Imagine a normal day at home, maybe watching television or making dinner, then something smashes against the side out the house, ripping it away from its foundation. It’s all a blur at first, until the black sludge starts to sweep into your house, it becomes clear immediately, this is West Virginia after all. The dam had broken, sending refuse and water borrowing down the valley, wiping away everything in its path. Somehow, you make it to the roof, revealing for the first the true depth of the destruction. Everything you know destroyed, the town where you live, work and raise your family, washed away by the very thing that provides you with those same things.…
The reason that there are so many cultures around the world is because every single place on earth is different. From the Sahara Desert in North Africa to the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, people have developed their own cultures in order to survive. In The Poisonwood Bible, the Price family moves to the Congo as missionaries. By including Ruth May’s childish outlook, Kingsolver gives the reader a straightforward point of view of Nathan Price’s single-minded mission to convert the Congo to Christianity. Ruth May describes the new world around her, and notices that many, if not all, of the Congolese have some sort of injury.…
Imagine having to drop everything and move to a completely different country ,and have to learn to live a new lifestyle in a place that you have never even heard of. There would be a lot of things that you would have to sacrifice. Especially living a normal life in the United States. In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, a family decides to move to the Congo for a mission trip to convert the people that live there to believe in God and become christian. Nathan, the father has decided to bring this upon his family and planed to live there for about a year or a little more.…
In Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, a Lithuanian family moved to the United States with hopes to better their situation and live the American dream despite the hardships and disillusionment they faced as part of the immigrant experience. When they moved to America, they were often taken advantage of because they were naive about the American culture. Sadly, when they bought their home, the real estate company also used them to make a profit. Their Lithuanian neighbor Grandmother Majauskiene reveals, “the house was one of a whole row that was built by a company which existed to make money by swindling poor people. The family had paid fifteen hundred dollars for it, and it had not cost the builders five hundred…” (p.69).…
There were many dark forces in Salem, Mattchustts. Greed played a big factor with the witch trials. Putnam wanted more land, Abigail wanted Proctor all to herself. Lying was another huge problem in Salem. It's almost like the people of Salem are out to get rid of each other.…
“There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed” ~Mahatma Gandhi. Take a glance at the world around us, our society now consists of grounds of greed and avarice. Individuals have other dreams regarding social life, money and aesthetics rather than focusing on relationships, respect, reputation and trust. The world can’t provide any more than our necessities: nature, food, fresh water and oxygen, yet people ask for more.…
On August 5, 1585 Jane Langley had witnessed one of the most scariest and disappointing events she could remember. 118 colonist, including herself, that had been hoping for a better life in America had just arrived in Roanoke; an island off the coast of North Carolina. As Jane and her family waited on the supply ship to come in, she watched her little brother. Her brother was a short, blond, four year old who knew nothing on what was going on. All of a sudden she heard her mother scream in panic and saw her father and every man that could, run to the shore.…
Whether it be government corruption or Nigerian internet scams, these tensions are present in many places around the world. However, exploitation and lies play an important role in human development as immorality can bring strength and unity among people. Will Ferguson’s novel,419, emphasizes the reality of lies and deception in society and its impact on the human experience. The lives of the characters are weaved through the thread of a single email. Using characters with different backgrounds and perspectives, Ferguson allows the reader to see pigments of light in a world of complete darkness.…
Human beings’ potent balance of rational thinking and emotional prowess have catapulted us to the top of the animal kingdom. Yet, despite all our marvellous feats, are we merely bracing ourselves for our impeding demise? As greedy corporations continue to gain an unlawful amount of power, profit becomes exceedingly more valuable than humanity itself. What would happen to our society if life lost its intrinsic value? Renowned author Margaret Atwood’s explores this concept in her harrowing thriller, Oryx and Crake, by extracting elements of the corporate greed prevalent in our society and propelling it to its absolute extreme.…
Gaea just had our baby, a delicate individual with a whole life ahead of him. Alex, protector of humanity, shall rule this wonderful colony in The Uncharted Forest, now named Jerusalem, which I read about in the Bible saying, “Built as a city that is bound firmly together”. It is like this. Me and my people have built more houses with more fences to protect it from the things that made the other men not return, if any. I have learned so much since I started reading all the manuscripts.…
Mako is the father of 2 kids. His son Tado and his daughter Odo. Tado is a 13 year old boy who was skinny but strong. His hair was short and shiny black. He wanted to be a demon hunter just like his Dad.…
The desire for land and power can make people do irrational things. This ideological principle can be applied to anyone; even the theocratic people of Salem, Massachusetts. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the actions of a few girls dancing in the woods in 1692 start a wave of emotion and hysteria which completely encompasses the town for the better part of a year. In this time of panic, selfish desires of people are disguised by the presumed religious act of condemning people of witchcraft, including a man named Thomas Putnam.…
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe makes nature have human characteristics, which causes the nature to act differently in different types of situations. Some of these emotions include, kindness, dependency, anger and the expectation of receiving appreciation from others. In the novel, nature provides the people with rain, soil, “palm trees”, seeds, food, drinks, shelter, weapons and even “iba” [-medicine], which are essential for survival. In return, they are required to follow the rules of their forefathers about the land, and “work [hard on their] farms.” This portrays how the people are dependent on nature's generosity and kindness in order to survive, similar to the situation how a baby relies on his mother after birth.…
As we further read the Old Testament, we come into several accounts that show a connection between God’s missional work and the city. One of these stories is described in the book of Jonah when God sends his prophet Jonah on a unique mission – to go to a pagan city of Nineveh. This is the first time that a prophet is sent to be a messenger in a non-Jewish, pagan city, nevertheless, at first he choses to run away from the city, and finally goes to preach there. Why does God send an Israelite prophet to a pagan city? He does so because of his love and his intentions to reconcile all humanity back with himself.…
In “A Musical Instrument,” Elizabeth Barrett Browning uses imagery to explore the cycle of being emotionally damaged and then repaired to indicate that mental destruction can only be partially repaired. Eventually, contentedness is achieved; however, happiness will never be the same as it once was. The imagery of a “dragon-fly on the river” (6) and “golden lilies afloat” (5) are disrupted when the god Pan comes in, wrecking the landscape and “spreading ruin and scattering ban” (3). Although one would expect a god to perform good deeds, Pan is participating in an act of crushing the landscape. Similarly, people do not expect those they are fond of to do anything hurtful toward them, but at some point, loved ones will cause pain.…