The World We're In by Will Hutton If you're American, you probably haven't heard of this book. "The World We're In," by British author Will Hutton, is aimed at Britons with the goal of convincing them to join the European Union as full members. As such, it pits positive "European" democracy and capitalism against the less positive "American" versions. (Specifically, Hutton is attacking conservative American ideology, but in the end, this doesn't matter so much; see below). I'll give the book a "+", but for rather complicated reasons. This book is a classic example of taking two gray objects, then painting one black and one white. Lily-pure Europeembodies compassion, growth without exploitation, and a clear long-term vision for an enlightened society. Vulgar (conservative) America represents unbalanced greed, questionable morals, and zeal for short-term profit at the expense of mature planning. (Can we get any more stereotyped?) Hutton notes in a few places that America has its merits and the EU "has yet to achieve its full potential", but why sweat the details of these two gray objects? One is clearly black, and the other white. Britain is heading down the wrong path, and Hutton aims to sound the alarm so that it can get back on track. If you can get past the rhetoric and unabashed European haughtiness, Hutton does make some interesting and worthwhile points. His analysis of American capitalism is a different view than you will get in the Wall Street Journal or even the New York Times. His biting criticism of America's recent tendency toward unilateralism and... ... middle of paper ... ...euro). He argues convincingly that the left has a vested interest in encouraging the emergence of a democratic, federal European Union. The right and capital have all the Europe they need. Labour and civil society need much "more Europe" to achieve their goals. This is why the left should be leading the demand for a democratic, federal constitution for the EU. This should include the right of citizens to elect future President of the Commission, an end to secretive, inter-governmental law making by EU governments in favour of an open, Parliament style legislature in Brussels, giving the already agreed Charter of Fundamental Rights legal force and many other reforms. Who knows, the next step could be the development of a serious trans-national European left with a strategy and programme for democratic global governance.
David W. Blight's book Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory and the American Civil War, is an intriguing look back into the Civil War era which is very heavily studied but misunderstood according to Blight. Blight focuses on how memory shapes history Blight feels, while the Civil War accomplished it goal of abolishing slavery, it fell short of its ultimate potential to pave the way for equality. Blight attempts to prove that the Civil War does little to bring equality to blacks. This book is a composite of twelve essays which are spilt into three parts. The Preludes describe blacks during the era before the Civil War and their struggle to over come slavery and describes the causes, course and consequences of the war. Problems in Civil War memory describes black history and deals with how during and after the war Americans seemed to forget the true meaning of the war which was race. And the postludes describes some for the leaders of black society and how they are attempting to keep the memory and the real meaning of the Civil War alive and explains the purpose of studying historical memory.
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is the story of an African boy, Kek, who loses his father and a brother and flees, leaving his mother to secure his safety. Kek, now in Minnesota, is faced with difficulties of adapting to a new life and of finding his lost mother. He believes that his mother still lives and would soon join him in the new found family. Kek is taken from the airport by a caregiver who takes him to live with his aunt. It is here that Kek meets all that amazed him compared to his home in Sudan, Africa. Home of the brave shows conflicts that Kek faces. He is caught between two worlds, Africa and America. He feels guilty leaving behind his people to live in a distant land especially his mother, who he left in the midst of an attack.
In the poem “It’s a Woman’s World” Eavan Boland reveals a complex conception about a woman’s world. She explains her though process when she sees her fellow neighbor. In explaining her process, she uses multiple devices that helps the reader understand her point of view.
In human history, war has been part of our lives; it has almost become a natural occurrence. Humans have experienced different types of war from internal and external wars. During times of war, our notion of security is threatened because an incident disrupts what we consider as normal. According to Ella Shohat, war creates binaries where people are unable to occupy multiple identities. However, we see that this is the nature of human society especially during times of “crisis”. During such times, society creates the binary notion of “us vs. them”; “us” are people who identify with the norm and are not seen as deviants, where “them” are people who are seen as “the others”, those who do not conform to our societal expectations. The others are seen as a national threat to the security of the nation state. To understand Shohat’s perspective as a victim of binarisms, analysis of the creation of “us vs. them” is critical in comprehending the oppressions that binaries create. Furthermore, we must explore what and who are threats to norms of society especially when the nation-state declares a “state of emergency”. Lastly, the ideas of borders are important to comprehend binarism and the notion of security. By addressing such issues, one is able to have a better grasp of oppressions created by nation-state especially during war times. The master utilizes these tools to create and reproduce oppression in the nation state.
Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” highlights the theme of society and individualism. Huxley uses the future world and its inhabitants to represents conflict of how the replacement of stability in place of individualism produces adverse side effects. Each society has individuals ranging from various jobs and occupations and diverse personalities and thoughts. Every member contributes to society in his or her own way. However, when people’s individuality is repressed, the whole concept of humanity is destroyed. In Huxley’s “Brave New World”, the concept of individualism is lost through hyperbolized physical and physiological training, the artificial birth and caste system, and the censorship of religion and literature by a suppressing government.
John Cheever’s story “The Swimmer” depicts a protaganist, and the society that has nurtured him, as lacking in seriousness and responsibility. Neddy, the bewildered protagonist, represents a society satirized for centering its values on social status and materialism. During the course of Neddy’s journey, the illusions he has constructed about his life are stripped away, and in the process the truth behind his society is realized. In unveiling the tragedy of Neddy’s existence, Cheever reveals the unworthiness of an unexamined life.
The use of “Brave New Worlds” John allows powerful insight into the deep-rooted flaws of society. John’s character allows for the establishment of character ideals, as he is the only one to have a relevant view of what life outside of the domineering society of the Brave New World. Huxley allows these view to shine, as illustrated by John’s infatuation with this new world, his them dissatisfaction and isolation, and finally his eventual suicide the World State is demonstrated, meaningful relationship, high art, and true raw human emotion and a higher religious power.
The American Dream has never been available to minority citizens as easily as it is to American-born citizens. Affirmative action was first implemented around the year 1972, however it was not widely accepted or practiced. During this time society was just getting used to including women in higher education institutions so the concept of including minorities in higher education was almost non-existent. My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor shows the challenges that a first generation, Puerto Rican, lower socioeconomic female had during this time. Through her autobiography she shows the struggles she faced throughout her life, focusing on her application to college, college experience and insight into her cultural background. My Beloved World present the ideology of White Supremacy and other phenomenon’s such as structural inequality, and socioeconomic inequality that interfere with Sonia’s inability to receive preparation for college and these things show the that America has not made good on its promise of equal opportunity for all.
In the essay “Everything Now” Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, author Steve McKevitt blames our unhappiness on having everything we need and want, given to us now. While his writing is compelling, he changes his main point as his conclusion doesn’t match his introduction. He uses “want versus need” (145) as a main point, but doesn’t agree what needs or wants are, and uses a psychological theory that is criticized for being simplistic and incomplete. McKevitt’s use of humor later in the essay doesn’t fit with the subject of the article and comes across almost satirical. Ultimately, this essay is ineffective because the author’s main point is inconsistent and poorly conveyed.
Owen Reeder, you may think of nothing when you hear the name but his story is just about to begin. Owen was a freshman in high school, his father was the kind of man who wouldn't do anything for the boy. The story begins when Owen was attacked by a boy named Gordan for some things he had wrote about in the school paper. While he was running I suddenly felt a tug at his waist, his feet and arms flew forward and he was suspended in mid air when he heard a whisper. "Courage, Owen." He fell to the ground and when he looked up he saw a pit 10ft deep with metal pipes at the bottom. When he got home his father wasn't there but he had left the music one. Owen turned off the music and stood before the fireplace listening and scanning the store. That's
The words we use, define our feelings on certain subjects, and entitles to who we are as a society. One can figure out how someone feels just by observing how many times they have tweeted or posted about their emotions on social media. The trending words used on the internet is affecting individualism, increases demoralization and governmentalization. David Brooks writes an article based on the changes that he is noticing and shares the story of how society has turned out to be more individualistic. Brooks focuses on the fact that reducing the government’s size would not change anything, because the problem is in the cultural values that are in our society.
The World Without Us book is about what the world would be like after the human interference is gone. Alan Weisman is the author that is worried about our future, and wants to help with the thought experiments, we can draw some important conclusions on how our behavior must change for us to have a healthy place to live. Alan Weisman is trying to make a revision of the future Earth without any type of human obstruction. The book mainly forces on how we can rebuild nature and improve our environment to preserve for future. The author talks about how cities and houses would be destroyed, and how remaining lifeforms would mostly evolve. Alan Weisman predicts that the communities would become forests within a span of 500 years. Weisman talks about
"Listen to me. I want you to go, just walk out that door and never
After watching 21 Bringing Down the House and comparing the movie to the novel by Ben Mezrich I noticed a number of distinct differences. The movies whole team is not portrayed accurately while in the book they are mostly asian students the movie consists of white students. The leader of the group Micky is played by Kevin Spacey and does not portray him similar to the book. In the movie he is more aggressive to the team and focused on money. In the book he is more kind and is focused on teaching the team. Rather than leaving Micky out of the team like the book they get into an argument and decide to cut him out. A few other parts of the movie are also greatly dramaticized such as the backroom investigations. While in the book they state that
It is evident that not all young people are resilient when it comes to dealing with life's challenges, as it was displayed in the book The Wave' written by Morton Rhue. There were a majority of students who were not resilient with the wave and the challenges that emerged from it, such as Amy, Robert and David. The student that was surprisingly resilient was Laurie, who was also the main character of the story. Laurie was mentally and also physically strong at dealing with the consequences that upshot from the wave Such as the isolation from the entire school and her best friend, the break-up with her boyfriend and the discrimination and violence of being and as being an outsider'.