I would like to begin this evening by welcoming all of my classmates, staff, parents and guardians, the school board and superintendent, friends, and relatives to the commencement of the class of 2012. Commencement is a critical juncture in our lives; it is a momentous occasion where we believe we are about to start anew. However, graduation is the bittersweet moment where the forces of past and future are simultaneously acting on us. Consequently, the past is not dead. Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
Ishmael - The Destruction Continues Ishmael The Biblical depiction of Adam and Eve's "fall" builds the foundation of Daniel Quinn's novel, Ishmael. In this adventure of the spirit, a telepathic gorilla, Ishmael, uses the history of Biblical characters in order to explain his philosophy on saving the world. Attracting his final student, the narrator of the novel, with an advertisement "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person," Ishmael counsels the narrator
Robinson Crusoe and the Protestant Work Ethic The story of Robinson Crusoe is, in a very obvious sense, a morality story about a wayward but typical youth of no particular talent whose life turned out all right in the end because he discovered the importance of the values that really matter. The values that he discovers are those associated with the Protestant Work Ethic, those virtues which arise out of the Puritan’s sense of the religious life as a total commitment to a calling, unremitting
Daniel Elazar, Bogus or Brilliant: A Study of Political Culture Across the American States American states each have individual political cultures which are important to our understanding of their political environments, behavior, and responses to particular issues. While voters probably do not consciously think about political culture and conform to that culture on election day, they seem to form cohesive clusters in different areas of the state, creating similar group political ideologies
Character Transformation in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe "Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when I sunk into the water; for though I swam very well, yet I could not deliver myself from the waves so as to draw breath, till that wave having driven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards the shore and, having spent itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost dry, but half dead with the water I took in" (48). These are the words of a man for whom Mother
Daniel Fahrenheit Daniel Fahrenheit was born in the Polish city of Gdansk on the 14th of May 1686. He was the oldest of five children and only fifteen when his parents both died. The city council put the four younger Fahrenheit children in foster homes. But Daniel Fahrenheit was instead to complete a four year apprenticeship in which he learnt about bookkeeping. After his four years were over he turned to physics and became a glassblower and instrument maker. In 1701, Fahrenheit spent ten years traveling
Daniel Deronda Daniel Deronda, the final novel published by George Eliot, was also her most controversial. Most of Eliot’s prior novels dealt largely with provincial English life but in her final novel Eliot introduced a storyline for which she was both praised and disparaged. The novel deals not only with the coming of age of Gwendolyn Harleth, a young English woman, but also with Daniel Deronda’s discovery of his Jewish identity. Through characters like Mirah and Mordecai Cohen, Eliot depicts
significant other is someone who makes a lasting impact on your life, not just your non-platonic life partner. But the non-platonic life partner did come later for Fariha, it came in the form of an older, 5 feet and 11 inch, white male that went by the name Daniel Detlefsen. Through the course of her life she became exposed to different situations that proved that these were the three people she would have always come to cherish in her lifetime. In a split level house in Dunwoody, Georgia, Fariha grew up in
Visions of Utopia in Robinson Crusoe "Daniel Defoe achieved literary immortality when, in April 1719, he published Robinson Crusoe" (Stockton 2321). It dared to challenge the political, social, and economic status quo of his time. By depicting the utopian environment in which was created in the absence of society, Defoe criticizes the political and economic aspect of England's society, but is also able to show the narrator's relationship with nature in a vivid account of the personal growth
Daniel’s “Sonnet 6” vs. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” Daniel wrote a conventional love sonnet using the traditional Petrarchan style of putting the idea of love, or the mistress, on a pedestal. Shakespeare turned these ideas on their heads by portraying a mistress who was by no means special and most certainly unappealing. By comparing Daniel's “Sonnet 6” and Shakespeare's “Sonnet 130,” one may quickly conclude that Daniel’ s and Shakespeare’s ideas of the perfect lady and of love differ greatly
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman In the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, the central thesis that he tries to point out is that emotional intelligence may be more important than I.Q. in determining a person’s well being and success in life. At first I didn’t know what Goleman was talking about when he said emotional intelligence, but after reading the book I have to say that I agree completely with Goleman. One reason for my acceptance of Goleman's theory is that academic
The final three chapters of Daniel consist of one long narrative. They record the final vision given to this prophet of God. Chapter 10 introduces the vision, giving an amazing "behind the scenes" look at the spiritual conflict of which Daniel was a part. The Bible plainly reveals that life in our universe exists on two planes: the material and the spiritual. The unseen world is just as real as that which we see. Moreover, many of the struggles that take place in this world are influenced by conflicts
Analysis of How the character Daniel Weir has Changed Throughout his Journey in Espedair Street by Iain Banks Espedair Street by Iain Banks is a novel which is pretending to be a rock star autobiography; the story of a fictional seventies band Frozen Gold as told by bass player and song writer Danny Weir. It is told using a series of flashbacks which converge to explain the present, Danny living as a recluse, pretending to be his own caretaker in a bizarre Victorian folly in Glasgow. Espedair
The Religious Dimension of Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe’s discovery of the work ethic on the small island goes hand in hand with a spiritual awakening. Robinson Crusoe is not a very profound religious thinker, although religion is part of his education and transformation. He claims he reads the Bible, and he is prepared to quote it from time to time. But he doesn’t puzzle over it or even get involved in the narrative or character attractions of the stories. The Bible for him appears to
Dr. Daniel J. Boorstin: Great American Author and Historian Dr. Daniel J. Boorstin (1914- ) holds many honorable positions and has received numerous awards for his notable work. He is one of America's most eminent historians, the author of more than fifteen books and numerous articles on the history of the United States, as well as a creator of a television show. His editor-wife, Ruth Frankel Boorstin, a Wellesley graduate, has been his close collaborator. Born in Atlanta, Georgia,
In the introduction to Material Cultures: Why Some Things Matter, Daniel Miller describes the book as part of the second stage of the development of material culture studies. The first stage was the recognition by writers such as Appadurai and Bourdieu as well as Miller that material culture is important and worthy of study. The second stage is the argument made in this book: that it is crucial to focus on "the diversity of material worlds" without reducing these material worlds to symbols for "real"
I would like to comment about how Crusoe lived with himself after he became the master in a heirarchy where he was once the slave. He is so unhappy with his role of slave he takes the first opportunity given to him to escape. He also takes the first opportunity given to him to become the master of those left on the boat. This is unforgivable. He throws a man over board because he does not believe he can trust him, but he knows he can trust the first boat that sails his way. Does this sound funny
Analysis of As You Like It by Daniel Maclise During the time that France was divided into provinces (or dukedoms as they were called) there reigned in one of these provinces an usurper, who had deposed and banished his elder brother, the lawful duke. The duke, who was thus driven from his dominions, retired with a few faithful followers to the forest of Arden; and here the good duke lived with his loving friends, who had put themselves into a voluntary exile for his sake, while their land and
Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe The theme of "man’s relationship to God and the universe" presented in Epistle 1 of Alexander Pope’s "An Essay on Man" complements Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe is an inconsistent character who turns to God whenever he is in need, yet fails to maintain respect for nature and for his fellow man. In the first year of Robinson Crusoe’s solitary life on the island, he falls ill and has a terrifying dream that alters his
gorilla named Ishmael who, through his experiences of being taken from the jungle, placed in a zoo in the 1930's, put in a menagerie, and bought by a private owner named Mr. Sokolow, had all the time in a world to think about the world around him. Daniel Quinn writes about the horrifying realities of our culture in a book called Ishmael, by stepping outside of the world as we know it and describing what he sees through a talking gorilla. Behind the bars of his cage, he was able to take a look at our