Access to abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Access to abortion - Essay Example Though there is a law that legalized, but once the Health Minister in the country, during the Liam Fox, in 2001, had called for alternatives to abortion legalization in UK, if its cannot entirely abolished.The proclamation done by Fox in 2001, has been seen as an effort by the conservative to seek the support of people on the religious basis on tackling the issue, being he is among members of the Tories. Many other Conservative leaders in UK have continued to disparage on the abortion issue, such as William Hague, who had also known as anti-abortion personal that also spoke on the need to introduce strict Laws against abortion.Meanwhile, the UK's women in recent years who have adapt to accept Abortion as an alternative in their lives, have gotten to continue to maintained the subject matter, under 'a woman right to choose', which has giving them the mandate of choosing their destiny in life.Investigation conducted, has shows that most of the British citizens were supporting right for choice for the women in their pursuit to self legal abortion. The investigation further noted that about 77percent of the citizens are in the support for that. However, the investigation on this matter further quoted some facts from a source, which has encourages women in the United Kingdom who have the interest of making abortion to be more courageous over their zeal. Their campaign for legalization of abortion in the country, has gained the support of some dignitaries within the country, health practitioners, organizations, union and many others that are playing significant roles to humanity. A (Press Release) for the Campaign for modern abortion law, states "The Campaign which is backed by many peers, doctors, nurses, sexual sex organizations, trade unions, artists, and students, is calling for: Abortion to be available at the request of a woman And end to unacceptable delays in service provision And end to minority anti-choice attacks on current abortion right" All the encouragement that women in the UK get to remain on their zeal to abortion is derived from the Pro-Choice Organizations, while they adapt to such campaigns to ensure they do not allow themselves to become victims of pregnancy and delivery. Women on their arguments and facts in seeking for self legal abortion in UK, states that as human beings, they should be given the right to make their self decision on how to take care of their lives. Additionally, they argued that by legalizing the use of contraceptive and the abortion right, they would now have a very wider opportunity to vow on toward seeking for education without interruptions, social, and economic goods for themselves. Another argument from the women and those that are supporting the act of abortion in the UK, states that female should be allowed to choose whether to bear pregnancy or abort it, which according to them, only by doing so, there will be no gender Equality as it has been propagating worldwide. Further more, they argued that as long as women are restricted from

The Nature of Nursing Practice Essay Example for Free

The Nature of Nursing Practice Essay Nursing practice, like medicine, is also governed with ethical principles by which they are expected to perform their duties. Indeed, the moral sense of their duty lies with in this context of ethical considerations which according to Anne Bishop and John Scudder is â€Å"to lift out the moral significance of their practice and to develop facility in understanding how to fulfill the moral imperatives in their practice† (2001, p. 13) Bishop and Scudder contends that the moral issue in nursing ethics â€Å"concern with relationship of good in the sense of attentive, efficient, and effective with good in the personal sense† (2001, p. 19). It means of understanding the ways of the practice of nursing and employing them to foster welfare of the patient. Graham Rumbold in his book, Ethics in Nursing, pointed out that nursing evolves as a distinct profession from a medicine. He said, â€Å"Nurses no longer see themselves as handmaidens to the doctor but, at the very least, partners in care and at best practitioners in their own right† (Rumbold 1999, p. 9) Patricia Cronin and Karen Rawlings-Anderson citing Pierson (1999) pointed out that nursing practice, education and research has been significantly influenced by Cartesian philosophy. They state, â€Å"Nursing using the conventions of Cartesian philosophy would be able to describe, explain, predict, and control the phenomena of concern in nursing practice† (Cronin Anderson 2004, p. 10). Regarding the practice of nursing, William Cody pointed out that the nurse â€Å"is obligated to practice in such a way that seeks to avoid harm and to benefit the patient† (2006, p. 139). Cody said good nursing is more than a cluster of technique in that it involves a commitment to a moral end and is directed and judge by the end. George Khushf emphasized that nursing practice must be governed by ethical behavior and described the good nurse as â€Å"an individual who was virtuous and who followed certain rules in caring for the sick† (Khushf 2004, p. 490). Khushf pointed out that the ethical behaviors that were expected of the nurse, included loyalty, modesty, trustworthiness, obedience, promptness, quietness, cheerfulness, and deference to authority figure (2004, p. 490). Louise Rebraca Shives that the ANA or the American Nurses Association identified four primary principles to guide ethical decisions; â€Å"The client’s right to autonomy, the client’s right to beneficence, (doing good by the nurse), the client’s right to veracity (honesty and truth by the nurse), and the ethical principle4s of fidelity or the nurse faithful duties, obligations, and promises when providing care† (Shives 2006, p. 52) But nurses’ responsibility extends beyond their hospital duties. Sarah T. Fry argued, â€Å"Practicing nurses are also responsible for working within the professional organization to establish and maintain equitable social and economic working conditions in cursing† (Fry 2002, p. 136). Fry stressed that nurse collaborates with co-workers in bringing social and economic concerns to the awareness of employers and the members of the community, even if this means to participate in organized labor demonstration. Despite of the importance of the nursing practice in hospitals, nurses may also be at great risk of being sued if one appears oblivious or unresponsive to the needs of the patient, the family, or both.   Charles Sharpe pointed out, â€Å"The practitioner who attempt to care too much† (1999, p. 42). He emphasized that the conscientious, dedicated nurse who oversteps the limits of his clinical skills, training, and professional knowledge in providing what may well be meticulous care, places him or her self and the patient in jeopardy (Sharpe 1999, p. 42). Susan Westrick Killion and Katherine Dempski stressed that â€Å"when a nurse’s professional negligence rises to the level of reckless disregard for human life the nurse may face criminal charges of negligent homicide or manslaughter† (2006, p. 9). Work cited Bishop, AH Scudder, JR 2001, Nursing Ethics: Holistic Caring Practice, Jones Bartlett Publisher, Massachusetts, USA. Cody, W 2006, Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives for Advanced Practice, Jones and Bartlett Publisher, Massachuserrs, USA. Cronin, P Anderson KR 2004, Knowledge for Contemporary Nursing Practice, Elsevier Limited, London, UK. Fry, St 2002, Ethics in Nursing Practice: A Guide To Ethical Decision Making, Blackwell Publishing Company, Oxford, UK. Khusf, G 2004, Handbook Of Bioethics: Taking Stock of the Field From a Philosophical Perspective, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Massachusetts, USA. Killion, SW Dempski K 2006, Quick Look Nursing: Legal and Ethical Issues, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Massachusetts, USA. Rumbold, G 1999, Ethics in Nursing Practice, Elsevier Limited, Philadelphia, USA.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sharpe, C 1999, Nursing Malpractice: Liability and Risk Management, Green Wood Publishing Group, USA. Shives, LR 2006, Basic Concepts of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, Lippincott Williams Wilkins, Philadelphia, USA.

Holistic Therapy :: essays research papers fc

How does Buddhism differ from Christianity? 1. There Is No God Void vs. Loving God (emptiness, apathy, ignorance) In Buddhist thought, there is no supreme being, no Creator, no omnipotent omnipresent God, no Loving Lord over his creation. Ultimate Reality is an impersonal Void or Emptiness (Sunyata). Only the Void is Permanent. To a Buddhist, saying that God exists is like saying that the Void exists. Saying that God is loving and desires relationship with us is saying God is Ignorance since all desire comes from ignorance. Saying that God created us and has a purpose for our lives is saying that God is Karma, the cause and effect of our existence. Thus, in Buddhist thought, the concept of God is closest equated to the Void, Ignorance, and Karma. So who are Buddhists bowing down and praying to in their temples? Remember that Buddhism has adapted and absorbed many other beliefs rooted in animism and ancestral worship. 2. Christ’s Deity Denied If a Buddhist were asked who Jesus was, responses would likely include: a good man, a prophet, the founder of the Christian religion, a bodhisattva, the younger brother of Buddha. As it is hard for a Buddhist to understand the existence of God, it is inconceivable that Jesus is the incarnate Lord, God in the flesh. 3. Man Is Not A Spiritual Being Mankind has no soul or permanence. In Buddhist thought, an individual consists of five skandhas or aggregates. These aggregates are disassembled at death and there is no longer a cohesive unit that can be identified as an individual person. People are impermanent and transitory, perpetually facing the problem of how to escape from suffering. All life is meaningless and without purpose. The ultimate hope lies in what is permanent: The Void. Before one can find permanence, one must disappear into the Void, that is, achieve nirvana. 4. Karma Is The Iron Law Karma vs. Mercy Buddhists believe that the totality of one’s actions and the results of those actions determine one’s fate in subsequent reincarnations. This is the cosmic Law of Cause and Effect. Karma is the ultimate impersonal, unmerciful judge. Karma is unchangeable, cannot be undone, altered, avoided, or forgiven. What is done is done and cannot be undone, nor can you be forgiven or released from it. 5. Sin Has No Consequences The two systems` concepts of sin stand in stark contrast. To Buddhists sin does not have any consequences before a holy God.

Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu Essay

John Locke- 1. John Locke was one of the greatest philosophers in Europe at the end of the seventeenth century. Locke grew up and lived through one of the most extraordinary centuries of English political and intellectual history. The collapse of the Protectorate after the death of Cromwell was followed by the Restoration of Charles II — the return of the monarchy, the House of Lords and the Anglican Church. 2. Born 1632, died 1704. Locke’s chief work while living at Lord Ashley’s residence, Exeter House, in 1668 was his work as secretary of the Board of Trade and Plantations and Secretary to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas. 3. John Locke is known for the â€Å"Two Treatises of Government. † 4. One quote from John Locke is â€Å"To prejudge other men’s notions before we have looked into them is not to show their darkness but to put out our own eyes. † 5. During the remaining years of his life Locke oversaw four more editions of the Essay and engaged in controversies over the Essay most notably in a series of published letters with Edward Stilling fleet, Bishop of Worcester. In a similar way, Locke defended the Letter Concerning Toleration against a series of attacks. He wrote The Reasonableness of Christianity and Some Thoughts on Education during this period as well. Citation 1: Uzgalis, William, â€Å"John Locke†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = . Citation 2 (quote): John Locke. BrainyQuote. com, Xplore Inc, 2011. http://www. brainyquote. com/quotes/quotes/j/johnlocke143294. html, accessed October 28, 2011. Baron De Montesquieu- 1. He was educated at the Oratorian College de Juilly, received a law degree from the University of Bordeaux in 1708, and went to Paris to continue his legal studies. On the death of his father in 1713 he returned to La Brede to manage the estates he inherited, and in 1715 he married Jeanne de Lartigue, a practicing Protestant, with whom he had a son and two daughters. In 1716 he inherited from his uncle the title Baron de La Brede et de Montesquieu and the office of President a Mortier in the Parlement of Bordeaux, which was at the time chiefly a judicial and administrative body. For the next eleven years he presided over the Tournelle, the Parlement’s criminal division, in which capacity he heard legal proceedings, supervised prisons, and administered various punishments including torture. 2. He was born January 19, 1689 and died in 1755 of fever. He lived in Paris for a period of time. 3. Montesquieu’s two most important works are the Persian Letters and The Spirit of the Laws. 4. One quote from Montesquieu is â€Å"A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century. † 5. On his return to France in 1731, troubled by failing eyesight, Montesquieu returned to La Brede and began work on his masterpiece, The Spirit of the Laws. During this time he also wrote Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and of their Decline, which he published anonymously in 1734. In this book he tried to work out the application of his views to the particular case of Rome, and in so doing to discourage the use of Rome as a model for contemporary governments Citation 1: Bok, Hilary, â€Å"Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = . Citation 2: Baron de Montesquieu. BrainyQuote. com, Xplore Inc, 2011. http://www. brainyquote. com/quotes/authors/b/baron_de_montesquieu. html, accessed October 28, 2011.

Guitar Essay Essay

Throughout life, human beings are destined to have ups and downs in life like a rollercoaster. In Federico Garcia Lorca’s lyric poem â€Å"The Guitar†, the speaker expresses sorrow and despair through imagery and personification of the guitar by relating life to an evening without morning, the desert sands, and the end of life for a bird. The most powerful message in the poem is that music can express our deepest losses and desires. In the lyric poem, â€Å"The Guitar† by Federico Garcia Lorca, the speaker uses symbolism to connect his emotions to the guitar. The description of the cries of the guitar as â€Å"The evening without morning† (22), gives the idea that his life is incomplete. This is important because it portrays that the speaker is missing a certain piece to complete the puzzle to his life. This clearly shows that his life is unfulfilled until he finds what he’s looking for. In addition, the narrator expresses the deepest desires of the beautiful instrument when he describes the â€Å"warm southern sands/Desiring white camellias† (19-20).This is significant as for the reason that flowers as stunning and purifying as camellias cannot grow in deserted areas such as the hot blazing waterless desert. Henceforth, the narrator can tries to convey the feeling that he may want something he cannot have. Therefore, the guitar weeps the heartfelt emotions through the monotonously rhythmic sound. Life is like a floating cloud, it drifts away in a while. In the lyric poem, â€Å"The Guitar†, Federico Garcia Lorca uses such a vivid visual when he describes the guitar weeping for an incredible creature when he states, â€Å"And the first dead bird dead/upon a branch†(23-24).The meaning is much related to reality as he depicts that death is inevitable. The narrator accentuates that one cannot cheat death as it comes before one realizes it. To conclude, music has the ability to express a person’s profounding loggings and personality. In Federico Garcia Lorca’s lyric poem, â€Å"The Guitar†, the speaker expresses his sorrow through literary analysis when he compares his life emotions to an evening without morning, the lonely desert sands, and the death of a bird through the weeps of the guitar.

International business

International business Introduction International business refers to the commercial transactions or trade activities that usually take place between two or more countries. Commercial transactions entails a wide range activities that are carried either by the governments of the nations or the private investors who may be conducting business at an international level with other investors in other countries (Rugman brewer 2003, p.105).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on International business challenges and opportunities specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On a broader context, international business incorporates all business activities that entail crossing national boundaries through transaction of goods, services or exchange of resources between two or more nations. International trade between different countries is always a mutual relationship that is primarily defined by diplomatic relations that exist between the participating countries. Dif ferent countries have different diplomatic relations with other countries and this significantly determines international trade; bad diplomatic relations between two countries or regional countries impairs international trade between the countries. The foreign policies of a given nation also play a significant role in determining the participation of a given nation in international trade (Feenstra 2004, p. 56). The onset of international business was primarily influenced by the increasing globalization which harmonized global relations between various countries; which saw various companies scale their operations to international levels subsequently leading to the rise of multinationals such as coca-cola. Some companies merged with other companies in different countries so as to use the available opportunity to increase their sales at international level (Gabriele 2008, p. 87). International divisions International divisions play a significant role in determining relationship that ex ists among different countries and subsequently affects international business. International divisions are determined by a wide range of factors that are primarily defined by social, political, economic and to some extent geographic factors. The diversity in social and economic factors among different countries plays an important factor in determining the international trade trends between different countries and regional alliances and sometimes affects intercontinental trade (Feenstra 2004, p. 55).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Some of the social factors that that are responsible for international divisions include religion, culture, geographical orientations and governance and economic structures. The international divisions play a significant role in determining the international relationships of a country. The market policies of a given country determine the international trade patterns that the country undertakes (Pressroom 2010, p. 56). Challenges in international business There are a number of challenges that are associated with international business. Some of the challenges that affect the local business also affect the international business at the same capacity. The challenges are dynamic and vary in nature according to the participating countries and the type of goods and services that the countries trade in. A challenge in itself is the way the participating countries establish strategies to approach the global trade challenges. Global markets are faced with various impediments ranging from the structure of the global financial markets to the foreign policies of the participating countries. Cultural, political and institutional diversities and complexities still play a big part in determining international trade patterns as they have been since the onset of international trade. Other upcoming concerns in the international busin ess include the climatic changes, rise of international terrorism and international fraud, just to name a few. One of the challenges that significantly affect international trade is the formulation of the global trade strategies and the execution of the established strategies. The administrators and policy makers who are solely responsible for facilitating international trade always impair the process of global business (Taylor 2007. P. 39). The various policies always have an effect on the patterns of global business and in most scenarios, the stringent policies does not favor the development of international trade. There are a large number of businesses that have the potential of carrying out their business operations on a world wide scale but on a few manage to gain international recognition due to the lack of proper international paradigms that only tend to favor a few international companies. The main challenge is in the global business management; the present global management requires more than just ordinary management in order to make international business run smoothly without any impairments. The current trend however is indicating some improvements with the rise of professionals taking up management positions (Taylor 2007. P. 40). Another challenge that greatly affects the international business is foreign politics. Foreign politics largely defines the way a given countries relates with other countries on an international platform.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on International business challenges and opportunities specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The present foreign policies that have been adopted by a significant number of countries do not favor the sustainability and growth of international business (Moore Harris 2010, p. 27). The policy makers of international policies put stringent measures such as taxes and rules and regulations that must be followed in order to carry out int ernational business between private investors or the international trade between the participating countries. These stringent rules and measures that are deployed at the borders or during the transit or exchange goods and services between the various countries always tend to impair international trade as they do not provide standardized international paradigms. Political disarray significantly affects the nation’s financial system and this greatly affects international trade (Moore Harris 2010, p. 27). Economic and financial challenges also play a significant part in impairing the sustainability and development of international trade. The organization of resources to initiate international business depends vastly on the variations in the international currency rates, international financial crisis or economic depression among the participating countries and especially the host nation, variations in the oil rates at the global arena, international price variations such as ris ing and subsequent falling off price of various commodities that are known to attract international attention, and the export rules that are associated with the exporting or host country and the import rules that are present on the partnering countries (Oliver 2008, p. 126). All these factors serve as impairment to the development of international trade and its sustainability. A recent blow to international trade is the global recession and economic depression that was witnessed by many countries and particularly the unites states of America and in other European countries; this was accompanied by a major decline in international business activities. Another challenge that international business faces is through the increased cost of conducting international business. Costs that are incurred during international transactions range from the cost of trading the goods or services such as tariffs and quotas to costs that entail direct ownership such as the involvement of foreign personn el in the global trade, taxations and costs due to corruption in the international business system. The above named factors significantly affect the equilibrium of the international market structure; which is not suitable to sustain and facilitate the growth of international business transactions (Moore Harris 2010, p. 30). In order to beat the challenges that are associated with international business, the various countries have to implement several measures and policies that are directed towards the facilitation and improvement of international trade. The participating countries should therefore abide by a given set of norms that that serve to govern the logistics that are associated with international business transactions (Oliver 2008, p. 123).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Key opportunities in international trade International trade greatly relies on the factors that harmonize global relationships between the various countries. The opportunities that facilitate the growth and sustainability of international business can be viewed from a social, economic, physical and infrastructural perspective. All the factors that attempt to harmonize the equilibrium of the global market serve as an opportunity to facilitate the growth and sustainability of international trade (Diamond 1995, p.36). The onset of globalization was a major significant step towards the realization of international trade. Some key issues that facilitated the growth of international trade include the technological advancements that are associated with the information age of the late 20th century. One of the key opportunities that facilitated the onset, and continued sustainability and growth is globalization. Globalization is fully responsible for the interdependence of countries which ul timately resulted to the integration of business transactions on a global level (Moore Harris 2010, p. 35). Globalizations also resulted to integration of people and ideas at an international level and this provides a healthy environment to sustain the growth of international business transactions and cross border trade activities. The integration due globalization is widely evident due to international investments that various multinationals exploited and cross border financial flows. Evidence suggests that globalization has contributed greatly to the rise and growth of international trade (Moore Harris 2010, p. 35). The onset of globalization harmonized cultural differences between the various countries and this presented an opportunity for exchange of resources between different countries (Diamond 1995, p.36). Another opportunity for the sustainability and development of international trade is the technological advancements that have been associated with the rise of information age during the late 20th century (Sawyer Sprinkle 2006, p.27). The technological developments especially the onset of the internet and the World Wide Web provided a great platform to facilitate international business through the use of online platforms; what is commonly being referred to as e-commerce. Online business defies geographical orientations which may pose a barrier to the development of international trade. Technological advances lowered the costs that are associated with transportation, marketing, and communication at the global basis. Advances in technology made it economically feasible for a multinational company to establish the different phases of production at different nations; this greatly promoted the rise of international trade because it scaled the operations of the various international companies on a global basis (Moore Harris 2010, p. 27). The liberalization of the global markets also presented an opportunity for the development if international business. This paved way for the rise of open markets with fewer government restrictions which in turn increased the private sector involvement in international business transactions (Indira Stone 2004, p. 39). Economic liberalization was due to the need for countries to be globally competitive in terms of international trade which in turn facilitated the development of international business between different countries on a global basis. Liberalization of global markets played a significant role in ensuring the flexibility of global financial markets in terms of both trade and capital markets. Liberalization of the market facilitated exports and imports between different countries (Indira Stone 2004, p. 42). Generally other opportunities that facilitated the growth of international trade include the increased privatization, free markets, the development of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The development of regional alliance s such as the Common wealth and European Union saw the rise in international trade (Sawyer Sprinkle 2006, p.27). Conclusion International business primarily requires the interaction of different government agencies. This implies that it is mostly affected by the government relations rather than the technological advancements and the onset of globalization. With regard to this, participating countries should establish appropriate policies to govern the foreign relations with other countries. International business is vital for the development of any country through exports and imports which results to foreign income and at the same time facilitating the acquisition of resources that the country lacks (Indira Stone 2004, p. 34). However, care should be taken when balancing the tradeoffs between the imports and exports in order to avoid cases of inflation (Taylor 2007. P. 54). References Alan, M. R Thomas L. B., 2003, The Oxford handbook of international business, London: Oxford Uni versity Press. Diamond, E. D, 1995, Contemporary challenges: American business in a global economy, New York: New York University Press. Feenstra, C. R., 2004, Advanced international trade: theory and evidence, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Gabriele, G. S., 2008, International business under adversity: a role in corporate responsibility, conflict prevention, and peace, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Indira, C. Stone, P., 2005, International trade law, New York: Routledge. Moore, G., Harris. L., Trade and Technology Policies. P. 27. Web. Oliver F. W., 2008, Peace through Commerce: Responsible Corporate Citizenship and the Ideals of the United Nations Global Compact, Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame Press. Press room, 2010, Challenges confronting international trade. Web. Sawyer, C. W. Sprinkle, R. L. 2006, International Economics (second Ed), Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Taylor, S., 2007, Major Challenges Confronting the International Trading System. Web.

Final essay Essay Example

Final essay Essay Example Final essay Essay Final essay Essay Although the poems both illustrate the battle against ones impending doom and have certain similarities in their portrayal of mortality, they also display the two different attitudes towards it. First of all, the two poems take the same approach of personifying mortality as a sentient, malevolent being. In Marvels poem, time is described as chasing the couple in a Winged chariot (22) and may devour them with his slow-chapped power (40). The first metaphor is an allusion to the god of the sun, Apollo, emphasizing the speed and inevitability of time as the sun rises ND sets regularly every day. The second metaphor alludes to Crocus, father of Zeus, who ate his children for fear of being overthrown by them. In the speakers eyes, death is an oppressive and brutal enemy. Likewise, Shakespeare describes death as a grim and arrogant being: Nor shall death brag thou wand rest in his shade (11). It is possible that through the personification of death, the writers attempt to make something as abstract as death and mortality more palpable and comprehensible by giving it human qualities. In reality, all lives go through death, a natural occurrence that has o such evil qualities and is not subject to reason. It is perhaps the mysterious nature of death that strikes the most terror into peoples heart. However, through antagonizing death, the speakers fear and resentment of the unknown can be justified. From the use of personification in the two poems, we can catch a glimpse of how the speakers feel about the inevitable mortality. Though the speakers in the two poems possess similar emotions towards death, they however seem to look at the prospect of death quite differently. To His Coy Mistress is filled with horrifying images of the afterlife, such as deserts of vast eternity (24), worms (27), dust (29) and ashes (30). The speaker in the poem sees nothing but barrenness and suffering in death. The last verse gives further insight into how he views death: Rather at once our time devour/ than languish in his slow-chapped power (39-40), and thorough the iron gates of life (44). He resents mortality, and only finds it imprisoning. He has no faith in the future, but does not attempt to escape from mortality because he knows that death is inescapable. : Shakespeare, on the other hand, does not seem to have such a simplistic point of view towards mortality. When declaring that his lovers beauty surpasses the summer days because summers lease hath all too short a date (4), the tone is calm and the word choice is not as negative as the second verse of Marvels poem. In addition, when Shakespeare talks about how everything beautiful declines, he says And every fair from fair sometime declines, / by chance, or natures changing course, untrimmed (7-8). Again, the tone is rather calm, and he acknowledges that mortality is destined by nature. This realization can again be seen in the line Nor lose session of that fair thou stows (10). An interesting ambiguity lies in the word stows, because it can be interpreted as newest or sweet. If the word means owes?, then Shakespeare is acknowledging that the lovers beauty is borrowed from nature and has to be returned. Therefore, although the two speakers in the two poems both admit that mortality is unavoidable, Shakespeare appears more accepting and neutral of the idea whereas the other resents it. Moreover, the speakers in the two poems choose to rebel against mortality in completely different ways. The young man in wry His Coy Mistress takes a more fierce and impulsive approach. He encourages his lover that they should love each other like amorous birds of prey (38), and though they cannot stop time, they will make him run (46). Birds of prey, also known as raptors, are birds that hunt and feed on other animals. The word raptor originates from Latin word rapper, meaning to seize or take by force (Brown). This simile shows that the speaker desperately wants to overpower mortality, to pursue but not to be pursued. By being like amorous birds of prey, the speaker chooses to unleash his passion and annalistic instincts. When death eventually arrives, the couple will have no regrets, for they embrace the short-lividness of life and make the most of it. Instead of enjoying ones youth and bodily pleasures to the fullest like the speaker in Marvels poem, Shakespeare chooses to resist mortality in a more immaterial way. Unlike the speaker in To His Coy Mistress, who seems to focus on savoring his lovers beauty as it is now, Shakespeare takes it a step further and focuses on preserving his lovers beauty for all eternity. He writes, When in eternal lines to Time thou grows/ So long as men can breathe, or eyes can e/ So long lives this, and this gives life to thee (12-14), where he announces that the poem itself shall live on, thus granting the lover immortality. This determination is the most significant difference between the two speakers approaches. When facing the threat of mortality, one defies it with his power as a human, another defies it with the power of literature. One yearns to live his life to the fullest through the indulgence of physical pleasures, another seeks for eternal existence beyond physicality through the creation of art. This, perhaps, gives us insight into how Shakespeare views literature and its rower: even though literature is a human product, it will outlive its creators because it is not confined by human mortality. Generations of people will be able to read the poem, and his lover will live on in these peoples mind. Interestingly, To His Coy Mistress seems to hold different opinions about the immortality of poetry, though it is open to personal interpretation. One can argue that To His Coy Mistress has onomatopoetic implications about the mortality and limitations of poetry. For example, the first verse is about the speakers idealistic fantasy of having an eternity to praise his lovers beauty. He says he by the tide/ Of Hummer would complain (6-7), where complain means writing a love complaint. Love complaints in literature are a formerly popular variety of poem that laments or protests unrequited love (Complaints). He would be willing to write poems about their love if only he had the time. Also, he describes how he would extol the beauty of his lover: An hundred years should go to praise/ Thin eyes and on thy forehead gaze; and the last age should show your heart (13-18). The praise of individual female body parts and exaggeration of time resembles blazon, which is a attic mode wherein the speaker uses metaphor, simile and hyperbole to describe the parts of his or her lovers body (Literary Terms). However, all these statements which seem to point to poetry are deemed unrealistic and absurd by the speaker, because no one will have that much time. It can be interpreted that the speaker does not believe in the immortality of poetry. In the second verse of the poem, where the speaker explains the harsh truth of mortality, he says Thy beauty shall no more be found, nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound/ my echoing song (25-27). My echoing song may be pointing to the love complaint he mentions earlier. Contrary to Shakespearean view, the speaker points out that poetry may not actually be immortal. Poem exists for people to read them. If the subject of the love poem is dead, then the poem can only echo uselessly in the coffin, devoid of meaning. In the second verse, Marvel writes, Thy beauty shall no more be found, And your quaint honor turn to dust, land into ashes all my lust (25-30). Even though the poem still echoes through the air, the subjects beauty and the writer desire that inspired it is long gone. Poetry can be passed on for generations and inspire future people indeed. But it is impossible to make the people involved in it, who are destined by nature to be mortal, immortal. In this sense, poetry is just as mortal as human beings and it too has its limitations. To conclude, the two poems To His Coy Mistress and Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day are not only about love, but also about the painful and complicated conflict between humans and mortality. They showcase how humans may feel about their inevitable fate, and the different ways that humans may defy it as well.

Operation Catapult at Mers El Kebir (World War II)

Operation Catapult at Mers El Kebir (World War II) The attack on the French fleet at Mers el Kebir took place on July 3, 1940, during World War II (1939-1945). Events Leading up to the Attack During the closing days of the Battle of France in 1940, and with the German victory all but assured, the British became increasingly worried about the disposition of the French fleet. The fourth largest navy in the world, the ships of the Marine Nationale possessed the potential to alter the naval war and threaten Britains supply lines across the Atlantic. Voicing these concerns to the French government, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was assured by Navy Minister Admiral Franà §ois Darlan that even in defeat, the fleet would be kept from the Germans. Unknown to either side was that Hitler had little interest in taking over the Marine Nationale, only ensuring that its ships were neutralized or interned â€Å"under German or Italian supervision.† This latter phrase was included in Article 8 of the Franco-German armistice. Misinterpreting the language of the document, the British believed that the Germans intended to take control of the French fleet. Based on this and a distrust of Hitler, the British War Cabinet decided on June 24 that any assurances provided under Article 8 should be disregarded. Fleets and Commanders During the Attack British Admiral Sir James Somerville2 battleships, 1 battlecruiser, 2 light cruisers, 1 aircraft carrier, 11 destroyers French Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul2 battleships, 2 battlecruisers, 6 destroyers, 1 seaplane tender Operation Catapult At this point in time, the ships of the Marine Nationale were scattered in various ports. Two battleships, four cruisers, eight destroyers, and numerous smaller vessels were in Britain, while one battleship, four cruisers, and three destroyers were in port at Alexandria, Egypt. The largest concentration was anchored at Mers el Kebir and Oran, Algeria. This force, led by Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul, consisted of the older battleships Bretagne and Provence, the new battlecruisers Dunkerque and Strasbourg, the seaplane tender Commandant Teste, as well as six destroyers. Moving forward with plans to neutralize the French fleet, the Royal Navy began Operation Catapult. This saw the boarding and capture of French ships in British ports on the night of July 3. While the French crews generally did not resist, three were killed on the submarine Surcouf. The bulk of the ships went on to serve with Free French forces later in the war. Of the French crews, the men were given the option to join the Free French or be repatriated across the Channel. With these ships seized, ultimatums were issued to the squadrons at Mers el Kebir and Alexandria. Ultimatum at Mers el Kebir To deal with Gensouls squadron, Churchill dispatched Force H from Gibraltar under the command of Admiral Sir James Somerville. He was instructed issue an ultimatum to Gensoul requesting that the French squadron do one of the following: Join the Royal Navy in continuing the war with GermanySail to a British port with reduced crews to be interned for the durationSail to the West Indies or the United States and remain there for the rest of the warScuttle their ships within six hoursIf Gensoul refused all four options, Somerville was instructed to destroy the French ships to prevent their capture by the Germans. A reluctant participant who did not wish to attack an ally, Somerville approached Mers el Kebir with a force consisting of the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Resolution, the carrier HMS Ark Royal, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. On July 3, Somerville sent Captain Cedric Holland of Ark Royal, who spoke fluent French, into Mers el Kebir aboard the destroyer HMS Foxhound to present the terms to Gensoul. Holland was coldly received as Gensoul expected negotiations to be conducted by an officer of equal rank. As result, he sent his flag lieutenant, Bernard Dufay, to meet with Holland. Under orders to present the ultimatum directly to Gensoul, Holland was refused access and ordered to leave the harbor. Boarding a whaleboat for Foxhound, he made a successful dash to the French flagship, Dunkerque, and after additional delays were finally able to meet with the French admiral. Negotiations continued for two hours during which Gensoul ordered his ships to prepare for action. Tensions were further heightened as Ark Royals aircraft began dropping magnetic mines across the harbor channel as talks progressed. A Failure of Communication During the course of the talks, Gensoul shared his orders from Darlan which permitted him to scuttle the fleet or sail for America if a foreign power attempted to claim his ships. In a massive failure of communication, the full text of Somervilles ultimatum was not relayed to Darlan, including the option of sailing for the United States. As talks began to stalemate, Churchill was becoming increasingly impatient in London. Concerned that the French were stalling to allow reinforcements to arrive, he ordered Somerville to settle the matter at once. An Unfortunate Attack Responding to Churchills orders, Somerville radioed Gensoul at 5:26 PM that if one of the British proposals was not accepted within fifteen minutes he would attack. With this message Holland departed. Unwilling to negotiate under threat of enemy fire, Gensoul did not respond. Approaching the harbor, the ships of Force H opened fire at an extreme range approximately thirty minutes later. Despite the approximate similarity between the two forces, the French were not fully prepared for battle and anchored in a narrow harbor. The heavy British guns quickly found their targets with Dunkerque put out of action within four minutes. Bretagne was struck in a magazine and exploded, killing 977 of its crew. When the firing stopped, Bretagne had sunk, while Dunkerque, Provence, and the destroyer Mogador  were damaged and run aground. Only Strasbourg and a few destroyers succeeded in escaping the harbor. Fleeing at flank speed, they were ineffectively attacked by Ark Royals aircraft and briefly pursued by Force H. The French ships were able to reach Toulon the next day. Concerned that the damage to Dunkerque and Provence was minor, British aircraft attacked Mers el Kebir on July 6. In the raid, the patrol boat Terre-Neuve exploded near Dunkerque causing additional damage. Aftermath of Mers el Kebir To the east, Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham was able to avoid a similar situation with the French ships at Alexandria. In hours of tense talks with Admiral Renà ©-Emile Godfroy, he was able to convince the French to allow their ships to be interned. In the fighting at Mers el Kebir, the French lost 1,297 killed and around 250 wounded, while the British incurred two killed. The attack badly strained Franco-British relations as did an attack on the battleship Richelieu at Dakar later that month. Though Somerville stated we all feel thoroughly ashamed, the attack was a signal to the international community that Britain intended to fight on alone. This was reinforced by its stand during the Battle of Britain later that summer. Dunkerque, Provence, and Mogador received temporary repairs and later sailed for Toulon. The threat of the French fleet ceased to be an issue when its officers scuttled its ships in 1942 to prevent their use by the Germans. Selected Sources HistoryNet: Operation CatapultHMS Hood.org: Operation Catapult

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 96

Assignment Example However, the same has left far behind the concept of in-depth learning, leaving majority of students in confused state. As rightly stated by MacGillis (2004), the marketing efforts of various vendors to sell their products for annual test preparation and evaluation are resulting in a ‘digital divide’ between poor and rich students. While billions of dollars from public fund have been invested to enhance the learning skills of all students, it is observed that needy students find it difficult to learn the advanced skills, as they are still trying to cope-up with the computer basics. Software industry leaders, having their own vested interests, highlight the advantages of such advanced learning and testing software, while they try to suppress the criticism related to same. However, major causality in such software drills remains the concepts of constructive learning. Using human brains is much more important than being entirely dependant on computers. Computer programs may provide intelligent information and solution, but using the same requires diligence, on the part of students. Solutions for ending such digital inequity cannot include discontinuing with subject software drills or other ‘compass learning’ programs, while we need to find viable resolution to this man-made divide. MacGillis (2004) has rightly given the example of schools in Howard County, where students use ‘open programs’ instead of closed ones, as offered by such software drills. The open programs help students to be creative and learn through analytical thinking. This can be one of the solutions for this problem. I do agree with the author of this article that the educational administrators may not have closely examined the issue of gender equity, while pushing for information technology-aided learning programs. The following observations need to be noted, in this direction. To help students with getting accustomed to learning through

Stephen Crane The Open Boat Speech or Presentation

Stephen Crane The Open Boat - Speech or Presentation Example The second, third, fourth and fifth paragraph introduces the reader to the cook, oiler, correspondent and captain, the crew members who are the primary and almost only characters of the story. Told objectively by an ominous narrator, it sets out through the innermost thoughts of the characters in relation to their surrounding and their fight for redemption. The beginning of the story gives off the danger the men are in as they are marooned in a dingy for a vessel as they continue to sail the hostile waters hoping that rescuers will find them soon. Even though the situation is such, there is still no sign of uncontrollable panic or trepidation amongst the men though there is that tinge of helplessness as they continue on with a plan to look for a refuge house or a lighthouse or any other boat that will save them. In part III, there remains a sense of brotherhood among them in the darkest of times which none of them was able to articulate. â€Å"They were a captain, an oiler, a cook, and a correspondent, and they were friends, friends in a more curiously iron-bound degree than may be common† (Crane 730). They shared in near-death an intimacy they would have never known in another circumstance. The first sign of infallible hope was a sight of land, described again in vivid colors, â€Å"From a black line it became a line of black and a line of white, trees and sand† (Crane 731).

The Circular Flow Model Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Circular Flow Model - Research Paper Example The role of the household and the private firms differ based on the type of market. The factor market involves buying and selling production factors. The factors of production depend on the market since it decides the disbursement of the income. Each of the components is related to the other component of the circular flow model. The product market mainly deals with the process of buying and selling of the goods and commodities. The households are the major buyers of the product market and this improves the flow of goods and the exchange of money and goods. This, in turn, improves the interaction among the firms, the market, and the households.The interaction between these components is strengthened by the role played by the government and the financial institutions. The government has a direct communication and relationship with the firms and the households. Among the various roles played by the government in the circular flow model, the major operations include tax collection, resource allocation, and supply of goods and services. The first and foremost process is the tax collection. The firms and the households are intended to pay a certain amount to the government. This amount is known as the tax and this is calculated based on their income and the expenditure. The tax forms the major portion of the government’s revenue with which the government manages the payments to the households and firms. The government, in turn, provides the goods and services to the households and firms. This is a two-way process in which the necessary monetary help is rendered by the government. Another important task of the government is to provide the local and state governments with the required resources. The local, state and the federal government depend on the government to accomplish their tasks. The role played by the rest of the world in the market is also equally important. Though the government forms an integral part of the circular flow model, the remaining part relies on other factors. The market situation and condition also decides the flow of money and goods and services.

Describe this pic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Describe this pic - Essay Example The bottom part of the picture is broader than the top part and this gives the picture the ideal shape. The artist might have done this to give it a strong base for supportive purpose. From the information provided, the picture is the courtesy of Casey Campbell and some of the materials used are ink, watercolour, and charcoal. In essence, the abstract painting has colours and designs that do not resemble the physical objects. With this, the painting becomes harder to comprehend than representational painting. The desires and skills of the artist reveal the environment and time in, which he created the art. The striking styles reveal a lot of creativity. On a personal perceptive, the goal of the artist was to show how the colour, style, and form of the subject changed from time to time. This explains why the picture broadens its colour from one circle to the other. The artists took a lot of time making series of paintings from the same subject but different times of the day. This gives viewers a quick sense of understanding what is going into the artist’s mind (Elger and Uta 22). Typically, everyone seems to see the image in a similar manner. The artist established the need to use directional subjects and words that guide viewers through the description and analysis. The focal point of the picture is the circular figure, with different shapes. As previously mentioned, all circles have a strong base decorated in bold colours. The circles consist of space, line, shape, and light and dark colours arranged in similar designs. They consist of proportion, order, pattern, rhythm, and balance. The artist employed these elements to evoke the feeling of hope and direction to the viewers. From the picture, it is evident that many people recognize the artist’s accuracy and creativity to create the image. The primary purpose of the painting was to portray a captivating image. The picture does not fully evoke feelings or emotions.

The novel Assault by Harry Mullisch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The novel Assault by Harry Mullisch - Essay Example One evening in Harlem, â€Å"in the silence that was Holland then, six shots were hard.† Fake Ploeg, â€Å"Chief Inspector of Police, the greatest murderer and traitor in Haarlem†.( pg 13). Chief inspector Ploeg a collaborator of the Germans is found dead outside a home. In anger and retaliation, the Germans burn the house where his body is found . This is Steenwijk’s home and they are wound up and killed. Anton is taken by one of the police officers and put in a car and forgotten there for a while. This essay highlights the capability of the characters to live with the consequences of the tragedy and effects of others peoples’ deeds. It is about how the life of a young boy, Anton Steenwijk, changes after the death of his family after their demise by the Nazis. He gets little bits of information about the happenings of the fateful day until he gets the full picture of what really happened. He gets to be an active autonomous agent by looking back and tellin g his story by reliving and piecing information that he gets. Mr. and Mrs. Bemure get to retell their story to Anton. Most of the other characters do not get the chance to lay out their story. Twelve year old Anton, is taken up to live with his aunt and uncle in Amsterdam during his teenage years after the second world war. Anton lives through life with the scars of death on his mind and occurrences in his everyday life cause him to want to know the truth. Anton tells of his story in episodes. He meets up the people involved in the killings directly and indirectly and eventually knows the truth about what exactly happened. Anton knows it is up to him to know what went down that tragic night and in his day to day life. For a big part of his life, he has tried to shun off and suppress the memories of the night but just when he starts to forget, his past brings reshow’s and he bumps into the people involved in his family’s death. This makes it impossible to shut off his p ast from himself. He realizes that he cannot make it in erasing the scars of his past. He knows it is his responsibility to uncover the truth of that life changing night. As the remaining member of that family he bears the burden solely. In 1952, after the war, he goes back home to where their home once stood. And the years onward bring with them chance of knowing what transpired that inauspicious night. He meets people from his past, people he knew and others he had never known before. He gets an opportunity to ask them what really happened and their involvement of family’s death. The main theme of this novel is to embrace the past into the present by incorporating them so to bring out a different character from the beginning. It involves the development of the protagonist, Anton through events that have changed his life. His story through life is like that one of a â€Å"sailor sailing to the future by sailing backward†. The theme of guilt and innocence weaves around the actions of the people who find the inspectors Ploeg’s body outside their home. Mr. korteweg and his daughter move the body not to outside Aarts, (who were hiding a Jewish family) house but little Anton’s home. Although it is natural to assume that he did this to protect his family, you realize that was not the case. It is absurd that he was trying to save his lizards and finally he commits suicide, for he could not bear the fact that he contributed to the death of a family just to save his little

Describe this pic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Describe this pic - Essay Example The bottom part of the picture is broader than the top part and this gives the picture the ideal shape. The artist might have done this to give it a strong base for supportive purpose. From the information provided, the picture is the courtesy of Casey Campbell and some of the materials used are ink, watercolour, and charcoal. In essence, the abstract painting has colours and designs that do not resemble the physical objects. With this, the painting becomes harder to comprehend than representational painting. The desires and skills of the artist reveal the environment and time in, which he created the art. The striking styles reveal a lot of creativity. On a personal perceptive, the goal of the artist was to show how the colour, style, and form of the subject changed from time to time. This explains why the picture broadens its colour from one circle to the other. The artists took a lot of time making series of paintings from the same subject but different times of the day. This gives viewers a quick sense of understanding what is going into the artist’s mind (Elger and Uta 22). Typically, everyone seems to see the image in a similar manner. The artist established the need to use directional subjects and words that guide viewers through the description and analysis. The focal point of the picture is the circular figure, with different shapes. As previously mentioned, all circles have a strong base decorated in bold colours. The circles consist of space, line, shape, and light and dark colours arranged in similar designs. They consist of proportion, order, pattern, rhythm, and balance. The artist employed these elements to evoke the feeling of hope and direction to the viewers. From the picture, it is evident that many people recognize the artist’s accuracy and creativity to create the image. The primary purpose of the painting was to portray a captivating image. The picture does not fully evoke feelings or emotions.

Strassfeld Shavuot Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Strassfeld Shavuot - Assignment Example The most concrete expression of this imagery is the Sephardic writing of the ketubah between God and the Jewish people. The promises of the bridegroom are to remain loyal to the bride, and carry them in favor. They were to reciprocate this through his love. Because of the peoples’ eager attitude to receive Torah on the morning of Shavuot, people stayed up late at night. Even those who did not stay up arose early in the morning for the shaharit morning service. The rereading of the Ten Commandments in the morning of revelation to the Torah service over shaharit portrays the interest of the people to hear them. This is different from other events such as the Shabbat or the festival. A custom observed during the Shavuot is the shift from the norm culture of carrying the Torah scroll in procession around the synagogue. On this particular day, the scroll passes from one hand to another. Not until everyone touches the scroll, it cannot rest on the reading table. The depiction of God as the groom and the Israelites as the bride is a form of imagery that shows the actual relationship existing between God and people. The condition of a marriage is for the wife to remain loyal to the husband, who provides her with anything she requires. This in actual sense is what God does to people. His expectations are that people will respect the Ten Commandments, which is a symbol of union in the marriage. After they honor the commands, God then shows unwavering love to His people. Just like a wedding scene, full of romantic moments and events, God held Mount Sinai over the Israelites, thus creating the romantic moment in his wedding with the people of

Comparing the ways Edgar Allen Poe and Bram Stoker convey horror through writing Essay Example for Free

Comparing the ways Edgar Allen Poe and Bram Stoker convey horror through writing Essay Through this essay you will see how although the writing style of Edgar Allen Poe in The Black Cat and the style of Bram stoker in The Judges House is completely different, they both manage to achieve the same effect leaving the reader anxious, excited, mystified and scared. Both these authors stories were written before the nineteen hundreds, a time when people were just understanding the ways the world works. In this time horror stories were very popular. The perspective of both Poems is different. In The black cat Poe writes in a first person perspective: Today I die and tomorrow I would unburden my soul. Where as Stoker writes in a third person perspective: Malcolm Malcolmson made up his mind. The use of third person in this story displays the feelings of more than one character and you can build up more fear than first person by using devices such as rhetorical questions by other characters for example when Mrs Cranford cries not the Judges house! it creates the feeling of horror and helplessness. First person perspective makes you feel sorrow for the character. If Edgar Allen Poe had written the black cat in Third person perspective You wouldnt get the emphasis of his emotions, how he feels regret of what he has done, fear of this new animal and superstitious about the strange imprint on the wall. For example, when he writes gradually, very gradually I came to look up on it with unutterable loathing. This really emphasises the hated of the animal, an emotion that would not have been able to have been shown to that extent in third person. It is also more believable as it is through the eyes of the beholder. At the start of the black cat Poe starts off very secretively, he writes of something horrible that has happened to him, but he will not expand on what this occurrence is: These events have terrified, tortured and destroyed me. This suspense adds to the mystery of the first scene. Poe writes, tomorrow I die showing something horrible has happened to him. The fact that this is not in chronological order keep you wondering throughout the story what is going to happen and keeps you in suspense. It also keeps you trying to link the current storyline to death, for example, when it says about the new cat: It was a black cat a very large cat-fully as large as Pluto and closely resembling him you are thinking how this new cat could be linked to his death. Stoker, however has a very different approach to build up mystery. He uses setting whereas Poe does not. When he describes the lodgings he describes it as a gothic residence: with heavy gables and small windows set higher than was customary in such houses. Gothic residences have always been associated with death and fear in horror movies. He describes the village as empty: desolation was the only term for conveying a suitable idea of its isolation the idea of a desolate empty place is the perfect setting for a horror story. The fact that the house has been empty for so long indicates something dreadful has happened there. The locals all seem to know something dreadful about the house. It seems that Malcolm is the only person who doesnt know whats going on there. When Mrs Cranford cries at him not the judges house! it creates a feeling of dread for what is going to happen to Mr Malcolmson. Poe uses superstition to add to the mystery. The first little bit of superstition is when he reveals that his wife believes that all black cats are witches in disguise. This brief, initial introduction of superstition creates mystery in your head, and it makes you think, what if black cats are really witches in disguise. When the cat imprint appears on the wall, the character tries to dismiss the supernatural happening with a far fetched logical explanation. He tries to say that someone tossed the hanging corpse of the cat in through the window to try and wake him up. He then tried to say that because the wall was freshly spread plaster, it did not fall down. He said that the ammonia from the carcass had made the impression on the wall. Edgar Allen Poe had purposely made this string of events unbelievable so that the reader would know that there was something strange going on. I think that the imprint was a symbol that the cat was not dead and that it was an omen that it was going to come back to haunt him. The new cat was very suspicious, the fact that it looked a lot like Pluto made you think that it was a demonic symbol of Pluto. The cat gets more and more attached to him but he is reluctant to interact with it because he feels the supernatural element of this situation. He begins to hate the cat and the fact that it is always around him: Its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed me but he wont harm the cat for fear of what will happen and regret of his previous crime: at times although I longed to destroy it with a blow I was withheld from doing so partly by memory of my former crime but chiefly let me confess it at once by absolute dread of the beast. The fact that it wont leave him alone, and that drives him madder and more angry makes it seem like the new cat is testing his willpower to leave it alone. His fear grows as the cat follows his every step. The only difference between Pluto and the new cat was a white splodge on its belly. It turns out later that this splodge is actually a image of gallows. The image grows in size until the character can clearly make out the image. his realisation of what this means is clearly shown in this quote Gallows! oh mournful and terrible engine of horror and crime of agony and of death. He has realised his fate death. He feels remorse for what he had done to Pluto. He knows that this beast is an image of Pluto. A symbol of god: a brute beast to work out for me-for me, a man fashioned in the image of the high god oh insufferable woe! He believes its is god in disguise of a cat Stoker also uses supernatural elements. Every night the rats come out and make a lot of noise. They run up and down the alarm bell. They all stop suddenly a run away as a giant rat comes down the alarm bell. The rats are scared of this larger rat indicating that this rat is evil. Stokers description of the rat makes it sound evil: It showed its great white teeth and its cruel eyes shone in the lamplight. When Malcolmson throws a book at the creature to try and scare it, but it does not flinch. But when he throws a bible at the rat it scampers away. This indication of good/evil shows that the rat is evil. It is well known that Satanic beings such as this rat fear holy objects such as a bible and a cross. When Malcolmson realises that the rats eyes are identical to the picture of the Judge the figure of the judge disappears. He then turns round and sees the judge. The judge smiled in a cruel way: With his baleful eyes glaring vindictively, and a smile of triumph on his face The judge does not say much in this last scene, I think this is important. Stoker did this so his character was not totally revealed. He remained a mysterious character. The descriptions of horror in The Black cat are very in depth: I grasped the poor beast by its throat and purposely cut out one of its eyes from its socket.. He doesnt linger on this for long. These shock tactics really build up the horror in this story by making you feel horrified and shocked. Another example of this is when he kills his wife: I withdrew my arm from her grasp, and buried the axe in her brain. This again shows the shock tactics used when describing the horror scenes. His violence gets gradually worse. All his violence is triggered by anger or drink: Through the instrumentality of the fiend intemperance had (I blush to confess it)experiences a radical alteration for the worst. I grew day by day more moody, more irritable regardless for the feeling of others. First he verbally abuses his wife, this turns to physical violence towards his wife and animals except Pluto: I suffered myself to use intemperate language towards my wife. At length I even offered her personal violence. My pets of course were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. Then he cut out Plutos eye when he scrammed him on the face. This again is due to him drinking. Poe writes one night, returning home much intoxicated. The guilt of doing this to Pluto and the sadness that it once had loved him got to him and he hung the cat in cold blood: I hung it with tears streaming from my eyes this shows his remorse when hanging him. The guilt of what he had done prevented him from hurting the new cat, until one day when the cat nearly tripped him up in the cellar he grabbed and axe, but his wife prevented him from killing by grabbing the axe. He then split her head open with the axe. The violence gradually gets worse and worse, building up the horror as it goes along. Stoker uses less graphic description, but instead uses reactions of characters to create the fear: not the judges house. This, I think is one of the main advantages of introducing characters into the plot. A disadvantage is that it can take the focus of the main character. They both use pattering to create fear in their stories. In the Judges house the same thing happens every night. He drinks too much tea, then out came the rats making all the noise and finally they all stopped when the large rat emerged. This also happens in the black cat. His violent acts are all triggered by alcohol. Pattering creates suspense, which in turn makes you wonder how does this link with what is happening in the story. The two writers both use logical explanations to try and explain why these things are happening. In the black cat, The character makes up a ludicrous explanation to explain why there was an imprint on the wall. He tries to say that someone must have thrown the cat through the window in an attempt to wake him up. He says that the wall didnt fall down because it had just been plastered and that the ammonia from the carcass has made the imprint on the wall. In The Judges house Malcolmsons explanation for all the events that are happening is that he was drinking too much tea and it was making him delusional. Both of these are deliberately far fetched so that the reader knows that something super natural is going on. Stoker uses a more descriptive style in his writing. He describes the scene, the weather and the people in far more depth than Poe: The carving of the oak on the panels of the wainscot was fine, and on and round the windows and doors it was beautiful and of rare merit. I prefer the descriptive writing of Stoker because it creates an image in your mind. Especially with the weather. Stoker uses the weather to great effect. When the thunder was lashing down toy could tell something bad was going to happen. This effect is used in a lot of horror stories. In my opinion, I prefer Stokers method of creating horror. I think the introduction of characters brings in a new element to the story. It creates an atmosphere of bewilderment and isolation. I say isolation because everyone seemed to know what was going on but Mr Malcolmson. However, as a whole I think I preferred The Black cat by Edgar Allen Poe. I think this is because I am used to modern stories, and this storyline is a bit more advanced and modernised than The Judges House. As I am used to modern horror stories I can relate to this story better. I think that the plot has some realism to it, more so that Stokers story. I dont think Stokers story was linked together very well and it all seemed a bit distant.

Role of Institutions in Policy Making

Role of Institutions in Policy Making INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of institutions in influencing policy outcomes. First part of the paper provides a brief introduction to the study of institutions in political science. This is followed by description of factors influencing policy outcomes. Final part of the paper looks at the limitations of institutions, which pose additional constraints on policy outcomes. INSTITUTIONS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE The study of institutions is central to the subject matter of political science and, to an even greater extent, public administration. According to Lowndes (1996:181), â€Å"focus upon institutional arrangements for the delivery of public services is generally held to be defining of the sub-discipline of public administration†. March and Olsen (1984) argue that social, political, and economic institutions have recently become larger, more complex and resourceful, and therefore more important to collective life. According to them, attention to political institutions has increased in the literature on legislatures, budgets, public policymaking, local government and political elites. According to Scharpf (1989), much of comparative political science research may be characterised as an attempt to explain and predict the influence of political institutions on the choice of public policy. INFLUENCING POLICY OUTCOMES SETTING NORMS IN DECISION MAKING March and Olsen (1984,1989) see institutions as providing order in political life. Institutions increase capability by reducing comprehensiveness. Institutions express norms of decision-making and behaviour, providing a logic of appropriateness. Rules produce variation and deviation as well as conformity and standardisation. Institutions generally change in an incremental way through responding to environmental signals. AFFECTING POLICY OUTCOMES Institutions are often seen as â€Å"set of factors affecting the interactions between policy actors and hence the greater or lesser capacity of policy-making systems to adopt and implement effective responses to policy problems (Scharpf 2000:764)†. According to Gorges (2001), the European Commission and other EC institutions played a significant role in social policy-making. The European Commission sought to increase both its policy domain and its legitimacy, continually insisting that it would not abdicate its power to initiate policy. Although it is actors that are the proximate causes of policy responses, institutional conditions, to the extent that they are able to influence actor choices, are seen as remote causes. Actors are strongly influenced by the institutional rules to which they owe their existence and by institutional and cultural norms that define the criteria of their success or failure (Scharpf 2000). According to Scharpf (2000:770), â€Å"in sociological ins titutionalism, institutions are defined very broadly so as to include not only externally imposed and sanctioned rules but also unquestioned routines and standard operating procedures and, more important, socially constructed and culturally taken-for-granted worldviews and shared normative notions of appropriateness. In that view, therefore, institutions will define not only what actors can do but also their perceptions and preferences—and thus what they will want to do. Institutions constrain, but do not completely determine, policy choices (Scharpf 1989). Certain policy options are unlikely to be chosen under certain institutional conditions. According to Scharpf (1989), policy choices are simultaneously influenced by at least four sets of factors, institutional, situational, preferential and perceptional. Institutional rules will affect policy by restricting options, constituting actor constellations, regulating their modes of interaction and by structuring the incentives of the participating actors (Scharpf 2000). Institutions are imposing substantive prohibitions to policy outcomes. Countries differ in the range of institutionally permissible policy options and there is an increasing tightness of international legal constraints. For example, the power of governments to determine wages and working time was routinely exercised by most countries but is ruled out in Germany. Moreover, the tight control of capital transfers and the highly discriminatory regulation of credit markets that facilitated the success of macroeconomic full-employment strategies in Sweden until the mid-1980s would now be ruled out by EU directives liberalising capital markets and financial services. The rules of negative integration, in particular European competition law, have become a major constraint on all ec onomic policy options that could be construed as inhibiting or distorting free competition in the markets of EU member states. Institutional rules also define the constellations of actors that may participate in the adoption and implementation of policy responses and their permissible modes of interaction, which could be classified as mutual adjustment, negotiated agreement, voting, or hierarchical direction. Although most policy choices result from multi-actor interactions, some countries whose political institutions approximate the ideal Westminster model have the option of treating any major policy problem in a single- actor constellation. Here, all relevant policy choices are potentially determined by the preferences and perceptions prevailing in a unified action center. Hierarchical direction becomes an institutionally available mode of interaction, as exemplified in Britain, New Zealand, and possibly France. In rational-choice institutionalism, incentives are defined by refere nce to the self-interest of the corporate and collective actors involved in the policy process, for example, governments, political parties, central banks, labor unions, their subunits, or the individuals acting for them. In single-actor systems, the incentives that have the most direct effect on policy choices are constituted by the mechanisms of political accountability. In multi-actor systems, accountability is weakened and policy outcomes are more affected by incentives favoring cooperation or conflict between the veto actors. CRITICAL JUNCTURES AND DEVELOPMENTAL PATHWAYS Ikenberry (1994) characterises political development as involving critical junctures and developmental pathways. According to the first principle, different founding moments of institutional formation send countries along broadly different developmental paths. The second principle suggests that institutions continue to evolve in response to changing environmental conditions and ongoing political maneuvering but in ways that are constrained by past trajectories. According to Thelen (1999), where state-builders faced geopolitical competition early, they were forced into greater concessions to the financiers, merchants, and administrators who financed and staffed the bureaucracy, resulting in patrimonial systems. Where rulers confronted geopolitical pressures later, they found themselves in a quite different world, where developments in education and finance made these side payments unnecessary, resulting in greater bureaucratic autonomy. Over time, some avenues of policy become increas ingly blocked, if not entirely cut off, as decisions at one point in time can restrict future possibilities by sending policy off onto particular tracks (Thelen 1999). DIFFERENT THEORETICAL APPROACHES Although it is generally accepted that challenges to which policy actors may have to respond are influenced by the institutional setting, the dominant strands of current institutionalist theorising, rational-choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism, differ in their conceptualisation of these influences (Scharpf 2000). LIMITATIONS Institutions have limitations which have a significant effect on policy outcomes. These limitations are focus on structures and efficiency, focus on stability, political manipulation and policy networking. FOCUS ON STRUCTURES AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY It has been argued that compliance with structures and practices often becomes more important than its actual efficacy (Lowndes 1996). According to DiMaggio and Powell (1991), it is the demand for similarity of structure and functioning, rather than for increased efficiency, that drives organisational change. According to Thelen (1999), the institutional approach begins with the observation that markets, embedded in political and social institutions, are the creation of governments and politics. The main purpose and effect of institutions are often seen as economising on fraction costs. Lowndes (1996:186) describes institutions as â€Å"efficient organisational frameworks, which arise to solve problems of complex economic exchange†. The critics of the new institutional economics, however, object to the proposal that a universal economic logic determines the choice of institutional systems, regardless of culture and circumstance or power and politics (Lowndes 1996). FOCUS ON STABILITY North (1990) stresses stability rather than efficiency as the economic rationale for institutions, arguing that technically inefficient institutions persist because they contribute to stability and harmony in interaction and because they are deeply embedded in culture and tradition. According to historical institutionalism, institutions do more than channel policy and structure political conflict. Thelen (1999) claims that institutions are socially constructed in the sense that they embody shared cultural understandings of the way the world works. This means that even when policy makers set out to redesign institutions, they are constrained in what they can conceive of by these embedded, cultural constraints. For example, the evolution of Japanese security policy shows how collectively held norms define appropriate conduct, shape actor identities, and influence actor interests, and in doing so, inform how political actors define what they want to accomplish (Thelen 1999). Pearson (20 00) claims that path dependence can be used to explain the analysis of European party systems, labor incorporation in Latin America, the outcome of state-building processes in Europe, and the comparative development of health care systems. According to Thelen (1999), the problem with this approach is that dominant cultural norms emerge out of concrete political conflicts, in which different groups fight over which norms will prevail. Dominant policy paradigms can and do shift at times and organisational fields are often imposed by powerful actors. According to Stinchcombe (1997), it is legitimacy and not automaticity that explains why people follow scripts in the first place. Furthermore, the entrenchments of certain institutional arrangements obstruct an easy reversal of the initial choice (Pearson 2000). The conception of path dependence, in which preceding steps in a particular direction induce further movement in the same direction, is well captured by the idea of increasing returns. In an increasing returns process, the probability of further steps along the same path increases with each move down that path because of the costs associated with exit or change. According to North (1990), institutions induce self-rei nforcing processes that make reversals of course increasingly unattractive over time. This, according to Arthur (1994) leads to unpredictability, inflexibility, nonergodicity and potential path inefficiency. POLITICAL MANIPULATION In politics, institutional constraints are ubiquitous (Pierson 2000). Politics involves struggles over the authority to establish, enforce and change the rules governing social action in a particular territory. According to Gorges (2001), the institutional change could be influenced by material and ideal incentives the policy entrepreneurs provide. Furthermore, change is most likely when there is an increase in the effectiveness of individuals seeking change and a decrease in the blocking power of individuals whose interests are served by the current institutional arrangements. Institutions are not neutral coordinating mechanisms but in fact reflect, and also reproduce and magnify, particular patterns of power distribution in politics (Thelen 1999). Thus, political arrangements and policy feedbacks actively facilitate the organisation and empowerment of certain groups while actively disarticulating and marginalising others. â€Å"Manipulated by utility-maximising politicians and bur eaucrats, institutions degenerate over time. They come to serve the individual, private interests of officials and any conception of the public interest is lost (Lowndes 1996:188)†. Public officials seek to augment their status and material through increases to budgets under their control, and utility-seeking politicians attempt to maximise votes by promising benefits and service enhancements, which results in waste and over-supply of government goods and services (Niskanen 1973). An alternative to the budget-maximising thesis is provided by bureau-shaping theory which accepts that bureaucrats are self-serving, but denies that they pursue a single course of utility-maximising action (Lowndes 1996). In rational-choice institutionalism, institutional rules are understood as external constraints and incentives structuring the purposeful choices of self-interested rational actors (Scharpf 2000). Thus, when certain actors are in a position to impose rules on others, the employment of power may be self-reinforcing (Pierson 2000). Actors may use political authority to generate changes in both formal institutions and various public policies designed to enhance their power. Skocpol (1992) argues that institutional arrangements affect the capabilities of various groups to achieve self-consciousness, organise, and make alliances. For example, the fragmentation of the state, as well as the organisation of party competition along patronage lines, actively mediated against the development of a unified working class that could then spearhead the movement for comprehensive social policies in the United States. Scharpf (2000) does not agree with this notion, arguing that actor preferences have at least two dimensions individual and organisational self-interest on one hand and normative obligations and aspirations on the other. INSTITUTIONS AND THE â€Å"POLICY NETWORKING† The policy network approach is concerned with the institutionalisation of relations between governmental and non-governmental actors (Lowndes 1996). The concern is with actual institutional practices rather than with formal organisational arrangements. Jordan (1990) refers to an institution as an extra-constitutional policy-making arrangement between industries and clientelistic groups. Lowndes (1996) points to the traditionally fragmented structure of British government and the influential role played by interest groups in policy-making. In such environment, â€Å"policy is made not by a unified government machine but by an assortment of actors, governmental and nongovernmental, linked together in more or less formal and coherent networks (Lowndes 1996:190)†. Furthermore, institutions are embedded in networks of other institutions, and it is difficult to change one institution in a matrix because of this embeddedness. According to Lowndes (1996), policy networks routinise rel ationships, promoting continuity and stability. One example is the EU, where the European Commission has often granted access to, and attempted to institutionalise the participation of interest groups as a way of securing legitimacy for its proposals before presenting them to the Council of Ministers (Gorges 2001). The Commission has attempted to sustain and expand the Community political system by providing information to the social partners, forcing them to re-evaluate their interests and priorities, and supporting the development of a Community/Union system of interest intermediation by providing a forum for conflict resolution. The capacity for effective policy responses is affected not only by the quantity and quality but also by the diversity of policy-relevant information and analysis provided by an institutionalised information infrastructure (Scharpf 2000). Policy coordination in Austria, for example, was greatly facilitated by the fact that the government, the political parties, and the social partners relied on the analyses provided by a single economic research institute. In Germany, by contrast, unions and employers maintain separate research institutes, the federal government supports altogether six such institutes, the federal labor administration and the Bundesbank maintain large in-house research capacities, the independent Council of Economic Advisors relies on its own research staff, and the big commercial banks have their own macroeconomic research departments. The downside of the monopoly model is the risks of groupthink, or the failure to pay attention to observations, interpretations, and recommendations that do not conform to the dominant worldview (Scharpf 2000). This was arguably the case in Britain in the early 1970s, when policy makers in the treasury continued to rely on the Keynesian recommendations derived from the single macroeconomic simulation model, even when the economy had ceased to respond as predicted (Scharpf 2000). However, when the analyses of institutionalised information monopolists do fit the problem, they will facilitate effective problem solving in single-actor systems and effective coordination in multiactor systems. The pluralistic model, by contrast, will provide protection against the institutionalisation of error. CONCLUSION The paper has explored the role of institutions in influencing policy outcomes. Institutional conditions, to the extent that they are able to influence actor choices, are seen as remote causes. Institutions influence policy outcomes by setting norms in decision making. Furthermore, institutional rules affect policy by restricting options, constituting actor constellations, regulating their modes of interaction and by structuring the incentives of the participating actors. Although it is generally accepted that challenges to which policy actors may have to respond are influenced by the institutional setting, the dominant strands of current institutionalist theorising, rational-choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism, differ in their conceptualisation of these influences. Limitations of institutions, such as the focus on structures and economic efficiency, the focus on stability, political manipulation and policy networking, further influence policy outcomes. BIBLIOGRAPHY Arthur W.B. (1989). â€Å"Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and lock-in by Historical Events†. Economy Journal, Vol. 99. Ashford, D. E. (1977). â€Å"Political Science and Policy Studies: towards a structural solution†. Policy Studies Journal, Iss.5, pp.570-583. DiMaggio, P and Powell, W. (1991). â€Å"Introduction†, in W. Powell and P DiMaggio The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (eds). University of Chicago Press. Gorges, M.J. (2001). â€Å"The New Institutionalism and the Study of the European Union: The case of the social dialogue†. Western European Politics, Vol.24, Iss.4, pp.152. Ikenberry G.J. (1994). â€Å"History’s Heavy Hand: institutions and the politics of the state†. Conference on The New Institutionalism, University of Maryland. Jordan, G. (1990). â€Å"Policy Community Realism versus New Institutionalist Ambiguit†. Political Studies, Vol.38, pp.470-84. Lowndes, V. (1996). â€Å"Varieties of New Institutionalism: A critical appraisal†. Public Administration, Vol.74, pp.181-197. March, J. and Olsen, J. (1984). â€Å"The New Institutionalism: Organizational factors in political life†. The American Political Science Review, Vol.78, No.3, pp.734-749. March, J. and Olsen, J. (1989). â€Å"Rediscovering Institutions: the organizational basis of politics†. Free Press, New York. Niskanen, W. (1973). â€Å"Bureaucracy: Servant or Master?† Institute for Economic Affairs, London. North, D. (1990). â€Å"Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance†. Cambridge University Press. Pierson, P. (2000). â€Å"Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics†. The American Political Science Review, Vol.94, No.2, pp.251-267. Scharpf, F.W. (1989). ‘Decision Rules, Decision Styles and Policy Choices’, Journal of Theoretical Politics,Vol.1, Iss.2, pp.149-176. Scharpf, F.W. (2000). â€Å"Institutions in Comparative Policy Research†. Comparative Political Studies,Vol.33, pp.762-790. Skocpol T. (1979). â€Å"States and Social Revolutions.† Cambridge University Press. Stinchcombe A.L. (1997). â€Å"On the Virtues of the old Institutionalism†. Annu. Rev. Soc. Vol.23 Thelen, K. (1999). â€Å"Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics†. Annual Review of Political Science, Vol.2, pp369-404.

Europes Software Patent Law Essay -- Patenting Economics Essays

Europe's Software Patent Law Today in Europe, the issue of software patentability is a heated and controversial topic amongst the software industry. Currently Europe’s software patent law is unclear and inconsistent. There has been a wide spread effort by major players in Europe’s software industry and governmental bodies to try to formalize and disambiguate the law on the patentability of software. But up to know there has been very little progress in the formalization of this law. What has resulted is an ongoing controversy amongst the Europeans. Proponents of software patenting have been calling for an extension of the scope of software patenting. However, its opponents have been calling for a drastic reduction of what should be patentable software. We begin our discussion with the roots of how patent law came to be in Europe and then focus our attention to the current law of software patentability. We then turn to a current controversial issue in Europe’s software industry and then get key ethical perspectives on this issue. We then finish up with my defense on particular position of a proposed ethical issue on the current software patent law. Established by the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (EPC) in 1973, the European Patent Organization was created to establish a uniform patent system in Europe. The European Patent Organization is an intergovernmental body setup by the EPC1, its members are made up of contracting states of the European Union (EU) including the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to name a few. The executive arm of the European Patent Organization is the European Patent Office (EPO) whose function is to grant European patents to each of its contracting states. The administrat... ...ww.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,37721,00.html 3.Donald, James A.,"The American Revolution - an HTML project," Locke's Second Treatise (Chap V) On Property, 1997, http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/LockeOnProperty.pdf 4.Duke L. & Tech., SOFTWARE PATENT LAW: UNITED STATES AND EUROPE COMPARED, 2003, http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2003dltr0006.html 5.European Patent Office, The European Office, 2003, http://www.european-patent-office.org/index.htm 6.European Software Patent Horror Gallery, European Software Patent Horror Gallery, 2003 http://swpat.ffii.org/vreji/pikta/index.en.html> 7.Spinello, â€Å"Frameworks for Ethical Analysis,† Chapter 2 of Ethical Aspects of Information Technology, Prentice Hall, http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/framework.pdf 8.The Patent Office, The UK Patent Office, 2003, http://www.patent.gov.uk

Oceanic Mythology

Oceanic Mythology Two classical cultures, Rome and Greece, both are well known to the world. Their mythology especially, because elements of their folk tales shape modern society. But, what about mythology originating in other parts of the world? Why are Roman and Greek culture such important sources of folklore? Seemingly unheard of stories from other regions of the earth harvest rich culture that hasn't diffused into modern culture as well as Greek culture yet provide intriguing stories on human life.Specifically, in Oceanic regions such as Polynesia and Melanesia hold stories have een told for hundreds of generations that are almost unknown in Western culture (Wikipedia). It's a travesty that such interesting tales of Oceanic life haven't become important to the rest of the world, but fortunately in these islands they have importance. In Oceania, particularly in the area of Polynesia oceanic people believed that ‘Forever', Darkness, and the Sea have always existed (Pantheon) . â€Å"Scholars believe that humans first migrated to Polynesia from Southeast Asia about 2,000 years ago.These people carried with them their mythological traditions about events, deities, and heroes† (mythencyclopedia). And thus, a tale of creation was cooked up. The tale starts with a giant Spider finding a giant clam, and crawling inside of it. It was extremely dark inside of the clam, but the spider managed to find a snail inside of the clam. The spider asked the snail to open the shell a bit, because it was so dark. The snail cracked open the mouth of the clam, and it became the moon shedding some light in the pure darkness.Another snail came to help the spider push the top of the clam's shell open further, and the sky was created, (and referred to as goddess Rangi). The spider then pushed open on the bottom of the shell, and the earth was reated, (referred to as a god, Papa). This is one version of the story that it told throughout Oceania. The other version of this s tory tells that a ‘supreme deity (Usually Po or 10) creates everything. Both versions however tell that Papa and Rangi create plants and animals, and â€Å"Papa Earth was a goddess, and Rangi Sky, a god, sister and brother. They cohabited and produced the first ancestors of all mankind† (pantheon).Mote-Yale In some islands in Oceania, a story tells that the earth was created after a rock fell into the sea, while other regions believe that a butterfly created earth from the sea. The stories vary due to location. For instance, in Tahitian mythology, the supreme creator deity was Ta'aroa who was born from a ‘cosmic egg'. He filled the world with all the creatures and things that are now found in it. Some Tahitians believed in Ta'aro granting supreme miracles, yet also being reason terrible things happen on Most islands located in Oceania however, base their mythology off of the same Gods.Haumia god of plants and vegetables, Tane god of forests, Tu god of war, Lono go d of heavens, and Pele god of fire are Just a few that reoccur throughout the history of Ocani'as mythology. (Mythencyclopedia). It seems to be a pattern that the civilizations near the ocean have creation myths all involving the sea. Just as areas with lots of snow would have legends regarding snow, and places with lots of trees would have tales about nature. Goddess, Rangi (ssqq) Moving onto different islands of Polynesia, the small islands of Samoa have many tales that provide morals and lessons to everyday life, including ‘The Tree of Life' (nzetc. ictoria. ac. nz). The story follows a Samoan woman Leutogitupaitea who marries Mote-Yale the king of Tonga. The Tongan king was previously married to a Tonagan woman, and they had a child together. The kings new wife was unable to conceive, and in a jealous rage murdered the baby. The kings Tongan wife came to realize what happened, and later the king was informed. â€Å"The King on being informed of the happening ordered the p eople to gather firewood and to burn the woman who had killed his child. He ordered her to be placed in the fork of a Fetau tree and the wood to be piled high round the tree.This was done and the fire lighted. The flames ascended and the woman was about to be consumed when thousands of flying foxes flew ver the fire and urinating on it extinguished the flames. The King then decided that the woman's life would be spared and he said, â€Å"this tree shall be called the Fork of Life, for a woman's life was saved on it. † I give back the woman her life, but she shall be taken to a desert Island and left there† (nzetc. victoria. ac. nz) Another tale told in Samoan culture is the The Long Toothed Devil of Falelima.People of Falelima, a small village in Samoa, told stories of a ‘devil' with long pointy teeth. The story tells that the devil (Nifoloa) died and that his teeth continued to grow and ventually grew into the near Island of Upolu. People were apparently bitten b y them as they continued to grow. The people all had strange sores that seemed to disappear after a while. These people who were ‘bitten' were referred to as â€Å"Nifoloa† (nzetc. victoria. ac. nz). Additionally, the people of Samoa tell a story about fire being brought to the islands.According to the ledged, there was a long period of time in Soma's history where there was no fire (hem. passagen. se). Ti'eti'e, an orphaned boy made the discovery of fire on the island inside of a cave where the earthquake god, Mafui'e resided. He had discovered the fire when stumbling across Mafui'e roasting a hog and stealing some him, Ti'eti'e grasped him by the arm with such strength that it twisted off! mLet me go! † he cried. â€Å"Let me go and I will give you my hundred wives. â€Å"0 â€Å"l don't want your wives,† Ti'eti'e responded. l want some fire. Let me take it with me or I'll twist your other arm â€Å"Take it! † answered Mafui'e, giving in. â€Å" If it goes out, you can rekindle it by rubbing two pieces of wood together. â€Å"‘ (hem. passagen. se) In the Far East region of Polynesia, Easter Island harvests many mysteries to the orld today. The island is almost midway between Chile and Tahiti, and discovered to be almost entirely made of volcanic rock (crystalinks). On the island, many stone statues/fgures (Moat) can be seen along the coastlines and in completely empty land.The Moat figures are usually what people associate with Easter Island. The Rapa Nuis people (natives to the island) carved them thousands of years ago (wikipedia). The fgures were often carved to honor a god or ancestor, and they served as a status symbol (wikipedia). â€Å"It was believed that the living had a symbiotic elationship with the dead where the dead provided everything that the living needed (health, fertility of land and animals, fortune etc. ) and the living through offerings provided the dead with a better place in the spirit world. (wikipedia) Easter Island Moat statues (deitchman)On the mysterious land, the origin of Easter Island is supposedly the Legend of Hotu Matua (crystalinks). According to the story, Hotu Matua was the first settler to Easter Island. Hotu Matua traveled to the island on a canoe with a colonizing party and made the island his kingdom, with his sons preceding him (wikipedia). The island was ruled for 1000 years by Matua's descendants, until Dutch explorers found the land in 1722 and claimed it for themselves, as white people usually do (wikipedia). There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend as well as the date of settlement. Published literature suggests the island was settled around 300-400 CE, or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest settlers in Hawaiim (wikipedia). As far as deities and gods of the Rapa Nuis' culture, the most powerful and prominent is the Make-Make god. â€Å"On Rapanui (Easter Island) people believed in a ariety of god or Ã¢â‚¬Ë œatua', most prominent among the ‘atua' was the Creator God, Make- the creator of life to the Rapa Nuis people.His followers worshipped him through sea birds, because they believed his soul was reincarnated into them (astrology. richardbrown). His symbol was a man with bird like features, and he can be seen carved into various Moat on the island. Make-make's symbol carved onto volcanic rock in Easter Island. In Melanesia, Just north of New Zealand, the islands of Fiji were formed through volcanic activity that began 150 million years ago (wikipedia). â€Å"Oral story-telling is a opular and important pastime in Fiji that helps to keep alive the myths from the old religion, as well as legends about more modern fgures in Fiji's history' (go-flJi).One of the most told Fijian myth is their creation myth. A snake god, Degei had only a hawk as a friend. One day the hawk disappears and Degei becomes very lonely. He goes out in search for his friend, and comes across her bird's nest. There were two abandoned eggs left alone in the nest, so Degei took them to raise as his own. After weeks of nesting, the eggs finally hatched. To Degei's surprise, not two bird, but two humans emerged from the eggs. Degei raised the humans, grew vegetation in order to feed them and told them stories that revealed the nature of all things† (go-flJi).Later, whilst swimming in the ocean Degei stumbled across a tiny piece of land and created the village of Viseisei for the humans. This is believed to be the first Fijian settlement. He then creates the surrounding islands of Viti Levu, where he still remains in a cave. Degei waits in his cave for other souls to pass through, and he will either send them to paradise or into a deep dark lake to await punishment (go-flJi). Snake God Degei (Indianweekender) Aside from its sweet tales of creation, Fiji also has a bit of a dark past.The island was flooded with cannibalistic tribes in the mid-nineteenth century, most notoriously Ratu Ud re Udre's (go-flJi). He notably continued the practice cannibalism through Fiji's ceding to Great Britain, and ate nearly 900 people. The legends tell that after Udre Udre had been killed and buried, he had 872 stones placed around his tomb representing all of the people he had eaten. In conclusion, the Oceanic world is a complex one. With rich and diverse cultures thriving in tiny islands only miles away from one another. The archipelagos in Polynesia have mostly the same tales of creation, and the same gods.Melanesia compares greatly to Polynesian culture, with a few exceptions. With these shared beliefs and traditions, Oceanic life has united culture and history. The stories and legends of Fiji, Easter Island, Tahiti and Samoa are perhaps rarely ever passed onto other regions because of their location. These islands are almost isolated from the rest of world, so how could stories travel so far over thousands of miles of ocean? Other areas of the world also do not share much in co mmon with these islands like rt and weather, which makes their stories not relatable.But maybe, it's for the better. If there were no diversity and culture in the world, there would be no point of different continents. It would be almost like Pangaea all over again. Different languages, foods, clothing, weather, technology, and architecture are what keeps the world so interesting and worth living in. If we already knew everything life had in store for us,