Consistency concerning Essay Example for Free

Consistency concerning Essay In my StrengthsFinder 2. 0 evaluation, I found a lot of patterns about myself which I believe to be true. My top five themes are Consistency, Relator, Arranger, Harmony, and Significance. Since I am an extrovert, I find the description under Consistency concerning the need to treat people equally to be especially true. I enjoy being around a lot of people, especially a large group of friends and I enjoy doing group projects and find them to be completed much more efficiently than if I was doing them by myself and alone. In fact, since I am good at delegating tasks, I find that group projects can be completed far more efficiently if I am in the role as leader. In this way, I can treat everyone equally and be especially fair in equal task performance. Also, since I feel comfortable making sure everyone is treated fairly, I tend to notice when people are being treated with bias. Being a Relator definitely ties in with my extroversion. I love people and I love being around people. I identify with the characteristics described in my Relator profile, because I really do enjoy getting close to people and I tend to spend a lot of time focusing on personal intimate activities which would help us share closer bonds. In fact, one of my driving forces is to develop air-tight relationships with my friends and lifelong bonds. I am still close friends with people I knew in grade school, and I tend to strive toward that goal with others even today. The Arranger theme specifies that not only am I an organizer, but that I have the flexibility to arrange all of the pieces of my life for maximum potential. I especially find this to be so during a group activity. Rather than delineating tasks to random people, I enjoy knowing and applying their different strengths to each task. I tend to categorize people and specify tasks to order, so that everyone is not only doing something which they are good at, but which they also enjoy. I feel that this builds a group focus, where everyone is appreciated for their strengths and where everyone gets an equal voice. I enjoy building group harmony, so that we can grow together, rather than away from each other and separately. This kind of leads into the next strength I have: Harmony. Not only do I enjoy a wide variety of people, but I really enjoy finding common ground between them and mixing them together. In fact, I get a real kick out of making friends between two people who ordinarily would never cross paths. I have a little bit of a reputation among my friends as the arbitrator of our groups, because I really like to focus on how we can all just along peaceably and enjoyably. Though it may seem like I enjoy conflict because I am constantly putting widely different people together, the truth is, I only enjoy doing this if I believe that I can bring some balance between them and if I think that they have enough in common to get along. My category of Significance: This leads back to my extroversion and leadership roles among groups. I enjoy taking credit for a job well done, and even though I enjoy for everyone to get equal credit, I really like being the center of the spotlight sometimes. Also, because I am so often around a group of people, one of the ways I enjoy gaining and retaining significance is by being the arbitrator between people. I enjoy it when other people ask me for advice and help with their personal or social problems. Not only do I feel qualified and adept at handling these problems, but I get a rush from being the one who they ask to assist them. I like being the one who everyone runs to for help, I guess because I feel needed and wanted, and also because it means that my attempts to draw closer to their personal lives were successful. I feel like I am an accepted part of the group if I remain qualified to help each individual with their lives.

The Condition of the Working Class in england Analysis

The Condition of the Working Class in england Analysis Originally written in German as Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, The Condition of the Working Class in England, published in 1845 is a study of the proletarians in Victorian England. It was also Friedrich Engels first book, written during his stay in Manchester from 1842 to 1844. He was only 24 years old and son of a German textile manufacturer. He was sent to Manchester to work in a British textile firm owned by his father. Manchester was then at the very heart of the Industrial Revolution, and Engels compiled his study from his own observations and detailed contemporary reports as he immediately states in the Preface to the German Edition that we will analyse further on. It was his research methods which led to the conclusion regarding the structural inequalities which were, and are, inherent in the capitalist system. After considering other historians point of view in this essay I will argue that Engels and his book can indeed be considered reliable. Engels arrived in Manchester at almost the worst period of what was certainly the most catastrophic slump of the nineteenth century.  [1]  He shows that in large industrial cities mortality from disease, as well as death-rates for workers were higher than in the countryside. In cities like Manchester and Liverpool mortality from smallpox, measles, scarlet fever and whooping cough was four times as high as in the surrounding countryside, and mortality from convulsions was ten times as high as in the countryside. The overall death-rate in Manchester and Liverpool was significantly higher than the national average (one in 32.72 and one in 31.90 and even one in 29.90, compared with one in 45 or one in 46).  [2]   Engels has been accused of everything: from taking too gloomy an interpretation of the conditions of the British working class in 1844, to handling his material in a way which falls below generally accepted standards of scholarship by two Manchester University researchers W. H. Chaloner and W. O. Henderson in 1958.  [3]  The British Marxist Historian Eric Hobsbawm, on the other hand, has defended his account vigorously in his book Labouring Men. Most of the people accepted Engels account as standards, even if they disagreed with the analysis and the conclusions and was consistently in print and widely regarded by non-Marxist historians as a reliable account which they could safely recommend to their students.  [4]   Nonetheless gloomy interpretations have been made by a number of other historians or writers such as Elisabeth Gaskell in her social novels Mary Barton or North and South, J.Philips Kay, contemporaries and contemporary journalists and also official reports like the ones used by Engels himself, the Report to the Home Secretary from the Poor-Law Commissioners or Observations on the Management of the Poor in Scotland and its Effects on the Health of Great Towns or the First Report of the Commissioners for Inquiry into the State of Large Towns and Populous Districts. Far more gloomy descriptions have been written down in the same year by a number of other people. Engels clearly does not want to impress, scare or disgust his readers, he gives details, facts and numbers, you can tell that he both used his personal experience of living in Manchester, when he says I have rarely come out of Manchester on such an evening (Saturday) without meeting numbers of people staggering and seeing others lying in the gutter.  [5]  He uses a number of different sources too, from Dr Kays The Moral and Physical Conditions of the Working Class, to Carlyles Chartism (London, 1840) and many more. Conditions in England were bad, filthy. People lived in an ill-ventilated and abominable state. Engels did not exaggerate at all as he personally states: I am forced to admit that instead of being exaggerated, it is far from black enough to convey a true impression of the filth, ruin, and uninhabitableness, the defiance of all considerations of cleanliness, ventilation, and health which characterize the construction of this single district (Old Town of Manchester), containing at least twenty to thirty thousand inhabitants.  [6]  These descriptions are not even a bit revolting compared to the ones of Edwin Chadwick, Secretary of the Poor-Law Commissioners. He in fact writes: The scene which these places present at night is one of the most lamentable description; the crowded state of the beds, filled promiscuously with men, women, and children; the floor covered over with the filthy and ragged clothes they have just put off, and with their various bundles and packages containing al l the property they possess, mark the depraved and blunded state of their feelings, and the moral and social disorder which exists. The suffocating stench and heat of the atmosphere are almost intolerable to a person coming from the open air, and plainly indicates its insalubrity.  [7]   Even worse is the Report of the General Board of Health on the Epidemic Cholera: The worst circumstance about these slaughter-houses is the accumulation of an enormous quantity of animal and vegetable matter in large holes, where they lie festering, fermenting and putrefying together, and from which there is a constant emanation of offensive vapour poisoning the atmosphere (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) I have seen persons heaving and vomiting. As to the houses, it is utterly impossible to keep the stench out by closed windows; every room is pervaded by it. I am myself obliged to put a handkerchief over my nose and mouth scented with spirits. Most of the neighbours awake with headache, nausea, and loss of appetite. It is one of the most disgusting sights to see the loading of charts; scores of yards of green, blue, or yellow putrid entails hang in festoons over the sides and wheels. I have also seen coagulated blood, and sometimes the whole stuff of a brownish red colour from this addition.  [8 ]   For honesty of intentions I also have to say that other reliable witnesses during the Industrial Revolutions such as British Conservative Statesman and literary figure Benjamin Disraeli or Alexis De Tocqueville in his Journeys to England Ireland do not regard the conditions of the British workers as significantly as Engels or Elisabeth Gaskell. Journeys to England and Ireland heralds Friedrich Engels Conditions of the Working Class in England, but although Tocqueville had been struck by the unhappy conditions of the English working people, he does not seem to have been in touch with Chartist activities in those years.  [9]  Benjamin Disraeli publishes his novel Sybil or The Two Nations trying to trace the difficulties of working classes in England, but then makes one of his characters say that statistics proved that the general condition of the people was much better at this moment than it had been at any known period of history.  [10]  This statistical argument was continue d and affirmed by Professor Silberling and for a generation the cheerful school (Chaloner and Henderson) pinned their faith primarily to him.  [11]  He constructed an index of money wages and of the cost of living for the first half of the nineteenth century and, combining both, arrived at the conclusion that the real wages of the working-class had risen. But he was wrong, because we know that the money-wage rates of a good many, generally skilled workers on time rates, and a lot on piece rates, which are, of course, not very helpful by themselves. We know next to nothing of what people actually earned. How much overtime or short time did they work? How often were they unemployed and for how long? As for the cost of living theory it was equally shaky because it was largely based on guesswork. Chaloner and Henderson point out Engels slips and minor errors, which even Hobsbawm admit that are very numerous. Normally, if a book is full of minor errors and transcription mistakes, it is normal to consider it dishonest, but not in this case. We have to focus on the nature of these inaccuracies. He has been accused to not quote bluebooks textually. A bluebook is a publication that establishes the correct form of case citations or of references to a legal authority showing where information can be found.  [12]  For example he wrote 16 years when the source said 17, he wrote that a sample of children was drawn from one Sunday school, whereas it was two, and so on. This could reduce the credibility of the book, it is true, but in any case readers that want to quote blue-books, should go to the original source in any case. Not that Engels is unreliable: in actual fact, the concrete cases where Engels slips or bias are alleged to have led him to give a wrong or misleading impressi on of the facts, can be counted on the fingers of two hands, and some of the accusations are wrong.  [13]   The first point to make is that most of the descriptions in The Condition of the Working Class in England are not those of Engels himself, but are taken from contemporary reports. Engels used a vast amount of material throughout his book. On a very rough count he used over 30 reports and articles, a number of the second from the Journal of the Statistical Society of London, over 25 official documents, including those of various Commissions of Enquiry (Childrens Employment, 1842 and 1843; Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population, 1842) and reports of Hansards Parliamentary Debates (1843 and 1844) and almost 60 newspaper articles. It is true that the majority (30) of the newspaper items were taken from the Northern Star, the central organ of the Chartists, but he also used the Manchester Guardian (10 items) and The Times (8 items) quite extensively. Engels himself says in the Preface to the German Edition:  [14]   Whenever I lacked official documents for describing the condition of the industrial workers, I always preferred to present proof from Liberal sources in order to defeat the liberal bourgeoisie by casting their own words in their teeth. I cited Tories or Chartists in my support only when I could confirm their correctness from personal observation or was convinced of the truthfulness of the facts quoted because of the personal or literary reputation of the authorities I referred to. Always in the Preface to the German Edition he says that he may have made some minor mistakes:  [15]   I know equally well that here and there I may be proved wrong in some particular of no importance, something that in view of the comprehensive nature of the subject, and its far-reaching assumptions, even an Englishman might be unable to avoid; so much the more since even in England there exists as yet not a single piece of writing which, like mine, takes up all the workers. But without a moments hesitation I challenge the English bourgeoisie to prove that even in a single instance of any consequence for the exposition of my point of view as a whole I have been guilty of any inaccuracy or to prove it by data as authentic as mine. Another way of discrediting Engels is to argue that the sources he uses are unpresentative or selective. Henderson and Chaloner say: These blue-books (or books, or pamphlets, or articles) were not disinterested searches for truth. They were compiled by reformers, passionately anxious to abolish certain abuses (or by revolutionaries, passionately anxious to discredit capitalism). Therefore they picked out the worst cases, because these would cause most public indignation.  [16]  But the exact same things and stories came out from nineteenth-century novelist that are reliable without statistics, partly because they are good observers, partly because the episodes described are far from unlikely. There is no strong evidence to the contrary, so why shouldnt we believe Engels? Chaloner and Henderson have tried really hard to shake the gloomy view of the condition of the British labouring people in the first half of the nineteenth-century, they have tried firmly to discredit Engels book , checking every source, discovering every omission and mistake, not to mention some which are not even there. No other book has been subjected to such systematic and scrupulous hostile examination.  [17]  Having basically failed in their attempt to discredit the book, they started affirming that the conditions were awful, but it was not the fault of capitalism, but of the workers themselves that self-induced poverty because of the expenditure on drink, gambling and tobacco. As we already said one of the main reasons that helps us understand why Engels is a reliable witness of the Industrial Revolution is the Preface to the First German Edition where he clearly explains sources and terminology used. We previously analysed the sources, what is now important to understand is the terminology, that always makes things clear from the beginning and leaves no space to misunderstanding. He therefore states:  [18]   I have used the world Mittelklasse all along in the sense of the English word middle class (or middle classes, as is said almost always). Like the French word bourgeoisie it means the possessing class, specifically that possessing class which is differentiated from the so-called aristocracy the class which in France and England is directly and in Germany, figuring as public opinion, indirectly in possession of political power. Similarly, I have continually used the expressions working men (Arbeiter) and proletarians, working class, propertyless class, and proletariat as equivalents. This shows how careful and precise he was. He was very meticulous even when it comes to the structure of his writing: at the end of every chapter he summarizes and repeats the important parts. He wants no confusion, he wants his writing and therefore what he believes and argues to be as clear as possible. For example in a footnote, he clearly states that Dr Kay occasionally confuses the working class in general with the factory workers, but then underlines how excellent the pamphlet is.  [19]   Engels in the fifth chapter, clearly states that he wants to demonstrate that the bourgeoisie is responsible, as a ruling class, for the murder of working-men. The ruling power of society is the class which holds social and political control and therefore bears the responsibility for the conditions of proletarians. Engels is not surprised about what the workers have become given the circumstances they are living in. Obviously their physical, mental and moral status is so badly damaged that they cannot reach an advantage age. He consequently states that their only enjoyments are sexual indulgence and drunkenness to the point of complete exhaustion of their mental and physical energies.  [20]  He blames the society and the bourgeoisie, all throughout his book, making a relation with modern international Socialism, that in 1844 did not yet exist. Engels in the Preface to the English Edition writes that the ideas in his book represent one of the phases of Socialisms embryonic develop ment. Marx, a very good friend of Engels, used his ideas to build up the theory of Communism as the emancipation of society at large, including the capitalist class, from its narrow conditions. The book was received with great approval in socialist circles. For many workers it was the first time they had been aware of the possibility of a working-class movement. However, the revolutionary conclusions within the text were deplored by bourgeois critics, even though they recognized the accuracy of Engels observations. These conclusions might have been revolutionary, but we have to say that they are the result of his research methods and not a preconceived theory of revolution. Engels did not have a theoretical analysis in which to seek the social conditions that would fit his perspective. His early writings such as this book pre-date both his contact with radical thinkers of the time and the formulation of socialist theories. Engels life experience and observations illustrate how the t heory stated in The Condition was informed by reality and shock for what he saw. Engels starting point was therefore not theoretical, but the raw observed facts of capitalist society.  [21]   However what Marx would have probably never done, is describe the Irish as Engels did in chapter 4: Irish Immigration. Yes, Engels by writing this book was trying to support the working class, by blaming disease, poverty and bad conditions on the bourgeoisie. Because of this, of his background thoughts and because of him trying to politically agitate and politically condemn the English middle class, he should have described with a bit more tact the condition of Little Ireland. He should have said that it was because of the industrial revolution and because of the society in which they were force to live, that they were in such awful conditions. He sort of did this at the end of the chapter by stating: What else should he (the Irishman) do? How can society blame him when it places him in a position in which he almost of necessity becomes a drunkard; when it leaves him to himself, to his savagery?.  [22]  However before that we see that not even Engels was immune to racial prejudic e when he describes Little Ireland as a group of a few hundred mean cottages set in masses of refuse, offal and sickening filth, populated by a horde of ragged women and children swarming about here, as filthy as the swine that thrive upon the garbage heaps and in the puddles. The race that lives in these ruinous cottages, behind broken windows (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦), this race must really have reached the lowest stage of humanity. That race, he argued, was disposed by nature and environment to careless and feckless behaviour, and had brought its dirty habits with it into the hearts of the great English and Scottish towns. Filth and drunkenness, too, they have brought with them, importing a mud cabin level of existence into Britain and degrading and corrupting the English workers through their presence and their competition in the labour market.  [23]  Engels made the mistake of confusing the effects of poverty and ignorance on the poor devil, for the effects of racial characteristic s, but the physical conditions of Little Ireland undoubtedly existed as Engels described them. In conclusion I can affirm, along with historians such as Hobsbawm and using David McLellan words that Engels descriptions can be taken, by and large, as probably the best piece of contemporary evidence that we have available to us.  [24]  The Condition of the Working Class in England is an astonishingly precocious work that recapitulates earlier and contemporary complaints about the damage to human beings created by the rise of industrial capitalism. Seeking to denounce the bourgeoisie for its cruel enslavement and exploitation of the proletariat, his work has still to be considered reliable and accurate. Engels took us through the slums of Manchester and other industrial cities, making us realize and fully understand the disintegration of the individual, the demoralizing influences of poverty, dirt and low environment a disorderly confusion that has been indeed brought by the devastating effects of the industrial society.  [25]  

Mimic Essay -- Matrix Snow Society Essays

Mimic Throughout history, writers have attempted to mirror reality in their literature. Sometimes, an author may attempt this feat using the tool of realism, trying desperately to replicate the world that surrounds them everyday. They make only subtle changes, perhaps inventing characters, maybe even a location or two. In other stories, the creator will attempt to parallel life using exaggeration and some rather complex warping of reality and time. This method of well placed hyperbole, and inventive worlds could be considered the foundations of movies such as The Matrix and novels such as Snow Crash In many ways, the motion picture and the book resemble our society. In other ways, they demonstrate what we may become, or extremes of what we are. Either way, they are both thought provoking, albeit sometimes frightening glimpses into the darkness of humanity. The future is a desolate place. The United States as we know it has collapsed, shriveling up into little more than a vague notion of th e great nation that once was. From the ashes of this distraught realm has risen a system of countries within a country. Individual neighborhoods have broken down to become their own independent nations. In this wasteland of a society, laws no longer exist. Such absence of authority has allowed the mafia to grow, or rather morph into what would appear to be a legitimate pizza franchise. This is the future as predicted by Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash. On the other hand The Matrix, written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, shows an alternate outcome of human existence. With the rise of artificial intelligence, man and machine wage war against each other. The society of men think that without the sun, the machines will not survive. T... ... find our world today more chaotic than we, in the modern world, find the future civilizations portrayed in these modern works of literature. The authors may have intentionally made life more complex in the future, to make it seem as overwhelming to us as our world may seem to someone living a hundred years ago. Throughout time societies have changed greatly, and if all goes well, it will continue to do so. But one thing that has not changed very much is the desire of writers to write what they see. Often writers will take what is around them, and distort it into some sort of setting that is more pleasing to the storyline. But one their characters and situations still mirror the current life. This is true most great literature. Works Cited Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam Dell, 1992. Wachowski, Larry & Andy. The Matrix. DVD. Warner B Mimic Essay -- Matrix Snow Society Essays Mimic Throughout history, writers have attempted to mirror reality in their literature. Sometimes, an author may attempt this feat using the tool of realism, trying desperately to replicate the world that surrounds them everyday. They make only subtle changes, perhaps inventing characters, maybe even a location or two. In other stories, the creator will attempt to parallel life using exaggeration and some rather complex warping of reality and time. This method of well placed hyperbole, and inventive worlds could be considered the foundations of movies such as The Matrix and novels such as Snow Crash In many ways, the motion picture and the book resemble our society. In other ways, they demonstrate what we may become, or extremes of what we are. Either way, they are both thought provoking, albeit sometimes frightening glimpses into the darkness of humanity. The future is a desolate place. The United States as we know it has collapsed, shriveling up into little more than a vague notion of th e great nation that once was. From the ashes of this distraught realm has risen a system of countries within a country. Individual neighborhoods have broken down to become their own independent nations. In this wasteland of a society, laws no longer exist. Such absence of authority has allowed the mafia to grow, or rather morph into what would appear to be a legitimate pizza franchise. This is the future as predicted by Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash. On the other hand The Matrix, written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, shows an alternate outcome of human existence. With the rise of artificial intelligence, man and machine wage war against each other. The society of men think that without the sun, the machines will not survive. T... ... find our world today more chaotic than we, in the modern world, find the future civilizations portrayed in these modern works of literature. The authors may have intentionally made life more complex in the future, to make it seem as overwhelming to us as our world may seem to someone living a hundred years ago. Throughout time societies have changed greatly, and if all goes well, it will continue to do so. But one thing that has not changed very much is the desire of writers to write what they see. Often writers will take what is around them, and distort it into some sort of setting that is more pleasing to the storyline. But one their characters and situations still mirror the current life. This is true most great literature. Works Cited Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. New York: Bantam Dell, 1992. Wachowski, Larry & Andy. The Matrix. DVD. Warner B

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs Essays -- Pape

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl uses clear detail and straightforward language, except when talking about her sexual history, to fully describe what it is like to be a slave. Jacobs says that Northerners only think of slavery as perpetual bondage; they don't know the depth of degradation there is to that word. She believes that no one could truly understand how slavery really is unless they have gone through it. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl do not only tell about the physical pains and hard labor that she went through. It mostly concentrates on the emotional viewpoints on it and what it did to shape who she is. When writing her story, Jacobs had a clear motive. Her motive was one of a political taking. She writes through her experiences and sufferings to make it clear to people, mainly the Northerners, and more specifically white women in the North, how slavery really is. She does not want sympathy, however, she does want "to arouse the women in the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women of the South, still in bondage" (460). Jacobs wants people to take action in antislavery efforts. Jacobs in telling her story uses many techniques to make it effective. Some of the techniques that she uses are dealing with the use of her language, her selections of incidents and details, and her method of addressing an audience. Harriet Jacobs tells her story by breaking it down into sections according to different important aspects of her life. In doing this, each section is described vividly to give the reader a full effect and greater understanding of how it was to be treated as property. Like was said be... ...tive techniques to get her point across. Her story was very powerful and probably helped in the antislavery movement, therefore fulfilling her goal. In the end she is thought of as a "new kind of female hero" (497). She has gone through many hardships and she "articulates her struggle to assert her womanhood" (497). Even with her lack of a higher education, she shows intelligence throughout her writing. She had her own way of getting her points across, one being that a person could not possibly fully understand the degradation of slavery if he/she did not go through it themselves. This is a point within itself because it further relays the fact that slavery was a very horrible, evil and degrading thing. Works Cited: Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Ed. Jean Fagan Yellin. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987.

Lee Essay -- essays research papers

Robert E. Lee "They say you had to see him to believe that a man so fine could exist. He was handsome. He was clever. He was brave. He was gentle. He was generous and charming, noble and modest, admired and beloved. He had never failed at anything in his upright soldier's life. He was born a winner, this Robert E. Lee. Except for once. In the greatest contest of his life, in a war between the South and the North, Robert E. Lee lost" (Redmond). Through his life, Robert E. Lee would prove to be always noble, always a gentleman, and always capable of overcoming the challenge lying before him. Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807 (Compton's). He was born into one of Virginia's most respected families. The Lee family had moved to America during the mid 1600's. Some genealogist can trace the Lee's roots back to William the Conqueror. Two members of the Lee family had signed the Declaration of Independence, Richard Lee and Francis Lightfoot. Charles Lee had served as attorney General under the Washington administration while Richard Bland Lee, had become one of Virginia's leading Federalists. Needless to say, the Lees were an American Political dynasty (Nash 242). Lee's father was General Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee. He had been a heroic cavalry leader in the American Revolution. He married his cousin Matilda. They had four children, but Matilda died in 1790. On her death bed she added insult to injury upon Henry Lee by leaving her estate to her children. She feared Henry would squander the family fortune. He was well known for poor investments and schemes that had depleted his own family's fortune (Connelly 5). Henry Lee solved his financial problems by marrying Robert's mother Anne Carter, daughter of one of Virginia's wealthiest men (Nash 242). Henry Lee eventually spent his family into debt. Their stately mansion, Stratford Hall, was turned over to Robert's half brother. Anne Lee moved with her children to a simple brick house in Alexandria. Light Horse Harry was seldom around. Finally, in 1813 he moved to the West Indies. His self-exile became permanent, and he was never seen again by his family (Thomas). Young Robert had other family problems. His mother became very ill. At the age of twelve he had to shoulder the ... ...nd). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Works Citied Brasington, Larry, The American Revolution-an HTML project. Http://odur.let.rug.nl~usa/B/relee/htm, 11/23/97. Brinkley, Alan, American History. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia. Computer Software. Compton's NewMedia, Inc,1994. Connelly, Thomas L. The Marble Man. New York: Knopf, 1977. Davis, Jefffers, The Papers.http://www.ruf ..edu/~pjdavis/lee/htm, 11/6/97. Grimsley, Wayne. "The Differences Deepen." Starkville, MS, 11 Nov. 1997. (Class lecture delivered at Mississippi State University.) Kelly, Brian. Best Little Stories From The Civil War. Charlottesville, VA: Montpelier Publishing, 1996. Nash, Roderick, and Graves, Gregory. From These Beginnings. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. National Park Service. Http://www.nps.gov/gwmp/arl_hse.html., 11/6/97. Redmond, Louis. He Lost a War and Won Immortality. Http://www-scf.usc.edu/~herron nva.html, 11/6/97. Thomas, Emory. Robert E. Lee. Http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/LEE.lifle.html, 11/17/97.

New Invention

It is recommended that every person should consume eight glasses of water a day. For this project, we are given the ability to create anything we wanted with the simple request that we highlight the affects it would have. If I could create anything in the world, I would pawn the invention of a machine that had the capability to filter and cleanse any scale of water at any given moment immediately. Now many people will say that I should create something beneficial to myself, such as a time machine, or a teleportation device of some sort. But one of the major benefits of this machine is that not only does it benefit every person individually, but it benefits our entire world on a grander scale. One of the key elements that this machine can do, is it can cleanse and purify any amount of water, meaning, it will be able to filter masses of water such as beaches and rivers. Due to the fact that the Earth’s surface is compromised of seventy percent water, many people lack to realize that water is such a key component in our lives. The human body can live without food for a month, but can only survive without water for a week. Now this machine will benefit the individual on personal scale by allowing every person to have safe, consumable water regardless of their location. In public places, there are opportunities to drink water from water fountains. But the cleanliness of the water coming from these drinking fountains is typically a concern that many people have. When people swim for hours at a time, they become dehydrated craving water. But the consumption of chlorine-infested water or beach water is never known to be safe for anyone. Now with the ultimate water purifying machine, water can be easily accessible for anyone at anytime. Thus, this supports the hydrating of everyone as well as the steady inclination of water consumption. The United States utilizes about three-hundred and forty six million gallons of fresh water every day. Fortunately for our nation, there isn’t a dire need for clean water. But with the amount of oils spills, pollution of air, these accumulations of events have brought our nation to an urgent call for the cleansing and purifying of our water. Fortunately for our nation, the United States utilizes eighty percent of its water for irrigation and thermoelectric power. But with this invention, we can further the beneficial and positive uses that our nation utilizes water for. With this invention, we can purify the surrounding water bodies so that our wildlife in the ocean can resist fatality from pollution of our waters such as oil spills and toxic wastes. This invention can also eliminate water-borne illnesses that spread in public water arenas such as swimming pools, lakes, and beaches. Following the elimination of oil spills, toxic waste dumps, and other negative impact happenings from the United States, this prevents them from spreading to other areas of the Earth as well as preserving the oceanic animal lives. On a worldwide scale, more than one billion people lack a reliable source providing safe, drinking water. Unfortunately, our world lacks the resources to supply the huge demand and need for water. As much as eighty percent of our world’s illnesses derived from water-borne illnesses. In poverty-stricken areas, the consumption of dirty water or even lack of water to consume is fairly common. With this invention, the placement of this machine in poverty-stricken areas will purify the waters, supply the needy with clean and consumable water, and lead those nations away from hunger. Evidently, an invention that revolves around the cleansing and purifying of water bodies is a major benefit personally, towards our nation, and in the grander scheme, towards our entire world. A machine that could potentially supply those in need with clean water for their consumption, that could cleanse the polluted waters, and that could make a major push towards a healthy dosage of water consumption, could very well result in a life-changing move. This invention will provide a means of consumable water at any place, reassured of its cleanliness and pure quality. This invention will support our wildlife in the ocean by ridding the oceans and bodies of water in our nation, of its toxic wastes and spills that threaten their lives. This invention will eliminate the water deprived bodies of the poor, providing them with clean water, and aiding them in drinking water to rid their bodies of diseases and deficiencies. Clearly, the invention of this machine will aid our nation in a push for a better world.

Finding Meaning in a Stolen Life Essay

It is said that all life does indeed involve suffering but it is what we make of this suffering that will determine whether or not we find meaning in our life. One must look within and around himself to create meaning in her life; one can finding meaning by creating works or doing deeds, experiencing things or encountering people, and choosing one’s attitude towards the suffering in her life. There will always be obstacles in the way to meaning—the tragic triad of pain, guilt, and death—but one must use this to fuel your drive to find meaning by maintaining tragic optimism—faith, love, and hope. Many people lead difficult lives, however, some find meaning and others choose not to. In the memoir A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard, Jaycee Dugard is put through what she describes as an â€Å"intolerable situation,† but manages to make meaning of the suffering in her stolen life. Jaycee Dugard has experienced tragic triad: pain, guilt, and death. She deals with pain throughout the entirety of her early life. The main source of her pain and suffering was Phillip who kidnapped and put her through hell on earth. Jaycee recalls the day Phillip took her—the first painful experience she had with the man that would strip her of her innocence. Jaycee recollects what was running through her mind at the time of her traumatic abduction: â€Å"Someone is dragging me and I am being lifted. My limbs feel like they weigh a ton. I try to resist and try to push away from farther into the bushes. The paralyzing feeling returns accompanied by a strange electrical current zapping sound. I am helpless to resist for some reason. † (9-10). It is not long after her abduction when Jaycee is put through an even greater mental test. She has been scare and alone since she was taken from her world on that faithful day and now Phillip would only make her more scared and alienated. Phillip does to Jaycee what nobody should ever have done onto them. She experiences pain physically and mentally when he rapes her and she remembers him trying to justifying her suffering: â€Å"He says it would be easier on me if I didn’t resist or struggle so much next time. He says it wouldn’t hurt as much. I think to myself, if you didn’t do it in the first place then it wouldn’t hurt at all. But I am too frightened by his act to say a thing in objection to him. † (31-32). Jaycee feels her first sense of guilt in her new life when she is given a kitten. Her kidnappers brought her home a kitten and she was happy but says, â€Å"I have begun to feel guilty for asking for her in the first place. I should have thought about the place we were going to put her. This is no place for a kitty. He says his aunt is an animal lover and will take her. † (41). She does not want the kitten to stay in the little room with her because she knows it is not fair for the kitten to not have a lot of space to run around and be happy. Her giving the kitten away makes her feel better because she knows it is not good for the kitten to be stuck in the room of suffering. She manages to get over this guilt but soon she is faced with a greater obstacle. Jaycee experiences death for the first time. It is not that of her own life but the death of one of her animals that brings her greater suffering she notes, â€Å"Blackjack lived a long life. Toward the end I took primary care of him and I was the one that found him when he died. It was very hard for me. At the time, I had made a cat enclosure which he would go in at night to keep safe, and that’s where I found him one morning†¦ I cried a lot for him. † (160). Jaycee was an animal lover and for her to find the cat she took care of dead was very hard for her. However, all of these experiences made her a stronger person. Jaycee did not allow the tragic triad to keep her from making meaning of her life. She kept searching. Jaycee Dugard was on her way to countering with two of the three parts of tragic optimism–love, and hope. She had children at a very young age and although she did not want them from Phillip or at the ages of fourteen and seventeen she loves her children very much. She loves both of her daughters, she did not want to give either of them up, stating, â€Å"I did it because that was the only thing I could do. I would do it all again. The most precious thing in the world came out of it†¦ my daughters. † (110). Her love for her two daughters fueled her positivity towards her adverse life. She was a very hopeful person all through her young life and her daughters gave her more of a reason to hold fast. Jaycee was constantly hoping that she would one day be emancipated. When she is first placed in the room out back, she hoped someone was looking for her and that they would find her one day to take her from home. Although she had a rough life from the age of eleven until the age of twenty-nine, she kept a very positive attitude by doing work and keeping busy. She found greater meaning in her suffering by creating works. She started a business—a printing company–with Phillip who has put her through endless torture. Over time she learned how to do it on her own and does most of the work for the company: â€Å"I work up a design and he takes it to the costumer and gets it approved when he brings it back to me, I print them on cards. The job turns out great and I am very proud of myself Phillip says that he thinks I should do the workups and he will get the jobs and help with the printing. †(127). Instead of weeping in sorrow for herself that her childhood and beginning of her adult life were taken away from her, she does work to make herself productive. This is good for her because instead of living in the existential vacuum, she feels like she is accomplishing something other than watching television every day like she used to and she feels important. . It takes a very positive person to find meaning in the kind of suffering Jaycee had to endure, and she embodied this person. She chooses to have a positive attitude towards being captured and enslaved. Throughout the time she was taken she kept a journal and instead of always writing about how much she misses her mom and wishes she was not with Phillip and Nancy, she wrote, â€Å"10 things that make me happy; 1. hearing someone laugh; 2. when my cats are near me†¦ 10. knowing someone loves me. †(183-184). Instead of thinking of all the bad in her life, she chose to stay positive and think of things she appreciates about life. Not everyone can do that, but she learned that staying positive is more meaningful. All life involves suffering as the main character Jaycee Dugard would know. She suffered a lot in her life from the time she was kidnapped up until she was saved eighteen years later. She suffers the first day she is taken. â€Å"I want my mommy. I want time to reverse itself and give me a do-over,† she cries about the situation she is in (10). Then it gets worse. Jaycee describes what is going on when she was thrown in the back of the car and taken to Phillips house where her suffering would begin: â€Å"A blanket is thrown on top of me and I feel a lot of weight on my back, I feel as if I can’t breathe. I hear voices but they are muffled. The car is moving. I want to get out of the car. I twist and turn, but something is pinning me down. † (10). She goes through a scarring experience as he puts her through the greatest suffering she will have to endure in her 18 years here. A few days after kidnapping Jaycee, Phillip takes advantage of her, â€Å"he stands back up and takes off all his clothes. I do not want him to do that†¦ I feel so helpless and vulnerable. I feel so alone. He lies on top of me. I can’t stop crying. † (31). She was raped and had to suffer through it because she had no other choice as she was too afraid of what he would do if she did not cooperate. Even after being raped and impregnated, she had to pretend she was not the mother of her children. She says that, â€Å"on the roof I felt like my pulse was going to jump out of my skin. I wanted to grab her and hold her. † (154). Phillip and Nancy wanted Jaycee to pretend that they were the parents of the children she gave birth to and that she was just their sister, but Jaycee did not want that. Jaycee wanted to be able to take care of her children and it killed her that she had to let Nancy do it. However, she did overcome the situation. When she was found and reunited with her real family, she wanted to meet with Nancy, â€Å"I wanted to see her for many different reasons, the biggest being closure. Telling her that what she and Phillip did was not okay in any way. † (243). Although her kidnappers took most of her life away from her, she still stood up to them in the end and wanted them to know she was a stronger person. Although Jaycee suffered a lot she did not let it get the best of her. She has made meaning of her life. However, it did not happen right as she was freed as she said, â€Å"my growth has not been an overnight phenomenon. Nonetheless it has slowly but surely come about. † (261). She is doing well now and both of her kids are in high school. She reunited with one of her friends from her childhood and now they are really close. She knows what they did to her was wrong but she said she got the most precious things out of it and that was her two daughters whom she loves a lot. She stays clear of living a provisional existence while she was captured and even after she was liberated, she didn’t go through moral deformity and bitterness. Sometimes, Jaycee looks at her life and thinks she thinks, â€Å"I don’t deserve it. † (267). Jaycee was a self-determinist and believed she had free will to make of her life what she wanted it to be. She utilized tragic optimism to resolve the tragic triad she had to go through. Jaycee kept a positive attitude towards her life and used this to create work and endure the experiences she had to go through and to find love, the greatest way to make meaning of one’s life, in the children she was forced to bare. She now knows that, â€Å"it’s the simple things that count,† and she has used that mentality to make meaning of all her suffering throughout her whole life (268). Citations 1. A Stolen Life Dugard, Jaycee. A Stolen Life. N. p. , n. d. Web. 22 May 2012. 2. Man’s Search for Meaning Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search For Meaning. N. p. : Beacon Press, 2006. Print.