The Color Purple Essay Example for Free

The Color Purple Essay The novel the color purple by Alice Walker is well known for is revolutionary theme of black lesbianism. Until this novel and other leading writers touched on the subject of black lesbianism, it was viewed as dirty and unspeakable. The protagonist, Celie, brings respect and positive attributes to the idea of black lesbianism. Walker’s depicture of Celie not only relates constructive events towards lesbianism, but also journeys through the rejection of male dominance and how it brings Celie freedom. Most of Celie’s freedom comes in the form of monetary relief and independence. However freedom also comes from Celie’s change of world view; from a repressive patriarchal society and God to a gentle and softer version of religion. Walker emphasizes the oppression black women face in relationships with black men (brothers, fathers, husbands, lovers) and the bond the women must form with each other in order to free themselves. Right from the beginning of the novel, Walker introduces a hard to digest picture of rape, incest, and sexual cruelty. He never had a kine word to say to me†¦ Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me† (Walker 1). This telling of rape by her father is also seen through the eyes of the reader as lacking emotion or at least the emotions such as anger and anguish that come with an event such as rape. Celie’s life begins to form into a picture of a slave’s, with her missing feelings and reactions to the horrible fates that befall her. After this rape, Celie becomes pregnant and is forced to separate with her child straight after. According to Ana Marie Fraile-Marcos who wrote a critical essay on Walker’s â€Å"womanist† representation of lesbianism, Celie’s sexual abuse becomes endemic after her two successive pregnancies and deliveries. Celie seems to accept sexual exploitation and oppression as shaping factors in her life and not only does Celie become a sexual object, her story also echoes the life of a slave. An auction scene is called to mind when Celie is told to walk in front of Albert, while he decides whether or not to take her as his new wife. Along with the physical oppression, Celie also has to endure psychological oppression due to her sexual exploitation. During Celie’s pregnancies, she had to put up with the confusing torment of her mother at the same time as her father blames her for her mother’s slow passing. Finally Celie’s mother passes cursing her, although Celie is at a loss to what she did wrong. Next to her mother’s negative affliction, Celie also curses herself and believes that she is on the road to hell for committing incest imposed on her by her father. In her mind, Celie is living in â€Å"sin without redemption† (Fraile-Marcos). The men were forces of her oppression, which made Celie turn towards women for her liberation. During her childhood, Celie was close with her sister and found a love that she would sincerely protect. â€Å"She scared. But I say I’ll take care of you. † Although Celie’s love for Nettie is a bond that lasts through the whole novel, the most important figure to influence Celie’s change in submissiveness is Shug Avery. Through uncovering the letters Nettie wrote to Celie, forcing Albert to beat Celie less, and just being the woman who did whatever she wanted, Shug was the leading character who taught Celie the beauty of sexuality. After quizzing Celie in Shug’s first stay, Shug deemed Celie a virgin due to her never having sex with someone that she loves. From that point, Shug begins to teach her about the female body, which Celie enjoys because sexuality turns from a negative and repressive force, to one that becomes exciting. Shug’s most important contribution to Celie’s self-realization is love, both sexually and spiritually† (Fraile-Marcos). Through this self-realization, Celie comes to the conclusion that she has a sister who loves her and will always write to her, and has Shug who has the intention of loving her and helping her get on her feet. All of the forces involved in Celie’s positive evolution come from the female gender, which leads Celie to her chang e in religion. Shug’s spiritual contribution to Celie’s self realization is the modification of the picture of God in Celie’s mind. At the start of the novel, Celie’s version of God was one who was a white authority figure, who only gave orders and punished the people who stepped out of line. â€Å"Okay, I say. He big and old and tall and graybearded and white. He wear white robes and go barefooted† (Walker 194). Celie’s version of God did not have time for her and saw her sufferings as something to just move on from. However, Shug soon initiates a spiritual awakening that begins with her description of God, who doesn’t have specific characteristics and instead is more a spiritual presence. God ain’t a he or a she, but an It†¦ Don’t look like nothing, she say. It ain’t a picture show. It ain’t something you can look at apart from anything else, including yourself† (Walker 195). Shug showed that God was found within everyone and everything, instead of a figure impossible to relate to. Celie’s journey dragged her from a hellish, detached exis tence to a life she could feeling pulsing through her body. After her self-revelation and freedom from oppression, Celie supported herself thorough making pants. This created an independent woman out of Celie, and taught her to rely on herself more than the people around her such as her oppressors or even Shug. Believing God was a white, despotic figure lead Celie to her rejection of the world, rejection to male dominance, and her acceptance of an unfair society. However, femininity brought Celie back to the world and showed her the kind, caring, and gentle side of life. Walker took the reader through a journey of finding Celies personal voice and also helped the reader accept and appreciate the rejection of male dominance.

Essay --

The growth of agriculture and railroads in Texas and in the United States helped form our economy today. Railroads today pass through a lot of Texas, and even in big cities like Houston or Dallas. Since there are so many farms and open farmland (especially in south and west Texas), railroads can carry the produce and livestock to their destination. James Watt invented the first steam engine in about 1769, and from then on, railroads were a must for transportation, since cars had yet to be invented. Railroads began to be built before the Civil War. It originally took about 6 months to get from the west of the US to the east, but now it only took 7 days. With railroads expanding all across the country, agriculture was affected in a mostly positive way. Now, crops and other goods could be transported by train anywhere in the US, and fast. When Stephen F. Austin brought the â€Å"Old 300† to Texas, they got about 4,338 acres for grazing, and 177 acres for farmland and labor. This is where the first slave-based cotton plantation came into being. The Texas’ farms were starting to be a commercial business. Small family farms were becoming more frequent, and the livestock business became popular, all between 1836 and the Civil War in 1861. Cotton production generated most of the state’s agriculture production and sales. 58,000 bales were produced in 1850, but in 1860, there were 431,000! The number of slaves grew to more than triple as well, from about 58,200 to about 182,500. The whole population of Texas tripled too. It was kind of like a ‘Texas Cotton Rush’! There were many immigrants who settled in Texas. Some of those towns are still here today, such as New Braunfels, Brenham, and Boerne. Those are German towns. Also, immigrants from... ... could easily and (more importantly) quickly move from farms to cities to be sold. Even livestock could be carried by freight to reach markets across the country. The expansion of agriculture and railroads helped form Texas’s present economy. The invention of the steam engine not only allowed people to move across the country in 7 days, instead of 6 months, but it also allowed crops and livestock to be carried to markets and places where they would be sold anywhere in the country. They could be moved to another farm in Texas as well. Since it’s such a large state, railroads were a necessity for travel, and general transportation. The railroad-building boom lasted 40 years. The production of cotton in Texas introduced some of the first slave-based cotton farms, and was the dominant crop for a very long time. After this event, Texas’s economy was forever changed.

Death Penalty in the State of Kansas

The Death Penalty issue has been a grave controversy especially in our contemporary society, not only in U.S. but also in Europe.   Unfortunately, resolving the issue is very difficult due to the complexity of the judicial system in the U.S.   State judicial systems must deal with the constitutionality of the state laws as well as their proper applic.   In addition, popular opinion is also a powerful force that may bring about changes on either whether death penalty exists at all or what weight death penalty should have versus life imprisonment without parole. These opinions may be based on religious beliefs, on human rights, on the magnitude of violence of the crimes committed, and the popular need to feel safe from violent assaults, non-homicidal and homicidal rapists, as well as violent homicidal offenders.   Other questions remain: what is the value of deterrence of the death penalty type of sentence?   What is the cost of inmates on death row?   Inmates stay on death row for a while, mainly because most of the times, they are appealing their sentence or waiting for a pardon from the state governor or even the President.   Since Kansas has reestablished the death penalty, these concerns have been of primary interest to the Kansas judicial system and the state residents. Twenty-nine years after the last execution, the state of Kansas reestablished the death penalty sentence in 1994, under SB (Senate Bill) 473 and HB (House Bill) 2578.   SB 473 states that the death penalty is restored in Kansas for first degree murders whereas HB 2578 simply authorizes the death penalty to be reenacted.   Interestingly, in an annual survey of college students across the U.S., students were asked whether they were in favor of death penalty.   In 1969, this survey reported 54% of the students in favor of the abolition of the death sentence, in 1985, it was down to 27%, in 1989 21%, and in 1995 20%. (Bedau, 85) The percentage in 1995 was the lowest and seemed to reflect a trend in young people’s general acceptance of death penalty; remember that Kansas reenacted the sentence in 1994!   Is it a coincidence?   Evidently, popular demands and trends are taken into account in state legislatures; that is the principle of democracy.   The Gallup News service reported on June 1st 2006 that back in 1994, 65% of the entire population of the U.S. favored life without parole whereas in 2006, 80% favored life without parole. Further, they also reported that in 2006, 47% were for the death penalty while 48% were for life without parole. (Newport, Gallup)   Consequently, based on these data, the attitude the American people has gradually changed to favoring life without parole with a 50/50 division over the choice between life without parole and death penalty.   The examination here is that the legality of death penalty is always measured against contemporary standards of morality.   Therefore, the trend that has been observed in the past few years shows that more and more people do not support the death penalty, illustrating a change of views.   (Bedau, 90) Kansas law allows for death penalty but also for life without parole.   According to the 2005 Kansas Death Penalty Guide, the exact description of the crimes punishable by death in Kansas is given in the KSA 21-3439 reenactment as capital murder with 8 aggravating circumstances.   Death is given by lethal injection.   For a life sentence in Kansas, persons who are guilty of capital murder will be jailed for 25-50 years.   The sentence must be served entirely before the individual can be eligible for parole.   There is no good behavior credit. (Kansas, 1) Carlson and Garrett (Carlson, Garrett, 5) give the 3 major sanctions available in the U.S. judicial system, economic penalties, probation, and incarceration, as well as the 4 primary goals of incarceration, deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation.   The following remarks summarize briefly the position of supporters or opponents of death penalty, respectively.   The death penalty sentence is viewed as a way to deter other criminals from committing crimes, incapacitating the criminal on death row who will pay a retribution for his crimes by his or her death. If someone is on death row, there is a feeling that he or she will not be able to be rehabilitated.   As for life without parole, the long-term incarceration will serve as deterrent for the criminal and others outside; it will incapacitate the criminal while the long sentence without any credit is considered a retribution for the crime.   In this case, there is a feeling that the criminal will be able to be rehabilitated if he or she lives longer than the sentence. (Bedau, 127) This is the basic controversy of death versus life imprisonment. For any death penalty case, that includes Kansas, there is a diversity of factors to be considered to decide whether or not capital cases are pursued.   There are factors that differ for every case, for every state, for every crime committed, and for every inmate whose past may not have been exemplary. (Cassell, Bedau, 118)   In addition, jurors and prosecutors must be sure that death penalty can be applied in the case they are working on. However, the decision process for any juror is still subjective because his or her decision is still dependent upon the strength of the prosecution’s arguments as well as evidence, the degree of certainty that the person is not innocent, the legal defense’s arguments and evidence if any, and the crime committed against the victim and the family.   The judge must follow the case tightly and apply the law in a correct fashion.   However, the interpretation of the law can also be subjective.   Each capital case trial is very hard to go through because it entails numerous problems that can take time to sort out with respect to state laws versus the U.S. Constitution. (Bedau, 183) Interpretation of the law in Kansas has been a source of contentions among supporters for sentencing to death, opponents, and the judicial system.   The main debate is centered on the constitutionality of death penalty and the interpretation of the Constitution.   To concretely illustrate the dispute and its complexity, the case of Kansas vs. Marsh needs to be considered.   The case is the following.   In 1996, Michael Marsh broke into the home of a family with a 19 month-old baby. His goal was to get money to take a trip to Alaska by kidnapping the mother and the child in order to ask for a ransom from the husband and father.   Unfortunately, events turned awful when Marsh panicked, killing the mother by shooting her 3 times in the head, stabbing her twice, and doused her with lighter fluid.   He then set the body on fire, ran away, leaving the baby inside to burn to death.   The mother survived for 6 days in the hospital and died of multiple organ failures.   Marsh was charged with capital murder, first-degree premeditated murder, aggravated arson, and aggravated burglary. A Kansas jury found him guilty on all counts and sentenced him to death for the capital murder of the child.   Marsh appealed his sentence to the Kansas Supreme Court.   The Court found that the Kansas death penalty statute was in fact unconstitutional because in Kansas, there is no â€Å"fundamental fairness† rule.   What this means is that if a criminal is sentenced to death while the aggravating factors of the prosecution equal the mitigating factors of the defense, then by fundamental fairness, the death sentence is nullified.   However, in Kansas, the fundamental fairness rule does not exist. In Marsh’s case, the aggravating factors equaled the mitigating factors as determined by the jury and caused the verdict to stand, based on the jury instructions from the Kansas statute,.   So, the basic question is: is the Kansas death penalty statute upheld when aggravating factors equal mitigating factors and if it is upheld, is it a violation of the Constitution?   The State of Kansas took the case to the U.S Supreme Court in December 1995.   The Supreme Court determined that the statute permits death sentences in the event of a tie between aggravating and mitigating factors. (Mandery, 124) However, the key lies with who has the final burden of proof for outweighing the factors. As a comparison, when there is tie, the death penalty statute in Arizona allows the defendant to reply that the mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating ones and prove it against the prosecution aggravating proof.   In Kansas, the burden is still on the prosecution without any additional actions from the defendant.   Since the prosecution did not prove the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors, the death sentence was overturned.   Justice Souter commented on what he called the â€Å"morally absurd† Kansas death penalty statute that permits a death sentence even if the prosecution has failed to prove that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors, accusing Kansas law to increase the incidence of death penalty sentences. Justice Scalia wrote a document on his opinion of the case.   Dealing with Justice Souter’s comments, he shamed Souter’s view as regarding the death penalty as â€Å"an undesirable situation.†Ã‚   Additionally, he also pointed out that, even if some of his colleagues disagree with the idea of a death penalty, 38 states do impose the penalty while scrutinizing the verdicts for wrongful executions, implying that death penalty sentences are properly assigned.   Souter’s point was that death penalty is serious enough that it should be reviewed. (Campbell, Star-Telegram) As one can see in the above case, many steps had to be completed to get to the final decision.   So, a very safe assumption is that this trial and associated inmate expenses must have been very high.   One of the chief complaints that Kansas opponents of death penalty have, besides moral or religious reasons, is the cost of the procedures.   They claim that death row cases cost a lot more than life without parole cases.   The money that would be saved should be spent on crime prevention. (Bedau, 91)   Gottfried reports that on average $20,000 is spent on life without parole inmates/year, a third less than for capital cases. (Gottfried, 2002) Kansas is not the only state that reestablished death penalty.   However, it was done in 1994, at a time when many Americans supported capital punishment.   It seems true that support or opposition to the death penalty is a reflection of the contemporary morality views of the public.   It does not look like people support it now.   The U.S. Supreme court seems to agree that this type of punishment should be reviewed, revised or completely eliminated based on moral and legal grounds.   Yet, abolishing death penalty in Kansas because it costs too much is not a very serious and moral reason to do it.   The problem really resides in the application of the laws.   Death penalty may be a way to punish violent criminals but nobody knows how to properly justify using it. Works Cited Bedau HA. The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Newport F. (editor) Gallup News Service. â€Å"Death Penalty†. The Gallup Polls Briefing June 1 2006. â€Å"2005 Kansas Death Penalty Guide† Amnesty International USA Kansas State University, Chapter 254 January 10, 2004: 1. November 18, 2006 Carlson PM, Garrett JS. Prison and Jail Administration: Practice and Theories. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1999. Chassell PG, Bedau HA. Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment?. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Mandery EJ. Capital Punishment: A Balanced Examination . Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2005. Campbell L. (editor) â€Å"Sounds Like A Sore Winner from Here.† Star-Telegram June 29 2006. Gottfried T. The Death Penalty: Justice or Legalized Murder? Twenty First Century Books, 2002.

Java Programming