Abstract This literary essay details Herman Melville's use of blasphemy and blasphemous images in the novel "Moby Dick". The paper further discusses how it leads to Ahab's eventual downfall.
From the Paper "Many struggle to ever find religion in their life or understand its meaning and purpose on a personal level. In a time of crisis for those spiritual ones that do find religion, faith in a higher power can be questioned, leaving a person lost in existential deliberations or possibly cursing the heavens in anger. This topic of religious abandonment and the consequential sacrilegious actions that may follow has been explored in several works of literature. In Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, Captain Ahab's blasphemies, which include his extreme vengeance for Moby Dick, his relationship with the dark Fedallah, and his numerous impious actions toward God, result in his ultimate downfall."
This paper describes the characters of an older country priest and a young girl nineteen years old in the novel "News for the Church" by Frank O'Connor.
Abstract This paper explains that, after a careful reading of Frank O'Connor's "News for the Church", it becomes obvious that the moral fiber of the character of the priest is questionable because he uses blasphemy himself and is unable to resist temptation in his life. The author points out that, after the priest understands the real reason for the girl's confession, he gets angry and decides to try to make the girl forget her romantic adventure by turning it into a cynical, disgusting escapade. The paper concludes that the behavior of the young girl who wanted to find out about sex was natural; whereas, the behavior of the priest who got a thrill from making her feel nasty and dirty about it was unnatural because he got his thrill from hurting people.
From the Paper "After he understands the real reason for the girl's confession, Father Cassidy gets angry and as "the fighting blood of the Cassidy's" begins to warm him up, he decides to try to make the girl forget her romantic adventure by turning it into a cynical, disgusting escapade. Whatever beauty there was to the experience, he takes away. He digs deep and asks uncomfortable personal questions meant to test his (and her) knowledge about sexual intercourse. His question alarms the girl and makes her shake in her clothes "as if something were biting her." Seems like only the things that ..."
Abstract The following paper examines arguments around the issue of the death penalty which involve cultural, economic, environmental, ethical, legal, moral, philosophical, political, practical, religious, social and sociological theories.
From the Paper "Traditional historical methods of execution included: (1) beheading or decapitation; (2) breaking on the wheel; (3) burning; (4) crucifixion; (5) drawing and quartering; (6) garroting; (7) hanging; (8) peine forte et dure; (8) shooting; and (9) stoning. Such forms of capital punishment are now regarded today as barbaric, cruel and unusual, ghastly, and unthinkable. In the United States, the death penalty is now carried out in one of five ways: (1) electrocution; (2) firing squad (rarely used, yet the law remains on the books in certain states); (3) gas chamber; (4) hanging; and (5) lethal injection. The two most commonly accepted and implemented forms of capital punishment are the gas chamber or lethal injection."
Abstract This paper discusses America's progressing desensitization to profanity and argues that this trend is not a bad thing. By comparing profane language from the past to modern usage, as well as using examples from television and movies, the author proves that it could be possible for the idea of bad words to be erased and replaced with the idea of bad connotation alone. Specific emphasis on the word "fuck". The paper includes a graph.
From the Paper ""Fuck [taboo]: v.t. To cheat, trick, take advantage of, deceive, or treat someone unfairly. Very common"? (Wentworth, 203-4) This is just around one-tenth of the definition of the word "fuck" from Harold Wentworth's Dictionary of American Slang. An interesting point to be taken from this partial definition is the seemingly paradoxical inclusion of both the ?[taboo]? tag for the word and the phase ?Very common.? Can a word really be taboo (forbidden/unmentionable) if it is in "very common" usage? Apparently it can. There are a huge amount of taboo "bad" words in the English language, words that are spoken with relative freedom but censored from media and prohibited in schools. This censorship, however, has been rapidly losing its importance in American society, with movies, television and everyday conversations becoming more accepting of these curse words that were once so feared. Many censorship activists say that this lax attitude toward profanity is a sign of the decline of American society, and that steps must be taken to set the United States back on track to being a less offensive country. I say, ?Fuck that.? Despite the negative connotation in which I just used the word, "fuck" and other profane words can be used with positive connotations, and thus it is not truly the words themselves that are disagreeable, but the connotation with which they are used. The desensitization of America to profanity is not a bad thing; it is possible, if trends continue, for the idea of bad words to be almost completely demolished and replaced by the idea of bad connotation."
Abstract This paper presents an account of the life of the American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens born on the 30th of November 1835, otherwise known as Mark Twain. It provides a picture of a young writer, brilliant yet brash, who was about to set upon a writing and speaking career that would carve out a special literary and humor-related place for him in the annals of American history. It looks at how even the rejection of his work early in his career ? and the censorship of his later work, an editorial blasphemy only recently discovered ? cannot take away from the power of his words, his thoughts and lasting legacy.
From the Paper "How loved and how famous had Mark Twain become late in his life? The New York Times, after his passing, wrote that Twain had been ??quoted in common conversation oftener, perhaps, than any of his fellow-countrymen, including Benjamin Franklin and [Abraham] Lincoln.? Another American cultural icon of the times, Thomas Edison, said, about the death of Twain: ?An American loves his family. If he has any love left over for some other person, he generally selects Mark Twain.? Twain's demise was prominently eulogized and memorialized in nearly every newspaper in America ? and throughout much of the western World. He was remembered as a literary giant, as the conscience of a generation, an astute social critic, and an entertaining humorist, a fellow who smoked up to 40 cigars a day."
Tags: samuel, langhorne, clemens, censorship, huckleberry, finn
Abstract This paper examines how Pakistan, which has a constitution that declares freedom of religion, is highly influenced by the Islamic religion. It looks at how there are many ?blasphemy laws?, which give criminal penalties for offenses against the religion of Islam and serve as tools of religious persecution, and how these laws have been used to unjustly put people into prison for business or economic reasons, as well as religious ones. It discusses how child labor and rights are also big issues in Pakistan and how Pakistan's human rights problems extend to other areas, including police brutality, cruel and unusual punishment, lack of women's rights, rape, the death penalty, and many other violations. It also looks at the work of Amnesty International in easing these violations.
From the Paper "Amnesty International has been working during many of the past years to help end the human rights violations in Pakistan. Amnesty asks Pakistan to release all prisoners of conscience, give all citizens fair trial, train law enforcement to obtain the law, replace cruel punishment with those permitted by international human rights laws, revise women's and children's rights laws, stop all executions and abolish the death penalty, uphold law and order and investigate all human rights violations to ensure more violations do not occur in the future (Amnesty International - Time to Take Human Rights Seriously). Using such methods Amnesty has successfully helped release prisoners of conscience and take youths off of death row."
Abstract In this article, the writer examines issues and questions regarding the Goth subculture. The writer discusses what one hears about the dominant culture, when listening to the Goth subculture. The writer examines the tension between this Goth culture and the dominant culture. Further, the writer looks at how the Goths resist the dominant culture. In this paper, the writer discusses what aspects of dominant culture this subculture accepts and also looks at the reasons.
From the Paper "To understand how Goths view the dominant culture, it is essential to understand more about the Goth subculture. The first thing to remember about the Goth subculture is that it is diverse. Therefore no matter how one tries to define or describe what Goth is, there will always be people who consider themselves to be Goth, that fall outside of the labels and definitions applied to being Goth. Goths often view the dominant culture as racist biased materialistic ... "
Abstract This paper presents the argument that all sin is forgivable with the exception of blasphemy. The paper uses the play 'Everyman' as a backdrop to the argument that turning one's back on God is the one sin that will not be forgiven, however, with that single exception there is nothing that cannot be forgiven by God.
From the Paper "The play portrays what many religions believe occur in life. One has to answer for the deeds done and the deeds ignored while on the earth. In the instance of Everyman, God tells Death that he is not happy with the way mankind sins without conscious. If all sins were not forgivable then Everyman in the play would not be given the opportunity to find a companion to accompany him and death and speak to God about all of his good work and virtues while spending his time on earth. The play is set up so that the audience watches Everyman go to several virtues and asks them to come with him and he is refused. However, when Everyman asks Good Deeds, Good Deeds finally agrees to go. The moral of the play is that without Good Deeds, everyone would be condemned to eternal damnation. The play itself addresses sin and its underlying message that all sin can be forgiven if one has also committed good deeds while here on earth and sinning. "
Tags: society, religion, Christian, death, good, deeds, Christ, lord
