Free Essays - The Tall Tale in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

The Tall Tale in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Mark Twain's timeless American classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the narrator often finds himself in undesirable situations.   These situations, which are far-fetched even for the nineteenth-century, provide much humor to the novel and demonstrate Huck's cunning.   Huck's adept use of the tall tale becomes a survival tool on this adventure.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel, Huck sees lies as more of a practical solution to problems than as a moral dilemma.   He rationalizes that he has "never seen anybody but lied, one time or another"   (1).   Unlike the lawless adventurer of the frontier, Huck does not use his knack for selfish purposes.   He, instead, uses his lies strictly as a means of escaping misfortune and never for his own profit.   At one point in the story, Huck uses his skill to fabricate a story that keeps a skiff of slave-hunters away from Jim:   " 'Well, there's five niggers run off to-night, up yonder above the head of the bend.   Is your man white or black?'...'He's white' "   (110).   Huck's tall tales are used for the survival of both Huck and Jim, and Jim knows this.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Huck's stories are usually believed, but even when doubted, he manages to change his fib just enough to make it believable.   An example of this is when he is caught as a stow-away on a raft and his original story is not believed by the crew:   "Now, looky-here, you're scared, and so you talk wild.   Honest, now, do you live in a scowl, or is it a lie?" (106).   Huck then changes his story just enough to make it believable, displaying his unique ability to adjust his

The Sociological Imagination – Obesity in United States

Obesity has become a large and dark reality in United States. For someone who does not have sociological imagination being overweight is the result of bad personal choices or genetic predisposition. Being overweight might have been the result of past individual struggles that were caused by wrong individual decision-making or behavior. For those who get the interplay of the heart of sociological imagination this is a complex social issue that is the result of patterns of modern economic and social life. Obesity’s effect in society can be seeing in the number of life-long and potentially life-threatening diseases and conditions, like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. People who get sociological imagination would most likely blame how the increase in these diseases put pressure on the health care system in the United States; thus, causing the taxation of already overcrowded hospitals and overworked health care professionals. They might also think that the impact on obesity is linked to diseases that contribute to early death and create an economic burden. A sociological imagination might blame these to the public policies that contribute to the problem are restaurant industries that serve inexpensive and easy-access foods with high calories and low nutrition. A demographer is someone who statistically studies the human population. According to Dr. Crosnoe, in order to compare different populations, we need national or international data. As a demographer, I want to find out the rate of obesity in each state, what ethnicity and race has the highest obesity rate, and the lifespan in United States. I would survey the human population in the United Sates to find the characteristics of the population in obesity. According to CDC report, non-Hispanic black is at 36. 8% and Hispanics is at 30. 7%. Thus, a demographer might hypothesizes that family influence is the causes of obesity. Too often Americans eat out; consume large meals and high-fat foods, and put taste and convenience ahead of nutrition. I can use this survey to rank racial groups in the United States. I can look at the trend of lifestyle behaviors such as what a person eats and his or her level of physical activity. Obesity continues to be a major health problem in the United States, leading to high rates of mortality. A historical sociologist is someone who studies trends across time using historical data. As a historical sociologist I want to know the factors that causes obesity, change in lifestyle. As a historical sociologist might hypothesizes that technology changes affect the obesity rate to go up since the 80s. I can look at how technology has made our lives easier and at the same time, made people lazy. For example, today, more people drive long distances to work instead of walking, live in neighborhoods without sidewalks, tend to eat out or get take out instead of cooking, or have vending machines with high-calorie, high-fat snacks at their workplace. Health-care providers must pay closer attention to obesity, and importantly, do their part to prevent obesity by focusing on children and adolescents who are only slightly or moderately overweight.

Gender Schema Theory Essay

Martin and Halverson suggested an alternative to the cognitive-developmental approach proposed by Kohlberg and called it the gender schema theory. In Kohlberg’s theory, children must reach gender consistency before they are able to begin imitating the behaviour of same sex role models. In gender schema theory the early gender identity acquired at about the age of three is the starting point to which children will then begin to look for schemas, schemas are packages of organised clutters of information about gender-appropriate behaviour and children learn these schemas by interacting with people, such as learning which toys to play with, which clothes to wear etc. and these help children to make sense of the world around them and help children to organise their experiences and process new information and also to help self-evaluate themselves, this is to help them feel good about themselves. Support for the gender schema theory was conducted by Martin et al 1995 who showed toys to children aged four to five. Children were informed, before choosing a toy to play with that it was either a girls toy or a boys toy, they were then asked whether they and other boys or girls would like to play with the toys. They found that if a toy, such as a magnet, was given the label of being a boys toy then only boys would play with it. However if boys were told that it was a girl toy then they didn’t want to play with it. Similarly girls would not play with toys labelled for boys. The label given at the start consistently affected the children’s toy preference. It is an important finding in that it highlights the labelling and the categorisation of objects that children are subjected to from a young age, and how their toys can be labelled in the same way as appropriate gender behaviour. A limitation of this research is that an observation of the children and although it has high ecological validity as it is in a real life setting, the children may have shown demand characteristics as the toys were stereotyped for their gender it is questionable if they had guessed the aim of the research and the results may have been due to the children trying to please the researcher as they may have thought they would get punished for choosing the wrong gendered toy to play with and how much of the children’s choice was due to free-will. It was also done in a controlled environment which means that the findings cannot be generalised outside of the research setting. Bauer 1993 wanted to investigate this further and set out to study the way in which children call upon gender schemas when processing information. Pre-school-age and older children have been found to process gender consistent and gender inconsistent information differently so Bauer wanted to see if this was the case in very young children as well. Bauer devised a way to test girls and boys as young as twenty-five months of age. Children observed the experimenter carry out short sequences of stereotypically female, male or gender neutral activities, for example, changing a nappy, shaving a teddy bear or going on a treasure hunt. She tested children by ‘elicited imitation’ both immediately after and 24 hours later to see if they would copy what they had seen. Bauer found that girls showed equivalent quality of recall for all three types of sequence, boys on the other hand showed superior recall of male stereotyped activities, meaning they would not imitate any female behaviour and their recall for gender neutral activities was the same as for male stereotyped activities. These results indicate that boys more than girls tend to make use of gender schemas by the age of twenty-five months and boys appear to remember more accurately event sequences consistent with their own gender, whereas girls show no difference in recall of gender consistent and gender inconsistent information. A limitation of this research is that it could be due to boys being more likely to be penalised by their parents, especially their fathers for carrying out female stereotyped activities, so the children may have played with the male stereotyped toys even if they wanted to play with the other female stereotyped toys. The findings may also be down to that Bauer, who modelled the sequences, is female and the boys may have felt uncomfortable in copying her behaviour. Gender schema theory is parsimonious as it tries to explain gender through cognitive development and does not take into consideration biological gender differences, such as chromosomes, genes or hormones. It is also alpha-bias as it exaggerates the differences between men and women.

Hijackers of September 11th essays

Hijackers of September 11th essays The two articles in which I read were Hijackers final days: From poetry to the prosaic, and Imam said to blame Jews for attack. These two articles were very interesting, informative and also very educational. Hijackers final days: From poetry to the prosaic explained in a better perspective and also explained in a more simplified manner of what the hijackers done the last few days that they lived, and why they done it. This article also let it be known what kind of people the hijackers exactly were. On September 11 a poem was left behind by hijacker Waleed Alshehri, it spoke of traveling into the face of death with our heads held high. This was in the poem that he left, it just let everyone know that they were well aware of the horrendous act they were about to commit. Authorities believe that that Alshehri was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 and assisted to crash it into the World Trade Center. Imam said to blame Jews for attack was an article in which a man named Imam Omar Abu Nemous said that the Jews could be blamed for the WTC attacks. Nemous was the leader of NYCs largest mosque, he was Imam Gemeahas top aide. Gemeaha moved to Egypt because he said that his family had been threatened. So therefore Nemous was appointed as head leader. Nemous stated that Jews planned the attacks, but nobody would acknowledge that because Jews dominate the political government. Nemous also mentioned that the statements that he made had been changed and exaggerated into things that he had not said. Therefore because of this he now refuses to talk to or discuss anything with the press. This whole article is about Numous blaming the Jews for the WTC attack because he doesnt want to accept and acknowledge the fact that it was his people who did this. Whenever it comes to such controversial issues such as this opinions vary greatly. My opinion on these two specific articles may be rude, cr...

Carbon Family

Carbon Family Carbon Family The Carbon family is made up of five elements; carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead. This family is found in, group 14.Carbon the first in the family is the sixth most abundant element in the known Universe. Common carbon compounds include the gasses carbon dioxide and methane.Most carbon is taken from the ground in the form of coal and diamonds. Carbon has a very high melting point at 3500* C and a very high boiling point at 4827* C.Carbon's atomic mass is 12.0107 amu; it has six protons, neutrons and electrons.Carbon is classified as a non-metal.Carbon was known to the ancients, and its discoverer is unknown. Carbon is used for steel and filters. (Bentor, Yinon. Chemical Elements. com-Carbon.) Silicon, meaning "flint", is the second most abundant chemical compound in the Earth's crust. You may know it better as common beach sand. It is found in sand, quartz, rock crystal, amethyst, agate, jasper, and opal.English: Plot of the binding energy per nucleon fo...

Battle of Montgisard during the Crusades

Battle of Montgisard during the Crusades The Battle of Montgisard took place November 25, 1177, and was part of the Ayyubid-Crusader War (1177-1187) which was fought between the Second and Third Crusades. Background In 1177, the Kingdom of Jerusalem faced two major crises, one from within and one from without. Internally, the issue involved who would succeed sixteen year-old King Baldwin IV, who, as a leper, would not produce any heirs. The most likely candidate was the child of his pregnant, widowed sister Sibylla. While the nobles of the kingdom sought a new husband for Sibylla, the situation was complicated by the arrival of Philip of Alsace who demanded that she be married to one of his vassals. Evading Philips request, Baldwin sought to form an alliance with the Byzantine Empire with the goal of striking at Egypt. While Baldwin and Philip schemed over Egypt, the leader of the Ayyubids, Saladin, began preparing to attack Jerusalem from his base in Egypt. Moving with 27,000 men, Saladin marched into Palestine. Though he lacked Saladins numbers, Baldwin mobilized his forces with the goal of mounting a defense at Ascalon. As he was young and weakened by his disease, Baldwin gave effective command of his forces to Raynald of Chatillon. Marching with 375 knights, 80 Templars under Odo de St Amand, and several thousand infantry, Baldwin arrived at the town and was quickly blockaded by a detachment of Saladins army. Baldwin Triumphant Confident that Baldwin, with his smaller force, would not attempt to interfere, Saladin moved slowly and looted the villages of Ramla, Lydda and Arsuf. In doing so, he allowed his army to become dispersed over a large area. At Ascalon, Baldwin and Raynald managed to escape by moving along the coast and marched on Saladin with the goal of intercepting him before he reached Jerusalem. On November 25, they encountered Saladin at Montgisard, near Ramla. Caught by total surprise, Saladin raced to reconcentrate his army for battle. Anchoring his line on a nearby hill, Saladins options were limited as his cavalry was spent by the march from Egypt and subsequent looting. As his army looked upon Saladins, Baldwin summoned the Bishop of Bethlehem to ride forward and raise aloft a piece of the True Cross. Prostrating himself before the sacred relic, Baldwin asked God for success. Forming for battle, Baldwin and Raynalds men charged the center of the Saladins line. Breaking through, they put the Ayyubids to rout, driving them from the field. The victory was so complete that the Crusaders succeeded in capturing Saladins entire baggage train. Aftermath While exact casualties for the Battle of Montgisard are not known, reports indicate that only ten percent of Saladins army returned safely to Egypt. Among the dead was the son of Saladins nephew, Taqi ad-Din. Saladin only escaped the slaughter by riding a racing camel to safety. For the Crusaders, approximately 1,100 were killed and 750 wounded. While Montgisard proved a dramatic victory for the Crusaders, it was the last of their successes. Over the next ten years, Saladin would renew his efforts to take Jerusalem, finally succeeding in 1187. Selected Sources William of Tyre: History of Deeds Done Beyond the SeaMedieval SourcebookBaldwin IV

Punishment and Modern Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Punishment and Modern Society - Essay Example (David, 1990. pg: 1) Van den Haag in his article "Punishing Criminals" supported the implementation of "death penalty" and the punishments for long time duration e.g. keeping the culprits in "house arrest" or sending them in to "exile" to reduce crime rate. The punishment are never designed or renounced on the bases of "class and race". Many sociologist believe that the crime can only be prevented by increasing the intensity of commitment on conducting it. According to a report published in "Crime and Delinquency" suggests at least "3000 executions" yearly are necessary to make "death penalty" an reliable prevention of crime. This statement is actually the perception of modern "intellectuals" rather than old scholars. the report of the "National Assessment of Juvenile Corrections" suggested the proportion of prisoners in US jails have greatly amounted during end of 20th century; 500.000 people were "imprisoned" both in "adult jails and Detention centers". (Tony and Paul, pg: 2-3) Today, the United States is following a policy of strengthening harsh and strict punishments by implementing big punishments in its states, increasing the duration of "imprisonment" form many crimes, by legalizing many compulsory "sentences". (Tony and Paul, pg: 20) Ruche and Kirchheimmer in on of their study on punishment stated "the transformation in penal systems cannot be explained only from changing needs of the war against crime, although this struggle does play a part. Every system of production tends to discover punishments which correspond to its productive relationships." In other wards one can say that these two people actually meant "modern" punishments to be a crucial tool for the preparation of employees- personal- in the "capitalist" world. Under dictatorship punishment are marked to be more evil: death sentences and life long punishments are increasingly adjudicated as compare to simple punishments. (Kevin and Robert, 2001, pg: 159-162) "The judge is subjected to strong pressure from above to intensify punishments on the grounds that the authority of the state must be defended.... Increasing severity of punishment is in the first instance a change in criminal policy conditioned by economic crisis." (Jeffrey and Alvin, 2000, Pg: 19-26) The "penal policy" of the dictators of Germany excluded the probability of taking social intervention in the adjudication of punishments. Today most of the" criminologists" blame the working class and the middle class for any kind of crises or recession. There fore the development and implementation of new penal policies is greatly necessary, so that the crises can be resolved in a better term. (Jeffrey and Alvin, 2000, Pg: 19-26) Durkheim's in 1964 did a functional "analysis" of punishment. Marxist did a materialistic analysis of the "nature and functions" of punishment. He believed study of punishment to be evidence based, detailed and "theoretically flat" in application. Punishment has undergone many "social, political and cultural" changes since the "sociological turn" of twentieth century. There are two approaches toward the penology. (Sarah and Lesley, 2006, pg: 20-21) 1. study of punishment is based upon the "structural factors" on the basis of which governments form their