In 2002, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Europe (OECD) detailed the growing gap between the incomes of the rich and poor in 20 OECD member states. In particular, the study concluded that the poorest 30 percent of the population in the countries examined received only 5 to 13 percent of the national income while the richest 30 percent of the population received 55 to 65 percent. The United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands demonstrated the biggest growths in social inequality (Henning 1). These numbers suggest some validity to Marx's claims of an uneven class structure inherent to industrial capitalism. However, the fact that a workers' revolution has not yet erupted in any significantly advanced capitalist country suggests a significant flaw in Marx and Engels' arguments in the Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The Communist Manifesto" in 1848 to serve as the announcement of the platform for their new

Introduction Throughout time, people have used folk tales, fairy tales, fantasy, myth, and other types stories to make sense of the world around them. For generations these tales were passed along orally, changed according to the imagination, memory, or teaching needs of the current storyteller. Eventually, many of these tales were catalogued, recorded, and written down, permanently setting down for all time the tales that have influenced children, and adults, for generations. As Datlow and Windling note, "fairy tales speak in a deceptively simple, [yet] richly archetypal language, [and] their symbols have proven to be [] potent" and are still being reused and retold by modern writers (Datlow and Windling 2). This paper will examine the fairytale, "Hansel and Gretel," a tale of two children abandoned in a wood who are able to make it home only after several terrifying experiences, discussing its history and how it has influenced the way characters are portrayed

Introduction The Laguna Pueblo are a Native American people that, according to Silko in Yellow Woman and a Beauty of Spirit, "embrace the whole of creation and the whole of history and time" (49). In this essay and in her novel Ceremony, we see that the Laguna are not only connected to nature but are part of it. The land and its creatures are their creation, their history, and their time. In her essay, Silko writes of this embodiment of the land within the identity of the Laguna: "Pueblos haveâ€always been able to stay with the land. Our stories cannot be separated from their geographical locations, from actual physical places on the land" (58). We most clearly see this connection to nature in the story of the protagonist of Ceremony, Tayo. Body In Ceremony we are treated to the homecoming of Tayo, who has been away fighting a war in a foreign place. His experiences have distanced him from emotion and from his heritage and connection with nature. Tayo's barren emotional state and his disconnection from self are mirrored by the drought-ridden land which greets his return. Before he can reconnect w

Norman Cantor (1999) has noted that the lives of medieval women were as diverse as those of men, and that women in this era contributed to all the major movements that spelled success for an emerging European civilization. Nevertheless, women in the Middle Ages were, regardless of their position, status or birth, regarded as legitimately inferior to men and as of necessity submissive to their fathers and husbands and brothers (Weir, 2000). Even in the case of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine - wife to two kinds and mother of two more - a misstep could result in imprisonment at the behest of a husband (Cantor, 1994; Kaufman, 2002). Other women such as St. Hildegard of Bingen, who chose the religious over the secular life, may have experienced a slightly greater degree of autonomy than even a queen such a Eleanor. In both cases, however, the privileged status of these two women ensured that they would live longer, healthier, and more productive lives (including lives of

Introduction Mythology is an integral part of the protagonist Tayo's journey in Ceremony. Although it is the Laguna people and their stories that form the backbone of the novel, the myths that Leslie Marmon Silko uses are archetypes found not only in Native American mythology, but in Judeo- Christian tradition as well as other cultures. The universality of these myths is the central theme to Ceremonyâ€"that by accepting these myths and his role within them, Tayo is able to find fulfillment. More importantly, Tayo has a relationship to his people that will be played out regardless of whether he is aware of it, and it is only in recognizing his role that he and his people come to a place of harmony. Two myths central to the story, the creation myth and the myth of the prodigal son, help propel Tayo to the point that balance in the Laguna community is restored. ANALYSIS Th

A common observation of current society demonstrates the link between art, music, drama, and literature and social norms, politics, scientific trends and discoveries, and religious and philosophical discussions. In some cases, it is difficult to discover whether it was, for example, the art that influenced philosophy, or philosophy that influenced the art. This phenomenon is not limited to the 21st Century, however, and has been observed by people throughout recorded history. This paper will discuss one part of that recorded history, the Baroque Age, and then show how the new scientific and philosophy of the Baroque Era impacted the art of Rembrandt Van Rijn, Wenceslaus Hollar, and Sebastien Leclerc. There has been some discussion as to where the term "baroque" first came from. One source claims it came from the Italian word "Barocco," which means bizarre.[i] Another source believes that the term was originally used to describe an imperfect pearl. The meaning then grew to encompass a

The 1836 battle for the Alamo has grown to mythic proportions, bolstered in posterity by those keen to liken the last stand of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis to the Spartan defense of Thermopylae two and a half millennia hence. Not a particularly shrewd or strategic military ploy, the defense of the Alamo was as much a miscalculation as it was a rebellious last stand. Nonetheless, the heroism and valor displayed by the small band of "Texians" during the siege on the Alamo remains today a source of pride for modern day Texans and Americans alike. Today, new accounts of the battle have surfaced, calling into question what have heretofore been regarded as incontrovertible historical facts. Also, Mexican-Americans have clamored for their place in the history books alongside Crockett, Bowie, Travis and company as opponents of the Mexican tyrant General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. As in all things throughout history, a true picture of the Alamo i

Introduction Choosing an architecture for computers is not a glamorous decision, but the choice can have long-term and significant ramifications for decision makers. For many, the choice is little more than Apple v. PC, although the issue of Linux v. Windows is gaining increased visibility. However, once the choice has been made to use a PC rather than an Apple, there are still several architecture choices that must be made. AMD and Intel are the two giants in this industry, offering the flagship Athlon and Pentium processors. Both companies also manufacture other processors, but these are the two powerhouse brands associated with each company. This research considers the Athlon XP and Pentium 4 processors and which processor is appropriate for today's business environment. Athlon XP Analysis The Athlon XP has slower clock speed than the Pentium 4, but because of its unique architecture, in

In his short story "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne weaves an allegorical tale of one man's awakening to the rampant evil that exists in the world. Indeed, Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to help tell the story of Brown's loss of innocence and his personal experience with pure evil. Through the use of symbols, the message of "Young Goodman Brown" becomes even more vivid for readers. This paper will examine Hawthorne's use of symbols within the story, and analyze how these symbols help convey Hawthorne's main theme.

It's always hard to remake a movie that has achieved classic status, as is the case with the 1950 movie DOA. But Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton's 1988 remake of the film breathes new life into it. The basic question that must be posed to the directors of any remake is: Why bother' Why not make an entirely new movie' The answer in the case of this film is that the directors have created a new movie out of an established story and have done so in large measure by using more modern camera techniques. The 1950 version of DOA, directed by Rudolph Mate and starring Edmond O'Brien and Pamela Britton, is a fairly classic of film noir. In part because the film was shot in black and white, but mostly because of the directorial decisions that Mate made, the film seems to take place in a world in which there is little light. This is less true of the 1988 version, and the basic choices that the director has made about how to light the actors and the scene very much determines the overall feel of the movies. Both movies tell the paradoxical story of a man who is DOA - dead on arrival - even though he

In her novel The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold asks us what responsibilities families have for each other and argues that the connections wrought by blood and love never end. She tells her story from the vantage of 14-year-old Susie Salmon, whose responsibilities to her family should have ended in 1973, when she was raped and murdered by her neighbor. But just as her family has not forgotte

Values/Clarification Giving back to the community is an important value to me. Volunteer work, for example, has provided me with valuable insight into the rewards of working not for pay, but specifically to help others. I also believe that there is considerable value to a job well done regardless of whether one is being paid with money or not. Work can be its own reward when the work is in a cause that is worthy, such as teaching someone to read at the local library, or even when doing work for which others are compensated. I also value honesty and integrity, and I do not appreciate that ways in which some businesses or professions seem to focus on the "bottom line" to the exclusion of "doing the right thing." I do not want to engage in office politics in order to get ahead in my career, nor do I want to work in a company or an industry that rewards that sort of behavior. I am old-fashioned in that I value a person's word

Soon after the end of the Revolutionary War -- if not before -- it became clear that the Articles of Confederation were not a workable arrangement. Wartime contingency measures might have papered over the most immediate problems, but with the coming of peace something more regular was needed. The defects of the Articles produced a host of disputes among states, which could not be resolved under its terms, and which times were serious enough to lead to militia skirmishing. More broadly, a fundamental issue had been left unresolved: Was the "United States" a nation in its own right, or a mere confederation of s

Introduction The mood and tone of My Last Duchess and the character of the narrator are immediately and concisely revealed in Browning's (1842) first line, "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive" (1-2). Kennedy (1982) claims that "Browning may have modeled his speaker after Alonzo, Duke of Ferrara" (295). In this poem, the speaker narrates an account of his former wife, the titular Duchess of the poem, who the speaker has murdered. While the opening line demonstrates the materialistic, controlling, and murderous nature of the narrator, Browning uses a variety of poetic devices from rhythm and imagery to allusion and symbolism to fully characterize the nature of his speaker. In the end, the poem is wholly ironic in that the speaker finds himself a maligned and abused man, when in actuality he is a remorseless, controlling, and materialistic murderer. Body The poem is in the form of a dramatic monologue, w

Fashions change in nearly everything - including the popular and medical opinions about alcoholism. A half-century ago, most people (including medical professionals as well as alcoholics themselves) believed that alcoholism was a question of free will: People became alcoholics because they chose to drink and did not have the moral (or emotional or psychological) ability to stop drinking. Over the past several decades, ideas about the root causes of alcoholism changed substantially as the pendulum swung from one extreme (i.e. alcoholism is a moral weakness) to the other (alcoholism is a disease caused by a genetic predisposition). In the past decade, the pendulum has begun swinging back slightly so that now most medical and social-work professionals view alcoholism as a learned behavior - although there is also although there is little doubt most alcoholics have some element of genetic predisposition for the condition. This paper explores the phenomenon of alcoholism

Consider the following claim: "Canada will become a more democratic country in the next 25 years". One might take exception to this claim, countering that Canada is not only a democratic country in 2004, but is a country whose democratic character is envied in most parts of the world. Conversely, within Canada, one does not need to dig too deeply in society to find people who are dissatisfied with the state of Canadian democracy. This dissatisfaction is not limited to embittered followers of the far right political parties who almost continually are unable to persuade a majority of Canadians to support their policies. Nor is this dissatisfaction limited to Quebec and French speaking communities in other provinces who their culture and values to be under threat from the onslaught of Anglo Canadian culture. In fact, pockets of serious political dissatisfaction exist across the country. Unfortunately (in the context of being able to pursue their objectives eff

Emperor Charles V was one of the most important ruling personalities in European history. The lottery of birth placed Charles at the center of a genealogical network that covered half Europe. His father, Philip, was Duke of Burgundy. His grandfather was Emperor Maximilian of Austria. His mother, Joanna, was daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, Spain's Catholic monarchs. The reign of Charles V coincides with the beginning of the Modern Age and is marked by the Renaissance, by the spread of printed material, the discovery of the Americas, and by the Reformation started by Martin Luther. Through his mother, he would inherit Spain and the bloodstained kingdom of Naples as well. Charles, archduke of Austria and King of Spain becomes Emperor Charles V, the most powerful ruler in Europe. As the King of Spain, Naples and Sicily, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ruler of Flanders, the Netherlands and large areas of Central and South America, the sun virtually never

Emperor Charles V was one of the most important ruling personalities in European history. The lottery of birth placed Charles at the center of a genealogical network that covered half Europe. His father, Philip, was Duke of Burgundy. His grandfather was Emperor Maximilian of Austria. His mother, Joanna, was daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand, Spain's Catholic monarchs. The reign of Charles V coincides with the beginning of the Modern Age and is marked by the Renaissance, by the spread of printed material, the discovery of the Americas, and by the Reformation started by Martin Luther. Through his mother, he would inherit Spain and the bloodstained kingdom of Naples as well. Charles, archduke of Austria and King of Spain becomes Emperor Charles V, the most powerful ruler in Europe. As the King of Spain, Naples and Sicily, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ruler of Flanders, the Netherlands and large areas of Central and South America, the sun virtually never

LANGUAGE IDENTIFICATION Ingrian, one of the languages of Russia, is an endangered language. When a language is classified as "endangered" it means that the language is in danger of extinction. Languages become extinct for a variety of reasons, but the most typical one is that it is no longer spoken by a majority of people in a culture or nation. Because of this its value is undermined, it is seldom taught to subsequent generations, and it eventually dies out with the few remaining individuals who can speak it. Ingrian is such a language. Ingrian is one of the smaller Finnic languages in the East Uralic family. CULTURE & HISTORY Ingria is located at the westernmost part of Russia, on the south beach of Finnish Gold of Baltic Sear, near Saint Petersburg (Agranat 2002). While a culture known as the Votes inhabited the region that is Ingria before Ingrians, with the arrival of the Ingrians in the sixteenth century. After the peace treaties of

There are a variety of themes and conflicts in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, and James' The American. In Chekhov's drama, we find conflicts of class, economics, and relationships. In Conrad's tale of Africa we are provided with the eternal conflicts between white and black, good and evil, and light and dark. In James' novel of an American traveling in Europe, we also see class and culture conflict, conflicts of economics, and relationship conflict. This analysis will explore the major characters in each of these works while focusing on a conflict that is central in each. A conclusion will focus on exploring one theme that is central to all three works, the notion that culturally imposed values generate conflict.

There is a strong tendency among American politicians and economists to attempt to deal with issues and problems in isolation. Politicians take this approach because they apparent have difficulty dealing with complexity. Economists take this approach so that they can factor troublesome variables out of their equations. One result of the approach of treating issues and problems in isolation is the development of solutions that are ineffective when they are implemented in the real world where isolation from other factors is no longer an option. The tendency to deal with the issue of international trade in isolation has led to policies that tend to make the situation worse rather than better. The United States government (it makes little difference which administration is in control of the White House) likes to play the role of the world's policeman (and it likes to be involved in all disputes). This role is very expensive, but the United States government

Nineteenth century thinking was characterized by the emergence of two revolutionary ideologies that influenced the course of human history for the succeeding centuries: Karl Marx's conflict theory and Sigmund Freud's method of psychoanalysis in psychology. Marx's analysis of the political economy of the capitalist system led to the development of the Socialist movement. Freud's psychoanalytical theory, meanwhile, emphasized the pursuit for self-knowledge and individuality as the key towards personal development. This paper gives focus on the life of Sigmund Freud, mainly because of his significant contribution towards establishing the kind of contemporary society prevalent in Western societiesâ€"that is, an individualist society, wherein the pursuit of self-knowledge led to social and personal (individual) progress. Born in the Czech Republic in 1856, Sigmund Freud had led the life of a true scientist and academician. Educated at Vienn

Thesis: Contrary to popular belief, it is Theseus and not Hippolytus who was the true tragic protagonist of Euripides' play. Theseus had the tragic flaw that puts him in the same category as other famous tragic heroes such as Brutus and King Lear.

When people discuss god/gods/divinity, it seems that the intent is always to show the supernatural beings as loving and watchful of humans. There seems to always be the desire to see divinity as the ultimate dispenser of justiceâ€"when humans are cruel, demanding, selfish, whatever, we can depend on divinity to set things right. However, based primarily on the two sources offered for this paper, one would have to take a very different view of divinity. Based on the texts used here, divinity, by whatever name, gender, cultural background, or number, seems, instead, capricious, illogical and dangerous to humankind in general. To begin with, there are the stories involved in the Old Testament readings. Besides the creation story that has been the source of controversy for many years now, there is the story of Cain and Able. It has never been clear to me, and this reading didn't help any, as to why God accepted Able's sacrifice and not Cain's.

Aligheiri Dante's "Inferno" is the first of three books in Dante's classical work "The Divine Comedy." The "Inferno" pursues Dante's journey through Hell on his path to discovering God. He begins at the bottom Hell in sin, and must fight his way to the top through a variety of adventures, where lovely Beatrice awaits him in Paradise. In modern times, Dante's work is still quite applicable, because there are many people who deserve to reside in Hell. Instead of nine circles, today there are three - High Hell, Middle Hell, and Deepest Hell. High Hell is reserved for those who have sinned, but not critically. The punishment in High Hell would be similar to Dante's labyrinth, but a great beast would not guard it. Howard Stern would guard it, and his continual and never-ending comments would be audible throughout the labyrinth. There is no exit from this labyrinth, and there is no moving between levels. Once you have reached Hell, and been assigned to your