Jazz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Jazz - Essay Example Wild is a unique woman who exhibits several literary features of a character known as Beloved in a previous novel. The similarity in the features of the two character is a strategy that the author uses to provide solutions to the problems he leaves unresolved in the previous novel as discussed in the essay below. Suspense is an artistic style employed by authors to sustain readership. It refers to a manner of developing a conflict and leaving it unresolved with a promise to resolve it in the next episode. Most authors address numerous conflicts in their storyline. They introduce multiple conflicts in a single chapter and leave them unresolved. The desire to determine the solution to the conflicts motivates the audience to continue reading to the next chapters. Morrison employs the strategy on a different scale as he uses the technique to join two separate novels. He uses hypothetical features of the character in the first novel, Beloved is an equally unique woman with most of her features such as the weird color of her skin resembling the color of Wild in the Jazz. Morrison refers to Wild’s skin color as coal black’ (Morrison 171]), this provides an outright connection with the first novel in which a female character entitled Beloved exists and performs mystical roles. The mystic nature of Beloved is similar to the nature of Wild in Jazz. The name Wild is appropriate since the woman disappears to the wild soon after giving birth to her son. She is therefore a wild woman whom the rest of the characters in the novel do not understand. Beloved was a spirit in the previous novel, she was equally unknown to the rest of the characters in the novel with most of the characters interacting with her only in their dreams. The similarity in their roles and features is a means the author uses to provide some of the soliloquies that audience may hold while reading the first novel. By portraying Wild as an actual character in Jazz, the author provides the audience

Satisfy job Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Satisfy job - Essay Example You end up doing the same thing over again and again, and it eventually makes you bored about your job. As a result, your interest in the job starts to disappear and you feel that you cannot be there anymore. While money is a major contributor to job satisfaction, there are many other things that are of similar importance. For many people the main purpose of work is to earn money. It is difficult to imagine life without money, because everything has its own exchange value which money is needed to pay. Payday is the happiest of days in these workers’ calendars. People receive remuneration for the time and effort dedicated to their work. Moreover, it becomes even more pleasant if there is a bonus for good performance or for the amount of work done, as then at least a person can feel appreciated. If a person runs their own business, they are oftentimes satisfied with their work if it has regular profit. If people are paid less than what they think they can get, it makes them upset with their work and discourages their motivation for better performance. For instance, my friend’s coworker always complains about her salary, which is not equal to her ten years of working experience and professional performance. No matter how well and how fast she can finish her duties, she still gets the same a mount of salary. As a result, she becomes lazy on the job. She takes personal phone calls during work hours, and she even once stayed in the bathroom doing her nail polish until everyone could smell the chemical odor from the paint. It is all because she barely gets her salary increased and never receives a bonus for good performance. It is true that a person is not happy when they do not have what they deserve. That is why people who get more money at work are usually more satisfied. The situation is made even worse if no opportunity for a

Gaming in Education

Gaming in Education EDUCATION RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The effectiveness of game playing activities helps students retain English vocabulary CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Vocabulary is a key element in the second language class. Without vocabulary, no message is conveyed. In communication, vocabulary plays an important role, it requires learners have to acquire many of the words and know how to use them to communicate effectively. Although Vietnamese students realize the importance of learning vocabulary, they neglect in some English courses. In a vocabulary lesson, a vast amount of teaching time is consumed by explanation and definition, classroom blackboards are often littered with masses of new lexical items, and students compile page upon page of word-lists that they rarely have chance to practice. Obviously, vocabulary arises in the classroom regardless of the chosen activity, and in spite of any conscious design on the teachers part. As the result, most students, not just those with learning problems, rarely retain the meaning of vocabulary items. That is why, for most students, learning vocabulary in language lessons is time of failure and disappointment in which they gradually feel boring, often resorting to misbehavior in the classroom and a gradual rejection of the work that the teacher is doing for them. Nguyen Khuat (2003) state that students study the second language, vocabulary learning is regar ded as boring because of remembering unfamiliar vocabulary and their learning habits. With the increasing emphasis on vocabulary in foreign learning, nowadays, various vocabulary teaching methods have been introduced to help students to retain vocabulary items. And it is my experience, as a teacher of English, that vocabulary has to be presented in a way that helps students find language lessons, especially vocabulary lessons more interesting and comprehensible for them to learn, I have chosen the topic: The effectiveness of game playing activities helps students retain English vocabulary. Game playing activities not only can help reinforce students vocabulary, grammar, but also can create a non- stressful and effective learning atmosphere. This paper will aim to investigate the effectiveness of game playing activities in English teaching in my College. 1.1. Background of the school and the students. As a teacher of English for non-major English students at Viet Hung Industrial College (VIC), I can clearly see the present situation of students English knowledge and vocabulary at VIC. The students ability to use English for communication is still limited. This is due to: the students level of English when entering college is low and of mixed ability. Many of the students come from the rural areas, they did not have a lot of chances to practice English at the high school. Some of them have learnt English for the three years or seven years at the high school where only written English is taught. Therefore, they can hardly ever communicate in English. They often feel shy because of poor English knowledge and vocabulary. As a result, the teachers often find it confusing to teach to improve individual skills for the students. Thus, my school has used basic material to teach, that is: New English File Elementary. This material integrates four skills, it helps students revise knowledge and practice skills, which is important to their career. 1.2. The aims of the study. The study aims to investigate the effect of using game playing activities in teaching and learning English vocabulary at VIC. It is also to find out the students interest and progress toward game playing activities in lessons. 1.3. Research questions. 1. Are game playing activities effective in teaching and learning English vocabulary at Viet Hung Industrial College? 2. How do the students react upon the use of games in lessons? 1.4. The scope of the study. There are a lot of activities that help students to retain vocabulary. However, in this study I would focus my research on game playing activities in term of English vocabulary teaching and learning in order to help students at VIC to learn vocabulary effectively. 1.5. The significance of the study. It is hoped that the findings of the study will be useful for the researcher as well as other teachers at VIC to help students vocabulary retention be effective. It is also hoped that students and teachers will have a good habit of using interesting and active activities in teaching and learning vocabulary at VIC. 1.6. Structure of the report. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Teaching and learning vocabulary. 2.1.1. What do learners need to known about words and word learning? Gain Redman (1986) show that learners should attend to two large aspects when studying a word: Word meaning (conceptual and affective meaning, style, sense relation, collocation, idioms etc). Word formation (grammar, word building, and pronunciation). For word meaning and word formation, we find: 2.1.1.1. Word meaning. In teaching the meaning of word, teachers should teach students that a word have more than one meaning when used in different contexts. For example, the word â€Å"string† has at least fourteen different meanings when used in context. It has four meanings as a verb, five meanings as a noun, and five different meanings when used with prepositions as phrasal verbs. One can say â€Å"The string is very dirty†; another â€Å"He strings in the tree†. Teachers should make the teaching and learning vocabulary process clear and easy for their students when learning any meaning, otherwise students feel bored with learning vocabulary. Nation (1990) suggests that teachers teach meaning to students, they can use techniques and activities to motivate students such as: demonstration, pictures or verbal explanation. 2.1.1.2. Word formation. Students also need to know word form like word grammar and word building in order to use them. For example, for the common prefixes and suffixes, if students know the meaning of un-, dis- and able, this will help them guess the meanings of words like unhappy, disadvantage and sustainable. Another way, vocabulary items are built by combining two words (two nouns, a gerund and a noun, or a noun and a verb) to make one items: a single compound word, or two separate, sometimes hyphenated words (bookshelf, stand-by, air letter). Lewis (1993) points out that vocabulary, which includes not only the single words but also the word combinations that we store in our mental lexicons. Therefore, word formation is a very important in teaching vocabulary. In conclusion, relating to words students have to attend to variety of lexical areas such as word meaning, word formation, word grammar and word use, etc. However, which of these areas the teachers choose to highlight depend on the item they are teaching and the level of their students But to whatever word or what level the students are, word meaning and word formation are the first two areas they must acquire well. 2.2. Games for teaching and learning. Linguists, teachers and students think that language games are a negative activity or a waste of time. Many of them, who have not tried using language games yet, still doubt if these language games would be useful or practically possible with their students. However, there are views which are far different from those above. For them, in teaching and learning, games are one of the most useful strategies to encourage language acquisition. They have been used to promote students language proficiency in variety of aspects: grammar, vocabulary, writing, speaking etc. â€Å"Games should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when teacher and class have nothing better to do† (Lee 1979: 3). In this part, we will explore a clear understanding of game in the classroom. 2.2.1. Definition of games in teaching. In order to understand the concept of games in teaching, we see ideas of the researchers about games in general. Deesri (2002) gives the definition to game as one kind of effective activity that you do to have fun. Hadfield (1990) says that game is a language activity with the rules, goals and elements of fun carried out by cooperating and competing players. Greenal (1990) also defines games as an element of competition between students or teams in the language practice. Thus, we can see that games consist of plays governed by rules, relaxation, cooperation and competition. Games can motivate the students to focus on learning, because they do not feel forced and stressed. For this, games are used for developing skills, vocabulary, or grammar, etc. 2.2.2. Advantages of using games in language classes. Games have advantages and effectiveness in the language classes. What are these advantages? Games are used to motivate students very highly, whenever they have opportunity to play a game, they are encouraged to choose their players and this motivates them to participle in playing game. However, sometimes, choosing the player is made by the teacher in order to help the weaker students interact with the more able ones. As a result, the weaker students are helped to gain confidence or knowledge by being guided by their fellow students. Games are also an element of competition between players. According to Saricoban Metin (2000), games provide competition to enhance the motivation of the students. I-Jung (2005) also suggests that games create the competition for students having opportunity to work together and communicate using English with each other. Thus, competition will help students pay attention to learning and engage in the activities in the class much more. And Nguyen Khuat (2003) also point out that games involve friendly competition and they make students intereste d. These help the motivation for students of English to get involved and participate actively in learning. Students always feel tired of grammatical lessons, words and long time learning periods. Games are used to change learning atmosphere to help students reduce the stress in the classroom. As a result, games will bring students fun and relaxation, they will study more effectively. Richard-Amato (1988:147) shows that â€Å"games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition more likely†. It is clear that students naturally want to play language games because these games can help them practice their language through playing. Therefore, it is the right time to offer them a game when they are tired of acquiring new lessons that they do not want to continue. Carrier (1990) suggests that games can be used to emphasize long formal teaching units and renew students energy before returning to more formal learning. Games stimulate students to work together in role-playing, talking, arguing and debating, and using the language in a variety of contexts. Even when played competitively, games demand a high degree of cooperation. It proves that student-student communication is created. On the other hand, when using a game, the teacher acts as a helper. He helps his students what they need to complete the games, such as: new words, new structures or some suggestions. Carrier(1990) claims that games are often used in the classroom to encourage students participation and corporation and can remove the inhibitions of those who feel intimidated by formal classroom situations. When using games with classmates in groups students do not worry too much about mistakes or they will be corrected by other students. In addition, to each game more proficient students or less proficient ones have their strong points so they can corporate to one another to get their teams goal. Therefore, games help students improv e their team-working and group-working spirit. Finally, games help increase students proficiency, so when students play a game they have to work with others, they interact and use skills concerning language. To complete the game, all the members work together to score as many points as possible. To win the game or to solve the problem, students have to think and answer the questions addressed by the teacher or other students. In order to do so they must understand that the teacher or the classmates order to practice. Games in the language classes can enhance students ability in practicing language because students can use language in the situation provided (Deesri, 2002). Zdybiewska (1994) agrees that games are the good way to practice language, they supply for learners to use the language in the real context. Kim (1995:35) summarizes the advantages of using language games as follows: 1. Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class. 2. They are motivating and challenging. 3. Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning. 4. Games provide language practice in the various skills-speaking, writing, listening and reading. 5. They encourage students to interact and communicate. 6. They create a meaningful context for language use. 2.2.3. Advantages of Vocabulary Games It is not enough if only advantages of using games in language classes are considered in this study. I have decided to study the advantages of vocabulary games, too. These advantages can be understood as follows: Vocabulary games make fun and relaxation for students in learning words because they are not alone in learning process, they are learning in exciting atmosphere of groups. This activity motivates students to enrich their vocabulary. Nguyen Khuat (2003) also affirm that games create relaxed and fun atmosphere for learners, thus, they help learners learn and remember words more easily. According to Urberman (1998), after learning and practicing vocabulary items, students have chance to use language in an unstressed way. Vocabulary games help English used in the classroom be flexible and communicative through real world context which is useful and meaningful. Frost (2002) says that using pictures, interesting contexts and stories can help memory and giving the students the opportunity to practice the new vocabulary in personalized and meaning tasks are also essential tools. The idea is that if the students are asked to analyze and react personally to new information, it will help them process the language more deeply, facilitating their ability to retain it better. Vocabulary games provide students some chances to discover the meaning of words and the form of words by themselves and efforts to understand them, therefore, new words will be remembered and understood much faster and better. Hadfield (1990) states that when introducing word games paid much attention to reinforce vocabulary. In his opinion, to retain a word in one memory after presentation of it, learners should go through three distinct processes: fixing the meaning of the word in their mind, making the word their own by personalizing it so that it takes on a color and a character for them and become part of their individual word store, and then using it creatively in a context for themselves. Therefore, he classified the games in accordance with these processes: memorization games, personalizing games and communication games. Vocabulary games include many encouraging exercises that really help students revise the learned words effectively. â€Å"Word games are useful for practicing and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced† (Haycraft 1978: 50). Frost (2002) suggests that some activities and games as using word cards, word bag, word tour, etc and with which students can revise words in a funny and meaningful ways. He emphasized that by encouraging the students to retrieve the words in subsequent lessons and repeatedly re-exposing them to what has been presented, teachers are able to counteract the effects of forgetting. Teachers are advised to do this as many times as possible. Uberman (1998) also agrees that games are useful for revising any types of words or aspects of word in a more amusing way than most of the other techniques. Playing a game is a great opportunity to repeat the material in a way which is encouraging and not intimidating. Therefore, games in teaching and learning vocabulary are very useful in the classroom and the use of vocabulary games is a factor to create the lessons more enjoyable, interesting and effective to motivate students to learn vocabulary. 2.2.4. When to use games? Games are necessary for language practice opportunities for both general and specific language skills, and they should be seen as a necessary part of a teaching program, and their use should be planned and monitored. Carrier (1990) suggests that games can be used to open or close a lesson, to relieve tension after a test or concentrated practiced session. Rixon (1981) also shows that games can be used for stages of the lesson. Thus, games can be use at any time that the teacher feels appropriate. It is important they are used positively, to give students enjoyment and useful practice, as well as being used as a thing that reduces harmful aspects in situations where students interest or motivation is flagging. Although games should be used regularly, this should not become a meaningless habit. The elements of surprise and variety should be carefully maintained. However, the mount of teaching time for games will depend on the individual teaching context, but it will probably be a relatively small proportion of the total teaching time. According to Deesri (2002), teachers have to cover contents and materials that the curriculum asks, and it is difficult to combine games into the class. Nevertheless, games become one of the means to achieve teaching objectives and improve students communicated ability and help them gain their goals. The difficult task for a teacher is how to choose the suitable type of game, the time devoted to it, and the opportunity of using it. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY This chapter provides readers the detailed description of the study, namely the research methodology, the data collection instruments, the data analysis and discussion of the findings. 3.1. The English teaching and learning situations in VIC. English have been taught in VIC for.years, however, English department has been formed for 4 years with 14 teachers. The learners in VIC are mainly vocational students; their need of English learning is very low. In particular, the students of technical departments with about 100 percent male students, they almost have no interest in learning foreign languages. In recent years with the development of the college, VIC has trained a lot of students in tourism and business administration, who with high need of English learning. It is a good signal for the college in general and the teachers of English in particular. The course book is being used in the college is New English file-Elementary. This course book consists of nine lessons with grammar structures, vocabulary, pronunciation, and skills to get students speaking English. A curriculum has been designed to teach the units in the course book in 1 semester and in 75 lesson periods. During the semester, students are required to do three tests that concentrate on grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing to be given marks. At the end of the semester students have to do the written final semester test and the speaking test that of course given marks to be qualified together with 3 marks mentioned above. 3.2. Research methodology 3.2.1. The subjects. The subjects in this study were the teachers and the students in VIC. 3.2.1.1. The teachers: There were 14 teacher subjects in this study. They were all trained in universities in Vietnam with MA in English. Among of these, two teachers have had BA and three have been doing a BA course. They are teaching English to non-English major learners at VIC. They are from 30 to 52 years old with at least 5 years of teaching experience. 3.2.1.2. The students: In this study, there are 100 student subjects were selected randomly from different classes represent different departments in VIC. Their ages vary from 18 to 25. 3.2.2. The instrumentation. 3.2.2.1. Interview: The interview questions (Appendix.) were formatted and used for all the subjects in two separate group interviews (the group of the teachers and the group of the students) to discover their opinions, problems and progress toward the games in vocabulary teaching and learning. 3.2.2.2. Observation: 3.2.2.2.1. A self-observation: A self-observation checklist was created (Appendix.) to ask the teachers and students about their teaching and learning abilities. 3.2.2.2.2. Real observation: The researcher observed the classes of three teachers at VIC to discover how they teach vocabulary and how their students learn. 3.3. Data analysis and discussion of the findings. CHAPTER 4: CONCUSION 4.1. Summary and review of the main findings Games have much more advantages, they are used both entertainment and educational purposes. Using game activities is a useful technique in teaching and learning the English language to non-native students because it creates fun, interesting and motivation in lessons. The research aims to investigate the effectiveness of game activities and the real situation of teaching and learning of Viet Hung Industrial College. The experiment was carried out with the participation of two groups (the group of the teachers and the group of the students) at VIC during a period of 8 weeks. An interview and observations were used as data collection instrument. The result of the experiment shows that in retaining vocabulary, games are the most effective and games also receive positive attitude from the students in the experimental group. Although few students did not really like games, the majority of the students agreed with the use of games in vocabulary classes. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that games should be used for vocabulary teaching and learning at VIC because they can bring about a great deal of benefits to learners. However, the teachers have to pay more attention to some unanticipated problems during the conduction of the activity in order to get successful results. 4.2. Limitation and suggestions for further study. Although the paper has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, the research can not avoid some limitations. The shortcomings of the present study are essentially about the subject of the study and the content of interview and observations. Apart from that the interview and observations focus mainly on the investigation into games activities based on teaching techniques, so there are possible inadequateness of their content. Besides, the research is carried out in a very limited scope in term of classroom based vocabulary teaching and learning: game activities that help students retain vocabulary. In fact, there are a number of activities that help students of all level retain vocabulary. The research will serves for further research on activities that help students retain vocabulary. REFERENCES I-Jung, C. (2005). Using Games to Promote Communicative Skills in Language Learning. The Internet TESL Journal, 11(2). Retrieved November 5, 2009, from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Chen-Games.html Frost, R. (2002). Presenting vocabulary. British Council. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/vocabulary/present_vocab.shtml Uberman, A. (1998). The Use of Games: for Vocabulary Presentation and Revision. English Teaching Forum, 36(1). Retrieved November 5, 2009, from http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol36/no1/p20.htm Richar-Amato, P. A. (1988). Making it happen. New York. Longman. Saricoban, A,. Metin, E. (2000). Songs, Verse and Games for teaching Grammar. The Internet TESL Journal, 6(10). Retrieved October 30, 2009, from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Sarecoban-Song.html Greenal, S. (1990). Language Games and Activities. Hulton Education Publications Ltd. Hadfield, J. (1990). Intermediate Communication Games. Hongkong: Longman. Rixon, S. (1981). How to use games in language teaching. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Lee, W. R. (1979). Language teaching games and contests. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Haycraft, J. (1978). An introduction to English Language Teaching. Halow: Longman. Zdybiewska, M. (1994). One-hundred language games. Warszawa: WSiP. Deesri, A. (2002). Games in the ESL and EFL class. The internet TESL Journal, 8(9). Retrieved October 15, 2009, from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Deesri-Games.html Kim, L. S. (1995). Creative Games for the Language Class. 33(1), (p.35). Retrieved October 22, 2009, from http://eca.state.gov/forum/vols/vol33/no1/P35.htm Lewis, M. (1993). The Lexical Approach. Language Teaching Publications. Gairn, R., Redman, S. (1986). Working with words A Guide to teaching and learning Vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nation, ISP. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. New York: Newbury House. Nguyen, T. T. H. Khuat, T. T. N. (2003). The Effectiveness of Learning Vocabulary Through Games, Asian EFL Journal, 5(4). Retrieved October 19, 2009, from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/dec_03_sub.Vn.php

othello :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women in Othello are very profound. They are very dependent on their men. During the 16th Century, women were traditional and accustomed to being submissive to their men/husband. Desdemona secretly married Othello a â€Å"Moor† (a black man). She is devoted to her husband, and respects and obeys his wishes. Even though Othello can be cruel to Desdemona, his wife Desdemona responds to her husband in a way that she gets her point across, and still respects Othello. Women during the 16th century were not highly honored by men. During that time women in Othello were very dependent on men.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Desdemona father has learned that she has married Othello. Her father Senator Brabinto is very furious. Desdemona has come to confront her father: â€Å"How to respect you. You are the Lord of duty; I am hitherto your daughter. But he’s my husband, and you, preferring you before her father, So much I challenge that I may profess. Due to the Moor my Lord†(lit.act1sceneIII v186-91) Desdemona is saying she loves and respects her father the same as her mother did, but she also respects her husband, and will stand by Othello.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emilia’s is the wife of Iago. Emilia is cynical, and a worldly woman. She speaks as though she understands and knows men very well. To Emilia men are callous and betraying. They want whatever they can not have, and what they have they do not want. Her relationship with her husband is unworthy. Iago lies and will do anything to get what he wants. Emilia is asked by her husband to steal a handkerchief of her mistress (a maid), Desdemona. Emilia refuses to do such a thing. She love Desdemona and would never hurt her. Coincidently Emilia found the handkerchief lying on the floor. She surprised Iago with the handkerchief, and he is well pleased. Emilia’s regard for Othello is unpleasant. She realizes that Othello is very jealous towards Desdemona, his wife, and she does not like how he speaks to Desdemona.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Is he not jealous† (lit act III scene1 v 22) â€Å"‘Tis not a year or two show us a man. They are but stomach, and we all but food; they eat us hungerly; and when they are full they belch us† (act III scene4 v 99-102) Emilia is stating that when men bellies are full and they had enough to eat they move on to the next meal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bianca, a very fair looking woman, and is only mentioned in small detail.

Compare and Contrast US and Canada Capital Cities Essay

Washington dc and Ottawa share much in common in terms of geography, but they have also taken divergent paths in terms of history and culture. Originally inhabited by Native Americans, both were colonized by Europeans and later developed into two independent capitals. By 1500s, the European’s migration to North America had begun CITATION Swe02 l 1033 (Swerdlow, 2002). Europeans came to North America in search of land, valuable minerals, religious and political freedom. The European migrants came from England, France, and Spain, where they settled in colonies. Washington dc was founded on rebellion and the cult of seeking independence while Ottawa was formed through consensus among the public servants CITATION Mil11 l 1033 (Miller, 2011). While both cities share similar histories with regard to their former colonizers the British monarch, they bear divergent attitudes towards their formers colonizers. In the year 1763, France was forced to abandon most of its North American territory to the British Empire, which was a union of Scotland and England. Conflicts arose between the Native Americans and the colonial settlers as they sought to occupy the land. Most Native Americans were pushed out of their lands and their culture was nearly destroyed as a result of the conflict CITATION Bar13 l 1033 (Barret, 2013). When the British government imposed new taxes and restriction on the freedoms of Native Americans in 1760s, all the thirteen British colonies were angered and they fought against the British to attain independence. The result was a new independent country, the United States of America. Most Americans rejected the British monarchy and set up a republic, a type of government whereby people could elect their own leaders, including the head of states. Consequently, they elected George Washington as their first president CITATION For10 l 1033 (Forsey, 2010). As some American colonists did not wish to break ties with the British monarch, they sought to leave the newly formed country. Over hundred thousand people known as the loyalist moved out of the United States and settled in the French populated regions of Quebec, which was controlled by the British monarch. In the early 1800s, French and English speaking communities in the British North America were in constant conflict over the colonial government policies CITATION Mil11 l 1033 (Miller, 2011). However, they were soon brought together due to fears of a takeover by the United States. In the year 1867, four of the colonies – Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova scout- united under Prime Minister A. MacDonald, to from the united provinces of the dominion of Canada. This was a new country under the British Empire. Other neighboring areas such as British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, also become provinces of Canada CITATION For10 l 1033 (Forsey, 2010). Nowadays, Canada encompasses the ten provinces and another three territories, the Nunavut, the Yukon Territory and the North West territories. Currently, both the governments run from Ottawa and Washington dc are democracies with federal systems, whereby the national governments share power with provinces or the state governments CITATION Bel11 l 1033 (Belanger, 2011). However, the United States governments tends to tilt more towards democracy while Canada is more conservative. Indeed, the United States has been amending laws in accordance to the democratic rights of its citizens. This has been had been a strategy stated back in 1787, the united states leaders wanted to create a strong national government whilst preserving the structures individual states and citizens CITATION Bel11 l 1033 (Belanger, 2011). Therefore, a plan called the constitutional amendments was drafted so that the constitution could be adjusted to conform to the countries changing needs. The first ten amendments were known as the bill of rights, and they guaranteed the citizens fundamental rights, such as the freedoms of religion, speech and press. Canada, on the other hand, was formed as a dominion, which was essentially a self-governing country with close links with the British monarch. Ottawa gained full independence from the British Empire in 1931, but the British governments still held the rights to approve any changes made to the constitution of Canada CITATION For10 l 1033 (Forsey, 2010). It was not until 1982 that this legislative link to the British government was severed. During its founding, Canada had a strong central government, with very little powers shred to the individual provinces. However, over the years, the powers given to the provinces has significantly increased CITATION For10 l 1033 (Forsey, 2010). The form of government in Ottawa is a constitutional monarch. The executive arm of the Canadian government encompasses the governor general, the prime minister and the cabinet CITATION Bar13 l 1033 (Barret, 2013). In this government, the British monarch is still acts as the head of state. Additionally, the British monarch appoints the governor general in order to act in his or her place. The national legislature is known as the parliament, and it is made up of the senate and the House of Commons. The prime minister is the leaders of the majority political party in the parliament and serves as the actual head of government. The supreme court of Canada is composed of nine judges, and it is the country’s highest court CITATION Bar13 l 1033 (Barret, 2013). On the other hand, the government in Washington is made up of three branches; the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. The executive arm of the government encompasses the president, the vice president, and all the executive departments that control various division of the federal government CITATION Swe02 l 1033 (Swerdlow, 2002). The president’s cabinet is made up of the heads of these departments. They also double up as special advisors. Elected state representatives makeup the senate and the House of Representatives. The senate and House of Representatives make up the legislative branch of the government. Meanwhile, the judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. While English is the official language and the main language in Washington dc, Ottawa has both English and French as the two official languages. Due to the immigration of people from all various parts of the world to Canada and the United States, there are other languages used, albeit in the few minority ethnicities CITATION Mil11 l 1033 (Miller, 2011). The immigrants from Great Britain came with the English language to United States and most parts of Canada. However, in some Canadian provinces such as Quebec and cities such as Ontario and Ottawa, French is included as the official language since some of the provinces population is made up descendants of French settlers who had arrived there between 1500s and 1700s CITATION Bar13 l 1033 (Barret, 2013). Since the French-speaking Canadians in the city wanted more protection for their culture and language, they sought to for the recognition and use of French language as part of the official language in Ottawa. Although both cities have a number of differences as mentioned above, they also exhibit several similarities. Firstly, Both Ottawa and Washington dc are capital cities of Canada and the United States respectively. Unlike other capitals such as London, Tokyo or Mexico City, both are not the unrivaled centers of gravity of their respective countries CITATION Bar13 l 1033 (Barret, 2013). Fundamentally, both are political capitals and not cultural or economic capital cities. They are both government cities and not megacities. However, they both manage to maintain a cosmopolitan atmosphere and a profile of much bigger proportions than their own size. In addition, neither of them were their countries initial capitals. Although they both have neighborhoods that were formerly colonial towns, the two cities developed around national politics and for most of the time, the government was at the center of everything CITATION Swe02 l 1033 (Swerdlow, 2002). Both Ottawa and Washington dc exemplify a distinguishing North American federal urbanism. While both cities have a population of less than a million, they have several monuments, museums and embassies CITATION Swe02 l 1033 (Swerdlow, 2002). Tourist visit both cities to experience the historical foundations of the two North American countries, Canada, and the United States. Both Ottawa and Washington dc are filled with stylish Victorian houses and neoclassical public buildings. Additionally, they both have several impressively designed office blocks. For instance, Ottawa has a bureaucratic brutalist wonderland while in Washington dc there is the J. Edgar Hoover building at the pentagon’s scale CITATION Bel11 l 1033 (Belanger, 2011). The two cities have adopted approach to urban development that is centered on housing and amenities targeted to the professional classes, causing a wave of growth that has boosted a renaissance of downtown livability. Washington dc and Ottawa have a similar educational system. This includes a network of both public and private schools. Both cities have compulsory education requirements. In addition, the Canadian provinces and the United States have a 12-grade school system. There are universities and colleges in both cities. In terms of the rate of literacy, both the US and Canada have literacy rate of 97 percent CITATION Bar13 l 1033 (Barret, 2013). The cultural influences of the United States and Canada, which are headquartered in Washington dc and Ottawa respectively, is strongest in the discipline of popular entertainment. Indeed, both the United States and Canada have had a profound impact throughout the world through their popular culture CITATION Bel11 l 1033 (Belanger, 2011). In the 1900s, the US was the world’s most dominant source of entertainment and trendy fashion, ranging from the t- shirts and the jeans to the television programs, movies and rock stars. Even nowadays, Hollywood has become synonymous with the film industry. On its part, the Canada film industry which receives backing from Ottawa, is renowned for its shakes hers festivals that are held annually in Ontario. Therefore, the entertainment cultures in both cities has greatly shaped and influenced the entertainment industry thought the world CITATION Bar13 l 1033 (Barret, 2013). Being the citizens of two of the world’s wealthiest capital cities, people in both Ottawa and Washington dc enjoy a high standard of living. Due to their socioeconomic status or their level of educational income, the citizens of both cities have an advantage over the personal opportunities and choices. Due to the support systems in place that ensure agricultural surplus in both the United States and Canada, foods are fairly inexpensive. The housing varies considerably depending on the needs of families and individuals CITATION Bel11 l 1033 (Belanger, 2011). They range from suburban houses to multifamily row houses to high rise apartments. References   Barret, M. (2013). Interculturalism and multiculturalism: similarities and differences. London: Council of Europe. Belanger, D.-C. (2011). Prejudice and Pride: Canadian Intellectuals Confront the United States, 1891-1945. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Forsey, E. A. (2010). How Canadians govern themselves. Ottawa: Library of Parliament. Miller, K. (2011). FOLLOWING THE AMERICAN LEAD: CANADA’S DIPLOMACY. Wellington: Heritage. Swerdlow, J. L. (2002). The cultural geography of the united states and Canada. New York: National Geographic. Source document

Driving Force of Regionalism Essay

To what extent and in what ways have the driving forces of regionalism in South-east Asia changed since the end of the Cold War? Regionalism has become a trend in many regions of the world. Among them, Europe, North America and Asia (Asia Pacific region) are crucial ones. Some observers argue that the world order have been divided between these three regions with the existence of the European Union (EU), the North American Free trade Agreement (NFTA) and The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This divergent part of the world requires comprehensive realization to make sense of how they have developed throughout history. In particular, writing the history of Southeast Asia remains a challenge as it involves the understanding of ‘societies that often took quite different view of the past †¦(and) a region where the implications of that historical tradition may have a political significance’[1]. Clapham notes that it is even more challenging to analyse foreign policy making in Southeast Asia region[2]. The early 1970’s was a significant period for the states in this region as i t was during this time that five countries decided to join together and define their position in the Cold War between two superpowers and claimed their neutrality. The fact that ASEAN has come up with such a policy is interesting to look at as it gives not only an insight of the driving forces of regionalism in Southeast Asia but also how these developing states saw themselves and formulate their foreign policy in the post-Cold War period. This paper aims to analyse ASEAN’s behaviour in order to access to what extent regionalism has changed since the end of Cold War in Southeast Asia. In that, regionalism would be conceived as ‘a state-led or states-led project designed to reorganize a particular regional space along defined economic and political lines’[3]. The discussion is divided into four parts. The first part discusses the useful theoretical insights of security community to explain why ASEAN states cooperate in the midst of new security challenge in the region. The second part identifies the diplomacy of ASEAN during the post-Cold War period. Given the confine of this paper, the discussion specifically examines the event of the Spratly Islands and the creation of ARF. In the concluding section, achievements and prospects for ASEAN will be addressed. The central argument that this paper advance is that regionalism in Southeast Asia has changed and the changes have been  driven and constrained by the security condition during the post-Cold War era where a regional power vacuum is found. ASEAN emerged from the Cold War as a regional organization in 1967. With the accession of Cambodia, it seemed to be fulfilling the aspirations of its founding fathers to expand membership to include all ten Southeast Asian countries. However, with the end of Cold War and the settlement of Cambodian conflict, ASEAN is facing a new challenge related to issues of security and stability in the post-Cold War regional environment[4]. According to the Bangkok Declaration of 1967, the goal of ASEAN is to ‘accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region; to safeguard the political and economic stability of the region against big power rivalry; and to serve as a forum for the resolution of intra-regional differences’[5]. The formation of ASEAN should be seen as a means of maintaining peace and stability by providing a forum for the discussion and resolution of regional issues relating to security. There are indeed a number of incidents to show that security issue is the major concern of ASEAN such as the call for a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN), the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and ASEAN’s role in the Cambodian conflict in the 1980s. However, with the end of Cold War, ASEAN faced a new challenge to its goal when the security environment of South-east Asia was transformed by the change from the old bipolar Cold War security system to the new emerging multipolar system. The new power pattern in the region forced the ASEAN states to cooperate as they realized the security could be in danger if they do not collaborate to improve the situation. This kind of behaviour of the ASEAN states can be best explained by Deutsch’s discussion of security communities. This was especially evident in the study of regional integration and some scholars argued that the concept of security community provides the most useful framework to analyze ASEAN regionali sm. According to Deutsch, a security community is a group that has become integrated and accompanied by formal or informal institutions or practices in order to assure peaceful change among members of a group over a long period of time[6]. Essentially, members within the community retain their independence and sovereignty. The two attributes of such a community are marked by the absence of war and organized violence. To be more specific, as  Yalem notes, a regional security community is a group of states which have ‘renounced the use of force as a means of resolving intra-regional conflicts’[7]. Deutsch further adds that there should be no contingency planning or war-oriented resource mobilization against other members within a security community. This could be acted as an indicator of whether states have developed ‘dependable expectations of peaceful change’[8]. Furthermore, whether a security community has been achieved can actually ‘be tested operationally in terms of the absence or presence of significant organized preparations for was or larger-scale violence among its members’[9]. When applying the concept of security communities into the study of regionalism, it is import ant to make a distinction between security community and a security regime. Buzan defines security regime as ‘a group of states cooperate to manage their disputes and avoid war by seeking to mute the security dilemma both by their own actions and by their assumptions about the behaviour of others’[10]. Although this seems similar to the concept of security community, there is a major difference in that a security regime refers to a situation where the interests of the actors are both not wholly compatible and competitive. Thus, the resulting relationship is rather hostile and the use of force is hindered only by a balance of power[11]. In comparison, a security community is based ‘on a fundamental, unambiguous and long-term convergence of interests among the actors regarding the avoidance of war’[12]. In this context, ASEAN regionalism is more likely to be conceptualized as the process of building the security community rather than the latter. Although a security community seems to be constructed on the ground of interests and identities rather than the idea of common threat, recent literature sketched by Adler and Barnett stress that a security community can actually be triggered by common threat such as ‘cataclysmic events’[13]. As Adler puts it, the concept of a community is ‘the idea that actors can share values, norms, and symbols that provide a social identity, and engage in various interactions in myriad spheres that reflect long-term interests, diffuse reciprocity and trust, strikes fear’[14]. Furthermore, Hurrell attempts to suggest a series of approaches to study contemporary regionalism. He notes that cooperative arrangements in regional cooperation could serve a number of purposes ‘on the one hand, they can serve as a means of responding to external challenges and of coordinating regional positions  in international institutions or negotiating forums. On the other, they can be developed to secure welfare gains, to promote common values or to solve common problems arising from increased levels of regional interdependence. In the security field, for example, such cooperation can range from the stabilization of a regional balance of power, to the institutionalization of confidence -building measures, to the negotiation of a region-wide security regime.’[15] The concept of security community can be applied to explain the creation and the behaviour of ASEAN. During the time of the Cold War, great power rivalries between the Soviet Union and the US in the region has turned Southeast Asia into a battleground with the regional states being used by the opponents with the attempt to create blocs which support their positions or ideologies in the war. Simultaneously, many states in the region have been oppressed by external powers for centuries and not being treated as a respectable actor in the international agenda. Facing with the same hardship, therefore, they came together and create a region free from external interference. However, with the end of Cold War, the security order in this region is characterized by new factors of conflict and instability and ‘regional policy-makers have expressed misgivings about the strategic uncertainties and conflict-creation potential of a post-Cold War order at the regional level’[16]. Among the regional powers, China, Japan and India are generally being seen as the three leading contenders for influence[17]. For some, the involvement of US in the region as the balance of power is still desirable and the possibility of its withdrawal remains a major worry of the region’s stability[18]. In fact, there are a number of unsolved tensions in the region and most of them revolve around China’s strategic ambitions such as its claims for the Spartly Islands. In responding to the new challenge, the ASEAN states have to reconsider and adjust some of the assumptions and principles underlying ASEAN regionalism in order to contribute to regional security and order embedded in the 1992 Singapore Declaration. In order to examine in what ways the driving forces of regionalism in South-east Asia have changed since the end of the Cold War, it is essential to look at some case studies of ASEAN’s post-Cold War diplomacy: China’s claims for the Spratly Islands and ASEAN’s response Situated in the South China Sea, the Spratly Islands consists of islets and reefs with suspected deposits of oil and gas[19]. The disputes involve China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Many worried that the dispute will turn into a potential source of armed conflict involving ASEAN members particularly because ‘the likelihood of any agreement on the joint development of the islands involving all the claimants, as proposed by some regional policy-makers and analysts, has limited plausibility’[20]. In view of this, other ASEAN members initiated efforts to address the security issue which was seen as a destabilizing force in the region in the post-Cold War period. Finally in 1989, it was Indonesia alone launched the South China Sea Workshop (SCSW)[21] to promote peaceful settlement of the dispute by emphasizing the lessons of Cambodian conflict and the lessons from ASEAN regional c ooperation. Although the workshop has been extended to include China, Vietnam and Laos in 1991, there were no collective ASEAN position or action on the dispute. The irony lies on the fact that ‘the Spratly seminars are a unilateral Indonesian initiative, resulting from diplomacy not by ASEAN or even a group within ASEAN but by one member country’[22]. The regional community sense was missing in this incident particularly because Malaysia and the Philippines feared that multilateral forum could lessen their negotiating ability thus making bilateral settlements impossible. As a result, they were not willing to support ASEAN to settle the dispute involving other member states[23]. This indicates their determination to uphold national autonomy and also their perspective to view ASEAN only as a confidence-building forum rather than a regional community[24]. Consequently in 1992, China passed a Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of the People’s Republic of China. The aim of this legislation is for China to formalize far-reaching claims in the South China Sea. The assertiveness of China caused doubt over the effectiveness of the previous launched workshops and made ASEAN members realized that China insisted on unilateral means to solve the problem. ASEAN responded to China’s claims with the ‘ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea’ issued in the same year. The Declaration emphasized the need to ‘resolve all sovereignty and jurisdictional issues pertaining to the South China Sea by peaceful means  without resort to force’ and it urged all parties ‘to exercise constraint’[25]. It has been pointed out that ASEAN has claimed some success by placing the dispute on the agenda of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) with the support of intense lobbying[26]. At the same time, ASEAN has been criticized for failing to negotiate codes of conduct in that China continued to carry on its bilateral agreement with Vietnam in 1993 and Philippines in 1995[27]. However, in a bigger picture, it made clear that all AS EAN members has developed a respect for the codes of conduct enshrined in the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation on issues relating to peaceful settlement of conflicts and the non-use of force. Evolution of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) The ASEAN Summit of 1992 declared that ‘ASEAN shall seek avenues to engage Member States in new areas of cooperation in security matters’, therefore, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was established in 1993 which ‘serves as a multilateral consultative forum aimed at promoting preventive diplomacy and confidence building among the states in the Asia-Pacific region’[28]. Through the ARF, ASEAN hoped to create regional order based on its own norms as well as the new norm of inclusiveness which is essential to cooperative security[29]. In this content, the ARF provided a test of ASEAN’s norms as the membership of ARF included all the major powers of the international system whereby the regional order in this region would also base on the inclusive approach meaning that the major powers would engage in the management of regional order. In 1995, the Philippines discovered the incident of Mischief Reef by China while ASEAN responded by issuing a joint statement criticizing China[30]. It seems this stand of ASEAN fulfils the idea of community, however, it is only a partial fulfillment due to the fact that the ASEAN members have different interpretations of the conflict. ASEAN consensus is always revolved around the norms of peaceful settlement of conflict which is being seen as the guarantee for stability. However, they did not identify with the position of the Philippines, for instance, Thailand considered the dispute as bilateral and not a dispute between ASEAN and China. Again, the event actually put a test on the ASEAN member’s ability to come up with a collective position. As Malik comments on the future of the Southeast Asia regionalism, he points out that to maintain  peace in the region, it is ‘not only founded on the stability of a balance but is sourced in a sense of shared aspirations and common destiny’[31]. In view of this, the lack of consensus among ASEAN member states indicated their unwillingness to demand standards of behaviour from China which only reinforced the ASEAN’s partial fulfillment as a community. In general, the post-Cold War period has posed unleashing of conflicts in the Asia Pacific region which were effectively suppressed during the colonial era and the subsequent period of superpower rivalry[32]. With the end of bipolarity, there is a greater potential of conflict. This paper has examined ASEAN’s behaviour in security affairs during the post-Cold War ear with the objective of assessing the validity of the idea of community. Many scholars have widely acknowledged ASEAN’s potential to become a regional security community from both within and outside the region. Snitwongse notes that although ASEAN may not be able to fully achieve self-reliance, its most striking achievement has been community building[33]. Simon claims that ASEAN is perhaps a security community in which no member would consider the use of force against each other to settle disputes[34]. In the aftermath of the end of Cold War, the absence of war among the ASEAN members is indeed being recognized by many as a great achievement. Based on the discussion of this paper, it has proved that ASEAN has developed some of the attributes of what Adler and Barnett call it as a ‘nascent security community’ where a number of triggering mechanisms including threat perceptions, shared identity and organizational emulation are present. After three decades of progress in promoting peaceful intra-regional order, ASEAN faced its greatest challenge since the end of Cold War as the current regional security environment remains in a state of uncertainty. Nonetheless, the prospect of a regional power vacuum implies the possibility of ASEAN’s further progress while the question remains whether ASEAN itself can fill the security gap by mobilizing its collective diplomatic and political resources. Bibliography Acharya, A., A New Regional Order In South-East Asia: ASEAN in the Post-Cold War Era, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Adelphi Paper 279, London, 1993 Acharya, A., Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the problem of regional order, London, 2001 Adler, E & Barnett, M., ‘A framework for the study of security communities’, in Adler, E. & Barnett, M (eds.) Security Communities, Cambridge, 1998 ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN: An Overview, Jakarta, 1995 Buszynski, L., ‘Declining Superpowers: The Impact on ASEAN’, Pacific Review, 3/3, 1990 Buzan, B., People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era, New York, 1991 Catley, B. & Keliat, M., Spratlys: The Dispute in the South China Sea, Aldershot, 1997 Deutsch, K.W., ‘Security Communities’, in Rosenau, J (ed.) International Politics and Foreign Policy, New York, 1961 Dewitt, D.B., ‘Common, Comprehensive and Cooperative Security’, Pacific Review, 7/1, 1994 Haacke, J., ‘Seeking Influence: China’s Diplomacy Toward ASEAN After the Asian Crisis’, Asian Perspective, 26/4, 2002 Hill, C., ‘Theories of Foreign Policy Making for the Developing Countries’, in Clapham, C. (ed.) Foreign Policy Making in Developing States: A Comparative Approach, Farnborough, 1977 Hurell, A., ‘Explaining the Resurgence of Regionalism in World Politics’, Review of International Studies, 21/4, 1995 Leifer, M., The ASEAN Regional Forum, Adelphi Paper 302, London, 1996 Payne, A. & Gamble A., Regionalism and World Order, London, 1996 Simon, S., ‘The Regionalization of Defence in Southeast Asia’, Pacific Review, 5/2, 1992 Snitwongse, K., ‘Meeting the Challenges of Changing Southeast Asia’, in Scalapino, R., Sato, S. & Han, S.J. (eds.) Regional Dynamics: Security, Political and Economic Issues in the Asia Pacific Region, Jakarta, 1990 Tarling, N., Southeast Asia: A Modern History, Oxford, 2001 Tow, W.T., Asia-Pacific Strategic Relations: Seeking Convergent Security, New York, 2001 Whiting, A.S., ‘ASEAN Eyes China: The Security Dimension’, Asian Survey, 37/4, 1997 Yalem, R.J., ‘Regional Security Communities’, in Keeton, G.W. & Scharzenberger, G. (eds.) The Yearbook of International Affairs, London, 1979

Special Needs Prisoner Essays

Special Needs Prisoner Essays Special Needs Prisoner Essay Special Needs Prisoner Essay Special Needs Prisoner David Thompson University of Phoenix Special Needs Prisoner The American penal system is comprised of every element of society imaginable. There are people from all walks of life being held in one prison or another across our great country for crimes they’ve committed or allegedly committed against mankind. Be it at the state, federal or county level, the U. S. prison system does not discriminate with regards to those who are physically challenged. Be it a prisoner who is mentally challenged or one whom is confined to a wheelchair, if they have committed a crime and are found guilty of such, they will be sentenced to facility that under most circumstances are equipped to handle prisoners with special needs. Take for example the criminally insane or those suffering with various kinds of mental illness: Round about 1955 the number of mental institution experienced a drawdown of types, in that they were not building any new facilities, despite the fact that approximately forty of the existing one’s had been shut down or were scheduled to be shut down. This change prompted the prison system to take over the role of caring for mentally ill inmates. As more and more prisons grew so did the role of the prison system to care for the influx of the special needs prisoners. Prisons were able to house and care for some 45,000 prisoners including those who were mentally ill, compared to that of a mental institutions ability to house some 3000 in a mental hospital. Perhaps one of the biggest drawback or downfalls related to this concept is that of the ability to rehabilitate the mentally ill. Because the prison system was/is not geared for actions such as this, many of those who are diagnosed with a mental illness usually find themselves serving their time, only to return to confinement a few years later, due to the prison systems inability to adequately treat and card for their sickness. But let’s not throw this all on the prison system, as the private sector has just as much responsibility for this shortfall/s as does the penal system. Many communities simply do not have the funds necessary to open and operated programs to take care of the mentally ill. For those that do have something in place to combat the problem, their efforts seem to fall far short of the need. There seems to be far more people in need of help than the help that is available, and the more we look into the problem the more we see that this is not just limited to adult men and women, but children as well. The end result of which is the criminally insane sometimes find themselves back on the streets, as does many of the mentally ill. While incarceration may be somewhat more difficult on someone with a mental illness, prison officials try and combat this by housing the mentally ill in separate wards, to reduce violence, combat stress, and maintain order. Prison officials today try and provide specialized training and equipped to those who work with the mentally ill. Although improvements have been made, there is still much to accomplish as some patients do not transition well into some of the rehabilitation programs made available to them; for example the Drug and Alcohol program, many officials think that mentally ill patients can and does usually become extremely disruptive, during counseling sessions, which causes setbacks and limits the progress of others. Therefore, many of the disable, mentally ill, or otherwise hard to reach inmates/patients are turned away from rehabilitative parts of the program built around small group settings. Honestly speaking, there is very little room for care of the mentally ill within the prison system, as few places are equipped with the staff and specialist needed to care for these special patients. Try as we may, we can’t effectively make the connection needed to make a difference in these individuals lives. Not to mention the attitude/s the outside community takes towards those suffering with mental handicaps. The lack of compassion, care and concern towards these less fortunate individuals does little to help the situation inside or outside prison walls, as we’re all struggling to make the best of a bad situation. We must stay focused and be extremely flexible as we seek to make changes in this area, in particular in that every failure has the potential to have widespread affects on everyone, including the department, and the community into which some of these people may be released. Taking a lackluster attitude towards helping these people rebuild their lives simply will not work. We must be committed to the care of prisons with special needs just as if they were able to afford whatever treatment is available. Combating mental illness is not easy, but in most cases it can be done. References: The Sentencing Project (Washington, DC), (2002), Mentally Ill Offenders in the Criminal Justice System: An Analysis and Prescription, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation http://nicic. gov/Libary/017558

War Of Roses essays

War Of Roses essays 1. The main players of the War between the Roses Henry VI became King of England at the young age of one, succeeding his father Henry V. He was incapable of following in his mighty predecessor's footsteps. Fractions in the court dominated him all his life. Margaret was the daughter of the powerful French noble Rene of Anjou, was married to Henry VI to strengthen ties with France. She was beautiful, fiery, blunt, and was a loyal friend as well as a dangerous enemy. Her blatant favoritism caused much resentment in England, and set sparks which would later flare up into the Wars of the Roses. Somerset escalated the clash between the two families enormously. He was the bastard grandson of John of Gaunt and one of the King's closest relations, who handled a great amount of power. He supported King Henry VI and the Queen during the King's breakdown. William de la Pole was a magnate of moderate power who came to exercise much control in the Lancastrian circle. Richard Plantagenet was a man of many titles and lands who was filled with a passion to raise his family to what he saw as their proper due. He was also the father of Edward IV and Richard III. His relationship with King Henry was amiable at first and his claim to the throne was considered strong enough for him to become heir to Henry VI. Salisbury staunchly stood by York at all times, even when York later endangered both of them with his arrogance. His devotion was paid back by death. Richard, the Earl of Warwick, was the most powerful noble ever seen in England. Richard was York's nephew and a firm defender of that party, continuing to fight alongside his cousin Edward after York's death. He eventually was the person who placed Edward on the throne. Edward IV, Earl of March, was handsome and skilled. He fought by his father's side during the early years of the Wars of the Roses. When his father was killed at Wakefield, he became leader of the Yorkist cause. In...

Definition and Examples of Perorations in Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of Perorations in Rhetoric Definition In rhetoric, the peroration is the closing part of an argument, often with a summary and an appeal to pathos. Also called the peroratio or conclusion. In addition to recapitulating the key points of an argument, the peroration may amplify one or more of these points.  In many instances, its intended to inspire further emotion, motivation, or enthusiasm in listeners, See Examples and Observations below. Also see: The Parts of a SpeechArrangementClasssical RhetoricConclusionEnumeratioEpilogueIndignatioOration and OratorySpeech (Rhetoric)Ten Things You Should Know About Dr. Kings I Have a Dream Speech EtymologyFrom the Latin perorare, meaning to speak extensively or to speak at length Pronunciation: per-or-RAY-shun Examples and Observations The peroration is where the orator can really have fun. This is the opportunity to end on a twenty-one-gun salute, to move the audience to tears of pity or howls of rage, to wheel out your grandest figures and highest-sounding words. It can be like watching Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band close a show with Born to Run and belt the final chorus out four times in a row.(Sam Leith, Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric From Aristotle to Obama. Basic Books, 2012)Aristotle on the Peroration- The peroration is composed of four things: of getting the hearer favorable to oneself, and ill-disposed towards the adversary; and of amplification and extenuation; and of placing the hearer under the influence of the passions; and of awakening his recollection.(Aristotle, On Rhetoric)- The peroration must consist of one of these four things. Inclining the judge to favor yourself, or to disfavor your adversary. For then, when all has been said respecting the cause, is the best season to praise o r dispraise the parties.Of amplification or diminution. For when it appears what is good or evil, then is the time to show how great or how little that good or evil is.Or in moving the judge to anger, love, or other passion. For when it is manifest of what kind, and how great the good or evil is, then it will be opportune to excite the judge.Or of repetition, that the judge may remember what has been said. Repetition consisteth in the matter and the manner. For the orator must show that he has performed what he promised in the beginning of his oration, and how: namely, by comparing his arguments one by one with his adversaries, repeating them in the same order they were spoken.(Thomas Hobbes, Aristotle; Treatise on Rhetoric, Literally Translated From the Greek, With the Analysis by T. Hobbes, 1681) Quintilian on the PerorationWhat was to follow, was the peroration, which some have termed the completion, and others the conclusion. There are two species of it, the one comprising the substance of the speech, and the other adapted to excite the feelings.The repetition and summing-up of heads, which is called by . . . some of the Latins enumeration, is intended both to refresh the memory of the judge, to set the whole cause at once before his view, and to enforce such arguments in a body as had produced an insufficient effect in detail. In this part of our speech, what we repeat ought to be repeated as briefly as possible, and we must, as is intimated by the Greek term, run over only the principal heads; for, if we dwell upon them, the result will be, not a recapitulation, but a sort of second speech. What we may think necessary to recapitulate, must be put forward with some emphasis, enlivened by suitable remarks, and varied with different figures, for nothing is more offensive tha n mere straightforward repetition, as if the speaker distrusted the judges memory.(Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory, 95 AD) Ethan Allens Peroration in a Speech During the Civil WarGo call the roll on Saratoga, Bunker Hill, and Yorktown, that the sheeted dead may rise as witnesses, and tell your legions of the effort to dissolve their Union, and there receive their answer. Mad with frenzy, burning with indignation at the thought, all ablaze for vengeance upon the traitors, such shall be the fury and impetuosity of the onset that all opposition shall be swept away before them, as the pigmy yields to the avalanche that comes tumbling, rumbling, thundering from its Alpine home! Let us gather at the tomb of Washington and invoke his immortal spirit to direct us in the combat. Rising again incarnate from the tomb, in one hand he holds that same old flag, blackened and begrimed with the smoke of a seven years war, and with the other hand he points us to the foe. Up and at them! Let immortal energy strengthen our arms, and infernal fury thrill us to the soul. One blowdeep, effectual, and foreverone crushing blow upon the rebellion, in the name of God, Washington, and the Republic!(Ethan Allen, peroration of a speech delivered in New York City in 1861) Colin Powells Peroration in His Address to the U.N. Security CouncilMy colleagues, we have an obligation to our citizens, we have an obligation to this body to see that our resolutions are complied with. We wrote 1441 not in order to go to war, we wrote 1441 to try to preserve the peace. We wrote 1441 to give Iraq one last chance. Iraq is not so far taking that one last chance.We must not shrink from whatever is ahead of us. We must not fail in our duty and our responsibility to the citizens of the countries that are represented by this body.(Secretary of State Colin Powell, address to U.N. Security Council, February 5, 2003)The Lighter Side of Perorations: The Chewbacca DefenseLadies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it: that does not make sense!Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. Im a lawyer defending a major record company, and Im talkin about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when youre in that jury room deliberating and conjugating the Emancipation Proclamation [approaches and softens], does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.(Animated version of Johnnie Cochran delivering the Chewbacca Defense in his closing argument in the South Park episode Chef Aid)

Recruitment methods Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recruitment methods - Coursework Example They would believe that their chances of getting the said job are minimal since there are a number of other applicants also trying for the same vacancy. Hence these two reasons suggest how a firm should always avoid the discussion of generating large applicant pools for a firm and must never emphasize on bringing together so many people at the same time. Its policy should be such that it asks very few people to fight for the same vacancy and then select the very best in the end. 2) What implication exists for recruitment methods? The recruitment methods depend a great deal on how the organization views the entire discussion of recruitment and selection, and what kinds of measures are adopted by the firm to get in success with the tasks of the firm in the long run. The implications come in because the firm wants to know whether or not these recruitment methods would bring in the success that has been envisaged by the human resource management domains and the people who are at the back end of such measures (Nelson, 1997). They want to be 100 percent sure that all their steps within the aegis of recruitment methods are taken care of and that they are able to hire the very best at the end. Also the reason for these recruitment methods to be taken seriously by the organization lies in the fact that it can have a good say within the related industry as per its recruitment and selection methods, and thus be taken as an organization that is on the right footing all said and done. The implications for the recruitment methods raise quite a few questions about the legitimacy of an organization to adopt them and hence gain an understanding into the ways and means through which success could be achieved within such recruitment ranks. References Nelson, J., 1997. The Boundaryless Organization: Implications for Job Analysis, Recruitment, and Selection. Human Resource Planning,

How to use tactics of social influence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

How to use tactics of social influence - Essay Example These are usually outside factors that provide people with power - for instance, wealth, physical attractiveness, success in career. These factors place the person to a higher position compared to other people around. So even in case the person is not powerful as politician or military man, he may also possess the power that is not so evident but is also strong and intense. The singers and actors may serve as the example of the persons that possess this kind of power. They are not powerful in political sense, but they are attractive, recognized and successful, so they may influence other people. (Wikipedia) The researches observing social influence and social activity rapidly grow at present, as this problem is relevant in modern society. These researches may appear to be helpful in solving various social problems, as well as provide people with the measures that should be taken in case any kind of problem appears. Jan Bruins in his research observes the nature and effects of social influence and social power and their implementation in the relations of people, within the groups of people and among the groups of people. ... Various kinds of situations produce various kinds of effect that the influence may have: "For instance, in interpersonal situations, a faltering influence process can lead to the breakup of close personal relationships and to interpersonal aggression. At the intragroup level, it can lead to effects such as family violence and organizational burnout, and at the intergroup level it can result in discrimination and hostilities like gang wars and the Rodney King beating." (Bruins) The main subject for consideration is the way the social influence and power create the base for problems that individuals may face, both as individuals of as the representatives of a definite social group. The author also focuses on the problems that start on individual level, as they may produce effect that will touch upon higher levels of interpersonal communication. When the problems that appear on the individual level start to increase and spread its influence, this may lead to collective attempts to change the situation: "in combination, individual-level problems as directly addressed in this issue not only are interesting in their own right, but can also contribute to the occurrence of larger scale disruptions like the Los Angeles riots, student uprisings, and other forms of protest and civil unrest." (Bruins) In his investigation, author addresses historical context of the problems, observes earlier researches on this topic and describes conceptions and definitions that are related to the problems of social influence and power. The problems of power and social influences were observed by the social sciences within the centuries. Such famous philosophers and

Sociology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 13

Sociology - Essay Example â€Å"Social imagination†, Mills submits, â€Å"is the capacity to shift from one perspective to another; the capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self—and to the see the relations between the two of them.† (1959: p 3) In simple words, Mills seeks people’s misconception and lack of broad vision where they mistakenly relate their personal problems with their cultural characteristics i.e. public issues, and thus are entrapped in a false imagination consequently. While making a comparative analysis of the Mills’ concept of entrapment, it becomes evident that notion maintains imperative significance even in the contemporary world of 21st century, where though countless changes have been taken place in social norms, cultural values and prevailing laws, yet the individuals have not surrendered this entrapment from their mind. It is therefore, they associate their personal problems with the past traditions and customs and public issues existed in their society many decades ago. The modern society presents various examples of this sociological imagination. Taking the example of renowned feminist writer and lesbian rights activist Dorothy Allison, it appears very accurate when she links the miseries of her childhood with the male dominance in the US society. It is therefore she declares marriage as well as well physical and spiritual relationships of women with men as unnatural and impracticable due to the exploitation of the emotions, feel ings and physical charms of women at the hands of men. She herself had been the victim of paedophilia, child abuse and molestation at the age of five, when her stepfather used to torture her and her mother both physically and sexually. â€Å"Social injustice†, Zaidi (2006: p 31) views, â€Å"serves as the bleakest aspect of not only the contemporary world, but also of the most primitive clans and tribes consisted of cave dwellers of

Human Resources Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Human Resources Management - Assignment Example Human Resources Management From the past quarter, the organization is facing problem in its course of work that is directly related to HRM. The problem pertaining in the organization is related to knowledge management. New recruitment has taken place in the organization, and the new employees are not able to perform up to the expectations of the company. A lot of complaints have been made against the company about which the company came to know from the feedbacks of the customers. The complaints were mostly related to the solutions, which the employees provide to the customers as the employees lacked training and knowledge to do so. In this paper, we will discuss the issues that are pertaining to the organization and give recommendation and action plan so that the organization can work in an efficient manner and achieve its desired goals. The issues of the organization are related to the HRM department as they are responsible for recruiting and training of the employees. Some changes in the policy of HRM must be made to overcome these problems. Fresh employees had hired by the organization few weeks ago. The company had faced many difficulties after hiring because the employees were not capable of giving quick response to the problems of consumers. The feedbacks of the consumers help in analyzing the problems. It was identified through inspection that human resource department is the area where the improvement is needed. Some mismanagement in the department of human resource management is creating the problems to the organization.

Successful Electronic Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Successful Electronic Communication - Essay Example In the report I will acknowledge your contributions, and I will send you a copy of the completed report if you wish. I am writing you with the hope that you could provide me with information on the Glucoscan II blood glucose monitoring system. A representative at Lifescan informed me that your clinic is currently using this system. I became aware of this new device through an announcement discovered through an Internet source. The Boston Diabetes Center was listed as a test center for the Glucoscan II and you were listed as the contact. After discovering an advertisement from Lifescan in the January 19XX issue of Diabetes Forecast, I became interested in pursuing more information about the device for a report that I am writing for a technical writing class at Muskeegee University. I have written the company and received a great deal of useful information, however it was recommended to me that I write several current users of the system from whom I can obtain first hand knowledge of use of the system. I would be very grateful if you could answer the following questions for me: A representative from Lifescan has indicated that your clinic is one of the leaders in implementing new technology for diabetics and I am therefore eager to hear about your experiences with this device. In the report I would like your permission to acknowledge your contribution and I will forward a copy of the completed report if you wish. In the process of writing an e-mail, it is important to remember that the communication should still adhere to practices of good grammar and polished writing. The e-mail that has been used as an example was written with good form. The example message of this paper uses a good form for the basic structure of the communication. However, the message itself was not clear to the reader. The first impression of an e-mail is found in the subject line. The original subject line reads â€Å"Request for diabetes information†, which is not

Death Penalty Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Death Penalty Debate - Essay Example The main argument in favor of death penalty is the possibility of an innocent person being mistakenly executed. Given the long and rigorous justice process that precedes the conviction of a person beyond a shadow of doubt, the risk of such an incidence is extremely low. There are also arguments that a criminal can still reform and atone. Opponents of death penalty argue that society should not give up on wrongdoers altogether. In my opinion, it is the victim's near and dear ones who can give a fitting answer to this question. I am sure that the parents whose daughter has been raped and killed in cold blood will not forgive the criminal. It is the society's responsibility that they should get justice. Capital punishment is a reflection of the public belief that some crimes so grievously offend humanity as to merit a death punishment (Sharp, 2000). Perhaps this is why it still finds support in many of the world's nations (Wikipedia, 2007 ). It has been proved that convicted criminals freed on parole or probation commit thousands of violent crimes every year, thus endangering the lives and property of many innocents (Sharp, 1997). Therefore, the death penalty saves lives in the long run. It should definitely be given for extreme crimes in order to deliver justice to the victimized as well as to deter future offenders. i) Deterrence - The main advantages of this punishment in this philosophy is that many future crimes either by the

Successful Electronic Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Successful Electronic Communication - Essay Example In the report I will acknowledge your contributions, and I will send you a copy of the completed report if you wish. I am writing you with the hope that you could provide me with information on the Glucoscan II blood glucose monitoring system. A representative at Lifescan informed me that your clinic is currently using this system. I became aware of this new device through an announcement discovered through an Internet source. The Boston Diabetes Center was listed as a test center for the Glucoscan II and you were listed as the contact. After discovering an advertisement from Lifescan in the January 19XX issue of Diabetes Forecast, I became interested in pursuing more information about the device for a report that I am writing for a technical writing class at Muskeegee University. I have written the company and received a great deal of useful information, however it was recommended to me that I write several current users of the system from whom I can obtain first hand knowledge of use of the system. I would be very grateful if you could answer the following questions for me: A representative from Lifescan has indicated that your clinic is one of the leaders in implementing new technology for diabetics and I am therefore eager to hear about your experiences with this device. In the report I would like your permission to acknowledge your contribution and I will forward a copy of the completed report if you wish. In the process of writing an e-mail, it is important to remember that the communication should still adhere to practices of good grammar and polished writing. The e-mail that has been used as an example was written with good form. The example message of this paper uses a good form for the basic structure of the communication. However, the message itself was not clear to the reader. The first impression of an e-mail is found in the subject line. The original subject line reads â€Å"Request for diabetes information†, which is not

A Synopsis of the Movie Fight Club Essay Example for Free

A Synopsis of the Movie Fight Club Essay The movie begins as Jack, the protagonist, is trapped in a state of insomnia by his job at calculating the cost of recalling a faulty car as opposed to paying court settlements to the relatives of the people killed by that car. He then recommends the one that seems less expensive. While he tries to argue with a doctor about how he can start sleeping, the doctor happens to make a sarcastic remark about how if he wants to see real pain he should go to a support group for men with testicular cancer. Jack takes this remark literally. It is there that he meets Bob, whom I shall describe shortly. Anywhere, he begins to find the support groups addictive, and attends more and more of them, and finds that they allow him to sleep. Soon after in the movie we find Jack meeting Tyler Durden on a plane trip, and when his apartment later explodes Jack meets Tyler Durden in a bar. Having agreed to let Jack stay at his house, Tyler asks Jack to punch him. He tells Jack this will make him feel that his life was indeed exciting, and Jack obliges. They begin to fight, and others begin to stand around, wanting to join as well. They gather together, protesting amongst themselves that society was trying to turn them into wimpy and uniform machines and preventing them from feeling like real people, constantly telling them that they need to buy all sorts of stuff that they only need because the advertisements said they did. Pretty soon there are weekly gatherings of these men, waiting for a chance to fight one another, and then they move into the basement of a local bar. More and more men begin to attend Fight Club with the express agreement that they would not mention it, and rumors begin to circulate of Clubs in other cities. Gradually Durden begins to make the Club more involved, giving out homework assignments such as to start a fight with a stranger and lose. Thus Jack finds himself watching as Durden institutes Project Mayhem, an outward attempt at changing society based on widespread attacks on coffee franchises and corporate artwork. Finally Durden plots to blow up ten major credit card companies, with the intent that to erase everyones debt would create chaos, and allow society to re- organize itself from that chaos. Many critics of the movie found it to portray antisocial behaviors as a valid way of expressing oneself. (Particularly if only the beginning and middle of this movie are looked at. ) They argue that its violence is there merely to draw an audience. This is supported by numerous instances of young men and boys vandalizing cars as was done in the movie or forming clubs of their own. Therefore many say that the movie succeeds in condoning what the ending condemns. They say that it promotes violence by making it seem so attractive in muck of the movie, regardless of the conclusion. With this argument in mind, we shall proceed with our analysis of the movie itself. One of the principal themes in Fight Club is its treatment of violence and its relationship with masculinity. The men in the film are portrayed as confronting a society which gives them little meaning and refuses to give them what they feel to be a birthright, a meaningful, productive place in society. Tyler Durden, the leader of Fight Club and the manifestation of the angry, alienated, and purposeless feeling, articulates this, Were the middle children of history, with no special purpose or place. We dont have a great war in our generation, or a great depression. The great depression is our lives. The great war is a spiritual war. We have been raised by television to believe that well be millionaires and movie gods and rock starsbut we wont And were learning that fact. And were very, very, pissed off. The men in this movie, having their traditional masculine role of breadwinner seemingly denied by feminism and left with meaningless corporate jobs compensate for this loss of masculinity and control by re-affirming their masculinity for themselves through the only masculine behavior they still can do: fighting. According to Jackson Katz: One way that the system allows working class men (of various races) the opportunity for what Brod refers to as masculine identity validation is through the use of their body as an instrument of power, dominance, and control. For working-class males, who have less access to more abstract forms of masculinity-validating power (economic power, workplace authority), the physical body and its potential for violence provide a concrete means of achieving and asserting manhood. Bob also fits this description of fighting as compensation for that sense of paralysis preventing men from being either a crucial part of society or being able to change it so that one can be. Through a combination of the treatment for testicular cancer and of increased estrogen as a result of his steroid use while a body-builder which Bob was left with unusually large breasts and left him with very little perception or himself as masculine or valuable to anyone. However, Bob later appears in the movie as a member of Fight Club, where he finds that once again he can act like a man and feel as if his masculinity is validated. Jack finds Durdens assertions that the men in their generation have no other way to express their individuality or to free themselves from materialism than to fight each other, and to use their fighting as a method of filling the void left by the removal of worthy roles for men in society. In the beginning of the film Jack is using mail-order catalogs, becoming so obsessed with buying whatever he sees advertised in them that his orders become an end to themselves. I would flip and wonder, What kind of dining room set defines me as a person? He became so obsessed with obtaining what he saw in the catalogs that he filled up his apartment with furniture and all sorts of other stuff he didnt need. This seems also to address the increasing assertion by advertisements that you can be defined and given a soul by acquiring products. Durden also spoke of this sort of cycle: Look at the guys in fight club. The strongest and smartest men who have ever lived and theyre pumping gas and waiting tables; or theyre slaves with white collars. Advertising has them chasing cars and clothes. A whole generation working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy shit they dont really need. He was alluding to the shackles that a culture based on acquisition has on its members, and inviting thes e members (namely men) to throw off the shackles and prove that they didnt need a better dining room set to define them. All they needed, he assured them, was to fight, and would show their humanity and masculinity through that. During another one of his outcries about the male relationship with society, Durden once came upon a designer clothing billboard featuring a muscular man in jeans and no shirt, and criticized it much like various critics of ads which use unrealistic shows of feminine beauty to sell products asked, Is this what a real man looks like? After smearing it with blood, he proclaims, Guys packing into the gyms, all trying to look like what Calvin Klein says. Fight club isnt about looking good. Susan Faludi, author of Stiffed: the Betrayal of the American Man calls this sort of ornamental masculinity a major factor in the Angry White Male mentality: The more I consider what men have losta useful role in public life, a way of earning a decent living, respectful treatment in the culturethe more it seems to me that men are falling into a status oddly similar to that of women at midcentury. The 50s housewife, stripped of her connections to a wider world and invited to fill the void with shopping and the ornamental display of her ultrafeminity, could be said to have morphed into the 90s man, stripped of his connections and invited to fill the void with consumption and a gym-bred display of his ultramasculinity. The empty compensations of a feminine mystique and transforming into the empty compensations of a masculine mystique. Douglas Rushkoff gives his account of the switch from a linear and continuous world to one that was non-linear and discontinuous. Before this switch, middle-class men were seen as valuable and benevolent authority figures who were a pillar of society and who always succeeded in bringing home food for the table because his work paid relatively well. The society felt that there was value also in acquiring as many new and technologically advanced possessions as possible, which allowed for the men to ensure that their wives would find it enjoyable to expend all of their energy at home, cooking and vacuuming and buying better things for cooking and vacuuming. In this way men were given the great majority of political power and respect. However, the awareness of the corruption in politicians lives from Watergate, the national confusion after a country was able to watch Kenn edy assassinated on TV, and possibly the most lasting of all, the first time that ordinary citizens were able to see combat in Vietnam on the nightly news, creating a much more suspicious outlook on the government and military, caused society to become discontinuous. The former male status symbol was gone along with continuity, replaced by gender equality which prevented men from using the feminine mystique to their advantage, making them less likely to have a dependent wife and family. They lacked that meaning which they had when they were providing for their offspring and mate, to put it in a biological concept, so their motivation to work was largely gone, with consumerism alone unable to fill the void. Their power having toppled, the male now tried to fill this void and prove that he indeed was still a man for society. Consumerism was unable to do that anymore, and so the male body itself, as Jackson Katz said, became the tool. This is shown by the film, in which Tyler Durden attempts to destroy the discontinuous society which tells him that he should not have this total control. This is shown by his completely anti-feminist outlook, particularly his meaningless sexual relationship with Marla Singer. Except for their humping, Tyler and Marla were never in the same room Jack relates. Tyler also describes a generation of unaggressive men raised by their mothers, that characterized his peers who grew up in a time of increased divorce rates and in turn grew up without fathers. The last thing we need is another woman. He gives reason to his masochistic fights and burns by saying that you could create pain for yourself, thereby hitting bottom. He describes it not as a painful and agonizing experience, but a turning point, where you are going to feel excellent after having your teeth knocked out no matter how bad your station in life is. And so Durdens scheme to create chaos which would then begin society anew, Rushkoff would say, actually was showing that he was trying to mold society around himself. Meanwhile Jack in the end renounces Tylers ideas of violent upheaval, instead deciding that he would accept society as discontinuous and use its discontinuity as part of his life. This film therefore shows the advantage in not letting what happens matter to you such as it would in a linear world. Edward Hermans perceptions of the film would be those of contradiction, largely centering around the fact that the movie is marketed and designed to make a profit, yet at the same time it criticizes the idea t hat you need to buy what society tells you to buy and that material goods are unnecessary to life. He might postulate that the companies had realized that a capitalistic message promoting conformity doesnt sell, and instead used and anti-capitalistic message of being skeptical of what society and everyone else tells you to make an even greater profit (much like Sprites paradoxical campaign which made fun of soft drink ads, then told people to buy Sprite). he would observe in short not that corporations indeed rejected themselves, but that they now make themselves even more effective by letting people pay to watch them pretend to do so. My own impressions of the movie are that along with its messages on corporations and their relationship with the identity crisis in American men is that it also offered a lot of information on the ultimate problem with taking violence as a way of demonstrating masculinity. This is especially apparent with Bob, who, managed to rediscover his manhood in Fight Club and in Project Mayhem, but was also killed while part of the latter. Following his death , he is spoken of by his comrades as if he had never been human. This is saying that to become part of violence unquestionably despite perceived acceptance and purpose is to swap one form of denial of yourself for another. Bibliography. Katz, Jackson/ authority on phenomenon of violence and its link to masculinity and cultural trends creating this phenomenon/ Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity This article discussed the use of violence by white men as a tool to regain power they feel to be lost to other groups. Discusses overuse of portrayals of violence and its symbols in advertising. Faludi, Susan/ author of Backlash and Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man, a contributing editor for Newsweek, The Betrayal of the American Man, At Ground Zero of the Masculinity Crisis, The Ornamental Culture, Beyond the Politics of Confrontation Newsweek, (09-13-99) Its Thelma and Louise for Guys, Newsweek (10-25-99) These articles discuss how men have reacted to the identity crisis from their loss of job status and expresses that much of it comes from a modern image of manhood impossible to attain and in the latter relates such phenomena to the film. Fletcher, Kim, Male Fantasies The Spectator (11-2 0-99) Much like Faludi in that it concludes that film is the result of male feelings of inadequacy in modern culture addressing the question of how to react. Rushkoff, Douglas/ author of Media Virus and Playing the Future among others content take from excerpts of Playing the Future This book describes the cultural evolution caused by the digital age and resulting in adopting non-linear thought and in chaos mathematics. Herman, Edward/ linguistics professor at MIT, comrade of Noam Chomsky The Propaganda Model Revisited from Capitalism and the Information Age This essay enlightens as to the role producers and reporters personal biases and more particularly of their desire for profit plays in how the media portrays certain events or whether they even mention certain events at all. Braun, Bill, Auto dealership vandal released after finishing bootcamp', World Staff Writer final home edition (date not given) This, among other articles, outlined or mentioned the violent and anti-social ef fects that the film seemed to have on the younger adults and adolescents, such as forming their own little fight clubs or vandalism. Uhls, Jim Fight Club screenplay available at http://geocities.com/scifiscripts/scripts/fight_- club_shoot.txt