It was the Spring of 1891 that the old prospector awoke to the terrifying sounds of rushing water. Close, much too close, he thought as he sat up quickly, barely realising that he was soaked through and through and trying to wake up. He could not believe what he was seeing! He threw up a fist in each eye socket, a futile an attempt to clear the sleep from his crusty old eyes so he could get a second look, secretly hoping the next time he opened his them, things would make sense.
He slowly drew his fists away from his face, his eyes squeezed shut, hoping it was a bad nightmare, and knowing it wasn't. Finally he popped open his eyes only to discover, everything inside his dusty little shack was afloat and the water was deeper now than before!
He imagined what he looked like, up on top of his bed all crouched over and drenching wet, his nightshirt clinging to him, wild eyed, mouth hanging open.
He flashed back Twenty years, to the day he had homesteaded himself a hundred and sixty acres of property on the outskirts of Phoenix.
His property bordered the bank of the Salt river on one side. He had asked the man who's homestead bordered his own, how often it flooded and the rugged old man had looked him straight in the eye and said,
“Hell gonna freeze or' in Arizon-i-a before any water move down that dead ole' creek, I ain' neer seen it a flowin' mor'an a trickle, an I done lived here pret'neer
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...is way up the crumbling embankment where he landed.
He turned his head to look back at the old tree and felt a pang of sadness for the ancient salt cedar as he watched it being carried away, its old roots spreading high up, out of the water, like an old withered hand, spread out to say goodbye. The old man bid his farewell to the ancient salt cedar and then found himself thrusting his body up and over the top of the embankment, landing face down. He quickly rolled away from the edge of the embankment and stopped on his back, his old chest heaving for lack of oxygen. His breath was coming in tiny gags and gasps and his face was red and swollen. His heart was pounding so hard he thought maybe he wouldn't survive after all.
He laid there trying to catch his breath and hoping he'd be able get up so he could head towards where help would be.
John M. Barry's Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, takes us back 70 years to a society that most of us would hardly recognize.
The South Fork Dam collapsed and unleashed 20 million tons of water from its reservoir. A wall of water, reaching up to 70 feet high, swept 14 miles down the Little Conemaugh River Valley, carrying away steel mills, houses, livestock and people. At 4:07 p.m., the floodwaters rushed into the industrial city of Johnstown, crushing houses and downtown businesses in a whirlpool that lasted 10 minutes. (New York Times, 1889).
Politics create a perception that illegal immigrants are all horrid human beings and deserve to be deported back to Mexico. There are a number of Mexicans who look to cross the border to the United States because they are in trouble and they must do whatever they can in order to survive. Regardless of this, citizens of the United States immediately ask for the heads of illegal immigrants and jump to conclusions that these people are crude and selfish although they are just trying to support their families. Luis Alberto Urrea tackles this problem regarding Mexicans attempting to cross the border in his book, The Devil 's Highway: A True Story. Urrea retells the story of the Yuma 14, also known as the Welton 26, and their attempt to cross the
But nearly as soon as Marion's dreams of sailing became reality, the reality became a nightmare. On the voyage home, a whale rammed the schooner, ripping the seams and sending water into the hold. Before the schooner went down, the captain, al...
Devil in the Grove is a non-fictional book written by Gilbert King. Kings takes an outside, as well as, unbiased perspective on Thurgood Marshall’s life and the story of the Groveland boys. King’s unbiased view caters to the story well, because it doesn’t cause him to bring much emotion from himself into the story, which can be problem from writers especially in a dispiriting story such as this one. The style of this work is uniform throughout. However, the selection of details jumps around a lot. Although they play a key part in developing the story it does take a couple chapters to actually get into the Groveland Boys. In the beginning, he writes a lot about Marshall and establishes his career well. One man called him the, “Founding Father
Catastrophe strikes in Gettysburg are both Union and Confederate soldiers alike are slaughtered by the thousands. Seven soldiers lie dead at the infamous Devil’s Den after the battle of Gettysburg, with their Springfield rifles and hats lying next to their contorted and lifeless bodies. These men came from all across the nation to fight in the Battle of Gettysburg; New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Georgia. Taking control of Devil’s Den during the second day of the battle, July 2nd became a priority for both sides, as its boulders give an excellent position to sharpshooters looking to take out officers over long distance. The cover provided by the large boulders also resulted in close quarter combat, brutal up close bayonet and hand to hand
The great debate whether Satan is the hero of Milton’s Epic Poem, Paradise Lost, has been speculated for hundreds of years. Milton, a writer devoted to theology and the appraisal of God, may not have intended for his portrayal of Satan to be marked as heroic. Yet, this argument is valid and shares just how remarkable the study of literature can be. Milton wrote his tale of the fall of man in the 1674. His masterpiece is an example of how ideas of a society change with time. This is because it wasn’t until the 1800’s during the Romantic era, that people no longer saw the hero of literary works as perfect in every way. It started to become more popular to develop the flawed character similar to the ones written in the classics. A literary criterion that is based on a protagonist, who undergoes conflict on the outside and from within and is prevented by a specific flaw to accomplish their main goal, creates an epic Hero. In Paradise Lost, God does not face conflict because he is perfect and all-knowing, and Adam’s conflict is not presented from the very start, Satan’s is. Because Satan is the main character of the work and possesses qualities that would deem him heroic, such as his determination against tough odds, his ability to lead, and his human-like nature to error, he can be seen has the Hero of the famous poem.
While I read Dante’s Inferno, I caught myself reading an underlying message. It wasn’t about the Christian faith, or the soul’s road to salvation. It was Dante’s own political views. While the book may have been written for the religious message, I believe that Dante added his take on politics as well. I believe Dante uses religious principles to punish his political opponents.
In her story “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson attacks social conformity and cultural mindlessness. Even though stoning someone to death is incredibly inhumane, the townsfolk still carry on tradition in fear of what might happen if the lottery was abolished. Also, the one person who rises against the lottery, Mrs. Hutchinson, ends up being the one who gets the “honor” of winning the lottery, which indirectly shows that those who cry out against conformity get punished, proving that maybe conformity is the only chance people have at survival and safety.
In Paradise Lost by John Milton, Satan is depicted as a malicious and deceiving character who is fueled by his own ambitions to overthrow God. His role and appearance in Paradise Lost is conveyed through his envious behavior, his foolish attempts to battle God, and his cunning deceptions. Satan’s manipulative and malignant personality is also demonstrated in various verses of Scripture and CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters by demonstrating his spiteful behavior and self-deluded lies.
The essay written by Elaine Pagels, "The Social History of Satan," illustrates the transformation of Satan from his depiction in the Hebrew Bible to the Gospel's vision of him as a Prince of Darkness who brings about the struggle between good and evil. In her essay, Pagel illustrates the concept of an evil entity and its functions.
The first thing to see, looking away over the water, was a kind of dull line - that was the woods on t'other side; you couldn't make nothing else out; then a pale place in the sky; then more paleness spreading around; then the river softened up away off, and warn't black any more, but gray; you could see little dark spots drifting along ever so far away-trading-scows, and such things; and long black streaks-rafts ... and by and by you could see a streak on the water which you know by the look of the streak that there's a snag there in a swift current which breaks on it and makes that streak look that way; and you see the mist curl up off of the water, and the east reddens up.
Hero can be distinct as an individual who is accepted or idealized for bravery, exceptional accomplishment, or dignified traits. On the other hand, Satan is known as the leader of all wickedness. With these descriptions in mind, one can determine that John Milton’s character, Satan, in Paradise Lost, is in fact the epic’s hero. Although non-traditional, one can determine that Satan is the epic hero because of textual evidence found in all twelve books of Paradise Lost. The implications implied throughout the twelve books of Paradise Lost entail Satan as the hero because of the information Milton provides to the reader about Satan’s actions and results thereof.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a time of hysteria, stress, and destruction. These dreadful trials took place in Massachusetts (“A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials”). During these trials, more than two hundred people were accused of being witches; 24 of them were executed (“A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials”). All of these innocent people were falsely accused. However, it is not possible to fully blame the girls who initiated it, because they most likely had Ergot of Rye which occurs as a plant disease, affects the girls, and caused this incident.
Another cause of this conflict is the fact that Baker forgot about the position that Rennalls father occupied and acted as a foreign that only tries to prove that Barracanians are inferior.