Premium Essay

Metaphors In Common Sense By Thomas Paine

Submitted By
Words 613
Pages 3
In 1776, England still held America captive under its rough and relentless tyrannical grip. "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine is a riveting pamphlet that exposes the flaws of monarchy and the need to break away from Britain. Paine utilizes metaphors and antithesis to serve his ultimate purpose of calling people to action against England. Paine's use of metaphors advances his aim to appeal to the masses of America with the message that America must separate from England. Paine begins his pamphlet with the shortcomings of monarchy. He claims that "government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise" (2). "Government" is equated to "dress" to exemplify how unnatural Britain's rule …show more content…
Similarly, England's colonial government is unnatural because the King, one individual, has so much power over the colonists. The cacophonous word "palace" is used to exemplify the King's greed, and wealth is also similar to "dress" in that it has become a desire that social norms create. The King is demolishing the paradise of a practical government where all citizens are able to equally participate. His rule is detrimental, and Paine is able to create the image of a corrupt and power-hungry King who does not grant the colonists freedom to run their own country. Thomas Paine then transitions to asserting that America must take matters into its own hands and create its own government. He states that "as a man who is attached to a prostitute is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favor of a rotten constitution… will disable us from discerning a good one (4). He utilizes the harsh word connotation of “prostitute” to claim that England has many colonies which it rules with corruptness. America is also “attached” or reliant on England, and Americans would soon be unable to rule themselves due to their prolonged reliance on an ineffective

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

...Common sense is a famous political pamphlet written by Thomas Paine during the 18th century. It was published on January 10, 1776 in Philadelphia and was signed written by an Englishman to keep the author anonymous. Paine wrote "Common Sense" in 1776, when a great many people still believed a negotiated settlement with Britain was possible. As stated by USHistory.org, "despite all the recent hardships, the majority of colonists since birth were reared to believe that England was to be loved and its monarch revered.” Paine, on the other hand, presented a different picture. He highlighted the abuses perpetrated by the crown, and he described the British as hypocrites who used or dismissed constitutional law when it suited them. Instead, Paine argued that Americans had the right and the necessity to form their own government and determine their own future....

Words: 586 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Common Sense - Thomas Paine

...MABM217 Аз-наративът в британската и американската литература MARINO MARZIALI - F81122 Thomas Paine, Common sense The ideological weapon for the independence of the USA The years before the American Revolution knew the intensification of the political and cultural debate among the colonies. After the Treaty of Paris of 1763 the relations with England were quite complicated because of the new tax policy and administration of the motherland. The new laws clearly represented a change of direction in the management and especially in the conception of the colonies by the British government. The harsh protests and riots that started overseas showed that the colonists insinuated a doubt about the intentions of England, whose behavior was seen as a direct attack against their freedom. In the atmosphere of the colonial debate there were two main options on the positions to take regarding the facts. Many still supported the need for a reconciliation with England, either for the tradition that it bound the colonies or for the protection of trade and security of the American continent. So the fear and uncertainty to be an independent nation in the future restrained settlers' minds. More and more, on the other hand, were the voices, who courageously invoke the separation from the motherland as the only real alternative for the development and prosperity of the colonies. Therefore, the idea of independence had been circulating in the debates and private conversations, but before January...

Words: 1754 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Common Sense

...Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ pamphlet is known as Americans first steps into gaining independence from Great Britain. After colonists of the time read Paine’s pamphlet, the idea of breaking away from Britain’s authority became more realized and wanted. In the pamphlet, Paine provided ample persuasive arguments to attack the colonists minds and shift their thoughts towards independence. Paine's assertion that Britain exploited the colonies for its own financial advantage was most persuasive to the colonists because this argument made them reevaluate their view of the British Empire as a protective mother country. It also attacked mutual feelings which were felt amongst colonial Americans; placed those feelings into words and documented them. Colonists whom remained loyal to British reign believed that Britain was a mother country and that Britain had America’s best interest heart. These accusations of over-empowerment enlightened the American people to make independence reality. According to Paine, some beliefs that America had ‘flourished’ under the control of Britain arose. Paine used the metaphor” a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat”, meaning that the country although began by Britain (colonists were of English decent), had all characteristics and strength to be able to flourish without any European assistance. On the argument of protection, Paine encouraged that Britain weren’t protecting America from any of its own enemies or problems, but furthermore...

Words: 870 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Hy 102

...was gained through accumulated experience rather than by accessing some sort of outside truth. Newton's calculus and optical theories provided the powerful Enlightenment metaphors for precisely measured change and illumination. Scientific rationalism, exemplified by the scientific method, was the hallmark of everything related to the Enlightenment. Near the end of the Renaissance, thinkers believed that the advances of science and industry foreshowed a new age of egalitarianism and progress for humankind. The intellectuals, also known as the philosophes, hoped they could create a new society in the belief that education could create better human beings and a better human society. Such philosophes as Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Hume, Quesnay, Smith, Beccaria, Condorcet, and Rousseau attacked traditional religion as the enemy, advocated religious toleration and freedom of thought creating a new science of man. In doing so, the philosophes laid the foundation for a modern worldview based on rationalism and secularism. Although, many philosophes continued to hold traditional views about women, the Enlightenment appealed largely to the urban middle classes, and its ideas were discussed in salons, coffeehouses, reading clubs. The idea of a “public,” an informed collection of citizens invested in the common good and preservation...

Words: 840 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Kier

...A summary of the bestselling book by Stephen R. Covey. From The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Published by Simon & Schuster. INTRODUCTION Our character, basically, is a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, habits constantly express our character and produce our effectiveness or our in effectiveness. In the words of Aristotle, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” I identify here seven habits shared by all truly effective people. Fortunately, for those of us not born effective (no one is), these habits can be learned. Furthermore, the collective experience of the ages shows us that acquiring them will give you the character to succeed. Some years ago, I decided to read all the success literature published in the United States since its beginning in 1776 - hundreds of books, articles, and essays on self-improvement and popular psychology. I noticed a startling thing: Almost all the writings that helped build our country in its first 150 years or so identified character as the foundation of success. The literature of what we might call “The Character Ethic” helped Americans cultivate integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, and the Golden Rule. Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography is a prime example. Compared with the early success literature, the writings of the last 50 years seem superficial to me - filled...

Words: 5094 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

7 Habits Summary

...A summary of the bestselling book by Stephen R. Covey. From The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Published by Simon & Schuster. INTRODUCTION Our character, basically, is a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, habits constantly express our character and produce our effectiveness or our in effectiveness. In the words of Aristotle, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” I identify here seven habits shared by all truly effective people. Fortunately, for those of us not born effective (no one is), these habits can be learned. Furthermore, the collective experience of the ages shows us that acquiring them will give you the character to succeed. Some years ago, I decided to read all the success literature published in the United States since its beginning in 1776 - hundreds of books, articles, and essays on self-improvement and popular psychology. I noticed a startling thing: Almost all the writings that helped build our country in its first 150 years or so identified character as the foundation of success. The literature of what we might call “The Character Ethic” helped Americans cultivate integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, and the Golden Rule. Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography is a prime example. Compared with the early success literature, the writings of the last 50 years seem superficial to me - filled with social image...

Words: 5094 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Government

...Houston Community College Homework 1-5 Presented To: Lloyd W. Gaddis By Yushana Ford Government 2305 8:00A.M- 9:30A.M Mon/Wed 09/20/2015 Chapter 1: The More Things Change…The More They Stay the Same 1. Analyze current problems and issues in American Government by applying Historical perspectives: -History Repeats Itself +A new Communication medium paves the way to Electoral Victory- Meaning the internet and social media have revolutionized American politics. Campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to influence political debate and ultimately voters. Political advertising has changed drastically over the last several decades. Harry S. Truman was proud of his accomplishment of shaking approximately 500,000 hands but his accomplishment was soon pale compared to the next presidential election with the advent of television, war hero and presidential candidate D.W Eisenhower created commercials to get votes and so on and it different with different elections and different decades. +The Power of Incumbency- It is usually used in reference to elections where races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbents. Incumbents have easier access to campaign finance and government resources that can be indirectly used to boost a campaign. Incumbency is any elected official who is already in office and seeking re-election. 2. Explain the Philosophical underpinnings of American Political System through...

Words: 10611 - Pages: 43

Free Essay

Its Better to Have Brains Than Beauty

...it in the earlier plays. The mind-body antithesis, however, derives as a philosophical problem from Descartes,1 although the antithesis also appeared in the Manichean and Gnostic heresies, the spirit, or mind, being regarded as good and the body as evil. Although the antithesis of body and mind makes its first open appearance in the Methusalah cycle, it is present, at least as an implicit assumption in Man and Superman. Don Juan continually expresses his longing for the life of contemplation, a life which is to be achieved at the expense of the body. We will deal with the presence of the mind body antithesis, and its possible source, in this paper. The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles is not one of Shaw's best plays; moreover, it is in a sense tangential to the main line of development that Shaw's evolutionary thought had taken after the 1920's. It is included, here, however, because the principle of social selection forms a counterpart to circumstantial, or natural, selection in Darwinian...

Words: 49397 - Pages: 198

Premium Essay

Harold Bloom

...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...

Words: 239932 - Pages: 960

Premium Essay

The Secret of Language Leadership

...transformational leadership and how to harness its power.” —Carol Pearson, director, James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, University of Maryland, and coauthor, The Hero and the Outlaw “The Secret Language of Leadership is not only the best analysis I have seen of how and why leaders succeed or fail, it’s highly readable, as well as downright practical. It should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in engaging a company with big ideas who understands that leaders live and die by the quality of what they say.” —Richard Stone, story analytics master, i.d.e.a.s “A primary role of leaders is to create and maintain meaning for their organizations. Denning clearly demonstrates that meaningmaking comes from stories well told.” —Thomas Davenport, President’s Distinguished Professor of I.T. and Management, Babson College, and author, The Attention Economy “Steve Denning is one of the leading thinkers on the power of narrative in business settings. His latest book is a smart, useful guide that can help leaders of every kind add value to their organizations and add meaning to their own journeys.” —Daniel H. Pink, author, A Whole New Mind SECRET LANGUAGE of • HOW LEADERS INSPIRE ACTION THROUGH NARRATIVE The LEADERSHIP STEPHEN DENNING...

Words: 100587 - Pages: 403

Free Essay

Superstar Economics

...Desire into Action ........................ p. 90 Chapter 8 — Decision: the Mastery of Procrastination ......................................................... p. 128 Chapter 9 — Persistence: the Sustained Effort Necessary to Induce Faith ........................... p. 138 Chapter 10 — Power of the Master Mind: the Driving Force ................................................. p. 153 Chapter 11 — The Mystery of Sex Transmutation .................................................................. p. 160 Chapter 12 — The Subconscious Mind: The Connecting Link ............................................... p. 180 Chapter 13 — The Brain: A Broadcasting and Receiving Station for Thought ...................... p. 187 Chapter 14 — The Sixth Sense: The Door to the Temple of Wisdom .................................... p. 193 Chapter 15 — How to Outwit the Six Ghosts of Fear ............................................................. p. 203 2 NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH...

Words: 91742 - Pages: 367

Free Essay

A Cursed Love

...Resources for Teaching Prepared by Lynette Ledoux Copyright © 2007 by Bedford/St. Martin’s All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. 2 1 f e 0 9 d c 8 7 b a For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116 (617-399-4000) ISBN-10: 0–312–44705–1 ISBN-13: 978–0–312–44705–2 Instructors who have adopted Rereading America, Seventh Edition, as a textbook for a course are authorized to duplicate portions of this manual for their students. Preface This isn’t really a teacher’s manual, not, at least, in the sense of a catechism of questions and correct answers and interpretations. Because the questions provided after each selection in Rereading America are meant to stimulate dialogue and debate — to generate rather than terminate discourse — they rarely lend themselves to a single appropriate response. So, while we’ll try to clarify what we had in mind when framing a few of the knottier questions, we won’t be offering you a list of “right” answers. Instead, regard this manual as your personal support group. Since the publication of the first edition, we’ve had the chance to learn from the experiences of hundreds of instructors nationwide, and we’d like to use this manual as a forum where we can share some of their concerns, suggestions, experiments, and hints. We’ll begin with a roundtable on issues you’ll probably want to address before you meet your class. In the first section of this manual, we’ll discuss approaches to...

Words: 57178 - Pages: 229

Free Essay

Distibution Staradf

...LEADERSHIP FOR INNOVATION LEADERSHIP FOR INNOVATION How to organize team creativity and harvest ideas JOHN ADAIR London and Philadelphia Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author. First published in Great Britain in 1990 by the Talbot Adair Press as The Challenge of Innovation This edition published in Great Britain and the United States by Kogan Page Limited in 2007 as Leadership for Innovation Reprinted 2007 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN United Kingdom www.kogan-page.co.uk © John Adair, 1990, 2007 The right of John...

Words: 29865 - Pages: 120

Free Essay

Njnkjn

...to become America's most beloved motivational author. Fighting against all class of great disadvantages and pressures, he dedicated more than 25 years of his life to define the reasons by which so many people fail to achieve true financial success and happiness in their life. During this time he achieved great success as an attorney and journalist. His early career as a reporter helped finance his way through law school. He was given an assignment to write a series of success stories of famous men, and his big break came when he was asked to interview steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Carnegie commissioned Hill to interview over 500 millionaires to find a success formula that could be used by the average person. These included Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, Charles M. Schwab, Theodore Roosevelt, William Wrigley Jr, John Wanamaker, WIlliam Jennings Bryan, George Eastman, Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, John D. Rockefeller, F. W. Woolworth, Jennings Randolph, among...

Words: 92846 - Pages: 372

Premium Essay

The Rise of the Tale

...BRITISH SHORT FICTION IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY This page intentionally left blank British Short Fiction in the Early Nineteenth Century The Rise of the Tale TIM KILLICK Cardiff University, UK © Tim Killick 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Tim Killick has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Killick, Tim British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale 1. Short stories, English – History and criticism 2. English fiction – 19th century – History and criticism 3. Short story 4. Literary form – History – 19th century I. Title 823’.0109 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Killick, Tim. British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale / by Tim Killick. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-6413-0 (alk. paper) 1. Short stories, English—History and criticism. 2. English fiction—19th...

Words: 98420 - Pages: 394