Tantalum Facts - Periodic Table of the Elements

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain - 1862 Words

In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain juxtaposed events in American society to demonstrate to the reader contrasts between different levels of class and race in society. Twain showed to the reader that people of all classes at the time were very ignorant and gullible, through what things appear to be and what they really are. Twain shows people’s gullibility when Huck arrives at the grangerfords. As Huck first walked through the house he described it by saying things like â€Å"This table had a cover made out of beautiful oilcloth, with red and blue spread-eagle painted on it† (100) and â€Å"They had pictures hung on the walls†¦ they was different from any pictures I ever see before.† (101). Huck seemed to be amazed by all the things†¦show more content†¦The night that Tom and Huck set Jim free, Tom got shot by the farmers that were chasing them. Once they knew that they were out of the farmer s sight they all sat down and Huck said â€Å"We was all glad as we could be, but Tom was the gladdest of all because he had a bullet in the calf of his leg.† (275). The reader would expect that Jim would be the most g lad when everything was over because he was finally free, but Huck tells us that Tom was. The reason he was the most glad is that he finally got the adventure he was looking for. When Tom first agreed to help Huck save Jim, Huck was a bit surprised that he said yes without any hesitation but what Huck didn’t really know was why he said yes. He soon figured it out, however, Jim didn’t. When Tom got shot, Jim genuinely thought that Tom was risking his life for him. However, the reader knows that since the beginning when Tom agreed to help Huck, he only said yes because he was looking for adventure. This shows Tom’s ignorance because he only did it thinking of himself and not thinking of actually helping Jim out. Through this, Twain shows that higher end class people like Tom and other white men could also be very ignorant and not just people from lower class. Twain showed that people of all classes, both low and high, are very gullible and ignorant. Hypocrisy was something that also showed the ignorance of white or higher class people during this time. While Huck was living with Miss Watson, she tried to

In the Wake of Rejection free essay sample

The clicking of my heels echoing down the deserted school hallway, black dress fluttering about my knees just as the butterflies do about my stomach, I focus on slowing down the thoughts racing around my mind: â€Å"can’t handle this today . . . just want to curl up in a ball and cry . . . they’ll think you’re an idiot . . . you’re already running late, might be better to just not show up at all . . . why didn’t you say something to herNo! You can’t go there right now, stay focused! . . . remember why you’re doing this.† I search inside myself, grasping for the confidence I had when I was five and decided I wanted to learn to ride a bicycle. I’d simply found a screwdriver, taken off my training wheels, and figured out how to ride it, undeterred by numerous falls. â€Å"You did it then; you can do it now. We will write a custom essay sample on In the Wake of Rejection or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † I reach the classroom; inside, the students are gone and the teachers sit at desks, presumably discussing the graduation speeches they have just heard. I’m later than I thought. â€Å"Save yourself the embarrassment of appearing irresponsible, just leave.†The idea seems rational; the universe seemed to be telling me not to do this. I’d faced numerous obstacles in writing and recording myself giving the speech and trying out meant I’d be late for an event for my friend, Leah, that being at meant the world to me. But this is something I need to do for myself. Slowly, hesitantly, I open the door. â€Å"Is it too late to try-out?† I ask, clutching the DVD with white knuckles. Unfortunately, it is. Before I can leave, the vice principal pulls me into the hall. â€Å"You know you’re not graduating this year, right?† he asks gently. The curling-up-in-a-ball idea is growing increasingly appealing. â€Å"I know.† I reply. â€Å"You’re welcome to come back next year and tryout then, though.† As I trudge towards my car, face burning, I question why I ever thought this was a good idea. Two weeks earlier, I was sitting in English when someone came in to talk about auditions for graduation speaker. Knowing this didn’t apply to me, I began reflecting on my fear of failure. Throughout my life anxiety had paralyzed me; I feared people would judge me for having the audacity to assume I had anywhere near the talent needed to tryout for a team, submit an application, or even turn in an essay. My shelves have always been cluttered with blank notebooks untainted by my awkward sentences and shallow thoughts, although my head always swam with experiences I longed to record and ideas that demanded to be analyzed. Essentially, I always gave up before I even began, and those times I somehow summoned up the courage to try, I’d give up as soon as soon as confronted with an obstacle. As I half-listened to the logistics of the auditions, I pondered ways to move beyond my fear. Suddenly, it hit me. What better way to desensitize myself than to tryout for something I had no qualifications for whatsoever? I’m not an involved, popular, straight-A student, nor am I a particularly skilled writerI wasn’t even graduating! So, I signed up to be rejected. I try to put it out of my mind as I speed out of the school parking lot, agonizing over the fact that now I’m late and humiliated. When I arrive, I take a deep before walking inside. Immediately, I am overwhelmed by a gallery of Leah’s life and achievements. Her outstanding test scores are proudly displayed on a table in the back near vacation scrapbooks. Her mother, aged ten years overnight, stands beside a picture of a grinning six-year old Leah. Standing there, all traces of my embarrassment are washed away by a tidal wave of grief that knocks the air out of my lungs and leaves my cheeks salty and wet. I sit in the pews and sob into my friend Cole’s suit, collapsing into him, too weak to hold myself up. A steady stream of tears rolls down my face as countless stories are told by friends and family. When Leah’s coach’s turn comes, he marvels in her fearlessness, how Leah never let pride or insecurity hold her back. In that moment, I am unbelievab ly grateful I tried out to be a graduation speaker. After the wake, I give my condolences to Leah’s father; he hugs me and tells me to be strong for her. Today, I try to go beyond that and carry on Leah’s drive and fearlessness, whether that means trying out for a cheer squad or applying to a college whose typical applicant has a much higher GPA than I. Trying out for graduation speaker helped me realize failure is temporary and nothing to be feared. After all, the cuts and bruises adorning my legs only made riding down the block feel that much sweeter.

Philosophy - The Only Truth Existing Essays - Epistemologists

Philosophy - The Only Truth Existing "We are, then, faced with a quite simple alternative: Either we deny that there is here anything that can be called truth - a choice that would make us deny what we experience most profoundly as our own being; or we must look beyond the realm of our "natural" experience for a validation of our certainty." A famous philosopher, Rene Descartes, once stated, "I am, [therefore] I exist." This statement holds the only truth found for certain in our "natural" experience that, as conscious beings, we exist. Whether we are our own creators, a creation, or the object of evolution, just as long as we believe that we think, we are proved to exist. Thinking about our thoughts is an automatic validation of our self-consciousness. Descartes claims, "But certainly I should exist, if I were to persuade my self of something." And so, I should conclude that our existence is a truth, and may be the only truth, that we should find its certainty. From the "natural" experiences of our being, we hold beliefs that we find are our personal truths. From these experiences, we have learned to understand life with reason and logic; we have established our idea of reality; and we believe that true perceptions are what we sense and see. But it is our sense of reason and logic, our idea of reality, and our perceptions, that may likely to be very wrong. Subjectiveness, or personal belief, is almost always, liable for self-contradiction. Besides the established truth that we exist, there are no other truths that are certain, for the fact that subjective truth may be easily refuted. Every person possesses his or her own truth that may be contradicting to another person's belief. A truth, or one that is true for all, cannot by achieved because of the constant motion of circumstances of who said it, to whom, when, where, why, and how it was said. What one person may believe a dog is a man's best friend, another may believe that a dogs is a man's worse enemy. What one may believe is a pencil, to another is not a pencil, but a hair pin. Where one may believe that a bottle is an instrument, one may believe is a toy, where another may believe is a beverage container. Where one will understand the moving vehicle "car," one might understand "car" as a tree. Our perception of what is true depends on our own experiences, and how something becomes true for us. Many circumstances are necessary to derive at one's truth, whether it is an idea, object, or language. All perception, besides the perception of existence, is uncertain of being true for all individuals. Every thought, besides the idea that we think, has the possibility that it may be proven wrong. The author of the article, Knowledge Regained, Norman Malcolm, states that, "any empirical proposition whatever could be refuted by future experience - that is, it could turn out to be false." An example could be the early idea of the earth being flat and not the current perception of the earth being round. History tells us that at one time, the perception of the earth was thought to be flat. This notion was an established truth to many because of the sight and sense that people perceived about the earth's crust. At one point, to accept the newer truth that the earth is round, meant that, what one believed was true, really wasn't. And, what if, at some point in the future, we were told by a better educated group of observers that the earth is not round, but a new shape we've never even perceived before? Would we agree to the scientists' observation that they have, themselves, agreed to this more accurate shape of the earth?. We would probably agree to change our knowledge of truth to the observations of experts. This is an example that, what we may have once believed to be the absolute truth, may be proven wrong at any time. And what we actually know, may not be the truth after all. Truth may also be refuted through the identified appearance or sense of an