Little Children Movie Review Essay

â€Å"You couldn’t change the past. But the future could be a different story. And it had to start somewhere. † This final statement sums up the message of the Little Children, a film opus of Todd Fiend, that talks not merely about a love affair of two married persons, but the story of struggle and redemption of common folk living in an upper-middle class suburban Boston. This notwithstanding, the film also shows a stereotypical, albeit real depiction of the contradictions in such a neighborhood – the soccer moms, the disempowered husbands, better called ‘house-bands’, and the bored housewives in terrible need of an ego boost. The film review shall mainly quote dialogue from the film, in order to showcase fully the power of this story about suburban Northeastern America. Sarah Pierce is a successful academic and campus figure, but has since lost all glory upon her marriage to Richard, and subsequent birth to Lucy, a self-assured little girl who refuses to do everything Sarah requests. She currently suffers from an absolute absence of love in her relationship with Brad, shattered further with her catching Richard in a fit of masturbation, while wearing her panties around his head. Moreover, she eternally despises the pretentious moms she sees in Lucy’s playground all the time. The lines with sarcasm are clearly suggestive of her clear disdain for the mothers, to wit – Mary Ann: He should just be castrated. Just snip, quick and easy. Sarah Pierce: [sarcastically] You know what else you should do? Nail his penis above the entrance to the elementary school. That’d really teach him a lesson. This initial situation of Sarah inextricably creates the objective conditions for the future love affair with Brad, because one cannot reasonably expect, despite promises made at the consummation of marriage that she can eternally be faithful in the wake of the loveless situation that she is in. Her disempowerment as an intellectual by becoming a fulltime housewife living in a sea of pretentious women around her also gives further ammunition, albeit personal isolation from her community-at-large, for the blossoming of a new yet forbidden relationship with Brad. The other player in this love affair is Brad Adamson, a ‘house-band’ whose career is at a standstill – he failed the bar exams twice, and his wife is a successful documentary filmmaker, named Kathy. In such as situation, he feels absolutely helpless, in view of the fact that it is his wife that serves as the breadwinner of the family, and his main task for every given day would be to accompany their child Aaron during his playtime. Without an actual career to speak of, and a similarly successful past as Sarah, it is without a doubt a situation which would create the necessary conditions for his decision to enter into an affair with Sarah – them hopeless beings supposedly full of potential, now finally united. The proverbial meet-cute of film may be the scandalous yet affirming prank they pulled against the pretentious mothers in the playground, when Sarah and Brad hugged each other, to the absolute disdain of the mothers. The prank unleashed their long-kept longings of spontaneity and passion, long gone in the running of their marriages and only to be found again in each other’s embrace. Sarah, as the formerly empowered intellectual, possesses almost the same ridicule at Richard as what she has against the pretentious mothers, to wit – Brad Adamson: You have a nice place here. Sarah Pierce: You think? Yeah, Richard does pretty well for himself. Brad Adamson: Oh, yeah? What’s he do? Sarah Pierce: He lies. They shall soon engage in passionate love-making during a fierce rainstorm, but only after Brad realizes that their feelings for each other are mutual, as shown by a picture kept by Sarah in her study. Nonetheless, the couple in the affair approach their forbidden relationship, with great fervor, but a bit unsure, with even a tinge of guilt and remorse, particularly on the part of Brad, to wit – Brad Adamson: Do you feel bad about this? Sarah Pierce: No, I don’t. Brad Adamson: I do. I feel really bad. The other characters in the movie are as interesting as the two main love-struck protagonists. Ronnie McGorvey is an indecent exposure offender, having served prison time and has since moved back into the neighborhood with his mother. Ronnie seems to have been unreformed in his perverted ways, when he masturbates yet again during a date set by his mother, ruining the date, and destroying all hopes of him ever finding love. His return, nonetheless, is met with great protest by Larry, Brad’s teammate in touch football, and a disgraced police officer. His protests turn violent at times, not content with the mere handing out of flyers and posters about Ronnie, but also vandalizing his house, and almost assaulting Ronnie and his mother. Their seemingly grown-men, good vs. evil conflict reaches a terrible turn when a drunken Larry goes to Ronnie’s house with a megaphone, waking the entire neighborhood and shaming fully Ronnie and his mother. As his mother tries to stop Larry from further his drunken actions, he pushes her to the ground, triggering a heart attack which would soon take her life. Nonetheless, before entering death’s door, she writes a note to Ronnie with a chest-pounding plea – â€Å"Please be good boy. † This triggers Ronnie to go on a fit of rage for losing his mother, ending in castrating himself, in pursuit of his mother’s request at death. Larry would soon realize how grave his mistake was and looks for Ronnie, and bring him to the hospital for medical attention. The stories of Ronnie and Larry ironically show the awkward sense of justice and reason disgraced persons in the community pursue to redeem themselves to their loved ones and to the community. Ronnie, in the most dramatic expression of remorse and love to his dead mother, has cut of his testicles – the physical object of his sexual perversion, in order to unrealistically undo the hurt feelings of his mother created by his former acts. But despite the spectacle of it all, the drama attended by it, there is no point in doing such. The mother is dead, and the date has been left crying. On the other hand, Larry, the disgraced police officer, puts the law into his own hands by maligning Ronnie’s person and by engaging into overt acts of harassment and violence in pursuit of this. The objective is clear, that despite his failure as an officer of the law, he himself continues to be an upright man, rejecting sexual depredation and moral turpitude in the person of Ronnie. He does his brand of redemption to a serious fault, notwithstanding through aimless grandstanding, by lumping together Ronnie’s person to that of his mother, by vandalizing her property and pushing her to the ground in pursuit of his shame campaign. By doing such, he fails in the end, because the object of vigilante-ism is not the person whose life was lost, but some innocent person whose continued life could have influenced Ronnie towards full redemption from his sins, without need of castration, nor the spectacle of it. Meanwhile, the affair between Brad and Sarah becomes all the more serious, to the point that Kathy herself now witnesses the truth of the affair through the tacit sexual tensions between the two during a dinner. They have even agreed to run away together, as when two young star-crossed lovers would leave their unyielding parents in pursuit of their hasty, yet seemingly ‘true’ love. In pursuit of this, Sarah even declares the situation to Mary Ann, to wit – Mary Ann: Oh that’s nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist? Sarah Pierce: No, no, no. It’s not the cheating. It’s the hunger – the hunger for an alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness. The two were prepared to leave their loveless homes, their young children and their real spouses to perfect the ‘love’ long lost, and which now they have found through one another. This feeling of seemingly ‘great love’ is expected, but appears clearly as one that is fleeting, one that is artificial, one that was created by the sordid personal experiences of their lives, where the affair’s function was a mere outlet of a love that is merely not sought, but never absent, in their own homes. Such is how their love is that in the film’s climax, at the supposed point of no return by meeting on the night they agreed upon to run away for love, the family and the past they have left pull them back, not through force, but by circumstances that put everything back into its proper perspective. Sarah’s Lucy gets lost, and a panicked mother searches for her relentlessly in the playground where she left her, only to soon find her along under a street light. It is on this moment, that the bubble of ‘love’ in the affair is completely pierced, that the idea of the absence of love is merely in her mind, nothing more, and Lucy is the personification of that love, that has never been absent, but as stated above, a love merely unsought. Brad himself experiences a similar piercing of the ‘love bubble’, in the exact moment towards their scheduled departure for love. Brad, the confident but now disempowered lawyer-to-be, has failed to leave his goodbye letter to Kathy when he met a serious accident while trying some skateboard tricks. No clue has been given as to why he failed to leave the note to Kathy, but what can be surmised is that he probably felt the same as Sarah had, the inability, at the final instance, to create the actual physical wedge between his past and his supposed future with Sarah. This unstated inability to leave is further buttressed by Kathy’s rush to the hospital to meet Brad at the emergency room doors, showing that despite acting as the breadwinner of the family, she is not without love for her husband, and that, as in Sarah’s case, Brad’s idea of a loveless home is again, a love merely unsought, waning and almost at the point of death, yes, but present with the ability to be roused to life again. In all these, the film shows who the real Little Children are in this story of suburban America – it is the adults who allow their feelings to get in the way of principled contemplation of relationships and love.

Effects of unemployment Essay

The stabilization of human personalities; every individual child or adult needs emotional security and a source of release from stresses and strains of every day life. This provided by emotional support of partners and the chance for parents to indulge with their children. This helps to prevent stress from overwhelming the individual and threatening the stability of family and society. Parents provides economic support to its members particularly when they are young, paying for expensive personal items as well as child care. This financial support at times can be extended beyond infant hood with extra cost such as private education or higher education. Other functions of individuals in employment, tend to provide economic and emotional support when a member of the family is ill, disabled or in poverty. Financially stable families offer economic, cultural and social support that allows status and the prospects of social mobility for its members. But all this can be changed by a single life event in a person’s life as well as their families and it can be significantly devastating. A persons health and well being is significantly influenced by the life events and the effects of the social environment that they live in. these events can effect our health and wellbeing when a change of circumstances occurs. The aim of this essay is to explore how this life of events can change a person’s health and wellbeing for example: psychologically, physically, and socially and their behaviour. Events like losing a job has a great impact on a person’s life and their family members, it can also affect a person’s health and well being. A financially stable person losing their source of income can be devastating and can cause emotional distress and depression. (NHS research 2009) states that the most common cause of stress in today’s society is relationship breakdown, loss of a job, money issues and moving house. Stress can result fro, continuous causes, changeable, unpredictable or predictable causes e.g. life events or occupational demands (psychology through diagrams). Homes and rahe (1967) states that stress can be caused by greater susceptibility to physical mental health disorders (psychology through diagrams p. 194) stress can lead to a person’s behaviour change. A person might start smoking to try and relieve stress. (Dr Parrot American medical journal) states that smokers mistakenly believe that cigarette  smoking can help relieve stress. (Live bates) director of ASH explains further that cigarette smokers experience the relief from their addiction but of stress. Cigarette dependency can gradually disappear when one makes a choice to quit. Smoking is addictive and is harmful to a person’s health internally and also externally. Smoking causes high blood pressure, raised heart beats , shortness of breath, chronic coughing , impotence and infertility, long term smokers have a higher risk of developing respiratory track infection and lung cancer which means smoking can cause death. Recent studies show that thousands of people all over the world die each year from medical complications which are caused by smoking (smoking advice information). In the United States smoking remains the greatest preventable cause of death (journal of environmental and public health 2012 may 4th). Smoking is another expensive addiction which can add more strain on a non income household. Smoking is an addiction and addictions need feeding, that means that the little money that coming into the house hold could be spent on feeding the addiction , leaving no money for food, rent and basic things which sustain a house hold. This leads to changing diet to cheaper food stuffs which are most likely to be unhealthy. Low income leads to an unhealthy diet which mostly is high in sugar and fat. Leading this new life style can cause a person to become obese and can also affect their health and well being. (Drewnowski, 2010) healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food. Unhealthy food is easily accessible in low income households there fore it is seen as the easiest option even thought they are full of sugar, unrefined grams of fat Diet which is full of sugar and fat is not good for human bodies because it leads to health problems. Children who suffer from blood pressure and high type 2 diabetes, Are at high to a high risk of cardiovascular disease. Also children are likely to become obese when they grow up. (2009 paediatric nutrition s. system) (Minister for public health) stresses that, it is a heart-breaking fact family from low income survive from bad food and they are at high risk from obesity. Most of the families on low income are people who are on benefits. DR Gerry Spence comments that most families on benefits suffer from obesity and they most likely rely on eating out of the chippy and on convenience stores. Also once a person loses his or her job the effect s can be devastating if they cannot be able to keep up with their mortgage, their home is at risk of  being repossessed which could lead to homelessness, homelessness starts in reduction of availability of affordable housing and economic stresses in society. This leads to families having to move to different areas which they can afford. Moving houses and changing school can b devastating to both children and parents. Children’s education can be highly affected by this change of school environment according to Stuart hall and Janet pawney; homelessness could have a very bad effect on a child’s education and health. In most cases when people are evicted or lose their housing due to other causes, most of them are housed by their local councils, if they are lucky they can be offered a council house. Most of the council houses according to parents and professionals are not present at all. Most of them are in very poor states of repair and also might be damp and mouldy which can affect a person’s health and well being for example dampened accommodation can cause respiratory conditions to worsen. Also in this situation children are more exposed to tobacco smoke lack of study space and also lack of sleep at night as a result of a rowdy neighbourhood. This change of location affects adults as well as children. Children can become lonely because they have left their families or have not been able to make friends. They feel isolated and this can lead to social isolation which is another cause of poor health. According to (R.C.N) people who are from socially included neighbourhood experience poor health outcome this include self reported health morbidity and life expectancy. Also children from socially excluded neighbourhoods are more likely to get involved in crime. They may get involved with other children in the neighbourhood or school who are involved in unhealthy activities for example drugs, alcohol and smoking. These activities are usually caused by children joining gangs who participate in these events. The peer pressures caused by the gangs are what lead to these unhealthy activities. Office of (D.P.M 2004 September 9th) states that in most cases social exclusion is concentrated in the poorest communities and neighbourhoods. When a person is socially excluded they find it hard to creatively take part in most of the society’s activities for example taking part in local elections, leisure centres which are available in the community. This can have a long term effect on them when they grow up; they might find it very hard to achieve good grades which can lead to unemployment in the future. (DPM 2004) states that education can be used to  predict future outcomes in the areas of employability, health, criminal activity and earnings. This can also be used to achieve a reduction in social exclusion. In this we have discovered that social exclusion is the gap between those who are forced to the fringe and those who are active members of the society. We have seen how socially exclusion can affect our health and wellbeing. Also our behaviour, we have seen that social exclusion can have a great impact on children’s education which can determine their future employability, health, criminal activities and earnings. This essay explores how we live can affect our health and wellbeing. It van have an impact on a persons mental health, behaviour and physical health problems. This essay shows how a one event can have a big impact on the whole family involved. It can affect the present and their tomorrow (future). The evidence shows that once a change of events in ones life and how the person deals with it negatively, it can be devastating. This is because our bodies react differently to stress. References: www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/research/pdf/drivers.pdf Abnormal psychology by Richard gross& rob mcllvoen Http://www.smokingadvice.info/smoking-advice/effects-of-smoking.php http://www.hindawl.com/journals/jeph www.ash .org.uk/beyondsmokingkills.co.uk http://sciencenordic.com/how-stress-can-cause-depression AS & a level psychology through diagram by Grahame hill www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/lowincome.html/ The guardian July 9th 2013 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/homlessnes

How to Write the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Essays 2018-2019

The University of Minnesota — Twin Cities is a large public university, offering a huge variety of resources across two campuses in two cities: Minneapolis and St. Paul, sister cities that are approximately three miles apart. In the 2017-2018 school year, UM – Twin Cities enrolled just over 51,000 students, about 31,000 of whom were undergraduates. UM — Twin cities offers top-caliber research, with faculty including 29 Nobel Prize winners. It is currently ranked #79 on the US News and World Report’s National Universities list and is ranked #30 on the US News Top Public Schools list . UM — Twin Cities typically accepts about 45% of applicants; accepted students’ average GPA is 3.78 and their SAT scores average a 1360 composite. UM — Twin Cities requires supplemental essays only for specific majors. Prospective dance majors and mortuary science majors are required to answer an array of questions specific to their field. Responses to all applicable questions must fit onto two double-spaced pages. Dance majors are required to answer three questions: What has brought you to dance? Why do you plan to pursue a degree in dance? How do you imagine the relationship between writing about dance and dancing? Additionally, there is an optional question about diversity, which asks you to explain how you might contribute to, or benefit from, UM – Twin Cities’ diverse community of scholars. Prospective Mortuary Science majors must answer four questions. The first asks about a time when you handled a difficult situation professionally. The second asks for an example of your compassion or empathy making a difference in another person’s life. The third asks for an example of your tact and level-headedness under pressure. The fourth asks you to describe a time when you made an important decision and the impact of that decision on yourself and others. There are also additional essays for applicants to the Freshman Nursing Guarantee Program . These consist of three 250-word essays. One question asks you to explain why you have chosen to pursue a nursing career. The next asks about how your studies and activities have prepared you to be a nurse. The last question asks you to reflect on why the Freshman Nursing Guarantee Program fits your degree and career plans. This question is an intentionally broad starter question: the admissions committee is giving you the chance to open your two-page response with a â€Å"thesis† of sorts about your deepest motivations or most personal connections to dance. While you can–and should–include specific stories or the timeline of your dance discovery in your response, you should begin by taking a step back and consider your high-level strategy. Also, keep in mind that â€Å"brought you to† can be interpreted in two ways: in a strict sense, as the literal thing or person that introduced you to dance; or, more broadly, as the thing that really made you passionate about or committed to dance. Your essay ideation process should include three basic elements: Below, these steps are outlined in the order they are listed above. However, these steps can be somewhat modulated. Some writers will already know that they want to tell a story–for example, one about how their older sister introduced them to dance. Other writers might have a clear idea of how they’d like to open but need to think more about what their underlying thesis might be. What really matters is completing all three points before you begin writing. This is the theoretical core of your essay: the essential information about you that you want to make sure your readers understand. This thesis, however, is not something that you will necessarily write as a â€Å"topic sentence† at the end of your paragraph. Instead, your thesis is something to guide your thought process as you plan your essay so that you have a clear idea in your mind of what you are trying to get your reader to understand. Of course, some writers will include more explicit thesis statements than others–and that can work well.   However, for planning purposes, you should think of your thesis as something that you want the reader to understand from the story you tell . As you might have already guessed, if you’ve had some experience with college essays, this means showing not telling (more on this later!). Now, how do you actually come up with a thesis? Try responding to a slightly different question from the one that the prompt asks. Ask yourself: what do you love about dancing? Or, what is meaningful to you about dance? The answer to these questions is, ultimately, what your essay should convey. This thesis could be something very simple: dancing makes me happier than anything else. Or, it could be a little more complex: dancing makes my mind and body feel connected. It could also be more external: dance is a language that allows me to communicate my experiences with others, and understand their pain and joy. Before you figure out what structure your essay will take, you need to consider what anecdote, story, or example you can use to show the reader your thesis. At this point, you should feel free to dive into your early memories of dance, or even more recent ones that you feel really crystallized your love for the art. Do you have just one moment you want to share or a few different memories? Is there a particular person who introduced you to the world of dance? With each anecdote you consider, ask yourself, â€Å"Can this convey my thesis? If so, how?† Thesis: Dance has allowed you to find a sort of inner peace. Anecdote(s): For a thesis like this, you likely will need to convey some sort of change over time. You could open with a story about your early childhood; perhaps you were tempestuous in elementary school, struggling to acclimate socially or academically. Pick a specific â€Å"moment† from those days to illustrate these tendencies–this could be a classroom argument, a test you did poorly on, or a moment when you felt left out. Then, you could describe your first dance class, contrasting the peace you felt with your instructor and peers Thesis: You were able to work through personal hardship with the help of dance. Anecdote(s): To show the reader this thesis, you’ll need to think of a specific time that dance really helped you through hardship. For example, you could discuss how you processed a parent’s sickness or a difficult relationship by pouring your emotions into dance. Perhaps before this, dance was merely a hobby for you. Use a detailed depiction of this painful experience–and how you danced through that pain–to show the reader how dance became more than just a hobby for you, that is, to show how this experience â€Å"brought you† to dance as a true passion. The particular anecdotes you choose, along with your thesis, will ultimately determine the length of your essay. If you want to simply articulate how happy dancing makes you, then telling a short story about the first time you felt that pleasure might be the perfect choice. If you want to explain how you’ve learned to communicate through dance, your narrative might need to involve a few anecdotes that show this progression. The key is to center your essay around a â€Å"moment† or â€Å"moments† that depict the core of what dance means to you, and what has made you choose it as your major. This prompt asks a more concrete version of the question asked in the first prompt. This actually will make your response to this second prompt easier, since you will have already touched on the deepest reasons why you love to dance. Now, you have a chance to build on that initial response with a practical description of your interests in a dance degree. There are three main approaches that you can take to this prompt: Of course, there can be endless variation and intermingling in these broad buckets. However, these categories can be a good starting point for brainstorming as you consider what approach to take to this essay. If one of these categories speaks directly to you, it can help you define the approach that you’ll take to this essay, which will help you focus and expedite your drafting process. Take a step back and ask yourself: What goals will I fulfill by earning a dance degree? Some of these goals are likely too general or too random to fit cohesively into a focused essay for a specialized program (for example the general satisfaction and usefulness of having a college degree or the excitement of getting to tell people you studied dance). Other goals, though, will link to one of the broader approaches mentioned above. Perhaps you want to help people express themselves; perhaps you want to teach dance; perhaps you want to direct arts programs in your community; perhaps you want to become an academic who studies dance, too; perhaps you want to study something you are truly passionate about. Though you’ll likely think of a number of goals, you should choose just a few that fit well together. For example, teaching dance and promoting arts could easily be synthesized in one essay–however, it might be too much to try to thread together aspirations to pursue a formal academic career, a career as a dance teacher, and a career as an arts program director. Once you’ve come up with a goal, you need to explain how this particular program can help you achieve that goal. This will require doing some research into the program’s offerings and requirements. Find specific resources, and explain how those resources, part of a dance degree, will enable you to reach your goal. If you want to become a dance teacher, you should mention specific pedagogical resources available through UM — Twin City’s dance program. You could discuss how the practical aspects of the program (actual dancing) will refine your own technique and personal experience of dance instruction; then, you could transition to discuss how the theoretical aspects of the program would give you a rich understanding of dance’s history, thereby enabling you to give your students an appreciation of their art’s significance and potential. If your goal is to help others express themselves, you might acknowledge that you won’t necessarily stay in the â€Å"dance world† forever. Therefore, you might identify particular aspects of the program (courses, internships, talks) that focus on how dance can facilitate broader personal expression. In an essay focused on a broader goal like this, your overall approach should be to focus on the skills and knowledge that this program provides, describing how these skills can be transferred to domains beyond dance. The purpose of this question is pretty straightforward: you are applying to an academic program, to receive a degree in dance. This means that you will not only be dancing, but also doing scholarly work on dance–that is, theorizing about dance, reading about dance, discussing dance, and writing about dance (and, of course, dancing). For many applicants, this will be new terrain. Most high schoolers do not take academic courses where they get to discuss and write about dance (or any arts) in-depth, from a theoretical and analytical perspective. The admissions committee knows that you’ll likely be jumping into something new: combining two parts of your life that might have been separate up to this point–your academic endeavors with your passion for dance. They want to hear your best argument for why you’re prepared to merge these two spheres. Of course, this question isn’t phrased as â€Å"Convince us you can write about dance, and that you want to do it, too†Ã¢â‚¬â€œthe use of the word â€Å"imagine† in the prompt invites you to be a bit creative, too (even though you absolutely should convince the reader of those things). So with this baseline approach, how do you proceed? A good first step would be to familiarize yourself a little bit with the sort of writing and reading on dance that you’ll be required to do in this program. This means reading through course syllabi, skimming scholarly articles or more general pieces on dance, and thinking about which strategies and approaches to writing about dance you find to be meaningful and effective. If you’ve already written extensively about dance, or are familiar with formal and informal writing on dance, you might be able to skip or truncate this step. Then, as you consider both any experience you have writing about dance and others’ writing on the topic, ask yourself: What do I like? Why do I like it? How does writing help me understand dance? What relationship do I see between writing and dance? Note that my suggestions so far assume that your focus will be on writing about dance . However, keep in mind that the relationship can also go the other way: you can talk about how writing (potentially not directly about dance) inspires your dance or shapes your understanding of dance. However, keep in mind that your response should touch on the more analytical aspects of writing about dance, since (as mentioned above) this will be a component of your experience as a dance major. Once you’ve developed an answer to this question, it’s time to come up with a thesis. At this point, you should come up with a clear â€Å"thesis† in answer to the prompt. Here are a few example theses: Once you’ve developed a thesis, try to think of concrete examples of either how you’ve already experienced this relationship or of how you imagine this relationship will play out in your future. If your thesis is focused on explaining your love of dance through writing, you could tell about a time that you wrote a piece in your school paper describing a performance, in hopes of encouraging your peers to come, but also just to share your art form with them. If your thesis is focused on sharing the power of dance with the general public, you could describe, using specific examples, your ongoing frustration with the low attendance at local dance performances. Then, you could describe–again, using specific examples linked to the problem you identified–how you believe more writing on dance could encourage both academics and the general public to take dance more seriously. Avoid an overly-theoretical, impersonal response. With a somewhat abstract prompt like this, it’s far too easy to write a response that’s replete with broad statements and about writing and dance–but includes no concrete examples.   Take care to not make wide overgeneralizations about dance and writing (â€Å"Writing has long allowed non-dancers to understand the mysterious world of dance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) and avoid obvious, broad comparisons between the two (â€Å"Writing and dance could not seem more different–but, in fact, they are both art forms†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Your response should certainly have a strong theoretical component, and can even reference other writers, dancers, or thinkers. However, this broader thesis should be conveyed as your personal view (remember, the prompt asks â€Å"how do you imagine†), and substantiated by personal experiences and examples. As is almost always the case when it comes to â€Å"optional† college essays, this essay is not really optional. You should view every essay as a precious opportunity to share a little more about yourself. There are only two reasons not to write this essay. First, remember that you’re limited to two double-spaced pages for all your responses. If you need every line for your major-specific essays, skipping this one would be acceptable. Second, it’s better not to respond to this prompt than to write something tone-deaf or downright offensive in response (more on that later). This prompt is a classic example of the â€Å"diversity question† that a number of universities now include in their applications. The intention is to get a sense of how you think about diversity–and, more importantly, how you will engage with your peers in an unfamiliar environment populated by people who are different from you in myriad ways. Your goal should be to: thoughtfully convey (1) your appreciation for and understanding of diversity, along with (2) your practical knowledge of how to navigate and grow in/contribute to a diverse environment. You should begin by considering whether you want to focus on what you’ll contribute to, or what you stand to gain from, a diverse community of scholars. If you come from a group typically underrepresented in higher education, your angle on this essay might be somewhat easy to find. For example, most college campuses have very low numbers of Native Americans enrolled. If you are of Native American heritage, writing about your own experiences and traditions and how you could share those with your peers could be very powerful. After all, it’s almost guaranteed that the very grounds students will walk on each day were once trodden by Native Americans–as such, there are a number of points you could make about the value of adding this underrepresented historical perspective to the campus community. (Note that, for this particular example, your heritage should be verifiable, preferably through tribal membership, not just speculative. Many families have stories about Native American ancestors, which, though powerful for that particular family, do not meet institutional standards for claiming a Native American identity, and, in a drastic case, might make it look like you’ve misrepresented yourself.)    If you don’t have an obvious â€Å"diversity hook,† there’s no need to worry. Take a step back and consider how you fit into your community, who you enjoy interacting with–or even any â€Å"blind spots† you have. A carefully-constructed essay focusing on a non-traditional type of diversity (are you the only literary geek in your STEM-focused school?) could work here, though you need to be careful not to write an essay that implies that you misunderstand or undervalue â€Å"diversity† in the more traditional sense of the word. Excellent responses on this topic also can address the self-awareness that you haven’t experienced much diversity yet. Do you attend an almost all-white, single-gender private school, where most students are from similar economic backgrounds? You could use a detailed description of this environment as a jumping off point to describe your eagerness to experience a more diverse setting and your awareness of how much you have to learn. Keep in mind that, in a case like this, you shouldn’t strive to put down your current environment, but rather to express an eagerness for new experiences. No matter what your level of diversity or experience with diversity, there is an â€Å"angle† for you here. The key is to ensure that you make it clear that you understand the value of diversity and have something to contribute to or learn from it. This means that the only â€Å"wrong† answers are answers that woefully misconstrue diversity (i.e. focusing myopically on your own feeling of being â€Å"different† without drawing broader connections to the myriad ways that people in college will be diverse) or discount its value. Like most essays, your response to this prompt should have a strong thesis–that is, a central theme that guides your writing, and a main, high-level claim that you want to convey to the reader, even if you don’t explicitly state it. Note that this is not a typical five-paragraph high school essay, so this thesis does not need to be stated at the end of your introductory paragraph. After you’ve thought about how you engage with diversity, take a step back and state, just for your own â€Å"framing† purposes, what you think your thesis should be. In this process, you should decide whether you want to focus on â€Å"contributing to† or â€Å"benefitting from† diversity–or both. Here are a few strong examples of experiences you could draw on and theses you could develop from those theses: Sentences like these should not necessarily be included in your essay. These thesis sentences are not statements to be inserted in your essay . Rather, they are the guiding principle that could build a strong essay. Once you’ve developed this thesis, you can begin outlining and drafting your essay This response will likely be fairly short, but you should still start off with an outline. As usual, the best way to convey your thesis is to â€Å"show not tell,† so begin thinking of an example or anecdote that can show your experience with or perspective on diversity. For the first example thesis given above, this could mean describing a policy discussion that the writer has had with his/her friends, in which he realized that, though they offered intelligent thoughts, they all shared the same experience/perspective. For the second example thesis given above, this could mean describing a moment during football practice when the writer was reminded of his different ethnic identity by a well-meaning, but perhaps inconsiderate, teammate. Examples like these usually works best near the start of the essay, though they certainly can be integrated throughout. Next, consider how you’ll frame your example: perhaps you want to use it to introduce the reader to your relationship to diversity; perhaps you want to use it to elaborate on a point later in the essay; perhaps you want to use it to close out your essay with a powerful image. Once you’ve decided how to use your example(s), you can begin to flesh out the rest of the outline. What other crucial information do you need to convey? Specific information about what you want to learn in college? A particular perspective that you hope to share with others? Carefully consider how this information will interact with your example, and then structure your outline around this relationship. Once your outline is done, you’ll be ready to start writing! Submit your essay and we’ll get back to you with helpful edits. Mortuary Science is a specialized program for those who want to dedicate their lives to helping others through the loss of a loved one. Committing to a life path like this in high school is not something to take lightly, and requires a certain serious, professional character that, frankly, most students will not sufficiently develop in high school. As a professional in this industry, you’ll need to deal with incredibly difficult situations on a daily basis–situations that aren’t about you, but rather about the family has suffered a loss. This will require professionalism, empathy, but also stoicism: your job will not to be to weep with the family, but rather to remain steady throughout emotional turbulence. This reality informs all of these Mortuary Science prompts: their purpose is to test out your maturity, professionalism and thought process, to see if you have the instincts and learned character traits necessary for such a delicate, emotionally demanding career. This does not mean that you need to pick examples of times that you comforted friends or relatives who had recently experienced a personal loss. However, you should focus on specific examples of times that you remained cool (yet caring), decisive and compassionate, in situations of stress and emotional difficulty. The above points apply to all four Mortuary Science prompts. In the case of this particular prompt, note that the focus is on professionalism. This means that you should begin by thinking about your understanding of professionalism, particularly in the context of dealing with customers/clients who are in the midst of a difficult experience. Note that, for this question, an example from your family or personal life might not be a good fit, since it is not typically very appropriate to treat close family and friends with â€Å"professionalism.† Note also that this prompt asks about â€Å"a time,† which means that they are clearly looking for a concrete, detailed description of a single example. While it might be tempting to offer a smattering of stories to show how professional you are, resist this urge: in general, it’s better to focus on quality, not quantity in college essays–and when the prompt explicitly asks about a time , you should absolutely adhere to this guideline. With this basic understanding in mind, it’s time to dive in and choose a particular example. Aside from the basic guidelines I’ve listed above–sticking to just one example, not choosing personal or family scenarios–there’s a lot of leeway in terms of what example could fit. In fact, it’s not so much that the example itself matters. What really matters is what you do with it–which we’ll get to next. With that said, try to start by considering your professional experiences. Do you have a job? Or have you held an internship or research position? If so, these are natural scenarios where you’ve likely had to stay professional in the face of some sort of challenge. Here are some examples of scenarios you could choose, and what aspects you should focus on to best tailor your response to the prompt: Luckily, with a prompt like this one, most of your work will be done once you’ve picked and developed your central example. All that’s left to do is to write the essay, which should take up about  ¼ of a double-spaced page (a fairly short essay). This means that you’ll need to really dive in and show not tell . Focus on giving basic background information to orient the reader as part of your description . Don’t waste words on summary sentences (â€Å"Last summer I worked at a local print shop, in a managerial role†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Instead, dive right into the example and incorporate details that make this context clear (â€Å"As I walked up to the print shop where I worked, I heard a noise†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Your focus should be on (1) concisely depicting the difficulty of the situation, (2) concisely depicting how you managed your own feelings and deliberately chose which actions to take and (3) depicting the outcome (as applicable). The overall purpose described above, for the first Mortuary Science prompt, applies here. Keep this in mind as you move forward with this essay. This essay is, similarly, asking you to pick a particular example–in this case, an experience that shows your compassion and empathy. As the prompt indicates, the key here is to convey your ability to sense and respond to others’ emotions–not just in an abstract way, but with purpose and action that â€Å"made a concrete difference.† Like the first prompt, this prompt will require a concise, focused response that centers around your depiction of a particular anecdote. As such, your main task will be choosing one specific example. For this question, it’s fine to consider more personal examples–in fact, the strongest responses are likely to be about times you comforted and helped those close to you, though a discussion of a time when you showed compassion and/or empathy to a stranger could also be very effective. The key is to come up with an example that both shows your feeling and ability to respond to others and shows the efficacy of that response. Many people try to reach out to and help others, but this prompt is asking for something more: evidence that you can actually make a difference to those in pain. Here are a few examples of potentially strong responses: Much like the first Mortuary Science prompt, this will be a relatively simple process once you’ve chosen your central example. As much as possible, strive to â€Å"show not tell.† Be sure that you hit on the following points: (1) Offer sufficient background to make sure the reader understands the severity of the situation, and why you felt a need to intervene; (2) offer a specific depiction of your thought process–that is, how you put yourself in someone else’s shoes in order to consider how to best help them (this is how you show your compassion/empathy); and (3) offer concrete examples of the concrete impact that this had on the other person . The high-level logic behind this essay is much the same as that of the first two essays. Your main goal here is to relate one particular scenario in which you stayed calm under pressure. This prompt is, actually, quite similar to the first prompt, since a large component of â€Å"professionalism† is staying calm and collected no matter what you face. As such, you should strive to pick a different kind of example for this prompt. Rather than focusing specifically on a professional situation, try to think of examples from new areas of your life, that you haven’t covered in your first two responses, which can illustrate more than just your professional sensibilities. Here, you have the chance to take the reader a little deeper and show your overall temperament and general conduct in wider areas of your life.    With this in mind, consider what areas of your life you haven’t yet covered with the examples you’ve given so far. You can broadly think of the different areas of your life as work, academics, extracurriculars, personal life, and miscellaneous. If you touched on work in your first example and your personal life in the second, then it might be a good idea to think about your academics, extracurriculars, or miscellaneous experiences. This last category could include travel experiences, artistic or performance endeavors, or unexpected crises. Note that it’s also OK to pick an example from a category you’ve already covered, too. The key, however, is to make sure that your example doesn’t feel redundant. Two examples of work crises or two examples of times you’ve comforted a loved one will â€Å"show† the same dimension of your character, and so won’t be an optimal use of the limited space you have. Here are a few examples of a good potential instance, and how you could develop each one: As in the first and second essays, once you’ve chosen your example and thought out how it fits each aspect of the prompt, you’ll already have done most of the hard work. The key here is to write your essay in a way that zooms in on the â€Å"moment,† showing the reader: (1) your tact, (2) your level-headedness, and (3) the positive results that came directly from those two attributes. Many of the principles that applied to the first three essays apply here: you need to zero in on one particular moment to answer the prompt, and you should be focused on how your example reflects on your ability to pursue a mortuary science-related career. However, this prompt isn’t trying to assess traits like professionalism, compassion/empathy, calm under pressure, or tact: it’s trying to assess your decision-making ability, particularly under pressure. It’s useful to consider why this matters for prospective Mortuary Science majors before we move on. Firstly, there is the â€Å"meta point†: you’re making a big decision at a young age by choosing such a specialized major. The admissions committee wants to see an example of your ability to make weighty decisions; essentially, they’re trying to assess whether or not you have the awareness of what constitutes a weighty decision and the experience in making weighty decisions that they deem necessary to make one here–that is, in the weighty decision of choosing your major/career. Secondly, the admissions committee is trying to assess your ability to make decisions that impact others. As a mortician or funeral director, you will regularly be confronted with choices that impact others–particularly those in a vulnerable state due to the recent loss of a loved one. The best way to convince your reader that you’re both prepared to make this academic/career decision for yourself and to make potential decisions for future customers is to choose a strong example. There are two major pitfalls here to avoid. The first is picking an example that is too trite or immature. If you choose to describe a time that you picked out a birthday gift for a friend or a color to paint your room, you likely will give the impression that you really don’t have the serious decision-making experience necessary to enter the program. The second pitfall is that you pick an example that either only impacts someone else or only impacts you. The key here is to pick a â€Å"two for one† example, as the prompt asks: one that had tangible impacts (that you will discuss in your response) on both you and someone else. Try to think of decisions that you’ve made that you feel have shaped your â€Å"life path† or seriously altered someone else’s experience or worldview. Needless to say, these examples should, generally, be of â€Å"good† decisions, though some â€Å"mixed† examples–that is, a time when you made a choice that had a combination of positive and more negative results–could also work in some scenarios. Here are some strong potential topics, along with explanations of how they would need to be tailored to fit the prompt: As before, once you’ve chosen and worked through an example to fit it to the prompt, your work will be almost done. As you write, be sure to â€Å"show not tell,† and to hit these three points: (1) Provide the context that shows the importance of the decision; (3) show how it affected someone else. This question, like most questions for specialized or guaranteed-admission programs, is intended to assess your commitment to a difficult, long-term path–as a high school senior. As such, your primary focus here should be to convey, with concise focus and concrete examples, your commitment to and passion for this path. Furthermore, in such a short space, it’s crucial that you remain focused. There might be a million reasons that you want to be a nurse–and that’s great! Just don’t list them all here. Your reader won’t assume that this response is an exhaustive list of all the reasons you want to be a nurse–instead, they’ll assume that you’ve chosen one or two of the most compelling experiences you’ve had to illustrate the core motivation behind this aspiration. This brings me to the final important thing to note: With why -driven essays, your focus should be on digging beyond basic explanation. Try to show not only the experiences that have inspired you but also what your deepest motivations and aspirations are. What drives you? What makes you tick? What do you aspire to do with your life? Use specific examples to offer insight into these important, deeply personal questions, even as you explain why you want to be a nurse. Though strong responses will have an abstract/aspirational dimension, your response should still be grounded in concrete examples. This means that your writing process should still begin with some brainstorming as you search for concrete examples. Think back: is there an obvious experience that made you go â€Å"Aha! I want to be a nurse?† Strong experiences to focus on can include: The experiences you choose to depict should be vivid and meaningful enough that you can offer a brief, but detailed, description that shows the reader how they impacted you. As such, a brief glimpse of a nurse on a break from work or an impression you got from watching a TV show might be too superficial to develop as an experience that â€Å"shaped your decision.† One note of caution: Note that the next prompt asks about how your â€Å"studies and activities† have prepared you for a career in nursing. This means that you’ll get a chance later to focus on specific academic or extracurricular things that have given you the skills and knowledge to dive into nursing studies. Here, your focus should be on motivations and interests, not preparation. Once you’ve chosen your example, take a moment to consider what this experience touched in you. Was it your desire to help others? Your anger at the suffering in the world? Your fascination with biology and the mechanisms of the human body? These sorts of more abstract motivations are what, ultimately, will provide a deep, satisfying answer to this question’s â€Å"why.† However, you need to â€Å"pull† these sorts of deeper points out of your examples. A strong response will seamlessly interweave introspection/deeper reflection and concrete examples. In order to plan your essay, you should consider the relationship between your motivations/interests and the example(s) you’re giving. It’s sort of a â€Å"chicken and egg† question, but your job is to decide which came first. This is a fairly straightforward question. However, as with the previous question, the key here is to not go overboard. Your focus should not be to exhaustively list everything that has prepared you in any way for a career in nursing. Instead, pick 2-4 specific academic and/or extracurricular activities to discuss. Crucially, this should not just be a list: for each example, go into detail. Explain what specific skills or information each experience you cite has given you; explain how this has prepared you to become a nurse. This essay should cite specific studies and activities, so your first order of business should be to pick which studies or activities you want to discuss. However, your examples shouldn’t be chosen just because they â€Å"seem† like the good nursing prep. Instead, try working backward. First, think about what skills and knowledge you have that would make you a good nurse. Then, think about how you acquired these competencies. Whatever comes out of this last reflection will be a potential â€Å"study or activity† to include in your response. Given the framing of the prompt, however, you should try to focus on clearly defined things, like courses or extracurriculars, rather than on personal experiences. Importantly, avoid choosing redundant examples. Each course or activity that you describe should touch on a different aspect of your preparation. Once you’ve chosen your examples, the key is just to weave them together. The key, however, is to make sure that for every example you give, you do three things: (1) Explain the study experience activity in some detail; (2) describe what skills or knowledge you gained; and (3) explain how this has prepared you to become a nurse. If several of your examples do show similar knowledge/skills, you can group them together. If your examples all feel quite disparate, that’s fine. Each paragraph can focus on a different skill/area of knowledge–just be sure that all three components (example, detailed description, and explanation of how this will allow you to be a good nurse) are present. Then, try to add transitions and tie all your examples together in a strong, specific, personal conclusion. First, a note about what this prompt is not asking: This prompt is not asking you to explain why you want to be a nurse (you’ve already done that, hopefully, in your first response!) or why you like the University of Minnesota in a broad sense. This is a very specific question about why this particular program fits your degree and career plans . Given this, your response should contain three elements: (1) A statement of your career and degree plans; (2) a reflection on key elements of the University of Minnesota’s Freshman Nursing Guarantee Program; and (3) an explanation of how these elements facilitate the achievement of your plans). These elements can be combined in different ways, but all strong essays will contain all three in some form . Unlike most essays here, this one doesn’t require the incorporation of specific examples, though you might end up giving specific examples of what you aspire to do with your life. Instead, you should begin stating your goals. What undergraduate degree do you want to get? What do you aspire to do with your nursing degree? Note that you need to go beyond â€Å"I want to be a nurse† as your career plan–this is already self-evident. Instead, you should explain the particular kind of nursing you want to practice, or, more abstractly, the kind of impact you want to have on your patients. Furthermore, you might also mention aspirations beyond simply working as a nurse: perhaps you would like to eventually advocate for better nursing practices on a policy level, or work in a more managerial or administrative role in a hospital. Feel free to be as specific as you like here. The more clearly you set your â€Å"targets,† the more focused, personal and powerful your essay will be. Though you are hopefully already familiar with the program, take some time to brush up on its essential features. Identify particular requirements that really fit your goals. Go beyond what is readily accessible on their website’s front page. Try making a list of all the unique features of the program that excite you and that you know you couldn’t find on a regular undergrad-nursing school path. Then, dig a bit deeper. Find specific mentors, courses, labs, etc., that really excite you. Once you have this list, go back to the goals that you’ve defined. Which of these resources fit your goals? Can you draw a line from one particular offering of UMTC’s Freshman Nursing Guarantee Program to achieving that aspiration? This brings us to the final step: explaining exactly how the features of the Freshman Nursing Guarantee Program fit your goals. Remember, the key here is to show how this program will better fit your aspirations than a normal path (undergrad, then nursing school). You should not spend too many words explicitly making negative statements about a â€Å"normal† path–however, you should avoid elaborating on things that a â€Å"regular† path could also provide to you. Want help on your University of Minnesota -Twin Cities application or essays? Learn about our College Apps Program . Want us to quickly edit your college essay? Submit it to our Rapid Review program , and we’ll get it back to you quickly with comments from our expert team.

Strategic managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic managment - Essay Example The airline has around 90 destinations and operates with 176 aircrafts (Nationsonline, n.d.). However the central base is situated at the Copenhagen Airport (Beyman, n.d.). The present study entails about the challenges faced by the company in the 1980s and also offers the solution by which the company surmounted the challenges. The company applied vertical integration strategy in order to overcome the challenges. The threats mainly came from intense rivalry within the aviation industry. This has declined the sales volume as well as the profitability of the company. The new management found the only way to overcome the issue by carrying out an end-to-end restructuring of the company. It happened through successful vertical integration. The company was fully restructured and growth was witnessed. It vertically integrated with the other divisions such as catering sector, credit card, hotel, and reservation within the aviation industry. The paper will therefore shed light and offers a critical on the vertical integration approach of SAS in reviving their situation. The case entails about Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) where the company had to deal with various issues and how the company recovered from the situation. It was in the year 1970s and 1980s; the company faced various challenges (Gallos, 2008, p.42). The issues led to various disparities among the owners, staffs and the management. Furthermore the stakeholders also did not agree on the reasons portrayed for the big loss and was also unsatisfied with the ways to be adopted for the revival of the company. Hence at this point of a time there was an urgent need of quick and firm decision which will help the restrict or save the company from the verge of a collapse. At that moment of time the management structure was changed and new executives came forward. In the year 1981

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Banking Industry Research Paper

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Banking Industry - Research Paper Example In April 1998, the month of the merger the opening price was at $60.44, the closing price was at $61.19 with the highest price $73.50 and the lowest price $59.19. The volume traded was $10,441,700, with the adjusted closing stock price as $21.49. Two years after the merger in April 2000, the opening price was at $60.00, the closing price was at $59.00 with the volume being traded $15,572,900. The highest and the lowest prices were at $65.44 & $56.00 respectively with the adjusted closing price at $31.81. The stock price analysis depicts that the stock price for Citicorp increased after the merger of the Citibank with Travelers Group. However two years down the line the stock price for the company reduced relative to the year of the merger depicting a stable stock position. In 1998, the year of the merger, the average price earning ratio was at 20.70, with the share price & sales ratio at 1.49. The share price and book value ratio for the company was at 2.63, with a net profit margin of 12.3. The book value per share in 1998 was at $9.46. Two years after the merger in 2000 the average price earning ratio was at 20.20, with the share price & sales ratio at 2.61. The share price and book value ratio for the company was at 3.87, with a net profit margin of 19.3. The book value per share in 2000 was at $13.18. Two years before the merger, the ROE for the Citibank and... The return on equity ratio stood at 16.3% with the interest coverage in 1998 was 1.4. Two years after the merger, the debt equity ratio for the company in 2000 was at 4.14, and the return on assets ratio at 1.4%. The return on equity ratio stood at 18.5% with the interest coverage in 2000 was 1.5. Since the deal closure of the merger, the ROE of the Citicorp has fluctuated dramatically going as high as 19.86 percent 18 months after the merger to arrive at a relatively stable position of 5.76 percent in 2000. Operating Cash Flows & Absolute Cash Flows In 1996, the operating cash flow for the Citibank was at $3,143 millions, and in the following years the cash flow for the company fluctuated dramatically going up to $8,844 million 18 months before the merger and as low as $(94) million 15 months before the merger. In 1998, at the time of the merger, the cash flow of the company stood at $2,066 million. This decreased as to $33 million when the deal was closed. Two years after the merger the cash flow value of the company was at $1,923 million. The cash flow position of the company has reduced in terms of cash generation on an annual basis since its merger with Travelers Group. Wells Fargo & Co The Wells Fargo & Co is a company operating in the financial sector in the US. It is the only bank in the US which has been rated in the category of AAA. The company was built after the acquisition of the Northwestern Corporation in the year 1998. Since then the company has established itself in the market in an appreciative manner. Stock Price The stock price of the Citicorp in February 2003 opened at $45.57 and closed at $45.35. The highest stock price reported in the month was at $45.98 with the

Video Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Video Response - Essay Example Graphic Novels & Her Familys Influence† demonstrates that Satrapi’s family has numerous independent women as role models, especially her grandmother and mother. These women did not allow society to undervalue them, and instead, their vibrant personalities helped them become independent individuals in a conformist society. Satrapi had strong women role models as her inspiration for her freedom-loving spirit. Besides the new things I learned about Satrapi and her society, the videos are related to the reading, â€Å"The Social Construction of Gender† by Judith Lorber, because they provide examples of how gender is a social process, stratification, and structure, and how Satrapi coped with the social construction of gender in Iran. Lorber argues that gender is a â€Å"process† of socially conditioning girls on how to be women, stratification is a form of gender â€Å"ranking† where women are lower than men, and social structure is the organization of work and life according to gender (114-116). In these videos, Satrapi showed that she also went through the process of being socially taught on how to be a woman because of the pressure to be beautiful and to be noticed. In addition, she experienced gender stratification through people who told her where women’s place should be (i.e. as a wife, not an activist) and how they should act in society (i.e. get married a nd have a family). However, instead of being a woman in society’s terms, Satrapi emphasizes that she will do what is meaningful for her and what makes her happy. I agree with Satrapi that people should do what makes them happy because their happiness is more important than aligning their identities with gender norms and behaviors. Satrapi says in â€Å"Marjane Satrapi LinkTV† that she does things as she likes. She has an independent spirit and she does not work to please others. She says that a person who enjoys her own work produces work that will also be appreciated by others. I appreciate her work and

The Development of American Science and Technology in the Eyes of Essay

The Development of American Science and Technology in the Eyes of Henry Adams - Essay Example Firstly, it will contextualize the historical developments that led to the zenith of American development. Secondly, it will discuss the monumental feats at the early years of the Gilded Age and the important industries and figure heads during that time. The Post-Civil War, the Reconstruction Period and President Grant Important developments in the American nation happened notably during the Presidency of Ulysses Grant in 1869, after the Civil War and the offset of the Reconstruction Era. The societal context of Adams’ life at that time was in a period of aggressive American territorial expansion to the West. By traversing the annals of American history during the post-Civil War and the height of the Reconstruction, the politics of the American federal government dictated the type of society that the nation had produced during those years. President Jackson was a hostile leader but more importantly, supportive of the idea of Southern reconstruction. He was willing to give the black race, formerly slaves of the white people, the equality and freedom they were demanding before and during the Civil War. Policies such as the Human Rights of 1865, the establishment of the Freedman’s Bureau and the emancipation of slaves with the eventual abolishment of the policy of slavery was the major political aura surrounding Adams during the 1850s and the 1860s.1 This meant that the society of Adams allowed the osmosis of both races - the whites and the clacks. Parallel with the developments in the political sphere of the United States, accompanying technological advancements had been enhanced at the entrance of President Grant’s administration. This was made possible through the seizure of the Southern plantations under the supervision of the American federal government. In this case, the predominant industrial states up North worked in hand with the agricultural aggregates of the South.2 The formerly debating economies of the North and the South had been complementing one another towards a definite linear development of what would turn out to be a strong American economy. Adams writes in his recollections that the United States at the late 19th century and the dawn of the early 20th century had been fully industrialized. Scientific and technological advancements were the turning points of the time.3 The rise of big businesses and the industrialization of the agricultural sector served the economy well. The United States had almost been immediately marked as one of the rising superpowers of the international scene.4 By analysing what Adams had written, it can be said that based on his words, a rich capitalist-oriented society was at its peak. By his experiences after the Civil War and with the subjugation of the South by the North, political stability went in favor for the Republican Party. In such case, Republican policies and the support of free labor was the basis of American economy.5 The Gilded Age and the Emergence of the Amer ican Oligarchy Adams’ recollection in the chapters â€Å"The Dynamo and the Virgin†, â€Å"The Height of Knowledge† and â€Å"The Grammar of Science†, the author infers the development of America with the entrance of the Gilded Age of politics and economy. Adams greatly details the happenings which surround

Ethical dilemma Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical dilemma - Assignment Example In the field of health care, critical thinking is an ethical decision making process that I utilize a lot and thus it is my role to reason in a purposeful systematic manner. This implies that the nurse or any other physician has the role to get the outcome based on thinking and this will incorporate knowledge and other available information and ideas to get the way forward to a solution. On the other hand, there is the power of one as a nurse which must be obtained and practiced in an ethical manner (Eun-Jun, 2012). The power of a nurse incorporates communication skills and the knowledge for example, in a case where the patient is discharged and was suffering from pneumonia, the nurse knows the patient needs care but still if accommodated in the hospital, financial problem may occur. This illustrates dilemma with the nurses on the ethical issues. The power of the nurse come from the health care teams which depends on the knowledge and other expert skills which contribute greatly in the field of health care (Parker, 2008). The knowledge acquired must be respected since without respect he or she will not be motivated and thus no consideration of ethical principles and models. The power of the nurse again is gained due to consistent, excellent and holistic care that is provided to the patient. The power one has will help the nurse to come up with a solution in case of ethical dilemma for example I came across a patient who was suffering from pneumonia aged 50 years. Pneumonia requires medical care on regular basis and the patient considered the financial status since she was a single mother with a daughter. The patient was open to me and discussed what she has been going through and the reason why she acquired pneumonia. In addition, she talked about her financial status. Together with the patient, we had to talk to the doctor so as to settle the matter. I had to use the power of one as the nurse, alongside knowledge and be able

Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth - Essay Example As the essay stresses countries exposed to large capital flows must avoid intermediate regimes. It is also necessary to adopt a corner regime. According to these proponents, corner regimes sustainable regimes for long run. It has been found that SEA countries also shifted from an intermediate regime to intermediate regime. A vast literature has been dedicated to found out the preferred choice of exchange rate regime. The fundamentals identified by the OCA approach has given some guidance for observed regime choices. In 1980s, studies were focused on the role of shocks on the choice of regimes. This research incorporates considerations for macroeconomic stabilization. According to the report findings the real shocks allow flexibility and symmetry of shocks produces OCA. Shocks have been appeared in countries which have weak financial institutions. The counties with weak financial institutions intervene in the market in order to shield banking industries which are confronting large exchange rate movements. There are many authors who agree SEA countries should adopt a currency basket system in order to gain and maintain exchange rate stability and flexibility. As far as the macroeconomics situations of SEA countries are concerned, the most reasonable choice is managed floating regime. It is because managed floating regime is fewer complexes than currency basket system agree that managed floating regime would be less complex than the currency basket ... In 1980s, studies were focused on the role of shocks on the choice of regimes. This research incorporates considerations for macroeconomic stabilization. Authors have argued that nominal shocks actually raise the possibility of a fixed regime. The real shocks allow flexibility and symmetry of shocks produces OCA. Shocks have been appeared in countries which have weak financial institutions. The counties with weak financial institutions intervene in the market in order to shield banking industries which are confronting large exchange rate movements. There are many authors who agree SEA countries should adopt a currency basket system in order to gain and maintain exchange rate stability and flexibility. As far as the macroeconomics situations of SEA countries are concerned, the most reasonable choice is managed floating regime. It is because managed floating regime is fewer complexes than currency basket system agree that managed floating regime would be less complex than the currency basket (Hossain, M. 2011). Financial liberalization index Figure 1 A cross-country index indicating financial liberalization has been used to identify the development in the sector. It ranges between 0 and 18 (Abiad, 2005). This index is made during the period or 1973 to 1995 (Figure 1 and 2). First figure studies three initial countries i.e. Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia. For the last three years FLI is assumed to be constant. These both graphs indicate the exchange rate regime in six countries. The figure indicates that till 1977 all three countries were focusing on fixed regime but due changing conditions in 1979 Indonesia and Korea shifted to intermediate regime. While Malaysia remained consistent to fixed regime. 1993 onwards all three

Identifying Language Creativity In Everyday English Essay

Identifying Language Creativity In Everyday English - Essay Example Language creativity, as stated earlier, can be found in several different linguistic practices. It is identified in different ways. Some are unexpected; others are common to many people who are keen on utterances by different individuals in movie films and other physical functions or conversations. One comes across or bumps into it in things from advertisements, televisions news or literature banners. For instance, young children may engage in talking and making jokes as they play or engage themselves in their day-to-day activities. The idea that kids are able to tell, as well as, receive jokes indicates that they have the capability of recognizing creativity in some communications or jokes made by colleagues. In other words, jokes are mainly creativity done to amuse other people. Creativity is the central component of joke composition. Without creativity, a joke no longer becomes a joke, but a normal declarative or inquisitive statement.   In addition to the above, children also l ike telling stories and fairy tales amongst themselves. This is one of the productive uses of the mind making them creative. A point to note is that as the kids tell stories or fairy tales, they come up with ways in which the stories can be modified to ensure that they become more enjoyable than before. Modification of these stories is a necessity with change in time. For instance, it would be boring to tell a 21st century kid a story using the styles and manners in which the 20thy century kids were told the same story. In other words, some elements of creativity in the language used must be included to cope up with the constant changing environment. Besides, it is notable that it is in early childhood when creativity in linguistic occurs in a rapid and interesting manner. Guy Cook (2000) cautioned parents that linguistic play, mainly among the kids can sometimes lead to other undesirable consequences like paying less attention to school work and the general academic developments. Cook made a discovery that children who are mainly involved in story-telling and other language game activities often show little interest in their school work. They instead seem to be keener in entering the world of â€Å"make-believe† in varieties of forms from bed time stories to simple and addictive computer games. Analytically, school work also acts as an important booster to language creativity. When children attend schools, they do so with one aim of education to promote interaction and all round development among the children. For instance, the interaction in school may provide another platform for language creativity such as reciting tongue twisters and singing songs. This will

African American Social Standings Essay Example for Free

African American Social Standings Essay The progression of African Americans in America began with a practice called slavery. Slavery is the state of a person who is the chattel of another. It began in 1441 when Portuguese men kidnapped 12 black Africans from Cabo Blanco and moved them to Portugal. This opened the door to slavery in the Americas. A British statesman stated that Slavery is a weed that grows on every soil. The first African Americans slaves in America were brought to Jamestown, Virginia as servants and or slaves in August 1619. In order for slavery to work Africans had to made to seem inferior, one of the main an most common ways to show this was through religious racism ( Aretha, David pg. 21 ) The practice of slavery was then sent to the south were they were put on plantations. Plantations consisted of a large mansion like home surrounded by a large farm where slaves planted and harvested crops and performed other jobs which they werent paid for. While on the plantation the slaves called the owner Master or Mistress, they provided the slaves with food housing and clothing. ( David Brion Davis, World Book online Slavery) While on these plantations many of the slaves faced severe consequence for disobedience. They received consequences for not working hard or fast enough, they would also be used as an example in order to control the others. Their harsh punishment would include branding, whipping, mutilation, chaining and sometimes the harshest punishment of all cold blooded murder. Slavery was one of the worst periods in American history. During this period of slavery there were few revolts but many runaways. While slavery continued to spread and get more brutal in the South, the North disagreed with the idea of free labor. Their difference fueled the abolitionist movement. The Abolitionist Movement was the first movement that lead to the African Americans political and physical freedoms from slavery. Antislavery activity began in colonial days. During the 1680s, Quakers in Pennsylvania condemned slavery on moral grounds. In the late 1700s, several leaders of the American revolutionary movement, including Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, spoke out against slavery. (David Herbert Donald, World Book Online? Abolitionist Movement). During the start of the movement there were almost no public newspaper that publicized the abolishment of slavery. William Lloyd Garrison, an American journalist and abolitionist who became famous in the 1830 for denouncing slavery, published the first issue of his abolitionist newspaper The Liberator January 1st 1831, which was at that time the first Abolitionist newspaper. The reason William Garrison published the newspaper was because he was tired of the other methods that many abolitionists had tried. Garrison said slavery should be ended immediately. Another front runner during the Abolitionist Movement was Sojourner Truth. She was an ex-slave and also one of the main figures in the fight for womens rights and equality. On January 1, 1863, the Abolitionist goals were reached when President Abraham Lincoln the 16th president issued his Emancipation Proclamation. It read that all persons held as slaves in rebellious states are and henceforward shall be free (McPherson, James M. World Book Online? Emancipation Proclamation. ) . Around the same time Congress passed the 25th Amendment into Constitution which therefore abolished slavery. Months later it was ratified. Following the Emancipation Proclamation, The North (union) and the South (confederate) began a civil war which lasted from 1861 to 1865. The war ended with many of the major cities in the South in ruins and most of the Northern cities left untouched. The Reconstruction period in the U. S followed the Unions victory over the Confederate Army in the civil war . The period was used to rebuild the south and patch-up the relationship between the North and South. Along with rebuilding and patching up relationships, the North sent teachers to the south to educated the African American ex slaves who had became newly members of the society. The teachers taught ex slaves reading, writing an arithmetic. The Reconstruction Act called for a new Constitution to be established in each state. It also gave Freedmen the right to participate in voting. The 14th Amendment was also passed and ratified during the Reconstruction period. The 14th Amendment granted full citizenship to all people born or naturalized In the United States of America . Many of the laws passed during this period were set in place to protect the rights of former slaves, such as allowing blacks to vote an giving them many of the same rights as whites and protecting things dear to them such as property and money. During this period many advancements in society were made by African Americans, such as the Self-Leveling Table created by Charles William Allen , the corn planter check rower by Ralph W. Alexander and the spark plug by Edmond Berger these are only three of the more than 200 inventions/advancements made by African Americans during the reconstruction period. These African Americans, lead professions even when high limitations were placed upon them. (Aretha, David pg. 61) Advancements like these opened the door and let people know that African Americans were not incompetent but could actually make a difference in the world. Even though laws were set in place many southern whites still did not want to think an ex-slaves as anything close to equals. This lead to much violence and death of both whites and former slaves. In time, southern whites regained control of their state governments and took away many of the rights that blacks had won during reconstruction. ( Stephen V. Ash, Work book online? Reconstruction). After the Reconstruction period ended and the North soldiers returned back home, which left ex slaves with no form of protection lead to extreme backlash against the African American community by whites. Following the Reconstruction period Jim Crow laws came into effect. Jim Crow laws resulted from the support southern whites and their effort to maintain segregation of blacks. These type of laws plagued the United States during the 19th century. The first type of Jim Crow law was set in place in Tennessee which called for the separation of African-American and white riders on the railway. This practice was soon adopted by other southern states. The spread of segregation laws through the South was supported by a many Supreme Court decisions. ( Joe R. Freagin, World Book online? Segregation) The Separate but Equal Doctrine arose during the period in which Jim Crow laws were on a rise. The Separate but Equal Doctrine stated that African Americans were equal to whites but should be kept separate from whites. The separate but equal doctrine was totally incorrect. For example Blacks and whites were separated in schools but the white schools had busing an the best books and teachers on the other hand the black schools had run down classrooms and unacceptable books. Blacks and whites were also separated in eateries, the White restaurants had the best locations and best accommodations on the contrary the black restaurants were small and modest. Most of these Jim Crow laws were declared invalid by several Supreme Court decisions in the 1950s and 1960s and by the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968. ( Alton Hornsby, World Book Online? Jim crow) During the 1950s the Civil Rights Movement took flight along with desegregation. The Civil Rights Movement was just that a movement towards civil rights which were stated to be The freedoms and rights that a person may have as a member of a community, state, or nation. (Bruce Allen Murphy, World Book Online? Civil Rights) The first major event of the civil rights movement was the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education, which desegregated public schools across the nation. Schools in the south were very slow in changing their ways and violence usually erupted when black students tried to register. Then, in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, a seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. After she was arrested for breaking the law, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began, For 382 days, from Dec. 5, 1955, to Dec. 20, 1956 blacks refused to ride Buses and carpooled to destinations. It ended Dec 20, 1956 with the Supreme-Court-ordering desegregation of Montgomery buses. The boycott brought fame to a reverend named Dr. Martin Luther King. During the Civil Rights Movement the most effective way to get things done many believed was through non violence. Non violence was not just a way of acting but a state of mind and doctrine which Martin Luther King Jr. took from Mahatma Gandhi he stated that with non violence you can move mountains. Some methods they used to get their point across were sit ins, boycotts, marches and public speeches. Although many activist believed in non violence there was another side to the Civil Rights Movement and that was the Black Power Movement. The Black Power Movement was a more radical movement than the Non Violent Movement. Front runners like Malcolm X and other influential faces such as Huey P. Newton and Bud Siegel who together formed the Black Panthers all believed that the white man was the problem and that in order to win equal rights that African Americans needed to start fighting fire with fire and bullets with bullets instead of the more passive ways of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. ( Aretha, Chronicles pr. 261-300) In conclusion I believe that the law has provided African Americans with equal rights as whites but I believe that they may still appear not to be equal. In the 21st century I believe and know that there are many laws that seem to make African Americans and white equals but there is still much discrimination in the world. I also believe that the racism is not as bad but still exist, it just isnt as blatant and in your face as it was in the past. African Americans still have trouble getting jobs, being accepted into organizations and colleges or university, But I do believe that we have made a 900 degree turn from the time where Colored and White signs decorated the front of every doorway, restroom and waterfountian in the southern U. S.

Importance of Homework Essay Example for Free

Importance of Homework Essay Homework, as I understand, is a practice and review of lessons learned as part of your studies, not an instrument that forces students to relearn an entire lesson,” comments Dr. George Roberts, a renowned psychiatrist and professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Roberts does not believe in assigning students enormous amounts of homework because he considers it unnecessary and a waste of time. However, not all school boards concur with Dr. Roberts, since they perceive homework as an essential part of education and learning. Most people will agree that homework is an essential part of education, but the question is, how much homework should be assigned on a daily basis? Everyone may have different opinions on how much homework should be assigned, but here is my stance on the situation. I believe that the homework load that teachers can assign should be limited so that students will not accumulate too much stress, get enough sleep, and have more free time to enjoy their hobbies and spend with their family and friends. First of all, extremely exorbitant amounts of homework have been causing stress in many teenagers. What comes to mind when you think about stress? Competitions, performances, or homework? Amazingly, homework is one of the top stress providers for students. 13 out of 100 teenage suicides are related to stress buildup at school, specifically from the large amounts of homework. Excess homework has even been proven to cause an increased maturing rate of hair, also known as the graying of hair. I’ve had my own experiences of stress caused by homework, and they weren’t too pleasant.

What Leads Characters To Exact Revenge?

What Leads Characters To Exact Revenge? Maupassants short stories Vendetta and Mother Savage both deal with the subject of revenge. We learn right from the beginning that in both stories, the widowed mothers live in harsh, rough environments where there is an unfriendly atmosphere. Each story features a widowed mother who is grieving the loss of her son, her only child, and becomes determined to exact revenge. Both widows avenge with unique plans to ensure that their victims suffer gruesome, agonising deaths, with which they hope to achieve satisfaction and peace of mind for themselves In Vendetta, Widow Saverini shows a mothers love for her son when she plans to exact revenge for the death of her only child: you shall be avenged, I tell you. You have your mothers word, and you know she never breaks it. Widow Saverinis love for her son is unique and reserved, possible because of her parents showing lack of emotion in her upbringing. Her love is seen more as a duty to raise her son than to be affectionate and tender loving. Widow Saverini spends many months preparing the dog for the revenge: for three months she accustomed her to this method of attack. She shows her determination in the precision she uses to exact her revenge to perfection. Widow Saverini sacrifices the family dog -Semillante- in a cruel and barbaric act: the woman gave her nothing to eat and maddened with hunger Semillante barked hoarsely. The cruelty she uses shocks us and it displays her level of cold determination. However it could also be seen as a way of involving her beloved pet to aid her di sguise at the revenge. Widow Saverini cleverly creates a human-like figure, with which she uses to practice her revenge: she took some old clothes that had belonged to her husband, stuffed them with straw to represent a human figure, and made a head out of a bundle of rags. This tells us that she has great initiative to succeed with her talented resourcefulness of using everything she already owns. Widow Saverini also uses a disguise which prevents her from being caught and killed herself: she disguised herself to look like a tattered old beggar man. This shows her intelligence as she has thought everything through, enabling her to make the perfect attack and quick getaway. Also, by using her dog to do the dirty work, technically she hasnt committed a murder and she is able to remain disguised and unknown to the public of who she is. Widow Saverinis anger is devious and we are unable to see her true feelings for her sons death throughout the story. However we notice that her actions speak louder than words or feelings. Her feeling remain reserved and rather than immediate rage, she is patient and waits three months before she can release her fury. Widow Saverini is full of grief and isolates herself: she would not allow anyone to remain with her, and shut herself up with the dead body. She does not want anyone to know her sorrow or to appear weak in front of others. Widow Saverini does not cry until she knows that no one will disturb her silently shedding great tears. She feels that she does not need to create an impression when she is on her own and is able to let out her emotions. She feels that the only way to move on is to be active and to avenge her son so that he can rest in peace: you may sleep in peace. You shall be avenged Widow Saverini shows commitment to her son as it is the last thing she can do for him. Despite the company of the young Prussian soldiers, Mother Savage is constantly longing her son to return: the old woman kept thinking all the time about her own son. This tells us that she has a motherly bond with her son and wants nothing more but for him to come home again. She cannot help but ask so many questions as she misses him and cannot take her mind off. She also wants to know exactly where her son is and what he is doing and asks questions such as: do you know where the French regiment has gone- the twenty third infantry? My boy is in it. Mother Savage does not want to lose her son and wants to keep track of where he is. We see how much she loves her son- from the very beginning to her death she loves him. She was still clutching her letter soaked in blood. This shows that unlike Widow Saverini, Mother Savages love for her son is much more tender and affectionate, which is how we would expect it to be. Mother Savage is very compassionate towards her son: she would never k iss him again, her big boy, never! This is the first thing that she thinks about after her sons death and it is how we see how close they were to each other. This is a different response to Widow Saverini who is much less emotional and immediately starts to plan her revenge. Mother Savage is determined to avenge her son whether she kills the real murderer or representatives. Both widows show a high level of determination for revenge and see it as the ultimate way to move on. They feel it is the only way how can rest in peace without their sons. Mother Savage acts on her revenge immediately and uses many resources to help her find revenge. Unlike Widow Saverini, who avenges her sons murderer, Mother Savage uses the Prussian soldiers as representatives to get her revenge. Even though she is planning to kill them, we see that she has some sympathy for the mothers of the sons: she got them to write down for her on a piece of paper, with the addresses of their families. This shows that u nlike Widow Saverini whose aims are to kill her sons murderer and to escape punishment, Mother Savage has thought about everything and feels that the families ought to know about the deaths of their sons, just as she did. Mother Savage is very discreet about her grief: she quickly hid the letter in her pocket and, having had time to wipe her eyes, greeted them calmly, looking her usual self. Both of the widows- Widow Saverini and Mother Savage, feel a sense of pride and do not want to show their grief in public as they feel it will weaken their reputation. Mother Savages grief for the death of her son is slightly delayed as she is overwhelmed by the sudden news and hesitates before she cries: so shocked and dazed that she didnt even feel any grief yet. Similarly with Widow Saverini, Mother Savage does not cry instantly, yet waits for reality to sink in. She does not want to show her emotions immediately as she wants to remain strong. She loves her son fondly and when she starts to cry: grief [floods] into her heart which stresses the pain of how much she misses him. Whilst preparing dinner, the blood of the rabbit causes her to imagine the bloody, gruesome death of her son: she kept seeing her big boy cut in two and red all over. This shows that she does have feelings, everything makes her think of her son and she cannot cope. Mother Savage imagines her sons death: the head falling, the eyes widening, while he was always chewing the end of his bushy moustache as he always did when he was angry. We can picture the image vividly in our m inds which helps us to engage with her feelings and feel sympathy. Mother Savage is distraught by the news and this is emphasised by the trauma she experiences when the rabbit is prepared for dinner: she stripped the skin from the red body; but the sight of the blood which she was touching, which covered her hands, the warm blood which she could feel growing cold and congealing, made her tremble from head to foot; and she kept seeing her big boy cut in two and red all over, like the animal still quivering in her hands. This shows that she is unfocused and due to the shock of it all, she is relating everything to her sons death. She does not hesitate to work out a plan of revenge and acts very quickly so that within the same day, she avenges her son, unlike Widow Saverini who plans out her revenge in the course of three months. Mother Savage controls her rage yet anger she holds for the death of her son causes her to take the blame on the four innocent soldiers living with her and with their death, she feels satisfied. She is proud of her revenge and is willing to die for her son as she admits and confesses with satisfaction that she killed the men. Widow Saverini escapes punishment though Mother Savage is honest and executed. In some ways we find her heroic, that as she was willing to die for her son and was unafraid. The story Vendetta is situated on the coast of Corsica in a tough, hostile environment. Widow Saverinis house is built on a spur of the mountain: and in places actually overhanging the sea, her town looks across the rockstrewn straits on the low-lying coast of Sardinia. The rough terrain and the place where Widow Saverini lives, gives us the impression that life is cheap. The cultural aspect of where she lives is the survival of the fittest and these cultural forces are part of what causes people to act tough and seek revenge. Life is tough and people who live in a harsh environment are bound to be tough and unforgiving. Widow Saverini lives in a house Clinging to this peak, overlooking this terrible passage, where vessels rarely venture. The people she lives amongst do not show sympathy for death as it happens every day. Likewise, in similar circumstances, Mother Savage lives in an isolated house, far away from the village, on the edge of the woods. These cultural forces contribute towards their responses to upsetting ordeals, e.g. the deaths of their sons. However, the story of Mother Savage is situated in Virelogne in France, in a very beautiful area where there is blossom on trees, little woods and grounlike veins carrying blood to the earth. This explains how the area is full of life and naturally beautiful unlike Widow Saverini whose house was amongst a cluster of other houses, Mother Savage lives in the countryside in an isolated house far away from the village on the edge of the woods. This tells us that she lives in a small world, solitary and independent. We also know that though her house is situated in a beautiful setting, cruelty is always beneath the surface. In Vendetta, the people do not seem to have the feelings to care and we see that it is a society where no one helps. They are all very determined with mild corruption: The next day Antoine Saverini was buried, and soon his name ceased to be mentioned in Bonifacio. This tells us that since death is a frequent occurrence in the area, the people who Widow Saverini lives amongst are tough as they are experienced by murders and vendettas. However, in Mother Savage the societys attitude to death is very different. In Virelogne, the people are kind and pleasant and death is something that is unexpected and rare. The people in the village are jolly and friendly, women are seen in the street on a spring morning wearing gay, flimsy dresses. This leaves us with a welcoming pleasant atmosphere where we feel safe. By contrast we see that the people see Mother Savage as an outcast, people didnt feel too sorry for her because they knew she had money, so she stayed alone in an isolated house far awa y from the village. This shows that they do not wish to have anything to do with her so they ignore her and leave her alone. The region suffers from its effects of the Franco Prussian war. The war is a serious factor and though it is very short, there are many killings and deaths which result in revenge schemes causing problems and slight havoc in the area. Similarly with both stories, Vendetta and Mother Savage, they are centred on the effects of war, which is how the scheme of revenge erupts. In the two stories the wars a very different. In Mother Savage the war is completely pointless which resorts to much unnecessary killing, including the death of her son which leads to revenge. Though Mother Savage has a decent amount of money, many of the villagers are members of the lower class and do not. They are severely affected by the war and treated unfairly as they are forced to give refuge to the Prussian soldiers and have no choice, causing them havoc with their lives. Also, Mother Savage is a victim of the war and is full of unbearable grief from her sons death which is why she responds to the letter in such an inhumane way. In Vendetta the community is very rough and, similar to Mother Savage, she is treated cruelly and after the death of her son; she responds in a very sly yet violent way. Mother Savage is treated without any form of justice. She is given no trial and not even the chance to explain the reasons for her actions. She is executed at the scene of her crime roughly twenty minuits after she has had her pleasure of vengeance and is forced to stand against the wall to be shot: she was seized and pushed against the walls of the house, which were still warm [from the fire]. She is treated with the same brutality that she treated the soldiers with. The behaviour of Mother Savage and the Germans was understandable though it would be unacceptable in our society today. In Vendetta there is, similarly with Mother Savage, no form of justice. The community is rough so due to their behaviour, the law is helpless and since vendettas are expected, nothing happens. When Widow Saverini kills Nicolas Ravolati, though her plan is tactical, there is no search or punishment for her because there is no law and the police force seem to be non-existent. Widow Saverini believes that she is doing right thing by avenging her son and even goes to church to pray for strength: she besought Him to aid and support her, to lend to her poor, worn-out body the strength she needed to avenge. This shows us that she believes what she is doing is morally right and does not see it as a crime to kill ones murderer. We also notice the irony of praying to God to help her kill someone. It is mentioned several times in the story that Widow Saverini goes to pray for help from God. From our point of view we believe that she is doing the wrong thing; as it is the opposite of how God wants us to behave. She also goes to church a second time to pray just before she avenges her son: Widow Saverini went to a confession and communion, in an ecstasy of devotion. This shows how keen she is to do what she believes is the right thing. It also shows us how a much tougher and more hostile community believes that revenge is the right thing to do and that God is always on their side. However in Mother Savage the theme of revenge, unlike Vendetta, is not affected by any religious beliefs. When we look at Maupassants life experiences, we can perhaps understand why he based his stories upon those themes. His mother had been the playmate of the novelist Gustave Flaubert, who was the influence of his career. When Maupassant was very young, his parents separated through divorce, onwards living with his brother and mother. This links to how in both of the two stories, the mothers do not have husbands and are widows with nothing but their only son. This is of a similar circumstance to Maupassants childhood. From his early education he retained a marked hostility to religion. This also has similarities with Vendetta. It was part of the reason to why Widow Saverini planned her gruesome revenge because due to religion she believed she was doing the right thing, when in fact she was not. This shows that he is criticising religion here. Maupassant always loved solitude- like both of the widows, and in his later years he developed a constant desire for solitude, fear of death and crazed paranoia of persecution. In 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat, he later died in 1893. We see that towards the end of his life, he became mentally unstable, later resulting with an attempt of suicide. Maupassants characters are very disturbing and we are able to link his mental unstability with them. The two widows seem to be mentally unstable which is because of the cultural and personal forces they live with. Many of the stories that Maupassant wrote are rather sinister and involve the Franco-Prussian war, which he grew up with. The stories have a pessimistic nature due to the problems and illnesses he had in his background life, which also tells us that he was most likely stressed with his life. In Mother Savage we sympathise with the main character, Mother Savage, because we feel sad for how the war has caused her so much grief and anguish towards the Germans. We also sympathise with her because she is willing to die for her son since she loves him so much and despite her honesty she is executed at the wall of her house by the Germans. We look up to her honest behaviour and admire the bravery and courage she has to admit to having killed the soldiers. We respect her personality because though she kills the soldiers, she has the decency to record their addresses and only kills them because they represent the men who killed her son. We also begin to feel quite attached to her because we begin to understand who she is and of her moderate behaviour towards everything that happens. The narrator ends the story with a powerful image, and I picked up a little stone still blackened by the fire. This causes us to consider the story and question whether her methods were morally right. However, in Vendetta we sympathise more with Widow Saverinis victim than herself because we condemn her for avoiding punishment and how she does not even consider for once his side of the quarrel between him her son. Also, as we do not even know Widow Saverinis name, we feel more distant and therefore we sympathise with her less. The short story form is a very effective way of exploring revenge. Short stories are based upon a single plot which makes it easy to focus on. This meant that we could easily focus entirely on the theme of revenge and explore it in further depth. Short stories also often have a moral/key theme which leaves the ending very memorable and intriguing. Only one or two developed characters are necessary and there are not many descriptive passages so the setting is established quite quickly. This means that we can read the story and get to the point quickly, in this case revenge, and explore in depth the theme of revenge. This makes the whole story a lot more effective. The story Mother Savage suggests that Maupassant is condemning revenge as he reminds us that it causes severe punishment and death, although in the story Vendetta it suggests that Maupassant is advocating revenge as it is possible to escape punishment and it leaves you with peace of mind. Maupassant seems to leave us to deci de whether revenge is good or bad having outlined the factors of both decisions.