The United States Of America - 1603 Words

The United States of America: Land of the free! Home of the brave! A place where opportunities are endless and equality is everlasting. Speaking on behalf of others in my generation, I believe it is safe to say many of us have seen a lot of selfish and outrageous acts develop drastically. From white cops killing innocent black citizens, to people supporting the evil Donald Trump, to ostracizing ourselves from the LGBT community and looking down upon them, it is quite obvious that the saying â€Å"America: the greatest country in the world† isn’t so accurate. We are naà ¯ve to the destruction that occurs daily and have a habit of sugarcoating our mistakes. The matter of the truth is: our generation is distorted and unethical, which is why in 200†¦show more content†¦If that alone doesn’t support the fact that the shootings that occur frequently in our society partake in the malicious country we live in, I’m not sure what will. Another factor is t hat simply purchasing a firearm isn’t too difficult. This means that if one really desired to shoot up a place, they wouldn’t mind the little steps it took to be capable of obtaining one. Many can get a gun illegally by simply knowing people who can easily pass it on. These factors contribute immensely to our shootings that take place in our country. On the topic of shootings, I will now discuss the shooting issues that our cops our involved in. Just like the mass shootings, it seems as if the topic of a white cop killing or demeaning a black male or female is a part of our daily conversations. In particular, I will use the very well-known â€Å"Michael Brown† shooting. Many are familiar with the story of the 18 year old who was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white cop. This event took place on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown stole a few packages of cigarillos and had the cops called on him as he fled from the gas station and walked back to his gra ndmother’s home. Dorian Johnson accompanied Brown when suddenly a cop car with Darren Wilson, as the driver, backed up his cruiser and blocked them. An altercation broke out and the two teenagers struggled with the police officer for his gun. The two teens then fled

The Quiet American Free Essays

The Quiet American In The Quiet American Grahm Green writes of a complex love triangle taking place in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He chooses Thomas Fowler as the protagonist to tell the story from a biased point of view. From the beginning, Fowler proclaims that he is objective. We will write a custom essay sample on The Quiet American or any similar topic only for you Order Now As the story progresses he is eventually gives into the desire to take action and get involved. It is not until after this climax that Fowler finally realizes and admits to himself that he cannot simply remain aloof his entire life. Green’s use of Fowler as an unstable narrator effectively depicts the complexity of human motive and how difficult it is to be honest, even to oneself. Fowler is a British journalist who has been working in Vietnam for several years. Living in an extremely controversial era in the middle of all the action, Fowler insists on remaining â€Å"not involved† (20). Fowler is a â€Å"reporter,† as opposed to a â€Å"correspondent,† for he reports what he sees and â€Å"[takes] no action† (20). He often likes to sit across the street form the milk-bar and just observe. Watching people of all shapes and colors go about their normal lives, Fowler does nothing himself, but simply watches. He even uses opium to achieve a state of complete impassiveness about the world and everything around him. Just a single pipe could make Fowler grow indifferent to the â€Å"presence or absence† of his lover (6); several more and he cannot decide whether his own death would be good or bad. Opium allows him to convince even himself that he really is indifferent to all that which goes on around him. He prides himself on remaining detached and not taking sides, saying it is â€Å"an article of [his] creed† (20). Based on his determination to be merely an observer, Fowler should make a fine narrator. Impartial and neutral, he would tell the story as is without even an opinions to cloud his mind, for â€Å"even an opinion is a kind of action† (20). Despite Fowler’s efforts, it soon becomes impossible for him to remain stagnant. When the opportunity is offered to him, he resolves to participate in a plot to murder Alden Pyle. He justifies his decision with the fact that Pyle has caused much trouble and disaster. He is so naive that he does not realize the extent of what he has done, and even with the death of so many people on his hands, â€Å"he’ll always be innocent, [and] you can’t blame the innocent†(155). Fowler convinces himself that Pyle as a threat to society and â€Å"all you can do is†¦ eliminate him. Innocence is a kind of insanity†(155). However, his reasoning is questionable, for there are personal motives involved as well. Fowler does not want Phuong to leave him and marry Pyle. His wife had already made it clear that she will not give him a divorce. Though he cannot marry her himself, he is selfish and wishes everything to stay the way it is. When Phuong and her sister find out that Fowler’s wife remains insistent on her refusal of his request for a divorce, things start to turn against him. Phuong moves out and plans to marry Pyle. Fowler, devastated, has increased reason to want Pyle dead. In fact, the two men talk of how Phuong is â€Å"the most important thing there is† right before Fowler makes up his mind to open the book at the window and call the whole plan to action (169). It is clear that Fowler does not make his decision based solely on political grounds. Slowly, as the story goes on, Fowler starts to realize that it is impossible to stay indifferent of everything around him. â€Å"Sooner or later, one has to take sides if one is to remain human† (166). After he decides to engage in the ploy to kill Pyle, he recognizes that â€Å"[he] had become as engaged as Pyle† (175). Fowler has assumed his role in the game. He can no longer hide behind his insistence that he is neutral and â€Å"no decision would ever be simple again. Stubborn as he was before about not taking sides, Fowler realizes that he â€Å"had judged like a journalist†¦ and betrayed [his] own principles† (175); he is honest to himself when he finally crosses the line into partiality. After Pyle’s death Fowler tells Phuong that he is sorry. She does not catch the significance of his apology, but he says that though â€Å"everything had gone right for [him ] since [Alden] had died†¦ [he] wished there existed someone to whom [he] could say that [he] was sorry†(180). Fowler sees clearly the magnitude of what he has done. He takes responsibility for his actions and feels remorse. The instability of Fowler’s narration depicts the extraordinary intricacy of individual drive. It is never clear the reasons that Fowler makes many of his decisions, often not even to himself. Does he kill Pyle out of political concern, or compassion for the Vietnamese people? Does he do it out of love for Phuong, or is it simply lust? These questions, to some degree a mystery even to Fowler himself, are emphasized by his unreliable narration. Unclear intentions are not limited to just the narrator. When Pyle saves Fowler’s life, his motives are ambiguous as well. One may assume that based on Pyle’s simple personality, his purposes are most likely be pure and genuine. He probably saved Fowler because it was in his power and it was the right thing to do. But Fowler suspects Pyle to be more calculating, that he planned to emerge a hero from the ordeal and win Phuong over in that way. Human motives are quite often multi-layered and difficult to understand. Graham makes the peculiar choice of telling a story from the prejudiced point of view of someone whose personal life is tangled in the mess of the story. Fowler starts out determined to stay impartial as a reporter and a person in general. However, as events occur and his happiness is put on the line, he gets drawn in and takes action. Though he makes his decision to get involved, Fowler is unsure and doubtful the whole time and feels a great deal of remorse when it is all over. It is then that he must admit to himself, and the readers see, that he is not impartial after all, and it is, in fact, human nature to take a side. How to cite The Quiet American, Essay examples

Water Resistant Pen free essay sample

There is a large variety of products in the world that are being offered to the consumer to purchase and most, if not all cases, there is always a product, such as a pen, that is being produced by multiple companies. An advertising campaign should appeal to the audience and make it convenient for the audience. It should highlight the advantages that this product or company has compared to the other competitors. The image of a produce is also very important, you have to make quality products which require putting time and effort into what you are trying to pitch. Even having the right advertisement and image, it won’t mean anything to anyone if it isn’t marketed right, places like magazines, radio stations or even television programs. Even though an advertisement might be clear with the initial design, it has to diversify to wide range of people. I believe that my advertisement is affective because it is a quality brand that everyone knows. The advisement is simple but catches the reader’s attention without being puzzling or the use of tricks. It appeals to wide variety of audiences but doesn’t try to accommodate to everyone. Not everyone may be in a circumstance where water is present while they are writing but it doesn’t hurt to have that as a safe plan. My advertisement has been seen in all sources of media outlets and is commonly named. These products are of quality and they spend their money to please the consumer. The advertisement that is being analyzed is the advertisement on the Pilot water resistant pen. The paper advertisement shoes a picture of a finished bowl of soup, a spoon and a picture of a pen on the bottom right corner. The focal point of the ad is in the middle with a message saying â€Å"Well done! Now you can watch TV! Mummy† The ad uses a contrast of bright blue and dark colors that complement the bowl. The main emphasis is not because of how good the bowl of soup was or even parenting advice for making a child to finish food but instead the effectiveness of the â€Å"water resistant† pen. The advertisement appeals to audience because you see a message at the bottom of a bowl of soup; you wonder what it pertains too. You don’t know wither the ad is for the soup itself, like a Campbell’s chunky noodle soup. Instead, you are made to believe that a water resistant pen still intact after having hot noodle soup submerged in the writing. Usually when you pour water on a shiny smooth facade with a pen mark, the mark would wash right off but this wasn’t the case for this product. Your eyes race all over the ad to figure out the solution to what the product is. The ad is very appealing with the contrast of colors and the overly white bowl and color matching table set. Everything fits in the picture but the pen. When you see the pen your mind puts everything together. There isn’t a huge title that says â€Å"PILOT: WATER RESISTANT PEN† but instead very subtle small lettering on the pen. The advertisement is also effective because it’s an advertisement for something so ordinary to be outside the box. In most cases we use pens to document or thoughts, homework, work, sketch or to even leave a note. In this case, a mother is leaving a creative note for the child to encourage him or her to finish their meal. The mother wrote the note before pouring the soup for the child to leave him a surprise. The pen can successfully last an entire meal of soup and still have the lettering intact. Now the viewer can interrupt this as anyway they please from being able to write anything in the water without having the worry of the print smudging or washing off. Possibly, the pen can write underwater because it is waterproof. Authors or teachers can write while taking a bath without of the extra worry if their paper falls in the water it will be ruined. Majority of people have the greatest thoughts in the bathroom while taking a shower, if not written down, it could be lost forever. This particular pen gives that opportunity for the thought to be written out. Because of the uniqueness of how the product is being used, it gives the viewers to brainstorm other ways to use this product in different, unique ways. Ink usually smudges when in contact with ink but this particular product allows the ink not to smudge. The pen is not itself waterproof but the ink. This advertisement is not effective in the practicality of the product. What makes the product so special for us to not use regular pens anymore? Most of us would never write notes at the bottom of a bowl of soup for our kids because we can say it with our mouths. Pen is also toxic and by having it in the same contents of what we eat, makes the soup toxic itself. It was a very simple idea and great execution but it’s more of a statement of an interesting way to use the product but not practical. If the ad advertisement were of a man writing down an idea of the next greatest invention in rain and the wording not getting washed away would be more effective and practical to the audience. The advertisement for the Pilot water resistant pen is overall effective to the audience. The company that produces this advertisement used the right schemes to attract the right type of people. It doesn’t pertain to every but a certain group of people that like to write anywhere and at any condition. The pen is unique and makes people wonder how the pen will work. The pen is not too expensive that it will burn your pocket but it also helps kill the curiosity to see if the pen will work. Even if you have no practical use for the pen, you can still have fun with it. Not only does it visually appeal to the audience but it also makes you want to buy the product and test drive it yourself.