Research Paper on Letters from an American Farmer by J....

The definition of what America is, and furthermore what an American is, has been eternally elusive. However, it can be reasonably said that the vision of America rests upon freedom of expression, the right to property, and self-determination. These ideas are explored in one European’s examination of American agricultural society in the late 18th century. Letters from an American Farmer by J. Hector St. John de Crà ¨vecÅ“ur illustrates the gilded nature of the early vision of America; one that appears to be simplistic and based in freedom, but lies on a foundation of oppression and greed. Crà ¨vecÅ“ur was a native of France, who - at the age of 20 - immigrated to North America. After a short military career in Canada, Crà ¨vecÅ“ur purchased land in†¦show more content†¦The American farmer is his own landlord, and is content with a precedent of continual work, and limited governmental interference in his business. (Plotkin 392) He goes on to state that the continual flow of immigrants into America will facilitate the eventual civilization of far western lands. In this onward march westward, â€Å"...industrious people...will change in a few years that barbarous country into a fine fertile, well-regulated district. Such is our progress, such is the march of the Europeans toward the interior parts of this continent.† (Crà ¨vecÅ“ur 609) This early reference to manifest destiny puts on display, for the European reader, the sheer vastness and availability of land in the New World, as opposed to the marked lack of such available land in Europe. Crà ¨vecÅ“ur also makes reference to the fact that the citizens of America cannot possibly draw from one single European culture, due to the diverse background of immigrants. This ‘melting-pot’ milieu of peoples is part of the foundation upon which Crà ¨vecÅ“ur’s America, because it prevents monolithic identification with one European background. (Cunliffe 130) Possibly the largest difference between European and American,Show MoreRelatedEssay on The American Christian Holocausts5005 Words   |  21 PagesThe American Christian Holocausts As a high school student I was always annoyed by students who would ask: Why do we have to learn this stuff [history] anyway? We learn history so we dont repeat our mistakes. This is the common answer that my teachers, my father, and just about any other adult would give. This answer made perfect sense to me then, and I easily accepted it. In high school, students learn about the Nazi-Holocaust, and rightfully so. Information abounds regarding this topic. However

The Original Antihero A Paradise Lost Study Guide

Paradise Lost is an epic poem by John Milton originally published in 1667, later revised in 1674. At the time of its publication it was, in fact, quite daring in its politics and its handling of the character of Satan, who remains one of the most complex and subtly-rendered characters in literary history. That Milton, who was a pious man of real faith, would consciously or unconsciously sympathize with the Devil is still a starling revelation to first-time readers. Milton was a fierce proponent of divorce and individual freedom, as well as a critic of the monarchy—but also a critic of the government and society that emerged after the deposition and execution of King Charles I, which Milton felt had failed to create a better society. These ideas informed his composition of Paradise Lost,  his greatest and most famous work. Milton had intended to write a truly epic work for some time, and originally intended to tell the story of King Arthur and the Holy Grail before changing his focus to the twin narratives of damnation and salvation taken from the most foundational stories in the Bible: The fall of man and Satan’s rebellion in heaven. The Plot of Paradise Lost After a brief introduction in which Milton offers an overview of Milton’s intentions, Satan and his fellow rebellious angels are shown in Hell, plotting their next move. The entire heavenly civil war has already happened, and Satan rallies his allies with a stirring speech. The demons briefly consider mounting another assault on heaven, but then a better idea is proposed: In the wake of the war in heaven, God has created the Earth and his new favorites, man, in the form of Adam and Eve. Satan volunteers to undertake the perilous journey to this new, material world and cause the downfall of mankind. The journey through the chaos outside of hell is perilous. Satan enters the universe and encounters the Angel Uriel guarding it, but Satan disguises himself and claims to have come to sing praise, and is allowed to pass. Satan comes to the Garden of Eden and is jealous of Adam and Eve’s perfect happiness; they live without sin, commanded only to never eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Satan comes to them while they sleep and whispers in Eve’s ear. Uriel becomes suspicious and tells the Angel Gabriel of the visitor; Gabriel sends angels to investigate and they capture and exile Satan from the Garden. The next day Eve tells Adam she had a terrible dream, and he comforts her. The Angel Raphael is sent to warn them about Satan’s plans, and he relates to them the story of Satan’s rebellion, stemming from Satan’s jealousy of the Son of God. Once known as Lucifer, Satan inspired his followers to rise against God. Satan’s forces are initially defeated by the loyal angels of heaven, but during the night create terrible weapons. The angels hurl mountains at Satan’s forces, but it is not until the Son of God, Messiah, arrives that Satan is wholly defeated, his entire army swept out of heaven. God then commands his Son to fill the space left by the fallen angels with a new world and new creatures, which are created in six days. Adam returns the favor of the Angel’s story with his own tale of being created, discovering the wonders of the world, and his happy marriage to Eve. Raphael departs. Satan returns and assumes the form of a snake in order to escape detection. He finds Eve alone and flatters her again, tricking her into eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. When Adam finds out what she has done he is horrified, but then also eats of the fruit because he believe he is bonded to Eve and must share her fate. They experience lust for the first time, followed by fear and guilt, and quarrel over who is to blame. The Son of God is dispatched to judge Adam and Eve, but delays sentencing them, clothing them and giving them time to regain God’s favor. Satan returns in triumph to Hell, where the demons are in the process of building a great bridge to Earth to make future journeys easier. He boasts of his success, but finds that all the fallen angels—including himself—have been transformed into snakes. Adam and Eve are miserable; Adam is given a vision of the future up until the Flood and is horrified at what he and Eve have doomed mankind to experience. However, they are also assured that their offspring will have revenge on Satan, and so they do not kill themselves and dedicate themselves to regaining God’s trust. They are expelled from paradise with the knowledge that a descendant of Eve’s will be the savior of mankind. Major Characters Satan. Once one of the most powerful Archangels, Satan led the rebellion against God and then schemed to ruin God’s newest creations: Mankind and paradise. The most beautiful and powerful of the angels, Satan is charismatic, funny, and persuasive; he is easily the most popular character of the story despite his evil nature, making him something of an antihero. His great sin is in denying his subservience to God; Satan believes the angels are self-made. God the Father. This is the Christian God, an all-powerful creator who made everything in the universe from himself. God demands praise and worship, and spends a lot of time in the poem explaining himself, as Milton saw the purpose of the poem to justify the mysteries of God to humanity. God the Son. Both the same as God and a separate personality, this is the part of God that will eventually become Jesus, but in the poem is depicted as a sort of general or co-ruler. Adam and Eve. The first humans; Adam was created first and Eve created from him. Milton depicts Eve not as evil or corrupt by nature but as inferior to Adam in all things except sin—Adam’s sin is greater because he understood fully the consequences of his actions, while Eve was tricked. Raphael. An angel instrumental in explaining Satan’s backstory and goals. Literary Style The poem is written in blank verse, meaning it follows a set meter (iambic pentameter) but does not have rhymes. Milton uses a variety of tricks to make the repetitive rhythms and patterns of this sort of rhyme seem anything but; what initially seem like strained pronunciations or oddly broken words are quite intentional, as Milton bends and stretches the rules of blank verse to make his lines flow. For example, Miltons meter often broke words in ways that deliberately went against assumption, as in the line Still glorious before whom awake I stood; reading this line as if it was prose renders it unremarkable, but applying the rhythm of iambi pentameter forces you to break the word glorious as glo / rious, altering the rhythm of the line and turning it into some delightful to speak. Milton worked in a deliberately grand style, without resorting to slang or common phrasings as  Shakespeare did. He did this both in service to his subject matter and to lend his themes weight and gravitas. At the same time, his work is not particularly dense with allusion and wordplay; even today it is remarkably easy for people to read, understand, and appreciate. Themes Milton argues throughout the poem that there is a natural order to the universe; Satan’s great sin is believing he is greater than God as opposed to accepting his subordinate role. Yet Milton also writes Satan’s sequences with a fierce energy that sets them apart. Milton sympathizes with rebellion and believed strongly in individuality, themes that also emerge throughout the poem. This is most notable in the fate of humanity—Adam and Eve rebel in their own way and are punished, but instead of their punishment being a total disaster, some good does come of it, as humanity learns that God the Father has boundless love and forgiveness for them. Historical Context Milton worked on the poem during the Commonwealth Period of England, after a civil war that ended with King Charles I deposed and executed in 1649. This period ended in 1660 when his son, Charles II, was restored to the throne. Milton supported the deposition of Charles but deplored the Commonwealth, which was essentially a dictatorship, and his attitude is in many ways reflected in the poem’s storyline. There are many obvious parallels between the angels rebelling against God and the rebellion against Charles I, who chafed against the restrictions forced upon him by the strong English parliament and fought two wars to impose his supreme will, claiming divine right of kings. Charles I was widely blamed for the unnecessary bloodshed of the second civil war and was executed as a result. Milton supported the republican side against the monarchy and argued in his political writings that Charles attempts to claim divine right were an attempt to make himself a god. Satan can be viewed as a stand-in for Charles in a sense, a powerful being with a rightful place in the hierarchy who attempts to pervert the natural order and accomplishes little more than chaos and destruction. Paradise Lost Fast Facts Title: Paradise LostAuthor: John MiltonDate Published: 1667, 1674Publisher: Samuel SimmonsLiterary Genre: Epic PoemLanguage: EnglishThemes: Hierarchal structure of the universe, obedience to God.Characters: Satan, God, the Son of God, Adam, Even, assorted angels and demons.Influences: Satan as antihero has influenced works ranging from Frankenstein to Breaking Bad. Modern writers such as Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials) and Neil Gaiman have based works explicitly on the poem (Gaiman even makes this obvious by having the character of Lucifer in his Sandman comics quote the poem freely). Additionally, many films and novels depicting Satan and rebellious angels, like the film The Prophecy, explicitly ground their angels and demons on the versions found in Miltons story. Quotes â€Å"The mind is its own place, and in itself/Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.† — Satanâ€Å"Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven.† — Satanâ€Å"Sing Heav’nly Muse/What in me is dark/Illumine, what is low raise and support;/That to the heighth of this great argument/I may assert Eternal Providence,/And justify the ways of God to men.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"God hath pronounced it death to taste that Tree,/The only sign of our obedience left/Among so many signs of power and rule/Conferred upon us, and dominion giv’n/Over all other creatures that possess/Earth, air, and sea.† — Adam Sources â€Å"Paradise Lost.† Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 May 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost.â€Å"PARADISE LOST.† Gutenberg, Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/files/20/20-h/20-h.htm.Simon, Edward. â€Å"Whats So American About John Miltons Lucifer?† The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 16 Mar. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/03/whats-so-american-about-john-miltons-lucifer/519624/.Rosen, Jonathan. â€Å"Return To Paradise.† The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/02/return-to-paradise.Upinvermont. â€Å"Milton Blank Verse (Iambic Pentameter).† PoemShape, 5 Oct. 2013, poemshape.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/milton-blank-verse-iambic-pentameter/.

The Use Of Diffusion Between Cultural Participation...

Established in 1944 by Donald Watson, modern-day veganism has become an increasingly popular lifestyle through recent decades. Veganism is a very strict diet. It involves a strong commitment and can also restrict certain fashion statements in some way or form. Vegans avoid any consumption of any [animal related food or fabric that has been fabricated with animal skin]. Although many, do not see the vegan choice as a reasonable way to a healthy living, many Americans have seen their diet change being influenced by popular artists, such as Beyoncà ©, who endorse the idea of veganism. As mentioned by Elizabeth Cherry and her concept of the diffusion between cultural participation function and support veganism, this paper will be demonstrate how the music industry has inclined many Americans to dramatically transition their diet as omnivores to vegans. Cherry believes that there are two groups of vegans; â€Å"those in the punk subculture and those who were not – and investigates how they defined and practiced veganism differently†(Cherry 1). Becoming a vegan punk according to Cherry, is seen to â€Å"describe a state of mind and a willingness to change society more than a sartorial display, this is accomplished through a DIY ethic, characterized by independent bands, record labels, and book presses, as well as a politically progressive way of living†(Cherry 5). With this in mind the reader can infer that veganism can be tied in with the modern hipster and the industrial musical culture.

Silence Speaks Volumes free essay sample

It is not until somebody else is fed to the hungry mouth of judgement, chewed and digested into the system so perfectly mechanized to institute conservation, that we- especially my generation- find the infant, second rate, hand me down strength to speak out- to ride easy going 70 mph on the unpaved road of freedom within the deep ruts ran through for us by the ones who spoke out before it was popular. Within our social condition today, there are predetermined fads to entertain the masses, issues that have already been exposed, torn apart, activists who have been ridiculed, who in time lost the limelight to more controversial issues. These exposed issues are what we write essays on in our college english classes, kept safe within the shadow of those already judged stamped and silenced to feel the illusion of advocation- to play the role of activists within the carefully drawn confines of the curriculum. For example, the issue on womens rights- something that sparked in the late 1800s, was met with difficulty, ridicule and persecution- the fears that keep so many of us in silence, is something students may write about today. Sure, new-aged opinions and fresh angles on a stale issue give the illusion of action, but the issue was seen for us. When you walk outside, look around and see something in your world that you have the power to change, THAT is your world, the one you exist within, and therefor it is your job to speak out and make a difference. No well-trained (trained, not taught) educator would assign an essay prompt about advocation for gay rights, or premarital sex, or personal narratives about struggling with an addiction. If any fiber of your conscious mind is muted, snuffed out, hushed, you will live and die with the possibility that within that tiny fragment of yourself breathed the essence of your existence, your spark of humanity, your passion, your superpower. We will suffer whether or not we choose to make ourselves seen, and the suffering will not differ in measure for those who are enslaved and crippled by silence and submission. Audre Lorde brings to light in her essay that the purpose of speaking out is personal, not people pleasing. You voice your thoughts to remind yourself who you are, and to stir controversy. The goal is to be met with adversity and opposition, to let you know that what youre doing is radical and revolutionary and not fitting to the compartmentalized morality of your community. Historically, in many cases, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the idea of Civil Disobedience defended by Dr. King, or the fight for freedom and independence from Britain in the Revolutionary War, these topics in our history books are celebrated and well known instances of the Transformation of Silence into Language and Action- occurrences of self- sacrifice for the greater achievement of social change that rang out when society was more focused on self-preservation. Despite the monumental differences made in our world, molding our country, government, schools and homes, speaking out is still something set aside for those radicals who cannot be content with the way things are. Adversity is defined by society as unnacceptable, not encouraged, immoral in some instances, but so many of us are silent in fear of visibility that those few that may have changed everything, the revolutionaries, they are stifled and strangled by a similar fear. Being conscious of your mortality, as well as your purpose for existing in the dimension that you were born into, is an awareness that puts into perspective the ominous and guaranteed silence of death- and how- if up until that point you choose to be muted- will still come. This is turning point expressed by Lorde in the midst of a cancer scare that prompted her in part to write her essay on the Transformation of Silence into Language and Action. In our generation we are cultivated to respect fear, and to integrate it into how we perceive our world and ourselves. Those who advocate for controversial ideas, those who fight for issues that challenge religion or policy, they are especially scrutinized by the same mouths that whisper in agreement and then remain closed. Our culture- relationships, appearance, music, entertainment, is all crearted under the indentured survitude of the norms set by society on what’s acceptable. Take the psychology of the film industry. The top-grossing romance movies in the box office this week feature heterosexual couples, with the male figure having the acceptable manly characteristics and the female figure being traditionally girly. We see these movies,and idolize the relationship and the characters, because somewhere in the back of our minds exists the knowledge that this movie is how society prefers things to be, and that being a certain way means acceptance, popularity, and success. For instance, recently there have been certain outliers in society that have become household names- been ridiculed, labeled, and watched- but eventually found acceptance by the masses at the point when the issue at hand became interesting and understood. Lesbian couples have come from the shadows, holding hands in public, being openly gay in schools and even in communities, once celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres became popular and cool. Society writes amendments to its moral constitution to give the illusion of revolution, like writing college papers on issues that have already been resolved. Openly lesbian celebrities and actresses gave an alternative for how a female should and can acceptably be in order to conform to the stereotype that raises our teenage girls and develops each generation of women. But, for gay men, Neil Patrick Harris or Clay Aiken still seem to be the blunt of gay jokes, perhaps because of the decades old stereotype of manhood that seems to be universal in every culture, so for the male gay community, they are seen as something seperate but equal, metaphorically still going to school with the straight kids, but using a different water fountain. In the words of the Beatles, â€Å"Nothing’s gonna change my world.† The truth in this is that the most powerful force of nature that exists in my world is action. Nothing’s gonna change my world, unless I do it myself. Silence, self imposed by fear of visibility, parallels the age old fear of the unknown that comes with reaching our potential as human beings and fulfilling a purpose. There exists few promises in this life, but there exists one certainty, and that is death, which comes regardless of whether or not we chose to make a difference. Audre Lorde explains death as â€Å"The Final Luxury† that meets us regardless of our choice to be silent, which gives perspective to the immense and crippling handicap of so many people with voices waiting to be heard. The revolutionary of tomorrow may be stifled because you chose to keep that part of your existence quiet. Marianne Williamson said of fear, â€Å" Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people wont feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. Its not just in some of us; its in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. If you yourself have no desire to be heard, speak up for the many who need fighting for. Liberate yourself from the shackles of a conservative society, and the others- the artists, the writers, the intellectuals who will make the next big difference- use your voice to liberate them. You have the freedom to sit in a corner and observe your world, as well as the choice to be a part of it, and either contract you sign, when your number is up, you die. Guaranteed.