Human beings can always rely on one constant in the shifting and often dangerous world around them: the consistency of change. Over thousands of years our race has evolved, shifting from uneducated hunters and gathers into basic city dwellers and finally, in the last couple of centuries, into the first “modern” humans. This final step has been by far the most challenging as people were forced to persevere through the most challenging of circumstances as Europe and America underwent their Industrial Revolutions. During this time period the population of cities exponentially increased, and more and more workers poured into these urban centers in search of a better life. Trade increased, as did the efficiency and technology of industry as a whole. Yet despite this overall advance of society, this time period was one full of both hardship and suffering for many of the poor as the first of these major cities were corrupted with gluttony and hunger. Disease also became a major concern, as the vast increase in population brought to light the lack of housing and sanitation needed to support the amount of people that were now living inside of the city limits. Even with the constant struggle that came with living in such a dense urban center, the sense of pride that gave people the endurance to continue is perfectly illustrated in Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago.” That sense of community despite the negative influences of the world around them can also be seen in modern times with the shipbreakers in India, who live in similar circumstances as the factory workers in nineteenth and twentieth century America. As the same issues of health and safety are called into question, we must ask ourselves a simple question: do we have the right to step in and... ... middle of paper ... ...workers of the shipyard from harm. Others in India say that they simply need to go through the same growing pains that took place in the USA in the 19th and 20th century. In my opinion, the proper course of action to take with this issue is relatively simple: we must try as hard as we can to show India what regulations and laws were successful as America developed as a country. At the very least we could try to get India to impose a minimum wage or something like it, but at the end of the day it is their choice whether or not they decide to take our advice. Like a parent who is forced to sit back and watch their college bound child make the same mistakes they did, we must also honor their individual right to govern themselves and make the proper decisions. Everybody, including governments, makes mistakes, and what is important is what they do to correct their ways.
David, Kyvig E. Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939: Decades of Promise and Pain. Westport: Greenwood P, 2002.
[1] Since the dawning of the industrial revolution, producing the stratification of socioeconomic status into a competitive class hierarchy never before seen, conflict theorists have appeared to define the unjust. From William Blake’s poetry to Karl Marx’ manifestos, from Bethlehem steel strikes to the current Labor Party, from Fidel Castro to the Mexican Zapatista movement, from Lenin to Mao Tse Tung, from the Molly Maguires to Jimmy Hoffa, the desire to upgrade the conditions of the working class have had a continual role in justifying violence, providing an equilibrium to keep capital interests in check, motivated whole countries to gain newly instituted political leaders and formats of rule, even in offering some form of purpose for, identity with, and release of violent rage inside the tribal nature of humans in a world of disintegrating, or disintegrated, tribes. The question of the new millennium might very well be whether or not humans can live without enemies. In a country, if not a world, with creature comforts easily secured, labor issues becoming obsolete, where will modern man direct his barbaric energy?
From the beginning of the story, a dreary gray New York is painted in one's mind with a depressing saddened tone of the bustling metropolis. It is a city flooded with immigrant workers hoping to better their lives and their c...
Throughout history, social and economic affairs have separated people into the rich and poor, with those in authoritative roles struggling to defend their position. Those in power have often taken advantage of those under them. In Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, severe droughts led to massive agricultural collapse in Oklahoma. The Joads were forced to leave their home in search of employment opportunities in California. Migrants often faced prejudice and aggression from the Californians. Landowners, taking advantage of the migrants desperate need for work, often treated them poorly, paying them wages too low to live on and containing them within dirty camps. Workers suffering was not only evoked the failing land, but by human heartlessness towards one another. Large banks and businesses ignored the fact that “… a majority of the people are hungry and cold…” (Steinbeck 238) Large corporations were only concerned with their own financial prospects and not the well being of the people. In Miller’s Deat...
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W.
The late 19th century was a time where cities in the United States experienced dramatic growth. The increase in population during this time was a result of the expanding commercial aspects. Migrant immigrants from various parts of the world accounted for an additional 15 million civilians among townships, cities and bureaus in the United States. Industrial America, as this time period is often referred to, was owed the radical change of the nation. The mass influx of people had their demands, which helped the boom of music, technology, and motor vehicles. With all the advancements occurring so rapidly in The States, important issues still lingered and were addressed throughout the lifetime of a woman named Jane Addams. Throughout this paper
...n social planning and happiness for the individual. A town is recognized for the individuals who live in it, not the business it seems to incorporate. Pullman had a disillusioned, egotistical regard for his workers. When asked about his intentions on building the model town, he commented: “Capital will not invest in sentiment, nor for sentimental considerations for the laboring class. But let it once be proved that enterprises of this kind are safe and profitable and we shall see great manufacturing corporations developing similar enterprises and thus a new era will be introduced in the history of labor.” Pullman never seemed to grasp how a workingman’s happiness must be fulfilled on a much deeper level than his mere physical settings. The leisurely enjoyment of oneself as well as an overall establishment of identity was the key. When Pullman planned his model town, it was a dream which he envisioned for himself. A dream which would increase his wealth, improve his business and make him renowned. In his heart, he might have never intentionally wanted to socially deprive his work force; it just so happened that the planning of the town did not take this into proper consideration.
“The Jungle,” written by Upton Sinclair in 1906, describes how the life and challenges of immigrants in the United States affected their emotional and physical state, as well as relationships with others. The working class was contrasted to wealthy and powerful individuals who controlled numerous industries and activities in the community. The world was always divided into these two categories of people, those controlling the world and holding the majority of the power, and those being subjected to them. Sinclair succeeded to show this social gap by using the example of the meatpacking industry. He explained the terrible and unsafe working conditions workers in the US were subjected to and the increasing rate of corruption, which created the feeling of hopelessness among the working class.
Point of view is an essential element to a reader's comprehension of a story. The point of view shows how the narrator thinks, speaks, and feels about any particular situation. In Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," the events are told through the eyes of a young, mischievous girl named Sylvia who lives in a lower class neighborhood. The reader gets a limited point of view of view because the events are told strictly by Sylvia. This fact can influence the reader to see things just as she does. The strong language gives an unfamiliar reader an illustration of how people in the city speak. Bambara does this to show the reader that kids from lower class neighborhoods are affected by their environment due to lack of education and discipline, that how different one part of society is from another, and that kids learn from experience. We also get an insight of Sylvia’s feisty, rebellious nature and her lack of respect towards people with an education.
To sum up, Union Carbide handled the crisis cleverly but not well enough because it knew what would the India government and court react to this incident. Union Carbide controlled the whole situation and took lead of the lawsuits itself. The India government and court didn¡¦t help those victims as much as they needed instead. The function of government, designed to protect its people, disappeared in this case.
In Jane Jacobs’s acclaimed The Life and Death of Great American Cities, she intricately articulates urban blight and the ills of metropolitan society by addressing several binaries throughout the course of the text. One of the more culturally significant binaries that Jacobs relies on in her narrative is the effectively paradoxical relationship between diversity and homogeneity in urban environments at the time. In particular, beginning in Chapter 12 throughout Chapter 13, Jacobs is concerned greatly with debunking widely held misconceptions about urban diversity.
The history of American civilization is the story of the rise and fall of the great American Dream. ‘The Progressive Era’ and ‘The Great Depression’ were the two prominent phases of American Civilization. The progress era witnessed the ideals of harmonious human community largely operative to bring the Dream of prosperity to core reality. The poverty, stagnation, pessimism and imperfection were considered un-American words whereas the depression decades shook ‘greatest society on the earth’. The ‘chosen few’ of ‘promise land’ realized poverty stagnation pessimism and imperfection which were inbuilt in its structure.
Many people in the world must face challenges both big and small, although some problems are harder to overcome than others. Families faced troubles when escaping North Korea, facing the dust bowl, and climbing out of the black hole of poverty. When escaping North Korea, families had to outwit different police in different places just to gain freedom, and had to lie and bribe just to get a good, honest, better life (Lee). On the other hand, shared in the movie “THE DUST BOWL” while facing the dust bowl, people left their homes, or otherwise was forced to stay and see their land, money, and lives devastated. Meanwhile, climbing out of the black hole of poverty is almost impossible to escape with a poor education due to tiny amounts of money
A single decision can be the difference between life and death, joy and sadness, success and failure. Once a choice is made and executed, the result is a ripple effect so strong that even the maker of the decision cannot comprehend the magnitude of its impact. Divorce, the ending of a regretful marriage, is one such decision that impacted me. Waves of grief overtook my days and all I felt was rage. Uncontrolled, heated rage that turned my blood into fire, which I wanted to spit at my parents. Other times I felt numb and would soak my pillow in tears, dissipating my night into nothingness. However, I realized that if rather my focus turned to the better portion of history, and if there was a way to watch past days like a movie, I would witness a heart-warming production.
...pression. This social hindrance continues to modern day in a depiction of learned values and discriminatory beliefs. The American west is considered a dangerous terrain with even harsher social conditions for anyone unwilling to conform to the inherent beliefs of patriarchal superiority and the insistent fear of people pushing the societal boundaries. However, because of the transformative occurrence of those willing to work outside of their comfort zone as well as the increase in behaviors considered unmentionable, a substantial transition arises in order to shake the binds presented by a close-minded society to allow a shift in who can work and how they are allowed to appear. Eastern values began to be rewritten in order to form a new progressive era in Anglo-American belief, but not without challenging the practices of Native Americans and marginalized citizens.