Literary Response 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literary Response 1 - Essay Example This does not reflect a scary concept or notion, whereas, it even seems like a near to pleasant experience for her. For her, the concept of death was intense, but lines like ‘Safe in their alabaster chambers,’ in the poem The Sleeping (Dickinson, 2005, line 1) and ‘I heard a fly buzz when I died’ (Dickinson, 2005, line 1) in the poem that goes by the same name clearly illustrate that she was fascinated with this subject. The casual tone that she uses for death by referring to it as ‘he’ or by bringing about the reference of a fly is in fact a reflection of how deeply she thought about death. Therefore, one key voice that comes out in Dickinson’s poetry is her obsession with death. Closely related with the voice of death is the tone of morbidity that one can sense in Dickinson’s poetry. Emotions like pain, separation and hunger surface often in her poetry, giving out a strong sense of morbidity (Eberwein, 1998). The line, ‘Pai n has an element of blank; It cannot recollect, When it began’ in the poem ‘Pain’ (Dickinson, 2005, line 1-3), brings about a sensation of overpowering and almost numbing pain that is experienced in extreme situations.

A Theoretical Analysis of the Narrative of Migration Essay

A Theoretical Analysis of the Narrative of Migration - Essay Example People migrated to other countries with an aim of making their living standards better (Brah 1996, p. 32). Just like Mohamed who ran away from home to look for a better life, migration has been the order of the day especially people moving from developing countries to those that are well developed. When these people move to other countries, they end up forming Diaspora communities. They are forced to learn the new cultures and cope up with people with different behaviors as compared to theirs thus forming Diaspora identity (Hall 1996, p. 85). In Mohamed’s narrative of migration, it is clear that Mohamed was continuously looking for a way to get a well-paying job in the UK. He worked in Aden for two years but became unhappy with his long working hours with very low pay. As a strong-minded young man, Mohamed decided to move to Hargeisa which was the capital city of Somali. While there, he managed to get a passport that enabled him to move to the United Kingdom to work as a seama n. This clearly indicates that people were moving to foreign countries to better their lives. When he arrived in the UK, Mohamed found the western culture totally different from his own country. There was free mixing of both men and women, unlike his country where nearly everyone is a Muslim and thus their culture do not permit the mixing of men and women in the society. He also realized that the infrastructural facilities such as roads, railway lines, bridges and even buildings were of high standards when compared to his own country. Despite all these, Mohamed felt isolated and it even became difficult to learn the western culture which was different from that of Somaliland (Bauder 2006, p. 77). There are various problems faced by immigrants as they moved to other countries, for example, language barrier, cultural barriers, racism, under employment based on low levels of education, and even homesickness (Brubaker 2005, p. 49). Mohamed went through so many challenges when he arrived in London. He had thought that in the UK, people lived happily and enjoyed life without struggle. Surprisingly the case was different since he rented a house and looked for a job within a span of 6 months with no achievement. The main hindrance was his little English that

Contribution toward ENG 105 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Contribution toward ENG 105 - Essay Example Like for many students, expressing ideas through writing seems enjoyable to me and it is therefore important to establish the different writing accomplishments throughout the semester. Beginning my college experience this semester, I felt that I had performed at a slightly lower level pertaining the reading and writing proficiency. The justification for this rating can be based upon my first assignment on the response to the â€Å"front and back matter† of RGRW and Real Boys which required students to have a definite introduction, conclusion, thesis, and of course, transitions, quotations and organization. My references were incomplete, they did not follow an alphabetical order and the paper did not only lack in text citations, but also the works cited page in the reference section. I used a rather simple business writing style in writing up the assignment, a style that I had been using to write for the past couple of years. In addition, the paragraph transitions were to a large extent non-existent and prolixity was such a big problem. All through the college experience, taking the Basic English and literature classes have enabled me to address the issue of competency. For instance, the English 105 class has enabled me to learn on the various essentialities of both the spoken and written language. From the class, I have been able to gain knowledge on how to cite references and use proper works cited pages. Besides, I have also learnt the different writing formats such as the MLA, Harvard and APA for typing papers. The argument-based English class that I took equally enabled me to realize that every paper needs to have a flow and transition with specific points to highlight and echo on. In my second assignment, the instructor gave us a paper that was based on the observations made on the different aspects in the campus. This assignment enabled me to gain the ability to make a

A Theoretical Analysis of the Narrative of Migration Essay

A Theoretical Analysis of the Narrative of Migration - Essay Example People migrated to other countries with an aim of making their living standards better (Brah 1996, p. 32). Just like Mohamed who ran away from home to look for a better life, migration has been the order of the day especially people moving from developing countries to those that are well developed. When these people move to other countries, they end up forming Diaspora communities. They are forced to learn the new cultures and cope up with people with different behaviors as compared to theirs thus forming Diaspora identity (Hall 1996, p. 85). In Mohamed’s narrative of migration, it is clear that Mohamed was continuously looking for a way to get a well-paying job in the UK. He worked in Aden for two years but became unhappy with his long working hours with very low pay. As a strong-minded young man, Mohamed decided to move to Hargeisa which was the capital city of Somali. While there, he managed to get a passport that enabled him to move to the United Kingdom to work as a seama n. This clearly indicates that people were moving to foreign countries to better their lives. When he arrived in the UK, Mohamed found the western culture totally different from his own country. There was free mixing of both men and women, unlike his country where nearly everyone is a Muslim and thus their culture do not permit the mixing of men and women in the society. He also realized that the infrastructural facilities such as roads, railway lines, bridges and even buildings were of high standards when compared to his own country. Despite all these, Mohamed felt isolated and it even became difficult to learn the western culture which was different from that of Somaliland (Bauder 2006, p. 77). There are various problems faced by immigrants as they moved to other countries, for example, language barrier, cultural barriers, racism, under employment based on low levels of education, and even homesickness (Brubaker 2005, p. 49). Mohamed went through so many challenges when he arrived in London. He had thought that in the UK, people lived happily and enjoyed life without struggle. Surprisingly the case was different since he rented a house and looked for a job within a span of 6 months with no achievement. The main hindrance was his little English that

Us War Against Iraq Essay Example for Free

Us War Against Iraq Essay The Bush Administration in June of 2003 first attacked but than later withdrew its troops from Syria. There was no significant explanation for this act by the United States. This was a pure and simple aggression. Than later in August of 2003 George Bush told his people that he is going to launch a more destructive attack on his arch rivals around the world. Than George Bush was approving Israel’s leader Ariel Sharon act of aggression against the Lebanon’s, Palestine’s and Syrians. The World War 3 was not far away at this point. In the beginning of 2004, in the presidential campaign George Bush clearly pointed out the clear picture of the prospect on more aggression on different countries. Was this extra aggression a way for George Bush to win his first Election? Or he wanted to steal the Presidency of United States from the people of America like he did in 2000? When the Bush Jr. administrations aggression against Iraq was over, the United States and the United Kingdom became the â€Å"belligerent occupants† of Iraq in accordance with, and subject to the requirements of, the laws of war. Bush Jr. s May 1, 2003 â€Å"end of major combat operations† speech on the deck of a U. S. aircraft carrier was nothing more than a cheap campaign and legally deceptive propaganda stunt. Succinctly put, these legal rules of war can be found in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, its Additional Protocol One of 1977, the Hague Regulations of 1907, and U. S. Army Field Manual 27–10 (1956), which require, inter alia, the preservation of Iraqs constitutional and domestic legal order. Nevertheless, the Bush Jr. administration made it crystal clear that they were going to remake Iraq in their own image and thus not pay the least bit of attention to the laws of war. This has entailed a range of policies which would further U. S. /U. K. interests while seeking to drastically curtail future Iraqi options, e. g. , â€Å"privatization† of the Iraqi economy, including and especially its oil industry; drafting a new constitution for Iraq to determine the nature and extent of its democracy; re-writing Iraqs laws; establishing ad hoc war crimes tribunals along the lines of the Bush Jr. kangaroo courts in Guantanamo; de-Baathification; indoctrinating Iraqi schoolchildren with American propaganda through extensive â€Å"reform† of its education system; etc. All of this serves to put the future of Iraq up for sale to the lowest American (and then British and Israeli) bidders. Such violations of the laws of war are war crimes, establishing the legal predicate for a legitimate Iraqi government in the future to repudiate them all. Oil and Gas as the Key to Global Dominance There is no denying that oil was at the top of the Bush Jr. / Sr. hit-list and the fact that Iraq possesses about 11% of the worlds oil reserves. Indeed, prior thereto it was the thirst and lust for oil and natural gas by the American power elite that really propelled the Bush Jr. administrations aggression against Afghanistan: the need to gain direct access to the rich oil and natural gas fields of Central Asia, which marked the first exploitation of the terrible tragedy of September 11 as public justification for a pre-planned war of aggression under the pretext of â€Å"combating international terrorism. Though according to the Bush Jr. administrations version of events, 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were from Saudi Arabia, for some mysterious reason America had to attack, invade, and occupy Afghanistan. Bush administration functionaries continue to lie, cover up, and obstruct investigations into who was ultimately responsible for the terrible tragedy of September 11, and why no one in the Bush Jr. administration acted to prevent it despite numerous, repeated, and widespread warnings beforehand from American as well as European diplomats and agencies. We are witnessing a Pearl Harbor cover-up all over again. The Bush Jr. Wars of aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq must be understood as part of a major grab by the United States government for global energy resources and the attendant power to be derived from controlling about two-thirds of the worlds oil and natural gas supplies located around this Eurasian heartland. Such an assault had been contemplated and planned by the U. S. power elite for quite some time, dating back to the Kissinger threat and plan to steal the Arab oil fields in reaction to the 1973 Arab oil embargo of the West for assisting Israel in its war to hold on to the Arab lands Israel had illegally stolen in its 1967 aggressions against the surrounding Arab states and peoples. The collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the disintegration of the Soviet Union provided the U. S. power elite with the opportunity to put their Machiavellian scheme for world economic hegemony into operation. But the Bush Jr. Wars of aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq must be seen as more than the seizure of oil for domestic consumption. Rather, they are components of a longstanding American plan to control and dominate the oil and natural gas supplies for Europe, Japan, and Asia, and thus the future of the worlds economy—a project my teacher, mentor, and later friend, the late and great Professor Hans Morgenthau once denominated as â€Å"unlimited imperialism† in his classic work Politics Among Nations. Tied into this was the subsidiary objective of making sure that oil continues to be paid for in dollars instead of Euros on the open market. The Bush Sr. 1991 war against Iraq for oil was the first battle in the U. S. quest for world economic hegemony. These subsequent events must be viewed in the same light: the Bush Sr. invasion of Somalia; the Clinton/ Bush Jr. military intervention into Colombia; Bush Jr. s support for the anti Chavez failed coup in oil-rich Venezuela; the post-9/11 U. S. military intervention into and occupation of Djibouti in order to control the Suez Canal/ Persian Gulf oil route to Europe, and also to obtain direct military access to the oil and natural gas resources around the Horn of Africa; the August 2003 U. S. military intervention into Liberia, once again to grab direct military access to the oil and natural gas resources located off and on the West Coast of Africa; etc. Whatever the public rhetoric or justification might be, the fact of the matter is that if the reader looks at a map of the world, the United States government has its military, paramilitary, and covert forces converging upon and/or threatening almost every country in the world that possesses significant quantities of oil or natural gas, as well as their transportation supply-lines and the latters choke-points. Many of these energy-resource-rich countries just happen to be Muslim. That reveals what Huntingtons infamous â€Å"Clash of Civilizations† was really all about. Our clash is their civilization. After September 11, Bush Jr. himself proudly boasted that he was going on a Crusade. Certainly that is the way the Muslim world sees it: an American fundamentalist mission to remake â€Å"world order† in Americas imperialist image—not as democracies, but as client or even failed states—while fomenting world disorder in the process. In this relentless quest and insatiable lust for oil and gas around the world, the United States power elite is now in the process of destroying the entirety of the international legal order that had been established by a predecessor elitist generation running the United States government in the aftermath of and in reaction to the genocidal horrors of the Second World War. Most particularly and especially, this includes, inter alia, the United Nations Charter, as well as the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles, all of which had heretofore been the bedrock upon which the entirety of the post-World War II international legal order rested. Preventive Warfare: The Nazi Precedent Iraq had been continuously and illegally bombed by the United States and the United Kingdom since the end of the Bush Sr. Gulf War in 1991 under the pretext of enforcing unauthorized and clearly illegal no-fly zones. But in order to accomplish their objective of seizing Iraq outright, the Bush Jr. warmongers had to articulate another operational rationale for a war of aggression that they could then sell to the American people and Congress that was separate and apart from their fatuous â€Å"war against international terrorism. † So they resurrected the long-ago discredited Nazi doctrine of â€Å"preventive warfare,† once again using the terrible tragedy of 11 September 2001 as a pretext for doing so. The first overt step in their plan was the Bush Jr. aggressive threat to Iraq uttered during the course of his State of the Union Address to the United States Congress on 29 January 2002, in which he branded Iraq as part of a so-called â€Å"axis of evil† along with Iran and North Korea. By means of employing this provocative language harkening back to the World War II â€Å"axis† of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan, the Bush Jr. administration was deliberately preparing the ground for bogus claims to launch preventive wars against all three of these U. N. member states. Iraq was at the top of the Bush Jr. hit list. Having been materially and psychologically debilitated by over a decade of genocidal economic sanctions imposed upon its people by the United Nations Security Council acting at the behest of the United States and the United Kingdom, Iraq and its oil fields were finally ripe for the imperial picking by Bush Jr. and his right-hand henchman, Tony Blair. By contrast, North Korea and Iran could be expected to defend themselves by inflicting enormous casualties against an aggressor. As on the Southside of Chicago, bullies prefer to pick upon hapless victims. The Nazi doctrine of preventive warfare was publicly articulated by President Bush Jr. in his 1 June 2002 commencement address at the West Point Military Academy. Then in late August of 2002, Vice President Cheney signaled the formal commencement of the Bush Jr. war of aggression against Iraq by giving two public speeches before the Veterans of Foreign Wars (Aug. 26) and the Korean War Veterans (Aug. 29) in which he too publicly touted the Nazi doctrine of preventive warfare against Iraq. The U. S. news media were too obeisant to observe that though warmongering for a war against Iraq before these former soldiers who had actually gone to war, Cheney had ducked out of the Vietnam War, as had Bush, Jr. Wolfowitz and the rest of the Bush Jr. administrations Straussian Neo-Con cabal were too busy studying Machiavelli and Nietzsche with Strauss, Bloom, and their acolytes from the University of Chicago. Unlike the WWII American power elite, many of whose sons actually fought in combat (e. g. , Bush Sr. ), the contemporary American power elite prefers to send the children of poor blacks, Latinos, and whites off to kill and be killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, as did their elitist predecessors a generation ago in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Indeed a Class war. Finally, in September 2002 the Bush Jr. Administration officially approved and adopted the â€Å"National Security Strategy of the United States,† fully embracing this reprehensible, criminal, and Nazi doctrine of preventive warfare, and transmitted it to the U. S. Congress as a declaration of official policy by the United States of America.. Certainly its most odious language is: â€Å"†¦ we recognize that our best defense is a good offense†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In other words, the United States government has publicly admitted in an official government document that it is now prepared to wage offensive warfare against adversaries of its choosing around the world irrespective of the requirements of, inter alia, the United Nations Charter, the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact, as well as the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles. This official U. S. government document could be filed with the International Court of Justice in The Hague as proof-positive that it is now the official policy of the United States government to wage criminal wars of aggression against other U. N. member states in violation of the most elementary principles of the contemporary international legal order that would be too numerous to list here. The document is nothing less than what lawyers call an â€Å"Admission against Interest. † In brief, the Bush Jr. administration has officially incriminated the United States of America under international law and practice. Such is the arrogance of Power—which usually spells its downfall! Even more disturbingly, while it was publicly campaigning for a war of aggression against Iraq, in December 2002 the Bush Jr. administration released its so-called â€Å"National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction,† which was published on the web-page for the White House itself. This supplementary Nazi war plan calls for the first use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)–-chemical, biological, and nuclear—by the United States government under the justification of waging a preventive or preemptive war. Of course this Nazi Doctrine of Preventive Warfare is nothing more than a pretext for waging a war of aggression in the first place. So the Bush Jr. administration officially signaled that it is fully prepared to be the first to use WMD. It would do so against its chosen adversaries around the world as part of an offensive military operation, or even to launch a full-scale war itself, thereby evoking shades of Hiroshima and Nagasaki! North Korea took notice and responded accordingly to defend itself. Reference Page †¢ James Moore (2004) Book Title: Bushs War for Reelection: Iraq, the White House, and the People. Publisher: Wiley. Place of Publication: Hoboken, NJ.

The Multifaceted Topic of Free College

The Multifaceted Topic of Free College In a world where blue-collar jobs are considered unappealing by many, an increasing amount of individuals have begun to choose to attend college in the hopes of achieving prestigious positions in the white-collar industry. Unfortunately, however, ones decision to further their education at post-secondary school can have one rather drastic unforeseen consequence: thousands of dollars worth of debt. As a result of this growing epidemic plaguing college students around the nation, rallying cries for free higher education have begun to spring up throughout the country. But, for as many logical, thought-out arguments that exist in support of free college, there are just as many against it. In fact, as highlighted in Dissent Magazines special issue titled Arguments on the Left, in which three different authors share their differing viewpoints regarding free higher education, this debate is anything but simple and is more complex than individuals would both hope and imagine. As a result, on e can only conclude that the idea of free college, while idealistic and tempting, is not completely beneficial nor easily achieved, especially after taking these three articles and their varying arguments into consideration. The first of the three articles, Tressie McMillan Cottoms Why Free College is Necessary, takes a die-hard stance on the supportive side of the free college debate. Believing that higher education should be free regardless of what it can and cannot achieve, Cottom preaches the words and ideas that every college student that has ever faced debt wants to hear. However, while Cottoms argument surely makes sense from the humanitarian side of things, it fails to delve into where the funds are going to come from. Logically speaking, funds from either the state or government that would help students attend college for free would come from the taxpayers own wallets. In a country that is already in a large amount of debt, with public institutions and services often taking the brunt of cutbacks, increasing the amount taxpayers have to contribute in order to provide students with a free college education shouldnt necessarily be a top priority. Additionally, Cottom states, An educational justice policy must include institutions of higher education but cannot only include institutions of higher education (Cottom). Unfortunately, this adds even more burden to an already overwhelming financial undertaking. According to this logic, this notion of free education must expand beyond the boundaries of college and into the realm of trade schools as well, which only increases the cost that cannot easily be paid. Furthermore, Cottom also points out that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦free college would likely benefit only an outlying group of students who are currently shut out of higher education because of cost (Cottom). While I wholeheartedly believe that everyone who wants to learn should, regardless of their economic standing, looking at the situation from this point of view can cause one to question the validity of the whole endeavor. That is, what way does it make sense to undertake such a huge financial burden if free college wont necessarily benefit everyone? Much like Cottoms argument, Mike Konczals article titled, Generation Debt, also approaches the topic of free higher education from a rather positive stance. Konczal proclaims that education is a right that every human should have access to, and insists that the government be the ones responsible for providing the service. However, instead of insinuating that higher education be provided for free, Konczal points out that part of the root of the problem regarding student debt in particular is the fact that there has been large-scale disinvestment from and privatization of post-secondary education. Arguing that, Higher educationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦shouldnt be left to a handful of private schools, where administrators pursue their own objectives independent of public need, or to the market, which is only interested in how much it can profit at any given time (Konczal), he exposes the fact that colleges and universities around the nation are run more like businesses than anything else. In doin g this, students are placed at a disadvantage because they are merely pawns, often attending schools that exist not for the betterment of our nations citizens, but to exploit as much money as possible from the unsuspecting and undeserving. Only worsening the situation is the fact that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦public disinvestment in the states has been paired with generous tax cuts for rich individuals and corporations (Konczal). Combined with the money-making machine that is higher education, the fact that states have chosen to side with the rich and powerful instead of standing with their own constituents only ensures that the rich will get richer and the poor, poorer. Furthermore, as stated by Konczal, National conversations on higher education are often dominated by a few elite schools, so they ignore the promise of mobility offered by the state system (Konczal). As a result of this, community college is often frowned upon and deemed obscure, despite the fact that attending a two year sc hool can save students thousands of dollars. In addition to falling into the trap of capitalist-oriented colleges, many students also choose not to attend community college simply because it is not prestigious, thus further sentencing themselves into debt. The final article, Matt Bruenigs The Case against Free College, takes a rather different approach than the previous two articles when it comes to the free college debate. Overall, Bruenig argues that students already receive various forms of assistance for college in the form of grants, loans, and subsidies, which, in his opinion, is already giving more than what students should expect. In addition to this, Bruenig also articulates that providing even more than what is currently offered, or even making college free, would simply bring more inequality than social justice. Specifically, this is due to the fact that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦only around 20 percent of children from the poorest 2 percent of families in the country attend college. For the richest 2 percent of families, the same number is around 90 percent (Bruenig). So, providing a free college education to current college students would only continue to put those who are lower in the economic ranks at a disadvantage. Much like how Tressie McMillan Cottom admitted that free college would only benefit those who are currently excluded from higher education due to their economic standing, providing a free college education would only keep more money in the pockets of the rich. As a result, Bruenig states that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦making college free for everyone would almost certainly mean giving far more money to students from richer families than from poorer ones (Bruenig). Sure, providing free college education would give deprived students an opportunity to continue their education, but would do little in the long run when it comes to trying to reach a more egalitarian society. Once again, what are the benefits of free college education if it has the potential to only worsen the inequalities within American society and benefits only a small percentage of individuals? As a current college student, I could only hope and dream that a plan may arise in the near future that would eliminate or drastically cut college expenses, namely tuition. However, after reviewing the three articles in Dissent Magazines special issue titled Arguments on the Left, it has become clear that free college is not as beneficial or easily obtained as one would hope. While this notion of free college is tempting to say the least, it is certainly not feasible without a redesigned tax system, complete overhaul of higher education institutions and their intentions, and careful consideration regarding just who would be benefitting the most from free higher education. As it currently stands, free college will only benefit a small percentage of individuals, failing to address the capitalist nature of universities nationwide, while also acting as yet another way for the rich to keep hold of their wealth. However, it also must be stated that we must not give up hope and abandon the idea altogether. Although the cons currently outweigh the pros, there will one day be a way to implement a free college education system that benefits everyone without continuing to make the rich richer. As a nation, we must work towards that day together, implementing a foolproof plan to become a more egalitarian society without continuing to put thousands of young individuals into debt with the help of our current college system. Works Cited Bruenig, Matt. The Case against Free College. Dissent Magazine, Fall 2015, dissentmagazine.org/article/matt-bruenig-left-case-against-free-college. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017. Cottom, Tressie McMillan. Why Free College is Necessary. Dissent Magazine, Fall 2015, dissentmagazine.org/article/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-why-free-college-necessary. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017. Konczal, Mike. Generation Debt. Dissent Magazine, Fall 2015, dissentmagazine.org/article/mike-konczal-generation-debt-free-college-argument. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017.

The Bubonic Plague in Europe :: essays research papers

The Black Death in Europe 1 Abstract The Black Death in Europe was one of the continents worth natural disasters. The bubonic plague wiped out nearly 60% of the population, causing changes that took many years to recover. The effects of art are astonishing. Every person and social class were affected, the church lost prestige and power, as did the doctors and physicians. Politics changes for a short time and the nobility lost wealth. Fear was wide spread, and people lost trust of their families. No one could escape the carnage this illness brought, if they tried, they succeeded in bringing it with them. The Black Death in Europe 2 Knox (page 15) states that the population losses were staggering, between1347 and 150 nearly 1 to of 3 people where gone. Venetian records stated that the death rates escalated close to 500-600 deaths a day, 60% of Venice’s population was gone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As with medical professions the clergy suffered great losses as well. Theirs was an occupational hazard; entering the home of the sick, doctors were at greater risk of catching the illness themselves. The clergy had to give the dieing their last rights and preside over the burials, this made for their demise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As indicated by Knox (page12) those who were learned hade some ideas about what was causing the disease such poisonous vapors released by constellation alignments. They recommended that no fat meant should be eaten at all and bathing was hazardous, these suggestions only made to make people more vulnerable to the plague. The only real action taken that worked was confinement, cities walled themselves off from incoming ships and would quarantine and ill persons house.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With the population losses the labor forse was reduced, there was a greater need for crafts men and skilled laborers. Guilds began opening their doors to other skilled peoples, because when and skilled man died his whole family usually got the plague as well, this mad openings for others. Towns began to advertise higher wages to those artisans and those with skills. If the miller died and the sickens was in his home, then the miller family passed away also, this left none to mill the grain, therefore towns were in need of help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Black Death in Europe 3 According to Marchione di Coppo Stefani (1370-1380) people looked to the doctors and the clergy for answers and advice, neither had the answers nor the cure. â€Å" In the year of the Lord 1348 the was a great pestilence in the city of Florence.