Friday, January 24, 2020

Dr. Faustus Essay - Pride, Insolence and the Fall of Doctor Faustus

Pride, Insolence and the Fall of Doctor Faustus  Ã‚   As a highly revered individual - a doctor of theology who is also involved in liberal arts, medicine and law - Doctor Faustus possesses limitless knowledge. Nonetheless, unfortunately the more people know the more curious, thirsty and greedy for knowledge they become. Thus, wanting to know more and therefore, gain supernatural power, Faustus creates his own fall through pride, insolence and child-like behavior - the by-products of the dominating id that overpowers the superego in this particular case. The above excerpt was provided to make the student aware of the focus of the essay, the complete paper begins below: "...Man builds towels of the spirit from which he may survey larger horizons that those of his class, race and nation. This is a necessary human enterprise. Without it man could not come to his full estate. But it is also inevitable that these towers should be Towers of Babel, that they should pretend to reach higher than their real height; and should claim a finality which they cannot posses," quotes Sylvan Barnet in his introduction to Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus" (xiv). Doctor Faustus lives in such pretension. Due to Faustus' extraordinary, celebrated, restless and insatiable mind that differs from the ordinary minds, the quote above stands as the basic premise for Marlowe's play. As a highly revered individual - a doctor of theology who is also involved in liberal arts, medicine and law - Doctor Faustus possesses limitless knowledge. Nonetheless, unfortunately the more people know the more curious, thirsty and greedy for knowledge they become. Thus, wanting to know more and therefore, gain supernatural power, Faustus creates his own fall th... ...ioned by his immediate circumstances...He wants to be man. He is not content with his truth. He seeks the truth...His restless mind seeks to comprehend the meaning of all cultures so that he may not be caught within the limitations of his own" (xiv). Works Cited and Consulted Beddow, Michael. Thomas Mann: Doctor Faustus. Cambridge: Cambridge, 1994. Carnegy, Patrick. Faust as Musician: A Study of Thomas Mann's Novel Doctor Faustus. London: Chatto & Windus, 1973. Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, John R. Willingham. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Signet Classic, 1969. Russell, Jeffrey Burton. The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Citizenship in America Essay

U.S. citizens are lucky. We have freedom of speech, freedom of religion and many more rights. Citizenship can mean different things to different people. Who a country defines as its citizens may differ in different times and different places. In general, we know that citizenship belongs to a person who lives in a certain country and has certain rights. Yet, I believe that the true essence of citizenship lies in the duty to help solve problems.   In the United States, the idea of citizenship has evolved over time. For instance, in 1776, most blacks, Indians and white women had no right to vote. They had to struggle to become full citizens. The right and responsibility to vote came after a long and hard fight. Studying history is a key part of effective citizenship because from people in the past, we learn examples of good citizenship. One very good example of good citizenship was that shown by Jane Addams. Even at age six in 1866, she was an initiator and she wanted to change her world. During that time, she got this remark from Theodore Roosevelt, president from 1901 to 1909, that Addams became â€Å"the most useful citizen.† When she was 29 years old, Addams bought a large, old house called the Hull House in a poor immigrant area of Chicago. They soon learned that Addams wanted to help poor people solve the problems they faced. At Hull House, immigrants could learn English. Working parents could even leave their babies there during the day and the children were encouraged to take art classes. She also made the house available for family gatherings, weddings and other events. Addams raised money herself to pay for these programs. She also tried to change the government and often she worked in campaigns for people running for office whom she believed had honest intentions. She also wrote letters to members of Congress. She went to meetings to support giving women the right to vote. She lead marches to support laws ending the use of child labor in factories. She also tried to influence the government. In fact, people today can still petition, or try to influence the policies of government. Petitioning is one of the basic rights of all citizens protected by the United States Constitution. When garbage filled up the alleys near Hull House, she was worried that the piles of trash may cause disease and death among the children in the neighborhood. So, she did something none of us would ever think of—she applied a job as a garbage inspector. Thus, she was able to follow those garbage wagons all the way to the dumping site just to be sure that garbage is properly disposed. Addams was good citizenship personified. In my own way, I want to do the same thing as Addams did. Starting from my own home, I can begin helping my parents in cleaning our surroundings. I can also do some volunteer work in our community during weekends when there are no exams in school. Volunteer work can be fun especially when I mobilize my other friends to join in. I am sure they will be open to make themselves useful, in our own small way, in making a difference to the world out there. In my own small way, I can learn from people of the past how it is to exercise good citizenship. Making the community look good is a part of good citizenship. In fact, the community is a setting that provides much potential for helping and learning at the same time. Libraries, museums, and many places are rich sources of exercising good citizenship. For afterall, citizenship requires initiative, courage and sacrifice. As Jane Addams said, â€Å"Progress is not automatic; the world grows better because people wish that it should and take the right steps to make it better.† REFERENCES Jane Addams 1860-1935. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2006 at: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/janeadams.html#childhood Wikipedia. Jane Addams. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2006 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams Women Working. Jane   Addams. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2006 at: http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/people_addams.html

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

What Happens To The Human Body In A Vacuum

As humans get closer to the time when astronauts and explorers will be living and working in space  for long periods of time, a lot of questions arise about what it will be like for those who make their careers out there. There is a great deal of data based on long-duration flights by such astronauts as Mark Kelly and Peggy Whitman, but the life sciences experts at most space agencies need a lot more data to understand what will happen to future travelers.  They already know that the long-term inhabitants aboard the  International Space Station  have experienced some major and puzzling changes to their bodies, some of which last long after they are back on Earth. Mission planners  are using their experiences to help plan missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA However, despite this priceless data from actual experiences, people also get a lot of non-valuable data from Hollywood movies about what its like to live in space. In those cases, drama usually trumps scientific accuracy. In particular, the movies are big on gore, especially when it comes to depicting the experience of being exposed to vacuum. Unfortunately, those movies and TV shows (and video games) give the wrong impression about what its like to be in space.   Vacuum in the Movies In the 1981 movie Outland, starring Sean Connery, there is a scene where a construction worker in space gets a hole in his suit. As the air leaks out, the internal pressure drops and his body is exposed to a vacuum, we watch in horror through his faceplate as he swells up and explodes. Could that really happen, or was that dramatic license? A somewhat similar scene occurs in the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Total Recall. In that movie, Schwarzenegger leaves the pressure of the habitat of a Mars colony and begins to blow up like a balloon in the much lower pressure of the Mars atmosphere, not quite a vacuum. He is saved by the creation of an entirely new atmosphere by an ancient alien machine. Again, could that happen, or was dramatic license at play? Those scenes bring up an entirely understandable question: What happens to the human body in a vacuum? The answer is simple: it wont blow up. The blood wont boil, either. However, it will be a quick way to die if an astronauts spacesuit is damaged.   What Really Happens in a Vacuum There are a number of things about being in space, in a vacuum, that can cause harm to the human body. The unfortunate space traveler wouldnt be able to hold their breath for long (if at all), because it would cause lung damage. The person would probably remain conscious for several seconds until the blood without oxygen reaches the brain. Then, all bets are off.   The vacuum of space is also pretty darn cold, but the human body doesnt lose heat that fast, so a hapless astronaut would have a little time before freezing to death. Its possible that they would have some problems with their eardrums, including a rupture, but maybe not.   Being marooned in space exposes the astronaut to high radiation and the chances for a really bad sunburn. Their body might actually swell some, but not to the proportions so dramatically shown in Total Recall. The bends are also possible, just like what happens to a diver who surfaces too quickly from a deep underwater dive. That condition is also known as decompression sickness and happens when dissolved gases in the bloodstream create bubbles as the person decompresses. The condition can be fatal and is taken seriously by divers, high-altitude pilots, and astronauts.   NASA / Bill Stafford / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain While normal blood pressure will keep a persons blood from boiling, the saliva in their mouth could very well begin to do so. Theres actually evidence for that happening from an astronaut who experienced it. In 1965, while performing tests at the  Johnson Space Center, a subject was accidentally exposed to a near vacuum (less than one psi) when his space suit leaked while in a vacuum chamber. He did not pass out for about fourteen seconds, by which time unoxygenated blood had reached his brain. Technicians began to repressurize the chamber within fifteen seconds and he regained consciousness at around the equivalent of 15,000 feet of altitude. He later said that his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil. So, theres at least one data point about what its like to be in a vacuum. It wont be pleasant, but it wont be like the movies, either. There have actually been cases of parts of astronauts bodies being exposed to vacuum when suits were damaged. They survived due to quick action and safety protocols. The good news from all those experiences is that the human body is amazingly resilient. The worst problem would be lack of oxygen, not lack of pressure in the vacuum. If returned to a normal atmosphere fairly quickly, a person would survive with few if any irreversible injuries after an accidental exposure to vacuum. More recently, astronauts on the International Space Station found an air leak from a hole made by a technician on the ground in Russia. They were in no danger of losing their air right away, but they had to go to some effort to get it plugged safely and permanently. Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen.