Abortion

562 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Debate on media influences on public opinion

Perhaps no contemporary issue inspires more heated debate than abortion - the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. Many have witnessed and experienced the bitterness of such a controversial debate. There are two types of people in this world. Pro - choice activists believe in the right to choose a safe, legal abortion. Pro - life activists believe that abortion is murder. Why is the debate over abortion so emotional? Some argue about the rights of the fetus (unborn child) while others argue if abortion should be legal. The debate usually strays from these basic issues. For example, pro - choice advocates try to convince their opponents women's rights are at risk. Pro - life supporters argue that the rights of the fetus are as important as those of the mother, and that abortion is murder. "Other pro - choice defenders argue that if abortion is murder, why do so many pro - life advocates fight against the most logical methods of preventing this so - called genocide - birth control and sex education?" (Reardon, 138) Another reason for the bitterness of this debate is that most pro - choice and pro - life advocates reached their conclusions about abortion very early in life, probably even earlier than they can remember. They were taught from previous generations that there was only one correct point of view. Many people have trouble seeing why others who were brought up with the opposite viewpoint cannot simply look at the "facts" and be persuaded to change their minds. Tempers flare when opponents resort to oversimplification because the issue is definitely not simple.

According to recent public opinion polls, the majority of Americans (at least 60 percent) hold beliefs that place them somewhere between the two most extreme, or radical, positions on the abortion issue. Although radical groups on both sides of the issue may get the most media attention, most Americans have moderate viewpoints. Individuals in this moderate viewpoint may lean toward pro - life or pro - choice, but they seek to stay at middle ground. Most people feel uncomfortable with abortion and are troubled by many of the reasons given for having one but these same people are also uncomfortable with the governments's interference in a woman's right to choose an abortion, a right granted in 1973 by the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade. Half the adults surveyed by the New York Times in 1996 supported the availability of safe, legal abortions while only 9 percent felt that no abortions at all should be permitted.

Show More
Related

  • Solipsism in Lolita

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...the various names that accompany them, writing, “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita” (9). By using attributing different names to the various roles she plays and creating the name Lolita to use when she is with him, Humbert makes the character Lolita a figment of his expansive imagination. In one of Humbert’s rare moments of overt honesty he writes, “Lolita had been safely solipsized…I watched her, rosy, gold-dusted, beyond the veil of my controlled delight, unaware of it, alien to it…” (60) and later continues to write, “what I had possessed was not she, but my own creation, another fanciful Lolita- perhaps more real than Lolita; overlapping, encasing her; floating between me and her, and having no will, no

    Read More

  • Detrimental Effects of Hysteria, Rumors and Accusations Depicted in Miller's, The Crucible

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a timeless piece of work that is applicable to many societies. The Crucible was written to criticize the outrageous behavior of Americans in the 1950’s. The McCarthy Era in the 1950’s parallels the witch hunt in Salem. Miller’s work is still relevant for political situations today even though it was specifically written to criticize that time period. Both the McCarthy Era and the Salem Witch Trials display the danger of collective hysteria, the speed of rumors, and the inability of accusers to stop the accusations once they have started.

    Read More

  • Humbert's Fate In Lolita By Vladimir Nabokov

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    The entire novel is a memoir to a court jury that is following Humbert’s case of murder, harassment, and pedophilia. Starting the novel is the poetic line “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins” (Nabokov 9) already dragging the reader in as well as the jury. Calling her the light of his life almost makes the reader feel the strong emotion that Humbert feels for Lolita. The reader understands that he is deeply in love with this girl… (Mulready). Humbert even says that you can “count on a murder for a fancy prose style” (Nabokov), already suggesting that he’s aware in his way of voice and dialect… he is showing

    Read More

  • Obsession in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

    2264 Words  | 5 Pages

    The relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita is no doubt a unique one. Many people who read the novel argue that it is based on "lust", but others say that Humbert really is in "love" with Lolita. However, there is some astounding evidence that Humbert has an obsessional-compulsive disorder with Lolita. The obsession is clearly illustrated when Humbert's actions and behavior are compared to the experts' definitions and descriptions of obsession. In many passages, Humbert displays obsessional tendencies through his descriptive word choice and his controlling personality. Many people are obsessive, so this is not an alien subject. We see it everyday in the entertainment industry as well as in everyday life. Comparing Humbert Humbert to clinical and other definitions, it seems as if Humbert is one person who is an obsessed person.

    Read More

  • Lolita: An Analysis of Obsession Through the Decades

    7362 Words  | 15 Pages

    In 1958, Vladimir Nabokov created two of the most unrelenting characters in the history of literature: Humbert Humbert and Lolita Haze. His narrator's voice and main character, Humbert Humbert, explains the complex story of a man and his obsession. To set this book off from other books about obsession, Nabokov gives Humbert possibly the most socially unacceptable obsession of all: pedophilia. This obsession leads Humbert on a cross country journey to find his precious Lolita upon the discovery that she has run away and decided to marry. It is this Lolita that causes much of the controversy in the book. Is she an innocent child who is caught up by a wave of "Humbertism" that seems to control her life? Or is she simply an adult in a child's body who plays off of Humbert's obsession to gain things for herself? The answer is one that involves not only an analysis of the text, but also an analysis of the context in which the text is read. It is this analysis of context that will supply a new appreciation for not only the basic plot of Lolita, but also the underlying satire that riddles the book.

    Read More

  • Lolita Analysis

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, Nabokov introduces Humbert, a man with appeal and dignity. Yet shortly after reading the novel I began to learn to find he is a sexually disturbed man, lusting for young “Nymphets”. Humbert’s mind is always on his first true love, young Annabel. Humbert describes Annabel with having “honey-colored skin, thin arms, brown bobbed hair, long lashes, and big bright mouth (Lolita 11).” This is how the word “Nymphet” was put to work, Humbert words for his Annabel becomes his outline for the rest of the Nymphets. Humbert considers all his nymphets as a sexual objects for his enjoyment because he is a man who wishes to dominate these girls at such a young and delicate age. “And she was mine, she was mine, the key was in my fist, my fist was in my pocket, she was mine (Lolita 125)” Although this quote is a little later in the book you can almost hear the excitement from Humbert’s voice that he has successfully gained the control ...

    Read More

  • Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    Critics support Lolita’s censorship because they believe protagonist Humbert Humbert’s approval of pedophilia goes unnoticed, even though it is immoral. Critics regard Humbert as an unreliable narrator as he is writing from a jail cell with nothing to do but make excuses for himself. In this way, he paints Dolores Haze, the twelve-year old with whom Humbert is romantically and sexually involved with, as a predator and himself the victim of seduction. This degradation of an innocent child causes anger in critics because in the mindset of most Americans, an older man has more power and sexual drive than a twelve-year old girl. In his blaming of Dolores as the one who initiated sex between the two, Humbert is giving other pedophiles and child molesters a justification to blame innocent children for their evil. Mathew Bruccoli, when commenting on Humbert’s characterization, states, “The way in which Humbert portrays Lolita, for example, weakens her presence and therefore minimizes readers' response to his treatment of her” (1). Those in favor of censorship also present the argument of th...

    Read More

  • Lolita By Vladimir Nabokov versus The Artistic Works Of Balthasar Klossowski De Rola, aka Balthus

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lolita is written as a memoir in the first person by its main character, Humbert Humbert. This is a story that could be viewed in two very different ways, two very different perspectives. One could look at it as a story of a middle age pedophile as evidenced by the quote “Humbert Humbert is without question an honest-to-God, open-and-shut sexual deviant, displaying classic ruthlessness, guile and above all attention to detail.” And the other, of a middle aged man in anguish over his love for a prepubescent girl, a forbidden love. “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. “

    Read More

  • The Book Lolita

    1484 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book Lolita is a highly controversial novel written by Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita tells the story of a man, Humbert Humbert, and his utter infatuation with a young “nymphet” named Lolita. The book and subsequent film adaptations, specifically Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 adaptation and Adrian Lyne’s 1997 adaptation aim to create a feeling of sympathy for the protagonist, Humbert Humbert. Through the use of first person narration, Humbert Humbert is able to manipulate readers with simple inaccuracies, making him an unreliable narrator.

    Read More

  • Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before forming an appropriate opinion on Lolita’s banning, basic knowledge of the text is required. The book received its title from Dolores Haze, a fourteen year old girl, who has become the object of aged Humbert Humbert’s obsessive sexual attention. Humbert falls in love with the innocent “nymphet” at first glance, and marries her mother to remain close to his real love. He begins logging dreams and fantasies of Dolores and himself in a journal, which becomes discovered by his wife who urg...

    Read More

  • Lolita Perspective

    265 Words  | 1 Pages

    Perspective in a work like Lolita is extremely vital and is the defining factor of this novel. Contrary to what the reader might initially expect from a story about a sexual predator, Humbert Humbert presented himself as well-read and comical friend with a minute problem. This idea was shown by the quote from page 93 which stated, “We are unhappy, mild dog-eyed gentlemen, sufficiently well integrated to control our urge in the presence of adults, but ready to give years and years of our life for one chance to touch a nymphet. Emphatically, no killers are we. Poets never kill.” (Nabokov 93) Despite this claim from our narrator, the statement is contradictory to the climax of the novel. When Humbert learned Lolita willingly left the hospital

    Read More

  • Metacognition Essay

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    metacognitive skill the higher their learning and the goal they have set to achieve will be

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Metacognition

    1305 Words  | 3 Pages

    A study “Metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in Undergraduates” by Jennifer McCabe was conducted with the aim of accurate prediction amongst undergraduate students. Although, the reason for the study may seem unclear initially a quote from Jennifer McCabe study stated “If instruction on applied learning and memory topics is associated with increased metacognition and subsequent academic performance, as suggested in prior research, then participants with more in-depth instruction should perform better on the scenarios survey items”. The survey was conducted on two sets of undergraduate students to find out the effect of metacognition in various different learning strategies, the first and second groups consisted of two sets of different students, one set consisting of first year students and the latter consisting of “high performing and mature students”. The second set of students were enlightened on the beneficial values of applying certain kinds of learning strategies before making their choice on which to use while the first set were asked to choose without any form of help or guidance. The metacognitive awareness between both sets was greatly differential when the results of the survey were shown. The second set not only performed well but performed way better than the set of unguided first year students, metacognition being the defining

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Ecognition And Recognition, A Metacognitive Process

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    The learner needs a good attitude and has to be willing to learn or else the process won 't stick," academic procrastination is a motivational problem that involves more than poor time management skills and trait laziness. Procrastinators are difficult to motivate and, therefore are likely to put off doing school assignments and studying for exams" (Eunju, 2008, p.6) ergo students who practice metacognition but do not work to learn outside of it are sure to fail because the lack of knowledge to build upon as a base. Students who are not willing to fortify the fundamentals they have already acquired are guaranteed not to succeed. The process of metacognition may also fail for students who procrastinate because these students have become so accustom to certain habits during lectures, reading or assignments ' that they simple do not know how to learn effectively therefore would not know when to apply the metacognitive strategies, but in the long run the effort put in will reciprocate the final

    Read More

  • Reflection Of The Metacognitive Process

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The metacognitive theory suggests that traditional learning methods are simply not enough for the modern student, and after enduring several weeks of my first college semester, I'd have to agree with the theory. It has become readily apparent to me through my metacognitive studies that in order to acquire mastery over a subject, I must learn actively and pursue my education vigorously. It is simply not enough to study as I once did. It is no longer enough to

    Read More

More about Abortion

Open Document