An Analysis of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s, A Very Old Man with Enormous W

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings Analysis In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s â€Å"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,† he was able to exaggerate an element of our lives in order to prove that everything we have known and come to believe is actually not what it seems. Marquez has twisted something so solid in our beliefs such as an angel, in order to help us understand that nothing can be assumed from popular belief and appearances. Upon immediate viewing of the angel, the perception of reality has changed in its entirety. All past knowledge has become irrelevant now that it has been proven false. In an instant, an entire belief system has crumbled. Pelayo and Elisenda refuse to think of this man as an angel even though he clearly was. â€Å"That was how they skipped over the inconvenience of the wings and quite intelligently concluded that he was a lonely castaway from some foreign ship wrecked by the storm.† Angels in our minds have been known as beautiful creatures that are pure and clean. They are the epitome of man’s view of perfection. Marquez has created an angel that is rank, disturbing...

The First Amendment Essay -- Bill Rights Constitution Government USA E

The First Amendment America was built on freedom. Freedom to speak, freedom to choose, freedom to worship, and freedom to do just about anything you want within the law. America’s law was designed to protect and preserve these freedoms. The reason the United States of America came to exist was because the colonists fled Great Britain to get back the freedoms that were taken away from them by the Monarchy. In countries where Monarchies and Dictatorships rule, there is little if any freedom to speak of. Citizens of these countries are persecuted or even killed if they attempt to exercise any of the basic freedoms. In these countries there is no free speech, no right to choose government, no right to express religion, no right to own property. This is why I believe the first amendment in the Bill of Rights under the Constitution is the most important amendment. The First Amendment clearly voices a great American respect toward the freedom of religion. It also prevents the government from "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Since the early history of our country, the protection of basic freedoms has been of the utmost importance to Americans. The American voice on freedom has been shaped throughout the course of history by the initial democratic notions of the immigrants to the same desire for greater freedom that we have today. Ever since colon...

Beowulf as a hero in modern society Essay

In the historic epic Beowulf, its title character, Beowulf, is perceived as an unconventional as well as a traditional hero in current society. Beowulf, the son of Ecgtheow and Hygelac’s thane, is presented as a fearless warrior to the audience. This acknowledgment of Beowulf causes the readers to instantly recognize that Beowulf is a well-respected man. Beowulf’s magnitude is seen at the very beginning of the poem as the narrator states, â€Å"The man whose name was known for courage, the Geat Leader† (Heaney 25). Beowulf is announced to the Danish people with magnificence. Before proving Beowulf’s heroic qualities, the viewers are conscious of the fact that Beowulf is a great warrior and the son of a well admired man. It can be distinguished that from Beowulf’s opening statements he will become a hero. Bravery is a key characteristic that identifies a hero. Throughout the entire poem Beowulf appeared to possess infinite valor. He displayed courage in his swimming competition with Breca, and in his fights with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon that fatally wounded him. In all of Beowulf’s struggles, he revels wisdom, strength, and motivation. In his clash against Grendel, Beowulf utilizes his sheer strength to kill Grendel. He used his mighty strength to rip off the monster’s arm from the shoulder. As stated by the narrator, â€Å"The monster’s whole body was in pain; a tremendous wound appeared on his shoulder†¦ Beowulf was granted the glory of winning†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Heaney 55). The defeat of Grendel fulfills Beowulf’s heroic duty. This is also seen with Grendel’s mother. After Grendel’s death, Grendel’s mother desires to avenge her child. Beowulf fights her in water and still prevails. By keeping true to his word Beowulf is able to prove his worth. Near the end of poem, Beowulf faces his last episode. He takes on a dragon that is creating havoc upon the city. Before facing the dragon he knows that he might die and yet still fights with glory and all of his might. On page 171 Beowulf states, â€Å"This fight is not yours, nor is it up to any man except me†¦ I shall win the gold by my courage, or else mortal combat, doom of battle, will bear your lord away† (Heaney 171). Beowulf yet again completes his task as he kills the dragon, however, he immediately dies from his wounds. Beowulf, a true hero, confronts his death with bravery. It is Beowulf’s strength, determination, and courage that enable him to become a distinguishable hero in modern society. Although Beowulf is portrayed as a true Anglo-Saxon hero, he has qualities that would depict him not as one in current society. From Beowulf’s initial introduction he is seen as being conceited and aggressive. During the first feast, Beowulf tells of the story of his swimming race. Beowulf states, â€Å"I was the strongest swimmer of all†¦Time and again, foul things attacked me†¦but I lashed out, gave as good as I got with my sword†¦My sword had killed nine sea-monsters. Such night-dangers and hard ordeals I have never heard of nor of a man more desolate in surging waves.† (Heaney 37). This quote reveals the cockiness of Beowulf. He is very arrogant as he believes that he is the best and the bravest. Arrogance is not a characteristic of a hero. Another flaw is shown in Beowulf’s character as he fights Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Beowulf’s quarrel with Grendel exposes his true expression of violence. While Grendel and Beowulf are wrestling, Beowulf manages to get Grendel in such as position where he ripped off Grendel’s arm from the socket. This violent act can be seen as very brutal. The killing of Grendel in such a way would deny the right to name Beowulf as a hero in present society. In addition, the killing of Grendel’s mother has the same effect. While battling Grendel’s mother, Beowulf seeks assistance from an ancient blade. With this sword, he delivers a final blow to the neck of the monster. After determining that she is death, he still proceeds and decapitates her. He then returns with the head and displays it in Heorot. The decapitation of Grendel’s mother illustrates Beowulf as disrespectful and in violation of the heroic code, which doesn’t identify him as a hero. In the eyes of contemporary society Beowulf can be recognize as a paradoxical character as he is embodied by both heroic and callous qualities.

Medicine in Colonial America

Medicine in Colonial America was much different from today, but gave us a lot of insight in the human body’s needs. Due to lack of education, experience, proper tools, and hygiene, many patients died. However, there were also many people who were saved through the medical procedures and lived full and healthy lives. Few doctors in Colonial America actually received a formal education through a medical school, because there was really only one school: the Pennsylvania Hospital (Rorke, n. d. ). This program was far too expensive and for some located too far away, thus they could not attend.Furthermore, because of the lack of complete knowledge, these schools would not have provided any more information than one would obtain by learning from another doctor, which in most cases would be a much cheaper education, thus, most doctors learned through apprenticeships. They had to complete a 7 year apprenticeship before being considered a doctor. Of course there were Quacks, or citizens who pretended to have medical knowledge just to make a profit. Moreover, there were female medical practitioners, called midwives.They received no formal education and learned through apprenticeships as well. They birthed children and cared for the ill that could not afford a doctor’s care, or lived too far from a medical facility. When not even a midwife was available to treat a patient, the women of the households were responsible for the family health. Another group that provided medical care was Catholic monks who came over from Europe and brought along their wisdom of operating techniques, healing herbs and essential oils. These monks had a special way of numbing their patients with a plant called henbane.Their patients overcame the operations more quickly while less of them died in contrast to using barbaric operation and healing techniques that many colonial doctors were using. Today, we have many medical schools that are still very expensive and vigorous, but provide a more well-rounded education. Just like the doctors of Colonial America, doctors today undergo a sort of required apprenticeship after medical school, called a residency, which, for a surgeon ranges from five to eight years, depending on their specialty.Midwives are still available, but usually take care of pregnancies. Today, midwives must go through special training to become either a CNM- certified nurse midwife, or a CM- certified midwife. There have been great advances in medical procedures since the late 1700’s. For example, according to Rorke (n. d. ) to amputate a limb, doctors in colonial times would first numb the patients’ pain by intoxicating them with brandy or rum and have them bite on a wooden stick.Then, the medical team would hold them down on the table, while the doctor tied a leather tourniquet around the patients’ limb. The surgeon would start to cut through the flesh with his amputation knife and then saw through the bone itself using an a mputation saw. Subsequently, the bone shavings were removed by pouring whiskey or just plain water over the wound. Conversely, the remaining limb was burned with a hot iron to close the blood vessels and veins. They could then wrap the stump with pure cotton bandages and let it heal. Only approximately 35% of patients survived this procedure!The procedure itself sounds cruel, but the patients’ lives might have been at risk if it had not taken place, such as the rotting of the flesh, or blood poisoning, caused by an accident, or being shot with a bullet or poisoned arrow. Another example would be dentistry. Most colonists had awful teeth, because they did not have toothbrushes and toothpaste. Thus, teeth needed to be pulled. Because there are no anesthetics, having your teeth pulled was a very painful process. The dentist would hold the patient down on a chair and yank the tooth out using a pair of everyday pliers.Once again, there were many quacks in this field that would pul l good teeth from patients and sell them to people who wanted real-tooth dentures. Moreover, in 2009, archeological teams found human remains where someone, presumably a doctor, had drilled three holes into the skull. This may have been done to relieve the skull of pressure caused by a blow to the head. Archeologists believe that this could have been the first attempt at brain surgery and may have planted the seed for today’s brain surgery procedures (CBSnews. com, 11 Feb. 2009).Hermann Boerhaave’s theory of wellbeing was that a person has four humors: bile, phlegm, blood and urine. If these humors were imbalanced, a person would become ill. To make him or her feel better, you must balance the humors (Brinkley, 2004). According to Rorke, â€Å"one must sweeten acids, purify the stomach, and rid impurities by bleeding and purging† or by using leeches to increase blood production, to balance these again. Most doctors actually let patients bleed out, because their â€Å"humors† were not balanced, whereas midwives prescribed laxatives to remove bile.Furthermore, Boerhaave believed that a â€Å"fever was the body’s attempt to keep from dying,† even though we now know that it is actually the body’s response to killing whatever is making the body sick. Although this sounds absurd when considering our knowledge with today’s medicine, many doctors and midwives used this theory to aid the ill and actually succeeded in some cases. Hygiene was the one major contribution to nosocomial, or hospital obtained, infections. Because doctors in the colonial times did not know about bacteria, viruses, and contagious diseases, they did not clean the equipment or even their hands.Today, doctors and surgical staffs take extra care to clean everything. Surgeons take an average of five minutes to wash, scrub, and sanitize hands, whereas surgeons in colonial times took an average of zero seconds. Doctors would not even wash their h ands when rotating between patients. As discussed in class, doctors would go from a person with a severe flu to a woman giving birth without washing their hands. This could not only sicken the woman, but also make the child ill. The death rate of women suffering from Puerperal fever was extremely high.This fever is caused by a bacterial infection from unsterile equipment and conditions during childbirth, and the woman’s body not being able to rid the toxins from childbirth fast enough. This could ultimately lead to death. One cannot stress the importance of hand washing and personal hygiene enough! Obviously, or at least it is obvious today, one must clean any equipment that touched a person, even if it’s just a stethoscope. Disease could spread from such an object to another person causing them to become ill as well. Scalpels, saws, drills, anything that goes into a person, must be sanitized.Today, hospitals heat the instruments so that almost all of the bacteria die, and then they soak them in an antibacterial solution to ensure there are no harmful things on them. Furthermore, some hospitals send the tools to be sanitized to a company that sanitizes them for the hospital. This cuts back on hours cleaning and provides security that the equipment is safe and clean, resulting in happy patients and staff. I believe today’s health care is mostly based around customer service. You want to make sure the patient is happy, healthy, and satisfied with your performance.The patient even has a choice to live or die by signing a DNR- do not resuscitate- form. In colonial America, however, the doctor really did not care if you enjoyed their service or not, they were trying to help you in the long run. Doctors also had more freedom to refuse treatment than they do today. In some ways I would like our health care to be like that of colonial America in regards to customer service, because there are so many people going to the emergency room who have a mi ld cold and hold up the patients who are in critical condition and really need to be seen as soon as possible.I am indifferent to DNR’s. I believe a person must be in critical condition, such as terminal cancer, to be eligible to sign this form. As previously mentioned, medicine has evolved tremendously between colonial America and now. It is still ever-changing, because we find a cure to diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. Doctors can achieve great things, but only with the help of education, experience, sterile tools, and personal hygiene.

Drug Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Drug Plan - Essay Example There would remain many essential aspects to consider, when addressing the issue of the drug problem nationwide, with prevention being one of the stronger factors. Prevention sought through the treatment of offenders and the increased awareness within the community bodies, of the real dangers that exist within the world of drug exposure. As it would come to the military, most notably the National Guard, those resources would best be suited through placement at the borders. Another monetary option would be the providing of foreign aid to the farmers in the regions of South America and Mexico, so they wouldn't feel as compelled to grow the crops and still would be able to earn something even closer to being considered as being a living wage that they could support their families on. Diverting a substantial portion of the budget available to a measure such as this, along with the usage of the military arm of the government, would be a step toward the opportunity of being able to curb the drug supply at the source. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (2009), "The Trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs inflict tremendous harm upon individuals, families, and communities throughout the country," (National Drug Threat Summary, para. 1).

Banking Secrecy Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Banking Secrecy Laws - Essay Example The article talks about the evil practice of evading taxes and the topic has been narrowed down by the author and primarily focuses upon the citizens of Switzerland. There are about 52000 American depositors who have intentionally hidden some information regarding tax evasion with the help of their Swiss Bank accounts, the Swiss authorities are known for their secrecy and this is a double edged weapon and it is certainly proving out to be that way. The US government is putting extreme pressure on the Swiss government to provide them with information of the American citizens who have Swiss bank accounts. The US government has even launched a civil suit in Miami to get access to this pivotal information. The US government firmly believes that the American citizens have hidden their potential worth of about $ 14.8 billion in various Swiss bank accounts and recently a Swiss bank by the name UBS provided information important information to the US authorities of as many as 250 US citizens who have their bank accounts with the bank. The Swiss government is trying really hard to implement a tax system which will complement their secrecy but this has not been implemented yet. The French president has also got involved in this and he recently said that Switzerland would be put in a black list of the G-20 members for being a tax- haven nation.

Economics for transport managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Economics for transport managers - Essay Example 637.25 Therefore, change in Real GDP between 2003-04 and 2004-05 will be given by; Change = 637.25 – 621.052 = 16.198 % change = (16.198/621.052)*100 = 2.6% (virtual.yosemite.cc.ca.us, 2011). Question 2 Consumer Price Index is largely used as a cost of living index, but in technical terms it is not. CPI measures average change over time in prices paid by consumers for a fixed basket of goods and/or services. Cost of living index would however measure all changes over time in the amount consumers need to spend to reach a certain level of utility or standard of living. CPI ignores vital changes in taxes, water and air quality, crime levels, consumer safety, and quality of education. Additionally, personal experiences may vary from what is indicated by the CPI, this is because an individual's purchasing pattern may differ from the standard market basket. Families which have children have different buying patterns than households of the elderly. The CPI also does not represent the experiences of rural dwellers. CPI measurement limitations fall into two broad categories. Sampling errors CPI only measures the prices of just a sample of items from a sample of shops in a sample of localities. Those items are chosen randomly by the using of Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES). Non-sampling errors These are usually more significant than sampling errors. They bias the CPI upwards or downwards, so the CPI would normally tend to report higher inflation than what consumers are actually experiencing. a) Invention of LCD TVs will lead to lower level Substitution bias Consumers usually tend to respond to changes in price by substituting relatively cheaper goods for goods which have become more expensive. This is referred to as substitution bias. Substitution bias can either occur within item categories (lower level bias) or across item categories (higher level bias). b) Introduction of GPS units in cars will lead to Quality Change Bias If a product is 5% better than its pr edecessor, and its price rises by 10%, then the Bureau of Labor Statistics will record a price increase of only 5%.This reflects what is known as Quality Change Bias. c) Increased personal computer purchase in response to decline in their price will lead to New Outlet/Discount Bias. A discount outlet or price fall gives consumers the opportunity to purchase the same goods at a lower price. The current CPI ignores these price changes. Totally taking the price changes into account usually biases the CPI downwards. d) Greater use of bicycles after price levels increase will lead to high level substitution bias. Since consumers are switching from using cars to using bicycles, this is referred to as higher level substitution bias. e) Higher fuel taxes will lead to high level substitution bias. Since consumers will switch from fuel to using other energy sources, this will be a case of higher level substitution bias. Question 3 Factors that affect the rate of savings in an economy: A case study of Bangladesh Saving is defined as the process of setting aside a certain amount of current income for use in the future, or any resources that may be accumulated in this way over a certain period of time. How much individuals in an economy save is affected by their personal preferences for future over their present consumption and also their expectations of their future income. If people