Month: May 2019
Devices Used in Letter from Birmingham Jail
In the Letter from Birmingham Jail that was written by Martin Luther King Jr. He is defending himself against eight clergymen accusations to which he explains the reasons for the civil rights demonstration and tries to justify the need for nonviolent protest in the Civil Rights Movement. He supports in his letter the idea that there everywhere is injustice. He uses repetition, analogy, allusion, and rhetoric appeals. The use of words, and feeling of emotions builds trust to get his message across. By describing how the Negros are treated badly and tortured he applies these devices to his letter.
King uses pathos by stating, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Saying this causes the readers to think about how injustice is a threat because of how it affects everyone even without them knowing. He uses pathos another time by saying that, We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. His statement is saying that you cant wait for freedom to be given to you, you need to go and take it and that is the whole meaning behind the civil rights movement. The way he uses pathos in his letter is showing how King really feels about the movement and how much they need to rebel.
King incorporates repetition by saying, But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society and goes on for the whole paragraph with each sentence starting with when you. By using this technique, he is building an emotional case about how the Negror's cant wait no long for justice. The many example he makes of the idea of waiting terrible. He is also making the readers feel bad for how bad they were treating the Negror's by saying all these things that these white men did to the Negror's. He is trying to tell everyone that they have names, jobs, and lives like everybody else.
King uses analogy by stating, Just as the prophets of the eight century B.C. left their villages and carried their thus saith the Lord far beyond the boundaries of their home towns Kingr's uses of analogy helps the reader understand what King is doing in Alabama. Like the prophets went around Jerusalem and spread the gospel of Jesus, King is going around Alabama with the civil rights movement to help people understand that segregation laws are bad and they need to get rid of them. By using analogy King is appealing to the reader by making them think that the civil rights movement is just as important as the prophets were to Jesus.
King uses allusion by saying, A just law is a manmade code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. This line is an allusion because it refers to the Bible. He is saying that a just law should be like the ten commandments that God made which is otherwise known as the law of God. This allows the reader to understand how unjust laws should be correct to just laws like the law of God. This also gives some point to why King thinks they should change the unjust laws.
Concluding, MLKr's letter to the clergymen made his points clear. His use of literacy and rhetorical devices helped him get his point across. His letter had a major impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Without all the emotion King put in his letter, the letter wouldnt have been the same. It would have stopped the movement and made people think if King was the right man to lead the movement.
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Literary Devices in Letter from Birmingham Jail
On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, the now infamous, Letter from Birmingham Jail, which was a response to the eight clergymen who wrote a letter to Martin Luther King Jr. stating that there was racial segregation to be handled, but that it was a job for the courts and law to handle, and not everyday people. In his letter, King supported the idea that injustice was everywhere, and not just in court rooms. He supported his claims by applying anaphora, diction, parallelism, and rhetoric appeals. King uses his words to build trust and reassurance, feeling of emotions and logistics and credibility in his response letter to effectively get his messages across. King most effectively applies these devices by giving an incredible insight as to what African Americans are faced with daily, and the make-up of just and unjust laws in Alabama.
King uses pathos by giving examples of how poorly Negros were frequently treated while the law watched it happen and did nothing about it. He implies how mothers and fathers were lynched and brothers and sisters are drowned because white men felt like doing it. He states that when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim which causes the reader to feel and experience the brutality that the negro population suffered through (King 4). He uses pathos a second time by referencing a little girl who sees an advertisement for an amusement park that is opening. She begins to cry when sher's told that she, along with other African Americans, are not allowed to go because the park wont allow colored people to enter (King 4). His descriptions highlight the extent of racism in Montgomery, at the time. His use of pathos in the letter evokes the true emotions that King had for the movement and how much the rebellions meant to him. King wants his child to go to an amusement park without being ridiculed by the white populous. He wishes for his fellow African American families to live without violence. He portrays his message using pathos throughout the letter.
King incorporates diction when he discusses the differences between just and unjust laws. He says that, Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statues are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality (King 4). Kingr's use of the words degrades, damages, and distort bring an emphasis of negativity that also demonstrates the feelings that King has for the laws in Montgomery. Also, the word statues demonstrate that segregation can never be changed by itself. He is saying that segregation laws will be changed when people step in and make the change happen. His choice of words is important because it gives more description and emotional weight supporting his, and the Negro communityr's, hatred for the unjust laws and enforcement of those laws. It also brings the reader a sense of understanding as to why MLK is protesting and justifies his reasoning for instigating the protests.
King implies parallelism to instill a sense of understanding to the reader as to why segregation is a big problem in Birmingham. King expresses that, Hence segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful (King 5). The parallelism, used in the sentences, allows the reader to easily comprehend Kingr's argument against segregation. He also applies many adjectives that bring a unique flow to the paragraph. He also mentions sinful in reference to the segregation. This word choice is also effective because it shows that King is a former bishop. Plus, it is directed to the clergymen who wanted to stop him and his protests, in the first place.
King finally uses anaphora to express his disappointment with the white populous and how their harsh treatment led the Negro population to start a rebellion. He reasons that, It is unfortunate that protests are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the cityr's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative (King 1). The beginning of both sentences begins with the same word, unfortunate. This is important because it outlines Kingr's overwhelming disappointment with the circumstances surrounding the protesting, but it also gives the reader a realization that the Negro population has a valid reason to continue to rebel. Plus, the reader will have a feeling of guilt and disappointment in not only the law, but in themselves because they know it is shameful to treat people horribly, especially because they have a different color of skin.
In conclusion, Martin Luther King Jr.r's response to the eight clergymen made Kingr's points very clear. It had many uses of literary devices, including those of the rhetoric type. His letter has had a profound impact on history, as well as the civil rights movement. If King didnt write this letter with such passion and energy, then it would have severely hindered the movement entirely.
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Problem with the Electoral College
The Electoral College was founded as one of the four major compromises within the United States Constitution, founded in 1787. The founding fathers were at an impasse on the decision of who ultimately obtained the power of choosing the president- the citizens or the leaders in Congress? At the time, the creators of the Constitution heavily feared a dictatorship rule, having just obtained freedom from their former colony ruler and motherland, Great Britain, so they did not want a system that could potentially overpower the government with the slightest majority. To minimize this risk, they established a separation of powers with the various branches of government in another constitutional compromise to balance out how the government would function and delegate powers accordingly. To avoid the possible blow of majority-swayed elections, they created the Electoral College as a compromise between an election of the president by a popular vote of competent citizens and an election of the president through a congressional vote.
There are five hundred and thirty-eight total members that make up the Electoral College. Chosen from the loyal supporters in either of the two respected parties, potential members are hand-picked by the party of every candidate. The number of electors has evolved over time to meet the number of members of Congress, with the addition of three electors for the District of Columbia, who is treated as a state in this instance for representative purposes. These electors are split up between the fifty states. The number of electors allocated to a state is dependent the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for every stater's two senators. With theU.S census renewed every ten years, if a state gains or loses enough population, it can also gain or lose congressional seats, therefore gaining or losing electoral votes.
As stated in the Constitution, a qualified elector must not hold any office under the United States government. State laws can vary on the specifics of how potential electors are chosen, but the political parties of the presidential candidates for each state either nominate or vote on their slate of electors for said candidate. Commonly, chosen electors are long-standing, loyal party members who they believe will vote true to their party affiliate. This is because they want to reduce the possibility of a faithless elector, if they can help it. In short, every presidential candidate has their own group of potential electors chosen by their political party that will ideally stay true to their word and vote for that candidate if they win the vote in November.
While almost all electors vote in accordance to the majority vote of their state, they are not always inclined to do so. There have been 157 electors in American history that did not vote in accordance with the stater's vote- but this is not necessarily illegal. In fact, twenty-one states dont require electors to support candidates chosen by the state they represent, thus allowing them to vote whichever way they choose- and while twenty-six states technically have the legislation in place to fine those electors who choose to go against their promised candidate, the precedent of this punishment has never been sought after in the 157 faithless electors in this countryr's presidential election history. None of these electors have ever swung an election one way or the other, but the lack of accountability leaves room for dishonest foul-play if a close election came about.
The United States has struggled with low voter turnout rates in recent history in the past century. When compared to other developed countries of the global north, the United States is quite sheepishly low on the graph with around 55% of eligible voters participating in the most recent 2016 election (DeSilver, 2018). Australia embraces a compulsory voting system, which stimulater's around 90% of the total eligible voter population to go to the polls every election. (DeSilver, 2018). The Winner-take-all system of the Electoral College severely degrades the political efficacy in our citizens due to the fact that the system does not actually value every citizenr's vote equally. When you look at the number of electoral votes given to each state, states hold different amounts of power in their residentr's votes. Less populated states like Wyoming, Vermont, and North Dakota get more representation per capita in the Electoral College due to their lower voter population to electoral vote ratio. All states are guaranteed three votes from two senators and at least one congressman or woman, which skews the weight of votes in the larger states (Petrocelli, 2017). More densely populated states like Florida, California, and Texas do get more electoral votes, but when comparing their votes to their population, their ratios show that they are in fact holding less power-per-vote than smaller populated states (Petrocelli, 2017).
As previously established, the weight of each ballot varies on a state-to-state basis; depending on the ratio of voter turnout populations and electoral votes, the disparity between the weight of votes can be graphed and calculated to play to a candidater's advantages. It is no secret that the candidates know and use this information to their advantage when campaigning. According to FairVoter's data analysis through their online Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, two-thirds of the 2016 presidential campaign took place in only six states (National Popular Vote, 2018) From FairVoter's data spreadsheet it is also conclusive that a staggering 94% of all campaign events for this election happened in just twelve states. When you calculate the numbers for each candidater's campaign specifically, 96% of all Clinton campaign events took place in swing states, compared to a close 88% of all Trump campaign events that took place in swing states (FairVote, 2016). While critics of the Electoral College reform movement argue that the push for a national popular voting system would isolate much of Americans living outside of urban cities, the data clearly shows that an overwhelming bias is already taking place in our current system- and isolating almost all campaign events to these select battleground states. The Electoral College creates uneven values in American votes, and does not.
The Electoral College is what the two-party system was built on, and it is how the system continues to be upheld today. The Two-Party System is yet another binary that has been forcefully normalized into our political identity in the U.S. Throughout history, with exception to the short-lived era of good feelings where the government united under a single Republican party, Americar's government has been controlled by two parties at any given time. Since 1854, the two dominating parties have been the Democratic party and the Republican party. Red or blue, left-wing or right-wing, liberal or conservative- out of the vast array of political ideologies that exist in our day of modern politics, Americans have willingly boxed themselves in to a system where the only two parties of relevance not only offer a lack of choice, but consequently separate, exclude, and polarize people from one another.
The complexities of our voting system are not only unnecessary and extremely outdated, but they are also a form of legal voter suppression, and is currently being upheld knowingly by our own government. When the Constitution was created, the Electoral College had it benefits for the time and size of our country. Today, with upwards of three-hundred and thirty million citizens, the nationally averaged out ratio of citizens to single electoral vote is approximately six-hundred eleven thousand people. A more direct method of voting is needed to adequately represent everyone who lives in the United States- therefore the proposal of an amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College and adopt a preferential popular vote system is in order for the United States. In every other elected office race in the United States, the winner is decided by who received the popular vote.
From our bicameral Congress and other federal government positions to the local city council races, the candidate who receives the popular vote wins the position. For the presidential election to differ from these election norms solely based on precedent and tradition is not fitting with the needs of America today. Rather, it is lazy of our government to choose to keep something that doesnt work over making the effort to take a course of action to make a positive change for the future of our system.
In a preferential popular voting system, voters would cast their ballots, numbering the candidates by their top to bottom preference in numerical order. If none of the candidates receive at majority of the vote in the first round, the candidate pool would then be narrowed down, and the ballots would be recounted by numbered preference until eventually, a majority winner was found. This type of system would remedy the unequal voting values between states, as well as the lack of representation of many citizens, including the approximate four million citizens living in the U.S. Territories that dont get to vote at all with the Electoral College in place. A more direct method of voting upholds the expectations of equal representation mentioned in the Constitution; the only difference is that the system in which we represent our citizens would be better equipped to work for the population size we have grown to.
The Electoral College system was put in place at the time when the nation had just recently been founded, and its population was just shy of four million people. With a more direct system of voting in place, political participation will undoubtedly increase. When everyoner's vote holds the same value no matter where you live, citizens will feel more empowered to use their voice and take political action. Voter turnout would predictably increase with this heightened sense of political efficacy. There would no longer be battleground states and safe states, which the names categorizing these states alone, in a subliminal way, tell residents to head to the polls or stay home. Conservatives living in historically blue states, and liberal-thinkers in traditionally red states would finally have a vote that holds weight. An even more astonishing realization would be that independents and third parties would now have a platform unlike ever before with the abolishment of the two-party system; gaining support and spreading new political ideals would be easier than ever before.
The abolishment of this winner-take-all system would also unmute the votes of so many that have been silenced when even the slightest majority takes the lump sum of a stater's electoral votes. No longer would states be considered swing states or safe states, because everyoner's vote would count equally to one another. With that same notion, presidential campaigns would not be centered around certain areas or regions where more electoral votes were being held. Instead, installing a popular vote system would encourage all serious presidential candidates to spread their campaigns out across the country and U.S. territories, which would be reaching more of our population and connecting more of U..S. citizens to the election process. Too often in the presidential races of recent times, candidates campaigns are focused around where they can make the most impact: in these select swing states. This means that our presidential candidates purposely leave out areas of the country where there are dense concentrations of opposing political ideologies, which is blatant alienation of large populations of the country.
The United States of America was founded on the values of equality before the law and a representative government of the people, by the people, for the people. To keep up and progress in this ever-changing world, we must be open to adapting and reforming systems that dont work as well as originally thought. We must critique, question, and adjust when things no longer work as they once did. It is also crucial to note that our country was also founded on values our country does not uphold today, like slavery, and was phased out in the thirteenth amendment more than one-hundred and fifty years ago. The United States is not the same country today as it was during the founding of the Constitution, and suggesting that systems be kept in place because they have met bare-minimum standards that work for some members of society does not mean that is what is best for all of America. Change is the only guarantee in our world, so we must acknowledge the flaws in these imperfect systems, learn from these short-comings, and strive to create positive reform that will make our society better than before.
Works Cited
- Black, Eric. 10 Reasons Why the Electoral College Is a Problem.MinnPost, MinnPost, 16 Nov. 2016, www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2012/10/10-reasons-why-electoral-college-problem/.
- If This Election's Like 2004, Trump Wins the Electoral College, Clinton the Popular Vote.CQ Magazine, CQ Press, 16 May 2016, library.cqpress.com.montgomerycollege.idm.oclc.org/cqweekly/document.php?id=weeklyreport114-000004887840&type=query&num=Electoral College&.
- DeSilver, Drew. U.S. Trails Most Developed Countries in Voter Turnout.Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 21 May 2018, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/21/u-s-voter-turnout-trails-most-developed-countries/.
- What Is The Electoral College?U.S. Electoral College, National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html.
- Two-Thirds of Presidential Campaign Is in Just 6 States.National Popular Vote, National Popular Vote Inc., 23 July 2018, www.nationalpopularvote.com/campaign-events-2016.
- FairVote, 2016 Presidential Candidate General Election Events Tracker, FairVote.com, 31 October 2016, online Microsoft Excel File. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14Lxw0vc4YBUwQ8cZouyewZvOGg6PyzS2mArWNe3iJcY/edit#gid=0
- Petrocelli, William. Voters In Wyoming Have 3.6 Times The Voting Power That I Have. It's Time To End The Electoral College.The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 Nov. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/william-petrocelli/its-time-to-end-the-electoral-college_b_12891764.html.
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Supporting the Electoral College
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An Aim of the Electoral College
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The Infamous Series of Trials
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Lasting Effect of the Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials was an iconic part of American history. It has been an ongoing topic of discussion for historians. The Salem trials have been the subject of numerous plays, novels and researches. The trials have peaked the interests of a varied array of people right from the moment they took place. Although they took place three and a half centuries ago the trials have been re-visited through different time periods. Currently, in the twenty-first century many of Salem Villager's (current day Danvers) attractions are places such as the Salem Witch Museum and the Witch House, these places are not only a popular destination for tourists but also for locals.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Salem village located in the Northern coast of Massachusetts was infamously known for its 1692 witch trials. The witch trials in Salem erupted as the witch craze in Europe began to fizzle. Although the witch frenzy in America began with Salem, and then it spread to numerous nearby localities. During this time frame the 500+ inhabitants of Salem lived in two very discrete communities, there was Salem Village and Salem Town. While Salem Town was located closer to the Atlantic, filled with many influential citizens and any possible forms of communication with the outside world, had become a metropolitan of sorts. While on community was bustling with life, the other one was tucked into the nook; surrounded by wilderness. The village was known for its agriculture, and farm land, but was cut off from and sense of modern thinking. The inhabitants of Salem village were mainly farmers and servants who abided by the more traditional and religious ideas. With this backward thinking itr's easy to see why Salem was able to succumb to the idea of witch practices. The witch fever in Salem started when young girls in the village began displaying symptoms of choking, fits and seizures. In January of 1692 the 9 year old daughter and the 11 year old niece of the Reverend Samuel Parish began to show these symptoms. Soon these symptoms were displayed by other girls in the community. In this time period there was lack of medical expertise who could correctly diagnose the situation, It then when there was no conclusion about the source of the girls ailment that local doctor William Griggs in accordance to the general attitude and beliefs at the time; made a diagnosis that the conditions of the girls at Salem was not one due to a medical illness but one caused by an evil hand [Ray].
When the girls were questioned about the source of their ailment they refused to answer until one girl finally gave in and pointed her finger at Tituba; the mixed breed slave of Reverend Parish. They claimed that they had been under the influence of witchcraft; under the influence of the devil. The girls played a vital role in the process of getting two other women alongside Tituba guilty of practicing witchcraft. During the trials of these three women the girls were heavily relied on. When Tituba eventually confessed to the crime of dabbling in Witchcraft she said "The Devil came to me and bid me serve him." In her confession she admitted that she was guilty if partaking in witchcraft, she said that she and the two other women had signed the book of the devil, with the mission of destroying the puritans.
Contrary to Dr.Griggs diagnostic, medical research has shown that the reason for the symptoms was a fungal poisoning. The fungal poisoning was caused by the consumption of bread that had been made from rye that had been infected by fungi. Itr's not quite surprising that these symptoms have occurred considering the fact that bread (and other grain) were a staple food; in Salem and nearby towns. The weather conditions at the time were also in favor of the fungal growth. This fungal epidemic didnt start with Salem. Similar symptoms had occurred periodically in Europe several years prior to the witch trials of 1692 [Caporael 23].
RELIGION and MISOGNY AS A FACTOR
It is important to look at the religious scenario at the time. Religion was an integral part of Salem, the Puritan ideology was deeply rooted in the members of its society. The people of this society from the moment they were born were invested into this lifestyle, and it would follow them into the afterlife. They believed in the existence of an afterlife and that their crimes before death would follow them there [Stone 3]. In order to ensure that everyone could read the Bible there was an emphasis on literacy. Members of the society were expected to abide by a strict morale code and adhere to a rigorous church schedule. Anyone who chose to rebel was worthy of punishment from god. The Puritans were deeply devoted to God and strongly believe in his power, they were afraid of the punishment he would cast upon them. Therefore they try to avoid partaking in activities that would categorize them as sinners at any cost. For puritans holiness was a matter of the soul, being unable to attain this would mean you were unworthy. As a child being born into the Puritan society would mean that you were told stories of hellfire and made to fear eternal domination if one was sinful [Stone 3].
The amount of faith they had in god was immense, but they equally believed in the existence of the Devil. This fear in the devil meant that by association witches; practitioners of the dark arts who were influenced by the devil, were also sinners. Not only is this a fear in the devil itr's also a fear of the unknown.
In this situation almost anybody could be accused of practicing magic. But contrary to the misogyny centered European witch hunts, the Salem trials had several men who were tried and hanged. During the trials it was uncommon for a women to accuse her husband of witchcraft, but this courtesy wasnt extended to them. There were a number of men who would eagerly accuse their wives. Similar to this situation it was uncommon for the men to accuse other men [Washington Post]. The accused women were commonly childless, or they were considered to be old hags. Not only were the women in their community mainly accused, but a vast number of Native Americans were also accused of colluding with the devil. This was due to the reason that that the Natives did not worship any god or have a religion. In the eyes of the puritans it meant that they could easily succumb to the influence of the devil [Stone 5]. An example of this would be Tituba; the mixed race Native Indian and African slave from Barbados, who was accused of witchcraft by the girls in the Parish household.
It can be said that the Puritan ideology is a form of theocracy. Theocracy is a form of government where religion plays a pivotal part in the final judgment. As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary theocracy is a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god. This form of government was commonly followed by early civilizations and started to diminish after the age of enlightenment [Encyclopedia Britannica]. Contrary to what sources have said it can be seen that this form of government was followed during the time of the Salem witch trials.
The Salem Witch trials are an example of how religious extremism and misogyny lead to the ill-fated death of many people. As mentioned above there men, who were also a part of the trial, but in contrast to the number of men who were hanged there was a greater number of women who were hanged. The fact that there were men who were willing to claim their wives as witches was a result in the piety they had towards god. The puritans had blind faith in what was preached in the bible. What is ironic about this situation is that the ones who mainly accused people of witchcraft were not those of a lower and less educated background, but those where who were well known in society and had the most knowledge about witches.
The unfair amount of accusations throw at women in comparison to those thrown at men during the witch trials can easily be seen. This unfairness can be due to the fact that women during the 16th century were challenged at every turn. The patriarchal system which wouldnt let them act according to their wishes. Although women never demonstrated any modern methods of feminism; such as rallies they tried to express themselves in the conditions they were facing. An increase in the education of women regarding subjects such as politics and culture let to the empowerment to these women. In the dynamics of the 16th century women were only allowed a limited amount of involvement in social affairs. They were advised against taking any political stance that countered the views of their husbands.in this society women were more or less expected to take charge or domestic affairs and nothing more than that, speaking up against this never ending cycle of patriarchy would mean that they could be thrown out of their homes.
In specific if an unmarried women were to voice her opinion then she would be the focus of a witch hunt. The members of the society would feel that she was possessed by the devil for disrupting their way of life. An example of this would be the case of Anne Hutchinson; although this isnt in the context of Salem itr's an example of a women who was tried for when she voiced her opinion and took part in controversial activities. Anne Hutchinson, was a well educated women, who followed the puritan ideology. She challenged the authority of the clergy, and for doing so she was accused of witchcraft. After denying the transubstantiation charge and refusing to incriminate other puritan women she was claimed to be guilty. After being found guilty by the court she was burned at the stake.
A feminist study conducted by Karlsen dealt with witchcraft on a mass scale. Her study, A Devil the Shape of Women analyses data on the witch trials from both Europe and New England. Her Analysis of these trials draw the conclusion that a majority of the people executed under the claim of witchcraft were mainly women who were over the age of 40 or unable to give birth. Karlsen also claims that the women who were accused did not fit into the traditional patriarchal framework. These women were not obedient housewives but rather chose to voice their opinions, they did not aid in the reinforcement of male domination within their home or in the community.
Activities of this nature would be viewed as deviant by those who followed the traditional puritan views. Contrary to other studies on topics of similar nature, Karlsen sticks to her claim that the executed and accused women were held in a higher regard in society. She also stated that the clergy and political figures issued an apology after the end of the trial, when they were forced to admit their mistake and a handful f these men went ant privately apologized to the families whose member was a victim of the trials. The beliefs in witchcraft and the perception of women in New England were forever irrevocably redefined. Karlsenr's view on the trials were that they were a means to keep the nonconformist women of Salem in check. To make them fear the possibility of death and a slave to male authority. [Koicic 3].
Professor Reisr's work Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England (1999) is another work which deals with the reason behind why women were mostly accused and executed. In drawing the conclusion to her research she uses several texts which testify that the women in New England were to be under a more strict watch as they could possibly be influenced by the devil. Like Karlsen she also states that after the events of Salem there was a shift in the perception of women.
One of the most notorious works on the Salem trials is The Crucible. Written in the year 1953 by play writer Arthur Miller. The play is a metaphor for the Red Scare (fear of communism) which was taking place at the time. The word crucible as defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary refers to a ceramic/clay pot in which metals can be melted and purified. While Arthur Miller never uses the word crucible in the play itself the title of the play acts a metaphor for the entire Salem witch trials, and Millerr's play itself. Millerr's play reflects the Salem community at the time of the trials; one that was engulfed by mass hysteria. It illuminates the effect of the theocratic government Salem was operating in at the time, and the ruthlessness of men in a higher position. While the crucible is play talking about the Salem witch trials, in reality it was a mirror used by Miller to reflect the communist hysteria at the time. Some may ask the question of what mass hysteria is. Mass Hysteria is a phenomenon that is also referred to as ?collective obsessional behavior. The people effected by the psychological condition believe in the existence of a threat to their existence, whether real or imaginary. And the Salem trials are described as one of the most notorious cases of mass hysteria in Colonial America.
Many scholars have come to the conclusion that the Witch trials have had a lasting effect on American history. It can be seen that the aftermath has played a great deal in shaping the area.
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The Salem Witch Trials in U.S History
The Salem Witch Trials
The Salem Witch Trials took place within 1692-1693, in Salem, Massachusetts. During the 17th century, witches were accused of having had sold their soul to Satan in exchange to perform magical deeds, this is where people believed witches got their abilities from. These years were some of the most catastrophic and infamous events taken place in American History. Innocent individuals were accused of committing witchcraft, including some of the villages most prominent figures. in which the punishment resulted by getting executed, and in one case, a gentleman names Giles Corey was pressed with a pile of stones after he refused to enter a plea in his arrangement which resulted in death. During this time period, mostly women were blamed and were put on trial, if found guilty. This was lead by a group of young afflicted girls in the town on Salem who cried out names of Salem's most notable figures. These young girls had gotten incredibly sick, uncontrollable convulsions, violent contortion, Outbursts of screaming, and really high fever.
Therefore, they had the local doctor, William Griggs come and see what was wrong, and what he diagnosed these young girls with was bewitchment, meaning that someone has put some sort of black magic in the individual. Which was a real diagnosis back in the day. Additionally, there were fears about religious extremities as many people distinguished witchcraft as being counterproductive. Majority of the Puritans believed in witchcraft as a way to harm others, and they further believed that the witchcraft was an entering partnership with the devil in exchange for diabolical capabilities. As a result, this accumulated into conflicts with the church members. At the time, practicing witchcraft was considered a severe crime and was often punished with serious consequences. These trials came to commonly be referred to as the Salem Witch Trials because some of the most famous cases were heard in the Terminer courts in Salem.
Furthermore, after many deaths, the Boston minister spoke out against the trials. He stated, It were better if 10 suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned. and this was a huge statement. Afterward, the witch hunt hysteria subsided, most individuals went back to their regular life, including the girls whose accusations had sparked this tragedy. Only one of the girls, Ann Putnam, ever publicly acknowledged her role in the hysteria. In 1706, she stood before the church and the pastor read her statement which read, It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me at that sad time...I desire to lie in the dust and earnestly beg for forgiveness. but even for those pardoned, life was never the same. Majority would live the remainder of their lives in poverty and sickness, these individuals reputation was forever tarnished.
In Addition to that, In my research, I learned more about the kind of punishment people were put through. For example, if an individual was found guilty they were put in a prison basement with a small wooden structure, and chained to a wall, the reason for this kind of punishment was because officials believed this would prevent their spirits from escaping the jail and tormenting victims. This place was identified as The Witch Jail and was described a cold, dark, and a very lonely place to be in. In addition, it is said that women were often told to get naked and undergo physical examinations of their unclothed bodies, and this was a consistent humition woman were put through with no remorse because they were seen as disliked social outcasts. Often, young children were also accused and died young, even dogs; during this time period, 2 dogs were executed because of their questionable engagement in witchcraft. Despite after such a terrible death, the corpses were thrown into shallow graves, except for some victims such as Rebecca Nurse, John Proctor, and George Jacobs, they were eventually retrieved by their loved ones and placed in Christian burials. During January 15, 1692, the Puritans acknowledged their shameful behavior and took action in their wrongdoings and held a day of prayer; also known as The Day Of Humiliation this was done to plead with God for mercy and for his forgiveness.
Although, it took approximately 250 years to properly apologize for the catastrophic events of 1692. On the 325th event, the city of Salem dedicated a memorial place to memorialize the victims of the Salem witch executions, inscribed with the names of 19 victims. This memorial is located across from the original street where these events took place, it also brings justice for wrongfully accusing the victims in 1692. Furthermore, Salem was also long known for a darkand and currupted time in the past where people turned on each other. Although, it's now known as a community where people turn toward each other, Driscoll wrote. Having this site identified marks an important opportunity for Salem, as a city, to come together once again. Additionally, The original home of John Proctor, who was an accused witch and was executed in the community during the witch trials, the home is currently on the market, so people are really interested in obtaining this speific house from the witch trials.
Furthermore, The Salem witch trials continue to remain relevant in U.S History because of McCarthyism this was created by an American political guy. He blamed Americans of being spies. He stated, We have spies among us, watching us every day to release our private information to the Russian country. He created chaos and paranoia among the nation. Americans everyday blamed each other for weird occurrences daily. Creating what we still remember as McCarthyism. McCarthyism is based on the Salem Witch Trials. Basically stated the hysteria that was caused at that time. Now because of McCarthyism this same hysteria and paranoia came to haunt us once again.
Lastly, by comparing the Salem witch trials into a modern issue, it is important to note that the idea of witchcraft wasn't thought about like it is today, there were a lot of different injustices. Although, one similarity and a recent issue is Religion, the killing of innocent individuals, and freedom. Throughout the years, hysteria has caused a lot of disruption and has brought chaos bringing out the fear in people. To begin with, independence in todays era is more allowable in the United States, individuals are free to do whatever they please, unlike the Salem witch trials, people would always get questioned about their every move and having them in an environment where they had no option.
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Practicing Witchcraft in Massachusetts
The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem Massachusetts in the early 1690s. In these trials over 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. According to the Smithsonian, 20 out of those 200 were executed and two dogs were executed as well. Salem was by no means the first site of witch trials. Thousands of women were burnt at the stake in the middle ages and numerous accusations occurred in the 17th century. At the time of the trials, Salem was split in two, Salem Town, and Salem Village. Salem Town was big on trade and commerce, while Salem Village was big on farming. Salem Village was full of Puritans who were not pleased with Salem Town and they wanted to separate. Salem Village was the only colonial town with more than two people accused and convicted of witchcraft. During the time of the witch trials, members of the community were already on edge due to severe weather and illness spreading. The weather was negatively affecting the harvest and smallpox was traveling through Salem Village like crazy. On top of everything, nearby Indian villages began attacking Salem. All of these factors led to the mass hysteria that caused many to be executed, however one cannot say with confidence that one of these factors was the sole cause of The Salem Witch Trials.
The first women accused of witchcraft in Salem were accused in February of 1962. Two young girls, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris the daughter of Salemr's minister, and her cousin 11-year-old Abigail Williams began acting in strange manners. As doctors could not explain their behavior it was deemed supernatural activity. The hysteria soon set in and the young girls were questioned about the witches who were causing these fits. These girls soon gave up three names, Sarah Good, Tituba, and Sarah Osburn. On March 1st, 1962 the three were arrested:
It must be borne in mind, that it was then an established doctrine in theology, philosophy, and law, that the Devil could not operate upon mortals, or mortal affairs, except through the intermediate instrumentality of human beings in confederacy with him, that is, witches or wizards. The question, of course, in all minds and on all tongues, was: "Who are the agents of the Devil in afflicting these girls?". There must be some among us thus acting, and who are they? For some time the girls held back from mentioning names; or, if they did, it was prevented from being divulged to the public. In the meantime, the excitement spread and deepened. At length, the people had become so thoroughly prepared for the work, that it was concluded to begin operations in earnest. The continued pressure upon the ?afflicted children, the earnest and importunate inquiry, on all sides. Who is it that bewitches you? opened their lips in response, and they began to select and bring forward their victims. One after another, they cried out Good, Osburn, Tituba. On the 29th of February, 1692, warrants were duly issued against those persons. It is observable, that the complainants who procured the warrants in these cases were Joseph Hutchinson, Edward Putnam, Thomas Putnam, and Thomas Preston. This fact shows how nearly unanimous, at this time, was the conviction that the sufferings of the girls were the result of witchcraft. - Salem Witchcraft: Volume II by Charles W. Upham
These arrests were the spark that lit the flame of the witch trials. They all denied use of witchcraft until one came forward, the minister's slave, and confessed. Only one of these women were executed, but they all suffered tremendously.
Sarah Good was one of the first people to be gravely affected by these trials. Sarah Good was born in 1653 to a well-off man, however, her father's estate got tied up leaving her with nothing. Good married an indentured servant who died in 1686 with loads of debt. Sarah then went on to marry a man and they ended up homeless with two young children because they had to pay off her first husbands debt. She didnt have a good reputation, because of this many considered her a town nuisance. This status made her an easy target for accusations. When Elizabeth and Abigailr's diagnoses were supernatural forces Good quickly got pointed out. Good remained in jail until June 28th when she was officially condemned for multiple charges of witchcraft. She was charged for using witchcraft against three people, Sarah Bibber, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Ann Putnam, Jr. While Good was in jail, her 4-year-old daughter was arrested for witchcraft. A deposition from Anne Putnam explains why:
The deposition of Ann Putnam who testifieth and saith that on the 3th March 1691/92 I saw the apparition of Dorothy Good, Sarah Goodr's daughter, who did immediately almost choke me and tortured me most grievously; and so she hath several times since tortured me by biting and pinching and almost choking me tempting me also to write in her book and also on the day of her examination being the 24th of March 1691/92 the apparition of Dorothy Good tortured me during the time of her examination and several times since.
Dorothy Good got out of jail after eight months, but the court was not done with her mom yet. Sarah was put on trial in June of 1692. Good never confessed to the crimes she was accused of, but she did state that Sarah Osburn tormented the young girls. On July 19th Good and four others, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes, were brought to Proctorr's Ledge and hanged.
Sarah Osburn was born in 1643 in Watertown Massachusetts. She later married a well-known man by the name of Robert Prince and she moved to Salem Village with him in 1662. Prince died in 1674 leaving Osburn a widow with three kids and a 150-acre farm. Sarah hired an indentured immigrant, Alexander Osburn, to help work the farms. Alexander paid off his indenture and the two married making Sarah, Sarah Osburn. The farm had been left with Sarah with the plan of her sons taking over when they came of age, but now Sarah was married and wanted to keep ownership for her and her husband. The battle for the land continued until Sarah was accused of witchcraft in 1692. Sarah was accused by many people, though she never confessed nor did she try to blame the other women that were arrested with her in March. Her case was never solved, as she died shackled in her jail cell in May of 1692.
Tituba was born in an Barbados. Her mother was hanged after resisting sexual advances from her white owner. Tituba was run off the plantation and she ended up living with Mama Yaya, who taught her traditional healing methods. Tituba returned to slavery when she fell in love with and married a slave named John Indian, they were both sold to Samuel Parris. Parris brought her to Boston in 1680. He took her to Salem when he was appointed a minister in 1689. Tituba mainly took care of Parrisr's daughter and niece, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams. When Elizabeth, Abigail, and some of their friends began acting weird finger were quickly pointed at Tituba, as she spent most of her time with the girls. Tituba was accused of voodoo for witch cake to reveal the Parris girls fatal fortunes in egg yolks. When Tituba appeared in court in March of 1692 she confessed that The devil came to me and bid me serve him.
Martha Corey dared to speak up against these accusations against Good, Osburn, and Tituba. Soon after the girls learned Corey was questioning them, she was accused of practicing witchcraft. Ann Putnam claims that she saw Martha in an apparition, on March 12th Ann was asked what Martha was wearing in the apparition, to which she replied: I was so blinded I could not see. When Edward Putnam and Ezekiel Cheever went to confront Martha, she asked if Ann could even tell them what she was wearing. The men took her knowing this as a sign of witchcraft. She was arrested on March, 19th 1962. Days later another person, Abigail Hobbs, named Martha as a witch. However, Hobbs also named Marthar's husband Giles as a wizard. The trial took place in September 1962, many people testified against both of them. On September 10th Martha was convicted of witchcraft. Just nine days later Giles was executed in a way that had never been seen before.
Giles Corey was stripped naked, a board placed upon his chest, and then, while his neighbors watched, heavy stones and rocks were piled on top of the board. It was a punishment never before seen or ever again inflicted in the colony of Massachusetts. Corey pleaded to have more weight added so that his death might come quickly. He was eventually crushed to death at the age of eighty. Judge Jonathan Corwin ordered Corey buried in an unmarked grave on Gallows Hill.
On the 22nd Martha was hanged along with five other women, and two men on Gallows Hill. It wasn t until 1954 that Martha was officially absolved of her crimes.
Many factors played into the witch trials, including the weather and recent attacks. However, everyone can agree that the trials ended abruptly, although many believe that it was due to selfish reasons.
On October 12, 1692, Governor Phips issued an order that protected the current prisoners from harm and suspended any more arrests of people accused of witchcraft. Robert Calef, a merchant outraged by the progress of the trials, stated that Governor Phips only issued these orders on the belief that his own wife had been accused of working for Satan.
There were trials to hear the last of the cases, but nobody else was condemned. The last trial was held in January of 1693. The years following the witch trials were harsh as well, people were stuck in jail and unable to pay. Others lost their land when they got convicted and were left homeless and broke. Throughout the year of witch trials six main girls had been doing the accusing, however only one girl publicly apologized. That girl was Ann Putnam Jr. Ann accused over sixty people of witchcraft. In 1706 Ann claimed stated:
"I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about ninety-two; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several people for grievous crimes, whereby their lives was taken away from them, whom, now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time."
She also stated that: that the devil had taken her, and she had no choice but to do what she was told.
None of the other girls apologized, they all went on to get married and live as though they had not played a key role in the deaths of many men and women.
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Violance in Salem Village
February 1692 in a small township in Massachusetts events began that would change the life of 200 and end the life of 19. The witch trials of Salem were not the first, witch persecution has taken place for hundreds of years going back to the 1300r's in Europe and continued until the last known execution for witchcraft taking place in Switzerland in 1782. Salem Town was a poor farming community of some 500 persons known as Salem Village. The village itself had a noticeable social divide that was worked by the rivalry between its two leading families. The well-heeled Porters, who had strong ties with Salem Townr's wealthy merchants, and Putnamr's who sought greater cohesiveness for the community and were the standard-bearers for the less-prosperous farm families. Squabbles over property were commonplace, and litigiousness was rampant. In this time it was encouraged to sue each other and a way to curb the ongoing violence.
In 1689 Pastor Samuel Parris took his post at the villager's Congregational church. Parris was assigned this post due to the influence of the Putnams. Parris, whose largely theological studies at Harvard College had been halted before he could graduate, was in the process of changing careers from business to the ministry. He brought his wife, three children, a niece, and two slavesJohn Indian, a man, and Tituba, a woman. Parris divided the congregation due to his radical and theological preachings as well as his constant demands for greater compensation. Salem Village was one of the most contentious in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and previous ministers such as George Burroughs had been hounded out of the pulpit by acrimony atid the refusal of the congregation to pay "rates" to support ministers they did not want (Starkey 1963, 5). The hiring of Parris was acrimonious. In a process that took most of 1689, Parris demanded "unheard of things" such as "clear and pertnanent title" to the parsonage and its grounds and a salary of 66, with 22 paid in provision (Starkey 1963, 5-8). However, the congregation allowed use of the parsonage during occupancy only, and denied Parris common courtesies such as complimentary firewood provision during winter. His refusal later to ordain deacons and his promotion of public penances for trivial matters suggested that Parris felt animosity over this earlier treatment (Mixon)
In January 1962 Betty Parris and Abigale Williams Began to act strangely. They screamed, made odd sounds, threw things, contorted their bodies, and complained of biting and pinching sensations. We now know that there could have been any causes for these actions, the most common suspect it Ergots. Ergotism is caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea, which affects rye, wheat and other cereal grasses. When first infected, the flowering head of a grain will spew out sweet, yellow-colored mucus, called honey dew, which contains fungal spores that can spread the disease. Eventually, the fungus invades the developing kernels of grain, taking them over with a network of filaments that turn the grains into purplish-black sclerotia. Sclerotia can be mistaken for large, discolored grains of rye. Within them are potent chemicals: ergot alkaloids, including lysergic acid (from which LSD is made) and ergotamine (now used to treat migraine headaches).
The alkaloids affect the central nervous system and cause the contraction of smooth muscle ” the muscles that make up the walls of veins and arteries, as well as the internal organs. Toxicologists now know that eating ergot-contaminated food can lead to a convulsive disorder characterized by violent muscle spasms, vomiting, delusions, hallucinations, crawling sensations on the skin, and a host of other symptoms ” all of which, Linnda Caporael noted, are present in the records of the Salem witchcraft trials. Ergot thrives in warm, damp, rainy springs and summers. When Caporael examined the diaries of Salem residents, she found that those exact conditions had been present in 1691. Nearly all of the accusers lived in the western section of Salem village, a region of swampy meadows that would have been prime breeding ground for the fungus. At that time, rye was the staple grain of Salem. The rye crop consumed in the winter of 1691-1692 ” when the first unusual symptoms began to be reported ” could easily have been contaminated by large quantities of ergot. The summer of 1692, however, was dry, which could explain the abrupt end of the bewitchments. These and other clues built up into a circumstantial case against ergot that Caporael found impossible to ignore. (Leela) These actions lead many people in the small town of Salem to suspect witch craft.
The nature of the Willams and Parris would lead to devastating effect on the little town. Without the advances of todays medicine, witch craft was the more reasonable explanation. And with politics playing in the back ground it seemed like a perfect cover to get your enemies out of the picture. When pressured by Parris to identify their tormentor, Betty and Abigail claimed that Tituba and two other members of the community that did not attend church, Sarah Good, a beggar, and Sarah Osborn, an elderly bed-ridden woman who was scorned for her relationship with an indentured servant. Tituba came before the authorities in Salem Village on March 1, 1692, to answer to witchcraft charges. The first two suspects denied all knowledge of sorcery. When Tituba met her interrogators that Tuesday morning, she stood before a packed, nervous meetinghouse. It was the one in which she had prayed for the previous three years. She had already been deposed in prison. The local authorities seemed to understand before she opened her mouth that she had a confession to offer. No other suspect would claim such attention; multiple reporters sat poised to take down Tituba's words. And someone -- presumably hard-edged, 51-year-old John Hathorne, the Salem town justice who handled the bulk of the early depositions -- made the decision to interrogate her last.( SCHIFF) Tituba began with a denial, the court reporters of the time barely bothered to document. Hathorne had asked the first suspects who they had hurt the girls. The question was ask to Tituba but with a different spin. "The devil came to me," she revealed, "and bid me serve him." Tituba being a slave, could not afford to sound a defiant note. And it was easier for her to admit she served a powerful man than it might would have been for her fellow accused. Tituba though that since she was a slave her confusion would carry no weight, but she was very wrong.
Titubar's false confusion only led to more mayhem. When the village heard the confusion the automatically assumed there were more witches amongst them. Many of the accused were only accused to save the life of the accuser. But why did they perpetuate the lie, surly if they all had spoke up and told they truth someone would have listened right? Well it depended on who you were and who you knew, for example lets look at Elizabeth Hubbard. By the end of the trial Elizabeth Hubbard had testified against twenty-nine people, seventeen of whom were arrested, thirteen of those were hanged and two died in jail. As a strong force behind the trials, she was able to manipulate both people and the court into believing her.
One way she and the other girls did this was through their outrageous fits in the courtroom. The fits, they would claim, were brought on by the accused. Elizabeth was especially known for her trances. She spent the whole of Elizabeth Procter's trial in a deep trance and was unable to speak. The original documents state that Elizabeth testified that in April 1692 "I saw the Apperishtion of Elizabeth procktor the wife of john procktor sen'r and she immediately tortor me most greviously all most redy to choak me to death....and so she continewed afflecting of me by times till the day of hir examination being the IIth of April and then also I was tortured most greviously during the time of hir examination I could not spake a word and also severall times sence the Apperishtion of Elizabeth procktor has tortured me most greviously by biting pinching and allmost choaking me to death urging me dreadfully to writ in hir [devil's] book" (Salem Witchcraft Papers). At the trials in which she was able to speak, she usually charged the accused with pretty much the same thing. An example is the case of Sarah Good. She testified "I saw the apprehension of Sarah Good who did most grievously afflict me by pinching and pricking me and so she continued and then she did also most grievously afflict and tortor me also during the time of her examination and also severall times sence hath affected me and urged me to writ in her book." This type of spectral accusation was typical of all the girls. Elizabeth's used it against the twenty-nine people. (Godbeer) Some witnesses came forward and testified against the character of Elizabeth. She was not charged as a witch but James Kettle and Clement Coldum both took the stand and attempted to show that Elizabeth was religiously deviant.
As the trials progressed, accusations spread to other communities, among them, Beverly, Malden, Gloucester, Andover, Lynn, Marblehead, Charlestown, and Boston. On October 3 Increase Mather, an influential minister and the president of Harvard, condemned the use of spectral evidence and instead preferred first hand accusations: On \ 29th of October, as the accusations of witchcraft extended to include his own wife, Governor Phips stepped in, ordering a halt to the proceedings of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. In their place he established a Superior Court, which was instructed not to allow spectral evidence. Trials resumed in January and February, but of the 56 persons accused, only 3 were convicted, and they, along with everyone held in custody, had been pardoned by Phips by May 1693 as the trials came to an end. In total Nineteen persons had been hanged, and another six had died in custody. This does not account for those whor's mental faculties were damaged along the way.
The witch trials were a horrible blight on history, but we see many similar things accruing in todays society. Mass hysteria is a regular occurrence today, from religious persecution to rigged elections and biothreats. The US recently had its first case of Ebola, this particular desease takes out a large portion of the African population ever few decades. But when cases were found in the US it sparked a hysterical event. We saw a similar hysteria with the AIDS Epidemic in the 1980s. IN 1984, public school officials forced a seventh-grader to learn his lessons at home over the telephone when they learned he had hemophilia and HIV. They eventually allowed him to return, but other students refused to sit near him. The boy was taunted, and windows of his home were smashed. Cashiers at the grocery store avoided touching his mother's hands. The reaction was typical of the time: As many as 50 percent of Americans believed people with HIV should be quarantined. After his death at 18 in 1990, Ryan White became a symbol for all that had been wrong about the public's response to HIV.
By 1985 researchers knew that HIV was transmitted through sex, breast milk and the transfer of blood”not casual contact. But blind hysteria continued for years, with homosexuals, hemophiliacs and heroin users the prime targets of discrimination. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan announced a federal plan to end the epidemic through sexual abstinence and a ban on HIV-positive immigrants and visitors entering the U.S. Needless to say, that did not work.
Those on the receiving end of AIDS-related discrimination and ill-conceived policies were reminded of the '80s and early '90s when the governors of New York and New Jersey announced on October 24 a strict quarantine policy that applies to anyone who might have had contact with an Ebola-infected individual in West Africa, even when the person shows no symptoms. The policies disregard decades of experience with Ebola that strongly suggest the disease is not contagious before high fevers, vomiting or other signs of an infection emerge.
After the governors announced the quarantines, current and former members of ACT UP, an early, influential AIDS activism group, created a Facebook profile called ACT UP Against EBOLA, calling for a "smart, science-based reaction" to the disease. They shot a letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, co-signed by 114 AIDS researchers, activists and public health experts, calling quarantines unscientific and a shameful distraction in the midst of an epidemic needing urgent attention at its source in West Africa. Within eight hours, he responded and scheduled calls between his staff and the group. To date, the calls have not led Cuomo to reverse his position.(Maxmen) No matter the issue, religious, ignorance or disease, humanity is lost in the sight of mass hysteria.
Work cited
- Mixon Jr., F. G. (2000). Homo Economicus and the Salem Witch Trials. Journal of Economic Education, 31(2), 179“184. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.losrios.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=3048498&site=eds-live&scope=site
- Leela S., M., Eric L., M., Jacqueline, C., Aleksandra, A., Shahjahan, S., & Joaquin J., J. (2016). The Salem Witch Trials”Bewitchment or Ergotism. JAMA Dermatology, (5), 540. https://doi-org.ezproxy.losrios.edu/10.1001/jamadermatol.2015.4863
- SCHIFF, S. (2015). The Devilr's Tongue. Smithsonian, 46(7), 34. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.losrios.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=110592162&site=eds-live&scope=site
- Godbeer, R. (2011). The Salem witch hunt: A brief history with documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.
Maxmen, A. (2014). Ebola Panic Looks Familiar to AIDS Activists; Worry is growing that politicians are pushing bad science in the name of calming hysteria. Newsweek, (19). Retrieved from https://ezproxy.losrios.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgov&AN=edsgcl.398333550&site=eds-live&scope=site
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The most Famous Series of Witch Trials
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A Play the Crucible by Arthur Miller
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Fight through the Death in Catcher in the Rye
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Growth of the Protagonist in Catcher in the Rye
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Animals Able to Live a Life as Free as Human Beings
Animals dont have a voice and humans are their only chance at speaking up about the abuse and getting justice for what is right. But when it comes to cases of animal cruelty, the court does not protect and treat all animals the same as they do human beings.
Animal cruelty, also known as animal abuse, is legally defined as any act of violence or neglect that inflicts suffering or death on animals. Animal cruelty laws typically extend only to tame or domestic animals, such as house pets, horses, and draught or other working animals. Lawful hunting or trapping of wild game, research”such as animal testing”and breeding or raising livestock can also be subjected to animal cruelty laws if unnecessary pain is being inflicted upon an animal (Gale 2017). Animal cruelty can fall under two types of categories: passive and active (intentional). Intentional abuse will be charged according to their stater's criminal law that may result in either jail time or paying fines. Passive abuse is a gray area when it comes to every stater's criminal law because it means the owner neglected their animal and didnt properly care for the animal in the way they should've. Neglection is a lesser included offense of cruelty involving the duties of caring for an animal (Welch 2009).
There are several forms of active animal cruelty such as animal fighting and experimentation. Activists are attempting to raise awareness about animal abuse by creating interest groups such as PETA and SPCA. Those interest groups strive to get laws that can keep animals safe passed such as one of the first anti-cruelty law passed in New York. The Gale Student Resources in Context article titled Animal Cruelty quotes, Views and laws on animal cruelty or abuse vary greatly across different cultures. In many parts of the world, domestic animals are regarded primarily as property, and anti-cruelty laws may be nonexistent or limited to preventing only unnecessary acts of cruelty and abuse. At the opposite end, many people believe animals should be afforded the same moral rights and given the same legal protections as humans (Gale 2017).
A form of animal cruelty that is legal with a license is experimentation. Scientists and corporations test on animals such as rats, mice, birds, and fish. People who support animal cruelty will go on to state that it is for the good of this world because they test this form of animal abuse for medical purposes. Before 1996, there was no regulation of animal experimentation, and they would go on to experiment on other animals, especially primates due to their similarities to humans.
In response to companies using dogs as test subjects in labs, the public raised a fuss and got the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 passed by the US government. In the 1966 Animal Welfare Act, it is stated that animal testing companies must obtain a license and be registered to deal with animals. Any violation of the AWA leads to `suspension of their license, imprisonment up to a year, and a fine of $1,000. This passing of an act leads to scientists following the three Rr's: replacement, reduction, and refinement (Gale 2018). In an essay from Gale Student Resources in Context titled Animal Experimentation, As of 2018, no country in the world had completely banned all animal experimentation The US government reported 820,812 animals had been used in laboratory research in 2016, an increase of 6.9 percent from the previous year (767,622). Although there has been reports of amazing medical discoveries because of animal testing, how can scientists be certain that it will benefit humans? Animals bodies are not physically similar to humans and neither are their organs. One study found that fewer than 10 percent of highly promising basic science discoveries enter routine clinical use within 20 years.
The National Institution of Health (NIH) has stated on their website, Therapeutic development is a costly, complex and time-consuming process. The average length of time from target discovery to approval of a new drug is about 14 years. The failure rate during this process exceeds 95 percent, and the cost per successful drug can be $1 billion or more (National Institution of Health). 95 percent of the drugs tested on animals dont work and 100 million animals are killed every year due to animal experimentation. There are other methods that can be used since technology has advanced so far in todayr's time. Why not spend time trying to find alternate routes that arent using animals as test subjects? Kretzer states in This Ad Spells It Out: Animal Tests are Going Nowhere, Reliable, economical non-animal methods are readily available for a wide variety of testing applications and many basic science and disease animal studies, which dont translate to humans, can be replaced with new organ-on-chip technology, sophisticated computer simulations, 3-D cultures of human cells, epidemiological studies, and other more modern methods.
Although animal testing is legal with a license, animal cruelty and neglect is not. There is an extreme gray area when it comes to cruelty cases. Some states may put a certain animal under the anti-cruelty statute, but in others, it could be considered to be under the wildlife statute. It may allow people to be exempt from those animal cruelty cases because an animal is not under the anti-cruelty statute. Incorporated into almost all anti-cruelty statutes are exemptions for certain types of animal use - these vary from state to state but generally apply to endeavors such as veterinary medicine, agriculture, hunting, and medical research (Charging Considerations in Criminal Animal Abuse Cases). An example would be businesses such as zoos, circuses, or rodeos may be specifically exempted from prosecution under anti-cruelty statutes despite there being solid proof of animals being tortured and abused by the trainers. Stated in PETAr's article about circuses, To force animals to perform, circus trainers abuse them with whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks (heavy batons with a sharp steel hook on one end), and other painful tools of the circus trade...Circuses easily get away with such routine cruelty because the government doesnt monitor training sessions and handlers are cautious when theyre in public. Sometimes animals arent treated in a healthy and safe way when in an entertainment business or in any private place. It continues to be a massive problem in todayr's society.
On November 13, 2018, in Shamong Township, 44 dogs were found dead in plastic bags and freezers and 162 were living in inhumane conditions with 4 in critical condition. "The dogs were found to be, both inside and outside, living in their own waste, said Det. Ian Fenkel. Donna Roberts got charged with animal cruelty and released with a pending court date. Previously in 2015, she had been fined $500 by the American Kennel Club and had her privileges suspended for six months after refusing to make her dogs and their records available for inspection. It is unknown what Roberts prosecution will be, but in most jurisdictions, animal cruelty is commonly charged with a misdemeanor offense. Before the adoption of an ordinance, Shamong ” a community of only 6,500 where many people live on an acre or more of land ” had no restrictions on the number of dogs a person could keep at their property. Now, anyone with 15 or more dogs must pay license, registration, and inspection fees. Public complaints also can now prompt inspections of a dog owner's property ” like the check on Roberts' home that led to Tuesday's arrest (Berkery 2018).
It is said to be extremely difficult to prosecute a case depending on the evidence surrounding it. Animal cruelty and neglect cases can be some of the most complex cases that investigators and prosecutors handle. Some of the reasons include: (1) there is no victim to give a statement or testify; (2) proving intent requires the gathering and arguing of circumstantial evidence; (3) scientific and forensic evidence is often required to prove the manner and cause of injuries and/or death; (4) large-scale seizure of animals (from an animal fighting enterprise, puppy mill, or hoarding situation) results in financial burdens on communities that may be required to house the animals as evidence; (5) opinions regarding animals and the laws that protect them can be difficult to address in jury trials; and (6) community response to animal abuse cases is often strong resulting in an outpouring of support (or criticism) to investigators and prosecutors who are confined by the laws protecting animals (National District Attorneys Association). Why allow this to continue? Why not give animals the right to be treated just as fairly as citizens?
Although there are many anti-cruelty laws and animal welfare programs, animals still continue to be tortured and animal cruelty prosecution cases are rarely brought up in court. They legalized experimentation on animals and exempted zoos and circuses from the animal cruelty statutes. When will animals be able to live a life just as free as human beings? When can they begin to not live in fear of hunters, corporations, and humankind? Give animals the equality they deserve and take animal cruelty cases more seriously.
Works Cited
- Animal Cruelty and Neglect. National District Attorneys Association, ndaa.org/programs/animal-abuse/animal-cruelty-and-neglect/.
- "Animal Cruelty." Gale Student Resources in Context, Gale, 2017. Student Resources In Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2181500076/SUIC?u=j227910001&sid=SUIC&xid=bd5ee4b2. Accessed 24 Oct. 2018.
- ANIMAL CRUELTY CASES. Welch, K. Michelle. GPSolo, vol. 26, no. 5, 2009, pp. 64“67. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23673618.
- "Animal Experimentation." Gale Student Resources in Context, Gale, 2018. Student Resources In Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/LPQUWH681386081/SUIC?u=j227910001&sid=SUIC&xid=5b5d4497. Accessed 26 Oct. 2018.
- Human Rights Are Animal Rights! Tatchell, Peter. Www.counterpunch.org, 29 Mar. 2017, www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/29/human-rights-are-animal-rights/.
- Charging Considerations in Criminal Animal Abuse Cases. Animal Legal Defense Fund, aldf.org/article/charging-considerations-in-criminal-animal-abuse-cases/.
Circuses. PETA, www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/circuses/. - Six Animal Shelters across NJ Will Take in Rescued Shamong Dogs. Berkery, Sheri. Courier-Post, CherryHill, 14 Nov. 2018, www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/crime/2018/11/14/animal-cruelty-found-dead-dogs-donna-roberts-shamong-nj/2000772002/.
- This Ad Spells It Out: Animal Tests Are Going Nowhere. Kretzer, Michelle. PETA, 17 July 2018, www.peta.org/blog/experiments-on-animals-fail-90-of-the-time-why-are-they-still-done/.
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Animal Cruelty Problem
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About the Ending of the Catcher in the Rye
The ending of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is convincing, following logically from the nature of the characters and from the preceding action. Holden Caulfield felt happy as he watched his sister Phoebe Caulfield ride on the Central Park carousel. Holden confessed, I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy (Salinger 275). But Holden also admitted he didnt know why he felt so happy, or why he was about to cry at the time. Even so, Caulfield's sense of relief after his long depression felt perceivable.
One way of reading The Catcher In The Rye takes Holden at his word, believing his happiness is authentic/genuine and predicts an eventually full recovery, seeing Holden shedding his distrust about the world and developing warmer feelings about others. Holden indicated as much as noted above when he claimed, I sort of miss everybody I told about. (Salinger 277). If it's true Holden growed less bitter by the end of The Catcher In The Rye and her's learned the value of other people, then he may grow past his depression and move on to a more successful career at his new school and in his life beyond, emphasizing a sense of optimism, if not absolute happiness.
A doubtful reading places suspicion on Holdenr's optimism. Over the course of The Catcher In The Rye, Holden's evaluations of others consistently prove to be both inaccurate and oversimplified, making his own self-evaluation suffering from a similar shortsightedness very likely. For example, the scene with Phoebe on the Central Park carousel, where Holdenr's happiness bordered on insanity and madness suggests after his laboring and long depressive spell, the suddenness of his emotional breakthrough seems suspicious.
Also suspicious is the simplicity of Holden's happiness. Holden damn near bawling (Salinger 275) suggests his emotions are far more complex than he can comprehend. As Holden frequently revealed in the final pages of The Catcher In The Rye, he didnt really know what he felt or why. In Holden's emotional immaturity, he may have reduced this complexity to an overly simple label: happiness. Indeed, Holden may be just as confused and troubled as ever.
Reaching the end of The Catcher In The Rye, the climax of Holdenr's 3 dramatic days turned out to be rather anticlimactic. Holden returns home and hesitates talking about what happened over the 3 dramatic days as he anticipates his transfer to another new school and another new beginning. In the end of The Catcher In The Rye, it's supposedly random events turning things around for Holden. He has a moment of absolute relief while he watches Phoebe go on a merry-go-round in the rain, realizing for the first time his actions may seriously hurt someone he loves more than life itself (Phoebe). There's someone who would feel a terrible loss at Holden's absence (The little girl with her blue coat on the Central Park carousel in the pouring rain).
Holden's life is fruitful, absolutely necessary to the wellbeing of others. Therefore, while Holden still has a fair amount of growing up and maturing to do, the worst is mainly over, producing a surprisingly optimistic and appropriate ending. Holden's attitude shifts near the end of The Catcher In The Rye when he realizes Phoebe and other children must be allowed to "grab for the gold ring," to choose their own risks and take them, even though their attempts may be dangerous. Holden's indication of his acceptance of life changes at the end of The Catcher In The Rye, leaving some hope for himself.
Towards the end of The Catcher In The Rye, when Phoebe asks Holden what he'd like to do with his life, he explains his desire to be a catcher in the rye (Salinger 225). In this metaphor, he visualizes a field of rye standing by a dangerous cliff. Children play in the field with joy. If they are too close to the edge of the cliff, Holden catches them. Holden's ambition to save children from falling off a cliff significantly represents his desire to save innocence. He wants to rescue Phoebe, as well as other children, so he can rescue the purity he believes can only be found within innocent children. Holden dreams about saving the children in the rye field because saving them means preserving the purity left in the world. Yet Holden has given up on saving his own purity, as he believes it has been lost. By the end of The Catcher In The Rye, it seems Holden will continue to rescue others and fail to recognize it's him who needs rescuing.
Holdenr's last words in The Catcher In The Rye are: Dont tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody (Salinger 277). The words missing everybody seems out of character for Holden. Possibly towards the end in The Catcher In The Rye, when Holden is in therapy and recovering, his childish pessimism broke, pointing out Holden uncomfortableness in opening up to anybody because he's afraid of establishing a connection and then losing them. This goes a long way towards comprehending why Holden sabotages any relationship he begins to establish, because he's afraid of losing others close to him. This fear has such a rigid grip on Holden that he continues to be depressed and lonely, even to the extent that by the end of The Catcher In The Rye he's afraid to even speak to anyone.
Salinger wanted Holden to feel once he tells about something, even if it's how false things can be/seem, he misses it/them in some way. Here, Holden reveals his softer side, the side missing his older brother D.B., the side worrying about children scared by mummies in a museum, the side wondering about Central Park ducks in the winter and watching Phoebe ride the Central Park carousel. Holden says it's not always wise to go back and talk about things a person may never see again. He's saying no matter what he narrated, what his feelings and thoughts were, there was a lot he appreciated about it, and letting 'the public' know may not be good.
The Catcher In The Rye ends with Holden stopping the story after taking Phoebe to the Central Park Zoo. Holden simply says he's going back to school and misses his classmates (Even those he didn't like much), and that discussion about his story made him miss them. Holden informs and reminds that telling a story digs the feelings of lost for the early days. The significance is Holden unable to grow from his experience and move forward, instead just recalling past memories and drowning in melancholy. Salinger doesn't spoon-feed a "happy" ending, making The Catcher In The Rye more authentic, more genuine, more convincing, more lifelike, and more realistic than some bildungsroman novels.
Research Paper FAQ
What does the ending of The Catcher in the Rye mean?
In the last chapter of the book, Holden Caulfield points out that he misses everybody he was talking about. It shows the readers that he could be better and finally became less bitter than he once was. If going in that direction, readers can conclude he may have managed to overcome some obstacles and have a life filled with more light and hope.
What happens at the end of The Catcher in the Rye?
Chapter 25 brings the readers closer to the ending than chapter 26 does. In chapter 25, Holden explains how he felt happy when he watched Phoebe, his sister ride on the Central Park carousel. It was the first time he mentioned he feels happy. In the next chapter, he states he misses everybody, showing the readers he is less bitter. The book leaves the readers with optimism and shows how one person can give hope and strength, like Phoebe in this case.
Is the ending of Catcher in the Rye optimistic?
Yes, the ending of Catcher in the Rye is optimistic. At the end of the book, Holden points out how happy he felt when watching his sister riding the Central Park carousel. He seems better, less bitter, and gloomy.
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The Unjust Banning of a Catcher in the Rye
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Preserving Innocence in the Catcher in the Rye
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Catcher in the Rye Analysis Book
In the book The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a young boy named Holden Caulfield is trying to find who he really is on the streets of New York City. Holden is a self-inflicted loneliness, judgmental, and obsessive 16-year-old who was kicked out of Prency Prep due to him not caring about anything. That was the case for the four other schools as well. He goes through a growing period throughout the book. He tries to force himself into adulthood. Holden constantly tries to do what he thinks an adult does (smoking cigarettes, drinking, and cussing). Holden tries to go to the club or bar and pick up older women. Due to Holden losing so much at a young age and the fact he never reached out for help he is mentally and physically damaged. Holden is going through the awkward period in which he is leaving childhood and entering adulthood. As I stated Holdenr's three main flaws they lead to him going on a downfall. He had to be psycho-analyzed. This is all directly contributed to his brotherr's death. The trauma is in which he got from that event causes his weaknesses to overpower his strengths.
Holden is a judgmental character.
Specifically, Holden is almost always criticizing someone. He generally targets adults who he believes are phonies and criticizes, and philosophizes about people who are boring, people who are insecure, and, above all, people who are phony.. Holden believes phonies are those who are too conventional or too typical”for instance, teachers who act like teachers by assuming a different demeanor in class than they do in conversation, or people who dress and act like the other members of their social class. While Holden uses the label phony to imply that such people are superficial, his use of the term indicates that his own perceptions of other people are superficial. For example, Holden says the following about ministers If you want to know the truth, I can't even stand ministers. The ones they have had at every school I have gone to, they all have these Holy Joe voices when they start giving their sermons. God, I hate that. I do not see why the hell they can't talk in their natural voice. They sound so phony when they talk. (Salinger #131) This proves how Holden see is the world. In this quote he is willing to criticizes a religious leader. Who else is he willing to criticize? In almost every case, he rejects more complex judgments in favor of simple categorical ones.
Holden also is an obsessive kid. He primarily obsesses over sex. Holden is a virgin, but he is very fascinated by sex, and, in fact, he spends much of the novel trying to lose his virginity. At the same time, he feels greatly that sex should happen between people who genuinely care about and respect one another, and he is upset by the recognition that sex can be casual. This is demonstrated by the disgust that Holden shows when he says that personality didn't interest Stradlater, though. Only very sexy stuff interested him (Salinger #41). Stradlaterr's date with Jane doesnt just make him jealous; it angers him to think of a girl he knows well having sex with a boy she doesnt know well. Furthermore, he is disturbed by the fact that he is aroused by women whom he does not respect or care for, like the blonde tourist he dances with in the Lavender Room, or like Sally Hayes, whom he refers to as stupid even as he organizes a date with her. Lastly, he is agitated by the fact that he is aroused by peculiar sexual behavior”particularly behavior that is not respectful of the women he is doing it with, such as spitting in oner's partnerr's face. Although Holden refers to such behavior as crumby, he admits that it is pretty fun, although he doesnt think that it should be.
Besides being obsessive and judgmental, Holden has a special type of self-inicted loneliness. Most lonely people choose to hide away by themselves and are too shy to have a lot of human-interactions. Holden is the complete opposite. He makes it clear that he is lonely by blatantly making plans with other people every chance that he can get. He always ends a aw about them that he dislikes which leads to him being let down and wishing he never would have asked them in the first place. For example, Holden says this statement; "almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad" (Salinger #67). This reversal of a stereotype is much like a depressed person always acting happy to avoid being noticed. Holden states that he is lonely too many times to count in the book. He desperately interacts with other people to ful all his longing for a person he enjoys being with. He seems to be lonely because he isolates himself from the world of "phonies" which is basically everyone he meets.
Overall, Holden Caul? Field remains lost the entire novel and never frends his true path in life. He does not have much of a future in store for him at this point in his young life. When Holden goes home and talks to his younger sister, Phoebe, he spends a shining sliver of hope in life. He finally has something go his way. He makes a large stride into adulthood when he allows Phoebe to stay a child. When he lets Phoebe go on to the carousel. This exempli? does a strong point in his character which is the never-dying urge to keep trying to spend happiness. Though Holden has gone through many traumatic events he finds a way to fight out of it. One that sticks out the most his Allier's death. Unfortunately, his weaknesses overpower his strengths in the end, causing his life to spiral out of control.
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Children in the Novel Catcher in the Rye
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Confusion in the Catcher in the Rye
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Holder’s Desires in the Catcher in the Rye
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Catcher in the Rye as a Symbolic of Salinger’s Life
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The Salem Witch Trial and its Role in History
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Phenomenon of the Salem Witch Trials
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Catcher in the Rye Beloved Classic or Bad Influence
J.D. Salingerr's The Catcher in the Rye has been a hotly debated novel for nearly seventy years. The story features perhaps one of the most memorable central characters in American literature, Holden Caulfield. Holden is a sixteen-year-old boy who had recently been expelled from Pencey Prep, a prestigious academy for boys in fictional Agerstown Pennsylvania. Holden suffers from symptoms of manic depression and psychosis, much like the author of the book J.D. Salinger. It is suggested in the final chapter that Holden is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital at the time of his retelling. Holden experiences many symptoms of manic depression or bipolar disorder, including low energy and motivation, loss of interest in everyday activities, irritability, apathy, mood swings, impulsive and reckless behavior, inappropriate social interactions, excess desire for sex, and delusion. All of these symptoms affect Holden in some way during his three days in New York. Many of these effects have led to controversy in the wake of this polarizing novel.
COMMON CONCERNS
The Catcher in the Rye is a widely discussed novel in school settings, particularly in high school and college discussions. The Catcher in the Rye sold over 60 million copies and is still fondly remembered today. As a book that so freely represents serious tones such as alienation, depression, and loss of a family member, it was guaranteed that The Catcher in the Rye would face some apprehension upon release in 1951, but even now many people take offense to some of the bookr's serious messages. the Catcher in the Rye has topped many most challenged book lists and was even banned from the classroom several times.
Whatr's Wrong With the Catcher in the Rye? There are many reasons concerned parents and teachers choose to challenge books. These include the inclusion of racial themes, alternative lifestyles, profanity, sexual content, violence, negativity, and unpopular religious and political views. In a passage about book banning, ?Punchels writer Jamie Leigh wrote that The Catcher in the Rye has the special privilege of being banned for almost all of the reasons listed above. Parents have objected to the books profanity, lurid passages about sex, immortality, excessive violence, negativity, communist elements, and depiction of alcohol abuse. (Leigh, 33 )
How it Affects Readers. One reason so many people love the novel is that the story and its narrator are relatable even sixty years after release. However, this may not be such a good thing. For example, After Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, he calmly opened up Catcher in the Rye and proceeded to read it ” before being apprehended. ( It has been said the Chapman thought of himself as the real-life representation of Holden Caulfield and wanted to protect children from Lennonr's atheist views. The protection of innocence is a very large part of Holdenr's character and is his premier alternative to the phoniness he is so disgusted by.
SHOULD IT BE BANNED?
It seems that there are quite a lot of negative elements in the Catcher in the Rye, so what positive things can the reader learn from reading it?
I think that Holdenr's character can remind teenagers who suffer from depression or from the loss of a loved one that they are not alone and can provide a form of representation for people with Bipolar Disorder in media.
The Catcher in the Rye gets its namesake from Holdenr's misunderstanding of the phrase if a body meet a body comin thro the rye. He wants to stand in a field and save children from falling over the cliff into the depths of adulthood and phoniness. Most of all, he wants to protect his sister Phoebe, one of the only people who he truly trusts and respects. When he visits Phoeber's school to deliver a message to her, he sees an obscene word written on the wall. And although Holden knows and has used this word, he rubs it away in fear that Old Phoebe will see it. Holden was unable to ?save his late brother Allie before his childhood was cut short, and his death provided the initial jolt that childhood isnt always a sacred shield of protection where all is safe.
The Catcher in the Rye provides consequences for the bad decisions Holden makes throughout the story. For example, Holden drives away many of the people that he meets, and this makes him a bit of a loner with very few allies. He loses some of the people he considers as friends throughout the story after he calls them dense, self-obsessed, or phony; and he provokes his roommate Stradlater to the point of a violent confrontation. When he fails to apply himself in school he is expelled, he begins coughing and becomes short of breath and traces it back to his habit of smoking, and when he tries to keep his expulsion from his family he ends up feeling more depressed and alone than he did when the story began. The inclusion of consequences for Holdenr's actions lessens the likelihood of the idea that these choices and habits will rub off on the reader.
It must be understood that language and sexual tones were included in the story not to poison the minds of young readers, but to create a look into the eyes of a lonely adolescent. For example, Salingerr's writing is intentionally imperfect to emulate how a teenage boy would speak in real life and to show that Holden isnt a perfect character, but an exceptionally human one.
CONCLUSION
Although the Catcher in the Rye has many grievances, I do not think that the Catcher in the Rye should be banned. It is a thought-provoking novel that is almost as candid as Holden Caulfield himself. It turns the simple premise of spending three days in New York City into a book that has been discussed and analyzed for sixty-seven years. The heavily debatable experiences in the story are what make its message powerful. Hold on to your innocence, your family, your friends, and your allies; because of the path of growing up is not steady and straight, itr's a carousel that goes up and down, around and around. It really is.
Works Cited
Bipolar Disorder. WebMD, www.webmd.com/depression/guide/bipolar-disorder-manic-depression#1.
Is Catcher in the Rye an Assassination Trigger? Atomicpoet, 31 Jan. 2012, atomicpoet.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/is-catcher-in-the-rye-an-assassination-trigger/.
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Banned Library, www.bannedlibrary.com/podcast/2016/6/17/the-catcher-in-the-rye-by-j-d-salinger-1951.
10 Reasons for Banning Books and 5 Much Better Reasons Not to. Punchels,
https://www.punchnels.com/2014/09/18/10-reasons-for-banning-books-and-5-much-better-reasons-not-to/
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