Mass Migrations and Demographic Challenges

Introduction For several decades now, the world has been experiencing mass migration. Mass migration is no longer a new phenomenon since it has existed for several decades, dating back to the 18th century to 20th century with numerous reasons aligning this migration (Bertocchi and Strozzi 2).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Mass Migrations and Demographic Challenges specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Historically, this movement was conventionally nomadic with pastoralists moving in search of pasture and water. Currently, the contemporary migration does not associate with the historical form of migration. With the existing global state of socio-economical exertion, environmental calamities, political issues, insecurity, and persecutions worldwide, several cities and towns across the world experience an influx in population (Hatton and Williamson 6). This mass migration of citizens from one region to another , specifically migration to towns, is in most cases associated with several negative impacts including demographic challenges, insecurity, and even environmental crises. Even though migration is a politically and socially contested issue, it is unknown as to when it will end. This essay seeks to exploit mass migration in relation to demographic challenges. Overview of Mass Migration Human mass migration is the physical movement of people from one region to another. Historically, human migration was nomadic with pastoralists covering several kilometers to access pasture and water. However, nowadays things have changed with the world witnessing massive people migration from rural suburbs to urban environs (Department of Economic and Social Affairs 56-75). Nations across the world, both in developing and developed countries, have received this aspect with mixed reactions with several governments getting confused on what measures to take as international immigration seems a crucial matt er. This element has thus become a major challenge with most governments failing to provide accurate strategies to overcome human migration. Another term covering human migration is international migration, which defines how individuals or groups of persons move from country to country (Department of Economic and Social Affairs 148). There are numerous reasons to considerable factors that trigger this migration with each continent or country bearing different judgments. Migration in a country depicts the place’s openness, modernity, and its enthusiasm towards adapting to global economic evolution.Advertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Causes of Mass Migration Numerous factors have led to migration of people around the globe. Economical differences and demographic factors are the major challenges towards curbing migration in the world (Hatton and Williamson 11). The pre vailing status of socio-economic differences and the existing environmental hardships have continuously triggered mass migration. Cities in developing and underdeveloped countries are economically unfit, thus forcing citizens to shift from their respective countries to other countries, which are prospering economically. According to Bakker, Elings-Pels, and Reis, people migrate to â€Å"seek better economic and educational opportunities† (5). The realm of population growth and economic hardships in developing countries have greatly imparted on the trends of international migration with individuals believing in better socio-economic status of those residing in towns. The world population might eventually grow from 6.555 billion to 9.243 billion in the year 2050 if corrective measures are not enforced (Smith 620). People associate London and New York with immense historical social, cultural, and economical strengths. This conception pulls immigrants into these two cities in sea rch for better lives. Side A: Against migration As immigration tends to harbor some imperativeness, the negatives associated to this practice are non-ignorable. Several studies have demonstrated how migration is more harmful than assumed. Immigration and migration practices are associated with numerous misfortunes and repercussions (Hatton and Jeffrey 22). Starting with population and city governance, immigrants have caused problems towards the management of population in cities. City councils and the respective governing bodies have received extreme challenges in controlling urban population, which mostly results from population surge caused by immigrants. Due to increased population in towns and cities, government expenditure budgets shoot to enhance basic improvements and accommodate the residents around cities (Martin and Widgre 34). The cities or local authorities face the task of ensuring that there is a maximum security, thus migration forces these authorities to increase the ir budget to suit the demanding needs of the city. Some quarters opine that most cities have been unable to manage census activities, which play significant roles in maintaining population size, with evidence indicating inaccurate figures of numerous cities’ censuses. Statistics reveal that recently, international immigration has posed a danger to the world’s largest cities including New York in the US and London in England.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Mass Migrations and Demographic Challenges specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In London, estimates divulge that for a period of about 20 years, the published TIM series â€Å"suggest that London (with just 12 per cent of the national population) was associated with 40 per cent of the inflows, 30 per cent of the outflows, and absorbed 67 per cent of the net balance of overseas immigration† (Gordon, Travers, and Whitehead 21). This as pect depicts that there are several immigrants finding their way into England. This aspect only associate with the continuing supremacy of New York and London, by managing this population through provision sustainable labor, but threatening to the natives. In special attention to New York, the city is only benefitting from growth in tax margins as the population grows and economic performances prosper. However, New York also spends a lot in maintaining the population by providing maximum security and employment. Migration is also a threat to security. Due to the influx of population into big cities and migration to developed countries, controlling insecurity is a problem. Cases of terrorism attacks, cruel murders, assassinations, kidnappings, persecution, and racial and religious conflicts are eminent security matters bothering growing cities and towns. Big towns and cities are hiding places for criminals and insurgents who migrate to towns to commit their crimes. Martin and Widgre note that in the process of migrating into developed countries, â€Å"migrants attempting to sail or march into rich countries, threaten their security† (5). This aspect forces the respective countries to overspend in their budget to increase vigilance (Bauer and Zimmermann 7), which may in turn lead to economic constraints. In developed countries, especially the United States, estimates reveal that the state’s expenditure on security issues is continuously increasing, and billions of dollars consumed in an attempt to maintain peace and security (Karoly 7). Migration has also led to congestion in the city suburbs resulting to insecurity. Migration has also resulted in increased living costs and poor living standards that are threatening the social standards expected in every nation. Generally, the housing structures and resources available in these cities rarely manage to accommodate the population increase resulting from migration. According to Gordon, Travers, and Wh itehead, since the respective governments cannot afford to construct adequate rentals for the population, privatization of land appears to dominate most cities and towns (42). As a result, of land privatization, there is an increased rental rate. In developing countries, private rental sectors become opportunistic to the existing population pressures in towns, thus engaging in developing sub-standard shelters including slums, shanties, and others where low income earners residing in these towns seek asylum.Advertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This situation tends to affect the living standards of people for there is a significant increase in insecurity, poor healthcare, and poverty. Most commonly, due to population surge, immigrants in developing countries suffer from poor living standards due to their low-income status resulting from low paying jobs. Side B: For migration Studies carried across the world have ignited an endless debate about mass migration. Some people support the movement while others oppose it. Bauer and Zimmermann assert that mass migration has led to some inevitable significance based on facts to support this importance (22). Several cities across the world have benefitted from this migration in different dimensions. To begin with, mass migration has significantly influenced economic growth of cities receiving migrants. Increase in population rates in these cities has led to success in overall economic terms on one hand. The migration aspect associates world big cities, especially London and New York , with powerful economic achievements. According to Gordon, Travers, and Whitehead, migration into such cities is due to â€Å"their openness, economic vitality, existing cultural diversity and concentrations of economic and social power† (9). These cities gain economic progress through taxation. London authorities receive additional tax acquiesce due to subsequent growth in their council tax that may result from increased city population. Still on economic terms, some migrants visit places not due to their poor economical issues, but rather as tourists. Globally, countries commonly acknowledge that tourists form the backbone of economic growth. However, this aspect is mainly beneficial to developing countries as they receive funds and foreign exchange resulting from tourists’ visits into their countries. Karoly asserts that immigrants have improved labor markets in the countries involved because immigrants have are distinct sources of labor (7). According to studies c arried on labor importation practiced by European countries in early 1950s and 1960, â€Å"more elastic labor supply allowed faster economic growth without inflation† (Gordon, Travers, and Whitehead 47). With the absence of barriers to social and economic issues, these immigrants provide a sustainable source of labor to the respective countries, thus improving the labor force. Despite the large supply of labor by immigrants to cities like London and New York, there is no evidence that indicates that migrants are the cause of increased unemployment rates in these regions. Migration has harmonized peaceful co-existence between countries. Due to the aspect of migration, different races have the opportunity to share their cultural experiences cohesively enabling them to live peacefully with each other as communities. Globalization has enabled people to realize different opportunities across the world and enhance peaceful co-existence between races and nations with tourists playin g a major role. Martin and Widgre assert, â€Å"Tourism has become a major industry, as people cross national borders to experience new cultures or the wonders of nature† (8). The growing trend in migration has influenced how individuals live and imparted some significant changes in cultural values of communities, tribes, and races. In cities like London and New York, immigration has enhanced social housing and social mix of people from different edges of the world (Hatton and Williamson 19). Despite the negative views of numerous studies on immigration, its importance is not ignorable as peaceful integration and cohesion among nations is of great importance of which immigration has influenced. The current world has experienced massive changes in relation to environmental issues. Smith asserts, â€Å"As climate change and its associated processes result in more intense storms, sea level rise, or other cataclysmic environmental events, as some scientific studies are predictin g, these events are likely to generate large numbers of environmental migrants or refugees† (618). This observation is viable because such environmental hazards threaten human lives forcing people to migrate from their abodes in search of better places. Climate change adversely affects the availability of natural resources that significantly support life. Therefore, in the context of changes in climate, several calamities occur including floods, which do not favor agricultural wellness, thus forcing migrants to move to towns or big cities to fight for their fate, causing great population surge in the towns (Ward 6). Therefore, as human as quality of life remains the most important, migration protects people from hazards that are threat to life. Personal Opinion Migration is arguably among the worlds biggest contemporary issues. Almost every country is suffering from this global challenge and is often a politically contested subject in the world. According to the U.S. statistic s, â€Å"about a third of the 191 million international migrants today have moved from one developing country to another, with another third moving from developing to developed countries† (Smith 619). People, especially leaders, have received immigration with different perceptions and opinions with some objecting and others proposing to it. However, none is to blame for this confusion since the world is still growing and the majority of people hardly know how challenging the immigration subject seems. As cities security, annual expenditures, and the welfare of the native remain crucial, survival of every human being and quality of life is more important. Both the merits and demerits of migration are equally important towards ensuring survival. In fact, the world is far from fully maturing economically, and thus migration is currently an insurmountable problem. It might eventually end depending on the pace at which the world grows and the strategies put in place to counter the problem. Personally, I do not think immigration is a bad thing and with proper planning and policymaking, any country can reap from the benefits of immigration. Conclusion Migration is among the most politically and socially contested matters in the current world of globalization. Migration, which implies movement of people from region to another, has proved challenging to numerous countries across the world. European countries entertained migration after the Second World War, with a major aim of acquiring labor force from persons from developing countries. This move could not come at a better time as people living under stressful and tight socio-economic in third world countries would do anything to get to Europe. Migration has enhanced economic growth in developed countries by providing powerful labor force, improved taxation rates that are significant financial support to local authorities, and encouraged peaceful co-existence, which is vital for economic interdependence among n ations. However, migration has led to other serious problems in big cities and towns including increased government expenditures, upheavals in maintaining peace and security, and poor living standards of immigrants living in these towns and capital cities. Therefore, governments need to come up with an appropriate solution to migration dilemma. Works Cited Bakker, Caroline, Martina Elings-Pels, and Michele Reis. The Impact of migration on  Children in the Caribbean, 2009. Web. Bauer, Thomas, and Klaus Zimmermann. Assessment of Possible Migration  Pressure and its Labor Market Impact Following EU Enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe, 1999. Web. Bertocchi, Graziella, and Chiara Strozzi. The Age of Mass Migration: Economic and  Institutional Determinants, 2006. Web. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. â€Å"Population distribution, urbanization,  Internal migration and development: An internal perspective, 2011. Web. Gordon, Ian, Tony Travers, and Christine Whitehe ad. The Impact of Recent  Immigration on the London Economy, 2007. Web. Hatton, Timothy, and Geoffrey Williamson. The Age of Mass Migration: Causes and  Economic Impact. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print. Karoly, Lorant. The demographic challenge in Europe, 2005. Web. Martin, Philip, and Jonas Widgre. â€Å"International Migration: Facing the Challenge.†Ã‚  The population reference bureau 57.1 (2002): 3-40. Print. Smith, Paul. â€Å"Climate Change, Mass Migration and the Military Response.† Orbis  51.4 (2007): 617-633. Print. Ward, David. Population Growth, Migration and Urbanization, 2012. Web. 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buy custom Mark Haddon essay Research indicates that Mark Haddon was born in 1962 in Northampton. He graduated in 1981 with a BA in English at Merton College, Oxford. He then graduated in Literature in English in Edinburgh University for his Masters. Mark Haddon is a renowned illustrator, screenwriter and author. Apart from his bestselling novel The Curious of The Dog in The Night-Time, mark Haddon has written other books some of which include the Boom, The Red House, The sea of Tranquility and The Real Porky Philips. The Red House is about Richard who is a wealthy medical doctor. He invites for a week of vacation his separated sister Angela plus her amily. Richard has inherited a stepdaughter after remarrying. On the other hand, Angela has three children who seem unfamiliar to her sometimes and an incompetent husband. The Novel is set for 7days of bitterness and guilt. Another of his books, The Boom is about two young best friends, Jim and Charlie. They believe that in the staffroom their teachers talk smack about them. They then bang hard the staffroom and consequently discover their teachers are aliens. In the Sea of Tranquility, Haddon highlights his childhood, appeal with the accomplishment of humankinds initial landing on the moon in 1969. In the tale, the boy has a picture of the solar system and coordination on his wall and daydreams of the intrigues of being in astronaut. Collective with this storyline are details on landing, counting exciting tidbits; for example, the footprints left there will stay for millions of years because of lack of rain and wind on the moon. Another of his novels is The Real Porky Philips. This novel is about an overweight young boy who is very sensitive. After playing the role of a genie in a play in school, he gains courage that enable him to affirm his real personality. Indeed, Haddon is a revered and renowned writer and these are just a few of his numerous literary works. Buy custom Mark Haddon essay

Burdens of History Essay Example for Free

Burdens of History Essay The British imperial history has long been a fortress of conservative scholarship, its study separated from mainstream British history, its practitioners resistant to engaging with new approaches stemming from the outside – such as feminist scholarship, postcolonial cultural studies, social history, and black history. In this light, Antoinette Burton’s Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women, and Imperial Culture, 1865-1915 represents challenges to the limited vision and exclusivity of standard imperial history. Burton’s Burdens of History is part of a budding new imperial history, which is characterized by its diversity instead of a single approach. In this book, the author examines the relationship between liberal middle-class British feminists, Indian women, and imperial culture in the 1865-1915 period. Its primary objective is to relocate â€Å"British feminist ideologies in their imperial context and problematizing Western feminists’ historical relationships to imperial culture at home† (p. 2). Burton describes Burdens of History as a history of â€Å"discourse† (p. 7). By this, she means the history of British feminism, imperialism, orientalism, and colonialism. Throughout the book, the author interposes and synthesizes current reinterpretations of British imperial history, women’s history, and cultural studies that integrate analyses of race and gender in attempts at finding the ideological structures implanted in language. In this book, Burton analyzes a wide assortment of feminist periodicals for the way British feminists fashioned an image of a disenfranchised and passive colonized female â€Å"Other†. The impact of the message conveyed was to highlight not a rejection of empire – as modern-day feminists too readily have tended to assume – but a British feminist imperial obligation. According to Burton, empire lives up to what they and many of their contemporaries believed were its purposes and ethical ideals. Burton based her book on extensive empirical research. Here, she is concerned with the material as well as the ideological and aware of the complexity of historical interpretation. Backed by these, the author particularly examines the relationship between imperialism and women’s suffrage. Burton brings together a remarkable body of evidence to back her contention that women’s suffrage campaigners’ claims for recognition as imperial citizens were legitimated as â€Å"an extension of Britain’s worldwide civilizing mission† (p. 6). Centering on the Englishwoman’s Review before 1900 and suffrage journals post 1900, the author finds an imperialized discourse that made British women’s parliamentary vote and emancipation imperative if they were to â€Å"shoulder the burdens required of imperial citizens† (p. 172). The author shows in Burdens of History how Indian women were represented as â€Å"the white feminist burden† (p. 10) as â€Å"helpless victims awaiting the representation of their plight and the redress of their condition at the hands of their sisters in the metropole† (p. 7). Responding both on the charge that white feminists need to address the method of cultural analysis pioneered by Edward Said and the imperial location and racial assumptions of historical feminisms, Burton explores the images of Indian women within Victorian and Edwardian feminist writing. In her analysis, the author argues that Indian women functioned as the ideological â€Å"Other† within such texts, their presence serving to authorize feminist activities and claims. By creating an image of tainted Oriental womanhood, and by presenting enforced widowhood, seclusion, and child marriage as â€Å"the totality of Eastern women’s experiences† (p. 67), British feminists insisted on their own superior emancipation and laid claim to a wider imperial role. However, while feminists persistently reiterated their responsibility for Indian women, the major purpose of such rhetoric was to institute the value of feminism to the imperial nation. According to the author: â€Å"The chief function of the Other woman was to throw into relief those special qualities of the British feminist that not only bound her to the race and the empire but made her the highest and most civilized national female type, the very embodiment of social progress and progressive civilization† (p. 83). According to Burton, British feminists were, â€Å"complicitous with much of British imperial enterprise† (p. 25): their movement must be seen as supportive of that wider imperial effort. She sustains this argument through an examination of feminist emancipatory writings, feminist periodicals and the literature of both the campaign against the application of the Contagious Diseases Acts in India and the campaign for the vote. Indeed, the greatest strength of this book lies in the fact that Burton has made a n extensive search through contemporary feminist literature from a new perspective. In the process, she recovers some quite interesting subgenres within feminist writing. She shows, for instance, how feminist histories sought to reinterpret the Anglo-Saxon past to justify their own political claims and specifying some characteristic differences between explicitly feminist and more general women’s periodicals. Certainly, Burton’s survey establishes the centrality of imperial issues to the British feminist movement, providing a helpful genealogy of some styles of argumentation that have persisted to the present day. Burdens of History is a serious contribution to feminist history and the history of feminism. In conclusion, Burton states that British feminists were agents operating both in opposition to oppressive ideologies and in support of them-sometimes simultaneously, because they saw in empire an inspiration, a rationale, and a validation for women’s reform activities in the public sphere. Her arguments are persuasive; indeed, once stated, they become almost axiomatic. However, Burton’s work is to some extent flawed by two major problems. First, the author never compares the â€Å"imperial feminism†; rather she locates in her texts to other imperial ideologies. In addition, Burton does not subject imperialism to the same kind of careful scrutiny she turns on feminism. She does not define â€Å"imperialism† in her section on definitions, but uses the term – as she uses â€Å"feminism† – largely to denote an attitude of mind. Another problem is Burton’s failure to address the question of how feminist imperialism worked in the world more generally. It is true that feminists sought the vote using a rhetoric of cross-cultural maternal and racial uplift, however, one may ask: what were the effects of this strategy on the hearing accorded their cause, on wider attitudes toward race and empire, and, more specifically, on policies toward India? The author not only brushes aside such questions; she implies that they are unimportant. It seems that, for Burton, the ideological efforts of British feminists were significant only for British feminism. It can be argued that Burton’s difficulty in tracing the way Burdens of History works in the world is a consequence of her methodological and archival choices. The problem is not that the author has chosen to approach her subject through a â€Å"discursive tack† (p. 27), but rather that she has employed this method too narrowly and on too restrictive range of sources. While the author has read almost every piece of feminist literature, she has not gone beyond this source base to systematically examine either competing official documents, Indian feminist writings, or imperial discourses. Thus, Burton’s texts are treated either self-referentially or with reference to current feminist debates. Overall, Burton’s approach is useful in providing a critical history for feminism today, Certainly, it is as a critique of Western feminism’s pretensions to universal and transhistorical high-mindedness that Burdens of History succeeds. However, if one wishes to map out the impact of imperial feminism not only on feminism today, but also on imperial practices and relations historically, one needs a study that is willing to cross the border between political history and intellectual history and to take greater methodological risks. Burdens of History. (2017, Feb 25).

Cyber Bullying Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cyber Bullying - Research Paper Example With the rapid advances in technology, however, bullying evolved into a form of harassment that can be perpetuated anytime and anywhere. Specifically, the use of the Internet and mobile technologies has enabled many bullies to harass their victims even when they are at home or sleeping. Unfortunately, authorities seemed to be caught off-guard when cases of bullying online reportedly caused several suicides across America recently. This highlighted how it has become imperative to solve this issue immediately because the degree of harm of cyberbullying is clearly pervasive and fatal today. To underscore the severity of this issue, there are already several research findings that found the prevalence of the problem. For instance, a survey conducted by I-Safe America found that 37 percent of middle school students admitted to being bullied or threatened online. (Shore 2006, p. 19) Pew Internet and American Life Project supported this with their report that one in three online teens has e xperienced online harassment. (The Colorado Trust 2008) The statistics established the numbers that should alarm responsible authorities. The issue is no longer some figment of imagination or opinion of alarmists that needed to be substantiated. The facts are already there for everyone to see. The implication of the above trend is that youngsters are no longer safe from bullies. The perpetrators only need a computer, Internet access or a cellphone in order terrorize hapless victims. This is aggravated by the fact that bullying acts can be done anonymously. Almost anyone can invade someone else's life and ruin it at a click of the mouse, enabling bullies to be more vicious and consistent with their attacks. According to Shore, this is demonstrated in two ways: first, there is the argument that bullies can strike out at others with the knowledge that they will not be caught; and, secondly, â€Å"by being removed from their targets and thus not seeing the impact of their actions, cybe rbullies can delude themselves into thinking they have not really hurt anybody† effectively taking away their ability to feel empathy or remorse for their victims. (p. 20) It is easy to understand, hence, how helpless victims find it difficult not only to escape the kind of torture due to the sheer pervasiveness of the Internet and the huge number of its users but also to bear the stress of online attacks against their persons for its sheer viciousness and intensity. In the past face-to-face bullying has been difficult to quantify because victims are hesitant to report them. The case has been complicated by technology further. The anonymity that technology provides bullies has made it extra difficult for its detection. This development is already a main contributor to the growing number of suicides as evidenced by the case of Tyler Clementi, who jumped off a bridge after his sexual encounter was streamed over the web by his dormmates for everyone to see. Unfortunately, this po sting of hurtful content is just one of the many types that could significantly cause harm to young minds. Maggio listed numerous ways by which cyberbullies can attack their victims using technology. The most serious of these include the posting of abusive content against victims such as threatening and embarrassing messages that are easily accessed by

The Most Recent Reforms to the Child Maintenance System are Good News Essay

The Most Recent Reforms to the Child Maintenance System are Good News for Fathers but not Mothers - Essay Example 100 to be paid by the applicant. A total application charge for parents on benefits in the range of ?50 with ?20 of this paid upfront and the remainder paid in installments. The installments for the application only become payable where maintenance is in payment. Therefore a parent on benefit who applies will never pay more than the upfront charge if no maintenance is received from the application. A charge of ?20-25 for the calculation only service to be paid by the applicant. A collection surcharge (on top of maintenance to be paid) of between 15% and 20% to be paid by the non-resident parent. A collection deduction charge (retained from maintenance collected for the parent with care) of between 7% and 12%. A charge on the non-resident parent when enforcement measures (e.g. an order of sale for property) need to be used because of non-compliance. An application charge for the calculation only service.7 This reform is criticized by many because its impact is to be primarily on mothe rs,8 In most of the cases, it would be the women who apply for a maintenance as they would be the care-giving parent.9 1011It is so because â€Å"fathers on the whole do not negotiate full-time work with daily responsibility for child care, especially very young children, either during or after marriage.†12 A study by Atkinson and Mckay concluded that non-resident parents had no wish to share parental responsibility.13 The DWP Equality Impact Assessment for the Green Paper has observed â€Å"that 95% of parents with care are women, and a similar proportion of non-resident parents are men...†14 It is officially calculated,†the full cost of an application is likely to be around ?200. 15 The women in Britain mostly work in â€Å"part-time, low paid, (and) insecure jobs...†16 17 The single mothers have to schedule their working hours so as to undertake child care also.18 19 Mostly, this is why â€Å" women poverty begins with divorce...†20 The new refor ms are sure to put more financial burden on such women, who are already under-privileged. Here, it is important also to note that there is a proven connection â€Å"between poverty and single parenthood.†21 Power equations and maintenance Under the new provisions, if both the parents agree upon a maintenance amount under family agreement, they need not go to the government service provider.22 The power to take such a decision rests equally with the â€Å"parent with care† and the â€Å"non-resident parent.†23 If a non-resident parent decides to â€Å"pay by maintenance direct†, that is, not through government agency, then he/she can do so.24 The non-resident parent most often being the father, this might be a convenient decision for him, as he could avoid government action on non-payment. A Relationship Separation and Child Support Study carried out by a group of researchers showed that it was mainly the non-resident pa

Pearl Harbor And How It Came About :: American America History

Pearl Harbor And How It Came About By the year 1941, WWII was in full effect. Germany seemed to be the victor, gaining control of France and Poland as well as successfully bombing England. Many people believe that Germany would have indeed won the war if not for the intervention of the United States. Because of the horror Americans had witnessed in WWI, the United States did not originally want to get involved in the conflict. In the early morning of December 7th, 1941 all that changed when the Japanese air fleet scattered in the Pacific Ocean bombed Pearl Harbor. In September of 1940 Japan entered in alliance with Germany and Italy. The Japanese were in need of natural resources found in Southeast Asian countries newly conquered by Germany. Around the same time in the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to halt German and Japanese expansion but was urged by other government officials to leave the situation as it was. Japan feared America's reaction to their plans to seize Southeast Asia, yet did not let that fear get in their way. Japan completed their control of Indochina by seizing the southern half. The American government answered back by placing an embargo on oil shipments heading for Japan. The Japanese viewed this as an act of war, for they knew their military and industrial forces would not last long with out oil. The United States tried to resolve their differences with Japan, throughout 1941. Demands on each side were quite simple. The Japanese wanted the embargo lifted and permission to attempt an attack on China. The U.S. exclaimed they would only lift the embargo if Japan ceased its aggression towards China. The two powers refused to compromise and a war seemed inevitable. America realized Japan would not budge and strategically place military forces in the Pacific Ocean in preparation for a pending war. In fact, the most crucial element of American defense was the U.S. Pacific Fleet. With war looming the Pacific Fleet was moved to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on April 2nd , 1940. Pearl Harbor seemed to be the perfect place to rest the fleet. Situated between the Marshall Islands, where the Japanese fleet gathered and the west coast of America. The fleet wasn't supposed to stay in the harbor very long yet because of events in Europe, President Roosevelt felt if the fleet was left in the harbor it would diminish the possibility of a Japanese attack on the U.

Blackberry Picking †Seamus Heaney Analysis Essay

Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet who was born in Mossbawn farmhouse and spent fourteen years of his childhood there. Many of his poems are based on personal experience; ‘Mid-term Break’, for example, was based on the death of his younger brother; and are laid out in settings akin to those he is familiar to. His poem, ‘Blackberry Picking’, is set on a farm and explores the simple luxury of picking fresh, ripe blackberries, his inspiration quite possibly being his own childhood. Thematically, the poem explores the idealistic nature of childhood, and the importance of waking up to reality as one grows older. The beginning of the poem is filled with a vivid passionate recollection of the seasonal picking of blueberries. The time is late August, and in perfect harvest conditions of ‘heavy rain and sun, the blackberries would ripen’. The idealistic views of childhood are brought out in the description of the berries, conveying a sense of near perfection , ‘At first, just one, a glossy purple clot.. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet’. The memory of the blueberries is so vivid that Heaney recounts the ‘stains’ left upon the tongue and even the ‘lust’ felt for picking. There is a deep sense of indulgence conveyed in this first part of the poem, especially through the use of the word ‘lust’, which would otherwise not normally be used in describing the feelings of children. This passion for something as innocent as blueberry picking is something that can come only in childhood. As the poem progresses, Heaney switches from showing a joyous, childlike recollection to a more wistful, longing tone of an adult whose younger days have passed. He conveys in this part the desperation to hold on to something good, ‘We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre’, and how holding on is never to any avail, as these ‘berries’ possibly used as a metaphor for anything that is almost too good, decay if held on to for to o long. This is when a sense of reality is setting in, and the poet is coming to terms with the fact that nothing can last forever, creating a stark contrast with the childish belief that good things never pass. The line, ‘I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair’ ties up both, the childish reaction of crying when hit by the realisation that something good will not last, and the adult resignation to the fact that although it is never fair, such is life. On a more implicit note, the poem deals with the theme of greed and the dissatisfaction often involved in attempting to gain an object of desire. The attempt to acquire great amounts of this object by removing it from its natural setting and ‘hoarding’ it leads to its destruction and to the hoarder’s disappointment. However, it is also implied that lessons on greed are seldom learned, ‘Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not.’ Even with the knowledge that his efforts woul d be in vain, Heaney writes about how he was compelled to try and store the blackberries each year, thus bringing out a recurrent greed for the same object. The structure and language of the poem aid the reader in better understanding and connecting with it. The first part is merely a recollection that provides information; what time of the year it is, how the blackberries were collected. There is a lot of enjambment here, and this allows for a free flow of thoughts for the poet, as well as a better level of connection for the reader. This flow better creates the feelings and emotions of the poem, and allows the ideas in each line to flow into each other and create one seamless picture. The first stanza is peppered with adjectives quite liberally, which almost recreates the bursting sweetness of the blackberries on the tongue of the poet. The description of summer’s blood in the berries, and the lust for picking them conveys an extremely passionate feeling towards these fruits, a blood lust. The children, ‘scratched by briars’, are willing to suffer to gain possession of these sweet fleshed berries. In contrast, the s econd stanza contains lesser enjambment, and this restricts the flow of thoughts and ideas. The realisation that the berries have decayed stands in stark contrast to the joy felt when picking and eating the berries on the fields. This realisation is almost jerky, and comes in spurts, unlike the continuous sweetness of the berries in the previous stanza. There are copious amounts of imagery throughout the poem, and this helps create clear, vivid images in the mind’s eye of the reader. The glossiness of the berries and the different colours are tiny details that one usually wouldn’t remember; this vivid recollection therefore establishes clear pictures for the readers. ‘Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam pots’; this line creates a picture of children marching through the fields with just about any form of storage they could get their hands on in order to collect their beloved blackberries. The kids go ‘Round hayfields, cornfields and potato drills’. This listing of different places recreates a mental image of the farm that Heaney describes; a place that is possibly close to his heart because it is where he grew up. Besides the visual imagery of the first stanza, auditory imagery is also present in the line, ‘Until the tinkling bottom had been covered’. This makes the reader subconsciously recreate the tinkling sounds of the hard berries hitting the tinned surfaces of the milk cans, pea tins and jam pots, which in turns make the poem even more tangible and lifelike. Although there is just about as much imagery in the second stanza as there was in the first, these images are unpleasant and dull. As opposed to the colourful descriptions given previously, the description of the hoarded berries as having a ‘rat-grey fungus (and a) stinking juice’ puts forth undesirable images of the previously sinful and sweet berries. Where the berries in the previous stanza boasted of succulent colours, they are now covere d by a dull ‘grey’ fungus. This contrast in imagery runs parallel with the contrasting themes of childlike passion and the adult realisation that nothing lasts. While the first stanza is colourful, bright and indulgent like the ideals of childhood, the second stanza is filled with more realistic imagery of spoil and decay that follows any over-indulgence, which is something that children, on becoming adults, are pushed to realise. The tone of the poem is joyous and passionate in the first stanza. The joy, however, is less to do with the eating of berries, which is mentioned just once ‘You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet’, than the picking of the same, which is mentioned multiple times. This conveys the childlike happiness felt in not just eating the blackberries, but also in the process of running through the fields and picking them, which almost seems like a ritual that happened every year. As opposed to the happy tone established in the first stanza, the tone of the second is desperat e and resigned. Filled with an adult perspective, there is a need to hold on to the sweetness of the berries, the richness of which is now dampened by the idea of the fungus forming on them. ‘It wasn’t fair’, this line conveys the resignation felt by all of us, and echoed by Heaney- the feeling that something isn’t fair accompanied by the realisation that we still have to resign ourselves to that fact because it isn’t going to change. On the surface, the poem ‘Blackberry Picking’ is about the simple joys found in little things like picking and eating blackberries, and the disappointment felt when they rot and decay. Underneath the surface, the poem explores the perfect ideals of childhood that are ruined by the mature realisations of adulthood. It brings out the contrast between the two, and reminds the reader that nothing perfect can last forever; just another hard reality of life.