Critical Analysis for "Fields of Honor" by Edwin Bearss

Fields of Honor by Edwin C. Bearss is a book that shows in great detail many important battles of the U.S. Civil War. In the book, the main idea is that the battles shown influenced the outcome of the Civil War or were important to make the outcome what it was. One example in the text that shows this is when the author writes "perhaps as many as 28,000 of Lee's 75,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. For the moment, Lee's invasion of the North had been a costly failure." Here, the author is writing about the battle of Gettysburg. The author shows how Gettysburg helped make the outcome be what it was by showing how costly Gettysburg was to the Confederate cause, by showing that around a third of Lee's army was killed, wounded or captured. A second example is when the author says of the battle of Antietam: "Five days after Antietam, taking advantage of the Union victory, Abraham Lincoln issued his peliminary Emancipation Proclamation... The war to save the Union was now also the war to free the slaves." In this quote, the author shows the importance of the battle of Antietam by saying how it allowed Lincoln to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln being able to do so affected the outcome of the war because it changed the war from the goal of preserving the U.S. to that as well as emancipation of the slaves.

In the book, the author wants you to think about how important the battles were to the Civil War, and wants you to feel like you were there, in the battle. To accomplish these goals, the author uses several techniques. First of all, he uses a certain organization and uses information to make it more evident that these battles were the most important. For example, the author selected only certain battles, generally in which important things happened, to go into the book. As for organization, they are chronologically ordered so it makes more sense to the reader. To show the importance of battles, the author gives many facts and statistics. For example, in the text, the author writes "By sundown more than 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers are casualities in what had become the bloodiest day in American history." Facts and statistics like these help the reader understand the importance of these battles. By saying the number of dead and the fact that it was the bloodiest day in American history alerts the reader to the importance of the battle (In this case Antietam). To make you feel like you're in the battle, the author uses a variety of methods. For example, he uses the present tense and future tense to explain what's happening in the battle. One example is when the author says "The Sunken Road is a natural trench for the Confederates, but if the Yanks can gain and hold the high ground overlooking the right flank here... the Rebs are going to be in deep trouble." Quotes like these make you feel in the battle more because it sounds like it's happening at that moment, or will happen in the future, not in the past. This makes the reader feel like it's actually happening to them, instead of making them feel like it's already done. Another way the author helps the reader feel like they're in the battle is by providing maps with captions. This shows the reader more accurate views of the battlefields and troop positioning and movement, so the reader better understands what's going on, if the text is harder to understand. The visual of the battlefield helps a reader know where everything is, so when a place or unit is talked about in the text, the reader understands what's going on with it and where it is. These examples help readers think about the importance of the chosen battles, and feel more like it's happening in the moment.

When I read the book, I felt like I was learning a lot, and was thinking about what I was learning. The book is very detailed, so it gave me a lot of information about some battles that I definitely didn't know before. I think the author did a good job of making me feel in the moment and thinking about the importance, too- I definitely saw those while I was reading.

Romeo and Juliet Literary Essay

In William Shakespeare's famous Romeo and Juliet, two themes, decision making and punishment, affect the characters both individually and both together.

Decision making is important in Romeo and Juliet because it affects the characters' futures. One example of this is when Romeo decides to go to the Capulet party. When Romeo agrees to finally enter the party, saying "Direct my sail. On, lusty gentlemen" (1.4.120), he changes his future, and the future of others, as well. The decisions each character makes is important because it affects them, and others. Another example of this is when Romeo decides to marry Juliet. When Frair Lawrence says "For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone/ Till Holy Church incorporate two into one" (2.6.36-37), and Romeo agrees to marry Juliet, their futures are drastically changed. Any decision made by the characters makes a change in that character and other characters' futures.

Punishment is an important theme in Romeo and Juliet because it serves as an important detterant that affects how characters act. One example of this is the warning of punishment made by Capulet when Juliet doesn't want to marry Paris. Capulet says "An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets"(3.5.204). This affects Juliet, becuase she knows if she doesn't please her parents, they will be extremely enraged. This threat of punishment leads Juliet to fake being obedient about the wedding, to please her parents, and therefore avoiding punishment. A second example of this is the warning the Prince gives to the Montagues and Capulets after their fight: "If you ever disturb our streets again,/ Your lives shall pay the forefiet of the peace"(1.1.98-99). This affects the actions of the characters later in the story, for example at the party, when Lord Capulet stops Tybalt from going after Romeo at the party. Becuase of this warning, the Montagues and Capulets are much less inclined to fight. Warnings, and punishments that lie inside them, act as detterants, which change how characters act later on.

In Romeo and Juliet, the themes of punishment and decision making combine because characters make decisions based on their knowledge of the consequences. For example, Romeo makes the decision to kill Tybalt, even though he knows that the Prince forbade Montagues and Capulets from fightng. Benvolio attemps to stop the fight, saying "The Prince expressly hath/ forbid this brandying in Verona steets" (3.1.89-90), but Romeo fights him anyways, killing him, so Benvolio says "Romeo, away, begone!/ The citizens are up, and Tyblat is slain"(3.1.138-139), telling Romeo that he should quickly go away before people catch him and discover that he killed Tybalt. In this part, Romeo has to make the decision of killing Tybalt to get revenge, and face the punishments (or try to avoid them), or not kill Tybalt. Even though he knows the punishment is supposed to be death, he still tries to kill Tybalt. Another example of characters making decisions with knowledge of possible consequences is when Romeo and Juliet decide to marry. They both know that their families are enemies, and that this would obviously be forbidden and would come with punishment if caught, but they still decide to marry anyways. In this way, the characters in Romeo and Juliet make decisions, which affect their future and others', and this effect is sometimes due to the punishments set.

Overall, in Romeo and Juliet, the characters' decisions are made usually based on a judgement call from the characters. They ask themselves if it would be better to do something they want to do and face the consequences or try to avoid them, or not do what they want to do. This is a choice that is very evident not only in Romeo and Juliet, but also in the everyday lives of normal people. And like the characters in the play, normal people have to do what they think is the best option for them in the moment. This can sometimes, like in the book, lead to worse-than-intended conflicts and problems, but this is not always true- the opposite is just as common and normal.

Critical Analysis for "Putin's Power Play" by Patricia Smith

Putin's Power Play by Patricia Smith is an Upfront Magazine article about Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent movement of troops into the Crimean region of the Ukraine. In this article, Smith's main idea is that this move is an interesting one, being that it is risky and frowned upon by most of the world, but other countries have done little to prevent it. One example of this is when the author says "Vladimir Putin seems to have squandered all the good press Russia recieved from the [Winter Olympic] Games... by sending troops into Ukraine. It's a move that calls to mind the Soviet Union's agression during the Cold War." This quote shows that the author thinks that this move is undoubtably risky. The author states that it cost them a lot of the good imput from the media because of this, and many people are remembering the Cold War. Another example is when the author states "Despite all the moves to pressure Russia, most experts say that the U.S. has little leverage". This means that the U.S. is doing some things to try to stop Russia, but they can't do much more, and obviously what the US has done so far hasn't been enough. These connect to the main idea because in the article she talks about the limited actions of the US and the risky agression of Russia, both of which are central ideas in the passage.

In the article, the author really wants the reader to agree with her point of view- that this move by Russia could be potentially hazardous either to Ukraine or to the rest of the world, depending on if anyone decides to not help or help, respectively. The author also takes a fairly blatant pro-Ukraine and anti-Crimean takeover by Russia. The author gets the reader to think and feel her side by using several craft techniques. For one, she uses a political cartoon. In this cartoon, a Ukranian person standing next to the grave of the USSR is held by the hand of Putin, coming from underneath the grave. This cartoon agrees with the author's stance on the issue because she doesn't like what Russia is doing, and this cartoon puts Russia as a very pro-communisim and pro-USSR country, and puts them in a bad light. Another craft choice made by the author is organizing the article into sections that answer a specific question. For instance, one section is called "How has the US responded?" The author goes on in that section to say "When Putin sent in troops... the US imposed sanctions on high-level Russian officials and suspended military ties and trade talks". By doing this section organization, the author is able to answer specific questions that relate more towards what she wants the reader to feel and to think, and also match her point of view.

When I read this, I thought that Putin made a risky move, much like the author. However, I feel that the author was wrong to say that the US cannot do more to aid Ukraine. More cooperation with the United Nations and the EU, who Ukraine was considering joining, could help put more influential sanctions on Russia that could hurt their economy and force Putin to remove soldiers from Ukraine. He recently achieved what he said was his goal- the annexation of Crimea, but there's no telling what he'll do next. The U.S., as the world's leading superpower, has the obligation to defend the intrests of smaller countries, and stop Russia from making the USSR again.

Critical Analysis for Cat Sense by John Bradshaw

     Cat Sense by John Bradshaw is an interesting book about cats, their behavior, and their relationship with other cats, and people. For example, the author writes "Cats come to realize that human beings do not aways pay attention to them, and so often need to be alerted with a meow. They learn that purring has a calming effect on most of us..." This example is of how cats interact with their owner. A second example of this is when the author writes "Family life provides oppurtunities for cats to learn from one another, rather than working everything out for themselves". In this example, the author is explaining how cats are involved in family life. This example shows how the author writes about cat behavior and family relationships. A final example is when the author talks about how cats were originally domesticated, tracking back to ancient times. Overall, the author provides a lot of information about cats and their relationships with other animals in the text.

I think the author wants you to think about what your cat (if you have one) does compared to the actions the book says cats often do, and lets you feel how you normally feel about cats. The author uses some craft moves to explain some actions and things that cats do. One thing the author uses is a textbox. In this textbox, which talks about a topic similar to that being discussed in the normal text, but in higher detail, the author is able to talk about certain things in detail. For example, one textbox, labeled "The Rumble: How Cats Purr", is about how cats purr, and what it means. In the textbox, the author says "Purring is an unusual sound for animals to make; although it appears to come from the region of the vioce box, it is (almost) continuous". In this example, the author goes into great detail to explain what the purr is, and how it is made. This is one example of how the textboxes help explain things about cats. Another tool used by the author is pictures with captions. These are extremely beneficial when trying to show something somewhat complex to explain in just text. The captions help to explain the picture, making it easier overall. One good example of this is a picture of kittens in several "play" stances, the captions describing the name of each stance and what is happening. This helps show the reader what each stance looks like, rather than describing all of them in the text, which could be confusing and hard to understand. The tools used by the author help you think about how your idea of a cat, or your pet cat, compares to the actions shown in the book because the author can use more detail about certain actions in textboxes and describe actions in imagery with pictures and captions. Overall, these tools help make the reader think and feel certain things more effectively.

When I read this book, I compared my cat to the cat actions described in the book. I thought about if my cat did some of these things. Also, the book had tips on things cats like more, like talking to them in a higher-pitched voice, for example, so I tried to see how much my cat liked those things.

Literary Essay Blog Post

The Return of The King, the third book in the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R Tolkien is a book about how Frodo, a hobbit, and his companions (The Fellowship of the Ring), destroyed the evil power of Mordor, and the One Ring of Power that helped create Mordor. In this book, justice is served to those who do wrong, but is not perfect, nor is it simple. This is very similar to how justice has worked in the real world.

In the book, justice is destroying Mordor so that others may live peacefully, and it is served by the Fellowship of the Ring. To achieve justice, Mordor must be destroyed, because they are threatening the well-being of everyone else. In the text, it says "and to them Mordor had been from childhood a name of evil... a legend that had no part in their simple life"(Tolkien 886). This means that Mordor had always been something evil and threatening, even when they were young, and it affected them even when they lived simple lives. Justice is served to Mordor by the Fellowship of the Ring, and this is done by destroying the One Ring in Mount Doom, the volcano in which the Ring was formed. This would bring about the destruction of Mordor. In the text, the author says "He held aloft the ring... he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, then with a shriek he fell"(Tolkien 946). This is the Ring being destroyed, as it fell into Mount Doom. The effects of this are later described by the author: "The Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled... 'The relam of Sauron is ended!' said Gandalf"(Tolkien 949). This text shows that because the Ring was cast into Mount Doom, Mordor was destroyed, and justice was served, because Mordor was gone. The Fellowship needed to serve justice to preserve the well being of others, and did so by casting the One Ring into Mount Doom, destroying Mordor.

Although necessary, justice in The Return of The King is cruel to everyone and imperfect. In the book, to achieve justice being served, the characters go through enormous physical and mental struggles. It isn't easy to serve the justice, and it takes its toll on everyone. In the text, the author writes "His white fangs gleamed, then snapped as he bit. Frodo gave a cry... but Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, finger still thrust within its circle"(Tolkein 946). This shows how justice is cruel because it doesn't just affect those it was meant to- Frodo was physically injured trying to serve justice. This shows that justice was cruel to everyone, but it was still necessary. Secondly, justice in the book is imperfect. It doesn't turn out as well as it could have. For example, the the text says "But many others were hurt or maimed or dead upon the field. The axes hewed Forlong as he fought alone and unhorsed; and both Duilin of Morthond and his brother were trampled to death... the full count of it no tale has told"(Tolkien 849). This part of the text shows how imperfect the justice was. Trying to serve the justice cost an untold number of lives, and many others wounded. This means that the justice was not simply served, it took many casualties to allow it to happen, meaning it was certainly imperfect, but necessary to occur. In the book, justice cost many lives, and affected many people physically and mentally, so justice was not perfect, but was cruel.

Justice in The Return of The King can be compared to real-world events in which justice was served. There are many similarities. In the The Return of The King, justice is cruel, imperfect, and hard to achieve, yet completely necessary. It took difficult events and many lives to achieve, but it was done for a good cause. In the text it says "there rose a huge shape of shadow... terrible but impotent: for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed"(Tolkien 949). This shows the end of Mordor, and the shadow which was above it moving away, signifying the evil being destroyed and not there anymore. In the real world, justice is often served as well. One example of this is World War Two (WWII). In WWII, the Allied Powers were serving justice to the Axis powers, something necessary to do to prevent thousands of Jewish people from being killed, and protecting the well-being of conquered nations such as France. These two are similar because they both involve dealing justice to protect people- Conquered countries and other people in WWII, and everyone else in The Return of The King, and in both, it was cruel: The extermination of Jews in WWII, and the physical and mental effects on the people, both important and unimportant, in The Return of The King. Finally, they were both imperfect. Millions upon millions of people died in WWII, many of them innocent, along with the destruction of cities and the economical and political effects after the war, and in The Return of The King, many people died to allow justice to be served. In both, the task was complicated- Fighting through France and the Pacific Islands in WWII, and going through Mordor in the book. All in all, there were many similarities between this real-world event, and the events described in the book.

In conclusion, the book shows examples of serving justice, and how that can be cruel and imperfect, and the justice in the book is very similar to how justice in the real world sometimes works. The Return of The King is a great example of how justice can work- and it shows that it isn't perfect and pretty, which helps readers in the real world, when many things are imperfect, and have to be dealt with.

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Critical Analysis for "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Cosmos by Carl Sagan is a book which has the main idea that the universe is very complex, but humans are beginning to understand more and more about it.
This is a theme very evident in the book. For example, in the text it says "We will have the will and the resources and the technical knowledge to go to the stars". In this statement, the author is saying that although we don't currently have the technology to go to other worlds, we will eventually be able to. Another example of this is when the author writes "Will we ever come to an end in our understanding of the nature of matter, or is there an infinite regression into more and more fundamental particles? This is one of the great unsolved problems in science". When the author wrote this, he is showing to the reader that humans do not know everything about the universe- in fact, we still have a ton of things to learn. We are beginning to understand some of it, but not even close to all of it. One final example is when the author talks about elements. He talks about the 94 stable elements, but notes that there are still many elements that are yet to be discovered. This shows humans' partial understanding of our universe. We know some, if not many, elements, but there are still more to be discovered.

When the author wrote the book, I think he intended for the audience to be amazed at the vastness and complexity of the universe, but also amazed at how far humans have come. One technique the author uses is images, with captions. One image the author shows is of a painting of the Milky Way Galaxy. Although it is just a painting, it seems extremely realistic, and has the same effect- it shows how big, and powerful-looking, the universe is. It makes the reader amazed at the size of it. Another technique used by the author is the use of diagrams. Diagrams are especially helpful in this book for understanding concepts visually. One example of a diagram of Kepler's second law: All areas a planet travels between take the planet equal times to travel. In the context of the book, it may be difficult to understand. But with the diagram (3 equidistant pairs of points, with a line from each point to the sun, and shading inside the lines), and the caption (which says that the shaded areas are equal and the travel time between the pairs of points are equal), it is very easy to understand. This also shows the complexity of the universe, but it is simplified by the diagram to be easily understood.

When I read the book, I thought about how interesting the universe really is. I thought about how it isn't just stars and planets, it is individual atoms making up giant stars and even us, and the human race is becoming more knowledgeable on the subject, and doing more things to learn more about the universe we live in. I think the book really promotes that idea.

SA Inquiry #3 For Lord Of the Rings 3: Return of the King

When I was reading The Return of the King, the third book in the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien, I noticed that there was a theme of justice involved in it, and it can relate to the real world. I think the theme that includes justice is that justice can sometimes be cruel or violent, and not perfect.

In the book, "justice" would mean the destruction of Mordor, an evil power, and getting the ring of power destroyed as well. In this case, this would Mordor would be blocking justice from being served because it tries to prevent its destruction and the destruction of the ring. In the book, there is a circle of people and places blocking, protecting, or serving justice. Frodo, the main character who has to destroy the ring, is the person who brings justice, by destroying the ring, and therefore destroying Mordor as well. The Fellowship of the Ring, the people protecting Frodo, are protecting justice. They don't serve it, but they help block people trying to block justice. The kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan also are protectors of justice because they also try to stop Mordor from having an effect on Frodo. The theme relates to this because it was a very violent justice being served- the destruction of nations and many people. It doesn't just come easily and smoothly.

When reading the book, it appeared to me that the people had wants that made them on the side they were on. Mordor, on one hand, wanted power, so they were the antagonists, who would not want justice to be served upon them. Rohan, Gondor, and the Fellowship want to protect their land, so they end up protecting justice, to make sure it can be served. Frodo wants more than anything to get over the whole war and to live in peace, so he is an unlikely candidate to carry out the justice, but he ends up being the one to serve justice in the end- which changes his character. This shows that their wants influence their purpose when it comes to who serves justice, and who tries to block it. Also, because the antagonists are very successful, doing a lot of damage to many people, the justice being served is harsh in turn.

This scenario of justice can be seen in the real world too. In World War Two, the roles of the Axis and Allies are quite similar to those in The Return of the King. The Axis, like Mordor, look for power. They are the antagonists who started everything. They also do cruel things, so that's why justice is supposed to be served to them. The Allies have both the roles of protecting justice and serving it. They protect justice by fighting off the Axis powers from their lands, and serve it by finally attacking and winning the war. The main difference in this is that there is no "Ring", it is more of a collective effort. Obviously, the post-war effects of WWII were devastating to many people- with extreme casualties and the destruction of towns, cities, and economies. Even though it isn't a clone, this shows that in the real world, there are scenarios that show things close to this scheme of justice from The Return of the King.

Overall, there is a lot of justice at play. It is harsh, and not simply delivered. It also has many real-world scenarios that have similar roles of justice involved. This makes the book enjoyable- it isn't obvious and simple to understand, and it is very relate able.