Solid Objects Virginia Woolf Essay Example for Free

Solid Objects Virginia Woolf Essay Virginia Woolf The only thing that moved upon the vast semicircle of the beach was one small black spot. As it came nearer to the ribs and spine of the stranded pilchard boat, it became apparent from a certain tenuity in its blackness that this spot possessed four legs; and moment by moment it became more unmistakable that it was composed of the persons of two young men. Even thus in outline against the sand there was an unmistakable vitality in them; an indescribable vigour in the approach and withdrawal of the bodies, slight though it was, which proclaimed some violent argument issuing from the tiny mouths of the little round heads. This was corroborated on closer view by the repeated lunging of a walking–stick on the right–hand side. â€Å"You mean to tell me . . . You actually believe . . .† thus the walkingstick on the right–hand side next the waves seemed to be asserting as it cut long straight stripes upon the sand. â€Å"Politics be damned!† issued clearly from the body on the left–hand side, and, as these words were uttered, the mouths, noses, chins, little moustaches, tweed caps, rough boots, shooting coats, and check stockings of the two speakers became clearer and clearer; the smoke of their pipes went up into the air; nothing was so solid, so living, so hard, red, hirsute and virile as these two bodies for miles and miles of sea and sandhill. They flung themselves down by the six ribs and spine of the black pilchard boat. You know how the body seems to shake itself free from an argument, and to apologize for a mood of exaltation; flinging itself down and expressing in the looseness of its attitude a readiness to take up with something new—whatever it may be that comes next to hand. So Charles, whose stick had been slashing the beach for half a mile or so, began skimming flat pieces of slate over the water; and John, who had exclaimed â€Å"Politics be damned!† began burrowing his fingers down, down, into the sand. As his hand went further and further beyond the wrist, so that he had to hitch his sleeve a little higher, his eyes lost their intensity, or rather the background of thought and experience which gives an inscrutable depth to the eyes of grown people disappeared, leaving only the clear transparent surface, expressing nothing but wonder, which the eyes of young children display. No doubt the act of b urrowing in the sand had something to do with it. He remembered that, after digging for a little, the water oozes round your finger–tips; the hole then becomes a moat; a well; a spring; a secret channel to the sea. As he was choosing which of these things to make it, still working his fingers in the water, they curled round something hard—a full drop of solid matter—and gradually dislodged a large irregular lump, and brought it to the surface. When the sand coating was wiped off, a green tint appeared. It was a lump of glass, so thick as to be almost opaque; the smoothing of the sea had completely worn off any edge or shape, so that it was impossible to say whether it had been bottle, tumbler or window–pane; it was nothing but glass; it was almost a precious stone. You had only to enclose it in a rim of gold, or pierce it with a wire, and it became a jewel; part of a necklace, or a dull, green light upon a finger. Perhaps after all it was really a gem; something worn by a dark Princess trailing her finger in the water as she sat in the stern of the boat and listened to the slaves singing as they rowed her across the Bay. Or the oak sides of a sunk Elizabethan treasureâ€⠀œchest had split apart, and, rolled over and over, over and over, its emeralds had come at last to shore. John turned it in his hands; he held it to the light; he held it so that its irregular mass blotted out the body and extended right arm of his friend. The green thinned and thickened slightly as it was held against the sky or against the body. It pleased him; it puzzled him; it was so hard, so concentrated, so definite an object compared with the vague sea and the hazy shore. Now a sigh disturbed him—profound, final, making him aware that his friend Charles had thrown all the flat stones within reach, or had come to the conclusion that it was not worth while to throw them. They ate their sandwiches side by side. When they had done, and were shaking themselves and rising to their feet, John took the lump of glass and looked at it in silence. Charles looked at it too. But he saw immediately that it was not flat, and filling his pipe he said with the energy that dismisses a foolish strain of thought: â€Å"To return to what I was saying—† He did not see, or if he had seen would hardly have noticed, that John, after looking at the lump for a moment, as if in hesitation, slipped it inside his pocket. That impulse, too, may have been the impulse which leads a child to pick up one pebble on a path strewn with them, promising it a life of warmth and security upon the nursery mantelpiece, delighting in the sense of power and benignity which such an action confers, and believing that the heart of the stone leaps with joy when it sees itself chosen from a  million like it, to enjoy this bliss instead of a life of cold and wet upon the high road. â€Å"It might so easily have been any other of the millions of stones, but it was I, I, I!† Whether this thought or not was in John’s mind, the lump of glass had its place upon the mantelpiece, where it stood heavy upon a little pile of bills and letters and served not only as an excellent paper–weight, but also as a natural stopping place for the young man’s eyes when they wandered from his book. Looked at again and again half consciously by a mind thinking of something else, any object mixes itself so profoundly with the stuff of thought that it loses its actual form and recomposes itself a little differently in an ideal shape which haunts the brain when we least expect it. So John found himself attracted to the windows of curiosity shops when he was out walking, merely because he saw something which reminded him of the lump of glass. Anything, so long as it was an object of some kind, more or less round, perhaps with a dying flame deep sunk in its mass, anything—china, glass, amber, rock, marble—even the smooth oval egg of a prehistoric bird would do. He took, also, to keeping his eyes upon the ground, especially in the neighbourhood of waste land where the household refuse is thrown away. Such objects often occurred there—thrown away, of no use to anybody, shapeless, discarded. In a few months he had collected four or five specimens that took their place upon the mantelpiece. They were useful, too, for a man who is standing for Parliament upon the brink of a brilliant career has any number of papers to keep in order—addresses to constituents, declarations of policy, appeals for subscriptions, invitations to dinner, and so o n. One day, starting from his rooms in the Temple to catch a train in order to address his constituents, his eyes rested upon a remarkable object lying half–hidden in one of those little borders of grass which edge the bases of vast legal buildings. He could only touch it with the point of his stick through the railings; but he could see that it was a piece of china of the most remarkable shape, as nearly resembling a starfish as anything— shaped, or broken accidentally, into five irregular but unmistakable points. The colouring was mainly blue, but green stripes or spots of some kind overlaid the blue, and lines of crimson gave it a richness and lustre of the most attractive kind. John was determined to possess it; but the more he pushed, the further it receded. At length he was forced to go back to his rooms and improvise a wire ring attached to the end of a stick, with which, by dint of great care and skill, he finally drew the piece of china within reach of his hands. As he seized hold of it he exclaimed in triumph. At that moment the clock struck. It was out of the question that he should keep his appointment. The meeting was held without him. But how had the piece of china been broken into this remarkable shape? A careful examination put it beyond doubt that the star shape was accidental, which made it all the more strange, and it seemed unlikely that there should be another such in existence. Set at the opposite end of the mantelpiece from the lump of glass that had been dug from the sand, it looked like a creature from another world—freakish and fantastic as a harlequin. It seemed to be pirouetting through space, winking light like a fitful star. The contrast between the china so vivid and alert, and the glass so mute and contemplative, fascinated him, and wondering and amazed he asked himself how the two came to exist in the same world, let alone to stand upon the same narrow strip of marble in the same room. The question remained unanswered. He now began to haunt the places which are most prolific of broken china, such as pieces of waste land between railway lines, sites of demolished houses, and commons in the neighbourhood of London. But china is seldom thrown from a great height; it is one of the rarest of human actions. You have to find in conjunction a very high house, and a woman of such reckless impulse and passionate prejudice that she flings her jar or pot straight from the window without thought of who is below. Broken china was to be found in plenty, but broken in some trifling domestic accident, without purpose or character. Nevertheless, he was often astonished as he came to go into the question more deeply, by the immense variety of shapes to be found in London alone, and there was still more cause for wonder and speculation in the differences of qualities and designs. The finest specimens he would bring home and place upon his mantelpiece, where, however, their duty was mo re and more of an ornamental nature, since papers needing a weight to keep them down became scarcer and scarcer. He neglected his duties, perhaps, or discharged them absent–mindedly, or his constituents when they visited him were unfavourably impressed by the appearance of his mantelpiece. At any rate he was not elected to represent them in Parliament, and his friend Charles, taking it much to heart and hurrying to condole with him, found him so little cast down by the disaster that he could only suppose that it was too serious a matter for him to realize all at once. In truth, John had been that day to Barnes Common, and there under a furze bush had found a very remarkable piece of iron. It was almost identical with the glass in shape, massy and globular, but so cold and heavy, so black and metallic, that it was evidentlyalien to the earth and had its origin in one of the dead stars or was itself the cinder of a moon. It weighed his pocket down; it weighed the mantelpiece down; it radiated cold. And yet the meteorite stood upon the same ledge with the lump of glass and the star– shaped china. As his eyes passed from one to another, the determination to possess objects that even surpassed these tormented the young man. He devoted himself more and more resolutely to the search. If he had not been consumed by ambition and convinced that one day some newly–discovered rubbish heap would reward him, the disappointments he had suffered, let alone the fatigue and derision, would have made him give up the pursuit. Provided with a bag and a long stick fitted with an adaptable hook, he ransacked all deposits of earth; raked beneath matted tangles of scrub; searched all alleys and spaces between walls where he had learned to expect to find objects of this kind thrown away. As his standard became higher and his taste more severe the disappointments were innumerable, but always some gleam of hope, some piece of china or glass curiously marked or broken lured him on. Day after day passed. He was no longer young. His career—that is his political career—was a thing of the past. People gave up visiting him. He was too silent to be worth asking to dinner. He never talked to anyone about his serious ambitions; their lack of understanding was apparent in their behaviour. He leaned back in his chair now and watched Charles lift the stones on the mantelpiece a dozen times and put them down emphatically to mark what he was saying about the conduct of the Government, without once noticing their existence. â€Å"What was the truth of it, John?† asked Charles suddenly, turning and facing him. â€Å"What made you give it up like that all in a second?† â€Å"I’ve not given it up,† John replied. â€Å"But you’ve not the ghost of a chance now,† said Charles roughly. â€Å"I don’t agree with you there,† said John with conviction. Charles looked at him and was profoundly uneasy; the most extraordinary doubts possesse d him; he had aqueer sense that they were talking about different things. He looked round to find some relief for his horrible depression, but the disorderly appearance of the room depressed him still further. What was that stick, and the old carpet bag hanging against the wall? And then those stones? Looking at John, something fixed and distant in his expression alarmed him. He knew only too well that his mere appearance upon a platform was out of the question. â€Å"Pretty stones,† he said as cheerfully as he could; and saying that he had an appointment to keep, he left John—for ever.

Why the Spanish Armada Invaded Britain and Lost Essay -- essays resear

Spanish Armada Essay In this essay I am going to look at why the Spanish armada wanted to invade Britain and why they failed to do so, was it down to luck or were the British too smart for the Spanish. And was it all England's glory? The Spanish wanted to invade England was mainly to turn England back into a catholic country, and to get Queen Elizabeth of the throne and to get a queen who was for the catholic monarch on the throne. However there are many other reasons: Firstly Philip II couldn?t accept that was not the king of England, as he was married to Queen Mary I, who was the Queen before Elizabeth. Secondly, when Philip proposed to Elizabeth she turned him down. Another reason is Elizabeth wouldn?t stop the privateers from robbing and sinking Spanish ships, which were carrying gold over the ocean, however it is to be said that Elizabeth ?turned a blind eye to it?, which means that she knew it was happening but wasn?t taking any notice. The last straw was when Elizabeth executed Mary Queen of Scott?s, who would have been Philips choice of queen to rule England, in 1587. The battle at first sight looked at it should have been a complete walkover for the Spanish, as there army was much stronger, however if you want a successful battle you must have a successful plan. Before the fleet even set off Sir Francis Drake, Vice-Admiral of the English fleet, damaged many of the Spanish ships in Cadiz, this is just one of the reasons why the Spanish failed to invade England. The Spanish set-sail in May 1588 with 131 ships, this was after the bad weather held them back. One of the main downfalls of the plan is when the Spanish were supposed to be landing in the harbour at Calais, on the 6th August 1588, the Spanish were not sure... ...t of the ships got shipwrecked. The weather was an enemy to the Spanish around 6 times during the whole duration of the battle. So this can go down to luck for the English. It would be easy to give the glory to England, however the Dutch rebels, who were rather good sailors, gave the English a helping hand to finish off the remains of the Spanish fleet. I conclusion, it is clear that there was some good smart moves by the English, however most of the battle was down to luck, mainly the weather ,that was on England?s side. It is also quite easy to pick out a number of faults in the plan, the Spanish should have planned better and been more prepared e.g. firing the correct size cannonballs. Also it wasn?t just the English who were attacking the Spanish, the Dutch rebels were good sailors so that would back up the English when perusing the Spanish round Scotland. Why the Spanish Armada Invaded Britain and Lost Essay -- essays resear Spanish Armada Essay In this essay I am going to look at why the Spanish armada wanted to invade Britain and why they failed to do so, was it down to luck or were the British too smart for the Spanish. And was it all England's glory? The Spanish wanted to invade England was mainly to turn England back into a catholic country, and to get Queen Elizabeth of the throne and to get a queen who was for the catholic monarch on the throne. However there are many other reasons: Firstly Philip II couldn?t accept that was not the king of England, as he was married to Queen Mary I, who was the Queen before Elizabeth. Secondly, when Philip proposed to Elizabeth she turned him down. Another reason is Elizabeth wouldn?t stop the privateers from robbing and sinking Spanish ships, which were carrying gold over the ocean, however it is to be said that Elizabeth ?turned a blind eye to it?, which means that she knew it was happening but wasn?t taking any notice. The last straw was when Elizabeth executed Mary Queen of Scott?s, who would have been Philips choice of queen to rule England, in 1587. The battle at first sight looked at it should have been a complete walkover for the Spanish, as there army was much stronger, however if you want a successful battle you must have a successful plan. Before the fleet even set off Sir Francis Drake, Vice-Admiral of the English fleet, damaged many of the Spanish ships in Cadiz, this is just one of the reasons why the Spanish failed to invade England. The Spanish set-sail in May 1588 with 131 ships, this was after the bad weather held them back. One of the main downfalls of the plan is when the Spanish were supposed to be landing in the harbour at Calais, on the 6th August 1588, the Spanish were not sure... ...t of the ships got shipwrecked. The weather was an enemy to the Spanish around 6 times during the whole duration of the battle. So this can go down to luck for the English. It would be easy to give the glory to England, however the Dutch rebels, who were rather good sailors, gave the English a helping hand to finish off the remains of the Spanish fleet. I conclusion, it is clear that there was some good smart moves by the English, however most of the battle was down to luck, mainly the weather ,that was on England?s side. It is also quite easy to pick out a number of faults in the plan, the Spanish should have planned better and been more prepared e.g. firing the correct size cannonballs. Also it wasn?t just the English who were attacking the Spanish, the Dutch rebels were good sailors so that would back up the English when perusing the Spanish round Scotland.

Hobbes and Locke Essay

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are indeed, two of the most brilliant philosophers that ever existed. They may have similarities and differences between them, but it is undeniable that their ideas contributed a lot in shaping the modern world. Both Hobbes and Locke perceive man as a central figure in a society. For Hobbes, it is man’s nature to be mindful of him exclusively, with self-interest going above everything else. On the other hand, Locke perceives man as both self-interested and concerned about other people. The two really have similarities and differences, but in order to know more about them, we need to compare their stand about various aspects of society. One important aspect that we could consider is sovereignty (Williams, 2006). Hobbes made it clear in his Leviathan that a political society’s sole task was to identify a person or a group as the sovereign. This pertains to an election of some sort, which would determine who would be the sovereign. Hobbes regards this sovereign as someone with absolute power, and that every person in the society should give him/them their absolute obedience. For Hobbes, the only time that the people would be sovereign is when they choose who will be the distinguished sovereign of all. Locke on the other hand, would put the public good above all else, thus affecting his notion of sovereignty (â€Å"John Locke,† 2004). In Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, he recognizes the permanence and irrevocability of the social contract, but this limits the legislation only for public good. If and whenever the public trust is violated, say perhaps the people in power overlooked the public good, then they would have to answer to the people. They retained the power to remove or replace the legislative, considered to be sovereign, with a new legislative. Though it is unclear in Locke’s writings, he somehow deposits sovereignty in the people. He recognizes the sovereignty that a legislative may have, but still, it is in the hands of the people to correct any inappropriate actions that violate the public good. Another aspect that we could use to compare Locke and Hobbes is their idea about government. But before that, we need to consider first how these two look at the natural law that all men follow. For Hobbes, man follows a naturally law that eventually leads to a state of war. Their equality leads to conflict between each other, eventually leading to war and chaos. Locke on the other hand, would consider man’s natural law as a movement towards equality and freedom. Both men draw their ideas about the government from their concept of natural law. For Hobbes, government is important because it can be used to control natural law. For Locke on the other hand, government is important in order to preserve natural law. In relation to this, another aspect that we can consider in comparing Hobbes and Locke is their idea about rights. Thomas Hobbes believed that the natural law that man follows result from the rights possessed by each person to do everything in the world. Since they’re allowed to do whatever they want because of the rights they possess, conflict would be unavoidable. In order to avoid this state of war, man follows a social contract in order to create a civil society. This requires them to forfeit or cede some of their natural rights in order to be protected. This somehow controls them from exercising all of their rights, but somehow protecting them from the impending destruction that results from conflicts and wars. As for John Locke, he believes that all of us possess Natural Rights, which is brought about by the state of nature that we follow in the society. These include the right to life, liberty, and property. Both Thomas Hobbes and John Locke believe that all men are equal according to the natural law. For Hobbes however, this equality is seen in a state of war, caused by man’s right to everything. These rights lead them into conflict and boils down to chaos. Still, Hobbes believe that this state of war to be an equal field, wherein the weakest can still kill the strongest. There is no one above others in this state of war. He also believes that all man is sensible by nature, and can agree upon each other to avoid these constant wars. Locke on the other hand, sees man optimistically, wherein they are governed according to reason, thus coexisting equally and peacefully. They are all equal in terms of the rights they possess, thus putting them on the same level as everyone else. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke both agree on the importance of civilizing man. It either control or preserve natural law, either way, it is beneficial. Putting this on the idea of â€Å"the savage†, we can see that they give emphasis on the importance of civilizing man because it makes him better. We can say that for these two, man can’t do away with the social establishments that he created, including the government and their notion of sovereignty, as it preserves and promote order in the society, something that both philosophers can somehow agree upon.

Abortion Essay - 1130 Words

Abortion: A Controversial Issue nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One of the major controversial issues confronting the society today is abortion. I choose abortion as the topic of discussion since it contradicts my values and beliefs. Abortion is the extraction of the human fetus from the mother’s womb with an intention to end the life of that fetus prior to its natural birth. The controversy surrounding abortion is whether it should be legalized or not? In my opinion, abortion is morally and ethically wrong because it leads to violation of human rights. Life is precious and only it’s Creator has the right to take it away. I chose this issue for discussion to bring to light many of the hidden facts and arguments, of which people are unaware†¦show more content†¦from where their biological life begins. The right to life is the most basic and important right that we have and should be protected over the right to choose . Abortion is called a â€Å"choice†. What is really chosen is the killing of a human being. It has been scientifically proven that this is a unique individual human life and not just a bunch of cells. The real question is not about â€Å"choice.† It is whether we have the right to kill over 4,000 human beings a day, for any reason (www.abortionfacts.com). In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, Abraham Lincoln clearly replied No one has the right to choose to do what is wrong,† against Mr. Douglas’s argument defending the right to choose. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;I strongly take a pro-life stand on the issue of abortion. I’ve been raised in a Hindu family. Ethics and morals play a vital role in my life because the basic Hindu principle of non-violence is embedded within me right from childhood. Hinduism believes that life begins at the very point of conception. Therefore in my opinion, aborting a fully human fetus is definitely considered as a murder. The government cannot grant or deny the right to life, because it does not come from the government, it comes from the Creator of life. The wide agreement amongst men and women on this issue shows that bitterness in political debate can be overcome byShow MoreRelatedAbortion : Abortion And Abortion998 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion Abortion is defined in several ways all of which stop a pregnancy. There are different ways of abortion, which are spontaneous abortion, surgical abortion, and medical abortion. Abortion has been arguable topic for decades. One can neither believe abortion to be good nor bad. The idea of individuality and human life is not quite the same. Idea of human life has come from conception; simultaneously on the other hand, fertilizer eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives butRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Abortion Essay921 Words   |  4 PagesPaper: Abortion Laws The topic of abortion is a widely debated and very heated topic in Texas. The Republican party’s platform supports family values and are completely against abortion under any circumstances, including abortifacients. The Democrat party’s platform supports the rights for women to make choices about their own bodies. They support abortifacients and a person’s right to have an abortion. There is also a large percentage of those that are in the middle in that they believe abortion shouldRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion998 Words   |  4 PagesIn the United States there are more than a billion abortions performed each year. Since the court case Roe vs Wade in 1973 more than 56 million babies have been murdered in the United States before they had the chance to take their first breath (Snyder, Michael). These statics along with many more show the huge injustice that is happening in the country I call home. Abortion is defined as the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy. It can include any of variousRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Anti Abortion1624 Words   |  7 Pagesa very large controversy between the ideas about abortion and anti-abortion. Different religious views, beliefs, peoples many different customs and even people of different cultures all have their own preferences and ideas on the take of this political issue. Views against abortion can lead to as much of an impact as a violent/non violent riots outside of an abortion clinics, to something as simple article in the newspaper. The belief on abortion that leads to a lot of the controversy is that inRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion Essay1656 Words   |  7 Pages An abortion is when the pregnancy of a women is ended; it is called sometimes Termination of pregnancy. There are two types of abortion. The first type is the spontaneous abortion; it occurs within the first two months. What causes it is frequently unknown yet is probably the results of intra-uterine contamination, or limited attachment in the building unborn child to the interior coating walls in the womb (uterus). Such conditions this unborn child, if the idea advances further, mayRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion953 Words   |  4 Pagesdebates that is constantly talked about is abortion. When it comes to abortion, the laws vary depending on the state you live in. Whether people support or are against abortion, few actually know about the abortion process. Have you ever heard of suction aspiration or prostaglandin chemical abortion? Those are two of the various methods that are performed in the different trimesters of pregnancy. According to writer Steven Ertelt of Li feNews.com, Oklahoma’s abortion laws are restrictive compared to otherRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Abortion1930 Words   |  8 PagesAbortion has been around for quite some time. Laws have been set allowing it and banning it during different periods of time. The procedures that can be done are all very different. There is a medical abortion involving drugs and there are surgical abortion involving a more invasive procedure. There are also different points of view on it. There are those who fully support the termination of a pregnancy and those who are completely against it. There are many factors to consider and very differentRead MoreAbortion And Abortion2038 Words   |  9 PagesMostly seen as a religious issue, abortions are anything but that. Biology and science are the only deciding factors when it comes down to it. Science is the only thing that can prove whether an unborn child is living; no religion can do that. Through modern science and technology, it has been proven and well documented that human life does in fact begin at conception. The scientific evidence also contradicted the court ruling in the Roe v. Wade case, where it was stated that the Court could notRead MoreAbortion : The Fight For Abortion1543 Words   |  7 PagesAlthough abortion was decriminalized in 1973, the fight for abortion rights did not end with Roe v. Wade. Just in the past three years, there have been systematic restrictions on abortion rights sweeping the country sate by state. In 2013, 22 states enacted 70 antiabortion measures, including pre-viability abortion bans, unnecessary doctor and clinic procedures, limits on medicated abortion, and bans on insurance coverage of abortion In 2011, 92 abortion restrictions were enacted, an in 2012, thatRead MoreAbortion : The Issue Of Abortion1212 Words   |  5 PagesThe topic of abortion has been an ongoing debate for many years. According to ProChoice.org, abortion was legal in in the days of the early settlers . At the time that the constitution was adopted abortions were legal. Abortions were openly advertised and performed before the first fetal movement (13-16 weeks from the start of a women’s last period). The concern for abortion started in the late 1800’s when immigrants were coming into the country in large numbers and the fear was that they would produce