Goitre: Benign Thyroid Nodules

There could be many different causes of goiters in people who do not have thyroid problems. * The patient could have a mild case of  Hashimoto's thyroiditis  that has not yet caused the thyroid to become underactive. * They may have inherited a â€Å"weak† thyroid gland, which has to be stimulated excessively by thyroid stimulating hormone in order to make a normal amount of thyroid hormone. * They may have an  autoimmune diseases  in which the body's immune system produces immunoglobulins that stimulate the thyroid to grow without either destroying it or stimulating it to make too much thyroid hormone. They may have conditions in which white blood cells in the body produce substances called â€Å"cytokines† that stimulate the thyroid to grow. Often, when a patient has a goiter with normal thyroid hormone levels, the doctor is never really able to find out the exact cause of the goiter. Small benign euthyroid goiters do not require treatment. The effectiveness o f medical treatment using thyroid hormone for benign goiters is controversial. Large and complicated goiters may require medical and surgical treatment. Malignant goiters require medical and surgical treatment. The size of a benign euthyroid goiter may be reduced with levothyroxine suppressive therapy. The patient is monitored to keep serum TSH in a low but detectable range to avoid hyperthyroidism, cardiac arrhythmias, and osteoporosis. The patient has to be compliant with monitoring. Some authorities suggest suppressive treatment for a definite time period instead of indefinite therapy. Patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis respond better. * Treatment of hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism often reduces the size of a goiter. Thyroid hormone replacement is often required following surgical and radiation treatment of a goiter. Use of radioactive iodine for the therapy of nontoxic goiter has been disappointing and is controversial. * Medical therapy of autonomous nodules with thyroid hor mone is not indicated. * Ethanol infusion into benign thyroid nodules has not been approved in the United States, but it is used elsewhere. * Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) can be prevented by an adequate intake of iodine in the population. Monitoring and evaluation are the most important phases of an IDD control program.The consequences of iodine deficiency are goiter and subclinical/clinical hypothyroidism in pregnancy. The deficiency is an important risk factor for brain damage and motor-mental development in the fetus, the neonate and in the child. In order to assess IDD, control programs should be developed, followed up and evaluated. The recommended methods of assessing status are; assessment of the goiter rate, measurement of urinary iodine concentration, determination of thyroid hormone levels and of thyroglobulin. Although adequate technology exists, elimination programs for IDD have not been successful until recent years.The most important issue at present is the long-t erm sustainability of salt iodization programmes. Alternative strategies are also needed for iodization in areas where iodized salt will not be available in the foreseeable future. * Goitre associated with  hypothyroidism  or  hyperthyroidism  may be present with symptoms of the underlying disorder. For hyperthyroidism, the most common symptoms are weight loss despite increased appetite, and  heat intolerance. However, these symptoms are often unspecific and hard to diagnose. * [edit]

Explore Shakespeares presentation of Beatrice and Benedick in the play

Much Ado about Nothing is particularly admired for the wit and intelligence of Benedick and Beatrice, the warring couple which are comically tricked into falling love. Benedick is a vain, confident bachelor who holds a very typical view of women: no lady is ever good enough for him and to increase his self-esteem, he never misses an opportunity to mock Beatrice. We can see this from their first conversation which takes place in Act 1. Benedick approaches her by saying â€Å"What my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living? † Through this, Benedick expresses his sarcasm towards Beatrice and his desire for her not to still be alive, mocking her existence in the conversation. Benedick is a character that represents vanity; he tells Beatrice â€Å"but it is certain I am loved of all the ladies†. The use of â€Å"certain† emphasises the confidence that he has within his character and creates an air of arrogance, as he obviously seems to believe that he is irresistible and that no lady would refuse his charm. However, he is contradicting himself – he is loved by all the ladies, yet, he claims that he will â€Å"live a bachelor† because he finds women as not being trustworthy, as he states â€Å"I will do myself the right to trust none†. Therefore, Shakespeare uses Benedick’s vain and witty personality. Despite Benedick’s air of a very confident attitude, Benedick reveals a sensitive side to him. In Act 2, at the dance, Beatrice insults him; she pretends she does not know who is behind the mask, but she takes the opportunity to make Benedick feel miserable. When left alone, he says â€Å"The prince’s fool! Hah, it may be I go under that title because I am merry† – this highlights that he is affected by what Beatrice has said about him, however, despite de insulting name calling that Beatrice has addressed to him, he finds a way to make himself feel better about the situation by saying that being â€Å"merry† is the only reason why he goes under that title. This is ironic of him to say so, because as an audience we are clearly aware that he is hurt by the words she has said and that he is making â€Å"something out of nothing† – he is trying to block his emotional side and let the vanity take over, however it’s evident he cannot stand the assumptions Beatrice has made. Through this, Shakespeare creates comedy using Benedick’s contradictions regarding his self-esteem and ego – he won’t let it show that he has been hurt by a lady, even though inside he is hurting. Penny Gay says that â€Å"Words are often less important than actions† (The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies 2008). This can be applied to Benedick’s situation – he claims that he is not hurt by what he has heard, but the simple act of just talking about it reveals his pain, constructing comedy as he is not matching his words to his actions. Benedick’s fixated ambition of always remaining a bachelor slowly dies as he hears the others talk about Beatrice’s love for him, creating comedy as his attitudes contradict. Before Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato begin to talk about Beatrice, he says â€Å"One woman shall not come in my grace†¦rich shall she be, that’s certain: wise, or I’ll none: virtuous, or I’ll never cheapen her†. This suggests that he is ignorant towards the women and that he is pretentious when it comes to choosing one: unless the perfect woman comes in his way, he will not do himself the wrong to look or search for any. However, after he hears the men talk about how Beatrice is in love with Benedick but won’t tell, Benedick has a sudden change of heart. He says â€Å"When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married†. This is comic because his attitudes to love have changed at an unexpected speed, which normally would not happen. Also, comedy is created through the fact that he has, involuntarily admitted that somewhere, deep down he was waiting for this to happen, even though he claimed that he hated Beatrice. Benedick is not the only one that is tricked; Beatrice is deceived by Ursula, Margaret and Hero into falling in love with Benedick. She had a very hostile attitude to marriage and love, mocking Hero and Claudio’s engagement by saying â€Å"I may sit in a corner and cry â€Å"Heigh ho for a husband†, however, despite her hard attitude, her vulnerable side is shown when she finds out that Benedick loves her and says â€Å"Taming my wild heart to my loving hand†¦if thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee†. The powerful phrase â€Å"wild heart† emphasises that she has been holding the love in her for a long time and now it is the perfect opportunity to express it towards Benedick. This is also humorous because throughout the play, she showed hatred and mockery towards Benedick but now she claims that she is in love with him too, solving the problem of hatred between the two lovers. This reflects Alexander Leggatt’s view that â€Å"A comedy, then, is a problem solving story, ending in resolution and order normally symbolised by marriage† (English Stage Comedy 1490-1990 (1998). Once they admit their love for each other, it can be foreshadowed that a marriage will take place between Beatrice and Benedick – it is a comedy element that â€Å"the beginning is troubled, the end tranquil† (Euanthius: On Drama 4th Century). Not only deceived in love, but Beatrice is a witty, sarcastic and superior character. She seems to acquire pleasure out of mocking Benedick, creating humour because she is subverting her role as a woman – they were not usually superior over men, however, Beatrice goes against the norms. Her sarcasm is portrayed in â€Å"But how many hath he killed? – for indeed I promised to eat all of his killings†: here, Beatrice is clearly stating that Benedick is a coward and that he will never be brave enough to be a good soldier. She also mentions that â€Å"he hath an excellent stomach†, mocking his appearance. When confronted by Benedick’s vanity, she claims that â€Å"I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swears he loves me†. This is humorous because she is making comparisons between animals and humans and it is unusual to say that you would prefer an animal barking over someone dedicating their love to you; it gives a sense of coldness in her personality and that she is completely closed to love. However, this is ironic because later on in the play, she falls in love with Benedick. In conclusion, most critics concur that Shakespeare's depiction of the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick far surpasses that of Hero and Claudio in depth and interest. Scholars have often emphasized the fact that Shakespeare deliberately introduces the theme of the sparring mockers Beatrice and Benedick before the theme of the pallid romantics Hero and Claudio; and further, that when all of the principal characters are on stage together, the audience is drawn not to the tame love-at-first-sight relationship that develops between Hero and Claudio, but rather to the â€Å"merry war† between Beatrice and Benedick which later on in the play converts into a love relationship – this creates comedy because the audience is taken through endless wars of insults and mockery until foolishly and involuntarily admitting their love to each other, changing the mood of the relationship through the work of other characters, instead of being lovers from the beginning.

Part Two Chapter VII

VII Once the first impulse of spite had worn off, Samantha bitterly regretted inviting Gavin and Kay to dinner. She spent Friday morning joking with her assistant about the dreadful evening she was bound to have, but her mood plummeted once she had left Carly in charge of Over the Shoulder Boulder Holders (a name that had made Howard laugh so hard the first time he had heard it that it had brought on an asthma attack, and which made Shirley scowl whenever it was spoken in her presence). Driving back to Pagford ahead of the rush hour, so that she could shop for ingredients and start cooking, Samantha tried to cheer herself up by thinking of nasty questions to ask Gavin. Perhaps she might wonder aloud why Kay had not moved in with him: that would be a good one. Walking home from the Square with bulging Mollison and Lowe carrier bags in each hand, she came across Mary Fairbrother beside the cash-point machine in the wall of Barry's bank. ‘Mary, hi †¦ how are you?' Mary was thin and pale, with grey patches around her eyes. Their conversation was stilted and strange. They had not spoken since the journey in the ambulance, barring brief, awkward condolences at the funeral. ‘I've been meaning to drop in,' Mary said, ‘you were so kind – and I wanted to thank Miles – ‘ ‘No need,' Samantha said awkwardly. ‘Oh, but I'd like – ‘ ‘Oh, but then, please do – ‘ After Mary had walked away, Samantha had the awful feeling that she might have given the impression that that evening would be a perfect time for Mary to come round. Once home, she dropped the bags in the hall and telephoned Miles at work to tell him what she had done, but he displayed an infuriating equanimity about the prospect of adding a newly widowed woman to their foursome. ‘I can't see what the problem is, really,' he said. ‘Nice for Mary to get out.' ‘But I didn't say we were having Gavin and Kay over – ‘ ‘Mary likes Gav,' said Miles. ‘I wouldn't worry about it.' He was, Samantha thought, being deliberately obtuse, no doubt in retaliation for her refusal to go to Sweetlove House. After she had hung up, she wondered whether to call Mary to tell her not to come that evening, but she was afraid of sounding rude, and settled for hoping that Mary would find herself unequal to calling in after all. Stalking into the sitting room, she put on Libby's boy band DVD at full volume so that she would be able to hear it in the kitchen, then carried the bags through and set to work preparing a casserole and her fall-back pudding, Mississippi mud pie. She would have liked to buy one of Mollison and Lowe's large gateaux, to save herself some work, but it would have got straight back to Shirley, who frequently intimated that Samantha was over-reliant on frozen food and ready meals. Samantha knew the boy band DVD so well by now that she was able to visualize the images matching the music blaring through to the kitchen. Several times that week, while Miles was upstairs in his home study or on the telephone to Howard, she had watched it again. When she heard the opening bars of the track where the muscular boy walked, with his shirt flapping open, along the beach, she went through to watch in her apron, absent-mindedly sucking her chocolatey fingers. She had planned on having a long shower while Miles laid the table, forgetting that he would be late home, because he had to drive into Yarvil to pick up the girls from St Anne's. When Samantha realized why he had not returned, and that their daughters would be with him when he did, she had to fly around to organize the dining room herself, then find something to feed Lexie and Libby before the guests arrived. Miles found his wife in her work clothes at half-past seven, sweaty, cross and inclined to blame him for what had been her own idea. Fourteen-year-old Libby marched into the sitting room without greeting Samantha and removed the disc from the DVD player. ‘Oh, good, I was wondering what I'd done with that,' she said. ‘Why's the TV on? Have you been playing it?' Sometimes, Samantha thought that her younger daughter had a look of Shirley about her. ‘I was watching the news, Libby. I haven't got time to watch DVDs. Come through, your pizza's ready. We've got people coming round.' ‘Frozen pizza again?' ‘Miles! I need to change. Can you mash the potatoes for me? Miles?' But he had disappeared upstairs, so Samantha pounded the potatoes herself, while her daughters ate at the island in the middle of the kitchen. Libby had propped the DVD cover against her glass of Diet Pepsi, and was ogling it. ‘Mikey's so lush,' she said, with a carnal groan that took Samantha aback; but the muscular boy was called Jake. Samantha was glad they did not like the same one. Loud and confident Lexie was jabbering about school; a machine-gun torrent of information about girls whom Samantha did not know, with whose antics and feuds and regroupings she could not keep up. ‘All right, you two, I've got to change. Clear away when you're done, all right?' She turned down the heat under the casserole and hurried upstairs. Miles was buttoning up his shirt in the bedroom, watching himself in the wardrobe mirror. The whole room smelt of soap and aftershave. ‘Everything under control, hon?' ‘Yes, thanks. So glad you've had time to shower,' spat Samantha, pulling out her favourite long skirt and top, slamming the wardrobe door. ‘You could have one now.' ‘They'll be here in ten minutes; I won't have time to dry my hair and put on make-up.' She kicked off her shoes; one of them hit the radiator with a loud clang. ‘When you've finished preening, could you please go downstairs and sort out drinks?' After Miles had left the room, she tried to untangle her thick hair and repair her make-up. She looked awful. Only when she had changed did she realize that she was wearing the wrong bra for her clinging top. After a frantic search, she remembered that the right one was drying in the utility room; she hurried out onto the landing but the doorbell rang. Swearing, she scuttled back to the bedroom. The boy band's music was blaring out of Libby's room. Gavin and Kay had arrived on the dot of eight because Gavin was afraid of what Samantha might say if they turned up late; he could imagine her suggesting that they had lost track of time because they were shagging or that they must have had a row. She seemed to think that one of the perks of marriage was that it gave you rights of comment and intrusion over single people's love lives. She also thought that her crass, uninhibited way of talking, especially when drunk, constituted trenchant humour. ‘Hello-ello-ello,' said Miles, moving back to let Gavin and Kay inside. ‘Come in, come in. Welcome to Casa Mollison.' He kissed Kay on both cheeks and relieved her of the chocolates she was holding. ‘For us? Thanks very much. Lovely to meet you properly at last. Gav's been keeping you under wraps for far too long.' Miles shook the wine out of Gavin's hand, then clapped him on the back, which Gavin resented. ‘Come on through, Sam'll be down in a mo. What'll you have to drink?' Kay would ordinarily have found Miles rather smooth and over-familiar, but she was determined to suspend judgement. Couples had to mix with each other's circles, and manage to get along in them. This evening represented significant progress in her quest to infiltrate the layers of his life to which Gavin had never admitted her, and she wanted to show him that she was at home in the Mollisons' big, smug house, that there was no need to exclude her any more. So she smiled at Miles, asked for a red wine, and admired the spacious room with its stripped pine floorboards, its over-cushioned sofa and its framed prints. ‘Been here for, ooh, getting on for fourteen years,' said Miles, busy with the corkscrew. ‘You're down in Hope Street, aren't you? Nice little houses, some great fixer-upper opportunities down there.' Samantha appeared, smiling without warmth. Kay, who had previously seen her only in an overcoat, noted the tightness of her orange top, beneath which every detail of her lacy bra was clearly visible. Her face was even darker than her leathery chest; her eye make-up was thick and unflattering and her jangling gold earrings and high-heeled golden mules were, in Kay's opinion, tarty. Samantha struck her as the kind of woman who would have raucous girls' nights out, and find stripograms hilarious, and flirt drunkenly with everyone else's partner at parties. ‘Hi there,' said Samantha. She kissed Gavin and smiled at Kay. ‘Great, you've got drinks. I'll have the same as Kay, Miles.' She turned away to sit down, having already taken stock of the other woman's appearance: Kay was small-breasted and heavy-hipped, and had certainly chosen her black trousers to minimize the size of her bottom. She would have done better, in Samantha's opinion, to wear heels, given the shortness of her legs. Her face was attractive enough, with even-toned olive skin, large dark eyes and a generous mouth; but the closely cropped boy's hair and the resolutely flat shoes were undoubtedly pointers to certain sacrosanct Beliefs. Gavin had done it again: he had gone and picked another humourless, domineering woman who would make his life a misery. ‘So!' said Samantha brightly, raising her glass. ‘Gavin-and-Kay!' She saw, with satisfaction, Gavin's hangdog wince of a smile; but before she could make him squirm more or weasel private information out of them both to dangle over Shirley's and Maureen's heads, the doorbell rang again. Mary appeared fragile and angular, especially beside Miles, who ushered her into the room. Her T-shirt hung from protruding collarbones. ‘Oh,' she said, coming to a startled halt on the threshold. ‘I didn't realize you were having – ‘ ‘Gavin and Kay just dropped in,' said Samantha a little wildly. ‘Come in, Mary, please †¦ have a drink †¦' ‘Mary, this is Kay,' said Miles. ‘Kay, this is Mary Fairbrother.' ‘Oh,' said Kay, thrown; she had thought that it would only be the four of them. ‘Yes, hello.' Gavin, who could tell that Mary had not meant to drop in on a dinner party and was on the point of walking straight back out again, patted the sofa beside him; Mary sat down with a weak smile. He was overjoyed to see her. Here was his buffer; even Samantha must realize that her particular brand of prurience would be inappropriate in front of a bereaved woman; plus, the constrictive symmetry of a foursome had been broken up. ‘How are you?' he said quietly. ‘I was going to give you a ring, actually †¦ there've been developments with the insurance †¦' ‘Haven't we got any nibbles, Sam?' asked Miles. Samantha walked from the room, seething at Miles. The smell of scorched meat met her as she opened the kitchen door. ‘Oh shit, shit, shit †¦' She had completely forgotten the casserole, which had dried out. Desiccated chunks of meat and vegetables sat, forlorn survivors of the catastrophe, on the singed bottom of the pot. Samantha sloshed in wine and stock, chiselling the adhering bits off the pan with her spoon, stirring vigorously, sweating in the heat. Miles' high-pitched laugh rang out from the sitting room. Samantha put on long-stemmed broccoli to steam, drained her glass of wine, ripped open a bag of tortilla chips and a tub of hummus, and upended them into bowls. Mary and Gavin were still conversing quietly on the sofa when she returned to the sitting room, while Miles was showing Kay a framed aerial photograph of Pagford, and giving her a lesson in the town's history. Samantha set down the bowls on the coffee table, poured herself another drink and settled into the armchair, making no effort to join either conversation. It was awfully uncomfortable to have Mary there; with her grief hanging so heavily around her she might as well have walked in trailing a shroud. Surely, though, she would leave before dinner. Gavin was determined that Mary should stay. As they discussed the latest developments in their ongoing battle with the insurance company, he felt much more relaxed and in control than he usually did in Miles and Samantha's presence. Nobody was chipping away at him, or patronizing him, and Miles was absolving him temporarily of all responsibility for Kay. ‘†¦ and just here, just out of sight,' Miles was saying, pointing to a spot two inches past the frame of the picture, ‘you've got Sweetlove House, the Fawley place. Big Queen Anne manor house, dormers, stone quoins †¦ stunning, you should visit, it's open to the public on Sundays in the summer. Important family locally, the Fawleys.' ‘Stone quoins?' ‘Important family, locally?' God, you are an arse, Miles. Samantha hoisted herself out of her armchair and returned to the kitchen. Though the casserole was watery, the burnt flavour dominated. The broccoli was flaccid and tasteless; the mashed potato cool and dry. Past caring, she decanted it all into dishes and slammed it down on the circular dining-room table. ‘Dinner's ready!' she called at the sitting-room door. ‘Oh, I must go,' said Mary, jumping up. ‘I didn't mean – ‘ ‘No, no, no!' said Gavin, in a tone that Kay had never heard before: kindly and cajoling. ‘It'll do you good to eat – kids'll be all right for an hour.' Miles added his support and Mary looked uncertainly towards Samantha, who was forced to add her voice to theirs, then dashed back through into the dining room to lay another setting. She invited Mary to sit between Gavin and Miles, because placing her next to a woman seemed to emphasize her husband's absence. Kay and Miles had moved on to discussing social work. ‘I don't envy you,' he said, serving Kay a large ladle full of casserole; Samantha could see black, scorched flecks in the sauce spreading across the white plate. ‘Bloody difficult job.' ‘Well, we're perennially under-resourced,' said Kay, ‘but it can be satisfying, especially when you can feel you're making a difference.' And she thought of the Weedons. Terri's urine sample had tested negative at the clinic yesterday and Robbie had had a full week in nursery. The recollection cheered her, counterbalancing her slight irritation that Gavin's attention was still focused entirely on Mary; that he was doing nothing to help ease her conversation with his friends. ‘You've got a daughter, haven't you, Kay?' ‘That's right: Gaia. She's sixteen.' ‘Same age as Lexie; we should get them together,' said Miles. ‘Divorced?' asked Samantha delicately. ‘No,' said Kay. ‘We weren't married. He was a university boyfriend and we split up not long after she was born.' ‘Yeah, Miles and I had barely left university ourselves,' said Samantha. Kay did not know whether Samantha meant to draw a distinction between herself, who had married the big smug father of her children, and Kay, who had been left †¦ not that Samantha could know that Brendan had left her †¦ ‘Gaia's taken a Saturday job with your father, actually,' Kay told Miles. ‘At the new cafe.' Miles was delighted. He took enormous pleasure in the idea that he and Howard were so much part of the fabric of the place that everybody in Pagford was connected to them, whether as friend or client, customer or employee. Gavin, who was chewing and chewing on a bit of rubbery meat that was refusing to yield to his teeth, experienced a further lowering in the pit of his stomach. It was news to him that Gaia had taken a job with Miles' father. Somehow he had forgotten that Kay possessed in Gaia another powerful device for anchoring herself to Pagford. When not in the immediate vicinity of her slamming doors, her vicious looks and caustic asides, Gavin tended to forget that Gaia had any independent existence at all; that she was not simply part of the uncomfortable backdrop of stale sheets, bad cooking and festering grudges against which his relationship with Kay staggered on. ‘Does Gaia like Pagford?' Samantha asked. ‘Well, it's a bit quiet compared to Hackney,' said Kay, ‘but she's settling in well.' She took a large gulp of wine to wash out her mouth after disgorging the enormous lie. There had been yet another row before leaving tonight. (‘What's the matter with you?' Kay had asked, while Gaia sat at the kitchen table, hunched over her laptop, wearing a dressing gown over her clothes. Four or five boxes of dialogue were open on the screen. Kay knew that Gaia was communicating online with the friends she had left behind in Hackney, friends she had had, in most cases, since she had been in primary school. ‘Gaia?' Refusal to answer was new and ominous. Kay was used to explosions of bile and rage against herself and, particularly, Gavin. ‘Gaia, I'm talking to you.' ‘I know, I can hear you.' ‘Then kindly have the courtesy to answer me back.' Black dialogue jerked upwards in the boxes on the screen, funny little icons, blinking and waggling. ‘Gaia, please will you answer me?' ‘What? What do you want?' ‘I'm trying to ask about your day.' ‘My day was shit. Yesterday was shit. Tomorrow will be shit as well.' ‘When did you get home?' ‘The same time I always get home.' Sometimes, even after all these years, Gaia displayed resentment at having to let herself in, at Kay not being at home to meet her like a storybook mother. ‘Do you want to tell me why your day was shit?' ‘Because you dragged me to live in a shithole.' Kay willed herself not to shout. Lately there had been screaming matches that she was sure the whole street had heard. ‘You know that I'm going out with Gavin tonight?' Gaia muttered something Kay did not catch. ‘What?' ‘I said, I didn't think he liked taking you out.' ‘What's that supposed to mean?' But Gaia did not answer; she simply typed a response into one of the scrolling conversations on the screen. Kay vacillated, both wanting to press her and afraid of what she might hear. ‘We'll be back around midnight, I expect.' Gaia had not responded. Kay had gone to wait for Gavin in the hall.) ‘Gaia's made friends,' Kay told Miles, ‘with a girl who lives in this street; what's her name – Narinder?' ‘Sukhvinder,' said Miles and Samantha together. ‘She's a nice girl,' said Mary. ‘Have you met her father?' Samantha asked Kay. ‘No,' said Kay. ‘He's a heart surgeon,' said Samantha, who was on her fourth glass of wine. ‘Absolutely bloody gorgeous.' ‘Oh,' said Kay. ‘Like a Bollywood film star.' None of them, Samantha reflected, had bothered to tell her that dinner was tasty, which would have been simple politeness, even though it was awful. If she wasn't allowed to torment Gavin, she ought at least to be able to needle Miles. ‘Vikram's the only good thing about living in this godforsaken town, I can tell you,' said Samantha. ‘Sex on legs.' ‘And his wife's our local GP,' said Miles, ‘and a parish councillor. You'll be employed by Yarvil District Council, Kay, are you?' ‘That's right,' said Kay. ‘But I spend most of my time in the Fields. They're technically in Pagford Parish, aren't they?' Not the Fields, thought Samantha, Oh, don't mention the bloody Fields. ‘Ah,' said Miles, with a meaningful smile. ‘Yes, well, the Fields do belong to Pagford, technically. Technically, they do. Painful subject, Kay.' ‘Really? Why?' asked Kay, hoping to make conversation general, because Gavin was still talking in an undertone to the widow. ‘Well, you see – this is back in the fifties.' Miles seemed to be embarking on a well-rehearsed speech. ‘Yarvil wanted to expand the Cantermill Estate, and instead of building out to the west, where the bypass is now – ‘ ‘Gavin? Mary? More wine?' Samantha called over Miles. ‘ – they were a little bit duplicitous; land was bought without it being very clear what they wanted it for, and then they went and expanded the estate over the border into Pagford Parish.' ‘Why aren't you mentioning Old Aubrey Fawley, Miles?' asked Samantha. She had, at last, reached that delicious point of intoxication where her tongue became wicked and she became disengaged from fear of consequences, eager to provoke and to irritate, seeking nothing but her own amusement. ‘The truth is that Old Aubrey Fawley, who used to own all those lovely stone quoits, or whatever Miles was telling you about, did a deal behind everyone's backs – ‘ ‘That's not fair, Sam,' said Miles, but she talked over him again. ‘ – he flogged off the land where the Fields are built, pocketed, I don't know, must have been a quarter of a mill or so – ‘ ‘Don't talk rubbish, Sam, back in the fifties?' ‘ – but then, once he realized everyone was pissed off with him, he pretended he hadn't known it would cause trouble. Upper-class twit. And a drunk,' added Samantha. ‘Simply not true, I'm afraid,' Miles said firmly. ‘To fully understand the problem, Kay, you need to appreciate a bit of local history.' Samantha, holding her chin in her hand, pretended to slide her elbow off the table in boredom. Though she could not like Samantha, Kay laughed, and Gavin and Mary broke off their quiet conversation. ‘We're talking about the Fields,' said Kay, in a tone intended to remind Gavin that she was there; that he ought to be giving her moral support. Miles, Samantha and Gavin realized simultaneously that the Fields was a most tactless subject to raise in front of Mary, when they had been such a bone of contention between Barry and Howard. ‘Apparently they're a bit of a sore subject locally,' said Kay, wanting to force Gavin to express a view, to rope him in. ‘Mmm,' he replied, and turning back to Mary, he said, ‘So how's Declan's football coming on?' Kay experienced a powerful stab of fury: Mary might be recently bereaved, but Gavin's solicitousness seemed unnecessarily pointed. She had imagined this evening quite differently: a foursome in which Gavin would have to acknowledge that they really were a couple; yet nobody looking on would imagine that they enjoyed a closer relationship than acquaintanceship. Also, the food was horrible. Kay put her knife and fork together with three-quarters of her helping untouched – an act that was not lost on Samantha – and addressed Miles again. ‘Did you grow up in Pagford?' ‘Afraid so,' said Miles, smiling complacently. ‘Born in the old Kelland Hospital along the road. They closed it in the eighties.' ‘And you? – ‘ Kay asked Samantha, who cut across her. ‘God, no. I'm here by accident.' ‘Sorry, I don't know what you do, Samantha?' asked Kay. ‘I've got my own busi – ‘ ‘She sells outsize bras,' said Miles. Samantha got up abruptly and went to fetch another bottle of wine. When she returned to the table, Miles was telling Kay the humorous anecdote, doubtless intended to illustrate how everyone knew everyone in Pagford, of how he had been pulled over in the car one night by a policeman who turned out to be a friend he had known since primary school. The blow-by-blow re-enactment of the banter between himself and Steve Edwards was tediously familiar to Samantha. As she moved around the table replenishing all the glasses, she watched Kay's austere expression; evidently, Kay did not find drink-driving a laughing matter. ‘†¦ so Steve's holding out the breathalyser, and I'm about to blow in it, and out of nowhere we both start cracking up. His partner's got no idea what the hell's going on; he's like this' – Miles mimed a man turning his head from side to side in astonishment – ‘and Steve's bent double, pissing himself, because all we can think of is the last time he was holding something steady for me to blow into, which was nigh on twenty years ago, and – ‘ ‘It was a blow-up doll,' said Samantha, unsmiling, dropping back into her seat beside Miles. ‘Miles and Steve put it in their friend Ian's parents' bed, during Ian's eighteenth-birthday party. Anyway, in the end Miles was fined a grand and got three points on his licence, because it was the second time he'd been caught over the limit. So that was hysterically funny.' Miles' grin remained foolishly in place, like a limp balloon forgotten after a party. A stiff little chill seemed to blow through the temporarily silent room. Though Miles struck her as an almighty bore, Kay was on his side: he was the only one at the table who seemed remotely inclined to ease her passage into Pagford social life. ‘I must say, the Fields are pretty rough,' she said, reverting to the subject with which Miles seemed most comfortable, and still ignorant that it was in any way inauspicious within Mary's vicinity. ‘I've worked in the inner cities; I didn't expect to see that kind of deprivation in a rural area, but it's not all that different from London. Less of an ethnic mix, of course.' ‘Oh, yes, we've got our share of addicts and wasters,' said Miles. ‘I think that's about all I can manage, Sam,' he added, pushing his plate away from him with a sizeable amount of food still on it. Samantha started to clear the table; Mary got up to help. ‘No, no, it's fine, Mary, you relax,' Samantha said. To Kay's annoyance, Gavin jumped up too, chivalrously insisting on Mary's sitting back down, but Mary insisted too. ‘That was lovely, Sam,' said Mary, in the kitchen, as they scraped most of the food into the bin. ‘No, it wasn't, it was horrible,' said Samantha, who was only appreciating how drunk she was now that she was on her feet. ‘What do you think of Kay?' ‘I don't know. She's not what I expected,' said Mary. ‘She's exactly what I expected,' said Samantha, taking out plates for pudding. ‘She's another Lisa, if you ask me.' ‘Oh, no, don't say that,' said Mary. ‘He deserves someone nice this time.' This was a most novel point of view to Samantha, who was of the opinion that Gavin's wetness merited constant punishment. They returned to the dining room to find an animated conversation in progress between Kay and Miles, while Gavin sat in silence. ‘†¦ offload responsibility for them, which seems to me to be a pretty self-centred and self-satisfied – ‘ ‘Well, I think it's interesting that you use the word â€Å"responsibility†,' said Miles, ‘because I think that goes to the very heart of the problem, doesn't it? The question is, where exactly do we draw the line?' ‘Beyond the Fields, apparently.' Kay laughed, with condescension. ‘You want to draw a line neatly between the home-owning middle classes and the lower – ‘ ‘Pagford's full of working-class people, Kay; the difference is, most of them work. D'you know what proportion of the Fields lives off benefits? Responsibility, you say: what happened to personal responsibility? We've had them through the local school for years: kids who haven't got a single worker in the family; the concept of earning a living is completely foreign to them; generations of non-workers, and we're expected to subsidize them – ‘ ‘So your solution is to shunt off the problem onto Yarvil,' said Kay, ‘not to engage with any of the underlying – ‘ ‘Mississippi mud pie?' called Samantha. Gavin and Mary took slices with thanks; Kay, to Samantha's fury, simply held out her plate as though Samantha were a waitress, her attention all on Miles. ‘†¦ the addiction clinic, which is absolutely crucial, and which certain people are apparently lobbying to close – ‘ ‘Oh, well, if you're talking about Bellchapel,' said Miles, shaking his head and smirking, ‘I hope you've mugged up on what the success rates are, Kay. Pathetic, frankly, absolutely pathetic. I've seen the figures, I was going through them this morning, and I won't lie to you, the sooner they close – ‘ ‘And the figures you're talking about are †¦?' ‘Success rates, Kay, exactly what I said: the number of people who have actually stopped using drugs, gone clean – ‘ ‘I'm sorry, but that's a very naive point of view; if you're going to judge success purely – ‘ ‘But how on earth else are we supposed to judge an addiction clinic's success?' demanded Miles, incredulous. ‘As far as I can tell, all they do at Bellchapel is dole out methadone, which half of their clients use alongside heroin anyway.' ‘The whole problem of addiction is immensely complicated,' said Kay, ‘and it's naive and simplistic to put the problem purely in terms of users and non †¦' But Miles was shaking his head, smiling; Kay, who had been enjoying her verbal duel with this self-satisfied lawyer, was suddenly angry. ‘Well, I can give you a very concrete example of what Bellchapel's doing: one family I'm working with – mother, teenage daughter and small son – if the mother wasn't on methadone, she'd be on the streets trying to pay for her habit; the kids are immeasurably better off – ‘ ‘They'd be better off away from their mother, by the sound of it,' said Miles. ‘And where exactly would you propose they go?' ‘A decent foster home would be a good start,' said Miles. ‘Do you know how many foster homes there are, against how many kids needing them?' asked Kay. ‘The best solution would have been to have them adopted at birth – ‘ ‘Fabulous. I'll hop in my time machine,' retorted Kay. ‘Well, we know a couple who were desperate to adopt,' said Samantha, unexpectedly throwing her weight behind Miles. She would not forgive Kay for the rude outstretched plate; the woman was bolshy and patronizing, exactly like Lisa, who had monopolized every get-together with her political views and her job in family law, despising Samantha for owning a bra shop. ‘Adam and Janice,' she reminded Miles in parenthesis, who nodded; ‘and they couldn't get a baby for love nor money, could they?' ‘Yes, a baby,' said Kay, rolling her eyes, ‘everybody wants a baby. Robbie's nearly four. He's not potty-trained, he's developmentally behind for his age and he's almost certainly had inappropriate exposure to sexual behaviour. Would your friends like to adopt him?' ‘But the point is, if he'd been taken from his mother at birth – ‘ ‘She was off the drugs when he was born, and making good progress,' said Kay. ‘She loved him and wanted to keep him, and she was meeting his needs at the time. She'd already raised Krystal, with some family support – ‘ ‘Krystal!' shrieked Samantha. ‘Oh my God, are we talking about the Weedons?' Kay was horrified that she had used names; it had never mattered in London, but everyone truly did know everyone in Pagford, it seemed. ‘I shouldn't have – ‘ But Miles and Samantha were laughing, and Mary looked tense. Kay, who had not touched her pie, and had managed very little of the first course, realized that she had drunk too much; she had been sipping wine steadily out of nerves, and now she had committed a prime indiscretion. Still, it was too late to undo that; anger overrode every other consideration. ‘Krystal Weedon is no advert for that woman's mothering skills,' said Miles. ‘Krystal's trying her damnedest to hold her family together,' said Kay. ‘She loves her little brother very much; she's terrified he'll be taken away – ‘ ‘I wouldn't trust Krystal Weedon to look after a boiling egg,' said Miles, and Samantha laughed again. ‘Oh, look, it's to her credit she loves her brother, but he isn't a cuddly toy – ‘ ‘Yes, I know that,' snapped Kay, remembering Robbie's shitty, crusted bottom, ‘but he's still loved.' ‘Krystal bullied our daughter Lexie,' said Samantha, ‘so we've seen a different side of her to the one I'm sure she shows you.' ‘Look, we all know Krystal's had a rough deal,' said Miles, ‘nobody's denying that. It's the drug-addled mother I've got an issue with.' ‘As a matter of fact, she's doing very well on the Bellchapel programme at the moment.' ‘But with her history,' said Miles, ‘it isn't rocket science, is it, to guess that she'll relapse?' ‘If you apply that rule across the board, you ought not to have a driving licence, because with your history you're bound to drink and drive again.' Miles was temporarily baffled, but Samantha said coldly, ‘I think that's a rather different thing.' ‘Do you?' said Kay. ‘It's the same principle.' ‘Yes, well, principles are sometimes the problem, if you ask me,' said Miles. ‘Often what's needed is a bit of common sense.' ‘Which is the name people usually give to their prejudices,' rejoined Kay. ‘According to Nietzsche,' said a sharp new voice, making them all jump, ‘philosophy is the biography of the philosopher.' A miniature Samantha stood at the door into the hall, a busty girl of around sixteen in tight jeans and a T-shirt; she was eating a handful of grapes and looking rather pleased with herself. ‘Everyone meet Lexie,' said Miles proudly. ‘Thank you for that, genius.' ‘You're welcome,' said Lexie pertly, and she swept off upstairs. A heavy silence sank over the table. Without really knowing why, Samantha, Miles and Kay all glanced towards Mary, who looked as though she might be on the verge of tears. ‘Coffee,' said Samantha, lurching to her feet. Mary disappeared into the bathroom. ‘Let's go and sit through,' said Miles, conscious that the atmosphere was somewhat charged, but confident that he could, with a few jokes and his habitual bonhomie, steer everyone back into charity with each other. ‘Bring your glasses.' His inner certainties had been no more rearranged by Kay's arguments than a breeze can move a boulder; yet his feeling towards her was not unkind, but rather pitying. He was the least intoxicated by the constant refilling of glasses, but on reaching the sitting room he realized how very full his bladder was. ‘Whack on some music, Gav, and I'll go and get those choccies.' But Gavin made no move towards the vertical stacks of CDs in their sleek Perspex stands. He seemed to be waiting for Kay to start on him. Sure enough, as soon as Miles had vanished from sight, Kay said, ‘Well, thank you very much, Gav. Thanks for all the support.' Gavin had drunk even more greedily than Kay throughout dinner, enjoying his own private celebration that he had not, after all, been offered up as a sacrifice to Samantha's gladiatorial bullying. He faced Kay squarely, full of a courage born not only of wine but because he had been treated for an hour as somebody important, knowledgeable and supportive, by Mary. ‘You seemed to be doing OK on your own,' he said. Indeed, the little he had permitted himself to hear of Kay and Miles' argument had given him a pronounced sense of deja vu; if he had not had Mary to distract him, he might have fancied himself back on that famous evening, in the identical dining room, when Lisa had told Miles that he epitomized all that was wrong with society, and Miles had laughed in her face, and Lisa had lost her temper and refused to stay for coffee. It was not very long after, that Lisa had admitted that she was sleeping with an associate partner at her firm and advised Gavin to get tested for chlamydia. ‘I don't know any of these people,' said Kay, ‘and you haven't done one damn thing to make it any easier for me, have you?' ‘What did you want me to do?' asked Gavin. He was wonderfully calm, insulated by the imminent returns of the Mollisons and Mary, and by the copious amounts of Chianti he had consumed. ‘I didn't want an argument about the Fields. I don't give a monkey's about the Fields. Plus,' he added, ‘it's a touchy subject around Mary; Barry was fighting on the council to keep the Fields part of Pagford.' ‘Well, then, why couldn't you have told me – given me a hint?' He laughed, exactly as Miles had laughed at her. Before she could retort, the others returned like the Magi bearing gifts: Samantha carrying a tray of cups, followed by Mary holding the cafetiere, and Miles, with Kay's chocolates. Kay saw the flamboyant gold ribbon on the box and remembered how optimistic she had been about tonight when she had bought them. She turned her face away, trying to hide her anger, frantic with the desire to shout at Gavin, and also with a sudden, shocking urge to cry. ‘It's been so nice,' she heard Mary say, in a thick voice that suggested she, too, might have been crying, ‘but I won't stay for coffee, I don't want to be late back; Declan's a bit †¦ a bit unsettled at the moment. Thanks so much, Sam, Miles, it's been good to, you know †¦ well, get out for a bit.' ‘I'll walk you up the – ‘ Miles began, but Gavin was talking firmly over him. ‘You stay here, Miles; I'll see Mary back. I'll walk you up the road, Mary. It'll only take five minutes. It's dark up the top there.' Kay was barely breathing; all her being was concentrated in loathing of complacent Miles, tarty Samantha and fragile, drooping Mary, but most of all of Gavin himself. ‘Oh, yes,' she heard herself saying, as everybody seemed to look towards her for permission, ‘yep, you see Mary home, Gav.' She heard the front door close and Gavin had gone. Miles was pouring Kay's coffee. She watched the stream of hot black liquid fall, and felt suddenly, painfully alive to what she had risked in overthrowing her life for the man walking away into the night with another woman.

Journal opining article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Journal opining article - Essay Example Additionally, spending policies need to be well scrutinized prior to making any economic moves, especially in the present day world. Wessel adds on to indicate that, being able to change the spending policies and the tax policies is essential whilst considering the current economic times and changes in governance (11). Wessel explains that if tax reforms focus on increasing the economic growth rate, then the scorekeepers need to take into account the growth spurt including the extra revenue collected in a specific financial year (12). This aspect, which has a direct implication on the economy, finds support and backup from numerous persons. Wessel is of the opinion that significant legislation in the normal routine gets tweaked such that the tally matches the promises of the proponents not just for bragging rights, but it clears the hurdles in parliament (11). Wessel, in his article, claims that when campaigns culminate and there is legislation of the promises, the joint tax committe e and the congressional budget office makes decisions on the various proposals made (12). According to Wessel, so as to stabilize the economy, there is a need to consider basic precepts (11). This is to mean that the economy growth requires clear guidelines and operation mechanisms. Wessel explains that the precepts are that accounting should not interfere with the congress in passing legislation which improves the growth in the economy (11). So as to have quick glimpse of economic growth, accounting should not permit to the pretense of the congress that every cut in tax caters for its expenditure. It is also vital to note that accounting should also not allow the assumption by the congress that there is a cost free spending on education. This spending, according to Wessel, not only increases the productivity of workers, but also has a massive positive impact on the economy (12). Wessel also argues that at some point when there are numerous changes in the tax plan, the various autho rities that have the function of implementing the changes, figure out that people and businesses respond in the event that the congress puts in plans and changes (12). Some of the changes in relation to Wessel include cut capital-gains in the tax rates whereby, shareholders sell the profits that they have and consequently lead to a surge in the revenue on a temporary basis (12). Ian endeavor to increase spending and elevate the economy, there is a need to set aside funds to the Medicare providers. In the long run, this will lead to an increase in spending in the economy. Changes in the subsidies for farmers make them dedicate more energy to production, for instance growing more crops leading to more profit, which in turn are dedicated to raising the economy. According to the article by Wessel, official tags on legislation do not consider the results of a bill on the overall economy (11). In the view of Wessel, this can, in simple terms be referred to as dynamic scoring (11). Additio nally, whilst analyzing the fiscal policies in an economy, it is vital to note that the bodies that implement the tax rates do not incorporate the macroeconomic effects. Changing the rules made by the congress will therefore become incomplete and consume a lot of time. Changing these rules, in regard to Wessel, also depends on the models of the economy and requires judgment calls (12). The author explains that some of the bills put in place focus on extending income

Malleability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Malleability - Essay Example A person cannot remain the same from birth to death - changes are inevitable. These changes not only comprise of physical and growth, but also of the mental capacities. When these mental capabilities expand along with one's horizons, he tends to perceive the world in a much better manner. When one experiences different situations and lives his daily life around people, he learns how to behave in certain situations and what actions to take when one is encountering a particular scene. All these instances shape the thinking, perceptions, judgments, relationships, and even one's simple lifestyle; all this leads to a change in a person's fixed dispositions, traits, attributes and characteristics - a change in personality. This change in personality is only possible when a person is flexible or say, malleable. If one is too rigid and has a fixed path of actions that they follow, life becomes very difficult for them. This reason behind this is that it is impossible to a person to fit into every situation with his particular traits. When a person understands the situation and comprehends what course of action needs to be performed, he might realize that the action is not compatible with his personality; thus, demanding a flex in his traits.

Creating a Strong Monarchy System during the Reign of Henry IV Essay

Creating a Strong Monarchy System during the Reign of Henry IV - Essay Example With France shattered with these fights, Henry IV was determined to end the enmity that characterized the country of France, create more freedom for religious movements, halt the war between various religious groups and enhance the power of the government. To achieve these goals, Henry IV embarked on a series of strategic actions that allowed him to achieve significant success in these areas, and despite his assassination, people will still remember him for his outstanding successes. As  the King of France, Henry IV realized the importance of building an administrative center, which he did in Paris by initiating radical changes (Ranum 87). This was to become Henry’s official residence and a center for government businesses could be carried. For instance, issues such as tax collection could be translated into the Palace des Vosges in Paris. The construction of the palace in the 17th century was also a vital achievement to Henry IV who was keen in establishing a strong monarch y government controlled the people of France in many aspects of their lives (Hsia 164). This palace, which became a model for other city centers, signified his power.When Henry IV came into power, he became interested in making peace with the church by creating more freedom for the Protestants. Faced with this task, Henry was quick to note that creating more freedoms to the religious groups like Protestants could make him more popular than he was, at least before the Protestants. To achieve this goal, Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1958 (Melton 201). This edict provided freedom to the Huguenots who had fewer religious liberties. For a long time, the Catholic crown found itself at a collision course with France’s Huguenots who felt that their privileges were being denied. However, Henry IV was quick to call for a lasting solution that would make the Huguenots end their rebellions. Therefore, Henry IV promulgated the Edict of Nantes, which gave the Huguenots religious t olerance in France. Because of Henry IV’s role, people started to respect the religious liberty of other people across French society.

Effects of Rising Sea Levels on Costal Populations at the End of the Term Paper

Effects of Rising Sea Levels on Costal Populations at the End of the last Ice Age - Term Paper Example As a result, there is a great chasm of study and information regarding the events of the last ice age and its impact on the environment together with the current condition of these places. It is imperative to examine the occurrence of the last age and expose the magnitude of harm and the damage done on the environment. The study will particularly focus on the coastal populations and how they were affected by the events of the last age. Finally, archeological inquiry should be performed to explore the submerged areas. ... The expansive arena endeavors to comprehend whether the environment of past people was a significant parameter in achieving cultural change or just a simple dynamic for development (Anderson, 2010). Through the reconstruction on ancient environments, archeologists obtain understanding regarding the adaptations of past civilizations that were imperative for living as well as the distinct environmental changes that were pivotal in their disappearance. Similarly, environmental archeology can be described as a sub discipline of archaeology that primarily concentrates on the effects of a particular culture on the atmosphere. Environmental archeology, therefore, involves the comprehensive evaluation of the relationship between culture and environment to determine if the environment were incidental in cultural change (or just a common feature in the development of the relevant culture). The last ice age was of great implication on the environment and it immensely affected the coastal popula tion in a significant way (Farley, 2002). However, the unavailability of research information on the relevant events of the ice age and its implications on the environment and people has made it difficult to comprehend the exact effect of the occurrence. The study will endeavor to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the events of the last ice age; more so the melting of the polar caps its effect on the human population as well as perform an archeological examination of the current state of the submerged areas. Research Question This study will endeavor to answer the developed research question in a practical and theoretical way; that will provide more insight on the relevance of

Performance management homework 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performance management homework 1 - Essay Example To determine this rate, all the machining, assembly, and fabricating direct costs must be multiplied with the multiply of their sum total. This calculation will help in determining or estimating the overhead rates. Precision Joinery Co. Manufactures high-quality wooden products for the house-building sector, specializing in window-frames, doors and kitchen cabinets. For many years, the company’s costing system has relied on the assumption that direct labor hours were the critical factor in the occurrence of overheads. Accordingly, overheads were allocated to products on the basis of the direct labor hours taken to manufacture each product. The company’s relationship with its customers has changed in recent years. House-building companies have become more rigorous in their demands in terms of both product design and service support after delivery. The Managing Director of Precision Joinery Co. Has become increasingly disillusioned with the current product costing system, which he believes to be producing costs which do not reflect the change in the market environment initiated by the company’s customers. Under duress, the Management Accountant has carried out a further examination of available costing information, some of which the Managing Director considers useful in a possible redefinition of the costing system. The activity based costing or the ABC cost allocation often assigns the manufacturing overhead costs of the products in a highly logical way than the normal or the traditional approach that simply allocates costs on the basis of the machine hours (Armstrong and Baron, 2005; p. 85). The ABC initially assigns costs to activities that really lead to the overhead. After that, it assigns costs to activities or products that are actually demanding the activities. The overall result often maps the miscalculations on the true cost of the manufacturing overhead. Therefore, it is apparent that the ABC

AN INTERVIEW WITH A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER Essay

AN INTERVIEW WITH A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER - Essay Example The main reason why I loved the idea of having this interview with Officer McGinnis while at work was because this was a rare opportunity for me to get a first hand information and experience how it feels to be a Police Officer on patrol. It was also pretty much to have a feel of being above the law without worrying that I might get pulled over for speeding since I was with an officer. One thing that came to my attention during that ride was that other drivers, especially on I-435W, drove more courteously. Nobody seemed to have over sped since they all drove within the speed limit and behind McGinnis’ cruiser. Inside the car I also noticed a lot of equipment which were used in police work and this really surprised me. Back home policemen had only a radio to communicate and a gun to protect them. Officer McGinnis explained to me that different police departments had their own jurisdictions, capabilities and respective responsibilities to maintain law and order that require state-of the-arts technology. One question I raised during the interview was on what different kinds of challenges did he experience while on- and off- duty. According to Officer McGinnis, one of his greatest challenges he faces as a police officer starts daily with the half hour briefings on legal issues which he is expected to know. Other challenges he faced include the continuous rapid change in technology (hi-tech gadgets) which he has to grasp and learn fast. They are constantly trained and retrained to update them on everything including new weapons used by criminals. They have been equipped with new laptops in the squad cars that were developed by the military, computer aided dispatch and laser pads for fingerprinting which they must learn how to use. He also explained that they have to be informed or updated all the time to prepare them for any crucial situation they might encounter while on duty. He was careful to point out that police work was not all car chases, lights and

Professional Nurse Accountability Research Paper

Professional Nurse Accountability - Research Paper Example    In addition to that autonomy and authority are administrative tools for control whereas accountability is a moral principle that governs the relationship between the givers of authority and the recipients (Mackie, Martin & Thomson, 1995). Currently, the nursing profession has made great inroads with regards to engraining accountability amongst its practitioners. Firstly, nurses have established several professional standards outlining the guidelines and principles for the all who seek to join in the profession. For example, the American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a Code for Nurses which â€Å"provides a clear framework within which nurses can seek to uphold the standards of care and protect the clients they serve† (Hood & Leddy, 2006, p.307). Also, each state in the United States has mandatory guidelines in place that distinguish professional nursing from other health professions, defines the professional nursing practice and specifies their scope of practice. In addition to the institution of professional standards, the nursing fraternity is actively pursuing methods of improving the state of the health care delivery system. This manifests maturity and professionalism within nursing because by accepting an appropriate degree of responsibility for the current situation, nurses are able to legitimize their claim for a piece of the healthcare pie. Thirdly, the profession of nursing is encouraging its members to be aware of and accountable for not only their actions but also those of their colleagues. This is done through initiatives such as reporting chemically impaired coworkers. According to Hood and Leddy (2006), there are forty state boards of nursing that offer alternatives to disciplinary actions that involve legally binding programs for detoxification, treatment, peer assistance and so on that are  geared to assist chemically impaired coworkers.

Cleopatra - Her Influence & Effect on Culture Essay

Cleopatra - Her Influence & Effect on Culture - Essay Example What make Cleopatra’s influence on culture so strong are the remarkable facts of her life. Ascending the throne at a tender age of 17, she was forced to go into exile 3 years later. Languishing in exile in Arabia, she mustered all her resources in raising an army. The romantic side of her life has added to the allure of her legend. This includes â€Å"her enchantment of Caesar (smuggling herself into the royal palace, according to Plutarch, in a rolled-up sack) and her legendary appearance, dressed as Aphrodite in a gilded boat, before Mark Antony. Even Shakespeare's febrile description of the spectacle -- "So perfumed that/The winds were love-sick" -- is based on contemporary accounts.† (Denny, 2001, p.40) But her relevance to the contemporary world is not something immutable, as demonstrated by recent developments surrounding her legacy. As historians utilize forensic and other advanced research techniques to revise historical accounts, many unknown facts pertaining t o iconic figures like Cleopatra have emerged. One such is the logical deduction by American scholar Martin Bernal (the most prominent of a long line of Afro-centrist classical historians). Bernal claims that most previous historians underestimated the culture of Egypt as they were unwilling to acknowledge that Greek, and by extension all European, civilization had its beginnings in Africa. But, thanks to Bernal, this Afro-centrist view became more acceptable - indeed more fashionable to articulate. The clearest manifestation of this change in public perception and acceptance of historical facts is witnessed in the British theatre scene. â€Å"In the summer of 1991 two productions of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra were running in London. In each of them  Cleopatra was played by a black actress: one of whom, Donna Croll of the Talawa Theatre Company, told a reporter 'the fable of the white  Cleopatra is just another way of bleaching out history'... Just as  Cleopatra had pr eviously been co-opted into playing a part in discussions about the ethics of suicide, the status of a wife and the comparative merits of aristocratic or autocratic government, so in the last years of the twentieth century she found herself at the centre of a debate about race relations.† (Hughes-Hallett, 2006, p.70) It should be remembered that Egypt and Rome of first century BCE were multi-racial societies. Being the centers trade and politics, the cities hosted tens of thousands of slaves. Cleopatra’s father was a Ptolemy, his stock being derived from descendants of one of Alexander’s generals. His roots could be traced to Macedonia, where natives tend to be fair of skin color. â€Å"Theoretically he, and all his forebears for over two centuries, had been the offspring of incestuous brother-sister marriages, and were therefore purebred (as well as inbred) Greeks. In fact, it occurred more than once that the heir to the throne of Ptolemaic Egypt was the child of a royal concubine of unrecorded origin. Cleopatra was one such case. We do not know who her mother was.† (Hughes-Hallett, 2006, p.70) It is highly likely that Cleopatra was thus inter-racial, thus adding to her exoticism. The fact

Doctor Faustus Essay Example for Free

Doctor Faustus Essay Doctor Faustus, a talented German scholar who belittles the limits of human knowledge, believes that he has learned all that can be learned by conventional means. What is left for him, he thinks, but magic? He is offered a choice of Christian conscience by a good angel, and the path to damnation by an evil angel. Two fellow scholars, Valdes and Cornelius, teach him the fundamentals of black magic. Eventually, Faustus summons the devil Mephistopheles and the terms of their pact are agreed upon. In return for his immortal soul, Faustus will be granted twenty-four years of power, with Mephistopheles as his servant. In this play, the writer, Christopher Marlowe used symbolism through the play. Symbolism in general means the presentation of objects, moods and ideas through the medium of emblems or symbols. For example, When Faustus makes his pact with the devil, he signs it with his own blood. But as he goes to write, his blood thickens. That was a key moment in the play. Faustus wonders, What might the staying of my blood portend? / Is it unwilling I should write this bill? (2.1.62-63). He thinks since his blood is thickening and clotting it is some type of sign. At this point, Faustus believes his sticky blood is a symbol, a part of himself thats unwilling to give it all up for the devil and also that Lucifer insists on having the document written in blood. To him, this blood represents Faustuss person. If he has the blood, he has Faustus. So its a symbol to Lucifer, too. Without the blood, theres nothing physical to represent Faustuss soul. Then, at the end of the play, as he waits for death, Faustus cries out, One drop of blood will save me. O, my Christ!. Here, again, blood is a symbol of the whole person—Christ. Another example of symbolism that writer uses is when Faustus resolves to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for Mephistopheles, his decision to give it is not enough. Instead, Mephistopheles tells him, â€Å"thou must bequeath it solemnly/And write a deed of gift with thine own blood;/For the security craves Lucifer† (2.1.333-35). This meant that Dr. Faustus has to sign over his soul in a written contact. Faustus does as Lucifer asks, which was writing a contract that’s gives ownership of his soul to Lucifer in exchange for twenty-four years of having Mephistopheles around to boss. In legal terminology, this contact is called a â€Å"deed of gift,† It becomes the symbol  of Faustus’s decision to serve the devil; and since some definitions of sin state it as just that the decision to serve the devil instead of God, it also becomes a symbol of sin more generally. The contract is terrifying because it was actually real. It was made of paper and blood, and Faustus and Mephistopheles can see it and hold it in their hands. So while Faustus’s decision to serve the devil is not much more than an idea, this is an object that Lucifer can point to and say you belong to me. Faustus’s decision is put into document form to symbolize just how difficult, if not impossible, it will be Faustus to take back even if he really wants to. In conclusion, the writer, Christopher Marlowe used symbolism to his advantage which intensified the tragic appeal of this great drama.

The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer Abstract This paper aims at exploring the charm of the adventures of Tom Sawyer. It includes two parts: they are the charm of the plot arrangement and the charm of the words. It analyzes childrens characteristics in the novel. Besides, it indicates the charm of the twists and turns in the novel. Finally, this paper analyzes the charm of the words of the adventures of Tom Sawyer. Readers can understand the novel better through the above analyses. Key Words: charm, Tom Sawyer, adventures 1. Introduction Over the past decades, there have been many different kinds of novels come out. In addition, these new kinds of novels attract a lot of readers. However, it does not mean that people have to ignore or give up the old famous works. On the contrary, these famous works are unique; people should cherish the treasure which was left by those famous writers. People can know and learn much information from these works. For example, Mark Twains the adventures of Tom Sawyer. It was published in 1876; it focuses on Toms personal growth. The novel follows the development of Tom from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. It also resembles novels of the picaresque genre, in that Tom moves from one adventures to another. The adventures of Tom Sawyer fits the style of satire, folk narrative, and comedy. This novel is worthy to read. This paper analyzes the charm of the adventures of Tom Sawyer. It includes two parts: they are the charm of the plot arrangement and the charm of the words. The author intends to analyze this novel in different ways, to let more people understand and like this amazing novel. 2. Literature Review In these years, the adventures of Tom Sawyer is a popular topic for experts to conduct their studies. Different aspects relevant to the adventures of Tom Sawyer have been come out. This section provides a brief survey of some researches on the adventures of Tom Sawyer. Li Li ping, from Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, she indicated, Though this novel tells about the life of childrens adventures, it is romantic and legendary; in the meanwhile, it is a very serious novel.(2008). Cao Shan ke, from Sun Yat-Sen University, he pointed out that the adventures of Tom Sawyer sustains its vitality to keep attracting readers from one generation to another, that is determined by its own literature charm. Mark Twain used variety kinds of writing skills to make this novel stretch over ages and keep pace with history,. In addition, he can let readers produce new realization and thinking about the heroes in the novel. (2003). Jiiang Li na, from Gan su Union University, she indicated, Tom make the experience of adventures and irony theme, both were dispersive, join together. Mar Twain uncovered the social hypocrisy and sati red the ugly people and phenomenon by the humorous and irony way. A sense of humor and irony is one of the most attractive features in this novel.(2009). There are many researches of the adventures of Tom Sawyer, but some aspects are the same, it will be difficult for readers to understand this novel in different angles. 3. The charm of the plot arrangement 3.1The charm of childrens characteristic 3.11 Childrens curiosity Curiosity is childrens common characteristic. Curiosity makes them interest in everything. Children want to explore the world; they want to know something new. In other words, curiosity is motivation; it can push children to do something. That is why Mark Twain endowed Tom Sawyer curious and venturesome characteristics. In chapter 2 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, one Saturday morning, Tom was punished by Aunt Polly; he had to whitewash the fence. That was impossible for Tom, who was a boy could not stop hanging out. So, he had to find out a way to solve this problem. And, he saw Jim, who was the only guy was interested at his sore tore. Normally, who wants to look at a sore toe, who cares others sore toe. That was incredible. However, children were different form adults, they were curious about anything that they had not seen yet. As a result of curiosity, Jim helped Tom whitewash the fence just for the sore toe. Unluckily, Aunt Polly found that, Tom had to do it by himself again. Clever Tom always had methods, the key was -childrens curiosity. He did something to catch childrens attention. Tom went on whitewashing paid no attention to the steamboat. No answer. Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist What do you call work? Tom pretended to enjoy whitewash. Besides, he succeeded to stimulate others curiosity. Children wanted to try that mysterious task, and they were willing to exchange their toys to the whitewashing. In addition, Tom became a winner because of the childrens curiosity. And in the latter chapters, Tom persuaded his friends, Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn to slip away to Jacksons Island. They agreed to do that because they had never experienced that before. Their curiosity pushed them to do that. In fact, in our daily life, curiosity has become an important part of childrens motivation to do anything. Curiosity seems a catalyst for the children; it can provoke children to finish tasks spontaneously. 3.12 Childrens naughtiness Naughtiness is childrens inborn nature. Children like playing, and playing is the essential task for them. So, in the novel, boys were so naughty that they made a lot of fun or troubles. In chapter 1, Tom had already showed his naughtiness to the readers. Though Aunt Polly had made some measures (sewed shirt collar, white thread) to prevent Tom swimming, clever Tom could still avoid those measures to go to swim. He could nearly succeed, but Sid let him down. Why did Tom make himself at risky? He knew Aunt Polly would check him whether swim or not. Because of naughtiness, which was childrens characteristic, it pushed Tom to take adventure. Naughtiness not just showed in chapter 1, in chapter 21, boys expressed their naughtiness onto the headmaster. He seemed to take a vindictive pleasure in punishing the least shortcomings, so the smaller boys spent their days in terror and suffering and their nights in plotting revenge. That just liked a circle, the kids became naughtier, and the hea dmaster punished them more. Consequently, the boys planed to make a big project-a cat. She grabbed his wig with her desperate claws, clung to it, and was snatched up into the garret in an instant with her trophy still in her possession! And how the light did blaze abroad from the masters bald pate for the sign-painters boy had gilded it! How naughty they were! They dared to play a joke on the headmaster. The boys were not evil, but just naughty. They did that just for fun, the biggest motivation. Actually, in the daily life, children like tricks, too. When parents tell them not to do that, they may not listen to their parents obediently. Because they are naughty, they do not want to a good boy or good girl. Or, they can catch others attention when they are naughty. People can accept childrens naughtiness because that is childrens nature. 3.13 Childrens innocence Childrens innocence is also another childrens common trait. Children do not like adults; they seem to be a piece of white paper, there is no stain on it. They are pure, they have not entered the society yet, instead, they live in a sterile world-a simple children circle. If they want to get one thing, they will just go for it, always directly, without other thinking. In the novel, though we can see many chapters show us childrens naughtiness, childrens innocence also was set. In chapter 6, Tom lay thinking. Presently it occurred to him that he wished he was sick; then he could stay home from school. Children are children; they often have this thinking-skipping class. Not for what, just do not like having class or for going out to have fun, this is a simple motivation. However, it seemed well worth while to chance it, so he fell to groaning with considerable spirit. When children want to skip class, they always want to find out a reasonable excuse. And the most frequently used and eff ective one is being ill. Many people have used this excuse when they were kids. But sometimes, it does not work, because parents know their children well. In the novel, Aunt Polly also found out Tom was pretending ill. Finally, Tom gave in. He said: Oh, please, auntie, dont pull it out. It dont hurt any more. I wish I may never stir if it does. Please dont, auntie. I dont want to stay home from school. Tom is typical, he is a portrait of children. He is clever, but he cannot hide his innocence. Adults can easily figure out these childish tricks. Overall, children are children, they will never solve problem with deep consideration as adults. They will just use their naÃÆ' ¯ve, simple way to deal with problems. That is also the big difference between children and adults. The charm of childrens wish to become adult Many children do not agree that they are still children, they do not want to stay in a little childrens world. They want to grow up as soon as possible. They suppose they are adults, they are mature enough to handle anything. Sometimes, they even hate others treat them as children. They want fair treatment (they think being treated like children is unfair). They often image that one day morning, they have become a adult when they wake up, and then they go to work not go to school. That is childrens desire-to be adults. 3.21 A wish to be a pirate In the novel, Mark Twain also set children with this wish. In chapter 8, he would be a soldier, and return after long years, all war-worn and illustrious. Boys not only like being heroes, but also cheers and big hand. However, being a child could not help to develop into a hero, Tom wanted to change this situation, so he would like to be a soldier that means he had the chance to become an adult and hero. And away in the future come back a great chief, bristling with feathers, hideous with paint, and prance into Sunday- School, some drowsy summer morning, with a blood- curdling war-whoop, and sear the eyeballs of all his companions with unappeasable envy. Many children may think that when they return home with wealth and power, their families and friends will proud of them. Therefore, the first step is, being an adult and going out. Then they can make their dream come true and do whatever they want to do. Thats one of the reasons why children hope to adults. 3.22 Study to smoke Children might be drawn to smoking for any number of reasons to look cool, act older, seem tough, feel more confident and independent. The most important is, they think that smoking makes them appear in the eyes of others more mature. They also believe that they will more easily be accepted or respected by their peers if they smoke. They want to shape their own identities by smoking among teenagers. They would like to break through the circle of being a good child, instead, they would prefer to be heroes. Children often image that they will grow up when they wake up next day. Then, they can go outside to make their dreams come true. At last, they will come back to hometown with wealth and power, their families and friends will be proud of them. In chapter 16, when Tom and his friends, Joe and Huck took adventure at an island, they studied to smoke that made them willing to stay at the island. Tom said, I wish the boys could see us now. Smoking became an approach to show off. They wa nted to let their peers to know that they were different among them. They were superior. They were not kids any more. How cool they were! And Ill say, Oh, thats all right, if its STRONG enough. And then youll out with the pipes, and well light up just as cam, and then just see em look! à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Though Tom and his friends seemed to be naÃÆ' ¯ve, childish, it could not cover the truth they really wanted others to know that they could smoke, that means they had grown up. They could appear as adults. Children wanted to be more grown up because they thought that there would be fewer rules to follow. What needed to do was raise their status among other peers. They could be their examples and leaders. Tom, Joe and Huck studied to smoke not for the excitement of tobacco, but for the wish to become adults. They wanted to show they were not kids any more. (Even they were). The charm of twists and turns The adventures of Tom Sawyer can keep its own vitality from one generation to another because of its own literature charm. In the meanwhile, it attracts more and more readers. Mark Twain made this novel popular among these years. Even periods are different; The adventures of Tom Sawyer can let readers come about their own realization and thoughts about the characters in the novel. Twists and turns is one of the charms of novel, this kind of writing technique makes the novel more attractive. Mark Twain set lots of suspense, tortuous plots and terrifying description in the novel. All of these increased a kind of mysterious tension to make readers can not help to finish the novel. 3.21 Tragedy in the graveyard In chapter 9, Tom sneaked out of bed and went to the graveyard with Huck at night. They hid in the trees to wait for devils. After a while, three figures went into the grave. Tom and Huck thought they were the devils. They were delighted and horrified In fact, these three devils were three adults from the town. In addition, the boys were surprised to recognize the young Dr. Robinson accompanied by two local outcasts, the drunken Muff Potter and Injun Joe. Dr. Robinson ordered two men to dig up a corpse. After finishing the job, a fight ensued because of the extra payment. In the scuffle, Dr. Robinson knocked Potter unconscious with a stone. Moreover, Injun Joe killed Dr. Robinson with Potters knife. Tom and Huck witnessed the murder happened. This murder produced suspense, because the real murderer, Injun Joe told Potter that he killed Dr. Robinson. In addition, Potter believed that. From an adventure to a murder, this children fiction became a mystery story. It made the boys more ma ture in one night. It was difficult to accept the bloody killing process. The murder setting was astonishing for readers, too. In the previous chapters, they were just about childrens tricks, childrens adventures, which were simple, funny and interesting. However, in this chapter, the children innocent style was swerved to detective logically one. Actually, the author had set some tips to suggest that something different would happen. The ticking of the clock, Old beams, the stairs, chirping of a cricket, the howl of a far-off dog, a most melancholy caterwauling etc, showed the atmosphere was strange. These descriptions were so particular that made readers feel like the boys in the novel. These hints drew people into a creepy night to go for adventures with Tom. The boys were shocked by the murder and grew up psychologically in one night. In the meanwhile, readers suddenly realized that it was not only for children, but also for adults. 3.23 The salvation of Muff Potter After witnessing the murder, Tom and Hucks immediate reflection was to flee, both physically and psychologically. They ran from the scene of crime back into the world of children. They were shocked. When Injun Joe blamed Muff Potter for the crime, the boys did not tell the truth because of a blood oath and fear. Tom and Huck felt guilty. Nevertheless, they could still go back to the normal life. Forming pirate crew, learning to smoke, tricking the headmaster and so on, Mark Twain let the funny and relaxing style come back again. Readers can loosen their nerve temporarily from the previous tense atmosphere. Mark Twain could control this situation perfectly (loose-tight-loose). He could catch readers attention and give space for them to take a break or have a thought. Therefore, in chapter 23, a sharp turn came again. Readers sights were focus on the crime once more. In this chapter, Muff Potters trail approached, Tom and Huck agonized about whether they should reveal what they had kno wn. They feared Injun Joe would kill them if they speak out the truth. Huck, they couldnt anybody get you tell, could they? Get me tell? Why, if I wanted that half-breed devil to drownd me they could get me to tellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I reckon were safe as long as we keep mum. But lets swear again, anyway. Its more surer.' Children are children; they do not know what to do if they find something wrong. When readers read these words, they may worry about whether the boys would tell the truth or not. How Muff Potter would be sentenced? Whether Injun Joe would be charged? A series of question are raised. Fortunately, Potters lawyer called Tom as a witness for the defense. And Tom told the truth finally. At this moment, readers can take a break. However, at the same moment, the real murderer, Injun Joe escaped. Then, what would happen? Suspense was set again, which made readers worry once more. 3.24 The discovery of real robbers After Injun Joes escape, the town back to normal. Tom and Huck decided to hunt for the treasure. They discussed possible places to dig out treasure. They imaged what they would do if they find treasure. They dug a number of places around the tree but found nothing. At the midnight, the boys came back, found nothing again. Finally, they hesitantly agreed to go to the haunted house, a deserted building nearby. That appeared to be another adventure along the lines of the boys trip of Jacksons Island. It was only when Injun Joe appeared at the house that twists and turns showed again. Readers realized that narrative was no longer skipping from adventure to adventure but instead driving toward an ending. Tom and Huck found one of the two robbers was Injun Joe. At first, they were frightened that Injun Joe would make reprisals. However, when boys found the robbers wanted to hide gold coins at the house. They With gloating eyes they watched every movement. Luck!the splendor of it was beyond all imagination! Six hundred dollars was money enough to make half a dozen boys rich! Before the large sum of money (though they not yet had it), fear could be forgotten temporarily, that was kids thought. Nevertheless, they became desperate because robbers changed the hiding place. By this point of the novel, Mark Twain tight readers nervous again. Twain let the key chapter, Injun Joe show up to prepare finishing the novel. At this point, readers also have a deep thought. What is the ending? Happy or sad? Would Injun Joe take revenge ¼Ã… ¸ A series of query showed Mark Twain succeeded in setting this suspense. Actually, the discovery of real robbers was the hint to foreshadow the ending of the novel. But Mark Twain caught every chances to catch readers eyes, he liked twists and turns, so do the readers. This plot also showed Toms development of maturity and the effects that it had on his interactions with his friends and family. Twists and turns worked again. The charm of words Childrens tone Literature is the art of words. The words of childrens novel should be suitable for children. Childrens novel seems a game, which is played on paper. This game should be interesting and active because its readers are children, and their parents are selectors. This game is also full of childrens humor, direction, curiosity, simplicity and variety. Children can understand the lines without difficult logical reasoning. The adventures of Tom Sawyer is exactly this type of novel. Mark Twain passed the relaxing atmosphere to the readers by the words of Tom and other boys. The tone of the novel is children style; it can express its meaning and convey the characters characteristics by the words. In addition, most of the words of the novel were said by children. And the children in the novel were not good or well educated. In the daily conversations, they often used non-standard oral English, even dialect and slang. Their words were different from the standard language in St. Petersburg; they were thought to be vulgar, dirty and low-down. Mark Twain believed that bad boys should use bad language, they were perfectly matched. In chapter 1, Tom was very angry because Sid told Aunt Polly that he skipped class to swim. He scolded Sid: Siddy, Ill lick you for that. Besides, a boy was a new comer. Tom did not like the boy only because the boy was well dressed. Tom provoked: I can lick you! Id like to see you try it. Well, I can do it. No you cant, either. Yes I can. No you cant. I can.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ A naÃÆ' ¯ve and pure image was presented by Toms sharp and violent words. These words fit in with childrens speaking habit. That will be humorous and funny for the reader, no matter the reader is a kid or an adult. Exquisite description Another feature of this novel is exquisite description. Through the exquisite description, readers can understand the boys in the novel better. Mark Twain was good at description. In chapter 2, the most interesting plot is Toms whitewashing. In a beautiful Saturday morning, Tom was punished to whitewash the fence. For exchanging with his freedom, he took out his treasure-He got out his worldly wealth and examined-bits of toys, marbles and trash. He wanted to use these treasure to tempt other kids to help him whitewash. Afterwards, Tom had a better idea. He pretended the job-whitewashing was not work, it was an Art creation-Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist. Toms enjoyment of whitewashing caught kids attention as expected. And they were willing to exchange with their treasure for this art creating. Tom pretended to accept the deal reluctantly. Actually, he was happy to exchange. Moreover, he continued to plan another step. planned the slaughter of more innocents. H ow clever Tom was! He knew the boys way of thinking. As if the price of something is higher, people will believe the quality may higher than the cheaper one too. So, Tom knew if he wanted other kids to help, he must let them know how funny the job was and he liked the job. That is kid. If you wanted kids cherish what they got, you should let them get it more difficult. Mark Twains exquisite description not only shows us that the novel is funny but also his understand of childrens thinking. Through these exquisite descriptions, readers can entirely get into the novel, to know, to enjoy the world of children. A sense of humor and irony Humor and Irony is an indirect way to express authors thought. In the novel, Mark Twain satirized social vices, ugly phenomenon and people at that time by humor and irony. The most attractive characteristic of the novel is humor and irony, Mark Twain was always good at using it. In chapter 5, Mark Twain showed us an interesting scene that was people went to church to pray. When talking about the mayor, the author used these words the mayor and his wife-for they had a mayor there, among other unnecessaries, unnecessaries tells the readers that the mayor was a small potato, his position existed in name only. Then, after the minister sung the hymn which was thought beautiful, and the ladies would lift up their hands and let them fall helplessly in their lap, and walltheir eyes, and shake their headsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ On one hand, helplessly and wall expressed peoples appreciation to the minister. On the other hand, people were absent-minded. When the minister droned through an argument, ma ny a head by and by began to nod , they nod not because they agree or understand the argument, but because they dozed off. And another scene was interesting too. That was the first time when Tom met a girl who was a new comer; he fell in love with her immediately. Actually, A certain Amy Lawrence vanished out of his heart and left not even a memory of herself behind. He had thought he loved her to distraction; he had regarded his passion as adoration; and behold it was only a poor little evanescent partiality. Tom was fickle in love; he could love someone easily, and forget her more easily. How bad he was! Mark Twain did not mean to express Toms badness; he just wanted to show Toms naughtiness, smartness and loveliness through these humor and irony words. 5.Conclusion All in all, this paper tells the readers that the charm of the adventures of Tom Sawyer. It includes two parts: they are the charm of the plot arrangement and the charm of the words. From this paper, readers can know more information about the novel. It analyzes childrens characteristics in the novel, they are curiosity, naughtiness and innocence; it explains why the children in the novel did something like that. Besides, it indicates the charm of the twists and turns in the novel, Mark Twain was good at setting suspense to attract readers. Finally, this paper analyzes the charm of the words of the adventures of Tom Sawyer. Readers can understand the novel better through the analyses about the tone, description and writing style of the novel.

A Trip To The Moon Review Film Studies Essay

A Trip To The Moon Review Film Studies Essay Nowadays, cinema is significantly commercial and digitalised. However, the unique and often entertaining black and white films of the early twentieth century should not be forgotten. They should in fact be revered as films in their own right. A perfect example of early cinema at its peak is A Trip to the Moon (aka Le Voyage dans la Lune), which was directed by film pioneer George M li s in 1902. The majority of films from this period dealt with simple scenes of everyday life, such as the knocking down of a garden wall or the arrival of a train. However M li s made the transition from these early shorts to a more modern form of montage, which led A Trip to the Moon being regarded as a masterpiece of early cinema. The first scene of the film opens with a group of astronomers holding a meeting in order to discuss how to travel to the moon. The main astronomer, played by M li s, suggests that they build some type of capsule and fire themselves at the moon. After some argument, the scientists agree and build a cannon and a bullet-shaped capsule. They are launched at the moon via cannon by a group of showgirls and land comically in the eye of the moon. Once on the lunar surface, they meet the Selenites, the alien hostile inhabitants of the moon. One of M li s main inspirations for the film would be Jules Verne s novel From the Earth to the Moon, from which he got the idea of the projected capsule at the moon. The film also contains elements from H.G. Wells novel The First Men in the Moon, for example, the underground moon cave with gigantic mushrooms and the vulnerable inhabitants, the Selenites. M li s was a master of visual illusion due to him being a professional magician and a producer of theatre. He followed the example set by the main stage magicians of the nineteenth century, such as Jean Robert-Houdin, by integrating the newest technology into his theatrical spectacles. With film, M li s embraced its theatrical possibilities and through experimentation, he made swift advances in special effects, film editing, intricate sets and costumes, and literary content. The set design of the various scenes is elaborate. The painted backdrops merge flawlessly with the constructed parts and props, creating settings with great depth. The set design, costumes, and anthropomorphic objects provide the film with a fantastical surreal appeal, which both attract and astonish audiences. M li s was one of the first filmmakers to make use of special effects, using a number of ingenious techniques to create illusions. Cinematic devices such as stop-motion photography and film splicing were used to give the illusion of objects vanishing or changing. Examples of these techniques can be seen in the Selenites disappearing into a puff of smoke when hit by the scientists and the approach of the capsule towards the moon. For the duration of the film, themes of spectacle, absurdity, and burlesque are given far more importance than scientific logic or realism (Gunning 70). For instance, in the supposedly scientific scene of the launching of the capsule, the cannon is loaded by a troupe of showgirls dressed in a burlesque version of sailor suits (Gunning 70). M li s openly acknowledged the dominance of special effects over the storyline in his films as he once wrote, As for the scenario, the story or tale, I considered it last I utilized it only as a pretext, a context for tricks or pleasing theatrical effects (Gunning 71). A Trip to the Moon is not a forgotten gem of early cinematic history, but a film of energy, imagination, exploration, and humour that still pleasure audiences today. 2. A film review of Duck Soup (1933) The film Duck Soup, starring the Marx Brothers, is a funny satire with lively gags and some of the best physical comedy ever in cinema. Although it is nowadays regarded as a comic masterpiece, the film received poor reviews when it first came out in 1933, mainly for its satirising of politics and warmongering. Even to this day the Marx Brothers are greatly revered because of their masterful ability to treat their audience to riotous slapstick comedy, puns, riddles, and deadpan humour. All of the Marx Brothers comedy films were extensions of their vaudeville days (Gardner 15). Duck Soup is a perfect example of this as the visual gags that had previously been a success on stage, were then incorporated into their comic routines in their films. The 1933 film was directed by Leo McCarey. The film stars Groucho Marx, who plays Rufus Firefly, the new appointed president of the fictional nation of Freedonia. Firefly has a questioning attitude towards work ethic, which can be seen as he attempts to decrease work hours by shortening the length of lunch breaks for the workers. Rufus becomes infatuated with Mrs. Teasdale, but he is in competition for her hand with Ambassador Trentino of the neighbouring country of Sylvania. Rufus immediately insults the Sylvanian ambassador by slapping him across the face instead of shaking his hand. War is consequently declared between the two countries. However, the plot of the film is not of any real importance as it mainly serves as a chance for the brothers to make fun of dictators, government bureaucracy and the irrationality of reckless war. Duck Soup features the Marx Brothers at their very best. Both the continuous sequence of laughs and the satirical storyline are hilarious in their own right, but the film also provides the individual comedy sequences for the brothers, which are the real highlight of the film. The film contains some of their best material, providing a variety of comic settings and dialogue and some quite entertaining musical sequences. Two of their most iconic are featured in Duck Soup the mirror sequence and the lemonade stand scene. The mirror sequence is by far the most entertaining scene in the film, where Harpo, and Chico, and Groucho are all dressed the same and they mimic each other s movements as if they re looking in a mirror at themselves. Another excellent example of Marx comedy is the peanut stand scene where Chico and Harpo engage in a quarrel with the owner of a lemonade stand next to Harpo s peanut stand. Another humorous and surrealistic aspect of the film is in the final battle scene where the Brothers are dressed in an outrageous pastiche of military uniforms that complete the anti-war attitude of the dialogue (Gardner 87). The military uniforms worn by the Brothers are from several diverse nations and from different historical eras. The film is a constant reel of comedy, from the opening scene, where we meet Groucho s character, to the final scene of the shelter being bombed. Similar to other great comedies of the 1930s, Duck Soup does not require special effects or a completely logically storyline to attract an audience. Nowadays, Duck Soup is widely considered to be a stunning success of film comedy, and the Marx Brothers best film.