Young Goodman Brown And Faith Essays - Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown And Faith Perceptions of Faith in ?Young Goodman Brown? Throughout ones journey in life, our individual perceptions of faith in God, in mankind, and in ourselves, guide us along our path. In the absence of clarity of our faith, one is led to believe the norm is what proves to be popular within a society. Nathaniel Hawthorne's, ?Young Goodman Brown?, demonstrates to the reader, man's inherent attraction to evil, the intertwined depths of evil, and that a lack of understanding of faith; can not only destroy ones life, but also steal from the beliefs which binds us together in commonality. Even with a clear understanding of the Puritan attitude, the reader is left with the dilemma that seems to impose the idea, that faith in God alone is but a dogma in the absence of faith in and an understanding of humanity. Therefore, we resolve that it is not good enough to choose between good and evil; we must be all embracing of the doctrine of faith and forgiveness, so that we can function in a contributory way within our community. Is Young Goodman Brown's encountering with the Devil merely a test of his own faith? Or perhaps, is he simply intrigued by the mystique of evil forces that lie outside the realm of what he considers acceptable behavior in his Puritan times? ?With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose? (634). Through his writing Nathaniel Hawthorne is able to develop a distinct set of doctrine that existed within the mind of Goodman Brown. Thus, the reader can assume that one trait of Puritan Society is a lack of tolerance for forgiveness. It is no wonder that Puritanism is known for a somber outlook on life, and a tendency to be immovable. A Puritan Society might find it difficult to see perfection in it's own members, especially if they do not recognize their own tendency toward hypocrisy. Young Goodman Brown's perception of his faith abandons him because he lacks a clear understanding of his experience in the woods. So in his ignorance he simply continues to criticize others due to the events that have taken place in his misguided life. He resolves that those he had previously viewed as pious, are now hypocrites in his eyes. ?Men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice and suspected of horrid crimes? (640). It is clear that in the absence of the understanding of the freewill of mankind, Goodman Brown sees only immoral, sanctimonious, mischief-makers all around him. Thus, throughout the course of his life, Brown is overwhelmed with the burden of judging those around him. ?A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become? (642). Unfortunately, even though Goodman Brown's ability to withstand the allure of evil sustained him through his own perceptions of faith, he lost something he can never regain; his belief in the goodness of mankind. When faith is shaken, or lost, whether in religion as an institution, or in ourselves for not being as constant as we think others are being, we change somehow. Like losing one's virginity, when the mystery of the church is questioned, or made more real to us, like it was to Goodman Brown in the forest that night, we are never the same. With a loss of blind faith comes the realization of a world filled with the horrors we pray to rectify, only to realize that we ourselves are as guilty as anyone. Our salvation comes with a clear understanding of forgiveness and the communion of saints which enables each of us to pick up the pieces of our unsuccessful attempts at perfection and forge ahead in acceptance of a less idealistic coexistence.

Student High School Essay

Student High School Essay Student High School Essay Document A: Molly Elliot Seawell (ORIGINAL) It has often been pointed out that women could not, with justice, ask to legislate upon matters of war and peace, as no woman can do military duty; but this point may be extended much further. No woman can have any practical knowledge of shipping and navigation, of the work of trainmen on railways, of mining, or of many other subjects of the highest importance. Their legislation, therefore, would not probably be intelligent, and the laws they devised for the betterment of sailors, trainmen, miners, etc., might be highly objectionable to the very persons they sought to benefit. If obedience should be refused to these laws, who is to enforce them? The men? Is it likely they will? And if the effort should be made, what stupendous disorders would occur! The entire execution of the law would be in the hands of men, backed up by an irresponsible electorate which could not lift a finger to apprehend or punish a criminal. And if all the dangers and difficulties of executing the law lay upon men, what right have women to make the law? (pp. 31-32) But that woman suffrage tends to divorce, is plain to all who know anything of men and women. Political differences in families, between brothers, for example, who vote on differing sides, do not promote harmony. How much more inharmonious must be political differences between a husband and wife, each of whom has a vote which may be used as a weapon against the other? What is likely to be the state of that family, when the husband votes one ticket, and the wife votes another? (p. 113) Source: Excerpt from Molly Elliot Seawell, an anti-suffragist from Virginia who published the anti-suffrage book, The Ladies’ Battle, in 1911. Document B: Anti-Suffrage Newspaper in New York (ORIGINAL) It is the Suffragists whose ideal is the kitchenless house fed from a mechanical institutional centre. The main proportion of Suffragist writing and speaking is on this pots and pans pattern, simply a denunciation of housekeeping as degrading. It is the Suffragist theory that the woman's sphere in life should be the same as the man's that has condemned her to share with him what is so hideous a misfit in the miscalled education of our industrial classes, whose girls are all taught as if destined for literary rather than manual occupations, as if the National funds were collected to compel the training of a surplus of cheap short-hand typists for the office, and to compel a lack of expert housewives in the home. It is the Suffragists who are destroying the wholesome personal element in female life, by their doctrine of degradation in the washing of pots and pans for husband, father and son, while they demand the vote, and opportunity to serve the State, the husbands, fathers, and so ns of other people, with what? What service? An abstract service of legislation and administration, they reply: in fact all that barren "social service" which can be performed without the sweating of the brow, the soiling of a finger! Is it not clear how this hideous feminism is sapping our vitality as a nation? Is it too much to say that it is at the root of half the unhealth and disease of which to-day's unrest is symptomatic? There are many wealthy women who have espoused Suffragisim, and who, to promote it, do daily a very dangerous thing in preaching to working women that housework is degrading. And dangerous as is that direct denunciation of housework universal among Suffragists, of which the Woman's Labor League president's pots and pans speech is typical, there is

Woodrow Wilson 28th President of the United States

Woodrow Wilson 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilsons Childhood and Education: Born on December 28, 1856 in Staunton, Virginia, Thomas Woodrow Wilson soon moved to Augusta, Georgia. He was taught at home. In 1873, he went to Davidson College but soon dropped out due to health issues. He entered the College of New Jersey which is now called Princeton in 1875. He graduated in 1879. Wilson studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1882. He soon decided to go back to school and become an educator. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University. Family Ties: Wilson was the son of Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a Presbyterian Minister, and Janet Jessie Woodrow Wilson. He had two sisters and one brother. On June 23, 1885, Wilson married Ellen Louis Axson, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. She died in the White House while Wilson was president on August 6, 1914. On December 18, 1915, Wilson would remarry Edith Bolling Galt  at her home while he was still president. Wilson had three daughters by his first marriage: Margaret Woodrow Wilson, Jessie Woodrow Wilson, and Eleanor Randolph Wilson. Woodrow Wilsons Career Before the Presidency: Wilson served as a professor at Bryn Mawr College from 1885-88 and then as professor of history at Wesleyan University from 1888-90. He then became a professor of political economy at Princeton. In 1902, he was appointed President of Princeton University serving until 1910. Then in 1911, Wilson was elected as the Governor of New Jersey. He served until 1913 when he became president. Becoming the President - 1912: Wilson desired to be nominated for the presidency and campaigned for the nomination. He was nominated by the Democratic Party with Thomas Marshall as his vice president. He was opposed not only by incumbent President William Taft but also by Bull Moose candidate Theodore Roosevelt. The Republican Party was divided between Taft and Roosevelt which meant that Wilson easily won the presidency with 42% of the vote. Roosevelt had received 27% and Taft and won 23%. Election of 1916: Wilson was renominated to run for the presidency in 1916 on the first ballot along with Marshall as his Vice President. He was opposed by Republican Charles Evans Hughes. At the time of the election, Europe was at war. The Democrats used the slogan, He kept us out of war, as they campaigned for Wilson. There was much support, however, for his opponent and Wilson won in a close election with 277 out of 534 electoral votes. Events and Accomplishments of Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency: One of the first events of Wilsons presidency was the passage of the Underwood Tariff. This reduced tariff rates from 41 to 27%. It also created the first federal income tax after the passage of the 16th Amendment. In 1913, the Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve system to help deal with economic highs and lows. It provided banks with loans and helped smooth out business cycles. In 1914, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act was passed to help labor have more rights. It allowed important labor tools like strikes, pickets, and boycotts. During this time, a revolution was occurring in Mexico. In 1914, Venustiano Carranza took over the Mexican government. However, Pancho Villa held much of northern Mexico. When Villa crossed into America in 1916 and killed 17 Americans, Wilson sent 6,000 troops under General John Pershing to the area. Pershing pursued Villa into Mexico upsetting the Mexican government and Carranza. World War I began in 1914 when Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. Due to agreements made among  the European nations, many eventually joined the war. The Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria fought against the Allies: Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, Portugal, China, and Greece. America remained neutral at first but eventually entered the war in 1917 on the side of the allies. Two reasons were the sinking of the British ship Lusitania which killed 120 Americans and the Zimmerman telegram which revealed that Germany was trying to get an agreement with Mexico to form an alliance if the U.S. entered the war. America officially entered the war on April 6, 1917. Pershing led American troops into battle helping to defeat the Central Powers. An armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. The Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919 blamed the war on Germany and demanded huge reparations. It also created a League of Nations. In the end, the Senate would not ratify the treaty and would never join the League. Post-Presidential Period: In 1921, Wilson retired in Washington, D.C. He was very sickly. On February 3, 1924, he died of complications from a stroke. Historical Significance: Woodrow Wilson played a huge role in determining if and when America would get involved in World War I. He was an isolationist at heart who attempted to keep America out of war. However, with the Lusitania, the continued harassment of American ships by German submarines, and the release of the Zimmerman Telegram, America would not be held back. Wilson fought for the League of Nations to help avert another World War which won him the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.

Wal-Mart Capital Structure and Financial Analysis Essay

Wal-Mart Capital Structure and Financial Analysis - Essay Example Total Assets (Fixed + Current) = $27,638_ x 100 $120,223 = 22.9% Debt to Equity Ratio The debt to equity ratio measures the relationship between a company's debt capital and equity capital. It shows the percentage of a company's equity that has been financed by external debts. The debt-to-equity ratio for Wal-Mart has been calculated as: Debt-to-Equity Ratio = Total Debt Capital x 100 Total Equity Capital = $27,638 x 100 $49,396 = 55.95% CALCULATION OF WEIGHTED AVERAGE COST OF CAPITAL In the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) involves the calculation of separate items in the capital employed and then weighting the cost of each element by its proportion of the total capital employed. There are following factors in the Wal-Mart's total capital: Equity (Common Stock) Debt (Long-term Debts) $ % Of Total 4,311 Common Stock of $0.10 (par) 423m 1.75% Long-term Debt 23,669m 98.24% Total Capital Employed 24,092m 100% Cost of Equity The cost of equity estimates the cost of common and preferred stock. But for Wal-Mart, this calculation will not include preference stock because the company has not issued any preference shares. The analysis of Wal-Mart's annual report reveals that the company is expecting to pay $0.150 dividend per share to its common shareholders. For dividend growth, we assume it to be 10% annually. The cost of common share capital has been estimated with the help of following formula: Cost of Common Share Capital = (Next annual dividend / current market price) + annual dividend growth = ($0.150 per share / $50.49 per share) + 10% = 10.29% per annum. Cost of Debt The calculation of cost of debt will encompass all the interest bearing long-term debts of the company. According to the Wal-Mart's...There are following factors in the Wal-Mart's total capital: The cost of equity estimates the cost of common and preferred stock. But for Wal-Mart, this calculation will not include preference stock because the company has not issued any preference shares. The analysis of Wal-Mart's annual report reveals that the company is expecting to pay $0.150 dividend per share to its common shareholders. For dividend growth, we assume it to be 10% annually. The cost of common share capital has been estimated with the help of following formula: The calculation of cost of debt will encompass all the interest bearing long-term debts of the company. According to the Wal-Mart's annual report, the company's weighted average effective interest rate on long-term debt is 4.08% in 2005. The tax rate applicable to the company for the year is 34.7%. The cost of long-term debt has been estimated as: As analysed from the company's financial statements and the calculation of financial ratios, the capital structure of Wal-Mart has become evident. Wal-Mart has structured its capital funding in a way its external debts or borrowings do not exceed its total equity to a greater extent.

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Corporate finance - Essay Example As per Grossman and Hart, takeover and mergers can create synergies or savings to the companies involved. For instance, in 2006, Arcelor of Luxemburg was taken over Mittal Steel of Netherland thereby making Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steel company. Some of the compelling reasons for takeover or merger is to expand the market due to the threat from competitors or to penetrate into new markets, to achieve cost synergies like eliminating duplicate functions, to attain higher productivity and to attain increased efficiency from acquired assets or to attain increased revenues and to achieve a higher return on investments for shareholders. Revenue synergy can result in access to the new distribution system, attaining extensions of brand and opening up new geographic markets. A takeover or merger strategy should be employed only when the acquiring company is able to enhance its networth through the positive employment of assets of the acquired company. It was established by previous empirical studies that above-average return is earned by the shareholders of acquired companies whereas the share prices of acquiring company is likely to fall immediately after the acquisition or merger. For instance, when Myogen, a pharmaceutical company is taken over by another pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences, there was a decline of 10 percent in Gilead’s stock whereas there was about 50 percent appreciation in Myogen’s stock. (Hoskisson 2008, p. 244). In the majority of the cases, mergers and takeovers had negative results like cost overruns, desertion of key employees, and even may leave black holes in the restructured balance sheet. (Greenblat 2011). Theory Though the merger and the takeover are often employed synonymously, there exists a variance in their economic impact between a takeover and a merger. In takeover, the acquiring company is trying to acquire control over the targeted company by acquiring more than 50% of its shares. In contrast, in merger, as per Hampton (1989), there is a merger of two companies to form a new company. Takeover or merger theories can be explained as below: Agency Theory This theory states that when the share price of a company is low, and then it forces the managers to initiate action either to enhance the share price in the market by performing well or to be taken over by a leader in the industry (DePamphills 2010, p. 41). Efficiency Theory It is divided into two – differential efficient theory which tries to improve the efficiency of a company in the same industry by a dominant company and inefficient theory. As per Copeland and Weston (1988), differential efficiency theory offers an academic base for horizontal takeovers whereas inefficiency theory offers insight on conglomerate takeovers (Lee &Lee 2006, p. 543). Market Power Hypothesis This theory explains that companies combine together to enhance their monopoly authority to quote the prices of the product which is not sustainable at a cutthroat competitive market. However, there is very little empirical support is available for this hypothesis (DePamphills 2010, p. 12). Free Cash Flow Hypothesis It is identical to that of agency theory and as per Jensen (1986), if the cash flow is in excess of that need to finance all takeovers or mergers which have net present values if discounted with the specific cost of capital (Lee &Lee 2006, p

Monopolistic vs Oligopolistic Essay Example for Free

Monopolistic vs Oligopolistic Essay Monopolistic and Oligopolistic are pretty much the same except for the size of the manufacturing companies. In simple terms, a monopoly is where there is a single seller in the marketing industry and an oligopoly is where there is small group of sellers in the same field in marketing industries. When it comes to a monopolistic competition, this is where a market structure has a large number of sellers, each of which is relatively small and posse a very small market share. An oligopoly market is where there are fewer large producers who are present in the industry world and account for most of the output in the industry, there are many small firms but these few large firms dominate and have concentrated market shares. Oligopoly also has more barriers to entry than a monopolistic. I would say that Comcast the cable company is a Monopolistic competition in the market right now. The reason I say this, is because there is not much options for entertainment when it comes to cable. Comcast has made their name around the country, providing what other companies are not. Making them a monopoly amounts other companies. I would consider breakfast cereal companies an oligopoly because there are four breakfast cereal manufactures that I know of, Kellogg, Post, Quaker and General Mills. Because there are only four companies competing to make breakfast cereal, they are called an oligopoly. Whereas, only one company competing to provide cable TV to the customers, they are called monopoly.

Bush Gore :: essays research papers

 · ASHINGTON -- The storm over his campaign finance practices has thrust Al Gore into what his advisers concede is by far the most perilous moment of his political career, leaving his aides scrambling to contain the damage. The growing nervousness results from the announcement last week that Janet Reno, the attorney general, is reviewing whether the vice president's fund-raising activities may have been improper for such a high-ranking official. The inquiry could lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor. His troubles were only compounded this week by fresh disclosures that Gore may have been more immersed in fund raising than he has acknowledged, as well as the disclosure of memorandums suggesting that Gore could have known and should have known that some of his solicitations from the White House were not permitted on federal property. Mounting a drive to keep the fallout to a minimum, Gore's top aides and closest advisers around the country have begun holding conference calls every morning to plot strategy for reacting to the disclosures and, as one participant put it, "get information from outside the bunker" of the White House. While the 15- to 20-minute calls were described as businesslike, another person who takes part observed that some people on the line are always "jittery and over-reactive." The vice president's aides are so sensitive about the political consequences of the current allegations that they have made special efforts to try to root out anti-Gore leakers to the press in the White House. The controversy has also led to some finger-pointing among Gore's advisers over whether his office had been too slow at first to make public the details of his fund-raising practices and then had gone to the other extreme by releasing too many documents at a briefing last week. "Nothing like this has ever happened to the vice president during his career," said Roy Neel, an adviser to Gore for nearly two decades and his first chief of staff in the White House. "He hasn't had damage control to deal with anything of this order." A handful of recent surveys found that Gore's reputation has been tarnished by the controversy. In a Los Angeles Times poll published Friday, only 34 percent of the American public reported a favorable impression of the vice president, compared with 59 percent for President Clinton. Several of Gore's advisers said that while they had thought they could put the hearings behind them, they now believed that there was a strong possibility that Ms.