of other people, as she has been taking care of Mr. Wopsles great aunt throughout her life. This is also another characteristic of the Angel of the house. By Chapter 17, Pips view of Biddy changes and he sees Biddy as more feminine and pretty, though not on par with the gorgeous Estella. Her shoes came up at the heel, her hair grew bright and neat, her hands were always clean. She was not beautiful she was common, and could not be like Estella but she was pleasant and wholesome and sweet-tempered. (Chapter 17, Pg. 222) Biddy is also intellectually equal or better than Pip as she manages to keep up with him in intellectual pursuits and manage the domestic household chores. In short, whatever I knew, Biddy knew. (Chapter 17, Pg. 222) But she always remains humble and never proud, which is how an ideal Victorian woman would behave. She also serves the role of a confidante and consoler to Pip as he confesses the feelings he had harboured for Estella to her and his wish of becoming a gentleman. Biddy was the wisest of girls, and she tried to reason no more with me. She put her hand, which was a comfortable hand though roughened by work, upon my hands, one after another, and gently took them out of my hair. Then she softly patted my shoulder in a soothing wayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Chapter 17, Pg. 229-230) When Biddy and Pip get into an argument, she gets accused of being jealous and it is her who apologises. Also in Chapter 35, when Mrs. Joe dies, they get into another argument and in the end she says, let only me be hurt, if I have been ungenerous. This is similar to Amy Dorrits behaviour in Little Dorrit when she gets scolded by her father for not getting along with the gatekeepers son to provide him a more comfortable life. This is also another characteristic which was expected of the Angel of the house, where the woman is subservient to the man and has no right to confront him for his misdeeds or wrongdoings, but rather apologise even if they werent at fault. In chapter 58, Biddy finally gets her happy ending by marrying Joe Gargery, the good Samaritan. She is also the only female character to get a proper happy ending unlike Estella (in the original ending), Ms. Havisham or Mrs. Joe. It is obvious that Dickens favours Biddy and the type of woman she portrays more than the others. She might be unconsciously modelled after Mary Hogarth, his first wife, who according to David Holbrook in Charles Dickens and the Image of Women, is worshipped by him (Dickens) as the epitome of ideal womanhood. Throughout his life he seemed to need to idolize this kind of devoted sister figure like Agnes in David Copperfield and Rose Maylie in Oliver Twist angelically beautiful, devoted, inspiring, and the object of pure admiration( Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 7, Pg. 168) Though Biddy is not angelically beautiful, she is angelic in quality and she earns the admiration of the audience and later Pip himself. The other character who also fall under this category is Clara Barley who marries Herbert Pocket after her abusive fathers death and also has a happy ending. The Eccentric women categorises women who do not fall under the stereotypical categories Victorians imposed on women. They are usually portrayed as mysterious, dark, cruel, cold and cunning. They are also beautiful women who take on the role of seductress and tempt the virtuous men into committing adultery or just serve as objects of temptation. They are also associated with criminality- usually portrayed as murderers or in any role which is not morally right. In Great Expectations, there are many eccentric women- the most noteworthy ones are Ms. Havisham and Estella (who will be dealt with later as she falls under two categories). Ms. Havisham is one of the stranger characters Dickens has created and she could be compared to the Wicked Witch of the West. She is first revealed in Chapter 8, when she awaits Pips arrival to be Estellas playmate. Pip is thoroughly spooked by her, as seen in his description of her in her wedding dress and comparing her to a ghastly waxwork and a skeleton . Once, I had been taken to see some ghastly waxwork at the Fair, representing I know not what impossible personage lying in state. Once, I had been taken to one of our old marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress, that had been dug out of a vault under the church pavement. Now, waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me. I should have cried out, if I could. (Chapter 8, Pg. 100) Her interactions with Pip portray her to be broken and melancholic but scary at the same time. The lingering scent of death and decay surrounded her every move and action and this impacts Pip to such an extent that he hallucinates Ms. Havisham hanging from a beam. I saw a figure hanging there by the neck. A figure all in yellow white, with but one shoe to the feet; and it hung so, that I could see that the faded trimmings of the dress were like earthy paper, and that the face was Miss Havishams, with a movement going over the whole countenance as if she were trying to call to me. (Chapter 8, Pg. 112) Holbrook, in Charles Dickens and the Image of Women, compares the hallucination of Pip as representing the death of the female element, in Dickens himself. It shows just how much Dickens has his views on women changed due to his personal experiences with women throughout his life. This is just the kind of nightmare fantasy one might expect a sensitive and imaginative childlike Pip to have. But it also belongs to the overall symbolism of the dramatic poem- and in this it is the image of female element being gone dead: emotions gone dead, sexuality gone dead, and creativity gone dead. So, it is an image characteristic of the Victorian predicament. The hanging figure Pip sees is the death of potentia in Miss Havisham, in himself, and in Dickens himself. (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 137) Pips description of Ms. Havisham during Chapter 11 reiterates the idea that she is the Wicked Witch of the West. In her other hand she had a crutch-headed stick on which she leaned, and she looked like the Witch of the place. (Chapter 11, Pg. 148) Ms. Havishams interactions with her guests seem cold and concise as she walks around the room with Pip and exchanges small talk with them. It is obvious that Ms. Havisham exudes a cold and melancholic aura as she compares herself with the rotten cake, the so-called heap of decay. Ms. Havisham is also shown to be manipulative as she poses as a fake benefactor for Pip to get Sarah Pocket jealous in Chapter 19. When Herbert narrates the story of Ms. Havisham to Pip in Chapter 22, she is shown to be a spoiled child and when she was grown up, a proud and haughty woman who didnt trust or depend on anyone. When she fell in love with Compeyson, she had loved him passionately but when she got jilted, her passion turned to fury and laid wrath upon the house and her life. What the novel doesnt portray or highlight is that her being spoiled and haughty is due to her upbringing and her sadness and hurt at losing her lover whom she had loved so passionately is just glossed upon as just a recovery from a bad illness. Ms. Havishams desire for revenge is highlighted in chapter 29 as she greedily urges Pip to love Estella. Her view on love has been skewered by her jilted lover and now she wishes the same fate upon others just to see them suffer like she did. Ill tell you, said she, in the same hurried passionate whisper, what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter as I did!' (Chapter 29, Pg. 425-426) But Ms. Havishams greatest possession and achievement aka Estella turns into a cold-hearted woman who is incapable of loving anyone, including Ms. Havisham herself. Their argument during Chapter 38 shows just how much Estella has become estranged and indifferent to Ms. Havisham and her own pride and joy has turned against her. So proud, so proud! moaned Miss Havisham, pushing away her grey hair with both her hands. Who taught me to be proud? returned Estella. Who praised me when I learnt my lesson? So hard, so hard! moaned Miss Havisham, with her former action. Who taught me to be hard? returned Estella. Who praised me when I learnt my lesson? But to be proud and hard to me! Miss Havisham quite shrieked, as she stretched out her arms. Estella, Estella, Estella, to be proud and hard to me!' (Chapter 38, Pg. 543-544) This shows Ms. Havishams anguish over losing Estella, the only relationship which she actively participated after being jilted by her lover. It is Estella whom she let into her deep and crooked heart and it is through Estella and Pip that she regains some human emotions like regret. In Chapter 44, when Pip confesses to Estella and gets his heart broken, Ms. Havishams reactions are short and abrupt but it showcases her remorse and the sense of guilt at what she has done. She identifies with Pip and realises that Pip is the same as her now- with a broken heart, and it is all because of her. Though her plans succeeded, she does not derive any pleasure or comfort from it. Ms. Havisham is quite a complex character, with many flaws pointed out more than positive points in the novel. Holbrook says, Ms. Havisham has been blighted emotionally just at the moment of sexual flowering, and her bodily life in an ancient bridal gown symbolizes psychic paralysis. (Holbrook, Chapter 5, Pg. 133) and identifies this characteristic of Ms. Havisham to Dickens own fears of loving and related schizoid problems of identity. She is a woman fixated with one goal in mind but realizes that she is harming others just like others had harmed her later in the novel and seeks forgiveness. She does have a moment of realization and though she spent years of her life rotting away in the Satis house, she leads an independent life with the money provided by her father. Ideally, she would not suit the characteristic of an independent woman or the New Woman but she does have the underlying qualities of an independent woman, only if the circumstances were better, she might have developed into one of the strong-willed women who would appear in the later Victorian Age. Before focussing on Estella, other minor characters which fall under this category will be Mrs. Joe Gargery and Molly, Estellas mother. Mrs. Joe is well known for bringing up Pip by hand. She is introduced in detail in Chapter 2 where the first physical feature which is highlighted is her beauty. She was not a good-looking woman, my sister; and I had a general impression that she must have made Joe Gargery marry her by hand. (Chapter 2, Pg. 11) My sister, Mrs. Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes used to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap. She was tall and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in front, that was stuck full of pins and needles. (Chapter 2, Pg. 11-12) Mrs. Joe is just like her apron- coarse, impregnable or rather immovable, and was as prickly as those pins and needles stuck on her bib. She is described as a violent woman and she uses the so-called tickler to dish out corporal punishment for Pip. She seems to be the power of the Gargery house rather than Joe himself, as he doesnt stop her from whatever she wants to do or say. All her interactions with Pip usually have a violent undertone- for example, before sending Pip off to Ms. Havishams house, she gives him a good scrubbing which is painful for Pip to say the least. She also meets a violent end when she is attacked by Orlick in chapter 15 and by chapter 16, she has lost her hearing, could hardly see and has become crippled. These are the things which are highlighted in the novel. What is not highlighted is that Mrs. Joe had to take care of the entire household after her parents died, had to live through the deaths of her five brothers and had to take care of a child who is twenty years younger than her. She also had to shoulder the household responsibilities and social interactions with others. These aspects of Mrs. Joe are not shown in the novel and in the end, she is rendered as a crippled woman who is taken care of Biddy. She finally passes away in Chapter 34, and in Chapter 35, she also turns into a ghostly existence which haunts the protagonist Pip as he makes his way to the funeral back to Joes forge and the rest of the novel with the theme of murder and violence. The other character which falls under this eccentric woman category is Molly, the murderess who tries to kill her own daughter. She is a docile and obedient servant of Mr. Jaggers, but she has an infamous past and is the birth-mother of Estella. She is saved from the gallows by Mr. Jaggers and lives with him as a servant. Not much is known about her criminal past and she is wrapped with an air of dangerous mystery. Holbrook describes Molly as, a woman with strong muscles concealed under petiteness and a woman capable of great cruelty and perhaps murder. She is the female annihilating figure Freud called the castrating mother (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 138) Though Molly is not given that much of an importance in the novel, she represents the theme of murder and guilt, which seems to contaminate every character in the novel- including Estella, who is the daughter of a murderess and a convict. Estella is the final entry in the eccentric woman category but she does not confine herself to just this category. Estella is also introduced in chapter 8 and she brings the light into Pips dark life. To stand in the dark in a mysterious passage of an unknown house, bawling Estella to a scornful young lady neither visible nor responsive, and feeling it a dreadful liberty so to roar out her name, was almost as bad as playing to order. But, she answered at last, and her light came along the dark passage like a star. Miss Havisham beckoned her to come close, and took up a jewel from the table, and tried its effect upon her fair young bosom and against her pretty brown hair. (Chapter 8, Pg. 103-104) She is compared with a star or a jewel throughout the novel and these symbolize Estella to be bright, precious and far out of reach. Though she is mean to Pip and shows only contempt and disdain for him, she still manages to entrance Pip with her cold demeanour and her beauty, much like how a seductress traps her victim with her charms. She is perceived to be cold-hearted and cruel, but she does display signs of emotion as seen in the scene where she allows Pip to kiss her cheek. But, she neither asked me where I had been, nor why I had kept her waiting; and there was a bright flush upon her face, as though something had happened to delight her. Instead of going straight to the gate, too, she stepped back into the passage, and beckoned me. Come here! You may kiss me, if you like. I kissed her cheek as she turned it to me. (Chapter 11, Pg. 162) What is interesting to note is that Estella is delighted by an act of violence, even before any thoughts of criminality is being associated with her. This could be foreshadowing or reiterating by Dickens to show Estellas roots- her criminal parents. By chapter 22, Herbert establishes Estellas purpose in life or the reason of her being brought up by Ms. Havisham and that is to break young mens hearts. Also, when Pip returns to the Satis house to see Estella once shes a grown woman in Chapter 29, she pretends she doesnt remember Pip or any of their childhood interactions which deeply hurt Pip. She also points out the spot where Pip had seen the ghost in his childhood. This is a conflicting behaviour of Estella and she probably did it to dig deep into the scars of Pip so that he may remember her more vividly as Pip becomes emotionally hurt when Estella pretends not to remember him. That scene is also important as it brings out more foreshadowing. According to Holbrook, this scene shows the implicit connection to Estella and her roots. The association between Estella and the ghost is ambiguous. In one sense, Pip is sensing her origins: her mother was the unknown murderess who wished to kill her own child. In the background too is her father Magwitch, the criminal, who believes his child to be dead. The shadow is of murder by the woman murderer and of the child by being abandoned (by rejecting the mother and father). (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 138) As Estella grows up, she remains in her role of being the object of desire and she makes other men jealous using Pip. As for Pip himself, she warns him multiple times that shes a cold-hearted person. This could be her manipulating him further or she might genuinely care about him- it is not clear. This ambiguity is attached to Estella till the chapter where Pip confesses his love for her. You ridiculous boy, said Estella, will you never take warning? Or do you kiss my hand in the same spirit in which I once let you kiss my cheek? What spirit was that? said I. I must think a moment. A spirit of contempt for the fawners and plotters. If I say yes, may I kiss the cheek again?' (Chapter 33, Pg. 475) When she rejects Pip, she does so with a cold demeanour. She does not express her emotions, which is how a Victorian woman should be, and it further accentuates how Dickens uses this trope for this scene in an ironic way. Even as a child, Estella possessed more emotion than when she grew up as she became unmoved by everything around her, including others feelings. Furthermore, she tells Pip that shes going to marry Drummle by her own decision, just to probably spite everyone, including Ms. Havisham. Only Pips pleas for her to not marry Drummle brings out a softer reaction in her. This eventually leads to Estella being abused by her husband and depending on the two endings, she either gets remarried and still unhappy or she ends up having a future with the possibility of marrying Pip. These two endings lead to drastically different fates for Estella. Dickens original ending shows Estella reformed by her suffering- shes remarried but she still holds herself in high regard and superiority. In the second ending, she is much more humbled and reformed by her suffering. John Forster, who was Dickens friend, felt the original ending was more consistent with the draft, as well as the natural working out of the tale.[1] George Bernard Shaw says that the novel is too serious a book to be a trivially happy one. Its beginning is unhappy; its middle is unhappy; and the conventional happy ending is an outrage on it.[2] Also, the second ending was constructed only to please the audience who wanted a conventional end to that novel with marriage. The second ending pleases the contemporary critics more as they feel that the two characters have suffered enough to finally get their happy ending. Martin Price argues by saying, Each is a fantasist who has grown into maturity; each is a fantasist that has dwindled into humanity.[3] But Estella also has a positive role, according to Holbrook. He says, she is the start of Pips ambitions and it is true, though it leads him to more pain and suffering than his apprenticed life with Joe and Biddy. But he finally learns his place in life and is content with what he has through this harrowing experience. He says, Yet, with his characteristic and marvellous belief in human creativity and vision, Dickens makes Estella an inspiration for Pip. Although she cannot yet understand, and seems untouched by, the reparative impulse (the caring impulse, which, through its suffering, can cure schizoid alienation), she gives Pips world meaning. She comes along the passages like a star: she is the Stella Maris. (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 140) Estella can also be looked at as a strong independent woman towards the end. She has suffered and in consequence, humbled herself and realises how to love (at least in the second ending). She is no longer a bright shining star whos out of reach but a strong independent woman who has gotten rid of her demons and living life anew. Dickens himself is not against women or empowering women as he was fairly sympathetic towards the idea of property rights, which was the heart of the issue during the 1850s. But that applied only to the working women and not the powerful women like Ms. Havisham. In Great Expectations, Ms. Havishams house is passed on to Estella, who is the adopted daughter, and it is hers to do with as she pleases. This is not the traditional primogeniture practice which is usually practiced during the Victorian Age and it is met with discomfort by Dickens. Deborah Wynne, in Women and Personal Property in the Victorian Novel, says when women do take control of significant amounts of property and its transmission, as Miss Havisham does, the destructive qualities of their legacies are usually emphasized. When forceful women of property, owners of real estate, create for themselves a space which is inaccessible to male control, such as Betsy Trotwood, Mrs. Clennam or Miss Havisham, it is shown to be vulnerable to loss or destruction, as though Dickens half believed what English law presumed: that women had a tendency to be ineffective managers of their own property (Wynne, 2010. Chapter 2, Pg. 58) He favoured the working women and women who were destitute like prisoners and prostitutes. He opened up a home for the fallen women called Urania cottage along with Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts. Jane Rogers, in Dickens and his involvement in Urania Cottage, says Miss Coutts and Dickens planned a Home that would offer a different and more sympathetic approach to the treatment of fallen women. Other organisations such as the Magdelen Society had homes which offered a typically harsh and punishing routine. (Rogers, 2003. Pg. 1) This Urania house was a reformation centre for these fallen women to regain a proper place in the Victorian society, which still oppressed women into traditional roles. According to Jenny Hartley, in Undertexts and Intertexts: The Women of Urania Cottage, Secrets and Little Dorrit, Dickens concerned himself with everything the women of the cottage did, including how they spend their time in the house. It is quite clear that though Dickens was very progressive in his thinking, when it came to women, he was still confined by society and its rules. Coupled with his bad experiences with women in real life, his fictional women characters came to represent what was hidden away in his mind- his fears and regrets and personal insecurities caused by the society and his relationships. By analysing the character sketches of the women of Great Expectations and Dickens personal life, it is clear that Dickens is very conflicted when it comes to the topic of women. He prefers certain kinds of women like Biddy, who are the working class and little angels of the house, and as for the other women, they are subjected to hardships and punishments for their transgressions. Though he didnt make his female characters as independent like Nora Roberts from A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen, his characters like Estella or Ms. Havisham still retain some part of being an independent woman, though it is obscured by their eccentricity. So, Dickens, in a sense, is a writer who is inhibited by his personal life which narrows his views on women. Otherwise, he is a progressive writer who acknowledges the social constraints caused by the society. Works Cited: Dickens, C. (1851). Great Expectations. 1st ed. [ebook] Planet PDF. Available at: http://www.planetpublish.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Great_Expectations_NT.pdf [Accessed 28 Dec. 2016]. Hartley, J. (2005). Critical Survey. 1st ed. [ebook] Berghahn Books, pp.63-76. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41556108.pdf [Accessed 4 Jan. 2017]. Holbrook, D. (1993). Charles Dickens and the image of woman. 1st ed. New York: New York University Press. Rogers, J. (2003). Dickens and his involvement in Urania Cottage. [online] Victorianweb.org. Available at: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/rogers/8.html [Accessed 1 Jan. 2017]. Wynne, D. (2010). Women and personal property in the Victorian novel. 1st ed. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub. Academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu. (2017). The Ending of Great Expectations. [online] Available at: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/dickens/ending.html [Accessed 3 Jan. 2017]. [1] All these three quotes are taken from The Ending of Great Expectations [2] [3]

The Fall Of The House Of Usher: Imagery And Parallelism :: essays research papers

The Fall of the House of Usher: Imagery and Parallelism In his short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", Edgar Allen Poe presents his reader with an intricately suspenseful plot filled with a foreboding sense of destruction. Poe uses several literary devices, among the most prevalent, however are his morbid imagery and eerie parallelism. Hidden in the malady of the main character are several different themes, which are all slightly connected yet inherently different. Poe begins the story by placing the narrator in front of the decrepit, decaying mansion of Roderick Usher. Usher summoned his childhood friend, the narrator, to his home by sending a letter detailing only a minor illness. After the narrator arrives and sees the condition of the house he becomes increasingly superstitious. When the narrator first sees his host he describes his morbid appearance and it arouses his superstition even more. Over a period of time the narrator begins to understand his friends' infliction, insanity. He tries in vane to comfort his friend and provide solace, however to no avail. When Roderick's only remaining kin, his sister Madeline dies, Rodericks insanity seems to have gone to a heightened level. Shortly after his sister's death, Roderick's friend is reading him a story. As things happen in the story, simultaneously the same description of the noises come from within the house. As Usher tries to persuade the narrator that it is his sister coming for him, and his friend believing Roderick has gone stark raving mad, Madeline comes bursting in through the door and kills her brother. The narrator flees from the house, and no sooner does he get away than he turns around and sees a fissure in the houses masonry envelop the house and then watch the ground swallow up the remains. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poe introduces the reader to three characters; Lady Madeline, Roderick Usher, and the narrator, whose name is never given. Lady Madelin, the twin sister of Roderick Usher, does not speak one word throughout the story. In fact she is absent from most of the story, and she and the narrator do not stay together in the same room. After the narrators arrival she takes to her bed and falls into a catatonic state. He helps to bury her and put her away in a vault, but when she reappears he flees. Before she was buried she roamed around the house quietly not noticing anything, completely overcome by her mental disorder. Roderick Usher appears to be an educated man. He comes from a wealthy family and owns a huge library.

Storytelling lost to the documentary :: essays research papers fc

This paper will explore documentaries and storytelling as an important part of culture, what a documentary is compared to a story, and how storytelling is abandoned for this modern media. In this world there exists something that we all have in common and upon which the success of our entire civilization rests. It is the almost magical way in which we communicate and understand each other. Simply said, it is storytelling. Storytelling is a very cool, in media terms, interactive experience between a teller and a listener. In a sense, many mediums such as novels and television, while they contain stories, are not seen in the same light as "storytelling" which permits live storytellers the opportunity to morph and change their stories based on the reactions of story listeners. Most of us recognize story in every facet of life. The American writer and psychiatrist Robert Coles expresses that stories, â€Å"whether written or heard are an encounter with metaphors that bear on everyday life.† Those of us who are careful listeners come to see people’s everyday lives as stories. When speaking to one another we tell our stories, and that the storie s we reach out and identify with can help us make choices, find direction, identify morals, and understand our personal lives. (The Call of Story) Anthropologists, psychologists, and historians believe that storytelling has been with us since the beginning of our existence. For thousands of years, as people struggled to survive, they passed on stories of the wisdom and knowledge they accumulated. In early times, storytelling was used to explain significant and often confusing events such as storms, tidal waves, lightening, and fire. Special types of stories about heroes and gods were used to bind individuals to a common belief system, and moral tales conveyed the first laws that ensured the harmony, cooperation, and ultimately the success of early human populations.(Ebscohost) The stories we are willing to share with one another give our culture its values, beliefs, goals, and traditions. They bring us together into a society, allowing us to work together with a common purpose. Storytelling lives at the heart of human experience. Storytelling is a compelling form of personal communication as ancient as language itself. Since the beginnings of humankind, we have shared through stories the events, beliefs, and values held dear by our families, communities, and cultures. The most important stories we share may be those with family and friends, but all help preserve memory, explain our present, and imagine our future.

open house :: essays research papers

Review of Open House I am an avid reader. The type of person who can wipe out a good book in a day or two. For the past several months my only reading has been my textbooks. So I was excited sitting down and reading a book just for pleasure. A girlfriend of mine had given me this book and said she enjoyed it. Plus it was a selection of the Oprah book club. Surely Oprah wouldn't steer me wrong. It's Friday night. I am in my room, settled down with everything I need for a night of reading. I actually managed to finish this book with about six to seven hours. This would lead you to believe this was one of those books that you couldn't put down. Unfortunately this was not true. I was sadly glad to just be through it. The story is about a women named Samantha, and the experiences she has during her seperation and divorce. While there was a minimal amount in the story that I could relate to, feeling she has been living what her husband and son wanted her to be. She has to find herself and her own way now. For the most part the story was totally not what real life is about. While I would have liked to have spent the days after my spouse moving out overcharging at Tiffany's. Then the story switches to problems with money. She wanted to charge him out at Tiffany's then suddenly wants to make it on her own. Yet is real slow at looking for a job. When her husband is described as extremely wealthy, yet they didn't live that way. Ok. So Samantha takes in borders. The first one was an older woman who's daughter works at the grocery store. How many of us when looking for a roommate would actually choose a woman in her 60's. Samantha needed to roll her Mom's advice with the old womans example. Because Grandma had a boyfriend. They dated, she spent the night with him. Samantha actually lies in this woman's bed one night and thinking what their lovemaking must be like. Samantha does make a male friend in the story. His name was King. He was the moving man who delivered the roommates funiture. He stopped by a few days later while he was doing another one of his jobs of dog walking.

Musician Portrait: Bob Dylan Essay

Bob Dylan brought the folk traditions of artists such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger to both the mainstream and beatnik culture of America, and into the rock and roll era. His writing provided a more thoughtful counterpart to The Beatles and the other musicians of the era, who were always more commercially successful, fusing popular music with an intellectuality and social conscience. His lyrics were the first to be analysed and seriously regarded as literature and his words today represent part of the Western Canon, cited by presidents, scholars and musicians in equal measure (Rolling Stone 2001). For five decades he has been writing and performing, and his works are hugely varied in musical and lyrical content, from blues-influenced anti-war sing-alongs to ecclesiastical-funk in the rather forgettable born-again Christian years. His lyrics’ social commentary – particularly in his earlier years – truly fulfils the role of folk-music in spreading tales and ideas by oral means, which will always be a refreshing memory of when the large proportion of popular songs didn’t seem to revolve around either fellatio or handguns. Biography Ethnic/Racial Roots and Early Years Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman into a Jewish family in Minnesota, where he grew up in the earliest years of rock and roll, and popular music as a whole. While his Jewish roots had little effect on his musicianship and career, it was the work of singers such as Elvis and Little Richard that led the boy to pursue both the piano and the electric guitar – which he would later shun for many years – and begin to write music; performing in several high school bands. He also found an icon in James Dean, collecting memorabilia (Life in Hibbing 2002) and riding a motorcycle, which would almost kill him and send him into his longest period of seclusion in the late 60s. Though overshadowed for many years by his folk-revival status, rock and roll was what had the greatest influence his youth and earliest musical beginnings. Music Formative Years In his high-school yearbook, Dylan is said to have written his ambition as being ‘to join Little Richard’ (No Direction Home 1998), however folk music replaced these ambitions during his brief education at the University of Minneapolis. The shift away from rock and roll can be attributed to his maturity, and it is in these years that he truly becomes a poet. After dropping out of university, he began using the name ‘Bob Dylan’ for the first time, and moved to New York City in search of his idol, the folk-hero Woody Guthrie. It was his relationship with Guthrie that defined these years, and he spent a huge amount of time at the ailing man’s bedside, as well as growing in popularity within the Greenwich Village folk scene, performing in many small clubs around New York. It was at the age of only 21 that he released his eponymous debut album and his commercial career began. Performing Career Dylan has recorded thirty-three albums since 1962, and – as I mentioned in the introduction – been through several significant phases in his music and his life. Aside from typical musical development – most significantly ‘going electric’ in 1965 and putting his grassroots folk beginnings behind him – his most interesting paths have been his personal ones. With a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1966, the end of the beginning of his career was ended abruptly, and he was sent into seclusion for many years, performing rarely and releasing albums of very inconsistent quality, repudiated by many of his earlier fans. He was honored by the music industry in 1991 with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, and at the ceremony he delivered a speech which rather epitomized his opinion of his career; stating that â€Å"My daddy once said to me, he said, ‘Son, it is possible for you to become so defiled in this world that your own mother and father will abandon you. If that happens, God will believe in your ability to mend your own ways. ‘† (Behind The Shades 2003). Discography The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) In his second studio album, Dylan for the first time performs only his own songs. In the midst of his years in the Greenwich folk scene, the songs are largely performed with only vocals and guitar, and the occasional harmonica solo, and represent the most bare and traditionally folk of Dylan’s works. The album’s opening track ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ is his most well-known early song, and the classic example of the ‘protest song’ which he was known for. Highway 61 Revisited (1965) Dylan’s sixth studio album, ‘Highway 61†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ was the first he recorded with a full backing band, and represented a return his rock and roll roots. A departure from the often light-hearted grassroots folk songs of his earlier career, the album is emotionally intense and far more serious. Offending many of his folk fans, Dylan was booed off during his second performance of the album by the crowd Folk Festival in England, whose rage was directed symbolically at his electric guitar, seen as a particular betrayal. The album’s best-known song ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ was in 2004 named the ‘Greatest Song of All-Time’ by Rolling Stone magazine. Desire (1976) One of his most commercially successful albums, and the most acclaimed in the on-off period of the 70s and 80s, Desire was the most folk-influenced of the era for Dylan. The album was recorded with somewhat of a bordello of travelling musicians, with whom Dylan had toured and written with for the past year or so. The album’s opening track, Hurricane is one of his later protest songs, and – of the 4 songs over seven minutes on the album – an almost epic ballad, and his best example of classic folk storytelling. Modern Times (2006) His second album of the new millennium, Modern Times is a blues-rock orientated album, a genre not explored extensively in his earlier career. Singing with an impossibly rough voice, Dylan was in his mid-60s during the album’s recording, yet the album was well received by critics, many of whom suggested it was among the best of his career. His rendition of’ Someday Baby’, a blues ballad allegedly first written by Muddy Waters (Wikipedia), was awarded a Grammy for the best solo male rock song in the year after its released. Critical Commentary ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ Highway 61 Revisited (1965) Music To the folk purists of Greenwich Village who Dylan had grown to detest, the first few seconds of Like A Rolling Stone embodied Dylan’s ascent into the grand musical landscapes of rock, with a single strike of the bass drum introducing the famous organ, piano and guitar melody which continues throughout the 6 minute song. Immediately fast-paced and energetic the instrumentation reflects an escape from the relative constraints of the one-man-band acoustic guitar, harmonica and voice which Dylan had brought to the mainstream in previous albums. The songs surface rhythm is fairly conventional and consistent, with a largely unadventurous drum kit and tambourine keeping time throughout for the guitar and organ, but beneath this, the jangly bar-room piano is moving through rag/blues improvisations and straying from the rhythm in the background. The organ which so anthematically opens the song, compliments Dylan’s vocals throughout, wailing the celebrated riff of the chorus, but it never approaches drowning out his voice in any way, again firmly our of the foreground. The melody is for the most part led by the organ, which plays for the songs entirety and works around several chords, without any significantly adventurous breaks. On top of this are several solos, by the lead guitar, which carries the vocals into the chorus, and the harmonica, which stands as a reminder of Dylan’s folk roots. Lyrics The song has been interpreted for decades in enormous detail, but we can see clearly that Dylan is recounting at essence two sides of a fall from grace; directed at a â€Å"princess on the steeple† who to lives in a blind decadence, while warned that she is â€Å"bound to fall†, but who lands up â€Å"scrounging around for [her] next meal†. Many have claimed the song is directed at Dylan’s one time lover, actress Edie Sedgwick, whose drug addiction and early death greatly affected the singer. Each of the five stanzas follows a similar rhythmic and rhyming structure, and follows a similar content structure in beginning by referencing the subject’s indulgence and ignorance, and consequentially linking it to the desolation of her current condition – â€Å"You said you’d never compromise/With the mystery tramp, but now you realise he’s not sellin’ any alibis† In this example the bold word indicates the shift in the whole stanza and the almost condescending manner in which Dylan delivers it, like the conclusion of a fable – drawing a moral lesson from an unfortunate scenario. The chorus asks rhetorically and yet pleadingly, â€Å"How does it feel? To be on your own†¦with no direction home† and seems to blame the subject for her position, but – especially considering the last line of the quote – Dylan could see some of himself in the character. After spending so long escaping his upbringing Dylan had been rejected by the community he ran away to join and heartbroken, and it is this aspect which is the song’s most poignant. For more information www. bobdylanroots. com – This website catalogs the musical and social bases of Dylan’s work, and has compiled many articles and influences relating to his influences. It also contains an extensive lyrics library which I used in analyzing ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ and many audio and video files of recordings and performances. http://folkmusic. about. com – This extensive catalog of articles has a particularly good section on protest songs, and the significance of folk music in the anti-war and civil rights movements. The article entitled ‘Who’s The Next Bob Dylan’ also provided me with some new names in folk music to pursue Citations Romanowski et al. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll – (Simon & Schuster, 2001) A Tribute to Bob Dylan – Life in Hibbing. www. hibbing. org – (Copyright 2002) Shelton. No Direction Home – (Penguin, 1987) Heylin. Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited – (Harper, 2003) Wikipedia – Modern Times (album). en. wikipedia. org