In the essay “Is the Earth Round or Flat?” by Alan Lightman, published in 1996 in the essay collection Dance for Two, Lightman asks if we have wrongly assumed that the Earth is round just because we have been taught this. He starts the essay by addressing the readers and asks them to think about how many people “believe what they hear” and think nothing more of it. He uses the example that most of people have never proved that the world isn’t flat because that’s what they have been taught since a young age, and most people believe what they’ve been taught. Lightman then proceeds to explain how scientists like Aristotle and Eratosthenes proved how the Earth is round. This portion of the essay takes up about half of the essay. This leads Lightman
Hutch, the main character of The Big Field, has played baseball all of his life. He has always played shortstop, the same position that his father dreamed of playing as a professional. “Hutch, had always thought of himself as the captain of any infield he’d ever been a part of” (Lupica 1). Hutch finds himself being demoted to second base because there is another player, Darryl, on his new team that is expected to go pro and also plays shortstop. Hutch struggles because he does not want to play second base and his father does not support him because he does not want baseball to break Hutch’s dreams like it did his own. Hutch is betrayed by his father and Darryl when he finds them practicing together. Hutch has to learn to adjust and eventually becomes friends with Darryl, the up and coming shortstop. He understands that if he wants to win, then he needs to work together with Darryl. His father also comes around and finally gives Hutch his approval. Students should read this book in a high school English classroom because it demonstrates how relationships can be difficult, but teamwork can help to solve many issues.
The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.
The book I read was The Island by Gary Paulsen. It is about a 15 year
In the year 1625, Francis Bacon, a famous essayist and poet wrote about the influences of fear on everyday life. He stated, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other” (Essays Dedication of Death). Clearly, external surroundings affect perceptions of fear as well as human nature in general. Although C.S. Lewis published the novel, Out of the Silent Planet, over three centuries after Bacon wrote his theory on fear, Lewis similarly portrayed external surrounding to manipulate perceptions of fear. From the first chapter of the novel, Lewis revealed fear to be a weakness that leads to ignorance. It was this ignorance that apparently fueled the cycle of corruption and immorality on “The Silent Planet.” Using the character Ransom to reveal the effect of memory and morality on fear, C.S. Lewis demonstrates that fear is a quality of the “bent” race (humans), and only by eliminating fear in our lives can the human race become hnau.
Life is a complicated process. It’s filled with many things that keep it interesting but at the same time, very dull. Life’s what you make it and for many, it’s something we all strive for. In the story, The Space Between, the author takes full advantage of the premise as there’s rarely a dull moment- as in life. The book is filled with many literary devices that work nicely with the plot and dialogue. These include; metaphors, similes, irony, personification, and many more. We follow a young man who is finding his way in the world. He has only a week to change his life for the better. But he will face many obstacles on the way that brings the readers into a startling and fun journey.
Faith and Other Flat Tires is the story of Andrea Palpant Dilley’s journey through her religion. Raised in Kenya by Quaker missionary parents, Dilley had assumed her religion was already laid out for her. Her father was a priest, and her mother was a devout Christian. She dressed up as Amy Carmichael, a Christian missionary, for Halloween, stayed involved with her church community, and chose to get baptized herself. After her baptism, Dilley felt spiritually fulfilled. She describes the experience, “In that moment, I felt the blessing of a priest upon me. The feeling of being known and understood. The feeling of belonging to God’s great cosmos” (Dilley 53). However, as Andrea Dilley matures and learns to recognize the problems within the world, she loses sight of her devotion to God.
Anthony Doerr’s novel, “All The Light We Cannot See” is a historical fiction novel centering around Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, and Werner, an orphaned German prodigy, during World War II. The story follows these unfortunate characters throughout their lives, though their ultimate encounter, and through the following relationship that develops. Justin-Siena rightfully selected “All The Light We Cannot See” as their summer read book this year. The moral lessons derived from the novel are important for students to understand. Additionally, Doerr’s unique storyline and writing style teaches students that a novel can be complex and innovative whilst retaining interest.
Science and Technology have a strong influence on the daily lives of the citizens in the world state. The first influence is through the use of drugs and in particular, soma. Soma is a drug that is used in the world state by everyone to create false happiness. When john, Bernard and Helmholtz meet Mustafa mond the leader of the world state, Mond explains the beneficial effects of simply consuming one drug on a daily basis. “Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your mortality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that’s what soma is.” (Helmholtz, 162) In the world state, there is only praise for the drug known as soma, as there are no side effects the members of society fear of. Science and technology has reached a point where it allows a simple tablet to relieve its citizens of any sort of problem that they may encounter. Furthermore Soma is produced in large quantities for consumption in order to suppress understanding of what is around the members of society. Secondly, along with the Soma consumption, the citizens are also influenced by science in everyday life by not being able to gain knowledge. methods of gaining knowledge include: reading books or anything that promotes an idea. Using technology, the world state prohibits any type of reading. When small children are being conditioned to keep away from books, the procedure is presented, “Crumpling the illuminated pages of the books, the director waited until all were happily busy. Then, ‘Watch carefully,’ he said. And, lifting his hand, he gave the signal... There was a violent explosion... The children screamed; their faces were distorted with terror.” (16) even at a young age...
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World introduces us to a futuristic technological world where monogamy is shunned, science is used in order to maintain stability, and society is divided by 5 castes consisting of alphas(highest), betas, gammas, deltas, and epsilons(lowest). In the Brave New World, the author demonstrates how society mandates people’s beliefs using many characters throughout the novel.
The book, “All the Light We Cannot See” is based during World War ll. Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris, who is a locksmith for the Museum of Natural History. Marie-Laure goes blind at the age of 6, which leads her father to build a wooden replica of their city. Marie’s father is entrusted with a precious diamond, the Sea of Flames, so Marie and her father go deliver this stone to an old friend. Werner lived with his sister, in an orphanage. He is very gifted with science and mechanics; he fixes a Nazi’s radio, which then gets him an offer to go to the Nazi’s school. The man Marie’s father wanted to give the diamond to, was sent to London, so the two head off to her great uncle’s house. Father is called back to the museum,
Since the beginning of the semester, the main idea of the class has been to demonstrate how “life imitates art more than art imitates life” (Wilde 10). To shaping this idea, the first work read in class was the play, The Shape of Things, by Neil LaBute. From reading this play, the class was able to dive into the rest of our literary works having a clear understanding of how art can change us. From the idea presented, each student was able to come to a conclusion about how influential art was to our lives. Personally, before starting the class I did not believe art could influence life more than life could influence art, but after starting the class and almost completing it, I now have a different viewpoint on how influential art is to our daily lives. When deciding upon which two primary sources to use, I wanted to demonstrate how powerful art was in shaping who we could become. The Shape of Things and My Fair Lady seemed to be able to demonstrate my point the clearest. In both works, the main character changes identities due to the events that take place. While the outcomes can be established as either being positive or negative, the transformation of the characters is clear: both characters are largely impacted by the artful events happening surrounding them.
Brave New World, a novel written by Aldous Huxley, can be compared and contrasted with an episode of The Twilight Zone, a fantasy, science-fiction television series, called “Number 12 Looks Just Like You.” Brave New World is a highly regarded and renowned work of literature as The Twilight Zone is considered one of the greatest television series of all time. Brave New World and The Twilight Zone’s episode “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” can be compared and contrasted on the basis of science, youth, and the government.
Utopia as a text is a clear reflection and representation of More’s passion for ideas and art. Through the character of Raphael, More projects and presents his ideas, concepts and beliefs of politics and society. More’s Utopia aims to create a statement on the operations and effectiveness of the society of England. This text is a general reflection of More’s idea of a perfectly balanced and harmonious society. His ideas and concepts of society somewhat contrast to the rest of 16th century England and indicate a mind that was far ahead of its time. A number of issues and themes are raised throughout the text to which More provides varying views and opinions. These are transmitted and projected through the perspectives of the fictional Raphael, More and Giles.
“Robbie” by Isaac Asimov is a short story that takes place in 1998. When this story was written in 1965, the futuristic elements were extremely profound and one could see how the reader might agree with Asimov’s interpretation of the future. His world is detailed, including news events about manned Mars missions, futuristic technology, a technological code of ethics, or the ‘Three Laws of Robotics,’ and convincing personal relationships. However, Asimov got it backwards. Many elements in his world are still science fiction today and while robots do exist in 2010, Asimov’s robots are far more advanced in some areas and far more deficient in others. Although Asimov’s world contained many convincing elements, it was ultimately flawed and suggests that mankind’s predictions of the future are not always accurate.
The book, The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman draws attention to some very good points concerning globalization and the world economy today. Friedman emphasizes the status of America today in relation to the other countries of the world. As I looked at the things in which he warned about or highlighted, I realized the importance of this issue. He talks about a few aspects in which need to be kept competitive in order for America to retain their current standing in the world market.