The Secrets to Raising Smart Kids

The article titled â€Å"The Secrets to Raising Smart Kids†, by Carol S. Dweck has many key concepts and interesting points. Most of the people presume that outstanding and superior intelligence or ability is a key to success. More than three decades of research indicates that exaggeration on talent or intellect, and the idea that such traits are inborn, leaves people susceptible to failure, and uninterested to learn. (Scientific America: Psychology Reader, 2008, pg 69) According to a survey conducted by the author Carl S.  Dweck in the mid-1990s, â€Å"85 percent of parents believed that praising children’s ability or intelligence when they perform well is important for making them feel smart. However, the author’s work shows that praising a child’s intelligence makes a child fragile and defensive. † (Scientific America: Psychology Reader, 2008, pg 72) In a study published in 2007, the author and the two psychologists Lisa Blackwell and Kali H. Trzesniewski monitored 337 students for two years during the transition from junior to senior to determine how their mind- sets might affect their math grades. As what the researchers predicted, â€Å"the students with a growth mind -set felt that learning was a more important goal in school than getting good grades. The students who held a fixed mind -set were concerned about looking smart with little regard for learning. † (Scientific America: Psychology Reader, 2008, pg 72) The author suggests that if we encourage a growth mind-set in our schools and homes, we will give our children the support to succeed in their goals and to become a responsible workers and citizens. Teaching people to have growth mind-set, which encourages a focus n effort rather than on intelligence, produces high achievers in school and in life. Myers Discussion Chapter 10 of the textbook posted some questions about intelligence: Does each of us have an inborn general mental intelligence, and can we quantify this intelligence as a meaningful number? To what extent does it result from heredity rather than environment? According to David Myers, intelligence is a mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. Since the mid-1980’s, some psychologists have sought to extend the definition of intelligence beyond Spearman’s and Thurstone’s academic smarts. â€Å"Howard Garner views intelligence as multiple abilities that come in packages†. (Myers, 2010, pg 407) Robert Sternberg agrees that there is more to success than traditional intelligence, and he agrees with Gardner’s idea of multiple intelligences. â€Å"However, he proposes a triarchic theory of three, not eight. They are analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence†. (Myers, 2010, pg 411) The author David Myers discussed that intelligence test scores maybe misinterpreted as literal measures of a person’s worth and potential. He argued that we must remember the competence that general intelligence tests sample is important, but it only reflects one aspect of personal competence. Our practical and emotional intelligence are important too, as do the other forms of creativity, talent and character. Genetic and environmental influences shaped our intelligence, and thus there are many ways of being successful, our differences are variations of human adaptability. (Myers, 2010, pg 439) Relevance in My Life This article has a great relevance in my life. I took an advance math class last year on site, and I thought I will have a hard time with the subject. However, I realized my mind-set affected my math grade. I belong to a student with a growth mind-set. I believed that learning is more important in school than getting good grades. I was praised by my professor for my effort in asking questions after class, and I did not lose confidence when faced with the harder questions. I was not surprised that I got an A better than my classmates who have fixed mind-set. After all, I believe that I can expand my intellectual skills. According to David Myers, â€Å"challenges are energizing rather than intimidating. They offer opportunities to learn. Students with such a growth mind-set were destined for greater academic success and were quite likely to outperform their counterparts†. I am glad that I took this psychology class because I am learning a lot from this subject. I am planning to transmit a growth mind-set to my four-year old daughter by telling stories about achievements that result from hard work. I could also help my child provide explicit instruction regarding the mind as a learning machine. In this way, she will learn that intelligence can cover a wide area of things, and thus it can be earned, just like respect.

African American in 19th Century Essay

The Civil war after effects; set the scene for what would become a long road of discovery, hardship, violence, and freedom however, during this process of transition the American people went through emotional as well economical changes which added additional stress to an already stressed nation where many groups became fearful and were subjected to racism which crossed over the boundary of liberty and Justice for all. Equality had become an endangered liberty guaranteed by a country build upon democracy, regrettably the African American people were not the only ones to suffer many vast groups faced hard days in America at the turn of the century several violent attacks were specifically carried out on the African American men and women even though, the civil war brought a lot of changes it produced little or no results for African American men; however, it did bring harsher persecution all over the country, whereas mass numbers of black men were lynched in the lower southern states in a show of defiance. â€Å"The Emancipation Act† did nothing for the white man but still provided less for the African black man who were still unable to vote in addition to having descent jobs with adequate pay many were forced back to the farm as sharecropper’s despite the set backs they percervered through the racial remarks and slanders. Black men and women were segragated from the start and separate waiting rooms bathrooms and dinning facilities openly poject the sentiments of the American people of the era,within the State of Mississippi; In Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), The Supreme Court reinforced that â€Å"Blacks and Whites should be separate, but equal. † The statement SEPERATE but EQUAL! thosewords only produced Segregation on a bias legal system of fairness and equality in which a country struggling already became the fuel on a fire already burning and would later divided the country in later years sparking new violence and refocused hatred. More over the Men and women of that time were forced to swear on separate bibles, they couldn’t vote in the election in the country in which they were guaranteed equal rights because they were under disfranchisement, and the racism was developing more and more is some southern locations, for an example many southern states legislated that if your grandfather had cast a ballot then you are allowed to vote and this law supported that nearly all southern white mean were permitted to vote and excluded all African Americans in most situations men whose grandparents had most likely been slaves never voted. Booker T. Washington’s submitted a lot for the African Americans in turn of the century, after his famous speech in Atlanta 1895 (Atlanta Compromise) in about one year the African Americans got more rights, they began to use separated but equal facilities, it was stupid to say the least but it provided a line of truths temporarily and unfourantely included racist ideas inside but it was better than it had been before. Booker T. Washington’s met the American president Theodore Roosevelt at the white house in 1901 and that was a good step towards get the African American and their rights another great pioneer of that time was Du Boise who supported the right for equality and the strive to have equal opportunities within society however Booker T. Washington’s did a lot more for the African American rights, Washington became the Founder of the Niagara movement in 1905. † In 1909 the Niagara movement efforts led to foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) which now is the enforcing representation of the African American whereas Booker T. Washington’s inspiration became a door way to freedom and allowed the African American man to have a voice in society. Finally, if I was African American living at that time, I will say that Booker T. Washington’s and Du Bois were the best representatives of the African Americans all over the country, and Booker T. Washington’s started the movement of the African Americans civil rights, while Du Bois came later to continue and support his efforts, they were great team and deserve the respect.

Practicum project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Practicum project - Essay Example In 2007, alone the death rate stood at 7,000. This concern led to the Institute of Medicine to come up with a report dubbed â€Å"Preventing Medication Errors† (Hughes & Blegen, 2007). The report emphasized on the need to practice safe medication administration. Six years later, the problem still exists and there although many measures have been put in place, there are still cases of unsafe drug administration in chemist, hospitals, and pharmacies. It is for this reason that I have gained a lot of interest in the field of pharmacology. Therefore, as a nurse educator my aim is to bring change into the nursing field by ensuring that my students gain a comprehensive understanding in safe administration of medicine. As a nurse educator in pharmacology, I have had to read extensively on the current situation concerning pharmacology and the arising issues and changes in the nursing field related to medication. The process of medicine administration is continuously becoming complex because of the continuous production and discovery of new drugs in the market. The number of prescribed medicine per patients is also playing a major role in this trend (Garrett & Craig, 2008). Another important factor that is playing a key factor in the medication field is the rapid change in medical technology and the several procedures and policies that have come up. Over the years, as I have progressed with my career I have come to discover that pharmacology, either as a course or part of a course for a nursing education is a very important element for any health care practitioner. A safe medication process and use are two essential principles that contribute towards a â€Å"safe use of pharmacological agents in perioperative clinical practice† (Hicks, Wanzer, & Goeckner, 2011). According to Hicks, Wanzer, and Goeckner (2011), proper use of medication involves the following steps obtaining, prescribin g, recording, dispensing, administering, and finally monitoring. However, it is

Negotiation styles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Negotiation styles - Essay Example Inter-net has acted wonders. The ever rising impacts of the globalisations have changed the terms of trade from that of the traditional ways of doing business. The same has been experienced by the â€Å"Yabbies R Us†. The organisation set up by the Adams family to supply the processed yabbies to a Perth based restaurant, is now exporting the same to certain foreign customers of Singapore. The organisation claims that it can export to any part of the world with in thirty-six hours. To set up deals with more foreign parties, the importance of negotiating skill is immense. The Adams group has to ensure best deal for them as they try to become a global player. Adams group plans to enter the western market (particularly that of Canada) with their product of processed yabbies. The group should know the various negotiation strategies prevailing in the country in order to be successful in their venture. The negotiation strategies generally commences with informal meets among the concerned parties in Canada. The authorities of ‘Yabbies R Us’ can invite some of the Canada based potential customers of the processed fish in an informal meet. The potential customers of yabbies would generally be hotels and restaurants. So, there are possibilities that the first meet takes place at the prospective customer’s place. But to have more negotiating power, the ‘Yabbies R Us’ authorities should try and select a different venue from that of the client’s place. The visiting party should not wait for the right moment to pitch their product. In most cases, it is the Canadian party that talks about the business purpose f irst. 1 In this initial step, the ‘Yabbies R us’ management should present their product in an informal way and should narrate their prospective counterpart, the long term business plans and the expected share of profit from the business. Once the negotiation starts with on an informal note, the

World War II as a Just war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

World War II as a Just war - Essay Example The countries were divided into two groups: The Allies and the Axis. Germany, Japan and their allies formed the 'Axis' while US, Britain and its allies as the 'Allies'. This essay would validate this claim that the war fought by the 'Allies' was a just war, by describing the true nature and criteria required to name a war as a 'Just war'. The basis of the 'Just war' is the point that no matter what the circumstances become, the prospect of war certainly means death and slaughter but at a certain point war becomes inevitable. This could be seen since the wars in the olden times. Though the criteria differ in nature but the moral considerations of the war are the same. Under these conditions, a certain criteria should be met before waging any war to make that war a 'Just war'. Just war theory is actually a collection of moral considerations which limits the devastations caused by warfare. This may involve the fair treatment of women and children treatment to maintaining an honorable code of conduct during the war. 'Just war' theory could be subdivided into two sets: The first being the jus ad bellum which actually means right to wage a war and the second being jus in bello which signifies proper conduct during the war. Jus ad bellum and jus in bello are further divided so we would look at them separately. (Coates) Jus ad bellum: The most basic part of jus ad bellum is that any war which would be fought should have a just cause. Just cause actually implies that war must be initiated in order to defend one's country or another country from another violent or oppressive country. The reasons for going to a war must not be to gain material gain, to capture lands or to punish people. The reasons should be humanitarian; a war should only be fought to protect the innocent lives which are in danger and not to put more innocent lives at stake. This is however difficult to determine which side of the conflict has a 'just cause' because every side considers its cause as just. Even though the Nazis are considered to be brutal and murderers, they themselves considered their cause of war just. If we come back to the World War II, we can easily make out that the Allies fought the Axis to put an end to their monstrosities and it was due to their efforts, that many countries, for example Poland and Australia did not fall to t he Nazi regime of Germany. The best example in this regard is the holocaust of the Germans against the Jews which was ended as a result of this war. The Allies therefore had a just cause of fighting because they wanted to put an end to the war provoked by the Axis. Another important part of the jus ad bellum is the 'just intention' which means that the intentions behind going to a war should be just. This is often confused with the 'just cause' concept because both speak of the aims and goals of a war but the basic difference between the two is that a war may be fought with a 'just cause' but not with a 'just intention'. This could be illustrated by the example that to attack a country in order to put an end to the oppressive government is a 'just cause' but by toppling that government if the intention is to form a government which is inclined towards the attacker country is not considered a 'just intention

Islam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Islam - Assignment Example As it is implied by both God and Holy Prophet (PBUH) that only righteous deeds can elevate one person over the rest, all Muslims immensely respect those who strive to do good and achieve noble objectives. Islam assigns different kinds of roles to men and women not on grounds of superiority or inferiority but because they have slightly different physical and emotional traits. Men mostly are physically and emotionally stronger than women so they are encouraged to work harder and support their whole family. The burden of work can be hugely stressful so it is reserved for the emotionally and physically stronger group. But that does not mean that Islam strictly prohibits women from becoming educationally accomplished or going out of their homes to earn money. Islam does not see any harm in women striving to make sure both ends are met when situation gets rough. Quran implies that gender equality should be put into practice (Muslim Women’s League, 2012). Life in Arabian Island befor e Islam reached it: Life in Arabian Island before Islam dawned on it is characterized by scholars as wild, wayward, lawless, undirected, restless, ominous, and demonic. Islam brought with itself the phenomenally relieving messages of peace, discipline, respect, lawfulness, ethics, humanity, and obedience. By emphasizing the presence of a higher being who should be respected and worshipped, Islam erased any possibility of jealousy or discrimination among Muslims. If Quran and Sunnah had implied that anyone among the followers who is virtuous and noble could be worshipped, conflict and discrimination would have resulted and there would have been multiple gods. But Islam put an end to such misery and asked all to observe one being and none else. Life in Arabian Island before Islam reached it was so exceedingly wayward that men and women were made to dance naked in the vicinity of the Ka’bah as part of the rituals and men used to bury their daughters alive out of gross hatred and gender discrimination (Subhani, n.d.). Before the advent of Islam, the Arab people used to treat women as mere sex objects who could be used for pleasure only and were granted no rights or protection. In stark contrast to the ancient teachings of other religions which stress that women are inherently sinful and wicked beings with no sense whatsoever and men are born virtuous and noble, Islam implies in accordance with the revolutionary teachings of Quran and Sunnah that men and women should be considered equal everywhere as they are created from the same soul and both are born innocent (Doi, n.d.). Changes brought by Islam in the Muslim culture: Islam brought multiple revolutionary and commendable changes in the Muslim culture. In fact Islam created the Muslim culture as before this religion dawned, there was no Muslim culture but a disgustful wilderness. General morals and manners of the Arabs before the advent of Islam were very low and fraught with weaknesses so Islam strived to elevate them up to a higher level so that Muslims could be distinguished on grounds of high morals and not on grounds of ignorance and waywardness. Due to lack of proper guidance and prevalence of immorality and ignorance, Arabs before the advent of Islam led a life similar to that of uncontrollable beasts and often breached law. Islam brought the change by creating a strong justice system one

Impacts of the recent mortgage crisis on the money supply in the Research Paper

Impacts of the recent mortgage crisis on the money supply in the United States and the actions of Federal Reserve take in response to the mortgage crisis - Research Paper Example One of the major reasons of the recent financial crisis in United Sates was the mortgage crisis. Mortgage crisis refers to a situation in which the money borrowers fail to repay the money they lent from financial institutions. American financial institutions miscalculated that American economy is strong enough to overcome any kind of crisis situation and it is not necessary to bother much about the repaying capacities of the people who approach them for loans and other financial aids. Greedy public exploited the opportunities very well and they approached American banks for financial aids to purchase lavish apartments, real estate properties, vehicles etc. American banks imposed no restrictions in mortgage sanctioning and dispersed huge amount of money for maximising their profits. In most of the other countries, mortgages are sanctioned only after the assessment of the financial abilities of the customer. But in America, banks have shown fewer interests in assessing the abilities of the customers. The unexpected mortgage crisis impacted heavily on the money supply in America and Federal Reserve forced to take strong measures to counter the mortgage crisis. Impacts of the recent mortgage crisis on the money supply in the United States The major impact of the recent mortgage crisis on money supply in America was the change in behaviours of the investors.... driven some analysts to argue that should the monetary policy response fail to restore confidence among investors, the outcome would be the worst crisis seen since the Great Depression† (The United States Subprime Mortgage Crisis And Its Implications For The Caribbean, 2008, p.1). Real estate sector was the worst affected industry as a result of the recent mortgage crisis and subsequent money supply problems. Majority of the real estate business groups rely heavily on mortgages from financial institutions for the completion of their projects. As a result of the reluctance of the investors in investing in banks, Banks started to find money shortages to assist the real estate sector. Banks started to impose strict norms for sanctioning mortgages to real estate people. Moreover, people who approached banks for financial aids for purchasing properties were told that no more mortgages were possible without adequate proof about their financial abilities. Thus, both the real estate bu siness groups and the people who liked to purchase some properties suffered heavily and as a result of that real estate business started collapse. The impacts of mortgage crisis have not been limited to the financial sector alone. In fact, it has spilled into the real economy also and as result of that American economic growth has been reduced considerably over the last four years period. Economic activities in America have been reduced considerably because of the shortage of money in the hands of the public. Moreover, Americans started realise the importance of saving money for future crisis situations as they learned a lesson from the recent crisis. Thus, Americans started to cut down their lavish spending habits because of the mortgage crisis and subsequent recession problems. According to

Same-sex marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Same-sex marriage - Essay Example The 1990s saw heated political discourses on same sex relationships particularly in relation to the rights of parenting and spousal benefits in the state of Massachusetts. This led to the recognition of same sex relationships and the provision of benefits (including health and insurance benefits) to individuals in same sex marriages. Nonetheless, this move led to a huge uproar especially among the Christians and clergymen who felt that a special interest group cannot get equal treatment and the recognition accorded to a family unit. They termed same sex partners as friends who decide to share the same house and other different responsibilities. From then, there have been unsuccessful attempts to pass a legislation that would provide guidelines on the same sex relationships. All along, the supporters of same sex relationships have been fighting not for the recognition of same sex relationship but for the accordance of equal benefits and fairness to the individuals belonging to same se x relationships. ... rt claimed that under the constitution of Massachusetts, it was illegal and highly unconstitutional to deny individuals in a same sex relationship the benefits of marriage. This opened the gates for Massachusetts to join other jurisdictions that have legalized same sex marriages including Belgium and Quebec, Canada. In the United States of America, the state of Massachusetts was the first state to recognize and legalize same sex marriages. The case â€Å"Goodridge v. Department of Public Health† provided Massachusetts with the basis for legalizing same sex marriages. The court claimed that it could not deny two individuals who are together because of a mutual agreement the benefits, obligations, and the protections of a civil marriage. The court further noted that the constitution of Massachusetts does not tolerate the establishment of second-class Massachusetts citizens under any cost. Instead, it argued that the constitution represents the rights as well as the dignity of al l people in Massachusetts. Following this decision, the court gave the state legislature a period of 180 days to take any appropriate action in line with its ruling. In the ruling, the majority opinion claimed that the court’s obligation was to provide an appropriate definition for liberty as opposed to imposing its own moral code. This opinion rubbished the perspective of the opponents of same sex marriage who claimed that the legalization of same sex marriage could not be a determination of four individuals. The majority opinion also had it that as opposed to the federal constitution, the constitution of Massachusetts protects personal liberty against any interference from the state or the national government. This is in line with the argument of LaFleur and Cristin (9) that if same sex

Rock 'n' Roll High School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Rock 'n' Roll High School - Essay Example Rather, the term might describe a social situation of excessive libertarianism or direct democracy, as we find in the writings of John Cage. Thus, systematic anarchy would add more features to such a social situation. Systematic anarchy cannot lead to chaos, simply because it is systematic. The systemized social state of direct democracy or excessive libertarianism would definitely provide enough room for the individuals to express themselves. The systematic anarchy would culminate at freedom of expression and action in a social state that would lack institutional rigidity but appreciate the good sides of human character. In the context of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, this is the very social situation of a handful of hilarious students. They break conventions, do things that they should not, challenge our regular thinking, and explore a libertarian environment in the form of systematic anarchy. This systematic anarchy is not chaotic. Rather it is expressionist, combined with the flavors of realism, surrealism, and satire. The very plot of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School sets the backdrop of this certain kind of anarchy. In the Vince Lombardi High School, principals suffer from nervous breakdowns as the students of the school completely disregard education and love rock ‘n’ roll whole heartedly. Through a sequence of exciting and sometimes, funny events, these students invite the ‘Ramones’ (a rock band) and take over the control of their school. In response to this, they face criticism and pressure from their parents and teachers. The parents and teachers even move to police. Finally, in all this turmoil, the activities of the student lead to an explosive climax. Certain interesting scenes and sequences are created in the film. In the scene when the musical number â€Å"Do You Wanna Dance?† is set, we find the rock stars confused, even their instruments not plugged in, and the students jump and bounce all around in excitement and joy.

Strategic delivery of change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic delivery of change - Essay Example He later became the director of the company in 1986 where he renamed the company WPP. WPP became the largest marketing and Communication Company worldwide by 1998. Organic growth and strategic combination enabled the company to achieve this position. The company is of good importance to the public in terms of environmental conditions. The raw materials and other resources used by the company are wastes, which could have polluted the environment. The studies indicated that the problem in many companies is how the company is recruiting the employees. Employees are not recruited as per their qualifications. This is because after the interview the recruited employees have lower grades than those who are left out. I worked in the company as part time employee and I have experienced how the employees are recruited. There are employees who have served in the company for a long time without being confirmed. This is because new employees are admitted to larger positions in the company leaving the other employees unconfirmed though they are qualified. For one to be employed in the company, it depends on what you have and whom you know in the company. Employees in the management positions are recruiting their friends and relative even if they are not qualified for the positions. This will lead to poor performances in the company, which might even lead to collapse of the company. This problem in the organization is brought by long serving employees in the management positions. This makes them ignore the rules and regulations of the company and exercise their duties as they wish. When it comes to recruitment, employees in the management position will consider their friends and relatives are first making all process unfair. The managers employ their own people, but they conduct the interviews only for formality in the organization. This makes the employees in the organization to be incompetent. This is because they cannot perform their duties as

Milk-Run Essay Example for Free

Milk-Run Essay In logistics, a milk run is a round trip which facilitates both distribution and collection. Milk run The terms are defined by the customer or by the service providers. Here, the exact number of suppliers, each of which defines the available volume and weight, and the time window for collection from the respective suppliers and the time window for delivery to the customer. With consistent planning, capacity increases to an average of 90 percent can be achieved. On the round trips are either goods collected from several suppliers and transported to one customer, or goods collected from one supplier an transported to to several customers. In contrast to the groupage traffic, here is no handling, but only to transport the goods. Something more specialist, the Milk-run is described as a concept that is a sequential collection of goods from multiple sources and the direct service to the customers without intermediate handling features of the goods. As a prerequisite for the Milk-Run approach is the spatial proximity between the supplier and the customer. The procedure for development of a Milk-Run-Concept consists of the following steps: Fixation of weight and volume of suppliers in a particular region. Selection of potential Milk-Run-Suppliers based on the maximum amount of charge, delivery frequency as although volume and weight limits. Selection of Milk-Run-Suppliers because of the conditions and the Milk-Run potential. Definition of Milk-Run-Parameters to the weight and volume limits, time slots, delivery frequency and maximum number of Milk-Run-Suppliers. Development and evaluation of Milk-Run-Alternatives. Specification of the Milk-Runs with respect to the fourth point under these parameters, plus the necessary contingency plans. Implementation of the Milk-Runs: Definition of a Milk-Run-Schedule, conduct supplier workshops, testing and Milk-Run-Controlling. The main benefit of Milk Runs is, according to common opinion in the literature, in the higher utilization of trucks and the resulting reduction of transport costs by up to 30 percent. In addition, the reduction of stock, both at the supplier side and at the customer side, avoidance in delays at the loading ramp, due to the consolidation of several suppliers and the specified time windows, high security planning and integration of reusable container recycling. In literature completely ignored is the less pollution of the environment, both by consolidation and the resulting higher utilization of trucks, and by the reduction of transportation vehicles, compared to JIT or groupage traffic. The disadvantages of the Milk-Run-Concept are the following points: Not all suppliers are able to implement a Milk run. The increasing dependence on road conditions. In the case of poor planning, the number of extra trips can increase, and lead to additional costs. History The phrase milk run originates in American culture, with the distribution of milk bottles by the milkman. On his daily route, the milkman simultaneously distributes the full bottles and collects the empty bottles. [6] After the completion of round trip, he returned with the empties back to the starting point. Another source is located in agriculture of the 20th Century. Until the 90s, in smaller communes, there were small collection points for milk. Since most farms had very little dairy, it was not economical for dairies to drive every single operation. Thus, the milk was transported by farmers to collection points and collected there. The milk truck then drove to the collection points ordinarily every two days at a predetermined number of collection points in a fixed order and transported the milk to the dairy. In the context of logistics in 1995, first mentioned by Meusel, that by identifying potential circular tours, the utilization of trucks could be increased and logistics costs could be reduced. Differentiation from groupage traffic The currently dominant in practice distribution concept is the groupage traffic. In contrast to the round trip, is at groupage traffic cargo collected from a logistics company at the supplier and transported to the transshipment points. There, the cargo will be consolidated and transported to the customer. This type of transport is divided into 2 cycles:[8] Pre-Run: From the suppliers to the transshipment points. Main-Run: Transportation of consolidated goods from the transshipment points to the customer. In this concept, the average utilization of transport amounts to 60-70 percent. The resulting costs and CO? emissions from empty tours and extra tours, as although bad utilized transport, are from an environmental and economic point a disadvantage.

Total Hip Replacement Surgical Approach Health And Social Care Essay

Total Hip Replacement Surgical Approach Health And Social Care Essay The two most commonly used and described approaches to Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) are the anterolateral and the posterior. The anterolateral or modified Hardinge approach involves a skin incision over the greater trochanter, over or parallel with the shaft of femur. The incision is often curved posteriorly at its proximal end. Dissection is then undertaken to take advantage of the intramuscular plane between the tensor fascia lata and the gluteus medius. In the direct lateral or Hardinge approach, the acetabulum is exposed by a partial or total release of the abductor muscles (gluteus medius and minimus). This was originally achieved by a trochanteric osteotomy or detachment at their greater trochanter insertion3 described by Watson-Jones 4 and then subsequently modified by Charnley.5 The anterolateral or modified Hardinge approach, as used in Tayside, involves detaching the anterior third of the gluteus medius and minimus. This minimises the risk to the superior gluteal nerve and limits damage to the abductors.6 This modification from the original technique was described by Harris7, and Muller.8 The posterior approach involves a skin incision over the posterior aspect of the greater trochanter, proximally following inline with the gluteus maximus and distally the lateral shaft of the femur. A blunt dissection of the gluteus maximus follows emerging posterior to the abductor muscles. The external rotators (piriformis, superior and inferior gemelli and obturator internus) are then detached at the femoral insertion and reflected exposing the capsule and acetabulum.3 It was originally described by Langenbeck, and subsequently Kocher9 and finally Gibson.10 There have been numerous studies but there is still professional disagreement about which approach is the most effective for primary total hip arthroplasty. Many of the studies that have been undertaken over recent years have been considered to be deficient in both quality of study design and quantity of patients in the study sample. The Cochrane review considered four studies sufficient but only one of these included functional outcomes with the Harris Hip score.11 The study in the Cochrane review was done by Barber et al, it was limited in size, 49 patients, with a relatively short follow-up.12 Dislocation rates between these approaches have been looked at in some depth. Many studies have found a difference, while others havent. The difference is often considered minimal if good tissue repair is used in the posterior approach.13,14,15 Where this is the case, the implant has been shown to have half the amount of internal rotation (anteversion) when placed using anterolateral approac h as opposed to the posterior approach.16 This is a retrospective study aiming to use large sample groups to answer the null hypothesis that there is no difference between an anterolateral approach and a posterior approach with regards to functional outcome scores (Harris Hip Score and Trendelenburg Test for primary total hip replacement surgery). It also aims to answer the null hypothesis that there is no difference functionally in patients that suffer post-operative dislocations. To do this it will look at the pre-operative scores and post-operative scores comparing any gain or loss in function for each patient. The reasoning behind using Harris Hip Score and Trendelenburg Test is that these are commonly used, meaning any conclusions can be easily related to clinical practice. Dislocation rates between the two approaches will also be compared. Materials and Methods: The data used within this project was collected under the Tayside Arthroplasty Audit Group (TAAG) database. The objective of the TAAG database is to evaluate the clinical performance of all hip arthroplasties or hip resurfacings in Tayside. Initially there were 8153 cases with data for primary hip arthroplasties (resurfacings were not included), of these 6350 cases had undergone either an anterolateral or a posterior approach to the surgery. For this data the aim was to look at pre-operative Harris Hip score results and Trendelenburg tests and again at 1-year post-operatively. Due to this, the data was further screened to ensure that each patient had a complete set of data for these tests. Some cases didnt have data correctly collected or alternatively were not followed up at 1-year post-operatively. The resulting number of cases was 3416 with 1001 having suffered a complication within the 1-year period after surgery. These complications were medical and surgical. Not all of these co mplications had a direct effect on the function or rehabilitation of the joint. The choice of Harris Hip score and Trendelenburg Testing to test functional ability has been shown to be clinically relevant as a reference tool for assessment of improvement or deterioration of the hip joint, particularly pre-operatively and at 1-year.17,18 The Harris Hip score assesses pain, ability to complete basic tasks, deformity of the joint, and range of movement out of 100. The functional score removes the subjective areas of the full score looking specifically at functional ability out of 47. Trendelenburgs test is specifically looking at abductor deficit, although it has its recognised disadvantages.19 The need for experienced interpretation of the Trendelenburgs test is its main disadvantage, otherwise you can get false-negatives and false-positives very easily. It was considered only relevant to look at results post-operatively at 1-year, as from a patients perspective this is often the expectation of relative normality. From a surgical point of view, secondary complicat ions such as loosening of the prosthesis and deep infection are less likely to be apparent at 1 year but will have presented at 5 years.20 The TAAG database is a rolling audit of all elective hip arthroplasties or resurfacings done in Tayside. Any patient who is undergoing either of these procedures will be considered for inclusion. Exclusion criteria for audit enrolment are a previous total or cemented/uncemented hemi-arthroplasty of the affected hip or inability/unwillingness to participate in the follow up programme. If a patient consents for involvement they will be assessed pre-operatively and post-operatively, this includes radiography to assess prosthesis positioning. Data for Harris Hip Scores and Trendelenburg Test are collected at each assessment. Post-operative follow-up is at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years and then every 2 years thereafter until the prosthesis fails. Operative procedures, local practices, technique used, antibiotic coverage, theatre type, and any other regimes are all recorded. If a patient suffers a complication, details of it, management, and final outcome are all recorded. All data is collected in the same format, if any clinical issues for a patient are found that patient will be referred back to the supervising consultant for review. The data available had a large range of implants used and was also unspecific for consultant surgeon who undertook each procedure. Positive (2)On comparing the difference between pre-operative testing to post-operative testing the groups four possible results were seen. As the outcome for Trendelenburg is categorical, each result was given a value, the pre-operative result was simply added to the post-operative, as is shown in Table 2, giving an option of 1-4. For a negative to negative (1) result the anterolateral group was 59.89% and the posterior group was 51.38%. For a positive to negative result (2) the anterolateral group was 34.39% and the posterior group was 46.40%. This shows the posterior approach corrected a Trendelenburgs positive test in 12.01% more cases than the anterolateral approach. For a negative to positive (3) result the anterolateral group was 3.52% and the posterior group was 0.55%. This shows that the anterolateral approach caused a Trendelenburgs positive test in 2.97% more cases than the posterior approach. For a positive to positive (4) result the anterolateral group was 2.18% and the posterior group was 1.65%. When comparing the two groups as a whole, a statistical significance was found (p=

Edward Morgan Forsters A Room With A View to James Ivory

Edward Morgan Forsters A Room With A View to James Ivory Table of Contents Introduction The Author (Edward Morgan Forster) and Director (James Ivory) Plot Summary Intersemiotic Translation of The Novel Major changes in the plot structure Characters in the movie and the novel Production (lighting/ camera/ music/ casting ) Themes Conclusion References Introduction Adapting a literary work into film is a process of translating the literary text into a visual text. In On Linguistic Aspects of Translation Roman Jakobson distinguishes three kinds of translation: intralingual (or rewording), interlingual (or translation proper) and intersemiotic translation (or transmutation). Intralingual translation involves the interpretation of verbal signs by means of other signs in the same language whereas interlingual translation is an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language. The third category, intersemiotic translation or transmutation is an interpretation of verbal signs by means of non verbal sign systems . In Roman Jakobsons classification, intersemiotic translation includes adaptation of literary works into film. Jakobson specifically mentions cinema as one of the intersemiotic options for translating the untranslatable and writes that only creative transposition is possible. Jakobsons concept of intersemiotic transposition from one system of signs into another, for instance from verbal art into music, dance, cinema or painting allows us to consider film adaptations within the realm of intertextuality as intersemiotic translation of words into film images. Julie Sanders in Adaptation and Appropriation also defines adaptation as a specific process involving the transition from one genre to another: novels into film; drama into musical; dramatization of prose narratives and prose fiction; or the inverse movement of making drama into prose narrative. Since, film as an art has close relation to literature in its use of plot, characters, setting, dialogue and imagery, its strategies of expression and its tendency to manipulate space and time; one of the most seen kind of intersemiotic translation would be a literary work into film. In this paper, the novel A Room With A View and its intersemiotic translation example, the movie with the same title will be discussed. Since the novel adapted twice to screen, t is necessary to make it clear that this study deals with Merchant- Ivory movie in 1985 in terms of the effects of the author and the director on both the source and the translation; a small plot summary will be provided to give an insigh t to literary work and plot structure of the novel, and intersemiotic translation will be evaluated through plot structure, characters in the movie, technicalities such as casting, production design, music and camera; themes in the literary work. II. The Author and The Director Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 7 June 1970) Edward Morgan Forster was a novelist and short story writer. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. It is notably apparent that Forsters work always includes a part of his life once you learn about Forsters life story. In 1897 he went to Kings College, Cambridge where he found congenial friends, the atmosphere of free intellectual discussion and an emphasis on the importance of personal relationships. During his time at Cambridge he also began to write fiction. He started questioning his inherited conventional Christian morality and learned about secular humanism, which appears at the heart of his work. The pursuit of personal connections in spite of the constraints of contemporary society has a profound influence on most of his work such as A Room With A View. After leaving Cambridge, he travelled in Europe and Asia including Italy, Greece, Germany, India and Egypt. His stay at a Florence pension helped him with the setting of A Room with a View in a similar establishment. Traveling experience developed Forsters cosmopolitanism and his interest in foreign cultures, reflected in A Passage to India and A Room with a View. It may also account for the sexual frustration in some of his books that he had troubles to come to terms with his homosexuality due to contemporary restrictions. In the following chapter, it will be explained shortly how it changed the cinematography in the movie, A Room With A View. Forster had five novels published in his lifetime and achieved his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924) which is about the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj. He is also noted for his use of symbolism as a technique in his novels as can be seen in this relevant novel. His other works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908). James Ivory (born June 7, 1928) James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director. III. Plot Summary Lucy Honeychurch, a young English woman, is vacationing with her cousin, Charlotte Bartlett at an Italian pension for British guests. They are vacationing in Florence, Italy together. While complaining about the poor views of their room, Lucy and Charlotte are interrupted by another guest, an old man called Mr. Emerson. Mr. Emerson offers them a room swap because he and his son George are both in rooms that present beautiful views of Florence. Charlotte refuses since for a woman to accept such an offer from a man would make her look like she owes something to him. But later that evening, Charlotte accepts the offer. Emersons are socially unacceptable by the snobbish standards of the other guests but Lucy likes them. One day, while Lucy is walking alone in Florence, she witnesses a murder. George happens to be there as well and he catches her when she faints. Later that week, they ride into the hills near Florence with other guests. While others wandering around the hills, Lucy finds herself alone. She comes to an earth terrace covered with violets, and finds herself face-to-face with George. He kisses her, but the kiss is interrupted by Charlotte. Part 2 beginning after several months takes the reader to Windy Corner, the Honeychurch home in Surrey, England. In Rome, Lucy has spent a good deal of time with a man named Cecil Vyse. In Italy, Cecil has proposed to Lucy twice. She has rejected him both times. As Part 2 begins, Cecil is proposing yet again. This time, she accepts. Cecil, an aristocratic Londoner, despises the ways of the country upper circle. At Charlottes request, she has never told anyone about her kiss with George. But before too long, the Emersons move into a villa not far from Windy Corner. She continues her engagement to Cecil even though to the reader, it is obvious that they are completely unsuitable for each other. Lucy persists in the engagement. Freddy invites George to come play tennis. Lucy gets nervous about what might happen. Cecil refuses to play tennis and reads aloud from a bad British novel. Lucy realizes that the novel is written by Miss Lavish, a woman from their pension in Florence. Cecil reads a particular passage, which is a fictional recreation of her kiss with George. She realizes that Charlotte told Miss Lavish what happened. George is there during the reading of the passage. On the way back to the house, George catches Lucy alone in the garden and kisses her again. Afterwards, having Charlotte sit in the room as support and witness Lucy orders George never to return to Windy Corner. George argues with her passionately. He tells her that Cecil is unsuitable for her and that Cecil will never love her enough to want her to be independent. George loves her for who she is. Lucy is shaken by his words but she stands firm. George leaves, heartbroken. Later, something makes Lucy see him truthfully for the first time. She breaks off the engagement that very night. But Lucy still cannot admit to anyone, including herself, her feelings for George. Rather than stay at Windy Corner and face George, she resolves to leave for Greece. But one day not long before she is supposed to leave, she goes to church with her mother and Charlotte and meets Mr. Emerson in the ministers study. Mr. Emerson does not know that Lucy has broken off the engagement, but Lucy realizes before long that she cannot lie to the old man. She talks with him, and Mr. Emerson realizes that she has deep feelings for George. He presses the issue, forcing her to confront her own feelings. Finally, she admits that she has been fighting her love for George all along. The novel closes in Florence, where George and Lucy are spending their honeymoon. Lucy has eloped with George. Even though Lucy does not have her familys consent and it seems difficult to fix her situation with the family, there is still hope that it will get better. George and Lucy have each other now. IV. Intersemiotic Translation of the Novel Major changes in the plot structure A novel is completely a product of its writer; however, a movie is created with cooperation between the crew and the director. There are many factors that can change the movie such as screenwriters, art directors, producers, etc. For this reason, it is necessary to remember that a movie cannot be fully faithful to a novel (in the case of book to film intersemiotic translations) in order to make sense of the shifts in translations. Considering movies only last for a few hours, any attempt to include every detail of a novel in the translation (movie) would be futile. Nevertheless, visual and auditory elements help directors a good deal to reflect many details in a book; sometimes resulting in a better version of our imagination thanks to production and director. In order to create the best version of the translation, the director may omit the parts and/or add some other features to the characters or new events to the plot. During the process of this work, the crew and the director face constraints resulting from the novel or the style of the author. As mentioned earlier in Introduction, A Room with a View was adapted for the screen twice, in 1985 and again in 2007. The first film is a 117-minute British production directed by James Ivory, starring Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy, Julian Sands as George, Maggie Smith as Charlotte, Daniel Day-Lewis as Cecil. In this paper, the movie shot in 1985 is being discussed in terms of the relation between the novel of Forster. The screenplay of the movie was written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who brought the movie one of its three Oscars in 1986, and it follows closely the original storyline. There are only a few major changes in the plot structure of A Room With A View such as Cecil disappearing from the chapter in Italy completely, the relation between Lucy and music, and the ending. The constraints that the director, Ivory and the screenwriter, Jhabvala faced are derived from Forsters notable symbolism. Even though Forster can make a well-balanced structure to imply the symbolism in little details in the book, it is almost impossible to render all the symbolisms. Thats why, director and screenwriter decided to make some omissions and changes in the plot. However, the film follows a classical path of adapting literary works, focusing on the development of the story and being as faithful as possible to the original. The additional elements are there to present in greater detail some aspects only touched by Forster or to emphasize his ideas. The structure of the film is also similar to that of the novel, the story being divided into various parts by Brecht-style intertitl es based on some of the chapters. For instance, there are chapters in the movie named the same as the chapters in the book such as Lying to George (Chapter16). IV. a. 1. Omissions In Chapter VII, it is stated that Lucy meets Cecil Vyse in Rome, and in the following Chapter VIII, characters talk about how they have met in Rome. Nonetheless, in the movie, Cecil never appears in the first part, shot in Italy. Director and screenwriter decided to remove Cecil character from the first part in order to accentuate the symbolism through settings because Forster make the readers compare medieval to renaissance, England to Italy through Cecil and George. Due to time constraints, Cecil has been omitted completely from the first part of the movie. Secondly, the film interprets Georges kiss on the hills near Fiesole as a romantic kiss on the lips. Describing the scene, Forster writes simply that he kissed her (Chapter VI), but he suggests later on that George kissed her on the cheek (Chapters XI, XIII as understood by that touch of lips on her cheek-and Chapter XV). The last omission is about the relationship between Lucy and music. Forster addresses matters such as separation and connection in his fiction often approaching fragmentation through the lens of art. In Art for Arts Sake (1949), he notes that society can only represent a fragment of the human spirità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦another fragment can only get expressed through art. Forster renders music as a symbol for Lucys growth in time. Beethoven, Schumann and Wagner bring Lucy closer to her inexperienced social self with her sophisticated and intuitive musical self. These composers help Lucy develop from a girl who plays it safe and follows the rules of society as Beethoven might have done in his early period into a free-thinking and independent young woman who marries for love against the grain of her social class. Even though in the book, Lucy plays piano often; she plays only three times in the movie. Plot has adjusted due to time constraints but it includes Beethovens Sonata No. 21 Waldste in, Mozarts Sonata No. 8 and Schuberts Sonata No. 4. Every single composer describes a part of Lucys life. It can be concluded that even though there has been omission, the songs and the composers are chosen wisely to reflect the symbolism. IV. a. 2. Additions Although they have not caused important shifts in the translation, there are also scenes that are only narrated in the novel and the film chooses to bring on camera. For example: the lemonade episode (in Chapter III), the violets (here in the film they are cornflowers) for the Miss Alans (Chapters III and X), the conversation between Charlotte and George on the road to Fiesole (Chapter VI), Cecils encounter with the Emersons in the National Gallery -in flashback- (Chapter X) and Freddy singing comic songs and annoying Cecil (who does leave the room, Chapter XIII). Changes in the Characterization The development of the story intertwined with the characteristic development of Lucy within English society as she emancipates herself from the societys constraints. In order to highlight this concept in the story, great effort was assigned to present the other characters as complex personalities as Lucy too in a way that is fairly faithful to the novel. The other characters in the film are not just satellites around the heroine so to say; instead, they have clear paths to follow on their own. For this reason, the film adjusts the characters into more complex personas and improves the reflection of the Edwardian period at the time with relation to their human side. For example, in the Chapter XVII: Lying to Cecil where Lucy breaks off her engagement to Cecil, Cecil seems more typical of Victorian Era. Denying Lucy claiming that she does not mean what she says, Cecil is a simple example of the medieval. However, Cecil in the movie is saddened at the moment Lucy breaks off the engageme nt. It is more likely to see the human part of the character in the film. Moreover, the Edwardian society is also well illustrated, by keeping Forsters critical view of it through some kind of stock characters such as the intellectual woman (Eleanor Lavish), the maiden gentlewomen (the Miss Alans), the free-thinker (Mr Emerson), the prim chaperon (Charlotte Bartlett), the snob (Cecil Vyse), etc.Another difference is that the film does even more than Forster to show that this is also Georges story instead of focusing on Lucy more. It brings on screen episodes that in the novel are just stories told by other characters about him, and gives George more time on the camera. We see his free spirit, his affection for his father, and even his love for Lucy and the effect that it has on him in the film. However, Georges socialist part as mentioned in the first chapter of the book is not include in the movie. It is reflected rather as an ideal. Technicalities IV. c. 1. Production A Room With A View is a product of a collaboration of producer Ismail Merchant and the director, James Ivory, now referred as Merchant- Ivory. Merchant-Ivorys gift was recognizing which masterpieces of world literature would be translated well and provide material that can actually be photographed in addition to superlative prose (which cannot). A Room With A View was ideal with its clash between propriety and passion. The film won Oscar, BAFTA and several significant awards in 1987 and had many nominations as well. The collaboration of Merchant- Ivory reached to its peak with the movie. The screenwriter, Jhabvala, the talented third member of the Merchant / Ivory team did a magnificent adaptation of the novel by being very faithful to Forsters novel and winning the Oscar for the best Screenplay Adapted From Other Material. The movie also won the best Costume Design in Oscar Awards and became a landmark in the rise of the British costume movie. The clothes and the hairstyle of the characters are smart, elegant and proper; indicating the importance of decorum and also stressing the differences of class visually. As an example, Cecils and the Emersons clothes in the National Gallery vary from one another as in their classes, and also the differences of official and high society moments (the engagement party or the dinner party at the Vyses) and leisure activities of lower class such as playing tennis, which require comfortable clothes and between day activities and dinner time. Vincent Canby praised the collaboration of the trio in New York Times Movie Review as follows: As theyve been doing now for over 20 years, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wrote the screenplay for A Room With a View; James Ivory, who directed it, and Ismail Merchant, the producer, have created an exceptionally faithful, ebullient screen equivalent to a literary work that lesser talents would embalm. IV. c. 2. Lighting and Camera Lighting plays a significant role in the production as well. As title gives a hint, A Room With A view is the contradiction between being inside or outside. In order to emphasize it, the scenes indoors have a low lighting to have a gloomy setting as in the mindset of the characters. Director also uses curtains in the film to stress symbolic conflict between indoors and outdoors as in the book with a low lighting. They protect the furniture and characters from the sun so that they will not get older easily. IV. c. 3. Soundtracks Soundtracks are significantly effective so as to take the audience to Italy in the first part of the movie. Most of the soundtracks were composed by Richard Robbins, an American composer. Since music is also an important theme in the novel, soundtracks plays an important role to understand the development of Lucys character, from a girl into a woman who can stand up to the contemporary constraints. For example, the aria Chi il Bel Sogno di Doretta from Puccinis La Rondineone plays in the background of an important scene, quiet a turning point, to understand the movie where George kisses Lucy for the first time. IV. c. 4. Casting The cast is one of the best parts of the film. Many of the actors were quiet young and at the beginning of their career. Critic Vincent Canby wrote in 1986: Miss Bonham Carter gives a remarkably complex performance of a young woman who is simultaneously reasonable and romantic, generous and selfish, and timid right up to the point where she takes a heedless plunge into the unknown. A Room With a View has many rich roles, perfectly acted by a cast made up of both newcomers and familiar performers like Maggie Smith and Denholm Elliott. Themes Propriety and Passion The conflict between contemporary social rules and passion is a central theme of the novel. Lucys match with George is completely unacceptable by social standards. But it is the only match that could make her happy. Her match with Cecil is far more traditional; however, marriage to Cecil would destroy Lucys spirit. The Emersons are unconventional people, far from propriety. Mr. Emerson speaks with great feeling about the importance of passion and the beauty of the human body. The British characters of the novel have very strong ideas about the need to repress passion and control young girls. To achieve happiness, Lucy has to learn to appreciate her own desires and fight these standards, many of which she has internalized. As one of the central themes in novel, the conflict of propriety and passion is a significant themes in the movie as well. Director adjusted the ending as a pà ¼re happy ending in the film even though it is a bittersweet end in the novel to accentuate the contrast. Society and Changing Social Norms: The novel takes place at a transitional moment in British society, as the strict social manners, class hierarchy, and codes of behavior typical of the Victorian period give way to the freedom and liberality of modernity in the 20th century. This results in numerous tensions between new and old ways of thinking and doing things, evident in the contrast between young and old characters. Lucy, for example, has very different ideas about proper behaviour for a lady than does Charlotte or Mrs. Honeychurch. Lucy wants to move away from strict social hierarchies, prejudiced snobbery against the lower classes, and patronizing, sexist attitudes toward women in contrast to Mrs Honeychurch or Mrs. Vyse, who cares so much about maintaining traditional social norms. The casting and the production design play a significant role in transferring this theme to movie. Also a lot of contrasts such as inside and outside or England and Italy show the differences of Victorian and Edwardian Eras thanks to symbolism as well. The beautiful and the delicate Lucy asks in the first chapter if beauty and delicacy are really synonyms. Even though Charletto believes that they are, Lucy is decisive to learn the answer by herself. One of Lucys important lessons is that beauty does not need be refined and anything beautiful in the gesture of kindness may not be appropriate. Lucy learns to see beauty in things that her society finds impropriate or condemns. The film also seeks to represents the difference of the two concepts. V. Conclusion As mentioned above, the film adaptations of the literature works can be analysed as a kind of translation, which takes place between two different media. Unlike written translation, this inter-semiotic translation, or film adaptation, cannot be carried out by rendering each word or phrase into the screen. Therefore, these translations cannot be criticized as just good or bad. The aspects and some specific details such as music, lighting, directing or production design can add so much to the movie whereas these items are left to the readers imagination in a novel. There are several other elements that affect the process of adaptation into the screen, like directors interpretation, the audiences expectation, time restriction, technology, etc. E. M. Forster never wanted his literary works to be adapted into a film till his last days when he allowed the adaptations. He was worried that the essence of his book will disappear through a translation. Considering how common it is for the reader to not be pleased with the film adaptations of the books in general, A Room With A View has been a huge success in terms of audience reactions. Thanks to the talented screenwriter, the plot has been very faithful to the novel with the method of a traditional translation mostly keeping the details of the literary work, and the director put so much effort so as to keep most of the symbols in the whole book such as indoors and outdoors, or Italy and England, or nature, or music while the work of production design was awarded due to its undeniable effect in the course of the movie rendering the translation at its best. The movie is considered as a quite faithful translation of Forsters book both by critics and the reader. References Canby, Vincent. THE SCREEN: ROOM WITH A VIEW. Nytimes, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2016. Forster, E. M. A Room With A View. London: Penguin English Library, 2012. Forster, E. M. Art for Arts Sake. Harpers Magazine (1949): 31-34. Http://www.unz.org/Pub/Harpers-1949aug. Web. 15 Dec. 2016. E.M. Forsters A Room With A View. Dir. James Ivory. Prod. Ismail Merchant. 1985. DVD. Raicu, Elena. A Room with Two Views: An Insight into the 1985 and 2007 Film Adaptations of E. M. Forsters Novel. Raicu, Elena. Presses Universitaires De La Mà ©diterranà ©e, n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016. Jakobson, R. (1950). On Linguistic Aspects of Translation. In L. Venuti, (1st ed.), The Translation Studies Reader (pp. 113- 118). New York: Routledge. Sanders, Julie. Adaptation and Appropriation. London: Routledge, 2006.

Political History of Global Warming Essay -- Global Warming Climate Ch

Political History of Global Warming There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding the theory of 'global warming' and the proper political response to it. At the very center of the scientific debate on the variability of global climate is to what extent human activities influence climate change. Another unforeseeable is whether the potential impacts of climate change will be harmful or beneficial for humans, managed agriculture, and natural ecosystems. Some question the authority with which current scientific data has been given in international negotiations on the regulation of greenhouse gases. Others are convinced that immediate actions must be taken to limit the potential effects of excess greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial era. It would be difficult to credit a single event that encouraged the U.S. Government to begin a major program to investigate global climate change; instead it would best be explained as a long series of events, mostly in response to the international attention given it. The idea that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could trap heat in Earth's atmosphere was first put forward in 1898 by Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius. But it wasn't until the late 50s that scientists within U.S. federal agencies started to participate in scientific workshops, international conferences, and international scientific research that explored the nature of Earth?s climate system and the role of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases believed to modify it. In 1965 the President?s Science Advisory Committee issued a report, Restoring the Quality of Our Environment, that identified climate change and CO2 buildup as deserving expanded monitoring and study. The... ...nal Climate Program Act, P.L. 95-367, 15 USC Â §2901 et seq., Revkin, Andrew C., and Katharine Q. Seelye, ?Report by the E.P.A. Leaves Out Data on Climate Change,? New York Times, 6/19/2003, Vol. 152 Issue 52519, pA1, 0p. Rowe, Richard, and Larry Jeffus. The Essential Welder: Gas Metal Arc elding Classroom Manual. Albany:Delmar, 2000. Suraje, Dessai, and Nuno S. Lacasta, Katharine Vincent. International Political History of the Kyoto Protocol: from The Hague to Marrakech and Beyond, International Review for Environmental Strategies Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 183 ? 205, 2003 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2006. United Nations. April 2nd, 2006. U.S. Global Change Research Information Office. 2002. Department of State: Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. April 2, 2006.

Lord Of The Flies: Human Nature :: essays research papers

Lord of The Flies: Human Nature "We are all murderers and prostitutes - no matter to what culture, society, class, nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature, one takes oneself to be." R. D. Laing British psychiatrist. R.D. Laing obviously backs up William Golding's point of view that human nature is evil. Human nature is directly affected by the environment; and is constantly changing due to the experiences of the individual. Oscar Wilde once said "The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate from it. The systems that fail are those who rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development. The error of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The result of his error was the French Revolution. It was an admirable result." Human nature depends upon the environment in which they are immersed. The idea that children, not humans in general, are swayed by the ideas and actions of their parental figures is also a central idea of the book, "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. Because of the war in England where the boys were from their human experience was one of war. If there was no war going on in England at the time they were evacuated from England, there would've been no deaths, no Lord of the Flies, and certainly no beast. Because if they had came with a good human nature then how would there have been a beast which Golding classified as the basic evil inside all of us. Another thing that ties in with this that children try to copy what they see adults do so if a child sees an adult smoke up or drink then he may believe that it is okay or it is right because their parents do it. As George Orwell once said "Part of the reason for the ugliness of adults, in a child's eyes, is that the child is usually looking upwards, and the adults are rarely looking down. Yet no matter what they will always adore, look up to and love their parents." But as was just said sometimes that can be a bad thing. So what must we do? Well for starters why not try to teach our children better and try at all costs to set good examples for our children so that our society will hopefully be salvaged from the god forsaken wrath of evil. Children who's parents smoke have a 40% higher chance of smoking than

An Ethical Theory Applied to Business Organizations Essay -- Business

The object of this essay is to establish whether there is an ethical theory that can be successfully applied to business organizations. In order to answer this question, it is necessary first to define the major ethical theories, which are utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics, before determining whether there are any other options. After that, the ethical needs, problems and limitations of work organizations will have to be examined so that the different theories can be evaluated in this context. It will also be important to draw a distinction between the terms â€Å"accurate† and â€Å"useful† as these actually result in two different questions the answer to which need not necessarily be the same. Another essential part of this discussion is the more general question why there should be ethics in work organizations in the first place, and to what extent ethical behavior is feasible in the business world. Hopefully this will provide a framework within which the answer to the essay question can be included. To begin with, the â€Å"traditional† approaches to solving moral problems will be defined, namely those of act-utilitarianism and deontology. These are traditional not because they have existed longer than virtue ethics, but because for a long time they have been the approaches most commonly used as a basis for trying to solve ethical problems. After looking at these two moral theories, the approach of virtue ethics regarding moral dilemmas will be investigated in order to compare differences and advantages as well as problems. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. It adopts the consequentialist view that it must be right to make the world a better place and therefore the right action is the one that produces the best consequences. Utilitarianism takes this one step further and defines the action that will produce the best consequences as the one that produces the most happiness. Act-utilitarianism holds that each case should be judged separately in terms of which possible action would maximise happiness; this means that there are no rules to follow, but the theory seems to provide a decision-procedure to act upon in that one acts upon a principle of justice. Intuitively this seems to be an appealing solution to ethical dilemmas. To maximise happiness makes utilitarianism a noble ideal. Furthermore... ...usiness Ethics, Vol.19, No.3, April II 1999 Cicero: Selected Works. Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth - England 1971 Donaldson, D. and Davis, E.: ‘Business Ethics? Yes, But What Can it Do for the Bottom Line?’ Management Decision, Vol 28, 6, 1990 Legge, K.: ‘Is HRM ethical? Can HRM be ethical?’ in Parker, M. (ed.): Ethics and Organisations. Sage Publications - London 1998 Madsen and Shafritz Essentials of Business Ethics. Penguin Books 1990 McDonald, G.: ‘Business Ethics: Practical Proposals for Organisations.’ in Journal of Business Ethics, Vol.19, No.2, April I 1999 McNamara, C.: ‘Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit for Managers.’ The Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits 1999 (http://www.mapnp.org/library/ethics/ethxgde.htm) McNaughton, D.: Moral Vision. Blackwell - Oxford 1988 Norman, R.: The Moral Philosophers. Clarendon Press - Oxford 1983 Pearson, G.: Integrity in Organisations. McGraw-Hill Book Company - London 1995 Richards, R.: ‘Cicero and the ethics of honest business dealings.’ The Online Journal of Ethics 1997 Townley, P.: ‘Business Ethics: Commitment to Tough Decisions.’ Vital Speeches, pp. 208-211, 1992 (Jan)

College Athletes Essay

Athletes, under the age of 21 years, should be eligible to be drafted into a professional sports team. Playing in a professional sport is a career and setting a limit based on age to when someone can start his or her career is absurd. â€Å"Currently, to be eligible for the NBA Draft, a player has to be at least 19-years-old or one year removed from high school. † (Jessop. 2014) In the one year removed from high school, the athlete can choose to attend college and declare if he or she would be eligible to be drafted after that year. There are many benefits for athletes to graduate from college before starting his  or her career in a professional sport, but that decision should be left solely to them without age restrictions. â€Å"The vast majority of players feel a player should have the right to make a living. If he has the talent and wants to make money to help his family, he should have that right. It’s just a matter of principle. † (Broussard. 2010) Pursuing and completing a college education is a huge reason why many people feel athletes under the age of 21 shouldn’t be eligible to play professional sports. Having a college degree can be extremely useful because of the amount of opportunities and  options available to graduates. However, as much as attending college is encouraged in today’s society, college isn’t a route everyone chooses. â€Å"In 2011, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 68. 3 percent of students who graduated high school in 2011 were enrolled in college. † (Thompson) The choice to attend college or not attend college is a choice that comes across of the path of many. Why should athletes be held to a different standard of education? A fear that many have with younger athletes entering the professional sports arena  is their risk for injury. â€Å"The NFL and NCAA claim that the NFL age requirement protects young athletes by shielding them from physical injury, requiring them to mature emotionally, and receive an education before entering the world of professional sports. † (Bianchi. 2008) Injuries can happen to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. If a collegiate athlete suffers an injury while playing in a game or practice, the injury can greatly decrease or even eliminate his chances of being drafted into a professional sport. The athlete with potential  to play in a professional sport will no longer have an opportunity to do and might possibly lose their scholarship. If an athlete gets injured playing in a professional sport, at least they would be getting paid and have benefits. Why risk the opportunity to play in a professional sport? If an 18-year-old athlete has the talent to play in a professional sport and have the opportunity to earn money and support their family, age should not be the reason to stop him or her from doing so. Many college student athletes receive scholarships for attending college but (EXPERIENCE with examples).

M.A. English 4th Sem

The Guide Plot summary Railway Raju (nicknamed) is a disarmingly  corrupt  guide who falls in love with a beautiful dancer, Rosie, the neglected wife of archaeologist  Marco . Marco doesn't approve of Rosie's passion for  dancing. Rosie, encouraged by Raju, decides to follow her dreams and start a dancing career. They start living together and Raju's mother, as she does not approve of their relationship, leaves them. Raju becomes Rosie's stage manager and soon with the help of Raju's  marketing  tactics, Rosie becomes a successful dancer.Raju, however, develops an inflated sense of self-importance and tries to control her. Raju gets involved in a case of  forgery  and gets a two year sentence. After completing the sentence, Raju passes through a village where he is mistaken for a  sadhu  (a spiritual guide). Reluctantly, as he does not want to return in disgrace to  Malgudi, he stays in an abandoned temple. There is a  famine  in the village and Raju is expe cted to keep a  fast  in order to make it rain. With media publicizing his fast, a huge crowd gathers (much to Raju's resentment) to watch him fast.After fasting for several days, he goes to the riverside one morning as part of his daily ritual, where his legs sag down as he feels that the rain is falling in the hills. The ending of the novel leaves unanswered the question of whether he did, or whether the  drought  has really ended. The last line of the novel is ‘Raju said â€Å"Velan, its raining up the hills, I can feel it under my feet. † And with this he saged down'. The last line implies that by now Raju after undergoing so many ups and downs in his life has become a sage and as the drought ends Raju's life also ends.Narayan has beautifully written the last line which means Raju did not die but saged down, meaning Raju within himself had become a sage. Character of Rosie Rosie is one of the main characters in the novel. She is presented in the novel as a b eautiful dancer, of the  Devadasi  type of  temple dancers, and the wife of Marco. Her marriage is like a curse in disguise to her as Marco is totally engrossed in his career and is totally apathetic and unemotional to her. She is very passionate about dancing but her husband does not allow her to dance.She tries to persuade her husband and bears all the insults by him just for the sake of getting his permission to dance. When she is left in  Malgudi  by Marco to live with Raju, she devotes herself completely to dancing. She wakes early in the morning and practices hard for three hours everyday. She is always eager to talk about dance and even tries to teach Raju some of it. She is religious and believes in Goddess  Saraswati  and has a  bronze statue  of  Nataraja, which is an image of  Shiva  as the  cosmic  Lord of  Dance, in her office. She does not believe in   discriminating  between people on the basis of their financial status.When Raju meet s rich and influential people, Rosie does not seem to care much about them. Being herself an artist, she respects the arts and likes to be in the company of artists and other music lovers. Her success does not get to her head even after becoming a very successful professional dancer. Raju becomes upset when Rosie spends a lot of time with different artists rather than with him. He tells her that these artists come to her because they are inferior to her and she replies that she is tired of all these talks of superior and inferior and does not believe in any of these.She is also portrayed as a traditional Indian wife. Her husband is like God to her. Marco calls her dancing skills as street  acrobatics  and compares it to  monkey  dance. Despite all these insults she continues to be his wife. When Marco comes to know about the intimacy between her and Raju he gets very upset and doesn't talk to her and completely ignores her presence. She apologizes to him and keeps on followi ng him like a dog hoping that his mind would change one day but that does not happen. This incident shows her tremendous tolerance power and her optimistic attitude.Even after she becomes very successful in her career and independent of her husband Marco she still has his photograph which conveys that she still considered Marco to be her husband and highlights her traditional Indian wife kind of character. However, she is often referred as ‘The Serpent girl' by Raju's mother, because his mother thinks that she was responsible for the ruined condition of her family and her son. Raju also seems to dislike her at the end of the story and holds her as the culprit. Rosie was also disliked by Raju's friends, Gaffur and Sait due to her intimacy with Raju.What is the summary of the Novel The Guide written By R. K. Narayan? Answer:- Raju is a railway guide who becomes obsessed with Rosie, a neglected wife of an archeologist Marco. Rosie has a passion for dancing which Marco doesn't app rove of. Rosie, encouraged by Raju, decides to follow her dreams and walks out on her husband. Raju becomes her stage manager and soon with the help of Raju's marketing tactics, Rosie becomes a successful dancer. By giving Rosie the opportunity to dance, Raju is also giving her freedom, freedom which Marco has suppressed by refusing to let her dance.Raju, however, develops an inflated sense of self-importance and tries to control Rosie. But a man should not live off a woman. On the other hand, what if she is successful only because of that man? The relationship between Raju and Rosie is strained. Marco reappears and Raju inadvertently gets involved in a case of forgery and gets a two year sentence. After completing the sentence, Raju is passing through a village when he is mistaken for a sadhu (a spiritual guru). Being reluctant to return in disgrace to Malgudi, he decides to play the part of the swami and makes the village temple his home.There is a famine in the village and Swami Raju, like the sadhu in one of his stories that he used to narrate to the villagers, is expected to keep a fast to get the rains. And he does go on a fast. Despite grave danger to his health, he continues to fast until he collapses. ‘Can there be any connection between one man's hunger and the rains? ‘ ‘Is there someone up there and does he listen to you? ‘ He is undergoing a spiritual transformation and the place has become a shrine. ‘Will it rain? ‘ Well, the villagers have faith in him and he has faith in their faith.Despite grave danger to his health, he continues to fast until he collapses. His legs sag down as he feels that the rain is falling in the hills. The ending of the novel leaves unanswered the question of whether he dies, or whether the drought has really ended. The English Teacher The English Teacher  is a 1945 novel written by  R. K. Narayan. This is the third and final part in the series, preceded by  Swami and Friends  ( 1935) and  The Bachelor of Arts  (1937). This novel, dedicated to Narayan's wife Rajam is not only  autobiographical  but also poignant in its intensity of feeling.The story is a series of experiences in the life of Krishna, an English teacher, and his quest towards achieving inner peace and self-development. Plot As an English teacher at Albert Mission College, Krishna has led a mundane and monotonous lifestyle comparable to that of a cow, but this took a turn when his wife, Susila, and their child, Leela, come to live with him. With their welfare on his hands, Krishna learns to be a proper husband and learns how to accept the responsibility of taking care of his family.He felt that his life had comparatively improved, as he understood that there's more meaning to life than to just teaching in the college. However, on the day when they went in search of a new house, Susila contracts typhoid after visiting a dirty lavatory, keeping her in bed for weeks. Throughout the entire course of her illness, Krishna constantly tries to keep an optimistic view about Susila's illness, keeping his hopes up by thinking that her illness would soon be cured. However, Susila eventually succumbs and passes away.Krishna, destroyed by her loss, has suicidal thoughts but gives them up for the sake of his daughter, Leela. He leads his life as a lost and miserable person after her death, but after he receives a letter from a stranger who indicates that Susila has been in contact with him and that she wants to communicate with Krishna, he becomes more collected and cheerful. This leads to Krishna’s journey in search of enlightenment, with the stranger acting as a medium to Susila in the spiritual world.Leela, on the other hand, goes to a preschool where Krishna gets to meet the Headmaster, a profound man who cared for the students in his school and teaches them moral values through his own methods. The Headmaster puts his students as his top priority but he doesnâ€℠¢t care for his own family and children, eventually leaving them on the day predicted by an astrologer as to be when he was going to die, which did not come true. Krishna gets to learn through the Headmaster on the journey to enlightenment; eventually learning to ommunicate to Susila on his own, thus concluding the entire story itself, with the quote that he felt ‘a moment of rare immutable joy'. PLOT Krishna, is spending his married days in a College hostel, living like cattle, far from marital bliss until one afternoon he receives a letter from his father wishing him to settle a home in Malgudi with his wife and child. What follows next is a series of light hearted chatter about Krishna adapting to the domestic responsibility which convert him into a man (from cattle! ). One day, when Krishna and Susila go out to look for a house, Susila falls ill and dies after a spell of typhoid.Krishna’s life is deserted, but he has to keep solace in his bundle of joy, Leela, his d aughter. In the next few months he learns and executes household chores, takes charge of child and goes out to college until one day he receives a letter from his wife Susila!!! Krishna embarks on a journey to attain nirvana to bridge with the spirit of his wife Susila, as per her wish in the letter and future correspondences. Parallel to this the child has grown up enough and starts attending school. The school Headmaster is a man of strong will and has dedicated his whole life for the education of small children.His philosophy attracts Krishna and it’s the incidents in Schoolmaster’s life which help Krishna turn around and attain Nirvana, which he had been trying to achieve since long time. Finally, the child is sent to the grandparents and Krishna resigns from his job as the English teacher. He takes up work in kindergarten and succeeds in uniting with his ‘soul mate’. How? Find out! Apart from Krishna, Susila and Leela, another significant character is Leela’s schoolmaster. He is a revolutionary educationist who wants his pupils to be happy in life.His wife doesn’t respect him and discard his principles and his children live miserably due to this domestic discord. One day, he decides to leave his family for good to fulfill his dream. Its his way of life which helps Krishna in his journey. The high points:  twice while reading this otherwise effortless book, comes two small accounts which are treat for your literary buds. First, the scene where Susila has died and Krishna is sitting all night alongside her corpse and then next day the journey to cremation ground and back is presented in a first class narrative, profoundly touching and flamboyant.It’s  noticeable  that RKN was capable of composing ornate literature but chose to be simple for good. Secondly, in the last chapter, the narrative is dynamic, first with the farewell party scene in college where his colleagues and students are biding Krishna bye bye, and second when he reaches home and is into the state of peace at last. The supernatural plot  in the story is well constituted and angelic. It doesn’t look ‘forced’ because it is well justified and aesthetic. The happenings in Krishna’s life play important role in his journey from a novice learner to a successful master of this science.It’s a joy to read through his experiences which make him a better human being. To simply put,  narration  is ordinary but nonetheless ecstatic. The characters are well sculptured and blend in the story smoothly. It is as lucid for a fifth standard student to comprehend but as intricate for an adult to conclude. Another  delight  is that the size of the book is just apt. Only 184 pages make it a fast, easy and enjoyable read with no frills & no insignificant blah blah. Untouchable This article is about the Mulk Raj Anand novel. For the John Banville novel, see  The Untouchable (novel).Untouchable  is a  novel  by  Mulk Raj Anand  published in 1935. The novel established Anand as one of India's leading  English  authors. [1]The book was inspired by his aunt's experience when she had a meal with a Muslim person and was treated as an outcast by his family. [2]  The plot of this book, Anand's first, revolves around the argument for eradicating the  caste system. [3]  It depicts a day in the life of Bakha, a young â€Å"sweeper†, who is â€Å"untouchable† due to his work cleaning latrines. Plot Untouchable’ is the story of a single day in the life of 18 year old  untouchable  boy named Bakha, who lives in pre-independence India.Bakha is described as `strong and able-bodied`, full of enthusiasm and dreams varying from to dressing like a ‘Tommie’ (Englishmen) in ‘fashun’ to playing  hockey. However, his limited means and the fact that he belongs to the lowest caste even amongst untouchables, forces him to beg fo r food, to often face humiliation, and to be at the mercy of the whims of other, higher caste, Hindus. The day described in the story is a difficult one for Bakha. Over the course of the day, he is slapped in public for ‘polluting' an upper caste Hindu through an accidental touch and has food thrown at him by another person after he cleans her gutters.His sister is molested by a priest, he is blamed for an injury received by a young boy following a melee after a hockey match, and he is thrown out of his house by his father. In the story, Mulk Raj Anand presents two choices, or ways in which Bakha in particular and untouchables in general can be liberated from the life they are born into. The first choice is that of Christianity, a religion that does not recognize the caste system. The second comes from the teachings of Gandhi who calls for the freeing of Harijans. PrefaceAfter the very long duration of time, I am here to present my exposition of an English Poem â€Å"The Quee n’s Rival†Ã‚   composed by Sarojini Naidu who was a celebrated woman of letters of her times as the great poetess and was also honored with the title of â€Å"The Nightingale of India†. The theme of the poem in exposition is based on a tale from a book â€Å"Arabian Nights’. The original author of the book is unknown, but it is translated in many languages of the world. The book with the title as â€Å"New Arabian Nights’ in English was translated by Robert Louis Stevenson. Andrew Lang also had written the same book in English.In Gujarati also, we can have the said book under the Title â€Å"Arbastaan-ni- Vaato. Over the centuries, the countless editions of the Arabian Nights have been published. The original text of the poem in three parts is as follows: The poem is taken from â€Å"The Golden Threshold†, the first volume of verse published in 1905 by Sarojini Naidu. â€Å"The Queen’s Rival† I QUEEN GULNAAR sat on her ivory bed, Around her countless treasures were spread; Her chamber walls were richly inlaid With agate, porphyry, onyx and jade; The tissues that veiled her delicate breast, Glowed with the hues of a lapwing’s crest;But still she gazed in her mirror and sighed â€Å"O King, my heart is unsatisfied. † King Feroz bent from his ebony seat: â€Å"Is thy least desire unfulfilled, O Sweet? â€Å"Let thy mouth speak and my life be spent To clear the sky of thy discontent. † â€Å"I tire of my beauty, I tire of this Empty splendour and shadow-less bliss; â€Å"With none to envy and none gainsay, No savour or salt hath my dream or day. † Queen Gulnaar sighed like a murmuring rose: â€Å"Give me a rival, O King Feroz. † II King Feroz spoke to his Chief Vizier: â€Å"Lo! ere to-morrow’s dawn be here, â€Å"Send forth my messengers over the sea,To seek seven beautiful brides for me; â€Å"Radiant of feature and regal of mien, Seven handmaids meet for the Persian Queen. † Seven new moon tides at the Vesper call, King Feroz led to Queen Gulnaar’s hall A young queen eyed like the morning star: â€Å"I bring thee a rival, O Queen Gulnaar. † But still she gazed in her mirror and sighed: â€Å"O King, my heart is unsatisfied. † Seven queens shone round her ivory bed, Like seven soft gems on a silken thread, Like seven fair lamps in a royal tower, Like seven bright petals of Beauty’s flower Queen Gulnaar sighed like a murmuring rose â€Å"Where is my rival, O King Feroz? III When spring winds wakened the mountain floods, And kindled the flame of the tulip buds, When bees grew loud and the days grew long, And the peach groves thrilled to the oriole’s song, Queen Gulnaar sat on her ivory bed, Decking with jewels her exquisite head; And still she gazed in her mirror and sighed: â€Å"O King, my heart is unsatisfied. † Queen Gulnsar’s daughter two spring times old, In blue robes bordered with tassels of gold, Ran to her knee like a wildwood fay, And plucked from her hand the mirror away. Quickly she set on her own light curls Her mother’s fillet with fringes of pearls;Quickly she turned with a child’s caprice And pressed on the mirror a swift, glad kiss. Queen Gulnaar laughed like a tremulous rose: â€Å"Here is my rival, O King Feroz. † -Sarojini Naidu Synopsis of the poem: Feroz is the king of Persia. Gulnaar is his queen. In spite of the pompous palace life, the queen is not satisfied at heart. Though she is beautiful, she is longing for her rival. Sighing like a murmuring rose, she asks the king to give a rival to her who can compete with her beauty. On demand of Gulnaar, the king marries seven beautiful brides and asks them to live with Gulnaar as her maid-servants.The seven queens were supposed to be Gulnaar’s rivals, but she continues to gaze in her mirror saying all the times that her heart was not satisfied with all those so cal led rivals. After some years, the queen Gulnaar gives birth to a baby-girl. When the princess becomes two years old, she runs to her knees to the Queen and snatches the mirror away from her hand. Then she wears her mother’s hair-band around her head and presses her swift kiss on mirror. This very innocent gesture of the child makes Gulnaar laugh like a rose trembling on a plant with soft wind.She exclaims with joy, ‘Here is my rival, O King Feroz. † Exposition: When we go through the poem under discussion, we do come to the concluding outcome of our study that Sarojini Naidu was really a natural, proficient and born poetess of her times. The narrations of Gulnaar’s bed, her chamber and her fabric are such attractive with flower of speech that we would like to read those stanzas again and again in spite of the use of difficult words for various gems. The colorful muslin covering her delicate chest is compared with the crest of a bird named lapwing.But, in sp ite of her happiness, she gazed in her mirror and sighed saying, â€Å"O King, my heart is unsatisfied. † While proceeding further, we come across the romantic dialogues spoken by both King Feroz and Queen. Gulnaar as below: â€Å"Is thy least desire unfulfilled, O Sweet? Let thy mouth speak and my life be spent. To clear the sky of thy discontent† said the King. The Queen said, â€Å"I tire of my beauty, I tire of this, Empty splendor and shadow-less bliss; With none to envy and none gainsay (rejoin), and savor (taste) or salt hath my dream or day. † Queen Gulnaar sighed and said, â€Å"Give me a rival, King Feroz†.King Feroz ordered to his chief Vizier to send messengers over the sea to look for seven beautiful brides. The King said that the brides should be of glowing beauty and   be appointed to be in attendance to the Queen. They all stood with such stunning beauty that they looked like a necklace of seven gems of attractive colors on a silken thre ad. In other words to say, the queens looked like seven beautiful lamps in a royal tower and seven bright petals of a most beautiful flower. Yet, Queen Gulnaar sighed and expressed her dissatisfaction saying, â€Å"King Feroz, where is my rival? Against this background, Queen Gulnaar sat on her ivory bed adorning her delicate hair with precious jewels. She gazed in the mirror and sighed, â€Å"O King, my heart is still dissatisfied†. Prior to the concluding part of the poem, the poetess highlights a delicate psychological point that any power, prosperity or beauty if vested in one person becomes the cause of dissatisfaction at long. Rivalry in any field or aspect of life is the most essential factor for mental happiness and satisfaction. Monopoly, at long last, becomes like boredom. Human mind always longs for competition. It is the human nature that wishes that the fficiency, richness, strength, capability or beauty should be challenged by somebody. One should have opportun ity of being tested one’s own worthiness of merits. Here, the Queen Gulnaar is unhappy in absence of any rival in case of her beauty. She was not satisfied with the rivalry of seven queens. When the poem seems advancing to its end, a turning point arises all of a sudden. Gulnaar is then lucky enough to have a powerful competitor. Her competitor is nobody else but her two years old daughter herself. One day, Queen Gulnaar’s two year old daughter was adorned with precious dress.The child, like a fairy in a forest, rushed to the Queen and snatched the mirror away from her hand.. Then the child quickly wore her mother’s hair-band. Suddenly, with a child-like move, she planted happily a kiss on the mirror. Queen Gulnaar laughed like a quivering rose, saying, â€Å"O King Feroz, look, here is my rival†. Summing up, Gulnaar realized that her daughter was the real rival of hers. Then the poem dramatically ends with the reality of life that the parents are always happy when they see their young ones playing and doing various innocent actions and tricks around them.The poetess has successfully presented the psychological point of mothering and motherhood through these sonnet-like three parts of the poem. The Soul’s Prayer In childhood’s pride I said to Thee:‘O Thou, who mad’st me of Thy breath, Speak, Master, and reveal to meThine inmost laws of life and death. ‘Give me to drink each joy and painWhich Thine eternal hand can mete, For my insatiate soul would drainEarth’s utmost bitter, utmost sweet. ‘Spare me no bliss, no pang of strife,Withhold no gift or grief I crave, The intricate lore of love and lifeAnd mystic knowledge of the grave. ’Lord, Thou didst answer stern and low:‘Child, I will hearken to thy prayer, And thy unconquered soul shall knowAll passionate rapture and despair. ‘Thou shalt drink deep of joy and fame,And love shall burn thee like a fire, And pain shall clea nse thee like a flame,To purge the dross from thy desire. ‘So shall thy chastened spirit yearnTo seek from its blind prayer release, And spent and pardoned, sue to learnThe simple secret of My peace. ‘I, bending from my sevenfold height,Will teach thee of My quickening grace, Life is a prism of My light,And Death the shadow of My face. ’ The Soul’s Prayer by Sarojini Naidu: Summary and ExplanationWhat a beautiful prayer. Sarojini Naidu understands that both â€Å"good and bad things† in life are necessary for a satisfactory completion of one soul’s agenda. First the question Everything is perfect exactly as it is. We can’t see the other side because we are not there – but we know that within the frame of time we will get there and be able to see the whole of the mosaic image. At the moment certain things don’t make sense; but that doesn’t deter Naidu to accept life as it is: with the bitter and the sweet. This shows great understanding of how the soul uses the body and the body-brain as mere tools to develop spiritually.The spiritually blind will want to reject the painful parts of life, failing to envisage that the only way the soul can be cleansed of residue or simple unorganized illusory perceptions is to have the calling of pain. Pains serve two important purposes: when knocking at the door they grant vision to our spiritual; as the physical ones can only see the wound and the wound doesn’t always present itself when a crack in the thought system needs to be sealed (cleansed). The second purpose of the â€Å"pain calling† is to remind us, each and every time, that our little plans and designs won’t heal the root of the problem.In a chaotic world  God is  needed at the root; the soil surpassing any logic within our human limited comprehension of the workings of Truth and Knowledge. We have been made of God’s breath, so our very essence goes further than resem bling His. We are his breath and like it, when it is expired (exhalation) we experience human life as it presents itself now; when inspired (inhalation) we make an attempt to go back home through the death of the body. Each breath represents a state in our being, death the beginning of our spiritual life, birth the end of it.Human birth and death imply a simple reversal: spiritual death and birth. The never-ending moment and movement of inspiration and expiration are very much stated in the words  of the song â€Å"The Windmills of your Mind†: Round, like a circle in a spiralLike a wheel within a wheel. Never ending or beginning,  On an ever spinning wheel Sarojini writes this poem with the voice of a child and it is impressive to see someone so eager to go back to God (to wake up). By asking God to withhold nothing (â€Å"Withhold no gift or grief I crave†) she is delighted because the soul might not have to come back to deal with vagabond issues.The knowledge of the grave is mystic (â€Å"And mystic knowledge of the grave†) because we simply don’t know. What happens at the grave goes beyond our ordinary senses; we can’t experience it while in this body. Neither do we remember how it was nor what it was before human birth, something needed if we are to work on our toxic character defects with a full blown amount of fairness. Purity doesn’t come at a low price; we must endure the difficulties we chose for this life as souls and live with the consequences of our choices and actions – choices and actions that define us as we go along.Then God answers God grants Sarojini her wish, and this is interesting because it is what differentiates the boys from the men. The boys cry because God â€Å"brings† suffering to the world. The men understand that suffering is only part of the game. Life is just another â€Å"genre† of the Spinning or Cosmic Wheel. This particular version of â€Å"us† is play ed out with drama as well as through time intervals, obvious script techniques needed for our development as central characters. For the â€Å"arch† to take place, ups and downs are necessary.A good shaping of this arch determined by our behavior will make the play more or less dynamic but that doesn’t take away the overall theme: spiritual growth expanding into an inevitable awakening. ‘Thou shalt drink deep of joy and fame,And love shall burn thee like a fire, And pain shall cleanse thee like a flame,To purge the dross from thy desire. These are part of the inevitabilities required for the awakening. First we need to go through the experience of  desiring  joy, fame, love. The problems are not in these very things (joy, fame, love), but in the desire we feel for them.Desire pushes us into manipulation, which comes at the price of expectation, which ends in resentment when outcomes are not met. The line fails to be linear and the ups and downs manifesting fr om our erroneous perception carry pain along the way. Desire, then, is not desirable. It always implies suffering as well as other dirty little tricks like judgment and punishment. We might have to go through the pain many, many lives. But eventually the lesson is learned – pain â€Å"cleanses us like a flame, purging the dross from our desire†. The Spirit’s yearn, a seeking cry, comes not from us but from God Himself!God cries for us, His children, begging us to come home. The release is a call to the waking up that takes place when blind prayer turns into a sighted realization:  we never actually needed to learn through pain, and there was never anything to fear. Mystic mystery is a simple secret, nothing more. It’s God’s peace. The last verse discloses a loving God; a God that bends with care to teach His children that where the sun has never shone there is also light, His light. Shadow and Light are just like birth and death, like night and d ay, like inhaling and exhaling. Pain and joy are just part of the windmills of your mind.And the Mind – deep and calm in its Real state – when filtered through the body is just a memory of something else. Biography of Kamala Das Kamala Surayya / Suraiyya formerly known as Kamala Das , (also known as Kamala Madhavikutty, pen name was Madhavikutty) was a major Indian English poet and litterateur and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the fiery poems and explicit autobiography.Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused her writing with power, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune, but has earned considerable respect in recent years. Early Life Kamala Das was born in Pun nayurkulam, Thrissur District in Kerala, on March 31, 1934, to V. M. Nair, a former managing editor of the widely-circulated Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, and Nalappatt Balamani Amma, a renowned Malayali poetess.She spent her childhood between Calcutta, where her father was employed as a senior officer in the Walford Transport Company that sold Bentley and Rolls Royce automobiles, and the Nalappatt ancestral home in Punnayurkulam. Like her mother, Kamala Das also excelled in writing. Her love of poetry began at an early age through the influence of her great uncle, Nalappatt Narayana Menon, a prominent writer. At the age of 15, she got married to bank officer Madhava Das, who encouraged her writing interests, and she started writing and publishing both in English and in Malayalam.Calcutta in the 1960s was a tumultous time for the arts, and Kamala Das was one of the many voices that came up and started appearing in cult anthologies along with a generation of Indian English poets. Lite rary Career She was noted for her many Malayalam short stories as well as many poems written in English. Das was also a syndicated columnist. She once claimed that â€Å"poetry does not sell in this country [India]†, but her forthright columns, which sounded off on everything from women's issues and child care to politics, were popular.Das' first book of poetry, Summer In Calcutta was a breath of fresh air in Indian English poetry. She wrote chiefly of love, its betrayal, and the consequent anguish. Ms. Das abandoned the certainties offered by an archaic, and somewhat sterile, aestheticism for an independence of mind and body at a time when Indian poets were still governed by â€Å"19th-century diction, sentiment and romanticised love. † Her second book of poetry, The descendants was even more explicit, urging women to: â€Å"Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts.The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your End less female hungers †¦ † – The Looking Glass This directness of her voice led to comparisons with Marguerite Duras and Sylvia Plath At the age of 42, she published a daring autobiography, My Story; it was originally written in Malayalam and later she translated it into English. Later she admitted that much of the autobiography had fictional elements. Kamala Das wrote on a diverse range of topics, often disparate- from the story of a poor old servant, about the sexual disposition of upper middle class women living near a metropolitan city or in the middle of the ghetto.Some of her better-known stories include Pakshiyude Manam, Neypayasam, Thanuppu, and Chandana Marangal. She wrote a few novels, out of which Neermathalam Pootha Kalam, which was received favourably by the reading public as well as the critics, stands out. She travelled extensively to read poetry to Germany's University of Duisburg-Essen, University of Bonn and University of Duisburg universities, Adel aide Writer's Festival , Frankfurt Book Fair, University of Kingston, Jamaica, Singapore, and South Bank Festival (London), Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), etc.Her works are available in French, Spanish, Russian, German and Japanese. She has also held positions as Vice chairperson in Kerala Sahitya Academy, chairperson in Kerala forestry Board, President of the Kerala Children's Film Society, editor of Poet magazine and Poetry editor of Illustrated Weekly of India. Although occasionally seen as an attention-grabber in her early years, she is now seen as one of the most formative influences on Indian English poetry. In 2009, The Times called her â€Å"the mother of modern English Indian poetry†. Conversion to IslamShe was born in a conservative Hindu Nair (Nallappattu) family having royal ancestry, After being asked by her lover Sadiq Ali, an Islamic scholar and a Muslim League MP, she embraced Islam in 1999 at the age of 65 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya. After converting, she wrote: â€Å"Life has changed for me since Nov. 14 when a young man named Sadiq Ali walked in to meet me. He is 38 and has a beautiful smile. Afterwards he began to woo me on the phone from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, reciting Urdu couplets and telling me of what he would do to me after our marriage. I took my nurse Mini and went to his place in my car.I stayed with him for three days. There was a sunlit river, some trees, and a lot of laughter. He asked me to become a Muslim which I did on my return home. † Her conversion was rather controversial, among social and literary circles, with The Hindu calling it part of her â€Å"histrionics†. She said she liked being behind the protective veil of the purdah. Later, she felt it was not worth it to change one's religion and said â€Å"I fell in love with a Muslim after my husband's death. He was kind and generous in the beginning. But I now feel one shouldn't change one's religion. It is not worth it. â€Å". Pol iticsThough never politically active before, she launched a national political party, Lok Seva Party, aiming asylum to orphaned mothers and promotion of secularism. In 1984 she unsuccessfully contested in the Indian Parliament elections. Personal Life Kamala Das had three sons – M D Nalapat, Chinnen Das and Jayasurya Das. Madhav Das Nalapat, the eldest, is married to Princess Lakshmi Bayi (daughter of M. R. Ry. Sri Chembrol Raja Raja Varma Avargal) from the Travancore Royal House. He holds the UNESCO Peace Chair and Professor of geopolitics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education. He was formerly a resident editor of the Times of India.She had a sexual relationship with Sadiq Ali, an Islamic scholar who was much younger in age. She herself describes her visit to Sadiq Ali's home as follows: â€Å"I was almost asleep when Sadiq Ali climbed in beside me, holding me, breathing softly, whispering endearments, kissing my face, breasts †¦ and when he entered me, it was the first time I had ever experienced what it was like to feel a man from the inside. † Womanhood in her Poetry Das' uncanny honesty extends to her exploration of womanhood and love. In her poem â€Å"An Introduction† from Summer in Calcutta, the narrator says, â€Å"I am every/ Woman who seeks love† (de Souza 10).Though Amar Dwivedi criticizes Das for this â€Å"self imposed and not natural† universality, this feeling of oneness permeates her poetry (303). In Das' eyes, womanhood involves certain collective experiences. Indian women, however, do not discuss these experiences in deference to social mores. Das consistently refuses to accept their silence. Feelings of longing and loss are not confined to a private misery. They are invited into the public sphere and acknowledged. Das seems to insist they are normal and have been felt by women across time.In â€Å"The Maggots† from the collection, The Descendants, Das corroborates just how old the sufferin gs of women are. She frames the pain of lost love with ancient Hindu myths (de Souza 13). On their last night together, Krishna asks Radha if she is disturbed by his kisses. Radha says, â€Å"No, not at all, but thought, What is/ It to the corpse if the maggots nip? † (de Souza 6-7). Radha's pain is searing, and her silence is given voice by Das. Furthermore, by making a powerful goddess prey to such thoughts, it serves as a validation for ordinary women to have similar feelings. Eroticism in her PoetryCoupled with her exploration of women's needs is an attention to eroticism. The longing to lose one's self in passionate love is discussed in â€Å"The Looking Glass† from The Descendants. The narrator of the poem urges women to give their man â€Å"what makes you women† (de Souza 15). The things which society suggests are dirty or taboo are the very things which the women are supposed to give. The â€Å"musk of sweat between breasts/ The warm shock of menstrual blood† should not be hidden from one's beloved. In the narrator's eyes, love should be defined by this type of unconditional honesty.A woman should â€Å"Stand nude before the glass with him,† and allow her lover to see her exactly as she is. Likewise, the woman should appreciate even the â€Å"fond details† of her lover, such as â€Å"the jerky way he/ Urinates†. Even if the woman may have to live â€Å"Without him† someday, the narrator does not seem to favor bridling one's passions to protect one's self. A restrained love seems to be no love at all; only a total immersion in love can do justice to this experience. Much like the creators of ancient Tantric art, Das makes no attempt to hide the sensuality of the human form; her work seems to elebrate its joyous potential while acknowledging its concurrent dangers. Feminism Das once said, â€Å"I always wanted love, and if you don't get it within your home, you stray a little†(Warrior intervi ew). Though some might label Das as â€Å"a feminist† for her candor in dealing with women's needs and desires, Das â€Å"has never tried to identify herself with any particular version of feminist activism† (Raveendran 52). Das' views can be characterized as â€Å"a gut response,† a reaction that, like her poetry, is unfettered by other's notions of right and wrong.Nonetheless, poet Eunice de Souza claims that Das has â€Å"mapped out the terrain for post-colonial women in social and linguistic terms†. Das has ventured into areas unclaimed by society and provided a point of reference for her colleagues. She has transcended the role of a poet and simply embraced the role of a very honest woman. Death On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune. Her body was flown to her home state of Kerala. She was buried at the Palayam Juma Masjid at Thiruvanathapuram with full state honour. Awards and other RecognitionsKamala Das has received many awards fo r her literary contribution, including: Nominated and shortlisted for Nobel Prize in 1984. Asian Poetry Prize-1998 Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries-1999 Asian World Prize-2000 Ezhuthachan Award-2009 Sahitya Academy Award-2003 Vayalar Award2001 Kerala Sahitya Academy Award-2005 Muttathu Varkey Award She was a longtime friend of Canadian writer Merrily Weisbord, who published a memoir of their friendship, The Love Queen of Malabar, in 2010. Kamala Das's Works: English 1964: The Sirens (Asian Poetry Prize winner) 965: Summer in Calcutta (poetry; Kent's Award winner) 1967: The Descendants (poetry) 1973: The Old Playhouse and Other Poems (poetry) 1976: My Story (autobiography) 1977: Alphabet of Lust (novel) 1985: The Anamalai Poems (poetry) 1992: Padmavati the Harlot and Other Stories (collection of short stories) 1996: Only the Soul Knows How to Sing (poetry) 2001: Yaa Allah (collection of poems) 1979: Tonight,This Savage Rite (with Pritish Nandy) 1999: My Mother At S ixty-six (Poem) Malayalam 1964: Pakshiyude Manam (short stories) 1966: Naricheerukal Parakkumbol (short stories) 968: Thanuppu (short story, Sahitya Academi award) 1982: Ente Katha (autobiography) 1987: Balyakala Smaranakal (Childhood Memories) 1989: Varshangalkku Mumbu (Years Before) 1990: Palayan (novel) 1991: Neypayasam (short story) 1992: Dayarikkurippukal (novel) 1994: Neermathalam Pootha Kalam (novel, Vayalar Award) 1996: Chekkerunna Pakshikal (short stories) 1998: Nashtapetta Neelambari (short stories) 2005: Chandana Marangal (Novel) 2005: Madhavikkuttiyude Unmakkadhakal (short stories)2x 2005: Vandikkalakal (novel) 1999: My Mother At Sixty-six (Poem) Kamala Das's â€Å"The Sunshine Cat†They did this to her, the men who know her, the man She loved, who loved her not enough, being selfish And a coward, the husband who neither loved nor Used her, but was a ruthless watcher, and the band Of cynics she turned to, clinging to their chests where New hair sprouted like great- winged moths, burrowing her Face into their smells and their young lusts to forget To forget, oh, to forget, and, they said, each of Them, I do not love, I cannot love, it is not In my nature to love, but I can be kind to you. They let her slide from pegs of sanity into A bed made soft with tears, and she lay there weeping,For sleep had lost its use. I shall build walls with tears, She said, walls to shut me in. Her husband shut her In, every morning, locked her in a room of books With a streak of sunshine lying near the door like A yellow cat to keep her company, but soon Winter came, and one day while locking her in, he Noticed that the cat of sunshine was only a Line, a half-thin line, and in the evening when He returned to take her out, she was a cold and Half dead woman, now of no use at all to men Summary In the poem â€Å"The Sunshine Cat†, the poetess rants over the disillusionment in her yearning for love.The ones who took advantage of her emotional instability are t ermed as ‘men' in general This so-called community inevitably included her husband too. He turned out to be a mere objective observer without any emotional attachment. Being selfish he did not exhibit the slightest display of love. And, being cowardly he did not dare to give in sexually to her, for it would mark the relegation of his ego:his perspective of masculinity.. He was a relentless onlooker to the extent of being insensitive for he watched her encounters with other men like a carnival affair.This is why Kamala Das employs the word ‘band'. She â€Å"clinged† on to this band of â€Å"cynics†. The word â€Å"cling† is very significant, as one clings out of desperation, as in clinging onto dear life. A cynic is a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions. Her live revolved around these egocentric people. Nevertheless, she â€Å"burrows' herself in the chest of these men. Note the word â€Å"burrow† is generally use d with reference to mongooses or rats that dig holes to hide themselves of for security. For the poetess, this was a temporary refuge to render herself secure as long as it lasted.The hair on their chests were like â€Å"great-winged moths† that came like parasites between them. The lovers were younger than herself and told her that they could not love her, but could be ‘kind' to her. The word ‘kind' is utilized to connote condescension: a patronizing attitude on part of these superior lovers. In Girish Karnad's â€Å"Nagamandala†, Appanna locks Rani in the house, as he leaves for work. In the case of the poetess in the prescribed poem,the husband jails her in a room full of books. However, Kamala Das does not crave for intellectual company, but emotional companionship.She seeks solace in the streak of sunlight beneath the door. This is her ray of hope:her Sunshine Cat: the sunny impulse in her. Nevertheless, as her life approached its winter, her husband n otices her while locking her ,one day,that this streak had reduced to a thin line. The evening made him realize that she had mellowed down,partly due to age and partly owing to her despondency. The fire in her (evocative of the Sunshine Cat) had died away. Hence, she was of no use to any man; as though the sole purpose of the woman in a man's life is for sexual gratification. A Hot Noon in MalabarThis is a noon of Beggers with whinning Voices, a noon for men who came from hills With parrots in a cage and fortune-cards, All stained with time, for brown Kurava girls With old eyes, who read palm in light singsong Voices, for bangle-sellers who spread On the cool black floor those red and green and blue Bangles, all covered with the dust of roads, Miles, grow cracks on the heels, so that when they Clambered up our porch, the noise was grating, Strange†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ This is a noon for strangers who part The window-drapes and peer in, their hot eyes Brimming with the sun, not seein g a thing in Shadowy rooms and turn away and lookSo yearningly at the brick-ledged well. This Is a noon for strangers with mistrust in Their eyes, dark, silent ones who rarely speak At all, so that when they speak, their voices Run wild, like jungle-voices. Yes, this is A noon for wild men, wild thoughts, wild love. To Be here, far away, is torture. Wild feet Stirring up the dust, this hot noon, at my Home in Malabar, and I so far away American Literature Biography of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts. He would live the majority of his life in that same town and die there in 1862.His father, a pencil manufacturer named John Thoreau, and mother Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau christened him David Henry but always called him Henry. As an adult, Thoreau began to give his name as Henry David but never had it legally changed. The Thoreaus had three other children in addition to Henry – Helen, five years older than Henry , John, Jr. , two years older, and Sophia, two years younger. In 1821, the family moved to Boston, where they lived until 1823, when they returned to Concord. Thoreau later recalled a visit the family made to Walden Pond from Boston when he was four years old.When he was sixteen, Thoreau entered Harvard College, his grandfather's alma mater. His schooling was paid for by the money his father made as a pencil manufacturer, combined with contributions from his elder siblings salaries from their teaching jobs. While at college, Thoreau studied Latin and Greek grammar and composition, and took classes in a wide variety of subjects, including mathematics, English, history, philosophy, and four different modern languages. He also made great use of the Harvard library holdings before graduating in 1837. After graduating, Thoreau accepted a job as a schoolteacher in Concord.His refusal to beat his students led to his dismissal from the position after only two weeks. That same year, Thoreau began keeping the journal in which he would write for the rest of his life and became friends with Concord residents Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Ellery Channing, and became a follower of Transcendentalism. Emerson provided a letter of reference for young Thoreau, when he traveled to Maine in search of a teaching position at a private school. Unable to find a job in Maine, Thoreau returned to Concord and opened a school with his brother John.Concord Academy differed from other schools in its lack of corporal punishment and encouragement of learning by doing ? as by scientific experiments and nature walks. The school was successful in attracting students but lasted only three years. When John became sick, Henry decided not to continue the school alone. He later worked as a handyman at odd jobs throughout Concord and assisted in the family's pencil manufacture business. During this time, both Henry and John fell in love with and proposed to a young woman named Ellen Seawall, whose younger brother Edward was a student at their school.Her father's disapproval of Thoreau's Transcendentalism led her to refuse his proposal. They sent her to New York to end the romance, and she there met and married Joseph Osgood, though she remained friends with the Thoreaus throughout her life, maintaining a correspondence with Sophia Thoreau and having Henry as a guest in her home. Thoreau lived at the Emerson house for a time during 1841, working as a handyman. He had a romance with Mary Russell, a young woman who stayed with the Emersons during the summers of 1840 and 1841.He wrote her a love poem in 1841 but never proposed, and she eventually married Marston Watson, a friend of Thoreau's from Harvard. In 1842, Thoreau's brother John became ill with lockjaw, the result of a small untreated wound. John died in Henry's arms, and Henry developed a sympathetic illness, exhibiting some of the symptoms of lockjaw, for several months. The following year, Thoreau made his most extensi ve break from Concord when he moved in with Emerson's brother's family on Staten Island as a tutor for his children, hoping that he could succeed as a writer closer to the New York publishing industry.Upon returning home in December of 1843, Thoreau began to write an account of canoe trip he had taken with John in 1839. That book would become A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, combining poetry, historical background, and philosophical reflections with the narrative of the trip. Realizing he needed fewer distractions in order to concentrate on his writing, Thoreau decided to simplify his life by building and living in a cabin by the banks of Walden Pond, about a mile and a half from the center of Concord. On July 4, 1845, the day before the anniversary of his brother's death,Thoreau moved into the cabin he had begun constructing during the spring. He stayed there for two years, sometimes traveling into Concord for supplies and eating with his family about once a week. Friend s and family also visited him at his cabin, where he spent nearly every night. In 1846, he made the first of three trips to Maine that would become the basis for a later series of essays entitled The Maine Woods. It was while Thoreau lived at Walden that he spent a night in the Concord jail that became the basis for the famous essay now known as â€Å"Civil Disobedience. Thoreau had not paid his poll tax to the town for several years because he opposed the use of town revenues to finance the US war with Mexico and enforcement of slavery laws. The town constable, when arresting him, offered to pay the tax himself but Thoreau refused and spent a night in jail. The tax was paid that very night, most likely by Thoreau's aunt Maria Thoreau, but Thoreau was not released until the morning. In 1848, Thoreau gave a speech to the Concord Lyceum that would be adapted to be the essay â€Å"Resistance to Civil Government,† published in 1849.In 1847, Thoreau spent the fall living at the E merson household, looking after the family while Emerson was in England. After that, he returned to his parents' home where he remained for the rest of his life. The curiosity of Concord residents regarding the reasons for the two years Thoreau spent living in a cabin in the woods led him to give a series of lectures in 1847 about his life at Walden. During this time, he also completed a preliminary drafts of both Walden and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. The latter book was published by James Munroe & Co. n 1848. Thoreau had agreed to pay for any copies of the book which were not sold; ultimately few were sold, and he lost $275 on the deal. Between 1847 and 1854, Thoreau continually redrafted and revised Walden. Ticknor and Field published an edition of 2,000 copies in 1854. Reviews were predominantly positive, and 1,700 copies sold during the following year. Though Thoreau attempted to arrange a nation-wide lecture tour, only one city made an offer, and Thoreau limite d his lectures to the Concord area. Also in 1854, Thoreau gave a speech on â€Å"Slavery in Massachusetts. Though he was not a member of any abolitionist societies, because he opposed the notion of societies, he was fervently opposed to slavery. Five years later, he gave an impassioned â€Å"Plea for Captain John Brown,† defending the morality of Brown's violent uprising at Harper's Ferry and condemning the US government for supporting slavery. Another speech that year was called â€Å"The Last Days of John Brown. † Both demonstrated that Thoreau had proceeded from passive resistance to the institution of slavery to support for armed rebellion as a means of ending the unjust institution.During 1851 and 1855, Thoreau suffered bouts of tuberculosis, whose symptoms he felt even as he continued to lecture. Thoreau spent the remainder of his life concentrating heavily on detailed, scientific naturalistic writing. His Maine journals were published in Atlantic Monthly in 185 8. James Russell Lowell, with whom Thoreau had long had a contentious relationship, was the editor of the publication and deleted a sentence from the essays, considering it blasphemous; in response, Thoreau refused to speak to him for the rest of his life.Ticknor and Fields, the publishers of Walden, purchased the magazine in 1859, and in 1861, James Fields suggested 250-book reprinting of Walden. He also agreed to republish the unsold copies of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Thoreau had become quite ill with tuberculosis in 1861. On April 12, Fields visited Thoreau in Concord to take hold of the unsold copies of his book for republication. A year later, on May 6, 1862, Thoreau died at the age of 44. A month later, the reprintings of his two books were finally published.Essays published about Thoreau after his death, written by Lowell and Emerson, emphasized Thoreau's ascetic, Spartan qualities without giving adequate weight to his philosophical contributions. Thus, Tho reau was not well-appreciated during the nineteenth-century and was often seen as a lesser imitator of Emerson. Only beginning in the 1890s, after critical evaluation of his writings, did Thoreau come to be appreciated for his literary merit. In the twentieth-century, he has come to be seen as one of he most significant nineteenth-century American writers. Civil Disobedience Summary Thoreau opens his essay with the motto â€Å"That government is best which governs least. † His distrust of government stems from the tendency of the latter to be â€Å"perverted and abused† before the people can actually express their will through it. A case in point is the Mexican war (1846-1848, which extended slavery into new US territories), orchestrated by a small elite of individuals who have manipulated government to their advantage against popular will.Government inherently lends itself to oppressive and corrupt uses since it enables a few men to impose their moral will on the majo rity and to profit economically from their own position of authority. Thoreau views government as a fundamental hindrance to the creative enterprise of the people it purports to represent. He cites as a prime example the regulation of trade and commerce, and its negative effect on the forces of the free market. A man has an obligation to act according to the dictates of his conscience, even if the latter goes against majority opinion, the presiding leadership, or the laws of society.In cases where the government supports unjust or immoral laws, Thoreau's notion of service to one's country paradoxically takes the form of resistance against it. Resistance is the highest form of patriotism because it demonstrates a desire not to subvert government but to build a better one in the long term. Along these lines, Thoreau does not advocate a wholesale rejection of government, but resistance to those specific features deemed to be unjust or immoral. In the American tradition, men have a reco gnized and cherished right of revolution, from which Thoreau derives the concept of civil disobedience.A man disgraces himself by associating with a government that treats even some of its citizens unjustly, even if he is not the direct victim of its injustice. Thoreau takes issue with William Paley, an English theologian and philosopher, who argues that any movement of resistance to government must balance the enormity of the grievance to be redressed and the â€Å"probability and expense† of redressing it. It may not be convenient to resist, and the personal costs may be greater than the injustice to be remedied; however, Thoreau firmly asserts the primacy of individual conscience over collective pragmatism.Thoreau turns to the issue of effecting change through democratic means. The position of the majority, however legitimate in the context of a democracy, is not tantamount to a moral position. Thoreau believes that the real obstacle to reform lies with those who disapprov e of the measures of government while tacitly lending it their practical allegiance. At the very least, if an unjust government is not to be directly resisted, a man of true conviction should cease to lend it his indirect support in the form of taxes.Thoreau acknowledges that it is realistically impossible to deprive the government of tax dollars for the specific policies that one wishes to oppose. Still, complete payment of his taxes would be tantamount to expressing complete allegiance to the State. Thoreau calls on his fellow citizens to withdraw their support from the government of Massachusetts and risk being thrown in prison for their resistance. Forced to keep all men in prison or abolish slavery, the State would quickly exhaust its resources and choose the latter course of action.For Thoreau, out of these acts of conscience flow â€Å"a man's real manhood and immortality. † Money is a generally corrupting force because it binds men to the institutions and the governme nt responsible for unjust practices and policies, such as the enslavement of black Americans and the pursuit of war with Mexico. Thoreau sees a paradoxically inverse relationship between money and freedom. The poor man has the greatest liberty to resist because he depends the least on the government for his own welfare and protection. After refusing to pay the poll tax for six years, Thoreau is thrown into jail for one night.While in prison, Thoreau realizes that the only advantage of the State is â€Å"superior physical strength. † Otherwise, it is completely devoid of moral or intellectual authority, and even with its brute force, cannot compel him to think a certain way. Why submit other people to one's own moral standard? Thoreau meditates at length on this question. While seeing his neighbors as essentially well-intentioned and in some respects undeserving of any moral contempt for their apparent indifference to the State's injustice, Thoreau nonetheless concludes that h e has a human relation to his neighbors, and through them, millions of other men.He does not expect his neighbors to conform to his own beliefs, nor does he endeavor to change the nature of men. On the other hand, he refuses to tolerate the status quo. Despite his stance of civil disobedience on the questions of slavery and the Mexican war, Thoreau claims to have great respect and admiration for the ideals of American government and its institutions. Thoreau goes so far as to state that his first instinct has always been conformity.Statesmen, legislators, politicians–in short, any part of the machinery of state bureaucracy–are unable to scrutinize the government that lends them their authority. Thoreau values their contributions to society, their pragmatism and their diplomacy, but feels that only someone outside of government can speak the Truth about it. The purest sources of truth are, in Thoreau's view, the Constitution and the Bible. Not surprisingly, Thoreau hold s in low esteem the entire political class, which he considers incapable of devising the most basic forms of legislation.In his last paragraph, Thoreau comes full circle to discussing the authority and reach of government, which derives from the â€Å"sanction and consent of the governed. † Democracy is not the last step in the evolution of government, as there is still greater room for the State to recognize the freedom and rights of the individual. Thoreau concludes on an utopic note, saying such a State is one he has imagined â€Å"but not yet anywhere seen. † Civil Disobedience Themes The right to resistance Thoreau affirms the absolute right of individuals to withdraw their support rom a government whose policies are immoral or unjust. He takes issue with the brand of moral philosophy that weighs the possible consequences of civil disobedience against the seriousness of the injustice. The methods of resistance Thoreau condones in his essay are pacifist and rely pr incipally on economic pressure; for example, withholding taxes in order to drain the State of its resources and hence its ability to continue its unjust policies. The ultimate goal of civil disobedience is not to undermine democracy but to reinforce its core values of liberty and respect for the individual.Individual conscience and morality Only an individual can have and exercise a conscience. By definition, both the State and corporations are impersonal, amoral entities that are nonetheless composed of individuals. â€Å"It has been truly said, that a corporation has no