Katherine Mansfield Pastiche Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Katherine Mansfield Pastiche - Essay Example Through this, there is dramatic irony, which makes understanding the character easier because of the isolation of the character. In addition, the representation of other characters is in an unbiased manner that enables one to have a better understanding of the region. In the prequel, the narration mostly focuses on Miss Brills insights on what she hears and sees. The modernist tone helps highlight the theme of aloneness, rejection, and illusion. The narrator pleasantly presents the nostalgic nature of the variation of youthfulness and old age. Miss Brill is sentimental and emotional about her youth, and this now develops into fantasy and senility. The ermine fur largely characterizes the three stages that she undergoes: youthfulness, adulthood, and old age. Her fantasy world begins in her old age, where her world dwells on judging others. The season for social engagements has begun, and young women debuting their latest fashions often characterize the period. Normally, there have been a lot of bustle and social interactions in this perceptible tourist season. Miss Brill adorns her most prized possession, the ermine fur, as she reflects on her youthful life in which she looked forward to dating. Delightfully referring to her ermine fur as her "Lit tle Rogue"(182) evidences her ageing reminiscence. Through third-person narration, it is evident that the day is brilliantly fine and there is a lot of laughter and chirping. However, Miss Brill is perceptibly a lonesome woman on a park bench despite the happiness that surrounds her. Miss Brill does not know the people who are at the park, and only use appearances and clothes to provide descriptions. For example, there is "a fine old man in a velvet coat," an Englishman "wearing a dreadful Panama hat," and "little boys with big white silk bows under their chins". It is evident that she was a wardrobe mistress in her earlier life and still maintains the same judgment

The Declaration of Independence in the American Legal System Essay

The Declaration of Independence in the American Legal System - Essay Example The Declaration of Independence in the American Legal System How the Declaration of Independence came about started a long time ago, in the annals of history. The laws in the United States which currently govern Americans’ private and working lives, in several spheres, have radically changed over the last two hundred-and-thirty-five years that this country has been in existence. When lawyers speak of the English legal system they are referring to the unified legal system of England and Wales. However, since the U.S., before its inception was colonized by the British—much of American law is derived from the English legal system. Since Great Britain ruled over the colonies, they had adopted the British legal system. There are several sources of the American legal system—including the nature of law, common law, and statute law—and why the Declaration of Independence is most closely associated with statute law, even though it has elements of the other law in i t. a. The Nature of Law In any community or group, rules made by the people will develop to control the relationships between these members. These rules are essential if the community is to work. Human beings tend to congregate in societies with a basic human instinct to survive and as far as is possible to flourish. Even in primitive societies, traditions, religions, and customs will affect conduct as a society develops. As these societies grow, a more complex set of rules of a more definite nature emerge and a body of law comes into existence. At the same time machinery for the enforcement of these new laws must also come into existence. At first, the colonies were a body of independent states that operated separately from each other. However, eventually, the colonies realized that their independence was imminent once Britain started to block their supply ships with the help of German mercenaries. This made it evident to politicians, statesmen, and writers that Britain was declari ng war on the colonies (in essence). Thomas Jefferson used language from John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government to help, in part, draft the Declaration of Independence: â€Å"Republicanism meant more than ousting the king. The Declaration of Independence had stated the principle of popular sovereignty: Governments derive ‘their just powers from the consent of the governed.’ In the heat of revolution, many Patriots gave this clause a democratic twist† (Henretta and Brody 2010, 174). Jefferson would later develop the Federalist powers, having developed the concept of checks and balances in government. b. Common Law Most legal systems in Europe (including Scotland) are strongly influenced by Roman Law, and still, have some carryover today. The body of law that applies in England and Wales is different and has gradually developed over a long period of time. This body of law is called the ‘Common Law’ and has become the basis of law not only in England and Wales but also in the United States of America and many Commonwealth countries. The common law developed from the Norman Conquest in 1066 when a centrally strong government led to a centralization of the administration of law, the unification of varied local customs, traveling judges and centralized courts with a ‘common’ law.

Rules Of The Game English Literature Essay

Rules Of The Game English Literature Essay The main topic in this short story is the communicational barriers between mothers and daughters of different nationalities. All stories that make up the novel are related to this idea of not being able to communicate. First of all, it is hard enough to communicate with ones parents because of the generational gap, but for Waverly it is even more difficult to communicate with her mother because they have been raised in different countries, in different cultures. First of all, at the beginning of the novel there is a little introduction that covers all the themes that the novel deals with. It is the story of a woman who left China accompanied by a swan with dreams and hopes for a better life and when she finally arrived to the United States of America, she was deprived of the swan and was left with a single feather. The woman now whishes she could give her daughter that feather and teach her her meaning. I think that this introduction is the summary of the whole novel, and a good way to understand Rules of the Game. Here we can see that the introduction to the novel raises the issue of the linguistic and cultural barrier that exists between each immigrant mother and her American-born daughter. In this story, the daughter does not realize how lucky she is because she does not know her mothers story. It is impossible for the daughter to understand her mother because she does not know her past. Moreover, the mother actually wants to teach her daughter about her past so that she can learn from it, but her wish is not granted because even though she wants to do it, she is reluctant to do so because she is afraid that her daughter might not understand her or might think that everything she says is nonsense. At the same time that she fears that her daughter will not care about it, she is also fearful that she will not leave a mark in the world. And as we see in the story Rules of the Game, this also happens with the mother in Rules of the Game, Lindo, and her daughter, Waverly. Lindo wishes to teach Waverly everything she knows. Moreover, Lindo wants her daughter to have everything that she didnt have growing up in China. That is the reason why she teaches her daughter the art of invisible strength which is actually self-control. Lindo learns this lesson, and the importance of self-control in a very hard way, as we can see in her tale in The Joy Luck Club, and she gives Waverly all her knowledge even though, by teaching her, she is actually giving her the power to defeat her. Lindo teaches Waverly how to keep things to herself and use them when she needs them. And as we can see, Waverly actually uses this to her advantage throughout the story, to get her mother to let her compete and also to win chess games. The power that Waverly thinks the art of invisible strength has is very well depicted in this quote: I learned why it is essential in the endgame to have a foresight, a mathematical understanding of all possible moves, and patience; all weaknesses and advantages become evident to a strong adversary and are obscured to a tiring opponent I discovered that for the whole game one must gather invisible strengths and see the endgame before the game begins. I also found out why I should never reveal why to others. A little knowledge withheld is a great advantage one should store for future use. That is the power of chess. It is a game of secrets in which one must show and never tell. However, the main problem is that Waverly thinks that her intelligence is everything that she needs to be good at chess. It will be later on in her life that she learns that invisible strength was a very big part in her winning those games. When Waverly is little she has no concern for Chinese culture and she thinks that everything that comes from China is not useful in America. However, even if she does not realize that she is learning from her mother she actually is, and moreover, her mothers teachings have a big impact in her life. On the other hand, there is also a different theme in this story, which is the need of American-born children to separate themselves from the Chinese culture that their parents represent and to have a more separate American identity. The cultural differences make Waverly misunderstand her mothers pride in her achievements as pride in herself. But most importantly she wants chess to be a part of her own identity, separate from that of her mother and therefore, separate from Chinese culture. This is easily seen in her infuriating when her mother tries to advice her on how to play chess even though she apparently does not know anything about chess: Next time win more, lose less. Ma, its not how many pieces you lose, I said. Sometimes you need to lose pieces to get ahead. Better to lose less, see if you really need. Nevertheless, in the end, Waverly is able to win all those games, not only because of her aptitude but also because of her mothers teaching of invisible strength. As we can see in the following quotation, Waverly uses the wind as a metaphor for this invisible strength: Blow from the South, it murmured. The wind leaves no trail. I saw a clear path, the traps to avoid. The crowd rustled. Shh! Shh! said the corners of the room. The wind blew stronger. Throw sand from the East to distract him. The knight came forward ready for the sacrifice. The wind hissed, louder and louder. Blow, blow, blow. He cannot see. He is blind now. Make him lean lean away from the wind so he is easier to knock down. She, as it has already been said, thinks of the invisible strength as the wind, thus aligning herself with the same element her mother had identified with when facing her arranged marriage in China as we can see in the story Red Candle. So it is actually because of her mothers Chinese culture that she gets to be a chess champion. Furthermore, the way Waverly uses this metaphor is very similar to what we think of as Chinese imagery. Lindo is not the only source of Chiniseness that Waverly is exposed to, but also Lao Pao uses a lot of Chinese imagery when he is teaching Waverly to play chess. Another example of the fact that Waverly sees her mother, who represents Chinese culture, as something to reject and fight is that she depicts her mother as an actual opponent. The struggle for control between Waverly and her mother is symbolized in the dreamlike chess game at the end of Rules of the Game. Waverlys opponent in this game is two angry black slits. When Waverly confronts her mother during their shopping expedition, Lindos eyes turn into dangerous black slits. In the final line of the story, Waverly thinks, I closed my eyes and pondered my next move. Waverly does this in an attempt to break from the Chinese culture and trying to achieve an identity of her own, separate from that of her family, and, especially, her mother. Aside from the issue of linguistic and cultural barriers, and the need for a separate identity for the second generation, another important theme that this story deals with is storytelling. In the introduction of the novel, Tan uses a very short story in which we find the little tale that we mentioned before and which we may even consider it as a fairy tale. This brief introduction to the novel, like the feather that the introductions main character owns, symbolizes the importance of knowing the past to learn from it, and the only way to do it is by telling past experiences so that other people might learn from them. By stating this, all significance is given to storytelling. Additionally, storytelling acquires even more relevance for the children of Chinese immigrants, who are neither fully Chinese nor American and seek their identity in those stories. The oral tradition of the Chinese culture is like Russian matriuska dolls or a spiral case, as there is always a story embedded on another which is told from one person to another and thus there is no end to it. In this case, the introduction is a story in itself about a woman who is immigrating to America; this story has a fairy tale inside: the story of the duck stretching its neck to become a goose and instead became a swan. The mothers in the novel, by telling tales are ensuring that their story, the people in it, and their culture will not die with them, all those things will pass onto following generations, starting with their daughters. They also achieve the goal of making their daughters feel like they belong somewhere. When Lindo tells Waverly stories she is ensuring that she will be remembered by her daughter, and that she will pass on to her all her knowledge. Aside from this we should also make clear that circularity is a main characteristic of storytelling and also of this short story too. At the beginning of the short story, Lindo tells Waverly that strongest wind cannot be seen, and at the end of the short story we get the same sentence strongest wind cannot be seen even though this time it is Waverly who imagines her mother saying this. Therefore we can see how circularity and storytelling shape this short story. It is important to add that various narrators throughout the novel dwell on the idea of not being able to translate ideas, feelings, or cultural concepts from one language to the other. Mothers and daughters do not share the same language and therefore communication becomes only possible with the translation of Chinese into English, or vice versa. Thus the whole meaning that they want to pass onto the other person is lost in translation, their intentions might be misinterpreted. The mothers in this novel choose storytelling as their way of communicating due to the fact that neither the daughters speak much Chinese nor the mothers much English; there is an evident language barrier that they overcome by telling stories that they can all understand and from where they can simply get the moral. For example, Waverly remembers that her mother told her the story of a careless girl who ran into a crowded street and was crushed by a cab. So, as we can see storytelling in this case is being us ed as a cautionary tale. Moreover, Lindo does not explain explicitly the importance of self-control, but she actually uses a metaphor, the wind, to teach Waverly about this. And we can also see that because of the lack of communication, Waverly misinterprets her mother, and thinks she is giving herself credit for her daughters achievements. In conclusion,

Medical Conditions Of Concentration Camps :: essays research papers

Medical Conditions of Concentration Camps The medical conditions in concentration camps were very horrable. Many things happened to the prisoners at this camp and most of the worst things happened because of the medical treatments. Throughout all the camps medical experiments were performed on the prisoners. They were not only performed on the jewish but on all different kinds of people that were at the camps. The experiments were for the most part either harsh or deadly. Some of the experiments were as follows. People were submersed in ice cold water for hours on end to test out new kinds of suits. Others were deprived of oxygen, sterilized, had patches of there skin burned, or immediatly killed by an injection to the heart for dissection. Some people were also sent away to anatomy hospitals. One of the most desired places to be by doctors was Block 10. Block 10 was in Auschwitz and was a medical block. It meant the difference between life and death for many people in Auschwitz. There were benefits and disadvantages to being there for both the doctors and the prisoners. For a doctor it was seen as a chance to do any and all experiments they thought might be interesting. For prisoners it was a chance to live, if they were lucky. Some prisoners were taken by doctors for experiments and depending on the nature of the experiment they might live for a long time or be killed imediatly. Doctors picked which people should be killed through a selection process. A person could be killed for having as little as a tiny scar, or because ofa defect, or anything at all. The doctors of Block 10 are most remembered. The two that stand out most are Josef Mengele and Ernst B. Josef Mengele as one of the cruelest doctors who killed many, many people. He was said to be seen at selections night and day. And in some cases even taking children to the gas chambers by playing a game with them.

Sustainability – Case Study: Zimbabwe

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Locate and identify with a sketch map the geography of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in southern eastern Africa. The terrain is mostly high plateau with a higher central plateau (high veld – any of the open grazing areas of southern Africa) and mountains in the east. Zimbabwe covers an area of 39000 sq. kms and has a population of 12.8 million of which 35% are urbanised. Half of these are in the capital city which is Harare (located by the red dot on the map). What are the challenges that face Zimbabwe today? You can read also Costco Case Study There is racial divide as only 2% of the population is white; of the majority black population 71% are Shona and 16% Ndebele. The country is now effectively bankrupt. Social service provision is in decline and unemployment is running at 60%. From being self sufficient in basic food stuffs it is estimated that in 2003/2004 only one third of its main staple food maize will be available. Half the population are said by an O.E.C.D. Report (2003) to be facing starvation without outside aid. There are spatial inequalities such as at the periphery. The World Bank (1999) estimated the 6 million population in the communal lands live on less than an average of 1US$ a head per day and that 58% live under the poverty line compared with 8% in the core. The periphery lacks urbanisation, rail and road networks, power grids, mining estates, manufacturing and various forms of social infrastructure. From 1990 – to date the government moved away from a direct attempt to address the issue of regional inequalities towards economic policies which benefited the core region but which it was hoped would also bring spread effects to the periphery. The core is still dominated by a capitalist based and export orientated economy. There is extreme social dualism, 20% of the population command 60% of the country's GDP and are mainly urban based. Since 2000 an ill thought out Fast Track land reform programme, together with illegal land occupation of white commercial farms, has failed to significantly relieve pressure on communal lands and crippled the commercial agriculture sector which was a main source of food supply and the major source of exports. Outline the urgent priorities that Zimbabwe faces today. Reduction of regional inequalities is a central policy under the government's declared principle of ‘Equity with Growth'. They are a result of a combination of interrelated factors: Natural resource disparities and natural events such as periodic drought, Economic forces, core periphery contrasts, a failure of government policies, external factors operating from 1890. From 1998, and particularly following the controversial 2000 general election, Zimbabwe has been plunged into crisis as a result of a number of factors – periodic droughts, the Aids epidemic, rampant inflation adversely affecting both internal finances and the country's competitiveness in overseas markets and a collapse in all major sectors of the economy. The crippled commercial agriculture sector which was a main source of food supply and the major source of exports, brought about by the land reform programme. This contributes to widespread food shortages and economic downturn from exports.

Personal Space

Personal space was an idea first developed by German born Swedish psychologist David Katz in 1937. It is very often describes as an â€Å"emotionally charged bubble of space which surrounds each individual† or alternately â€Å"Personal space is the region surrounding a person which they regard as psychologically theirs. Most people value their personal space and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when their personal space is encroached.† On the other hand, some research suggests that the personal space bubble is not circular, but elliptical and so we can tolerate people coming closer to us at the side than front or behind.The 4 stages of a person’s Personal SpaceThis is a Proxemics Theory, which had been investigated by Edward T Hall in 1959, who describes a person’s personal space to be in 4 layers;Intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering Close phase – less than 6 inches (15 cm) Far phase – 6 to 18 inches (15 to 46 cm)The clo sest distance is generally the domain of those who have an intimate relationship with each other, but also includes situations where the social rules allow contact, for example in a wrestling match (Edward Hall distinguishes between near situations requiring body contact and far distances which require being very close but not in contact (whispering)). This distinction is rather artificial since whether contact occurs will depend on a variety of things such as the social and physical setting.Personal distance for interactions among good friends or family membersClose phase – 1.5 to 2.5 feet (46 to 76 cm) Far phase – 2.5 to 4 feet (76 to 120 cm)This zone generally reserved for good friends or intimate partners in a social setting; the near aspect is generally reserved for couples or very close friends, whereas, the far phase is used by acquaintances or simple friends.Social distance for interactions among acquaintances Close phase – 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 m) Far phase – 7 to 12 feet (2.1 to 3.7 m)This is the zone where those who are not acquainted interact or where business transactions occur. The near distance would be used by those being introduced or for informal business transactions whereas the far phase would be reserved for more formal business processes.Public distance used for public speaking Close phase – 12 to 25 feet (3.7 to 7.6 m) Far phase – 25 feet (7.6 m) or more.It is subdivided into near phase such as the distance between a speaker and an audience, and the far phase being the distance for example between the public and an important public figure.This is an easy concept to understand; if anybody enters our bubble, then they are invading personal space.Invading Personal SpaceWhen somebody invades another person’s personal space it can make the person feel anxious, awkward, insecure, vulnerable, annoyed and uncomfortable simply because there is another person standing too close to them and makes t hem question the intensions of the invader.. The term â€Å"invasion† would generally only be used if the person â€Å"invading† it has not earned their place in one of the four layers. There are actually many psychological and physical effects that are activated when a person is getting too close to another and they cause people to behave a little different than usual, for example:Extreme self awareness – suddenly we forget how to act ‘naturally'.Limited movements and gestures.Reduced eye contact.Turning aside or away from the intruder.We'll usually immediately take a step back.Adopting a defensive position – folded arms, less smiles, frowning, tense posture.Stopping the conversation entirely.Factors that influence personal space:GenderMales interacting with other males require the largest interpersonal distance, Men are more territorial and aggressive by nature and will keep more distance from other men, but when it comes to women we will usually prefer to get a little closer. This is then followed by females interacting with other females, which requires a little less space and distance as compared to just two men, as investigated by Gifford in 1987. Women are also more sociable than men: they get social cues better, more emotionally expressive and are generally better than us men when it comes to emotional communication. It's only natural then that women will feel more comfortable being closer to each other than men. However it probably depends on the situation, or the relationship, or the age group and so on as well.CultureThis is perhaps the most important factor when it comes to investigating the difference in invasion of personal space. Hall (1959) identified the importance of cultural variation. He suggested that while all cultures use personal space to communicate, and tend to conform to the different categories, the size of the space within the categories varies across cultures. Hall also identified the essential is sue in inter-cultural difference as the tendency to interpret invasions of personal space as an indication of aggression.Some international examples of this are: ‘Distant' cultures (northern Europe, US, and many other westerns cultures) tend to keep more personal space and use less touching than other more ‘warm' cultures. Asian cultures are characterized as more accommodating and accepting attitudes when it comes to personal space, the theory says it's due to more crowded living conditions. Other cultures including south Europe, Middle East and South American's are considered to be more ‘warm' by nature – touch and close proximity are more welcomed and socially accepted. Age- Some evidence suggests that personal space gets bigger as we grow older (Hayduk, 1983). Children tend to be quite happy to be physically close to each other, something which changes as awareness of adult sexuality develops. In addition the gender difference does tend to also appear at this time.StatusStatus has a huge effect on your personal space size and demand. First of all, like the alpha male of the pack, the higher the status the more space is considered to be one’s (no surprise that the first class seats are bigger and have more space per individual!). Status also affects the size of the territory that is required. Just Like the kings of old owned a huge palace – not because they needed 20 bedrooms and an Olympic swimming pool, but because it showed the measure of their power and influence. In modern days we have the equivalent mansions of the rich and famous to demonstrate their wealth and rich lifestyle.PersonalityThere is some evidence of personality difference but effects here need to be treated with caution given the situational dependence of traits. Extraverted and gregarious persons tend to require smaller personal space, while cold and quarrelsome people require a larger interpersonal distance (Gifford, 1982).Urban vs. RuralThe amount of personal space someone needs is relative to the population density of where they live, for example, in sparsely populated areas people get more space than in densely populated areas; country people are used to live in a vast and mildly populated areas while city dwellers are more used to crowding. This means that city dwellers will usually have a smaller personal space than country people due to this habit of density.The distance someone extends his/her arm to shake hands gives us a clue whether he/she is from a rural or urban area. People from the city tend to have an 18-inch bubble which allows the hands to meet in neutral territory. People brought up in a town with a small population have a space bubble of up to a meter. People from rural areas tend to stand with their feet firmly planted on the ground and lean forward for the handshake, whereas a city dweller will step forward to greet you. People raised in remote areas might require an even greater Personal Space, which cou ld be as wide as 6 meters. They prefer to wave rather than shake hands.Case StudiesStudy 1- Felipe & Sommer 1966AimTo examine the effects of the invasion of personal space Method- Research was carried out in a public library amongst people of similar cultural backgrounds who were sitting alone. These people were split into two groups: 1) Those where the confederate approached them, sat in the chair next to them and moved the chair closer to them. 2) Those where the confederate approached them and sat in the next-but-one chair.ResultsWhen someone came and sat in the chair next to them and moved the chair closer to them, 70% of the lone people left within half-an-hour. When someone came and sat in the next-but-one chair only 13% of the lone people left within half-an-hour. Conclusion- People found this invasion of their personal space disruptive. Researchers also noted that those whose personal space had been invaded moved their chair, put ‘barriers’ up such as books and changed their body position to move away.Evaluation of this study:StrengthHas high ecological validity since it was conducted in a public place. Weakness- This study used people from a similar background and hence may only be applicable to those sorts of people- this study cannot be generalised.Case Study 2- Sommer 1969AimTo examine whether there are cultural differences in the use of personal space Method- Researchers observed groups of Arab people and groups of white English people in conversation. Results- The comfortable distance for conversation for Arab people was under 1 m, whereas for white English people the comfortable distance was between 1 m and 1.5 m. Conclusion- Different cultures are comfortable with different amounts of personal space.Evaluation of this study:StrengthExplores how culture affects somebody’s personal space and hence raises awareness of how different cultures have various tolerance levels (when it comes to personal space). This study also raises awareness to people of different cultures when they are visiting other, culture rich countries. Weakness- The study was conducted a long time ago and due to the many revolutions and acceptances between cultures in today’s day, the results and findings may not be as accurate now as they were then. This poses questions about whether and how time has affected personal space within the different cultures, and would possibly need a new experiment to be conducted, to update the results.Examples of invading personal space:Inviting a teacher into a student’s personal space when their help is needed at school/in class for example to help solve a problem; this relation is always a professional relationship. When caught fighting and stopped, some kids like to tease the other party with a simple trick- they reach out with their hand and almost touch the other kid (or even worse, stuck the palm in front of their face), then they say something like â€Å"I don't touch you†. I t's actually an invitation for a fight, without taking responsibility for starting it, because it's impossible not to respond to this kind of irritation.If you'll meet your favorite movie star, you will welcome his company and even his touch; even though he's almost a complete stranger to you. But it won't go the other way around- it will be highly inappropriate to get too close to that star without a clear invitation to do so. You'll probably keep a distance from your boss (probably the same one from the previous example) during work, but on fishing at trip together some of the social borders will fall down, and you'll feel more comfortable being in closer distance. However, when you'll get back to work again, you'll retain the appropriate workspace between you.