Flunkme.com - Free Essays

When I wake up to the ear-splitting sound of my alarm clock, and blindly search for the snooze button, a sudden thought dawns: “What am I doing?”The time is 5:30 AM; all is dark and hushed. My weary body feels completely drained of energy. While straining to open my eyes, still warm and snug in my comfortable bed, I am overcome with a feeling of lethargy. “Perhaps I should call in sick.” Despite all my musing, and my bed’s magnetic pull, I still manage to rise each morning at this ungodly hour to join the cross-country running team in rigorous training.

Cross-country running, a sport that requires the fusing of body and mind, strives to maximize your physical ability by testing your mental tenacity. Everyday represents a new struggle to beat yesterday’s maximum output, an issue of mind over matter. I have known the agony of this conflict since I joined the newly established cross-country team. As convincing as my morning doubts are, I do not heed them. Through pains and sprains and through adverse weather and unfavorable conditions, I run because I made up my mind three years ago to succeed.

Let me start the essay by saying I believe H.G. Wells is one of the most intelligent writers of his time: a true futurist. I think the theme of this book would be more on the like lines of thinking about something before u do it. The time traveler should have thought things threw and taken precautions for everything that could possibly go wrong, or right for that matter. If he had done this, I am sure he would have had a camera, matches (to fight of the Morlocks), cigars (he constantly wants them through out the story) and of course, his machine wouldn’t have been captured by the Morlocks.The main characters in the time machine where the Time Traveler himself, Weena (an Eloi who The Time Traveler rescued) the Eloi was a race and the Morlocks was a race. Weena was by far the most interesting of the characters. She was an Eloi who was drowning while trying to bathe in a river. The Time Traveler quickly jumped into the river and rescued her. She then started following The Time Traveler everywhere on his expeditions. He to gained knowledge from Weena about the Morlocks and the Eloi’s. The Time Traveler obviously was an intelligent man, I mean he figured out a way to travel through time! He was also a very rich, charming and friendly man, a little too anxious and curious though. His anxiety made him go to another time unprepared, nothing with him but a package of matches. The Morlocks are a race of our current day primates except ten times more ugly and they live underground. They are very aggressive but have a weakness, light. The Eloi’s on the other hand are very nice and gentle, and are scared of the dark (because that’s when the Morlocks come out). Did I forget to mention that the Morlocks are carnivorous so they occasionally much on Eloi’s! The Morlocks end up stealing the time machine, but only to lure the Time Traveler in so they could make a meal out of him.

Everyday people employ the use of logic to help them clarify or solve problems. Logic may only provide validity or highly probable ideas, but the correct answer, if any, is left for one to decide. The science of thinking and rationalizing, logic is like a double-edge sword. When logic is utilized it may become an efficient tool, capable of discovering correct ideas and understandings. Yet, it can also become an unsolvable maze, causing more confusion than clarity. There are certain methods of logic to determine possible solutions for a problem and to verify them. Induction and deduction are arguments that may give a solution, which is not considered absolutely true but rather having correct reasoning. For logic can only determine “the distinction between correct and incorrect reasoning” (Copi, p.5) of a problem. Well these methods can be useful; it still can make a problem more confusing such as with the case of paradoxes. It is up to one to make the leap of faith to decide if the conclusions of the methods are acceptable in practice or not.

In Dante’s Inferno, Hell is described in vivid detail in the eyes of Dante, the main character and author. Sinners are eternally punished with tortures that fit their sins. This idea of retributive justice and the role of human reason in the form of Virgil are the two main themes in the poem. Canto VIII contains Dis, the capital of Hell and is most representative of these themes.

The sinners caught in the 5th circle, Styx, are the Wrathful, ones that purposely harm others physically or emotionally. There are tortured by attacking each other with foul slime and tearing at each other’s flesh. Just as they had attacked others in life, they are forever being attacked in Hell. In almost every Canto, a new class of sinners and their punishments are introduced. This retributive justice is the most obvious theme of the poem.

During his journey, Dante is guided by Virgil, the symbol of human reason. When they approach the boatman Phlegyas, he becomes enraged that they are not sinners, but Virgil’s word convinces Phlegyas to take them across, symbolic that human reason can shine through obstacles. However, Dante address the idea of Hell to be too much for the simple human mind to understand, so an angel must open the doors of Dis for them to pass through.

In the story of “The wife of his youth” by Charles W. Chesnutt goes into detail about how the blacks were having problems with the society of the whites. This story was written after civil war. Where were a group of blacks who started this society called “The blue vein society”. The group of people would get to together talk about how the whites could except them and for the blacks to except them would be a step back for them. The main character of the story is Mr. Ryder. He was in charge of the blue vein society, and everybody in the society look up the him. In this paper I will show how the people of the blue vein society had problems with their identities.

Laertes and Hamlet both display impulsive reactions when angered. Once Laertes discovers his father has been murdered Laertes immediately assumes the slayer is Claudius. As a result of Laertes’s speculation he instinctively moves to avenge Polonius’s death. “To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation: to this point I stand, that both worlds I give to negligence, let come what comes; only I’ll be revenged most thoroughly for my father.” Act 4 Scene 5 lines 128-134 provide insight into Laertes’s mind displaying his desire for revenge at any cost. In contrast to Laertes speculation of his father’s killer, Hamlet presumes the individual spying on his conversation with Gertrude is Claudius(”Nay, I know not: is it the King?” Act 3, Scene 4 line 28). Consequently, Hamlet consumed with rage automatically thrusts out attempting to kill Claudius, but instead strikes Polonius. Hamlet’s and Laertes’s imprudent actions are incited by fury and frustration. Sudden anger prompts both Hamlet and Laertes to act spontaneously, giving little thought to the consequences of their actions.

Do the ends justify the means? What is the price people are willing to pay to achieve civil order? Anthony Burgess gives the reader a shocking look at a world where the government is willing to destroy a person’s humanity to find the order they desire in A Clockwork Orange. This stunning novel provides a view of a society’s open acceptance to a totalitarian regime, and the evil that exists inside every human being. The book presents it’s ideas through a strong cohesive storyline and plot, a unique system of organization that shows the cause and effect of the government’s actions, and finally a clearly stated idea about the need for free choice. A Clockwork Orange presents a dismal world to show that good is only truly achieved through free choice, not through social control.

One’s value in life is often judged by many artificial factors. These are often the values that society decides are important. Far too many people simply choose to follow this path and live a life devoid of true meaning. The movie, “Fight Club,” and Albert Camus’ The Stranger try to show the effects that this mindset can have on a person. Both works demonstrate a man’s attempt to become an existentialist against the pressure of society. Both men start by simply living an existentialist’s life, their great sacrifice and great personal pain grants them enlightenment, but they ultimately gain their authentic existence through one ultimate sacrifice.

A poor decision can haunt someone for the rest of their life, if they chose to do nothing to make up for the wrongs that they’ve done. The Kite Runner is a tale of redemption that realistically explores human life in the darkest of circumstances. The narrator weaves a tale that describes how a single decision can haunt a person for the rest of their life. The story shows that human struggles exist everywhere. I had mixed feelings for the book though. I liked The Kite Runner for the detailed, living backdrops to which the story was set, the complex father-son relationship that it accurately showed, and the touching story of redemption. My only complaint would be about the book’s ending due to its disappointingly simple nature.

How can one best show a man’s rise and fall? Authors have chosen a variety of ways to best display this tragic fall. Arthur Miller mixed flashbacks into his general storyline that allowed the reader to infer what set his main character on his path to destruction. William Shakespeare chose to catalog the meteoric rise and fall of Macbeth by using the traditional tragic Greek structure. This setup allows him to provide the reader with a clear theme that grants a strong catharsis. Shakespeare uses the traditional Greek tragic structure to effectively warn the audience of the damage that can be caused by one man’s blind ambition.

The prologos shows the audience that Macbeth was not an evil man until he chose to follow his wild ambitions. In the beginning, Macbeth was a noble, brave, honest, and loyal follower of King Duncan. He is happy as the Thane of Glamis, and he enjoys supporting the current king. It is reported by a captain in the army that, “Brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name- disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution, like valor’s minion carved out his passage” (6). Macbeth risked his life to end this rebellion and by “disdaining fortune” he showed that he placed no value in his own fate. He is a soldier and it is his duty to honorably protect the king. Macbeth begins the tale as a good man.