Analysis Of Mark Twain s The Gilded Age - 1671 Words

The 19th century formed an era of industrialization and political change in the United States. New possibilities formed and new ideas inhibited the once agrarian country. New people came to America too as an effect of immigration. Immigrants from all over Europe and East and South Asia knew of the new opportunities available. Once they came to the United States, these people started congregating in cities. Here, they were close to the jobs and resources they needed, not to mention that it was a more efficient use of space compared to expanding outward. In the country, the demand for labor was increasing, and luckily there was a complementary increase in supply of it. The influx of immigrants was an influx of new ideas--ones that differed from pre-existing views in the United States. Good ideas came from good people, and their impressions and motivations were powerful, casting an image of wealth and awe-inspiring personality. It was what the famous writer Mark Twain called the Gilded Age for its magnificent impression yet troublesome mechanics. Mark Twain would be the one to know of the wonders and friction of ideas and people. His friend Nikola Tesla, the eccentric Serbian scientist, had major involvement in the peaks and troughs of this era. In fact, Nikola’s dilemma with another great contemporary of his even has its own name: the War of the Currents. The War of the Currents is a distinct series of events that occurred during the Gilded Age. Nikola Tesla battledShow MoreRelatedwisdom,humor and faith19596 Words   |  79 PagesRenaissance Humor: Erasmus, Rabelais, Cervantes, Shakespeare 5 Two European Russians: Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Soloviev 9 Reflections on Humor from Nietzsche to the Theatre of the Absurd 12 Humor and Wisdom in the United States: Lincoln, Beecher, Twain, Sandburg, and Buchwald 17 From The Times (of London) obituary on him (January 19, 2007) that mentioned his â€Å"wit and wisdom† in its title, available at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1294342.ece. 24 Humor, Wisdom, andRead MoreAmerican Revolution and Study Guide Essay example5377 Words   |  22 Pages(10pts) 2. How did each of the following encourage social reform: (15pts) a. 2nd Great Awakening b. Industrialization c. urbanization 3. In what ways did American literature in the early 19th century reflect the New Demacracy of the Jacksonian age? Explain (10pts) a. Identify the â€Å"literary individuals and dissenters† (3pts) b. Why were these writers tagged as such (5pts) 4. Explain why the Mormons became a target for religious intolerance in America (10pts) Dorthea Dix Oliver Wendall Holmes

Aristotle’s Ideas in the Modern Work Environment Free Essays

Aristotle in the Modern Work Environment In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, every point, every major idea, and every argument made, is all connected back to the concept that every action seeks an ultimate good. Aristotle felt that there is an intrinsic good that humans aim for and that there is this â€Å"good life† we all mean to have. However, what does it mean to be good? That means something different to everyone; we all inhabit many different roles in our day to day lives, whether we strive to be a good parent, a good sibling, a good student, a good citizen, or a good leader. We will write a custom essay sample on Aristotle’s Ideas in the Modern Work Environment or any similar topic only for you Order Now All emphasize the importance of our own well-being, as well as that of others, and the greater community as a whole. For the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on work relationships, what it means to promote a good work environment, and how Aristotle’s ideas relate to the modern work community. First, we will examine the characteristics of a great place to work, and then we will examine how each of Aristotle’s main ideas on civic relationships relate to these modern work relationships. Whether the association is that of an employee and an employer, a buyer and a seller, or even a manager and an investor, each relationship has common business ideas and common human needs. Sometimes companies get so caught up in the business ideas that the human needs become null. However, the most successful companies are the ones who are able to excel at both the business practices as well the care of their employees. So what defines a â€Å"great† place to work? Is it the business with the most elaborate holiday parties, the one with the highest paid employees, or perhaps is it the business that places value in the intangibles, such as trust, communication, and strong leadership? To define the traits of a positive work environment, we will examine the Great Place to Work website, who every year, partners with 5,000 plus companies and conducts a survey to find out exactly what a great workplace means. Essentially, a great work environment can be defined by three main factors; employees trust the people they work for, they have pride in what they do, and they enjoy the people they work with. Of these three, it is the mutual trust that employees and employers have in one another that sets the foundation for a successful company. An employer can build trust with their workers by having credibility for the work output and treating them with respect and fairness. This in turn, creates a loyal employee who is dedicated to producing their highest quality of work as well as motivating others to do the same. Whether the business is a small ma-pop store, or a Fortune 500 corporation, all have the ability to achieve a cohesive work environment. The best of both an employee and an employer can be explained by Aristotle’s views on happiness, the virtues and deliberation, justice, and friendship. All are interconnected, and when applied to a professional setting, help to promote an work environment that is beneficial for the company, but more importantly, the human good. Aristotle’s most important concept is that of human happiness because happiness in and of itself was reaching the end good. According to him, humans have three parts to their soul. The first is the most basic, a vegetative state in which all living things share in which we are satisfying our most basic of needs. The next level is that reason that is grounded in emotion. The two are grounded in each other, and therefore, can be swayed by each other, such in that our emotions can influence our reason. Aristotle believed that true happiness was engaging the highest activity of the soul, our capacity for thought. He believed that happiness was â€Å"the human good [that proves to be] the activity of the soul in accord with virtue. In other words, a person living life to the fullest was the person pursuing their purpose in life with action, and reaching a certain amount of excellence in that purpose. In turn, that will bring a true state of happiness. The best way to bring about this state of individual happiness is through community. In terms of a business community, it is the responsibility of the leaders to promote an environment that focuses on establishing a w orker’s strength, discovering his or her potential, and then developing that potential in order to fulfill that person’s purpose. In the business world, we see people all the time who feel their work is not fulfilling and lacking in purpose. These are also the kinds of people we see that show up to work and complete the bare minimum necessary for obtaining their paycheck. An employer who wants to have a successful company needs to promote the kind of work that is in their employees’ best interests and allows them to feel useful each and every day. A happy employee will be more invested in the business’s day to day operations, as well as the overall success of the organization. The discussion of happiness leads to Aristotle’s next major ideas, those of the virtues and deliberation. A happy person will be someone who lives in accordance with the virtues. He is neither too much of one thing, or not enough of another, he is in the middle of two extremes. Aristotle explained the virtues to be a perception of the right thing to do or the appropriate response when faced with a certain situations. The good decision lies in the virtue that is between what Aristotle called the â€Å"vices of excess† and the â€Å"vices of deficiency. For example, cowardliness would be a vice of deficiency, foolhardiness would be a vice of excess, and courage in the middle of these two would be the right decision. Aristotle’s virtues can be broken down in two ways: intellectually and morally. Intellectual virtue comes from education, which must be taught over a length of time. Moral virtue, on the other hand, comes from habit. They are virtues that need to be le arned, and that is accomplished by actually practicing it. People become virtuous by performing virtuous acts, and the more they are practiced, the more the virtue becomes a part of one’s disposition. Although moral virtues are reactions due to habit or practice to respond in certain ways, Aristotle believed virtues are cultivated through deliberation. One must think about the situation he or she is in, and contemplate as to what good could be achieved in that situation. In deliberation, one must consider the â€Å"ends† he or she is trying to ultimately reach, and make a decision about the best way to go about achieving that end result. Virtues and the deliberative process are involved everyday in the business world. A person’s virtues guide his decisions, and decisions have to be made on a daily basis when it comes to a business’s operations, finances, resources, customers, or even future goals. A company therefore needs their leader to be virtuous in order to make the kinds of decisions that will be in everyone’s best interest. A leader that is virtuous will desire to be good and do good, therefore he will make decisions that are fair. This engages one of the fundamental traits of a Great Place to Work, and that is the leader promotes an connection based on trust between himself and his employees. When employees believe their boss is contemplating the best course of action when faced with a certain situation, they can trust him to make a sound and virtuous judgment. The trust that is built here translates into respect for their superiors, and when employees respect the people they work for, the entire organization is given the opportunity to run smoothly and cohesively. Another of Aristotle’s virtues that he specifically singles out is justice. It includes all other virtues under its umbrella, because to be just is to consider all the other virtues and act in a virtuous way. In this case, he is not describing the kind of justice to exact on a criminal, but rather justice in that a person gets what he deserves. Justice must maintain a certain balance in which advantages and disadvantages are equal. In Aristotle’s opinion, greed or the desire to have more than one’s due counteracts his idea of distributive justice. In this concept, wealth among the community would be spread out among its members, with everyone receiving their fair share according to their virtue. He believed the economy was not driven by a â€Å"guiding hand† but by reciprocity. A successful economy distributes goods not to satisfy an individual’s best interest, but to facilitate exchanges within the community, with the ultimate goal being people living the life they want in accordance with their virtues. The most virtuous people make the most significant contributions to the community, and therefore are of the highest merit. His concept of distributive justice enables the greatest privilege to go to those with the most virtue, and not those with the most money, the most power, or the most inside connections. The best places to work are the ones that are most just. They exhibit all the virtues in the best sense, but most of all, the people within the company benefit from an environment of fairness, for both the employees and the employers. In order to maintain the balance of justice, not one employee is treated with an unfair share of disadvantages and therefore carries too much of a burden. On the other hand, not one employee enjoys an unfair share of advantages and therefore is overly privileged. Everyone is cooperating together and this kind of justice only facilitates the inner workings of a business in a way that contributes to the overall success of the company. It also promotes a fair merit-based system that rewards promotions and other benefits fairly. If employees know that privileges will be handed down based on highest merit, and not unfairly based on seniority, or inside connections, they will be motivated to work hard and produce their best work, which in the end, only builds a more successful business. The last of Aristotle’s main ideas we will discuss is friendship, and how in a certain way it connects all of Aristotle’s main ideas together. Very simply put, friendship can be defined as wishing each other well and there being a mutual awareness of good will between two individuals. Aristotle then classifies three types of friendships: those based in utility, those based in pleasure, and those based in character. A friendship based in utility, occurs when two people can benefit from each other. By doing the same thing, both gain an equal advantage in the relationship. This kind of friendship is a temporary situation because it is based in two individuals being useful to each other, rather than any enjoyment they have it the person. If the usefulness ends, the purpose of the relationship disappears, and therefore so does the relationship itself. A friendship for pleasure happens when two people enjoy the other’s company and have a common interest in doing a certain activity together. In this case, doing the activity in the company of another makes the activity more enjoyable than if it had be done alone. This kind of friendship is also temporary because the relationship lasts only as long as the two individuals share the common interest. The strongest and most enduring of friendships are also the rarest kind, and those are friendships based in character. This relationship occurs when two people admire the quality of the other person and find common ground in their virtues. They develop a long-lasting friendship that develops over time as they get to know one another. It is a very selfless kind of relationship as there are no motivating factors these individuals seek in one another. They accept each other for who they are and encourage each other to find the â€Å"goodness† in what they pursue. Friendships of character connect the ideas of virtue, justice, and happiness together. The basis of a good friend is that the friend is good in and of himself. He realizes his best self in accordance with the virtues, and will encourage a friend of similar virtue to seek his best self. He who acts in accordance with all the virtues is just, and justice in its fullest sense is friendliness. Both justice and friendliness inhabit the idea of distributive justice. Not in an economical sense, but friends of utility, pleasure, or goodness equally exchange advantages consistent with the type of friendship they share. If there is an unequal distribution of disadvantages in friendships of utility or pleasure, then the relationship will disintegrate. Therefore, among true friends that is based on character, there is no need for justice. Those who actively engage in friendships are also the happiest. Humans are not meant to live in solitude, and it is by engaging those around them and participating in the community that one will find the good in others, the good in the community, and the good in life. Friendship in the workplace bolsters the idea of camaraderie among employees and employers. When people enjoy the other people they work with, they’re surrounded by a positive environment that enables them to work at their highest potential. this doesn’t mean that people’s work environments have to be filled with their best friends, but instead should feel a friendliness towards their peers out of a sharing their professional lives together and a common interest to meet their business goals. The most likely of friendships to be found in a work environment are friendships of utility or pleasure. Every person within an organization may have separate goals, but all share the same goal of seeing the company do well. The success of the business will benefit everyone as long as they work together. It’s also likely that people within the same line of business will share some of the same interests. This commonality between workers can be the foundation for them to work together effectively and support each other in their work. The rarest kind of work friendship would be that based in character. It is likely that you may share some of the same professional values, but people are so different that it’s rare to come together on a work platform and build a lasting relationship. However, hopefully people within the business can at least appreciate the quality of their peers and superiors, even if they don’t fully admire them. The best kinds of work environments are the one that exhibit all Aristotle’s main ideas, such as happiness, virtue, deliberation, justice, and friendship, to their fullest. Environments that remain open to dialogue and respect, that recognize differences among people as a unifying force rather than a dividing one and utilize people’s strengths to their greatest potential are the kind of work environments that Aristotle would promote. While it may be hard for a business to maintain the best environment all the time, as long as it stays true to its ethical business principles, and as long as its leaders strive to meet the human needs of its employees and well as the goals of the company, then I would consider that a great place to work. How to cite Aristotle’s Ideas in the Modern Work Environment, Essay examples

Explanation of Main Points in The Achievement of Desire free essay sample

Part II Didnt I realize that reading would open up whole new worlds? A book could open doors for me. It could introduce me to people and show me places I never imagined existed. She gestured towards the bookshelves . (Bare-breasted African women danced, and the shiny hubcaps of automobiles on the back covers of the geographic gleamed in my mind. ) I listened with respect. But her words were not very influential. I was thinking then of another consequence of literacy, one I was too shy to admit but nonetheless trusted.Books were going to make me educated. That confidence enabled me, several months later, to over come my fear of the silence. In this text, Richard Rodriguez gains his undying interest in reading. This is where he realizes what he believes would be his true calling. He believer reading would open up a new chapter of life to him. Show him places he had never Imagined. We will write a custom essay sample on Explanation of Main Points in The Achievement of Desire or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He wanted to be educated. Achieve more than his parents did. The fact that he knew books would make him achieve his goal, gave him confidence.He was initially a shy person who kept to himself probably because of his accent. But his tutor found a way through this private tutoring for him to break out of his shell. From then on he improved his speech and reading abilities for him to mould himself to this excellent scholar. Part But this is criticism more accurate than fair. The scholarship boy is a very bad student. He is the great mimic; a collector of thoughts, not a thinker;the very last person in class whoever feels obliged to have an opinion of his own. In larger part, however, the reason he Is such a bad student Is because he realizes more often and ore acutely than most other students than Haggard himself that education requires radical self-reformation. As a very young boy, regarding his parents, as he struggles with an early homework assignment, he knows this too well. That is why he lacks self assurance. He does not forget that the classroom Is responsible for remaking him. He relies on his teacher, depends on all that he hears in the classroom and reads in his books. He becomes in every obvious way the worst student, a dummy mouthing the opinions of others. In this text, he realizes that the education he seeded for has had a negative effect on him. It has transformed him into a totally different individual from the person he once was. He his no longer in touch with his youth. He also realizes that he is a dummy. He basically Just repeats the findings of other people. He Is practically a mimics who has no Ideas of his own. He sees himself as a bad student. This begins to tell on him. After years spent unwilling to admit its attractions, I gestured nostalgically towards the past.I yearned for that time when I had not been so alone. I became impatient with books. I wanted experience more immediate. I feared the library silence. I silently scorned the gray, timid faces around me. I grew to hate the growing pages of dissertation on genre and renaissance literature. (In my mind I heard relatives laughing as they tried to make sense of its title. ) I wanted something I couldnt say exactly what. I told myself that I wanted a more passionate life. And a life less thoughtful. And above all, I wanted to be less alone. Here he begins to miss his past and the person he was once. The boy who always spent time with his family. He wasnt alone back then. Always had his family around, but not the same anymore. He got tired of reading. He wanted to see life as it was. He wanted to experience things now because there is nothing like seeing it for yourself. He finally realized the kind of life he was leaving. He began to detest the library and the people around it. He wanted an extravagant and enthusiastic life. He wanted people around him. He didnt want to be the lonely person he was.

The Hubble Space Telescope Essay Research Paper free essay sample

The Hubble Space Telescope Essay, Research Paper The Hubble Telescope The new engineering is # 8220 ; The Hubble Space Telescope # 8221 ; . It is a reflecting telescope, that makes distant objects bigger. It helps us to take images of our existence, and makes them ten times clearer than any other telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope is the biggest, most complicated, and powerful telescope that was of all time sent into infinite. It # 8217 ; s revolving the Earth at approximately 380 stat mis ( 610 Kilometers ) above the Earth # 8217 ; s surface, and it # 8217 ; s atmosphere. It could assist us happen more grounds about black holes, and quasi-stellar radio sources. The Hubble Space Telescope is used to analyze the planets, stars, and our existence. It surveies ultraviolet radiation, which is blocked by the ambiance. Without his telescope we would non cognize anything about our existence. The Hubble Space Telescope is better and different than all other telescopes because the Hubble can take images of really subdued objects with it # 8217 ; s Faint Object Camera and can happen the exact places of stars with the Find Guidance Sensors. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hubble Space Telescope Essay Research Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The most of import portion though is the lenses and mirrors that are used to do images of the objects. It has a really big impact on our society # 8217 ; s economic system because it costs a batch of money to run and most of it comes out of our revenue enhancements. Besides if it breaks or needs replacing parts it will be a batch of money. It will besides make new occupations including care, fixs, and surveies. It will hold a really good societal consequence on our economic system. It will heighten our cognition and apprehension of the existence. It will assist us understand stars an 500 planets. It may even happen galaxies we neer knew existed until the telescope. The positive impact the Hubble Space Telescope has on humanity is that we can now take images in infinite without holding them come out blurry like they were in the yesteryear. It besides helps us take more focussed and enlightening images of our existence. Astronomers expect that the Hubble Space Telescope will assist us happen out the size and age of the existence. The Hubble helped us happen out a batch about black holes, stars and the planets. The Hubble Space Telescope can besides negatively affect humanity because if it breaks down or needs fix, it could take a long clip to repair. Which can be really dearly-won. There is besides the possibility of the telescope being damaged by infinite dust. There is no manner possible to buy this equipment since it costs 1000000s. The authorities has invested in the new engineering. NASA ( ) is presently running the control and care of The Hubble Telescope. There are no engineerings at this clip that will impact this one. But one twenty-four hours they might contrive a telescope that will farther educate our society about our existence. Mentions 1. Dennis B. Fradin, Space Telescope, Chicago, Regensteiner Printing Enterprise in 1987. 2. Popular Science, Deluxe Library Edition. Volume 1, right of first publication 1992 by Grolier ( Incorporated ) . 3. Eric J. Chaisson, The Hubble Wars. Copyright 1994 by Eric J. Chaisson. 4. NASA K-12 Internet: Live from the? .. , hypertext transfer protocol: //quest.arc.nasa.gov: 80/hst/about/easy.html

The Success of Dell Computers essays

The Success of Dell Computers essays Dell computers are one of the leaders within the computer hardware industry. Started in the late 1980s, it was viewed as a small player within the market by powerhouses such as IBM until its proven sales strategy and production mechanism vaulted it to the top of the industry. A careful analysis of its marketing mix will show how it has effectively positioned itself in the market to succeed on a fundamental level. First, an analysis of Dells overall company strategy and its marketing mix in terms of corporate strategy will take place. Then a further detailed analysis of one of its most successful Desktop PC models will be examined, the Dimension Desktop series. Finally we will examine another line of Dell PCs that have not faired very well in its particular sector, their XPS notebook series. Through a careful analysis of the marketing mix, we will be able to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of the Dell product line and corporate strategy. As an overall company, Dells primary strength is reliant on its strong supply chain and pricing. Price therefore is the key to their marketing mix because its both their strongest offering and their branding niche. Dell is known for top of the line desktops at affordable prices. The price not only is directed to their overall products but also to their customer service, warranty policies and other amenities. The bottom line is that Dell maneuvered itself into creating great value at an affordable price. The second key to the marketing mix, product, is a much more ambiguous area for Dell. The reason for this is that there are many higher-grade products on the market within the desktop industry than Dell products. However, it is because they provide respectable quality products at a very reasonable price that it can get away with not being the leader within the industry on product quality. Its overall promotional strategy is very much d...

Waiting with Bated Breath

Waiting with Bated Breath Waiting with Bated Breath Waiting with Bated Breath By Maeve Maddox I laughed when I read the following in a film review: Richard M. Nixon granted British playboy presenter turned journalist David Frost a series of twelve television interviews. This was the first time Nixon had spoken since his resignation in the midst of the Watergate scandal and Americans waited with baited breath, longing for the trial they’d been denied by newly president Gerald Ford’s blanket pardon. What, I wondered, did those Americans use for bait on their breath? I’m no longer laughing. Apparently a lot of people don’t know that the word is spelled bated in the expression bated breath. Journalists tend to spell it correctly: China’s three astronauts are preparing for the nations first ever space walk as the country waited with bated breath to see if the manoeuvre, deemed highly risky, would be successful. With global automotive CEOs and leaders like Mr Carlos Ghosn saying that his company too would like to explore the possibility of manufacturing a similar car, the world’s media too has been waiting with bated breath for the Tata ultra-low cost car. Shoppers waited with bated breath in November to see what the future of Santas beady, winking eye was after he received a makeover. Many bloggers, on the other hand, tend to go with â€Å"baited† We waited with baited breath, turned our lonely eyes 2 U It was now Rome who waited with baited breath for the day when an army would sweep down.. â€Å"I was waiting with baited breath until I could order my prints. I was then waiting with baited breath until the order was confirmed. I then waited with baited breath until they arrived here in Melbourne, Australia. Now I am waiting with baited breath until they are back from the framing shop and I can hang all three in my house and gaze at them adoringly each time I pass them. The expression bated breath is another that we owe to Shakespeare: Shall I bend low and in a bondmans key, With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this; Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; You spurnd me such a day; another time You calld me dog; and for these courtesies Ill lend you thus much moneys? Shylock is speaking, with heavy sarcasm, to Antonio in the Merchant of Venice (I,iii). A bondman is a slave or an indentured servant who could be expected to speak in a quiet voice to his masters and betters. The bated in the expression is from a shortening of the verb abate and, in the form bate, means â€Å"to reduce, to lessen in intensity.† The expression under discussion is the only survival of the word in modern English. The person who â€Å"speaks with bated breath† is not using full lung power. The person who â€Å"waits with bated breath† is holding his breath, or barely breathing. Abate comes from Old French abattre, â€Å"to beat down, cast down. from a Latin origin meaning â€Å"to beat.† The word abattoir, a place where cattle are slaughtered, derives from the same source. In modern usage, abate is used most frequently in a legal context. For example, â€Å"noise abatement laws† seek to control sources of excessive noise. The noun bait, food put on a hook or trap to lure prey,† is from an Old Norse word. As a verb it means â€Å"to put food on a hook or in a trap.† And yes, there is one context in which â€Å"baited breath† would be correct: Cruel Clever Cat Sally, having swallowed cheese, Directs down holes the scented breeze, Enticing thus with baited breath Nice mice to an untimely death. Geoffrey Taylor, Argosy 1940 Otherwise, it’s bated breath. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in SYay, Hooray, Woo-hoo and Other Acclamations20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting

Analyzing Visual Texts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analyzing Visual Texts - Essay Example The portrait pictures a ship which seemed to have been wrecked on a beach with a few sailors seemingly having escaped the doomed ship. This portrait also portrays the sailors in a boat on sandy cove with the entrance of a dark cave mouth just behind the sailors in the boat. The most striking thing about this picture is the sailors who seem to be struggling with violent waves near a beach with the silhouette of a wrecked ship in the distance. The centrality of the light tower in the painting is of utmost importance as it offers a different perspective to the picture. This portrait portrays the message of the lack of understanding of the forces of nature and the struggle between man and these forces. Discussion The most important element that the author intends to convey is with regard to the characters in the portrait that are a representation of the people of the 18th century. It has to be noted that this was a time when marine disasters and accidents were a common occurrence which c aptured the popular imagination. The characters are drawn in bright colors in order to distinguish them and make them stand out from the rest of the portrait elements. The characters are portrayed at the very edge and bottom of the portrait to put forth the message of the omnipotence of nature and how little power man had over nature. This is in contrast to the forces of nature such as the clouds and waves which are portrayed in bold and angry strokes to show their power. The characters being relegated to a role in the bottom of the portrait yet being in the foreground enables the author to focus attention on the characters but more on the powers of nature as shown by the centrality of the great white waves threatening the sailors. The portrait takes advantage of the attitudes of the times in whipping up emotions and taking advantage of the lack of understanding of nature by the audience. The audience of this portrait live in a period in which very little is understood of nature. Na ture is perceived as being omnipotent and all powerful. A great surging white wave is pictured bending and breaking in the middle of the portrait in what may be perceived as portrayal of the power of nature. The picture is intended to show the great power of nature over man. The men in the picture seem to be in a losing struggle to save their lives. Through the centrality of the great white wave which threatens to wash them out to sea, the author intends to show the futility of man trying to struggle with nature. Nature seems to have won by taking some few lives as can be seen from the vague outlines of bodies floating on the water near the boat. It would seem that the breaking and bending of the wave near the shipwrecked sailors, is an assertion that nature is supreme. Nature seems to be asserting its dominance and demanding respect from the sailors. The sailor who is depicted as holding his hands over his head in a gesture of prayer offers an even more profound understanding of ho w religion was used in understanding nature. Religion is an important element which the author intends to put into use in explaining the audience’s attitudes towards nature. Due to little knowledge on science and how to interpret the weather and other forces of nature scientifically, religion was the main way through which these people tried to understand natural phenomenon. The author in picturing a sailor in a posture of appeal to the