God Bless America free essay sample

A paper which discusses the limitation of Judeo-Christian beliefs by liberal interpretations of American constitutional law. The paper shows that In the interests of preserving the civil rights of all Americans, legislation over the past few decades has mandated a conspicuous absence of Christian or Jewish symbols, prayers or teachings from public places the classroom, the sports arena, the courts, public buildings of all sorts. Yet, followers of these faiths make up the majority of Americans. The paper discusses that in the wake of the tragedy of September 11, and the previous shocking incidences of student violence at Columbine and other schools, Americans feel the need for increased, rather than decreased, emphasis on religion in the classroom and everywhere their children go. The author of the paper asks what can be done to protect the rights of these citizens to observe the dictates of their beliefs in their daily walk of life outside of their homes and places of worship. We will write a custom essay sample on God Bless America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page What about the right of Judeo-Christians to display their symbols or other aspects of their beliefs in public places? The national motto is In God We Trust, and all fifty states have a reference to God in their constitutions, the preambles to the constitutions, and/or on their state seals. Presumably this would constitute a precedent for the mention of God in civil settings. The case of County of Allegheny v. ACLU, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, 492 U.S. 573 (1989), restricted the display of a Nativity scene on public property. By the so-called plastic reindeer test, religious displays should not have to incorporate secular symbols in order to be permissible, any more than secular displays should have to add religious symbols.

The Happy Man Essay Example

The Happy Man Essay Example The Happy Man Paper The Happy Man Paper  «Life is full of compensations » Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the 20th century. William Somerset Maugham (1874-1966), a well-known English novelist, short-story writer, playwright and essayist, was the son of a British diplomat. He was born in 1874 in Paris and educated at Kings School in Canterbury, studied painting in Paris, went to Heidelberg University in Germany and studied to be a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital in England.Although Somerset Maugham did not denounce the contemporary social order, he was critical of the morals, the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society. Maugham became internationally celebrated; his plays were performed all over the world. Now independent and well able to enjoy life Maugham began to travel. He traveled a lot and spent long periods in the United States, the South Seas and China. But his favourite country was Spain and a great deal of his works devoted to it. For instance  «The Happy man » that was written in 1927.Somerset Maughams style of writing is clear and precise. He does not impose his views on the reader. He puts a question and leaves it to the reader to answer it. When criticizing something he sounds rather amused than otherwise. I’d like to analyze the text, which is entitled â€Å"The happy man†. The author is William Somerset Maugham, an English writer. He wrote novels, short stories and plays and most of them had a great commercial success. He is known to have explored many professions including doctor, spy, and playwright.There are many biographical details in his stories and characters, for example in the text â€Å"The happy man† the narrator and the second main character are the doctors; and the narrator is, at the same time, a writer, because he wrote the book about Spain, and the story itself in some way concerned with the process of travelling. The genre of the story is narration. The theme of the novel is t he act of giving advice. At the beginning of the story the author reflected on the subject of life, destiny and the problem of giving advices.He stated that it was dangerous thing to order the life of others. Anyway, the author knew that once he had advised well. One day a stranger visited him, his name was Stephens and he was a doctor. Because of the fact that the narrator wrote a book about Spain, Stephens wanted to figure out information about it, he planned to live there. Stephens told the narrator the story of his life; he wanted to change it and asked the narrator to give him advice. The narrator told him if he did not care of money but was content to earn to keep body and soul together then he could go.Stephens left him and the narrator forgot about that episode. Many years later the narrator was in Seville and had to see a doctor because of some indisposition. The doctor happened to be Stephens. The narrator learnt of outcome of his advice. Stephens thanked him, because he f ollowed the narrator’s advice and was satisfied with his life. The plot structure shows the actions of the characters, presenting events in chronological order. The exposition in the text is the philosophical reflection given in the first paragraph.Inciting incident is the visit of Stephens in order to talk to the narrator. The risking actions, such as development, are the monolog of Stephens about his life, the explanation why he wanted to visit Spain. Climax is the act of giving advice. The falling actions are the event when the narrator went to Seville, the need to see a doctor, because of the narrator’s indisposition, the second meeting of two main characters. The resolution is the process of getting knows the outcome of the act of giving advice, that it was a good outcome, the description of happy Stephens.The denouement is made up of Stephens’s thoughts about his life. Speaking about the main characters, there were two main characters: the narrator and Ste phens. The narrator of the story was described indirectly and Stephens – directly and indirectly. The direct description means that the author himself tells us what this or that character is like. The indirect one is when the character is revealed through actions, thoughts, speech and appearance.The narrator was a round and dynamic character, that indicates the idea that his character was complicated and exhibited numerous traits, he seemed like a real man; his dynamics was seen in the structure of the text: in the first paragraph there was stated that giving advice is a dangerous thing, but the whole story showed the positive outcome of the act of it. The narrator, first, was willing to give the advice, he was a little bit careless, but in the introduction he decided that it was a dangerous thing, he changed his views. The narrator was a doctor, but he did not practice. Instead of it he travelled and wrote a book about Spain.I can say that he preferred writing to medicine, h e was versatile, liked to try new things and feelings, and he was interested in life. Some time later he did not want to give advices, so he was not eager to take responsibility for other people’ lives; it does not mean that he was a coward; it means that he did not want them to do unchangeable mistakes in their lives. He was observant, because he managed to define each feature of Stephens’s appearance and behavior, each detail of Stephens’s consulting room. He liked to listen to other people stories of their lives, he was not indifferent.He gave a good advice to Stephens, so he was wise enough. He creates the image of the writer. The writer, who likes to travel, because he needs to find new themes for his novels, he is interested in life, that is he is not indifferent and he reflects a lot. Stephens was a dynamic character; he changed by events, by interactions with other characters. As the narrator said Stephens seemed a trifle embarrassed, so Stephens was shy . He dropped his umbrella he was clumsy and he was not confident. His quick, sharp movements were stand for his being nervous and absent – minded.His apologetic laugh and the way he talked to the narrator (â€Å"I hope you don’t mind my coming†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , â€Å"I hope you won’t think it very odd for a perfect stranger†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) showed that he was polite. It is interesting that Stephens told the story of his life to a perfect stranger. It makes us thing that he was somewhat careless, or may be was so dissatisfied with his life, he wanted to change it, but could ask for a help only â€Å"a perfect stranger†. He used 7 sharp, short sentences in his monolog, 4 of them were negative – it proves the fact that Stephens was very unhappy, he decided that the negative things prevailed in his life.There was repetition in his speech, this repetition made the readers feel the boredom of Stephens’s life. He mentioned only facts, spoke using per sonal pronoun – it shows Stephens’s self – centrism. These monotonous sounds, expecting of better life, the feeling of boredom illustrated a person who is completely fed up, there were no emotions in his monolog about the life. But when Stephens spoke about Spain, he spoke differently: the sentences were affirmative, impersonal – it signifies that in Spain he tried to find the solution of his loneliness.Stephens compared sunshine with warmth, wine with cheerfulness, colour with interest, emotions, air with freedom – all that let us see how Stephens was despite and how he did not like his life. We should say that Stephens’s dreams were illusive, but still down to earth; they were close to the material world. A contradiction of the nature of Stephens’s dreams signifies the instability in his inner state. Stephens talked differently about his present life and life he hoped to have in Spain, this contrast stands for the suggestion about t he instability of his character.As we have mentioned Stephens was a dynamic character, his dynamics is clearly seen through the text. There were 3 stages of Stephens’s development. The first was presented before Stephens decided to visit the doctor; his life was boring and uninteresting. He worked a lot, there were no emotions in his living, and he could not stick it anymore. The second stage was observed in Stephens’s being doubt, hesitated, and at the same time courageous. He was not sure that had decided right about Spain, he was on the edge and that is why he came to the narrator.The last stage was seen when the narrator was in Seville, he met absolutely another Stephens. Stephens who was a happy man, he had an â€Å"entirely sympathetic appearance†, he smiled a lot, may be he was not a very qualified doctor (the narrator thought that one might have hesitated to let Stephens remove his appendix, but one could not have imagined a more delightful creature to d rink a glass of wine with), but he was a good companion, he became an extravert and he was in harmony with surroundings. So to sum it up, Stephens creates the image of a dreamer.A dreamer is a person, who gets an illusive idea of happiness, it is not material, it is life in harmony. Now let’s pass over to the style of the text. It is complicated and emotional. Firstly, neutral, formal and literary words prevail in the text, for example: â€Å"to surmise†, â€Å"to errand†, â€Å"to dissipate†, â€Å"trifling indisposition†, â€Å"to perceive†. They are used mostly by the narrator, and it shows that he was educated. Secondly, a few stylistic devices can be found in the text, such as epithets, simile, metaphor, irony, parallel constructions which are used in order to attract more attention to the story.The epithet, represented by adjective, characterizes an object, some of the properties or features of the object and displays the writerâ€℠¢s emotional attitude. For example: â€Å"a perfect stranger†, â€Å"a bullet – shaped head†, â€Å"a bacchanalian smile†. The epithets create more colourful description of Stephens’s appearance. Simile characterizes one object by bringing it into contact with another object belonging to an entirely different class of things: â€Å"as though he knew a good bottle of wine†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ; â€Å"he had somewhat the look of a young Silenus†. These examples stand for the fact that Stephens has changed in Spain, he became cheerful and merry.Metaphor based on the principle of identification of two objects, it is transference of some quality from one object to another: â€Å"the look of a young Silenus†. Moreover, the author uses metaphors in the narrator’s speech: â€Å"a prisoner in the solitary tower†, â€Å"the dark cloak of Destiny†. Parallel constructions presented in Stephens’s speech: â€Å"I was broughtâ € ¦I’ve never been†¦I’ve never done†¦I’ve been†¦I have†¦Ã¢â‚¬  they create a monotonous tone of Stephens’s speech; â€Å"there’s sunshine there, and there’s good wine, and there’s colour, and there’s air you can breathe† – they create atmosphere of Spain, it is some kind of wonderful place.Irony produces a humorous effect. It is based on contrary concepts, on the simultaneous realization of two logical meanings, but they stand in opposition to each other. For instance, the narrator uses irony in Stephens’s behavior during their first meeting: â€Å"He seemed a trifle embarrassed. I offered him a cigarette and he had some difficulty in lighting it without letting go off his hat. When he had a satisfactory achieved this feat I asked him if I should not put it on a chair for him.He quickly did this and while doing it dropped his umbrella†; then when the narrator met him in Sevill e: â€Å"You might have hesitated to let him remove you appendix, but you could not have imagined a more delightful creature to drink a glass of wine with†. The stylistic devices make the text more expressive and vivid. Additionally, the third element of the style is syntax. It is complicated. The author through the narrator’s speech reflected on the subject of life, destiny and giving advices and because the paragraph was a philosophical one he used composite sentences, they show complicatedness of the author’s thoughts.We found simple sentences in Stephens’s monolog they have simple, uninteresting ideas of his life; 4 of sentences are negative, they mean denying of the facts. The main idea of the story can be expressed like this: giving advice is dangerous, because people are different, they have their own individuality, if your advice is a bad one, it may cause disharmony between Destiny and Life, and the result of this conflict is unhappiness, if the advice is good, then everything is visa versa (a good advice creates harmony, Destiny finds the correct realization in Life and this composition brings happiness).All concepts, such as Destiny, Life, Harmony, Happiness, Unhappiness, Giving advice, are interconnected and interrelated. Stephens came to the narrator for a piece of advice, he was unhappy, he decided to change his life. The narrator did not care much of the dilemma if his advice would be a good one or not. He did not think that it might change Stephens’s life, and that could cause disharmony between Destiny and Life.Fortunately, the story has a happy end, because the narrator’s advice was good, Stephens changed Life, but Destiny found right realization in it, it brought Harmony, which caused Stephens become happy. In my opinion, it is an interesting story, as all the stories of Maugham are. The author’s style is exact, economical and expressive. Maugham knew how to keep readers’ attention. It was interesting to read how one man decided to change all his life, give up a good safe job for his dream. While reading I was glad that Stephens went to Seville and became happy there.Moreover, this story made me think that one who gives advice should know the person and the situation very well before doing it, because everyone needs an individual care. If your advice won’t be a success then a bad outcome will be yours mistake, so you should feel responsibility of the fact that you may change one’s life. Precisely, I enjoyed reading this story. Realistic portrayal of life, keen character observation, and interesting plots coupled with beautiful, expressive language, simple and lucid style, place Somerset Maugham on a level with the greatest English writers of the 20th century

Contrasts in Two Native American Tribes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contrasts in Two Native American Tribes - Essay Example The researcher of this essay compares two Native American tribes, that were found on the continent when the first explorers arrived to the New World. Firstly, it was common practice to think of all Native Americans as one cultural group united by the simple idea that they all lived on the new common continent before the coming of the Europeans. However, just like the Europeans, though, Native American tribes found on the continent when the first explorers arrived were often very different from each other. The researcher states that tribes, such as the Apache and the Ottawa were very different from each other based not only on their geographic homeland, but also in their lifestyles and connections with Europeans. The researcher then aims to establish their cultural differencies and present them to the reader in a comparitive manner. For example, while both the Apache Indians and the Ottawas were established Native American tribes since well before the Europeans came, they had organize d themselves differently based to a large degree upon their locations. The Apache Indians lived in bands primarily on the North American plains of the Southwest, ranging â€Å"from southern Colorado to the Texas border and the Chiracahua also extended into Arizona. Western Apache lived in east-central Arizona, where they grew far more like the Navajo than the eastern Apache did. The reseracher then compares these tribes on the topic of cultural differencies and historic associations with each other as well as with Europeans.