Abuse of Power in Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley - 1177 Words

Power is earned, not given. There are many different types of power that people can earn. Power becomes a problem when it is not questioned or tested. Therefore, the one with the power would have total control over anything or anyone they wanted, or they would feel that way. People with power feel invincible when it is not questioned. Throughout history it has been proven that this creates a problem. For example, Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal is similar to the scandal with Father Flynn in Doubt. Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley, exemplifies an underlying message that unquestioned faith leads to abuse of power. Specifically, shown in Father Flynn’s reputation, cover up, and resignation, which all correlate to Richard Nixon’s†¦show more content†¦In the election of 1972, Nixon won by over sixty percent of the votes and won all states except Massachusetts against George McGovern (â€Å"The History Place†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). This is one of the biggest landslide s in U.S. Presidential election history. In January 1973, Richard Nixon’s approval rating was sixty-seven percent, which is relatively high compared to current president Barack Obama’s forty-seven percent and many other Presidents before him (â€Å"The History Place†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Therefore, he had a great reputation and was in the highest possible position, the leader of the free world, just like Father Flynn was in his parish. Richard Nixon also had a very positive relationship with members of the White House. For example, members of the White House were caught breaking in and violating the law to get President Nixon re-elected (â€Å"The History Place†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Abuse of power comes from a high reputation that is unquestioned. When one’s unquestioned reputation is being attacked one often feels obligated to make a plan to cover up accused actions to save their reputation. When Sister Aloysius first accuses Father Flynn of having an inappropriate relationship with Donald Muller he responds, â€Å"Happened? Nothing happened. I had a talk with the boy.† (32). Finally, Father Flynn says he did have some interaction with Donald after denying it for a while, but he still clearly states nothing happened. Father Flynn ends the conversation by saying, â€Å"I don’t wish to continue this conversation at all further. And if

Cynthia Ozick - 993 Words

Cynthia Ozick (1928 - †¦.) Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City on April 17, 1928. She was the second of two children. Her parents, Celia (Regelson) and Wiliam Ozick immigrated to the US from the northwest region of Russia. The family came from the Litvak (Lithuanian) Jewish tradition which was a tradition of skepticism, rationalism and antimysticism. Her parents owned a pharmacy in Pelham Bay section of Bronx. They worked very hard, usually fourteen hours a day. Cynthia delivered perscriptions sometimes. Her mother was a generous, lavish, exuberant woman full of laughter whereas her father was a discreet, quiet man. He was also a Jewish scholar, and knew Latin and German. When she was five and a half, her grandmother took her to†¦show more content†¦Three of her stories have won first prize in the O.Henry Prize Story competition, and five of her stories were chosen for republication in the yearly anthologies of Best American Short Stories. The editor of the 1984 volume called her one of the three greatest American writers of stories living today. Ozick has been nominated for the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Critics’ Circle Award. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She also received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Mildred and Harold Strauss Living Award, Edward Lewis Wallant Memorial Award and The B’nai B’rt Jewish Heritage Award. Cythia Ozick has the unique honor of being the first writer to be given the Rea Award for the Short Story. In making this selection, the first Rea Award jurors, William Abrahams, Shannon Ravenel and Peter Schimdt said: A writer of great intelligence, moral energy, and imaginative power, Cynthia Ozick has appreciably widened the range of what the short story is able to be. Reading The Shawl we are moved past the truth of fact to a deeper, different understanding; we bear witness to the truth of art. Only rarely does this happen, and when it does, it must be celebrated. She has turned 80 earlier this year and has won not one but two lifetime achievement awards. In April 2008, she was receved the PEN/Malamud Award for short fiction and the PEN/Nabakov Award forShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis : Blue Tigers By Cynthia Ozick1718 Words   |  7 PagesCynthia Ozick exploits figurative language in The Shawl to create a grim and surrealistic atmosphere representative of The Holocaust’s brutality and impression of interminability. Though depicting The Holocaust– which is often recounted through biographical narratives–Ozick, uses abstract yet stirring metaphors when recounting her characters’ plight to attain emotional precision. From lines like â€Å"a walking cradle† when describing Rosa to â€Å"blue tigers† when describing Magda’s eyes, readers immediatelyRead MoreCynthia Ozick uses several symbolisms throughout the course of this compelling story of â€Å"The1300 Words   |  6 Pages Cynthia Ozick uses several symbolisms throughout the course of this compelling story of â€Å"The Shawl†. Ozick uses descriptive details to have interaction the reader. This use of symbolism is extremely vital to the story. Themes of survival, humanity, motherhood, tolerance, and prejudice course through the canvas of the vivid image the author tries to color for the readers. The author uses symbolism copiously to assist the reader envision the setting. Ozick uses several symbols and imaging as an exampleRead MoreThe Shawl, By Cynthia Ozick1319 Words   |  6 Pagesthought the Jews were the reason that Germany lost World War I (Jews in Nazi Germany- History Learning Site). Hitler blamed them for almost all of Germany’s problems and he wanted to exterminate the entire Jewish population. â€Å"The Shawl†, written by Cynthia Ozick, tells one of the many horrifying stories from the Holocaust. The story has three main characters: the young mother Rosa, her baby Magda, and her fo urteen-year-old niece Stella. They were victims of the Holocaust who had an awful experience inRead More Comparing the Use of Setting in The Shawl and The Portable Phonograph859 Words   |  4 PagesThe Shawl and The Portable Phonograph  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   In literature, setting is often used to enhance or develop characters, provide realism, and create a mood or atmosphere for a story (Roberts 256). Two short stories, The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick and Walter Van Tillburg Clark’s The Portable Phonograph explore victims of war in the vivid settings that the authors have created. Although both works are vague as to geographic setting and place in time, the authors’ detailed descriptions ofRead MoreA Short Story Usually Forms A Conflict Or Multiple Conflicts894 Words   |  4 Pageshelp the readers to see the symbolism. When the readers pay attention, and analyze the stories can give them opinions while discussing to other people. In â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker, â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, and â€Å"The Shawl† by Cynthia Ozick, show symbolism in each story. In the story â€Å"Everyday Use†, Momma is a strong-willed woman, with strong hands. Momma has two daughters; Dee is the oldest and Maggie is the youngest. The two daughters struggle with their identities and their heritageRead MoreWhat Is The Theme Of The Shawl By Cynthia Ozick701 Words   |  3 PagesIt is human nature to strive for comfort, to seek ease in a burdensome situation. When deprived of this sense of comfort, as demonstrated by Cynthia Ozick in â€Å"The Shawl†, it is through the suffering that ensues in which humanity is lost. This is made evident in her sparse writing style, the duality of the setting, and the use of illusionary symbolism. Ozick exhibits a degree of sparsity in the style of which â€Å"The Shawl† is written that mirrors the dehumanizing effect of suffering. There is almostRead MoreTravelers: Fantasists, Conjurers, and Seers of the World Essay1137 Words   |  5 PagesWorld What makes traveling to foreign lands such a coveted and memorable experience? What does one get out of exploring new cultures and atmospheres? In â€Å"The Shock of Teapots,† by Cynthia Ozick, the quality and nature of traveling and travelers themselves is explored. Within this work of creative nonfiction, Ozick strategically uses genre, diction, and exemplification to effectively emphasize that travelers see ordinary things in a new light when visiting other places and countries. She startsRead MoreThe And Of The Red And Black Ink By Gloria Atwood1381 Words   |  6 Pagestheir message is by presenting their own language into their writing.The use of language in writing creates and identity in the act or experience of writing. As it is shown in the text How it feels to be forcibly fed by Djuna Barnes, The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, and Tlilli, Tlapalli/ The path of the Red and Black Ink by Gloria Anzaldua. In the text how it How It Feels to be forcibly fed by Djuna Barnes, is about the way a woman goes through the experience of women being fed forcibly in order for herRead MoreAccording to Arp and Johnson, â€Å"Literary fiction plunges us, through the author’s imaginative vision1200 Words   |  5 Pagesyou because of how he looked being turned into this gross cockroach is done so well by Kafka so you can empathize with Gregor and understand the story much better by putting yourself in Gregors shoes. In addition to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Cynthia Ozick wrote a brilliant short story The Shawl which also uses such great vision to feel like you’re in the story. As one reads the short story, it has such an effect on you the way that she brings you into this trance like if you’re in the HolocaustRead MoreJewish American Literatue2224 Words   |  9 Pages Jewish American Literature â€Å"Duty Matters† Throughout the course of the semester, the concept of duty has been a major theme in various novels, such as in Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, Cynthia Ozick’s The Shawl, and Saul Bellow’s Herzog. Although Yezierska, Ozick, and Bellow offer different circumstances, they all suggest a sense of responsibility from parent to child. I will show how the relationship between Sara and her father in Bread Givers differ from Rosa and the living incarnation of

Gut Feeling free essay sample

My friend Jerome called me talking about a party that was supposed to be the party of the year across town. My gut was telling me it was a bad idea, because across town were our rivals, Alcovy. A lot of animosity was built up from the game the other night. The game was so intense the basketball teams were even getting hostile towards one another. Once again that was my gut. My mind was telling me to go have fun. â€Å"What can possibly happen? I told myself. â€Å"My boys are going to be there. † As it got closer to the afternoon, more and more people began to tell me about this party. So my mind was made up that I was going. Problem was I didn’t want to tell my mom. She’s the type to go into a lecture about fighting, curfew, all the stuff mothers worry about. We will write a custom essay sample on Gut Feeling or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Honestly I wasn’t trying to sit through or hear all that, but I couldn’t lie to her so I told her. Two hours later I’m getting off the couch trying to shake out the cob webs from my ears. Some of what she was saying was processing in my head, but my main focus was on how the girls were going to look at the party.So you know I had to bring out one of my best outfit. As it came closer and closer to party time I began to think about what my gut was telling me earlier. â€Å"Don’t go† is what I kept hearing in my head. All I repeated to myself was that nothing was going to happen and I have nothing to worry about. My friend Jerome called me again and asked can he ride with me. Of course with him being my friend I said yes. I hopped in the shower, threw on my clothes, and was on my way to pick up Jerome. When I pulled up, his mother answered the door. When I walked through the door I saw Jerome on the couch.His mom was giving him the same lecture my mother gave me. When she was done we jumped in my beat up Ford Explorer. As we pulled up to the party I could see something hanging out his pants where his waist was. It was a gun. I pulled into the parking lot and before he could step out the car I grabbed him. I asked him why he brought the gun. He told me just in case anything popped off. I shook my head and got out the car. I told him to keep it in the car. The party was on point like I knew it was going to be. Then I saw my crush, Taija Bradley. I’ve had a crush on her since 9th grade.She had short hair with beautiful brown eyes. Her body made everybody double-take. This was my chance to actually talk to her face to face. As I approached her Tamarco Robins intercepted. Tamarco was the man at Alcovy. But with me being who I am I didn’t let that stop me. As he was talking to her I grabbed her hand and pulled her my way. Tamarco was heated. The whole part he began to mug me as I was dancing with Taija. The party was coming to an end, and I had got Taija number. When I turned around Tamarco was standing in my face. He pushed me and his boys surrounded me. I looked and my boys rushed in.Next thing I know there is a big brawl inside the party. Security got between us and broke us up. All I could hear was Tamarco and his crew talking about continuing the fight outside. So my friends and I looked at each other and proceeded outside. When we got outside Tamarco’s brother was at his car. As I turned around Tamarco punched me. I fell to the ground. When I got up I saw everybody fighting. Then I turn around and seen Tamarco’s brother coming towards the crowd with a gun. Before I could say anything he began to shoot. Everybody started to scatter. When he was done shooting, Tamarco and his boys got in their cars and left.I began to look around and saw somebody lying on the ground. â€Å"Jerome† I said to myself. I ran to him screaming his name. As I got to him I rolled him over and I could see he was shot twice. He was shot in the back and the chest. My friends and I put him in my truck and we took him to the hospital. Two hours had past, and his family and friends were in the waiting room. As we waited all I could think about was him. This was my fault for getting into it with Tamarco. All I wanted was revenge. When the doctor came out everyone stood up and waited for him to tell us what condition Jerome was in.Jerome didn’t make it he told us. It was like the world came to an abrupt halt. I had lost my best friend to nothing. My friend I had known my whole life was gone in one night. I turned to his mother and hugged her real tight as tears ran down my face onto her shoulder. To this day I think about him. The brother I always wanted. My gut feeling was right. I should have never gone to that party. Nothing was worth losing my best friend. He taught me a great lesson. Before you make an important decision, think about all the consequences. You never know how severe they may be.

Relative Truth Essays (727 words) - Epistemology, Truth,

Relative Truth One version of relative truth is used when people disagree. A person might say Well, that may be true for you, but its not true for me. The implication here is often that there is no real truth to the matter but is instead a matter merely of belief. You believe what you want to believe and I'll believe what I want to believe and let's go on our merry way. You can see what a boon to self-deception a mechanism like this could be. You can believe anything and no one would have the right to tell you that you can't rationally believe it. So, one can isolate oneself and one's beliefs from the critical evaluation of others, because what also goes without saying in this framework of relative truth, is that no one besides yourself can tell you what is true for you. The closest another could come would be to say something like It's true for me that it's not true for you. This is never actually done in the 'true for me' game. But if it were, then since all that the other would be expressing is what is true for them, even though your beliefs are the subject of their 'truth', there opinion has no real importance (except to them). It is only true in their world which is inaccessible to you. You can dismiss it and forget it. We can see that by this view true for me just means that I believe it. The word 'true' is in there to give the belief its own legitimacy. You may ask: What does 'I believe it' mean?. There doesn't seem to be any way of answering this without saying I believe it to be TRUE. And so we see that for it to mean anything to have a believe, we must already presuppose that there is an actual truth or falsity to the matter that is the subject of the belief. This is another thing denied by the relativists. He often says, there is no real truth, only what is 'true for me'. It is as if the relativist by the mere act of believing something can make it true in his/her reality. And this suggests that everyone has a different reality. Of course, we all have a different concept of reality, but there is only one reality. Thus, the confusion that the relativist makes between belief and truth is mirrored in a confusion between concept of reality and reality. If everyone really does make their own reality, then you are alone in your world and everyone else is your entertaining fiction. You are a solipsist, the only real person in the world. Now this is real isolation. But anyone who tries to think about this in a serious manner, doesn't really believe it. We know, for instance, that a belief can be wrong. If a belief can be wrong, it is because there is a truth out there that the belief conflicts with. If beliefs could never be wrong, there would be no reason to ever change a belief, unless it became clear that something else would be a happier thing to believe. So, most relativists don't believe that 'all truth is relative' but instead that there are some relative truths, especially in those areas where people argue the most: Politics, religion, ethics. But the reasons given above would still apply except to a smaller domain of discourse. And so we can see that if there were any area where the truth of something was just a matter of believing that something, then the legitimacy of that belief is questionable as coherent. If you think it is coherent, then try spelling out the meaning of It is true for me and try explaining what information is conveyed by an 'it is true for me' assertion. One might think that it means 'I believe it. But what sense does it make to 'believe it' unless you 'believe it is really true'? Thus to hold a belief at all requires the presupposition that there is truth, otherwise the belief would be nothing. If all truth were relative then language would be worthless when attempting to convey information, for that information would only be about your reality in which I have no access. But even if only certain areas were the domain of relative truth, then claims in those areas would carry no information, and would be the