Odysseus: Epic Hero? :: Free Essay Writer

Odysseus: Epic Hero? The question has been raised as to whether or not Odysseus, the hero of Homers The Odyssey, is an epic hero. An epic Hero portrays many classic properties, including being very strong and courageous. Odysseus is an epic hero, because he portrays many of these and other traits, such as having a goal that is foremost in his mind, and having descended into the underworld. An epic hero is almost overwhelmed with difficulty, often beyond that which a normal man could withstand. Not only is he confronted occasionally by danger or hopelessness; it is the entire premise of the poem. â€Å"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy† (Fagles 77). This it the first line of the whole poem, summing up what is going to happen as the speaker prays to the Muses, goddesses of stories. There is in fact, no other person, fictional or otherwise, in all of history, ever so besieged with difficulty, as Odysseus. Women and goddesses often tempt epic heroes, and Odysseus is tempted too. The goddess Circe is one of the many people who tempt him, â€Å"Come, sheath your sword, lets go to bed together, mount my bed and mix in the magic work of love-we’ll breed deep trust between us† (Fagles 240). Though Odysseus does bed with her, he never loses sight of hi s hope of coming home to his wife, Penelope. A female character always aids an epic hero, and Odysseus is no exception. Near the end of his travels, Athena feels sorry for him and decides to assist him and let him go home, and once he arrives, she helps him kill the suitors that plague his house. â€Å"That left the great Odysseus waiting in his hall as Athena helped him plot the slaughter of the suitors† (Fagles 390). Not only is this assistance by a woman, and a sure sign of an epic hero, but also a goddess assists him, and only those worthy enough can be helped by the Immortal. Odysseus is also aided and told how to get home by the Goddess Circe. â€Å"You must travel down to the House Of The Dead and the awesome one, Persephone, there to consult the ghost of Tiresias, seer of Thebes† (Fagles 245). This is the same person who tried to tempt him, but she realizes he wont stay and decides to help him instead.

Don’t Change the World Essay

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather.Definitely, this would need thousands of cows’ skin, and would cost a huge amount of money. Then one of his wise servants dared himself to tell the king, â€Å"Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money? Why don’t you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet?†The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a â€Å"shoe† for himself.There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story: to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself – your heart; and not the world. The Travelers and the Plane Tree Two men were walking along one summer day. Soon it became too hot to go any further and, seeing a large plane tree nearby, they threw themselves on the ground to rest in its shade.Gazing up into the branches one man said to the other: â€Å"What a useless tree this is. It does not have fruit or nuts that we can eat and we cannot even use its wood for anything.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Don’t be so ungrateful,† rustled the tree in reply. â€Å"I am being extremely useful to you at this very moment, shielding you from the hot sun. And you call me a good-for-nothing!†All of God’s creations have a good purpose. Islam teaches us that we should never belittle Allah’s blessings.

American experiences since 1945

The course is designed to show in details the events that took place in America after the Second World War. That is the things that happened in America after 1945. There are many events that took place. The post war period start from 1945 when Manchukuo province was captured by the Soviet Union and the atomic bombs which were dropped by USA on the mainland of Japan. This essay is going to touch on the cold war ideologies and breakups of made during the time of the war.Also the policies that were made during the cold war time, I will also discuss the events that took place in the 1950s: Politics and Culture, the liberal reforms of 1960s, reason why USA crashed with southern Asia and elaborate on the conservatism and the consensus politics. I will also discuss on the happenings of the 1970’s: Nixon’s politics and achievements and finally, I will also discuss on the 80s events: the cold war, its end and the reasons that led to the fall of the communism. The immediate post war period. The period after 1945(Farber D. , 1994) was a golden time of capitalism in America.In 1946 the council of economic advisors was established. Its roles were to analyze and advice on various policies mostly in development and implementation of domestic and international economic policies. At around 1953 the council for economic advisors had come up with five policies. These were: economic quantitative targets were set. The â€Å"growth model† of economic replaced the â€Å"cyclical model†, full employment budget was drawn, fiscal drag theories were employed, taxation base and flexibility were widened and finally and a low aggregate demand replaced unemployment notion that had persisted.In 1945 there emerged a crash in the course implementation between Edwin Nourse and Leon Keyserkling. Nourse believed that guns were to be dispensed for butter but Keyserling thought that by expanding economic it would promote expenditure without compromising the standards of l iving. During the inter war period economic depended on massive spending , raw materials control and price controls as well as the draft of 12 million military men with these reforms the quality of the lives of Americans continued to improve(Leslie B. , 1995) Culture Emergence and some Politics of 1940s and 1950sDuring this period the quality of life was improved through social welfares. As the stock exchange market thrived uninterrupted from 1949 up to 1957 (Hardayal S. , 2001) the great depression status was reversed, the government embarked on social welfares and military industries complex as it was called by Dwight Eisenhower. It involved employing women in industrial places for manufacturing ammunitions. They were also employed in the military service. The war time experience of women working in military services shaped the future career of women.Many women who were in the war went back to their house hold chores. This past experience led to later integration of women in to th e working places in America. According to (Halliwell M. , 2007) the 1950s provides an account of the cultures in America. These were fiction, poetry, theatre, television and films performances, music, radio and visual arts. In this period the economic was still not good. For instance, there were about 3,288,000 people who were unemployed the average salary of the working class was 2,992 dollars.This is the period that saw many young people who serve in the war comeback home to pick up their lives start new families and new jobs. With this new phase of experiences, American industries rose up to the challenge of meeting the rising demands of items. Americans began buying things they could not buy during the wartime. 1960s: The Liberal Reforms and Kennedy’s Visions. In 1960 a presidential election was held. This marked the end of Dwight Eisenhower as the president of America. He served his nation for a period of two terms.At this time his vice president was Richard Nixon who ha d turned his office into a political base. In the elections of 1960s, John F. Kennedy- a democrat was the second one to have the presidential position as a Roman Catholic after a democrat Al smith . At this time the Soviet Union was far a head of America both militarily and economically. At this time Kennedy was young and inexperienced to be trusted with presidency and his victory margin was among the closest ever known in the history of America. This was attributed to his religious stand. It was believed that many Protestants did not vote him (Murray C., 1994) In 1950’s and 60’s both major political parties in USA were liberal and conservative factions. The Democratic Party had northern and Western liberals and on the other hand was the conservative Southern whites. For two decades the cold war liberalism was not that active and it only peaked in 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson over Barry Gold water during the election. In 1948, Truman the then president of USA had outlaw ed desegregation in the armed forces and civil rights were strongly agitated for. These culminated in to the passage of 1964 civil rights act as well as the voting rights act of 1965.During 1960s the relations between white liberals and civil rights leaders intensified. The later accused the former of hindering the progress it was during this time that Kennedy put federal troops to protect the African Americans who were being admitted to the University of Mississippi. In 1962 (Sitkof H. , 2000) f James Meredita and Martin Luther King junior staged a march to Washington in 1966. This emerged to be a very strong movement which was called the black power. The blacks in this movement accused the whites of trying to control the blacks’ agendas.The opponents of the civil rights wanted blacks in America to stop following democratic machines and instead apply the ethnic model. The civil rights movements totally revolutionized the lives of blacks in America. Much of the credit goes to Martin Luther king. He was the leader of hundreds of Black people. He inspired the blacks greatly especially when he made his’ I have a dream speech’ to the multitude. It was all about racial harmony. This was done on the mail in Washington. In 1902, Kennedy announced that by the end of the 1960s decade USA would send a man on the moon in a spaceship and safety return him to earth alive.This was the height of optimism because at this time its space program was in its infancy stage It was also at this time that president Johnson of America promised his people that he would fight poverty and ensures that the Americans would enjoy descent lives. This promise was actualized when social security fund was increased and as a result millions of Americans received improved health care. This 1960s became the turning point in the history of American. A lot were achieved at this time (Suman K. and Bery G. F. , 1997) 1970s: Outcomes of Vietnam Invasion and Lifestyles Change.During the 1960s period, Richard Nixon in his presidential campaign promised to end the Americans involvement in the war again Vietnam if he was elected in office in 1969. This whole plan was called â€Å"Vietnamization† it meant that the United States would gradually withdraw itself from the Vietnam War and transfer its military duties to the Southern Vietnam. He wanted to reinforce the Eisenhower and Kennedy’s policies of helping the South Vietnamese but things did not go as they were expected. In 1969(Brad R. , 1991) the North Vietnamese communists intensified their attacks and through Laos and Cambodia supply lines.As a result of these events Nixon invaded Cambodia and bombarded Laos. This initially was done secretly but sooner than later it was made public by Nixon who on 1970 April 30 announced on the television that he invaded Cambodia and wanted to recruit some 150,000 new soldiers . This decision was not welcomed by many Americans in fact it provoked many ant-war pr otests especially from college and campus students. In 1970 on May 4th the National Guard fined shots in to a crowd of demonstration at Kent state university and killed four of them and about nine wounded. This only increased outrage to people who turned against Nixon and Vietnam War.Due to the increased pressure to put the war to an end an end (Goodwin J. , 2001) Nixon ordered the North Vietnam zone to be bombed. This act led to signing of an agreement which led to the termination of the war in March 1973. As America quit the war, it left the southerners to fight the northerners’ American indigence in the war caused it a big harm. About 55,000 American lives perished. Basically American gained very little from this war. It left Vietnam a devastated nation. 1980s: Cultural Influence and Economic Policies. In 1980s there was economic boom. The existing market was advancing in age and was financially becoming stable.The society’s face changed demographically. People coul d live longer and seemed younger. New technologies replaced old ones or we can say that there was a technological change. These changes were celebrated by Richard Nixon and his wife with a fashionable clothes accompanied by social events that displayed affluence of American society (Minarik J. J. , 1990) During this time the whole world was in perpetual change for instance the USSR eased their roles and gave in to private enterprise the famous Berlin war came down and Western cloths found their way in eastern, countries.There were some economic policies that were posed by the government. For instance it states that when market lack the in information on the quality of assets as well as true value of an institutions net worth then potential for crisis increased. 1990s: Revival of Cold War Period and Reagan’s Ideas. In the 1980s the cold war came to an end the eastern block had suffered economically. The cold war period of 1985-1991 came back to life with the ascension of Mikha il Gorbachev to power in 1991. In the same year on December 31, the USSR broke into 15 separate nations and this marked the end of the cold war period.Conclusion. Having seen the effects of every action that has been done in America since 1945 and Judging by the way things stand currently, we can say that in the past ten years the politics of America will move to greater heights as the democrats and the republicans become more vibrant in addressing the things that are affecting the Americans right now. Culturally, Americans are very dynamic people who keep on inventing new ways of life. So, it is hard to predict what exactly will happen in the next ten years to come. But socially it seems people will be more integrated, interactive and united.Americans are social and interact with their fellow people in a positive manner and that is why America is a united nation. Reference: Halliwell M. , 2007: American Culture in the 1950’s. Edinburgh University Press, United Kingdom. Farbe r D. , 1994: The Age of Great Dreams America in the 1960s, 1st Edition. USA. Goodwin J. , 2001: No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movement 1945-1991 Cambridge University Press P. 5 Suman K. and Bery G. F. 1997: Preventing Banking Sector Distress and Crises in Latin America; Proceedings on a Conference Held in Washington DC, World Bank. Minarik J. J., 1990: Making America’s Budget Policies from the 1980’s to the 1990’s M. E. Sharpe. Murry C. , 1994: Loosing Ground; American Social Policy 1950- 1980, Basic Books 10th Anniversary Edition. Brad R. , 1991: Weapons Proliferation in the 1990s. MIT Press, Washington. Ciment J. , 2006: Postwar America: An Encyclopedia of Social Political Cultural and Economic History Sharpe New York. Sitkoff H. , 2000: Post War America a Student Companion, Oxford University Press. Leslie B. , 1995: The Cambridge History of Latin America, Cambridge University Press. Hardayal S. , 2001. Ambassadors of Culture. Princeton University Press.

Borat Review Essays

Borat Review Essays Borat Review Paper Borat Review Paper Essay Topic: Film Talent is luck and right now no other comedian has more of it than Sacha Baron Cohen as seen in his latest smash hit Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for make benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Borat has evolved from Cohens former creation Ali G in da house. Writer Larry Charles and comic genius Sacha Baron Cohen have combined their work to produce the most vulgar, offensive and rib tickling film yet to come. Nothing is off-limits; feminists, Jewish people, homosexuals or politicians they all receive equal amount of hatred. Borat and his producer, Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian) begin their journey to explore American culture and improve Kazakhstan for the better. In his hotel room, while channel surfing, Borat instantly falls head-over-heals for the gorgeous Pamela Anderson, watching a late night repeat of Baywatch. Will the sexy time prove to be very naaaice? An unscripted mockumentary introduces us to Borats residence of a Kazakhstani village. Many of their traditions, which would prove unethical in our society, such as the Running of the Jew. He introduces us to his wife Oksana, the hated neighbour and the award-wining prostitute sister, he also tells us about his father, Boltolk the rapist. Soon Borat and his friend Azamat set off on their journey to America. Cohen sputters out the most outrageous, racist and sexist statements he can think of; yet its the reaction of his unknowing victim which proves to be the most interesting aspect of the film. Borat meets real people in real situations with hysterical consequences. His backwards behaviour generates strong reactions around him exposing prejudices and hypocrisies in American culture. Once in America, Borat criticises western values at every turn. One person who is likely to regret the day he met Borat, is Tennessee rodeo manager Bobby Rowe. He is deliberately provoked by the comedian into making unnecessary, prejudice and disapproving remarks about Muslims and homosexuals. Borats stop at Dicksons Tennessee, where he is invited to sing The Star-Spangled Banner in front of a crowd of rodeo fans. Warned beforehand by a rodeo manger that he looks a little too much like a terrorist; Borat wins over the crowd by informing them that Kazakhstan supports their countrys War of Terror. He then goes on to include that he hopes George Bush may drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq. Borat proceeds to stir up the rodeo but, when he begins to sings his version of Kazakhstans national anthem to the tune of Americas; he is immediately booed out of the arena. Sacha Baron Cohen knows exactly which buttons to press and he then just keeps on pressing them. A Hotel messenger delivers a telegram informing Borat that his wife has just died. At first the man is very professional; even offering sincere condolences, but when Borat gets excited over the news and yells out haigh faive, the man quickly joins in on the celebration. Borat pushes the limit of humour as he reveals a deep and disturbing truth and, ignorance within American culture. Do we live in a society where difference is not accepted? Borat heads from Washington D.C, Tennessee, California and finally to Los Angles in search for his beloved Pamela Anderson. Most people would fly across America, but Borat prefers to travel in style!-in an ice cream van. He purchases from a car dealer. Although he does have a reasonable excuse, he fears that in case the Jews repeat their attack of 9/ 11. If for any reason you object to seeing a 500lb bare, naked and hairy man running around a hotel room, then you might want to rethink about watching this film. Whether its black people, Jewish people, women, students, every category of human beings will find something to complain about after watching this film. Borat is homophobic, which leads to a distressed Borat asking So you think that the man who put his hand in my anus was was homosexual? Borat questions the thought that women have smaller brains than men? His genius work stands out as he succeeds in creating explosive cultural clashes such as having a posh Alabama lady calling Borat A lovely man with a bit of effort he could be properly Americanised, but she is later showered with bad surprise, when Borat brings down his souvenir after a nature call. Borat is placed in the most difficult situations possible, sometimes barely escaping being sent off to jail and even once wrestled to the ground by the police. All throughout the documentary Cohen remains in character. Like him or hate him, Sacha Baron Cohen delivers the amazing performance and one that the audience wont forget. Cohens comedy can sometime stoop to the comedy likes of Jackass-type toilet humour. A few scenes just arent funny enough and are unnecessary such as the fight between Azamat and Borat which leads to them standing naked in a presentation evening. Cohen delivers some of the biggest laughs of the year, while at the same time thinking about the root causes of prejudice and intolerance, and for that reason Borat is a must-see.

How Many Days Congress Works - Annual Total and Average

How Many Days Congress Works - Annual Total and Average Members of Congress work fewer than half of the days in any given year, But those account for only the legislative days, defined as an official meeting of the legislative body to do the peoples business. The House works about one day out of three, and the Senate works a little more than that, according to federal records. Youve probably heard the phrase do-nothing Congress at least once in your life, and its often a jab at the inability of lawmakers to reach common ground and pass important spending bills. Sometimes its a reference to how little Congress appears to work, especially in light of the $174,000 base salary for its members - more than three times the amount of money the median U.S. household earns. Heres an explanation of how many days Congress works every year. Number of Days Congress Works in Session a Year The House of Representatives has averaged 138 legislative days a year since 2001, according to records kept by the Library of Congress. Thats about one day of work every three days, or fewer than three days a week. The Senate, on the other hand, was in session an average of 162 days a year over the same time period. Technically a legislative day in the House can span more than 24 hours. A legislative day ends only when the session is adjourned. The Senate works a little differently. A legislative day often stretches beyond the boundaries of the 24-hour workday day and sometimes week. That doesnt mean the Senate is meeting around the clock. It just means that a legislative session merely recesses but doesnt adjourn after a days work. Here are the number of legislative days for the House and Senate each year in recent history: 2016: 131 in the House, 165 in the Senate.2015: 157 in the House, 168 in the Senate.2014: 135 in the House, 136 in the Senate.2013: 159 in the House, 156 in the Senate.2012: 153 in the House, 153 in the Senate.2011: 175 in the House, 170 in the Senate.2010: 127 in the House, 158 in the Senate.2009: 159 in the House, 191 in the Senate.2008: 119 in the House, 184 in the Senate.2007: 164 in the House, 190 in the Senate.2006: 101 in the House, 138 in the Senate.2005: 120 in the House, 159 in the Senate.2004: 110 in the House, 133 in the Senate.2003: 133 in the House, 167 in the Senate.2002: 123 in the House, 149 in the Senate.2001: 143 in the House, 173 in the Senate. House Averages 18 Hours of Work a Week Theres a little more to this analysis than just the number of days lawmakers are scheduled to cast votes. A 2013 analysis conducted by The New York Times found that the House was in session for 942 hours that year, or about 18 hours a week. That level of work, The Times noted, was the least by any Congress in a non-election year in nearly a decade. By comparison, the House worked 1,700 hours in 2007,1,350 hours in 2005,and 1,200 hours in 2011. The same went for the Senate, which had 99 voting days in 2013. Some attempts have been made to force members of Congress to work full weeks. In 2015, for example, a Republican lawmaker from Florida, Rep. David Jolly, introduced legislation that would have required the House to be in session 40 hours a week when members of the House were in Washington, D.C.A work week in Washington should be no different than a work week in every other town across the nation,† Jolly said at the time. Jollys measure failed to gain traction. Constituent Services Theres much more to being a congressman than voting. One of the most important aspects of the job is being accessible and responsive to the people who voted them into office. Its called constituent service: answering phone calls from the public, holding town-hall meetings on important issues, and assisting members of the 435 congressional districts with their problems. The nonprofit Congressional Management Foundation has reported: Members work long hours (70 hours a week when Congress is in session), endure unequaled public scrutiny and criticism, and sacrifice family time to fulfill work responsibilities. The 70-hour work week reported by members of Congress is more than twice the average length of the work week for Americans. When Congress Adjourns Congressional sessions begin in January of odd-numbered years and typically end in December of the same year. Congress adjourns at the end of each session. There are two sessions for each sitting of Congress. The Constitution forbids either the Senate or the House to adjourn for more than three days without the permission of the other chamber.

Literature review matrix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Literature review matrix - Essay Example   The researchers designed two phases for the study. In the first phase, participants were interviewed and their responses noted down while in the second phase, the researchers studied participants independently and noted their observations.   In the results, the researchers were able to identify some factors which influence the proper implementation of evidence based practices. They included organizational and practice issues, multi-professional relationships and the role of project leaders.   Some of the factors that were identified as influencing the process of implementing evidence based practices include number of years in the nursing practice, the age of the nurses and the number of years since obtaining the last professional degree.   Majid, S., Foo, S., Luyt, B., Zhang, X., Theng, Y. L., Chang, Y. K., & Mokhtar, I. A. (2011). Adopting evidence-based practice in clinical decision making: nurses perceptions, knowledge, and barriers. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 99(3), 229.   Rycroft†Malone, J., Harvey, G., Seers, K., Kitson, A., McCormack, B., & Titchen, A. (2004). An exploration of the factors that influence the implementation of evidence into practice. Journal of clinical nursing, 13(8), 913-924.   Dalheim, A., Harthug, S., Nilsen, R. M., & Nortvedt, M. W. (2012). Factors influencing the development of evidence-based practice among nurses: a self-report survey. BMC health services research, 12(1), 367.   Van Achterberg, T., Schoonhoven, L., & Grol, R. (2008). Nursing Implementation Science: How Evidence†Based Nursing Requires Evidence†Based Implementation. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 40(4),

American history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

American history - Essay Example Under Brigham Young the Church took a more aggressive view of self-defence, especially when under attack from Native American tribes. The Spanish-American war, however, split the Mormon church with different factions taking sides both for and against participation in the war. Eventually, the policy evolved. In the final analysis, this war marked the end of Mormons believing themselves to be separate from other American citizens. They agreed to be ruled by the Commander-in-Chief. The agreed to fight in war when required and to stand up for both their faith and their country when called to do so. This was certainly a turning point in the history of the Mormon Church and its role in the United States. This article offers a reappraisal of the Spanish-American war. The idea that is commonly said of this war is that it was a short, minor conflict that provided a big boost to the American ego. In truth it was not an easy war to win, nor was America properly prepared for it. Additionally, its consequences would last for many years to come and shape much of America throughout the 20th century. While prosecuting and concluding this war, Roosevelts goal was to strengthen and preserve American power around the world. He took an aggressive approach towards doing this as he did in many aspects of his life. He felt that democracy and capitalism were well worth preserving and fighting for. Indeed, Roosevelt would have agreed with E.H. Carr who wrote a few years later about political realism. Utopianism is unrealistic. It supposes that a perfect world can be created by men and that is one of our goals on Earth. Carr was a realist: he believed the world is not perfectible and that efforts to do so will end in failure and sometime calamity. The political system contains too many variables for any person or group to control. The League of Nations was a good example of this. The problems of the