To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She is the youngest of four children, which is why she says she has a knack for writing. She devoted her life to writing and even gave up other jobs that she loved like working for the airline company and going to college. Her first attempt at writing “To Kill a Mocking Bird” was declined by every publisher, because she only wrote a series of short stories. Upon revising the book, she made it into one of the best selling novels around. She was even congratulated by those publishers that said she would never be able to write books well enough. That was all the motivation that she needed.
Harper Lee’s purpose for writing this book was to show her audience moral values, the difference of right versus wrong. She does this very effectively by making Scout, the main girl in the story, and Jem, her brother, seemingly innocent, because they have not seen evil this early in their lives. The evil comes later when Mr. Ewell attempts to kill both Jem and Scout. Once the two children see and experience this evil, it changes their lives forever. They begin to see how the world can be different from their views.
The morals for Scout and Jem to live by come from their father, Atticus Finch. He has experienced evils in his life, like the death of his wife, but he never lost faith in the good of people. He taught Scout and Jem right from wrong when they were young, because their mother was no longer around to teach them. Atticus understands that people have good and bad inside of them, but he feels that the good side can always overcome the bad side. This is true when he backed Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mr. Ewell’s daughter. Even though no one else helped Atticus out, he never gave up on Tom Robinson no matter how hard things got.
Another important theme that this book stresses is how prejudice and ignorance is viewed by the innocent. For Scout, the thought of Boo Radley, the seemingly ignorant person who lived down the road, was changed throughout the story drastically.
Throughout the novel, Atticus’ assistance to Jem and Scout’s development becomes evident. Atticus takes every opportunity to attempt to teach his children the importance of having an open-mind. For instance, when Scout queries Atticus about Maycomb’s prejudice perspective, he tells her, “You never really understand a person until…you climb in their skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 30) Even during the early stages of the novel, it is apparent that Atticus endeavors to instill the values of empathy and tolerance within Jem and Scout by teaching them how to have multiple perspectives on a situation. In addition, Atticus also attempts to enlighten his children about peaceful resolution in society. For example, when Atticus is chosen to defend Tom Robinson, Atticus tells Scout, you might hear some ugly talk about it at school but…you just hold your head high and keep those fists down.”...
Many ponder the idea of federal taxes and whether the wealthy deserve to pay a higher percentage rate of their overall income. That is, they argue that because our society needs more equality and a lower national budget deficit, taxes on the rich must be raised. This specific topic has been discussed for decades, and due to the severely different perspectives, it is unclear whether the two sides will ever come to an agreement. President Barack Obama and much of the Democratic Party strongly lean towards raising taxes on the rich, while the conservatives and the Republican Party heavily lean towards a more balanced flat tax. However, after extensive research and focus on what would be best for the equality of individuals, the nation and its economy, this paper will firmly prove that the top one percent should not be taxed any more than they are today.
One person may see that the increase taxation on the poor and the decrease taxes on the wealthy is not an issue because the wealthy pay a lot of taxes already. However, many people don’t realize the fact that, yes, the wealthy are paying a lot of taxes because they make more money, but they can afford to pay more. Recently, in a CNN article, more than forty millionaires want their taxes to increase, which proves the fact that the wealthy have plenty of money to give back to the community. In addition, their just going to keep getting wealthier and wealthier by the
Martucci, W. C., & Shankland, R. J. (2012). New laws prohibiting employers from requiring employees to provide access to social-networking sites. Employment Relations Today (Wiley), 39(2), 79-85. doi:10.1002/ert.21368
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee seems like a complete replica of the lives of people living in a small Southern U.S. town. The themes expressed in this novel are as relevant today as when this novel was written, and also the most significant literary devices used by Lee. The novel brings forward many important themes, such as the importance of education, recognition of inner courage, and the misfortunes of prejudice. This novel was written in the 1930s. This was the period of the “Great Depression” when it was very common to see people without jobs, homes and food. In those days, the rivalry between the whites and the blacks deepened even more due to the competition for the few available jobs. A very famous court case at that time was the Scottsboro trials. These trials were based on the accusation against nine black men for raping two white women. These trials began on March 25, 1931. The Scottsboro trials were very similar to Tom Robinson’s trial. The similarities include the time factor and also the fact that in both cases, white women accused black men.
Scout learned a number of things in the book, but most of them all refer back to a statement that Atticus and Calpurnia said, which goes, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because all they do is sing their hearts our for us.” (Lee, pg. 90). Scout learned that about people, too. She learned that some people don’t do anything to you, so it would be a sin to do something mean in return. Over the course of the story Scout becomes more mature and learns the most important facts of life. She was living through a very difficult time and most of that helped her get through.
Atticus is a great leader of his family, teaching his children morals and life lessons. He makes them better people by showing them how to deal with the trial and people making fun of them. Atticus teaches Scout how to respect other people. First, Scout learns to respect Atticus, then to respect "Boo" Radley, and finally to respect a whole race of people, negroes. He makes it a common practice to live his life as he would like his children to live theirs, and thus displays the attributes of an honest, respectable, and kind man. Throughout the trial process, Atticus shows Jem and Scout that true courage is standing up for what you believe in and that all human beings, despite their race, deserve respect. "You never really understand a person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." This quote shows that Atticus wants his children to get along with people, and so other people will respect them for whom they are.
“Saussure defined a sign as being composed of a signifier and a signified. The sign is the whole that results from association of the signifier with the signified. The relationship between the signified and signifier is signification. The signifier is now commonly interpreted as the material or physical form of the sign, it is something which can be seen, heard, touched, smelt or tasted. Both the signifier and the signified were purely psychological.” (Saussure,
Brice,Fifer,S & Naron,G(2012)Social Media in the Workplace.The NLRB Speaks:Intellectual Property & Technology law Journal ,24(10),13-17)
Social media has immensely evolved in how many companies and employers do business in recent years. It has helped many companies grow and expand by usage of social media by mass and instant communication and advertising through this technology. Like anything, there is a side effect. The social media "downfall” is the subject of employees bashing their employer's reputation in regards of employee’s communication via social media about their employers. With such controversy, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has had to step in to distinguish what is considered lawful of unlawful termination due to these actions by employees and their employers. The question to ask if such an issue should arise is to determine if it is concerted activity or not. This will help the NLRB determine if proper disciplinary procedures have been taken.
For example, if an organization wants to build a Shared Vision for a project, it cannot be done without Team learning (conversations). This will begin by incorporating Systems Thinking to understand issues within the team. To top everything off, the team will need to understand assumptions and analyze whether the project is going to be worth it (Mental Models).
Throughout Dune there is a clear emphasis on the power of religion in society. Frank Herbert explores just how prominent religion is when it comes to control again and again in this book with the idea of prophecy and messianic suggestion. The main character, Paul, is often looked upon as some sort of supernatural human being and is in turn glorified and protected. After having been crowned the messiah of multiple prophecies Paul becomes referred to as Muad’Dib, which means “mouse”. Herbert uses this name to exemplify Paul as resilient and admirable; however, the more he is picked apart, the more deceit and trickery is revealed. Paul is no more a messiah than he is an honest man.
There are some arguments, having a faint measure of plausibility, that have served politicians, charlatans and assorted do-gooders for well for over a century in their quest for control. One of those arguments is: capitalism primarily benefits the rich and not the common man. That vision prompts declarations such as: Congressman Richard Gephart's assertion that high income earners are "winners" in "the lottery of life." Then there's, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, who says high income earners the "fortunate fifth." These nonsensical visions lead to calls for those who've been "blessed" to "give back" either voluntarily or coercively through the tax code.
In today’s society, during an era of technology, social media networking has opened many outlets for connecting with others over the Internet. Having social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have great benefits, but social media also can harm someone in many ways. Many employers have started using social media as a source of background information during the process of hiring possible candidates for positions offered. The decision to use social media is very resourceful in the hiring process, yet it is not a reliable source because it invades an employee's personal life, causes discrimination against potential employees, and does not represent a candidate well.
Peirce’s idea of semiotic is a statement of signification, representation, reference and meaning. As the most influential and logical theory in semiotic analysis history, Peirce’s views of semiotic are compatible with Saussure’s theory.