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How literature is related to society
How literature is related to society
How literature is related to society
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France and England in A Tale of Two Cities - The French Revolution
Introduction
In the eighteen-fifties, Charles Dickens was concerned that social problems in England, particularly those relating to the condition of the poor, might provoke a mass reaction on the scale of the French Revolution. In a letter written in 1855, for example, he refers to the unrest of the time as follows:
I believe the discontent to be so much the worse for smouldering, instead of blazing openly, that it is extremely like the general mind of France before the breaking out of the first Revolution, and is in danger of being turned … into such a devil of a conflagration as never has been beheld since. (qtd. in I. Collins 42)
At the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Dickens once again expresses his concern. The novel opens in 1775, with a comparison of England and pre-revolutionary France. While drawing parallels between the two countries, Dickens also alludes to his own time: "the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only" (1; bk. 1, ch. 1). The rest of the chapter shows that Dickens regarded the condition to be an 'evil' one, since he depicts both countries as rife with poverty, injustice, and violence due to the irresponsibility of the ruling elite (1-3; bk. 1, ch. 1). As the novel unfolds, however, England becomes a safe haven for those escaping the violence perpetrated by the French Revolution. In this paper, I shall argue that A Tale of Two Cities reflects the popular confidence in the stability of England in the eighteen-fifties, despite Dickens's suggestions at the beginning. A Tale of Two Cities thus becomes a novel about the England and the English of Dickens's time. And yet, many people today would believe that the novel is essentially about the French Revolution, which brings me to my second point. If in the nineteenth century the novel served to affirm the stability of Britain, in this century it has been greatly influential in the formation of the popular image of the French Revolution, mainly thanks to film and television adaptations. The purpose of this paper is to look at the popular reception of the novel from the time of its first publication in 1859 to the nineteen-nineties.
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount of damage and danger all throughout the city, officials claimed that there was work being done to restore the city of New Orleans as a whole but many parts, and even the people, of the city were overlooked while areas of the city with higher economic value, and more tourist traffic, were prioritized along with those individuals.
The Excelsior Springs Fire Department is a municipal fire department that is organized to provide fire and emergency medical services for the preservation of life and property to the city of Excelsior Springs and also parts of the surrounding areas outside of the city limits. The duties of the fire department include fire suppression, advanced life support ambulances, hazardous materials mitigation, rescue, fire safety inspections, and public safety education among others. There are 41 total employees. There is the chief, one deputy chief, one administrative assistant, 3 assistant chiefs, 3 captains, 12 firefighter emt basics or firefighter paramedics, and 20 paid volunteers/ volunteers. The department consists of 3 pumpers, 1 quint, 3 ambulances, 2 brush trucks, and 2 chief vehicles.
...edical technology advancing the way it is and the ability to keep someone’s body alive after death has been declared than the definition of death needs to be changed accordingly. While there are upside o keeping the body alive, in the case of giving the fetus a chance to live, there are still too many downsides.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, leaving its signature of destruction form Louisiana all the way to Florida. The hardest hit area and the greatest catastrophe was in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. For many years the people of New Orleans had feared that one day a hurricane would drown their city with its storm surge. Katrina brought that nightmare storm surge and flooded the city. Yet the New Orleans levees system and flood control was the major cause of flooding, due to the inadequate repair and maintenance failure, incompletion of the levee system, and engineering designs based on outdated scientific data.
I think that Charles Dickens message was to inform the rich, rude people to change their views on people that were underprivileged because they are poor it doesn’t mean that they are not human beings you treat them the same way just the way you would like to be treated. In the Victorian times if you were rich you were rich if you were poor you were poor nobody cared for each other. Dickens message in the Victorian Era was extremely important as Dickens tried to help the unfortunate ones by trying to change rich people’s scrutiny on them so they might help them in life.
The French Revolution evokes many different emotions and controversial issues in that some believe it was worth the cost and some don't. There is no doubt that the French Revolution did have major significance in history. Not only did the French gain their independence, but an industrial revolution also took place. One of the main issues of the Revolution was it's human costs. Two writers, the first, Peter Kropotkin who was a Russian prince, and the other Simon Schama, a history professor, both had very opposing views on whether the wars fought by France during the Revolution were worth it's human costs. Krapotkin believed that the French Revolution was the main turning point for not only France but for most other countries as well. On the other hand, Schama viewed the French Revolution as unproductive and excessively violent.
The presence of war has been argued as one of the major contextual factors leading to rapid changes in media discourse. During periods of conflicts, the media are characterised by a heightened emphasis on a clear division between “us” – the goodies and “them” – the baddies (Bugarski 1997). In particular, a “polarising logic of war discourse” (Pankov, Mihelj and Bajt 2011, p. 1044) is deliberately formed by conflating various forms of nationalism and other discourses of identity, such as gender and age (ibid), with the intent to create binaries and contrast different entities involved in the war. In doing so, the media serve to sustain power in political systems, for they promote preferred social relations and values of the ruling political structure (Van Dijk 2006, p.15). The mediated representations of the political crisis in Crimea in 2014 have followed this pattern. In this case study, using critical discourse analysis, I shall examine the language and accompanying video of the article “'What If My son doesn’t Come Back at All': Crimean Mothers Wait for Their Sons Drafted in Ukraine”, which was published on Russia Today News’ website on 26th March 2014. I particularly pay attention to how these textual and visual elements transform people into nationalised and gendered subjects in a pro-Russian nationalist narrative so as to legitimise the ideology that the news serves.
During the late 18th century, both France and the British colonies in America experienced wars the opened the eyes of nations. The French Revolution and American Revolution drastically changed political thinking. In the French Revolution, monarchism was abandoned and political power was given to the people until the country became out of control, and a military dictatorship was necessary to regain control of France. In the American Revolution, a new nation was formed as the British colonies tore themselves away from the English monarchy. In the end, both France and the new United States of America moved away from absolute rule by a king or queen and wanted to put the political power in the hands of their people. However, there are many differences as well as similarities along the way to their political reformation.
Every year many natural disasters happen around the world. In New Orleans, and several other states, a devastating hurricane struck. High speed winds and major flooding caused many people to lose their homes and even their lives. Many people have heard of hurricane Katrina, but not everybody knows what caused it and the affect it had on the United States.
Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive natural disaster in the history of the United States of America, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August 2005, leaving behind an estimated damage worth $125 billion US, and a total death toll of over 1800(Graumann et al., 2006). The essay will discuss why Hurricane Katrina had such a devastating effect on New Orleans, the worst affected area, and the post-disaster recovery process.
History has not only been important in our lives today, but it has also impacted the classic literature that we read. Charles Dickens has used history as an element of success in many of his works. This has been one of the keys to achievement in his career. Even though it may seem like it, Phillip Allingham lets us know that A Tale of Two Cities is not a history of the French Revolution. This is because no actual people from the time appear in the book (Allingham). Dickens has many different reasons for using the component of history in his novel. John Forster, a historian, tells us that one of these reasons is to advance the plot and to strengthen our understanding of the novel (27). Charles Dickens understood these strategies and could use them to his advantage.
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is a story set in the year 1775 and through the turbulent time of the French Revolution. It is of people living in love and betrayal, murder and joy, peril and safety, hate and fondness, misery and happiness, gentle actions and ferocious crowds. The novel surrounds a drunken man, Sydney Carton, who performs a heroic deed for his beloved, Lucie Manette, while Monsieur and Madame Defarge, ruthless revolutionaries, seek revenge against the nobles of France. Research suggests that through Dickens’ portrayal of the revolutionaries and nobles of the war, he gives accurate insight to the era of the Revolution.
French Revolution, a major movement in the history of France is a subject of controversy for the historians because of the fact it took a different path than which it had started on. French revolution which began in 1789 was to establish a constitutional monarchy and end the inequality that was present in the contemporary France. But it however seemed to be derailed from that path and emerged as a radical movement that resulted in the dictatorship and brought an unexpected situation of terror and violence in the society. Here, in this essay we will discuss this transition and its possible reason and the consequences. If we look back into the revolutionary history of any nation or any great historical movement in the world we can see that revolution always results as the injustice, social disorder, weak government, lack of proper law and people’s capacity to tolerate such flaws comes to
Occurring in the late 1700’s in France, The French Revolution was a time of great emotion, ferocity, tribulation, and passion during which the peasants were treated completely unfairly by the egotistical and self-serving aristocratic class. Dickens captures this period beautifully in his brilliant and iconic novel, A Tale of Two Cities. Massive bloodshed brought on by the rebelling of the peasants against their oppressors dominated this era. People were not sure whether life was getting better or worse, but things were definitely changing all around. Dickens’ excellent uses of the metaphors of scarecrows and birds of fine song and feather, knitting, and noble prisoners in La Force greatly contribute to the theme of man’s inhumanity toward his fellow man.
Mundie, Craig. "Privacy Pragmatism: Focus on Data Use, Not Data Collection." Foreign Affairs Mar. 2014: n. pag. 5. Web.