Book Report on A Tale of Two Cities :: essays papers

Book Report on A Tale of Two Cities My favorite scene in A Tale of Two Cities is one of the last scenes, when Sydney Carton is about to go to the guillotine. It takes place in Paris, near a prison, and many people have gathered to watch french aristocrats be beheaded. The atmosphere is tense and chaotic; Sydney, however, remains calm, even though he is about to be killed. Sydney is holding the hand of a young girl who is given no name other than a "poor little seamstress". Sydney and the seamstress, who are both being wrongfully killed, comfort each other just before they reach the guillotine, and they seem to have an instant romantic connection with each other. I loved this scene because it showed that Sydney Carton had finally found someone who could love him, as he could love them, but it saddened me that he had found her just before their deaths. Another scene I particularly enjoyed was the scene in which a large cask of wine had dropped and broken in the street. Because many people had very little to eat or drink, a large crowd gathered around the dirty puddle and began drinking what they could of the spilled wine. This scene was very descriptive, explaining how the people tried to scoop up the wine in their hands, and how they soaked it up with handkerchiefs from women's heads and squeezed the wine into infants' mouths. Other people licked the stones in the street or sucked on the pieces of wood from the cask. This passage showed how unfortunate many of the people were, without actually saying that they were just poor. Specific words and phrases were used to effectively paint a vivid picture of the scene. One of the most important scenes in this novel was the scene in which Dr. Manette is at the house of the Evremondes', tending to a psychotic young peasant girl. The two Evremonde brothers convince Dr. Manette to come with them, to see someone who they believe needs help. When he arrives at their spacious house, he immediately hears piercing screams, coming from upstairs. He is taken to the room, to see a girl, about 20 years old, who is tied down to a bed, shrieking loudly, and thrashing around. The doctor gives her medication, seemingly to no avail. Meanwhile, the "elder" brother takes him to another patient, the girl's brother, who has a fatal wound in his chest.

Essay on “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” Essay

Leon Botstein’s â€Å"Let Teenagers Try Adulthood† talks about how high schools are obsolete and why they should be abolished. He feels that schools are run like a popularity contest and that high school is a waste of time. Botstein goes on to say that how well a school does in teams sports is how well the community will support that school. He also believes that high schools should be abolished since children don’t learn anything and the rules they play by in school are not the same rules of life. Botstein also thinks that since teenagers are maturing at earlier ages that they should be allowed to make adult decisions at earlier ages as will. According to Botstein, junior high schools should be removed and replaced with a K-10 school and the graduation age of 18 should be dropped to 16. Botstein states â€Å"At 16, young Americans are prepared to be taken seriously and to develop the motivations and interests that will serve them well in adult life.† (Bot stein, 2007)Leon Botstein made some good points as to why high schools should be abolished, but getting rid of high schools is not the answer. He neglects to say that high schools are there to help teenagers develop the skills they need to succeed in life. The American high school needs to make a couple of changes to be more effective in helping teenagers develop the skills to succeed in life. The school system should try to implement a little more diversity in the school. Like Botstein said â€Å"they need to enter a world where they are not in a lunchroom with only their peers.† (Botstein, 2007)Schools should make it a graduation requirement that all students take a class on leadership and how to handle work when they are under pressure. These types of classes will help prepare them for situations they will encounter in life. It is important that we prepare these teenagers for leadership roles. Although some might say that these skills are learned through the work force it is better to prepare them for the future rather than let them fail. Another skill that teenagers will need in life that is developed in high school is  their communication skills. In high school all teenagers do is communicate with each other. Even though Botstein does not believe that missing this social interaction would matter, it really does. In life everyone needs some sort of social interaction. When someone applies for a job they need to be able to talk to the employer, they need to be able to communicate instructions to others. These communication skills are all learned while students and teenagers are in high school. If high schools are removed from our society, many people will not be learning important skills and they will not be able to have a successful life. If two years of high school is cut think of the impact it would have on society. We would be sending teenagers out into the world who are not ready for it. The classes that are taken in junior high and high school are important to everyone. While in junior high and high school the students are learning how to fine tune their skills they need to be able to go out into the world and succeed. Without these schools students would not develop the skill they need to be able to make deadlines, how to use their time wisely to be more efficient. Sure these things can be learned in the workforce, but wouldn’t you wa nt to hire someone who was already prepared instead of spending the extra money to train them. When Botstein talks about the problem with the high school system is the poor quality of recruitment and training for high school teacher he is absolutely correct. He fails to talk about why it is this way. As Americans we don’t put enough money into our education system. The money that we spend on professional athletes could be used to better prepare our teachers. Some teachers feel that they shouldn’t work hard because they are not getting paid enough to do their job correctly. You find better quality teachers in colleges because the pay is better. College professors are getting paid between 20,000 – 40,000 more than high school teachers. We as Americans need to re-evaluate our budget and put more money into our school system so that we can get the kind of teachers we know out teenagers really deserve. Botstein states that â€Å" adults should face that fact that they don’t like adolescents and that they have used high school to isolate the pubescent an d hormonally active adolescent away from both the picture-book idealized innocence of childhood and the more accountable would of adulthood.† (Botstein, 2007) That is definitely not the case; we might dislike some adolescents but not all. There are some adults who do not know how to handle  the changes that these adolescents are going throw, but isolating them is not the answer. We as adults need to find a way to educate these adolescents as well as their parents about these changes and how to deal with them. If we can find a way to implement this in the high school program than abolishing high school wouldn’t be an option to fixing the problem. We as Americans need to stop thinking about a quick solution to a problem and starting thinking about long term solutions that will actually work. If we decide to remove high school from our society and allow adolescents to graduate at the age of 16 instead of 18 we will be destroying our society. Sure adolescents mature at an early age, but do you really think they are ready to make adult decisions at the age of 16. At that age their bodies are still going through changes and they are still learning how to become an adult. They last two years of high school are important and it helps teenagers to prepare for what is in stored for them. Maybe one day we would be ready to have teenagers graduate early, but there are still too many problems in our school system to have that happen. We need to focus on fixing the problem within our education system instead of getting rid of high schools. High school is there to fine tune the necessary skills we need to succeed in life without them most people would not be where they are today. Although Botstein made some good points about high school and the way our society deals with teenagers, we need to put all of our energy in changing the high school system instead of just abolishing it. Reference Botstein, L. (2007). Let Teenagers Try Adulthood. In B. Spatt, Writing from Sources (pp. 175-177). Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s.

Power of Success - 1652 Words

Power of Success The unflinching conflict of obtaining success is eloquently portrayed throughout Arthur Millers â€Å"Death of a Salesman†. In this modern tragedy, Miller successfully depicts the human condition in midst of denying failure. The play unfolds around a washed- up salesman named Willy Loman, whose obsession with reaching concrete evidence of success, creates unfortunate repercussions on his family, and himself. Willys conviction that a man must not only be like, but he must be well liked (Miller, 1250), along with his uninterrupted focus on prominence, reflects on his two sons, Biff and Happy, as he infuses them with values of social status as well as future success. Willy’s sense of self value depends on the response of†¦show more content†¦The constant lack of ability in doing so causes Willy to search and establish the idea of successful characters in in his sons, Happy and Biff. Growing up, Biff was directed by Willy’s and his society’s measure o f a person, which caused a differentiation of his character that eventually led him to consecutive trips back home to search for his identity. As a young boy, Biff held a high admiration for his father, and trusted in his guidance. Influenced by Willy’s prominent business trips, and his fabricated ideology of social status, Biff is convinced that being â€Å"great† will grant him certain allowances that could not be bestowed upon those who receive less fervent popular esteem (Jacobson, 51). This leads Biff to develop a fragile sense of identity, one that is built on vague perceptions of success. After Biff fails math and jeopardizes his football scholarship, his character is shattered, causing him to run towards his main guide – his father. Biff then finds Willy cheating on his mother with another woman. He now realizes that everything he has ever valued and idolized has been a fiction, and his already fragile sense of identity is lost. After he runs toward the outdoor life out west- a life that reflects his own desires and needs (Ribkoff, 51), he repeatedly returns home, experiencing a constant sense of inadequacy and inferiority in the open world. However gratifying his life of simple physicality on ranches in the west, he hasShow MoreRelatedKnowledge is Power for Success Essay574 Words   |  3 Pagesthis world. This was drilled in most if not all students’ head throughout their school days. The pressure to be successful will drive most to pursue a college degree. Some students attend college for the love of learning and others for the desire of success. In the essay â€Å"What is College For?† Gary Gutting states, â€Å"Our support for higher education makes sense only if we regard this intellectual culture as essential to our society†. If we don’t consider learning and knowledge as a necessity pursing aRead MoreKnowledge Is Power, It Is The Essential Key To Success1587 Words   |  7 PagesKnowledge is p ower, it is the essential key to success and survival, one must strive to make the best out of life or at least that’s what I’ve been told. Knowledge enriches the mind, thereby empower anyone who utilizes it. The human mind holds to key to the breaking and building of an individual. The idea of superiority creates the desire for control and until we understand our mind, we might just end up repeating past failures. The history of African-American journey from ancient times in AfricanRead MoreSouth Park s Success And Power1804 Words   |  8 PagesThesis: South Park’s success and power is due to the rich satire, parody, and mockery that it uses to take aim at contemporary culture and values. South Park’s Satire and Parody South Park began in August of 1997 much like any other offensive cartoon; pushing the limits of acceptable television to gain an audience. In its early stages, the show was infamous for its wickedly crude humor and swear words, and it appeared that it would go the way of many shows before it who simply had their periodRead MoreThe Treasure Box Is Knowledge, And The Value Is Success And Power1603 Words   |  7 Pagesvalue is success and power. Reading is the key that unlocks your access to a wealth of information. With this, one becomes knowledgeable on certain subjects. Knowledge gives you a closer understanding of your situation, which facilities it and gives you control. You gain the power of an ability, which leads to success in the subject. I feel that I must take advantage of the treasures I possess the capability to obtain, seeing as how not everyone has the access I have to them. I have the power to takeRead MoreThe Success of the Bolsheviks in Gaining Power in Russia by 192 22571 Words   |  11 PagesThe Success of the Bolsheviks in Gaining Power in Russia by 1922 In February 1917, the Bolshevik party was small and irrelevant. The leadership was abroad and there was little consistency of purpose among the party in Russia. However, by the summer of 1922, the Bolsheviks had become the dominant force, and a new communist state had emerged from their success. The purpose of this essay is to explain this transformation. The abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and theRead MoreThe Power Of Seo Strategy On Web Business Brand Success1242 Words   |  5 PagesTHE POWER OF SEO STRATEGY ON WEB BUSINESS BRAND SUCCESS FINE TUNING WEB-CRAWLING AND MODIFYING ALGORITHMS HAS BEEN A CONSISTENT PRACTICE OF GOOGLE OVER THE YEARS. THIS MAKES IT A SIZEABLE CHALLENGE FOR BUSINESSES THAT RELY ON WEB SEARCH REFERRALS AND ONLINE BUSINESS LEADS TO KEEP UP THE COMPETIITON. THE BOTTOM LINE IS, THAT UNLESS YOU PLAY BY GOOGLE’S RULES, WHICH ARE FAIR AND PROVIDE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR ALL, YOU WON’T REACH THE FIRST OR SECOND PAGE IN THE SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS, WHICH ALLRead MoreWilliam Edwards Deming s Success For Innovative High Quality Products And Its Economic Power1990 Words   |  8 Pages through the global markets. Some of his various methods, including the application of statistical. According to Holusha (1991) â€Å"he made a significant contribution to Japan s later reputation for innovative high-quality products and its economic power. He is regarded as having had more impact upon Japanese manufacturing and business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage. Despite being consid ered something of a hero in Japan, he was only just beginning to win widespread recognition inRead MoreOvercoming Marginalization1408 Words   |  6 PagesLOOKING AT THE SAME IDEA MORE THAN ONCE? HERE IS A SUGGESTION: YOU WRITE ABOUT SOCIAL POWER. IN BAMBARA, WHAT MIGHT SYLVIA DO WITH SOCIAL POWER? WHAT COULD SHE CHANGE IF SHE HAD IT—AND WHY? COULD SYLVIA MAYBE BECOME AS POWERFUL AS HAROLD BROWNING—OR MORE POWERFUL? Success in America usually depends on family background, family income and other factors.　Race, gender and classes have an effect on the way of success. ADD A COUPLE OF SENTENCES HERE TO DEVELOP THIS IDEA In â€Å"The Lesson†, the author,Read MoreThe Popularity of Green Parties Essay1391 Words   |  6 Pagestherefore to presume that due to this increasing importance of environmental issues in Europe that the Green Parties in Europe should prosper greatly. However in reality the success of the Green Parties in Europe has been severely hindered. Although it can be said that the Green Parties have experienced greater success in Europe as a result of the increasing importance of environmental issues, the extent to which they have been successful cannot be said to be at a proportional Read More The Concept Of Power In Politics Essay761 Words   |  4 Pages The Meaning of Power nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The instrumental character of power is that of a â€Å"means to an end.† It includes the tools, resources, and abilities used to pursue goals. The meaning of power and its role in politics is understood first with a background of its dual nature. De jure refers to the theory of power. The concept of â€Å"absolute power,† considers tangible factors. When comparing nations’ power, money and gross national product are units of measure; the United States