Happiness

My story begins on a Monday afternoon. I ran off the bus after a fun first day of Kindergarten. I greet my Nanny with nothing but joy and happiness; little did I know. I would look forward to this for the rest of my childhood. My Nanny and I would play any and every sport until my mom got home from work. We would play basketball, whiffle ball, kick ball, or even just toss the football around a while. My favorite game to play with her was Wiffle ball. It was so fun getting to crush the ball and run until she got me out, or I got a home run. This is where my love for softball began. My story continues through elementary school. I started playing recreational softball for Enon. I met my first softball coach, Steve Howard.

He has taught me so much in my career, I remember it rained one afternoon and everyone thought we wouldn‘t have practice. but we did. We learned how to slide in mud puddles My teammates and I had so much fun. but our parents were not happy about how dirty we were. Coach Steve took us all home in the bed of his truck. I made lifelong friends that day. Coach Steve really pushed me to want to get better and to take my skills beyond recreational softball. Eventually, I did just that. I had a tryout for the Richmond Ruckus when I was 10 years old. I made the 12u team! I was the youngest and most inexperienced player on the team. I had to work very hard to earn a starting spot. I, unfortunately, didn’t achieve that goal, so my parents and I decided to leave the team and let me play at my age joined the Rampage and learned a lot and my skills progressed a ton.

It was a good choice to make the move and play with age for a while because I ended up getting picked by a team that was more experienced and led to better opportunities than the team I was on. My new team was called the Virginia Edge, one of the best teams in Virginia at the time All my teammates were significantly better than I was, but I worked extremely hard. I eventually earned my starting spot on the team. My fielding skills had improved tremendously and I owe it all to one man, Coach Corey. My hitting skills were still really behind everyone else’s. So I got a batting coach, Todd Morgan. He worked with my hitting and began to improve. Everything was going really well, I was a starter and got plenty of playing time Until tryouts the next year, we picked up a new pitcher who also played my position. She had nowhere near the talent I had in the field but her hitting was more consistent than mine.

My play time started to decline more and more. At this time we had changed our name to Starz Gold and our coach was just getting a little to big for his britches, bringing on more players than needed and just constantly trying to replace people with talent he thought was better than what he had. I then decided to jump ship again and tryout for more teams. I decided that I should join a team that was at the same caliber or higher than my previous team. So, I decided to join my previous teams biggest rival, The Richmond Diamonds. The young, dumb inexperienced player that I was, I decided that I should show off my huge arm I had at the timer I ended up getting hurt, which put me out for awhile. I was diagnosed with deltoid tendinitis.

I couldn‘t throw which meant I could not play That gave my other teammates a chance to take my position. My coaches never gave me the chance to prove myself once I was healthy again, so it was time to move teams once again. At this point, I was getting very discouraged like maybe I am not as good as I thought I was. I did not know what my next move was going to be. One day my mom got a call from one of her friends letting her know that her daughter’s team was looking to fill my position. So, I decided I would tryout for the Sarasota Heal. I was so nervous that my arm would not work or be good enough for this team. Turns out it was, and l was officially a pan of Sarasota Heat 16u— Pope, I was super stoked about being on this team because the girls were very welcoming and Coach Tommy created a much more relaxed atmosphere than all my previous teams.

I began to become the all-round player I needed to become to be recruited to play softball in college. Coach Tommy and Coach Alexis introduced me to my dream school. The crazy thing was that at the time I did not realize it was my dream school at the time. I kept improving my bat and my arm strength, things began to look up for me and my future career in softball. I committed to Christopher Newport University in January my Sophomore year. In my junior year moved up to our 18u Sarasota Heat team and had one of the best seasons of my life. I hit a total of six home runs, from Thomas Dale softball and my travel team. That brings me to the current date of my last season of travel softball. My first tournament didn‘t go as well as last season ended but I‘m excited to get after it and make my last season very memorable. I‘m excited about what my future softball career holds for me.

The American Dream/ The individual Dream

Once upon a time there was a mother, a father, one son and one daughter. They lived in a perfect two story house with a white picket fence and a tire swing. They also owned the cutest dog named Spot. Mr. Smith worked in an office and was the picture-perfect husband and father. Mrs. Smith stayed at home to give their children the attention they needed and take care of the home.

She wore the most beautiful sundresses and always looked flawless. Little Jimmy and Sally were the perfect children and students. In the 50’s the American Dream was this perfect image of family and home. Does the American dream still exist? Is it still the perfect image of home and family? I believe the American Dream is alive and well, but it has evolved over time and looks different in each of our eyes.

Some of us may hold similar dreams along the lines of happiness, success, love, fame and wealth but different at the same time. Today I want to show that the American dream is still something we all hold onto so dearly even if we don’t realize it. Immigrants come to American wanting the American dream but it looks different to them compared to me or even the guy sitting in this coffee shop across from me. I will be introducing you to the thought that the American dream looked like in the 50’s and what it looks like to many of us, why many think it’s dead and evidence that it is still alive.

When reading Shayan Zadeh’s article it inspired me to look at the American dream form different experiences. He talks about how he believes that immigration is the drive for our economy. He uses his own personal experience to paint a picture to help us understand the issues that immigrants face. There is so much paper work to be done and hoops to jump through to live the “American Dream” when you are not an American.

This article sparked my interest so much because my father is from Mexico and came to the states 24 years ago to pursue the American Dream in the land of freedom and opportunity. It still seems like he didn’t achieve much but when I hear about his hometown it is a large step up from what he could have had if he had stayed in Mexico. He has a beautiful home that he remodel by hand, an amazing wife, two children, a good job and happiness and success compared from where he started. He has inspired me to work hard and pursue my own dreams.

When Tim Roemer talks about his time in India in 2009 he states, “I learned that America is still deeply admired around the world as the place where many people want to live out their dreams.” He counties to make his point that the united States is a bacon of success for many immigrants and how many usually come here for the higher education. I actually have a few friends that are here studying as Boise State University even though they are from Saudi Araba.

Their government gives them a scholarships that pays for their schooling and some extra money for spending. In return these student go to America (or a few other choices such as Australia, United Kingdom, Japan, etc.), focus on their schooling, receive a degree and return home with a great degree to help their country. Although in some cases these students love America so much that they choose to stay and become citizens. These students’ American dream is success and happiness.

Immigrants come to the United States in search of something better than what they already had, and in most cases anything in the United States is better than what they had. The Migration Policy Institute states, “A nation historically built on immigration, approximately 41.3 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2013, accounting for 13 percent of the overall U.S. population.” Our great nation is built on the hopes and dreams of immigrants. Just like my mom always said, “the United States is just one big melting pot.” I believe that immigrants sometimes hold on to the American dream more than actual American.

If I were to walk up to a random stranger and ask what they believe the American Dream is they would probably respond with something along the lines, “Is that even still a thing,” or “I don’t know, happiness?” While I was talking to a student at CWI the other day he mentioned that he came to America for the American Dream.

That was his exact words, I did not even mention the phrase previously. He is an immigrant from Niger, Africa. He told me that he came here because he grew up in poor conditions and he wanted to come here to make a better life for him and his family and in the long run he want to take trips back to inspire and help his native community. His American Dream is success.

The American dream is seen different in the eyes of him and me. For Americans it is different, we are born into already existing “classes”. Adele makes her point in her article The American Dream Is Dead: Here’s Where It Went. She shares her thoughts that the American Dream is not a real thing that many can achieve.

She talks about how the American Dream isn’t even financially attainable for Americans themselves, let alone immigrant’s American dream but very few can actually reach it. Very few can go from rags to riches. I might use this source for a counter argument in my paper. The people that did start poor will stay poor forever because very rarely do people actually start out with nothing then turn into Oprah or Howard Schultz. The lower your class the fewer opportunities you have access to. It is very difficult to climb that “American Dream” ladder when you have far less steps to climb up than someone in the class above yours.

Each president through the years have tried to improve the United States by making more opportunities for Americans that start at the bottom of the “American Dream” ladder. Each election year each candidates promises many, many thing but usually there are not that many promises that do become reality. Not only is our government helping us out but also immigrant t this great nation. In Caleb’s article “Lost American Dream of Undocumented Students: Understanding The Dream” he discusses the U.S. Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. It looks at undocumented students in the country.

My own American Dream is by the time I am 30 years old I will be a nurse, in a happy marriage, maybe expecting a cute bouncing baby or owning a beautiful husky, get down to my goal weight, and live in a gorgeous home but travel as much as possible. This dream seems so far out of reach right now but it is what drives me every day. It is my own personal American Dream. It is my dream of happiness, love and success.

Everyone has a dream. Everyone has a purpose that drive them forward. It is our goals. It why we wake up and get out of bed each day. It maybe something small such as owning our own house at a certain age, making someone smile, have fun, getting a certain car, being a certain weight or seeing a certain person place or thing. The American dream is usually a larger thing such as having a beautiful family, having a certain job, becoming famous, or having my own business. Some may disagree and say that some of these dreams are actually bigger or smaller, saying the opposite of what I just did.

When in high school I had a friend that was born at the top of the American dream ladder. His idea of the American dream and I’s are very different. His family owned the charter boat industry in my small coastal town. In other words they had so much money that they didn’t even know what to do with it. Since he started at the top of the ladder he doesn’t have as far to go. He was more into success and wealth. His American dream is to take over his father’s business, and before that have fun and be wild and crazy and free.

He dreams of success and fun. He and I started on different places on the ladder and we have different dreams but we both hold onto the American dream so closely.

See we all have similar but different dreams. We dream of happiness, love and success, fame, or wealth. It may have started out with the image of the perfect Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the white picket fence, and the children but over time it has evolved and looks different in each of our eyes. Immigrants come to purse the American dream, to pursue what they couldn’t have in their own countries. I dream of becoming a nurse to help people and finding my best friend and love of my life-success and love. Josmo at the coffee shop may dream of becoming the next big DJ-fame and successes, wealth.

People born at the top of the American food chain has less to dream about because they already have it. His American Dream is to make a name for himself, and chases the dream of fame and success. We all hold onto the American Dream no matter if we don’t realize it. Our dreams are all are all similar since they revolve around happiness, love and success but differ in many ways. I believe the American Dream is alive and well, but it has evolved over time and looks different in each of our eyes.

Work Cited

1. Chaudhury, Sudata Deb. “The American Dream: An Indian Version In The Age Of Globalization.” Global Studies Journal 5.3 (2013): 122-138. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
2. Erisman, Wendy, Shannon Looney, and Washington, DC. Institute for Higher Education Policy. “Opening The Door To The American
3. Dream: Increasing Higher Education Access And Success For Immigrants.” Institute For Higher Education Policy (2007): ERIC. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
4. “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org. Migrant Policy Institute, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
5. Hanson, Sandra L., and John Kenneth White. The American Dream in the 21st Century. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2011. Print.
6. Kim, Caleb. “Lost American DREAM Of Undocumented Students: Understanding The DREAM (Development, Relief, And Education For Alien Minors) Act.” Children & Schools 35.1 (2013): 55-58 4p. CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
7. Miyazawa, Kaoru. “Dreaming And Surviving In Heterotopia: First-Generation Immigrant Girls’ Pursuit Of The American Dream In
8. New York City.” Taboo: The Journal Of Culture & Education 13.1 (2013): 63-76. Education Research Complete. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
9. Peters, Adele. “The American Dream Is Dead: Here’s Where It Went.” Co.Exist. Fast Company & Inc, 08 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. 2) Soergel, Andrew. “Even Americans Can’t Afford the American Dream.” U.S. News & World Report. N.p., 3 Feb. 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
10. Roemer, Tim. “Americans Remains the World’s Beacon of success” They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Comp. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.
11. Wright, Luke S. H. “The Death Of The American Dream.” Virginia Quarterly Review 85.4 (2009): 196-199. Art & Architecture Complete. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
12. Zadeh, Shayan “Bring on more Immigrant Enterpreneus” They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Comp. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.

In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, instant gratification is a prevalent theme. Happiness is sustained through habits and events that bring instant gratification to the population. The universal happiness in the world state is achieved through three stages: soma, promiscuous sex, and psychological conditioning. The drug soma is a symbol of the use of instant gratification to control the world state’s populace.

People are conditioned genetically and through hypnopaedia to enjoy their predetermined work. The population is becoming more and more sexually promiscuous. By keeping their citizens satisfied with the means of soma, sex, and preconditioning, Brave New World warns about a society in which people are controlled by their desire for pleasure and are conditioned to believe they are free when really they are enslaved by their passions.

Soma is a powerful opiate in the world state in which people use to eliminate anything negative in their lives. It is described as a drug that has “all the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects” (54). It is arguably the best tool the government has to control its citizens. It calms, sedates, and most importantly distracts the citizens from realizing that they are being enslaved by the world state. According to Mustapha Mond, people are better off sacrificing the truth for happiness.

Mustapha Mond describes soma as follows: “And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past, you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training.

Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your mortality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears – that’s what soma is” (236). By comparing it to Christianity without tears, Mustapha Mond seems to argue that religion has the same effect as the drug when it comes to controlling its citizens. The drug offers comfort to the user but it comes at an expense of the user’s individuality.

Sexual relations in the world state is another way the world state uses to control its citizens. Sexual promiscuity is encouraged and celebrated. Children even play erotic games in the hatchery and conditioning centers. Sex has been dissociated with love and childbearing and it is engaged purely for pleasure and fun. People have sex purely for pleasure because emotional bonding with others is seen as destabilizing by the world controllers and they are strongly conditioned against the messy intimacy of falling in love.

Through the encouragement of promiscuous sex and the elimination of families or any long-term relationships, the government ensures that no one will face the consequences of intense and unreciprocated emotional or sexual desire. People were told what sex was like in “the old world”, “For a very long time before the time of our Ford, and even for some generations afterward, erotic play between children had been regarded as abnormal (there was a roar of laughter); and not only abnormal, actually immoral (no!): and had therefore been rigorously suppressed. A look of astonished incredulity appeared on the faces of his listeners. Poor little kids not allowed to amuse themselves? They could not believe it “ (32). This shows the transformation from a traditional society to a society that no longer values close relationships.

Extreme conditioning is administered in order to keep stability in communities. In the world state, people are born into a certain caste and are conditioned to do their predetermined job. There are five castes in the world state: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilons. Through hypnopaedia which is sleep teaching, the government would teach children about morality and the caste system. “One hundred repetitions three nights a week for four years, thought Bernard Marx, who was a specialist on hypnopaedia. Sixty-two thousand four hundred repetitions make one truth”(47).

By continued repetition, children in the world state are made to believe whatever they are told by the government. Another way the world state conditions its citizens is through physical conditioning. When they are at their embryonic stage, they are injected with alcohol, given less oxygen, and incubated at higher temperatures to prepare them for their gamma, delta, and epsilon jobs.

Another form of conditioning that is essential to the stability of the world state is the Neo-Pavlovian conditioning given to the lower caste Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. “Books and loud noises, flowers and electric shocks – already in the infant mind these couples were compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded indissolubly.

What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder. ‘They’ll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an “instinctive” hatred of books and flowers. Reflexes unalterably conditioned. They’ll be safe from books and botany all their lives’(22). If the lower castes weren’t conditioned to hate certain things, they would want everything the Alphas and Betas have which would disrupt the world state.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World describes a society in which happiness and instant gratification is dangerous to the population’s health. On the surface, the world seems great. There is no war. Everyone is able to fulfill their desires instantly whatever that may be. They are conditioned to love their jobs and sex is widely available. Soma can bring instant relief to any concern. The satisfaction of every desire creates a superficial and infantile happiness.

With a lack of suffering the world is without love purpose or compassion. Aldous Huxley also critiques modern government institutions whose power slowly crept into the lives of ordinary people. The process is in the name of security or peace but ultimately destroys everything good in society. Huxley urges us to consider the cost of happiness and what it ultimately leads to.

Individuals go to college to get a job. When they have a job, they look forward to having a stable family. After having a family, they start to save up for the retirement. This process goes on and on. So, what are people trying to ultimately seek for? What’s the purpose of their lives? That is when Aristotle’s conception of human’s highest end comes up. He argues that the highest good people are trying to gain in the end is happiness or “Eudaimonia.” Happiness here is not simply about pleasures people get from their desires. It is a life by definition has three characteristics: completion, self-sufficiency, and incomparability.

In his view, this is equivalent to a life lived in accordance with moral virtue. Though Aristotle made comprehensive arguments to defend his concept, it is still questionable because there are actual people out there who do not get caught from doing self indulgent actions and live a lavish life. Examples would be Donald Trump, Kim Jun-un and Fidel Castro, who get away with dishonest actions and still live a plentiful life and provide well for their families. Before elaborating on Aristotle’s analysis of ultimate happiness, people should know the fundamentals of Aristotle’s function argument first.

If we look around us, we can see plants, animals, objects, and people. Each of these has its own function. For instance, a dishwasher’s highest function is to clean all the dirty dishes in there and a plant’s main function is to give out oxygen through a photosynthetic process. Thus, if someone cut down the tree, the latter won’t be able to perform its highest function and, in turn, won’t have a purposeful existence. Similarly, for humans, our unique feature is reason, so a life lived “in accordance with the appropriate excellence,” and “virtue” (Aristotle 129) is our proper function or highest good.

If someone does not live a virtuous life, he or she will not have a purposeful existence. Thus, humans should attempt to live the highest way by being principled. Aristotle believes that we should strive for a highest good instead of multiple goods because by definition, the latter do not have characteristics of completion, self-sufficiency, and incomparability. When it comes to our highest human good, we will choose it for its own sake, will not add anything to make it better, or weighed against other things. To clearly understand these features, let us look at the example of a licentious man seeking for temporary pleasures. There is no completion in his action of having sex because he doesn’t do it for its own sake, but for the pleasure it gives back in return. In other words, sexual “pleasures are in conflict with one another because these are not by nature pleasant” (Aristotle 130). Although he can satisfy his drive for sex by having sex with someone, he will still want it more later on since his desires are insatiable. In other words, there’s no self sufficiency. Also, sometimes, he might compare his sex partner with other porn stars.

This kind of comparison, in turn, steals his bliss. Since bodily pleasure does not have three characteristics mentioned above, it certainly does not promote highest human good. Similarly, Aristotle argues that people often mistakenly measure real happiness by the amount of monetary value or assets they have gathered in their lifetime. They think once they are wealthy, life is settled and they have met the purpose and destiny of their lives. However, there are some ironic answers if someone indeed asks rich people about their state of mind. The latter might say they know they are established, but they feel like something is missing. As Aristotle puts in the life of wealth is “undertaken under compulsion,” and “is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else” (Aristotle 126). Wealth cannot provide completion since people are not seeking wealth for its own sake but to buy objects that will, in turn, bring temporary pleasure. Hence, money cannot bring ultimate human good. Finally, Aristotle says people would say that life with a good reputation is worth living. They are happy with others’ perception of themselves. However, is this happiness complete or stable?

Aristotle argues not since happiness should come from. If people look deeply at fame, they will see how it is not complete since it’s not taken for its own sake. They are happy when people are praised and sad when they are condemned. Thus, fame is “superficial to be what we are looking for, since it is thought to depend on those who bestow honour rather than on him who receives it,” (Aristotle 126). In other words, fame seeking peoples’ happiness is dependent on others’ perception of them. Since peoples’ minds are usually unstable, these honor-loving celebrities’ happiness will not be stable too. Real happiness is “something proper to a man and not easily taken from him” (Aristotle 126).

Here, Aristotle points out how real happiness is objective and self-sufficient. Thus, honor cannot be the highest human good or happiness. Instead, Aristotle argues a person who lives righteously will live the happiest life. If a person lives with the principle of honesty for its own sake, “the process would [not] go on to infinity,” and “[his]desire would [not] be empty and vain” (Aristotle 124). In other words, it is not chosen for other things. Also, Aristotle thinks principled life is the “most desirable of all things,” because it is not “counted as one good thing among others” (Aristotle 128). This showcases how a principled man does not necessarily have to compare his moral life with others. In fact, he can model it after some inspiring idol to make himself a better person. Furthermore, a virtuous person is self-sufficient because the principles are not insatiable and they are enough to make a person live a well-meaning life.

Hence, virtues are dispositions to live as well as possible on an ongoing basis. However, even though Aristotle gave legitimate explanations on his conception of the highest human good, it is debatable because, in society, some have experienced benefits from what the rest of us call “vices.” Aristotle claims that virtues (excellences of reason) are codes like honesty and courage, but mightn’t he be too doubtful? Mightn’t these be popular prejudices, and it be more rational for some people to live their lives as liars and cheats? For instance, Donald Trump had sexually abused many women, made fun of disabled people, and expressed xenophobic remarks in his lifetime. Nevertheless, he won the presidency of the United States and is currently a multi-billionaire. Although he’s evidently not righteous and doesn’t use his excellence of his reason, he and his family are better off with luxury.

Likewise, Kim Jun-un, military leader of DPRK, killed his uncle and many civilians unjustly to show people his power. Also, he’s developing nuclear weapons in his country. However, why is he still in a top position enjoying lavish life? Why is he and Donald Trump winning continually despite unvirtuous actions? Their case indeed portrays how the highest good or proper function of human is not moral. To the account above, Aristotle would argue that so-called happiness established from unvirtuous actions wouldn’t last long. In other words, the benefit/content these people get back from unvirtuous actions is temporary and cannot reach “Eudaimonia.” If you look at Donald Trump, he may have won the presidency, but a lot of diplomats are keeping an eye on him. That means, he will be in constant fear not to over-do his actions or else he will be impeached.

Likewise, if we look at Kim Jun-un, his desires are notorious and insatiable. He would always plot to maintain himself in the supreme position regardless of others’ suffrage. Since he even killed his blood related uncle, most of his family members will not trust him deep inside. Thus, he will lose true friends and family around him. Aristotle would say this in terms of completion, self-sufficiency and incomparability. In Trump and Kim’s case, their money and fame apparently do not meet Aristotle’s three features of highest good or happiness. Firstly, both of them do not pursue money for its own sake, but for the effect it gives back in return. For instance, they only want money to acquire sumptuous life. Similarly, fame is not pursued for its own sake too. Both of them want statuses in return. Secondly, money and fame are self-insufficient because there are other things that can be added to them to make it better (like true friends and relationships.

However, people say they are happy to drown in luxurious and reputable life, at the end of the day, if they have no loved ones beside them, they will tend to feel the void inside them and will experience loneliness. Thirdly, fame and money these leaders have can be weigh against other things. They would compare their wealth and reputation with leaders from other countries. They would focus on becoming more powerful than that of those leaders, instead of personally striving to be a better leader. Thus, all this money and fame these leaders get from unvirtuous actions are impermanent and as a person, they are not performing their highest function, which is to use excellence of reason. Although Aristotle made a comprehensive argument above, it is still debatable because there are actual people out there who do not get caught from doing unvirtuous actions and live a lavish life.

For instance, Fidel Castro, former president of Cuba, got away with numerous murders and unethical actions. In his lifetime, he wasn’t punished for his actions, instead he even had an extravagant life at his constitutional mansion. And he showed no signs of regret for his actions even when he was on his deathbed. In addition, if a person is poor and cannot afford healthcare for his sick son, he will be miserable. Likewise, there are notoriously virtuous people like Abraham Lincoln who lived a very unhappy life. On the other hand, if a person robs and gets away with it to attend to his sick son, he will be happy. Besides, he won’t even regret his actions. Since some people exploit vices to their great advantage, it is not apparent that virtue always enables people to live happier lives than those with vice.

How have you been? I hope well, but I don’t think I can say the same for myself. It seems we are moving somewhere very far away. I heard Mama and Uncle talking about winter clothes and food. Couldn’t we move some other time? Who in their right mind would move during the cold months? I tried asking Mama but all I got was a scolding, I later asked Uncle but he didn’t say anything either, only looked at me with sad eyes and said to pack anything important in case of emergencies. What was he talking about?

The answer to my question came a few days later. I was going to one of our elder’s house when I saw strange men surrounding her house. I immediately ran back to our house. “Mama, there are these strange men surrounding Ulisi’s house and they have weapons” I exclaimed as I entered. “Oh no, it’s the soldiers,” Papa said as he rushed out to see. Mama started to freak out and immediately order us to pack anything important like clothes and food. My brother, Wohali, started to cry as we heard a pounding on our door. Why were they here? Mama started ushering us out as soon as the soldiers started to get annoyed and yelled at us to hurry. Wohali was still crying but he had calmed down a little and held onto Mama tightly. Once we got outside, I saw everyone from our clan (Anitsiskwa; Bird Clan) either looking very worried or crying.

The strange men made us walk all the way to a clearing with makeshift camps everywhere and I could see people from other clans already inside. By the time we got there, my feet were stinging and had blisters. While staying there, I met my friend, Yona, who I learned came from the Bear Clan. Together, we went around and explored the area, although there wasn’t much to look at. All we ever saw were the crying of family members mourning over their lost ones. We could not bear the sounds of their pain and with fear of catching their diseases, we decided not to go out anymore. Each day, there would always be someone dead from the diseases that were spread in the camps like pneumonia, tuberculosis, smallpox, and cholera. Winter was approaching soon and we had yet to even be at our new home. The soldiers put us in groups, dividing clans and for some unfortunate people, dividing families. Are you still reading Sarah? Keep up because I haven’t even gotten to the worst part yet.

How cruel must your people be? We started the trip from November of 1838, and walked for what felt like forever. We were supposed to go by boat but there was a drought so we couldn’t go using the river. Now, people were dying even faster due to the cold, there are at least a dozen or more people dying every day. Sick with pneumonia, coughs, and colds. I could no longer feel parts of my body and often felt very dizzy. I remember, the first time I complained to Mama about being cold, she pulled me close to her and said, “If we are together, we can warm each other up.” Some weeks later, during December of 1838, Papa had become very ill.

From the beginning of the trip, he had been carrying Wohali and giving up things we had managed to pack to people who needed it. A few days after, my Papa died from pneumonia. People from both my father’s and mother’s clans cried with us. We couldn’t even bury him properly. Next, my brother started to crumble. He had caught a horrible cold and coughed every minute. All around us, people were dying left and right and being buried as we trudged along. I looked at the soldiers, certainly, they must have families too. How could they do this to us when we’ve done no harm to them?

By now, I can say it’s been a month or so since Papa’s death. We are still walking and made it through most of the winter. Mama says we’re almost there but I don’t want to go “there” anymore. I just want things to be how they were like before. Wohali is weaker than ever and getting worse by the day. I can see Mama starting to get his coughing too. It’s still really cold but not as the freezing cold weather of December. My brother, my sweet innocent brother has passed away. Late January of 1839, we buried him along the roadside and stood there for some time. My mother was starting to break and most everyone in our group had lost a loved one. We were the survivors but could what had we done to go through this life or death test? Then February came. My mother’s coughs were getting worse by the day and I often had to help her walk.

I think the creator has something against me. Almost everyone in my family had died and the most important person, the person who gave birth to me, my mother, was starting to fade too. We had stopped for the night and slept on some snow-covered rocks nearby. Before going to bed that night, it seemed like my mother knew she was going to die and that she was accepting her fate. I cried and begged her not to leave me all by myself. All she responded with was whispers of her final words. “My dear Woya, you must be strong. If you are strong you can make it without me. The creator has asked for me and I cannot disobey my Lord.” A woman nearby started singing one of our traditional songs. At that moment, I felt like the most pathetic person in the whole universe.

Here my mother was on the verge of dying and I couldn’t do anything about it. It was at that moment that I felt something strong surge inside of me. Now I can say I’ve known what the feeling of hate feels like. I hate them, those people who took away my home, my happiness, and most importantly my family. People in our group cried and we buried her near an oak tree. The soldiers still did not let us stay there for long. I was taken under the protection of Ama, the woman who sang when my mother was on her deathbed.

When we had finally arrived about a month later, many people cried with happiness and joy that they had made it but also with sorrow and pain for the ones who didn’t. “We are finally here!” They cheered. I could recognize people from our clan and some elders too. They found out what had happened to my family and comforted me. When asked who I was going to stay with, I immediately said, “Ama”. Ama did not have any children of her own and her husband had died along the way. She considered me as her child, the same way I considered her as my second mother. Currently, many people are mourning for their loved ones while others are resting. The chiefs are deciding on what to do.

I hold nothing against you, Sarah. You are one of my dearest friends and I can’t find it in me to blame you for what happened. Although for your people I can’t say the same. We may not all be the same color or come from the same place but we all certainly are humans who have feelings and can feel pain. I don’t think I want to write anymore. Ama keeps telling me to get lots of rest and I am feeling quite tired. I don’t know if you’ll ever get this letter, but if by some fate you do, I’ve got a favor to ask you.

The Consequential Theory contends that the moral rightness of an action can be determined by looking at it consequences. If the consequences are good, the act is right. If the consequences are bad, the act is wrong. In the case of Kent, he believes that the nudity in the Lucky video game is a bad idea. He feels that some people will be really upset about it. However, the Lucky project can also bring in a great deal of revenue for Broadway, and jobs are at stake. In this case, the consequences of putting the Lucky video games on the market would result In higher revenue or net happiness.

On the other hand, the fact that they Lucky video game has full nudity as well as graphic violence will upset a lot of people and they might not support the died game. Brad feels that the games are not ready for the U. S. Market; therefore, he has contacted an Internet provider who will take their game and put it on the Net as an adult product. He has also checked out foreign markets and found that they can sell the machines to the Mexican market if they tone down the violence.

The Taiwanese has agreed to the version the Broadway now has and wants them to develop something more graphic in both areas. By reaching out to the foreign market, this act will also produce net happiness on the other hand it can lead teenagers to violence and internet pornography. In my opinion the fact that Kent realized that producing the Lucky video game with full nudity and graphic violence will upset some people and that they should not go through with the product demonstrates ethical behavior on the part of Broadway Corporation.

However, the Joint venture with the Taiwanese group, selling of the machines to the Mexican market and using the Internet is unethical behavior on the part of Broadway Corporation. The Deontological Theory claims that actions can be judged ethically good or bad on the basis of absolute moral principles arrived by human reason regardless of the uniqueness of an action, that is, regardless of whether there is net happiness. Brad is willing to selling the video game to the foreign market as well as a Joint venture with the Taiwanese group.

Kent feels that the Lucky video game is a bad idea and feels they should not go with the nudity idea. In my opinion, Brad Is willing to market the Lucky video games to the foreign markets and on the Internet with the nudity and graphic violence is unethical on the part of the Broadway Corporation. By doing this, It may contribute to teenage violence and prone. Kent Is thinking of the people that the Lucky video game might set which is ethical on the part of Broadway Corporation.

I nee Dental AT ten Lucky peeve Is ten pronto Tanat Broadway corporation will make. The test market results suggested that the nudity and graphic violence increased profitability dramatically. The cost of the Lucky video game will be the video design, development, implementation, and operation. Other costs include site and facility and the shipping of the video games globally. Under the Consequential Theory, the benefit is increased profitability which is net happiness; therefore, the Lucky project is good because of the profitability.

Under the Deontological Theory, by selling to the foreign markets and internet, Broadway Corporation saying that it is okay for the foreign markets to sell video games with graphic violence and nudity to the U. S. Markets. The Broadway Corporation should consider taking out the nudity and graphic violence in the Lucky video game. After all their target market is children aged 5 to 12 and teenagers between the ages of 13 to 19 and of this market 75% are male. The Broadway Corporation can end up Jeopardizing their stance in the video market by producing and selling the Lucky video game.

Roger Mc gough is a well-known English performance poet who was born in November 9 1937. Mcgough was born in Litherland in North Liverpool a city where he is firmly associated. He was educated at the University of Hull. Currently he presents a radio programme on BBC four known as Poetry please and he records voiceover for commercial as well as performing his own poetry regularly. He writes poetry drama fiction and screen plays. He was a pop star who was in the band “scaffold”.

Mcgough is a poet who relates his poem to the issues, which really affect the people directly or indirectly. The poems in the coursework are “The lesson” which is a poem, which tackles issue of Capital punishment. It is themed on teachers and students but the punishment taken over there is totally different. The next poem is about funeral blues, which is written by WH Auden. This poem is the grief of the loss of his partner and we could say that might be the inspiration to write this poem and share the grief with the rest of the world. Then we move on to stop the entire car.

This is the parody of Funeral blues written by Roger Mcgough who is also writing the poem on the grief of losing the metro which went extinct after a few of years of it production and this poem is dedicated to the fans of the Metro. The next poem is Don Lockwood, which was then turned into s famous song, writes the Singing in the rain heavy. Love is abstract and there is nothing in this world that literally expresses love, but the poet of this poem has turned love into joy and that is the theme behind this poem. The title stands for itself- a man singing in the rain because he is in love.

The last poem is the parody of the poem, which is known as stinging in the rain, which is written by Roger Mcgough. This poem is about tackling with global issues right now, which concerns most of the people, which is acid rain. The titles Roger Mcgough uses for his poem stands out itself. It delivers the message to the audience instantly and the audience knows what they can expect from this as no surprise is created in Roger Mcgough’s creations. Titles have a dramatic effect on the capability of attracting the audience to read the poem and the titles Roger Mcgough uses are straight to the point.

Let’s start off with the Lesson. Roger Mc Gough. The poet has introduced a new theme for the poetry world. The theme is hard to believe in reality. The lesson is all about violence and Mcgough has taken this all the way through his poem. There are only two types of characters in this poem and they are the teacher and the students. The difference of the poem starts off from whereas in the poem the teacher is a cruel and hard minded person whereas in reality it turns to be a role model for the students. The background or the plot is that capital punishment happens in classroom.

In 1980 UK corporal punishment in school was not rare and based on that Roger took it one step further and thought of having capital punishment in classroom. In this poem a lot is going on such as violence death pain humour etc. Rogher Mcgough has started off with reality as you walk in a classroom you could hear the noise of students screaming and this is how he starts off too. “Chaos ruled OK in the classroom”. The line in this describes that the students are the ruler of the classroom who has the authority.

This sentence is a parody as Roger Mcgough has used this words in which he was familiar off as the words “Chaos ruled OK” was common in 1980’s. Roger Mcgough through the First line he has introduced the students to the reader and the next aim was to show to the readers about the teachers as he says, “bravely teacher walked in”. This sentence shows that the teacher comes over to the classroom to take over the control and the authority back from the students. This is what happens in reality but from now the silence of the poem begins.

The poet use violent language to show the intensity of the poem to the reader. He says, “Havoc wreaker ignored him”. In this section he is assigning havoc wreakers as students as they are the trouble causers. From the strong words the poet wants to show that he regained the control over the classroom. This shows that he made a vibrant start to the lesson and now he is going to teach a lesson to the children. A lesson that they will never forget. The words he used to describe them are so intense. The word “havoc wreaker” is so strong and is so exuberant that it terrifies the audience.

Every lesson is based on a theme, and in this too the teacher starts off by saying the theme “The theme for today is violence”. Roger Mcgough wants to include violence everywhere he can because that is the plot for the poem. He uses many words to give the poem the pace and tone to the stanzas. Words such as throttled him then and there, garrotted the girl have the tone and energy given to it. Then he says “the one with the grotty hair” The words used here are alliteration such as “throttled” and “garrotted” as mentioned earlier.

This word not only give the tone but give the punch and flow to it and keeps it at a constant flow rather than including hard words so that it would make s stop to the sentence and then continue. The mood of the poem is very scary as through reading the poem it shows several different aspects such as silence blood death and all scary things together. So through this it created the mood and atmosphere, which is negative. Roger Mcgough is spreading the seeds of violence throughout the poem. The poem says that “First come first severed”. He used dark humour to spice up the poem.

The actual words were “first come first severed”. Here he created a pun of violence. He used this ironically to exaggerate things As we move on the words of his poems have got a lot of meanings in it such as taking this two sentence and comparing it. “It struck with deadly aim” and he “continued with the game”. The two sentences first of all have got a rhyme in it such as aim and game. In this he used many similes and it has very depth meaning. “The first blast cleared the back row they collapsed like rubber dinghies” This line in this section is a simile.

As we look at rubber dinghies, these are the materials kids play with and Roger Mcgough compared it as collapsing which something terrible is happening from a kid’s perspective and this shows a contrast. Again he uses personification in this poem such as “Silence shuffle forwards”. Again there is a contrast as in reality that silence can’t shuffle forwards but Mcgough brought that to life. He uses Rhyme and rhythm for the poems and this structured the poem very well. In this poem the rhyme is organised in the second and the fourth lines of the stanzas.

Such as “aim” and “game”, this gives a punch to the poem and these speeds up the line which are known as the iambic pentameter. He brought the soul into the words and that is one of the characteristics which would separate him from other poets Now as I move on to the conclusion Roger mc gough did not create this poem so that capital punishment would take place in school but to show to the world about the issues that are happening in this world. As Tom and Jerry, itchy and scratchy through violence conveyed a message it is the same what roger Mcgough is doing.

He wrote this poem to show the violence to the world though a comical manner. In this poem another thought he brings is the current situation of the world where peace and calm no longer exists in the way it existed. Roger Mcgough explores the black and treacherous world out there which includes the cruelties that is happening to children. He is exploring the different levels at which some children’s are being tortured in this world and this is a wake up call for the people torturing to show some humane behaviour towards them. The poem shows that the outer world is harsh and it is hard to live in this sinful world.

Roger Mcgough just wrote some words into a paper but the meaning of it is endless. Now let’s go to Funeral blues and stop all the cars. Roger Mcgough’s titles are straight to the point and the evidence to back it up for this is the title for this poem. It is “Funeral blues”. It doesn’t show to the audience on what the can expect clearly. In the poem Funeral blues the poet WH. Auden expresses his grief of the death of his lover by commanding to the people. Auden uses his imagery to convey the feeling of sadness to the world. He does this by commanding to the people.

He says to the people “Stop all the cloaks” he is commanding this to the people to stop all the noises of clocks and let it remain in silence. The message also conveys that he wants the time to be stopped. This is the time his lover died and he wants to make the time still so he could enchant the precious moments. He wanted to take the time, back to the stage where his lover was alive and he wants all the imagination of them together. In the second stanza the tone he uses is the tone of despair. He says, “Let aeroplane circle overhead”.

This again shows the assertiveness he brings into the poem. He is commanding in that sentence. At the first stanza he was commanding everyone to stop everything literally. By this he meant was to stop the world and now in the second stanza he wants to bring back all the noises of the aeroplane and wants to show his feelings and emotions out to the world and how much the lover meant to him and. This shows a contrast between two different thoughts. He is asking to bring back to extremities of nature. He is using the words, which is exaggerated or is hyperbole.

He is asking for something, which is almost impossible One of the key element which has to be pointed out is that Roger Mcgough has structured the poem very well as the first two stanzas just show that he is commanding to the people and he wants it to be done but the real fact is no one has the time and patience to do this all. Again he commands, “Let the traffic policeman wear black cotton gloves”. These commands are not done by any of the people. They wont be doing this all because they don’t know the seriousness of this or they don’t feel the love given to his lover.

This sentence asking the policemen to wear black cotton gloves is a sign of respect and honour giving to the body but in the real world no one is doing it. Next is when someone die you would inform the relatives and share the grief but the poet uses a different way to convey the message to the world. He says “Scribbling on the sky the message he is dead”. This sentence shows that he is doing the maximum to get peoples attention and he wants people to share his grief with the people but here is no one out there in the world who cares about the death of the lover of the poet.

The first two stanzas of the poem were all about the command and to do this and that. He wanted the things he said to be done but the stanzas in the last two stanzas rather than using imperatives for it he uses a different theme and create that imagery mood over there. He describes to people that the lover was everything to him. Every second of his life he enjoyed living with his lover. He describes to people that by saying “He was my North, my south, my east and west”. The poet is saying that he was everywhere, wherever he goes his lover was with him as the poet goes “He was my working week and Sunday rest”.

That describes that the poet wherever he was the lover as with him always. Then the pattern he created was different as the penultimate stanza it described all the love and emotion of the love and now to the last stanza it goes back again to commands but there is a difference he makes and it is that in the first and second stanza it is all about man made things and which is about our environment as aeroplanes policeman clocks etc but he is making a command to the nature as he says “Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; pour away the ocean and dismantle the wood”.

The grief is so heavy that he asks for the things, which is literally impossible to accomplish. This shows the intensity of romance he has towards his lover. He would do anything for his lover because the lover was so precious to him. Auden in this poem all together he created a mood which starts off very sadly as he commands to everyone to share his grief and at last a tone comes in which shows that he has given up everything. STOP ALL THE CARS This poem is the parody of funeral blues written by Roger Cough.

Many people would regard parody as making the poem into a comical way but Roger Mcgough has done different. He has chosen a topic which was close to his heart and was loved my many people. He realises the pain WH Auden went through and he is writing an adapted version of it. This poem is all about taking the emotions and grief of WH Auden and brings in some of the funny thoughts of Roger and mixes them up. The poem is about the metro a car, which started its journey in 1980. This is a car, which was commonly used, but later the love towards it went down.

It was a car, which was loved, by lot of people but later it had to stop its journey in 1998 because while it went through a safety check the result was terrible, as the product after the crash was just pieces of aluminium. Roger Mcgough took this idea all the way through and wrote a poem known as “Stop all the cars” which is based on funeral blues. The idea, which he wanted to convey through this poem, was that he was changing the grief and emotions of WH Auden and brought some fun into it. This poem is about metro, even though it had a terrible result people loved the car and he wrote about the performance of the car and how it went.

As we go through the poem there are many similarities as the rhyme and rhythm was almost the same as in funeral Blues it starts off “stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” but it changes into “Stop all the cars, cut off the ignition”. He brings backs the same tune but into more humorous manner. There are similarities between the poems as in funeral blues the poet says let the policemen wear black cotton gloves and it says that wear a black dress or a morning suit. He have brought the soul of funeral blues to the poem as in funeral blues it say that Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead and it says that Let the traffic lights remain red.

The world I meant by soul is that he has used imperatives in the poem and that was the soul of funeral blues. There are more similarities in this poem as in the first line in the penultimate stanza of funeral blues it says that He was my north south my east and west and it says She was my rust bucket, my tin lizzie. So this shows that Mcgough have adopted the pattern to match the structure of the poem. There are some differences in this poem as in funeral blues he composed the poem in four short stanzas but in stop all the cars it is developed into five stanzas.

The poem is composed in rhyming couplets and this makes the rhythm more feel. In funeral blues the first two stanzas are about the environments and man built things but as we go to the last two it changes to nature gifts but it is different as this poem is about the bad things of the car and at the end surprise affection towards the car. As we look at the overall effect of the poem Mcgough didn’t want to put this in the serious way that he hates the metro or to make the fans of metro disappointed but he wanted to just make a parody of funeral blues and that was the main reason.

Metro is a treasure for him because he has taken the time and effort to make a parody for this car, which shows his dedication ad his affection towards this car. Now we move on to Singing in the rain. This is a famous song from the movie singing in the rain. The poem is about a man who enjoys the rain. He is singing and dancing in the rain. The poem from the start gives a glimpse to the reader that the poem is about happiness because of the title itself.

The title is the main attraction of the poem and the poet takes this to the next level as he sings the humming “Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo” This humming is melodious and this maintains the happiness of the poem. The poet gradually uses this happiness into love as he says “What a glorious feeling”. This symbolises that even though it is harsh weather the man is enjoying the rain because he is in love. The poet writes I am “laughing at clouds” this shows that his imagination of love is created is created in the clouds and this explains how happy he is being in love. Every film has a twist in it and the same has happened here.

The poem begins with a positive vibe but as it gradually goes the tone and the feeling goes into a negative stage because of the words he use. The poet says, “Let the stormy clouds chase”. By this sentence he have taken off the all happiness atmosphere above and brought it back to normal. He has structured the rain as tears and the star as sadness is up above and stormy cloud and the ultimate outcome from it is rain. The other one is “So dark up above”. This sentence brings in harsh words “Dark”. These words take all the love and emotions from the poem away from anyone.

This word happy has been use a lot in the poem and this is the background of the poem and he has stressed on it. The poet wants to show to the reader that the mans life is full of life as he writes “A life full of you”. This shows that he is in love to the extreme level Now lets move on to Stinging in the rain, which is the parody of Singing in the rain written by Roger Mcgough. He is a poet who tackled issues happening globally and some of the examples are the lesson, which tackles capital punishment. The poem also tackles serious issues, which is acid rain. He brings the intensity of the issue to the poem just by words.

It similar to the lesson in many ways as there is extreme violence and touch of humour in the poem. To start he gave the reader a thinking message by giving the title to read “stinging in the rain”. There is a repetition if this line in the poem and this brings a flow to the start of the poem. He brings lots of techniques to the poem such as verbs and one of them was “burning my flesh, boiling my brain”. This verb adds some extra effect as this is happening things and they all are strong words such as such as “burning” and “boiling” they all gives it an extra punch to the poem.

In the poem the poet brings a bit of rhyme as he says “crying and frying”. These both words sound the same and again these powerful words give a flow to the poem. The poet adds excitement to the poem at the end as he says “What a glorious feeling”. And dots say that more is to come but it won’t come because the poem has ended. It suggests that more bad things will come. Now comparing “Stop all the clocks” which is an extract from the poem funeral blues and stinging in the rain. They have lots of characteristics in them. The poem stop all the clocks are full about emotion, pain and grief that build up the poem.

Funeral blues is about the disappointment of the loss of WH Auden partners and he wants the world to explore his feeling rather than to hide it. Now stinging in the rain is the parody of the famous poem singing in the rain written by Roger Mcgough. The poem is tackling with an issue, which many people are not aware of, and not taking any precautions to stop it. So this is awareness for the people about the issue. The poem uses many techniques such as alliteration. Comparing both of them they have got their own good qualities in them.

Now to the conclusion poems are just words which are written into paper. The thing, which brings it into life, is the imagination given to it. All the authors have brought that into their poem. Roger Mcgough and WH Auden have converted their feelings into words and the most wonderful thing that stroked to me is no the poem or the words of it but the techniques they use to approach to the readers. The repetition alliteration simile all brings the poem into life and these all-simple things make a big difference in the final product of the poem.

In the lesson the most attracted thing to me is the immense amount of violence Roger Mcgough brought into it with all the death and blood but he didn’t keep the poem raw but added humour and pun such as “First come first severed” and this was an interesting point in the poem. The authority that changes from student to the teacher and the gap of time and the words were able to attract the audience. These all are the features that made the lesson my favourite poem. The poem funeral blues written by WH Auden who was in great grief about the loss of his partner and he gave the relief to it by expressing his feeling and emotions to the world.

Now to the poem stop all the cars, which were written by Roger Mcgough who gave a glimpse of hope to the fans of the cat metro, which had to stop production due to its bad review on health and safety measures. Mcgough gave hope to the fans that it was not a bad car but had the capability to attract peoples the poem was a big success. No ending it on the singing on the rain and stinging on the rain. The poem stinging on the rain was by Don Lockwood, which was a famous song. It was about a man dancing on the rain enjoying rather than many other people who were angry and disappointed with it.

He enjoyed the train so much because he was in love and the great depth of love made him that rain more excited than usual and stinging in the rain id the parody of the poem, which tackles with global issues such as Acid rain and how this would affect people and exaggerating about it. Love is a concept which Roger Mcgough explores in several different poems of his. The concept of love is so intricate that the ways to express the feelings by writing it is hard but Roger Mcgough was successful. Overall the poems had great techniques and each of them was unique due to the wonderful characteristics.