Frankenstein and the Depiction of Women

The three women characters in Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein experience horrific events including brutal murder and degradation of their female roles. The women in Frankenstein represent the treatment of women in the early 1800’s. Shelley’s incorporation of suffering and death of her female characters portrays that in the 1800’s it was acceptable. The women in the novel are treated as property and have minimal rights in comparison to the male characters. The feminist critic would find that in Frankenstein the women characters are treated like second class citizens. The three brutal murders of the innocent women are gothic elements which illustrates that women are inferior in the novel. The destruction and creation of women in the gothic novel Frankenstein depicts the unimportance of women in the novel’s society.
The women in Frankenstein are forced to be submissive, a trait that illustrates their submission towards men. Victor treats Elizabeth as a possession instead of a human being and believes that any compliment she gets derives from his doing. Elizabeth acts docile around Victor and accepts that she is a second class citizen. “All praises bestowed on her, I received as made to a possession of my own” (Shelley 44). The novel takes place in a patriarchal society where man is the powerful figure and woman is obedient to his every wish. Women accept that they are second class citizens because that is the culture they are raised to follow. Women in Frankenstein are forced to act mannerly because that is how men classified an attractive woman. Women are forces to act passive because men deprive them of their individual rights. “ Like Elizabeth’s destruction, the monsterette’s creation and destruction dramatize how women do not function in their own right but rather as signs and conduits for men’s relations with other men” (Smith 323). Elizabeth is the fiancée of Victor Frankenstein who frequently pushes back their wedding constantly. Victor pushes back the wedding so he can find time to complete his creation of man. Elizabeth and other female characters in the novel express their passivity by acting chaste around men to be seen as proper. “The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-decorated lamp in our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of her celestial eyes…” (Shelley 45). Elizabeth is an attractive woman because she presents herself as a beatific young woman who abides to her role as a servant to man. Elizabeth’s docile and holy presence is an example of how women in Shelley’s novel are supposed to act around men. Elizabeth shows her docile nature because she was once an orphan like Justine, a servant to the Frankenstein family.
Elizabeth’s mother Caroline acts saintly like her daughter Elizabeth. Caroline sacrifices her life when she aids Elizabeth to recover from a severe case of Scarlet Fever. Caroline remains gentle and proper free from anger or blame on her deathbed. Caroline “Died calmly; and her countenance expressed affection even in death” (Shelley 50). Women in the novel are portrayed as docile while the men are depicted as angry and wild. Victor Frankenstein is extremely hot-blooded and ill- tempered. “My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement” (Shelley 45). The men characters expect woman characters to be gentle to counteract their violent nature. However, the woman characters in Frankenstein lose their voices and rights when counteracting man’s vehemence.
The passive dispositions of women characters in Frankenstein are symbolic to how women are deemed as unimportant figures in the novel’s society and how they are controlled by the male characters. The definition of a symbol is an object or a word that represents another object. The main character, Elizabeth, possesses a calmer disposition than her brother who is more intense and violent. Elizabeth’s docile nature represents how she becomes a play-thing to young Victor. “I looked upon Elizabeth as mine- mine to protect, love, and cherish” (Shelley 44). Elizabeth is described as a possession rather than an individual. Many women like Elizabeth are treated as though they are not capable of making their own decisions and need a man to guide them. Elizabeth symbolizes how women in the 1800’s are treated like things rather than human beings and how they are easily manipulated like toys. Elizabeth’s gentle repressive nature represents how women are oppressed in Frankenstein’s society.
Another character, Justine, is an innocent young Catholic woman who remains silent although convicted of murder. Justine, despite her innocence, is sentenced to death by a jury of men. She is accused because she falls ill and exhibits abnormal behavior. She never puts up a violent struggle to fight for her life but willingly takes the death penalty for a crime she had nothing to do with. Justine’s silence symbolizes how she is dictated to act quietly and humble since she is a women. Feminist critic Ross Murfin notes that “So many women characters in Frankenstein embrace the domestic life that the novel might seem to advocate the doctrine of separate spheres…” (303).Although people may agree that Shelley promoted the unequal gender role of females, the author of this paper argues that Shelley emphasized the oppression and brutality of women in order to have her voice heard.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, two female characters are brutally murdered by the ignorance of Victor and his monstrous creation. Justine receives the death penalty despite that she is innocent and did not commit the crime. The decision made by man dictates the brutal fate ahead for Justine. They accuse her of being guilty and she dies silently. The deaths of the innocent women make the novel Frankenstein a compelling piece of Gothic fiction. According to the Dictionary of Literary Terms, Cuddon states that “Most gothic novels are tales of mystery and horror, intended to chill the spine and curdle the blood” (Gothic novel). The horrific deaths represent the gothic elements pertaining to women to represent their lowly treatment by men in society. Victor, the main character becomes responsible for the deaths of Elizabeth, Justine, and William. The horrific monster kills the innocent women and he becomes the eerie gothic element in Shelley’s novel. The novel is chilling and haunting because of the deaths of the innocent caused by a grotesque morbid monster. The monster kills Elizabeth because she is a possession of worth to Victor. Women characters in Frankenstein are possessions by the males to serve their sexual passions. “Elizabeth dies not because she is Elizabeth but because she is Victor’s object of desire” (Smith 322). Elizabeth is killed not because she has individual significance, but because she is a belonging of Victor that satisfies his needs and desires. She is killed because Victor denies the fulfillment of the monster’s request for the female monster. The female monster is destroyed by Victor because she is insignificant and second in comparison to Victor, a male. “…Elizabeth and the monsterette are simply counters in the struggle between Victor and the monster” (Smith 323). The struggles between the monster and Victor are solely what dictate the fate of the lives of innocent female characters Elizabeth and the female monster.
The destruction of the one female monster demonstrates how she is thoughtlessly killed because she had the ability of power. The male monster desires a female monster for her company and Victor creates her. Victor realizes that “… In all probability [she] was to become a thinking and reasoning animal who might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation” (Shelley 144). The female monster was feverishly destroyed because Victor’s feared her individual power and thoughts. She has the ability to become the opposite of how women are forced to act in society and become a rebellious and powerful individual. The female monster is destroyed because she has no rights as a female and is treated not as a life but as an object. Victor the dominant male figure plays the role of God by destroying her. That “…Victor excludes the ugly monster indicates again how strictly men control the domestic sphere” (Smith 323). Victor ignores the monster and destroys his future mate, events that signify that the male characters in Frankenstein are important and female characters have no rights or say in society. Elizabeth is murdered by the monster as the monster’s revenge against Victor. Women are merely the possessions of man that are the objects of revenge. The monster kills Elizabeth because he knows that is Victor’s most precious possession, and he destroys her out of jealousy.
It is symbolic that the women in the Frankenstein novel are deprived of their instinctive female role to procreate when Victor created the monster. To be born from the tainted blood of an oppressed woman is not where man wants to come from. Instead, man uses science to create new life without the presence of a woman. Women are so degraded in society that they are created in the novel through a scientific process devoid of the female incubator. “In sum, Frankenstein’s descent is a grotesque art of lovemaking, the son stealing the womb that bore him in order to implant his seed” (Sherwin 885). Victor partakes in the grotesque act of joining animal and human body parts to create the male and female monster without the need of a female body. This separation of body parts represents an act of power that can be compared to Victor’s sexuality. Victor realizes that life is capable of being made by the most powerful members of society, and that women are completely useless to their society since now their only talent has been removed by science.
The female character is destroyed by Victor because she represents power and rebellious thought. Victor conjures up that the female monster could become more grotesque and vehement than the monster which fulfilled his reason for why he destroyed her body. “…She might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness” (Shelley 144).The monster is destroyed because Victor is afraid to create a female monster because she can create inside her own body more monsters to populate the earth with. “…And a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth, who might make every existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror” (Shelley 144). The female monster is feared by Victor since she has the ability to increase the amount of daemons in the world and heighten the amount of terror on earth. The result of destroying a female monster that has been artificially created depicts how women can easily be created and destroyed in the novel. The women in this society are shackled by the power of man who have their stolen every right, power, and ability.
Consider the roles of women through various time periods and notice how many of them had to face similar plights as the women in Frankenstein face. Many women like those in Shelley’s novel suffer from inequality and oppression. Many women are treated like property and are deprived of rights that men have. The women are murdered and one is created in Shelley’s novel which represents how quickly women can be replaced. Even in present day women still face the challenges of competing against men. In the early 1800’s, women are clearly presented in the novel as classless individuals who are forced to comply as submissive beings living under the wing of man, the dominant leader in Frankenstein society.





Works Cited
“Gothic novel.” A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Ed. J.A. Cuddon. 4th ed. N.p.: Blackwell Publishers LTD, 1998. Print.
Murfin, Ross C. “Feminist Criticism and Frankenstein.” Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Ed. Johanna M Smith. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 296-305. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Johanna M Smith. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/. Martins, 2000. Print.
Sherwin, Paul. “Frankenstein: Creation as Catastrophe.” PMLA 96.5 (1981): 883-903. JSTOR. Web. 16 Oct. 2009. .
Smith, Johanna. “’Cooped up’ with ‘Sad Trash.’” Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Ed. Johanna M Smith. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 313-331. Print.
Murfin, Ross C. “Feminist Criticism and Frankenstein.” ” Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Ed. Johanna M Smith. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 296-305. Print.
Smith, Johanna M. ed. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Ed.. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. Print.

Discrimination in the Workplace

Discrimination in the workplace has been prevalent throughout the history of man and has branched into various forms in past and existing time periods. Many individuals suffer immense losses and are jobless, privation governed solely because of the existing forms of job discrimination. Age discrimination adversely affects older generations because of job labeling, vulnerability to verbal abuse, and need for higher salary. Fortunately, there are acts and government agencies that protect those exposed to unfair discrimination.
In the 1960’s, age discrimination became a major issue in the American workplace since jobs were made unavailable to older American citizens. Older citizens were costly to hire because of previous job experience and employers refused to hire them. Employers ensured their intentions of hiring young employees by various techniques such as labeling ages for their jobs. Job labeling became a way where employers could eliminate the risk of hiring an older person. “Ads printed in newspapers dictated the ages of prospective employees the company was willing to hire” (Blank 1). Companies were unwilling to hire older people because they were more experienced workers and many required benefits. Employers felt that “Replacing older workers with younger workers as accost-savings technique-- circumventing pension payouts and decreasing wages” (Byron 315). Older Americans had very little way of applying for jobs since employers were legally allowed to display favoritism and sport age discrimination in the workplace. The high competition of younger and more-able workers made finding near impossible for older American workers.
Age discrimination in America begins with employers analyzing the attractiveness of a prospect employee solely by their age. The age of a worker reveals how strong a person is and what type of salary and/or benefits they require for the job. According to Gilbert Lee’s theory he believes that “Age discrimination in the workplace should be relatively high in the 20’s, drop in the 30’s, and rise steadily thereafter” (256). New workers searching for their first job are exposed to job discrimination because employers do not want to risk hiring a brand new worker who has not yet earned a reputation. Young people newly siphoned into the workplace cannot be trusted by employers because little is known about their background. At the peak age of thirty, workers have obtained work experience, are strong and alert, and do not require a hefty salary. Employers show favoritism to the 30 year old work candidates and will hire them over the twenty-two year old. However, discrimination peaks for senior citizens because they require more money and benefits.
Older Americans are exposed to the highest level of job discrimination despite their advantageous offerings to an employer. “ Older workers often exhibit higher job commitments, less turn over and lower rates of absenteeism than do young workers” (Byron 315). Older Americans are dedicated workers and offer exemplary work ethic compared to younger people who tend to be negligent. Older workers frequently face unemployment and are verbally discriminated because they are no longer youthful or in their prime. Older Americans are the workers who deserve the jobs they get denied from because of job discrimination. Their credentials and high experience make them immaculate in comparison to the younger job competitor, but the lack of respect for old Americans allows the young and less- experienced to persevere. “Mangers are predisposed to favor young employees and draw from stereotypical portrayals of older Americans” (Byron 315). The term “Over the Hill” and “Ancient” are the many mocking phrases that older individuals face in the American work place. Many employers want their workers to be charismatic and attractive so that their company gains admiration from consumers. Attractive young employees communicate strength to outsiders, which makes a company look strong and fresh. Young employees incorporate new blood to a company. The young employees have many years of working left in them, which is why hiring workers young becomes a financial benefit.
As older Americans continued to face more discrimination in the work place, Lyndon Johnson signed the Age Discrimination Employment Act of 1967 in order to dissipate the discrimination of older people from employment. The act protects against any type of age discrimination at the age of forty and above, the peak ages that discrimination starts. The act encourages that respect be returned to the older generations of Americans and the shrewd name- calling stopped. “The Age Discrimination Act in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits discrimination in employment based on age with respect to older individuals” (Kaye 774). The act has protected hundreds of Americans from the unlawful attacks of job discrimination based upon age. The act has helped instill fairness to older Americans searching for a job and considers it unlawful for an employer to stereotype or degrade workers because of age.
Although the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 can be seen as successful, there are many existing forms of job discrimination found in America today that pertain to solely age. An ageism survey reveals that “84% of working Americans more than 60 years old report one or more incidents of ageism including insulting jokes, disrespect, or assumptions pertaining to frailty” ( Byron 314). Disrespect of these older individuals is still prevalent in America and they are even mocked today. Many of these people who have become victims of age discrimination can file reports and have their cases reviewed with the chances of a settlement. Many of these cases filed have become legitimate age discrimination cases and the cases have successfully ended with monetary gain awarded to the victim. “In Fiscal year 2008, EEOC received 24, 582 charges of age discrimination and EEOC resolved 21, 415 cases and recovered 88.2 million dollars in benefits for aggrieved individuals” (Age Discrimination). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a government agency that protects people from discrimination in the work place. The agency has helped resolve the cases of hundreds of victims that have suffered through various types of job discrimination in the United States. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides help to people who feel that they were not hired because of their age, religion, race, or disability. The agency protects people of several discrimination factors and helps them collect money if they were degraded or discriminated against.
A recent case of job discrimination based upon age relates to Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed, a book about a writer’s struggle to take on the challenge of working low-paying jobs as a single woman. Barbara Ehrenreich was 57 years old when she started the project of Nickel and Dimed. Her age is the target of when age discrimination in the work place peaks since she is several years over the age of 40. Mrs. Enhrenreich’s age is one where many Americans should respect as her for being an elder. However, people treat Ehrenreich with little respect and force her down on her hands and needs despite her physical age and sore back. “It is the primal posture of submission” (Ehrenreich 84). Her job as a maid was a degrading experience and she gained very little respect despite of her age.
Age was not an important factor to an employer who hired and older woman like Ehrenreich because the employer could easily find another desperate worker to replace the elderly woman. Ehrenreich was forced to hide her pain and take medications so she could prove herself as an able worker. If she slowed up and complained she would have been easily fired and replaced. As an older citizen, Ehrenreich experienced that people do not respect people by their age but by the level of job they possess. “They think we are stupid. We are nothing to these people… we’re just maids” (Ehrenreich 100). Ehrenreich struggles to gain respect by the general public because of her job she pursues. She gains little respect because she is an elder. In fact, many people view it as degrading that an older person has to perform work from such a low status job. Ehrenreich faced several struggles throughout the many jobs she worked for. Age is a major factor when calculating job competition. Many young single women are the majority of workers for low wage jobs that Ehrenreich was competing for. Many of these women have children or become pregnant and have to work a job. Some of these women are young and cannot get a high paying job because of age discrimination. It is struggles like these in Nickel and Dimed that many workers face every day in their lives.
Age discrimination in the workplace has been an ongoing issue throughout America’s history. In the 1960’s older people were almost removed from the workplace because of the legality of age discrimination. After the Age Discrimination of Age in Employment Act of 1967, the cases of age discrimination narrowed throughout time. However, in today’s age it still goes on in society today where many workers face discrimination and adverse remarks made from bosses and other co-workers. “Age has been, and continues to be an important cultural dimension of status in our society” (Byron 313). Fortunately, agencies such as the EEOC protect and help find liberty to those who have been treated unequally. These are advantages that did not exist during the past where cases of job discrimination went roaring through the streets. Age discrimination in the work place will continue to become an issue in America as long as age continues to be a primary role at establishing status to the American people.
Through my research I believe that discrimination by age is grotesquely wrong after researching several reliable sources in scholarly articles and government web sites. After my research I know that age discrimination is prevalent in America today! I strongly believe that the older workers are the more reliable and dependable workers and feel that it is wrong not to hire a person solely because of age. I feel that many reliable older workers are denied jobs despite that they are the most capable for performing that job. Older people are the targeted age group for verbal insults and put downs. I have found research that proves that the majority of senior citizens in the United States have recently been negatively harassed or degraded because of their age or weakness. Many Americans do not treat their Elders with respect and many times insult them in inappropriate ways. It is my opinion that America should show higher respect to senior citizens and show a higher level of tolerance towards them. My research has informed me that acts and agencies that help resolve cases of age discrimination and in many cases return justice to those who have been aggrieved from any type of age discrimination. Although many cases of age discrimination persist, I believe that justice will be served to them.
I believe the sources that I chose for my paper were reliable and dependable because the majority of them came from famous journals or scholarly articles. I purposely chose sources from databases because I know that they were monitored and placed on the database because of their overall quality. Two of my articles came from journals that specialized in social issues or age discrimination issues. These sources were highly dependable and I strongly believe that they incorporated Ethos in my paper. I used a government web site for one of my sources because I know that the writer of the web page was not someone of the general public and had experience of what he was talking about. One article that came from the general public seemed to prove very interesting points, although I do not know how reliable his research is. I chose one source from the general public in order to see an outside view of age discrimination of people from various educational backgrounds. I incorporated Ehrenreich’s quotes from her novel Nickel and Dimed because it helped reinforce my outside research with a book that we read during class. I enjoyed connecting the two together because it helped reinforce my previously stated ideas in my research paper. The sources helped me enhance my knowledge and further my understanding about the current and past incidences of age discrimination in the workplace. It is my opinion that blending various sources in a research paper makes the paper strong and leaves the researcher filled with knowledge of various perspectives.











Works Cited
“Age Discrimination.” The US Equal Opportunity Commission. N.p., 15 July 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. .
Blank, Chris. “What Is Age Discrimination in the Workplace?” EHow. N.p., 2009. Web. 23 Oct. 2009. .
Byron, Reginald, et al. “Age Discrimination, Social Closure and Employment.” Social Forces 86.1 (2007): 313-34. Project MUSE. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. .
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed. New York: Holt, 2008. Print.
Kaye, David. “Statistical Evidence of Discrimination.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 77.380 (1982): 773-83. JSTOR. Web. 21 Oct. 2009.
Lee, Gilbert C, Eliza K Pavalko, and J Scott Long. “Age, Cohort and Perceived Age Discrimination: Using the Life Course to Assess Self-reported Age Discrimination.” Social Forces 86.1 (2007): 265-90. Project MUSE. Web. 21 Oct. 2009.

The Brick Wall

The bloodied brick wall
Dingy battered grotesque
Like the wounds of a fallen soldier at war
Shadow of putrid burgundy
The stomach content of a paunchy spider
Jail cell

A prisoner of this wall
Forced to stare at its violent hue
Taking me as its captive
Enveloping me Gagging me
Vehemently staring back at me
Jail Cell

The blood of past college students
The sweat of previous inmates
Have all become lost to this wall
Depressing red becomes my eye's target
And when classes end I rush right back
To stare endlessly at that red brick wall
And take in its luring nightmarish elements

The Teach: A best friend.

It is peculiar how sometimes the greatest and most influential people in our lives are the ones we never get to meet. The definition of a true friend is one who has never met you, yet cares so deeply for a young person who they barely know. A true friend of mine is one who has always written me back. A pesky high school student who constantly emailed long messages to a woman known as the Teach. This woman has always written me back in a style that is warm, bright, and loaded with :)!! She is a person who I regard as one of the greatest friends I have because I know that I have someone who watches over my shoulder even if she is hundreds of miles away from me.
The Teach enlightens me with her wondrous thoughts and opinions while encouraging me to become a better writer. I have grown into a stronger writer because of the help and confidence she has instilled in me. I know that I have found a good friend in this world. The world is filled with mobs of nasty people who have little care about others in the world. However, I know one person who represents a slither of light in a world of darkness. My life has been greatly impacted because of the inspirational words given to me by a woman who has helped me grow as a young woman.
My emotions once coaxed me to tears when one day I found a book I needed for college in the mail. I opened the book and found out it was from the Teach. I jumped up and down in my room full of thankfulness that I found the one book I needed that was on back order. The book came from a friend who not only cares about answering my emails, but listening to my thoughts. She knew I was struggling to find that book... but I never thought I would receive it from her! After I received the book, I got onto my knees and said a lovely and meaningful prayer for how grateful I was to have a magnificent and wonderful friend like the Teach.
I realize that this situation does not happen often. However, I have told myself never to forget the gift of friendship and how strong the ties can be. I have promised this very important friend of mine that if I ever am lucky enough to publish a book, I promised to dedicate it in her name. I laugh to myself when I think of the page that dedicates: "To: The Teach :)" One step at a time. I glance at a teddy bear near my bedside which reads, "Friends are a Special gift". Thank you God for giving me the gift of friendship. In a world that can be so confusing, I thank you for providing me with angels that help guide and protect me.

Finding My Way

College has been an eye- opening experience that has given me a whole fresh perspective in the world. High school is politics. In college I have freedom to walk out of the thorny confinement of the nest, stretch my wings, and fly freely without a teacher interrogating me why my ID is not hanging on my chest. The ID was in my hand and some woman who thinks she is God is telling me how I deserve a detention. I am a student not a dangerous Juvenile Delinquent. I deserve respect. Not to wear an ID tag and to be funneled down the hallway like cattle going through the chute. Social hierarchy in school, student= inferior with intelligence equivalent to a herd of Angus. ID person= "God" feel the wrath if slave does rebel. I felt like a domesticated submissive dog cowering to its higher member of society. I feel now I have an identity in college. It was time for change.
In college, I am the smart kid of the class who is pulling A's out of her pocket it seems. To the amateur's eyes it looks as though I can wink and THE Scarlet letter will just appear on my papers. I earn those A's, and it takes discipline in order for my paper to wear that Scarlet Letter with pride. Hester would sure be proud of me for my adherence to that letter. I even have a Beta named Scarlet... but I am digressing. I earn my 12/10's by diligence and by discipline. I am a college student. I can earn the status I wanted to gain in high school... NOW.
I learned that in college I can be a lover. I am a lover of knowledge, and a lover of Literature. I can indulge myself in the rich barbaric texts of skulls and chains, charnel houses, and castles. I am a lover of Gothic texts that make the blood curdle and clot and the tendons twist and rot. I am a lover of fiction, the doors that open to many a path waiting for me to choose my way. I cannot wait to fulfill my desire of fulfilling the mind. College has taught me that Literature is a study of history in its fullest.
College has taught me how to analyze literature through the schools of Literary Criticism. Move away New Criticism, your evil myopic perspectives are old and crippled. So simple minded it is to analyze text of figurative language without any mind to author or time period. Puh to you. Hello Feminist Criticism, Marxist Criticism, Psychoanalytical Criticism, and Cultural Criticism. These schools look at more than an author's way of creatively communicating... these critical schools help look at WHY the author chose to write the symbols and why they are writing about the themes they choose. College is the time to start looking deeper at prose, not just what lies on the surface.
So what if I am the SMART KID? Frankly, that is how God made me, and I abide by HIS judgment. Every now and then, it is ok to earn a letter like Hester Prynn. Nowadays, a Scarlet Letter is worth its weight in gold. -- I am not advocating any adultery here-- or to those who think I am... go right on ahead. No one is stopping you, this is college for goodness sakes. Thats what college kids do. Society these days is crumbling down like the Wall of Jericho. It is too late beyond repair. Fortunately, I am the wallflower of my generation who abstains from the college students hoo ha and poppycock. I sit inside my little room tapping away so I can proudly wear the letter A.

My Family Heritage: What still lives on today?

America in the early 1900’s was a land of endless opportunity; the land which would become the “Melting Pot” of culture and heritage. Many immigrants came to America searching for a fruitful life filled with jobs and endless land. One of these immigrants was my Great Grandma Haydu, a woman who made her way onto American soil when she was only seventeen years old. In succeeding generations my family would grow to become more educated and become very successful individuals.
In 1900 my Great Grandma Haydu was born in Hungary to her parents Gustave and Katerina. She grew up in a large family with six other siblings and many of them shared rooms in a small little house that could barely hold them all. The Haydu family lived on a very poor farm that supplied only enough food for dinners. The children were always hungry and the jobs in Hungary could not be depended on because of the poor wages. Despite these conditions Great Grandma Haydu attended school in a one room schoolhouse and was educated up to grade nine. After she quit school she helped her Mother tend to household chores and nurture the younger children. One day her Father told her she should go to America so she could live a better life and never grow hungry again. She accepted his offer and was ready to search for a better life with better job opportunities. He gave her enough money for the boat ride to America and sent her off the very next day.
She left her entire family in 1917 to board a crowded ship that would take her to New York. The boat was dirty and the weather conditions were harsh, but she made it to American soil in overall good condition. Great Grandma Haydu was a young woman of seventeen who only spoke her native language. She brought with her a knapsack of personal belongings and money to purchase a plot of land. She could not speak English but was very handy working in the home. She had the capabilities of finding a job in the United States.
Grandma Haydu arrived in New York and immediately traveled to Northern New Jersey where there cheap plots of land. She settled in New Jersey because there were numerous job opportunities and a place she could call her own. After she settled into a small house she acquired a job at a silk mill and she supported herself as a single woman working on creating garments. She soon got married so she could better support herself and live more comfortably. She lived as a poor working – class woman and worked very hard balancing a job at the local silk mill and raising a family.
She gave birth to my Grandfather Gustave Kish who had a great talent for physics and mathematics. He took his schooling seriously and was educated up to twelfth grade in a one room school house. My Grandfather stayed close to his Mother living only minutes away from her in Berkshire Valley, NJ. He married my Grandmother who worked in a cigarette-rolling factory. She was raised in a small house filled with eighteen children in Berkshire Valley, New Jersey. My Grandmother always prized her faith to God and she was able to direct my Grandfather into the light of the Father. As my Grandmother raised two children my Grandfather got a job at the Picatinny Arsenal as the head engineer in designing submarines and missiles. One day at work one of the machines he worked on malfunctioned and it destroyed his left hand. He was rushed to the hospital and they intensively treated his hand. He has three broken fingers to this day. He collected money for his injuries and still worked as the head of the Arsenal. He became an upper class citizen. I am very proud of my Grandfather and how he succeeded in life. He grew up in a house that spoke Hungarian yet despite that learned to speak English and become talented in physics. For my Grandfather and Grandmother, they made giant leaps and bounds in establishing a higher class level. My Grandmother and Grandfather efficiently put two children into college so that they too could become well-educated people. In fact, their generosity is still so high that they gave me funds to attend college this year.
My Grandparents raised my Mother Judy, a young woman who was the first generation to attend all her schooling and earned a degree in college. My Mother attended William Patterson and received a degree in teaching multiply disabled children. After graduating college she married my Father who graduated from Rutgers. Both of my parents taught in public schools so they could afford a home and life’s expenses. Prices of goods heightened during my parent’s generation so my parents both needed to work jobs. My Father and Mother moved to Wantage, New Jersey because they fell in love with a small farm. The location was close to my Grandparents and work, so it was an ideal place to live. My parents fall into the Middle Class today because teachers do not make the best salary. My family lives comfortably and prefers to live the simpler life where money does not matter extensively. My family’s financial status climbed significantly compared to where my Great Grandma Haydu’s was at.
My parents raised three children and helped us become strong individuals. I am the oldest of the children. I completed all of my schooling and am currently attending Ramapo College with hopes to get a degree in Literature. I live on my family’s farm, a place which sets me back into time. We produce our own food to conserve on money and to eat fresher food. I help work on my family’s farm so they can harvest hay, vegetables, and fruits. I have worked smaller jobs such as at a Landscaping Company managing the business. These jobs help me acquire money for my college education. My parents are great people and are the main ones supporting me and my college endeavors. In my future I have high expectations that my life’s earnings will be similar to my parent’s and that I will comfortably live to be a Middle Class citizen. I am engaged to a sophomore at Ramapo College, and when we settle together we will both have income coming in from both sides. I have high hopes to become a strong leader and to be as stoic and brave as all my preceding generations have been.
My strong religious background has been the foundation that made me the person I am today. My family raised me to be a Presbyterian and I was baptized and confirmed into the church. As a young girl I was always amazed by the Pastor’s sermons and the sermon’s messages about life. These messages helped me become an accepting young woman who tried to share God’s love with my friends both young and old. I made friends with older ladies forty years older than I was, but there are no age limits when you share the love of God. I became so inspired by God that I took up playing the piano and organ so I could perform musical selections for my church.
Having a deep religious background helps change one’s perspective about life. I became closer to my family and I was thankful for all the joys in my life. Studying the Bible helped me become an accepting and loving person to all those that I had met. The Bible helped teach me how to be tolerant, accepting, and loving. This beloved book teaches its readers to love all people and to love them in the name of the Lord. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (Corinthians, 13-1). This is my favorite phrase in the Bible that speaks about how love has no flaws or bitterness. If humanity lived in the footsteps of love the world would be a more accepting place. Living life through the messages of the Bible taught me how to become tolerant and accepting to others. No matter what religion or belief someone holds they should be treated with love, respect, and care.
My religious background shaped my life by sorting my priorities. I put friends and family before myself because I want to walk in the footsteps of the Lord. I am always there to help the needy and donate to those less fortunate than I. Strong faith helps give strength and hope to me. I feel a reason to get up in the morning and to live my life obeying the rules of the Lord. When all else fails to life, God is always there to answer prayers and to give strength to those that are in need. Having strong faith has helped me strive for goals in life because I hold something very important to me. Through my faith I have been able to heal people through their losses, make the elderly laugh, and help young children grasp the love of the Father. In my very own life I try to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and although my footsteps are so tiny compared to his, I am following the path of God, the path that leads to heaven.
I can relate better to others with my strong spiritual background because faith has allowed me to become a tolerant human being who accepts all people. One day a speaker from Africa came to our church and talked to us how the love of God connected us together. He talked to us about the impoverished conditions of his church and how many people still come to church even though they are sick or starving. It is that very faith that links us all together. No matter how far apart people may be, no matter what job they have, or what faith they have, we still have the same level of faith. All of us enter the church body, the body of God to become one. We all have the same reason for entering the Body of God. We come there to escape the prejudices of the world, and the cruelty to humanity. Once we enter those doors we enter into a new realm where people forget their differences and join as one congregation.
My strong religious faith has helped me find the unity in man. It has helped me realize that we are all the same despite the minute differences of race or gender. I can walk up to people and not criticize who they are not; I look at them to see who they are. My church has given me the incentive to meet people different than I am so that we can learn to accept one another’s differences. “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans, 15-7). This phrase is one of many that the Bible teaches its readers to relate to one another with acceptance. As a strong believer, I live by these words with all my heart.
Throughout the generations my family has evolved to become very successful individuals. We can never forget about those in our path that were the foundation of our family who made living in America possible. Her faith and love in God still lives on today. My entire family has attended the same church that she once attended many years ago. I continue that very tradition and hope that same faith will live on in my children’s generation.

Questions about Frankenstein

Throughout the first few chapters of Frankenstein, the personalities of women in the book are clearly defined by Mary Shelley. It is odd that the female characters express calm and gentle natures despite the many hardships each face.
The following women in this story seem to posses many of the same personality features, such as being docile throughout the first few chapters of the book. Caroline Beaufort is the mother of the Frankenstein family who raises her non-biological daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth suffers tremendously with a case of Scarlet Fever and is at risk of dying. Caroline nurtures Elizabeth back to health but falls fatally ill herself. Despite her suffering, Caroline remains tranquil and “died calmly; and her countenance expressed affection even in death” (Shelley 50). Even in her death this female character remained placid even through the time up to her death.
Elizabeth follows the same personality traits seen in Caroline because she is viewed by Victor as being a saintly young woman who studies poetry and loves the beauty of the world around her. Victor contrasts his male disposition with hers stating, “my temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement” (Shelley 45). This major contrast separates the males and the females in disposition. I am wondering what statement Shelley was trying to make when she made female and male dispositions on opposite sides of the spectrum. Despite her caring nature, Elizabeth comes to find immense suffering when William is found murdered. Elizabeth is so upset that she blames herself for the death of William and has a hard time dealing with her loss. She also has to bear the death of her Mother who saved her from a case of Scarlet Fever. Elizabeth is character number two who represents gentleness despite suffering from horrid events.
The last female character is Justine, a young girl who was raised by Elizabeth’s aunt because of a conflicting relation between Justine and her mother. Justine is noted as being the “…the most grateful creature in the world” (Shelley 67). She attended her Aunt with such affection when she became ill. However, Justine also continues the trend of suffering in Frankenstein because her beloved Aunt dies and so does her brothers, sisters, and mother. Justine faces many hardships in her life that follow in similarity to the pain that both Elizabeth and Caroline have faced.
After noticing the recurring poor fate these women face along with their gentle nature, it leaves many questions to think about. What is Shelley trying to portray in this book about the role of women? Is she trying to make a statement about the women in her time? Maybe she is promoting women of her time by creating docile and tranquil natures and contrasting men as being vehement and rowdy.
Women play a unique role in the story Frankenstein and this trend creates many unanswered questions. Hopefully, as I read further, I will be able to see why Shelley makes her female characters suffer such poor fates yet still keep passive dispositions through all of their suffering.




Work Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Johanna M Smith. 2nd ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000 Print.

Life As An Illiterate

Communication has been an essential piece for human survival since the ancient times of the Egyptian people. Literacy was deemed as the most important skill to the Egyptians, and they created their own system of language. Those capable of writing were scribes, writers given both power and wealth. Today, the importance of literacy has not changed in our world. Just as the Ancient Egyptians, we also take great pride in those who can read and write. Those who are talented writers and speakers become both powerful and wealthy today as they did hundreds of years ago. An illiterate person in our society faces challenges that are taxing, making everyday life arduous both mentally and physically. Illiteracy in today’s world negatively impacts both cultural and social interactions between people because of social hierarchy in today’s world.
As an illiterate person in America, life is indeed laborious because it is difficult to read signs which describe my environment. Being illiterate is like being shut away into darkness. My story will tell you the struggle that I dealt with as an illiterate person. In America, the world is filled with people who can communicate in advanced languages and they plaster their roads and buildings with words, smudges of letters that have no meaning to me. Since I do not know how to read or write, I often ask other people where places are. My verbal communication is not strong, but I can communicate basic ideas. People in America do not like to answer me. They regard me as someone who is lower than they are, as though I am an animal. I scurry the streets straining to sound out words written along the roadsides. I have currently memorized the name of the building that I visit often. It is called the f-o-o-d pantr—yyy. I don’t know what it means, but I go there often because people give me free soup and are kind to me. Outside of the Food Pantry, people aren’t so kind. I have very little use in America. Nobody wants to hire a street woman who cannot read or write. I do not even know where jobs are because I cannot locate buildings. I cannot count. How am I supposed to know where 125 South NY Street is? I do not know the street names because all names look the same to me. However, I can recognize things such as ↑→↓ because I have learned what they signify. Those arrows are how I trust getting to and from various places. A woman like me has to learn from pictures. The only signs I can read. I know for example, that a big sign with a large vehicle means that I can jump in and get a ride. They call that a bus. I never know where to get off because places have hard names with difficult pronunciation. Life brings me such difficulty when the rest of the world relies on words while I struggle to rely on pictures.
As an illiterate person, I feel inadequate and inferior compared to people who can read. As I observe the world around me, I notice people much different than myself. People who read and write wear freshly pressed clothes and carry suitcases that do not carry their clothes. I look at my knapsack wishing it contained scholarly books and articles. Mine carries tattered clothes with the faint scent of mildew. Literate people walk in proud strides and carry around lots of money with them. They wear top hats and whistle merrily to their jobs. I stop to admire them, but they do not like when I go near them. I do not receive the best treatment from those people because they stereotype me as someone who is stupid and retarded. That is not true. I am a capable person who feels and thinks with the same capacity as the people who can read. Unfortunately, I was raised in complete poverty and was unable to complete my education. I had to take care of my infant sister so my family could work. My mother and father could not read either, so I was left to fend for myself. I feel as though the world has personally shut me out; I watch other people talk using complex words and read aloud, but I can’t. Confusion and distrust envelope me because people cannot trust an illiterate person. They do not trust me as a friend or to hold a job. Illiterate people suffer through so much emotional pain because nobody wants to be seen associating with a less-fortunate person. That’s the way it is in New York today.
An illiterate person faces tremendous hardships in the social and cultural world. People who are less-educated are treated with less respect than those who are higher in the social hierarchy of America. I know that people will not associate with me because I make money in a cloth factory. My low paying wages and my illiteracy makes my chances of fitting in near impossible. I would like to see America as truly being free, but I see it as a prison. The well-off people in America are the prisoners who are shackled to the social hierarchy and ideologies that they are conditioned to follow. People like me are just supposed to be hated because there is no such thing as sympathy in America. Many times people who are well-off become arrogant and disrespect those who are illiterate. People have even called me names. Being illiterate drastically effects the cultural interaction between people. Since I cannot read, I celebrate certain holidays by hanging decorations and dancing. Other people looked at me funny and told me that dancing was not how Christmas was celebrated. Some kind folks lead me to church where people were stuffed in pews jollily singing hymns with merry smiles. The old woman gave me a hymnal and I put it down. A tear trickled down my eye. “I cannot read” I said to her. I cannot celebrate with you. The woman sympathetically took my hymnal and I was off on my own, walking through a tunnel of loneliness. I could not read the Bible and I could not read words or notes of music. I was completely alone.
One day the same woman found me and told me of a place that would teach me how to read and write, and it was of no cost to me. The task of learning to read was difficult, and it caused me much frustration. However, with diligence I studied and practiced my reading and writing. Within six months I could read children’s books, and I could read the signs on the road. After a year and a half I picked up my first hymnal and now attend church with my best of friends. In Grace Slick’s words, “Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable” The joy of reading and music has turned me into a person who has limitless boundaries. After three years, I could read perfectly and I attended school.
Today I have a degree in Ancient Civilizations with a concentration in Ancient Literacy. I study the evolution of literacy from countries such as Egypt and Greece. With my prior experience being illiterate, I can relate to how many ancient people struggled being unable to read or write. Today, just like the Egyptian scribes before me, I am recording my experience as a writer and how it does attribute to higher power and success. After reading through my struggles, I want my readers to take a moment to cherish how fortunate they are to have the skills to read and write. Remember that “No skill is more crucial to a child or to a democratic and prosperous society, than literacy” (Los Angeles Times). Relish the opportunity of opening a book and assimilate the beauty that is offered at your fingertips page after page.
 
Works Cited
The Literacy Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. .

Chincoteague Island, Where Horse and Heron Roam Free

The sea grass has a salty flavor that is released into the sea-filled air. As the wind blows, my attention is drawn to the marshes ahead. Way out it in the horizon graze the wild ponies splashed with patches of rich sorrel and buckskin tones. Chincoteague, Virginia is the ideal vacationing spot. With its abundance of wildlife, exciting events, and relaxing beaches, the island has its way of bringing me back. I find myself falling in love all over again.
Chincoteague Island is nestled outside the busy city of Pocomoke, Maryland. The town has a vivid history that attracts the attention of many. The fans of the books Misty of Chincoteague and Stormy, Misty’s Foal, by Marguerite Henry, know how Chincoteague Island is famous for its wild ponies. The most trusted theory is that there was a Spanish boat full of ponies to trade to America. A volatile, vehement storm caused the ship to hit rocks. The ponies were untied of their restraints and they had a chance of survival. They escaped and swam into the angry sea. The survivors made it to a strip of land called Assateague Island and lived on the remote land of sea grass and brackish water. The natives from Chincoteague noticed the ponies and left them on the island to live freely and happily.
Assateague is an island free of any human inhabitants. The island is open for tourists to visit the beach, ride bikes, clam, and fish. Assateague Island is known for its beauty and the wildlife that makes its home there. The island connects right to Chincoteague by a bridge so both islands are accessible. People can hike many scenic trails and visit the Assateague Lighthouse and even walk to the top. On the trails there are numerous species of birds like Herons, Laughing Gulls, and Egrets. The animals are not afraid of people because the island remains untouched by permanent residences. The island is home to the rare Red Squirrel and many types of deer. Assateague is most famous for its wild ponies. The ponies have been seen crossing roadways, swimming in the ocean, and even laying out in the sun. The ponies live in herds that are guarded by a stallion, a male horse who leads his mares and their foals. People are not advised to pet the ponies because a stallion could charge and become highly aggressive towards a human being. However, at a distance, these ponies are beautiful and graceful, and they are the reason why most people visit the island.
Every year in the second week of July, the ponies are herded by a team of “Saltwater Cowboys,” a team of riders who round up all the ponies and make them swim through the Assateague Channel onto Chincoteague Island. This is called the pony swim. The wild horses crash into the water and swim to the shore of Chincoteague. After their swim, the ponies walk through streets passing people’s homes in a stretch of almost a mile. They are led into a corral where they are vet checked and documented. The weanlings and yearlings are sectioned off where they can be auctioned to the public. This well-known event drives people from all over the country to witness or purchase a piece of history of Assateague Island. The auction is an event that is worth seeing. The cowboys wrestle the babies into the chute where they will be bid upon. Some of these wild weanlings amazingly fetch over four thousand dollars each! After the bidding is completed, visitors can enjoy a legendary oyster sandwich and be entertained by the old-fashioned carnival. Chincoteague Island is full of life during the extreme heat of July. If one hears horses whinnying and a merry carnival, there is no doubt it is the week of Pony Penning.
After wallets are emptied from an unexpected purchase of a pony, it is time to relax on the beach and catch a few winks. The ocean is located on Assateague Island, and a short drive will take one to the other island. The beaches are part of the wildlife preserve, so they are kept immaculate and pristine. Shell-hunting is always a pleasurable activity because there are sand dollars, scallop shells, and large elegant conch shells on the beach. For those who are looking for sustenance inside the shells, there is some exciting news. The bay connects to the ocean from behind called Tom’s Cove. While the women are tanning, there is a chance to get an almost free seafood dinner! Tom’s Cove is loaded with beds of mussels and clams. After entering the marsh and tolerating the mucky smell of low tide, the clams, oysters, and mussels are ready to be found. Although it involves digging into the smelly silt of the bay, and coping with severely cut hands from sharp shells, the eating outweighs the pain. People including myself come with Styrofoam boxes filled with shellfish and crabs. After lugging the catch into the car, it is time to get the steam pot out and have a Chincoteague Island seafood feast.
Chincoteague Island is a vacationing spot that makes many dreams come true. Whether it is to purchase a palomino filly that caught a young girl’s eye, or to relax on the beach and eat a few clams, this island is indeed one that has warmed the hearts of many visitors. This island holds not only ponies, but also the memories of my childhood.

R txting and Computers A Threat to Society?

Many people pride over our technological advancements that have made communicating easier and faster. However, just as fast food has brought us to be a society of gluttons, social networks have made Americans become socially obese. Meaning, our society is so reliant on social networking, it has made us too lazy to physically socialize. This has caused detrimental effects on students and adults in today's changing generation.
Facebook and Twitter have made socializing so easy that it is almost an invasion of privacy to users. People in our society easily friend people without knowing them personally, yet they communicate with one another as if they were friends. However, if one was to put those two "friends" together in the same room,they would be shaking like scared little dogs. These people do not really know one another personally. Instead, they use the computer to do the talking for them. Then there are the stalkers who spend grotesque amounts of time staring at people's pictures. God only knows what they are doing while looking at them... but that is to prove a point: Why does America so freely post their pictures for everyone to see including strangers? The world may never know.
Social networking is a virus that has after effects worse than the swine flu. It is plaguing people's writing skills. Now students choose to write "lol" and "u" in their papers as though it is the proper way to write in English. Sentence structures become vile when it reads, " IDK why the author chose a simile. lol" These do show up in papers because people have been taught it is acceptable to speak and write in shortened ways. It is once again a slap on the cheek because many Americans are showing the signs of laziness.
Social networking hurts people's social skills because it inhibits the use of voice and interaction between people. Instead there is a comfort barrier of a computer between conversations. People who write on the computer find short cuts to save time and communicate ideas with greater ease. Where do we draw the line? It is time to stop hiding in the shadow of a computer and come into the light of a true vocal conversation where real friends are made.

Getting Ready For College

As the humid air of August hits the lungs like a lead brick and the allergies kick in full blast, it is the time for the start of the school year. This year is unlike any other year; I am a college freshman. What does this mean? Well, I can tell you one thing... the packing and scurrying in my closets has left my room looking like a mad whirlwind swept through it.
In all seriousness, this means that I have matured and grown to take on a large responsibility. I have to leave my parents, the people who I have nudged towards whenever I faced difficulty. Now I must learn to handle and manage my life by myself. I must learn to do my own laundry without my Mom dragging my heels; I have to learn not to eat Coco Puffs with soda every morning. Because in college no one cares if you eat ice cream for dinner or wear nasty unwashed clothing. I mean, your friends might take cover and not talk to you unless they are at bay 35 yards, but no one can force you to do anything.
All of this extra freedom might make the typical college kid flip in ecstasy! Hangovers, skipping class, and sleeping in the boy's rooms may seem like a teen's paradise. Take warning that this extra freedom may come with an invisible price tag. Not only may you be cursed with paying 25k a year for tuition, but you may suffer from internal burdens made from poor decisions.

Although the people that I've known are smart kids, and I am sure many teens my age are intelligent to know their limits. Sadly, I know that even the best kids end up with poor decision making because of their dispersal from their nests back at home. I am writing this even as a reminder for myself, that I am here at college for enhancing my intellectual capacity, not to rebel against my inhibition of freedom as a high school student.

My expectations are high. My excitement is high. Yes, I am nervous to leave my home because I love my family. But college is about trying new things and to gain experience. The best of luck to all of my friends for their freshman year!

A Modest Proposal

For the happiness of the people, we must eliminate marriage in its entirety. Marriage is the hidden veil that covers the eyes of bride and groom that obscures their view of true reality. (Even if the groom swears that he uncovered her face!)

Marriage is a heinous act of inhumanity that causes detrimental bouts of despair and chaos in our society. Marriage sullies the love and fervor between spouses and causes venial pain to children and relatives. The act of exchanging vows, once thought as an unblemished and flawless act of consummation, now only leads to the defilation of both partners. Marriage in our society today fails to bind two as one eternally. Instead, marriage ties couples to stakes, rendering them helpless. Man and wife are torched by the unforgiving wedding vows-- once spoken out of love; now they crucify both partners through illimitable flames caused by caustic quarreling and defilation of one another. It is a most scurrilous object, marriage is, and it has darkened the doorways of fifty percent of the homes in America. In a situation like this, there seems to be not a slither of light. Alas, there is a white North Star ahead leading to salvation! Salvation is attainable from where the Holy Light is emulating: through the white and pure doors of the ever truthful and undaunted ways of the American courthouse! Millions of Americans in uncomfortable volumes shove impatiently in lines waiting for their case to be heard at the courthouse. These lines are colossal. They are so huge they make the Mississippi look like a trickle. These lines are akin to the size of the line to the Black Friday holiday rush at the local Wal Mart last year. Ah yes, remember the loss of life that occurred because of how frantic people were to buy America’s finest crap? In this case, I am not aware if there are any recorded incidences of in-utero infant fatalities during the push and shove of the masses awaiting their divorce, but we must prevent it from spreading rampantly into unbridled chaos. Marriage is an allusion that people link to happiness, and therefore, the vile trickster must be stopped! Marriage is a clever mirage that tricks not the eye my friends, but the mind. For the sanity of the American people, we must abolish the act of marriage. America must become liberated from the shackles and inhibitions of marriage, or we shall remain enslaved while marriage interrogates us on a pedestal.
I think that it is heavily agreed upon that the number of divorces have been escalating to numbers off the charts. It is of immense suffrage that both members of the marriage go through not to mention their families… and think about the poor children. It is such a vile act that has proven itself as a failure, and it is through this corruption that marriage needs to cease. Failing marriages could never be caused through the fault of the people, because we are all humanistic people that have proclaim such an impeccably high intellectual capacity, however, in which no scientific study has actually declared.

Marriage fails because men and women profess their vows because they were caught in the whiteout caused by the illusion of love. Little do couples know that their unifying kiss at the wedding is really the swap of each other’s venom not the swapping of saliva. This venom slowly poisons both of them. They feel to see this because of love’s most clever ways of hypnosis. The woman falls into a deep romantic trench that she digs herself in because she innately believes she literally is living in a Nora Robert’s romance novel. She feels her heart leap when she thinks about her mate during the heated climax in the Nora Robert’s novel… and she finds herself so in love, which leads her to be diseased by the plague of marriage. And the man was deceived by marriage because of the generous revealing of bust and large hip to chest ratio of his bride. It was her very own sin that lead his eyes away from the truth. This is parallel to how Adam got blamed for the sin because he was completely engaged in the play by Eve, the apple, and the Serpent in a rough game of tackle. Look, even God’s children couldn’t pull of the whole marriage thing. Marriage distorts the reality of people persuading them to think they will be perpetually happy. Really all they have is cupidity and a drive for carnal escapades.

It is my duty to the people of America to provide the dropping of Manna from the sky, two tickets of paradise falling into their hands, the separation of miserable couples. My prevention of impetuous marriage ever occurring again is by banning it. My intention is not only to lift the burden off of men and women and sons and daughters, but also to instill happiness in the lives of the people. If the American people wash their hands clean of marriage, people will be able to sleep with whom ever they want and not get slapped for it! Men and women can live in a world that revolves around humanistic existentialism, a world that is already shaping to be with strong vital signs. Our media today is clobbered with debauchery, our music is crudely bopping promiscuity, and our advertisements are plastered around us, advocating the “feel good” era of today. We must listen and give in to the hypnotic vibes of advertising because what the professionals advocate most certainly determines the consumer’s ideals of the American life. As Nike shoe-company puts it, “Just do it” and Americans are doing just that. Obviously, it is ever so clear that the value of marriage has become nearly obsolete, because our culture has decided along with AT&T wireless that it is better to just “ Reach out and Touch Somebody” than to keep intimate to just one’s spouse. America’s advertisement is propelling the nation forward to become the “new and improved” product out of our Founding Fathers.
America needs to get this change in motion, and I have the solution. This very proposal has taken me years to fully contemplate in its entirety. However, through very careful observation, I rest assured that my proposal will cure the unhappiness of man. I have diligently listened to the suggestions of others, an angry stewpot of indigestion. By the boil of the bile, it seems that even they agree that my proposal wins the roses… and smells like them too.
My proposal is to declare marriage unethical and make it illegal to betroth two people. After a couple gets a successful divorce, they will be deemed untrue because of their failure to abide to the vows they took in wedlock. Since they are considered unfaithful to one another, they will be allowed to date freely everyone deemed free of marriage. Since everyone belongs to every body, the children will be taken care of by multiple caretakers, and will never be neglected. These children will never have to live through the detrimental and stressful effects of mommy and daddy fighting. Children will no longer be forced to endure the pain or feel they are the blame of their parent’s unhappiness. I have computed that the bills of psychologist and therapy would be down significantly. This cut of money would allow the American family to have more money in their pockets. The estimated total would put roughly three thousand dollars back in the average American’s bank account. This added money would help the average American to face the poor economy with greater ease. With money so tight right now, and with marriage success rates so low, why not put an end to marriage? Since a successful marriage is so impossible, why make children grow up exposed to agony and pain? It is time to let go of the fantasy of marriage because we cannot grasp the complexity of it.
Couples free from marriage can for once experience liberation in their hearts. It is very rare that a typical couple actually marries a soul mate. Since millions of people fail to marry the right one and fail to achieve agape love, it is completely logical that marriage should be condemned forever. If marriage fails to occur, people can freely move man to man without any limitation. In such a humanistic and hedonistic world, it only makes sense that the more experimentation the better. In our country, it is all about the sex. It is all about the carnal pleasures that rise to a mountaintop; those are the mates that are searched far and wide for. No longer is America concerned about good values or trust in a mate. For a country vouching for heated pleasure, why not ban the restraints of marriage? Marriage is a limitation that puts barriers on what one can and cannot do. People in today’s world do not like to be told that they have limits because they believe that they are in charge. Let’s make them! Since there are already thousands of affairs that occur in America annually, why not break the ties of marriage forever!
The benefits to my proposal are endless and they roll on and on like the mighty waters of our earth. First, it would allow happiness be returned to the dismal lives of the people. Like a barren infertile crescent now, America would become a rich and lively land sparking with rebirth with the help of my proposal.
Secondly, the lives of the children and relatives would be free from the detrimental effects of divorce and its aftermath. Children would not grow up traumatized and severely impacted because of the scarring experience of hearing their parent’s yell and verbally mutilate one another. The pain would be eliminated for both man and wife. The tears would cease, the guilt would cease, and sin would once be encouraged. We as human beings are already built to satisfy our cupidity, we should finally give in to our every primal and carnal desire. It is our instinct and it is who we have become today. It is time we start listening to our wants and not our morals.
Thirdly, it would eliminate the millions of cases where couples believe they have found their soul mate. Most people get married thinking that their lives will be utter bliss because they have found their mate, which they will show unconditional love to. Little do they know that he/she was really living next door! Most Americans lack faithfulness, so even those who have found their soul mate fail to actually realize it.
I cannot conjure up a good reason of why this proposal would be rejected. Through listening to various raps and viewing many sultry movies and videos on the big screen, it seems that America is screaming promiscuity. The value of marriage keeps falling in perfect synchrony with the America dollar, and we are in need of some great change. People no longer have values and respect for one another, so it has become the only point of resolution for me to encourage this proposal to be passed. The only complaint would most likely come from the psychologists and people who serve for the court. Their lack of revenue may cause a few scowls and glowers at my proposal, but I would also tell them that their hair would gray at a much slower rate with the lack of stressful divorce cases. Think about how much money spent in hair dye they would save! In all seriousness, I strongly encourage man to cherish the beauty in life not what he can get out of it. Sometimes the most precious thing to hold is the fragile body of a precious infant that was created through the love of two people. The very love that created that baby will still be needed throughout that child’s life. Marriage is what really should be a life affirming, beautiful, and hallowed blessing that man is lucky enough to be given. Marriage should not be rushed or forced, it should be the contract between two lovers that never ends. Marriage is binding two people into a coalition, into one body in this life and the next. Without this special bond, there would be no one to cleave onto. And a world like that is exactly the path that we are heading to.
I profess, with all the love in my heart, that I would not benefit at all from this proposal for I am one who has found the impossible, who has found a love that is so life- affirming, I could burst into tears. Alas, my country feels such misery. I propose this documentation so that the rest of the world can taste a sliver of happiness. Happiness that I’m blessed on this earth to have.

Interchangable Parts --> Interchangable Humans

In today’s modified world exploding with scientific discovery, the increased knowledge assimilated by man has lead the human race to tamper with the idea of creating a more perfect society. New scientific advancements in technology have even allowed the human race capable to eradicate genetic imperfections at foetal development. This technique is known as genetic engineering, where the human genome and DNA is manipulated to conform to certain standards, the standard of perfection. These advancements are relished through man’s pedantic desire of performing the gained knowledge borne from human intellect. However, man should take caution because the human race is greatly harming itself through tampering the fragile balance of the human body. Where is man overstepping his boundary? Despite the arguable benefits of genetic engineering, the costs outweigh the benefits in several ways.

Genetic engineering may sound highly appealing because think about it: our very world extinct from diseases that act as impediments. No autism, no asbergers, and no cancer waiting to ravage the human body. The very catalyst sparking life to these malignant genes start in the gene pool at the moment of conception. Now these genes can expire through the use of genetic engineering and through the use of manipulating the karyotypes of the soon to be child. In Brave New World, at the very moment of conception, the perfect human being is shaped by the hand of man, the new Creator. Man becomes the divine being, the divine God. Oh what a power, what a gift! Imagine the people of the world not suffering from cruelty that natural selection puts on the people of the world! Troubles of the world would slip through the hands like water, like lost blown sand of the past. Forgotten the pain and agony of the human race! One would argue that through genetic engineering, humans would be created to perform certain jobs more efficiently because they were programmed to have a natural knack for completing them.

One would argue to say that people would be gifted with certain abilities to benefit the world. For example, a man engineered to be a doctor would be programmed to have a high intellectual capacity to perform high levels of calculus, memorization of medical terms, and have excellent patience for ample precision when performing an operation. People’s abilities would be so much higher and they could achieve much greater things than they could achieve in today’s world. In a world that is being dominated through the study of humanism, and declining with the studies of altruism, God fades away, and human accomplishment lays in the center ring. This idea can create consequences with the weight to destroy the importance of the human soul, and create a world of programmed machines that go parallel with Thomas Hobbs’s philosophy. “All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called "Facts". They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain.” Facts of science once learned blacken a person’s mind like black ink swallowing a white sheet of paper. The paper’s white chastity lies helpless, blackened by the ink, which is parallel to the ink splotch gnawing at the mid of humanity: scientific knowledge.

Unfortunately, this idea carries many strong consequences. At first, genetic engineering would probably be used to filter out genetic disorders that could be cause harm to the child’s life. However, here is a point to consider: people in general are always curious with innovating scientific improvements and in technology. After all, child creation becomes no longer a natural act, but a mechanical act of technology. People become marketed as if on an assembly line, being shaped with certain parts to create a functioning product with the ability of performing a task. Life is something special, a gift from God. As a human being, a person should have the rights to be created differently than a Tyco remote control car on assembly line. We are humans, not people on the verge of being created by interchangeable parts. We are human. We are human. We are a living divine soul, not an engineering project! Genetic engineering is harmful because it involves playing the role of God! Genetic engineering makes obsolete the individual’s free will, something that belongs to the human being! A child should not be created to be a fireman, it is HIS life; the boy chooses what he wants to become as an adult.
In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a fictional society is created that uses human technology to shape this world, one of them genetic engineering. In this society ruled by the philosopher king Mustafa, the people in the community are genetically engineered so they can accomplish a particular job, and nothing else besides that because they are oppressed form knowing the knowledge of the world like history and the truth. These people know nothing but carnal instinct and feeling high from Soma. The people in Huxley’s world become nothing but Headenists seeking fleshly pleasure and fulfillment. In this new society, there is no longer art, famous literature, or Bible. Instead, this society has Soma, an opiate, feelies, an adventure of the emotions, and lots of orgies. This is such a feel- good society, and it seems near impossible to find a flaw. However, in the novel Bernard talks to Lenina, a beautiful young woman if she wanted something different from everybody else in the world. “Yes, ‘Everybody’s happy nowadays.’ We begin giving the children that at five. But wouldn’t you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example; not in everybody else’s way” (Huxley 91). Bernard’s question shows the idea that maybe the people in Brave New World are not happy at all. He tells her if she wanted to be FREE, something that nobody in that world is. All the occupants in this society are oppressed, and to some degree the people in the society are aware of this. Although Mustafa may try to save his people from the truths, is he really bringing them happiness? Mustafa is an unsuccessful attempt to play God. He tries, but his followers may not truly be happy. It is very apparent in that quote that Bernard knows deep in his gut that something is lacking in life. There really is no such thing as a perfect world. In this perverse world full of orgies, genetic corruption, and oppression even God cannot save us from this apocalypse. The savage paralleling the coming of the Messiah failed. If God cannot help us then who can?
The human being tries to out step his boundary by attempting to play the role as God. Why must man utilize all discovered knowledge and put it into action? Although genetic engineering lies in the capability of man, does it make it acceptable to perform it when it can be misused and consequently destroy the entire world? Through the use of genetic engineering, man becomes a mathematical equation , a calculated formula consisting of calculus and annalytical geometry. Consequently, the human race under genetic manipulation becomes a homogeneous population of black and white devoid of individuality, free will, and liberty.

Welcome, America, To Brave New World

      The evolution of humanity has changed dramatically throughout the centuries. Recorded in anthropological and philosophical studies, there are two different types of societies that mark the values and belief systems by how man lived in the world. These two types of revolutions include Altruism¹, the first revolution, and philosophical Humanism², the second revolution. Presently, there has been a prominent rise in humanism and a rapid diminution in Altruism. Humanism in American society states that life is based upon human need and interest. I agree with Postman’s assertion that Brave New World’s society is more relevant than that of 1984 because of the “infliction of pleasure placed on American culture today” and that “technologies will undo people’s capacity to think” (Postman). America’s unstable economic conditions and its plethora of hypnotizing commercials promote that it is acceptable to give into sensual indulgences because they allow one to become happier. People use advertisements to show the rewards and bliss of indulgence: becoming happier and becoming stress-free. Advertisements draw people in through sensual manipulation as a way of convincing them to buy their products. In a troubled world with an unsteady economy enveloped in a rise of unemployment and the plummeting dollar, Americans seek for a way to escape the stresses invading their world. In Huxley’s Brave New World, there is significant evidence of a society once plagued by stresses like death, illness, and instability, from which people have found alleviation through hedonism and sensual appeasement.

      The United States is a democracy. In the twenty-first century, American taxpayers are experiencing financial debt, the fall of the dollar, the end of Social Security, and inflation. These unstable economic conditions cause extreme trepidation on society leading to chaos, fear, and societal instability. Desperate to feel good, United States citizens will seek artificial happiness equivalent to soma in the Brave New World Society. Voters and taxpayers of the United States will demand happiness, and the socialist state will deliver the wants of the American people. This demand alludes to using mood -elevating drugs very similar to soma to become a source of happiness and alleviation. In American society, the rise of over-the-counter drug abuse is on a steady increase because the drugs cause happiness by heightening the sensual responses of the user while leaving them devoid of stress. According to researcher Joe Blow, the percentages of people abusing medications for sensual rushes has been increasing.

People are hooked on benzodiazepines, commonly known as tranquilizers and sleeping pills. They tantalize users with promises of dulling emotional pain, chasing away anxiety and crooning them to sleep. They are very addictive. Benzodiazepines are only a temporary fix--it is often only a few weeks before the positive effects wear off and dependency begins. (strike-the-root.com)

The rise of abusing medication in this generation has been linked with economic stresses, increased work hours, and domestic struggles. The American people have found alleviation through the use of scientifically formulated tablets that ward struggle and bring happiness just like the society of Brave New World and their use of the opiate soma.

The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday, without ever having to come back to a headache or a fit of vomiting, without ever being made to feel as you always felt after peyotl, as though you'd done something so shamefully anti-social that you could never hold up your head again. Soma played none of these unpleasant tricks. The holiday it gave was perfect and, if the morning after was disagreeable, it was so, not intrinsically, but only by comparison with the joys of the holiday. Greedily she clamoured forever larger, ever more frequent doses. Dr. Shaw at first demurred; then let her have what she wanted. She took as much as twenty grammes a day. (Huxley, 154)

This excerpt notes how both the A.F. 632 and American societies correspond with each other. Both societies heavily depend on drugs in order to deliver happiness and stability even to the point of abuse. Harm to the body through drug overdose is no longer deemed as important to American citizens or to Linda in Brave New World because bodily pleasure negates any future consequences. In Huxley’s novel, he takes sensual fulfillment further by eliminating marriage, love, and devotion, the most basic of human ideologies. Through the use of soma, human knowledge and opinion becomes eliminated and they live their lives dumbfounded, conditioned to love their positions in life. Citizens no longer have opinions, morals, or values. They no longer believe in “Moderation in all things”, Aristotle’s philosophy, because the citizens are conditioned to fully engage in every single pleasure they feel. This ensures that the citizens will be content with whatever jobs they are given and will not desire anything greater or wish to know anything. Promiscuous debauching of the society allows for further indulgence, which dominates over the concerns of the people’s knowledge of the divine purpose of man or to the existence of a God.

      The future created by Huxley is certainly the utopia that America is becoming. Advertising today, found in all types of media, strongly promotes sex and indulgence in both luxuries and food. In past generations, people were once very reserved with what they talked about and advocated publicly. For example, sex was considered a taboo and rarely depicted in a movie but was symbolized by a blowing curtain or by other more modest representations. Today, our society has become far more open about the discussion and public display of sex. Sex is vividly and graphically displayed in any movie worth watching or deserving of an Oscar. People want to see a movie with lots of heated debauchery topped off with the all too common post-coital shot in many movies. Sex has become the symbol of success and happiness in the twenty first century. Many advertisements promote that happiness comes not only from sex but also from the very food we consume. Advertisements that persuade people usually come from convincing material that appeals to the senses. Unfortunately, not all burgers are created equal! Would someone want to buy a pack of Shop Rite burger patties when they remember the McDonald’s ad on television? The McDonald’s burger depicted with flame broiled goodness, crunchy lettuce, and spicy onion immediately negates the package of store-bought patties collecting frost in the corner of the shelf. In Huxley’s novel, the controllers of A.F. 632 are parallel to the head advertisers in charge of convincing the American people to buy their product, to buy happiness. In Brave New World, Mustapha draws in his people by advertising happiness and bliss to them by appealing to the senses. He is so successful that he even succeeds to lure in John the Savage who represents a Christ figure into his sensual utopia: “Stupefied by soma, and exhausted by a long-drawn frenzy of sensuality, the Savage lay sleeping in heather” (Huxley, 258). It is here that John the Messiah or second -coming of Christ fails by sinning. John the Savage is persuaded by Mustapha's advertisements of a perfect feel- good world. John sins by having sex with Lenina and she becomes his crucifix. He fails and represents the downfall of Christianity. This is because man is sinful, and it is impossible for man not to give into sin.

      I agree with social critic Neil Postman that America is quickly becoming a Brave New World society. As the United States continues to morph into this new society, we only move closer to the destruction of the human race. In typical utopian societies, the manipulation of pleasure, pain, or other execrable methods is somehow supposed to lead the people of a world of happiness.

¹ The philosophical belief of serving the needs of others before oneself
² Fulfilling individual needs before considering those of others

Source:
http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/blow/blow3.html

The Power of the Free Market System (not my argument essay Kim, look one below this)

One of the greatest rights given to citizens of the United States is the right to prosperity. I am greatly affected by the free market system in my own life, and I use these freedoms of the free market copiously. I own a business called Twin Silos Rabbitry, where I market pedigreed show rabbits. I raise Lionheads, Tans, Holland Lops, and Netherland Dwarfs on my farm and sell them to people ranging from 4-H children to serious ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) showers. I have learned that the power of the free market not only broadens the freedoms for the marketer, but also for the consumer. The free market system benefits our society in three ways. This system encourages growth of individually owned companies while giving them avenues toward prosperity. These companies have rights to protection from unlawful harm from competing companies. The free market also strengthens international relationships with other countries, which keeps trade strong through the exchanging of much needed goods not grown or produced in other countries. Finally, it promotes a need for advanced education of people while creating a need for strong leaders.
In the United States, we are extremely fortunate to live under a free market economic system that doesn’t use fear to control its people. In a command economy, free trade is forbidden, and the government has too much power upon its people and the goods produced by the people. The government controls imports and exports; a license is needed to ship and receive goods. People live in fear and have few freedoms that we enjoy today in the United States. In the free market system, it is all about the choice of the people, where as in a command economy, those choices are made by the government. The free market system is diffused, which means that the people make decisions about what is produced.
Businesses can set their prices and allow them to fluctuate depending on the economy. This is not so in a command economy because the prices are fixed or controlled by the government body. In a command economy, the production numbers are not determined by supply and demand, but by the state and committee. The quality and quantity of products in a command economy diminish, which put the well being of the consumers at low importance. For example: A Russian woman got severely ill by drinking from a cup in a vending machine. This was a common cup used by all consumers of that vending machine, and it wasn’t properly sterilized. This woman almost died because of the poor quality and lack of quantity of goods being produced in the communist government-controlled industry. The problem with the command system is that it enforces a misallocation of resources. This means that this type of economy is slow to respond to the needs and demands of the people. In the free market economy, the health and well being of the people are very important because if a consumer is dissatisfied, the business owner loses profits to competing producers of those products. Profitability directly corresponds to having the products and value desired by consumers. Competition between businesses drives the market toward better products and the necessity for more efficient production methods. The marketer also has the ability to make decisions about what he or she wants to make and also how much he or she wants to sell and where.
I openly incorporate the free market system in my business by keeping the well being and satisfaction of consumers as a top priority. As a business owner, I want my customer’s patronage, and I want them to be satisfied so they can recommend me to future buyers. I make sure I give them an unforgettable buying experience. I invite them inside of my rabbitry so they can see for themselves my entire operation. I show them the overall cleanliness of my facilities and the health of the individual animals. I let them see all forty rabbits hopping in their individual cages swinging from wire supporters. The faces of my customers light up as I give them a tour that most breeders would not offer them, which allows my business to be distinctive and different from other competing rabbitries. I give customers my individual time to show them the quality animals I have to offer them for sale, and I also make sure that I’m friendly and patient with my customers because I want to earn their business and satisfaction. I have learned that it is crucial to gain the respect of your customer because a satisfied buyer will always tell a few friends about the service provided. That always means more business to come!
When the numbers of competing companies increase, the competition rates rise as well. Fortunately, there are certain protection rights a company can put on their products. These are called trademarks, trade secrets, and patents. These help protect companies from infringement and unlawful stealing or copying of a product. Patents are the strongest protection afforded on a brand new invented product. A patent means that for twenty years the rights of a product’s author or inventor will be protected. No other company can steal a design or produce the patented type of product.
A trademark is a protected phrase or symbol that can be deemed as personal property. No other company can use it, as they would be unlawfully submitting their product as someone else’s. A trade secret is a protected recipe or design of a product that only family or producers of a company know so that they can consistently make a product without the fear of a competitor ever matching or stealing their exact product design. I can greatly understand the importance of having a trademark because when my family purchased our farm, we had our farm name registered and protected so that no other farm could have our exact name, which allows for easier product recognition and higher security for the protection of our goods.
This protection prevented other businesses from marketing goods under our farm name. Like a person, a business has to work hard to establish a good name and reputation, and in many cases, success and good reputation may take many years to establish.
Farms have their own identity in the same way that we have our own social security number. If another business were to market their products under the same name that would be an infringement of that trademark. Their products might be confused with ours. The consequences are lost earnings and damaged reputation. Fortunately, the free market is about having a business protected and about having equal opportunity and prosperity. Therefore, for the protection of all companies, it is crucial to have trademarks, trade secrets, and patents.
The free market strengthens international bonds by promoting peaceful trade with other nations. This increases communication between countries, and trading allows goods that are grown or produced only in one country to be traded for goods that another country needs. In some countries production costs are lower. This results in lower prices for consumers and increased profits for the producer. Trading with other countries creates interdependence, and promotes diffusion of different cultures. People then assimilate new styles of clothing, architecture, products, and also different foods when trading internationally. Parts of products can be produced for lower costs, so that creating a product costs less than if completely produced in a single country, also called global sourcing. Global sourcing has many advantages like increasing amounts of vendors and marketers to stimulate competition, acquiring new skills that aren’t domestically available, and increasing the amount of goods. This is an advantage for entrepreneurs because they will spend less to produce the product and therefore the prices will be low and competitive for consumers.
In my rabbit business, I raise breeds that at one time originated from different countries. My Mini Lops or Klein Wider, were once from the country Germany, and my dwarf rabbits originated all the way from the Netherlands. If it weren’t for trade, my rabbits would have never made it to the United States. Although many rabbit breeds did not come from the United States, the American Fuzzy Lop did. American Fuzzy Lops became popular all around the world because they make great pets and have great wool quality which other countries used to make clothing articles. In turn, Americans also traded for new breeds of rabbits from other countries that provided my Tans, Mini Lops, and dwarfs. In fact, right now the Thrianta, a brand new rabbit breed, is being imported to the United States today from parts of Europe. This breed of rabbit never existed in the United States, but because of the free market and peaceful trade, the Thrianta rabbit is being raised by United States breeders for A.R.B.A. recognition.
I also learned about supply and demand in the rabbit business, and raised breeds that were not commonly raised, and was able to create a stronger market with increased opportunities for profit. Since other competing rabbitries did not raise the same breeds I did, the exotic breeds I raised were in high demand by the public. I learned how to create a very successful business.
Free trade works because countries can sell goods to each other with minimal governmental interference or restrictive tariffs. This encourages people to trade with each other and they can do it without heavy taxes that would otherwise discourage them from doing so. Free trade also benefits both countries because much needed goods are received by both sides. The prices do not have to be inflated because of the increased supply of goods and competitive prices, if goods are affordable and in high supply, it prevents the occurrence of a black market.
International trade also allows for technology and ideas to spread rapidly. When two countries trade their products, they are also spreading their ideas, knowledge, and their technologies. The world becomes much more communicative in the presence of the free enterprise system. If a country becomes interdependent on another and they are needy for a particular resource, then they will keep the relationship very strong with that country. An example would be our relationship with the foreign providers of our oil and gasoline sources. Since the oil providers need US dollars for their economy, they keep their relationship strong with the US, and since we need their oil, we keep our relationship strong with them. It is very important for the nations of the world to stay in contact with each other, especially in the business world. People must keep strong ties with each other because some companies are international, or are owned by other businesses in completely different countries.
Finally, the free market system demands higher education for people, as it increases opportunities for them to prosper and flourish. Individuals learn to become communicators, leaders, promoters, professionals, and inventors. The business and marketing profession is a challenging business that requires mature-thinking, sound decision-making, and a competitive, persuasive nature. Not everyone is suited to take on this profession, those who enter it will need to shape their business as close as they can as a paragon, or a model of perfection for their consumers. The very gifted men and women who enter this profession need to be adroit leaders to balance the challenges of production and the needs of the consumer.
The free market system places power in the people’s hands. The voluntary system allows people to make their own decisions, fix their own prices, produce their desired quantities, and also have the freedom to make changes to any of the above. This system allows for a competitive market while also allowing for new businesses to grow at the same time. Everyone has the freedom to make his or her own decisions under the free market.
People become strong leaders representing their countries interests and further serve their country by producing opportunities under the free market system. This is a very important role for entrepreneurs to have because they are providing employment and fulfilling needs. The importance of these entrepreneurs is immense. It is because of them that we have large varieties of goods at competitive prices. The quality of products that are produced under the free market are much higher than in other countries. We have a lesser probability of getting ill or hurt by our products, unlike the Russian woman with the common cup in the vending machine. This is too risky in the free market because if a product is deemed harmful, the consequences are loss of market share, product recalls, and legal action.
Since starting and maintaining Twin Silos Rabbitry eight years ago, I have learned how to make mature decisions on my own. I recognized the importance of keeping records, writing and storing receipts, keeping stock inventory lists, and recording all yearly expenses verses my profits. I learned how to confidently handle and exchange money and give customers a receipt. I also recorded all my sales so my parents could document their farmland tax assessment. I learned how to be confident and friendly when working with customers. Consumers want someone who is outspoken and knowledgeable about what they are selling so that they also feel confident in what they are buying. I answer the customer’s questions and always show them patience when they are with me. This pays off at the end because customers often comment how friendly and helpful I was to them. I have taken a leadership role in my business because I own it! I manage, maintain, and make financial decisions for my business. Through my experience of running a business, I have learned through trial and error what decisions were beneficial, and those that were poor.
Purchasing stock costs me money from my profit, but my mind is always calculating the pros and cons of each action. In order to be successful, having the right stock at the right time is essential to meeting the needs of my customers. My responsibility has increased since I run something of importance solely on my own. I feel that right now I am giving myself an early taste of the world by running a small business at my age. I take chances and risks all the time in hope that my rabbitry will grow in prosperity. I feel that I have been able to become a strong leader and find maturity at a much younger age than many other teenagers.
The rights that people have under the free market are numerous as said by a Ramapo professor during my LAB seminar; he said everyone has an equal chance for prosperity. “For a free enterprise system that works gives rights to own and acquire property, and do so free of infringement and trespass so everyone has a fair shot” (Dr. Murray Sabrin, marketing professor of Ramapo College). Through his words, I will always remember the freedom and opportunity the free market gives to its people.
The free enterprise system is in the hands of the people. It grants rights to own, maintain, and prosper in a business. Through interdependence, relationships are created and improved by the free enterprise system. Additionally, the free market allows flexibility to react to market change in the absence of price controls. The free market promotes greater economic opportunities for citizens and the need for educated workers. These people become the strong leaders of our world. Since taking the Learn About Business course, I now understand how my rabbitry business thrives because of the freedoms and right to prosperity I gained from the free market. It doesn’t matter if one markets rabbits or medical equipment because each individual business has equal freedom in finding success and prosperity. The free market system is a powerful economic system that allows the power to be in the hands of the consumer.