Pride and Prejudice and the Relationships of Women and Men Essay

In the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen there are many relationships between men and women. This book was originally entitled First Impressions and when reading it is easy to understand how this title could be aptly appropriate to the story line and characters. In these relationships one of the things that can be noted is that men are primarily looking for sex and that women are looking for resources. There are several character relationships in the story that exemplify this theory. These relationships include the relationship between Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. There are many examples as to how these relationships truly do exemplify the theory that women use relationships to find resources and men use relationships to find sex (LeFraye, Chapter 1). In the relationship of Charlotte and Mr. Collins there is much speculation throughout the story as to whether or not they are really in love. This can be exemplified through looking at their interactions together and focusing on what they do not have. There are many cases where it is obvious that Charlotte wants to be married and that she is trying to fulfill her mother’s dream of her being married off. Also Charlotte seems to ravish in the idea that someone else could take care of her. As for Mr. Collins, there is much detail linked to his attraction to Charlotte and being attracted to her could promote a stronger desire in him to fulfill his sexual desires with her. Also prior to Mr. Collins being with Charlotte, Mr. Collins was more interested in Elizabeth who continuously denied him and didn’t want to be with him. This further promotes that Mr. Collins did not show that he was truly in love with Charlotte in the story (Austen 211). There were many other key points that were involved in the relationship between Mr. Collins and Charlotte. This relationship between Charlotte and Mr. Collins did cause some problems for Charlotte as her sister was disappointed in her in that she felt that Charlotte should hold out for true love and really find someone who was smitten with her where as Charlotte seemed ready to settle in a desperate attempt to be married and no longer have to worry about whether or not she was going to have to take care of herself. Charlotte seemed to be comforted by the fact that someone was offering to really take care of her and focus their energies on her well being. In this fact it seems as though Charlotte was truly willing to settle for anything when it came to being taken care of and Mr. Collins was happy settling for Charlotte whom he found attractive and yet he was also able to encourage a relationship where he would be able to have passion in his own eyes. This relationship personifies the trend of the times that was when someone married for economic reasons rather than marrying for love (â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† 3). In the relationship of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy there are many different factors affecting how things. In the beginning it seems as though Elizabeth can not stand Mr. Darcy, â€Å"as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible against Mr. Dacry. † There were many other statements in the novel which would lead one to believe that Elizabeth indeed can not stand Mr. Darcy. There are also statements in the novel to support that Mr. Darcy feels likewise and the same and that he too has no intentions of having a relationship with Elizabeth. â€Å"Mr. Darcy, who was leaning against the mantle-piece with his eyes fixed on her face, seemed to catch her words with no less resentment than surprise. His complexion became pale with anger, and the disturbance of his mind was visible in every feature. † The problems between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy seemed to be that they both were head strong and had big personalities in which they were not interested in being able to engage in a relationship together (Austen 313 and 314). Later through the novel the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy develops and eventually, the second time that he proposes, they decide to be married. In this sense it seems as though Elizabeth holds out on marrying him until she believes that he is willing to initiate a relationship with her and he is willing to respect her for her thoughts and beliefs and not simply that he is attracted to her or wanting to be with her in a relationship. Another key factor in this relationship is that Elizabeth finds Mr. Darcy to be attractive, even when she is unhappy with who she thinks he is as a person, she still thinks that he is good looking. There are also a lot of issues in this sense as Elizabeth talks a lot throughout the first chapters about her opinions of others and she does not truly give others a chance to develop as she bases most of her long term impressions on others on the first impression which they make. Overall this relationship personifies a successful relationship between a man and a woman under the pretense that there has to be a long term connection and something more than initial attraction in order to have a successful relationship and marriage (â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† 1). In the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet it is obvious that Mrs. Bennet is consumed with the financial ability of men to take care of women. She is obsessed with her daughters being able to marry a â€Å"fine suitor† who will be able to provide for them and she is even talking about the amount of money one young man makes with her husband as the story opens. Mr. Bennet seems to be concerned about his wife’s beauty which would prove that he has a need and a desire to find her attractive. Mrs. Bennet’s only concerns for her daughters are that they be married off to wealthy men who can provide the best of life for them however she has poor public manners and many times her daughters are embarrassed by her. Also Mrs. Bennet’s actions really do keep some of the most suitable suitors away from her daughters as her actions are rather appalling to others and therefore they are typically wanting less to do with her daughters in fear of having to deal with her. In many parts of the novel, Mr. Bennet comments on his appreciation for Mrs. Bennet’s beauty, in doing so he is portraying that he is truly attracted to her and therefore he would be interested in the sexual relationships that would be available to him with his wife (Austen 213). This relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet personifies the relationship that can occur when someone focuses on attraction first. This being that Mr. Bennet fell in love with how Mrs. Bennet looked without knowing what her intelligence was or whether or not they would get along. Mr. Bennet had been more concerned with these outward features than long term compatibility and in the end there were a lot of reasons to believe that this relationship was not all that it seemed to be (â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† 2). In the book, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, there are many relationships that exemplify the idea that women are in relationships in order to secure stability and men are in relationships for sex. This is apparent in the relationships between Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, and Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. In these relationships the women are looking for various securities whether financial, emotional or both and the men seem to be looking for the sexual benefits that will come from the relationships. These types of relationship trends are interested in Bibliography Austen, Jane. The Complete Novels. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. LeFraye, Deidre. Jane Austen: The world of Her Novels. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2002. â€Å"Pride and Prejudice. † The Literature Network. 2000.

A Review of Studio67 Restaurant Business Plan

All businesses need capital to invest. The capital may come from the pockets of the proprietors, or from lending institutions. Most businesses end up borrowing part of the capital in order to start up. The amount of loan depends on the size of the business.Lending institutions base the amount of loan and the interest of loan from the â€Å"feasibility study† of the business. If the projected return of investment has a positive and increasing figure in the next years, then it is likely that the business can get a loan with a lower interest. Thus, it is mandatory that any business submits credible, realistic, and well-researched feasibility studies of the business they are interested for the loan to get approved. (Do's and Don't of Writing a Business Plan).A Review of Studio67 Restaurant Business PlanStudio67 is a â€Å"medium-sized† restaurant in Portland, OR, that focuses mainly on serving ethnic dishes using purely organic ingredients. The business plan is brief and co ncise. The words used, too, are simple enough for any reader to understand.It gave organized parts of describing what the business is all about: the target market, its financial projection for three years, and its strategies. I can't say, however, it is a good business plan. There were a lot of parts lacking. There are questionable parts too. First, how did the business come up with the figures used in the financial projection? The figures must be based on real studies and where are they? The â€Å"Market Research† part then, is lacking. This is the part where studies from similar businesses went through.The SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis should be included too. What I see in the business plan presented were all good things of the business, but it doesn't project the threats ( in example: competitors, labor issues). (Do's and Don't of Writing a Business Plan). One questionable part here is the ownership. The statement â€Å"the restaurant will s tart out as a simple sole proprietorship, owned by its founders,† contradicts itself. (Studio67, 2.1).A sole proprietorship is owned by only â€Å"one person,† so who among the founders will be the name appearing as the sole proprietor? If all the founders own the business, then it should be called partnership. Next, the start up capital mentioned coming from the pockets of the owners is $40,000. (Studio67, 2.2). However, this contradicts 7.0 Financial Plan part of the proposal, where it said it expected to raise â€Å"$30,000.†The break-even analysis 7.1 was bleakly explained, even its chart is not what a break even chart looks like. This part should be omitted if it can't be explained right at all. This analysis should be given after all the other financial statements were presented. If I was the financier, I will reject this proposal due to lacking parts of the study. It didn't show the real market analysis to make it feasible enough.However, if the market res earch was given and the figures are credible, I can approve the $100,000 loan because the return will be realized in 3 years. The projection of sales for the first year, however, is huge, too huge to become credible for an exquisite restaurant like Studio67.I don't believe the figures projected to say it could sustainably develop the business for a long time; however, it can be possible to obtain, if the proposal comes up with better, more specific marketing strategies.ReferencesOrganic Restaurant Business Plan: Studio 67 Restaurant. 1996-2008. Palo Alto Software,Inc.Retrieved June 5, 2008.[http://www.bplans.com/Sample_Business_Plans/Restaurant_Cafe_And_Bakery_Business_Plans/Organic_Restaurant_Business_Plan/Executive_Summary_fc.cfm].Do's and Don’ts of Writing a Business Plan. Arkansas Small Business Development Center.Little Rock, Arkansas: University of Arkansas at Little Rock – College of Business Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business and Economic Development. Retri eved June 5, 2008. [http://asbdc.ualr.edu/business-information/1001-business-plan-writing.asp].  

History Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

History - Case Study Example Answer 2 First, there is dire need to clarify the meaning of this terminology ‘sizable’, which usually refers to a large religious or ethnic group (in terms of population). For example, Muslims in India have a considerable size (over 200 million), yet they are a minority in staggering 1.2 million Hindu majority nation. It should be highlighted that if any religious or ethnic group has been offered all legitimate basic needs and rights followed by protection of interests then they should not have a right to create an independent nation because this will lead to societal unrest. However, if a minority sizable group (example of Indonesia and East Timor) is suppressed by ruling majority then they do deserve an independent state where they could live according to their free will and practice their interests. Answer 3 The weaknesses in political structure were quite evident during 1920s across followed by poverty, unemployment and economic failures, thereby making it to govern China. For instance, it was an era of warlords, societal unrest and civil disobedience. In short, the Chinese Civil War between the ruling Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) and the Communist Party of China (CPC) was also a result of aforementioned factors, which led to China’s division into Taiwan and People's Republic of China.

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

Antigone Written Response - Essay Example A tragic figure is someone who indeed has pride but is compelled to have an open mind when it comes to matters that involve others. And being the kind, it was a premier characteristic for a tragic hero to understand the repercussions of his actions before he set forth in giving exacting decisions. The fact that being rejected made Creon decide the fate of a person based from personal grudges is simply not heroic. Although he does not qualify in the definition of a tragic figure, he still possesses some characteristics that can be treated with nobility. He came from a good lineage, albeit the fact that he inherited the crown with twisted means, and he has what it takes to take over an entire kingdom. His pride and composition makes for a talented king, one which will be able to defend his constituents when the need arises. However, his actions as a king must be measured. This he had proven as his weakness, for in the end he has led to the tragic affairs that would forever taint his rule. Compared with Antigone, Creon is the weaker character. Antigone is a good example of a tragic figure, one which clings to her ideals if she knows they are right and would demand to be heard before she made her own means. Her actions towards the burial of an important person prove how fearless she is. And when it comes to dying, she chose to die with honor. Creon, in contrary, lack the courage it took Antigone to take her own life. That and that alone, is enough proof that Creon is nothing like Antigone. He is nothing like the sort of man a woman could trust decisions in. He failed to discuss his options and saw the fruit of indecision leading to untoward events. As king, it was his obligation to care for his minions, which he never fulfilled with satisfaction. In argument, sympathy can be felt for him at the end of the play when the actions he had started led to a vile event that he had not seen coming. Indeed, no one would have

How does Norfolk Southern Corp. affect the Hampton Roads Area Research Paper

How does Norfolk Southern Corp. affect the Hampton Roads Area - Research Paper Example This review will look into the issues and in the end offer a concise and concrete analysis of the effects of the Norfolk Southern Corp on the residents of Hampton area. Primary information about the company as well as sources is encompassed in the review so that as more information about the relationship that exist between the company and area residents- and the area in a general- are deeply established. It is hoped that this paper will provides an informative insight into the significance of the company to the residents, the neighboring community and the micro economy of its environs. The Norfolk Southern Corporation is the company that owns Norfolk Southern Railway Company.   The company mainly focuses on transporting raw materials, semi-processed products and processed goods mainly in the Southeast, Midwest and East areas though interchanges with rail carriers in all parts of the United States.   The company also takes part in overseas freights transportations through Gulf Coast and Atlantic ports.   The company provides services as well as offering intermodal network in almost half of the Eastern part of the USA. It is estimated that in 2012 alone, the company covered about 20,000 miles in some 22 states and the Columbia (The Right Direction: Norfolk Southern Corporation 2002 Annual Report and Form 10-K p72). The system is such that it reaches various individual companies, mines, electric generation facilities in eastern and western Kentucky, northern southern West Virginia as well as Western Pennsylvania. It covers distribution centers, companies, transload facilities and various businesses located within its areas of operation. The company’s subsidiary christened Triple Crown Operations provides truckload transportation, through road trailer services. This is a technology that integrates both under-the-road and above-the-road transportation through the use of tractor trailer and highways by use of locomotives. Triple Crown also uses traditional trailers

MBA 510 Problem Set I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MBA 510 Problem Set I - Essay Example b. Compute the mean deviation. 3.24 square root ((N-Mean)^2+(N1-Mean)^2.../n)= Square root (42/4)= 3.74 c. Compute the standard deviation. 3.74 square root ((N-Mean)^2+(N1-Mean)^2.../n-1)= Square root (42/3)= 3.74 b. Lind Chapter 5: Exercises 8, 66 8. A sample of 2,000 licensed drivers revealed the following number of speeding violations. Number of Violations Number of Drivers 0 1,910 1 46 2 18 3 12 4 9 5 or more 5 Total 2,000 a. What is the experiment The experiment is the gathering of the data set b. List one possible eventA driver has less than two speeding violations c. What is the probability that a particular driver had exactly two speeding violations 18/2000 = .009 d. What concept of probability does this illustrate Relative frequency 66. A survey of undergraduate students in the School of Business at Northern University revealed the following regarding gender and majors of the students: Major Gender Accounting Management Finance Total Male 100 150 50 300 Female 100 50 50 200 Total 200 200 100 500 a. What is the probability of selecting a female student 200/500 = .4 b. What is the probability of selecting finance or accounting major 300/500 = .6 c. What is the probability of selecting a female or an accounting major Which rule of addition did you apply 250/500 = .5 The addition rule of independent events d. Are gender and major independent Why No, the data is dependent upon gender e. What is the probability of selecting an accounting major, given that the person selected is male 100/300 = .33 f. Suppose two students are selected randomly to attend a lunch with the president of the university. What is the probability that both of those selected are accounting majors Acct major = .4 Both acct major = .4*.4 =... 68. The American Automobile Association checks the price of gasoline before many holiday weekends. Listed below are the self-service prices for a sample of 15 retail outlets during the May 2003 Memorial Day weekend in the Detroit, Michigan, area. 70. A recent article suggested that if you earn , 25, 000 a year today and the inflation rate continues at 3 percent per year, you'll need to make 33,598 in 10 years to have the same buying power. You would need to make 44,771 if the inflation rate jumped to 6 percent. Confirm that these statements are accurate by finding the geometric mean rate of increase. 38. The accounting department at Weston Materials, Inc., a national manufacturer of unattached garages, reports that it takes two construction workers a mean of 32 hours and a standard deviation of 2 hours to erect the Red Barn model. Assume the assembly times follow the normal distribution. 44. The number of passengers on the Carnival Sensation during one-week cruises in the Caribbean follows the normal distribution. The mean number of passengers per cruise is 1,820 and the standard deviation is 120. 60. In establishing warranties on HDTV sets, the manufacturer wants to set the limits so that few will need repair at manufacturer expense. On the other hand, the warranty period must be long enough to make the purchase attractive to the buyer.

Abortion (The Right To Abortion) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Abortion (The Right To Abortion) - Research Paper Example Ethical and moral questions have been raised to this effect about the justification of abortion (Henshaw et al, 1999). To this effect, laws and regulations have been formulated for and against abortion since the period prior to the scientific discovery. The controversy has been stepped up across religious, political, medical and social circles on the right to abortion as laws evolve with changing times (Henshaw et al, 1999). Putting the controversy aside, the right to abortion is necessary as the foregoing discussion indicates. The right to abortion gives the woman the chance for her life to be saved. Abortion is a necessary action to take when the pregnancy puts the mother’s in danger. This happens when the mother is having health complications and/or serious illness such as high blood pressure. In such a situation, the pregnancy can be a risk to the mother’s life because in such a case, the mother is not in a position to maintain the pregnancy. In addition, the pregnant woman could be experiencing complications such as having to succumb to an ectopic pregnancy. This is a very dangerous health complication that can lead to death of the pregnant woman if not treated. A woman with an ectopic pregnancy could die as a result of rapture and severe loss of blood (WebMD, 2010). The only treatment for this complication is ending the pregnancy which is abortion all for the sake of saving the woman (WebMD, 2010). The right to choose as one of the concepts of reproductive health rights is another important reason that justifies abortion. Reproductive health rights refer to the right of both the man and woman to decide on the spacing and number of children (Socialist Worker, 2004). In the contemporary world, most women are working due to the economic and financial demands. Women are increasingly contributing to the family income and some are becoming bread winners in the family. Hence they have the right to take part in the decision making processes on the

Terrorism as a response to U.S. foreign policy Essay

Terrorism as a response to U.S. foreign policy - Essay Example (2009) cites, â€Å"the US arms uncritically supports Israel in its barbaric war against the Palestinians; it is hard to overemphasize the damage this does to the American image and interest in the Middle East† (p. 3). The foreign policy that focused only on the home security and border defense boosted sales of weapons but by cutting down the values of morality to a great extent. More logically, transformation of aggression and enmity into productive enthusiasm based on humanity can improve the situations and manage the conflicts to a great level. But the US foreign policy faces the criticism for arrogance against Muslims. A journal critically points out that â€Å"the zealotry that led to the tragedy of September 11th cannot be tolerated, but some grievances in the Islamic world deserve more serious consideration by Americans† (Johnson & Caruson, 2003, p. 9). Instead of the focusing on rivalry, America can utilize foreign interest in education and scientific researches by inviting global partnership. The country can make ties with developing economies and promote global peace. It can also stop instigating wars for the settlement of international issues, and promote the prospects of modernization through westernization in the fighting countries. Moore, D. (2007). A book review of Terrorism and American foreign policy: Intelligence in recent public literature, by P. R. Pillar (2001). Retrieved from

Stat Essay Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stat Essay - Assignment Example Moreover, the constant service time for each of the customer is 2 minutes. Therefore, the maximum total time consumed by the customer in availing the service is 8 minutes. Therefore, it can be stated that customer waiting time in seconds will be 480seconds in average. Single-phase queuing system is a type of queuing system where there is a single server, which provides service to the customer entirely. There are two types of single phase queuing system. One is of single channel i.e. the presence of a single server for every customer in the waiting line. While, the other is of multi channel i.e. the presence of multiple server, but each server is providing service to the customer. Single phase queuing system is appropriate when a single server delivers all the desired requirement of the customer. This type of system is appropriate when there is no requirement of multi specialized service providers (Ozcan, 2009). For instance, this type of system is mostly seen when a person goes to hair dressing saloon. A single service provider of the saloon provides the desired requirement of the customer at his/her own. This system is diagrammatically shown below. On the other hand, Multi-phase queuing system is a type of queuing system where there are multiple servers to provide service to the individual customers one after another i.e. in phases. There are two types of multi phase queuing system. One is the single channel, where the entire customers pass through a single set of servers. The other is the multi channel, where there is a presence of multiple sets of servers. Multi phase queuing system is appropriate when there is a requirement of multi specialized service providers. Here a specific task of the service is provided by a service provider or a group and the rest is performed by the different service providers at phases. Here each service provider is specialized at his/her work. This type of system is prominently

Lactic acid and ethanol fermentation Lab Report

Lactic acid and ethanol fermentation - Lab Report Example The presence of CO2, released as the waste product is responsible for its foam like expansion as it forms bubbles in the dough. Ethanol, on the other hand evaporates from the dough completely after the bread is fully baked (Kratz, 2005). Ethanol fermentation that is carried out by yeast is employed for the production of nearly all beverages containing alcohol except for those produced by maceration of carbon. In addition, the production of wines and brandies is carried out by the process involving fermentation of natural sugar of fruits, especially that of grapes. While beers, ales and whiskeys are produced by the fermentation of grain starches that is converted to sugar by application of enzymes called amylase that is present in germinated grain kernels. Vodka is produced by the fermentation of amylase-treated grains or potatoes, while the first step involved in the production of rum is the fermentation of cane sugar. In each and every process the fermentation must take place in a v essel that is specifically arranged to allow CO2 to escape, but at the same time preventing the external air from coming in, as formation of ethanol can only take place in absence of oxygen. The yet another use of yeast fermentation of various carbohydrate products is to produce ethanol that can be used for the fuels. Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol which is found in alcoholic beverages. It is mostly used as biofuels additive for gasoline in motor fuels (alcohol and you). Method and materials used for making wine For making wine, grapes or berries are crushed, depending upon the type of wine that is to be made. Yeast is then added to this mush of crushed fruits that consumes the sugars... The historic uses of fermentation were mostly the creation of alcoholic beverages such as mead, wine and beer, which date back to 7, 000 BC in some parts of Middle East. However, the fermentation of food items such as milk and other vegetables was experimented almost thousand years later. In 1857, Louis Pasteur, a French Chemist connected yeast to fermentation and defined it as respiration without air. Later, in 1907, Eduard Buchner, the German chemist found out that fermentation is actually caused by yeast secretions which can even take place outside the living cells. In 1920s, scientist discovered that extracts of muscle catalyze the formation of lactate from glucose in the absence of air. They also revealed that fermentation reactions are not peculiar to the action of yeast but can also occur in many other cases of glucose utilization. For making wine, grapes or berries are crushed, depending upon the type of wine that is to be made. Yeast is then added to this mush of crushed fruits that consumes the sugars released in their juices. A 5 gms packet of dry yeast or 35 ml to 175 ml of liquid yeast would be the right amount for making 5 gallons of wine.

Bleep Test Essay Example for Free

Bleep Test Essay Power is strength and speed together. A good example of this is sprinting. Coordination is the ability to use your limbs effectively. This would be used in sports like tennis and cricket. Flexibility is the amount of movement at a certain area of your body. This can be seen when doing gymnastics. Agility is the ability to move and change direction on your feet, changing your body position. Squash is a good example of this. Balance is the ability to keep an upright position. This would be used a lot in ballet. Body Composition is the build up of your body e. g. the amount of muscle/fat/bone you have. Reaction Time is how quickly you respond to a stimulus. A good example of this would be sprinters waiting for the shot to start. Endurance is the ability to keep going for long periods, like a long distance runner doing the 1500m Speed is how quickly you can put your body into action and how quickly you can cover a distance. 100m sprinters need this component. Strength is the maximum weight you can lift or the muscular endurance you can endure. This can be seen in a body builder lifting their maximum weight. The components of fitness I am hoping to improve on are: Strength Muscular and Cardiovascular endurance Composition To improve on my strength I am going to use resistance training. This will involve lifting 10kg weights every night and increasing the amount of repetitions I do. To improve on my muscular and cardiovascular endurance I am going to use continuous training. This will mean doing long distance running and a sit up bleep test. I will slowly increase on the distance covered when running. The overall effect of this training should improve my body composition, adding to my muscle and reducing the amount of fat. Heart Rate During my P. E. P I will record my heart rate at several key points during the activity. Resting Heart Rate Working Heart Rate Recovery Rate Resting Heart Rate is the number of beats whilst resting e. g. whilst reading Working Heart Rate is the number of beats after you have performed an exercise e. g. after you have just played in a rugby match Recovery Rate is the time it takes for your heart to return to its resting heart rate. Target Zones 205 Anaerobic training zone (Insufficient o2) 200 170 Aerobic training zone (Sufficient o2) 130 Resting heart rate 70 I will take my resting heart rate before I do any kind of warm up or activity. I will then do the warm up and main activity and take my heart rate immediately after, every minute for five minutes before doing a warm down. I will be looking for an increase in my recovery rate and a possible decrease in my resting heart rate. Performing the Activity It is essential that, when I am performing my main activity that I execute a sufficient warm up and warm down. A Warm Up: When exercising you need to do a sufficient warm up to warm the muscles. A warm up should not be a strenuous task, it should be something that takes little effort but gets your muscles warm, a slow job is a good example of this. After you have warmed your muscles you should proceed to stretching them. When stretching it is vital that you dont force the stretch as this could lead to various injuries. A stretch should be held for roughly ten seconds before proceeding to the next. If a sufficient warm up is not properly done or not done at all then you risk serious injury. A Warm Down: A warm down should be down after any main activity. It is done to remove the lactic acid from your muscles. Again it should not be strenuous, a light jog (or even a slow walk) is sufficient for a warm down. You should also stretch your muscles (in the same fashion as mentioned above). Failure to do this could result in fatigue and soreness for a few days after. Main Activity: When doing a main activity you need to be aware of what your limits are. Pushing yourself too far can result in serious injury. Although testing your limits is advised breaking them is something that should always be avoided. Stretches Stretches need to be performed before and after any activity. This is done to avoid serious injury during the activity and to decrease fatigue after the activity. These are the basic stretches used. It is important to stretch each muscle properly without straining or forcing the stretch as this could cause serious injury. A stretch should be held for 10-15 seconds. The main ones I will be using are the Abdom Abductor Lower Back Calf Hamstring Chest as these will be the most used areas during my P. E. P. My Activity: For my activity I am going to firstly make sure I have done a sufficient warm up. This will consist of a steady jog of about 300m then stretching the main muscle groups, then a steady jog back to the starting point. After doing so I will have a short rest period then do a sit up multi level fitness test. This is where you do sit ups to a recorded bleep which speeds up as the levels increase. After doing this I will do a warm down. This will be a slow walk then doing the standard stretches and a slow walk back. When at home every night I will do 15 repetitions of my 10kg weights. For this I will first stretch my arms then proceed to doing the repetitions. Once completed I will stretch my arms again. This exercise should not be performed alone so I will always have someone with me when executing it. I will also be doing 100 sit ups. Both of these exercises will progress over time. Technique: When performing my main activities I need to make sure I am using the right technique. When doing the long distance running I need to pace myself and remain at that pace for the duration of the run otherwise I will tire quickly. For the sit ups I need to keep my arms crossed across my chest and have a downward pressure on my feet, doing this every time will allow fair results to come through. For the weightlifting I have a poster that tells me the correct ways to lift the weights, this will help me use the proper technique and reduce the risk of injury. None of these tasks should be performed if I sustain an injury as it will only make it worse and prolong its effects. Equipment: For my main activities I am going to need several pieces of equipment. For the long distance run I dont particularly need anything but for the sit ups I need a stereo with tape playing capabilities and a tape of the multi level fitness test. I also need a mat to lye on to support my back. For the weight lifting I need my 10kg weights and the poster which tells me the correct technique. Fitness Level Before starting the 6 week training program I tested my fitness levels through a bleep test and a circuit. This is how we test the components of fitness. Power: Standing long jump Coordination: Bouncing a tennis ball off a wall alternating the catching and throwing hands Agility: Slalom through cones Reaction Time: Dropping a ruler and seeing at what measurement it was caught Endurance: Bleep test Speed: Shuttle run Strength: Throwing a 3kg ball as far as possible from a sitting position using a chest pass. My results are as follows: Power: 180cm Coordination: 18 catches Agility: 8:20 seconds Reaction Time: 15cm Endurance: 7. 5 Speed: 5. 20 seconds Max Reps: 15 Highest Level On Sit Up Bleep Test: 5. 4 When I performed the bleep test I was suffering from a minor flu which has affected my score on the activity so this will undoubtedly improve on the second time around. As for the other results they should improve after my training period, mainly my targeted components. If they do not then my 6 week plan hasnt been sufficient enough and I will have to look back at the frequency, intensity etc of the activities done. My P. E. P For my 6 week training period I am going to be doing a sit up bleep test every G. C. S. E lesson as well as a 100 sit ups at home every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Every night I will do 15 reps of 10kg weights. I will progressively build up the amount of sit ups and reps I do as well as trying to progress to higher levels on the sit up bleep test. On top of this I will be doing my usual schedule of rugby training. These training sessions are done on Monday, Tuesday and Sunday. If for any reason I feel I am not capable of performing an activity due to risk of injury then I will leave it for that session and see how I am feeling on the next session.

Leptospira Cultures Maintenance

Leptospira Cultures Maintenance RESULTS The Leptospira serovars maintained in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology were used in the present study. For maintenance, EMJH medium (Difco) with albumin supplement was employed and subcultured at seven day intervals and incubation was carried out at 28-30Â °C. In addition, the stock cultures were maintained in semi-solid medium with subculturing at one month interval. IDENTIFICATION OF LEPTOSPIRES Under dark field microscope, the live leptospiral organisms were found tightly coiled and actively motile. The motility observed was of both spinning and bending. In highly concentrated cultures, the organisms formed entangled masses. No contaminants were observed in most of the time when streaked on blood agar plates for purity checking of the cultures. In case of contamination they were purified by filtration. RECOMBINANT PROTEIN PRODUCTION Preparation of template DNA from Leptospira The genomic DNA isolated from Leptospira interrogans serovar Australis had a DNA concentration ranging from 40- 60Â µg/ml. The purity of the extracted DNA was checked by measuring the ratio of absorbance (O.D of DNA preparation at 260 and 280 nm). The value of the ratio obtained was found to be in the range of 1.8 to 1.93, indicating that the preparations were almost free of proteins.(in mat and methods). Amplification of lipl21 gene and lipl32 genes The amplification of lipl21and lipl32 genes were carried out and observed amplicons of 507 bp and 767 bp, respectively. (Fig 1) Cloning of the lipl21 and lipl32 gene The colonies of E.coli Dh5∞ cells transformed with lipl21 and lipl32 genes was picked up separately and tested for the presence of the two genes. It was observed that lipl21 clones yielded an amplicon size of 507 bp and lipl32 with 767 bp. These confirmed clones were preserved for further studies (Fig 2) Induction of recombinant protein The above clones were subcultured in LB broth containing Ampicillin (100Â µg/ml) and expression was optimized with 2 mM IPTG for LipL21 and 1mM IPTG for LipL32. The induced recombinant cells were harvested after six hours and five hours for LipL21 and LipL32, respectively. Uninduced controls were set for each. The cells were then pelleted and lysed. The expression of recombinant 21 kDa (rLipL21) and 32 kDa outer membrane proteins (rLipL32) were confirmed in comparison with that of the uninduced cells where there was no significant protein expression (Fig 3) Purification of recombinant lipl21 and lipl32 proteins The rLipL21 and rLipL32 proteins were purified by Nickel chelating affinity chromatography without any contamination. The protein concentrations were estimated to be 0.69 mg/ml and 2.07mg/ml for rLipL21 and rLipL32, respectively. Immunoreactivity of the proteins The immunogenicity of both rLipL21 and rLipL32 proteins were tested using MAT positive canine sera and observed that both the proteins were reacting. Further the protein did not react when blotted with hyper immune serum raised against the different bacteria namely E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pasteurella multocida. DIAGNOSIS Microscopic Agglutination Test A total of 124 canine serum samples from Leptospira suspected dogs were tested using MAT and among this 22 (17.74 per cent) were found to be positive for leptospirosis. Serum samples having a titre of 1:400 and above were considered as positive. The infecting serovars identified with canine leptospirosis are depicted in Table 3 Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay Indirect ELISA was done in separate microtitre plates employing rLipL21 and rLipL32 as antigens and the results were compared with that of MAT. Checker board analysis Using checker board analysis the optimum concentration of antigen, antibody and conjugate were estimated. The optimum concentration of antigen was found to be 50 ng/well and 150 ng/well for rLipL21 and rLipL32, respectively. The rabbit anti-canine IgG HRP conjugate concentration estimated was 1:2500 and 1:2000 for rLipL21 and rLipL32, respectively. A 1:50 dilution of test serum was used as optimum working dilution in both ELISAs. Determination of cut off values In IgG ELISA, the mean OD and standard deviation for the negative sera samples (n=44) was 0.49 and 0.11 for rLipL21 and 0.59 and 0.09 for rLipL32, respectively. The cut off value obtained was 0.82 for rLipL21 and 0.86 for rLipL32. Test proper The results of rLipL21 and rLipL32 based IgG ELISA are given in Table 4. Among 47 positive samples obtained by rLipL21 ELISA, only 20 found positive with MAT. In case of rLipL32 ELISA, 40 samples were recorded positive out of which 18 found positive with MAT. Comparison of MAT and rLipL21IgG ELISA The results of rLipL21 IgG ELISA were compared with that of MAT. Among 124 canine sera examined, 47 (37.90 per cent) showed OD more than the cut off value i.e. 0.82 and were considered positive for leptospirosis by rLipL21 IgG ELISA. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of rLipL21 IgG ELISA as relative to MAT was calculated to be 90.90 per cent, 73.52 per cent and 76.61 per cent, respectively (Table 5). On statistical analysis, it was found that there exists a significant difference between the two tests, ie, rLipL21 ELISA and MAT even at 1 per cent level of significance. Comparison of MAT and rLipL32 IgG ELISA The results of the IgG ELISA using rLipL32 as the antigen were compared with that of MAT. Among 124 canine sera examined, 40 (32.25 per cent) showed OD more than the cut off value i.e. 0.86 and were considered positive for leptospirosis by IgG ELISA. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of rLipL32 IgG ELISA as relative to MAT was calculated to be 81.81per cent, 78.43 per cent and 79.03 per cent, respectively (Table 6). Statistical analysis revealed that there exists a significant difference between the two tests, ie, rLipL32 ELISA and MAT at 1per cent level of significance. Comparison of rLipL21 and rLipL32 IgG ELISA On statistical analysis using Cochran’s Q test, at 1 per cent level of significance it was observed that there exists no significant difference between rLipL21 and rLipL32 ELISA, as the P value was found to be greater than 0.01. Table 3 Infecting serovars identified with MAT Table 4 Results of MAT, rLipL21 ELISA and rLipL32 ELISA Table 5 Comparison between rLipL21 ELISA and MAT Sensitivity = a/a+c = 90.90% Specificity = d/b+d = 73.52% Accuracy =a+d/a+b+c+d = 76.61%

Literature review of reducing barriers and reoffending in juvenile offenders

Literature review of reducing barriers and reoffending in juvenile offenders This assignment will be a literature review of reducing barriers and re-offending in juvenile offenders at Wetherby secure college of learning through education and training, and to draw out any key themes that have been highlighted from published research. It has for a long time been accepted that there is a long standing connection of both public and professional opinions, the link between those juvenile offenders who commit crime to barriers and education, training and skills. This literature review will draw on books, published research, home office and government journals and agencies such as the YJB, OLASS- offender learning and skills service. This bibliographic information was selected using home office, government and agency resources and also using databases such as Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC). The government has a duty to punish those as a deterrent who commit crime, but also has a duty to address the reason why these young juvenile offenders fall into a vicious circle of committing crime. The review will look at how the government intend to raise offender skills and get more offenders into work and stop repeat offending. Research has Identified a key falling of the criminal justice system that over half off all offences are committed by ex- offenders, Barbary (2007) and out of all offenders that were released from custody in 2004 over sixty five per cent went on to re-offend, Home Office (2007). This being a massive cost to the government and to the tax payer by ex-offenders estimated to be around  £11 billion per year Social Exclusion Unit (2002). The interest I have in this area is that I have been working with young offenders on and off for the last twenty two years and for the last ten years in a teaching capacity. Over this period of time I have dealt with these young people with a whole range of learning and educational difficulties, and we need to look at, and to stop the huge number of them re-offending and coming back into custody. And that is to equip them with the right skills so at least they have a better chance of progressing through life. For my research I would like to take a sample of offenders who have improved their education whilst in custody and to follow them on release to see if it has had an impact on stopping them re-offending. The back ground to this review starts with the youth justice board, the YJB were introduced to oversee the provision of all 15-18 year olds in custody serving detention training orders. This agency brought a renewed focus as their role spans both custody and the community to monitor key services to prevent re-offending under the crime and disorder act 1998. Review of Literature Evaluation of Literature suggests custodial institutions are attempting to meet the needs of the young juvenile offenders who are beset with multiple disadvantages. In terms of education and training, the young peoples immediate antecedents are mainly characterised by lack of access and/or nonparticipation and long-standing deficits in literacy and numeracy. The YJB commissioned Ecotec consulting to undertake an audit of the provisions of education and training within the juvenile estate. The YJB could then use this as a base to measure any success that arose. The outcome of this audit gave an eye opening evidence based snapshot of a system failing to provide juvenile offenders with their entitlement to a good education. The audits evidence revealed a picture of a disconnected, inadequate and an impoverished service ECOTEC (2001). There were three main areas where education appears to be significant in creating a likelihood of offending: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The impact of custodial interventions; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Educational under-achievement, particularly with respect to literacy and numeracy; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Permanent exclusion and non-attendance at school. A re-occurring thread of research done on young people in custody is that a majority have low levels of educational or training qualifications, with significant literacy and numeracy deficits in particular. The Social Exclusion Unit Bridging the Gap report noted that 80 per cent of young offenders in custody had no qualifications, and that over two-thirds of young offenders sent to custody were at NVQ Level 1 or below for reading, writing and numeracy YJB (2006). A survey carried out by INCLUDE for the YJBs Basic Skills Initiative (2000) of the basic skills needs of young people with whom Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) are working revealed reading ages averaging six years behind chronological ages. Evidence from other researchers were in agreement with ECOTEC consulting, findings revealed similar key factors that are closely associated with offending by young people: * detachment from education * low attainment (especially in literacy and numeracy skills) * influence of the school (including lack of a clear school ethos, poor discipline) * experience of custody and local authority care, which are associated with detachment from education and low attainment, Blythe, Haywood, Stevenson (2004). Research over the last decade has suggested that young people who do not succeed at GCSE level are less likely to move onto further education between the ages of 16 and 18, this evidence in itself, is the most important indicator of unemployment at age 21 (Social Exclusion Unit, 1999). Work carried out by Croll and Moses (2003) supports the view that early exits from the education system are typically associated with limited career prospects and other restricted life chances. This is also viewed by the researchers mentioned earlier, that the earlier young people remove themselves or are removed by exclusion or suspension from education in their early teens are likely to go on to become young offenders. Evidence from the literature suggests that, to curb the dis-engagement of the young offenders from learning before they get into the criminal justice system was: For schools to respond quickly to non- attendance/ involve the parents with support/ and to arrange full time programmes for students who have become detached from education To have individualised learning plans for students with difficulties And to promote a good school ethos and staff- student relationships. All the literature review so far is in agreement with what is happening and what needs to be done to help young people overcome these barriers and promote education to the dis-effected youth I see on a day to day basis in my work environment. The four main risk factors for the onset and continuation of offending occur within the remit of education, training and employment, these are, detachment from education, low attainment in literacy and numeracy, influence of the schools and receiving a custodial sentence or placed into care. Research evidence also suggests that engagement in education and training is most probably the single most important protective factor in reducing offending and reoffending (YJB, 2002; Berridge et al, 2001; Lipsey, 1995; Farrington, 1996). What is less clear from all of this evidence is the direction of the relationship between cause and effect with these particular risk factors. Does low attainment make the young person more likely to absent him or herself, or are those who absent themselves more likely to be low attainers? Does being excluded from school lead people into offending, or are actual or potential offenders more likely to be excluded? (YJB 2006). Some literature argues that, it is unclear whether these young people being out of school for long periods of time and associating with an older delinquent cohort fall into crime (Berridge et al, 2001; Farrington,2001) or the increase exposure to drug taking, or is it when the young people drop out from education, its the delay in re-attachment back to mainstream education that is driving them into engaging in offending behaviour (Parsons, 2000). But the literature does suggest that being exposed to one or all the risk factors mentioned increases the risk of offending behaviour (YJB, 2006). If we look more closely at the high risk factors of causes of offending in young people and possible resolutions. Detachment The YJB funded education programmes has shown direct correlation in numeracy and literacy attainment and in low rates of offending (YJB,2003). Post sixteen education, training and skills interventions were a big predictor in getting employment. An Audit Commission Report (1999), reported that on any one day that there are four hundred thousand children, five per cent of the eight million children that should be in school that or not. The Audit Commission Report (Audit Commission, 2004) recognised that the extent of out of school population was unknown and recommended that LEAs should undertake a census of young people not in school, including authorised and unauthorised absences and those not on a school roll. The Tomlinson Report (DfES, 2004) observed that: Disengagement peaks during Key Stage 4 and is manifest in absenteeism, exclusion and bad behaviour. Some of the causes of disengagement are cultural, social and economic and not easily addressed through changes to curriculum and qualifications. While recognising that the causes of disengagement may be complex, the Tomlinson Report proposals had the stated aim of raising participation and tackling the educational causes of disengagement through: * offering a choice of relevant programmes and activities that allow young people to pursue their interests and aspirations * sign posting progression routes within a diploma framework and making it easier for learners to follow a route of their choice * ensuring that all young people developed the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to access the curriculum * enabling young people to build confidence by gaining credit for small steps of achievement. There are four additional messages from the current literature. * It is much clearer about what to do than the detail on how to do it Reattaching young people to education and training is far harder than preventing detachment in the first place * There is limited evidence available of the transfer of learning between different environments such as custody to the community * Delays and poor communication between the education and youth justice systems are a major constraint (YJB 2006). Conclusions The literature review supports the importance placed by the YJB on education and training to reduce recidivism among young people who offend. The emerging research evidence provides broad guidance for principles of effective educational interventions. Several types of intervention have been evaluated as demonstrating a high degree of effectiveness in reducing important risk factors. The evidence also indicates that early and sustained intervention on the crucial matters of attainment and attachment have a higher chance of success than trying to equip older teenagers who have become completely detached from mainstream learning with literacy and numeracy skills.

Essay Comparing the Role Models in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green

Role Models in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Excellence has always been a virtue revered by society. Writers throughout the ages have tried to capture the essence of excellence in their works, often in the form of a title character, who is the embodiment of perfection, encapsulating all the ideal traits necessary for one to be considered an excellent member of society. However, the standards for excellence are not universally agreed upon. On the contrary, one man's idea of excellence may very well be another's idea of mediocrity. Yet, human nature is constant enough that by analyzing different literary "heroes", one can discover the standards of excellence that are common to different peoples. The title characters in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight were both considered paragons of excellence by their peoples. Yet, upon close inspection of the specific actions of these characters, stark differences emerge. While Gawain is virtuous and exemplifies selflessness, Beowulf's heroism is marred by his pursuit of fame and wealth, which seems to dominate his every action. The discrepancy can be explained by a contextual analysis of both heroes. Gawain's code of chivalry emphasized perfection and thus he is flawless. Beowulf on the contrary adheres to the code of heroism, which is much less stringent on man's actions, and much more open to interpretation. Gawain's actions reflect the social mores of 14th century England, where a good knight was expected to adhere firmly to the code of chivalry. Gawain is the model knight, gallant and valorous, not to mention a devout Christian. Gawain's superb character traits are bolstered by his status as a member of King Arthur's court. Th... ...ulf saw themselves as means by which the end of achieving glory for their society could be achieved. They didn't leech on to society and drain precious resources as do many of today's corrupt leaders. On the contrary, they gave back to their people and lived up to the ancient notion of the "good citizen" as first advanced by Plato. Present society would be the better for it if more people like Gawain and Beowulf were born. They were truly excellent members of society. Â   Works Cited and Consulted Bede, The Venerable. Ecclesiastical History of the English People. 731 AD. Beowulf. Ed. Burton Raffel. New York: Signet Classic, 1999 Brewer, D.S. Courtesy and the Gawain-Poet. Ed. John Lawlor. London: Arnold, 1966 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Ed. Brian Stone. New York: Penguin, 1974

Mother’s Comforting Gray Gun :: Personal Narrative Profile

Mother’s Comforting Gray Gun I lay on my side with one socked foot dangling off the edge of the bed, looking down at Mom on the floor. She lay on a pallet of itchy, green army blankets my dad "borrowed" from his tour in Vietnam. No matter how many times they were washed, the blankets always smelled like smoke and machine oil; I had never seen them used anywhere but the floor. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the dark, but when they finally focused, I could easily follow along the profile of my mother's distinctive nose. The Torres Nose, a nose passed down from her father and his father before him--a nose I am now glad I did not inherit. She lay perfectly still looking beautiful and peaceful, hands at her sides as if asleep. I knew better, Mom never slept when Dad worked out of town, she was practicing. Eight seconds was the time to beat, and if anyone could beat it, it was my mother. Mom had a steely determination much like the .357 Magnum kept under her pillow. It took a full three seconds to slide her right hand up under her head, two seconds to secure her palm around the grip and place her finger on the trigger, another two seconds to roll up on one knee, and one second more to steady herself by jutting out her leg to the side, a move I am positive she stole after watching Farah Fawcett in Charlie's Angels. She would run through the exercise many more times before morning came. My mother's late night drills continued until 1983. That year, our city established emergency 9-1-1 service, and Mom believed the police could now protect us from would-be intruders. Still, she bragged her response time was a lot faster. The first Saturday morning of the month, if she hadn't stayed up practicing the night before, Mom and I would head over to a turquoise-and-pink cinderblock building that sold baked goods, tennis shoes, candles, cassette tapes, and meat. Spanish polkas played on the radio while an old woman with mismatched eyes sat in a folding chair near a box fan. I shuffled my feet along the floor making scraping noises with my shoes as I went. The linoleum was grainy with dirt that nearly hid the checkerboard pattern. As my mother placed her order, I used the black and white tiles to play my own version of hopscotch.

The Colossal Decision to Deploy an Atomic Weapon: An Individuals Impact on Society :: Essays Papers

The Colossal Decision to Deploy an Atomic Weapon: An Individual's Impact on Society Never before in recorded history has there been an event that has take so many lives in one instant. On the day of August 6, 1945 the first atomic device ever detonated was deployed on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. It is recorded that sixty percent of Hiroshima was destroyed in this offensive maneuver. Seventy-eight thousand human beings lost their lives at 8:15 a.m.1 The man directly responsible for this attack was the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. While it is true that individuals are for the most part guinea pigs to society, there arises one striking exception to this rule: the leaders of our modern age. The impact this certain individual had on society is inconceivable, and to fully understand Truman's decision to drop an atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we must understand the momentous forces driving him to this means to an end. There were many different circumstances pushing Truman to his decision to use this secret weapon against the Japanese. There were moral issues, military issues, and of course Truman and his closely-knit circle of advisors had to examine the impact of this use of atomic energy on the future of our planet. In the end, however, the opposing forces proved slight enough for Truman to overrule. The first barrier to using a weapon of such destructive capabilities is personal morality. It would be very reasonable to think that it would be an impossibility for one person to authorize the destruction of so many others. This issue turned out to be one of small importance for Truman for many reasons. First, the American public had a moral advantage in that the Japanese bombed us first at Pearl Harbor. Also, as Truman himself stated, "†¦ was either that or the atomic bomb, and I didn't hesitate a minute, and I've never lost any sleep over it since."2 This indicates his main reason for not having any moral qualms with this bombing, the consequences if he didn't drop the bomb. The most important of these was the expected American casualties if we chose invasion over the bomb. However, if Truman new the greusome effects the deployment of this weapon would have upon the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagisaki, perhaps he would have hesitated. To see what the effects of the a-bomb on the people and buildings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki click here.

Matthew Arnold’s “Culture and Anarchy”

A lot of introductions to literary studies, including the one provided by Nà ¼nning , concentrate on what Collini (2000)2 calls the †Holy Trinityâ€Å" of literary studies: poem, drama and novel. According to Collini, this view dominated the Anglo-American literary study from the 1930’s to at least the early 1970’s. He states †Under this regime, the recalcitrant mixed-mode texts of the Victorian essayist and moralists did not fare well.â€Å".Nevertheless, non-fictional types of texts are the most common in everyday life. Were would humanity be without newspapers, manuals, hypertexts, and all the other pieces of †non-fictional proseâ€Å" which are, according to Collini †a nearly limitless categoryâ€Å"?It is the the most red category, and the category most written in. Writers are mostly engaged in non-fictional prose. There are millions of journalists and scientists today; not to speak of all the bureaucrats in the administrations of nearl y every enterprise or government, who write trillions of letters, reports and presentations every day. Non-fictional prose is worth more attention.This paper is concerned with a piece of non-fictional prose. Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold. In order to deliver a sufficient analysis, there will be a chapter on the author first, to get an impression of how to understand the utterances. This includes a brief summary of the most important texts that were published by Matthew Arnold before Culture and Anarchy. Afterwards, there will be a chapter on text types, to clarify which category of text the work belongs to. At last, there will be the analysis of, as an application of the theory from the chapter before, with respect to the current scientific state of interpretation of Culture and Anarchy.1. Matthew Arnold: BenchmarksMatthew Arnold lived from 1822 to 1888. He was an elementary-school-inspector from 1851-86. He wrote poems until he was thirty3 . The most popular one is Dover  Nà ¼nning, Vera. An introduction to the study of English and American literature. Barcelona [et al.]: Klett, 2007  Collini, Stefan. â€Å"From ’Non-Fiction Prose’ to ’Cultural Criticism’: Genre and Disciplinarity in Victorian Studies†. pp. 13-28. John, Juliet (ed. and introd.); Jenkins, Alice (ed. and introd.) and Sutherland, John (foreword) Rethinking Victorian Culture. Basingstoke, England: Macmillan, 2000. xvi, 244 pp Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, p 488Beach, where he pictured the struggling of his generation with religion and progress and finds a relief in love as a reliable fix-point in life. His poems became so popular, that he was elected the (foremost honorary) post of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, where he was obliged to hold public lectures three times a year. He was the first unordained holder of the post and spoke English instead of Latin.In 1861 he held a lecture on translating homer, that was published as a book later. E.K. Brown (258) detects a dogmatic element in that essay, when Arnold asserts, that Homer is â€Å"the most important poetical monument existing† and prophesies that he will be read more and more in the future. In the same year, 1861, Arnold published The Popular Education in France, on his own expense. In the Introduction he makes an ominous statement about society as a whole, that was later republished under the title Democracy.The next publication in book-form was Essays on Criticism5 , where he developed a method called â€Å"disinterestedness† (dis- = not, inter- = between, esse= to be). It was not considered to be very helpful by scientists. Chhibbar6 states that it was â€Å"†¦ fragmented, chaotic, and uncentered.† (164), but Caufield7 suggests, that the lack of consistency was compensated by â€Å"a habit of keeping in touch with the concrete† and a â€Å"gift for implicit definition†.Arnold described himself as a â€Å"à ¢â‚¬ ¦ mere solitary wanderer in search of the light†, who speaks an â€Å"artless, unstudied, every-day, familiar language.† (ibid., footnote 2). Having said this, his method can as well be called empirical and inductive. Arnold also pleaded that the mere â€Å"application of principles† was tautological, could not provide a â€Å"sense of creative activity.† (38) and that it would sincerely take a lot of logic to build a machine but the idea to build a machine came from intuition (ix).The subsequent book, Culture and Anarchy, was continuing in the tradition of Essays in Criticism, insofar as it was primarily a collection of essays published in a magazine before. According to Collini (1993, 276), Arnold was involved in an almost continuous series of overlapping Brown, A.K. †The Strategy of â€Å"Disinterestedness†Ã¢â‚¬ . pp 251-262. Weber, Horst (ed.) Der Englische Essay. Darmstadt, 1975.  Arnold, Matthew Essays on Criticism.Chhibbar, Sude rshan. Victorian perspectives on democracy : a study of selected literary documents 1832 – 1867, Dissertation, 1980  Caufield, James W. â€Å"Most Free from Personality: Arnold’s Touchstones of Ethics†, Cambridge Quarterly (2009) 38 (4): 307-327. Collini, Stefan. â€Å"Arnold†. pp. 195-326.Thomas, Keith (ed.) Victorian Thinkers. Past Masters. Oxford, 1993. vii, 428 pp.  controversies, which started around the time of Democracy.  Arnold retrieved from social criticism, when three of his children died in a short sequence of time. He started to focus on religion and got a lot of appreciation for that. Later, he declined becoming professor at Oxford again, as well as becoming Director of a University.According to the Oxford Companion of English Literature Arnold was â€Å"the leading critic of his time†. His contemporaries must have had a different view. According to Caufield , Arnold had been a â€Å"cast out† until the end  of the 2nd world war. He was seen as a †frivolous dandyâ€Å", †logical light-weightâ€Å", †stupid weaklingâ€Å", â€Å"incoherent chatter† or â€Å"intellectual dandy† (237), whose â€Å"airy dogmatism† was â€Å"ambitious, vague and perverse† (244), and could only serve to impress â€Å"young ladies or old women† (243).His style was deemed as â€Å"an almost feminine concreteness of mind that rarely rose above the simplistic level of anecdotal narrative† (242). According to Caufield, Arnold reproduced the Utilitarian versus Romantic polarity and concludes that â€Å"Arnold appears to be figure of late Romanticism†, whose contemporaries claimed that his arguments lacked â€Å"the logical and moral toughness demanded by the disciplines of political economy and ’felicific calculus’ (cf. Bentham).† . The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography confirms that †In much of Arnold’s poetry one se es the disconsolate Romantic trying to turn himself into the resolute stoic.â€Å" (489).2. How to Analyse an Essay2.2 Patterns of OrganisationMiller distinguishes 6 patterns of organisation for the information in an essay; illustration, comparison & contrast, definition, division and classification, process, and causal analysis. Illustration means giving examples. Comparisons and contrasts are used to make things clearer, show the positive side of something or to find a general principle. A definition is the explanation of vague and ambiguous words.A formal definition puts the term in a general class and then differentiates it from the other members of that class. An extended definition is used to explain an uncommon term which is new or abstract. A Differentiation is showing what is not part of the definition. A division is the separation into groups, and a classification is the placement of units into these groups. A process is â€Å"a sequence of actions and operations†, which has no focus on the story. A causal analysis consist of necessary, contributory and sufficient causes.2.3 Diï ¬â‚¬erent Types of EssaysThere are different kinds of distinctions possible to differentiate between certain types of essays. On the level of topic, the author can use the a narration, description, exposition or argumentation. On the level of style, there are more or less formal essays to distinguish.2.3.1 Narration, Description, Exposition, ArgumentationMiller (168 n.) explains that the narration has a clear time sequence, can use dialogues and a varying point of view, whereas a description is a â€Å"sensory diction† (ibid.). It can ether stay detached from the narration, be (objective/factual) or include personal feelings and opinions of the narrator (subjective/personal). An exposition is the explain  Svaglic, Martin J. â€Å"Classical Rhetoric and Victorian Prose†. pp 230-250. Weber, Horst (ed.) Der Englische Essay, Darmstadt, 1975. Nation of inf ormations and/or ideas, and an argumentation â€Å"proposes† (366) of a point of view.  In this view Culture and Anarchy clearly is an argumentation.2.3.2 The Informal, Formal and Periodical EssayFreiburg15 distinguishes three types (â€Å"Muster†) of essays which developed successively in history; the informal essay, the formal essay and the periodical essay. The archetype of essay was ’invented’ by Michel de Montaigne. He thought that the writer had to be able to unfold his thoughts without constrains. Form, topic and stylistic devices were kept open. Thematically, reading often was the starting point of de Montaigne’s thoughts, which were explicated, quasi ’live’, in his essays. So they have hardly a structure, are rhetorical and associative.According to Mace-Tessler Bacon called himself an â€Å"imitator of de Montaigne†(15), but he shifted the focus from â€Å"personal inquiry† (ibid.) to social and philosophical topics. According to Freiburg, the essays of Bacon had a clear intention and target group, and were written in tradition of the ’Speculum Magistratis’. Therefore, the tone was kept rational and Bacon underlined his educatedness or cited other authorities to be accepted as an advisor.The rational tone was achieved by the use of definitions and a dialectical logic. The stylistic devices used were comparisons, parables and metaphors. They served for illustration. To easy the memorisation of the  conclusions, aphorisms and maxims were employed.The aim of the formal essay is the transmission of lessons. The periodical essay was ’invented’ by people like Daniel Defoe in the beginning of the newspaper. It was dominant in the Victorian and fin-de-sià ¨cle period. There was an increasing readership, achieved by the cheapness of periodicals and there was a growth in reading public because of elementary education and the overall growth of the middle-class.Mace-Te ssler adds, that the periodical essay is considered as one aspect in the development of journalism. Freiburg describes it as a mixed form of informal and formal essay. The essays where published in magazines and journals. Topics were taken from everyday life in the newly established middle class. They were read silently at the breakfast table, or aloud at the coffee-house. There was a high variety of generic  devices: letters, reports, poems and even fictional narrations are being subsumed under this category. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is one example. It was published in â€Å"All the year round†, a periodical owned by Charles Dickens.The focus of the periodical essay lied less on what was said, than on how it was said. There was a shift away from subject-matter, towards an examination of the author’s attitude towards a subject. The result was an â€Å"almost conspirational† and â€Å"familiarly† (cf. Mace-Tessler) tone. The periodical essay had t o have a certain predictability because the journal or magazine had to be sold. However, a variety of structures, styles and essay types were needed to sustain the readers’ interest and attention.This variety had to follow some predictable patterns. In general, there was a tendency to  imitate what has been before which formed the style of the periodical essay (Mace-Tessler, 11). Drescher (228 n.) makes an over-all distinction between free essay, formal essay and mix-form essay.This coincides with to Freiburg’s informal, formal and periodical distinction. Drescher states, like suggested by Mace-Tessler, that the style of the periodical essay was foremost coined by the magazine which published it.He analysed 221 periodical essays in two Irish fin-de-sià ¨cle-magazines (The Mirror and The Lounger) and he omitted the use of a categorization by topic, tone or style in favour of four basic structures.The additive, linear, discursive and integral structure. The additive s tructure is characterised by the fact that the parts of the text are not interrelated. They don’t depend on each other and have different topics. In the linear structure, each part of the essay relates directly to the other, as well as to the topic, but there is no interrelation between the texts. The discursive structure has a progressive arrangement of the single texts.The episodes have a causal relation, each text leads to the other and each unit references to the topic. In an integral structure, the parts of the particular essay develop their own structure, and the sense-level stays directly connected to the topic. Mace-Tessler distinguishes rhetorical, simple, unified, associated, unrelated and incomplete essays in his analysis of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator.3. Analysis3.1 Type of EssayCulture and Anarchy was written as a rhetorical essay, published first in the periodical Cornhill Magazine over a period of almost a year. The Introduction was written at last and the particular chapters argument on a different basis of information because they were written in different periods. According to Chhibbar, there had been â€Å"profound changes and tensions† (197) at the time of the accruement of Culture and Anarchy. According to Altick17 , all but the first part, Sweetness and Light, were written as reaction to the critiques. The structure of the whole text must be called linear, in the terminology of Drescher.3.2 Diegetic LevelAs seen above, Arnold was publishing from different perspectives. Campbell18 states that the movement between the roles of school inspector, government official (as an expert), Oxford Professor of Poetry, critic and â€Å"polemical journalist† required the adjustment in the style and content. This shifting between different voices was especially present in the critical writing that used irony, imitation and parody to undermine the views of â€Å"formed personages†. He sometimes even used a fore igners point of view to criticize his countrymen. Campbell suggests to read his criticism more like fiction.3.3 Rhetorical ModeBecause periodical essays were read aloud in the coffee houses authors often made use of rhetorical elements. According to Svaglic (234), the Rhetoric by Aristotle had long been a basic text of the â€Å"litterae humaniores program† at Oxford. Thus it must have been known by Matthew Arnold. Brown even calls him a â€Å"practised rhetorician† (259). Svaglic describes the three modes of rhetoric by Aristotle, who distinguished between the deliberative/hortatory, the forensic/judicial mode, and the epideictic/ceremonial mode.The deliberative/hortatory mode is the persuasion of view-points, the forensic/judicial mode is concerned with guilt and innocence, and the epideictic/ceremonial mode is used for the praise of great men and deeds. Brown states that all great Victorian prose writers were practising every mode of rhetoric at one time or another, but the most popular was the deliberative/hortatory mode (233).Arnold announces that he is a â€Å"man without a philosophy† (94) and speaks of a â€Å"simple unsystematic way† which â€Å"best suits both my taste and my powers† (5), and continuous â€Å"We †¦ having no coherent philosophy, must not let ourselves philosophise.† (Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, 201). This â€Å"plain-dealing† (Altick, 82) enables him to anatomise the failures of the middle class by being a â€Å"representative man† (ibid.) of it.3.4 Use of IronyAccording to Altick, the irony of Culture and Anarchy often lies in the fact that the professed respect is proforma and misdirected, or, what starts as epideictic rhetoric is negated by â€Å"deflationary techniques† (128). Due to the fact that Culture and Anarchy was written in pieces (linear structure), the use of â€Å"beautiful† is ambiguous. Wilhem von Humboldt is described as â€Å"one of the mo st beautiful and perfect souls† (140), which is supposed to be actually meant that way, for example. But on the other hand, there is, what Altick (132) calls â€Å"ironic praise†; the â€Å"touching and beautiful words† (61) of the fanatical anti-Catholic Mr. Murphy saying â€Å"I will carry out my lectures if they walk over my body as a dead corpse†, which is definitely neither touching nor beautiful.â€Å"Interesting† is one of the most equivocal words in Arnold’s argumentative vocabulary. For example, the â€Å"interesting speakers† (74), he heard during the Reform Debates in the House of Commons. One is later described as â€Å"perfection†, the other as â€Å"excess†. Excess is not interesting. Another example is â€Å"this very interesting operation† (223), for the attempt to legalise the marriage of a man with his deceased wife’s sister. It was illegal in Britain, but how often does such a case happen? There were much more important problems to be solved at that time – at least from Arnold’s point of view. The absurdity of this â€Å"interesting operation† is emphasised in the aftermath of the text by repetition.3.5 Use of RepetitionsThe phrase â€Å"deceased wife’s sister† gets repeated nine times in Culture and Anarchy. This rhetorical method of Arnold attempts to humiliate the opponent. This is also acknowledged by Collini, who states: â€Å"†¦ by mercilessly repeating the least happy phrases  over and over again, he drowns his opponent in a sea of comic associations.† (216).Sometimes repetition only serves in substitution for a sufficient vocabulary, like in â€Å"†¦ real thought, real beautiy; real sweetness and real light.† (49); or to show similarities like the â€Å"half-sized, half-fed half-clothed† children â€Å"without health, without home, without hope† (245). This similarities all hint to one point: the lack of a sufficient policy. As a â€Å"polemical journalist† (vid. infr. Campbell), Arnold tries to persuade (deliberative rhetoric). One big part of this early type of propaganda is the attempt for coinage by excessive repetition of newly defined terms.3.6 Deï ¬ nitions, Comparisons and ContrastsCulture is â€Å"the best which has been thought and said in the world† (ix). This is thereby nearly equal to religion. â€Å"Religion says: The kingdom of God is within you; and culture, in a like manner places human perfection in an internal condition, †¦ distinguished from animality.† (13). An attribute of culture is â€Å"right reason† as well as â€Å"best self †. The â€Å"really blessed thing is to like what right reason ordains† (68).â€Å"But for us,— who believe in right reason, in the duty and possibility of extricating and elevating our best self, in the progress of humanity towards perfection, †¦ we â₠¬ ¦ support them in repressing anarchy and disorder; because without order there can be no society, and without society there can be no human perfection.†The chasm of â€Å"without† and â€Å"society† serves the rhetorical effect. Anarchy is more or less defined as â€Å"doing as one likes†. The natural instinct of the ordinary man towards liberty is thereby degenerated into an â€Å"anarchical tendency† (59), caused by liberty. This â€Å"doing as one likes† is juxtaposed with â€Å"sweetness and light† (differentiation).According to the Oxford English Dictionary19 â€Å"Sweetness and Light† is a quotation from Jonathan Swift and means the noblest characteristics of humanity. His definition of â€Å"sweetness and light† is juxtaposed with â€Å"fire and strength†, his own coinage, repeated twelve times. Sweetness and light are â€Å"right reason†, â€Å"best self † and â€Å"culture†; but some times this must be protected by the forces of â€Å"fire and strength†. â€Å"State† is defined as â€Å"the nation in its  collective and corporate character†(66). This is based on the â€Å"best self † and becomes the â€Å"national right reason† (93). Culture and Anarchy is full of juxtapositions.According to Miller, Signalling words for comparisons and contrast are are ’in contrast’ (1 time), ’on the other hand’(14 times),  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢on the contrary’ (3 times) and ’however’(28 times); or transition words like ’likewise’ (3 times), ’similarly’ (2 times ’similar’) and ’in a like manner’ (’manner’: 21 times). On the level of content, the most obvious contrasts are between the ’bad examples’ like the liberals Roebuck and Bright, the Alderman of London and Mr. Murphy as well as the writers of the Times, the Saturday Review and the Daily Telegraph, who are compared with the with the good examples of Bishop Wilson, Duke Wellington and St. Augustine.3.7 DialoguesAs mentioned above by Freiburg, its not uncommon to use a dialogue in an essay. The following one can be found in the introduction to Culture and Anarchy where Arnold reports his conversation with a Nonconformist â€Å"†¦ I said, that seemed a pity. ’A pity?’ cried he; ’not at all! †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (xxxiv)3.8 MetaphorsOne can always find thousands of metaphors in every text. But the poetic language of the late Romanticist Arnold, used on a nearly Utilitarian topic makes a very picturesque use of metaphors. Arnold describes himself as â€Å"delivered from the Bondage of Bentham† (46), to implicates that he has liberated himself from a philosophy which holds the enemies of culture captive. (Altick, 124).4. ConclusionThis paper has shown that non-fictional prose needs to be investigated by literary studies. It has shown the importance of the essay in the Victorian and fin-de-sià ¨cle period in his parallelism to the development of the periodicals and – with it – the journalism. This might give a hint for the future, on how to analyse hypertexts like bloggs, which can also be read as more or less formal essays.Culture and Anarchy is an example of polemical rhetoric. It was written by a poet of late Romanticism and is thus not well-structured, but very effective. In the words of Caufield (325) â€Å"Arnold the poet knows that stained glass and plainsong will sooner quicken hearts than scholastic disquisitions and cosmological proofs.†

Gender and Sexulaity

Jackie Pappas Professor Winchock ENWR 106-AN March 5, 2013 Paper #2 – Middle Draft Gender & Sexuality Our everyday lives are greatly affected by ones gender and sexuality. They shape who we are and define our identities. Society expects a certain gender to behave in a specific way and if this does not happen, one is seen as shameful and wrong, leaving the individual to feel defeated and out of place. In society only a few decades ago, women were meant to be silent and restricted. Men were the superior ones who had a voice. They freely got to do whatever they pleased.In Julia Avarez’ â€Å"Daughter of Invention and Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem â€Å"The Changeling,† women were restricted of their true identities and their voices were silenced by the Ppallogocentric order. As a female in society, one was not permitted to speak freely of her opinions because of men. She must remain silent. It is evident that the narrator, often referred to as Cukita, in â€Å" Daughter of Invention† cannot speak what she wants. She reads poems from a book her father bought her written by Walt Whitman. She reads his free words; words he can openly speak. These are words of â€Å"a flesh and blood man† (Alvarez 14).Because Walt Whitman was a man, he could speak and write what he so choose. However, when Cukita â€Å"plagiarizes† his words, because she was a woman, she was not â€Å"permitted† to read her work at the assembly for which she was writing. When she read her speech to her mother, her mother beamed with pride. It was quite the opposite when she read this speech to her father. He was shocked that his wife would let their daughter read the speech she wrote. â€Å"You will permit her to read that? † (Alvarez 15) Cukita’s father said as if she needed permission to speak what she believes. As your father, I forbid you to say that eh-speech! † (Alvarez 15). Since he was a man, he had the final say in what h is daughter said. He could say whatever he liked but his daughter, because she was a woman, could not. Women were expected to be silent and could only speak in the male voice. We see the silence of a girl in Cofer’s â€Å"The Changeling. † In this poem, the speaker recalls a memory of when she was a young girl. She dressed in her brother’s military clothes which â€Å"[molded her] into boy shape† (Cofer 725). Her father found it very amusing. He would listen with a smile† (Cofer 725). She loved dressing up as a boy and pleasing her father because it was the only time he noticed her. The speaker pretended to tell stories of her times in the war as a man and this was the time that her father would pay attention to her. The only time he would listen to her words was when she was speaking in his voice – in a man’s voice. All other times, her words were not important to her father; they did not matter to him because she was not his son, she was his daughter. Females were restricted in what they could say and do.Women were not allowed to do as they pleased. They were limited not only in what they said but what they could do. In â€Å"Daughter of Invention,† Cukita’s mother liked to work on her inventions. â€Å"She always invented at night, after settling her house down† (Alvarez 10). The mother could only work on her projects after she had completed her obligations as a woman. It was a woman’s responsibility to take care of the house and keep her husband and family happy; putting her wants and wishes aside until these are taken care of first. Even her inventions were restricted.She would not invent things that would help the world as a whole but come up with ideas that would only help with your everyday life, particularly for the typical American woman. When discussing her inventions and why they did not help the greater good, â€Å"she would have said that was for men to do† (Alvare z 10). This shows that she was not allowed to create what she really wanted to invent. American women were not the only women who were restricted. It was common for women to be restricted all over the world. The narrator, Cukita, talked about the fact that her mother did not want to return home. She did not want to go back to the old country where she was only a wife and a mother† (Alvarez 14). In the Dominican Republic under Trujillo’s rule, women were only expected to be two things: a wife and a mother. They were restricted to being anything but. They did not have permission to explore their interests such as inventing. Women were expected to take care of the house and the family and if they did anything else, saying they’d be in trouble is an understatement. Women were not allowed to be free to be who they are. Women were expected to only take care of the family and the house even if they wanted to do something else.It is still joked about today all over the I nternet that women belong in the kitchen. While it is meant as a harmless joke, it is a reality for others. For example, it was a reality for the speaker in â€Å"The Changeling. † While her father was very amused with his daughter dressing as a man, her mother was not. When it was time for the family to sit down for dinner, the mother â€Å"[forbad her] from sitting down with them as a man† (Cofer 725). The mother felt that when her daughter dressed in her brother’s clothes, it was distracting her from being a girl.She is forced to go back into the closet to change back into her expected outfit. The speaker, who once saw a closet full of adventure, then saw the same closet as a dark space (Cofer 725). When she emerged from the closet, back into reality, she walked back into â€Å"the real world of her [mother’s] kitchen† (Cofer 725). For the speaker, a woman belonging in the kitchen was no laughing matter; it was her reality. She longed to be able to do the things a man did but she could not because she was a restricted woman. She wished to have the same power that a man did.After explaining about how powerless a woman was, it is clear that men were the superior ones. In â€Å"Daughter of Invention† after the father disapproved of his daughter’s speech, the mother and daughter felt the need to â€Å"rebel† and â€Å"join forces† (Alvarez 16) against the father. They knew that he was the man in charge. They could not simply tell him what he was doing was wrong and they certainly could not do it alone. It took two women to stand up to one man and they still lost, the father tearing his daughter’s speech to shreds, tearing her to shreds in turn. As the father, he had the final say on what happened.After calling her father the hated nickname of their former dictator Trujillo, the narrator ran to her room. Her father â€Å"ordered [her] on his authority as [her] father to open that door† (Alvarez 16). Because he was a man, he held the power in the house. He got free reign to tell his daughters and wife what to do and they must obey. In Dominican Republic, men were so superior that giving birth to a daughter was not as great as giving birth to a son. A mother was seen as a failure if she did not give birth to a son. When Cukita and her mother went into the father’s room, â€Å"his face rightened as if at long last his wife had delivered a son† (Alvarez 15). Fathers were happier when their wives bore them a son. There were fathers who did not pay attention to their children if they were not a boy. In â€Å"The Changeling,† the speaker must â€Å"[vie] for [her] father’s attention† (Cofer 725). Because she was not a man, the only way she could get her father to notice her was to dress, speak, and act like the son he always wanted her to be. After he mother made her change back into the girl she was supposed to be, she â€Å"return[ed ] invisible† (Cofer 725).Since she was no longer dressed as the superior man her father so wanted her to be, he did not pay any mind to her and she felt as if she was no one; as if she was invisible. It is because of her gender that she did not fit into society. Gender plays a major role in our everyday lives. Men and women were expected to act in a specific manner or otherwise they end up defeated. Women were meant to keep their thoughts and opinions silent. They were also not allowed to act as freely as they would like. Women were restricted in what they said and did.Because women were so repressed, it was evident that men were the superior ones. In modern society, women have earned the right to be treated as equally and as fairly as men. However, there are still some areas in society where women are more oppressed than men are. Works Cited Alvarez, Julia. â€Å"Daughter of Invention. † Approaching Literature. Eds. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl. Boston: Bedford/St. Mart in’s, 2012. 10-19. Cofer, Judith Ortiz. â€Å"The Changeling. † Approaching Literature. Eds. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 725.

Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge – and wisdom. Sometimes we have all we need of one, but not enough of the other. And often, too often, we don't know the difference. Often, too often, we mistake knowledge, the accumulation of facts, for wisdom, the ability to make the right choices in life.To succeed as individuals, and as a nation, we need to know how to put what we know to proper use. Perhaps this is why our system of education so often fails. Children are fed facts, lots of facts, without being shown the use of those facts. That can lead to a gain in knowledge without any gain in wisdom, or it can lead nowhere at all as the student turns away from what he or she perceives as busy work designed to fill the mind with useless facts.Often, too often, students are told they must learn something without being told why, without being guided toward the wisdom they will need to put to proper use the facts they are given. Or they are told they must learn something to pass an examination. A passing grade is held up as the ultimate goal, and that's not good.What should be held up as the ultimate goal is both knowledge and wisdom gained in school that can be put to good use in life. When the student sees that this fact, or that bit of information, can have real value somewhere besides on an examination, that student will want to learn. And that student will have a higher score on any examination. Knowledge – and wisdom. One needs the other, and we all need both.

The Human Condition

The human condition is the experiences in life which makes us who we are. Aspects of the human condition are conveyed to the audience through Les Murray's, The Widower in the Country, Anna Maria Dell'oso's Homeland, and the 2002 film directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days later. Such ideas include loneliness and isolation and how we respond to the subsequences encompasses all the experience of being human. Isolation plays a profound effect on humans, and our capacity to cope with this notion is what makes us mortal entities. In les Murray's The Widower in the Country the poem discusses the mundane life of a man suffering from the death of his wife. The choice setting of the poem-the countryside-clearly reflects the widower's isolation; the vastness and emptiness of the setting conveys to the responder the experience of the man himself. Furthermore, Polysyndeton with the listing of his normal everyday routine such as â€Å"I'll get up soon,† â€Å"I'll stand out on a hill† represents the mundane circumstance and how the protagonist cannot escape from his monotonous life due to the isolation resulting from his heavy loss. Along with first person narration, the repetition of his everyday normal activities also causes cumulative effects highlighting the widower's loneliness and need for companionship. The use of irony in â€Å"Christmas paddocks† also shows the Widower's situation. Christmas is a time for unity and celebration while the persona is alone emphasizing the fact that one joy in life has been lost. In addition, the personified words, in the lines â€Å"paddocks ACHING in the heat†, â€Å"the windless trees†, â€Å"visions smeared†, â€Å"the screaming of claws† acts as metaphors of the widower himself describing his situation. Thus we can see solitude has caused change and how we react to this is what makes us human. Change emanating from isolation is a human condition defining who we are. Captured in Les Murray's The Widower in the Country Isolation is also conceptualized but transposed into a different context in Anna Maria Dell oso's Homeland. This short story recounts the life of Anna, a migrant and her growing concerns about losing her heritage since her parents moved back to Italy. Isolation has caused change and Anna transfigures; her heightened awareness of the possibility of the severing of ties is suggestive by the repetition of â€Å"36 years† This continual referral accentuates Anna's longing to belong and her worry that, â€Å"if my parents go, the old country inside me vanishes with them†, that is she will lose her unique identity. The use of rhetorical questions also makes Anna more reflective, â€Å"how could they leave to sit in the sun of sepia photographs and light candles in the church of memory? the rhetoric device also expresses her confusion and mounting dissatisfaction due to her isolative state. Anna also yearns for her past and a happy future, shown by the allusion to Snow white and the â€Å"apple of time†. She too wishes that she could stereotypically in fairytale stories, â€Å"live happily ever after†. Evidently, we can see Isolation conjure up a mixed array of emotions and how we react to them is what makes us humans. Isolation is a common thematic idea and how we respond to this conviction is a fundamental of the Human Condition. Just as Isolation has caused changed in Les Murray's The Widower in the Country and Anna Maria Dell oso's Homeland, sequestration is also a factor in human alteration in the 2002 film directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later. This post-apocalyptic horror film depicts the breakdown of society after the release of a highly contagious virus and focuses upon the struggle of four survivors to cope with the subsequent isolation and ruination of life they once knew. The eerie and baneful feel to this movie is created by the use of a Barren London City, devoid of all life including its 7million citizens as the main setting of the film. One of the best shots which show Jim's isolation and reaction is the mis en scene of him standing in disbelief on Westminster Bridge at the quiet and lonesome surroundings, amidst a shadow cast by Big Ben. The shadow gradually falls on Jim, symbolizing the demise and departure of society. Further emphasis is placed on the theme of isolation by the filming of scenes in secluded and gothic environments such as abandoned mansions and a dilapidated mental asylum. Use of cool colours shown by the dark grey clouds and always overcast and rainy skies, coupled with the use of staccato orchestral music with heavy beats rapidly articulates Jim's feelings of despair from his isolation. One of the best shots which incorporates and encapsulates Jim's reaction, is a close up shot of Jim's appalled face as he reads the transcripts of those dead on a notice board at Piccadilly Circus, showing his incredulous shock. Inevitably, his mounting frustration from his isolative state is his downfall. In the latter stages of the film, Jim goes on a rampage distinguishing neither friend nor foe, obliterating all in his way. We are given a final medium shot of Jim, dripping wet, standing amidst a storm, caked in blood and mud with a baseball bat in his hand; a rather graphical change from the innocent young man he was portrayed to be in the beginning of the film. Thus we can see, solitariness can drive people to the point of aberration, causing horrendous change, and our reaction to this is what makes us human. Isolation is a key aspect and how we respond to this notion is a critical idea of the human condition. As shown in Les Murray's The Widower in the Country, Anna Maria Dell oso's Homeland and the 2002 Danny Boyle film, 28 Days Later, Isolation plays an astounding effect in our lives, shaping and defining who we are.