Abstract
This paper an overview and critical summary of the 2011 film "The Descendants", directed by Alexander Payne. A plot summary is given as well as some excerpts from various reviews and a list of its recent nominations.

Outline:
Plot Summary
Reviews

From the Paper
"George Clooney's character is Matt King an attorney working in Honolulu. He is a family man with two children and a wife, and he functions as the trustee of a family trust controlling 20,000 plus acres of land on the neighboring island of Kaua'i.
Due to a legal quirk, the land trust is about to reach a critical turning point-- it will expire in just under 7 years. In preparation for this, Matt and the rest of the King family have decided to sell the land to a major land developer. As the deal gets closer to being finalized, an unexpected occurrence takes place-- a boating accident renders Matt's wife into a coma. Matt is left with full responsibility for his two daughters, Scottie (played by Amara Miller) and Alex (played by Shailene Woodley), from whom he has been noticeably disconnected in recent years. The chasm between King and his daughters is so marked that he even refers to himself as a "back-up parent". Problems with the children begin to surface, including social and behavioral issues with Scottie and drinking with Alex."

Tags:George Clooney, family, comedy, drama

Abstract
This paper discusses the financial, moral and legal justifications for reparations to African American descendants of slaves. In the financial realm the paper describes the discriminatory policies and uncompensated servitude experienced by the slaves. The paper cites numerous sources to show that these policies had far-reaching influence on the status of African Americans even today. These sources touch on the moral obligations of society to right not only the financial wrongs but also the psychological damage done to the slaves and their descendants. Finally, US government policies and the civil rights movement are discussed, but the paper concludes that not enough has been done to compensate for the many years of discrimination.

From the Paper
"Slavery, racism, and discrimination are at the core of African-American history. American slavery was evil, ferocious, brutal and corruptive in all spheres of its practice. It was developed in its greatest degree of degradation in the Americas where enslaved Africans were treated with absolute disrepute. During the global economic conquest, colonial powers kidnapped native Africans and shipped them throughout colonies in the western hemisphere. The slaving industry was predominately a European enterprise in all proportions, not an African venture. The psychological alteration and detriment during slavery erased African's knowledge of their heritage and culture, which was consequently replaced with a slave mentality of fear, dependence, and detachment from the core of their cultural foundation that gave them value. Slaves were dehumanized, creating incapacity to take care of their own needs and the needs of their children through the elimination of their cultural norms and values. This dehumanization prohibited a feeling of civility according to their own standards."

Tags:Negro race slavery compensation, Jim Crow

Abstract
This essay discusses Guy Vanderhaeghe's "Man Descending", which is a collection of short stories. The paper argues that the title is appropriate for this collection. Most of the twelve stories are preoccupied with the phenomenon of how human beings must face their own powerlessness in the human condition.

Tags:man, ascending, descending

Abstract
The paper examines Walt Whitman's poem "In Clouds Descending, In Midnight Sleep" that deals with the private life of someone suffering from the horrors of war. The paper explains why the poem has three stanzas and analyzes the analytic shapes utlized by Whitman. The paper shows how, by using a confusing syntactical structure, Whitman is able to produce a preternatural effect that makes us feel as if we are in a dream as well.

From the Paper
"Walt Whitman's "In Clouds Descending, In Midnight Sleep" is an elegant and complex poem that recalls the horrors of war. In the poem, the narrator tells of all the chaos and pain that war causes, not only physically, but mentally as well. Death is shown to be a transcendent force in nature, and even those who escape with their lives still feel his icy countenance staring at them in their sleep.
"Whitman opens the first stanza of the poem with the disturbing image of "many a face of anguish," and of men in even greater pain; those in the final throes of death. The penultimate line of the first stanza describes the bodies of the dead splayed out "on their backs, with arms extended wide." The first stanza closes with "I dream, I dream, I dream," which, in addition to "In clouds descending, in midnight sleep" in the first line, is a clear indication that these horrible images are coming to the narrator in his sleep."

Tags:narrator, stanzas, imagery, syntax

Abstract
The paper discusses the significance of reparations to descendants of slaves and presents arguments and reasons for and against it.
Some of the issues include the effects of slavery, the difficulty of identifying who is a descendant of a slave and whether it is fair for a nation to pay for the crimes that were committed hundreds of years ago. Legal issues are discussed.

From the Paper
"The battle for reparations first emerged at the conclusion of the Civil War, when President Andrew Johnson reneged on Union Army Gen. William T. Sherman's promise that freed slaves would receive 40 acres and a mule.

"In 1989 President George Bush signed a law providing reparations for Japanese-Americans interned in camps in the U.S. during World War II."

Tags:money, black, descendant, ancestor, crime

Abstract
This paper bases its description on John Thornton's book "Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1680" and theorizes that the systemic denial of the African cultural contribution is victimizing the African slave descendants as slavery victimized their forefathers.

From the Paper
"The Africans nation has had a vast and positive influence on the Atlantic World. Yet, the attitude of the nations of the Atlantic with regard to the African people has been somewhat prejudiced. The Africans were forcefully taken from their land and underwent a transition that displaced their culture to such a degree that even today, the people have a hard time facing their own traditions. The systemic racism they have faced in the Atlantic world has caused their culture, values and needs to be undermined such that they themselves are unable to accept the associated changes."

Tags:trade, slavery, africa, america, thornton, descend, forefathers, atlantic

Abstract
This essay, entitled "Jacob and Esau" is an examination of the stories of the two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Esau, the older, was traditionally entitled to the birthright, the leadership of Abraham's descendants. But Esau forfeits that right through foolishly trading it away for a bowl of lentil stew. Isaac,his blind father is then tricked into giving his blessing to Jacob rather than Esau. The essay closes with consideration of the wider issue, who has the right to claim divine guidance.

From the Paper
JACOB AND ESAU The story of Jacob is something of an oddity in the Hebrew Bible. Abraham was the founder and great patriarch of the people of Israel. He passed the patriarchate to his son, Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, and the story of Jacob centers on how Jacob, the younger son, was able to take the birthright and paternal blessing that was originally intended for his older brother, Esau. Isaac took Rebekah as his wife, but through twenty years of marriage, she was barren. Finally, she became pregnant, but throughout the pregnancy, the children she was carrying struggled inside her. She finally asked God

Tags:isaac, jacob, patriarchy

Abstract
This paper discusses the argument of "Should the U.S. Government pay Reparations to the Descendants of Slaves". The argument is in favor of the case but supports the thesis through the presentation of both sides of the argument and presenting a solution in the best manner possible.

Tags:government, reparations, slaves

Abstract
In this paper, the question of reparations for descendants of African slaves is addressed through two different political philosophies. This paper first outlines what the implications of reparations entail in terms of global consequences and then evaluates how John Rawls' political philosophy could conceive and address this issue. The political philosophy of Michael Sandel is then considered in terms of how reparations would be conceived and addressed. The paper concludes that Rawls' arguments allow for a defense of reparations, but Sandel's philosophy does not.

Abstract
This is a discussion paper where the cause of providing financial compensation to the descedents of American slaves is addressed. Questionable matters such as the lack of sufficient funds, the source of the funds to be used in payment, and those who will receive payment are discussed. The paper takes a negative approach to the concept of providing restitution to the descendents of slaves.

Tags:slavery, financial, restitution