Friday, December 27, 2019
The Analysis of Short Story Mabel by William Somerset...
The story under consideration entitled Mabel was written by William Somerset Maugham. William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the 20th century. He was not only a novelist but also one of the most successful dramatists and short-story writers. Maugham travelled widely to all parts of the world. He visited Russia, America, Africa, Asia. The technique of short-story writing always interested Maugham. De Maupassant and Chekhov influenced him but he adopted his own unique technique, which is characterized by realistic and psychological presentation of the events. The story in question ââ¬Å"Mabelâ⬠develops the following plot. The author recalls the story of a man whose name was George whom he once met on his way toâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦The difficulties are shown like a sketch: ââ¬Å"Mabelââ¬â¢s father died, the war came, George was sentâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ Here the author uses parallel constructions accompanied by asyndeton in order to add more tempo and tension. The second structural element, complications, involves the two conflicts the story obtains. The first conflict is called man against man. Seven years later Mabel wanted to marry George and George didnââ¬â¢t want to marry Mabel. And the inner conflict, which George obtained is called obligation against desire. The complications are marked by the convergence of stylistic means to show the inner state of the main character. The author resorts to the semantic field of despair: ââ¬Å"his nerve failed himâ⬠, ââ¬Å"he felt a terrible sinking in the pit of his stomachâ⬠, Georgeââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"knees began to wobbleâ⬠and he ââ¬Å"was seized with the courage of despairâ⬠. To underline that George was afraid to marry Mabel but it was important for the society the author uses synonyms: ââ¬Å"then, suddenly, without warningâ⬠; juxtaposed repetition: ââ¬Å"he couldnââ¬â¢t, he really couldnââ¬â¢t marry herâ⬠; a rhetorical question ââ¬Å"But how could a man tell a girl a thing like that when she had been engaged to him for seven years and had come six thousand miles to marry him?â⬠. The author employs all these stylistic means to emphasize the idea that George should be responsible for his words but he isnââ¬â¢t. To show that George wanted to escape the author deals with an oxymoron:
Thursday, December 19, 2019
The Negro And The Racial Mountain - 976 Words
Langston Hughes was an African American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright. His works are still studies, read, and, in terms of his poems and plays, performed. He is best known for being a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Within his works, he depicted black America in manners that told the truth about the culture, music, and language of his people. Besides his many notable poems, plays, and novels, Hughes also wrote essays such as The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain which Hughes gives insight into the minds of middle-class and upper-class Negroes. Prior to reading this essay, I never heard of, nor did I know, Langston Hughes composed essays, much less an essay that outwardly depicts aspects of life that most are accustomed to and see nothing wrong with. The Negro and the Racial Mountain formulated this view that Langston Hughes was more than a poet who wrote about jazz music as he is depicted within grade school textbooks, but instead, a man who had a great passion for the African American race to develop a love for themselves and for non-African American audiences to begin to understand how the African American race can be strong and creative despite struggles that may be occur. There is a possibility that this essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, is not more commonly known because it has the ability to make the reader uncomfortable, no matter if he is an African American or white. For the African American, one can find himself reflecting backShow MoreRelatedThe Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain878 Words à |à 4 Pagesâ⬠and ââ¬Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,â⬠he describes the social and economic disconnect between white and black Americans that he observed and experienced throughout his life. Both essays highlight the strong feeling of ââ¬Å"othernessâ⬠that black culture feltââ¬âthere is a clear divide between black and white cultures. ââ¬Å"Whoââ¬â¢s Passing for Who?â⬠tells the story of a white couple who are pretending to be part black in an attempt to experience an authentic night out in Harlem. ââ¬Å"The Negro Artist andRead MoreThe Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain873 Words à |à 4 Pagesââ¬Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountainâ⬠(1926) The article ââ¬Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountainâ⬠by Hughes (1926), the author shows a situation that the African Americans felt underestimated for being black and attempted to embrace whitesââ¬â¢ culture. This was because white people looked down on them during that era. He shows this by expressing his disappointment with a statement made by one of the most promising of the young Negro poets who says that, ââ¬Å"I want to be a poet not a Negro poet,â⬠Read MoreChallenges in The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain by Langston Hughes2027 Words à |à 8 Pages In the words taken from the essay ââ¬Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,â⬠Langston Hughes offers insightful statements that verge on the boundary of being, in a sense, challenges. He is directly confronting the implicit wariness of social stratification in that he dismisses the societal need for humans to conform and to adopt personalities and views for themselves that are significantly molded by the outside world. Langston Hughes is saying that humans, no matter their circumstance or originRead MoreAnalysis Of Langston Hughes s The Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain ``1075 Words à |à 5 Pagescollaboration and publishing while simultaneously establishing the ideal era for artists to fight for the unification and acceptance of black identity. Therefore, in this context, Langston Hughesââ¬â¢s animosity toward Countee Cullen in ââ¬Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountainâ⬠seems eloquent and justifiable when Hughes obscurely claims that the black poe t who wishes he were a poet is subconsciously saying, ââ¬Å"I wish I were whiteâ⬠by means of supporting black progress. Hughes argues that his desire to be ââ¬Å"aRead MoreThe Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain : The Manifesto For Artists Of The Harlem Renaissance1787 Words à |à 8 PagesBowen 7 Sunteasja Bowen Harlem Renaissance Dr. Bracks 2 March 2017 The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain: The Manifesto for Artists of the Harlem Renaissance ââ¬â¹The Norton Anthology of African American Literature suggests that the Harlem Renaissance was the ââ¬Å"irresistible impulse of blacks to create boldly expressive art of a high quality as a primary response to their social conditions, as an affirmation of their dignity and humanity in the face of poverty and racismâ⬠(953). The Harlem RenaissanceRead MoreAnalysis Of Langston Hughes Poem, The Negro Artist And The Racial Mountain Essay1402 Words à |à 6 Pagescanon of poetry, especially those influenced by different racial and ethnic backgrounds. To demonstrate my point, in this essay I shall be discussing in detail Langston Hughes and his piece Poem and why it should be included in the Norton Anthology of Poetry. I will contrast and compare it with Christina Rossettiââ¬â¢s Remember, and back up my arguments with selected quotes from Langston Hughesââ¬â¢ essay ââ¬ËThe Negro Artist and the Racial Mountainââ¬â¢. To begin, Langston Hughesââ¬â¢ ââ¬ËPoemââ¬â¢ is an example of howRead MoreThe Negro Speaks Of Rivers1548 Words à |à 7 Pagesintroduced him to the poetry of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, both whom Hughes would later cite as primary influences. By the time Hughes was enrolled at Columbia University in New York, he had already launched his literary career with his poem ââ¬Å"The Negro Speaks of Riversâ⬠in the Crisis, edited by W.E.B. DuBois. He also committed himself to writing mainly about African Americans. Leaving Columbia in 1922, Hughes spent the next three years in a succession of menial jobs and traveling abroad. He returnedRead MoreWhat Is The Negro s Racial Identity?940 Words à |à 4 PagesNegroââ¬â¢s Racial Identity? Racial identity growth has speedily increased and reshaped during the Harlem Renaissance as some blacks writers were coming to terms with the fact that there some differences among the black community. Two writers created their own personal translation concerning the Negro in the course of these years. In Alain Lockeââ¬â¢s essay, The New Negro, he presents the variation of the ââ¬Å"newâ⬠and ââ¬Å"oldâ⬠Negro. On the other hand Langston Hughes essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial MountainRead MoreLangston Hughes : The Face Of Harlem Literacy1147 Words à |à 5 Pagesblack Americans were never popular because of the lack of originality the artwork had (Leach 36). He believed black art was so unsuccessful in America because of its lack of originality and distance from the artist. In his essay ââ¬Å"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountainâ⬠he expresses his ideas on the black artist. Langston Hughes was brought up by his grandmother, Mary Langston, in Joplin, Missouri where he was born on February 1st, 1902. (Leach 1) His father had moved to Mexico after he and his motherRead MoreThe I Have A Dream Speech By Martin Luther King Essay1323 Words à |à 6 Pagesthe Martin Luther King Speech More than 40 years ago, in August 1963, Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous ââ¬ËI Have A Dreamââ¬â¢ speech, dramatically delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. His soaring rhetoric demanding racial justice and an integrated society became a mantra for the black community and is as familiar to subsequent generations of Americans as the US Declaration of Independence. His words proved to be a touchstone for understanding the social and political
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Every Woman Is A Novel A Jest Of God Essay Example For Students
Every Woman Is A Novel :A Jest Of God Essay Rachel often addresses her thoughts to God. How does she imagine Him (Heror It)? Does Rachels concept of God change during the course of theNovel? Explain. Rachel Cameron, the heroine of A Jest of God, is not simply as anindividual literary character but as a psychological portrayal of womenof Rachels time and inclination. Even we can easily find someone who hasthe same problem Rachel has in the friends of us, or maybe in an earlymorning when we get up; stand at front of the mirror; we will suddenlyhave a idea, I am Rachel too.She has a common Cameron heritage. She is a gawky, introverted spinsterschoolteacher who has returned home to Manawaka from university inWinnipeg, upon the death of her alcoholic undertaker father NiallCameron, to care for her hypochondriac mother May. Nevertheless, thefamily resemblance is obvious: their shared Scots Presbyterian ancestry,which Laurence views as distinctively Canadian, provides an armour ofpride that imprisons her within their internal worlds, while providing adefence against the external world. To overcome that barrier betweenpersonalities, she must learn to understand and accept their heritage inorder to liberate her own identities and free herself for the future. Shemust also learn to love herself before she can love others. Rachelreceive a sentimental education through a brief love affair: as a resultof learning to empathize with their lovers, she learn to love herself andthe people she lives with. Laurences emphasis is, as always, on theimportance of love in the sense of compassion, as each of her solipsisticprotagonists develops from claustrophobia to community. The beginning of A Jest of God extends beyond its Canadian perimetersin Rachels branching imagination, both into the fairytale dream worldwhich gives depth and pathos to the disappointment and despair of herpresent and out into a wider world in time and space than the grey littletown of Manawaka. The first lines of the novel tell us everything basicto Rachels mind, her temperament, and her situation. The wind blows low, the wind blows highThe snow comes falling from the sky,Rachel Cameron says shell dieFor the want of the golden city. She is handsome, she is pretty,She is the queen of the golden city. They are not actually chanting my name, of course, I only hear it thatway from where I am watching the classroom window, because I remembermyself skipping rope to that song when I was about the age of the littlegirls out there now. Twenty-seven years ago (p. 1)The reader is engaged in sympathy with Rachel by the sadness of the gapbetween her dream-self, Queen of the Golden City, and her reality, shutin behind her classroom window, looking out and worrying about becomingan eccentric spinster, that stereotyped butt of cruel laughter. But weare also engaged by the range and the quality of Rachels imagination and it is this, continuing through the book, that holds our sympathy, ourinterest, and our increasing respect. The golden city is at first thedream world of Rachels sexual fantasies where she and her prince livehappily ever after; later in the novel it becomes identified with thegolden city of Jerusalem reinterpreted as the growth of the spirit withinthe individual, a new dispensati on which makes it possible for her to goon liveing, if not happily ever after, at least affirmatively. Rachel makes a double journey. She is just thirty-four, a frustratedspinster, outwardly in bondage to her marcelled, blue-rinsed, anxious,and superficial mother, but actually in bondage was braking of properappearances as set up in her own mind by Manawaka and its expectations. .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af , .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .postImageUrl , .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af , .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af:hover , .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af:visited , .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af:active { border:0!important; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af:active , .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u977c2878b77a4f073ce4f945aa1720af:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Same-Sex Marriages EssayShe is afraid of life and death hangs over her always, especiallysymbolized by her dead fathers vocation, undertaking, and by thepresence underneath her home of the undertaking establishment that hadbeen her fathers. She makes a journey into her own mind and personality,and finally she dares to act upon what she finds there. A Jest of Godis a record of a tortured but unremittingly honest journey ofself-analysis and self-therapy. (George Bowering, That Fool of a Fear)It is both complicated and daring, in terms of the novelists techniques. The present, the past, the questionings and fantasies of Rachel are allwoven together instead of being completely separated and counterpointedas in the former work. All the strands come together in
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Saltaire a typical model village Essay Example
Saltaire a typical model village Essay Model villages began to appear around Britain in the late 1700s as a way for employers to provide for their workforce. One of the first examples was Cromford in Derbyshire. They were model in the sense the houses were laid out in a plan rather than springing up in any available space, which was the norm in towns at the time. They also kept to a set standard of housing which was advanced when compared to the industrial cities counterpart where houses were often split into several small rooms which were rented out to individual families, or even groups of people. Model villages on the other hand worked to prevent overcrowding from happening. These villages were built by companies or single businessmen for the benefit of the workers, and therefore themselves. As most villages were connected to the industry that was owned by these men.. The houses in these villages had affordable rent and were often far more sanitary and a lot less over crowded than in the cities (though to todays standards they may seem cramped and compacted at the time they were revolutionary). Saltaire and Bourneville are examples of these villages. Saltaire was built by Titus Salt, owner of many wool mills to house his many workers. He built a new large mill just outside Bradford to begin his new business venture with Alpaca wool and the adjacent town was to home his workforce. It was bordered by the River Aire and by rail lines as well as the Leeds-Liverpool canal (useful for importing the Alpaca wool). The rest of the area was surrounded by greenfield. The town originally had 820 homes built to accommodate 4.389à ¯Ã ¿Ã ½ and provided the workers with a hospital, almshouses (retirement homes) complete with pension, park areas and also schools where children could study either part time, if working in the mill or on a more day to day basis. It also provided the inhabitants with churches and communal washrooms. We will write a custom essay sample on Saltaire a typical model village specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Saltaire a typical model village specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Saltaire a typical model village specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer All homes also had a flushing outdoor toilet attached to a proper drainage system and fresh water was pumped in from the clean canal waters which were well away from the pollution of the cities. Most of the homes also had some kind of yard or garden area. There were also varying types of accommodation built to reflect status. Skilled workers and foremen had larger homes with larger garden areas than unskilled workers, and single male and female workers were housed in dormitory style buildings of same sex only. Titus Salt also created The Institute which was basically a large recreational centre for his workers. It included a laboratory, library, concert hall, lecture theatre and gymnasium. A small shopping parade was also built to cater for his employees needs. Saltaire is a typical model village because of its grid-iron pattern. The majority of the houses were built in long terraced blocks ranging in size and height to give The way in which the dwellings were arranged to maintain the welfare of the workforce, which was something that Titus Salt had always had great interest in, and yet also to give the workers a feeling of security and a better quality of life. Salts interest also lay in the fact that a healthy workforce and one that had little way to travel to work would also be more productive. He kept his workers in a good state of health with the aid of the grid-iron pattern which spaced houses out enough to prevent overcrowding and to give people their own dwellings whilst also providing them with sanitation and clean water which were almost unheard of in the city itself. The pattern of housing also managed to give people social status with the larger homes with more gardens being closer to the mill. Titus Salt carefully managed rent to make sure that the employees could easily afford it on their wages. Another way in which he improved the lives of his workers was by the way that he created far better working conditions. This was one of the main principals behind the creation of model villages in the first case. Saltaire was built with the workforce in mind and Titus Salt tried to provide for them in everyway possible. He intended to also build a market, hotel and abattoir. Another way in which Titus Salt shows that he looked after his workers is the mess hall where workers could go and have lunch provided for them. This was based just opposite the mill, however there was a direct passage to the hall covered to keep workers dry, and maybe also perhaps to stop people from delaying. Saltaire is thought to be one of the greatest remaining examples of a model village as it has been relatively unchanged over the years. Its recent elevation to World Heritage Site is making sure that renovations are being completed and that it does not lose anymore of its originality. Although some areas no longer maintain their original purposes, for example the hospital which has now been turned into flats the basic idea behind Saltaire can still easily be seen when visited. Saltaire is now no longer home to mill operators as the mill ceased to function some years ago and now is a gallery displaying David Hockneys work and the home of the Bradford Health Authority.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Ralph Ellison Essays - Literature, Fiction, , Term Papers
Ralph Ellison The Invisible Man Ralph Ellison manages to develop a strong philosophy through characterization in the Invisible Man. Ellison portrays the lonely narrator's quest in struggling to search for his identity and an understanding of his times. The well development of the character lays out the foundation on the philosophy of finding and understanding himself. Through a labyrinth of corruption and deceit the narrator undergoes events that manage to enrich his experience and further contribute in his search for himself. Such scenes include the battle royal scene, the college, Trueblood's visit, and the blueprint seller. The narrator at first never realizes his innocence. At first the timid Invisible Man is invited to attend his scholarship award ceremony. However with other Negroes he is rushed to the front of the ballroom where a stripper frightens them by dancing in nude. After staging the "battle royal" and attacking one another in response to the drunken shouts of the rich white folk, the boy is brought to give his prepared oration of gratitude to the white benefactors. An accidental remark to equality nearly ruins him, but the narrator manages to survive and is given a briefcase containing a scholarship to a Negro college. This acts a high peak in the narrator's quest since it sets him for his struggle in searching for himself. The narrator adores the college however is thrown out before long by its president, Dr.Bledsoe, the great educator and leader of his race. Ironically the narrator had seen Dr.Bledsoe as an idol aiming to gradually impersonate him. He was expelled for permitting, Mr.Norton , one of the college founders into the slave quarters and the Golden Day bar. After that incident the Invisible Man goes through the sense that he is losing his identity. This initiates an air of confusion as the narrator is now brought in a quarrel against himself. In the prologue the Invisible Man quotes, "I was na?ve...I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which only I could answer." The narrator is tempted to set out in the quest to search for his identity. The prologue identified the theme to the readers. It was however during Trueblood's visit that the character manages to learn about his true background and roots. It is through such people, of his true Southern nature, that the narrator glimpses a view on himself. This is true also when the Invisible Man encounters the blueprint seller who sang the blues, a common song of the south. Although the Invisible Man was in the North, he still found himself clinging on to the southerner, since he was of his similar race. If the narrator succeeds in finding his own identity then he will definitely be truthful to himself and the others. By finding his identity the narrator has ensured friendships and encounters with many people, since loneliness will be avoided. The Invisible Man's identity ensured him that he had opposed the idea of manipulating the whites as "Gods" or "Forces" through the "grins" and "yesses" while the whites manage to achieve their destiny through their control over him. Through characterization Ellison has managed to reveal his philosophy that dealt with struggling to find one's identity. The characters have been developed in a sense that has them reflect one another's traits and personalities. Through many encounters the narrator begins to set out to find who he truly is. By questioning his everyday living the narrator manages to progress in the quest to achieve his goal.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Learn About the U.S. Presidential Oath of Office
Learn About the U.S. Presidential Oath of Office Since George Washington first said the words on April 30, 1789, as prompted by Robert Livingston Chancellor of State of New York, every President of the United States has repeated the following simple presidential oath of office as part of the inauguration ceremony: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The oath is worded and administered in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution, which requires that ââ¬Å"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:â⬠Who May Administer the Oath? While the Constitution does not stipulate who should administer the oath to the president, this is typically done by the Chief Justice of the United States. Constitutional law experts agree that the oath could also be administered by a judge or official of the lower federal courts. For example, 30th President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in by his father, then a Justice of the Peace and notary public in Vermont. Currently, Calvin Coolidge remains the only president to be sworn in by anyone other than a judge. Between 1789 (George Washington) and 2013 (Barack Obama), the oath has been administered by 15 Associate Justices, three federal judges, two New York state judges, and one notary public. Hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, U.S. District Court Judge Sarah T. Hughes became the first woman to administer the oath when she swore in Lyndon B. Johnson onboard Air Force One in Dallas, Texas. Forms of Administering the Oath Over the years, the presidential oath has been administered in two ways. In one form now rarely used, the person administering the oath posed it in the form of a question, as in, ââ¬Å"Do you George Washington solemnly swear or affirm that ââ¬Ëyouââ¬â¢ will â⬠¦Ã¢â¬ In its modern form, the person administering the oath poses it as an affirmative statement, with the incoming president repeating it verbatim, as in, ââ¬Å"I, Barak Obama do solemnly ââ¬Ëswearââ¬â¢ or ââ¬Ëaffirm that ââ¬ËIââ¬â¢ will â⬠¦Ã¢â¬ Use of Bibles Despite the First Amendmentââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"Establishment Clauseâ⬠guaranteeing the separation of church and state, incoming presidents traditionally take the oath of office while raising their right hands while placing their left hands on Bible or other books of special ââ¬â often religious significance to them. John Quincy Adams held a law book, indicating his intention to base his presidency on the Constitution. President Theodore Roosevelt did not use a bible while taking the oath in 1901. After George Washington kissed the bible he held while taking the oath, most other presidents have followed suit. Dwight D. Eisenhower, however, said a prayer rather than kissing the Bible he was holding. Use of the Phrase ââ¬ËSo Help Me Godââ¬â¢ Use of ââ¬Å"So help me Godâ⬠in the presidential oath calls into question the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state. Enacted by the First U.S. Congress, the Judiciary Act of 1789 explicitly required ââ¬Å"So help me Godâ⬠to be used in the oaths of all U.S. federal judges and other officers other than the president. In addition, the words of the presidential oath - as the only oath specifically spelled out in the Constitution - do not include the phrase. While not required by law, most presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt have added the phrase ââ¬Å"So help me Godâ⬠after reciting the official oath. Whether presidents before Roosevelt added the words is a source of debate among historians. Some say that both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln used the phrase, but other historians disagree. Much of the ââ¬ËSo help me Godââ¬â¢ debate hinges on the two manners in which the oath has been given. In the first, no longer used manner, the administrating official frames the oath as a question, as in ââ¬Å"Do you Abraham Lincoln solemnly swearâ⬠¦,â⬠which seems to demand an affirmative response. The current form of ââ¬Å"I do solemnly swear (or affirm)â⬠¦Ã¢â¬ demands a simple response of ââ¬Å"I doâ⬠or ââ¬Å"I swear.â⬠In December 2008, atheist Michael Newdow, joined by 17 other people, plus 10 atheist groups, filed a lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Columbia against Chief Justiceà John Roberts seeking to prevent the Chief Justice from saying ââ¬Å"so help me Godâ⬠in the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Newdow argued that the 35 words of the Constitutionââ¬â¢s official presidential oath do not include the words. The District Court refused to issue an injunction preventing Roberts from using the phrase, and in May 2011, the U.S.à Supreme Court refused Newdows request to hear the case.à What About the Vice Presidents Oath? Under current federal law, the Vice President of the United States recites a different oath of office as follows: ââ¬Å"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.â⬠While the Constitution specifies that the oath taken by the vice president and other government officials states their intention to uphold the Constitution, it does not specify the exact wording of the oath. Traditionally, the vice presidentââ¬â¢s oath has been administered by the Chief Justice on inauguration day on the floor of the Senate shortly before the president-elect is sworn in.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Current Issues in Corporate Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
Current Issues in Corporate Reporting - Essay Example The core mandate of integrated reporting therefore is to gather information about an organizations strategy, its governance, future prospects and performance in a manner that reflects the structure it operates in terms of the commercial, environmental and social context. It is meant to be an organizations most important reporting tool (ACCA (GREAT BRITAIN), 2010). Its aim is to create a formula for accounting for sustainability, bringing together governance, social, environmental and finance in a cohesive way. In order to achieve its mandate and to be welcomed internationally as the standard reporting method, the international integrated reporting committee had a representation from different parts of the corporate world (Eccles & Krzus, 2010).These includes the civil society, the investment sectors, accounting, the academic front, standard setting sectors, the regulatory sector as well as the security sector. It also has task forces that deal with content development, governance, engagement and communication as well as a working group and a steering committee. This report therefore broadly discusses the need for integrated reporting and the challenges that were met when constituting such reporting methods during the 2011 international integrated reporting committee meeting. Corporates need to achieve financial development, sustainability and improved performance while reporting on their corporate performance. Against the background of this, previous reporting did not manage to yield such objectives (Bennett, Burritt& Schaltegger, 2006). In fact, it exposed some businesses to their bare minimum since companies were revealing most of their financial details while yet they did not achieve improved performance that they expected. This therefore necessitated the need for a new framework for corporate reporting that
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