Amistad Movie Review essays

Amistad Movie Review essays The movie Amistad is a 4 star film because I believe it is historically accurate, very effective in showing the way slaves were treated, and the way slavery and the American judicial system worked during the Antebellum period. The movie was also a good watch, and was entertaining and educational at the same time. The movie also proved to be realistic, entertaining, and believable. Amistad seemed realistic to me throughout the entire movie; one specific example would be the opening scene of the movie. The scene had the slaves taking over La Amistad. At first, it didn't seem very likely that the slaves would have actually been able to do that. But after thought, it began to seem more likely. Considering the number of slaves versus the number of crew members, and also considering that the slaves had already come from lives of labor. Also, when the Cinqu first pulled the nail from the rock, I personally found that believable too. A lot of people wouldn't have put themselves through tha t much pain, with no guarantee of results, but he had wanted to get back to his family so badly that it didn't matter. In my opinion, the movie actually seemed somewhat biased towards the slave's point of view. It was always shown that the slaves had come from such happy lives where all was good, into a life of beatings, labor, and sickness. Granted they did come into this, but as they said in the movie, in the Mende tribe, they have something of the same thing as a slave. If a person is indebted to another, or something happens where the consequences would require this, then that man would become a sort of servant or slave to the man he owed. The Mende seemed to do the same thing to their salves, only on not quite the same level. I do however, agree that white men have treated slaves horribly and there is no excuse for it, but watching the movie, one does pick up a sense of bias towards the slaves. The movie was an entertaining one, that is true. A...

Analyzing the Flesh and the Spirit by Anne Bradstreet

Analyzing the Flesh and the Spirit by Anne Bradstreet Five Literary Criticisms Throughout history, there have been many religious faiths and practices that aim the same goal in different ways. One of them was Puritanism and the Puritan believed that the best way to gain admission to heaven was to focus on how sinful they were. Anne Bradstreet was the first Puritan figure in American Literature and in her poem titled The Flesh and the Spirit, she discussed Puritan practices. This essay will analyses the poem with 5 literary criticisms, including Marxist Criticism, Feminist Criticism, New Criticism, Reader-response Criticism, and Psychoanalytic Criticism. Starting with the Marxist Criticism, we need to look at the era’s economic conditions first. Anne Bradstreet lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the colony was highly dependent on the import of staples from England. The Puritan dislike of ostentation led the colony to also regulate expenditures on what it perceived as luxury items. Items of personal adornment were f rowned upon. In the poem, we see two characters discussing what kind of life people should have. The sister named Flesh tries to explain to her sister named Spirit that the World has everything that could keep them happy and content. Flesh’s this kind of approach to the earthly goods is totally against Puritan believes. As the colony Bradstreet lived in already frowned upon luxury items, the sister Spirit says, †My Crown not Diamonds, Pearls, and gold, / But such as Angels’ heads infold.† Here, she means that she doesn’t have a materialist personality. The poet, Bradstreet, reflects her colony’s world-view for the economic matters in those lines. When we try to analyze this poem using the Feminist Criticism, we simply need to ask some questions regarding to poet’s sex, education, and then look at the characters. The poet was a woman. And when we read her biography, we see that she didn’t attend any school but was educated by hi s father. This informs us that she lived in a male-dominant society because girls didn’t attend school even if her father was a steward. The characters in the poem are also girls and they discuss religious matters. Here, the author breaks the male-dominant society and makes her female characters question the religious matters, especially the Puritanism. When the subject is religion, one shouldn’t even question the most unimportant thing. But the sister Flesh questions it and all she says is totally against the Puritanism seen in the poet’s colony. Since the poet herself is a woman, we can assume that a woman discusses a religious practice in a male-dominant society. Analyzing a poem with New Criticism requires a person not to take background information of the poet, poet’s other works or the story in the poem into consideration. When we read what Spirit says about earthly goods and how she criticizes what Flesh claims that people need to enjoy them, we can understand that this poem reflects the Puritan beliefs. Words used in the poem belong to the English spoken at least 350 years ago. Metaphors were also used in the poem. The character Flesh is a metaphor for earthly items, such as diamonds, pearls, and gold. The poem is not also in a stanza form. It looks like a wall of text. This means that the poet didn’t want to separate what is wanted to mean. It means that the poem is all about the same thing. Rhymes used in the poem also makes it sound better and that way it attracts readers’ attention. When I try to analyze this poem as a reader with the Reader-response Criticism, I can directly say that this poem is about Puritanism; therefore, religion. Since Spirit seems to be more dominant in the poem, the poet’s environment is a Puritan society. I’d say this poem is not different than other religious poems because they all aim one goal: Heaven. It is the way they discuss what to do in order to go to Heav en. Flesh seems to be a sinner character whom readers should avoid. I don’t know whether it’s okay to blame a character to praise a religion or religious practice, but this kind of behavior would make me more uninterested in that religion or practice. As the verses say, †No Candle there, nor yet Torch light, / For there shall be no darksome night.† they just sound to be impressive sentences that attract people to that religion – no different than that of all religions have. To analyze this poem with the Psychoanalytic Criticism, we need to analyze the characters’ thoughts, their fears, and what they do to suppress their fears.   When we look at what Spirit says in the poem, we can understand that her core issue is fear of God; thus, she adopted the Puritan beliefs in order to go to Heaven. On the other hand, Flesh is just opposite of Spirit. She displays everything that is against fear of God. This can also be interpreted to be an avoidanc e as her defense mechanism, since she tries to avoid any religious thoughts and want to enjoy all earthly pleasures. To sum up, this essay tried to analyze the poem titled The Flesh and the Spirit by Anne Bradstreet with 5 literary criticisms. With the Marxist Criticism, we looked at the era’s economic conditions and tried to reflect Bradstreet’s colony’s world-view for the economic matters in her poem’s verses. Using the Feminist Criticism, we tried to explain how Bradstreet broke the man-dominated society and used her female characters to discuss religious matters. With New Criticism, we tried to show figures of speech and what the poem’s form means. Reader-response Criticism was used to explain what the author of this paper understood from the poem. And finally, with the Psychoanalytic Criticism, we tried to identify characters’ core issues and their defense mechanisms.

Research on Meth Addiction Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Meth Addiction - Research Paper Example There were efforts to control them through regulation through the Food and Drug Administration as well as by law enforcement. However, these illicit drugs are still a part of our society, often having comorbidity with other aspects of crime, which disrupts our society. Methamphetamine is an extremely powerful narcotic. It has multiple ways of being ingested into the body. Sometimes, it is injected through the use of hypodermic needles, while other times it is snorted or smoked. Typically, snorting will have the quickest effect on the body due to the fact that methamphetamine is lipid soluble, which means it can interact past the blood brain barrier faster than any other route of administration. It was and still is the cause of many problems in relation to drug abuse in our society. It enslaves the user through powerful chemical drug dependence. This works because it changes the brain on a fundamental level. Freud was one of the first psychologists to say that humans operate on a plea sure principle. This rewarding pathway in the brain is known as the dopaminergenic reward pathway. Dopamine is one of the primary rewarding neurotransmitters in the brain and is responsible for regulating many actions such as hunger, sex, etc. Methamphetamine affects this system by causing a large increase in the amount of dopamine. This is why drug users feel such a high euphoric effect. The withdrawal effects of methamphetamine are also extremely unpleasant. Therefore, drug users self-administer more of the drug in order to not â€Å"crash†. As a result, they become chemically addicted. This occurs due to the fact that the brain rewires itself and does not secrete dopamine in the normal amounts of a person who does not use methamphetamine. Methamphetamine users comment that while they are not using the drug that there is a lack of feeling and everything seems grey. This is a primary motivator in encouraging the user to continue using the drug as a result of physiological re sponse. This physiological response is what drives the psychological and behavioral response. It works in both ways of classical and operant conditioning. Drug users learn that with the drug they will experience a state of euphoria. As a result, they develop not only the physiological dependence to the drug, but they also develop a psychological addiction. This in turn fuels other aspects of crime. Methamphetamine is common in all social classes, however it affects the lower classes the most. Often, many of these lower class citizens do not have a surplus income in order to fuel their drug addiction. Thus, they turn to other criminal activities in order to supply the income required to fuel their habit. This exposure to the drug often also causes problems among families. Methamphetamine can tear families apart and often leaves children with parents behind bars. Prostitution is also common for drug users in that they can take methamphetamine as collateral for sexual favors. The side effects of the use of methamphetamine are wide and varied. The fact that methamphetamine is a stimulant means that it promote a wide variety of anxiety and â€Å"twitchy† behavior. It also can lead to attentiveness problems as well as deficits in cognitive function and memory. As discussed previously, the dopaminergic reward system is highly stimulated when methamphetamine is in the system and that long-term use can lead to dopamine deficit. This puts high, chronic methamphetamine use

The use of power and persuasion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The use of power and persuasion - Essay Example Similarly, others stress on how the power must transcend by virtue of leadership, implying that people relate to larger groups and thus, the art of leadership must be paralleled with the art of gauging the deep rooted insights of human responses (Harvard University 2005). However, in order to apply this strategy, it is imperative to build trusts and a dynamic interpersonal relationship with the people. Similarly, commenting on the need of innovative leaders, the academia also tends to differentiate between an ordinary leader and the one which tends to innovate, since innovative leadership doesn’t solely rely of a vision and leadership qualities; instead it tends to seek inspiration and drive these innovators towards positive direction to deem outputs (Yolderwise 2010). Therefore, a leader offer inspiration, motivation and even a dynamic personality for others to relate to and follow, with an innovation leader carrying even more elaborate responsibilities. Thus, there is need t o explore various dimensions on the nature and functioning of innovative leadership. As mentioned above as well, there are distinct leadership styles and leadership qualities which can be undertaken by a leader, and therefore may be understood from various lens. However, question arises on which approach may be accurate and appropriate for an innovation leader. In this context, various researchers have commented that such a leader may borrow concepts from various leadership styles to create a distinct style of his own to instill innovation and direction in the intended audience. Therefore, an innovative leader will employ distinct strategies to carve out a leadership style which then contributes towards producing creative and original ideas, services, products or solution Thus concept of innovation leadership was first put forth by Dr, Gliddon

The Indian Mind and Heart :: essays papers

The Indian Mind and Heart The mind and heart are common terms personifying intellectual and spiritual characteristics. The mind illustrates the current state of what it describes and the heart describes the undying features of which is portrayed. The mind may change depending on influence but the heart is fixed. These regards, the Indian mind and heart may take on many forms. Starting at the core of India, its heart can be correlated with Hinduism. Hinduism started in Indian approximately the third millennium BC and is still practiced in the present day. Also, as it is of Indian origin, its rightful place can be considered the heart of India. It can be said that Hinduism is substantially â€Å"outdated† by today’s standards as formidable religion of Indian majority. During the period of the caste social structure within India it was en excellent fit. But this ensures its position of the heart of India by being fundamental to the development of ancient India and forming modern India. The Bhagavad Gita is a timeless example of how Hinduism can be applied and seen in Indian life. It also enforces the example of how Hinduism is the heart of India by demonstrating the qualities of ancient Indian culture. These beliefs although outdated, are also seen manifesting in many important values, such as Buddhism, which will be discussed later. It is in this document that both sets of beliefs which provide the foundation of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs are combined. In The Bhagavad Gita Arjuna and Krishna converse and discuss spirituality. This literature is excellent in explaining the Indian theory that true spiritual conduct is beyond what we consider logical. Before Sri Krishna instructs Arjuna to fight in the battle he says â€Å"The impermanent has no reality; reality lies in the eternal. Those who have seen the boundary between these two have attached the end of all knowledge. Realize that which pervades the universe and is indestructible; no power can affect this unchanging, imperishable reality.† (qtd. Easwaran 43) In this document Sri Krishna describes â€Å"the intellectual explanation of Sankhya.† (qtd. Easwaran 44) This is vital in describing Buddhism, which was derived from the Sankhya school of thought. â€Å"Death means the attainment of heaven; victory means the enjoyment of the earth. Therefore rise up, Arjuna, resolved to fight! Having made yourself alike in pain and pleasure, profit and loss, victory and defeat, engage in this great battle and you will be free from sin.

Elizabeth I Research Paper Essay

I, Overview Elizabeth I (known simply as â€Å"Elizabeth† until the accession of Elizabeth II; 7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called â€Å"The Virgin Queen†, â€Å"Gloriana† or â€Å"Good Queen Bess†, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years after her birth.[1] Elizabeth was a different kind of Queen: quick-witted, clever and able to use feminine wiles to get her own way. Elizabeth could be as ruthless and calculating as any king before her but at the same time she was vain, sentimental and easily swayed by flattery. She liked to surround herself with attractive people and her portraits were carefully vetted to make sure that no physical flaws were ever revealed. She relied upon the ministers close to her but would infuriate them with her indecision – ‘It makes me weary of life,’ remarked one. Faced with a dilemma – for example whether or not to sign the execution warrant of Mary Queen of Scots – Elizabeth would busy herself with other matters for months on end. Only when the patience of her ministers was running short would she be forced to make up her mind. She had a formidable intellect, and her sharp tongue would quickly settle any argument – in her favour.[2] II,Early life Elizabeth was the only child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who did not bear a male heir and was executed less than three years after Elizabeth’s birth. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard.[5] She was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. When Elizabeth was two years and eight months old, her mother was executed on 19 May 1536.[8] Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of the title of princess[1] Source: Wikipedia Elizabeth is favorably contrasted to her half-blood sister, Mary I but she was lucky to live longer than her. Her early life was full of uncertainties, and her chances of succeeding to the throne seemed very slight once her half-brother Edward was born in 1537. She was then third in line behind her Roman Catholic half-sister, Princess Mary. Roman Catholics, indeed, always considered her illegitimate and she only narrowly escaped execution in the wake of a failed rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554. Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on her half-sister’s death in November 1558. She was very well-educated (fluent in six languages), and had inherited intelligence, determination and shrewdness from both parents. [3] III, Elizabeth’s Reign[2] Her 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. During it a secure Church of England was established. Its doctrines were laid down in the 39 Articles of 1563, a compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Elizabeth herself refused to ‘make windows into men’s souls †¦ there is only one Jesus Christ and all the rest is a dispute over trifles’; she asked for outward uniformity. Most of her subjects accepted the compromise as the basis of their faith, and her church settlement probably saved England from religious wars like those which France suffered in the second half of the 16th century. Although autocratic and capricious, Elizabeth had astute political judgement and chose her ministers well; these included Burghley (Secretary of State), Hatton (Lord Chancellor) and Walsingham (in charge of intelligence and also a Secretary of State). Overall, Elizabeth’s administration consisted of some 600 officials a dministering the great offices of state, and a similar number dealing with the Crown lands (which funded the administrative costs). Social and economic regulation and law and order remained in the hands of the sheriffs at local level, supported by unpaid justices of the peace. Elizabeth’s reign also saw many brave voyages of discovery, including those of Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert, particularly to the Americas. These expeditions prepared England for an age of colonisation and trade expansion, which Elizabeth herself recognised by establishing the East India Company in 1600. The arts flourished during Elizabeth’s reign. Country houses such as Longleat and Hardwick Hall were built, miniature painting reached its high point, theatres thrived – the Queen attended the first performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Composers such as William Byrd and Thomas Tallis worked in Elizabeth’s court and at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace. The image of Elizabeth’s reign is one of triumph and success. The Queen herself was often called ‘Gloriana’, ‘Good Queen Bess’ and ‘The Virgin Queen’. Investing in expensive clothes and jewellery (to look the part, like all contemporary sovereigns), she cultivated this image by touring the country in regional visits known as ‘progresses’, often riding on horseback rather than by carriage. Elizabeth made at least 25 progresses during her reign. However, Elizabeth’s reign was one of considerable danger and difficulty for many, with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France through Scotland. Much of northern England was in rebellion in 1569-70. A papal bull of 1570 specifically released Elizabeth’s subjects from their allegiance, and she passed harsh laws against Roman Catholics after plots against her life were discovered. One such plot involved Mary, Queen of Scots, who had fled to England i n 1568 after her second husband’s murder and her subsequent marriage to a man believed to have been involved in his murder. As a likely successor to Elizabeth, Mary spent 19 years as Elizabeth’s prisoner because Mary was the focus for rebellion and possible assassination plots, such as the Babington Plot of 1586. Mary was also a temptation for potential invaders such as Philip II. In a letter of 1586 to Mary, Elizabeth wrote, ‘You have planned †¦ to take my life and ruin my kingdom †¦ I never proceeded so harshly against you.’ Despite Elizabeth’s reluctance to take drastic action, on the insistence of Parliament and her advisers, Mary was tried, found guilty and executed in 1587. In 1588, aided by bad weather, the English navy scored a great victory over the Spanish invasion fleet of around 130 ships – the ‘Armada’. The Armada was intended to overthrow the Queen and re-establish Roman Catholicism by conquest, as Philip II believed he had a claim to the English throne through his marriage to Mary. During Elizabeth’s long reign, the nation also suffered from high prices and severe economic depression, especially in the countryside, during the 1590s. The war against Spain was not very successful after the Armada had been beaten and, together with other campaigns, it was very costly. Though she kept a tight rein on government expenditure, Elizabeth left large debts to her successor. Wars during Elizabeth’s reign are estimated to have cost over  £5 million (at the prices of the time) which Crown revenues could not match – in 1588, for example, Elizabeth’s total annual revenue amounted to some  £392,000. Despite the combination of financial strains and prolonged war after 1588, Parliament was not summoned more often. There were only 16 sittings of the Commons during Elizabeth’s reign, five of which were in the period 1588-1601. Although Elizabeth freely used her power to veto legislation, she avoided confrontation and did not attempt to define Parliament’s constitutional position and rights. Elizabeth chose never to marry. If she had chosen a foreign prince, he would have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as in her sister Mary’s marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow countryman could have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth used her marriage prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic policies.However, the ‘Virgin Queen’ was presented as a selfless woman who sacrificed personal happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was, in essence, ‘married’. †¨Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the so-called ‘Golden Speech’ of 1601 when she told MPs: ‘There is no jewel, be it of never so high a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.’ She seems to have been very popular with the vast majority of her subjects. III, Overall Overall, Elizabeth’s always shrewd and, when necessary, decisive leadership brought successes during a period of great danger both at home and abroad. She died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603, having become a legend in her lifetime. The date of her accession was a national holiday for two hundred years.[3] Elizabeth was a master of political science. She inherited her father’s supremacist view of the monarchy, but showed great wisdom by refusing to directly antagonize Parliament. She acquired undying devotion from her advisement council, who were constantly perplexed by her habit of waiting to the last minute to make decisions (this was not a deficiency in her makeup, but a tactic that she used to advantage). She used the various factions (instead of being used by them), playing one off another until the exhausted combatants came to her for resolution of their grievances. Few English monarchs enjoyed such political power, while still maintaining the devotion of the whole of English society.[2] Resources Information: [1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England#Marriage_question [2]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/elizabeth_i_01.shtml [3]:http://www.royal.gov.uk/historyofthemonarchy/kingsandqueensofengland/thetudors/elizabethi.aspx

Conjugating the French Verb Permettre (to Allow)