Napoleon Essay -- essays research papers

Guidance to Freedom or Just Another Tyrant?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When most people think of Napoleon Bonaparte they think of either a tyrant emperor or a brilliant war strategist. Maybe both are right but in whatever conclusion any person comes to, they will know he was a small man who accomplished many great things. Napoleon conquered countries and developed a mass empire, which led to his celebrity like fame. He was a man that respected cultures and every religion and even cried when his men died on the battlefield. Bonaparte was an amazing person who drove himself with great ambition to become one of the greatest leaders ever in history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In life every great leader has had their own story to tell. Napoleon was born a Corsican, at Ajaccio, in 1769. He had seven brothers and sisters and he was also a descendent from the Florentine nobility. He moved to France and started school at the age of nine. At school he was picked on because of his Italian accent and because of his influent French. When he turned sixteen he joined the French artillery and became a lieutenant in a short period of time. Napoleon spent the next seven years reading the works of philosophers and educating himself in military matters, by studying the campaigns of great military leaders of the past. He then became a general and then in 1795 was appointed to stop an uprising in Paris and seceded in doing so. After stopping the uprising he was then given the position of commander in chief of the interior French army in Italy. In 1799 he was elected as the First Consul of France because the people were sick of the directory. He rose up in power in the military and also politically. He then formed his own empire and won many battles with his brilliance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bonaparte was an intelligent man with an extrodinary memory, while staying very open minded toward other people’s beliefs. As Vox states â€Å"When he had an hour for diversion, he not infrequently employed it in looking over a book of logarithms [†¦]. So retentive was his memory of numbers, that sums over which he had once glanced his eye were in his mind ever after (69).† If I lived in his empire I would at least respect Napoleon for his brilliance, his ability to memorize information, and his will to learn more. Although, Napoleon still had his flaws. He was still only human ... ...gh his extremely successful Italian campaigns, his revolutionary changes in the French government and battles against the Third Coalition Napoleon gave France total domination over Western Europe. France then became a great nation because of Napoleon’s brilliance and achievements as a leader. Works Citied Blair, Victor. Napoleon, The Man, Encapsulated. 10 Dec. 2002   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Britt, Alber Sidney. The Wars of Napoleon. New Jersey: Avery Publishing Group Inc.,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1985 Holtman, Robert. Napoleonic Propaganda. New York: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1969 Holtman, Robert. The Napoleonic Revolution. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1967 Markham, Felix. Napoleon and the Awakening of Europe. London: The English   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Universities Press Ltd., 1954 Miller, Tom. Before Brumaire: Napoleon’s Development as a Ruler. 10 Dec. 2002   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Naylor, John. Waterloo. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1960 Vance, Thomas. The Lost Voices of Napoleonic Historians. 10 Dec. 2002   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Vox, Maximilien. Napoleon. New York: Grove Press Inc., 1960

The Defensive Mechanisms in Ordinary People by Judith Guest

Ordinary People by Judith Guest is the story of a dysfunctional family who relate to one another through a series of extensive defense mechanisms, i. e. an unconscious process whereby reality is distorted to reduce or prevent anxiety. The book opens with seventeen year old Conrad, son of upper middle-class Beth and Calvin Jarrett, home after eight months in a psychiatric hospital, there because he had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. His mother is a meticulously orderly person who, Jared, through projection, feels despises him. She does all the right things; attending to Jared's physical needs, keeping a spotless home, plays golf and bridge with other women in her social circle, but, in her own words â€Å"is an emotional cripple†. Jared's father, raised in an orphanage, seems anxious to please everyone, a commonplace reaction of individuals who, as children, experienced parental indifference or inconsistency. Though a successful tax attorney, he is jumpy around Conrad, and, according to his wife, drinks too many martinis. Conrad seems consumed with despair. A return to normalcy, school and home-life, appear to be more than Conrad can handle. Chalk-faced, hair-hacked Conrad seems bent on perpetuating the family myth that all is well in the world. His family, after all, â€Å"are people of good taste. They do not discuss a problem in the face of the problem. And, besides, there is no problem. † Yet, there is not one problem in this family but two – Conrad's suicide and the death by drowning of Conrad's older brother, Buck. Conrad eventually contacts a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, because he feels the â€Å"air is full of flying glass† and wants to feel in control. Their initial sessions together frustrate the psychiatrist because of Conrad's inability to express his feelings. Berger cajoles him into expressing his emotions by saying, â€Å"That's what happens when you bury this junk, kiddo. It keeps resurfacing. Won't leave you alone. † Conrad's slow but steady journey towards healing seems partially the result of cathartic revelations which purge guilt feelings regarding his brother's death and his family's denial of that death, plus the â€Å"love of a good woman. Jeannine, who sings soprano to Conrad's tenor†¦ † There is no doubt that Conrad is consumed with guilt, â€Å"the feeling one has when one acts contrary to a role he has assumed while interacting with a significant person in his life,† This guilt engenders in Conrad feelings of low self esteem. Survivors of horrible tragedies, such as the Holocaust, frequently express similar feelings of worthlessness. In his book, â€Å"Against All Odds†, William Helmreich relates how one survivor articulates a feeling of abandonment. â€Å"Did I abandon them, or did they abandon me? † Conrad expresses a similar thought in remembering the sequence of events when the sailboat they were on turned over. Buck soothes Conrad saying, â€Å"Okay, okay. They'll be looking now, for sure, just hang on, don't get tired, promise? In an imagined conversation with his dead brother, Conrad asks, â€Å"‘Man, why'd you let go? ‘ ‘Because I got tired. ‘ ‘The hell! You never get tired, not before me, you don't! You tell me not to get tired, you tell me to hang on, and then you let go! ‘ ‘I couldn't help it. Well, screw you, then! ‘† Conrad feels terrible anger with his brother, but cannot comfortably express that anger. His psychiatrist, after needling Conrad, asks, â€Å"Are you mad? When Conrad responds that he is not mad, the psychiatrist says, â€Å"Now that is a lie. You are mad as hell. † Conrad asserts that, â€Å"When you let yourself feel, all you feel is lousy. † When his psychiatrist questions him about his relationship with his mother, Calvin says, â€Å"My mother and I do not connect. Why should it bother me? My mother is a very private person. † This sort of response is called, in psychological literature, â€Å"rationalization†. We see Conrad's anger and aggression is displaced, i. e. vented on another, as when he physically attacked a schoolmate. Yet, he also turns his anger on himself and expresses in extreme and dangerous depression and guilt. â€Å"Guilt is a normal emotion felt by most people, but among survivors it takes on special meaning. Most feel guilty about the death of loved ones whom they feel they could have, or should have, saved. Some feel guilty about situations in which they behaved selfishly (Conrad held on to the boat even after his brother let go), even if there was no other way to survive. In answer to a query from his psychiatrist on when he last got really mad, Conrad responds, â€Å"When it comes, there's always too much of it. I don't know how to handle it. † When Conrad is finally able to express his anger, Berger, the psychiatrist says to Calvin, â€Å"Razoring is anger; self-mutilation is anger. So this is a good sign; turning his anger outward at last. † Because his family, and especially his mother, frowns upon public displays of emotion, Conrad keeps his feelings bottled up, which further contributes to depression. Encyclopedia Britannica, in explicating the dynamics of depression states, â€Å"Upon close study, the attacks on the self are revealed to be unconscious expressions of disappointment and anger toward another person, or even a circumstance†¦ deflected from their real direction onto the self. The aggression, therefore, directed toward the outside world is turned against the self. † The article further asserts that, â€Å"There are three cardinal psychodynamic considerations in depression: (1) a deep sense of loss of what is loved or valued, which may be a person, a thing or even liberty; (2) a conflict of mixed feelings of love and hatred toward what is loved or highly valued; (3) a heightened overcritical concern with the self. † Conrad's parents are also busily engaged in the business of denial. Calvin, Conrad's father, says, â€Å"Don't worry. Everything is all right. By his own admission, he drinks too much, â€Å"because drinking helps†¦ , deadening the pain†. Calvin cannot tolerate conflict. Things must go smoothly. â€Å"Everything is jello and pudding with you, Dad. † Calvin, the orphan says, â€Å"Grief is ugly. It is something to be afraid of, to get rid of†. â€Å"Safety and order. Definitely the priorities of his life. He constantly questions himself as to whether or not he is a good father. â€Å"What is fatherhood, anyway? † Beth, Conrad's mother, is very self-possessed. She appears to have a highly developed super-ego, that part of an individual's personality which is â€Å"moralistic†¦ , meeting the demands of social convention, which can be irrational in requiring certain behaviors in spite of reason, convenience and common sense†. She is furthermore, a perfectionist. â€Å"Everything had to be perfect, never mind the impossible hardship it worked on her, on them all. † Conrad is not unlike his mother. He is an overachiever, an â€Å"A† student, on the swim team and a list-maker. His father tells the psychiatrist, â€Å"I see her not being able to forgive him. For surviving, maybe. No, that's not it, for being too much like her. † A psychoanalyst might call her anal retentive. Someone who is â€Å"fixated symbolically in orderliness and a tendency toward perfectionism†. â€Å"Excessive self-control, not expressing feelings, guards against anxiety by controlling any expression of emotion and denying emotional investment in a thing or person. â€Å"She had not cried at the funeral†¦. She and Conrad had been strong and calm throughout. The message of the book is contained in Berger's glib saying that, â€Å"People who keep stiff upper lips find that it's damn hard to smile†. We see Conrad moving toward recovery and the successful management of his stage of development, as articulated by Erikson, â€Å"intimacy vs. isolation†. At story end, his father is more open with Conrad, moving closer to him, while his mother goes off on her own to work out her issues. Both trying to realize congruence in their development stage (Erikson), â€Å"ego integrity vs. despair†.

Global Warming Global Climate Change - 1209 Words

Brooke Bogan Carol Dale, M.Ed. 1301 Dual Credit English IV November 4, 2015 WA #6- Global Climate Change Global climate change is a topic that had been hotly debated across the country for years. Though not many people believe it, scientists have proved the global warming is in fact partly caused by man. The greenhouse effect is gradually increasing the temperature of the earth because humans are constantly burning natural gases and oils, greenhouse gases being trapped in the atmosphere, deforestation, and the lower-level atmosphere is expanding exponentially. These every day routines may not seem as if they are effecting anything, but in the end this change in the global climate could harm the lives of all people and living organisms. According to the Environmental Protection Agency â€Å"Carbon Dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities.†(par. 1). The burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation, such as coal, natural gas and oil, are the actions that produce the most carbon dioxide. People need some way to light and heat their homes and businesses. To do so they burn fossil fuel to turn them into certain forms of energy to produce electricity. The burning of gas and diesel to allow transportation of goods and people accounts for the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions (par. 4). Methane gas is also a contributor to the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air. â€Å"In 2013, methane accounted for about 10% of all U.S.Show MoreRelatedGlobal Warming : A Global Climate Change1457 Words   |  6 Pageshappened by global warming like, increasing the temperature degrees, and melting the snow mountains around the word. However, global warming has played a major role in changing the weather all over the world. The climate change all over the world is a proof that the weather conditions are changing. Global warming has made some of the hottest land cold now and the countries that never had a summer in millenniums are now having sunlight regularly. These are the basic changes that signify that global warmingRead MoreGlobal Warming And Global Climate Change1354 Words   |  6 PagesIt is becoming a less and less contested issue that global climate change is a significant issue. When the idea of global warming first burst onto the main stage in the late 20th century, a majority of Americans were skeptical. Many of the predictions that the original scientists made proved to be incorrect, and often the scientific methods the scientists used were faulty. Since the early stages though, the science behind global climate change has gotten better. We now have more data and better modelsRead MoreGlobal Climate Change : The Global Warming1472 W ords   |  6 PagesThe Global Climate Change Currently when human life is growing, human activities impact on the environment and climate to lead to global climate change. Climate change is a problem of the whole world, and that is the big challenge for human kind. So what is climate change? Evolution of how it? Climate change is the change of weather, climate, may be due to human or natural causes. The specific expression that we often hear about is the phenomenon does not stop warming the earth, the greenhouse effectRead MoreGlobal Warming And Global Climate Change1139 Words   |  5 Pages The topic of global climate change has been a much debated topic over the years. There is no real scientific consensus on global warming. However, much destruction has happened to the earth that questions the scientific or empirical link between extreme weather and global climate change. There are a lot of events that happens around the globe such as floods, increased precipitation, sea-level rise, and hurricanes that questions the theory of global climate change. Without any clear cut evidenceRead MoreGlobal Warming And Global Climate Change1531 Words   |  7 PagesIn the last twenty years, the issues surrounding global climate change have become increasingly dominant in the international community, as the implications associated with the global issue pose many threats to the environment and humanity as a whole. Beginning in the 1970’s, scientific research regarding pollution led scientists to discover that chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) where destroying the ozone layer , posing threats to plant and animal life, and humans as a rise in skin cancer followed. LuckilyRead MoreGlobal Climate Change : The Global Warming1633 Words   |  7 PagesThe Global Climate Change Currently, when human life is growing, human activities play an impact on the environment and climate, which leads to global climate change. Climate change is a problem of the whole world, and therefore remains a huge challenge for life on Earth. So what is climate change? Evolution of how it change? Climate change is caused by natural causes or by humans which possibly fluctuates the cycle of change in weather and climate. The specific expression that we often hear aboutRead MoreGlobal Climate Change And Global Warming1054 Words   |  5 Pagesreally isn t much of a secret that global climate change is happening. From the melting of the polar ice caps, to record severe temperatures, rise in natural disasters, rise in pollution, greater number of vector-borne and water borne illnesses, and much more. Unless there is something done to change the current technology being used to provide energy to the human population global climate change will only continue to get worse. Climate chang e is the biggest global health threat of the 21st centuryRead MoreGlobal Warming And Global Climate Change1565 Words   |  7 PagesGlobal warming and global climate change has been a consistent news headline and global topic for the past two decades. From a political standpoint, there has been great debate as to whether or not humans are completely to blame, partially to blame, or to blame at all for the changes we are seeing in the Earth’s climate. However, from a scientific perspective, this is not the case. From the Kyoto Protocol, to dummy-downed explanation like in Al Gore’s â€Å"An Inconvenient Truth†, to NASA’s comprehensiveRead MoreGlobal Warming And Global Climate Change Essay1589 Words   |  7 Pagesdata necessary to identify Amazon’s global carbon emissions. The Earth’s climate has been rapidly warming for the past several decades due to the burning of fossil fuels, with the subsequent release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHG). Global climate change has already caused glaciers and sea ice to melt, plant and animal ranges to shift, sea level rise to accelerate, oceans to acidify, and droughts and heat waves to intensify. Indeed, climate change can be considered to be the main threatRead MoreGlobal Warming And Climate Change974 Words   |  4 Pagesabout global warming, whether it is true or false. Is there evidence to prove that global warming has impacted the climate due to the rise in the earth’s temperature? Climate change is a problem that is worldwide that should be reviewed. The rise in the earth’s temperature has caused some impact to the weather and climate changes to many places worldwide. This rise in temperature has the potential of causing drastic changes to the earth in many ways. It is time to view the global warming concerns