Friday, January 24, 2020
Amen: Does Prayer Play An Important Role In Our Lives Today? :: essays research papers
Amen: Does Prayer Play An Important Role In Our Lives Today?      Does prayer play an important role in our lives today? The minority would say no and that prayer shouldn't ever have played an important role in our society. But, the simple fact of the matter is that for hundreds of years, prayer in school has been encouraged by both society and government. In recent years, it has been established that prayer in schools has led to a steady moral decline. Morals must be taught, in school and at home, and they cannot be properly taught without religion as a much needed stepping stone.      Our government was based upon religious beliefs from the very beginning. The Declaration of Independence says: â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights. . .†Certainly, it talks about God, creations, God-given moral rights, the providence of God, and the final Day of Judgment-all of which are religious teachings. And school prayer has been an important part of our religious experience from the very beginning.      Our very First Amendment didn't separate God and government but actually encouraged religion. It reads: â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof,†(Encarta 96). The first part simply says that the federal government cannot establish one religion for all of the people. The simple idea of everyone in our nation being limited to one form of religion is inconceivable. The second section insists that the government should do nothing to discourage religion. But forbidding prayer in schools discourages religion, doesn't it?      Early congressional actions encouraged religion in public schools. For example, the Northwest Treaty (1787 and 1789) declared: â€Å"Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, and the means of learning shall forever be encouraged†(Encarta 96). By seeing this, religion, which includes prayer, was deemed to be necessary. Congress has prayed at the opening of every session since the very beginning. By acknowledging these facts we ask the simple question, â€Å" If the government can pray in their sessions, why can't the governed pray in their (school) sessions?      Public schools had prayer for nearly 200 years before the Supreme Court ruled that state-mandated class prayers were unconstitutional in Engel vs. Vitale in 1962 (Buckley 70). How could this trail have such a huge impact on our nation and ultimately alter how we perceive our constitution? The fact that prayer was practiced for nearly 200 years alone establishes it by example as a
Thursday, January 16, 2020
The Mask of Melville’s Lawyer in Bartleby
Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener gives the reader an unnerving, yet nonchalant look at a story of a man dulled by the repetitiveness of urban life. Melville’s characters are rife with symbolism, but it is also the many allegories of modern life that makes it so powerful. Indeed setting the story in 19th century Wall Street portends of the coming wealth and power of New York City, and the real life existence of the characters in Bartleby that predated this prosperity and who continue to exist today. The character of the Lawyer in Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener is thrust into an outright confusing situation that he has never encountered in his life. â€Å"All who know me, consider me an eminently safe man,†(Melville 2) he says as he describes himself.  Although a lawyer by profession, he does not involve himself with the intricacies and ethics of the law, merely content on dealing with property and other rich men’s businesses. As Davis says: Obviously, the lawyer is a man dedicated to the laws of the earth, and, not only has he dedicated himself to these laws, but deals exclusively with the laws of property, of rich men's bonds and mortgages and title deeds. The narrator seems to hold no interest, or, at the least, no ambition in practicing law that demands of him thoughts of â€Å"higher†things.  Before the appearance of Bartleby, by the narrator's own admission, he has not struggled with the ethics of justice, of good and evil; rather, he makes his way in this world comfortable by dealing with the physical, the tangible, that which he can know. (2) Relating this idea to Dunbar’s We Wear the Mask, the Lawyer who hires Bartleby has hidden himself from these higher functions from the world, and the people around him, by wearing this mask of feigned simple-mindedness.  â€Å"We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyesâ€â€Ã¢â‚¬Å" (Dunbar 1-2).  It prevents the Lawyer from actually accepting who Bartleby is till the end of the story. Through the years, this mask becomes ingrained to the personality of the Lawyer, that he fails to understand anything that touches him through this shield. Yet this is exactly what Bartleby does, and what evokes the Lawyer and the reader’s interest at the same time.  We are curious as to who this strange creature is and why he is that odd.  Chisdes provides an interesting comparison between the two main characters. This story is a story of contrast between Bartleby and the narrator. The narrator does everything possible to reach out to his fellow humans; and Bartleby does everything possible to cut himself off from his fellow humans.  Whereas the narrator embraces life, Bartleby rejects it. (Chisdes par. 23) Bartleby does not choose a mask for himself, rather, his has already eroded into the sullen drudgery of office life.  The Lawyer’s narration of his â€Å"rumor†at the end, of how Bartleby was working at a Dead Letter Office (Melville 37) reveal that although Bartleby changed him, his mask remains on him.  In the words of Mason, â€Å"The lawyer gives Bartleby a peaceful and contented ending to diminish his culpability in Bartleby’s demise.†(par 7). Till the end, the Lawyer does not recognize his relationship with Bartleby outside his mask of pretend virtue. He first decides to place him aside, but with his associates getting curious about this shell of a man in his office, he decides he cannot take anymore. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs?  Nay, let them only see us while, We wear the mask. (Dunbar 6-9) The Lawyer cannot stomach this aberration. Not because he is worried about himself, but about what other people think of him.  He only lets the world see him while wearing his mask. At last I was made aware that all through the circle of my professional acquaintance, a whisper of wonder was running round, having reference to the strange creature I kept at my office. This worried me very much. (Melville 28) Bartleby only serves to highlight this deficiency in the Lawyer’s character, something that is true for each one of us. Dunbar’s poem reflects our inner weaknesses, that we only integrate with culture through a persona. As the Lawyer was presented with someone whom the mask of himself is not affecting, he becomes confused, leading to the darkly humorous events that follow. R E F E R E N C E S Chisdes, Jonathan. The Narrator in Melville's â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener†: Morally Corrupt or Deep Humanitarian?. May 12 1995. chisdes.com October 28, 2007. http://www.chisdes.com/bartleby.html Davis, Todd F. â€Å"The Narrator's Dilemma in â€Å"Bartleby the Scrivener†: The            Excellently Illustrated Re-statement of a Problem. Spring 1997. Studies in     Short Fiction. October 28, 2007.           Dunbar, Paul Laurence. â€Å"We Wear the Mask†. The Complete Poems of Paul       Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1913. Mason, Joe. Ideological Justification in Herman Melville’s â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street†and â€Å"Poor Man’s Pudding†. Southern Connecticut  University. 2005. October 28, 2007. Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener. 1853. Kessinger Publishing. 2004. Â
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Women Should Stay At Home - 996 Words
In today’s world, we are surrounded by billboards, tv commercials, magazines and newspaper ads. We are always kept up to date with the newest fashions and technology, but what we seem to forget is that we are also surrounded by advertisements promoting or demoting movements such as, abortion, or gay rights. Two extremely memorable advertisements are ones that promote the anti-sexism movement. As a woman and a feminist, these ads really caught my attention and urged me to learn more. Both men and women have endured many conflicts due to sexism; movements such as the UN Women and the #EndAllSexism are some of the proof that people are still fighting and that sexism still exists in today’s society. In the UN Women ad, there is a black haired, white female’s face with the google search engine covering her mouth. Typed in the search engine are two words, â€Å"women should†, correspondingly under are four suggestions for searches: â€Å"women should stay at home†, â€Å"women should be slaves†, â€Å"women should be in the kitchen†, and â€Å"women should not speak in church†. This is where ethos came into play; do I really believe these suggestions popped up on the search engine? So I tested the experiment on Bing’s search engine and after typing â€Å"women should†, the first two suggestions that popped up were: â€Å"women should learn in silence†and â€Å"women should make husband number one priority†. The fact that those phrases popped up on these search engine shows how society dehumanizes women. These termsShow MoreRelated Working Women - Mothers Should Stay Home with Their Children1712 Words  | 7 PagesMothers Should Stay Home with Their Children          One day a mother and her three and a half-year-old daughter were approaching a daycare center. The girl turned to her mother and asked her this question: Mom, is it against the law for you to stay home? There was another little girl that would never talk whenever her mom took her to the babysitters house. The mother consulted child psychologist Eleanor Wiesberger. She asked her why she thought that the girl wouldnt talk during herRead MoreThe Era for Stay-at-home Dads Essay1640 Words  | 7 Pagesï » ¿The Era for Stay-at-home Dads For generations, the gender role stereotype within the family has been the same: the father is a deserved pillar of family, and he has responsibility to be a breadwinner by going out to work to make money rather than staying at home as a homemaker. However, over the past few decades, the conventional gender role stereotypes of family has been largely changed to the point that an increasing number of men choose to be stay-at-home dads instead of being bread-earnersRead MoreWhy Are Feminism and Housewife Considered to be Mutually Exclusive Terms?1115 Words  | 5 Pagesgo against the fight for feminism. Does a difference actually exist? Does such a thing as a feminist stay at home mother exist? For my paper I plan to explore where the line is drawn between the two controversies and propose a contemporary middle for the two to meet. The face of feminism needs to reevaluate their stance on the role of the housewife and create a culture in which the stay at home mother is not frowned upon by feminists. In my paper I will examine how feminists through time have examinedRead MoreRequired By Working Parents Stay At Home Parents915 Words  | 4 Pageschild care in workplaces, and should stay at home parents receive a paycheck from the government. Families to improve their living standards, both parent should work. After all, some parents choose to work in order to support their families whiles other are determined to stay home and take care of their families. Some people believe that stay at home parents should get paid by the government. In my opinion, I agree with this argument. Parents who decided to stay home have plenty of household choresRead MoreAre You Hot? And Your Homework At?1645 Words  | 7 Pagesmother. Mothers who stay at home know that at times, their lives can be discombobulating. Despite the chaos, stay-at-home mothers get the tremendous responsibility of only having one chance of raising their children in such a way that makes a difference in their children’s lives and in society. Throughout history, society has looked upon the male as the breadwinner: the one expected to work and support the family. The mother has been viewed as the nurturer: the one to stay home and raise the childrenRead MoreMother Culture Is Good For Young Girls964 Words  | 4 Pagesall our beliefs in check and makes us realize that women can and do have sexual desires despite Orensteins remarks about how women should â€Å"look sexy, but not feel sexual.†Orenstein admire the little girls on Toddler in Tiara, but wonders whether or not teaching these kids so early in age to be a sexual being (i.e.to be a women), will affect their self-image and well being later on. Then there are the earlier articles stating that a mother should be a mother and have no other desire to work or haveRead MoreGender Roles : How They Affect The Family1327 Words  | 6 Pagesalways are the ones who work and women are the ones who stay at home and take care of the house and children. In some famil ies that is not the case; there are some men who are stay at home dads which you do not see very often. This can be a good thing because having the dad stay home and be with the children could help with their relationships. Many times the father is not home much because of their job which can make them be distant from their family. Men and women should share responsibilities whenRead MoreThe Good Mother, The Wise Mother1717 Words  | 7 Pages--Theodore Roosevelt Maternal selflessness provides women with a revered level of moral authority. The ability to completely and fully place another human’s life before her own is unparalleled. Why is it that a figure who is so generously praised among those in a community, is also considered â€Å"doing nothing†when they make a job of making a home for a child and developing his or her capabilities. When women make the selfless decision to stay home, they are in-turn making the difficult decision toRead MoreParsons And Bales : Family Structure And Gender Roles1684 Words  | 7 Pagesinfeasible for the average American household to have family dynamics that rely on gender role specialization. However, Parsons’ and Bales’ ideology has continued today and influenced many household’s ideologies and this has put an unfair amount of work on women in modern day family’s because they have to pick up the second shift in addition to working full time to support a fam ily. Parsons and Bales’ theory of family assumes that industrialization is leading to the prominence of the male-breadwinning familyRead MoreThe Importance of Stay at Home Moms757 Words  | 3 Pagesjob out there†this quote could be a quote that a stay at home mother uses when it comes to caring for her children. â€Å"I feel like I gave up everything to care for my children don’t get me wrong I love them but I feel like I lost myself†this is another quote that could come from a stay at home mother. The quotes mentioned above could be why Wendy Luhabe believes there should a salary for Mommy’s out there. Wendy Luhabe believes that moms should be given a salary for caring for their children.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)