Saturday, August 31, 2019

Psychology of the Crime

Psychology of the Crime â€Å"Timothy McVeigh† The Oklahoma City Bombing was a very eye opening event in American history. Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal building, resulting in 168 deaths and many more injuries. Timothy McVeigh meets the criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder due to his lack of remorse and thinking of doing justice to the government.The American Heritage Dictionary defines Narcissistic Personality Disorder as a pattern of traits and behaviors which signify infatuation and obsession with one’s self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one’s gratification, dominance, and ambition. We see all of these traits in Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh decided he would take his frustration out on others, out of anger, to give the country a â€Å"wake up call. † Sadly enough his anger was a devastating shock.McVeigh had a strong desire to get attention and seek admiration which helped him succeed in his attack. During his interview, McVeigh talked mainly about himself and how he achieved his goal and showed lack of interest in anything else. McVeigh had two partners, Fortie and Nichols, whom he met in the Army. They each played a significant role in carrying out his plan. With his self-importance, he felt like he had to be superior in all of his relationships, including the ones with Nichols and Fortie.He almost caused both of them to back out, but his controlling personality and the fear that they had of him kept them to carry out their part. With his fantasy about power and influence over the government, he carried out his plan successfully. McVeigh had the typical family a father, mother and two sisters. His mother and father always clashed and eventually got a divorce. He stayed with his father and his sisters went with his mother. He loved his grandfather, who played a constant role in McVeigh’s life.McVeigh got bullied while he was in high sc hool, receiving the name â€Å"noodle McVeigh† which later led to his antisocial behavior. He failed to conform to the social norms of society. Antisocial behavior is defined as chronic antisocial behavioral patterns, such as a failure to conform to social or legal cods, a lack of anxiety and guilt, and irresponsible behaviors. McVeigh stated that the people he killed were just â€Å"collateral damage. † He felt no guilt for his actions or for manipulating his friends. In fact, he was quite proud of his ability to carry out his plan.In his interview, his lack of concern for those who were hurt by his behaviors was clearly shown. He showed no anxiety during his interview and was quite proud. McVeigh perceived his violations of rules and norms as acts preformed for the greater good. He felt like he was a prisoner in a country that wasn’t his and he never learned from his experience. Timothy McVeigh was angry with the government and acted upon the assumption that f ederal officers, who lead the raid in Waco Texas, executed seventy six people.He thought the government was becoming somewhat oppressive in certain ways. He felt that the government overstepped their boundaries and complained that government had too much control over people’s lives. McVeigh in the end got his wish and made sure he was remembered in history, which led to his execution on June 11, 2001. McVeigh’s case actions allow us to wonder if the next insane bomber or betrayer exists within our circle of friends, or in the next person who gets bullied just as McVeigh did.

Friday, August 30, 2019

A Comparison of Competencies between Associate and Bachelor Degreed Nursing Graduates Essay

Nursing is complex, and within the profession there are many spectrums of career possibilities. Nursing is based on a foundation of caring and what draws many to the profession is a commitment of service. The knowledge and education sought to prepare nurses however differs between the two â€Å"entry† level paths of associate degreed nurses and baccalaureate degree nurses and thus forms a difference in the way they perform their professional practice. Associate Degreed Nurses Associate degree nursing programs were developed in the early 1950’s as a response to postwar shortages (Creasia, Friberg. 2011) they were intended to be two years in duration and designed to prepare the graduate for bedside care in the secondary setting. These program quickly became successful and programs spread across the United States at a record pace. The associate degree program were found to be clinically sound and offered heavily hands on approach, they traditionally graduate nurses that are task oriented and perform well. Associate graduates are tested via the NCLEX after program completion to obtain licensure. The associate degreed path remains the major point of entry into the profession today. The educational prerequisite of the associate degree nursing program are not as robust in sciences often eliminating the need for organic chemistry and advanced mathematics. The associate degree nursing path also is remedial as compared to the BSN in the liberal arts, often leaving the graduate with subpar communication skills when compared to the BSN counterpart. Baccalaureate Degreed Nurses Baccalaureate degree programs are traditionally structured as four year programs with the nursing clinical focus at the latter two years. Programs differ from Associate programs in that there are courses required which  focus on the professional development of the student, and thus the growth of the profession. Baccalaureate programs prepare the graduate for scopes beyond bedside care. Leadership and research roles favor the bachelors prepared graduate. The advanced professional focus allows the graduate to view the practice beyond the task orientation of the associate degreed nurse. A comparison study (Ginger, N. & Davidhizar, R., 1990) found that baccalaureate nurses were more concerned with research methodology, teaching of the individual and the group, and community assessments. The study concluded that the baccalaureate nurse was more process driven than the task oriented associate degreed nurses. Healthcare today is composed of a multiple disciplinary team of practitioners with varied levels of education, preparing nurses at the minimum of the baccalaureate level has been a push of many professional organizations. Recent research (Aiken, 2008) has confirmed a strong link in the educational level of nurses and improvement in patient mortality. The study found when the institution increased the percentage of baccalaureate prepared nurses by 10% that the corresponding mortality decreased by 4%. Practical Comparison One of the situational comparisons that I feel would demonstrate the practice focus differences of the two educational preparations is in dealing with imminent death and dying. Throughout the career of any healthcare provider we will be faced with this challenge, and while there are many task associated with the algorithm of advanced life support or complexity of the hospice patient, there are multiple psych social aspects to consider. The baccalaureate nurses educational preparation allows her to focus on the causes of the underlying pathophysiology, understand the chemistry of the multiple medications involved and problem solve for alternative treatments is initially unsuccessful. The baccalaureate nurse is able to communicate effectively with the healthcare team and reassuringly guide the family thru this difficult process. In my years of practice I feel that clinical experience and confidence can elevate the associate degreed nurse to a comparable level in this situation as well but I have seen that the baccalaureate graduate achieves this standard well before the counterpart. Patient presentation has become more complex and the array of treatments available seems almost endless. Our patients and their families deserve the  best outcomes from the best prepared team.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Challenging Obstacles for Immigrants

Among the challenges, language, getting a job and culture are common for most of immigrants. The first challenge for immigrants is the language barrier. Since English is the second or third language for most immigrants, they face a lot of problems to communicate. Although, immigrants have some knowledge of English, the pronunciation of most words is different. So they can’t understand and communicate very easily. Furthermore, the accent of native speakers, Mexicans, Black Americans, and Chinese is different. This complicates the communication and creates stress for immigrants. For example, I came to the USA recently. I have some knowledge of English, but when I took my kids to the hospitals, go to shopping, and even when I was applying to this college, I found people who use different pronunciation and accent. Sometimes, I heard 50% to 90% of what people said and likewise they were not able to understand me, even though I was talking in English. As a result, â€Å"I’m sorry†, â€Å"say again†, â€Å"pardon† were my day to day words I used and heard for a couple of months. Therefore, language is the first big challenge that all immigrants face. The second challenging obstacle for immigrants is getting a job. Since language is a problem for immigrants, most of them failed in job interviews. Even though they are educated and professionals in their home country, it costs and takes time for their education to be accepted here. Thus, getting a job is tough. Especially now, following the economic crisis of the world, there are many layoffs and getting a job is like a miracle to most immigrants. In addition, the jobs available for immigrants are manual labor jobs that are tiresome. These jobs may also have fewer hours and surely have minimum pay. Therefore, immigrants will be forced to find another tiresome job to cover their living expenses. But getting another job is another worry for immigrants. Here I am going to give my husband’s experiences. As soon as we reached America and got our social security numbers, my husband tried to search and apply for jobs. After several months and trial, he got a part time job with minimum wage. His salary is not enough to cover our expenses, and now he is searching another job, but none has been found. Thus, following the language barrier, getting a job is a big challenging to immigrants. Culture is the third challenge that immigrants face here. Immigrants have their own cultures and living styles in their home country. The culture of dressing, talking, eating, social life etc†¦ is different here from immigrants’ home country. For example, here man and woman can kiss on the lips anywhere, but this is taboo in my country, Ethiopia. Another example is the way girls’ dress, here girls can wear whatever they like such as shorts and mini dresses. However, in my country, this is not accepted and girls should wear clothes that don’t expose their body. Thus, they should wear shorts and dresses which are below to their knees. The other thing here people eat their food anywhere; they can even eat walking on the street. However, in my country people, especially girls, cannot walk on the street while eating or drinking. There are several customs here that are counted as taboo in my culture. Therefore, the cultural differences make immigrants to be confused and shocked until they accustomed to it. As time passes, immigrants will manage and defeat the obstacles through several exposures and practice. Then, after passing through the obstacles, immigrants will enjoy a better life and even be in higher positions like senators, vice-presidents and also president of America. Challenging Obstacles for Immigrants Among the challenges, language, getting a job and culture are common for most of immigrants. The first challenge for immigrants is the language barrier. Since English is the second or third language for most immigrants, they face a lot of problems to communicate. Although, immigrants have some knowledge of English, the pronunciation of most words is different. So they can’t understand and communicate very easily. Furthermore, the accent of native speakers, Mexicans, Black Americans, and Chinese is different. This complicates the communication and creates stress for immigrants. For example, I came to the USA recently. I have some knowledge of English, but when I took my kids to the hospitals, go to shopping, and even when I was applying to this college, I found people who use different pronunciation and accent. Sometimes, I heard 50% to 90% of what people said and likewise they were not able to understand me, even though I was talking in English. As a result, â€Å"I’m sorry†, â€Å"say again†, â€Å"pardon† were my day to day words I used and heard for a couple of months. Therefore, language is the first big challenge that all immigrants face. The second challenging obstacle for immigrants is getting a job. Since language is a problem for immigrants, most of them failed in job interviews. Even though they are educated and professionals in their home country, it costs and takes time for their education to be accepted here. Thus, getting a job is tough. Especially now, following the economic crisis of the world, there are many layoffs and getting a job is like a miracle to most immigrants. In addition, the jobs available for immigrants are manual labor jobs that are tiresome. These jobs may also have fewer hours and surely have minimum pay. Therefore, immigrants will be forced to find another tiresome job to cover their living expenses. But getting another job is another worry for immigrants. Here I am going to give my husband’s experiences. As soon as we reached America and got our social security numbers, my husband tried to search and apply for jobs. After several months and trial, he got a part time job with minimum wage. His salary is not enough to cover our expenses, and now he is searching another job, but none has been found. Thus, following the language barrier, getting a job is a big challenging to immigrants. Culture is the third challenge that immigrants face here. Immigrants have their own cultures and living styles in their home country. The culture of dressing, talking, eating, social life etc†¦ is different here from immigrants’ home country. For example, here man and woman can kiss on the lips anywhere, but this is taboo in my country, Ethiopia. Another example is the way girls’ dress, here girls can wear whatever they like such as shorts and mini dresses. However, in my country, this is not accepted and girls should wear clothes that don’t expose their body. Thus, they should wear shorts and dresses which are below to their knees. The other thing here people eat their food anywhere; they can even eat walking on the street. However, in my country people, especially girls, cannot walk on the street while eating or drinking. There are several customs here that are counted as taboo in my culture. Therefore, the cultural differences make immigrants to be confused and shocked until they accustomed to it. As time passes, immigrants will manage and defeat the obstacles through several exposures and practice. Then, after passing through the obstacles, immigrants will enjoy a better life and even be in higher positions like senators, vice-presidents and also president of America.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

The Sensual Culture Reader Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Sensual Culture Reader - Essay Example The rise of consumer capitalism initiated several great changes within Western societies. One such transformation was the shifted emphasis from production to distribution, as the distributor got a higher role than the manufacturer and the consumer, because the growing production requires adequate sales. Therefore, it has become necessary to spur consumption by products replacement, when the notion of obsolescence artificially shortens economic cycles in different markets. As a side effect, to the material concerns of people a new factor of mass concern had been added - the visual confirmation of the social status. Another development was the subordination of visual art to the capitalistic institutions. In part, this has been done through sacralization of the art and isolation it in museums, where works of art serve as modern icons, but lose their intersensoriality, which is an active connection between senses needed for the wholeness of experience (Howes 2005, pp.318-334). Such trend s influenced our senses as a cultural frame of our perception because we almost never perceive the world immediately but rather sense it stereotypically.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Management - Essay Example He subsequently underwent a partial hip arthroplasty to repair his hip damage and allow him to regain mobility. He is hypertensive and is taking medications to maintain his blood pressure. He also has gouty arthritis and is slightly overweight. 2. Pathological changes a. Limitations on his mobility. Despite the hip replacement procedure, the patient would still likely experience limited mobility. He would have difficulty moving from one place to another; he would have difficulty sitting up, sitting down, standing, walking, and carrying out his activities due to his physical limitations. He would also have difficulty in going to and from the bathroom; and he would likely need assistance in moving about the residential facility. He would also undergo painful rehabilitation exercises and physical changes in his life. b. Depression. Having been recently widowed after the death of his wife of more than 50 years, he is also being forced to face the fact that he would spend the twilight yea rs of his life without his wife. With his recent mishap, he is also likely to feel despair from his condition and such depression and despair would likely affect the success (or lack thereof) of his rehabilitative process. Depression is a major setback during the rehabilitative and recovery process for any patient. Ronald manifests symptoms of giving up, and of not trying hard enough to help himself recover and to improve his physical condition. This depression is also attributed to his recent loss and his advancement in age. Many elderly patients have to deal with this condition as they are brought face to face with the possibility of dying, of not being able to contribute anything to society, of losing a partner, and of being alone. c. Gouty arthritis. His arthritis is a major limitation to his mobility. Before his fracture, there were already deformities seen in his joints due to his gouty arthritis. Inflammation of his joints attributed to his arthritis caused much pain and diff iculty in walking and in moving about. After the fracture, his arthritis has slowed down his rehabilitation; it is impacting on his mobility, making it difficult to move about and to carry out the physical therapy and occupational therapy exercises. 3. Nursing care needs a. Patient/resident specific care needs: Total hip replacement The patient underwent partial hip replacement after his hips were fractured. It is a procedure meant to remove and replace the acetabulum or the femoral neck. This surgery is an inpatient procedure, therefore the proper preoperative care must be carried out in behalf of the patient. He must be informed that he needs to prepare for a 3 or 4 day hospital stay. After the surgery, the patient is immediately started with his physical therapy (Gilbey, et.al., 2003). This includes transfer training and walking. The nurse would assist the patient and the physical therapist in his transfers and in his walking (Hol, et.al., 2009). This initial training would inclu de the use of a walker in these transfers. After such training, a transition to crutches or canes may be made. The nurse must assist the patient in the proper use of the crutches or canes (Hol, et.al., 2009). The nurse must also ensure that there are no physical barriers which would interfere with the patient’s use of these assistive walking devices. Regular exercises to strengthen muscles must be carried out with the patient; the nurse would help encourage the patient to carry out these exercises. Such methods help ensure that the patient would eventually and safely regain his mobility and independence (Gilbey, et.al., 2003). The nurse would also have to teach and work with the patient in order to perform his activities of daily living. These

Monday, August 26, 2019

Human Rights Movements in International Politics and its Effect on Research Paper

Human Rights Movements in International Politics and its Effect on State Behaviour - Research Paper Example The issue that will be tackled in this paper is the role of human rights movements in international politics and its impact on state behaviour—thus it shall be resolved whether the protestations and vigorous representations in international bodies which has jurisdiction over these acts of violence and other human rights transgressions eliminate or eradicate the occurrence of assault or attack against individual human rights. However, this paper shall limit its analysis on human trafficking which assaults the basic rights of individuals to life and liberty and whether the response of states towards its eradication is sufficient. According the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), 2.5-million of the global population are in this predicament which includes forced labour and sexual exploitation. Majority of the victims or 1.4 million (56%) originate from Asia and the Pacific while the rest come from Latin America and the Carribean (10%), Middle East and North Africa (9.2%) and other sub-Saharan countries (5.2%), including industrialized countries (10.8%) and transition economies (8%). The tentacles of human trafficking can be felt in 161 countries either as source, route or destination countries. The recruitment occurs in 127 countries where these individuals will be sent or distributed against their will to 137 countries thus exploitation reportedly affects every continent and every type of economy.

Discuss the need (if any) for international environmental restriction Essay

Discuss the need (if any) for international environmental restriction and the constraints that international agreements are subject to. Use the cases of the Mo - Essay Example It can be argued that if environmental concerns are brought out of their current green image and established with economic rules, the will to enforce them and the ability to accept them could be far greater than it is at the present moment. Undoubtedly, human beings have polluted and exploited the planet that we live on and while the effects of the pollution caused by human activity can be disastrous, it might not be recognized as such until it starts to affect the urban centers of the world that we live in (VonAncken, 2006). Of course there have been successful international agreements on what steps must be taken to prevent an all out attack on the environment and measures such as the Montreal Protocol have certainly met with a lot of success (Kruger, 1999). However, a lot remains to be done in a world where countries such as the United States and Australia have not fully agreed to the more advanced Kyoto Protocol. It would be useless to deny the facts as they stand since global warming and environmental degradation is a harsh reality. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global temperatures have risen by 0.6 Â ± 0.2 Co in the last century. Most importantly, the cause for this rise is attributed to human activity (IPCC, 2001). However, there are those who contest the reason behind these facts and suggest that the global rise in temperatures is a natural phenomenon. At the same time, there are many who make dire predictions about the coming climatic changes. Global climate change has quickly become one of the most hotly contested issues in terms of science as well as politics. However, it is also becoming a topic for debate in terms of economics and international law where it may take center stage when new agreements are formed between nations as to how they control what they do to hurt or help

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Outline of three ideas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Outline of three ideas - Essay Example atrons for such expeditions; however, there are numerous fishing businesses that depend almost exclusively on the catches they obtain through more destructive mid- and deep-level trawling. These businesses could be encouraged, through law or regulation, to offset some of their harmful by-catch (the killing of valued or endangered animals such as dolphins, turtles or sharks) by returning a specific amount of plastic catch for every 5 live catches, for example. Drainage filters throughout our cities and towns are necessary to protect our water and food supplies. Filters would work to reduce the amount of trash that enters the oceans and pollutes the fishing industry. They could be installed in storm drains throughout the cities – making the city dwellers and the cities themselves obvious patrons of the system – and help prevent some of the plastics that are making their way into the ocean and poisoning the fish. Because of land effects of plastic on the fishing industry, this industry might also be interested in being patrons, helping with educating the public and helping with other marketing efforts. A filter could be developed that works in much the same way as the filters we use for our tap water. Water would flow into the storm drains and go through a series of chambers that have different levels of screening material before it is finally free to enter the river or ocean system. It would be necessary to also begin a new c ity service similar to the waste department to maintain these filter systems, emptying the chambers of collected trash on a regular basis. To reduce the amount of rubber produced and its harmful effects on the environment, these tires are designed to stay full for nearly the life of the vehicle. They are made from ultra-durable rubber created with recycled plastic and rubber materials and designed with a special self-heal technology that instantly closes off any potential punctures. These tires would be in high demand by tire

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Commerical banker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Commerical banker - Essay Example Similarly banking sector has expanded and developed by leaps and bounds in south Asia. After china, Indonesia and Malaysia the banking sector in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been tremendously growing. This trend in the growth of banking sector has actually been the need of the economies to accommodate and sustain the needs of these economies. In fact commercial banking and its tremendous growth has been the pushing and pulling factor in the sustainable growth of these economies. The accelerated activity of agricultural sector, the small and medium enterprises, the construction and real estate have yielded the fairly large ground for commercial banking sector on local basis in south Asia. Since the return rates on any business in south Asian countries is the highest one in the world (almost 20 % per annum), there has been every chance of emergence and growth of commercial banking in South Asia. A large number of fresh MBAs are attracted to the commercial banking and they get appropriate training facilities. Their remuneration in the commercial banks remained high and they also got monthly pro-rata commissions on their retail performance. The attitudes of young graduates employed in the banks are molded towards professionalism and business.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Chinese Consumer's Perseption of B2C and C2C for E-Commerce Abstract Dissertation

Chinese Consumer's Perseption of B2C and C2C for E-Commerce Abstract - Dissertation Example The research uses both literature review and quantitative empirical research to arrive at the findings. A convenience sample of 55 customers is chosen from among the friends and acquaintances of the researcher and an online survey is employed. The results are tabulated and analysed using the literature review. It is found that customers prefer to use the C2C models over B2C models, even though they are ready to trust the B2C models more in terms of product quality, after sales service and customer care. The reason for conducting shopping using C2C sites is their low costs and larger variety of products availability. It is however expected that in the near future, due to the greater trustworthiness of the B2C sites, there may be a change in customer behaviour and shift in preference from C2C to B2C model. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Research Background and Overview 1.2 Research Questions 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives 1.4 Research Methods 1.5 Research Significance 1.6 Outline of Dissertation Chapters 1.7 Summary Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 2.2 B2C and C2C Models – An Overview 2.3 Overview of B2B and B2C online markets in China 2.4 Factors that impact online shopping consumer behavior 2.5 Factors that can impact on the effectiveness of an online shopping company 2.6 Comparison between Taobao and Amazon in China 2.7 Summary Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Research Approach 3.3 Research Methods 3.4 Research Design 3.4.1 Sample Sample Unit Sample Size Sample Selection Method 3.4.2 Data Collection Instrument: Survey Questionnaire (Appendix A) 3.4.3 Data Analysis Method 3.5 Research Validity and Reliability 3.6 Ethical Considerations 3.7 Summary Chapter 4: Research Findings and Discussions 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Descriptive Statistics 4.3 Summary Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Summary of Research Findings 5.3 Research Implications 5.4 Research Limitations and Scope for Future Research List of Tables Table 1: Gender of the Participants Table 2: Age of the Participants Table 3: Personal Online Shopping Behaviour Table 4: Reasons for Not Shopping Online Table 5: Customers’ Preference of Online Shopping Model Table 6: Customer’s past usage of online shopping sites Table 7: Customers’ Perception of Trust of Different Models of Shopping Websites Table 8: Factors Impacting Perception of Customers Regarding Online Shopping Sites Table 8a: Important Factors that Impact Customer Perceptions Regarding Online Shopping Websites Table 9: Factors that Negatively Impact Customers’ Perceptions Table 9a: Factors that Create Customer Dissatisfaction with Online Shopping Sites Table 10: Comparison of B2C and C2C Sites on Factors that Impact Customers’ Perceptions Table 11: Customers’ Intentions to Recommend Online Shopping Sites List of Appendices Appendix A: Research Questionnaire Appendix B: Research Responses References Chinese Consumer’s perception of B2C and C2C for E-Commerce Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Research Background and Overview With the opening up of the Chinese economy and the liberalization reforms, there has also been an exponential growth in penetration of the mass media and communications technology across China (Eisingerich and Kretschmer, 2008). The modernization of the economy and the development of the Chinese cities in the recent past also brought about a change in the lifestyles of the people (Shi and Zhang, 2009). There is found to be a rapid growth in the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Louisiana vs. Kennedy Essay Example for Free

Louisiana vs. Kennedy Essay Louisiana vs. Kennedy was a petition to the case that involved a death penalty that was imposed to a 42 year man who had raped his stepdaughter. The petition took place on June 2008. It was a punishment that was sentenced to him by the Louisiana court for having been convicted of committing the crime. In accordance to the law, the murders are supposed to be sentenced to death but for the past three decades, only two cases that did not involve murder were registered one for Patrick Kennedy and another one. He was sentenced to death penalty by the Louisiana court on 22nd May 2007 in a case No 05-KA-1981 Louisiana vs. Kennedy. In 2008, Patrick Kennedy decided to challenge the decision by the Supreme Court that was reached in 2007 citing that the sentence was a violation of the 8th constitutional amendment which stated that depending on the rarity of the case, death penalty may not be imposed. Was it in order for the supreme court of America to sentence to death a step father who raped his 8 year old stepdaughter? This is what this research paper will discuss about. Patrick Kennedy was sentenced to death after he was convicted by the Supreme Court to have raped his step daughter who was less than twelve years old. Initially the girl had refuted the claim that he was raped by his step father but after further investigations were done, the girl changed her story and said that it was her step father who raped her and told her to say it was the two boys that were her neighbors. It was established that the victim was assaulted for three times but the last time involved sexual intercourse. Even blood stains that Patrick had tried to clean were seen in her â€Å"After police were called to investigate the rape of the girl on March 2, 1998, Kennedys stepdaughter initially told them that two neighborhood boys had raped her after dragging her from her garage to a side yard. Police, however, found evidence of blood in her bedroom that Kennedy apparently had tried to clean up. The stepdaughter testified later that Kennedy had raped her and urged her to relate a false account. † (The Supreme Court in the Kennedy case, O7. 373. PDF) Ever since the death penalty was reinstated in US about 30 years ago, justices have been looking for ways to revoke the death penalty on child rapists which according to them was unconstitutionally imposed on Patrick Kennedy. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, (2008) of about 3,350 inmates in the death row because of murder, only two cases were different and they involved rape. Patrick Kennedy could not understand which statutes were used to sentence him. In his argument, it was a violation of the 8th amendment of the constitution. In another rape case, Coker vs. Georgia, the offender was accused of raping a 16 year old lady but on this case, the Supreme Court ruled that this case was not punishable by death because the victim was more than twelve years old. In the light of the above ruling, it was asked if the stepfather who raped his stepdaughter but did not kill her was bound by the constitution to be sentenced to death. (Hamilton, 2008) According to the Louisiana state, committing such a crime was equal to killing and the only appropriate sentence was death penalty. The majority of the United States had not passed the law but five of them namely Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and South Carolina had already passed it and were in use for example, it was the one that was used in Louisiana to sentence Patrick to death. Though these laws existed in books, they were limited to persons who were in the past convicted of committing crime of assaulting a minor but this only applied to the four states with the exception of Louisiana. The other states were contemplating to extend the death penalty to child rapists. According to the statistics given by the Death Penalty Information Center, death sentence has been on the decline in America for the past years. â€Å"The number of executions has dropped steadily since, hitting a 10 year low of 53 in 2006. † (Lithwick, 2008) According to a survey that was done by Gallop in 2006 concerning the preference between death penalty and life without parole, it was established that more people prefer life sentence to death sentence but this was due to a number of factors for example, some people were sentenced to death judging them on their race. Despite this, majority advocated for murders to be sentenced to death. The decision to review the decision to impose death penalty on child rapists was due to Patrick Kennedy’s case and the pressure that was amounted by the National Association of Social Workers, the Louisiana Foundation against Sexual Assault, and the Texas Association Against sexual assault as well as the National Alliance to end Sexual Violence. These organizations pressurized the supreme court of America to review its ruling on the case. In Patrick’s petition, it was stated that Patrick, â€Å"is the only person in the United States who is on death row for a non-homicide offense. He has been sentenced to die for the crime of rape, an offense for which no person has been executed in this country for over forty years since Missouri executed Ronald Wolfe in 1964. † (Denniston, 2008) The arguments that were put forward by these organizations were that death penalty for child rapists worsen the problem in that many cases of sexual abuse went unreported. Secondly, they argued that no child molester would leave his victim alive to avoid being reported therefore this acted as an incentive to kill victims. The third argument was that those statutes subjected the raped child to many trials and appeals thereby keeping those memories a fresh instead of them being repressed. (Death Penalty Information Center, 2008) It is for these reasons and the appeal that was made by Patrick that led to the reviewing of the ruling by the Supreme Court on 16th April, 2008 in a case between Louisiana and Kennedy. (Hamilton, 2008) It is in this case that it was ruled that the decision to execute Patrick Kennedy for raping his stepdaughter was a contravention to the 8th constitutional amendment that bans death penalty on rare and cruel cases. The majority’s argument was that the penalty should be reserved for the few offenders who are most egregious. (Linda G. , 2008) According to Justice Anthony Kennedy, death penalty was to be imposed on murders. He also differentiated between the first degree murder which is also referred to as intentional murder and the non homicide crime such as rape. He said that the later was more devastating in terms of moral depravity but he said that murder cases due to their nature, severity and irrevocability could not be compared with non homicide. The dissenting judges led by Samuel Alito objected to this observation arguing that, â€Å"The harm that is caused to the victims and the society at large by worst child rapists is grave. †(Biskupic, 2008) In justifying its decision, the state of Louisiana in its briefs argued that raping a child under twelve years is not different from other crimes because its results are devastating and lasts for a life time but in his argument, Justice Kennedy argued that the Supreme court’s decision to nullify Patrick’s case was reached objectively by the judges and this was backed by the fact that many American states were not in agreement with the statute and that was why they had not passed it. (Richey W. 2008) In response to the conclusion reached by Justice Kennedy, Justice Samuel objected to this arguing that many judges and lawyers misinterpreted the 1977’s Coker’s decision on capital punishment. They understood that death sentence should not be applied on any rape cases but that was not the case because in that case the victim was married and had assumed the status of an adult thus she was no longer a minor. He noted that due to this reason, the state’s legislatures have not understood the societal standards in terms of decency. â€Å"Evolving standards of decency must embrace and express respect for the dignity of the person and the punishment of criminals must conform to that rule. † (The Supreme Court in the Kennedy case, O7. 373. PDF) According to the Supreme Court’s statutes, rape is said to be committed where anal sex or virginal sexual intercourse is done without the consent of the victim and if the victim is less than twelve years, lack of knowledge of her age is no defense. If convicted of having committed aggravated rape, punishment should be life imprisonment without parole, suspended sentence or probation but the offender could be punished by death if the District Attorney seeks for capital verdict. In the light of the above, Patrick Kennedy’s case was a rare occurrence and thus he did not deserve the death sentence but deserved life sentence without parole. (Biskupic, News Washington 2008). The decision to reject death penalty was greatly opposed by the conservative judges. Even the two presidential candidates were opposed to the move though no one had been executed since 1964. Justice Kennedy argued that of all the 3300 people on the death row, only two were there for the reasons apart from murder. Justice Samuel questioned this majority logic that murders are more morally depraved than child rapists. â€Å"I have little doubts that the eyes of ordinary Americans, the very worst child rapists-predators who seek out and inflict serous physical and emotional injury or defenseless young children are the epitome of moral depravity. † (Barnes, 2008) In conclusion of this research paper, it is okay to say that the decision by the Louisiana’s Supreme Court to execute Patrick Kennedy for raping his step daughter was harsh and was a contravention to the 8th amendment. Of all the inmates in the death row, only two inmates whose cases were not murder. Patrick’s case was one of those rare cases that were addressed in that amendment. The appeal acted as an opportunity to interpret law as it is this was because according to Justice Samuel, most legislatures misunderstood the decision that was made on Coker’s case and assumed that he meant that death penalty should not be applied on rape cases. References. The Supreme Court in the Kennedy case. Accessed at http://www. supremecourtus. gov/opinions/07pdf/07-343. pdf Linda G. 26th June, 2008. Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty for Child Rape. Available at http://www. nytimes. com/2008/06/26/washington/26scotuscnd. html? _r=2hpor ef=sloginoref=slogin Scotus Blog. June 25th, 2008Commentary: Death penalty options narrow. http://www. scotusblog. com/wp/commentary-death-penalty-options- narrow/#more-7553 Barnes R. June 26, 2008. High Court Rejects Death For Child Rape Penalty Reserved for Murder And Crimes Against State. Available at

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Consider how and why Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

Consider how and why Shakespeare Essay Consider how and why Shakespeare uses natural images in Sonnet XVIII, Shall I compare thee and act two, scene two, of Romeo and Juliet. In my coursework I am going to analyse two works of Shakespeare, these will be Sonnet XVIII and Romeo and Juliet. Both of these poems show share similarities, the main one being the theme love. In Sonnet XVIII, a man is talking about a woman, and is trying to find a comparison to her, that will do her beauty justice, whilst Romeo and Juliet follows a love story, between these two characters, it is a romantic play, which ends in tragedy. Another shared feature of both plays is Shakespeares use of Natural Imagery. This is a technique that is often used by writers, and is a favoured method of writing used by Shakespeare. Natural imagery is used in writing for description and/or comparison. In these two instances, it compares characters and feelings to that of nature. In Shakespeares era, nature was enjoyed by most people, as it was all around them it was something that everybody understood, Shakespeare used natural imagery as something that people could relate to they knew that the Sun was warm, that the night was mystical, and that fire was passionate, therefore if something or someone was compared to one of these, they knew exactly what was meant. Act two, scene two in Romeo and Juliet is set in Capulets orchard. This setting is full of natural beauty plants, flowers, insects this reflects Romeo and Juliets natural love for each other. When he enters into the orchard, he talks about Juliet; he says that Juliet is the Sun. This is the first of many natural images within this scene. His comparison of her to the Sun shows very strong feelings the Sun is essential to life, it gives light and warmth to the world Romeo is saying that without Juliet, he could not live and that she is the light of his life. Stars are an amazing part of nature; they light up the night skies, they are bright and beautiful. Romeo compares Juliets eyes to Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven. This describes the beauty of her eyes, how they are bright and vivid. The way that stars give light also describes his illuminate feelings for her. Stars also were thought to speak to people (Astrology). Romeo feels that Juliets eyes are so beautiful and complex that they tell him a story of love and passion. O speak again, bright angel. Romeo refers to Juliet. This statement is very ironic. Romeo states this as a positive comparison angels are beautiful, they are angelic. They show immortality, just like his love for her. However, the bright angel that he speaks of, is Gods bright angel, named Lucipher, this bright angel fell from heaven to hell, just as Juliet will fall from life, or love, to death. Whilst on the balcony, Juliet is talking about her love for Romeo, but how he is a Montague. She says how a name is only a name, and not a person. That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. A rose is a beautiful flower; it both looks beautiful and smells sweet. This natural image shows Juliets feelings for Romeo he is beautiful, calm and kind. With this comparison the audience can relate more towards how Juliet feels, and her way of thinking, that Romeo is the same, loving person, whatever his name may be. However this comparison is also an example of dramatic irony. A rose is born; it flourishes with beauty, but then withers and dies; just like their love, at this point there love is just being born, but by the end of the play they die. The audience are aware of a tragedy in the end of this play, as the prologue suggests this, however at this point the characters are completely oblivious to this. At the opening of this scene, the envious moon is portrayed as a negative thing (the Sun is much more beautiful than the Moon, and only the Sun can conquer the Moon, by spreading light onto the night). At this point in the scene, the moon is again described negatively. Romeo tries to swear by the moon of his love for her. However Juliet then speaks, O swear not by the moon, th inconstant moon. The moon is forever changing; Juliet wants their love for each other to stay the same; they are already feeling true love for each other, why would they want that to change? Juliet now speaks of how quick their meeting has been, too like the lightening, she describes it as. Lightening is quick but beautiful, just like their meeting. It is also bright and powerful, like their love for each other. However lightning also symbolises danger, it is destructive, just like their relationship. The meeting that they have just had is the beginning of all of this: they declare their love for each other and so the destruction of their lives begins, their love is quick but beautiful. Juliets comparison to the meeting is more accurate than she thinks, again showing dramatic irony. On their parting, Juliet compares Romeo and their love like a wantons bird, this is a caged bird, reflecting how their love should be freed, and how it is forbidden. She goes on to say that were Romeo a bird she would kill thee with much cherishing. This statement is incredibly ironic and foreshadows events, as their love for each other does end up in killing them both. Romeo then says to Juliet, Sleep dwell upon thine eyes,. This again foreshadows events that are to come. Romeo is wishing Juliet to go to sleep. This is ironic as Juliets sleep later on in the play ends in the suicide of Romeo. In Sonnet XVIII, the narrator of the poem is trying to compare a beautiful woman to something that will do her justice. He begins to compare her to a summers day, but then realises that she is much better than that. The initial comparison to a summers day is the first and most obvious example of natural imagery summer is beautiful and warm, much like the woman he speaks of. He goes on to say how Rough windes do shake the darling buds of Maie. This shows how summer is vulnerable, the woman is not. The word buds also represents new life, or new love. Shakespeare then goes on to describe the negative aspects of summer, lease hath all to short a date. This states how summer is short it begins and ends. The womans beauty is ongoing, it does not begin, nor end, it is eternal. The sun is now personified, to make it easier for the audience to compare it to the woman; it is described as the eye of heaven, with often is his gold complexion dimd. This presents another difference of the woman to the sun the sun brightens and dims but, once again, the womans beauty is constant, it is forever the same. The word gold in this phrase also symbolises wealth and beauty, much like the woman. Nor shall death brag though wandrst in his shade, The writer has previously stated how her beauty is immortal, it will defeat death. In this line the write personifies death wandrst in his shade. This makes the task of defeating death seem much easier if death is actually mortal. The final two lines, which are also a rhyming couplet, are like a conclusion to the poem and the writers thoughts. He explains how her beauty is immortalised through the poem. So long lives this, and gives life to thee. The word this within the line is once again, personification, this time of the poem itself. It is stating that the womans beauty has been trapped and kept alive within the poem. The personification of the poem makes it much easier for the audience to understand how her beauty is immortalised through it if the poem lives, so does the womans beauty. To conclude, I have found a lot of natural imagery in both of the works that I have read. In Romeo and Juliet, the natural imagery is used mainly to compare the feelings they have for each other to nature. However, the way it is used is very ironic almost every use of natural imagery has a double meaning, e. g. Rose, Juliet means this to be beautiful, however it also shows how, just like a rose, their love will begin, flourish, and eventually die. At the time of the meeting that Romeo and Juliet have, they are not aware of the tragedy that is about to occur. In Sonnet XVIII, the natural imagery is used to compare beauty. It is used to show how beautiful the woman is, as she is portrayed better than nature, or a summers day. This poem seems to be negative throughout, but is, in fact, just reflecting upon how beautiful the woman in the poem actually is. I can see from both of these texts that natural imagery is an effective way to describe thoughts, feelings, and things. The audience of the time would have easily been able to relate to each of the natural images that Shakespeare presented to them.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Impacts Of Globalisation on Theatre

The Impacts Of Globalisation on Theatre Globalisation refers to the increasing interaction and integration of people socially, economically, and culturally through increasing interconnectedness, in which, theatres are also affected by. Performances originally in English are now performed in multiple languages, allowing other cultures around the world to experience watching similar theatrical performances. Singapore, a globalised community, consists of much cultural variety. Due to the immersed cultural diversity, Singapore would like to expand their theatrical performances, appealing to a broader audience of different cultures and eventually become the Broadway of the East. It is the contention of this essay to analyse the impacts of globalisation on theatres via the examination of McTheatres, modernism, interculturalism, and the impact of Western theatre culture on Singapores theatre culture in accordance to theatre design. In the McTheatre franchise, the workers have little or no control over their conditions of work; all the creative decisions were taken years ago and are locked down. The choreography is fixed, and the movements are largely determined by the automated sets and standardized lighting designs, which means that any deviation from the pattern risks injury or singing in darkness (Rebellato 2009: 44). The concept of McTheatre productions are methods of global imperialism. The pro side to this can be explained when the concept was founded by Cameron Mackintosh during the 1970s when he began working in a British theatre. After experiencing a shabby imitation of a metropolitan original, Mackintosh wanted audiences anywhere in the world to have the same high-quality experience instead of a cheap reproduction. However, because of standardization, the virtues of theatre are depreciated, such as the liveliness, immediacy, and the uniqueness of each performance. In a show such as The Lion King, the costumes are the stars, and the actors merely their operators. When we think of the mega musicals, we often think of the brand images: the big eyes orphan, a cats eye, a combined Japanese pictograph/helicopter. The star performers are never part of the brand image, because in McTheatre even the biggest star is replaceable (Rebellato 2009: 45). Cities such as Toronto, Las Vegas, Basle, and Denve r hold theatres that have been built specifically for these mega musicals. However, they are not built well acoustically, considering all mega musicals are miked performances. Thus once that particular mega musical performance has moved on, the theatre is limited to performances requiring well built acoustics. Musical franchises are successful to a certain extent, but they are limited to an English speaking audience. Musicals such as The Lion King and Tarzan however, even though they are global musical theatre hits, are performed in multiple languages in order to appeal to a larger range of audience members. Cats have been translated into 10 different languages such as Japanese, German, and French and The Lion King will be making its first Spanish debut in Madrid on October 21st of 2011 (Cats the Musical 2011; Gans 2011). Aside from mega musicals, past theatrical performances such as Shakespearean plays are currently performed around the world. Variations of Shakespeares plays are also created to appeal towards the audience of the 21st century, for example, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) is an interactive and humorous parody of Shakespeares plays where improvisation plays a huge roll. Hence, every performance is never the same and is unique. While older theatre acts are adapting to a more modern perspective, new performances are created to relate towards the 21st century audience. The theatre might be thought to contribute to the globalization of politics through plays that critically represent the workings of globalization (Rebellato 2009: 9). The musical Avenue Q, is ranked 21st of longest running shows in Broadway history with 2,534 performances (Avenue Q 2009). The musical, ironically portrayed as an adult version of Sesame Street, isnt a globalized musical because it has been performed around the world, but also because the musical itself is about globalization. Considering its relevance towards the 21st century audience, it is able to connect with the majority of the world population. The puppets in the musical goes through stereotypical problems and activities people go through every day, such as, the relation towards internet within their song the internet is for porn, pokes fun at how the modern day population m akes use of the internet, though not many may admit or embrace the new mentality. Culture and globalisation goes hand in hand with each other, and theatres are no exception from the interculturalism. Defined by nationalists of the Canadian province of Quebec, interculturalism is the philosophy of exchanges between cultural groups within a society. Theatres in particular have been able to share multiple cultures with the world for centuries. This alone is a huge part on globalisation because different parts of the world are able to experience different cultures through the form of theatrical performances, whether it would be through dance, acting, and music. I consider theatre to refer to all cultural forms in which performers and active or passive participant-audiences coexist in the same space for a set time (Knowles 2010: 3). During the Nara period, the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans exchanged performance traditions with each other, hence the bukagu court dance and gugaku, the Buddhist processional dance play, was eventually integrated with the Japanese culture. Western cultures did not intermix with the Asian cultures until American and European invasions in the late 19th century. Ric Knowles makes this point in his book Theatre Interculturalism: Beginning at the turn of the twentieth century and lasting almost a hundred years, the shingeki (new drama) movement saw a turn in Japan to Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Stanislavski, and the performance styles of western naturalism and spoken drama. In the first decade of the twentieth century, in the wake of Chinas defeat in the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-5, a similar movement developed in China, largely through the conscious efforts of Li Xishuang and Tokyos Spring Willow society, and visits to the society by Chinese students who produced the first huaju (spoken drama) (Knowles 2010: 8-9). Much like the plays from Shakespeare, as mentioned before, it has come to a point where we have the ability to share knowledge easily around the world, and theatrical performances are also able to be shared with equal amount of ease. One of the most well known types of performances known to globalise are circuses. It is in their nature to be mobile and move from place to place entertaining audiences. This leads to globalization through culture, the interconnection of world cultures, perhaps even the development of a world culture' (Rebellato 2010: 5). The most world renowned circus to this day would be Cirque du Soleil. Originally named Les Échassiers, it was founded by two former street performers in 1984 in Baie-Saint-Paul. It is now a Canadian entertainment company based in Montrà ©al, Quebec, self-described as a dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment (Cirque du Soleil 2010). Cirque du Soleil has a wide variety of performances, all of which are an integration of circus styles from around the world with its own theme and storyline. They attract audiences through continuous live music, which allows the performance to be cross cultural because one doesnt have to understand the language in order to enjoy the performance, hence it appeals to everyone and they are able to expand to different cultures around the world. Cirque du Soleil does not only travel around the world, but they have also left permanent set ups in different parts of the world. Las Vegas, United States, has the most Cirque du Soleil performances in one area. Performances such as KÀ, LOVE, Mystà ¨re, O, Viva ELVIS, and Zumanity are performed to many new audiences because its in an area of visiting tourists from all around the world. ZED Cirque du Soleil is stationed in a theatre build specifically for this performance at Disney Resort in Tokyo, Japan, with seven million people watching this spectacular performance every year. Cirque du Soleil has been able to create and show many different performances, but it couldnt have been done without more than 600 of their performers. (Cirque du Soleil Inc. 2009) Hence, the interconnectedness of culture is shared amongst performers and audience alike all around the world. Though most of the casts of Cirque du Soleil are trained for this specialized art, there are also performers who were past Olympic participants from all around the world. Zoltan Supola, a gold medal gymnast who competed in the Olympic three times, retired in the year 2000 after the Sydney Games. He landed a job with Cirque du Soleil and became a part of the gravity-defying troupe of performers, which now incorporates a total of 17 former Olympians. Another example is gymnast, Paul Bowler, who performs in Mystà ¨re at the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas after failing to make it with the British Olympic team in 1996 (Martinez 2011). Performances themselves arent the only ones affected by globalisation, but the people who work within those performances as well. It is without a doubt that Cirque du Soleil is one of the most globalised theatrical performances to have spread from North America all the way to Asia. Singapore is known to be a global community with multiple cultures integrated in one city, and because of this, different kinds of theatrical acts dedicated to the different cultures and all cultures are continuously performed. Singapore is a perfect example of interculturalism in general and for theatres. With the amount of international theatrical performances arriving every few months and with the amount of audiences watching these performances, it is clear that Singapore has embraced the idea of interculturalism within their theatres. This is a country in which Western and Asian performances are accepted together and appeal to a large portion of the public, hence Singapores wish to be a global pin point, the Broadway of the East so to speak. As Kenneth Lyen states: Yes, Singapore can indeed be the Broadway of the East. We have several unique attributes. Firstly, there is a wealth of stories waiting to be told in the genre of musical theatre. We also have a fascinating variety of Asian music, with different rhythms and different instruments. Our talent pool is immense, and largely untapped. We have not reached the stage where musical theatre prohibitively expensive to stage (Lyen 2010). Aside from Singapore bringing in theatrical performances from other parts of the world, Singapore themselves are trying to globalise their own local theatre productions. It is obvious how much Western performances have influenced the local productions. By trying to maintain a unique theme to Singapore, the structure is very much of the western style. A good example of this is the musical, Forbidden City. Its Singapores most successful musical first commissioned for the opening of the Esplanade, now in its third run, greeted with interest by American investors whod like to adapt it for Broadway (Yi-Sheng 2010). By exploring the fusion of Western and Eastern styles, there is a possibility for Singaporean theatrical productions to become worldwide and achieve globalisation with their own culture and local acts. Theatre of the 21st century is affected by social standing and social status of the community, hence the design of theatres affect the peoples want and reason to attend a performance based on prestige. Theatre of Ancient Greece was an open air, semi-circular layout with only the use of a skene and costumes for visual distinction between characters and scenery (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008). It was a place for the gathering of people to enjoy a performance by being taken to another dimension. The use of lighting was available only through natural lighting; hence performances were casually held during the daytime. The globalised theatre design of the 21st century however, is incorporated on the theatre experience influenced by the modern American stage design through the use of lighting, props, and moveable stage parts. With the discovery of lighting, theatres became enclosed and performances became a nightly event, which is gives off a more formal experience. Now it i s a place not only for people to gather and enjoy a performance, but also a place of prestige. Theatres in general have become a social marker. The concept of an exposed theatre within the new proposed design of the Victoria Theatre situated in Singapore is aimed to attract audiences through the act of interaction or communication with the general public and raise awareness of theatrical performances to help Singapore reach its goal of being the Broadway of the East. The use of an open-air theatre and an enclosed theatre together is to create two different experiences much like the casual experience of Ancient Greece and the more formal experience of the 21st century. With todays technology and interconnectedness, theatres has become a huge part of globalisation through the sharing of performances and performers around the world not only through the use of McTheatres, but also through the creation of fused cultural performances in order to reach out to a broader audience. Through Western influence, the design of theatres has created a social status through the theatre experience. Singapore, being a social marker and huge globalised community, has attracted theatrical performances from around the world in order to share the multiple cultures with its local audience, to become the next Broadway of the East, and to create their own theatrical performances as well, such as Forbidden City.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Components in Art Education Essay -- essays papers

Components in Art Education Balanced programs for art education have been constantly changing and adapting over the years. One program that was developed back in the late 1960’s by Elliot Eisner incorporated three areas of art into the curriculum. These included art object, art criticism and the historical context of art. His program developed into a theoretical base for art curriculum in the elementary schools that is very similar to programs used today (Madeja 2001). Today most art education programs are made up of four components. One of these components is art aesthetics. Aesthetics is the study of the nature of a piece of artwork. It analyzes the work by asking specific questions regarding the artist and the piece. The viewer becomes the judge in a sense. It tries to discover what the artwork might be representing. They could also ask what type of emotion the artist was trying to convey in their work. The viewer also takes part in analyzing the physical aspects and characteristics of the work. It focuses on the use of color, sequence and synchrony of an artwork. It notes the artist’s craftsmanship, artistic ability and proficiency in technique (Hoffman 1999). Art criticism is another component of art instruction. It includes showing appreciation for an artwork and its purpose. The critic uses their own knowledge of art and their own depiction of the work to make an opinionated statement on it. It requires background knowledge and a trained eye of perception to be able to make an accurate analysis of a person’s work. This includes knowledge of the physical details, design, technique and style of the work (Hurwitz 1991). Art history is also a component of art education. This component includes teaching children ... ... academic subject. Overby, L. (1992). Status of dance in education (Report No. ED348368). Washington, DC: Eric Clearinghouse on Teacher Education. Discusses the status of dance as a part of the elementary school curriculum. This Digest examines the rationale for dance in education, the status of dance education, and selected issues in dance education. Cato, T. (2001, January1). Reasons to support art education. Retrieved September 18th, 2002 from http://www.gaea.armstrong.edu/. Promotes the teaching of art education in Georgia. Calls for research into art education to show its benefits and advantages. Kaiser, M. (2002, June). National standards of art education. Retrieved October 29th, 2002 from http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/. Provides the national standards for art education. Also has teaching materials and professional resources for art educators.

Women and Sports :: essays research papers fc

Review of Literature Thesis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a definite correlation between the economics of professional women ¡Ã‚ ¦s sports and their ultimate success. As most success in sport leagues, teams and associations are measured by longevity, win/loss records, and most importantly, revenue, the footprint of female competition at the professional level has not been paramount at any point in our history. Professional women ¡Ã‚ ¦s athletics is characterized by an economic model and a level of acceptance amongst the masses that differs immensely from their male counterparts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this review of literature I plan to examine the major issues contributing to the struggle women ¡Ã‚ ¦s professional team sports experience, in comparison with individual sports. To better understand the disconnect between female buying power and the support by females of women ¡Ã‚ ¦s professional sport, I will use industry facts and expert opinions to look closely at the economic pitfalls of professional women ¡Ã‚ ¦s sports and how that contributes to their ultimate demise. Participation and Buying Power   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the post-Title IX era, female participation in sport has skyrocketed. In 1970, one in every twenty-seven girls played high school varsity sports; compared to one in three today (6). Overall, women currently outnumber men as active sports/fitness participants (1). Since 1991, women have also out-purchased men in athletic shoes and apparel, they participate in most purchasing decisions for men and families, as well as their own, and buy disproportionate to their participation in sport. In short, women control 81% of total sports apparel dollars (6). Hence, the argument that women are not interested in sport and that they do not purchase apparel, remains untrue (3). Team Sports   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women ¡Ã‚ ¦s professional team sports have had a difficult time establishing themselves as a staple in a booming industry. Some argue that the masculine image of team sports has inhibited women from participating professionally in the United States (4). The best examples of women ¡Ã‚ ¦s sport at the professional level would be basketball and soccer. Both of these sports are widespread in the United States, both sports enjoy immense participation, yet they struggle economically. WNBA   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women have been playing competitive basketball since 1892. In 1976, women ¡Ã‚ ¦s basketball became and Olympic sport and has experienced much success at the collegiate and amateur levels since. The first professional league was launched in 1978 and folded 3 years later. Two other leagues were created in 1996 ¡Xthe American Basketball League (ABL) and the WNBA. The ABL ceased operation in 1999, while the WNBA continues to thrive. Financial woes were the cause of each team ¡Ã‚ ¦s demise and experts argue that the WNBA ¡Ã‚ ¦s survival is due to its NBA affiliation (2).

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Civilization vs. Wilderness in Wuthering Heights Essay -- Emily Bronte

Civilization vs. Wilderness in Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights is a story full of symbols, themes and motifs among which we can also encounter the opposition between civilization and wilderness. The setting used throughout the novel Wuthering Heights helps to set the mood to describe the characters. We find two households separated by the cold, muddy, and desolate moors, one by the name of Wuthering Heights, and the other by the name of Thrushcross Grange. Each house stands alone and the atmosphere creates a mood of isolation. In the novel, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are the two places where virtually all of the action takes place. However, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, differ greatly from each other in appearance and atmosphere. These differences reflect the universal conflict between the storm and calm that Emily Bronte develops as the theme in the novel. This paper analyzes the way the above introduced opposition is representative for the two estates in the story: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange as well as for their owners: Heathcliff and the Lintons. From the very beginning, the writer identifies Wuthering Heights with Heathcliff, although the estate had previously belonged to Mr. Earnshaw, the man who gave to Heathcliff a family, the latter being an orphan. â€Å",Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling, "wuthering" being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather.†, As Emily Bronte bluntly puts it, the estate’,s name can be related to a changeable character, the use of the noun â€Å",tumult†, expressing more than it might seem at first sight. It gives the impression of a dynamic charact... ...side the beautiful room, and the two wild children outside, both boy and girl of similar ages makes the glass of the window take on the role of a kind of mirror. However, the "mirror" shows the complete opposite rather than the true images of those who look into it. The mirror can be associated to a gateway to civilization for Catherine, who sees in it a salvation from the misery she was living in, an option to achieve social advancement. In conclusion, the author manages to give the reader a clear outline of the binary opposition between civilization and wilderness, carefully describing her characters and moreover relating them to a specific location with which they will identify. In addition, the author uses a multitude of visual images along with symbolic features, such as the mirror or the ghost in order to create a more reliable human and static description.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Familiar with the phrase

I remember that as a child, I didn’t have difficulty making choices. My first vivid memory of a situation where I clearly had to make a conscious decision, something which was imprinted in my mind forever, came with a visit to a toy store at a mall.Familiar with the phrase, like a child in a candy store? It was the same thing- but obviously with toys in all shapes and sizes; some were mechanically animated with blinking lights, amusing music and sounds and moving parts. You would have expected a child of about 4 (I think I was four or five) to have simply sat there and insisted on living in the store if mom and dad didn’t buy everything in sight for them to take home.But things didn’t turn that way. I did spend a substantial amount of time browsing through the shelves, holding this, admiring that and generally wishing we could buy everything I wanted and fretting a little bit like any typical four-year old. But in the end, I knew what I really wanted from among t he bewildering array of choices. It was a choice that had been made with a combination of facts (I saw an ad on television), common sense (I knew it was a toy my other siblings wouldn’t be so interested in), and most importantly, it was an object that I was happiest with.The toy by the way was a Lego set- I was four and I was in a building phase plus the fact that the Lego pieces were nice to chew on when no one was watching. As years passed by and the Lego was replaced with various other toys, contraptions and amusements, choosing became more complicated and even tedious.Could it be possible that a four-year old be more adept and actually be more â€Å"matured† in making decisions and choices than a fifth-grader who was actually already taking high-school level Algebra, or an eighth-grader who suddenly showed an aptitude for music and was playing the piano like a pro?For some reason, that incident at the toy store became nothing more than a memory. The older I got, th e more I got confused and distracted even as my intellect had grown by leaps and bounds. In fifth-grade, I was the school nerd who took high-school Algebra lessons for the fun of it. But when it came to making choices about summer-camp, or something as trivial as what type of breakfast cereal to eat, I was a wreck; an annoying, back-tracking, undecided 11-year old. In eighth-grade, I could read sheet music as if they were comic books.But I caused my father agony when I hemmed and hawed at what high-school to go to; special music high school, regular high school? – I couldn’t make up my mind. My mother told me to my face quite bluntly; â€Å"you’re a genius at a lot of things, but it’s sad that you can’t even master the basics.†So when faced with college and what career path to take, I set aside the memory of last year’s fiasco of a vacation ( didn’t know whether backpacking to Europe, or Mexico, and ended up missing an importan t loved one’s birthday because of my indecisiveness) and focused on that lovely summer’s day at the toy store when I was four-years old.I closed my eyes and opened my heart and my mind. I shut out all distractions, biases, fears and pretensions. I was again a four-year old, innocent and guileless, a child who was at the edge of knowing what he wanted and knew that he had a family who would always support him. But more importantly, he knew what he truly wanted, what made him happy, and that never changes even if you were four or 90 years old.And so I made a choice that had been made with a combination of facts (I had an incredible aptitude in math and science), common sense (it was a hot-career and most in-demand), and most importantly, it was something that I was happiest with simply because having made that decision almost ten years ago, not a day passes that I don’t thank the fates, God and myself for having made that decision.That choice by the way, was decid ing to go to medical school and later joining the United Nations medical corps for special missions to places in the world where crucial medical and surgical procedures were urgently needed.Fifteen-hour work days, lack of equipment, threat of civil war, the pains and aches of the sick and a child’s smile thanking you for saving her life- yes, I am like a child again in a toy store.Work CitedCareerPlanning (2007) Career choice of change. Retrieved January 1, 2007 from http://careerplanning.about.com/od/careerchoicechan/Career_Choice_or_Change.htm

Friday, August 16, 2019

Assessing A Company’s Future Financial Health Essay

Google is a multinational corporation that serves thousands of consumers worldwide. Through Internet related products such as Internet searches, maps, emails, mobile apps, and other online contents for users Google became the company it is today. Every employee of Google is different in his or her own way; making it a well-diversified organization similar to the global audience they serve. Google’s mission statement is to organize information from all around the world and make it universally accessible at a quick and orderly fashion. This means creating a search engine smart enough to understand the difference between Jaguar, the car, and jaguar, the animal. Google went public in 2004 and has been doing exceptionally well ever since. It has an estimated number of over three hundred million servers using the search engine every day. From these statistics it is easy to say that Google is number one in the Internet information industry. This industry is considered to be one of th e most important economic sectors due to the fact that it is for industries that are information intensive. Although there are many search engines similar to Google, such as Yahoo, Facebook, Groupon, Microsoft, and Pearson education, Google seems to be the one consumers use more frequently. The analysis of this paper will discuss the current financial status of Google, conditions relevant to the market, competitors, and recent news. One way to measure the financial health of Google’s current status is to analyze the S.W.O.T analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This being said Google should maintain its current strengths of a successful audience which helped reach a high of $13,100,000,000 operating income for the current fiscal year. With the growth of the company over the last five years Google’s net income, gross profit, and revenue have gradually increased. Hitting a low point towards the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 then rising again in 2010. Even  during a recession, a time of need, Google remained lucrative through its assets, liabilit ies, stable stock price, and efficiency for paying back debt. Google’s total assets have steadily increased from 2008 to 2012. Some key figures to point out in their assets are the slow growth between the second half of 2008 to the second of 2009. This slow growth period is probably due to the economic recession. Google also saw a strong growth in assets from the second quarter of 2012 to the third quarter 2012. Google has mainly kept its liabilities relatively low compared to assets. There was some increase in liabilities in 2010 as well as an extensive increase 2012 compared to earlier years. The stock price during the recession drastically decreased for many companies but this was not the case for Google. In 2008, the beginning of the recession, Google’s stock price increased by $7; every year since the recession the stock price has risen and is predicted to continue rising for future years. Google also remains a strong company because of their efficiency on paying back their debt with their cash received from operations. This can be shown by their operating cash flow to total debt ratio. Google’s operating cash flow to total debt ratio is 2.56%. Meaning cash is double the amount of debt issued. Therefore, Google is able to pay back their debt fairly quick. Although Google has some strength’s the company also has some weaknesses. A key factor that contests Google’s respected reputation is its bond rating. In 2011 Google started to issue bonds; they received a rating of AA, the fourth down level of ratings a company can receive. However, the double a rating still means the company is a high credit-quality investment. According to credit rating Agency Moody’s, who gave the rating, Google received the rating due to their substantial financial flexibility as well as its conservative financial philosophy. For the year ending December 31, 2012 for Google, it finished with $60,454,000 in current assets. This is a big increase from 2011, which had $52,758,000 in current assets, a total increase of $7,696,000. The bulk of this increase is due to net  receivables, which could be the result from selling advertising space on credit or one of the many products Google offers. Cash and cash equivalents also had a major jump of $4,795,000, which could be the result from selling phones, advertising, apps, and other cash generating assets Google owns. This is a promising sign to investors because if they can sustain the growth hopefully enough cash will be retained and dividends will be offered. Assets 2012 2011 2010 Current Assets Cash and Cash Equivalents14,778,000 9,983,000 13,630,000 Short Term Investments33,310,000 34,643,000 21,345,000 Net Receivables 9,729,000 6,387,000 5,261,000 Inventory 505,000 35,000 – Other Current Assets 2,132,000 1,710,000 1,326,000 Total Current Assets 60,454,000 52,758,000 41, 562, 00 Google’s total assets have steadily increased dating back from 2008 to 2012. Some key figures to point out in their assets are the slow growth between the second half of 2008 to the second of 2009. This slow growth period is probably due to the economic recession. Google also saw a strong growth in assets from the second quarter of 2012 to the third quarter 2012. Google has mainly kept its liabilities relatively low compared to assets. There was some increase in liabilities in 2010 as well as an extensive increase 2012 compared to earlier years. Google has a total asset turnover of .6%. The total asset turnover can be interpreted to mean the amount of sales, that each unit of assets can generate. Simply, it’s smarter to get more sales on the assets that you are deploying to a business. The higher the total asset turnover, the better the business is doing. Therefore, Google’s percentage of .6% is an indication that the company is below the average industry of .7%. The current ratio measures a company’s ability to pay short-term liabilities. The higher the current ratio, the more capable the company is of paying its liabilities. Google has a current ratio of 3.94, in comparison to the industry average of 4.8%. Due to the fact that Google is under the industry average it means that Google can pay  back its short-term debt but not as quick as other companies in the industry. The quick ratio is very similar to the current ratio; in the way it also measures the company’s ability to pay of short-term liabilities. The only difference is that it adds the inventory of the company to its calculations. Google maintains a quick ratio of 3.7, which still shows it, is efficient in paying off its short-term obligations. The debt to equity ratio indicates wha t proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. Google has a debt to equity ratio of 11.61%. This is considered high and means that the company has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt. The high number can result in inconsistent earnings as a result of additional interest expense. Google has a return on assets of 10.5%. This is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. Since Google maintains an ROA below the industry average, of 15.6%, this shows that the company is earning less money on investments. Google has ‘day’s sales outstanding’ or DSO of 49.8. This means that Google takes a relatively long time to receive revenue once a sale has been made. This could be because most of their sales could be done on credit. With the expansion of the industry, Google has an opportunity for growth. The current growth rate for 2012 for Google is 11.29% and it is predicted to increase to 17.43% in 2013. The reason Google is predicted to grow over the next year or so is because the demand for online use is more predominant. With the growth of this industry it is vital that Google is aware of the threats it may encounter. One of Google’s biggest competitors, Microsoft, has introduced a newly organized search engine called Bing. The search engine Bing is gradually growing and advancing their technology making them a threat towards Google. Whenever Google advances their technology Bing turns around and does something to make their search engine better, creating a war between the two. Google is generally strong in its ability to cover debt. It has a current ratio of 3.94%, meaning it can efficiently cover its short-term liabilities. The company also has a debt to assets ratio of .07%. This number measures the company’s financial risk by determining how much of the company’s assets have been financed by debt. Since Google’s number is equal to industry average it is easy to infer that Google has average financial risk because its assets are significantly higher than its short and long term debt. Google also shows a strong ability to pay off their  interest because their EBITDA to interest ratio is extremely high at 154.64. The operating cash flow to total debt ratio measures how well the cash generated from Google’s operations covers current liabilities. Google’s operating cash flow to total debt ratio is also high at 2.56. This is a good sign and means Google is able to generate a large sum of cash to pay off debts. When a company with operating cash flow is considerably higher than its net income the company is considered to have high quality. This is the case with Google. In 2008 Google’s net income was $6,632,000,000 and its operating cash flow was $7,853,000,000. Over the last five years both net income and operating cash flows have increased. Net income increased to $13,339,000,000 and the cash from operating activities increase to $15,874,000,000. Since Google is generating a good amount of their money back they have been able to reduce debt alo ng with buying backs some of their stock. Google investing activities primarily consist of information technology, consumer discretionary, and financials. In 2008 Google’s investing activity started out at $5,319,000,000 and gradually increased over the last five years till it reached $19,041,000,000 in 2011. In the beginning of 2012 Google’s investing activities decreased to a $12,101,000,000. In 2012 Google’s main investment was information technology with a hint utility research. Over the last few years Google has spent an exceptional amount of money on capital expenditures, items that last a long time to keep the company running. Over the last three years Google spent an average of $2,755,333,000 on capital expenditures. Cash from financing activities measures the movement of cash between a firm, its owners, and creditors. Financing activities consist of issuing dividends and issuing or selling stock. In 2008 and 2009 there was no long-term or short-term debt issued but in 2010 Google issue over $5,246,000,000 worth of debt and only paid back $1,783,000,000 of the debt. The following year Google issued $10,179,000,000 dollars’ worth of debt and repaid more then 2/3s of the debt, making them a credible company. Over the last few years Google did not have any dividends. In 2010 Google repurchased a stock of $801,000,000 because they felt their stocks were undervalued. When a company buys back stock they increase their earnings per share and increase the market value of the outstanding shares. From 2009 to 2010 cash from financing increased drastically, from $233,000,000,000 to $3,050,000,000,000. With a CAPM beta of 1.23 and a P/E ratio of 21.65 Google is a riskier firm. Google’s beta of 1.23 is above average making it riskier than other firms in the industry due to the amount of debt issued. However, firms with higher risk have higher return. Google’s P/E ratio is also currently under the industry average of 28.70% making the stock undervalued. Over the next year Google had predicted that their P/E ratio would decrease to 17.88. Return on equity or ROE, shows a corporation’s profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested. Relative to the industry average of 15.30% Google has a relatively high ROE of 17.18%. Meaning Google generates a strong profit with the money shareholders invested in the company. In comparison to Google, Microsoft has a ROE of 24.5%, EBay has a ROE of 21.28%, Akamai Technologies has a ROE of 8.94%, and Baidu with an exceptionally high ROE of 53.6%. Another way to compare Google to its competitors is to compare benchmarks. Benchmarking of Google’s competitors would be measured in terms of profit margin. The higher the profit margin the more profitable a company is. Google has a profit margin of 59.92 % while its biggest competitor Microsoft has a profit margin of 75.23% and Apple has a profit margin of 43.87%. This means that Microsoft has a competitive advantage of cost control compared to Google, Apple, and other com petitors in this industry. Throughout the years Google has remained a strong well-known company that supplies organized information from all around the world to thousands of consumers every day. Through exploiting strengths, executing opportunities, fixing weaknesses, and distinguishing threats Google can remain a top-notch company and continue to dominate the Internet Information system. Some recent news for this company is the mind-blowing lawsuit between Apple and Google. Within the last year Apple had sewed Google for seeking unreasonably high license fees for patent use on wireless technology. Apple claimed that Motorola was in violation of their patent by seeking a license fee of 2.25 percent of the price of devices. Over the last week Google was  pleased to hear that this lawsuit was dropped due to the fact that there was no basis for the claim. References: â€Å"Google Inc.† Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, n.d. Web. . â€Å"Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results Investor Relations Google.† Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚€Ã‚“ Investor Relations ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒâ€šÃ‚€Ã‚“ Google.n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2012. â€Å"Reference for Business.† Google, Inc.N.p. n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfeild is the main character of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is portrayed as a very troubled and alienated young boy. He alienates himself to protect himself from the hurt of losing his brother Allie, the pain of growing up, and the phoniness of the adult world. Holden grieves the loss of his beloved little brother by thinking of everyone else as not good enough. He wants to fit into this new world he’s coming into as he’s growing up, but he can’t find a place for himself.During this book Holden always describes himself as a victim of the world around him. He says to Mr. Spencer in the beginning of the book that he feels trapped on â€Å"the other side† of life. Throughout the book Holden attempts to find his way in a world that he doesn’t feel he belongs in. In chapter nine Holden tells us about some ducks that he sees in the central park lagoon. The ducks are a symbolic part of the story. The pond is a metaphor for Holden’s life and the stage of his life that he is in when this book is written.The pond is â€Å"partly frozen and partly not frozen. † It is in transition between two states, just as Holden is in transition between childhood and adulthood. The deeper into this book we get the more we start to realize that the way Holden alienates himself is just to protect himself. Hilden has been hurt before and he makes that very obvious when he speaks of his brother Allie and his death. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie. (39) This quote shows us how strongly Holden did care about Allie and what a loss Allie’s death was to his life. Holden tries to pass off his alienation as him thinking he is better than everyone else and is too good to interact with them.An example of this would be when Holden is in the club and he meets three older women. Holden says, â€Å"they didn’t invite me to sit down at their table- mostly because they were too ignorant- but I sat down anyway. †(73) and â€Å"I tried to get them in a little intelligent conversation, but it was practically impossible. You had to twist their arms. You could hardly tell which was the stupidest of the three of them. †(73) These quotes show that Holden thinks of the women as stupid and below him before he even knows them.He assumes people are not as good as he is and that everyone has something wrong with them. But really Holden is the one who has a problem interacting with people. Holden is desperately in need of human contact and love. He needs someone to talk to and be close with, but he de nies himself that. Which might be one of the causes of his depression. Holden also used alienation to protect himself from growing up. Holden is obviously overwhelmed by change. But instead of growing up, Holden criticizes other people for the things that he is guilty of.He rarely ever admits to being wrong or not knowing something. One of the few times where he does admit being wrong is when he speaks of sex and admits, â€Å"sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear to God I don’t†(63) This shows us that Holden isn’t really as grown up and worldly as he would like us to think. Holden puts on an act to make himself seem much older and more experienced than he really is. In most of the book he does a good job of making that image of himself believable, but this is one part where he shows us that he is still a child.Holden also uses alienation to protect himself from the phoniness of the adult world. Holden uses the term â€Å"phony† as a so rt of catch all for all the things he sees in the world that he doesn’t like or doesn’t agree with. An example is when Holden describes childhood as â€Å"innocence, curiosity, and honesty†. While he says that adulthood is â€Å"superficial and phony†. Holden does not want to grow up, which could be a reason he would describe adulthood as being â€Å"phony†. A way that Holden avoids growing up and addressing his problems or flaws is by pointing out the phoniness in the world and in people around him.Holden uses many different things to alienate himself and to keep himself closed off and protected from the world. He alienates himself to avoid growing up and to avoid changing. Holden even talks at the end of the book about opening up to people. He says, â€Å"Don’t ever tell anymore anything. If you do, you’ll start missing everybody†(214) But what Holden does not see that we, as the reader, can, is that Holden’s alienatio n of himself is one of the pain sources of his pain and depression. We can see that if he would only trust in people and open up that he would be happy and wouldn’t feel so alone. The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is home to the protagonist Holden Caulfield. There is no coincidence that he holds a striking resemblance to the author of the novel himself. Salinger seemed to have a similar childhood as Holden describes in The Catcher in the Rye. Both men also seemed to have a certain fascination with younger children, especially younger women. J.D. Salinger based one of his most famous characters, Holden Caulfield, on personal experience. Holden's story in The Catcher in the Rye begins with Holden at his school, Pencey Preparatory, which is a boarding school. He was sent there by his parents, who seemed to be withdrawn from his life. Similarly, Salinger's parents sent him to Valley Forge Military School, where he had a neighbor who always seemed to be barging in, showing a resemblance to Ackley. The reader learns that Holden is the son of wealthy parents from New York. It turns out that J.D. Salinger was also born in New York to upper-class parents. It seems as though Holden Caulfield's childhood is an identical match to that of J.D. Salinger's. Salinger had a deep love and fascination with young children, especially young women. In the 1970s, Salinger maintained a close connection with an eighteen year-old girl, Joyce Maynard, who eventually moved in with the author. J.D. Salinger continued to have many relations with younger women, much like this one. His fascination with young women is reflected in Holden, who has a similar mind-set. Even as a seventeen year-old, Holden is infatuated with his perception of Jane Gallagher as a little girl. It is this picture of innocence that Holden is in love with, and not what Jane is like now. The concept of, â€Å"the catcher in the rye,† itself projects his interest in children. He day-dreams about standing at the edge of the rye field catching any children that are too close to the edge of the cliff. Salinger used Holden to vent his love, and passion for children. Holden is almost an identical representation of what J.D. Salinger is truly like. His adoration for young women is shown in Holden's love for Jane, and in the concept of, â€Å"the catcher in the rye.† Both show similarities in their childhoods, from growing up wealthy in New York, to being sent away for school. J.D. Salinger used Holden Caulfield to expose his personal life, and possibly his personal feelings. The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfeild is the main character of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is portrayed as a very troubled and alienated young boy. He alienates himself to protect himself from the hurt of losing his brother Allie, the pain of growing up, and the phoniness of the adult world. Holden grieves the loss of his beloved little brother by thinking of everyone else as not good enough. He wants to fit into this new world he’s coming into as he’s growing up, but he can’t find a place for himself.During this book Holden always describes himself as a victim of the world around him. He says to Mr. Spencer in the beginning of the book that he feels trapped on â€Å"the other side† of life. Throughout the book Holden attempts to find his way in a world that he doesn’t feel he belongs in. In chapter nine Holden tells us about some ducks that he sees in the central park lagoon. The ducks are a symbolic part of the story. The pond is a metaphor for Holden’s life and the stage of his life that he is in when this book is written.The pond is â€Å"partly frozen and partly not frozen. † It is in transition between two states, just as Holden is in transition between childhood and adulthood. The deeper into this book we get the more we start to realize that the way Holden alienates himself is just to protect himself. Hilden has been hurt before and he makes that very obvious when he speaks of his brother Allie and his death. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie. (39) This quote shows us how strongly Holden did care about Allie and what a loss Allie’s death was to his life. Holden tries to pass off his alienation as him thinking he is better than everyone else and is too good to interact with them.An example of this would be when Holden is in the club and he meets three older women. Holden says, â€Å"they didn’t invite me to sit down at their table- mostly because they were too ignorant- but I sat down anyway. †(73) and â€Å"I tried to get them in a little intelligent conversation, but it was practically impossible. You had to twist their arms. You could hardly tell which was the stupidest of the three of them. †(73) These quotes show that Holden thinks of the women as stupid and below him before he even knows them.He assumes people are not as good as he is and that everyone has something wrong with them. But really Holden is the one who has a problem interacting with people. Holden is desperately in need of human contact and love. He needs someone to talk to and be close with, but he de nies himself that. Which might be one of the causes of his depression. Holden also used alienation to protect himself from growing up. Holden is obviously overwhelmed by change. But instead of growing up, Holden criticizes other people for the things that he is guilty of.He rarely ever admits to being wrong or not knowing something. One of the few times where he does admit being wrong is when he speaks of sex and admits, â€Å"sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear to God I don’t†(63) This shows us that Holden isn’t really as grown up and worldly as he would like us to think. Holden puts on an act to make himself seem much older and more experienced than he really is. In most of the book he does a good job of making that image of himself believable, but this is one part where he shows us that he is still a child.Holden also uses alienation to protect himself from the phoniness of the adult world. Holden uses the term â€Å"phony† as a so rt of catch all for all the things he sees in the world that he doesn’t like or doesn’t agree with. An example is when Holden describes childhood as â€Å"innocence, curiosity, and honesty†. While he says that adulthood is â€Å"superficial and phony†. Holden does not want to grow up, which could be a reason he would describe adulthood as being â€Å"phony†. A way that Holden avoids growing up and addressing his problems or flaws is by pointing out the phoniness in the world and in people around him.Holden uses many different things to alienate himself and to keep himself closed off and protected from the world. He alienates himself to avoid growing up and to avoid changing. Holden even talks at the end of the book about opening up to people. He says, â€Å"Don’t ever tell anymore anything. If you do, you’ll start missing everybody†(214) But what Holden does not see that we, as the reader, can, is that Holden’s alienatio n of himself is one of the pain sources of his pain and depression. We can see that if he would only trust in people and open up that he would be happy and wouldn’t feel so alone.