The War of 1812 Essay -- American History

The War of 1812 â€Å"In view of the wants and needs of an infant United States (1783-1812), the War of 1812 was extremely successful in its results.† The War of 1812 is significant to United States history in a number of ways. The War, and our not losing it, reaffirmed American Independence. Second, the war showed the Americans that a stronger military was needed. It strengthened our isolation by giving us courage. The war also served to improve our economy as it stimulated manufacturing. Finally, the War of 1812 resulted in the death of the Federalist Party. All these results helped the wants and needs of our newly won independence. Our young country was gaining respect and slowly acquiring the necessities to survive. The War of 1812 was the second time we had gone to war with Great Britain, and the second time we had not lost. Never again would our Independence as a nation be called into question. Early naval wins such as the battle won by Thomas Macdonough instilled hope in the hearts and the minds of Americans. Restoring themselves after almost losing the battle, the American Flagship turned itself around, facing the enemy with a fresh side and defeated the British navy. The writing of our â€Å"National Anthem† also called the Americans to join forces. The British, after burning down the capitol, went to destroy Baltimore. Despite â€Å"the bombs bursting in air,† Francois Scott Key set the most unifying words on paper. Since we had been caught unprepared, our military and ...

Revenge in the Great Expectations Essay

Revenge is a primary theme in the novel Great Expectation by Charles Dickens. In this novel, many characters go out of their way to extract revenge, leading them to misfortunes such as death and imprisonment. Dickens makes it very clear that nothing positive can come from revenge through his characters and the results that come from their revenge. These acts range from petty resentment filled with passion, to long and drag out strife laced with malice, to lifelong vendettas driven by hatred. Revenge comes in many forms—and for Orlick, his was the sort of petty resentment filled with passion, rather than stone cold hatred. In the novel, Orlick acts as the main antagonist; he is described as tardy, as Pip explained: â€Å"he was†¦never in hurry, and always slouching.† (102), and hostile, by telling Pip that â€Å"the Devil lived in a black corner of the forge†¦and it was necessary to make a fire once in seven years with a live boy and I might consider myself fuel.† (102). Orlick was also abusive due to his outburst at Mrs Gargery when she pose her opinion on the fact that Joe was letting both Pip and Orlick have a half-holiday by saying â€Å"I’d hold you, if you was my wife. I’d hold you under the pump and choke it out of you.† Despite being mere words, from that moment on; Orlick held a grudge on both Pip and Mrs Gargery. Orlick resented Mrs Gargery for her attitude towards him. And he resented Pip for having everything Orlick wanted; at the forge, Pip was favoured and Orlick was â€Å"bullied and beat.† In Orlick’s eyes Pip â€Å"was always in Old Orlick’s way since ever you was a child.† (388) This tempts him into extracting revenge, by assaulting Mrs Gargery, he justifies his actions by telling Pip that â€Å"it was done through you,† (389) Orlick blames Pip for his misfortunes, and hates Pip to the extent that he attempted to murder him. Orlick says â€Å"I’m a going to have your life!† (388) this is an allegory—and has two meanings: one literal, and one figurative. Orlick literally wants to take Pip’s life, and kill him, depositing of his body so no one would ever know of his crime. However on the other hand, Orlick figuratively wants Pip’s life—his resentment of Pip comes from his jealousy. Orlick wishes to have Pip’s life, to be favoured, to be liked, to be a gentleman. But when his plans of killing Pip fails, and Orlick resorts  to breaking into Pumblechook’s house, and robs and beats him, h e is ultimately caught and imprisoned—this reveals the result of obtaining revenge, and how it will lead only to misfortunes. Nothing good can come from revenge as shown by Orlick’s eventual destination: prison. Like Orlick, Magwitch wishes to extract his revenge as well—which is a long dragged out strife between him and Compeyson. Magwitch loathes Compeyson for setting him up as a scrape goat in their trial. Because Compeyson looked like a gentleman he had a more lenient punishment than Magwitch—who faced most of the blame for both of their crimes. Due to this, Magwitch has sworn to â€Å"smash that face of his (Compeyson’s), and I swore Lord smash mine! To do it.† (322) Magwitch was willing to give up anything, and everything to get his revenge on Compeyson. He wanted Compeyson to face his wrath and feel his suffering; Magwitch was willing to give up his chance of freedom in doing so. He could’ve â€Å"got clear of these death-cold flats likewise—if I hadn’t made discovery that he was here.† (34) In the beginning of the novel, Pip meets the escaped convict—later introduced as Magwitch, who had filed down his leg iron to the point where he could’ve broken it off, and flee from the marshes—but when he had heard Compeyson had escaped as well, he gave up his freedom, to search for Compeyson. The guards, along with Pip and Joe later found Compeyson and Magwitch in a ditch—fighting each other. Magwitch gave up his chance to flee, and forsake his freedom in the name of revenge and was dragged back to the prison alongside Compeyson. Which begs the question, what is the result of chasing revenge? Magwitch was then sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of his life—where upon if he ever escaped again, he’d face the death sentence. Magwitch is sent off to New South Wales, where he worked several jobs—and made a handsome amount of money all of which he sent to Pip through Jaggers anonymously. It isn’t until later in the novel does Magwitch sneaks back to England as an escaped convict, under an alias and he reveals to Pip that he is Pip’s benefactor. Pip’s discovery makes him very discontent but later realizes the only way to get Magwitch out of his life is to help him escape England, on a boat. However again on his journey to fredoom Magwitch is faced with the same dilemma, when their steam boat is intercepted by another boat and Compeyson is on it. Magwitch is forced to choose between freedom and revenge; and he again chooses the latter, tackling Compeyson, they both sink into the water—only Magwitch comes up. As  expected, Magwitch is sentenced to death—immediately, only his sentence is delayed when he is stricken by illness. At this point, Magwitch’s death is ascertained, either he was going to die of illness or he was going to die at his sentence. This was the result of Magwitch’s actions; by choosing revenge over all else—not just once, but twice. These results help emphasis that revenge is nothing more than a gateway to misfortunes, and in Magwitch’s case that gate way is to death. Miss Havisham faces a lifelong vendetta driven by her hatred of all mankind. This vendetta of her, twists her personality in cruel, sadistic and vicious ways. Out of all the characters in this novel, Miss Havisham is less active in her campaign of revenge—but she holds the longest and most pure revenge. Miss Havisham achieves her revenge through her adoptive daughter Estella. Estella is never given the opportunity to forge her own ideas and personality—instead she is objectified into a young and beautiful tool, used exclusively for avenging Miss Havisham’s broken heart. There are many instances of Miss Havisham’s cruel and sardonic personality revealed through the words she says and her actions and responses to Pip. In the beginning of the novel, she has asked Estella to play with Pip, but she refuses to play with such a common boy—in return Miss Havisham says â€Å"Well, you can break his heart.† (54) She says it in a way that makes the human heart seem almost like a toy that can be easily broken and would be irrelevant if it did so. This demonstrates Miss Havisham’s view on men, and how th ey should have their hearts broken as she once did—and how she’s trained Estella to do. Miss Havisham gains much pleasure from the discomfort and humiliation of men, she has no problem hurting anyone in order to extract her revenge—not even Pip is spared, someone who had done nothing to often her, beside be born the wrong gender. Miss Havisham lets Pip believe that she was his benefactor and that Estella was his, but when this was proven untrue and Pip confronts her she says â€Å"Yes†¦I let you go on†¦ [but] who am I, for God’s saje, that I should be kind!† This shows Miss Havisham’s view on life; she wonders why it is that she should be kind, when the world hasn’t been kind to her. Why should she be nice, when the world hasn’t been nice to her. Why she should love, when the world hasn’t loved her. This idea of hers later becomes the very idea that eventually destroys her. Miss Havisham lives through Estella, she gains pleasure from seeing men swoon and pursuit Estella’s attention. She  enjoys decorating Estella in jewel—almost like she was a doll to be shown off, not at all like a daughter. However, her actions lead to many consequences—because of her lack of affection for Estella, Estella then grows up to be a â€Å"beautiful creature† rather than a human. Estella claims that she has no heart so she cannot show anyone love, not even Miss Havisham, who craved attention and love. This outrages Miss Havisham, how could her own daughter not love her? The answer was simple, â€Å"I am what you have made me. Take all the praise, take all the blame; take all the success, take all the failure, in short, take me.† (277) Estella reveals the nature of their relationship, for her entire life Miss Havisham has only learned to take, and never had she given, she lived a selfish life—and was intent on acquiring revenge. She took the happiness away from Pip, she took away Estella’s humanity and replaced it with a cold, hard, and beautiful exterior, and mostly she took away her own life. Miss Havisham froze in time, the moment she decided to avenge herself, and she gave away her life, her emotions and feelings all in the name of revenge. Like the clocks in her house, everything was frozen in Miss Havisham—because she wanted nothing more than to see other suffer as she did. Only in doing this, she forced herself to suffer even more. Miss Havisham eventually dies—alone, and unloved. This shows the result of pursuing revenge as obsessively as Miss Havisham did; in return all she had left was a ruined estate, a monster for a daughter, relatives who were after her wealth, and a life time of sorrow. Throughout this novel, Dicken’s idea and opinion revolving around revenge becomes quite clear. It is evident that nothing good can come of revenge; and misfortunes befall those who attempt to achieve it. Dickens makes an example out of his characters, to illustrate the aftereffect of being consumed by revenge—and acting upon its temptation. Nothing good can come from trying to avenge oneself, no matter how small or large the act is: the results will all be the same.

The Health Care Of The United States - 814 Words

Having spent the greater part of my life in Nigeria, I grew up in a culture where issues about dying or death were considered sacred and not to be freely discussed. It is a shame that in some parts of Africa, religious leaders are considered â€Å"experts† in palliative care and are given much more freedom to discuss end of life issues than qualified healthcare professionals. Some people pay exorbitant amount of money to have these clerics visit their dying relatives at home. Throughout the years I worked as a healthcare provider in Nigeria, I never used an advanced directive in the care of patients. After relocating to the United States some years ago, I came across people among whom some are my friends who talked about their advanced care plan with me and I was really surprised, but at the same time I became more curious and sought for more information about it. I realized that it is not only culturally acceptable in the U.S., but people are more proactive about their health care preferences. Therefore, I was very excited learning about it in great detail in my medical ethics class, and involving my spouse while working on this assignment provided an eye-opening experience on our values, beliefs, goals, priorities, and healthcare wishes as a family. Initially, I found it very uncomfortable imagining myself being in a vegetative state or prolonged coma because I thought life would be meaningless and not worth living if I should lose my capacity to think. I guess my fear stemmedShow MoreRelatedHealth Care Of The United States Essay1706 Words   |  7 Pages Health Care in the United States Matthew Glennon Ivy Tech Community College Abstract The aim of this paper was to gather and find information over universal health care. Research will demonstrate the varying ideas on universal health care. The goal of the paper for the reader is to inform them well enough on the topic to be able to pick a side and make a solid argument. The reader will be informed on different ideas that surround universal health care. The combinedRead MoreHealth Care Of The United States1594 Words   |  7 Pagespast few decades, health care industry in the United States is facing three major problems related to quality, costs, and access. The healthcare expenditure in the United States has increased drastically over the years and the United States still rank top in health care spending when compared to other top nations in the world. Despite having high healthcare expenditure, Americans have limited access to health care, spends higher costs for the procedures and getting poor health care outcomes. In a recentRead MoreThe United States And Health Care1159 Words   |  5 Pagesuniversal health care plan but the politicians of the day would never allow the federal government that type of power and control. At his time in American history healthcare was thought to be a personal issue or at least an issue that would be left to the states or even smaller government agencies. After World War II many politicians tried and failed to pass a national healthcare plan until Obama Care was passed and forced on the people of the United States. The reality is that Obama care is not evenRead MoreHealth Care Of The United States1390 Words   |  6 PagesThe United States, a rich and well known nation that is known to be a world superpower. Yet can t seems to figure out healthcare. It is illogical for powerful first world countries to be dominating industries while struggling to provide universal healthcare, it is wealthy enough to afford it, it saves the lives of many, improves overall performance, and a right to health care is a human r ight. It doesn t make sense how countries with a lower GPD have access to universal healthcare and have a longerRead MoreHealth Care At The United States939 Words   |  4 Pagesthe United States is one of the most complex industries in our country. Over the past fifteen years patient safety has been the forefront in healthcare organizations and keeping the patient safe when they arrive at the hospital is very crucial (Alijani, Kwun, Omar, Williams, 2015). In order to do this hospitals’ need to know different methods of safety approaches. Risk management in healthcare involves patients’ rights, patient safety, patient satisfaction, compliance, and quality of care. RiskRead MoreHealth Care And The United States1265 Words   |  6 PagesHealth care has come a very long way since the earlier years, and still has a lot of improving to do. Health care can be very complex and frustrating, but has become a bit more manageable compared to the past. Hospitals today are a lot different then how they were years ago. Many hospitals are making medical advances to help people live longer, healthier lives. Health care is one of the most important benefits to a persons’ life. There are so many things affecting the health of people all aroundRead MoreHealth Care Of The United States1533 Words   |  7 PagesEvery country worldwide has it s own way of providing and making health care available for its citizens. More specifically, the developed nations all have their own system in how they make their health care available. Some are more expensive, some provide better quality of care, some are available to all citizens and some are available only to those who can afford it. For the first time in United States history, a health care act has passed, that will claim to insure everyone nationwide regardlessRead MoreHealth Care At The United States Essay1659 Words   |  7 Pagesproblem numerous people in the United States face as spending on health care increased to $3.2 trillion in 2015 which is about $9,980 per individual, (Vital Signs: Rise in National Health Expenditures Slows) which is considerably high in comparison to the United Kingdom’s $148.34 billion or $2,292 per person (Department of Health s Settlement at the Spending Review 2015). The United States spends comparably more than most other first world countries when it comes to health care and this is a problem forRead MoreHealth Care For The United States1361 Words   |  6 PagesRising healthcare costs in the United States have made healthcare less affordable over time, creating a major public health issue for individuals without insurance. In a Health Affairs study about patient accessibility to care, the differences between adults with and without coverage has broadened from 2000 to 2010.1 The Obama Administration recognized this as an issue, and in 2010 signed into law the Affordable Care Act to make health insurance available and ultimately affordable to a ll US citizensRead MoreHealth Care At The United States1375 Words   |  6 Pages  The United States is one of the richest nations in the whole wide world. It’s health care is the biggest, strongest and more efficient business in the United States of America. Today’s health care has come so far from the past setting and it has differed. Due to the advancement in technology, health care in the U.S. has come both simple but complexed. Health care is now a managed care system. Managed care is supposed to be a system they came up with to help control things like the cost of health