Why did Michael Henchard fail? Essay -- English Literature

Why did Michael Henchard fail? The Mayor of Casterbridge is a novel about the rise and fall of a mercurial man called Michael Henchard. The book takes us through his life when he is twenty-one and outlines his ascent and descent in society. Michael Henchard is a man of many characteristics. Amongst his characteristics he has a kind, honest and determined personality along with a cold, ruthless, and stubborn personality. Henchard's impulsiveness, aggressive attitude, self-centredness made failure inevitable in his life. We first meet Henchard a disconsolate twenty-one year old hay-trusser, he is married with a young daughter. We see Henchard sell his wife and daughter in a drunken rage in furmity tent at a county fair. At first it was a bit of a joke, a friendly banter but then it turned nasty. The two main reasons for Henchard not backing down from his offer of a wife and daughter this was alcohol and his pride. Alcohol played a big part in Henchard's mistakes in life. He often regrets things after he does them, and suffers the consequences like the fact that he sold his wife and daughter to a sailor whom he had not known, a complete stranger for five guineas. It stays on his conscience and haunts him. Henchard was young and naive and felt that his wife and daughter were a burden upon him, and he felt he needed a new start. The sale of his wife and daughter suggests Henchard is childish and stubborn. It is almost as if when Henchard is under the influence of alcohol he turns into a aggressive child saying ''No I said I will sell my wife and daughter, I don't care what happens I said i will and I will!'' The next morning Henchard knows that he has committed a terrible sin, but the fact that Hencha... ...hard is now declared bankrupt and in front of the creditors throws down his gold watch rather childishly. He would do this because he is a very proud man and he wants nothing. ''He had used his one talent of energy to create a position of affluence out of absolutely nothing.'' One thing about Michael Henchard is that you have to admire him for what he has achieved in his life, his energy, aspirations and determination allowed him to do this. But the only problem is that Henchard is too impulsive and acts n emotions, and does not think before he acts. That is why he failed in life. I also believe that fate played a big part in his failure. For example the weather forecast, he acted on impulsion and he did not think about the accuracy of the reading. So overall I think that Michael Henchard's character contributed to his failure along with pure fate.

Government Essay

Should wealthy nations be required to share their wealth among poorer nations by providing such things as food and education? Or is it the responsibility of the governments of poorer nations to look after their citizens themselves? What should a government do for a country to become successful? Should money be spent on space exploration? Should rich countries forgive all debts for poor countries? Does foreign aid help donor countries more than the recipients? Should rich countries pay more for environmental damage? Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain percentage of these jobs to be reserved for women? Should developing countries concentrate on improving industrial skills or should they promote education first? Safety standards are important when building people’s homes. Who should be responsible for enforcing strict building codes – the government or the people who build the homes? Discuss the advantage and disadvantage of giving international aid to poor countries. Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms or re-educated and rehabilitated using community service programs for instance, before being reintroduced to society? In most countries disabled people are not catered for adequately, e.g. buildings are often inappropriately designed. Governments rely too heavily on charities and voluntary organizations to provide assistance and funding. What further measures could be taken to assist disabled people? In your opinion should government intervene in the rights of the individual with regard to family planning? The best way to reduce the number of traffic accidents is to make all young drivers complete a safe driving education course before being licensed to drive. Nowadays doctors can become very rich. Maybe they should not focus on profitable activities such as plastic surgery or looking after rich patients and concentrate more on patients health, no matter how rich they are? Does travel help to promote understanding and communication between countries? In your opinion what factors contribute to a good movie? Are famous people treated unfairly by the media ? Should they be given more privacy, or is the price of their fame an invasion into their private lives? Is animal testing necessary? Some businesses now say that no one can smoke cigarettes in any of their offices. Some governments have banned smoking in all public places. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons. To what extent is the use of animals in scientific research acceptable? Human beings do not need to eat meat in order to maintain good health because they can get all their food needs from meatless products and meatless substances. A vegetarian diet is as healthy as a diet containing meat. Argue for or against the opinion above. Forests are the lungs of the earth. Destruction of the world’s forests amounts to death of the world we currently know. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Are our zoos cruel to wild animals? Discuss. Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but not poor alternatives to a natural environment. Discuss some of the arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos. To what extent will migration from the developing world to the developed world become a social and political issue in the 21st century? In Britain, when someone gets old, they often go to live in a home with other old people where there are nurses to look after them. Sometimes the government has to pay for this care. Who should be responsible for our old people? Give reasons. The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000 there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on British roads. Alternative forms of transport should be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use. What do you think? The best way to reduce the number of traffic accidents is to make all young drivers complete a safe driving education course before being licensed to drive. News editors decide what to broadcast on TV and what to print in newspapers. What factors do you think influence their decisions? Have we become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported? TV: could you be without it? Discuss. To what extent will migration from the developing world to the developed world become a social and political issue in the 21st century? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people’s ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer. Tourism is becoming increasingly important as a source of revenue to many countries but its disadvantages should not be overlooked. What are some of the problems of tourism? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people’s ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer Does modern technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology was simpler? Will modern technology, such as the internet ever replace the book or the written word as the main source of information? We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in businesses, hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used for in future?.Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their benefits?Use specific details and examples in your answer. In what ways has information technology changed work and working practices in the past 10 years? Technology is making communication easier in today’s world, but at the expense of personal contact as many people choose to work at home in front of a computer screen. What dangers are there for a society which depends on computer screens rather than face-to-face contact for its main means of communication? Will the Internet bring people of the world closer together? The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000 there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on British roads. Alternative forms of transport should be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use. What do you think? The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people’s ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer. Should retirement be compulsory at 65 years of age? Telecommuting’ refers to workers doing their jobs from home for part of each week and communicating with their office using computer technology. Telecommuting is growing in many countries and is expected to be common for most office workers in the coming decades. How do you think society will be affected by the growth of telecommuting? In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while in others people can work until they are 65 or 70. Until what age do you think people should be encouraged to remain in paid employment? Give reasons for your answer. To what extent should economic planning be influenced by the need of environmental conservation? Damage of the environment is an inevitable consequence of worldwide improvements in the standard of living. Discuss. The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world cities can be attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use. In order to reverse this decline in the quality of life in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more. Discuss possible ways to encourage the use of public transport. The threat of nuclear weapons maintains world peace. Nuclear power provides cheap and clean energy. The benefits of nuclear technology far outweigh the disadvantages. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer. Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country. Do you agree? What are factors which are related to academic success in high-school students? Do the benefits of study abroad justify the difficulties? What advice would you offer to a prospective student? The idea of going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people. But while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to stay home because of the difficulties a student inevitably encounters living and studying in a different culture. To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement? Give reasons for your answer. Education is recognized as vital to the future of any society in today’s world. Governments throughout the world should make education compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 15. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Foreign language instruction should begin in kindergarten. Discuss. Should sports classes be sacrificed in High School so students can concentrate on academic subjects?

Compare and Contrast: Being a Single Parent Essay

Single parents often faces struggles in raising their families, it does not affect only the parent but the children also. Families become a single parent family because of a death of a spouse or a divorce. A single parent struggles on financial, emotional, and social challenges. Of the eyes of the child, seeing their parent busy all the time makes the child feel neglected. The parent and children becomes depress because of all the stress she/he faces and lack of time for each other. A single parent faces money problems even though they have child support. Divorce couples often divide the expenses but the single parent have less work opportunity because of the responsibilities she/he faces as raising children. Having a death of a spouse is more difficult because it leaves the single parent bills like car, funeral, hospital, and etc. The single parent need to work a lot to support the family but he/she leaves little time of spending time together. If the single parent does not make enough money to support his/her family then sometimes the children is taken by the child protective services. The single parent and children faces emotional problems like depression and loneliness. After a death of a spouse or a divorce, the parent feels neglected and he/she sometimes shut themselves down for a long time and neglect their children. Even though the parent is not depress because of being a single parent, he/she has lots of responsibilities which gives little time to spend with the kids. The bond of the family weakens everyday which cause depression on each family member. Seeing their children suffer makes the parent feel angry and ends up blaming themselves. With all the things a single parent need to do, he/she lack social time with their kids. Communication is an important element to make the family strong. Most single parents have more than one job or go back to school for a better paying job in order to support financial needs and so he/she leaves their kids to a sitter or relative. This gives little time to help their children with academics, emotional, and etcetera problems personally. The child end up being negative because of the lack of help and communication. It is tough being a single parent with all the challenges they faced and lack of time with families. The three main challenges( financial, emotional, and social) makes the family fall apart. But not all single parent families are unsuccessful some are successful. The single parent needs to have a positive outlook by being responsible on all the duties he/she faces, making the family number one priority, being outspoken with kids, taking care of themselves and still maintain family relationships or traditions. Each single parent out there should follow these things in order to accomplish their goal in life, wishing the best for their children’s future or outlook. http://www.ehow.com/info_8008164_causes-effects-single-parents.html http://foreverfamilies.byu.edu/Article.aspx?a=83 Work Cited Carpenter, Michael E. â€Å"What Are Some of the Challenges Single Parents Face?† EHow. Demand Media, 09 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. Duncan, Stephen F. â€Å"Being a Successful Single Parent.† Forever Families. School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2013. Gilbert, Rebecca. â€Å"The Difficulties That Single Parents Face.† EHow. Demand Media, 14 Feb. 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2013. Golden, Jaime. â€Å"Single Parents & the Effects on Their Children.† EHow. Demand Media, 08 Mar. 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2013. McGrath, Victoria. â€Å"Causes & Effects of Single Parents.† EHow. Demand Media, 02 Mar. 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2013.

Marriage Is Important in Turkey Essay

I cannot imagine a Turkey without marriage. Marriage in literal meaning the contract made by a man and woman to live as husband and wife but in religious meaning Marriage is valued as a sacrament because the couple is keeping each other’s merits intact by committing themselves and by committing to God that they both will keep God’s word. Islamic belief, having a family and sexuality are some of the reasons why marriage is important. Marriage is a crucial part of a Turkish Muslim’s life because God ordered us to get married and the prophet Muhammad (s.a.v.) said that person who acquires the means to marry and does not marry then he is not from amongst us. The scholars of Islam have asserted that when God states an order in the Quran, this order becomes compulsory on man so marriage is an obligatory behaviour. Islam gives the right to a woman to be a wife of a man. This is a big distinctness because in these days a man is not guilty if he has relationships with a w oman outside of marriage but the moment he contracts to treat this woman equally as his wife, he is charged with illegal behaviour. Marriage is the foundation for a family in Turkey. If one wants children he/she should get married because children need role-models in their lives. Having a mother and father in the home can provide children with a male and female role model. Children need both parents because each parent provides a unique role to the child. There are certain qualities that a mother possesses that cannot be offered by the father. Where families are broken young people do not receive the support they need. Nowadays fornication is considered to be something which one should feel proud of with a ‘the more the better’ motto. Many teenagers are led into this behaviour and then suffer the consequences when they are left to look after the child and struggle through the financial problems. The circumstances of fornication in society can create an unfortunate and challenging upbringing. Fornication plays an extremely important part in the fall of society. What makes it worse is that today’s society has considered it to be a small matter. In fact in modern society, fornication is not even considered wrong but marriage reduces the possibility of it because the sexual intercourse between husband and wife is not considered as an immoral behaviour in society of Turkey. To sum up, According to Islam marriage is compulsory and God stated in Quran that wed the single among you and we can see from this verse that the Creator of mankind has ordered us to marry. Marriage is a crucial factor in the proper upbringing of children. This is because children without one of their parents are much more likely to commit crimes and they become a nuisance to the cities they live in. Marriage plays a big part in preventing one from fornication and decreases the numbers of adulterines.

“On Compassion” and “Homeless” Essay

The thesis of On Compassion by Barbara Lazear Ascher is: we can’t deny that homelessness exists when it hits us in the face everyday. Compassion is not a trait that we inherit, it is a learned experience. The thesis from Homeless by Anna Quindlen is the homeless were once just like us but something happened to them that made them lose their homes. In On Compassion, Ascher presents us with three scenarios as I have mentioned before. A man who is walking down the street when a woman hands him a dollar bill. A man who receives bread and coffee from the owner of a cafe and the mayor of NYC who moved the homeless into the hospitals. We discussed whether or not the gesture was out of fear or compassion and I came to the conclusion that it was fear that motivated the gift. But, all in all what is Ascher’s point? Her point of the story is: a person isn’t born compassionate. As one goes on with their lives different events and experiences shapes their mind set that makes them grow compassionate. In Homeless by Anna Quindlen she gives us a homeless woman named Ann. She was doing a story on homeless and the woman was trying to prove her wrong by showing pictures of her house. Anna realized that this woman was just like all of us before. The point that Quindlen is trying to make: the homeless were people just like us once, they were no different.The thesis of On Compassion by Barbara Lazear Ascher is: we can’t deny that homelessness exists when it hits us in the face everyday. Compassion is not a trait that we inherit, it is a learned experience. The thesis from Homeless by Anna Quindlen is the homeless were once just like us but something happened to them that made them lose their homes.

Nagel's bat argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nagel's bat argument - Essay Example This shortcoming in Nagel’s argument comes as a result of a conceptual error regarding the nature of a mind-independent, or objective, phenomenon. The nature of phenomenal experience can be illustrated with a thought experiment. A scientist can apply artificial impulses to a subject’s cerebrum through electrodes, causing the subject to react in predicable ways: moving his arm, yelling loudly, and so on. These artificial inputs mirror exactly the natural functioning of the brain. Imagine then if the scientist simulates pain, evoking the appropriate physiological responses, but hears no reports of pain from the subject. For pain to exist, we might conclude, there is a necessary condition that there be first ­-hand, phenomenal experience of such. Even though the physiological responses to pain appear, there is still the lack of subjectivity, which proves necessary for the ontic existence of pain. Nagel uses the term â€Å"subjective character of experience† to denote the thought that a point-of-view is essentially a set the sum of a thing’s subjective phenomena. The notion of the subjective character of experience suggests, according to Nagel, that some kinds of facts, namely the means by which mental states arise from physical ones, are outside of the realm of human experience and thus unknowable. A bat, for instance, perceives its environment entirely different from how a human being would and given that there is something that the bat subjectively experiences there seems to be some ontological closure for the human mind to some facts. The bat forms a particularly effective tool for Nagel to illustrate his claim insofar as that species employs a sensory device of sonar, which is a radically different from man’s means of perception. While any conscious animal would do, the bat’s sensory tools are clearly different in every respect of its operation from sight or any of the other human senses. While clearly conscious, the bat has its own very

Issues of Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Issues of Justice - Essay Example For theorist John Rawls, â€Å"Justice is the first virtue of social institutions† ( 1999). But today it is faced by many issues. And so, it is timely that the concept of justice and its impact on issues be clarified. Definition of justice Seen as a foundation stone of morality, justice is nominally described as â€Å"the constant will and disposition to give each one his due† (Montemayor 101). More properly, it is defined as â€Å"†the principle of rectitude and fairness in men’s relation with each other†(101). From the aforesaid, two essential attributes of justice may be observed, namely universality and equality. Universality requires justice for all without bias. Meanwhile, equality demands justice equitably distributed regardless of class or position. These attributes require the application of laws without discrimination or without playing favorites. It is noted by moralists that all laws, either human or divine, are reducible to the universal principles of justice. Giving God His due through love is a summary of the Ten Commandments. The right to life, liberty and security of person is ensured by the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Killing, stealing, adultery are violations of justice owed to life, property and integrity. Types of justice The concept of justice is not simple, and so there is a need to list its classification based relationships among individuals, as well as individuals with institutions such as the state. Commutative. This is justice based on mutuality of rights and duties. Everyone should give to others what belongs to them. For example an assault to honor through libel, that ruins someone’s good name, is a violation of commutative justice (Oswald, 1). Distributive. This is justice assigned to the state, which must fulfill certain duties to its citizens. For example, government should provide support for free education, promote social justice, protect workers, etc. Organizational. This relates t o justice for people in organizations, such as on matters of wages, promotions and privileges. (Tabibnia, et al., 339). Restorative. Offenders are urged to take responsibility and repair the damage done through apology, return of stolen items, community service, etc. (Parade, 6) Retributive. There must be appropriate punishment for a crime. Utilitarianists look forward for benefits for those who amend for their crimes; retributionists look back with an eye for atoning damage done, e.g. law of an eye for an eye (Cavadino, 39). Social. Sparked by labor movements, a just society is viewed to be based on equality and solidarity, e.g. giving quality of work life to workers (Zajda, et al. 4721). Spatial. There is a need to achieve socio-spatial--geographical distribution of the workers’ needs, e.g. access to healthcare, good air quality, rest period, etc. Dynamics of justice and issues How do issues affect justice, and how does justice respond to issues? Issues create an impact on the justice system. For example, since the 60s, gays sought dignity owed to them. It was a hide-and-seek affair especially in the military. The dent, however, was made with the â€Å"Don’t ask, don’t tell† policy of the Clinton administration. Subsequently in 2012, President Obama allowed openness for being gay and the right of gay soldiers to serve without encountering bigotry in the U.S. military. Due to its dynamism, justice responds to issues. This is done by the justice system processing