1.) The tension between the north and south played a defining role in shaping early American society. For this question, discuss how the north and south diverged from from one another from the 1790s to the end of Reconstruction in 1877. Discuss three events happened that caused this tension? Who were the major figures in both the north and south, and what specifically did they argue? I recommend that you discuss two of the following: the 1) political, 2) social, and 3) philosophical differences that emerged between the north and south, and explain why these societies ultimately proved so incompatible.

Next, answer Part II with a 750 word. Use A SHORT, OFFHAND KILLING AFFAIR as your prime source of evidence and YOU MUST CITE SPECIFIC PASSAGES WITH PAGE NUMBERS FROM THIS BOOK to earn a passing grade on this question. ONLY USE COURSE MATERIALS.

1.) In A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair, author Paul Foos contends that the American military army and volunteer forces that invaded Mexico represent an accurate cross section of American society and American views on race and ethnicity during the 1840s. Utilizing Foos, explain the state of race relations and racial attitudes in America during the U.S. Mexican War; what specific actions did the U.S. military forces take in Mexico that prove many among the American forces were racist? Provide specific examples from the book that might be indicative of how Americans viewed the Mexican people, as well as other peoples they perceived as racially different.

Next, utilize your course book to detail a few instances of how the racial attitudes described by Foos during the 1840s set the tone for the way Americans continued to deal with people they perceived as different (African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans) from the end of the U.S. Mexican War to the end of Reconstruction in 1877. You may also discuss, if you like, immigration’s impact on how America struggled over the issue of who should be included in American society and who should be excluded based on race and ethnicity.

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.

God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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