Alice Walkers Everyday Use Essay -- Everyday Use Alice Walker

In every family there seems to be a child that is bestowed with all of the positive aspects of her parents. Unfortunately, for every perfect child there is, it seems that there is one child that is less talented and less beautiful. In the short story, "Everyday Use", these two character descriptions fit perfectly in relation to the characters of Dee and Maggie. Dee is the gifted and beautiful child, whereas Maggie seems to have been left behind by the gene pool and luck. In her short story, "Everyday Use", Alice Walker utilizes language, the tragedy of the fire burning down Maggie's family's house, and her portrayal of Dee to pain an extremely sympathetic portrait of Maggie. Walker's use of language when describing Maggie creates a picture of a physically scarred and unintelligent woman. Maggie's physical scarring is pointed out to the reader early in the story to lay a foundation for sympathy. Walker accomplishes this when she states that Maggie has, "burn scars down her arms and legs" (383). The matter of fact choice of vocabulary by Walker creates an image of a deformed person that would not be aesthetically pleasing by any stretch of the word. Walker fortifies her effort to create a sympathetic Maggie with her vocabulary when Mama states, "Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes" (384). The words "arms sticking" and "hair smoking" generates a grisly image in the reader's mind of a grotesquely injured little girl that is quite worthy of sympathy (Walker 384). It is not only the physical scars that were left by the fire tha t create sympathy about Maggie's physical appearance. Dee is described... ...e evidence suggesting abuse provides the reader with feelings of sympathy for Maggie. Walker clearly portrays Maggie as the more sympathetic of the two daughters. This is created by giving the character of Dee all of the good lucks and intelligence, but also pairing those positive qualities with the negative quality of arrogance. It is also done by creating the Maggie character without any of the natural gifts bestowed to Dee, but also saddling her with tragedy and allowing the impacts of the tragedy to be evident to the reader. Maggie is depicted throughout the story as a truly tragic character that has been shorted at every possible stop in life. Dee is portrayed as someone who has been given everything, yet has turned into a undesirable human being. It is this unfairness that is truly the root of her status as an extremely sympathetic character.

Schizophrenic Creativity in Nasars A Beautiful Mind and Ron Howards M

Schizophrenic Creativity in Nasar's A Beautiful Mind and Ron Howard's Movie In Ron Howard's (2001) A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe gives life to Sylvia Nasar's depiction of the schizophrenic genius John Nash in her novel of the same title. Both Nasar and Howard try to depict Nash's creative genius in an effort to unlock understanding of the creative process. The underlying reality of Nash's psychological creative process may never fully be realized due to the extreme difficulty of coherently portraying the mind of a schizophrenic, however the relationships between the portrayals of Nash through each medium shed light on Howard's own view of the creative process. Howard's decision to depict a rather coherent case of schizophrenia directly relates to the overall depiction of the creative process as something at once logical and irrational, fantastic and grounded in reality. Although there are some inconsistencies between Nasar's novel and Howard's movie and even between Nasar's book and what some reviews have claimed to be the truth of Nash's life, these inconsistencies can be analyzed and understood to be intentional enlightening hints as to both Nasar's and Howard's views of what the creative process exactly was for John Nash. Ron Howard takes a very interesting diversion from Nasar's text right from the beginning of the movie in an effort to project a fairly consistent portrayal of Nash's creative process from the very beginning of his signs of genius. Howard decides to initiate Nash's case of schizophrenia from the very outset of Nash's ability to think creatively. Nasar clearly presents Nash as a strong intellectual student who, however asocial, is not insane up through the age of thirty. Howard does arguably port... ...o which John Nash's Game Theory was applicable to the real world. Thus, Howard defines the creative process of John Nash as basically very idealized and, to some extent, mild version of schizophrenia. Although Nash did win the Nobel Prize, Howard overlooks the opinions held by many that the Game Theory didn't, in fact, merit the Nobel Prize. Thus, to Howard, the creative process has very little connection, if any, to any art that is subsequently produced. To Howard, the creative process is a journey to learn knowledge firsthand, pioneering through the mind no matter how grounded in reality. Works Cited Charles, Marilyn. "A Beautiful Mind." American Journal of Psychoanalysis. NY, 2003. Myerson, Roger B. "Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory." Journal of Economic Literature, 1999. Nasar, Sylvia. A Beautiful Mind. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Schizophrenic Creativity in Nasar's A Beautiful Mind and Ron Howard's M Schizophrenic Creativity in Nasar's A Beautiful Mind and Ron Howard's Movie In Ron Howard's (2001) A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe gives life to Sylvia Nasar's depiction of the schizophrenic genius John Nash in her novel of the same title. Both Nasar and Howard try to depict Nash's creative genius in an effort to unlock understanding of the creative process. The underlying reality of Nash's psychological creative process may never fully be realized due to the extreme difficulty of coherently portraying the mind of a schizophrenic, however the relationships between the portrayals of Nash through each medium shed light on Howard's own view of the creative process. Howard's decision to depict a rather coherent case of schizophrenia directly relates to the overall depiction of the creative process as something at once logical and irrational, fantastic and grounded in reality. Although there are some inconsistencies between Nasar's novel and Howard's movie and even between Nasar's book and what some reviews have claimed to be the truth of Nash's life, these inconsistencies can be analyzed and understood to be intentional enlightening hints as to both Nasar's and Howard's views of what the creative process exactly was for John Nash. Ron Howard takes a very interesting diversion from Nasar's text right from the beginning of the movie in an effort to project a fairly consistent portrayal of Nash's creative process from the very beginning of his signs of genius. Howard decides to initiate Nash's case of schizophrenia from the very outset of Nash's ability to think creatively. Nasar clearly presents Nash as a strong intellectual student who, however asocial, is not insane up through the age of thirty. Howard does arguably port... ...o which John Nash's Game Theory was applicable to the real world. Thus, Howard defines the creative process of John Nash as basically very idealized and, to some extent, mild version of schizophrenia. Although Nash did win the Nobel Prize, Howard overlooks the opinions held by many that the Game Theory didn't, in fact, merit the Nobel Prize. Thus, to Howard, the creative process has very little connection, if any, to any art that is subsequently produced. To Howard, the creative process is a journey to learn knowledge firsthand, pioneering through the mind no matter how grounded in reality. Works Cited Charles, Marilyn. "A Beautiful Mind." American Journal of Psychoanalysis. NY, 2003. Myerson, Roger B. "Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory." Journal of Economic Literature, 1999. Nasar, Sylvia. A Beautiful Mind. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1999.

My Unforgettable Experience with My Family Essay

This was the moment when we were down, helpless, and totally disappointed after we tried hard to earn a name for our family. This was the moment when my mother and other members of the family tried to console my father to be calm and not to be desperate at all. We advised him also to be positive in everything he does and always believe that there is always sunshine after the rain. This was also the moment of struggling, in search for truth and justice and how we were able to surpass with all our trials in life. It all started when my father was relieved from his post, as the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) of Rizal without any case filed against him. Later on, he knew that the cause of his relief was that he issued patents to the lowly farmers in Tanay, Rizal who since time immemorial have already acquired vested rights over the disputed area. The disputed area was the area targetted by some high ranking officials in the Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to have the area reserved for housing site. This area was given to the developer for free to develop the area for housing site for DENR employees without taking into consideration the flight of the actual occupants who actually reside thereon for a living. It turned out that the Presidential Proclamation reserving the said area for housing site was not approved and signed by the former President Gloria M. Arroyo for a simple reason that there was earlier an area reserved for housing site of DENR employees totalling to 130 hectares and the DENR under the leadership of Lito Atienza wanted more to expand the area for another 175 hectares but prior to their project, there are already actual occupants on the disputed area who actually occupied, possessed and cultivated the land in the concept of ownership since time immemorial. That’s why patents were issued in their favors. After constructing some housing units in Phase I of their project (covered by Presidential Proclamation), the result was that the DENR employees cannot afford to pay the purchase prize, so, these units were sold to some movie celebrities and elite group who can afford to pay the high cost of the housing units. Later on, a case was filed against my father in the office of the Ombudsman and right away my father was suspended for three months without pay for issuing patents to the lowly farmers of Tanay, Rizal. My father was ordered to answer the charges against him. So, what he did is to first conduct research work on related laws and jurispudence concerning land disposition, Then, he prepared an answer and all his acts were vindicated because the Office of the Ombudsman recognized the lawful rights of the lowly farmers over the disputed area. Right away, a decision was rendered and my father was ordered for reinstatement and his back salaries were paid, but he was only ordered to report in the Regional Office without any assignment. Because of too much stress, and not accustomed of just reporting to the Regional Office without assignnment, he became sick and the doctor advised him to take a complete rest. At this point, he was not able to file a leave of absence for three months. When he returned for work, he immediately filed a leave of absence and accomplished his daily time record for the signature of the Regional Executive Director (RED) of Region IV-A, CALABARZON but to his surprise, the RED did not like to sign his daily time record, instead an order was served to him, dropping him from the rolls and all his benefits were forfeited as civil service employee. According to my father, that very moment, he cannot express his feelings. The thought of being separated from the service, he felt that all his dreams were shuttered after serving the DENR for forty years. To him, he rose from the ranks up to the point he reached the level of being the Regional Technical Director of Region IV-A, CALABARZON way back 1998 up to year 2004. He was a scholar then in some European and Asian Countries where he was sent to take further studies concerning Land Adminstration and Management. During his early time, he became a scholar at the University of the Philippines taking up advanced courses in Economics. He tried to talk to the RED if he can set aside the order dropping him from the rolls, but the RED was so firm in his decision. My father felt that his constitutional rights were violated, that he was unjustly treated by the higher management. That he was not given fair chance to explain his side and that letters were not sent to him for explanation. To top it all, no administrative measures were exhausted to determine the possible cause of his absences. Again, my father got sick, he was physically and mentally disturbed. He felt he was in great shame as he was morally degraded by the sweeping act of the RED. At this point, my mother and the rest of the family tried to console him. We hired a lawyer through the help of our relatives and friends because my father at that time had no more salary. We tried to make things possible to make both ends meet. My father through his lawyer made a research work and they found out that the RED has no authority to drop employees with salary grade of 24 and above. That it’s only the Secretary of the DENR who has the sole authority to do so. It means to say that there was a great negligence on his part as he has no authority to drop my father from the rolls, and maybe because he did not conduct further research on the matter. My father was advised by his lawyer and friends to file a case to the RED for his ignorance and the damage he had caused to destroy the career of my father. So, right away he adhered to the advice of his lawyers and he filed an administrative case in the DENR against the RED and even elevated the case to the Office of the President, Malacanang, Manila who maliciously and intentionally dropped him from the rolls. While waiting for the outcome of the decision, my family do the daily habits of praying the rosary, begging to help my father in his search for truth and justice. My family and friends went out of their way to distribute some brochures and leaflets, depicting of what had happened to him during his stay in the DENR. These reading materials were distributed in his hometown, in churches, in colleges and universities and other social occassions to let the readers understand about his journey in the DENR, that he was badly put to shame and morally degraded after he had dedicated his entire life to the cause of public service. At times, he accepted some invitations as speaker in some public hearings and symposia that concern Proper Disposal and Waste Management, Clean and Green, Handog Titulo Program and the Management and Conservation of Rivers, Creeks, Lakes including Manila Bay. It goes to say that my father did not stop his good work even he was already separated from the service. While fighting for justice, he was still doing public service to the people in our place and in his hometown Tanauan, Batangas. He had a positive outlook in life by not just staying idle. I think this was his way of unwinding himself from the problems he was facing. He was so civil in addressing his problems and did not stop believing that he can do it. A lot of his friends sympathized him and he was admired for his courage and enthusiasm to fight the management. Others felt that he was totally helpless and even believed that he cannot anymore be reinstated. According to my father, there are others in the organization who are committing blunder, worst than ever compared from his situation, and they ought to be punished under the law because of their ill doings concerning graft and corruption and they became rich at the expense of others. On my part, I felt and experienced all the adjustments in life because I’m still studying and my only hope was my mother. She was the only one who can be reached for my expenses in school. There were complete changes in the way of spending. We simply lived and spent within the reach of my mother’s earnings, who is also working in the DENR. We tried everything to make things possible. It was really a period of adjustment and struggles. I could not imagine how I was able to survive to make things smooth for me. I think, it was all in the mind. I told my father that maybe we may not have everything but at least we do not have nothing. Try to reach for someone and it was the Lord who can help us for all the miseries we have. It is true, that the only weapon to combat all misfortunes, is prayer. It is only through calling the Lord that we can rebuild our strength and compose ourselves to meet the challenges in life. Maybe, we have to be strong and firm to find ways what is best for us. My mother and the rest of the family did not stop praying the rosary and we tried to call the Lord to help my father in his journey for justice. After nine months of waiting, my father was called by the Secretary of the DENR, Forester Ramon Paje. My father had a confidential talk with him and he explained his side that during that time, the RED committed a great mistake to drop him from the rolls since the latter has no jurisdiction and/or authority to do so. It is only the Secretary of the DENR who has the authority to drop him from the rolls. According to the DENR Secretary, the act of the RED is so inhuman and he abused his power to destroy my father’s career. After what had transpired between my father and the DENR Secretary, a decision was rendered, resinstating my father in the service and all his back salaries were paid. The RED was immediately transferred to other region, as punishment for the mistake he has committed. The retirement of my father is fast approaching and he wants to leave the organization with a good name. In due time, he will harvest the fruits of his labor, and I told him to try to be cool always and forget the bad experiences he had during his encounter with the RED. I said to him to enjoy life, and be positive in all his directions for the Lord is just beside him to bless him in all his work. At present, he is now ordered by the DENR Secretary to assist Congressman Sonny Collantes in some DENR programs and projects in Tanauan, Batangas that can uplift the socio-economic condition of the people in the countryside. Now, my father believes that it is only through constant prayers that he can be totally healed. Never stopped calling the Lord for he is our redeemer and he believes that he is nothing without the Lord for He can make things possible for everyone, especially during our trials in life.

Belief in Black Magic and Witchcraft

The sources of magic are to be found in passion and ignorance – which make up the greater part of man. Desire, ever reborn, never capable of being sated in the ordinary conditions of life, inspires in the mind the dream of an irresistible power whereby every appetite may be satisfied; and ignorance of the inflexible laws which govern nature suffers one to believe that she can be mastered and modified in conformity with that dream, which, when it has reached a certain degree of intensity, tends spontaneously to transform itself into action.Love, hatred, the desire for health, for riches, for power, for knowledge itself, are the causes which produce magic, and they are its perpetual incentives; whence it comes that we see magic practiced wherever men are found; in the most remote antiquity, during the Middle Ages, and at the present time; not only among barbarian or savage peoples, but also among those races which call themselves civilized. Magic is, therefore, a social phenomen on. This work will show what place black magic and witchcraft holds among the other social phenomena, for example religion.The ideas related to a concept of the sacred, as the basis of magic and witchcraft, will be considered. Why do people believe in the powers of black magic and the fearful power of Satan in black magic? How are these practices performed? Here is nothing else that can give so adequate answer as does the history of the witches and black magic and their place in Holy Mother Church. Witchcraft is a complex subject, and has evoked complex responses from many disciplines (Glucklich 391).There are theological, historical, philosophical, anthropological, legal, literary, pharmacological, and psychological theories of witchcraft, to name some of the major ones. That is the reason why few people today can agree on what witchcraft really is, or was, or what witches really did, or what they do. During the height of the witchcraft scare in Europe, the sixteenth and seventeent h centuries, almost anything strange and fearful was attributed to witchcraft. A good example is the phenomenon called the poltergeist.Witchcraft would seem to be a European term of opprobrium which has been used in scattergun fashion for all sorts of threatening manifestations, whether at home or abroad. It is appropriate, and inevitable, that our inquiry should have brought us to the Bible. For while it is false to say, as some writers have, that the witch persecutions were carried on solely by the church, it is nevertheless undeniable that historical witchcraft received its definition from the church. In a sense it may be said that witchcraft as a system was created by the church.Convenience may be cited: it was convenient for the church to lump its own heresies, rival systems of faith, inexplicable spiritual phenomena – in fact, almost all the threats to its own primacy – into a single opposition, which in the slow course of many centuries took on the shape of a ho stile conspiracy and the name of witchcraft. The church had, after all, ready to hand the Supreme Enemy of Man, Satan, acknowledged as the father of all error, the prince of the world's vanities, and arch rebel against God (Butler 96). There was no fault of logic involved in placing him at the source of trouble.This is the classical definition of witchcraft: a literally diabolic plot against mankind. For long ages it was almost universally accepted. Running concurrently with it was what we may identify as the skeptical position: that the whole thing was nonsense, and an outrageous calumny on the loving nature of the Deity. This is an honorable and attractive position, and one which is still dominant today. It can trace its origins to a tiny handful of brave men during the Renaissance, men like Reginald Scot and Johan Weyer, who were in considerable danger for their beliefs.These ideas however gradually won out, by the eighteenth century, and were elevated almost beyond argument by t he busy and progressive nineteenth. Today they are coming under renewed question. There are then at present at least seven major schools of witchcraft thought, some of them frankly hostile to the others: the orthodox, skeptical, anthropological, psychological, pharmacological, transcendental, and occultist. The image is to the object as the part is to the whole.In other words, a simple object, outside all direct contact and all communication, is able to represent the whole. This is the formula which is apparently used in black magic. The image, the doll or the drawing is a very schematic representation, a poorly executed ideogram. Any resemblance is purely theoretical or abstract. Black magic is essentially an individualistic affair. It finds regular and constant use by men and women who work deliberately, by means of the spells they utter, the charms they manipulate, and the rites they perform, to bring misfortunes upon their fellows.So used it may be licit, reputable, and even pra iseworthy, for instance, if the same magical arts that have slain a man are resorted to by an avenger of blood against the slayer. As a rule, however, sorcery is carried on more or less secretly, in defiance of public opinion, and those who practice it are objects of constant suspicion, fear, and enmity. In spite of this radical monotheism, Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, makes allusions to other supernatural entities.In the case of Islam, these entities are known as jinns and angels (Glucklich 136). Satan also plays an important role in Islam, but is counted among the angels, albeit the most disobedient. The jinns, according to the Qur'an, are not quite angels, but a form of consciousness between human and angels that are also especially prone to disobedience. Given that a basic idea of Islam is â€Å"submission† or â€Å"obedience† to God, the very act of disobedience is taken very seriously in Muslim teaching as a major form of bad, even sacrilegious, behavior (Brain 241).The jinn are genii, made out of fire; unlike the angels, they eat, drink, copulate, and die; some are good, and listen to the Koran; most are bad, and spend their time getting human beings into mischief. The leader of the evil jinn is Iblis, who was once a great angel, but was condemned for refusing to pay homage to Adam. The success of Islam in propagating itself, particularly in its Sufic and maraboutic versions, in regions where a direct assault by conquest was impracticable was largely due to its truly catholic recognition of the multiplicity of mystical power.In the voluminous Quranic store-house of angels, jinns and devils, whose number is legion, many of these traditional powers find a hospitable home; and passages from the Quran are cited to justify their existence as real phenomena. So long as Allah's lofty pre-eminence was not compromised, many local cults could be accommodated within the realm of alghaib, the ‘unseen' or ‘hidden' world (Brain 258) . The supreme deities which exist in many pagan traditions could be assimilated to Allah. Lesser local deities could be Islamicized or explained away as vernacular terms for God's attributes, or as the jinns or spirits of Quranic folklore.Orders of devils are spoken of in the so-called Book of Enoch, which antedates Christianity; and they are spoken of, later, in the New Testament. Saint Thomas makes express mention of higher and of lower devils, and of systematically established ranks among them; without, however, entering into details on the subject (Waite 356). But such reserve, though it might well become theologians in general, did not at all suit those who were especially classed as demonographers or those who gave attention to the study and practice of magic.For all these, it was of the utmost importance to become thoroughly acquainted with the diabolic hierarchy and, at the same time, with the condition and the activities of each rank included therein, – nay, as far a s might be possible, with those of each individual demon. Furthermore, the principles of their organization were not understood in the same way by all; and while some of the Fathers thought that their rank was determined according to the various kinds of sins that the demons fostered, others believed that this was done according to their degree of power and method of action.Those who made pacts with the Devil very often did so in order to be able to practice the forbidden arts of magic; but the pact did not always imply this power and the power might be exercised without a pact. There were cases where the Devil voluntarily obligated himself to do whatever the magician should demand of him, on condition that the latter give him his soul in exchange; there were also cases where the magician by virtue of his own art forced the Devil to do what the fiend, of himself, would have been neither obliged nor willing to do.There were then, as we see, two kinds of magic, which have not been suf ficiently distinguished by writers on the subject, but which in their origins, if not in their effects, were entirely distinct; the one produced by a voluntary subjection of the diabolic power to the will of a human being, the other springing from an actual mastery acquired over that power by the human being, and acquired not through divine permission, but through a science and an art which had their own canons, which were learned through a sort of apprenticeship, and which could be more or less fully possessed – the science and the art of black magic.The theologians and the doctors declare, it is true, that the inventor of this wicked and deceptive science, of this pernicious art, was none other than Satan himself, who was wont to make use of them for the attainment of his own ends; but we begin to suspect that there is some error in this opinion of theirs, when we see this science and this art employed against their supposed inventor in such fashion that he cannot keep from obeying any one who commands him through them (Stave 196).A great part of magic presupposes the existence in nature, and the knowledge on the part of man, of hidden forces which have power to move the demons and to bind them. But in whatever way the magician had acquired his formidable power, the exercise of it was sinful and unlawful and brought the transgressors in the end to Hell. Speaking generally, and observing the results they produced, we may consider magicians and witches as allies and coadjutors of Satan.The first of the magical operations, which opens the way for all the others, is evocation, whereby Satan or one of his subordinate devils is compelled to appear – not a difficult operation if one understood the method, but dangerous to any who undertook it carelessly and without having observed all due precautions. This operation is more commonly performed at night, at the exact hour of midnight; but it could also be performed at high noon, this being the hour at w hich the noonday demon possesses the greatest vigor.It takes place where two, three, or four roads meet; in the depths of gloomy forests; on deserted heaths; amid ancient ruins. The evocator seat himself inside a circle (or, for greater safety, three circles) traced on the ground with the point of a sword; and he has to exercise the greatest care not to let the slightest portion of himself project beyond this limit and not to agree to any bargain the Devil might seek to make with him. Many and strange are the formulas of evocation, some very lengthy; some more, some less efficacious; nor are all of them addressed to all the devils.The slightest omission might suffice to render them entirely ineffective if the demon happened to be tired or in a bad humor. An observation is not out of place here. The Devil presents himself willingly and without much importuning, even to one who summons him informally and in every-day language, and that he often presents himself when one has not even t hought of calling him. Magicians and witches are not all of equal cleverness or equal might; as in every other condition of men, in theirs also there existed disparities of power and of rank (Dickie 325).Notwithstanding this, there is no sorceress so insignificant, no wizard so discredited, that with the aid of their art they could not accomplish marvelous things, of a sort far beyond all human power and all human knowledge. Should one care to make a list of all the varied operations of the magic art, he would need to produce a volume; and even then he would not succeed in telling everything, for by this art could almost anything be done that might suggest itself to the imagination or become an object of desire.With potent philters or by employing the aid of clever demons, the magician could awaken love, transform love into hatred, snatch the loved one from her lover, or cause her to fly by night through the air to her lover's arms. He avenged himself on his enemies, or on such as b etook themselves to him for help, causing fire to consume their houses, bringing down the storm-wind on their fields, sinking their ships in the sea; or he brought about their death, by thrusting into waxen figures made to resemble them a needle.Now we turn to the last portion of our study, the new witchcraft cult. Two characteristics seem to identify modern British witches: their love of ceremony and their inherent schismatic tendencies. Both points hold true for witches in America and elsewhere. There seem to be hundreds of contending cults, most of which sooner or later make their professions in print, under such titles as The Real Witchcraft, The Truth About Witchcraft, and Witchcraft From the Inside. Indeed, witches, deprived of the unifying force of persecution, are fighting among themselves as never before.Meanwhile there are as many different kinds of witchcraft in this country, apparently, as there are covens. All these groups publish industriously. One of the partisans of the modern witchcraft cult is Hans Holzer, the well-known psychic investigator. His book The Truth About Witchcraft was brought forward with much din of publicity. And certainly he has penetrated to the heart of the contemporary cult; he has eye-witnesses' accounts of initiation ceremonies, rites, celebrations, dress, incantations, and every other detail of witchcraft as it is presently practiced, especially in England and the United States.With the growth and strengthening of the belief in Satan, magic was destined to acquire new credit and new vigor. Everything that was known or thought to be known about the Devil, about his habits and his purposes, naturally tended to produce this result. He was the ever-living, ever-restless force that surrounded and penetrated all things; the prince of this world; the dominator of perverted nature; he was in every place; he had under his orders an innumerable host, always ready for any undertaking.With the help of his power, there was no task s o hard that it could not be accomplished, no miracle that could not be performed; and this help he rendered without excessive solicitation. It was a well known fact that he would cheerfully join forces with a human being in order to reach more easily the fulfillment of his own designs. The majority became wizards or witches merely by entering his flock and enjoying those benefits and powers in which he was willing to make them sharers. Beside this lower magic, the result of a kind of delegation of power, the

Wicked Angel by Taylor Caldwell

Wicked Angel by Taylor Caldwell is a suspenseful and intriguing magnum opus beginning from the very first page; there are no dull moments in the Saint household. Caldwell has a brilliant gift for the creation of characters, as all the characters were so full of life. Angelo Saint was described as the prototypical psychopath that is, â€Å"born without a soul†. An overindulged only child, Angelo has his devoted mother wrapped around his fingers while his more practical father Mark, looks with horrified wonder from the sidelines.Angelo intensely detests his maternal Aunt Alice, who recognizes his social disorder from the start. At the opening of the story, Angelo, then 4, expresses deep rage at Alice and this rage manifested in bouts of wetting accidents. He then attacks Alice by smashing the contents of her purse; he destroys her sunglasses; used her handkerchief as toilet paper and flush some of her money down the toilet. His loving, but foolish mother Katherine condones his a ctions by insisting it was just a childish prank.Mark, however, punishes Angelo. Over the years, Angelo’s cruelties become more subtle and clever. At 6, he discreetly kills a pet dog, which Alice discovers when she visits her sister’s family at their summer place in 1959; he frightens away the birds and woodland creatures, viewing them as â€Å"weak enemies†, and he nearly kills Alice by pushing her over a cliff. Luckily, she is saved, but does not testify against her nephew.Angelo is described as physically large for his age, stunning in appearance and mentally gifted. At 10, he nearly poisons a housekeeper because she senses he is not the â€Å"Angel Saint†, as Katherine calls him; he hounds a classmate out of his prestigious prep school; he pit people against one another and broke a teacher’s arm â€Å"accidentally† during a school football game. He uses charm to get out of every difficulty and has all, but these few, whom he has hurt, fo oled.When Katherine becomes pregnant with a second child in 1963, she senses it is wise not to tell Angelo. He pesters her for information about why she is going to the doctor and once he discovers the secret, kills the unborn child, Katherine, and later perishes. Even his death is bizarre – he trips down a flight of steps, only to land his head on the marble floor below. Katherine dies in the hospital, confiding to Alice that she really knew what an evil son she truly had.

Practice Makes Perfect Essay Essay

Our world is constantly wrought with the concept that certainty can allow one to achieve all of our desires and dreams. But this ever-present idea is utterly misleading. One cannot rely on certainty because nothing is truly certain. Everything that we hold to be true, has not been proven wrong. According to William Phelps, a sense of certainty will achieve the impossible. However, Bertrand Russell believes it is important to always carry a bit of doubt in one’s life. Nevertheless, people are torn between extra confidences and doubtless. While some may be certain of everything or doubt in any little thing, the human brain should balance these two factors in order to have a well and steady mind. Throughout our daily lives, everyone needs some sort of certainty in order to build up one’s self esteem. However, the certainty should be to an extent. Living in a world full of confidence is not always the right decision thus it can guide into failure. Although, strong beliefs, or a set of mind that leads to certainty is not wrong at all, especially in today’s society, it has been proven that one’s visualization of things is the dependable factor of the outcome of the activity one is about to do. It develops a confident and certain mentality. This way, one is able to give out positive vibes and inspire others to be the best of themselves ad eventually achieve â€Å"virtually anything† even that that seems â€Å"impossible† ().The mindset of believing in achieving the impossible is motivation everyone needs to develop a strong character. Relying too much of certainty may not be so good, since it makes you close minded. This is because you are certain of what you say is right, you don’t even listen to other people’s opinion, which brings tension around you. Over analyzing things and always going for what’s right won’t necessarily make you perfect or certain, instead it could gui de you into a big failure, since at some point you have to make mistakes. Thus, in order to prevent a big upcoming failure one should balance out the certainty they have in themselves. Nevertheless, doubt is an extremely huge necessity one needs among their lives. One of the most important components of doubt is trial  and error. One cannot be certain something will make sense or work if the hypothesis one has, has not been tested whether by experimentation or refutation. For instance, if Thomas Edison was absolutely certain he had created a means to harness electricity and produce light without testing his theory over 50 times, his certainty would be invalid. However, his influx of doubt and therefore his willingness to augment and change based upon that doubt, enabled him to produce what could probably be the most important scientific discovery yet. Another example of the importance of doubt is perhaps the most controversial topic among us-religion. Whether or not one has faith and is certain of that faith, is refutable. There are hence, two sides to this cause. Because nothing has been definitely proved that a higher, supreme power exists. On the other hand, there has been research of evolution throughout time, but it still hasn’t necessarily proven a certain answer. However, even in this process of comparing the two sides one doubts because one is extrapolating that either could be true. If either is true, we are still uncertain about it. In conclusion, the use of doubt has brought upon many debates, changes, and ideas whether for better or worse. This debate of uncertainty or certainty has been entrenched in our cultures consciousness possibly since its inception. But if we were to deny that the geniuses of our times did not doubt, we are making a vast ad unintelligent assumption. Even so, throughout time, certainty has also come to a great importance in our lives. Without the doubts of all our past generations and the little certainty they used to carry our world would not be anything like the way it is. One thing is certain; doubt and certainty are two factors that are an absolute necessity.

Analysis Of The Reasons Of Democratization

Analysis Of The Reasons Of Democratization In general, the reasons of democratization shift in different countries. Samuel P. Huntington raises five main elements to explain his points of view. The author would like to examine how these five factors resulted in the democratization in South Korea and are the exclusive reasons. Besides, does China have difficulty to become a democratic country only because it lacks of these five conditions? Infection results: it means when the other countries start to call for the democracy, the countries nearby would be affected and the citizens would appeal to their government to reform and therefore forms the domino effect. For instance, the third wave in East Europe in 1990’s and the fourth wave democratization in North Africa in 2011. The collapse of the authoritarian government: when the current regime couldn’t provide the basic need of its people and maintain the order of the politics, civilians will call for the reform and even the revolution to rebuild the democratic reg ime. The collapse of USSR is one of the examples and we can see that due to its serious problem brought by the economic recession. The growth of economic system: the notion of the liberalism indicates that the boost in economic growth will create the richer middle-class which would ask for the opportunities of getting involved in politics. In this kind of situation, the social mobilization and the information will become faster to decrease the legitimacy of the authoritarian government. South Korea and Taiwan belong to this part. The choice of political leaders: one of the crucial keys come from the elites of the ruling classes, especially when the leaders become aware of the transition of the environment makes the democracy is the only cure to maintain the current regime. For instance, the former President of South Africa Frederik Willem de Klerk leaded South Africa to a democratic country. Influence of actors outside of the country: the impact of actions from foreign organizations or countries would construct the pressure to the autocratic regime. For example, the collapse of the Philippine of Marcos regime. The reasons for South Korea’s democratization The reasons for South Korea’s democratization are extensive and diversified. We can take our points of view from different angles including economic growth, social structure, political culture and the transition of history. The theory of Huntington elaborate the overall structure enables us to relate different events happened in South Korea to the factors of democratization. The author would like to use Huntington theory as the main stream to explain the reasons of democratization. We can general discover some of the elements of the theory of Huntington are the main reasons to give an impetus to the democratization but some are not. Economic growth is not necessary to become the direct element to democratization of South Korea Just like Huntington mentioned in his book of the third wave, â€Å" An overall correlation exists between the level of economic development and democracy have no level or pattern of economic development is in itself either necessary or sufficient to bring about democratization.†Ã‚   [ 1 ]   We can conclude from most of the third wave countries that the success of the democratization of third countries that there will be mass middle-class emerging before the formal democratization. This could be proved by the countries in the third wave are mostly the higher developing countries.   [ 2 ]   However, the GDP growth rate in South Korea in 1960 -1980’s is averagely 8.5-8.9%   [ 3 ]   , which is higher than lots of Latin American countries. But the time of democratization in South Korea was later than Latin American countries. This is explained by Huntington in his article in 1984 that he thought this is an exception.   [ 4 ]   To conclude, Huntington pointed out there might be two reasons; the first one is the tradition Confuci anism emphasize the structure of the social levels, authority, community, and loyalty which postponed the society’s requests of democracy, and the second reason is because the rapid economic growth happened in a relatively equal income distribution environment. However, when it reached the critical point in 1980’s, it forced South Korea to begin its democratization.   [ 5 ]