Early America essays

Early America essays America. No other word in any language sparks such a passion of energy in people. Why is this? Is it because of the prosperity that the United States is associated with? Maybe, it is the idea of complete freedom. Most people in less fortunate countries dream about a life in a new land. Most often America is the land which pops into their heads. If people in less fortunate countries dream of a new life in America, why has their been a decline of patriotism? Quite possibly it is the lack of education, in the history of our fine country. People have forgotten why we live in a free country, or how our country came to be. Possibly it is the fact that since we no longer realize the overwhelming odds we faced in the revolution, or the matter of why we succeeded from Britain. People take this country for granite. Two authors, Howard Zinn, and Thomas A. Baily have not forgotten why we broke away. These men have similar opinions on the social, political, and revolutionary origins of our country. North and South America were colonized by modern European countries. The way these countries interacted was the basis for society in Colonial America. For example, Spain influenced the colonial times by introducing slavery through the Native Americans. Because of Spains introduction of slavery, it became a way of life in fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth century America. Baily and Zinn both agree that Colonial America was directly influenced socially by the mixing of different cultures from the immigrants. Society was an important factor in colonial America....colonial society was not democratic and certainly not equalitarian; it was dominated by men who had money enough to make others work for them. And: Few of these men were descended from indentured servants, and practically none had themselves been of that class. Here, Zinn gives an example of how society worked....

Euphemisms for Death

Euphemisms for Death Euphemism is especially frequent, says linguist John Algeo, when we must come face to face with the less happy facts of our existence. Here we consider some of the verbal tranquilizers employed to avoid dealing head-on with death. Despite what you may have heard, people rarely die in hospitals. Unfortunately, some patients do expire there. And according to hospital records, others experience therapeutic misadventures or negative patient-care outcomes. However, such mishaps cant be nearly as disappointing as the patient who has failed to fulfill his wellness potential. Most of us, I imagine, would rather die than let down the side in this fashion. Well, perhaps not die exactly. We might be willing to pass on, like dinner guests who take a pass on dessert. Or depart, as we should after a night out. (Theyre no longer with us, our hosts will say.) Unless, of course, weve had a bit too much to drink, and then we might just end up lost or asleep. But perish the thought. In the article Communication About Death and Dying, Albert Lee Strickland and Lynne Ann DeSpelder describe how one hospital worker tiptoed around the forbidden word. One day, as a medical team was examining a patient, an intern came to the door with information about another patients death. Knowing that the word death was taboo and finding no ready substitute, the intern stood in the doorway and announced, Guess whos not going to shop at Wal-Mart anymore. Soon, this phrase became the standard way for staff members to convey the news that a patient had died.Dying, Death, and Bereavement, ed. by Inge Corless et al. Springer, 2003 Because strong taboos surround the subject of death in our culture, countless synonyms for dying have evolved over the years. Some of those synonyms, such as the gentler terms suggested above, are regarded as euphemisms. They serve as verbal tranquilizers to help us avoid dealing head on with harsh realities. Our reasons for using euphemisms are varied. We may be motivated by kindnessor at least politeness. For example, when speaking of the deceased at a funeral service, a minister is far more likely to say called home than bit the dust. And to most of us, resting in peace sounds more comforting than taking a dirt nap. (Note that the opposite of a euphemism is a dysphemism- a harsher or more offensive way of saying something.) But euphemisms arent always employed with such solicitude. A substantive negative outcome reported at a hospital may reflect a bureaucratic effort to disguise an interns blunder. Likewise, in wartime a government spokesperson may refer abstractly to collateral damage rather than announce more candidly that civilians have been killed. Euphemisms, Death and Mortality [E]uphemism cannot cancel the reality of death and mortality, says Dorothea von MÃ ¼cke in an essay on German writer Gotthold Lessing. Nonetheless, it can prevent the sudden confrontation, the accidental, unprotected encounter with death as the real, as decomposition and undifferentiation (Body and Text in the Eighteenth Century, 1994). Euphemisms serve as reminders that communication is (among other things) an ethical activity. Strickland and DeSpelder elaborate on this point: Listening carefully to how language is used provides information about the speakers attitudes, beliefs, and emotional state. Becoming aware of the metaphors, euphemisms, and other linguistic devices that people use when talking about dying and death allows for greater appreciation of the wide range of attitudes toward death and promotes flexibility in communication. Theres no doubt that euphemisms contribute to the richness of language. Used thoughtfully, they can help us avoid hurting peoples feelings. But when used cynically, euphemisms can create a haze of deceptions, a layer of lies. And this is likely to remain true long after weve bought the farm, cashed in our chips, given up the ghost, and, as now, reached the end of the line.