Explain and evaluate Walter Benjamin's statement (made in 1936) about Essay

Explain and evaluate Walter Benjamin's statement (made in 1936) about the aestheticization of politics under German fascism - Essay Example In Benjamin’s opinion, the First World War led to the fascist ideology in Germany in the 1920s, which was a catalyst for the break-out of World War II (Leslie 164). As such, Benjamin used the term â€Å"aesthetics† to explain how the Nazis used the innately artistic traits of everyday life to influence people towards fascist political orientations in Germany (Leslie 164). Considering that aesthetic values focus on the physical representation of beauty, the Nazis under Hitler wanted the Germans to experience the true beauty of Germany that had been corrupted by foreigners, especially the Jews (Leslie 164). According to Spielvogel, the Nazi leadership led the Germans to reject modern art which they labeled as â€Å"Jewish art† particularly that of the Weimar era (158). This rejection of Weimar art was symbolic in that it signified the overthrowal of the Weimar politics, hated by the Germans (Spielvogel 158). â€Å"Modern art† was replaced with the â€Å"new German art† which reflected upon German traditions, thus further uniting the people politically. Other forms of art, such as painting, music, theater, and literature were also used to instill the fascist political ideology in people. Under Hitler architecture was revived, gigantic buildings were built to signify the power of the Germans to the outside world and to also instill confidence in the German people (Spielvogel 161). According to Spielvogel, Hitler was a major propagandist who believed that the myths he held about the superiority of the Germans, and particularly the Aryan race, could be translated to reality (143-144). As such, Hitler used mass rallies to spread propaganda and convince the Germans to follow him. â€Å"Triumph of the will†, a film by Leni Riefenstahl tells the story of the events that unfolded at the Sixth Nuremburg Party Congress in 1934. Central to the film is the rise of Hitler to Chancellor and how he used propaganda to draw crowds to his s ide. As an orator, and a performer, Hitler was able to convince the Germans to follow him all the way to World War II (Spielvogel 127). At the congress, hundreds of thousands of Nazi party members march and salute Hitler, whose cult of personality, by for example calling himself the messiah, had influenced the masses to believe they had to follow him (Spielvogel 133). According to Spielvogel, after 1934, children in school were forced to write compositions in which they compared Hitler to Jesus (134). In the film, while addressing the crowd, Hitler proclaimed â€Å"Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer, Ein Reich!† which translates to â€Å"one people, one leader, one empire†. As Spielvogel writes, during the 1936 party day at Nuremberg, the crowd was so influenced by Hitler that they started chanting â€Å"we want one leader! Nothing for us! Everything for Germany! Heil Hitler!† (150). Hitler had thus, achieved his mission for uniting the Germans for war. All that remained was for Germany to expand its borders through a war that was technologically-enabled. As a form of art, mechanical reproduction that emerged during the first world war in the form of technological warfare is what shaped fascist politics in Germany. Essentially, technology was the artistic vehicle that fuelled the war led by the Germans. For example, the Nazis assumed total monopoly over the press such that all the content reaching the masses was the Nazi version; any other news was

Definition of Groupthink. Retrieved from Essay Example for Free

Definition of Groupthink. Retrieved from Essay I have always had a different idea of what groupthink really means, to me I thought of it as a bad idea from someone amongst a group of people that had not been voiced seemingly because the person having this thought lacks confidence or backing. More like trying to proof to your business partners that an idea of using an outdated tactic to target a young crowd is not the best idea In its own definition Wikipedia(2013) describes groupthink as a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision- making outcome, whereas it can also be viewed as the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. All different versions of what it is but also giving a detailed well round idea and description. Good examples of groupthink situations as studied by Janis in the book â€Å"fiascoes† are such as the United States government failure to anticipate the Pearl Harbor attacks, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the escalation of Vietnam War, and the ill-fated hostage rescue in Iran (Janis,1972) Some recent past examples of groupthink would be in the hastened decision making of the Bush administration and Congress to pursue an invasion of Iraq based on a policy of â€Å"preemptive use of military force against terrorists and rogue nations.† It is definitely an undeniable fact that groupthink has been a large part of decision making in the United States government for a long time. As we speak, arguably the best current example of groupthink that the American government is facing is the Obama Care. This is so because some might see it as a majority of democrat leaders refusing to see or identify with different ideas that are outside theirs, thus leading to what psychologist consider as a mental deficiency commonly known as groupthink. â€Å"Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups† (Janis, 1972). I found it rather interesting reading the article by the net advisor to bring out reasons as to why the Obama care was created under the influence of groupthink. The net advisor article reads â€Å"the patient protection and affordable care act or â€Å"Obama Care† was passed by majority of the then Democratic House. The house leadership under Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to allow the US senate of any party to even consider debating, let alone voting on Obama care. The house by passed the entire U.S. senate by using a controversial self-executing rule or â€Å"deem and pass† procedure then quickly sent it to president Obama to sign†(Net advisor). This brings out the question, what if the Democratic Party had not made such an irrational decision to pass the Obama Care, would it have made any difference in the case of the government shutdown. Since the main reason that led to most of the republican members to oppose raising the debt ceiling that would have prevented the government from shutting down was primarily a disagreement in the Obama care. This is arguable in both sides since the republican party might also have made a groupthink decision to prevent the Obama care under any circumstances, leading to a government shutdown that has dented the government debt even more, ironically an issue that they (republican party) are trying to avoid with the Obama care. The united states is established in two well defined parties and many are the times that the conflicting views from each party, makes it harder to make any decisions or view the others opinion. Hopefully in the future the decisions from our leaders can be viewed in a more universal dimension, thus the administrators of our president can challenge each other to eliminate groupthink. References Janis, I (1972, Victims of groupthink (1st edition ed) retrieved from http:// leadership theory 3450.blogspot.com Obama care is an example of Groupthink gone wrong. Retrieved from http://netadvisor.org/2013/09/26. Definition of Groupthink. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

Analysing Slavery in Mark Twains Writing

Analysing Slavery in Mark Twains Writing INTRODUCTION According to widely held view on slavery, it is has been acknowledged that it is ‘a virtually universal feature of human history that has preserved up to nowadays.   As absolute proof of old origins of slavery accounts to the fact that there are written documents survived from ancient times as written in e.g., the Code of Hammurabi and The Old Testament showing that slavery was established in the early civilizations. As to present days, the United Nations (hereafter UN) reports reveal a ‘huge   number of women, children and men being exploited and forced into slavery ranging from at least eight hundred- thousand to three million people trafficked annually. Therefore, globalization has brought not only positive cultural exchanges, but also endemic slavery around the world, raising a discussion of tackling and eliminating this painful issue. Concerning the term ‘slavery, it denotes much of negativism and violence e.g., torture, kidnap, murder, inferiority, punishment as well as ‘the wilful destruction of human mind and spirit (Bales, 2005:6). Nevertheless, the historians (Bales:2005;David:2004; Kopytoff:1977) describe that slaves throughout human history have been treated as inferior, uncivilized and bestialized e.g., Mark Twains story ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn portrays the Southerners vision of   a runaway slave who is perceived as superstitious, uneducated and perhaps violent thing: merely a human in their view. This helps to explain the hostile or negative feelings, attitudes and actions towards one ethnic group of people, in this case a white persons disdain and superiority overblack person. The superiority of white or Caucasian race derives from times of slavery as the historian Kevin Bales (2005:7) states slavery can damage peoples mind, namely, (1) slaves; (2) slaveholders and (3) members of society who live this system. As to Bales (ibid), such society accepts dehumanization of a person that allow prospering slavery around the globe. Thus, we can observe that slavery has remerged not only in many different times throughout human history, but also is present in our times. This research paper aims at illustrating a link between past and present displayed in Mark Twains literary works. They reveal that slavery in the South can be perceived as a ghost of the past, which has been equally haunting African Americans and Caucasian race. As a result, the past has widened a gap between those two races in America. William Faulkner has said that ‘only with Twain, Walt Whitman became a true indigenous American culture (quoted in Hutchinson, 1998:80). Mark Twain who was born and raised in the Americas South was the pioneer of displaying the spoken language, the very American language in literature that is characterized as   vivid, but with sardonic humour, neat aphorism. It has to be mentioned that Mark Twain is regarded as a complex personality; since he managed to contradict himself not only in a real life, but also in his writings. The subject of the bachelor thesis is institution of slavery in Mark Twains works.   In other words, the paper investigates aspects and issue of slavery described in Mark Twains writings, including ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884-85) and ‘A True Story, Repeated for Word, as I heard It (1874) which are set in the pre Civil War society of American South-West. The aim of the paper is to gain a comprehensive picture of slavery from Mark Twains works. The objectives of the research paper the task is to select and to review the most common images of slavery presented   in Twains writings by such   characters as   Aunt Rachel, Jim   and Huck Finn to make the use of a study of history i.e. Slavery in America , but   take into account   Mark Twains personal view on slavery to analyse the images of slavery using   the writers stories to test the results   i.e. to   compare those two different images of slavery i.e. literary works and official   history of slavery to draw the relevant conclusions taking into account both his   writings and the   historical context. Hypothesis: Mark Twains literary works imply personal responsibility and awareness on such complex issue as slavery, but problems of slavery cannot be viewed separately from historical context.   Methods of research case study: analysis of such   historical works on slavery   written by Suzzane Miers, Igor Kopytoff, Christine   Hatt,Robert McColley and others analysis of two Mark   Twains   stories Juxtaposition: to contrast and compare those two different images of slavery, namely, historical and literary description of slavery. The author of the paper has chosen the case study as a research method for a number of reasons. First of all, case study research allow us better understanding a complex issue or object and this method of study is especially useful for testing theory by using it in real world situations. Secondly, a case study is an in depth study of a particular situation. It is a method used to narrow down a very broad field of research into one easily researchable topic.   Finally, it provides a structural way of looking at events, collecting data, analyzing information, and reporting the results. As a result, the researcher may get a better understanding of why the event happened as it did, and what is important to look at more closely in the future. The first chapter deals with the history of racism and the concept of racism. The second chapter provides an insight into understanding of slavery and deals with the issue of institution of slavery in the USA. The third one and its subchapters deal with issues of   slavery, namely, they show how   slavery is depicted   in Twains literary work Huckleberry Finn and provide a brief insight into history of slavery in America and explores A True story and Aunts Rachel point of view of slavery. 1 THE HISTORY OF RACISM AND ITS CONCEPT This chapter deals with the history and the concept of racism. Racism is a subject that most people, at least in Western societies, have their own opinion on and it is as old as civilization, it continues to be an important factor in society today. Alana Lentin (2011) claims that racism is a political phenomenon rather than a mere set of ideas. To analyze racism it is necessary to go beyond the texts of racial scientists and to look at how certain political conditions during particular historical contexts led to some of the ideas proposed by racial theorists being integrated into political practices of nation-states. There are three aspects the political nature of racism, its modernity and its grounding in the history of the West that are fundamental to understanding racisms hold over contemporary Western societies. It is very important as well to look at the statements, what a race is. According to Ivan Hannaford (1996), the word race as used in Western languages is first found as late as the period 1200 1500. Only in the seventeenth century did it take on a separate meaning from the Latin word gens or clan and was related to the concept â€Å"ethnic group†. In other words the dispositions and presuppositions of race and ethnicity were introduced some would say â€Å"invented† or â€Å"fabricated† in modern times and in any case, were not given the meaning they have today until after the French and American revolutions. The reason why the notion of race became such a powerful and attractive idea is due to the â€Å"deliberate manipulation† of texts by scientists and historians to show that a racial order has always structured humanity (Hannaford 1996: 4). There was a definite division of the periods over which the idea of race developed. Hannaford divides it into three stages: 1684 1815, 1815 1870 and 1870 1914. The final period is known as the â€Å"Golden Age† of racism, it was a time when it was possible for the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to proclaim that race is all and there was no other truth. (ibid, 1996). As Alana Lentin (2011) states the word â€Å"race† was first used in its modern sense in 1684, when a Frenchman published his essay, where race stood for divisions among humans based on observable physical differences. At this stage race was used a simple descriptor and there was no intention of superiority meant by presenting humanity in this way (2011). Hannaford (1996) states that Western scholars later started to think about that it means to be human that fundamentally changed the way people thought about the origins of human life, the universe and society. It is the bases for the way we think about these things to this day. The most significant changes were in fact that theological explanations about life were replaced by logical description. (Hannaford, 1996: 187). Lentin Alan (2011) considers that many people do not ask nowadays why racism is apparently so important, despite the end of colonialism, slavery and the Holocaust, the answer is that it is natural. Racism has entered into everyday speech and therefore in our consciousness. The idea of racism is so widespread that we easily mistake it for something that is just there, a fact of life. Racism is associated with the fear and even hatred that human beings are commonly expected to have for each other. Fear based on racism is inherent and there is no need to ask why it exists (2011). As Neil Macmaster reminds us that racism is always a dynamic process, a set of beliefs and practices that is imbedded in a particular historical context, a particular social formation, and is thus continuously undergoing change, a plastic chameleon like phenomenon which constantly finds new forms of political, social, cultural or linguistic expression (2001: 2). Lentin (2011) refers to race in descriptive terms, it takes account of racionalization. Racionalization is the process through which the supposed inferiority of black, colonized and non-whites is constructed. Todays global racism divides the rich and the poor worlds and is no longer a simple black and white issue. Racionalization involves endowing the traditions and lifestyles that are attributed to groups of different â€Å"others† with negative signifiers (2011). According to Alan Lentin (2011), the development of a radicalized discourse about a group of people provides justification for their discrimination. It puts into words the very thing about a particular group that is said to disturb us and pose a threat to our way of life. The fact that racionalization and racism are repeated, affecting different groups over time, does not mean that racism is inevitable. Rather, it shows that considerable transformations of our political systems, our social and cultural infrastructur e, and our discourse the very way in which language is used needs to change if racism in Western societies is to be overcome (2011:10). Memmi (2000) investigates racism as social pathology a cultural disease that prevails because it allows one part of society to empower itself at the expense of another. For Memmi, racism emerges from within human situations, rather than simply as the enforcement of an ideology, or the â€Å"natural† belief some people have according their innate superiority. Racism is a charge, like a judicial accusation that is levied against somebody, who is indicated as being in some manner (racially) different. It implies that the other has, in being different, somehow broken certain assumed rules, and is thus not a good person. Thus the person is devalued and disparaged and he suffers from it. The indictment, however, is unfounded and unjust, and the accused is thus the victim of an injustice. As well Memmi (2000) states that in France, reference to â€Å"le raciste† in a   third person nominative mode, as to some unspecified person who behaves in a particular way, upholding cer tain ideas and attitude, would call up a more or less familiar picture, bur in the United States it would not really be as clear. It is a nation in which white racism is wholly generalized and integrated into political and social life. Though it may be invisible in everyday life, it can see by White people through accepting themselves without question as white. Thus racism moves beyond individual prejudice to engage broader questions of collective behaviour and social responsibility. As it can be seen, the topic of racism is very broad. Some people would say that racism is just based on prejudices but some would say that it is something that people are born into, and they are not able to fight against it, nor break out of their social status. People who are in such situations, are born into a situation where they do not have an unfair disadvantage when trying to move out of their social status and thus fall into a category that can make them more susceptible to racial prejudice and ideologies. The next subchapter will have a closer look at types of racism.    1.1 TYPES OF RACISM The current subchapter aims at giving additional conceptions   of   the term ‘racism as well as outlining   basic types of racism proposed by several authorities(Reilly, Kaufman, Bodino:2003)(Fredrickson:2002). The given section suggests that there is obvious correlation between racism and slavery. The website on racism ‘Anti-Defamation League defines racism as ‘the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another as well as that a persons social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. According to Reilly, Kaufman and Bodino (2003:9), race has no basic biological reality, because all we see is just a colour or different texture of hair or shape of eyes, but it does not have any decisive influence over a persons intelligence or other traits. As a result, ‘misconceptions about race have lead to forms of racism that have caused much social, psychological and social harm (Reilly et.al.2003:10). Additionally, Frederickson points out (2002:1) that ‘racism that is the antipathy of one group towards another that ‘can be expressed and acted upon with a single mindedness and brutality. Nevertheless, the same experts describe racism as prejudice or discrimination against other people because of their race, due to their biology or ancestry and physical appearance. This pattern is clearly visible in Twains work ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when a slave named Jim runs away from his owner, whereas the whole city spreads out the rumours about him having killed Hucks father. Their assumption is based on prejudice that all black people are savages, violent and ca not be trusted. Thus, their attitude towards, slaves can be described as racism, because they judged those people, due to their ancestry and physical appearance. Although the term racism first came into common usage in 1930ies (as stated in the book ‘A Racism: a short history) (Fredercikson, 2002:5), the act of discrimination is still there i.e. while reading   Twains literary works we can perceive how coloured people were treated in the American South. This attitude or and approach of white superiority overwhelm the Southern society at the time when Huck Finn was embarking in his famous adventures on Mississippi river. A great deal of harm has been done to generations and in this particular case to Jim, Aunt Rachel and Huck Finn. The pain and burden of slavery of these characters are depicted in chapter three. As to types of racism, the website on American Research and Geography called ‘Amerigis provides detailed information on types of racism. The types are as follows: Historical, Scientific, New, Spatial, Institutional, Internalized and Individual. The online resource stated above claims that racism looks different today from it did thirty years ago. The author of the current paper finds important to mention that racism back in 19th century was blatant and caused so much pain and injustice to black race. Thus, the graduate proposes the idea that discrimination and injustice has derived from the time when slavery was acceptable even more it was the cornerstone of the Souths vision of sound social order.   The author of BA thesis asserts that such blatant discrimination has never been experienced in human history as it was back in early 19th century; it was the root of all evil caused to black race. The classification of racism is based on several resources such as the Internet resource mentioned above, and three publications on racism The types are as follows: Cultural racism According to Belgrave et al(2010:104)   cultural racism is expressed as assumed superiority of a language or dialect, values, beliefs, worldviews and cultural   heritage e.g., in the novel ‘Huckleberry Finn the slave named Jim is regarded as superstitious person whose beliefs and values are regarded as infantile   even compare to young white   lad like Tom Sawyer. Individual Racism The same scholar (ibid) explains that individual racism has the same meaning and features as of racial prejudice i.e. it assumes the superiority of ones own racial group and justifies its domination and power over other race. For example, when Pap Finn gets all furious about a ‘white shirted free nigger to right to vote, because he holds the view that black   race has no right to   freedom nor participate in elections.   As he states ‘they told me there was a State in this country where theyd let that nigger vote, [ thus he determines ] , ‘Ill never vote agin as long as I live. Institutional Racism The Internet source ‘American research and geographic information system point to „white privilege† that frequently is hidden, because it has become internalized and integrated as part of ones outlook on the world by custom, habit and tradition. For example,   concerning antebellum society in the South of America if a white person helps a runaway slave towards freedom, ‘and in doing so he violets the laws of man, and he believes the laws of God (Hutchinson, 1998:130). The fact of helping slave that according to the Southerner rules is a deadly sin that sends a sinner into flames of hell. This points out that the church played a great role in peoples lives whereas any person who would disobey the given rule would be perceived as danger to their moral social order in the South. As a result, the southern upbringing does not allow Huck Finn to show his sympathy towards Jim, a runaway slave. Slavery functioned as main social moral and religious issue in the South. The preceding sentences and extracts from Twains writings show that social order had a tremendous impact over members of the Southern society at the given time.   Nevertheless, at that time there were no subtle forms or hidden ways of showing ones hate towards other race, unlike today where many people express their hate via the Internet. On the contrary, it was impossible to show sympathy towards a slave e.g., the runway slave Jim who has abused the system and has sinned against the owner Miss Watson, arises the question to Huck whether he deserves his freedom. Additionally The psychologists Bhattacharya, Cross, Bhugra (2010:41) also give the classification racism based on the analysis of human behavior under certain circumstances, namely, being   exposed to people of other ethnicities in our global world. The author of the BA thesis will highlight the types which can be found in the following works ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and ‘A True Story, Repeated for Word, as I heard It dominative when a person acts out;   aversive when a person feels superior , but is unable to act; regressive when a personsdue to his or her view on racism behaves regressively; pre-reflecting when a person has fear of strangers; post reflecting when a person justifies his fear of strangers; The study on racism shows that it involves biased judgments on humans and their action e.g., racist determines what is good, correct, beautiful, sane, normal. Nevertheless, the historians and other experts of this field (Fredercikson, 2002), (Reilly, Kaufman, Bodino: 2003), (Carol: 1987) agree upon the view that   racism and the same slavery is seen as ideology, as practice as social structure. Whereas, Mark Twains writings reflect on slavery as doctrine, practice and social cornerstone of the America South in antebellum society that has brought so much injustice and pain, as well. The next subchapter will explore the ideology of racism. 1.2 IDEOLOGY OF RACISM The chapter gives an insight into the ideology of racism as it is an important matter discussed, portrayed in history books and literature. Ideology is a body of beliefs that drives the goals and expectations of an individual or a group. According to Martin N. Marger (2006) â€Å"As a belief system, or ideology, racism is structured around three basic ideas: Humans are divided naturally into different physical types. Such physical traits as people display are intrinsically related to their culture, personality, and intelligence. The differences among groups are innate, not subject to change, and in the basis of their genetic inheritance, some groups are innately superior to others† (Marger 2006:19). Thus, racism is a belief that people are divided into hereditary groups that are different in their social behaviour. Racist thinking states that differences among groups are innate.   Carol Brunson argues that â€Å"the ideology of racism prescribes the parameters for perceiving social reality thereby defining guidelines for â€Å"desirable† interracial behaviour. Once the members of society are imbued with racist thinking, they will not only perceive their institutions as natural, they will voluntarily carry out institutional mandates as of they are a function of their own individual choice† (Carol Brunson, 1987:17). According to the authors of the books on the ideology of race it can be seen that it is powerful and it persists in different forms of expression. Robert Miles work â€Å"Racism† is an essential reminder that racism is the object of ideological and discursive labouring. Robert Miles argues â€Å"Racism is best conceived primarily as an ideology for at least one other reason. Racism, qua ideology, was created historically and became interdependent with the ideology of nationalism. The argument that racism is a form of ideology is important and worth repeating† (Robert Miles, 2003:10). When it comes to ideological components assumptions of racism, Carol Brunson holds the following viewpoint: â€Å"Racist institutions not only create the structural conditions for racism, but also create a culturally sanctioned ideology that keeps the system operating. Racist ideology is a set of notions that ascribe central importance to real or presumed biological, cultural, and psychological differences among racial groups, attributing the arrangement of both historic and current social systems to these differences† (Carol Brunson, 1987:15). While ideological and cultural arguments are two pillars that support racism, one or other may be in the forefront at any given time. Stephen Gould states two assumptions of biologically based racist ideology: Humans are classifiable into discrete, hierarchically ranked biological groups (with whites at the top). Differences among the races reflect the natural and/or ordained order and therefore are eternally fixed (Gould, 1981:45). Besides this biological argument, there exists also cultural argument, explaining the realities of the lives of people of colour. William Ryan (1976) defined blaming the victim as an ideological stance that locates the origins of social problems. Ryan identified four steps in victim blaming process. Locating social problem and population affected by it, comparison of values and behaviour of people affected by the social problem, locating the source off the problem in how the affected people are different from the successful ones, initiation of treatment that would change the affected people (Ryan, 1976).Victim blaming therefore provides a framework for explaining the problems of people of colour. It is also a framework for strategies to ameliorate the position of people of colour in our society.   Many people learn about the ideology of racism and families, schools and media contribute to this education. They learn and behave according to the dictates of racist ideology. Carol Brun son argues that very early, children of all backgrounds learn stereotypes about other groups regardless of whether they have contact with actual people (Carol Brunson, 1987:18). These stereotypes later shape peoples reality and they start judging and interpreting ideas and behaviours by their learnt stereotypes. Each persons own judgement is not harmful but over time the prejudices may become poisonous and damaging.   As it can be seen, there appear new arguments of racism and its ideology, justifying institutional, cultural and individual racism. While these new faces and arguments of racism try to cover the problem, racism and racist ideology are alive and existent in America. Racism affects us as individuals and the choices that we make in responding to it. Anti-racism education should require an immediate focus on each individual. The goal of the anti-racism education should be generation of development of individual consciousness, enabling people to become active initiators of the change in perception of racism. All people should be responsible for transformation of racism ideology. However, the situation is difficult because, while groups keep racism alive, the responsibility is not equally positioned. Yet, racism has always gone hand in hand with slavery, and it is a precedent to slavery. Racism is evil. It is not a social problem that will gradually disappear through education and legislation. These alleviate the symptoms, but no more than that. The only cure is in understanding that evil is real. In the words of Jeffrey Burton Russell, The essence of evil is abuse of a sentient being, a being that can feel pain. It is the pain that matters. Evil is grasped by the mind immediately and immediately felt by the emotions; it is sensed as hurt deliberately inflicted. The existence of evil requires no further proof: I am; therefore I suffer evil. The definition implies two things: One, that every human being suffers evil. Two, every human being inflicts evil. Thus, the essence of the human condition is in how we live with evil. Of necessity, then, evil has two faces one is individual, the other is collective. That we as individuals will and do commit evil is unavoidable. Our efforts not to do evil, however, need the support of a collective, i.e. a society that not only recognizes evil but condemns it. In contemporary America, In her Gifford lectures, Hannah Arendt said: As citizens, we must prevent wrong-doing because the world in which we all live, wrong-doer, wrong-sufferer, and spectator, is at stake; the City has been wronged.We could almost define a crime as that transgression of the law that demands punishment regardless of the one who has been wronged.the law of the land permits no option because it is the community as a whole that has been violated. America is struggling to reach a consensus that racism violates the community as a whole. It cannot do so as long as blacks are still excluded from a sense of community. Blacks have no doubts or questions about their humanity and thus are made to suffer evil, an evil that is still not obvious to the white majority. Racism is an act of evil but white people do not hear the moaning of the wounded or the death rattles of the dying. The evil of slavery, the evil of the Holocaust are written large. So much so that many are in danger of thinking that these cataclysms are the only ways in which racist evil expresses itself. That is why it is both ironic and maddening that so many blacks equate anti-Semitism only with the Holocaust and thereby conclude that because they would never condone the extermination of Jews they are not and could not be anti-Semitic. Non-blacks are equally culpable when they equate racism solely with acts of violence. Because our perception of evil is limited to the dramatic, we have lost the capacity to recognize it. Evil has become so prosaic in appearance, manner and style that it is now woven into the fabric of the normal like smog, acid rain and K-mart. Hannah Arendt maintained that the horror of evil in the Third Reich was that it had lost the quality by which most people recognize it the quality of temptation. The racist evil of contemporary America is as charismatic as an empty can of cat food. In her Gifford lectures, Hannah Arendt attempted again to describe the figure of Adolf Eichmann and what had so horrified her about him: I was struck by a manifest shallowness in the doer that made it impossible to trace the incontestable evil of his deeds to any deeper level of roots or motives. The deeds were monstrous, but the doerwas quite ordinary, commonplace, and neither demonic nor monstrous. There was no sign in him of firm ideological convictions or of specific evil motives, and the only noble characteristic one could detect in his past behavior as well as his behavior during the trialwas something entirely negative: it was not stupidity but thoughtlessness.It was this absence of thinking which is so ordinary an experience in our everyday life, where we have hardly the time, let alone the inclination to stop and think that awakened my interest. Is evildoing (the sins of omission, as well as the sins of commission) possible in default of not just base motivesbut of any motives whatever, of any particular prompting of interest or volition? Is wickedness, however we may define itnot a necessary condition for evil- doing? What Arendt saw in Eichmann is true of American society. This is not a country of wicked white people imbued with a virulent racism based on some principle or other. What exists is far more distressing. Racism has become a psychological habit, a habit many wish to dislodge, but it is so ingrained that they do not know where to begin. It is imperative, however, that they look, for as Goethe wrote in Wilhem Meister, every sin avenges itself on earth. Where they must look is in themselves. Whites cannot feel the pain of blacks, Jews and women until they feel the pain they inflict on themselves by passively accepting a definition of Order that crowns whites as racially superior beings. I do not know why whites do not feel the evil they inflict on themselves because I see the evil of racism taking its revenge on a drug-addicted white society which did not care forty years ago when drugs appeared in black slums. If America had been able to feel then that black life is human, if America had been able to feel that racism is a silent evil inflicting pain as murderous to the human spirit as any weapon is to the body, it would have been alarmed and moved to alleviate the conditions that made drugs appear to be a viable alternative. If America had been able to conceive that black life is human life, thousands of white and black lives would not have been destroyed, literally and psychologically, since drugs entered white American society. I do not understand why white America cannot understand this simple principle: Everything white people do to black people, they will eventually do to each other.   The ultimate evil of racism is not in its effects, but in the inability of white people to recognize themselves in black people. This evil will continue until white people take responsibility for that which they wish was not within them, namely, evil. Ultimately, we must accept that evil is, that it is not something out there but something in here. It cannot be expunged because our humanity lies as much in our capacity to evil as

F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Lost Hope of Babylon Revisited :: Literary

F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Lost Hope of Babylon Revisited F. Scott Fitzgerald is known as the spokesman of the "Lost Generation" of Americans in the 1920s. The phrase, "Lost Generation," was coined by Gertrude Stein "to describe the young men who had served in World War I and were forced to grow up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken" (Charters 489). Fitzgerald exemplified the generation that Stein defined. His family, with help from an aunt, put him through preparatory school and then through Princeton University (Charters 489). Fitzgerald’s family hoped that he would stop "wasting his time scribbling" and would be serious about his studies (Charters 489). However, he left college before graduating and accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in the Regular Army during World War I (Charters 489). During his military service, he spent most of his time writing his first novel, This Side of Paradise (Charters 489). The peak of Fitzgerald’s fame as a writer came with the publication of The Great G atsby, in 1925 (Charters 489). Fitzgerald, writing in the third person, reflected back fondly on the Jazz Age because "it bore him up, flattered him, and gave him more money than he had dreamed of, simply for telling people that he felt as they did, that something had to be done with all the nervous energy stored up and unexpended in the War" (Charters 489). In the years of the 1930s and the Great Depression, Fitzgerald saw his own physical and emotional world collapse with the decline of his literary reputation and the failure of his marriage. Fitzgerald’s last years as a writer "were truly lost . . . writing Hollywood screenplays and struggling to finish his novel The Last Tycoon" (Charters 489). Fitzgerald wrote approximately 160 stories during his career (Charters 489). "Babylon Revisited," written in 1931, is one of his later works. It is considered "more complicated emotionally" than his earlier works because he shows "less regret for the past and more dignity in the face of real sorrow" (Charters 489). "Babylon Revisited" focuses on Charlie Wales, a man who returns to Paris to retrieve his daughter and begin his life anew as a family with her. The title is appropriate because Charlie returns to Paris where, before the Depression hit, he and his wife lived a life of endless partying and spending of money, where everything had a price that he could afford to pay.

Reflections of a Culture Past Essay -- English Literature Essays

Reflections of a Culture Past The poem, Beowulf was supposedly written in the tenth century, but it was most likely told before then, orally, for centuries. There is little information about the author, on when Beowulf was first created or about the original version of the story before it was written. However the poem does, however, give us great insight into the cultural views and ideals of the Anglo-Saxon people who would have composed and told this tale. This includes their political, social and moral views. Beyond this, Beowulf gives us an even greater insight into this society of constant fight and war. Interwoven throughout almost every aspect of their culture and the poem are very strict moral codes and values. Those morals and values affect the ideals, beliefs and changes taking place in period. In the time of the Anglo-Saxons, men shared a common idea of heroic and traditional values that each person should follow. They admired men with outstanding courage and loyalty. Anglo-Saxon men achieved that by completing daring deeds, withstanding harsh conditions and by beating the odds. If a person showed such traits, despite where they came from, they were entitled with a great matter of respect. The traits that they valued were those of a hero. True heroes of the period had to maintain a balance between personal glory and maintaining the good of his people. However one didn’t become a hero just through great accomplishments. They also had to be exemplary individu...

Bloodlines Chapter Twenty-Four

IT'S WEIRD how you react in moments of immediate danger. Part of me was pure panic, complete with racing heart and rapid breathing. That hollow feeling, the one that felt like a hole had opened in my chest, returned. Another part of me was able to still inexplicably think along logical lines, mostly something like, Yup, that's the kind of knife that could slit a throat. The rest of me? Well, the rest of me was just confused. I stayed where I was and kept my voice low and even. â€Å"Lee, what's going on? What is this?† He shook his head. â€Å"Don't pretend. I know you know. You're too smart. I knew you'd figure it out, but I just didn't expect you to do it so soon.† My mind spun. Once again, someone thought I was smarter than I was. I supposed I should be flattered by his faith in my intelligence, but the truth was, I didn't know what was going on yet. I didn't know if betraying that would help or hinder me, though. I decided to play cool for as long as I reasonably could here. â€Å"That's you in the picture,† I said, careful not to make it a question. â€Å"Of course,† he said. â€Å"You haven't aged.† I dared a quick look at the picture, just to ascertain that for myself. It still baffled me. Only Strigoi were ageless, staying immortal at the age they'd turned. â€Å"That's†¦ that's impossible. You're Moroi.† â€Å"Oh, I've aged,† he said bitterly. â€Å"Not a lot. Not enough that you can really spot it, but believe me, I can. It's not like how it used to be.† I was still clueless, still not sure of how we had reached a point where Lee – starry-eyed and lovesick for Jill – was suddenly threatening me with a knife. Nor did I understand how he looked exactly the same as he did in a five-year-old picture. There was only one terrible thing I was beginning to be certain of. â€Å"You†¦ killed Kelly Hayes.† The fear in my chest intensified. I lifted my gaze from the blade to look into his eyes. â€Å"But surely†¦ surely not Melody†¦ or Tamara†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He nodded. â€Å"And Dina. But you wouldn't know her, would you? She was only human, and you don't keep track of human deaths. Only vampires.† It was hard not to look at the knife again. All I kept thinking about was how sharp it was and how close it was to me. One swipe, and I'd end up just like those other girls, my life bleeding away before me. I groped desperately for something to say, wishing again I'd learned the social skills that came so easily to others. â€Å"Tamara was your cousin,† I managed. â€Å"Why would you kill your own cousin?† A moment of regret flashed across his features. â€Å"I didn't want to – I mean, I did†¦ but, well, I wasn't myself when I came back. I just knew I had to be awakened again. Tamara was there at the wrong place and the wrong time. I went for the first Moroi I could get†¦ but it didn't work. That's when I tried the others. I thought for sure one of them would do it. Human, dhampir, Moroi†¦ none of them worked.† There was a terrible desperation in his voice, and despite my fear, some part of me wanted to help him†¦ but I was hopelessly lost. â€Å"Lee, I'm sorry. I don't understand, why you'd need to ‘try others.' Please put the knife down, and let's talk. Maybe I can help you.† He gave me a sad smile. â€Å"You can. I didn't want it to be you, though. I wanted it to be Keith. He certainly deserves to die more than you do. And Jill†¦ well, Jill likes you. I wanted to respect that and spare you.† â€Å"You still can,† I said. â€Å"She – she wouldn't want you to do this. She'd be upset if she knew – â€Å" Suddenly, Lee was on me, pinning me to the chair with the knife at my throat. â€Å"You don't know!† he cried. â€Å"She doesn't know. But she will, and she'll be glad. She'll thank me, and we'll be young and together forever. You're my chance. The others didn't work, but you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He trailed the knife's blade near my tattoo. â€Å"You're special. Your blood is magic. I need an Alchemist, and you're my only chance now.† â€Å"What†¦ chance†¦ are you talking about?† I gasped out. â€Å"My chance for immortality!† he cried. â€Å"God, Sydney. You can't even imagine it. What it's like to have that and then lose it. To have infinite strength and power†¦ to not age, to know you'll live forever. And then, gone! Taken away from me. If I ever find that bastard spirit user who did this to me, I'll kill him. I'll kill him and I'll drink from him since after tonight, I'll be whole once more. I'll be reawakened.† A chill ran down my spine. In light of everything, you would have thought I'd already be at maximum terror level. Nope. Turns out there was still more to come. Because with those words, I began to put together a fragile theory of what he might be talking about. â€Å"Awakened† was a term used in the vampire world, under very special circumstances. â€Å"You used to be Strigoi,† I whispered, not even sure if I believed it myself. He pulled back slightly, gray eyes wide and glittering feverishly. â€Å"I used to be a god! And I will be again. I swear it. I'm sorry, I really am. I'm sorry it's you and not Keith. I'm sorry you found out about Kelly. If you hadn't, I could have found another Alchemist in LA. But don't you see? I have no other options now†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The knife was still at my throat. â€Å"I need your blood. I can't go on like this†¦ not as a mortal Moroi. I have to be changed back.† A knock sounded at the door. â€Å"Not a word,† Lee hissed. â€Å"They'll go away.† Seconds later, the knock repeated, followed by: â€Å"Sage, I know you're in there. I saw your car. I know you're pissed off, but just listen to me.† Dingdong, distraction calling. â€Å"Adrian!† I screamed, jumping up from the chair. I made no attempt to disarm Lee. My only goal was safety. I pushed past him before he could react, heading for the door, but he was more prepared than I'd expected. He leapt toward me and tackled me to the ground, the knife catching me in the arm as I fell. I yelped in pain as I felt the tip of the blade dig into my skin. I struggled against him, only succeeding in making the knife tear into me more. The door suddenly opened, and I was grateful that I'd left it unlocked after letting Lee in. Adrian entered, coming to a standstill as he took in the scene. â€Å"Don't come closer,† warned Lee, pushing the knife against my throat again. I could feel warm blood oozing from my arm. â€Å"Shut the door. Then†¦ sit down and put your hands behind your head. I'll kill her if you don't.† â€Å"He's going to do it anyway – ahh!† My words were cut off as the knife pierced my skin, not enough to kill me yet but enough to cause pain. â€Å"Okay, okay,† said Adrian, holding up his hands. He looked more sober and serious than I'd ever seen. When he was settled on the floor, hands behind his head as directed, he said gently, â€Å"Lee, I don't know what you're doing, but you need to stop it now before it goes any further. You don't have a gun. You can't really hold us both here under the threat of a knife.† â€Å"It's worked before,† Lee said. Still keeping the knife on me, he reached into his coat pocket with his other hand and produced a pair of handcuffs. That was unexpected. He slid them over to Adrian. â€Å"Put these on.† When Adrian didn't react right away, Lee pushed on the knife until I yelped. â€Å"Now!† Adrian put the handcuffs on. â€Å"I'd meant them for her, but you coming by might be a good thing,† said Lee. â€Å"I'll probably be hungry once I'm reawakened.† Adrian arched an eyebrow. â€Å"Reawakened?† â€Å"He used to be Strigoi,† I managed to say. â€Å"He's been killing girls – slitting their throats – to try to become one again.† â€Å"Be quiet,† snapped Lee. â€Å"Why would you cut their throats?† asked Adrian. â€Å"You have fangs.† â€Å"Because it didn't work! I did use my fangs. I drank from them†¦ but it didn't work. I didn't reawaken again. So then I had to cover my trail. The guardians can tell, you know. Moroi and Strigoi bites? I needed the knife to subdue them anyway, so then I cut their necks to hide the trail†¦ make them think it was a crazy Strigoi. Or a vampire hunter.† I could see Adrian processing all this. I don't know if he believed it or not, but he had the potential to roll with crazy ideas regardless. â€Å"If the others didn't work, then Sydney won't either.† â€Å"She has to,† said Lee fervently. He shifted so that I was rolled onto my back, still pinned by his greater body weight. â€Å"Her blood's special. I know it is. And if it doesn't†¦ I'll get help. I'll get help reawakening, and then I'll awaken Jill so we can always be together.† Adrian jumped to his feet, full of a surprising fury. â€Å"Jill? Don't hurt her! Don't even touch her!† â€Å"Sit down,† barked Lee. Adrian obeyed. â€Å"I wouldn't hurt her. I love her. That's why I'm going to make sure she stays exactly the way she is. Forever. I'll awaken her after I'm reawakened.† I tried to catch Adrian's eye, wondering if I could pass some silent message. If we both surged at Lee together – even with Adrian cuffed – then maybe we had a chance at subduing him. Lee was seconds away from tearing into my throat, I was certain, in the hopes that†¦ what? That he could drink my blood and become Strigoi? â€Å"Lee,† I said in a small voice. Too much movement in my throat would result in a bite from the knife. â€Å"It didn't work with the other girls. I don't think the fact that I'm an Alchemist matters. Whatever that spirit user did to save you†¦ you can't go back now. It doesn't matter whose blood you drink.† â€Å"He didn't save me!† roared Lee. â€Å"He ruined my life. I've been trying to get it back for six years. I was almost ready for the last resort†¦ until you and Keith came along. And I've still got that last option left. I don't want it to come to that, though. For all our sakes.† I wasn't the last resort? Honestly, I didn't really see how any other alternative plans here could be much worse for me. Meanwhile, Adrian still wasn't looking in my direction, which frustrated me – until I realized what he was trying to do. â€Å"This is a mistake,† he told Lee. â€Å"Look at me, and tell me you really want to do this to her.† Cuffed or not, Adrian didn't have the speed and strength of a dhampir, someone who could leap over and disarm Lee before the knife could do its damage. Adrian also didn't have the power to wield a physical element, say, like fire, one that could be used as a concrete weapon. Adrian did, however, have the ability to compel. Compulsion was an innate ability all vampires had and one that spirit users in particular were adept at. Unfortunately, it worked best with eye contact, and Lee wasn't playing ball. His attention was all on me, blocking Adrian's efforts. â€Å"I made my decision a long time ago,† said Lee. With his free hand, he dabbed his fingers in the bloody patch on my arm. He brought his fingertips to his lips, a look of grim resignation on his face. He licked the blood from his hand, which wasn't nearly as gross to me as it would've been under other circumstances. With so much going on right now, it was honestly no more terrible than the rest and just rolled off of me. A look of total shock and surprise crossed Lee's features†¦ soon turning to disgust. â€Å"No,† he gasped. He repeated the motion, rubbing more blood on his fingers and licking it. â€Å"There's something†¦ there's something wrong†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He leaned his mouth to my neck, and I whimpered, fearing the inevitable. But it wasn't his teeth I felt, only the lightest brushing of his lips and tongue at the wound he'd created, like some sort of perverse kiss. He jerked back immediately, staring at me in horror. â€Å"What's wrong with you?† he whispered. â€Å"What's wrong with your blood?† He made a third attempt to taste my blood but was unable to finish. He scowled. â€Å"I can't do it. I can't stomach any of it. Why?† Neither Adrian nor I had an answer. Lee sagged in defeat for a moment, and I suddenly allowed myself to think he might just give up and call all this madness off. With a deep breath, he straightened up, new resolve in his eyes. I tensed, half-expecting him to say he was going to try to drink Adrian now, even though a Moroi – two, if you counted Melody – had apparently been on the menu of his past failures. Instead, Lee pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, still keeping the knife at my throat and preventing me from attempting any sort of escape. He dialed a number and waited for an answer. â€Å"Dawn? It's Lee. Yes†¦ yes, I know. Well, I have two for you, ready and waiting. A Moroi and an Alchemist. No – not the old man. Yes. Yes, still alive. It has to be tonight. They know about me. You can have them†¦ but you know the deal. You know what I want†¦ yes. Uh-huh. Okay.† Lee rattled off our address and disconnected. A pleased smile crossed his face. â€Å"We're lucky. They're east of LA, so it won't take them long to get here – especially since they don't care much about speed limits.† â€Å"Who are ‘they'?† asked Adrian. â€Å"I remember you calling some Dawn lady in LA. I thought she was one of your hot college friends?† â€Å"They're the makers of destiny,† said Lee dreamily. â€Å"How delightfully enigmatic and nonsensical,† muttered Adrian. Lee glared and then carefully studied Adrian. â€Å"Take off your tie.† I realized I'd spent so much time with Adrian now that I was ready for some comment like, â€Å"Oh, glad to know things aren't so formal anymore.† Apparently, the situation was dire enough – and the knife at my throat serious enough – that Adrian didn't argue. He'd handcuffed his wrists in front of him and, after some complex maneuvering with his hands, was finally able to undo the tie he'd donned for Jill's show. He tossed it over. â€Å"Careful,† Adrian said. â€Å"It's silk.† So, not completely devoid of snark. Lee rolled me over to my stomach, finally freeing me of the knife but giving me no time to react. With remarkable skill, he soon had my hands tied behind my back with Adrian's tie. Doing so required some pulling and restraining of my arms, which hurt quite a bit after the stabbing. He backed off when finished, allowing me to gingerly sit up, but an experimental tug of the tie showed that I wasn't going to undo those knots anytime soon. Uneasily, I wondered how many girls he'd tied up before in his sick attempt to become Strigoi. Weird, awkward silence fell as we waited for Lee's â€Å"makers of destiny† to show up. The minutes ticked by, and I frantically tried to figure out what to do. How long did we have until the people he'd called arrived? From what he'd told me, I'd guess at least an hour. Feeling bold, I finally attempted communication with Adrian, again hoping maybe we could covertly team up on Lee – even though our success rate had just become that much lower with both our sets of hands bound. â€Å"How did you even get here?† I asked. Adrian's gaze was fixed on Lee, still hoping for direct eye contact, but he did spare a quick, wry glance at me. â€Å"Same way I get around everywhere, Sage. The bus.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because I don't have a car.† â€Å"Adrian!† Amazing. Even with our lives in danger, he could still infuriate me. He shrugged and returned his focus to Lee, even though his words were obviously for me. â€Å"To apologize. Because I was a total asshole to you at Jailbait's show. Not long after you left, I knew I had to come find you.† He paused eloquently and glanced around. â€Å"No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.† I suddenly felt at a loss. Lee turning psychopathic certainly wasn't my fault, but it troubled me that Adrian was now in this situation because he'd come to apologize to me. â€Å"It's okay. You weren't†¦ um, that bad,† I said lamely, hoping to make him feel better. A small smile played over his lips. â€Å"You're a terrible liar, Sage, but I'm still touched you'd attempt it for my sake. A for effort.† â€Å"Yeah, well, what happened back there seems kind of small, in light of the current situation,† I muttered. â€Å"It's easy to forgive.† Lee's frown had been growing as he listened to us. â€Å"Do the others know you're here?† he asked Adrian. â€Å"No,† said Adrian. â€Å"I said I was going back to Clarence's.† I didn't know if he was lying or not. For a moment, I didn't think it would matter. The others had heard me say I was coming here, but none of them would have any reason to come seeking us. No reason, except the bond. I caught my breath and met Adrian's eyes. He looked away, perhaps for fear of betraying what I'd just realized. It didn't matter if the gang had known where I was earlier. If Jill was connected to Adrian, she would know now. And she would know that we were in trouble. But that was assuming it was one of the times when she could see into his mind. They'd both admitted it was inconsistent and that high emotion could bring it out. Well, if this didn't count as a highly emotional situation, I couldn't think what would. Even if she realized what was happening, there were a lot of if's involved. Jill would have to get here, and she couldn't do it alone. Calling the police would bring the fastest response, but she might hesitate if she knew this was vampire business. She'd need Eddie. How long would it take to get him if they were back in their dorms? I didn't know. I just knew that we had to stay alive because if we did, one way or another, Jill would get help here. Only, I no longer knew our odds of survival. Adrian and I were both confined, trapped with a guy who wasn't afraid to kill with a knife and who desperately wanted to become a Strigoi again. That was a bad combination, and it threatened to get worse†¦ â€Å"Who's coming, Lee?† I asked. â€Å"Who did you call?† When he didn't answer, I made the next logical leap. â€Å"Strigoi. You have Strigoi coming.† â€Å"It's the only way,† he said, tossing his knife from hand to hand. â€Å"The only way left now. I'm sorry. I can't be like this anymore. I can't be mortal anymore. Too much time has already passed.† Of course. Moroi could become Strigoi in one of two ways. One was by drinking the blood of another person and killing them in the process. Lee had tried that, using every combination of victims he could get ahold of, and had failed. That left him with one last desperate option: conversion by another Strigoi. Usually, it happened by force, when a Strigoi killed someone and then fed their own blood back to the victim. That was what Lee wanted done to him now, trading our lives to the Strigoi who would convert him. And then he wanted to do it to Jill, out of some crazy misguided love†¦ â€Å"But it's not worth it,† I said, desperation and fear making me bold. â€Å"It's not worth the cost of killing innocents and endangering your soul.† Lee's gaze fell on me, and there was a look of such chilling indifference in it that I had a hard time connecting this person before me to the one I'd smiled indulgently on as he courted Jill. â€Å"Isn't it, Sydney? How would you know? You've deprived yourself of enjoyment for most of your life. You're aloof from others. You've never let yourself be selfish, and look where it's got you. Your ‘morals' have left you with a short, strict life. Can you tell me now, just before you're about to die, that you don't wish you'd maybe allowed yourself a little more fun?† â€Å"But the immortal soul – â€Å" â€Å"What do I care about that?† he demanded. â€Å"Why bother living some miserable regimented life in this world, in the hopes that maybe our souls go on in some heavenly realm, when I can take control now – ensure that I live forever in this world, with all of its pleasures, staying strong and young forever? That's real. That's something I can put my faith in.† â€Å"It's wrong,† I said. â€Å"It's not worth it.† â€Å"You wouldn't say that if you'd experienced what I have. If you'd been Strigoi, you never would've wanted to lose that either.† â€Å"How did you lose it?† asked Adrian. â€Å"What spirit user saved you?† Lee snorted. â€Å"You mean robbed me. I don't know. It all happened so fast. But as soon as I find him I'll – ahh!† A yearbook is not the greatest of weapons, particularly one the size of Amberwood's, but in a pinch – and with surprise – it'll do. I'd noted earlier that I wasn't going to be able to undo the knots in the tie anytime soon. That was true. It had taken me this whole time, but I'd done it. For whatever reason, knot-making was a useful skill in the Alchemist curriculum, one I'd practiced growing up with my father. As soon as I was free of Adrian's tie, I reached for the first thing I could: Kelly's junior yearbook. I sprang up and slammed it into Lee's head. He cringed back at the impact, dropping the knife as he did, and I used the opportunity to sprint across the living room and grab Adrian's arm. He needed no help from me and was already trying to get to his feet. We didn't get far before Lee was right back on us. The knife had slid somewhere unseen, and he simply relied on his own strength. He caught hold of me and ripped me from Adrian, one hand on my wounded arm and one in my hair, causing me to stumble. Adrian came after us, doing his best to hit Lee, even with bound hands. We weren't the most efficient fighting force, but if we could just momentarily delay Lee, there was a chance we might make it out of here. Lee was distracted by both of us, trying to fight and fend us off at the same time. Unbidden, Eddie's lesson came back to me, about how a well-placed punch could cause serious damage to someone stronger than you. Sizing up the situation in seconds, I decided I had an opening. I closed my hand the way Eddie had taught me in that quick lesson, positioning my body in a way that would direct the weight in an efficient way. I swung. â€Å"Ow!† I yelled in pain as my fist made contact. If this was the â€Å"safe† way to punch, I couldn't imagine how much a sloppy one hurt. Fortunately, it seemed to cause just as much – if not more – pain to Lee. He fell backward, hitting the comfy chair in a way that made him lose his balance and collapse to the ground. I was stunned at what I had done, but Adrian was still in motion. He nudged me to the door, taking advantage of Lee's temporary disorientation. â€Å"Come on, Sage. This is it.† We hurried to the door, ready to make our escape while Lee shouted profanities at us. I reached for the knob, but the door opened before I could touch it. And two Strigoi entered the room.

Abolition Movement Essay

Nineteenth century America bore a perplexing set of movements. Most of which aimed largely to reform American society. At this era, America is redefining her identity. Such was a significant time for reformation movement to peak. The Temperance Movement, religious â€Å"Second Great Awakening† and Women’s Rights Movement are along some of the major efforts attempted to improve the nation and its people. Most important of all, the Abolition Movement, which the very foundation of freedom in America was redefined. The American abolition movement emerged in the early 1830’s as the by-product of â€Å"Second Great Awakening.†[1] Revivalistic tenets led the abolitionist to view slavery as a product of personal sin. They demand emancipation as the price of repentance.[2] This religious revival resulted to thousands of conversions to evangelical religions.[3] Slavery was one of the issues in America which most people sought to end. As early as 1688, the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, took a public stand against slavery.[4] Even though most quakers own slaves when they first came to America. William Buriling, Ralph Sandiford, Benhamin Lay, John Woolman and Anthony Benezet were among the society’s members who largely determined their policy. These people were the salient figures who primarily opposed slavery within the society. By late 1700s and 1800s, the Society of Friends declared their protest against slavery. Quakers opposed it on religious grounds. Others contended that slave owners violated the very principles that the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence had established in 1776. Many religious figures had largely contributed to America’s history of slavery. One was Lyman Beecher, one of the country’s prominent nineteenth- century clergymen and a revivalist of Second Great Awakening.[5] Students of the school where Beecher became pastor, debated the issue on slavery and preferred to adopt abolitionism, which the board of the school opposed. In protest many students including Theodore Weld left the school.[6] Religion had intruded on slavery issues even during the establishment of Quakers. It is often said that this group have influence beyond their numbers. Through their social class and background, Quakers have shared an important role in forming America’s history as well as the society. In 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society was established by William Lloyd Garisson[7] with fellow abolitionists Arthur Tappan, Lewis Tappan, and Theodore Dwight Weld. It attracted a crowd with lecturing agents, petition drives and a wide variety of printed materials, condemning slavery on moral grounds. The organization sent lecturers about the brutality of slavery across the North, including Ohio. Unfortunately, abolitionists’ appeal of emancipation were rejected by higher institutions as well as individual slave-owners. Some important figures in the emancipation in America were blacks, themselves. Most prominent black during the period started their journey from the oppression of slavery of the Southern states toward more desirable freedom enjoyed at Northern states. In this freedom, they did not grow complacent while their people and family still suffer from inflictions of the institution of slavery. The most famous of this divine ordeal was that of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman[8] was a slave from Maryland. She suffered all her life from seizures, headaches and hypersomia having had knocked in the head with a heavy iron weight by a slave owner. In 1894 she escaped to Philadelphia where she met with William Still, the Philadelphia stationmaster on the underground railroad. Still, along with the Philadelphia Anti-slavery Society, enlightened Tubman of the workings of the underground railway. Eventually, she became a conductor for the underground railway. Dubbed as the â€Å"Moses of her people†, she helped provide safety and salvation to an approximately 300 slaves. She worked various jobs in order to finance her actives as a conductor. During the Civil War, she served as a soldier, spy and a nurse for the Union. Another women of considerable existence was Soujorner Truth. Truth had been born a slave from Ulster County, New York at a time wherein the state still permits slaves. The anti-slavery law of 1827 freed her from bondage. Her freedom prompt her to be an active abolitionist and a woman’s rights advocate. Truth became one of the most famous orator of her day. Her passion came from her desire to abolish slavery and help her fellow black. Her speeches against the evils of slavery â€Å"shamed many people who were apathetic and passive†. She also fights for women suffrage. Her speech, â€Å"Ain’t I, a Woman?†[9] was her legacy. The speech were made at 1851 Convention on Woman’s Rights after a clergyman remark women as â€Å"too weak and helpless†. Another individual of which probably had the greatest impact for the cause, was Frederick Douglass. Douglass was probably the most important black figure in the abolition of slavery. His accomplishment had impact America on a political scale. His reputation was in an international level. Douglass was born a slave in Maryland. He escaped from bondage and went to New Bedford with the help of a black navy named Ruggles. Although blacks are free in the city of New Bedford, it isn’t a paradise. Douglas observed the discrimination throughout the city.   He subscribed to an abolitionist paper the Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison. Through the Liberator, Douglass were introduced to abolitionist movements. Garrison eventually became his personal hero.   Later he became a member of American Anti-Slavery Society. On August of 1841, an abolitionist meeting took place at New Bedford. Garrison saw Douglass, and he eventually recognized the potential. Douglass became an agent for Garrison. He became a traveling lecturer â€Å"touring the Northern states to talk about his life and sell subscriptions to the Liberator†. The young Douglass â€Å"told stories of brutal beatings of slave owners to women, children and the elderly†. He told the story on how he broke the slave breaker Edward Covey[10]. He scorned clergyman â€Å"who warned slaves that they would be offending God if they disobeyed their masters†. He speaks of evil of masters breeding their female slaves. He grew in skill within his trade that people began doubting his credibility. â€Å"How can such a slave have such a commanding master of words?† they told themselves. This provoked Douglass into revealing his true identity through the disclosure of personal details. He published an autobiography entitled â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave† against the protest of his mentor Garisson and some co-abolitionists. The theme of the narrative is about moral force. â€Å"It is a story of triumph and dignity, courage and self-reliance over the evils of brutal, degrading slave system†. The narrative connotes the existing corruption in the human spirit that â€Å"robs both the master and slave of their freedom†. The book became popular in the North as well as in Europe. However, the Federal Law on fugitive slave threatened his freedom. The Law gave Thomas Auld the right to seize his property. The threat prompted his tour in London where he was later joined by Garisson and other abolitionist. August of 1846 at World Temperance Convention in London, Douglass attacked the American Temperance Movement. He felt that temperance activist were hostile to free blacks. Emancipation in Britain is still fresh among its people. In that regard Douglass felt little racial prejudice among the British. He carved connection among British and Europeans who were compassionate for the cause.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The tour â€Å"aroused goodwill for the abolitionist cause in the British Isle†. The success in Britain had propelled his reputation to an international level. Douglass established friends and supporters in Britain. In fact, it was his British friends who paid[11] the price of Douglass’ freedom in America. With his renewed freedom he went to Rochester, New York to settle. The town had reputation of being pro-abolition. The women were also active in fighting for their rights. In here, he established a new anti-slavery publication, named North Star, which was not supported by Garisson. With the North Star he no longer have to cling with white abolitionist group of   Garisson. The widening connection of Douglass open his mind to the political aspects of his cause. He began to question the Garissonian views. For Garisson, â€Å"abolishing slavery through violence is wrong†. Garisson believed he could convince the slave owners into giving up their slaves thus setting them free. A white militant named John Brown[12] helped convince Douglass that â€Å"pacifist means could not by themselves bring an end to slavery.† Douglass believed that the North would never abolish slavery if it could cause the break up of the Union and collapse of the Constitution. â€Å" He therefore decided that slavery would have to be ended through political reforms†. Tension began to rise when Douglass urged North Star reader to be politically active and be involved. The change in principle created factions within the abolitionist circle. He, however, did not allow such disputes to affect what he aspired to do. Douglass became one of the most prominent and respected black of his time. His actions and success boosted the confidence of the black abolitionist. He tried to establish a black vocational school. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped to raise the fund. Furthermore, his Rochester home became the most important station on the underground railroad. He became the superintendent of the entire system in his area. The information regarding the evils of slavery are readily available due to hard work and perseverance of Frederick Douglas and William Lloyd Garrison[13]. However, the popularity of these informations are confined within the anti-slavery circle. In line with this, a fictional novel of abolitionist nature was published entitled Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The author was Harriet Beecher Stowe, an alleged daughter of Lyman Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had been published by weekly installment in the National Era from summer of 1851 to spring of 1852. Nevertheless, its popularity was still within the abolitionist circle. Its popularity gained when the novel was published in full in 1852. Uncle Tom’s Cabin became the best selling fiction of its time. It is considered by many, as one of the most influential American works of fiction ever published. The fiction had made an impact on America’s inner inquiry and realization of identity and of morality.[14] The success of the novel were founded on Stowe’s humanization of the slaves. The fiction places the reader in frontal view of the barbarity and â€Å"inhuman disintegration of families† which existed in the slavery system. Mothers were portrayed in their most desolate state when their masters sell their babies to a slave trader. The fiction appeal to the Christian soul as Stowe embodied Christ to Uncle Tom which is a black dutiful, loyal and a forgiving slave. The works of fiction â€Å"arouse the antislavery sentiment in the North and provoke angry rebuttals in the South†. Oppositions of views paved the way to devisions. Slavery was no longer a problem of the south and it concerns the whole nation as a whole. The culmination of all these events leads to a bloody battle between the Union and the Confederate slave states. The Union was fighting for a unified nation. The Confederates, on the other hand, wants to separate from the Union in order to secure their rights to own slaves. This disparity brought America to Civil War from 1861 to 1865. It was this reason why Abraham has been quoted saying to Stowe â€Å"So this is the little lady who started this war.† The status of the South as an agricultural states contributed much to their dependencies on slaves. Slaves were utilized for their manual work on the fields and plantations. In contrast, the North are already being industrialized. Their production was dependent on factories and machineries. It was the bloodiest battle that took place in American soil. The Confederate eventually succumb to the much equip forces of the Union. It was very devastating era that Americans have gone through in order to bring about change which redefined freedom in their constitution. Emancipation of all slaves was decreed to slaves states after the Civil War The abolitionists had their victory through information dissemination. Victory was achieved through rallying speeches that awakened compassion and goodwill of humanity. The rallying cries of the oppressed accused passivity a crime. They have pressured those who claimed to be free to guard and fight for freedom. On the night of the proclamation, Douglass was quoted as saying â€Å"We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky†¦we were watching†¦by the dim light of the stars for the dawn of a new day†¦we were longing for the answer to the agonizing prayers of centuries.†[15] WORKS CITED Scott, Donald. â€Å" Evangelicalism, Revivalism and the Second Great Awakening.† TeacherServe from the National Humanities Center. October 2000. Queens College. 18 April 2009. McKivigan, John. â€Å"A Brief History of the American Abolitionist Movement.† American Abolitionism. n.d. Indianapolis. 18 April 2009. â€Å"The Second Great Awakening and the Age of Reform.† Teach US History. 19 April 2009. http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker1.htm â€Å"William L. Garrison.† Ohio History Central. 1 July 2005. A product of the Ohio Historical Society. 18 April 2009 Robinson, B.A. â€Å"Religious Society of Friends (Quakers): Quaker History†. Religious Tolerance. 7 February 2006. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 19 April 2009. Woodson, C.G. â€Å"Anthony Benezet.† Classics on American Slavery. 25 March 2003. Dinsmore Documentation. 19 April 2009. â€Å"Abolitionist.† Ohio History Central. 1 July 2005. A product of the Ohio Historical Society. 19 April 2009 Sassi, Jonathan. â€Å"Great Questions of National Morality.† Common Place. 9. 1. ( October 2008): 19 pars. 19 April 2009. â€Å"Lyman Beecher.† Ohio History Central. 1 July 2005. A product of the Ohio Historical Society. 19 April 2009 â€Å"Theodore Dwight Weld (1803-1895).† Forever Free.The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. 19 April 2009. â€Å"The Effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.† 123HelpMe.com. 18 Apr 2009 Thomas, Sandra. â€Å"Frederick Douglass:Abolitionist/Editor† 19 April 2009. â€Å"The Life of Harriet Tubman.† New York History Net. 20 February 2008. 19 April 2009 .