Creative Writing: American Soldier in Iraq Essay -- Creative Writing Es

"RUN!!" I heard a fellow soldier screaming as I looked around. "RUN!" I started to take off but I was too late. I am an American soldier and I just got my leg blown off by a grenade. As I lay here crying, yelling out in pain, I think about why I am even here. The president thought that Saddam Hussein MIGHT have had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), so he sent me here to die. After we searched and found that Hussein did not have any WMDs, what did President Bush decide to do? Send more troops (SIRS). Many people, including a number of Christian leaders, have questioned whether the war in Iraq is justified (www.AmericanValues.org). They question if it is morally permissible to have used force to remove a tyrannical and aggressive regime from power instead of just disarming it (www.AmericanValues.org). A difficult moral calculus by liberal hawks led to the decision that the opportunity to free the Iraqi people from decades of oppression was worth the risk (Huang 1). Many people would agree that freeing the Iraqi people was a good thing, but they are free now, yet we are still there! I see that the sun is started to fall over the horizon and all I can do is what because it is impossible for me to move my leg. As I have nothing else to do I start to wonder. I wonder about how my family is doing, about how much pain there is in the world, and about the cost of the war. This war has cost the U.S. over four hundred and ninety billion dollars (www.costofwar.com). ?This same amount of money could have provided 39,240,332 people with health care or 142,451,458 homes with renewable electricity? (www.costofwar.com). As I look up into the darkening sky I hear help coming. The soldier helping me soon told me that my leg would have to be a... ...sh, because they no longer have a government, but whenever the U.S. tries to rebuild their government, the Iraqis always refuse. If we would leave immediately then that would let the Iraqis rebuild their own government the way they want it. Many people believe that the U.S. should create a fund for Iraq in order to help them get back on track. They could use the money to rebuild or reconstruct their country, their government, and anything else that the U.S. helped to destroy (Bennis 6). I slowly wake up, and it must have been hours later. I looked down and my leg was gone. I could feel a searing pain rush through my body. My leg was bandaged up around the cut, but I could still imagine how it looked. Blood was dripping from the bandages. I could not take it anymore. Right there I shut my eyes, and never again were they opened. My family was traumatized at my death.

American Gothic Architecture

For only the antique style of architecture is conceived in a purely objective spirit; the Gothic style is more in the subjective spirit. American Gothic architecture was the outcome of a way of thought, the product of a special kind of imagination. Every one will easily be able to see clearly how from the fundamental thought and the peculiarities of Gothic architecture, there arises that mysterious and hyperphysical character which is attributed to it. It principally arises from the fact that here the arbitrary has taken the place of the purely rational, which makes itself known as the thorough adoption of the means to the end.The many things that are really aimless, but yet are so carefully perfected, raise the assumption of unknown, unfathomed, and secret ends, i. e. , give the appearance of mystery. On the other hand, the brilliant side of Gothic churches is the interior; because here the effect of the groined vaulting borne by slender, crystalline, aspiring pillars, raised high a loft, and, all burden having disappeared, promising eternal security, impresses the mind; while most of the faults which have been mentioned lie upon the outside.In antique buildings the external side is the most advantageous, because there we see better the support and the burden; in the interior, on the other hand, the flat roof always retains something depressing and prosaic. For the most part, also, in the temples of the ancients, while the outworks were many and great, the interior proper was small. An appearance of sublimity is gained from the hemispherical vault of a cupola, as in the Pantheon, of which, therefore, the Italians also, building in this style, have made a most extensive use.What determines this is, that the ancients, as southern peoples, lived more in the open air than the northern nations who have produced the Gothic style of architecture. Whoever, then, absolutely insists upon Gothic architecture being accepted as an essential and authorized style may, if he i s also fond of analogies, regard it as the negative pole of architecture, or, again, as its minor key.With the recent explosion of Gothic criticism, scholars have failed to juxtapose Gothic novels and dramas with archival architectural sources to explore the interrelationship between literature and architecture in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. The scholars who have rescued the Gothic novel from literary history's dust heap have provided cultural historians with a base from which to examine the sweeping influence of this significant literary genre.In the United States, Gothic novels and Scott's historical romances (which were inspired by Gothic pioneers Walpole and Radcliffe), had an enormous impact on architecture in the period between 1800 and 1850. The groundwork in Gothic literary scholarship allows us to move beyond literature to examine how the Gothic seeps into other forms of artistic creation. One of the earliest American architects to enjoy G othic novels was Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820).Although born in Great Britain and educated in Europe, Latrobe immigrated to the United States at the age of thirty-one, arriving in March 1796. About three months after relocating to Virginia, Latrobe wrote in his journal that he found Radcliffe's descriptions of buildings so â€Å"successful† that he â€Å"once endeavored to plan the Castle of Udolpho from Radcliffe's account of it and found it impossible† . Latrobe began experimenting with Gothic architectural forms for residential design in the United States in 1799.Latrobe's Gothic work includes Sedgeley (built for William Crammond near Philadelphia in 1799 and considered the first Gothic Revival house in the United States); the Baltimore Cathedral design (unexecuted; 1805); Christ Church in Washington, DC (1806-07); the Bank of Philadelphia (1807-08); and St. Paul's in Alexandria, Virginia (1817) (see photos). But, overall, Latrobe's Gothic output pales in compa rison to his rational neoclassical efforts such as the Bank of Pennsylvania (1799-1801). His Gothic Revival designs are symmetrical with superficial Gothic detailing.For example, Sedgeley is a geometric form Gothicized by the placement of pointed arch windows in the pavilions that protrude from the corners of the house. Despite this Gothic touch, there is little mystery or surprise in store for the observer of Latrobe's Gothic creations. Although he clearly read Radcliffe's books and was quite possibly influenced by them, he did not translate the mysterious, rambling architectural spaces of her stories into his own architecture. Other American architects, too, dabbled in Gothic Revival design before the 1830s. Some notable examples include Maxmillan Godefroy's St.Mary's Seminary in Baltimore (1806); Charles Bulfinch's Federal Street Church in Boston (1809); and the unexecuted design for Columbia College (1813) by James Renwick Sr. , engineer and father of the architect James Renwick . Daniel Wadsworth, who designed for himself a Gothic Revival villa called Monte Video (c. 1805-1809) near Hartford, Connecticut, explained that, to him, the Gothic style was not inherently menacing as are the castles and convents of Gothic novels: â€Å"There is nothing in the mere forms or embellishments of the pointed style [†¦ ] in the least adapted to convey to the mind the impression of Gothic Gloom† .His house bears out this belief; Gothic details appear as an afterthought, a decorative motif rather than a programmatic agenda. It was not until the 1830s and 1840s that American Gothic Revival architecture came of age. The most prominent designer of Gothic residences in this period was Davis. Davis was born in New York City in 1803 and, during his boyhood, lived in New Jersey and New York. When he was sixteen, he moved to Alexandria, Virginia, to learn a trade with his older brother Samuel. Davis worked as a type compositor in the newspaper office.Besides work, his four years at Alexandria were filled with two of his favourite activities: reading and acting. An amateur actor who performed in several plays while he was in Virginia, Davis was a voracious reader as well. His two pocket diaries from this period, preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, are filled with youthful exuberance. Often, Davis would begin an entry with an illustration from a text, which would then be excerpted in his own handwriting. Among the dramas that he read and illustrated were Maturin's Bertram: or the Castle of St.Aidobrand and Heinrich Zschokke's Abadilino. Maturin was an Irish Gothic novelist and dramatist who corresponded with an encouraging Scott. After reading Maturin's drama Bertram, Scott wrote that the character of Bertram had a â€Å"Satanic dignity which is often truly sublime† . Starring Edmund Kean, Bertram opened on 9 May 1816 at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, with the support of Lord Byron, who was impressed with the play. In one of his pocket diaries, Davis made an illustration of the play's first act, showing a ship tossed on a stormy sea in view of a Gothic convent.The setting of the play is quintessentially Gothic from the â€Å"rock-based turrets† of the convent to the moonlit â€Å"terrassed rampart† of the castle of Aldobrand. Davis copied an excerpt from the play into his diary and as the budding actor included Bertram in his list of recitations. While he was a youth in Alexandria, Davis engaged in amateur theatricals and became interested in stage design. He dreamed of becoming a professional actor. Davis's illustration filters the Shakespearean scene through contemporary Gothic, emphasizing the mysterious flicker of the nightstand candle and the inky blackness of unknowable architectural spaces.At the age of twenty, Davis moved to New York City, and his fascination with the theatre continued. In the evenings, he frequented the theatre and was on the free list at both the Park The ater and the Castle Garden Theater in 1826 and 1828. He also expressed his love of drama in his artistic work. In 1825, he completed a study for a proscenium featuring Egyptian columns and Greek bas-relief sculpture and numerous portraits of actors in character, including â€Å"Brutus in the Rostrum† and â€Å"Mr. Kemble as Roma†. That so early in his life Davis was fascinated with the theatre is significant to his later Gothic Revival architectural creations.The dramatic images he drew for his youthful diaries display his acute interest in stage design and scenography. Indeed, Gothic Revival architecture is inherently theatrical, a quality often commented upon by architecture critics. Davis often used trompe-l'oeil materials to create theatrical effects, substituting plaster for stone. Davis's houses, then, become stage sets, in which the owners' mediaeval fantasies, inspired by Gothic romances, can take flight. While still in Alexandria, Davis's sensible older brothe r bristled at what he perceived to be the younger Davis's useless pastime of reading Gothic books.Later in life, Davis wrote to William Dunlap about himself in the third person for Dunlap's History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States: â€Å"Like another Franklin, strongly addicted to reading, he limited himself to the accomplishment of a fixed task, and being a quick compositor, he would soon complete it, and fly to his books, but not like Franklin, to books of science and useful learning, but to works of imagination, poetry, and the drama; whence, however, he imbibed a portion of that high imaginative spirit so necessary to constitute an artist destined to practise in the field of invention†.Davis's brother condemned such reading and turned Davis's attention to â€Å"history, biography and antiquities, to language and the first principles of the mathematics†. The architectural allure of Gothic literature fascinated Davis. As a young man , Davis was known to â€Å"pass hours in puzzling over the plan of some ancient castle of romance, arranging the trap doors, subterraneous passages, and drawbridges, as pictorial embellishment was the least of his care, invention all his aim†.Any Gothic novel of the late eighteenth century may have been the subject of his artistic dreaming, but most likely he is referring here to either Walpole's The Castle of Otranto or Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, two of the most popular and influential of the Gothic novels. Davis's catalogue of books shows that he owned both books. The image depicts a partly ruinous labyrinthine space with a multitude of pointed arches leading to mysterious staircases (perhaps inspired by Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Carceri). Light filters in through barred windows.This drawing shows his early interest in the Gothic underworld, which is described in detail in The Castle of Otranto. The castle of Otranto (see photo) contains intricate subterranean passages that lead from the castle to the church of St. Nicholas, and through which the virtuous Isabella is chased by the lustful Manfred. Scott cannot be considered a Gothic novelist in the same way that his predecessors Walpole and Radcliffe are. Scott's genre is historical romance, but the influence of the Gothic is omnipresent in his work.From his earliest days and throughout his life, Scott read tales of terror. In 1812, after the success of his three poems and before he began writing his Waverley novel series, Scott purchased 110 acres, upon which he built his elaborate Gothic castle (1812-1815; enlarged in 1819). He named his new home Abbotsford after the monks of Meirose Abbey. The architect was William Atkinson. Abbotsford has been described as â€Å"an asymmetrical pile of towers, turrets, stepped gables, oriels, pinnacles, crenelated parapets, and clustered chimney stacks, all assembled with calculated irregularity†.Visitors flocked to Abbotsford to see the autho r and his residence first-hand, and, according to Thomas Carlyle, Abbotsford soon â€Å"became infested to a great degree with tourists, wonder-hunters, and all that fatal species of people†. Architectural historians often praise Strawberry Hill for introducing asymmetry into British domestic design and historicism into the Gothic Revival. But it is also important for another reason: the castle inspired Walpole to write his Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto in 1764.In A Description of the Villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, Walpole writes that Strawberry Hill is â€Å"a very proper habitation of, as it was the scene that inspired, the author of The Castle of Otranto†. One June morning, Walpole awoke from a dream: â€Å"I had thought myself in an ancient castle (a very natural dream for a head filled, like mine, with Gothic story) and that, on the uppermost bannister of a great staircase, I saw a gigantic hand in armor† (Early 88). That evening, Walpole sat down to wri te The Castle of Otranto.The setting of the story, as Walpole tells us in the preface, is â€Å"undoubtedly laid in some real castle†; indeed, as W. S. Lewis has shown, the rooms at Strawberry Hill and those in the pages of The Castle of Otranto correspond. Read by British and American readers alike, The Castle of Otranto enjoyed popularity long after Walpole's death in 1797. About the castle, Gilmor wrote: Tis in the most beautiful Gothic (light) style. Much cut up into small rooms, none, except the long picture gallery being large. Some of the ceilings beautifully gilded others beautifully fitted in wood or scagliola.But all things, wainscottings, – door-fireplaces – all Gothic. [†¦ ] These same rooms crammed – most literally crammed – with chef d'oeuvres of Antient and modern paintings, statuary; sarcophaguses, Bronzes and silver carvings of Benvenuto Cellini and others. [†¦ ] In this superb cabinet of curiosities for such the Gothic c astle deserves to be called, I strolled delighted. On 21 September 1832, not long after Gilmor's return in late 1830 or early 1831, Scott died. Two weeks later, on 5 October 1832, Davis makes his first notes on Glen Ellen in his day book.Perhaps Gilmor may have conceived of Glen Ellen as a tribute or romantic memorial to his genial host at Abbotsford. Indeed, as William Pierson has shown, the plans of Abbotsford and Glen Ellen both display a progression from left to right of octagonal corner turret to octagonal bay to square corner tower. But Abbotsford is not the only source for Glen Ellen. Gilmor was very impressed with the rococo Gothic he saw at Strawberry Hill, and the interior decoration of Walpole's residence becomes the inspiration for the exterior ornamentation at Glen Ellen.The battlements, pinnacles, towers, and pointed arch windows all recall Strawberry Hill, and the long rectangular parlour mirrors Walpole's mediaeval gallery. Both Abbotsford and Strawberry Hill are sit ed along rivers; it is significant, then, that Gilmor chose a site for Glen Ellen on the Gunpowder River, twelve miles north of Baltimore. While Town, Davis, and Gilmor were clearly indebted to Walpole and Atkinson, Glen Ellen is quite unlike anything that had come before it in American architecture.Most striking is its adoption of the complete Gothic program: it is asymmetrical in plan and elevation; its rooms are of disproportionate sizes; its ornamentation is both whimsical and reliant on recognizable mediaeval architectural forms. Glen Ellen is certainly not a repetition of Benjamin Henry Latrobe's and Daniel Wadsworth's earlier forays into the Gothic Revival style for domestic architecture. Unlike Sedgeley and Monte Video, where Gothic Revival ornament appears as an afterthought, Glen Ellen wears its mediaeval styling in a more assertive manner.Here Town and Davis enlisted the picturesque element of surprise; the beholder of Glen Ellen views a shifting facade with unexpected to wer protrusions and heavily ornamented bay windows. Although light and airy Glen Ellen lacks the gloom of Radcliffe's architectural spaces, the architects do create a villa in which the element of surprise is paramount. What is most significant about Glen Ellen is its conception as a place of fantasy, a literary indulgence to whet the Gothic appetite of its well-travelled owner.That Glen Ellen imitates the facade of Abbotsford or the interior ornamentation of Strawberry Hill is important; but more momentous is the idea of Glen Ellen as a retreat into the mediaeval world popularized by Gothic novels and historical romances. But Glen Ellen is Gothic fiction transformed into stone, a constant reminder of its owner's preferred reading material. With Glen Ellen, Gilmor pays homage to his favourite writers, thus participating in the cult of the Gothic author. Although he is the first, Gilmor will not be the last to yield to his literary fantasies by creating a permanent reminder of his Go thic passion.Influenced by Gothic novels and historical romance s, American writers James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving Gothicized their houses (Otsego Hall and Sunnyside, respectively) after visiting Gothic sites in Europe. After Glen Ellen, Davis went on to design numerous Gothic Revival cottages and villas, including his masterpiece, Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, New York (1838; 1865). Why were American architects, artists, and their clients so interested in mediaeval architecture? Their reading habits tell us a great deal.Mediaeval architecture plays a crucial role in Gothic novels and historical romances, leading some curious readers to visit mediaeval and Gothic Revival architectural sites related to their favourite novels. That American Gothic Revival architecture was closely related to the fictional works of writers such as Radcliffe and Scott is highlighted by a nineteenth-century observer's comments on a Gothic Revival building in New York City. Thomas Aldrich Bailey wro te in 1866 about the University of the City of New York (now New York University; original building demolished) on Washington Square: â€Å"There isn't a more gloomy structure outside of Mrs.Radcliff's [sic] romances, and we hold that few men could pass a week in these lugubrious chambers, without adding a morbid streak to their natures – the genial immates [sic] to the contrary notwithstanding†. Usually, though, the Gothic Revival buildings constructed in the United States in this period were anything but gloomy. Like Strawberry Hill, Davis's designs were light and airy; delicate rather than dark and massive (Davis does begin to experiment more with fortified castle designs in the 1850s).As Janice Schimmelman has argued, Scott's novels recast the Gothic architectural style, moving it away from the barbarism associated with the Middle Ages and toward a more domestic ideal. An American author who wrote at the same time as Scott sums it up nicely by saying, â€Å"A cast le without a ghost is fit for nothing but to live in†. Certain Gothic work in the Boston neighborhood, by Solomon Willard and Gridley Bryant, has a kind of brutal power because of its simple granite treatment.But these early gray and lowering edifices, despite their pointed windows and their primitive tracery, are scarcely within the true Gothic tenor. That remained almost unknown in this country until suddenly, between 1835 and 1850, it was given abundant expression in the work of three architects -Richard Upjohn, James Renwick, and Minard Lafever. Upjohn, in Trinity Church, set a tradition for American church architecture which has hardly died yet; and Renwick, in Grace Church in New York (see photo), showed the exquisite richness that Gothic could give.Minard Lafever's work is more daring, more original, and less correct, but in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn (see photo), only slightly later than Trinity and Grace, he achieved a combination of lavish detail, ima ginative variations on Gothic themes, and a general effectiveness of proportion and composition which make it one of the most successful, as it is certainly the most American, of all these early Gothic Revival churches.Yet even in these, correct as they were in detail, beautiful in mass and line, there was always a certain sense of unreality. The old tradition of integrity in structure, on which the best Greek Revival architects had so insistently based their work, was breaking down. Romanticism, with its emphasis on the effect and its comparative lack of interest in how the effect was produced, was sapping at the whole integral basis of architecture.These attractive Gothic churches were, all of them, content with lath-and-plaster vaults. In them the last connections between building methods and building form disappeared, and in their very success they did much to establish in America the disastrous separation between engineering and architecture which was to curse American building for two generations.The best of the American Gothic work remains in its simpler, its less ostentatious, monuments: the little churches in which wood was allowed frankly to be itself, as in the small frame chapels which Upjohn designed for country villages and distant mission stations; and the frank carpenter Gothic of the picturesque high-gabled cottages which rose so bewitchingly embowered in heavy trees along many of our Eastern village streets. The polychrome Victorian Gothic of England also became a brief American fashion.A number of architects, especially in New York and later in early Chicago, fell under the spell of Ruskin's persuasive writing, and sought as he did to create a modern, freely designed, inventive, nineteenth-century Gothic. But here also the strings that bound America and England seemed too tenuous to hold for long; and in spite of the occasional appealing successes of the style – such as the old National Academy of Design with its black-and-white marbl e front, designed by Peter B.Wight, and some of Renwick's city houses – the Victorian Gothic was doomed in America to swift disintegration into the cheapest and most illogical copying of its most obvious mannerisms, and a complete negation of its essential foundations. It became in a sense a caricature, to be rapidly swallowed up in the confusion of eclecticism which the last quarter of the century brought with it. If we might sum up French Gothic as architecture of clear and structural power, and English as the architecture of personalized rural charm, American Gothic would be the architecture of experimental and dynamic zest.American Gothic architecture was much more than the solution of building problems; it was also the expression of a new America that had been gradually coming into being – a new America which was the result of the gradual decay of the feudal system under the impact of trade, prosperity, and the growth of national feeling. The Gothic Revival in Ame rica was more a matter of intellectual approach than of architectural work. The sudden new enthusiasm for medieval work made all America passionately aware of its amazing architectural wealth, and also acutely conscious of the disintegration which threatened ruin to so many of the medieval structures.Nowhere did the Gothic Revival have a greater and a more revolutionary effect than in America, which had given it its first expression, for nowhere else were the forces behind it so irresistibly strong. In Germany, nationalism had led the architects of the romantic age into the byways of Romanesque and of Renaissance. In France, the strong classic traditions of the Ecole des Beaux Arts held firm against all the attacks of the romanticists and gave, at least to the official work, the requisite classic stamp.But, in America, religious fervor, so closely allied to the desires of the court and the government, made the drive toward Gothic design irrepressible, and there was no academic and c lassic tradition powerful enough to withstand it. Furthermore, the movement was blessed with extremely brilliant and articulate writers, who had the gift not only of interesting the specialist but of moving the general population. Gothic architecture was best now because it was the most Christian, later because it was the most creative and least imitative, then again because it was the most honest – whatever that might mean.The religious facets of the movement had an even greater importance. The whole American church was exercised more and more about the fundamental problems of ritualism and historical tradition. The most important ecclesiastical thinkers were reacting against the routine secularism of the eighteenthcentury church, demanding not only greater seriousness and a more intense devotion to Christian ideals, but also expressing their conviction that the medieval church had been a vital force and medieval devotion a vivid experience that had been subsequently lost, a nd that therefore the easiest way to reform the church was by a return to medievalism.Of the religious controversies these ideas aroused it is not necessary to particularize. Also important is the fact that everywhere these religious controversies focused attention on medieval church architecture, and that there was the closest relationship between architecture and ritual. Therefore, the theory went, if it was necessary to return to the medieval conception of Christianity, it was equally essential to return to medievalism in church design. There more subtle factor behind the Gothic Revival in architecture.The word â€Å"romanticism† has accumulated so many different meanings in the course of a century of criticism that it is necessary to be more precise. Behind the new interest in medieval architecture went a search for emotional expression which was a new thing. Romanticism means many more things than mere antiquarianism, for from the point of view of a mere turn to the past the Classic Revivals might also be considered romantic; but, as we have seen, the architects of the Classic Revival were striving primarily for form which should be serene, well composed, consistent, harmonious, adequate.The true romanticist is not satisfied with this. He demands more; he demands that architecture shall be â€Å"expressive† – that is, that it shall aim definitely at expressing specific emotions such as religious awe, grandeur, gaiety, intimacy, sadness. He seeks to make architecture as expressive and as personal as a lyric poem, and oftentimes this demand for emotional expression he makes superior to any other claims.All architecture is expressive; but, whereas the classic architect allows the expression to arise naturally from forms developed in the common-sense solution of his problem, the true romantic seeks expression first, with a definite self-conscious urge. To the romantic architect of the mid-nineteenth century, Romanesque and Gothic had some how come to seem more emotional than the other styles. References Andrews, Wayne. American Gothic: Its Origins, Its Trials. Its Triumphs. New York: Random House, 1975. Donoghue, John.Alexander Jackson Davis, Romantic Architect, 1803-1892. New York: Arno Press, 1982. Dunlap, William. â€Å"History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States. 1834. † Vol. 3. Ed. Alexander Wyckoff. New York: Benjamin Blom, 1965. Early, James. Romanticism and American Architecture. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1965. Latrobe, Benjamin Henry. â€Å"The Virginia Journais of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1795-1798. † Vol. 1. Ed. Edward C. Carter II. New Haven: Yale UP, 1977. Lougy, Robert E. Charles Robert Maturin. Lewisburg: Bucknell UP, 1975.Pierson, William H. , Jr. American Buildings and Their Architects: Technology and the Picturesque, The Corporate and the Early Gothic Styles. 1978. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1980. Robertson, Fiona. Legitimate Histories: Scott; Gothic, and the Authorities of Fiction. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. Schimmelman, Janice Gayle. The Spirit of the Gothic: The Gothic Revival House in Nineteenth-Century America. Diss. U of Michigan, 1980. Snadon, Patrick. A. J. Davis and the Gothic Revival Castle in America, 1832-1865. Diss. Cornell U, 1988.

A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens - 1160 Words

Charles Dickens began writing the famous story â€Å"A Christmas Carol† in October 1843 and wrote excitedly during the next six weeks. He completed the narrative at the end of November so that it could be published by the time it was Christmas. It came out on December 17, 1843 and sold out in only three days (Molly Oldfield). The expression â€Å"Bah! Humbug†, a line repeated many times in the story by its main character, a miserable and bitter fellow by the name of Ebenezer Scrooge, has become a well-known phrase even today. The story takes place in and around the city of London and begins on Christmas Eve, continues through Christmas Day, and ends the morning after Christmas in 1843. At the beginning of the story, Scrooge hates Christmas and happiness and was very greedy. Then a trio of spirits, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future (who was also known as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come), haunts him and shows him the wrongfulness of his doings. The the me of this Christmas story is compassion and forgiveness. It shows that a person’s life will be empty, lonely, and sad if he or she does not care about others. It also shows what happens when people are unforgiving towards each other. Relationships are broken when people do not forgive each other. The story, â€Å"A Christmas Carol†, has been made into a play and a movie with some similarities and differences in the roles of the characters, conflict, climax, and resolution between the two mediums. In the play version ofShow MoreRelatedCharles Dickens and A Christmas Carol1613 Words   |  7 PagesCharles Dickens and A Christmas Carol: Famed British author, Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England. He was the second of eight children, living in a poor neighborhood in London. His parents were John Dickens, a naval clerk, who always lived beyond his means. Married to his mother Elizabeth Dickens, who aspired to be a teacher and a school director. Dickens went to William Giles’ school in Chatham, Kent, for approximately one year before his father’s money habitsRead MoreA Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens1139 Words   |  5 Pages The book I have chosen is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It has been rewrote few times but I wanted to pick the author that started it all. Charles John Huffman Dickens lived from February 7th,1812 – June 9th,1970 making him 58 when he died. He was buried Westminster Abbey. His mother and father were John and Elizabeth Dickens. He had seven siblings four brothers and three sisters. During his life he was married to his wife Catherine Dickens from 1836 to the day he died. Together they hadRead MoreA Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)1144 Words   |  5 PagesCharles Dickens believed it was up to him to inform the people of Britain of the social problems occurring around Britain. While Dickens was a young man, he suffered from poverty along with his mother and father. His father was imprisoned for dept and Charles wanted to become a social reformer. Dickens used these problems as themes for his book ‘A Christmas Carol. These themes involve poverty, pollution and a c hanging of ways. Dickens used Scrooge, the main character in the book at first to showRead MoreCharles Dickens A Christmas Carol Essay922 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"Bah, humbug!† This well-known phrase is popular thanks to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In this literary classic, Dickens tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a â€Å"tight fisted...covetous old sinner† (12). Through a series of hauntings by various Christmas ghosts, Scrooge realizes the error of his ways and changes completely into a warm-hearted, generous man. Scrooge’s tale is a familiar one; countless movies have been filmed, plays have been produced, and references made in other storiesRead MoreCharles Dickens A Christmas Carol1316 Words   |  6 PagesIt can be easily depicted that Christmas is a time of the year to share joyfulness. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is a character that is effortlessly described as a hardheaded cold man. It is s imple to judge the character of Scrooge in this manner, but it is important to recognize the change in his personality throughout the story. Scrooge’s transformation happens very quickly, but he becomes generous and caring only when he is forced to see himself through a stranger’sRead MoreA Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens1293 Words   |  6 PagesCharles Dickens presents many short stories and novels. He is greatly known for his short fiction and later theater play, â€Å"A Christmas Carol†. In one short story, a reader could describe it as Charles â€Å"other† Christmas story, an elderly narrator reminisce of holiday past. There is a range of appeal in the story itself from comforting memories of loved toys to leaving the reader with an eerie feeling of various childhood haunts. The reader’s analysis of Dickens use of vivid detail together with hisRead MoreA Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens1331 Words   |  6 PagesChristy Mak 12/21/15 Period three Scrooge Changes In the story, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Scrooge is the main character. In the beginning of the story, he is shown as an old miser counting and gripping his money in the counting house. Later on, Scrooge’s dead business partner, Marley, has visited Scrooge from the grave while being bounded in chains to warn Scrooge to change his ways or suffer the same fate. Soon, three ghosts are sent to visit Scrooge to show him scenes thatRead MoreA Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens914 Words   |  4 PagesFew characters in Christmas literature personify the antithesis of the season like Ebenezer Scrooge. Penned in 1843, Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol has been told and retold. It has become a fixture of the season. So ingrained in our culture, is this story, that everyone knows the name Scrooge and the negative connotation that accompanies it. But what if, instead of just a cranky old miser, Ol Ebenezer Scrooge was more of a rather observant social commenta tor? In order to defendRead MoreThe Life Of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol1062 Words   |  5 Pageslasted from 1832 to 1901 under Queen Victoria’s reign. The culture revealed in this era was a time of rapid change, social inequality, industrialization, supernatural and religious beliefs, and was accurately reflected in the works of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Roles of men and women were strictly defined, as were economic statuses. The hustle and bustle of the streets led to illnesses. Working conditions were destitute and unsanitary. Children often had little to no education, unless veryRead More A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens Essay1877 Words   |  8 PagesA Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens In this essay I intend to write about Ebenezer Scrooge who is the key character of the astonishing novel written by Charles Dickens one of greatest English novelist of he Victorian period. He wrote and published ‘a Christmas carol’ in 1843. Charles Dickens’s also well know stories such as ‘Oliver twist’. Dickens was born on the 2nd February 1812 in London port Hampshire. He moved from his birth place to Chatham where he received little education

Racism - 775 Words

Student’s Name Tutor Education Date RACISM ON CAMPUS amp; I OWE IT ALL TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE RACISM ON CAMPUS Race has always been an issue, and wherever there are people, there will be some form of racial profiling at one level or another, this article talks about the several aspects of racial encounters that mostly students have encountered in school and at college level(Ziegler and Hazeur 36) in the United States. Though some are mild and subtle, others are very strong but not shocking since I guess things are better today than several years back. The United States has come a long way in tackling issues regarding race, but that’s not to meant that people have reached a place where we can say race is gone. It’s in the TV shows we†¦show more content†¦Web. Bailey, Thomas, Norena Badway, and Patricia J Gumport. â€Å"For-Profit Higher Education and Community Colleges.† Educational Research x (2003): 1–69. Print. Dougherty, Kevin. â€Å"The Effects of Community Colleges: Aid or Hindrance To Socioeconomic Attainment?† Sociology of Education 60.2 (1987): 86–103. Web. Liang, Christopher T H, and Ruth E Fassinger. â€Å"The Role of Collective Self-Esteem for Asian Americans Experiencing Racism-Related Stress: A Test of Moderator and Mediator Hypotheses.† Cultural diversity amp; ethnic minority psychology 14.1 (2008): 19–28. Web. Teranishi, Robert T., Carola Suà ¡rez-Orozco, and Marcelo Suà ¡rez-Orozco. â€Å"Immigrants in Community Colleges.† Future of Children 21.1 (2011): 153–169. Web. Zhai, Lijuan. â€Å"Studying International Students: Adjustment Issues and Social Support.† Journal of international agricultural and extension education 11 (2004): 97–104. Web. Ziegler, Dhyana, and Camille Hazeur. â€Å"Challenging Racism on Campus.† Thought and Action 5.2 (1989): 31–36.Show MoreRelatedRacism : Racism And Racism1544 Words   |  7 PagesTo understand whether or not racism is learnt, we first have to divulge into the nature of racism. It is usually assumed that racism has been a part of civilisation since civilisation started, that it is embedded into how people work and that no matter what, it will always exist. Another assumption is that racism derives from the capitalism of the slave trade by white elitist men seeking to dehumanize people for economic gain, and used racism as a way to mask their financial motives to justify enslavementRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism1003 Words   |  5 Pagesracism: Racism-â€Å"the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.† Imagine, 5 black men. Singing a church song still faithful for hope. Chained and cuffed together. Flies follow them as they walk by in the dry hot desert. With the white oppressor behind them yelling nasty words that poison their brain. Yet they still sing and wait and keep faith. In some statesRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism953 Words   |  4 PagesRacism in America â€Å"Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom, and it deserves to be met head-on and stamped out.† - Pierre Berton Racism is the unjust hate for any people who are simply different for a various array of reasons. It is all around us and always will be, but that does not give us the right to be passive on the subject. This discrimination against culturally diverse people is hurting our â€Å" land of the free†, one racist remark at a time.Read MoreRacism : Racism And Racism1181 Words   |  5 PagesThis issue of racism is popular by name but tends to be sugar coated by the way people see it. In order to truly understand racism you need to take a bite into the topic in order to get a taste of what it is really like. Racism comes in many different forms and can be seen many different ways. But why even care about racism at all? Why does it even matter? One would think that with such a harsh background regarding racism in America it would no longer exist in society today. But sadly that is notRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism989 Words   |  4 PagesRacism in America Racism discrimination has been one of our society’s most horrible social problems. In the words of the famous Martin Luther King judging an individual by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character can be a very dehumanizing experience that can have lasting effects on an individual life. Racism in America has not come to a cease. Racism promotes negative personal relations between people of different cultures. I believe slavery started around the 1500sRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism996 Words   |  4 PagesCovert Racism Introduction Racism; ‘the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others’ (Collins English Dictionary 2012) and thus leading to ‘abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief’ (Collins English Dictionary 2012). Over time, racism has transformed from a blatant and overt form into a passive style of prejudice and discriminationRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism1094 Words   |  5 PagesRacism has been an issue that has caused controversial debates for years. It is a topic that stirs up lots of emotions within people and continues to be an argument for all. When there has been a shooting between a white and a colored or a cop and a colored person, people blame it on racism. They state that since the white cop shot the black man it simply means the cop was racist. Then the people want to speak that justice needs to be served and the cop needs to be put in prison or released fromRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism1751 Words   |  8 PagesRacism Social Justice Topic Issue Corbin Metz H R – 3013 University of Oklahoma Racism Social Justice Topic Issue Today in our society, racism is a very popular social justice topic issue, which affects many of the lives of those around us on a daily basis. Individuals as well as organizations and institutions widely commit the act of racism and these issues are embedded in their policies, procedures, and practices (Calgary). The first signs of racism beginning to arise in the worldRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism1971 Words   |  8 PagesRacism has come to be a very important topic in today’s society. Many are talking about the injustices when it comes mostly when it comes to African-Americans and Caucasians in authority. Many have deemed the incidents of Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, the Spring Valley High School video, and even the Charleston Shooting to name a few as reactions to racism. Out of the people talking about these events, only a few really know the meaning of racismRead MoreRacism : Racism And Racism2243 Words   |  9 PagesRacism, a topic which has become especially touchy in modern times. It is quite clear that racism is alive not only in the United States, but across the globe. Though the topic is widely talked about, nobody really does anything to stop it. People will be quick to elaborate on the fact that it should be stopped, then make no changes themselves. Yet do they truly understand the concepts of racism and what it really means to be racist? Granted everybody understands that it is racist to hate a group

Women With Crohn s Disease - 1564 Words

But You Look So Good: I understand not knowing what to say when someone you care about is sick, and it makes sense to grab for something nice to say about that person when you are at a loss. You want to give them a compliment to make up for their obvious suffering, or because you have no idea what else to say. I have done this before, and I’m sure I’ll do it again, but sometimes those compliments can be harmful. Women with Crohn’s Disease have been found in a recent study to have a lower self-image than men with the same disease, and while the reason isn’t clear as to why, it certainly doesn’t help that our society places such importance on beauty. When I worked in the salon industry, I was taken aside by every manager I worked under at some point, to be told either gently or bluntly that I needed to step up my cosmetic game. Even though I always look for ways to buck convention and societal expectations, I couldn’t ignore how scary my extremely pale skin and maln ourished frame looked under the ghastly fluorescent lighting tailored to hair salons, so I gave in. As was pointed out to me, I was working in a job where appearance mattered, and mine was starting to frighten clients. With a few swipes of bronzer and mascara, clients were voicing their concerns less frequently, and the amount of prying questions died down. After some time, it became habit to apply more makeup when I felt worse, creating a thin layer between me and the outside world. I have seen first-hand howShow MoreRelatedLiving With Crohn s Disease1126 Words   |  5 PagesLiving with Crohn’s Disease Sharon is a 17 year old young women, her mother noticed that Sharon had lost a significant amount of weight, and she looked pale and had dark circles under her eyes. 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Anaemia comes in numerous forms some ranging from a low to high health problem and each have different causes, each anaemia deficiency have different treatments depending on the condition of the patient. In the most extreme case of anaemia

Great Ways to Pass SAT Essay Example For Students

Great Ways to Pass SAT Essay Abstruse adj. difficult to understand, obscure. Acquiesce v. agree passively, assent. Affirmation n. positive assertion, solemn pledge. Aesthetic adj. artistic, capable of appreciating beauty. Agglomeration n. collection, heap. Anomalous adj. abnormal, irregular. Antithesis n. contrast, opposite. Ascendancy n. controlling influence, domination. Assiduous adj./adv. diligent, hardworking. Perceptible adj. to be able to be seen. Melancholy adj. state of excessive sadness. Desolate adj. devoid of inhabitants, lifeless. Grapple v. struggle, come to grips. Impecunious adj. lacking money, poor. Belie v. contradict, give a false impression. Brazen adj. 1. insolent, bold. 2. having a loud sound. Cacophony adj. discord, harsh sound. Catalyst n. an event which brings about change. Cursory adj. casual, hastily done. Commensurate adj. equal, in proportion to. Denigrate v. to belittle, defame lessen importance. Digression n. wandering away from subject. Didactic adj. instructional, teaching. Disparity n. difference, inequality. Deter v. something that discourages. Deterrent n. hindrance, barrier. Divergent v. oppose, differing, deviating. Efficacy n. prone to produce an effect. Eclectic adj. choosing from a variety of sources. Erudite adj. learned, scholarly. Esoteric adj. known only by a few, not publicly disclosed. Etymology n. the study of the origin, development, and form of words. Endemic adj. prevailing or present among a specific group or area. Ephemeral adj. short-lived, fleeting. Equivocal adj. doubtful, ambiguous. Expedite v. hasten, happen faster. Facetious adj. humorous, playful, jocular. Fastidious adj. displaying careful meticulous attention to detail, exacting. Fervor n. intensity of emotion. Bibliography:

Auditing & Assurance Services

Questions: 1. Find your inner sceptic: Its not enough to be sceptical, you have to demonstrate it in practice? 2. Explain the nature, size and scope of the big four accounting firms? 3. Are they really accounting firms or are they morphing into something else? Answers: 1. Audit is vital when it comes to the point of public, as well as investors because helps in elevating the level of confidence. It takes a lot of judgement and skills to provide the desired result. Hence, the auditor is needed a level of scepticism as it helps in conducting the audit at an enhanced level. This issue generated aftermath the banking crisis where the regulators challenged the audit firms whether the desired level of scepticism was showcased. Further, the need to exercise an enhanced level of scepticism is primarily needed. The application of an enhanced level of professional scepticism is a major skill when it comes to the profession of an auditor (Blay et. al, 2011). Until the time, the auditors are ready to challenge the assertions put forth by the auditor they will not perform as a way to fraud nor will be in a position to ascertain the fact that the financial statement of the company is projecting a true and fair view. Furthermore, scepticism can be taken to an enh anced level, challenging everything in an established company will tend to slow the publication of the financial statements and will increase the costs that are unnecessary (Heeler, 2009). Being sceptical is the not the desired result because it must be demonstrated in practice. When it comes to an auditor, being sceptical of information, explanation and other relevant documents it is a chief source (Holland Lane, 2012). However, knowing it and being sceptical will not produce a positive impact rather it should be demonstrated on every assignment. The application must be done that will help the clients and ensure proper documentation. Professional scepticism can be defined as an attitude that contains a reasoning bent of mind, ready to combat any situation that might project possible misleading either due to error or fraud and an evaluation of the audit evidence that is critical in nature (ACCA, 2015). The explanation provides a clear view that the work is influenced when the scepticism is implemented in practice. It helps and supports the auditor to assess the findings and conclude whether reasonable audit evidence has been received to ensure a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company (ICAEW, 2016). Hence, it is essential that a sceptical bent of mind is essential because it leads to efficiency and effectiveness of the level of audit. (ACCA, 2015) Therefore, being sceptical is not a major consideration rather needs to be applied because the client will get justification. Scepticism enhances the audit practice and projects the reaction of the auditor during the process of an audit (Kalpan Williams, 2013). A sceptical auditor lay trust in facts, as well as data, ensures proper verification and ensures strong interpretations that are evident from the report that is prepared (Carcello, 2012). Therefore, having a sound knowledge is not enough because it needs to be reflected in the work. An auditor may have paramount knowledge, however; there might be a fault in the report that reflects the level of deficiency. However, an auditor who is sceptical ensures a strong financial presentation and provides a strong practical exposure that is error free. A sceptical auditor believes in fact, as well as data, ensure proper verification (Coram et. al, 2011). Hence, being sceptical is not enough because there are various situations like clos ed, doubts and disconnection that might affect the audit. Hence, the auditor must be strong enough in the practical field so that the so that any deflections in the information can be traced (ICAEW, 2016). It is the practical work, as well as the clients service that boasts of the strong service. 2. Initially, the Big Four was a vast firm that comprised of eight. In 1989 there was a merger that reduced the Big eight into Big Six and further in 1998 it was reduced to five when Price Waterhouse underwent a merger with Lybrand to become PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Big Four accounting firms are operated by a board that has its presence globally or council that contains total responsibility for the governance, as well as oversight of the member firms that are networked. The structure of the governance bodies contains a variation, however, contains leaders of senior rank from the various line and geographical areas. The CEO/Chair of the Big four is linked to the audit practice, the other two from the area of tax practice. However, there is no scenario of profit pooling at the international level. The amount remitted to the global network form by an individual member firm to fund the running cost of the network is linked to the revenue that the member firm generates. In reality, the U.S member firms When it comes to the practice of assurance, the firm moves on to enhance the level of audit efficiency. This contains offshoring, development of centers of lower cost, outsourcing of aspect and using of technicians related to data. The Big four firms are operated by international networks. Member forms have a common name; brand and the member firm are legal entities. Big four firms operate as an umbrella entity and termed as a global network firm. The link is established by the legal agreement between the two. When it comes to governance it is done by way of various committees that come from within the firm and the members are selected by the partners. In some other case, the guidelines of the governance need large audit firms to bring non-executives who are independent when it comes to the matter of governance (Mock et. al, 2013). The Big Four are similar to other firms in the matter of management of equity actively in the prevailing situation. Moreover, the Big four are showing str ong standards for partner promotion and transferring more parts from equity and getting it shift to the status of salary in the practice of audit. Moreover, there is a trend practiced by the Big four in promoting individuals. Hence, it is a clear-cut indication that the there will be more income partners as compared to equity partners in the forthcoming days. As a matter of fact, the Big Four audit firms employ more than 710,000 people in 2016. This number contains partners, audit, professionals, tax, staffs, etc. In the past five years, there has been a paramount increment in the employment by the Big Four indicating an increment of over 16%. Apart from the year 2010, the employment by the Big Four has increased every year since 2009. The Big Four firms are into assurance, consulting, tax and even in the role of administration. The number of people in the Big Four has increased with the due passage of time while the staff composition in the assurance area has decreased. Due to the enhancement in advisory and variation in the financial statement audit work, the need for individuals who are experienced in nature has increased tremendously. This has led to a strong market for the technical expertise and other professionals in the field of finance. The Big strives to hire students from the accounting field and various others such as a comput er, technology, organizational change, etc. Further, there has been a strong surge in the requirement from the field of statistics (Hoffelder, 2012). The Big four has clearly shown that they are pouring in enough investment so that they can evaluate the manner to reframe their procedure of audit and take benefit of the chances that is given by the current technologies (Pristine, 2016). However, at the current point of time, there is little evidence that will provide a result on the quality of audit, protection of the investor, audit efficiency, etc. 3. Yes, the Big four are accounting firms however, they are venturing into various other services such as external audit, services pertaining to taxation, consultancy related to management and business, evaluation of risk and control. Further, they are even venturing into various other services like massive employment and opportunities in tune to career development to auditor and accountants all over. Apart from the normal accounting services the big four are constantly eyeing upon: Management consulting The other activities of the big four revolve around advisory services. This is one of the other activities that the firm is undertaking as they have a strong grasp of the external environment. The immense knowledge of the firm is utilized to provide various services like setting up of the business plan, financial standing, etc (Pristine, 2016). Moreover, the accountants from the firm have helped to trace new opportunities, manage the change in the external environment, take care of the insurance needs, etc. Speciality services With the due passage of time, the offerings by the firm have undergone a variation. Specialized services are provided by the firm. One of the noteworthy ventures is the business valuation that helps in determining the worth of the business and provides an adequate response to the fact that whether the business should head for merger or acquisition. Further, information system services are even provided that helps in knowing the integrity, as well as the security of the computer system. Fraud and forensic services are even provided that helps in uncovering the fraud practices. References ACCA. (2015). Professional Scepticism. Retrieved January 24, 2017 from https://www.accaglobal.com/lk/en/student/exam-support-resources/professional-exams-study-resources/p7/technical-articles/scepticism.html Blay, A. D., Geiger, M. A. North, D. S. ( 2011). The Auditor's Going-Concern Opinion as a Communication of Risk. Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory, 30 (2): 77- 102. Carcello, J. (2012). What do investors want from the standard audit report? CPA Journal 82 Coram, P., Mock, T. J., Turner, J. Gray, G. (2011). The communicative value of the auditors report. Australian Accounting Review 21(3): 235-252. Heeler, D. (2009). Audit Principles, Risk Assessment Effective Reporting. Pearson Press Hoffelder, K. (2012). New Audit Standard Encourages More Talking. Harvard Press. Holland, K. Lane, J. (2012). Perceived auditor independence and audit firm fees, Accounting and Business Research. 42(2), 115-141. ICAEW. (2016). Professional scepticism what it means for auditors in practice. Retrieved https://www.icaew.com/en/technical/audit-and-assurance/faculty/webcasts/professional-scepticism-what-it-means-for-auditors-in-practice Kaplan, S. Williams, D. (2013). Do going concern audit reports protect auditors from litigation? A simultaneous equations approach. The Accounting Review, 88 (1), 199-232. Mock, T. J., Bdard, J., Coram, P., Davis, S., Espahbodi, R. and Warne, R. (2013). The audit reporting model: Current research synthesis and implications. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, 32, 323-351. Pristine, E. (2016). Why are the Big 4 accounting firms important?. Retrieved 24 January 2017 from https://www.quora.com/Why-are-the-Big-4-accounting-firms-important