Making a major Purchase Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Making a major Purchase - Term Paper Example The need for shelter is a necessity. Such, individual has to buy a house at some time or another. The bigger question would be when and will it be right time to buy it. The act of purchasing a house is relatively infrequent and generally constitutes an individual or a family’s â€Å"single most important investment and expenditure (Levy et al., 2008 pg. 253). To make the analysis clearer in this case, let us assume that the buying decision to purchase will be made on cash. Buying on cash can also demonstrate clearly the economic principles behind making such decision or indecision. To illustrate further these economic principles, let us assume that the buyer is a typical middle class with a regular job and regular income that making a purchase would require a serious evaluation on his or her part. A house is a need. It shelters us from the vicissitudes of the weather and the inclemencies of the storm. It provides a place for rest and recreation where we can grow our families and live as a person. But before getting those benefits, we can consider what we have to give up. This consideration is very important because purchasing a house is the most expensive purchase that we will make. In addition, we have to be careful in letting go of our scarce resources especially that we are still in the process of recovery. The economy has to be considered in making that purchase. There are two things that should be considered before making that purchase; first, is the economic condition of the economy as this will determine the price of the house whether it is the time to make the purchase and this will also determine the individual’s capacity to pay. The economy is still in the process of recovering and it may be slow certainly not entering into a recession as observed by Fred Smith, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Corp. (FDX) (Del Giudice, 2011).

Journal Entry for Stephen Crane’s, An Episode of War Essay Example for Free

Journal Entry for Stephen Crane’s, An Episode of War Essay This short piece of American literature is a descriptive prose depicting a scene in the American Civil War. An unnamed lieutenant is wounded at his right arm while resting with the rest of his troops during an active battle. The story enables the readers to take part on the lieutenant’s perceptions on what is happening and how the battle was shaped and he is a participant or a victim of a battle unknown to him. The battle is fierce and tumultuous; it was able to take the innocent lives and anything on its way. All of this thinking happened while the lieutenant passed the line of the battle, while he was in search of the field hospital.  At the hospital, the wounded officer had a brief and unpleasant encounter with a surgeon who is rude and lied to him, saying that his arm will not be amputated. The story was able to envelop the soft and meek side of an army officer in a few lines of dialogue of having his right arm amputated. In the end, the lieutenant went along with the surgeon for a medical procedure but end up losing his arm. The army officer felt ashamed when he got home to his family and showing an empty sleeve. He was a victim of a war that could have been avoided and he will not have to lose his arm.

Postwar Effects on Women :: American America History

Postwar Effects on Women The "feminine mystique" that American culture promotes is entirely dependent upon its ideas, beliefs, and needs of the time. American culture has always tended to influence women into doing what the day and age required. After men went to war there was a gap in the work force that needed to be filled. During World War II women were the most available to join the work force. Due to the discouragement to raise families during the Great Depression and the fact that most men of age had entered the war, many women were left without families to look after and men to take to take care of them. "Most women toiled at unskilled jobs; most were young, single, and without children" (307). This lack of family and funds left women with no other place to go besides the factories. Women's need for work was nursed along by the media as well as the public. "A rapidly expanding war economy absorbed most of the reserve labor force," (307) yet it still was not enough, the economy demanded a larger work force. This demand worked in cooperation with the availability of the women of the time. "'Commando Mary' and 'Rosie the Riveter' became symbols of women who heeded their country's call" (307). There were many enticements luring women to join the work force. These enticements included higher war wages, more available time and opportunity to work, and wartime restrictions on leisure activities. "Despite the general expectation that women would return to their home after the war, female laborers did not simply drop their wrenches and pick up frying pans" (310). After the war many women continued to work outside the home primarily to help support their families. After the war 28% of the labor force was female compared to the 24% prior to the war. When the war was over nearly one million women were laid off and another 2.25 million voluntarily left. These female losses in the work force were offset by the gain of 2.75 million women into the work force. "When women who had been laid off managed to return to work, they often lost their seniority and had to accept reduced pay in lower job categories" (310). Due to the severe segregation by gender, the postwar economic life for women was appalling. Postwar American life became organized around marriage and family. As men came back from the war they merged with the peacetime economy, taking jobs away from women and sending them back to the home.

A history of African American slaves Essay

But as mentioned, may also argue for the more positive portrayal of John Brown in writings and media. They believe that negative portrayal of John Brown gives an unfair interpretation of his history. They argue that many of the writers who have put John Brown in a bad light let their writings be tainted with bias, and so some of them veered away from impartial interpretation of facts that surround Brown. Many argue that John Brown, as a human being, is a product of his past, and how he was shaped by his society. These people say that as much as you can’t blame John Brown like you can’t fully blame a suicide bomber for dying and killing for his convictions and beliefs. He was one of those who viewed society through a revolutionary lens, only that he let his eyes go awry by choosing violent methods. It could also be that he was pressured into going through violent acts because he wanted immediate change, and saw that relatively peaceful methods like passing legislations were not effecting these changes fast enough. It can be recalled that he once tried to use negotiation to settle the prices and terms in the wool industry, yet to no avail. Several factors like this could have led to this kind of mindset that he had. Some people view him as a hero, as proved by many edifices and statues built in his honor. For some people, especially the African-Americans, his motives were enough to proclaim him as a hero and a martyr for the nation. This point proves that personal history of the race or culture greatly affects the lens through which people look at things in the environment. Since the ancestors of these people were the ones defended by Brown, they feel indebted to him in some way. Without his armed action against the southerners, then major recognition of their peoples’ freedom wouldn’t have occurred. The people that John Brown tried to save were the ones who look up to him as a liberator still. From when he was alive to when he was executed, the public viewed him as both a violent rogue and a patriot. However multifaceted the views of John Brown’s character may be, it is important that we ground our views on the facts and truths found in history. There are many things we have to consider about his personality, character and motivations, and these things are needed to form a good opinion and view of Brown. CONCLUSION John Brown supported ideologies that were unaccepted during his time, and used methods that were unacceptable both when he lived and after this period. In his time, he garnered both the dissent of both slavery supporters and pacifist abolitionists, and the support of some abolitionists. The presence of multiple opinions was also evident even after his death. His image still acquires the same two sides of public opinion no matter how times have changed. John Brown is an American historical figure whose image contains many facets to it because people from different times had different â€Å"lenses† or factors like values systems, cultural and social backgrounds to view his life with. These factors influence how people form opinions and views. Whatever â€Å"lens† we may have and use in viewing John Brown’s image or any other thing outside of ourselves, it is important that we remain accurate and faithful to truth and fact as much as possible. BIBLIOGRAPHY Berlin, Ira. Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves.United States of America: President and Fellows of Harvard College , 2003. Catterall, Helen T. Judicial Cases Concerning Slavery and the Negro. New York: Octagon Books, 1968. â€Å"Civil War History†. Southernhistory. net. http://www. southernhistory. net/modules. php? op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=9406. (accessed April 9, 2009) Chowder, Ken. The Father of American Terrorism. New York: American Heritage, 2002. DeCaro Jr. , Louis A. â€Å"People’s Ally, White People’s Bogeyman: A John Brown Story† in Andrew Taylor and Eldrid Herrington (editors), The Afterlife of John Brown. 2005 DeCaro Jr. , Louis A. John Brown–The Cost of Freedom: Selections from His Life & Letters. 2007. Fried, Albert. John Brown’s Journey: Notes & Reflections on His America and Mine. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1978. Gallay, Alan. The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made. New York: Random House, Inc. , 1974. Genovese, Eugene D. The Political Economy of Slavery: Studies in the Economy and Society of the Slave South. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1989. Genovese, Eugene D. , and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Fruits of Merchant Capital: Slavery and Bourgeois Property in the Rise and Expansion of Capitalism. England: Oxford University Press, 1983. â€Å"John Brown†. Spartacus Educational. http://www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk/USASbrown. html (accessed April 9, 2009) Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery, 1619-1877. Canada: HarperCollins Canada Ltd. , 1994. Olsen, Otto H. â€Å"Historians and the Extent of Slave Ownership in the Southern United States†. Southernhistory. net http://www. southernhistory. net/modules. php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=9406 (accessed April 9, 2009) Partyka, Jennifer. â€Å"Brown, John†. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book. http://pabook. libraries. psu. edu/palitmap/bios/Brown__John. html (accessed April 9, 2009). Reynolds, David S. John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Right. New York: Vintage Books, 2005. Rhodes, James Ford. History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850. Norwood, Mass. , 1906. â€Å"Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860†. The Library of Congress. http://lcweb2. loc. gov/ammem/sthtml/sthome. html (accessed April 9, 2009).

East of Eden: The Discovery of Innocence

The Discovery of Innocence on the Western Frontier What happens in the West? What kind of change takes place when an individual crosses over the boundary separating what has been settled from what has yet to be † the frontier. Over the last few weeks I have continued to probe the idea of the West as a place that has yet to be defined. Many times, authors and people are not even sure where it starts as it is an invisible border that exists only in the minds of those who seek to cross it.Once across this ambiguous frontier, the traveler ncounters a place in which time seems to be suspended. As in the story of the Garden of Eden, paradise (or the West) represents a sphere in which God has held the hands of time, and the people and creatures live in a state of eternal sameness. The idea of ghost towns in the West embodies the notion of a place somehow being removed from the influence of time. Ghost towns exist as settlements that people forgot. However, unlike settlements in the Ea st where space is at a premium and any unused building would quickly be removed and replaced by something else, in theWest these places remain, like footprints on the moon where no erosion of time can disturb them. The same principle applies to people. The West has the effect of amnesia upon the minds of those who partake of it. In many ways, it resembles the lotus flowers from The Odyssey. In the epic, any persons who tasted of the lotus flowers immediately forgot about home and opted to stay where they could partake of the flowers. A similar effect can be found among the mountain men and explorers of the Rocky Mountains.Often times these men would become so intoxicated by the rugged eauty and isolation they found in the West that they would spend years in the mountains instead of the months they had planned on. These men became real life Rip Van Winkles, being suspended from time for so long they were not aware of major events such as presidential elections, new territories, or wa rs. Not only is the West edenic in the way that time operates, it is also closely tied