Literary Analysis of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

Literary Analysis of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay In Huckleberry Finn there are several themes. There are themes of racism and slavery, civilized society, survival, water imagery, and the one I will be discussing, superstition ( SparkNotes Editors). Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation (â€Å"Merriam-Webster†). Superstition was a very popular theme in Huckleberry Finn that you saw throughout the story. Huck was somewhat superstitious, but Jim speaks a wide range of superstition and folk tales. In the story it makes Jim seem as if he is unintelligent, when really his superstitions and beliefs come true and shows he is a wise person. At first, Huck thinks Jim’s superstitions are foolish and silly, but he eventually starts to appreciate Jim’s outlook and knowledge on life. Jim’s superstition was accepted as social teachings as well as being the adult figure in Huck’s life (SparkNotes Editors). One of the first times I saw superstition in the story was Huck’s superstition of bad luck. â€Å"Pretty soon a spider went crawling up my shoulder, and I flipped it off and it lit in the candle; and before I could budge it was all shriveled up. I didn’t need anybody to tell me that was an awful bad sign and would fetch me some bad luck, so I was scared and most shook the clothes off me. I got up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossed my breast everytime; and then I tied up a little lock of my hair with a thread to keep witches away ( Twain 110). † Another time Huck’s superstition of bad luck was shown in the story was when he accidentally spilled salt at breakfast. â€Å"One morning I happened to turn over the salt cellar at breakfast. I reached for some of it as quick as I could, to throw over my left shoulder and keep off the bad luck, but Miss Watson was in the ahead of me, and crossed me off ( Twain 117). † Because Huck was not able to throw the salt over his shoulder, he was very worried and nervous all day because he knew he would encounter bad luck sooner or later. The first time Huck went to get superstitious advice from Jim is when he went to ask Jim when his father would be returning in his life. He had already seen his father’s tracks in the snow and knew he would be coming real soon. He wanted to know what his father was going to do and how long  was he going to stay. Huck heard Jim had a hair ball that was taken out of a stomach of an ox, that he used to do magic with. The hair ball supposedly had a spirit in it that knew everything. The hair ball told Jim about Huck’s father and Jim told Huck, â€Å" Yo’ ole father doan’ know, yit, what he’s a-gwyne to do. Sometimes he spec he’ll go ‘way, en den agin he spec he’ll stay. De bes’ way is to res’ easy en let de ole man take his own way ( Twain 119). † He then began to tell Huck his father had two angels over him. A white, shiny angel that tells him to do right and a dark angel that tells him to do wrong. He told Huck that he also has two angels over him that does the same, and that nobody knows which one is going to get you in the end. This part of the story showed me Jim wasn’t as foolish and stupid as everybody thought he was, he was actually wise. That night when Huck returned home his father was waiting for him in his bedroom. Once Huck ran away to the island and found Jim ran away too and they discovered the dead man, who happened to be Huck’s father, Huck wanted to discuss the dead man but Jim warned him it was bad luck for them to talk about a dead man. â€Å" He said it would fetch bad luck; and besides, he said, he might come and ha’nt us; he said a man that warn’t buried was more likely to go a-ha’nting around than one that was planted and comfortable ( Twain 139). † Huck thought Jim made sense and respected him enough not to bring it up again. Huck then brought up to Jim, when he found the snake-skin the other day, Jim said it was the worst bad luck to touch snake skin. Huck did not believe they would experience any bad luck because they had experienced so much good luck with finding the house with all the goods and money they came across. Jim told him not to speak of it and he said the bad luck would still come, and it did come later that week. Huck decided to play a trick on Jim and put a dead rattlesnake in Jim’s blanket to scare him. When Jim laid down that night the snake’s mate was in his blanket and bit Jim on the heel. Jim was sick in bed for four days and Huck never told him he was the one who played the trick on him. He swore to himself he would never pick up a snake skin again, and Jim said to Huck maybe he would believe him next time and there might still be some bad luck to come. The theme of superstition in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is related to hope and fear. Jim’s hope and fear was that he would finally be free and his fear was that he would be captured and forced back into slavery. Huck’s hope was that he would be able to live his life without having to be in fear of his father and also that he would not have to live a â€Å"sivilized† lifestyle with the widow and Miss Watson. Everybody has hope and fear about something, and deals with it differently. Jim and Huck dealed with it by believing in superstition. Work Cited Page Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Norton Anthology American Literature. Seventh Ed. Vol. C. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton Comapny, Inc. , 2007. Print. SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. † SparkNotes. com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 5 Feb. 2011. www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/superstition. Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, 2011. Web. 5 Feb 2011.

Golden Rice: The Fortified, Modified and Vilified Option for Third Worl

Each year without fail anywhere between 250,000 to 500,000 children go blind from Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), more than half of those die within twelve months. To visualize this number think of Seattle, now imagine half or all of its population going blind. With a few dollars’ worth of food or supplements enriched in vitamin A this problem can be mollified. But getting fresh foods and vitamins to those with the greatest need has proven an insurmountable problem. Food Aid, while indeed lifesaving, is costly and does not fix the underlying problems in poor societies. To be truly secure people must have food independence, which is to say they must be able to grow their own food supply and not rely on outside markets. In countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, India and China the main food staple is rice. While rice is a valuable source of carbohydrates, once the rice is milled, and its outer layer shucked, it losses most of its nutritional value. Thirty years ago two German s cientists, Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer set out to see if they could do something about making a better rice. What they came up with was genetically modified rice that was bright yellow because it was rich in ÃŽ ² (beta)-carotene, and was called golden rice because of its sunny hue. But before the two scientists could pat themselves on the back for solving Vitamin A Deficiency, anti-GM (genetically modified) groups such as Greenpeace denounced the unnatural solution and swore that golden rice would never find its way to third world farmers. Twenty eight years and approximately 10,000,000 million deaths later golden rice has still not been able to escape the red tape and fear mongering of the First World. And while golden rice is not a cure all for world hunger,... ...Rice to Combat Malnutrition Disorders of the Poor. Nutrition Reviews. Vol. 51. No. 6. Pp. S101-S104 June. Various Authors 2010 Genetically Modified Food Controversies. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_food_controversy Author Unknown (Editorial) 2005 Reburnishing [sic] Golden Rice. Nature Biotechnology. Vol. 23. No. 4. Pp. 395. April Author Unknown 2005 Scientists in Support of Agricultural Biotechnology. AgBioWorld. Agbioworld.org/declaration/petition/petition.php

Middle Class and Hard Work

In life, all individuals want to stand out. They want to be the diamond in the rough, but only a few of them can ever be such a thing. According to Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, he asserts that individuals who are granted opportunities and advantages, which not everybody is given by fate, are more successful. He implicates that opportunity, hard work, birthdate, 10,000 hours rule, and the background of the person are essential factors when being an outlier.Out of these aspects, working ard would have to be the one factor that surpasses the rest in this scenario. Malcolm Gladwell emphasizes many characteristics on what being an outlier is. The most important is hard work, â€Å"†¦ [for] if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires†(1 51). Without hard work, nothing will ever be accomplishable. Tonina Hoang, a McDonald's franchisee, writes, â€Å"l work hard to ensure that they stay motiva ted and develop their careers†¦ Nothing ever comes without having to work for it.Everyone who is famous, or a doctor, or a lawyer has gotten through the baby steps and have overcome many obstacles to reach where they are now. Gladwell states that, â€Å"No one who can rise before the dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich†(137), further emphasizing that success is achievable if hard work is put in. Hard work will eventually pay off in the end. â€Å"A Success Story' an article in the Infotrac Newsstand claims that â€Å"hard work, patience and dedication helped Muhammad Ayub of Wasa] become assistant director (legal) from a Junior pump operator. Always have optimism because one may think people do not notice what one does, but in fact, everyone notices whether one is putting effort or Just going through the motions. Gladwell touches on how â€Å"We overlook Just how large a role we all play–and by ‘we' I mean society–in determining who makes it and who doesn't†(33). Sometimes people do not see how big of an impact they have to the society, but everyone is essential in order for the society to function properly. Gladwell fortifies diligence when he asserts â€Å"Hard work is only a prison sentence when you lack motivation†(42).In order to be successful, the individual must have the motivation to pursue their ambitions without feeling obligated to. Although working hard is a critical aspect in becoming an outlier, there are other factors that are important but not as critical. Gladwell claims â€Å"It comes from our time: from the particular opportunities that our place in history presents us with†(58). People are given different opportunities; they all depend on the time one was born nd how each and everyone's background began.Not everyone had the same openings. For example, a lower class family would not have had the same chances as a middle class family. Gladwell affirms, †Å"It's knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want†(87). Being highly intelligent is perhaps another key factor in becoming an outlier, for not being so, one would not have as much success as others. However, none of these things would ever be possible if one does not push oneself and commit to work harder than others.Outliers play a huge role on society It we did not nave them, some ot the high quali corporate items, like Apple products, would have never been created. Success does not come as easy as it may seem. However, if one decided to stand out from the rest of society with Gladwell's guidelines, they could possibly become the next outlier. Outliers are not Just born out of the blue (although some may be); they work hard, take the opportunities when they are given the chance, and overcome their social status.

Biological Explanations of Criminal Behavior - 1430 Words

Biological Explanations of Criminal Behavior Nature and nurture contribute to the way a person behaves. This can be applied to the behaviors of criminals. According to Fishbein (1990, pg.37), â€Å"behavior [is] primarily attributed to inherited predispositions and genetic influences.† Nurture is the environmental influence that shape human behavior (Fishbein, 1990, pg.37). Human genetics and environmental factors contribute to the uniqueness to a person’s behavior. However, there are underlying qualities in a criminal’s historical background. Aspects of the nature and nurturing of a criminal behavior includes some problems with earlier biological explanations and some recent biological explanations which have overcome the weaknesses of†¦show more content†¦The classical school and positive school were considered as early biological explanations to the development of criminal minds. According to Sacco and Kennedy (2008, pg.116) the recent biological explanations are different compared to the ear lier biological explanations in several ways. The recent explanation is concentrated more on genetic factors. Additionally, â€Å"the impact of biological factors is mediated by the social environment† (Sacco amp; Kennedy, 2008, pg.116). There are four main approaches that have overcome the weaknesses of the earlier biological explanations: the general pedigree studies, twin studies, adoption studies, and karyotype studies. The general pedigree studies involve people that are related to one another to see if they behave in similar ways. These studies show that people who manifest criminal behaviour are more likely to have offspring that do the same (Cartwright, 2009). However, evidence for the causality of criminal behaviour by genetics is lacking. Other factors that are environmental and accumulative should be considered (Cartwright, 2009). Twin studies on the other hand, avoid the problem that the pedigree studies face. In twin studies, monozygotic (MZ) twins and dizygoti c (DZ) twins are tested. According to Fishbein (1990, pg. 54), MZ twins inherit one hundred percent of their parents genes whereas DZ twins only inherit fifty percent. Studies have shown that if an MZ is involved in a criminal behavior, the otherShow MoreRelatedEssay Biological Explanations of Criminal Behaviour1357 Words   |  6 Pagesmisunderstood phenomenon with no concrete evidence when it comes to human behavior. Throughout time there have been endless amounts of crime theories, few of which revolve around biological explanations. We have Cesare Lombroso and the Positive School who thought that criminals were genetically different from the rest of the general population, that they were biologically aggressive, had criminal traits and/or born as criminals. 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