The Railroad Earth Summary

The transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869. It had started in 1830 and took almost 4 decades to finish. By 1850 the track was about 9,000 miles long east of the Missouri River. At about the same time many people were moving west. It was a dangerous path over mountains, rivers, and deserts. Before the Transcontinental Railroad it cost almost $1,000 ($31,250.00 in 2015) to travel across the country, after the railroad it cost only $100 ($4,687.50 in

The rhetorical significance of the documentary San Francisco 2.0. shows that the tech gold rush in San Francisco is bringing wealth to the city so it’s seen as a positive contribution, but at the cost of the city losing its soul. Many residents of diverse backgrounds that made the city’s culture are being evicted due to landlords’ greed to capitalize on the new tech bros that are flocking to the city to make money. Many business and artists are affected due to rent being tripled to accommodate the new residents. Technology brings progress, but it also increases class segregation because the wage gage increases. The rich are getting richer, while the poor stay the same. The city officials say the city of San Francisco benefit from the tech gold

To people foreign to California, the state is boxed into a set of stereotypical characteristics. The Golden State has received labels such as ‘surf nation,’ and ‘liberal land.’ But to those who’ve gotten a chance to live within this great state appreciate the opportunities and ambitions that come with living in California. Furthermore, what truly differentiates California from any other place in the world is the consistent paradoxical environment. This notion is best epitomized by the city of Sacramento and the cultural, economic and social change that the city has undergone. Gary Snyder communicates this theme through building around John Muir’s ideologies in his work of “Covers The Ground.” Snyder’s work exemplifies the contradiction between nature and innovation. It presents the paradoxical state individuals around the world face on whether to accept the innovation and accept the benefits that come with it, or stay true to the roots of nature and the history that accompanies it. This dilemma boils down to whether we as a race embrace the progression of time and the paradoxes that follow, or we find solace in our current state.

American Experience: Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad was a very big accomplishment in America's history. Transcontinental Railroad showed more then anything America's persistence, intellectual advancement, and above all else, Courage. This accomplishment came with many hardships and many sacrifices as well as achievements. While this accomplishment shows the good traits of America like drive and courage, It also reveled the darker traits of America, like betrayal, inequality, and most of all, greed. This paper will go over, How the Transcontinental Railroad was set into motion, the construction of the railroad and how it was used.

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” is Walt Whitman’s way of personifying the everyday experiences of living in society; specifically, Whitman’s firsthand account of his routine crossing on the Brooklyn Ferry. To achieve this is his poem Whitman utilizes the use of repetition to emphasize specific points throughout the works. This is particularly evident in stanza six, here Whitman begins each statement with the phrase “I too”; in doing so Whitman exploits the device of repetition to consolidate the striking commonalities each individual share. By relating to such familiar commonalities such as “I too walk’d the streets of Manhattan, and bathed in its waters.”, the author brings the reader onto level ground and utilizes the familiar experiences of common

The Underground Railroad might sound deceiving, but it actually never went underground and it wasn’t a railroad. The Underground Railroad did get its name due to the fact that it had to be kept a secret and a lot of the terms that were used throughout the slave escape route in order to describe how it worked was railroad terms. Routes would be called lines, stopping places along the way such as safe houses would be called stations, those who would aid along the way would be called conductors and their charges were known as freight. The various routes extended all the way through 14 Northern States and through the “Promise Land” of Canada, which was far beyond the reach of slave hunters. Those who would assist people on the railroad were member

The Transcontinental Railroad is a marvel of engineering and perseverance. A transcontinental railroad is railroad that crosses through a continent. It was built between 1862 and 1869 across the United States. The initial project was proposed in 1845, but it took more time to start the dangerous construction. It had multiples consequences for the United States, not all positive. But the Transcontinental Railroad did affect the westward expansion.

The idea of an equal America exists no more. Regardless of the fact that there is a plethora of varying perspectives dividing the country into two, there are words and phrases that are generally accepted in viewing our country from the rest of the world. First, the American Dream is regularly associated with equal opportunity, prosperity, and liberty. Walt Whitman, as well as many others, have written about this desired America for the socially accepted American. He is often referred to as “America’s Poet,” who amplifies the elegant qualities of America that we believe to be true. It is obvious that Whitman portrays America as an alive and colorful place full of chance and flourishment throughout his work. “I Hear America Singing” is a prime example of an America that is only seen from the surface, where Whitman clearly indicates that the United States is a country where all its citizens are able to achieve equality and liberty. Contradictory, Sharon Olds poem, “On the Subway,” proves the lack of individual liberty, which deteriorates the growth of the country, ultimately opposing the America, where personal freedom is the foundation. Olds’ poem pokes holes in the surface that shows the controversial interior that truly makes up America that Whitman painted beforehand. Olds and Whitman also illustrate varying insight regarding personal liberty and its importance in two opposing poems; one who proclaims it as easily attainable and necessary to the country and the other who

The truth behind the poem “Poverty and Wealth” is bone-chilling, almost as if it was meant for a character like Ponyboy Curtis. On the east side of town, there lives

Some historians believe the Transcontinental Railroad was one of the greatest achievements of the nineteenth century. Looking at the railroad from an outsider’s view, the outcomes that emerged from this great innovation were overwhelmingly positive. At last, the East and West could unite through one easy method of transportation. Trade could flourish and be delivered faster than ever thought possible. Small towns and communities clustered around these train stations. The railroad caused the creation of time zones, caused coal factories to become metaphorical gold mines and the American economy exploded as a result of this great feat. Despite its ability to unify the East and West coasts, however the First Transcontinental Railroad actually was not a blessing for all people living in the United States; the immigrants involved in the construction and the natives living in the area that it passed through were dramatically and negatively affected. The railroad may have brought together the continent geographically, but its construction was marked by immorality, racism, and segregation, which pitted the immigrant workers against the American people. The Native Americans were treated as obstacles, as their land was disregarded and the railroad workers were granted permission to remove or take anything from their land. The Chinese immigrants throughout the West were not welcomed there and were not treated with respect, even after their hard work on the railroad. Similar working

The Underground Railroad is a figurative railroad involving hundreds of thousands of people such as slaves, free Blacks, and White abolitionists. The Underground Railroad began in the late 1700s to 1865, with the height of the railroad happening in 1850 to the 1860s, where a thousand or more slaves were able to escape per year. The name of the Underground Railroad comes from the use of railroad code and the railroad being a form of resistance to slavery at the time (Wikipedia). Following the Compromise of 1850 that strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, slave catchers were allowed to work in free states and claim free Blacks as slaves and put them back into slavery. The specifics of the railroad are unknown to keep out infiltrators, everything relied on word of mouth, and many who helped only knew their part of the trip (Wikipedia).

Los Angeles possesses the characteristics of great fame and fortune as well as immense homelessness and poverty. Often times, young people are misled by the financial success of some and assume that is typical of city people. Writers Joan Didion and Carol Muske-Dukes characterize the realization that an adolescent’s lifestyle is not suitable for the demands of a city as signaling the dawn of the apocalypse. In the essay, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” Didion highlights how the failure of society is brought about by a family’s inability to fulfill traditional roles and a lack of education as exemplified during the Hippie movement. While poet Muske-Dukes utilizes gothic language and allusion to illustrate the notion of an apocalypse in the poem “Like This”.

The overcrowded population in San Francisco led to much poverty and pollution. Many residents of San Francisco described it as overpopulated and dirty “Charles Starkweather wrote to his family that, “the whole

Los Angeles was the first product off the assembly line of American urban planning. Turned on in the late 19th century, the city-making machine was fueled by an immense immigration of people who sought to create a new type of city out of the previously quaint pueblo. They also strove to craft the first major city developed primarily by Americans and outside of European archetypes. As a result, Los Angles is not only incredibly diverse, but also nearly impossible to define. Since it is a product of the American machine, understanding the community of Los Angeles becomes vital to understanding the United States. But to fully comprehend the present Los Angeles, one must look at the process that created it. Specifically, Los Angeles was

Sherman Alexie's "On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City" is a free verse poem that gives voice to Native American resentment and contempt. It is composed in a series of quatrains, with the last line of the poem standing alone, symbolizing the poet himself who feels alienated a stranger in his own land, now overrun by an "enemy." This paper will examine the poem's use of meter, imagery and symbolism, and give an interpretation of Alexie's thoughts and feelings in "On the Amtrak."