Salem Witchtrails Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Salem Witchtrails - Essay Example Without warning, the hysteria in the Puritan Massachusetts ended abruptly in the same manner it had erupted. (Hill 233) It was only after a review of the trials by the colonial government did the reality of the unfair trials and consequent death judgments emerge as a grave mistake. Despite the compensation offered to the families of the convicted, it did little in erasing the gross travesty of justice that had occurred. The aftermath of the hysteria left behind a myriad of questions touching on injustice and what exactly led to the widespread paranoia. To understand these fundamental questions, a brief account of the events that led to the wave of hysteria is necessary. The Christians of several centuries past had superstitious belief that witchcraft was a gift from the Devil to certain people in return for loyalty (Linder). Consequently, the witches would use their newly acquired powers for acts of evil against others. Inhabitants of Salem village were mostly displaced people as a r esult of King William’s War with the French in the American colonies (Linder). The mass influx of the displaced people to Salem resulted to strain over its resources. Consequently, this led to increase in rivalry between two opposing groups. Those who depended on agriculture and elite families whose wealth were dependent on the port of Salem. This rivalry between the two classes of groups was one of the underlying causes of the impending hysteria that would soon erupt. Moreover, tensions were also rife over control of the pulpit between the Porter and Putnam clans. The situation was father compounded after the ordaining of Reverend Samuel Parris. The people of Salem loathed him because his was greedy and rigid. Majority of the Puritan villagers blamed all the continuous bickering and quarrelling on the Devil and his witchcraft agents (Linder). The precipitating event that eventually triggered the mass hysteria was an account of some superstitious event in Reverend Parris hous ehold. During the winter period of 1692, Reverend Parris young daughter and niece, Elizabeth and Abigail respectively, succumbed to a strange illness. They were engulfed by fits of screaming, uttering strange sounds, fever, erratic running and excessive contortion of body parts. Similar strange symptoms were exhibited by another young girl Anne Putnam. Local doctors were clueless and blamed the episode on supernatural activity. The anxiety generated from the strange activity prompted magistrates John Hawthorne and Jonathan Corwin to examine the afflicted girls and identify the culprits. The girls were pressured by both magistrates to place the blame on three women. These were; a homeless beggar known as Sarah Good, a Caribbean slave from Parris’s household known as Tituba and a poor elderly woman known as Sarah Osborne. Upon interrogation of the three women, it was only Tituba who confessed to having inflicted evil upon the girl. In her confession, she gave the harrowing desc ription of the devil with explicit instructions of service. Furthermore, she stated that the devil came to her in the image of a â€Å"black man† with a book for her to sign. The book symbolized a contract of service and with the devil for the sole purpose of destroying the Puritans. Moreover, Tituba claimed that there were many more witches out there planning to inflict on the Puritans.

The Jonestown Massacre :: Papers

The Jonestown Massacre The Jonestown massacre was a horrible tragedy, which took the lives of over 900 innocent people and could possibly be the most corrupt and horrific experiment the American government has ever done. To get to know about the massacre, you have to know a little about the man behind it all, Reverend Jim Jones. Jim Jones was the son of a Klansman and considered himself to be a reincarnation of both Jesus and Lenin. (Lenin was a Russian revolutionist who helped bring about socialism in Russia.) They say he was paranoid of the American government, but later, it was found that he worked for it. He was a well-known person in San Francisco because he was the leader of the People's Temple and also because of the fact that he was the Chairman of the Housing Department and he and his church won many humanitarian awards. He was called "Father" by members of the People's Temple. The People's Temple was the so-called "church" that Jones established. People joined the People's Temple for different reasons; a political statement, structure, discipline, or a way to escape from violence, alcohol and drugs. Whatever the reason they joined for, when they got in something kept them there. Jim Jones was a mastermind at brainwashing, and that's just what he did to all of his followers. He had many tactics; he was an excellent speaker and was amazingly convincing, he staged fake healings, and used narcotics on his followers, so they would believe almost anything. As he was doing all this brainwashing he was stealing money from the people, raping the young women and girls of his church, and on top of it all, murdering those who seemed a threat to his church or attempted to leave. Eventually, The People's Temple was being investigated by the police, so Jim Jones moved it to the jungle of Guyana, he called this place Jonestown. Jonestown was his idea of the perfect community. It was based on the ideals of socialism and communism, and everyone worked

Nutritional Value Preservation in Cooking Essay

Cooking is often defined as the application of heat to food products in which after the process, improvements in taste, visual, appearance, texture and aroma is attained prior to consumption. Cooking in food establishments and other food service facilities are often done by chefs or cooks. Cooks usually focus on making the food palatable and appealing to consumers. It is common to sacrifice the nutritional aspects of food preparation to attain the maximum satisfaction of the diners and create very appetizing courses for the sake of culinary arts. The twist of preparing very complex meals in terms of cooking method and expected taste output is the opportunity cost of nutritional value of the meal being prepared. Array of reasons suspend upon the discussion of nutrient conservation in cooking. The concepts of temperature, time, total surface area exposed and certain cooking techniques interplay for the betterment of retaining the nutrient content of the meals being prepared. Chefs of today’s cooking era should consider the nutritional content of the foods they are preparing for the aims of giving delicious and nutritious foods in their customers. Necessity of Nutrient Preservation in Cooking The food items being cooked undergo physical and chemical changes that opt to alter the nutrient content of the food. And the current trend leads to a lesser nutritional content because of the present practices. It is important to preserve nutrient content of the food to provide the diners a better quality of food in terms of nutrient content. This will also provide a help on the campaign for a healthier society. Moreover the nutrient content of the food item would not be put into waste. Hospital cooks should focus more on the preservation of nutrients for the reason that the patients inside the hospital need more nutrients for faster recovery. The patients with specific nutritional deficiencies also require specific amount of nutrient in such way, the dietary departments of the hospitals compute the diet of these patients but if the cooking process is not that nutrient conserving, the computations of the dietitians as well as the plan and time frame of dealing with the patient will be lost. The Techniques and Concepts for Preserving Nutrients in Cooking Cooking has an ample ways to preserve the nutrient contents. These vary from controlling the temperature, managing the time, using the right portion sizes and some techniques in food preparation. This is necessary for the conservation of the nutrients. Time and Temperature effects on the nutrients upon cooking The temperature greatly affects the nutrient content of the food as stated by the NutritionData. com. The trend is that higher temperature, the greater the loss of nutrients. Morris stated that blanching spinach can cause for the loss of 80% of amino acids and blanching peas will result into loss of 26% vitamin C. Therefore applying greater amount of heat will significantly increase the loss of vitamins. The time required to cook the food item is also directly proportional to the nutrient loss. As stated by Mateljan, there would be a greater loss if the cooking time is longer therefore cooks can lessen nutrient losses by shortening cooking time and lowering cooking temperature. The Total Surface area exposed Bastin stated that greater the surface area exposed, the greater the nutrient loss. This is according to Bridge. The smaller cut of vegetables serves as the greater surface thus more nutrients are exposed and greater loss will carry on. Thus chefs should master the art of bigger cuts to food portions. Bigger cuts have a relative smaller total surface area exposed. Amount of Water The amount of water is directly related to the nutrient loss. As water increases with respect to the meal portion, there would be a greater chance of more nutrient loss. This is due to the fact that water has more space to accept nutrient molecules thus more water means more losses in terms of nutrients. Chefs should try to concentrate on decreasing the water content of every course they are preparing to conserve nutrients. Washing Methods Washing food items after peeling will cause the lost of nutrients. It is necessary to wash first and then peel. After washing carefully, the food item can be peeled. The logic behind this sequence is that upon peeling, water labile nutrients such as Vitamin B will tend to go with water as the water runs over the surface of the peeled food item. The necessity for cooks to practice washing first before peeling is great to avoid further loss of nutrients. Cooking for the betterment of the nutritional status of the society The combination of the techniques and the processes will be a great tool to efficiently utilize the nutrient content of the food. Such practices will provide number of individual more nutritious food which in turn can support the reputation of the cooks for including nutritious and delicious foods in their menu. Cooks having this knowledge can provide nutritious food for the improvement of his diners’ health.

Analysis Of Keith Chesterton s On Lying - 1642 Words

Savannah Moore Ms. Elliott English 1A 25 January 2016 Essay Questions â€Å"On Lying in Bed Reading Question Three: Gilbert Keith Chesterton’s, â€Å"On Lying in Bed (1906)†, is an essay that both presents and challenges modern societal thinking on moral and society itself. He presents his problems and solutions in one abstract and abnormally creative way, through the anecdotal problem of him trying to find a wall in his house to paint upon, and the discoveries he makes while lying in bed. From this he expands indefinitely in many directions. Two main points are made here. One: society has gained a backwards and unethical understanding on societal importances on human appearance, of both outer looks and the appearance of your life or lifestyle, and moral. As Chesterton claims This it is considered more withering to accuse a man of bad taste than of bad ethics. (Chesterton, 3) What he says here is truly simple, that as a society we care far too much on the outward appearance of people and care far to little on wether or not they have goo d moral. This thinking is destructive. It had the potential to not only further corrupt society but negatively impact our relationships with others. The second point derives completely from the first. Simply put, it is to not let society dictate your actions and to not let what it says play a large importance on how you make decisions. As we can see in an example set by the lemmings, if we only follow society and do what everyone else does,