Social Change and Modernization Essay Example for Free

Social Change and Modernization Essay An example of this can be seen with the unforeseen impact certain inventions had on society such as cars and airplanes. Social change is controversial. Some inventions are celebrated by some while condemned by others. Some social changes are more significant than others, such as cars and planes as opposed to hair and clothing styles. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is an Alternative Social Movement because they target a small group of people displaying a specific behavior. Alcoholic Anonymous is a Redemptive Social Movement because they help certain people redeem their lives. The Civil Rights Movement is a Reformative Social Movement because they seek limited change in society yet target all of society as participants in their movement. The Communist Party is a Revolutionary Social Movement because their aim is to transform all of society and gain exclusive control of a government. Modernization is the process of social change begun by industrialization. The key features of Modernization are a decline in small, cohesive communities where each person had a defined place, usually identified by kinship. Modernization caused people to see their lives as an unending series of options where they were able to take control of their lives instead of feeling that their lives were shaped by forces beyond their control (Britannica, 2012). Modernization changed societies where strong family ties and religious beliefs emphasized conformity and discouraged diversity into societies promoting rational thought and a scientific view of the world. Modernization changed societies where people focused on the past to people who are forward-looking and optimistic that technology will changed their lives for the better. An example of modernization was seen with the invention of the telephone where people no longer had wait weeks for mail to arrive at a destination and could have instant exchanges of information between small communities the rest of the world. The migration of people from small towns to cities where people were forced to be more accepting of different cultures, religions and ethnicities. The television brought the world into people’s living rooms. People were exposed to different examples of people who had nothing but then took charge of their lives to make something of themselves. The invention of the computer allowed people who did not have immediate access to information and schooling a resource to take charge of their life, obtain education that could change a career of lifestyle.

Shiloh Essay -- essays research papers

Norma Jean Moffit is a simple, southern woman, but she is also a caterpillar who is discovering that there is more to life than crawling around on the ground. She has with-in her, the power to grow wings and fly away; The opportunity to view the world through the eyes of a butterfly. Since Larry's accident, she has come to realize that she has reached a crossroads in her life. If she goes straight on through, complacency and neglect are the only stops ahead. If she veers to either the left or right, there is mystery, knowledge, and change; The opportunity for a new life. It would appear with-in the story, she has opted for some change, and begins her adventure in experiencing new things such as "... cooking unusual foods - tacos, lasagna, Bombay chicken." She begins to work on her body, borrowing the idea from Leroy's rehabilitation equipment, which would otherwise be collecting dust in a corner of the house somewhere. She begins to take writing classes to improve her mind, which further represents her need for change and something new. She has, in a sense, taken on the masculine role in the household since Leroy has come home. She is the sole provider for the family, working behind the cosmetics counter at Rexalls. Her body building is indicative of the reversal in her role. When discussing the meaning on their names, Norma Jean tells Leroy that his name means 'the king'. He asks her if he is still king and she "... flexes her biceps and feels them for hardness." thus showing him that he is not. Furthermore, she 'drives the nail home' by telling him the meaning of her name. "Norma comes from the Normans. They were invaders." She has invaded, and taken over, his position as 'the head of the household'. At the end of the story "She turns towards Leroy and waves her arms .... she seems to be doing an exercise for her chest muscles." I believe that she was showing Leroy that she is strong enough, or has found the strength to leave him and forge a new path in life. Furthermore, I believe th at she was implying that she was never going to find the strength to carry the two of them through this relationship when she stated, early in the story, "Feel this arm. It's not as hard as the other one." Norma Jean is a woman who had accepted her marriage for what it was, until her husband came home. It was than that she r... ...o work at Rexalls, but attends classes during the evening. Eventually, she graduates with a degree in Journalism and moves from Kentucky to Atlanta to take a job working for one of the local papers. She now writes editorials and helps others by answering letters in her advice column under the assumed name Norma King. After a divorce that he openly opposed, Leroy sinks into a deeply depressed state. Drugs and alcohol become a constant in his life, and was to Leroy, the only way he could find to escape the harsh reality of his demise. After several failed jobs and one arrest for public intoxication he attempts to commit suicide by driving his car into a concrete abutment. His unsuccessful attempt places him into a rehabilitation center where he is counseled and eventually cured of his afflictions. During his stay in rehab, his reflections on the past forced him to open his eyes and it left a lasting impression on him. He is once again ready to face the world and feels as though he has finally started his life over. "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason As interpreted by: Mike Blades var yvContents='/toto?s=76000015&l=NE&b=1&t=940563698';yfEA(); -->

Impressions After Reading Jane Eyre Essay

Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, was met with great enthusiasm and became one of the best sellers since it was published in October 1847. The story of Jane Eyre takes place in northern England in the early to mid-19th Century. It starts as the ten-year-old Jane, a plain but unyielding child, is excluded by her Aunt Reed from the domestic circle around the hearth and bullied by her handsome but unpleasant cousins. Under the suggestion of Mr. Lloyd, an apothecary that sympathizes Jane, Mrs. Reed sends Jane to Lowood Institution operated by a hypocritical Evangelicalist, Mr.  Brocklehurst, who chastises Jane in front of the class and calls her a liar. At Lowood, Jane befriends a young girl named Helen Burns, whose strong attitude towards the school’s miseries helps Jane a lot. Also, she is taken under the wing of the superintendent, Miss Temple. After spending eight years at Lowood, six as a student and two as a teacher, she accepts a governess position to teach a loverly French girl named Adele at Thornfield, where she falls secretly in love with the garden’s owner, Rochester, a man with a warm heart despite a cold face outside. However, fate decides to play a joke on Jane. On the wedding day , as Jane and Rochester prepare to exchange their vows, Jane is being told that Rochester has a legal wife, Bertha Mason. Knowing that it is impossible for her to be with Rochester, Jane flees Thornfield. Penniless and hungry, Jane is taken by Rivers siblings Mary, Diana and St. John. , who live in a manor called Moor House. Jane happily accepts the offer of teaching at St. John’s school. She later learns that the Rivers siblings are actually her cousins and that she has inherited from her under a vast fortune, which she divides among her new family. At that time, St. John is about to go on missionary work in India and repeatedly asks Jane to accompany him as his wife. One night, when she is about to accept St. John, Jane experiences a mystical connection with Rochester, and she decides to seek him out at Thornfield. She discovers that the estate has been burned down by Bertha, who died in the fire, and that Rochester, who was blinded in the incident, lives nearby. Jane goes to him at once, at there they get married. The development of Jane Eyre’s character is central to the novel. From the beginning, Jane possesses a sense of her self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in God, and a passionate disposition. Her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel, and Jane must learn to balance the frequently conflicting aspects of herself so as to find contentment. An orphan since early childhood, Jane feels exiled and ostracized at the beginning of the novel, and the cruel treatment she receives from her Aunt Reed and her cousins only worsens her feeling of alienation. Afraid that she will never find a true sense of home or community, Jane feels the need to belong somewhere. Thus Jane says to Helen Burns: â€Å"To gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest†. This desire tempers her equally intense need for autonomy and freedom. Her fear of losing her autonomy motivates her refusal of Rochester’s marriage proposal. Jane believes that â€Å"marrying† Rochester while he remains legally tied to Bertha would mean rendering herself a mistress and sacrificing her own integrity for the sake of emotional feelings. On the other hand, her life at Moor House tests her in the opposite manner. There, she enjoys economic independence and engages in worthwhile and useful work, teaching the poor; yet she lacks emotional sustenance. Although St. John proposes marriage, offering her a partnership built around a common purpose, Jane realizes their marriage would remain loveless and that this kind of freedom would constitute a form of imprisonment, because she would be forced to keep her true feelings and her true passions would be always in check. Nonetheless, the events of Jane’s stay at Moor House are necessary tests of Jane’s autonomy. Only after proving her self-sufficiency to herself can she marry Rochester and not be dependent upon him as her â€Å"master. † Edward Rochester, despite his stern manner and not particularly handsome appearance, wins Jane’s heart, because he is the first person in the novel to offer Jane lasting love and a real home. Although Rochester is Jane’s social and economic superior, and although men were widely considered to be naturally superior to women in the Victorian period, Jane is Rochester’s intellectual equal. As Jane says: â€Å"I am my husband’s life as fully as he is mine. To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company. We are precisely suited in character—perfect concord is the result†. Rochester regrets his former libertinism and lustfulness, nevertheless, he has proven himself to be weaker in many ways than Jane. St. John Rivers provides the most typical model of Christian behavior. He is a Christianity of ambition, glory, and extreme self-importance. St.  John urges Jane to sacrifice her emotional deeds for the fulfillment of her moral duty, offering her a way of life that would require her to be disloyal to her own self. But Jane ends up with rejecting to sacrifice passion for principle, which doesn’t mean she abandons a belief in God. Jane ultimately finds a comfortable middle ground. For Jane, religion helps curb immoderate passions, and it spurs one on to worldly efforts and achievements. These achievements include full self-knowledge and complete faith in God. Mr. Brocklehurst, the cruel, hypocritical master of the Lowood School, illustrates the dangers and hypocrisies that Charlotte Bronte perceived in the nineteenth-century Evangelical movement. Mr. Brocklehurst adopts the rhetoric of Evangelicalism when he claims to be purging his students of pride, but his method of subjecting them to various privations and humiliations, like when he orders that the naturally curly hair of one of Jane’s classmates be cut so as to lie straight, is entirely un-Christian. Of course, Brocklehurst’s proscriptions are difficult to follow, and his hypocritical support of his own luxuriously wealthy family at the expense of the Lowood students shows Bronte’s criticism to the Evangelical movement. Helen Burns is Jane’s close friend at the Lowood School. She endures her miserable life there with a passive dignity that Jane cannot understand. she believes that justice will be found in God’s ultimate judgment—God will reward the good and punish the evil. Jane, on the other hand, is unable to have such blind faith. Her quest is for love and happiness in this world. Nevertheless, she counts on God for support and guidance in her search. Throughout the novel, Charlotte Bronte may have created the character of Jane Eyre to voice her then-radical opinions. Much evidence suggests that Bronte, too, struggled to find the right balance between moral duty and earthly pleasure, between obligation to her spirit and attention to her body. She hold the opinion that every spirit is independent, though there are differences in social class, in property and also in appearance. Jane Eyre is critical of Victorian England’s strict social system. Bronte’s exploration of personal equalty is perhaps the novel’s most important theme. I would like to use my favorite words that Jane once said to Rochester to end my article: Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! —I have as much soul as you—and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you.

Edgar Allen Poes The Cask of Amontillado Essay - 983 Words

Edgar Allen Poes The Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allen Poes brings us a twisted tale of vengeance and horror in The Cask of Amontillado. Poes character, Montresor, acts as our guide and narrator through this story. He grabs a hold of the reader as he tells the story from his own apathetic and deceptive mind to gain vengeance from the weak and dismal Fortunato. Montresors mentality is disturbing as he uses his clever, humor, ironic symbolism, and darkness to accomplish this. At the beginning of the story, Montresor tells us that he has vowed vengeance on Fortunato. Montresor also states I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when†¦show more content†¦Another example of this possible blatant hate for Italians is when Montresor says [The Montresor family] were a great and numerous family. (Poe 675). This could imply that Montresor is bitter of the fact that his family no longer has the lustrous and honorable name it once had, and this is his attack on the society he hates. It is obvious that this is murder is premeditated. Montresor has sent his staff home and told not to disturb the house. He has also waited until Carnival to execute his plan, which brings up two points. The first being that Montresor has waited until this time because the town is disordered and Fortunato will be drunk. The second point is a deeper thought that was brought up in which Carnival season is a time when rules are suspended and abnormality is accepted. This is when you can put on a mask; act without regret or boundaries, then take off the mask and continue on with normal life. I believe this shows an admirable quality of patience and determination in Montresor since he has waited all this time to execute his plan. Once Montresor has Fortunato in his home, he begins to express his dark and deceiving humor. I believe this is a necessity and one of the rules that Montresor must follow in order to feel full retribution. Montresor shows us this ironic behavior when he hands Fortunato a bottle of De Grà ¢ve to drink. Another humorous point of the story isShow MoreRelatedEssay on Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado1048 Words   |  5 PagesEdgar Allen Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado Is there really a perfect crime? This is the main point in Edgar Allen Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† The story is a dark tale of a presumably insane man who suffers from, according to him, â€Å"the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could† (Poe 75). One of the major factors in telling this story is the setting. The story is set primarily in the Montresor family catacombs, which provides the dark setting, filled with human remains, andRead MoreAnalysis Of Edgar Allen Poes The Cask Of Amontillado968 Words   |  4 Pageshis downfall. In Edgar Allen Poe’s â€Å"the Cask of Amontillado,† Fortunato’s pride and his self-proclaimed â€Å"connoisseurship of wine,† ultimately leads him to his death (Poe 1). The imagery used by Poe truly shows the contrast and the outward struggle between Montresor, the narrator, and Fortunato, the victim. The dark setting of the play foreshadows the dark fate that awaits Fortunato. The jester outfit that the victim dons contrasts the darkness around him. In ‘The Cask of Amontillado,† Poe uses vividRead MoreEdgar Allen Poes The Cask of Amontillado Essay1076 Words   |  5 Pages â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Revenge can be sweet, but in this case it is just down right grotesque! 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This is proven in the first sentence when Montressor says, â€Å"The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.† Montressor is a manipulativeRead More Edgar Allen Poes The Cask Of Amontillado Essay1954 Words   |  8 Pages Edgar Allen Poes, quot;The Cask Of Amontillado,quot; is a between two enemies. It humorously portrays the foil of Fortunato, as he is led through the catacombs. Poes humour is dark, sarcastic and very ironic, which quickly becomes a signpost of the tale. Poe sets himself apart from other authors in his works, based on how he depicts and encounters death. It accentuates the notion that at times, your worst enemy will appear as your best friend. Pride is the downfall of every man and the sameRead MoreInsanity In Edgar Allen Poes The Cask Of Amontillado794 Words   |  4 Pagesexactly what happened in Edgar Allen Poesâ€⠄¢ short story called â€Å"The cask of Amontillado,† it is a story about Two men, Montresor and Fortunado, Montresor is a man who vows to get retribution on Fortunado, a man who merely Insulted his family name. As you can see Montresor is clearly insane and two other traits you could describe him with would be him being astute and extremely determined. In conclusion, there are three main traits that Montresor showed during The Cask of Amontillado and I will do my bestRead MoreEssay about Edgar Allen Poes The Cask of Amontillado735 Words   |  3 Pages Edgar A. Poe’s, â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†, is a witty and daring tale based on revenge. The plot of it though is very simple. Montresor, who carries a grudge against Fortunato for an offense that is never explained, leads a drunken Fortunato through a series of chambers beneath his palazzo with the promise of a taste of Amontillado, a wine that Montresor has just purchased. When the two men reach the last underground chamber, Montresor chains Fortunato to the wall, builds a new wall to seal himRead MoreIgnorance and Greed Leads to a Quick Ending in Edgars Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado796 Words   |  4 Pages Edgars Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado portrays two great examples of how greed and ignorance combined can lead to a quick ending, both physically and mentally. The story possesses two different aspects of an ending through two similar but yet different characters. Both characters possess the trait of greed, which hinders their ability to think rationally. The most obvious aspect of greed is carried out by Montresor, because this is a â€Å"short story of revenge.† He seeks to make Fortunato, theRead MoreA Psychological Occurance of Montresor as an Obsession of Revenge with Impunity in Edgar Allen Poes The Cask of Amontillado788 Words   |  4 PagesEdgar Allen Poe is an American short story writer,poet and literary critic.His famous short stories are based on not only horrific events,but also on psychological distortations as in The Cask of Amontillado.In his literary critic on short story writing style,he says a short story should turn around a central event and all the other things must have use for that main point.In this short story,his main point is the result of obsession of revenge with impunity and all the other actions serve forRead More Comparing Edgar Allen Poes The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat, and The Tell-tale Heart752 Words   |  4 PagesComparing Edgar Allen Poes The Cask of Amon tillado, The Black Cat, and The Tell-tale Heart The short stories of Edgar Allen Poe demonstrate the authors ample gifts in the psychology of the mind, regardless of the fact he was decades ahead of Freud.   Poes short stories are often from the deranged and murderous point-of-view of the narrator, who often illustrates the inner-workings of his own psychology and the disintegration of the self brought about by psychological disorders, aberrations