Abstract
The paper discusses how the question "Could God know what it is like to be a bat?" is a seemingly factitious question that addresses a number of complex philosophical issues related to consciousness and its conceptualization. This essay explores this question, arguing the thesis that God could not know what it is like to be a bat, for this would require as a precondition the capacity of God to access the direct experience of the bat, which would necessarily require God to be a bat and not, in fact, God.

From the Paper
"The question "Could God know what it is like to be a bat?" is a seemingly factitious question that addresses a number of complex philosophical issues related to consciousness and its conceptualization. This essay will explore this question, arguing the thesis that God could not know what it is like to be a bat, for this would require as a precondition the capacity of God to access the direct experience of the bat, which would necessarily require God to be a bat and not, in fact, God. In addressing this question, given that the introduction of a deity into the debate brings with it a range of variables that would not be present..."

Tags:god, bat, mind

Abstract
This paper provides an analysis of Emily Dickinson's poem, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," examining each. The paper asserts that the poem presents death as a natural and friendly part of life.

From the Paper
"Emily Dickinson's poem 'Because I Could Not Stop for Death' raises profound questions about time and eternity. Dickinson does not explain her views on death in the poem, but she certainly reveals them through its imagery. A study of the poem answers an important question about death. What is death's relationship to immortality? Immortality, as this essay will explain, is a perspective from which-as opposed to the perspective from mortality-death is a natural and friendly part of life. As Dickinson details..."

Tags:death, Dickinson, eternity, immortality, poem, poetry, analysis

Abstract
The paper relates that the central theme of Emily Dickenson's poem, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death", is the inevitability of death and the endless cycle of time. The paper looks at how the poet constructs allusions to the unknown as they pertain to the unpredictable nature of death and the possibility of an afterlife. The paper describes how death and a number of natural features are given human characteristics that help illustrate the endless nature of time and mimic traditional images associated with death and the afterlife. The paper also shows how human concepts, like measuring time and years, have little relevance for death or after death, where time is only eternal.

From the Paper
"The central theme of Emily Dickenson's poem, "Because I could not stop for Death", is the inevitability of Death and the endless cycle of time. The poet expresses this by constructing allusions to the unknown as they pertain to the unpredictable nature of Death and the possibility of an afterlife. Death and a number of natural features are given human characteristics that help illustrate the endless nature of time and mimic traditional images associated with death and the afterlife. Human concepts, like measuring time and years, have little relevance for Death or after death, where time is only eternal. It is the inevitably of Death that is Dickenson's primary concern, as it..."

Tags:inevitable, time, enternity

Abstract
The paper posits that few poems in the canon of English literature are as polished and as powerful as Emily Dickinson's, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death". The paper asserts that while the reasons why this is so are plentiful, the most obvious are the content and form of the poem and Dickinson's clever use of poetic devices. Specifically, the paper argues that the content of the poem is meant to emphasize the inevitability of death and how it does not have to be feared by stalwart Christians; the poem's content also captures how the slumber of death will seem like a mere night's rest to the blessed when the day of Judgment arrives. With regards to its actual form, the circular nature of human existence and the circular nature of eternity - that is to say, the eternal linkage of life with death - is reflected in the poem's regular iambic pentameter and in its use of poems of alternating line lengths; these altering line lengths, incidentally, also seem to capture Dickinson's views on the relative significance of life on earth versus eternal life by subtly accentuating the relative duration of each. Finally, the paper shows how Dickinson's use of devices like internal rhyme, alliteration, and anaphora are meant to reinforce the circularity of the life/death relationship and the inevitable arrival of the former. The paper concludes that the poem is a treatise on how death awaits all of us - but this fact does not have to be met with dread by the pure of heart.

From the Paper
"It is arguable that few poems in the canon of English literature are as polished and as powerful as Emily Dickinson's, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death". The reasons why this is so are plentiful, but the most obvious are the content and form of the poem and Dickinson's clever use of poetic devices. Specifically, the next few pages will argue that the content of the poem is meant to emphasize the inevitability of death and how it does not have to be feared by stalwart Christians; the poem's content also captures how the slumber of death will seem like a mere night's rest to..."

Tags:dickinson, emily, death

Abstract
The paper looks at the collection of writings in "Only What We Could Carry," that relate how the Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II. The paper discusses specific memoirs of individuals taken to the camps who convey the injustice they suffered at the hands of the American justice system. The paper talks about the baseless suspicions today after 9/11 and how distorted the American justice system can be when fear governs its operation.

From the Paper
"The internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II was a major act of betrayal for these people as their own government treated them as if they had done something wrong, when in fact they had not. They were simply rounded up and moved into camps along the West Coast on the fear that they might be loyal to Japan in the war and might therefore commit acts of espionage or simply reconnaissance for Japan. It has been shown clearly in the decades since that these fears were unfounded and that the internment and the associated confiscation of much of these people's belongings and property was an act of injustice, one addressed to the degree possible with apologies and reparation payments long after the war."

Tags:memoirs, betrayal, camps

Abstract
This paper discusses how Virginia Hamilton's collection of American black folktales, "The People Could Fly" (1985), portrays the tales of both animals and humans who are faced with hardships analogous to those of black slaves. It looks at how through Hamilton's careful preservation of history, her tales are laced with the recurring theme of flight. It also discusses how the notion of flying Africans seems to symbolize the black slaves' desire for liberation and transcendence over slavery, and remains a significant phenomenon in several accounts of slaves of native African origin.

From the Paper
"According to folklorist Alan Dundes, a myth is a sacred tale describing how the world and man came to exist in their modern form, and whose purpose is to "contribute to the maintenance of the norms and values of the culture out of which 'sacred narrative' emerges" (Awkward 485). Authors of African American literature frequently make reference to Afro-American legends of slaves who had the natural ability of flight, and who used it to break out of slavery in America; that is, in essence to rise above captivity. However, flight in most American black folktales operates not just as a universal or individual symbol of transcendence, but also as a cooperative symbol of resistance by a particular cultural group within a socio-historical framework (Wilentz 21). In Virginia Hamilton's The People Could Fly, flight outwardly presents a means of escape for the Africans, but on a much broader scale represents the effective opposition to slavery, a state of being that was "too immature, fixed [and] final" (Wilentz 21). "

Tags:slaves, myth, black

Abstract
The paper shows how Emily Dickinson treats the very weighty idea of death with the lightness an individual might give to planning a Sunday visit to the neighbors in her poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death". The paper shows that through her light and whimsical imagery, as well as the way she treats death, immortality and eternity, she might actually welcome death.

From the Paper
"The image of Immortality is painted as a character or a possibility in the presence of the timeless doorway that is the presence of the congenial Death. Dickinson describes the idea that she will live forever in the company of this easy specter. Dickinson describes the home of her eternity, whether it is her own home, where she has lived a lifetime in a split second or the one she will live in eternally she seems nonplussed by the idea that it is underground rather than above it. Throughout history there has been a nearly constant debate among thinking individuals about the idea of immorality and life after death. Everyone from biblical prophets and Greek philosophers to modern scientists have or are discussing the ideas and theories that surround immortality. Some philosophers vote in favor of immortality and others against yet Dickinson not only assumes it but talks about it as if it is a character sitting quietly in the corner with Death by his side "The carriage held but just Ourselves-And Immorality," (Dickinson) she discusses it as she would discuss an article of clothing, possibly a lap robe for the cold carriage ride."

Tags:Charles, Dickins, carriage

Abstract
This paper examines the political and economic conditions present during the period leading up to the American Civil War and considers whether the war could have been avoided given those conditions. After carefully reviewing the politicians, the economy and the politics of the time, the paper concludes that the Civil War was inevitable.

From the Paper
"Perhaps one starting point, a red flag if you will, happened during the War of 1812. "One of the many anomalies in this war was the bitter opposition by the New England States, despite the fact that it built up their economy." (Morison, p. 396) We know, of course, about the eventual secession of the Confederate states, but in 1814, it was the New England States that went so far as to hold a regional convention to discuss it. Instead, the end of the war promoted what is called "The Era of Good Feeling". It was a time when Americans were tired of sectional and regional arguments. "Manufacturing was displacing shipping as the premier interest of New England and Pennsylvania....Virginia was declining as an agricultural state, but finding no other interest than slave breeding to take the place of tobacco. King Cotton's domain was advancing from South Carolina and Georgia into the new Gulf states...""

Tags:states, slavery, abolitionists, differences, economic, north, south, capitalism, plantation, system

Abstract
This paper looks at the theme of death and decay and the poet's approach to death as a "gracious companion" in her voyage to the afterlife in Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death".

From the Paper
"Even though Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" has a theme of death and decay the tone of the poem is not bitter. Instead Death is a gracious companion in the poet's review of life. The poet seems almost pleased to die in order to ..."

Tags:Poetry, analysis, Emily, Dickinson

Abstract
The paper examines the choice of content, use of form and of poetic devices in Emily Dickinson's, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." The paper shows how these techniques reflect her central thesis that death is something the virtuous should welcome as merely one more step on the way to eternal life.

From the Paper
"To begin with, the content of the poem is significant. Chiefly, Dickinson chooses to emphasize the notion of time through references and metaphors that stress the inevitability of death, the cyclical and/or complementary relationship between life and death, and her own deep-seated Christian beliefs. For instance, the opening quatrain of the poem portrays death as a considerate companion, almost a beau, who tenderly pauses on his busy way for the narrator: "Because I could not stop for death,/He kindly stopped for me;/the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality/" (Dickinson, lines1-4)."

Tags:content, form, poetic, devices