Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Polygamy in America today
Merits and demerits of polygamy
An essay on traditional marriage
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Polygamy in America today
The Slippery Slope of Gay Marriage
AFTER GAY MARRIAGE, what will become of marriage itself? Will same-sex matrimony extend marriage's stabilizing effects to homosexuals? Will gay marriage undermine family life? A lot is riding on the answers to these questions. But the media's reflexive labeling of doubts about gay marriage as homophobia has made it almost impossible to debate the social effects of this reform. Now with the Supreme Court's ringing affirmation of sexual liberty in Lawrence v. Texas, that debate is unavoidable.
Among the likeliest effects of gay marriage is to take us down a slippery slope to legalized polygamy and "polyamory" (group marriage). Marriage will be transformed into a variety of relationship contracts, linking two, three, or more individuals (however weakly and temporarily) in every conceivable combination of male and female. A scare scenario? Hardly. The bottom of this slope is visible from where we stand. Advocacy of legalized polygamy is growing. A network of grass-roots organizations seeking legal recognition for group marriage already exists. The cause of legalized group marriage is championed by a powerful faction of family law specialists. Influential legal bodies in both the United States and Canada have presented radical programs of marital reform. Some of these quasi-governmental proposals go so far as to suggest the abolition of marriage. The ideas behind this movement have already achieved surprising influence with a promi...
The book 12 Years a Slave follows the story of Solomon Northup, a free man that was sold into slavery in 1841. The work describes his inner most thoughts and feelings as he finds himself being beaten and forced to work. He is given a new name that robs him of his identity and pushes him to forget about his freedom in New York as well as the family that he left behind. The book discusses the depth of slavery and what went on in Solomon’s twelve years of entrapment. It also explores the lives of other slaves and how they were treated by their masters. Throughout the book, these characters demonstrate the ups and downs of slavery as well as the reality of being held captive. Overall, Solomon Northup's book depicts the diversity in tasks and treatment
Introduction A century ago, divorce was nearly non-existent due to the cultural and religious pressures placed upon married couples. Though over time Canadians have generally become more tolerant of what was once considered ‘mortal sin’, marital separation and divorce still remain very taboo topics in society. Political leaders are frowned upon when their marriages’ crumble, religions isolate and shun those who break their martial vows, and people continue to look down on those who proceed to legally separate their households. With that being said, couples do not just decide to get a divorce for no particular reason. There must be something driving them towards marital dissatisfaction and further, driving them towards divorce.
In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, the main character, Okonkwo, is faced with the destruction of his culture through the changes of African Colonization. Okonkwo is the strongest member of his clan. At a young, he fought his way up the societal ladder to become something from nothing. As time passes, the Western cultures’ ideas force Okonkwo to the limits of his cultural boundaries. Okonkwo realizes that in a new society ruled by Western influence that the old ways of his clan, violence and hate, are not going to regain control over the people of Umuofia. With Okonkwo’s past of extreme violence, his fight for the old traditions of the Igbo culture cannot withstand the cultural collision between the Western missionary’s ideas and the Igbo’s ideas which inevitably leads to his undoing.
As a child, the unknown spaces of Africa enchanted Marlow. He would often lose himself “...in all the glories of exploration” (Conrad 21). As an adult Marlow, after shining light on those dark unknown spaces of Africa and it was no longer a blank space on a map, but a place of darkness, there was still one river that charmed him, “...a mighty big river, that you could see in a map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, and its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land” (Conrad 22). The river that charmed Marlow in his boyhood, allowed access into the heart of the African continent. As the main method of the Europeans transportation, travelling along the river enables Marlow to see both sides of the continent, the natives and the evil doings of Mr Kurtz. Marlow is able to see the truths of the evil in the world and where they reign. Marlow went into the Congo as an innocent sailor and after meeting Kurtz and listening to his ideas, “turned to the wilderness, not to Mr Kurtz, who...was as good as buried. And for a moment it seemed to [Marlow] that [he] was also buried in a vast grave of unspeakable secrets. [He] felt an intolerable weight oppressing on [his] breast, the smell of the damp earth, the unseen presence of victorious corruption, the darkness of an impenetrable night” (Conrad
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is based on Conrad’s firsthand experience of the Congo region of West Africa. Conrad was actually sent up the Congo River to an inner station to rescue a company agent who died a few days later aboard ship. The story is told by a seaman named Charlie Marlow and is rearranged through the thoughts of an unidentified listening narrator. This story, on level, is simply about a voyage into the heart of the Congo. On another level, it is about the journey into the soul of mankind.
Life in London set a cushion for its citizens, “with solid pavement under your feet, surrounded by kind neighbors ready to cheer you or to fall you, stepping delicately between the butcher and the policeman, in the holy terror of scandal and gallows and lunatic asylums.” On the other hand, once a man enters the Congo, he is all alone. No policeman, no “warning voice of a kind neighbor,” -- no one. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness sets Marlow on a journey in the Congo, where he realizes the environment he comes from is not reality, but an illusion hiding true human nature. His arrival at the First Station is his first exposure to the Congo where a horrid reality and naïve mentality is revealed -- a comparison of darkness and light.
Heart of Darkness follows protagonist Charlie Marlow, a riverboat captain, as he relays the story of his time in the Congo to a group of men sitting around a camp fire. Marlow’s story revolves around his journey down the Congo River during the 1890s, and everything he experienced while there. The New Historicism lens lends itself particularly well to this text because of the various elements visible in it that were impacted by historical events. The economic, political, and social conditions of the Belgian Congo in the 1890s influenced the themes, characters, and narrative of the text, Heart of Darkness. Through these aspects of the time period reflected in the text, Conrad criticizes European Colonialism.
Pain and strength are ways of hiding the truth. Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonwo who’s name becomes tarnished by his actions. From him beating his wives during the “Week of Peace” to killing an innocent boy. The need to appear masculine can exacerbate deeper routed issues and cause more problems.
The novel Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad begins on the deck of the Nellie, a British ship anchored on the coast of the Thames. Marlow begins telling three men about a time he journeyed in a steamboat up the Congo River and uncovered the savagery that can consume mankind's heart. However, in order to engage the reader the author employed literary devices that allow vivid details to emerge in one's mind. For instance, the way in which the author tells the story of Marlow's encounter with Kurtz causes the reader to contemplate the questionable actions and motives of people. Also Marlow's journey through the Congo reveals the darkness enmeshed in the river that is “fascinating-deadly-like a snake”, which plays a huge part in allowing the audience
In the beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to Marlow while he is on a boat floating on the flooded waters, but the Thames River is described as being responsible for “the flood” (Conrad 65). Likewise, the flooding of the river can be viewed as symbolism for the flooding of Marlow’s conscience with thoughts and regrets after his journey into the darkness. Marlow begins to reflect on his actions and on the reason behind why he lied to Kurtz’s Intended. While the men around him listen to him telling the story, it seems that Marlow recounts the story more for himself, in order for him to reassure himself of his sanity in not telling the Intended the truth. Had Marlow told the truth he feels that he would have tainted her with darkness, and it would be “too dark-too dark althoughter” (Conrad 164), thus he chooses to keep the burden for himself, in an attempt to preserve whatever sanity she has left. Additionally, The Congo River is the symbol for the path to and from the darkness, or the insanity that people like Kurtz were driven to. Although Marlow is able to survive the trip and makes it back, he is only sane on the surface. Kurtz on the other hand, was stationed inside of the darkness, surrounded by temptation and corrupted, for far longer than Marlow. His large ambition for ivory transformed him from a
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Conrad depicts Marlow and his journey into the Congo as a journey into the actual subconscious in order to show that once a person loses sight of his morals, a more primal, savage personality emerges.
In summary, I was greatly impressed by the lengths to which Watkins went to make his film feel as though it were not depicting fictitious events. Through his effort to make the viewer feel as though they were witnessing firsthand the horrors of atomic warfare, Watkins was able to achieve a level of realism that was immensely successful in promoting his antiwar sentiments. As an aspiring film maker, War Game led me to expand the boundaries of what I consider to be documentary, and forcefully illustrated the effectiveness of documentary in persuasion, regardless of whether the content is entirely based in
Darkness, in whatever form, exists in the hearts of all mankind no matter what race, religion, or background. When one is separated from their source, home, and culture, the darkness of their heart can often lead to displays of greed, madness, distortion, and evil. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the author uses the Congo River as a symbol to show the importance of Interiors and Exteriors in Marlow’s journey and ultimately how he is able to resist the darkness within himself.
“It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery—a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It had become a place of darkness (Conrad 12)." Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” does not solely explore the physical journey up the Congo River but it presents an inward journey into the heart of the individual. On the surface, the novella retells a story of a seaman named Marlow who travels up the Congo river to meet the enigmatic ivory trader, Kurtz. Ever since childhood, Marlow was enthralled by the unknown parts of the world specifically Africa. Upon his journey into the Congo, his views begin to change as he encountered scenes of brutality, greed, and chaos. Joseph Conrad uses several stylistic devices such as light vs dark imagery,
As we have believed, there are many socioeconomic factors that play important roles on people’s accessibility to purchase fresh and healthy foods. The concept of “access” have broken down into three different categories, ability, asset, and attitude (Shaw, 2006). Shaw (2006) has defined ability as “physically prevents access to food which a consumer otherwise has the financial resources to purchase and the mental desire to buy” (p. 242). It means that people have money and want to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, however, there is not any place to do the purchasings. Lack of ability to fresh and healthy foods is one of socioeconomic factors we have considered in this research, which also as defined as people could not access fresh and healthy foods within the parameters of 2 miles for urban residents and up to 10 miles for rural residents (Walsh, 2011). It is important for researchers to understand the relationships between ability to healthy foods and the levels of food deserts and fast food density, because the levels of ability to fresh, and healthy foods will affect people’s