Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book "Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus", by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The paper addresses how Frankenstein's creature compares to or resembles women and criminals as members of the disenfranchised classes of the Romantic period. The paper concludes that Frankenstein is alone and lonely, with no hope for a "normal" life. In this, Frankenstein is like the women and criminals of the Romantic period that he represents.

From the Paper
"The novel is quite relevant to modern readers for a number of compelling reasons. First, society may have mellowed a bit, but overall, many of the societal judgments that were common in the Romantic period still exist. Women have a higher level on the social ladder, but they are still judged on their appearances rather than their abilities. Criminals are still an ostracized segment of society, in fact, they cannot vote in elections if they are felons. There are many aspects of modern society that have not truly modernized at all. In addition, the novel makes the reader look at how people judge others in society. The time period does not matter so much in this novel, because society is still incredibly judgmental and disapproving of anything out of the ordinary."

Tags:ostracized, creature, violent, monstrous, weak

Abstract
The systematic disenfranchisement of convicted felons in Florida and other states is examined in this paper. The practice is deemed undemocratic and racist, and its manipulation by the parties in power is discussed.

From the Paper
"The disenfranchisement of convicted felons in the United States is a racist tactic used by those in power to dilute minority voting and rig elections. As such it is morally reprehensible and profoundly undemocratic ..."

Tags:Disenfranchisement, Felons, Florida

Abstract
The paper discusses how disenfranchisement denies a convicted felon the right to vote, and due to racial disparities in our criminal justice system, this results in an estimated 13% of Black men unable to vote. The paper argues that the rights prohibited to ex-felons really deny them the chance to begin their lives again as fully integrated citizens of their city, state and country, and encourage them to repeat their illicit cycle of crime. The paper even contends that in a sense, it is a cruel and unusual punishment.

Outline:
Abstract
Results of Disenfranchisement

From the Paper
"Disenfranchisement denies a convicted felon the following nine rights or areas of life: the right to vote, parenting, public employment, divorce, serving on a jury, holding public office, firearm ownership, criminal registration, and civil death.
"Probably the most arguable of all these denials, is the right to vote, which in many people's minds, strips the ex-felon of his citizenship and violates the 14th and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution (Mitchell, 2004).
"An estimated 5.3 million Americans, or one in forty-one adults, are denied the right to vote because of laws that prohibit voting by people who have been convicted of felonies. What some would call a fundamental obstacle to participation our democratic way of life is aggravated by racial disparities in our criminal justice system, which result in an estimated 13% of Black men unable to vote."

Tags:voting, communities, alienation, crime

Abstract
The paper demonstrates how, in spite of the egalitarian principles in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, the period which was to follow the Civil War was rife with indications that the ideals of the Declaration had not been extended to include black, Native American or female citizens of the union. The paper looks at Thomas Jefferson's writings, Thomas Paine's "Common Sense", James Madison's "Federalist Papers" and the views of Tocqueville. The paper highlights their range of beliefs and shows how the new government would later be proven vulnerable to the cultural, economic and political divides which these founding fathers recognized years before.

From the Paper
"Jefferson's assertion of a wholly organic process suggests that the philosophy found in the Declaration was perhaps endorsed by the intensity of British tyranny or by the sense of something significant coming into being on a state level. In either respect, the core principle found in his work is that the rising of individual liberties and of self-determination were inexorable. To Jefferson, the inevitable exclusions and machinations of America in the aftermath of the revolution seemed to come from a fully alternate process than that which delivered his treatise against the British. Indeed, his desire for the ascension of individual rights would seem to have subsided in the ensuing years during which the Federalist Papers would be published, with Jefferson's conception of equality ultimately subsiding to political forces less intent upon individual rights outside of a protection of the government's sovereignty. This, to the perception of the Declaration, would be an ironically close approximation to British monarchy."

Tags:Constitution, founding, fathers, Federalists, Civil, War, slavery

Abstract
Maquiladoras are essentially offshore assembly plants that emerged along the United States-Mexican border in the 1960s. This paper examines how maquiladoras offer cheap labor to produce/assemble goods and how, since NAFTA, have expanded beyond border towns and have moved south into the heart of Mexico. It looks at how although maquiladoras do provide thousands of jobs throughout Mexico, upon closer inspection, they are often operated by tyrannical bosses under sweatshop conditions and are a nesting ground for cheap labor. It argues that for Mexicans, NAFTA is not an agreement based upon free trade but rather an exploitative tool used to extract cheap labor for foreign products.

From the Paper
"While the profits of the maquiladora sector exploded after the passage of NAFTA, the wages and labor conditions of those working in the assembly plants have gotten worse. According to Mexican labor laws, the maximum hours a person can work a week is forty eight hours, the first nine hours of overtime is to be paid at double-time rates with anything exceeding nine hours overtime to be paid at three times the pay rate. (3). In spite of this, maquiladora workers report that "they were often not paid anything extra for overtime even if they worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. In some maquiladoras, workers do veladas- all-nighters- once or twice a week. "

Tags:labor, assembly, plants, profits

Abstract
"An important feature of the Mexican Revolution was its broad base of support. Revolution was brought about because, after more than 30 years in power, Porfirio Diaz succeeded in disenfranchising almost all socioeconomic groups who were not members of the power elite. Revolution occurs when individuals are pressed to the limits of their endurance

From the Paper
"An important feature of the Mexican Revolution was its broad base of support. Revolution was brought about because, after more than 30 years in power, Porfirio Diaz succeeded in disenfranchising almost all socioeconomic groups who were not members of the power elite. Revolution occurs when individuals are pressed to the limits of their endurance; such a situation existed in Mexico under Diaz, which explains why so many segments of society risked personal safety to participate.

Diaz pandered to foreign influence to such an extent that being a Mexican became a disadvantage, particularly the more than ninety percent mixed breed Indian population. The government regarded itself as superior to the common people: "The government must be an aristocracy, an aristocracy of brains, technicians, wise and upright elders, scientists" (Brenner, 1971 ..."

Abstract
This paper summarizes Scott Cooper's 1989 article third cinema in the United States". It emphasizes the need for disenfranchised peoples to tell their stories from their own perspectives. The author discusses the problems of ideology. The paper also explores common characteristics of Third Cinema and Third World Cinema.

Tags:Cinema, Film, Disenfranchised, Hollywood, Culture, Methodology

Abstract
This paper explains that Cohen challenges the notion of a cohesive African-American vote by noting that African-Americans failed to become a strong political force because their political, business, and church leaders focus on imbibing the values of mainstream, middle-class America. The author points out that Cohen argues that, despite the growing threat of AIDS, African-American leadership failed to galvanize the population around this issue, which affects African-Americans as a group, despite categorical differences. The paper states that the Cohen believes that the attitudes of black leaders resulted in a secondary marginalization of gays and lesbians, who, due to their race and sexual orientation, remained among the most disenfranchised citizens.

From the Paper
"Cohen begins by dispelling the notion of a politically-cohesive African American community, one wherein race supposedly overrides differences spawned by class, gender or even ethnicity. Instead, she maintains that this cohesion is "being challenged and sometimes replaced by cross-cutting issues and crises rooted in or built on the often hidden differences, cleavages, or fault lines of marginal communities" (9). There is thus no strong "black vote," because the African American community is highly fragmented and factionalized."

Tags:failure, middle-class, aids, marginalization, disenfranchised

Abstract
The paper discusses how, as the political and social climate has changed, American literature has evolved to include previously disenfranchised voices, such as Native-Americans, women, African-Americans and disenfranchised immigrants from many nations of origin. The paper then explores how we define an American writer and American literature.

From the Paper
"The representation of both women and African American writers is not the only body of inclusion. Contemporary movements have made significant strides toward the inclusion of almost every immigrant group into the canon of American literature and into the body of publishing in general in history and contemporary works. These groups include Asian immigrants, Eastern European Jews, Germans, Italians and of coarse Native Americans who have a rich tradition of their own. Yet, we must remember that this is a relatively new experience and that for the majority of the development of "American Literature" the system was one of elitism that preferred almost exclusively the point of view of the Western white male."

Tags:immigrants, diversity, exclusion, inclusion

Abstract
This paper reviews Michelle Cliff's novel "No Telephone to Heaven" in which she explores the lives of the alienated and the disenfranchised in Jamaica, England, and the United States. The paper explains how the book portrays a life of hunger, violence, racism, disease, poverty and shows how these afflictions affect the lives of those who suffer them.

From the Paper
"Here we have an encapsulation of Cliff's entire work -- the importance of the land, the history connecting generations, the geography of the shells representing the origins of life in Jamaica, the dangerous enemy ready to strike, and the book used as a weapon to kill that enemy. Affliction marks the passage (spiders, rats, scorpions, rot), but Clare emerges victorious as she uses a "rat-bitten book" to smash the scorpion."

Tags:exploitation, Caribbean