Vices and Virtues :: essays research papers

Rene Descartes once said, â€Å"The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.† This idea rings true in Richard Connell’s â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game†. First published in 1924, this short story follows Sanger Rainsford, a hunter from New York City, on a ship from America to Rio de Janeiro. In the middle of the Caribbean Sea, Rainsford falls overboard and hastily swims to a nearby island. He comes upon another hunter’s mansion on the island, and soon discovers that this hunter is more dangerous than he had ever imagined. Rainsford finds his life in great danger, and must outwit the hunter, General Zaroff, to survive. Using techniques he had learned hunting, Rainsford evades Zaroff, and his persecutor is fed to the dogs. Rainsford returns to the mansion, rid of Zaroff. This essay will argue that Rainsford does not remain on Ship Trap Island, and that the events that occurred there persuade him to give up the hunt.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the story, it is made painfully obvious that Rainsford has no respect for the animals he hunts. In the opening of â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game,† Sanger Rainsford is standing on the deck of a ship, philosophizing with a fellow hunter named Whitney. Whitney says, â€Å"I rather think [jaguars] understand one thing—fear. The fear of pain and the fear of death† (1). Rainsford replies, â€Å"The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters† (1). In this way, Sanger Rainsford proves he does not understand the fear of being hunted. This belief leads him to believe that hunting is a fine sport, and that he need not consider the feelings of the game he hunts. Later on in the story, however, Rainsford’s feelings contradict this idea.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While Sanger Rainsford is being chased by General Zaroff, he begins to feel the terror of being hunted. Connell writes: The general was playing with him! The general was saving him for another day’s sport! The Cossack was the cat; he was the mouse. Then it was that Rainsford knew the full meaning of terror. (14) Now that he sees that his life is in certain danger, he begins to use traps to outwit General Zaroff. Beginning to feel like game himself, Rainsford believes his mind is his only way out. He must realize, then, that the animals he hunts do not have this defense, making hunting as a sport much more inhumane than he ever thought possible.

The journey to my grave

It was a bright Thursday afternoon and it was finally time for recess. I hade just survived double English and all my energy had been drained from trying to stay awake, let alone paying any attention to what was going on in lesson. I made my way out of the classroom and walked down the long corridors of the school building towards my locker- alone. It had only been a week and a half since I had started high school and I hadn't yet managed to make any friends but I had expected it, since I had started a month later than all the other first years. Everyone seemed to already have been divided into his or her groups. I liked keeping to myself, as it was crystal clear I wasn't needed. After placing my books in my locker I made my way to the school canteen. As always there was nothing appealing in the canteen that tempted me so I just helped myself to a chocolate muffin. Having paid for my lunch I made my way to the table in the corner of the hall where I sat everyday- alone. I placed my muffin on the table and sat down to eat. The canteen was filling up and I noticed that every table in the canteen had different types of people seated at it; the cheerleader table was at the front where all the cheerleaders sat. Beside them, was the Ashley table where Ashley's group sat, which beside herself included her two best friends. The sixteen tables behind them were where the ordinary people sat and ate their lunch. Last but not least there were the geeks who sat behind everyone else. Finally there was me and I sat alone, behind everyone else. Since the day I had started high school know one had spoken to me in a friendly manner but only teased me and called me names, so it was a huge surprise when Ashley and her group came up to my lunch table wanting to ask me something. Hey†¦ uh †¦ Megan. How are you? ‘ Oh my god I couldn't believe it. Ashley was actually talking to me. I had to reply, I mean it wasn't everyday Ashley came up to talk to me. ‘Uh †¦ yes†¦ I'm†¦ I'm fine. Thanks for asking. ‘ I could feel my face getting hot, I couldn't believe I was so tongue tied but I wasn't to blame anyone who went to my high school would have been in the state I was in. ‘ Helen can you meet us in the girls lavatory and make sure no one knows you are coming to see us. Its best if know one knows. ‘ It was the happiest days in my life. Having finished my muffin I rushed down to the girls lavatory beaming with joy. Once reaching the girls lavatory I pushed open the door and searched for Ashley and her group. There was know one there so I decided to wait. A little while later they came in and checked if all the cubicles were empty once they were satisfied Ashley asked me the most unexpected question ever. ‘Listen Helen me and the girls were thinking of making our group a foursome and who else would be better to have than you. So do you want to join us? ‘ Of course I did. Who wouldn't? ‘Yeh†¦ sure†¦ I mean I would love to be part of your group. ‘ This was the happiest day of my life, apart from the fact that she didn't know my name properly. I was going to be part of her group and not any old group but Ashley Roberts group. ‘Kool, but as you know this isn't any old group. This is my group,' she really emphasized on the word â€Å"my†, ‘and it is the best in the whole school. So you have to go through a simple initiation test, don't worry we all went through it. If you pass, it means you are worthy of joining our group and if not you go back to what you were. ‘ I should have known there would be a catch. I guess it was worth the try, if I passed I would've officially been part of the best group in the whole school. ‘All you have to do is come to my house tomorrow and stay the night. Katie and Serena' Her two best friends, ‘will also be there. We will tell you what will consist in your test tomorrow when you come round. You can go now and oh yeh I will give you my address tomorrow but remember just don't tell anyone, and I mean anyone about our little discussion. ‘ The final bell of the day rang and it was finally time to go home. I placed my books into my bag and made my way for home. After ten minutes I reached home and let myself in. I could hear my mum rattling the dishes in the kitchen and also talking to my little baby brother. ‘Hi mum, I'm home. Guess what happened today. You wont believe it. ‘ I was dying to tell her that I had made a new friend and that I might have a chance to join her group. ‘Go on tell me what happened today. ‘ ‘Well this girl, Ashley Roberts who is the popular girl in school asked me to join her group but she said I have to pass a little test to see if I am capable of being in their group so she invited me to her house tomorrow for a sleepover. Can I go? I could see the look on her face she wasn't sure about the whole idea. ‘I'm not quite sure about this test thing. ‘ she replied with a worried look on her face. I'm sorry to say this to you but I cant let you go this time I mean you hardly even know her. I'm sure she will understand. ‘ Understand. She thought she would understand. My mother had absolutely no idea about this whole thing. If I didn't get into this group my life would have been over. I would have had to stay a loner all throughout my high school life. ‘But mum' I couldn't let her win this battle not this time my whole high school life was at stake here. You can't do this. You don't understand. You have to let me go, please. ‘ my eyes were burning as tears blurred my vision. I couldn't let her see that she had won so I stormed out of the room slamming the door shut on my way out. I was enraged by my mothers decision of not letting me go to Ashley's house. She just didn't understand that I had to go. It was about my future. I had made up my mind I was going to go to Ashley's house no matter what. There was too much at stake here. I needed to make mum realise that I could take care of my self and nothing would have happened if she had let m go. The next day I came back from school and went straight to my room to pack my clothes for the sleepover. I was going to go to the sleepover no matter what. After packing my things I went downstairs to eat dinner and then told mum I was going to bed early because I was not feeling well. I went to my room and picked up my bag and plucked up the courage to sneak out of the window. I did it I was out I realised that if I stood around I would get caught so I quickly took out Ashley's address and made my way to her house. It was about 6 blocks away from where I lived and took me about twenty minutes to get there. Once I reached her house it was seven thirty. Before I could actually knock on the door Ashley came and opened the door. Without saying a word she took me to her room as if she didn't want anyone to know I had arrived. There I met both Katie and Serena too. I was told by Ashley that I had to keep my voice down as her parents weren't aware that I was present in the house. For some odd reason I began to regret that I had come to Ashley's house. I was here now and I had to go through with whatever the girls had in plan as my initiation test. Ok listen Helen. We have all decided what your test should be based upon. Let me warn you though it is going to be quite hard. The girls don't think you will be up to the challenge. ‘ It was Ashley talking. Oh no the thing I had been dreading most. Well at least I wont have to do anything in school which could embarrass me. So I guess the girls had spared me the humiliation. ‘Just tell me what you want me to do. Don't worry I'm up to it. By the way my name is Megan. ‘ I had come this far I wasn't going to let myself down now. ‘That's the spirit. Well we have decided to test how brave you are so we have decided that tonight being a Friday the thirteenth your test will be that you have to go to the near by grave yard and sit next to a grave for a whole hour, and before leaving place a flag, which we will give to you, on the surface of the grave so that we know that you actually stayed there. As proof that you did stay there for a whole hour we will give you a stop watch which you will start as soon as you sit next to the grave and bring back to us when your time is up. ‘ I got the shock of my life when I heard what I had to do. I should have stayed home and done as I was told, I guess I now realised that my mum was right. By coming here I have only landed my self into more trouble. I couldn't let myself down. I wanted to be in the group so desperately now. Ashley told me that we were going to leave at exactly eleven thirty so that we would be there a little before twelve. While I would be inside the grave yard Katie, Serena and Ashley would go back home and then come back to collect me. They also told me I had to sit next to a specific grave, it was Jack Hunters. Rumours have it that on every Friday the thirteenth anyone who sits next to Jacks grave, and is still there by midnight, has his or hers soul pulled out from their body and into jacks grave. Many people have tried to sit next to jacks grave but have never returned. ‘Come on its time to go. ‘ Called out Katie in a silent whisper. It was time for my test and no matter what I wasn't going to back out from it. The four of us crept downstairs and made our way out of the house without making a single noise. The street was dark with only a few light lamps in the far distance which shone some light on the path we were taking. We finally reached the main gates to the entrance of the grave yard. I was told to climb over the gates. When I had climbed over I realised that I was on my own from here on. Serena told me that the grave I was meant to sit next to was at the far end and will fall on my right hand side. I saw the girls making their way back and I knew I couldn't follow them. I had to lead in the opposite direction. There were still five minutes to twelve as I sat down and made my self comfortable. All this jack and the whole soul pulling thing was all made up, I knew it. How can a dead person who mind you doesn't even have a soul of his, own possibly take another persons. It was insane, it was a story which had crossed its limits. None of it was true. It couldn't be. Could it? At this stage I was talking to myself. I began questioning my own beliefs. I looked at my watch to see how much time had gone by. I couldn't believe it, only two minutes had passed since I had started the stopwatch which was given to me. All of a sudden I felt something behind me, as if it were breathing heavily onto my neck. I was too afraid to look back. I wanted to run. Run free from this place-I was being held down. Something had paralysed me, I couldn't move. I tried harder- nothing happened. In my struggle to break free from the web of danger I was in I caught a glimpse of the time and it was exactly twelve. It was happening to me. My soul was being sucked into Jacks grave. My ribs were hurting me so badly. My whole body felt as if it were being forced into a tiny hole. My whole body was overlapping it self and I could do nothing. I needed air. I was running out of air. When I tried breathing in big gashes of air to maybe prolong my death, nothing happened. All I could do was wait for my life to end. I remembered mum, I wondered what she was going to go through. I should have listened to her. She was right but I was so arrogant and selfish that I had to have my way. I hope she could forgive me as all she had in the world were me and my little brother. There it happened. Exactly on that thought. I breathed in my ounce of air. Jack finally got what he had wanted-his soul, my soul. I Megan Taylor till today regret entering the gates of the grave yard I entered three years ago, and till this day I regret it. Little did I know at the time that the friend I thought I had gained, planned this malicious act of indecency.

Decolonization The Wretched Of The Earth 250 ) - 1737 Words

Because it is a systematic negation of the other person and a furious determination to deny the other person all attributes of humanity, colonialism forces the people it dominates to ask themselves the question constantly: In reality, who am I? (The Wretched of the Earth 250) For Fanon, therefore, colonialism is fundamentally a violent situation since the stage is set in motion between two kinds of interests--the interest of the colonizer and the interest of the colonized (Gordon 77). As a result, Fanon insists that decolonization entails a violent struggle between two parties since decolonization is the replacing of a certain species of men by another species of men (The Wretched of the Earth 35). In other words, if decolonization is a process in which The last [native] shall be first and the first [settler] last, this will only come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle between two protagonists (37). In these contexts, Fanon argues clearly that all of oppressions represented by colonialism and imperialism are violent in nature and must be destroyed only by greater violence: Colonialism only loosens its hold when the knife is at its throat, no Algerian really found these terms too violent. The leaflet only expressed what every Algerian felt at heart: Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state, and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence. (TheShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagestwentieth century as a coherent unit for teaching, as well as for written narrative and analysis. Though they do not exhaust the crucial strands of historical development that tie the century together—one could add, for example, nationalism and decolonization—they cover in depth the defining phenomena of that epoch, which, as the essays demonstrate, very often connect in important ways with these and other major developments. The opening essays of this collection underscore the importance of including