Dracula Reason vs. Rationality - 2158 Words

In Dracula written by Bram Stoker there is a constant battle between reason using superstition and rationality. Jonathan and Seward are both British men and subsequently express a more rational mindset. As the text continues and Dracula plays a larger role, the characters are forced to use a superstition to describe his role. By the end of the text, Jonathan and Seward use spiritual reasoning to defeat Dracula. Yet these characters use spiritual reasoning, scientific reason becomes the successor because throughout England, rationality is the more adopted method. Stoker uses these characters suggest that even though rationality is the greater successor, the spiritual ideas are still maintained. Rationality and superstition maintain†¦show more content†¦Van Helsing is from Denmark, which lies much further west, representing more spiritual ideas. Therefore, he is able to quickly root vampires as the cause of Lucy’s illness. On the other hand, Seward does not come to this conclusion and it becomes very difficult for him to comprehend Van Heilsin’s methods. Van Helsing buys garlic to hang throughout Lucy’s room. He explains how â€Å"I make pretty wreath and hang around your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes! They’re like the Lotus flower make your trouble forgotten. It smells like the waters of Lethe . and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought for in the Floridas†(120-121). Van Helsing does not follow along the English path of diagnosing her sickness and finding a cure that she could take. He completely follows the Eastern thought with mystical cures using garlic. He even draws the parallel to the fountain of youth or lotus flower, which are both completely irrational ideas. Dr. Seward does not follow Van Heising and is confused to see a fellow doctor abandon common methods practice and use garlic in a windowsill to cure Lucy. He said â€Å"well, Proffessor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no skeptic here, or he would say you are working a spell on a evil spirit† (121). Seward does not understand the spiritual reasoning because he thinks it is ludicrous that a spirit could be vampire or other undead creature could be

The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation Free Essays

They are amazing, they are unique and innocent. However, because of the devastating demoralization happening in the society today, they are the ones becoming the victims of the situation of the society today. Certainly, children are the ones who are becoming the main victims of the social changes occurring today. We will write a custom essay sample on The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation or any similar topic only for you Order Now It is undeniable that the situation plaguing the young ones today is indeed alarming, thus requiring attention from the authorities involved in the process of facing the said changes. The youth are the hope of today’s society. This line has long been recognized by many industrialized as well as developing countries worldwide. This is the primary reason why it is evident that government organizations are trying to invest their best possible available assets to the development of the young generation. However, not all of the members of the young generation actually get to have an access on the said programs. Most of them, who belong to the minority groups of the society, are the ones who are in need of these programs. Yet, they are the ones who have lesser access on the said governmental set-ups. As a result, young people who get charged with juvenile delinquency cases are increasing every year. The fact that they have nothing better to do than to simply stay at home or wander around in the stets, they become the target of numerous gangs that are encouraging youths to join them in their unlawful acts If not, many of these youths bring forth several chaotic movements that particularly disturb the entire community. These youths certainly need help. However, one tragic problem is being confronted by the present generation of children and youths. The personal development in general aspect of humanity is being hindered by the challenges of juvenile delinquency. Most of the youths are being misled by outside and detrimental influences such as vices manifesting in gambling, illegal drugs, and bad companies. Most of the youths nowadays are falling into the pitfalls of becoming addictive to drug intoxication, alcoholism, and smoking. Others are sacrificing their educational pursuit for personal development to influences of bad companies such as gangs and groupies resulting to violence and social aggression. In addition, most parts of the generations of youths and children nowadays are falling as victims of social violence such as bullying, gang aggression, rape, harassment, and other abuses. Thus, the children and youths of the present generations are being misled to the adversities of the juvenile delinquency. In a relative context of story-narration entitled Amazing Grace, as written by Jonathan Kozov, the situation of the society today that addresses the problems with the youth and the ways by which they are involved in the different issues of social downfall of morale. The story of Kozol, he portrayed the situation in a more actual picture that related the present problems with the problems of the children on one particular community that he visited for observation. Through this story, the author made it clear that even though children are innocent, it is undeniable that with the considerable influences that they receive from the society that they live in at present affects the behavior that they have towards the life that they are facing in the future. The worse case to consider is that most of the children who are negatively influenced by the social systems are becoming juvenile delinquents; true, with regards this factor of the truth, the rate of those individuals becoming involved in juvenile delinquency issues continue to increase every year. Nevertheless, society has already started moving to address this alarming social problem of juvenile delinquency with the youths and children. Concerned citizens and community groups have already established non-profit organization to aid recovering victims and ex-delinquent in the search for the proper way of developing themselves. These organizations have helped many youths and children of this present generation in the recuperation from the horror and adversities of the former delinquent life in the aim of realizing the full potential as significant and relevant individuals within the society aiming for their personal and humanities development in the future. Peer Pressure and the Youth Influences Seeing the sample narration that Jonathan Kozol presented through the context of the story on the â€Å"Amazing Grace†, it could be observed that he pointed out that there are several points of consideration needing attention with regards the capability of the entire society to influence the young minds of the younger generation trying to make the best out of their future does yet. (Kozol, 13) THE researchers felt that they had it all figured out. They had intently examined 200 children from their infancy through adolescence. They analyzed the parents, the home environment and the disposition of each child. Then they predicted which of these children would become happy adults. It seemed simple—a happy childhood under a pleasant family environment would produce a happy adult. After waiting till the children became 30 years of age, they re-interviewed them. Furthermore, as the children grow up, the young adults become more prone to different influences from the environment. The people that they deal with everyday become the source of the different values that they take in for themselves as they personally grow up. There are at least four major reasons why young people develop in the behavior that they grow up with. These four major dimensions of development could be noted as follows: †¢ The family and the parents: usually, the young children get the examples of acts from their parents which in turn they carry in themselves as they grow up. It is through this particular process that the young ones are able to comprehend with the impact that their parents are making on them as young adults. †¢ The Environment and the Society: As the young children grow older, the impact of the people living around them aside from their family members begins to leave an impact on their personality. True, the situation has been much more proved by the psychologists that the effect of the family and the society differ from each other. As for a fact, the percentage of effect that the society makes on the individual is far much higher than that of the effect of the family with development of the youngsters. †¢ The psychological need for acceptance: young ones aim to be accepted especially if they have the capacity of being recognized. This is the reason why they usually take sides on those who they seem are able to recognize their capabilities. †¢ The decision making system of the youngsters: They are usually deciding in different ways, most of the time, confusion gets in the way. This is the reason why it is very important that they are given fine attention as they are being assisted with the personal development difficulties that they are dealing with at present. To understand the four dimensions better, the diagram shall show the necessary illustration to explain better: How to cite The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, Papers

Are We More Friendly free essay sample

Modern society is packed with cutting-edge technology such as new communication devices. Due to such convenient apparatus, it is often said that people are brought closer and amicable than ever before. However, I believe that modern relationship is becoming more superficial and egocentric for two reasons: hidden identity and competition. To begin with, anonymity is prevalent in current society. In the past, majority of the conversations consist of face-to-face conversation and friendly non-verbal expressions. However, interaction among current people is not serious but ephemeral. Thus, people do not care for hurting other peoples feelings. They think that their rapport with others is transient and ostensible, so if they make mistakes, they can just move on to other person. For example, when I was chatting via MSN messenger, there was a guy who suddenly wanted to have a small talk with me. I accepted his offer because I was curious about the unknown guy. We will write a custom essay sample on Are We More Friendly? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page From the beginning of our conversation, he spewed up nasty foul words to me. I felt humiliated so I just ignored him and exited that chatting window. If he had known me in person, he could not have done this shameful and rude demeanor. Also, I must have asked him for his wrongdoings if he were my friend. This shows that people are not afraid of being mean to others as they know their identity is not revealed and will not get punished by their behaviors. In addtion, modern society is severely competitive society. This is becasue current generation is fully equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Therefore, if a person does not strive hard enough, he or she will definitely fall behind and not be able to survive in the race to the apogee of the social status, salaries and self-actualization. This overwhelming competition deters people from trusting each other and cooperation. For instance, when I entered a company as an intern, I expected that people all around me would be willing to help me out and teach me some skills. However, people saw me with wary eyes and felt threaten by me. As I am a young and promising applicant, they considered me as an enemy who might take over their position. Hence, I was malginalized and felt isolated. This implies that too much competition causes people to behave in apathetic and rude manners. To sum up, I firmly believe that previous generations are more kind and tender because of revealed identity and distrust amongst people. All in all, we should reconsider our relationship.