AP LANGUAGE

George Eliot, an English Victorian novelist from the 19th century once said, "The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men." With more clarification, Eliot asserts that flawed leadership is to be expected and should not stop progress. I support her assertion because we are not perfect human beings nor do we have to pretend to be. Some individuals think its necessary for us to be the best versions of ourselves, some don't. With the recent events going on in society, it’s evident that even with flawed leadership, justice can quite progress. Although generation Z has been quite mad, the worst events of them all happened to be the triumph of Donald Trump’s presidential election. However, with him being the dreadful president he is, he has established some progress. Despite his xenophobia and sexist comments he’s made whether it was in his speeches or over social media, society responded by protesting, creating hashtags on the intern...

When you think of transcendentalism, you immediately think of famous poets such as Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau, although she doesn’t exactly fell into the category of transcendentalism, she was well-reguarded of Emerson. Some of Dickinson’s poems seemed to be transcendental, yet not quite. She followed and pursued dark romanticism trusting that the mentally angst of agony happens to be more terrifying rather than any physical distress one can experience. Dickinson believes that one’s anguishing physical happenings can conduct to mental suffering. As any typical human being, we all have emotions even though at times we don’t want to admit it. We go through the happy emotions as well as the sad, raging, haunting ones. For example, heartbreaks. Those are the worst whether you have lost a loved one or your significant other who has decided to leave you. Heartbreaks can have an individual experience it both mentally and physically whether it leads to depression, low-self ...

Famous American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson is best known for leading the transcendentalist movement in the 19th century. Within time, transcendentalism spread and people began embracing it amidst to Emerson influencing people to speak their minds as he did himself. He trusted and kept faith in that people should speak their minds although it contradicts what one said the day before. People should be able to speak their minds but only to certain boundaries. One is given a voice to speak their minds out, not to be petrified nor hold back and let individuals step all over you. Though, not everyone always have something pleasant to say. There will be people that one come across in which they either contradict or oppose to what one says. But then again that’s why there’s freedom of both speech and writing. Everyone should have the right to speak out their mind and believe as they please. But one must be considerate of other people’s feelings. We all have feelings, one cannot deny that. ...

       In his statement, Dalai Lama says to his audience that if you’re discontent you perpetually will not be satisfied in life. I disagree with Lama’s idea of being content. For some, it’s distinguished as an opposing objective. For some, it’s not. For someone who isn’t satisfied, they can strive for justification for not only their lives but others as well. There are many people who want to strive for the better such as immigrants. Their determination on moving to a whole different country to ameliorate not only their lives but their families as well is a reason. If one was content with what they already have, they wouldn’t go way out of their way to move to a dissimilar, contemporary country. By being discontent, one might have something they want to achieve before they’re content within themselves. Even those who live in modern countries still struggle. Those who live off of poor and low pay strive and endeavor to finish school whether it’s high school or coll...

Within a Puritan community, it is contemplated to heed and obey the Bible, establish a holy life, and praise to God every second of everyday to fully attain salivation. Any other activity or lifestyle that don’t incorporate God is disrespectful and inappropriate and is deemed as sin or the service of the devil. In his statement, Chasity of Soul , Cotton Mather articulates not only this but also the strict engagement in Puritan theology. Mather surmised that not taking action in anything that obeys or follows the Bible, will deviate God by one’s side and exhilarate the devil. In the opening portion of Chasity of Soul , Mather states that poetry will cheat God, explicating how it  is composed of necromancy and diabolism. He contrasts poetry with drinking from a “Circean cup” using diction. He maneuvers an unfavorable implication with poetry using terms such as “sickly” and “engross”. Mather clarifies and covets us to be aware that poetry is against God. In his second poem, it dis...

Puritans were English Christians who did not agree with the practices of the Church of England. They wanted to purify and filter Catholic beliefs. They not only lived a certain lifestyle but also avoided all activities that consisted with pleasure, anything that involved pleasure was the exertion of the devil. John Winthrop, English Puritan lawyer establishes some of the fundamental ideas of Puritanism in his statement, City Upon a Hill . In his statement, Winthrop interprets how Puritans are perceived. He advocates their sense of a perfect religion.  By the looks of everyone, they must be pristine and free from any flaw. They must follow their flawless religion and beliefs to be the best of them all. If they don’t, they will be sentenced into damnation. Puritanism was the epitome of displeasure and melancholy. On account of them being in a high pedestal, they are forbidden of ever committing an error. Winthrop circulates his utterance in variety forms for example, he uses a bi...

American Indians are denounced as renegades for enlightening their tribal beliefs to others not within their tribe. Author Black Elk, shares and interprets the vision he experienced to become a medicine man as well as sharing the prominence of their ancestors with the 6 grandfathers that make an appearance in the story. He emphasizes on the tie-in bond with natural and balance and portrays what’s significant within his culture. With that being said, this should not be contemplated as disloyalty towards the Native culture. Elk is spreading and publicizing the essence of Native culture and stories to preserve their culture. Furthermore, with the spreading knowledge of their culture, future generations will have access to absorb the significance of their culture and ancestors.