The One Thing Needful Essay Example

The One Thing Needful Paper Hard Times is a poignant novel, published in 1854, by Charles Dickens and set in the bleak and dreary workhouses of the Victorian era. Hard Times is in many ways an autobiographical novel. It is based on Dickens own experiences as part of a poor family whose father was in prison for debt. All of the family except for Charles were sent to a workhouse while he worked in a blacking factory in appalling conditions. Although his was a story of rags to riches following the publications of his bestselling novels, he continued to voice his concerns for social problems in Victorian British society. Hard Times is one of the several novels that explore the lives of the poor and working class, who, despite making up the majority of the population, had little or no say in improving their lives. As Britain wound through the Industrial Revolution, producing machinery that had no need for manual labour resulted in hundreds of thousands migrating to the cities in the hope of finding a job- a source of livelihood. These migrants usually ended up in the workhouses, again in manual labour and almost always living in abject poverty. Their children ended up going to school with an education described in detail in the first few chapters of Hard Times. In brief, the children were forced to learn facts by rote the only principle that the Utilitarian masters considered of value. It was their belief that for children who were destined to live lives of misery in poverty, the only thing useful for them would be to become efficient workers. As a result, the childrens education followed the same monotonous, formal and mechanical process like their work in the factories. We will write a custom essay sample on The One Thing Needful specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The One Thing Needful specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The One Thing Needful specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In Hard Times, Dickens criticises the educational system fiercely, and illustrates his dislike through a wide range of linguistic and other devices. The first chapter named The One Thing Needful has little narrative content but it paints an intense dramatic picture of the harsh teaching system and the mechanical figure of the Speaker who is more of an object than a person. Hard Times is divided into three parts; the first part is named Sowing, the second Reaping and the third Garnering. This extended metaphor is used by Dickens to introduce the sowing of facts as seeds into the fertile innocent minds of the children even though the hard facts seem to yield nothing. However, the Speaker is forceful as he insists on, plant nothing else, and root out everything else, to mould the childrens minds. The image of rooting out illustrates a forceful and painful action in the readers mind. Despite the motif of nature and plants, Dickens paints an austere and insensitive atmosphere as the scene comes into view: a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom. The visual imagery emphasizes Dickens belief that no creativity could flourish in a place so dreary. In this scene the Speaker is instructing the school teacher how to teach which adds to the irony and confusion. The description of the Speaker, whose character is summed up as, inflexible, dry and dictatorial, verges on the comical as Dickens uses repetition to emphasize the rigidity (squareness) of the Speaker and therefore the educational system. As the Speaker is depersonalized, the objects around him become animate including his tie, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp. From sowing to strangling, hard times are literally foreshadowed ahead through this unsuitable education. Moreover, Dickens uses exaggeration to the point of making his characters into caricatures. The emphasis was helped by the speakers square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base, while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall. The Speaker, to the reader looks more like a dull piece of architecture than a person. In fact, the way in which Dickens makes caricatures is an argument in itself against the facts of Utilitarianism.

Josh Miller Essays - Christianity, Religion, Christian Theology

Josh Miller Dr. Rose World Religions May 10 2017 Describe the development of judaism from a "family" religion during the time of the Patriarchs to a "world" religion. The development of Judaism, religion developed among the ancient Hebrews . Judaism is characterized by a belief in one God who revealed himself to Abraham , Moses , and the Hebrew prophets and by a religious life in accordance with Scriptures and rabbinic traditions. Judaism is the complex situation of a total way of life for the Jewish people, include theology , law, and countless cultural traditions. History of the patriarchs as we now have them are all post-Sinaitic, that is they mean the change in the belief and practice that date from the time of Moses. The Bible reports recent events and activities for essentially religious reasons. The biblical authors believed that the divine company is encountered primarily within history. God's presence is also experienced within the natural kingdom, but the more immediate or intimate disclosure occurs in human actions. Although other ancient communities also perceived a divine presence in his tory, the understanding of the ancient Israelites proved to be the most lasting and influential. It is this particular claimto have experienced God's presence in human events and its subsequent development that is the differentiating factor in Jewish thought. 2. List five early christian heresies and describe why they were declared heresies. Adoptionism, Belief that Jesus was born as a the king of mankind, was very good and that he was adopted later as Son of God by the family of the Spirit on him. Adoptionism was declared heresy at the end of the 2nd century and was rejected by the Synods of Antioch and the First Council of Nicaea , which defined the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and identified the man Jesus with the eternally begotten Son or Word of God in the Nicene Creed . Monarchianism is a set of beliefs that emphasize God as being one person , in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons existing as one . An overemphasis on the indivisibility of God (the Father) at the expense of the other persons of the Holy Trinity leading to either Sabellianism (Modalism) or to Adoptionism . Docetism, b elief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was bodiless, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. Patripassianism, b elief that the Father and Son are not two distinct persons, and thus God the Father suffered on the cross as Jesus. Sabellianism, b elief that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three characterizations of one God, rather than three distinct persons in one God. 3. Describe some of the main theological understandings of Christian Baptism. Baptism is an act in which a Christian is put in water to symbolize the end of an old way of living, and a new start.The Bible first mentions baptism in its accounts of John the Baptist. This was under the old covenant, when baptism was for the Cancellation of sins. A person that should be baptized is a person who has made a lifetime commitment to follow Jesus, listen the word of God and live a new life is a candidate to be baptized. Such ones are repentant and want to be free from their sin. Though Christianity consists of a hidden life with God, baptism is an outward act in which we state our want to follow Jesus on this inner way. From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered Holy Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd are amazed by his preachings. Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 4. Compare the theological understandings of the holy communion. Lutheran and Catholic theologians in 1968, Lutherans agreed that the celebration of the Eucharist involves a sacrifice of praise and self-offering that unites the believer with the sacrifice of Christ. At the same time, Catholics