Introduction: Ever since the re-introduction of Coca-Cola to Indian consumers since the late 1990s, the company had attracted criticism from activist and advocacy groups. While the high level of pesticides contained in its products has given rise to controversies recently, the charges against Coca-Cola for usurping and depleting water resources have been a more persistent…
What historically inspired Patrick Henry to write the speech “Give me liberty or give me death”?
Patrick Henry is still regarded as the ‘Homer of Orators’ within the American literary canon. He is most renowned for his words ‘Give me Liberty or Give me Death’ which he uttered to his followers on the eve of the Declaration of Independence. A recently taken public opinion poll by Gallup found that nearly one…
How would Charles Darwin critique John Stuart Mill in Utilitarianism? How might Mill respond to this criticism?
Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mill were both influential thinkers of the nineteenth century. The lifetime’s work of Charles Darwin has been in the realm of evolutionary biology, but his theories are highly relevant for contemporary human societies as well. John Stuart Mill, on the other hand, is best known for his conception of the…
Two Kinds by Amy Tan: Analysis & Themes
‘Two Kinds’ is the last story in the second segment of Amy Tan’s highly popular debut book, The Joy Luck Club. The book is divided into four interconnected segments with each of them containing a group of stories which can stand alone themselves. While the author had intended the book to be a short-story collection,…
A Critique of President Obama’s First Inaugural Address
President Obama’s historic inaugural speech on20th January, 2009was powerful and persuasive. Coming at a time when the nation was confronting the worst economic slump in seventy years, the speech contained within it the necessary reassurance and the promise of change that were so desperately needed. To his credit, the new President was mild in his…
What issues involving straight women have been resolved since the 1920’s in the United States, and which have not?
Women’s issues have been, to an extent, independent from the broader socio-history changes witnessed in twentieth century America. The foremost issue that had not found suitable resolution since the 1920s is the wage disparity between men and women in America. While at the beginning of the century the percentage of women who participated in mainstream…
Affluenza by John de Graaf
In the book Affluenza, John de Graaf and his team of authors also present an analysis of other symptoms of Affluenza, such as commercial television, inhumane working and living conditions for the lower classes and the culture of living in perpetual debt. Commercialized television, for instance, has been the preferred medium for advertisers to encourage…
Problems behind modernization in London
The city of London has historically been the heart of Western Europe. While across the channel Paris grew in reputation as the favored hub for artists, musicians and litterateurs, London was (and still is) the financial centre of Western European democracies. Given this background, the confines of metropolitan London had expanded gradually. Needless to say,…
Why was Bob Dylan’s 16 minute performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival so controversial?
In the Newport Folk Festival of 1965, the 16 minute performance given by Bob Dylan was disapproved by certain sections of the audience. In a break away from tradition, Dylan used an electric guitar in a live folk concert for the first time, which many fans came to regard as unauthentic. This event is said…
Is Educating Rita a comedy of gender or social class?
Educating Rita, both in its version of a motion picture as well as a play, is a comedy contrived from class based differences of the lead protagonists. Rita, played by Julie Walters is a twenty six year old hairdresser, ailing from working classLiverpool. To the role of her tutor, played by Michael Caine, are associated…