“A Retrieved Reformation,” Thematic Essay O. Henry’s short story,”A Retrieved Reformation,” tells of a career criminal, Jimmy Valentine, who cracks safes for a living. These cases of burglary catch the attention of Ben Price (head detective). A lesson the story suggests is that one’s past actions can have a significant impact on their present and future. From the very beginning, the author uses details and examples to show how Jimmy’s past actions affects his future. One example is,” ‘Now Valentine,’ said the warden, ‘you’ll go out in the morning. Brace up, and make a man of yourself. You’re not a bad fellow at heart. Stop cracking safes and live straight.’” This quote shows how Jimmy’s past actions affected his present and future because …show more content…
Two weeks after that a patented, improved, burglar proof safe in Logansport, was opened like cheese to the tune of fifteen hundred dollars.” These robberies clearly the work of Jimmy. Again, Jimmy’s past criminal history made it easy for him to fall back into his old habits. Ben Price headed out of town in search to find the crook named Jimmy Valentine. He soon realized that Jimmy was hiding out in Elmore, a small undisturbed town, under the name of Ralph Spencer. A quote from the text stated,” ‘Going to marry the banker’s daughter are you, Jimmy?’ said Ben to himself softly. ‘Well, I don’t know!’” This quote shows how Jimmy’s past is now affecting his success of today, and he will probably not be able to marry the girl he truly loves. The next morning, Jimmy was shown the newest high tech, uncrackable safe by his soon to be father in law. “Suddenly there was a commotion. Unperceived by the elders, May, a nine year old girl with a spirit of play, had shut her sister in the vault.” Jimmy Valentine steps back into his old life. Within ten minutes Jimmy was through the safe, and saved the girl's life. He then sees Ben out of the corner of his eye watching him. “‘Hello Ben!’ said Jimmy. ‘Got around at last have you? Well, let’s
In the true crime/sociology story, “Best Intentions: The Education and Killing of Edmund Perry” the author, Robert Sam Anson had provided an immense amount of information from reportings about Edmund Perry’s death and life before he died. Anson has developed Edmund’s character and experiences through reporting that I have related and connected to. Information reported by Anson has helped me find a deep connection towards Edmund Perry’s home environment, junior high experiences, and personality at Philips Exeter. Themes such as hopes and dreams, loyalty and betrayal, journey, and family ties are intertwined in the story and becomes blatant. The congruences between our lives have better my understanding of the story and Edmund’s life.
Morley Callaghan’s novel More Joy in Heaven follows the short life of notorious bank robber and gunman Kip Caley. Callaghan's novel is based off and follows Red Ryan's now forgotten story almost word for word. Red Ryan and the fictional Kip Caley both face the effects of a being an outsider in a forceful, high-class society. Individuals and organizations play a huge responsibility role to ex-convicts; readers of More Joy in Heaven unfortunately see the side effects when selfishness and thirst for glory play into this important, delicate role. Nonetheless that readers see what the wrong individuals will do to an ex-convict, readers will also see what kinder individuals can do to someone trying to reform. Yet what the public does and does not do is not to be blamed systematically; Red Ryan and Kip Caley crave societies attention and even begin to depend on it before their story is over. Their craving for attention makes them vulnerable to being abused by society. Both society and parolees want to live the upstanding lives, but neither takes into account what the others wants and needs are, so who’s fault is it when a parolee fails to meet societies precast expectations?
In this book published in 2011, Moore, the author clearly aims at the achievement of two main objectives. The first is to provide an account of his life and the other to show the similarities to that of the counterpart, the namesake. He also aims at helping the readers and the general public identify various issues that lead people to commit crimes in America and the community in general. He manages to simplify his message in a single quote by asserting that one the Moores was free and the other had come to learn that he experienced similar things that he only dreamt of that the other boy had gone through. The second Moore had been convicted to a life sentence, and would spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder of a police officer during a robbe...
The Reformation debate letters from John Calvin and Jacopo Sadoleto illustrate the religious controversy of the sixteenth century. Sadoleto’s letter was addressed to the magistrates and citizens of Geneva, pleading them to come back to the Catholic church, as they had fallen to the ways of the Reformers. In his letter, Sadoleto painted the Reformers as ‘crafty’ and ‘enemies of Christian peace’ (30), never directly addressing them. Calvin does, however, address Sadoleto’s insinuations directly in his response. The two letters disagree when it comes to justification, Sadoleto believing that it comes by faith and works and Calvin, more so along the lines that faith is what really matters. Calvin successfully argues against Sadoleto’s premise and presents influential points, making his argument more convincing than his opponent’s.
Social and economic stresses of The Protestant Reformation age were just among few of the things that impacted the ordinary population of Europe. The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, and cultural disorder that divided Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the ordinary population. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. In 1555 The Peace of Augsburg allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany; and in 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War. The key ideas of the Reformation, a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, should be the sole source of spiritual authority. However, Luther and the other reformers became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience.
In Harry Mulisch’s novel The Assault, the author not only informs society of the variance in perception of good and evil, but also provides evidence on how important it is for an innocent person experiencing guilt to come to terms with their personal past. First, Mulisch uses the characters Takes, Coster, and Ploeg to express the differences in perspective on the night of the assault. Then he uses Anton to express how one cannot hide from the past because of their guilt. Both of these lessons are important to Mulisch and worth sharing with his readers.
Throughout the story, the author has us wondering if Jimmy will show up. But by the end, the curiosity was changed by a plot twist. Jimmy sent an undercover officer to arrest his good friend Bob. I discovered that although the author believes Jimmy is a good man, I found out that I disagree. I think Jimmy is weak to back out because he didn’t want to arrest his friend Bob. I also discovered that the author posed Bob as an innocent man throughout the story, and then at the end, he revealed his inner
Religion and opinions are both products of humans. Our intelligence gifts us with the freedom of thought and capability to apply it to our views on deep life questions. Intelligence provides us the right to believe in any sort of God, afterlife, or way of living. Brad Gregory describes the Protestant Reformation’s effects on the present society’s Christian qualities in a book he wrote titled “The Unintended Reformation.”1 (After my awareness of the outcome of the western history of the Protestant Reformation, I gained an opinion on today’s religious views that do not completely agree with Gregory’s valuation.) The Protestant Reformation was vital to the progress in the knowledge about the Christian faith.
Ben is sitting in his room while his welcome home party is going home downstairs. His parents come up to get him to mingle with their families’ friends, but Ben wanted to just be alone. As they are walking down the stairs the camera stops on the clown picture on the wall. The clown is dressed up and does not have any sign of happiness on his face. The viewer can assume Nichols was trying to explain Ben is feeling he has to act like someone that he truly is not and he is not pleased about doing what his parents are making him do. A significant shot that could foreshadow future action is when Ben is bringing Mrs. Robinson’s purse upstairs to Elaine’s room. As he walks in we have a still shot of a dark room with all the lights off except a light over Elaine’s picture. The shot cuts into a close-up shot of Elaine’s picture, but the audience can detect the reflection of Mrs. Robinson walking nude into the room. This scene, that is taking place in Elaine’s room, is the first time Mrs. Robinson approaches Ben about having an affair. The setting of this scene furthermore puts suspicion in the viewer’s mind about the
A reformation is often defined as the action of change for improvement. The Protestant Reformation is a movement that began in 1517, which split the unity of the Western Church; and later established Protestantism. The three main factors that impacted the reformation were political, sociological and theological. Martin Luther and John Calvin, two protestant Reformers who reformed Catholicism, strived to define salvation and impact the church as a whole. How do Martin Luther’s reforms compare to John Calvin’s through their struggle to define salvation, how people viewed them, and how the church was affected as a whole? Martin Luther and John Calvin both had a huge impact on the reformation and were both regarded with great respect; however, Martin Luther’s strive for salvation and the reformation of the church was more successful than Calvin’s.
Firstly, the lack of moral teachings Jimmy’s family affects his fate. A result of this is the
When the author drives Mr. Norton they pass several log cabins, one of which belongs to Jim Trueblood. Jim Trueblood has a bad reputation for committing what many see as a crime. He raped his daughter and enjoyed it. Jim Trueblood is blind in a sense that he doesn’t realize wh...
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
The Protestant Reformation, also known as the Reformation, was the 16th-century religious, governmental, scholarly and cultural upheaval that disintegrated Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era (Staff, 2009). The Catholic Church begun to dominate local law and practice almost everywhere starting in the late fourteenth century. The Catholic Church held a tight hold on the daily lives of the people invading just about every part of it. Some people of this time would decide to stand up to the church and attempt to change the way it operated and make it release some of its control. These people who spoke out against the church came to be known as Protestants. The Protestants
The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.