Comparing the Rights of the Individual in Handmaids Tale and Invisible Man :: comparison compare contrast essays

Rights of the Individual in Handmaid's Tale  and Invisible Man    The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, and Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, are two novels which use an essentially "invisible" central character to comment on the manipulative power society holds over people, destroying the individual. Offred, the protagonist of The Handmaid's Tale, and the narrator of Invisible Man are both invisible as individuals and are manipulated by society to become a dehumanized natural resource. The authors of these two works use the protagonist to criticize society's use of certain groups of people only as resources to reach a goal, ignoring the individuality of these people. The very names, or lack thereof, of the main characters indicate their invisibility in the eyes of society. Offred is named after her commander; she is Fred's possession and therefore of Fred. Her original name is never mentioned. Likewise, the name of the narrator of Invisible Man is never mentioned. When he joins the Brotherhood, he is given a new name. Both Offred and the narrator of Invisible Man see their real names as a source of self-identification, yet society refuses to use their real names. Offred is a natural resource to Gilead because she is one of few women who still have viable ovaries. She describes the existence of the handmaids: "We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices. We are containers, it's only the insides of our bodies that are important. What we prayed for was emptiness, so we would be worthy to be filled: with grace, with love, with self-denial, with semen and babies." (pg. 176, 124, 251) The narrator of Invisible Man is a resource is a similar way. The Brotherhood uses him as a speaker to advance their efforts to take power over the blacks. He says"What was 1, a man or a natural resource?" (pg. 303) Offred is seen not as an individual, but as one of a group of women who must serve the Republic of Gilead. When Offred asks the Commander for skin lotion, she says, "Our hands get very dry. For some reason I said our instead of my." (pg. 203) Here she sees herself as one of many handmaids, as she was taught to see at the Red Center. The narrator of Invisible Man, like Offred, finds himself identifying with a group and not with himself. He says, "they usually think in terms of "we" while I have always tended to think in terms of "me.

Torture Essay

One of the main arguments against torture is that it is immoral. There are plenty of arguments to whether torture should be legalized or not. Alan Dershowitz believes that torture should be legalized for life saving events. This may be true; however, Phillip Heymann believes that legalizing torture would begin a slippery slope towards widespread use of torture in less extreme situations, making torture become a common place. After considering both sides to the debate I agree with . I would be skeptical about legalizing torture because of â€Å"crooked cops†.Some people of higher authority might take advantage of their privileges, and like Heymann inquired, they might use torture for little situations which would be completely inappropriate. If torture was legalized, authorities would probably be able to find out more information about a certain situation, like a bomb threat. Even though that would be helpful, you shouldn’t treat a human in such a brutal manner, no matte r what they did. It’s very hard to make a decision on whether torture should be legalized or not but I don’t believe that it would be a good thing in America.I believe torture is immoral, it is not effective, and it cannot be justified. Torture should always be illegal because it is always wrong. Torture does not represent America. To me, America represents freedom and torture isn’t an aspect of freedom. Torturing people is evil and if it was to ever be legalized I feel that it would leave a stain on our country. I also believe torture is unnecessary. With the increase in technology, it’s hard for almost anyone to get away with crimes that can’t be solved.I believe that the victim of torture would tell his torturers anything misleading or false to get them to stop. I don’t think that torture is immoral because it doesn’t work, torture would still be immoral if it did in fact work. Torture is just immoral because it is a violation of h uman rights. Torture was a good way to extract a confession, but many may question if it is effective or not. Torture causes a victim severe pain, so they would probably say and do anything to make their torturer stop torturing them.Torture was used by the military and armed forces to gain info on terrorists. Some people are accustomed to pain so torturing them probably wouldn’t help the person trying to gain knowledge about something. The victim that is being tortured may seriously not know anything about what is being asked of them, making the whole process ineffective because the executioner won’t be gaining any information. Torture is an ineffective interrogation tool. The use of torture is dishonourable. It corrupts and degrades the state which uses it and the legal system which accepts it Lord Hoffmann,

Top 6 Environmental Issues

Since around the 1970s, we have made great progress on the environmental front. Federal and state laws have led to greatly reduced air and water pollution. The Endangered Species Act has had notable successes protecting our most threatened biodiversity. Much work has to be done, however, and below is my list of the top environmental issues we are facing now in the United States. Climate Change While climate change has effects that vary by location, everyone is feeling it one way or another. Most ecosystems can probably adjust to climate change up to a point, but other stressors (like the other issues mentioned here) limit this adaptation ability, especially in places that have lost a number of species already. Particularly sensitive are mountain tops, prairie potholes, the Arctic, and coral reefs. I argue that climate change is the number one issue right now, as we all feel the more frequent extreme weather events, the earlier spring, melting ice, and rising seas. These changes will continue to get stronger, negatively affecting the ecosystems we and the rest of biodiversity rely on. Land Use Natural spaces provide habitat for wildlife, space for forests to produce oxygen, and wetlands to clean our freshwater. It allows us to hike, climb, hunt, fish, and camp. Natural spaces are also a finite resource. We continue to use land inefficiently, turning natural spaces into cornfields, natural gas fields, wind farms, roads, and subdivisions. Inappropriate or nonexistent land use planning continues to result in suburban sprawl supporting low-density housing. These changes in land use fragment the landscape, squeeze out wildlife, put valuable property right into wildfire-prone areas, and upset atmospheric carbon budgets. Energy Extraction and Transportation New technologies, higher energy prices, and a permissive regulatory environment have allowed in recent years for a significant expansion of energy development in North America. The development of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has created a boom in natural gas extraction in the northeast, particularly in the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits. This new expertise in shale drilling is also applied to shale oil reserves, for example in the Bakken formation of North Dakota. Similarly, tar sands in Canada have been exploited at much-accelerated rates in the last decade. All these fossil fuels have to be transported to refineries and markets through pipelines and over roads and rails. The extraction and transportation of fossil fuels imply environmental risks such as groundwater pollution, spills, and greenhouse gas emissions. The drill pads, pipelines, and mines fragment the landscape (see Land Use above), cutting up wildlife habitat. Renewable energies like wind and solar a re also booming and they have their own environmental issues, particularly when it comes to positioning these structures on the landscape. Improper placement can lead to significant mortality events for bats and birds, for example.  Ã‚   Chemical Pollution A very large number of synthetic chemicals enter our air, soil, and waterways. Major contributors are agriculture byproducts, industrial operations, and household chemicals. We know very little about the effects of thousands of these chemicals, let alone about their interactions. Of particular concern are endocrine disruptors. These chemicals come in a wide variety of sources, including pesticides, the breakdown of plastics, fire retardants. Endocrine disruptors interact with the endocrine system that regulates hormones in animals, including humans, causing a wide array of reproductive and developmental effects. Invasive Species Plant or animal species introduced to a new area are called non-native, or exotic, and when they rapidly colonize new areas, they are considered invasive. The prevalence of invasive species is correlated with our global trading activities: to more, we move cargo across the oceans, and we ourselves travel overseas, the more we carry back unwanted hitchhikers. From the multitude of plants and animals we bring over, many become invasive. Some can transform our forests (for example, the Asian longhorned beetle), or destroy urban trees that have been cooling our cities in the summer (like the emerald ash borer). The spiny water fleas, zebra mussels, Eurasian water-milfoil, and Asian carp disrupt our freshwater ecosystems, and countless weeds cost us billions in lost agricultural production. Environmental Justice While this one is not an environmental issue in itself, environmental justice dictates who feels these issues the most. Environmental justice is concerned with providing everyone, regardless of race, origin, or income, the ability to enjoy a healthy environment. We have a long history of unequal distribution of the burden posed by deteriorating environmental conditions. For a multitude of reasons, some groups are more likely than others to be in close proximity to a waste disposal facility, breathe polluted air, or be living on contaminated soil. In addition, fines levied for environmental law violations tend to be much less severe when the injured party is from minority groups.