Heroic Criminals Essay Example for Free

Heroic Criminals Essay All throughout childhood we are taught that breaking the law is bad and the people who do are criminals and should be punished. Edward Abbey, author of The Monkey Wrench Gang, and Carl Hiaasen, author of Sick Puppy, alter these thoughts. Both novels focus on adventuresome environmentalists who stir up trouble in means of standing up for their beliefs. Both Abbey and Hiaasen construct higher and natural laws over the traditional justice system that gives characters justification for their actions. Ethically we as humans should not side with these rebellious characters, but the theme is so central in the books cover-to-cover that we, as readers, lose sight of morals as the authors manipulate us to become completely invested in these heroic criminals. With sharp uses of characterization and description, Edward Abbey glorifies the art of law breaking and leaves his readers cheering for the heroic criminals. Throughout The Monkey Wrench Gang, the group of four activists set out to destroy bridges, signs, bulldozers and anything else harming the American southwest. From the very beginning, Abbey illustrates a scene full of the workings of the justice system in his prologue. When describing the ceremony to open the bridge he states, â€Å"the bridge stands clear and empty except for†¦a symbolic barrier of red, white and blue ribbon stretched across the bridge from rail to rail† (3). If the sense of patriotism wasn’t evident enough through images of children eating ice cream cones and people drinking Coca-Cola before that, Abbey drapes the bridge in the colors of our nations flag. His portrayal of the project seems to be adored and almost sponsored by America. He uses the writing technique of verisimilitude throughout the prologue to captivate readers and make them anxious to see who disapproves the project. This is a true introduction and welcoming to rebellious characters. As the novel progresses, we become familiar with the gang: Hayduke, Bonnie, Seldom Seen and Doc, as they are driving through billboard signs. Some readers might lose respect for the characters because their actions seem hypocritical and pointless. Their actions are against the law. But then Abbey slowly develops the characters and gives them justification for these criminal actions. He does this with Hayduke criticizing the construction of bridges, â€Å"They can’t do that; it ain’t legal. There’s a law against it. A higher law† (27). The phrase â€Å"higher law† justifies the gang’s destruction because they are taking a stand to save the environment, the beautiful American southwest. As destruction projects get bigger, we find ourselves rooting for these criminals because they are heroes. And we find ourselves captivated in the novel with Abbey’s clever use of an episodic plot. He arranges plot elements into a story and although we aren’t deep into the character’s lives, the focus on episodes drives us forward. As Abbey slowly develops the protagonist characters, he introduces the character, Bishop Love, who we as readers coin as the antagonist. Once again Abbey manipulates our morals as we begin hating the character who could possibly bring down our rebels. Bishop Love exclaims, â€Å"We might get them on the Mann Act come to think of it-crossing the state line for immoral purposes† (296). The fact that the Mann Act was first established to regulate prostitution across state lines cleverly draws us against the bishop’s character and law in general. Abbey’s use of an actual law brings the entire chase back to reality as we still see ourselves siding with the heroic criminals. Abbey actually creates this chase into a war and the heroic criminals become heroic war veterans. As the chase continues, Hayduke once again defines this higher sense of law and justification for war, â€Å"I sat in that rotting jungle every night, playing with my chain, and all I could think about was home. And I don’t mean Tucson†¦I thought about the canyons† (359). This is a very lively twist on the patriotic term war because when we think of war we think of Americans going into another country. Here, Americans are in a war in America against other Americans. And because of this, someone is breaking the law or going against the law. As true as that statement is, we find ourselves naming the criminals as the war heroes through Abbey’s manipulation. Although in the end these heroes are captured and the project seems to be brought to an end, the denouement proves to serve poetic justice. The epilogue consists of Doc, Bonnie and Seldom being almost immediately bailed out of jail, Bishop Love in slow recovery, and the survival of the most prominent environmentalist, Hayduke. Such a fitting ending for our manipulated beliefs. Similarly to Edward Abbey’s manipulation of our morals through characterization and development, Carl Hiaasen uses the same techniques within the theme of criminal heroes. Right off the bat, we meet Twilly who is the definition of activist. We quickly learn that if he doesn’t like something, he takes immediate action. And it’s not with anger that he takes action, but disappointment, â€Å"†¦if I was really pissed, I would’ve done it on a Monday morning, and I would’ve made damn sure my uncle was inside at the time† (19). This is in response to his therapist asking if the reason he blew up a bank was due to the fact that he was angry his uncle made a loan to some â€Å"rotten people† (18). We aren’t really introduced to the proper sense of law as we were in The Monkey Wrench Gang, but such grotesque images of the characters in political positions make us see them as the bad guys and the person who blows up a bank as a hero. More grotesque images develop as we learn about Robert Clapley and his Barbie dolls and Palmer Stoat and his trophies. So even though we want to hate the main characters, we hate who Hiaasen wants us to hate more. With this manipulation technique and Hiaasen’s rapid tonal shifts between parallel characters, we find ourselves not being able to put the novel down. He creates a sense of higher law that gives us a place to go and pretend we’re there with Twilly being a heroic criminal and activist. Hiaasen also does not overstep his boundaries with this sense of higher law as characters are able to resist destruction. In the scene where Twilly and Desie are driving behind a lady in a Lexus who threw her cigarette butt out the window, Twilly wants to put her car up in flames, but he lets off (219). Although we are already on Twilly’s side, the fact that he can resist gives him more respect as a â€Å"criminal. † Once again, in the reader’s eyes, what makes him a hero is how Hiaasen develops the negative characterization of characters like Clapley, Gash and Stoat. In a very grotesque scene between Clapley and Stoat, Stoat explains, â€Å"The important thing is, that nutty kid is finally out of the picture. And, oh yeah, Desie and Boodle are OK, too. Not that I give a shit† (360). Immediately after this is said, â€Å"Clapley finds himself gazing past Stoat, at a dancer performing in a nearby booth†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢if only she was taller’† (360). As illustrated, Clapley and Stoat are both sick people and we want them to be punished and destroyed. We are pulling for Twilly to torture them and win. The novel takes shifts towards a focus on the greed of politics where nature is just a victim and Twilly is standing up for it. In another beautiful example of poetic justice, the epilogue is used as a framing device to bring the novel full circle. In one example, the novel begins with Stoat hunting a rhino and ends with him being impaled by one (429). The ending of our other hated character, Robert Clapley, comes full circle as his most prized possessions, Katya and Tish, become, â€Å"†¦a trademark symbol; this order to include but not expressly be limited to such oral and visual depictions as ‘Goth Barbies’, ‘Undead Barbies’, and ‘Double-Jointed Vampire Barbies’† (445). This is a direct occurrence of what Clapley didn’t want to happen and we find ourselves giggling about the fact. The sense of the novel as a political cartoon truly adds to our enjoyment as readers and superb justification of higher law and love for heroic criminals. In conclusion, both Abbey and Hiaasen create a new definition of criminal through manipulating our morals in their development of characters and justifying it with the sense of a higher law. Adventuresome environmentalists deface and destroy many things, yet we find ourselves as readers cheering for them to do so and get away with it. Ethically we should not side with these rebellious characters, but we truly are completely, 100% invested.

Irving Washington, The History of New York Essay example -- Literary R

Irving Washington was born in 1783 in New York into a large family where he was the youngest of eleven children. He started his career from a law office feeling that it was a job not to his heart content. Being light-hearted and sardonic in his nature he attempted to write for the journal of his brother Peter called â€Å"The Morning Chronicle†. Later Irving and Peter thought of creating a high-quality literary mockery. Originally the text intended nothing else but a satire upon the â€Å"Picture of New York† by Dr. Samuel Mitchell whose text was rather boastful of erudition and pedantry; however, it turned out to be different from the original perspective broadening the scope of interpretative thinking over to history and philosophy as two great narratives. The text was published December 6, 1809 in New York when Irving Washington was 26 and brought him considerable critical acclaim. Worth mentioning are the two timelines: the actual historical timeline of the story which embraces the first two decades of the XVII century. Literary selection suggested revolves around a historical episode of purchase of New York (namely Manhattan Island) from the Indians and further life of the Dutchmen. In 1626 Peter Menuit arrived at the colony called New Amsterdam to govern as well as take part in educational and religious activities of the settlers. The first priority for the governor to realize was a purchase of the Island of Manhattan. The estimated sum of transaction was twenty-four dollars, which Irving Washington calls â€Å"a measure almost unparalleled in the annals of discovery and colonization† (Tuttleton, 1993, p. 209-212). The second timeline is actually tangible through the author’s voice within the frame of narration, as he comes from two... ...he other side of the conflict is never articulated, thus suppressed, kept silent and, therefore, eliminated, which makes the entire concept of conflict as a productive means of history. Irving Washington wrote the text looking back two centuries. Apart from being a satire it deconstructs the concept of history by devaluation of the conflict via removal of one of its constituents or dehumanization of it which is one of the main implied themes of the story. Works Cited Aderman, Ralph. M. Critical Essays on Washington Irving. // John G. Lockhart. Review of Knickerbocker’s History of New York. G.K. Hall & Co., 1990. P. 50. Irving, Washington. A History of New York: Washington Irving: History, Tales and Sketches. NY: the Library of Congress, 1983. P. 449-55. Tuttleton, James W. Washington Irving: the Critical Reaction. AMS Press, 1993. P. 209-212. Irving Washington, The History of New York Essay example -- Literary R Irving Washington was born in 1783 in New York into a large family where he was the youngest of eleven children. He started his career from a law office feeling that it was a job not to his heart content. Being light-hearted and sardonic in his nature he attempted to write for the journal of his brother Peter called â€Å"The Morning Chronicle†. Later Irving and Peter thought of creating a high-quality literary mockery. Originally the text intended nothing else but a satire upon the â€Å"Picture of New York† by Dr. Samuel Mitchell whose text was rather boastful of erudition and pedantry; however, it turned out to be different from the original perspective broadening the scope of interpretative thinking over to history and philosophy as two great narratives. The text was published December 6, 1809 in New York when Irving Washington was 26 and brought him considerable critical acclaim. Worth mentioning are the two timelines: the actual historical timeline of the story which embraces the first two decades of the XVII century. Literary selection suggested revolves around a historical episode of purchase of New York (namely Manhattan Island) from the Indians and further life of the Dutchmen. In 1626 Peter Menuit arrived at the colony called New Amsterdam to govern as well as take part in educational and religious activities of the settlers. The first priority for the governor to realize was a purchase of the Island of Manhattan. The estimated sum of transaction was twenty-four dollars, which Irving Washington calls â€Å"a measure almost unparalleled in the annals of discovery and colonization† (Tuttleton, 1993, p. 209-212). The second timeline is actually tangible through the author’s voice within the frame of narration, as he comes from two... ...he other side of the conflict is never articulated, thus suppressed, kept silent and, therefore, eliminated, which makes the entire concept of conflict as a productive means of history. Irving Washington wrote the text looking back two centuries. Apart from being a satire it deconstructs the concept of history by devaluation of the conflict via removal of one of its constituents or dehumanization of it which is one of the main implied themes of the story. Works Cited Aderman, Ralph. M. Critical Essays on Washington Irving. // John G. Lockhart. Review of Knickerbocker’s History of New York. G.K. Hall & Co., 1990. P. 50. Irving, Washington. A History of New York: Washington Irving: History, Tales and Sketches. NY: the Library of Congress, 1983. P. 449-55. Tuttleton, James W. Washington Irving: the Critical Reaction. AMS Press, 1993. P. 209-212.

National University of Singapore Essay

The appearance of the yellow crystals obtained tallies with the reference physical appearance of Dibenzalacetone1. The appearance of the white powder obtained also tallies with the reference physical appearance of o-Chlorobenzoic acid2. The yields of the compounds are relatively low at 34.2% and 29.5%. This may be due to some possible sources of error and limitations which will be discussed in the next section. Limitations and Sources of Error Loss of compounds was an important factor that caused the yield of the purified compounds to be reduced. This may have occurred first during the extraction phase where extraction may not be complete. During the filtration and vacuum filtration processes, there was also a high level of difficulty in retrieving all the wanted products due to the products forming on the edges of the filter paper or sticking to the sides of the apparatus. Although the yield can be improved by increasing the number of extractions, the increase will not be significant enough (explained under exercise question 1) to overcome the loss of the compounds due to frequent transferring of the products. The usage of the separatory funnel to separate the 2 organic and aqueous layers limited the accuracy of the experiment due to potential contamination. There was difficulty in determining the exact boundaries between the organic and aqueous layers accurately even under precautions such as conducting the separation at slow speed and at eye level. Contamination of the purified products will cause the melting point determination to deviate from actual results and identifying the compounds incorrectly. The solubility test conducted to determine the recrystallization solvent might be another possible source of error. The amount of compound to be added into 2mL of the solvent was estimated rather than accurately weighed. This may have caused errors in determining the solubility of the compounds in the solvents and hence, led to incorrect use of the proper recrystallization technique for the compounds. Furthermore, cloudy mixtures obtained upon mixing the compound and the solvent might cause the solubility of the compounds to be inaccurately determined. Conclusion A mixture of 2 organic compounds was separated using recrystallization and purified. Melting Point Determination was the method used to identify the 2 organic compounds and cross-checking the experimental results obtained with a list of possible organic compounds showed that the Neutral Compound was Dibenzalacetone and the Acidic Compound was o-Chlorobenzoic acid. Verifying the identified compounds via their appearances with references further validated the experimental results. References 1. Royal Society of Chemistry, Chemspider, Search and Share Chemistry http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.86113.html, Retrieved 14 September 2013 2. Royal Society of Chemistry, Chemspider, Search and Share Chemistry http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.8071.html, Retrieved 14 September 2013 Exercise Questions Question 1 a) D = [X]o / [X]w When D = 8, [A]o = 8 [A]w Since mass can be expressed as a product of volume and concentration as shown in Equation 1 below, by letting Vo be the volume of organic layer, Vw the volume of aqueous layer with m being the total initial mass of A, Equation 2 can be obtained. ———- Equation 1 ———- Equation 2 Using Equation 2 and subbing in known values, we can obtain ———- Equation 3 Solving, we get [A]w = 1.11 X 10-2 g/mL b) Using Equation 2, For 1st Extraction, ———- Equation 4 Solving, we get [A]w = 2.00 X 10-2 g/mL For 2nd Extraction, ———- Equation 5 Solving, we get [A]w = 4.00 X 10-3 g/mL c) Repeating the above method as shown in (b) for multiple extractions, we can obtain For 4th Extraction using 20 mL of dichloromethane, [A]w = 1.23 x 10-3 g/mL For 8th Extraction using 10 mL of dichloromethane, [A]w = 3.91 X 10-4 g/mL d) Based on calculation above, while the total amount of dichloromethane used in (a), (b) and (c) remained constant at 80 mL, the values of [A]w obtained decreases with increasing number of extractions done with smaller amounts of dichloromethane used during each extraction. Multi-extraction allows more of the solute to dissolve in the solvent. This leads to a higher amount of solute extracted. e) To access if excessive extraction (8 times) is necessary, the yield difference of solute extracted between doing 4 and 8 times extraction must be considered. Mass of solute not extracted by 4-times Extraction = 1.23 X 10-3 X 80 = 0.0984 g Mass of solute not extracted by 8-times Extraction = 3.91 X 10-4 X 80 = 0.0313 g Percentage yield of solute using 4-times Extraction = = 98.8% Percentage yield of solute using 8-times Extraction = = 99.6% The percentage yield increases by 0.8% which is not very significant as calculated above. This does not justify the cost and time needed to carry out excessive extraction since the yield difference is small. Question 2 c) A better solvent for recrystallization of B will give a higher yield of B crystals. Based on the calculation in (a) and (b), water gives a higher yield of crystals (8.54 g at 25Â °C and 9.81 g at 0Â °C ) as compared to ethanol (7.38 g at 25Â °C and 8.21 g at 0Â °C). Hence, water is a better solvent for the recrystallization of B. d) The crystals should be washed with cold solvent (0Â °C). The solubility of compounds increases with increasing temperature. Washing the crystals with cold solvent ensures that the crystals do not dissolve back into the solvent. Washing the crystals with warm solvent will cause the yield of crystals to diminish.

Illegal Downloads and the Affect on the Film Industry

MEDIA@LSE Electronic MSc Dissertation Series Compiled by Dr. Bart Cammaerts and Dr. Nick Anstead Why pay if it’s free? Streaming, downloading, and digital music consumption in the â€Å"iTunes era† Theodore Giletti, MSc in Media Communications Other dissertations of the series are available online here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/mediaWorkingPapers/ Dissertation submitted to the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, August 2011, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MSc in Media Communications. Supervised by Dr. Bingchun Meng. Published by Media@LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. The†¦show more content†¦These trends are not confined to European or American music markets. Baidu, China’s largest online search company, recently signed a deal with rights holders to license music on its website for both free download and streaming (Hille, 2011). The surge in popularity has led some to believe that the digital music market represents the recording industry’s next sustainable business model, along with diversification into live events and merchandise. However, relatively little is understood about the consumer who uses a combination of legal and illegal sources to acquire music a la carte. In the decade prior to the Internet, the music industry was relatively healthy overall with worldwide sales peaking in 1998 (Baym, 2010). Since then, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks such as Napster have contributed to the decline in sales of CDs. Th ere is some disagreement about the extent to which file sharing has negatively impacted the recording; however, evidence points to copyright infringement as a significant factor. The digitalization of music effectively removed the industry’s monopoly on high-quality reproduction so that illegal copies were of equal standard to the original (May, 2007). Concomitantly, the intangible nature of digital music has resulted in new consumption practices. Efforts to counter digital piracy have primarily used legal mechanisms to dismantle P2P networks and prosecute file sharers. MoreShow MoreRelatedThe Increase in Illegal Downloading666 Words   |  3 PagesRecently, Downloading films illegally has increased significantly . Nowadays, the number of people who download films is increasing for many reasons. One of the issues that should be considered and deterred in our societies is illegal downloading because it affects many aspects in this trend. This essay will focus on the reasons and it will contain a discussion about the effects of the increase in illegal downloading. Moreover, this essay is divided into three sections. 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