Robinson Crusoe Essays (523 words) - English-language Films

Robinson Crusoe The young Robinson Crusoe has a great desire to go to sea. His desire is so strong that it overrides all his other feelings. Neither his father's refusal nor the disapproval of friends influences him against a life on the sea. At his first opportunity, Crusoe runs away to pursue a life of adventure. He joins with a friend whose father owns a ship and soon sets sail. The trip proves to be a disaster. The young Crusoe displays a vacillating nature. When danger or disaster is near, he is repentant for his rebelliousness, but the minute the situation improves, he goes back to his old ways. He is given repeated chances to live his life differently, but he is not yet spiritually strong enough to resist temptation. His first profitable trading voyage makes him into a greedy man. As punishment for his greed, he is captured and made a slave in Sallee. When he escapes, he goes to Brazil, where he settles down and prospers; Crusoe, however, is still not satisfied. He seizes he first opportunity he gets to make more money, even though it is through the immoral occupation of slave trading. As punishment for this greed, he becomes the lone survivor of a shipwreck and is marooned on a deserted island. On the island, Crusoe is transformed. At first, he constantly wavers between despair and hope and then settles down to an everyday existence on the island. He tries to make up for his past sins with hard work and enterprise. However, industry and productivity can never take the place of genuine repentance. Finally, during his illness, when he is totally helpless for the first time in his life, he reaches out to God and begs for help and forgiveness. As always, God hears his prayer and will, in His own time, save Crusoe. After recovering from his illness, Crusoe begins to progress morally. He begins to depend on God and read the Bible. His life on the island becomes the triumph of the human spirit. Often, when disaster strikes, his old nature temporarily surfaces, but the change in him is too profound for his old self to pose a real threat. When he saves Friday, his life on the island changes dramatically. He welcomes a companion, even a savage, and quickly converts this native culturally -- dressing him in proper clothes, feeding him cooked meat, naming him with a British name, and teaching him English. He also converts him to Christianity, and in the process strengthens his own faith. Crusoe further shows he is a changed man when he refuses to judge the savages, acknowledging that only God can judge. Crusoe also deals justly with the Englishmen he later encounters on the island, sparing the lives of all that he can. When he realizes his deliverance is at hand, he gives the credit of his survival and rescue to God, humbly refusing to take credit for himself. When he returns to England and learns how rich he is, he shares with both family and friends. Crusoe has truly matured into a wise, humble, kind, and generous man. English Essays

Definition and Examples of Illustration in Composition

Definition and Examples of Illustration in Composition In rhetoric and composition, the word illustration  refers to an example  or  anecdote  thats used to explain, clarify, or justify a point. And the word illustration, pronounced [IL-eh-STRAY-shun], is from the Latin Illustrationem, which means vivid representation. In writing an illustration, says James A. Reinking, we try to show readers something truthful about our understanding of the world. They wouldnt read what we have written if they suspected we were unusually careless in our thinking, or if they thought we were trying to deceive them by skewing our evidence or distorting our examples. (Strategies for Successful Writing. 8th ed., 2007.) Examples and Observations of Illustration The Function of Illustration Illustration is the use of examples to make ideas more concrete and to make generalizations more specific and detailed. Examples enable writers not just to tell but to show what they mean. For example, an essay about recently developed alternative sources of energy becomes clear and interesting with the use of some examples- say, solar energy or the heat from the earths core. The more specific the example, the more effective it is. Along with general statements about solar energy, the writer might offer several examples of how the home building industry is installing solar collectors instead of conventional hot water systems, or building solar greenhouses to replace conventional central heating. (Rosa, Alfred and Paul Eschholz.  Models for Writers. St. Martins Press, 1982.) Joe Queenans Illustrations: You Cant Fight City Hall ​Books, I think, are dead. You cannot fight the zeitgeist, and you cannot fight corporations. The genius of corporations is that they force you to make decisions about how you will live your life and then beguile you into thinking that it was all your choice. Compact discs are not superior to vinyl. E-readers are not superior to books. Lite beer is not the great leap forward. A society that replaces seven-tier wedding cakes with lo-fat cupcakes is a society that deserves to be put to the sword. But you can’t fight City Hall. (Queenan, Joe. interviewed by John  Williams  in ‘Books, I Think, Are Dead’: Joe Queenan Talks About ‘One for the Books.’  The New York Times, Nov. 30, 2012.) Tom Destry Jr.s Illustration: Stick to Your Own Trade Nobodys gonna set themselves up above the law around here, you understand? I got something to say to you. I think maybe I could illustrate it a little better if I told you a story. I used to have a friend that was an opry singer. Then he went into the cement business, and one day he fell into the cement. And now hes the cornerstone of the post office in St. Louis, Missouri. He should have stuck to his own trade. You better stick to yours. (James Stewart as Tom Destry in  the film Destry Rides Again, 1939.) Don Murrays Illustration of Writers as Dawdlers Even the most productive writers are expert dawdlers, doers of unnecessary errands, seekers of interruptions- trials to their wives or husbands, associates, and themselves. They sharpen well-pointed pencils and go out to buy more blank paper, rearrange offices, wander through libraries and bookstores, chop wood, walk, drive, make unnecessary calls, nap, daydream, and try not consciously to think about what they are going to write so they can think subconsciously about it. (Murray, Donald M. Write Before Writing.  The Essential Don Murray: Lessons from Americas Greatest Writing Teacher, Heinemann, 2009.) T.H. Huxleys Illustration of the Word Fish If any one wants to exemplify the meaning of the word fish, he cannot choose a better animal than a herring. The body, tapering to each end, is covered with thin, flexible scales, which are very easily rubbed off. The taper head, with its underhung jaw, is smooth and scaleless on the top; the large eye is partly covered by two folds of transparent skin, like eyelids- only immovable and with the slit between them vertical instead of horizontal; the cleft behind the gill cover is very wide, and, when the cover is raised, the large red gills which lie beneath it are freely exposed. The rounded back bears the single moderately long dorsal fin about its middle. (Huxley, Thomas Henry. The Herring. Lecture delivered at the National Fishery Exhibition, Norwich, April 21, 1881.) Charles Darwins Illustration: All True Classification Is Genealogical It may be worthwhile to illustrate this view of classification, by taking the case of languages. If we possessed a perfect pedigree of mankind, a genealogical arrangement of the races of man would afford the best classification of the various languages now spoken throughout the world; and if all extinct languages, and all intermediate and slowly changing dialects, were to be included, such an arrangement would be the only possible one. Yet it might be that some ancient languages had altered very little and had given rise to few new languages, whilst others (owing to the spreading and subsequent isolation and states of civilisation of the several races, descended from a common race) had altered much, and had given rise to many new languages and dialects. The various degrees of difference in the languages from the same stock, would have to be expressed by groups subordinate to groups; but the proper or even only possible arrangement would still be genealogical; and this would be strict ly natural, as it would connect together all languages, extinct and modern, by the closest affinities, and would give the filiation and origin of each tongue. (Darwin,  Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. 1859.)

Local Lawsuit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Local Lawsuit - Essay Example Company’s prosperity has significantly been contributed by acquisitions between the company and smaller manufacturing companies in the same field. The company has also embarked on cutting all its operational cost by shifting its production off the United States. For instance, in 2004 the company announced a plan to move 350 jobs from Tennessee to Mexico. In 1998, Black & Decker Corporation was involved in a lawsuit with the Internal Revenue Service regarding allegations by the company to be refunded 57 million dollars from its earlier tax payments. The company had purchased 10,000 shares for 561 million dollars and later sold them at the price of 1 million, making a loss of 560 million dollars. The company therefore wanted a refund equivalent to the loss incurred. In addition, the company argued that the money should be refunded since the tax shelter it had implemented was valid. Tax shelter in this case is lawful technique of minimizing taxable income of a company depending o n local and universal tax laws. On the other hand, the Internal Revenue Service argued that the company strategy of tax shelter was abusive. Black & Decker Corporation had created a Black & Decker Healthcare Management Inc. and then transferred to it 561 million dollars in exchange for stock shares of 10,000. ... Although the company had a contingent liability and tax protection, it was difficult to estimate the exact cost on health insurance. This was because of uncertainty on how many employees would be ill at a go. However, there a number of risk management strategies Black & Decker Corporation management could have implemented to avoid the lawsuit. The first one is that the company can opt to reinsure since by doing so the company would have transferred the risk to other entities. This will enable it to handle risks beyond its capability. The second one is using technological facilities that can work in place of a number of employees. Therefore, the company will not have so many employees to insure as well as reducing its operational cost. Finally, the company should execute a cost reduction program that does not involve tax shelter. This will help the company avoid legal conflicts with the federal taxing body as well as the occurrence of lawsuits. In case a business is involved in transa ctions that has no economical value, but help reduce or avoid tax on returns, such practice is regarded to be unethical. In this case, Black & Decker Corporation main aim is to avoid the risk of paying health claims to its current and retired employees. Instead, the company transferred that risk to Black & Decker Healthcare Management Inc. one of its subsidiaries. Black & Decker Corporation also wanted to evade taxation on 303 million dollars gain it had made by selling some of its businesses by faking a loss (Browning, 2004). This therefore shows that Black & Decker Corporation was motivated by the tax benefits, and the loss was just a strategy to evade taxation. Use of such discriminative strategy where a business puts its