The Crucible Essays (531 words) - Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible

The Crucible The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller. It is about a time of everyday people who use lying as a weapon while saying they are pure and religious. This story is a prime example of how people will do anything to get what they want, even if it means hurting other people. This story is about a handful of girls who use other people to save themselves. These girls were caught dancing around a fire and what seemed to be a magic brew. Although these girls were doing nothing wrong they felt to be on the safe side to say that other people made them dance and sign the book of the devil. Although all the people in this play is getting betrayed or betraying other people. One of the main people in this story was Abigail Williams. She was mean and would do anything to get what she wanted. She was in love with an older married man and she was jealous of the wife. Abigail wanted nothing more in her live then to find a way to get rid of his wife so she can take her place. In the process of not getting in trouble for dancing in the woods and trying to get the love of her live, she convinced the other girls of hurting alot if innocent people. She got all sorts of people thrown in prison such as Rebecca Nurse and Mary Warren . She got all these people in trouble by saying she saw them with the devil and accused them of witch craft. John Proctor started to be a nice guy, but later in the book when his wife was accused of witchcraft he seemed to have changed. He ended up being mean and started to abuse his power to the household maid named Mary Warren who was one of the kids telling lies. He told her that if she did not start telling the truth about her and the other girls then he would kill her. By saying this he showed that he doesn't care for anyone except him and his wife. Even though he knew from the beginning that the girls were lying he let other innocent people die. When Mary Warren went to the judge to tell the truth she knew either way that she was ruined. She knew that if she told the truth that the other girls would turn on her and accuse her, but if she didn't then she knew the John Proctor would do what he said and kill her. She went to the court and just as she thought the girls said they saw her as a yellow bird. The only thing she could think of to take back what she said and get the girls to stop was to say that John Proctor was into witchcraft and he put a spell on her. The girls finally stopped with their lies when they went to far, they started to blame the mayors wife. After that the judge finally relized that all of the girls have told nothing but lies and innocent people died for nothing. That was the end of the Salem witch trials. This story was a good example of how life was back then, and how everyone thought they could have their way. The Salem witch trials killed hundreds of innocent people who died by nothing more than lies.

Robespierre Maximilien His Reason Behind the Terror essays

Robespierre Maximilien His Reason Behind the Terror essays Maximilien Robespierre: His Reason Behind the Terror No figure of the French Revolution has aroused so much controversy as that of Maximilien Robespierre. He is known to most people as the symbol of the Reign of Terror, a period where approximately 17,000 people died while enduring horrible prison conditions or were executed due to the mere suspicion of being a traitor. The question of whether or not these actions were rightfully justified is an important one. Robespierre seems to have thought so. I, however, will show that the use of terror by Robespierre during the French Revolution was not just or necessary, and that he was acting in his own best interest rather than the States. First to understand Robespierre it is important to look into his past. He was born on May 6, 1758 in the town of Arras to Francois Robespierre. Although he belonged to a poor family, he was able to study law in Paris by means of a scholarship. He was highly dedicated to his studies which left him isolated from companionship. Returning to Arras, he practiced law and gained a reputation. He then became familiar of the works of Jean Jacques Rousseaus theories of democracy, deism, and virtue (which Robespierre understood as civic morality). These beliefs eventually led to his epithet the Incorruptible (Lycos). In 1789 he was elected into the States-General and attached himself to the extreme left wing. His influence grew over the Jacobin Club and eventually he became its leader. In 1791 he made a law which stated that no member of the current Constituent Assembly would be able to sit in the following Legislative Assembly. For this, he was appointed Public Accuser. Robespierre opposed the Girondists war proposals in 1792 which caused him to lose popularity with the public. He resigned as Public Accuser and was then elected as first deputy for Paris to the National Convention where he was bitterly attacked by the Girondists. R...

Teacher's Pension Scheme Reforms in the UK Essay

Teacher's Pension Scheme Reforms in the UK - Essay Example Issues involved in the scheme The TPS of UK currently assumes a defined benefit scheme of final salary of teachers. This translates into the fact that retirement benefits, as well as the final salary of individual teachers, is based on the length a teacher has been in service. This has seen calculation of final salary of retirement benefits based on either the best of a teacher’s salary within the twelve months before retirement, or calculated as the best average of any three successive years of salary in the last ten years. However, the union chiefs have taken a stand to demand the reformation of the method that is being used in the calculation of the retirement benefits. The chiefs argue that this method of calculating final salary is unfair, for it only benefits high flyers at the expense of low flyers that are in the same professional groups. Conversely, the government is of the opinion that it is the way to go, and, therefore, rooting for the maintenance of the scheme onl y that the final salary be replaced by a revalued earning scheme that is career averaged (Lewicki et al, 56). Another issue is the retirement age where it has been noted that life expectancy of people in UK is on the rise. This means that retiring at 60 results into teachers spending approximately 40% of their lives in retirement as compared to earlier years like 1955 when life expectancy was low (Department of Education, 1). Government ministers demand that the retirement age take into account the increases in the life expectancy, in addition to, reformation of the normal pension age so that it corresponds with the state pension age. However, the union chiefs are opposed to the increase in pension age to 65. In terms of contributions, the issue is the monthly contributions to teachers’ pensions. The government is of the view that the monthly contributions be increased and that the contribution levels be tied to the earning s to protect the low aid teachers. However, union ch iefs are opposed to this, for this will only function to  favor the employers who will have an upper hand in determining the teachers’ pensions. The final issue is the issue regarding returning to work after a teacher retires. The union chiefs root for abatement of teachers’ pension as the government root for a reduction of pension on return with an increase upon retirement. Tactics employed The government minister’s concern is the increasing cost of running the TPS which is purely unfunded. This means that the contributions paid by both employers and employees are the ones used to pay out pension benefits to teachers by the government department (Education Department, 1). Therefore, in a way of raising these funds as well as allowing for saving, the government figured out on how they can have teachers themselves contribute to this plan. This was transferred to the monthly contributions teachers make to the TPS. It was, thus, consequential that teacher’ s contributions be increased by an average of 3.2 percent that is from 6.4 percent to 9.6% by 2014. This may translate to a person earning forty thousand dollars seeing an increase of up to 64% in the monthly contributions (Lewicki et al, 1). However, this is under the disguise of

The Google Boys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Google Boys - Essay Example However, soon the fellows found a common topic of interest, and by January 1996, the 24-year-old Larry and 23-yar-old Sergey had started collaboration on their first search engine called BackRub, which could analyze the â€Å"back links† pointing to a given website. The friends were limited in cash and had to borrow computers for their network. BackRub became popular in the campus. The work on the new technology was continued. Larry and Sergey bought a terabyte of disks at bargain price to build their computer housing. The Google’s first data center was in Larry’s dorm room. Having set up a business office, they started looking for potential partners. However, the new technology was not known and many companies, including Yahoo, refused a wonderful chance to get hold of it for almost no money. So Larry and Sergey decided to promote their engine themselves. All they needed was money. It was Andy Bechtolsheim, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, and then a friend of a faculty member, who gave his blessing and a check for $100,000 to a new company, Google Inc. Sergey tells that they met Andy very early one morning on the porch at a Stanford faculty member’s home in Palo Alto. â€Å"We gave him a quick demo. He had to run off somewhere, so he said, ‘Instead of us discussing all the details, why dont I just write you a check? It was made out to Google Inc.†. While such a company didn’t exist it was impossible to deposit the check. So for a couple of weeks Sergey, who was, obviously, the business organizer, set up a firm, locating funders among family, friends and acquaintances. As a result, the initial investment made almost $1 million. Google Inc. opened in September 1998, in a friend’s garage in Melno Park, California. The new company had a staff of three, with Craig Silverstein, now Google’s director of

Mahatma Gandhi Essay Example for Free

Mahatma Gandhi Essay An acquaintance of mine is a highly paid professional lacking none of life’s luxuries. He plays the violin as a hobby and frequently plays in a public space, placing a jar in front of him so that passers-by can contribute money to show their appreciation. Other musicians play in that space, but they move on if another musician is already there. His actions suggest, to me, that he’s a struggling musician in need of financial assistance, but he’s collecting dollar bills from people who may be less fortunate financially than he. Your thoughts on the ethics of this? NAME WITHHELD, NEW YORK The reason this strikes you as problematic has to do with your view of what this man is doing. You see his actions as a request for undeserved charity. He sees his actions as a performance that has potential value. And he is correct. Part of your argument is based on the premise that your acquaintance is occupying a common space that could better serve a less fortunate peer. That contention would make sense if the guy were panhandling. But that is not what he’s doing. He’s creating art for public consumption; he is, by the strictest definition of the term, a professional musician. While not charging for this work, he’s still saying, â€Å"I believe my music has value — and if you agree, pay me whatever amount you think is justified.† He’s not expecting people to give him money just because he’s standing there. That people less wealthy than he is might be generating his revenue is irrelevant. If you go to a Metallica concert, you would have a hard time finding one person in the entire arena who’s richer than the band’s drummer. Does this mean Metallica should provide free tickets to every member of their audience who makes less money than they do? I suppose you could make the case that they should. But it wouldn’t be a very good one. THE GRAPE THIEF A man goes to the supermarket and passes a table of fruit. His eye meets a luscious bunch of seedless grapes. The man puts the grapes in a plastic bag and proceeds to eat one, before having them weighed to determine the price. Is this an unethical act? Is it stealing? Why is stealing even unethical? MAYA AZOURI, TORONTO The first two parts of your question are not particularly meaningful. Is this stealing? Yes (the man took something he didn’t pay for). Is it unethical? Yes (although the value of one grape is so minor that it impedes on the livelihood of no one). The third aspect of your query, however — why is stealing unethical — is intriguing. The answer seems so obvious that it’s almost never questioned, even though it might not be obvious at all. I approached this question by working though all the existing reasons people don’t steal on a regular basis. The first is that it’s illegal; we don’t steal things because we’ve communally agreed that there is a justified, enforceable penalty for doing so. Another reason has to do with the influence of religion; pretty much whatever religious text you accept tautologically states that stealing is wrong because â€Å"stealing is wrong.† A third reason is tied to the design of our economic framework: If people can just pilfer whatever they desire, nothing will have monetary value (in the example you cite, the man who harvests the grapes can’t earn a living if those grapes can be freely taken by whoever wants them). But let’s keep going. Let’s move into a â€Å"Mad Max† scenario: If we lived in a lawless, secular, money-free society, would stealing still be wrong? It would. And this is because the alternative would make us nervous and unhappy. Part of this problem has to do with the philosophical concept of ownership. Can objects truly be â€Å"owned† by someone, or is this just a word we use to describe an unreal proviso? The more you think about that question, the more complicated it becomes. But it ultimately doesn’t matter, because we’ve collectively decided to live as though ownership isreal. We believe our possessions are extensions of ourselves. So if stealing were an acceptable practice — if we lived in a world in which people just took whatever they wanted, simply because there was no clear argument for doing otherwise — our lives would be consumed by anxiety. We would live in constant fear and spend all our energy protecting our possessions. Traveling would become impossible, because we couldn’t go anywhere without bringing along everything we owned. People would be less motivated to create things, because they would have no way of stopping others from taking away those creations. Violence would increase exponentially. Though I’m not sure if we’re ethically obligated to make the lives of others better, we are ethically obligated not to make the lives of others worse. And that’s what stealing does: it makes it impossible for other people to pursue their own happiness. It destabilizes society. In your supermarket example, the level of instability is so negligible that there’s no impact; it’s almost as if that level of theft is built into our lives as a release valve from morality. But if you extrapolate the grape thief’s actions outward and upward, it doesn’t take long before

Good Food Industry :: essays research papers

GOOD FOODS INCORPORATED   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good Food, Incorporated (GFI) is a company founded on the belief that children can grow up healthier and live longer if they are fed a natural, nutritionally balanced diet starting earlier in life. GFI’s goal is to increase awareness of this link between diet and health.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good Food Industry was a start up business with three principals presently involved in its development. GFI’s principals have researched and developed a line of unique children’s food products based on the holistic health concept. The holistic concept, which health food consumer determined was widely accepted among adult consumers of health foods, was new to child-care field. Hence GFI planned to take advantage of the opportunities for market development and penetration that its principals were confident exists. GFI also believed that the existing baby-food industry paid only cursory attention to providing high quality, nutrition products, and that the limited number of truly healthy and nutritious baby foods created a market void that GFI could successfully fill.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market Research During its market research phase, GFI engaged â€Å"Vick Product Sales Research Corporation† as its marketing and advertising consulting company. Vick prepared reports on industry trends for the traditional children’s food industry and healthy food industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vick’s market research showed that the United States was entering a â€Å"mini baby boom† that would increase the potential market base for its products. Health food products would approach the market place primarily through the health food stores and nature food centres in major supermarket chain stores, initially in the northwest and California. Acceptance of the GFI concept in these areas would enable The Company to expand to a national market. Market Definition   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GFI planned to direct its efforts to the sale of its health care products through the health food retail outlets and natural food centres located within major supermarkets. Geographically, the company would initially direct its efforts in two key areas: Northeast, especially around New York City: and particularly in the Reno, Nevada and Sacramento, California area. Both areas had a high concentration of adult health food consumers who GFI had found, through market research and analysis, to be most receptive to health concepts for children. According to this market research the specific target markets that GFI would approach through these outlets were: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Parents who were concerned about their health and their children’s health and who thus demand higher quality and more nutritionally lanced foods and products. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Operators of child-care centres who provide meals to children. Good Food Industry :: essays research papers GOOD FOODS INCORPORATED   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good Food, Incorporated (GFI) is a company founded on the belief that children can grow up healthier and live longer if they are fed a natural, nutritionally balanced diet starting earlier in life. GFI’s goal is to increase awareness of this link between diet and health.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good Food Industry was a start up business with three principals presently involved in its development. GFI’s principals have researched and developed a line of unique children’s food products based on the holistic health concept. The holistic concept, which health food consumer determined was widely accepted among adult consumers of health foods, was new to child-care field. Hence GFI planned to take advantage of the opportunities for market development and penetration that its principals were confident exists. GFI also believed that the existing baby-food industry paid only cursory attention to providing high quality, nutrition products, and that the limited number of truly healthy and nutritious baby foods created a market void that GFI could successfully fill.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Market Research During its market research phase, GFI engaged â€Å"Vick Product Sales Research Corporation† as its marketing and advertising consulting company. Vick prepared reports on industry trends for the traditional children’s food industry and healthy food industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vick’s market research showed that the United States was entering a â€Å"mini baby boom† that would increase the potential market base for its products. Health food products would approach the market place primarily through the health food stores and nature food centres in major supermarket chain stores, initially in the northwest and California. Acceptance of the GFI concept in these areas would enable The Company to expand to a national market. Market Definition   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GFI planned to direct its efforts to the sale of its health care products through the health food retail outlets and natural food centres located within major supermarkets. Geographically, the company would initially direct its efforts in two key areas: Northeast, especially around New York City: and particularly in the Reno, Nevada and Sacramento, California area. Both areas had a high concentration of adult health food consumers who GFI had found, through market research and analysis, to be most receptive to health concepts for children. According to this market research the specific target markets that GFI would approach through these outlets were: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Parents who were concerned about their health and their children’s health and who thus demand higher quality and more nutritionally lanced foods and products. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Operators of child-care centres who provide meals to children.

St. Augustine Confessions

St. Augustine’s Confessions St. Augustine lived during a period in which the Roman Empire was in deep decline and Christianity was taking root as the official religion. It was a time of great political stress and widespread religious concern. The Confessions reveals much about his formative years, when he strove to overcome his sensual desires, find faith, and understand religious and philosophical doctrines. Augustine treats this autobiography as much more than an opportunity to narrate his life, however, and there is hardly an event mentioned in his autobiography that does not have an accompanying religious or philosophical clarification. St. Augustine’s confessions also provide one with a critical aspect of the Christian Bible. Augustine’s confessions form a work that corresponds closely to its content and achieves what it set out to achieve, which is redemption from sins for Augustine and a revelation for the readers. His writing is basically an idea of the return of creation to God; its aim is to inspire others to actively seek this return and to believe in the creation of God. The relationship St. Augustine has with love and God is undeniably irrevocable due to the fact that he cannot distinguish love and God with out one another. Augustine often experiences darkness, blindness, and confusion while attempting to find truth in God, but he knows that when he eventually finds him his confused heart will be redeemed. Augustine started out in childhood with a state of confusion because he had to live in two different worlds. These two worlds consisted of that of his mother’s (Monica) religious faith and teachings, and the rest of the outside world. The two worlds confused Augustine as a child because his mother praised Christ and Christianity and about the almighty God who helps humans to go to heaven. In the outside world, it was completely nonreligious. The talk was about striving to achieve. In Carthage, while successfully pursuing his studies, he abandoned his Christian moral teachings of his early years and took in a mistress, with whom he lived with for 10 years. Augustine’s relation to his mistress focuses primarily on the problem of restless love, while showing that Augustine had the desire to love and wanted to be loved. Many young men stayed with a woman until the time came to marry them back then. This is what Augustine performed. He states that, â€Å"In those days I lived with a oman, not my lawful wedded wife but a mistress whom I had chosen for no special reason but that my restless passions had alighted on her. But she was the only one and I was faithful to her† (Confessions, IV). This is just one of the many aspects in his life that he considered sinful. Later in his writings, when Augustine talks about his conversation to Neo-Platonism (all actions a re considered good or evil) and then Christianity that he classifies his previous behavior as sinful and regrets many of his previous actions. By the time he converted, he viewed every act in which he put himself ahead of God as sinful. One sin that he mourns greatly and faults himself for is allowing him to be sexually free and having various partners. Although Augustine was regretful for his sin, he also mentions that it was the hardest sin to give up when he was trying to determine if he wanted to convert to Christianity completely. Augustine also attempts to provide another explanation for his previous actions by speculating that his actions were a result of his love for God being somehow misleading; â€Å"To him I was led by thee without my knowledge, that by him I might be led to thee in full knowledge† (Confessions, XIII). One of the biggest struggles that Augustine faced was his belief in God and how God exists. His concern was how we can seek God without really knowing what he is or what we’re exactly looking for. â€Å"Within me I had a dearth of that inner food which thyself, my God—although that dearth caused me no hunger† (Confessions, I). He constantly questions the existence of God and his belief in Him. Asking God to â€Å"come into me†, Augustine again questions what that phrase could really mean when expressed to God. Later on in the writing, Augustine came across a book, in which he referred to as â€Å"books of eloquence† (Confessions, IV), called Hortensius by Cicero. He admired this book very much and its philosophical ways which he proclaims it â€Å"changed my whole attitude and turned my prayers toward thee, O Lord, and gave me new hope and new desires† (Confessions, IV). The reading caused him to reach toward God, even though he had only learned of God seriously through Monica, his mother whom was of Christian faith. It helped him to develop a different outlook on God and take life more seriously. Furthermore, the death of Augustine’s friend made him realize that all love should be rooted in God. His friend became very ill with a fever and eventually passed away. Augustine felt extreme grief and sorrow for his friend’s death. He believes that the main cause of his misery lies in the fact that he loves his friend with the type of love that should have been reserved for God alone. Therefore, he felt that all human love is going to fade unless this love is grounded in the eternal God who never changes and will always remain. While love exists between two souls with whom we want to be with, this type of love will always have a basis from God. Throughout the Confessions, love and wisdom, his desire to love and be loved, are all driving forces for Augustine’s desire to find peace in God. Augustine often experiences darkness, blindness, and confusion while attempting to find peace in God and peace within himself, but he knows that when he eventually finds him his restless heart will be saved. Augustine felt that love might help him have a solid purpose in life and would guide him through his time of conversion. Love is a natural feeling for human race and becomes a necessity for all people. For Augustine, the first love has to be for the love of God. It must come before all others. He states that â€Å"the thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you† (Confessions, I). Holding God as love’s priority, it helped Augustine to shape his life, his mind and his beliefs. He never realized what a big difference it makes in one’s life when it is opened up to love and to love Christ. For Augustine, the answer to his questions and confusion lies in God’s grace. These answers are to the most difficult questions on life and faith. Throughout his writing, there was no time where he had been without love, but he had loved in pieces, hidden, and conflicting ways. He had loved his mother, Monica, from the beginning. He had also loved the name and image of Christ, but was in state of confusion many times therefore doubting his faith and beliefs. Through the Confessions, Augustine leaves himself and his past to praising God and loving him because he felt guilty with himself and his importance of God in his life. He found a place in God that he never imagined could happen. His guilty mind and heart finally found rest in God. Love also played a significant role during his conversion. It helped guide him towards God and Christ in a positive way that influenced the rest of his life. All these various themes of love helped and guided Augustine through his conversion. This formation was the discovery of a new self and the discovery of the new world he sees now through his conversion. The conversion taught him truth and to believe in God. His desire to understand wisdom, which was through the readings by Cicero, brought about a new view for Christ. Though he converted, Augustine’s full connection with the love of Christ was still yet incomplete for him. His mind was not satisfied with any one direction. The most critical and influential form of love that Augustine had was love for God and the love for Christ. It was almost as if he was exposed to a new realm and he opened up his life up to God more and more each day by praising him, telling God how much he loves him now. Augustine states, â€Å"then, O Lord, you laid your most gentle, most merciful finger on my heart and set my thoughts in order, for I began to realize that I believed countless things which I had never seen or which I had taken place when I was not there to see† (Confessions, VI). The Confessions tells a story in the form of a long conversion with God. Through this conversion to Catholic Christianity, Augustine encounters many aspects of love. These forms of love guide him towards an ultimate relationship with God. His restless heart finally finds peace and rest in God after the conversion. Augustine finds many ways in which he can find peace in God. He is genuinely sorry for having turned away from God, the one source of peace and happiness. Augustine is extremely thankful for having been given the opportunity to live with God. Augustine uses love as his gate to God’s grace. All in all, the Confessions can be read as Augustine’s way of redemption from his sins and his revelation of love to God and Christ. Augustine’s transition from a sinner to a faithful Christian was also evidence to God’s greatness. Even though Augustine committed unacceptable sins, it was a good thing for him in that he found the strength to believe and love God. This is because of what he has obtained from analyzing texts, such as Cicero’s writings, and Christian philosophy and the fact that he can truly understand the root causes of his sins that he committed instead of simply implying them based on what a book says.