Impact of Potato Production

Impact of Potato Production Qingxin Fu The Columbian Exchange: Potato The discovery of the Americas brought a large exchange of people, diseases and crops. Corn, peppers, tomatoes, cassava, cocoa, rubber and tobacco were some of the crops introduced to the Old World. Coffee, oranges, bananas and sugar cane were introduced to the Americas. One of the most important crops brought to the Old World was the potato. Potatoes, as a substitute for wheat or rice, provided peasants a new source of calories. Potato was originated South America and then introduced to the Old World; the crop also raised political, economic and social consequences, such as late blight, Irish Famine, and sudden population increase in China, from its production. Domesticated potatoes were once all belong to one botanical species, Solanum tuberosum; it included thousands of varieties that had diversity in size, shape, color and other characteristics. The potato was first domesticated in the South America Andes, then the Puritans who took Mayflower arrived the land and the First Nations taught them about potatoes. Then the sailors went back to Europe and people started to plant potatoes in Spain, England, France, and many other countries in Europe. Later, potatoes were spread into Africa by the colonists. The crop was once believe to be poisonous by the local farmers who refused to plant them. However, the colonists persuaded the farmers and introduced potatoes as a low-price and high-production crop in substitute of wheat and rice. After potatoes were widely spread through Europe and Africa, they were introduced into East Asia. Following its introduction into China at the end of Ming Dynasty, potatoes became one of the most popular crops in the country. Ironically, despite of the distance of South America and North America, North America is the last region in the world which planted potatoes and established them as a type of crop. Potatoes were widely spread out as a crop throughout the world and planted in every country. They took a great portion of crop production in every country every year, even nowadays. As potatoes spread out and planted a vast amount of them in most countries, they also brought political consequences with them. Late blight was a type of disease that came from growing potatoes. It was caused by the fungus-like pathogen, Phytophthora infestans. It could infect and destroy the leaves, stems, fruits, and tubers of potato plants. Irish Famine, was caused by Late blight which killed tons of potatoes. However, British also played an important role in Irish Famine. As John Mitchel said at the time, â€Å"The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine.† In 1845, Ireland over-depended on the potatoes as their main source of crops; however, late blight killed all production of potatoes and caused famine. At that time, Britain’s rule over Ireland had been brutal and unfair because of deeply racist attitudes toward Ireland. From Cromwell’s massacres to the Penal Laws to the â€Å"Plantations† that pushed Irish off their homeland. The political consequences of those attitudes were absolutely merciless and cruel. British refused to provide any source of crops and even blocked international disaster relief from other countries to prevent Irish getting potatoes or other types of crops due to political issues. Although the government of Sir Robert Peel bought a quantity of American corn and sold them in Ireland, but it wasn’t even close to enough. Then after Peel lost power, free market could not provide food and more Irish died to the famine. Charles Trevelyan, the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, shut down the food depots in Ireland that had been selling Peel’s corn and rejected another ship of corn that had been already headed for Ireland. He explained that he planned to prevent the Irish from becoming â€Å"habitually dependent† on the British government and also believed that Irish famine was God’s judgment to teach Irish people a lesson. More and more Irish peasants died due to the Famine and disease arose among them. Because of British mismanagement, and perhaps intent, in 1840, Ireland’s population was at 8.5 million, with England and Wales at 15.9 million. Ireland’s population continued to fall until 1970s. Nowadays, Ireland is approxi mately at 6 million, and England and Wales at 52 million. Potatoes also brought economic consequences to people; Irish Famine in the middle of the 19th century was the best illustrated example where Irish people depended on the potato for their primary source of calories. For millions of farmers, the only crop they planted was the potato since the only tool necessary for farming potatoes was a sharp stick, and those people could not afford any more than that. These Irish farmers lost all their cultivars and made zero profit from their expenses, because of potato late blight. Then a great famine exploded among Irish. The economy was ruined and a million died of starvation; about two million immigrated, usually to the US or Canada. Potato blight was a very serious economic threat in the potato and tomato production systems across the world. It was extremely hard to measure losses due to this plant disease because there were other factors present as well. Although in some areas, only local experts who speculate from field tests or visited farmers fields could estimate crop loss caused by potato late blight. While this approach was not accurate and imperfect, it could over-exaggerating or missed a portion of losses. However, it was often the only method available for some parts of the areas. In some circumstances, economic losses due the potato late blight could be analyzed systematically. For one event of late blight occurring in the Columbia basin of Washington in the US, the average of fungicide required per field varied from 5.1 to 12.3 depending on the plant species. Total per acre of field required expenses ranged from $100 to $230 dollars and the total cost of dealing with late blight was estimated to have arrived at $30 million dollars threshold. In a national evaluation, the economic impact of potato late blight in all areas of the United States was estimated to be about $210 million. A mean production loss of 15% was estimated by the international Potato Center which made a global estimation of late blight losses in developing countries. This meant that a total production loss in developing countries to be approximately $2.75 billion dollars. One of the important ways of viewing the economic effects of potato late blight was by looking the fungicide usage, which is usually easier and liable way to measure than crop loss. Approximately $77 million are spent on fungicides per season throughout the US. From these facts, potato production costs more than just equipment, seeds, and. Fungicide was one of the most important and necessary item for farmers to plant potatoes and each season expenses on farming increased as profit fell because of potato late blight. Farmers might spend way more money on how to prevent late blight than they would expected. Ironically, potatoes were meant to be cheap and easy to plant, but potato blight made the production rate to suffer and caused countries which heavily relied on potato as their main source of crop to suffer economic losses and cause Famine with a very high chance. Another example of social consequences about potato production was Chinese population growth after the middle period of the Qianlong reign (1735 – 1796). During that time, population increased dramatically and an urgent need to increase grain yields had become a big problem and it led to a rapid spread of potato production throughout China since it could be well fit to local environment. As the population continuously growing, society became a very unfamiliar place for Chinese people. The role of the individual was nearly invisible based on a very high population. This could led people to disconnect from their society. Despite of all the political and economic consequences caused by late blight, potato production also raised social consequences. They were best presented in the Irish Famine in the middle of the 19th century. Larger scale potato production continuously provided surpluses that supported an increase of population in both agricultural and industrial regions. Potatoes were planted widely because they could survive in most climates, altitudes, and soils and could be more highly prolific than grains in both good and bad years. Agricultural workers across Europe continuously raised potatoes production on small pieces of lands to gain food that was cheaper than wheat. Grains and potatoes, together with the flesh and other products of a few farm animals, provided an economically feasible and nutritionally adequate diet. Estimations were made that agricultural land assigned to plant potatoes provided three times the food nutrient value of land planted with wheat, so that more peasants could be maintained on a given quantity of farms. Even after farmers were fed and the stock replaced, more excess was left for the owner of the land. The most obvious disadvantage of the potato was that stocks could not be saved or carried over a year because the tubers would rot. By contrast, people were likely to plant potatoes over wheat due to these reasons which caused them to over-rely on potato production. When potato blight happened, a high demand on food could not be satisfied with wheat and other cultivars; thus, a famine occurred. Potatoes provided cheap provisions for growing industrial populations. Low-priced food supplies enabled industrialists to keep wages low. In all areas, there had been resistance of adopting potatoes for more than three centuries. Because the tuber had been variously seen as poisonous and unacceptable food source; some thought that it was forage for animals like pigs, others as famine food for refugees, but those preconception gradually disappeared as potatoes become one of the most popular and affordable crop. At the same time, the increasing dependence on potatoes in Ireland draw out the devastating predictions of famine for the potatoes that were already proving to be defenseless against multiple plant diseases. Irish peasants who depended on potatoes put themselves at a high risk because the potatoes could not be stored for more than a year, neither transported easily into regions which exploded famine. Because of those areas with such populations, they were also lack of political power and economically dependent on another country; Irish were helpless during the great famine. For all these reasons, although Ireland experienced a horrible blight that destroyed all potato crops; it could be seen that the Irish famine was more likely to be an artificial disaster that could have been prevented or saved by a good timed British emergency relief and millions of Irish lives would be saved. In conclusion, a large portion of people, diseases and crops were exchanged through the findings of the Americas. Crops, such as tobacco, rubber, cocoa, cassava, tomatoes, potatoes, corns, and peppers, were introduced into the Old Word; while coffee, oranges, banana and sugar cane were introduced into the Americas. Potato was one of the most important crops in the World that was introduced into the Old world. As a substitute for wheat, potatoes provided billions of people food to survive worldwide. However, diseases also rose among potato plants and destroyed millions of plants and caused famine which killed millions of people. The origin of potatoes was first found to be domesticated by South America Andes and learned by Europeans, and then it was spread into Africa, Asian and at last North America. Potatoes also caused political, social and economic issues from its production, such as late blight, the Great Famine, and increase in Chinese population; these issues had brought some s erious consequences that even lasted until modern days.

Clockwork Orange Essay

The decision to choose between good and evil is one simple choice that separates a human from being a machine. Being unable to choose from the two is â€Å"†¦like little chellovecks made out of tin and with a spring inside and then a winding handle on the outside† (Burgess, 203). There comes a point in a man’s life where he stops being a machine and becomes something else entirely. In the book A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, the twenty-first chapter was excluded from the earlier publications, but then added to the latter ones; although the ending of chapter twenty provides beneficial lessons, the twenty-first chapter of A Clockwork Orange is a superior conclusion to the story as it shows character development and accomplishes the morals of the story. This story follows a fifteen-year-old boy named Alex, an immature adolescent who disregards the law and engages in rape and â€Å"ultraviolence†. Soon Alex is apprehended and sentenced to prison where he is a victim of a conditioning experiment known as the â€Å"Ludovico treatment† in order to rid him of all of his evil desires. The treatment ends up being a success as Alex is no longer able to participate in violence or rape at his own will. As the story continues, the government cures Alex of the condition under the agreement that he sides with the government. At the end of chapter twenty, Alex departs from the audience realizing â€Å"I was cured all right† (Burgess 192). Although the end of this chapter is not nearly as satisfying and powerful as the ending of chapter twenty-one, it still provides an important lesson that readers should recognize. We as readers learn about the inherent evil of the government as we watch the Ludovico treatment’s success in controlling Alex’s violence. There is importance in informing readers of immoral actions involving the government and challenging them to question what is ethical or not. â€Å"He [Burgess] has presented us with a stark image of evil, and perhaps of a greater evil in attempting to counteract it. He has warned us of a slippery slope† (Newman 68). In the book, the Ludovico experiment is intense  and disturbing even for readers who have been exposed to Alex’s extreme actions. Even though Alex is presented to us as a clear image of evil, Burgess’s readers can still recognize something that is not just immature. Burgess is successful in showing his readers that sometimes something that is supposed to be pristine can be corrupt. He shows us that a government that has the appearance of being good does not mean that it is good. Though this ending is powerful, it does not completely satisfy or give any development to its readers. â€Å"Burgess offers us no real answers, however. At the end of the 20th chapter, it is clear that Alex intends to resume his life of ultraviolence. Seemingly little thought is given to those he has killed, or those he is likely to kill† (Newman 68). The ending of chapter twenty shows its readers that Alex is aware that he is in fact cured and will continue to act the same as he once did at the introduction of the story. Earlier in the story, Alex kills two women before being sentenced to prison. Since these deaths were very brutal, readers expect remorse from Alex especially when he is unconditioned from the reclamation treatment. Because Alex is released from the torture of the Ludovico technique, we predict he will regret the actions that caused the torment. When Alex does not show any actions towards his past transgressions, we envision him to kill again. As a result, this conclusion gives the readers no sort of progress throughout the events before. Since Alex was forced into changing his immoral actions, he never made any improvement in his own power. Even though readers can recognize that the treatment is immoral, they can still see that Alex is not making any progress. He was forced into a direction to be a test subject of something that had the appearance of being good. Although he is now three years older from when he was first sentenced, Alex ends where he once started, a child. In order for him to grow as a person, he first must realize that his actions are wrong. In the added twenty-first chapter, Alex encounters one of his old â€Å"droogs† and becomes aware of his transgressions and reanalyzes where his priorities are. As a result, the conclusion of the story surrounds Alex’s character and the maturity he begins to embrace. â€Å"But now as I end this story, brothers, I am not young, not no longer, oh no. Ale x like groweth up, oh yes† (Burgess 204). As Alex starts to distinguish his developing maturity, he finds himself evaluating  what adulthood requires. â€Å"In chapter 21, Burgess presents a mellowing, increasingly reflective, eighteen-year-old Alex who is coming to see that this previous violent behavior was childishly perverse. He thinks of marriage, stability, and the son he one day hopes to have. He contemplates explaining to his son all his past crimes as an admonition† (Hong 34). As Alex begins to become bored with the violence and rape he had previously committed, he reaches a place in his life where he has never been to before. Before the Ludovico treatment, Alex was a criminal and a child who needed to be cured from the sickness that grew within him. Even though Alex rejoices saying he was â€Å"cured,† he was not cured from his real problem; his evil ways. In order for him to be truly cured of his old desires, he needs to choose for himself to turn from what he once was. Through his experience with the Ludovico technique, Alex reaches the realization that part of growing up is turning from what has prevented his progression. â€Å"Free to will and free to choose again, even if he wills to sin, Alex is capable of salvation. In the view of Burgess, all individuals, even these as violent as Alex, could reform and acquire the moral growth. The moral maturity comes with age† (Hong 34). Though Alex did not show any signs of remorse or regret, he showed the desire to improve to a higher level of maturity. Something that he was unable to do at the end of chapter twenty, Alex is no longer immune to salvation. Regardless of the intensity and degree of the crimes Alex has committed, he has a chance to repent and break free from what has been chaining him down his whole life. This provides improvement in Burgess’s main character, as Alex can finally choose for himself what he must accomplish in order to mature as a man. Character development is clearly necessary for Burgess as he expresses, â€Å"There is, in fact not much point in writing a novel unless you can show the possibility or moral transformation, or an increase in wisdom, operating in your chief character or characters† (Burgess 168). Through the ending of chapter twenty-one, Alex displays progression in his character. If the novel ends at chapter twenty, Alex is right where he began. Once Alex has decided to choose goodness and maturity, the story finally reaches what the readers have been striving to see. As Alex finally looks to turn to the next chapter in his life, the book comes to a point where hope  is finally achieved. â€Å"When man has reached a hopeless impasse in his savage quest for improvement, he must make the sensible moral choice. The individual is a ‘creature of growth and capable of sweetness’, as F. Alexander puts in his typescript, so he could be liberated or saved† (Hong 34). Liberation comes from someone who chooses to become saved from the thing that once was holding that person down. As he made this choice he matured as a character. If Alex were to not make this choice, the main theme would not be as impactful since he did not choose goodness. Alex once displayed his view on goodness in the novel stating, â€Å"They don’t go into what is the cause of goodness, so why of the other shop? If lewdies are good that ’s because they like it, and I wouldn’t interfere with their pleasures, and so of the other shop. And I was patronizing the other shop† (Burgess 46). Alex shows us evil, just like goodness, is a choice when he refers it as â€Å"the other shop.† Again later in prison, the chaplain tells Alex, â€Å"goodness comes from within. Goodness is something chosen† (Burgess 93). This statement has no meaning to Alex unless he himself chooses goodness. Although Alex chose the Ludovico treatment, he did not choose goodness. The conditioning forced Alex into goodness rather than him choosing it for himself. The chaplain then goes on further to say, â€Å"when a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man† (Burgess 93). Burgess desires to indicate that it is not what a man chooses; it is the idea that he is able to choose. A man who is incapable of a moral choice can never attain redemption, but a man who admits his wrongdoings can choose to repent and reach salvation. Throughout the story, free will is displayed as the decision to choose something rather than being another subject or machine of the government. Although Alex ultimately seems as if he will begin to choose goodness, Burgess wants to make sure that goodness is something that must be chosen, rather than forced. In A Clockwork Orange Resucked, Burgess shows his readers that good and evil must both be equally offered. â€Å"†¦ by definition, a human being is endowed with free will. He can use this to choose between good and evil. If he can only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange – meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil† (â€Å"ACO Resucked† 168). As Alex was once a toy wound up by the  appearance of pure goodness, readers soon find that evil was what turned the lever. At the beginning of the story, it appears that Alex is already â€Å"a clo ckwork orange† as he seems as though he can only perform evil acts with his henchman. As the end draws near, we find that Alex always had the choice of goodness, but never chose it until he had nothing but the choice of goodness. Burgess again expresses, â€Å"It is inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities† (â€Å"ACO Resucked†168). Without evil as a valid choice, the choice to be good becomes nothing more than an empty action. In the novel, Alex too refers to himself as one of those â€Å"malenky machines† at the end of chapter twenty-one, saying being young is like being one of those machines. He goes on and says that they cannot control where they are going and crash into things along the way. Alex comes to the realization that he does not want to be a toy anymore. Without the twenty-first chapter, Alex would still be a clockwork orange, leaving him as just another machine. Not only does the twenty-first chapter accomplish the morals of both maturity and goodness, it also resonates for readers as a symbolism for free will. The twenty-first chapter is necessary for Alex’s character development as well, and achieves greater emotional value for its readers. According to Burgess, the choice of either goodness or evil is something that everyone should be entitled to. Regardless of what someone chooses, goodness or evil should be chosen in order to remain a human. For a human who does not have a choice, â€Å"grrr grrr grrr and off it itties, like walking, O my brothers† (Burgess 203). Works Cited Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. Ed. Andrew Biswell. Res. ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print. Burgess, Anthony. â€Å"A Clockwork Orange Resucked.† A Clockwork Orange – Authoritative Text Backgrounds And Contexts Criticism. Ed. Mark Rawlinson. Norton Critical. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011. 166-70. Print. Hong, Liu. â€Å"The Perplexing Choice In Existence Predicament: An Existential Interpretation Of Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange.† Studies In Literature & Language 1.8 (2010): 29-38. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. Newman, Bobby. â€Å"A CLOCKWORK ORANGE: Burgess and Behavioral Interventions.† Behavior and Social Issues 1.2 (1991): 61-69. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.

Night World : Witchlight Chapter 4

Winnie's jaw dropped. â€Å"You-you-keep away from me!† Iliana said, and then she got another breath and started shrieking again. She had good lungs, Keller thought The shrieks were not only loud, they were piercing and pitched high enough to shatter glass. Keller's sensitive eardrums felt as if somebody were driving ice picks through them. â€Å"All of you!† Iliana said. She was holding out both hands to fend them off. â€Å"Just let me go! I want to go home!† Winnie's face cleared a little. â€Å"Yeah, I'll bet you do. But, you see, that place is dangerous. We're going to take you somewhere safe-â€Å" â€Å"You kidnapped me! Oh, God, I've been kidnapped. My parents aren't rich. What do you want?† Winnie looked at Keller for help. Keller was watching their prize Wild Power grimly. She was getting a bad feeling about this girl. ‘It's nothing like that.† She kept her voice quiet and level, trying to cut through the hysteria. â€Å"You-don't you even talk to me!† Iliana waved a hand at Keller desperately. â€Å"I saw. You changed. You were a monster! There was blood all over- you killed that man.† She buried her face in her hands and began to sob. â€Å"No, she didn't.† Winnie tried to put a hand on the girl's shoulder. â€Å"And anyway, he attacked me first.† â€Å"He did not. He didn't touch you.† The words were muffled and jerky. â€Å"He didn't touch me, no, but-† Winnie broke off, looking puzzled. She tried again. â€Å"Not with his hands, but-â€Å" In the front seat, Nissa shook her head slightly, amused. â€Å"Boss-â€Å" Tm way ahead of you,† Keller said grimly. This was going to be difficult. Iliana didn't even know that the dragon was the bad guy. All she had seen was a boy trying to talk with her, a girl inexplicably flying against a wall, and a panther that attacked unprovoked. Keller's head hurt. â€Å"I want to go home,† Iliana repeated. All at once, with surprising speed, she lunged for the door handle. It took Keller's animal reflexes to block her, and the movement sent another pang through her injured shoulder. Strangely, as it happened, pain seemed to flicker across Galen's face. He reached out and gently pulled Iliana back. â€Å"Please don't,† he said. â€Å"I know this is all really strange, but you've got it backwards. That guy who was talking to you-he was going to kill you. And Keller saved you. Now they want to take you somewhere safe and explain everything.† Diana raised her head and looked at him. She looked for a long time. Finally, she said, still almost whispering, â€Å"You're all right. I can tell.† Can she? Keller wondered. Does she see something in his eyes? Or does she just see that he's a handsome blond guy with long lashes? â€Å"So you'll go with her?† Galen asked. Iliana gulped, sniffed, and finally nodded. â€Å"Only if you go, too. And only for a little while. After that, I want to go home.† Winfrith's face cleared-at least slightly. Keller stopped guarding the door, but she wasn't happy. â€Å"Straight to the safe house, Boss?† Nissa asked, swinging the car back toward the freeway. Keller nodded grimly. She glanced at Galen. â€Å"You win.† She didn't have to say the rest. The girl would only go if he went. Which made him a member of the team. For the present. He smiled, very faintly. There was nothing smug in it, but Keller looked again. Nothing was going the way she'd planned. And Winnie might still have faith in her Witch Child, but Keller's doubts had crystallized. We are all, she thought, in very big trouble. And there was a dragon that might start looking for them at any minute. How fast did dragons recover, anyway? Big trouble, Keller thought. The safe house was a nondescript brick bungalow. Circle Daybreak owned it, and nobody in the Night World knew about it. That was the theory, anyway. The truth was that no place was safe. As soon as they had hidden the limo in an ivy-covered carport in back and Keller had made a phone call to Circle Daybreak headquarters, she told Winnie to set up wards around the house. â€Å"They won't be all that strong,† Winnie said. â€Å"But they'll warn us if something tries to get in.† She bustled around, doing witch things to the doors and windows. Nissa stopped Keller on her own trip of inspection. â€Å"We'd better look at your arm.† â€Å"It's all right.† â€Å"You can barely move it.† Til manage. Go look at Winnie; she hit that wall pretty hard.† â€Å"Winnie's okay; I already checked her. And, Keller, just because you're the team leader doesn't mean you have to be invulnerable. It's all right to accept help sometimes.† â€Å"We don't have time to waste on me!† Keller went back to the living room. She'd left Iliana in the care of Galen. She hadn't actually told him that, but she'd left them alone together, and now she found he'd gotten a root beer from the refrigerator and some tissues from the bathroom. Diana was sitting huddled on the couch, holding the drink and blotting her eyes. She jumped at every noise. â€Å"Okay, now I'm going to try to explain,† Keller said, pulling up an ottoman. Winnie and Nissa quietly took seats behind her. â€Å"I guess the first thing I should tell you about is the Night World. You don't know what that is, do you?† Iliana shook her head. â€Å"Most humans don't. It's an organization, the biggest underground organization in the world. It's made up of vampires and shapeshifters and witches-well, not witches now. Only a few of the darkest witches from Circle Midnight are still part of it. The rest of them have seceded.† â€Å"Vampires†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Iliana whispered. â€Å"like Nissa,† Keller said. Nissa smiled, a rare full smile that showed sharp teeth. â€Å"And Winnie is a witch. And you saw what I am. But we're all part of Circle Daybreak, which is an organization for everybody who wants to try to live together in peace.† â€Å"Most of the Night People hate humans,† Winnie said. â€Å"Their only laws are that you can't tell humans about the Night World and that you can't fall in love with them.† â€Å"But even humans can join Circle Daybreak,† Keller said. â€Å"And that's why you want me?† Iliana looked bewildered. â€Å"Well, not exactly.† Keller ran a hand over her forehead. â€Å"Look, the main thing you need to know about Circle Daybreak is what it's trying to do right now. What it's trying to keep from happening.† Keller paused, but there was no easy way to say it â€Å"The end of the world.† â€Å"The end of the world?† Keller didn't smile, didn't blink, just waited it out while Iliana sputtered, gasped, and looked at Galen for some kind of sanity. When she finally ran down, Keller went on. â€Å"The millennium is coming. When it gets here, a time of darkness is going to begin. The vampires want it to happen; they want the darkness to wipe out the human race. They figure that then they'll be in charge.† â€Å"The end of the world,† Iliana said. â€Å"Yes. I can show you the evidence if you want There are all sorts of things happening right now that prove it The world is falling into disorder, and pretty soon it's going to fall apart. But the reason we need you is because of the prophecies.† â€Å"I want to go home.† I bet you do, Keller thought. For a moment, she felt complete sympathy for the girl. â€Å"Like this.† She quoted: â€Å"Four to stand between the light and the shadow, Four of blue fire, power in their blood. Born in the year of the bund Maiden's vision; Four less one and darkness triumphs.† â€Å"I really don't know what you're talking about-â€Å" â€Å"Four Wild Powers,† Keller went on relentlessly. â€Å"Four people with a special gift, something nobody else has. Each one of them born seventeen years ago.If Circle Daybreak can get all four of them to work together-and only if Circle Daybreak can get them to work together-then we can hold off the darkness.† Iliana was shaking her head, edging away even from Galen. Behind Keller, Winnie and Nissa stood up, closing in. They faced her in a solid block, unified. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Keller said. â€Å"You can't escape it. You're part of it. You're a Wild Power.† â€Å"And you should be happy,† Winnie burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. â€Å"You're going to help save the world. You know that thing I did back in the Hallmark shop? With the orange fire?† She cupped her hands. â€Å"Well, you're full of blue fire. And that's so much stronger-nobody even knows what it can do.† Iliana put out her hands. â€Å"I'm sorry. I really am. But you guys are nuts, and you've got the wrong person. I mean, I don't know, maybe you're not completely nuts. The things that happened back at that store†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She stopped and gulped. â€Å"But I don't have anything to do with it.† She shut her eyes, as if that would bring the real world into focus. â€Å"I'm not any Wild Power,† she said more firmly. â€Å"I'm just a human kid-â€Å" â€Å"Actually, no,† Nissa said. â€Å"You're a lost witch,† Winnie cut in. â€Å"You're a Harmon. A Hearth-Woman. That's the most famous family of witches; they're like-they're royalty. And you're the most famous of all of them. You're the Witch Child. We've been waiting for you.† Keller shifted. â€Å"Winnie, maybe we don't need to tell her all of this right now.† But Winnie was racing on. â€Å"You're the one who's going to unite the shapeshifters and the witches. You're going to marry a prince of the shapeshifters, and then we're all going to be like this.† She held up two intertwined fingers. Iliana stared at her. â€Å"I'm only seventeen. I'm not marrying anybody.† â€Å"Well, you can do a promise ceremony; that's binding. The witches would accept it, and I think the shapeshifters would.† She glanced at Keller for confirmation. Keller pinched the bridge of her nose. â€Å"I'm just a grunt; I can't speak for the ‘shifters.† Winnie was already turning back to Iliana, her curls shaking with earnestness. â€Å"Really, you know,† she said, â€Å"it's incredibly important. Right now, the Night World is split. Vampires on one side, witches on the other. And the shapeshifters-well, they could go either way. And that's what could determine the battle.† â€Å"Look-â€Å" â€Å"The witches and the shapeshifters haven't been allies for thirty thousand-â€Å" â€Å"I don't care!† Full-blown hysteria. It was about as scary as a six-week-old kitten hissing, but it was the best raving Iliana could manage. Both her small fists were clenched, and her face and throat were flushed. â€Å"I don't care about the shapeshifters or the witches. I'm just a normal kid with a normal life, and I want to go home! I don't know anything about fighting. Even if I believed all this stuff, I couldn't help you. I hate PE; I'm totally uncoordinated. I get sick when I see blood. And-† She looked around and made an inarticulate sound of exasperation. â€Å"And I lost my purse.† Keller stood up. â€Å"Forget your purse.† â€Å"It had my mom's credit card in it. She's going to kill me if I come home without that. I just- where's my purse?† â€Å"Look, you little idiot,† Keller said. â€Å"Worry about your mother, not about her credit card.† Diana backed up a step. Even in the middle of a hysterical fit, she was beautiful beyond words. Strands of angel-fine hair stuck to her flushed, wet cheeks. Her eyes were dark as twilight, shadowed by heavy lashes-and they wouldn't quite meet Keller's. â€Å"I don't know what you mean.† â€Å"Yes, you do. Where's your mom going to be when the end of the world comes? Is a credit card going to save her then?† Iliana was in a corner now. Keller could hear both Nissa and Winnie making warning noises. She knew herself that this was the wrong way to get someone on their side. But patience wasn't one of Keller's great virtues. Neither was keeping her temper. â€Å"Let's see,† Galen said, and his voice was like cool water flowing through the room. â€Å"Maybe we could take a little break-â€Å" â€Å"I don't need advice from you,† Keller snapped. â€Å"And if this little idiot is too stupid to understand that she can't turn her back on this, we have to show her.† â€Å"I'm not an idiot!† â€Å"Then you're just a big baby? Scared?† Iliana sputtered again. But there was unexpected fire in her violet eyes as she did it. She was looking right at Keller now, and for a moment Keller thought that there might be a breakthrough. Then she heard a noise. Her ears picked it up before either Winnie's or Nissa's. A car on the street outside. â€Å"Company,† Keller said. She noticed that Galen had stiffened. Had he heard it? Winnie was moving to stand behind the door; Nissa slipped as quietly as a shadow to the window. It was dark outside now, and vampire eyes were good at night. â€Å"Blue car,† Nissa said softly. â€Å"Looks like them inside.† â€Å"Who?† Diana said. Keller gestured at her to be quiet. â€Å"Winnie?† â€Å"I have to wait until they cross the wards.† A pause, then she broke into a smile. â€Å"It's her!† â€Å"Who?† Iliana said. â€Å"I thought nobody was supposed to know we were here.† Good thinking. Logical, Keller thought. â€Å"This is someone I called. Someone who came all the way fromNevada and has been waiting to see you.† She went to the door. It took a few minutes for the people in the car to get out-they moved slowly. Keller could hear the crunch of footsteps and the sound of a cane. She opened the door. There was no light outside; the figures approaching were in shadow until they actually reached the threshold. The woman who stepped in was old. So old that anyone's first thought on first seeing her was How can she still be alive? Her skin was creased into what seemed like hundreds of translucent folds. Her hair was pure white and almost as fine as Diana's, but there wasn't much of it. Her already tiny figure was stooped almost double. She walked with a cane in one hand and the other tucked into the arm of a nondescript young man. But the eyes that met Keller's were anything but senile. They were bright and almost steely, gray with just the faintest touch of lavender. â€Å"The Goddess's bright blessings on you all,† she said, and smiled around the room. It was Winnie who answered. â€Å"We're honored by your presence-Grandma Harman.† In the background, Diana demanded plaintively for the third time, â€Å"Who?† â€Å"She's your great-great-aunt,† Winnie said, her voice quiet with awe. â€Å"And the oldest of the Harmans. She's the Crone of all the Witches.† Diana muttered something that might have been, â€Å"She looks like it.† Keller stepped in before Winnie could attack her. She introduced everyone. Grandma Harman's keen eyes flickered when Galen's turn came, but she merely nodded. â€Å"This is my apprentice and driver, Toby,† she told them. â€Å"He goes everywhere with me, so you can speak freely in front of him.† Toby helped her to the couch, and everyone else sat, too-except Diana, who stubbornly stayed in her corner. â€Å"How much have you told her?† Grandma Harman asked. â€Å"Almost everything,† Keller said. â€Å"And?† â€Å"She-isn't quite certain.† â€Å"I am certain,† Diana piped up. â€Å"I want to go home.† Grandma Harman extended a knobby hand toward her. â€Å"Come here, child. I want to take a look at my great-great-niece.† Tm not your great-great-niece,† Diana said. But with those steely-but-soft eyes fixed on her, she took one step forward. â€Å"Of course you are; you just don't know it. Do you realize, you're the image of my mother when she was your age? And I'll bet your great-grandmother looked like her, too.† Grandma Harman patted the couch beside her. â€Å"Come here. I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Edgith, and your great-grandmother was my little sister, Elspeth.† Diana blinked slowly. â€Å"Great-grandmother Elspeth?† â€Å"It was almost ninety years ago that I last saw her. It was just before the First World War. She and our baby brother, Emmeth, were separated from the rest of the family. We all thought they were dead, but they were being raised inEngland . They grew up and had children there, and eventually some of those children came toAmerica . Without ever suspecting their real heritage, of course. It's taken us a long time to track down their descendants.† Iliana had taken another involuntary step. She seemed fascinated by what the old woman was saying. â€Å"Mom always talked about Great-grandmother Elspeth. She was supposed to be so beautiful that a prince fell in love with her.† â€Å"Beauty has always run in our family,† Grandma Harman said carelessly. â€Å"Beauty beyond comparison, ever since the days of Hellewise Hearth-Woman, our foremother. But that isn't the important thing about being a Harman.† ‘It isn't?† Iliana said doubtfully. â€Å"No.† The old woman banged her cane. â€Å"The important thing, child, is the art Witchcraft. You are a itch, Iliana; it's in your blood. It always will be. And you're the gift of the Harmans in this last fight Now, listen carefully.† Staring at the far wall, she recited slowly and deliberately: â€Å"One from the land of kings long forgotten; One from the hearth which still holds the spark; One from the Day World where two eyes are watching; One from the twilight to be one with the dark.† Even when she had finished, the words seemed to hang in the air of the room. No one spoke. Diana's eyes had changed. She seemed to be looking inside herself, at something only she could see. It was as if deeply buried memories were stirring. â€Å"That's right,† Grandma Harman said softly. â€Å"You can feel the truth of what I'm telling you. It's all there, the instinct, the art, if you just let it come out. Even the courage is there.† Suddenly, the old woman's voice was ringing. â€Å"You're the spark in the poem, Iliana. The hope of the witches. Now, what do you say? Are you going to help us beat the darkness or not?†

Lord of the Flies and the Crucible - 1355 Words

Savagery, insanity and murder, one would never think that â€Å"innocent† children were capable of such appalling things, but maybe we are wrong. In both Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, both of these authors wrote about children acting as just that and many characters became very similar to each other. Each society had potential in being successful, but both had major flaws that key characters discovered and then used to tear the fragile fabric that the society was built on apart. The biggest flaw in both of the societies was that they were controlled by fear; it drove them to the point of no return in which they would have never reached under normal circumstances. When the source causing people to†¦show more content†¦These relate to each other because both Jack and Abigail found something that they could make up and use against other people so that they could get what they wanted. Although fearing each other can cause us to do strange things, fearing things that aren’t even there can cause us to act even stranger. The fear of the unknown in Lord of the Flies was the beast while in The Crucible it was witches. The littluns with the birthmark is the first one to mention the beast and introduces it â€Å"He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake thing.† (Golding 35) This quote is referring to the beastie and it was the boy with the mulberry marks question. After he asked this many of the boys were scared and it was what started the whole fear of the beast. The fear of witches started with the girls when they were caught dancing in the woods. Abigail took advantage and so she didn’t get in trouble she convinced all of the other girls to go along with it and say that other people caused them to commit witchcraft. The girls would say that they saw things and act very strange at times as if they were possessed, striki ng fear into those around and causing the town to kill all who would make the girls act like this. These two relate because both of these fears occurred because of the situation that the kids were in. The strict religious base in The Crucible caused the girls to get too scared of their punishment andShow MoreRelatedLord Of The Flies And The Crucible Comparison Essay1255 Words   |  6 PagesFear can cause people do some crazy actions. The book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding and the movie, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller both have many character traits in common. They both show variations of how everyone in both The Lord of the Flies and the Crucible, experience having the fear of the unknown. Each character from both the book and the movie express it in a different way. The fear of the unknown can haunt many characters. Parachute’s body and spectral evidence, Jack and AbigailRead MoreEssay about The Crucible with Lord of the Flies1088 Words   |  5 PagesGoldie Bi gnell The successful and what could have been successful societies in both Lord of the Flies and The Crucible eventually decayed and fell apart. There were struggles with good and evil in Salem and on the island that were the result of three main elements. Fear, misuse of power and fanatical religious beliefs were the cause of the two societies failure. In Salem, anything unusual or different from the norm was seen as alien and sinful. When Parris saw the girls dancing in the woodsRead MoreEssay on Comparing The Crucible and Lord Of The Flies1076 Words   |  5 Pages The successful and what could have been successful societies in both Lord of the Flies and The Crucible eventually decayed and fell apart. There were struggles with good and evil in Salem and on the island that were the result of three main elements. Fear, misuse of power and fanatical religious beliefs were the cause of the two societies failure. In Salem, anything unusual or different from the norm was seen as alien and sinful. When Parris saw the girls dancing in the woods, he became afraidRead MoreThe Crucible, The Lord Of The Flies, And The Book Thief1758 Words   |  8 Pagesones which already existed. To highlight this, I have selected the play, The Crucible, the movie, The Lord of the Flies, and the novel, The book Thief. For each I will analyse how each have affected my attitudes values and beliefs, how each have affected how I view the world and how each successfully use impactful aesthetic devices. ‘The Crucible’, was written during the McCarthy hearings of 1953 by Arthur miller. The Crucible is set in 1692 and takes place in the theocratic Puritan town known as SalemRead MoreBelonging the Crucible, Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm3249 Words   |  13 Pagesnot likely you will feel like you completely belong with them. In Arthur Millers The Crucible intolerance, hysteria and suspicion, greed (for wealth, land, power)and corruption of power turns a town against each other and highlights the different groups in the town and how they are linked or exiled from the rest of the town and how better understanding of each group could effect this. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding the different views and beliefs of Ralph and Jack and the need forRead MoreThe Lord of the Flies by William Golding776 Words   |  3 PagesThe novel Lord of the Flies presents the themes of evil and sin as an innate, inevitable and negative feature throughout the novel, similar to the play The Crucible. William Golding uses Lord of the Flies as an allegory to present evil and sin through different symbols within the novel, with boys being trapped on an island. Arthur Miller presents evil and sin through a contextual, Puritan society within various characters. Even though both writers present these themes, Golding presents it in theRead MoreHuman Nature In Lord Of The Flies Essay1230 Words   |  5 PagesHuman nature is the â€Å"general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind†. Between the Book, Lord of the flies and The Crucible, human nature is strongly portrayed through similar characters such as Simon and Mary Warren, Satan/Devil and the Beast, and Jack and Abigail. Simon and Mary Warren both share their wise and kind traits and being bringers of truth, while Satan/Devil and the Beast share the characteristic of exotic and the unknown, both are also able to bringRead MoreConflict Rises from Power Essay1568 Words   |  7 Pagesthe times of the tragic witch trials The Crucible is a drama that shows power resting on moral, legal and religious dynamics that lead to inner, social and religious conflicts. Marking Time an ABC miniseries explores the inner conflict of Hal as he struggles to maintain his power by being with a group he does not really fit into, it also shows how the youth of society challenge authority which leads to social conflict between the two groups. Lord of the Flies a novel by William Golding about the savagenessRead More Conflict rises from power Essay1531 Words   |  7 Pagesthe times of the tragic witch trials The Crucible is a drama that shows power resting on moral, legal and religious dynamics that lead to inner, social and religious conflicts. Marking Time an ABC miniseries explores the inner conflict of Hal as he struggles to maintain his power by being with a group he does not really fit into, it also shows how the youth of society challenge authority which leads to social conflict between the two groups. Lord of the Flies a novel by William Golding about the savagenessRead MoreReverend Hale is Not Guilty931 Words   |  4 Pagesreal-life example of this is when Michael Morton got sentenced to life in prison when he was falsely accused of murdering his wife. Twenty-five years later, he was eventually exonerated from prison by the use of DNA evidence. In Arthur Millers ​The Crucible, while the witch trials were underway, situations like this were common occurrences. The play which took place in Salem, Massachusetts, was centered around many innocent people getting framed for witchcraft by licentious people who wante d to place