Journal Writing \"A Modest Proposal\" by Jonathan

Journal Writing

"a Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift

As the name suggests, this is a proposal put forth by the writer on the way to help Ireland out of the problem of beggars along the streets and an ever increasing population of poor people within the nation. Indeed, he not only views his suggestions as viable towards decreasing the population of the poor, but to also earn the country foreign money that will help strengthen the economy of the nation at large.

When the wrester opens up his police, he begins by outlining the genuine problems of the nation in particular relation to the poor people the nation dwelling in the cities. He gives statistics of the people who are victims of poverty hence turned to beggars in a bid to show how dire the situation is within Ireland. It is at the point where he starts giving his suggestions, or the so called expedients that the reader comes to realize that the article is actually satirical amid shock at the suggestions. He gives several expedients all of which are ridiculous and involves selling off any two-year-old child in form of human meat and in particular the females to other countries to be consumed as food. This is not a practical solution, however he uses it to satirize the systems that were in place by then.

The speaker in this article can be said to be a nihilist, one who thrives in the pain of others and cares less about the comfort and welfare of others, has a canal mind and acts in an inhumane manner. This is derived from the outrageous suggestions he gives and how much conviction he has on them.

The other expedients outlined in paragraph 29 are a sobering list of actual suggestions that can be implemented, it somehow marked the end of the satire and brings to the fore the real solutions to the real problems that were facing Ireland at the time, suggestions and measures that if implemented could potentially solve the economic challenges that were facing the country and lead to lesser beggars along the streets.

Part 2

"The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles" by Emily Martin

The use of metaphors has been predominantly left for the literature field and languages, however, it is possible to employ the use of metaphors in the science field to describe or define scientific processes. This makes science to be more than just descriptive in nature but one that can also use metaphors to express the intended message. One good instance is the process of reproduction and the contrast between the male and the female reproductive systems' contribution towards the reproduction process. The generation of the sperms and the eggs at their varied stages can be metaphorically used to emulate the life process of the human being of either gender. Indeed, even the gender roles in the reproduction process has been metaphorically depicted in the process of egg and sperm production and utilization and as women are scientifically known to be reaching the menopause faster than men, so is the egg and the sperm part of this metaphor to explain the life cycle of men and women separately.

The use of active and passive voice in the scientific research serves to emphasize the facts as have been proven when an active voice is used or to propose a thesis when a passive voice is used in doing a report in a scientific research. The active voice is also used to indicate an organism that participates in a process and on the other hand the passive voice is used to indicate a subject which acts as a receiver or sufferer of a process in scientific research. Example in paragraph 7, Assuming that a man 'produces' 100 million sperm per day, this sentence in passive voice would be, Assuming that 100 million sperms are produced by a man per day.

The essay has an overall progression that defines the entire stream of ideas within it. It starts with the old age beliefs that there were about the function of the sperm and the egg, the interaction that was believed to be in existence and the results of the fusion of the two. Then the writer comes to question the beliefs as they were citing weaknesses that were found within the belief systems that there were. He then progresses to give the new research that were conducted and the new findings such as the coat of the egg being of more use than merely being a nuisance to the flow of the sperm. He then puts forth the social expectations of this field of research. This gives his piece a progressive approach to the subject.

Part 3

"Pig Lovers and Pig Haters" by Marvin Harris

In this article, Harris aims at bringing the duality of the subject matter, which is the love and hate of pigs. He uses a language that can be categorized as objective or neutral without leaning on one side to appear as though he is supporting that side. He gives the historical and cultural roots that exist in the love for the pig as well as the hate for the pigs. His diction is a factual diction that outlines the data, numbers, historical records and maps in a bid to support his finding for either side hence making his article reliable and dependable for facts.

There are various facts about the pig that Harris outlines and the most significant is that the pig just like any other domesticated animal mingles with its own feces and urine, just as the cows do and hence Harris does not understand why the pig was picked as a victim even in the historical communities. Harris is also intrigued by the pig bones that were traditionally used as ammunitions. They bones are the ones that were used by archeologists to determine how that particular society that lived in that region used to treat the pig in terms of being a holy animal or evil, edible or not hence this is a physiology that Harris has taken keen interest upon.

The consumption of beef and pork in the North America does not make sense in any way. Weather one looks at it from the Harris point-of-view or otherwise, excessive consumption of beef in the North America is not healthy as there are more people getting obese and dying of heart attack, yet the meat and pork that is consumed holds a lot of fats and cholesterol hence dangerous to the health of individual consumers.

Part 4

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King

There are various reasons the Luther gives for the protests and fundamental among them is the fact that the black community as a minority had by then waited for more that 340 years for the constitutional and God given rights to be given to them, hence could not wait any longer but to go for them. He further says that advocacy for equal rights and recognition were yet another reason since "Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds." He also mentioned the rampant injustice as a reason why the riots took place. He winds up by saying that the riots could not wait any longer since the black community had been a victim of broken promises for far too long hence the time to act was then. About the reason why the protests had to be pursued the way they were, Luther indicates that it was the white power structure of the city that left the Negro community with no other alternative.

There are ethical and political questions and often these two interact so closely that one would hardly see the difference. When an issue begins to overstep the lines of basic human rights and not superficial privileges, it is important to separate the ethical issue from political questions since when an issue affects human existence on daily basis, then it is a question of ethics, and injustices are issues of ethics most of the time since one party enjoys yet the other party does not and this is not ethical.

There are several instances where Luther uses parallel structures. One instance is the definition and clarification of just and unjust laws. He also defined and made readers understand the differences between violence and nonviolent direct actions. Luther also used the Biblical illusion to justify the strikes, likening the Birmingham strike with the noble resistance that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego put against king Nebuchadnezzar since a higher divine law was at stake.

Part 5

"Decolonizing the Mind" by N'gugi wa Thiong'o

Ngugi is known for his books that take a swipe at imposition of ones culture upon the other in whatever form through whatever means and he views language as one central tool or medium of culture propagation. When one decides to learn three languages or grows up learning these languages he will inevitably imbibe the cultures portrayed by these languages even in the implicit level. There are some simple and not easily recognizable habits that each language carries and the individual will automatically find himself expressing these as is imbibed through the languages. I agree that English is a carrier of culture and this is evident by looking at the countries that were colonized by British, there are several cultures that they took after the British left and left behind their language which is English being spoken. The dress codes, manner of wedding ceremonies, education systems and so on are easily identified as areas that the British influenced many of their colonies through their language.

The imposition of language can effectively impose the culture of another people to a different group of people. It is also notable that through the use of language, there can be elements of oppression that are enforced on the subjects since the subject will begin to willingly or unknowingly do the dictates of the language imposed, he will be told this is what the English language entails hence when using this particular article, you have to follow it with this and that. It is also apparent that the subjects will start systematically replacing metaphors, imageries and even cultural sayings with those of the English language imposed on them.

When Ngugi decries the foreign influence through books, it is a valid point. Indeed the books that I have interacted with closely, especially in the academic journey since childhood have been American-based hence confining the world view that I have to predominantly American view. I am tempted to imagine that if I was subjected to foreign books throughout in the foreign language, then my world view would be very different since it is true that language ferries culture.

Part 6

"Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital" by Robert D. Putnam

Indeed Putnam argues out his reasons why the membership of late has been declining among the support groups and he cites technology among other reasons. However, the point that I agree most is that this decline in membership is occasioned by the shift in these groups from serving the need for engagement in public life and is now concentrating in focusing on personal life and personal needs. This then means that there is a decline in individual investment in the community building and consequently the decreasing sense of trust among the Americans.

The four reasons that Putnam lists on why the social capital is eroding are the movement of women into paid labor forces hence diminishing the traditional women groups that existed, the growing mobility of the contemporary American families is the second reason, thirdly he state the growing demographic transformations with reduction in marriages, increased divorces and declining number of children. Fourth in line is the technological transformation of leisure. I would agree more with the last instance since bonds are known to be formed best while young, and those bonds formed at the young age will hardly get broken yet technology has surpassed the human interaction. This has resulted to loose or no bonds formed at the tender age hence the integration of the society falls apart perpetually as the disintegrated generation becomes of age. The other reason which he could have probably added is the globalization that has hit the society now making people to focus more on the globally accepted or fashionable ways of interaction over the traditional community-based groupings and human interaction.

The countertrends is like a sobriety test that the writer puts in place to try and inform the reader of the replacements that are taking place, or if the reader never knew that these were not the original intention of the society he is made aware and the subsequent replacement of the traditional structures. For instance, there are new mass-membership organizations that have some up to replace the communal groups that were in existence.

The target audiences in this article are the young and upcoming generation that might still have the chance to revert the American society back to where it used to be. The clues that point towards this are numerous, but the most outstanding is the constant reminder of the societal structures and membership groups that used to exist in the earlier decades yet is diminished at present. It shows that the targeted audience must have not had a chance to know the previous ways of Americans carrying out their socialization, they might have not experienced the group bowling sessions and are constantly confined into Bowling Alone.

Part 7

"Where is the Child's Environment? A Group Socialization Theory of Development" by Judith Rich Harris

Harris argue that parents have no influence if not very little over the behavior of their children or the children that grow in their hands. He gives various examples and even cites the monozygotic twins who grow up under the same roof with the same parents being different in behavior at the end of it all.

Correlation means that the effect that is obtained or seen after and interaction could have been influenced in part by the probably sources of the effect. In this case, there could be other influencing factors but there is some link with the sources referred to. Cause on the other hand is absolute link to the observed outcome, in that it is ascertained that there could be no other reason for the event to occur as it has and the result as witnessed.

Harris arguments are not absolutely counter-intuitive, only that it has a small margin of application and majority of the cases fall outside his axis of argument. There are cases that from the same house comes a philanthropist out to help people and the next brother is a mean egoistic individual yet they all grew up under the same parents. Such are diversities that are hard to explain from the parenting point-of-view but one is tempted to resort to the personal genetic wiring.

The twins are important when it comes to studies as the one put up by Harris since bearing the close genetic composition, there is a presumption that the similarities they will portray will be due to the genetic composition hence the researcher will concentrate on the differences in behavior that they depict and try to find out the reason behind them. They are easier to use as samples since some intervening variable like the genes has already been taken care of to be significantly close.