Old Men essays

Old Men essays Ernest J. Gaines was the brilliant author of the novel, A Gathering of Old Men. This book mainly is a fictional story about the real life prejudices whites had against blacks in the 1970's. Earnest displays these prejudices through carefully thought out characters. The main protagonist of the story is a white woman known as Candy. She is an orphan who was raised by neighbors near a plantation in the Deep South where the story takes place. At the time of the story, Candy is around 18 years old. Another main character is a white sheriff known as Mapes. He is also a protagonist in the story but is more of a neutral character than Candy. Many antagonists appear throughout the book, but the only one who takes any action is Luke Will. He is a huge young man who appears to be bull headed and never backs down from a fight. Also, Luke has a great dislike for the blacks in the area, and feels that whites are superior to blacks. In all these are the major characters that appear throughout the n ovel. The story begins with a young boy, known as Snookum, running from house to house telling all the "old men" in the area to meet at Mathu's house with a twelve gauge shotgun and an empty number five shell. Each old timer is rounded up one by one and many come from towns far away from the Marshall Quarters, the small town in which Mathu's house lies. In this part of the novel the reader is introduced to all the abused black folks who are fed up with being picked on by the whites. Each and every man has a different story about how the white folks, especially the plantation owner Fix and his son Beau, had abused him or his family. Around this time, the reader learns that Beau has been shot in Mathu's yard. Also, the reader is lead to believe that Mathu did indeed shoot him but Candy, being like Mathu's daughter was going to protect him by having all the old fed up men around the plantation come down and say that they had shot Beau. Even Candy her self clai...

5 Independent Presidents Who Won in U.S. History

5 Independent Presidents Who Won in U.S. History Donald Trump has said he might run for president in 2016 as an independent if he doesnt get the respect or the nomination from Republicans. And if you think launching an independent presidential campaign is a fools errand - the chances of winning are infinitesimal - consider the impact Ralph Nader, Ross Perot and others like them have had on the electoral process.   What Is an Independent Candidate? The primary role of the independent candidate in modern politics is that of spoiler. And while spoiler is an unpopular role to play he is often able to leverage his position to curry favor for himself and friends. Trumps currency of choice seems to be attention, and as long as hes getting some its very likely the billionaire real estate developer might just blow enough of his own money to hang around through the 2016 general election. The question Republicans are asking is whether Trump would siphon off enough votes from the Republican presidential nominee so as to hand the presidency to the Democrats. Many conservatives had openly raised the theory that Donald Trump ran as an agent of the Democratic Party, and in particular the Clintons, so as to hand the White House to Hillary. So which independent presidential candidates have done the best? And how many votes did they pick up? Heres a look at the most successful independent presidential candidates in history and how they affected the results. Ross Perot The billionaire Texan Ross Perot won a startling 19 percent of the popular vote in the 1992 presidential election in what many believed was the beginning of a third party in American politics. Democrat Bill Clinton won the election and unseated Republican incumbent President George H.W. Bush, a rare defeat in American politics. Perot also won 6 percent of the popular vote in the 2006 election. Ralph Nader The consumer and environmental advocate Ralph Nader won nearly 3 percent of the popular vote in the close 2000 presidential election. Many observers, primarily Democrats, blame Nader for costing Vice President Al Gore the election against Republican nominee George W. Bush.   John B. Anderson Andersons name is one few Americans remember. But he won nearly 7 percent of the popular vote in the 1980 presidential election won by Republican Ronald Reagan, who pushed Democrat Jimmy Carter out of the White House after one term. Many people blamed Anderson for Carters loss. George Wallace In 1968 Wallace won 14 percent of the popular vote. Republican Richard Nixon defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey in that election, but Wallaces showing was impressive for an American Independent.   Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt won more than 27 percent of the vote in 1912 when he ran as a progressive candidate. He didnt win. But carrying a quarter of the vote is impressive, especially when you consider the Republican nominee, William Howard Taft, carried only 23 percent. Democrat Woodrow Wilson won with 42 percent of the vote.