ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird , originally published in 1960, readers are introduced to Atticus Finch and his family as he works to defend an innocent black man in a southern town. Briefly, the story is that of a small-town lawyer (Atticus Finch) who is hired to defend a black man of the community who is accused of raping a white woman as told from the innocent viewpoint of the lawyer’s 9-year-old daughter, Scout. The setting and characters take on numerous aspects of Lee’s earlier life as the daughter of a lawyer and reflect the infamous Scottsboro Case which occurred when she was five. In the real-life case of 1931, nine black men were accused of raping two white women. As the trials dragged on and five of the nine men were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, it became more and more apparent that the women had lied causing many to consider the sentences to be motivated entirely by racial prejudice (Johnson, 1994). In Lee’s story, Atticus proves the black man is innocent of all charges while implicating that any damage done was caused by the girl’s abusive father, but the defendant is found guilty anyway by the all-white jury. In the meantime, the children have made friends with their eccentric mentally handicapped neighbor, Boo Radley, who has spent the majority of his life imprisoned by his parents in the house next door. Feeling shamed by the revelations of the trial, the father of the raped girl determines to murder Atticus’ children in retaliation but is instead killed in the dark by the mentally handicapped eccentric who has been keeping an eye out for the children. Although the innocent black man is killed while attempting to break out of prison when he might have gone free had the case proceeded to a higher court, Atticus and the town’s sheriff conjure a story about the death of the evil father that leaves no suspicion of foul play on the part of the eccentric, keeping him out of the court system completely. While the story can be seen as having a pessimistic outlook for the future, coming out just as the Civil Rights Movement was heating up, this paper will show how the story is essentially optimistic that things were about to change. That Atticus devoutly believes in the ability of the law to see that the right thing is done as the story opens is ev
Introduction Social justice is defined as fairness with respect to the distribution of resources, opportunities, and benefits within society. In other words, individuals are expected to achieve their societal role expectations and obtain the due privileges from different institutions in society. The basic institutions are health care facilities, education, security, and other general public institutions. In this paper, the social problem to be discussed is education with close reference to Huguenot High school and its needs to encourage students to transition to college after completing high school education. Huguenot is part of the Richmond Public Schools system based in Richmond, Virginia, with most of its population being African American. Richmond is one of the cities in the United States struggling to stem the tide of a deteriorating number of students transitioning from high school to college education. More African American students enroll in Huguenot every year with a dream of gaining relevant skills and enhance their lot in the US. Unfortunately, African American students are increasingly doing poorly, lagging behind, or even dropping out of school, as opposed to their white peers in other schools in the US (Melton 219). Partly, the education system and policies in the US have been blamed for various social injustices contributing to these disproportionalities. Ryan describes education as both the basis and the unifying factor towards a justice society (13). From this perspective, the overarching objective of Huguenot is to prepare students to become productive within society. However, in a bid to understand and realize this essential objective of education, it is fundamental to evaluate how it is attained. Education systems should embrace values such as cultural and racial tolerance, accountability, equality for all, and inclusive participation in decision-making (New and Merry 206). In a bid to address this issue, this paper will explore the situation in the Huguenot high school to establish some of the social factors that may be hindering success amongst students in Richmond. Factors contributing to the social problem Despite going through the high school learning process, students are not guaranteed success or rather their qualifications may not match their expectations. In Huguenot, a number of issues are adding to this social problem. For instance, poor administrative strategies, inadequacy of learning facilities, poor skill development techniques, poor handling of students welfare, and lack of strategies to involve the community in school development affairs among others. In addition, stereotyped
Introduction There is hardly any society that would be composed of people belonging to only one ethnicity. Usually, the representatives of different races and nationalities enter countries that are not their native, adding diversity to the homogeneous people of that state. However, irrespective of where one lives, cultural heritage and traditions are highly crucial for everyone. Even after settling in a foreign country, people tend to support their own values and combine them with those of the new location. Main body I was born and raised in India, so this country’s traditions occupy a rather significant place in my life. I am thirty-four years old, and I have two siblings: an elder sister aged thirty-seven and a younger brother aged twenty-two. Our family may be characterized as belonging to a middle-class. My mother and father, who are sixty-nine and seventy, respectfully, had moderate-income upon completing higher education. Everyone in the family has a traditional sexual orientation, and no one has disabilities. As children, we were raised in an atmosphere of love. At the same time, our parents taught us to be respectful toward older people and national culture. We all believe in and follow the Hindu religion, which worships Krishna as the highest deity. Our family is highly spiritual, and we always observe the national holidays of India. One of the most important ideas of Hinduism is karma, the concept which presupposes that there is a close association between one’s past actions and present well-being. Also, we believe in reincarnation: the idea that after death, one’s soul reappears in a different shape and body. Depending on one’s karma, this may be the body of good or bad nature. In Hinduism, we have high and low realms in which the person’s soul exists between reincarnations. The aspect that makes me most proud of my cultural heritage is that no matter how far away from our native country we are, we can always find an opportunity to gather and practice our religion. I know many Indian families living in the USA, and we frequently meet to celebrate some holidays and offer any help to one another. I think that this feeling of belongingness is what makes me happy about being Indian. While I support my culture’s values, I never miss an opportunity to learn something about other nations’ traditions. Before moving to the USA, I heard much about this country’s cultural background. I learned that its culture was primarily Western, but it had also been affected by a variety of social and cultural features brought to it by numerous immigrants. The USA’s religion is known to be highly diverse, the majo
After the collapse of the largest country in the world, the USSR, covering almost half of the continent, with the regime performing within this country, people tend to analyze the mistakes, which were made by the authorities of the country. Their rejection and disapproval of the socialistic regime led to the ignorance and misunderstanding of two, for the first sight, seemingly equal concepts. The two political philosophies, namely socialism, and communism are more often than not being totally confused by people. But it is necessary to understand that the aspects upon which they rest are quite different. These philosophies seek to achieve different goals, and the tasks, with the help of which they do it, are also different. While socialism is a claimed inevitable stage or step to reach communism, communism is the last instance; the best political regime that might have been on Earth might be on Earth and might be functioning on Earth in the future, considered in the theory of Marx and Engels. It can be compared with nothing, except perhaps with a “political nirvana” – the state, which enables one to get free from all the previous oppressing systems, starting with slavery and finishing with socialism and including it. When communism is set as a functioning regime, there is nothing left to make up, as communism claims to be the Earth Paradise. Thus, it is obvious that socialism and communism are two different matters, which were to perform different functions and to achieve different goals, even though somehow related. The interrelation of these two political philosophies seems very natural as one result from another. Namely, communism follows capitalism. To better understand the relation of these systems, it is necessary to refer to Hegel’s thesis – anti-thesis – synthesis logic. According to his philosophical views, he followed a new straight logic, including dialectics or, in other words, development. Much of his philosophical studies relate to the history of humanity. Thus, according to his statement, The antiquity is a thesis, while the Middle Ages are anti-thesis, consequently, the New Time is synthesis, where the thesis is a statement, anti-thesis – its denial, and synthesis is an identity. Both Capitalism and Communism are not related either to thesis or anti-thesis. Consequently, they are to represent synthesis, so going by the definition, they should be related. Being guided by their denial of everything related to thesis (Antiquity) or anti-thesis (The Middle Ages), socialism and communism sought some new logic, new values for people. From this point, 98 material values appeared. In this cause, so
Looking for critical analysis of The Story of an Hour ? The essay on this page contains the summary of Kate Chopin’s short story, its interpretation, and feminist criticism. Find below The Story of an Hour critique together with the analysis of its characters, themes, symbolism, and irony. Introduction “The Story of an Hour” was written by Kate Chopin in 1984. It describes a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who lost her husband in an accident but later the truth came out, and the husband was alive. This essay will discuss the story of an hour with emphasis on plot and development of the protagonist; Mrs. Mallard who goes through contrasting emotions and feelings that finally kill her on meeting the husband at the door and yet he had been said to be dead. The Story of an Hour Summary Kate Chopin narrated the story of a woman Mrs. Mallard who had a health problem of the heart. One day the husband was mistaken to have died in an accident that occurred. Due to her heart condition, her sister had to take care while breaking the bad news to her. She was afraid that such news of her husband’s death would cost her a heart attack. She strategized on how to break the news to her sister bit by bit, which worked perfectly well. Mrs. Mallard did not react as expected, but instead, she started weeping, just once. She did not hear the story as many women have had the same with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. (Woodlief 2) Mrs. Mallard wondered how she would survive without a husband. She went to one room and locked herself alone to ponder what the death of her husband brought to her life. She was sorrowful that her husband had died like it is human to be sad at such times. This is someone very close to her but only in a short span of time was no more. This sudden death shocked her. Her sister Josephine and friends Mr. Richard and Louise are also sorry for the loss (Taibah 1). As she was in that room alone, she thought genuinely about the future. Unexpectedly, she meditated on her life without her husband. Apart from sorrow, she started counting the better part of her life without her husband. She saw many opportunities and freedom to do what she would like to do with her life. She believed that the coming years would be perfect for as she only had herself to worry about. She even prayed that life would be long. After some time, she opens the door for Josephine, her sister who had a joyous face. They went down the stairs of the house, and Mr. Mallard appears as he opens the gate. Mr. Mallard had not been involved in the accident and could not understand why Josephine was crying. At the sight of her husband, Mr. Mallard, His wife Mrs. Mallard collapsed to death. The doctors said that she died because of heart disease. The Story of an Hour Analysis Mrs. Mallard was known to have a heart problem. Richard, who is Mr. Mallard friend, was the one who learned of Mr. Mallard’s dea
Introduction Imperialism refers to the process whereby a country expands its economic, political, and social power through military conquest. Others perceive imperialism as the exploitation of the indigenous communities whereby a foreign power takes advantage of its advancements in technology and civilization to impose policies and rules to the locals whose forms of life are simple. Such communities exist in simplistic forms whereby there modes of production are traditional. Britain is one of the countries that took advantage of its level of economic and technological developments to invade other states and impose its policies on them. Imperialism first took place when British colonialists invaded the American continent and forced the locals to support their administrations. However, the American Revolution ended the British dominance in the region, forcing the British to look for other alternatives owing to the growing population and the development of industries (Eldridge 36). The American Revolution opened the eyes of British colonialists who noted that mercantilism was an ineffective economic policy since it could easily be affected by political currents. In 1846, the Corn Law repealed all barriers of trade, which opened up the parts of the United Kingdom. United Kingdom was capable of distributing artificial products to most parts of the continent such as Germany and France. Since its dominance was wading, the British government suggested that the state had to reignite its glory by invading other parts of the world, particularly the Asian region and Africa. Between 1950 and 1914, Britain dominated the world because it had a strong source of labor and a stable market. It is noted that new imperialism was characterized by some features, which will be discussed in this article. Features of New Imperialism In 1842, the British invaded China and imposed its policies, including forcing the locals to consume foreign goods. In 1858, new imperialism was felt by even the powerful states such as Japan, which led to the readjustment of regimes. In Japan, the Meiji Period was reinvented whereby the British had full control of production and consumption of goods. All major industries and organizations were controlled by the British during the Meiji Period in Japan. It is therefore noted that the British economic might declined due to the emergence of others, which forced it to engage in imperialism. One of the characteristics of the new imperialism was that Britain was no longer a major economic and political power in the world politics due to the emergence of other powers such as the United States and Germany. The power of Britain to manufacture finished goods went down after the emergence of Germany and the United States. These new powers gave British firms tough competition
Images could be termed as representation or artifact that represents actual objects in reality or thoughts as represented by the mental images in the individual’s mind. Images generally in the modern world are represented in two dimensions and recently three dimensional images, which has become very famous. Writing and reading has been in existence since the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Writing is capturing the events or thoughts on script for conveying information while reading involves the formal contemplation of the materials in written form. Writing and reading go hand in hand and complement one another. An image can be used to represent or summarize a long story. In the contemporary world almost all written materials like books and journals have an image on their cover page to represent what one expects in the text. Images could also be used to advertise and catch the attention of the potential buyers of a certain written literature. One picture can be used by different authors to write volumes of books on the topic represented. The Omayra Sanchez images could provoke diverse thoughts in the mind of individuals who look at it. As one woman comments, it reminds her of her ailing daughter and the struggles in the world. Another person is reminded of his early childhood and the sentimental image of his father lingers in his mind. This shows how one image can be used by different individuals to refer to different experiences and expectations. The image also acts as a historical evidence of the occurrences of the time, 1985. In the ancient times even before writing was developed, ancient people used to represent their activities, emotions and major phenomena through paintings and drawings. Most of these have been found in caves where the ancient humans are said to have stayed. Through these images, historians, psychologists, archeologists among other scholars have been able to study the way the ancient people lived, their economic activities, their family relations, their main dish, and level of civilization and ended up producing volumes of books based on these images. In the modern world images are used all over the place. For a story to sell or hit, there must be an accompanying images on the topic. People tend to understand a topic more when there are images. Social networks provide the option of inserting an image; this enables users to understand each other better. Events happening in the world are captured on camera then posted and shared on the web for all to understand the scenarios. Events happening in the Revolutions in the Arab world are being constantly posted on web conseq
Introduction Recreational drugs are all substances consumed to create or increase recreational experience and they include alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, and nicotine among others (Santlofer 2013). Most nations consider some of these drugs to be very dangerous to individuals and society and this explains why they have tough penalties for those that produce, sell, buy, or use them (Person 2011). This essay examines the positive aspects of legalizing the utilization of recreational drugs. Nations have strict policies that ensure their citizens live comfortable lives but most of these regulations are neither respected nor followed. For instance, driving while using mobile phones is a traffic offense but everyday motorists are apprehended and fined for committing this crime. This means that laws are not adequate measures of curbing drug abuse in a population. America is suffering from illegal arms and drug trafficking because there are no reasonable rules to guide these issues (Lebate 2013). Therefore, there is a need to establish regulatory mechanisms that will ensure recreational drugs are not abused. This means that they should be legalized and guidelines offered to control consumption rates. Also, nations spend billions in anti-drug campaigns, rehabilitation, and tracking drug traffickers (Siegel 2011). This is a big shame to taxpayers that expect their governments to provide quality health care services, high standard roads, security, and equip learning institutions with adequate facilities. This money should be channeled to other productive projects that will benefit society and not misused in chasing drug lords and other related criminals (Santlofer 2013). Legalizing these drugs means that there will be fewer expenses in pursuing criminals, rehabilitating them, and treating diseases related to drug abuse. Therefore, there is no need for governments to spend billions in managing issues of substance abuse when they can legalize recreational drugs and save this money. Human rights groups argue that recreational drugs are the greatest impediments to learning because they affect the development of children (Lebate 2013). However, this is a misconstrued belief that ignores the presence of other serious issues that affect learning. Some children come from families that experience constant fights, discrimination, and other forms of abuse. This lowers their concentration in class and reduces their productivity. These issues are never given serious attention like how they do with drugs yet they have severe implications on learning. People should stop assuming that legalizing recreational drugs will affect learning and child development. People have rights and freedoms that should not be violated by the state or anybody. This means that there should be no rules that dictate what people should do provided this does not affect the lives of oth
Dalit theology emerged in India before colonialism whereby members of the outcaste were considered outsiders and were not supposed to mingle freely with other individuals in society. In fact, outcastes were oppressed and subjugated because they were expected to perform degrading jobs, such as laborers and cleaners in the village (Oommen, 2000). They were excluded from visiting the temples and were not allowed to use public facilities since they were impure. With the advent of Christianity in India, Dalit theology got its way into churches mainly because the poor believers were often discriminated. Dalit theology looks at the ways in which the poor in society could realize their objectives. This is achieved through the fight for human rights and freedom. In India, the Dalits constituted a significant number, which was an approximated two-hundred million people. Dalit Christians base their faith on the teachings of Luke. In particular, they utilize verse four where Jesus talked about spreading the good news to the disadvantaged in society. Lutheran Church is one of the churches operating in Africa that supports Dalit theology. Among other countries that support Dalit theology, Sudan and South Africa are the most notable because the oppressed individuals in these countries feel that the society has neglected them for long. In Sudan, the Lutheran Church supports the activities of the Dalits through programs aiming at uplifting the living standards of the poor. The Sudanese supporting or subscribing to the ideas of Dalit theology oppose the existing social structure because it does not favor them. In South Africa, blacks formed organizations that opposed the colonial rule and the apartheid policy because they were always in the receiving end (Rowland, 2007). Dalit theology supported the beliefs and the struggles of the black people in S. Africa during apartheid regime. Mary Grey suggested in her works that feminist theology is a form of movement that aims at liberating women from all forms of injustices in society. The movement is present in almost all religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism. Feminist theology looks at the ways through which the scriptures could be interpreted to suit the interests of women in society (Rowland, 2007). For instance, feminist theology construes the scripture in a way that would give both genders equal opportunities to participate actively in the affairs of the church. In many religions, the principles of religion are interpreted to mean that men have dominant positions and roles to play, which is not always the case. In this regard, women are socialized to believe that their role is restricted to motherhood, as well as performing some degrading roles in the church. In each religion, women have particular concerns, which are contra