Book Report on Clara Barton :: Papers

Book Report on Clara Barton Clara Barton tackled numerous social issues of the 1800’s. From making a free school, to being on the cutting edges assisting fighters in the Civil War, with creating the American Red Cross, Clara Barton was a philanthropic person. She battled for what she had faith in and in view of her ceaseless battle for individuals, the world is a better place. Clara Barton was conceived during 1821 in Massachusetts. As a little youngster, Barton took in a lot of tutoring from her more seasoned kin; she took in a wide range of subjects. She took advantage of each instructive lucky break that she was given and she endeavored to get balanced training. Clara Barton would later utilize her instruction to make her own school and in the end help start an association that is as yet utilized today. As a little youngster, Clara was incredibly modest; all things considered, after numerous years she had the option to beat this. Indeed, even as a small kid Clara flourished helping other people. She kept an eye on her wiped out sibling who was seriously harmed by a material mishap all the time. The aptitudes she gained from helping her sibling end up being utilized again when she was on the cutting edge of the Civil War helping injured warriors. At 18 years old, Miss Barton turned into a teacher. She educated at various schools around Massachusetts. Clara saw in one specific town that huge numbers of the understudies didn't go to class that significantly upset her. She needed all youngsters to have the equivalent instructive open door that she had when she was growing up. In the long run, Barton began her own school. It was free. Nonetheless, she didn't remain there for an extensive stretch of time. Clara just educated for merely ten years, instructing had depleted Barton and she yearned for an adjustment in her life. She left the instructing field to move onto another field. Barton moved to Washington DC and she turned into an assistant in the US Patent Office. At the point when the Civil War broke out, Barton decided to leave her situation in the US Patent Office. She began dealing with the war zone as a volunteer. From the outset her essential employment was to appropriate wraps and war supplies to the injured fighters. Barton accepted her position to another extraordinary.

Example Chi-Square Test for a Multinomial Experiment

Model Chi-Square Test for a Multinomial Experiment One utilization of a chi-square circulation is with theory tests for multinomial investigations. To perceive how this theory test functions, we will examine the accompanying two examples.â Both models work through a similar arrangement of steps: Structure the invalid and option hypothesesCalculate the test statisticFind the basic valueMake a choice on whether to reject or neglect to dismiss our invalid hypothesis.â Model 1: A Fair Coin For our first model, we need to take a gander at a coin.â A reasonable coin has an equivalent likelihood of 1/2 of coming up heads or tails. We flip a coin multiple times and record the consequences of an aggregate of 580 heads and 420 tails. We need to test the speculation at a 95% degree of certainty that the coin we flipped is reasonable. All the more officially, the invalid theory H0 is that the coin is reasonable. Since we are looking at watched frequencies of results from a coin hurl to the normal frequencies from a romanticized reasonable coin, a chi-square test ought to be utilized. Process the Chi-Square Statistic We start by processing the chi-square measurement for this situation. There are two occasions, heads and tails. Heads has a watched recurrence of f1 580 with expected recurrence of e1 half x 1000 500. Tails have a watched recurrence of f2 420 with a normal recurrence of e1 500. We currently utilize the recipe for the chi-square measurement and see that χ2 (f1 - e1 )2/e1 (f2 - e2 )2/e2 802/500 (- 80)2/500 25.6. Locate the Critical Value Next, we have to locate the basic incentive for the best possible chi-square circulation. Since there are two results for the coin there are two classifications to consider. The quantity of degrees of opportunity is one not exactly the quantity of classes: 2 - 1. We utilize the chi-square dispersion for this number of degrees of opportunity and see that χ20.953.841. Reject or Fail to Reject? At long last, we contrast the determined chi-square measurement and the basic incentive from the table. Since 25.6 3.841, we dismiss the invalid theory this is a reasonable coin. Model 2: A Fair Die A reasonable pass on has an equivalent likelihood of 1/6 of rolling a one, two, three, four, five or six. We roll a kick the bucket multiple times and note that we roll a one 106 times, a two 90 times, a three 98 times, a four 102 times, a five 100 times and a six 104 times. We need to test the theory at a 95% degree of certainty that we have a reasonable bite the dust. Figure the Chi-Square Statistic There are six occasions, each with anticipated recurrence of 1/6 x 600 100. The watched frequencies are f1 106, f2 90, f3 98, f4 102, f5 100, f6 104, We currently utilize the equation for the chi-square measurement and see that χ2 (f1 - e1 )2/e1 (f2 - e2 )2/e2 (f3 - e3 )2/e3(f4 - e4 )2/e4(f5 - e5 )2/e5(f6 - e6 )2/e6 1.6. Locate the Critical Value Next, we have to locate the basic incentive for the best possible chi-square dispersion. Since there are six classifications of results for the kick the bucket, the quantity of degrees of opportunity is one not as much as this: 6 - 1 5. We utilize the chi-square conveyance for five degrees of opportunity and see that χ20.9511.071. Reject or Fail to Reject? At long last, we contrast the determined chi-square measurement and the basic incentive from the table. Since the determined chi-square measurement is 1.6 is not exactly our basic estimation of 11.071, we neglect to dismiss the invalid theory.

Casa Blanca Key Scenes free essay sample

After the French Resistance specialist is shot the camera face upward consciously at the words â€Å"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite† at the passageway to a structure, the Palais de Justice, recommending that these are the qualities we ought to yearn for. There is a feeling of expectation in the individuals gazing toward the plane, particularly the youthful couple we see towards the finish of this scene. †Perhaps tomorrow we’ll be on that plane†. Social Context: The initial music has components of a North African flavor †to go with the guide of Africa noticeable in the initial credits. The topic closes with the French National song of devotion, recommending that a French/African (I. . North African) setting or setting is included. The last notes recommend risk and danger. The narrator’s voice over gives valuable data on the social setting: â€Å"With the happening to the subsequent world war numerous eyes in detained Europe turned ideally or franti cally towards the opportunity of the Americas. We will compose a custom article test on Casa Blanca Key Scenes or on the other hand any comparable point explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Lisbon turned into the extraordinary embarkation point. In any case, not every person could get to Lisbon straightforwardly, thus, a convoluted, indirect evacuee trail jumped up. Paris to Marseille, over the Mediterranean to Oran, at that point via train, or auto, or foot, over the edge of Africa, to Casablanca in French Morocco. Here the blessed ones, through cash or impact or karma, may acquire leave visas and hurry to Lisbon, and from Lisbon to the New World. Be that as it may, others hold up in Casablanca, and pause - and pause - and wait†. With this voice over we get a spinning globe, at that point a level guide to demonstrate where the setting fits in worldwide terms. We likewise get film of outcasts moving, giving more surface to the words. As the guide blurs we get a fix of a minaret (tower close to a mosque), proposing the Muslim setting of North Africa. The bustling shot of the abounding road loaded with dealers further improves ur feeling of the spot †there are numerous Muslims in the image, however the signs on shops are in French, again recommending the pioneer foundation. As the content puts it: â€Å"The veneers of the Moorish structures offer path to a tight winding road swarmed with the bilingual existence of a local quarter. The serious desert sun holds the scene in a lethargic t ranquillity†. The subsequent universal war foundation is accentuated by the shot of a police officer perusing a dire newsflash †German messengers killed, â€Å"suspicious characters† to be gathered together. These are Europeans or Westerners, one of whom is shot attempting to get away. He had been convey French opposition pamphlets, giving us a further knowledge into the war setting. Out of sight we see a banner of Marshal Petain, pioneer of the Vichy Government that teamed up with the Nazis. The disarray of the spot, particularly for outsiders is appeared by the couple at the bistro †â€Å"We hear almost no and we see even less†. We catch wind of the â€Å"customary gathering of refugees† and there’s a trace of the misuse natural in this sort of setting †delightful young ladies remembered for the gathering, for Monsieur Renault, the Police Chief. The normal wrongdoing in such a setting is additionally there †the European who pickpockets. Incidentally he had recently talked about the â€Å"scum† and â€Å"vultures† who have â€Å"gravitated† to Casablanca. Toward the finish of the scene we are again helped to remember the war setting by the appearance of the German official. Connections: Not quite a bit of intrigue yet. There’s a solid proposal that Renault is misusing helpless ladies, while we see a sentimental couple wanting to escape Casablanca via plane †a certified relationship stood out from connections dependent on misuse and maltreatment of intensity. 2. Ilsa and Laszlo visit Rick’s just because Connections: When Ilsa comes into the bar she trades some knowing looks with Sam, Rick’s musician proposing a past relationship or some likeness thereof. Taking into account when the film was made (1942) this wasn’t going to be anything among Ilsa and Sam, so the ramifications is by all accounts that there was a past relationship with Rick. The melody As Time Goes By goes about as a sort of image or shorthand to recommend this †Ilsa requests that Sam play it, yet we discover that Rick had let him know never to play it †probably as a result of the way that it evoked agonizing recollections of a past and bombed relationship. Sam proposes that Ilsa is misfortune for Rick. At the point when Rick and Ilsa meet they are in organization thus can't be forthcoming with one another. We need to figure out the real story, to figure from tone and non-verbal communication what was happening. Rick is clearly sore at Ilsa yet at the same time intrigued enough to make him defy his guideline about not drinking with clients. The way that she requests that Sam play their melody from Paris recommends she despite everything has an intrigue more than negligible interest. Laszlo and Ilsa appear to manage everything well. She shows worry for his security and we realize that he intends to remove her to opportunity on the off chance that they can escape Casablanca. Laszlo appears to be indifferent about his wife’s past relationship with Rick (accept it was only an associate apparently) and doesn’t appear to see the science among Rick and Ilsa. There’s no feeling that Rick has any disdain towards Laszlo as an adversary, in actuality he commends his political work †â€Å"I compliment you †¦ We all attempt. You succeed†. Social Context: More parts of the social setting are filled in here. The jazz music in the bar gives an American flavor, fitting to â€Å"Rick’s Cafe Americain†. Laszlo unobtrusively alludes to some political real factors †implying to Renault that the current French organization has not generally been as heartfelt as Renault is presently. He alludes to life in a death camp by implying to the Norwegian that one will in general free weight in such a spot. The underground opposition development is spoken to this time by the Norwegian, whose front is selling adornments. The universal flavor on this setting is again featured by the assortment of nationalities †Rick the white American, Sam the dark American, Laszlo the Czech, Renault the Frenchman, the Norwegian underground man, Major Strasser the German. The social setting of the time, equivalent to the setting in which the film was made is clear in the manner Ilsa alludes to Sam as the â€Å"boy†, yet she doesn’t mean any offense, nor is any taken. At the time in films dark individuals would just be appeared in modest jobs (counting diversion), and wouldn’t be the primary characters. The way of life of pay off is appeared by Renault’s being permitted to destroy charges he brings about at Rick’s. General Vision and Viewpoint Obviously we’re intended to respect crafted by Victor Laszlo. Rick, the principle character, communicates profound respect for his work †â€Å"we attempt, you succeed†. It must be exceptional if Rick, who generally appears to be skeptical, respects it. Laszlo is set up contrary to the Nazis who are introduced as awful battle ready harassers. Particularly in a film made during the war, and thinking about the idea of the Second World War, we are clearly intended to consider the To be as the miscreants, and the individuals who restrict them as the heroes, and this incorporates Laszlo. Sam says that Ilsa carries misfortune to Rick, yet there is no sign that the perspective of the film goes with such an eccentric mentality (intriguing that it’s the dark individual who is offbeat). On the off chance that anything the film is about the free decisions individuals settle on and the results of those decisions. 3. Rick’s Flashback to Paris Theme or Issue: Relationships This scene returns us to a prior, more joyful stage in the connection among Rick and Ilsa. We see this in their glad grinning faces †e. g. at the point when they are driving. It’s clearly a sentimental relationship. There’s a lot of kissing, moving, sentimental discussion, roses and so forth Having Paris as a setting adds to the sentimental air. This is reflected likewise in the glad music. The music sounds a note of danger when the Germans’ appearance in Paris is fast approaching. We witness what can to a relationship under danger from outside powers (â€Å"With the entire world disintegrating we pick this opportunity to fall in love†). It doesn’t harm the relationship; they respond in an approach to secure it †intending to get away. Anyway we additionally perceive how a relationship can be compromised by insider facts inside the relationship. Both acknowledge they don’t think a lot about each other’s past †however Ilsa tells Rick there was a man in her life yet he’s dead. This wouldn’t fundamentally be an issue, however there’s something incorrectly †at their last gathering Rick is eager about their arrangements to get away and even proposes marriage, yet she’s clearly uncomfortable with something. She, in any event, detects the detachment †would she say she is anguishing (as in the present) regardless of whether she’ll go with Rick or remain with Victor? ) â€Å"†¦if something should keep us apart†. We see the breakdown of a relationship when Rick is left at the station without Ilsa †just a letter that doesn’t truly clarify her intentions in not turning up. There’s clearly something going on that Rick doesn’t think about. We see what a serious impact this deserting by Ilsa has on Rick in his response at the station, and significantly more so in how disturbed he despite everything is in the present †appeared by the manner in which he is not long previously and soon after the flashback. We discover that connections can be difficult to give up †in the bar not long before the flashback Rick says that he knows she’ll return Cultural Context Many parts of the social setting are

Human Nature Exposed in Chaim Potoks The Chosen :: Potok Chosen Essays

Human instinct Exposed in The Chosen   â â â â A terrible thing is just really awful on the off chance that you neglect to make great of it.â The Picked by Chaim Potok is a testimant to the human capacity to learn, develop and thrive from adversity.â The story is loaded up with instances of circumstances in which something that may appear to be terrible at that point, later receives incredible benefits.   â â â â In the underlying part of The Chosen one of the fundamental characters, Reuven Malter, is struck in the eye by a baseball hit by the other primary character, Danny Saunders.â Surgery is required on Reuven's eye, and the future utilization of his eye is in doubt.â To most this may seem an awful circumstance, a horrendous thing to happen to a kid, yet Reuven and Danny are united by this tragic occurrence and build up a solid and remunerating friendship.â This fellowship of course has its good and bad times, yet by and large ends up being an important learning experience to both youngsters.   â â â â Danny is compelled to persevere through an ungainly and potentially savage circumstance for most of his developmental years.â Danny's dad never talks with him. Except for Talmud conversations and Danny's baseball crew thought, Danny what's more, his dad never speak.â This circumstance causes Danny a lot of enthusiastic torment, a torment which he can't grasp his dad's purposes behind inflicting.â His dad dreaded, and with reason, that if something were not done, Danny could never discover his soul.â After numerous years, Danny at long last gets it, what's more, acknowledges the explanations behind his dad's quietness, and is from multiple points of view thankful for its prosperity.   â â â â History is rich with individual, and wide instances of Potok's investigate human nature.â During the Second World War, America endured roughly four hundred thousand losses, yet arrived at a condition of national solidarity that has not been accomplished previously or after.â The war additionally finished the Great Depression that caused such a large number of individuals, child numerous problems.â The nuclear bombs dropped on the Japanese urban communities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki harvested significant demise and obliteration, yet forestalled far more.â Even as far back as scriptural occasions, the

Child Labour Result Of Globalization Research Paper

Youngster Labor Result Of Globalization - Research Paper Example Youngster work prompts infringement of common right of people, is dishonest, expands neediness, harms the picture of a country and association and causes medical problems for kids. Kid work is advanced due to its transient advantages including, decline in destitution, increment and increment in monetary turn of events. This paper will talk about the effect of globalization on kid work, the results related with it and the contentions in the kindness of kid work alongside an end. Globalization Promotes Child Labor Introduction International work association characterizes kid work as assignments that are denying kids with the option to have an adolescence and undertakings that are bad for the psychological and physical strength of the kids (International Labor Organization (a), 2013). Globalization prompts increment in return of merchandise, administrations and thoughts between various nations (Ritzer, 2012). Cigno states that expansion in globalization has brought about overwhelming di scussion about whether globalization is expanding or diminishing the rates of kid work (Cigno, 2002). Those in the kindness of globalization accept that globalization prompts decline in kid work. ... They express that if guardians see that the arrival of training is lower than the arrival increased through their child’s work, they will in general send their youngsters for work. Globalization prompts increment in rates of kid work and kid work ought not be polished in light of the fact that it denies youngsters from choosing what is acceptable and awful for them, it advances destitution and mediates in the intellectual and physical improvement of kids, kids are made to work in perilous conditions, kid work is exploitative and crushes the picture of the country that is rehearsing it. Body Globalization as a Cause of Child Labor Globalization has been considered liable for expanding the hole between the rich and poor people. World Bank expresses that the per capita pay all through the universe of created countries was multiple times higher than the poor countries during 1990 and this hole expanded by multiple times inside a time of 9 years (Raghavan, 2002). Since globalizatio n prompts increment in the degree of disparity just as destitution, it even outcomes in expanded use of youngster work. As per the Government of India, an immense bit of the work that was paid and directed outside the family units have moved to work that is being led inside the families. Because of this, few exercises, for example, creation of rugs, matches and glass are directed inside the family unit and substantial populaces of kids are associated with this work. As indicated by Kailash Satyarthi as the benefits got from the worldwide market rises, the utilization of kid work even increments and this is the reason there has been an enormous measure of increment in the quantity of youngsters working in enterprises that are send out arranged in

University Dissertation Writing Checklist

Dissertation Checklist Prior to submitting your dissertation, you can go through the following checklist to make sure that nothing important has been missed. All essential sections of the work are included. These are Abstract, Acknowledgements, Contents, Lists of Tables and Figures, Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Analysis and Findings, Conclusion, List of References, and Appendix. The Abstract is usually the first part of the dissertation which is placed before the table of contents, but is written last. The abstract is a short overview of the whole dissertation which provides the very gist of the research and its main outcomes. The Acknowledgements are also written after finishing the main text of the thesis so that you could have a chance to acknowledge those who helped you in your research or supervision. Introduction and Conclusion disclose what is done in the thesis. Introduction shows the relevance of the topic, the background, formulates the aim and objectives and shows the structure of the study. Conclusion summarises the work by showing whether the aim and objectives were attained in the study. The main chapters of the thesis expose in detail what is done in the study and how it is done. The narrative should be logical and consistent, critical and without mistakes. The text of the thesis should be formatted according to the requirements of the university; make sure each page as well as each table and figure is numbered. Check if the Reference list includes all sources mentioned in the text and is consistent in style through the work. All tables and figures should have headings and be referred to in the main text. Also, if they were taken from other sources, these sources should be mentioned below the tables and figures, as well as in the reference list. Finally, you should proofread all text and format spacing and font consistently.

Repetition Revision in Suzan-Lori Park’s History Plays and Topdog/Underdog - Literature Essay Samples

In her two decades as a playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks has tackled American history from many angles; while she shuffles themes of race, family, death, and time between each of her plays, they are all linked by the common structure of what she calls her â€Å"Repetition Revision† writing style. Most of her early work employs this jazz structure of repeated and rephrased dialogue as the framework for the play itself, which is more of a performance piece than a narrative. For example, the texts of 1994’s The America Play and 1990’s The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World (commonly referred to as Parks’s history plays) define the structure as something of a lyrical cacophony. However, her breakthrough 2002 Pulitzer-winning Topdog/Underdog reconfigures â€Å"Rep Rev† into a more traditional dramatic structure. Topdog/Underdog is grounded in natural dialogue, without overlapping or repeating, but it retains her stylistic ethos in its plot, which recycles historical narratives into a contemporary urban setting. It also features characters that attempt to revise their own personalities, but unlike the speakers in Parks’s history plays, who revise slave narratives to form authentic, self-created identities, the characters fail to meaningfully change their shameful conditions. Rather, the Rep Rev that occurs in Topdog/Underdog, most notably in the refrained form of the three-card monte routine, exists only to distract the characters from their responsibilities. While the figures of the early plays successfully subvert historical oppression, the protagonists of Topdog cannot prevent history from violently repeating itself, as their attempts to revise their identities do not reach the heart of the more pressing issues of poverty, sexism, and alcoholism that surround them. With this turnar ound in the significance of â€Å"Rep Rev,† Parks argues that issues of historical identity have been fairly well addressed, but that poor African American men need to shift their revisionary focus away from personal image and towards righting concrete social ills. â€Å"Repetition Revision† is a term that Parks herself coined in the foreword to The America Play, in an essay entitled â€Å"From Elements of Style.† She says the form of her dramatic writing is directly analogous to â€Å"the Jazz esthetic in which the composer or performer will write a musical phrase once and again and again; etc. – with each revisit the phrase is slightly revised† (Parks, The America Play 9). She applies this technique to textual phrases, from lines to entire acts, in her plays, to such an extent that â€Å"characters refigure their words and through a refiguring of language show that they are experiencing their situation anew† (9). She explains that it is an intentionally non-linear form: â€Å"In such plays we are not moving from A → B but rather, for example, A → A → A → B → A† (9). As such, the repetition can take on a metaphorical significance as â€Å"a literal incorporation of the past† for the characters and audience to reflect on (10). In each of the three plays, the â€Å"Rep Rev† device is used to support different metaphors, fitting with Parks’s ethos that â€Å"form and content are interdependent† (7). It follows, then, that the change in how â€Å"Rep Rev† is implemented from the history plays to Topdog can be an accurate barometer for how the themes of each play differ and evolve. The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World may not be Parks’s most cryptic play, but its complexity can be daunting. The post-modern text is riddled with allusions to James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Richard Wright, and the Bible, but has very little in the way of recognizable dialogue. Rather, the structure of the play is formed from overlapping phrases and monologues spoken by a menagerie of â€Å"Figures,† each a representation of a historical Black stereotype. Parks explicitly denies these figures the title of â€Å"character† because she does not want them to be misconstrued as representations of actual people (Parks, America 12). The figures’ speeches are refrained and altered in Parks’s signature style, changing either specific words or grammar to convey new metaphors. In this way, the stereotypical figures deconstruct themselves, line by line, as their speeches change in meaning. Alice Rayner and Harry J. Elam argue that the revisions that drive the play forward signify that Parks’s goal is â€Å"not only to challenge and re-write history, but to right history† (449). They argue that the linguistic revisions the figures make serve to challenge the racist beliefs about African Americans that each figure represents. One example of such revision is the mantra of the eponymous figure, Black Man With Watermelon, who dies before and many times during the play. He speaks one recurring line, â€Å"The black man moves his hands,† whose literal significance changes in each context (Parks, America 101). In all cases, though, it refers to some loss of independence or freedom, as his hands are bound with the leather straps of an electric chair and by lynching rope (Parks, America 108, 118). Rayner and Elam posit that the phrase is â€Å"Parks’s gestural, aural, visual, and theatrical signifier for crossing over into the world of the dead† (449). This follows the aforementioned scenes of his death with tied hands and a passage in the text, in which two figures question â€Å"Where he gonna go now that he done dieded?† and â€Å"Where he gonna go tuh move his hands?† (Parks, America 114). Rayner and Elam take this to mean that the motions of the hands themselves, each time met with resistance, represent the Black Man’s attempts to cease existing as a stereotype. This hypothesis fits, as the figure is defined by his stereotyped name and appearance but s eeks, in death, to move his own body parts, hitherto bound by violent circumstances. While the action of Death of the Last Black Man is focused on its central figure, Parks has made it clear that his deaths are emblematic of the accumulated violence against African Americans that has obscured their history. Rayner and Elam argue, â€Å"As his generic name suggests, he is the prototypical ‘Black Man’,† and cite Parks’ statement that â€Å"[African Americans are] a people who are honored or damned because of the actions of one of our group† and conclude that â€Å"the death of each black man who is hung, electrocuted, hunted down, or has fallen out of history counts equally as the death of the last black man. The death of every black man in the past inhabits the death of each black man in the present† (Rayner and Elam 451, Jacobus 1372). In writing and rewriting these deaths, Parks â€Å"rights† their legacy by reflecting on what caused them. While lynch violence is seldom forgotten, the deeper roots of racist stereotypes that have historically prevented African Americans from speaking out against such violence are in danger of being ignored as â€Å"a thing of the past.† Parks addresses these stereotypes head on, and shows that these â€Å"missing histories† continue to make their mark on the present. Indeed, the play is written in an intentionally nonlinear style to reflect its timelessness, as referenced in Black Man With Watermelon’s monologue on the conflation of past and present in the play’s setting. Alluding to Samuel Beckett’s characters’ tendencies to define themselves in temporally baffling terms, Parks includes phrases such as â€Å"Thuh me-has-been sits in thuh be-me† (Parks, America 126). The conflation of past and present tenses is a device Beckett used in Waiting for Godot and other plays, to emphasize that whatever occurs in the play does not depend on when it occurs or has occurred (Rayner and Elam 451). As such, the injustice that a fflicts The Last Black Man’s figures has occurred and does occur in some form or other in both the past and present of America Throughout the play, the dead man is prevented from moving his hands by various external forces and is thus left to haunt his wife, Black Woman With Fried Drumstick. As a presence that is dead but not gone, he signifies a stereotype born out of slavery that still looms over the present. The first impediment against â€Å"moving his hands† (i.e. getting rid of the stereotype thrust upon him) is the watermelon, a staple of the Pickaninny/Sambo image. He refutes the image of the docile slave, saying, â€Å"This does not belong tuh me. Somebody planted this on me. On me in my hands,† but he is powerless to let go, as another impediment takes the watermelon’s place (Parks, America 105). Before repeating, this time in first-person, â€Å"I would like tuh move my hands,† he describes his execution by electric chair: â€Å"The straps they have on me are leathern. See thuh cord waggin full with uh jump-juice try me tuh wiggle but belt leathern straps: width thickl y† (109, 108). The conflict changes from debunking the specific Sambo stereotype to dealing with legal injustice, but the continuity between the signifiers shows that they are a part of the same issue. This continuity is seen in the repetition of the â€Å"hands† line into a revised context. In both cases, the man incredulously questions the stereotype that has become his identity; the line â€Å"melon mines?† is echoed in the similarly phrased line â€Å"forearm mines?† (108). He moves from questioning the validity of the Sambo stereotype that he has no control over to questioning the reality of his electrocuted arm. He must not only question the watermelon and execution paraphernalia thrust upon him, but also his own arms, the driving forces behind the hand motion that can free him. He realizes that his own concept of self, the metaphorical vision of his dying body, must also be refuted in order to bring the â€Å"dead† stereotypes to final rest. In this way, Parks explores the impossibility of refuting stereotypes by only erasing their visual, surface-layer record rather than questioning one’s own complicity in self-stereotyping. This is seen in the figures’ twice repeated exchange of â€Å"Whose fault is it? Aint mines,† in response to â€Å"The black man bursts into flames. The black man bursts into blames† (103). The implication in this line is that the chorus of stereotypes refuses to believe in their guilt, and choose to blame all, rather than most, of their misfortune on their white creators. Only by considering his own stereotyped body as a dubious construct, rather than just the situations that surround it, can the central figure redefine himself apart from any stereotype. In the play’s â€Å"Final Chorus,† in which all the figures celebrate the central stereotype’s final death, the universal Black Man comes to terms with the concept that â€Å"Thuh tongue itself burns itself,† that he is partially to blame for his prolonged suffering (Parks, America 130). His past attempts to â€Å"turn thuh page† on his stereotyped identity failed because he took no accountability for propagating the stereotype, and sought only to deny its hold on him. With the Black Man’s final passing, Parks’ revision wipes the slate clean, leaving a void in place of harmful false identities. Parks’s earlier piece, The America Play, attempts to fill that identity void with its main character’s acts of revision. The America Play is set in the limbo-like â€Å"exact replica of the Great Hole of History,† a carnivalesque vision of America in which cultural artifacts are buried (Parks, America 159). The first act con sists of a black Abraham Lincoln impersonator telling his life story, in which the lines between his past and present are blurred. He makes his living by acting out abbreviated bullet points of history, specifically Lincoln’s speeches and assassination, but, in true Parks style, he remixes such well-known plots into a personal narrative. So, when the impersonator, known as the Foundling Father, fails to improve his lot in the world, he cannot deny his own involvement. If there is anything to blame, it is an internalized form of prejudice that keeps him down. This is exemplified by the subservience the imitator, who refers to himself as the â€Å"Lesser Known† in his history, holds to the legacy of the actual President Lincoln, the â€Å"Great Man,† to such an extent that he wishes he â€Å"would have had at least a chance at the honor of digging the Great Mans grave† (161). Nicole Hodges Persley explains this shift: â€Å"The Last Black Man addresses lit eral acts of violence, lynching, electrocution, etc. against African American men, and their impact on the African American community. The America Play focuses on the psychological violence, the embodiment of social values attributed to blackness and whiteness† (72). In the first act of The America Play, the whiteface Lincoln repeats and revises a series of verbal and visual tics that acknowledge the overbearing material presence of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy in American culture. From â€Å"A wink to Mr. Lincolns pasteboard cutout† to â€Å"A nod to the bust of Mr. Lincoln,† Parks gives a number of stage directions, paired with an out-loud narration of each action, for the â€Å"Foundling Father,† the impersonator, to enact (The America Play 160, 161). Andrea J. Goto argues that this seemingly strange imitation of and obsession with a white cultural figure can be traced to the fact that â€Å"the Lincoln myth belongs to African Americans at least as much, if not more than, to white Americans† (120). Thus, the Foundling Father’s repeated deferential acknowledgement of Mr. Lincoln, â€Å"the Great Man,† combined with his revisionary tendency to spruce up his act with historically inaccurate beards creates what Persley considers a â€Å"remixed† identity that is born out of pressures to conform to white culture, but grows into a form that straddles the lines between Black and White, past and present (The America Play 161, 168). With the Foundling Father’s anachronistic performance, Parks denies â€Å"white historical authenticity, showing how fickle, flawed, and skewed it is† (Kolin 14). By revising (and thus refuting) the myths of white cultural superiority, but having a character repeat them (nods to bust, etc.), Parks highlights the fact that in the past-present continuity of American culture, white hegemony has become more visible and recognizable, but it still continues to have an indisputably profound influence on the lives of African Americans. In this way, Parks argues that the roots of oppression may not be destroy ed, but that they can be undermined, by historical revision. As a departure from her previous work, Topdog/Underdog employs its novel versions of â€Å"Rep Rev† in a linear, realistic plot structure to more drastically change the focus of Parks’s writing. Moving the plays’ action into the factual present, Topdog/Underdog starts from the same assumption that Repeating and Revising history can have a positive impact on African American identities, but, by the end of the play, the tragic inevitability of the characters’ fratricide implies that the revisions they struggle for actually have a negative impact on their lives. Topdog also features a black Lincoln impersonator, but one who wishes more to distance himself from that identity than to hybridize it with his own. The play follows the domestic troubles between this Lincoln and his brother Booth and their history as three-card monte con men. In Topdog, Parks mostly abandons the use of repeating and revis ing dialogue wholesale, and instead allows the characters to converse normally, but she applies her style to the metatextual scheme of the play itself. With characters named Booth and Lincoln, the assassination of one by the other is expected, so Parks sets up the audience to look out for any deviations from this historical trend. The only major revision in this capacity is the familial motivation that was not present in the historical assassination. Otherwise, the revisions that Booth and Lincoln apply to their predetermined identities actually prevent them from changing the historical trend of violence by and against black men. The cycles of violence from The Last Black Man are combined with The America Play’s theme of identity insecurities in the character of Booth. As the â€Å"Underdog† of the play, he is bitterly jealous of his brother’s success in hustling and romance, and consequently seeks to reinvent himself in his brother’s image. He attempts to reinvent himself as a violent, successful card hustler named â€Å"3-Card† when faced with the reality of his fiscal insecurity: â€Å"Anybody not calling me 3-Card gets a bullet† (Parks, Topdog 107). Booth’s attempts to distance himself from a past of poverty and familial neglect only plunge him into a deeper hole, as his violent delusions eventually lead him to murdering his girlfriend and his brother (107, 108). Jochen Achilles explains that â€Å"Booth’s perception of the world and himself can be described as a naà ¯ve acceptance of appearances and the belief . . . in the possibility of identity change via the doubtful magic of a name† (107). The history plays’ figures succeed in reinventing themselves because they spend a whole play refiguring their language and actions to support the new identities they arrive at by the end of the play. Booth, however, simply repeats the monte routine – â€Å"Watch me close now watch me close now: who-see-thuh-red-card-who-see-the-red-card?† etc. – (without revision between scenes) and lies to himself, saying that he â€Å"wins all the money† (5, 6). In fact, his hustling practice, referred to in stage directions as â€Å"clumsy† and â€Å"studied and awkward,† does nothing to support himself or his brother (16, 5). Furthermore, he is blind to the parasitic effects of the hustling lifestyle, explained by Lincoln as the guilt that made him quit that life: â€Å"We took a father for the money he was gonna get his kids new bike with and he cried in the street . . . Swore off thuh cards. Something inside me telling me –† (54). By revising himself into a gangster identity without repeating his brother’s success, and repeating the monte scam without revising the criminal element that drove Lincoln away, Booth undergoes an incomplete and counteractive transformation. While Booth, the murderer, ultimately thwarts either brother’s attempts revise himself out of shame, in keeping with The Last Black Man’s message, the victim shares some of the blame. Lincoln’s failed attempts at repetition and revision in Topdog generally follow the same pattern of historical reinterpretation as those of the Foundling Father. They share the role of a carnie who reenacts Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Topdog’s Lincoln, unlike the Foundling Father, tries to make a clear distinction between his job and his personal identity: â€Å"Fake beard. Top hat. Don’t make me into no Lincoln. I was Lincoln on my own before any of that† (28). This assertion, however, is challenge by Booth’s insistence that Lincoln plays the role â€Å"too real,† and by Link’s â€Å"Best Customer,† who asks him â€Å"Does thuh show stop when no ones watching or does the show go on?† (50, 32). The latter conjecture is proven by Lincoln’s hesitance to change the routine in any meaningful way because his white audience likes â€Å"they historical shit in a certain a way. They like it to unfold the way they folded it up† (50). Unlike the Foundling Father, who synthesizes the Lincoln story with his own, Topdog’s Lincoln, in an attempt to separate himself from a predefined identity, repeats the mainstream, heroic (white) vision of Lincoln’s death as best he can, even though he’s â€Å"uh brother playing Lincoln. Its uh stretch for anyones imagination† (51). By acting out a pitch-perfect Honest Abe, Lincoln hopes to prove that he is very different outside of the costume, disproving the legacy of his name. Paradoxically, by focusing so much on this identity revision, Lincoln only repeats an old routine, just like Booth’s monte, and fails to enact meaningful change in his life. As Booth and Lincoln try in vain to escape their fates, they blind themselv es to the negative effects of their poverty-stricken life. Addiction, especially, is an issue Lincoln deals with daily, but with denial. He drinks or refers to drinking in most scenes, and shows his alcoholic dependence by calling the whiskey â€Å"med-sin† (9, 24, 63, 83). When liquor isn’t available, he â€Å"studies [cards] like an alcoholic would study a drink,† revealing his susceptibility to addiction in any form (55). Alcoholism is revealed to be a cornerstone of his personality when Lincoln tells Booth, â€Å"[our father] was drunk when he told me, or maybe I was drunk when he told me . . . why he named us both. Lincoln and Booth† (22). The name, whose connotations Lincoln tries to shrug off throughout the play, is intrinsically connected to both his and his father’s alcoholism. So, if Lincoln wants to escape from his name and all that it implies he must also seek soberness. He fails, as he turns away from his ‘Honest Abe act’ of identity revision and back into his drinking. This is sho wn in the stage directions at the end of the scene in which Lincoln practices his routine: â€Å"He gets up, considers giving the new moves another try† (35). The ultimate sign of Lincoln’s failure to revise his identity is his repeated drinking. Booth’s main vice, on the other hand, is womanizing. An integral of his 3-Card fantasy is his hypothetical success with women. He invents schemes to impress and dominate women, such as stealing his girlfriend and expensive ring, but in a smaller size so she won’t be able to remove it and reject him (8). Because his lack of money marks him as a deadbeat, Booth resorts to manipulation tactics, revealing his sexist mentality. For example, he realizes he needs a phone because â€Å"you get a filly to give you her numerophono and gone is the days when she just gives you her number and dont ask for yrs† (30). He denigrates women as â€Å"fillys,† objects of sexual desire, that he seeks to control. This mi ndset follows directly from his attempts to reinvent himself as a successful hustler, as sexual prowess figures prominently in his fantasy (18). Booth’s sexism shows that his vain attempts at identity revision lead only to lechery, not better fortune. Extrapolating from Lincoln and Booth’s misfortunes and misdeeds to a general trend among poor black men (following Last Black Man’s concept of theatrical universality), Parks argues that misguided concerns about identity cripple attempts to change poor African Americans’ social standing. While her previous plays hinted at the opportunity to change a â€Å"predetermined path† of shame and misery by reevaluating the paths of prejudice that lead to it, Topdog/Underdog concludes that such strategies may only distract from other pressing concerns of an urban black populace. Achilles notes that the games Booth and his brother play, with the Lincoln reenactment and the card scam at the forefront, â€Å"are prisons and traps rather than instruments of viable self-invention† (122). These traps of repetition prove fatal for Lincoln and damning for Booth on the last pages of Topdog/Underdog, as an American history of violence comes full circle (Parks, Topdog/U nderdog 108). Suzan-Lori Parks takes â€Å"Rep Rev† out of her dialogue and into her characters’ lives, she comments on how progressive cultural revision cannot exist today without shameful historical repetition.