1,337 words

Emerson's Transcendentalism and its influence on American intellectual thought

When Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered the Phi Beta Kappa speech "The American Scholar" to Harvard in 1837, an earthquake ran throughout the American intellectual community.

~7 min read

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2,193 words

Slavery, motherhood, and self-identity in Morrison's Beloved

Slavery plays a significant role in understanding Toni Morrioson's novel, Beloved. Slavery rests at the core of the existence of Sethe's life and it is directly linked to the presence of Beloved.

~11 min read

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1,191 words

The American Dream in A Raisin in the Sun and Death of a Salesman

The American Dream is often portrayed as a good thing and while it is good to dream, it is also good to dream realistically. Two plays that examine the theme of the American Dream are Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, and Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman.

~6 min read

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1,561 words

Industrial, transportation, and waste pollution causes

Global pollution has increased significantly over the last few decades. Rapidly growing population, increasing consumption and demands have resulted in rapid industrialization and aggressive production strategies with very little concern for long-term environmental impacts.

~8 min read

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1,068 words

Balancing individual rights and public health in mandatory childhood vaccination

Vaccination is an important decision that a parent has to make for their child. It is also a decision that has become controversial and the debate about whether to vaccinate or not has become heated in recent years.

~6 min read

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1,603 words

Love, reason, and folly in A Midsummer Night's Dream

Typical of Shakpespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a complex work exploiting the human folly of love and lovers, emotion and responsibility.

~9 min read

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2,263 words

Cultural relativism and the limits of cross-cultural understanding

Travel allows us -- and forces us -- to engage ourselves with one of the most fundamental questions in the social sciences: Can we ever so thoroughly immerse ourselves in another culture deeply enough so that we come to see the world as "the natives" do?

~12 min read

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1,124 words

Documentary analysis of the Brother's Keeper murder trial

The film Brother's Keeper (1992) was released in 1992 and subsequently received numerous awards, including the Directors Guild of America, USA's award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary in 1993, as well as an Audience Award in 1992 from the Sundance Film Festival.

~6 min read

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2,400 words

What we know and don't know about Shakespeare's life

While playwrights have come and gone over the centuries, perhaps the most famous has been William Shakespeare.

~12 min read

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1,116 words

Gilgamesh as a historical king of ancient Uruk

The character Gilgamesh from the Epic of Gilgamesh produced controversies regarding the real character that might have inspired the writer for this epic poem. The historical records that could provide the evidence to sustain the theory that Gilgamesh was a real Sumerian king are scarce.

~6 min read

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