Arguing For And Against Gun Laws

The Secret History of 9/11 (documentary, reflective)

The Secret History of 9/11 was a documentary that chronicled the events leading up to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and what actually happened on that fated day.  I viewed the comprehensive film and was intrigued about several of the facts discussed in the movie.  After viewing the reflecting the informational film, I thought that the reasons for the terrorist attacks, the mistakes that prevented the terrorist attacks on 9/11 from being stopped or lessened in their severity, and the actions of President Clinton and President George W. Bush during the time period around and during 9/11 were interesting.

One aspect of the documentary The Secret History of 9/11 that I found interesting were the reasons for the terrorist attacks.  The messages those responsible wanted to be conveyed through those attacks could easily have been communicated without any deaths.  In the documentary, the narrator states the Ramsay Usaf, the main person behind the first bombing of the World Trade Center, told The New York Times that, “ . . . the bombing was in retaliation for American support of Israel, and oppression of the Palestinian people” (The Secret History of 9/11 5:55).  If Usaf and his associates wanted America to stop supporting Israel and end Palestinian oppression, a violent attack that killed six people and injured over a thousand hardly correlates with what they wanted.  Though these terrorists did want to spread fear and chaos, the results barely helped the Palestinians.  This is not to say that the terrorists had good intentions, rather, had they considered their options and realized why the United States supported Israel over the rebel Palestinian state, they could have realized that their attacks would only worsen America’s position on the Palestine, in their point of view.  Because of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. also strengthened airport security and brought a military presence to Afghanistan, a fact that was intriguing because these results led to Bin Laden’s death and the near end of the Taliban.  One aspect of the documentary The Secret History of 9/11 that I found interesting were the reasons for the terrorist attacks.

Another aspect of the informational film that I found interesting are the mistakes that prevented the terrorist attacks on 9/11 from being stopped or lessened in their severity.  An example of one of these surprising mistakes was the fact that the CIA withheld information that, if released, could have prevented the 9/11 bombings.  The Central Intelligence Agency did not share the identifications of two suicide bombers, Khalid Al Mihdhar and Nalaf Alhazmi, with the FBI or any other branch of government that could have ordered a warrant for them.  In the documentary,  “When the president was made aware that night that there had been a mistake between the FBI and the CIA involving their sharing of information, he had the same attitude that I [Richard Clarke, Chief of Counter-Terrorism] did, which was outrage” (1:21:49).  If the CIA had the presence of mind to inform the FBI about the two terrorist suspects who were let in the U.S. with incomplete identification, the attacks on 9/11 could have been prevented.  Though these agencies are known for their efficiency, the information was revealed too late.  In addition, the fact that the phone lines were down and the White House could not be reached by the president on 9/11 intrigued me.  It is even noted in the documentary that those phone lines were always secure and open before that point, but even with a borrowed cell phone, Bush could not reach Washington to relay orders concerning the terrorist attacks. Another aspect of the informational film that I found interesting are the mistakes that prevented the terrorist attacks on 9/11 from being stopped or lessened in their severity.

The final aspect of The Secret History of 9/11 that I thought was interesting were the actions of President Clinton and President George W. Bush during the time period around and during 9/11.  In both presidencies, the commander in chief did not act on or acted too late on the growing threat of al-Qaeda, the capture or killing of Bin Laden, and the numerous warnings and advice from the Chief of Counterterrorism, Richard Clarke.  In the documentary, it is stated that, after  George W. Bush was sworn in as the president, former president Bill Clinton told him that “ . . . not catching or killing Bin Laden was one of the greatest regrets of his presidency”  (33:45).  Though the former president warned Bush about al-Qaeda and its leader, “ . . . for the Bush administration, al-Qaeda was a low priority” (35:02).  After, Richard Clarke advised the president to take further action against the terrorists, but no great action was taken until after September 11th.  This was of special interest to me because it is relatable to today’s threat of ISIS, and the fact that former president Barack Obama failed to end that threat, so it must be dealt with by President Trump.  It remains to be seen, whether, like Bush administration, action will be delayed until it is too late. Also, it was interesting that Bush stayed at the Florida school he was visiting on 9/11 even though he received information about the attacks.  If he had not delayed, it is conceivable that more immediate action would have been taken to stop the third hijacked plane from crashing into the Pentagon.  Though he later said that he was trying to project an image of calm, that image only used up time that could have been used to take measures to stop the planes.  The final aspect of The Secret History of 9/11 that I thought was interesting were the actions of President Clinton and President George W. Bush during the time period around and during 9/11.

Three details I thought were thought-provoking in the documentary film The Secret History of 9/11 were, the intent behind the bombings, the miscalculations that led up to 9/11, and the measures took by the two successive presidents during the movie’s era.  From the first bombing of the World Trade Center to the end of the Bush administration after 9/11, the entire film is detailed and moving.  Indeed, this documentary was also informative, interesting, and provided the viewer with a near-complete view of the secret history of 9/11.

Works Cited

cjnewson88. YouTube, YouTube, 12 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVh9WgGxuIY. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017.

Is race biological or social?: essay help online free

Race, so seemingly simple but so intricate and personal, too. It appears humans of all time periods and genetic decent have been fighting over race, but is there any reason to? This question is something that has been discussed by Anthropologist for ages, and they have quite a few different answers. Some aspire to the idea that “Racial experience is real, and human biological diversity is real.” (Torres Colón, G. A., 2015). Others, disagree and say no, “race is real, but the authority science has been assigned as it pertains to race has been misappropriated.” (Simon). And all the while, some admit that race it exist, but it has limits and is “only skin deep” (Cassata). There are many more ideas on race as an anthropological subject, but the central argument lies around the question of its construct, Biological, or Social?

Jada Torres and Gabriel Colon from Wayne’s University authored a peer review on Racial experience and Biological diversity, they came to the conclusion that although race is not a biological construct, but rather a social construct, has real social consequences. They went even further to say that the even more pressing issue is that race is “cultural concept that contains implicit and explicit understandings of how collective bodies differ.”  I agree with their theory, if you think of race as an experience rather than a box that you are put into at birth many problems relating to racial injustice can be avoided.

The author of the second article, Simon Mashuan, is a reporter for NBC news, it’s important to remember that NBC news is a for profit organization, meaning that every story they put out is attached with a specific set of values, motives, and agenda. This article is not a peer reviewed journal like the first which means its contents cannot be taken as scientifically sound, however Mashuan based his information off an interview with University of North Carolina Anthropologist, John Marks. The main point that Marks is trying to convey is that he views race as a bio-cultural construct, stating that there is much more to race than simply the color of your skin. Marks asked goes on to compare the relationship hominoid in East Africa, may have to a hominoid in West Africa, saying “An East African is more closely related to a West Asian than to a West African; geographic distance is the main determinant of similarity in the human species.” (Marks,2017).  Simply because two people may have ancestors from Africa does not mean that they descended from the same line of hominoids. Marks describes anthropologist work as “an unusual burden as the custodians of the scientific narratives of who we are and where we come from” he goes on to describe that those narratives have cultural power and people feel like they own them, this is why he studies race.

The final article is brought to us by an author who specializes in health and wellness from a magazine by the name of Healthline. Cathy Cassata, the author, claims that race truly is only skin deep, making it a social construct. Cassata states that racial categories account for only six percent of human variation and diversity. She goes further to explain that race in humans is not organized into discrete boxes but is instead continuous; Clines are the proof that provide evidence for that claim. A Cline is a gradient line that can best be visualized by picturing the temperature gradient of earth, at the tops and bottoms are the poles which are cold, and towards the middle at the equator the temperatures are much hotter and more tropical. Race can be viewed on clines too. Cassata finishes her point by pointing to the fact that

“Even in our evolutionary past, our earliest modern human ancestors in Europe and parts of Asia were exchanging genes with related human populations that existed at the same time. Mixing of genes and gene flow and spread of genes and population expansion is something that is literally as old as human history itself” (William R. Leonard, PhD Northwestern University)

What Leonard is saying here is that humans have been procreating between populations for as long as history itself, there is no such thing as a pure genetic build. Leonard says race is in fact, only skin deep, making it a social construct.

There are many other arguments as far as how we can categorize race but many anthropologists ascribe to the belief that race is something that is strictly a social construct, bearing social consequence.

Product quality and sales service quality – PNJ stores

The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality and product quality of PNJ stores in HCMC. Besides that, it tries to examine the impact of four factors (tangibles, assurance, empathy and price) as well as the factor of service quality and product quality on customer satisfaction. As a result, the empirical information found in this thesis provides a general view about assessment of customer about product quality and service quality of PNJ stores in HCMC in order to make appropriate adjustments and effective improvement for running a good business.

Based on the results of the path analysis exploring the direct and indirect effects of four independent and two dependent variables on customer satisfaction, this study argues that in order to achieve high customer satisfaction, PNJ company should have high level of service quality, product quality, better tangibles in stores, better assurance and empathy to customers and better price. Moreover, from the result of this research, the findings indicate that the factor of empathy plays crucial role for customer satisfaction.

In conclusion, from the experiences in process of conducting research, it points out limitations of this study and provides helpful recommendations for further dissertation. And according to the research findings, this study gives some recommendations to PNJ company in order to take adjustment and improve the level of service quality, product quality and customer satisfaction.

CHAPTER I

Introduction

1.1 Background

Jewelry industry of Vietnam is one of the developing sectors of Vietnamese economy. And most of enterprises in the field do not have the organizational system. There are more than 12,000 business enterprises in the industry, most of them are small jewelry store and the rest are a number of organized retail business. Domestic jewelry market develops in all segments, including gold, platinum, silver and precious stones, where gold is the preferred choice of most customers.  According to Updating Report of Sacombank-SBS in first quarter of 2013, from 2005 to 2011, the value of gold jewelry in Vietnam compounds annual growth rate of 6-8%, increases from 399 million USD to 634 million USD. In 2011, the demand for gold jewelry in Vietnam increased by 14%, which is 634 million USD, accounting for 13% of total gold demand. Jewelry market decreased 10% to 13 tonnes in 2011. The increase in gold prices helped to increase the value by 14%, even if production reduced by 10% in the same period.

In Quarter 1/2012, production of consumed gold jewelry fell by 9% to 5 tons, the domestic gold price increases from last year which leads to decrease in demand because customers have to face with high inflation. Gold jewelry demand in Vietnam in quarter 1/2012 has made positive changes, with the value of 269 USD million (up 9.8%) and mass consumption of 5 tonnes (down 9%) .

In the future, growth rate in Vietnam jewelry market  is expected to be positive, which is driven by the increase in domestic demand and income. And as a result of this trend, customers with higher income will have higher requirements. For jewelry products industry, this is an opportunity as well as a challenge. Now that more and more enterprises start this kind of  business with products of competitive quality and price, how can old enterprises attract more new customers and retain the old ones? The enterprises should not only concentrate on improving products quality and design, they should also attach special importance to enhance service quality in their stores.

In order to achieve this, a method should be usually implemented is to do research about customer satisfaction about product quality and sale service quality of their distribution system. By doing these studies, the companies can have more knowledge about customer desire and evaluation, so they can give methods to improve the quality of product as well as service, satisfy their customers in best ways, and contribute to gain customer loyalty.

1.2 Problem statement

Many researchers have looked into the importance of customer satisfaction. Kotler (2000) defined satisfaction as: “a person’s feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations”. Hoyer and MacInnis (2001) said that satisfaction can be associated with feelings of acceptance, happiness, relief, excitement, and delight.

In addition, to be a strong brand with high reputation and credibility, Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company (PNJ) is considered to be one of the enterprises with significant contributions to the growth of the jewelery industry in Vietnam. It can be seen as the market leader among domestic jewelry company with 20% gold jewelry market share and upto 70% silver jewelry market share in Vietnam. Hence, to keep the leader position in jewelry industry in Vietnam, research on customer satisfaction on product quality as well as sales service quality is a necessary method to attract more new customers and retain the existing ones.

Thus, I would like to do my thesis about ‘Evaluate customer satisfaction on product quality and sales service quality of PNJ stores in Ho Chi Minh City’

1.3  Introduction of Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company

Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company is a firm operating in fields of verifying diamond and gemstone service; manufacturing, trading gold, silver and gemstone jewelry, gold bullion; house renting according to real estate trading law.

1.3.1 Foundation and development history

In April 28th, 1988, Phu Nhuan Jewelry Trading Store was founded with an investment of only VND 14 million – equivalent to only 9.0 ounces of gold at that time – and its first 20 employees.

In 1990, this founding store became Phu Nhuan Jewelry, Fine Arts and Currency Exchange Company, being under direct control of Financial Administration of Ho Chi Minh City Committee. Phuong Hoang Gold Bar was also launched then.

In 1992, the company was renamed Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company. This stage witnesses great changes with bold investment in Italian technology production line. In the same year, the company also co-founded Dong A Bank and formed a joint venture with Phu Nhuan House Trading and Development Company.

Mutually antagonistic nationalism between China and Japan: essay help site:edu

The rising mutually antagonistic nationalism between the two countries cause China and Japan to have contrasting perspectives and thus view the current issues between them through different lenses. This will continue to undermine bilateral relations and the possibilities of future collaborations between the two countries due to the nationalistic pressure of the countries’ people. Historical events like the second Sino-Japanese war has caused animosity and mistrust between the two countries. It was exacerbated in 2001 through the politically driven visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by the Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, despite China’s constant disapproval which cause bilateral relations to deteriorate greatly. Events like this reopen historical war wounds and thus cause a deterrence for the development of Sino-Japanese relations. However, other factors like territorial disputes and assertive actions are also indispensable as the obstacles to improving Sino-Japanese relations. Despite the considerable significance of nationalism, the effects of territorial disputes, historical differences and assertive actions also plays a big part in the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations. However, territorial disputes, historical differences and  assertive actions stems from the same source which is the mutually antagonistic nationalism each country has for each other. Furthermore, the effects of mutually antagonistic nationalism greatly magnifies the problems of  current issues. Thus, mutually antagonistic nationalism has been the key obstacle to improving Sino-Japanese relations since 2001.

Overcoming historical differences hold great significance as it is a latent problem for the development of Sino-Japanese relations. Japan’s stance for its relationship with China to improve is for the latter to not dwell on their past where Japan has been aggressive towards them as seen in the protest of China’s application to put the Nanking massacre as well as the “comfort women” in the UNESCO programme. On the contrary, China wants a sincere apology as well as for Japan to take full responsibility for past war crimes towards China as seen in their repeated reminder to Japan that without it the relationship between China and Japan would be kept stagnant. This has limited the development of their ties as both countries do not want to be the first to reconcile with the other as they have different viewpoint on who is in the wrong. This can be further supported by the Japanese Government authorising the Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho, which is a history textbook reform, that led to the numerous amount of  anti-Japanese mass incidents in 2005, this shows how the difference in the perceptions of their shared history can worsen relations between the Chinese and Japanese. Displeasure between the people due to their rough past can be seen in the form of these mass incidents which would greatly erode the opportunities to form a better relationship between the two countries. Hence, overcoming historical differences will aid in the relationship between China and Japan.

Furthermore, historical issues have also cause the relations between political leaders to be eroded due to their use of the different perception in history as a tool to garner more support for their political expediency. Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine on 13 August 2001 has eroded his relationship with China as it contains the remains of fourteen Class A Japanese war criminals. On top of that, the Japanese Premier was to visit the Yasukuni Shrine every year during his incumbency. However, his visits was beneficial to Koizumi’s political support as seen in his landslide victory in the 2001 elections. Thus, political leaders would be able capitalise on the difference in their shared history to gain more political support from its people due to their strong nationalistic sentiments. Premier Li Ke Qiang’s firm warning on 4 March 2014 that China would not allow anybody to “reverse the course of history” shows the severity of the issues bought up by misinterpretations of shared history and the erosion of relation not only between the countries’ people but also their respective political leaders. Thus, solving the issue of historical differences will be beneficial to Sino-Japanese relations.

However, the evidence and scholars that have posited the fact that historical difference is the primary obstacle for Sino-Japan relations have failed to provide an in-depth look into the problems related to historical difference due it’s complexity. As the governments of both countries have to consider nationalistic pressures from their citizens to keep their political expediency which has deter further improvements of their relations. According to Gries, the relations between China and Japan has deteriorate more due to the political leaders using different perceptions of shared history to brew nationalistic animosity to gain political support. Thus, problems caused by different viewpoints have only arise due to the political leaders’ use of the strong mutually antagonistic nationalism as a tool for political support. It is also due to the instability like mass incidents cause by the respective country’s people due to their mutually antagonistic nationalism that has further dampened the efforts for the development of Sino-Japan relations.  Thus, the effects of historical difference have been amplified by the mutually antagonistic nationalism of the citizens. According to He, the different interpretation of their common history, had acted to amplify the friction manifested through nationalistic sentiments. Thus, the problem between the difference in viewpoint of the countries’ people only grew due to their mutually antagonistic nationalism. Furthermore, with the Chinese people’s impression of Japan’s lack of remorse for past aggression like the Nanking massacre has caused the rise of anti-Japanese sentiments which pressures the Chinese government to dwell on historical scars, thus deterring the improvement of Sino-Japanese relations. Similarly, the Japanese government also experience the same pressure from their anti-Chinese citizens to not engage in any type of conciliatory measure for past incidents. Showing the significance of the mutually antagonistic nationalism in limiting the government’s decision and ability to reconcile and build new ties with one another. Thus, the root cause of the problems arising from the different views in their shared history is due to the nationalistic sentiments of both countries as it acts as the catalyst that greatly amplifies the problems of historical difference. Therefore the nationalistic pressure from the citizens is the foremost considerations in improving Sino-Japan relations.

Meanwhile, territorial dispute is another paramount issue that will undermine further development of bilateral ties between China and Japan as tensions are rising mostly due to the dispute over the East China Sea. In November 2004, a Chinese submarine was detected in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. That incident was led by the dispatch of Chinese drilling teams in search for oil and gas deposits in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zones. In response to this incidents, China was formally declared a security concern for Japan in its December 2004 National Defence Program Outline. According to Yuan, both China and Japan are not willing to give way on competing for the claims due to the geo-economic importance leading to the build-up of tensions. Smith further support this view by emphasising the attempts of both governments to establish sovereignty over the Islands through diplomatic countermeasures, militarized threat and economic sanctions, which do not essentially support the development of relations. The Senkaku Islands are close to important shipping lanes, offer rich fishing grounds and lie near potential oil and gas reserves thus it holds great importance for both countries as these resources and shipping routes would bring great economic benefits to the country that has the Senkaku Islands. This increased of military presence like the Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) that challenge the sovereignty and control of Japan on the Islands has increased the possibility of armed conflict and naval battles, threatening the relations between the countries. Economic ties are also at stake due to territorial disputes as economic sanctions are being implemented due to the breach of sovereignty rights. Which is evident in the case where China set up trade embargos on rare earth materials to Japan after the 2010 confrontations. This has not only affected the imports and exports of goods but also eroded other sectors like tourism due to the display of nationalisation of the Islands in 2012 where 50,000 Chinese tourist cancelled their trip to Japan. Thus, the fight for the Senkaku Islands have affected the economic ties between the two country eroding further possibility of any collaboration between the two countries.

Besides Economic problems, political relations was also eroded due to the persistent territorial disputes, as seen in the harsh response of China towards Japan’s arrest of the crew of a fishing boat, which included the detainment of four Japanese citizens for entering restricted military area and disruption of bilateral negotiation. Furthermore , Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao delivered a speech which emphasised the fact that China “will never budge, even half an inch, over sovereignty and territorial issues.” The events mentioned above are signs of the limited cooperation and poor communications in solving territorial disputes further eroding the relations of China and Japan. Therefore, territorial disputes seems like the main cause for the stagnations of the development of ties as there are limited space for negotiations on both side thus coming up with an mutually agreeable resolution is almost impossible.

On a closer look, we should not dismiss the role that opposing nationalism plays as government persistence on the issue of territorial dispute is built on nationalism and pride of the country as if in the case of the Senkaku Islands, cooperation with the other country would be a better approach to reap economic benefits rather than fighting for full sovereignty rights. Stated by Zhang, the governments of both countries would take a harsher stance due to the nationalistic public sentiments as the soft measures would lead to a fall in the support of the ruling party threatening their legitimacy. This is evident, in the hard-line stance of both countries on territorial dispute such as the greater emphasis on the sovereignty over the Senkaku islands due to the nationalistic pressures.  Showing the significance that nationalistic pressure has amplified and further escalated the fight over sovereignty rights of the Senkaku Islands. Induced by the angry Chinese public openly showing the disapproval of Japan by destroying their factories and rioting, the Chinese government had to introduce naval presence in the area further escalating tensions. This brings out the fact that both governments are afraid of anti-government sentiments due to the failure of protecting the countries’ territorial sovereignty thus would much rather create tension and disrupt the development of ties instead of eroding their own political stability. Therefore with the main priority of the government being the protection of its legitimacy as it is the foundation for most of the Chinese government’s policies, thus nationalistic pressure greatly influences the decisions made by the government in terms of territorial disputes, and it is the main obstacle for the development of Sino-Japan relations.

Assertive actions to prove and strengthen their political power creates the hostility between the two countries thus eroding bilateral relations. Both China and Japan are known as the great powers in Asia, thus there has always been and underlying dispute over who is the stronger of the two. As China has risen in their power capabilities, naturally it has been asserting more security based interest in East Asia, however as Beijing pressed for its position, the Japanese government has tried to go against it. This is evident in the Chinese policies towards Japan between 2001 and 2007 as it shows the growing military capabilities of China. This shows the growing Chinese power and influence over Asia and the world which would erode the strength and influence of its rival, Japan. This can be further supported by the fact that there has been a change in Chinese policy in the beginning of 2008, where China has become more assertive leading to the deterioration of bilateral ties. Thus proving the point that assertive actions in terms of China’s policies towards Japan has been a huge force in the deterrence of Sino-Japanese ties. Further evidence of China reducing Japan’s influence and power can be seen in Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s implications that China was opposed to Japan’s candidacy for a permanent seat in the UN security council. Japan has also expressed its worries of China’s assertive actions in the decision to mention the Taiwan Issue in the joint statement at the end of the consultations between U.S. and Japan in February 2005. Thus, the rise in assertive actions in the area has made to two countries increasingly wary of each other which does not provide for a good foundation for the building of Sino-Japanese relations. Therefore, to aid in further development of their relations, both government has to lessen its assertive actions towards each other as it would create animosity and hostility between the two country.

However, mutually antagonistic nationalism is the main source for the increased assertive actions as well as the hostility between the two countries due to the desire of the people to be better off as compared to each other. As stated before, both the Chinese and Japanese have engaged in a competition with each other and thus it has significantly eroded the possibility of a good Sino-Japan relations due to the hostility between the countries’ people. This can be seen in August 2004 where there was a full scaled rioting by angry Chinese soccer fans following the Japanese team’s victory over China in the finals. This shows the strong mutually antagonistic nationalism that the Chinese has against the Japanese thus fuelling tension and hostility between the countries. Furthermore, the government’s need to assert its dominance and strength is also fuelled by the nationalistic sentiments of its countries. The development of ties weigh heavily on the mutual perception of the people as any nationalistic sentiments would lead to the adaptation of harsher approaches and attitude in both states’ foreign policies.  As the mutually antagonistic nationalism grows between the countries’ people, the government would be forced to take a harsher stance and assert its dominance over the other country. Thus, assertive actions between the country is to satisfy the need of the people’s mutually antagonistic sentiments leading to increase hostility between the countries, eroding further development of their ties.

While there may be a huge array of problems that will undermine the long term relations between Japan and China, they are purely just problems that came from the same root cause which is the mutually antagonistic nationalism. Even though, on the surface historical differences, assertive actions and territorial disputes are seen as the  most prominent problems, the underlying problem of the countries’ mutually antagonistic nationalism has a greater impact on the ability to further develop Sino-Japanese relations thus solving mutually antagonistic nationalism will solve the root cause of the problem and therefore eradicating the effects of the other problems. Furthermore, the opposing nationalism also amplifies the negative impacts of the current problems and thus have been a huge contributing force to worsening relations of Japan and China. All in all, the primary issue that will affect and shape bilateral relations is the mutually antagonistic nationalism. Thus, mutually antagonistic has been the key obstacle in improving Sino-Japanese relations.

Day of the dead: college application essay help

Day of the dead is a holiday closely related to Halloween and All Saint’s/Soul’s Day. This holiday is celebrated from October 31st to November 2nd in Mexico and in some places in the United States. Día de los Muertos is specifically celebrated in the states from Mexico City south. This includes Michoacan, Mexico City, Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Chiapas and the Yucatan. Northern Mexico, is not as celebratory, at least not the way the South is. The people of the Northern part of Mexico can be seen going to mass and visiting grave sites, while the people of the South can be seen building ofrendas, throwing wild parties and leaving out offerings for their ancestors and family members who have passed on. Interestingly enough, Latin America and the Latino parts of Los Angeles, California also take part in the festivities of the Day of the Dead.

What is an Ofrenda you may ask? An ofrenda is a huge part of the Día de los Muertos celebration. Ofrenda means offering in Spanish, and they are also called altares or altars in English. The ofrendas are not to be worshipped though, most of the Mexicans celebrating this holiday are of Catholic faith.  The ofrendas are created to honor the memory of their dead relatives. Ofrendas are complex and time consuming to set up; however, the effect of a finished one is wonderful. Ofrendas can consist of many layers, there is usually a crucifix on the top level, then a lit candle is set out for each deceased relative.  Flowers, salt and water, incense (or copal), sugar skulls, and tons of food are also set out onto the ofrenda.

On November 2nd- when the adult spirits are said to come down to earth- people bring their celebrations to the cemeteries and grave sites. People clean tombs, leave flowers, play cards, listen to music, and remember their loved ones.  Some also drink tequila, and sing along to the mariachi bands.

Foods play a huge part in every culture, we Americans have our apple pie and hamburgers but what does Mexico do? For Dia de los Muertos, there are several specialty foods. According to ocweekly.com , Pan de muerto is probably the most recognizable food in the celebration. “The most common culinary representation of the Day of the Dead is an eggy, brioche-like bread, often topped with sugar.” Some Pan de Muerto is often accented with skull and crossbones and other shapes. Mole is also a big food of the Dia de los Muertos celebrations. The mole is a huge undertaking as it has anywhere from 20 to 50 ingredients. Foods such as tamales, atole, and candied pumpkin can also be seen in the Day of the dead festivities.

Music is self expression, but you may be surprised to hear what music is played on the Day of the Dead, and you may be surprised to learn that music in different cultures isn’t all that different after all. For example, in 2015 one of the most played radio songs was the salsa version of Thriller as a tribute to Michael Jackson. Another, is La Llorona by Chavela Vargas. And according to Billboard.com, No es serio este cementerio by Mecano is a popular ‘80s Spanish pop song that can turn a graveyard visit into a dance party. Shakira’s “She Wolf” is a favorite in the US, Mexico, and other Hispanic countries.

Marigolds are a key element of Día de los Muertos. Marigolds have a long history in Mexico. They were brought over the Atlantic to Mexico hundreds of years ago. Aztecs used these hearty flowers for herbal medicine and decoration. Now, Marigolds are place all around ofrendas to guide the visiting spirits because of their bright colors and strong scent. Marigolds also represent how fragile life is. Marigolds are known as cempasúchiles or flowers of the dead, which is definitely appropriate for the Day of the Dead.

José Guadalupe Posada has heavily influenced today’s Day of the Dead artists. Posada was born in 1852 in the Mexican town of Aguascalientes and he started started studying art at the age of 18, skip a few years ahead and we find him doing print after print and painting after painting. In his lifetime he created over 20,000 images, however; he died as an impoverished man in 1913. His most famous works include Calvera: Guerra Mundial or Skeleton: World War in English, and Calvera Catrina or Dapper skeleton.

Day of the Dead and Halloween share many characteristics. Day of the Dead and Halloween are both celebrated in the US and in Mexico. Day of the dead is celebrated in Los Angeles and Halloween is celebrated pretty much everywhere in the US. Halloween has picked up popularity in Mexico in the past 40 years. They are also similar because of the lavish celebrations and decorations, they are also both of European origin. They are different because they have different mentalities and roles. Halloween is a Holiday for children to dress up, have fun, and get free candy. Adults dress up, go to parties, and hand out candy. Day of the Dead, as mentioned earlier, is to honor dead ancestors with ofrendas, food, and grave visits. Although they are similar in some ways they are also very different. Every culture has its own celebrations and it’s clear that Día de los Muertos is a very lavish and unique holiday that would be very cool to see in person.

Sigmund Freud – career, theories, legacy

Sigmund Freud was born in the Czech Republic in 1856. He is an Australian psychologist who is known for the development of techniques and theories of psychoanalysis. He developed psychoanalysis which is a method through which other analysts have been able to unpack conflicting unconscious basing them on fantasies, dreams and free associations of the patients (Freud 23). Some of the most influencing academic contributions that he has made include libido and the age, child sexuality among other topics that he developed in the 20th century.

Freud’s father, referred to as “Jakob” was a wool trader who had been married to another wife before he wed Freud’s mother (Jay1). The father who was 40 years when Freud was born can be described as being rare and authoritarian while the mother was emotionally present.

Although Freud had other brothers, he was not closely attached to them but was more attached to his nephew John, who provided the intimate friend and also hatred rival that reproduced in the later stages of Freud’s life (Jay 1). For example, the sensitivity to perianal authority within such that he later talked about in his theories and work was mainly stimulated by the decline in power that his father suffered in his generation. The father suffered this ion the liberal rationalists who lived in the Habsburg Empire. It is also believed that the interest that he had in the theme of the seduction of daughters was based in the complicated ways in the context of the attitude that Viennese had towards female sexuality.

When Fred was four years, his family relocated to Vienna where he lived and worked for the most part of his life. He started studying medicine at the University of Vienna, and he had a medical degree in 1881. After graduation, he worked as a doctor at the Vienna General Hospital.  He got engaged, and his marriage led to six children in which his last born Anna became a distinguished psychoanalyst.

In his career, Freud viewed himself as a scientist most and not a doctor. Many people thought that he was a doctor, but he took more of his time on science and research. He endeavored through this to make understanding of human knowledge and the experience that human went through his journey of development.  The movement of the family from Freiburg was mainly due to economic reasons. Despite the dislike that Freud had to the imperial city, he was forced to become part of it.  It is also from the city that most of his thoughts and the arguments on the theories that he developed at a later part of his life emerged.  They were mainly encouraged by the political and the social situation in the city.

His career and development of theories

Earlier in his career, he was mainly influenced by the discoveries and the works of his friend, Jose Breuer. Breuer had made a discovery that through the encouragement of a hysterical patient to talk about the earlier experienced and the symptoms that he had seen, these symptoms sometimes abated. This discovery encouraged Freud and he posited that the neurons of the patient in these situations had their origins in the traumatic events and experiences that the patient had gone through. As part of the treatment, he argued that the patient could be empowered to recall the experiences and bring them to his awareness.  In doing so, he could challenge it both emotionally and intellectually. He supposed that a patient in these situations could then release it and rid themselves of the neurotic indications. The findings and the theories that the two friends developed were first published in the book Studies in Hysteria in 1895.

The relationship between Breuer and Freud ended when Breuer felt that Freud had made much emphasis on the sexual origin on the patients’ neutrons and he was not willing to look at other factors that could have brought the change. He was not willing at the time to welcome other viewpoints and suggestions by Breuer. Freud in this aspect decided to focus on this point of arguments and he went ahead to refine his own arguments. Most of the contemporaries that he had were that the emphasis he had on sexuality was either overplayed or scandalous just as it had been seen by Breuer. He had an in vitiation in 1909 to give several lectures in the United States. After the visit, he made more analysis on his theories and wrote another book in 1916, ‘Five Lecturers on Psycho-Analysis’. His fame grew exponentially from the arguments that he made in this book.

In 1985, Freud went to Paris as a student where he studied neurology and it is at the school that he met neurologist Jean Charcot.  The 19 weeks that he had in the French capital greatly contributed to the development of his career and opened up ways through which he explained his theories.  It is this time that he spent with Charcot that gave him a lead to his works and some of his theories. He realized during this time that the psychological disorders that patients might be undergoing might have had an origin in the mind. He decided to get more on this. He was also inspired by the practices and the knowledge of the neurologist and when he returned to Vienna the previous year, he set up his private exercise. In his practice, he mainly focused and specialized on brain and nervous disorders.  In his practice, he developed a theory that humans have an insentient in which aggressive and sexual instincts are continuous conflict to gain reign with the defense against them. He began an analysis of himself in 1897 and did a major work in 1900, “The Interpretation of Drama” in which he examined dreams basing them on experiences and unconscious needs(Freud 41).

He was appointed the Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna in 1902. He held this post until 1938. Although in his career and the discoveries that he made at this time and later, the medical establishments disagreed with many theories he developed. Students and followers began to gather and look keenly on some of the arguments that he made and compared them to the medical establishments that they knew or researched about. He worked with some of the students until there the establishments of International Psychoanalysis Association in 1910. The organization was founded by Carl Jung who was his close friend. Carl Jung broke with him to develop his own philosophies.

After the First World War, Freud did not spend much of his time in clinical observations and used most of time on the application on the theories that he had developed to history, literature, art and anthropology. In 1923, he did more research on the theories and published the book “The Ego and the Id” (Freud 78). In the book, the main idea was the suggestion on the new physical model of the mind. He divided the mind in to the “id” and the “superego’.

 Lasting legacy

Freud has remained an icon in the world of psychology and medicine. Many of the theories that Freud developed including those on ‘Psychic energy’ were in no doubt influenced by the discoveries that were made by other scientific discoveries at the time. One of the works that influenced his thinking and actions were those of Charles Darwin. Darwin developed an understanding of humankind as progressive elements of the animal kingdom that led and informed the investigation by Freud on human behavior. Additionally, the new principles that were formulated by Helmholtz which stated that the energy in any given system is constant were used by Freud in studying the human mind. At first, however, he was not uncertain about the exact status of the sexual element in the conception of the mind that he developed.  The work that Freud did have been criticized but there is still no person in history that has influenced the science of psychology as intensely as he did.

Although Freud has contributed extensively in understanding human psychology, there have been many controversies over some of his publications. For example, during his early years, the Nazis openly burned a number of his books in 1933. This invasion by the Nazis was the beginning of his end. In 1938, shortly after the Nazis occupied Austria, he left for London together with his daughter Ann and wife. He had been diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and went through thirty operations. He died of cancer in 1939.

Juliet Eilperin – Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks: college admission essay help

In the introduction, the book gives a description of the sharks and what their environment is like. The author, Juliet Eilperin, talks about how amazing the sharks are in the beginning of the book and states that they operate in a another world. Juliet Eilperin also talks about how sharks move and how they interact with other sharks. She compares and contrasts the wide variation of shark species and their interaction as well. Being in the water for the first time is scary enough let alone including sharks. Juliet Eilperin was in an environment filled with sharks 50 miles off the coast of Florida on an island called Bimini. Everybody was very scared for her and told her to be extra careful and aware of every little thing. Comparing this to a car going seventy five miles per hour, this situation was far more worse. All the adrenaline flowing through her blood came from the fear of possibly being eaten by a shark. Though, she is not alone in this risky situation. Juliet Eilperin is taking this journey as a journalist with other brave scientists. As the others took a chance and hopped into the danger, she thought about things that would make her less frightened. She convinced herself that since she was very slim, the sharks will not want to just eat bones and instead devour the others first so she has time to get away. When she physically went into the water, it was not as frightening as she thought it would have been. She got to spot a plethora of species that lived in the ocean. Juliet Eilperin mentions how sharks predate. Sharks were respected and known for their power and destruction; this caused them to be seen as gods. In the past, Sharks seemed to be a threat to the human population but in the present, we seem to be more of a threat to them. Because of the human race exploring roughly seventy five percent of the ocean, sharks have been forced to immigrate to other coasts. For example the coast of Hawaii and California. Technology in tracking devices has made it tremendously easy to track any living being. Scientists tag sharks with trackers and also with microphones and cameras. By doing this, we can receive the most accurate information about the shark species. Sharks are praised for their uniqueness because of their adaptive skills as well as their buoyancy. We have access to details down to their denticles. Their smooth speed come from denticles. One of the top three places to go too to see sharks is located in Tembin. Juliet Eilperin and an acquaintance learn about Tembin culture. They learn how much the shark impacts the culture and the meaning of the shark and how it is essential to survive and spiritually survive. In order to get to Tembin, the scientists attempt to cross by a swampy terrain because the bridge to Tembin was essentially destroyed. During their trip, the team encounters a shark caller named Karasimbe. He is a man with mad respect and is a leader who continues to pursue this hundreds of years old culture. Another shark caller who they call Kiput, lived to about 93 years old who died in 2003, was also greatly respected by the local people of Tembin and provided much guidance, purpose, and hope. Sharks have a great history and have great meaning in the villages who are brave enough to attempt to catch sharks with their bare hands. Although this culture seems dangerous, young men of Tembin villages sell these sharks they catch to other big companies and big cities to make more money. In Tembin today, they seem to care more about gaining a profit rather than just fishing. Elders have started to worry about this problem a lot more because they are not preserving their own culture. This has caused much conflict with making money and preserving culture. With that being said, Karasimbe is convinced that he will save Tembin and its precious culture because he has the potential ability to save everything.

Chapter Two Summary:

Chapter two starts off by informing me about the age of sharks. Everybody assume that dinosaurs have to be the oldest creature ever to live on this earth but little do they know that sharks are just about two hundred million years older. Montana is where you can discover shark fossils found. Aristotle, a greek roman conducted research on sharks a long time ago and aristotle discovered knowledge and names that we still use to this day. Sharks were originally called dogfish in the past by the ancient roman people. Islamic people were truly amazed when they found out the dangers on the Tigris river. The human race is very segregated from the species of sharks and fear the sharks a lot more than the elders did in the past. The ages that were toward the middle, sharks got a bad reputation that led to the ignorance of sharks. People do not care for them and hate on them because they are seen as evil or wicked animals. Sailors also were also scared of sharks because of how they could sink their sailing boat. Sharks reputation has changed tremendously throughout history and time. People used to see sharks as gods and praised them until the human race became selfish and took them for granted which caused sharks to act up and begin to harm us. Now we do not care about ocean creatures for we catch them for profit and for food.

Chapter Three Summary:

Chapter three hands me two main perspectives of the shark hunters or shark guiders and the environmentalists in the world. A man named Quariano who gets paid to guide tourists and visitors offshore and onto the ocean, protects his paying customers and takes them to parts of the ocean were many sharks prowl so that the visitors may have a chance to fish for some sharks. His market target is young men who are living life on the edge and who are willing to take risks like that. Being a professional, it causes Quariano to have very strong opinions and causes him to be very biased. He states that since there are a plethora of sharks in the ocean, killing sharks is not wrong and that it is a very efficient way to make money. The environmentalist perspective is of course the complete opposite. Environmentalists believe that people like Quariano is not good enough to find real jobs in the world. They are leading people on the wrong path by allowing them to harm natural habitats and their niches. By continuing this  hunting, sharks will go extinct and will become endangered because of human selfishness. Chapter Four Summary:

In chapter four, it talks about how in a lot of markets and cultures, the fins of sharks contain much value. They have auctions for shark fins where men offer a lot of money for the fins. In certain cultures, humans believe shark fins have magic or contain supernatural powers. An example of this is to cure aids or cancer. Some so sick that there is no cure. In some cultures, many people believe that owning a shark fin will benefit in ones health. The significance of a shark fin in these cultures is very great. It bears magic that can cure diseases that may not have a cure. Shark fins also can be food. In china and india, shark fins are very rare to receive. It is very expensive to buy and if you are lucky enough to have some as a meal, you would be considered very rich.

David Livingstone Smith’s Less Than Human

“Less Than Human” is chapter 1 in David Livingstone Smith’s Less Than Human, includes various stories of dehumanization throughout history to the present day and elaboration and further comments on those pieces of history. Some of these examples include stories from war and stories of dehumanization in the media. Smith uses these tales from history and his reflections on them to illustrate his purpose of writing this; in fact, from these stories we can easily come up with his argument and analyze it. In “Less Than Human,” Smith clearly provides his purpose, audience, how he decided to arrange this writing, evidence for his argument, implications, and his word choice.

Smith doesn’t get to telling his purpose of writing this selection until the end, but even then, the reader may have to infer what it may be. In the last paragraph, he says that “dehumanization is… widespread… it is found… through the full span of human history, and… the problem of dehumanization is everyone’s problem” (Smith 25).  From this, one can find Smith’s purpose of writing this; that being, to show that dehumanization continues today, that it’s not only a part of history, and that it affects everyone across many cultures. He makes this argument because dehumanization continues today and needs to be stopped before we reach another large war or have a major incident. One example Smith uses to illustrate this is Rush Limbaugh’s radio show on the “Abu Ghraib prison scandal [saying] “[The prisoners] are the ones who are sick” … They are the ones who subhuman” (Smith 22). Smith provides multiple other examples to show his purpose and why he made this his argument/purpose; at the same time, he also uses these to tell who the audience is intended to be by Smith.

The factor of who the audience is and who Smith is directing the argument at is a different story. He uses multiple stories of dehumanization; whether it’s the Israelis versus the Palestinians or the 1946 Nuremberg doctors’ trial, and at least one can relate to whoever is reading the book. Therefore, the audience that Smith intends to reach and reach with his argument is one that is universal; despite this, one can say that the secondary audience is an academic crowd. The reason one could say that his secondary audience is an academic crowd is because of his organization of the paper and his evidence to support his purpose of writing “Less Than Human.”

Smith arranges this chapter in three sections; stories of dehumanization in war, dehumanization in media, and a conclusion. He further divides the first two sections into a pattern that is basically; story, supporting info on the story and introduction to the next story, story, supporting info, so on and so forth until he concludes the section. For example, the excerpt begins with an example of dehumanization occurring between Israelis and Palestinians, it says “Degrading taunts rang out from behind the fence that divided the Palestinian side of the Khan Younis refugee camp from the Israeli side” (Smith 11); afterwards, Smith reflects and elaborates on the story by telling the reader that Khan Younis was a “stronghold of Hamas” and further elaborates on the story, he then introduces another example and repeats (Smith 12).

Smith demonstrates his purpose and caters to his audience through the use of evidence of dehumanization in war and dehumanization in media. This evidence ranges from the Holocaust to Rush Limbaugh’s view on the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal. Smith illustrates his purpose by providing examples from various points in history like the “1946 Nuremberg doctors’ trial [that] was the first of twelve military tribunals held in Germany [in which] twenty doctors and three administrators … stood accused of wars crimes and crimes against humanity” (Smith 14). Using examples like this, Smith gets the reader’s attention and shows his purpose before actually saying it on the last page. Smith also uses this evidence to cater to whoever reads this excerpt by using examples in which a person could relate to at least one example or imagine an example in their lives like those in the paper. One such piece of evidence would be when “on September 4, 2007, the Columbus Dispatch published a cartoon portraying Iran as a sewer” (Smith 22); one person in the audience could imagine or relate to this by remembering something they read that made them feel uncomfortable, etc. Smith also uses such evidence to hint to or provide an implication or suggestion to the reader.

Smith provides a specific recommendation to the audience; however, part of it is stated and the other part is implied. He never deliberately states the whole suggestion, but Smith states a part of it in the last paragraph.  He states this part of his suggestion by saying that “We are all potential dehumanizers, just as we are all potential objects of dehumanization. The problem of dehumanization is everyone’s problem” (Smith 25). By saying this, Smith states that dehumanization is everyone’s problem and that we are affected by it. While this is deliberately stated, he eludes to the other parts of his purpose that it continues today, not just a part of history by; once again, his use of evidence from different points in time.

Smith does repeat specific words or phrases like dehumanization; but he also uses specific types of words or phrases. The most repeated word or words used is dehumanization and the other versions of that word, this is done since it is the topic of this excerpt. More interesting is the special type of word or phrase Smith uses, that being derogatory names or phrases that one side calls its enemy; specific examples of this would be what the Nazis called their victims, “Untermenschen – subhumans” and another being what the Japanese called the Chinese or “Chancorro [meaning] below human, like bugs or animals” (Smith 15- 18). He uses these to his purpose that dehumanization affects everyone across multiple cultures and that it is still a part of everyday life.

Throughout “Less Than Human” from Less Than Human, Smith uses tales of dehumanization in history to the modern day to present his argument. In using these the argument can be studied and interpreted by his audience. By doing this, Smith’s purpose, audience, arrangement of the excerpt, evidence, suggestions, and word choice is shown and can be recorded.

 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

In the novel,  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the main character Oscar Wao struggles with obesity and finding love throughout his life. His misfortunes are blamed on a curse that haunts him and his family. Like Oscar and his family, real life people struggle with the same issues as they do. The author addresses real life issues while incorporating a cultural history and background. Although the readers of The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao may not all relate to having a Dominican family, the author addresses issues readers can associate with such as struggling with love and family.

The Fuku curse is a historical curse that dates back hundreds of years back into Oscar’s family. Throughout the novel, the narrator spends a great deal of time trying to convince the readers that every bad detail that happens in Oscar’s family’s life is due to the Fuku curse. All through the novel, Oscar struggles with with finding love. As a child, he was a playboy and flirted with all the girls but as he grew up, he became a nerd and had trouble finding a girlfriend. Just like Oscar, many people struggle with finding love in their lives. His first love is named Ana Obregon and she leads him on and then returns to a relationship with her abusive ex-boyfriend. In college he falls for another girl, who yet again has rejected him. Oscar responds by trying to kill himself by jumping off a train, but he does not succeed. After college, he goes on a trip with his sister and mother to the Dominican Republic where he falls in love with a prostitute named Ybon. Unfortunately Ybon has a boyfriend who is the captain of the police force. Everyone warned Oscar not to see Ybon but Oscar had believed he finally found true love. Eventually Ybon’s boyfriend finds Oscar and badly beats him up resulting in Oscar’s mom sending him back to the States. But, Oscar can not seem to get Ybon out of his head and asks his best friend for money to fly back to the Dominican Republic to see her. Ybon’s boyfriend then finds him and kills him.

The misfortune with love does not only affect Oscar, but other people in his family too. His mother for example had trouble with men her whole life, starting in grade school. His mother, Beli, finally got the boy she liked and they were have constant sex in the broom closet at school. When they got caught, he blamed it on Beli even though he promised to marry her and she did nothing wrong. The boy was then shipped off to military school. Beli later on meets another man referred to as “The Gangster”. No man had ever appreciated her the way he did and she ended up falling in love with him and pregnant with his child. As it turned out, The Gangster was married and his wife sent people to go and beat her near to death and she ended up losing her baby.

Like all families, there is conflict and tension between the members of the Wao family. Beli, the mother of Oscar and Lola, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Lola responds by becoming goth and shaving her head all while taking care of her sick mother. The cancer eventually goes away but at dinner one night, Beli announced it had come back and Lola just asks her to pass the salt in response which causes Beli to hit Lola. Lola sees this as a chance to be free from her controlling mother once and for all and runs away to live with her boyfriend. Things were not going well at her boyfriend’s house, so Lola call Oscar to meet her at coffee shop where she sees her mother and uncle waiting for her. Lola runs and her mother chases her and falls, Lola rushes to help her but it turned out her mother had faked the fall. The members of the Wao family all went through many unfortunate events in their lives but they do not share them with each other. No one likes to talk about their past with each other which can lead to tension in a family.

Even though the novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is relatable mostly to Dominican readers, there are still aspects of the book that non-Dominican readers can relate to such as the struggles with love and family.

Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jarod Diamond: college application essay help

When reading Guns, Germs, and Steel, one may assume that the author has an extensive background with history, mainly focusing on prehistoric times. This assumption would be incorrect. Jarod Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel (as well as The Third Chimpanzee, Collapse, and The World Until Yesterday) began his studies in physiology, which then turned into him also studying biology, geography, and many other disciplines as stated by his website (http://www.jareddiamond.org). Although his main interests are about the sciences, he continues to write books about the history of the world. This is because he does something that many authors cannot do: he uses his biology background to make sense of the world and how we got here. For example, on page 53, Diamond is talking about environmental effects on the Moriori and Maori people. To show how the environmental effects could affect these people, he brings up an example of placing lab rats in different environments to see what happened. Most historians would not think of an example like that; only someone with a biology background (such as Diamond) would. By using two disciplines to explain a topic, this forces the reader to not only think about the historical side of something, but also the biological side, thus expanding the readers knowledge on the topic.

One of Diamond’s central questions asks why did history unfold differently on different continents. He is trying to see and explain why some areas developed the way that they did. In part one, he uses each chapter to explain how a culture grew. For example, Diamond focused on Moriori and Maori in chapter two, and Cajamarca in chapter three. This question and answer is intriguing because it challenges the common perception that everything happened at the same time. It also makes people realize that humans did not exist everywhere in the beginning of time. They evolved from the great apes of Africa, and migrated from there and created families everywhere they stopped (36). Some people may disagree with Diamond’s ideas and say that humans may have evolved differently or that they did not travel to certain places in a certain order. He addresses this by stating what other historians think, explaining why they think that way, acknowledging that either theory could be correct, and continues on with what he believes about the situation.

One of the ways Jarod Diamond answers his question is to look at the fossils that were left behind. From this, he can tell who or what was in this area, what they did to survive, what they ate, how advanced they were, as well as during what time period they were in a particular area. By piecing together different bones, he can determine what type of animals existed in a particular area. For example, if he found Homo erectus bones, then he would know that they existed there. This can also apply to fossils not found in an area. If there are no fossils present, then we cannot be sure if a species lived in that area. Arrowheads, writing utensils, and spears that are found can also tell us if they had the technology to build and use these things for a purpose. Diamond also determines when these species were living, however his method differs from other historians. He uses calibrated radiocarbon dates instead of the usual uncalibrated radiocarbon dates because it provides dates that are closer to calendar dates. This can confuse readers because if they do not know the difference between the two, they may think they are receiving false information when they are actually seeing two correct dates that are relative based on calibration. I find this useful because it gives the date a meaning that is relative to the calendar that we use today. It makes it easier to create and connect a sequence of events.

One thing that Diamond does well in Guns, Germs, and Steel is taking other historians viewpoints into consideration. He recognizes that his way and thoughts is not the only way to think, and that other historians can disagree with him and still be correct. Diamond explains this on page 37 when he is talking about the earliest “X”. Here, he states that when someone finds the earliest existence of something (X), it challenges all other beliefs of when X first existed. He also acknowledges that it can take an extensive amount of research to confirm when X actually happened. This allows the reader to stay open minded, and to not be completely set on a fact because it can change when new information is found.

A weakness of part one would be that it can get pretty dull. For someone who does not gravitate towards history, this book can become very boring very fast. This then leads the reader to start to only read the words on the pages, rather than to comprehend and analyze them. When this happens, the reader could miss a lot of information, which leads to them rereading the same passage over and over again, adding to their frustration. To fix this, I would remove the parts where Diamond seemed to drone on about the same thing, as well as try to engage the reader more by forcing them to think critically about the topics they are reading.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Introduction

For the book club assignment, I chose to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. The book was originally published in 2010 by Crown Publishers. However, the copy of the book I read was published in 2011 by Broadway Books, a partner of Crown Publishers. The book is about an African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer and when she went to John Hopkins to be diagnosed and receive treatment, her tumor was biopsied and cultured. Her cells were grown and led to an immortal cell line. George Gey, the scientist who grew these cells, was the director of the lab at Hopkins and it was his work that helped to create this immortal cell line. The book explains how this ability to grow cells led to many medical breakthroughs including the testing of the polio vaccine and research about cancer cells. Although these breakthroughs have saved numerous lives and advanced modern medicine, the ethics of it is called into question. Henrietta did not know her cells were taken from her and used for research. Neither she nor her family were ever compensated for their contribution to advancing medicine. Finally, there was no informed consent and therefore, her cells, known as HeLa cells, have become a giant for profit business that is of no benefit to her children, husband, or other family members. I chose to read this book because I had heard of HeLa cells during my undergraduate coursework. I took a cell biology course and we discussed the benefits of the cells. However, as it talks about in the book, the medical advances were celebrated in my class but how the cells were grown was completely left out. I was curious to learn more about the famous HeLa and so I chose to read this book.

Summary of Contents

In part 1, titled Life, the first unethical situation arises. Henrietta had just been diagnosed with cervical cancer. She had discovered the tumor herself shortly after giving birth to her daughter Debora. The tumor had grown so fast that it was not in her medical charts. The doctor who diagnosed the cancer noted that after delivering the baby 6 weeks earlier, there was no note “made in the history at the time, or at the six weeks’ return visit” that would indicate cancer.1

As she traveled to John’s Hopkins, the nearest hospital that could treat her and treat other people of colors, she went to the doctor, told him where to look for the tumor and sure enough, a mass was found on her cervix. It is not known for sure in her case, but many black people were treated poorly by the doctors at this time.2 However, what she wasn’t told was that the doctor biopsied her cancerous tumor and was going to attempt to grow them outside the human bodied. She left the doctor with her diagnosis and her treatment of radium being inserted into the cervix and went home happily and peacefully.

Meanwhile, at the Gey labs at John’s Hopkins, Mr. Gey began to grow and cultivate the cells. It became an incredible breakthrough that would eventually lead to other immortal cell lines being grown. The new cells, called HeLa cells in this case, we’re going to become essential in discovering advances to treat diseases. However, the question remains: Did the doctor have any right to remove the tumor, experiment with the cells, all without telling the patient? It would appear that from a public health standpoint, the greater statistical number, or the population, was benefitted by the doctors taking the cells. However, on an individual level, it is a terrible precedent and very unethical that they would take the cells without asking her, without compensating the family. I believe this is a very crucial philosophical argument: What is the price to benefit the greater good? Part of the issue here is also that not only did they not inform her what they were planning on doing, they did not acknowledge her real name until an article appeared in 1973 that mentioned her name could be Henrietta Lacks and not Helen Lane.3

Another example of the unethical behaviors in the book come from one of the researchers who benefitted from the HeLa cells. Dr. Southam, a physician studying cancer, wanted to know if the cells could grow inside another person’s body. Using his terminal patients as guinea pigs, Dr. Southam injected the HeLa cells into the patients under the cover up that the injections were testing the immune systems of the patients. As a result of his experiment, he saw that cancer did grow in the patients. The cost however was that 4 patients could not have the cancer removed completely and one of the patients had the cancer metatisize through their body.4

He did not stop at these patients. Once proven they could grow in terminal patients, he wanted to see the cell effects on healthy patients. So, he found a population which could be coerced into doing things against their will, a prison population in Ohio. Instead of educating and promoting good health to this population, Dr. Southam decided to inject all the inmates with the cells and observe their reaction.4 He did learn a lot about resistance to cancer from these healthy inmates. However, as a public health official, he was not actively promoting good health. Rather, he was endangering the health of the population he was studying. The fact that this endangerment was occurring shows the lack of ethics used in this time period. Although good did come of it, one has to wonder if there could have been a better way for the research advances to be made.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was a very difficult read. Not difficult as in hard to understand the words and meaning. Rather, difficult as in thought provoking and leaving a general feeling of uneasiness. The underlying issue of the ethics of medical research as well as how Henrietta Lacks was treated is put side by side with the advances in medicine that came because of the ability to culture her cells. This leaves an uneasy feeling in the stomach as one tries to wrestle with what is more important, the individual or the “greater good”. Understanding that statistics can be changed to justify one’s actions, I feel that the action taken has benefited society as a whole. However, as someone who aspires to become a full-time physician, the practice is completely unethical. In a perfect world, I would like to see the family of Henrietta be compensated today for the enormous breakthrough courtesy of her cells, especially considering the cell industry is now a multimillion dollar industry.5 It is terrible to read of her family and learn that after the death of their mother, her children were abused, molested, and suffered into adulthood because of these traumas. In my opinion, you can not put a price on a life. However, financial compensation is the least that could be done to support her family and possibly improve their socioeconomic status. Supposing that they could be compensated fairly, I would also like them to continue supporting research using the advances that have occurred so that more diseases and issues can potentially be solved. The cells have led to numerous breakthroughs and who knows how many more will come because of it. Yes, it is a cop out answer of staying right on the fence, yet I believe it is the correct answer.

This research has benefited the world. Public health is about population. The population is the patient and it is the job of public health professionals to do all they can to implement practices and policies that promote and sustain healhy populations. Because of the HeLa cells, population health was improved. While the book illustrates the clear unethical decisions made with regard to the HeLa cells, the Lacks family, and the other experiments mentioned, the advances made from studying her cells have led to medical breakthroughs. Vaccines, treatments, knowledge about infectious diseases, all have been influenced by the culture of immortal cell lines. Were it not for the cell line, perhaps these advances would not have occurred.6 Therefore, I believe that while unethical, Henrietta Lacks unknowingly advanced the field of public health and has contributed to making our society a healthier environment for all people.

American Democracy in Peril by William E. Hudson (the fifth challege): essay help free

Reading Response #2

The Fifth Challenge: Elections Without the People’s Voice

In the book “American Democracy in Peril,” the author William E. Hudson discusses eight challenges that America would face sometime in its history. In the fifth challenge, Hudson argues that, just like the Separation of Powers (discussed in the first chapter), elections are not an indicator of democracy but a tool that has become a major challenge to it. Hudson also argues that in order for elections to be democratic all citizens must have equal representation, elections must enforce deliberation about public policy issues and must control the government’s actions.

The equal representation in elections comes with the equal right to vote, where each individual has the same amount of power (one vote). However, what Hudson wants us to take out of this chapter is that equal representation seems to be violated in many ways. One of them being the way that the Senate is organized. Since the Senate is composed of two senators from each state, voters in the least populous states are more in control of the Senate than voters in larger states. As a result, twelve states containing less than 5 percent of the US population have control of a quarter of all the votes in the senate. Similarly, the House of Representatives also fails to represent a large number of people using the single-member plurality electoral system. This system gives “the victory in an election to the candidate who wins the plurality of votes in a district,” the result being that the individuals who didn’t vote for the winning candidate don’t get represented also violating equal representation. Hudson also accuses the Electoral College system of violating equal representation since it fails to represent all the voters, just like the Senate, and uses “the single-member plurality” electoral system’s tactics.

Still analyzing equal representation, or the lack of it, Hudson talks about money elections which I found very interesting. I was unaware that the candidates in political campaigns depended on funding to keep their campaigns alive. After reading the passage “The Money Election”, my opinion is that, in fact, campaign funding prevents equal representation and that all candidates’ political campaigns should be worth almost the same. This would allow all the candidates to have the same opportunities and, therefore, a fairer campaign not only for the candidates but also the voters who will have the chance to vote without a money election made first.

Similar to the equal representation, individuals in our society participate in public deliberations by voting. During the political campaigns, candidates will express their ideas and views so that the voters can vote. This vote is a way for the individuals to express what they expect their society to be and what changes they want to see, by voting in one candidate that has the same expectations and beliefs, and wants to achieve the same results. Also, the goal is for elections to enforce deliberation about public policy issues, however, it can get tricky when the sources that the voters use to get the information necessary for them to make a decision or deliberate are ineffective. According to Hudson, there are two main sources of information that the voters use for democratic deliberation–the news media and the campaigns–and they both have been failing to provide voters with useful content for democratic deliberation.

I completely agree with Hudson that the news media nowadays is not a reliable source of the candidates “serious proposals for addressing the country’s problems” (CITATION). I believe that this is mainly because the news industry main focus is not to deliver important and serious informative content, rather, its main focus is making news attractive and controversial to hold the attention of the viewers so that it could make more money. It cannot be forgotten that viewers are also guilty since they are the ones who feed this kind of news. As a result, when it comes to presidential elections, the news media has become a reliable source of drama between the candidates, political scandals, and all the less important issues that cannot be used for deliberating about public issues.

Campaigns are another source of information that the voters use for deliberation on public issues. However, these campaigns are being used a tool to transmit messages that will “stimulate a positive or negative reaction” on voters, where the ultimate aim is to win votes. Just like the news media, many campaigns don’t focus on promoting serious discussion on policy issues which makes it harder for individuals to deliberate over these same issues/policy issues and make a decision about who they are going to vote for.

After analyzing how elections are connected to equal representation and public deliberation, there’s still a need to understand how it controls the government’s actions. Hudson argues that since the elections are decided “on the basis of sound bites, debate gaffes,  and campaign image manipulation” they fail to really give us an idea of what the elected officials’ specific agenda is, and since they are already in power, these officials decide for themselves without the “democratic electorate’s control” (CITATION). Political parties tend to be the ones who/that try to enforce the voters’ control over the government’s actions by making policies that reflect their voters’ preferences. Also, these parties help the voters to hold someone responsible if they don’t agree with what happens after the elections. One thing that makes this possible is that now political parties have different sets of “principles, ideas, and policies” that allow voters to differentiate them, and also allows parties to compete in elections. In conclusion, Hudson believes that if the elections fail to control the government’s actions is/it’s not because the parties stopped being in favor of the voters, but because there was no equal representation or significant deliberation during the election.

The Great Depression – biggest causes: college application essay help

The Great Depression was one the worst time periods in American history. The Great Depression started in 1929 and ended in 1939. It started in America with the crash of the stock market and then later began to have a big impact globally. As shown in Document 1, the Great Depression was the worst economic downfall in American history. Millions of people were left unemployed and searching for nonexistent jobs. It was a common sight to see children begging on the roads. Furthermore, banks started to fail and people started to lose any savings that they had. Overall, the main causes of the Great Depression were the stock market crash of 1929, the reduction in purchasing, and the abuse of the major economic ideas.

The stock market crash of 1929 was the biggest cause of the Great Depression. The stock market crash impacted millions of American people. Before the stock market crash, many Americans were getting greedy. They were continuously buying more and more. As described in Document 10 after the Americans “bought all they can afford they go on buying, a little down and the rest in easy payments.” (Document 10). This method of buying with installments was bad for the economy. Elmer Davis foreshadows the Great Depression when he states, “the bill will be all the larger when it finally has to be faced.” (Document 10). Another reason that Americans got greedy was the speculative boom in the stock market. As described in Document 5 there was a “speculative boom that developed with increasing intensity in the years after 1927.” (Document 5). The speculative boom made Americans greedy as they were hoping to make quick profits from the speculative rise. However, as more Americans began to invest in stocks, the prices started to be forced upwards. These forced up prices were a result of “competitive bidding rather than by any fundamental improvement in American (business).” (Document 5).  As a result of the speculative boom, investors bought more stocks. However, when the stock market crashed, the investors with the most stock were trying to get rid of it as fast as possible. This lead to the stock prices being dropped drastically. This is shown in the newspaper title in Document 3 which is “Stock prices slump $14,000,000,000 in nation-wide stampede to unload” (Document 3). The drop in prices would have been a good way to jumpstart the economy, but Americans were no longer buying anything. Most Americans stopped buying stocks which was worse for the economy since it cannot grow without consumers. Overall, the stock market crash of 1929 was one of the greatest causes of the Great Depression because it completely dropped the prices of all stocks and put millions of Americans into poverty.

After the stock market crash of 1929, many Americans were reluctant to buy anything. Also, many Americans were too poor to be able to buy anything besides the absolute necessities. After the stock market crash, many Americans lost their jobs. As shown in the table in Document 4, unemployment rates were drastically rising after the stock market crash. Without jobs, Americans could not purchase anything and this made the country continue downwards. Maintaining a family became extremely hard since many adults were losing their jobs. The hardships of family life are further explained in Document 7 where the average mill worker describes her daily lifestyle. In her story, she explains that her income combined with her husbands is just barely enough to support her entire family. This means that the average family did not have much money leftover to spend on other items and luxuries. The table in Document 9 further supports this argument because it shows the average US family income distribution. After the stock market crash, nearly 60% of American family’s annual income was under the poverty line (Document 9). This showed that the families under the poverty line could not afford anything other than the absolute necessities which meant that they could not purchase other luxuries. Overall, the reduction in purchasing was one of the causes of the Great Depression and it was happening because of the unemployment which led to a lack of money.

The abuse of economic ideas was one of the smaller causes of the Great Depression. As described in the background essay, the 4 major economic ideas are the law of supply and demand, say’s law, the business cycle, and the stock market (Background essay, 437-439). Before the Great Depression started, American people were breaking some of these economic ideas. As described in Document 6, “consumers bought goods on installment at a rate faster than their income was expanding” (Document 6). By buying goods on installment, it meant that people would pay over time. This purchasing style was okay in the beginning but after a while, it had serious consequences since many people were gaining debt and their income wasn’t capable of paying the installments. Also, this type of purchasing broke the law of supply and demand since the supply and demand for goods remained the same, but people didn’t have money to buy goods and had to use installment. This meant that there would be a time where people would stop buying which would lead to a sap in the economy (Document 6). Furthermore, Document 10 describes that people continued buying even after they couldn’t afford it. This shows that people broke the business cycle because usually if people stopped buying after they couldn’t afford it, then production slowed and workmen were fired. However, in the years before the Great Depression, people used installments and continued buying which broke the business cycle. Additionally, the farming economy also started to abuse the law of supply and demand. Farmers started to overproduce items in hopes of being able to sell more. However, this overproduction backfired and as shown in Document 11 the prices of goods completely dropped. The farm industry fell as farmers were forced to sell their goods at a very low price. Overall, the abuse of economic ideas impacted the Great Depression since people started paying with installments and breaking the business cycle and the law of supply and demand.

In conclusion, the Great Depression was caused by many different factors. The greatest cause for the Great Depression was the stock market crash of 1929 which put millions of Americans into poverty and made many lose their jobs. Additionally, the Great Depression was also caused by the reduction in purchasing since many were unemployed and couldn’t afford to purchase anything besides the absolute necessities. The reduction in purchasing also kept the economy down since it can’t grow without consumers. Furthermore, the abuse of the major economic ideas also had an impact on the Great Depression. Overall, the stock market crash of 1929, the reduction in purchasing, and the abuse of the major economic ideas were the three major causes for the Great Depression.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Synopsis.

The novel I studied is “An Abundance of Katherines” that was written by John Green. This book was published on September 2016 by Dutton and Speak. The genre of this book is fiction. The main characters are Colin Singleton, who is anagram-loving seventeen-year-old boy who is depressed. Hassan Harbish who is Colin’s lazy, funny, and slightly overweight best, and only, friend. Lindsey Lee Wells who Colin and Hassan on their road trip in Gutshot, Tennessee. Hollis Wells, Lindsey’s mother. She is an extreme workaholic. The conflict of this story occurs between Colin and the other Colin when Colin Singleton finds the other Colin cheating on Lindsey. The other Colin threatened Colin if he told Lindsey and Colin was forced to decide to tell Lindsey or not. Though Colin made his decision to tell Lindsey what happened. This lead to her breaking up with the other Colin and a very brutal beating for Colin Singleton and his best friend Hassan.

Colin Singleton is a child prodigy who is fearing he will not grow to become an adult prodigy. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Katherine XIX, Colin is looking for his “missing piece” longing to feel whole, and longing to matter. He hopes to accomplish his goal of becoming a genius by having a “eureka” moment. Over the span of his life, Colin has dated nineteen girls named Katherine, all spelled in that manner. In these relationships, Colin remembers only the Katherine dumping him.

After graduating from high school, and before college, Colin’s best and only friend, Hassan Harbish, convinces him to go on a road trip with him to take his mind off the breakup. Colin goes along with the idea, hoping to find his “eureka” moment on the way. After driving all the way from Chicago to Tennessee, they come across the alleged resting place of the body of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. There, they meet Lindsey Lee Wells. After a short time, Colin and Hassan find themselves employed by Hollis, Lindsey’s mother who runs a local factory that is currently producing tampon strings. They live with their employer and her daughter in a rural town called Gutshot, Tennessee. The employment she sends them on is to interview all current adult residents of Gutshot and assemble an oral history of the town. As time passes, Colin finds himself becoming attracted to Lindsey, though matters are somewhat complicated by her on-again, off-again boyfriend Colin. He and Hassan call him TOC which means “the other Colin”. Our Colin, the prodigy, is still chasing his eureka moment, finally finding it in his theorem he created called the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability. It is meant to determine the curve of any relationship based on several factors of the personalities of the two people in a relationship. It would predict the future of any two people. His theorem eventually works for all but one of his past relationships with a Katherine. It is later discovered by Colin that he had dumped this Katherine (Katherine III), rather than the other way around. The graphs all make perfect sense at this juncture. As Colin’s story is revealed to the reader, we find that K-19 was also the first of the Katherines, “Katherine the Great.” While the back stories of Colin’s life play out, Hassan gets a girlfriend, Katrina, a friend of Lindsey’s. The relationship is cut short when Colin and Hassan catch Katrina having sex with TOC while on a feral hog hunt with Lindsey, her friends and Colin’s father. A fight between TOC and all of the surrounding acquaintances begins when Lindsey finds out that he’s been cheating on her. While recovering from a knee whack to the groin, Colin anagrams the Archduke’s name while in the grave yard to dull the pain, and realizes that it is actually Lindsey’s great-grandfather, named Fred N. Dinzanfar, that is buried in the tomb.

Colin finds Lindsey at her secret hideout in a cave that she had shown him previously, where he tells her the story of every Katherine he has ever loved. Lindsey tells him that she feels so self-centered, claiming that she does not feel sad but instead slightly relieved by TOC’s affair. They discuss what it means to them to “matter” and eventually confess their love for each other. As their relationship continues, Colin decides to use his dating formula to determine whether or not he and Lindsey will last. The graph reveals that they will only last for four more days. Lindsey then slips a note under his door, four days later, stating that she cannot be his girlfriend because she is in love with Hassan. But she leaves a P.S. stating that she is joking. Colin realizes that his theorem cannot predict the future of a relationship; it can only shed light on why a relationship failed. Despite this, Colin is content with not “mattering”. Hassan also states that he is applying for two college classes, which Colin has been trying to convince him to do throughout the book. The story ends with the trio driving to a nearby Wendy’s. Lindsey states her desire to just “keep going and not stop.” Colin takes her advice, as a transcendental and ecstatic feeling of a “connection” with Lindsey, Hassan, and everyone not in the car surges through him. He has finally found peace and happiness via connection with other people, rather than from the pursuit of distinguishing himself from everyone, feeling “non-unique in the very best way possible.”

Tones, themes of the story and issues presented by the Author.

There are many tones in this novel such as happy, insecure, and hopeless. For the first one, happy. Mrs. Harbish shook her head and pursed her lips. “Don’t I tell you,” she said in accented English, “not to mess with girls? Hassan is a good boy, doesn’t do this ‘dating.’ And look how happy he is. You should learn from him.” (chapter 3, paragraph 15) In a lot of ways, Hassan’s mom is right, Colin would be much happier if he didn’t mess around with the Katherines. He couldn’t whine about them dumping him then. On the other hand, we’re not sure Hassan really qualifies as the best sample of happiness; he even admits later on that he’s lazy and should do something else with his life.

The next tone would be insecure. With all the nasty back-and-forth, Colin fought the urge to ask Katherine whether she still loved him, because the only thing she hated more than his saying she didn’t understand was his asking whether she still loved him. He fought the urge and fought it and fought it. For seven seconds. (chapter 5, paragraph 85) That’s a really long time to wait. Oh wait, it look longer than seven seconds to read that sentence. That’s the whole point: Colin is so impatient and needy when it comes to love. He can’t just leave Katherine alone for one minute without asking her if she loves him, which sounds both pretty insecure and pretty annoying. The last tone is hopeless. “Technically.” Colin answered, “I think I might have already wasted it.” Maybe it was because Colin had never once in his life disappointed his parents: he did not drink or do drugs or smoke cigarettes or wear black eyeliner or stay out late or get bad grades or pierce his tongue or have the words “KATHERINE LUVA 4 LIFE” tattooed across his back. Or maybe they felt guilty, like somehow they’d failed him and brought him to this place. (chapter 3, paragraph 7) After he tells his parents about the road trip, he lets them in on a secret: his potential is already wasted. We’re not so sure about that. You can still have hopes and dreams and be an all-star even if you don’t have a huge eureka moment. Too bad Colin doesn’t believe that.

Themes of the story is life, consciousness and existence. Not to go all parental on you, but it’s time to ask some heavy-hitting questions: what do you want to do with your life? What’s the purpose of life? If you’re in high school, chances are your parents are always bugging you about which college you want to go to, or what major you want to take. It’s the norm for us to think about these things when we get to those teenage years, and Colin and Hassan are plagued by these questions too in An Abundance of Katherines. And in true young adult novel form, they come up with different answers to these questions. Colin wants to study, study, study, while Hassan is happy watching TV and doing nothing. The thing is though, both of them start to reconsider their life’s goals and path towards the end of the story.

The first issue that has been presented by the author in “An Abundance Of Katherines” the boy who’s been dumped several times which is Colin Singleton. He feels a desperate need for people to remember and appreciate him. In the beginning of the story, once Katherine the 19th (is what he called her) dumped him because she felt that he was more into being the only smart person around and cared too much about being told how much she cared about him than the relationship itself. As soon as it happened, Colin had felt broken especially since she was his first “actual” love and had dated her for a year and eight months. Hassan who’s Colin’s loyal and dearest best friend, wanted to do anything to cheer him up so he took him on a road trip. Colin thought that no one really appreciated him as a person, and they didn’t care about him after Katherine dumped him. So Hassan wanted to prove a theory that if he went on this road trip with him, it would get his mind off of the break up with Katherine the 19th. Little did he know that he was about to have his whole perspective on himself changed for the better. Hassan and Colin drove to Gunshot, Tennessee and found a extremely attractive tour guide named Lindsey who he automatically grows a connection with. While the tourist started to give both Hassan and Colin the tour on Archeduke, he realizes Lindsey had only dated one person who’s named Colin. Except, her Colin as Hassan calls him “TOC” which means “The Other Colin” is the complete opposite of Colin Singleton. TOC was a jerk lets put it that way. As Colin and Hassan stay in Gunshot, they start to get to know Lindsey better. And Colin, let’s say he’s falling in love again, it’s going to be tough for him since he knows she has a boyfriend. TOC starts to show his true colors as the story progresses. Lindsey finds out that Colin had been cheating on her with the hottie with a body, Katrina. Lindsey is beyond upset as soon as she finds out. Once Colin found out, he relieved Lindsey from those negative feelings that she had. I mean, a break-up isn’t always an easy thing to get over, and Colin knew exactly how she felt. One quote that really stuck out to me through this main issue is when Lindsey tells Colin: “If people could see me the way I see myself – if they could live in my memories – would anyone love me?” That quote stuck out to me because it shows that it’s not just Colin who feels like no one appreciates him or cares about him, but Lindsey does too. And it’s good for Colin knowing that he has someone who also knows how it feels when it comes to someone loving him. That quote and both Colin and Lindsey both show that they lose themselves after a tough break-up. It took Colin a while to be himself again, and he’s willing to help Lindsey get over the break up and be herself again. The next issue is, the journey of getting know ourselves. Are you unique? What makes you, you? That’s one of the big questions An Abundance of Katherines asks us to think about. We’ve got a washed-up child prodigy who wants to matter, but he’s just not sure if he’s unique any more. Then we’ve got Lindsey who’s faked it so much that she’s one big phony most of the time. She wants to fit in, so she pretends to be nerdy, ditzy, southern just to do so. It’s easy to lose sight of who we really are deep down in our cores, and this book is all about questing to get in touch with our true selves. The last issue would be Person vs. Self because Colin is a child prodigy trying to be a genius. Colin wants to do something big with the way he lives his life. Like become a genius. He needs to discover himself and what he’s meant to be here for before he becomes a genius. He’s been dumped so many times throughout his life. He dates girls named Katherine, all spelled in that manner. The conflict is resolved because he comes up with an equation to calculate how long until or why he gets dumped.

Critical Analysis.

The novel I studied is “An Abundance of Katherines” that was written by John Green. This book was published on September 2016 by Dutton and Speak. The genre of this book is fiction. The main characters are Colin Singleton, who is anagram-loving seventeen-year-old boy who is depressed. Hassan Harbish who is Colin’s lazy, funny, and slightly overweight best, and only, friend. Lindsey Lee Wells who Colin and Hassan on their road trip in Gutshot, Tennessee. Hollis Wells, Lindsey’s mother. She is an extreme workaholic. The conflict of this story occurs between Colin and the other Colin when Colin Singleton finds the other Colin cheating on Lindsey. The other Colin threatened Colin if he told Lindsey and Colin was forced to decide to tell Lindsey or not. Though Colin made his decision to tell Lindsey what happened. This lead to her breaking up with the other Colin and a very brutal beating for Colin Singleton and his best friend Hassan.

The main idea of the work is the boy who’s been dumped several times which is Colin Singleton. An Abundance of Katherines follows with Colin Singleton, a prodigy with an obsession for anagramming. Colin has a very specific type when it comes to the opposite sex: he only dates girls called Katherine. And so far, he’s been dumped by 19 of them. We follow Colin as he ventures into the unknown on a road trip with his best friend, Hassan. He encounters all sorts of things on his travels, from feral satan hogs to scrabble. The structure of this novel jumps around and is not in chronological order, it goes to flash backs of Colin’s past and then goes to the future again and does this repeatedly throughout the novel. The novel is third person omniscient and a quote from the novel is “As Hassan screamed, Colin thought, oh right, should have flushed.” which this point of view is significant throughout the book because the reader is not stuck reading about the same person the whole time. Also there is no bias in this novel.

I loved the plot of this book. Normally, road trips just annoy me because it is far too cliche. But, in this book, it really works. A road trip is perfect for Colin, as the ever-changing, exciting and foreign atmosphere is just like him. As the scenery changes, Colin changes as a person. I couldn’t help but see a deeper meaning in this story. On the surface, it is the tale of a prodigy on a road trip, but there is so much more than that. The novel carries some very important messages about fitting in and about trying to see logic in everything. In the hands of some authors, this would become a cheesy parable. Luckily, Green is skilled enough to make it sincere. He understands teenagers, particularly those who are nerdy and socially awkward. This gives the book a friendlier tone, which is great. What I don’t really like about this book is how Colin needs to go through a few heartbreaks and it was all came all the way from those girls named Katherines. Those Katherines should have not left him at the first place for they should have appreciated Colin for loving them so much. But finally, he hurt himself. Nineteen times of heartbreaks for he had fallen for nineteen girls named Katherines.

Dating nineteen girls, all coincidentally named Katherine seems to be a ridiculous phenomenon to a teenager whose age is only 17. This might not happen in reality. Such phenomenon can be considered as something fancy. The author here employs magical realism as he is able to translate his experiences into something that seems to be fictional in his literary work. Through writing An Abundance of Katherines, he was able to inculcate fantastical elements that were drawn from reality. The possibility of dating nineteen Katherines in a span of 17 years is quite remote, but the author managed to turn it into something fictional and at the same time realistic. A major part of this book is The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability. This is a complicated idea that Colin comes up with, and it’s basically a graph that can supposedly predict when and how two people will break up. Personally, I found the idea that love can be graphed really interesting, but it might bore some readers. Luckily, you don’t need to understand the maths to enjoy the plot. The theorem is really just a vehicle to show how Colin is a prodigy, and to help him reach his final conclusion that “The future is unpredictable.” and I do think that the formula is biased. It only represented and summarized only what happened in the past and is not a viable representation of what happens in the future. This can be applied to real life. Sometimes we stick into something objective that we fail to realize that there are missing pieces that we do not consider. We tend to be close-minded and miss opportunities in life. In life, we sometimes have to take risks and modify our own formulas. To conclude, An Abundance of Katherines is a fantastically nerdy coming-of-age road trip that I would recommend to John Green fans and self-proclaimed nerds everywhere, as well as anyone who needs some good life advice.

Recommendations.

Based on the novel I studied, an issue that had been chosen for recommendations is the boy who’s been depressed for get dumped several times which is Colin Singleton. He feels a desperate need for people to remember and appreciate him. A recommendation on this issue is we as a human being we need to know on how to appreciate others most likely to be those people who is close to us such as family and friends by treating them right. Their existence matters. Not until to the point where they desperately need people to remember and appreciate them. We as the people who had known them well, close to them somehow need to understand them more because people who goes through depression needs support as well. Next, talk to them more often. Don’t ignore them because you will make them feel alone until the feel they were born to deserve no one is life. Depression people needs company. A good company. Talk to them about anything as long as they feel they have someone then that is okay. They might need someone to have a conversation with but were so afraid to talk to anyone since they know they will get ignored by the people. Last but not least, as a close friend to the people who goes through depression we need to always cheer them up by not letting them down the same thing Hassan Harbish did. He is the only best friend Colin has. So he took Colin out for a road trip so that Colin can calm himself a little bit.

Awareness and treatment of breast cancer: college application essay help

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “About 40,000 women and 400 men in the U.S. die each year from breast cancer,” (CDC, 2016). For ages now, breast cancer awareness has reached out to communities all over the country, yet most of us do not concern ourselves with this particular cause. We tend to not care about this sort of issues in the world unless it happens to be inflicted upon those closest to us, such as our friends, and family. We tend to ignore the fact that we are not totally immune to a certain disease just because it does not show up in our family’s history. Every woman and men has the risk of developing breast cancer, however, this issue can be properly taken care of only when you are fully aware of the disease.

To start off, it is still unclear to researchers as to why breast cancer unexpectedly appears, however, they have come up with some theories that may explain it all, genetic mutation being one of them. Within the article provided by the Mayo Clinic Health Letter it states that “Although only 5 to 10 percent of breast cancers are attributed to inherited genetic mutations, the presence of these mutations can significantly influence the likelihood of developing the disease” (“Mayo Clinic”, 2016). I believe that our genes play a huge role in the presence of all types of diseases and disorders. With an incredibly strong family history of cancer, it has been determined that certain inherited mutated genes, in our case are BRCA1 and BRCA2, will have an impact on increasing the risk of breast cancer. The BRCA genes are initially created to act as a suppressor gene, keeping our cells replicating at a steady pace, but can perform the exact opposite when altered. Our cells will rapidly develop in an abnormal speed, located in the lobules, ducts, or tissues, which will then form lumps in your breast. These abnormal cells are said to be malignant tumors that initially start in the breast, and can spread to the lymph nodes and such. Another cause could be due to our menstruation and age. Once we are exposed to the hormone estrogen, there is then an increase in risk for breast cancer.

Breast cancer is not just limited to the people in the U.S., but has been occurring worldwide for centuries. In Third World countries, they are less likely to develop breast cancer, however, it cannot be said the same for more economically developed countries. Because of the changes in our reproductive factors, our lifestyles, and a rise in life expectancy, the incidence rate for developing countries have greatly escalated. For example, North America is shown to have the highest breast cancer rate in the globe, while the lowest rate would be in East Asia. Therefore, white and African American women have a higher chance than Hispanic and Asian women. In the European Journal of Cancer, it states how “It is generally accepted that breast cancer risk factors, which have mainly been studied in Western populations are similar worldwide. However, the presence of gene–environment or gene–gene interactions may alter their importance as causal factors across populations” (“European”, 2013). This statement is completely accurate, because many countries obtain similar risk factors, such as late childbearing, obesity, old age, avoiding breastfeeding, alcohol, hormone level, diet, and so on. But at the same time, what we intake, our traditions, and even alcohol consumption, which is basically our environment makes a difference. On another note, on the year of 2015, it was presumed that a little more than two-hundred thousand women would be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, sixty-thousand with non-invasive breast cancer, and about forty-thousand deaths in just the United States alone.

Early detection of breast cancer is crucial in saving a life, so it is first important to know how the disease will present itself. Checking your body regularly is highly recommended for all women. Some symptoms of breast cancer include a lump in the breast, a discharge of the nimples, a breast that has swollen up, skin irritation, and any physical changes in the breast and nipples. Then there is the subject of diagnosing breast cancer, which is a whole other matter. Those with breast cancer would need to go through a breast ultrasound, a mammogram, and an MRI testing. These are all done by a radiological technician. A radiological technician’s job is to use certain machines to capture images of structures deep inside the breast. For a breast ultrasound, sound waves are produced to create sonograms to verify if the lump is either a solid mass or is a fluid-filled cyst. A mammogram is simply a breast screening. And for an MRI testing, the system operates on magnetic fields and radio waves to capture a model of the interior body. Patients can also receive a biopsy, in which they proceed to remove tissue or fluid in your breast, and brings the test to the lab for examination. A biopsy offers a conclusive result; it determines whether your cells are indeed cancerous, the types of cells that are involved, if the cell is aggressive, etc. Once the diagnosis is completed and the patient is positive for breast cancer, the patient next undergoes a process called staging. This helps determine if the cancer cells have spread, and also the stage that the patient is in. It allows your doctor to decide what kind of treatment would be recommended with consideration to your health.

Finally, there are various ways when trying to treat breast cancer. It depends on certain types of factors, such as, the stages that you are in, the type of breast cancer that you have, your general health, and even your preferences that can make a difference. Surgery is typically suggested only towards patients with small size tumors, and those medical procedures are called lumpectomy and mastectomy. These procedures are used as an attempt to surgically remove the entire tumor, however, there are also treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hormonal therapy that can be given after surgery in order to shrink the remainder cancer cells. Chemotherapy is used to end the cancer cells reproducing cycle by utilizing common drugs, for example, methotrexate, vinorelbine, etc. Hormonal therapy on the other hand stops the hormones from reaching to the cancer cells by use of the drug, tamoxifen. It is even stated in the Systemic therapy: Hormonal therapy for cancer article that “5 years of tamoxifen after surgery reduces the annual recurrence rate by 41% and annual mortality rate by 34%.” (Jacinta & John, 2016). It can be used for even more than five years for better results.

In conclusion, being aware of breast cancer will definitely help us become prepared for a surprise appearance. To understand the cause, detect it, and then treat it is something that every woman and men should be aware of. This is not a matter that can be taken lightly. With a great amount of lives already been lost, who is to say that it couldn’t have been prevented with the right amount of knowledge.

Hua-gu-deng Dance

Dance is a universal understanding accepted by all. The varieties of dance forms that exist within the world are infinite. Two interesting and comparable dance styles are Hua-gu-deng Dance, which is a typical Chinese dance form, and ballet, a classical style originating from Europe. Both genres of dance have distinct features that make them unique from each other and other branches of dance.

Ballet originated as a court dance, and then later transformed into a performing art. Ballet has its own terminology in the French language; the language of ballet can be used in any country and it will have the same definition. According to the Atlanta Ballet, A Brief History of Ballet, “The official terminology and vocabulary of ballet was gradually codified in French over the next 100 years, and during the reign of Louis XIV.” At the time, the King of France performed many of the beloved dances. Ballet became a staple art form in countries like Russia, Italy, and France who fostered the importance of ballet. In France, King Louis XIV generated the Académie Royale de Danse, and he established requirements and began certifying instructors. Ballet’s popularity began declining in France after 1830. Today, ballet is still very popular and can be found all around the world. Ballet has still held on to its traditional roots with very little changes to the style. The French language is still used to define movements and the historic technique types have remained the same. The only aspect that slightly differs from historic ballet is the methods used to practice it: for instance, Italy practices the Cecchetti method of ballet. Besides the different methods of ballet, there are sub-categories of ballet; these distinct dance styles all have slight variations, yet they stay true to their roots. One variation of ballet is Neo-classical ballet. Neo-classical ballet popularized in the 20th century by talented individuals such as George Balanchine. This style of ballet is fast-paced, has more energy, can be asymmetrical, does not tell a story, and focuses on aesthetic. On the other hand, classical ballet is graceful and fluid, balanced and symmetrical, it always is a narrative dance, and elaborate costumes and sets are preferred.  Another more modern style of ballet is contemporary ballet. Contemporary ballet is greatly influenced by modern dance. It includes floor work, more body movement and greater range of the bodyline, and it can be danced in pointe shoes or barefoot. During the 19th century, the Romantic Movement was occurring. Most ballets created during this era had endearing, loving themes and they often portrayed women as passive and fragile. In today’s world, ballet has moved away from the constraints of classical ballet and has begun including “plot-less” ballets with darker, deeper meanings.

Classical Chinese dance, more specifically Hua-gu-deng dance, has been around for thousands of years. Hua-gu-deng dance has played a major role in the cultural development of the Chinese; it originated from the Huai River in eastern China. Classical Chinese dance has been around for nearly 5,000 years. With every changing era and dynasty in China, the dance tradition has adapted and combined aesthetics with its distinct dynamic content, rhythms, and narrative. Classical Chinese dance goes back to the Qin Dynasty. Each dynasty that followed the Qin Dynasty created different and specific dance elements. Classical Chinese dance has three main factors that are focused on during training: technical skill, form, and bearing. Technical skill encompasses any acrobatic movements such as flips, jumps, leaps, turns, aerial tricks etc. Form, the second aspect of classical Chinese dance, is referring to the way in which the dancers move their bodies from one movement to another. The movement is usually very circular and full, similar to modern dance: modern dance tends to have round and flowing movements that are loose and asymmetrical. Every movement in the form of classical Chinese dance is choreographed. Breathing is also very crucial to Chinese dance. Dancers are taught how and when to breathe. All movements in this dance form must be round and full. In classical Chinese dance, a vital element named “bearing” is the inner spirit of the dancer. By emphasizing “bearing”, the dancer is able to extenuate the deeper meanings of dance and create a further understanding of the narrative. It is in this “bearing” that classical Chinese dance carries the ancient characteristics of its culture.

How did the Nazi party garner support? – Conformity and obedience

In 1933, Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany. His Nazi party had grown in size from a small party to becoming the rulers of Germany. The Nazis were fascist and they used their racist ideas as an excuse to commit atrocious crimes. Despite all the crimes they committed, the Nazis were very popular. Hitler got to power despite having ideas that people would not tolerate or support. Indeed we know that the Nazi ideals were racists and bigots, so how did they receive such support from a society of people who were so democratic?

Conformity and obedience plays a big role in this ordeal.

Conformity can be a behavior to follow certain standards that a group may expect.

Conformity can be both good and bad. Every culture has its own practices that other cultures might find a bit “awkward”. Although awkward to one culture, some practices are completely normal in other cultures. Slavery is an example of this. Even at the height of slavery, some cultures detested the idea of keeping a human being in bondage and withhold their freedom from them. These cultures took great strides to outlaw slavery in their land. Indeed different cultures value different beliefs, however, even in the same culture, some people might have different views. During the height of slavery in America, there were those who believed that slavery was wrong, but they themselves owned slaves. This included Thomas Jefferson, who was known to have as much as 175 slaves despite referring to slavery as an “assemblage of horrors”. Despite being fully aware that slavery was wrong, many people participated in slavery because that was the way of life for the culture. The same could be said of the Nazi party. Many Germans believed that the treatment of Jews by the Nazi party was unfair and wrong, however, not many people questioned it. In that period of time and in that society, it was normal for people to think that anyone that wasn’t Aryan was subhuman. Anyone who had different views was thought to be odd. No one dared to question this belief because they did not want to be considered a Jewish sympathiser. Anyone who tried to help the Jews during their persecution was subject to severe repercussions.

The Nazi party that took control of Germany blamed the Jews for the depression that Germany faced and for losing the war. They started implementing laws that limited the rights of the Jews even though Jews were German citizens. Properties that belonged to Jewish households were confiscated and Jews were ordered to concentration camps where six million would go on to lose their lives. How did a country which was known for its democratic idealism succumb to such fascist state? Obedience. Germans believed that Hitler would be the one to bring Germany from their economic depression. Germans were outraged because they felt their leaders betrayed them after the first world war. Hitler promised to bring to Germany political and economic stability, which he did. He was very popular among the German people and so not many people questioned him when he became the Fuhrer of Germany. As Fuhrer, he ordered the Jews to be isolated and sent to prison camps, many not only failed to question his decisions, they supported it. They also supported his decision to invade Poland and eventually France, sparking the second world war. After the war, German soldiers were tried in court and they justified their actions because they said they were just following orders. How could people commit such horrid crimes fully knowing that what they were doing was wrong? Sometimes these may be symptoms of obedience.

The German Jews were a minority group, so it was easy for other German groups to isolate them from the rest German society. Because they were the minority group, Hitler was able to capitalize on that and create an “us vs them” mentality against them. The German Jews were easy to isolate because they had a different religion and culture from average Germans.

Aryan Germans were able to distance themselves from this group which had different. This gave Germans an excuse to place them in a class that was viewed as subhuman. This was the same tactic used by the Europeans to colonize and conquer the rest of the world. They believed that the humans residing in the places they conquered had little to no right to govern themselves because they were subhuman, so they could not possibly be trusted to govern themselves.

Another reason Germans allowed the Nazi party to commit crimes to humanity was because they felt they just following orders from their Fuhrer. Hitler was a man who according to the German people kept his promises. He promised to bring Germany back from the recession and he did; something the German government had struggled with until then. He also promised to restore Germany to the once great nation it had been and to unite all the Germans in the world under one flag. The Germans placed such high hopes in Hitler that they gave him the highest authority in the country. After Hitler was declared the Fuhrer, he was known as the most powerful man in Germany and he was very popular with his countrymen. To defy the orders of the hero of Germany would have been seen as an act of treason. They believed that if they did not obey Hitler, they must not have the best interest to Germany. To defy Hitler was to defy Germany as well. No patriot would want to go against the best interest of his country. Even if they knew their actions were evil, they did it regardless because Hitler ordered it; Germany ordered it. Even if it meant killing innocent people, Germans were willing to follow the orders of their Fuhrer because he represented the collective mind of the whole country. A country is nothing if the citizens can not follow the orders of its leaders.

The Nazi party was a great example of how conformity and obedience could lead us to do things that we may feel is wrong. It was easier for them to commit these crimes because they convinced the majority to think it was ok to do these things. They also used the trust of the people in their government to their advantage. People are more willing to listen to commands if there is a higher authority directing them. Hitler utilized obedience and conformity to rule a country of intellectuals and to lead the country into a war that took so many lives. It is easy to say that we won’t do bad things even if someone forces us, but history says otherwise.

Sometimes we don’t even have to be forced, we just have to believe in authority and isolate groups of people.

Works Cited

Andrews, Evan. “How Many U.S. Presidents Owned Slaves?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 19 July 2017,
www.history.com/news/ask-history/how-many-u-s-presidents-owned-slaves.
crashcourse. “Social Influence: Crash Course Psychology #38.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Nov. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGxGDdQnC1Y&t=416s.

Influence of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on popular culture: college essay help near me

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a title you may not have heard of before but is a story you definitely know. In order for you to understand the topics discussed in this article, you need to understand the plot of the novel, so here is a quick summary.

Basically, there is a well-known doctor named Henry Jekyll who has a lawyer/friend named Mr. Utterson. Mr. Utterson admires his friend very much , but is concerned when Dr. Jekyll has him write up a very strange will naming his entire estate to a man named Edward Hyde, whom Utterson has never heard of before. The will is odd because it states that

“in case of the decrease of Henry Jekyll, M.D., D.C.L., L.L.D., F.R.S., etc, all his possessions were to pass into the hands of his “friend and benefactor Edward Hyde,” but that in case of Dr. Jekyll’s “disappearance or unexplained absence for any period of time exceeding three calendar months,” the said Edward Hyde should step into the said Henry Jekyll’s shoes without further delay and free from any burthen or obligation, beyond the payment of a few small sums to the members of the doctor’s household (Stevenson, 39).”

Utterson begins to investigate Mr. Hyde and is told a story about a brute of a man who knocked down a little girl in the street near where Dr. Jekyll lives, everyone on the street yelled at the rude man, and the man offered to pay a large sum of money to the family of the girl. He then disappeared  through the door of Dr. Jekyll’s home and office, only to return with a large check drawn from Dr. Jekyll’s bank account. Utterson is appalled by this story and goes to talk to Mr. Hyde himself. He hunts down Mr. Hyde and describes him as a man with evil oozing out of his pores. He then asks Dr. Jekyll about these odd arrangements. Dr. Jekyll refuses to comment, and nothing happens for about a year… Skip ahead to one year later where the brutal murder of a popular public politician occurs and Mr. Hyde is the one and only suspect. Everyone tries to hunt down this evil man, but no one succeeds and it is forgotten. But during this whole situation with Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll is in excellent health and is throwing dinner parties for his friends, including a certain Dr. Lanyon. Once again, skip to 2 months later, where Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll fall terribly ill after admittedly fighting with one another and Dr. Lanyon dies, leaving mysterious documents with Mr. Utterson’s, to ONLY be opened if Dr. Jekyll dies or disappears. Dr. Jekyll remains in seclusion, even though Mr. Utterson visits him often. Finally, one evening, Dr. Jekyll’s butler visits Mr. Utterson at home and tells Utterson he is worried about his employer’s mental state and health and is convinced there was some sort of foul play. The butler persuades Mr. Utterson to return to Dr. Jekyll’s house, where they break into Dr. Jekyll’s laboratory. There they find Edward Hyde dead on the floor and Jekyll nowhere to be found. Utterson finds several documents written to him in the labratory, and goes back home to read what he later finds out is Mr. Lanyon’s narrative and Dr. Jekyll’s narrative, which turns out, is two parts of the same story about Mr. Hyde. These documents tell us that Dr. Jekyll was able to transform into Mr. Hyde by means of a potion that he created and as Mr. Hyde, he discovered a world of pleasure and crime. In his story, Dr. Jekyll writes that Mr. Hyde became very  powerful and very harder to control, in the end the dominant personality beat out the weaker one.

“I guess we’re all two people. One daylight, and the one we keep in shadow.”

— Bruce Wayne/Batman, Batman Forever

That is a very basic summary of all the important plot points in the story but it is the two people inside one body that you most likely recognize. In today’s popular culture, this story makes itself known very frequently and all exmaples stem from this original “split personality story”, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde! A few current examples of this story in today’s popular culture are:

The Hulk, also referred to as The Incredible Hulk is a character from the Marvel Comic Universe created in comic book form in 1962. The nuclear Physicist Dr. Robert Bruce Banner is caught in the a blast of a gamma bomb that he created. This nuclear blast creates a alternate personality/physical distortion within himself named Hulk; a giant, green angry monster. The character, both as Banner and the Hulk, is often pursued by police or armed forces, usually because of the destruction Hulk causes. The powerful and monsterous emotional alter ego of an emotionally repressed scientist who comes forward whenever Banner experiences emotional stress, is an example of the Jekyll and Hyde motif. While the Hulk usually saves the day, seeking usually to protect, his terrifying nature drives Bruce Banner into isolation, much like Jekyll, fearing discovery. Stevenson’s book was also the inspiration behind Two-Face, a villain created in 1941 for the Batman comic book series. Harvey Dent, an upstanding citizen and DA, was horribly scarred on one side of his body and traumatized in a warehouse fire set by The Joker. This caused his formerly repressed “Hyde” personality to emerge. The two personalities come into direct conflict often and make decisions they are split on using the outside moderator of a flipped coin. Bane is another character from the DC Comics universe and another villain from the Batman comic series. Shrouded in mystery, Bane appeared in Gotham City with the one goal to eliminate Batman once and for all. Besides being a man of great physical size and power, Bane’s strength is augmented by “Venom,” a Super Steroid that increases his strength, physical size and durability for limited periods of time. Much like Dr.Jekyll turns himself into Hyde using a potion, the Venom potion, injected into his body is also his weakness — when the supply of the chemical is cut he goes back to normal and loses his powers. I also see a huge parallel between Jekyll and Hyde and the most iconic movie villain of all time, Darth Vader. Just like Dr. Jekyll, Anakin Skywalker has his alter-ego. In EPISODE V, Yoda tells Luke Skywalker “Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will” — just like when Jekyll first transformed into Hyde and then he felt the urge to do it again and again until finally he lost control over the transformation and ends up as Hyde permanently. Similarly, Anakin Skywalker first tastes the power of the dark side when he kills an entire camp of Sand-people to protect his mother and this starts his fall to the dark side and his eventually transformation into Darth Vadar. Another Marvel Comics supervillain was named after and based on Mr Hyde. Calvin Zabo was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He was a morally abject yet brilliant medical researcher who was interested by the effect of hormones on human physiology. One of his favorite books was The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He was convinced that the experiment in the book could actually be performed and became obsessed with the idea of letting loose his full beast-like nature in a superhuman form. He was eventually successful in creating the formula, and turned into a huge, Hulk-like creature he named “Mister Hyde”. The character of Jekyll and Hyde can be seen in Alan Moore’s comic book, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In the comic, interesting team of crimefighters, made up of famous characters from classic literature, fight crime in Victorian London. In the issues Hyde is very strong and has a Jekyll persona, whereas in the novel, Jekyll has a Hyde persona. Sometimes in film, television, literature, or theater, a character and his evil twin, evil counterpart, or shadow archetype (all different titles for the same type of character) are really the same guy in the end or sometimes, a completely different character is sharing body space with another. The point is, the villain sometimes lives inside the hero’s body, therefore hiding in plain sight. For the entire story, the hero is trying to catch himself; which has created many of the detective stories you read today. You can also see this idea in many different pop culture examples. If the two personalities are aware of each other, it becomes a case of Gollum Made Me Do It.

A character has another personality to keep him company, the other personality isn’t exactly a model citizen. However, he is… persuasive. He often finds himself being bullied or forced into following his darker side’s advice, even if it’s advice he wouldn’t have followed normally.

The Hyde personality’s crimes are outside of Jekyll’s control and, often, the character is unable to stop themselves from becoming “evil”, this is often a case of being Driven to Villiany.

Sometimes, your villain’s just a normal guy who’s brought into villainy against their own will. Don’t get confused with mind control or possession, it’s because they’ve been warped by events happening around them, and forced into villainy by forces outside their control. A broken shell of a human being, the only thing left is insanity.

Sometimes they’re not really evil but, occasionally this can be resolved with a Split-Personality Merge that reconciles both sides into a healthy whole.

There are many possible reasons for the existence of these split personalities, but this co-habitation is rarely peaceful or long lasting. It usually results in a battle of the central mind to try and find out which personality will take over. Sometimes, the winning personality does not reduce the loser to a small, powerless voice but, instead offers to become one again; they merge into a single, whole person that is greater than the sum of its minds.

Also, the Jekyll side isn’t necessarily “good” either. Comes, of course, from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. It used to be a twist ending, but it no longer suprises anyone. Most adaptations of the work focus on said twist. The real life example of Deacon Brodie is said to have inspired Stevenson. William Brodie or Deacon Brodie was a Scottish cabinet- maker, deacon of a trades guild, and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a burglar. As did the story of Horace Wells, a pioneer of medical anaesthetics. While researching the chemical formula, chloroform, Wells tested many of the various dosages on himself. Because of this, Wells unknowingly built up a dangerous level of the drug in his system, and ended up attacking two prostitutes during a sulfuric acid drug related episode. Once he sobered up and learned of what he had done, he committed suicide.

Doctor Horace Wells born January 21, 1815.Along with many comic book characters, there are examples of Jekyll and Hyde’s story in one of the most popular shows of the past few years, American Horror Story. American Horror Story (AHS) is a show that uses so many of the important details that make up the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the show’s many series. In season one titled, Murder House, there is a character named Dr. Charles Montgomery who is a “surgeon for the stars” and the original builder of the “murder house”. In the series, his character is technically a ghost but we do get flashbacks to when he was alive. The Jekyll and Hyde connection is that the Doctor becomes addicted to the drug Ether and starts to lose his mind and kill is patients without realizing it. He is later on shot and killed by his wife after he tries to stitch their dead and dismembered son back together Frankenstein-style.

In season five of American Horror Story titled Hotel, there is another Jekyll and Hyde like character/storyline named the Ten Commandments Killer. Season five basically revolves around a LAPD Detective named John Lowe, played by actor Wes Bently, trying to hunt down the Ten Commandments Killer.

Now before I continue with the storyline and connection to Stevenson’s novel, let me explain the story of the Ten Commandments Killer’s and his MO.   The original Ten Commandments Killer was a man named James March, designer and owner of the Hotel Cortez (the main setting for the entire season), which opened on August 23, 1926. James Patrick March was born in 1895 and started killing people in 1920. He was described as a man of new money and he decided to build and open a grand hotel to make it easier to kill people without getting caught. He built many secret rooms and hallways into the hotel to allow for more killing and he used the hotel’s infrastructure to hide all the evidence of the crimes. His wife Elizabeth knew all about his murdering and actually enjoyed the sounds of his victims screams, so she encouraged his dark habit. There are many gruesome details to the murders he committed but most of his early murders in the hotel involved playful, thespian-esque ways. The actual Ten Commandments killing started with March when he explained to one of his victimes that he despised religion and that it was the worst thing in the world. March said he was going to have to kill God, because as long as there was a God, men like himself would never find peace. His hate of religion is what gave him the motivation to collect all the bibles from the hotel bed stands and arrange them with a pile of his victims to leave behind for the police; this is where the Ten Commandments murders started. But on February 25, 1930 an anonymous phone called tipped off the police and they came to the Hotel Cortez to arrest March. Before the police could arrest March however, he killed his servant and slit his own throat leaving the Ten Commandment murders unfinished. March, along with all of his victims and numerous other victims of the hotel are trapped in the hotel as ghost that appear to guests and interact as characters in the show.

This is where the character John Lowe comes into play in the show. As previously stated, John is a LAPD officer trying to solve the case of the Ten Commandments Killer, but in 2010, John visited the Hotel Cortez on a drunken night and the ghost of James March sees potential in him to finish his work as the Ten Commandments Killer. It wasn’t until 2015 when John finally agrees to complete the murders and this is where the season begins. Each murder symbolizes one of the ten commandments, for example the first murder is Thou Shalt Not Steal and the victim is a infamous thief whom is killed, and for each murder something is taken from each victim and places it in a glass jar in Room 64 of the Hotel Cortez, so for the first murder the thief’s hand is cut off. James March was able to complete two of the ten murders in 1926 but then John Lowe finished off the other eight in 2015. The connection I see to Jekyll and Hyde in this whole story is the fact that John has no recollection of committing any of these murders or even his first time at the Hotel Cortez in 2010. It isn’t until the second to last episode where John finally remembers that he has been doing all this and has a psychotic break and is eventually killed by the SWAT team in the last episode. When watching the season, you can actually see a physical change in John throughout the season as more and more of the ten commandment murders happen. His eyes sink in, be becomes pale and loses weight, his clothes are wrinkled and he just looks physically exhausted more and more as each episode happens. It isn’t until that final episode that his appearance is like this because his good personality is losing strength as his evil, murderous personality is slowly taking over and killing more people.

The scene where Detective John Lowe suddenly remembers all the murders he has committed as the “Ten Commandments Killer” that he has been so desperately searching for at his day job in the police force. Along with the story of Jekyll and Hyde inspiring so many different movie and television characters and plot schemes, the 1931 film version of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde made movie history with it’s incredible never before seen or done on screen transformation (see the video below). Fredric March, the actor who played Jekyll and Hyde in the movie, actually won an Academy Award for his performance in the film. Film directors and makeup artists everywhere wanted to know the secret behind the scene but it wasn’t until 1970 when director Rouben Mamoulian described how it was done: it was done with colored make-up and matching colored filters, which were removed or added to the scene to change March’s appearance. Since the film was in black-and-white, the color changes didn’t show.

The 1931 transformation scene that rocked the film industry and won actor Fredric March an Academy Award. All in all, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson has had a HUGE influence in popular culture since it’s first publication in 1886. You can see it’s influence in television, movies, horror makeup, comic books, theater, and so much more. This storyline is here to stay and will probably be influencing popular culture for generations to come.

Franklin D. Roosevelt heroism

Villainification is the process of creating original actors as the faces of systemic harm, with those hyper-individualized villains losing their shared characteristics. Like heroification, there is a simplified portrayal of historical actors, but villainification has particularly harmful consequences. We suggest that villainification obscures the way in which evil operates through everyday actions and unquestioned structures because of the focus on the whim of one person. Although it is unfortunate that we do not often see how we can inadvertently help others and make systemic change, it is disconcerting when we fail to look at our part in the suffering of others. In this paper, I will try to unravel Franklin D. Roosevelt heroism which was the President of the United States where he served through the Great Depression and the Second World War and received the “hero” treatment.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected during the height of the Great Depression in 1932 and remained President until his death in 1945. During this period of the presidency, he oversaw an expansion of the Federal Government and helped America lose its isolationist stance as it joined World War Two and helped formulate the United Nations. He was an influential figure in both American and world politics.

Roosevelt came from a privileged background but was influenced by his headmaster at Groton School in Massachusetts, who taught the importance of Christian duty in helping less fortunate people.

Franklin married a distant cousin Eleanor in 1905. They had six children in quick succession, two of them who went on to be elected to the House of Representatives. FDR has several affairs outside of his marriage including Lucy Mercer, his social secretary.  His wife Eleanor offered a divorce at one point, but for a variety of reasons, it was not taken up. She later became a dedicated wife/nurse during Franklin’s moderate disability brought on by polio.

When FDR was elected president in 1930, America was facing an unprecedented economic crisis; unemployment was reaching 25%  – Furthermore, government unemployment relief was insufficient at the time. There was real financial desperation, and many classical economists were at a loss as to how to respond.

To some extent, FDR pursued an expansionary fiscal policy as advocated by John M Keynes. The government borrowed, levied a national income tax and spent money on public works (known as the New Deal). This period also marked a shift in power from local governments who could not cope to the national government. Roosevelt also helped introduce legislation protecting worker’s rights. The new deal in no way solved the economic crisis, but it did mitigate some of the worst effects, creating employment and eventually kick-starting the economy. By the end of the 1930s, some sectors of the economy such as construction were booming.

FDR was keen for America to become a good citizen of the world and fight for individual freedoms. However, in the early 1940s, America still retained a powerful isolationist approach, and he campaigned for re-election promising to stay out of World War Two – despite his dislike of Nazi Germany. The bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941, completely changed the outlook of America. F.D.R wasted no time in declaring war on Japan and then Germany as well.

“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice…, the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Once America had entered the war, they entered whole-heartedly into both arenas – the Pacific and Europe. In the D Day landings of 1941, America supplied roughly 2/3 of the troops. Roosevelt was an astute Commander in Chief. In particular, he was able to identify generals with genuine talent and promoted them to key roles. As Roosevelt said himself:

“I’m not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.”

In particular, FDR promoted Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall – both to play critical roles during the Second World War.

Roosevelt’s real political skill lay in his powers of communication and identification with ordinary people. His radio fireside chats were instrumental in building confidence with the American people, both during the Great Depression and during the Second World War.

“This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” – 1933

Roosevelt had a close relationship with Winston Churchill. There was a high mutual admiration. At one point Roosevelt said ‘It is fun being in the same decade as you.’

Together with Churchill and Stalin, the Big Three helped lay the foundations for the post-war period, which included the setting up of the United Nations – a successor to the League of Nations.

Roosevelt died unexpectedly from a massive brain haemorrhage in April 1945, just before the first meeting of the United Nations. His death stunned the world, and he was remembered as a champion of freedom and a man of humanity and optimism.

I’ve never understood the reverence for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He gets points for picking great Generals and led this country to victory in WWII. But he totally mismanaged the economy, during the recession of 1937 unemployment reached 19% (the excellent depression high was 25%), his freedom-sapping policies never did get this country out of the Great Depression, and don’t forget that he tried to circumvent constitutional separation of powers (now who does that remind me of?). And then there is the issue never discussed, he was a bigot, his hatred of Jews caused thousands to be added to the ranks of Hitler’s victims, and his hatred of Asians convinced him to put Japanese Americans into internment camps.

Some point to the fact he didn’t he bomb and destroy the train tracks that were shipping Jews to the concentration camps? But my opinion sides with the people who say that wouldn’t have worked. The real question to be explored was why didn’t allow more Jews into the country and why didn’t he pressure Britain to enable Jews to move from Nazi-controlled areas into what was then called Palestine?

In the book “FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith,” historian Rafael Medoff suggests that Roosevelt failed to take relatively simple measures that would have saved significant numbers of Jews during the Holocaust because his vision for America was one that had a small amount of Jews. In other words, FDR doomed many Jew to suffer not because he wanted them to die, but because he didn’t want a lot of them living in his neighborhood.

Loewen argues that this heroification is something that enables readers and teachers to overlook the conflicts that will allow a full reading of historical narratives and bring in other points of view. The heroification process is done to make textbooks more appealing to school districts and also to present an artificial exceptionalism view of American History. At the same time, heroification enables students to assume a role of passivity in constructing the next wave of American social and historical dynamics. If all that is read are about heroes, it creates the mentality that there is nothing left to do and this enables those in the position of power to continue doing what they do without any questioning or in-depth analysis.

Joseph Paul Franklin: college essay help online

White supremacy is a form of vile racism where white people are perceived as superior to all other races in every physical, mental, social, economic, and political aspect. This repugnant mindset dates back in United States’ History to centuries ago, but unfortunately still exists in the minds of people today. White supremacy is clearly very wrong, however it is important to be aware that it can be very dangerous when it is implemented by the mentally ill. John Paul Franklin used white supremacy as a stimulus for unethical, malicious and remorseless actions that lead to the death of at least 15 people in 11 different states. (FBI, 2014) Franklin’s three-year killing rampage was motivated by his “pathological hatred of African Americans and Jews”. (Montaldo, n.d.) Joseph Paul Franklin was a perfect example of how abusive households can lead to serious psychological issues such as mental illness, which in turn can lead to extreme violence.

James Clayton Vaughan was his birth name. Born into a poor family in Alabama, Franklin was physically abused by both of his parents throughout his entire childhood. He once told investigators, “My momma didn’t care about us” and stated that he and his three siblings were not fed properly or “allowed to play with other children”. (Nye, 2013) While in high school in the 1960’s, Franklin became interested in southern white supremacist groups and went on to becoming an active member of The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), The American Nazi Party, The National States Rights Party, and The National Socialists White People’s Party. His interest in these groups started when his obsession with evangelical Christianity and Nazism took off in his early high school years. Franklin changed his name in 1976 when he wanted to join the Rhodesian Army but couldn’t due to his criminal record. Franklin proceeded to choose “Joseph Paul” in honor of Joseph Paul Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s minister of propaganda. He then chose “Franklin” in honor of the US founding father, Benjamin Franklin. He never ended up joining the army, and instead started a battle between him and every minority that he could get his hands on. (Montaldo, n.d.)

Franklin became more and more aggressive towards minorities as he got older, to the point where he “rejected the most radical hate groups because he didn’t think they took their hatred far enough”. (FBI, 2014) He felt that sitting around and complaining about the supposed “inferior” races wouldn’t do any good- he thought it was more effective to actually go out and kill them. He was constantly looking for opportunities to “cleanse the world” of races that he felt were inferior. Blacks and Jews were the primary races that Franklin went after, and he considered interracial couples to be even worse. (FBI, 2014)

Franklin was born on April 13, 1950. He was a high school dropout, and had a daughter after getting married in 1969 at the age of 19. (FamPeople, 2012) He became an abusive husband and got a divorce not long after. (FBI, 2014) The abuse he had towards his family is a direct result of the physical abuse he faced as a child. Child abuse has a direct relationship with mental health, and can be the cause of any kind of mental illness. (Szalavitz, 2012) Franklin’s actions were inexcusable but can definitely be linked to the abuse he endured as a child. Franklin was treated as inferior throughout his entire upbringing, and he transferred this energy from pain into hate. He used white supremacy as an outlet for his hatred. His obsession with hate allowed him to feel superior to other races, however this was probably the one thing that ever allowed Franklin to feel superior to other people.

Since Franklin was a high school dropout, he couldn’t carry a stable job. To keep himself afloat, Franklin robbed multiple banks up and down the East Coast. In between robberies, Franklin sold his blood and sold/traded guns. (FamPeople, 2012) He spent most of his time plotting to kill minorities as well as interracial couples. His killing rampage began in 1977 at the age of 27, and ended in 1980 when he was arrested at the age of 30. (FBI, 2014) He has been linked to or associated with many murders, some of which he was not arrested for or convicted of. He confessed to the murders of 20 people, some of which are believed to be untrue. (Montaldo, n.d.) This is one of the many reasons that defense lawyers claimed Franklin to be a “paranoid schizophrenic” that was not fit to stand on trial. (BBC News, 2013)

Franklin was officially convicted of nine murders, however was a suspect in another twelve. Eight of these convictions resulted in a life sentence. However, Franklin was sentenced to death by lethal injection by the state of Missouri for the murder of Gerald Gordon in 1997.

(Vitello, 2013) Gordon’s murder was just one of Franklin’s attacks on a synagogue. He chose Synagogues as his primary target for the single purpose of killing Jews. Gordon’s death occurred on October 8th, 1977 in Potosi, Missouri. Franklin took five shots at both Gerald Gordon as well as a man named William Ash while they were walking through the synagogue parking lot. He killed Gordon and injured Ash using a Remington 700 Hunting Rifle. He was then sentenced to death the following February. (Montaldo, n.d.) Franklin told investigators that he selected this synagogue at random. (Vitello, 2013) He also said that his primary goal in the event was to “find a Jew and kill him” (Nye, 2013) Franklin bombed another synagogue in July 1977 that was located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Unlike the Missouri attack, nobody was injured that day. (BBC News, 2013)

Franklin did not confess to Gordon’s murder until 17 years after the incident while in a prison cell talking to an investigator. (Vitello, 2013) This is just one of many instances where Franklin’s story has changed, and that is the primary reason why the court has been unable to convict him of some of the other crimes he has supposedly committed. Some of the 22 murders that he has confessed to haven’t even been brought to court because of lack of evidence. (Montaldo,1) Franklin has also robbed about 16 banks in order to “fund his activities” (BBC, 2013)

Franklin was a drifter and often “floated up and down the east coast” planning his next attack. He carried a sniper rifle and his main target was “MRC’s”, or mix-raced couples.

(FamPeople, 2012) His most well-known crime involving interracial couples was the attempted Murder of Larry Flynt, a publisher for the Hustler magazine. (Vitello, 2013) Franklin went after Flynt because of the cover of the December 1975 issue of Hustler showing an interracial couple having sex. Franklin stated to CNN, “I saw that interracial couple he had, photographed there, having sex”. He then proceeded to say, “It just made me sick. I think whites marry with whites, blacks with blacks, Indians with Indians. Orientals with Orientals. I threw the magazine down and thought, ‘I’m going to kill that guy’”. (Nye, 2013) This quote shows Franklin’s extreme, obsessive hate towards interracial couples and how it correlates with his mental instability. Anyone that feels the need to murder someone because of their skin color, or because of the skin color of their significant other, clearly isn’t mentally stable enough, or safe enough, to be roaming the world by his or herself. Franklin’s freedom was a threat to lives of every nonwhite person in the country.

Franklin’s psychiatrist, Dorothy Otnow Lewis, was one of a few people who testified that he was unfit to stand on trial. Lewis stated that he was a delusional thinker due to the abusive childhood that he endured. One example of this irrational thinking was when he claimed that God wanted him to “start a race war”. (FamPeople, 2012) However, the court still convicted him for his crimes and sentenced him to death. Franklin was held on death row in Missouri. Clearly Franklin was thinking straight enough to plan his attacks as well as his escapes ahead of time, and he was able to avoid law enforcement for years. Many of Frankin’s escape methods included dying his hair, changing clothes, and changing vehicles. He would plan his escape paths ahead of time and make sure that he left no evidence. (FamPeople, 2012) However, the FBI was becoming closer and closer to catching Franklin by 1980. In September of that year, a Kentucky police officer noticed a car in the back of Franklin’s car. An outstanding warrant appeared during a records check, and he was then brought in for questioning and detained. He was able to escape detainment but was recaptured again not long after. Franklin was finally caught for good in 1980 when a nurse, who was drawing his blood, recognized an eagle tattoo on his arm and called the Police. (FamPeople, 2012)

Another one of Franklin’s attacks on an interracial couple occurred in Madison, Wisconsin. Alphonse Manning and Toni Schwenn were pulling out of a parking lot of a shopping mall. Franklin crashed into their car from behind, got out, and shot both 23 year olds to death. (Montaldo, n.d.) Another instance occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 6th, 1980. Franklin was standing on an overpass waiting for an interracial couple to pass by. Franklin had planned this attack, so he knew that the couple should eventually be there. While he was waiting, Franklin became impatient and shot his cousins Darren Lane, age 14, and Dante Brown, age 13, while they were walking into a convenience store. Both children died and Franklin was charged with two life sentences. (Montaldo, n.d.) This instance shows Franklin’s short temper and yearning for violence. Franklin shot two innocent children of his own blood because he was getting impatient. That alone shows true mental illness, because anyone in their right mind wouldn’t be waiting on an overpass to commit those murders to begin with. His lack of patience and reliance on violence shows mental instability by itself, and his extreme racism and obsession with white supremacy infinitely multiplies the level of danger that he creates for those around him.

Larry Flynt was paralyzed from the hips down after Franklin attacked him. However, Flynt didn’t believe in the death penalty and actually fought against Franklin being put to death. Flynt stated, “The government has no business at all being in the business of killing people” he then told investigators that he believes, “It’s much more punishment to put somebody in prison for the rest of their lives than it is to snip their life out in a few seconds with a lethal injection”.  (Nye, 2013) Oblivious to the fact that Flynt was not trying to help him, Franklin referred to Flynt as “old pal” in regards to his opposition to his death sentence. Franklin’s mental instability is evident in this instance; Franklin seems to have thought that Flynt’s opposition to the death sentence was not because of Flynt’s conservative political views, but because somehow, Flynt was now on his side.

On May 29th 1980, Franklin was charged with the attempted murder of African American civil rights leader, Vernon Jordan. (BBC News, 2013) He committed this crime after seeing Jordan, who was black, with a white woman in Fort Wayne, Indiana. (FamPeople, 2012) He previously had threatened to kill President Jimmy Carter for his pro-civil rights views, along with Jesse Jackson. He realized that the security that protected these two men was too tight, and so he went on to murder Vernon Jordan instead. (FamPeople, 2012) Franklin was clearly an impatient, impulsive character that acted strictly on random, unethical reasoning. Franklin’s sister informed investigators that he was the target of the majority of the abuse in their dysfunctional household. She also added that Franklin used to read fairytales in order to escape the domestic abuse that he endured on a daily basis. (Montaldo, n.d.) This was definitely one of the main reasons for Franklin’s evident mental illness; Franklin used white supremacy as an outlet for his prolonged childhood anger and frustration.

On July 29th, 1978, Franklin shot Bryant Tatum and his girlfriend, Nancy Hilton with a 12-gauge shotgun simply because they were an interracial couple. The attack happened at a Pizza Hut in Chattanooga, Tennessee and unfortunately resulted in the death of Tatum. Hilton was able to survive but was injured, and Franklin was given a life sentence. (FamPeople, 2012) On July 12th, 1979, Franklin shot Harold McIver through a window. McIver was a 27 year old black man that unfortunately was killed in the incident. McIver was a manager at Taco Bell in Doraville, Georgia and according to Franklin, McIver came in close contact with white women. Franklin, as a result, felt it was his responsibility to murder the innocent man. (FamPeople, 2012)

One of the most outrageous parts of Franklin’s criminal history is that he was committing these horrible crimes because he thought he was doing his job. He once told CNN Investigators, “I consider it my mission, my three-year mission. Same length of time Jesus was on his mission, from the time he was 30 to 33.” (Lah, 2013) When CNN investigators asked him to clarify what his mission was exactly, he replied, “To get a race war started”. (Lah, 2013) Franklin thought it was his responsibility to brutally murder every person that was black, Jewish, or in an interracial relationship. On June 25th 1980, Franklin killed Nancy Santomero, age 19, and Vicki Durian, age 26 using a .44 Ruger Pistol. Both women were hitchhikers in Pocahontas County, West Virginia at the time. Franklin confessed to the crime in 1997 but felt that he did what was necessary. (FamPeople, 2012) Both girls were white, however he decided to murder them both once he heard one of the girls say that she had a black boyfriend. Jacob Beard, a Florida resident, had been incorrectly convicted and imprisoned for these murders. In the year 1999, Jacob Beard was freed and a new trial was to be created on Franklin’s behalf. Franklin was then correctly convicted of the crime, and was given a life sentence as a result. (FamPeople, 2012)

Franklin confessed to almost all of the murders that he committed because he felt he was doing right by his people. After he abandoned the most extreme white supremacist groups because he felt that they were not radical enough, he went on to commit these crimes because he thought that other white supremacists would follow him. He stated to reporters, “I figured once I started doing it and showed them how, other white supremacists would do the same thing”. (Nye, 2013) He claimed that after his attacks, he now has members that love him. He said to investigators, “When you commit a crime against a certain group of people, a bonding takes place. It seems like you belong to them.” (Nye, 2013) This sick feeling of family that Franklin received from his white supremacist groups was probably more of a closely-knit environment than the blood-related family that he had at home. This is most likely what drew Franklin so far deep into the racist cult.

Franklin shot and killed 15-year old prostitute Mercedes Lynn Masters on December 5th, 1979. He had been living with her in Dekalb County, Georgia, but decided to hill her when she told him that she previously had black customers. Two more murders were committed by Franklin on August 20th, 1980. Franklin killed two black men in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was near Liberty Park when he took the lives of Ted Fields and David Martin. He was charged with first-degree murder, convicted, and was given two life sentences. He was also tried on federal civil rights charges. These instances, along with multiple others, are just examples of the sick, twisted things that went on in Franklin’s head. Mental illness was evident, and his merciless actions are what made him so dangerous.

It was also evident that Franklin was completely self-centered and delusional. His reference to Flynt being an “old pal” and his comparison between Jesus and himself are just two examples of how deranged and neurotic that the high school dropout was. Franklin even said that he hoped his killings would act as an example. (Nye, 2013) The three-year mission that Franklin referred to took place when he was age 27 up until he was arrested at age 30. He told authorities that he has no regrets, and that the only regret he has is that killing Jews isn’t legal. He later told investigators that the only regret he has is that some of his victims managed to survive. (Montaldo, n.d.) Franklin had been in prison for over 30 years before he was finally executed. Not long before his execution, Franklin claimed that he was no longer a white supremacist and had “renounced his racist views”. (BBC News, 2013) Franklin claimed he had “interacted with black people in prison” and stated, “I saw they were people just like us”. He also added that he knew his actions were illogical and were a result of “an abusive upbringing”. (BBC News, 2013) Joseph Paul Franklin was sentenced to death on February 27th, 1997. He was on Missouri Death Row until August 20th, 2013, when the State of Missouri set the date for his execution. Franklin was executed by lethal injection on November 20th, 2013 at 6:08 AM. (Missouri Death Row, 2008) It took 10 minutes for Franklin to be officially pronounced dead. (BBC News, 2013) According to the jury, Franklin’s actions were a result of “depravity of mind”, better known as mental illness. (Missouri Death Row, 2008) Mental illness can be a direct result of child abuse. The life, the actions, and the attitude of Joseph Paul Franklin are a perfect example of that.

Works Cited

BBC News. (2013, November 20). BBC News US & Canada. Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed: Retrieved from bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25016217
FamPeople. (2012). Joseph Paul Franklin: Biography. Retrieved from FamPeople: http://www.fampeople.com/cat-joseph-paul-franklin
FBI. (2014, January 14). Serial Killers Part 4: White Supremacist Joseph Franklin. Retrieved from fbi.gov: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/january/serial-killers-part-4-joseph-paul-franklin/
Lah, K. (2013, November 19). Serial Killer Joseph Paul Franklin Prepares to Die. Retrieved from CNN News: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/18/justice/death-row-interview-joseph-paul-franklin/index.html
Missouri Death Row. (2008, December 9). State of Missouri vs. Joseph P. Franklin. Retrieved from Missouri Death Row: http://missourideathrow.com/2008/12/Franklin-Joseph/
Montaldo, C. (n.d.). Profile of Serial Killer Joseph Paul Franklin. Retrieved from About News: http://crime.about.com/od/hatecrimecriminalcases/a/josephfranklin.htm
Nye, J. (2013, November 19). Racist Serial Killer Shows No Remorse In Final Interview On Eve Of His Execution- Even Joking Larry Flynt, Who He Paralyzed, is “‘Old Pal” For Campaign Against Death Penalty. Retrieved from Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2509759/Joseph-Paul-Franklin-shows-remorse-ahead-death-penalty.html
Szalavitz, M. (2012, February 15). How Child Abuse Primes The Brain For Future Mental Illness. Retrieved from Time: http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/15/how-child-abuse-primes-the-brain-for-future-mental-illness/
Vitello, P. (2013, November 13). White Supremacist Convicted of Several Murders Is Put To Death In Missouri. Retrieved from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/us/joseph-paul-franklin-executed-in-missouri.html?_r=0

Why did Hitler target Jews?: writing essay help

One man in control of 65 million people at once during the 1930s is pretty incredible. But how incredible is it really, if this power is used for, what many people today consider is, evil. Adolf Hitler was a dictator in Germany that would eventually become known for how intense he believed in creating a perfect race.

Hitler was born in Austria and would eventually go to Germany, for many reasons, to take over the office and begin his extermination in search for the perfect race.  During all of World War II and a few years before that starting in 1933, Hitler was able to successfully capture and kill millions of people. The group of people Hitler mainly killed off were Jews because he didn’t consider them of the superior race, in his opinion the superior race was the Aryan race. Not only were Jews part of a massive genocide, but anyone who was disabled, homosexual, or gypsy were in danger of being captured and taken to concentration camps.

The night of the broken glass is a day that can be seen as the day that truly began the genocide in Germany because people were being taken away from their homes in mass amounts. In November 1938, Ernst Eduard vom Rath, was murdered by a Jewish teenager causing for police in Germany to begin entering houses and looking for any Jew who had weapons in their possession.  Hitler saw the killing of this German Diplomat as a threat against the Nazis by the Jews, and so began the Holocaust.

For over 10 years millions of people were taken away into concentration camps all over Europe, but there really can’t be an exact number as to how many were captured and killed because who knows if others were killed outside of concentration camps or used for experimentation, for now the number that is used as an estimate is 11 million people killed over a period of 12 years, 6 million were only Jews.

The goal of this research is not to focus on Hitler and how he governed Germany and what his political views were in the world, but rather look at how he grew up and how he was able to capture millions of people to kill them off, just to have his perfect race, and why? The main question is, why did he mainly target Jews? For one person to have control of about 65 million people and how they should be living their day to day life is pretty incredible.  But the way Hitler went about making these people live did not seem like a very good idea, considering that Hitler was a very intelligent person.

Anti-Semitic views have been around since the time of Ancient Rome, which is interesting when we look back at because all these years have passed and there still seems to be a prejudice against Jewish people.  While Jewish people are not the only group that face prejudice or discrimination, this group has had a tremendous impact on the history of the world because of the way they were treated during the Holocaust by Hitler, while it is not comparable to the slave trade during the sixteenth and nineteenth century, it is something that still amazes people because of the way it was executed.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. During his time as leader, he rose to a high enough power that he began to order for the extermination of the Jews.  Hitler is one of the most famous cases of genocides that is known in history today because of the amount he was able to successfully murder from 1933-1945. In history class, students are taught about WWII and how Germany’s defeat caused the end of the Holocaust. What many never wonder is why he did it; the amount of people that were murdered by Hitler and his Nazi group is still not exact because not only were Jewish people murdered, but anyone of inferiority to Hitler or his Aryan race.  Like mentioned before, anyone with physical or mental disability were also taken to concentration camps because they were people who could destroy the perfect race.

Starting from when Hitler was first a child, he went through physical abuse at home. Hitler’s father would beat him because Adolf would find ways to taunt his own father and make him mad at Hitler. While this all happened, Hitler’s mother, would make him feel better and make sure he was okay because like most mothers, their instinct is to make sure their children are never hurt.  While this might not be a contributing factor as to why Hitler’s main goal was to exterminate all Jews, this can be part of a reason many thought his views were insane; this instability at home definitely seemed to cause instability within himself and possible feelings and affection he could feel towards other human beings.

As Hitler grew up, it was evident that Hitler never cared for school work and would much rather learn about art and music as much as he could. According to Hitler’s sister, he was a student that would bring home bad grades and didn’t really care for the consequences he would face with his parents, and especially his dad.  Eventually in 1905, when Hitler’s mother was very sick, he moved to Vienna in pursue of his dreams. While his mother being sick due to breast cancer caused great devastation to him, this seemed like a great opportunity to follow his dreams and pursue a career in the arts.

Hitler’s goal was to get into Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and become successful in the city of Vienna, where many artists got their name, but when he was told that his work was not good enough for the school, this caused anger within him. Hitler has always been very confident in the things he did and not being able to get into his dream school really shocked him.  According to many sources, when he went back to get an explanation as to why he has not been accepted, he was told that his art lacked “human form” and that his artwork would be successful in an architecture school. While this doesn’t seem like a bad idea to people, to him it was horrendous because he had not finished high school and to get into the architecture schools, he would need a high school diploma.

While in Vienna, Hitler applied twice to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and got rejected twice. During his time there, many people believe that Hitler began to grow a hate towards Jews because Vienna, at the time, was populated with many Jews.  His anti-Semitic views might have stemmed from there, but there is no exact reason as to why. According to a source, one of Hitler’s childhood friends stated that even before Hitler left Austria to pursue his dreams, he was ant-Semitic, but like many other sources that explain when Hitler became this way, they fail to mention why.

While there might still be no exact reason as to how Hitler grew into his views, sources can introduce new ideas and theories as to how he thought. During the 1930s, Hitler was perceived as a very important figure for the Germans because he helped them bring the economy to a stable point since Germany lost World War I. According to charts, Germany’s unemployment rate in 1933 totaled 6 million people, but as Hitler took power in Germany, he was able to lower it to about 300 thousand people in 1939.

Hitler was a very smart man, like mentioned before, he was even put on Time Magazine as Man of the Year in 1938.  But when Hitler went into power in Germany, he already had anti-Semitic views in play because according to a book published in Germany, November 9: How World War One Led to the Holocaust by Joachim Riecker, it talks about Hitler believing that Jews did not care enough for Germany to win World War I at the time. Mr. Riecker goes on to describe how Hitler believed that the Jewish people in Germany ruined the government and its economy overtime, World War I was just a push towards finishing off the country. While this theory seems like a bit of stretch, it doesn’t seem entirely wrong as a reason to hate Jewish people, but Hitler was incorrect in saying that the Jews were the group of people that mainly were involved during the First World War.

According to a German census, the majority that lived in Germany around 1910, which were a few years before World War I, were either Catholics or Protestants. Most of Europe was mainly made up of these two religious groups, so to target Jews as the main participants of the First World War is incorrect. While there might have been Jews that participated in the war, not all of the Jews were to blame for, so this goes to show that this reason is not exactly a valid reason for Hitler to have anti-Semitic views.

Analyzing sources thus far, many of them mention many instances where Hitler has found an excuse to say he does not appreciate a Jew.

How Significant A Role Did Britain Play In The War Against Germany?

World War Two was the most devastating war in history. It was a battle of ideologies. Germany fought for control of Europe; The allies, Britain, America and Russia fought for freedom. The only way to crush an Ideology was total war, a devastating method of warfare killing an estimated 55 million civilians. The war ended the lives of 3% of the world population at the time. While all the allies suffered casualties, the Russians lost 29 million civilians on the eastern front. While Britain and America lost 870000 people combined, only 3% of the Russian deaths. With Russia taking Berlin, and Russia absorbing most of the deaths on the Eastern Front, was Britain significant in the defeat of Nazi Germany?

When war broke out, Germany swept through Europe during the Blitzkrieg, gaining military control of countries rapidly. The capture of France on June 14th, 1940 left Britain a sole island nation fighting against Nazi Germany. As an island, Britain relied on the sea for defence. German operation Sealion planned to land German forces to capture Britain; in order to safely transport troops, Germany needed to control the sea. At the same time, Britain was importing supplies across the Atlantic from America, which kept them alive through the war. The need for control on the sea was underpinned by looming threat from the Germans, and the necessity of trade between the Allies. Britain needed to import weapons and supplies from America, as the Germans attacked these trade routes the Battle of the Atlantic begun. The battle of the Atlantic was fought between 1939 until the end of the war in 1945. It was the longest battle in WW2, and victory would ensure the survival of Britain. Germany attempted to cripple the British navy through the use of undetectable U-boats, which sank thousands of Military and trade ships in an attempt to weaken the British navy and starve them to surrender. But for the British, the sea was too important to lose. At the beginning of the war, there were no reliable methods for avoiding U-Boats, so allied ships were at the mercy of luck, so much so that Winston Churchill said: “the only thing that really frightened me was the U-Boat peril”. But by 1941 the enigma was cracked, Britain now knew where U-Boats were headed and could steer convoys away from danger, saving 105 out of 174 convoys between may 1942 and may 1943. Furthermore, technological advancements led to the creation of depth charges which helped the British to combat the U-boats. As well as the production of the Hedgehog anti-submarine weapons destroyed many German naval resources. This kept trade between Britain and America going, ensure vital goods like food and munitions reached Britain keeping them alive. Britain’s contribution to the war at sea had considerable importance as it led to naval dominance in the Atlantic. If Germany had have controlled the Atlantic, the D-day invasion would have been nearly impossible to bring to fruition. Defeat in the Atlantic meant almost certain defeat for Britain and their resistance. And would have damaged Russia’s defence in the east, due the destruction of German U-Boats forced Hitler to draw more resources from the Eastern Front where Hitler desperately needed them.

Britain not only had to fight the German Navy, they had to compete with the German Air Force. With the invention of modern aircrafts, factories and towns could be destroyed by bombers. Germany planned to cripple the British air force, allowing them to destroy the ports in order to launch a full-scale invasion. To stop the Germans Britain had to control the air. The war began poorly for Britain. They were marred by the defeat at Dunkirk, the evacuation of 343,000 soldiers from the beaches of France. It was a complete military failure; the British lost 1954 of its artillery and 615 tanks, leaving them to be captured or destroyed by the Germans. Yet it was a Symbolic success for Britain, the boats of the British saved the soldiers and led to the British resilience that came to be known as ‘Dunkirk spirit’. This was integral in allowing the British to persevere through the Battle of Britain. The Battle of Britain signified the end of the phoney war, the period in which the British were at war with the Germans but did not fight. The Germans planned to invade Britain, and Hitler’s generals were worried about the damage that the Royal Air Force could inflict on the German Army during the invasion. Because of this Hitler agreed that the invasion should be postponed until the British Air Force had been destroyed. The German campaign objective became gaining air superiority over the RAF, especially Fighter Command. They began with the bombing of aircraft bases across Britain. This was less effective than the Germans had hoped; Britain had built up its air defences since 1936 under air chief marshal Sir Hugh Dowding. The widespread use of radar alerted the RAF of incoming Luftwaffe and allowed for a quick defence. Britain was outshooting and outproducing the Germans. Germany couldn’t destroy all the air force bases and In September 1940 Germany shifted their targets to bomb cities. This was terrifying for civilians, claiming over 32,000 lives and injuring over 80,000 more, But it gave the RAF the ability to rebuild their planes. They were able to put an end to the German air raids, and the Battle of Britain signified the first loss of the German army. The defence against the German Luftwaffe was integral to the survival of Britain, which in turn became a base of future attacks on Germany. Had Britain lost to the Germans, Britain would have fallen, and the base of D-day operations would be under Nazi control. The victory ensured that Germany have would fight a war on two fronts.

The success at the Battle of Britain also allowed Britain to launch aerial attacks, with the USA, against Germany. These attacks continued throughout the war. It was a controversial tactic. While British aerial attacks were not very effective, only 1 in 100 bombs landed five miles within its target, and the prediction that bombing cities would break the German morale was false. carpet bombing was extremely effective in large cities such as Hamburg, where thousands of deaths and the destruction of over 4000 factories occurred. The damage caused by these attacks crippled the German industrial might and forced resources and troops away from the Eastern Front, 2/3 German planes had to protect German cities. The bombings also destroyed German coastal defences and allowed for D-day plans to be made, opening a second front for the already stretched Germans. However, Britain was not alone. America produced the most machinery during the war, they produced 300,000 planes and supplied both Britain and Russia with planes to cover their losses in combat. As well as supply Britain money to build their own planes through lend-lease. They also took the brunt of the losses in the bombing campaign because they bombed during the day to ensure they struck their target. While this caused a better success rate of missions, it led to far more American deaths. The bombing campaign did not win the war, but it aided in the invasion of Germany.

If Germany had not been invaded, the war would have continued. To destroy the Nazi forces, Berlin would have to be captured. All three of the Allies would open fronts against the Germans in the East and West. With Russia suffering the most casualties at 29 million. On land, Britain made two major contributions in the war. The first British contribution on land was in the North African campaign against the Afrika Korps led by Rommel. Britain had lost much of its territory due to Rommel’s advance across North Africa in late 1942. But the British victory of the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 was an important victory for the British campaign in Africa. It blocked Hitler’s access to the oil fields. The North Africa campaign was seen as insignificant to the Germans, but it led to the invasion of Southern Italy, and the fall of Italy as an axis power. It was a large blow to Germany, they stood against the combined forces of the Allied powers. However, Germany put little resources into the Africa campaign, with only four divisions under the control of Rommel.

The second contribution from Britain was D-day. Britain helped retake France from the German army. On 6 June 1944, Britain landed on the Beaches of Normandy, for the biggest land campaign of the western front. Britain was instrumental in the planning of D-day; they disrupted the German intelligence, making Hitler believe the invasion would begin at France’s Pas de Calais region 150 miles northeast of Normandy. Britain was the launch point of the invasion, and if Britain had fallen in the war D-day would be impossible. However, Britain was not alone. For the initial invasion, they only attacked two out of the five beaches and sent 14 divisions, compared to the USA’s 23 divisions.  And by the end of the war, the number of British soldiers decreased on the Western Front, whilst America’s grew to 60 divisions.

But the aim of D-Day was to create a second front to draw German troops away from the Eastern Front, the single largest battle in the war. It claimed the lives of 29 million Russians, both soldiers and civilians. Total War was never more evident in the East when invading Russia, Germany would kill soldiers who tried to surrender. Captured Russians were executed; German POW camps had policies for the deliberate mistreatment of Russians which led to 3.5 million deaths. This brutality caused the most devastating battles: the battle of Stalingrad, 400,000 people Russians died (more than the number of British casualties in the whole war); the battle of Kursk had 860,000 casualties; the Siege of Leningrad lasted 872 days, and resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million people. The number of deaths suffered by the Russian people shows the resilience they had during the war, and the determination of the Red Army to win at all costs. But after Russian victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, Russia began a counteroffensive. They began to push the Germans out of Russia. Once the Eastern Front had been moved past the Soviet border, the new goal was to reclaim the Baltics and communism in Eastern Europe. The Red Army pushed the Germans back. Slowly they weakened the German army, cut off its supply lines and drove it back to Berlin. The Russian counter-offensive was responsible for the death of 80% of the German army. It was agreed upon by the Allies that Russia would take Berlin, and obtain Germany’s surrender. Russia had won the war, while the British and Americans aided.

The War was a combined effort from the three allied powers. At the beginning of the war, Britain acted alone, with the fate of Europe resting on their survival. But they were only kept fighting by the funding of their war effort from America, $5.8 billion of goods were lent to Britain. The threat of defeat and a unified Nazi Europe was only quashed when Hitler turned his attention to Russia. That is where the war was decided. The majority of the casualties of the war took place on the eastern front, with the Russians losing more people in Stalingrad than the Americans and British lost in the whole war, the Red Army killed the most German soldiers and stormed Berlin. Without the manpower of the Russians, the war could not have been won.

Fate vs. free will in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: writing essay help

Fate is the development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power, while Free Will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion. Throughout the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the question of fate vs. free will is brought to the reader’s attention. Victor Frankenstein and the Monster make many decisions throughout the novel. Each decision has an effect on different characters in the novel. The decisions that Victor and the Monster make in the novel cause the reader to think about whether these are of fate or free will.—tighten up

Throughout the novel, Victor Frankenstein speaks of fate and similar topics often. One of the first times we hear Victor speaking of fate is in Robert Walton’s fourth letter to his sister Mrs. Saville.”I thank you…for your sympathy, but it is useless; my fate is nearly fulfilled. I wait but for one event, and then I shall repose in peace. I understand your feeling…but you are mistaken, my friend, if thus you will allow me to name you; nothing can alter my destiny: listen to my history, and you will perceive how irrevocably it is determined.” In this quote, Victor is speaking to Captain Walton and is implying a future confrontation with the monster. Some readers think this implies the possibility of Victor killing his own creation, however towards the end of the novel, Victor dies on board the ship and moments later the monster is standing over his body. The monster then swears to burn himself committing suicide. By committing suicide, the monster suffers the same fate as Victor.

Although Victor and the Monster are different beings and do not share the same blood, they do share similar personalities and paths. They both like to gain knowledge of how the world works, for example when Frankenstein was interested in the mysteries of the natural world and the monster wanted to and did learn how to speak and read by learning from De Lacey, Felix, and Agatha teaching Safie. He also then starts to read and gain knowledge from the books he reads which include, Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives, and the journals that he stole from Victor in his clothes. They also become more aware of their surrounds and adapt to them as they gain more knowledge. An example of this is Victor learning of electricity by watching a lightning storm, which he then later uses to bring the monster to life. An example of the monster learning and adapting is when he learns of fire. “One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.” This quote is proof of the monster’s quick learning and adaptation. They are also both outcasted by society and although they don’t like it, they prefer to live away from society. Another similarity between the two is their hate for each other. Their mutual hatred started off when Victor saw the monster as ugly and worthless. Had he been a real father to the monster, he would have cared for him anyway. However due to the disapproval and abandoning of the monster by Victor, the monster grew a special hatred for his creator and father, Victor. All of these similarities are a way to show how although they take different versions, they are paths. They continually both suffer the same fates.

In the time period that the novel takes place, many people had major belief in religion and that God had chosen a path and fate for them. By creating the monster, it is almost as if Victor Frankenstein passes his fate and personality to the monster. They both continuously lose and kill loved ones throughout the novel. For example, the monster kills Victor’s nephew, William and therefore indirectly kills Justine by planting the photo on her. Later in the novel when Victor is working on his second creation and then foresees a future of the monsters reproducing and creating offsprings that are also monsters. Due to this “vision” he decides to destroy his second creation and what was supposed to be the monster’s companion. It just so happens that the monster was watching as through the window as he did this and swore to be with Victor on his wedding night. As promised there he was and he kills Victor’s new wife Elizabeth Lavenza. They both now are suffering the pain of losing their companions.

“I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph: clapping my hands, I exclaimed, ‘I, too, can create desolation; my enemy is not impregnable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.”

The monster is speaking of how he is not a victim of fate but rather a commander of fate. He is able to create desolation as that is what he feels. Due to the neglect by society and the lack of friendship or companionship, the monster feels as if his life is empty.

The whole novel can be seen as events that are supposed to happen because it was fate. After the many mentions of fate by Victor it is hard see the events and decisions as anything but those of fate and destiny. Due to the time that the novel was written in and the religious attitude in that era, it is very easy to see everything as destiny and fate. Many people believed in the theory of predestination. Predestination is the doctrine that God in consequence of his foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for salvation.

Lives in Germany – early-mid 1930s

In what ways do these primary sources contribute to your understanding of how economic conditions and the rise of the Nazis shaped people’s lives in Germany in the early-mid 1930s?

When Adolf Hitler was elected German Chancellor in January 1933, the economy was in turmoil. The Third Reich at this time underwent significant economic development after, like many other European countries, suffering after the Great Depression. However, by the outbreak of World War Two, the unemployment rate in Germany had tumbled: trade unions had been tamed, the work force had seemingly developed a positive work ethic and job prospects did improve. These primary sources contribute highly to any understanding of economic conditions in Germany and how the rise of the Nazis altered people’s lives in Germany at this time.

The first source is a photograph called ‘Unemployed Men Standing in Front of the Berlin Employment Office’ and was produced in June 1933, six months after Hitler became German Chancellor. It is by Hans Schaller, a popular German photographer. It was produced in order to convey the discontent and frustration experienced by unemployed people.

This source states, ‘In 1932, when the crisis reached its peak, about 6 million people were registered as unemployed in Germany’, conveying that with the turn of the rise of the Nazis before Hitler came to power, there was a significant unemployment epidemic. This number would have been higher as women were also unemployed, however, as their traditional roles in society were to be homemakers, they were not included in this statistic.

This can be corroborated by the Sopade Report by Otto Wels, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1919 and a member of parliament from 1920 to 1933, therefore he would have been well-informed and experienced in the inner mechanics of the economy. The source articulates that ‘Hitler understood that a general economic upswing – and the drop in unemployment that would follow – was the best means for securing the loyalty of the German people’, highlighting Hitler’s understanding of the pressing issue of unemployment after becoming Chancellor and his willingness to tackle this for the German people.

‘Work and Bread’ was the name of a speech made by Gregor Strasser, a prominent German Nazi official and politician. It was produced few months prior to the July 1932 election, therefore, aiming to persuade the German electorate towards the mindset of the Nazi Party. The general message of this source highlighted the current state of the government was not successful, and national socialism was the most suitable route towards political stability. He asserts, ‘Article 163 will have to one day be altered to the effect that every German must have the right to work and people will have to be aware of the full significance of this alteration.’ Article 163 of the Weimar Constitution stated that ‘Every German should be given the possibility of earning his living through work’, therefore, emphasising to the German people that having stable employment is key to success and happiness.

This can be furthered by the explanation of the photograph by Hans Schaller which articulates that ‘The persistent worldwide depression and the mass unemployment associated with it were among the main catalysts for the general radicalisation of the political climate in Germany’. The impact of unemployment levels nationwide resulted in the public wishing for a new and distinct political sphere, which arguably led to the rise of the political extremism of the Nazi Party, thus, significantly shaping the lives of the German people at this time.

Furthermore, employment conditions for workers in Germany were arguably poor. An interview with Sally Tuchklaper, who was Polish and working in German factories throughout the war, thus being a first-hand oral account of events in employment in Germany. It was conducted by Anita Schwartz, for the purposes of fellow survivors and the academic circle, however, gradually generated a wider audience.

She said the working conditions, ‘weren’t bad but we were still under pressure. We couldn’t do nothing; we had to go on their rules which – them and we came in the morning at nine o’clock and we worked the whole day’, which affirms the nature of the heavy workload that young girls had to face at this time.

Oral history can be defined as the recording, preservation and interpretation of historical knowledge, based on the personal encounters and opinions of the speaker. This is a very subjective and personal form of evidence and can give a voice to groups who are sometimes marginalized in ‘conventional’ stereotypes, such as the working classes and women. It can provide new information, alternative explanations and varied insights which are highly valuable. The spoken word can convey emotions with immediacy and an impact that the written documents cannot match and allows the historian to ask questions of his or her informant – to be present at the creation of a historical source, rather than relying on those created by others.

On the other hand, oral history can be classed as inaccurate in other areas. It can be contended that someone’s memory may be selective or distorted over time, and so, the quality of these sources may be questioned. Additionally, the interviewer’s questions may intentionally or unintentionally influence the informant’s response.