10 Page Term Paper

10 Page Term Paper 10 Page Term Paper 10 Page Term Paper If you are writing a 10 page term paper, you must pay special attention to the quality of information and structure. In particular, you should use headings and subheadings to ensure a better flow of ideas. is a professional and legal site offering custom term paper writing help to students who care about their grades but have no time to write term papers. In addition, we have an absolutely free paper writing blog with numerous tips on writing and pre-written sample term papers. Sample Term Paper on Baby Boom A necessary step in scientific speculation is to specify precisely what is to be explained. At the demographic level, we have explained the baby boom mainly as an increase in the proportion of women having at least two children accompanied by a compression of fertility into a shorter, earlier period of time. (Another way of describing the same phenomenon is in terms of a significant decline in the average age of childbearing.) Being married and having a family (though not a large family) had become the norm during the decade after the war. Bachelorhood, childlessness and having only one child became increasingly unusual. What kinds of social change occurred during this period that might help explain this trend? One persuasive theory proposed by economist Richard Easterlin is that the postwar period witnessed a combination of two basic forces which encouraged optimism and relaxed earlier constraints on marriage and having children: an unprecedented demand for goods and services otherwise known as the postwar economic boom; and an accompanying shortage of labor. This shortage was caused by low birthrates in the twenties and early thirties which reduced the number of job seekers two decades or more later. In former periods, this demand for labor was met by immigration but the restrictive legislation of the twenties had effectively dried up this source of labor. Thus young people in the early 1950's were relatively few in number and were faced with many well-paying job opportunities in a rapidly expanding economy a particularly propitious set of circumstances for encouraging the formation of families. Other factors also contributed to what appeared to be a headlong rush into marriage and childbearing. Credit for home purchases and other consumer goods became widely available. With little investment and long amortization schedules it became possible for masses of people to satisfy home ownership aspirations, to escape the city and to have a better place for the kids to grow up. With little or no down payment required, suburban developments mushroomed and young couples with young children moved in, their homogeneous concentrations undoubtedly reinforcing the norm of fertility. Pregnancy and motherhood no longer signified a withdrawal from social life; on the contrary, pregnancy seemed almost fashionable at the time. In the new child-centered suburban life separated physically and psychologically from the work environment -childlessness was the deviant form of behavior. The pressures for conformity were such that sterility was probably a more socially acceptable justification of chi ldlessness than lack of interest in children. Term Paper Custom Writing If you need professional help with 10 page term paper writing, do not hesitate to use our custom term paper writing assistance at any time. We are open 24/7 and guarantee timely delivery. Our term paper writers are educated and you will be satisfied with the quality level!

Machiavellis Best Quotes

Machiavellis Best Quotes Niccolà ² Machiavelli is a central intellectual figure in Renaissance philosophy. Although he worked mainly as a statesman, he was also a notable historian, dramatist, poet, and philosopher. His works contain some of the most memorable quotes in political science. Here follows a selection of those that are most representative for philosophers. Most Notable Quotes From the Prince (1513) Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge. From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved. The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting. For it may be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours; they offer you their blood, their goods, their life, and their children, as I have before said, when the necessity is remote; but when it approaches, they revolt. And the prince who has relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined, for the friendship which is gained by purchase and not through grandeur and nobility of spirit is merited but is not secured, and at times is not to be had. And men have less scruple in offending one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself fea red; for love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.You must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second. It is therefore necessary to know well how to use both the beast and the man. Most Notable Quotes from the Discourses on Livy (1517) As all those have shown who have discussed civil institutions, and as every history is full of examples, it is necessary to whoever arranges to found a Republic and establish laws in it, to presuppose that all men are bad and that they will use their malignity of mind every time they have the opportunity; and if such malignity is hidden for a time, it proceeds from the unknown reason that would not be known because the experience of the contrary had not been seen, but time, which is said to be the father of every truth, will cause it to be discovered.So in all human affairs one notices, if one examines them closely, that it is impossible to remove one inconvenience without another emerging.Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions. Thus, it is an easy matter for him who carefully examines past events to foresee future events in a republic and to apply the r emedies employed by the ancients, or, if old remedies cannot be found, to devise new ones based upon the similarity of the events. But since these matters are neglected or not understood by those who read, or, if understood, remain unknown to those who govern, the result is that the same problems always exist in every era.

Gandhi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gandhi - Essay Example Ahimsa, being rooted deeply in the Indian culture than in other cultures believes that non-violence is the best way of solving all other forms of conflicts. This is a practice that the Indian culture had been living up to even at present. Gandhi exemplifies best of this practice such that he remained to eat nothing of any meat but of vegetables alone. There were even times when he deprived himself from taking in any kinds of foods to be able to live up to this Indian cultural practice. Racism and social injustice have been dominant in South African culture. Unaware of such change in the society, Gandhi, after finishing his studies in England travels on a first class train ticket. While the excitement coming back to his homeland plays in his thoughts, a rude guard threw poor Gandhi off the train for his being black at the very next station. Shocked beyond words by such injustice, Gandhi realized there is nothing left for him to do but to protest against the law and the government of such injustice and racism. This had become a turning point of Gandhi life as he has realized the need for the poor Indian natives to lift themselves up from the discrimination of the British men. (http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Gandhi.html, para 1) Gandhi at the same time observed that the most of the Indian minorities lack unity making it easier for the British to take away their self-respect and implement an injustice system in their government. This was the first issue that Gandhi attempted to provide a solution such that they will regain their significant roles in the society that they belong. However, because Gandhi believes in a non-violent act of protests, he begins to form contacts with the Indian worker minority through mingling with them at the same time attempting to kindle within them a sense of injustice. Regardless of their religion, he organized meetings with them to let each one of them know their significance in the society that they belong, know their rights to fair treatment among the British. (http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Gandhi.html, para 2) Unused to public speaking, Gandhi resorts to direct action wherein he burned his identity card in front of the police which led him to his assaults. (http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/ Gandhi.html, para 2) We hear no talk from Gandhi of war sometimes being a "necessary evil," but only him announcing--and more than once-"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." In a scene very near the end of the movie, we hear Gandhi say, as if after deep reflection: "Tyrants and murderers can seem invincible at the time, but in the end they always fall. Think of it. Always." (http://history.eserver.org/ghandi-nobody-knows.txt, para 23) The Hind Swaraj In 1909, Gandhi wrote the "Hind Swaraj" where he condemned the British rule as well as modernization in general. However, the book does not reject the liberal contribution of modernization. Gandhi, however, attempts to integrate its positive elements with a liberating re-interpretation of tradition. (http://www.swaraj.org/interpreting.htm, para 1) He had criticized

Conference and Banqueting Management Assignment

Conference and Banqueting Management - Assignment Example These include federal, education events, entertainment and cultural events. Events are also part of the marketing strategy and business purpose which involves trade exhibitions, fairs and promotions. In short, Event can be defined as the involvement and participation of the group of people to attend corporate goals and objectives A Conference is a formal meeting or forum where people meet and interact for several different reasons. The conferences have been a part of organizations all over the world for many years. Here the discussion is based on some common topic which every member present wants to discuss on. These conferences traditionally took place in the meeting rooms or board rooms of any organization. These conferences are also held in hotels and clubs. Today, with the advancement in technology, conferences have changed into video conferencing over the internet. The purpose of conferences changes with organization to organization and situation to situation. Today, many compan ies are still using the traditional means of conferencing and think that it is better than the video conferencing. This view also differs from company to company, like many organizations think that video conferencing is more effective and helpful for them. ... Conferences have direct relationship with tourism. This shows that the business world and conferences affect the tourism industry up to a great extent. Whenever the peak season of conferences is coming, the rate of tourism due to business also increases as conferencing required travelling of people from one country to another for the purpose of attending the conference. There are many different conference management systems available; many are helping for the traditional way of conferencing while others are helping in the modern way of conferencing like video conferencing. These systems make the conferences more effective and efficient and help in the reduction of many time consuming activities. View on Conference management D Munro’s Views According to the perspective of Mundro, traditional way of conferences was better. He thinks that face to face conferencing sitting together in a place was better than video conferencing. He thought that travelling was leisure and enjoyment for business people and it helped them in getting relieved and enjoying their work life. He thinks that the advancement of technology has affected the conference management and the value of conferencing (Mayer, Pesenhofer, and Rauber, 2006, pp. 359-366). The views of D Mundro are opposing the views of Tony Rogers, as Mundro thinks technology is not helping the conferences of the organizations but it is affecting the conference world (Miguel, 2007 pp. 51-57) Tony Roger’s Views According to the perspective of Tony Roger, new technology has enhanced and made the conference concept much better. As technology has advanced, conferences have changed into

Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Essay John Steinbeck (1902-1968), born in Salinas, California, came from a family of moderate means. He worked his way through college at Stanford University but never graduated. In 1925, he went to New York, where he tried for a few years to establish himself as a free-lance writer, but he failed and returned to California. After publishing some novels and short stories, Steinbeck first became widely known with Tortilla Flat (1935), a series of humorous stories about Monterey paisanos. Steinbecks novels can all be classified as social novels dealing with the economic problems of rural labour, but there is also a streak of worship of the soil in his books, which does not always agree with his matter-of-fact sociological approach. Throughout high school and college, Steinbeck took summer jobs working as a ranch hand. These jobs were extremely important to his literary career. Memories of his work on ranches would furnish the background for Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck’s grandparents owned ranches in the King City area and in Hollister. Samuel and Eliza Hamilton, his mother’s parents, owned a ranch in the hills east of King City, the southern part of the Salinas Valley. John Steinbeck spent a part of every summer at this ranch, doing chores, taking care of the animals, and exploring the land. A typical day for ranch children began at 5:00 AM. Certain chores needed to be completed before the family and ranch hands had breakfast, including hauling water from the well, feeding the horses, and collecting wood for the stove. The children then walked to school. Some attended a one-room schoolhouse with a teacher, while others gathered at a neighbouring ranch to be taught by mothers and relatives. The children were at school for about four hours before returning home to work on the ranch. The younger children fed and cared for the chickens, goats, or pigs. Older children, about 14 years or older, worked with the adults to harvest the crops or herd the cows. Older girls usually took care of their younger siblings while the adults worked in the fields or the livestock. Ranch families would travel to the nearest town to purchase supplies and ools, go to church, and visit family members. The frequency of these trips depended on how far away they were from town. For example, ranchers in Big Sur would only go to town once every three to six months, depending on the weather and their needs. For many families, this trip took an entire day or longer. Ranchers also received supplies from travelling salesmen, livestock traders, migrant labour, and veterinarians. There were two types of ranches that existed in the Salinas Valley in the 1920s/30s: these ranches could be distinguished from each other by their location in the valley. The first type was located low on the green fertile valley floor. Hill ranches, the second type, were usually nestled up higher in the rocky and dusty terrain of the foothills of the surrounding mountains. The ranches on the valley floor were characteristically agricultural since they had more water. The rich soil and mild year-round climate lent itself to raising the lettuce and vegetables that the Salinas Valley is famous for. The ranch in The Red Pony was modelled after the second type of ranch, the hill ranch. Hill ranches were primarily interested in the cattle industry. Since there was often a shortage of water at the higher elevations, the hill-ranchers raised cattle instead of the thirsty crops that lined the valley floor. These ranches were usually quite a bit further from town than the valley floor ranches, and this added to the hardships brought on by drought years and supply shortages. The Great Depression was the great economic crisis that is said to have been started because of the U. S. stock-market crash in 1929. The prices on the Wall Street stock market fell a lot from October 24 to October 29, 1929. Many people lost their jobs. By 1932, 25–30% of people lost their jobs. They became homeless and poor. This ended the wealth of the Roaring Twenties. Many people think that the Great Depression started on Black Tuesday, but Black Tuesday was just an underlying problem that would help cause the Depression. From 1929-1932, the depression worsened. Many suspect that increased taxes on American citizens and the increased tariffs (taxes on countries that trade with the United States) worsened it. Economist Milton Friedman said that the Great Depression was worsened because the Federal Reserve printed out less money than usual. When the Great Depression started, Herbert Hoover was the president of the United States, and as a result, he was blamed for it. People voted for a new president in 1932. His name was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt got the government to pass many new laws and programs to help people who were hurt by the Great Depression. These programs were called the New Deal. One of these programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC. The CCC put many young men to work in the outdoors. The men were paid 1 dollar a week to work, and they got free food and shelter. Another one of these programs was called Social Security. Social Security gave old people a small income so they had money for things they needed. The Great Depression was really bad, but with everyones help, it would get better. Between 1939 and 1944, more people had jobs again because of World War II, and the Great Depression came to an end. An important reason for the Great Depression was the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles made the United States very rich. Britain and France both gave large amounts of money to the U. S. , and Germany had to pay a great amount of money for the damage they had done in World War I. However, it was this wealth that began the stock market crash. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, people still had hope. John D. Rockefeller said, These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again. But soon the bad effects of the depression grew worse and worse. People lost jobs, money, and homes. There were reports that in Germany and the United States, there was great hunger, disease, and even starvation. In previous depressions, farmers were usually safe from the severe effects of a depression because they could at least feed themselves. Unfortunately, during the Great Depression, the Great Plains were hit hard with both a drought and horrendous dust storms. Years and years of overgrazing combined with the effects of a drought caused the grass to disappear. With just topsoil exposed, high winds picked up the loose dirt and whirled it for miles. The dust storms destroyed everything in their paths, leaving farmers without their crops. Small farmers were hit especially hard. Even before the dust storms hit, the invention of the tractor drastically cut the need for manpower on farms. These small farmers were usually already in debt, borrowing money for seed and paying it back when their crops came in. When the dust storms damaged the crops, not only could the small farmer not feed himself and his family, he could not pay back his debt. If you migrated to California during this decade, you were among some 1. 3 million workers who made the trek, according to the University of California-Davis Rural Migration News from 2003. Not only did the states more hospitable temperatures draw farmers, but California also boasted a more diverse array of crops from cotton and peas to lemons and oranges. Once you reached California, you continued to be transient. This was the case because you basically followed the harvest, travelling from place to place to harvest whatever crop was in season. Earlier in the decade, there was a mentality that workers would be provided with the barest means, such as poor food, and then simply sent on their way, according to UC-Davis. With reform, that changed and migrant worker camps were established; essentially, these were a federally sponsored network of camps that provided shelter as well as health care, work counselling and food. Though these camps mandated that workers volunteer a specified amount of time, you didnt just work; you also had opportunities to play, according to the Library of Congress. It reports that there was a sense of culture that flourished in the camp. Music served as one of the biggest recreational activities; popular among workers were traditional Anglo-Celtic ballads, as well as early country works by the likes of Gene Autry. Music was created during this period by artists like Mary Sullivan and Jack Bryant, who documented what it was like to be a migrant in song. If you were a worker travelling from Mexico during this time, or an American of Mexican ethnic origin, you made far less than your white counterparts on the same job, according to the Oakland Museum of California. That being said, you still earned more in the states than you did in Mexico during this time. Mexican-American migrants patched together shelter from anything they could find, be it burlap, canvas or branches. Though its estimated that in the 1920s, 75% of migrant workers were of Mexican origin, as the country fell into the Great Depression, white workers took over their jobs, leaving many Mexican-Americans unemployed. Your work options expanded with the advent of World War II. For this reason, migrant work became far less necessary and, in turn, far less desirable. Many former migrant workers, according to the Library of Congress, went overseas to serve in the war. Still others supported the war effort stateside, taking on positions at coastal shipyards or at defence plants. The average family income dropped 40 percent between 1929 and 1933, and while men took second jobs or searched for better-paying employment in an oversaturated market, most of their wives stayed home and struggled with what Eleanor Roosevelt called endless little economies and constant anxieties. At the bottom of the middle class, women worried about losing their homes and falling back into the class of renters in Indianapolis, more than half the families with mortgages had defaulted on them by 1934. Those higher on the economic ladder simply had to figure out how to keep up appearances without the help of servants (an ad for bleach showed a pair of elegant hands in a tub of dirty laundry and asked: doing it yourself these days? ) The marriage rate dropped. The nation declared a truce in its war on spinsterhood, and magazines once again ran articles about women who found happiness in life without a husband. Live Alone And Like It was a bestseller. Do you realize how many people in my generation are not married? asked Elsa Ponselle, who was working as a teacher when the Chicago school system ran out of money and started paying its staff in IOUs. Her own boyfriend, a commercial artist, vanished when he was laid off from his job. Societys fight against contraceptives came to a virtual halt as well, partly because of national outcries against women on the dole who continued to have babies. In 1936, the federal court struck down all federal restrictions against birth control, in a case memorably named U. S. v One Package of Japanese Pessaries. The birth rate plunged so low that for the first time in American history the nation was not replacing itself. Bertha Thompson, who called herself Boxcar Bertha’, estimated that 500,000 to 2 million people were hoboes in the 1930s, and that perhaps a tenth of them were women. Most travelled in pairs, Thompson said, either with a man or another woman. But mainly, the women who took to the roads were with their families. Peggy Terry, who travelled as a migrant worker, remembered seeing a Hooverville in Oklahoma. Here were all these people living in old, rusted-out car bodies. I mean that was their home. There were people living in shacks made of orange crates. One family with a whole lot of kids were living in a piano box. This wasnt just a little section: this was maybe ten miles long and ten miles wide. The issue of whether married women should work was chewed over constantly in the newspapers and womens magazines, with the consensus coming down on the side of not. A federal law, passed during the Depression, prohibited the employment of married persons whose spouses also worked for the government. Of the people forced to quit, three quarters were women (Eleanor Roosevelt called the law a very bad and foolish thing government salaries, she argued, were so low, a family needed two incomes just to get along). Legislators in twenty-six states introduce laws completely banning the hiring of married women, although only Louisiana actually passed a law, and it was quickly declared unconstitutional. More than three quarters of the nations public school districts refused to hire married teachers unless they were male. Despite all this, the number of married women who worked continued to increase throughout the decade. Although most of these women struggled to keep poor families above water, a number were middle class and were attempting to preserve the good things they had gotten used to since World War I like electric lights and gas stoves, and the ability to keep their children in school. It was an important cultural shift that sent women into the workforce in larger and larger numbers. And for all the endless debate about whether or not it was good for society, the issue was resolved not by social theorists but by the wives themselves, determined that they and their families would not only survive but also move up. The 1930s were a turbulent time for race relations in America. Despite the decline of such organizations as the Ku Klux Klan (which had enjoyed renewed support during the 1910s and 1920s) racism was as strong as ever in the Southern states. Furthermore, as this picture alludes to, the increased presence of Black Americans in Northern cities (where many had migrated during WWII and especially during the Depression) resulted in increased tension between the races there as well. This image of a drunken African-American passed out in the middle of the city reflects the apprehension, which many rich white New Yorkers felt at the presence of so many blacks in what they considered to be their city. Many New Deal programs gave black Americans opportunities they had often lacked in the past, while also helping to bring their daily struggles to light for Northerners. Such federal programs as The Federal Music Project, Federal Theatre Project, and Federal Writers project enabled black artists to find word during the depression, often times creating art or stories, which portrayed the historic and present situation of blacks in the South. Projects chronicling the lives of former slaves were also begun under the auspices of these programs. At the same time competition for WPA (Works Project Administration) jobs in the South during the thirties also brought to light the persistence of inequality even in the government. Since the WPA required that eligible employees not have refused any private sector jobs at the prevailing wage for such jobs, African-Americans (who were paid less on average than whites in the South) might be refused WPA jobs which whites were eligible for. Such discrimination often extended to Hispanic-Americans in the Southwest as well. Despite such difficulties, WPA head Harry Hopkins worked with NAACP leaders to prevent discrimination whenever possible resulting in general support for the programs (and the government) by the black community. Black Americans also received increased visibility during this decade for less auspicious reasons, resulting in bitter political conflict within the Democratic Party. While the South had been solidly Democratic since the Civil War, the Roosevelt administration actively appealed to African-Americans to join their party, thus alienating many Southerners. The growing divide between Northern and Southern Democrats over the issue of race came to a head in April 1937, when a bitter fight over an anti-lynching bill took place in the House of Representatives. In the wake of a gruesome double lynching in Mississippi (only one of more than a hundred that had taken place since 1930) The House passed the anti-lynching resolution, despite the opposition of all but one Southern member. Declaring that the South had been deserted by the Democrats of the North, former Roosevelt supporters in the Senate carried out a six-week long filibuster that resulted in the withdrawal of the bill in February 1938. This bitter political fight was indicative of the racism and regional conflict still firmly in-trenched in America in the 1930s.

Romanticism in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, The Birthmark, and Rapp

Romanticism in Young Goodman Brown, The Birth-Mark, and Rappaccini's Daughter  Ã‚  Ã‚      Nathaniel Hawthorne gives his own definition of romanticism in the preface to The House of Seven Gables. According to Hawthorne, the writer of a romance may "claim a certain latitude" and may "deepen and enrich the shadows of the picture," as long as he does not "swerve aside from the truth of the human heart." The writer of a romance "will be wise...to mingle the Marvelous" as long as he does it to a "slight," however if he "disregards this caution," he will not be committing "a literary crime" (Hawthorne, House of Seven Gables, preface). Nathaniel Hawthorne consistently stays true to his standards of romanticism. The application of these standards is most abundant and lucid in "Young Goodman Brown," "The Birth-Mark," and "Rappaccini's Daughter."    The chief difference between a novel and a romance as defined by Hawthorne, and in general, is that the writer of novel must stick to reality, whereas the writer a of romance, Hawthorne in this case, may "claim a certain latitude" (T.H.O.S.G., preface). This "latitude" is expressed in "Rappaccini's Daughter," "...Dew-drops that hung upon leaf and blossom, and, while giving a brighter beauty to each rare flower, brought everything in the limits of an ordinary experience" (Hawthorne, "Rappaccini's Daughter" 655). Although a large portion of the story is spent on describing the vegetation that grow in the garden, Hawthorne symbolizes the flowers as dark and mysterious, not realistic. Hawthorne's use of exaggeration is seen more keenly in "The Birth-Mark." Hawthorne exaggerates this birthmark to mythical proportions, "dreadful Hand" or "Crimson Hand" is how he refers to Georgiana's birth-mark.... ...ed that to be successful. Although, it is possible to write a romance without referring to the supernatural, and certainly many have done so, it's the "Marvelous," that keeps one coming back for more. In all three stories, Hawthorne refers to the "Marvelous," thus remaining true to his definition of romanticism.    One may ponder if Hawthorne's definition of romanticism, as defined in the preface to the House of Seven Gables, was written for that certain work or if his definition of romanticism applies to all his work. As the three works analyzed show, he follows his definition of romanticism throughout his work. Hawthorne succeeds at setting appropriate standards for romanticism and then applying them in his work. Thus, he is remembered as one of the greatest Romantic authors of all time, both by his definition of romanticism and ours. (1057)         

Black Cat Essay

Symbols abound in works of fiction and are used by authors to convey their message or produce a certain effect on the reader. In the horror genre, master story teller Edgar Allan Poe uses negative as well as ordinary symbols to evoke dread, revulsion, and fear that gradually and inevitably lead to a terrifying climax. Poe manipulates symbols to suit his purpose – to frighten and horrify – and he does it gradually and almost imperceptibly. In his The Black Cat and The Fall of the House of Usher – two classic tales of Gothic horror – Poe uses negative symbols out of the commonplace as a surrealist painter draws seemingly bizarre shapes out of ordinary things to create an eerie, haunting atmosphere which grips the reader inescapably as the story unfolds. Poe creates sharp contrasts doubtless to make the transition from light to sombre to horrible more appalling. He begins The Black Cat by a distraught rambling statement about something that has left him terrified, tortured and destroyed. Thus, the reader immediately is put on guard about something sinister to follow. But in the next paragraphs the pall dissolves for a moment as the narrator recalls the past where he was known for his â€Å"docility and humanity† of disposition. The foreboding air quickly returns as Poe proceeds to transform the cat’s master from a gentle animal-loving person to a homicidal maniac. The cat, although remarkably good-looking is depicted as an ordinary house pet, doted upon by its master. It does not cause any alarm other than the common superstition that black cats bring bad luck, or the ancient notion, voiced out by the wife, that they are actually witches in disguise. An object of pity as its once caring master, now slave to the bottle, stabs its eye, and finally hangs it to death, the cat morphs into a malevolent creature, at least in the imagination of the narrator. The black cat with the splotched breast that takes its place is lovable too at first until its master comes to hate it and wants to kill it too but murders his wife instead. In this tale, Poe uses the negative symbol of the black cat to suggest that indeed something supernatural has occurred. The white splotch on the cat that comes to live with them after the first is killed soon becomes recognizable by the narrator – or perhaps he imagines it – as an image of the gallows, a fate to which he was destined after his crime was discovered, commensurate with his deed of hanging the cat by the limb of a tree. It conditions the mind to accept the idea of an avenging demon. The first negative symbol used in The Fall of the House of Usher is that of the old mansion of the Ushers, which evokes foreboding as it sat in the midst of a dreary landscape. Observes the narrator: â€Å"I looked upon the scene before me – upon the mere vacant eye-like windows – upon a few rank sedges – and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees- with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to . . . the hideous dropping off of the veil. † By itself the image of the old mansion disturbs an otherwise peaceful mind, but Poe heightens the gloom by describing its weird image reflected on the adjoining black tarn as the narrator gazes â€Å"upon the remodelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows. † Here Poe probably plays on the age-old superstition about mirrors being capable of trapping the human soul, or perhaps the ghastly description is only meant to heighten the aura of gloom pervading the mansion – â€Å"an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn – a pestilent and mystic vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued. † Poe gives an indication of impending doom awaiting the structure: â€Å"a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn. † As a breaking mirror is said to bring about bad luck, the reflecting water of the tarn swallowed the mansion in the end. It may be noted that the tarn as a negative symbol also appears in Poe’s Ulalume, where the poet wanders through the â€Å"dank tarn of Auber. † Usher’s dread of his ancient dwelling is depicted in his ballad of The Haunted Palace: a place of beauty and happiness until â€Å"evil things, in robes of sorrow† renders it forever desolate. One senses his awareness of the unseen – or of the forthcoming evil – in his description of the doomed palace, wherein are found Vast forms that move fantastically To a discordant melody; While, like a rapid ghastly river, Through the pale door, A hideous throng rush out forever And laugh- but smile no more. Apart from the mansion, Roderick Usher’s purported illness – â€Å"a morbid acuteness of the senses† – also serves as a negative symbol. If the cat’s master in The Black Cat is an alcoholic, the narrator in The Fall of the House of Usher is a hypochondriac, living in perpetual morbid fear. The former is terrified of the cat owing to the strange markings in its breast, the fear that it might be an incarnation of the animal he killed; the latter is prey to â€Å"an anomalous species of terror. † The former is afraid of retribution for what he had done to the cat; the latter is afraid of struggling with fear itself. I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul. In have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect- in terror. In this unnerved-in this pitiable condition-I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR. If Roderick Usher’s mental illness is cause for depression, that of the Lady Madeleine’s wasting disease induces sorrow and pity for the afflicted woman. Poe makes brother and sister twins, perhaps to suggest according to the common belief that twins are bound to share the same feelings, experience the same pain and suffering. Being a twin and possessing acute senses, Roderick might have known his sister was only comatose when she was laid on the mansion vault – must have sensed her struggling, clawing her way out of her tomb. One feels deep revulsion for Roderick Usher, who, knowing his twin sister had been buried alive just kept it to himself. As in Usher, a cadaver is deposited without the benefit of a public burial in The Black Cat. Whereas a cataleptic is entombed alive in the former, a cadaver with an animal not yet dead is walled up in the cellar in the latter. The Black Cat is somewhat reminiscent of The Tell-Tale Heart where the murderer hides the body if his victim under the wooden planks of his apartment, but is found out by the police as they were about to depart, convinced of his innocence. In that story, acuteness of senses – the ability to hear the hideous beating of the old man’s heart – similar to Roderick Usher’s hearing the struggles of Lady Madeleine in her coffin – gave away the murderer. Having painted a dark scene, Poe proceeds to sustain the sense of impending doom. As readers we know something sinister and evil is about to befall the house but just as we brace ourselves for the onrush of terror, the master of horror places us at ease, enabling us to lower our guards. Thus, we become most vulnerable when the terrible thing is unleashed when we least expect it. The sudden announcement of a terrible thing, like the emergence of a killer from the dark when its victim thought she was safe, has a forceful impact on the reader. Poe’s masterful use of this technique employs the manipulation of symbols, in this case the breaking of the planks of a wooden door, the mortal cry of a beast, and the clanging of a metal shield – all to induce terror. Feeling troubled and unable to sleep during a stormy night, the narrator reads an antique volume to Roderick Usher. It is titled Mad Trist where Sir Ethelred, the hero of the tale, breaks down a hermit’s wooden door, slays a dragon, and causes a brazen shield to fall clanging at his feet. Waylaid and distracted, the reader is frightened by what Roderick Usher reveals: â€Å"Not hear it? –yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long-long-long-many minutes, many hours, many days have I heard it-yet I dared not-oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! – I dared not- I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! It turns out that the breaking of the hermit’s door, the death-cry of the dragon, and the clanging of the brazen shield corresponded to the breaking of her coffin and her struggle to let herself out through the coppered archway of the family vault. Through his acute senses Roderick knows she has managed to come out: â€Å"Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door! † Alcohol in The Black Cat is used to explain the demented state of the narrator’s mind. Did the alcohol unleash the man’s capacity for evil, or is man innately wicked, capable of the vilest deeds, alcohol or no alcohol? Not a moralist, Poe delves into the darkness of the human heart, but does not inquire into such matters. The narrator in The Black Cat may have come upon the theory it was the black cat that brought about his downfall in the same way people justify their most unspeakable crimes by heaping the blame on others, pointing to someone or something else that impelled them to their deed. Poe uses symbols to create a fearful atmosphere, utilizing people’s tendency to attribute occurrences to the supernatural. Faced by the unknown, people are easily conditioned to accept what may be illogical to them in their rational moments. As the narrator in Usher puts it: â€Å"†¦ while beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth. † WORKS CITED Poe, Edgar Allan. â€Å"The Black Cat†. 31 October 2008. —â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†. 31 October 2008.