Star Wars Essays (618 words) - Fiction, Action Heroes,

Star Wars We live in a society, which relies on fairy tales and mythology to entertain and take us off to a far away place where we can identify with our imagination. The Star Wars trilogy is a classic example of the hero cycle. A young man is brought up believing the light side of the force is his destiny. It has an old warrior, which teaches young Luke an ancient craft that has been used for centuries to battle evil. Luke is told about his father and how he was a great Jedi Knight, how he was killed by a man named Darth Vader, but fails to tell him that the fate of the galaxy lies on his shoulders. Luke grows wise but still cocky and bull headed much like Oedipus Rex. Young Luke Skywalker sees his mentor get taken down by the same man who killed his father thus giving birth to his inner dark side. He is yet to see the need for a balance of the two forces. Luke develops many friendships and is forced to choose whether or not he wants to complete his training with his new mentor Yoda, or watch his friends die in trying to defeat the Empire and Darth Vader. He ignores all that he was taught by Obi wan and Yoda and decides to take his destiny in his own hands and confront Vader and save his friends. In doing this rebellion to the light side of the force, Luke can now feel the power of having the light side and the dark. During his battle with Vader, Luke can see that there is a transformation of the villain. What was once a cold and dark character, Lord Vader now has a compassion for his son. Though Luke is blinded and stubborn for the light side of the force, is actions are now balanced between the two forces. Vader now starts to see compassion for his son, who is forced to do battle not by his own will. Vader then offers an ultimatum for his son who is to join with him to defeat the emperor and rule the universe. Luke denies his father and descends into his own darkness when he finds out Vader is his father, this symbolizes the death period in the fairy tale. The resurrection of Skywalker in Return of the Jedi shows that Luke realizes that he has the power to defeat the Emperor and maybe bring back his father to the light side of the force. When he confronts his enemies, Luke almost makes the decent into the darkness as he battles his father. He realizes that the rage that is controlling him is the dark side. Luke stops the battle after he sees that Vader's chopped hand is just like his own and he knows the two are both alike. Luke can see that he will soon become just like his father. As the aggravated Emperor starts to kill Luke, Vader goes through his own resurrection. With this compassion for his son, Lord Vader throws the Emperor to his death. Saving his son showing us that there is still good in him. The light side of the force is not completely out Vader. The cycle that these characters in the story Star Wars take, is a life-death cycle. They choose between which side of life to live. Campbell's idea that both the light and dark side is in a way diseased shows that a balance must be present. The light side is constantly in control and more of a thanatos way, whereas the dark side is in chaos and an eros view. The balance between the two is cyclical approach to life. There are ups and downs to everything of nature. As Yoda said, "there is no try only do." A true jedi must confront the dark side of the force in order to see what the light side has.

Bar vs. Debar

Bar vs. Debar Bar vs. Debar Bar vs. Debar By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, Could you perhaps elaborate on the use of the verbs â€Å"bar† and â€Å"debar† in the sense of â€Å"exclude from†? The sources available to me are not clear in this instance. Both verbs are figurative expressions that derive from a use of the object called a bar: â€Å"a straight piece of wood, metal, or other rigid material, long in proportion to its thickness.† Bars are used to limit the ability of people or animals to enter or leave an area. As a verb, bar has these uses: 1. to make a place secure by placing bars or other obstacles across openings Coinneachs mother  barred the opening with  her stick and waited. When these parties were out of the house, he locked up the doors, and  barred the windows  by nailing boards and slats across them to prevent entry in that direction. The first portion of the descent is through the narrow gorge of La Chaine, so called from a chain having been stretched across it by the Swiss  to bar the entrance.   2. to forbid entrance to a place (figuratively) A mayor in Florida says he is barring Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from his city after the businessmans latest idea to prevent Muslims from entering the United States. Lawyer attempts to bar journalists from court proceedings 3. to prevent an action, activity, or event While there are many reasons to bar a person from leaving Malaysia, the Immigration Department can only do so for people having invalid passports. Police dogs barred from crowd-control duty in St. Louis following review of Ferguson protests Debar entered English from a French verb meaning â€Å"to unbar, to remove bars.† In modern English usage, however, debar is used with the following meanings: 1. to exclude or shut out from a place or condition. 2. to set a bar or prohibition against; to prohibit, prevent, forbid. Here are recent examples of the use of debar: Bengal is one of the eight  teams debarred from  FIFAS Boys (U-13) Football Festival for fielding over-aged players in the team. The new rule, that a student might participate in only two of the three seasons for athletics, at once  debarred  Captain Randall, of the baseball  team. A total of 230 commerce  students- 75 each from the first-, second- and third-year- of N M College have been  debarred  from appearing for their semester-end examinations that start this weekend for failing to fulfill the minimum attendance criterion. Many writers more or less openly announce their desire to see motor-cars abolished and debarred  from the  use  of the highway altogether. (From a 1902 source) Well into the twentieth century  women  were  debarred  from sitting on juries. Both verbs are used to mean exclude or prevent, but to bar is far more common than to debar. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How Many Tenses in English?What to Do When Words Appear Twice in a RowStarting a Business Letter with Dear Mr.

How do diplomacy,economic policies and military action work together Research Paper

How do diplomacy,economic policies and military action work together in the United States foreign policy - Research Paper Example To date, we consider the US as the strongest economic power on the global sphere as well as the strongest nation in the entire world in terms of wars. She has the most sophisticated machinery and military personnel’s than any other country in the world. She has as well the strongest army in the world. Above all, the economy of America has overtaken any economy in the entire world at present. The world’s economic base is pegged on the dollar monopoly whereby the US dollar is used as the world’s medium of exchange and for business transactions across the entire globe. It is only the United States currency which has been accepted as the medium of exchange for all international business transactions and not the other currencies. Even though the European pound is also used for international business transactions, it is the US dollar which dominates the global market. The European pound has only been used to a limited scale especially among the nations making up the Eu ropean Union and a few of her colonies. Heo and Karl (2004) argue that the stability of the United States monopoly of the world has however been threatened by some other rising world economies (Heo and Karl 2004). These other small economies which have been rising to keep at purr with the US economy include that of Japan and China. These economies however have not reached the levels of being able to control the world economy as the United States has managed. There is power in the extent or the area of land and the total population commanded by a state to be considered powerful. The small economies mentioned above have not been able to make it to the global sphere because of their small land sizes as well as their small populations. In terms of military specialization and war dominations, the world has been looking forward to the development of nuclear weapons for purposes of war. Many nations considered to be among the strongest nations in the world have developed very technical and sophisticated war machines. Wang has listed some of these such as South Korea among others. These countries have as well developed very lethal nuclear weapons which have been considered a major source of threat to the entire world (Wang 1999). As a result there have been rumors of wars as well as some other wars fought between various nations of the world. The rumors of wars are what the political analysts and war experts refer to as the cold war and begun some years ago. In order to maintain the economic, political and military power, the united states knows very well that she has to employ certain techniques to enable her survive in her position. This paper will investigate how the United States of America has been using her political, economic and diplomatic mechanisms in her foreign policies to rue the entire world and to establish herself as the world’s super power. 2 The monopoly of the US economy and military power has been threatened by some countries today forcing t he US to revise her stand on how she controls and rule the world. Some of the states which have posed threats to US of late include Iran, Syria among others (Kegley 1998). These are mostly the Arab nations. These countries have made America to realize the need to strengthen her missions abroad and change the overall process of monitoring the world’

Molecular Mechanism of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli Essay

Molecular Mechanism of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli - Essay Example Conclusion: Sufficient research results have shown that the E.coli continues to cause infections such as UTIs, resisting the basic ciprofloxacin. These strains are referred to as extended spectrum beta-lactamase E.coli. There is therefore need to develop new antibiotics and explore new ways of tackling the bacteria. Introduction Escherichia coli, commonly referred to as E. coli, are amongst the few organisms that have steered the art of antibiotic resistance in bacteria to altogether new levers. The European E. coli outbreak of 2011 served as an eye opener on the magnitude of harm such a development can cause. On that regard, it is vital to understand the antibiotic resistance mechanism of E. coli, especially at the molecular level. This implies that the quantification of the mechanism upon which this eventuality is realized will have to drench deep into the responsible genetic sequences in the DNA of the bacterium. Fortunately, the genetic sequence of E. coli is already established and safely stored in accessible archives. This is irrespective of the plasticity experienced while sequencing the DNA of E. coli. The main methods by which resistance is observed to occur include: Prevention of entry into the cell, Synthesis of enzymes that lyse the antibiotics, rapid efflux from the cell, and modification of the active site. Evaluation The quantification of the mechanism behind the resistance calls for the isolation of E. coli strains that exhibit this form of resistance. Due to the wide range of antibiotics availed for the fight against the spread of the bacteria, it is vital to focus on strains that exhibit multiple resistances. This is also of merit in a rather different perception in that; it can facilitate the development of antibiotics that encompass solutions to different targets. This helps in the improvement of their therapeutic efficacy. On this regard, a central region of focus falls under the integrons (these are genetic elements able to target and rear range ORFs embedded in gene cassette units and change them to functional genes by ensuring their proper expression). This is with regards to their heightened presence in organisms exhibiting multiple antibiotic resistances. They were originally associated with gram negative bacteria. Progressively the analysis of strategic loci may be of great essence in the quantification of the avenues followed towards the establishment of a resistance in E. coli. Such a locus is the mar locus (Michael, 2007). On reference is that rapid mutations experienced in the mentioned locus; that eventuate into alteration of the coding sequence, hence aberration of the protein sequence produced. Apparently, the development of resistance towards a given antibiotic is based on two broad mechanisms. They include the development of mutated genetic sequence at the DNA level and the horizontal line gene transfer (also termed lateral gene transfer). This simply refers to the accumulation of various mutations via a systematic process; where the central microbe, in this case E. coli, accumulates the necessary mutation via prokaryotic DNA absorption mechanisms. This includes mechanisms such as transduction, transformation, gene transfer agents (found in alphaproteobacteria), or conjugation. The resistance sequences are conveyed along the various tandem sequences, such as transposons, integrons or plasmids (D’

Euthanasia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Euthanasia - Research Paper Example Despite the fact that in some countries it is permitted, there is still no consensus on the matter in the world. Unfortunately, even given the high level of its achievements under the influence of scientific and technological progress, modern medicine cannot save mankind from death and physical suffering. The fact that the issue of euthanasia is particularly important in modern medicine is also associated with a departure from the principle of medical paternalism to the principles determined by contemporary bioethics. To begin with, for centuries, medical ethics had changed markedly. Previously medicine relied on Hippocratic Oath, the basic principle of which is as follows: â€Å"do whatever you like, but do no harm† (Hulkower 41). The ethics of Hippocratic medicine was an example of paternalism where the doctor was endowed with limitless powers in relation to the patient (McClenaghan 10). Today, medical ethics is based on four ethical principles that demonstrate a departure from medical paternalism. None of them is leading, since they are all equivalent (Varelius 377-380): Translated from the Greek the word "euthanasia" means a "good death." (Ardelt 424) The term appeared in the 16th century. The English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon identified the following main features of euthanasia: easy and painless dying and a strong belief that to die is the greater good than to feel pain and sufferings in life. Francis Bacon believed that the doctor should help the dying patients, so they were not so scary. He "discussed euthanasia as a fair, easy passage" (Pridgeon 49). After almost three hundred years, a modern meaning of the term had appeared. Euthanasia began to be understood as an attempt to help person experiencing unbearable suffering escape from life that is to show compassion towards him or her. Shortly after, the term was forgotten, and at the end of the twentieth century, the issue of euthanasia became rather disputable. There is a

Benefits of the Great Wall of China

Benefits of the Great Wall of China The Great Wall The text The Great Wall, by John Man, is about the worlds longest man made structure. Ranging from eastern to western China the length of the great wall remains unknown because the wall does not form a single continues line. There are several gaps and its been destroyed and rebuilt during different dynasties. Measurements vary between 2,694 and 6,000 kilometers from the western desert to the sea (Man, 5). The section that was built in the Ming Dynasty is about 25 feet tall and 16 feet wide. In Chinese, the symbol for wall is ambiguous; it can mean both Long City, and Long Walls. Construction of the Great Wall began around 214 BC and it was maintained until the 16th century. The Wall that was built in the Qin Dynasty is the most famous one because it was the first and oldest section that still remains today. The latest or the most current segment was built in the Ming Dynasty. There is much more to it than just a barrier; the wall itself contains fortresses, barracks, guard towers and beacon towers (Man, 5). Though the Great Wall is a national symbol of identity for the Chinese, the reason for its construction is commonly unknown. Most people believe that the wall was built to create protection from the barbarous nomads in northern China who were attacking them, but this was not the case. John Man in The Great Wall argues that the nomad attacks were a justification for the destruction of the tribes. The nomads were not the ones to initiate violence; it was the Chinese that provoked and attacked the nomads for land. The Wall was never the barrier it seemed or was claimed to be because nomads could still easily go over or through it while the Chinese empire ruled and influenced both side of the wall (Man, 8). So it was useless against the Mongols in the north. It was Chinese expansionism that eventually forced the evolution of pastoral nomadism and Chinese expansionism that created the threat (Man, 21). The construction of the wall served mutliple purposes. One, it defined spheres of interest, marking a frontier and confining the unruly nomad populations where they could eventually be turned into workers (Man, 8). Two, it was a way for ambitious leaders to flaunt their power and warn alien threats. The wall was first created when China was divided into three different states: the Zhou in the northern borderlands, the Qin in south and west, and the Yen in north and east. These rulers each built walls for protection from each other and to show that they were serious about ruling (Man, 23). In 221 B.C. Qin Huang conquered and unified all the states and symbolically demolished the inter-state walls. He then extended the remaining wall into the northern frontier for protection from an Xiongnu invasion (Great Wall). The wall eventually became Chinas main civic project, comparable in scope to the pyramids in Egypt, and construction continued until the last dynasty in the 16th century. One of the biggest advantages of the Great Wall was that it created a sense of identity for the Chinese. It portrayed their endurance and their economical and political power. Although it was functionally useless and took hundreds of years to complete, it worked as a symbol of authority and power in the eyes of Chinas opponents and enemies. It also isolated the nomadic tribes that lived in the northern side of the wall, forcing them to participate in barter and trade. One of the advantages of the great wall was this forced increase in commercial and trade. Scholar Jia Yi states, our markets beneath the Great Wall will surely swarm with the Xiongnuà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦When the Xiognu have developed craving for our rice, stew, barbecues and wine, this will have become their fatal weakness. Border Markets Thrived(60). The Wall also helped protect traders and administrators, which encouraged a merchant middle class in the western kingdoms, leading China to be richer than ever. While the empire was split in three different states, it was the nobles who were responsible for organizing a workforce for the construction of the walls. Peasants were forced to work on the wall by their nobles (Man, 23). People suffered from the forced labor it took to build the Great Wall, (Man, 123). It was estimated that during the construction of the wall, from 5th to 16th century, about 2-3 millions Chinese workers lost their lives (Great Wall). They didnt have a formal burial, the workers that died were sealed inside the wall as if they were born to support in weight both in life and in death. The workforce was divided into three different groups: soldiers, criminals, and ordinary people. Millions were called to work on the Wall, leaving their families and loved ones behind; even children had to join the workforce (Labor Force of Great Wall). The wall led to a large numbers of deaths and injuries during the years of its construction. It split up families and widowed many women. Not only did the wall have a negative effect on the citizens of the empire but it also had a negative impact on the nomads that lived on the northern side of the wall. It restricted their area of stay and the resources they had, limiting their amount of space for animals and restricting their travel to alternative trade or lands. This eventually led nomads to unify under the Mongolian Empire. The Mongolian Empire was led by emperor Genghis Khan, who organized raids and attacks on the Chinese Empire. The wall might have been a great authoritative representation, but it had an equally strong negative effect on the communities surrounding it. The wall that was built by the first emperor Qin was not sustainable; it was made of earth rather than stones, causing the wall to vanish over the years. Later dynasties would then rebuild it using earth, wood, or stones. Originally, the earth wall was made from was a mix of mud and local grass straws. The wall in north of Guyuan and in Yinchuan is the oldest original earth section. Later, lacking any efficient form of transportation for the materials, the workers would just adapt local resources. They would use rocks from nearby mountains or rammed earth from the plains. It wasnt until the later dynasties started expanding the walls to Hohhot and Beijing that carved stone began to be formally and universally used. Because of this patchwork of materials, some parts of the wall were made of chunks of flat, slate-like rock and ran along a hillside while others used bricks (Man, 8). During the Ming dynasties the walls were constructed using tiles, lime, and stone, which managed to last longer and be more effective (The Wall). Because the bricks were easier to carry compared to stones and earth, they made it easier for the workers to build the walls (The Wall). The stones were still used for the foundations since they could hold the walls weight better under different conditions. As years passed, people continued to acquire better resources and methods to construct the walls. The time and the location of the structure help determine the reasons behind the creation of the walls. It was built at a time where competition and power among the different states and regions was at its peak, different Emperors wanted to intimidate their respective enemies by showing them that they had the economic and political power necessary for this huge civic project. It was more of a symbol of their power rather than functionally protective as there was no real exterior threat to the dynasties. Even if there was, the nomads had no problem climbing or going through the wall. To them, the wall was not an obstacle. The Great Wall was built at a time where emperors wanted to flaunt their dominance to intimidate any potential enemy attacks. The great wall was am intimidating structure, a series of safe-houses for traders, a hugely extended barracks, a road for the transport of goods-and thus, as the second meaning of the symbol for great wall in Chinese implies, a very long city. Today the great wall is a representation of peace. A Tibetan said The Great Wall is a masterpiece containing the wisdom and diligence of all the peoples and nationalities of China. As the years passed, the wall became more redundant. Today the wall is a representation and symbol of China. The wall is no longer a barrier or a border but a pure symbol of a Chinese heritage. It attracts millions of people from all over the world who come to see the worlds largest structure. Useful in its time, today construction of the wall would create a dispute among United Nations. It would be even less functionally protective as a wall would not stop the intentions of any outside threat with the technology and weapons we have today. The Great Wall by John Man isnt the best literature Ive read, especially for this assignment. The most useful information I received for this assignment was in the introduction. The rest of the book focused more on the broader history of China and its dynasties. Even though it was interesting to learn about the different dynasties, it wasnt really related to our assignment and wasnt engagingly written. I felt like there was too much factual information for a reader to keep focused on the main idea. The author didnt have clear specific information about the wall. It was scattered all over different chapters without a clear organizing structure. It wouldve been better if he included more information on and of the people who built the walls, their lifestyle, and the conditions in which they worked in. He could have also included more information on the lifestyles of nomads and how the wall changed their traditional cultures.

Lust and the Degeneration of Man Exposed in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129 Es

Lust and the Degeneration of Man Exposed in Shakespeare’s 129th Sonnet   Love in its purest form is the most unsurpassable of all emotions, requiring intense commitment, while simultaneously providing incomparable bliss. However, often the intense desire for these feelings produces a new emotion, lust, with a craving that gives priority to obtaining an objectified person, as opposed to a very real human. Lust can be further practically defined as the inability to place selfless love on a higher pedestal than selfish desire. Shakespeare explores these conflicting definitions of lust in his 129th sonnet, condemning his animalistic variations of lust that coexist with his desire for a genuine state of love. As opposed to following the traditional convention of idealizing a woman and her attributes, Shakespeare breaks the concordance and focuses on the dehumanizing effect of the woman’s attributes on his character. The general trend in this sonnet is the speaker’s analysis of the mental methods through which he has admired a woman. He attempts to craftily define lust so as to rationalize his actions to be correct. However, he gradually gains the knowledge that the lust he has felt is sacrilegious, and must cease. Sonnet 129 opens as the speaker is in great distress due to the shallow quality that has permeated his love. He feels as though he has been exhausted of his physical, mental, and moral strength in his pursuit for mutual love. An "expense of spirit in a waste of shame" is the mark of an ill-fated desire that has missed its point of satisfaction, lost in a deep cavern of an inescapable nature. When humans fall into such depths of despair, it is quite natural to fall back into the animalistic undertones that creep ste... ...9). Works Cited Fineman, Joel. Shakespeare's Perjured Eye : The Invention of Poetic Subjectivity in the Sonnets. Berkeley, U of California P, 1988. Leisham, Stephen. The Riddle of Shakespeare's Sonnets. New York: Basic Books, 1982. Landry, Scott. ed. A Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. Martin, Philip. Shakespeare's Sonnets: Self, Love and Art. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1972. Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare's Sonnets. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. Vendler, Helen. The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard UP, 1999. Winny, James. The Master-Mistress; A Study of Shakespeare's Sonnets. London: Chatto and Windus, 1968. Works Consulted Fiedler, Leslie A. "Some Contexts of Shakespeare's Sonnets." The Riddle of Shakespeare's Sonnets. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962.