Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Essay on The Effects of the Civil War on the United States

Civil War Research Paper The effects of the Civil War brought about changes in the United States. The country had to answer the question: To what level of moral and ethical conduct do we want Americans to be held? Loyalties were seriously evaluated. People had to decide if they held their loyalty to the country as a whole, their state, their families, or even to humanity as a whole. They had to decide if it was right to own another person, or if the slavery system was justified as a way to keep the Southern economy going. Through all this contemplation, people wrote about their thoughts and fears, and as a result, people abandoned romanticism and became realists. Many writings of the Civil War, whether informational or literary, reflect†¦show more content†¦Ambrose uses realism in his writings by giving vivid details of the thoughts of this civilian who is caught by the Union soldiers and is about to be hanged. â€Å"Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal ma nifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him† (457). This shows us how a man’s loyalties can affect him greatly, especially when he chooses a path that can ultimately lead to death. The Civil War was not only a bloody war, but it also made people question humanity itself. Is it right or wrong to own another human being? Many writers would write of the anarchy and despair that ensued during the Civil War. With a realistic style, the details of this struggle for humanity were clear in the writings of this time period. Abraham Lincoln addressed the people of the United States in his writing â€Å"The Gettysburg Address.† Lincoln’s speech addresses how our nation dealt with the struggle of equality and humanity. Lincoln’s strong ideas and beliefs on humanity are shown in his speech: â€Å"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion† (503). The glory days of romantic ideas and limitless possibilities suddenly and drasticallyShow MoreRelatedEffects Of The Civil War On The United States2477 Words   |  10 PagesThe United States of America following the Civil War was one that would be entrenched into the culture of the country for the remainder of its existence. While there are no survivors from the war or the time still living, we still see the effects of the war waning on the country. If not today, then definitely through the civil rights movement, but I digress. The Reconstruction Era in the United States followed the Civil War after the defeat of the Confederate States of America by the United StatesRead MoreCivil War And Its Effects On The United States1347 Words   |  6 Pagesconfederate generals, 21 year old Dylann Roof wore a Rhodesian badge, as he shot nine african americans in the Emanuel Church in hope of â€Å"igniting a civil war†. (Jessica Glenza; The guardian) Previously that year Roof, had been arrested and banned from a public mall, in march for a drug charge and in April for trespassing. In his case file it states that he was found in possession of narcotics to treat his drug addiction. It was also noted that he had an obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, despiteRead MoreA Brief Note On Civil War And Its Effects On The United States1602 Words   |  7 Pages Civil War Civil War is defined as a war between citizens of the same country. Why would America have this fight? The Northern states of America decided that they would no longer tolerate the Southern states treating African Americans as slaves because of the color of their skin. When disputes were brought up over this issue between the North and South, the South was too persistent to have slaves. They worried that the North would be successful in abolishing slavery, so in result, the South wentRead MoreCivil War1284 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿American Civil War Milan Patel The journal paper discusses the problems faced by Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis that contributed to civil war in their respective states. It analyses the contribution of each person in the American civil war. The achievements of both commanders will also be discussed together with their weaknesses. Introduction A civil war involves the conflict between different groups in the same state. The main objectives of the civil war are the intention of one group toRead MoreWhat Caused The American Civil War1634 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Civil War from 1861 to 1865? There has been several different debates and disputes about the causes of the American Civil War. Historians have stated slavery was the primary cause of the American Civil War, while other historians have argued there were other causes and effects in conjunction with slavery. Research has shown all historians did agree upon the division between the North, known as the Union, and the South, known as the Confederacy, battled on the soil of the United States of AmericaRead MoreThe American Civil War, Wars, And Rumors Of Wars1183 Words   |  5 PagesThe American Civil War Wars, Wars and rumors of wars!!!! Everyone knows the United States has had its fair share of wars. Let me start by giving you a brief list of wars the United States has participated in according to Wikipedia. Both â€Å"Barbary Wars (1801-1805, 1815-1816), Wars of 1812, Mexican-American War (1846-48), American Civil War (1861-65), Indian War (1865-91), Spanish-American War( 1898), Philippine-American War (1899-1902) Border War(Mexican Revolutionary)1910-1919, World War I (1917-18)Read MoreThe Great American Civil War1204 Words   |  5 Pagesgreat American Civil War changed and shaped America back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but little do we know it still has a lasting effect on us today. The Civil War was so devastating back in the 1860s that it helped to develop many new technologies, ideals, and culture. Some of the effects still hang on around us today, and may even influence your everyday life without you even knowing it. On December 20, 1860 the state of South Carolina seceded from the Union, United States of America, toRead MoreThe War Between The United States944 Words   |  4 Pagesto the War Between the States The Road of the United States in becoming a truly united nation has not been a path without turmoil. Many lives were laid down to form the structure of this country and fought for its right to freedom. One of the bloodiest conflicts in the United States’ history was the war between states or more commonly referred as the Civil War. This war leads to much unnecessary violence ridden battles that were precluded by many cases. The Civil War had many profound effects on howRead MoreThe Road Of The United States937 Words   |  4 PagesRoad of the United States in becoming a truly united nation has not been a path without turmoil. Many lives were laid down to form the structure of this country and fought for its right to freedom. One of the bloodiest conflicts in the United States’ history was the war between states or more commonly referred as the Civil War. This war leads to much unnecessary violence ridden battles that were preluded by many causes. The Civil War had many profound effects on how the United States ran as a countryRead MoreSlavery And The Civil War1706 Words   |  7 Pagessaid, â€Å"A house divided against itself cannot stand.† In the 1800s, the American nation was slowly becoming a house divided against itself. The United States were no longer united, mainly over the issue of slavery. In fact, many historians believe that, â€Å"From the nation’s founding, the issue of slavery threatened to tear the United States apart.† (â€Å"The Civil War† 1). The issue of slavery was always kept at bay through the utilization of various compromises; however a permanent solution was never sought

Monday, December 23, 2019

A Heros Journey - 3224 Words

A Hero’s Journey: Hamlet and Simba What images come to mind as you reflect on your childhood? Playgrounds, blackboards, and soccer balls may be among the warmest of memories. Yet for many mermaids swim their thoughts, princesses get swept of their feet, and lions roar to their loyal place in the animal kingdom. There is no doubt that today’s entertainment has most of its touch using classical influences. Walt Disney has produced animated films that have captured the heart and imagination of audiences of all ages around the world through the magic of storytelling and imagery. Many of us appreciate the imagination and magic that Disney puts into its animations with out knowing they are based off of classical and traditional storylines†¦show more content†¦The final point on the Hero’s Journey is return. This is when the hero acquires his ultimate goal, and returns back to the original departure point and his life prior to that. In Hamlet, the return is marked by Prince Hamlet’s maturation, his Godliness and the changes in his overall behavior after he has reached what he called his ultimate goal. â€Å"The Hero’s Journey† is a pattern of narrative identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. The hero’s journey is divided into three sections departure, initiation, and return. The three sections are then divided into subsections that give a little more in detail journey that the so-called â€Å"hero† takes in the storyline. Hamlet and Simba are the main characters in the two storylines that take on the role of the hero. Throughout the early acts of the play, Hamlet acts foolishly and is very immature. He talks to himself and even arg ues with himself. He is a prince who is supposed to be superior and demand a high-level of respect, someone who should be acting very mature. As he continues through the hero’s journey, his perspective and inner goals for the Ultimate boon, as Campbell calls it, develops his maturity and he becomes more prince-like.Show MoreRelatedThe Heros Journey1704 Words   |  7 Pages2014 The Hero’s Journey: Comparing and Contrasting Heroes Joseph Campbell was an American psychologist and mythological researcher. In his lifelong research, Campbell discovered many common patterns running through hero myths and stories from around the world. Years of research lead Campbell to discover several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through (no matter what culture the myth is a part of). He calls this common structure â€Å"the monomyth† (Hero’s Journey). The â€Å"hero’s journey†Read MoreA Heros Journey with Odysseus1192 Words   |  5 Pages A Hero’s Journey with Odysseus Of all literature works read thus far, the Odyssey full fills the hero’s journey in all aspects of the story. Throughout this story there are vivid examples of how the hero’s journey is outlined. From the beginning of â€Å"the hero’s journey†, which is the call to adventure Odysseus will begin his journey when he makes the choice of going into battle in the Trojan War. There will also be specific events in this epic story to display â€Å"the hero’s journey† even furtherRead More The Hero’s Journey Essay1012 Words   |  5 PagesThe Hero’s Journey Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. NextRead MoreHeros Journey Analysis989 Words   |  4 Pageswhat exactly is ‘the Hero’s Journey’? Well, the answer lies in Joseph Campbell’s book â€Å"The Hero with A Thousand Faces.† Back in the early 20th century, Campbell studied myths from all over the world and he started noticing something similar in all the stories. He noticed that heroes and heroines from every time period were taking more or less the same journey. This became known as ‘the Heroà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Journey’ or the Monomyth. This principle archetype follows a person who goes on a journey, endeavours new challengesRead MoreBeowulf As A Heros Journey1624 Words   |  7 PagesFor Beowulf to retain its relevance after a journey from single surviving manuscript to famous epic poem, one can assume its star role is filled by a character extraordinary. The poem’s hero, Beowulf, strikingly resembles many renown principal characters. It would be an uphill battle arguing against him joining the likes of Hercules, Jesus Christ, and many more in their ÃÅ"bermensch status. Based on his words and actions, it is painstakingly clear that Beowulf is an archetypal hero; someone who sharesRead MoreThe Journey Of Beowulf : The Heros Journey1944 Words   |  8 Pagesguys†? A Hero’s Journey is the form Joseph Campbell created from his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces it is a more detailed transformation or inner journey of a character throughout a story. A h ero in an epic which is a long, narrative poem from ancient oral telling. In the epic â€Å"Beowulf†, Beowulf is the epic hero. He performed many heroic deeds during his life including the killing of Grendel and his mother, he did what many were not willing to take on. Beowulf takes on a Hero’s Journey by havingRead MoreOdysseus, a Heros Journey913 Words   |  4 PagesThe Hero’s Journey:       The Odyssey by Homer is the story of Odysseus, a very brave, strong and smart Greek mythic hero who embarks on an epic journey.   His journey fulfills all the requisites of a Hero’s Journey.   Odysseus’ Journey takes him through various mental stages which will be outlined in bold.    Odysseus’ ordinary world is that of the island of Ithaca where he lives with his beloved wife.   When he was looking for a bride, Odysseus visited Sparta where he met Menelaus who was to wedRead MoreHeros Journey Archetype1451 Words   |  6 Pages The archetype of the Hero’s Journey holds a prevalent pattern in the works of â€Å"Initiation† by Sylvia Plath, â€Å"A P† by John Updike, and â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker. These works all follow the 17 stages of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth which are separated in three stages; separation, initiation, and return. The main characters have different characterizations; however, they all follow the basic structure of the Hero’s journey archetype. There are many similarities and differences between the stagesRead MoreThe Stages of Heros Journey1184 Words   |  5 PagesHeros Journey Introduction Heros journey is the transition that a normal man goes through to become a hero. There is a set pattern of events that take place and thus this journey forms the basic template for all the stories and folktales that have been narrated since the beginning of times. From the very fundamental bed time stories to the traditional and popular tales, heros journey is the path that has been observed to be followed by the narrator of the story. In the book called The Hero withRead MoreA Heros Journey: the Incredibles1770 Words   |  8 PagesHero’s Journey: The Incredibles The Hero’s Journey is an important concept, it is the template upon which a vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbuster are based upon. Being able to analyze, understand and deconstruct the different capacities undertaken by the Hero is essential. The Hero’s Journey is a cycle made of super structures/steps which consists of both linkages and connections. It is composed of a beginning and an end, which ultimately are the same. This full cycle is

Sunday, December 15, 2019

The Golden Compass Chapter Seven Free Essays

string(200) " finest leather jackets and blue spotted neckerchiefs, loaded their fingers with silver rings, and went to greet some old friends in the neighboring boats and drink a glass or two in the nearest bar\." Chapter Seven John Faa Now that Lyra had a task in mind, she felt much better. Helping Mrs. Coulter had been all very well, but Pantalaimon was right: she wasn’t really doing any work there, she was just a pretty pet. We will write a custom essay sample on The Golden Compass Chapter Seven or any similar topic only for you Order Now On the gyptian boat, there was real work to do, and Ma Costa made sure she did it. She cleaned and swept, she peeled potatoes and made tea, she greased the propeller shaft bearings, she kept the weed trap clear over the propeller, she washed dishes, she opened lock gates, she tied the boat up at mooring posts, and within a couple of days she was as much at home with this new life as if she’d been born gyptian. What she didn’t notice was that the Costas were alert every second for unusual signs of interest in Lyra from the waterside people. If she hadn’t realized it, she was important, and Mrs. Coulter and the Oblation Board were bound to be searching everywhere for her. Indeed, Tony heard from gos-sip in pubs along the way that the police were making raids on houses and farms and building yards and factories without any explanation, though there was a rumor that they were searching for a missing girl. And that in itself was odd, considering all the kids that had gone missing without being looked for. Gyptians and land folk alike were getting jumpy and nervous. And there was another reason for the Costas’ interest in Lyra; but she wasn’t to learn that for a few days yet. So they took to keeping her below decks when they passed a lockkeeper’s cottage or a canal basin, or anywhere there were likely to be idlers hanging about. Once they passed through a town where the police were searching all the boats that came along the waterway, and holding up the traffic in both directions. The Costas were equal to that, though. There was a secret compartment beneath Ma’s bunk, where Lyra lay cramped for two hours while the police banged up and down the length of the boat unsuccessfully. â€Å"Why didn’t their daemons find me, though?† she asked afterward, and Ma showed her the lining of the secret space: cedarwood, which had a soporific effect on daemons; and it was true that Pantalaimon had spent the whole time happily asleep by Lyra’s head. Slowly, with many halts and detours, the Costas’ boat drew nearer the fens, that wide and never fully mapped wilderness of huge skies and endless marshland in Eastern Anglia. The furthest fringe of it mingled indistinguishably with the creeks and tidal inlets of the shallow sea, and the other side of the sea mingled indistinguishably with Holland; and parts of the fens had been drained and dyked by Hollanders, some of whom had settled there; so the language of the fens was thick with Dutch. But parts had never been drained or planted or settled at all, and in the wildest central regions, where eels slithered and waterbirds flocked, where eerie marsh fires flick-ered and waylurkers tempted careless travelers to their doom in the swamps and bogs, the gyptian people had always found it safe to muster. And now by a thousand winding channels and creeks and watercourses, gyptian boats were moving in toward the byanplats, the only patch of slightly higher ground in the hundreds of square miles of marsh and bog. There was an ancient wooden meeting hall there with a huddle of permanent dwellings around it, and wharves and jetties and an eelmarket. When the gyptians called a byanroping – a summons or muster of families – so many boats filled the waterways that you could walk for a mile in any direction over their decks; or so it was said. The gyptians ruled in the fens. No one else dared enter, and while the gyptians kept the peace and traded fairly, the landlopers turned a blind eye to the incessant smuggling and the occasional feuds. If a gyptian body floated ashore down the coast, or got snagged in a fishnet, well – it was only a gyptian. Lyra listened enthralled to tales of the fen dwellers, of the great ghost dog Black Shuck, of the marsh fires arising from bubbles of witch oil, and began to think of herself as gyptian even before they reached the fens. She had soon slipped back into her Oxford voice, and now she was acquiring a gyptian one, complete with Fen-Dutch words. Ma Costa had to remind her of a few things. â€Å"You en’t gyptian, Lyra. You might pass for gyptian with practice, but there’s more to us than gyptian language. There’s deeps in us and strong currents. We’re water people all through, and you en’t, you’re a fire person. What you’re most like is marsh fire, that’s the place you have in the gyptian scheme; you got witch oil in your soul. Deceptive, that’s what you are, child.† Lyra was hurt. â€Å"I en’t never deceived anyone! You ask†¦Ã¢â‚¬  There was no one to ask, of course, and Ma Costa laughed, but kindly. â€Å"Can’t you see I’m a paying you a compliment, you gosling?† she said, and Lyra was pacified, though she didn’t understand. When they reached the byanplats it was evening, and the sun was about to set in a splash of bloody sky. The low island and the Zaal were humped blackly against the light, like the clustered buildings around; threads of smoke rose into the still air, and from the press of boats all around came the smells of frying fish, of smokeleaf, of jenniver spirit. They tied up close to the Zaal itself, at a mooring Tony said had been used by their family for generations. Presently Ma Costa had the frying pan going, with a couple of fat eels hissing and sputtering and the kettle on for potato powder. Tony and Kerim oiled their hair, put on their finest leather jackets and blue spotted neckerchiefs, loaded their fingers with silver rings, and went to greet some old friends in the neighboring boats and drink a glass or two in the nearest bar. You read "The Golden Compass Chapter Seven" in category "Essay examples" They came back with important news. â€Å"We got here just in time. The Roping’s this very night. And they’re a saying in the town – what d’you think of this? – they’re saying that the missing child’s on a gyptian boat, and she’s a going to appear tonight at the Roping!† He laughed loudly and ruffled Lyra’s hair. Ever since they’d entered the fens he had been more and more good tempered, as if the savage gloom his face showed outside were only a disguise. And Lyra felt an excitement growing in her breast as she ate quickly and washed the dishes before combing her hair, tucking the alethiometer into the wolfskin coat pocket, and jumping ashore with all the other families making their way up the slope to the Zaal. She had thought Tony was joking. She soon found that he wasn’t, or else that she looked less like a gyptian than she’d thought, for many people stared, and children pointed, and by the time they reached the great doors of the Zaal they were walking alone between a crowd on either side, who had fallen back to stare and give them room. And then Lyra began to feel truly nervous. She kept close to Ma Costa, and Pantalaimon became as big as he could and took his panther shape to reassure her. Ma Costa trudged up the steps as if nothing in the world could possibly either stop her or make her go more quickly, and Tony and Kerim walked proudly on either side like princes. The hall was lit by naphtha lamps, which shone brightly enough on the faces and bodies of the audience, but left the lofty rafters hidden in darkness. The people coming in had to struggle to find room on the floor, where the benches were already crowded; but families squeezed up to make space, children occupying laps and daemons curling up underfoot or perching out of the way on the rough wooden walls. At the front of the Zaal there was a platform with eight carved wooden chairs set out. As Lyra and the Costas found space to stand along the edge of the hall, eight men appeared from the shadows at the rear of the platform and stood in front of the chairs. A ripple of excitement swept over the audience as they hushed one another and shoved themselves into spaces on the nearest bench. Finally there was silence and seven of the men on the platform sat down. The one who remained was in his seventies, but tall and bull necked and powerful. He wore a plain canvas jacket and a checked shirt, like many gyptian men; there was nothing to mark him out but the air of strength and authority he had. Lyra recognized it: Uncle Asriel had it, and so did the Master of Jordan. This man’s daemon was a crow, very like the Master’s raven. â€Å"That’s John Faa, the lord of the western gyptians,† Tony whispered. John Faa began to speak, in a deep slow voice. â€Å"Gyptians! Welcome to the Roping. We’ve come to listen and come to decide. You all know why. There are many families here who’ve lost a child. Some have lost two. Someone is taking them. To be sure, landlopers are losing children too. We have no quarrel with landlopers over this. â€Å"Now there’s been talk about a child and a reward. Here’s the truth to stop all gossip. The child’s name is Lyra Belacqua, and she’s being sought by the landloper police. There is a reward of one thousand sovereigns for giving her up to them. She’s a landloper child, and she’s in our care, and there she’s going to stay. Anyone tempted by those thousand sovereigns had better find a place neither on land nor on water. We en’t giving her up.† Lyra felt a blush from the roots of her hair to the soles of her feet; Pantalaimon became a brown moth to hide. Eyes all around were turning to them, and she could only look up at Ma Costa for reassurance. But John Faa was speaking again: â€Å"Talk all we may, we won’t change owt. We must act if we want to change things. Here’s another fact for you: the Gobblers, these child thieves, are a taking their prisoners to a town in the far North, way up in the land of dark. I don’t know what they do with ’em there. Some folk say they kill ’em, other folk say different. We don’t know. â€Å"What we do know is that they do it with the help of the landloper police and the clergy. Every power on land is helping ’em. Remember that. They know what’s going on and they’ll help it whenever they can. â€Å"So what I’m proposing en’t easy. And I need your agreement. I’m proposing that we send a band of fighters up north to rescue them kids and bring ’em back alive. I’m proposing that we put our gold into this, and all the craft and courage we can muster. Yes, Raymond van Gerrit?† A man in the audience had raised his hand, and John Faa sat down to let him speak. â€Å"Beg pardon, Lord Faa. There’s landloper kids as well as gyptians been taken captive. Are you saying we should rescue them as well?† John Faa stood up to answer. â€Å"Raymond, are you saying we should fight our way through every kind of danger to a little group of frightened children, and then say to some of them that they can come home, and to the rest that they have to stay? No, you’re a better man than that. Well, do I have your approval, my friends?† The question caught them by surprise, for there was a moment’s hesitation; but then a full-throated roar filled the hall, and hands were clapped in the air, fists shaken, voices raised in excited clamor. The rafters of the Zaal shook, and from their perches up in the dark a score of sleeping birds woke up in fear and flapped their wings, and little showers of dust drifted down. John Faa let the noise continue for a minute, and then raised his hand for silence again. â€Å"This’ll take a while to organize. I want the heads of the families to raise a tax and muster a levy. We’ll meet again here in three days’ time. In between now and then I’m a going to talk with the child I mentioned before, and with Farder Coram, and form a plan to put before you when we meet. Goodnight to ye all.† His massive, plain, blunt presence was enough to calm them. As the audience began to move out of the great doors into the chilly evening, to go to their boats or to the crowded bars of the little settlement, Lyra said to Ma Costa: â€Å"Who are the other men on the platform?† â€Å"The heads of the six families, and the other man is Farder Coram.† It was easy to see who she meant by the other man, because he was the oldest one there. He walked with a stick, and all the time he’d been sitting behind John Faa he’d been trembling as if with an ague. â€Å"Come on,† said Tony. â€Å"I’d best take you up to pay your respects to John Faa. You call him Lord Faa. I don’t know what you’ll be asked, but mind you tell the truth.† Pantalaimon was a sparrow now, and sat curiously on Lyra’s shoulder, his claws deep in the wolfskin coat, as she followed Tony through the crowd up to the platform. He lifted her up. Knowing that everyone still in the hall was staring at her, and conscious of those thousand sovereigns she was suddenly worth, she blushed and hesitated. Pantalaimon darted to her breast and became a wildcat, sitting up in her arms and hissing softly as he looked around. Lyra felt a push, and stepped forward to John Faa. He was stern and massive and expressionless, more like a pillar of rock than a man, but he stooped and held out his hand to shake. When she put hers in, it nearly vanished. â€Å"Welcome, Lyra,† he said. Close to, she felt his voice rumbling like the earth itself. She would have been nervous but for Pantalaimon, and the fact that John Faa’s stony expression had warmed a little. He was treating her very gently. â€Å"Thank you, Lord Faa,† she said. â€Å"Now you come in the parley room and we’ll have a talk,† said John Faa. â€Å"Have they been feeding you proper, the Costas?† â€Å"Oh, yes. We had eels for supper.† â€Å"Proper fen eels, I expect.† The parley room was a comfortable place with a big fire, sideboards laden with silver and porcelain, and a heavy table darkly polished by the years, at which twelve chairs were drawn up. The other men from the platform had gone elsewhere, but the old shaking man was still with them. John Faa helped him to a seat at the table. â€Å"Now, you sit here on my right,† John Faa said to Lyra, and took the chair at the head of the table himself. Lyra found herself opposite Farder Coram. She was a little frightened by his skull-like face and his continual trembling. His daemon was a beautiful autumn-colored cat, massive in size, who stalked along the table with upraised tail and elegantly inspected Pantalaimon, touching noses briefly before settling on Farder Coram’s lap, half-closing her eyes and purring softly. A woman whom Lyra hadn’t noticed came out of the shadows with a tray of glasses, set it down by John Faa, curtsied, and left. John Faa poured little glasses of jenniver from a stone crock for himself and Farder Coram, and wine for Lyra. â€Å"So,† John Faa said. â€Å"You run away, Lyra.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And who was the lady you run away from?† â€Å"She was called Mrs. Coulter. And I thought she was nice, but I found out she was one of the Gobblers. I heard someone say what the Gobblers were, they were called the General Oblation Board, and she was in charge of it, it was all her idea. And they was all working on some plan, I dunno what it was, only they was going to make me help her get kids for ’em. But they never knew†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"They never knew what?† â€Å"Well, first they never knew that I knew some kids what had been took. My friend Roger the kitchen boy from Jordan College, and Billy Costa, and a girl out the covered market in Oxford. And another thing†¦My uncle, right, Lord Asriel. 1 heard them talking about his journeys to the North, and I don’t reckon he’s got anything to do with the Gobblers. Because I spied on the Master and the Scholars of Jordan, right, I hid in the Retiring Room where no one’s supposed to go except them, and I heard him tell them all about his expedition up north, and the Dust he saw, and he brought back the head of Stanislaus Grumman, what the Tartars had made a hole in. And now the Gobblers’ve got him locked up somewhere. The armored bears are guarding him. And I want to rescue him.† She looked fierce and stubborn as she sat there, small against the high carved back of the chair. The two old men couldn’t help smiling, but whereas Farder Coram’s smile was a hesitant, rich, complicated expression that trembled across his face like sunlight chasing shadows on a windy March day, John Faa’s smile was slow, warm, plain, and kindly. â€Å"You better tell us what you did hear your uncle say that evening,† said John Faa. â€Å"Don’t leave anything out, mind. Tell us everything.† Lyra did, more slowly than she’d told the Costas but more honestly, too. She was afraid of John Faa, and what she was most afraid of was his kindness. When she’d finished, Farder Coram spoke for the first time. His voice was rich and musical, with as many tones in it as there were colors in his daemon’s fur. â€Å"This Dust,† he said. â€Å"Did they ever call it anything else, Lyra?† â€Å"No. Just Dust. Mrs. Coulter told me what it was, elementary particles, but that’s all she called it.† â€Å"And they think that by doing something to children, they can find out more about it?† â€Å"Yes. But I don’t know what. Except my uncle†¦There’s something I forgot to tell you. When he was showing them lantern slides, there was another one he had. It was the Roarer – â€Å" â€Å"The what?† said John Faa. â€Å"The Aurora,† said Farder Coram. â€Å"Is that right, Lyra?† â€Å"Yeah, that’s it. And in the lights of the Roarer there was like a city. All towers and churches and domes and that. It was a bit like Oxford, that’s what I thought, anyway. And Uncle Asriel, he was more interested in that, I think, but the Master and the other Scholars were more interested in Dust, like Mrs. Coulter and Lord Boreal and them.† â€Å"I see,† said Farder Coram. â€Å"That’s very interesting.† â€Å"Now, Lyra,† said John Faa, â€Å"I’m a going to tell you something. Farder Coram here, he’s a wise man. He’s a seer. He’s been a follering all what’s been going on with Dust and the Gobblers and Lord Asriel and everything else, and he’s been a follering you. Every time the Costas went to Oxford, or half a dozen other families, come to that, they brought back a bit of news. About you, child. Did you know that?† Lyra shook her head. She was beginning to be frightened. Pantalaimon was growling too deep for anyone to hear, but she could feel it in her fingertips down inside his fur. â€Å"Oh, yes,† said John Faa, â€Å"all your doings, they all get back to Farder Coram here.† Lyra couldn’t hold it in. â€Å"We didn’t damage it! Honest! It was only a bit of mud! And we never got very far – â€Å" â€Å"What are you talking about, child?† said John Faa. Farder Coram laughed. When he did that, his shaking stopped and his face became bright and young. But Lyra wasn’t laughing. With trembling lips she said, â€Å"And even if we had found the bung, we’d never’ve took it out! It was just a joke. We wouldn’t’ve sunk it, never!† Then John Faa began to laugh too. He slapped a broad hand on the table so hard the glasses rang, and his massive shoulders shook, and he had to wipe away the tears from his eyes. Lyra had never seen such a sight, never heard such a bellow; it was like a mountain laughing. â€Å"Oh, yes,† he said when he could speak again, â€Å"we heard about that too, little girl! I don’t suppose the Costas have set foot anywhere since then without being reminded of it. You better leave a guard on your boat, Tony, people say. Fierce little girls round here! Oh, that story went all over the fens, child. But we en’t going to punish you for it. No, no! Ease your mind.† He looked at Farder Coram, and the two old men laughed again, but more gently. And Lyra felt contented, and safe. Finally John Faa shook his head and became serious again. â€Å"I were saying, Lyra, as we knew about you from a child. From a baby. You oughter know what we know. I can’t guess what they told you at Jordan College about where you came from, but they don’t know the whole truth of it. Did they ever tell you who your parents were?† Now Lyra was completely dazed. â€Å"Yes,† she said. â€Å"They said I was – they said they – they said Lord Asriel put me there because my mother and father died in an airship accident. That’s what they told me.† â€Å"Ah, did they. Well now, child, I’m a going to tell you a story, a true story. I know it’s true, because a gyptian woman told me, and they all tell the truth to John Faa and Farder Coram. So this is the truth about yourself, Lyra. Your father never perished in no airship accident, because your father is Lord Asriel.† Lyra could only sit in wonder. â€Å"Here’s how it came about,† John Faa went on. â€Å"When he was a young man, Lord Asriel went exploring all over the North, and came back with a great fortune. And he was a high-spirited man, quick to anger, a passionate man. â€Å"And your mother, she was passionate too. Not so well born as him, but a clever woman. A Scholar, even, and those who saw her said she was very beautiful. She and your father, they fell in love as soon’s they met. â€Å"The trouble was, your mother was already married. She’d married a politician. He was a member of the king’s party, one of his closest advisers. A rising man. â€Å"Now when your mother found herself with child, she feared to tell her husband the child wasn’t his. And when the baby was born – that’s you, girl – it was clear from the look of you that you didn’t favor her husband, but your true father, and she thought it best to hide you away and give out that you’d died. â€Å"So you was took to Oxfordshire, where your father had estates, and put in the care of a gyptian woman to nurse. But someone whispered to your mother’s husband what had happened, and he came a flying down and ransacked the cottage where the gyptian woman had been, only she’d fled to the great house; and the husband followed after, in a murderous passion. â€Å"Lord Asriel was out a hunting, but they got word to him and he came riding back in time to find your mother’s husband at the foot of the great staircase. Another moment and he’d have forced open the closet where the gyptian woman was hiding with you, but Lord Asriel challenged him, and they fought there and then, and Lord Asriel killed him. â€Å"The gyptian woman heard and saw it all, Lyra, and that’s how we know. â€Å"The consequence was a great lawsuit. Your father en’t the kind of man to deny or conceal the truth, and it left the judges with a problem. He’d killed all right, he’d shed blood, but he was defending his home and his child against an intruder. On t’other hand, the law allows any man to avenge the violation of his wife, and the dead man’s lawyers argued that he were doing just that. â€Å"The case lasted for weeks, with volumes of argument back and forth. In the end the judges punished Lord Asriel by confiscating all his property and all his land, and left him a poor man; and he had been richer than a king. â€Å"As for your mother, she wanted nothing to do with it, nor with you. She turned her back. The gyptian nurse told me she’d often been afeared of how your mother would treat you, because she was a proud and scornful woman. So much for her. â€Å"Then there was you. If things had fallen out different, Lyra, you might have been brought up a gyptian, because the nurse begged the court to let her have you; but we gyptians got little standing in the law. The court decided you was to be placed in a priory, and so you were, with the Sisters of Obedience at Watlington. You won’t remember. â€Å"But Lord Asriel wouldn’t stand for that. He had a hatred of priors and monks and nuns, and being a high-handed man he just rode in one day and carried you off. Not to look after himself, nor to give to the gyptians; he took you to Jordan College, and dared the law to undo it. â€Å"Well, the law let things be. Lord Asriel went back to his explorations, and you grew up at Jordan College. The one thing he said, your father, the one condition he made, was that your mother shouldn’t be let see you. If she ever tried to do that, she was to be prevented, and he was to be told, because all the anger in his nature had turned against her now. The Master promised faithfully to do that; and so time passed. â€Å"Then come all this anxiety about Dust. And all over the country, all over the world, wise men and women too began a worrying about it. It weren’t of any account to us gyptians, until they started taking our kids. That’s when we got interested. And we got connections in all sorts of places you wouldn’t imagine, including Jordan College. You wouldn’t know, but there’s been someone a watching over you and reporting to us ever since you been there. ‘Cause we got an interest in you, and that gyptian woman who nursed you, she never stopped being anxious on your behalf.† â€Å"Who was it watching over me?† said Lyra. She felt immensely important and strange, that all her doings should be an object of concern so far away. â€Å"It was a kitchen servant. It was Bernie Johansen, the pastry cook. He’s half-gyptian; you never knew that, I’ll be bound.† Bernie was a kindly, solitary man, one of those rare people whose daemon was the same sex as himself. It was Bernie she’d shouted at in her despair when Roger was taken. And Bernie had been telling the gyptians everything! She marveled. â€Å"So anyway,† John Faa went on, â€Å"we heard about you going away from Jordan College, and how it came about at a time when Lord Asriel was imprisoned and couldn’t prevent it. And we remembered what he’d said to the Master that he must never do, and we remembered that the man your mother had married, the politician Lord Asriel killed, was called Edward Coulter.† â€Å"Mrs. Coulter?† said Lyra, quite stupefied. â€Å"She en’t my mother?† â€Å"She is. And if your father had been free, she wouldn’t never have dared to defy him, and you’d still be at Jordan, not knowing a thing. But what the Master was a doing letting you go is a mystery I can’t explain. He was charged with your care. All I can guess is that she had some power over him.† Lyra suddenly understood the Master’s curious behavior on the morning she’d left. â€Å"But he didn’t want to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she said, trying to remember it exactly. â€Å"He†¦I had to go and see him first thing that morning, and I mustn’t tell Mrs. Coulter†¦.It was like he wanted to protect me from her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She stopped, and looked at the two men carefully, and then decided to tell them the whole truth about the Retiring Room. â€Å"See, there was something else. That evening I hid in the Retiring Room, I saw the Master try to poison Lord Asriel. I saw him put some powder in the wine and I told my uncle and he knocked the decanter off the table and spilled it. So I saved his life. I could never understand why the Master would want to poison him, because he was always so kind. Then on the morning I left he called me in early to his study, and I had to go secretly so no one would know, and he said†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lyra racked her brains to try and remember exactly what it was the Master had said. No good; she shook her head. â€Å"The only thing I could understand was that he gave me something and I had to keep it secret from her, from Mrs. Coulter. I suppose it’s all right if I tell you†¦.† She felt in the pocket of the wolfskin coat and took out the velvet package. She laid it on the table, and she sensed John Faa’s massive simple curiosity and Farder Coram’s bright flickering intelligence both trained on it like searchlights. When she laid the alethiometer bare, it was Farder Coram who spoke first. â€Å"I never thought I’d ever set eyes on one of them again. That’s a symbol reader. Did he tell you anything about it, child?† â€Å"No. Only that I’d have to work out how to read it by myself. And he called it an alethiometer.† â€Å"What’s that mean?† said John Faa, turning to his companion. â€Å"That’s a Greek word. I reckon it’s from aktheia, which means truth. It’s a truth measure. And have you worked out how to use it?† he said to her. â€Å"No. Least, I can make the three short hands point to different pictures, but I can’t do anything with the long one. It goes all over. Except sometimes, right, sometimes when I’m sort of concentrating, I can make the long needle go this way or that just by thinking it.† â€Å"What’s it do, Farder Coram?† said John Faa. â€Å"And how do you read it?† â€Å"All these pictures round the rim,† said Farder Coram, holding it delicately toward John Faa’s blunt strong gaze, â€Å"they’re symbols, and each one stands for a whole series of things. Take the anchor, there. The first meaning of that is hope, because hope holds you fast like an anchor so you don’t give way. The second meaning is steadfastness. The third meaning is snag, or prevention. The fourth meaning is the sea. And so on, down to ten, twelve, maybe a never-ending series of meanings.† â€Å"And do you know them all?† â€Å"I know some, but to read it fully I’d need the book. I seen the book and I know where it is, but I en’t got it.† â€Å"We’ll come back to that,† said John Faa. â€Å"Go on with how you read it.† â€Å"You got three hands you can control,† Farder Coram explained, â€Å"and you use them to ask a question. By pointing to three symbols you can ask any question you can imagine, because you’ve got so many levels of each one. Once you got your question framed, the other needle swings round and points to more symbols that give you the answer.† â€Å"But how does it know what level you’re a thinking of when you set the question?† said John Faa. â€Å"Ah, by itself it don’t. It only works if the questioner holds the levels in their mind. You got to know all the meanings, first, and there must be a thousand or more. Then you got to be able to hold ’em in your mind without fretting at it or pushing for an answer, and just watch while the needle wanders. When it’s gone round its full range, you’ll know what the answer is. I know how it works because I seen it done once by a wise man in Uppsala, and that’s the only time I ever saw one before. Do you know how rare these are?† â€Å"The Master told me there was only six made,† Lyra said. â€Å"Whatever the number, it en’t large.† â€Å"And you kept this secret from Mrs. Coulter, like the Master told you?† said John Faa. â€Å"Yes. But her daemon, right, he used to go in my room. And I’m sure he found it.† â€Å"I see. Well, Lyra, I don’t know if we’ll ever understand the full truth, but this is my guess, as good as I can make it. The Master was given a charge by Lord Asriel to look after you and keep you safe from your mother. And that was what he did, for ten years or more. Then Mrs. Coulter’s friends in the Church helped her set up this Oblation Board, for what purpose we don’t know, and there she was, as powerful in her way as Lord Asriel was in his. Your parents, both strong in the world, both ambitious, and the Master of Jordan holding you in the balance between them. â€Å"Now the Master’s got a hundred things to look after. His first concern is his College and the scholarship there. So if he sees a threat to that, he has to move agin it. And the Church in recent times, Lyra, it’s been a getting more commanding. There’s councils for this and councils for that; there’s talk of reviving the Office of Inquisition, God forbid. And the Master has to tread warily between all these powers. He has to keep Jordan College on the right side of the Church, or it won’t survive. â€Å"And another concern of the Master is you, child. Bernie Johansen was always clear about that. The Master of Jordan and the other Scholars, they loved you like their own child. They’d do anything to keep you safe, not just because they’d promised to Lord Asriel that they would, but for your own sake. So if the Master gave you up to Mrs. Coulter when he’d promised Lord Asriel he wouldn’t, he must have thought you’d be safer with her than in Jordan College, in spite of all appearances. And when he set out to poison Lord Asriel, he must have thought that what Lord Asriel was a doing would place all of them in danger, and maybe all of us, too; maybe all the world. I see the Master as a man having terrible choices to make; whatever he chooses will do harm, but maybe if he does the right thing, a little less harm will come about than if he chooses wrong. God preserve me from having to make that sort of choice. â€Å"And when it come to the point where he had to let you go, he gave you the symbol reader and bade you keep it safe. I wonder what he had in mind for you to do with it; as you couldn’t read it, I’m foxed as to what he was a thinking.† â€Å"He said Uncle Asriel presented the alethiometer to Jordan College years before,† Lyra said, struggling to remember. â€Å"He was going to say something else, and then someone knocked at the door and he had to stop. What I thought was, he might have wanted me to keep it away from Lord Asriel too.† â€Å"Or even the opposite,† said John Faa. â€Å"What d’you mean, John?† said Farder Coram. â€Å"He might have had it in mind to ask Lyra to return it to Lord Asriel, as a kind of recompense for trying to poison him. He might have thought the danger from Lord Asriel had passed. Or that Lord Asriel could read some wisdom from this instrument and hold back from his purpose. If Lord Asriel’s held captive now, it might help set him free. Well, Lyra, you better take this symbol reader and keep it safe. If you kept it safe so far, I en’t worried about leaving it with you. But there might come a time when we need to consult it, and I reckon we’ll ask for it then.† He folded the velvet over it and slid it back across the table. Lyra wanted to ask all kinds of questions, but suddenly she felt shy of this massive man, with his little eyes so sharp and kindly among their folds and wrinkles. One thing she had to ask, though. â€Å"Who was the gyptian woman who nursed me ?† â€Å"Why, it was Billy Costa’s mother, of course. She won’t have told you, because I en’t let her, but she knows what we’re a talking of here, so it’s all out in the open. â€Å"Now you best be getting back to her. You got plenty to be a thinking of, child. When three days is gone past, we’ll have another roping and discuss all there is to do. You be a good girl. Goodnight, Lyra.† â€Å"Goodnight, Lord Faa. Goodnight, Farder Coram,† she said politely, clutching the alethiometer to her breast with one hand and scooping up Pantalaimon with the other. Both old men smiled kindly at her. Outside the door of the parley room Ma Costa was waiting, and as if nothing had happened since Lyra was born, the boat mother gathered her into her great arms and kissed her before bearing her off to bed. How to cite The Golden Compass Chapter Seven, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

MWDS Brave New World free essay sample

Biographical Information about the Author: Aldous Huxley was a British writer born in Surrey, England on July 26, 1894. He studied science at Eton, but a problem with his eyes left him partially blind and he had to leave after three years. When it eventually improved he attended Oxford, receiving a degree in English Literature. Over the course of his life he wrote many books of all which ranged from topics of drugs and sex to religion and politics. In 1945, Huxley began experimenting with drugs, predominately LSD and mescaline. He died in California in 1963. Historical Information: The novel was heavily influenced by theories of eugenics, the idea that regulation of genetic traits would improve society. 1932 was also an influential time period in United States history because it was at the height of the depression and many other people at that time period were forced to reevaluate their lives in order of â€Å"survival of the fittest. † Characteristics of the Genre: Dystopian novels apply extreme elements of contemporary society and function as a warning against some modern trend. They usually warn against an oppressive regime or liberal thought by a supposedly utopian society and proving that perfection cannot exist. Plot Summary: The book begins with the Director of Hatcheries giving a tour of the :conditioning center† and â€Å"cloning† facilities. He introduces the Bokanovsky process of cloning and sleep teaching. Each person is put into a â€Å"caste† and then â€Å"conditioned† to fit into the role of that caste. Then Mustapha Mond, the World Controller of Western Europe, he explains the instability of the previous society and the improvements of the new society. He says the new society formed because an economic crisis that ensued after the Nine Years War allowed the world reformers to take control. Bernard Marx is then introduced as the short misconfigured Alpha who is insecure of his position. He likes Lenina Crowne, a Gamma, but does not display this in the traditional way in this society. Yet, he finally asks her on a date to the Savage reservation in New Mexico. Lenina, who also dates Henry Foster for a shot time, doesnt want to at first but then remembers long-term relationships are not exactly allowed. Bernard learns that the Director had been there previously with another girl who had gotten lost during a terrible unforeseen storm and had been forced to leave her there. When they get there they meet a young man named John and his mother Linda who is that woman the Director brought. Both are outsiders considering they were not native and Linda not having any soma has become an alcoholic. John begins to like Lenina he expects to find some romantic qualities that would make him unworthy of her attention. When they get back Bernard his humiliated by the Director but he then blackmails him when he brings out John, the Directors son, and the Director then resigns. However John does not like this new world he is introduced to and his feelings for Lenina grows stronger. He says that he loves her but does not advance in a physical relationship with her. John then learns that his mother died from an overdose of soma. He goes to the hospital to overhear people saying how ugly his mother is. He then thrashes soma away and starts an angry mob effort. Helmholtz, the prefect definition of an Alpha and a friend of John joins him against the mob. These two and Bernard are told to go to Mustapha Monds office who then tells them of being deported. Everyone but John goes because Mond wants to continue his experiment. John runs away to a lighthouse and begins to self-harm to cleanse himself. Lenina comes with Henry Foster and angered by his memory of her advances he beats her. The crowd takes it sexually. He then wakes up the next day overwhelmed with the guilt of the night before he hangs himself. Describe the Author’s Style: Huxley’s style for Brave New World was Modernism as well as Narrative. Modernism, trailing after Realism, is a style that follows the mantra â€Å"Make it new! † It challenges previous styles, focusing less on spirituality and more on science and technology, becoming apathetic and less optimistic. Narrative style is a writing style that is presents all events in chronological order, and has a tendency to change focus going from one setting to another. Provide an example that demonstrates the style: â€Å" ‘Or the Caste System. Constantly proposed, constantly rejected. There was something called democracy. As though men were more than physic-chemically equal. ’ ‘Well, all I can say is that I’m going to accept his invitation. ’ Bernard hated them, hated them. But they were two, they were large, they were strong. ~ ~ ~ Memorable Quotes ~ ~ ~ ~ Quotes â€Å"‘And that,’ put in the Director sententiously, ‘that is the secret of happiness and virtue – liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny. ’† Ch. 1 pg. 16 â€Å"But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin. † â€Å"God in the safe and Ford on the shelves. † Significance of each Quote: The Director is explaining the reasoning being the class system of their society. He says as long as people are happy with their life, then society can function without problems. He believes that it is better for people to be unaware that there is anything better than their own life. John means, through this quote, that the World State is robbing him of everything that makes him human. Since he was raised in the reservation, he never received conditioning to the think â€Å"normally†. He didn’t want a carefree life, he wanted to work and face hardships. John wanted the good things in life as well as the bad. This quote is from when John and Mustapha Mond are discussing the World State and why people are conditioned to act only a certain way. One topic that was mentioned was religion. God is replaced by science and machinery. God causes solitude and different ways of thinking, which the leaders in this world can not accept. So they take away everything that may cause doubt and replace it with their knowledge of science and what â€Å"Ford tells them. † Characters Name Role in Story Significance John the Savage Bernard Marx Hemholtz Watson Lenina Crowne Mustapha Mond Henry Foster Linda The Director Son of the Director and Linda. He’s the only person in the entire novel to have grown up outside the World State. Spent his whole life on a reservation and feels as if he is not the same as those in the new society. His main knowledge and morals is brought to him by Shakespeare’s plays. An Alpha-Plus who does not feel as if he fits into this society because of a physical shortcoming. He has different values and beliefs then all his other Alphas. His insecurity about his size and status makes him discontented with the World State. Emotional engineer, teacher, perfect Alpha-Plus, Bernards and Johns friend. Pretty gamma who convinces Marx to take her to the reservation World Controller of Western Europe, the Antagonist Alpha peer of Marx, Leninas lover Conditioned woman raised in the hatchery but left on reservation, mother of John Another Antagonist, threatens to deport Marx, father of John, administrator of Hatchery and Conditioning Symbolizes purity and tradition. He is the perfect symbol of mans forsaken nobility. His view is based on Shakespeare. He likes Lenina, but his morals cause him to not do anything about it. Feels left out of the society because he does not agree with its social organizations. Marx is ironically a rebel who modelizes tradition. He is the pertfect embodyment of what it means to be an Alpha. Alothough he is succesful he still sympathsizing with Marx. However, Watsons issues aree a lot more philosophical than Marxs. She is the one girl that all guys want that has a relationship with Foster as well as Marx and develops strong feelings for John He explains the history and all about the new state, notably reffering to the fact that society traded happiness for sucessfulness. He symbolizes reason, yet symbolized God to John. Foster is the typical Alpha male. He makes Bernard angry with his attitude towards sex and success. She was raised in civilization but then is left on a reservation, she is the opposite of John who is raised only on the reservation but later lives in civilization. He starts the book of by giving a â€Å"tour† of the hatchery and lets the teacher get a taste of the customs and technology apparent in this time period. He attemps to deport Marx. Setting and the Significance of Setting Significance of Opening Scene: The novel is in London, 632 A. F or approximately 2540 A. D. It shows the inner workings of a more advanced society in which people are â€Å"conditioned† to be happy with their lives and their given status. This world had gotten rid of poverty, famine, disease, but has also gotten rid of importance such as art, religion, and morality. Skyscrapers are everywhere and nobody pays much attention to the actual nature around them. In this world, people are not born but created and are predetermined for their whole lives in a five-tiered caste system. While on the other hand there is the Indian reservation in the Western United States. Supposed unable to be civilized this land has been left as is. Old traditions are frequent here. The Londoners find the Malpais are disgusting. The people of Malpais naturally produce children they also have more moral values such as family. It puts the reader into the depths of Huxleys dystopia. The setting of â€Å"a squat grey building† shows a common sense of uniform and identical roles, yet by saying the 35 story building â€Å"squat†, Huxley contradicts everything especially the date of publication of this novel. The opening shows the new ideas such as decanting, conditioning, and Bokanization. Significance of the ending/closing scene: At the last moments the mob throws almonds at him waiting for the â€Å"whip† trick but John refuses to until he sees his Lover. Ironically, the mob returns Johns hateful whip lash with their love, in the form of Orgy-Porgy. The ending is quite violent and the uttermost climatic. The people attack John and blur his morals. The next day, he hangs himself from guilt of that night. Symbols Significance/Meaning of Title of Book Soma: Soma is the drug used to bring people in to a state of happiness. The Society has become so dependent on this drug for their happiness. Soma represents the dependency of the people on everyone and everything BUT themselves, and basically how the leaders have everyone brainwashed so they can’t think freely. Shakespeare: represents the past society of individuality. Only in his plays does one learn morals that have been forgotten in the new society. The title refers to the poem itself. In the poem it speaks of beautiful things and the first time its brought up by John he is speaking of Lenina who he has just met. The title is referring to an amazing new world that is perfect and undisturbed yet later on in the novel it becomes obvious that this world that is not so amazing and the meaning changes to hopefulness that it will one day change into a wonderful world. Possible Themes: The division of classes shows them that knowledge is power. As the novel was clearly divided in to the classes Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon; the idea that the more a person knows the more powerful they are is established. The alphas have the most power because they were raised to know more. This can be related to the real world in that children are taught that if they do not go to school and do well they will not be successful. Overall it can be said that when one gains knowledge one gains power. Individuality is needed for a perfect society, that uniform behaviors does not create a utopia but instead the choice and options we have is what will make a perfect society. The more we know the better informed we are and the better choices we make. Yet we make those choices and it becomes a mistake we then learn from that mistake. For there to be true stability in a society the government must ascertain to the populations happiness. Works cited: Shmoop. com Sparknotes. com Clifnotes. com Wikipedia

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Pip in the graveyard Essay Example

Pip in the graveyard Paper Compare chapter 1 of Great Expectations in which Pip first meets the convict, with chapter 39, when he meets him for the second time.  The title of the novel that I studied is, Great Expectations, written in the 19th century by Charles Dickens. Pip, an orphan often goes to the cemetery to mourn for his dead parents and brothers. While mourning one day, a convict hiding in that same cemetery scares him. All that he thinks of is to listen and obey the man. As the story evolves, we are also introduced to the sentimental part of Pips life. He is in love with a girl named Estella but unfortunately, she doesnt like him. When Pip becomes the perfect gentleman, he inherits some fortune. He mistakes the real provider thinking it is Miss Havisham, until one night he meets the convict again. The latter claims that he is the person providing him with money. Pip was unable to accept both the truth and the man. For my assignment, I am focussing on the 1st and 39th chapter of the book, where Pip first meets the convict, and when he meets him for the second time. We will write a custom essay sample on Pip in the graveyard specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Pip in the graveyard specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Pip in the graveyard specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In the first chapter of the book, the circumstances that Pip is in are very pitiful. He is an orphan and although he has a big sister, he does not get the motherly affection he is supposed to in his life. He seems to be very drawn to the place where his parents are buried as stated, my fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones, (chapter 1, pg 1, line 9-10). This shows how much he misses parental affection that his sister, Mrs Joe cannot give him although she looks after him. Furthermore, Pip appears to be naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and he is very lonely as a little boy because he doesnt have friends. In contrast to chapter thirty- nine, we are introduced to an arrogant man that doesnt care for others feelings at all. He is no longer that orphan boy for whom we had so much pity. Also in the first chapter, we see how Pip is very helpless in his state. By saying this, I mean that his sister is always beating him whenever he returns home from the church late at night. What he thinks or does do not matter to his sister and he always ends up keeping his point of view to himself. As a result, he suppresses his feelings deep inside him. I find him rather submissive for a boy of his age. When the convict keeps on being harsh to him and scares him, he decides to get him a file, and I would get him what broken bits of food I could, and I would come to him at the Battery, early in the morning, (chapter 1, pg 4,line 10-12). On the other hand, the rude man that we meet in chapter thirty-nine is not that helpless at all. He has a home, a lot of money, as well as a lot of pride. Furthermore, he values people by social standard as he tells Magwitch that I cannot wish to renew that chance intercourse with you of long ago, under these different circumstances, (chapter 39, pg 301, line 35-36). On top of that, he has been educated and can now read regularly so many hours a day (chapter 39, pg 298, line 10-11). He becomes a gentleman in life but he is refusing Magwitch, the man who actually made him great as said in the book not to disguise that I wished him gone (chapter 39, pg 302, line 13-14). It actually happens that he forgets his origin in the middle of the story. As far as the convict is concerned, he was in great need of food in the first chapter and he acted quite harshly towards Pip. He gives an impression of starvation as he goes on and your heart and your liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate, (chapter 1, pg 3, line 38). Nevertheless, we know that he is an escaped prisoner and obviously he doesnt want the police to catch him again. This can be justified by the conversation he has with Pip, you never dare to say a word or dare to make a sign concerning your having seen such a person as me, or any person sumever, (chapter 1, pg 3, line 34-36). We can understand that life was not that easy for him in jail as well. All through the years he was in jail, he was in the company of other harsh people. I think when he meets Pip for the first time, he does not care to socialise and to behave properly with strangers because the situation he is in does not permit him to do so. That is why he shakes Pip as if he is an animal until he is close to become sick, (chapter 1, pg 3, line 26). In addition to this, he wants to make sure that pip doesnt report their meeting. However in chapter thirty- nine, the convict is much older and has softened a big deal. Moreover, since he was expelled from the country, he started to live in society in Australia again and he behaves himself well in chapter thirty-nine, when he meets Pip for the second time as he goes on saying I wish to come in, Master, (chapter 39, pg 300, line 8). Maybe he has a grudge against himself about the way he acted when he met Pip in the graveyard. He even tries to approach Pip in a different way by kissing his hand several times and still held them, (chapter 39, pg 301, line 18). I think it is to express how grateful he is towards pip and to show that he has changed as well. There are some frightening elements in the first chapter like the graveyard background, which is associated with death. The image that we get from a graveyard is not very reassuring and we can deduce from our own reaction, as readers, how Pip is feeling as a little boy. As if that was not enough, the names of Pips family printed on graveyards as clearly mentioned the shape of the letters on my fathers. From the character and turn of the inscription, (chapter 1, pg 1, line 7 9) increase our sympathy for him. I think that the writer is trying to put us, readers in the place of his main character just to make us feel how life is when one is alone and poor. When almost all of our family members are dead and we have to visit their graveyards, instead of themselves in person. Furthermore, for a little boy like Pip, an orphan since birth, the kind of raw afternoon (chapter 1, pg 1, line 27) in the graveyard does not suit him because it gives the impression of a cold atmosphere, the kind that hurts. In addition to this, the mention of a bleak place (chapter 1, pg 1, line 28) shows us how isolated the place. Also, I think that the writer wants us to realise how courageous Pip is to be able to visit his beloved ones in such a place. Likewise, we understand the state of mind Magwitch is in when there is the mention of gibbet (chapter 1, PG 5, line 2). It is not very pleasant reminding someone of his own death. We know that he is an escaped prisoner and he is hiding in the graveyard so that the police cannot find him. Here again, we are introduced to a dilemma of a grown up person where one has to live in a haunted and isolated place and where there are only dead people around.

Monday, November 25, 2019

hogwatch essays

hogwatch essays During the last twenty years, industrial livestock farms have been replacing the traditional family size farms that once raised most of the nations swine. The number of livestock animals produced in the United States has grown modestly in the past two decades, but the number of farms raising them has slunk dramatically because large producer now dominate the market. The large increase in industry farming has led to large quantities of manure. The over abundance of manure has become a problem that leads to problem with Pollution, heated debates between the industries and societies (people of the community), ways to try and find solutions for the pollution. Today, large live stock operations look more like animal factories than animal Farms. The farms usually consist of several metal barns, each containing several hundred to several thousand animals tightly confined. The floors in the barns are slatted so manure can be flushed away. The manure is pumped into open-air lagoons, which are large, shallow pits dug into the ground, where it is stored until it can be pumped out irrigate fields. The solid manure sinks to the bottom of the lagoons and is broken down by anaerobic bacteria over several months. The liquid rises to the top and is collected and sprayed over nearby fields. Many problems come with lagoons North Carolina is one of the top hog producing states in the country. On June 21, 1995, North Carolina suffered the largest agricultural waste spill in its history: a 7.5-acre, 12-foot-deep lagoon leaked 25 million gallons of hog waste into the headwaters of the New river near Richmonds. The waste from the 10,000-head operation, owned by Ocean view Farms, contaminated the water for several miles downstream, increasing the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients. When nutrient levels increase dramatically in rivers and other bodies of water, algae grow furiously, consuming most of he dissolve...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Capital Structure Essay Example for Free

Capital Structure Essay Capital structure is how a company finances its overall operations and growth by using funds from equity or debt (Investopedia, 2012). Of course, every company must determine its preference on its debt-to-equity ratio and determine which capital structure works best for them. Some approaches to analyzing capital structure are: 1.EBIT – EPS: This analyzes the impact of debt on earnings per share (EPS). Optimizing shareholder’s wealth is the optimum goal and therefore, this approach analyzes the high EPS based on an expected range of earnings before income taxes (EBIT). 2.Valuation: Determines impact of debt use on shareholder’s value by determining the level of debt at which the benefits of increased debt no longer outweigh the increased risks and expenses associated with financing (Wenk, 2012) 3.Cash Flow: Analyzes a firm’s debt capacity by using the weighted average of cost of capital (WACC). The WACC is a calculation of a firm’s cost of capital in which each capital source (bonds, stock and other long-term debt) are proportionally weighted to determine how much interest the company has to pay for every dollar it finances (Investopedia, 2012). Part of Competition Bikes’ (CB) main consideration in the decision to merge or acquire Canadian Biking is working capital. Lets use the EBIT – EPS approach to determine how to maximize shareholder return while minimizing the cost of capital. We currently know Canadian Biking’s moderate sales forecast of EBIT figures for the next 5 years (Year 9 – 13), therefore we can apply the EBIT – EPS approach to choose an optimal capital structure. The total of capital sources in each of the 5 years is $600,000. We will use EBIT – EPS to determine which assortment of bonds*, preferred stock, and common stock is the best option to increase Canadian Biking’s EPS. The five alternative capital structures include: Option 1: 100% Bonds (fully financed) Option 2: 50% Preferred Stock & 50% Common Stock (no bonds) Option 3: 20% Bonds & 80% Common Stock Option 4: 40% Bonds & 60% Common Stock Option 5: 60% Bonds & 40% Common Stock *Annual bond interest rate is 9% After using the EBIT – EPS approach using the forecasted EBIT amounts for Years 9 through 13, we can average the EPS for each of the 5 years to determine which capital structure produced the highest EPS. The EPS averages computed for the capital structure options are: Option 1: Average EPS = .0452 Option 2: Average EPS = .0542 Option 3: Average EPS = .0526 Option 4: Average EPS = .051 Option 5: Average EPS = .0494 Based on the EBIT – EPS approach, the recommended capital structure is option 2, â€Å"50% preferred stock & 50% common stock†. This is the best capital structure mainly because there are two things to consider: 1) long-term debt and associated interest expense and, 2) equity and # of common shares. Option 2 is the best capital structure because there are no bonds and therefore, no interest expense. For example, if we look at option 1 in Year 9, and the bond interest is 9%, then the bond interest expense is $54,000 (.09*600,00). This lowers the income before taxes by $54,000. Although companies can finance debt and use the interest expense deduction to lower their taxable income, it doesn’t make sense for Canadian Bikes to fully finance their capital, because the interest expense costs outweigh the benefit of the tax deduction, resulting in a significant decrease in total income available for common stock. Additionally, because the capital structure consists of 300,000 shares of preferred stock, the company must pay dividends of 5%, reducing the company’s total income available for common stock by $15,000 (.05 * 300,000). Although this reduces the total income available for common stock, the company will maximize its EPS by only having 50% capital in common stock. This reduces the total number of common shares outstanding, which means less shares to divide the total income among. Therefore, Option 2 is the most optimal capital structure that considers minimizing long-term  debt expenses and the optimal number of common shares in order to maximize shareholder return. Competition Bikes’ is considering building a manufacturing facility in a new Canadian location. The total investment for this project would be $600,000 USD. This consists of $400,000 to build the facility and an additional $200,000 in working capital to support operational costs. The company has projected cash flows over the next five years; therefore we can use cash flow budgeting methods such as net present value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) that consider time value of money for long-term investments (Pearson Education, Inc., 2008). Net present value analyzes the profitability of a project by determining the difference between the present value of the project’s cash inflows and outflows followed by subtracting the initial investment. (Investopedia, 2012). The decision rule applied to NPV is fairly simple, if the NPV is positive, invest; if the difference is negative, do not invest. Competition Bikes applies NPV to forecasted low and moderate sales for the next 5 years. After using the forecasted sales for low demand, the total present value (after subtracting cash outflows from inflows) is $560,719. If we subtract the initial investment of $600,000 from this amount, the NPV is -$39,281. This is a significant warning that the company should not proceed in building a manufacturing facility. On the other hand, if we use the forecasted sales for moderate demand, the total present value is $608,447. If we subtract the initial investment of $600,000, the NPV is $8,447. Therefore a positive NPV indicates the company should proceed with building the manufacturing facility. The biggest concern is determining which NPV to lean towards based on low or moderate sales. Unfortunately, the risk of having low sales outweighs the profitability benefit of having moderate sales. It is too risky for CB to move forward with the investment based on the NPV of low sales (-$39,281). In order for the company to profit from this investment, CB would need to have a moderate sales demand at minimum! The present value in NPV is calculated using an interest rate, also known as the required rate of return. CB’s required rate of return is 10%. When this interest rate is altered or calculated to make the total present value equal to the initial investment, the NPV becomes equal to zero; this is called the internal rate of return (IRR) (Pearson Education, Inc., 2008). The IRR is what a company can expect to earn from investing in the project and the higher the IRR, the more desirable the investment. The calculated IRR for low demand cash flows is 8.2% and the IRR for moderate demand cash flows is 10.4%. Based on these IRR figures, the company should not pursue the capital investment because the average IRR between both low and moderate sales is 9.3%. This is below the company’s required return on capital (hurdle rate) of 10% to pursue a capital investment. Again, the company would need to have a moderate sales demand, at minimum for this capital investment to be profitable and should therefore not pursue building a new manufacturing facility. CB must effectively obtain and manage working capital for the expansion of the operation. CB must first look at their operating cycle, cash conversion cycle and free cash flow factors in order to improve production and management of working capital. Let’s discuss the company’s current status of each of the working capital and cash flow factors and determine how the company can improve in these areas. First, the operating cycle involves CB sending the distributor a monthly invoice for all raw materials ordered with terms of net/30 days. This can be improved by renegotiating the payment terms will distributors to net/15 days. This would increase cash flows by improving payment turn around time and accounts receivable collections. Additionally, the company can improve its relations with its distributers to increase effectiveness of its collection process. Another operating cycle factor is ordering and paying for inventory. Currently, the company pays for inventory in the month following production and all inventory ordered for the month is used leaving inventory levels (at the end of each month) at consistent levels. In order  to improve working capital the company should utilize and lower its year ending inventory balance. For example, at the end of Year 8, the company had $91,573 worth of inventory left over. The company should utilize the current inventory on hand before ordering similar raw material items. This will decease cash flows and leave fewer inventories on hand at the end of the year. Currently the average time in inventory is 25 days. This is a substantial turnaround time currently, however in the future, the company can consider replacing labor workers with fixed asset items to improve production time. This will satisfy customer demand by decreasing delivery time and improve cash flows by invoicing customers more frequently than 25 days after production. CB’s cash conversion cycle factors also impact working capital. Currently, the CB’s suppliers invoice at the end of the month for orders that month with terms of net/15. CB does an excellent job of preserving its cash flows by paying the invoices on the 15th of the month following the order.. CB can improve its working capital by negotiating for longer payment terms, i.e. net/30 days, allowing for more time for the company to earn money to pay their invoices. If this is not possible, the company can improve its forecasting measurements for ordering supplies and order the majority of the supplies needed for the month at the beginning of the month. This would increase the amount of time the company has sufficient supplies on hand without having to pay more money, (because the suppliers will still invoice for the orders at the end of the month, regardless of how early in the month the supplies were ordered). This can increase working capital because it acts as a contingency plan, to reduce the likelihood of running out of supplies, avoiding delays, or ordering supplies in excess. Free cash flow factors also affect CB’s working capital. Currently, the company recognizes depreciation in both manufacturing overhead and as depreciation expenses depending on the fixed asset. The company can use their depreciation data to increase management of cash flows by predicting when the company will have to spend a significant amount of money to replace an asset when its useful life expires. This will prepare CB for those unwanted – although necessary – fixed asset costs. Currently the  corporation’s marginal tax rate is 25%. The company can consider obtaining working capital by financing debt. This will leave the company with an interest expense at the end of the year, which is deductible from gross earnings and results in paying lower taxes. After CB improves its working capital, let’s discuss how CB can use its working capital for the lease vs. buy option for a factory building in Canada. CB can use its working capital to cover the $50,000 down payment (or buy out option if they decide to lease) and $200,000 for operational costs of the new factory. According to the data provided for the lease vs. buy option, the lease option will preserve cash outflows of $12,339, (purchase cash outflows are $333,999 and lease cash outflows are $321,660). Therefore, the company should lease the manufacturing facility to preserve cash outflows. Leasing the facility will also allow CB to deduct annual interest payments (6% interest) from the gross earnings to lower their tax payments. This will increase the company’s net earnings at the end of the year, also resulting in higher retained earnings and increased shareholder value. CB should consider many factors when deciding to merge or acquire Canadian Biking. Let’s analyze the pros and cons between a merge vs. acquisition and determine what the best move would be for CB. First off, if the company were to merge with Canadian Biking, the potential EPS would increase by approximately .021. This shows potential for increased ownership earnings, but is it significant enough? At the same token, the price/earnings ratio for Canadian Bikes at the end of Year 8 was 9 and CB’s was 70. This shows that CB’s current investors are expecting greater earnings in Year 9 and are willing to pay $70 for $1 of current earnings. This is not the case with Canadian Biking’s investors. Unfortunately a low P/E ratio of 9 indicates that investors are not expecting a significant growth in company earnings. This raises a concern if the merge will result in a potential increase of .021 in EPS. On the other hand, a merge would result in lower costs because CB would not be purchasing Canadian Biking outright. Canadian Biking also has a lower cost competition bike that can decrease production costs and complement CB’s current bike model being offered. This will result in  greater net earnings and cash flows. If the company were to acquire Canadian Bikes, CB can expect a gradual increase in cash inflows over the next 5 years. However, the current offered sales price for Canadian Biking is $286,000; this is 30% more than what the company was valued at, at the end of Year 8. Although CB has enough working capital to make the purchase, it would take 5 years of gradually increasing cash inflows to recoup the price tag of $286,000. This means it could take approximately 5 years, before shareholders saw a significant increase in earnings per share. Based on the pro and cons, CB should merge with Canadian Bikes to lower their production and delivery costs, increase net income, EPS and cash flows, and preserve working capital. The price to acquire Canadian Biking is simply unreasonable based on predicted cash inflows over the next 5 years. The merger will enhance CB’s market position in Canada by having a local distributer to handle all customer orders and provide cost effective and great customer service to the growing Canadian market. References Investopedia. (2012). Capital Structure.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

HR Strategic Linkages Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HR Strategic Linkages - Assignment Example HR  department allows the business and the employees to be on the same page and it is the medium between them. It supports the business strategy by encouraging employees to work harder and more efficiently. HR works closely with the employees which in turn benefits the organization as a whole.   An important factor for continuous competitive success is how a company manages its human capital. Investments in human capital can result in better organizational performance and increased productivity which can further improve its financial position. Without it, an organization can lose its efficient production capabilities. Secondly, HR can also help an organization to achieve its goals associated with growth and development. It can help by recruiting employees and determining training needs. It can also help by attracting capable employees and by modifying job requirements. Internally, HR can help by analyzing those parts of a organization which need improvement and introduce ways to improve the performance feedback procedures. It can help as a strategic partner by reorganizing the management structure to make efficient use of its resources. Including HR as a strategic business partner enables better decision making. What benefits do you think the employees derive from this arrangement? As a result of this arrangement, employees receive a lot of benefits. To build human capital, HR develops strategies for finding the best talent, enhancing their knowledge and skills through training programs. Employees will begin to have a deeper understanding of how the organization works. The employees will benefit because HR will initially recruit internally so the employees will get the first opportunity to develop new skills and tasks. Task and skill analyses will further highlight the needs of employees. HR will also introduce more recruiting tools and will give all the employees opportunities for professional and personal development. Employees will also benefit as HR wil l provide compensation and bonuses in order to reward people for their hard work and contribution. Improved performance feedback process with also help the employees as managers will get specific training for it. HR will reorganize the management plan and rotate the employees which will further increase their motivation and improve their skills. It will also retain exceptional employees for the company. The HR has the skills and ability to solve employee related issues. The motivation level of all the employees will increase through these measures as they will see that their hard work and contribution is being recognized and rewarded. Employees can also easily take help from HR as they are now strategic partners to their organization. Motivation of all employees can be further increased by giving them health care coverage, daycare, vacation time, bonuses etc. All these rewards together can boost employee performance and hence create a better working environment for all the workers. What do you think are the risks involved (to HR and the organization as a whole) if HR does not make this a priority and instead remains a purely task-oriented? The organization will have to face a lot of negative consequences if HR does not make this a priority and remains task-oriented. HR will only be involved and interested in the day-to-day responsibilities and tasks. They will not be helping the organization in achieving their

Monday, November 18, 2019

Nelson Goodmanss New Riddle Of Induction Term Paper

Nelson Goodmanss New Riddle Of Induction - Term Paper Example The traditional problem of induction was popularized by David Hume and it reamined quite traditional until Nelson Goodman proposed a new problem which he called â€Å"the new riddle of induction† as expressed in the third chapter of Fact, Fiction and Forecast. By the new riddle of induction Goodman put forward a claim that not all generalizations are confirmed by their instances. In other words â€Å"confirmation of a hypothesis by an instance depends rather heavily upon the features of the hypothesis other than its syntatical form† (72). He distinguished the lawlike (that a given piece of copper conducts electricity increases the credibility of the statement asserting that other pieces of copper conducts electricity, and thus confirms the hypothesis that all copper conducts electricity) and accidental (that a given man now in this room is a third son does not increase the credibility of the statement asserting that other men now in this room are third sons and so does not confirm the hypothesis that all men now in this room are third sons) statements. Yet, both are cases in which the hypothesis is a generalization of the evident statement. Thus, Goodman argued: â€Å"only a statement that is lawlike – regardless of its trut h or falsity or its scientific importance – is capable of recieviing confirmation from an instance of it; accidental statements are not† (73). As such, there is need for a way of plainly distinguishing the lawlike from the accidental statements. However, the problem of induction goes beyond merely trying to exclude a few cases that are admitted by our definition of confirmation. Hence, Goodman proposed a new predicate, â€Å"grue.†

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Compare and Contrast of Agriculture Technology Between hang Dynasty and Han Dynasty Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast of Agriculture Technology Between hang Dynasty and Han Dynasty Essay For the past five thousand years, human civilizations have existed on the earth and constantly reforming and contributing to our society. The excellences human made are unprecedented, and the experience theses civilizations cumulated can also be continuously studied by the people nowadays. This year, we learnt many great civilizations, among the civilizations in ancient China, the Shang dynasty and the Han dynasty are the most outstanding civilizations. Their cultures are distinct and their contributions are tremendous. Although now we can find their stories, cultures and inventions only on history books, their contributions and achievements are still having deep affection to us. Agriculture is a very significant part of a civilization. Without agriculture, making progress is impossible. Agriculture is the foundation of everything. Agriculture is a good reflection of science and technology in a civilization. During the comparing and contrasting of the agriculture of Shang dynasty and Han dynasty, we can get a deeper understanding of the great knowledge and intelligent of the people of the two dynasties. We can also discover the development and progress they have made. The Shang dynasty is the second dynasty in Chinese history. The Shang Dynasty last from 1600 B. C. to 1046 B. C. and experienced three big stages. The Han dynasty can be divided into two historical period which are western Han dynasty (202 B. C. to 9 A. D. ) and eastern Han dynasty (25A. D. to 220 A. D. ) Both Shang dynasty and Han dynasty are important civilization in Chinese history. Also, both dynasties made big breakthrough in agriculture. From the research of a large number of archaeological material and oracle records, archaeologists concluded that the Shang dynasty is operating mostly on agriculture. Although at that time, the handicraft industry has been developed, agriculture is still the ifeline of the economy during Shang dynasty. Basically, the main type of agriculture during Shang dynasty was glebe farming, and in the southward of Shang dynasty, which is the Yangtze River area, the popular agriculture type was paddy fields farming. A very important reason that stimulates the development of agricultural technology during the Shang dynasty is the development of bronze industry. During Shang dynasty, the bronze industry developed very quickly. Especially in the late Shang dynasty, the development of bronze industry came into its own stage. The appearance of bronze tools made the agricultural technology developed quickly. The question that most people will concern is that how did people in Shang dynasty make bronze tools? It is true that it was a very hard process for people in the Shang dynasty to make bronze tools. So, at the beginning, the amounts of bronze tools are very limited. People in the Shang dynasty usually use carpentry tools including knife, adz, and axes to make bronze tools. In the middle Shang period, craftsmen can already made variety kinds of bronze tools like shovels, Jues, adz. However, at that time, there were no enough sources of cooper metal compared with sources of stone tools; also, the process of making bronze tools is complicated. As the result, in the middle period of Shang dynasty, bronze tools were not widely used. Also, most of the bronze tools were under the control of agricultural officers. Civilians and slaves cannot have these bronze tools. They can only use the heavy farm tools like stone spade, axes. Then, at the late period of the Shang dynasty, this problem got solved because of the expansion of the production scale. At the same time, the appearance of irrigation technology and the strict management also helped to make the development of the agriculture in the Shang dynasty. As the main production department during the Shang dynasty, the developed agricultural technology provided the society with lots of food, in this way, a large number of people leave the career of agricultural production and began to work in other aspects for example business people, officers, soldiers, professional producers and so on. The government of Han dynasty put lots of effort on the restore and development of agricultural. Han dynasty began after the perish of Qin dynasty. At the beginning of the Han dynasty, because of the long period of wars occur during the late period of the Qin dynasty, the agricultural and economy paralyzed. The people died in the wars are mostly farmers, as a result, the labor decrease and there‘s not enough people to take care of the cropland. At that time, the total population went straight down from 20 million to 8 million. Emperor Gaozu of Han solved these problems and agriculture of Han dynasty restored and developed very quickly. There were lots of innovations and invention of agriculture during the Han dynasty. These achievements can be divided into three aspects. Firstly, there are huge developments towards the irrigation. Secondly, there are improvements of agricultural tools and technology. The third one is the cultivation of crops and vegetables. At the beginning of the Han dynasty, there are flood from upstream the Yellow River every year. It is a big hazard to the residents who lived in the downstream of the Yellow River. Their croplands got destroyed and some of them lost their houses. Emperor Wudi of Han lead his people solved this problem. Thirty thousand people work together to remove the siltation of the river and planted trees on the upstream of the river. After this recuperation, there was no big flood occurred in the Yellow River. There are lots of interesting and useful inventions during the Han dynasty. Above is agriculture equipment called Libi. Libi is a plow equipped with a double moldboard. People put Libi on a plough can turns up the soil on each side of the furrow. With the Libi, the efficiency of cultivation increase. The application of Libi is a big improvement in agriculture. Also, it is nearly 1000 years earlier than Europe of using the similar thing. Above is another invention which is called Lou. It is an animal- drawn seed plough. It has three feed. With Lou, people can do cultivation job three rows at a time. Lou can do three tasks: opening ditches, sowing, covering with soil at one time. Lou made farmers during the Han dynasty save much times and did more works. Lou increased the efficiency of the busy working farmers. The popularization of cultivation works with cattle would be another development on agriculture during the Han Dynasty. At that time, the most popular ways of cultivation are two people with three cattle and one people with two cattle. The ways that cultivation using cattle made people worked easily. The third achievement that we mentioned above is the cultivation crops and vegetables. Firstly, people made the cultivation of crops regionalized. In the northern area, people grew wheat, and In the Yangtze River area and Southern area, people grew rice. Also then the scales of the cultivation get larger. Another impressive improvement on agriculture is the cultivation of vegetables. During the Han dynasty, people already has variety chooses of vegetables including the vegetables we usually eat now like celeries, carrot, taro, green onion, garlic and so on. The most amazing thing is that during Han dynasty, people already learnt to grow vegetables in the greenhouse. During the eastern Han period, there were over 20 kinds of vegetables grew in the greenhouse. The use of greenhouse is one thousand years earlier than Europe. The biggest difference of agriculture between Shang Dynasty and Han Dynasty is the mode of production. Shang dynasty is a slavery society, slaves worked collectively. Also, During Shang dynasty, the croplands were all belonged to the emperor of Shang, and he put the land law of serf society into practice. As the image show above, at that time, the roads and channel crisscross and partitioned the cropland into squares. The emperor of Shang forced people work on the cropland. The outside parts are private fields and the inside part is public field. On the opposite, during the Han dynasty, people live and cultivation in the unit of a family. People have their own croplands. This kind of mode of production was usually described as small-scale farming by individual owners. Nowadays, in the remote mountain area or countryside, people are still using this kind of mode of production. A question may come out, why the first kind of production mode didn’t last long and in the contrary the second kind of production mode last till today. In my opinion, in the Shang dynasty’s example, people don’t have their own croplands. They work hard but the wheat and rice that come out of the croplands did not belongs to them, so they are not satisfy with the works they are doing. In contrast, with the second kind of mode of production, people are glad because if they put more effort, they will get more payback, so they are satisfy with their works and willing to do better. From the analyzing of the agriculture technology and development of Shang dynasty and Han dynasty, we can certainly conclude that the development in agriculture of both dynasties are significant and they both show their incredible intelligence to us. Their inventions and new ideas gave us inspirations. We can also see the huge improvement from Shang dynasty to Han dynasty in the 800 years. Their progresses are starling.