A Brief History of the Age of Exploration

A Brief History of the Age of Exploration The era known as the Age of Exploration, sometimes called the Age of Discovery, officially began in the early 15th century and lasted through the 17th century. The period is characterized as a time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new trading routes,  wealth, and knowledge. The impact of the Age of Exploration would permanently alter the world and transform geography into the modern science it is today. Impact of the Age of Exploration Explorers learned more about areas such as Africa and the Americas and brought that knowledge back to Europe.Massive wealth accrued to European colonizers due to trade in goods, spices, and precious metals.Methods of navigation and mapping improved, switching from traditional portolan charts to the worlds first nautical maps.New food, plants, and animals were exchanged between the colonies and Europe.Indigenous people were decimated by Europeans, from a combined impact of disease, overwork, and massacres.The work force needed to support the massive plantations in the New World, led to a 300 year slave trade that had an enormous impact on Africa.The impact persists to this day, with many of the worlds former colonies still considered the developing world, while colonizers are the First World countries, holding a majority of the worlds wealth and annual income. The Birth of the Age of Exploration Many nations were looking for goods such as silver and gold, but one of the biggest reasons for exploration was the desire to find a new route for the spice and silk trades. The capture and sacking of Constantinople by Turkish troops under Mohammed II, 29th May 1453. The Turkish victory marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottomans. Hulton Archive/Getty Images  Ã‚   When the Ottoman Empire took control of Constantinople in 1453, it blocked European access to the area, severely limiting trade. In addition, it also blocked access to North Africa and the Red Sea, two very important trade routes to the Far East. The first of the journeys associated with the Age of Discovery were conducted by the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese, Spanish, Italians, and others had been plying the Mediterranean for generations, most sailors kept well within sight of land or traveled known routes between ports.  Prince Henry the Navigator  changed that, encouraging explorers to sail beyond the mapped routes and discover new trade routes to West Africa. Portuguese explorers discovered the Madeira Islands in 1419 and the Azores in 1427. Over the coming decades, they would push farther south along the African coast, reaching the coast of present-day Senegal by the 1440s and the Cape of Good Hope by 1490. Less than a decade later, in 1498, Vasco da Gama would follow this route all the way to India. The Discovery of the New World Illustration titled Embarkation and Departure of Columbus from the Port of Palos, On His First Voyage of Discovery, On The 3rd of August, 1492. Ricardo Balaca/Bettmann/Getty Images While the Portuguese were opening new sea routes along Africa, the Spanish also dreamed of finding new trade routes to the Far East. Christopher Columbus, an Italian working for the Spanish monarchy, made his first journey in 1492. Instead of reaching India, Columbus found the island of San Salvador in what is known today as the Bahamas. He also explored the island of Hispaniola, home of modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Columbus would lead three more voyages to the Caribbean, exploring parts of Cuba and the Central American coast. The Portuguese also reached the New World when explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral explored Brazil, setting off a conflict between Spain and Portugal over the newly claimed lands. As a result, the  Treaty of Tordesillas  officially divided the world in half in 1494. Columbus journeys opened the door for the Spanish conquest of the Americas. During the next century, men such as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro would decimate the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, and other indigenous peoples of the Americas. By the end of the Age of Exploration, Spain would rule from the Southwestern United States to the southernmost reaches of Chile and Argentina. Opening the Americas Great Britain and France also began seeking new trade routes and lands across the ocean. In 1497, John Cabot, an Italian explorer working for the English, reached what is believed to be the coast of Newfoundland. A number of French and English explorers followed, including Giovanni da Verrazano, who discovered the entrance to the Hudson River in 1524, and Henry Hudson, who mapped the island of Manhattan first in 1609. Henry Hudson, his boat being greeted by Native Americans at the lakeshore. Bettmann/Getty Images   Over the next decades, the French, Dutch, and British would all vie for dominance. England established the first permanent colony in North America at Jamestown, Va., in 1607. Samuel du Champlain founded Quebec City in 1608, and Holland established a trading outpost in present-day New York City in 1624. Other important voyages of exploration during this era included Ferdinand Magellans attempted circumnavigation of the globe, the search for a trade route to Asia through the Northwest Passage, and Captain James Cooks voyages that allowed him to map various areas and travel as far as Alaska. The End of the Era The Age of Exploration ended in the early 17th century after technological advancements and increased knowledge of the world allowed Europeans to travel easily across the globe by sea. The creation of permanent settlements and colonies created a network of communication and trade, therefore ending the need to search for new routes. It is important to note that exploration did not cease entirely at this time. Eastern Australia was not officially claimed for Britain by Capt. James Cook until 1770, while much of the Arctic and Antarctic were not explored until the 19th century. Much of Africa also was unexplored by Westerners until the early 20th centuries. Contributions to Science The Age of Exploration had a significant impact on geography. By traveling to different regions around the globe, explorers were able to learn more about areas such as Africa and the Americas and bring that knowledge back to Europe. Methods of navigation and mapping improved as a result of the travels of people such as Prince Henry the Navigator. Prior to his expeditions, navigators had used traditional portolan charts, which were based on coastlines and ports of call, keeping sailors close to shore. The Spanish and Portuguese explorers who journeyed into the unknown created the worlds first nautical maps, delineating not just the geography of the lands they found but also the seaward routes and ocean currents that led them there. As technology advanced and known territory expanded, maps and mapmaking became more and more sophisticated. These explorations also introduced a whole new world of flora and fauna to Europeans. Corn, now a staple of much of the worlds diet, was unknown to Westerners until the time of the Spanish conquest, as were sweet potatoes and peanuts. Likewise, Europeans had never seen turkeys, llamas, or squirrels before setting foot in the Americas. The Age of Exploration served as a stepping stone for geographic knowledge. It allowed more people to see and study various areas around the world, which increased geographic study, giving us the basis for much of the knowledge we have today. Long-Term Impact The effects of colonization still persist as well, with many of the worlds former colonies still considered the developing world and the colonizers the First World countries, holding a majority of the worlds wealth and receiving a majority of its annual income.

The Economic Significance of Capital Punishment

The Economic Significance of Capital Punishment Introduction The survival of any civilization hinges on the establishment of laws and codes of conduct and the subsequent obeying of the same by the society’s members. Due to the fact that not all members of the society are going to follow the law on their own accord, forms of punishment for wrongs done may be used both for retribution and deterrence purposes. The Criminal Justice System of a country fulfils this role by providing a legal means through which offenders can be punished.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The Economic Significance of Capital Punishment specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the realities about the United States Criminal Justice System is that it is a hugely expensive system that takes a considerable amount of government revenue. One of the controversial aspects of the criminal justice system is that it allows for the use of capital punishment. This is used as the harshest form of retribution for the society’s most vicious offences. Many people believe that the death sentence is not justifiable despite the brutality of the crime that a person may have committed. Advocates of the death advocate on the other hand argue that the death penalty has numerous benefits and should not be abolished. This paper shall argue that the death penalty should not be abolished since it is not only the most efficient means for deterring future offenders but it also saves the federal government millions of dollars and is therefore economically astute. A Case for the Death Penalty Increased crime rates are almost invariably connected to a diminished economic well being of the people affected. It is therefore the chief objective of all governments through their law enforcement agencies to mitigate crime. The most desirable function of punishments should be to act as a deterrence to would be criminals. In an ideal environment, punishments should never have to be executed but their mere presence should cause all to abide to the rules and regulations in place therefore peacefully coexist. Capital punishment presents the highest level of deterrence since death is indeed the ultimate punishment. This is especially so in cases where the criminal feels immune to the other forms of punishment such as restriction on freedom of movement or even hard labor. A study by Dezhbakhsh and Shepherd on the deterrence effect of capital punishment revealed that capital punishment resulted in a significant reduction of homicides (30). This is because people were less likely to engage in this crime with the probability of a death sentence on the table Citizens of all countries agree to abide by the laws and regulation set by their government and pay taxes in return for certain rights and privileges from their government. One of the services that the government offers is protecting its people from both local and foreign threats. In instances where the government is unable to protect its people from rampant crime, political instability may follow. Instability is characterized by riots, assassinations and even outbreak of civil wars.Advertising Looking for term paper on criminal law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Such a state is detrimental for the economic wellbeing of a country since it discourages investments therefore reducing the nation’s earnings. The death sentence results in a perception of justice especially when it is carried out against murderers. This perceived justice will result in more faith in the justice system and by extension the government. There is a relationship between the incarceration rates and the presence and implementation of the death sentence. Maintaining of prisons is an expensive affair and the cost is borne by the taxpayer. If criminals do not perceive the punishments they stand to face as being threatening enough, they will continue to commit crime and on prosecution, serve sentences in federal prisons at a cost to the taxpayer. Texas is one of the cities which experienced a crime peak which resulted in building of more jails to house the inmates. Spelman reveals that the Texas prison buildup was estimated to cost the State $1.5 billion per year (137). Texas responded to this increase in crime by reviving executions, a move which resulted in a 49.6% decline in homicide rates from 1992-2003. In addition to this, the rates of incarcerations reduced significantly therefore saving the state a significant amount of money. Crimes such as murder result in the loss of economic assets by the community. The loss is unjustifiable since in most cases, the crimes which carry the death sentence are perpetrated by hardened criminals. These characters are of little economic value to the society and their contribution to the economy or general well being of the country is minimal. The death sentence has been proven to be a significant de terrence to murder since this is one of the crimes which carries the death sentence. The society can therefore better preserve its economic assets through the death sentence by executing murderers. In trying to consider whether an execution was worthwhile or not, Donohue and Wolfes declared that invariably, the life-life tradeoffs were large than zero (61). In addition to this, the death sentence removes the risk that criminals pose to economically valuable members of the society. A study by Sunstein and Vermeule argued that each execution as a result of the death sentence resulted in the life of at least one would be murder victim being spared (706).Becker goes as far as to propose that executions should be allowed if the lives of the murderers were less socially valuable than the lives of their victims (1).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on The Economic Significance of Capital Punishment specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn Mor e The alternative to capital punishment which is proposed by opponents of the death penalty is life imprisonment without possibility of parole. These opponents propose that this punishment is more humane and therefore the preferred option. As it currently stands, the annual cost of maintaining prisoners in the correctional facilities is high (Gottschalk 925). Life imprisonment translates to the prisoner having to be maintained in the penitentiary for his entire life. These costs will include healthcare and any other service offered to prisoners. This is a very costly and economically unsound affair considering the fact that the society will never reap any economic benefits from the person who has been imprisoned for life. Capital punishment as executed by methods such as the lethal injection is not only radically cheaper but it also spares the state of the resources it would have utilized to ensure that the prisoner is maintained for a lifetime. Case for Abolishing the Death Penalty One objection to the use of capital punishment would be the possibility of wrongfully executing a person. Such an action would results in the psychological distress of not only the surviving members of the executed person but also to the jurors who made the call. Such distress would significantly reduce the individual’s efficiency hence decreasing their contribution to the economy. Gottschalk reveals that this likelihood has resulted in a change of heart by jurors in capital punishment cases since people are unwilling to make the mistake of sentencing an innocent man to death (925). A suitable response to this objection would be that the justice system is thorough and always strives to ensure that the correct verdict is passed and that the innocent are not punished. Nevertheless, there exist possibilities of passing wrong judgments regardless of whether the capital punishment is involved or not due to human error or other unavoidable circumstances. As such, this shou ld not be used as a justification for scraping the death penalty entirely since the likelihood of making mistakes in the justice process is not entirely isolated to capital punishment. The number of wrong judgments made is also so minimal and is a worthwhile risk considering the merits inherent in the death sentence. Conclusion This paper set out to argue that the death penalty should not be abolished since it is an economically sound form of punishment with great benefits to the entire community. This paper has revealed that there is strong evidence of crime deterrence through execution. A criminal justice system that exposes criminals to the risk of capital punishment will deter crimes and especially murder significantly.Advertising Looking for term paper on criminal law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The paper has especially demonstrated that the death penalty would have a positive economic impact starting from deterring crimes, reducing the cost of running prisons and reducing the risk to economically valuable people posed by murderers. While some people do contend that the death penalty should never be imposed on anyone, regardless of their crimes, it can be authoritatively stated from the above discussions that capital punishment serves a significant role in the society and may indeed have a positive impact on the economic well being of the society. Becker, Gary. On the Economics of Capital Punishment. The Economists Voice, 3:3, art. 4. 2006. Dezhbakhsh, Hashem and Joanna M. Shepherd. The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: Evidence from a Judicial Experiment. Working Paper No. 18, 2004. Donohue, John and Wolfes, Justin. Estimating the impact of the death penalty on murder. Working paper No. 12, 2007. Gottschalk, Marie. â€Å"The Politics of the Death Penalty†. Pe rspectives on Politics, vol. 7/No. 4, 2009. Spelman, William. â€Å"Jobs or Jails: The Crime Drop in Texas.† Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 24:1. pp. 133–165, 2005. Sunstein, C and Vermeule, A. â€Å"Is Capital Punishment Morally Required?† Stanford Law Review, 58. p. 706, 2005.

Decline of the Qing dynasty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Decline of the Qing dynasty - Essay Example First theory is concerned with China ¡Ã‚ ¦s internal problems, including corruption, poverty and abuse of powers of the ruling class.† (34) But another sect of the historians argues that even though the Qing Dynasty was wearing out due to the heavy internal troubles, the western influences were at the center of these internal adversaries. Indeed the western influences were not the military interferences and threats to the dynasty in its concrete sense. Rather the western industrial revolution, rapid urbanization, growing individualism and the rapid changes and reorganizations of the socio-economic fields, as again Stanley says, â€Å"The theory supported by the Western World is that imperialism and introduction of western ideas in China ultimately caused the disintegration of Qing† (). Fairly in the early twentieth century Chinn’s socioeconomic and political cultures began to be influenced by the European Industrial Revolution. The pro-western influence school o f historians purports that even if there were no internal conflicts, the Qing Dynasty would have to respond to the demand of the age. But though the Dynasty took initiative to adapt itself with the new trend of the age by the â€Å"Hundred Days’ Reform† and â€Å"Late Qing Reform† in the late 19th Century and early 20th century, it was too late to recover from the loss of Opium War. The pro-western influence school of historians purports that even if there were no internal conflicts.

Marketing Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example It is quite profitable to establish a restaurant in the area where this industry is actually flourishing. Buenos Aires has a large tourist influx each year. Not only are the tourist influx, but there several business people who travel to this busy city every now and then. The main concern for the tourists and business people from different parts of the world is the food that they will be getting in the foreign country. The marketing plan is basically for a restaurant that has to be opened in the busy city of Buenos Aires. The restaurant will be situated in the city of Buenos Aires and will provide with the high-quality food. It will not only provide with quality food but also with a place that will be full of comfort. In a hospitality industry servicescape plays a major role. It is the ambience that attracts the customers. It is the servicescape that helps the target market to relate to a particular restaurant or any other service industry. The new restaurant will be targeting the to urists and business people and also the locals. The target market is further discussed under the heading of the target market of the marketing plan. Market Segmentation For any industry, market segmentation is a really important aspect. It helps to make a clear map of the target market and helps to trace out those segments that can provide with the maximum profits. Similarly for this restaurant market segmentation is done on the basis of profits. The target market has been segmented into tourists, locals, business people, children, adults, old age and minorities from different ethnic backgrounds. The market segment of tourists, locals and business people provide with the highest profitability. Thus these market segments have been targeted and are further discussed in the marketing plan. Target Market As mentioned earlier in the introduction and the market segmentation, the target market of the new restaurant will be the tourists and business people from all around the world who visi t Buenos Aires. Business people do not mean that they will be businessmen but it means people who are visiting the city for some official or work purpose. The age segment that the restaurant will be targeting is 16 years and above. The restaurant will not cater to the children market. In addition to the tourists and the officials, the restaurant will also be targeting the locals. The question arises that how will the restaurant target such diverse market segments. The answer lies in the set up of the restaurant and the menu that it will serve. The menu will include a wide variety of dishes. These dishes will belong to different cuisines. The restaurant will basically serve the Chinese, Italian, Mexican and Lebanese cuisines. The restaurant will be partitioned according to the different cuisines that it will offer. In addition to this partition, each parted portion will carry the respective theme. For example the part of the restaurant where Chinese is served will have a Chinese ambi ence and same goes for the other cuisines. This will give an exotic touch to the food and can also be the differentiation point for the restaurant. In order to serve the local target audience the restaurant will also provide with the local cuisines in addition to the world famous cuisines. Localization The restaurant will focus on the local trends as well. It will incorporate local culture along with the international cultures on the basis of which

Managing In Hospitality Essay Example for Free

Managing In Hospitality Essay To convince the management, the owner must be able to communicate his ideas and perceptions clearly. The owner might face a bit of difficulty doing this, since the managers have been around for long, and they probably know their trade well. It is still possible, however. One of the things that the owner can do is gain the trust of his managers. However, it cannot be the calculus-based trust or identification-based trust—it has to be through organizational citizenship behavior. Specifically, he has to make sure that each member of the management is treated fairly. For instance, with this issue, he must give each and every one a chance to voice out their opinion regarding the upgrading of the hotel, and explain why they are against it. This will let them know that even though the owner’s ideas may be in conflict with those of the management’s, the owner still values their knowledge and respects their position as managers. Once they all get their chance to share their thoughts, the owner should then explain his side, but trying not to compete with his managers as to which is the better plan, as this will only create friction, in the form of substantive conflict, and it will be even more difficult to convince the management to upgrade the hotel. Instead, the party should negotiate, or bargain, and try to find a common ground. Since everyone has had his side heard by this point, they can address the questions surrounding the issue of why upgrading to a 5-star hotel might be a bad idea, and what can be done to turn this around or to compensate for it. Lastly, the owner should try to control his emotions when explaining his side. No matter how harsh or how blunt the management may be, regarding his decisions as â€Å"unnecessary†, the owner must remain emotionally stable. The same goes for the management—if one of them suddenly starts raising his voice, he should be calmed down before proceeding with the meeting. They should also be reminded of their positions—they are managers, not owners—and should respect the owner’s authority over them. The owner himself should not push his weight around. Works Cited Hunt, Courtney. â€Å"Interpersonal Behavior in the Workplace.†

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This section of the paper incorporate the types of analyses, which are fundamental in the systems engineering approach in undertaking elaborate products, new systems and services. These analyses were comprised of feasibility studies, alternative analyses, and trade studies. The design team is able to acquire the desired information to select feasible approaches through investigating the requirements, by which through feasibility studies, they can uncover potential technical approaches and methods quantitatively and qualitatively to qualify feasibility. Alternative analyses allocates accurate methodologies and reasonable objectives, while trade studies allocates administrative processes in enhancing system configurations and the distribution of resources necessary for the system’s intended purpose, by which these approaches will respond and regulated based on stakeholder’s needs, input and the aspects of the system’s duration. Knowing the feasibility of the system will provide the advantage of ensuring the system’s configuration before its production to avoid assumptions and trouble i...

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Analysis Essay

Joseph Stalin strategically came into power in communist Russia in the 1930’s. Within just a few years, he turned Russia from a communist state into a totalitarian dictatorship. Few people chose to speak out against Stalin, but those who did were put into Siberian work camps or gulags. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was one of the few that chose to speak out against Stalin and his totalitarian regime. He used his years in the work camps to illustrate a vivid portrayal of what camp life was like in his book, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The novel is a criticism against Stalin’s communism, and is a commentary on why a communistic system will never work. Three of the biggest ways the novel critiques communism are: by attempting to dehumanize Russian society, displaying forms of unjust punishment, and arguing the importance of faith. Solzhenitsyn propagates the radical idea that communism doesn’t work. Communism is the idea that everyone in society receives equal shares of the benefits resulting from labor. It teaches the poor to rise up and attain financial and social status equal to that of the middle-class. In order for everyone to be on the same level, wealth is redistributed so the members of the upper class are brought down to the same financial and social level as the middle class (Coffin 660-665). In theory, communism is presented as to be a utopia where everyone has adequate food and shelter but in the novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, it is clear communism in practice is very different from communism in ideology. The communism Solzhenitsyn presents in this novel actually tries to take away any form of human dignity. The story takes place in a Russian prison camp after World War II. The protagonist is a man named Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, but referred to as Shukhov for most of the novel . The author refers to Ivan as Shukhov to emphasize the how the camp sets him at a cold, official distance. â€Å"Ivan† is Shukhov’s first name and Denisovich is his patronymic, a name that is derived from one’s father’s name. In Russian society, addressing someone by his or her first name and patronymic is cordial but respectful. The early Soviet Communist regime tried to eradicate this form of address because the respect it entails suggested class differences among people, something communism seeks to destroy. On the other hand, addressing someone by his or her last name has an official meaning. The Soviet manner of addressing people as â€Å"Comrade† followed by their last name was an attempt to replace the old way of addressing someone with a new one better adapted to a class-free nation. â€Å"Even in the camp they were polite to people and addressed them by their full name† (Solzhenitsyn 26). The prison camp workers always addressed each other with the same degree of respect in order to preserve each other’s dignity. The labor camp in which Ivan is imprisoned is designed to oppress and dehumanize its prisoners. The living conditions are simply unbearable. The mattresses do not have sheets, prisoners share tiny portions of bread and porridge per meal, and the guards force the prisoners to undress in sub zero temperatures for body searches. The camp replaces the prisoner’s names with letter and number to erase all hints of individuality, â€Å"S 854†¦three days penalty work,† says the new warden to, Ivan as punishment for not getting up on time (Solzhenitsyn 7-8). The camp gives everyone numbers and makes them all dress identically take away their identities, â€Å"from the outside, everyone in the squad looked the same- their black coats were identical-but within the squad there were great distinctions† (Solzhenitsyn 15). However, Denisovich does not accept the camps attempts to dehumanize him. He shows maintaining human dignity does not have to be achieved through violent rebellion but rather, through developing a system of personal rules. For example, at meal time, no matter the conditions, he always removes his cap before eating, â€Å"then he removed his hat from his clean-shaven head- however cold it might be, he could never bring himself to eat with his hat on† (Solzhenitsyn 16). From his childhood, this practice gives Ivan a sense that he is behaving in a civilized manner. No matter how famished he becomes, he never stoops to Fetyukov’s level, begging for scraps. He scorns Fetyukov’s behavior, which he believes is inhuman. Ivan may be treated like an animal by the Soviet camp system, but he subtly fights back and refuses to submit. In one instance, Shukhov is tempted to ask a fellow prisoner for a cigarette which the other man has already half smoked but, â€Å"but he would never lower himself†¦ he would never look at a man’s mouth† (Solzhenitsyn 27). Ivan never allows the labor camp to get the best of him but gets punished for things one in his control on top of being imprisoned. Another criticism of communism throughout the novel is the description of unjust punishment upon the prisoners. In the beginning of the novel, Shukhov does not get up on time because he is sick and is then threatened with three days in the hole. Similarly, Buynovsky receives ten days in the hole for trying to bundle up against the cold with a flannel vest. Neither Shukhov’s illness nor Buynovsky’s attempt to stay warm harm anyone, but the camp treats both as strict violations of the law, worthy of severe punishment. Such harsh punishment for such petty offenses is absurd. These men are already locked into arduous prison sentences, heaping on unfair and illogical punishment upon them is just a brutal exercise of power by the guards. Through this unjust treatment one thing that help the prisoners survive was having faith in something whether it is a strict moral code or faith in god. One of the main goals of communism was to eradicate religion from society. According to the founders of communism religion hinders societal progress; it was Marx who said â€Å"religion is the opium of people.† Solzhenitsyn implies it is much easier to get through hardships with faith in something rather than without. During a march, Shukhov thinks of Alyosha, the devout Baptist, he wonders, â€Å"What had he to be happy about? His cheeks were sunken, he lived strictly on his rations, and he earned nothing. He spent all his Sundays with the other Baptists. They shed the hardships of camp like water† (Solzhenitsyn 38). Shukhov is making the point when you believe in something, like religion, it is much easier to keep a positive attitude and survive a terrible situation. Although Ivan does not mention religion for most of the novel, his final conversation with Alyoshka, reveals faith can be a means of survival in the oppressive camp system. Ivan adheres to a strict set of rules, like always taking off his hat before eating or trying to waste as little as possible. Alyoshka, has faith in god and the human spirit â€Å"for my part I am not ready merely to be bound but even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus† (Solzhenitsyn 163), this comment really affects Shukhov to a point where he begins to reflect on his own philosophy. Shukhov’s s sense of inner peace in the novel’s last paragraph, which resembles Alyoshka’s sense of inner peace throughout the novel, demonstrates that religious faith offers strength in the face of difficulty. Having any type of faith can carry someone through hardship, religious faith is simply one type of such a faith. Though the labor camps were filled with suffering and misery, the men continued to exhibit acts of humanity in their day to day lives. The only way these men could have survived this inhuman treatment was by subtly fighting the system in their own personal way. Solzhenitsyn uses three simple yet powerful ideas: the dehumanization of the human society, displays of unjust punishment, and the importance of having faith in no matter how awful the situation is, to speak out against Stalin and the terrible consequences of Russian communism. Works Cited Coffin, Judith G., and Robert C. Stacey. Western Civilizations: Their History & Culture. New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 2008. Print. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York: Dutton, 1963. Print.