Patrick McGrath

Feelings of anxiety, tension and overwhelming fear seized the nation in July of 2013. Countless confidential files had been leaked, exposing the NSA’s undercover surveillance programs to the public. The National Security Agency had monitored individuals’ browsing habits and gathered a bulk of their personal information. Former CIA employer and NSA contractor Edward Snowden, responsible for stealing these government files, is currently “wanted” for espionage. His efforts to inform America of the…

There are many things in this world worth waiting for. Love, surprises, and rare occasions are among these cherished things that we as humans wait for. Even though I believe Edie made the wrong decision in waiting for Mr. Watters’s letter, somehow by a twist of fate she found her true love while waiting for a false one. The list of things in this world that are worth waiting for is quite a lengthly one, but I have three main things that I feel are at the top of the list. Love is something…

An author flinches as a memory begins to resurface. Recalling the painful experience as if it were happening again, he transcribes it onto paper with each agonizing keystroke. When examining Ernest Hemingway’s works compared to his life experiences, the correlation between them is obvious. Hemingway found his inspiration in the most unlikely of places: from a lake in Michigan where he spent his summers as a boy to the medical wards during World War I. However, his experiences brought him to the…

and tangible. In religion, doubt is combated by faith that feeds this certainty. Religions such as Catholicism and Christianity use parables to “illustrate morals or lessons” to make the understanding of truth easier (Shanley pp 37).“Doubt” by John Patrick Shanley is a parable regarding the truth about certainty, faith, and doubt. Shanley describes doubt in the Preface of the book as: “a position in an argument past the point of comfort, defending a way of life you were on the verge of…

Although all three of the main characters: Sister A, Sister James and Father Flynn share the same religion they have very opposite basis for their faith. Through the book of Doubt Shanley is portraying three different erroneous ways people approach faith. Sister A’s faith is based on her experience in life, not God’s; Sister James’ faith is based on emotions instead of being based on God; Father Flynn’s faith is used as a tool for power. Therefore, the play presents potential ways of engaging…

A fallacy is a mistaken belief and today we see them all over the place. In the beginning of the movie, Sister Aloysius Beauvier thought that there was going to be a problem with Father Brendan Flynn and the little boy in the class (Donald Millers). The Father seemed to favorite the little boy and give him special treatment. The Sister thought that there was going to be an issue because of the Father that she had when was in school. After the boy had a meeting with the Father, the teacher smelt…

John Patrick Shanley wrote a play called Doubt. The setting is held in during a turbulent time in 1964, in Bronx, New York. Most of the events happened in the Catholic Church and school. The events begin to surface when young sister James started teaching at the school. Sister James was worried about a relationship that begin between Father Flynn and a student named Donald. She thinks Father Flynn and Donald may have become too close and informs Sister Aloysius about her observation. After she…

Unjust Systems Sister Helen Prejean, in her book Dead Man Walking, uses statistics, stories of injustice, and her childhood experiences to relate discrimination and poverty in cities like New Orleans to the death penalty: both are unfair systems that need to be reformed. Prejean first demonstrates ethos, using anecdotes of her experiences as a white child in the segregated 1950’s to convince the reader of her understanding of discrimination. After ethos, Prejean uses logos in the form of…

1. What is your overall reaction to this article? In the article The black family in the age of mass incarceration, was overall and amazing article. A lot of people see the “blacks” as drug dealers or murder or look at them in a different way then they look at white. Reading this article gave proof of that. Showing that even the presidents of the united states believed that the reason there was crime was because of the “blacks”. This article really opened my eyes to the political view on why…

Doubt In John Patrick Shanley’s play Doubt, the protagonist, Father Flynn, is a priest in St. Nicholas church school and he is accused for have an inappropriate relationship with Donald Muller, a kid from the school. The conflict ends with Father Flynn having to leave the church. I argue that Father Flynn is a good example of an Archetypal tragic hero because he shows the traits of having a noble stature, having a tragic flaw, and the punishment exceeds the crime. Father Flynn is a priest in…