A Roman Christmas Carol

After the visits from the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Present, Dr. Mark Carleton had come to a realization that his hostile tendencies and disregard for expression of individuality amongst the teenagers had done nothing but dug him into a gargantuan pit of guilt and remorse. While with the Ghost of Christmas past, Dr. Carleton reflected on his childhood, and how, even in his own home, he was required to wear nothing but khaki pants, a purple oxford and a frumpy, navy blue blazer. His father saw it as a sign of maturity, while Dr. Carleton thought of it as sheer torture. The prohibition on wearing clothes he liked affected him in such a negative manner, that he promised to forever make children wear the same uniform.

After a flashback on his horrid past, another spectre arrives. The Ghost of Christmas Present, drenched in his own tears from witnessing the despicable wardrobe to which the students are limited, takes Dr. Carleton to Moser dorm to let him see the distraught among the students and flood of tears in the hallway – all of which is caused, merely, by the uniforms which they are forced to wear. Dr. Carleton sheds one tear. He understands the pain through which the students are going. He realizes that such treatment is completely unfair.

After a few minutes, the halls collapse, and Dr. Carleton is a white, padded room. His arms are tightly strapped to his chest, and there are wrinkles on his face; not the wrinkles from age, but those that occur when one is endlessly scowling. Over the years, after hearing endless complaints about the uniforms, he went utterly insane, and was thrown in an insane asylum. This…is where I come in.

“Do you understand what has happened to you?” asks an echoing, feminine voice. “No, no, no. I never intended on this,” replies Dr. Carleton, nearly having an anxiety attack, “I just wanted to release my own pain.” A man comes in and holds Dr. Carleton down, holds up a massive syringe, and gives him some sleeping medicine. When he wakes up, he is in nothing but his old uniform; the uniform is, in no way, altered to fit him, but instead, fitted to his childhood self. Immediately, he is struck with total embarrassment and shame. “I will never, EVER, enforce this kind of torture upon students again. I now remember how I had wished to get just a couple of dress days, but no. That’s not enough for these children. They deserve to express themselves.” And, henceforth, the students would wear the clothes they chose, within reason, of course.

Dr. Carleton finally wakes up, with a cold sweat, panting from terror. It is this dream that will change his decisions, and it is this dream that will change our school.

Dickens Mimicry

Waking up to a frigid breeze, blowing through a cracked open window, with a particularly strong aroma of butterscotch in the air, was the perfect morning. There had never been a more jocund six year old girl to have walked the earth. A New Jersey winter, as cold as ice, with snow piled three feet high, which encompassed the houses, provided an adventure in and of itself. The sheer joy of Christmas was unimaginable for a light-hearted little girl, who had never fully comprehended any true feelings which Christmas brought. Though terrified at the mere thought of Santa Claus, it was nearly impossible to resist dashing through the halls to see what gifts Santa, and mom and dad had brought. The Christmas tree was flooded with gifts of all shapes and sizes. Looking to the left, looking to the right, looking directly forward – presents surrounded the living room. Nothing could bring more happiness, except, of course, the early presents, Max and Heidi, the new additions to the family (German shepherd puppies) running into the room to greet everyone. It was difficult not to notice the brownies and cookies missing from the table, with a note from Santa, addressing each of us, by name, and telling us how good we had all been this year. The note was on a yellow sheet of notebook paper, almost exactly like the paper I always drew on in mommy’s office. Without one real thought on the subject, I skipped straight towards the tree, where Santa had placed his gifts for us, and sat on my new pink and white Barbie four wheeler, with a horn and car noises. When we had each opened our fifty-something gifts, my brothers and I immediately sprinted outside, into the three feet high snow, trudged through to the road, and rode around on our cool, new automobiles. The road was slippery from the frozen-over gravel, and the air was dry, from the freezing winds, but we didn’t care. It was Christmas. I was six, Iain was three, and Jacob was two. What care could we have had when it was Christmas? None come to mind.

Essay - First Trimester Exam

A social hierarchy is a system which groups classes based on their importance in society, with an apex at the top, representing a central figure of power. Excluding parts of Asia, society views hierarchies negatively and as unfair to those in lower classes. Such views were scarce when Paradise Lost and Tartuffe were written. John Milton, an english epic poet, wrote Paradise Lost with the intent of "justifying God's ways to men." He believed that rulers should justify their right to rule, so he did so, himself, for God, so that he would not contradict himself. Tartuffe, on the other hand, provides the unexposed truth of people in the various classes during seventeenth century France.

John Milton was born in 1608, when England was basically ruled by the King and the Church. His father was disowned, simply because he converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. Milton was devout in his religion, but spoke out against Charles, and, subsequentially, Charles was put to death. After his death, Oliver Cromwell appointed himself as a Lord Protectorate in a Puritanical Government, rather than a monarchy. The vast change in society worked out positively for Milton; he was a puritan and ended up working for Cromwell. After Cromwell's death, though, Milton had to hide, and the monarchy was restored, with Charles II as king. With Charles in power, the Anglican Church, or the main church of England, divided into three sects: High Anglican, Moderate Anglican, and the Puritan/Presbyterian sect.

Milton saw the church as an obstacle to one's true faith, so he believed that the church should have been abolished, all together. This was after he disconnected himself from the church in 1650. Though the division of the church began to meet Milton's wishes, it wasn't sufficient. Paradise Lost is John Milton's interpretation of the first few sections of the Bible, and the massive changes which England was going through had a massive influence on him while writing it.

Moliere's Tartuffe is a satire, based on religious hypocrisy in seventeenth century France. Written in 1669, almost precisely thirty years prior to the Age of Enlightenment, Tartuffe is highly controversial compared to what society has believed for centuries. The Pre-Enlightenment Era was based on tradition, faith, and supernatural laws. The concensus of the general public was that God was the only explanation for anything and that religious figures were holy. Aside from religion, politics followed tradition as well. Members of the clergy were supposedly the most intelligent and superior, overall. Though politics and religion are seemingly diverse, seventeenth century France combined them in order to keep politics and religion ruling the country, just as England had tried to accomplish.

Tartuffe provides sundry examples of figures that misrepresent the basic idea of their respective classes. Orgon, for instane, is a member of the clergy, yet he is possibly one of the dumbest men ever, despite the fact that he's merely a fictional character. He is duped by a so-called noble, Tartuffe, who is supposed to be saintly in every manner, when in reality, he is not. Tartuffe's religious hypocrisy is the prominent source of comedy throughout the play. Mocking religion and using it for comedic purposes was highly offensive in seventeenth century France. Society strongly disliked Moliere after the publication of his play. Its performance didn't cease until King Louis XIV was finally convinced to ban it.

A social hierarchy, though typically viewed politically, consists of all of the main sociological issues which influence literature: politics, religion and gener roles. All three sociological issues end up playing into one another in some form or fashion.

Vocabulary Story - First Trimester Exam

"What's wrong, Gertrude," asked Agatha, a devout Christian and strong believer of abstinance. "No, no, no. Nothing. It's just...uhhh...nevermind. Nothing is wrong," replied Gertrude, now beginning to recoil. Agatha knew that something was wrong; she had to find a way to elicit a confession from Gertrude. During the night, after Gertrude had fallen asleep, Agatha decided to rummage through her belongings. In Gertrude's book bad, Agatha found a pre-calculus text book, a couple of Hello Kitty spiral-bound notebooks, and a gorilla action figure. Agatha pondered, "A gorilla? These are the largest of all the anthropoid apes. They're terrestrial and vegetarian, and they are of west equatorial Africa and the Kivu highlands. Good thing it's only an action figure." While placing the toy back into Gertrude's book bag, Agatha discovered a not, folded up and torn in places. It read:

"Dearest Gertrude,
How are you? It's been a while. Well, I'll cut straight to the point - last weekend was horrible. I think our choices are soon to hinder our once laudable and chaste relationship. Our actions would be considered illicit, seeing as I'm 18 and you're 12. That minuscule factor never stood as an affliction in the past, but now, all I do is cry about my desregard for decency of speech, dress and behavious. I'm lacking the modesty I once had. And in today's world, who's modest? Such a characteristic is scarce, now-a-days. My immense and endless dolor has caused me to develop this horrid doughnut infatuation. You know? Doughnuts are so great. They're these small cakes of sweetened or, sometimes, unsweetened dough fried in deep fat, typically in the shape of a ring, or when prepared with a filling, a ball. They're absolutely divine. They provide just the solace I need. In case you don't know what solace means, they console me; the doughnuts comfort me and lessen the grief. I wish we had set up a conference, and discussed the situation together before taking part in such insolence. My parents threatened to tell yours, but I precluded their intentions. I couldn't let them expose that information. I was terrified that your family would overreact and repudiate you due to your actions. I suppose living in a convent can act perniciously at times; maybe not physically, but mentally and emotionally. Well, I guess that's all for now.

Kindest regards,
Your loving daughter, Gertrude.

Thanks for proving my initial belief that you were nothing but nosey and invasive. You tried to hide it through your subtle sweetness and caring act."

When Agatha was finished, the letter spontaneously combusted and Gertrude was gone.

European Populations' Opinions on Immediate Colonization of Africa

The intentions of European countries, when rapidly colonising Africa, were political and economic, for the most part, but were presented as based prominently on morality. Initially, Europe believed that power over African territories would provide an increase in political power and economic status. Such beliefs were semi-true at first, but as time passed, colonial power over Africa became the focal point of European leaders' lives.

Opinions on colonising Africa varied vastly throughout European populations; there weren't merely two groups agreeing or disagreeing, but instead, various points of view on the matter. Some people looked at colonising Africa as a step towards European progression, while others found it morally unsound. Others, still finding the imperialist takeovers wrong, had reasons aside from moral value; if the government focused on Africa, their attention was taken away from their own country and its inhabitants. European families would be ignored, when they should be the center of their countries' attention when referring to economy and politics.

To this day, their is a strong diversity within perspectives on how our government goes about fixing problems. The first attack on Iraq, for example (Duncan 12/4/08), elicited many different view points; some of our population saw it as the right way to clearly convey a message to the Iraqi population, when others believed that the attack would only initiate more conflict and provoke chaos, which, in turn, was completely true. History has a pattern; no matter what time period or era, leaders think in a similar manner and use parallel tactics. Therefore, I would believe that the way the population thinks on such matters would not have changed too incredibly.