Abstract George Bernard Shaw's play, "Mrs. Warren's Profession" is a comment on social hypocrisy, portrayed through the characters' struggles with contradictory social positions and moral conflicts. Vivie, Mrs. Warren's daughter, is expected to be indifferent towards the conflicts of morality, as she was raised to be a 'proper lady;' however, Vivie reveals herself to be cool, calculating and contemptuous of the pretences that are associated with the hypocrisy of being a 'proper lady'.
An analysis of John Updike's "Rabbit Run", with an emphasis on its historical approach and the context of the story in the times in which it was written.
Abstract This paper examines "Rabbit Run", a powerful novel by John Updike published in 1960, based on one of the characters, Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom, a 26-year-old former high school basketball star. In particular, the paper looks at how the historical approach of the story is increasingly evident as the plot reveals the consequences of the post-war family's independence from the church and the assumption of the nuclear mantle. Updike shows us the contemptuous and paradoxical behavior of people of the era, who, by their actions, revel in the freedom that they have gained with the demise of social structures, and yet bemoan the fact that they have lost their way and are disillusioned and directionless. It demonstrates how this concept is best summed up by Updike's creation of a man who tries to justify his concern for clean clothes and, simultaneously, is responsible for destroying his wife and children.
From the Paper "The character of Angstrom is indirectly autobiographical in that by calculation, his age and the author's age would approximately tally. This instantly allows the reader to understand the historic perspective of the novel as we are given the opportunity to trace the social changes that have occurred since the 30's down to the day of the novel. The social climate of the thirties was significantly different from the fifties, and sixties. The immense and drastic changes that came about in social standards after the Second World War meant that there lay a greatly urgent need for consolidation of moral values. Creators of the system turned to eco-political means by which they could bring about this consolidation. As a result of this, the average person in the U.S. was subjected to a newer, (imagined) improved lifestyle based on economic success and superficiality."
This paper discusses the autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave", written in 1845, which recounts the horrible conditions that led to Douglass's book about the contemptuous state of slavery.
Abstract This paper explains that, with strength and determination, Douglas rebelled against and overcame slavery; and, in the end, he found the accumulation of material wealth used to justify the atrocities of slavery was an illusion. The author points out that, after his flight to the North, Douglass was amazed to find that Northerners were wealthier than most slave owners in Maryland; he had expected that they would be as poor as the people in the South who could not afford slaves. The paper relates that, by standing up for himself, Douglass became, in his own mind, a man of dignity and courage and earned his place in history as one of the world's greatest men.
From the Paper "Isolation from family was one of the many injustices of slavery that Douglass experienced. Frederick's mother was unable to visit her children on a frequent basis because of the distance between the farm where she worked and the slave plantation where the children lived. Frederick did not even learn of his own mother's death until much time had passed. Property division would often separate slave families and after Frederick's grandmother was deemed too old to work, she was evicted from her cabin and sent into the woods to die. Yet another property division would separate Frederick from a black preacher named Charles Lawson who had taken Frederick under his wing and adopted him as his spiritual son. And, to escape to the North, Frederick had to leave behind his friends and his wife who he was not sure if he would ever see again."
Abstract This paper analyzes the problem of utopianism and love by examining references to love in the novel, noting the different contexts in which the word is found and consequently its different meanings. The paper also looks at the figure of Rufus, analyzing how his representation changes throughout the novel, and looks at references to "another country" as a space of possibility. Finally, it examines the use of tone and language, looking at the ways in which these elements further elucidate the tensions and themes of the novel.
From the Paper "Furthermore, the language is a language of survival. The saxophonist is described as being "in the rags of his twenty-odd years". The saxophonist is dressed in his people's history. Its suffering is written over him and through him; clothes him in contempt and pride. Rags are what remain of his clothing, implying not only psychological but physical suffering. Torn garments are not just representative of the collective psychological suffering of a people, but are the evidence of a very real, physical survival, of both the black and white worlds. And it is perhaps hard to say which is the source of greater suffering for the resident of 1960s? Harlem/New York."
Abstract The paper demonstrates the culpability of Palestinian educators in creating a climate that is intolerant, contemptuous of civil debate and which openly seeks the destruction of the Jewish state. The paper discusses what can be done to change the course of Palestinian education. The paper concludes that if Palestine can be prevailed upon to produce textbooks emphasizing basic numeracy and literacy instead of revenge, there is hope that the future of the Middle East can be less bloody than its past.
From the Paper "To begin with, it is worth noting that Palestinians have been using Jordanian and Egyptian curricula and textbooks since the early 1950s. In light of the fact that Egypt has been a pretty virulent enemy of Israel for decades, it may be said that someone else's hatred not only found its way into Palestinian textbooks but actually complemented and amplified the antipathy Palestinians already felt towards Israel. In any case, Dr. Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University also writes that the aforementioned textbooks were subject to "complete censorship" by the Israeli military governor in the years between 1967 and 1993. Even when this state of affairs was modified in the 1990s, Adwan - who is Palestinian - writes that the Israelis continue to restrict the freedom of Palestinian students and teachers to move where they wish - and that the production of a new wave of Palestinian textbooks since the dawn of this decade has been done against a backdrop of violence and hopelessness."
