Monday, January 27, 2020
Huckleberry Finn: Themes of Religion
Huckleberry Finn: Themes of Religion Phyu Han Theme of Religion in Huckleberry Finn Relating to today’s Society In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain makes a satire of some characters’ absolute faith in religion compared to other characters’ doubt that such beliefs are for real. Miss Watson and Widow Douglas both believe that heaven â€Å"good place†exists and they explain to Huckleberry Finn that the only way to get there is to pray and go to church every Sunday. â€Å"She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn’t so. I tried it.†(Twain 8) On the contrary, Huckleberry Finn presumes that religion and faith are unrealistic because people cannot see them. â€Å"I went and told the widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by praying for it was ‘spiritual gifts’.†(Twain 8) In relation to the issues concerning faith in religion in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there are still conflicts between faith in God, the Creator, and belief in scientific ideas in to day’s society. Currently in today’s world population, the religious â€Å"unaffiliated†category makes up the third largest group (Heneghan). This category consists of atheists, agnostics, and people with no evident religion (Heneghan). In present society, religion faces a new challenge known as scientific research. Many people still disagrees on whether the Creator has created and expanded the universe or if it was caused the initial Big Bang explosion (O’Neil). Scientists have continued to search for a definite answer. On March 17, 2014, scientists announced a Big Bang breakthrough that might suggest that the Big Bang did not occur as a simple explosion caused by hot and dense matter but was a highly ordered event (O’Neil). Scientists in South Pole working with a telescope called BICEP 2 detected gravitational waves that provides evidence for the universe’s rapid expansion known today as the Big Bang theory (O’Neil). The evidence found was that the univer se expanded faster than the speed of light when it was a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second old (O’Neil). Christian scientists claim that the evidence ensures that there was a beginning (O’Neil). In terms of cause and effect, if there was a beginning, there must have been a beginner according to the Christian scientists (O’Neil). This struggle between religion and science relates to Huck’s disbelief in religion due to him not being able to see it. Huck Finn is especially realistic as he would not believe in religion for it could only give him ‘spiritual gifts’. Presently, people continue to be unsure of how the universe began and expanded to life. As a result, 16.3% of the world’s population currently is religious unaffiliated (Heneghan). In addition to the Big Bang discovery, recent findings show proofs to the authenticity of the Bible. Advanced Physics students of Leicester University tested out if Biblical dimensions of Noah’s ark in Genesis could hold 70,000 animals (â€Å"Students Surprised to Find Noah’s Ark Feasible†). In Genesis, there would have been 35,000 animals needed to be saved by Noah times two concerning males and females of the animals (â€Å"Students Surprised to Find Noah’s Ark Feasible†). The students constructed the ark based on estimated Biblical dimensions and found that the ark could have held 70,000 animals plus food and water (â€Å"Students Surprised to Find Noah’s Ark Feasible†). The result shows some truthfulness in the Biblical stories which provides confirmation to some aspects of the Bible. Widow Douglas believed in Biblical stories such as about Moses and the Bulrushers and she found importance in teaching Huck about them â€Å"After s upper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers†(Twain 2). Religious stories are a part of the religion. If the stories are real, the religion itself could potentially be real. As well as Biblical stories, there are also proofs to Biblical descriptions of Earth’s structure. According to Genesis 7:11, when the Flood began, ancient transition zone water rose up through the crust and all the fountains of the great deep were broken up (â€Å"Water Deep in Earth’s Mantle†). A new discovery reveals that mineral of earth’s mantle material can store great amounts of water (â€Å"Water Deep in Earth’s Mantle†). This means that the subterranean Flood could have originated from ancient reservoirs in the upper earth mantle (â€Å"Water Deep in Earth’s Mantle†). Moreover, Scriptures suggests that Earth was created by God with water (â€Å"Water Deep in Earth’s Mantle†). The research reveals that the mantle could hold two oceans’ volumes of water (â€Å"Water Deep in Earth’s Mantle†). The idea opposing creationism, the idea that the universe and life originates from a grand design, is evolution. Evolution disproves the belief that all living things and the universe are created by God, the Creator. Scientists sequenced the genome of the vesper bats to identify the cause of their vast diversity (Going batty for jumping DNA as a cause of species diversity.). The researchers found jumping elements in their genome called DNA transposons (Going batty for jumping DNA as a cause of species diversity.). The results prove that changes and mutations in DNA cause evolution in living organisms (Going batty for jumping DNA as a cause of species diversity.). It also proves that different species of living organisms were not created by the Creator but organisms evolved into diversified species. In support of Darwin’s evolution theory, modern researches indicates that there are 338 known species of hummingbirds and they are still evolving based on habitats (Hummingbirds 22- million-year-old history of remarkable change is far from complete.). The conflict continues as Creationists in Texas education board refuses approval of a commonly used biology textbook due to the belief that the textbook portrays evolution as a fact and not as a theory (Rich). Several reviewers for the textbook refused to accept evolution and climate change as scientific fact (Rich). In today’s society, there are still disagreements on whether schools should incorporate creationism into their teachings. In regards of the state’s creationism law called the Louisiana Science Education Act, Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal allows the teachings of creationism in Louisiana public schools (Kopplin). Some people believe that this is wrong and that schools should not blur the lines of science facts and religious beliefs in their education (Kopplin). â€Å"If I catch you about that school I’ll tan you good. First you know you’ll get religion, too. I never see such a son.†(Twain 15) In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, P ap sensed that Huck will learn religion as along with education because schools in those times incorporated religion with education. Throughout history, there has been continuous conflict between religion and realism. People have always searched for truth and answers to the mysteries of creation and being. In today’s society, human beings call belief in religion, faith, because it is simply trust in its existence without actually knowing its existence as a fact. There have always been believers such as Miss Watson and Widow Douglas and doubters such as Huck Finn and Pap. The real question, though, is do human beings really need to know religion as a fact when it could make people behave better? In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry Finn does not believe in the existence of religion but he was taught by religious people such as Widow Douglas that stealing is wrong. As a result, he developed a conscience and realizes he is stealing. For this reason, he calls stealing â€Å"borrowing†and only steals what he necessarily needs.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Cree Indians :: essays papers
Cree Indians This is an introduction to the Cree Indians way of life explaining about the foods they ate, significance of story telling, myths, religious beliefs, rituals performed, and their present day way of life. It is almost impossible to touch on every aspect because of what is not printed and only known by elders. Some native words used by Cree Indians: Kiwetin meaning the north wind that brings misfortune (Gill, Sullivan 158). Another word is maskwa used for bear, the most intelligent and spiritually powerful land animal (Gill, Sullivan 182). A water lynx that holds control over lakes and rivers is called â€Å"Michi-Pichoux†; they are associated with unexplained deaths (Gill, Sullivan 189). Tipiskawipisim is used for the moon who is the sister of the sun. Once a flood destroys the first humans, Tipiskawipisim creates the first female (Gill, Sullivan 303). The history of the Cree Indians begins where they live for the most part in Canada, and some share reservations with other tribes in North Dakota. The Cree Indians, an Alogonquian tribe sometimes called Knisteneau, were essentially forest people, though an offshoot, the so-called Plains Cree, were buffalo hunters. The Cree’s first encounter with white people was in 1640, the French Jesuits. The Cree Indians later lost many of their tribe in the 1776 break out of small pox, battles with the Sioux, and a defeat to the Blackfeet in 1870. The Cree lived by hunting, fishing, trapping, and using muskrat as one of their staples. They made sacrifices to the sun; the Great Master of Life (Erdoes, Ortiz 504). The Cree lived in the Northern Plains, which was also home to the Sarsi, Blackfoot, Plains Ojibway, and Assiniboin. Many of the tribes were equestrian bands moving to pursue the buffalo. The buffalo was their resource for food, material for dwellings, clothing, cooking vessels, rawhide cases, and bone and horn implements. The introduction of the horse by the Spanish led to the plains Indians to become more able and skillful hunters. Each tribe had different methods of hunting, preservation, and preparation of meat (Cox, Jacobs 98). One method of the nomadic plains tribes for cooking was to use rawhide cooking vessels which came from the hump of the buffalo, staked over a mound of earth and left to dry in the shape of a bowl. The pot was put in a shallow hole near the fire, and then carefully selected stones that would not shatter easily would be put in the fire and transferred to the bowl with wood or bone tongs to heat the contents of the pot. Cree Indians :: essays papers Cree Indians This is an introduction to the Cree Indians way of life explaining about the foods they ate, significance of story telling, myths, religious beliefs, rituals performed, and their present day way of life. It is almost impossible to touch on every aspect because of what is not printed and only known by elders. Some native words used by Cree Indians: Kiwetin meaning the north wind that brings misfortune (Gill, Sullivan 158). Another word is maskwa used for bear, the most intelligent and spiritually powerful land animal (Gill, Sullivan 182). A water lynx that holds control over lakes and rivers is called â€Å"Michi-Pichoux†; they are associated with unexplained deaths (Gill, Sullivan 189). Tipiskawipisim is used for the moon who is the sister of the sun. Once a flood destroys the first humans, Tipiskawipisim creates the first female (Gill, Sullivan 303). The history of the Cree Indians begins where they live for the most part in Canada, and some share reservations with other tribes in North Dakota. The Cree Indians, an Alogonquian tribe sometimes called Knisteneau, were essentially forest people, though an offshoot, the so-called Plains Cree, were buffalo hunters. The Cree’s first encounter with white people was in 1640, the French Jesuits. The Cree Indians later lost many of their tribe in the 1776 break out of small pox, battles with the Sioux, and a defeat to the Blackfeet in 1870. The Cree lived by hunting, fishing, trapping, and using muskrat as one of their staples. They made sacrifices to the sun; the Great Master of Life (Erdoes, Ortiz 504). The Cree lived in the Northern Plains, which was also home to the Sarsi, Blackfoot, Plains Ojibway, and Assiniboin. Many of the tribes were equestrian bands moving to pursue the buffalo. The buffalo was their resource for food, material for dwellings, clothing, cooking vessels, rawhide cases, and bone and horn implements. The introduction of the horse by the Spanish led to the plains Indians to become more able and skillful hunters. Each tribe had different methods of hunting, preservation, and preparation of meat (Cox, Jacobs 98). One method of the nomadic plains tribes for cooking was to use rawhide cooking vessels which came from the hump of the buffalo, staked over a mound of earth and left to dry in the shape of a bowl. The pot was put in a shallow hole near the fire, and then carefully selected stones that would not shatter easily would be put in the fire and transferred to the bowl with wood or bone tongs to heat the contents of the pot.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Love And Disguise In The Twelfth Night Essay
The art of love suggests that this complex emotion cannot be easily defined; it must instead be conceptualized within the confines of language and images. One writer that mastered this presentation of love is William Shakespeare. Through his sonnets and plays, he immortalized the concept of love for readers of all generations. His comedy Twelfth Night in particular presents love as an elusive object which throws out many tricks along its path. Through the artful use of language and disguise, this play presents love as a comic yet sentimental quest.            The first words in this play are spoken by a man in love – â€Å"If music be the food of love, play on:/Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, /The appetite may sicken and so die†(I,i,1-3). Duke Orsino is lovesick for Lady Olivia, who, unfortunately, has gone to great lengths to avoid his pursuit. He uses a metaphor comparing himself to a hart hunted by love’s â€Å"cruel hounds†(I, i, 22). This use of negatively connoted language reveals to the reader how much pain and suffering the Duke feels due to this unrequited love.            The plot becomes ironic when the shipwrecked Viola chooses to disguise herself as a eunuch, a serving boy, in the house of Orsino in order to quietly pass the time until she can find out if her twin brother has survived the same disaster at sea. In doing so, she finds that she has fallen in love with him but cannot express it because she is masquerading as a man. Her job is to woo Olivia, who is continuing to disguise herself in her mourning garb to thwart Orsino, which creates a further complication in that Olivia herself falls for the man that she thinks Viola is – Cesario. Thus, a triangle forms: Viola loves Orsino who loves Olivia who loves Viola (as Cesario). Clearly the point that love is confusing is well-taken.            Yet, this play has more to say about the complexities of love. Olivia marvels at the quick onset of her feelings: â€Å"How now!/Even so quickly may one catch the plague?†(I, v, 206-207).  Again, love is presented here as an illness to be avoided. TO make matters worse, Malvolio, Olivia’s grumpy servant, carries a secret love for his mistress. When Olivia’s uncle and his friend, who also loves Olivia, find out, they set him up for embarrassment. The love letter he ‘finds’ compels him to make romantic gestures toward Olivia, who has him banished for madness.            The further irony is that the choices of love interests in this play defy reason. Orsino emphatically asserts that nothing and nobody can â€Å"bide the beating of so strong a passion/ as love doth give my heart;†(II, iv, 72-73) for a woman that has constantly spurned him. Olivia, on the other hand, has fallen in love with a disguised woman: â€Å"I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride,/Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide/†(III, i, 121-122). Viola, disguised as a man, loves a man, and Malvolio has made the unfortunate mistake of loving a woman out of his class. Of course Andrew has been convinced to love Olivia as well, out of Toby’s malevolent and usurious needs.            The role that disguises play in the love situations above cannot be ignored. With the possible exception of the Duke, nobody is who they seem to be on the outside. Typically, Olivia would not fall for another female, but the traits in the person she perceives to be a male jive with her own desire for independence and autonomy. Likewise, Viola knows that she cannot formally announce her love for the Duke because she is disguised as a male. However, he is drawn to her because he must somehow sense her femininity.  Olivia is pretending to still be in mourning for her brother’s death by hiding herself under a veil, though the period for mourning has long since passed.      Further, when Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother enters the picture, Olivia naturally gravitates to him, resulting in hilarious results. Oddly, he accepts her proposal of marriage only minutes after coming in contact with her. This just goes to show that the characters in this play are not serious about love while they are disguised. It is characterized as a painful, cancerous emotion, yet they still seek it. When the characters finally are able to express their emotions as their true selves, the love seems more substantial. The marriage of Sebastian and Olivia is false until she realize that she hasn’t married Cesario, but really Sebastian. Likewise, the moment that the Duke discovers that Cesario is really the woman Viola, he offers his hand to her.            What appears to be a happy ending is itself disguised. The reader must wonder what has compelled these individuals to profess their undying love then change their minds so quickly. If love is as painful as they might suggest, why pursue it in the first place?  The idea of the happy ending is shadowed in the forced marriage by bet of Toby and Maria, and the angry outburst of the wronged Malvolio. The marriages of the play are reduced to a farce, which the clown can only sum up with a song. Reference Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1996.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Issues Dealing With Migrating And Appalachian Clients
In cross-cultural practice, Harper-Dorton and Lantz (2007) discuss issues dealing with Migrating and Appalachian Clients, but don’t talk about Mexicans migrating from Mexico. In chapter 10 Migrating and Appalachian Clients, it doesn’t really talk about how Mexicans cross the border putting their life at risks. This would be something I would have liked to read in the chapter talking about Mexicans as well not just Puerto Ricans and Vietnamese. As I read this article I found out that it had good information that stood out to me as pursing my social work degree, talked about: human rights, social work practice with immigrants, also macro practice and policy advocacy for immigration reform. As I searched for a scholarly journal article on my heritage I found one called â€Å"Deaths in the Desert: The Human Rights Crisis on the U.S.-Mexico Border†David Androff Kyoko Tavassoli (2012). With just the title alone it explains what the article is going to be about. Facts about the desert talked about in this article are that during the summer temperatures get up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and in the winter falls below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (Androff Tavassoli 2012). This is not safe for humans because there is a lack of sources like no water or food; this is what causes the deaths during the migrating process in the Sonoran desert. Immigrants knowing that they are going to pass through the desert still don’t think about food and water they do not leave prepared to cross the border,Show MoreRelatedManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words  | 862 Pagesfundamental wide-ranging issues. The bursting of the high-tech bubble both in many start-up companies and in major segments of established firms dissipated many entrepreneurial efforts and the large sums of money that were spent to create organizations that never earned a profit and were often hugely unsuccessful as business entities. However, this enormous cost to some companies also created beneficial impacts for many other companies in dealing with these fundamental wide-ranging issues. These beneficial
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