Literary Essay on Robert Frost

Another paper for English 102 --English Composition and Literature at Cerritos College. It's a paper on Robert Frost who is best known for his work of poetry. He is actually my favorite poet. This paper is a thematic study on his poetry. I focus on the contradiction in his poems. I take on both literal and figurative analysis. I chose four poems to analyze: "Fire and Ice," “Mending Wall,” "The Road Not Taken," and “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

The Contradiction in Robert Frost’s View

Like other poets, Robert Frost wrote numerous insightful poems to view the world he had experienced. Frost is a man famous for his work of poetry. He won so many meritorious awards and recognitions. He has been considered an all-time favorite poet of many people. However, his life seems to contradict his achievement and popularity. His life was surrounded by death and pain. He also suffered from professional jealousies, anger, and depression. Because of this discrepancy between his life and work, Frost shows contradiction in his writing. A literary analysis reveals that Frost’s poetry is the reflection of the contradictory features that occurs in nature.

The use of contradiction can be found in Frost’s “Fire and Ice.” This poem follows a single-paragraph form that every couple of lines has rhythm scheme or repetition of phrase. Frost enfolds a strong use of contradiction in this poem by mentioning fire at the beginning and ending with the description of the power of ice. In the first two lines, there is a repetition of the phrase “some say” (“Fire” lines 1, 2). The repetition of this phrase suggest the contradiction between fire and ice that represents the two contrasting choices, which are, later on in the poem, understood to be the only two objects that would end the world. The speaker considers fire as the first choice. At the end of lines 3 and 4, respectively Frost wrote the word “desire” (3) and “fire” (4). This suggests that fire is an image of desire. This desire is hot enough to be transformed into fire, and this fire is very powerful that would destroy the world. Then, the choice changes from fire to ice in the concluding lines of the poem. And ice is known by the speaker as “hate” (6). Through the poem, hatred can be implied as cold emotion, and with its extremeness, the cold emotion has “great” (8) power and “would suffice” (9) to perish the world. By implication, the theme of the poem would suggest that the world can be destroyed by the two extreme emotions—desire and hatred; however these two are opposite emotions.

While the power of fire contradicts the strength of ice in “Fire and Ice,” Frost portrays another contradiction in his cryptic poem “Mending Wall.” This poem contains only one paragraph and is a type of free-verse. The speaker follows this pattern because he doesn’t only make suggestion about his nature but also about other individuals in his community and about the reality he is experiencing—the reality that can be considered discontent. A fence or wall literally refers to the object that would protect the owner’s property. Fence in “Mending Wall” is an image, which represents a restriction or alienation between individuals in a neighborhood. This fence or wall can also be a needless tradition that puts in place the sense of integrity of everyone’s individuality and frightens those who violate others’ possessions. There are two sentences that are repeated twice in this poem: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” (“Mending” Lines 1, 35) and “Good fences make good neighbors” (27, 45). And because these sentences are formed at the concluding lines of the poem, they become highly significant. Obviously, these are the two contradictory lines that have different suggestions. Respectively, the first statement may suggest that limitation is a burden to man, while the second statement may suggest that man cannot live prosperously without boundaries. These two statements are to make readers puzzle out the shade of meanings in the poem. When we look at the entire poem, we could see the two contrasting attitudes: the speaker’s attitude and the neighbors’ attitude toward the wall. The neighbor tries to build good fences to maintain good relationship with other neighbor. But the speaker seems to oppose this idea as he comes to question that “Why do they [fences] make good neighbors?” (30). The speaker sees the reality that his “apple tress will never get across and eat ones under his [neighbor’s] pine” (24-25). So, the speaker believes that fences are unnecessary, while the neighbors contend that good fences retain good relationship.

Not only do “Fire and Ice” and “Mending Wall” embrace the contradictory elements, “The Road Not Taken” is also a portrayal of contradiction in Frost’s work. There are four stanzas in this poem. It is written in a fixed form with rhythm scheme that follows a pattern established in the first five lines (abaab). This rhyme scheme illustrates the speaker’s attempts to shape his life into a pleasing and coherent pattern. In the first stanza of “The Road Not Taken,” “two roads” (“Mending” 1) are characterized as two different decisions that the speaker has to make. Coming to the second stanza, the speaker decides to choose the road that is “grassy and wanted wear” (8), and in this second stanza, there are also two contradictory claims. First, the speaker says “Then took the other/And having perhaps the better claim” (6-7). Then, he contends that “Though as for that the passing there/Had worn them really about the same” (10). Through this stanza, readers came to understand that the speaker is really indecisive about the two choices that the speaker is choosing. The third stanza reveals that even though the speaker made a choice already, the speaker still feel irresolute as he “doubted” if he “should ever come back” (15). In the forth stanza, the speaker illustrates that his decision “has made all the difference” (20) which means the path he chose has affected his entire life. There is obviously a contradiction in “The Road Not Taken” between the speaker's claim of “difference” (20) in the last stanza and his indifferent account of the roads in the first three stanzas (Richard 1). The first three stanzas are a reflection of the speaker’s nostalgia in stead of affirming a confidence in choosing a path of life. However, the last stanza reveals that the choice that the speaker made in the past has significantly changed his life. His past seems indifferent and his life after making the past decision is a “difference.”

Contradiction in Frost’s work is also perceivable in “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” This poem has only one paragraph, and it forms a rhythm scheme which is put in this way: aabbccdd. The rhythm scheme makes each couple of lines have close relationship. This poetic pattern also evokes a sense of coherency and idealization of nature. Because the word “gold” is included in the title and because it is repeated twice in the poem, this word is significant. In the first line, “green” contradicts the word “gold” (“Nothing Gold” line 1). Green can be observed in the spring because of the beautiful green leafs that flowing in the wind everywhere in nature. In the contrary, in the opening lines Frost tends to deal with nature and science that suggest the color of nature is “gold”—nature’s hardest duty to “hold” (2). The poem contends that the nature has a golden hue. “Gold” (1) here is a colorful imagery in the fall that “leaf subsides to leaf” (5). Through this image, the poet may suggest that nothing is eternal; anything in nature will perish. So, the contradiction can be discerned when we observe the image of green nature during the spring and a picture of golden leafs in the fall.

Not only his life is filled with contradictions, his work is also full of contradictory features and statements. Indeed, Robert Frost’s work employs so many forms of contradiction ranging from fire and ice, the speaker’s belief and the neighbors’ behavior, the difference of making choices, to the contradictory colorful images of nature. I think the purpose of his use of contradiction is to make the readers puzzle out the meanings and challenge with the didactic ideas of the poems.

Literary paper on Robert Frost written by MONIRATH SIV

Essay on Southern Literature

My paper for English Composition and Literature course taught by Prof. Clemans at Cerritos College. It's a paper about Southern Literature--what is the flavor of the South?

The Mirror of Southern Literature:

The Reflection of Endless Value

The history of the South is fickle. For many years following the Civil War the South, one might say, is hammered by social transformation. However, the South is reluctant to accept the new American values and look backward to its faded identity. It is not their nature to be blamed for this manner, but it happens as a result of the sudden change in society. Even though American South has been industrialized, southern writers manage to use their literature as a mirror to reflect the lost tradition and look for history as a reverberation of timeless value.

Southern fiction enfolds a strong use of history. Writers in the South aspire to comprise faded tradition and regard history as a “repository of value” (Kessler 490). Literary fiction of the South evokes a sense of “not-letting-it-go.” Most southerners, especially those who live at high social status, refuse to concede the truth that their aristocratic class is degenerated because of the change in social structure, and they pretend that they are still living with their non-existent ideals. This self-deception idea can be viewed in a short story from Mississippi, William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” that highlights a contradiction in Miss Emily who no longer possesses her so-called high social class, but she refuses to acknowledge the reality. In addition, the central conflict of this story is centered in “Miss Emily’s background, her history” (Parker 106). She is considered a victim of tradition that she can not make love with a Negro man, Homer Barron, who has lower status than she has, while she can not let him go, either. This lifelong oppression is what drives Miss Emily, causing her “to cling to that which had robbed her” (98).

Technically, the South survives on the “margin of history” with a perspective from the “social rear that was the major dispensation that South could offer its writers” (Howe 550). Clearly, the South lives in the time border between aristocratic and modernized societies. Their central conflict in writing is continuous with the past—their ideals of “honor, chivalry, and noblesse” (Cash 547). As an illustration, the way the grandmother dresses and her superstitious nature in O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” show readers how hard it is to let go of the past. The literary content of southern writers is not determined much by its industrialization but continue to show characters who are “from present towards the past” (Cash 549). These characters are living in the present world but cling to mannerism from a long-ago past.

It is true that W.J. Cash considers the South as a tree with many age rings with “its tap roots in the Old South” (548). This statement helps explain that the South sticks with their old identity and tradition which can be defined as southern interminable values. The demonstration of historical background and individuality occupied by the South can be observed in Andrea Lee’s “Anthropology” through her definition of identity. She identifies “place” as “identity, whether defined by pigmentation, occupation, economic rank, or family name” (Lee 194-195). Also, a first reading would leave readers with ambivalence of “white-white” people, “white-black” people, and “black-black” people. But “Anthropology” obviously suggests that in Ball County “everyone knows everyone’s place” (195). This idea evokes a sense of Old South where people have to know their place, position in society, and social role. Indeed, “Anthropology” reveals the recurrence of southern tradition and identity in the past that would never fail to exist in the present.

On the other hand, the expression of backwardness employed by southern writers is used as a “vantage-point to observe” Southern-American life and thereby to “arrive at a profound and withering criticism” of place and its morality (Howe 550). In Lee’s “Anthropology,” the protagonist searches for her roots that indicate the idea of looking backward. This fiction demonstrates an embrace of morality that depicts the South as a backward legend. Every White-Black individual mentioned in “Anthropology” still believes in the idea that “White” is superior since they even change their last names to a White-sounded name. This is the contradiction that can be perceived in southern stories. It is the contradiction which tells readers that the South has been trained for looking back to the matter of social class and clan—which, otherwise, becomes one of their central focuses in literature.

In reality, the power to change the past is just an unattainable wish—and the South, too, is unable to change the occurrence of social reform that happened in American history. Southerners look backward to their past, and they do not want to be modernized. So, the South decides to romanticize themselves and make their endless value possible in the literature. The New South has been industrialized which makes people think of the New South as a brand-new legend. However, the New South and the Old South are still the “South,” regardless of these two different adjectives [Old and New] and both legends have very similar favor which is like a trend moving from present towards the past. And this favor is used uniquely in southern literature.

Literary Paper on Southern Literature written by MONIRATH SIV

Legalizing Marijuana: America Would Become a Victim

In the following is my essay written for my first-year English course at Cerritos College. I received an A for this paper.

Legalizing Marijuana: America Would Become a Victim

Should marijuana be legalized? Today, marijuana is an illegal drug in the United States. However, for years Americans have vigorously debated over the issue of the drug-control policy that includes marijuana legalization, no doubt because legalizing this drug could bring both benefits and harms to the public and government. Legalization advocates always bring the potential benefits like economic gain and medical use into debate. On the other hand, opponents strongly argue that legalizing marijuana would be disastrous. Because it is harmful to health and because this drug causes various social problems, marijuana should not be legal.

Smoking marijuana can cause significant health problems. Studies reveal that smokable marijuana is a very dangerous substance that can cause or contribute to both mental and physical health disorders. One great concern is marijuana’s effect on mental health. Marijuana destroys the user’s intelligence and memory function, as John Murray, a professor at St. John’s University, demonstrates, “Marijuana impairs human intellectual judgment and short-term memory as well as human psychomotor function, particularly driving an automobile” (41). Also, this drug can cause psychological disorders that lead users to maladaptive behaviors, such as changes in thought, auditory sensation, and emotions. Mitch Earlywine, Associate Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Albany, also points that, “Cannabinoid intoxication can also mimic certain aspects of psychoses like schizophrenia. These psychotic disorders typically include odd thoughts, auditory hallucinations, and inappropriate emotions” (145). Sara McClintock indicates that, “The most serious risk that a typical user ever runs is anxiety, which can be triggered by stress or fatigue—or higher-potency marijuana” (1). Marijuana negatively affects the user’s mental ability to think logically while doing complex work. Jim Parker’s “Marijuana: Health Effects” notifies that, “Pot also reduces logical thinking and calculation skills, and can impair a user’s ability to perform complex tasks” (1). Clearly, marijuana is very dangerous to mental health. The serious problem of marijuana users is the terrible changes in their mood and ability to think. It can impact the user’s ability to perceive, transform, and remember information.

In addition to mental disorders, marijuana has destructive effects on physical health. The two significant physical disorders caused by marijuana use are cardiovascular deterioration and respiratory problems. Parker states that:

Even though increased heart rate only lasts minutes and isn’t a threat to most people, it could add strain for users with heart disorders or high blood pressure […]. A bigger threat to more users is irritation to the lungs and respiratory airways, since users tend to inhale pot deeply and hold it in the lungs for as long as possible. (1)

Since marijuana affects the immune system, Andrea Faiad, in “Dangerous Drug”, claims that, “Marijuana might make it easier to get sick. Marijuana can limit how well the body fights off infections” (28).

Moreover, smoking marijuana may cause cancer. Earleywine informs that, “These data…suggest that cannabis smoke is capable of damaging the bronchial system in ways that may lead to tumors” (157). Indeed, scientists strongly suggest that marijuana contains cancer-causing agents. Parker maintains that, “Even though a direct link with lung cancer is unproven, pot smoke does contain cancer-causing chemicals” (4). One concern is that lung cancer can be caused by marijuana use. Interestingly, the National Institute of Drug Abuse illustrates that, “Marijuana abuse also has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because it contains irritants and carcinogens” (3). Obviously, this drug affects the physical health negatively. It can make the user’s heart jump more rapidly than usual, and that may cause the high blood pressure. Also, it can irritate the user’s lungs and has the potential effect of causing tumors, including lung cancer.

Marijuana advocates always bring the medical use as their primary justification for marijuana legalization, yet this justification has always been unproven. Lester Grinspoon and James Bakalar, in ­Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine, contend that, “In the twentieth century cannabis has been proposed or shown to be useful as a medicine for many disorders and symptoms” (23), but when scientists take a close look at the medical literature and policy, marijuana is not proved to be a medicine, and even medical marijuana may have negative effects. There is no verifiable evidence to justify marijuana to be a legal medicine. Andrea Bardwell, a physician for more than twenty years, argues that:

There is no scientific evidence that qualifies smoked marijuana to be called medicine. Further, there is no support in the medical literature that marijuana, or indeed any medicine, should be smoked as the preferred form of administration. The harms to health are simply too great” (2).

Actually, marijuana has not been proven to be a medicine, and smoking marijuana is not considered a method of treatment.

Even though marijuana may contribute positively to the medical use, it is inefficient and harms the cardiovascular system. In his book The Science of Marijuana, Iversen admits that, “There are clearly several possible therapeutic indications for cannabis based medicines, but for most of them evidence for the clinical effectiveness of the drug is woefully inadequate by modern standards” (174). Iversen clearly indicates that medical marijuana is not a standard treatment, so this drug should be not called medicine. Marijuana is harmful to the heart and should be excluded for treatment. Dr. Iversen adds that:

There are quite profound effects of cannabis on the heart and vascular system. In inexperienced users the drug can cause a large increase in heart rate (up to a doubling) and this could be harmful to someone with a previous history of coronary artery disease or heart failure. Such patients should be excluded from any clinical trails of cannabis-based medicines for this reason. (182)

Marijuana should not be legal for medical treatment because medical marijuana is not only ineffective, it is also unsafe.

In addition, medical marijuana brings certain concerns to scientists. Parker writes, “Perhaps the biggest worry concerns potential effects on the body’s immune system […].Other potential problems center on damage to the lungs and respiratory system […]. Other problems involve the drug’s side effects, particularly speeded-up heart rate” (1). Definitely, Parker explains that there are several negative consequences of medical marijuana on patients, such as immune system destruction, respiratory problems, and heart complication. As medical marijuana may cause many side effects to the patients, this drug should not become legal for medical reasons. Parker makes it clear that medical marijuana can harm the patient’s health. For this reason, marijuana should remain illegal.

Marijuana has been declared officially to be dangerous to health and of no medical value. As claimed by the United State Court of Appeals, marijuana remains a schedule I controlled substance because it is unsafe and has high potential for abuse. The U.S. Department of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informs that, “The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling on May 24, 2002, upholding DEA’s determination that marijuana must remain a schedule I controlled substance” (1). Marijuana must remain a schedule I controlled substance because DEA found marijuana dangerous. The U.S. DEA reveals that:

DEA agreed with the HHS’s conclusions and denied the petition to reschedule marijuana saying that the evidence overwhelmingly leads to the conclusion that marijuana has a high potential for abuse. DEA’s denial of the petition, along with the complete details of the medical and scientific findings made by DEA and the HHS were published.” (1).

Undoubtedly, marijuana would have little chance to be legal since the DEA found many dangers in marijuana officially declared to remain a schedule I controlled substance.

Legalization proponents may argue that legalizing marijuana would cut the cost on drug wars and add the tax revenues to the government. Those legalization proponents may be right, but their arguments are totally misleading because they may overlook the disastrous economic effects of marijuana on American society. Regarding both mental and physical health problems, if marijuana was legalized, the relevant social complication could occur. The public health could actually deteriorate if marijuana became a legal drug, and this deterioration in public health could strongly burden the labor force. One effect of marijuana is that less productive and less healthy laborers would grow dramatically because of the pervasive distribution and use of marijuana after legalization. The other big consequence of marijuana being legalized would be the increasing rate of unemployment or idle workers because employees are mostly required to have drug screening before entering a job or working in the drug-free workplaces. Kathy Gurchiek, an associate editor for HR News, informs that:

Among employers who do administer drug tests, it’s typically part of the pre-employment testing (83.5 percent), or after hiring when there is reasonable suspicion that there is a problem (73.3 percent)…. Other reasons given for workplace drug a test…was in accordance with a client’s requirement (2).

As a result, marijuana users would be discouraged or fail to be hired.

On the other hand, marijuana is one big cause that increases the rate of automobile accidents in the United States. Studies show that there is an association between marijuana users and the risks of accidents. In scientific research, Stephanie Blows, Rebecca Ivers, Jennie Connor, Shanthi Ameratunga, Mark Woodward, and Robyn Norton found that “habitual users of marijuana have about ten times the risk of car crash injury or death compared to infrequent or non-users, after adjustment for other crash-related variables including an objective measure of blood alcohol level” (607). Most likely, other marijuana nonusers may also be affected by the accidents caused by marijuana users. Because marijuana users and the risks of car crashes are dependent, the rise of this drug would logically augment the number of accidents. The increase in car accidents caused by marijuana users would inevitably heighten the injury and death rate in the United States.

Besides the accidents, this drug also impacts American youth and the education system. The pervasive distribution of marijuana from legalization would probably spread out to American adolescents. Alain Joffe and Yancy Samuel note that “the recent Supreme Court decision and experience with the Synar Amendment suggest that, if marijuana were legalized, restrictions on the sale and advertising of the substance to young people would prove daunting” (636). Youth with mental and physical disorders caused by marijuana would be less likely to have awareness about their school work. As a result, marijuana use among adolescents could rationally burden American education system and lead teens to academic failure. Even worse, the drop-out rate may also go up alarmingly, and American human capital would be less productive.

Additionally, marijuana may contribute to delinquent behavior and gang involvement, which are the risk factors of American teens leading to crime and violence. A national report shows that a teen, who uses marijuana, is often involved in gangs and commits violence. In Teens, Drugs, and Violence, the Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that:

Violent acts by teens are also linked to how frequently a teen smokes marijuana…the instances of physically attacking people, destroying property, and stealing increase in direct proportion to the frequency with which teens smoke marijuana…. Early use of marijuana—the drug most widely used by teens—is a warning sign for later gang involvement. Gang members are more likely to engage in criminal activity and substance abuse than their peers. Other than alcohol, marijuana is the most widely used substance in gang life. Children who use marijuana are nearly four times more likely to join gangs. Being a member of gang dramatically increases a teen’s risk of being a victim of violence, not just a perpetrator (2).

The concern of the Office of National Drug Control Policy is the involvement in gangs among teens because of marijuana use, and when those teens join gangs, they mostly commit violence, felonies, or crimes.

Most American parents have been trying very hard to raise teens to avoid drugs. Ironically, if their children were addicted to marijuana, those parents would feel very disappointed, or it would cause big problems in American families. More severely, when parents see their children facing academic failure in school, joining gangs, or committing violence because of marijuana, those parents would definitely feel miserable. Thus, most parents would dramatically disagree with marijuana legalization. In fact, those parents are not happy with marijuana abuse because many teens are in treatment from marijuana dependence each year. Karen P. Tandy shows, “Marijuana use can lead to dependence and abuse. Marijuana was the second most common illicit drug responsible for drug treatment admissions…more teens are in treatment each year for marijuana dependence” (4).

With the health effects and the social problems, if the government legalized this drug, the negative consequences on health and society would rise rapidly because legalization would lead to dramatic increase in distribution and demand. If it was legalized, the price would drop and the demand would rise. Joffe and Yancy maintain that, “Marijuana is cheap and easy to produce; if it were legalized, its price likely would decrease below current levels” (636). Actually, the drop in price of marijuana would contribute to a significant increase in demand. In fact, marijuana is a plant, so it can be easily planted by households. Iversen informs, “The Cannabis plant is a lush, fast-growing annual, which can reach maturity in 60 days when grown indoors under optimum heat and light conditions” (182). This signals that there would be a greater possibility of marijuana being grown indoors if it were legalized. Since it can be planted at home, marijuana would be more easily and rapidly distributed from one home to the other. Therefore, marijuana distribution and abuse would rise progressively. If marijuana became widespread after legalization, the adverse health, safety, social, academic, economic, and behavioral consequences would accelerate, and that could make social control become even more complicated. The Government most likely would spend a lot of money to minimize these effects caused by marijuana if it were legalized.

Even though it may bring some potential advantages, marijuana is more harmful than beneficial. From mental disorders to physical illness, from academic failure to social chaos, legalizing marijuana would actually cause many negative effects on America. Marijuana, like other drugs, has a variety of relevant dangers, including the increased risk of death due to cancer, heart diseases, respiratory problems, accidents, violence, and crime. Since the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld this drug as a dangerous substance, it has little chance to become legal.

Argumentative essay on Marijuana written by Monirath Siv

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"A Secret Sorrow" By Karen Zee

"A Secret Sorrow" is considered emotionally intense and pleasurably marvelous. It is a model-a sample of what a so-called formula fiction. Formula fiction is a type of writing that there are always happy ending. The story is predictable, and the characters are considered having good hearts. In the following is my response to this story.

Kai’s Uncompromising Love in A Secret Sorrow

Because of the male protagonist’s strength and great sacrifice for his love, A Secret Sorrow is my preference. Quite noticeably, Kai can be highly admired by his uncompromising love towards Faye.

Kai is persistent to make Faye marry him. He tries to express his true feeling—love and care for Faye—as Karen Zee wrote, “‘Because you’re some kind of baby factory? […]. I love you, not your procreating ability. So we have a problem. Well, we’ll learn to deal with it” (35). The first part of his thought can be implied that he gives up the desire for having children because of his love for Faye. The rest of his thought describes Kai as an open-minded person—an optimistic one. From this point onwards I feel that Kai is a role model of a man who is willing to overcome every obstacle for his true love.

His true love is revealed when he states, “‘No other woman can give me what you can—yourself, your love, your warmth, your sense of humor. All the facets of your personality that make up the final you […]. That’s what love is all about’” (34). Clearly, he loves Faye because of her values. He knows how to win the heart of a woman by expressing his deep thought inside. In short, he makes the story so emotionally touching and unforgettable.

This excerpt is romantic and enjoyable but didactic. Karen’s A Secret Sorrow connotes a lesson about life and love through character Kai and his willingness to share true fate with Faye. To me, Kai’s sacrifice and determination are the most important inspirations

"Roselily" By Alice Walker

It has been a pleasure to have read "Roselily" written by Alice Walker--one who has been considered a famous southern writer. I may made so many mistakes as well as misinterpretation or understatement, but the following is my sincere response to this short story.

The View of Emotional Conflicts in Roselily

Roselily is the protagonist in this short story, and everything is narrated through the window of her eyes—her wonders, imagination, thought, and experiences. She is considered living a lonely life that filled with doubts and alienations. Her emotional conflict and her willingness to change her life have been the most important inspiration.

There is a possibility that Roselily’s future husband love and care for her, but Roselily feels a difference because of her husband’s identity—his belief. Her husband is a Black Muslim who dislikes people of Panther Burn, as Walker states, “A word she hears when thinking of smoke, from his description of what a cinder was, which they never had in Panther Burn” (267). And Roselily doubts if her husband looks down on her, too. There are many doubts that she has about her life and husband. Those doubts are like fences of her feeling towards happiness in her marriage life. She feels alienated, and she looks alienated since she wears veil, which modern girls may consider unacceptable. She has mental conflicts against the treatments of her society.

All her strong expressions of ambivalence create a sense of sympathy towards the protagonist. It should be an understanding that Roselily attempts a new way of life—and a woman who wants a new identity always have inner conflicts. The theme of rebellion for a new identity can be self-destructive. For this reason, Roselily and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening seems to share a similarity of woman identity. Edna Pontellier in The Awakening became emotionally descent when she tries to struggle against the identity she doesn’t want. Similarly, Roselily is seeking a change for her life, as Roselily wonders “how to make new roots” and “what one does with memories in a brand-new life” (267). The struggle for this change can possibly cause a sadness and loneliness in her feeling.

Her thoughts have shaped by the environment she lives, as Walker writes, “It is not her nature to blame […]. She supposes New England, the North, to be quite different from what she knows […]. It seems…people who move there to live return home completely changed” (267). Because of her environment she feels “impatient to see the South Side, where they would live and build be respectable and respected and free” (268). Clearly, she is a model of such a woman who has the willingness to change—the willingness to transform her life. When she keeps mention about “free,” it reveals that her life now has less freedom, and it is probably wrecked, alienated, and dull.

Roselily wants a change in her life and seek for the South where she believes she could be free. She may be a lonely woman who is not very sociable. Obviously, her society is quite different from today society. I believe if Roselily lives in today world, she could be a strong woman—hopefully a great woman leader because she has a sense of rebellion for something better in life.

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Nuclear Weapons and the University of California

Nuclear Weapons and the University of California
by David Krieger, July 26, 2007

Most of us would agree that the primary purpose of a university is to educate students to be compassionate and decent human beings who play a meaningful role in improving society. This is a serious challenge under any circumstances, but particularly in the Nuclear Age when our most destructive technologies are capable of destroying civilization and eliminating the human species.

I believe that a university has a responsibility to educate not only in the classroom, but also to teach by example. A University should teach values of honesty, integrity and compassion. It should not be a tool for propaganda, nor should it send a message to its students that it is acceptable to use powerful weaponry to threaten the annihilation of whole populations. None of us would tolerate holding up genocidal behavior as a model for innocent and open minds.

The involvement of the University of California in the management and oversight of the US nuclear weapons laboratories deserves our consideration. By the University accepting this role – indeed, by seeking it – a message is sent to students that making weapons of mass destruction is a legitimate function of a University. In fact, that’s what the University of California does when it manages the US nuclear weapons laboratories. It legitimizes the worst weapons of mass destruction. As a prestigious public institution, it provides a figleaf of respectability to the labs and the scientists who work in them.

Most of the great nuclear scientists of the 20th century were appalled by the nuclear arms race, which brought into focus the possibility of nuclear annihilation. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki no one can claim ignorance of what nuclear weapons do. At best, they are cowardly weapons that kill indiscriminately. At worst, they will end the human presence on our planet.

Those who lead the UC system have a responsibility to the students, to society and to the future. It is time to say No to the University’s involvement in designing and developing nuclear weapons. The University is in a pivotal position. If it challenges its role in the making of nuclear weapons, it will challenge its students and the society at large to rethink the legitimacy of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons do not make us safer. In fact, reliance on nuclear weapons almost certainly assures that they will proliferate and eventually be used, by accident or design. Should this happen, any US nuclear weapons used will come with a tag that should say, “Made at the University of California.”

I disagree with those who argue that the UC is performing a “national service” by managing the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories. Quite the opposite: It is prolonging reliance on nuclear weapons. Nor do I agree with those who say that it will be worse if the labs are managed by private enterprise. Already the University is in partnership with Bechtel and other defense contractors in its management of the labs.

The University has not prevented a nuclear arms race nor brought sanity to a world security system based upon Mutually Assured Destruction. To this can now be added the Mutually Assured Delusions of those who hold that nuclear arsenals can be maintained indefinitely without resulting in catastrophe.

Albert Einstein said, “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” A University is a place where thinking should change. I call upon the Regents of the University of California to educate their students on the extreme dangers of nuclear weapons and the role their University plays in designing and developing these weapons. I call upon the Regents to take a principled stand and help lead us out of the Nuclear Age by severing their relations with the weapons laboratories – institutions that have helped push the human species to the brink of catastrophe.

The motto of the University of California is “Let there be light.” I don’t think the founders of the University had in mind the light of nuclear detonations in which the UC played a central role. I think they had in mind the light of truth and the beauty of education for a better world.

David Krieger is the President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (www.wagingpeace.org)

Credited to: http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2007/07/26_krieger_nuc_weapons_and_UC.htm

Argumentative Essay: "Abortion, Right and Wrong"

This is not my essay. This is good sample of "Argumentative Essay" I got from college. Written by Rachel Richardson Smith.

Well, this essay is so profound.

Feedback by "Comments" please

Abortion, Right and Wrong

By Rachel Richardson Smith

I cannot bring myself to say I am in favor of abortion. I don’t want anyone to have one. I want people to use contraceptives and for those contraceptives to be foolproof. I want people to be responsible for their actions, mature in their decisions. I want children to be loved, wanted, well cared for.

I cannot bring myself to say I am against choice. I want women who are young, poor, single or all three to be able to direct the course of their lives. I want women who have had all the children they want or can afford or their in bad marriages or destructive relationships to avoid being trapped by pregnancy.

So these days when thousands rally in opposition to legalized abortion, when facilities providing abortions are bombed, when the president speaks glowingly of the growing momentum behind the anti-abortion movement, I find myself increasingly alienated from those pro-life groups.

At the same time, I am overwhelmed with mail from pro-choice groups. They, too, are mobilizing their forces, growing articulate in support of their cause, and they want my support. I am not sure I can give it.

I find myself in the awkward position of being both anti-abortion and pro-choice. Neither group seems to be completely right—or wrong. It is not that I think abortion is wrong for me but acceptable for someone else. The question is far more complex than that.

Part of my problem is that what I think and how I feel about this issue are two entirely different matters. I know that unwanted children are often neglected, even abandoned. I know that making abortion illegal will not stop all women from having them.
I also know from experience the crisis an unplanned pregnancy can cause. Yet I have felt the joy of giving birth, the delight that comes from feeling a baby’s skin against my own. I know how hard it is to parent a child and how deeply dissatisfying it can be. My children sometimes provoke me and cause me endless frustration, but I can still look at them with tenderness and wonder at the miracle of it all. The lessons of my own experience produce conflicting emotions. Theory collides with reality.

It concerns me that bother groups present themselves in absolutes. They are committed and they want me to commit. They do not recognize that gray area where I seem to be languishing. Each group has the right answer—the only answer.

Yet I am uncomfortable in either camp. I have nothing in common with the pro-lifers. I am horrified by their scare tactics, their pictures of well-formed fetuses tossed in a metal pan, their cruel slogans. I cannot condone their flagrant misuse of Scripture and unforgiving sprit. There is meanness about their position that causes them to pass judgment on the lives of women in a way I could never do.

The pro-life groups, with their fundamentalist religious attitudes, have a fear and an abhorrence of sex, especially premarital sex. In their view abortion only compounds the sexual sin. What I find incomprehensible is that even as they are opposed to abortion they are also opposed to alternative solutions. They are squeamish about sex education in the schools. They don’t want teens to have contraceptives without parental consent. They offer little aid or sympathy to unwed mothers. They are the vigilant guardians of a narrow morality.

I wonder how abortion got to be the greatest of all sins? What about poverty, ignorance, hunger, weaponry?

The only thing the anti-abortion groups seem to have right is that abortion is indeed the taking of human life. I simply cannot escape this one glaring fact. Call it what you will—fertilized egg, embryo, fetus. What we have here is human life. If it were just a mass of tissue there would be no debate. So I agree that abortion ends a life. But the anti-abortionists are wrong to call it murder.

The sad truth is that homicide is not always against the law. Our society does not categorically recognize the sanctity of human life. There are a number of legal and apparently socially acceptable ways to take human life. There are a number of legal and apparently socially acceptable ways to take human life. “Justifiable” homicide includes the death penalty, war, killing in self-defense. It seems to me that as a society we need to come to grips with out own ambiguity concerning the value of human life. If we are to value and protect unborn life so stringently, why do we not also value and protect life already born?

Why can’t we see abortion for the human tragedy it is? No woman plans for her life to turn out that way. Even the most effective contraceptives are no guarantee against pregnancy. Loneliness, ignorance, immaturity can lead to decisions (or lack of decisions) that may result in untimely pregnancy. People make mistakes.

What many people seem to misunderstand is that no woman wants to have an abortion. Circumstances demand it; women do it. No woman reacts to abortion with joy. Relief, yes. But also ambivalence, grief, despair, guilt.

The pro-choice groups do not seem to acknowledge that abortion is not a perfect answer. What goes unsaid is that when a woman has an abortion she loses more than an unwanted pregnancy. Often she loses her self-respect. No woman can forget a pregnancy no matter how it ends.

Why can we not view abortion as one of those anguished decisions in which human beings struggle to do the best they can in trying circumstances? Why is abortion viewed so coldly and factually on the one hand and so judgmentally on the other? Why is it not akia to the same painful experience families must sometimes make to allow a loved one to die?

I wonder how we can begin to change the context in which we think about abortion. How can we begin to think about it preemptively? What is it in the trauma of loss of life—be it loved, born or unborn—from which we can learn? There is much I have yet to resolve. Even as I refuse to pass judgments on other women’s lives, I weep for the children who might have been. I suspect I am not alone.

The Mind, my perception : The heart, my conscience

I have no idea what to start today lol..ugly poem I might produce...feel desperate..cannot concentrate even while reading....

Let's begin

Come back upon me from the drought of life
It was the hiding-places of my power
Seem open, I approach, and then they close;
I see my glimpses now, when day comes
the month is cold; may hardly see at all
While yet we may, as far as the words can fall,
A life to what I can feel....Yesterday...

The mind, my perception, the heart, my conscience
The mind of man..I need to thrill
On which I dwells....
A thousand times more beautiful than the earth
It is hard to converse
from reality to probability
I glimpse and glimpse
But nothing is what I can feel...now...

My ego that is controlled
Not by my heart and none of my soul
My physical muscle isn't hurt
And the pain of my heart's
Hiddin in my emotional muscle
But obscurity is what I can feel...yesterday...now...tomorrow

The only edict I must respect

I am. I think. I will
My hands...My spirit....my sky...my forest...this earth of mine....
I lift my head and I spread my arms
My body and spirit wished to know the meaning of things
" I am the meaning of things "
I wished to find a warrant for being
I need no warrant for being, and no work of sanction upon my being
" I am the warrant and the sanction "

It is my eyes which see,
And grants beauty to the earth
It is my ears which hear,
And gives its song to the world.
It is my mind which thinks,
And the judgment is the only light I can find the truth
It is my will which chooses,
and the choice is the only edict I must respect.