Give Peace a Chance

Give Peace a Chance Give Peace a Chance John Lennon was a singer, songwriter, musician, author and peace activist who was also one of the founding members of The Beatles. He died tragically on December 8, 1980 in New York City, New York. Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman at the entrance of the Dakota apartment building where he resided. Chapman was charged with murder and received a prison sentence of twenty years to life. He has been up for parole five times, which has been denied each time. Chapman remains at Attica State Prison in New York. John Lennons assassination shocked the world. The world had lost a great musician. Born on October 9, 1940 in Liverpool, England, Lennon had taken an interest in music at an early age. At seventeen, he formed a band called The Quarrymen that eventually became The Beatles. The Beatles looked to Lennon as their group leader. As Paul McCartney, a fellow band member stated, â€Å"We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader- he was the quickest wit and the smartest and all that kind of thing† (Goldman 672).From 1957 until 1964, the Beatles toured all over Europe. The group first appeared in the United States in February 1964. After their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles toured nonstop for two years, holding concerts, making movies, and writing hit songs. In 1969, the group split up and John Lennon began working on his first solo album. Throughout the 1970s, Lennon produced multiple hits and he had a successful solo career. He also recorded several albums with his wife, Yoko One, a Japanese-American woman who was several years older than Lennon. He had two sons, Julian from a previous marriage and Sean with Yoko Ono. Mark David Chapman was born in 1955, the son of a military family that moved around his entire childhood. He was bullied and teased at every school he attended. â€Å"He sought refuge in an imaginary world of little people where he achieved affection and the feeling of power† (Norman, 804). In his early teen years, Chapman experimented with drugs, but he later became a devout Christian. He went on to work for several worthwhile causes that Lennon would have approved- a YMCA program for Vietnamese people and he also spent time in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War (Norman 804). At age 22, he began having psychiatric problems and attempted suicide. In 1979, he married a Japanese-American woman several years older than himself, much like Lennon. Chapman eventually developed a series of obsessions including John Lennon and the book The Catcher in the Rye. Chapman particularly obsessed about Holden Caulfield, the main character in the book. He believed that â€Å"if he put an e nd to John Lennon, he would be able to step into the books pages and become Holden Caulfield† (Norman, 805). His main comfort in his joyless life was Beatles music. On Friday, December 5, 1980, Mark David Chapman flew from his home in Honolulu, Hawaii to New York with a backpack and fourteen hours of Beatles music on cassettes. He checked into a YMCA and bought a copy of Double Fantasy, the latest album by John Lennon. Chapman left his copy of J.D. Salingers book The Catcher in the Rye at home in Hawaii, so he purchased a new copy in New York. His plan was to shoot John Lennon at that time, but instead just took some pictures. Chapman spent most of the weekend outside the Dakota talking to the many fans that always stood around hoping to get a glimpse of Lennon, but he did not see John Lennon until Sunday. On Monday, December 8, Chapman returned to the Dakota around noon. John left his building around 4 p.m., and Chapman was planning once again to shoot Lennon. This time, Lennon autographed Chapmans Double Fantasy album, Chapman hesitated when Lennon kindly asked, â€Å"Is that all you want?† This caught Chapman off guard and he could no t go through with his current plan. Later that evening, at 10:49 p.m., Lennon returned to his home. Lennon headed to the entrance of the Dakota. Chapman walked towards Lennon and was holding his autographed copy of Double Fantasy. He softly called, â€Å"Mr. Lennon† and produced a .38 caliber handgun, firing five shots. Within minutes, police arrived at the scene and took Lennon to Roosevelt Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m. Police found Chapman leaning against the bricks outside the Dakota calmly reading The Catcher and the Rye. His gun and the Double Fantasy album were on the ground nearby. The inside book cover read â€Å"This is my statement† (Jones 22). â€Å"This† was underlined, it was signed â€Å"Holden Caulfield,† and The Catcher in the Rye was written underneath. Lennon was assassinated by a man similar to himself. â€Å"Both were troubled, self-absorbed, and emotionally unfulfilled children. Each came separately of age- Lennon in the rubble of post World War II England, and Chapman in the midst of Americas decade long war in Vietnam-in a confused and hypocritical world† (Jones 2). Both sought out music, art, drugs, and religion (Jones 1). Chapman was angered by Lennons infamous remark in 1966 that The Beatles were â€Å"bigger then Jesus.† Chapmans was obsessed with the theme of phoniness from The Catcher in the Rye. It was suggested that Chapman wanted to kill Lennon because he viewed him as a phony. Chapman later said that he felt the murder would turn him into Holden Caulfield. Both John Lennon and his assassin, Mark David Chapman, have surprised and forever altered history. Ironically Lennon had given an interview on the say of his assassination where he said that he felt safe enough to walk anywhere in the city. He was a simple man who wanted only peace and love in the world. These ideals where shown in his music and songwriting. His assassination robbed the world of a talented musician.

Mesolithic Religions Essay

Prior to this time in human existence people did not practice an organized form of religion. Everything was considered sacred and and there were no gods being worshiped. All this began to change in the Mesolithic time period. A shift in culture is evidenced by the building of the Stone Temple at Urfa. Up until this point in time, humans lived a mostly hunter gather lifestyle. People would have followed the herds of animals and lived off the land as they came to it, moving on once the resources were all used up. With the advent of the Stone Temple signaled a new way of life. With people needing to eat while the temple was being built and later when they came to worship, humans began practicing farming, herding, and hunting. With these new roles humans had a shift in thought from just passing through living on the land to masters of the land with the ability to own it and change it as needed. This new thought led to a shift in religious practices. Mesolithic people now began to see the world from the perspective that mankind had control over prosperity through religious practices. Herders could sacrifice some of the herd to a god to ensure the herd continued to grow. A farmer needing to have a good crop would have sacrificed people, fasted, or engaged in ritualistic sex. Much of this is evidenced by the artifacts that have been uncovered and the stories that have survived from the Mesolithic time. At the site of Urfa wild forms of the first domesticated plants and animals have been found. Inside the ruins animal bones were uncovered suggesting animal sacrifice may have taken place in there. The giant stone pillars have carvings in them one being a woman in a sexual pose that may suggest a room for ritualistic sex. The story of the first family illustrates some of the mentality of the time period. In the story two of the sons, representing farming and herding, gather to sacrifice. The herder sacrifices an animal while the farmer sacrifices some plants. The plants are rejected. Leaving the farmer to find another way to sacrifice which in the story is illustrated by him killing his brother. The third type of person, the hunter, is absent during all this suggesting the hunter still clung to the old ways and may have disapproved of the new religious thought. The hunter may have been the one telling the story, which is why the story has a negative tone.

Great Expectations and April Raintree Essay

A key theme in Great Expectations and April Raintree is the growth and change of the characters towards their acceptance of social class. This will be proven by Pip not accepting himself in the lower class and April not accepting herself in the native class. Then, there will be proof of how Pip and April attempted to change their social class. Finally the proof of how Pip accepted himself in the social class he was in and how April accepted herself as a Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis. Pip did not accept himself in the lower class. He wanted to be in the upper class just like Miss Havisham is. Pip was ashamed of his family and its lower class status. How he wasn’t as fortunate as Estella who is a member of the higher class, especially when Estella insulted Pip saying that he is â€Å"common† and how he has â€Å"coarse hands†. He did not have a reason to think about his class status before this, and now that he does, he’s disturbed to think he might be just â€Å"common.† This ensured Pip to not accept himself in the lower class. He didn’t see any good from it. Pip felt he needed to impress Estella. She was the one who changed Pip’s perspective in everything. Before meeting Estella, Pip really looked up to Joe, blacksmith or a gentleman, Joe’s class status makes no difference. It is not until later, when he learns that the world cares about class, that’s when Joe’s status mattered to Pip. After seeing Estella’s house and everything she had, he wanted more to look forward to. Pip did not accept his life in the lower class. April is a young woman who has so many issues with her family and the people in her life. April always hid her feelings of shame from her sister Cheryl. April did not accept herself in the native class. Although she did not look native, she was sometimes ashamed that her sister Cheryl looked more native than she did. â€Å"There were two different groups of children that went to the park. One group was brown-skinned children who looked like Cheryl in most ways. They were dirty-looking and they dressed in real raggedy cloths. I didn’t care to play with them at all. The other group was fair-skinned and I envied them especially the girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. They seemed so clean and fresh. Some of them were freckled but they didn’t seem to mind. To me, I imagined they were very rich and lived in big, beautiful houses. I wondered what their lives were like and I wished we could play with them. But they didn’t care to play with Cheryl and me. They just called us names and bullied us.† (Pg. 6) Since April was young, she always wanted to be with the people who were fair-skinned. She didn’t like seeing her sister being called names especially, when they had to live with the DeRosiers. Half breeds were all that was said in that house. â€Å"I heard you half breeds were dirty but now I can see that it’s true.† (Unknown :() At one point, April hated being Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis. She felt that being Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis changed her life because when you think of Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis, you think of living off the streets and bums on Main Street. She wasn’t any of these and she didn’t want to be labelled as them. She was not happy being the person she knew she was. April did not accept her life in the native class. Pip changed his social class by going off to school to become a gentleman. He was lucky to have a benefactor. â€Å"I’ve put away money, only for you to spend. When I was a hired-out shepherd in a solitary hut, not seeing no faces but faces of sheep till I half-forgot wot men’s and women’s faces wos like, I see yourn. . . . I see you there a many times plain as ever I see you on them misty marshes. ‘Lord strike me dead!’ I says each time-and I goes out in the open air to say it under the open heavens-‘but wot, if I gets liberty and money, I’ll make that boy a gentleman!’ And I done it.† (pg. 340) Magwitch reveals himself as Pip’s secret benefactor and how he got all his wealth. This quote changed Pip’s idealistic view of wealth and social class by forcing him to realize that his own status as a gentleman is owed to the loyalty of a lower-class criminal. Year after year, he moved further away from Joe and his lower class. â€Å"Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man’s a blacksmith, and one’s a whitesmith, and one’s a goldsmith, and one’s a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come.† (pg. 236) Joe comes with a smart and content attitude toward the changes in Pip’s social class that have driven them apart, and he shows his goodness and loyalty by blaming the division not on Pip but on the unchangeable nature of the human condition. Pip as a gentleman makes a lot of money and as he gets wealthy, he forgets his family and the people that are important to him. In other words, he worries about trying to impress people, rather than being moral. April Raintree changed her identity of a native by marrying a rich white man named Bob Radcliff. She always wanted to be rich and forget about her heritage. She moved away from Winnipeg to Toronto. She tried running away from the life she did not want, to try to live a life she wanted. â€Å"You think I don’t know why you married Bob? It was to get away from me, that’s why. I’ll be you wished you were an only child. I bet you wished I was dead.† (pg. 155) It was almost like she did not want Cheryl in her life at all. â€Å"You never loved that man. You loved his money. You figured you were going to be Miss High Society.† (pg. 158) April did not love Bob Radcliff; she only married him for his money. Pip learns from his mistakes growing up. After realizing what kind of person he has become, and how he has treated his loved ones, he felt he was better off being in the lower class. Pip realized that wealth and class are less important than affection, loyalty, and inner worth. When he is finally able to understand that, besides the esteem in which he holds Estella, someone’s social status is not what so ever connected to that someone’s character. Bentley Drummle is a symbol to this because even though he is a minor character, he gave an important message. Drummle is an upper class member. He gave Pip proof that social class has no connection to attitude, personality or moral worth. Drummle’s negative example helps Pip to see the inner worth of characters such as Magwitch and Joe, and Pip eventually scraped his immature fantasies about wealth and class. Everything changes for Pip after he learns the class status of his benefactor because he realized that Magwitch , a kind-hearted man who was never able to come out of the status into which he was born but in the end he was able to get wealthy. April realized that she wasn’t happy with Bob, so they got a divorce. From that divorce, she received a good amount of money. She immediately went back home to her sister, but things were not good between Cheryl and April. After Cheryl committed suicide, April found her diaries and read them. She finally realized what Cheryl has gone through while April wasn’t in her life and what she thought of everything especially what she thought of April. April accepted being Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis then and there. Like her sister, she is proud to be Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis. Since she loved Cheryl, she was glad that a part of Cheryl was alive in her son, Henry Liberty. â€Å"All life dies to give new life.† (pg. 184) It was tragic that it had taken Cheryl’s death to bring April to accept her identity but she would strive for a better tomorrow now. For her sister and her son, her parents and her people. In conclusion, Pip accepted himself in the social class that he used to be in. Even though he remained in the higher class, Pip realized that he still cared for his loved ones in the lower class. For April, she accepted herself in the social class she was born in. Even though Cheryl’s life had to be taken away before April realized how important her heritage was. Pip carried a snobby attitude for a great portion of his life. He treated the people he loved without realization of how he wasn’t respectful towards them. April had tried hiding, she had attempted to be someone she’s not, she had tried being with someone she didn’t love, and she had also undertook to blocking her own sister out of her life. No matter what April did, she couldn’t get away from what she really was inside. She was born Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis. She just didn’t feel proud of it nor did she want to be Mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½tis. Pip and April both had issues with the people in their lives and they both found their true identities from being ashamed of their social class to peace with their lives.

The Punk Movement Of Britain During The 1960 S - 2044 Words

The punk movement that sprung in Britain during the 1960’s, mostly due to the social problems (joblessness, poverty and changing moral standards) faced by the younger generations, was epitomised by the band The Sex Pistols in this side of the atlantic and by The Ramones and The Stooges in the New York Scene. This highly fashioned orientated cultures have been inspiring designers and individuals to create their own personal version of the movement. Through the customisation of their clothing and the use of everyday objects like bin liners or safety pins, the members were able to create their own personal look while still be in accordance to the whole movement look. This highly copied movement was a great example of how subcultures â€Å"resists the normal semantic order in the name of difference and diversity† (Barker). Nearly thirty years later, We experience one of the most talk about re-births of the movement, It started to take form in a remote part of the United States, more precisely in the city of Seattle during the late 80’s and early 90’s and It was a desperate attempt to rebel against a society that felt corrupted by the overconsumption to which people were bombarded during those years through fashion, advertising and specially the media industry, and go back to the roots of the punk movement. The Grunge movement or Sub-Culture, their looks and music engraved in bands like Alice in Chains, Nirvana or Soundgarden although They were politically against consumerism andShow MoreRelatedWomen During The Twentieth Century1259 Words   |  6 PagesDiana, the role of the female adapted swiftly from the shadow of domesticity to the beacon of empowerment that women represent in the modern world. 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