The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and The Open Boat by Stephen...

Fountainhead and The open boat In today’s world there are many kinds of people that do things at their own free will. In the novel â€Å"The Fountainhead† it is shown that people made their own decisions to go where they wanted to go in their own free will. In the story â€Å"The Open Boat† men have shown to open to their own instincts and follow their own path for survival. Both stories show many forms of determinism, objectivism, naturalism, collectivism, realism, etc. All to be shown at their own free will Ayn Rand was young when she was exposed to many forms of society. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Russia. She learned the ways of capitalisms and it flaws. She detested capitalism and objectivism. She has written many novels†¦show more content†¦To be melted and to emerge as girders against the sky.† (p.16). Rand was showing how the world around Howard Roark affects him. The world around him in this environment makes him feel fre e and loose from the chains that society uses to hold him back. â€Å"He had worked at one jab after another since early childhood. For a long time he sold newspapers on a street corner. One day he a walked up to the press-room boss and stated that they should start a new service—delivering the paper to the reader’s door in the morning; he explained how and why it would boost circulation. â€Å"Yeah?† said the boss. â€Å"I know it will work,† said Wynand. â€Å"Well, you don’t run things around here,† said the boss. â€Å"You’re a fool† said Wynand. He lost the job† (p.401-402).This shows the environment around Gail Wynand wasn’t good growing up and that he had the choice (free will) to introduce his idea to the boss, knowing he would be denied, and he made the choice to stand his ground firm. Stephan Crane (The Open Boat) grew up in Newark, New Jersey. He was the youngest of his 14 other siblings. He came from a family of writers, this may be the reason he himself had such a great understanding of literature, the story of â€Å"The Open Boat† is about how he survived a ship wreck and took a bodacious journey in a dinghy, small boat similar to a raft (hints the open boat), surviving out in sea seeking help and aid from somebody. In the

How I Grew in My Academic Writing - 1055 Words

I did not have a firm writing philosophy before this semester, but I to some degree I understood the importance writing can have on a situation. Now I understand that writing has two outcomes: gaining support or losing support. When writing an essay it is best if the writing is as specific as possible. This way the audience is hopefully not left with a confused opinion about the topic. Since the beginning of the semester I have put a conscious effort to change my writing style. Instead of the box format that is learned in high school I try to use a more graceful approach while still being organized. Also, I evaluate the credibility of a source before I use the information to support my thesis and understand the roles of using ethos,†¦show more content†¦My academic writing has greatly improved. I now make an active effort to use a thesaurus to vary my language. I also incorporate more transitional phrases to create a better flow in my essays. I organize my paragraphs to mak e sure the information and supporting evidences flows well. Even though I understood my claims and thesis needed to be supported by credible sources I analyze who and where the source was published. Specifically, the class discussion in the response to videos we watched two videos about high fructose corn syrup. I stated,† The first video, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) – ‘Party’ TV original commercial, is an advertisement made by The Corn Refiners Association†. I acknowledged that the first video was made by an association that could have biased opinions about high fructose corn syrup. By acknowledging where the source came from I demonstrate that if this video was used for evidence for safe fructose consumption it would not be a credible source because of its ties to the corn association. Lastly, self-evaluation is a key component to writing an effective essay. Even though I was able to have student feedback for my essays; self-evaluation is important for me to be able to determine my strengths and weaknesses in my writing. After composing each essay I was required to compose a self-evaluation. The evaluations describe what I consider the strong points in the essay, and were I felt I still needed toShow MoreRelatedMy Reflection On The Writing Our Own Pact 1361 Words   |  6 Pages My Reflection During this semester, I have done various work such as reading and writing. This work includes reading articles from the book and writing essays. Some of the work I did was a challenge at the beginning, but I was able to persist and overcome those barriers. During the time I been in this class, I have learned many important strategies that have helped me improve in various ways. One major method that has improved my academic skills and quality in education have been the use of theRead MoreHow I Learned to Love Football Essay1071 Words   |  5 PagesIn Felisa Roger’s article How I Learned to Love Football, Roger discussed how her dislike for sports changed all together with when she had a reason to care about it more. She provided a great background when explaining why she changed her mind about disliking sports, and used a great variety of detail while explaining it. She talked about how as she was growing up she had a strong dislike of all sports. She talked about how she was never good at playing any sports in gym class and always hatedRead MoreHigh School Vs. College Academic Writing Essay839 Words   |  4 Pagesperfect essay will make transitioning into the college academic conversation much less challenging. But did they ever teach us how to write such a paper? Well, there was the five-paragraph essay only rule among all of your teachers, and if it did not contain facts or opinions it was unacceptable. That is where one of the many differences between high school English and college English lies. Within college academic writing students will have to know how to incorporate certified outside sources into theirRead MoreHow Do We Shape Our Literacy?1051 Words   |  5 PagesHow do we shape our literacy? Through culture, childhood or does it develops in the process depending on our interest? Is there a specific language that you have to mast er to be considered literate? In my opinion, literacy is the ability to understand what you read and write no matter what the language is. If you ask about my literacy background, it would be an interesting one. I grew up in the Philippines and continuously lived there for fifteen years. 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What Is a Gospel, and Why Were the Canonical Gospels Written free essay sample

It must be regognised that when Matthew, Mark, Luke and John first appeared in writing, they were not labelled as gospels. That title was later added after they had all been collected together and each was seen as a commentary of a message of Jesus but told according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (Wenham and Waltor, 2001) It is important to fit the gospels into an appropriate genre in order to understand them. Hurtado says that a literary genre is a category or type of literature for example a bibliography or novel. He says that literary genres are not universal or static categories but they have developed and changed over time. In order to determine a writing’s genre we must look at the genres and literary conventions relevant to the era of the writings. Therefore, the question of the genres of the gospels must be addressed by examining their characteristics in comparison with the types of literature current in the Greco Roman setting. Hurtado continues to say that the literary genre of the gospels involves two basic issues, the first being the literary nature of the canonical gospels as continuous prose narrative of Jesus’ ministry and their relationship to other early Christian writings. The second issue to consider is the relationship of the gospels to their Greco Roman literary setting. There are two practical purposes served in this discussion, firstly a better understanding of the place of the gospels in the literary history of early Christianity and the Greco Roman world and secondly, a more intelligent interpretation of the gospels as their features are highlighted by comparison with their literary background. (Hurtado, 1992) Although the four gospels tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth they are not straightforward accounts of his life. They are the result of complex reflection on and interpretation of his significance, by people who believed he was Israel’s Messiah and the risen Lord. (Boxall, 2007) This indicates that although the gospels are accounts of Jesus’ life they were written by people who saw him in a very favorable light therefor their writings are likely to be all positive rather than negative so is this a true reflection of Jesus’ life? Why were the gospels written? Wenham and Walton provide four reasons as to why the gospels were written. The first reason is a historical reason, the period the gospels were written in was a time when the original eyewitnesses were dying. There was an urgency at the time to preserve personal knowledge of Jesus’ ministry for future generations and a written account would be the most permanent. Secondly, there was an evangelistic reason, specifically to share the gospel message to those who were not yet believers. In the letters provided in the New Testament they only provide brief summaries of the evangelistic messages to non believers where as the written gospels provided a more in depth and extended narrative summaries of the contents of the Christian declaration. The third reason for the gospels being written is there was a teaching reason in order to teach those who followed Jesus more about their faith and to help them grow within it. Finally, the fourth reason is there was a geographical reason, to spread the eye witness accounts further afield. Written account were much easier to pass around than oral accounts as written accounts were easier to copy and carry and meant they were less likely to change from person to person. (Wenham and Walton, 2001) These are the four main reasons why the gospels were written, historical, evengelistic, teaching and geographical. It was important at the time to be able to keep and preserve the stories of Jesus’ life. After the gospels were written down they were passed on much easier to others who were already followers of Jesus or to people who wanted to become followers of Jesus and to learn about his life. The material incorporated in the gospels probably came from small independent units and much of it probably came orally rather than in written form and over several decades. This would have allowed for the material to be reshaped and changed as it was applied to new circumstances and to be interpreted differently in different geographical and cultural contexts. It is possible that much of the chronological sequence in the gospels is down to the evangelists’ own arrangement, rather than actual memory of where where the events actually took place. (Boxall, 2007) Another reason the gospels were written was that the writing down of accounts or letters came into being as an instrument for guiding a community in the Judaistic crisis. The gospel literature came into being out of the need to reorientate the communities after the Jewish war. (Theissen, 2003) Where did the gospels come from? The gospels were not written immediately after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, it is likely they were written thirty to sixty years later. The gospels that appear in the New Testament come from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They would have been eyewitnesses of Jesus, his life and his teaching. The reason in the delay of the writing of the gospels after the death of Jesus could be because the worship of Jesus as the Son of God was only established in the cross and Easter. Before this it would have been considered blasphemy to refer to Jesus as God or the Son of God. (Theissen, 2003) There are similarities of wording within Matthew, Mark and Luke, this had lead some scholars to believe that some sharing of stories may have been happening or maybe one author copying another author. John has a different style and contains information that is not found in the other three gospels. (Wenham and Walton, 2001) The first three gospels are known as the Synoptics, a term which translates to seeing together. (This is because of their similarity of context). Conclusion To conclude, we are able to see that a gospel is a teaching of story about Jesus’ life. The word gospel is literally translated to ‘good news’. The four gospels we are most familiar with are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and these are found in the New Testament. The gospels were written in order to preserve the life of Jesus in writing and in order to teach others the stories of his life. All four Gospels are important as they show us different aspects of Jesus’ life and when brought together help to bring a great amount of knowledge about Jesus. References Boxall, I (2007). The Books of the New Testament. London: SCM Press. 94-129. Hurtado, L (1992). â€Å"Gospel (Genre)† Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Leicester: Inter Varsity Press. 276-283. Walton, S and Wenham, D (2001). Exploring the New Testament. The Gospels and Acts. London: AD Publishing Services. 47-80.

The Baltics Nationalities And Other Problems Essays -

"The Baltics: Nationalities and Other Problems" The Baltics area is fraught with cross ethnic mergings, conquerings by different groups, and control by both small groups like the Teutonic and Livonian knights and by larger entities like the nations of Sweden, Poland, and Russia during the roughly eight centuries of Baltic history. There is no ideal way to depict these very diverse groups of people and areas, so this is an attempt to first look at the area as a whole as it developed, in the briefest kind of way, then shoot forward in time to examine each of the three Baltic countries separately prior to World War II and after, and then an examination of the situation as it is today and in the recent past of the past two decades. "Until the twelfth century the marshes and forest-lands along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea were left in the more or less undisturbed possession of a number of pagan tribes. The Esths and Livs in the northern regions belonged to the Finnish branch of the Ural-Altaic family, while another group farther to the south, subdivided into Letts, Borussians and Lithuanians, ... was of Indo-European stock. The Borussians, who moved southward to what is now East Prussia, were early subdued and assimilated by the Germans, while the Letts tended to push northward into Livonia."(1) The area we now call the Baltics remained sparsely populated and predominantly non-Christian until about the middle of the 13th century, when the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Knights began the first incursions into the region. "The first invaders of these regions were the Danes, who conquered the northern half of Estonia in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. German merchants and missionaries had meanwhile penetrated into Livonia, where a bishopric was established at Riga in 1201. From then onwards the greater part of areas now occupied by the states of Latvia and Estonia gradually fell under the dominion first of the Knights of the Sword, and then of the Order of Teutonic Knights, to whom, in 1346, the Danes sold their share of Estonia. These Orders colonized the territory, converted the inhabitants to Christianity, and made them their serfs." (2) "In Lithuania, on the other hand, the Teutonic Knights were never able to make much headway except in the Memel (Klaipeda) territory, of which the frontier was permenantly fixed after the defeat of the Order by Vytautas - one of a sucession of Lithuanian Grand Dukes who, in the course of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, built up a united and powerful state..." (3) The changes and grouping in the Baltic region began "during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, and continued to the first centuries after Christ. However, the weaker tribes were gradually absorbed by the stronger and crystallized into larger national units." (4) "Also in answering the ethnic question, one is aided by fragmentary historical sources, which mention the individual Baltic nations and tribes which lived in certain areas, as for example the Aistians(100 AD), Galindians and Sudovians (second centuty, AD), Semigallians (870 AD), Prussians (ninth century AD), Curonians (875 AD), Yatvingians (983 AD), Lithuanians (1009 AD), Galindians (1058 AD), Sambians (1075 AD), Selians (1208 AD), Skalvians (1240 AD), Nadrovians (1250 AD) and others." (5) "Basically, although there is relationship between the Lithuanians and Latvians, there is none whatever between either of these peoples and the Estonians, whose language and culture approximate to those of Finland. As regards religion, the Lithuanians are almost entirely Roman Catholic; the Latvians and Estonians are mainly Protestant. Estonia and Latvia look to the Baltic, and have maritime and fishing interests; Lithuania is almost entirely an inland and agricultural country - her only port (Klaipeda, or Memel) has a preponderant German population." (6) "After the death of Vytautas in 1430, Lithuania rapidly fell into a position of dependence on Poland, with which country she had already been nominally connected under a personal union since 1386." (7) That had been accomplished by the Poles co-opting a Lithuanian Prince, Jogaila, to avoid their kingdom being swallowed by the Teutonic Knights. "Following secret negotiations, Jogaila issued a declaration which is accepted as the Kreva Union Act (August 14, 1385) whereby Jogaila agreed to baptism and to marriage witrh Hedwig (the heir to the Polish throne). Furthermore, he agreed to the baptism of his family and the nobility of Lithuania, in addition to paying 200,000 florins to Prince Wilhelm (of Austria) for breaking the betrothal to Hedwig; also he agreed to the return of all Polish lands taken by the enemies,