Use of Minor Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay -- To Kill a Moc

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a range of both major and minor characters which are portrayed with varying personalities. These character's interactions help to explain the issues that this text is concerned with. In the novel, the protagonist, Atticus Finch, is a defence lawyer who is appointed to represent a black man, Tom Robinson, who is charged with raping a white woman. The novel is set during the 1930s in America, which was when segregation of blacks and whites was well manifested into the society of those days. A black person had no right to defend himself if accused of a crime by white men. The author depicted several minor characters which helped to build up and expose the personality of the text's protagonist, Atticus Finch. Tom Robinson is a minor character who is black and accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Tom Robinson symbolizes a mockingbird which does not harm any people but is accused of an uncommitted crime. Atticus Finch is appointed to defend Tom Robinson. The portrayal of Tom Robinson in the text helped me understand the char...

The Definition of a Hero :: Definition Essay

The Definition of a Hero When I think of a hero I immediately think of someone who is strong, intelligent, handsome, and daring. Upon closer examination, many different qualities than these become apparent. Courage, honesty, bravery, selflessness, and the will to try are just a few of the overlooked qualities of a hero. The definition of heroism changes with the context and time. Heroes of the past are not necessarily heroes of present time and vise versa. A person can be a hero for saving the life of one or of millions. Heroes are not only real people, but they are also fantasy figures. Children are extremely interested with legendary and fantasy figures because they take on such tasks as: difficult journeys, challenges with dragons, discovering lost treasure, and changing the nature of the world through their singular acts of courage and selflessness. They also endure much resistance, hardship, and danger. Often the hero learns valuable lessons about survival and self-reliance. Not only do heroes teach valuable lessons they give a child a sense of belonging. To a child, a hero is an invincible person who will change the world. There is another type of hero that almost no one is aware of. In the poorest areas of the country, live mostly minorities and other ethic background. All their lives they’ve been expected to work harder and expected not succeed in life. Some individuals living in poverty with a determination to succeed work hard all of their lives to become what everybody doubted they could. Escaping the crime, drugs, and prostitution is enough to escape hell, even if they don’t go to college. Despite of their financial problems, drug and crime surroundings, or difficulties in the language skills, their desire to triumph fuels their persistence. Those who make it to success are the few living examples of the purest form of hero anyone can be. They are not only their own heroes but also the heroes of the poor children who dream of becoming like them someday. You also don’t have to kill anyone, conquer foreign land, or risk your life to be a hero. Anyone who influences anyone else by saving or helping save his or her lives is a hero. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the lives of millions of people by bringing justice to minorities. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest heroes, led a nonviolent revolution to free his country.

Many Headed Hydra Summary Essay

Chapter 1 Summary for The Many Headed Hydra The chapter tells the story of the wreckage of the Sea-Venture off Bermuda in 1609. The people of the shipped was welcomed by a land that contains both water and abundant of food. Being that they were suppose to be new reinforcements for the plantation for the Virginia Company, they decided that they will disregard the command from the company and create a settlement of their own because of the riches that Bermuda contains. The chapter then goes on to compare the colonial conditions between the Bermuda and Virginia. Unlike Bermuda, the conditions in Virginia was filled with â€Å"labor and wretchedness† indicating that the people who lived in Virginia faced many hardships. The settlement in Virginia went through a series of unfortunate events for a number of reasons. The main reasons that Virginia went into a time of turmoil was because people either died from sickness, don’t want to work, or commit crimes that include murder or stealing. With these problems at hand, Virginia Company of London were having difficulty establishing authority when it comes to dealing with the people who are living in the Virginia. Due to their inability to do what they were assigned, the officers decided to use military discipline as their way to maintain order. The chapters contains historical references regarding the English historical background when it comes to their colonization and the events that led to the problems that was to come in their way. Such problems includes the Tudor regional rebellions that took place like the Cornish Rising(1497), the Prayer Book Rebellion (1536) or the Felt-Makers’ Riot(1584). Besides the historical references, some pieces of literature have also been noted because of how the events of the Sea-Venture were described in Shakespeare’s book The Tempest. The chapter suggested themes that were shown in the story depict an earliest form of capitalism and colonization as well as the struggle of adjusting to new ways of life.

Rhetorical Analysis on JFK’s Inaugural Address Essay

Majority of the people know the eminent line â€Å"ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country† (Kennedy). That is indubitably one of the most well known segments of his speech, however, there are other parts that made it memorable. He knew he was not only speaking to America, but other countries as well. His speech keeps the audience both focused on what is important and understanding of the point he is trying to make. He sought to send a message to the nation about the Cold War and his hope for peace along with his desire to inspire the nation. Throughout his speech, President John F. Kennedy uses parallelism, ellipsis, and antithesis to display to the audience that he was ready to be president and take on its challenges. Of the many rhetorical devices that President JFK used in his speech, parallelism was perhaps the most effective. The repetition of â€Å"Let both sides† amplifies his wants for unity and peace. His first use of â€Å"Let both sides† begins with talking about unity not division. As Kennedy repeats this for the second and third time, he includes how all countries should come together rather than to stand alone and take part in wars against each other. The world should succeed and prosper as one. President John F. Kennedy focuses on the idea of unity and peace throughout his speech. With those two factors, the world can undertake great things without the need for war, tension, or other harmful actions towards opposing countries. In the beginning of his speech Kennedy is willing to â€Å"pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe†. This shows his willingness to fight for what he wants for the country: liberty, peace, unity. There are numerous forms of parallelism in JFK’s speech; however, there are few which have become infamou s and recognizable immediately. Kennedy’s speech is short and to the point, making it very effective. JFK had moral intentions and wanted to help his nation along with the rest of the world. This is clear by his use of ellipsis when he says â€Å"This much we pledge- and more† (Kennedy). By saying â€Å"and more†, President Kennedy expects the people to accomplish and partake in more than the ideas that were listed. Not listing numerous ideas made his point clear and effective. It allows his audience to think about what else can be done for the country. Kennedy makes it clear that he intends to do anything and everything in his power for peace and liberty. He is telling the audience  that what he said was not all that can be done, and that they were just examples of what should be done to reach that goal. Kennedy uses ellipsis when he mentions â€Å"a celebration of freedom- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning- signifying renewal, as well as change† (Kennedy). By strengthening his statement on the celebration of freedom, it confirms that with this freedom comes a new beginning alongside change. President Kennedy states this in the first sentence of his speech, which fortifies the idea of freedom and what needs to be done in order to attain it. By the use of antithesis, JFK makes his speech memorable by inverting his sentences. Kennedy goes on to say that America should â€Å"never negotiate out of fear. But let us ever fear to negotiate† (Kennedy). This statement outlines the entire purpose of President Kennedy’s speech-spreading peace and assuring the success and survival of liberty. Kennedy’s most famous line â€Å"ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country† (Kennedy) creates an idea that is still used tod ay. The idea it generates is that citizens should be giving more to the country than they expect to receive in return. It incorporates the audience into his speech, which makes the listener feel as if they can also make a great impact on the world. It shows that America is not afraid to fight for what is right and the country is not afraid of working for what the entire world should be aiming for. Most inaugural addresses are quickly forgotten, but using the correct rhetorical devices in a proper and effective way can make any speech memorable. President John F. Kennedy’s speech is a prime example of a speech that stuck with people and is still be referred to time to time. Kennedy’s speech has stuck with the country for over four decades and will continue to have a great impact on the world. Kennedy knew what to say and when to say it through his own style and grandiloquence. He uses many different rhetorical devices to achieve the main goal of his speech. That being America is not afraid to fight for what is right and let the enemies know that America is not afraid of its enemies. Pres ident Kennedy uses parallelism to emphasize the key points and make sure that his message is given clearly.

Africa&Egypt Essay

Africa is one of the richest continents when it comes to spectacular experiences with nature. Nowhere in the world can one encounter the abundance and variety of wildlife. Africa also delivers a plethora of ecosystems, geographical features and amazing wilderness experiences. Whether it is deserts, rivers, lakes, mountains, jungles, waterfalls, etc. Africa Geography The continent of Africa borders the southern half of the Mediterranean Sea. The Atlantic Ocean is to the west and the Indian Ocean is to the Southeast. Africa stretches well south of the equator to cover more than 12 million square miles making Africa the world’s second largest continent. Africa is also the world’s second most populous continent. Africa is one of the most diverse places on the planet with a wide variety of terrain, wildlife, and climates. It is the second largest and second most populous continent. Major Cities The highest point in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at 5895 meters high. The lowest point is Lake Asal in Djibouti at 153 meters below sea level. The largest country in Africa is Sudan, the smallest is The Seychelles. The most populated country is Nigeria and the largest city is Cairo in Egypt. The largest lake in Africa is Lake Victoria and the  longest river is The Nile River, which is also the longest river in the world. Africa is rich with varied wildlife including elephants, penguins, lions, cheetahs, seals, giraffes, gorillas, crocodiles, and hippos. African languages are varied with more than 1000 languages spoken across the continent. The Suez Canal divides Africa from Europe. The Sahara Desert The Sahara is larger than the US. Temperatures can reach as high as 130 and some areas go 10 years without rain. A few areas have grasses that can support animals. For thousands of years people have carried goods and ideas across the Sahara. The Kalahari Desert The Kalahari is not as dry as the Sahara. Grasses and wild melon grow and animals are able to graze. The Namib Desert The Namib Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Trees and get water from mists that drift from the Ocean. Still animals and people find ways to survive in this area. Desertification: Turning semi desert land into desert Desertification can happen by natural actions: drought or by human actions such as cutting down forest for cooking fuel or to make farmland, overgrazing of shrubs and grasses by cattle and goats. With no grass or tree roots, the topsoil blows away and the desert advances. Natural Resources The most abundant natural resources in Africa are gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, and oil. However, the distribution of resources is uneven causing wealth in some counties and poverty in others.

Humans and Nature

How Religious Belief Connects with Humans And Nature Humans’ relationship towards nature is complicated. Phyllis Trible, a well known scholar, mentions in her paper A Tempest in a Text : Ecological Soundings in the Book of Jonah that â€Å"Theological language is ecological language† (Trible 189). It suggests that widespread religion has a reflection on the relationship between humans’ belief and nature. Besides, the two main characters, Arab and Jonah, from the movie Moby Dick and the religious book The book of Jonah, their different views of God are shown in their opposite actions towards nature. ? In the movie Moby Dick, Ahab, the captain, is the emblem of the pioneers leading in the exploration of the great nature. He challenges the mysterious nature fearlessly. Rather than praying to God for help when he encounters confronted and unexpected difficulties, he believes that he can overcome all those difficulties by himself and never ceases his expedition. In t he movie, Pequod, the whaling ship, is caught in a terrible storm. The sails should be put down for slowing ship’s speed in a storm. Starbuck, one of crew member, wants to furl a sail, but Ahab refuses.Ahab asks all of his sailors to hold sails tightly. When Starbucks tries to furl down sails, Arab threats Starbuck to stop by using an arrow. Ahab steadfastly continues battling with the nature to the end until finally his ship survives in bad weather. â€Å"Ahab called that Typhoon’s bluff; stood toe to toe with it and punched away till it hollared ‘quits’! † (Bradbury 158). Through the whole battle with the storm, Ahab even mocks at what he encounters. â€Å"Oh, how the gods enjoy playing with us. What’s the point of the game, I wonder?Sometimes I’m on the very edge of knowing-and then they toss me back in the box† (Bradbury 158). In Ahab’s mind, he is fighting against God, and choosing to put his own will above faith. Ah ab believes himself above the natural world, and almost a god. This belief lends him power and majesty that make him battle with nature. In the movie, Ahab’s persistence on chasing the white whale makes him act like a hero, however, his vengeance of whale also makes him overstep on the boundary of nature which leads him to the death.To Captain Ahab, the whale symbolizes the evil in the universe: â€Å"He is part of this wicked game that runs man from the cradle and bullies him into the grave, Moby Dick is evil ten times over, in a world where evil is common as sea-water† (Bradbury 90). So it is Ahab’s destiny to get rid of it. In the last part of scenes, Ahab has no chance of killing Moby Dick, yet he engages in his suicide plan to stab at the whale: â€Å"To the last I grapple with thee! from hell’s heart I stab at thee! ; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee, though damned whale! Thus! I give up my spear! (BRADBURY 174). His plan to ki ll Moby Dick seals the tragic fate for himself and the crew of the Pequod. In the end the whale represents both noble peace and terrifying death. Besides, in the book, Ahab sees the graves of other sailors died in killing whales, and he gets predictions about his death from Fedallah. Those things not just happen accidentally to Ahab. In fact, it’s the fate already made by God try to stop Ahab’s actions of killing the whale. The whale is the combination of contradictions, a symbol of the universe's wide and mystery of God's boundless divine power, fate. ? God controls what we would consider â€Å"fate† in the casting of the fortune. In The Book of Jonah, Jonah opposes to God’s will and flees away which results in a storm created by the God in his journey. Jonah gets on a ship to Tarshish, and he encounters the storm: â€Å"The Lord, however, hurled such furious winds toward the sea that a powerful storm raged upon it; the ship expected itself to crack upà ¢â‚¬  (1:4). The storm is so powerful that all the sailors start to pray to the God for help. and the Lord, God of Heaven, I worship-he who made the sea, and the dry land as well† (1†10). Even though Jonah runs away from the Lord and has no thought for the spiritual condition of his shipmates; his life still brought them closer to God. However, the storm just gets worse. Jonah tells sailors in order to worship God, they can calm the sea by throwing him into the sea. â€Å"If you lift me and cast me overboard, the sea will calm its raging against you, for I personally acknowledge that this massive tempest raging against you is on my own account† (1:12).Jonah has no doubt that his rebellion against God is the cause of the storm that threatened to sink the ship they are sailing upon. Hence, humans fear of unexpected natural power and then pray to God for help. Contrary to how the white whale drives Ahab crazy which result in Ahab’s death with the whale, the whale in The Book of Jonah changes Jonah’s attitudes toward God and saves him from his sin. God does not put Jonah into death immediately, instead, he sends out a fish. â€Å"The Lord directed a large fish to swallow Jonah.Jonah remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights† (2:1). Jonah is helpless in the fish’s belly and starts to repent and pray to God :â€Å" In my trouble, I appeal to the Lord; he answers me†¦ as for me, voicing gratitude, I shall offer you sacrifices; I shall fulfill all that I vow† (2: 10). By singing the thanksgiving song, Jonah starts to be thankful to God and he realizes that he is still connecting with God. God as a merciful and generous figure in The Book of Jonah, he saves Jonah from the fish. The Lord spoke to the fish and made it vomit Jonah upon dry land† (2:11). From an ecological point of view, Phyllis Trible clams in her book â€Å" If the verb ‘swallow’ suggest that fish is a ho stile environment for Jonah, the verb ‘vomit’suggests that the fish is a hostile environment for the fish†¦ In a bulimic exercise the animal of the sea rejects human fodder† (Trible 190). This ecological danger recalls Jonah’s inner instincts to God: â€Å"Yet God brought up his life from the Pit, and to this God he rendered thanks† (Trible 190).In other words, The whale as well as considered to be â€Å"hostile environment†, represents the nature power that given by God. It suggests that humans should always keep their faith to the God, thus, God can rescue humans from the danger and forgive their sins. When humans are building the relationship with nature, if they are going against nature they cannot get the results they want, instead, if they working along with nature which can actually leads to peace. In the movies, even if Ahab orders his crew to chase Moby Dick again and again, the white whale does not surrender but appears to coun terattack.It attacks the boats, wrecks the whaling ship and brings much pain to human beings. God’s power and embodiment of justice are shown through nature. God warns human beings that if they still destroy nature unshakably, they will be buried by divine nature eventually. It is difficult for human beings relying on our own insufficient power to win the battle between nature and them. In contrast, Jonah suppose to preach God’s will to Nineveh, however, he is from the country which is defeated by Nieveh, thus he is reluctant to deliver God’s message.God puts Jonah into hostile environment and wants Jonah to learn about tolerance through Jonah’s repent. Jonah realizes his sin and start to believe God again which results in later God saves his life. His confession to God adequately proves that his humans’ tolerance has persuaded him to give up his enmity. Human beings can get along well with nature and they can keep a harmonious relationship with na ture. However, keeping the harmonious relationship must be based on human beings’tolerance to nature.

How does immigration affect the population structure in Los Angeles Research Paper

How does immigration affect the population structure in Los Angeles - Research Paper Example Immigrant population in Los Angeles promoted relevant changes in nation’s economic growth. Their taxes, lower-wage goods and services contributed better growth in local and regional economy. Manuel Pastor and Rhonda Ortiz examine the economic effects of immigrant population in Los Angeles. They rightly comment that ‘Finally, immigrants comprise 46 percent of the workforce in Los Angeles, making them integral to the growth of the local and regional economy’ (Pastor & Ortiz 7). Similarly, both Federal and state governments have spent a considerable amount of money for the welfare of immigrant communities through implementing schools and hospitals. Discussion and analysis Social effects of immigration Socio-economic effects of immigration in the United States have been a controversial issue among the policy makers and media in recent years. Analysing the immigrant population of Los Angeles County, California, it is obvious that some changes in the fields of culture, ethnic backgrounds, education, employment, gender perspective, housing and social customs among the Hispanic and Asian immigrants. Immigrants from Hispanic and Asian population contributed considerable amount of capital for the growth of GDP. In social and educational field, immigrant women in Los Angeles played remarkable role. After 1990, Immigrants from higher socio-economic backgrounds concentrated on cities and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds tend to select densely populated areas. Immigrants have occupied in skilled –jobs, lower-wages services, and farmlands. Women were concentrated in agriculture, fishing and weaving. Immigrant children often depend on private schools for education than mainstream education. â€Å"Over 40 percent of all students in Los...The census website for 1990 and 2000 gives relevant information about the growth of population and its major sources. Recent studies and researches have mentioned the fact that immigration plays a vital r ole in the process of increasing population and its effects are many and varied. Women contribute a higher proportion than men in immigrant population. Paul M. Ong and Edna Bonacich made some relevant observation in the field of immigrant population and they remark; ‘Women constitute a far higher proportion than in the past and now make up the majority of immigrants from some countries’ . Higher proportion of women population paved the way for high birth rates and population growth. Consequently, Federal government forced to spend maximum fund for immigrants. Immigrant population in Los Angeles promoted relevant changes in nation’s economic growth. Their taxes, lower-wage goods and services contributed better growth in local and regional economy. Manuel Pastor and Rhonda Ortiz examine the economic effects of immigrant population in Los Angeles. They rightly comment that ‘Finally, immigrants comprise 46 percent of the workforce in Los Angeles, making them integral to the growth of the local and regional economy’ (Pastor & Ortiz 7). Similarly, both Federal and state governments have spent a considerable amount of money for the welfare of immigrant communities through implementing schools and hospitals. Immigrants from Hispanic, Latino and Asian population have marked gradual growth in their population in recent years. Difference in higher socio-economic and lower socio-economic backgrounds of immigrants paved the way for a new social structure in society.