What is Art for Me Essay Example for Free

What is Art for Me Essay Art is everywhere. It can be tangible or intangible. It can be seen, sometimes heard. It has several forms. Also, there are several ways on how a person can be pleased about a piece of art. One of the things I have learned from this course, HUM 1, is that art in its simplest form is still art. Yes, people may see things differently but there will always be something that will suit our taste. Art surpasses the view of what can be seen and at times, it values beauty over functionality. Art can truly be judged by you, the individual, as far as you, yourself, are concerned, by only one measure. It is not a static but an energy measure. Do not ask what the art is or ought to be, for this is debatable and will inevitably lead to an endless argument. Ask only what it does – not what it does to somebody else, for this again is only hearsay, but what it does to you. No matter how good a painting may be by any and all theoretical aesthetic standards, if it does not do something special to you, then you will seemingly be uninterested about it. Now, let’s take a look at art and the technological advancements our world is bringing forth. When you think deeper, you’ll get to realize both the good and bad sides. The good thing about it is that art joins the flow of evolution and thus it is not outdated. A bad thing is that there are a lot of masterpieces that are wrongly claimed by people who are not the artist to be credited for. Well, obviously, art is something that is timeless. It develops and further develops. The way art is becoming is art itself. It is vital to appreciate art critically but with an open mind, because there are still patterns that are important to follow when we want to discover what it is made of or why was it created. Everything depends on the significance or the meaning the artist wants to give and the impact that he wants to give to the spectators. They might start with different things in mind but when a connection between them is established, rest assured that they’ll both understand what the artwork’s story really is.

Racial Issues in The Runaway Slave and Life of a Slave Girl Essay

Racial Issues in The Runaway Slave and Life of a Slave Girl If you prick us, do we not bleed? -- Shylock, The Merchant of Venice Like Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the black slave women are dehumanized by the other characters in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s â€Å"The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point† and Harriet A. Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself. Sexually harassed by their white masters, these slave women are forbidden to express the human emotion of love. Pressured into a shamed motherhood, they cannot love their children in the same ways that a white mother can. Moreover, slave women are treated like chattels. The black women in Browning and Jacobs’ works are oppressed sexually, forced into unwanted motherhoods, and stripped of their identities. Yet, because they face these cruelties with courage and dignity, these black slaves emerge as heroines of their own fates. According to her white owners, a black woman in bondage not only has no rights to love, but is incapable of loving. In Browning’s â€Å"The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point†, the black narrator speaks of her love affair with a black man, but she is brief in its description because it is a forbidden act. The narrator remains anonymous throughout Browning’s poem, for to be named is to have power and to have an identity. She sings her lover’s name, showing that enslavement cannot prevent her from loving or from giving a fellow slave an identity. The narrator and her lover meet in secret, but their furtiveness is seen in a positive light since their commitment to love one another is strengthened by their piety: â€Å"We were two to love and two to pray† (86). Although they try to have faith in God, they are alienated... ...ving their children. Furthermore, they are able to find forgiveness in their hearts even though they have been stripped of their humanity. Like the alienated Shylock in Shakespeare’s play, Linda and the narrator in â€Å"The Runaway Slave† will bleed if they are pricked. Indeed, these slave women have bled, both physically and emotionally. These wounds can only heal when they begin to stand up for their rights as human beings, so that eventually they will â€Å"cease to be trampled under foot by [their] oppressors† (Jacobs, 177). WORKS CITED Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. â€Å"The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point†. 1850. Correspondence Course Notes: ENGL 205*S Selected Women Writers I, Spring-Summer 2003, pp. 51-58. Kingston, ON: Queen’s University, 2003. Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself. London: Harvard University Press, 1987. Racial Issues in The Runaway Slave and Life of a Slave Girl Essay Racial Issues in The Runaway Slave and Life of a Slave Girl If you prick us, do we not bleed? -- Shylock, The Merchant of Venice Like Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the black slave women are dehumanized by the other characters in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s â€Å"The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point† and Harriet A. Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself. Sexually harassed by their white masters, these slave women are forbidden to express the human emotion of love. Pressured into a shamed motherhood, they cannot love their children in the same ways that a white mother can. Moreover, slave women are treated like chattels. The black women in Browning and Jacobs’ works are oppressed sexually, forced into unwanted motherhoods, and stripped of their identities. Yet, because they face these cruelties with courage and dignity, these black slaves emerge as heroines of their own fates. According to her white owners, a black woman in bondage not only has no rights to love, but is incapable of loving. In Browning’s â€Å"The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point†, the black narrator speaks of her love affair with a black man, but she is brief in its description because it is a forbidden act. The narrator remains anonymous throughout Browning’s poem, for to be named is to have power and to have an identity. She sings her lover’s name, showing that enslavement cannot prevent her from loving or from giving a fellow slave an identity. The narrator and her lover meet in secret, but their furtiveness is seen in a positive light since their commitment to love one another is strengthened by their piety: â€Å"We were two to love and two to pray† (86). Although they try to have faith in God, they are alienated... ...ving their children. Furthermore, they are able to find forgiveness in their hearts even though they have been stripped of their humanity. Like the alienated Shylock in Shakespeare’s play, Linda and the narrator in â€Å"The Runaway Slave† will bleed if they are pricked. Indeed, these slave women have bled, both physically and emotionally. These wounds can only heal when they begin to stand up for their rights as human beings, so that eventually they will â€Å"cease to be trampled under foot by [their] oppressors† (Jacobs, 177). WORKS CITED Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. â€Å"The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point†. 1850. Correspondence Course Notes: ENGL 205*S Selected Women Writers I, Spring-Summer 2003, pp. 51-58. Kingston, ON: Queen’s University, 2003. Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself. London: Harvard University Press, 1987.

Jacksonian Democrats Essay

Jacksonian Democrats are often viewed as prompting political democracy, equal opportunity, and personal liberty. Based on your knowledge of the 1820s, to what extent do you agree with this view? When Jackson took office in 1829 he led, with pride, a new band of politicians. These politicians, the Jacksonian Democrats, had not been born into aristocracy, but instead, had worked and earned their own positions. Jacksonian Democrats are often viewed as prompting political democracy, equal opportunity, and personal liberty, while in fact, these seeds had already been planted in Americans, and the Jacksonian Democrats had only just come to power when they were in full bloom. These ideas actually originated during the 1820s as new states emerged and new state constitutions were written, thus expanding suffrage, opportunity, and hope. Between 1816 and 1821 six new states had been added to the union, five of which were to the west. In order for these new states to be able to distinguish themselves they needed people to populate them, therefore increasing their value. In order to encourage this necessary migration the new states wove new privileges into their constitutions, expanding suffrage and opportunities for the common white man. In these new constitutions there were no limits of property owning upon voting. Eastern states were then pressured to follow suit. They needed their residents to stay as much as the new states needed them to leave. Gradually they changed to allow for the same freedoms as the West, and most white men were given suffrage. Trodding hand in hand with suffrage was the right to hold office. Prior to 1820 only rich aristocrats, owning a considerable amount of land, were permitted to do so. Again, the new states introduced a new concept, this time that every voter has the ability to run for a political office. The older states were forced to debate these new issues and some were reluctant to change. In Massachusetts’ constitutional convention of 1820, Daniel Webster opposed the idea of lifting property requirements. The result of the convention was that all voters were made taxpayers and were allowed to hold office except for that of governor. That position still required considerable land owning. With these new privileges, there was a lot more  that the common white male could work towards, giving him new inspiration and confidence. As people slowly began taking advantage of their new privileges their views and ideas were compiled with the more traditional. In New York, two parties emerged when Martin Van Buren went against the governor and led a small faction to write a new constitution. Though they were suppressed, their point got across and a new message came from their struggle. It was realized that parties were not the evil establishments they had originally thought them to be. Parties would enable the government to become more democratic. Politicians, with the competition of opposing parties, would be always mindful of the wishes of the people. They would keep each other checked, just as the branches of federal government did. Jackson did not create these new forms of democracy. They had been set into motion ten years before he ran for office. He was credited with their effects, though, because it was not until the 1830s that these ideas really caught on and expanded. Though the bulk of the movements occurred while Jackson was president, he did very little to encourage them, because they needed little encouragement. The Americans, in their never-ending quest for freedom and democracy had stumbled upon these expansions all on their own. This had been the pattern prior to, and would prove to be the pattern henceforth of American society.

What Does Islam Teach About Jihad Free Essay Example, 4500 words

With Islamic perspective, personal jihad is one of the major states of jihad which Muslims practice to become true submitters. Jihad is a journey of determination which leads a man to confront a state of wisdom, purity and spiritual contentment. 8 It is not a journey of personal attainments but a journey to deprive one from the worldly orders. Believe is a metaphysical norm and so as the wisdom, where both are resulted from jihad, the practice of a pious Muslim, a continuous striver or the practice of a continuous personal internal degrader as Islam talks about. 9 Jihad against the Personal Will â€Å"The (true believers) are only those who believe in Allah and his messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their selves for the cause of Allah. Such are the truthful. † [Quran 49:15] The above statement of Quran explains about personal jihad and about Mujahidin who fight against their personal wills. This is one major category of jihad which Quran and Islam has given importance to. For a Muslim personal jihad is a practice to attain Taqwa (the highest position of faith, purity and submission). We will write a custom essay sample on What Does Islam Teach About Jihad or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page