Devil Slavery and Dr. Faust Essay Example for Free

Devil Slavery and Dr. Faust Essay Devil Slavery and Dr. Faust In the essay from Dr. Faust’s â€Å"Community, Culture, and Conflict on an Antebellum Plantation†, she explores the balance of power between slave owners and their bondsmen, primarily, on the Hammond Plantation, Silver Bluff. She will focus on four areas of research, religion, work patterns, and payments/privileges, escape attempts/rebellion and external influences. She maintains that there was an intricate communal order among the slaves of the Silver Bluff Plantation. Using primary and secondary sources I will either verify or disprove Dr. Faust’s thesis. Dr. Faust has used the journal writings of James Hammond as her main primary source for her essay. I will use Dr. Faust’s essay for my secondary and writings from former slaves (primary) for my sources. As master of the plantation, Silver Bluff, James Hammond strived to gain complete control over every aspect of his slave’s lives. It was a struggle that spanned decades, and one he never fully realized. Through his journal entries we see the daily struggle for control, and the means he used to uphold his authority. They also show how the slaves resisted Hammond’s attempts while holding on to their own society. Dr. Faust shows through Hammond’s own words how he tried to control the slave’s religion by replacing Black worship with White belief. (pg. 220) He first tried by taking away all Black churches and forcing the slave to attend White churches. He then changed track by hiring traveling preachers for the slaves Sunday worship. In 1845 he built his own church on the plantation. He was admired for the conformity his slaves showed for the white social norms. However, his slaves had learned to show Hammond the behavior he wanted all the while still holding true to their own religious beliefs. Even after twenty years Hammond was still trying to eradicate the Blacks religion. â€Å"Have ordered all church meetings to be broken up except at the church with a white preacher. † (pg. 220) To have Silver Bluff run more efficiently, Hammond wanted more control over the work habits of his slaves. For the first year he stepped up the discipline in regards to inferior or slack work. His slaves not being used to the strong-armed policies resisted. Hammond responded with more beatings. Over time the slaves conformed somewhat as the physical punishment slowed. pg 221) A more efficient form of working was the gang method, so Hammond thought. This gang method took away what little independence the slaves had. No longer could they manage their own time. Hammond knew that by stripping the slaves of their right to order their own day he would have more control. Once again the slaves resisted, by doing inferior work. (pg. 221) Over time a quiet compromise arose, and to some extent wor k seemed to go back the way it used to be for the slaves. Hammond also instituted a system of rewards to go along with the punishments. He felt that by offering something the slave wanted/needed he would have that slave’s compliance that the slaves would work harder to obtain the reward. Here to, the slaves learned how to use this system for themselves. As punishment for a poor work season Hammond shortened the Christmas break but as his journal shows for December 26 â€Å"persuaded out of my decision by the Negros† (pg. 221) Like all plantations of the era, Silver Bluff had its share of escape attempts although no successful escapes were recorded. Through Hammonds writing Dr. Faust has devised a profile for the runaway. Most were young males without strong family ties. The weather played an important part in determining the length of time away. Female slaves only ran with their husbands or to their husbands. Once the slaves escaped they did not travel far, mostly stayed in nearby swamps. The plantation slaves would then help the runaways by giving them supplies. At first Hammond sent men with horses and dogs out to search for the missing slaves, but after awhile he chose to just let others catch them , wait for them to end up in jail or wait for them to return on their own volition. Here too Hammond set some ground rules. If the slaves returned on their own they only received three lashes for each day gone, where as on the other hand if they were forcibly brought back the punishment was ten lashes for each day off of the plantation. Hammond also realized that the runaways and those slaves left behind still held close bonds. Based on this he also punished those still on the plantation. With holding food rations and beatings hoping that the runaway would hear of it and return on his own. (pg 223) What Hammond was really trying to do was to create a micro-world on his plantation where he was in charge and all else where his minions. His greatest fear was interference from the outside. To combat that he cut his slaves off from the outside, forbidding them to go to town, or from inter-acting with neighbors or the steamboat people. (pg. 223) As the war approached, he worried about which side his slaves were on. He felt that they were becoming riled and uneasy. Thefts of goods appeared more common and Hammond thought his slaves demeanor was changing and not for the good. He could feel the loss of control slipping away as the cannon’s roar rolled over his Silver Bluff. The first primary source I chose was Sarah Fitzpatrick (1938) (Hollitz, Doc. ) Part of her interview dealt with the issue of religion. If they wanted to attend their own church they needed a pass to allow them off the plantation. Many slaves though attended church with their masters. The preacher in the white church would first tend to his white flock then after that service he would preach to the slaves. Telling the slaves that they must listen and behave their masters and by doing so they would surly get to heaven. They were also taught catechism. The slaves preferred to attend their own service for they would get joyful and loud and that was not allowed during the white man’s service. This experience of Sarah’s almost parallels what Hammond tried to do on Silver Bluff. I feel that this primary source supports Dr. Faust views on how religion was used as a tool to enforce the white man’s way upon the Black there by peeling away a layer of their culture. The story of Brer Rabbit Outsmarts Brer Fox (Hollitz, Doc. 10) I feel is an analogy for one of the slave’s survival mechanism. In this story Brer Fox stops Brer Rabbit on his way to church. Brer Fox is hungry and wants to eat Brer Rabbit. Thinking fast Brer Rabbit tells Brer Fox that there are hogs at the man’s house that would be better for his breakfast and if Brer Fox did not believe him, he would agree to be tied up till Brer Fox checked it out. Brer Fox found no hogs and the man let his dog loose on Brer Fox. The dogs hunted Brer Fox and ate him up. Brer Rabbit was set loose and thanked the dogs. I feel Brer Rabbit represents the slaves, Brer Fox is the master and the dogs can represent many things depending on the story’s use. They might represent freedom, the war, or Heaven. Brer Rabbit used cunning and trickery to outsmart Brer Fox. The slaves needed to learn how to put one face on for the master while keeping their true face concealed. They needed to learn cunning and trickery to outsmart their masters at times In my opinon the document also supports Dr. Faust’s essay. It shows how the slaves learned to use the reward system that Hammond put in place to their own advantage. Also by slowing work up to get what they wanted. I chose my next primary source, (Mary Reynolds, Dallas Texas, ASN) because she was a slave from the deep south. She tells of her life from the time she was born up till the time of her interview. She eemed proud of the fact that she knew her father and the he was a free man who chose to live as a slave for the love of her mother who was a slave. She describes her life as a slave as a harsh one. Being sold off because she was to close to the masters own child. When his daughter became ill and was told it was because his daughter was pining away for her Black friend the master relented an d bought Mary back to the plantation. She tells of working the fields, not having enough food or proper clothing. She tells of the beatings she received from Solomon the overseer and how he kept a tight rein on the slaves. She explains how the runaways are tracked down and then punished All these experiences mirror plantation life at Silver Bluff and so once again supports Dr. Faust’s thesis. What does not seem to support it though is Mary’s master allowed some of the slave’s culture. There were marriage ceremonies and there were funerals and allowed outside contact. The last document I chose was an interview of a former slave whose master was a Creek Indian. (Lucinda Davis Tulsa, Oklahoma,ASN). She tells her life story as if she were part of her master’s extended family not like she was a slave. She was well cared for, well fed and had clothes. Her only chore was to care for a young child. The slaves were allowed to marry and did not have to live on their master’s farm. When the war was over and Lucinda parents wanted her back her master freely gave her up and sent her back. Her hardships did not seem any worse than any member of her master’s family. This document does not support Dr. Faust’s thesis. Maybe it is because the slave group was smaller and mostly men. There was no strife so they did not bond as the slaves on Hammonds plantation did.

The Dangers Of Totalitarianism Philosophy Essay

The Dangers Of Totalitarianism Philosophy Essay Totalitarianism Totalitarianism: Of, relating to, being, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed (Dictionary.com). Essentially, totalitarianism is a type of government in which the person or people in power seek to maintain absolute control over every person under their authority, with virtually all importance eliminated from the concept of an individual. George Orwell witnessed firsthand the horrific lengths to which totalitarian governments in Spain and Russia would go in order to sustain and increase their power and was deeply disturbed by the widespread cruelties and oppressions he observed. Yet the phenomenon of totalitarianism, though somewhat novel in its twentieth-century extent, is nothing new. Prominent philosophers, from the ancient Plato and Aristotle to the early-modern Mac hiavelli and Hobbes, discussed totalitarianism as it manifested itself in its various forms, especially monarchy or, more controversially, in Platos polis. In this sense, totalitarianism and its characteristics have been important concerns for writers and political philosophers throughout the ages. 1984 1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government. Orwells primary goal in 1984 is to demonstrate the terrifying possibilities of a totalitarian society, the most extreme realization imaginable of a modern-day government with absolute power. The title of the novel was meant to indicate to its readers in 1949 that the story represented a real possibility for the near future: if totalitarianism were not opposed, some variation of the world described in the novel could become a reality in only thirty-five years. Orwell was concerned by the role of technology in enabling oppressive governments to monitor and control their citizens every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is the looking glass into Orwells horrifying perfect communist society, where all of Winstons worst paranoids and fears are realities. Winstons timidly reb ellious personality sets out to challenge the limits of the Partys power and attempts to gain individuality towards throughout the plot. This resistance allows the reader to understand, through Winstons eyes, the Partys harsh oppression which includes Psychological Manipulation, Physical Control, Control of Information and History and Language as Mind Control. Psychological Manipulation The Party barrages its citizens with psychological manipulation in their attempt to control the human mind and to overwhelm the minds capacity for independent thought. The Party seeks to eliminate all throughtcrime, the crime of thinking anything against the infallible Big Brother. The act of thinking about committing a crime is, the essential crime that contained all others in itself (Orwell, 19). That action is considered by the Party the most horrible, for only with thought and a conscious decision to take action will any action be performed; without thoughtcrime, no crime would be committed. As such, the Party utilizes every possible method of eliminating thoughtcrime. Winston commits a thoughtcrime when he purchases a diary and in it writes, Down with Big Brother, (Orwell, 19). He then reflects on the inevitable consequences of his action: Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with, made no difference, the Thought Police would get him just the same, (Orwell, 19). The Party has the power to realize any committed thoughtcrime and to punish the criminal. Additionally, the giant telescreen in every citizens room blasts a constant stream of propaganda designed to make the failures of the Party appear to be successes. The telescreens also monitor behavior; everywhere they go, citizens are continuously reminded, especially by means of the ever-present signs reading BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, that the authorities are scrutinizing them. 1984 reveals that technology, which is generally perceived as working toward moral good, can also facilitate the most diabolical evil. Furthermore, the Party weakens family structure by inducting children into Junior Spies, an organization which brainwashes and encourages them to spy on their parents and report any cases of disloyalty to the Party. The Party also forces individuals to suppress their sexual desires, treating sex as only a procreative duty to create new Party membe rs. Realizing the importance of the human mind, the Party not only threatens the society, but also channels the peoples potential into actions to benefit the Party. The Party institutes the Hate Period: for two minutes every day, a film of Emmanuel Goldestein, the pronounced enemy of the people, is shown and viewers are driven to anger. As Winston declares, The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in, (Orwell 12). By utilizing the power of the human mind, the Part is able to further their control over their society. Physical Control In addition to manipulating their minds, the Party also controls the bodies of its citizens. The Party constantly watches for any sign of disloyalty, to the point that, as Winston observes, even a tiny facial twitch could lead to an arrest (Orwell, Ch 6 or 7). A persons own nervous system becomes his greatest enemy. The Party forces its members to undergo mass morning exercises called the Physical Jerks, and then to work long, grueling days at government agencies, keeping people in a general state of exhaustion (Orwell, Ch 3). Anyone who does manage to defy the Party is punished and reeducated through systematic and brutal torture. When Winston is arrested, he is able to experience first-hand the punishment constructed by the Party. The Party fully believes in the importance and rightness of their actions, and OBrien, who is an important member of the Party, explains how their society is different: We are not content the negative obedience, nor even with the most abj ect submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free willà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Everyone is washed clean, (Orwell, 210). Winston must fully surrender to OBrien. It does not matter what he says, but rather what he believes, for in the mind lies the ultimate power. Describing the process enacted by the Party, OBrien says, There are three stages in your reintegrationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦There is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance, (Orwell, 215). In order to attain the state desired by the Party, one deemed mentally deranged must undergo all three of these stages, as Winston eventually does. However, Winston initially is unable to truly believe everything said by the Party. He is able to say that he believes, and perhaps wants to believe, but doubt still remains. As the final push to belief, Winston is taken to the infamous Room 101. OBrien tells Winston, The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it varies from individu al to individual (Orwell, 233). The greatest possible torture is individualized, and with this torture, comes anything. After going through weeks of this intense treatment, Winston himself comes to the conclusion that nothing is more powerful than physical pain-no emotional loyalty or moral conviction can overcome it. At the end of the book Orwell writes, He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother (Orwell, 245). By conditioning the minds of their victims with physical torture, the absolute power of the Party allows Winston to believe in everything that society does. Control of Information History The Party also has a control over all sources of information. It manages and rewrites the content of all newspapers and histories for its own ends. The Party does not allow individuals to keep physical records documenting the past which prevents people from challenging the governments motivations, actions, and authority. Citizens become perfectly willing to believe whatever the Party tells them. Winston believes having no physical records such as photographs and documents, makes ones life lose its outline in ones memory. Winston only vaguely remembers a time before the Party came to power, and memories of his past enter his mind only in dreams, which are the most secure repositories for thoughts, feelings, and memories that must be suppressed in waking life. Furthermore, Winston considers Oceanias relationship to the other countries in the world, Eurasia and Eastasia. According to official history, Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and in all iance with Eastasia, but Winston knows that the records have been changed. Winston remembers that no one had heard of Big Brother, the leader of the Party, before 1960, but stories about him now appear in histories going back to the 1930s. By controlling the present, the Party is able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, the Party can justify all of its actions in the present. (Chapter III) Language as Mind Control One of Orwells most important messages in 1984 is that language is of central importance to human thought because it structures and limits the ideas that individuals are capable of expressing. The Party has introduced Newspeak to replace English. Its purpose is to alter the structure of language to make it impossible to even conceive of disobedient or rebellious thoughts, because there would be no words with which to think them. Syme, an intelligent Party member who works on a revised dictionary of Newspeak, says, Dont you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it (Orwell 46). The Party is constantly refining and perfecting Newspeak, with the ultimate goal that no one will be capable of conceptualizing anything that might question the Partys absolute power. Conclusion on 1984 Intro to Philosophers The partys methods, from its implementation of psychological manipulation and absolute physical control to its control of information and history and its use of language as mind control, point toward the ultimate aim of the party itself: absolute, centralized control over the lives of the inhabitants of Oceania. This goal characterizes the ruling power of Oceania squarely as totalitarian. The line between the private and public spheres, present in every single other regime, is blurred to such an extent that every action becomes inherently political. Before the twentieth century, the idea of such a regime was itself unconceivable; nevertheless, the philosophers of the past such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Hobbes provide a glimpse to power similar in extent to the one Orwell chronicles in 1984. Plato Platos Republic gives this ancient perspective on the subject of powerful political orders. It is not difficult to advance the claim that the polis Plato presents in his Republic is fundamentally totalitarian. The guardians of the polis itself use several of the same methods as those of Oceania, and one of the aims of the polis is to create a harmonious structure, one which is often identified with an idea of unity-is similar to that of a totalitarian regime which, by destroying the difference between the public and private spheres and by bringing every action to the political realm, strives to create a unity among the men subject to it. While two things separate the polis from the Party-popular satisfaction with the rulers and the lack of incentive to rule-some of the ideas present in the Republic, such as the concentration of political power and the exertion of power over daily life, are clear even in Orwells 1984. The first major component of the totalitarian-like regime in the polis is the extent to which political power is concentrated in the guardian class of citizens. In the polis, as in other totalitarian orders, there is no alternative to the ruling party. The guardians are meant to be the only power capable of ruling, and the entire structure of the polis is founded upon the idea that they will in fact be the rulers. A similar structure is found in totalitarian systems, wherein power is firmly concentrated on one bloc or person. Socrates insists that this concentration of power does not indicate anything more than a means to a good end and that the producers will be grateful to those above them for ruling philosophically. There is no such guarantee in a totalitarian regime, but for better or worse, whether in Platos utopian (or dystopian) society or in potential systems of the future, once power is centralized to such a great extent, there is no guarantee that the rulers will not abuse of their subjects for their own benefit, tangible or otherwise, except for their good will and magnanimity. The second major totalitarian feature of the polis is its control over the daily life of citizens, which is accomplished by means of education, itself a form of psychological manipulation. Control over popular forms of media constitutes one of the key assets of the rulers of the polis, just as it does in 1984, and poetry, music, theatre, and other such arts, a vital part of the culture of a city in Ancient Greek times, would be subject to the regulation and approval of the citys ruler. The introduction of the noble lie adds to the totalitarian nature of the guardians. The noble lie, despite the good it intends to bestow upon the populace, is still a lie, and it represents a propagandistic concern with regard to how much the populace is actually able to consent to the leadership itself. In addition, education itself poses an issue in this respect. Given the extensive control over education by the guardians, the possibility of mass deception, a feature most often associated with totali tarian regimes, becomes real. Despite Platos insistence that these methods are to be used for good, they are in reality frighteningly similar to those utilized by the Party in 1984. The third similarity between the polis and a totalitarian regime is found in the notion of collectivism. The terms by which Plato refers to the members of his society provide some insight into this strong collectivism. Never is any individual member of society referred to as an individual. This fact emphasizes the collective sense of unity and harmony for which Platos polis strives. However, it is important to remember that one of the ultimate aims of totalitarian government is to eliminate the distinction between the individual and other members of society, creating the same sense of concord found in the Republic. Yet Plato takes this collectivism one step further, instituting the sharing of wives and the mass, rather than familial, upbringing of children, much in the same way that more communistic totalitarian regimes remove any trace of natural ties found through familial bonds in favor of those artificially created by the state.

Causes and Effects of the Persian Gulf War Essay -- Operation Desert S

Causes and Effects of the Persian Gulf War The Persian Gulf War, often referred to as Operation Desert Storm, was perhaps one of the most successful war campaigns in the history of warfare. Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq, invaded Kuwait in 1990. In 1991, after weeks of air strikes, US ground forces entered Iraq and Kuwait and eliminated Iraqi presence in 60 hours. Why Would Iraq invade Kuwait? Kuwait supplies much of the world’s oil supplies, and when Hussein invaded Kuwait, he controlled 24% of the world’s oil supplies (O’Hara). Though this is a good reason, it is not the only one. Iraq’s real excuse for annexing Kuwait was that he believed that Kuwait was producing more oil than it was supposed to, taking out of Iraq’s profits. Also, Iraq was $80 billion in debt to Kuwait, and Iraq thought that the debt should be forgiven (Brown). After Iraq attacked Kuwait, the United States and other countries feared that Saudi Arabia would be next and that the world’s oil supply was in jeopardy. This was the spark that leads to the Persian Gulf War. There was also controversy with Iraq even before the invasion of Kuwait. Iraq was suspected of developing chemical weapons. The United Nations had often asked to check their weapons supplies to prevent Iraq from gaining great military power. When Iraq refused to let the UN inspectors into the country, suspicion was raised. One final thing that began the Persian Gulf War was Iraq’s development of the SCUD Missile. Though n...

Medication Compliance in Elderly :: essays research papers

Running Head: Enhancing Medication Compliance in Elderly Individuals Research Utilization Paper An Intervention Study to Enhance Medication Compliance in Community-Dwelling Elderly Individuals Chris Elmer HSCI 401 Fall 2001 My research study was to determine whether daily videotelephone or regular telephone reminders would increase the quantity of prescribed cardiac medication taken in a sample of elderly individuals who have congestive heart failure (CHF) (Peteva, 2001). Within this research I would disseminate the new scientific knowledge with the help of the pharmaceutical company that makes the congestive heart failure medication. With the help and support of the pharmaceutical maker, I would provide a full in-service to the nursing staff of hospitals and doctor’s offices alike. In doing this, this would provide a friendly and educational atmosphere in a nursing practice setting to get complete understanding of the research findings and how they as nurses can make a difference in the consumption of prescribed medication. Secondly, I would write a journal article and have it published in the pharmaceutical’s bulletin to include a well-known nursing journal. These journal articles would contain the findings of the research and suggestions on how the nursing staff can help the patients improve the compliance of taking prescribed medication. Once the information is disseminated into the medical public, the nurses will apply the learned knowledge to their practice for the elderly patients who are taking congestive heart failure medication. First, the nurse will collect all the patients that are currently taking congestive heart failure medication and explain to them on a one-on-one basis the benefits of having reminders to comply with taking prescribed medications. Then nurse would also explain the pros and cons of the reminders and that the videotelephone reminders would be provided at no cost to the patient. If the patient agrees to utilize the videotelephone reminder, the patient would sign a patient confidentiality agreement and liability agreement for legal reasons. What the agreements would stand for is a â€Å"need to know basis,† meaning that the patients information is strictly confidential and those who are on a need to know basis would have access to the patients information. The liability agreement is s o that the patient could not sue the pharmaceutical company or the medical facility where they are being treated if a complaint involved only the videotelephone reminder program. Once the videotelephone reminder program is implemented the pharmaceutical company and myself would provide quarterly visits to the medical site to collect data on the progress of the program.

Romanticism in Keats Poetry Essay -- John Keats Sensual Language Essa

Romanticism in Keats' Poetry Keats uses various poetic techniques and themes to emphasise these ideas of romanticism the "the strange, the sensual and the dream". These themes and techniques are the back bone of the Ode's which allow the reader to feel and use their imagination which was the main reason Keats wrote his poems. Keats uses incredibly sensual language to illustrate how he is feeling and what he is imagining which gives the ode's a sensual feeling of being alive. In Keats' "Ode to Autumn" he is using a large amount of sensual language to try and take us to the place in his mind, his choice of words are hugely important for making Autumn a sensual Ode. In the first stanza he is focusing very much on the sense of taste and sight to paint the picture of summer ready to explode into autumn with words like "load", "fill", "ripeness", "swell" and "plump" these words are all very sense orientated with the desire to show the peak point before it all rots and turns to autumn. He uses the sensory language to generate an atmosphere he wants the reader to feel what he is feeling. The theme of sensual language continues into stanza two as the poem developes and as the season Autumn goes into this state of pure bliss. He uses highly sensual language like "oozing hours by hours" this is almost onomatopaeic as he is dragging us into the sense of stillness, this place he is describing is very relaxed a beautiful place to be in, he uses many vowels to get us into a drugged state of mind liek the season "fume of poppies" the language and the season is intoxicating a place of no worries. This stanza is very sensual it is slow moving and lazy "thee" this is the place Keats wants to be, this sensual language... ... seems a contriversal thing to say as it could also be seen as blasfemic putting a poet "priest" on the same pedastoole as God. His whole dream like state is extremly strange saying he is going to build a garden in his mind for psyche and to let "warm love in!" love is welcome to come in with him, this dream seems to be about the relationship between the soul and love. I do agree with this statement however I do feel there are some far more improtant and more widley used romantic ideals in his poems than the strange and the dream however sensual is a very important feature that runs through all of his Ode's whether it is describing beauty of art in Urn or nature in Autumn he uses sensual language in all of his Ode's and that is the main thing that makes the reader ask questions at the end after you have been taken to into his other reality, his dream.

I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died and After the Apple PIcking: An Analysis Essay

A poet uses the elements of poetry to express his/her theme. This is particularly true in the poems I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Emily Dickinson and After the Apple Picking by Robert Frost. Both poets use metaphor and rhyme scheme to accentuate the themes of these two famous poems by two of America’s most beloved poets. Metaphors, comparing two unlike or unrelated things, are essential to poetry and the purpose of poetry is to evoke an emotional response. Therefore, there must be a theme, or main point, to a poem and that point is what will awaken emotion in the reader. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died is a work that when the title or first line is read, sets a tone of uneasiness because it deals with death and flies. Most people do not want to dwell on their own mortality and no one can find tolerance for a fly. However, Dickinson portrays death in a way that it is only thought of as part of the natural process of life and she does this through the use of metaphors. The most obvious metaphor is where death is compared to a fly. The fly is seen as an annoying insect that is drawn to putrid decaying things that were once alive. The fly is insignificant where humans like to think that the whole world will be affected by their deaths, in reality, it will be as common as a house fly. The next metaphor is tied to the first in that the deathbed watchers are waiting for the King to make his presence known in the room. The King is obviously a metaphor for a royal personification of death. While they are anticipating some type of pageantry, death shows himself as a fly which heightens the theme of the commonality of death. After the Apple Picking is also rich with metaphors. The most obvious metaphor is the comparison of death with sleep. The narrator has finished a hard day’s work picking apples and he is extremely tired. In fact, he has fought sleepiness all day. The setting is late fall to early winter which also points to the end of life. This sleep is something that the narrator can not fight just as a person can not fight death. When the time comes, there is nothing a person can do but give into it. Rhyme scheme is another way that Dickinson and Frost accentuate the theme. In After the Apple Picking, the rhyme scheme is varied and subtle just as death can be. Death is certain like the rhyme scheme, but it is different for each person and it is not always earth shattering. Dickinson’s rhyme scheme in I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died does follow a pattern, but it is also subtle. Her use of subtly takes the form of slant rhyme so that there is not a harshness that would detract from the theme of the commonness of death. Theme is the major element of poetry and through the use of other poetic elements, it can be conveyed effectively. Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost knew this and made use of rhyme scheme and metaphors to enhance the meanings of their poems.

Age of Exploration Essay

The age of exploration had many varied effects on the countries involved, mainly Spain, France, and England. By establishing a prosperous empire in South America by conquering the native people, Spain became vastly wealthy off of the gold collected by its native subjects. However, since the native people were dying off rapidly due to the foreign diseases brought over by the Conquistadors, as well as malnutrition and fatigue, Spain and Portugal were the first to introduce slavery to the New World by replacing them with African slaves brought over by Portuguese slave traders. The silver mining by these slaves caused world trade to increase. Often, silver brought to Europe from America was then traded with China and other Asian countries, making silk, porcelain, and Indian spices more prevalent in Europe. Products from America that became popular in Europe included corn, potatoes, pineapples, and sugar cane. Many cultures spread and combined with others: Spanish missionaries converted natives to Christianity, which then combined the new Christian beliefs with the natives’ cultural traditions. Another example, Arabian coffee with American sugar became quite popular throughout Europe. Although saying that anyone who crossed the Atlantic (at least when referring to modern theories) truly discovered America is ridiculous, I believe that the first to do so was Leif Eriksson and his group of Vikings whose settlement was found in Canada. According to the Greenlander saga and the Eric saga, his father, Eric the Red, a Viking outlaw, discovered Greenland. In order to establish himself as a man separate from his father, Leif sailed to the west in order to discover his own land. He sailed west because there had been a rumor in Greenland for the past fifteen years of a merchant sailing from Iceland to Greenland whose ship had been blown off course in a storm. According to the rumor, the merchant claimed that there were three separate lands west of Greenland. Around the year 1000, Leif purchased the merchant’s ship from the story, and obtained directions from the same merchant. He set sail only for a few days, which was reportedly was miserable due to the conditions on the open boat. On this expedition, they were seeking trees, which were scare in Greenland, but abundant in what is now northern Newfoundland, Canada, where the party landed. Leif named the new land Vinland after the wild grapes found there and the wine the grapes produced. Shortly thereafter, the settlers began to erect a settlement and scouted the land. In 1960, the archeologist and set out to find the fabled Vinland, using a four hundred year old Icelandic map and descriptions from the sagas. On the very northern tip of Newfoundland, they came across an area of mounds and ruins near a small town. Because the ruins predated the settlement of the area, the locals had always believed that Native Americans created the mounds. In fact, through almost seven years of painstaking excavations and radiocarbon testing, it was proven that the ruins were of a settlement dating back to the year 1000. Various artifacts found at the site also confirmed its Norse origins. Archeologists have gone so far as to pinpoint which ‘house’ was Leif Eriksson’s, based on size and complexity of the structure. I believe that Leif Eriksson was the first to cross the Atlantic and settle in America because of many factors. The radiocarbon dating of the site which puts it at 1000 C. E. immediately eliminates any of the explorers from the age of exploration, as well as the Chinese in 1492, in addition to the obvious implausibility of traveling above Canada in ice riddled waters in a flimsy wooden vessel. A case could perhaps be made for the merchant in the sagas who started the rumor, but as with all epic stories, the Icelanders who were the ones to transcribe the sagas based on oral stories, may have simply added him in as a fictional supporting character. Because of this and other equally plausible scenarios, I have to concede that Leif Eriksson was the first to reach the New World by crossing the Atlantic. There is confusion among certain people about whether America was colonized because of a desire for more money on the part of England or because the colonists were seeking religious freedom from the Roman Catholic Church. This confusion stems mainly from the watered down version of Jamestown and the Mayflower that we teach students at a young age. While it is true that Puritans did indeed come to the New World seeking religious freedom, the initial desire to colonize America was all about the desire for wealth. Because of Spain’s conquests in South America, the gold it had acquired from the natives and silver mining had made the country vastly wealthy and other nations were eager to get their share of the riches. America also had an abundant supply of farmland at a time when many farmers had small farms that they toiled over in an effort to merely support their families. In addition, as more settlers moved to America and created a demand for indulgences that they were accustomed to in Europe, the companies that sold such items made more money because of the higher prices the settlers had to pay in order to accommodate shipping costs. In short, while religious freedom was a noble and idealistic dream, it wouldn’t benefit anyone or make any money, which is what people were chiefly concerned with. How would America be different if it had been settled one hundred years later, in 1592? To begin with, it probably would not be called ‘America’. America is so named after Amerigo Vespucci; however, as he died in 1512, it is unlikely that we would have been named after him. Perhaps we would be named Raleigh, after Walter Raleigh, a British explorer of both North and South America in our actual history. Christopher Columbus would not be in history books, as he would not have been to Raleigh. Native Americans thus would have never been referred to as Indians. Because of our late start as a nation, it is reasonable to assume that certain historical events in our country would be delayed, let us say, fifty years or so. Because colonization was delayed, it would take longer for tensions to raise between the colonists and the French, so the French and Indian War would not have started in 1689, but around 1739 instead. This in turn would delay the Seven years war and thus the taxed imposed by the British that led to the American Revolution, which would now begin in 1825. Thus, we would have the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1826 and become our own country in 1833. Or alternatively, because of the differing technology, we might have lost the war and still been English today. But lets assume that we won and Raleigh was founded. I believe the Civil War would have been delayed as well until 1911, three years before World War One started. Both world wars, because we did not start them, would have happened the same years as they actually did, 1914 and 1939 respectably. However, I believe that the issue of civil and women’s’ rights would have been later in coming, perhaps in the 80’s. We would probably be dealing with racism more than gay rights today, if that were the case. And our music would be behind as well, so 60’s music today would then be 80’s music now.