He had a need. His hunger was painful enough to drive him to madness, to commit unspeakable acts, yet he would stop at nothing cure it. It engulfed him; it made his body swell. However, from a distance I could never have noticed any of this. My roommate and I were innocently on our way home from the library late one evening when I noticed him stumbling slowly down the road. At first glance, he appeared to be more of a zombie from a scene in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” rather than a disoriented boy on a deadly mission. His ragged white t-shirt hung loosely off of his lanky frame as he waved his arms and mumbled something incomprehensible to us as we drove by. Having lived in Charleston for the past three years, such a sight was normal for me. Since I was currently residing on Morris Street, a section of town known for being less than safe and comforting at night, I felt that the several tons of steel that surrounded us in the form of a car was definite protection from any type of danger. Without giving the street wanderer a second thought, I pulled up to the curb in front of our apartment and turned off the ignition. As we were gathering together our books, I began to wonder exactly what he was trying to say to us. Was it important enough for him to come ask again? I decided this to be a possibility and checked in the passenger side mirror before I opened my door. I leaned over and my heart skipped a beat when I saw the reflection of two dirty tennis shoes approaching along the sidewalk. “Whoa, whoa,” I told my roommate, “Let’s hang out in here for a few minutes.” He was upon us as soon as the words left my lips. Standing in front of the car, his arms were up over his head as if he were a referee confirming a field goal in a football game. He stood there for a moment like a deer in front of the headlights still shining brightly from my car. Then he walked over to my side of the vehicle. The windowpane began to fog as he spoke to me only inches away from the glass. What I did next is the biggest regret of my life. After watching his wordless mouth move for several seconds I rolled the window down ever so slightly.
This summer we had an opportunity to dive into the world of bioweapons, through Richard Preston’s novel The Demon in the Freezer. His book explored the colorful world of smallpox and its use as a biological weapon. Earlier this week we were graced with this authors present for an ACES event. He discussed some of the found topics in his book such as animal testing, what small pox is, and even its eradication. One of the great things we had the chance of vocalizing were our many opinions on the gloom associated with this intriguing disease.
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston is an intriguing book that discusses the anthrax terrorist attacks after 9/11 and how smallpox might become a future bioterrorist threat to the world. The book provides a brief history of the smallpox disease including details of an outbreak in Germany in 1970. The disease was eradicated in 1979 due to the World Health Organization’s aggressive vaccine program. After the virus was no longer a treat the World Health Organization discontinued recommending the smallpox vaccination. In conjunction, inventory of the vaccine was decreased to save money. The virus was locked up in two labs, one in the United States and one in Russia. However, some feel the smallpox virus exists elsewhere. Dr. Peter Jahrling and a team of scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland became concerned terrorists had access to the smallpox virus and planed to alter the strain to become more resistant. These doctors conducted smallpox experiments to discover more effective vaccines in case the virus were released. Preparedness for a major epidemic is discussed as well as the ease with which smallpox can be bioengineered.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson tells the story of Daniel Burnham’s World Fair and H.H. Holmes’ murder spree. The tale focuses much on the conflict between good and evil, light and dark. However, the book also goes deeper, utilizing contrast to demonstrate the greed, exclusiveness, and exploitation ever present in the Gilded Age of America.
Catastrophe strikes in Gettysburg are both Union and Confederate soldiers alike are slaughtered by the thousands. Seven soldiers lie dead at the infamous Devil’s Den after the battle of Gettysburg, with their Springfield rifles and hats lying next to their contorted and lifeless bodies. These men came from all across the nation to fight in the Battle of Gettysburg; New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Georgia. Taking control of Devil’s Den during the second day of the battle, July 2nd became a priority for both sides, as its boulders give an excellent position to sharpshooters looking to take out officers over long distance. The cover provided by the large boulders also resulted in close quarter combat, brutal up close bayonet and hand to hand
Insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” a quote by Albert Einstein that helps sum up humanity’s love for horror movies. People go see horror movies all the time, each time the graphics are clearer and more intense than the last. Are people expecting them to change? If not then why would anyone in their right mind, make a conscious decision to go see the next horror movie knowing what they know, understanding that someone will get stabbed, beaten, shot, or killed? Its simple humans crave them, we enjoy horror but why? In this essay Stephen Kings thesis “I think we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little bit better” (405). In that statement he provides a twisted example of “Why we crave Horror Movies” claiming it’s mainly because of our mental state. King explains there are many reasons for going to see them, he says we go to have fun, we go to dare the nightmare and we go to re-establish our since of normalcy. All of which I find are strong arguments were he states his case. With his use of urbane humor, he says “the potential lyncher is in almost all of us”(406). King uses practical wisdom to lead his audience to believe that without horror films, humans are all ticking time bombs set to explode from buildup of pathos, just waiting to become another “funny farm crazy” or “Jack the ripper” to some degree or another.
The question of identity regarding God and the Devil has been an ongoing dilemma for religious philosophers. No true identity can be formed due to the lack of undeniable evidence surrounding the figures. In addition, it has always been difficult to relate either characters to tangible or worldly matter; seeing how both are non-perceivable and equivocal figments in our minds. A start is to relate these supernatural beings to each other. The abilities of each are in contrast; God can create but not control, whereas, the Devil can control but not create. Creation is the act of making new matter, whereas the act of controlling is forcing matter to act based on the wishes of the controller.
tossed to the side, since it is no longer a means for pleasure or domination. But a
Creeping around the shadowy house, the predator found its prey waking to strange sounds. The victim lay facedown, with a sweating forehead pressed fearfully into the pillow, silently praying the noises would just go away. Suddenly the victim found himself straddled and pinned to the bed. He was unable to scream for help due to the pressure of the handle of a pick-axe against his throat, preventing any breath from escaping, much less any sound. The victim struggled beneath the weight of the assailant. The scant light from the sodium-arc street light outside cast a peculiar silhouette on the walls of the darkened room, projecting an image that looked oddly like that of a cowboy saddled upon a bucking bull at a rodeo. Struggling to dismount the attacker, the victim felt the piercing blows of the sharp point of the pickaxe, succumbing to death only after receiving eleven stab wounds to the chest and throat. The thrill of the kill was stimulating enough that, when interviewed later, the murderer reported “popping a nut,” that is, becoming so sexually aroused by the event, to the point of having an orgasm (Pearson, 1998).
In Both Grendel and Beowulf, there is conflict. The conflict is betwixt the themes of light and dark, Paganism vs. Christianity, and Man vs. Beast. Grendel, the main character in Grendel and the secondary character in Beowulf, faces external battles but the most important battle take place internally. John Gardener recognized the basis for Grendel’s predicament which is “his [Grendel] stubborn cling to skepticism and cold, hard reason. . .” (Grendel’s Geis). Though there are many different themes present in both stories, there is one theme that remains consistent throughout out both. This theme is the lack of acceptance. Grendel’s in-acceptance is rooted in his lack of understanding of the world and its functions. As a result of the many things that have taken place in Grendel’s life, he is perceived as evil yet, not because he wants to be. He is misunderstood and not accepted. Much of Grendel’s evil wrongdoing comes as a result of lack of acceptance, lack of communication, and his ignorance.
It began in the County Mall food court. Resting at one of the tables after my lunch, I casually glanced around the place. The food court wasn't crowded, and consequently I had no trouble spotting him: a tall, dark, gray-haired man. He caught my gaze, and started walking towards me. As I took in his gaunt frame, his tattered red t-shirt, and the holes in his great sweats, it dawned on me that before me stood a homeless man. Reaching my table, he asked if he could sit down with me but I declined. I wasn't in the mood to talk to him, and so mumbling a poor excuse and an apology that was probably a few octaves below any decipherable level, and not particularly caring whether the man heard me or not, I got up and walked away. The man called out after me, assuring me that he didn't want money, but rather only someone to talk to. I was rattled by his persistence, and pretending I didn't hear him I quickly walked away, my heart pounding in my chest.
I smiled as we walked quickly out the door. My legs felt numb. I turned to look at my friend and came to a sudden halt, he wasn’t near me at all. Hundreds of people were walking around me, not even acknowledging I was there. I turned my head violently in every direction. Finally I saw the red hair and realized he was only a few short feet away. I sprinted up beside him, he was in the middle of a conversation with an older lady. She was average size, with a pointed face, she wore glasses and had tall high heels. When he noticed me he finished up his conversation and we continued on our
Salem to work as his servant. She was known to practice Obeah, an African cult
Hero can be distinct as an individual who is accepted or idealized for bravery, exceptional accomplishment, or dignified traits. On the other hand, Satan is known as the leader of all wickedness. With these descriptions in mind, one can determine that John Milton’s character, Satan, in Paradise Lost, is in fact the epic’s hero. Although non-traditional, one can determine that Satan is the epic hero because of textual evidence found in all twelve books of Paradise Lost. The implications implied throughout the twelve books of Paradise Lost entail Satan as the hero because of the information Milton provides to the reader about Satan’s actions and results thereof.
The feeling of walking down a seemingly endless tunnel of shadows is overwhelming for a vast amount of people. The tunnel is as dark as the blackest part of night, and those individuals cannot see a shining light that represents a hopeful end to their troubles. Some experience an inability to recover from hardship or stress in their lives, while others may have a lack of self-confidence or sense of purpose. These are the people who have the hardest time seeing that light at the end of the tunnel and might do just about anything to find a way out. Nearly every individual going through a hormonal change can understand the raging war that is taking place between the characters and their inner demons in Ellen Hopkins’s novel, Impulse.
In the eyes of a non-religious person, the figure of Satan might appear as an obsolete, mythical character of an antiquated view of the world. However, upon immersing oneself in the study of this persona, one can observe the strong belief in its power and the influence that the figure of Satan represents in the religious world. One might wonder how such a feat is possible even after hordes of scientists and academics objected to the existence of such a fabled character. Moreover, many theologists advanced theories that strived to diminish the importance of Satan in order to achieve a more monistic religion. It would be normal, nowadays to find the figure of Satan relegated to the status of a mere myth of the old times much like the ancient