To Give Up On Words By Keith H. Basso

The Hollow Hope by Gerald Rosenberg is based on one research question. That question is: Can the Court bring about significant social change? In examining this question Rosenberg presents two different views of the Court. The dynamic court view believes that the court is an excellent catalyst for social change while the constrained court view believe that there are constraints in place that prevent the court from making significant change. The constrained court believes that it is only when these constraints are lifted and certain conditions met that the Court can have an effect on social change.

In Robert Cormier’s novel, We All Fall Down, is a young-adult thriller that explores the evil side of humanity through a number of corrupt characters. Cormier, to a large extent, accurately depicts manipulative and dishonest behaviour whilst also showing the evil lurking within the prominent characters of Harry Flowers, Buddy Walker and Mickey Stallings who showcase the dark side of humanity. Cormier explores this through Harry Flower’s manipulative actions that result in the suffering of others. Additionally, the constant dishonest behaviour is shown predominantly through the main protagonist of Buddy Walker, who deceives the one he loves. Cormier continues to depict the evil lurking in society through the theme of appearance

In her book, “A Man Without Words,” Susan Schaller describes how the eighteenth century French philosophers continually exercised speculation as to how much of human nature was "given" and native, and how much was dependent on language and culture. She encountered Ildefonso, a Mexican Indian who lived in the most unique form of isolation, who was born deaf, and had never been taught even the most basic language. She set herself the challenge to make contact with this man, and introduce him to language. Ildefonso not only lacked any language but lacked any idea of language: he had no conception, at first, of what Schaller was trying to do, yet Ildefonso had a yearning to

As the words of our founding fathers, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the American dream that many pursue, whether immigrated to the United States or born here. Within Demetria Martinez’s book, Mother Tongue, a novel, the character named Jose Luis flees from El Salvador to the United States in order to escape it’s brutal civil war. His choice to flee El Salvador and enter the United States under a false name places him in a difficult situation, both in his moral abandonment of his home country El Salvador, and for crossing the United States border illegally. The position of Jose Luis can be dissected into the need for borders, the asylum process into the U.S., the reason why politicians reject immigration, and the potential

The quote "Character is what you are in the dark" - Dwight Lyman Moody has a few meanings. Mostly it means that you're different when you're alone. When you're around people they are influences of some sort. If you get into a situation when you're with people you might react differently than if you were alone, resulting in a different outcome. A lot of the time people aren't their true self around friends, or family, or whoever it may be for many reasons. A big reason is they don't want to be judged. Maybe they wanna look "cool" or get popular for something. Maybe they think they'll be looked at differently for being who they truly are. So basically fear of what others think keeps us from being who we really are. Fear can make us act different,

To be an ethnic American is a culture all on its own. Hunger of memory by Richard Rodríguez gives an insight into the rarely viewed world. A person that no longer falls into either category of family or American community. Such an individual is stuck between two worlds, in which two different cultures collide yet form a rift through family, language and education.

Darkness at Noon, written by British novelist Arthur Koestler in 1940, is a criticism of Stalinism and the methods used by the Communist Party in the USSR. The novel was set in 1938 during the Stalinist Great Purge and Moscow show trials. Even though the story depicts actual occurrences, it does not specifically name either Russia or the USSR, but the characters do have Russian names while other generic terms are used to depict individuals and associations. For instance, the Soviet government is alluded to as "the Party" and Nazi Germany is alluded to as "the Dictatorship." Joseph Stalin, a terrorizing dictator, is represented by "Number One." The novel is a strong and moving picture of a Communist revolutionary caught up in the terror

After reading Deaf Again I learned a lot of new things about Deaf culture and was drawn in by the story of Mark Drolsbaugh. "The hardest fight a man has to fight is to live in a world where every single day someone is trying to make you someone you do not want to be" e.e cummings. I was brought into the book immediately from this quote and realized how difficult it must have been for Mark to find his identity. He was trying to hang on to his hearing in fear of going deaf as if there was something wrong or not proper with being deaf. It took him a long time, twenty-three years to realize that the Deaf culture is receiving and it was there for him to embrace the entire time. It would be difficult to be able to hear and then slowly

Reading the book, The Other Side of the River, by Alex Kotlowitz, the author writes about the relationship between two towns in Michigan, and the death of a young boy named Eric McGinnis. The two towns, Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, are called the “Twin Cities”, but are ironically not related in any way. St. Joseph is 95 percent white, while Benton Harbor is impoverished and is 92 percent black. Throughout the book Kotlowitz questions the residents from both towns and how they are affected by the environment around them. The author also starts with the climax on the first page of the book – the death of Eric, and uses this as an technique to tell the story of the disagreements between the two towns.

The story begins with Daniel Quinn writing about a day in his life, until he comes upon an absurd advertisement in the personals section of the newspaper: TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person. Suspicious, Quinn investigates this advertisement with intentions of exposing fraud. Instead, he discovers Ishmael in Room 105 of a undistinguished office building. Sitting calmly, Ishmael gently nibbled on a slender branch. Appalled, Quinn stumbled towards the chair. Ishmael and Quinn gazed into each other’s eyes, and much to his disgruntlement, the glowing eyes spoke to him. Nodding his head to the unspoken question, Ishmael quietly said, “I am the teacher.” Ishmael explains that Quinn is part of a culture, that results in him being taught certain stories between the relationships of man, the world, and the Gods. These explanations will be made clearer to the pupil by being assisted in recognizing why the stories are misleading. Ishmael’s goal will show the narrator that human history comes from two groups, the Takers and the Leavers. These groups legislate two completely different stories about man, the world, and the Gods. Takers are the humans who developed agriculture and civilization, who still dominate on Earth today. The Leavers, in contradiction, are those who don’t adopt agricultural practices and disregard the benefits of civilization.

America’s answer for dealing with crime prevention is locking up adult offenders in correctional facilities with little rehabilitation for reentry into society. American response for crime prevention for juvenile’s offenders is the same strategy used against adult offenders taken juvenile offenders miles away from their environment and placed in adult like prisons.

Social change comes from a societies understanding and acceptance of controversial topics, laws that enforce social norms and the politics that play a role in such change. The author Gerald Rosenberg of “The Hollow Hope” believes that the Supreme Court is able to bring about social change. Rosenburg main argument seemed to be questioning if a courts ruling that had once been accepted and had standing for several years were to be over turned, would the environment outside of the courtroom suddenly change and be accepting of their division.

Personal connections that are or are not developed with the Indians is a topic that both Morton and Bradford discuss. The Pilgrims’ initial encounter with the Indians is tense and there is an air of skepticism about what type of people they are, good or bad. Since they need to live together in a peaceful way, the Pilgrims create a treaty between themselves and the Indians so that there would be no misunderstanding about the expectations and trust each group needs to have with one another (Bradford 88). Morton views this in a different way; instead of believing that this is a mutual agreement between both communities, he feels that the treaty is forcing the Indians to act the way the Pilgrims want them to act (104). There is room for

The novel “An Unquiet Mind” starts off describing the life of a young girl, Kay. Early off in Kay’s life she is experiencing traumatizing life events. One of those events is a very close encounter with a plane that flew over the elementary playground very low and “It flew into the trees, exploding directly in front of us” (12). Early on it seems much easier to see how she developed the mental illness, manic-depressive (bipolar) illness. Also, her father showed signs of a bipolar illness and maybe it could be heredity. Another traumatizing event was when Kay and her family moved to California and the complete shock from the change in background. This switch also leads to Kay drinking before she attends classes for high school. Just at the age of 16, Kay is beginning to see just how much her mood swings are affecting her friends and how the bipolar illness is changing her life.

In the personal essay “My Mothers Tongue” (1990), Amy Tan, widely known author explains her insights on language and culture identity using details and memories from her own life experiences. Tan conceals that the language in which her mother used with her “was the language that helped shape the way [she] saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world” (1208) and in the process it made her who she is today as an author. Tan illuminates the euro centricity of the Master Narrative by retelling stories of her mother being treated poorly because of her “broken” or “limited” English. She recalls many past experiences where her mother suffered from bad service and treatment from restaurants, stockbrokers, and even hospitals. Using examples from her personal life Tan gets her point across about language and culture characteristics in order to show how Chinese culture is affected by the master narrative and also encourages others to include a variety of cultures in order to overcome bias opinions. Tan’s apparent audience can be ranged from the child of an immigrant to a doctor and offers an authentic and rich portrayal of Chinese history through her conflicting experience of her Chinese and American cultures.