The Malaysian Egovernment Msc Flagship Application

The Malaysian Egovernment Msc Flagship Application My E.G Services Berhad is a concessionaire for the Malaysian E-Government MSC Flagship Application and plays the role as services provider for the E-Services component essentially provides the electronic link between the Government and citizens/businesses. Visit the MyEg (http://www.myeg.com.my/) web site and discuss on the plus and minus point of the website. Suggest your opinion on how to overcome the minus point that you have mention in question 1 to improve the MyEg services Table of content Introduction Governments in the region of the world are implementation electronic government. In every area of the world from upward countries to developed ones state and local governments are putting critical information online, automating once unwieldy processes and interacting electronically with their citizens. E-Government shortly known for electronic government, also known as e-gov, digital government, online government, or connected government is digital contact between a government and citizens (G2C), government and businesses/commerce/ecommerce (G2B), and between government agencies (G2G), Government-to-Religious Movements/Church (G2R), Government-to-Households (G2H). There digital communication consists of governance, information and communication technology (ICT), business process re-engineering (BPR), and e-citizen at all levels of government city, state/Provence, national, and international For question 1 it as is talk about My E.G Services Berhad is a concessionaire for the Malaysian E-Government MSC Flagship Application and plays the role as services provider for the E-Services component essentially provides the electronic link between the Government and citizens/businesses. It said to Visit the MyEg (http://www.myeg.com.my/) web site to find on the plus and minus point of the website. Furthermore question is discussed about how to overcome the minus point to mention in the question 1 to improve the MyEg services. Question 1 My E.G Services Berhad is a concessionaire for the Malaysian E-Government MSC Flagship Application and plays the role as services provider for the E-Services component essentially provides the electronic link between the Government and citizens/businesses. Visit the MyEg (http://www.myeg.com.my/) web site and discuss on the plus and minus point of the website. Explanation of question1 My E.G. Services Berhad My E.G. Services Berhad is a concessionaire for the Malaysian E-Government MSC Flagship Application. The task as a Service Provider for the E-Services factor basically provides the electronic link between the Government and citizens/businesses. Through the portal, it offers the Malaysian public a single point of contact between the Government and the citizens it serves. This portal enable Malaysians to energetically cooperate with various agencies within the Federal, State and the Local Government machinery providing services range from information searches to licence applications. To make available the services which involve physical incidence/interaction, MyEG has set up Approved Test Taking Sites located throughout the country. We believe that through this approach, we can develop the relationship and quality of interaction between the Government of Malaysia and its citizen. E Government Overview The Electronic Government scheme was launched to direct the country into the Information Age. It will improve how the government progress internally, as well as how it delivers services to the citizens of Malaysia. It seeks to develop the convenience, accessibility and value of relations within citizens and businesses. Furthermore, it makes develop information flows and processes within government to recover the speed and quality of policy development, organization and enforcement. To increase speed the objectives of Vision 2020, a pathway has already been defined through seven modern Flagship Applications. These applications are engineered to start the MSC scheme and create a multimedia heaven for inventive producers and users of multimedia technology. For local and foreign companies work with several government agencies to increase the socio-economic development of Malaysia. The Multimedia Super Corridor offers a Malaysian scheme for the Information Age. The Flagship Applications are: Electronic Government Multipurpose Card Smart School Telehealth RD Clusters E-Business Technopreneur Development E Government The visualization of Electronic Government is an idea for government, businesses and community working together for the advantage of Malaysia and all of its society. The visualization focuses on in effect and professionally delivering services from the government to the citizens of Malaysia enable the government to develop into more reactive to the needs of its citizens. The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows; Project Monitoring System (SPP II) Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) Generic Office Environment (GOE) Electronic Procurement (EP) Electronic Services (E-Services) Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX) E-Syariah Plus and minus point of the E Government website The My E.G. Services Berhad wants to give enhanced government service at less cost so it can be a better place to live and do business. Electronic government (e-government) is a great, forward-thinking way for business to do this. By using e-government, citizens and companies can more easily do business with My Government and get what they need to make smart, conversant decisions. A website does not reach the full population, but only the part of it that has access to the web. It is specially a difficulty in increasing countries, where access to the internet is still often limited to a very small part of the population. Websites should thus be consider as substitute means of communication, and traditional methods of exchanging information should also be offered and maintain, at least until they become unnecessary as was recently the case with the telegraph. To citizens More Convenience Every person expects more military services online. If don ´t want to wait in a online for an hour to expend five minutes at a counter. We can save the time and power by putting those service on the Internet. It don ´t have to ignore work to do during business government hours and can do business anytime have we want, anywhere. Better Customer Service The rarely require help with usual transactions. E-government lets agencies  focus on things that usually require help with. These include: Explaining complex policies   Translating English for people who don ´t speak it well Providing assistance for disabled or otherwise challenged people Providing up-to-date news. More Information Access Not all decision matter is made between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. during a weekday. If it is looking for a house, we may want information about an area during a weekend. E-government gives 24-hour access to this and other information. By using the Internet also makes decision the information easier. By using a usual look and feel, it can know where to find particular types of information on a Web page, such as contact information.   If have a question and you don ´t know which agency to ask, use the new and enhanced search function.   The search function will find state Web pages that have information about the question. It can look throughout just those Web sites to get the answers. To business Lower Costs E-government saves companies money. Whenever the human resources must drive to a government office or wait in a line, it loses dynamic time from them. Lost productivity is washed-out money. If the staffs need more than one trip, then each trip is spent money. Having services on the Internet gets relieve of the driving time and time spent waiting in a line.   To the state Decreased Cost State Web sites will be managed by a substance executive tool.   This tool will make easier to make changes on the agency Web pages.   It is in revolve, reduces the time and energy required to keep agency Web pages up-to-date. E-Government series also upgraded hardware and software required to create and update state Web sites.   It decrease licensing fees and increases the facility of the state to continue the Web sites.   Furthermore, E-Government series is providing a great Web tool to part the most universal agency.   It means that agencies no longer have to find their own answers to their online needs.   Improvement be done once when it is available to all agencies.   It reduces costs for the state and for the taxpayer. Agencies could have extra requirements to be meeting by the platform.  It provides the information and skills to generate applications.   An application is developed for one agency others will be able to use. It allocation reduces costs for the state and for the taxpayer. Increased Efficiency Online transactions are more rapidly than face-to-face transactions. Paper handing out is automatic, reducing time and the risk of religious errors. It allow state agencies to focus on provide better service for the customer. (http://www.das.state.or.us/DAS/EISPD/EGOV/benefits.shtml) Question 2 2. Suggest your opinion on how to overcome the minus point that you have mention in question 1 to improve the MyEg services Explanation of question 2 To overcome the minus point that have mention in question 1 to improve the MyEg services is refer to many different plus and minus point things of the website. Therefore, be sure to found a obvious idea for My Eg services. The reason of government is to more the shared goals of a people. Consequently, commence the setting up of progression by establishing a broad vision of e-government that is shared by all stakeholders (citizens, businesses, officials, civil society groups and others). The wide idea should flow from the large goals or concerns of a people. Here are too many probable reasons and goals for e-government. However, there are wide categories of goals that are generally pursued by societies, including for example: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ improving services to citizens; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ improving the productivity (and efficiency) of government agencies; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ strengthening the legal system and law enforcement; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ promoting priority economic sectors; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ improving the quality of life for disadvantaged communities; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ strengthening good governance and broadening public participation. Contained by each sort, different objectives might appear. It known this, each societys visualization is supposed to also be accompanied by a short list of main concern areas for the e-government program..A different people, however, strength focus its objective on increasing itself into the business hub in its county. Its e-government idea might then highlight facilitating commerce and services for businesses online. Possibly improving the investment regime or tax system could be priority sectors in this container How should plan and manage E-government. Efficient organization is essential for the success of e-government, as it is for all government or business operations. Individual able to distribute a project on time and within budget, manage effectively among government agencies and oversee private segment partners all depends on able management. Before moving forward with an e-government project, set up management mechanisms at both the national/state level and the project level. Consider establishing e-government teams within government. MyEg services initiatives classically involve large commitments of resources, planning and personnel. There are very complicated to control without defined teams to manage the e-government process from start to finish. For example, e-government activities within a area should be institutionalized to make sure long-term strength and support of the new standard. Such as teams must be provided enough budget, human resources and administrative support to carry out their duties. Ensure the project management team has sufficient authority. Without authority from political leaders, the officials responsible for e-government completion cannot ensure plans are carried out. Formal legal authority to oversee e-government implementation is also needed. Consider creating a central e-government agency within a ministry or as an independent body. Create teams responsible for project success at both the political level and project management level. Conclusion As a conclusion, first question on the assignment can be consider as easy to do and give us a lot of understanding because by finding about a concessionaire for the Malaysian E-Government MSC Flagship Application and discuss about the role of service provider for the E-Services and although it talk about to visit the MyEg website link to discuss on the plus and minus point of the website. The first question and second question provides many acknowledgements to the students because by doing the question, student is learning about that allows the user to login to the MyEg website to know more about this website like driving license renewal, auto insurance renewal, road tax renewal, road tax delivery status, LDL application, PDRM summon alert, TOPUP prepaid account, maid permit renewal and road tax receipt. By doing the assignment, students can realize E-government played an important role in technology world. For those that always support and help us in this assignment, we want to say thank you very much. (http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/) (http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/background/themes/egov/pacific_council.pdf)

Prion Diseases Essay -- Medical Prions Disease TSE

Prion Diseases Abstract Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are neurodegenerative diseases that are thought to be caused by the misfolding of prion proteins. Prions are able to replicate in the absence of nucleic acids. TSEs include: scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease, and Fatal Familial Insomnia. They can affect many different animals, including humans. Currently, there are no ways to diagnose, treat, or cure TSEs, as much more research is needed before these diseases are completely understood. 1. Overview Prions are a type of protein found naturally in the brain and other regions of the central nervous system. The diseases associated with prions are collectively known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). â€Å"Transmissible† refers to their potentially infectious nature, and â€Å"spongiform encephalopathies† indicates the microscopic sponge-like deterioration of the brain caused by the progression of the disorders. While these fatal neurodegenerative diseases exhibit different clinical symptoms, have different incubation periods, and even target different areas of the brain, they do share a number of characteristics. They occur in both animals and humans. During a silent incubation period, there are no detectable signs of the disease, although depending on the specific disease, the length of the incubation period can â€Å"vary from a few weeks to up to 40 [years]† (Baker & Ridley, 1996, 1). Due to their unique method of propagation (which will be addressed later), TSEs present a seeming paradox in that â€Å"inherited cases give rise to a disease that is transmissible but acquired cases do not produce heritable diseases† (Baker & Rid... ...(Soto, 2006, 105). 15. Conclusion On a closing note, prion research is significant not only for possible breakthroughs in understanding TSEs, but because of the vast implications the very concept of prions holds for the entire field of biology. As the first substance discovered that can replicate in the absence of nucleic acids, prions defy one of the most central biological doctrines. The similarities between TSEs and dementia disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and â€Å"findings of proteins with a prion-like behavior in yeast and other fungi† (Soto, 2006, 143) suggest that prions and proteins like them may be much more common than ever expected (Soto, 2006, 154). 10 Bibliography Baker, Harry F., & Ridley, Rosalind M. (1996). Prion Diseases. Totowa, New Jersey: Humana Press. Soto, Claudio. (2006). Prions: The New Biology of Proteins. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.

Capital Punishment Essay - The Fatal State of the Death-Penalty System

The Fatal State of the Death-Penalty System    In 1997, the state of Florida botched Pedro Medina's execution. When the switch was flipped on the 50-year-old electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky," the mask covering Medina's face caught on fire. Flames up to a foot long shot of his face for 6-10 seconds. A thick, black smoke filled the room, and the prison guards closed the curtain, hiding the rest of the job from the shocked witnesses. Bob Butterworth, then Florida's attorney general, said that Medina's agonizing death would be a deterrent to crime. People who want to commit murder, he said, better not do so in Florida because "we may have a problem with our electric chair." Such cases are likely to horrify death penalty proponents and foes alike. (After another botched execution in 1999, this time with the new electric chair, Florida gave inmates the option of lethal injection or the chair). What is even more abominable than these clear instances of "cruel and unusual punishment," however, is the mounting evidence that many people being convicted of murder, sent to death row, and probably even executed in the United States are simply not guilty. The only way to reasonably evaluate the system without running the risk of executing more innocents in the process is for Congress to issue an immediate national moratorium on executions. On Jan 31, 2000, Governor George Ryan (R-IL), a death-penalty proponent, announced a moratorium on executions in his state until the system is investigated. Governor Ryan had more than sufficient grounds to say that Illinois's criminal-justice system is "fraught with error": Since 1977, when Illinois reinstated the death penalty (following a 1976 Supreme-Court ruling allowing states to do ... ...s-16,000 of them, dating back five years." While rapists can be feed from prison if DNA evidence clears them, executions are irrevocable. Given the problems in state and national DNA databanks, it is crucial that those on death row get more time to explore any evidence that could exonerate them. Governor George W. Bush of Texas (where 463 people are on death row) maintains that he is certain that every person of the over 100 who have been executed during his tenure is guilty. The fact that Texas has no public-defender system and that Bush has spent much time over the past year campaigning outside the state has not made a dent in Bush's certainty. For those who, regardless of their stance on the death penalty, would like to take the time to examine the evidence and aim for a higher standard, state and national moratoriums are presently the best course of action.

Inherit the WInd Essay -- Film, Paramount Pictures

It has come to my attention that you are in search of another potential Oscar-winning role. With your eminent success in the 1988 film, Inherit the Wind, for which you were nominated for an Oscar award, I have found it most appropriate to search for a role in the same genre. With that being said, I had Paramount Pictures fax over role opportunities for their upcoming project, the film adaption of Henrik Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People. Paramount’s casting manager believes that you will be a perfect fit for the main role as Dr. Thomas Stockmann, and I could not agree more. Throughout the play, Dr. Thomas Stockmann and his immediate family counters their entire town to expose the truth about contaminated water at the town’s â€Å"medical† baths. Although the townspeople reject the truth, Dr. Stockmann refuses to give up, and this brings great trouble to him and his family. This complex character embodies the playwright’s message—although w hat is right may go against what the majority wants or believes, it must not be hidden, but defended. As Ibsen shows the struggles that Dr. Stockmann and his family experience while exposing the truth, he is able to criticize democracy by illustrating the tyrannies that can arise out of it. The actions of Dr. Stockmann and his family make this play exceedingly powerful and expose human flaws to the audience, which I am certain will make for an excellent Oscar-award winning film. Allow me now to further describe the role of Dr. Stockmann and his significance in the play. Mr. Douglas, in order to illustrate the significance of Dr. Stockmann’s role, I feel it is necessary to first provide you with a few important points about the time period in which Henrik Ibsen wrote his play. The Norwegian playw... ...d maintain his reputation, or is it what he truly thinks of the film. I think the film adaption of An Enemy of the People will compel people to question certain aspects of their societies, and hopefully convince them to reveal the truths regardless if it goes against the majority. Mr. Douglas, I truly hope that I have convinced you to accept the role of Dr. Stockmann, such a determined and dynamic character. Ibsen’s message is so powerful, that it should not only be confined in a play, but also in a film. I am certain the film will gain a great amount of interest from the public, and be nominated for an Oscar. Many independent, reliable, and respected critics have also reviewed the script and consider this film to be one that will almost certainly top the box offices around the world. Please do not hesitate to contact my agency if you have any further questions.

Moon Colonization Is Bad

Moon Colonization July 20, 1989: President Bush uses the 20th anniversary of the first footsteps on the moon to declare that Americans should return, establish a permanent presence there, and go on to Mars (Hartmann). After Bush proposed this idea of creating a permanent colony on the moon to serve as a â€Å"pit stop† on the way to Mars, NASA took it as a mandate to start planning. This idea of moon colonies brought upon a mood that was not seen since the days of the Apollo missions. The possibilities of a moon colony are great. The problem of overcrowding could be solved.Taking millions of people (over a matter of time) to the moon would greatly reduce the Earth’s rapidly growing population. While the people are living there, industrial factories could be built, producing goods for further space exploration. Planetary Scientist for NASA, Alan Binder, says â€Å"†¦slowly but surely, the way our forefathers did in the New World, we'd build up an industrial capacit y in space. The moon opens up the solar system. If you have industrial capacity to build from lunar materials, the moon could be a harbor.You could go there first, on your way to Mercury, Venus, or Mars. † This is all seems like a good idea, that is if it didn’t cost the nation an arm and a leg to implement. Also, due to lack of knowledge, we do not know the full effects of the moons one sixth gravity effect on the human body. Furthermore, the moons lack of an atmosphere, and harsh geological conditions, would not be so kind to the equipment set up to build this industrial franchise. Not only will the colonization of the moon be costly and inefficient, but also detrimental to human health and safety.For starters, building a spaceship that is capable of creating a force strong enough to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, support the life of humans for days, and be able to come back down through Earths atmosphere, costs millions of dollars. The Space Shuttle Ende avour, the orbiter built to replace the Space Shuttle Challenger, cost approximately $1. 7 billion (NASA. gov). And a colony in space would need supplies due to the lack of resources on the moon. Shipping those supplies to the Space colony would cost a lot.The cost per pound into orbit was around $1000 during the years of the space shuttle program (Allen). Incorporate inflation, and you have a multi million dollar shipment of food, clothing, tools, etc. Once all the tools are shipped and ready to build, there would be the cost of actually constructing a factory or place to live. Rome (on Earth) was not built in a day; imagine trying to build a city in the extreme weather conditions of the moon, where gravity’s pull is one sixth that of the Earth. Building this colony requires a 30 year plan, costing $500 to $600 billion dollars (Guterl).Those prices alone make the Moon colony extremely costly and inefficient. Now let us say that this colony was built, and people did live ther e. What effect would it have on the human body, being in an environment where there is constant sunlight? Located at the Lunar North Pole, where all the water for farming is, there is constant sunlight, day in and day out. Prolonged human exposure to solar UV radiation may result in acute and chronic health effects on the skin, eye and immune system. Sunburn (erythema) is the best-known acute effect of excessive UV radiation exposure.Over the longer term, UV radiation induces degenerative changes in cells of the skin, fibrous tissue and blood vessels leading to premature skin aging, photodermatoses and actinic keratoses. Another long-term effect is an inflammatory reaction of the eye. In the most serious cases, skin cancer and cataracts can occur (World Health Organization). These statistics were taken on Earth, where we have an atmosphere to block most of the Sun’s harmful rays. In an environment where there is no atmosphere at all, the effects would be indescribable.After a year of exposure people would end up with 3rd degree sunburns, old wrinkly skin, and a bad case of cataracts. The conditions on the Moon are just not safe for any human. Another health factor is the effect of living in an environment where the gravity is one sixth that of the Earths. Exposure to weightlessness over month-long periods has been demonstrated to cause deterioration of physiological systems, such as loss of bone and muscle mass and a depressed immune system (Webster). Because this would obviously be a permanent residence for the people living there, they would be there much longer than a month.On average, people lose about 30 percent of their strength between ages 50 and 70, and another 30 percent of what's left per decade after that. Generally, people lose about 1 percent of their lean muscle mass per year after age 40. After a year on the moon a humans bones and muscle mass would deteriorate so greatly that they would have the body of a weak elderly 85 year old. In ad dition to those health concerns Space travel weakens the body's immune system and alters infectious diseases, making them more potent and resistant to antibiotics (Webster). Dr.Cheryl Nickerson, an associate professor in Tulane University's department of microbiology and immunology, states, â€Å"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that infectious disease could be a real show stopper in space flight, as we start sending people out on two- to three-year missions and colonizing the moon, it's not a question of if an outbreak occurs but when. † Basically this moon colony could end up being eerily reminiscent of the black plague. After looking at all the facts, the colonization of the moon would put America and any other country who attempts to settle there, in hundreds of billions of dollars of debt.After it is set up, it would cost even more money to keep it up and running. The health effects from the low gravity would make permanent residency there not so permanen t, because it would lead to death. When we live here on Earth, were surrounded by a wonderful, safe, UV absorbing, solar wind blocking, and sun flare reflecting atmosphere, as where the Moon doesn’t even have any sort of atmosphere to protect human beings. In reality colonizing the moon wouldn’t solve any problems on Earth, it would only cause more.

American Literature

Edwin Arlington Robinson- father/mother/ 2 brothers died. Love of life married brother. Never Married. Wanted to be poet since age 11 and chose to live In poverty. Wrote traditional poems. Old-fashioned but deals with modern problems. Philosophy: Behind â€Å"the peaceful and genteel communities of small-town America† lies a substrata of failure, â€Å"loneliness, and terror. † Conflict with light and dark with the individual. Major Works; The Children of the Night, The Man Against the Sky, and The Man Who Died Twice. Quotes; I finally realized I was doomed, or elected, or sentenced to life, to the writing of poetry†¦Major Works; A Boys Will, North of Boston, West-Running Brook. Quotes; â€Å"l am not a teacher but an awakener. † ; Education is the ability to listen† ; â€Å"Poets are eke baseball pitchers. † ; â€Å"In three words I can sum up everything† ; A poem begins In delight and ends in wisdom† ; â€Å"The world Is full of willing people† ; â€Å"And where an epitaph to be my story I'd have a short one ready for my own. † Mending Wall, Home Burial, The Road Not Taken, Birches, Fire and ice, Stopping by Woods, Desert Places, Design, Nothing Gold Can Stay, Out Out, Departmental. T. S. Eliot; The Hollow Men, The Love Song of J. Alfred Frock.William Carols Williams- pediatrician. Images, suggest rather than offer, present concrete Images, strive for Pictures from Brushes, Paterson, The Farmer's Daughter and Other Stories. Quotes: â€Å"If you can bring nothing to this place† ; â€Å"The better work men do is always† ; â€Å"When they ask me, as of late† ; â€Å"If they give you lined paper, write the other way. † ; â€Å"It is difficult to get the news from poems† ; â€Å"Poets are damned but they are not blind† ; â€Å"One thing I am convinced more and more is true and that is this† ; Tract, The Great Figure, The Red Wheelbarrow, This Is Just to Say, A Sort of Song.E. E. Cummings- 3 months in French prison, Harvard. Unorthodox punctuation, compressed spacing, literary cubism. (Grasshopper) Images: avoid click ©s, create new rhythms, use common speech. Philosophy; spontaneous, rebellion against conformity, authority, exploitation of life, romantic and sexual love. Major Works; Tulips and Chimneys, XSL Poems, ViVa, No Thanks, 1 * 1, Agape: Seventy-One Poems, The Enormous Room. Quotes; â€Å"The most wasted of all days is one w/o laughter. ; â€Å"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing† ; â€Å"A political is an erase upon which† ; â€Å"The poems to come are for you and me† In Just, My Sweet Old Etcetera, I sing of Loaf glad and big, If There are any heavens, Plato Told, I thank you God, she being brand-new, Jimmies got a soil, Old age sticks, Pity this busty monster unkind, L(a), Next to of course God America l, look at this, who are you, little l, Maggie and mills and molly and may, I carry your heart with me, I like your body when it is with your. Longboats Hughes- Lawrence, Topeka.Black writer. Rhythms of Jazz and blues. Oral tradition of black culture. Philosophy: direct engagement with people, pride of heritage, promotion of racial Justice. Major Works; The Dream Keeper, Montage of a dream deferred, Not Without Laughter. Quotes; â€Å"A dream deferred is a dream denied. † ; â€Å"l have discovered in life that there are ways† ; â€Å"Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it. ; â€Å"Like a welcome summer rain† ; â€Å"l swear to the Lord† ; â€Å"l will not take but for an answer. † ; â€Å"Well I like to eat sleep drink and be in love. ; â€Å"Oh god of dust and rainbows† ; â€Å"7 * 7 + Love = † The Energy Speaks of Rivers, The Weary Blues, Song for a Dark Girl, Trumpet Player, Motto, Harlem, Dream Variations, I too sing America, theme for English B. F. Scott Fitzgerald- named af ter cousin who wrote star spangled banner. Wife was Zelda. Heavy drinker. Zelda became mentally ill. Clear lyrical prose. The American Dream. Philosophy: The lost generation, all gods dead, all wars, fought, all faiths hake. Major Works; The Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby, Tales of the Jazz Age, Tender is the Night, The Last Tycoon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.Quotes; â€Å"In a real dark night† ; The test of a first-rate† ; â€Å"Sometimes it is harder† ; â€Å"First you take a drink† ; â€Å"Either you think or else others have you think for you† ; â€Å"Family quarrels are bitter things† ; â€Å"I'm a romantic† ; â€Å"It is in the thirties† ; â€Å"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. † ; â€Å"The world as a rule† ; â€Å"The faces of most American women† ; â€Å"Show me a hero and I will write you a ragged. † ; â€Å"There are no second ac ts in American Lives. † Babylon Revisited allegory, gothic romance. Philosophy; southern memory, reality, myth.Major Works; Sartorial, As I lay dying, light in august, Abyssal, the unvanquished, go down Moses, intruder in the dust, the sound and the fury. Quotes; â€Å"Given the choice† ; â€Å"The young man or woman writing today' ; â€Å"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do† ; â€Å"If I were reincarnated† ; â€Å"A mule will labor 10 years† ; â€Å"Loving all of it even while he had to hate some of it† ; â€Å"I believe that man will not merely endure. He will prevail. A Rose for Emily Ernest Hemingway; mother dressed him as a girl until he was 6. Suffered from malaria, skin cancer, anemia, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure.Etc. Survived 2 plane crashes in 2 days. Athletic prose, iceberg theory writing style. Major Works: The Sun also rises, in our time, men w/o women, a farewell to arms, death in the afternoon, the snows of Kilimanjaro, for whom the bell tolls, the old man and the sea. Quotes; â€Å"Always do sober† ; â€Å"But man is not made for defeat. † ; â€Å"Courage is grace under pressure. † ; â€Å"Every mans life ends the same way.. † ; â€Å"Madame all stories if intended far enough end in death† ; â€Å"Never think that war no matter how necessary' ; â€Å"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places. The Hemingway Hero; suffered traumatic experience and lives.. Code Hero Big Two-Hearted River John Steinbeck; Journalistic, lyrical, biblical rhythms. Philosophy; fight against poverty/ social injustice, combo of realism, romanticism, and naturalism. Major Works; Tortilla Flat, The long valley, the red pony, of mice and men, the grapes of wrath, the pearl, the log from the sea of Cortez, cannery row, east of Eden, the winter of our discontent, travels with charley. Valued privacy. Wrote screenplay for Lifeboat . American Literature ?American literature is any written work of art that is created in the United States. American literature is like all literature, it has literary experiences and contextual history of America. It depicts how America has changed is still changing today. American literature has changed over time just like most canons of literary works. The uniqueness of American literature is that America from its beginning had a special philosophy of life and freedom. The special philosophy of life and freedom that made American literature so unique was reflected in its writings.Americans believed and had faith that God was and is the given of all our rights and freedom. We as Americans had faith in ourselves that we could succeed in anything that we try doing. The literature that we Americans wrote made life worth living because it was displayed for the world to read and understand that life was what we made it. Also by Americans having the ability to spring back from diversity made life worth living and George Washington was a perfect example of this. Literary canon is basically a suggested list of readings that belongs to a country or a certain period in time.Literary canon contains literary works that is mainly by authors who are accepted as an authority in their field and their writings constituting a serious body of literature in any given language. The works that are collected that is included in a literary canon is approved largely by cultural and academic institutions and is observed as literature of that language. Literary work’s popularity is not based only on the quality, but on the relevance of what matters to the context historically, socially, and artistically.Literary canon relate very well to what is going on in society because of what is most important at that time work is being written. The context of the society, whether it is historical, social, or artistic, that is basically the topic. Ethnic writers express the special challenges of realism, natural ism, and regionalism within the American literary experiences. Realism labels a movement in English, European, and American literature that gathered force from the 1930s to the end of the century.Realism attempted to record life as it was lived rather than life as it ought to be lived or had been lived in times past. William Dean Howells stated that realism â€Å"is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material. † Present-day literary theorists are probably more aware of what may be called â€Å"the crisis of representation†-the difference between representation and the thing represented-than were these realists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.Naturalism is understood by some as an extension or intensification of realism. It introduces characters from the fringes and depths of society whose fates are determined by degenerate heredity, a sordid environment, and/or a good deal of bad luck. Regionalism writing, another expression of the realist impulse, resulted from the desire both to preserve a record of distinctive ways of life before industrialization dispersed or homogenized them and to come to terms with the harsh realities that seemed to be replacing these early and allegedly happier times.By the end of the twentieth century, every region of the country had a â€Å"local colorist† to immortalize its natural, social, and linguistic features. Ethnic writers define literature as literature that is written by people of a different culture, language, religion, or race. It differs from the canon of traditional American literature because literary canon is a list of work from American instead of from a different race or religion. The historical, socio-political, and cultural topics that might be covered by ethnic writers would be slavery and how the slaves were treated during that time.Slavery is a topic that can be covered under all three. Government issues are a topic that could be covered under so cio-political. The debate against government issues such as health care and taxes could be something that ethnic writers could write about. It does not differ from the canon of traditional American literature because the writings have to be by authors who are accepted as an authority in their field and their writings of literature in any given language. American Literature A . Some of the best names that come into mind when one speaks of modern English literature and fantasies are Editha, and Kate Chopin. Their works stand tall in the golden pages of modern literature, influencing most people of this generation and many more to follow. They have painted and breathed life into each character of the novel, The Awakening, with great magical artistic skills. Such is the greatness and purity of the artists that they are believed to have given birth to a completely new form of writing that the modern Literature is so proud of.Hence they are considered premodern. There are some more writers such as Tolkien who have contributed immensely towards this. â€Å"I believe, Mr. Tolkien has succeeded more completely than any previous writer in this genre in using the traditional properties of the Quest, the heroic journey, the Numinous Object, the conflict between Good and Evil while at the same time satisfying our sense of historical and social reality† (W. H . Auden, 1956). The greater the power, the more dangerous is the abuse. The truth in the statement is well proved in Tolkien’s The Hobbit.The author makes his political report in this twentieth-century fable that could be relished as an elating and exhilarating story. He, very well comments upon the abuse of political power and how the poor and down trodden fall prey to the diplomacy of sly rulers. In the midst of haziness between an imagination and reality this twentieth-century fable portrays the evil in Middle-Earth as totalitarian evil and that war is an immense ingredient of this malevolence. Many premodern authors have flourished on the fantasy genre. Age cannot wither their novels nor custom stale their infinite variety.The best, modern novels seem inexhaustible. They are a permanent source of inspiration for humanity. Fantasy literature generally encompasses unreal, nonhuman creatures, unusual powers, created mythologies and imaginary settings. Frost, who can also be termed as a premodern poet remains faithful to the spoken language of his time. His language, in the poem, is a mixture of playfulness and seriousness. He portrays regionalism with its rich stock of images, situation and anecdotes. This in turn provides an abundant source for metaphors and symbols.The conversational tone and the dramatic situation in the poem strike the readers. The picture at the core of â€Å"Mending Wall† is striking. Two men convene on terms of good manners and sociability to put up a barricade between them. The wall is erected out of convention, out of tradition. Nevertheless the very ground works against them as well as makes their task thorny. The two neighbors thrust stones, back on top of the wall; however as a result of hunters or elves, or the chill of nature’s imperceptible hand, the boulders topple downward yet again.The informal fashion and lack of rhyme masquerade the ploy in Petit the Poet. Some of his most praised and entertaining work s involve Petit the Poet and Seth Compton, marvelous creations of Edgar Lee, best reveal his blending of wit with humor. His personal and conversational style makes the reader involved in his tone and mood. He takes the reader into confidence through his easy and delightful pace. Furthermore it appears quite realistic with some witty descriptions.The tone is very somber and the reader cannot help but a distinct hopelessness, of the plight of human beings not being able to choose what they remember, and also that the memories cherished today, will be much different than the memories cherished tomorrow. C. Mending Wall Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, U. S. A, in 1874. Disenchanted with the lofty subjects of many American poets, Frost opted to write about country life with which he was most familiar. In the poem, â€Å"Mending Wall† shows sound posturing, a form of writing based on the tones of everyday speech.In his collection, North of Boston (1914), Frost began to exp eriment with poems of monologue and dialogue, which critics have called his dramatic poems. The present poem, â€Å"Mending Wall† too reflects his interest in dramatic and natural speech. The stanzas of the poem â€Å"Mending Wall† are straightforward also sound more akin to an extraordinary human frame of mind than a fuming portrayal of the poet’s neighbor. A breakdown of the rhyme scheme sends the reader into a mesmerizing situation and the words is comparatively free from portentous and dark imagery. Robert Frost’s poetry is well known for its intensely personal and touching theme.A great deal of Frost's verse is confessional and reveals his life experiences through metaphor or explicitly. â€Å"Mending Wall† asserts his abhorrence for a wall or a barrier between human beings. This Frost does through the exercise of powerful imagery articulated through language, structure, and tone. A wall divides the poet's land from his neighbor's. They get to gether to saunter to the wall and mutually mend it, when it is spring time. â€Å"Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun,And makes gaps even two can pass abreast†. (Lines 1-4) The speaker sees no reason for the wall to be kept–there are no cows to be contained, just apple and pine trees. He does not believe in walls for the sake of walls. The neighbor chooses to stick to his father’s words: â€Å"Good fences make good neighbors. † The poet remains skeptical and impishly forces the neighbor down to come across the outdated interpretation. However his neighbor will not be persuaded. The poet visualizes his neighbor as a leftover from a reasonably obsolete time. He is an existing paradigm of an old orthodox.Nevertheless the neighbor merely goes back over the saying. Frost retains five stressed syllables designed for each line; however he shows a discrepancy in the fee t widely to maintain the usual dialogue in the rhyme. The dearth of radiance, gloom and unhappiness, have been brought into play. Perceptibly the wall is thought of as a vengeance for transparency, light and security. The turnaround of proceedings in the poem reiterates the dismay of hostilities and the futile misfortunes that could have been evaded if those drawn in would have scrutinized the dealings they were caught up with.Even though the reader of the poem gets the notion of the neighbor portrayed in the poem by Frost, he does not subsist outside of descriptions of men from the past or historical pictures. The poet’s neighbor is, in many senses, of a weak temperament rather undeserving of examination because there is nothing that detaches him an ordinary human being. There is realization that hostilities are but a ploy to gain power and supremacy over the feelings of people. A sense of guilt revolves around the entire novel and expresses that wars are unfortunate and onl y a gamble where the leaders resort to exploit the poor, down trodden masses.â€Å"Mending Wall† is a lingering recollection of life events and dreams that have spiraled out of control due to hostilities. The hopes and dreams that once seemed so right and so justifiable become shattered because of the wall that inflicts the very core of the poet’s soul. Frost remains faithful to the spoken language of his time. His language, in the poem, is a mixture of playfulness and seriousness. He portrays regionalism with its rich stock of images, situation and anecdotes. This in turn provides an abundant source for metaphors and symbols. The conversational tone and the dramatic situation in the poem strike the readers.The picture at the core of â€Å"Mending Wall† is striking. Two men convene on terms of good manners and sociability to put up a barricade between them. The wall is erected out of convention, out of tradition. Nevertheless the very ground works against them a s well as makes their task thorny. The two neighbors thrust stones, back on top of the wall; however as a result of hunters or elves, or the chill of nature’s imperceptible hand, the boulders topple downward yet again. â€Å"The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone,But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,†(lines 5-8) Even then, the neighbors carry on with their work of mending the wall. The poem, consequently, looks as if it contemplates typically on themes like, human construction of blockades, separation, and hostility. What sets in motion in unsophisticated candor ends in intricate symbolism. This wall-building work appears primeval, as it is portrayed in formal, conventional terms. It engrosses â€Å"spells† to work against the â€Å"elves,† and the neighbor comes into view as a Stone-Age savage at the same time as he lifts and carries a boulder. â€Å"We have to u se a spell to make them balance:‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned! ‘ We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-door game,†(lines 18-21) Frost’s treatment of objects of nature shows that he does not idealize or glorify them. His attitude towards the stone wall is not actually that of a realist, nor so much of a romantist. Frost’s poems on natural objects are not dealt with as the starting point for the mystical meditation. Like other poems, â€Å"Mending Wall† carries a moral but the moral is indirectly presented either as a dramatic situation. Frost’s poems are profoundly philosophical in spite of their homely diction.In â€Å"Mending Wall†, he uses symbolism to communicate a deep rooted principle. The symbolism in the poem comes out as an indirect method of communication. The poem has a surface meaning but it also shows a deeper significance, which is understood only through a closer scrutiny of the poem. D. Edgar Lee Masters is acclaimed as one of the leading humorous poets of the world. He has produced some of the best works of his time. His readers have long appreciated him for his classical interpretation of human nature and several critical thematic concerns of society but yet in a most humorous, easy and light hearted representation.One of the simplest and easy flowing poems of Edgar Lee is Petit the Poet. The informal fashion and lack of rhyme masquerade the ploy in Petit the Poet. Some of his most praised and entertaining works involve Petit the Poet and Seth Compton, marvelous creations of Edgar Lee, best reveal his blending of wit with humor. His personal and conversational style makes the reader involved in his tone and mood. He takes the reader into confidence through his easy and delightful pace. Furthermore it appears quite realistic with some witty descriptions.The tone is very somber and the reader cannot help but a distinct hopelessness, of the plight of human beings not being able to choose what they remember, and also that the memories cherished today, will be much different than the memories cherished tomorrow. The poem is composed to 18 lines. The concluding verse shows an analogous allusion. â€Å"Seeds in a dry pod, tick, tick, tick, Tick, tick, tick, what little iambics, While Homer and Whitman roared in the pines? † The concluding part of the poem brings us backwards in time, which allows the reader to view true accounts and suffering that people have to endure in a village.Thus Petit the poet, no doubt is thought to appall us yet again but with a twist. Thus the irony in, Petit the poet, comes through as we read it. The analytical issue of Seth Compton is beautifully depicted with a humorous disposition. The poet describes human behavior through the process of loving and forgetting. The poet tactfully and with an aroma of humor, describes the social and moral matters of the modern times from the perspective of a clean hearted human being. He craftily incorporates humor to the arena and at the same time, trying to bring into light the disgrace of corruption.For this kind of his writing, he has been also long criticized for his more moderate representation of the extents of social illness of the time. The Poet is distressed to see the state of the people after death. The circulating library that he constructed was son disposed off. â€Å"When I died, the circulating library Which I built up for Spoon River, And managed for the good of inquiring minds, Was sold at auction on the public square† The poem gives a feeling that Seth Compton has been keeping a note of all the happenings after his death.During the period when the poem was written, although seemingly flowing in a positive direction, human relations were beginning to withstand new strains, trapped now in a cleverer and more civilized society. These relations were more official and formal than social and personal. This new form of the society was less institutionalized but at the same time was more difficult to resolve or combat. This new tactic, intoxicated with the velvety diplomacies of pity, care and tolerance, made things even worse. Very ironically and rightly, the Poet criticizes the aspects of morality in terms of critical social concerns. American Literature Mark Twain's celebrated novel Tom Sawyer (1876) has generally been considered by literary critics to slightly less accomplished on a technical and thematic level than its purported sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (1885).Although many reasons for this discrepancy in the level of critical reception of the two works may be reliably cited, one of the contributing factors to the critical reception of Tom Sawyer both on its initial publication in the nineteenth century and during its present status in critical estimation is the function of literary realism. In short, because Tom Sawyer represents to most literary critics a â€Å"less sophisticated† execution of Twain's literary technique, it also functions a less developed example of Twain's expression by way of literary realism.Important, also, is that fact that Twain was and is viewed by critics as one of America's foremost realist writers and Twain's realism is regarded as having had a liberating influence on American literature as a whole: â€Å"It led him to make use of the vernacular and ultimately to develop popular speech, as an instrument for character portrayal and effective narrative, to near perfection,† (Long 102) which, in turn, led to the first authentically American idiom in fiction.However, as in Huckleberry Finn, the aspects of realism (or verisimilitude) which permeate Tom Sawyer, also function as â€Å"scaffolding† for mythic ideas and iconographic expression which directly contradicts the purpose and function of literary realism itself. In essence, by regarding realism in Tom Sawyer not a governing principle of Twain's aesthetic, but rather as a tool or a literary device which is used to convey a deeper theme or aesthetic — namely romanticism — can be identified.In Twain's case, the romantic or idealized strains of his theme in Tom Sawyer relate directly to the myth of American expansion and prosperity which were as prevalent cultural fascinations in nineteenth century America as they are in twenty-first century America.Before Tom Sawyer itself can be examined in light of its use of realism as a literary device, it is important to restate what the (critical) understanding of literary modernism is really all about and what literary modernism meant to the writers who comprised the movement in its earliest stages and what literary realism means to contemporary literary critics, and specifically those critics who have turned their energies to explicating Tom Sawyer.It should also be pointed out that Twain presents special problems even for the most studious and energetic of critics because his work is founded, first adn foremost upon humor, which is a very difficult literary premise to quantify and define in critical terms. Despite the fact that â€Å"criticism is notoriously helpless in the presence of writing that is really funny† (Smith 1), specific aesthetic principles and influences can be rooted out and separated to so me extent from the over-riding satirical vision in Twain's work.Any attempted critical understanding would be greatly aided in first accepting Twain as a literary realist as this designation is the most expedient as to opening a â€Å"clear window† into the purported purpose and themes of Twain's writings. Literary realism comprised an artistic response to the changing social conditions beginning in the 19th century which saw a dominant rise of industry, science, and rationality in western culture. Realism attempted to develop a literary idiom which was able to convincingly portray the actual events and circumstances of life.The movement toward realism can be seen as an artistic mode of grappling with changing and frightening circumstances of western culture. In addition to seeking out themes of social significance, writers such as Zola, Dos Passos, Eliot and Flaubert — advanced a narrative technique which â€Å"jettisoned rhetoric–a stylized language of elevat ed expression designed to demonstrate that the writer had mastered the tradition of polite letters–for everyday speech, (Borus 22) so that highly-stylized narratives still evoked the realism of everyday speech and everyday life.Part of the technique of literary realism involved the use of dialect, sometimes extensively, to create the sense of verisimilitude which was essential to the realist aesthetic. The combination of real-world dialect and the studies technique of the realist writers resulted in a unique blend of linguistic styles which resulted in a generating a set of readers who considered themselves â€Å"cultivated readers of dialect, † (Barrish 37). because realist writers sought to evoke in extensive detail, the living settings of their works, many realist writers were committed to regionalism — that is, they wrote about the world they experienced directly.Examples of this are Faulkner who wrote extensively about a fictional Southern county which was based on counties which actually existed. Realist writers desired to create fiction that felt and read as close to real life as possible in order to allow readers to â€Å"see† and experience aspects of life which would otherwise have remained unknowable to them. With this bit of critical history in mind, one further aspect remains quite important relative to Twain and that is the fact that â€Å"realism as a guiding principle of criticism† (Smith 5) has been rigidly and thoroughly applied to Twain's work with the resulting conclusion that â€Å"shortcomings [†¦] have led to its gradual abandonment during the last quarter of a century on both sides of the Atlantic. † (Smith 5). What are these shortcomings, specifically? The answer to that question is complex and lies in the seemingly comprehensive nature of Twain's realism. The fact that Twain's realism is distinct from naturalism or purely journalistic writing is his sophisticated employment of realism as a device, rather than as a guiding principle of theme or overall technical approach.In other words, because â€Å"Mark Twain's realism does not stop at externals† (Smith 29) that same realism must by necessity engage emotional, psychological, and â€Å"spiritual† (or mythic) concepts and identities which are by definition elusive of any â€Å"realistic† depiction. By delving deeper than â€Å"externals† Twain must, by necessity, abandon verisimilitude as a guiding aesthetic principle and instead accept it as a device, like a single color on a painter's pallette.In order to illustrate this somewhat elusive point, it must be emphasized that Twain's external realism is devastatingly powerful adn accurate, almost â€Å"photo-realistically† so. Twain is obviously quite capable of conveying â€Å"the special atmosphere of each characteristic environment† (Smith 29) and from this mastery of description of the external world, the reader is led to â €Å"trust† that Twain's excursions into the â€Å"inner† world will be just as faithfully rendered and just as obviously based on â€Å"reality.† However, a clear, if subtle, distinction separates Twain from â€Å"photorealistic† artists. A key aspect to Twain's particular use of realism is that â€Å"His purpose is not to say everything, nor even to present everything in an objective way† (Smith 30) but render the impression that what is described, whether it be a river, or a young boy's stream-of-consciousness inner-monologue, is a faithful representation of the actual world.By rendering the impression of realism rather than a rote â€Å"copy† of nature, â€Å"Twain allows himself to pursue his inquiries into reality with varying intensity, to support his observations with a wider or a narrower range of evidence† (Smith 30) and, by doing so, achieves an acumen which is capable of â€Å"misleading† he reader into mistaking wha t is actually a mythic or romantic impression as a realistic observation.To demonstrate this concretely, a single mythic aspect of Tom Sawyer can be isolated and compared with Twain's realistic prose-style to indicate the duality of his narrative idiom, where realism generally indicates, if at an oblique angel, a mythic undertone. For example, the â€Å"treasure-hunt' sub-plot of Tom Sawyer conveys the uniquely American myth of â€Å"striking it rich† through pure luck adn adventure.This is in fact a very durable American myth, the myth that anyone despite his or her stature in life can â€Å"hit pay-dirt quickly, blindly, almost accidentally† (Coulombe 16) and like Huck and Tom become â€Å"rich entirely by good luck† (Coulombe 16). Such a myth was used by Twain not only in Tom Sawyer and in his other of his fictional works, but also as an attribute of his own author-persona.Twain cultivated a deliberate distortion of his biography by attempting to further the notion that his accomplishments were â€Å"effortless and intuitive—a rustic genius rising naturally to the top† (Coulombe 16). In this case, literary biography plays a contributing role to thematic explication because Twain's true experience belied the myth he inserted into Tom Sawyer regarding wealth adn the pursuit of adventure. In reality, Twain was a careerist â€Å"who worked diligently, even desperately, to earn success and money† (Coulombe 17).The aforementioned biographical detail is mentioned merely to illustrate that Twain,had he been truly interested in being a literary realist and depicting the authentic world he had experienced would have obviously dismissed any mythical ‘treasure hunt† ending in blind, wild fortune as being over-the-top romantic, and perhaps even foolish. At this point, it is useful to examine the manner by which Twain attempts to insert verisimilitude into what is essentially a mythic fantasy.he does so retrospective ly by describing what appears to be a very convincing description of the rection of the little town of St. Petersburg to the boys' discovery of treasure: THE reader may rest satisfied that Tom's and Huck's windfall made a mighty stir in the poor little village of St. Petersburg. So vast a sum, all in actual cash, seemed next to incredible. It was talked about, gloated over, glorified, until the reason of many of the citizens tottered under the strain of the unhealthy excitement.Every â€Å"haunted† house in St. Petersburg and the neighboring villages was dissected, plank by plank, and its foundations dug up and ransacked for hidden treasure–and not by boys, but men–pretty grave, unromantic men, too, some of them. (Twain 285) This attempt to balance a romantic myth with a deliberately anti-romantic description of the aftermath of the discovery is thorough right down to Twain's choice of diction.The word â€Å"unromantic† is specifically clever and powerful in forwarding a sense that Twain's treasure hunt is grounded in reality and not in a boyish, culturally incited fantasy. Every detail seems to have been accounted for right down to the observation that â€Å"The village paper published biographical sketches of the boys† (Twain 285) which made them celebrities. Here it is interesting to note that Twain's romantic urge and his urge to restrain his story in verisimilitude are operating at equal strength and simultaneously.If Twain is capable of obscuring what are essentially romantic myths beneath a veneer of realism as was demonstrated by the preceding description of his expression of the â€Å"rags to riches† myth of America, what other myths might be discovered under the narrative surface of Tom Sawyer? Obviously, because Twain embraces the presence of violence in American as a part of his role as a realist writer, depictions of violence and of death in Twain deserve special attention in regard to the myths they may o r may not express beneath the highly detailed and unusually accurate level of narrative description employed by Twain.While it is true that — for Twain â€Å"The sight of a pistol blazing or knife flashing, followed by the red blood gushing from a death wound, was actuality † (Long 99) it is also conspicuously true that Twain's depiction of violence in Tom Sawyer is â€Å"not prevailing, and as in the realism of Howells,† and that in Twain â€Å"happiness, not sorrow, was the general rule† (Long 99) despite the actuality of violence and death in human experience.One might rightly ask: how is such a proposition: that violence and death do not preclude human happiness based in realism? Plainly, one does not require an observational adn descriptive acumen that is equal to Twain's to readily perceive that violence and death in the real world often do preclude human happiness. Clearly, Twain's depiction of violence, like his depiction of material ambition and the attainment of wealth, partakes of a mythic rather then realistic expression.This mythic appraisal of violence and human mortality allows Twain to establish the entire framework of Tom Sawyer on the mythic scaffolding of death and rebirth. In fact, † The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is constructed on a loose framework whose major elements include games of death and games of resurrection† (Aspiz) and these â€Å"games† are purely mythic rather than realistic both in conception and execution.Because it is mythic violence and mythic death that Tom interacts with in the novel, he and the other characters depicted in the novel seem to â€Å"exist on the manic edge beyond which lurks the menace of destruction and the unknown† (Aspiz) but the teetering over and falling â€Å"over the edge† which is repeatedly depicted by Twain in Tom Sawyer results in â€Å"the illusion that all experience is ultimately reducible to entertainment† (Aspiz).Imagination is stronger than the mere presence of death and its associated pains in Twain's fictional world, which is propelled in part by startlingly realistic descriptions and observational details. The result is paradoxical: Murder, grave-robbing, the withholding of life-saving evidence, impulses to suicide, simulated disasters, numerous close brushes with death, the violation of sanguinary oaths, wrenching fear and guilt, and numberless suppressions of the truth and miscarriages of justice are all transformed, through masterful orchestration and narrative control, into entertainment.(Aspiz, 108) Of course it is the power and depth of Twain's â€Å"masterful orchestration and narrative control† which drives the perception on the reader's behalf that Twain's mythic expressions of pain, death, and sorrow are as meticulously accurate as his objective descriptions of rivers, school-houses, and grave-yards. The paradox is born out of the divergence of the mythic and realist strains of Twai n's own consciousness and his narrative expression. The character of Tom Sawyer is, himself, an expression of this paradox and duality.Tom is ultimately portrayed as heroic, but also realistically, so that his flaws can be easily spotted and used to increase the ironic impact of the novel. In fact, careful study of Tom's behavior throughout the novel reveals that â€Å"Tom was neither noble nor pure. Rather, he was often vindictive, violent, and obscure—much like the natural world to which he was linked† (Coulombe 129) and — ironically — it is within this construction of nature, as a character, that Twain achieves a more dour and realistic expression.Twain's impulse to romanticize even human bigotry is evident in his depiction of Injun Joe and Muff Potter, during the trial-scene when Muff fallaciously confesses to murdering the Doctor. Historical reality dictates that it was white men who cam and tricked the native American tribes out of their lands and d estroyed their culture, a fact readily available to anyone, even in Twain';s time, who cared to exert minimal energy doing research.However, rather than seizing on this massive historical reality, Twain opts to facilitate the extant prejudice against racial types that existed in his time, and continue to exist, by positing a mythic â€Å"half-breed,† Injun Joe, who is more cunning and diabolical than the white society he despises. During the trial scene, Muff Potter is confronted with his knife which was used by Injun Joe to slay the Doctor in the cemetery.Potter's reaction is pitiful â€Å"Potter lifted his face and looked around him with a pathetic hopelessness in his eyes. He saw Injun Joe, and exclaimed: â€Å"Oh, Injun Joe, you promised me you'd never– † (Twain 100) and then, slowly, Potter realizes that he must confess to his crime. The reversal of historical reality is chilling. In reality, Native Americans were often controlled and victimized with liquo r and in Twain's depiction, the half-breed, Injun Joe, has turned these realities on their head.It is the Indian who is dastardly and manipulative; and it is the white man, Muff Potter, who is drunkenly victimized and falsely sentenced to death. Such reversals under the fluent realism of Twain's technique can only be considered, rightly, as propaganda. By no stretch of the imagination can propaganda ever be regarded as realistic or objective, so it is obvious that on at least three major themes: materialism, mortality, and racial prejudice, Twain embraces a mythic, rather than realistic, mode of expression in Tom Sawyer.Again, as in the treasure-hunt scenario, Twain attempts to balance his mythically driven conceptualization of race with what appears to be a cogent adn realistic description of the court-room itself and the boys' reaction to Potter's confession: â€Å"Then Huckleberry and Tom stood dumb and staring, and heard the stony-hearted liar reel off his serene statement, the y expecting every moment that the clear sky would deliver God's lightnings upon his head,† (Twain 100).This passage, in fact, only strengthens the essentially culturally chauvinistic impulse of the courtroom scene by positing the half-breed no only as a notorious murderer but as an enemy of the white man's God. Twain's romanticism may be rightly regarded as determinant in the thematic expression of Tom Sawyer. In every case, it is mythic impulse rather than natural or historical realism that drives both the conceptualization and execution of the scenes in Tom Sawyer and the associated themes which these scenes express.Rather than solidifying the aesthetic ideas of literary realism, Twain's use of the idiom in Tom Sawyer is sublimated to his interest in forwarding culturally resonant, American myths which would ostensibly engage and entertain his audience. It is quite possible that Twain's own material ambitions, as previously mentioned, drove, at least in part, his decision to make a literary concession throughout Tom Sawyer to romantic myths, a concession which completely eradicated any claim that might be made on Twain's behalf that the novel embodied literary realism.Works Cited Aspiz, Harold. â€Å"Tom Sawyer's Games of Death. † Studies in the Novel 27. 2 (1995): 141+. Barrish, Phillip. American Literary Realism, Critical Theory, and Intellectual Prestige, 1880- 1995. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Borus, Daniel H. Writing Realism: Howells, James, and Norris in the Mass Market. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.Coulombe, Joseph L. Mark Twain and the American West. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2003. Long, E. Hudson. Mark Twain Handbook. New York: Hendricks House, 1957. Smith, Henry Nash, ed. Mark Twain: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New York: P. F. Collier & Sons, 1920. American Literature If I was teaching a course in American Literature since 1865, the texts that I would choose to teach would be â€Å"Tulips† by Sylvia Plath, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Sula by Toni Morrison, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Daisy Miller by Henry James, and Drown by Junot Diaz.I feel that it is important to chronologically span the 150 or so years of literature in this time period, to choose a diversity of authors in terms of gender, race and sexuality, to represent the nation regionally as well as possible, to include texts that focus on important issues in the nation including immigration, gender equality and race relations, and to focus on texts that are relatively accessible and reflect the time period in which they are written. With these texts, I feel that this is accompl ished.Chronologically, this list is relatively complete – there are texts that represent the period of reconstruction (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) and that are from around ten years ago (Drown). Indeed, different aspects of this list speak to the Industrial Revolution and ever-changing face of America through technological advancement, and others discuss the ways that race and gender exist in the time period in which they are written (â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Sula, for example).Further, not only do these texts represent a breadth of time periods, but they also show different regions of the United States, including the South (Wise Blood) and the West (Housekeeping), with the typical representation of the Northeast and many texts that are not necessarily central to any specific region.Through providing a diversity of chronological and regional representation, I feel that students, especially in a nation that is not as familiar with the United States as we are, would be able to get a better feel of how the United States changed over the past 150 years and how the different regions of the United States face different challenges. Just as it’s important to represent different literal aspects of the United States, it’s just as important to represent the diversity of people that make the nation up.By providing works from authors like Toni Morrison and Junot Diaz, students would get a perspective on the African American and immigrant experience in the United States, respectively. Indeed, America exists differently for the immigrant characters in this collection of Diaz short stories than it does for the characters seeking the American Dream in The Great Gatsby, and it’s important for students to explore these differences among communities in the U. S.Indeed, this collection of texts also reflects issues that are of the utmost importance in the United States – â€Å"Tulips† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaperâ €  discuss what it means to be a woman and how motherhood or marriage can trap women, for example. Wise Blood explores the intricacies of religion, and more specifically Christianity, in the South, and Sula thoroughly discusses how black Americans live in the â€Å"Bottom† while whites live at the top long after the conclusion of the Civil War.Students reading my list of texts would be exposed to a breadth of issues, while also reading canonical literature that explores natures such as Leaves of Grass and the work of Henry James and his take on relationships and people. All of the works that are included in this list cover so many different aspects of American Literature, and together they paint a picture that represents the time period and nation as well as any ten-piece collection can.Regionally, canonically and chronologically, the list covers all of the essential points present in American literature, and it also touches on multiple issues of diversity within the texts as well as issues central to American culture in these different time periods. These poems, short stories, novellas and novels are an excellent window into American Literature as well as the ever-ubiquitous American culture, and I would be excited to teach these texts to any classroom. 2nd Essay: Southern Literature is fraught with guilt, struggle and a resistance to dominant American cultural norms.Three of the most important authors in Southern Lit, Zora Neale Hurston, William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor, are all incredibly attentive to issues important to all Southern people, but they each discuss Southern life in a different form. While all three deal with the integral issues of race relations in the South, the constant struggle with the separation of the North from the South, and what exactly it means to have a Southern identity, each of these authors does this in a very different manner.Hurston focuses on African American dialect and unique experiences within those communities, Faulkner traditionally discusses close-knit small town communities in a stream of consciousness and highly narrative manner, and O’Connor takes a highly moralistic tone, with a focus on religion and community in the South. Hurston’s â€Å"Sweat† is similar to her most famous Their Eyes Were Watching God in that gender struggles and dialect within African American communities are showcased. Indeed, one of the central conflicts in â€Å"Sweat† is the struggle for dominance within the relationship between Delia and Sykes Jones.Even though aspects of Southern femininity and masculinity are inherent to this struggle, femininity is the focus as this is typical of Hurston and the protagonist, and thereby where the reader’s sympathies more dominantly lie, is with Delia Jones. The work focuses on how African American communities exist, with a focus on Delia’s humming and the music that’s present, thereby demonstrating a focus on a n oral tradition that doesn’t necessarily exist within Faulkner and O’Connor’s work.Further, the end of the short story demonstrates how women are able to obtain dominance in relationships, if they ever are able to do so, through Sykes’ horrifying death. Indeed, this story demonstrates many of Hurston’s focuses, and it shows typical struggles within Southern African American communities in terms of gender relations and oral traditions versus dominant narratives. Faulkner’s â€Å"Barn Burning† is different from this in that its focus is on a father and son, and also on the town in which the characters live.Indeed, the story begins in â€Å"The store in which the justice of the Peace's court was sitting† and continues to focus on the actual location and Southern-ness of the setting. Like Hurston, the dialogue of â€Å"Barn Burning† is uniquely Southern, with the characters saying the word â€Å"it† as â€Å"hit,â⠂¬  thereby demonstrating Southern dialect and accents in a way that separates it from any Northern dialogue. Also like Hurston’s work, the story discusses race relations in the South, though necessarily from a white perspective instead of a black perspective.Because of this, the community at the center of the story is a white community instead of a black community, and it thereby emphasizes race relations and oppressive institutions within Southern society instead of exploring the ways in which African American communities form themselves. While there are no explicit O’Connor works on the syllabus, it would be remiss to discuss Southern writing without using O’Connor as an example.In her â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† for example, the explicit focus of the narrative is on what it means to be a good person, and how a criminal is not necessarily a more evil and corrupt person than a grandmother without good intentions. While the criminal who murders t he family who are at the center of the story is clearly not a â€Å"good man,† neither is the matriarchal grandmother who is central to the story: indeed, she would have been good if â€Å"it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.† O’Connor discusses Southern society in terms of morality and religion throughout her novels and short stories, and within this discussion also exists issues of race relations, Southern society and dialect, and other things. Indeed, O’Connor, Faulkner and Hurston all recognize the differences between the South and other regions in the United States, the unique moral and community systems that exist there, and demonstrate these aspects differently. 3rd Essay: William Carlos Williams’ â€Å"The Red Wheelbarrow† and e.e. cumming’s [my sweet old etcetera] both rely on unconventional, modernist poetic form and use this form to convey separate messages. Williams’ poem uses its form t o put emphasis on a dependence on the smallest things – indeed, the form and subject of â€Å"The Red Wheelbarrow† hinge on the wheelbarrow itself, and demonstrate how form and subject are both integral to a poem’s ultimate message. Similarly, cummings’ unconventional form is different from almost any other poet and uses multiple definitions of etcetera.Both poems show how form is as essential to function as subject and literal messages are, and both use this form to reiterate the meaning of the poem. Williams’ â€Å"The Red Wheelbarrow† is from a time period in which poets were able to play with form and think more consciously about how a poem can be unconventional in form and still convey a message. Indeed, this poem more or less relies on form to convey that message. What is so interesting about this poem is that there is no terribly clear message in the poem; in fact, it initially seems to not say much of anything and instead to toy arou nd with words.However, the way the poem is structured, the seemingly insignificant nouns are placed at the forefront. As the poem reads, â€Å"so much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow† (lines 1-4). Here, the poem does in fact depend on the â€Å"barrow† – every couplet in â€Å"The Red Wheelbarrow† hinges upon a second one-word line that consists of a relatively common and insignificant noun. The nouns continue to locate the poem. The red wheelbarrow is â€Å"glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens† (lines 5-8), showing that while each couplet is grounded by the final one-worded line, the entire poem is grounded by the wheelbarrow.Indeed, all of the lines refer back to it: it is the thing that is glazed with rainwater, and it is the thing that is beside the white chickens. The first couplet itself makes it increasingly clear that the wheelbarrow is at the center of this poem in multiple ways: everything in the poem depends on it literally, as is stated in the first two lines, but it is also structurally at the center of the poem. William Carlos Williams is able to use this unconventional form to make a statement about what is important – after all, how can so much depend on a wheelbarrow unless Williams demonstrates it in this unconventional way?Similarly, e. e. cummings poem [my sweet old etcetera] challenges ideas of what the â€Å"etcetera† of the poem is by introducing it in a form that allows multiple interpretations. Indeed, the poem begins with â€Å"my sweet old etcetera / aunt lucy† (lines 1-2), and also includes references to it as â€Å"not to / mention shirts fleaproof earwarmers / etcetera wristers etcetera† (lines 11-13), â€Å"my / mother hoped that / I would die etcetera† (lines 13-15), â€Å"my / self etcetera lay quietly† (lines 19-20), and â€Å"dreaming, / et / cetera, of / Your smile / eyes knees and of your Etcetera† (lines 23-27).All o f these uses of etcetera are different and challenge what exactly the word means: indeed, the word literally refers to a continuing list of things, but here sometimes it’s used in an apathetic sense, sometimes as a euphemism, and other times as its definition connotes. Like â€Å"The Red Wheelbarrow,† this poem hinges on the definition of one word, and because of seemingly spontaneous line breaks and capitalization, that word carries entirely different meanings at different places in the text.Interestingly, in the last parenthetical notation, etcetera refers to both the never-ending list of actions of the speaker and also, presumably, the body of the woman who is being described, thereby showing the many definitions of the word. Both â€Å"The Red Wheelbarrow† and [my sweet old etcetera] use relatively unconventional form to challenge traditional notions of established words and concepts. By relying on a different method of poetry and description, both writers a re able to disrupt these ideas that are so closely tied to the words, and also to redefine both the words and the poetic form that they are using to describe them.4th Essay: If I could choose any two authors to explore more fully, I would pick Zora Neale Hurston and Henry James to look at further. Not only are these two authors very different in terms of their writing styles, but they also are from different time periods and different literary perspectives, with Hurston generally describing communities and concrete people more fully while James writes conceptually and canonically in a way that focuses on narrative and other literary forms.Both authors speak to different audiences, both of which I at least partially identify with, and I look forward to reading more by each author. In this course, we read â€Å"Sweat† by Hurston, which I wrote about for one of my other essays. I really enjoy this work not only because I enjoy Southern literature, but also because it focuses on a different aspect of identity than many of the authors that we’ve read in this course.Indeed, Hurston focused on African American oral narratives, and was actually often involved in sociological work and gathering African American folktales to preserve in writing instead of simply within an oral tradition. Because her life was not always spent in looking at writing through a strict literary lens, I think that she has a unique perspective in representing life as it truly exists within communities that are not typically discussed in popular fiction.She herself grew up in an African American town, and is particularly knowledgeable and gifted and representing these types of communities. I would love to read Their Eyes Were Watching God if only because it is similar to â€Å"Sweat† but, as a novel instead of a short story, allows more time to delve into a character’s mindset and to develop a sense of what it means to live within an African American community. Furthe r, I think that Hurston has a unique and powerful style that explores language in a way that many authors simply don’t.She is able to write using heavy symbolism and metaphors throughout her prose, but she’s also able to interesting, intelligently and authentically portray the language that exists within black southern communities, something that most authors would not even think about discussing. Indeed, because of her early life in a unique community that most canonical authors do not understand, her sociological work on oral narratives within black communities, her interesting view on language and style, and her emphasis on women’s issues and gender equality, I would love to look more closely at Zora Neale Hurston’s body of literature.Henry James is also an incredibly important figure in American Literature, but for very different reasons than Hurston. Indeed, James style is not as accessible or engaging as Hurston’s often is, and he is much mor e cerebral in the issues that he chooses to tackle. As Daisy Miller demonstrates, though, James has a terrific understanding of how to manipulate narrative to show multiple dimensions of characters, and his other work demonstrates this even further.The novel which I would most like to read by him is The Turn of the Screw, primarily because it is both a frame narrative (similar to the Canterbury Tales), which provides many unique and interesting insights into narrative, and also because it is a unique version of a ghost story that is much more literary in style than most of what gets represented in popular culture today. Because James is so able to take on narrative, I enjoyed Daisy Miller thoroughly: not only were the characters deep, complex, round and interesting, but the timeline was also challenging.I really enjoy reading Henry James because he is, in many ways, timeless – while his work is obviously dated in certain ways in terms of subject and the setting, the human con dition is so central to everything that he writes that it can be understood outside of this context. Because of his narrative abilities, interest in the human psyche and innate human struggles, challenging prose that pushes different ideas of symbolism and identity, and the innovative subjects that he chooses to write about, I would also very much enjoy looking at what else Henry James has written.

World War Two and the B-24 Bomber

Several aircraft from the World War Two era have achieved iconic status. The F4U Corsair, TBM Avenger and the B-17 and B-29 Super fortresses are all legendary in their service for the Allied cause. There is another such aircraft that never achieved the fame of those mentioned but was critical to the Allies war effort none the less. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was the work horse of the Allied fleet. Its entrance into the war came at a critical and vulnerable time for Allied survival in Europe. After proving its effectiveness in early missions the B-24 would go on to be used in all theatres of the conflict.It was the most numerous, most versatile and possibly the most effective Allied plane of World War Two. The Design Stage The B-24 bomber was designed as part of the strategic bombing plans drawn up by the Allies in the 1930s. Built by Consolidated Aircraft of Ypsilanti, Michigan, the bomber took its first flight in late December of 1939. Consolidated was a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company, an icon of American business. The Ford factory was able to produce more than four hundred B-24s per month. By 1941 the plane would enter wartime service. High demand in 1942-43 prompted Consolidated to expand its production facilities.The San Diego plant was increased to three times its original size. A new plant was built in Fort Worth, Texas. The flagship plant was built in Willow Run, Michigan in 1942. At the time this plant was the largest industrial plant of any kind in the United States. In the process thousands of Americans were put to work. The vastness of the Willow Run Plant made for some interesting accommodations. At a certain point in the assembly line the planes would be mechanically turned at a right angle. The purpose was to avoid having the planes crossing into a neighboring county where taxes were higher.Consolidated had received the contract to produce the B-17 bomber only one year earlier in 1938. After examining the capabilities of the B-17, the A rmy requested a faster and higher flying plane. The updated plans would result in the building of the B-24 Liberator. Designed as a strategic heavy bomber the airplane was affectionately referred to as the â€Å"Lumbering Lib† by the RAF pilots who used it to patrol the Atlantic. 2 â€Å"Liberator† would then be incorporated officially as part of the aircraft’s name. The plane almost immediately went into heavy production. A mainstay of the Army andNavy air forces, it was also used by the RAF (Royal Air Force) and the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force). The plane cost about $300,000 to build. By wars end over 19,000 B-24s had been built 3. This exceeds the total of any other Allied aircraft. 1. Philip Makanna. 1995. Ghosts in the Skies: Aviation of the Second World War. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books), p. 156. 2. Philip Makanna. 1995. Ghosts in the Skies: Aviation of the Second World War. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books), p. 157. 3. Bill Gunston. 2000. History of Military Aviation. (London: Hamlyn Pub. ), p. 93.Bomber design was still in its infancy and the B-24 did have some problems. It was prone to fire due to the placement of its fuel tanks. The only way to enter or exit the plane was through the bomb bay, a difficult proposition in a crisis situation. It was also somewhat cumbersome to fly. The plane’s designers had to make these tradeoffs in order to maximize the performance and the long range capability of the aircraft. The plane was also somewhat vulnerable to enemy fire, given its relatively lightweight construction. The high altitude capability of the plane helped minimize this threat.There were a substantial number of orders for the plane even while it was still only a prototype. In addition to the three dozen ordered by the Army, the French and British had each ordered more than three times that number. The French order was cut short by the German invasion in 1940. The British received their order and immediately put the p lanes to use on critical missions. Introduction to the War Ultimately, the B-24 would serve a wide ranging role in all corners of the conflict. It would be used to â€Å"equip 45 groups all over the world† 4. The initial role for the B-24 was to conduct deep ocean patrols.The British were in dire need of a long range patrol aircraft, Prior to the arrival of B-24s in the Atlantic, German U-boats were wreaking havoc on Allied shipping. British reconnaissance activities had a limited range. The arrival of the B-24 allowed the Royal Air Force to patrol much farther out into the ocean. As a result the U-boats were driven back into areas where they could be more easily targeted. The ultimate result was impressive – â€Å"The arrival of radar-equipped RAF B-24s in _____________________________________________________________________ 4. Bill Gunston. 2000. History of Military Aviation.(London: Hamlyn Pub. ), p. 93. Ireland†¦temporarily ended sinkings in the mid-Atlanticà ¢â‚¬  5. In 1942 the British began to use the B-24 in long-range bombing missions in the Middle East. Up to this time the plane had primarily served in recon and transport functions. American entry in to the war also led to a buildup of forces in England. Had the RAF Atlantic patrols not been effective; it is likely that the buildup would have taken much longer and Britain may have been lost. â€Å"The Mighty Eighth† was among the early American air groups transferred to Britain 6. The eighth brought with them numerous B-17s and B-24s.As the British and American forces continued to gain their footing, their mission would gradually evolve from the Atlantic patrols to the long range bombing missions over Germany. In the early years of the war radar equipped B-24s proved more than a match for the German U-boat menace. The RAF was able to drive the U-boats out of the middle Atlantic, at least for a while. The Germans would make modifications to U-boat strategy to counter the eff ects of the B-24s, but safe passage for shipping at this vital stage would play an important role in stemming the German tide.The British were able to gain their footing and the Americans were able to get a foothold in Europe. By defeating u-boats, the allies established control of the Atlantic, Saved Britain and made possible the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. 7 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Charles Gross. 2002. American Military Aviation: The Indispensable Arm. (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press), p. 106. 6. Bill Gunston. 2000. History of Military Aviation. (London: Hamlyn Pub. ), p. 93. 7. Charles Gross. 2002.American Military Aviation: The Indispensable Arm. (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press), p. 207. The plane would also become a key asset in the Pacific theater. With the B-29 still in development, U. S. forces needed a long-range bomber to cover the vast distances of th e Pacific Ocean. As additional bombers came on-line, the B-24 proved especially amenable to modification for different purposes. In that sense â€Å"It was altogether more versatile† than the B-17 and B-29 8. In the Pacific, the B-24 was considered the â€Å"standard† heavy bomber. Range was a primary asset of the B-24.Its ability to complete 2,000 mile missions without refueling made it possible to conduct missions far out at sea or over hostile territory. The plane could carry over 8,000 pounds of bombs. For defensive purposes, it was armed with ten . 50 caliber machine guns. The B-24 had been among the early generation of long-range bombers developed in between World Wars one and two. Even so, the aircraft boasted many new innovations and capabilities. Its design also allowed for great flexibility of use. Some B-24s were modified for use in reconnaissance missions. Their high altitude capabilities added to their effectiveness in this role.The B-24s engines also had the power for the plane to be used in transport of materials and personnel. A few were used as fuel tankers. The B-24 was even used as a VIP transport plane. The Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill, used one as his personal transport plane. Turbo supercharged engines were first added to the XB-24B model along with body armor and self sealing tanks. Power driven turrets and additional nose guns were added to the 24C. The development of the Norden bombsight enabled the B-24 to drop its bombs accurately from a vertical distance of up to five miles.All in all the B-24 8. Christopher Chant. 1992. The Military History of the United States (Vol. 9). (New York: Marshall Cavendish), p. 91. Liberator was a fearsome weapon of war. The Liberator: †¦had the defensive firepower and high altitude performance to fight their way through screens of Axis fighters and then deliver their bombs with pinpoint accuracy. 9 The B-24H produced in 1943 was an even more formidable weapon. This ver sion had a power-operated gun turret in the nose of the aircraft. It also had an auto pilot system and a refueling system.An improved version of the Norden bombsight provided even better bomb accuracy. Analysis and Conclusion The B-24 Liberator filled a critical gap in the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Allied air forces. It was heavily relied upon throughout the war. In the early part of the war it provided a vital strike capability against the German U-boats in the Atlantic. The B-24 also proved itself in peace time. It was used well into the 1950s by the Coast Guard for rescue and weather recon missions. Near the end of the war and half a world away a B-24 launched the first radar guided air to ground missile in 1945.At the beginning of the war long-range bombing formation tactics were still in their infancy. Losses for the B-17 and the B-24 were high. As the war continued, tactics improved and the B-24 in particular became more effective. The B-24 was flexible enoug h to be used in all theaters of the war. Not only was it a constant presence in Europe and the Pacific; it also performed well in Africa, India and the Middle East. The Liberator ultimately made its name in the Battle of the Atlantic. The â€Å"Atlantic ________________________________________________________________________ 9. Christopher Chant. 1992.The Military History of the United States (Vol. 9). (New York: Marshall Cavendish), p. 126. Gap† was an area of the ocean where German submarines had previously operated with impunity. This threatened to cut of England from critical military and humanitarian supplies. The B-24 was the first aircraft with the range to effectively patrol the gap. For this reason it has been credited by some with saving Britain. It is possible that without them, attrition could have weakened Britain to the point where they were vulnerable to invasion. The redesigns of the B-24 were both effective and creative.Many of the ideas for these modificatio ns came from soldiers in the field. In one example, soldiers used a damaged B-24 to design a transport plane. Back in the United States, Consolidated put their ideas into mass production. The B-24 was rugged, innovative and flexible. It might be argued that its greatest effect on the war came from the sheer number of planes produced. More B-24s flew in the war than any other plane. The Ford Motor company was the unquestioned master of mass production. It had an unrivaled ability to produce huge numbers of machines very quickly.It is this type of industrial might that eventually overwhelmed the Axis powers. The B-24 Liberator was symbolic of that power. Notes 1. Philip Makanna. 1995. Ghosts in the Skies: Aviation of the Second World War. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books), p. 156. 2. Philip Makanna. 1995. Ghosts in the Skies: Aviation of the Second World War. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books), p. 157. 3. Bill Gunston. 2000. History of Military Aviation. (London: Hamlyn Pub. ), p. 93. 4. Bill Gunston. 2000. History of Military Aviation. (London: Hamlyn Pub. ), p. 93. 5. Charles Gross. 2002.American Military Aviation: The Indispensable Arm. (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press), p. 106. 6. Bill Gunston. 2000. History of Military Aviation. (London: Hamlyn Pub. ), p. 93. 7. Charles Gross. 2002. American Military Aviation: The Indispensable Arm. (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press), p. 207. 8. Christopher Chant. 1992. The Military History of the United States (Vol. 9). (New York: Marshall Cavendish), p. 91. 9. Christopher Chant. 1992. The Military History of the United States (Vol. 9). (New York: Marshall Cavendish), p. 126.