...THE AMERICAN DREAM THE AMERICAN DREAM Section #1 a. The impact cultures in North America have on the United States is that each region adapted the traditions and/or beliefs of those who settled in that area by maintaining dance, music, and crafts. Many English settlers did not respect the Native American cultures, and were seen as uncivilized and/or savages. Basically there was a clash of cultures, with new ideas pushing away old ways and mayor cultures oppressing others. b. Immigration and migration shape the early United States, for example: The first person to be processed at Ellis Island was Annie Moore who arrived from Ireland on January 1, 1892. As the first immigrant Annie Moore was given a $10 gold piece. She soon was married and gave birth to eleven children. While Annie Moore was the first immigrant, she was definitely not alone. Some famous immigrants who arrived through Ellis Island included Charles Chaplin, Cary Grant, Harry Houdini, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is easy to see from this list how immigrants have changed the face of the United States. All of these famous people contributed to the United States, giving a bright future for innovative contributions to the young nation. c. The most important change in the United States ‘ involvement in foreign affairs from 1789 to 1877 was expansion of its territory. Marked by a treaty with France buying Louisiana territory doubling the United States, and other treaties...
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...Published in 1516, Sir Thomas More’s Utopia drew attention to many of the issues contemporary European society faced at that time. While Utopia is considered a socio-political satire, there is little humor to be found in the problems of their day. Thomas More drew attention to the unfair socio-economic system, the egocentric kings and distrust in technology. Sadly, five hundred years later, the modern world still faces these same issues. Turn CNN on any time of the day and you will hear a multitude of examples. Currently, the United States faces an unfair socio-economic system that gives privilege and opportunity to wealthy citizens, while repressing minorities and the poor. The issues wealthy citizens face are represented fully and addressed...
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...The idea of utopian and dystopian societies are noticeably popular due to the fact that society wants equality, however authors show when attempting to have total equality the public can become unethical. Harrison Bergeron shows a corrupt government and society in hopes of a utopia. After Harrison broke out of jail and made the musicians play without their handicaps the text says, “The music began again and was much improved.” This demonstrates how total equality can strip people of their individuality, therefore people can’t have talents. However for most people their talents are what brings them joy and purpose. The leader or ruler in Harrison Bergeron, The Handicapper General, was also unprincipled. Later “She (The Handicapper General) fired...
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...the hopes of expanding the membership (Jonestown). The mission of the Peoples Temple was to provide equality to everyone and to bring an end to poverty. Through these motives to change, the membership was extended to all ethnicities to join their mission. However, the Peoples Temple became a sect, which Sociologist Max Weber defines as “an oppositional movement at odds with both the mainstream religion and the culture in which it finds itself” (Eller)....
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...Thomas More’s Utopia is a work of ambiguous dualities that forces the reader to question More’s real view on the concept of a utopian society. However, evidence throughout the novel suggests that More did intend Utopia to be the “best state of the commonwealth.” The detailed description of Utopia acts as Mores mode of expressing his humanistic views, commenting on the fundamentals of human nature and the importance of reason and natural law, while gracefully combining the two seemingly conflicting ideals of communism and liberalism. The presence of satirical irony and contradiction clearly defines Utopia as an unobtainable goal, though goal that all societies must pursue nonetheless. In essence, Utopia is a written manifestation of More’s humanist beliefs. Many of these views are vicariously present in the character of Raphael Hythloday. For example, Hythloday comments on the unwillingness of Kings to take advice from others, claiming they are “drenched as they are and infected with false values from boyhood and on” (More, 2011, p. 28). The idea of “infection” implies that a man is not naturally corrupt or sinful, but rather pure at heart and simply influenced by the environment an individual is exposed to. This is a key humanist concept, which suggests that human nature is malleable and inconstant, and therefore can be positively influenced to do good. Raphael later states, “Pride is too deeply fixed in human nature to be easily plucked out” (More, 2011, p. 98) Though this...
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...The Story of Evolution as a Utopia and the Evolution of the Story of Utopia In my first semester I had the college seminar that focused on the idea of Utopia in fiction, politics, and philosophy. Our discussions and readings went through a process of evolution that begin as rather simplistic and then followed a steady path to much more involved. Honestly, a reason that I chose the class was because I had done many of the readings before, but once the work began I realized that myself, and all the others in the class, would be looking at works, such as Candide and 1984, in an entirely different fashion. Many of the stories we read were written a substantial amount of time in the past and it was interesting to see how their meaning changed and evolved over different generations. While reading the books on biological evolution I could not help but see aspects of a desired Utopia in the theory of evolution. In this paper I hope to explore the evolution of selected works from my class last semester and address my feelings on the idea that the theory of evolution is a utopian notion. One of the works we focused on a great deal was George Orwell's 1984. This counted as a utopian and distopian society because the higher powers in the book were able to control the underlings exactly as they wanted to; whereas the underlings who were suffering it all, lived in great fear and unhappiness. Orwell wrote the book in 1948 as a warning to what he felt the world may become. As we well...
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...in Rwanda (a small, heavily populated country in Africa) between two tribes, the Tutsi and Hutu. Over the course of three months, this genocide took the lives of at least 80,000 innocent Tutsi`s by hacking them to death with machetes. Genocide is an unnecessary act of war that has the potential to wipe out large quantities of innocent people, with no real reason to benefit society. Author Michael Norfolk believes that it is necessary in order for us to reach Utopia for blood to be shed. According to Norfolk, genocide is “ancient”, comparing the amount of tribes that have been exterminated to the list of animal and plant species that we have...
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...many times in his life, this continued cycle of neglect caused Enrique to idealize the United States and the mother who abandoned him. Throughout the novel, Enrique is thrown into many hardships constant reminders of the current life he has and why he looks at the United States as this utopia. Enrique constantly shows the trauma the cycle of abandonment has caused him; he fears being alone and aims to find his mother, the one person who he believes to be this idyllic woman. This picturesque image of his mother and the United States is shattered when he arrives, seeing the true state of the country and mother he admired so much....
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...Brett Stewart The Quest for Utopia An individual’s quest for utopia can also be described as searching for an ideal. In the search for an ideal we look for our desire and perfection in life. The quest for utopia is examined through literature to find out what the ideal is and how it’s obtained or lost. The characters analyzed in this essay strive for perfection, success, and vengeance through their obstacles. The quest for the ideal is important because it shapes imagination, creativity, and lifestyle. Henry A. Kissinger explains where an ideal can be found, when he concludes, “For other nations, utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for [some people] it is just beyond the horizon.” Kissinger describes that for some, their ideal is in the past and others it’s in the future. The three pieces of literature examined in this essay are analyzed through Kissinger’s theory. In literature the quest for the ideal can often result in the pursuer’s death, this is shown in “The Great Gatsby,” “Sailing to Byzantium,” and “Hamlet.” Gatsby’s ambition to turn back time and fall in love with Daisy again, ultimately leads him to his downfall. Gatsby wanted to turn time back because Daisy and him were once deeply in love, however after Gatsby left for war she was doubtful he would return. Daisy found a more secure relationship with Tom Buchanan and Gatsby’s new ideal was to fulfill the American Dream and win Daisy over. However the American Dream has no room for love and...
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...inheritance, West is comfortably adjusted to life in America in the 1880s despite the unsavory politics, rabid economics, growing gap between rich an poor, and frequent labor strikes, all of which threaten to arrest industry and devastate the young nation. After a bizarre experience with “animal hypnotism,” West sleeps for over 113 years and awakes in the year 2000 in the home of Dr. Leete. West finds that the new society has no greed, no corruption, no poverty, no crime, and no war. A society in which everyone’s laundry is professionally laundered, meals are professionally prepared in public kitchens, everyone gets a quality education, working hours are short, and retirement comes at the age of forty-five. Everything is as in a utopia. This utopia, no doubt, represented the aspirations of the book’s nineteenth century author, Edward Bellamy. Channeled through the voice of Dr. Leete, Bellamy saturates the book with his ideas of the ideal society. Bellamy’s vision of the future was quite in sync with that of the basic American Dream: equality, justice, and responsibility, for all. Troubled in real life by the same problems that plagued his fictional society of the 1880s, Bellamy wrote his book as a wake-up call and road map to lead his contemporaries...
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...individual within this model society could alter the life of another individual within the society, the ideals of the second individual may be broken; this consequently undermines and destroys the concept of an absolute ideal society. Thomas More’s Utopia carries the premise that everyone within the utopian society does what is necessary for the good of the society, and that one’s free will would consist of only what is beneficial to the culture. This, in itself, is limiting free will by excluding the possibility of freely doing what is not beneficial to the culture. More said, the citizens, “(do) not waste their time in idleness or self-indulgence,” but who’s to say that they cannot? Absolute free will gives each citizen the ability to do whatever they feel inclined to do, even perhaps, idle or self-indulge. In Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the idea of free will throughout the society is not touched on; however, on the basis that freedom should be given to citizens of “color,” freedom of will would most likely be included. I believe that humans can live peacefully together if everyone would be cooperative and conscientious to each other. My ideal view for humanity is one that will probably never be attained, but still one to hope for in my opinion. I...
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...despite the fact that such an ideal life has stayed in people’s mind, not too many people believe a real utopia exists. It is similar to when audiences watch a romantic movie with a perfect ending and tell themselves this can only happen on the screen where all the lines have been written and edited carefully. Without any hope for any possible alternatives, eventually, no one would strive to create a peaceful and fantasy world according to their dream. However, there is a country that is making the dream of a lot of people come true. In a recent decade, Singapore has been moving towards the idea of improving their social and economic problems through constructing the modern building projects. Needless to say, their significant achievement in economic social development has brought them opportunities to become one of the most stable economies in the world regardless of a limited space and sacred natural resources. Singapore is among the countries that has the lowest rate of unemployment, highest adequate living conditions and social pension, and fastest economic growth in Asia. Furthermore, it is also well known for the green environment and energy efficiency. Although Singapore is believed to be a clear example of how a utopian plan has improved human development, there are critics argue that its government is directing people in an oppressive setting through a so called utopia and that there is lack of innovation in a too stable economic organization. The rigid of the government...
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...Human Nature: Are We Really as Bad as We Seem? Why do people do what they do? Are there always selfish ulterior motives for every action? More, Machiavelli, and Luther all realize the shortcomings of human nature, but have different ways in which they propose to deal with this problem. Machiavelli, More, and Luther all seem to have a similar view of human nature in that they see the necessity of a strong government because people are not essentially good and they need something to keep them in line. Luther said “There are always many more of the wicked than there are of the just” (Luther, 11). While this may be thought of as cynical, there are plenty of examples where people will do just about anything in order to achieve what they want. Luther and Machiavelli both were under the impression that people are naturally selfish, and thus need the guiding hand of the government to keep them in check. All three use the fear of punishment as an incentive to uphold the laws. Machiavelli said that “Fear is sustained by the dread of punishment that is always effective” (Machiavelli, 58). More doesn’t say it as up front as Machiavelli does, but the reason people behave is because of their fear of the punishment of becoming a slave, not because they love their rulers. Machiavelli and Luther both saw the need for there to be a separation of secular authority and religious authority, putting to question the idea of divinely inspired royalty. “Each must decide at his own peril...
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...Text Set Introduction Jeff Utegg After reading The Giver and The Hunger Games, we were set out on the task to find a common theme. In an ideal situation, teachers would be able to embellish on these young adult books by supporting them with supplemental sources. Through the use of newspaper articles, magazines, picture books, videos, trailers and clips, and electronics our tenth grade English class will explore and discover the theme; dystopia paired with defiance. Dystopia literally means “ bad uptopia”. According to the MerriamWebster dictionary, dystopia is defined as “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives”. Unlike utopia, where a society is perceived to be a perfect place to reside, dystopia differs in that what is “perfect” often causes an undesirable place to live. Having students be able to understand these complex themes in addition to the “on the surface” themes that exist within this young adult literature would ensure a deeper meaning/understanding of the text for them. In addition, being able to present the idea to students in a multitude of facets helps to differentiate learning for students. Also, students are able to gain a better understanding of what dystopia really means when they see it being used in multiple different contexts. This particular English 10 class is a cotaught class of twentyfive including six students with disabilities. There are two students with autism, three with multiple disorders and one student with ...
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...A utopia is a place with no violence, crime, or abuse. Unlike Omelas, our world is far from a utopia. We have violence, crime, war, and poverty. Even though it is clear that there is starvation and poverty in the world, many people overlook it, and very few people would “walk away” or try to change it. In Ursula Le Guin’s short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” one child must be kept in filth and misery in order for the people of Omelas’ comfort and beauty to exist. Choosing whether to stay or leave Omelas is up to the reader. Sarah Wyman, journalist from the State University of New York argues that “neither choice, to stay or to leave, is without significant penalties” (230). She argues that if you choose to stay in Omelas, you...
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