Gothic Cathedrals Essay Example for Free

Gothic Cathedrals Essay Gothic architecture flourished during the Medieval times or Middle Ages. It evolves from the Romanesque style of architecture. The best example of Gothic architecture are the Gothic Cathedrals, specifically the La Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral in France and the Salisbury Cathedral in England. This paper will discuss the main and identifiable features of Gothic Cathedrals and explore the changes and evolution in floor plans and sculptural program of the exterior of the church from a stylistic and conceptual point of view. It will also explain how Christian religion’s needs and preoccupations changed overtime by using the buildings of La Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. II. Identifiable features: pointed arch, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting The three most noticeable characteristic of Gothic Cathedrals are its height (tall), spaciousness and good ventilation (light). This is made possible by the development of new style technology, the pointed arch, flying buttresses and the ribbed vaulting. Prior to the use of pointed arch, the roofs of churches in the olden times were supported with a rounded arch. However, architects discovered that with a pointed arch, they can build taller buildings. With a higher building came a new type of buttress that takes care of the weight of the roof by supporting the walls from the outside by leaning arches called â€Å"flying buttresses† which are usually placed one above the other. As a result walls could be made taller and less massive, enabling a wide expanse of wall space for stained-glass windows. Meanwhile, the idea of ribbed vaulting also becomes popular. Instead of the groin vault of the Romanesque period, the Gothic architects discovered that ribs (diagonal arches) could be built that would support the entire weight of the roof. The space between the ribs could then be filled in with lighter material (Dudley Faricy, 1973, p. 291-295; Perry, 1988, p. 189). With the adoption of these three technological styles, the Gothic cathedrals as compared to the somber, dark churches that preceded it are much higher, lighter and more spacious making it more inviting for the Christians. On the other hand, the concept of allowing more light inside the church is derived from the concept that God is Light. As much as possible partitions in the floor plans were removed so that a dazzling light will emanate from the choir toward the congregation. Moreover, the concept of building tall churches with tall towers and spires conveys the idea of the supremacy and importance of Christian religion in a person’s life especially that it towers above all other buildings surrounding it. Such are the qualities and impression that La Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral projects. Both two cathedrals still uses the cross floor plans, the Salisbury cathedral, however, though it contained two transepts, is much simpler than the La Sainte-Chapelle which was built upon the order of the fashionable French monarch, Louise IX. La Sainte-Chapelle is elaborately decorated, the elaborate ornamentation conveying the idea of the wealth of the church and hence the prosperity of the Kingdom (Scott, 2003, p. 21-23; Vauchez, 2000, p. 1228). II. Reflection of Christian needs and Preoccupation of the Middle Ages The Gothic cathedrals, although took many years (even centuries) to build, first began to be created during the Middle ages, a time characterized by feudal wars ,famine and epidemics. In spite of these unfavorable conditions, the Christians took the effort to make a big church, as an expression of their Christian devotion. One notable feature of Gothic stained glass windows, as seen in the two cathedrals, are the paintings of Biblical characters. The primary purpose why they paint them all over the walls is so that the illiterate could picture out what was written in the Bible (Perry, 1988, 189). Le Sainte-Chapelle, howvere, housed important Christian relics collected by Louise IX signifying the preoccupations of the rich Christian monarchs with anything regarding Christianity. The facade of Gothic cathedrals are also elaborately decorated using sculptured human figures ( saints ,kings and peasant life) as the main features, illustrating their growing interest in humanism ideas ( human life and accomplishments) as it replace the usual carvings of animals, fruits and other figures. The story of Christ, specifically his incarnation, decorate the entrance of the church, urging whoever will pay homage or pilgrimage to the church not to admire its gold or cost but to focus their attention to Christ ( Dudley, 1974, p. 291; Scott, 2003, pp. 47-48) . II. Conclusion Gothic Cathedrals, like the Salisbury Cathedral and La Sainte-Chapelle, are the best representative of Gothic art. The knowledge of new style of architectural technology by using a pointed arch, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting paved the way for a taller , more spacious and well-lighted or ventilated churches. It erased therefore the somber, gloomy aura of the Romanesque churches, and the new concept of God as Light and Supreme was successfully incorporated into the church structure. In spite of the presence of wars, famines and epidemics, this ambitious project was embarked on, signifying the Christian devotion of the people of the Medieval era. Works Cited Dudley, Louise and Austin Faricy. The Humanities, 5th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Company, 1973. Perry, Marvin. A History of the World. New York: Houghton-Mifflin, Inc, 1988. Scott, Robert A. The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Vauchez, Andre, and et al. Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Marranos: A Lost People :: essays research papers

Marranos: A Lost People Some people might call them New Jews, some New Christians, and others call them Marranos. The majority of the world population has no idea who the Marranos are. To begin to explain these secret people, one must first receive a lesson in World History. We will begin in the 1492. In school, we are brainwashed to connect the year 1492 with the year that Columbus discovered the New World. Yet, if we look at the year 1492, there are other occurrences which are noteworthy. For instance, in the year 1492, Spain, the country which sent Columbus to America, decided to officially expel the Jews from Spain. The Jews were forced to either leave Spain, convert to Catholicism, or be put to death. This was not a surprise to the Jews of Spain. Since 1931, there had been anti-Jewish riots throughout Spain. For years, the Jews had been converting to Christianity to escape religious persecution. These Jews were called conversos. The twist to this tale is that these conversos actually were only putting on a front. They still considered themselves Jews. They practiced in secret.1 The Spanish made every attempt to search out and punish these conversos. Some Jews chose not to convert and they moved to Portugal. . Unfortunately, Portugal, in 1497, expelled the Jews from its borders as well. Anti-semitism was growing in Western Europe and the Jews needed to escape. The prime choice seemed to be so obvious. The Jews went to the New World. The immigration of the Marranos to the new world might have begun with none other than Christopher Columbus. This, of course, is not definite, but there has been research which has shown that Columbus was indeed a Marrano. Apparently his parents were Marranos.2 Even though there are some disagreements about this fact, there is strong evidence to support the claim that Columbus was Jewish. As the Marranos arrived in the New World, they were not able to reveal their secret identities and practice as Jews. This was because the Spanish government established inquisition offices in the New World. These office's sole responsibility was to hunt down Marranos and bring them to justice. The inquisitors had to visit every town once a year and gather evidence of "non- believers" of the church. They would reward anyone who came forth with information. The information could be days old or forty years old, it made no difference to the Inquisitors. The punishments for being caught were varied, never merciful. The mildest form of punishment was Scourging. This was when the victim was forced to strip to the waist in public and receive hundreds of lashes.

Perspectives on adult and worker’s education

The ability to enhance higher literacy levels to adults and workers in the society forms a major step towards improved development and greater production at different levels of the society. Authors appear in agreement that workers and adult education must be embedded in society’s institutional frameworks that reduce their dependence but leverages economic development. It is the view of this paper that social democracy perspective is a better model because it strongly relies on institutionalization of workers adult education; a factor that largely provides them with a raised ground for competing with others. A strong evaluation of social democracy and neo-liberalism perspectives as well as how the two have shaped adult and workers education is further provided. Finally, a personal preference on the perspectives is outlined. Social democracy perspective According to Ingvar and Anne-Marie (2007), social democracy is an evolutionary perspective that has taken long to define and re-fit in different contexts. From a classic political spectrum, it can be considered a centre-left concept assuming a reformist socialism model. Consequently, it takes a gradual outlook in establishing a socialist mode of economy. At this point, social democracy should be seen to consist of two main building factors; democracy and socialism. First, it entails embracing values in the society, upholding freedom, and most importantly equity. People are directly involved in making decisions either directly or indirectly through their elected leaders. Unlike in neo-liberalism, Sullivan (2003) argues that democracy is a strong down-top management in a broad pyramidal model with no discrimination at any level. Socialism, on the other hand involves common ownership and planning based on institutions. Therefore, work by the people and society as a whole is considered central towards advancing independence and economic development. Social democracy in adult and workers’ education as Sullivan (2003) outlines reflect values that seek to create a highly enlightened community as a whole. Ingvar and Anne-Marie (2007) explain that social democracy reference to institutions greatly centralizes and harmonizes control and accessibility of services to the community. In New Zealand, the government took a bold shift from the competitive model in adult education to a social democratic one which created faster and better access especially to the working community (McLaughlin, 2003). One cannot fail to mention the essential role that social democracy has brought in essential services such as health and development in different regions. United States highly ranked democratic ideals and access to services by all is linked to effective representation and prioritization brought about by social democracy. Neo-liberalism perspective Neo-liberalism is an ideology with a wide and a highly changing orientation in different levels. Green (2003) argues that this ideology is a construct from classical economic theories which seek to empower private and individuals in leveraging economic development. Proponents of this view believe that through privatization the society is able to invoke higher levels and quality of services delivery to the society through market competition. Unlike it is currently known that key services such as education and healthcare are a prerogative of central government, neo-liberalism shifts their constitution and provision to private ownership. Moss (2008) notes in his publication that neo-liberalism is strongly entrenched on consideration of demand and supply of various services being provided. Though it was held as a strong factor within which both individual people and private entities would gather efforts to build competitive advantages in bid to win the market, Green (2003) argues that essential services with low demand may acutely lack in the community. Upon this realization, Moss (2008) adds that governments have evaded operating on a pure neo-liberal point of view to a mixed model which seeks to emphasize on individual competiveness and institutional progress. A Marxist operation is further employed to optimize outputs on effectual demand. This perspective further calls for optimization of technology and incentives as essential optimization forces. How these ideological perspectives have shaped adult and workers’ education and training Over the years, adult and worker’s education in different nations have taken varied perspectives with differing success rates. However, though selection of these perspectives and application in other areas such as industrial production appear easy, scholars remain highly divided over which one is better in adult and workers’ education. From a social democracy point of view, Sutch (1966) notes that adult and workers education is run non-competitively. Sutch (1966) further points out that a competitive model is highly restrictive and operates in a colonial model. Consequently, only a few people who have the resources would be able to access education in a competitive consideration. New Zealand strongly shifted to social democracy which gave the government full control of adult and workers education that strongly promoted access and encouraged more elderly people to further education. Williams (1980) strongly argued that adult and workers’ population constituted an important number in England which could be used to leverage development in the country at the height of the Cold War. Notably, with many people limited by resources availability as they worked in the low paying changing industries, advancing the dream of uniting Europe was at stake. In this case, the government introduced short two year courses that could allow adults and workers access to university degrees. Besides, open learning and recreational courses facilitated by the government made it possible to learn even after work and at night with or without qualifications (Alcock, Erskine and May, 2003). However, it is critical that social democracy is indirectly linked and partially shaped by the market forces to invoke the sense of high quality. In his publication, Green (2003) cites Neo-liberalism, as the main concept with ability to invoke high creativity and innovations in the 21st century. Upton (1986) further suggests that any education model that lacks direct market touch as a roadmap to failure. Neo-liberalism therefore creates a direct link between the market requirements and what the education offers. It is from this perspective’s application that Canaan and Shumar (2008) reports of the ability to tap young minds and entrenching them in the economic development demand that saw Japan strongly develop its industrial capacity. However, the workers and adults were greatly disadvantaged taking into consideration that they formed a significant proportion of the population. It is from this realization that largely saw New Zealand shift from a Neo-Liberalism approach to a social democratic orientation outlook (Holford, Jarvis and Griffin, 1998). As indicated earlier, many states are currently undergoing key restructuring as they seek to assume either a neo-liberal or social democratic perspective. However, as New Zealand experienced between 1980 and 1990 when it was shifting from a neo-liberal orientation to a social democratic perspective, McLaughlin (2003) emphasizes on the need for intrinsic understanding of either perspective for smooth running transition. Personal preferences on how adult and workers’ education should be shaped Adult population in the society must be seen as a viable force with great potential to leverage economic development in a country or economic region. As a result, any perspective driving their education system must be value driven with focus on empowerment. In her view, McLaughlin (2003) explains that though it is true that adult education lack long term advantages compared to the younger developing population, it remains a very critical factor in economic progression; reducing dependence and supporting higher quality development. It is from this consideration that social democracy in this paper is viewed to be superior in seeking to empower more workers and adult population in the community. It came out from the discussion placing workers and adults on the same learning platform with younger population set then at a losing end as they lack the ability to effectively compete. A social democracy perspective therefore gives them an important and elevated ground to sharpen their skills and leverage production in their areas of work. As McLaughlin (2003) conclusion and Alcock (003) argument indicate the Marxist perspective of neo-liberalism is indeed a scaring factor to the older generation. However, social democracy is both a strengthening factor and encouragement to the workers both socially and in their areas of work. By creating a platform for improvement leveraged by the government, the quality of work from them is anchored while the economy is expanded. Conclusion It is from the above discussion that this paper concludes by supporting the thesis statement, ‘the ability to enhance higher literacy levels to adults and workers in the society forms a major step towards improved development and greater production at different levels of the society. ’ The difference of the two perspectives came out to be strongly rooted in their mode of application. While social democracy is strongly people driven through democratic representation in institutional frameworks, neo-liberalism was found to be highly capitalistic. Social democracy was further found to have a broader capacity to support adult and workers education because they are encouraged and supported to support their immediate experiences. However, neo-liberalism perspective’s strong market orientation was found to not only scare adults and workers in pursuing education, but failed to invoke the needed incentives. It is therefore imperative that states and governments assume a social democracy orientation in leveraging their adult and worker’s education.

Patriarchal Domination in Where Are You Going Where Have You Been - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1584 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/08/02 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Where Are You Going Where Have You Been Essay Did you like this example? With good looks and sweet charm, men are able to win women over in a heartbeat. Why are men able to do this? Because women believe that they need basic human needs such as love and companionship to live. As you read through the short story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates, you notice Connie has issues of building a stable relationship with her family, which is shown through her personality. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Patriarchal Domination in Where Are You Going Where Have You Been" essay for you Create order She seeks out male attention to fill the relationship she believes is missing in her life. This is why she finds herself having an interest in a much older and strange man, Arnold Friend. Connie gets into the car because she wants to get away from her unstable family, likes the attention she is receiving from Arnold and is persuaded by his actions because he is not who he says he is. Reading the short story, you notice that the young girl, Connie, does not get along with her family and she believes they do not like her. She often puts herself out there in some ways because she knows she is pretty. When she runs into Arnold Friend, she never knew her life would change forever. She doesnt even know this man, but he notices her at the drive-in restaurant and makes catcalls to her. Connie does not think anything of it and liked the attention she was receiving. Connie didnt get any attention at home, so she was intrigued by the little attention she got from Arnolds cat call. It wasnt until Arnold showed up at her house later that day, that she began to question him more. He tries to smooth talk her into going for a ride with him. Connie is still into the attention, so she tries to play hard to get until she notices strange things about Arnold. The first red flag she notices is he is a lot older than she initially thought at the drive-in. Another concern Connie had was he already knew everything about Connie, which brought her fear. He tries to persuade her to come with him but eventually turns to threaten her and tells her that if she doesnt get into the car there will consequences. She is frightened but also seems to find interest in him and the idea of going with him still. Connie gets into the car with Arnold, potentially thinking this could be an opportunity of freedom for her but little does she know Arnold is not who he says he is. She is intrigued and excited by even the slightest attention, because of the lack of attention she receives at home. Connie does not have a very stable relationship with her family. She does not get along with them and believes they are all against her. She was always compared to her sister and Connie never seemed to live up to the standards of her mother. Why dont you keep your room clean like your sister? Howve you got your hair fixedwhat the hell stinks? Hairspray? You dont see your sister using that stuff (pg. 186). These comments made Connie feel bad about herself like she wasnt worthy of love from her family or anyone. Her mother always tore her down and made her feel like an outsider to their family, and as if she was not good enough. Her father did not seem to care to talk to her or build any kind of relationship either. Connie felt like her family was never giving her enough attention, so she put her interests into other things. Through the text, you notice that she likes male attention. Especially when Arnold cat called her from his car by saying Going to get you baby (187). You can tell she uses male attention to fill in the unstable relationship she has with her family. This shows one of the reasons that Connie gets into the car, she is sick of being treated like she is not good enough and with Arnolds smooth words and good looks, she is convinced that he can give her a better life than the one she is living in currently. Connie can barely resist the attention received from Arnold. Male attention, the thing shes most longing for, is exactly what hes giving her. The sweet words he uses are her weakness and a way of getting into her head. I took a special interest in you, such a pretty girl, and found out all about you (191). Connie never really experienced attention like this which drew her in. He offered her love and a life much better than the one she is living in currently. This was the way to draw Connie into leaving with him. He knows that what she wants, which is love, something that will fill in the holes of her missing relationship with her family. Well go out to a nice field, out in the country here where it smells so nice and its sunny, Arnold Friend said. Ill have my arms around you, so you wont need to try to get away and show you what love is like, what it does. The hell with this house! It looks solid all right (196). Connie is intrigued by this and believes no one has ever shown her real love and with him saying this makes her believe that he will show her true love. Arnold is able to persuade her into believing in him because she is vulnerable and young. Throughout the text Arnolds evil personality is shown. Arnold has this mischievous way about him that seemed to pull Connie in. She liked the looks and the actions that he portrays. As said in the introduction paragraph, Connie uses male attention to help fill in the missing attention from her family and thats exactly what Arnold is doing for her. He stared at her and then his lips widened into a grin. Connie slit her eyes at him and turned away, but she couldnt help glancing back and there he was still watching her (187). The way he acted towards her made her feel wanted, gave her attention. And thats exactly what she wanted, male attention to draw her in. But we do not know if Arnold Friend is truly a good man. He tries to play it off as he is but through the text, you notice he is more like the devil. This is how it is honey: you come out and well drive away, have a nice ride. But if you dont come out were gonna wait till your people come home and then theyre going to get it (195). This shows an evil aspect of Arnold, threatening Connie that if she does not come with him, he is going to kill her family. She may be threatened by what he says but also finds an interest because she wants the love and attention that Arnold promised hed give her if she got into the car. And with a little sweet talk and persuasion, Connie walks out the front door and right into the arms of evil. Connie may think she is escaping her miserable life at home and her absent relationship with her family by running away with Arnold, but she only makes matters worse by living in a life of lies with Arnold. Running off with Arnold is not just leaving with him but also leaving with a form of the devil. He persuades her with the kind of words she wants to hear and shows her the love and attention she wants and thinks she needs. So much land Connie had never seen before or did not recognize except to know that she was going to it (197). We may not know what initially happens in the end, but we have an idea of what could have potentially happened to her. As a young girl, it is easy to believe charming men and fall for the words he is feeding and telling you. As for Connie, the words from Arnold were the words she had been longing to hear from her family. She wanted love and someone to show her she mattered by giving her attention. Arnold took advantage of this poor young girl and ended u p showing her the love she thought she wanted but possibly not the kind of love she truly needed. He used treats to get her to take the first step to come, which initially worked. He then used this power over her with charming words and actions to get her to stay with him forever. Vulnerable women tend to lean towards men to fulfill their void of loneliness. Connies lack of structure at home creates a wall between her and her family. Without support at home from her family, Connie becomes lonely and in need of attention to fill the absence of attention from her main support system. These factors set Connie up to be very vulnerable and being taken advantage of by a man or anyone whiling to feed off her. Arnold tells Connie exactly what she needs to hear, and she begins to feed off his attention. Many women become attracted to men who give them what they think they need and tell them all the things they want to hear. Connie was intrigued by the idea of Arnolds attention and love, not necessary him as a person. She becomes blinded by the evilness behind his charming words and actions that make her feel cared for and loved.