Coffee, Tea and Chocolate in the Renaissance

Today Europe is a hub of coffee, tea, and chocolate culture and production. Thus, many believe that coffee, tea, and chocolate has been in Europe since or before the Renaissance and that the popularity of these caffeinated commodities aided in the surge of great minds within the Italian Renaissance. However, is that really true, while working from 1300 to 1600 A.D? The aim, then of this general survey will be to find if there is a correlation between tea, coffee, and chocolate with the coming of the Renaissance The direct origin of coffee is fraught with legend and speculation but it is important in the story of how coffee ended up a global commodity.

Abu al-Tayyib al-Ghazzi of the Arab tradition tells one of the oldest origins of coffee during the reign of Solomon. The story goes that Solomon was said to have come in his travels to a town whose inhabitants were afflicted with some unspecified disease. On the command of the angel Gabriel, he roasted coffee beans "from the Yemen," from which he brewed the drink, which when given to the sufferers, cured them of their illness. It is then latter alluded that the origins of coffee were then immediately forgotten until the 16th century. Other tales involve outcasted priest doctors who forage on the beans to survive or a shepherd who noticed the vigor of his sheep and decides to try the odd fruit they had recently eaten. Regardless of the factual correctness that the myths no doubtingly lack, it is clear that coffee has an Arabic origin and was probably first cultivated in modern-day Yemen and Ethiopia.

There is also strong evidence that coffee has a distinct connection to the Sufi Mystic Religion, prominent west of the Red Sea. The Sufi religion had relatively unique ceremonies that may have lead to their adaptation of coffee as a means of staying awake longer. The Sufi religion was and still stands as Islamic in base. It holds firm roots in not only Islam but philosophy, music, medicine, and most importantly alchemy. Alchemy was not just around to turn rocks into gold it was used by the Sufi sect to try and understand the spiritual quest for the transmutation of the human soul.

Coffee was then first adopted, in the late 15th century, as a drinking substance by this sect, not only to help stay awake during lengthy night rituals but because the process of roasting these beans demonstrated their faith in alchemy. Coffee then became not only a physical substance but a religious affair. From here coffee quickly began to spread. From the mountains of Yemen, coffee went to Mecca, no doubt due to its religious influence. From there, coffee spread throughout the entire Islamic world even entering into Cairo within the 15th century. It would be easy to assume coffee made its way across the Mediterranean similar to the hop over the Red Sea into Mecca. Surly, coffee had the ability to directly influence Europe with its invigorating properties, now that it could flow out of the ports of Cairo and straight to Venice. However, there is a different story. Coffee probably did make its way back in small private collections but there was yet to be an international trade of coffee like we see today. The issue of immediate trade was a religious one. It's common knowledge that Islam and Catholicism did not fare well together.

Coffee was until the turn of the 16th century in Europe confined to the avant-garde, such as the students, faculty, and visitors at the University of Padua. Coffee was under attack during the reign of Pope Clement VIII as it was just recently brought into the realm by Venetian merchants. The claim was that the black substance was of the infidel and thus of the devil. Many urged its ban immediately, but Pope Clement VIII decided upon tasting the drink decided, itr's flavor and effect were so delightful that he declared it would be a shameful waste to leave it to the heathen. It was then in the year 1600 that coffee had made its official debut in Europe just after the accepted end date of the Renaissance being 1300 - 1600 A.D. Down with the idea of Renaissance Coffee; it simply did not exist in Europe with a large enough quantity to make a plausible impact. But what of the caffeinated bean known as chocolate? Many know its origins began in the new world alongside the Aztec Empire. It is even more commonly know that the new world was discovered in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Although 1492 is nearly 200 years old it seems it is a better contender than coffee. The origins of chocolate are then needed to understand its effects and circulation within society.

Chocolate goes by another name still used today; coco is the current word but cacao can be traced as the roots and even more excitingly the word kakawa can be linked and traced to the word as late as 1000 B.C. This recent discovery is is thanks to the linkage of the word Cacao dating back to the native roots of the Mixe-Zoquean language group but most importantly to the Olmec Civilization. It was in the Olmec site of San Lorenzo that linguists could place the earliest record of the word, kakawa, within the Olmec period inferring that these people are the first to ever cultivate the cocoa bean. From here the story of chocolate in the Americas follows the path of most commodities. Chocolate is traded and the Mayans soon begin cultivating the Cacao plant. The Mayans while in the height of their power traded cocoa with the Toltecs in the 9th century and soon the drink was widespread and was even regarded as a form of currency amongst the Mayan dominion and later the Aztecs in the 12th century. Then the conquistadors arrived late on the onset of the 16th century and find the drink and product within their New-Spain.

The diffusion of chocolate culture from Latin America to Europe is important. Not only because the old world had no cocoa plant to cultivate but because the old world was fiercely in competition with itself. Similarly to Islam and Catholicism, trade and secrets ran deep, especially between Portugal and Spain. This minute detail is actually the reason why coffee had a delayed and profound start through Europe. Christopher Columbus did indeed make the first contact with natives and from there the first shipment of cocoa reached Seville Spain in 1585. However, the important note here is that chocolate did not flourish throughout Europe instantly and with a great deal of certainty, due to Charles the V, chocolate remained almost completely isolated within Spain. Unfortunately for the hypothesis of chocolate aiding the renaissance during most of the 16th century, chocolate and the stimulating effects of its caffeine it holds remained a cherished Spanish secret. It was not until 1606 that Italy became the second country to enjoy chocolate that all of Europe began to enjoy its benefits. Thus, just like coffee, chocolate comes just too late to have aided in the plethora of thought throughout the Italian Renaissance.

Next there is tea. Did tea have any correlation to the coming of the Italian Renaissance? Well, to start the origins of tea is in Southeast Asia, specifically China. No one is exactly sure when the Chinese started using plant leaves for beverage purposes. However, in Chinese legends they date the origin of tea back to 2737 B.C. under the reign of Emperor Shen Nung the Divine Healer. In reality, the first reliable mention of tea comes in the 317 A.D. by a general of the Chin dynasty, writing to his nephew Liu Yen, the governor of Yenchow in the province of Shantung, that he felt aged and depressed and wanted some real tu [tea]. Then in 350 A.D. the Chinese scholar Kuo Po gives the first definition of tea in his work, the Erh Ya. In Erh Ya, under the name of kia or ku tu the definition is a beverage is made from the leaves by boiling. For a long time tea was used solely as a medical beverage, eventually in the late sixth century A.D. the Chinese started to use tea as a regular drink. Tea became a very popular beverage to the Chinese for both medical and recreational purposes, to the point that tea leaves were an average trading item and people were developing different methods of preparing tea. Through trade, tea spread to the rest of the provinces in China, to Japan, and to India. According to William Uker in All About Tea, the knowledge of tea was probably introduced into the Island Empire along with Chinese Civilization, the fine arts, and Buddhism, about A.D. 593, in the reign of Prince Shotoku. Later on tea cultivation was introduced to Japan, which the Japanese ran with and began their own styles of cultivation and preparation. Japan is very important to how tea reached Europe.

Tea was first mentioned in Europe during the mid 16th century, by a few merchants and multiple Jesuits on missions in Japan. In 1546, the merchant Jorge Alvares in a report writes about how the both Japanese nobles and ordinary people drank hot water mixed with herbs, which is the first European reference to tea. Tea continued to be referred to as hot water by the European merchants and the Jesuit missionaries in their reports and letters back to Europe. It is through Japan that tea is introduced into Europe. Dutch traders were the first to bring tea, mostly green teas, into Europe in the year 1610. With the first introduction of tea into Europe being after the end of the Renaissance period, it is therefore absurd for tea to have any correlation with the coming of the Renaissance. Nor did tea have any major influence during the Renaissance. Rather tea was popular after the end of the Renaissance and by the Enlightenment period, tea was one of the most sought after drinks, especially in England.

In conclusion, coffee, chocolate, and tea does not yield a correlation with the Italian Renaissance. Although, all beverages were in existence before the Italian Renaissance, they were not in Europe until right at the end or after the end of the Renaissance. Anyone who says coffee, chocolate, or tea was a key feature of the Renaissance is mistaken and all they need to do is a little bit of research into the subject.

Bibliography

Coe, Sophie D., and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2013.
Hattox, Ralph S. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press, 2002.
Preedy, Victor R. Caffeine: Chemistry, Analysis, Function and Effects. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015.
Stella, Alain. The Little Book of Coffee. Paris: Flammarion, 2001. Ukers, William H. All About Tea. Vol. 1. 2 vols.
New York: Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1935. https://archive.org/details/AllAboutTeaV1/page/n0.
Varley, Paul and Isao, Kumakura. (1989). Tea in Japan. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawai'i Press.
Wild, Antony. Coffee: A Dark History. New York: Norton, 2005.
Secondary Bibliography Grivetti, Louis, and Howard-Yana Shapiro. Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009.
Lach, Donald F. Asia in the Making of Europe. Vol 1. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Massey, John L. Coffee: Production, Consumption and Health Benefits. New York: Nova Publishers, 2016. Weinberg,
Bennett Alan., and Bonnie K. Bealer. The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the Worlds Most Popular Drug. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Did you like this example?

Coffee, Tea And Chocolate In The Renaissance. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Evolution of Theatres during the Renaissance

Theater has evolved marvelously throughout the ages. Although every era has contributed massively to how theatre evolved, the Renaissance era, which is known as the period of European cultural, artistic, political and scientific ?rebirth after the Middle Ages, contributed considerably more than any other era. During the Renaissance various changes were made to how plays were presented to the people. Just before the 14th century, actors in Italy were performing in stages without decoration except for a row of curtained booths. Nearly 100 years later complex painted scenery was being used in play productions. (Barker, George 2018) The Renaissance brought changes as to where the stage could be located as well as new innovations involving perspective, which allowed for a more creative and enjoyable show through the use of scenery. The theatrical innovations that were created during the Renaissance era was due to the high success of theatre. Scenery and theatrical effect saw the largest amount of change from new technology and schools of thought. Through the use of depth, even if it was just an illusion, and perspective scenery was revolutionized. One of the influential figures of this era was Sebastiano Serlio, an Italian architect who built part of the Palace of Fontainebleau, wrote a series of books, Architettura, one of which included a section dedicated to the architecture of theatres that included his theories on perspective drawing and painting and the art of recreating three-dimensional objects on a flat surface. (www.preceden.com/timelines/168318-theatre-history--italian-renaissance) For his theories Serlio used Vitruvius ideas regarding the vanishing point. Through the use of the inclined rake of the stage floor he created the effect which made everything that was upstage look as if it were farther than it really was. Although his designs became very popular, he did not limit himself to the use of scenery, perspective, and painted backdrops. Serlio became involved in the construction of theaters as well. He drew from neoclassical ideas of Greek and Roman theater designs. (Italian-renaissance-theatre.weebly.com/Italian-renaissance-scenic-design.html.) As an example of what theatres looked like at the beginning of the Renaissance era we have to go back to the late Middle Ages, when the charitable institution of the Confrerie de la Passion converted a hall in the Hopital de la Trinite into a theatre. Nowadays, it is unclear whether the theatre has an end stage arrangement, where the audience was seated around the three sides of the hall with a large standing audience in front of the stage, or whether it had an arena arrangement, where the actors used the central floor area as a stage with the audience seated around them. This type of theatre known as a theatre hall became dominant during the Renaissance era even after several innovations were introduced Members of the nobility, who were competing against one another as to who could put on the most lavish spectacles, undertook formal experimentation, as well as entrepreneurs and charities who wanted to make extra money by providing theatrical performances for the public. (Hildy, 2018) After Julius Pomponius Laetus, the founder of the Roman Academy, received one of the first printed copies of Vitruvius De Architecture in 1481 he set out to discover the nature of the original staging of Roman plays, which started the experimentation of the different forms of academic theatres. Laetus focus on design and the usage of scaenae fons led to the popularization of a modified form of medieval simultaneous staging. This new form had a wide but shallow raised stage that covered either four or five openings. It was angled forwards so that the central one or two openings were closer to the audience and the rest of the openings were angled towards them. Since the curtains were hard to differentiate signs were placed above them, which indicated the homes of a central character. This then became the standard pattern for curtained openings in academic theaters all throughout Europe. 1508 was the year where the first known use of perspective scenery was used on a large painted backdrop. In the course of the 1540r's, square panels that had been connected to make the shape of an L had been organized at uniform intervals alongside every side of the stage. Three dimensional architectural details, which supplied a continuous perspective that gave the general image greater depth, had been put on the angled wings; furthermore, the floor of the stage was angled upward toward the vanishing point of the backdrop, which created the present-day designations of what we now understand as upstage and downstage. For the first time in the history of theater, perspective now dictated that stages should be deeper than they were wide. However, even though a lot of innovative things were discovered, actors still restricted themselves to acting on the side of the part of the stage that was nearest to the audience. Perspective became such a fascinating subject that not even academic theatre could resist it. For an example, we can look at the famous Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy. The Teatro Olimpico is the oldest existing theatre in Europe. (Hildy, 2018) It was designed by the Italian Architect Andrea Palladio to fit into a pre-existing hall, which opened 5 years after his death in the year 1585. (www.preceden.com/timelines/168318-theatre-history--italian-renaissance) The most elaborate reconstruction of a Roman scaenae frons can be seen in the Teatro Olimpico which had 5 doors. Behind 4 of the doors there is a forced perspective vista of a city street, while behind the largest door one can see 3 of the same vistas. Unfortunately, such a theatre was too expensive to copy by any average institution and since it didnt allow for the changing of the perspective that was widely used during court it was not widely imitated. (Hildy, 2018) Very little is known about the permanent theatres that were built at Ferrara in 1531 and Rome in 1545, except that they were most likely court theatres that were built as a theatre-in-the-hall type. One of the most dominant theatre types was the theatre in the hall style that even when the Confrerie de la Passion opened the first public purpose-built theatre in Europe since the Roman era, known as the Theatre de lHotel de Bourgogne, in 1548 it followed the theatre-in-the-hall model. The most significant innovation seem in the theatre was the second-level stage that was located at the back of the main stage. Eventually, the Bourgogne was followed by purpose-built theatres across Europe. (Hildy, 2018) The evolution of theatres across Europe was diverse. In 1565, the first public theatre was built in Venice, Italy, but it is unknown whether it was a freestanding theatre or one in an existing hall. In 1567, the Red Lion was built in London in a garden with seating risers and a large stage backed by a tower. In 1575 and 1576 the playhouses of St. Paul and Blackfriars respectively, were adaptations of existing halls. Meanwhile, a charitable society in Spain opened a public theatre in a courtyard in Calle Sol in 1568 and in 1574 the first purpose-built public theatre in Spain was built in Sevilla as a courtyard theatre. (Hildy, 2018) The Theatre in London was the first truly innovative design to be found on a playhouse. The Theatre was built with its central area in an open-air style. What was amazing about it and truly innovative is that it was built in the shape of a polygonal, while most theatres were built in the shape of a rectangle. Its innovative shaped has about 20 sides that were around 12 feet deep and contained 3 levels of seating covered by a roof. The audience stood around a large stage that was 5 feet high and integrated into several bays at one end of the theatre. Behind the stage was the backstage area, called a tiring-house. This basic design became the standard for all open-air theatres in London and helped it became one of the most successful examples of theatre design of the time. Unfortunately, The Theatre only had its doors open for 20 years, and in 1598 it was taken down. However, its timbers were used to build what we know now as the Globe Theatre, which became popular due to William Shakespeare most of his plays were performed on its stage. (Hildy, 2018) During the renaissance we also saw a lot of improvement to the capacity of people that a theatre could hold. By the 17th century The Globe could hold an audience capacity of 1,500 but since audiences tended to crowd outside the theatre the number was expanded to 3,000 people. (m.bardstage.org/globe-theatre-audience.htm) This was the average size of Elizabethan theatres which were designed in a style similar to the Coliseum, but a smaller version of it. Their dimensions were different, ranging from 20 feet wide 15 feet deep to 45 feet wide to 30 feet deep, and since they all were in an open arena style people often got wet when it rained. The Teatro Olimpico was built to have a capacity of 1000 people, although it only has 400 seats available as of today. Plays during the Medieval period were performed outside so it is unclear as to how many people were able to see or hear the play at a single time, but it is most likely that at most 100 people at a time saw the same play. In other words, during the Renaissance we saw the stage for plays get a more formal space. The Renaissance was an era of rebirth where people were interested in discovering and innovating themselves and the things around them. Furthermore, since the nobility were competing on who could put on the most lavish and spectacular show, architecture was of most importance. Some theatres had designs on its walls and on its archways. Some like the Teatro Olimpico have statues on it walls, which made it look more beautiful and rather classy. Balconies and galleries were also focused on since it was used by the nobility. There were galleries known as the Lords rooms, which were considered the best seats in the house, even though it had such a poor view of the stage. (m.elizabethean-era.org.uk/architecture-of-Elizabethan-theatres.htm.) In conclusion, we saw a lot of changes being made during the Renaissance. Artists as well as architects became more inspired and created a lot of innovative things in theatre. Before the Renaissance era artists looked only for a stage, but as people became more interested in the arts experimentation led to creating beautiful scenes that revolutionized theatre. Nowadays, how you present a stage is part of a play. Props, background, even music help the audience experience a play more in depth. Not only does it help the audience, but they also help the creator of the play enhance the vison of their work. We also saw modifications being made to theaters so that now actors can work in theatres that can house more than a thousand people, while back a couple hundred people at a time would have been able to see a play.

Did you like this example?

Evolution Of Theatres During The Renaissance. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

A Phenomenon of Renaissance

One recalls the not-so distant polemics around the place of Islam in the European Renaissance. What if Europe did not owe its knowledge to Islam? Many historians reject the idea that the science of the Greeks has been transmitted to the West by the Muslim world. Contrary to the crescendo that has been repeated since the 1960s, European culture, in its history and development, has much to do with Islam. The division of the world between the West and the East goes back to ancient Greece, and for a thousand years, it has played out an eternal confrontation between two conceptions of the world. During the Middle Ages, two civilizations faced each other. One mixed Greek heritage with the message of the Gospels, the scientific spirit rooted in a religious tradition of which the Church was the guarantor. The other was the daughter of the Book of God, the Uncreated Book. It was primarily moored to its central axis, the Quran. And it is, of course, in France that the Renaissance appeared. It represented for this nationalist historian a break with the dark age of the Middle Ages, a victory of the ideas of Reason, Truth, Art and Beauty. The Renaissance is truly the definitive portrait of an Italian phenomenon of the fifteenth century. This therefore allowed the creation of the modern individual characterized by the revival of classical culture. This vision shaped our imagination and led us to understand the Renaissance not as a historical period but as a spirit that seems to define more the ideal of these intellectuals for the nineteenth century than the historical reality. One of the problems with these classical definitions of Renaissance is that they celebrate the achievements of European civilization to the exclusion of all others, especially where laws applied to guard humanity (Code of Hammurabi). Introducing The Persian Empire as a celebrated culture, because of its particularly intelligent way in governing. Each province was governed to the nine, which is perfectly reflected in how Hammurabi sought to keep his law down to each detail, “These judgments of righteousness did Hammurabi the mighty king confirm, and caused the land to take on a sure government and a beneficent rule (Code of Hammurabi 3). Driven by success, organized and logically placed governance set the stage for western society to take after. The Persian government system further created social as well as political examples for empires that would later rise into society. Beginning with the greatest empire yet, the Persian Empire, King Cyrus began expanding the boundaries of Persia into the neo-Babylonian empire – one of the greatest early western civilizations. Through expanding its boundaries, the Persians focused on increasing trade throughout their kingdom. The Persian Empire became an extraordinary empire that was multi-lingual, multi-faith, and carried much political loyalty. By standardizing weights, officiating coinage, and implementing societal laws, the Persians opened doors to opposing nations and beyond. It is not a coincidence that the period in which the term, Renaissance, was invented was also the moment in history when Europe proclaimed with the greatest aggressiveness its imperialist domination of the globe. Translated in English, in On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy, Ibn Rushd introduced the idea that philosophy works together with religion to develop the notion of a synthesis of faith and reason. This Islamic philosophy heavily influenced the west and further suggested the idea that God exists independent of bible. Until the eighth century, Greek philosophy was seen with great suspicion. Conservative thinkers in the west explicitly believed that scripture, like the bible, was the only proof of the relationship between God and his creation. Western thinkers were unable to see the study of philosophy, where reason is understood as the standard for themes like morality and religion. Faith and reason are heavily dependent on sacred writings backed by a theoretical rationale. Inspired by this philosophy, the west gained the idea that you did not have to be Christian to have a conception of God. The concept that it is vital that you account your own journey of faith, because “it is necessary for one who wants to know God as He ought to be known to acquaint himself with the essence of things, so that he may get information about the creation of all things” (Ibn Rushd). This was the dawn of the philosophical idea that inspired thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas to believe that faith comes after reason, and further faith enables a person to understand what couldn’t be understood through the previous theories of religion alone. The exchanges with the Ottoman Empire, however, have profoundly changed the tastes and possibilities in the west of the continent and contributed to the birth of the modern world. Oriental imports covered a wide range of products, from cotton spices, satin carpets, tulips to porcelain and horses, pigments, and so on. The palette of painters has also been enlarged and brought to the paintings of the Renaissance the bright blue and red that characterize them. It is the Arab and Islamic trade practices that have spread, and imposed the Indo-Arab figures, the use of the comma the signs of addition (+), subtraction (-) and multiplication ( x). Not only objects from the east that were shown on the paintings (including inscriptions in Arabic on the Virgin's clothes), but also the painters themselves. A case in point is the many artists who went to Istanbul and reported motifs inspired by Ottoman and Persian traditions. The flows in the scientific field, especially from East to West, were no less dense. Even the fall of Constantinople in 1453 was seen with moderation by many Christians. The period of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was, therefore, that of a tremendous commercial and financial boom, a breathtaking dynamism of which all the protagonists were aware. It was the breeding ground of humanism that was part of that era in which enrichment, power and greed were glorified. The very practical concerns of humanists are brought to light by the Italian writer Petrarch, who advocated both the personal quest for philosophical truth and the practical ability to operate effectively in society through rhetoric and persuasion. Montesquieu was a French writer that voiced his strong opinions about the Parisian society through the Persian Letters. This series of 161 letters reveals the true jealousy and wit the French had towards the Persians during the late eighteenth century. True criticism is revealed within the letters, as concise and clear statements are made to express the Europeans’ high grade of self-esteem. From the western point of view, people thought “[The King of France] has often been heard to say that of all the governments of the world, that of the Turks or that of our own august sultan pleased him most, so greatly he affected the oriental style of politics” (Montesquieu 1). The text, thereafter, criticizes Middle Eastern society in their ways of politics, culture, religion, and social structure. The so-called cultural domination over non-Western people forever inspires the future of the West to live up to these unrighteous virtues of superiority. Montesquieu therefore is the initial culprit of Western thought of domination over foreign countries – in this case, the Middle East. The deeply rooted culture of western world is considerably thought to be original and ever so inspired by their earliest civilizations. Many unfortunately look past the Middle East’s incredible sciences, math, social conduct, great thinkers, scholars, and innovations. Orientalism, an idea introduced by Edward Siad, truly transformed the vision of the relationship between the West and East. Understanding that western culture was to believe that the Middle East was essentially timeless, further helps us understand that this was just a façade. Through the exchange of ideas through conquest and trade, we are now able to grasp that notion the west acquired great inspiration from the Middle East.

Did you like this example?

A Phenomenon Of Renaissance. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Main Ideas about the Renaissance

What political, social and economic factors caused the Renaissance? Why Italy?

When hard-working merchants gained an immense amount of economic power they also acquired political power to match their economic relevance which allowed them to explore a more luxurious lifestyle. Their new luxurious lifestyle allowed them to pursue the social system of patronage where they commissioned art and written works. Political leaders were so fond of these commissions, patronage became wildly popular and works such as those of patronages, became the inspiration of the Renaissance. Italy was the location of the emergence of the Renaissance because merchants gained economic power from trading in Venice which led to merchants growing wealthy and being able to commission specific works and those works spread over Italy, initiating the Renaissance.

What are the main characteristics of Italian Humanism? How do these compare with earlier medieval scholasticism? Why were Italian humanists so interested in Classical civilization?

The main characteristics of the Italian Humanism are the revival of Greco-Roman knowledge and culture, individualism and the belief of potential of humans, interest in non-religious topics and the rise of secularism, studying ancient languages such as Greek and Latin, rejecting the observations of Aristotle, and belief in a liberal arts style broad education.

The beliefs of Italian Humanists differ from medieval scholasticism in that scholasticism is aimed to teach one certain profession and humanism is used to teach a broad series of subjects and to excel at several different subjects. Italian humanists were so interested in Classical civilization because they thought that the written works, art, and culture of the past Greek and Roman societies reached a level of refinement that was not leveled with the latest ideas and creations.

Explain using key examples, how art began to reflect Humanism and Renaissance ideas.
Art began to reflect Humanist and Renaissance ideas by being specific commissions. Humanism is reflected within art when it is commissioned by humanists. An example of a type of humanist art piece might be an art piece that recreates one of the ancient Rome or Greek sculptures, which does not pertain to religion. Another example of a specific art piece from a commission is from the Papal states, how they might want a painting that pertains to religion such as Da Vinci's The Last Supper.

What is Christian Humanism? What were its main goals and who were itr's leading spokesmen?

Christian Humanism is a humanism group from Northern Europe (countries such as Germany and France) who understood Greco-Roman antiquities in their own way of religious usage and developed humanism to be applicable to Christians. The main goals of Christian Humanism were to bring about change to their Church from this new lifestyle by aiming to conjoin classic culture and Christian culture for a new understanding to Christianr's spiritual side. The leading spokesmen of Christian Humanism include English lawyer and author of Utopia Thomas More and Dutch writer and translator Desiderius Erasmus .

What do historians mean by the term Renaissance humanism?

When historians reference the term Renaissance humanism, they are referring to a rebirth of Greco-Roman culture accompanied by the practice of learning multiple subject matters with an emphasis of Greek and Latin. The promotion of humanism came along with the Renaissance so when they are being referred together, it alludes to the study of humanism in the time of the Renaissance because they both promote Greco-Roman culture which is the cornerstone of humanistic Renaissance studies.

What made Petrarch aware that a Renaissance, or rebirth, of classical learning was necessary in his time?

Petrarch became aware that a rebirth of classical learning was necessary in his time because he believed that the antiquities of the past were superior and glorious and that they could bring his time period out of the darkness and delusion of the future. He was made aware by this from the ignorance of the people who do not understand the need for Greco-Roman culture in their lives.

Why did Leonardo Bruni abandon his earlier course of studies to pursue the study of Greek literature?

Leonardo Bruni abandoned his studies of Civil Law to pursue the study of Greek literature because he did not care for the rhetoric and dialectic studies of his course and when a man named Chrysoloras visited Florence and he felt the need to pursue his true passion of Greek literature. Although he deemed it to be a crime to abandon studies of the law, he could not take it upon himself to miss this great opportunity. Brunir's final decision was made by thinking how there were many doctors of civil law in Italy, yet the number of experts in Greek literature was sparse so he could use his new knowledge to his advantage to the knowledgeable.

In what ways did Niccolo Machiavellir's advice to princes a break from the teachings of medieval political and moral philosophers?

Machiavellir's advice to princes is a break from the teachings of medieval political and moral philosophers because Machiavelli did not connect his entire book with following religious policy but instead directed his readers to a world of ruthlessness where one could follow their own political path without breaking ethical or moral rules. Most medieval political and moral philosophers emphasized the need to follow the influence of the Church and the ethical rules they produce, however Machiavelli hardly mentions religion which reveals a lot of inner truth of the world of governments, politics, and war which had not been discussed yet.

How does Machiavellir's image of human nature compare with that of Pico della Mirandola?

Machiavellir's image of human nature compares to that of Pico della Mirandolar's to be much more cynical, yet honest. Machiavelli views human nature as that humans are naturally greedy, scared, self-centered, liars and focuses on human flaws rather than strengths. Pico della Mirandola saw human nature with hope that human beings have the choice from God to make the right choices in order to shape their destiny and he believes the best in humans. The perspective of Machiavelli is pessimistic, yet useful for leaders, while Mirandolar's perspective is optimistic yet slightly unrealistic.

Compare and contrast the Renaissance in Italy and Northern Europe.

The Renaissance in Italy is different from the Renaissance in Northern Europe because the Italian Renaissance is more focused on individualism and humanistic studies within literature while Northern Europe focuses on Christianity and how to expose the corrupt parts of it in their literature. Italian art is based on commissions and the commissions come from the pope often therefore art is mainly focused on Christianity whereas Northern European art is less focused on religion and more focused on the portraits of the rulers
Although Italy and Northern Europe are different, the questioning of natural ideas and authority was promoted in both areas and it helped to set up different events around the continent such as the Reformation and the Age of Exploration.

Briefly explain the changed role of the artist.

The role of the artist has changed because it became a serious occupation where people were (and still are) believed to have a gift. In the Middle Ages, it was thought that God had a path for everybody he created therefore only he could create however, this view changed in the Renaissance because humanists and artists came to believe that pieces of art are creations of the artist who executed them. Artists were thought to be geniuses in the Renaissance, while artists in the Middle Ages were thought to be just fulfilling Godr's creations with their art.

Analyze the impact of women on the Renaissance and the impact of the Renaissance on women.

The impact of women on the Renaissance was how the women started to defend themselves and therefore started a whole new movement for womenr's rights and feminism. Women such as Christine de Pizan started to compile works that proved the worth of womenr's role in society. The impact of the Renaissance on women was that the promotion of questioning authority and the usual way of life inspired Europeans to debate about the role of women and allowed women to be able to try and fight for equality. The Renaissance impacted women because it brought opportunity for justice within gender roles.

To what extent did the social hierarchy change in the Renaissance from the medieval concept of social orders or estates?

The social hierarchy in the Renaissance was slightly based off of the medieval social hierarchy system, however there were major reforms in the hierarchy about class, race, and gender. Social hierarchy in the Renaissance is like that of the medieval times because the peasants of the Renaissance can relate to the serfs of Manorialism. The social system was based on wealth, such as when merchants became powerful and wealthy and reigned in some areas of Italy. Although the Renaissance is fairly rigid within social systems, it is fluid compared to the different roles in the medieval times (knights, vassals, etc..). The overall society of the Renaissance has more room for social mobility through gaining wealth and other means with the social classes, while medieval social roles remain rigid and strict.

How does Christine de Pizan defend a womanr's ability to learn?

Christine de Pizan defends a womanr's ability to learn by stating that although evil women do evil, there are women who do good and accomplish several good deeds (especially the learned ones) and they offer so much that it overrides the evil in some women. These women who share their knowledge and showcase their intelligence benefit the world therefore women should be educated for the greater good of societyr's growth according to de Pizan

What examples of learned women does she provide?

De Pizan gives the example of Hortensia, the daughter of Quintus Hortensius a skilled rhetorician and orator, who was educated by the permission of her father (because he was impressed with her wit) and she managed to do many good things and even her father could not surpass her in her studies. Another example of a woman in de Pizanr's work was the daughter of Giovanni Andrea, a law professor, Novella who took her fatherr's place occasionally when he was busy. She lectured students in an advanced law course and the authenticism of her teaching was real because her face was covered by a curtain which prevented students from being distracted by her beauty. The women that Christine de Pizan showcase in her writing support the idea of how women should be educated because they would further benefit the world with their ideas and teachings.

According to Pizan, why do some men not want to see women educated?

De Pizan offers the idea that certain men restrict learning and all aspects of education because the opinions of men are not all based on reason and therefore are wrong opinions or because they dont want women to learn for it would ruin their mores. Another reason why men do not want to see women educated is because they were afraid women would be more knowledgeable than themselves and the women would outshine them.

Did you like this example?

Main Ideas About The Renaissance. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Art Renaissance Movement

By definition, the Renaissance was about the rebirth of classical ideas and movements, all of which were heavily impacted by Greco-Roman styles and techniques. Before the Renaissance, visual art was flat, earth toned, and disproportionate. So, why did the art go from dull and dark to three dimensional and bursting with color? To put it simply, the Renaissance marked change and the start of the modern era. The art that emerged emphasized nature, portraits, religion, and had humanistic themes, reflecting the values of the people and artists of the time. At the start of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration was on the rise. This was the starting inspiration of drawing nature and landscapes. An example would be Landscape with Charon Crossing the River Styx by Joaquim Patinier in 1515. The painting is divided into three sections; the left shows the mortal world, the center contains a river with Charon in a boat transporting a soul, and the right is the gate to the afterworld. This demonstrates that religion was an important piece in creating his art, along with details of characters and nature aspects. Patinier used blue hues to demonstrate distance and give dimension, and also used intense colors to evoke emotion. The bright, lush green mortal world emits life and happiness, while the gates of the afterworld lead into darkness where the colors evoke sadness and despair. While colors show emotion in landscapes, the main conveyor of emotion and feeling within portraits are facial expressions, symbols, or colors. Depending on the person, the colors they are wearing or how they are positioned can show their social or political status. Along with that, the portraits [celebrate] the unique qualities and personality of [an] individual person. A famous example would be Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The portrait is an oil painting depicting a young woman in front of a mountainous background. While there is much speculation as to who the lady is, the artwork is well known because it evokes a sense of mysterious serenity. Before this time, portraits lacked soul and emotional depth, and artists tried to incorporate them in gestures or objects. Da Vinci was revolutionary in the sense that he brought a new aspect to his paintings without making them overly religious or uselessly busy. Though individualism, along with secularism, was on the rise, many artists referenced their religious beliefs within their works of art. Catholicism was the main religion in Europe, though not every religious piece displays strictly Catholic ideals. For instance, upon the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michelangelo painted multiple scenes depicting art from both Christianity and Catholicism. One of the most famous scenes is his Creation of Adam. The fresco shows Adam on Earth reaching towards God who is surrounded by angels and cherubs. Michelangelor's emphasis on the creating an accurate human body reflects his values on the individual person. Finally, as individualism became increasingly popular, humanism arose as one of the most used and valued aspects of renaissance art. Viewing any of the art made between the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, common people, warriors, gods, or religious characters show up in nearly every single piece. From Da Vinci, to Raphael, to Bernini, the common theme between these artists is their emphasis on people. Through sculpture, frescos, or sketches, humankind has made the spotlight. The reason behind this is a new belief arose that a person can make great achievements without society to hold them back. Due to this, artists started to sign their work, and slowly began to break away from strictly religious art, while at the same time bringing self glory. The impact the Renaissance has on modern art is substantial. Artistic ideals such as capturing light, perspective, and shadows became the main tool in order to discern the world as it truly is. Artists began to create individual and new styles, and they broke the boundaries of what was previously thought of as art. These ideals have transferred to the modern world as new types of art is continuously being produced, along with more people expressing themselves in new creative ways.

Did you like this example?

Art Renaissance Movement. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Renaissance:Art, Architecture, Philosophy and Religion

The Renaissance was a period of rebirth. A rebirthing of the Greek and Roman era. During this time, people found a renewed interest in the ancient Graeco-Roman philosophies, art, architecture, writings and more. Scholars during this period studied and translated texts, musicians wrote music based on the early-aged dramas, and architects replicated the architectural construction of the ancient ruins. A sparked interest in independency arose. People were curious. Many began finding new perspectives, opinions, and creation. Creativity arose during this era. Artists, poets, and scientist were discovering new approaches to the world. Many changes were approaching throughout the Renaissance. Italy sparked the beginning of the Renaissance, creativity assisted in its flourishment, and the renounced interest in the Greek and Roman era conceived the modern era. The Renaissance began in Italy during the 13th century. It became known as the birthing place of the Renaissance due to the growing economic power. As Italyr's trade partners increased so did their abundance of wealth, which can be tied into why Italy is known as the starting point of the renaissance. Along with their economic growth was the increased interest in humanism. Many poets, artists, and writers became influences in the start of the Renaissance. Francesco Petrarch for instance, was known by many as the Father of Humanism, and considered one of the earliest humanists. He was a scholar who studied the philosophies and writings of Ancient Rome, such as Ciceror's letter, which many acknowledge to be the introduction of the Renaissance. Dante Alighieri is another influential poet of the Renaissance. His writing, The Divine Comedy, is still remembered today as one of the greatest work of literatures due to it reintroducing civilization, and his analysis of the Fall of Rome. Many consider this literature to be a bridge leading people away from the Middle ages and into the Renaissance, due to the incorporation of mythology. By incorporating mythology, he was breaking away from the previous Catholic overtake. Literature was not the only factor in the start and flourishment of the Renaissance. Creativity is responsible for the prosperity of the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci is a vital figure in the Renaissance. With his works detailing emotions, lighting, and his outlook on life, he is still known today as the Renaissance Man. His two most famous works, The Mona Lisa and the Last Supper are two impactful paintings of this time period. He held the belief that art was characterized through nature and science, which can be noticed in many of his works. Vitruvian Man serving as one. This representation of the human figure also embodies the thought of the universe. It also serves to represent Davincir's interest in proportion. His painting, The Last Supper is also a vital piece of work during the Renaissance time period. It captures the importance of religion following the rise and fall of Catholic persuasion. This paintingr's composition is balanced, and the geometrical formation goes to symbolize Neoplatonism, a reference between Greek philosophy and Christianityr's allegory. This also serves as an aspect of humanism as it amplifies spirituality. A reincorporation of Greek and Roman architecture was an essential part of the Renaissance. Architecture during the Renaissance magnified the ancient Greek and Roman era. Greek columns, triangular pediments, and Roman arches and domes were repeatedly present in many buildings. The revival of ancient architecture came from the study of Vitruvius, a Roman architecture. Filippo Brunelleschir's dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was a work during the early Renaissance period. It is known to be a piece of architecture which sparked the beginning of the Renaissance, as it reintroduced buildings from the classical age. An abundance of architecture during the Renaissance embodied Gothic and Baroque architecture. It placed a large emphasis on symmetry, geometry, as well as proportion, which can also be found in human figure paintings and sculptures. The Sagrestia Vecchia is a Christian building capturing the essence of Byzantine architecture. Pilasters and arches are abundantly used in the Sagrestia Vecchia, as well as other Roman architectural buildings. Following the Dark Ages, when the Catholic took over, a new era was formed. Known as the Renaissance, it was a time that sparked interest in the philosophies and humanities of the Greek and Roman time period. Scholars began looking at things with a new perspective, architects re-introduced ancient frameworks, and artists discovered proportion in the human body. The rebirthing of European culture guided a movement towards secularism, rationality, and individualism. It became known as the denomination of personality, which ultimately revitalized Europe and shaped the modern day era. A rediscovery of Greek and Roman writings and ideas lead to Humanists, the scholars that translated and studied these ideas and writings.

Did you like this example?

Renaissance:Art, Architecture, Philosophy And Religion. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

What do we Know about Electoral College?

The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy, tweeted none other than Donald J. Trump on November 6th, 2012. Six years later, this disaster of a system helped him win the presidency. The following months saw recounts, protests, and anger, as many Americans, especially Democrats, were upset and incredulous that Trump became president, despite Clinton winning almost three million more votes. This is not the first time a president has lost the popular vote but still won the electoral votes; Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and George W. Bush were all elected under the same circumstances. Nonetheless, this seemingly unprecedented event provoked Hillary Clinton to call for the Electoral College to be eliminated. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were wrong; the Electoral College is an important system to our great republic that should not be abolished in favor of a popular vote system. It is important to understand the constitutional and philosophical basis for the Electoral College in order to realize its true purpose. As shown in the Federalist Papers, the Founding Fathers were afraid of pure democracy, which in past cases, devolved into tyranny of the majority, in which as small as 51% of the population could democratically oppress the minority (Madison 10). The Electoral College, as well as various other aspects of our government, was created to prevent that from happening. A candidate has to represent the interests of many different kinds of people The Electoral College is necessary because of differences in voter turnout state by state due to various factors that make it easier or harder to vote. According to a political science study done by Northern Illinois University, Jacksonville University, and Wuhan University, there is a vast difference in voter turnout due to different voter laws in different states. The study shows Oregon, Colorado, and California as the easiest states to vote, and Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas as the most difficult to vote based on restrictive voter laws. Other factors that could determine voting opportunity include distance to nearest polling place, cost per voter, or weather on election day. A snowfall in Maine would decrease the overall vote for that state compared to Florida. Voters in rural Montana may have to travel hours to the nearest polling station compared to New Yorkers who can walk two blocks to vote. A convicted felon may be eligible to vote in one state but not another. In a popular vote system, states with factors that make it easier to vote will dominate the popular vote, but states that have factors that decrease voter turnout will suffer. A candidate may win an entire election based on which states are easier to vote in rather than the overall will of the people. The Electoral College deals with this issue by granting electoral votes based on overall state population, not voter turnout. Many opponents of the Electoral College are troubled that an elector can legally change his vote and go against which candidate was most popular in the electorr's state. I completely agree, which is why I am glad that electors are appointed by the party that won the state and almost never go against their pledge to support the candidate of their party. However, one assertion these protesters make that I disagree with is the claim that candidates only have to represent swing states in order to win. This conveniently ignores the fact that the way states vote changes greatly over time. California, which is now a deep blue state, voted Republican for six elections straight until it flipped blue in 1992. Virginia also voted Republican for ten straight elections until it flipped and became a purple state in 2008, and is turning bluer and bluer due to the greater appeal of Democrats than Republicans. A political party cannot just ignore their safe states in favor of swing states, or they will lose it sometime in the near future. This is why Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin, a consistently blue state, after neglecting to campaign there in the fall of 2016, and instead visited swing states.

Did you like this example?

What Do We Know About Electoral College?. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

An Issue of the Electoral College

Contents

Electoral College
Works Cited:

Electoral College

The excitement of voting starts to lessen when the truth is shown about the voting process. Voting is the foundation of America and represents one of the biggest things that America has to offer to people who are already citizens or wanting to become citizens. Once November comes around, itr's a chance for many of us to go and speak up about who we want to represent America. The Electoral College is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state has two senators, but the House of Representatives is based on the population of the state. Out of 538 electors, 270 electoral votes are needed to decide on the President. The Electoral College can decide whether or not to ignore our stater's votes, depressing our voter turnout rate and insinuating that our votes didnt matter at the end. The Electoral College should be abolished from the United States because it restricts the people from using their democratic right if the turnout of the Presidential Election doesnt represent what they voted for.

The Electoral College does not represent what the foundations of the United States stands for. Many voters are under the impression that their votes count towards what President is elected, but in reality, this isnt always the case. As previously mentioned, even though the people can elect whoever they want in the campaign, the Electoral College makes the final decision on behalf of the state. For example: 85% of a state votes for Clinton, while that remaining 15% votes for Trump. Even though the majority of the state vote was for Clinton, the Senators and House of Representatives for that state can decide among themselves that Trump would be better suited and will cast our votes towards him. Can this really be considered the definition of democracy? To think that this is what politics are now is unjust for everyone who participates in such activities like the Presidential Campaign. For instance: ... it becomes possible to win the presidency by winning just 21.8% of the American publicr's vote. (Lewis) This can happen because of the system we have in America. Itr's outdated and has been around since 1787. Itr's time for a new change that is inclusive of the citizens of the United States and expelling the Electoral College will help do that.

The Electoral College exists because politicians are afraid that the people will not choose the right person to be elected. The nationr's founders were worried about groups of people with a common interest violating the rights of citizens, also known as factions. They believed that these group of people would influence their country in a negative way through democracy. Political leaders still hold onto this fear which can explain why the Electoral College is seen as another way to make sure that our nation isnt controlled by a leader with degrading beliefs. For example: ... the Electoral College stemmed from the fact that ordinary Americans across a vast continent would lack sufficient information to choose directly and intelligently among leading presidential candidates. (Amar)

The United States has never had faith in us, limiting our power to even slightly control how our nation will be formed for 4+ years. Citizens of 18 years and older know something about how politics work and wouldnt purposefully try to harm our country. For example: political parties nominate electors in each state ... electors they believed could be counted on to vote for the presidential nominee. (Prokop) We elect political leaders because we believe that they do show potential in positively changing our nation and representing our values/beliefs. Citizens are seen as unreliable in voting for a political leader, but the Electoral College isnt much better. The Electoral College members are mainly made up of white men and can be easily influenced by others who are of that same description. Itr's a possibility that they might be prioritizing white voters and electing who they choose. Citizens can be seen as not reliable by politicians, but as technology has advanced, our knowledge on who can fit our description as leading one of the greatest nations in the world is ideal.

The system of the Electoral College are seen as a way to make sure that rural cities arent left out, but it is actually more inclusive than most politicians would think. Another fear the founding fathers had was that if there was a direct democracy, the candidates would focus on big states like California and the voices of the rural areas would be drowned out. This is not the case as many believe so. By eliminating the Electoral College, it allows for rural areas to have their voices to be considered equally like any urban city. The voting system would ... accurately value them by treating them equal to people who live in cities (Prokop)

Rural areas will no longer be outcasted, but joined in unison with the votes of others living in urban areas. With or without the Electoral College, rural voters are valued as much as any other voter. Another example states, By electing our President solely based on who the majority of our population selects.... the vote of every American citizen would hold equal weight and significance. (Lewis) The Electoral College singles out smaller states based on the number of their electoral votes. States like California have 55 electoral votes compared to smaller states like Nevada who only have 6 electoral votes. These big states will always have an advantage, but if the Electoral College was gone, then it would be based on the stater's majority. The stater's majority has nothing to do with population, but just how the outcome turns out to be. The reasons for the Electoral College, like to make sure rural areas are included, are still applied if there were to be no Electoral College in the U.S.

There will always be controversy on whether or not the Electoral College should exist in the United States. All of the reasons listed above such as the Electoral College depressing our votes if they decide to go against the stater's majority helps to show that this is not the definition of democracy that America stands for. The Electoral College was founded a long time ago with a different set of standards that should be changed by now as 2 centuries have already passed. None of the problems that may rise without the Electoral College will be applicable to our new voting system if we were to remove it, one of the biggest ones being that rural areas will have their voices drowned out by the urban areas. Many do not yet know the freedom taken away from us by keeping the Electoral College. A google search can change the opinions of many on whether or not our old voting system is suitable for this ever advancing era.

Works Cited:

Amar, Akhil. The Troubling Reason the Electoral College Exists. Times. 8 November 2016.
https://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/ 9 September 2018.

Did you like this example?

An Issue Of The Electoral College. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Electoral College:Things that should be Made

Contents

What to do with the Electoral College
Works Cited

What to do with the Electoral College

The President of the United States is well known to be elected by the Electoral College and not directly by the people. However, some 21st century voters may be amazed to learn that when they enter a setting to select their candidate for president, they actually cast a ballot for representatives that vote on their behalf. These selected representatives are known as the Electoral College. Every time a candidate who does not win the most popular votes is elected President, opponents of the Electoral College call for his abolition and supporters praise his advantages. I believe however, that the electoral college is unnecessary in current times, and inspires unrest in society during voting seasons- inducing the questioning of civilian voices and rights through due federalism and democracy.

The electoral college assured the smaller states that their voices would be noticed and that they would still earn presidential campaigns. Otherwise, the candidates would certainly focus on massive states in a popular election campaign, where you can win many votes at a time. Except for one large flaw that was added within this system, and thatr's the winner-takes-all process: the candidate that assumes the popular vote in a state, even by a one vote, gets all electoral votes. Most of the people involved in the ECr's design presumably thought it would be improved upon in the future - since laws of the legislature can reform it quite easily. Assuming this, we could develop any number of means to choose our electors. So, it exists because it has never been changed since prior times. This in turns leaves us stuck with the current system, and thus springs forth conspiracies and adamant debates on its irrationality.

One main feature sought to be promising at first, but is now a major drawback, is the winner-takes-all phenomenon. This rule creates a balance, which it produces inconsistent results, indiscriminately advantages or disadvantages groups of voters, and contributes to political misbehavior. Katherine Florey states that The degree to which the winner-take-all system heightens the risk of a popular-electoral split is a significant problem”one that occasioned bipartisan concern in the years before the 2000 election (Florey 345). Furthermore, even though these splits may seem atypical, they bring severe political consequences most notably the depression of votes from strongly affiliated voter groups such as African Americans and students (Florey 351).

However, I do not disagree with the philosophical opposing views of the electoral college. In some lights, there are good reasons to preserve the current system- such as the dissemination of political power to the population versus the popular ballot. Also, states can choose how to elect their representatives; this indicates a fair federalist cause. However, talk of reform spurs from the ideal of a pure- democratic ballot that goes from the poll to the candidate. Supporters can counter this though, mainly because states can enfranchise the direct popular vote for or against the candidates they elect to represent them. However, Derek T. Muller voices that If the Electoral College were reformed to give the winner of a national popular vote the presidency, states would still control who votes and who does not (Muller 1241). For instance, various factors may play a role in that voting process such as felon status, age, mental stability, or alien status (Muller 1241). Therefore, there will always be an incongruity with the population and number of ballots in the states.

Personally, I believe there may be better methods to change the way presidents are elected. Rather than abolishing the electoral college, it can be amended so that the rights of all voters are safeguarded and kept equivalent on a national scale. The majority rule scenario would impose checks and balances on the government during the voter season, but sometimes the majority can become an overwhelming power. Thus, both sides have their drawbacks when political power is the topic, so there needs to be a compromise- even if it calls for another amendment. An example of the electoral colleger's injustice is the fact that some districts cannot participate. Benjamin Bolinger quotes that Despite the fact that residents of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands are US, citizens, they are completely excluded from the Electoral College system,' Puerto Rico alone has a population of 3,808,610. Upon adding this figure to the population of the other territories, one finds that over four million citizens are not represented in the Electoral College (Bolinger 180). The only objective that would be achieved by abolishing or reforming the Electoral College is to choose a president who best replicates the will of the majority of the United States.

The majority of the country has sought to remove the electoral college for the past 50 years (Gringer 186). However, constitutionality and the amendment process has slowed and even halted the decision numerous times. But citizens agree that the college must go, as it is not fair for two- thirds of Americans to be laid aside in the voting process. There is a pro for every con of each system. In arguments for the electoral college - it diminished the influence of large population centers. It reduced the influence of the "uneducated rabble allowing states to send each partyr's handpicked elites to the electoral college. The fact that we are not political experts is another reason why the college was created. It serves to sift through the robust noise we generate when voting. Choosing for the majority may seem like a genuine route to take. However, as I mentioned before, not all citizens are represented within the system.

Also, within this system, how fair is this electoral vote? Is it even an accurate calculation process or is it half-baked? Can electoral votes be bargained for at some level? There are also limited precedents establishing the local percentages of the states population that cannot vote, contrary to its population size. I would refer to the current system as meager federalism. It does not seem as genuine as a pure vote, let alone the majority voice. According Paul Boudreaux, First, delegates argued that the people simply were not even qualified to vote for the president of the United States (Boudreaux 200). Furthermore, government officials still believe that we lack the capacity to decide who becomes chief executive, and our vote is roughly 66 percent counted. The citizens of America have long believed that the power of determining how electors are to be selected belongs to the people and not the states.

Finally, Jack N. Rakove has a premise in which one might agree: The larger the share of electors that corresponds to the membership of the House, the more the senatorial bump is diluted. This proposal could be defended and rendered attractive on grounds that would not be limited to the composition of the electoral college (Ravoke 26). It seems like more politically reasonable action to take in terms of the majority without attracting too much political power. Rather than selecting a handful of electors to vote for us helpless ballot casters, we should consider disassembling the electoral college, and then reassembling it to better suit the ideals of federalism, fairness, and the voice of all the citizens in the United States.

Works Cited

Bolinger, Benjamin. "Point: Abolishing the Electoral College." International Social Science Review, vol. 82, no. 3/4, 2007, pp. 179-82. Academic Search Complete. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.
Boudreaux, Paul. "The Electoral College and Its Meager Federalism." Marquette Law Review, vol. 88, no. 2, Fall 2004, pp. 195-249. Academic Search Complete. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.
Florey, Katherine. "Losing Bargain: Why Winner- Take-All Vote Assignment Is the Electoral College's Least Defensible Feature." Case Western Reserve Law Review, vol. 68, no. 2, Winter 2017, pp. 317-95. Academic Complete. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.
Gringer, David. "Why the National Popular Vote Plan Is the Wrong Way to Abolish the Electoral College." Columbia Law Review, vol. 108, no. 1, Jan. 2008, pp. 182-230. Academic Search Complete. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.
Muller, Derek T. "Invisible Federalism and the Electoral College." Arizona State Law Journal, vol. 44, no. 3, Fall 2012, pp. 1237-92. Academic Search Complete. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.
Rakove, Jack N. "Presidential Selection: Electoral Fallacies." Political Science Quarterly (Academy of Political Science), vol. 119, no. 1, Spring 2004, pp. 21-37. Academic Search Complete. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

Did you like this example?

Electoral College:Things That Should Be Made. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

How Electoral College Disenfranchises Voters

Contents

How the Electoral College Disenfranchises Voters
Works Cited

How the Electoral College Disenfranchises Voters

The Electoral College is decorated with honor, tradition, and esteem for being the prized method for selecting the president of the United States, yet it stands for everything that America is not. Americar's prized slogan, all men are created equal, is completely disregarded by the process employed by the Electoral College. As a result, the gilded idea of equal representation and the right to vote are chipped away every time the Electoral College disenfranchises a voter. The Electoral College was designed to protect the populace, but it has proven to only warp their will. The continuation of the Electoral College will only promote an illegitimate democratic process, therefore it must be abolished.

The electorate does not select the president; the Electoral College does. Each state has a set of electors for each presidential candidate equal to the number of congressmen that state has. For example, Indiana has nine representatives and two senators, therefore, Indiana has eleven electors. The electors convene in their respective states in the December following the election and cast their votes for president. Each state is allowed to determine the rules regarding the distribution of electoral votes, however, forty-eight states default to the winner-take-all system. The winner-take-all system bundles all of a stater's electoral votes and awards them to whomever obtains the popular vote in that state. As a result, the 538 electors directly select the president, not the people (Bromwich).

The validity of the Electoral College deteriorates as its foundation is assessed. As the Constitutional Convention was coming to a close, the method for selecting president was heavily disputed. Out of desperation, the Founders hastily threw together the Electoral College as they were eager to conclude the Convention (Dahl 75). In addition, the Constitution was written in 1787, and the Founders were taking into consideration the circumstances at that time: communication was in its primitive stages, access to information was not widespread, and there were no education requirements. The Founders had reasonable grounds to believe that the populace did not have adequate resources or knowledge to make an informed decision, and, therefore, created a system in which the most qualified individuals would select the president (Every xxx). However, this cannot be any farther from the truth now, and the electorate still suffers from a decision made over 200 years ago.

In the current system, some votes have greater sway than others. For example, California has fifty-five electoral votes and a population of 39,776,830 people, and Wyoming has three electoral votes and a population of 573,720 people (US). Each elector in California represents 723,215 people, and each elector in Wyoming represents 191,240 people (Distribution). Each vote cast in Wyoming has 3.8 times more influence than the exact same vote cast in California. The principle of one man, one vote is woven into Americar's history, and is reaffirmed in the Supreme Court decision of Wesberry v. Sanders, in which the court held that one personr's vote...is to be worth as much as anotherr's (Wesberry). The Electoral College blatantly goes against common law and cornerstone ideals. Such diversion from American principles gives undue influence to smaller states, and disenfranchises larger ones. America was founded on the principle of equal representation; however, the American democratic process prevents this simple ideal.

The process that gives American democracy its legitimacy is, in itself, illegitimate and undemocratic, and will only lead to to an undermined government that lacks the support of its constituents.
In the 2016 presidential election the nation as a whole [was] not going to elect the next president. Twelve states [were] (Two-thirds) because the Electoral College fosters an environment that gives swing states a strategic advantage (Dahl 82). Currently, states can be written off as unquestionably Democratic or Republican (Hoban). For example, California is surely Democratic, and Texas is guaranteed Republican. As a result, candidates can focus their time and resources into bolstering support in swing states as voters in the remaining states no longer matter. In the most recent election, ninety-six percent of all campaign events took place in swing states, and two-thirds of all campaign events were concentrated in a mere six of those states (Two-thirds). The figure below displays the amount of campaign visits by state in the 2016 election, and the swing states were disproportionately visited more than others (fig. 1).

How can a candidate be the change America needs if they fail reach out to three-fourths of the country? Those twelve states do not represent America, yet those twelve states received nearly all the attention of candidates. If the election can be tipped by only a quarter of the nation, America dissolves its ideal of fairness. Straying from this democratic ideal leads to people in non-swing states [thinking] their vote makes [no] difference," (Voter). The continuity of the Electoral College will only result in voter apathy . Lower voter turnout will leave major decisions in few hands, which can lead to tyranny of the majority and misrepresentation of the nationr's interests.
However, the Electoral College draws the most controversy with its winner-take-all system. All a candidate needs to do is win the popular vote in a state, even if it is by a razor-thin margin since all the stater's electoral votes [are concentrated] in a single slate (Dahl 82). For example, in 2016, President Trump barely won the popular vote in Michigan by ten thousand votes, yet he still received all of Michiganr's sixteen electoral votes (Presidential). Similar scenarios transpired in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which allowed President Trump to walk away with the election, despite losing the popular vote (Meko et al.). The Electoral College allows candidates to amass electoral votes through slim margins, while leaving the other candidate completely empty handed. When all is said and done, millions of votes make little difference in who earns the presidency, and leads to an important question: How legal is the winner-take-all system?

The three-fifths clause was written into Constitution, and as history shows, it was illegal. Likewise, the Electoral College is written into the Constitution, but in practice it has proven to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that all of us, and all of our votes, must be treated equally under the law (The Legal). To deny voters this essential right is not only undemocratic, but illegal. An illegal system brings leads to a disillusioned America. The last four of five elections righteously belonged to the Democratic candidate. Due to the Electoral College, two of those elections granted the presidency to the Republican candidate (Popular). This leaves many Americans asking the question: How? The current system creates a foggy, flimsy, and futile system that perplexes the populace. The people think the Electoral system is too complicated, and forty-three percent of people do not even know it exists (Study). Public confidence in the election process is necessary, and the current system prevents this. Therefore, a simple process should be adopted in order to restore faith in the election process.

The undemocratic ideals propagated by the Electoral College have infiltrated American society with their effects rampant throughout America. The nation as a whole, has assessed the disregard, the distortion, and the degradation of American values: a direct popular vote would solve for all the structural defects of the current system (The Electoral 319). Voter turnout rates would skyrocket, focus on actual issues would dominate, a government that genuinely represents the people will prevail--the benefits of a direct vote are extensive (Parker). In addition, sixty-three percent of voters want to abolish the Electoral College (Matthews). In order to fulfill the American promises of equality, fairness, and representation, the electorate must demand a direct vote.
However, switching to a direct popular vote is not simple. In order to abolish the Electoral College, an amendment to the Constitution is needed. The amendment would have have to be passed by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress, and three-fourths of the states. Although a hefty task, it is possible as seventeen other amendments have passed. Stanford Professor Doug McAdam ensures the no single reform would deliver more than this one and the amendment will most likely emerge victorious (Parker).

Every citizen should understand that their votes are equal. Every citizen should know their vote counts. Every citizen should understand the system that elects the president.
To remedy the detriments of the Electoral College, a direct popular vote should be adopted. A direct vote would substitute perplexity with precision, ambiguity with assurance, and chance with choice. The Electoral College does not support American democracy, therefore, the American democracy should not support the Electoral College.

Works Cited

Bayh, Birch. Foreword. Every Vote Equal: A State Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote, by John R. Koza et al., National Popular Vote Press, 2013, pp. xxix-xxxi.
Bayh, Birch. The Electoral College: An Enigma in a Democratic Society. Valparaiso University Law Review, vol. 11, no. 3, 1977, scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol11/iss3/1.
Bromwich, Jonah Engel. How Does the Electoral College Work? The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Nov. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/us/politics/how-does-the-electoral-college-work.html.
Dahl, Robert A. How Democratic Is the American Constitution? New Haven, Yale University, Press, 2003.
Distribution of Electoral Votes. National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, 10 Dec. 2010, www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/allocation.html.
Hoban, Brennan. Why Are Swing States Important? Brookings Institution, Brookings Institution, 28 Sept. 2016, www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2016/09/28/why-are-swing-states-important/.
Matthews, Dylan. Poll: Most People Who Voted in 2016 Want to Abolish the Electoral College. Vox, 24 Nov. 2016, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/24/13731770/electoral-college-poll.
Meko, Tim, et al. How Trump Won the Presidency with Razor-Thin Margins in Swing States. The Washington Post, 11 Nov. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/swing-state-margins/.
Parker, Clifton B. Popular Vote Better than Electoral College, Stanford Scholars Say. Stanford News, Stanford University, 8 Apr. 2016, www.news.stanford.edu/2016/04/08/electoral-college-bad-040816/.
Popular Votes 1940-2016. Roper Center, Cornell University, www.ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/popular-vote/.
Presidential Election Results: Donald J. Trump Wins. The New York Times, 9 Aug. 2017, www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/president.
Study: Americans Don't Know Much About History NBC Los Angeles, 17 July 2009, www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Study-Americans-Dont-Know-About-Much-About-History.html
The Legal Argument. Equal Citizens. www.equalcitizens.us/equal-votes/
Two-Thirds of Presidential Campaign Is in Just 6 States. National Popular Vote, www.nationalpopularvote.com/campaign-events-2016.
US States - Ranked by Population 2018. World Population Review, www.worldpopulationreview.com/states/.
Voter Turnout higher in swing states than elsewhere. USA Today, 23 Dec. 2012, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/12/23/voter-turnout-swing-states/1787693/
Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964). Justia, www.supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/376/1/.

Did you like this example?

How Electoral College Disenfranchises Voters. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Electoral College Debate

Ever since [the 2000 election] in which George Bush prevailed by a mere 5 electoral votes, despite losing by one-half-million votes in the national popular vote, therer's been criticism about whether America should keep or do away with the electoral college (Jahncke). This phenomenon happened again in the 2016 election, which intensified debate. Enthusiasts of the movement to abolish the electoral college claim that the electoral college is unnecessary and takes power away from the people. However, it would not be a wise move to eliminate the electoral college for two reasons: first, because the electoral college and popular vote typically agree so there is no discrepancy that takes power away from the American people; and second, because popular vote can misrepresent the interest of the nation due to voter fraud. According to Red Jahncke, and opinion contributor for The Hill newspaper, this movement to rid the country of the electoral college argues that the College doesnt reflect one-man-one-vote. Instead the vote of each elector counts for thousands of people. Supporters of this idea argue that people should be able to choose their president directly rather than have a group of electors vote for them. They also point out that the founding fathers came up with the electoral college to prevent the people from making an uninformed decision about the leader of the nation. They claim that during this age, Americans can be informed about the candidates through the media and internet, so there is no longer a need to keep the general populace from voting. Although this is true, the benefits of keeping the electoral college outweigh the advantages of removing it when it comes to protection against voter dishonesty. When the electoral college opposes the popular vote, people begin to doubt whether it should be the deciding factor for who wins the presidential election. However, this problem does not occur often. For example, the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections are only the fourth and fifth [presidential elections] where the winner lost the popular vote, out of 58 contests, so this is not a very common problem (Jahncke). If the electoral college constantly conflicted with the popular vote then it would be a real issue that should be addressed, but because it happens so infrequently, there is no need to change the law. Another reason the popular vote should not be used to elect the president is because of its unreliability. There is much speculation that the polls have been and can be corrupted resulting in deceased citizens and illegal immigrants casting a vote. For example, some believe that in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton garnered more than 800,000 votes from non-citizens (Emery). This shows that the voting system is not completely reliable. President Trump even believes that he lost the popular vote in 2016 due to undocumented residents voting against him. Because of voter impersonation, there is no way to keep the popular vote completely fair. The nation is just too big to confirm that every vote is legal. Although the electoral college prevents the people from directly determining the president, it is still the best way to elect the leader of the country. Until it disagrees with the popular vote, the electoral college causes no problems. When it does conflict with the direct vote from the people, there is question about whether it is the most optimal way of selecting the American leader. Fortunately, that does not occur often, so there is no great need to change the system. When the founding fathers confirmed an electoral college to vote on the president, they were trying to prevent people from making uniformed votes. Although that is not necessary today, the electoral college does protect against election fraud. Trying to keep the entire country from tricking the system is an unattainable goal. The electoral college results in a controlled environment where electors can honestly vote for a candidate. Using the popular vote could misrepresent the wishes of the nation; therefore, it would be wise to keep the electoral college.

Did you like this example?

Electoral College Debate. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Creon the Good Guy

Contents

Creon the Good Guy
- Works cited

Creon the Good Guy

Antigone is a tragedy that deals with conflict and despair at the end of the story. Creon who is the King, creates a law that states no one is to bury the body of Polyneices because Polyneices was the brother who started the fight between him and Eteocles in Thebes. Eteocles was the only brother who received a proper burial. When Polyneices and Eteocles sister, Antigone arrives at Thebes and hears the news decides to give her brother the proper burial he deserved.

As Antigone proceeds with the burial, she is caught and thrown in jail for disobeying the new law Creon had established. In a short amount of time, Antigone commits suicide. In the document Tyranny and blood: Rethinking Creon by Nancy J. Holland her main argument is that Creon isnt as bad as he is set out to be portrayed. I believe that out of her arguments on why Creon is not a bad person are that Creon and Oedipus have the same actions but only Creon is seen as evil, the second argument is that people seem to forget about the back story of the play Antigone and what Polyneices did, and lastly that he deserved his punishment. I firmly agree with Nancy J. Holland and her idea of Creon being a better person than he is set out to be.

One of the first statements that were made in this document is that He was not even the same person in Sophocles three Theban plays (Jean Anouilh). Another statement is that in which the comparison of two different plays that have to do with each other come into play. The two plays that are being compared are Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus, and the two kings compared were Creon and Oedipus. In both plays the kings make a law and punish the person who breaks the law. In the both plays there is a bad ending but Creon out of both kings is the one who comes to his senses even though it was too late but Oedipus does not, and he carries on with his punishment. The law destroys both families in both plays but only Creon and not Oedipus is seen as evil at the end of the plays. Double Standards are essentially the first argument for why Creon isnt as bad as her's portrayed.

I also dont think itr's fair toward Creonr's character that he gets to be frowned upon because of what he did when Oedipus has practically the same actions as Creon, but instead of them both being seen as evil only Creonr's character is. I believe the double standards in the way they characters are seen is unjust and they should both be seen as one thing or the other, either both of them can be seen as evil for their actions are as good characters. In the text Creon creates a law that ends up destroying both families but so does Oedipus in the previous play. It is now a crime for Thebans to bury him or mourn him. This was the law that Creon put into place that caused everything to fall apart resulting in his bad image. The fact that Oedipus does the same in the play Oedipus Tyrannus and isnt seen as evil is not fair to Creon. Just as readers seem to find that Polyneices not getting a burial isnt fair when his brother did, it should be the same way towards Creon. There should not be double standards when it comes to Creon and Oedipus but not with Eteocles and Polyneices.

Another argument that is brought up in this document is that people seem to forget the backstory of the play Antigone. Polyneices led an attack against the city after he disagreed to share the throne with his brother Eteocles. The argument is that if Polyneices was buried he would have been honored, because thatr's what a proper burial meant to them. Why honor Polyneices even if itr's just with a burial if he just launched an attack against his very own city. To allow his killer to escape punishment would risk conveying the message that the city was less important to Creon, suddenly and unexpectedly king once again, than his personal relationship with the nephew who led the attack against it(Nancy J. Holland). According to this statement Creon cared more for his nephew who attacked their own city than for the city itself. Men we have just survived some rough weather.

Monstrous waves have battered our city, but now the gods have steadied the waters(Sophocles, 193-195). In this quote Creon is addressing the civil war that had broken out between the two brothers who were to share the throne, Eteocles and Polyneices, which Polyneices himself attacked the city. The two quotes from the text He had circled our houses, threatening all seven gates, his spearpoints out for blood, but he was thrown back before his jaws could swell with our gore(Sophocles,137-140). As well as I mean Polyneices, who returned from exile utterly determined to burn down his own city, incinerate the gods we worship, revel in kinsmens blood, enslave everyone left alive(Sopholes,231-235). These show how Polyneices was going against his own city and wanted to draw blood. These quotes also come to prove that Polyneices was the bad guy rather than Creon himself.

My interpretation of this argument is that Creon had a valid reason for what he did. Polyneices attacked his own city in a fight against his brother to see who would get the throne, which was a selfish move from his part. I agree with Creonr's thinking and decision to make it a law to forbid the burial of his body. Nancy J Holland uses this as one of her arguments to prove why Creon is a good character and I believe it emphasizes her reasoning behind her statement on Creon.

In the document it is also argued that because the burial is a sort of rule of law they had so Creon is seen as evil for prohibiting someone to receive that form of honor and respect but nobody seems to remember he led the attack against his own city, so he deserved his punishment, but he is still seen as if he is evil. And I will never give a bad man more respect than a good one (Sophocles,240). This quote shows how Creon believed the punishment as fair because Eteocles was honorable since he was defending his country therefore he got a proper burial but Polyneices was the bad man in this scenario since he attacked the city therefore he didnt get the same treatment as Eteocles who was the good man.

I believe Creon wasnt evil because he was just punishing somebody who committed treason against his own city. Not allowing for his burial to occur is the most severe punishment that the state couldve given him. Ill never think our country enemy can be my friend. Keep this in mind our country is the ship that must keep us safe. Its only on board her, among the men who sail her upright, that we make true friends(Sophocles, 221-224). This quote shows Creon decided to give more importance to reuniting the city after the civil war, that Polyneices brought among the city, rather than on his burial. This shows that Creon was a really good King and that he wasnt so bad because he was looking out for the best interest for the city not his own family, and if he can put the cityr's best interest over his familyr's than he is definitely not an evil person.

Also according to Holland if you look at other stories rather than just that of Antigone you can see that Creon insisted in the story of Oedipus Tyrannus that he had no intentions of being king but at the same time he had the cityr's best interests at heart. This is another argument in favor of Creon being better than he is portrayed to be. Holland says Once we leave aside the image of Creon as a tyrant, a proto-Nazi, it becomes easier to see him instead as a man, like Oedipus, who places the welfare of his city above the well-being of his family, who makes laws that apply "first of all" to his kin, and who suffers horribly for that choice. Unlike Oedipus, however, one could argue that the primary victim of Creon's actions-of his intransigence-is not Creon but Antigone(Holland). Her argument is that once you look behind the scenes and clear your image of him he is better than he is set out to be.

I believe that it is just unfortunate for Creon because the person who suffered the most because of his actions was Antigone; therefore he is seen as the bad guy. These were all arguments and statements that Holland used to promote her belief of Creon being a pretty good person behind the scenes and not a cruel evil king that everyone thinks of him to be.

As I mentioned earlier in my thesis the author of Tyranny and Blood: Rethinking Creon proves her argument of Creon not being a bad person as he was portrayed by her first argument of Creon and Oedipus having the same actions but only Creon being seen as evil. They both created a law that ended up having negative results and also they both punished the person who broke the law. For both of the characters to do the same thing and only one Creon being seen as evil isnt fair. Holland also proves her argument by incorporating the back story of the play Antigone. The back story of the whole situation in the play of Antigone was that Polyneices launched an attack against the city to try and gain the thrown versus his brother Eteocles but they both ended up dying, and only Eteocles received the proper burial because he defended the city. Lastly she defended her argument by stating hoe Polyneices deserved his punishment. The way she did so was by also using examples of what he did in the text.

Works cited

Holland, N. J. (2017). Tyranny and blood: Rethinking creon. Philosophy and Literature, 41(1), 1-11. doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/phl.2017.0018
Puchner, Martin, et al. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.

Did you like this example?

Creon the Good Guy. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Othello and Desdemona Relationship

I wonder how this behavior built in me if not by reading stories and stories about men--and only men--in power. In Elizabethan times, and as seen in the play Othello, the role of a woman was to remain submissive to her husband and raise his children. Women played a secondary role in the time when Othello is set. At the beginning of Act 2, Scene 3 of Othello we see that Othello describes Desdemona as his possession when he says, Come, My dear love, The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue. Othellor's relation with Desdemona is much like what we see in abusive relationships even today.

In these stories, women were powerful, too. Sita was the daughter of mother earth. The only difference is that Sita had power and Ram had power with authority. Sita was captured for nearly 12 months by Ravana, a man who wished to overpower all the gods, and he was the enemy of Ram. But as soon as Sita was rescued, she was accused of having intimate relations with Ravana, and she was asked to go through Agnipariksha (trial by fire) by her own husband, Ram. Just because he was her husband, does it give him the right to question her fidelity? Would Othello or Ram be questioned and asked to prove their loyalty the same way that Sita and Desdemona were? And all my life I have respected Ram.

I didnt realize that gender injustice is a strong universal behavior until I read Sophocles Antigone. Antigone has a lot in common with Sita. Although Antigone was the daughter of a king, she was still inferior to men. If a kingr's daughter could be sentenced to death, I wonder how common women were treated. My mother is a strong woman, and so is my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and every woman, because they have faced life in a way that no other can, and just like Antigone, Desdemona and Sita, they are fearless. Unequal treatment towards women is seen throughout history: in ancient Athenian, Elizabethan times, in Indian mythology, and seen in plays such as, Antigone, Othello and in the epic, The Ramayana. Be it a kingr's daughter, or mother earthr's daughter, the role of a woman is still looked down upon.
We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.

Mythology plays a big role in our society. A part of human nature makes an effort to explain things which cannot be easily understood. And so, we fill the gaps with the knowledge that does not have any sort of justification or proof. But in the process we dont realize that to raise a characterr's purpose in the story, we are putting someone down. And these stories arent just ordinary stories; people put their faith and belief in mythology. In most of the myths, women play that role of being looked down upon.

Antigone, a role model, has lived over two thousand years because her character depicts fearlessness, power. When I read Antigone, I felt ashamed of myself; I felt that I have been fighting the wrong side. A part of me had accepted that giving respect to male figures in my life is important, so much so that I had started to find peace in it. I have been brought up in a strong male-dominated culture and I have heard many stories from my mother, coming from someonewho truly loves and believes in god. ?I am a Shiva Bhakt(Devotee), it gives me joy in saying this out loud; it makes me feel more close to my culture. I have proudly told people that Shiva is my god, he has a third eye that when opens, the world will be destroyed. He is a little short-tempered but that is justified because he is powerful, right? I feel ashamed. If the stories were true then I have justified that Shiva was responsible for chopping an innocent boy, Ganeshar's head only because he did not let Shiva enter his own house.

Ganesha is Shivar's and Parvatir's son. Parvati instructed Ganesha to guard the gates while she was bathing. When Parvati created Ganesha, Shiva at that time of the incident was unaware of Ganeshar's existence and that he was his son. Is that reason enough to justify chopping the head of a child? The gods were disappointed so they decided to cut off the head of an elephant and place it on Ganeshar's headless body. Gandhi says, The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Ganesha, known as the elephant god. Lord Shiva is a lover and a destroyer, just like Othello.

We believe that all religions are different at their core but that is not true. When Antigone wanted to bury her brother, Polynices, their sister, Ismene was reluctant because she was scared of authority, of men. This is seen in Antigone in line 600 when Creon says, No womanr's going to govern me”no, no”not while Im still alive. In my society, women still fear men. Shivar's first wife, Sati jumped into the fire because her husband was insulted by her father, so much for someone in power. Women in rural areas of India still perform the act of Sati when their husbands die. She innovates herself to show her loyalty. Again, a man would never be asked to do this. Antigone hung herself to death, Desdemona sacrificed her life and women burnt themselves, they are fearless. In Othello Act 2, Scene 1, Iago says to Emilia, Come on, come on.

You are pictures out of door, bells in your parlours; wildcats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries; devils being offended, players in your housewifery, and hussies in your beds. Many women in India will find the characterization of Iago as normal.
My grandmother was unhappy the day I was born because she wanted a grandson. She still talks about it without any guilt and says, men look after the business. Female infanticide is still prevalent in rural parts of India. It all starts with the society wanting to kill the little girls; if they are not successful in doing so then they sell them off to older men for money. That girl gives birth to multiple kids until she gives birth to a boy. Sher's abused, physically and mentally and there is no law that can protect her because according to my government and my Prime Minister, marital rape is not considered an offense. It is not a crime to rape your wife in India. Both Antigone and people of India have faced a conflict between the laws of the gods and that of the government.

Shakespeare said, The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings. And I disagree because the fault is in our stars, not in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Did you like this example?

Othello and Desdemona Relationship. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Who is the Tragic Hero in Antigone? Kreon’s Journey from Pride to Despair

Antigone by Sophocles is one of the most well-written Greek tragedies. At first, it may seem that Antigone is the tragic hero, but details support the fact that Kreon is the tragic hero. Kreon may be seen as neither good nor bad, which is why readers might feel an understanding or connection between themselves and Kreon. Kreon is not trying to be unjust, biased, or wrongful, but his decisions make him seem that way and affect many of the outcomes throughout the story. Kreon's powerful and unjust leadership, his pride, and his dynamic nature make him a tragic hero.

Kreon has a very significant role in the play as the ruler of Thebes. As a ruler, his voice is heard, and his ideas are put into action. Throughout the play it is made apparent that he believes that only his opinion matters. Kreon has put in place harsh punishments to prevent people from going against him. Toward the beginning of the play, Kreon's rise to power is met with hopefulness, especially by the Chorus. Kreon takes the time to speak positively and supportively about Thebes: "For the state is safety / When she is steady, then we can steer" (ll. 227-228). Kreon seems to be prioritizing what is right for Thebes.

As the storyline goes on, however, Kreon becomes close-minded and focused only on his views about the loss of Eteocles and Polyneices. Kreon becomes more like a dictator of Thebes. After he realizes that people are rebelling, Kreon says the following to Koryphaios and the Sentry: "You'll see: When you have it, shame makes you hide it; / that kind of money wrecks men / and few escape alive." (ll. 389-392) This is an example of the tone Kreon uses toward his people now that he has taken on a dominant role over Thebes.

It becomes clear that Kreon is stubborn and has a lot of pride. On pg. 61, this pride begins to work against him. Kreon's faults and decisions have caused him guilt. As you read the work, you notice that everything pertaining to the plot revolves around his sense of pride. Antigone's role is used to emphasize Kreonr's pride. Antigone is not the tragic heroine, and she suffers from Kreon's actions. When Antigone is caught burying Polyneices, Kreon uses her fault to build his own sense of pride: "With that I have everything." (l. 606) Kreon believes that, as a leader, being wrong is a disgrace. Teiresias tells Kreon: "Stubbornness is stupidity. It is criminal." (l. 1185) "The state is sick." (l. 1170) Kreon feels that Teiresias is in no position to be giving a leader advice. Kreon believes his actions are already fair and just. Teiresias' words to Kreon seem to matter little to him.

Throughout the story, Kreon's emotions change. This makes him a dynamic character. For most of the story, Kreon is stubborn and shows little sympathy or care for any of the characters. Kreon expresses anger in the beginning when he realizes that people are going behind his back. As the story continues, Teiresias comes to predict the future for Kreon. Although Kreon avoids Teiresias' words at first, Koryphaios agrees with Teiresias, which causes Kreon to doubt himself. Kreon says: "What should I do? Tell me. I promise to comply." (l. 1275).

When Koryphaios tells Kreon to let Antigone out of the tomb, Kreon replies: "That's your advice? To give in?" (l. 1278). Kreon is confused, because he hasn't taken into account other people's perspectives. It is at this point that Kreon begins to acknowledge his flaw. When the Messenger returns with the information that Antigone, Haimon, and Eurydice are dead, Kreon truly realizes what he has done: "I am grief" (l. 1503). Kreon's emotions change dramatically at this point, and his eyes are opened to his new reality.

In conclusion, Kreon's forceful and close-minded leadership, his pride, and his complex nature, make him the tragic hero. Looking back on the text, you realize that too much pride is always punished, despite the characterr's status or power ranking.

Kreon does not come into his position with too much pride, but he gains it as the events in the story unfold. Although he does not die, the loss of family and everything he had is something that Kreon will never be able to erase: "Hurry, take me out of the way. I'm nobody. I'm nothing" (l. 1511) Kreon will carry the guilt from his actions on his shoulders forever, causing him to step down in power. Kreon feels that he is no longer fit for ruling because of his mistakes that cannot be taken back. This shows that Kreon has weaknesses that cause him to be a tragic hero.

Did you like this example?

Who is the Tragic Hero in Antigone? Kreon's Journey from Pride to Despair. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Families in Ancient Greek Times

Essentially family, the roles of women and men, and death plays a vital role in society. Family values have certain qualities that are crucial for a family to uphold. Gender roles have differed from ancient times to currently in today's society. Unlike religious gods today, Greek gods took human form and had the same dilemmas human have in society. In a short story of Antigone, Sophocles illustrates a rage between family and what is deemed by society. Families today are very different compared to back in Greek mythology where a family is getting eaten alive or killed to get to the top of the throne. In comparison to today, the impact of gods changed drastically with family, gender roles and death.
The importance of a deityr's role within a family in society has weakened.

Families in ancient Greek times were living in fear. Based on studies, the gods in Greek mythology were worshiped and cherished despite their flaws or negative characteristics. Evidence of this claim that the gods had a lack of mercy and forgiveness to their people which can be found in the story Antigone. Antigone is a story in which a law set by Creon the king of Thebes was broken. It was broken because of a belief that someoner's moral laws were stronger and more important than a contradicting religious law which was enforced by Zeus himself. Leave him unburied, leave his corpse disgraced, a dinner for the birds and for the dogs. (Sophocles 7).

This demonstrates that Creon want Polyneices to remain an example for others who went against the gods and anyone who sided with him would feel the wrath of heaven. Antigone however who plays a vital role in the play believed in a different fate for her brother. Having a bold strong attitude she was more concerned for the burial of her brother's body than her own life. In the process of burying her brother, she knew the consequences that had to come with what she did and that includes sacrificing her life.

Antigone communicates it's not for him to keep me from my own. (3) This illustrates Antigone doesn't care what risks come with her burying her brother. In addition, she valued her brother and loved him which is why she was so passionate and felt justified for burying her brother. As for Creon the king of the Thebes he believed it was crucial that everyone must follow the law. Antigone was a family member, who was related to Ceron, he made sure to make Antigone a prime example of not to disobey by making sure she gets buried alive. Antigone put her family as the most important priority even after disobeying the king, there is no other way to say a family is very paramount in greek.
The role of God in todayr's society is the same but enforced differently.

Many Catholics refer to God as Father because that is the relationship they believe exists between man and God. Individuals today follow God because they love and respect god not because they fear him. Many families in today's society don't look up to god as a figure above them or many families don't believe in god. In today's customs, many people have the option to worship what God they want without a ruler forcing them to believe in a certain one either. Whether is Catholic, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism etc. people are allowed to believe in their religion without being harmed.

The difference of roles between men and women have alternated and unified throughout time in society. Greek societies were strictly male dominant. In the Greek era, men thought that women should not make any decisions because women had a diminished role in society. Women in that era were not able to vote, own land or do anything to voice an opinion or share insight. Males, however, were supposed to have his values and his rules be dictated. A woman's job during that time was that of a limited role in only having to stay at home rearing children (Cartwright 2016). For instance in Antigone, Creon saw women as weak and unimportant in society. Creon felt that it was obligated that he was obeyed and no women will go over his authority.

Creon states, no women rules me while I live (18). This shows that Creon perceives women as beneath him and belittes them and they should be subordinate. Women, however, were strong enough to go against men and rulers like this. Antigone was one of the women who went against a ruler like this for her own moral beliefs. Antigone's says I say I did it I don't deny it (15) This shows that Antigone has a belief and the strength to carry what her beliefs are no matter the repercussion. She has the strength to do what she believed in going against the belief of men in and her religious god. However, most of the women in Greek mythology didnt want to oppose the authority and beliefs of men. Such as Antigone own sister Ismene.

As seen in the text We must remember that we are two women so not to fight with men (3) This suggests that Ismene believes she is weaker than men because she is a woman and Antigone should just obey Creon because he's the one who makes the laws. Women just were to accept their home roles in society while the male did the work and everything else. For example Is so obvious that women were always under the supervision of men(Lefkowitz 11). In these times itr's just how they lived that woman had a diminished role compared to that of a male. These beliefs that woman should have their own voice and their role should be equal throughout time have been shared and fought for by others. She shouldnt be punished for doing what she believed is right and many others after her felt the same way in theirs and present time.

Today in society men and women actually are on equal terms. Whether itr's just input into a conversation or competing for jobs men and women are put on an equal playing field. In the story, Antigone displays to readers equality at its worst compared to it being well improved today. Creon was their king which represents our modern day leader and imagine if ours believed if one half of the population was more important than the other. In Greek mythology, men had a more significant role then woman. Men had the dominant role in public life in ancient Greece. They were engaged in politics and public events, while women were often encouraged to stay in the home (Roles of Men). This shows that men were more superior. Today, however, there are no restrictions on women. Today a woman could even become the leader of a society and can have the same impact as a man could have.

It is imperative when an individual dies the body must be buried so a deity won't be angered. In the Greek era, it was sacred for someone to bury the dead and to ensure that the dead made it safely through the underworld. Greeks believed that after death a soul went on a journey to a place called the underworld which is called hades (Death in Ancient Greece). This illustrates that for the dead soul to go on the journey to have an afterlife one must be buried. For Antigone, it was a sign for her to make sure her brother made it safely through the underworld because she was religious and believed that it was a necessity to due out of respect and love. If she hadn't buried her brother he wouldn't be able to go on to the afterlife. Creon, because he was the king of Thebes Antigone thought it was he who was committing a crime for denying her right to bury her brother and send him happily to the afterlife.

For Antigone, she must honor her brothers' rights to an afterlife but gods didnt want to bury her brother so he can rest in peace and he can't rest in peace if he doesn't get the proper burial. Antigone states Nor did I think your orders were so strong that you, a mortal man, could over-run the gods unwritten and failing laws (15) This shows that Antigone thinks Creon is a fool and presenting a challenge to him, and she questioning his authority at the same time. Antigone also feels at free spirit because she knows she going to die so she is doing what she wants to justify her reasoning.

In today's society, with the death god plays a vital role because God would want everyone to get the proper burial. Religion plays a huge aspect in society. The Greek era differs a bit because once a body is buried the expired corpse of the human being is in the hands of the law. In today's customs, many family members of the individual who passed away would have a funeral and then a burial. A funeral, however, has kept the same meaning throughout time. Which is a gathering to cherish the loss of the deceased. Everyone no matter what time period and what wrong has been done deserves a proper burial and funeral.

To conclude, Greek gods and God in today's society have many shared and different laws and influences within the role of a family, gender roles and death. Greek gods tell their story from how they want the world to be seen as. Greek gods differ from God in how they deal with human flaws. Greek gods were more imposed on political interests. Over the centuries Greek Mythology had a huge influence on culture, literature poets. In Antigone, Creon let his power in over his head and he was more focus on being a replicant and mouth of Zeus then being in charge of Thebes. Greek mythology continues to play a fundamental role in society especially in schools.

Did you like this example?

Families In Ancient Greek Times. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Sophocles Suggests

All over the world, different cultures integrate the belief that everything on the plant, or if nothing else at least people's lives, are predestined by natural or paranormal forces. That there are objective and enlightened beings which initiate everything that develops in nature, and that these beings are known as gods. The philosopher Sophocles to some extent believed that everything on the planet is fated and no one has control over what happens. Sophocles shows us that although every character has a different perspective on the same situation, and they react accordingly, they cannot change their destiny.

By promoting the idea of fate and destiny, Sophocles suggests that everything in the world is predestined and no one has control over what happens. He hints at the idea that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable. Your prayers are done. Man cannot flatter Fate, And punishments must come(251). Through this phrase, Sophocles provides insight on the idea that humans cannot flatter or change fate no matter how intensive our efforts are. He shows that we cannot fight against the relentless laws of fate. At best we may discover what our fate is, but even then, we can only surrender. Destiny directs the person who follows voluntarily, and those who resist are pulled along by force, and this is reiterated throughout the play.

Each time a character obtains some knowledge concerning their future, they take steps to evade that destiny, and those same steps end up leading them right back to that destined path. Sophocles reveals, that the knowledge of our destiny affects the actions we take, and this, in turn, solidifies our fates even more. Another example of how Sophocles reveals that everything in the world is predestined is through Tiresias A corpse for a corpse the price, and flesh for flesh, one of your own begotten(239). With this, Tiresias essentially tells Creon that he will pay the price for Antigoner's death with his own sonr's life. Ultimately this prophecy also ends up getting fulfilled. This further illuminates the idea that everything is predetermined. Sophocles is showing us just how powerful our destiny is and that no matter what we do avoid it, we will have to face it eventually. This idea that everything is predetermined and that our timeline is already set is quite a new concept for us in the modern era and brings up many questions. Does knowing our destiny give us purpose or does it limit and restrict us?

People are not constrained by destiny, rather by the learning and understanding of their destiny. Sophocles shows that although fate was thought of as something baffling and absolutely perplexing, people desired to discern its intentions by turning to the oracles. Through these oracles, Sophocles brings in different prophecies, and the knowledge of these prophecies sparks the characters to take action in different ways. By showing Antigone the fate of her brothers, Sophocles ignites a spark that carries throughout the play. Antigone believes that she still needs to bury her brother because it is an offense to the Gods to leave a family member unburied. Antigoner's fate was sealed as she decided to bury her brother and face the consequences.

When Ismene realizes that Antigone is serious about burying Polyneices she says You frighten me Antigone simply replies Do not fear for me.(194) At this point Antigone makes it clear that she is doing what she must, to follow the fate that has been decided by the Gods. She is not going to fight this fate. She knows that following the fate and laws of the Gods is more important than following the laws of man. Because Antigone knew her fate and that it would ultimately lead to imprisonment or death, she gave in and let it consume her by committing suicide. After learning our destiny we tend to only see one path or course of action and this causes us to forget about the other paths in life. We then focus on how or how not to follow that one path. Once we know our fate, it is only human nature to either embrace it or try to avoid it, but sometimes our ego can prevent us from doing either or them.

Sophocles shows us that human nature and ego are the reasons why we cannot change our destinies. At the point when Creon visits the prophet Tiresias, he comes to pass on a notice, not an unavoidable destiny. He expresses that Creon has settled on an awful decision, however that he can still recover. To err is human, true, and only he is damned who having sinned will not repent, will not repair(237). With this Sophocles gave Creon more of a choice for this situation and Creon is shown to have control over what occurs, while Oedipus never had a choice, his fate was sealed. Creon had a sizable ego, however, until he passed the point of no return and he was caught in the grasp of a horrible destiny that he could not escape. Sophocles shows us, that humans cannot change their destinies because of their nature as humans coupled with substantial egor's.

He also shows that Creonr's ego is so vast that even after Tiresias warned him, he thought that only he was right and went on to besmirch the reputation or Tiresias. He went as far as to call all prophets, a money-grubbing race and ... still a crook(238/239). This solidifies Sophocles point to a large extent and shows how egotistic people can be, and because of this, we cannot change our destinies. Sophocles suggests that the average human cannot get past his/her ego and this causes us to be prisoners of fate.
Sophocles draws attention to the concept that people cannot alter their destinies because everything is already determined and because of human nature. It is of paramount importance that we understand why Sophocles brings in the concept of fate and destiny in his plays. Sophocles is a widely studied philosopher and his ideas are what shape our perception of Greek civilization, so if we understand what he believed in, then that in turn provides us with insight on what the Greek people as a whole believed. This use of fate as destiny to explain events in the play and in real life provide us with a better understanding of the play and the Ancient Greek civilization as well.

Did you like this example?

Sophocles Suggests. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Antigone Fights for her Family

Heroes are virtually always portrayed as courageous, autonomous, and without error whereas villains are depicted as evil, tyrannical, and controlling. This is not the case in Sophocles Antigone. In this play, Sophocles contrasts his hero, Antigone, with another hero, Creon. Both of them compete for honest and justifiable reasons, but they have different motives. Although it may seem that both of them have ethical intentions, Antigone is the true hero because her actions are motivated by religious and family purposes while Creonr's are driven by pride and a craving to have power and be King.

Throughout the play, Antigone fights for her family and her beliefs through respect and never arrogance or rebellion. When Antigone first discovers Creonr's decree about the burial of her brothers, she wonders why [Creon has] honored only one of [her] two brothers with a tomb and dishonored the other (21-22). This is Antigoner's initial reaction to the edict from Creon. This response is honest and true, and its confidence shows exactly what her motives are in all that she does. She does not respond with anger towards Creon, or one that is driven by rebellion for her own personal gain. This proves that her goal is to fulfill her family traditions by honoring both her brothers with a proper burial, not to discredit the kingr's edict. Antigone and Creon debate the ethics of the edict, Antigone claims that it was not Zeus who made this proclamation, so she does not have to obey it (450).

Antigone feels that divine law by the gods is superior to written law by a king, so she does not see it as necessary to obey the decree from Creon. If this pronouncement had been made by one of the gods, Antigone would have obeyed it, no matter how furious it made her. Her comments about Zeus prove that she is not acting out of a desire to be rebellious, but rather a desire to honor both her dead brothers. Throughout the play, it is clear that Antigoner's actions are done to [join] in friendship, not in enmity, the complete opposite of Creonr's intentions (523). Antigoner's actions were all done out of love and respect for her brothers. She does not mean to disrespect Creon or Thebes when she disobeyed the proclamation made by Creon. When Antigone says this, she is pronouncing that no matter how many evil crimes her brother committed, he will always be her brother and a friend. Antigone realizes the importance of family, and she will always love him no matter what he has done. This loyalty and determination to show respect to her family perfectly exemplifies the moral and just motivation behind Antigoner's actions. As the play evolves, it becomes clear that Antigone values divine law over written law and that all her actions are done to protect and respect her family, not out of pride.

Creonr's actions are not blatantly evil in and of themselves, but they are all motivated by selfishness and a desire to become King. Once Creon becomes king, he comments that it is impossible to learn in full the spirit of a man, his purpose or his judgement, till her's shown up by experience of rule and law (175-177). Creon deliberately tells the Chorus that he is going to make all his decisions in a way that helps him become king, this act further proves the fact that he is self-righteous. It shows that he will do anything he can to gain the respect of his people, which is ironic because most of the people in the city do not agree with him. Creonr's remark highlights his insecurity and worry that the people will not follow him. This anxiety makes him feel as if he needs to prove something to the people, rather than being confident that he will be a worthy king.

While Antigone is pleading her case, Creon claims that her argument is invalid because while [he lives] a woman shall not rule (525). Creon feels that since he has not been king for very long, he needs to assert his dominance over Thebes. This mindset causes him to neglect his own family. This abandonment of his family shows that his motives were driven by pride and a longing power, which is the opposite of Antigone, who was motivated by faithfulness and respect. At the end of the story, it is clear that Creonr's pride has started to control him when he wants to banish Antigone and have her [led] away as quickly as possible where she can die (885-888). The banishment of a family member is never acceptable, no matter what crime was committed. However, Creon willingly does so, because of his pride and longing for power. He is so engulfed in his arrogance that he allows his own niece to be put to death, and he does not regret it. This perfectly shows the severity to which Creon is caught up in his pride and furthers his self-righteousness. Because of his rejection of his family and his desire for respect, although Creonr's actions were not completely evil, the motivation behind them was nothing but pride.

Although both Creon and Antigone strive for fair goals, their conflict is not a matter of noble versus noble, because their motivations contrast one other. Antigoner's actions are motivated by respect and honor for her family and a desire to fulfill religious duty. Antigone is the true hero, whereas the self-centered Creon is not. The significance of this is that it demonstrates that although an action may appear to be moral or just, the incentive behind it may be evil and dark, which shifts the ethics of the action itself. This is demonstrated throughout the entire play as Sophocles emphasizes the importance of honest motivations, which will often lead to honest actions.

Did you like this example?

Antigone Fights For Her Family. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Community Service and Student Volunteerism

Reasonably, community service positively impacts an individual and the community in which he or she resides, as well as neighboring residents, but Wheatland Union High School should not make it a requirement for graduation, as it takes away the merit of the act, is unfair to students who have outside obligations, and can be an insult to those who take pride in their volunteerism.

Source 4, In the Good Nameof Community Service, reports a cynical attitude of students who develop community service specifically to strengthen their college applications. Exploitation of a mandated volunteerism system could be encouraged by such a requirement. Source 5, Mandatory Volunteerism from Psychological Science, reports research that proves that requiring activities that should be voluntary discourages future involvement in such activities, making it less likely for community service to be a lifelong habit. Students, especially high schoolers, are extremely overtaxed from their already outrageous tasks at hand.

Mandating them to maintain hours of extra workload could push them over the edge, making them even more stressed and tired. Some students have responsibilities outside of school, such as a job to support their family or a sport to release the hassle of the day. It would be unfair to those students to bar them from graduating, simply because some just dont have the time to spare or the emotional capacity to handle such consuming tasks with all that is on their plate.. Source 7, the graphs from a study by Mark Hugo Lopez, a researcher from the University of Maryland, raises further evidence against the requirement of community service.

Graph 1 shows that support for mandating a requirement about such service is weakest among those currently in school and is about evenly split among those over the age of twenty-one, suggesting a positive trend of open-mindedness, or that the older students get, the easier it is to stick to an agenda. Graph 2 suggests that young people with high levels of scholarship (as opposed to those who decided not to further their education) are more likely to support a community service requirement in high schools. In conclusion this shows that requiring community service in schools like ours would not be a good idea, because although it does make a positive impact in the community, it creates a burden to students forced to fulfill hours and hours of additional workload, taking up their time to study and overall making life more stressful.

Did you like this example?

Community Service and Student Volunteerism. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Medical Healthcare Aspect

Medical healthcare aspect of (the study of how people act towards each other) is simple but complex of studies of the effects of social and cultural factors on health and medicine. There specialists as a medical (expert at how groups of people relate to each other) is to help people view the healthcare system as facility of the (community of people/all good people in the world) and serve it by examining and improving all its parts/faces. It is a big step towards to (accomplish or gain with effort) the greatest major's opportunities in the history of medical careers.

Medical (expert at how groups of people relate to each other) applies (related to careful studying or deep thinking) and (related to thinking a lot about what things mean to you) skills to help the healthcare facilities improve the conditions of patients and people (who take care of people). This may be through conducting research on the social factors affecting healthcare, providing education to people (who take care of people) and working with people to prevent sicknesses and speed up the recovery processes. It combines both medicinal and people-based aspects to offer effective solutions. The (the study of how people act towards each other) of health and illness focuses on the social effects of, and public attitudes toward, sicknesses, sicknesses, mental health and disabilities. This sub-field also overlaps with (the study of getting old) and the study of the (old/allowing to get old/getting older) process.

Medical (the study of how people act towards each other), very differently, focuses on the inner-workings of medical organizations and medicine-based institutions. In Britain, (the study of how people act towards each other) was introduced into the medical (school courses) following the Good enough Report (1944). [1]Medical helpers do regular medicine-based and (related to managing and running a company or organization) responsibilities under the immediate supervision of a doctor or other healthcare professional. Medical helpers do many (related to managing and running a company or organization) responsibilities, including answering phones, greeting patients, updating and charging patients' medical records, filling out policy varieties, managing agreement, planning assignments, arranging for hospital (act of letting someone enter/speaking the truth about something bad) and laboratory services, and handling billing and book keeping.

Did you like this example?

Medical Healthcare Aspect. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Community Service Belongs in College

As we all grow older itr's easy to become self-absorbed in our own needs and desires. Managing the stress of college, finding the proper career path for your future, all while still leaving time for your friends and social events can prove to be extremely challenging. What if on top of that you were required to volunteer in your community? Sounds like one more thing to add to the long list of things you need to do, but in reality, it could actually be just what the doctor ordered. Community service, also known as volunteer work, is an unpaid act of service for a group or organization that benefits people, animals, or even an entire community in need. Research has shown that volunteers reap benefits such as mental and social health along with developing career readiness. I believe every college student should be required to complete community service throughout their college career.

Mental health awareness has become an increasingly popular topic of concern during the last few years. Anxiety and depression can easily stem from high amounts of stress or the heavy workload that is so common with earning a college degree. A study by experts at United Health Group have found that 78 percent report that volunteering lowers their levels of stress, leading to feeling better than adults who do not volunteer. The reason behind this being that putting your attention into another personr's wellbeing disrupts the stress building pathways in the brain. In fact, many volunteers report a major rush of endorphins that plateaus into a sense of peace and overall satisfaction after doing a selfless act for another person or group.

Now, an altruistic act that you decided to do for another person has also carried over into your overall happiness and wellbeing. Itr's a common complaint from students that after beginning college they begin to feel like one of many instead of an important individual. To understand that you, one person, have the power to change someone or even a group of peopler's day instills an undeniable sense of purpose. Feeling this level of importance along with the appreciation from those who youve helped establishes a positive mental image of your life as a whole during the difficult college years.

Most college campuses are substantial in size and have an enormous number of students, it could even be one of the most diverse environments you will be introduced to during your lifetime. These social settings can be extremely overwhelming for a lot of students to adjust to initially and even over the long term. The American College Health Association reports that a 2017 survey of nearly 48,000 college students, 64% said they had felt very lonely in the previous twelve months. Among those only a shocking 14% said there was a very good chance they would seek counseling in college.

Through required volunteering students get a push to get out of their typical social routine but are still allowed the freedom to choose something enjoyable or of interest to them. When a group of like-minded people are brought together strong support systems can be built that lead to positive future connections and comradery. The Institute for Volunteer Research, or IVR, found that 74% of students experienced a wider range of friendships through volunteering. Developing these relationships is crucial to self -esteem levels and feelings of inclusion. Once students feel that their peers are relatable they are far more likely to be comfortable, confident, and excel in their classes as a positive side effect.

The entire college experience is centered around one mutual goal, to develop your knowledge and skills to begin the career of your choice. Although classes are essential to achieving this goal, it can be argued that not all skills can be obtained in the classroom. The Corporation for National and Community Service found that volunteering is associated with an increased likelihood of finding employment for all volunteers regardless of a personr's gender, age, ethnicity, geographical area, or the job market conditions. When the time comes for students to choose a volunteer organization they can go one of two ways.

The first option being something they are familiar with. Familiarity is a comfort zone for many students but may lead to developing advanced skills and thriving in that specific area of interest. On the other hand, a commitment towards an unknown area of volunteering could yield a new interest or even a skill set that has been untapped for many years. When volunteering for an organization, students receive the opportunity to work on some highly coveted qualities in the work force.

Businesses searching for potential job candidates want leaders, team players, and someone who can demonstrate professionalism in tough situations. Itr's key that young adults be able to show future employers that they have these skills and have had the experience properly utilizing them. Time Bank, a volunteer organization, ran a study on the correlation between community service and employer/employee relations. 80% of the employers highly valued seeing volunteer work on an applicantr's resume. Additionally, 50% of hired employees felt that volunteering was a primary reason they were hired into their job or field of work. Itr's clear that if students donate their time to any non-profit, charity, or volunteer group it would greatly increase their chances at entering their desired field of work already a step ahead of those without this experience.

The facts undeniably show that while benefiting your community and those in need, volunteer work also contributes a plethora of advantages to students that would otherwise not be obtained. Mental and social health are crucial to students excelling in their line of study and developing the desire to continue on to achieve higher degrees. Along with this academic success comes occupational advantages. These could be as slight as getting bumped to the top of the candidates list or simply landing a job because of your impressive amount of experience. While yes, these could hypothetically happen without your volunteer background, why would you leave your future up to chance? In this day and age, we need to develop all aspects of the qualities that will set us apart from our peers. Im certain that the requirement of community service for college students would be wildly beneficial to all of those involved.

Did you like this example?

Community Service Belongs In College. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Saint Johns Community Service

For my community service project I chose to volunteer at Saint Johnr's Womenr's shelter in Sacramento. Through my volunteering hours I helped serve the women dinner and set up the tables for their dinner. My first day volunteering I found that I was extremely nervous, for the work itself and to see women in poverty. Once I was directed to the kitchen and instructed on what I had to do my nerves calmed down. When dinner time arrived I was sad for what I found. Not only were these women in bad shape but many of them had 2 to 4 children with them. They were kind and extremely thankful for the work I was putting in. I found that many of the people I was serving were girls my age who seemed to have run away from abusive situations.

This fact hits close to home for me and was the reason I chose to volunteer at a women's shelter in the first place. I felt that the work I was putting in was a very good thing, everyone was so grateful to my mom and I as we gave them their food. After I volunteered I had questions, how is Sacramento helping our homeless population? How many homeless does Sacramento have? And what can I do to help? These are three questions that I chose to research after my time at Saint Johnr's. It turns out that according to the Sacramento Bee Sacramento County's homeless population rose 30 percent between 2015 and 2017. This is a sad fact that I believe needs to be further addressed in our schools. Privileged schools like Granite Bay allow us to live in a bubble. Kids that go to our school are unaware of the poverty happening in our own backyard.

I lived in Downtown Sacramento in 7th and 8th grade and was able to watch the homeless population rise in that short time. Volunteering at Saint Johnr's allowed me to see what happens to people as they are experiencing homelessness. Saint Johnr's program is targeted towards women who are experiencing homelessness due to an abusive situation. It allows the women to live in a safe place with meals and rooms. They accept volunteers through the week not only to serve dinner but to take care of children and serve breakfast. This program and many others should be brought up in schools as places that kids need to go. Helping our community was something that wasnt brought up until senior year, I think that it would improve the quality of many peoples work if students were required to do a small amount every year, then this amount could be increased slowly allowing kids to get used to volunteering each year. By forcing kids to volunteer once their senior year it turns this great project into a job for many of my peers. This project broadened my horizons, I plan to continue to volunteer with Saint Johnr's as frequently as I am able.

I enjoyed seeing the smile on the women's faces when they were able to get their food. It goes to show that the little things are really what counts. For kids in our school I think this project has a great lesson to teach. I had only volunteered once before this project, my stepmother worked at Brighton Preschool my freshman year of high school so I had the opportunity to volunteer in her class. I had a lovely experience playing and teaching the kids. Looking back now that I have volunteered somewhere with poverty stricken families I can see the sharp contrast between the preschoolers that went to Brighton vs the kids in Saint Johnr's. The kids in Saint Johns seemed to be quieter, they were more excited for their food when the time came to eat, and they were less picky about what they were eating. When the kids at Brighton were served there was always many complaints about what was on the menu that day. There was almost always a breakdown at meal time, and they were not as thankful for their food. It makes me sad to think that the kids in Saint Johnr's will grow up not knowing when their next meal is. No child should go hungry.

Above are pictures of the Saint Johnr's dinner services, when we serve dinner they get protein, carbs, vegetables and a fruit. I enjoyed meeting the other volunteers during my time at Saint Johnr's as well. One woman who was volunteering told me her story, she used to be in the Saint John's program but was able to pull herself out. She now has a job and volunteers for Saint Johnr's on the weekends to repay them for helping her and her children. Kids in America today dont understand that there is such poverty in our country. We see on our phones that there is poverty in other countries but rarely acknowledge the poverty in our own backyard. By bettering our own country we are bettering ourselves. Another benefit to this project is that it allows kids to gain more experience in case we need references for job applications. There are so many benefits that are apparent to volunteering.

I may have donated my time to Saint Johnr's women's shelter but volunteering for the humane society, volunteering to build a home for a family, or giving back to those who lost their home in Paradise are all amazing volunteering opportunities. Volunteering gives you an opportunity to change people's lives, It allows you to play a role in someone else's life. Helping people who may not be able to help themselves is an amazing quality to gain. Volunteering is a way of giving back to your community while developing important social skills, and gaining valuable work experience all at the same time. Overall my experience with this project was extremely fulfilling. I was able to meet people that I otherwise never would have met. I felt that being in the positive environment was rejuvenating. As well as meeting new people I was able to help people in less fortunate situations as me. I enjoyed feeling productive and helpful. This project taught me many good lessons and has pushed me to try to volunteer regularly from now on.

Did you like this example?

Saint Johns Community Service. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

The Real Voyage of Discovery Consists

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. This quote by Marcel Proust speaks of discovering whatr's right in front of you by seeing it differently, with new eyes. In The Giver, Jonas, the main character goes through the same thing when discovering his Capacity to See Beyond. With an awareness and mindfulness that most people lack, Jonas can see his Community in a different way. Mindfulness is in fact one of the central themes in the book. Although the book starts by describing how the Community is a perfect utopia, it later turns out that everyone there is living a fake and superficial life. As Jonas begins his job as the Receiver of Memories, through the wisdom he receives, learns that the Community is missing feelings and emotions that the memories give. In the end, Jonas has a new respect for his way of seeing and chooses to go against the Community to restore mindfulness and memories back to the people.

The people in Jonas Community share their feelings after each day in their dwellings. However, these feelings are merely surface feelings by the mindless people going through their fake and superficial days. For example, when Lily expressed anger over the incident at the park with the boy from another community who did not follow the rules, her anger was not truly anger. Instead, Jonas was able to realize that she felt impatient and exasperation and her feelings were calmed after discussing them with her family. Another example, after Jonas received a memory of a family celebrating Christmas, Jonas asked his father, Do you love me? His father laughed and was surprised that Jonas would use such a meaningless word. He suggested it would be more appropriate to consider whether he enjoys Jonas or takes pride in his accomplishments (page 127).

In the beginning of the book, Jonas is like every other person following the rules in the Community. However, when something unexpected happened, like the flashback of the plane flying overhead, Jonas waited for someone to tell him what to do. Jonas, looking around anxiously, had seen others”adults as well as children”stop what they were doing and wait confused, for an explanation of the frightening event (page 1). However, as he received memories, learns about color, diversity, and war. From the memory of the red sleigh to the war, Jonas receives memories that give him a different outlook of the way he sees the world. Not just does he take on memories, but feelings such as joy and love, feelings that he had known before becoming the Receiver of Memory. Jonas ends up sharing memories, such as the elephant with Lily and colors with Asher, to give people a new understanding and meaning of the life they live.

Finally, as Jonas grew more and more accustomed to his new way of seeing things, he decided to take it upon himself to restore the memories and mindfulness to the people in the Community he lives in. The thought of this happening only grew inside of him when he whispered to Gabe how different things would be if everyone could see things the he could and knew their grandparents. He told the sleeping new child that everyone could have the memories, and best of all, There could be love (pages 128-129). At once, he and The Giver devised a plan to give back the memories to the people, that way everyone have the emotions and feel love and pain, and most importantly so not one person would be the only one to have the memories.

Once Jonas found out that Gabe was scheduled to be released, he immediately started with his plan. He stole food and his fathers bike, and him and Gabe set off to restore the memories to everyone in the Community.
In the end, it is up to the reader to decide if the Community learned to see themselves and the world through new eyes. However, as Jonas comes truly understand the mindfulness that everyone was missing, the reader is left with a new understanding. Mindfulness made Jonas go from a fake life, like the people in the Community, to true love. How can the mindfulness that Jonas found help the reader find the fake or superficial parts in their own lives? How will the reader find a new understanding for the way they see things? And whom will the reader give their new insight too?

Did you like this example?

The Real Voyage Of Discovery Consists. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

The Giver Analytical Paper

Imagine living in a world designed to be free of conflicts and hunger? When fragments of memories are taken out from oner's consciousness, how does one think and feel? When life is devoid of colors, will there be genuine happiness can be drawn out of sheer blandness? What is family when love is strange and is truly undefined? When your destiny is already pre-determined, what else challenges or excites you as the sun sets and rises the next day? What if one doesnt need money for survival- how long will you wish to stay in a pseudo utopian society defined by contentment and conformity? Yet, for Jonas, the one chosen to receive the burden of taking in the collective memories of the populace, itr's how soon can he manage to escape when he begins to discover the dark secrets and painful truth amidst this seemingly ideal society as the Giver “who is the sole keeper of memory- finally reveals to Jonas the truth that lies beneath the word release which was thought to be a beautiful journey to Elsewhere. These are few questions that will help examine your conscience as the writer takes us to alternate world defined by contentment and conformity.

In what seemed to be a utopian community, people live in an orderly calculated manner following certain standards in their day-to-day life “where every aspect of it follows a community-based rule governed by committee of elders who determine every citizenr's fate including the use of language appropriate for any given situation. After all, this is what they strived for Sameness - unity and comfort for every citizen within the society owing to what they perceived that peace can be attained when everyone is equal and the same.

The society runs systematically where every one plays a key role pre-assigned to him or her on the basis of oner's strength and weakness. Defying the rules or falling short of the given standards will cause a member to be released. “which actually means Euthansia or mercy killing but is hidden from the publicr's eyes.

Precision of language is the required norm for people in the community in their interpersonal relationship so that it functions accordingly. Even in expressing statement of apology, it has to be consistent and in accordance with the standard script. Also, there are accurate words to describe certain level of emotions in Jonas world. Hence, language is paramount that it has become a powerful tool used to advance the societyr's agenda. Its creative manipulation and persuasive character has been too effective to make people believe in something that for them is the absolute truth. This is called Euphemism in English literature. Euphemism is commonly understood as the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. https://truthandcharityforum.org/deadly-and-deceptive-euphemism/ Ashley Noronha, S.T.L. Ph. D. cand.

Part of the process, from birth to release, every member of the society goes through a transitioning phase each year until the age of twelve where a member is given a permanent role in the society deprived of freedom and free will. The members of the single family does not have biological relationship with one another. Thus, the true essence of a family bound by love does not exist unlike in our contemporary society where family plays a crucial role in an ideal society.

The Committee of Elders is said to be endowed with wisdom to run the society smoothly following their agenda of achieving peace and equality. To achieve this, they manipulate the minds of the people by letting them take a pill every day that will take away their memory, their capacity to experience pain, to love and to think logically. In short, some aspects of human beingr's natural behavior have been deliberately removed which is riveting & unacceptable in the context of todayr's current society. This is a thought “provoking scenario since in our contemporary society, we all aspire to live in a world where peace and harmony abound but if people are deprived of freedom and human rights it will most likely result in uprising and chaos. Politically speaking, Sameness is akin to Socialist form of government which is still being practiced nowadays by a few countries in the world like North Korea minus the removal of memories that is of course fictional in nature. Just like North Korea, Sameness society tends to isolate itself from the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, in John Lennonr's most controversial song released in 1971 entitled, Imagine the lyrics of the song were strongly scrutinized due to various misinterpretations by people critical to the message of the song. However, Lennon himself had affirmed that the message of the song was nothing but a wishful thinking of a man to live a world where social constructs are removed so that division and war may no longer exist like in the world of Jonas.

Since Jonas exhibits the ideal character befitting for a future Giver he has been selected as The Receiver the most honored & revered job in the community but arguably carries the heaviest burden.

However, when Jonas began to discover the dark secrets of the community revealed to him by the Giver, he was compelled to device an escape plan along with Gabriel, with the help of the Giver. The awakening of Jonas conscience and awareness to the truth, had caught him in the crossroads of making a decision where escape is a must for himself and Gabriel to the outside world that is yet unknown to him, but he had already seen subconsciously during the memory transmission process done by the Giver. Did the thought of saving the community exist in Jonas mind upon escape? What was the place with bright lights he had seen from a distance while going downward ? The answer is up to us to interpret his ultimate fate after that dangerous escape.

There are words in every language which people instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct, or impolite. As the offensive referents, for which these words stand, must still be alluded to; they are often described in a roundabout way by using substitute called euphemism. ( Antrushina GB et al, 1985 English Lexicology).

Euphemisms! Theyre the worst. Or I should I say theyre a negative outcome benchmark? Euphemistic language is the timeless enemy of anyone concerned with clarity. Straight shooters such as novelist George Orwell and comedian George Carlin have blasted soft, vague language, including Carlinr's classic lament that shellshock devolved into battle fatigue, then operational exhaustion, before finally morphing into the mouthful post-traumatic stress disorder. https://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170126-the-hidden-danger-of-euphemisms, Mark Peters.

So in the community of Jonas, there were plenty of subtle nuances in the use of language in the story so as to make the people believe into something vague and shady. The most intriguing one is the word release in place of death.

In his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell criticizes the language of his day as ugly and inaccurate. He purports that mid 20th century prose was being used so carelessly that it had lost its genuine meaning and had instead become ambiguous and hollow.

https://truthandcharityforum.org/deadly-and-deceptive-euphemism/ Ashley Noronha, S.T.L. Ph. D. cand.

In the Philippine society, similar with other cultures in the world, the art of euphemism is applied almost in all aspects of the peopler's daily communications in order to soften its potentially dreadful outcome. In Philippine politics for example, former president Benigno Aquino III often used euphemism in his public speeches so that people will be convinced of his ideas. Let alone his campaign slogan, Tuwid na Daan . Ironically, the current President Rodrigo Duterte is not fond of camouflaging his thoughts and ideas hence, he is sometimes misconstrued and lambasted by media for taking his words so literally. From this standpoint, euphemism without critical thinking ability makes people confused and gullible.

Words are deeds, wrote the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. They may often be used not to convey thoughts, but to perform an activity. The term that Wittgenstein coined for this type of activity is: language-game. Accordingly, in trying to understand President Duterter's recent statements, it will be more useful to ask what her's doing, rather than what her's saying. https://opinion.inquirer.net/115479/dutertes-language-games

The advantage of euphemism however is more pronounced in the aspect of health as it touches human emotions and sensitivity by giving glimmer hopes amid uncertainties. Euphemism could be part of the medical code of ethics among health professionals in treating their patients. This is obvious every time we hear doctors making diagnosis and while explaining to the patient his/her health condition. In the study of human psychology, this is related to the notion that bad news will exacerbate the patientr's condition. This I suppose is a universal practice in the healthcare industry all over the world.

However, to illustrate an specific example in the Philippine culture, it is a known fact that people from the upper social class often employ sophisticated medical terminologies in describing their illness just to be able to emphasize their social status. On the other hand, people from the lower class use common terms to describe such similar disease which sounds disgusting or gross and is often associated to being poor. Take the word skin allergy for the rich, while korikong for the poor. Itr's euphemism at its finest!

When it comes to personr's age, calling the person matanda or amoy lupa is rude and impolite. Hence, there is a need to sugarcoat them such as; may edad na , or senior citizen . In the case of death, passing away , rest in peace , now in the arms of our Lord are less painful to say than dead.

For human bodyr's physiological functions, having period is pleasant to hear rather than saying menstruation , making love for sexual intercourse or not feeling well instead of sick . There are countless of words we use whether consciously or unconsciously in our every day communication purposively.

Filipino virtue does not seem to depict one that is straight forward; and interpersonalism and frankness is not quite seen in the general concept and culture of the people. Filipinos are known for their courteous insincerity. Likewise the concern for not hurting the feelings of others is approached by the indirect ways and imprecise vague words. https://davisnaimemason.blogspot.com/2015/12/14-euphemism-in-filipino-language.html

Thus, the general response and reaction varies depending on the circumstances, localities, and how it is delivered. There are many different factors to be considered when eliciting response from whom the word is addressed to such as; regional culture, religion, social class, demography, etc. Nevertheless, euphemism greatly influences our perception and judgement. From business to politics, media to religious institution, health and education, in our daily social interaction, the use of powerful linguistic tool is embedded so deeply. But one thing is certain, that when it strikes a nerve in our sensitive being “that word must be rude.

While it remains a fact that language is culture by itself, it is now empowered further by social media impacting our lives in many different ways fueled by technological advancement. Therefore, to be always relevant we should always be on guard on what is new to be able to filter the truth from lies.

Did you like this example?

The Giver Analytical Paper. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

The Giver Utopia

Some say perfection is the key to life, but not everyoner's perfect is the same. The Giver portrays Sameness as a utopian society, perfect world. It has removed war, prejudice, racism, and poverty. All things that we would like to extinguish from our known society. Because of this no one would feel incapacitate which is an improvement to the society we know of now, America.

In The Giver little to no one makes or is presented with choices. Everyone is given a job, spouse, kids, and rules based on specifically them. Everything is designated to them so no one can make the wrong choice. Jonas at first thought that they should be able make choices when he learned what choices could be made. But soon he came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be safe when said, What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong. (98) To back up his realization of how dangerous it would be. Because they weren't allowed to make choices no person had the stress of choosing, nor the anxiety of picking the right choice. For these reasons The Giver way of restricting choices is renovation to how we live.

Feelings are not relevant in the giver strictly because they are not necessary. In The Giver humans do not feel anything no fear, pain, hunger, illness, love, or hatred. They always feel neutral and ordinary. The Elders, government, hide all these feelings in memories in which are only contaminated by Jonas and the Giver. They did this so no one can be hurt by the feelings but they need the information incase something unusual could happen. So because they restrained the feelings everyone is bland with no emotions to drag them down on a daily basis. Jonas eventually learns about pain but is told he couldn't express them. He soon came to the reasoning that no one other than the past givers have felt what he is feeling when thought They have never known pain, he thought. This realization made him feel lonely , and he rubbed his throbbing leg. (110) So as Jonas had felt, feelings aren't always good. Imagine other people feeling the loneliness and pain as Jonas and we feel now. Consequently, people now end their own life because of these feelings just as how the Giver's daughter had. Because these feelings are completely avoided they live in comforting environment.

The Givers utopia has some flaws such as releasing and looks. The first deficiency is that they release,kills,the people when they mess up, or get old. At one point everyone is going to mess up and by removing the is not going to prevent someone else from accidentally messing up. So they should let someone learn from their mistakes rather that killing them. Also why would you speed up someone's death instead of letting them live a longer life. What's really wrong with an old person they haven't done anything wrong but grow up, itr's normal. Another thing they need to improve is that everyone looks the same. Everyone has the same skin color, hair and eyes, with an exception of a few. Covering up it is not solving anything, it's useless. Not everyone features are the same so embrace it. Yes different skin color can cause racism but with all the respect they have that is easily solved. It's not causing harm to anyone.

Due to all these improvements of America the giver creates a safe environment. A utopia is almost impossible to achieve but we could try and get close by improving ourselves. We could set peace and respect each other. Then we could try to protect and not hurt each other mentally and physically. And last but not least we could help each other through all the hard times. Little changes will get us closer to a perfect society we want.

Did you like this example?

The Giver Utopia. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria

Witchcraft originally began in Europe in the 14th century and came to an end in the 18th century. Similar events occurred in the spring of 1692 in Salem, a small group of women testified to be controlled by Satan and blamed the local residents of Salem of witchcraft which caused a wave of hysteria and spread through Salem. A witch is a woman who signed a pact with the devil or sold her soul to the devil, a man was known as a wizard.

In the 1600s when unusual physical characteristics were observed, the residents of Salem were not able to explain the growth of unusual flap of skin on the body, commonly known as a witchr's tit. When a person was accused of witchcraft, the residents of Salem would examine the person for a witchr's tit, which is basically a skin tag caused by diabetes. The picture in Document D suggests that people are looking for the witch's tit on the womanr's back which suggests that unusual physical characteristics were signs of witchcraft.

Salem back then was a pure theocracy, which means that the people of Salem strongly believed that every word in the Bible was the true word of God and has to be followed. They also believed that witches existed and anybody could become a witch or a wizard by just signing a pact with the devil. In Document C it is indicated that devils and witches exist and the devil can possess anybody.

Based off of Document A which says, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, which means that a witch does not deserve to live, which is why the punishment for witchcraft was death.

Document H clearly suggests that fits experienced by adolescents and many adults were natural and might be a sign of convulsive ergotism. According to Document N accusers could have been suffering from a psychological disorder called convulsive ergotism, a condition caused by ergot a type of fungus found in rye and other grains. Rye and other cereal grains were mainly grown in the fields of Salem. Females had more chances of ergot poisoning than men. Children and pregnant women were more than likely to be affected by the condition. Symptoms include crawling sensations on the skin, trembling and shaking, wryneck, muscle spasms, confusions, delusions, hallucinations, vertigo, seizure-like muscle contractions in addition to a number of other symptoms. Rye was planted in April, harvested in August and threshing most probably took place before Thanksgiving. The symptoms of ergotism can be seen in children on December 1691. The next fall, in 1692, the hysteria ended.

On 19 April 1692, Bridget was called for examination and when she came near the affected girls they started getting fits. The examiner thinks that she is hurting the girls and when Bridget nods her head they were tortured when she looked up and the affected girls also looked up, which implies that they were just acting. According to Charles W. Upham, the girls just wanted to create some excitement in the neighborhood and when they realized that their mischief had reached to a whole new level, they went along with the insanity they created. They were prosecutors of every person that was tried in the court. They were not punished for the madness they created and there probably can be no doubt that they were great actors. Based on Document F and Document G we can conclude that they were just acting.

On the basis of Document K, Document L, and Document M one of the main reason why many people were accused of witchcraft could be hatred among the residents of Salem. Rebecca Nurse was accused of witchcraft by Ann Putnam Jr., she said that Nurse had affected her by biting, pinching, and pricking her. Ann Putnam Sr. also accused Nurse of witchcraft and said that Nurse murdered her children and tried choking her. Ann Putnam Sr. also feared and hated Nurse because she was from Topsfield, whose town officials had been harassing their family and Rebecca's husband was involved in a dispute with Ann Putnamr's father-in-law.

The Salem Witch trials is still an unsolved mystery because nobody knows what caused such a major outbreak and nobody knows the fundamental reason for the outbreak and why so many innocent people were accused and hanged.

Did you like this example?

What Caused The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Case of the Salem Witch Trials

The greatest and most detrimental outburst of witchcraft in all of American history took place in Salem, Massachusetts. Today, the United States Court systems abide to the idea that one is innocent until proven guilty. On the contrary, the exact opposite was said to be true in the Salem Witch Trials. There were more than two hundred people accused, their reputations destroyed and lives ruined. Furthermore, twenty-seven of those two hundred were executed in an unfair trial. In addition to women being accused, many children and even men were not safe. The Witch Trials impacted Salem politically through the corruption of government and mass hysteria, religiously through the change of church and state and belief of the devil, and socially through the divide of the town into two groups. The Salem Witch Trials lasted from February 1692 to May 1693- a short amount of time but enough to cause immense damage. A lot was changing in colonial America at the time. Salem was divided into a prosperous town and farming village, causing fighting over resources, politics, and religion in the town. All before the trials even began the villagers split into sides over whether to declare independence from the town. But in 1689 the pro-separations won the right to establish their own church. The citizens picked Reverend Samuel Parris as their puritan minister. He was an extremely strict man who was the father and uncle of two of the girls accusing town members which increased the conflict. Then the first colonists were charged with witchcraft, Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne both outcasts in the town accused by teenage girls who were trying to cover up a bunch of lies. Mercy Lewis, Mary Warren, Ann Putman, and Elizabeth Parris all ranging from age 11 to 21 were danced in the woods because Abigail said so and they were scared of her and also enjoyed the attention but Abigail Williams their leader was trying to conjure spirits to try to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail used to work for her and while there she had an affair with Elizabeth's husband John Proctor and fell in love with him. She wanted Elizabeth gone she can be with John but John wants nothing to do with her, and regrets his mistake. Abigail was very manipulative and would do anything to get what she wants even if that means ruining the lives of two hundred people. Then from two it turned to two hundred accused and the whole town being divided and broken apart by mass hysteria and belief that the devil was present in people's souls around them. Eventually after realising the mistakes made the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and apologized to the families whose love members were convicted. It also lead to the removal of Reverend Parris and court. Politically the trials and the town's government was corrupt and unfair because they were conducted by men who were not trained lawyers, and who judged suspects who had no legal representation. In the trials there was an obvious lack of proof, but what worked in the girls favor was the irrational fear held by the general public which increased when Tituba, one of the women that was accused lied and stated that she was in fact, working for the devil. A bunch of accused people did admit to working with the devil even when they were not because of the courts implementings. The government didn't give them a chance if you were accused you either confessed and your reputation was destroyed and put into jail or you didn't and were executed, it was a lose lose situation. Also people who were accused had to with durin dangerous witch tests like the swimming test where they would tie them up throw them in the water and if he/she floated they were a witch, but drowning was a possibility. Or sometimes they would dunk the accused witch in water until they finally confessed. Now the constitution of the United States of America, states that everyone is equal. Equal opportunities, and equal justice even if they think your a witch, but over 250 witchcraft trials took place without that reasoning. Also back then power was everything and power hungry individuals would do anything to get the edge leading to more accusations. An example is when the Putmans would excuse farmers in order to gain their land. This effected every person in Salem not just the poor, but the people of the highest class too, no one was safe from the madness. Without this government would things have escalated as they did? People were scared and under the fear of being accused next which then lead to the economic growth of the town to decrease, because people wouldn't buy from certain stores or be associated with certain people if accused or on different side as them. An example is a farmer was accused, people rather starve then buy their crops from that farmer, so they would go out of business or sell their land. In Salem during the trials, if accused there was no saving you. An example of this is because of John Hathorne, during the trials he turned into a prosecutor rather than an impartial judge, he didn't give you a chance and he lead to the hysteria. After the trials the divide of church and state followed. After the girls were caught dancing in the woods, two girls of the same family started experiencing seizures, fits, and expressing unusual behavior, so without medical background it was easy to put the blame on the devil because religion was such a big part of everyone's lives in the puritan church. The government in Salem realised they needed to separate the Puritan church to the government before another outbreak occurred. But without the Salem Witch trials would we have evolved to the separation of church and state, or would are government still evolve around religion? Religion was not a component of life to the Puritans, life revolved around their religion. A big belief was that God would protect his servants unconditionally and would keep them out of harmr's way. So, when difficulties in the community began to arise, the blame was easily placed on the Devil and the witches that were carrying out his work for him. But they also believed the Devil only had a short time left in which to turn people against God, and due to the various difficulties in the community, the community believed that the time had come and the Devil had already begun to recruit people in the community to carry out his work. The town all so believed strongly in the wrath of God and did everything they could to prevent themselves from receiving it, that?› why there way of life was so strict and why the witch scare was taken so seriously and the accused were punished so harshly. The Puritans believed that the Devil was as real as God and that those members of society who were the weakest at upholding Puritan values and morals, specifically women and children, would be selected to carry out his work. Witches were believed to do just this, and therefore were deemed punishable under Puritan Law. The Salem trials turned people from the church after the trials because they did not know what to believe after and to start thinking on their own, these executions opened their eyes to what was right in front of them, the corruption of religion and how overbeiliving something can make people go crazy. Religion is much different than it was back then. Christian beliefs are moral, and do not praise the works of the Devil. Religion is still a big part in a lot of people's life but as we evolved it is not priority like it was in 1953. Though the Puritans were heavy believers in God, they would almost chastise anyone who did not cooperate in the works of God. The witches were prosecuted on trial for their religious practices by which the Puritans did not agree with. For example after being arrested, a man by the name of Giles Corey refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, so they executed him by crushing him with stones for two days of pain. This changed religious views today because people are able to practice their own religious faith. They intended to build a society based on their religious beliefs not on ones like Judge danforth the person who overviewed the trials and who agreed with the imprisoned and hanging of innocent people. Right before the witch trials took place, a smallpox outbreak spread through the town of Salem causing even more stress than about to come. Another thing that happened before the trials was one of the first social divides, it was pro-separations vs anti-separations groups in the town. History has repeated itself because then it was loyalists vs patriots and now Democrats vs Republicans. The residents of Salem were divided into two main groups, one ran by the Porters who were the head of the anti-separation group and the Putnams the head of the pro-separation group. This means there was a group that wanted to separate from Salem town and form Salem Village, and those who desired to stay together as the same community. The residents that wanted to separate consisted mainly of farming families, whereas those that wished to stay together were typically tied to Salem Townr's thriving and rich harbors. The group in favor of separation based their argument on the fact that Salem Townr's thriving economy made it too individualistic.The impact this social divide had on the town may have been the reason the trials were caused. Everyone was stressed out, kids were board and people hated their neighbors and wanted them to pay. When the girls accused someone it didn't have to get out of hand but with the town was broken apart for example the Putmans were jealous of Rebecca nurse because of her eight healthy kids and Mrs. Putman had 4 miscarriages so when she was accused the Putmans started to think maybe she was conjuring spirits to help her have kids and then agreed with the accusations and added to them. Rebecca Nurse was executed because she rather die an innocent woman than confess to being a witch to save her life, which more than fifteen of the accused did including John proctor. The trials changed people's opinion and relationships with their friends, neighbors and even family. Making them make decision they wouldn't even imagine. Governor Phips who ran the courts of Oyer and Terminer believed strongly in witchcraft, but many people suspect that he was aware of people being falsely accused. When the girls were found dancing naked in the woods around a fire drinking chicken blood and when someone saw and reported them, they said the devil's servants had possessed them. He believed them without doubt or evidence. He was a huge reason that spectral evidence was allowed as evidence in the trials, because he didn't do his job properly. An example is when he imprisoned Dorcas Good who was only four years old, he also put in jail an eight year old girl named Sarah Carrier. Phipps became a controversial figure, not only for allowing spectral evidence during the trials, but also because after the trials ended, he tried to shift the blame to his Lieutenant Governor, William. After the trials the girls were not even charged. Abigail ran away but not after breaking into reverend parris house and stealing all his money and only one of the other girls wrote an apology to the victims love ones. This continued to cause anger to the people of salem for many generations after the event, but it shaped there community as well and impacted the lives of everyone in it, some for better some for worse, but they all came out survivors of the Salem Witch trials. The Salem Witch trials continues to fascinate historians and we continue to ask why, in a society that should have known better, did this happen? Its impact socially, religiously and politically will continue to impact us as it did every part of the town of Salem in 1953. Are government and the mass hysteria caused, religiously the impact it had on the separation of church and state and socially the divide of the town into two groups and how it impacts may have lead to the executions of twenty innocent people will never be forgotten. The Salem Witch trials had so much negative but now its a learning tool for our society and we learn from their mistakes so we don't repeat them.

Did you like this example?

Case Of The Salem Witch Trials. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

A Theory about Witches Living in Salem

Youre a wizard, Harry! This famous quote from J. K. Rowlingr's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, gives Harry Potter a new, positive look on life. The women accused of being witches also heard this and had a new look on life, but not in a positive way. Those words meant the end of their life. In 1692, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft in a seven month period full of fear and worry, now infamously known as the Salem Witch Trials. Life was quite different in colonial New England than today. Arianne Pinchukr's article Religion in New England Colonies tells how religion was a major part of everyday life. According to her article, the Puritans felt they were superior to anyone who was not a Puritan, and many non-Puritans were often mistreated and killed. This relates to the trials because the witches that were convicted were considered followers of the devil, not of God. Another source for this question is an article from the September 7, 2015 edition of the New Yorker. According to Schiffr's article The Witches of Salem, in 1692, a series of mysterious events were blamed on witches living in Salem. Witchcraft was the second capital crime established only after idolatry when the colonists formed a legal code in 1641. Martha Goodwin, one of the defendants, was unable to sufficiently recite the Lordr's Prayer, leading her to be hanged in November of 1688. In conclusion, the article summarizes that the witches were seen as criminals.A third source, an article about Bridget Bishop by Kiera Stevenson, says Bridget Bishop was the first woman to be hanged starting what is now infamously known as the Salem Witch Trials. In early June of 1692, Bishop was accused of witchcraft and was hanged. She died due to peopler's fear of the unknown. Her trial lasted only eight days, after she was accused of every mysterious happenings in Salem, including an illness spreading. When the villager's ministerr's daughter became ill, Bishop was the one blamed. After more and more girls were found sick, the doctor announced the cause to be witchcraft. The village girls were all accusing Bishop of glancing at them and them falling, with her being the only one to revive them. The entire town seemed to have something against Bridget and her case; they watched as she was led up to Gallows Hill to be hanged on June 10, 1692, starting a seven month era of fear and panic.Loiselle Brett wrote an article about the trials. Her article says it all started when three girls went to an Indian slave woman to tell them their fortunes. What started out as a fun time, tuned dreadful when the three girls started having uncontrollable screaming fits and temporary blindness and deafness. The village doctor was at a loss for the cause and blamed it on witchcraft. By May of 1692, the prisons were overflowing with witches; the townr's legal system was stressed because they could not hold any trials. The colony did not have a charter and the town magistrates felt they did not have the power to hold capital trials. It was not until the new governor Sir William Phips, arrived on May 14, 1692 that the trials could begin. It was when the governorr's own wife was accused that he disbanded the court and the trials were ended on October 29, 1692.The answer is -- no one really knows. It has been shown that true magic is impossible. The closest answer that has been found is that the people were scared and science was not advanced enough to find a true answer, so everyone blamed it on what they knew, which at the time was religion. In conclusion, the Salem Witch Trials was simply a sickness that swept over the village of Salem could have been something as simple as an ear infection or a panic attack, not witchcraft.

Did you like this example?

A Theory About Witches Living In Salem. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Things Fall Apart is a Catastrophe Novel

Things fall apart is a catastrophe novel composed by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo, who is the hero of the novel and a standout amongst the most influential men in the Ibo clan regularly falls back on viciousness to make his focuses comprehended. Down in his heart, Okonkwo is certifiably not a pitiless man, however his life is commanded by his interior clash, the dread of disappointment and of shortcoming. He despised his dad, Unoka, on the grounds that he was a languid account holder.

Okonkwo made it a point in his life to separate himself from his dad by being outstanding and affluent and additionally turning into an incredible warrior in the innate clashes of Umuofia and the encompassing towns. His dread leads him to submit merciless activities that are awful for him and the faction, for models, his wild resentment has made his family and the tribe fear him. Okonkwo's outer clash will be his family and religion which is one reason that prompted the passing of Okonkwo toward the end.

Okonkwo's most conspicuous interior clash, the dread of disappointment and shortcoming, demolished his life and has made him a remorseless man. His inward clash gives him only the apprehensions of his family and tribe have towards him. His contention is significantly affected by his dad, yet Okonkwo takes his dread to the extraordinary. Okonkwo's dad was an extremely apathetic and joyful man. He had a notoriety of being "poor and his better half and youngsters had scarcely enough to eat they swore never to loan him any more cash since he never paid back" (Achebe, pg. 61).

In Umuofia, a dad should encourage the youngsters good and bad, and for this situation, the exercises were not educated, but rather self-learned. Okonkwo needed to depend alone translations of what characterized a "decent man" and to him, that was somebody that was the correct inverse of his dad. Because of his own self-educated ends, Okonkwo feels that anything taking after his dad or anything that his dad appreciated was frail and pointless. In light of his dread to be viewed as frail, Okonkwo even strikes down Ikemefuna who lives with him for a long time calls him father: "as the blade descended.

Okonkwo turned away. He heard the blow. He heard Ikemefuna cry 'My dad, they have executed me!' Okonkwo draws his cleaver and chops him down. He wouldn't like to be however frail" (P. 61). Indeed, even the act wanton and merciless, his blame of killing Ikemefuna has caused him for not ready to rest and eats for quite a long time. This demonstrates he will wreck everything that makes him look feeble regardless.

Okonkwo's wild outrage is his another unmistakable blemish that repels him from genuine enormity. In spite of the fact that his outrage has served him well in his life, eventually, it demolishes his lifestyle. Okonkwo is unpleasant on his child, for instance, when Nwoye catches that Ikemefuna was to be "reclaimed to his town, burst into tears Okonkwo beat him heavily"(P57). Okonkwo attempts to ingrain his own perspectives on the most proficient method to live as a man to his child, and to Okonkwo, crying is womanly, thus Nwoye is rebuffed for it. Okonkwo's failure to control his annoyance, in the end, pushes his child far from him as opposed to showing him what is correct and what isn't right.

It makes Nwoye need to join what Okonkwo needs to annihilate. Okonkwo spies the District Commissioner and as he "trembles with loathing, unfit to absolute a word instantly Okonkwo drew his blade. The flag-bearer squatted to stay away from the blow. It was futile. Okonkwo's cleaver dropped twice and the man's head lay close to his formally dressed body." (P.204) Okonkwo's detest and outrage in this circumstance, in the end, drives him to his demise.

In spite of the fact that his detest and outrage is supported here, unmistakably he can't control himself, and excessive annoyance accomplishes more mischief than anything. Achebe attempts to demonstrate the perusers that detest and outrage is an exceptionally dangerous approach to carry on with your life. In the event that the general population around sense the possibility of progress, they will conflict with their ruler with expectations of progress.

Further castration of Okonkwo and every one of the men of Umuofia will happen later in the account, when the British Christians arrive, and start to endeavor to take all specialist and significance from the clans. A lifestyle that, while not flawless, has existed for a considerable length of time and has seen the clan through great occasions and terrible, is in risk of being pulverized by a culture that has no utilization for such natives. Truth be told, it appears to be very evident that "the Igbos all in all uncover themselves more tolerant of different societies than the Europeans, who just observe the Igbos as uncouth" (Rhoads 63).

The British faith in their prevalence, and the Igbo conviction that there is space for everybody rapidly clashes as British may surpasses everything. The establishment of Christian missions and bureaucratic workplaces, many staffed by locals who have immediately been absorbed, is at first seen with gentle mocking. It isn't long anyway before the scorn swings to stress, and outrage. The local delivery people, the kotma, turn into an image of loathe inside the towns; their slag dim shorts acquire them the moniker Ashy-Buttocks, a name they dislike, "the court couriers disliked to be called Ashy-Buttocks, and they beat the men" (Achebe 128). This maltreatment, stored on the villagers by their very own kin, starts to cause strain and splits inside the life of the clans.

The British, in their presumption, can't comprehend the obstruction of the clans and just break down harder, coming full circle in the previously mentioned catch of six of the town men, and their consequent mortification and emancipating. This scene caused the last snap of indignation that set Okonkwo upon the tragic errand person with his blade pursued by his very own suicide. Notwithstanding knowing about these occasions, the British authority, the area official, can't bring himself to really think about the emotions that prompted this episode. It is viewed as just a single more case of the savage methods for the crude culture.

The conduct of Britain amid the pioneer time frame is a notable and much harped on point however at the time the novel was composed, much was all the while turning out, and huge numbers of the oppressed societies had just barely started to push back, asking for, requesting, and battling for their freedom.

Achebe's tale was a crisp interpretation of the Nigerian attitude, composed by an offspring of that country, who felt that his "obligation as an author in another country was demonstrating his kin the respect that they lost amid the frontier time frame" (Rhoads 61). His choice to compose the novel in English, which was considered fairly dubious, was made as a result of the progressions that had been made to the Nigerian dialect by the colonials:

There is an issue with the Igbo dialect. It experiences an intense legacy which it got toward the start of this century from the Anglican mission. They conveyed an evangelist by the name of Dennis. Archdeacon Dennis. He was a researcher. He had this thought the Igbo dialect which had a lot of various vernacular sought to some way or another fabricate a uniform lingo that would be utilized in writing to stay away from all these distinctive tongues.

Since the evangelists were incredible, what they needed to do they did. This turned into the law. In any case, the standard rendition can't sing. There's nothing you can do with it to influence it to sing. It's overwhelming. It's wooden. It doesn't go anyplace." (Brooks)

In purpose of reality, Achebe's inclination about the manner in which the Igbo dialect was changed could possibly be connected to the overall changes that were made to Igbo life in general. One gets the inclination that the tune of Igbo life was removed, and it would be up to scholars like Achebe to restore that tune to his kin.

In Things Fall Apart, and resulting books, Chinua Achebe toiled to bring national pride and a feeling of self back to his kin. While short, unforgiving, and eventually exceptionally dismal, the narrative of Okonkwo was an essential one to tell, and Achebe accomplished his motivation with momentous keenness and understanding.

He illustrates, for European and American perusers, and in addition his very own kin, that under the skin most societies work in fundamentally the same as routes in spite of the distinctions in area and convictions. The battle to adjust manly and female, the drive to collect riches and accommodate family, the capacity to make wonderful gems and music, is natural for all societies, regardless of whether we can remember it or not. Be that as it may, it is the simple capacity to perceive these similitudes among the distinctions that will enable us to meet up as a working human culture.

Okonkwo's outside clash will be his family and religion which is one reason that prompted the demise of Okonkwo toward the end. The tribes of the Igbo society venerated their divine beings, which made of stones and woods, uniquely in contrast to different religions. They had an agent for every one of their goddess, for example, the Oracle of the Hills. The fundamental god that they loved was Chukwu, who was accepted had made paradise and Earth.

His disdain and the mortification he gets from the Christian make him murder the errand person of District Commissioner. Okonkwo believes that the Christians have destroyed their groups in light of the fact that the tribes found another and precise instructing, they started to question their own religion and the Igbo society was never again acted like one. The demise of Okonkwo toward the end was unusual on the grounds that all through the novel, Chinua Achebe depicted him as a solid warrior who dreamed of nothing other than disappointment and shortcoming. At the point when Okonkwo submitted suicide, he additionally dedicated the main thing he dreaded, and that was a shortcoming.

Taking everything into account, Okonkwo's most unmistakable interior clash, the dread of disappointment and shortcoming, annihilated his life and has made him a savage man. His wild annoyance is his another noticeable defect that wards off him from genuine enormity. Toward the end, when Okonkwo submitted suicide, he likewise dedicated the main thing he dreaded, and that was a shortcoming.

References

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1959. eBook.
Brooks, Jerome. Chinua Achebe, The Art of Fiction No. 139. The Paris Review 133 (1994). Web. 4 December 2013.
Rhoads, Diana Akers. "Culture in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart." African Studies Review36.2 (1993): 61-72. Web. 1 December 2013.

Did you like this example?

Things Fall Apart Is A Catastrophe Novel. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Detriments and Benefits of Electoral College

In a society where a sparse variety of challenges and issues are faced in pertinence to the government, what was once deemed to have served as a process for the prevention of things, such as the election of Donald Trump, seems to have very little effect in our world today. This process that was established under the purpose of appointing both President and Vice President of the United States of America is known as the electoral college, in which consists of a group of individuals picked by the people of the state to be responsible for determining who wins elections. In acknowledging this, the electoral college forces individuals to analyze its true criticisms; one of the biggest being the fact that despite how the state votes, the presidential elections final say is placed in the hands of a good 358 of the millions of people of the states, essentially posing the query that [the] government is simply too far removed from the people (MyNews24). In opposition to mainstream thinking, the leaders of the United States; whom its people have come to label as both President and Vice President are not elected by equitable vote of the general population. Moreover, Article II of the Constitution established the process that abides by the legalities of placing responsibility of choosing the presidents on 538 electors from the different states: shaping the Electoral College. These 538 individuals withhold the authority to cast votes for the presidential candidate receiving the majority vote of their specific state. Though this is so, the contender of the prominent vote nearly always receives its majority from the electoral college, as opposed to the people. Rooted to administer a steady and proficient technique for directing U.S. presidential elections for the vast majority of the country's history, the electoral college serves to be an essential component towards the well-being of the government and essentially does this. There are many benefits to the creation of the Electoral College; however, it must also be taken into consideration the fact that the Electoral Colleger's flaws and elucidations cause many to believe that it no longer functions for its intended purpose as it should. Having been established for two main purposes, the Electoral College's primary intention was to allow for the general population to withhold more power in regard to the choice of a President and the secondary intention of giving additional capacity to states that weren't classified as a larger state (or a swing state). The founders trusted that those voting under the Electoral College would have the capacity to guarantee that any President selected would attain all the qualifications of a good leader. They also held a great amount of faith in the Electoral College to ensure that nobody would have the complete authority in controlling the state. Because Maine and Nebraska are smaller states, they attain what some would see as a benefit to separate their electoral college by congressional district. If this concept were to be assimilated for each state, in which each congressional district and state are both equally given the right to play part in the entire process, it would allow for candidates to focus more on the whole country in terms of winning rather than simply the "swing" states (procon.org). The coined term, federalism, is based upon states and the national government both holding an equal amount of power (FIU Law Review, 2017). Furthermore, federalism can best be defined as a "distribution of power in an organization between a central authority and the constituent" (Merriam-Webster, 2012). Without the Electoral College, there would be a removal of power from the states to choose the president, and founders (of whom wrote The Federalist Papers) believed that because their citizenship resided in a federalist nation, their president was to be chosen under that "federalist way". Moreover, the framers developed a framework that had law based highlights, in which gave individuals more power to an extent when regarding things in relation to their government; however, some still contend that the founders reluctantly restricted the general population's voice.

Did you like this example?

Detriments And Benefits Of Electoral College. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Voting and the Significance of the Electoral College

A democracy is a government run by the people. Each citizen has a say or vote in how the government is run. This is different from a monarchy or dictatorship where as one person, like a king or a dictator have all the power. There are two main types of democracies, direct and representative. A direct democracy is when every citizen vote on all important decisions. One of the first direct democracies was in Athens, Greece. All the citizens would gather to vote in the main square on major issues. A direct democracy becomes difficult when the population grows. Imagine the 300 million people of the United States trying to get together in one place to decide an issue. It would be impossible. The other type of democracy is a representative democracy. This is where the people elect representatives to run the government. Another name for this type of democracy is a democratic republic. The United States is a representative democracy. The citizens elect representatives such as the president, members of congress, and senators to run the government. The United States is an indirect democracy. Although each citizen only has a small say, they do have some say in how the government is run and who runs the government. A citizen has a say in government through voting. Citizens voicer's has been slightly quieted through the difficulties in voting. By voting, we are making our voice heard and registering our opinion on how we think the government should work. The 2016 election was my first year to vote. Since I am a democrat, I chose to vote for Hillary Clinton. I personally dont think she was the best candidate for the democratic party. This was because she had too many scandals, for example the classified emails that she had sent to her private server, and with what happened in Benghazi. However, I think that these issues were very small in comparison to all the scandals and views than the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. Unfortunately, Trump won the electoral college which leads to my belief that this election was unfair and did not reflect the true views of this country. I believe this because although he may have won the electoral college, he significantly lost the popular vote, which represents every single person in this country. The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress. With the electoral college in place, we are not truly voting for who we want as President, we are voting for others to make that decision for us. If it werent for the electoral college, this election would have had a different result and we would have Hillary Clinton as President. Having the electoral college also takes away the fundamental ideal of this country, which is democracy because we are not able to directly choose who we want to lead and be the face of our country, which is one of the most important decisions we can make. The electoral college allows a candidate to receive a stater's entire electoral voters while only winning 50 percent of the stater's votes. Those who voted for another parties candidates vote is basically discarded in that same state. Since electors are given based on states population candidates only need to win key states to be elected for the presidency. Four times in the past a candidate has won the electoral college and not the popular vote, 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes, 1888 Benjamin Harrison, 2000 George W. Bush, and 2016 Donald Trump. Due to this, I believe the electoral college should be removed. Back when the country was first founded, the founding fathers thought that this was the best way to elect our President because it gave states that were less populated a larger voice in the election. In my opinion, this system is flawed. For example, if you are a democrat living in a state that leans towards the republican party, on election day, that state will end up electing a representative for the electoral college that will vote republican, therefore your vote is practically meaningless. In the popular vote, your vote will count in the presidential election. I believe we should follow in the footsteps of countries like France. In France, their population vote directly for President and this doesnt cause any problems for them. Therefore, I think we should remove the electoral college and make who we elect president depend on the popular vote alone. In this country the way people vote is based on their political party. Although we often only hear of two, the democrats and the republicans there are many more, these are referred to as third parties. There are many reason why a person might choose one party as opposed to the others. These reasons may include religious affiliations, political views and views on human rights. For example, someone who is conservative and believes in less government control over the economy may lean more towards the republican party. I chose to register as a democrat when I registered to vote because I consider myself a liberal and most of my views on government and human rights a line with what the democratic party represents and stands for. Liberals general believe in governmental action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all, and that it is the duty of the government to reduce community issues and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Also believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. These beliefs are why I consider myself to be a liberal and a democrat. Although people often vote for the candidate of their political party, if that candidater's views steer from their ideals the people may choose to vote for another partyr's candidate. This happened in the republican party in the 2016 election. Donald Trump said many things and acted in a way that was very different from typical republican views. As a result, people started to question whether they would vote republican and republican leaders hesitated or refused to support him. Ultimately those republicans who did choose to vote for another candidate were not enough to make republicans lose the presidency. A lack of younger voters is another problem that causes fewer voices in voting. Voter turn out between older and younger people Countries like Australia and Singapore voting is mandatory, the countries that report significant voter turnout rates are ones like Afghanistan (84 percent for the nation's first presidential election in 2004) and Kenya (86 percent for 2013 presidential election), according to IDEA. Government records are the only source of voter participation rates, which can raise questions about unusually high turnout numbers reported by countries with a history of autocracy and corruption. But Afghanistan and Kenya are countries "where voting is viewed as critical to evolution of a democracy, where voting is viewed as essential, where it makes a difference and people believe that the only way their life is going to be better is if they vote in a government that will do that," says John Hardin Young, an election law attorney and adjunct professor of international election principles at William & Mary Law School. Voter participation rates in the U.S. are some of the lowest in the world, especially among the younger population and minority groups I believe young people decide not to vote because they procrastinate and do not register and go out to vote. Also, because they still do not understand the importance of voting since most recently becoming financially independent from their parents and do not feel the economic and importance and impacts from the result of previous presidential elections. For me personally, I believed voting in the 2016 election was important because I did not want Donald Trump to win. I will also continue to vote in the following elections because I know the importance and significance of voting.

Did you like this example?

Voting And The Significance Of The Electoral College. (2019, May 28). Retrieved November 5, 2025 , from
https://studydriver.com/2019/05/page/7/

Coffee, Tea and Chocolate in the Renaissance

Bibliography

Cite this page

Evolution of Theatres during the Renaissance

Cite this page

A Phenomenon of Renaissance

Cite this page

Main Ideas about the Renaissance

What political, social and economic factors caused the Renaissance? Why Italy?

What are the main characteristics of Italian Humanism? How do these compare with earlier medieval scholasticism? Why were Italian humanists so interested in Classical civilization?

What is Christian Humanism? What were its main goals and who were itr's leading spokesmen?

What do historians mean by the term Renaissance humanism?

What made Petrarch aware that a Renaissance, or rebirth, of classical learning was necessary in his time?

Why did Leonardo Bruni abandon his earlier course of studies to pursue the study of Greek literature?

In what ways did Niccolo Machiavellir's advice to princes a break from the teachings of medieval political and moral philosophers?

How does Machiavellir's image of human nature compare with that of Pico della Mirandola?

Compare and contrast the Renaissance in Italy and Northern Europe.

Briefly explain the changed role of the artist.

Analyze the impact of women on the Renaissance and the impact of the Renaissance on women.

To what extent did the social hierarchy change in the Renaissance from the medieval concept of social orders or estates?

How does Christine de Pizan defend a womanr's ability to learn?

What examples of learned women does she provide?

According to Pizan, why do some men not want to see women educated?

Cite this page

Art Renaissance Movement

Cite this page

Renaissance:Art, Architecture, Philosophy and Religion

Cite this page

What do we Know about Electoral College?

Cite this page

An Issue of the Electoral College

Electoral College

Works Cited:

Cite this page

Electoral College:Things that should be Made

What to do with the Electoral College

Works Cited

Cite this page

How Electoral College Disenfranchises Voters

How the Electoral College Disenfranchises Voters

Works Cited

Cite this page

Electoral College Debate

Cite this page

Creon the Good Guy

Creon the Good Guy

Works cited

Cite this page

Othello and Desdemona Relationship

Cite this page

Who is the Tragic Hero in Antigone? Kreon’s Journey from Pride to Despair

Cite this page

Families in Ancient Greek Times

Cite this page

Sophocles Suggests

Cite this page

Antigone Fights for her Family

Cite this page

Community Service and Student Volunteerism

Cite this page

Medical Healthcare Aspect

Cite this page

Community Service Belongs in College

Cite this page

Saint Johns Community Service

Cite this page

The Real Voyage of Discovery Consists

Cite this page

The Giver Analytical Paper

Cite this page

The Giver Utopia

Cite this page

What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria

Cite this page

Case of the Salem Witch Trials

Cite this page

A Theory about Witches Living in Salem

Cite this page

Things Fall Apart is a Catastrophe Novel

References