Free Response Essays Essay Sample
"Letter from Birmingham" Martin Luther King Junior
"Letter from Birmingham jail" is an essay that was written by martin king junior while in jail because of opposing the oppressive laws of the state against black community in America. At the beginning of the essay, the author is candid enough to state the reasons why he has been imprisoned despite him being a leader of southern Christian conference an organization that was in full operation with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. These organizations are Christian centers that advocate for human rights and fights for equality in all sectors of life. The author states that he is Birmingham because of injustice that has spread its wings in society and that he has been jailed for agitating for freedom for the marginalized and segregated group of blacks or Negroes in America. According to the letter, the black community is being discriminated against because of colour of their skin and cannot be given chance to enjoy freedom like their fellow Americans. This is very absurd and not recognizable by the holy book which states that all men are equal.
People have resulted to use of violence I order to agitate for their freedom and rights. Even in Birmingham, where the population of Negros community is high, violence is the only way out because dialogue and negotiation have already failed to resolve the stalemate. In courts, there are unjust treatment, people are tortured and brutality is the order of the day. However, leaders of the Birmingham economic community make empty promises to the local population. For instance, they vowed to remove those stores that sold their goods on basis of racial lines.
The existing laws are unjust in the sense that go against the moral law as stipulated by God and that just law should be in code with moral laws. The black community everywhere they go they are mistreated and segregated from accessing public utilities that they call are for the American people. The purpose of this letter is to show how the American society was evil before the black race was liberated by their own efforts that ended segregation and discrimination. The author knew exactly how to drive his point's home despite the fact that he was writing the letter while in prison. The author also uses comparison to show to show the society they were living in was rotten and needed to be redeemed.
"Death and justice" Edward Koch
The author of this essay is out to look how those people who take away lives of innocent people are treated and convicted. For those who are murdered, do they get their justice even though they are dead? Killing is wrong and punishable by law. The state has highlighted its laws concerning those people who murder or kill others. The death penalty may be seen as primitive because of the horrifying scenes of death at the gallows. Capital punishment is not liked by anyone but in order to maintain sanity in society and eradicate situations where people are butchering one another, capital punishment should be enforced so to bring those responsibility for heinous crimes to face the consequence of their actions.
The author also states that the society is suffering from moral cowardice in that even if one is being murdered they do nothing to go and help him or her as in the case of twenty one year old woman Kitty Genovese who was not assisted by the crowd when she was being killed. More so, the court system diminishes us when it fails to perform its work to the maximum. The society should condemn all forms of murder in society as God did not give us the right to kill or take away life of an individual.
"On Dumpster Diving" LARS EIGHNER
The author of the book of this essay uses symbols to explain his message of how this world is unfair to some people. He says that he is a scavenger because he feeds on remains of other people who in real sense are those in power and have much influence in society. The scavengers are those who are poverty stricken and their living conditions are in appalling state. To him material possession does not full represent who the person is they are merely white elephant. The author in his essay that it is better to accumulate mental things than material things but mental things are immortal while the material things are mortal, they come and go.
The author reveals that on way to dumpsters, he finds so many things including love letters and ragdolls depicting many lives but he is not compelled to pick up anything without knowing when he will throw it away. According to him, this is a state of mind that is healthy. The author is right to argue that despite the fact that some people live lavishly, the altitude and air is the same to everybody. For every man it is prudent not to adore earthly materials as they come and go. It is justifiable to say that nature must have disparities and it will never be equal at any one point.
"Learning to read and write" Fredrick Douglass
The person in question went through many problems at first time when he wanted to know how to read and write since those people who were responsible for his instruction were not willing to assist him. This according to me is not right as it shows how people in society are selfish and do not want to see other prosper. At first glance, the mistress treated him well and she looked like she was tender hearted but with time she changed into an animal treating him as slave which was injurious and painful but at the end he endured the suffering in order to achieve his goals.
The author narrates how the boy used his intelligent to make friends with little boys in the street that helped him to learn how to read and write. The behavior of the mistress is not acceptable and should be shunned since it encourages mistreatment of people in society which is against moral obligation. On the same note, it is viable to say that in life nothing comes on silver platter and that we must endure pain and perseverance o attain our goals like the little boy.
"Claiming an education" Adrienne Rich
The state in which our society can claim to have education is when learning activities are reclaimed from depersonaling and cheapening the pressure that is on in present day academic scene. Students go to school to receive education for them to be independent minded and claim to have an education which will mean they own or possess. The problem with modern day education in universities is that they are not appreciating the role of women experience and excluding them from education community. This is not right thing because everybody needs to have education regardless of sex.
The author is challenging the students that they ought to be serious with their work so as to be benefit from education they are being given. Women should be given opportunity to participate in educational activities because they have the ability to do so. Claiming to have education is therefore a state whereby one is independent of his decisions and treats others with respect.
"Nickel and Dimed" Barbara Ehrenreich
This essay is much concerned of how people struggle in life in order to make ends meet. He says that the economic hardship is making life hard because house rents and other essential commodities have increased. There exists clear social class in society where the rich will continue to live in flourish while the poor will continue to face difficulties. This kind of living is not tolerable as the government should in to ensure that the land lords are not hiking rents and prices on consumer commodities are friendly to everybody. In the process of looking for job, he gets one with local firm but the situation and conditions are not good. They are torturing psychologically and full of stress. This kind of life is not acceptable at cost where human beings are treated like machines.
"Active and Passive Euthanasia" James Rachels.
Active euthanasia is believed to be more humane than passive euthanasia. The main point is the moral principle guiding life and death. The essay focuses on the idea of making decisions between killing and letting die that does not contain moral importance. The situation where one's life has to be ended depends on the state of health the sufferer is in. the differentiation between active and passive euthanasia is very critical to medical ethics in that there are some situations when doctors are forced to withhold treatment and let the patient die but not acceptable to actions to kill the patient.
Doctors should be aware that active euthanasia is not accepted and that they should be aware of their legal consequence of what they do. On the other hand, passive euthanasia is acceptable because it is seen as humane. The overriding idea is that the two are not morally acceptable but when compared active euthanasia will be seen as morally upright. Doctors should be aware of what they do and put in mind that terminating life is not good at all.