Masculinity and Its Malleability: An Essay on Howards End
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Throughout the novel, we are often led to question the gender roles into which the men of Howards End are forced. As the novel is highly feminist, due to the ideas, words, and actions of both the Schlegel sisters, it is merely inevitable that the concept of masculinity should be in the novel as well, for its existence only supplements the feminist themes. However, the pervasiveness of masculinity is multifaceted. We are made aware of Henry’s powerful masculinity, but also of Leonard’s meeker acceptance of manhood not as something taken for granted but as a privilege, a thing to be desired. Coupled with Tibby’s queerness, the range of masculinity portrayed in the novel breaks the mold of stereotype.
In this time period, being a man means acting in such a way as to imitate a Wilcox man. This involves essentially running England (albeit perhaps to a lesser degree than the Wilcoxes) while still maintaining one’s gentility. “If Wilcoxes hadn’t worked and died in England . . . There would be no trains, no ships . . . no fields even. Just savagery” (149). It takes masculinity to essentially run the country, and the Wilcox men have this. They are the ones who have built up society and as such, they are the ideal men to follow in example. (more…)
Normality vs. the Wingfields: An Essay on The Glass Menagerie
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Although not introduced until the final scenes, we as readers are aware of the importance of Jim long before he physically appears. Tom indicates Jim’s importance even during his very first monologue, insisting that “[Jim] is the long delayed but always expected something that we live for” (1155). Along with being “the most realistic character in the play” (1155), Jim stands for the something that Tom’s family is missing–reality and ordinariness. Jim has aspirations as well as a desire to regain his former status in a sense. But what makes him so different from the Wingfield family when it comes to achieving this former status, is that he does so in a normal, non-conniving way, fully embodying the idea of the American Dream. The American Dream, which allows every American to accomplish previously unthought-of goals simply through hard work and dedication. Jim is able to go out and improve his life normally, while Tom, Laura, and Amanda depend on him to fulfill their longings. Each fully expects Jim to be the solution. (more…)
A Prisoners Role in a Utilitarian World
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In California six years ago, a prison inmate serving fourteen years received a heart transplant for a viral heart condition, amongst much debate (“Prisoner”). Prisoners are citizens who have committed what is deemed by society as a wrong, and thus experience the revoking of certain freedoms and privileges. Should a prisoner be denied health care as well? What about the more specific case regarding an organ transplant? What are the ethical implications of allowing or denying inmates medical care of any sort? I shall look at the situation with the guidelines of the consequentialist theory of utilitarianism, thinking about both the Act-utilitarianism and Rule-utilitarianism sides and using both to further the assertion that denying most prisoners organ transplants would be in the best interests of our society. (more…)
In Defense of Relativism
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Ethical absolutism and ethical relativism are two philosophical concepts which deal with interpreting moral actions and the ideas behind how we can decide what is morally “good” or “bad.” There is no definite answer, but that certainly does not mean that neither are right–to explore each concept is indeed one of the main goals of philosophers and truly the only way we can satisfy ourselves as humans. However, in this essay I will focus mainly on the failings of absolutism in comparison to relativism.
Absolutism can be described as a view held by those who call themselves “absolutists” in which it is believed that there are certain morals which can be considered “right,” despite any contradicting argument. In a sense, these moral rules are “binding on us absolutely . . . [and] allow for no exceptions” (Driver 143). This means that specific moral rules, either spiritually based or otherwise, must be followed, always, with no room to deviate. (more…)
A Comparison of Visionary Poetry and Poetry of Witness
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One could say that visionary poetry and poetry of witness as described by Carolyn Forche are one and the same. Although there are many similarities, key differences remain that let us differentiate between the two classifications. It is, however, possible to be both a visionary and to write poetry of witness, as Allen Ginsberg shows us in his poem “Howl.” Both maintain similar characteristics and have relevance to each other. (more…)
The Varying Roles of Freedom in Poetry
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The beauty of poetry is that one cannot keep it confined in a single form. Even though we may classify it as “social” or “romantic,” for example, these classifications do not in any way define the structure of a poem itself. Social poetry is often thought of as anti-war, political, or calling for revolution, but poems by such writers as Dan Silliman greatly contradict that common thought. Social poetry can reach any aspect of sociality, particularly freedom, which seems to be a very important running theme and which one can see in many well-known poems by social poets. (more…)
Paul Celan and the Language of Murderers
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The horror of the Holocaust should have never happened, but in a sense, something positive came of it anyway, and that is the advent of quite a different type of poetry of witness: those of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.
Paul Celan was one of those poets, influential in his work, which was overlaid with dark tones and depressing themes, characterizing the Holocaust. Through the utilization of the themes of death and remembrance, written in German, Celan defines what the Holocaust meant to him and the other Jewish victims as well. The importance he places on language was also a major contributor to Celan’s poetry, as it allowed him to revolt against the terror of the Nazis and their death camps and to show the rest of the world his experiences and the experiences of fellow victims. (more…)
Social Responsibilities of Science
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The basic definition of social responsibility is the idea that people have a purpose to be responsible when it comes to their place in the world. Instead of promoting negative ideas, actions, or circumstances, one should be able to give back to society in a constructive manner. One is not forced to be socially responsible but does so out of the goodness of one’s heart and mind (Wikipedia, 2007). When it comes to scientific social responsibility, a scientist’s responsibility is to not release scientific innovations that are detrimental to the state of the world, which would be considered irresponsibility. (more…)
Computer Science: Can It Be Done in Steps?
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We’ve all gone through the stressful rites of learning the scientific method in elementary and middle school, these rites being accompanied by multitudes of science projects throughout the years. Eventually, it’s drilled into our heads against our will and we grow up thinking we know everything there is to know about the scientific method. But when one stops to think, one realizes that one really does not know about it, at least in one way: that is, its application to the computer science area.
Referring back to these past science fair projects, one will find that (more…)
Brave New World Essay–Comparing and Contrasting Three Societies
Finished 10-11-06
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Two main societies are presented to the reader in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World; the society of the World State and the Savage Reservation. Both these societies corroborate our awareness of our own society, thus introducing the concept of the present era along with the other two eras. Each of these societies represent mankind’s past, present, and future and the fact that we have progressed past the point of “savagery” but have not yet reached the level of achieving an industrialized life, which is indeed the breaking point. The state and usage of conditioning increases in power over the two eras described in Brave New World and our own era. (more…)
The American Revolution
Finished 10-9-05
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The American Revolution is obviously the most well-known bit of history about our country. It stood out in many ways because it was a victory gained by a smaller, poorly-trained army against the threat of the English troops. However, although each revolution has its unique differences, they all follow a few basic steps that are prevalent in each upheaval of a country.
The American Revolution began due to unhappiness and dissatisfaction within the colonies. The English still had control over them, despite the fact that the reason many settlers emigrated to America in the first place was to get away from (more…)
Article Review: The Conquest of Utopia
Finished 9-15-05
[Note: I cannot find the actual article this was based off of. Please excuse this.]
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Acculturation in America by the Spanish began around the time Columbus discovered the Caribbean Islands. The Spanish were largely intent on gaining wealth and land. They hoped for a form of salvation through the accumulation of these items. The article centers on these desires and also how this affects the Mesoamerican culture that was living there at the time.
When two different cultures clash, and they begin a certain process of exchanging cultural and societal ideas with each other, it is called acculturation. The Spanish (more…)
Analysis of Shooting an Elephant
Shooting an Elephant can be found here.
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Finished 3-5-06
In his essay, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell demonstrates the futility and true horror of imperialism to his readers, mostly other imperialists. Using metaphor and allegory to support his point, he tells the story of an occasion on which he shot and killed an elephant. He plainly lays out his feelings about imperialism in a straightforward manner, with detailed metaphoric descriptions that support the purpose of his essay.
Orwell precedes the anecdote of his time in Burma with his basic opinion on imperialism, that “. . . [it is] an evil thing.” He then goes on to explain (more…)
Cryonics–A futile desire for everlasting life.
Finished 6-2-06
[If you would like my cited sources, please ask me and I will give them to you
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“Believing cryonics could reanimate somebody who has been frozen is like believing you can turn hamburger back into a cow.”
-Arthur Rowe
Imagine opening your eyes one day, feeling the same feeling that occurs when you go to sleep and wake up as your clock alarm goes off, seemingly minutes later. But imagine that instead of waking from sleep, you’ve woken from death centuries after the lifetime you knew, your pains healed, your diseases cured.
But imagine also another scenario, this one far different. Once awake, you are nothing but a vegetable. Your mind either does not exist inside your body, you are in an irreversible coma, or you are in intense pain. Perhaps you are aware that you are alive, but you cannot move. You try to open your eyes but find that it’s impossible, and attempt to touch your eyelids with your fingers, but your arms won’t lift. In fact, you cannot even feel your arms, you are completely numb to physical feelings, you are paralyzed and there’s nothing you can do (more…)
The Poisonwood Bible Analysis
Finished 11-11-06
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Orleanna Price is the character who ties Barbara Kingsolver’s entire work, The Poisonwood Bible together. She dwells mostly in the past and views it with regret in relation to the decisions she made. Her feelings about the past comprise a theme of the novel; namely, guilt. Orleanna focuses mostly on her guilt in relation to what she has done to her children, but through this, one can see that the message of the novel is that lasting guilt is harmful, yet potentially beneficial in certain ways.
The root of Orleanna’s guilt comes from her decision to marry her husband Nathan. She feels that her action compromised her children’s lives in connection to the events in Africa. By marrying Nathan, she basically doomed her children to experience all the tragedies that were to befall them. Because of her belief and hope that Nathan truly did have God (more…)
