Indigenous Culture Website Reviews

Question Response Website #1 URL:Â  https://sites.coloradocollege.edu/indigenoustraditions/sacred-lands/3483-2/ Name of Indigenous culture/religion presented in Web site Indigenous People of Arctic Russia What is the main purpose of the website you found?The main purpose of the article was to educate about the people of Arctic Russia. It goes into detail about the oppression of the people and the plan to erase the culture that they hold as an important part of their lifestyle. It also explains the current events that are happening between the state and the indigenous people.What roles and observances are sacred to this indigenous group? The roles that are sacred are the shamans and the sacred sites within the environment that they are located.How, if at all, has the culture or religion of this group changed or evolved over time? Throughout the years, the culture has suffered many ups and downs. The loss of the traditions was beginning to happen due to the interference of people not native to the land or the tribe settling in the area. The state also passed laws and in result has taken land and other resources from them. Currently efforts are being ta ken to re-energize the resources that were taken from the indigenous people and save some of the resources were not destroyed throughout the years.Has modern society (Western Culture) had an impact on this indigenous group? Western society played a part with the destruction of the resources in Northern Siberia. With the help of the Europeans, both were mainly responsible for the depletion of the land due to petroleum and hydroelectric mining.What is one thing you learned about this indigenous group from the website that surprised you or that you found interesting?The one thing I’m surprised in is the similarities the indigenous people of Serbia and Native of the United States. Both live off the land and had similar problem with the resources.What, in your opinion, makes this website authoritative? Because everybody knows about the native Americans but little is known about the natives of Russia and the trail and tribulations.Question Response Website #2 URL: http://australia. gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-indigenous-cultural-heritageName of Indigenous culture/religion presented in Web site Australian Indigenous cultural heritageWhat is the main purpose of the website you found? The purpose is to explain the religion, culture, and the way of life of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.What roles and observances are sacred to this indigenous group?The land is sacred to both cultures. The belief they have is the land is sustained and is sustained by the people.How, if at all, has the culture or religion of this group changed evolved over time?The culture has changed with the introduction of the European culture and the result of the decrease of the culture with the introduction of Christianity.Has modern society (Western Culture) had an impact on this indigenous group? With the introduction of metal, glass and metal within the culture from the Europeans, they understood the ease with using the materials versus just using rock.What is one thing you learned about this indigenous group from the website that surprised you or that you found interesting? I’ve learned that their traditions and way of life is one of the oldest cultures in the world. The culture currently exists today in Australia and there are more than 500 different nations that exist.What, in your opinion, makes this website authoritative? In my opinion is for the tourist that plan to go there for vacation. The site goes into the culture that the aborigines has to offer but not much into the past between the people and the country.

Stefan’s Diaries: The Craving Chapter 27

There was nothing to indicate the passage of hours inside the windowless vault – not the barest suggestion of sunlight ever made its way under its doors. Days melted into weeks, maybe months. It felt as if an eternity had passed, and yet another stretched out endlessly before us. Lexi and I had stopped talking. Not out of anger or hopelessness, but just because we couldn't anymore. We didn't have enough strength to force ourselves to scream when we heard someone approach, much less get up and fight the stone that kept us buried. There was no more strength to fight the darkness, no strength to stand up. If I'd still required my heart to survive, I'm not sure I'd have had the strength to keep blood pumping through my veins. We lay silently next to each other. If anyone ever found us, a hundred years from then, we would look pathetic, like a sister and brother in some horrible fairy tale trapped in a witch's basement. Each passing second drained me of my Power. My eyes no longer parsed the darkness. The silence was absolute as sounds from the outside world faded into oblivion. All that I had left was my sense of touch – the feel of Lexi's waxy hand, the rough wood of the battered coffin next to me, the cool metal band of my useless ring. I felt almost human again, in the worst possible way. And as my Power retreated painfully, so with it went my immortality. I had never noticed its continual presence until it began to disappear, leaving meat and bone, brain and fluids, and taking away all that was supernatural about me with it. Except for my hunger. My vampire side reacted to starvation. My teeth ached and burned with need so badly that I would have shed tears if I'd had any. Blood weaseled its way into my every thought. I dreamed of how it had beaded up, jewel-like, on Callie's finger when she'd cut herself. How smoky my childhood crush, Clementine Haverford, had tasted going down. How, as my father lay dying on the floor of his study, his blood had spread out around him like greedy, searching fingers, staining everything in sight a dark, delicious red. In the end, everything comes back to blood. Vampires are nothing but hunger personified, designed expressly for the purpose of stealing blood from our victims. Our eyes compel them to trust us, our fangs rip open their veins, and our mouths drain them of their very life source. Blood†¦ Blood†¦ Blood†¦ Blood†¦ The word whispered to me over and over, like a song caught in one's head, filling every crevice of my brain and coating each memory with its tantalizing scent. And then a very familiar voice began to talk to me. â€Å"Hello, Stefan.† â€Å"Katherine?† I croaked, barely able to get the words out. I managed to turn my head just enough to see her sprawled voluptuously on a set of silk pillow cushions. She looked exactly as she had the night of the massacre, before they took her away and killed her. Beautiful and partially undressed, her pouty lips giving me a knowing smile. â€Å"Are you†¦ alive?† â€Å"Shhhh,† she said, leaning over to stroke my cheek. â€Å"You don't look well.† I closed my eyes as her intoxicating scent of lemon and ginger swept over me, so familiar and so real that I swooned. She must have fed recently because the heat from her skin burned in the cold tomb. â€Å"I wish I could help you,† she whispered, her lips close to mine. â€Å"Your. Fault,† I managed to breathe. â€Å"Oh, Stefan,† she scolded. â€Å"You may not have been as willing as your brother, but you didn't precisely object to my†¦ ministrations.† As if to emphasize her words, she leaned over and pressed her soft lips to my cheek. Again†¦ and again†¦ dragging them down my parched neck. Very, very delicately, she teased me, letting the tips of her fangs just puncture my skin. I moaned. My head spun. â€Å"But. You. Burned,† I rasped. â€Å"I saw the church.† â€Å"Do you wish me dead?† she asked, fire in her eyes. â€Å"Do you want me to burn, to collapse to the ground in a pile of ashes, simply because you can't have me all to yourself?† â€Å"No!† I protested, trying to push her off my neck. â€Å"Because you made me a monster†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her laugh was light and melodic, like the wind chimes Mother had hung on the front porch of Veritas. â€Å"Monster? Really, Stefan, one day you will remember what you knew to be true back in New Orleans – that what I have given you is a gift, not a curse.† â€Å"You're as mad†¦ as†¦ Klaus†¦.† She sat back, alarm etching lines around her amber eyes. Her lower lip wobbled. â€Å"How do you know about K – ? â€Å" The crypt doors exploded into a thousand shards of stone and wood, as though shot through with a cannon. I covered my face, the light burning my eyes like acid. When I opened them again, Katherine was gone, and a blurry figure garbed in black wavered in the jagged doorway, haloed by the punishing light. â€Å"Klaus?† Lexi whispered in a terrified voice, clutching my hand. â€Å"Sorry to disappoint,† came a wry voice. â€Å"Damon!† I struggled to sit up. â€Å"Stefan, don't you think it's time you stopped just waiting around for your big brother to come and rescue you?† Without ceremony he reached in, grabbed my wrist, and flung me out of the crypt. I flew into the opposite wall and fell down into a heap on the marble floor. Damon was gentler with Lexi, though not by much. Another weightless corpse, she flopped against me, legs askew. Dust and shrapnel floated around us like fog. I blinked at the nondescript walls, trying to get my bearings. â€Å"Here,† Damon said, holding out a silver flask. â€Å"You're going to need it to escape.† I put my lips against the mouth of the vessel. Blood. Sweet, sweet, blood†¦ A voice in the back of my mind shouted that it was human blood, but I silenced it with a splash of heady liquid. I drank deeply, desperately, groaning when Damon grabbed the flask away from me. â€Å"Save some for the lady,† he said. Lexi drank greedily as well. Blood dripped down her chin and around her lips as she sucked hard and silently. Her skin, which had been drawn, pale and wrinkled as an old woman's, filled out and became pink and puffy. â€Å"Thanks, sailor,† she breathed. â€Å"I needed that.† Like a lamp filling a cellar with heat and light, I felt my own Power radiate through my limbs, returning my senses to what they were, imbuing my body with strength that I hadn't experienced since before I started eating only animals. As my vision cleared, I gasped. Behind Damon, a black-haired woman stood with one hand to her temple, the other gripped into a fist at her side. Her eyes were closed and her body shook with the slightest of tremors. It looked like she was in deep pain, being held in place while unknown tortures were applied to her mind and body. Margaret. And she wasn't alone. There was a prone figure in front of her, writhing in pain, and I realized with a jolt that Margaret wasn't being tortured – she was the one inflicting pain in another. In Lucius. In the super-vampire, so Powerful, yet still only a foot soldier of Klaus, the demon directly descended from hell. Lucius had murdered an entire family, captured me with ease, and caught Lexi like a troublesome mouse. The monster had his head in his hands and was screaming, terrible screams that seemed to send reverberations through the very chapel. â€Å"Is that Margaret?† I asked, dumbfounded. Damon pulled me up, propelled me toward the door. â€Å"We can't leave her!† â€Å"She'll be fine!† â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"Questions later. Running now.† And so, with one last look at the woman who had brought Hell itself to its knees, I ran away from the site of my imprisonment and out into moonlight.

Sony-Ericsson Case

The reasons for this are of course numerous. One of the reasons was that both companies only had a minor market share, Ericson 10% and Sony 1,5% of the world market, whereas as the leader Nooks had 30,6%. This giving Nooks a huge advantage in existing customers as well as strong brand awareness. Another main reason for the fusion of both the mobile departments of the company was that both had problems in managing their departments. Sony had so many different sectors it was in that mobile was Just one more and was ;t paid enough attention.Ericson had the technology to be a leader, but they were always criticized for only being a group of engineers, developing good products, but not paying as much attention to customers desires as Nooks did. Therefore being significantly less successful than their Finnish rival. Both companies needed to restructure their efforts in the mobile development and that Is why it made sense for them both to start this partnership. Ericson would provide people and their expertise In telecommunications and Sony it ‘s expertise In consumer electronics products as well as $500 million.Both were able to cut costs significantly and still able to become a global player on this prosperous market In the future. 2) What was needed to succeed in this market? The main attributes that were needed to succeed in the market was the knowledge to develop in the direction of the technology that would be used in the future, as well as knowing and offering your customers what they were looking for. In fact one can say that Nooks did everything one needed to do to succeed. They listen to what their clients where looking/expecting from their mobile phones, and built a product portfolio accordingly.Due to this approach they were able to offer a specific product to every customer profile they had. Concerning technology they also did good work being the clear leaders In the 26 markets, which gave them a age head start. The management also did an excellent work, having a better-cost extra effort on not becoming a huge corporation with 100,000 employees, staying rather small gave them the advantage that decision could be taken quickly and that changes and adoptions to the products were able to be done immediately. ) Compare Ionians and Sony Ericson Mobile Communication's situations (activities, competences, finances) SEEM had a clear goal, which was to become the global number one player for multimedia products. This was supposed to be achieved by combining their forces in R&D, marketing, sales, distribution and customer services. The Joint force should give them the resources to overcome their seemingly untouchable competitor Nooks. The soft activities they were planning and adapting were: being responsive to the market, analyzing the behavior of the consumers and of their competitors.Nooks on the other hand wanted to keep their activities in the mobile sector at the same high level they had been over the sass's, strengthening their p osition in the market today and constantly investing in R. Even increasing the percentage of net sales being reinvested to R, which were around 8,9% in the late sass's, the goal being to maintain the strong market position for the 36 generation phones. From a financial point of view, we can only compare the individual financial statements of Ericson, Sony and Nooks from the appendix of the case.In a first look at the data available we can deduct that the financial situation of Nooks is clearly the most advantageous one. To be able to analyses financial statements that are comparable, I will only look at the ones of Nooks and Ericson. The Sony Corporation has so many different activities going on that from this financial statement I can't detect which revenues are from the mobile industry. The only observations I would like to mention about the company is that their revenue has been increasing over the years, but net income has been decreasing.This showing that in the core business w e are talking about Nooks has made the biggest step by increasing net sales in this sector by offer having a 80% growth per year between 1998 and 2000. These numbers are also reflected in the market share Nooks has on the world mobile market. 4) What are the potential risks for this alliance? The risks for this alliance are of course numerous. First of all Sony Ericson has to find a proper way to communicate to the public/customers why they have merged heir mobile departments and explain what profits this results in for them in the tend to which to other brands.This is the main risk, that they have to manage, which has to be dealt with proper attention and experienced marketing experts, so that a clear message is sent out to the public and current/future customers. Another potential risk is the management that consists of managers from both Ericson and Sony. It provides conflict potential when two corporate cultures clash. Managers from both sides are used to doing business their wa y but now they have to adapt to the managing methods of one another.This might make it difficult to find a common strategy, with which they want to market their brand. The responsibilities and decision fields have to be clearly defined to avoid these kinds of occurrences as good as possible. A further threat would be that both sides could quickly get frustrated if results are not as good or worse than expected. This could lead to one accusing the other of bad management, insufficient research and so on, resulting in a bad atmosphere in the company. This would further complicate the merger and might even lead to the decision to go separate ways again.

Essential vs Non- Essential Job Finctions Research Paper

Essential vs Non- Essential Job Finctions - Research Paper Example On the other hand, non-essential job functions are duties that could be reassigned to other employees and effectively execute them (Hammonds & Kapusta, 2003). Some of the non-essential job functions include directing and escorting clients to different offices within the organisation. Employers are required to have knowledge of the employment provisions including disability Act. Essentially, employees are required to comprehend on essential job functions and how they affect employees. Disability Act Stipulates on the basic civil rights for persons with disability, women and the minority groups (Hammonds & Kapusta, 2003). However, an employer is not obliged to modify or eliminate an essential job function in order to accommodate person with disability. This is arguably true because an employee who is not in a position to execute the essential job functions even when considered to have a reasonable accommodation does not qualify for the said job and is not protected by discrimination

North America Immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

North America Immigration - Essay Example The pace of migration rose from 1910 following the Mexican revolution. Around fifty thousand Mexicans migrated to USA each year from that period till 1929. The reason of migration was higher availability and opportunity of Job in USA than in Mexico. Jobs in USA also offered a higher wage rate than that in Mexico. To tame this inflow, in 1929 around 2 million Mexicans were forcefully deported back to Mexico. In 1942 during the Second World War considering the Mexicans as a cheap source of labour again looked profitable and a programme named Bracero was formed by USA and Mexican officials that paved the way for legal status for the Mexican immigrants as guest labourers. Obviously the Mexican labourers working in USA under that programme were bereft of any labour protections that were extended to USA labourers. The same set up has been maintained till 1986, however not in papers rather through verbal and mostly under the table agreement. In 1986 USA government gave amnesty to 3 million uncited Mexican labourers and were given all possible rights that a USA labour enjoys. However, owing to the high demand of undocumented Mexican labourers from corporations for the lesser burden on corporations regarding wage and rights, their number kept on growing. (Head) According to the 1990 census of United States of America the documented Mexican population was 4.3 million that rose to 9.8 in 2002. The undocumented population of Mexicans in USA grew at a faster rate; it was 2 million in 1990 and 5.3 million in 2002. The projected number of Mexican immigrant in USA would be 13 million by the end of 2010. (migrationinformation.org) A striking change has taken place in terms of destination of the Mexican immigrants in USA. The traditional destination areas mentioned previously are gradually getting replaced by states like â€Å"Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and

Applied Psychology - Mindfulness meditation as a treatment for Essay

Applied Psychology - Mindfulness meditation as a treatment for depression - Essay Example It is informative to note that Behaviour Therapy developed at a time when psychology regarded classical and operant conditioning as sufficient mechanisms in explaining human behaviour. Later when psychology took on board the mediation of thought and language (what went on inside the ‘black box’) as important in explaining human behaviour, Cognitive Therapy was born. CBT is approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK. However, since no one therapy (including medication) has been proved to be universally beneficial for all patients, the field of counselling and therapy is replete with many alternatives such as psychoanalysis, Gestalt Therapy, and other humanistic therapies. These are not seen as ‘scientific’, objective, and amenable to quantitative research. Increasingly, with the passage of time, it appears that ‘mind’ a concept that had been totally alien to ‘scientific’, positivistic psychology, was beginning to be accepted, at least in the form of neural activity in the brain underpinning all mental schemata as the basis of behaviour. From here, it has been quite a jump to accept ‘mindfulness meditation’, borrowed from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions practised as a religious observance for more than 2500 years as a means of reaching enlightenment. So, Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), may be seen as an innovation in therapy through an attempt at a fusion between two widely divergent fields of human endeavour separated not only by time of origin but by distinctiveness of culture as well . Even so, over the last two decades MBCT appears to have proved efficacious in treating persistent or recurring depression in psychiatric patients (Teasdale et al 2000). Meditation in mindfulness is the cultivation of awareness of the activity of one’s consciousness from moment to moment. When one is able to accomplish this, it can stop one being trapped in constant ruminations and automatisms in

Critically examine the added value the HR dept has made to improved Essay

Critically examine the added value the HR dept has made to improved company performance - Essay Example Having segregated itself from the Sears group in, 1998, the Selfridges group started out with an investment of 100 million pounds. This was diverted towards the opening of its second store in Trafford Park. This mall houses 280 stores and enjoys a wide clientele from various parts of Europe and the rest of the world. (Hutchison et al, 2003) The human resource role and organisational turnaround have been discussed in this paper from the point of view of the premise of competitive advantage as follows: The world of commerce in this era is one where there is an amalgamation of a global market place as well as the theories of competitive advantage with the strong backing of innovation. (Green, 2002) Any marketer or producer in this modern market place needs to adhere to these practices and theories in order to gain any measure of success, whether small or big. In this regard, the role of the HR element in Selfridges plays on its overall brand equity and effective goal achievement program. (Park, 1994) Before delving any deeper into the paper, let us fist consider the elements of the modern world of commerce. The world has shrunk to accommodate the limitations of the geographical demarcations and expanded to transgress the same by reaching out to people from all corners of the world. (Tirole, 1990) This has triggered a phenomenon called the global village concept, which is basically depend on the information technology, communication and a unified mode of business and commerce. Thriving in this global scheme of things indicates an affiliation with keeping abreast of what is going on in every corner of the world and adapting oneself to make profits accordingly. (Hutchison et al, 2003) This is owing to the fact that a manufacturer can now see his name in the most unexpected of places and in order to get there, he needs to be able to keep with the latest and improvise on the same to create

U.S. and Nevada Constitutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

U.S. and Nevada Constitutions - Essay Example ed by Bowers that â€Å"the incredibly short span of three years from territory to statehood and the events predating and surrounding that transition make the Nevada Constitution a truly exceptional document† (12). Due to several amendments made to this constitution, it has ended up with more words and more details as compared to the United States constitution; it is more deeply descriptive, while the U.S.’s is more general in terms of its structure. As per the constitution of Nevada, it has 19 articles that describe the basic laws ranging from the organization of the government, power distribution within the government institutions, and the bill of rights meant to protect the people from any form of oppression. In most cases, the Nevada constitution resembles that of the U.S. though in some other instances, there are variations which result in differences in length, for example the omission of individual rights from the U.S. constitution, but present in the Nevada constitution. According to Bowers (15), Nevada’s constitution provides a more direct means of separation of powers into three most basic divisions and has an additional system for checks and balances moreover this constitution has a system for amendments and revision whereby the judiciary has been vested with such powers. These additional clauses makes it longer that the U.S constitution. There are various factors that define the length and details of a state constitution. According to Berman, â€Å"a broad historical factor accounting for this condition was the loss of popular confidence in state legislators† (77). Constitutional amendments made after the civil wars had extensive and detailed policies to prevent corruptions and mismanagement that marred the nation. The ease of amendments provided by the Nevada’s constitution has made it easier to add additional values by the concerned parties. In general, most of the state constitutions are noteworthy constitutions; the differences can be

Black Art Movement and the Harlem Renaissance Essay

Black Art Movement and the Harlem Renaissance - Essay Example At this period, there was also an interest being formed for jazz music with many white Americans that enjoyed the new sounds of lyrical black expression. One notable writer from this Harlem Renaissance period was Henry Dumas, who wrote a collection of short stories that described the efforts of different civil rights activists to describing the â€Å"lethal strength of a sax solo†, in order to celebrate the African-American spirit and movement toward liberation as a culture. Another novelist, Amiri Baraka, helped to build Black Dialogue, a publication facility that supported black arts. In his poetry, which was considered very risquà © during the Harlem Renaissance, he spoke of â€Å"fists beating niggers out of jocks or setting fire and death to whities ass† as a means to show African-American defiance against racial intolerance. It is poetry like this that often caused social uprising in different black social groups and reminded them that they were still an oppresse d people, therefore inspiring the next generation of blacks to explore artistry as a means to help in the cause for civil rights. The black arts movement involved many different African-American artists that often used their creative expression and poetry to influence others to reconsider their role in broader, White society. It is likely that without these historical figures, prominent leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X would not have been inspired to use peaceful protest that marks the current state of liberation.

What it means to be a poor Filipino Essay Example for Free

What it means to be a poor Filipino Essay In every country of the world, the poor people are never absent. They occupy the lowest strata of social stratification. Due to differences in geographical location, economic standing, technological advancement and other social factors, the poor in every country however does not look or live the same way. In the Philippines, a country in the South East Asia, it is easy to identify   the poor people through   the places where they live, the kind of houses they occupy,  Ã‚   the food they eat, the job they are engaged in, their physical appearance, and how and where they spend their free time. In Philippine urban cities, the poorest of the poor are found in congested slum areas. In Manila, its capital, the biggest slum is in Tondo. Here, all sorts of people take residence; the ex-convicts, robbers, drug addicts and prostitutes  Ã‚   mixed with decent poor people.   Some of the poor people in the slums came from other provinces looking for a job in Manila. They spoke different dialects but they understand each other when they use their national language, Tagalog. As one enters the slums, children playing in the narrow alleys usually greet him. He may also found himself in places littered with garbage. What is repulsive at times is that some undisciplined children disposed of their waste on the streets. As one looks around, he will observe that the houses   Ã‚  are closely built   Ã‚  Ã‚  together. Inside these cramped spaces lived a family or two. Most of the owners of the house used one of the rooms for renting. In fact, the slums are the best place for a cheap rent in Manila. What makes life hard in Tondo is that the water are rationed, residents had to wait for a schedule usually late at night to early morning for the water in the faucet to flow. Nights in the slums are noisy due to karaoke bars (bars for singing). Men (and sometimes women) drinking along the alleys contributed to the noise. Nights are also the time for some people to throw their garbage in a nearby river. In the daytime, a mini-market stand sells vegetable, fish, meat, eggs and other food. Often, the vegetables, fish and meat are no longer fresh. The other slums in other cities were much better in Manila although they also have their own sanitary problems to solve. Those who were not able to live in the slums lived under the city bridges or near the train railways. When the train passed by, their houses shook. Many people died as they were run over by a passing train. The poor who did not live in urban cities are much luckier.   In the provinces, not only is it safe, they have a small space of their own, away from the crowds and noise. The houses in the slums are either made of wood or     cement.   The design of the house is very simple, just a door, a room and few windows. They are often very small for there is not enough space. In fact, others do not have rooms at all.   They eat, sleep and entertain in only one place. The dilapidated houses may have streamer cloth, sackcloth or cardboard as covers for the walls. Thankfully, there is no winter in the Philippines or else people living inside will freeze with cold.   In addition, some houses may not have access to windows especially if they were squeezed between other houses so that they have to turn on the light and electric fan most of the time. Inside these houses are a few furnitures: a table, a stool, maybe a sofa, a wooden bed and a cabinet.   The usual appliances are TV, electric fan (for it is hot there especially in the summer), some pots and pans and a burner stove. The poor in the provinces fared much better for even though their houses may be small or they had no electricity, the houses   are usually constructed far apart and equipped with windows and stairs.   The roofs of their houses may be made of nipa, a kind of palm tree that grows in swamps (Peplow, 1991). The Filipinos eat three times a day with rice and a dish that goes with it. The poor however, can only afford to eat twice or once a day. Along with rice, they eat with dried salted fish sold plenty in the market. The other viand is what they call â€Å"bago-ong†, small salted fishes that were left to ferment in a few days inside closed containers. The bago-ong is much cheaper than the dried salted fish( Shead, 2006). For a foreigner, the former may look like fishes left to rot. Other poor popular dishes are vegetables. Cabbage, string beans, cucumber, carrots, and other green and leafy vegetables native in the Philippines can be easily bought in Filipino markets.   The snack of the poor, on the other hand, is usually banana cue sold in nearby food stalls.   They also love to eat fish balls sold by vendors on the street. Fish balls are mostly made of flour mixed with a little fish meat. They are then cooked in a pan full of oil. In cooking, the balls should float in the oil. A matching sauce is served with the fish balls. The poor in the provinces are mostly farmers. On the other hand, the poor in the urban areas engaged in various low-income jobs like working as a laborer, waiter or store attendant. Some work in numerous beauty parlors to cut or trim hairs, paint nails, or do body massage. The poorest of them collects empty bottles, metals, etc from the garbage, and sell their find in the junkshop. In the government, the poor work as Metro Aides (people who sweep the streets) or as garbage collectors. The others work in various offices as clerks, computer encoders and call center agents. Many of these poor people now have parents working as skilled workers all over the world. In a way, their way of living had improved. Many children of the poor now study as caregivers, nursing aides or nurses in the hope that someday they will be able to work in other countries. Those who do not have any relatives abroad to support their studies financed their studies as working students. The interest for medical courses is prompted by the fact that Filipino medical professionals are now in demand all over the world. They endured the loneliness of being away from home as long as they are able to support their families financially. There are some sad stories, however, for some married couples who went away or were left behind find other partners so that there are many broken families in the Philippines right now. It is easy to distinguish the poor in terms of their physical appearance. They usually dressed simply. The teenagers wear jeans and T-shirts. Older women sometimes wear a blouse and a skirt, but most of the time they also wear jeans and shirts. When they have errands or have to go to the city, they usually wear a fake  Ã‚   jewelry.   In spite of their simplicity, they often looked and smell clean for the Filipinos love to take a bath, sometimes twice a day. The only exceptions of course are the beggars and street children in the streets. They really do dress the part; unclean tattered clothes, unkempt hair and they looked as if they had no taken a bath in months! One thing noticeable about the poor Filipinos, especially the teenagers, is that most of them have cell phones. They love to text their friends.   But they have to be careful because there are many snatchers in the street. Only the rich can afford new models, though. Filipino men love to play basketball. In the slum areas, they may not have formal basketball courts but they hang a ring anywhere; in walls of houses, buildings or posts, just to play the game. The space is limited so they contended themselves with only one ring. Sometimes this can cause contention with the neighbors, for a bouncing ball may hit the windows or furniture inside the houses.   Some neighbors also complained of noise. The teenagers on the other hand love to hang out just anywhere, in the plaza or sometimes ,if they have the money, in   internet cafes. The Filipinos love to socialize, even if they have little money, they still find a way to connect to their friends through rented computers. Meanwhile, older men entertain themselves not in fancy restaurants but in karaoke bars. The Filipinos love to sing and there are many karaoke bars to choose from. On Sundays, they love to go to cockpits to watch or bet on cockfights. The government discouraged the poor from taking part in cockfight betting because most of their meager incomes were lost this way (Peplow, 1991). The greatest setback in being a poor Filipino is the little access to medical care. They just cannot afford to pay hospital bills. The medicines were also costly. Some of them just died in their respective homes even though their illnesses were curable. Many of the poor suffered from tuberculosis. This is curable but since it took six months of medication, it became a burden to the poor. For most, without medicine, they just grew worse and eventually died.   The government is now making an effort to lower down the cost of medicines (Peplow, 1991). Being a poor Filipino is not easy for he is deprived of the many comforts of life. Most poor Filipinos live in uncomfortable dwelling houses or places. They do not eat nutritious foods nor own many material things and had to satisfy themselves with cheap entertainments. References: Peplow, Evelyn. (1991). Introduction to the Philippines. Hong Kong: The Guidebook Company Limited. Shead, Michael P. (2006) â€Å"Filipinos poor; Happy†. Living the Philippines Incorporated. Retrieved February 12, 2008 from http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/art_why_filipinos_are_happy2.html

Bertolt Brechts View on the Function of Theatre

Bertolt Brechts View on the Function of Theatre Bertolt Brechts view on the function of theatre was that it should provoke its audience to change. The epic theatre, Karl Marx and German directors Max Reinhardt and Erwin Piscator were all inspiration for Brechts theory on the social function of theatre. (2004: 709) Brechts essays Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction and The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre clearly outline his understanding of what epic theatre is and how it should be used in practice. In both essays, Brecht explains what makes the epic theatre different from modern and dramatic theatre and discusses the techniques available with epic theatre and the effects they can have on the audience. When comparing his play Mother Courage and Her Children to the two essays, it is clear that Brecht has used the essays almost as guidelines to write the play and put his theories on epic theatre into practice. Mother Courage and Her Children is an extremely typical Brechtian play as it contains all the elements that Brecht wanted to include in his plays in order to present his new form of theatre which he believed had a greater social function. One of the most obvious examples of Brechts essays being put into practice in Mother Courage and Her Children is Brechts use of narrative instead of the plot. Each scene begins with a narrative description of what will happen in that scene, and the play itself starts with a prologue which introduces the central character (Mother Courage) and reveals what the play is about. Despite the fact that there is a storyline running through the play, the narrative style ties in with Brechts aim of not giving the audience the chance to become emotionally attached to the characters. The way in which the play jumps with each scene keeps the storyline general and tied more to the greater social events running throughout the play rather than single, individual events in a particular scene. Having spent much of his life in Germany and experiencing two world wars, it should come as no surprise that many of Brechts plays, including Mother Courage and Her Children, feature war as the overriding theme of the play. Brecht believed that war was a continuation of business by other means. †¦ Brechts theory on theatre meant that he did not want his audience to emotionally empathise with the characters on stage. In fact, Brecht deliberately created characters which would be subject to criticism from the audience. In order to invite this active rather than passive response from the audience, to provoke a reaction, Brecht instils traits in his characters which tend to make the audience not identify with them, but criticise them. Mother Courage is portrayed as a strong, witty, formidable woman whose sole purpose is to provide a living for both herself and her children. She is a sacrificial character and her love for her children draws an audience to like her. What prevents the audience from empathising with her is her extremely contradictory nature. Whilst pulling out a knife at the Sergeant and Recruiting Officer to protect her children, Courage calls refers to herself and her children as peaceable sorts. The Sergeants cool reply of your knife shows the sort you are further displays Courages contradictions. (Brecht 2004: 715) When sending her daughter Kattrin into town with the Clerk, Courage tells her not to worry and that nothing will happen, but upon Kattrins return where she is wounded, Courage claims she should never have let her go. When arguing with the Cook over a possible move to Utrecht, Courage tries to end the conversation with thats enough, only to continue it herself moments later. In the same scene, Courage encourages Kattrin for the two to go with the Cook to run his pub in Utrecht because life on the road is no sort of life, but after she sees Kattrin trying to run away she quickly turns on the Cook and questions what she and Kattrin would ever do in a pub. Of course the greatest contradiction of all throughout the play is Courages constant criticism of the war off of which she makes her living. It is this contradictory nature of Courages which constantly reminds the audience to view the character from a distance, analyse her so to spe ak, and not empathise with her situation. Had Mother Courage been presented as a fully-rounded character, the audience would have been tempted to empathise; but her presentation as a paradoxical character helps to jolt the audience into some kind of reaction. (Leach 1994: 136) Mother Courage is not the only character in the play that is given a specific trait to keep the audience empathising and becoming emotionally involved with her. Her sons Eilif and Swiss Cheese are both killed in the play, and it is because of their flaws that they are killed. Her eldest son, Eilif, is strong and intelligent, but his boldness costs him his life. Her younger son, Swiss Cheese, is simple and honest, but he too is led to his death because of his stupidity. The audience are constantly reminded throughout the play by Mother Courage that her children have these traits. I have another who is foolish but honest is just one example of Brecht giving Mother Courage a specific line for two reasons: both to remind the audience of the paradoxes each character possesses, to stop them from being empathised with, and to support the epic idea of the play that each scene should be its own. It is frequently seen in Brechts plays for an off-stage characters absence to be explained throu gh an on-stage characters dialogue. (ref) Robert Leach argues that for Brecht, character is only of interest in so far as it illuminates the fleeting event which provides the writer, or the actor, with a usable gesture. What Leach is saying is that for Brecht, the character is only a function to the greater social and economical forces which control and shape the world (within the constructed reality that are his plays), and that the actors, whilst portraying characters, can use them as tools to show the effect of these greater social implications. This can be linked to Brechts observation in the essay Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction that actors too refrained from going over wholly into their role in the sense that not only did actors do so to invite criticism from the audience of their characters, not only to draw attention away from the individual and place it on the social, but to also show that the characters are simply functional to the social. Another one of Brechts main aims was to not focus on the individual emotions of the character, but to explore and show the importance of the greater social implications. In Mother Courage and Her Children, emphasis is not put on the decisions the characters make but the social events which dictate the action of the play. War, religion and family are three main themes which run through Mother Courage and Her Children, and ultimately the fate of each character is determined by these themes. Unlike naturalistic plays where emphasis is usually placed on the individual, in Mother Courage and Her Children Brecht focuses on the relationship between the social implications and the characters of the play. All of the characters in the play are linked together by these themes, and their inability to change their individual (or in the case of Courage and her children, combined) situations. (Examples) Brecht has created Mother Courage as the central character of the play, but because it is not on ly her, but all the characters that are affected by the war, the spectators focus is neither on the central character Mother Courage nor any of the character. The spectators focus is drawn, by linking the characters and making them unable to change their situations, to the superseding social themes presented in the play. Brecht liked the notion that epic theatre allowed for jumps in time, and this is reflected in Mother Courage and Her Children. There is a jump in time between each scene of the play, usually a year or two, and the constant curves and jumps in the play the dialectic approach allow for Brecht to show a process and effects over time rather than one particular point of time and its individual effect on characters. (Brooker 1994: 189) These jumps in time also allow the play to be epic in the sense that they allow each scene to stand independently. The jumps in time also go hand-in-hand with Brechts idea that with epic theatre, the audience should be looking with eyes on the course rather than eyes on the finish. Swiss Cheeses death and Mother Courages refusal to admit the body is his is one of the most intense moments of the entire play, but it comes as early as Scene Three. Also, the jumps in time show man as a process rather than man as a fixed point. Rather than focusing on the centr al character (Mother Courage) at one particular point, Brecht draws out the play so that the audience view Courages process and development as a character subject to the social and political circumstances. The end of the play sees Mother Courage, now completely alone; walk with soldiers who are singing the same song that is sung in the prologue, reminding the audience of the process that has begun from the very beginning of the play and the effect it has had throughout. The jumps in time between each scene of Mother Courage and Her Children are typical of Brechts aim to get the audience to look at the events that have taken place from a more general period of time rather than a specific point. One of the key parts of Brechts theory on theatre was that the audience should constantly know that what they are watching is not reality but a construction being presented on stage. By doing so, Brecht could show to his audience that what they were watching was not reality but a presented image of reality, and that could inspire change. To this end Brecht used several techniques in many of his plays (including Mother Courage and Her Children) which allowed him to reveal that the play was indeed a construction. A typical Brechtian technique used in the play is the use of stage directions at the start of each scene, which then reveal what is going to happen in that scene. By using these stage directions (either spoken aloud or displayed with placards on stage) Brecht is able to both remind his audience that what they are watching is a construction. Also, by telling the audience what will happen before it happens, Brecht can eliminate the shock factor, thus keeping the audience away fr om having an experience and focused on learning from the action on stage. Openly revealing that the play is not real allows Brecht to prevent any sense of emotional attachment to the piece. This can be linked to Brechts essay The Modern Theatre is The Epic Theatre where he says: †¦once illusion is sacrificed to free discussion, and once the spectator, instead of being enabled to have an experience, is forced as it were to cast his vote; then a change has been launched which goes far beyond formal matters and begins for the first time to affect the theatres social function. Brecht states in his essay The Modern Theatre is Epic Theatre that words, music and setting must become more independent of one another. (reference) This statement is echoed in Mother Courage and Her Children as Brecht uses not only dialogue and stage directions but songs and music in the play, and makes sure that the songs used are seen on an equal level to the other elements such as words. In fact, Scene Ten of the play is constructed entirely of only a few stage directions and song. By giving the songs such importance in the play, on the same level as stage directions and dialogue, Brecht implements his idea into practice, showing that he has used his two essays almost as guidelines for writing Mother Courage and Her Children. Songs are also used in the play to fit in with Brechts theory that plays should not be presented to the audience as reality, but as a construction. The direct delivery of a song from a character to the audience, thus breaking the fourth wall, is one of the w ays in which the audience is reminded that they are indeed watching a play. The songs also tend to reflect the social and political themes of the play and inspire the audience to think about what they are watching. Looking at Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction and The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre in comparison with Mother Courage and Her Children, it is clear to see that the play falls into all of the categories that Brecht lists in his two essays for his theory on the function of theatre. Throughout the play the focus is taken away from the characters individual emotions and drawn to the greater social and political forces which affect the characters. The play is used as a discussion forum of sorts for some of the common Brechtian themes such as war, religion and family. The use of non-naturalist techniques such as placards and songs helps to break the illusion that the audience creates and prevents them from developing empathy for and emotional attachment to the characters. The jumps in time between each scene of the play keep the audiences focus on the process over time and not at a fixed point. Mother Courage and Her Children is without question of Brechts most typical pl ays and it is clear to see his essays Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction and The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre have been put into practice to create the play and inspire the audience to change, rather than experience.

Criminology Essays Left Realism Critique

Criminology Essays Left Realism Critique Left Realism Critique. Left realism emerged as an influential theory during the 1980s. Its drive was partly dissatisfaction with the dominant criminological perspectives of the time and partially attributable to the prevailing political climate. This essay will outline the emergence of left realism as a means of explaining its main principles. The discussion will also engage with the criticisms of left realism and identify the criminological perspectives with which it conflicts. An understanding of left realism cannot be gained without an awareness of the prevailing intellectual, ideological and political context that surrounded its emergence. Therefore, it is important to appreciate the background from which left realism emerged. In the period immediately preceding the genesis of left realism, the most prevalent and influential criminological perspectives were based largely upon Marxist theories based upon notions of utopianism that were increasingly coming to be viewed as irrelevant in light of the political ethos of Margaret Thatchers Britain (Jones: 2001, 245). In particular, left realists were extremely critical of the way that radical criminological theories presented a characterisation of criminals as political catalysts against bourgeois hegemony and therefore to attempt to explain criminal behaviour in terms of it being a revolution against the injustices imposed upon the majority of the population by the ruling classes (Moore, 1991). Radical criminological theory saw crime as a consequence of (real or imagined) economic deprivation and under-privilege. Left realists were opposed to this view which allocated responsibility for crime to the State, which was seen as an instrument of the ruling class designed to consolidate the position of the powerful and promote the interests of the rich and powerful, rather than with the individual offender. Left realists also objected to the characterisation of the offender as the victim of the labelling process; a view which was popular with symbolic interactionists who were providing a popular alternative voice to the radical criminologists during the late 1970s and early 1980s: For over two decades [criminology] has neglected the effect of crime upon the victim and concentrated on the impact of the of the state through the process of labelling on the criminalIt became an advocate for the indefensible: the criminal became the victim, the state the solitary focus of attention, while the real victim remained off-stage (Matthews and Young, 1986: iv). The rejection by left realists of these constructions of the offender demonstrated one of their central beliefs which was that the offender should be not be absolved of responsibility for his actions and that it was not appropriate to cast blame on either the institutional or structural nature of society as was the tendency of the radical and interactionist schools of criminological thought. Rather than concur with this characterisation, left realists saw criminals as well-socialised individuals who exercised conscious and rational choice in deciding to offend and who saw crime as a way of resolving their particular problems. For left realists, the problems that offenders were trying to solve came from the capitalist ideology that was predominant in 1980s society. Left realists saw this capitalism as producing egalitarian notions such as that of political equality and the deterioration of views that each individual had an immutable place in the social hierarchy that was pre-determine d at birth. With these views came feelings of deprivation amongst those who were not possessed of material wealth but who were desirous of the benefits that were enjoyed by other members of society. Left realists felt that these individuals would see criminal enterprise as a way of rectifying this perceived inequality and securing their access to the commodities of capitalist society which they craved (Hopkins Burke, 2005: 220). In this respect, left realism could be seen as promoting a return to traditional Marxist views whereby crime was seen as an individual response (by the offender) to structural inequalities created by those in power in society which actually was a counter-active diversion away from the real problems of the causes of these inequalities that could only be solved by political change. Left realism rejected the post-Marxist radical theories that characterised crime as a revolutionary endeavour. In their seminal work, Lea and Young (1984) depicted criminal behaviour as almost an amplification of capitalist normalcy. In other words, the dominant view in the 1980s was that of capitalistic self-advancement in which individual endeavours were rewarded with material gain. Lea and Young asserted that a significant percentage of criminals shared these beliefs and replicated what had become conventional social values based upon the value of individual (and self-interested) effort in a society based upon competition and motivated by material success. However, criminals did not channel their energy into legitimate pursuits such as the endeavour for advancement in employment or entrepreneurial success, preferring instead to pursue socially acceptable goals through illegitimate avenues (criminal activity). As such, left realism viewed crime as the expression of capitalist values but though non-conventional means. In one respect, left realists agree with radical theorists in that it is common ground that crime is a reaction to an unjust society (Lea and Young, 1984: 45). However, there is also disagreement in that, unlike radical criminologists, left realists do not believe that the criminal should not be blamed for responding by engaging in offending behaviour: Crime is one form of egoistic response to deprivation. Its roots are in justice but its growth often perpetrates injustice (Lea and Young, 1984: 72) This notion of crime as the illegitimate manifestation of capitalist values is one of the central principles of left realism. However, although crime is seen as a self-interested and individual enterprise, left realists also believe that crime is a group response rather than an individual decision. They believe that crime is an inevitable consequence of a social situation in which a particular group feels that it is subject to disadvantage such as in a situation whereby there is a common ideological drive to measure success in material goods but there exist barriers to the attainment of these goals for some members of society. In such a situation, particularly if there appears to be no way of circumventing the obstacles, crime is certain to result. One of the key criticisms that has been levelled against left realist explanations of crime and criminality is that its focus on economic deprivation explains only economic crime but does nothing to account for the other manifestations of offending behaviour that are prevalent in society. Left realism is prepared to counter this criticism by drawing upon strain theory (Merton, 1968) to explain how the exclusion from legitimate economic opportunity may result in financial crime to rectify the situation or violent crime as a vent for frustration at the denial of a seemingly equitable access to benefits and resources. This actually consolidates one of the key principles of left realism in that reliance is placed upon subculture theories to support the argument of left realism that those who are excluded from the benefits of mainstream society develop their own cultures, norms and principles and operate within these. Inevitably, for those excluded from legitimate avenues of enterprise, t his involves criminal behaviour (Young, 1975). One of the central principles of left realism was a conceptualisation of crime that did not take an offender-centred view. Young proposed a square of crime in which the four key components were the offender, the victim, the agencies of formal control (such as the police) and the agencies of informal control (such as other members of society). This was an important tenet of left realism because it challenged a major paradox within radical theories; that of the powerless working-class criminal driven to offending behaviour as a result of the oppression of the privileged classes. Lea and Young examined official crime statistics and victim report surveys (such as the British Crime Survey) and concluded that although members of the working class appear to commit a disproportionate amount of crime, they often target the other members of the working class as their victims. Left realism addressed the issue of the ordinary victim of crime and thus changed the emphasis within criminological th eory and, gradually, within the practices of the criminal justice system. In particular, the square of crime ensured that crime prevention strategies were evolved which took account of the contributions of each of the four factors: To control crime from a realist perspective involves intervention at each part of the square of crime: at the level of the factors which give rise to the putative offender (such as structural unemployment), the informal system (such as lack of public mobilisation), the victim (such as inadequate target hardening) and the formal system (such as ineffective policing) (Young, 1986: 41). This emphasises one of the main principles of left realism; the belief in a joined up approach to tackling the problems of crime. However, this multi-causal approach that takes account of a variety of factors in explaining criminality could be accused of borrowing from a range of sociological explanations of crime, such as strain and control theories, and amalgamating selected aspects of these and giving them a Marxist slant. It seems reasonable to state that there is nothing particularly new in left realism; it is a pragmatic restatement of a number of established criminological principles taken from a particular ideological perspective (Downes and Rock, 2003: 292). However, left realism did become influential in raising awareness of the plight of victims of crime thus negating their invisibility and overcoming their marginalisation. Lea and Youngs studies showed that official statistics gave an incomplete picture of the extent of victimisation and therefore presented an inaccurate impression of the nature and extent of criminal activity. For Lea and Young, victim studies gave a fair more comprehensive and accurate account of victimisation, firstly because they included information about crimes which had occurred but which victims may not have reported to the police and, secondly, because they were capable of analysis on the basis of geographic location thus giving a true impression of the localised nature of much criminal behaviour. One of the other most notable contributions of left realism to criminological theory that emerged from victim surveys is the recognition of fear of crime as a significant social problem that is just as in need of re solution as actual crime . By acknowledging the existence of victims of crime, left realists gave voice to notions of pre-emptive strategies to counteract attempts at criminal behaviour: The organisation of communities in an attempt to pre-empt crime is of the utmost importance (Lea and Young, 1984: 267). This emphasis on the community and its role and importance in combating crime typifies the principles of cohesion and inclusion that characterises left realism. At its core, left realism is seeking for realistic strategies that will have a quantifiable impact upon crime (and fear of crime) within communities, especially amongst the poor and disadvantaged who are the most frequent victims of crime. This has been said to be a central component of contemporary left realism (Matthews and Young, 1992: 2). Notwithstanding this emphasis on the prevention of crime, it is a fundamental principle of left realism that the attainment of justice is more important than controlling crime. As such, the police play a key role in maintaining social control by establishing, maintaining and nurturing good community relations so as not to alienate the populace to whom they should be fully accountable (Kinsey, Lea and Young, 1986). Many of the criticisms levelled against left realists were voiced by the radical theorists of whom the left realists themselves were so critical. For example, Lea and Young criticised radical theorists for their excessive concentration of corporate crime and their marginalisation of real crime that affects ordinary people even though they accept that corporate crime is worse than working-class crime. Radical theorists counter by questioning why Lea and Young are prepared to view working-class crime as more serious merely because it is what ordinary people fear. Surely, it is argued, the actuality of crime is more potent and more serious than the fear of falling victim to a crime that may never occur. Left realists have no effective rejoinder for this criticism, other than to draw attention to the way in which fear of crime can have a real and negative impact upon ordinary members of society, by preventing them from going about their ordinary business, for example, or avoiding particu lar activities or places (Young, 1999). The multi-causal approach of left realism can also be criticised for failing to explain all forms of criminal behaviour. Feminist criminological theorists have also been critical of left realism in its tackling both of female criminal behaviour and of its failure to explain crimes that are traditionally seen as targeting women, such as rape. Just as it could be criticised for failing to provide an adequate explanation of different types of criminal behaviour, left realism can be accused of an overly one-dimensional focus on young, male, working-class criminal behaviour to the detriment of offenders from other socio-demographic backgrounds. Female criminality is largely unaddressed and, moreover, exposes a central weakness in one of the key principles of left realism; the reliance on relative deprivation as an explanation of criminal behaviour. For example, Lea and Young assert that crime results from the exclusion of a particular group from legitimate opportunities for success and material gain. In light of this, it would be expected that female criminality, which was always extremely low, would decrea se even further as women gained greater equality in the workplace as this would ensure that they were less excluded from legitimate avenues of success. However, the converse proved to be true and the greater prominence of women in the workplace was mirrored by a growth in female offending; an outcome that is directly contrary to the explanation of criminal behaviour propounded by left realists (Smart, 1989). Equally, it is difficult to see how left realism can explain sexual crimes against women unless this falls within the same category as violent crimes that are the result of frustration following a failure to achieve legitimate success. This seems an extremely tenuous argument for such complex crimes and, in any case, left realists have tended not to engage with the issue of rape to any great degree thus the explanation remains speculative (Heidensohn, 1985). Overall, it is clear that the emergence of left realism was both a product of the prevailing political climate and a strong influence on the social and political development of more cohesive approaches to crime control and prevention that drew together a range of players in the criminal justice process rather than focusing exclusively on the offender. As a theoretical perspective, it expanded the focus of criminological enquiry and moved beyond the dominant ideology of the 1970s and early 1980s. As such, its contribution to criminological debate cannot be under-estimated. However, it can be criticised as a rather narrowly-focussed theory that fails to provide an adequate explanation of the full gamut of criminal behaviour. It has, however, provided a building block upon which other theories can build a broader and more wide-ranging explanation of criminality. Bibliography Downes, P. and Rock, P., (2003) Understanding Deviance, 4th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press Heidensohn, F., (1985) Women and Crime, London: Routledge Hopkins Burke, R., (2005) An Introduction to Criminological Theory, Cullompton: Willan Jones, S., (2001) Criminology, 2nd ed., London: Butterworths Kinsey, R., Lea, J. and Young, J., (1986) Losing the Fight Against Crime, Oxford: Blackwell Press Lea, J. and Young, J., (1984) What is to be Done About Law and Order, Harmondsworth: Penguin Press Matthews, R. and Young, J., (1992) Issues in Realist Criminology, London: Sage Publications Merton, R., (1968) Social Theory and Social Structure, New York: Free Press Moore, S., (1991) Investigating Crime and Deviance, London: Collins Educational Publishers Smart, C., (1989) Feminism and the Power of the Law, London: Routledge Young, J., Left Realism and the Priorities of Crime Control in Stenson, K. and Cowell, D., (eds.) (1999) The Politics of Crime Control, London: Sage Publishing Young, J., Ten Points of Realism in Matthews, R. and Young, J., (1986) Issues in Realist Criminology, London: Sage Publications Young, J., Working Class Criminology in Taylor, I., Walton, P. and Young, J., (eds.) (1975) Critical Criminology, London: Routledge

The Diver :: essays research papers

â€Å"The Diver† Robert Currie’s â€Å"The Diver†, on the surface, recounts a diver’s descent and ascent into a river as onlookers eagerly anticipate his fate. Beneath the surface, this poem is actually very spiritual. The diver’s descent into the water, and his arising from the water, can be compared to the crucifixion of Jesus. Through the masterful use of imagery and Biblical comparisons, Currie depicts the message that rebirth and hope can captivate and revitalize our spirits. An essential key to the theme of â€Å"The Diver† is through the subtle yet prevailing use of Biblical references. From the very beginning of Currie’s poem, a simile is used when describing the â€Å"bridge like a Roman fort†. This helps to set the tone that something important is about to happen and also provides a Biblical base to the structure of the poem. Lines four to six describe the man’s journey up towards the bridge. This journey can be compared to Jesus’ struggle towards the top of the hill where he was crucified. Perhaps this man was also carrying a â€Å"load on his shoulders†, so to speak. The poem becomes even more Biblical as â€Å"others bet upon his chance†, much like Jesus’ own fate. As the diver prepares for the inevitable, his situation has Biblical meaning. â€Å"At the summit of the span he rose/ his arms outstretched/ flung a cross against the sun†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, are perhaps three of the most powerful lin es in the poem. These lines are followed by much anticipation from the crowd below. The dive symbolizes the end of something, which is also supported when â€Å"The river circling away/ grew silent as held breath/ still as death†. These lines make is seem as though everything, and everyone, even the river, are â€Å"holding their breath† in anticipation of the outcome of the dive. Then, starting at line twenty-one, the rebirth begins, as, â€Å"from unknown depths/ his head broke the water/ shook out a crown of sunlit spray. There is a strong Biblical presence in the comparisons used in this poem, which help to support the theme of hope and rebirth, while providing powerful imagery. A vital element of Currie’s â€Å"The Diver† is the strong presence of imagery, which helps to sustain the theme of captivating hope. The image of â€Å"the solitary figure† provokes a strong sense of despair, followed by his painful struggle â€Å"up the arch†. The images give the impression that the events are unfolding in a captivating slow-motion means.

Jems Journal: Chapter Summary :: essays research papers

Jem's Journal: Chapter Summary Dan Latham Chapter 4 - I think at times my sister, Scout can be disgusting. I came home from a long day at school. I found Scout on the porch chewing a wad of gum. I knew it was gum because she had it in her mouth for a long time and plus I could see it in her mouth. So just like any normal brother would do, I told her not to eat things you find and she said that she didn't find it on the ground but rather in a tree. I put an expression on my face that clearly communicated to her that I didn't think she was funny. I also growled at her. She told my like an innocent girl that it was sticking in a tree on the way home from school. I really didn't care about where she got it from I just wanted that disgusting piece of trash out of her mouth immediately before she caught some germs. I told Scout to spit it out immediately. She was actually pretty obedient and spit the gum out. She told me that she had been chewing it all afternoon and that if she wasn't dead and didn't feel sick. She was obviously mad at me for ruining her chewing enjoyment but I didn't want her getting sick because knowing Atticus, I'd be the one who would have to take care of her and that wouldn't go over to well with me since I know I could have stopped her from getting sick. I think I yelled at her and said that isn't she supposed to know that she isn't allowed even near those trees. We all know about that weird guy Boo Radley and we know that property is off limits. I told her that she would probably get killed if she were caught. She said in defense that I touched the house once. This was a clear reference to Boo Radley's house but I ignored her comment and told her that it was different. I also ordered her to go and use some mouth wash to get rid of the germs that she collected from that stick of gum she just spit out. She wasn't pleased that I just ordered her to wash her mouth out and told me in defense that washing her mouth out will dissolve the taste in her mouth but I still didn't care. I wanted her to wash her mouth out so I told her that I would tell Calpurnia about how she found some gum in a tree near Boo Jems Journal: Chapter Summary :: essays research papers Jem's Journal: Chapter Summary Dan Latham Chapter 4 - I think at times my sister, Scout can be disgusting. I came home from a long day at school. I found Scout on the porch chewing a wad of gum. I knew it was gum because she had it in her mouth for a long time and plus I could see it in her mouth. So just like any normal brother would do, I told her not to eat things you find and she said that she didn't find it on the ground but rather in a tree. I put an expression on my face that clearly communicated to her that I didn't think she was funny. I also growled at her. She told my like an innocent girl that it was sticking in a tree on the way home from school. I really didn't care about where she got it from I just wanted that disgusting piece of trash out of her mouth immediately before she caught some germs. I told Scout to spit it out immediately. She was actually pretty obedient and spit the gum out. She told me that she had been chewing it all afternoon and that if she wasn't dead and didn't feel sick. She was obviously mad at me for ruining her chewing enjoyment but I didn't want her getting sick because knowing Atticus, I'd be the one who would have to take care of her and that wouldn't go over to well with me since I know I could have stopped her from getting sick. I think I yelled at her and said that isn't she supposed to know that she isn't allowed even near those trees. We all know about that weird guy Boo Radley and we know that property is off limits. I told her that she would probably get killed if she were caught. She said in defense that I touched the house once. This was a clear reference to Boo Radley's house but I ignored her comment and told her that it was different. I also ordered her to go and use some mouth wash to get rid of the germs that she collected from that stick of gum she just spit out. She wasn't pleased that I just ordered her to wash her mouth out and told me in defense that washing her mouth out will dissolve the taste in her mouth but I still didn't care. I wanted her to wash her mouth out so I told her that I would tell Calpurnia about how she found some gum in a tree near Boo