Lighting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lighting - Essay Example Primarily, we should understand the process of lightning so that we become aware of how it actually takes place (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). There are small particles found in clouds called Hydrometeors. As they attain maturity, they start interacting with each other because of which they become charged. â€Å"Updrafts send the smaller positively charged particles upward and gravity pulls the bigger negatively charged particles downward. This results in clouds having their upper part positive charges and lower part negative charges† (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). This partition of charges causes a large electric potential not only between clouds themselves but also between the clouds and the earth. This electrical potential sometimes contains magnitude of million voltages. Ultimately, the electrical battle in the air collapse and lightning, the electrical expulsion between the areas of the cloud or between the cloud and the earth, takes place (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). A li ghtning strike can cause death several injuries to human beings. The method of injury is distinctive, and the demonstration differs from those of other electrical injuries. Lightning can injure people in many ways, such as it can impinge on a person directly or indirectly. It can cause heart damage or cardiac arrest; it is often responsible for causing temporary paralysis to the seriously injured people. Lightning may displace the bones or completely damage them; it sometimes creates skull fractures and cervical spine injuries. Lungs might be damaged which creates difficulty in breathing. It causes eye injuries which results in visual problems. It has been a notice by the experts that lightning causes more incidents in America annually than any other natural calamities. Thousands of lightning occurs every year and according to a data an average of â€Å"82 persons die each year from 1995 to 2000 three out of every four lightning deaths from the South and Midwest of America and one out of every four deaths was work-related i.e. from farming and construction works† (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). Many people are injured and many are killed due to lack of information or slapdash behavior during thunderstorm. Although there can be no absolute protection from lightning but experts have mentioned certain security measures that can reduce the possibility of being injured or killed due to lightning. Firstly, people should stay at safe places during thunderstorm. However there are no entirely safe places, but some places are safer than others are (Renner, pp. 23-39). Large and enclosed structures are considered as more appropriate to stay at than smaller and open structures. The danger for lightning injury depends on the structure having a feature of lightning protection, materials used in its construction and size of the structure. Generally, completely enclosed metal automobiles such as trucks, cars, vans, etc (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50), with the windows turne d up give good protection from lightning. One should avoid touching metal or conducting surfaces inside or the vehicle. Secondly, one should avoid going to high and open places, remote trees, defenseless gazebos, picnic points, baseball bunkers, connections towers, flagstaff, light pole, metal and wood benches, farm carts, and water related places such as oceans, seas, swimming pools, and rivers. One should stay away from using telephone, taking bathe, washing hands and dishes. Moreover, one may avoid contact with metal doors and windows, wiring cables of telephone, and television. If individuals can observe lightning and hear noise of thunder, they are already at threat. Noisy or repeated thunder shows that lightning activity is imminent and it is increasing

Symbolism in Shirley Jackson's The Lottery Essay

Symbolism in Shirley Jackson's The Lottery - Essay Example The story is a stark reminder of how hazardous and, sometimes, downright lethal ritualistic following can be. Throughout the story, Jackson has used symbolic references, with most that refer to death in one form or another, all the while pointing at the futility of holding on to mindless ritual. Just starting out with the title of the story, The Lottery, the reader comes to believe that something pleasant is about to take place as most readers think of the lottery as something most people look forward to winning. However, the term here is not used in the normal sense of the word, but is rather symbolic of the twisted logic of most people whereby they think that giving a pleasant name to something would cause it to be looked upon favorably. What is more, Jackson has also used names of people in the story as symbols. The lottery was carried by Mr. Summers, whose name is symbolic of the irony that the story is replete with. Summers are associated with idyllic and happy times, with child ren frolicking around and everyone having a good time out in the sun. However, as someone who is drawing the lots to decide who gets to be stoned to death, Mr. Summers is not at all as pleasant and joyful as summers ought to be. Then, there is the postmaster, Mr. Graves, whose name is symbolic of the death that is to come as a result of the lottery. Shirley Jackson has also used objects as symbols in this story.

The Republic by Plato Essay Example for Free

The Republic by Plato Essay In the book The Republic, Plato explores the mystery contained in living a good life where he looks at living a just life and what it entails. He also looks at life when there are philosopher kings ruling. The main character in the book is Socrates who is engaged in a discussion by some friends he meets when coming from the Piraeus to offer his prayers. He is walking with Glaucon on his way to the city when Polemarchus catches sight of him and invites him to walk with him along with Adeimantus who is the brother to Glaucon and they end up going to his house. Once they get to the home of Polemarchus, there they find Cephalus his father, his brothers Lysias and Euthademus and also Thrasymachus, Cleitophon and Charmantides. Cephalus admonishes Socrates for not visiting him often yet he is an old man who cannot be able to travel as he would wish. He however appreciates old age since it has given him peace that he could not have gotten when he was younger. He exhorts the goodness of old age instead of complaining as his peers did about the ills of old age. Socrates becomes intrigued and asks him whether his position is affected by the fact that he is wealthy and there starts the discussion of what makes one content with his life. Cephalus is convinced that ones disposition determines how contented or discontented one is with his life. According to him riches whether acquired or inherited does not play a part in ones happiness instead how you have decided to live your life is what matters (Jowett B. pg 11). He is of the idea that a good man whether poor or rich is a happy man while a bad man whether rich or poor is an unhappy man. He defined a good man as he who is just to others. Socrates wants to know what justice is and thus the beginning of the discussion about justice. Since they defined justice as speaking the truth and paying off debts, Socrates wants to know whether there are any exceptions to these rules. He also wants to know if one becomes less just if he decides that it is for the best not to do exactly as required by the rule of justice if it causes more harm than good to obey the rule. Socrates is of the opinion that justice must have a much broader definition than the one currently in use. At this point Cephalus exits and leave his son to take over the conversation on his behalf. Polemarchus is of the same opinion as Socrates but still quotes a respected man and a poet (Simonides) as having said differently but excuses him by assuming that he had not considered all the scenarios that are possible.   Polemarchus is however of the opinion that this rule only applies to those people who are considered to be ones friends. To those who are enemies, the rule of returning what is owed applies strictly even if by doing so one cause harm to the one receiving what is owed. He interprets what Simonides meant when he wrote about justice and assumes it to mean that one should give to each what they deserve meaning that to a friend one should do that which is good and to an enemy one should give evil. If by repaying a debt one is doing evil to a friend, then one should not repay it but if it is to an enemy one ought to be able to do so gladly. In their discussion, it emerges that there are times that injustice is preferred to justice and that in most cases it is considered useless when other things are useful and vice versa (Jowett B. pg 17). After much discussion they seem to agree that a just man cannot cause harm to others whether they are enemies or friends. This then leaves them with no definition of what justice is yet they require knowing what it is. At this point, Thrasymachus enters the conversation but for him to give his opinion of what he thinks justice is, he demands that he be paid some money. He introduces to the reader the third definition of justice which he claims to be the interest of the stronger (Jowett B. pg21). This is because the laws governing people’s deeds are formulated by the government which in turn is made up of the strong people regardless of what sort of government it is. Socrates questions this definition since the rulers may be wrong in formulating the laws and make some which may cause injury to them. If the subjects in being just must obey the law, the question then becomes whether by causing injury to the ruler they are still supposed to be just. At this point, Cleitophon contributes by saying that as long as the stronger thought that whatever was being done was to his interest, then it was justice to go ahead and do it despite its assumed harm to him. Thrasymachus defines the ruler or the stronger man as he who cannot make a mistake and if one does make a mistake, he ceases to be a ruler. Socrates asks him who is the master of an art and after it is established that the one who does something best is the master of the trade. In agreeing to this, Thrasmychus finds himself cornered by Socrates because then it means that the ruler defines justice as that which serves the interest of his subjects and not his own interests. This is because a master of an art does all he can for the benefit of those under him and one of the examples given is that of a physician who does all he can for the benefit of the patient yet he is the master of the art. It seems in this case that the ruler has made a law that affects him negatively because it has reduced his social standing. In this way then, the ruler has made a mistake and hence stops becoming a ruler because he has not put his interests first in making the law. Thrasymachus is of the opinion that the unjust man benefits more than the just one does and he defines justice as â€Å" the interest of the stronger whereas injustice is a man’s own profit an interest† (Jowett B. pg 27). He seems not be consistent in his view since he attributes different qualities to different professions as the definition of justice. The discussion takes a turn at towards perfect societies where the perfectly unjust society is seen as being more profitable than the perfectly just society. Thrasymachus is of the opinion that just people want equality with the just but want to have more than the unjust while the unjust wants more than everyone (Jowett B. pg 32). Socrates asks if an unjust society can be able to rule without exercising any form of justice. He however does not receive a precise answer. The first book ends with the question whether justice is good or evil. Thrasymachus remains silent from this moment on. Glaucon enters the scene with questioning Socrates about the types of goods there are and how they can be classified. They come up with three types of goods an justice is placed at the level of goods which are accepted because by practicing them one gains but if they had another choice would rather not engage in them thus preferring injustice to it (Jowett B. pg 38). In doing this he seems to be supporting the position of Thrasmychus but still wants to hear the opinion of Socrates on the true nature of justice. He believes that people do that which is good because they are afraid of the repercussions of doing evil and if they had a choice they would opt for evil other than good. To support his position, he tells the story of Gyges, a shepherd, who got a ring from a dead mans body that had the power to make one invisible. The ring allowed him to do things that he would otherwise not do with people seeing him. People obey the rules of justice because others can see them but if there is a chance that they will not be seen, then their true feelings emerge and most often than not they (the feelings) will be inclined towards injustice and evil. As the story is told, Gyges uses the ring to become invisible and seduce the queen who helped him eliminate the king and he became the king. It is obvious that prior to his having the ring, he could not have done so but under the guise of invisibility he was able to do much evil (Jowett B. pg 39). Glaucon wants the unjust man to be totally unjust and the just man to be totally just because total injustice can be misconstrued to mean justice. Adeimantus his brother supports him by adding that parents teach their children to be just so that in future they may be able to get good jobs and marriages and not necessarily to make them good. However Socrates is convinced that they are arguing for injustice yet they do not believe in being unjust (Jowett B. pg 45). According to Socrates, a state arises as a result of the needs that people have and it must be comprised of different categories of people who all work together to ensure the goodness of all. Justice is supposed to have led to the existence of three classes of people namely: the rulers, the producers and the soldiers. They all have specified duties and none should try to do another’s because that would be deemed as being unjust. They all have their roles and to assume another’s role is to rob the individual of his way of earning a living hence becoming unwittingly unjust. Also in trying to add another person’s load onto your own, it would lead to doing a shoddy job hence becoming unjust to those who trusted you to do the job for them (Jowett B. pg 47). Socrates takes both Glaucon and Adeimantus through the formation of a state where the three categories of people exist with justice being defined as minding ones business and letting others do the same up to the point where out of increased needs, the roles start to intermingle leading to a breakdown of justice. People in the state require that which does not belong to them to make their lives comfortable and in so doing become unjust. He then decides to create an ideal city where there is no private property or even wives and children. This is done for the common good and in such a city justice is not required. The discussion changes from whether a city is just to the question of whether there is any possibility of such a city existing. It is at this point that he introduces the idea of philosopher kings. The philosopher king is supposed to be just, a lover of wisdom and of truth. He rules not because he gains but because he wants to help the people who are his subjects. In this state, there is no discrimination among sexes and neither are there classes of people since all are considered to be equal. Philosophers are assumed to be the only people who can be able to decide which pleasures are good for the citizens and hence the need to have one as a ruler. He believes that power corrupts a ruler and the only one who is incorruptible is the philosopher and hence the need to give him the power to rule. He finishes off by criticizing the forms of governments that arise as a result of corrupted rulers. According to him, the least threatening of the governments is what he calls timocracy which is an authoritarian rule that is headed by an unstable minded man who wants to avenge the humiliation suffered by his father at the hands of his mother. Oligarchy is worse than timocracy and is characterized by having a band of few rich men who are the leaders and respect nothing other than money. Democracy follows and is seen as the rule by demagogues who are not even fit to be doing so. The worst of all the governments is tyranny where the ruler has absolute power and rules by dictating his desires and making them into laws to be followed by the citizens. The book ends without any conclusion on the definition of justice but before Socrates leaves his friends, they agree that to live a just life is better than to live an unjust life.

Link between Transition and Vulnerable Groups in Albania

Link between Transition and Vulnerable Groups in Albania â€Å"The link between transition and vulnerable groups in Albania† Viola Sadushaj Supervisor: Edith FAVOREU Research topic: â€Å"The link between transition and vulnerable groups in Albania† Problem statement:  Ã¢â‚¬ËœVulnerable groups’ Albania shares with the rest of Europe a cultural and historical heritage with roots in the Greek, Roman, and Ottoman civilizations and the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Muslim religions. The country’s level of economic development and its physical and social infrastructure are like those of the poorest and least-developed areas in Africa and Latin America. The Albanian population has always been vulnerable to the problems of poverty and isolation from the outside world  [1]. Neither the Government nor the kinship networks have had the capacity to compensate for the social upheavals brought about by the fall of Communism. Since that time, new vulnerable groups have arisen as a direct result of the fragmentation of the social structure. The transition in Albania is characterized by volatile and dramatic disruptions. The country is searching for a way out of its economic and social difficulties without a clear sense of direction, and with little social cohesion to sustain whatever policy the Government may choose. Transition is characterized by disorienting, chaotic events, a loss of traditional social norms and organizational arrangements, a lack of credibility on the part of new political leadership, and the appearance of intermediate institutions operating as enclaves and detached from the dynamics in the society. The events of 1991, threw the country into a state of chaos that has been unpredictable in terms of both duration and outcome, making it very difficult to achieve social progress in a cost-effective, equitable, and compassionate way  [2]. Albania is experiencing the emergence of social needs that cannot be addressed simply in terms of poverty reduction. Poverty reduction strategies generally assume that when an economy begins to improve within a scenario of greater political stability and foreign investment, many of the poor and unemployed will be mainstreamed into productive occupations  [3]. The transition in Albania has identified two main conditions of vulnerability (a) social exclusion, which marginalizes people via the mechanism of rejection from mainstream society, and (b) gender abuse, which marginalizes women via the threat or use of violence. Such conditions have created at least seven highly vulnerable groups in Albania: Youth at risk of abandoning school: Dropping out of school exposes increasing numbers of youth to the risk of social exclusion, street begging in Italy and Greece, and, in the case of girls, gender abuse. It is also an important factor in the resurgence of illiteracy, lack of economic opportunity, and general cultural diminishment. Institutionalized and abandoned children: This group includes orphans, children abandoned by their families, and those with physical handicaps. Such children were strongly penalized under the Communist regime and their condition has not improved. Today their numbers are increasing and they are even more marginalized due to the disruptions and consequent breakdown of family relationships, which are their only guarantee of survival. Young men at risk of criminal behavior: Young men who have finished school are at risk of becoming socially excluded and eventually recruited by the criminal economy. The incidence of this phenomenon is correlated with the income level and employment opportunities in the various areas. Young men at risk of drug addiction: This group is recent origin, present mainly in Tirana and other urban centers, but also rapidly expanding in smaller cities. Albania is becoming one of the major drug crossroads in Europe, with cannabis widely cultivated in the south and heroin coming in from Turkey. Abandoned elderly: Traditional Albanian values require the family to care for the elderly. Nevertheless, massive migration and the breakdown of extended families is resulting in their neglect. Social institutions to care for the elderly are inadequate and unprepared to meet demands for assistance by the increasing numbers who do not have children or are not supported by children who have emigrated. Women at risk of gender abuse: The fall of Communist regime has worsened the condition of women. Young women are initiated into prostitution almost exclusively by close friends or boyfriends, many of them linked to organized crime. There is also a resurgence of the pre-Communist betrothal tradition; which exposes young women to the risk of violence both within and outside the family. As a result of this lack of security, parents are keeping girls out of school. The vulnerable groups have varying features depending on where they are located. All seven groups are found in large numbers in the cities and rural communities of the middle and coastal regions, where uncontrolled migration flows are accelerating the breakdown of the traditional family structure in the context in which no mechanism are in place to support the emergence of strong nuclear families. The lack of economic opportunities for men and women in these areas, combined with the surge of criminal organizations are illegal residences, are producing increasing numbers of abandoned elderly, women, and children and are putting an entire young generation at risk of drug use and criminal activities that victimize others. Problems caused by transition: Loss of state employment, Insecurity due to crime and gang activity, Family disaggregation. Priority needs of people: Improve employment opportunities, Credit for small business, Improve infrastructure: water supply, power, transportation lines, telephone and communication systems etc. Improve social services, Greater security, Education and health services, Reduce the corruption. In this phase of transition, Albania’s representative institutions are formally in place but operationally inadequate, while social intermediary organizations such as citizens associations are few and limited in scope. Large areas of the country, particularly in the north and east, are still organized according to extended family and clan relationships that control local administrations and have little interface with central government institutions. The emergence of the new vulnerable groups in society is at odds with the prevailing kinship ties, and their interests are scarcely represented in Albanias weak body politic. The countrys political institutions are further weakened by the continuing polarization between the Geghs (speakers of the northern dialect) and the Tosks (speakers of the southern dialect) in national politics and the central administration. In addition, the countrys labor unions, a driving force for social protection in Albania (as in all European countries), have collapsed as a result of closure of state industries, leaving industry and agriculture largely to microenterprises and family units. National cohesion also suffers from a fragmented press and the limited coverage of national issues. Religion does not have a significant official political impact in the country, although Moslem and Christian leaders express views on social issues such as abortion and education. As a result of all these factors, decisions relevant to large numbers of people are usually made through consultations and negotiations within informal networks. At the central level the institution that presently endeavors to address the needs of vulnerable groups is the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Women (MOLSAW). The Ministry operates through its Policy Department and two autonomous subdivisions: the National Employment Services (NES) and the General Administration of Social Services (GASS). Most of MOLSAWs budget comes from the Finance Ministry, although efforts are being made to attract foreign donors and to set up special funds supplied by external aid. MOLSAW is now practicality the only source of financing for social programs, although the law enables rural communes and urban municipalities to levy taxes. In 1996, the NE share of GDP decreased slightly from 1995, with an almost certain decrease in household allocations, and a negative but unquantifiable effect on particularly vulnerable household members. In 1996, households receiving cash benefits were estimated to be approximately 20 percent of all households 35 percent according to World Bank estimates. Large numbers of poor are not eligible for the NE program, including those who moved to urban areas after December 1995- an exclusionary measure designed to slow migration to urban areas. Moreover, many who are eligible cannot get benefits due to the lack of records. The Government provides limited social services through welfare institutions such as orphanages and homes for elderly, with very few social workers monitoring situations of poverty and social exclusion of individuals or groups. At present, there are only 22 Government welfare facilities in the entire country, operated by GASS and located in several communes. They include 5 residences for homeless and abandoned elderly, housing a total of 300 persons (30 applicants are on a waiting list and there are 7,500 pending request for admission); and 7 centers for the handicapped (1 each in Tirana, Berat, Korca, Lezha, and Durres, and 2 in Shkodra). Facilities and attendant services are grossly inadequate. The Government estimates that there are 27,000 handicapped individuals in the country, 6,000 of whom need specific, long-term treatment, which is unavailable. None of the 12 regional GASS offices has a physician on staff. The role of NGOs The traditional extended family and clan-based structure of Albania, together with the half century of Communism, have produced a society in which civic associations, including those active in the care of vulnerable groups and dedicated to social development, are still scarce  [4]. Nevertheless, the number of indigenous NGOs has been increasing over the past years, and many foreign NGOs are also active. These organizations provide a range of social services but act quite independently from one another, and often with little interface with government. Legislation concerning NGOs has been under consideration for some time, including a bill that would license NGOs working with vulnerable groups, as well as establish a mechanism to transfer resources from MOSLAW to those NGOs. The system would presumably consist of a grant fund useable for NGO projects or NGO-run activities; the NGOs would be selected to run certain projects on the basis of tenders. MOSLAW would have the responsibility to inspect and monitor NGO activities funded through that mechanism. The Albanian NGO Forum, the main umbrella organization, includes more than 200 indigenous NGOs, of which roughly 90 appear to carry out some activity, while the others seem to exist in name only; the numbers are inexact due to the lack of registration standards. Most of the organizations are minuscule (one to three persons) and have little in the way of a track record or a well-defined mission. According to the Forum, no more than ten are able to carry out social service programs, and most of these are linked with foreign NGOs or NGO networks, or are supported by international organizations. There are no mass-based, grassroots NGOs. The Forum is oriented toward national development and civil progress issues. Of its 90 operative members, 18 are dedicated to womens issues, and 4 of these are said to be influential in promoting networking among women to place gender issues on the national agenda. Others are involved in providing microcredit and skills training, thereby acting as informa tion bridges to open up new economic and social perspective to their beneficiaries. Many of these are rural women, who are encouraged by such programs to start their own businesses. A number of international NGOs are also active in Albania, the largest network of which is run by the Catholic Church. This network consists of worship, education, health, and social service centers staffed by a total of about 100 religious and lay personnel. The activities are carried out mainly in Tirana and major centers in the traditionally Catholic northern regions. Several Islamic NGOs also run childcare, education, and health programs. Some lay NGOs are active in issues concerning women, children, and babies; and one, the Soros Foundation, is becoming involved in the Albanian Development Funds urban microcredit program. While the international NGOs are making valuable contributions to human welfare, however their presence in the country remains suboptimal, which prevents them from undertaking programs that could have a system-wide impact. Research Questions: Is the transition process inclusive or exclusive regarding vulnerable groups? Does the transition process contribute to specific changes for the vulnerable groups? What should do the state of Albania to address a better response to these vulnerable groups in this process of transition? Bibliography: Books: -Alexandra Barahona De Brito, Carmen Gonzalez Enriquez, Paloma Aguilar, â€Å"The Politics of Memory and Democratization: Transitional Justice in Democratizing Societies: Transitional Justice in Democratizing Societies†, OUP Oxford, 2001. -Attila Agh, â€Å"Emerging Democracies in East Central Europe and the Balkans†, Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., 1998. -Clarissa De Waal, â€Å"Albania today: a portrait of post-communist turbulence†, I.B.Tauris, 2007. -Elez Biberaj, â€Å"Albania: a socialist moverick†, Westview Press, 1990. -Fatos Tarifa, â€Å"To Albania with love†, The Rowman Littlefield Publishing Group Incorporated, 2007. -Fatos Tarifa, Max Spoor, â€Å"The first decade and after: Albanian’s democratic transition and consolidation in the context of Southeast Europe†, CESTRAD, Institute of Social Studies, 2000. -Hans-Peter Jost, Christina Kleineidam, Fatos Lubonja, â€Å"Albania in transition 1991†, Benteli, 2011. -James Pettifer Miranda Vickers, â€Å"The Albanian Question, Reshaping the Balkans†, I.B.Tauris, 2007. -Krassimira Daskalova, Caroline Hornstein TomiĆ¡, Karl Kaser, Filip Radunovic, â€Å"Gendering Post-socialist Transition: Studies of Changing Gender Perspectives†, LIT Verlag Mà ¼nster, 2012. -Lavinia Stan, â€Å"Transitional Justice in Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union : Reckoning with the communist past†, The Routledge, 2009. -Lavinia Stan, â€Å"Transitional Justice in Post-Communist, Romania, The Politics of Memory†, Cambridge University Press, 2012. -Matteo Fochessati, Rubens Shima, Sandra Solimano, â€Å"Arte in Albania prima e dopo il 1990 : cosi vicina, cosi lontana†, Silvana, 2009. -Misha Glenny, â€Å"The Balkans, Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804-2011†, Penguin books, 2012. -Neil J.Kritz, â€Å"Transitional Justice: How emerging democracies reckon with Former Regimes†, US Institute of Peace Press, 1995. -Olivera Simic, Zala Volcic, â€Å"Transitional Justice and Civil Society in the Balkans†, Springer, 2012. -Owen Pearson, â€Å"Albania in the twentieth century: a history, volume III: Albania as dictatorship and democracy: From isolation to the Kosovo War†, The Center for Albanian Studies in association with I.B.Touris, 2006. -Peter Lucas, foreword by Fatos Tarifa, â€Å"The OSS in World War II Albania: Covert operations and Collaborations with Communist Partisans†, McFarland Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2007. [1] Clarissa De Waal, â€Å"Albania today: a portrait of post-communist turbulence†, I.B.Tauris, 2007, pg.5. [2] Clarissa De Waal, â€Å"Albania today: a portrait of post-communist turbulence†, I.B.Tauris, 2007, pg.6. [3] Clarissa De Waal, â€Å"Albania today: a portrait of post-communist turbulence†, I.B.Tauris, 2007, pg.8. [4] Albanian NGOs are most active in sectors such as health, education, culture, youth, women, and the environment.

Goethes Faust - Mocking Religion :: Faust Essays

Faust:   Mocking Religion  Ã‚  Ã‚      The play Faust by Goethe is subtitled a tragedy. There's nothing in the play like Romeo and Juliet. So why would it be subtitled a tragedy? Well I don't know who or why they call it a tragedy, but I know why I would call it a tragedy. Some things in the play are very tragic: for example the mocking of religion (lines 290-295) the pregnancy of the girl, the loss of faith (line 388) the intelligent Faust losing hope (line 381) and though we didn't read this, the fact that Faust goes to Heaven after all he died (the very end of the play)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout this play religion is constantly mocked. The Devil and God are pretty buddy buddy. I mean they make bets, they have casual conversation (lines 275-302) They are just kind of friends. I am not the most religious person, but I know that the Devil and God are not friends. They do not talk, make bets, or hang out together. An obvious mocking right there. Also it seems that the powerful Devil is not powerful at all. He is repeatedly outsmarted by a mere mortal (line 2715) and has many limitation. If you grow up going to church and being taught religion you are under the impression that the Devil is so powerful, always tempting us mortals and finally buying our souls. God and the Devil are made fun of by showing how much little power they have. God over the Devil and the devil over mortals. The girl, Grethen, getting pregnant is a tragedy for the simple fact that she and Faust are in love and would probably be in love for ever and ever had it not been for the Devil. Faust loves this girl and would love to be with her forever, but the Devil says that Faust can sleep with any girl without staying with her. So the Devil convinces Faust to tarnish this innocent girl. He sleeps with her getting her pregnant and thus sending her to jail (it is a crime back then for a woman to get pregnant without being married) Faust knows that the women he loves is in jail, possibly forever and he wants to help, but the Devil convinces him otherwise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Faust's loss of faith is another issue in this play that I feel was a tragedy.

deatharms Dealing with Death in Ernest Hemingways A Farewell to Arms :: Farewell Arms Essays

Dealing with Death in A Farewell to Arms "I'm afraid of the rain because sometimes I picture myself dead in it" (P 126). This is a short quotation from, A Farewell to Arms, (1929), by Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms has a very unexpected death in the end. The reader sympathizes with the main character as he matures from the beginning to the conclusion of the novel. A Farewell to Arms is a love story during World War I. The novel is centered on Lieutenant Fredric Henry, an American who has volunteered for the Italian army driving ambulances in Europe because the United States has not yet entered the war. Fredric is known as being a lost man searching for order and value in his life. He is very subdued and does not care about himself or about the war. In the first book of the novel, Fredric is characterized, along with the other characters. Throughout the first book, Fredric takes a leave of absence from the war and travels the country looking for his purpose in life. During the second book, Fredric returns to the warfront town and meets with his closest friend, Rinaldi, who introduces Fredric to Catherine Barkely. Catherine is a French nurse with whom Fredric falls in love immediately. Fredric finds commitment with her, and they start to spend time together. Their relationship brings order and value to his life. He starts to care more about himself and Catherine. Being away from the war, Fredric feels safe with Catherine. When they are together, the war seems to not exist. "The war seemed as far away as the football games of someone else's college," says Fredric (P 63). Catherine is experienced when it comes to love and loss since she lost her fiancé in an earlier war. She cannot depend on another person so she tries not to depend on Fredric to bring order to her life and less chaos. This then allows her to be emotionally stronger when Fredric has to go off to war again. While off at war, Fredric and his other driver friends are sitting in a cave, when the Austrians attack. Fredric is hit in the knee while trying to help his friend, who dies. Fredric is taken to the hospital in Milan. When he arrives at the hospital, Rinaldi and Catherine come to visit him.

Gendered Societal Expectations of Appearance and Their Effects Upon the Individual Essay

It has long been generally accepted that we as humans are influenced greatly by the things that surround our everyday lives. These things can include friends, family, co-workers, the media and even society as a whole. The society in which people live can play a huge role in how they view themselves and how they view others. Over the years researchers have come up with many theories as to how and why society has such a large influence on people. Now-a-days there are appearance prescriptions for everything in our society. It is not good to be too fat, but it is not good to be too skinny either. The way a person looks, dresses and acts is a large factor in how other people will think about, talk about and respond to them. These societal prescriptions also differentiate between other factors such as gender, race, level of education and more. Interestingly most of these prescriptions for appearance in society today are relatively unspoken until someone violates them. This paper will attempt to shed some light on the complex societal prescriptions regarding personal appearance and body imaging; more specifically it will delve into how those prescriptions are gendered within society and how people respond both positively and negatively to those prescriptions. As previously stated appearance prescriptions are very strong in our society especially when it comes to societal expectations regarding gender. These gendered expectations cause people to do all types of things for the sole purpose of fitting in to societal norms. Some women exercise religiously to maintain a good looking body, other women go tanning regularly because they think it is embarrassing, or even unacceptable, to be pale; there are also many men who do the same things for the same reasons. While looking good is not a bad thing sometimes these societal prescriptions, or expectations, can cause people to go too far. When people are not satisfied with themselves and their appearance they can become desperate and have feelings of inadequacy about their physical appearance. These feelings of inadequacy can lead to depression or making destructive decisions which can include but are not limited to over-eating or even eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. There have been numerous studies done on the relationships between societal pressures to be thin and body dissatisfaction among both men and women. One such study, from the University of Texas at Austin that studied the effects of social pressure to be thin on women said that â€Å"These same pernicious messages (that one is not thin enough) are thought to foster negative affect, because appearance is a central evaluative dimension for women in Western culture† (Stice, 2003). This study tested what sources most influence societal expectations of appearance and the different ways those expectations can negatively affect women (Stice, 2003). It concluded that some of the biggest social pressures to be thin come from the mass media, family members and peers (Stice, 2003). It also concluded that the negative effects of these social pressures can go in two different directions, this is not to say that women negatively affected cannot fall victim to both types of effects (Stice, 2003). A synopsis of this study could say that societal expectations to be thin often create body dissatisfaction within women (Stice, 2003). This body dissatisfaction, which can often lead to depression, frequently leads to either restrictive dieting or binge eating. Restrictive dieting, while not bad in itself, can lead to unhealthy eating habits such as eating disorders, laxative abuse or other methods of losing weight that can be extremely harmful to the person practicing them, and binge eating â€Å"because it is commonly believed that eating provides comfort and distraction from negative emotions† (Stice, 2003). A similar experiment, coming from the University of Toronto, studied the relationship between body image and depression among adolescents regarding adiposity (Chaiton, 2009). This study suggests â€Å"that body dissatisfaction may mediate the relationship between overweight and depression† (Chaiton, 2009). It goes on to suggest that the relationship found between obesity and depression is differentiated by gender because of the difference in societal expectations placed on women and men (Chaiton, 2009). The study concluded that females experience body dissatisfaction almost solely when they believe they are overweight, whereas both males who believe that they are under or overweight experience body dissatisfaction which can in all cases lead to some level of depression (Chaiton, 2009). As the aforementioned study showed societal expectations concerning appearance can, and often do, affect men just as much as they do women (Chaiton, 2009). Our society pushes men to be big, muscular and manly. To certain degree the more muscular a man is the more attractive he generally is within society. A study from an international journal regarding social behavior and personality concluded that the attractiveness of a man is more important in determining social desirability than the age of the man in question (Perlini, 2001). Comparatively the results of these two studies add up to say that the attractiveness of a man is one of the main factors in determining societal desirability and one of the biggest factors in being attractive is being muscular or strong. This puts a lot of pressure on males to be concerned with how they look in comparison to society’s expectations of how they should look. There are numerous different theories as to why societal expectations differ between genders, but none that can definitively explain why prescriptions concerning appearance are the way they are (i. e. women should be skinny and men should be muscular). Some theorists take a biological approach saying that something within the genetic makeup of human beings causes men to be larger and more muscular and likewise causes women to be smaller and skinnier; therefore it is innate within human beings to prefer women to be skinnier and men to be more muscular. Other theories use a combination of nature, a biological approach, and nurture, an approach that says how and where people are raised effects how they view the world, to explain why there is such a gendered difference in societal expectations. While still others use strictly nurture based theories to explain these differences. An experiment from Colby College testing the awareness of preschoolers to societal expectations of gender showed that by the age of five or six humans can easily differentiate between what society expects differently of men than of women (Raag, 1998). Granted this study tested the societal expectations of gender based on toys (tools and dishes) and how the children themselves reacted to the toys as well as how the children thought others (parents, babysitters, friends, etc. ) would react to them playing with the aforementioned toys (Raag, 1998). On the whole the children were able to identify that the tools were for boys to play with and the dishes were for girls; the children also, with no hesitation, said that boys playing with dishes or girls playing with tools would often be responded to negatively by parents or babysitters or the like. That means that while this study cannot shed light on the societal expectations of strength versus thinness it does give some credence to the nurture side of the theories mentioned earlier (Raag, 1998). In summation the societal expectations of appearance can have both positive and negative effects upon people. Society pushes for women to be thin, but not too thin and for men to be muscular, but not too muscular. Society pushing people to be in shape is not a bad thing; studies have shown that being physically fit is not only good for people physically, but also mentally. When people feel attractive it boosts their confidence and self-esteem which has been proven to increase mental health. It just happens to be that some of the anxiety or stress put upon people to look good to others can cause them to do harmful things to themselves and others. For instance constant pressure from the media and other outside influences to be skinny and tan has led countless females to have eating disorders and go artificial tanning all the time, neither of which are conducive to being physically healthy. Those same influences have led to countless males developing eating disorders as well to lose weight or even start using all types of drugs, that harm themselves and can harm, or cause them to harm, others, such as anabolic steroids or pro-hormonal supplements simply to gain muscle mass at unnatural and unhealthy rates. The best thing anyone can do to help society as a whole to resist unhealthy expectations regarding appearance is to spread awareness. It may sounds overplayed but awareness about a problem and the education necessary to fix or even just alleviate that problem is always to first step to solving that problem. At the end of every abovementioned study the researchers conducting the study talked about the significance, or importance of that study, and every single researcher included somewhere in that section that raising awareness about the issue at hand was one of the most significant aspects to their respective studies. This is because being aware and educated about a problem is one of the most important and fundamental ways to confront a problem; especially one of this magnitude. This problem will never be solved if society as a whole does not become aware of, and change, how it effects people’s everyday lives regarding physical appearance.