The War Of The American War II - 1749 Words

World War II is one of the most prolific events in American history. While soldiers were away on foreign soil, thousands of Americans at home were doing their part as well. For example many citizens worked in factories across the nation producing the supplies the military needed to accomplish their goal. When people think of the places that most frequently furnished these products the common perception is that most products were manufactured in the northern industrial states, although this is not always the case. Throughout the war Louisiana played a critical role in adequately preparing for the war. Andrew Higgins has become famous for his role in inventing the Higgins’s Craft, which played a critical role in the beach landings in†¦show more content†¦Louisiana played an important role in nearly every aspect of America’s success in World War II, and likewise, it deserves to be highlighted. The American army lacked adequate preparation to go to war in 1941 , but that soon changed. Nearly half a million soldiers participated in a series of military maneuvers, or games, across mostly north Louisiana. Fourteen of the 27 divisions of the army took place in these events. The Louisiana maneuvers have become one of the largest peacetime military maneuvers in American history. This practice proved to be important for the army. Brigadier Raymond H Fleming explained that everything the United States Army had, except for bullets, would be turned loose in Louisiana. This allowed for the soldiers, most of them being newly enlisted, to gather wartime experience. Likewise, not all commands were fully equipped with the latest technology, but through these games the ill-equipped commands were able to see the effectiveness of the new technology. The soldiers that endured these games went through full paced war-like maneuvers. The Army was divided into two and simulated a mock war between each other. The two â€Å"armies† went back and f orth between over the course of ten days. They struggled through long hours and simulated combat. Along with the struggle of

The Spartan Way to victory Essay - 1452 Words

To simply say Ancient Greece had a diverse culture would not give justice to the truly rich and even contrasting societies that developed in the classical city-state. One of the most unique civilizations to prosper in the ancient time period were the Spartans. The Spartans held customs, beliefs, and traditions unlike any other Greek city-state. These uncommon practices and philosophies largely governed the lifestyle of a Spartan citizen from birth until death. Spartan culture was considerably a militaristic one, and great emphasis was placed on the lifelong dedication of training to be a Spartan soldier. It is arguable that this Spartan way of life was the key to Sparta’s powerful and victorious civilization in ancient times. To†¦show more content†¦Some unique differences can be examined as the reasons behind the Spartans power and dominance of the classical times. The Spartans lived a very meager life in comparison to the other Greek cultures. The Spartans wer e not concerned with luxurious items and trivial possessions. A man’s wealth was in the land he owned. However, the typical Spartan male was dedicated to life of a soldier and therefore could not be bothered with the manual labor of tending to his fields. The land was worked by the Helots, or slaves, the Spartans captured in battle. Helots were required to work in the field and return the productions to the owner of the land. This enabled the Spartan male to remain focused and dedicated to his true profession of a soldier. Spartan children lived an extremely different lifestyle, if they were even allowed to live at all. When a new child is born, they are judged by the elders council of the city, called the Gerousia. The Gerousia would decide if the newborn was fit and strong enough to be granted the right to live. If a baby was deemed weak or deformed, they would be taken to a high cliff on Mt. Taygete to be thrown off and killed. This can be seen as a basic form of eugen ics, and although cruel, it created the strong bodied population of Sparta. Corresponding to Darwin’s survival of the fittest, only the strong live and reproduce. Since the weak were not even given a chance to live, time and resourcesShow MoreRelated Sparta, not Athens, won the war against Persia Essay979 Words   |  4 PagesThe Greek victory against Persia was largely due to efforts of mainly Athens but also Sparta as well. Athens was responsible for the major turning points of the Persian invasions, while Sparta was responsible for the deciding battle. Miltiades, with his skilful battle strategies, defeated the Persians during their second invasion at Marathon, which gave Athens a confidence boost on their military. During the third invasion, when the Athenians were evacuated to Salamis, Themistocles had devised aRead More Why the Greeks Won the Greco-Persian War Essay1578 Words   |  7 PagesWar because of their naval victories over the Persians, a few key strategic v ictories on land, as well as the cause for which they were fighting. The naval victories were the most important contribution to the overall success against the Persians. The Persian fleet was protecting the land forces from being outflanked and after they were defeated the longer had that protection. While the Greeks had very few overall victories in battle they did have some strategic victories. The Battle of ThermopylaeRead MoreThe Persian War And The Ottoman Empire Of Persia Essay1143 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Plataeans. News of the victory was delivered by a messenger who ran the 26 miles from Marathon to  Athens, and who died afterwards. The second stage of the war saw the Persians arrive on the Greek shore with perhaps as many as 2,000,000 men, between their army and navy, under the command of king Xeres I (519-465 B.C.), son of the deceased Darius I. An advanced party of only 5,000 Greeks, including Spartans, Phocians and Locrians, under the command of one of the Spartan kings, Leonidas (a descendentRead MorePeloponnesian War Strategies Essay1427 Words   |  6 Pages Conflicts between the two cites dated back further, however, with skirmishes from 460-445 effectively ending in a draw. Major fighting in the Peloponnesian War occurred from 431-421 and ended in Athenian victory. Renewed conflict raged from 413-404, ultimately concluding in Spartan victory. An understanding of these very different cultures is illustrative of their leaders ultimate strategies and projections before the conflict. At the time of the war, Greece was divided into two great alliancesRead MoreWhat Constitutes a Spartan in Steven Pressfields Gates of Fire1641 Words   |  7 PagesPressfields: Gates of fire is based on a true story of how three hundred courageous warrior Spartans led by their king Leonidas and 700 Thespaian allies held off an army of over one million Persian infantrymen on a narrow pass in Thermopylae Greece in 480 B.C. for seven days. The Spartan Warriors were highly disciplined, physically and mentally tough soldiers that were dedicated to their country and way of life. The three hundred Spartan’s left home one day leaving their families behind, on a suicideRead MoreThe Importance Of Ancient Spartan Militarism833 Words   |  4 PagesAncient Spartan militarism led to Sparta being a large military power in Ancient Greece, but the str ict restrictions on citizenship led to the decline and destruction of the city-state. The overly strict requirements combined with a string of military defeats led to a weakened state from which the Spartan government could not recover from. This led to Sparta becoming a second rate power in Greece until its destruction at the hands of the Roman imperial army at the battle of Adrianople. Spartan militarismRead MoreThe Unity Of Greek Unity1329 Words   |  6 Pageswas that they were massively under-equipped to deal with meeting the Persian army in battle. Thessaly was placed directly in the path of the land army which was marching to the south, their stated aim being revenge on Athens, and could not hope for victory against them. The words of the men sent to ask for aid are revealing: â€Å"you cannot compel us to fight your battle for you†, suggesting that the Thessalians believed Athens was the cause, and that they did not feel any sense of kinship or unity withRead MoreSpartan Take Home Exam. Politically These Areas Share Hardly1600 Words   |  7 PagesSpartan Take Home Exam Politically these areas share hardly anything in common from the way each ran their governments: Athens that which ran a Democracy, Sparta ran an Oligarchy and The Persians ran a Monarchy. Economically Persia sought more wealth and power through the threats of other areas that includes both Athens and Sparta who refused in the end to submit. Both Sparta and Athens treated their women differently as Sparta exercised and trained, keeping their breasts in shape, unlike the AtheniansRead MoreThe Battle of Marathon Essays1039 Words   |  5 Pagesmore than twice its size, because of superior leadership, training and equipment. The battle of Marathon has provided inspiration to the underdogs throughout history. In 490 BC, the Athenians proved that superior strategy, and technology can claim victory over massive numbers. In 646 BC the Persian armies, led by Cyrus, conquered the Greek city-state of Ionia, in Asia Minor. Despite the mildness of Persian rule, the Ionians did not like their conquerors. The Persians seemed barbaric to the culturedRead MoreHerodotus s Depiction Of The Battle Of Thermopylae1278 Words   |  6 PagesThermopylae, in 480 B.C.E, demonstrated the strength, courage and bravery of the Spartan Army that went up against the Persians. The Spartans held off the Persian army of Xerxes for two days until their position was flanked by a secret trail. However, in the face of unbeatable odds and with the knowledge of a victory being almost impossible, they fought with the utmost confidence in themselves and proved that the Spartan army was one of the strongest armies in Greece, even though they were eventually

Anatomy Study guide free essay sample

Objectives 1. To understand the function of the endocrine system 2. To learn about the major endocrine glands, the hormones they produce, and the effects they initiate 3. To familiarize the student with histological identification of various endocrine glands Background The endocrine system consists of cells and tissues that secrete chemical messengers, called hormones, into the blood. The hormones are transported in the blood, via the circulatory system, to target cells. Once the hormone reaches the target cells and binds to a specific receptor, either on the cell membrane or within the cell cytoplasm or nucleus, it can initiate a response that will facilitate homeostasis in the body. Questions 1. What are some of the major endocrine glands? 2. List the three major categories of hormones. Identify specific hormones within each category. Procedure Using the microscope, examine the indicated endocrine glands. Draw a picture, identify any indicated structures within the gland, and answer the questions in each section. We will write a custom essay sample on Anatomy Study guide or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Total Magnification 1. Identify a pancreatic islet. 2. What major hormone is secreted by the alpha cells? Beta cells? What are the primary effects of each hormone? 3. Describe a pathophysiological condition associated with the pancreas (describe condition, symptoms and treatment). ADRENAL GLAND __________ Total Magnification 1. Identify the adrenal cortex and the adrenal medulla. 2. What major hormones are secreted by the adrenal cortex? Adrenal medulla? What are the primary effects of each hormone? Describe a pathophysiological condition associated with the adrenal glands (describe condition, symptoms and treatment). THYROID __________ Total Magnification 1. Identify the follicles, the follicular cells, and the colloid. 2. What major hormones are secreted by the thyroid? What are the primary effects of each hormone? 3. Describe a pathophysiological condition associated with the thyroid (describe condition, symptoms, and treatment). PITUITARY GLAND __________ Total Magnification 1. Identify the anterior pituitary and the posterior pituitary (Hint: the anterior pituitary staining is darker than the staining of the posterior pituitary). 2. What major hormones are secreted by the anterior pituitary? Posterior pituitary? What are the primary effects of each hormone? 3. Describe a pathophysiological condition associated with the pituitary (describe condition, symptoms, and treatment). Review Questions 1. Identify whether peptide/protein hormones are water soluble or lipophilic. How are they transported in the blood? Where on the cell are the receptors for these hormones located? 2. Identify whether steroid hormones are water soluble or lipophilic. How are they transported in the blood? Where on the cell are the receptors for these hormones located? 3. Distinguish between the mechanism by which peptide/protein hormones exhibit their effects on the target cell and the mechanism by which steroid hormones exhibit their effects on the target cell? 4. Choose a hormone and diagram a negative feedback loop that illustrates how the hormone helps the body to maintain homeostasis.

Organizational Development for Technological - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theOrganizational Developmentfor Technological or Structural. Answer: Identification Problems in the Organization The problems in the organization are a blend of primary culture, technological or structural. The case study talks about the implementation of technology in the project to make the services more effective for the customers. The company who is willing to implement the changes related to the technology is a publicly owned company. The change in the new information technology will result in the changes in the work processes and practice. In the organization, there are approximately 500 employees. The average age of the employees in the organization is 48 years. The level of education of the employees consist of 10% holds PG degree, 25% are graduated and 60% have upper secondary education and rest 5% completed 6-year basic education. The culture differences in the organization lead to the problem. The employees who are PG might expect that they will get the promotion. Though, due to the company's structure, they face the discrimination. Employees of the company also feel that they are no t valued in the organization. The structure of the organization is rigid. The promotion of the employees is based on the seniority and the years of service. The major sources of resistance to change in the organization In the case study, it is clearly visible that there are many reasons due to which employees of the organization resist the change.[1] Technology change will create problems for the employees who didnt perform well in the organization. Technology will enable performance management and goal setting in the organization. There are many employees in the organization that did not perform well in the organization and later they gave justification for their behavior by blaming other departments for the delay and inefficiencies.[2] With the emergence of the new technology company can easily check the employee's performance. This will become problems of the employees who didn't perform well. The new system might create stress and confusion for the employees in the organizations. There are some employees in the organization who knows the benefits of the new system. Though, they were unwilling to start it due to lack of confidence. The employees were not able to understand the idea behind the usage of the technology.[3] The senior employees in the organization were afraid of losing the face in front of the younger employees who were friendlier with the use of technology. The role of the union in the organization didn't smooth the implementation process. The union team decided to step against the changes taking place in the organization. Union also started an argument on the extra allowance from the company. They said that there might be some of the benefits of the technology but employees should be rewarded for the extra amount for the use of the technology. [4]The amount should be added to their salary. This was the chance for the employees to bring the rise in the amount of the salary. On this argument, the top management stated that it is not possible to increase the salary. For the company, the change management was an expensive deal. Lack of trust among the management and the employees. The company was characterized by the poor change history. Previously, the organization tried to bring an expensive consultant to implement the sequence of improvement in the company. At that time the management of the company got replaced and the new management wants to bring new changes. These results in no change in the system at that time and majority of people didn't believe in change. This leads to lack of trust among the managers and the employees. [5] The above paragraph talks about the reasons for the resistance to the employees in the organization. The organization should take some of the strategies to deal with the resistance. Strategies to deal with the Resistance by the Employees The organization should try to implement some of the strategies to deal with the resistance in the organization by the employees. [6]I believe that these strategies will help the organization in dealing with the employees. Communicating the Benefits of the Technology to the Employees Communication among the top management and the employees is must in the organization. The company should try to communicate the benefits of implementing the new technology in the organization. Technology is not only beneficial for the company's working but also for the personal development. The employees will get to know about the technologies, they will be able to keep themselves updated. Implementation of new technology in the organization will increase the productivity and efficiency of the company.[7] This will enhance the customer satisfaction which results in a decrease in the daily arguments among the customers and employees. Proper Training Facilities In the case study, the top level management of the company decided not to increase the budgets of the training and decided to perform the on-job training. Over here, the management needs to understand the requirement of the employees along with the reason for the resistance. Considering that the organization should try to increase the budget for the training of the employees. Training of the employees will make it easy for the employees to adopt the changes taking place in the organization.[8] Timing of the Changes The organization should make sure that the timings for bringing the change should be perfect. Basically, if company talks to bring huge changes in the company than the top management might face resistance from the employees.[9] The company should try to bring changes gradually in the organization. The employees of the organization become used to the changes. The employees will be able to adapt the changes more easily. Role of Leadership in the Case Study Supervisor or the leader plays a vital role in the organization. In the case study, the decision taken by the top management was communicated first to the supervisor of the company. The supervisor further communicates the decision to the employees.[10] The way the information is communicated by the supervisor to the employees matters a lot. Once the leader understands the situation he can give feedbacks and suggestion to the top management. In this case, due to lack of education and seniority level, the supervisors were not friendly with the new systems. In some of the departments, the younger employees of the organization need to show their superiors how to use the new systems. The superior and older employees don't feel comfortable in asking a question if they find any problem. The leader in the organization tries to pay overtime to those employees who want to work after the shift time. Though, union prevented a majority of people to take participation. The leader in this situation needs to understand that the development of the organization is a must. The role of the leader is to make the employees understand that these changes will bring development and new opportunities for the business. [11]Though, in the case study the leaders are not aware of the use of the technology though they can encourage the active participation of the employees. Leaders should ask the question if they find any problem. This will enhance the participation of the employees in the changes. Summary of the Key Problems The case study talks about the changes taking place in the public owned company. The organization is willing to bring new technology. The case talks about the resistance to the change. There are some of the problems faced by the top management. The employees of the company don't want to adopt the changes related to the technology. Over here, the manager should make the employees understand the importance of technology. The structure of the organization is rigid and promotion is based on age and experience. The organization should check the eligibility, skills, and capabilities of the employees and according to that organization should give promotions. The level of education is diversified in the organization. These are some of the key problems that occur in the organization. The union asked for the extra allowance from the company for using the technology. Later this became one of the problems with the management as they were not able to pay the extra amount to the employees for usin g the technology. Role of Organizational Development Organisation development is the study of successful organizational change and performance. The aim of the organization development is to enhance responses of an organization to adapt market changes and technological advances.[12] The development of the technology across the world enforces company to adopt technology in their business as well. These changes in the organization lead to increase the convenience in the work. At the same time, these changes could bring the efficiency and effectiveness in the organization. Organisation development enhances the communication among the employees in the organization. A continuous improvement in the organization makes the employees interact or share the views. This will make the employees more familiar with the changes. The development will lead to product and service enhancement. [13]Employee engagement in the organization will increase the creativity and innovation. Product innovation takes place by using the market research, customer expectations, competitive analysis etc. Product innovation will help the organization in increasing the profit of the company. Profit of the company will rise once the organization will be able to work with efficiency and effectiveness. This shows that the organization development could help in bringing the efficiency and effectiveness in the organization.[14] References Allen, David. Getting things done: The art of stress-free productivity. Penguin, 2015. Bridges, William, and Susan Bridges. Managing transitions: Making the most of change. Da Capo Press, 2017. Burke, W. Warner, and Debra A. Noumair. Organization development: A process of learning and changing. FT Press, 2015. Burke, W. Warner. Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications, 2017. Cornelissen, Joep, and Joep P. Cornelissen. Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage, 2017. Cummings, Thomas G., and Christopher G. Worley. Organization development and change. Cengage learning, 2014. Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press, 2015. Kuipers, Ben S., Malcolm Higgs, Walter Kickert, Lars Tummers, Jolien Grandia, and Joris Van der Voet. "The management of change in public organizations: A literature review." Public Administration 92, no. 1 (2014): 1-20. Nicholas, John M., and Herman Steyn. Project management for engineering, business and technology. Taylor Francis, 2017. Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications, 2015. Shin, Yuhyung, Sun Young Sung, Jin Nam Choi, and Min Soo Kim. "Top management ethical leadership and firm performance: Mediating role of ethical and procedural justice climate." Journal of Business Ethics 129, no. 1 (2015): 43-57. Smither, Robert, John Houston, and Sandra McIntire. Organization development: Strategies for changing environments. Routledge, 2016. Waddell, Dianne, Andrew Creed, Thomas G. Cummings, and Christopher Worley. Organisational change: Development and transformation. Cengage Learning, 2013. Wang, Dan-Shang, and Chia-Chun Hsieh. "The effect of authentic leadership on employee trust and employee engagement." Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal 41, no. 4 (2013): 613-624.

The New World free essay sample

The idea of a glorious earthly paradise far from the known world had existed in the European imagination long before 1492. That idea of a distant paradise on earth shaped the way Europeans came to think of America after Columbus and his successors reported their discoveries. For example, the following mythic lands may have served as inspirations for the alluring idea of America as a place of joy, ease, riches, and regeneration: a. the Garden of the Hesperides of Greek myth b. the Elysian Fields described by the poet Homer c. the Islands of the Blessed, described by Hesiod, Horace, and Pindar d. Atlantis, described by Plato in the Timaeus and the Critias e. the Garden of Eden f. the Fortunate Isles, described in the Voyage of St. Brendan (ninth century) g. the enchanted gardens of Renaissance literature Columbus’s discovery of America has been described as â€Å"perhaps the most important event recorded in secular history. We will write a custom essay sample on The New World or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † On the other hand, it has been pointed out that had Columbus not discovered America, it would soon have been discovered by some other explorer. Edmundo O’Gorman, in The Invention of America (1961), asserted that America was not discovered but was invented by Europeans in the 16th and following centuries. The contrary idea of America as a place of degenerated plants, animals, and humans was also held by Europeans long before it was set forth by the French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) in the early volumes of his Natural History (1749–1804). Thomas Jefferson made effective reply in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), but remnants of the idea continued to persist in the European popular mind. Modern readers are often surprised to learn of Columbus’s never-ending insistence, even in the face of contrary evidence, that he had reached the coast of Asia, not a new continent. That mistaken certainty was in large part caused by his faith in faulty calculations showing the earth’s circumference to be about 18,000 rather than 25,000 miles. The ancient geographer Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth with nearly perfect accuracy in the third century BCE. But Columbus, as did the best navigators of his time, relied on charts based on measurements made by the second-century-CE astronomer Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus). The calculation of the earth’s circumference presented in Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography (published, in Latin, in 1409) was off by more than 25 percent. Had the calculation been accurate, Columbus would have been correct in assuming that after sailing west for 33 days, he had indeed reached the Orient. Columbus’s writing style is spare and unornamented. In contrast, the letters (the first published in 1504) of Amerigo Vespucci, reporting his voyages to the New World from 1497 to 1504 (he claimed four,historians credit him with two), were filled with vivid and titillating details describing the new land and its inhabitants. As a result, Vespucci’s reports received greater attention throughout Europe than the reports (as distinct from the discovery itself) of Columbus. Because of Vespucci’s renown and because of his real accomplishments, the German geographer Martin Waldseemuller, in making his influential map of the new continent (1507), applied the name â€Å"America† to South America. Eventually, through popular usage, â€Å"America† came to be used for the North America as well. Vespucci’s voyage of 1501–1502 (under the flag of Portugal) along the coast of South America was the first extended exploration of the coast of the New World and the first to show clearly that the new lands were not a part of Asia but a new continent. That discovery is said by Vespucci’s partisans to justify naming the new continent America. Nevertheless, Vespucci has been vilified as a braggart and a windbag. Doubt has been cast on his accomplishments, although in recent decades they have in part been verified and shown to be substantial. Columbus’s first letter was printed and published in nine versions in 1493, and by 1500 it had appeared in nearly twenty editions. Yet his reports did not inspire the immediate outpouring of writing, personal and public, on the New World that might be expected. Indeed, from the last decades of the fifteenth century to the beginning decades of the seventeenth century, â€Å"four times as many books were devoted to the Turks and Asia as to America, and the proportion of books on Asia actually increased in the final decade† of that period (J. H. Elliot, The Old World and the New [1992] 12). When Columbus died in Vallodolid, Spain, in 1506, his death went unrecorded in the city chronicle. His fall to obscurity was in part caused by the fact that he was overbearing and irascible, creating many enemies. In addition,  the stories of his failures and his greed as a colonial administrator diminished him in the eyes of his contemporaries, further discouraging the celebration of his name in poems, romances, dramas, and histories. Columbus had failed to produce the expected supply of riches. He had failed to provide his voyages with effective chroniclers who could glorify his achievements, and he had no ability to effectively glorify himself in his written reports. Nor was he associated with a singular dramatic achievement—such as the conquest of the Aztec empire that raised Cortes to the stature of an epic hero. In the sixth century BC the Greek mathematician Pythagoras declared that the earth is a sphere. By the fifteenth century AD that fact was believed by the vast majority of educated Europeans. Yet a longstanding myth holds that Columbus was almost alone in believing that the earth is a sphere and for that belief suffered the ridicule of his learned contemporaries. The myth survives today, preserved in popular histories, tales, and even in popular song lyrics that proclaim: â€Å"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus /When he said the world was round. † In reporting that he was the first to see a light in the distance, on the night of October 11, before the actual sighting of land on October 12, Columbus appears to claim that he was the first to see the Indies. Note also Columbus’s solicitation of support for further exploration, his offering, if â€Å"their highnesses will render very slight assistance,† to provide gold, spice, cotton, mastic, â€Å"aloe-wood,† and â€Å"slaves, as many as they shall order to be shipped.   The explorers and conquerors of the New World in large measure based their justifications (stated or implied) for conquest on a  the cultural superiority of the conquerors; b. the physical and mental inferiority of the conquered; c. the backwardness of the Americans’ culture and technical development; d. the obligation and the ability of the intruders to make better use of the land and its resources; e. the duty to bring Christianity to the heathen. Columbus does not use all such justifications. Note his report that the Indians are â€Å"of a very acute intelligence. † Modern critics of Columbus assert that his treatment of the Indians showed a disregard for their natural rights. But the popular idea that individuals have natural rights (much less â€Å"unalienable† natural rights) did not arise for several centuries. Columbus took possession of the newly discovered land â€Å"by proclamation made and with royal standard unfurled. † His act was not a dramatic gesture meant to awe the natives but a formal step (compare the flag planting by the American astronauts on the moon in 1969) to establish, according to the international law of the day, that the lands and their inhabitants were now the possessions of Spain and subject to Spanish authority. Having taken formal and legal possession of the land and its inhabitants for Spain, Columbus assumed that he, as a royal official, was therefore justified in capturing six Indians and returning them as exhibits to the Spanish king and queen, just as a royal official could order the lives of men and women in Spain itself. Because he believed that he had landed in the Indies, Columbus used the word â€Å"Indians† to describe the people he saw. In recent years the word has been attacked as inaccurate and demeaning, although Columbus did not intend it to be so. The substitute â€Å"Native American† has been advanced, and is the most widely preferred term. The term â€Å"Siberian American† has been offered in its place as a more accurate term, but it is seen as derisive by some and remains unpopular. Columbus reported of the Indians, â€Å"With 50 [European] men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish. † Columbus was wrong. The attempt to coerce and enslave the men and women of the New World eventually failed. Yet the alluring idea of forcing native inhabitants to work for their conquerors long endured. For instance, John Smith reports of North American native inhabitants that they could be brought â€Å"all in subjection† and exploited by â€Å"forty or thirty† Englishmen. Discovery narratives traditionally report on the technical backwardness of the people of the discovered lands. In Columbus’s age the lack of technical development and the absence of metals such as iron and steel were taken as signs of primitive inferiority. In later ages, especially after the rise of the idea of the Noble Savage, a lack of technical achievement was taken as a sign of virtuous simplicity, of a life free of the dominance of the machine and the technological horrors that accompany it. Columbus describes the technical ignorance of the inhabitants and their unfamiliarity with metal-edged weapons: â€Å"I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. † Compare John Smith’s report of the Indians’ fear of gunpowder and firearms their amazement at the movements of a compass needle. The technical ignorance of a reportedly benighted people has often been and is still used to justify their subjugation and colonization by a technically superior culture that asserts its right to conquer, usually because it can â€Å"make better use of the land. † In addition, there was recourse to the religious justification for colonization—the argument that Christians have the right and the duty to lead (by force if necessary) those living in spiritual darkness into the light of religious truth and to the blessings of heaven. The religious justification is offered as a benefit to the pagans themselves. The technological argument is not. Rather its end is the fruitful exploitation of the land and its natural resources for the colonizers. But even the technological argument for exploiting the land has its biblical justification in the declarations that the land exists for the benefit of man, who therefore has an obligation to exploit and â€Å"subdue† it (Genesis 1:28). That Columbus was a sincere believer in Christianity is not in doubt. His devout faith is evident inthe names he gave the first islands he encountered in the New World: San Salvador and Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion. Yet his religious motives for colonizing the lands he discovered have sometimes been dismissed as a disguise for his true motives: greed for gold and desire to extract riches from the land. The desire for religious conversions and for gold is evident in almost all the early narratives of New World discovery. Columbus hoped to bring Christianity to the heathen by establishing the religion of Spain in the new lands. He had no desire to promote religious liberty and would have strongly resisted the idea. John Smith similarly believed that the English lands in North America should be colonized under the protection of an established church—the Church of England. It is worthwhile to compare the views of Columbus and Smith to the views of the Pilgrims and the Puritans who wished to escape what they believed to be an oppressive established church—though they themselves then demonstrated an oppressive narrowness with respect to departures from the confines of their views. Notice the appearance in Columbus’s reports of themes later apparent in American literature: a. America as a land suited to Christian evangelism and the ultimate coming of â€Å"the church triumphant† b. America as a paradise of exotic landscape and people and of simple and innocent life c. America as a place for economic, political, and spiritual opportunity and personal fulfillment. THOMAS HARIOT Thomas Hariot was among the first British explorers to arrive in the New World. Unlike Columbus, he was at least as much a scientist as an explorer. He was particularly interested in astronomy, optics, and the study of mathematics. Hariot’s A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia gives perspectives on the New World that differ from Columbus’s in accordance with his intellectual interests, as well as his nationality and the part of the world (Virginia, as opposed to the West Indies) that he visited. The third, and final, part of his report, presented in the anthology, offers another view of the inhabitants of the newly discovered land. JOHN SMITH John Smith has been described as the author of â€Å"the first English book written in America† (for his A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia [1608]), and his work is seen as a forerunner of a native, American literature. Smith’s accounts are also an early example of New World writing that emphasizes human qualities commonly thought to be typically American. Note his references to a. Practicality; b. Boastfulness; c. dislike of showy elegance; d. desire to exploit the environment. Smith’s description of New England combines two images of the New World that were current in Europe in the seventeenth century: a  the image of America as a paradise, a voluptuous land of easy riches b. the image of America as a land that would reward those showing the Protestant virtues of enterprise and willingness to work hard. The first image draws upon ancient myths that describe gardens of ease, joy, and eternal life. The second derives from the ideals of the capitalist middle class that rose to power with the end of feudalism in Europe. A third image, of America as a New Jerusalem, as a place for religious salvation, is not evident in Smith’s writings. Consider the rise to prominence of that third image after 1630 and the coming of the Puritans to Massachusetts Bay. Note how Smith writes of the visible, material world—describing plants, animals, and men—rather than the immaterial, speculative world of philosophy and theology. Smith assumed that the New World is for man’s exploitation, for his physical enjoyment, and for his earthly fulfillment—an assumption at odds with the Puritans’ view of the New World as a place of spiritual testing and of preparation for a fulfillment to be achieved only in heaven. Smith is often contrasted to the Puritans (and the Pilgrims), but there are these similarities: a. Both saw America as a place where individual men and women could escape from Old-World restraints and traditions. b. Both celebrated the possibility of communal, as well as individual regeneration in the lands claimed by England in the New World. c. Both condemned luxury and emphasized the virtues of hard work, abstinence, and enterprise. d. And both saw a life of ease and luxury as a sign of decay that portends inevitable destruction. Smith made no mention of religious freedom as a reason for colonizing. His own motives for colonizing (and what he believed to be the prime motives of others) were secular and materialistic: â€Å"For I am not so simple as to think that ever any other motive than wealth will ever erect there a commonwealth. † General History and his Description of New England are propaganda for colonization as much as they are descriptions of the New World. That is evident in the number and the variety of advantages he cites for colonization: a. profits for investors—†satisfaction of the adventurers† b  markets for English manufacturers—a letter survives, written by Smith to the London Society of Cordwainers (shoemakers) to point out that the Cordwainers, in their own self-interest, should support the settlement of Virginia because the rough land and the shell-strewn beaches of the New World were certain to wear out many shoes c. glory for the colonizers and their monarch—†eternizing of the memory† d. abundant raw materials, especially timber and naval stores (â€Å"pitch, tar, masts, yards†) e. good health for colonists—†not any was sick but two† f. riches (especially from fish)  freedom from harsh landlords, from law-breaking multitudes, from â€Å"tedious pleas in law† h. abundance of land. Who can desire more content† i. the bringing of â€Å"poor savages to know Christ and humanity† j. work for the poor, the idle, orphans, apprentices, and their masters k. sport for gentlemen—†For gentlemen: what exercise† Until the settling of Jamestown, English colonizing efforts in the New World were conspicuous for their failure. The only colonies that England had successfully established before Jamestown and Plymouth were colonies planted in Ireland. Some of the essentials for colonizing success set forth by Smith in A Description of New England (â€Å"provided always that first there be †): a. potent local government b. housing c. means of self-defense d. adequate provisions e. trained craftsmen Many reasons have been offered to explain why the Jamestown colonists failed to exert themselves sufficiently in establishing their colony: a. that too many of the colonists were â€Å"ne’er-do-wells† and gentlemen who were unused to hard work b. That the colonists were weakened by hunger and disease c. that the â€Å"communal basis† of the settlement discouraged individual enterprise   that many of the early colonizing reports, especially those written by the Spanish colonizers, encouraged the expectation that riches would be quickly found and profits quickly earned, that the â€Å"naturals† could be forced to supply the colonists with food, and that therefore diligent labor was unnecessary e. that the colonists expected their needs to be met by their London backers Note that none of the above explanations suggests that the English colonists, lacking government support such as the Spanish enjoyed, failed because their attempt to colonize Virginia at that time and place was simply beyond their abilities. Smith attributed the difficulties at Jamestown to dissension, weak government, lack of organization, and mistaken attempts by a central governing body (in London) to exert control at long distance. Such problems of government and society arose partly from human characteristics that later came to be considered distinctly American: a. radical individualism b. disrespect for law and governments c. hostility toward distant, central governments. Contempt for traditions of rank, privilege, and authority Note how such characteristics were prominent among the causes of the American Revolution, 170 years later, and how those same characteristics win popular praise today. It is also notable that the American environment and its great distance from Europe prohibited the easy transfer to America of England’s a. feudal class structure; b. widespread belief in the worth of a noble class and an idle gentry; c. upper-class contempt for those in â€Å"trade† or whose jobs required hard, physical labor; d. high valuation of the contemplative, intellectual life. The New World free essay sample That idea of a distant paradise on earth shaped the way Europeans came to think of America after Columbus and his successors reported their discoveries. For example, the following mythic lands may have served as inspirations for the alluring idea of America as a place of joy, ease, riches, and regeneration: a. the Garden of the Hesperides of Greek myth b. the Elysian Fields described by the poet Homer c. the Islands of the Blessed, described by Hesiod, Horace, and Pindar d. Atlantis, described by Plato in the Timaeus and the Critias e. the Garden of Eden f. the Fortunate Isles, described in the Voyage of St. Brendan (ninth century) g. the enchanted gardens of Renaissance literature Columbus’s discovery of America has been described as â€Å"perhaps the most important event recorded in secular history. † On the other hand, it has been pointed out that had Columbus not discovered America, it would soon have been discovered by some other explorer. We will write a custom essay sample on The New World or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Edmundo O’Gorman, in The Invention of America (1961), asserted that America was not discovered but was invented by Europeans in the 16th and following centuries. The contrary idea of America as a place of degenerated plants, animals, and humans was also held by Europeans long before it was set forth by the French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) in the early volumes of his Natural History (1749–1804). Thomas Jefferson made effective reply in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1785), but remnants of the idea continued to persist in the European popular mind. Modern readers are often surprised to learn of Columbus’s never-ending insistence, even in the face of contrary evidence, that he had reached the coast of Asia, not a new continent. That mistaken certainty was in large part caused by his faith in faulty calculations showing the earth’s circumference to be about 18,000 rather than 25,000 miles. The ancient geographer Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth with nearly perfect accuracy in the third century BCE. But Columbus, as did the best navigators of his time, relied on charts based on measurements made by the second-century-CE astronomer Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus). The calculation of the earth’s circumference presented in Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography (published, in Latin, in 1409) was off by more than 25 percent. Had the calculation been accurate, Columbus would have been correct in assuming that after sailing west for 33 days, he had indeed reached the Orient. Columbus’s writing style is spare and unornamented. In contrast, the letters (the first published in 1504) of Amerigo Vespucci, reporting his voyages to the New World from 1497 to 1504 (he claimed four,historians credit him with two), were filled with vivid and titillating details describing the new land and its inhabitants. As a result, Vespucci’s reports received greater attention throughout Europe than the reports (as distinct from the discovery itself) of Columbus. Because of Vespucci’s renown and because of his real accomplishments, the German geographer Martin Waldseemuller, in making his influential map of the new continent (1507), applied the name â€Å"America† to South America. Eventually, through popular usage, â€Å"America† came to be used for the North America as well. Vespucci’s voyage of 1501–1502 (under the flag of Portugal) along the coast of South America was the first extended exploration of the coast of the New World and the first to show clearly that the new lands were not a part of Asia but a new continent. That discovery is said by Vespucci’s partisans to justify naming the new continent America. Nevertheless, Vespucci has been vilified as a braggart and a windbag. Doubt has been cast on his accomplishments, although in recent decades they have in part been verified and shown to be substantial. Columbus’s first letter was printed and published in nine versions in 1493, and by 1500 it had appeared in nearly twenty editions. Yet his reports did not inspire the immediate outpouring of writing, personal and public, on the New World that might be expected. Indeed, from the last decades of the fifteenth century to the beginning decades of the seventeenth century, â€Å"four times as many books were devoted to the Turks and Asia as to America, and the proportion of books on Asia actually increased in the final decade† of that period (J. H. Elliot, The Old World and the New [1992] 12). When Columbus died in Vallodolid, Spain, in 1506, his death went unrecorded in the city chronicle. His fall to obscurity was in part caused by the fact that he was overbearing and irascible, creating many enemies. In addition,  the stories of his failures and his greed as a colonial administrator diminished him in the eyes of his contemporaries, further discouraging the celebration of his name in poems, romances, dramas, and histories. Columbus had failed to produce the expected supply of riches. He had failed to provide his voyages with effective chroniclers who could glorify his achievements, and he had no ability to effectively glorify himself in his written reports. Nor was he associated with a singular dramatic achievement—such as the conquest of the Aztec empire that raised Cortes to the stature of an epic hero. In the sixth century BC the Greek mathematician Pythagoras declared that the earth is a sphere. By the fifteenth century AD that fact was believed by the vast majority of educated Europeans. Yet a longstanding myth holds that Columbus was almost alone in believing that the earth is a sphere and for that belief suffered the ridicule of his learned contemporaries. The myth survives today, preserved in popular histories, tales, and even in popular song lyrics that proclaim: â€Å"They all laughed at Christopher Columbus /When he said the world was round. In reporting that he was the first to see a light in the distance, on the night of October 11, before the actual sighting of land on October 12, Columbus appears to claim that he was the first to see the Indies. Note also Columbus’s solicitation of support for further exploration, his offering, if â€Å"their highnesses will render very slight assistance,† to provide gold, spice, cotton, mastic, â€Å"aloe-wood,† and â€Å"slaves, as many as they shall order to be shipped. The explorers and conquerors of the New World in large measure based their justifications (stated or implied) for conquest on a.  the cultural superiority of the conquerors; b. the physical and mental inferiority of the conquered; c. the backwardness of the Americans’ culture and technical development; d. the obligation and the ability of the intruders to make better use of the land and its resources; e. the duty to bring Christianity to the heathen. Columbus does not use all such justifications. Note his report that the Indians are â€Å"of a very acute intelligence. † Modern critics of Columbus assert that his treatment of the Indians showed a disregard for their natural rights. But the popular idea that individuals have natural rights (much less â€Å"unalienable† natural rights) did not arise for several centuries. Columbus took possession of the newly discovered land â€Å"by proclamation made and with royal standard unfurled. † His act was not a dramatic gesture meant to awe the natives but a formal step (compare the flag planting by the American astronauts on the moon in 1969) to establish, according to the international law of the day, that the lands and their inhabitants were now the possessions of Spain and subject to Spanish authority. Having taken formal and legal possession of the land and its inhabitants for Spain, Columbus assumed that he, as a royal official, was therefore justified in capturing six Indians and returning them as exhibits to the Spanish king and queen, just as a royal official could order the lives of men and women in Spain itself. Because he believed that he had landed in the Indies, Columbus used the word â€Å"Indians† to describe the people he saw. In recent years the word has been attacked as inaccurate and demeaning, although Columbus did not intend it to be so. The substitute â€Å"Native American† has been advanced, and is the most widely preferred term. The term â€Å"Siberian American† has been offered in its place as a more accurate term, but it is seen as derisive by some and remains unpopular. Columbus reported of the Indians, â€Å"With 50 [European] men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish. † Columbus was wrong. The attempt to coerce and enslave the men and women of the New World eventually failed. Yet the alluring idea of forcing native inhabitants to work for their conquerors long endured. For instance, John Smith reports of North American native inhabitants that they could be brought â€Å"all in subjection† and exploited by â€Å"forty or thirty† Englishmen. Discovery narratives traditionally report on the technical backwardness of the people of the discovered lands. In Columbus’s age the lack of technical development and the absence of metals such as iron and steel were taken as signs of primitive inferiority. In later ages, especially after the rise of the idea of the Noble Savage, a lack of technical achievement was taken as a sign of virtuous simplicity, of a life free of the dominance of the machine and the technological horrors that accompany it. Columbus describes the technical ignorance of the inhabitants and their unfamiliarity with metal-edged weapons: â€Å"I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. † Compare John Smith’s report of the Indians’ fear of gunpowder and firearms their amazement at the movements of a compass needle. The technical ignorance of a reportedly benighted people has often been and is still used to justify their subjugation and colonization by a technically superior culture that asserts its right to conquer, usually because it can â€Å"make better use of the land. † In addition, there was recourse to the religious justification for colonization—the argument that Christians have the right and the duty to lead (by force if necessary) those living in spiritual darkness into the light of religious truth and to the blessings of heaven. The religious justification is offered as a benefit to the pagans themselves. The technological argument is not. Rather its end is the fruitful exploitation of the land and its natural resources for the colonizers. But even the technological argument for exploiting the land has its biblical justification in the declarations that the land exists for the benefit of man, who therefore has an obligation to exploit and â€Å"subdue† it (Genesis 1:28). That Columbus was a sincere believer in Christianity is not in doubt. His devout faith is evident inthe names he gave the first islands he encountered in the New World: San Salvador and Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion. Yet his religious motives for colonizing the lands he discovered have sometimes been dismissed as a disguise for his true motives: greed for gold and desire to extract riches from the land. The desire for religious conversions and for gold is evident in almost all the early narratives of New World discovery. Columbus hoped to bring Christianity to the heathen by establishing the religion of Spain in the new lands. He had no desire to promote religious liberty and would have strongly resisted the idea. John Smith similarly believed that the English lands in North America should be colonized under the protection of an established church—the Church of England. It is worthwhile to compare the views of Columbus and Smith to the views of the Pilgrims and the Puritans who wished to escape what they believed to be an oppressive established church—though they themselves then demonstrated an oppressive narrowness with respect to departures from the confines of their views. Notice the appearance in Columbus’s reports of themes later apparent in American literature: a. America as a land suited to Christian evangelism and the ultimate coming of â€Å"the church triumphant† b. America as a paradise of exotic landscape and people and of simple and innocent life c. America as a place for economic, political, and spiritual opportunity and personal fulfillment. THOMAS HARIOT Thomas Hariot was among the first British explorers to arrive in the New World. Unlike Columbus, he was at least as much a scientist as an explorer. He was particularly interested in astronomy, optics, and the study of mathematics. Hariot’s A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound Land of Virginia gives perspectives on the New World that differ from Columbus’s in accordance with his intellectual interests, as well as his nationality and the part of the world (Virginia, as opposed to the West Indies) that he visited. The third, and final, part of his report, presented in the anthology, offers another view of the inhabitants of the newly discovered land. JOHN SMITH John Smith has been described as the author of â€Å"the first English book written in America† (for his A True Relation of Occurrences and Accidents in Virginia [1608]), and his work is seen as a forerunner of a native, American literature. Smith’s accounts are also an early example of New World writing that emphasizes human qualities commonly thought to be typically American. Note his references to a. Practicality; b. Boastfulness; c. dislike of showy elegance; d. desire to exploit the environment. Smith’s description of New England combines two images of the New World that were current in Europe in the seventeenth century: a.  the image of America as a paradise, a voluptuous land of easy riches b. the image of America as a land that would reward those showing the Protestant virtues of enterprise and willingness to work hard. The first image draws upon ancient myths that describe gardens of ease, joy, and eternal life. The second derives from the ideals of the capitalist middle class that rose to power with the end of feudalism in Europe. A third image, of America as a New Jerusalem, as a place for religious salvation, is not evident in Smith’s writings. Consider the rise to prominence of that third image after 1630 and the coming of the Puritans to Massachusetts Bay. Note how Smith writes of the visible, material world—describing plants, animals, and men—rather than the immaterial, speculative world of philosophy and theology. Smith assumed that the New World is for man’s exploitation, for his physical enjoyment, and for his earthly fulfillment—an assumption at odds with the Puritans’ view of the New World as a place of spiritual testing and of preparation for a fulfillment to be achieved only in heaven. Smith is often contrasted to the Puritans (and the Pilgrims), but there are these similarities: a. Both saw America as a place where individual men and women could escape from Old-World restraints and traditions. b. Both celebrated the possibility of communal, as well as individual regeneration in the lands claimed by England in the New World. c. Both condemned luxury and emphasized the virtues of hard work, abstinence, and enterprise. d. And both saw a life of ease and luxury as a sign of decay that portends inevitable destruction. Smith made no mention of religious freedom as a reason for colonizing. His own motives for colonizing (and what he believed to be the prime motives of others) were secular and materialistic: â€Å"For I am not so simple as to think that ever any other motive than wealth will ever erect there a commonwealth. † General History and his Description of New England are propaganda for colonization as much as they are descriptions of the New World. That is evident in the number and the variety of advantages he cites for colonization: a. profits for investors—†satisfaction of the adventurers†. Markets for English manufacturers—a letter survives, written by Smith to the London Society of Cordwainers (shoemakers) to point out that the Cordwainers, in their own self-interest, should support the settlement of Virginia because the rough land and the shell-strewn beaches of the New World were certain to wear out many shoes c. glory for the colonizers and their monarch—†eternizing of the memory† d. abundant raw materials, especially timber and naval stores. Some of the essentials for colonizing success set forth by Smith in A Description of New England (â€Å"provided always that first there be †): a. potent local government b. housing c. means of self-defense d. adequate provisions e. trained craftsmen Many reasons have been offered to explain why the Jamestown colonists failed to exert themselves sufficiently in establishing their colony: a. that too many of the colonists were â€Å"ne’er-do-wells† and gentlemen who were unused to hard work b. that the colonists were weakened by hunger and disease c. that the â€Å"communal basis† of the settlement discouraged individual enterprise. That many of the early colonizing reports, especially those written by the Spanish colonizers, encouraged the expectation that riches would be quickly found and profits quickly earned, that the â€Å"naturals† could be forced to supply the colonists with food, and that therefore diligent labor was unnecessary e. that the colonists expected their needs to be met by their London backers Note that none of the above explanations suggests that the English colonists, lacking government support such as the Spanish enjoyed, failed because their attempt to colonize Virginia at that time and place was simply beyond their abilities. Smith attributed the difficulties at Jamestown to dissension, weak government, lack of organization, and mistaken attempts by a central governing body (in London) to exert control at long distance. Such problems of government and society arose partly from human characteristics that later came to be considered distinctly American: a. radical individualism b. disrespect for law and governments c. hostility toward distant, central governments d. Contempt for traditions of rank, privilege, and authority Note how such characteristics were prominent among the causes of the American Revolution, 170 years later, and how those same characteristics win popular praise today. It is also notable that the American environment and its great distance from Europe prohibited the easy transfer to America of England’s a. feudal class structure; b. widespread belief in the worth of a noble class and an idle gentry; c. upper-class contempt for those in â€Å"trade† or whose jobs required hard, physical labor; d. high valuation of the contemplative, intellectual life; Customs of labor, farming, law, and political organization. The travel literature of the 16th and 17th centuries commonly reported incidents in which New World savages were awestruck by examples of European science and technology. When Powhatan’s followers captured Smith, in December 1607, he was first exhibited before neighboring tribes. Smith’s description of events permits the conclusion that the Indians displayed him as a great trophy because he was a noble warrior (for his brave resistance) and a mighty wizard (for his tricks with a compass). Perhaps a better reason for the exhibition before local sub-tribes and their chiefs was revealed in 1845 when a manuscript letter (written in 1608) by Edward Maria Wingfield, former President of the Colony (and Smith’s enemy), was discovered and published. Wingfield wrote: having him prisoner, [they] carried him to [their] neighbors to see if any of them knew him for one of those which had been, some two or three years before us, in a river amongst them northward and [had] taken away some Indians from them by force. At last [they] brought him to the great Powhatan (of whom before we had no knowledge) who sent him home to our town the 8th of January [1608]. Pocahontas’s formal, tribal name was â€Å"Matoaka. † The nickname â€Å"Pocahontas† (meaning â€Å"playfulone†) was given to her by her father, Powhatan. Such nicknames were common among the Native peoples in Virginia. Powhatan himself had the tribal name of â€Å"Wahunsonacock,† the name â€Å"Powhatan† later takenfrom the name of the region in which he ruled. At the time of their adventure, Smith was 28 and Pocahontas 12 or 13. She died in 1617 while on a visit to England, well before any detailed description of her rescue of Smith was published. It is not known whether Smith saw Pocahontas while she was in England, and little is known of her true character. In his History of Travel into Virginia Britannia (1612), William Strachey described Pocahontas as: a well featured but wanton young girl, Powhatan’s daughter, [who], sometimes resorting to our fort, of the age then of 11 or 12 years, [would] get the boys forth with her into the market place and made them [cart]wheel, falling on their hands turning their heels upwards, whom she would follow, and [cart]wheel so herself, naked as she was, all the fort over. It is interesting to consider what qualities in Strachey’s â€Å"wanton young girl† and Smith’s savior helped make her the first heroine of American myth and folklore. Some points to note: a. Pocahontas’s similarity to ancient mythic heroines, daughters of kings who protect a heroic stranger renounce their native lands and people, yet fail to marry the hero—heroines . b. the similarity of Pocahontas’s experiences to those told in the various medieval romances c. Pocahontas’s similarity to historical American Indian heroines, such as Sacagawea (who served as guide and interpreter for Lewis and Clark) and Malinche (interpreter for Cortes in his conquest of the Aztecs) d. Pocahontas’s early appearance in literature, first referred to in Ben Jonson’s play Staple of News (1625) and then the subject of later works, such as (1) The Female American (1767), a novel published in London and described as â€Å"a second Robinson Crusoe†, and (2) The Indian Princess (1808), an American play, the first of many Pocahontas dramas, and the first of the vastly popular â€Å"Indian Plays† of the nineteenth-century American stage.

Theres a puter in my car essays

There's a 'puter in my car essays Its 12:25am on a Friday night. Its very quiet and Officer Peterson (my younger brother) and I are sitting quietly in the cruiser at the Speedway after getting a cup of coffee. Peterson reaches over and flips the switch on the laptop that sits between the driver and passenger seats and the familiar sound of Windows resonates through the patrol car. The computers desktop opens and there are two icons that dont look familiar, one is for the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the other is for the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS). Officer Peterson clicks on the NCIC icon which brings up a direct connection to the NCIC page at the FBIs website. He grins and starts chuckling as he types my name into the system, the machine pauses and then the page goes blank, the light in the patrol car dims for a second before the page is refreshed. I look at my brother and as the light returns, he points at the screen and there it is... all my information. From my address, ph one number, age, place of birth, to my social security number, drivers license number and driving record. I didnt even have time to respond when a call came over the radio, the voice of a female calls out something about a domestic disturbance and rattles off an address that I barely catch. Officer Peterson clicks on the LEADS icon on his laptop and the information of the call is displayed immediately on the system. As we pull out of the Speedway, Peterson flips on his siren and glances down, clicks on another icon on the desktop and a map pops up that shows the exact location of the call. In this paper, we will discuss the types of systems used, software and databases used, the benefits and problems of computers in patrol cars and also touch on issues of privacy that have come up due to this type of information being available. The systems used in patrol cars are called Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) which are eithe...

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Observation of pre-school children in a strange situation - Lab Report Example This study investigates the behavior of students in relation to the strange situation. It a plies a practical qualitative study on the response of children to strangers in comparison to their care givers. The "Strange Situation" is studied in this context based on the views of the psychologist Mary Ainsworth, in her devised procedure of Strange Situation for the testing of the quality of attachment of the infant to the mother and a stranger (Hans, Berstein & Sims, 2000). The method applied in this study uses the observation in real life and in accordance to the theory of secure attachment of the child to the caregiver, driven by confidence in his or her support. Through the attachment the child has a secure base which enables him or her to explore the world (Fraley & Spieker, 2003). The laboratory work focuses on the attachment-exploration balance as one of the methods of interest to the interaction between the preschool child in need of attachment as well as their dire need for the exploration of the environment. The second focus of the laboratory work is the secure-base phenomenon and the use of the attachment person (the care giver) to form the secure base, paving way for the exploration. This research uses two fundamental research methods in the evaluation of the behavior of children in the strange situation. One of the methods used is quantitative research methods. This involves the conversion of immeasurable behavioral qualities into measurable quantities for the purpose of statistical analysis. The second method it allies is the descriptive method in which it describes the relationship between the presence of and the absence of a stranger to the children response. It also describes the effects of the attachment to the parent in the behavior of the children. The designs of analysis pave way for three fundamental techniques, descriptive

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Political Science, Human Trafficking and the CAST Organization - Essay Example Below are stories of victims who were exploited through labour with little or no pay at all. A company in Jordan to work in the United States of America promised Kumar Ramjali from Nepal. However, instead of being taken to United States, he was forcefully taken to Iraq to work for the US army. His passport was seized and was not given permission to leave for over four years2. A 30- year old Bosnian lady named Jana was also a victim of job scam. She went to Slovenia for further studies. On reaching there, she got a female friend who organised for her an accounting job. On the interview day, a woman interviewed her then abruptly two men came into the interview room, which ended the interview. The men forcibly removed her out, she was beaten and raped several times by the men, after which she was taken to a secluded place raped repeatedly and drugged with drugs. Jana escaped from the traffickers after four months and now she is advocating against trafficking3. Most of the victims and experts agree that a lot must be done in providing protection and assistance to those affected by human trafficking. Perpetrators of this violation of human rights should be punished and prosecuted. Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) is an organisation in United States of America that provides services to trafficking victims. They have a client- centred approach in its interconnected activities to empower victims of trafficking in realizing their potential. They provide comprehensive services to trafficking victims, through provision of basic human needs, medical health care and legal services. CAST opened its first shelter in United States in 20044. It conducts policies that are aimed at advancing and protecting human rights of trafficking victims. It achieves these through experience and research of its clients both inside and outside the justice system5. It also provides training programmes to NGOs and IGOs that may

SOCIETY & EDUCATION IN JAPAN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

SOCIETY & EDUCATION IN JAPAN - Essay Example Additionally, the Japanese education institutions were widely diffused. For instance, the samurai class of warriors was strictly an institution meant for public education whereby classic Chinese literatures were taught. On the other hand, the private academies, referred to as Shijuku, were equivalent to high schools which were open to serve all the social classes. Practical skills, writing and reading were taught in Terakoya; the most popular learning institutions (Dore, 160). Due to the feudal system, formation of national consciousness was held back. Thus, amidst the crisis due to external pressure towards the end of Edo period, awareness of national unity and consciousness was likely to be formed through the modern system education (Rubinger, 11). During the process of adopting modernization in the country, which was in the mid nineteenth century, there was formation of a consensus whose aim was to get rid of the traditional systems of education that supported the split of social classes and create equal education opportunities to every individual across the nation. Furthermore, towards the end of Edo period, this new education system gave room for recruitment of individuals on the basis of their level of knowledge and their abilities. Moreover, the elite individual of the society were singled out in terms of their academic performances. By so doing, the initial condition for employment was decided as per a person’s academic credentials and soci al status. In the year 1868, there was a political revolution that marked the collapse of Tokugawa shogunate and the rise of a new government system where the Emperor was the head. This revolution (Meiji Restoration) can be deemed as the beginning of modernization in Japan. Initially, under Tokugawa, the country faced a lot of pressure from the western countries which demanded it to open up to external linkages.

Biology Essays Heart Disease

Biology Essays Heart Disease The Biological Basis and Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease. Coronary heart disease is a blanket term which describes all types of heart disease caused by blockage of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Lack of sufficient blood is associated with a lack of oxygen, also called ischemia. Hence coronary heart disease is also called ischemic heart disease. Angina, heart attack and heart failure and are all clinical forms of coronary heart disease.1 Overall, coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world.2 In the UK, heart attacks are responsible for around 150,000 deaths every year and cost the NHS approximately  £719 million per year. Almost half of all heart attack sufferers die within 20 days of the attack.3 The heart of the problem The heart is a vital organ, pumping blood which carries essential oxygen and nutrients all around the body. As a powerfully active muscle, the heart needs a ready and plentiful supply of oxygen and nutrients itself; however these are not extracted from the blood that flows through it. Instead, the heart has its own specific blood supply – the coronary arteries. There are two major coronary arteries – the right and left. The volume of blood which flows to the heart is largely determined by the width of these vessels and is not so dependent on the power at which the blood is pumped through them. Unlike other organs which can use the oxygen within veins if needed, the heart is completely reliant on the coronary arteries’ supply. Hence their ability to expand and supply more blood when required is essential.4-6 Coronary heart disease develops when various materials build up within the walls of the coronary arteries causing a narrowing of the vessels and potentially leading to complete blockage. The obstruction of blood flow to the heart which results from this build up within the coronary arteries can cause a range of cardiac problems. When the blood flow to the heart is only temporarily interrupted, usually during exercise and times of exertion when the heart muscle requires more oxygen, the condition is known as angina. A person with angina will experience short attacks of chest pain which usually clear up with rest. Ultimately, insufficient blood flow can result in actual physical damage to the heart tissue. In severe cases, where blood flow is completely blocked, the portion of the heart affected may die from lack of oxygen– this is termed myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack. Symptoms of heart attack include prolonged and severe chest pain, weakness and shortn ess of breath. In rare cases, patients with coronary heart disease experience heart failure. This is a broad condition which describes any symptoms showing that a patient’s heart is not performing as it should. 4-6 Why do coronary arteries become blocked? In healthy arteries, the walls are smooth and blood flows easily. The process leading to the development of coronary heart disease begins with the development of ‘fatty streaks’. These are yellow patches which appear within the wall of the coronary artery. The streaks are made up of a special type of cell called foam cells, which are rich in fats, plus smooth muscle cells. Over time, streaks can turn into plaques. Plaques, also known as atheroma, are fatty lumps which form within the lining of the arteries. There are various different kinds of plaques. Some are made up of a soft inner core of cholesterol covered by a thin firm outer layer. Others are completely solid and composed of smooth muscle cells and various other strong materials. Calcium may also build up on a plaque making the problem worse.4,7 What is the blockage like? Plaques cause several problems to coronary blood flow. Firstly, a plaque itself can be big enough to narrow the artery and reduce the space available for blood to flow through it. Secondly, as blood is thrust against the side of the plaque with each heart beat, the outer shell of the plaque may crack open exposing the cholesterol core. When the cholesterol core is exposed, blood clotting is triggered within the artery. Clots reduce the blood flow even more. This whole process can happen repeatedly causing the artery to become narrower and narrower and eventually leading to complete blockage.4,7 Overall, the process of plaque formation and associated thickening, loss of elasticity and narrowing of the artery walls is known as atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the major cause of coronary heart disease however, it is also present to some degree in almost every adult male in Western societies. What causes atherosclerosis to occur is complex and uncertain and there is much still to learn. Current thinking is that atherosclerosis results from some kind of ‘response to injury’ where initial non-specific injury to the lining of the artery wall triggers the whole process to start up.4,7,8 Risk factors Everyone has some chance of experiencing heart disease, however, various factors have been identified which increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease. These include:4,6,7,8 High cholesterol Smoking Lack of exercise Unhealthy diet Obesity Diabetes High blood pressure (hypertension) Mental stress High levels of certain blood clotting factors Family history Alcohol and coffee Male gender Ethnic group (e.g. Southern Asians in the UK are at higher risk) Most of these risk factors increase the risk of coronary heart disease by increasing the likelihood that atherosclerosis will develop within the coronary arteries themselves. Also, these risk factors have been found to ‘interact’. Hence if you have two or more risk factors your overall chance of developing coronary heart disease is proportionally higher than if you just had one risk factor.8 Heredity as a risk factor Coronary heart disease often occurs within several members of the same family, indicating that a genetic link may be involved. However, it is difficult to determine if the link between family members is due to genes or shared environmental factors, such as diet and exposure to smoke. Genetic factors have been shown to influence cholesterol levels and the amount of blood clotting factors a person has in their blood, which in turn has a knock-on effect on the risk of developing atherosclerosis. Overall, it seems that a combination of genetics and the environment would best explain the family link to heart disease. It has been estimated that 40% of the risk is controlled by genes, and 60% is due to environmental factors.4,6 High cholesterol as a risk factor There are two types of cholesterol found in the blood – ‘good’ HDL cholesterol which can protect against the development of heart disease and ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol which promotes the development of atherosclerosis. There is lots of evidence to show that unhealthy amounts of these two types of fat in the blood, i.e. high LDL and low HDL levels, can increase the chance of developing coronary heart disease. This is because high levels of cholesterol in the blood encourage the formation of plaques within the artery wall and promote the overall process of atheroschlerosis.4,6 The cause of high LDL levels has not been clearly established but dietary factors are likely to be involved. There is evidence that a diet high in saturated, but lacking in polyunsaturated, fat may contribute to high cholesterol levels. There is relatively little actual cholesterol in the diet, but saturated fat is converted into cholesterol in the liver.4,6 Lack of exercise as a risk factor Lack of exercise is a proven risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease. Overall, the risk is a third less in people who exercise compared to those who don’t.8 It seems that physical exercise has a protective effect on the development of coronary heart disease. The mechanism underlying this has not been fully elucidated but certain hypotheses have been put forward. Exercise may increase levels of good HDL cholesterol and also reduce the blood clotting which occurs within atherosclerotic arteries and causes further blockage. Exercise might also help enlarge the coronary arteries and hence increase blood supply to the heart. In order to gain full health benefits from exercise in the reduction of coronary heart disease risk, five bouts of moderate physical activity per week, each lasting a minimum of 30 minutes, are recommended. Conclusion Coronary heart disease is a serious condition caused by the build-up of fatty deposits within the walls of the vital arteries that supply blood to the heart. Coronary heart disease is the major cause of death in Western societies but to a large extent is preventable. Recognising the key risk factors which contribute to the development of atherosclerosis is an important step towards reducing the overall incidence of coronary heart disease. References Walton J, Beeson PB, Bodley Scott R, 1986. The Oxford Companion to Medicine: Volume I, A-M. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Higgins M, 2001. Patients, families and populations at high risk for coronary heart disease. European Heart Journal, 22: 1682-1690. Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, 2005. Hitting the Target: Medicines and Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke. Available at: http://www.abpi.org.uk/publications/publication_details/hitting_target/section5b.asp [Accessed 14 March 2005]. Julian DG Campbell Cowan J, 1992. Cardiology: Sixth Edition. London: Bailliere Tindal. Vander AJ, Sherman JH, Luciano DS, 1994. Human Physiology: The Mechanisms of Body Function. International Edition: McGraw-Hill. Edwards CRW Bouchier IAD (Eds), 1991. Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine: Sixteenth Edition. London: Churchill Livingston. Singh VN, 2005. Coronary Heart Disease. Emedicine. Available from: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/articles/10951-1.asp [Accessed 14 March 2005]. PRODIGY Guidance, 2004. Preventing Heart Disease and Stroke. Patient information leaflet. Available at: http://www.prodigy.nhs.uk/clinicalguidance/releasedguidance/webBrowser/pils/PL82.htm [Accessed 14 March 2005].

alcohol :: essays research papers

Alcohol is a compound of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which can be combined together in many different ways. There are many different kinds of alcohol, the commonest being called ethyl alcohol. Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is present in varying amounts in beers and wines, and in distilled liquors such as whiskey, gin, and rum. Alcohol consumption touches many million people around the world. The use of alcohol depends on an individual’s social, cultural, or religious background. One of the earliest mentions of wine making is from an Egyptian papyrus dated 3,500 BC. However, alcohol drinking is thought to go back almost as far as the human race does. Alcohol has been central to social, religious and personal use all over the world throughout history. When an individual consumes alcohol there are both short term and long term effects. The most immediate effect of alcohol consumption is change of mood. Even though alcohol is makes you feel excitement, happiness and relaxation it is in fact a depressant. Alcohol in the bloodstream causes impairment of motor co-ordination and slows down central nervous system activity, which gives the impression of clumsiness and can lead to alcohol related accidents. The more intoxicated a person has slurred speech, blurred vision and the loss of balance. Furthermore it switches off the part of the brain that controls judgment which can result in greater risk taking. However drinking in very large quantities can damage vital bodily functions which may lead to coma, or even death. Alcohol also impairs the memory of an intoxicated person which reduces the drinker’s ability to remember information that he or she has learned before going out for drinks. In addition, the attention span of the drinker radically decreases for periods of up to forty-eight hours after drinking. This may affect the academic performance of a student and his or her ability to study in class. Furthermore consumption of alcohol can damage the functioning of the immune system. Hence, this will increase the chance of getting colds and other diseases. Drinking for long periods of time can have harmful effects on the body, alcohol is in fact a poisonous substance, having it circulating in the body will contribute to severe intestinal dysfunction. However, alcohol alone is not the sole cause of these problems; it simply increases the risk of developing certain diseases/dysfunction such as There is no denying the fact that, Alcohol use is in excess in our culture. alcohol :: essays research papers Alcohol is a compound of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which can be combined together in many different ways. There are many different kinds of alcohol, the commonest being called ethyl alcohol. Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is present in varying amounts in beers and wines, and in distilled liquors such as whiskey, gin, and rum. Alcohol consumption touches many million people around the world. The use of alcohol depends on an individual’s social, cultural, or religious background. One of the earliest mentions of wine making is from an Egyptian papyrus dated 3,500 BC. However, alcohol drinking is thought to go back almost as far as the human race does. Alcohol has been central to social, religious and personal use all over the world throughout history. When an individual consumes alcohol there are both short term and long term effects. The most immediate effect of alcohol consumption is change of mood. Even though alcohol is makes you feel excitement, happiness and relaxation it is in fact a depressant. Alcohol in the bloodstream causes impairment of motor co-ordination and slows down central nervous system activity, which gives the impression of clumsiness and can lead to alcohol related accidents. The more intoxicated a person has slurred speech, blurred vision and the loss of balance. Furthermore it switches off the part of the brain that controls judgment which can result in greater risk taking. However drinking in very large quantities can damage vital bodily functions which may lead to coma, or even death. Alcohol also impairs the memory of an intoxicated person which reduces the drinker’s ability to remember information that he or she has learned before going out for drinks. In addition, the attention span of the drinker radically decreases for periods of up to forty-eight hours after drinking. This may affect the academic performance of a student and his or her ability to study in class. Furthermore consumption of alcohol can damage the functioning of the immune system. Hence, this will increase the chance of getting colds and other diseases. Drinking for long periods of time can have harmful effects on the body, alcohol is in fact a poisonous substance, having it circulating in the body will contribute to severe intestinal dysfunction. However, alcohol alone is not the sole cause of these problems; it simply increases the risk of developing certain diseases/dysfunction such as There is no denying the fact that, Alcohol use is in excess in our culture.

Stratford Sherman Eight Steps Toward Integrity

After reviewing Stratford Sherman Eight Steps toward Integrity, it has different components of business ethics that businesses can use as a basic guideline. The Eight Steps toward Integrity include: doing what we say we will do, doing the right thing, taking responsibility, supporting our own weight, holistic thinking, checking the mirror, defining the rules and values. The first step is doing what we say we will do which â€Å"includes keeping promises and meeting deadlines†¦ —and often, tough negotiation—prior to making commitments. (Stratford Sherman). Doing the right thing includes being aware of what’s right and performing the right actions. This also includes accepting the consequences. Taking responsibility is simply taking responsibility for your actions. Supporting your own weight â€Å"means functioning as a whole. † (Stratford Sherman). Holistic thinking is â€Å"an appreciation of wholeness in the world supports its practice. † (St ratford Sherman). Checking the mirror is taking the time to do an honest review of you or as Sherman said pause for reflection.Defining the rules and values is simply rules about the basics that can be applied to almost anything from couples to organizations. New local health codes require that trash dumpsters be at minimum of thirty feet from the rear entrance of the building. The new laws also include that all out buildings be at minimum of six feet from the property line; Sandwich Blitz is in violation of these laws. The enclosure that houses the trash dumpster is five feet from the property line. The government inspector has told the unit manager that he would be willing to approve this if Sandwich Blitz provides the food for his department's holiday party.Dalman and the Location Manager should decline the government inspector offer for multiple reasons. One reason is because this is very unethical for business owners to accept a bribe when they’re violating the law and t his is also unethical for the government inspector to make this offer. Dalman and the Location Manager need to do the right thing, take responsibility, and support their own weight. But let’s say that Dalman and the Location Manager accept the government inspectors’ offer.What if another inspector comes to inspect the building after Sandwich Blitz have already provided the food for the inspectors department holiday party? The issue still remains that the enclosure that houses the trash dumpster is only five feet from the property line when laws require it to be six feet from the property line. Dalman and the Location Manager need to strategize other solutions such as finding out if the enclosure can be redesigned or if they can move the whole structure back only 1foot so that Sandwich Blitz will not be in violation.

Free Essays on Comparison Of Don Quixote, Sir Gawain, And The Confucian Gentleman

Quixote, Sir Gawain, and the Confucian gentleman are examples of the imperfections of mankind. No matter how hard each of them tries there is always a fundamental flaw that keeps them from perfecting their inner self. I chose to analyze Chapter 3 of Book 1 in Don Quixote. This chapter is important to the novel as a whole because it shows that Don Quixote is truly insane and not just faking being mad. In chapter 3 Don Quixote and Sancho Panza come across an inn that Don Quixote imagines being an enormous castle. The chapter begins with Don Quixote begging the keeper of the inn to formally knight him with an elaborate ceremony at his castle. The innkeeper then realizes that Don Quixote is insane so he plays along with his act and agrees to knight him. The innkeeper goes on to tell Don Quixote that he was once a brave knight errant who traveled the world seeking adventure. The places the innkeeper describes are low-life parts of towns in Spain. If Don Quixote had been truly a sane person he would have realized at this point that the innkeeper was lying because no knight errant would be in the slum parts of towns. But he did not realize that the man was lying because he is insane at this poi nt of the novel. The innkeeper and Don Quixote then have a conversation in which Don Quixote reveals that he carries no money because he has never read of a knight errant carrying money. The innkeeper tells Don Quixote that money is not discussed in the books because it is such an obvious thing to have. Having no money on a trip is another fact that shows how insane Don Quixote really is. After this brief talk Don Quixote finally realizes that money is a necessity that must be carried at all times. He then goes to the courtyard to complete his vigil, but ends up knocking a man unconscious simply because he moved Don Quixote armor. Before knocking the man out he says a quick prayer to his lady Dulcinea, who does not love Don Quixote in ... Free Essays on Comparison Of Don Quixote, Sir Gawain, And The Confucian Gentleman Free Essays on Comparison Of Don Quixote, Sir Gawain, And The Confucian Gentleman Quixote, Sir Gawain, and the Confucian gentleman are examples of the imperfections of mankind. No matter how hard each of them tries there is always a fundamental flaw that keeps them from perfecting their inner self. I chose to analyze Chapter 3 of Book 1 in Don Quixote. This chapter is important to the novel as a whole because it shows that Don Quixote is truly insane and not just faking being mad. In chapter 3 Don Quixote and Sancho Panza come across an inn that Don Quixote imagines being an enormous castle. The chapter begins with Don Quixote begging the keeper of the inn to formally knight him with an elaborate ceremony at his castle. The innkeeper then realizes that Don Quixote is insane so he plays along with his act and agrees to knight him. The innkeeper goes on to tell Don Quixote that he was once a brave knight errant who traveled the world seeking adventure. The places the innkeeper describes are low-life parts of towns in Spain. If Don Quixote had been truly a sane person he would have realized at this point that the innkeeper was lying because no knight errant would be in the slum parts of towns. But he did not realize that the man was lying because he is insane at this poi nt of the novel. The innkeeper and Don Quixote then have a conversation in which Don Quixote reveals that he carries no money because he has never read of a knight errant carrying money. The innkeeper tells Don Quixote that money is not discussed in the books because it is such an obvious thing to have. Having no money on a trip is another fact that shows how insane Don Quixote really is. After this brief talk Don Quixote finally realizes that money is a necessity that must be carried at all times. He then goes to the courtyard to complete his vigil, but ends up knocking a man unconscious simply because he moved Don Quixote armor. Before knocking the man out he says a quick prayer to his lady Dulcinea, who does not love Don Quixote in ...

How the Movie Crash Presents the African Americans

How the Movie Crash Presents the African Americans Racial discrimination, prejudice and stereotype issues remain complicated matters in America. The theme of the movie the Crash is about racial discrimination in the modern America. Its creator, Paul Haggis, utilizes dialogue as well as the physical actions of the characters in the movie to illustrate the stereotypes that each of the characters holds about a particular race.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on How the Movie Crash Presents the African Americans specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The main style that haggis applied in the creation of the movie was the antagonist and protagonist approach. The movie setting was in a variety of scenes including; snow, fire as well as day and night settings. Another aim that Haggis achieves in the movie is to reveal to the audience the different roles that each of the many races play in the modern America. The movie presumes that people always feel prejudice and express racial s entiments against members of the other group; they also face the consequences of these feelings and resentments (Ebert 2006, p. 217). This paper analyses how the movie portrays the African American race as far as racial prejudice and discrimination is concerned. The crash was filmed in Los Angels which Haggis points out through the movie as a fertile ground for racial tension. The movie paints a picture of the racial tensions that are rife in any multicultural society. Los Angels is the battle ground of the problems of racial discrimination and prejudice. The black’s community is the most oppressed and the poor victims of racial discrimination. What comes out clearly from the movie is that racism is not entirely a white problem but rather a human problem. All human beings tend to react against one another with prejudice based either on race or ethnicity. Every character in the movie is either a creator or a victim of the racial prejudice of the other. The crash fearlessly p oints out the whites as the dominant racists starting from the racist cop all to the prejudice of the purse clutching wealthy woman (Vera Feagin 2007, p.124). One can easily conclude that the other ethnic groups react in a revenging manner to the treatment they receive from the whites and hitting back at them and against each other. Methodology This paper reviews the movie â€Å"the Crash† with particular interest to how the movie portrays the African Americans. This analysis will review the various episodes of the movie, paying special attention on the treatment that the African Americans receive from the other groups and how they also respond to members of the other groups. Advertising Looking for report on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Instances of racial prejudice against the various black characters shall be pointed out as painted by the author of the movie. We shall also point out i nstances where the African Americans characters react in racial manner against the other races. The paper relies on scholarly reviews of the movie to emphasis the position taken in the discussion and validates it more. The incidences of racial prejudice from either way shall be analyzed and reported to reveal how the group of focus in the movie by this paper is portrayed. Findings and Analysis Most of those who have viewed the movie the crash hold the view that this movie presents an amplified reality that serves to rekindle the viewers’ conscience about racial prejudice. The episodes of racial prejudice are presented in a way that leaves the viewer wondering if he or she has can react in a similar manner to members of different races. It is not a mirror to reflect the reality of life but instead a magnifying glass to humanity, reflecting on the weakness that mankind has towards one another, based our differences. Human differences exist as a result of race, culture and ethn icity. The name of the movie seems to be an analogy of the several car crashes that are featured in the movie. The storyline begins some days to Christmas in Los Angeles with an episode where two the lead character of the movie Sandra Bullock together with her husband who was also the district attorney is carjacked. The carjacking incidence involves some African American guys. In this episode, the carjackers who are African Americans are presented as primitive and barbaric individuals whose prejudice targets the whites. Their heinous activities target the whites with an aim of hitting back at them. Another episode occurs in a different part of Los Angeles in which the cops Ryan and Hanson show racism by pulling over on Cameron an African American director together with his wife. The attack occurs without any apparent cause; Ryan goes a head to sexually molest the Christine the wife of Cameron in front of her husband who appears helpless at this moment. He justifies his actions by saying he was searching for hidden weapons in Christine’s cloths. Advertising We will write a custom report sample on How the Movie Crash Presents the African Americans specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This episode paints the cops a different picture of what they are supposed to be. The cops are supposed to provide security and ensure that victims of racial prejudice are defended according to the law. When the agents of security instead turn out to be the racists then it becomes trickier for the victims. It appears like the cops would rather attend to cases where fellow whites are victims rather than where the African Americans are the victims. The acts of the cop towards Christine are very dehumanizing considering that the cop was molesting her right in front of her husband. Christine was so angered that her husband Cameron did not react to what the cop was doing to her right in front of him. In response, the husband defends his quietness saying that was the right thing to do at that time. The scene at Cobalt’s house where a locksmith Mr. Michael Pena was called to change the lock also shows a racist act by Sandra. Sandra is in an argument with her husband Rick to change the locksmith. Being black, Sandra argues that the locksmith was a member of the gang that carjacked them. The locksmith overhears the argument and the negative comments directed to him. The locksmith leaves feeling insulted; this scene carries the prejudice that Sandra has towards the blacks and especially after being carjacked by the two young black men. The locksmith was indeed not a member of the gang but because of the prejudice that Sandra had towards the blacks, she generalizes the experience she had from the black thieves to all blacks. According to her, any black is a car thief and she does not want to interact with them in any way. The locksmith is apparently very sensitive to the racial comments hurled against her b y the Sandra and leaves feeling insulted. The two car thieves Anthony and peter proceed to the SUV, discussing issues of racism and country music. While in the discussion, they hit an Asian man, the two are puzzled by the event and instead of helping the injured victim they dump him in front of a hospital. Under normal circumstances, one would expect immediate first aid to the car accident victim or being rushed to hospital for medical check-up. The negligent attitude by peter and Anthony can be linked to the racial difference between them and the Asian man. This shows how bad racial prejudice can be; to an extent that on looses the human feelings towards fellow humans just because they belong to a different race. When eventually the two return the car to the owner, Mr. Lucien, he refuses to take the car because it had bloodstains. The demand that Lucien places on peter and his friend Anthony are too high and can also be linked to the racial differences between them. Advertising Looking for report on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There is also an episode where the car thief Anthony refuses to board a bus that was carrying fellow blacks with a claim that he can not rob a black man. This was a clear indication that gang targeted members of different races but not their fellow blacks. Their target is clear prejudice directed towards other races. There is general hatred for the racist cop by Shaniqua. Ryan pays Shaniqua a visit to explain the condition of his ailing father and how he badly requires a transfer. Because of the hatred that Shaniqua has towards Ryan, she refuses to grant her the transfer arguing that the health cover on offer does not take care of the fathers’ case. Ryan is annoyed by her objection and tries to tell her how the now ailing father fought tirelessly for affirmative action to grant equal rights to the blacks as the minority group. Shaniqua reveals that he could only accept to the request if it was the father who had come but not Ryan. This episode is an illustration of the preju dice that those holding office position have to people who do not belong to their race. Services even in public offices are offered with divided loyalty based on which race one belongs. This are samples of new forms of racism that are currently replacing the older forms of racial prejudice (Ebert 2009, p. 232). The racist cop Ryan seems to have been noted by many people who are equally waiting for a chance to revenge against his behavior. When Cameron goes to the studio where he works, the producer who is a white claims one of the black actors in the movie is not acting as a black. The producer insists the black actor should act properly like a black person. Because of this, the producer suspends the production of the movie and orders Cameron to re-shoot the movie again. The treatment he receives from the white producer leaves him disgusted and annoyed by the comments made by the producer about the blacks. Two racial issues are clear from this episode, one is the perception that t he white producer has about how the blacks should act in the movie and the attitude that he has towards Cameron as to force him to reshoot the movie to look like black. At the same incidence, Cameron’s wife Christine arrives and reminds him of the previous instance in the hands of the racist cop. Memories of the act makes Cameron more annoyed and he leaves her crying. Farhad refused to pay Daniel a black man for fixing the lock to his door after he told him he needed a new door. Daniel left disgusted and a few days later, Farhad’s shop was wrecked and labeled with racial impressions in graffiti. Farhad was so much annoyed by the act and set out to find the locksmith. He went to an insurance company for compensation but was turned away the company terming it an act of negligence. Farhad proceeded to the locksmith company demanding to be told the name of the fellow who had fixed the lock to his shop but the company refused to disclose the name to him. Farhad wanted to launch revenge to Daniel for the racist illustrations and the wrecking of his shop. Racial prejudice is revealed in the decision that the locksmith takes to put racist illustrations on the shop as revenge against the owner refusing to pay him. There are definitely many legal steps Daniel would have taken to demand payment from Farhad, instead he choose to hurt Farhad by the graffiti illustrations on his shop. Discussion When Christine was involved in an accident, Ryan was on patrol and ran to the scene of accident to assist the casualties. Christine was trapped in the crashed car and crying out for help, when Christine saw Ryan as one among those who had come to her rescue, she screamed at him. She remembered the ordeal she underwent in the hands of Ryan and felt he could easily do the same again. Ryan was more human this time and assisted together with others at the scene to pull her out of the nearly burning wreck. This time Christine was more grateful to Ryan for the effort to a ssist her out of the nearly burning wreck. As Hilliard (2009, p. 147) points out, racism is more of a personal responsibility and should not be generalized to a group. The impact of racism is felt more by those who have ever been victims of the act from others. Another scene that depicts the role of African Americans in racial prejudice is brought out when Cameron was driving as stopped at a road sign. Peter and Anthony the two black carjackers pulled over to carjack him, not realizing that he was one of them. A fight ensues between them which attract the nearby cops to the scene. Cameron and Anthony take off together in the car which the cops decide to give a chase. Their car is eventually cornered and Cameron comes out threatening the cops, Anthony instead hides in the back seat. The two are arrested by the police for investigation but later released from the cops’ custody. Cameron is annoyed by Anthony terming him an embarrassment. It is clear in this episode the prejudic e Anthony and peter have against the whites, their attack on Cameron a fellow black was a mistaken. They targeted to carjack at least a person of different race but not one of their own. When they are cornered Cameron comes out to threaten the white cops but Anthony instead hides in the car. Cameron is annoyed at how Anthony can not come out to assist him hit back at the cops. Peter and the cop Hansen meet in a controversial scene; peter picked up Hansen and was seen to be in a friendly mood chatting heartily with him. A problem later ensues when peter points at the statute on Hansen’s dashboard. It was a statute of sir Christopher, instead peter pulls out his statute from the pocket and tries to justify how his was more superior than that of Hansen. Hansen is annoyed by peter’s reaction to his statute and shoots him dead. The movie begins with characters that seem to be all independent but only reveal their dependence towards the end of the movie. After shooting pe ter, Hansen abandoned his car and set it ablaze, this may be associated likely to the guilt that he had after shooting and damping peter’s body. Cameron comes across the burning car and instead of trying some effort that could stop the fire; he threw a piece of wood into the fire. This was intended to even fan the fire more. The act was because the car belonged to Hansen who was a white cop. On visiting the chop shop, Anthony met a group of illegal immigrants to whom Lucien offered $500 each, Anthony refused the money and instead offered to drop off the immigrants to Chinatown, he also gave one of them some money to buy himself food. This act towards the immigrant left him more redeemed. Conclusion Haggis succeeded in painting the picture of human weakness in the face of racial or ethnic differences. The modern America comprises of different racial groups from all over the world who have migrated and settled in search of opportunities. Others were taken there during the days of slavery. There are also illegal immigrants who continue to flock in from various parts of the world seeking for better opportunities or running away from problems in their countries. The differences based on race, culture and ethnicity often brew serious tensions among the various groups. It is worthy noting that racism is not a problem of one particular group or race but a problem of humanity. There is no one group that is a victim forever just as there is no group that is a perpetual creator of racism. Human beings tend to cluster one another according to the similarities they have in terms of race and ethnicity. Some of the scenes in the Movie Crash can be offending to viewers from the different various racial groups but holds a lot of truth (Garret 2007, p. 126). Racial prejudice and discrimination can only be dealt with by cultivating consciousness through movies like the crash. Reference List Ebert, R. (2009). Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook 2009. Kansas City: Andrew McMeel Publishing Company Ebert, R. (2006). Awake In the Dark: The Best Of Roger Ebert: Forty Years Of Reviews, Essays. Chicago: university of Chicago Press Garrett, G. (2007). The Gospel According To Hollywood. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press Hilliard, L., R. (2009). Hollywood speaks out: pictures that dared to protest real world issues. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Vera, H., Feagin, R., J. (2007). Handbook of the Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations. New York: Springer