charant Character Changes in Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

Character Changes in Antigone In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away an d refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.

Historical Development of the 1960s Essay

Historical Development of the 1960s Introduction            Of the many historical eras, the 1960 era is regarded as one of the most controversial eras ever in the history of America. However, this was not the anticipation that most of American citizens had. At the very beginning of the 1960s, many believed that this was perhaps the most promising era yet. They even dubbed this era the golden age. The expectations of the people intensified in 1961 when John F. Kennedy took the office of the president. His charisma and enthusiasm won the hearts and trust of the American people. They strongly believed that his government would provide solutions to the major problems that they were facing at the time. However, to the surprise of many, the decade turned out to be the complete opposite of what they had expected. The president himself was assassinated, a chaotic storm characterized by protests by civil rights movements engulfed the country, and instead of the war in Vietnam coming to a halt, it intensified. This essay will strive to create an interconnection between these events which shaped up the 1960s. It will tackle incidents relating to the free speech movement, the Vietnamwar, the Black Panther Party, Rock-n-roll, and the women’s movement, also known as the feminist movement, as witnessed in this decade.            An issue that had been a thorn in the flesh of the American people was coexistence of the white Americans and the African-Americans. Though the slave trade had been abolished by this time, issues of discrimination were still rampant in society. The African Americans would hence dedicate themselves to fighting for equality for their people in this society. At the very beginning of 1960, some four black students defied the norms of society at that particular time and sat down at a white’s-only lunch counter. Their actions were succeeded by demonstrations at that counter every day, drawing the nation’s attention.            6 years down the line, the African-American community still wanted society to regard them as equal with the rest of the Americans and this led to the formation of the Black Panther Party. It was originally known as the Black panther Party of self-defense but the name changed. This party movement was however founded for the sole purpose of eradicating police brutality in African-American neighborhoods. However, with the rapid expansion of the party and the start of a publication, the objectives of the party had diversified. This diversification meant that the party was keener on social empowerment thus disregarding the exclusivity of race. This however sparked up problems within the party since the radical members differed in opinion with the members that were in support of their socialistic cause. This made the party’s political motive to be disoriented and the government at that time considered the party as a national threat.            The Black community of the United States was not the only entity that was fighting for its civil rights. Gender inequality was still a societal vice that America was struggling with. During this time, men were given more opportunities as compared to women in virtually every field and this led to the second wave of the feminist movement. The job market viewed women as the less productive species. One of the reasons why this notion was upheld was because the women needed time off when they delivered and most employers believed the assertion that women would quit their job when they got pregnant. More to this, the society had branded the man as the provider of the home. It was therefore argued that men needed jobs and better paythan women because of the fact that there were people who were dependent on them. Generally, society had defined the place of a woman as the home; whether she was educated or not.            In 1963, Betty Freidan wrote a book, The Feminine Mystique. This book highlighted the frustration of the educated housewives and how society had forcefully put them in a state of dissatisfaction. What shocked many is the fact that she defied society’s assumption that women found satisfaction in only serving their families. This book stirred a revolutionary movement, one which historians refer to as the second wave of the feminist movement. This movement saw society begin to give women more chances in schools, the job market and also in matters involving remuneration.            From the historical facts available from this era, it is evident that civil rights protests and demonstrations were the order of the day. Even students took the liberty of staging their own protests during this period. The Free Speech Movement was the name given to the protests that the students staged. This movement took place in 1964-1965 at the University of California, Berkley, when students were expressing their discontentment on the ban that the school administration had imposed on on-campus political activities. The students rationale for the protests was that this ban was infringement of their academic freedom and right to free speech. The students felt that they could do more than just confine themselves to books. The objectives of the movement had been put in place way before the movement began when students in the campus formed a political party that enabled them to get involved in off-campus political and societal issues.            The students used this platform to source funds from campus students to support civil rights causes. However, this right was exclusively granted to the political clubs in the school and this is what prompted the school to impose the ban on on-campus political activities. Though the students were doing this out of good will, society was of a contrary opinion. For this reason, voters gave the governor seat to Ronald Regan in 1966 whose campaign forte was to make good the mess that the Berkley students had made.            Events in this era were not just restricted to the local scene. The events that America was involved in during this era also crossed boarders. America had been in conflict with Vietnam since the 1950’s. With the election of J. F. Kennedy, Americans were hopeful that this conflict was finally going to come to an end following his campaign theme; his government had answers to America’s biggest problems. However, these hopes seemed to go down the drain in 1963 when Kennedy was assassinated. The hopes of the American people were now in Lyndon B. Johnson’s hands. His government had two wars to fight; the war against poverty, and the war in Vietnam.            However, Johnson had committed himself to establishing an anti-communist south-Vietnam, a trait he had inherited from his predecessors in their solidarity to the country. For this reason, he had to make a choice to forego the war on poverty to attend to the war in Vietnam. More to this, the president had gained the support of the congress and they gave him the authorization to protect the American soldiers and their allies by all means necessary. The prolongation of the war caused a divide in the nation. Some were in support of the war, others protested against the war, whereas others fled to neighboring Canada to avoid being drafted into the war.            Amidst all these events that were happening, people needed something to give them an escape from it all even if it was temporary. Entertainment was the surest way of attaining such. In this era, the most common form of entertainment was music. Rock-n-rollwas the most popular music genre at the time. The developments in this genre were referred to as invasions and were named on the basis of where they originated from. The British invasion occurred in the early 1960s. In mid 1960s, garage rock was unveiled. The genre was common in North America. The genre gained this name because it was played by armatures at the comfort of their homes in their garages. However, this genre barely made it past the 1960s as it was replaced by other genres. Conclusion            The 1960s era, as highlighted above was a rather event-full one in the American history. Though it may seem like the era did not live up to its expectation as the golden age, it can be argued that to some extent it did. This is because the events during this time acted as milestones especially with regards to civil rights issues. However, the prolongation of the war in Vietnam did injustice to the country as it caused a divide. In conclusion, the 1960s were not shy of historical events. References Fischer, Klaus P.  America in White, Black, and Gray: The Stormy 1960s. New York [u.a.: Continuum, 2006. Print. Source document

Life is fair Essay

Many people think that life is not fair, but I totally disagree with them. You need to pay for what’s not fair in your life. In some cases, when people win the big prize money on the lottery, they may have lost some of the most valuable things in their life. Last year, A California man got the big money from the lottery, but subsequently got in a car accident losing his family. Many people think Bill Gates should not be that rich without working hard, but we have to admit that he is very smart. He used his computer knowledge to create the first Operating System that is user friendly to different people in all walks of life, which became good news for the computer industry. His most successful attribute is his business skill. He made the different version of Windows on each year and it mase people follow his operation system upgrades each year. But he needs to spend most of his own time working in his company. Time magazine interviewed him before, and he said that he needs to be in the Microsoft office almost 12 hours every day including the holidays. And he will not waste his money on expensive things such as: car, watch, housing, food, etc†¦.. His life is very simple. He wakes up every 7am and after breakfast, he will be back in the office. I don’t think people like to get rich without any entertainment, but Bill Gates got rich without a rich life. Some people will think some third-world citizens is an example that life is not fair. We should know life is not only a race to get rich in money or possessions. We can chase a simple life and still be rich. Some third-world people may not buy food, but they do grow food by themselves. They will do everything for themselves without relying too much on money. For example: they will make the house, table, chair, food, even the entertainment from their surroundings. The first or second world people will think how to get money every day. Unlike some third-world citizens, they will chase the money for their life. At least, the third-world people can live without money. They will not think they can’t live without money. Nowadays, many people commit suicide over money. But the third-world people seem happier than first or second country people because their life is very simple. They will not think too much on being rich or not rich. Many third-world children don’t even have computers, video games, etc†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ but they still find other sources of entertainment. They don’t have any stress in school to be the have the latest gadgets and cars and be cool. Also, first world children can’t live without electronic gadgets. And, for some, their parents will push their child to be doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. and they will get stressed out or a be unhappy about it. That’s why the life is still fair even if it doesn’t look like it is. You can life without money, but you can be happier than your life with money. In turn, poor people, or poor countries, should be very happy to take out such loans, confident that investment returns are so high that the repayments will not be difficult. I have been to places like South Africa, Kenya and Guatemala and although the people are poor they are so very happy. They might live in tiny houses and live in poverty, but they have a happy home and family even if they don’t have many possessions. I have been to places like Norway, Switzerland and the USA and some of the people are really wealthy. They don’t seem all that happy and some of them are really miserable compared to the poor people. A basic illustration of my point is: if you don’t have money, you can walk. If you have a little money, you can ride the bicycle. If you have more money, you can drive a car. If you are rich, you can hire a driver. In today’s social, many rich people get big money from their parents. Finally, since they are not good with managing their money, they will lose all their whole money. Then they need work harder than most people. All of us know that the weather doesn’t happen without explanations. Sunny warm days and cold freeze nights each have their roots in the laws of nature. These laws are absolutely fair since everywhere in the universe, so far as scientists know; they operate in exactly the same way. The weather in America is caused by the very same forces as the weather in Asia. â€Å"Outside† weather, then, clearly is fair. Not that fair days always greet us when we rise each morning, but in the sense that climate is produced by objective laws of nature which work the same way in every part of the world. We should not only focus on the money. Many people who become rich are not happy. Many feel lonely, stressed, unhappy, etc†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦What we should be focusing on is not money but on the quality of life. We cannot bring the money to heaven. Money is only a tool to make our life easy. We cannot say that life is not fair by using money as a standard. Actually, I discussed with my classmate about this and they figured out whether life is fair or not by money. I think that is totally wrong. Some people are working for money, but I am working for my hobby. I am happy work in my job even if I don’t get as much as a CEO. I can learn many different computer skills on my job. I can find my hobby from my job. Some people think they should not get a low rate salary on their job. I think they should rather be interested on their job to make them satisfied. If they are not satisfied, then they think their salary is low. Why should Bill Gates get rich? Because of his interest in the computer, and he put his interest on the business. The main idea is if you don’t love your job, you will never get rich. Many successful people love their job. That’s why I think life is fair. It’s just that most people dislike their job. We think we should focus on how people live. Don’t focus on whether people are rich or not rich. Many people are not happy with much money. They got rich and only focus on expensive things. They don’t know how to live life. Expensive things can’t make true happiness. Life is Fair says this is exactly how life works. But if we are to understand how justice operates in the world, we must first study life’s big picture. We cannot examine life only from the point of view of the material world only.

American Economy During and after Depression essays

American Economy During and after Depression essays After the First World War America was a completely different country. The twenties were a very unusual time period in American History. There are many reasons why it was called the Roaring Twenties. Most of the American people were living a great life and were able to afford luxury items; even though this didnt apply to everyone many believed that it was a time of great hopes. In the twenties, industry took a very big step. It nearly doubled. Not only did industry grow, but also so did science, laws, beliefs, arts, social lives changed, sports and the various different news from around the globe. The workweek had dropped from 60 to 48 hours. For the first time, the Americans considered play as important as work. The weekend family outing and vacation had become things workers expected it. Huge numbers of people had radios went to the movies and owned a car. Jazz was also introduced in the 20's. The car and train industry was the largest industry there was. The assembly line made mass production possible, and the industry boomed. America was now a very powerful envy of many countries. America had high production and low unemployment. But as the 20s came, the economy jostled forward. It was because everything was easier and more efficient that made America the greatest economically sound country in the whole world. (Encarta, 1) During the decade, American corporations became larger. Some grew by securing markets abroad, as did the United Fruit Company in Latin America. Others grew through consolidation. Large companies came to dominate many industries. By the end of the 1920s, 100 corporations controlled nearly half the nations business. (Encarta, 1) The economic boom was started by many different reasons. One of the key reasons was the creation of Mass production. Factories around the United States could use electricity and set up assembly lines and make objects quickly. Henry ...

Features of Quantitative Research Essays

Features of Quantitative Research Essays Features of Quantitative Research Essay Features of Quantitative Research Essay Quantitative research tends to be numerical or categorical. This type of research aims to make predictions, establish facts and test hypothesis that have already been stated, that is, aims to find evidence which supports or does not support on existing hypothesis. Quantitative research normally involves large numbers of respondents, typically a hundred or more, and obtains results that are representative of the total population. Therefore, it is a form of research method that is considerably appropriate for generalization of descriptions. There are several main types of approaches to quantitative research (show as following) and these techniques are widely used in many substantive fields to study and explain individual differences and patterns of relationships among variables. Correlational research aims to find out whether there is a relationship between two or more variables (Gay Airasian, 1999). In any case, if a relationship is found, then its degree is identified by a number between -1. 00 and +1. 00 and this number is known as a correlation coefficient. For instance, when one variable increases and the other also increases, then the correlation in this case would be positive. On the other hand, if a correlation is negative, that means, when one variable decreases, the other also decreases. Survey research targets to answer questions about current status of the subject of study. This usually involves studying attitudes, practices or concerns of certain group of people. (Gay Airasion, 1999).   Causal-comparative research aims to find a cause-effect relationship between two or more different programs, methods, or groups. : An example of this would be to find out if children watch violence programs on TV causes aggressive behaviours. The main advantage of quantitative research is the results are statistically reliable and the results are able to be projected to the population. It has high reliability as different researchers, using the same measurement system are likely to come up at the same measurement for same subjects This method is appropriate for measuring both attitudes and behaviours and therefore quantitative research method is one of the traditional research method that many psychologists used in their approach to research design. Differences in features in another basic type of research approach When talking about the features of quantitative research, people often mention another basic research method qualitative research as a comparison. In qualitative research, it involves emhasising meanings, experiences, descriptions and etc (Coolican, 1990). And it uses mainly non-numerical data such as observations and interviews, that is, it does not use numbers in its analysis. Data is usually in the form of words that have been recorded to represent observations. Also in contrast to quantitative research, qualitative research often requires small number of respondent. The reason of why mentioned the features of qualitative research method is because this would add up to the disadvantages of quantitative research method to explain why I think many psychologist has become dissatisfied with the more traditional quantitative approach to research design, despite it is the most common type of approach in many psychological research. Disadvantages of quantitative research As one of the reasons for using quantitative research is to find out whether a group of people shares certain characteristic in common, the disadvantage of this method is that the resulting theory usually unable to take account of the unique characteristics of individual cases. Another characteristic of results which generated from quantitative research is they tend to be very simple in comparison to qualitative research, which is generally rich in information with detailed descriptions such as interview transcripts, personal comments and audio recordings, the results obtained from quantitative research are generally reduced to a few numerical statistics and summarised in a few short statements. In this sense, depth of understanding in qualitative research is therefore considerably superficial. According to McCullough (1995), the primary disadvantages of quantitative research is that issues are only measurement if they are known prior to the beginning of the survey (and therefore, have been incorporated into the questionnaire) and quantitative research requires the advance formulation of specific hypothesis by Huysamen (1997). With this characteristic in place, quantitative research is therefore only appropriate when the issues to be tested are known. This research method would not be appropriate to use in situations such as an initial leaning phase or as a method to explore new ideas. One disadvantage of quantitative research is that its study can be unreliatble since this type of study is relied on statistical method of analyzing data, unless use large enough samples of respondents, otherwise it might not be able to provide accurate or meaningful results. Some psychologists criticized that quantitative research usually takes place in artificial settings. And the way researchers create an artificial settings such as in laboratory in quantitative research is due to the attempt to control the variables in their studies. That is the reason of why some psychologists doubted whether the results obtained in these unnatural settings can apply in the real world. Thus, again, results from this research method can possibly be unreliable. Summary Quantitative research is criticized for its low validity as it is unable to take account of the unique characteristic of individual cases and therefore results are generalized, narrow and lack of detailed information. Also, as the settings of this type of research are often artificial, information or data obtained from these type of studies are likely unrealistic. For these reasons, many psychologist has become dissatisfied with this traditional research approach in research design. Reference Coolican, Hugh (1990), Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. Hodder Sloughton. Gay, L. R. , Airasian, Peter. (1999). Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Application, Sixth Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Huysamen, G. K. (1997, March). Parallels Between Qualitative Research and Sequentially Performed Quantitative Research. South African Journal of Psychology, 27, 1-8.

Acid Rain Essays (1959 words) - Inorganic Solvents, Acid Rain

Acid Rain INTRODUCTION: Acid rain is a great problem in our world. It causes fish and plants to die in our waters. As well it causes harm to our own race as well, because we eat these fish, drink this water and eat these plants. It is a problem that we must all face together and try to get rid of. However acid rain on it's own is not the biggest problem. It cause many other problems such as aluminum poisoning. Acid Rain is deadly. WHAT IS ACID RAIN? Acid rain is all the rain, snow, mist etc that falls from the sky onto our planet that contains an unnatural acidic. It is not to be confused with uncontaminated rain that falls, for that rain is naturally slightly acidic. It is caused by today's industry. When products are manufactured many chemicals are used to create it. However because of the difficulty and cost of properly disposing of these products they are often emitted into the atmosphere with little or no treatment. The term was first considered to be important about 20 years ago when scientists in Sweden and Norway first believed that acidic rain may be causing great ecological damage to the planet. The problem was that by the time that the scientist found the problem it was already very large. Detecting an acid lake is often quite difficult. A lake does not become acid over night. It happens over a period of many years, some times decades. The changes are usually to gradual for them to be noticed early. At the beginning of the 20th century most rivers/lakes like the river Tovdal in Norway had not yet begun to die. However by 1926 local inspectors were noticing that many of the lakes were beginning to show signs of death. Fish were found dead along the banks of many rivers. As the winters ice began to melt off more and more hundreds upon hundreds more dead fish (trout in particular) were being found. It was at this time that scientist began to search for the reason. As the scientists continued to work they found many piles of dead fish, up to 5000 in one pile, further up the river. Divers were sent in to examine the bottom of the rivers. What they found were many more dead fish. Many live and dead specimens were taken back to labs across Norway. When the live specimens were examined they were found to have very little sodium in their blood. This is typical a typical symptom of acid poisoning. The acid had entered the gills of the fish and poisoned them so that they were unable to ext ract salt from the water to maintain their bodies sodium levels. Many scientist said that this acid poising was due to the fact that it was just after the winter and that all the snow and ice was running down into the streams and lakes. They believed that the snow had been exposed to many natural phenomena that gave the snow it's high acid content. Other scientists were not sure that this theory was correct because at the time that the snow was added to the lakes and streams the Ph levels would change from around 5.2 to 4.6. They believed that such a high jump could not be attributed to natural causes. They believed that it was due to air pollution. They were right. Since the beginning of the Industrial revolution in England pollution had been affecting all the trees,soil and rivers in Europe and North America. However until recently the loses of fish was contained to the southern parts of Europe. Because of the constant onslaught of acid rain lakes and rivers began to lose their ability to counter act their affects. Much of the alkaline elements; such as calcium and limestone; in the soil had been washed away. It is these lakes that we must be worried about for they will soon become extinct. A fact that may please fishermen is that in lakes/rivers they tend to catch older and larger fish. This may please them in the short run however they will soon have to change lakes for the fish supply will die quickly in these lakes. The problem is that acid

TV Journal Entry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

TV Journal Entry - Essay Example As the discussion declares the author's hard work and determination can be seen in the course of my academic journey. One of his proudest milestones was to graduate with honors in high school despite his language limitations and to gain acceptance to the University of Minnesota. While attending the University of Minnesota, he was honored by belonging to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. he was recognized by the National Name Exchange Program based on my demonstrated academic merit. He has been honored by the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence. During my undergraduate studies, the author has worked extensively with Dr. LaDora Thompson. This paper stresses that the author has volunteered in Vietnam over the summer. He worked in the internal medicine department at the pharmacy clinic where my relatives work. His duties included helping patients walk after a surgery and assisting them to the bathroom. He has worked at the Snyder Drug Emporium. He was able to assist my aunts while they counseled their patients about the side effects of the drugs. His direct contact with patients, pharmacists, doctors and nurses enabled me to gain valuable experience. The influences of the author's childhood, academic background, volunteer and research experience have combined to instill in him a passion for my decision to become a doctor of pharmacy. He feels that his background has made me mentally and emotionally prepared to commit to the pharmacy profession. If he is admitted to your school it will be another step in carrying out the author's dream.