Character Developement

Major characters exponentially develop mentally and morally by interacting with minor characters, society, and applying the themes of the story to their lives. In Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird the reader can see the protagonist of the story, Scout Finch, mature from her child like mentality and thoughts to become a strong feminine character with high morals. This is achieved through the characters and situations in her life that influence her to see reality, past her childhood mirage, for what it really is.The roles of people such as Attic's Finch, and other minor harassers, greatly influences how she views the topics of racism, prejudice, and stereotypes. Attic's' character embodies the word humanity for his actions towards changing the stereotypes and prejudice of the Macomb Community are inspiring and motivational. Macomb is evidently a community that cannot tolerate differences and discriminate people based on their appearances. Their hostility towards the â€Å"Negro es† shows the reader and the protagonist how racism can affect and change ones life.As the story progresses one can see the struggles and obstacles the protagonist faces when dealing with racism, from trying to protect her family name ND reputation, to protecting loved ones from judgmental people. Such situations and incidents cause the protagonist to be forced to see how one has to recognize the validity and value of lives unlike hers. To begin with, Scouts father Attic's Finch plays a major role in her moral development as a person due to his paternal relationship and influence on her.This can be seen through his parenting skills and techniques that help Scout be more open-minded unlike the other residents of Macomb County. For instance, when Scout says † Our battles were epic and always one sided. California always won, mainly because Attic's always took her side† (Lee 6). This quote not only proves that Attic's apathy towards Scaloppini's race reinforces their relationship, but It additionally fortifies the fact that scout learns that white and colored people are equals and no different from each other.In addition, Attic's' exemplary actions towards different circumstances in his life greatly impact how Scout views her own life and societies false preaching's on equality. Referring to the Tom Robinson case Scout questions Attic's on why he is defending a â€Å"Negro† in court and he responds y saying † If I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Gem not to do something again† (Lee 75).Although he acknowledges the fact that his family and him will be judged and ridiculed by his community for taking the case, he moves forward with the case because It's consciously the moral thing to do. Attic's' optimistic mind-set and ability to see the good qualities of the situation encourages Scout to be more forgiving and understanding of the negativ e atmosphere In the Macomb society. Pursue what she believes in no matter what the consequences are. Attic's later on tells Scout to â€Å"never kill a mockingbird† (Lee 273); the term is used as a metaphor to symbolize how you should never taint or kill the innocence of a person.The mockingbird refers to characters such as Tom Robinson and Arthur â€Å"Boo† Raddled, mockingbirds whose purity and innocence are polluted by racism, stereotypes, and rumors and are progressively â€Å"killed†. Scout learns that her perspective of life as being black and white are erroneous and that in certain situations, some things are best left unsaid, referring to one's opinions on people based on their appearance. Furthermore, minor characters found throughout the novel teach and help develop Scout's knowledge on good versus evil. Mrs†¦Double's commentary towards the children shows Scout how ignorance breeds ignorance. This is shown when Mrs†¦ Dubos holds up Gem and Sc out and says † Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse laming for naggers† (Lee 101). This quote characterizes Mrs†¦ Dubos as someone who strongly believes that colored people are not equal individuals and don't deserve to have the same rights and privileges such as lawyers like white people. Her age and how she was raised and taught to believe that white and lorded people were two very different and separate races can explain her beliefs.Scout acknowledges the fact that even though characters such as Mrs†¦ Dubos and Mr†¦ Lowell are considered to be adults, they behave like ignorant children who have not been scolded, corrected, or taught better by their parents. For instance at the court Scout observes the fact that † the Negroes having waited for the white people to go upstairs to the balcony first, started to go up† (Lee 173). This shows the reader the small gestures that the white people do, such as allowing the â€Å" Negroes† to sit down after them causes tension and distress in the society.Such gestures can be translated as downgrading the colored people and treating them as though they were insignificant and a burden to the community. Despite the example set by the white people, Scout and Gem go up and sit down with the black people instead, indirectly challenging the Macomb society and setting their own examples. The actions of one person can start a chain reaction of change, a lesson that helps shape Scout's independence and confidence in herself. She uses this newfound confidence in herself to express what she thinks and feels about stereotypes and racism, to advertise her beliefs and promote them to others around her.Similarly, the Macomb County's community is filled with hate, racism, stereotypes, and prejudice, factors that help Scout see how this shouldn't blind ones perception on people. Scout sees how stereotypes can be altered and obscured from the truth. This is seen when she goes with Gem and California to the colored church where she sees that † Negroes worshipped on Sunday while white men gambled† (Lee 118). The assumption in the novel is that white people are more religious then colored people but Scout see's how this statement is false.She also sees that even though the Negroes don't have as much as the white churches or have the same materials such as songbooks, etc. They pray the same if not more then the white churches. Scout learns how stereotypes are fabricated and misleading, generalizations groups held in a manner that renders them largely, though not entirely, immune to counterproductive and how you shouldn't assume things about people. Then there is the prejudicial Judgment caused by the ethnicity. This is proven when Scout says, † Judge Taylor, who had been concentrating on his fingernails, looked up† (Lee 167).This not only shows that the Judge has already come to the conclusion that Tom Robinson did in fact rape t he girl but it also shows that he doesn't care or find it necessary for Attic's to defend him since his verdict has already been made. She learns to never Judge by appearances because they really can be far from the truth. Due to this incident Tom also teaches Scout how she should keep a clear mind and never doubt oneself when others doubt you during ones darkest points in life because as long as you believe in oneself you will be able to overcome all obstacles in

Argumentative essay: Sex education in school Essay

In the U.S, more than 750,000 girls ages 15-19 become pregnant every year. More than 80 percent of these are unintended pregnancies, according to dosomething.org. That is a great amount of teenagers that could have potentially dodged a bullet with a little more sexual education. Will a lack of sexual education continue to play a role in the overwhelming amount of teenage mothers in America? In my opinion of course it will. Just like the article states, sex education is rising in American schools, and this is in favor of my argument on how I greatly support this upward movement my reason is we are just falling way behind! Further thought out and well presented sex education will reduce teen pregnancy and spread of sexual diseases. How exactly will better sex education in the states lead to fewer sex incidents within the sexually active community? Simply by education. Lack of education in anything will not give you positive results. Although it is said that there is no strong proof tha t teaching sex education will have any effect on teenagers and young adults, there is proof. Ex. Hechinger writes â€Å"Analysis in sex education in Sweden, Holland, France, Great Britain and Canada show us lagging far behind† (143). Reading the article and noticing the particular countries mentioned, I went to research. The countries mentioned are up to par with America as far as development and economy go, but fall way behind when it comes to all things sexual! We not only have higher teenage birth rates, we also have higher sexually transmitted diseases and lower use of oral contraceptives. The statistics and education don’t lie. I would have personally benefited from a more well put together sex education class and many other young lady’s would agree. (Rodriguez 2) I’m sure now the reader is wondering if there is a deeper reason for my argument. Yes there is. I am teen mother, I am a statistic, one of the person that adds on to the lack of sex education in America. One of the many teenager girls that had a lack of sexual education. I thought it could never happen to me just like in the article, ex, Hechinger writes â€Å"They believe ‘It can’t happen to me’.† (144). It wasn’t arrogance or ignorance it was my lack of understanding and me not wanting to ask questions related to sex. I now ask myself how many pregnant teenagers had the same questions I did? Lets follow in the countries listed in the article’s foot steps, in fact we have already started, considering sex education has increased dramatically in the last 5 years. Let it keep rising! I stand by my argument, lets give these confused teenagers the knowledge to rely on, just like Sweden, Holland, France, Great Britain and Canada have. They are statistically doing better the article speaks on it and so I stand by my argument. I give my full su pport to the growth of sexual education, I wonder if Laredo agrees with me? (Rodriguez 3) Hechlinger, Fred M. â€Å"The First Step in Improving Sex Education: Remove the Hellfire.† Reading and Writing Short Arguments.Ed. William Vesterman. New York: Mayfield Publishing, 1994. 143-146

Domestic Violance

Essay preview UNIVERSITY DEGREE CRIMINOLOGY Research Proposal The purpose of this research proposal is to address the area of domestic violence in heterosexual relationships and why women find it difficult to leave abusive relationships. The proposal will start with a title which basically indicates what the report is about. There will be a literature review which covers the key literature used for the study; research questions for victims of domestic violence will also be formulated to aid the study.The proposal will address the research design to be used as well as the methods of data collection and at the same time emphasis will also be placed on the appropriateness of the method chosen. As expected with every research the proposal will deal with possible problems that could be faced and how they will be addressed including ethical issues. The proposal will also address the timescale for this project outlining the research schedule and that should be concluded with a bibliography. Title: Women's silence to domestic violence: why some do no leave abusive relationships. Hypothesis: People hold the view that women who choose not to leave those abusive relationships are passive. Aims of the investigation * To explore a range of social explanations for the causes of intimate partner violence. * To find out why women find it difficult to leave abusive relationships. * To develop an informative framework to victims of domestic violence and enlighten them on the policies of domestic violence. Context of study This proposed study is focusing on the data generated by social theorist on violence against women such as Bandura 19731who outline the reasons why some women find it difficult to leave abusive husbands. Hamilton ; Coates (1993)2 rightly stated that women who do not leave abusive relationships are often pathologized and blamed for their victimization. This is what generally happens and therefore the focus of attention is shifted from the wrongs perpetrated by t he abuser to people viewing the abused as passive.Several theories have been put forward to try and explain why abused women do not leave their relationships for example that women tend not leave because they are economically dependant on the abuser3. Also Abbott, Johnson, Koziol and Lowenstein (1995)4 suggested that characteristics of the abuser such as charm may stop the woman from leaving the relationship. This research will pay particular attention to the current social assumption of women who do not leave abusive relationships are masochistic and are to blame for their situations5 and test out whether the theories put forward are still applicable in the modern day times.The research will address this issue and help correct this grounded view of victims of abuse and provide useful information on domestic violence policies and laws that could rescue victims. Literature Review Literature review is integral to this research; this will therefore focus on the research question and i ts importance. Attention will also be paid to where there are gaps in this field of research and how they will be addressed. It is also necessary to consider whether it is beneficial to fill these gaps and identify who has made an attempt to fill them. The importance of the research question is that it addresses the issue of intimate partner violence and how the violence is learned in the socialization of family life6 and why women tend not leave those abusive relationships. There has not been much focus on the type research that I am carrying out recently. Most of the theoretical data that I managed to get hold of was on information gathered in the early 1980s to mid 90s. Changes within the society as well as technology means that the above factors might not be as accurate as to why women do not leave their abusive husbands.Therefore my research is important in that fresh data from the twenty first century will be compiled and will give a clearer view of why modern day women still stay in violent relationships. It will also provide a change in the negative social assumptions society holds of women who stay in abusive relationships and provide a shift from these assumptions. Similar research has been carried out by Dunn, 19897 , he found that the main reason why women stay is due to lack of options to responding to violent partners as well as the lack of support from family members.Newman, 19938 also found that women see no point in leaving their relationships due to the lack of support by the very institutions that are supposed to provide assistance. The research aims to test this area and see whether it is still applicable. Carlson 19979 found that a history of violence tags along future emotional aspects which entrap women thus complicating the process of leaving an abusive partner. When combined the above factors have implications on how domestic violence is interpreted and the perceptions held on women in abusive relationships.Lastly the research aims to raise awareness on domestic violence, 2007-2008 statistics by the British Crime Survey found that domestic violence cases had increased compared to statistics from 199510. Methodology and research design Research design is used to refer to the stages and processes which connect research questions to data (Punch, 1998)11 therefore the design aims to connect the research with the data. I am going to use the triangulation method for this research12, and this is whereby more than one method is used to gather data.According to (Brannen, 1992)13 the use of more than one method is regarded as a complementary technique which means that problems associated with strategy may be compensated for by the strengths of the other. The other reason why I am using the triangulation method is that different methods are appropriate in different research settings and for collecting different types of data. Because my research is quite complex I found this to be the best way to get accurate research after which the results will be combines to give one conclusion to the hypothesis.The qualitative component of the research will employ semi-structured interviews and the quantitative component will use a postal self completion questionnaire. The complementary use of these methods is a professional and tried and tested methodology14. To start off the research the quantitative method I am going to use for is a postal self completion questionnaire. This is whereby the respondents answer questions by completing the questionnaire themselves. The questions will be closed questions and require the respondent to circle yes, no and don't know (sample of questions attached).The purpose of this is to obtain a representative sample of women who will be of interest to the research who will then be called in for a semi-structured interview. The main reason for using the self-completion questionnaire is that they are considered as a way of recording values, attitudes and behaviours of the targeted po pulation and the data is generated in a systematic manner by providing the respondents with the same questions and recording their responses in a methodical manner15 .Also they are reliable in that they eliminate the differences in the way the questions are phrased and how they are presented to the respondents. The questionnaire will record the respondent's experiences of intimate partner domestic violence and find out basic background information on why women stay in abusive relationships. At this stage particular attention will be paid to ethical and safety issues that come with intimate domestic partner violence. The questionnaire will contain a statement assuring the respondents of confidentiality alongside a secret code number to ensure anonymity. ? I am aware of the drawbacks that come with this type of quantitative method which may include non response by some respondents. The questionnaire will include a covering letter explaining the aims of the research, its importance and why the recipient has been selected and most importantly it will feature guarantees of confidentiality. The questionnaire will be accompanied by a reply stamped addressed envelope and there will be a follow up on individuals who do not respond approximately three weeks after the first mailing16.This should improve the response rate and from then respondents will be called in for an in depth interview. For the qualitative component I am going to conduct semi structured interviews. The main advantage of using qualitative methods of research is that this type of research is concerned with understanding how people behave the way they do therefore it allows the subjects to give â€Å"detailed, richer† answers. This type of research also acts as a forerunner to other types of research for example quantitative research which may leave out valuable areas of research.I chose this type of method for the research because as highlighted it gives me a chance to exploit very detailed data which cannot be covered by quantitative analysis. It also uses subjective information therefore it is more representative of the women being studied. The interviews will be designed to have the pace be detected by the interviewee; the majority of the questions will be formulated in the interview which means that the interviewee is able to choose to talk about a subject that he/she feels emotionally comfortable with.The interviews will operate in an open framework and there will be two way communication between the interviewer and interviewee which paves way for the use of emotions, the interviewer can relate to what the interviewee has been through to some extent. At the same time since this is a sensitive subject procedures of ethics will be observed to ensure that the interviewees' confidentiality is not breached. Ethical considerations Ethics are a set of moral standards by which people regulate their behaviour17 therefore it is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure th at the research is carried out in an ethical manner.The British Sociological Association 2005 (BSA)18 set out guidelines which were to be followed by researchers when carrying out research. It is essential for my research that it is clearly stated to the interviewees that they are free to withdraw from the research process anytime and at the same time it is my responsibility that the interviewees are informed about what the research process entails and what the findings will be used for.As my research will be about the sensitive topic of domestic violence it is essential that I observe these guidelines, this benefits me as the researcher as well as the interviewees' safety. Ellsberg ; Heise (2002)19 highlighted that the main ethical concern related to researching violence against women is the potential to inadvertently cause distress therefore to avoid causing distress the interviews will be structured in a way that the interviewee controls the subjects to be discussed therefore wil l be able to discuss issues they emotionally capable to. ? It is my ethical responsibility to ensure confidentiality of the participants is preserved, I will ensure that participants will not use their real names but instead they will choose a unique code which identifies them and if there is a need to pass on details to other researchers this will ensure that their identity is protected, this also extends to data that is electronically stored.I am also aware that due to the nature of qualitative research methods interviewees might find themselves divulging information that they might regret later (Lee, 2003)20 so to ensure confidentiality I will break the link between information provided and the interviewees, this way anonymity is retained. There will also be a consent form to come with the research; this will outline the interviewee's rights to withdrawal at any time and assurances of anonymity as per BSA 2005. After the interviews take place, any information on relevant agencies and organisations will be passed on to the interviewees so that they get help when and if needed. 1 Bars to performance As with all research there will be obstructions to the ways in which the research is carried out as well as the way in which the data is accessed. A major problem might be that some women will not be willing to discuss issues of domestic violence for fear of retaliation by the perpetrator; the use of a confidentiality guarantee is aimed at assuring the interviewees. The use of triangulation means that the targets will be harder to achieve due to time constraints, therefore to combat this I will ensure that the research is carried out on a small scale and at the same time not putting accuracy in jeopardy.Time scale of research The research will take 6-9months to complete. Sending out of questionnaires will take place within the first fortnight of funding approval. The interviews are expected to take place after the data from the survey has been processed and thi s should be by the fifth month leaving time for results from the interviews to be processed. In conclusion what this research proposal has achieved is to do is highlight the elements of the research and the difficulties that are likely to be faced in the process. 1 Bandura, A. (1973), Aggression: A social learning analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Hamilton, B. , & Coates, J. (1993): Perceived helpfulness and use of professional services by abused women. Journal of family violence, 8, 313-324 3 Sullivan, C. , Tan, C. , Basta, J. , Rumptz, M. , & Davidson, W. (1992). An advocacy intervention program for women with abusive partners: Initial evaluation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20 309-332 4 Abbott, J. , Johnson, R. , Koziol-McLain, J. , & Lowenstein, S. R. (1995). Domestic violence against women: Incidence and prevalence in an emergency department population. Journal of the American Medical Association, 273(22), 1763-1767 Walker, L. E. (1984), The battered woman syndrome, New York: Springer 6 Kalmuss, D. (1984). The intergenerational transmission of marital aggression. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 11-19 7 Dunn, L. L. (1989). The lived experience of fear in battered women. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Alabama at Birmingham 8 Newman, K. (1993). Giving up: Shelter experiences of battered women. Public Health Nursing, 10(2), 108-113 9 Carlson, B. E. (1997). A Stress and coping approach to intervention with abused women. Family Relations, 46, 291-298 10 Home office statistics, http://www. omeoffice. gov. uk/rds/pdfs08/hosb0708summ. pdf 11 Punch, K. F. (1998) Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. London: Sage. 12 Jupp, V. (1989) Methods of Criminological Research. London 13 Brannen, J. (1992) Mixing Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Aldershot: Avebury 14 Sayer, A. (1992) Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach. London: Routledge 15 Crow, I. , & Semmens, N (2008) Chapter 5: Research by Reading In Researching Criminology, ed. Crow, I. , & Semmens, N Maidenhead, Open University Press, pp. 81-99 16 Bryman, A. (2004) Social Research Methods, Second Edition: Oxford University Press, New York 17 Lee-Treweek, G. (2000). Danger in the field: risk and ethics in social research. London: Routledge 18 British Sociological Association, Statement of Ethical Practice: www. britsoc. org. uk/about/ethic. htm 19 Ellsberg, M and Haise,L(2000), Bearing Witness: Ethics in domestic violence research, LanceT,Vol 359:1599-1604 20 Lee, R. M. (1993) Doing research on sensitive topics. SAGE. 21 Arksey, H. , & Knight, P. (1999). Interviewing for social scientists: An introductory resource with examples. London: Sage

Spanish Golden Age Painting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Spanish Golden Age Painting - Essay Example From a political point of view the Spanish Golden Age lasted from the mid fifteenth till the late sixteenth centuries, but paradoxically reached a cultural and artistic climax when the country was in a state of political and economic decline, between the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In a time as significant as the Spanish Golden Age from a religious and historical point of view, the surrounding influences of class, gender, and religion, including issues of patronage, are extremely important. In order to understand the circumstances surrounding and influencing the artists discussed, attention will be given to the surrounding historical circumstances, while biographical details will be used to connect the work of art with the surrounding historical factors. At the same time, the unpredictability with which artistic genius reacts to its surrounding circumstances will be respected at all times. Research QuestionDiscuss Power and Control in Spanish Golden Age painting , focussing on the visual image as a representation of the social order in Spain's Golden Age (15th-17th centuries) and the influence on the Catholic Counter Reformation in Spain. An overview will be given of the historic and religious circumstances surrounding the following Spanish artists from the golden age: Sofonisba Anguissola (1532- 1625) El Greco (born as Domenikos Theotokopolos (1541-1614), Francisco de Zurbaran, (1598-1664) and Diego Velsquez (1599-1660).The study also intends to show how these historical and religious factors have influenced each individual artist and his or her work, depending on his or her class or race. The works that will be discussed are a self portrait by Anguissola, a self-portrait of the Zurbaran as "St Luke Painting the Crucifixion", a portrait by El Greco of "The Great Inquisitor Don Fernando Nino de Guevara" and Velsquez's famous "Portrait of "Pope Innocent X" and "Las Meninas."In the case of the female Anguissola it will be shown how her class as a noble woman and her piety in a Spain after Isabella, when the Virgin cult was flourishing, helped her to be recognized in court circles at a time when female artists were almost non-existent, and on the other hand, how she was restricted by her gender.In the case of El Greco the fact that he was a foreigner in Toledo at a time when the Counter Reformation was combined with a xenophobic hatred for Jews and Muslims, his rejection by King Phillip II and his patronage by clerics with whom he was surrounded had an influence on a creativity which nevertheless remained enigmatic.In the case of Francisco de Zurbaran the influence of his religious patrons on his work and life are more obvious: combining naturalism with religious sensibility, " conf orming to the guidelines, for counter reformation artists outlined by the Council of Trent." (Mans, 1) History of Spain Spain

Although Ashbery has said 'I do not think of myself as a gay poet', Essay

Although Ashbery has said 'I do not think of myself as a gay poet', critics such as John Emil Vincent and John Shoptaw offer rea - Essay Example Borrowing some elements form modernist poetry the poet has invented his own style keeping at par with the period he belonged. However the move of this great poet from the shadows to the limelight was quite sudden without giving any scope to the readers for deeper perception of his style. Though his style was simple and straightforward as declared by him, his poems raised puns and questions about the theme enfolded between the lines. His approach to poetry has often provided different scopes for interpretation form more than one angles. It is the aspect of hidden meaning which has raised the controversies against him amongst his critics and this relates essentially to the homosexuality and autobiographical content. Hence criticism of his work continued for the next decades till date and these works of criticisms have gained literary acclaim and worth overtime. some examples of such are â€Å"On the Outside Looking Out, by John Shoptaw, Five Temperaments, by David Kalstone, Beyond Ama zement, edited by David Lehman, John Ashbery: Modern Critical Views, edited by Harold Bloom, The Tribe of John, Ashbery and Contemporary Poetry, edited by Susan Schultz, and John Ashbery and American Poetry, by David Herd† (Hilbert). The nature of his poems comprise of changes in tone, speaker and voice randomly. They often seem to lack integrity and each line cannot stand out independently. The themes are often combinations of abstract expressionism, deconstruction and contain cultural components. Looking at the scenario of American poetry John Ashbery has made huge fame and smoothly made himself a delicacy for the critics to discuss. It is often hard to classify him under categories like romantics, an â€Å"abstract thinker†, or a gay poet without any autobiographical indication. His compositions began to be difficult to interpret over the 80s and often have been disjunctive and irregular. Although Ashbery picks up conventional topics to approach in an unconventional manner, some of them are actually â€Å"funny† where he mocks the life of a surgeon and the attitudes of poets like Homer and others who slept while writing. He borrows from the works of other poets and incorporates them in his writing and â€Å"untraceable borrowings from the wild variety of ordinary speech, filled out with fleeting parodies of humble written forms: the family Christmas circular, the letter from a consumer, the office memo† (Hammer). Even the first person tone of his poems is distracted by quotations and other voices. The speakers of his poems are represented collectively. In his own words, â€Å"Research has shown that ballads were produced by all of society / working as a team† (in Hotel Lautreamont) (Hammer). He wrote some poems in pantoum form and some in haibun (prose poems). The phrases used by Ashbery in his poems lay stress on providing verbal pleasure and revelation. He progresses from one phase to another and if read between the lines , then some apparently haphazard lines might have deep moral implications. His work contains â€Å"languor and urgency†. He does not adhere to any fixed pattern or rule, rather concentrates on creating meaning with the pattern of the lines. The poet himself invites criticisms in his lines in ‘

Essay questions Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Questions - Essay Example As a matter of fact, it might give me an advantage as I begin my career since it certainly makes my skill set more attractive to employers and makes me more competent in performing my role. To underscore this, one could cite the standards set by governmental and regulatory agencies for health care providers in the focus to improve patients’ health status, access to health care and in eliminating disparities in care delivery (Hunter, 2008, p. 260). This is now what is recognized as cultural competency and health care practitioners are expected to imbibe this both as skill and part of professional values. For my part, an understanding of the patients’ cultures will make my job easier and more effective because of better interaction with patients who are ethnically diverse, particularly those belonging from non-Western groups. Hunter, W. (2008). Cultural Competency in Health Care Providers Ethical Decision-making and Moral Reasoning: Implications for Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities for Diverse Populations. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Allopathic medicine is what we now know as regular or mainstream medicine. It treats a disease or illness by dealing with its symptoms, using medical or surgical methods in order to fix what is wrong. Other forms of healing are generally called as traditional medicine but this could further be classified into several categories. Two of these are traditional and alternative methods of treatment. The former methods are based on ethnic and historically rooted belief. For example, there is the case of herbal medicine or the Chinese acupuncture method. Alternative medicine, on the other hand, refers to the practices and treatments that are used as an alternative to allopathic care. Using herbs to treat cancer or following a specific diet instead of traditional medical substances are cases in point (Morrison-Valfre, 2013, p. 56). I would prefer allopathic

Prison Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Prison Culture - Essay Example Recommendations aimed at removing these distresses so that the inmates could become a healthy part of the free society. Key words: Prison culture, inmate subculture, free world, case studies. Introduction Culture as defined in Oxford Dictionary tells that it is â€Å"the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society†. Therefore the term Prison Culture refers to the ideas, customs and behavior of the prison community. In this world, there have always been two types of humans; either they are free to do what they desire or they are inside the bars not allowed to go their well. Culture therefore also becomes divided into two types; the culture of free humans and the culture of prisoners. The paper aims at describing the later type. Prison Culture is the net combined behavior of the inmates of a prison. The paper has attempted to analyze the prison culture after studying the ways in which the prisoners react. Prison Culture can be best understood keeping in view an expanded volume of gas where there are atoms frequently wandering here and there, with no destiny, with no desire, with no ambition. They are scattered and same is the situation with prisoners. Like the atoms, they have no ideals to abide by. There is a sort of confusion prevailing everywhere. Prison Culture is without a well defined social structure. ... The norms and values of prisons are either not seen or completely different from those of the outside society. Every day inside the prison is the Day of Judgment where everyone tries to get his share not bothering for anyone else. Prison Culture is therefore a totally different culture (Clemmer, 1958). Statement Of Problem Prison hurts the human psychologically. The fact adds to the troubles of the inmates and creates problems in the inmate-to-inmate relations. Prison encourages the institution of government to practice more and more degrading environments. Overcrowding in the prisons adds to the aggressive behavior of the inmates. This is the main cause of the prison culture being poor and weak in the sense. It has been noted that the increased is the population inside the prison, the increased is the ratio of violence and abuse between prisoners and the prison staff. It means that the larger is the number of prisoners, the more aggressive is the Prison Culture. This fact in turn in creases the volume of punishment inside the prison. Public prisons are more populated than the private and the theory is proved that in private prisons, the rate of violence and punishment is quite lower than the public prison (Steiner, 2009). The growth of privatized prisons is yet another problem. This is because of the worsening of the prison culture as regards the public prison. Also private prison is more economical for the state than the public prison. The risk of violence is in turn increased by the under-staffing. Since the increase in staff strength increases the burden on government exchequer, it hesitates to do so and the prison culture is thus influenced (Taylor, 2008). Guard-prisoner relationship is always of extreme importance for the prison

The Pricing of Health Costs and its Effect on the Poor in the United Dissertation

The Pricing of Health Costs and its Effect on the Poor in the United States - Dissertation Example This part of the research paper focuses on reviewing relevant literatures about healthcare cost in the US and how it affects poor people who are relatively more needy to the healthcare-services than others. By reviewing various literatures, this part of the research develops a model presenting the relation between healthcare insurance claims and health risks. Healthcare pricing in the US According to Porter and Teisberg (2006), the US healthcare system is on a dangerous path due to toxic combination of high costs, uneven quality, frequent errors and peoples’ limited access to the services (p. 17). Out of these indicators, high cost seems to be a most challenging to the public, mainly to the poor. The healthcare services in the US are mainly delivered through private hands, but still, it is partially governed by free market forces. Healthcare service delivery and consumption do not meet the basic elements of a free market and is therefore often described as quasi-or imperfect m arket. In a free-market, there will be many patients- service buyers and many sellers, service providers who act independently. In such a situation, price is neither fixed by any external agency nor providers collude to fix it, but rather, prices are automatically governed by the forces of free-market due to the interaction of supply and demand forces (Shi and Singh, 2008, p. 12). But, when it comes to the US healthcare market, the consumers are general public with diseases who need quality medical services, payers are Medicare and Medicaid and sellers or providers are private or otherwise healthcare institutions. In such a marketing condition, prices are theoretically determined by the payers and not by market forces of demand and supply. Healthcare cost in the US has been rapidly increasing since 1960s, due to a number of factors including aging population, patient demand for high technology, need for best care available, technological advances, increasing therapeutic options and general economic factors like inflation (McCarthy and Schafermeyer, 2004, p. 649). A country can be said to spend in excess when it there is a differences between its spending per person on healthcare and its gross domestic product per person (Reinhardt, 2008). More specifically, the spending on healthcare in the US is more than that of other industrialized nations in the world and this cost increases surpasses the growth of various other important components of the US economy. most researchers found that Americans in general are highly dissatisfied of high cost of healthcare and its system as well (McCarthy and Schafermeyer, 2004, p. 649). How much does healthcare cost? Healthcare alone accounts to be one seventh of US national economy. The total spending on healthcare in the US in 1997 has been accounted to be $1,092 billion, which was twice as much as on education and three times as much as on national defenses. This spending also can be considered as one and half times as much a s on healthcare per capita spending of Canada (Heshmat, 2001, p. 67). The growth of healthcare costs has been slowing down dramatically since 1992, with 4.8 % in 1992, 3.1 % in 1993, 1.5 % in 1995 and so on. Healthcare cost growth, but in declining level, thus has been an unusual one in the recent history of US healthcare spending. Though there were greater advances in managed care and there were much efforts from

Business Ethics In an Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Ethics In an Organisation - Essay Example TCF has to its credit more than 330 schools to date and it plans to build a total of 1000 schools before it decides to go on the support mode – meaning whereby it would just look after the schools already built and not construct any further. TCF schools are a mark of quality and dedication – built from strength to strength of the organizational employees, its varied stakeholders and the innumerable donors who have done more than they could in such a short period of time. For TCF to remain committed to its cause of providing state of the art and free education there is a dire need to comprehend the fact that TCF remains ethically correct in all its actions, behaviors and talks. For this, there are several departments working within its realms which take care of these facets from time to time. In fact the vision is set on a very proactive level within the lengths and breadths of TCF itself. TCF provides complete financial details and break up of the tasks to it donors on a periodic basis and makes sure that the donors remain on board with the ethical domains of the organization at all times. There is a separate department that looks at the way these donors are managed. It is known as the Resource Mobilization department which essentially takes care of the donors and the resources that are mobilized through them towards the schools that they build in either their own name or of their company’s. Coming to the quarters of understanding the ethical undertakings within the business realms of TCF itself, one finds that TCF has long adhered to the principle of being transparent to all its stakeholders and thus the fact that its annual reports, financial ledgers and other similar resources are shared not only within the organization itself but also with the stakeholders and the general public at large. What this does is to have a proper one-on-one interaction with the people who want to donate just about anything under the banner of

Wells Fargo & Co Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wells Fargo & Co - Essay Example Security and Exchange Commission is a US government administrative agency that was created by the congress to supervise and control the securities markets and protect investors. It is designed to enhance full public disclosure and to protect the investing public from fraud and exploitative actions in the securities markets. The securities act of 1993 was established by the congress to achieve two basic goals; to prohibit and prevent deceit and other fraud in the sale of securities and to ensure that investors get and other important information concerning securities being offered for public sale. The act empowers the SEC with wide jurisdiction over all aspects of securities industry including registering, regulating, overseeing brokerage firms, transfer agents and clearing agents, well defined services offered by the Wells and Fargo Co. Moreover, some of the acts of law governing the SEC include Trust Indenture Act of 1940 that applies to debt securities such as bonds, debentures and notes that offer public sale and Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that regulates investment advisers. The act requires that firms or sole practitioners compensated for advising others about securities investments must register with SEC to conform to regulations protecting investors. Through this different laws and regulation, the SEC has managed to prevent and control high risk gambles in banking to boost the economy (Sullivan 2003). In Business Law, all contacts are agreements but all agreements are not contacts. An agreement to be enforceable by law must possess the essential elements of a valid contract. The following are essential elements of a valid contact; Offer and Acceptance: In order to create a valid contract there must be a â€Å"lawful offer† by one party and â€Å"lawful acceptance† by the other party. This means that the offer must be accepted exactly as offered without conditions. Intention to create

Journal 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal 2 - Essay Example Because of the debates, patient’s rights that included consent to treatment, access to information, and the ability to complain came to application under the law1. However, it took the continued effort of the Patient organizations to advocate for these rights, their realization, in popularizing their discourse in the National Health Service in Britain. The article recognizes that there were various challenges towards the realization and implementation of these patients’ rights. As such, the idea of patients having rights in relation to health care is debatable. Indeed, both supporters and detractors of the National Health Service in Britain use the patient’s rights to argue their positions. The entailed patient’s rights involves the right to access to health services, confidentiality, consent, involvement in their own health care, quality of care and the environment. They also involve right to air complaints and get feedbacks. Moreover, the introduction of the NHS Constitution significantly developed the British health care and promoted the patients’ rights. In addition, organizations like the Patients Association, the Community Health Councils, and the Consumers Association among others advocated for patient’s rights from as early as the 1960s2. The article stipulates that the language of rights has since evolved and attracted diverse applications in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, in the 20th Century, there have been distinct, but overlapping, visions of health rights. These rights include health as a human right, as a citizens’ right, and as a consumers right. However, in Britain, these rights attracted no contradictions between the state and citizen. Indeed, in 1948, the United Nations made a universal declaration of human rights contemplating the right to health on a global level. In fact, health forms part of the development goals in many nations since the 1980s with an aim of tackling epidemics. However, in Britain,

Analyze an organizations media communication activities Essay Example for Free

Analyze an organizations media communication activities Essay The objective of this project is to analyze an organizations media communication activities. The work must use concepts, models, and theories to support and critical the companys website. It should be critically assess + evaluate and use strategy to analyze. The author should review it as a marketing professional specialist and knows how, when, and where the organization use digital media to communicate with its audience, customer, stakeholder, and public. Executive Summary: PO Cruises uses a maturity website to distribute and communicate (Fill, 2002). It is a fabulous website that uses a lot of tools from personal communications (PCs) to support their offline marketing (Hartley, 1999). Once customers surf its website, they could get information they need easily. The website becomes a distributed channel for the business. It is in the highest level of scenario 4 (Doren, 2000). Information on website is variety and useful that helps offline media and lures more customers to join the PO Cruises with rational exchange (Fill, 2002). PO Cruises Background PO Cruises is one of the cruises belonging to Carnival Corporation PLC. There are 13 distinct brands of cruises all over the world are operating by Carnival Corporation PLC; PO is one of them. PO is not as same as its name belongs to the PO group (Peninsula and Oriental steam Navigation Company); for it was demerged into Carnival public limited company on 23 October 2000, and has changed its name to Carnival Public limited company on 17 April 2003. PO Cruises now is the largest premium cruise brand in the United Kingdom. See the list as below. Carnival Corporation Princess Cruises Carnival plc PO Cruises were belong to Ocean Village PO Princess. Swan Hellenic Cruises plc AIDA PO Cruises Australia Carnival Cruise Lines Holland America Line Windstar Cruises Seabourn Cruise Line Costa Cruises Cunard Line AROSA Main Report: Marketing mix Product PO Cruises currently owns four types of ships Aurora, Oriana, Oceana and Adonia. Each of them gives different atmosphere and personality to customers. They are service, facility and quality oriented. Mostly, customers who are attracted to join PO Cruises are through travel agencies to get tickets no matter a set of schedule or connections with flights or another cruise. If customers who are interested in PO Cruises, PO Cruises also use different brochures to introduce its products to them. PO Cruises builds a marvelous introduction of its products on the website. There is a column of their ships in directories of its website introducing each of ships details by clicking any icon of them (Chaffey, 2000). There are also other links connecting to these four ships that makes customers easily check to PO Cruises ships (main products) whenever they want. The website builds a good cognitive environment to customers who are like ship, boat, cruise, and adventure. Most fantastically, customers could find what each deck looks like by 360i panoramic tour. After customers learn about these ships, they enable to feel more about these ships by fun stuff sector, which involved games, videos, and pictures (screensaver and wallpapers) to addict customers affective (Fill, 2002). Promotion PO Cruises is not a company which uses all of the marketing communication tools to communicate with its target audience, but it uses its promotion tools well to achieve its customer needs and to explore its market opportunities (Chaffey, 2000). 5 main elements of the promotional or communications mix of PO Cruises are analyzed as below (Fill, 2002): 1. Advertising (Off-line) PO Cruises has TV advertising displaying during summer time or the beginning of the year. Customers who havent seen the advertisement on TV could also enjoy the advertisement on PO Cruises website; to the Fun Stuff-Videos to view the version of its Sh-boom advertisement. Its an advertisement with affective (Fill, 2002). Besides TV advertising, PO Cruises posts its advertising on newspaper as well. (On-line). There are many agencies selling PO Cruises tickets on line; they help PO Cruises build a perfect advertisement system. If someone who is interested in cruises, they will easily find out the name of PO Cruises on many websites building by travel agencies. Customers are able to easily book a cruise through any ABTA travel agent; there are about 16 agents linking to PO Cruises and helping customers to book tickets in different areas. Although many websites all connecting to the name of PO Cruises, it is difficult for people who want to buy the ticket right through PO Cruises website. 2. Sales promotion (Off-line) (On-line) PO Cruises is targeted. It divides into consumers and the sales forces of both PO Cruises and its agents (Fill, 2002). The sales promotion PO Cruises uses is by the timing when customer book for their tickets. The earlier they book for cruises, the more discount they will have. It uses the method of price reductions to motive its sales in the early stage (Fill, 2002). PO Cruises also sets up the Portunus Club for customers who re-join to the PO Cruises. There are Ruby, Sapphire, and Gold tiers for different types of customers. Customers could get points for their discounts when they had joined the cruises and also discounts to any other consumption on the ship. The method builds customer royalty; it is referred to as a points accrual programme that helps the company keep customers loyalty for preventing them from moving to PO Cruises competitor (Fill, 2002). The Portunus Club has not only increased the amount of customers, but also maintained those current customers well (Raaij, 1998). 3. personal selling (Off-line) PO Cruises tickets are sold through personal selling or other travel agencies. Customers buying tickets can either from agencies or directly make a phone call to the PO Cruises as the telemarketing. It is a good method for the company itself uses lots of personal selling on promotes their ticket, for it is a method always interactive to customer and company. And Consumers may talk to and obtain answers from real persons or from machine interaction that helps PO Cruises directly being aware of what customers wants and what they need (Raaij, 1998). (On-line) On the website, customers who are interested in any trip and willing to join the tour could book on line by leaving the messages to the reservation team. Besides, its very easy for customers to find the ticket selling on website from different agencies in different areas, and then buy the ticket based on customer needs. 4. public relations (Off-line) The means of PR of PO Cruises is announcing news on newspapers. It mostly tells people about its schedules, timetables and its new ship or company information on travel pages or events column. PO Cruises owns a press center to run for its news. (On-line) Customers could also find out their news through news websites, travel agents or the websites connect to sailings, such as, what you need to about or scoop agents (two website names). Moreover, there are numbers of news PO Cruises showed to the public and listed on its own website. It is press centre in the company section. For people who are interested in to PO Cruises and want to know more about its reputation, besides company introduction, they could attain more information on this section. 5. direct marketing (Off-line) (On-line) PO Cruises uses direct marketing through ABTA agents and many other travel agencies where they sell cruises tickets. It connects to personal selling to use different types of tools to achieve the needs of customers. It uses e-mail (member confirm) and through post-mail (brochure sending) to directly send the information to customers. Â  Place PO Cruises, the Britains leading cruise operator, customer aboard its shipping at Southampton, UK or fly on a scheduled or PO Cruises charter flight to any of its 25 destinations all over the world. All ships cruise Europe in the summer, and in winter Aurora and Adonia embark on round the world cruises while Oceana and Oriana tour the Caribbean. Places are stabile in different places by annual schedules; depended on where customers plan to go abroad. The headquarters is in Southampton, but usually people usually book tickets at agencies instead of heading for PO Cruises office. If people who would like to book tickets online, they could go to www. pocruises. com or through links on any ABTA agents to buy tickets. Agents are viewed as the PO Cruises retailers. This method helps PO Cruises reach its sale targets by selling tickets to many other segments in different areas and places. The channel of its distribution is producer retailers consumers (Blythe, 1998). Price PO Cruises sets its price at the moment when customers buy tickets. The company uses different brochures to attract customer to join its cruises business. Customers could save as much as money if they book earlier according to the timetable set up by PO Cruises. Customers could save up to 5%~45% discounts for early booking, depending on availability, and its reward for those who book early. PO Cruises named it as pricebreakers. Besides, price differs from different cabin type and grade that customers choose. It is very easy for customers to find the price on the website or by the brochure which customers could also easily get by request online. * DRIP PO Cruises (model by Fill, 2002). PO Cruises communications have need to: Differentiates itself by it is one of the oldest cruises company which form of British to attract customers who enjoy in English style. Remind and reassure its customers by telling them that the leisure cruising business was started by PO in 1844. The step helps the company acquire trust from customers Oldest = standard = traditional (British) ? Inform the consumers by educating them that PO Cruises is the company with offering high quality but middle-low price to customers Persuade to the consumers that althouthg PO Cruises is the oldest company, it has most modern fleet of ships in the UK. Scenarios In order to know how a company created a website on line to present its own products through the internet, the company needs to define the level of commitment it wants to reach (Doren, 2000). There are 4 possible scenarios for promoting on the internet. PO Cruises is belonging to the highest level 4, because it offers on-line ordering of products and services. The product PO Cruises supplies to customer is not the tangible things that customers could touch but services and facilities on cruises. So the company tries to present its product through the website. PO Cruises uses web cam, lots of 360i panoramic tour and many of pictures on its website to interact with users. Moreover, there are images, screensavers and wallpapers of its 4 ships for customers to download. The usages of multimedia presentations also reach facilitation as a web promotion; it enables a more personal, one-on-one approach with the internet user (Doren, 2000). According to the four possible scenarios lists, PO Cruises does make a high extensive interaction with its customers through its website. The web site of PO Cruises may be high costs, but it could attract more customers order on line.

Feminism In Whartons Writings

Feminism In Whartons Writings Technically, feminism is defined as a political discourse aimed at equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminist criticism is a type of literary criticism, and can be defined as the study of literature by women, or the interpretation of any text written with an attention to gender dynamics or a focus on female characters  [2]  . The study may involve reevaluating women writers.  [3]  . Feminism is usually associated with female figures that stand up for womens equality and rights. Anti feminism is the opposition to feminism in some or all of its form and some male chauvinists are reckoned to be anti-feminists. Edith Wharton was claimed to be a feminist  [4]  especially after her novel, House of Mirth was published. This is due to her preference of emphasizing, either directly or figuratively, on the repression of women in her novels recurrently. Although her writings may have not gained popularity as feminism works like Virginia Woolfes, yet it is inevitable that Wharton is inclined towards producing fictions centered at the case of gender inequality. This is mainly because most of her writings somehow depict that women are downgraded in many aspects like family strata, social status, custom lifestyle and power as well as control. However, the later responses to her writings are more to only individuals perception with not much reference to her writings but the critics tend to associate the basis of her novels with her background. Edith Wharton once said this about the critical response to her writing: After all, one knows ones weak points so well that its rather bewildering to have the critics overlook them and invent others. The measure for feminism in literature depends on the literary approach of feminism by a writer. For this research, I will be using the feminist literature criticism to analyze the repression on women in Whartons fictions, and also to reevaluate Wharton as a feminist writer. I will be counterclaiming the consented belief that Wharton is a feminist literature and providing proofs that she might also be an anti-feminist. I have referred to four of Whartons novels; The Age of Innocence, House of Mirth, Summer and Ethan Frome; as the written texts and basis for my justification. My research will be based on three aspects or literary approach of feminism that can determine whether the writers are feminists or neutral; gender equality or opposed to gender stereotype, image of female characters as main characters or hero in the feats of women, culture or art created by women, use of neutral language in describing the characters, with close reference to the four written texts. Aspect 1 : Gender equality and opposed to gender role stereotypes and discrimination against women. In the society where Edith Wharton lived women did not fit into any creative or participant role. They were regarded as a supremely satisfying object of masculine possession. The male automatically became interested in parading the well-decked woman as his proud possession. As Judith H. Montgomery remarks: women began to be regarded. . as decorative playthings as dolls and idols (The American Galatea College English, 32, 8 (May 1971), 89 1). As dolls they were sought to be gilded, decorated and displayed, as idols they were treated as art objects and worshipped. Thus, this partly dictates the reason for Whartons texts inclination towards the issue of repressed women in the society since the women were stereotyped as only possession with no crucial significance in the society. The American society, to which Edith Wharton herself belonged, did not give equality to women in legal, economic and sexual matters. Every aspect of American culture conspired to foster such an unequal treatment. In The Age of Innocence, Countess Ellen Fonseka is seen as a lady who does not fully abide with the supposed role of a woman. This is due to her unusual habits of a lady and unconventionality in that society. Citing from the text, Mrs. Mingott said she had gone out ;which, on a day of such glaring light à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ seemed in itself an indelicate thing for a compromised woman to do. (page 24) Women during that particular era, cannot not go out unaccompanied, during daytime due to perception that women should be at home, taking care of the households, and should not wander around alone so they can raise up suspicions and apprehension over their where and what about. However, the text could also be translated as an advice or a concern by Edith Wharton over the safety of a woman if she is to be outside alone. As a compromised woman, Ellen Fonseka should not wander alone especially because she has separated from her husband, and her safety is now to Mrs Minggots concern. In fact, Wharton has never stated that woman should only be at home and forbidden to go out, or in any words, the freedom for women to walk about is not prohibited nor discriminated. In the House of Mirth, Lily Bart, the protagonist, is an object of beauty than a woman who should be loved. She is the product of a society with no socially acceptable means other than matrimony. Lilys mother considers her beauty as a weapon (chapter House, page 37) and Lawrence Seldon has been quoted asking Lily; Isnt marriage your vocation? (chapter House, page 11) Thus, it can be said that women are bound to the lifestyle provided to them by the society with no obvious choices. For this reason, few literature guides have agreed that Edith Wharton is obliquely suggesting vindication of womens status quo.  [5]   Nonetheless, the evidences in The Age of Innocence and House of Mirth do not provide sufficient justification for the claim. There are evidences that indicate that Wharton actually criticized the societys code of conduct, superficial values and double standard regarding marriage as a whole and not regarding the discrimination by the society against women. Marriage was indeed an obligation compulsory for every woman in the society especially after the adolescence year, hence the generations belief may not suggest that women ought to be stereotypically seen only as wives, but the act of marriage itself was a part of the societys lifestyle. In fact, until today, the act of marriage is still being practiced around the world, with no apparent discrimination against women. Besides that, it is generally accepted that marriage is a commitment pledged based on mutual respect and agreement from both genders; man and woman. For that reason marriage shall not be a vocation for only woman, but al so man. The society setting for the Age of Innocence is the late nineteenth century, and women indeed are marked by disapproval and ironic denunciation and often some are perceived as only the object of supreme beauty, and this can be seen through the characters of May Welland and Ellen Fonseka. However, in Whartons The Age of Innocence, House of Mirth, and Ethan Frome, most of the central female characters are more than a symbol a possession for men, and instead these characters are greatly loved and cared by the respective companion male characters. Thus, the question of feminism raised due to the common negative stereotype of a woman role, has been well compensated by Edith Wharton herself in the novels. I would like to cite an instance from The Age of Innocence, and in this novel, Archer Newland is clearly seen to be deeply in love with Countess Ellen Fonseka, a widow, despite he is then matrimonially attached to May Welland. The longing was within him day and night, an incessant, undefinable craving, like the sudden whim of a sick man for food or drink once tested and long since forgotten. (Chapter 23, page 189) From this excerpt, Wharton indirectly states that Ellen Fonseka is not a sole object of possession, instead Newland Archer does feel something deep for her, it could be infatuation or even love. Later in this novel, it is proven that Newland loves her but he feels he is bounded to be with May and the old decencies  [6]  he and his people had always believed in. But to love Ellen Fonseka was not to become a man like Leffertsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(she) is not like no other woman, he was like no other man; their situation, therefore, resembled no one elsesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Chapter 30, page 258) The whole text clearly depicts that women are appreciated and loved by men, and the act of wedlock fidelity by husbands is indecent, and for Archer Newlands case, decency triumphs over love, yet love for a woman can persist to a lifetime. Later in this novel, Wharton figuratively described the feeling that Newland cast for Ellen is not infatuation, thus, this indicates that Ellen is not an object of possession, and Wharton defies the stereotype amazingly by proving that rather than being a typical woman accustomed to discrimination, a woman can take reign over a mans heart without losing his respect, and women are not meant to be deprived. In the Age of Innocence, the upper class society perceives the act of divorce as something disgraceful and against the societys customs, especially if the wife is the one who asks for divorce. Countess Ellen Fonseka who opts for divorce after she has learnt his husbands infidelity, receives negative discernment from the public. Citing form the text, Everybody knew that the Countess Olenska was no longer in the good graces of her family. Even her devoted champion, old Mrs Manson Mingott, had been unable to defend her refusal to return to her husband. (Chapter 26 : 220) Based on this excerpt, although Mrs Manson Minggot comes from the family of a high social stratum, yet she herself is unable to do anything over Olenskas decision to annul her marriage. Another instance from the text, After all, a young womans place was under her husbands roof, especially when she had left it in her husbands roof, especially when she had left it in circumstances that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ well à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ if one had cared to look into themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Chapter 26 : 220) Nonetheless, the societys attitude towards the annulment of marriage as described by Edith Wharton cannot be used as the ground to support the claim that Wharton is a feminist writer. Whartons view through Newland Archers dialogue, Our ideas about marriage and divorce are particularly old-fashioned. Our legislation favours divorce our social customs dont. (Chapter 12 ; page 93) From the dialogue, Edith Wharton had made the point that only the custom forbids the act of divorce while it is actually legally appropriate to be done. Hence, the evidence that females are discriminated by the society since they should not be asking and opting for divorce cannot be justified. Again, Wharton may had intended to criticize on the societys code of conduct, and in fact there is no other evidences in Whartons text (House of Mirth and Ethan Frome) that has clearly stated the prejudice towards women in the act of divorce. Aspect 2 : Dedication of image of the female as a hero or central character in fiction, and in the physiques and feats of female. Female as a hero or central character in fiction Heroic character is defined as character in literature, art or culture who is bounded with positive behaviors and characteristics, and even considered as the protagonist character. A common characteristic of feminist literature is the detailed portrayal of women with great positive values in the novels, as well as women written as the main, protagonist characters in the fictions. In most of Whartons novels, female characters are often seen to be equipped with decent attitudes, great perseverance, and the ability to adapt themselves to the demanding and often poor environment in best possible manners  [7]  . This is achieved with the successful help of womens intelligent decision making and analytical mind. In the Age of Innocence, the character of Ellen Fonseka is depicted as a woman of unconventionality due to her lack of concern for social rules and etiquette. This makes her a target of malicious tongues, but a heroine of dispossessed. In the novel The Age of Innocence, the character of Ellen Fonseka lives in the heart and mind of Newland Archers character throughout the novel. Even 26 years after Ellen Fonsekas departure to Europe, Newland keeps the memories of him with Fonseka. Hence, it can be seen that the central or main character in The Age of Innocence is Countess Ellen Fonseka. The heroine in the House of Mirth, Lily Barth is an intelligent woman and adept at playing societys games. The overall conflict of social expectation and personal desire in the novel House of Mirth basically revolve around the characterization of Lily Barth. It is made clear from the beginning of the book that Lily Barth was raised in the midst of luxury, and expects herself to be married to man of upper social class. Edith Wharton described the appearances and behaviours of Barth in detail, and overall, the novel itself was even described  [8]  as a novel about New York socialite, Lily Barth, attempting to secure a husband and place in rich society. Therefore, the readers and literature professionals agree that Lily Barth is the central character of the House of Mirth. Nonetheless, Whartons preference on female gender as the central characters in her writings cannot justify the claim that Edith Wharton is a literature feminist. This is because the measure of the heroic or central characters is subjective to the readers. In the Age of Innocence, the character of Newland Archer also portrays the heroic or central character in this novel. Although Ellen Fonsekas character remains etched in Newlands thoughts and memories, yet the appearances of Newland Archer are more continuous in the novel and the role of Newlands character is more significant than that of Ellen Fonsekas. Moreover, Newland Archers character appears at each chapter and consistently remained active and spoken about by Wharton. Besides that, Newland is the character who has to bear with the most conflicts, whether the internal or the external ones. In the Age of Innocence, Newland Archers character is emotionally attached to Ellen Fonseka while at the same time he is matrimonially committed to May Welland. Newland Archer casts the feeling of love towards Ellen Fonseka, but he still decides to marry May Welland. Ellen Fonseka responds to Archers confession of love, I cant go back now to that other way of thinking. I cant love you unless I give you up. (Chapter 18, page 145) The incident was made more difficult by the arrival of the telegram from Welland to Ellen Fonseka, in which May Welland tells about her parents approval to move forward her wedding date to Archer. Following this incident, Aspect 4 : Usage of gender-bias or sexist language ` For instance, in The Age of Innocence, Archer entirely approved of family solidarity, and of the qualities he most admired in the Mingotts was their resolute championship of the few black sheep that their blameless stock had producedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (but) he did not think the Mingotts would have tried it on! (chapter 2, page 10) It in the above excerpt refers to Mingotts decision to bring along Countess Olenska to the opera when Archers engagement to May Welland is about to be announced within a few weeks. From this excerpt anyway, Wharton uses the term black sheep to indicate the family members that could bring humiliation to the Mingott. Since the word few is used, it can be supposed that there could be more characters rather than Ellen Fonseka only, who exude unconventionality to the public. Hence, it is unfair to say that widows or women are discriminated in the Mingott family, when the term black sheep is neutral to any black sheep of different gender, and the emphasize on Ellen to bring about humiliation is only because of that particular moment where Archer Newland is getting married to May Welland and it looks improper for a black sheep to be seen with a family of upper class.

Four Phases of the Business Cycle

Four Phases of the Business Cycle ECONOMICS Q 1 Define the term Business Cycle and also explain the phases of business or trade cycle in brief? Ans: The business cycle is the periodic but irregular up-and-down movements in economic activity, measured by fluctuations in real GDP and other macroeconomic variables.Diagram of Business Cycle (or Trade Cycle) :- The business cycle starts from a trough (lower point) and passes through a recovery phase followed by a period of expansion (upper turning point) and prosperity. After the peak point is reached there is a declining phase of recession followed by a depression. Again the business cycle continues similarly with ups and downs. Explanation of Four Phases of Business Cycle 1. Prosperity Phase : Expansion or Boom or Upswing of economy.When there is an expansion of output, income, employment, prices and profits, there is also a rise in the standard of living. This period is termed as Prosperity phase.The features of prosperity are :- High level of output and trade, High level of effective demand, High level of income and employment, Rising interest rates, Inflation, Large expansion of bank credit, Overall business optimism. 2. Recession Phase: from prosperity to recession (upper turning point). The turning point from prosperity to depression is termed as Recession Phase. During a recession period, the economic activities slow down. When demand starts falling, the overproduction and future investment plans are also given up. There is a steady decline in the output, income, employment, prices and profits. The businessmen lose confidence and become pessimistic (Negative). It reduces investment. The banks and the people try to get greater liquidity, so credit also contracts. Expansion of business stops, stock market falls. Orders are cancelled and people start losing their jobs. The increase in unemployment causes a sharp decline in income and aggregate demand. Generally, recession lasts for a short period. 3. Depression Phase : Contraction or Downswing of economy.When there is a continuous decrease of output, income, employment, prices and profits, there is a fall in the standard of living and depression sets in. The features of depression are :- Fall in volume of output and trade, Fall in income and rise in unemployment,Decline in consumption and demand, Fall in interest rate, Deflation, Contraction of bank credit, Overall business pessimism.In depression, there is under-utilization of resources and fall in GNP (Gross National Product). The aggregate economic activity is at the lowest, causing a decline in prices and profits until the economy reaches its Trough (low point). 4. Recovery Phase : from depression to prosperity (lower turning Point). The turning point from depression to expansion is termed as Recovery or Revival Phase.During the period of revival or recovery, there are expansions and rise in economic activities. When demand starts rising, production increases and this causes an increase in investment. There is a steady rise in output, income, employment, prices and profits. The businessmen gain confidence and become optimistic (Positive). This increases investments. The stimulation of investment brings about the revival or recovery of the economy.Thus we see that, during the expansionary or prosperity phase, there is inflation and during the contraction or depression phase, there is a deflation. Q2. Monopoly is the situation there exists a single control over the market producing a commodity having no substitutes with no possibilities for anyone to enter the industry to compete. In that situation, they will not charge a uniform price for all the customers in the market and also the pricing policy followed in that situation? Ans: A market structure characterized by a single seller, selling a unique product in the market. In a monopoly market, the seller faces no competition, as he is the sole seller of goods with no close substitute.In a monopoly market, factors like government license, ownership of resources, copyright and patent and high starting cost make an entity a single seller of goods. All these factors restrict the entry of other sellers in the market. Monopolies also possess some information that is not known to other sellers. Characteristics of monopoly: Only one single seller in the market, There is no competition, There are many buyers in the market, The firm enjoys abnormal profits, The seller controls the prices in that particular product or service and is the price maker, Consumers don’t have perfect information, There are barriers to entry. These barriers many be natural or artificial, The product does not have close substitutes. Advantages of monopoly Monopoly avoids duplication and hence wastage of resources. Due to the fact that monopolies make lot of profits, it can be used for research and development and to maintain their status as a monopoly. Monopolies may use price discrimination which benefits the economically weaker sections of the society. Monopolies can afford to invest in latest technology and machinery in order to be efficient and to avoid competition. Disadvantages of monopoly Poor level of service, No consumer sovereignty, Consumers may be charged high prices for low quality of goods and services, Lack of competition may lead to low quality and out dated goods and services. Price Discrimination : It is the ability to charge different prices to different individual. Need for price discrimination: increase output and profit. Buying pattern of individuals will be different. Increase the economic welfare. Eg: Air tickets, movie tickets , discount coupons etc. multiple types of price discrimination: First-degree price discrimination is an attempt by the seller to leave the price unannounced in advance and charge each customer the highest price they would be willing to pay for the purchase. A business may benefit by offering different prices to those who purchase in larger volumes because either they can increase their profit with the increased volume sales or their costs per unit decrease when items are purchased in volume. Businesses can create alternative pricing methods that distinguish high-volume buyers from low-volume buyers. This is second-degree price discrimination. Third-degree price discrimination is differential pricing to different groups of customers. One justification for this practice is that producing goods and services for sale to one identifiable group of customers is less than the cost of sales to another group of customers. For example, a publisher of music or books may be able to sell a music album or a book in electronic form for less cost than a physical form like a compact disc or printed text. Q3 Fiscal policy is a package of economic measures of the government regarding public expenditure, public revenue, public debt or borrowings. It is very important since it refers to the budgetary policy of the government. Explain the fiscal policy and its instruments in detail? Ans: Fiscal policy is the means by which a government adjusts its spending levels and tax rates to monitor and influence a nations economy. It is the sister strategy to monetary policy through which a central bank influences a nations money supply. instruments of Fiscal Policy are Automatic Stabilizer and Discretionary Fiscal Policy: Automatic Stabilizer: The tax structure and expenditure are programmed in such a way that there is increase in expenditure and decrease in tax in recession and decrease in expenditure and increase in tax revenue in the period of inflation. It refers to built-in response to the economic condition without any deliberate action on the part of government. It is called built- in- stabilizer to correct and thus restore economic stability. It works in the following manner, Tax revenue: Tax revenue increases when the income increases; as those who were not paying tax go into the higher income tax bracket. When there is depression, the income decreases and many people fall in the no-income-tax bracket and the tax revenue decreases. ii) Discretionary Fiscal Policy: Under this, to stabilize the economy, deliberate attempts are made by the government in taxation and expenditure. It entails definite and conscious actions. Instruments of Fiscal Policy: Some important instruments of fiscal policy are: 1.TAXATION: Taxation is always a very important source of revenue for both developed and developing countries. Tax comes under two headingu2013Tax on individual(direct tax) and tax on commodity (indirect tax or commodity tax). a) Direct tax includes income tax, corporate tax, taxes on property and wealth. Indirect tax is tax on the consumptions. It includes sales tax, excise duty and custom duties. Direct tax structure can be divided into three bases- Progressive tax: Progressive tax says that higher the level of income, greater the volume of tax burden you have to bear. This means as income increases, the tax contribution should also increase. Low income group people pay low tax, whereas the high income group people pay higher tax. 2 Regressive tax: It is theoretically possible, though no government implements such tax structure, because that leads to unequal distribution of income. As your income increases the contribution through tax decreases. Low income people will pay more and high income people will pay less. Proportional tax: When the tax imposed is irrespective of the income you earn, every income group, high or low pay the same amount of tax. b) Indirect Tax Or consumpyion tax: tax which is iimposed on every unit of product . Q4 Explain the various methods of forecasting demand? Ans : Economic forecasting is the process of making predictions about the economy. Forecasts can be carried out at a high level of aggregation—for example for GDP, inflation, unemployment or the fiscal deficit—or at a more disaggregated level, for specific sectors of the economy or even specific firms. Methods of forecasting demand: Assumptions For many goods, the length of the product cycle is shrinking. Not only does this make it more difficult to build a historical database, it accentuates the need to forecast correctly. Computer technology makes it possible to adjust pricing instantly and to modify sales promotions on the run. Without accurate historical information to measure the impact of price changes, the business owner may be forced to experiment. Sales performance of other goods with similar product attributes may serve as proxies for a current product with no track record. Trend Analysis If you have historical data or if you can create it from related products trend analysis is the first step in demand forecasting. Plotting sales over time will reveal the presence of a sales trend if one exists. If there are aberrations â€Å"hiccups† in the trend you can look for explanations, which could include price, weather or demographic changes. If you are proficient with spreadsheet programs, you can chart data points and insert a trend line over the data. A more sophisticated approach is using least squares regression analysis which can also be done with standard spreadsheet software. Qualitative Forecasting A more subjective approach uses expert opinions to predict demand. Especially useful when there is a lack of historical data, relying on the collective opinion of experts makes sense. Begin with an analysis of the marketplace, reviewing the economic conditions. Obtain as much information about competitors’ performance as you can. Then gather opinions from a variety of sources within your business. Include the owner, sales manager, accountant, attorney and any others whose opinion you value. If you wish, you can get outside opinions as well. Qualitative forecasting is based on the consensus view of your panel as you digest and aggregate their opinions. Forecasting with Economic Indicators Depending on the products you sell and the customers who buy them, basing your demand forecast on one or more economic indicators may be an effective method. This style of demand forecasting works better with industrial buyers rather than retail. First, find the indicators that relate to your business. For example, small businesses in construction-related work can look to housing starts, building permits, loan applications and interest rates for solid indicators of the future. Businesses in agriculture can find clues to the future from farm income, interest rates and weather forecasts. The Departments of Commerce and Agriculture release statistics on an ongoing basis. Agricultural Extension Services and other state agencies provide complementary data Q5 Define monopolistic competition and explain its characteristics? Ans: Monopolistic Competition: A market structure in which several or many sellers each produce similar, but slightly differentiated products. Each producer can set its price and quantity without affecting the market place as a whole. Monopolistically competitive markets exhibit the following characteristics: Each firm makes independent decisions about price and output, based on its product, its market, and its costs of production. Knowledge is widely spread between participants, but it is unlikely to be perfect. For example, diners can review all the menus available from restaurants in a town, before they make their choice. Once inside the restaurant, they can view the menu again, before ordering. However, they cannot fully appreciate the restaurant or the meal until after they have dined. The entrepreneur has a more significant role than in firms that are perfectly competitive because of the increased risks associated with decision making. There is freedom to enter or leave the market, as there are no major barriers to entry or exit. A central feature of monopolistic competition is that products are differentiated. There are four main types of differentiation: Physical product differentiation, where firms use size, design, colour, shape, performance, and features to make their products different. For example, consumer electronics can easily be physically differentiated. Marketing differentiation, where firms try to differentiate their product by distinctive packaging and other promotional techniques. For example, breakfast cereals can easily be differentiated through packaging. Human capital differentiation, where the firm creates differences through the skill of its employees, the level of training received, distinctive uniforms, and so on. Differentiation through distribution, including distribution via mail order or through internet shopping, such as Amazon.com, which differentiates itself from traditional bookstores by selling online. Firms are price makers and are faced with a downward sloping demand curve. Because each firm makes a unique product, it can charge a higher or lower price than its rivals. The firm can set its own price and does not have to ‘take it from the industry as a whole, though the industry price may be a guideline, or becomes a constraint. This also means that the demand curve will slope downwards. Firms operating under monopolistic competition usually have to engage in advertising. Firms are often in fierce competition with other (local) firms offering a similar product or service, and may need to advertise on a local basis, to let customers know their differences. Common methods of advertising for these firms are through local press and radio, local cinema, posters, leaflets and special promotions. Monopolistically competitive firms are assumed to beprofit maximisers because firms tend to be small with entrepreneurs actively involved in managing the business. There are usually a large numbers of independent firms competing in the market. Q6 When should a firm in perfectly competitive market shut down its operation? Ans Definition of Perfect Competition A market structure in which the following five criteria are met: 1) All firms sell an identical product; 2) All firms are price takers they cannot control the market price of their product; 3) All firms have a relatively small market share; 4) Buyers have complete information about the product being sold and the prices charged by each firm; and 5) The industry is characterized by freedom of entry and exit. Perfect competition is sometimes referred to as pure competition. The reason for firm shut down in perfect competition A perfectly competitive firm is presumed to shutdown production and produce no output in the short run, if price is less than average variable cost. This is one of three short-run production alternatives facing a firm. The other two are profit maximization (if price exceeds average total cost) and loss minimization (if price is greater than average variable cost but less than average total cost). A perfectly competitive firm guided by the pursuit of profit is inclined to produce no output if the quantity that equates marginal revenue and marginal cost in the short run incurs an economic loss greater than total fixed cost. The key to this loss minimization production decision is a comparison of the loss incurred from producing with the loss incurred from not producing. If price is less than average variable cost, then the firm incurs a smaller loss by not producing that by producing. One of Three Alternatives: Shutting down is one of three short-run production alternatives facing a perfectly competitive firm. All three are displayed in the table to the right. The other two are profit maximization and loss minimization. With profit maximization, price exceeds average total cost at the quantity that equates marginal revenue and marginal cost. In this case, the firm generates an economic profit. With loss minimization, price is greater than average variable cost but is less than average total cost at the quantity that equates marginal revenue and marginal cost. In this case, the firm incurs a smaller loss by producing some output than by not producing any output.

Personal Narrative: Harsh Criticism of my Writing Essay -- Narrative E

There are certain moments in my writing process, even more than twenty years later, that I can still imagine hearing that sharply critical voice striking a deep and lasting blow as the journalism assignment replete with bloody red ink landed on my desk. â€Å"This is all wrong,† were the words my high school journalism teacher stabbed me with as she passed down the aisle pausing only long enough for me to catch a whiff of her nicotine breath. At the very same moment my stomach muscle knotted, my face burned as if with fever, and those four words echoed out of control over and over again in my ears. Notoriously late for class due to her love of smoking cigarettes in the teacher’s lounge (in those days smoking was allowed in school buildings), Ms. B’s entrance into the class on this particular day was no exception. With a flurry of authority, arrogance, and impatience, she appeared before me-the subservient and humble student. Her disdain for my writing was obvious in her written comments on the returned assignment. But it was the spoken word about my writing that intimidated and humiliated me, even to this very day when I allow myself to think back on the incident. Hearing that my work was â€Å"all wrong† in the presence of other students was the worst embarrassment I could imagine as a shy and overly sensitive teenager. I wanted to crawl under my desk and hide. I managed to fight back tears until my retreat to the lavatory at the end of the period. Any confidence I had in my writing died that day. From that moment on my dreams of being a writer were severely compromised. Ms. B had taken advantage of her position of power over my writing. Whether this was intentional on her part or just a case of insensitivity or carelessness has no bear... ...well, it is difficult for me to do so. Perhaps it is his never-failing encouragement and my appreciation of his teaching methods that won’t allow me to take the role of an English teacher when reading his work. It has been my experience that young student writers can be very vulnerable to harsh criticism from a teacher or person in authority. And in my own case, that criticism didn’t disappear at the end of the semester but in fact, stayed with me for many years. I still have to push that ghost of criticism out of my head when I sometimes have difficulty with my writing. For the most part, the wounds from the red pen have healed and the scaring has been greatly reduced. Since the process of writing is difficult enough without discouraging words from teachers, it is imperative that harsh criticism be chased out of the writing classroom for the good of all students.

Abrams and Tintern Abbey Essay -- Essays Papers

Abrams and Tintern Abbey In his essay, "Structure and Style in the Greater Romantic Lyric," critic M.H.Abrams describes a paradigm for the longer Romantic lyric of which Wordsworth's "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey" is an example. First, some of the poems are either identified as odes in the title, or, as Abrams states "approach the ode in having lyric magnitude and a serious subject, feelingfully meditated." (201) The narrator of "Tintern Abbey" expresses deep sensations as he views a landscape familiar from his youth, the emotions and memories evoked lead to wider moral and philosophical cogitations. The prototypical lyric, Abrams continues, "present a determinate speaker in a particularized, and usually a localized, outdoor setting." (201) Indeed, Wordsworth's title specifically identifies the site of which the narrator speaks, it is "a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on the banks of the Wye." The narrators of these poems, continues Abrams, speak in "a fluent vernacular which rises easily to a more formal speech, a sustained colloquy, sometimes with himself or with the outer scene, but more frequently with a silent human auditor, present or absent." (201) "Tintern Abbey" begins with an informal statement, a sudden "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings": "Five years have passed; five summers, with the length / Of five long winters! And again I hear / These waters" (1-3); then gradually builds to more studied speech appropriate for philosophical ruminations: "For I have learned / To look on nature, not as in the hour / Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes / The still, sad music of humanity; / Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power / to chasten and subdue" (89-94). The narrator is speaking to a... ...e scenes of Nature shared together will be stored in their memories to draw out at a later date to be used as a sort of non-pharmaceutical anti-depressant: "Oh, then, / If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief, / Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts / Of tender joy wilt thou remember me, / And these my exhortations!" (143-147) Required Texts W. Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge. Lyrical Ballads. (1798, 1800, 1802) Ed. R.L. Brett & A.R. Jones. Routledge, 1992. William Wordsworth, The Prelude: 1799, 1805, 1850. Eds. J. Wordsworth, M.H. Abrams & S. Gill. Norton, 1979. William Wordsworth: The major Works. Ed. S. Gill. Oxford, 1984/2000 Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders. Ed. D. Kramer. Oxford, 2001. Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It. Chicago, 1989. Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age; or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. Bantam Reprint, 2000

Alices Adventures in Darwinism and the Realm of Child Versus Adult Ess

Alice in Wonderland, the most famous work of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, is the enduring tale of one girl’s journey into a world of whimsy and imagination. The story was written for the enjoyment of all children, as Carroll had a strong love and attachment to them, especially little girls. It was however, written more specifically for a dear, close child-friend of his by the name of Alice Liddell, who was the inspiration for the title character. Alice in Wonderland has been, throughout the years since it’s publication in 1865, endlessly deconstructed, analyzed, and studied for underlying meaning in the text (as in Martin Gardner‘s The Annotated Alice). One of the most noticeable and famous facets of the story is the many changes in size that Alice goes through. Alice changes size eleven times to fit her changing predicament in the tale. This can be easily seen in the animated Disney interpretation of the story that came out years ago. Throughout the book, Alice is given the opportunity to change size numerous times, this aiding her in getting in and out of different situations and places in Wonderland. Alice accomplishes this through eating and drinking different tonics and mushroom pieces. It is interesting to note that the time period in which Carroll wrote and published Alice was the same time at which Charles Darwin was writing and publishing his historic book The Origin of Species in which he puts forth the now universally known ideas of evolution and survival of the fittest. Darwin developed these ideas while he served as naturalist on the ship the Beagle from 1831-1836. During this time, he studied wildlife on the Galapagos Islands, and was amazed by the great diversity of life. He was especially interested in the birds of the island, which had highly adapted beaks that fit their particular eating habits and lifestyle. (Coincidentally, in one of the first scenes in Wonderland, Alice arrives on shore with a group of different birds.) Carroll may have been inspired to have his title character change si ze according to her needs and predicament by the emerging science of the time. Alice also seems to get better at, and becomes more comfortable with changing her size as time goes on, and a parallel between evolution and Alice can be drawn on that point, in that as evolution progresses, it becomes more refined. Lewis Carroll... ...bsp; Alice in Wonderland, the work of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, has been the enduring tale of one girl’s journey into a world of whimsy and imagination because of the multi-layered meaning that exists within. The story was written for the enjoyment of all children, but as Carroll once wrote himself, "we (adults) are but older children, dear."(499). Inspired by a dear, close child-friend of his by the name of Alice Liddell, the Alice of Alice in Wonderland has been the mediator between childhood and adulthood, and staying innocent and becoming experienced for over a hundred years. One of the most noticeable and famous facets of the story is the many changes in size that Alice undergoes, a phenomenon of evolution that was brought to the forefront of scientific and everyday Victorian life by the revolutionary thinker and naturalist Darwin. Charles Darwin wrote and published his historic book The Origin of Species at the same time Carroll’s arguably equally famed book was written and published, a coincidence that can not be overlooked when we observe the clear links between Darwin’s theories and Dodgson’s themes.  Ã‚  Ã‚