The Victorian era Essay Example for Free

The Victorian era Essay Magwitchs reaction when Pip shows him where his mother immediately makes the reader feel sorry for him. Now then lookee here! said the man. Wheres your mother? There, sir, Said I. He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder. Due to the fact he is making a short run at the mere mention of someone seeing him, reveals Magwitchs deeper insecurities and fear of being caught. Also the fact he is scared of a woman would create an even greater feeling of sympathy for him, especially amongst those reading in the Victorian era, as it was uncommon to have a man scared of a woman. This reaction also suggests that Magwitch may not be as strong as he originally made out, but is only putting on an act to scare Pip. Magwitch demands Pip bring him file and wittles and as he does so he tilts Pip over the tombstone a little more. You bring em both to me. He tilted me again, Or Ill have your heart and liver torn out. He tilted me again. By recreating the tilting movement again and saying it in the same repetitive manner, represents the mounting fear and unease Pip is experiencing and also stresses the difference in power; with Magwitch at this point, looming over Pip in a menacing manner, thus leading the reader to feel greater sympathy for him in such a situation and much less so for Magwitch. As Pip watches the convict leave, he says glancing about him over the cold wet flat, I wish I was a frog or a eel. Wishing to be a frog or an eel shows us how difficult Magwitch find his surroundings and that in being a frog or an eel means he doesnt not have to suffer in the cold and wet marshes any longer. Also when he says a eel it gives a hint as to the fact the Magwitch is possibly illiterate as he says a eel instead of an eel. This creates sympathy for Magwitch as it not only tells us he is uneducated but also that he may never have had the chance to go to school. Magwitchs departure creates further sympathy for him as he hugged his shuddering body in both arms and limped toward the Low Church wall. The fact he is limping could either indicate he is hurt or that the cold has numbed his body. Either way the reader feels sympathy for Magwitch, as unlike Pip, he does not have the option of going back home. Instead he is forced to pick his way among the nettles, and among brambles. Once again this shows the reader the difficulties he is facing with his surroundings and in turn this makes the reader feel sorry for him as it is clear that he has nowhere else to go. As Pip describes his surroundings once again as the sun is setting, he talks of how he can faintly make out two things on the horizon- a beacon the sailors use to steer and the other, a gibbet, from whose chain a pirate once hung. As Pip describes Magwitch walking towards the latter it gives a sense of foreboding as though something terrible is about to happen and that the gibbet (for Magwitch) might symbolise death. This creates sympathy for Magwitch as it is shown as another reminder to the reader of the punishment he could face if caught. Dickens creates sympathy for his characters, Pip and Magwitch in many ways. By carefully structuring his story; he is able to swing the readers sympathy from Pip to Magwitch as the story progresses. By introducing Pip first, Dickens made the reader feel sympathetic towards his situation. However, he was also able to make the reader empathise with Magwitch as well despite his less than honourable actions. Dickens also uses the characters dialogue and body language to represent how a character feels and what they are thinking.

Midieval Technology And Social Change :: essays research papers

Medieval Technology and Social Change Medieval Technology and Social Change Oxford University Press first published Medieval Technology and Social Change in 1962. It discusses the technological advances during the medieval times and how these changes affected society. The book's author, Lynn White, Jr., was born in San Francisco in 1907. Educated at Stanford, Union Theological, and Princeton, White taught at Princeton and the University of California at Los Angeles. He was also president of Mills College in Oakland from the 1940s to the 1960s. His other works include Medieval Religion and Technology: Collected Essays, published in 1978 and Life & Work in Medieval Europe, the Evolution of Medieval Economy from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Century, published in 1982. White's work has been influential both in medieval history and the history of science. In Medieval Technology and Social Change, White examines the role of technological innovation during the rise of social groups in the Middle Ages. White begins with the in vention of the stirrup. He shows how this innovation, in turn, introduced heavy, long-range cavalry to the medieval battlefield. The development thus escalated small-scale conflict to "shock combat." Cannons and flame-throwers followed, as did more peaceful inventions, such as watermills and reapers. White also reviews the development of the manorial system with the introduction of new kinds of plows and new methods of crop rotation. He reviews the evolution of the scratch plow into the heavy plow and explains the use of each type in different areas of Europe. White next discusses the social effects of feudalism and how it spread from the Franks to Spain and later to England. He shows that military service became a matter of class, with lands and titles being exchanged for the commitment to serve as mounted warriors. The concept of the knight's duty to his lord translated into chivalry and noble obligation. White then ventures into the slow collapse of feudalism, coming ab out with the development of machines and tools. This caused the introduction of factories, which took the place of cottage industries. Although White's work falls short in a few areas, it is valuable for the attention that it pays to aspects of medieval history that too often go ignored White's work is important because he advocates the importance of science and technology to medieval history. Before White, few scholars thought that any significant science or engineering was done in Europe during the Middle.

Divine Command Theory Essay

There are millions of people who believe in God, but among these people the differences lie in to what extent each believes that God has control over what is right and wrong. Are people’s moral standards right because God commands them, or does God command them because they are right? The Divine Command Theory most simply states that God’s commands are what is morally right, and what God forbids is morally wrong. This means that loving one another is right because God commands humans to do so. Advocates of the Divine Command Theory believe this, and believe that morality is the same as that which God commands. Things are good because God created them and/or willed them. Divine Command Theorists believe that there are objective moral standard that are the same for everyone and are independent of individual beliefs. These moral standards are true for everyone regardless of whether or not they believe them or know of them. These ultimate moral standards exist in commands given by God. God commands only things that are good, and he would never command a person to act immorally. God is all-powerful, all knowing, and all loving. God commands these things in order to do what is good for us as humans, and his commands are automatically morally right. The opponents of the Divine Command Theory do not believe that God has that much control over the earth and what is morally just and unjust. They believe that morality is subjective, and that even if there is a God morality would still be subjective. What does it matter anyway what God commands or thinks since it is just another subjective opinion? One of the only reasons that people obey God’s commands is that they fear that they will be punished in someway if they do not. They fear that they will go to hell if they do not obey, or that something bad will happen to them. This would mean that their motives are merely self-interested. But, a Divine Command Theory advocate would argue that God created us, and it is our obligation as his creation to obey Him just as a child would obey its parents. Is it even possible though to compare one’s parents with the divine? Opponent’s say that it is not possible to compare the divine with a child’s parents. However, to continue with the comparison, if a child were to want  to do something and the parent told them â€Å"no, because I said so†, then, like God, the rationale for the action being wrong is simply because it is commanded. If the command were to change to ordering the child to kill, then the right thing to do would be changed to killing. Likewise, if God’s commands are automatically what is right, then if God were to command humans to kill, killing would be a morally just action. Supporters would argue that the situation with God is different. They would also argue that God would not command something that is immoral. But, why wouldn’t God command something immoral? The only answers would be because it is wrong or because God only commands that which is right. But saying this would therefore disprove the Divine Command Theory entirely. This states that what is right and wrong is independent of God, and that what God commands and condemns is subject to these independent standards of what is right and what is wrong. This also proves that a supporter could not say that God is good because â€Å"God† and â€Å"good† do not have the same definition. In order to state this, one must concede that in order for this to be true God must be independent of the standards of goodness that the definition of â€Å"good† entails. There are only two possibilities for the existence of God and moral standards: 1. God creates the moral standards, or 2. God is subject to the moral standards that are independent of him. If God is independent of what is right and wrong and commands what is right and wrong, then God becomes another rational being who decides from these standards of right and wrong what to command. The moral values are accepted by God and therefore commanded. If this is true, then in no way does God create the moral standards. The only way for a Divine Command Theorist to prove their beliefs is for them to prove that without God there would be no morality. If God commands things because they are good, then humans could live moral lives without God because God is also subject to the standards of morality. Humans could, as rational beings, understand the moral values that determine right and wrong and choose how they should live. Humans could decide what actions are moral or immoral without God. Divine Command Theory advocates may try to support their beliefs by saying  that there is nothing above God, good and bad is determined by God’s commands, and things are good and moral because God commands them. However, if there is nothing independent of God causing him to decide what to command, then there is nothing to prevent God from commanding evils such as murder. The only answers again are that God wouldn’t do that because God is good, or that God only commands that which is good. Both of which again disprove the Divine Command Theory. Divine Command Theorists feel that those are not the only answers. The main reason behind God not commanding evil is because God is a loving God, an all-loving God. Because he is such, He would not command evil, and evil would not be moral. God actually exists and loves his creations. He loves and cares for them, and commands in a way that is considerate of their well being and creates a unity/togetherness among them. Not to act according to his commands is to act contrary to a loving way, and to act in this manner is wrong. How does one know what God’s commands are? Are they sent directly from God into people’s brains or souls? Are they given to us via a messenger i.e. a priest? It would seem easy to say that rational human beings have an intuition that tells them what is right and wrong and that God is not the one telling them what is right and what is wrong. There is no need for a God to tell humans what is considered moral and immoral because humans have knowledge and a sense that is independent of God to tell them the right ways to live. God does not create the moral laws. The moral laws exist separately from God and can be understood by any rational being. All that humans need in order to live a moral life is an understanding of these moral laws and a conscience to guide them through their life. Advocates would argue, however, that this is not the case. The moral laws exist because God commands them, and his commands are found in the Bible’s teachings. God commands us through the teachings of the Bible to live a moral life. He teaches us that to love one another is a moral way of life, and evils result in an immoral life. This can be seen in the Ten Commandments and various other passages in the Bible. A person can  understand the way of life that God intended through what can be read in the Bible and inferred from it. This is where morality and God’s commands can be found. However, the Bible can be very contradictory and unclear. In many passages God directly commands murder, and in others commands that death is the correct punishment for actions such as homosexuality. Are things immoral with the exceptions of the instances when God deems them as the right thing to do? Can God say that murder is wrong but change it to right depending on the situation? Is a person supposed to read the Bible and make their own decisions about what the passages mean and what they are telling humans are the right and wrong ways of life? The Bible should not be the source of God’s commands. Suppose that a person reads a book that someone has told them contains the moral standards given to humans by God that all people are supposed to live by, and this book says that a person should kill people over the age of 50, would it be morally correct for this person to kill everyone over the age of 50? There are many religions that do not worship God based on the Bible. Are these religions wrong, and are they worshipping incorrectly? The Judeo-Christian God cannot be the absolute correct belief. If God created all human beings, then he wouldn’t only enlighten Christians of his existence and the correct moral laws. If God’s commands are found in the Bible, then does this mean that before the composition of the Bible there was no God or moral laws? The use of the Bible to explain the Divine Command Theory is a very unstable method. Clearly, the Divine Command Theory is a very sensitive subject to discuss. Despite the strength of each argument, there is no real proof on either side of the argument than can without a doubt prove that what God commands is right because he commands is or that God commands that which is right because it is right. Both can be considered valid arguments of the amount of control God has over the moral standards of the universe, but it is much easier to attempt to disprove something that has no concrete evidence. The question of whether moral standards exist because of God or if God is  subject to them remains a very good one.

My Academic Interest On Gender And Kinship Studies

Naying Ren Statement of Purpose My academic interest in gender and kinship studies was triggered by my encounter with one of the greatest minds in our history. I was fascinated by Simone de Beauvoir in her The Second Sex, both by her insightful existential analysis of women’s situation and the interdisciplinary approach which she takes. She approaches gender from manifold perspectives including the biological, the psychoanalytic, the historical, the literary and the anthropological, leading to a powerful revelation of how women are socially constructed and how the myth of the â€Å"Eternal Feminine† is perpetuated. Progressively, my curiosity and admiration grew into academic enthusiasm. I find myself particularly interested in the topic of gender. In an attempt to learn more about gender, a dimension of human life that is rarely taught in Chinese universities, I directed numerous course essays towards gender, which enabled me to combine my study in English literature with my self-study in gender theories. After studying gender independently through reading some of the feminist classics and queer theories, I probed into the cultural representations, particularly those in the form of literature and film, which delineate gender in certain implicative images out of certain intention. Besides one of my written work submitted in this application about the stigmatization of the queer as the new â€Å"femme fatale† in David Lynch’s neo-noir Blue Velvet (1986), I’ve also written about howShow MoreRelatedThe Is A Man s World1459 Words   |  6 Pageswomen may concur on. Gender equa lity is a human right, but our world faces a persistent gap in access to opportunities and decision-making power for women and men. Globally women have fewer opportunities for economic participation than men, less access to basic and higher education, greater health and safety risks, and less political representation. Guaranteeing the rights of women and giving them opportunities to reach their full potential is critical not only for attaining gender equality, but alsoRead MoreThe World s Culture And Traditions1881 Words   |  8 Pagestime the book was published the idea of living with native people was fairly ground breaking. Mead’s fieldwork was done entirely in the Samoan language, because few, if any at all of the natives spoke English. I believe this to be the best way to study a culture. Total emersion into another society’s culture and traditions would be the only way to truly grasp the concepts with in a culture. Although difficult as it might be, living with , practicing, and observing a cultures daily activities is theRead MoreTrobriand Islanders-Malinowski and Weiner10855 Words   |  44 Pagesultimately it stresses the consistency of their ethnographic questions and the constancy of Tro- [pic] ― 40 ― briand culture despite the gap in time and interpretation. The same point is made explicitly in a later essay. What initially astounded me upon my arrival in Kiriwina was the striking similarity between a Kiriwina village in 1971 and Malinowskis descriptions and photographs of the same village in 1922. Although superficially some things had changed (an airstrip, tourists, some Western clothing)Read MoreResearch Methodology Essay4336 Words   |  18 Pagesâ€Å"The study of man contains a greater variety of intellectual styles than any other area of cultural endeavor. How different social scientists go about their work, and what they aim t accomplish by it, often do not seem to have a common denominator ... Let us admit the case of our critics from the humanities and from the experimental sciences: Social science as a whole is both intellectually and morally confused. And what is called sociology is very much in the middle of this confusion.† WrightRead MoreEffects of love relationship on the academic performance10274 Words   |  42 Pagesï » ¿LOVE RELATIONSHIP AS A FACTOR AFFECTING THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG SBSN JUNIORS A Thesis Presented To the Faculty of High School Department of St. Benedict School of Novaliches In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of English IV By: John Benedict L. Caliwara 14 November 2012 APPROVAL SHEET The thesis entitled â€Å"Love Relationship as a Factor Affecting the Academic Performance of SBSN Juniors† prepared and submitted by John Benedict L. Caliwara in partialRead MoreA Family Together : Jennifer Cramblett And Amanda Zinkon3452 Words   |  14 PagesJennifer corrected the receptionist and replied that she needed Donor No. 380. The receptionist then put Jennifer on hold and returned to ask her if she had requested an African American donor to which Jennifer replied â€Å"’No, why would I request that? My partner and I are Caucasian.‘† Jennifer hung up and called Dr. Spirtos’ office and asked his receptionist to check the remaining vial of sperm to determine which Donor No. was on the vial. Dr. Spirtos then informed Jennifer that in December of 2011Read MoreThe Effects Of Parental Incarceration On Children3942 Words   |  16 Pages May 4, 2016 The University of the District of Columbia Introduction The number of children with incarcerated parents continues to increase, thus the long-term ramifications of parental incarceration has become a topic of interest to many concerned people. In addition to understanding the effects of parental incarceration on children, school officials and penal institutions must be involved in support services available to incarcerated parents and their families. EvidenceRead MoreSocial Determinants of Health10939 Words   |  44 Pagesimportant issues. Complex and sophisticated kinship systems placed each person in relationship to every other person in the groups and determined the behaviour of an individual to each person. The kinship system also took into account people external to the group. This practice became important during colonisation, when Aboriginal people attempted to bring outsiders into their kinship systems, particularly through relationships with women. Kinship systems determined exactly how one should behaveRead MoreSociology Essay20437 Words   |  82 Pagescouples’, guardian.co.uk, 07.05.02. Copyright  © Guardian News Media Ltd 2002; and Anushka Asthana, ‘Religious schools â€Å"show bias for rich†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢: Middle class favoured, study shows: Faith schools deny selection claim’, The Observer, 02.03.08. Copyright  © Guardian News Media Ltd 2008; Philip Allan Updates for material from, ‘Gender differences in education: The underachievement of boys, Sociology Review, Vol. 8, Issue 1, Sept. 1998; and ‘Figure 2 Marriages, divorces and remarriages, 1950–2005,Read MoreThe Label Gang : A Study Of 1313 Gangs Essay6194 Words   |  25 Pagesapplication, the term gang almost always connotes involvement in disreputable or illegal activities. Social scientists use the term gang most frequently when describing groups of juveniles. This tendency dates back to Frederic Thrasher s The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago (1927). According to Thrasher, social conditions in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century encouraged the development of street gangs. In this period, many immigrants settled in ethnic enclaves in inner-city