Abstract A book report on "Lincoln" by David Herbert Donald. In essence, what he wanted to do with this book was to (a) keep it to one volume (there have been studies of Lincoln expanding to 10 volumes); and (b) focus very tightly on Lincoln himself as opposed to the historical era.
Abstract This paper provides a brief analysis of Ibsen's play and focuses on the symbolism of the wild duck and its relation to the characters of the play. It explains that the protagonist, Hjalmar Ekdal's life and behavior are similar to the symbolic wild duck. The wild duck possessed one sort of life spirit when alive, and in that form it symbolized the life Hjalmar might have had or should have had; in its wounded form, as a trophy, though, it symbolizes the life Hjalmar has now and the plight of his family.
From the Paper "The wild duck would once have been free, alive, strong, and able to make choices as to where to go and what to do. This is no longer the case, any more than Hjalmar would be able to express himself, be free, or show any real strength. Another element of the wild duck's existence is that it is kept away from the real world in which it formerly lived. It is Gregers who says that if the duck ever glimpses the sky, its former home and place of greatest freedom, it will die of a broken heart. It can only live by the illusion that the sky no longer exists, much as Hjalmar has to have illusions in order to live. Hjalmar is therefore contrasted with the hard-headed realist seen in the elder Werle, and it is the clash between the two that represents the war between illusion and reality most clearly, with the wild duck as a symbol of Hjalmar's hiding his head from the real world because he has been wounded."
Abstract In this essay, Ibsen's plays, "The Wild Duck" and "Ghosts" are considered in relation to themes of illusions and realities. In both plays, families are held together by illusions and torn apart by truths that have been concealed to protect the children. Ibsen's use of artistic realism is an ironic art form here, where illusions and realisms are contradicted to reveal the deeper conflicts of ordinary lives. Ibsen is representing the complicated realities of ordinary lives and emphasizes there are always many realities, just as there are many illusions.
Abstract This essay compares and contrasts Henrik Ibsen's "The Wild Duck", and Thornton Wilders "Our Town", ultimately proving that the two plays, while written over fifty years and half a world apart have deep similarities in themes beneath their respective surfaces.
Abstract This paper analyzes the novel "Donald Duk" by Frank Chin and discusses the lead character's trials and tribulations of growing up as a Chinese American. It illustrates Donald's inner struggles and eventual understanding of what his place is in society.
From the Paper "His father and his uncle, taking into their hands the matter of setting the young boys priorities and ideas straight, do their best to show him that his reactions in themselves are proof to the unfailing dominance that the white had over him. Finally, with the assistance of his own common sense, they succeed in explaining to him and bringing forth an appreciation of the values that are inherent to his actual Chinese lifestyle and cultural norms."
Abstract Orwell's point in writing the article "The Art of Donald McGill", was to demonstrate the validity and even necessity of vulgarity in our social lives. Orwell was a self-consciously political writer. Orwell asserted, in his article "The Art of Donald McGill", that humor, particularly vulgar humor, promotes a society and its health. Orwell put forth the idea that humor, particularly vulgar jokes, act as a social steam-valve. Racism was the absolute norm of the day in Orwell's time. Orwell's point was to help bring a sort of validity to the argument of vulgarity. The problem, however, is that vulgar humor puts others down and is inherently damaging to others.
Abstract This paper analyzes a selection of poems by Donald Justice. Most of the poems that the writer analyzes are in the villanelle format and the writer suggests that it is the required repetition of this format that brings out the emotion of the poem. The writer also notes that Justice's poems pay attention to the detail of craft and work with restrained expertise. The writer further discusses a few poems in detail, and points out that even though we find Donald Justice's poems objective and admirable, they are lacking in self as if he is standing on the outside of them.
From the Paper "Upon reading Donald Justice's book New and Selected Poems, I am reminded of Eudora Welty's quote, "Virtuosity, unless it moves the heart, goes at the head of the whole parade to dust." Justice's poems work with restrained expertise. The poems pay attention to the detail of craft, but the detachment of feeling in the verse leaves out the passion of poetry."
Tags: villanelle, format, verse, rhyme, Shakespeare
Abstract This paper compares Donald Queller's "The Fourth Crusade" to other contemporary books regarding the Fourth Crusade and contrasts between them.
From the Paper "In The Fourth Crusade, Donald E. Queller describes both the political and financial motives that led to the fourth crusade to Constantinople. Through heavy use of primary sources, the entire journey is told in a story-like fashion. Unfortunately, this story is not one without opinions. The Fourth Crusade is filled with Queller's personal opinions about both the historical event and contemporary historians. While these can sometimes be distracting, they neither take away from the significance of this study nor alter the historical facts. Queller's work, by all means, is one of the better historical studies of the events leading up to the sacking of Constantinople."
This paper examines the Campaign of 1776 in the American Revolution using Donald Barr Chidsey's book "The Tide Turns: An informal History of the Campaign of 1776 in the American Revolution".
Abstract This paper presents an overview of the history of the Campaign of 1776 in the American Revolution. Using Donald Barr Chidsey's book "The Tide Turns: An informal History of the Campaign of 1776 in the American Revolution", the writer of this paper presents a look at the events leading to the 1776 victory by American troops. It discusses the positions of both the American colonies and the English rule at the time, and examines how the Americans overcame the British in a 7-year long Revolution. It also examines the strategical war decisions of both sides such as where to move the troops when, and how this determined which side gained victory.
From the Paper "Throughout the world America is known as the strongest nation there is. We are noted for our economic, military and political power and we use our forces and resources to protect not only the freedom of our citizens but also the freedom of residents around the world. We have grown so accustomed to our lofty status in the world that we seldom remember how young we are and how close we came to never being who we are today. The American Revolution worked to make a final and permanent separation between those who lived in the American colonies and the English rule they had fled to escape. While we had moxy and determination we were a small and severely under funded campaign when going against the massive and well established British forces. Donald Barr Chidsey presents an informal yet complete history of the American Revolution turning point and how it launched the America that we know and love today."
Abstract This paper examines how the psychoanalytic theories and clinical treatment methods of Donald Woods Winnicott derive fundamentally from Freud's theories of early childhood development, but focus more exclusively on early object relationship of the infant, first to its mother and later to transitional objects in the course of a healthy developmental process. It looks at how Winnicott's theory is controversial because he, alone among psychoanalysts, sees the early object relationships of infants as key to their later mature well-being.
From the Paper "In Winnicott's view, new mothers of infants possess all of the instinctive knowledge necessary to be good-enough mothers, that is, they have a natural understanding of how best to care for their own babies, which cannot be taught and should not be tampered with, criticized, demeaned, or second-guessed - by childcare experts or any others. In fact, introducing doubt to a new mother about her good-enough mothering instincts can invite feelings of anxiety, and even, in a worst-case scenario, create enough of these within her, about her innate mothering abilities, to interfere with her own natural and instinctive ability to be a 'good-enough mother' to bring about the healthy development of her child."
Abstract The paper looks at the theme of existence in short stories written by Donald Bartholomew, Jorges Borges and Huraki Murakami. While many of the characters seem to negotiate and struggle with life and death, they invariably are unable to explain the feeling of non-existence with their own lives. This problem arises when the question of reality is brought forth and what meaning life truly has within their actions and behaviors in society. Each work is analysed and the paper looks at the how the questions asked and the philosophical points of view advocated in each story relate to the issue of non-existence and existence.
From the Paper "This literary study will examine the theme of existence within the short story works of Jorges Borges, Huraki Murakami, and Donald Barthelme. In three short story selections by each author, one can realize the question of existence that appears within the various characters that narrate through the tales. In this manner, many of the characters portray the theme of non-existence (or existence) within their environments, and through the tenants of individual experience. In essence, these three authors present questions and philosophical points of view that relate to the problem of non-existence and existence within their lives. In the short story "The Airplane" Murakami creates a dialogue that relates a man's view of woman that he is having an affair with. In many ways, she appears ordinary, but remains stoic in her attitude.."
Abstract The paper applies the ideological framework of the theory of communism, specifically as expounded by Karl Marx in "The Communist Manifesto" to the contemporary pop cultural figure of Donald Trump. The paper focuses on Trump's appearances in the television series "The Apprentice" and also includes relevant background on Trump himself. The paper then shows how Trump, with his wealth of private property and his interests advanced with the willing aid of the mass media, best exemplifies some of the most prominent and popular qualities of capitalism in both its positive and negative aspects.
From the Paper "Probably no single individual best personifies the capitalist frame of reference as does billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump. He came into the public light in the 1980s, and became one of the first celebrity businessmen of recent times, working in a field in which most businessmen preferred to keep a low profile and stay out of the public eye as much as possible. The mass media willingly accepted Trump's self-promotions and played him up as the archetypal capitalist and "self-made man." From the standpoint of Marx, a relevant critique would begin by noting that despite the myth of individual achievement contained in this persona, Trump in fact came from a very successful family, his father having already been a multi-millionaire real estate developer in New York City (Slater 44.)"
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that in tackling the problem of epistemology, Donald Davidson identifies three types of human knowledge that can be validated by empirical means. The writer discusses that these are self-knowledge, knowledge of the world, and knowledge of other people. The writer points out that Davidson then embarks upon the establishment of a comprehensive systematic means by which these three types of knowledge might be linked and hence legitimized in the eyes of the non-empiricist skeptic. The writer concludes that Davidson suggests that one naturally has thoughts that one does not share with others, but then makes the provocative statement that the content of such thoughts is not personal and individual, by which he presumably means they are not original, because of the fact that they are still grounded in the physical world and the conceptual, communal framework that the individual dwells in.
From the Paper "But in order to obtain knowledge of another's mind via communication, one must first have knowledge of the external world. This is because communication is contingent on stimulation from an external source. This is where Davidson introduces his theory of triangulation. A stimulus sends out waves to two different people at once. The two people then face one another and communicate as a means of correlating their observed reactions to that particular piece of stimuli. Thus, argues Davidson, knowledge of both the external world and knowledge of the minds of others are interrelated, and neither form of knowledge is possible without the other.
"What is more, in order to be able to attribute a thought to someone else, we must first be aware of what our own thoughts are. Thus, self-knowledge and the knowledge of the minds of others are interrelated. "
Abstract This paper examines Donald's Trump's leadership style. The author gives a short background of Trump and discusses Trump's perseverance and goal oriented skills. The paper also provides key notes of Trump's leadership style and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of these qualities.
Contents:
Statement of Authorship
Analysis of a Leader
Background
Leadership Style
Relation to Course Contents
Feedback and Personal Gain
Reference List
From the Paper "After studying Donald Trump's background, development, ventures, enterprises and ways of managing and leading people, several important aspects were found: first, that his method of approach tends to be reckless, high risk-taking and even aggressive. Then, based on those same characteristics, he seeks for special qualities within his employees, qualities that make them competitive, daring and straight forward. For him, taking the merit and finding a responsible for failure is a right way of leading and showing strength. At least it has worked for him. On the other hand, it must be recognized that his method is not necessarily the only one, nor the most effective."
Abstract This is a review of Donald Trump's book "Think Like a Billionaire" - a self-help guide that is intended to help readers change their life for the better. The paper explains that although the majority of the book begins with 'How To...', each chapter never lasts long enough to completely provide an understanding of the actions one is to undertake and can leave readers disappointed.
From the Paper "In his guide to riches that sometimes reads more like a contemporary social magazine, Donald Trump presents his life as one possible of replication. He argues that if one mimics his consciousness of success, they too can expect all the bounties that wealth provides. Unfortunately for many readers, his attempt for down-to-earth literary style comes across as being judgmental and ruthless, hinting on the more private characteristics of the self-made billionaire. Trumps' attempt to create a manual for changing the way regular people think about money, real estate and business is idealistic, however, it lacks clarification on process and implementation, focusing only on the end result. Many readers will most likely feel disappointed that thinking like this billionaire may not get them to where he currently is."
