P&P 1-6

"The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic. Bingley had never met with pleasanter people or prettier girls in his life; every body had been most kind and attentive to him, there had been no formality, no stiffness, he had soon felt acquainted with all the room; and as to Miss Bennet, he could not conceive an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for none received either attention or pleasure. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much(Austen 11)

This passage is interesting as it relays the personalities of two characters who are close to each other, and yet do not seem to have much in common. Mr. Bingley acted cordial and friendly and saw nothing but praiseworthy people. Mr. Darcy, despite being the closest friend to Mr. Bingly, does not share his view. Instead, Darcy keeps a pessimistic attitude throughout the night and is met with no one appealing to his interests. These two characters serve as foils for each other, which makes it all the more interesting that they are such good friends.

"'His pride,' said Miss Lucas, 'does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has the right to be proud.'"(13)

This passage shows the basic opinion of the society in which the novel takes place that pride can be overlooked so long as the one guilty of it has something to be proud of. What is odd about that is that pride cannot exist without something to be proud of. Therefore, I believe what Miss Lucas was trying to say(or avoided saying) was that 'someone can be proud as long as they are wealthy'. Also, it seems that those deemed worthy of pride in this novel are those born into their reason for being proud, rather than those who worked for it.

The Tao

I believe the most important part of the Tao to be the Law of General Beneficence, as all the other laws seem to have been created from it. The Law of General Beneficence is the most simplistic of the laws, and thus can be understood by all reasonable beings. It calls us to not only refrain from harming another person, but also to keep that person in our hearts and be good to them. The Law also calls us to be understanding towards each other, which is of great importance when studying morality. This is because in order to judge and act as completely right or wrong, we must first look at the person who committed the act and their intentions for doing so.

One concept that could be added to the Tao is the Law of Mutual Respect, which would call for tolerance among mankind. This Law would state that you cannot expect others to think like you do, or hold it against them when the do not. I believe it should be a part of the Tao because many a civilization has been torn apart by those who seek to purge the world of those who see things differently than they do. With a law in place that keeps people tolerant of each other, that would be less likely to happen.

TAoM: The Abolition of Man

"What we call Man's power is, in reality, a power possessed by some men which they may, or may not, allow other men to profit by"(Lewis 54).

"It is no use trying to 'see through' first prinicples. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see"(81).

Lewis' argument in The Abolition of Man is that the whole human race is subjected to some individual men, who are in turn subjected to their own irrational impulses. Lewis comes to this conclusion by examing man's conquest of nature. Through his analysis, Lewis reveals that it is not man who holds power of nature, but rather nature which holds power over man. With this knowledge, it can be assumed that the ideas of one person or group of people holds power, their views will take the place of the Law. Therefore, subjectivism could eventually conquer the Tao. This makes it vital that humanity is freed from its irrational impulses.

TAoM The Way

"Since I can see no answer to these questions, I draw the following conclusions. This thing whichi have called for convenience the Tao, and which others may cal Natural Law or Traditional Morality or the First Principles of Practical Reason or the First Platitudes, is not among a series of possible systems of value. It is the sole source of all value judgements"(Lewis 43)

"There is a difference between a real moral advance and a mere innovaton."(46)

Lewis' argument in The Way is one of morality. He speaks of different ideas and different names for the basic moral code of humanity while explaining some of the misconceptions about it. Lewis also shows how the confusion of man can lead to warped mentality. For example, when Lewis is explaining the difference between a real moral advance and a mere innovation, he states them as being "the difference between a man who says to us: 'You like your vegetables moderately fresh; why not grow your own and have them perfectly fresh?' and a man who says 'Throw away that loaf and try eating bricks and centipedes instead.'(46) Here Lewis shows how different interpretations of morality can come out as either logic or complete nonsense.

tAoM Men Without Chests

"The authors themselves, I suspect, hardly know what they are doing to the boy, and he cannot know what is being done to him."(Lewis 5)

"In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful."(26)

Lewis' main argument in "Men Without Chests" is that many writers fail to realize how their writing can affect the readers. Lewis makes his view of the potential affects of an author's writing clear through the use of his example of a schoolboy who, having no ideas of his own, will blindly follow the example of the author and thus cause detriment to himself in the future. Lewis analyzes how writers address their audience. Usually the writer will only use approaches that satisfy one group of people, rather than attempting to make their point appealing to all who read it. In doing so, the writer cannot hold the attention of readers who are not part of the group he/she is addressing. This brings about the creation of "Men without Chests", or men who cannot differentiate between intellect and instinct.

LfBJ Essay

Nathaniel Burns-Sarno
Advanced Placement English/ Mr. George
October 14, 2009
Letter from Birmingham Jail Analysis
Martin Luther King; A Persuasive Prophet
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holds an important place in history as one of the United States’ most prominent civil rights activists. His title is rightly deserved, as he contributed greatly to the struggle for equality in America. As a man of great influence, he gained many followers and staged peaceful protests in order to relay his message to the racially segregated society he lived in. King is probably best known for his demonstrations, which he used to address the public in the hopes of opening their eyes. Many of these demonstrations landed King in jail. However, it was during his incarceration in Birmingham, Alabama that King wrote a letter to eight clergymen who had earlier chastised his acts of civil disobedience. This letter, titled Letter from Birmingham Jail, showed that King was not only a man of great influence, but also a man of great intellect. Seamlessly incorporating proper syntax and diction into his appeals, King creates an outstanding an outstanding logical argument while still inserting his own ideas and emotions. The kind of flawless contention King provides is rarely expected from the mouths of anyone in our modern society, much less from a black man living in the 1960s. With an exceptional eye for detail, King is able to refute the arguments of those who disapprove of his actions, appeal to the readers’ senses of logic and emotion, and most impressively, use vibrant extended analogies and juxtapositions in order to strengthen his argument.
Despite his position as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and great influence, King was bound to end up being viewed by many as a social pariah due to the color of his skin and the fact that he had been arrested on several occasions. Those two factors could have very well caused him to be looked at as an uneducated source, and made it unlikely that anyone would take the time to read his letter, much less take the time to consider his points. Therefore, King was presented with not only the task of creating powerful points and writing with proper syntax and diction, but also the task of exhibiting himself as a credible source. He does this in a few different ways, such as briefly mentioning his characteristics throughout the letter and expressing his views poignantly. However, it is through his ability to create and answer his own rhetorical questions in order to refute the arguments of those who disapprove of his actions that he truly builds himself up to be a credible source. As a black man in the 1960s, his logical approach in arguing with the Church would of course gain the attention of those reading his letter. King also uses his ability to explain his reasoning while refuting a point made against him:
You may well ask, ‘Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue(King 741).
By justifying his actions while refuting the arguments of others, King creates a solid argument of his own and prevents himself from being accused of hypocrisy. This is crucial in gaining the attention of the reader. With the full attention of the reader, King is able to awaken their long-dormant senses of logic and emotion.
King, like most great speakers, appeals to both logic and emotion in his arguments. What makes King’s arguments truly unique is the he uses his expert ability to blend both logic and emotion together without getting carried away by either of the two. This ability is most apparent in the second paragraph of page seven-hundred forty-two, in which King uses extensive imagery to explain his reasons for not simply waiting for segregation to end; “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts to say, ‘Wait.’ But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim;…--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait’(742). The gruesome and heart-wrenching situations King explains in this paragraph strike hard upon the emotions of the reader, who, in considering them, would be filled with sympathy for King’s cause. The paragraph also speaks to the readers’ logic, but in a different way. Any person who imagines their loved ones in a situation of despicable injustice will understand why King feels something needs to be done. No decent person would let those whom they love suffer for the foolish reasoning of those filled with hatred. This paragraph is also greatly complimented by its closing, in which King states, “I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience”(742). King, realizing how emotion-filled the paragraph was, decides to follow the emotion with a formal and logical statement for them to consider. This demonstrates King’s ability to keep his emotion in check, and incorporate logic even in areas in which it would not be expected. With such a mastery of logic and emotion, it is no wonder that King is able to form such solid analogies and juxtapositions in his writing.
King, while obviously well-versed in strait-talk, is able to create many extended analogies and juxtapositions and flawlessly insert them into his writing. By doing this, King paints a clear and vibrant picture for the readers, and thus makes his arguments easier to understand. A great example of King’s use of extended analogies is when King compares the eradication of tension through bringing it to the surface to the eradication of a boil through bringing it to the light:
Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured(745).
Rather than giving a long explanation of the purpose of bringing tension to the surface, King expertly sums it up in a simple comparison. His word choice in this comparison is exquisite, as he decides to compare tension, an ugly but natural part of life, to a boil, which is also an ugly but natural part of life. The comparison makes it clear to the readers just how gruesome tension can be and why it needs to be publicly executed. King also does and exceptional job with his use of juxtapositions; “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter”(742). Here, King compares Asia and Africa, two nations usually considered to be behind other countries, to America, a nation usually considered ahead of other countries. However, rather than keeping to the accepted beliefs of the countries, King uses a reversed perspective and states how even Asia and Africa are ahead of America in some aspects. King also points out how Africa and Asia are quickly moving toward a large accomplishment while America is slowly moving toward a small accomplishment. Thanks to the imagery provided by his extended analogies and juxtapositions, King’s already poignant arguments are made truly remarkable.
Through his ability to refute the arguments of those who disapprove of his actions, appeals to logic and emotion, and use of extended analogies and juxtapositions, King creates an awe-inspiring argument that has stood the test of time and will no doubt continue to impress future readers for centuries to come. It is no wonder why his words have gained him a place in American History and still echo through society today. Any who analyze this letter will come to understand why Martin Luther King Jr. was so beloved and respected so many, and will no doubt gain a strong sense of love and respect for him, themselves.

Outline

Nathaniel Burns-Sarno
Advanced Placement English/Mr. George
October 8, 2009
Letter from Birmingham Jail Outline
King begins his letter with the phrase “My dear fellow clergymen”, showing that despite their disapproval of his actions and words against him, he still has a great amount of compassion and respect for them.
King notes early on that he seldom takes the time to address those who criticize him. He clearly explains that the only reason that this letter is an exception is because he believes the clergy to be men of genuine good will and their criticisms to be sincerely set forth. By doing this, he appeals to the reader’s sense of logic.
King states his reasons for himself and his staff being in Birmingham to be that they were invited there, have basic organizational ties there, and most of all, because injustice is there. One of these reasons alone would justify his presence in Birmingham, but all three of them together justify why he makes his presence known.
In that same paragraph, King compares his mission to the missions of the eight century prophets and Saint Paul, as they were compelled to carry their messages beyond their particular home town and must constantly respond to the call for aid.
In the third paragraph of page 739, King expresses his displeasure that the clergy looks down upon the protests, but does not look down upon the reason that the protests began in the first place.
In the fourth paragraph of page 739, King states that Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. His use of the word “probably” prevents him from being called out for lack of factual support should there be an even more segregated city in the United States, while still keeping the severity of the situation.
At the end of the second paragraph on page 740, King states that he and his followers knew how difficult their mission would be, so they practiced methods of nonviolence to prepare themselves. This gives the reader an idea of King’s character, as even when he knows the odds are against him, he still chooses to stand up for what he believes in. What’s more, he chooses to do it through nonviolent means.
Throughout his letter, King creates his own rhetorical questions and answers them in order to refute any possible argument against him in great detail. The first example of this is at the beginning of the fifth paragraph on page 740.
At the beginning of page 742, King juxtaposes America to Africa and Asia, stating that while Africa and Asia are quickly(jet-like) moving towards a large goal(political independence), America is moving slowly(horse and buggy) toward a small goal(gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter).
The second paragraph on page 742 is a periodic sentence that is chiefly composed of extensive imagery that appeals to the reader’s emotions. Examples of this include King bringing up the situation from the perspective of children and referring to the people of his races as his “brothers and sisters”.
In the third paragraph of page 742, King explains why he follows some laws and not others, stating that there are two types of laws; just and unjust. In the second paragraph of page 743, King explains the difference between the two.
In the fourth paragraph of page 744, King compares what he and his followers are doing to the acts of the Hungarian freedom fighters. The parallel is that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal”, while everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did was “illegal”. This juxtaposition appeals to both logic and emotion. The logic in it is that the very society that looks down on what he is doing considered the freedom fighters to be heroes. Mentioning an event like the Holocaust is bound to bring out the reader’s emotions.
At the beginning of page 745, King declares shallow understanding from people of good will to be more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill-will. This is an example of inversion, and is used to show commonly held beliefs from a different perspective.
King uses continuous analogies throughout his letter, and example being in the second paragraph on page 745 when he compares what he and his followers had been doing to bringing a boil that is incurable while covered up to the surface so that is may be dealt with.
Throughout his letter, King does not attack the person. Instead, he attacks the argument. An example of this is in the third paragraph on page 745, in which King compares the statement that his actions must be condemned because they precipitate violence to saying that a robbed man must be condemned because his ownership of money precipitated the act of robbery.
In the second paragraph of page 747, King addresses that the clergy has given him the title of extremist, a term that usually contains a negative denotation, and logically examines it in order to show it has a positive denotation. He does this by mentioning numerous “extremists” who were renowned for the greatness of their actions.
In the second paragraph of page 751, King uses a great amount of parallelism.
King ends his letter with a continuous analogy.

Fallacies

Hasty Gereralization:

I entered the crowded train station and asked four random people if they liked cheese. They said they did. This means most people in that train station liked cheese.

Stereotype:

That person was very rude and opinionated, so he must have been French.

Cause and Effect:

After Jack finished his homework, a tree fell on his house. Therefore, Jack completing his homework caused the tree to fall.

Only Cause Fallacy:

We can keep people from littering by banning the sale of anything that comes packaged.

False Analogy:

I carry a great amount of responsibility, like the warden of a prison.

Attacking the Person:

This person cannot be trusted with the position of chairman because he once had an affair.

Either or Fallacy:

Either we have sixty pieces of pizza or we starve.

Non-sequitur:

The fire I built was put out by the rain, so I must not have made it properly.

Circular Reasoning:

I want a raise. I should get it because I have not set the store on fire or stolen anything.

Begging the Question:

It is well-known that snakes are the coolest reptiles in the world.

Syllogisms

Correct:

All fishes can breath underwater
A goldfish is a type of fish
A goldfish can breath underwater

All wood is flammable
The fence is made of wood
The fence is flammable

No man is an island
Pedro is a man
Pedro is not an island

All fruit has seeds
A tomato has seeds
A tomato is a fruit

Incorrect:

All monkeys have tails
Pigs have tails
Pigs are monkeys
(Monkeys and pigs are two separate species.)


Every lightbulb is transparent
Lightbulbs use electricity
Every transparent object uses electricy.
(Not every transparent object uses electricity. i.e. windows)

Human beings eat food
Snakes eat food
Snakes are human beings
(Snakes and human beings are not even closely related)

All birds lay eggs
Echidnas lay eggs
Echidnas are birds
(Echidnas are mammals.)

Proposal

Nathaniel Burns-Sarno
Advanced Placement English/ Mr. George
October 2, 2009
Marriage Proposal
I suppose you are wondering why I have requested your company tonight. As you well know by now, it is a rare occurrence, that I would be the one to arrange any sort of private meeting. You always were the more direct of the two of us, while I played the part of the observer. Looking back, I regret the role. Were it not for you, I would have been trapped in a never-ending reprisal. I remember the day that I first laid eyes on you. Before that day, I had never seen someone so beautiful, so humble, so gentle. In my eyes, you were a turtle-dove. I, on the other hand, was just a turtle. I cannot imagine what would cause a Venus like you to even spare me a second glance. Yet, I thank God every day that you did. I owe everything that I am today to the kindness that you showed me. It was only after meeting you that I could turn observation into experience. It was only after meeting you that I knew desire.
We have known each other for what have been the greatest years of my life. You opened my eyes to a beautiful world and taught me how to live without fear. I have treasured every experience we’ve shared, no matter how small. For the first time in my life, I was actually happy. With you by my side, I could discover who I truly was. But with new discoveries came great pain. For I knew that the moment I was forced to be away from you, I would return to being nothing. It tore me up inside. I couldn’t explain why, but the thought of losing you filled me with even more desires. I’d been avoiding you to search for ways of coping. I searched everywhere for happiness, but found it nowhere. And it didn’t make any sense to me. Alone, I relived all that I had done with you, and received no enjoyment out of it. My searching made me realize something; it wasn’t because of my newfound confidence that I was happy. That is why I have asked you out tonight. I believe I finally may have found what I was looking for all along. I now know what I had desired all that time; you.
Through the years, I have felt an irresistible force drawing me to you, ensnaring me in a glorious feeling of ecstasy. Your unwavering loyalty in the face of my rudeness and desire for my companionship tells me that you must feel it as well. And even if the feeling does not exist in your heart, I must speak these words; I love you. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, for as long as sun turns to moon, for eternity. And even though I know I am unworthy of your hand, I pray that you will accept me, just as you did many years ago.
I know how you must resent my previous reluctance, but I assure you that your contempt for it was not nearly as violent as mine. I am ready to redeem myself for my ignorance, and start life anew. A life I cannot have without you beside me. I once desired the world, but no longer. Now I see. It’s enough for this restless wanderer just to be with you.