It is often astounding how secrets can tear lives apart. The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson gives testament to this fact. This story is the ultimate portrayal of deception and betrayal set amidst the serene, isolated canvas of the Saskatchewan prairies. What makes this story seems unbelievable is the fact that this is a true story which actually occurred as opposed to being fiction. John Wilson killed his loving unsuspecting and hid her body in an isolated culvert in 1918 near Waldheim, Saskatchewan. Some years later he would be tried in a court of law, convicted and hung for his crime in Prince Alberta, Saskatchewan. He was the first and only Mountie to be hung in Canadian History. Once again, providing that the Mounties did get their man …show more content…
Even at a young age, she was considered an original, her sister Elizabeth is quoted as saying: “Even in this close family, Polly was special. We all loved one another but somehow every one of us has a special work with Polly. She was so bright and cheery and brave.” (Simmie pg 7) At the age of 18 Polly met Jack, two years into their courtship, they got engaged and another two years after Polly and Jack were married. Then Polly believed she had everything she ever wanted, a husband and two children George and Ella. Polly’s “…idyllic life, it would seem, but not for long.” (Simmie pg 8) When Polly was six months pregnant with Ella, John left for Canada. Mainly to run away from his problems and shame he had brought upon himself, and ultimately to run away from Polly and his children. Polly never saw this coming, because she idolized him and could never see him doing any wrong. But soon everything would change for the worst. People would say “…her sunny disposition complements his moody, intense nature.” (Simmie pg 7) Jack was never well liked by others, they did not trust him and for good …show more content…
John Wilson the author Lois Simmie paints a picture of just how different Polly and Jack had really been. From her caring and pleasant manner to his evil and sneaky ways. Simmie shows us how much Jack’s manner changed from woman to woman. When Jack had asked for Polly’s hand in marriage in August 1906, it was the typical Jack Wilson manner. Jack had stated “…if Polly wasn’t allowed to marry him he would blow his brains out.”(Simmie pg 8) Polly later would become known to be Jack’s first wife and mother to his children George and Ella along with their unborn son. Not long after coming to Canada Jack was posted in a small town in Saskatchewan called Blaine Lake. That is where Jack found his so called love of his life, her name was Jessie Patterson. Soon after Jack’s wife Polly came to Canada in search of her husband. This would send Jack’s love life into a spiral, she soon found him and not long later found out about Jessie. She confronted Jack and he told her that when he was ill with TB Jessie and him had gotten very close as she was the main caregiver for him. However he lied and said nothing had happened between the two, Polly truly believed that Jack would not take things further with Jessie. “She loved him and could see no wrong in him and it was not for us to wound her by showing her his falseness…” (Simmie pg 171) Polly blamed herself for not being there while her husband Jack was sick, she believed that this is really
The following review will focus on “The Secret Lives of Sgt John Wilson”, written by Louis Simmie. This review will elaborate on three particular components. Firstly, Louis Simmie’s purpose inn writing “The Secret Lives of Sg.t John Wilson” was to provide an accurate depiction of Saskatchewan history. Secondly, this review will ascertain whether the book “The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson is of any monetary value. Lastly this review will discuss whether the author Lois Simmie accomplished her overall goal in writing “The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson”
Great people often arise from unlikely places. During the civil war women were barred from serving in the army; however, women did sometimes disguise themselves as men and enlisted in both the Confederate and Union armies. During the Civil War years of 1861 to 18-65, soldiers under arms mailed countless letters home from the front. There are multiple accounts of women serving in military units during the Civil War, but a majority of these incidents are extremely hard to verify. Nevertheless, there is the one well-documented incident of the female Civil War soldier by the name of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.
Conroy displays his life through his novel, The Lords of Discipline, to give readers a visual demonstration of how life connections can transform the entity of a novel. Conroy's attendance to the Citadel, his family, and the South helped influence his innovative writing style.
In the book “The Mad Among Us-A History of the Care of American’s Mentally Ill,” the author Gerald Grob, tells a very detailed accounting of how our mental health system in the United States has struggled to understand and treat the mentally ill population. It covers the many different approaches that leaders in the field of mental health at the time used but reading it was like trying to read a food label. It is regurgitated in a manner that while all of the facts are there, it lacks any sense humanity. While this may be more of a comment on the author or the style of the author, it also is telling of the method in which much of the policy and practice has come to be. It is hard to put together without some sense of a story to support the action.
It is often astounding how secrets can tear lives apart. The Secret Lives of Sgt. John Wilson gives testament to this fact. This story is the ultimate portrayal of deception and betrayal set amidst the serene, isolated canvas of the Saskatchewan prairies. What makes this story seems unbelievable is the fact that this is a true story which actually occurred as opposed to being fiction. John Wilson killed his loving unsuspecting wife Polly and hid her body in an isolated culvert in 1918 near Waldheim, Saskatchewan. Some years later he would be tried in a court of law, convicted and hung for his crime in Prince Alberta, Saskatchewan. He was the first and only Mountie to be hung in Canadian History. Once again, providing that the Mounties did get their man after intense justifying
Fussell believes that the soldier of world war two, "suffers so deeply from contempt and damage to his selfhood, from absurdity and boredom and chickenshit, that some anodyne is necessary", and that the anodyne of choice was alcohol. I would argue that Fussell is correct, especially regarding the connection between the absurdity of the war and the associated damage to soldiers image of themselves as good and patriotic, and the use of alcohol to block out the reality of the war. I think this connection is evident in the interviews presented in Terkel’s "The Good War", especially those of John Garcia and Eddie Costello.
As a socialistic society we live in we find ourselves in positions were conflicts arise between friends or family. 'The Sniper'; was written by Liam O ' Flaherty to express a subtle yet powerful opinion on such a conflict. With references this essay will analyse the short story bringing to light the structure used to contribute to the theme.
The death of Willie Starks and the circumstances force Jack to rethink the way he thinks. He rethinks a belief that no one can ever be responsible for the evil actions of another individual over time. In a way Jack feels responsible for Willie’s death. Jack eventually marries Anne Stanton and he feels orthodox about his decision to marry her. Jack restarts his long lost hobby of working on a book about Cass Mastern.
The movie Soldier’s Girl is about a young man named Barry Winchell, who is a new recruit in the 101st Airborne. Once settling in, he befriends his roommate Justin Fisher who suffers from some medical problems, which he abuses prescription drugs to deal with his emotional problems. One night, Justin feels the need to take Winchell and a few others to Nashville, to a local bar that performs drag shows. At the bar, Winchell becomes fascinated by one of the drag performers, Calpernia Addams, which they hit it off and begin a relationship with one another. Justin does not like this at all, and recruits other soldiers to harass Winchell about his private life, as well as, spreading a rumor about Winchell’s affair. This is very dangerous for Winchell,
Obedience is when you do something you have been asked or ordered to do by someone in authority. As little kids we are taught to follow the rules of authority, weather it is a positive or negative effect. Stanley Milgram, the author of “The perils of Obedience” writes his experiment about how people follow the direction of an authority figure, and how it could be a threat. On the other hand Diana Baumrind article “Review of Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience,” is about how Milgram’s experiment was inhumane and how it is not valid. While both authors address how people obey an authority figure, Milgram focuses more on how his experiment was successful while Baumrind seems more concerned more with how Milgram’s experiment was flawed and
It is well known that veterans have the opportunity to pursue a college education after they have served. The problem is students do not know how to appropriately approach or interact with them. Society has even been led to fear them. Edward Palm, author of, “The Veterans are Coming! The Veterans are Coming!”, uses his personal experience to argue that there are five applications of “common sense” to be used when interacting with veterans. Because Palm very effectively uses Ethos in his argument, along with the connotation that veteran interaction is simply “common sense”, any “typical” CU student would more than likely be persuaded. Although Palm’s argument is already very well constructed, there are still some changes he could have made to make it even stronger.
“Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.
Obedience has many forms and there are multiple reasons as to why people are obedient, whether yielding to authority or as an effort to please someone. Every reason can lead to different outcomes, having negative and positive results. Obedience can oftentimes be a response to a situation as well. Both Stanley Milgram, author of “The Perils of Obedience,” and Ian Parker, author of “Obedience,” talk about the reasoning behind obedience and the variables that enable such responses but, in the end, they come to different conclusions.
In his 1971 paper “Personal Identity”, Derek Parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matters. In working out how to do so, Parfit comes to the conclusion that “the question about identity has no importance” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:3). In this essay, I will attempt to show that Parfit’s thesis is a valid one, with positive implications for human behaviour. The first section of the essay will examine the thesis in further detail and the second will assess how Parfit’s claims fare in the face of criticism.