Great Divorce Essay examples -- essays research papers

This book is delightfully insightful in it is content. Lewis is the narrator of his story, which begins in Hell, a dreary town full of empty streets. Lewis uses a dream as the vehicle to carry his ideas. Lewis boards a bus for Heaven with other ghosts from the town. It is not until the last chapter of the book that the reader finds out that Lewis is actually having a dream. Lewis finds himself in a dark and dreary place, where the houses are gray and empty, a dismal rain never stops, and time is eternally stuck in the bleak period just before sunset. Walking through this abominable town, he happens to find a bus stop, which takes inhabitants out of this gloomy place and into a much brighter happier world. Slightly bewildered, Lewis boards the bus and begins a journey out of a city named Hell and into another city called Heaven. When he arrives at his destination, Lewis discovers that Hell’s inhabitants do not enjoy the beauty of this new land. In heaven, these people become ghosts because they are not strong enough to endure the substantive things of this world. The grass and water cut through their feet and even the tiniest object is to heavy for the ghosts to pick up. The rain would penetrate them like bullets would from a machine gun. The concept of Heaven being incredibly large and Hell being considerably small, smaller than a grain of sand is quite a comparison. The ghosts refused any help from the residents of heaven. One of the major mistakes the ghosts made was trying to conquer their struggles with their own powers. Time and again, Lewis sees the ghosts fail, but they still will not let go of what is holding them back. While Lewis is walking he meets George MacDonald who aids him in his journey through heaven. MacDonald tells Lewis that this journey is a dream, which will make clear to him that souls have a choice between Heaven and Hell and what that choice is. Lewis, at first, is unable to understand why the lost souls must be damned. However, he is finally persuaded that Hell is the only merciful solution for the lost souls. Passing by many sad spectacles of people from Hell, Lewis begins to understand, with the help of MacDonald, that these people must throw away everything and commit their lives to Christ. Whether a warning to or a reflection on society, the book stimulates thought and forces the reader to look inward at his or her own... ...ce too? Should not Christians weep over the lost? Should not we ask the Lord of the field to send laborers into His harvest (Luke 10:2)? Certainly! Lewis gives the reader a vivid account of how Heaven and Hell look like and what will happen once souls get there. I believe Lewis, through this book, was trying to show that people have a choice in whether or not they go to Heaven or Hell. People don't choose Hell with a full understanding of what they are doing. They don't have a clear picture of the eternal happiness they will miss or the everlasting separation and darkness they will endure. According to the Bible, Hell is a place of choice. As a result, the Bible repeatedly appeals to its readers to choose the way of life rather than the path of death and judgment. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul (Mark 8:36,37)? So, what must one do in order to get to heaven? Jesus says in order to go to Heaven you must be born again (John 3:7). Lewis never comes out directly and tells them you must be saved. He does it in a way that leaves the reader thinking the only way is through Jesus Christ.

Mark Twain and His Use of Humor

Samuel Clemons became known to the world as Mark Twain the man of satire and humor.   Through his humor, he entertained the world during his lifetime and he has continued to entertain for generations.   Practically everyone found him funny, but not everyone understood his biting satire.   His subtly in itself was humorous.   Twain was known toward the end of his life as â€Å"the man in white.† He wore an all white suit and with his shock of white gray hair and he would lecture or perform in front of a black or dark background.   His image, when he performed, was a contrast between good and evil, just like his humor was funny on one level and piercing on another.   It has not needed the careful, retrospective estimate that a great writer's death usually brings to his works for the reading public to have come to the conclusion years ago that SAMUEL L. CLEMENS measures up to a vastly more complex figure in literature than the mere â€Å"funny man† that his first and amazingly popular achievements in authorship seemed to make him. (Changing Humor) Mark Twain was exposed to humor from an early age.   He was brought up in Hannibal, Missouri on the banks of the Mississippi River.   The location of his upbringing was an important aspect of his life.   Steamboats made regular stops daily in Hannibal.   This brought a variety of visitors to the town.   Many of those visitors had interesting and humorous stories to tell and Twain was always ready to listen.   Most of the humor that he came in contact with were from the men who worked on the steamboats.   They would gather by the local stores and the river bank to talk and enjoy a smoke.   The young boys of the town found it the highlight of all of their entertainment to hang out around the men and listen to their stories of wild adventures laced with incidents that were funny. There were those who thought that Twain was funny because he was ignorant, but they were mistaken.   Twain's repeated professions of innocence or ineptitude in literary craftsmanship are not to be believed. (Horn)   He was an entertainer as well as an author.   Audiences enjoyed Twain’s delivery of his own stories as they did reading themselves.   He saw many flaws in society, and he knew that writing articles and lecturing people about these vices would only turn them away. However, when laced with humor, people were much more likely to listen, and then internalize the message.   In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the social injustices of child abuse, slavery, feuding, and hypocrisy in religion are told in such a way that the reader is amused as well as shocked at the atrocities. He wrote that Huck, on his decision not to turn in Jim, a runaway slave, that he would go to hell if the only way that one could enter heaven was to accept that a man could be owned by another person. Between 1876, when he began Huckleberry Finn, and 1884, when he completed it, Twain suffered a series of personal and financial disasters from which he never recovered.   A short list would include: the loss of close friends, a drastic break with his publisher, financial troubles running to bankruptcy, ruinous involvements with various patents he had acquired; a bitterly disappointing return to the Mississippi River, Hannibal, and boyhood scenes; and the beginnings of chronic ill health for the four deeply loved female members of his family. (Bercovitch)   Yet with all of the pressures of life he still used humor in his writing. Twain made use of the newly settled Southwest as the outset of his career.   Using dialect and the regional setting as a tool for humor was just one way that he entertained his readers. The genre that developed originates from the politics and oral histories of a burgeoning region– full of fire and out to prove itself to the world. This enthusiasm manifests itself in bawdy, violent, and predominately masculine portrayals of the world of the Southwest. Yet beneath the savagery of the stories, there is an effort at realism and regional descriptions that had not been attempted previously. (Price)   He was able to take them to a place that seemed to move at a slower pace, and where the â€Å"city slicker† with all his education was no match for the common sense of the frontiersman.   This is notable in the story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, where the narrator from the city is taken and made out the fool by an older uneducated man in a country store. Southwestern humor was not the only way that Twain displayed his humor.   He did not feel the need to limit himself by only writing regional literature.   In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the Yankee is an idealist who believes that when transported back in time, that technology and reforms in the church could change the morality of the world.   The naivety is presented in a humorous way, but people were forced to look at morality instead of only focusing on technology. The short story Luck displayed quite humorously the intelligence of military leaders.   While the story is set in England, the purpose was to question leaders in all countries.   He tells the reader that the man being honored as a brilliant military leader is really a fool.   The narrator is a minister so he should be believable.   He lets us in on the secret that the man has only made all of his heroic and brilliant actions were actually foolish blunders and mistakes. In Twain’s later years his humor changed.   He suffered tragedies that would shake anyone.   His humor transformed into bitter satire.   While in Europe, he received word that his favorite daughter, Susie had meningitis.   By the time he and Olivia, his wife, returned to America, Susie had died.   This devastated him, and he never really recovered from his grief. A few years later, Olivia died.   He threw himself into the care of his epileptic daughter, Jean.   Unfortunately, Jean had a seizure and drowned in her bathtub.   Mark Twain had lost most of his family and was a broken man.   After the suffering he went through in such a short amount of time could only affect his humor.   His anger toward God was the target of most of his satire. In his last work, The Mysterious Stranger, Twain chronicles the wanderings of Satan, the nephew of the famous Satan, on earth.   This work was a product of his bitterness at the loss of the beloved women in his life.   It was published six years after his death and was not completely finished.   However, it should only be natural that a person would change during the course of his/her life. Mark Twain will always be known to the public as a humorist.   He enlightened millions with his social ideas in a funny and entertaining way.   He brought many issues to life through an amusing little boy that made people think of days gone by.   He will continue to do so for many years to come.   Humor has changed drastically over the years.   Mark Twain’s writings are different from the humor today that relies on someone being hurt or frightened silly.   It is refreshing to see the work of a humorist with substance. Works Cited Bercovitch, Sacvan.   What’s Funny about Huckleberry Finn.   18, June 2007, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n27_v12/ai_18486848/pg_3 Changing Humor. 1920.   The New York Times. 18, June 2007, http://www.twainquotes.com/19200321.html    Horn, Jason.   Mark Twain: A Study of the Short Fiction Book Review.   Summer 1998.   18, June 2007, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2455/is_3_35/ai_83585394 Price, Angel.   Southwestern Humor and Mark Twain.   18, June 2007, http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/projects/price/southwes.htm   

Geographic and Historical Facts About London, England

The City of London, the capital of the United Kingdom as well as England, is the countrys most populous. It is also one of the largest urban areas in Western  Europe. The citys history goes back to Roman times when it was called Londinium. Remnants of Londons ancient history are still visible today, as the citys historic core is still surrounded by its medieval boundaries. Today London is one of the worlds largest financial centers and is home to 100 of Europes top 250 largest companies. It also has a strong governmental function as it is the home of the United Kingdoms Parliament. Education, media, fashion, arts, and other cultural activities are also prevalent in the city. It is a major world tourist destination, features four UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and was host to 1908, 1948, and 2012 Summer Olympics. 10 Important Things About London It is believed that the first permanent settlement in present-day London was a Roman one in around 43 BCE. It lasted for only 17 years, however, as it was eventually raided and destroyed. The city was rebuilt, and by the second century, Roman London or Londinium had a population of more than 60,000 people.Starting in the second century, London passed through the control of various groups, but by 1300 the city had a highly organized governmental structure and a population of more than 100,000. In the centuries following, London continued to grow and became a European cultural center because of writers such as William Shakespeare. The city became a large seaport.In the 17th century, London lost one-fifth of its population in the Great Plague. Around the same time, much of the city was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Rebuilding took more than 10 years and since then, the city has grown.Like many European cities, London was highly affected by World War II,  especially af ter the Blitz and other German bombings killed more than 30,000 London residents and destroyed a large part of the city. The 1948 Summer Olympics were then held at Wembley Stadium as the rest of the city rebuilt.As of 2016, London had a population of 8.8 million, or 13 percent of the UK population, and a crowded average population density of more than 14,000 people per square mile (5,405/sq km). This population is a diverse mix of various cultures and religions, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the city.The Greater London region covers a total area of 607 square miles (1,572 sq km). The London Metropolitan Region, however, contains 3,236 square miles (8,382 sq km).The main topographical feature of London is the Thames River, which crosses the city from the east to the southwest. The Thames has many tributaries, most of which are now underground as they flow through London. The Thames is also a tidal river, and London is thus vulnerable to flooding. Because of this, a barrie r called the Thames River Barrier has been built across the river.Londons climate is considered temperate maritime, and the city generally has moderate temperatures. The average summer high temperature is around 70 F to 75 F (21 C to 24 C). Winters can be cold, but because of the urban heat island, London itself does not regularly receive significant snowfall. The average winter high temperature in London is 41 F to 46 F (5 C to 8 C).Along with New York City and Tokyo, London is one of the three command centers for the worlds economy. The largest industry in London is finance, but professional services, media such as the BBC, and tourism are also large industries in the city. After Paris, London is the worlds second most visited city by tourists, and it attracted more than 30 million international visitors in 2017.London is home to various universities and colleges and has a student population of around 372,000. London is a world research center, and the University of London is the largest teaching university in Europe.