The Satire In Voltaires Candide Essays - English-language Films

The satire in Voltaire's Candide Annonymous The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism. People and objects are symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the course of the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify Puritanic and Romantic philosophies. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life. However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as divine maternity and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece. Pearl, Hester's child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a child of sin who should be treated as such, ugly, evil, and shamed. The reader more evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly at all, places Pearl above the rest. She wears colorful clothes, is extremely smart, pretty, and nice. More often than not, she shows her intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics. One of Pearl's favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees. (The reader will recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans. To Hawthorne, however, the forest was beautiful and natural.) And she was gentler here [the forest] than in the grassy- margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it (194) Pearl fit in with natural things. Also, Pearl is always effervescent and joyous, which is definitely a negative to the Puritans. Pearl is a virtual shouting match between the Puritanical views and the Romantic ways. To most, but especially the Puritans, one of the most important members of a community is the religious leader; Arthur Dimmesdale is no exception. He was held above the rest, and this is proven in one of the first scenes of the book. As Hester is above the townspeople on a scaffold, Dimmesdale, Governor Wilson, and others are still above her. But, as the reader soon discovers, Arthur Dimmesdale is his own worst enemy. He hates himself and must physically inflict pain upon himself. He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself to never forget what he has done (141). To Dimmesdale, it is bad that Hester is shown publicly as a sinner, but people forget that. What is far worse than public shame is Dimmesdale's own cruel inner shame. Knowing what only he and Hester know, the secret eats away at every fiber of Dimmesdale's being. As the Puritans hold up Dimmesdale, the Romantics level him as a human. The Scarlet Letter is a myriad of allegorical theories and philosophies. Ranging from Puritanic to Romantic, Nathaniel Hawthorne embodies his ideas to stress his Romantic philosophies through Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale throughout all of this.

The Trail Of Tears Essays - Cherokee Nation, Cherokee, John Ross

The Trail Of Tears Essays - Cherokee Nation, Cherokee, John Ross The Trail of Tears "We are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country that Great Spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that gave us birth? it is with sorrow we are forced by the white man to quit the scenes of our childhood?we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear." This is the way that Cherokee Vice Chief Charles Hicks described, in 1838, the emotions that must have been felt after the mistreatment and the abuse that was wrought upon the Cherokee Indians. It was a trail of blood, a trail of death, but ultimately it was known as the "Trail of Tears". In this history of the Cherokee Nation we are trying, but without success, to be as unbiased as possible. It?s the War of 1812. Andrew Jackson is mounting up forces against the Pro-British faction of the Creek Indians. The United States appealed for Cherokee support for aid in war against Tukumsa and another Indian known as Red Sticks. The Cherokee Nation replied with six to eight hundred of their best warriors. It was this war were the Indians fought side by side with Jackson. After a treaty in 1814 was forced on the Creek Indians, the Cherokees filed claims for there lose. There was no promise that their claims would be acknowledged. This would bring on the biggest betrayal on the Cherokee Indians, Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson demanded the session of twenty-three million acres of land to the United States. The Cherokee Nation, however, owned Four million acres of this land. The Cherokees protested again to Indian agent Jonathan Meigs in the War Department. Once again their former ally called these claims "Cherokee intrigue". Andrew Jackson then suggested with troops already in the field that this would be the perfect time to remove Cherokees as well as Creeks out of Tennessee. The Indian Removal Act was introduced by Andrew Jackson and was passed by Congress in 1830. This act was to force the Indians west of the Mississippi River. This was largely carried out by General Winfield Scott and his army of approximantly seven thousand troops, in May of 1838. When the army arrived in New Echota Georgia thousand of Cherokee Indians would be rounded up with dragnets and penned up in wooden stockades. By June 5, 1838 it was estimated that only 200 Cherokee had escaped. There were between fifteen to se venteen thousand Cherokee held in these crude jails, where they would await their long brutal journey west. This route from Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and finally ending in Oklahoma, would later be referred by Cherokees as Nunna-da-ul-tsun-yi, or "the trail on which they Cried". The journey on which the Indians traveled would bring many deaths due to starvation, droughts and disease. There were two main ways of travel, by land and river. River travel was difficult if not impossible because low river levels due to the drought. All in all it took 645 wagons, 5000 horses and oxen and river vessels used primarily for the ill. Grant Foreman, Dean of Indian Historians, recorded this appalling period. He stated that the weather was extremely hot, there was a drought, and water was scarce and there were suffocating clouds of dust mixed with the oxygen. He also stated that at least three but, up to five people died per day on the trail. By the end of June 1838 two to three hundred Indians were sick. On June 17, 1838 General Charles Floyd of the Georgia militia wrote to Governor Gilmen of New Echota that they were convinced that there were no longer any Cherokee in Georgia. This would hold true that they succeeded in removing the Cherokee from the state, but not compl etely from the east. This would bring on a great supporter of the Cherokee people, a white man by the name of John Ross. John Ross campaigned heavily for the Cherokees. Ross was part of the immigration management committee. Ross persuaded General Scott to approve a budget for the captive Indians of Seventeen cents per Indian per day. This was double the amount figured by congress. This money was