Throughout this semester I have learned many ways of writing through two main essays literacy narrative and comparison and contrast. These two essays have taught me how to correctly fix my comma splices, thesis statements, and capitalization. I have engaged in numerous learning material during this summer class. Many times when I thought it would be hard to work on those three developments I never gave up. I gain more positive feedback from my teacher because he pointed out most of my mistakes I made on both literacy narrative and comparison and contrast essays to help me understand what is it that I need to work on. My development as a writer became stronger.
1. Men and women are both categorized as humans. The biological difference between these two sexes is of how they react. To understand further the concept of gender socialization and social construction helps shed some light on how the differences between men and women are learned. Gender socialization is the learning of how to act as a male or female (Lecture notes: Unit 6).
In both Washington Square, by Henry James, and Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, the theme of duty is present. They both deal with the correlation between one’s sense of duty and the freedom that characters secretly crave. In them, this duty is intertwined with family and marriage. They also both have endings in which the main characters follow their duty and ultimately reject the freedom they once sought. Catherine rejects Morris at the end of Washington Square, even after Dr. Sloper is no longer alive to oppose their marriage. Newland Archer rejects Madame Olenska in the ending of The Age of Innocence; he is still committed to the memory of his deceased wife. Where these two novels differ are the motivations that characters have for following their duties. Catherine is motivated by the acceptance of her father, where Newland is motivated by his social class duties.
Preemptive war can be defined as an attempted attack to defeat, or repel, an attack and to gain a strategic advantage on an incoming war before the war even begins. Few people see it as effective, but countless others see this type of war as contradicting. In 2002, the George W. Bush administration passed a new national security strategy in which preemptive war tactics would be used against other nations that intended to bring threat to the United States. Although the doctrine was initially considered to be of precautionary measure, past experiences and the underlining intentions of the plan seem to argue otherwise.
Victor Frankl poses many questions in his book The Meaning of Man, mostly regarding man's ability to make choices regardless of their situation. Throughout the semester, the class has explored many different texts focusing on individuals who are placed within a set of circumstances, which forces these individuals to face difficult situations. In the autobiographical narrative Twelve Years A Slave, the protagonist and author Solomon Northup is kidnapped and sold into slavery. He faces multiple pressures within his situation. Psychologically, he is traumatized by multiple beatings. He is both successful and unsuccessful in overcoming his hardships. He suffers through bouts of depression, but ultimately, he never gives up hope. He also practices his ability and inability to make choices regarding his situation. The same applies the social pressure of compliance and the ultimate historical pressure regarding the institution of slavery. Another set of literature covered in class is Art Speigleman's Maus I and Maus II, which is a biography about his father Vladek Spiegleman. Vladek suffers trauma on a psychological level. Similar to Solomon, he is socially pressured to comply and suffers through the historical pressures caused by the Holocaust. Although both men lived in two very different times and endured two historical events. They faced different pressures, different choices and different situations. They experienced varying levels of success. Often times their ability to exercise the freedom of choice was small, but ultimately they were able to make their own experience better or worse.
Sociology, the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society, is highly applicable to our everyday lives, considering we are all members of a grand society and, furthermore, smaller microcosms that represent this large idea of human connection. Since completing this class, I have begun to view certain topics and social groups in a new light. In particular, this course has developed my understanding of different categories of culture, sanctions of norms, and countercultures.
African Americans were faced with discrimination and hatred from opposing races for numerous decades prior to the 1950’s and 1960’s. Their ethnicity played the biggest role in their lack of rights. They were treated as if they were plagued with a disease that a significant number of individuals, predominately Caucasians, felt they could catch just by eating in the same restaurant or sharing water fountains. Segregation hindered the routines of African Americans and infringed on their civil rights. Organizations such as the NAACP that took the plight of African Americans through outspoken objection to discrimination, in addition to other brave individuals as well as the SCLC and SNCC, that used boycotts and sit-ins, along with protests to charismatically grab the attention of the nation in order to shed light on the increasing issue of mistreatment of African Americans. There was a dramatic increase in the protest against shrewdness and segregation during this time period; often known as the “protest era.”
Final Exam Essay
Does everyone have the same chance to recover from the hardships in their life? Everyone has the same chance to do everything, it just depends on your amount of self-determination. Some people may be born in a better home, but could end up living a life of using drugs, whereas, another person could be born with drug addicted parents and end up living in New York City in a penthouse. The first one ended up living a life of using drugs because they had no self- determination and did nothing with their life. Whereas, the other person saw the life that is possible for them to live and chose to get an education and live a better life.
I have been sent back to the 1870s from the year 2014 to inform you about what I believe are the two most fundamental areas of change that will occur in the next 140 years. I personally believe that the changes in society and technology are the most important areas of change that will occur because things are so drastically different that I don’t think anyone could have anticipated such change. The fact that I, a Mexican American female, am able to address you shows just how much change has occurred.
The 1960s was a period well remembered for all the civil rights movements that occurred during that time frame and the impact these movements had on the social and political dynamics of the United States. The three largest movements that were striving in the 1960s were the African American civil rights movement, the New Left movement and the feminist movement. These three movements were in a lot of ways influenced by each other and were very similar in terms of their goals and strategies. However, within each of these movements there were divisions in the way they tried to approach the issues they were fighting against. Looking at each of these movements individually will reveal the relationship they all share as well as the changes that were brought forth as a result of each groups actions.