A Christmas Carol Essays

A Christmas Carol Essays A Christmas Carol Essay A Christmas Carol Essay Essay Topic: A Christmas Carol Literature At the time when dickens was writing the Christmas tradition was not nearly as important as it is today. The Christmas tradition gained popularity during the reign of Queen Victoria in England. One reason for this was that the monarchy supported it: Prince Albert, Queen Victorias husband brought the German tradition of decorating the Christmas tree when he came to England. Life in Victorian Britain for the poor and un-privileged was very hard as children were uneducated; they had very little money and therefore were unable to afford to go to school. Young children were being employed in factories and mines as chimney sweeps. Children were expected to help towards the family budget, often working long hours in dangerous jobs and low wages. On the other hand life for the richer and fortunate people was more relaxing and also benefitted them in many ways. Parents could afford to send their children to school to get a good enough education; some were very fortunate and were able to be tutored at home. It was cold, bleak, biting weather The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole. He used external coldness to reflect Scrooges cold nature. We are then introduced to Scrooges nephew, Fred, in a conversation. Dickens creates a contrast between the characters of Scrooge and Fred as Scrooge is described bitterly and with coldness and darkness whereas Fred is described cheerfully and with warmth and light. He makes us like Fred and dislike Scrooge by the way they are described. A frosty rime was on him. This is in contrast with the warm hearted Fred that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome. This is similar to Romeo and Juliet where light and dark imagery and reveals the plays theme to reinforce the theme of the novel. As we hear the conversation between Scrooge and Fred we realise their different views about the goodness of Christmas. Scrooge is very negative about Christmas whereas Fred is positive about it. Throughout this section we are taken back to the theme of goodness. There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited. Fred is leading Scrooge to be like him in his goodness to people. Scrooge meets Marleys ghost and who says he must change his ways in order to help people through their journey of life, to do goodness, which is the message of the novel. In the second stave Scrooge is taken back into his past and this has an impact on Scrooges character. The spirit of the past takes Scrooge back to innocent childhood which is when we see the first sign of emotion from Scrooge, but fell upon the heart of Scrooge with a softening influence, and gave a freer passage to his tears. Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a pimple. In this stave the setting is in contrast to the first Stave as we begin in the coldness and grime of the negative urban city of London, then change to beautiful clear and bright positive rural setting. It was cold, bleak, biting; foggy withal. Some shaggy ponies now were seen trotting towards them with boys were in great spirits The spirit then takes him to Scrooges first employer, Fezziwig who was very kind to him and treated him well. We read about Scrooge at the Christmas party where Scrooge becomes emotional about the joy he had and realises there is more to life than money. Scrooge also feels regretful as he sees how an employer can make his employees jubilant and feels he has not done it for Bob Crachit. Fezziwig, bless his heart. There is further evidence that Scrooge is changing by his expression. His heart and soul were in the scene. He is already a very different character from Scrooge we met at his counting house. In Stave three as Scrooge lies upon his bed awaiting for something to happen and finally going to his door, a voice is heard.

Phyllis Schlafly Anti-Feminist Quotes

Phyllis Schlafly Anti-Feminist Quotes Phyllis Schlafly was perhaps most famous for her successful mobilization against the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution in the 1970s.   She is often associated with the backlash against the so-called second wave of feminism.   Before that, she was active in the ultraconservative wing of the Republican party, and she remained active on many conservative issues. See also: biography of Phyllis Schlafly About the ERA ERA means abortion funding, means homosexual privileges, means whatever else.   1999 About Feminism The cry of womens liberation leaps out from the lifestyle sections of newspapers and the pages of slick magazines, from radio speakers and television screens. Cut loose from past patterns of behavior and expectations, women of all ages are searching for their identity the college woman who has new alternatives thrust upon her via womens studies courses, the young woman whose routine is shattered by a chance encounter with a consciousness-raising session, the woman in her middle years who suddenly finds herself in the empty-nest syndrome, the woman of any age whose lover or lifetime partner departs for greener pastures (and a younger crop).   1977 The womens liberationist... is imprisoned by her own negative view of herself and of her place in the world around her.... Someone - it is not clear who, perhaps God, perhaps the Establishment, perhaps a conspiracy of male chauvinist pigs - dealt women a foul blow by making them female. It becomes necessary, therefore, for women to agitate and demonstrate and hurl demands on society in order to wrest from an oppressive male-dominated social structure the status that has been wrongfully denied to women through the centuries. 1977 Confrontation replaces cooperation as the watchword of all relationships. Women and men become adversaries instead of partners.... Within the confines of the womens liberationist ideology, therefore, the abolition of this overriding inequality of women becomes the primary goal. 1977 And the first commandment of feminism is: I am woman; thou shalt not tolerate strange gods who assert that women have capabilities or often choose roles that are different from mens. Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature. â€Å"The feminist movement taught women to see themselves as victims of an oppressive patriarchy.... Self-imposed victimhood is not a recipe for happiness.† The Womens Lib movement has sealed its own doom by deliberately hanging around its own neck the albatross of abortion, lesbianism, pornography and Federal control. News flash: one reason a woman gets married is to be supported by her husband while caring for her children at home. So long as her husband earns a good income, she doesnt care about the pay gap between them. Characterizing feminists: Someone, it is not clear who, perhaps God, dealt women a foul blow by making them female. Men should stop treating feminists like ladies, and instead treat them like the men they say they want to be. Another silliness of the womens liberationists is their frenetic desire to force all women to accept the title Ms in place of Miss or Mrs. If Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan want to call themselves Ms in order to conceal their marital status, their wishes should be respected. But most married women feel they worked hard for the r in their names; and they dont care to be gratuitously deprived of it... 1977 Womens Nature Without womans innate maternal instinct, the human race would have died out centuries ago....The overriding psychological need of a woman is to love something alive. A baby fulfills this need in the lives of most women. If a baby is not available to fill that need, women search for a baby-substitute. This is the reason why women have traditionally gone into teaching and nursing careers. They are doing what comes naturally to the female psyche. The schoolchild or the patient of any age provides an outlet for a woman to express her natural maternal need. 1977 Men are philosophers, women are practical, and twas ever thus. Men may philosophize about how life began and where we are heading; women are concerned about feeding the kids today. No woman would ever, as Karl Marx did, spend years reading political philosophy in the British Museum while her child starved to death. Women dont take naturally to a search for the intangible and the abstract.   1977 Where man is discursive, logical, abstract, or philosophical, woman tends to be emotional, personal, practical, or mystical. Each set of qualities is vital and complements the other. 1977 About Women and the Military Putting women in military combat is the cutting edge of the feminist goal to force us into an androgynous society. No country in history ever sent mothers of toddlers off to fight enemy soldiers until the United States did this in the Iraq war. Every country that has experimented with women in actual combat has abandoned the idea, and the notion that Israel uses women in combat is a feminist myth. Much of the demand for women in combat comes from female officers who are eager for medals and promotions. The purpose of our military is to field the finest troops possible to defend our nation and win wars. The goal of feminists however, is to impose a mindless equality, regardless of how many people it hurts. 2016 About Sex and Sexuality If man is targeted as the enemy, and the ultimate goal of womens liberation is independence from men and the avoidance of pregnancy and its consequences, then lesbianism is logically the highest form in the ritual of womens liberation. 1977 Sex education classes are like in-home sales parties for abortions. About why condoms should not be available to young women:  Its very healthy for a young girl to be deterred from promiscuity by fear of contracting a painful, incurable disease, or cervical cancer, or sterility, or the likelihood of giving birth to a dead, blind or brain-damage [sic]  baby (even ten years later when she may be happily married). â€Å"How did the court feel empowered to put new limits on the settled law of Meyer-Pierce and give public schools the power to override parents on teaching about sex? Simple. The three liberal judges based their decision on our evolving understanding of the nature of our Constitution.   2012 About Transgender Issues Anyone with a child knows that children learn about the world through binary options: up or down, hot or cold, big or little, inside or outside, wet or dry, good or bad, boy or girl, man or woman. But the radical feminists, who staff womens studies departments at most colleges, have propagated the idea that we have to get rid of the gender binary along with the expectation of distinct roles for men and women. About Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women. About the Republican Party [F]rom 1936 through 1960 the Republican presidential nominee was selected by a small group of secret kingmakers who are the most popular opinion makers in the world. 1964 About International Issues It should be clear that teaching Americans we are now part of a global economy and teaching schoolchildren they are citizens of the world is a deceitful message to con us into a plan to add the poor countries around the Earth to our list of welfare handout recipients. 2013 About the United Nations: We certainly dont need a committee of foreigners who call themselves experts to dictate our laws or customs.   2012 It is a mystery why any Americans would support the concept of the EU. About Multiculturalism, Diversity, Race,  Immigrants The United States is the worlds most stunning example of a nation that has peaceably and successfully assimilated people from many disparate cultures. So why are some people trying to separate us into factions, emphasizing what divides us instead of what unites us? 1995 You cant be an American if you dont speak English. Our public schools should be mandated to teach all children in English. The most dangerous area where our laws are not being faithfully executed are the laws designed to protect Americans against the millions of aliens who enter our country illegally every year. How can we protect homeland security unless the government stops the invasion of illegal aliens? Birth on U.S. territory has never been an absolute claim to citizenship. In a world of inhumanity, war and terrorism, American citizenship is a very precious possession. Its not the physical location of birth that defines citizenship, but whether your parents are citizens, and the express or implied consent to jurisdiction of the sovereign. About Climate Change Of course, climate changes. Many changes are due to factors over which humans have no control, such as winds, ocean currents and sun activity. But the liberals want us to believe that climate change is also caused by gases expelled when humans burn so-called fossil fuels.  Ã‚  2011 About the Family â€Å"The American nuclear family made America great, but few are now defending it against forces determined to destroy it. If America continues to have many immigrants with different family types, we are less likely to maintain American values of personal freedom, individualism, and limited government.†Ã‚  2014 What I am defending is the real rights of women. A woman should have the right to be in the home as a wife and mother. People think that child-support enforcement benefits children, but it doesnt. First of all, I want to thank my husband Fred, for letting me come I always like to say that, because it makes the libs so mad! The United States: Exceptionalism The United States is a giant island of freedom, achievement, wealth and prosperity in a world hostile to our values. Education, Schools The cornerstone of the political correctness that dominates campus culture is radical feminism. The worst censors are those prohibiting criticism of the theory of evolution in the classroom. After Big Media, U.S. colleges and universities are the biggest enemies of the values of red-state Americans. Parents, are you ready to teach your kids arithmetic? 2002 National Standards was not a narrative of past events but was leftwing revisionism and Political Correctness. It is long overdue for parents to realize they have the right and duty to protect our children against the intolerant evolutionists. Our public school system is our countrys biggest and most inefficient monopoly, yet it keeps demanding more and more money. The most frequent complaint I hear from college students is that professors inject their leftist political comments into their courses even when they have nothing to do with the subject. Behind frequent protestations by public officials about local control of the schools, a federal curriculum has been quietly imposed by law. All the pieces are now in place for this major goal of the Clinton administration. Elementary and secondary school education used to be organized around subjects such as reading, math, history, geography, language and science. While smatterings of those subjects are still taught, the focus has been shifted from academic subject matter to teaching attitudes, beliefs, values, themes, behaviors and job skills. This is indoctrination, not education. Left-wing professors write the textbooks and the teachers unions control the public schools, so the ideology is what those groups deem politically correct. 2002 About Government, Judges Congress should pass legislation to remove from the federal courts their jurisdiction to hear these outrageous challenges to the Ten Commandments and the Pledge of Allegiance. Under the nanny state of the left, nothing remains private for long. 2012 The justices have constitutionally protected obscenity in libraries, filth over cable television, and now unlimited internet pornography. About Obama â€Å"Obama has compiled a record of hostility to religion that is unmatched by any other president in American history. 2012 â€Å"Obama did not want to join a  historically Christian black church in Chicago that took traditional Christian doctrines seriously. Rather, he sought out  a liberal church that would help him advance his budding political career.† 2012 Should Obama win a second term, the justices he appoints will almost certainly unveil a bogus new constitutional right to gay marriage, discovered within the penumbras of Lawrence v. Texas. At which point Obama, drawing upon the faux-pained honesty he has perfected, can regurgitate what he wrote in his memoirs: that he was once on the wrong side of history† but has now happily come into the light.  2012 Others About Schlafly Betty Friedan in a 1973 debate with Schlafly: I would like to burn you at the stake.... I consider you a traitor to your sex, an Aunt Tom.