On the night of the feast of the Epiphany (January 6th) at the end of the Christmas season, in the year 1412 during the final waning period of the relative peace secured by the Truce pf Leulinghen, a baby was born to Jacques Darc and his wife Isabelle in the village of Domremy. She was christened Jehanne (“Joan”) after her godmothers Jehanne Royer and Jehanne de Viteau. Her childhood was spent among the forests and strawberry- covered fields of the Meuse River valley, far from the northern regions where the political situation was becoming increasingly troubled.
Against the problems that were occurring around them, members of the Darc family continued to farm their 50-some acres of land near the Meuse. According to the Domremy villagers whom later testified to Jehanne’s childhood upbringing, she was a dutiful child who helped her parents with the chore along with her other siblings: her three older brothers Jacquemin, Jean, and Pierre, and her little sister Catherine. She was deeply devoted to God and the Blessed Virgin. She also loved the ringing of the church bells.
In 1414 her father rented the nearby Chateau de I'll from a local aristocratic family to serve as a secure sanctuary for the villagers and their livestock. In 1420 when Jehanne was eight, the Treaty of Troyes granted Henry V eventual title to the kingdom of France and the hand of Catherine, daughter of King Charles. In 1422 Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other, leaving the infant Henry VI as the nominal King of France.
Around that time, perhaps in the summer of 1424, the young farm girl from Domremy said she began to experience visions. She would later explain: “I was in my thirteenth year when I heard a voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very much afraid. And this voice came, about the hour of noon, in the summer time, in my father’s garden...” A new chapter had begun for Jehanne and the various factions fighting for control of the Kingdom of France.
She believed that the voices came from God. She said the first of the voices were of Saint Michael. The voices told her two to three times a week that she must go away and that I must come to France; and my father knew nothing of my leaving.
On February 10, 1675, Mary Rowland was captured in Lancaster, Massachusetts. While being held captive, she narrated her experiences and tried to affirm her Puritan beliefs throughout her survival of being in captivity. She’d rather go with the “ravenous Beasts” than die because she wanted to “declare” of what was happening to her throughout her journey (70). Mary Rowlandson believed God was omniscient, forgiving, and omnipotent and it shaped her perception of the world in an affirmative way throughout all the chaos and suffering.
For a long while, Mary oscillated between good and bad days. One day in May 1771, Mary wrote "I mourn that I had no more communication with God " On a day in September she cried out, "H...
She kept screaming that she could see the fire, but nothing was there. It was almost as if she could foretell the gas chambers and crematoriums that awaited them. The others beat her to keep her quiet, thinking she had just lost her mind.... ... middle of paper ...
Much has been written about the historical life of Eleanor of Aquitane. Her life, Undoubtedly reads like legend, at least in part because it is. It is fairly safe to say that the world had never seen a woman like Eleanor of Aquitane, and it is doubtful that there has been a woman since who could rival her power, intelligence, beauty and sheer force of will.
The Brilliant Minds of Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol were, and still are, two of the most influential and perpetual artists of their perspective time periods. Da Vinci being from the late 15th century to the early 16th century, he combined aspects of form and idea but also the ideals of mathematics and complete realism like no other that has done before. Andy Warhol, of the 20th century, portrayed his paintings and photographs using his personality and uniqueness that gave off a certain vibrato that made people fall in love almost instantaneously. Da Vinci had a bizarre but wonderful obsession with the anatomy of individuals and used this addiction to drive his sculptures and paintings. Andy Warhol was
One of his creations was the flying machine. He loved the idea of people soaring like birds and wanted to make that dream a reality. The designs of the flying machine is clearly inspired by the wings of animals that could fly. Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine has a wingspan of over 33 feet. The frame of the machine was made out of pine that was covered in silk. A sleek and light design that also proved to be sturdy. The way the machine worked is the pilot would lie face down on the board and he would have pedal a crank that was connected to a rod-and-pulley system. There was also a hand crank that was available. This was used for additional energy and the steering was done with a head piece. The pilot was to work the crank with both his hands and feet at the same time. Doing so would cause the wings to flap. A unique feature was the wings were designed to twist when they flapped. This design was an inspiration from nature. Besides his flying machine, he also conceived the idea for a parachute. Although credit for the first parachute doesn't formally go to Leonardo da Vinci he did create the design for it a couple hundred years before it was actually invented. He made a sketch of the idea but he never actually built and tested it for himself. Many of his inventions were never truly built and tested. Leonardo wasn’t only engrossed with the sky,
Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian fiction, or a type of fiction in which the society’s attempt to create a perfect world goes very wrong, “Harrison Bergeron” was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1961. This story is about Harrison Bergeron, who is forced to diminish his abilities because they are more enhanced than everyone else’s. This short story is an allusion of a perfect society and it is maintained through totalitarian. The author expresses his theme of the dysfunctional government of utopia through his effective use of simile, irony, and symbolism. Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential American writers and novelists, and his writings have left a deep influence on the American Literature of the 20th century. Vonnegut is also famous for his humanist beliefs and was the honoree of the American Humanist Association. “Harrison Bergeron” is about a fictional time in the future where everyone is forced to wear handicapping devices to ensure that everyone is equal. So can true equality ever be achieved through strict governmental control?
In 1542, the Scottish throne went to Mary, Queen of Scots, a controversial monarch who would also become France's queen consort and claim the English crown.
Never would I thought that we have a dystopian-like society in our world. Don’t know what a dystopia is? It is a society set in the future, typically portrayed in movies and books in, which everything is unpleasant. The novel Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is a dystopian story of a fourteen-year-old boy named Harrison who grows up in a society that limits people’s individuality. When he is taken away from his parents, because of his strong idiosyncrasy, his parents do not even recall his presence because of the “mental handicaps” that the government forces onto them. Harrison eventually escapes from his imprisonment and tries to show others that they can get rid of the handicaps and be free. Though the government official, or Handicapper
Joan of Arc is perhaps one of the most well-known and influential women in Western history. Arthur Conan Doyle argued that “Next to the Christ the highest spiritual being of whom we have any exact record upon this earth is the girl Jeanne" (Denis 5). Her fearlessness and devotion to God has been praised by iconic figures such as Winston Churchill, Pope Benedict XVI and Mark Twain. Her accomplishments are immortalized in history books, art and pop culture. Unlike any other, Joan stands as a feminist leader and an inspiration to all Christians.
In the early stages of Catherine's life the surfacing modern age was bringing with it social turmoil which spread throughout Europe (Giordani 3). During Catherine's lifetime, according to Mary Ann Sullivan in her essay “St. Catherine of Siena,” the center of Catholic rule fluctuated between Rome and Avignon and contributed to a schism between popes in Italy and France (1). Catherine was born 23rd in a line of 25 children and, according to Sullivan “even at a young age, [she] sensed the troubled society around her and wanted to help” (1). While her parents were not exceptionally religious, St. Catherine's biographer Blessed Raymond of Capua discusses Catherine's early zeal for Catholic practices: “When she was about five she learned the Hail Mary, and repeated it over and over again as often as she could…she was inspired by heaven to address the Blessed Virgin in this way whenever she went up and down stairs, stopping to kneel on each step as she did so” (24). Her devotion to the Virgin Mary would become especially important in a vision she had around this time while walking with her brother to visit one of her sisters.
In the article “In Living Color Race and American Culture” Michael Omi expresses his attention on racism and how stereotypes have affected the way we
Although the comparisons are well hidden, both today’s society and the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ share similar qualities. They both deal with equality, which leads to problems and consequences. A second similarity is the struggle of competition and trying to prevent it from occurring, which also leads to problems. Lastly, both struggle with normality, and the fact that it’s hard to accept that different is okay now.
“The narrator of the story Harrison Bergeron definitions’ of America’s equality begins not by positing a future equality as much as exposing the misunderstanding of it in the past and the present” (Hattenhauer). The story Harrison Bergeron has two meanings: too much equality and too much inequality. Too much equality is expressed through the Handicap General, Diana Glampers, as she wants everyone to be equal because she envies the talented and beautiful. However, “it is not fair to the productive, the risk taking, or the hard working, to deprive them of what they have produced, merely to make them equal to others who have worked less, taken less risk, and produced less” (Moore). This society would never work because “no one who has lived very long can think that all men are equal in physical, prowess, mental capacity, willingness to work or save, to assume leadership, to design or invent new products or processes, to get votes, to preach sermons, to play the violin, or even to make love” (Even Fingerprints Differ). In any society one should not have the power to make people equal for each “were endowed by our creator” (Moore). In a society where there is too much inequality, or a potential dictatorship- Harrison Bergeron, society would fail as well. Kurt Vonnegut wrote Harrison Bergeron in order to show the world that we cannot take away talent or
Saint Catherine of Siena is the saint that I have chosen to be my saint. She was very interesting to me, and her story was very intriguing. She is the patron saint of fire prevention, bodily ills, sick people, miscarriages, nurses, and illness. She was canonized in 1461 by Pope Pius II. Her feast day is now celebrated on April 29.