Kerosene

To boldly go where no man has gone before. The launching of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellite on October 4, 1957 unofficially launched the space race, a battle of scientific might against the United States and the Soviet Union, and a continuation of the struggle of power between the two superpowers. Both nations would go on to fight a close battle to show the world which nation had the greatest technological ability, and the fight was close too. The space race would come to its climax on July…

The essay Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant spark an insight into black beauty in a white dominated world. Throughout black history women have been subjected to thoughts that their bodies were inferior. Many African American women do not feel comfortable with their hair or color of their bodies because of the upward battle they face to try to fit into society’s standards of straight hair and light skinned women. We see from the day Europeans arrived in Africa they tried to…

The phenomenon of a female serial killer is rare. When people think of female serial killers they often think Aileen Wuornos was the first, and worst, with her multiple murders in 1989. However, that is untrue. Many female serial killers came before Wuornos, including Belle Gunness. Belle began her crimes of arson in the late 1880’s and escalated to murder by 1900 (Rosewood & Lo, 8-10). She transitioned from a young immigrant, to an organized serial killer driven by her motive of profit. What…

The discovery of fire has been estimated at approximately 1.7 million years ago, and can be viewed as one of the most important discoveries of mankind. However, to the humans living on earth at that time, they were highly unaware of the true scientific reasons and causes for the bright and hot flames. With scientific research, an individual is capable of breaking down the science behind fire and truly understand what is happening to an object or substance as it is burning. In order to produce a…

to watch Devon and forget to change his diaper the whole day because she was preoccupied reading a book. As a consequence, for doing so her mother went on to burn all of her books “she gathered all the books she could find…, she doused them with kerosene and then set fire to them” (Kincaid 134). The result of this action sets her on the path to becoming an author and in a way can be thankful that her mother did this. Although Jamaica was able to change this misfortune later on in her life, her…

Cultural Genocide: Destroying a Way of Life In her novel, Mean Spirit, Linda Hogan depicts violence against Osage people during the oil boom in Oklahoma in the early 1920s. Greed of the EuroAmerican system creates a crisis in cultural identity for those Osage who have tried to live among the white people. Ways in which the white characters corrupt the world of the Osage at that time include degrading their native beliefs in the things they hold sacred, the damaging relationships among…

Study Questions for The Book Thief 1. Read pp. 3-35. Who do you think the narrator is? Why? What impressions do you have the narrator in these pages? What is the narrator’s attitude toward Liesel? I think the narrator is Death. I first realized it when it says “It suffices to say that at some point in the time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away. (2)” Then through three times…

The Panama Canal: One Canal, Three Chief Engineers In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt called John Wallace, the first chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project, into his office and ordered him to “make the dirt fly!” However, digging a canal across the Isthmus of Panama and successfully linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans would require extensive planning and preparation before digging could commence. The task of building the Panama Canal would prove to be one of the most expensive…

In the year 1606 William Shakespeare a famous play writer. Indited one of history's most famous and well-known play to actors across the world “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” The play Macbeth is genuinely known to many as a dark, disturbing, and mesmerizing play full of guilt. Led by the ambition to become king. Macbeth is a play about a good king overrun by others who want to be king. Macbeth the captain of King Duncan’s army is encouraged by his wife and a witch's prophecy to remove any and all…

Censorship and the Danger of Technology In this day in age, it is truly amazing how easily information from all over the world can be accessed. Using the internet or reading a book one can find answers to any question one may have. If for some reason access to this information was restricted, that would be considered censorship. Many science fiction writers are concerned that censorship could possibly show up in our society in the near future (Tor.com) When legendary author, Ray Bradbury wrote…