Answer four questions based on some chapters Example

Essays on Answer four questions based on some chapters Essay Task Benefit Cost Analysis Q1 Private Optimization is where the prices are set in such a way to guarantee maximization of the businesses’ profits. The costs are high to allow the investors account for their requirements such as the accounts payables, tax payables, as well long and short-term liabilities. Therefore, the consumer does not benefit because of the high costs, and the investor uses the profit maximization approach in order to get the gross benefit. The Internal Rate of Return of debts along with equity should be superior to the discounting rate given. Social Optimization is when the costs are set at the market price without considering the liabilities. In this case, either the investor or the consumer may loose depending on the rate of inflation or the rate of demand and supply. The demand and supply forces are equivalent in public optimization; therefore, they meet at equilibrium. The business in this case does not wish to maximize the profits but to get the net be nefit. The decision rule is that the project should be accepted if the Internal Rate of Return is greater than the discounting rate. Q2 A referent group considers the profit of a project in relation to the Investors of the business. The description of a referent group is not dependent on either private or public projects. This is because; it does not consider external debts as well as other liabilities such as loans. It utilizes the opportunity costs as the competence costs to ensure the total profits of a business irrespective of whether it is public or private sector. Therefore, the projects are carried out based on opportunity costs and the benefit cost. In this case, the projects are accepted once the benefit costs are greater than the opportunity costs. The Net present values should be greater or equal to zero for the project to be undertaken. The costs are set to meet the equilibrium point where the demand as well as supply is satisfied. The prices are also adjusted depending on the rate of inflation or deflation, in order to meet both the business and customer satisfaction. When the market price and the shadow price of inputs and outputs differ, it affects the distribution of the benefits and costs of the products of the company. In that, if the shadowing price is higher than the market price, there will be less demand hence reduced supply. On the other hand, if the market price is higher than the shadowing price of the company, there will be high demand, thus increased distribution. Q3 It is exceptionally vital to carry out the ‘Efficiency Cost Benefit Analysis’ so as to be able to understand the trends of the market forces. This enables the business to determine the competitive market forces of demand and supply and be able to adjust the prices appropriately. This analysis helps the company to meet up its cost as well as benefits, also, the benefit of the customer. In this case, the output is equal to the input; therefore, there is equal distribution of cash flows. It therefore ensures that both the existing and additional supplies as well, as demand are contented. Q4 Project BCA analysis deals with the issue concerning debt financing and taxation that are immensely significant in incorporating the pertinent details required. Private BCA shows how the quantity of ICP that assists in determining how it will stand to either lose or lose in all situations. The efficiency BCA conversely shows the significance of BCA and the ways it has achieved her goals and missions. In analysis, one should use the same discount price to ensure that the scrutiny was performed on the equal grounds, there equal effects. This aids in giving accurate results resulting from precise analysis.

Sociology Investigation Free Essays

The Sociological Investigation ~ These notes are taken and adapted from Macionis, John J. (2012). Sociology (14th Edition). We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology Investigation or any similar topic only for you Order Now Boston: Pearson Education Inc. There are two basic requirements for sociological investigation: Know how to apply the sociological perspective or paradigms or what C. Wright Mills termed as the â€Å"sociological imagination. † Be curious and ready to ask questions about the world around you. There are three ways to do Sociology. These three ways are considered as research orientations: A. Positivist Sociology Positivist sociology studies society by systematically observing social behaviour. Also known as scientific sociology. It includes introducing terms like independent variable, dependent variables, correlation, spurious correlation, control, replication, measurement, cause and effect, as well as operationalizing a variable1. Positivist sociology requires that researcher carefully operationalize variables and ensuring that measurement is both reliable and valid. It observes how variables are related and tries to establish cause-and-effect relationships. It sees an objective reality â€Å"out there. † Favours quantitative data (e. g. data in numbers; data from surveys). Positivist sociology is well-suited to research in a laboratory. It demands that researchers be objective2 and suspend their personal values and biases as they conduct research. There are at least FOUR limitations to scientific / positivist sociology. Positivist sociology is loosely linked to the structural-functional approach / paradigm / perspective. B. Critical Sociology Critical sociology uses research to bring about social change. It asks moral and political questions. It focuses on inequality. Specifying exactly what is to be measured before assigning a value to a variable (Macionis: 2012, p. 50). Personal neutrality in conducting research (Macionis: 2012, p. 50) It rejects the principle of objectivity, claiming that ALL researches are political. Critical sociology corresponds to the social-conflict approach / paradigm / perspective. C. Interpretive Sociology Interpretive sociology focuses on the meanings that people attach to their behaviour. It sees reality as constructed by people in the course of their everyday lives. It favours qualitative data (e. g. data acquired through interviews). It is well-suited to research in a natural setting. Interpretive sociology is related to the symbolic-interaction approach / paradigm / perspective. Gender and Research Gender3, involving both researcher and subjects, can affect research in five ways: Androcentricity (literally, â€Å"focus on the male†) Overgeneralising Gender blindness Double standards Interference Research Ethics Researchers must consider and do the following things when conducting research: Protect the privacy of subjects / respondents. Obtain the informed consent of subjects / respondents. Indicate all sources of funding. Submit research to an institutional review board to ensure it does NOT violate ethical standards. There are global dimensions to research ethics. Before beginning research in another country, an investigator must become familiar enough with that society to understand what people there are likely to regard as a violation of privacy or a source of personal danger. Research and the Hawthorne Effect Researchers need to be aware that subjects’ or respondents’ behaviour may change simply because they are getting special attention, as one classic experiment revealed. Refer to Elton Mayo’s investigation into worker productivity in a factory in Hawthorne, near Chicago. 3 The personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male (Macionis: 2012, p. 50). The term Hawthorne Effect is defined as a change in a subject’s behaviour caused simply by the awareness that s/he is being studied. Methods: Strategies for Doing Sociological Research There are the basic FOUR methods: A. Experiment This research method allows researchers to study cause-and-effect relationships between two or more variables in a controlled setting. Researchers conduct an experiment to test a hypothesis, a statement of a possible relationship between two (or more variables). This research method collects mostly quantitative data. Example of an experiment: Philip Zimbardo’s â€Å"Stanford County Prison. † o Advantages Provides the greatest opportunity to specify cause-and-effect relationships. Replication of research is relatively / quite easy. Limitations Laboratory settings have an artificial quality to it. Unless the lab environment is carefully controlled, results may be biased too. B. Survey and/or Interview This research method uses questionnaires or interviews to gather subjects’ / respondents’ responses to a series of questions. Surveys usually yield or produce descriptive findings, painting a picture of people’s views on some issues. This research method collects mostly qualitative data. Example of a survey: Lois Benjamin’s research on the effects of racism on African American men and women. She chose to interview subjects / respondents rather than distribute a questionnaire. o Advantages Sampling, using questionnaires, allows researchers to conduct surveys of large populations or a large number of people. Interviews provide in-depth responses. o Limitations Questionnaires must be carefully prepared so that the questions and instructions are clear and not confusing. Questionnaires may yield low response / return rate from the target respondents. Interviews are expensive and time-consuming. C. Participant observation Through participant observation, researchers join with people in a social setting for an extended period of time. Researchers also play two roles, as a participant (overt role) and as an observer (covert role). This method allows researchers an â€Å"inside look† at a social setting. This research method is also called fieldwork. Since researchers are not attempting to test a specific hypothesis, their research is exploratory and descriptive. This participant observation research method collects qualitative data. Example of participant observation: William Foote Whyte’s â€Å"Street Corner Society. o Advantages It allows for the study of â€Å"natural† behaviour. Usually inexpensive. o Limitations Time-consuming. Replication of research is difficult. Researcher must balance role of participant and observer. D. Existing or Secondary sources Researchers analyse existing sources, data which had been collected by others. This research method is also called library research or archive research. By using existing or secondary sources, especially the widely available data by government agencies, researchers can save time and money. Existing sources are the basis of historical research. Example of using existing sources: E. Digby Baltzell’s award-winning study â€Å"Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia. † How could it be, Baltzell wondered, during a chance visit to Bowdein College in Maine, USA, that this small college had graduated more famous people in a single year than his own, much bigger University of Pennsylvania had graduated in its entire history? o Advantages Saves time, money and effort of data collection. Makes historical research possible. o Limitations Researcher has no control over possible biases in data. Data may only partially fit current research needs. How to cite Sociology Investigation, Essay examples

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Essay Hymn to Intellectual Beauty1The awful shadow of some unseen Power2Floats though unseen among us; visiting3This various world with as inconstant wing4As summer winds that creep from flower to flower;5Like moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower,6It visits with inconstant glance7Each human heart and countenance;8Like hues and harmonies of evening,9Like clouds in starlight widely spread,10Like memory of music fled,11Like aught that for its grace may be12Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery. 13Spirit of BEAUTY, that dost consecrate14With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon15Of human thought or form, where art thou gone?16Why dost thou pass away and leave our state,17This dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolate?18Ask why the sunlight not for ever19Weaves rainbows oer yon mountain-river,20Why aught should fail and fade that once is shown,21Why fear and dream and death and birth22Cast on the daylight of this earth23Such gloom, why man has such a scope24For love and hate, despondency and hope?25No voice from some sublimer world hath ever26To sage or poet these responses given:27Therefore the names of Demon, Ghost, and Heaven,28Remain the records of their vain endeavour:29Frail spells whose utterd charm might not avail to sever,30From all we hear and all we see,31Doubt, chance and mutability. 32Thy light alone like mist oer mountains driven,33Or music by the night-wind sent34Through strings of some still instrument,35Or moonlight on a midnight stream,36Gives grace and truth to lifes unquiet dream. 37Love, Hope, and Self-esteem, like clouds depart38And come, for some uncertain moments lent. 39Man were immortal and omnipotent,40Didst thou, unknown and awful as thou art,41Keep with thy glorious train firm state within his heart. 42Thou messenger of sympathies,43That wax and wane in lovers eyes;44Thou, that to human thought art nourishment,45Like darkness to a dying flame!46Depart not as thy shadow came,47Depart notlest the grave should be,48Like life and fear, a dark reality. 49While yet a boy I sought for ghosts, and sped50Through many a listening chamber, cave and ruin,51And starlight wood, with fearful steps pursuing52Hopes of high talk with the departed dead. 53I calld on poisonous names with which our youth is fed;54I was not heard; I saw them not;55When musing deeply on the lot56Of life, at that sweet time when winds are wooing57All vital things that wake to bring58News of birds and blossoming,59Sudden, thy shadow fell on me;60 I shriekd, and claspd my hands in ecstasy!61I vowd that I would dedicate my powers62To thee and thine: have I not kept the vow?63With beating heart and streaming eyes, even now64I call the phantoms of a thousand hours65Each from his voiceless grave: they have in visiond bowers66Of studious zeal or loves delight67Outwatchd with me the envious night:68They know that never joy illumd my brow69Unlinkd with hope that thou wouldst free70This world from its dark slavery,71That thou, O awful LOVELINESS,72Wouldst give whateer these words cannot express. 73The day becomes more solemn and serene74When noon is past; there is a harmony75In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,76Which through the summer is not heard or seen,77As if it could not be, as if it had not been!78Thus let thy power, which like the truth79Of nature on my passive youth80Descended, to my onward life supply81Its calm, to one who worships thee,82And every form containing thee,83Whom, SPIRIT fair, thy spells did bind84To fear himself, and love all human kind. The Spirit of Classical Hymn in Shelleys Hymn to Intellectual BeautyStyle, Spring, 1999 by John KnapppicSave a personal copy of this article and quickly find it again withFurl.net. Get started now. (Its free.)Richard Cronin has observed that in Shelleys poetry, as in his life andthought, there is an ever-present drive towards a rejection ofconventional controls countered by the recognition that controls,systems, conventions, are humanly necessary (35). These contrary pulls, asCronin calls them, make Shelleys attitude toward literary genreproblematic and make further genre-linked critical approaches to his poetryvery challenging, so much so, in fact, that little genre criticism existsin modern Shelley studies. Yet, as Jennifer Wallace points out, Shelleywas an extraordinarily diverse writer, experimenting with genre far morethan either Keats or Byron and maintaining an active dialogue throughouthis life with the forms offered by literary tradition (4). This is not tosay that Shelleys generic experiments are poetic imitations. Genre forShelley is unfixed and mutable. Envisioning genre as a process . . .subject to the flux of history, he judges poetic accomplishment by thedegree to which a writer expands or modulates generic conventions andconsequently alters them for the future (Cronin 33). Every great poet,Shelley asserts in A Defence of Poetry, must inevitably innovate uponthe example of his predecessors in the exact structure of his peculiarversification (484). The contrary pulls that Cronin detects in Shelleyspoetry, and which problematize the status of genre in the poems, aresometimes activated or exacerbated by Shelleys genre choices. Theyindicate Shelleys sophisticated understanding of the mutability of genrewhile they figure that mutability in the poetry itself. The Hymn to Intellectual Beauty exemplifies how Shelley employs genre andgenre-linked features in innovative and figurative ways. The poem is indialogue with the classical hymn, a genre to which tradition grants unusualstructural flexibility and in which writers, including Shelley, find both apositive support and a challenge to their innovative skill. The classicalhymn presupposes fundamental separation while aspiring to unity, and soprovides Shelley with inherent contrary pulls, or inherent dialectics,congenial with his aim to contain an effusive, inspiring power in poeticform. That Hymn to Intellectual Beauty struggles between containment andeffusion is not disputed by critics today, but Shelleys modern readersrecognize that dialectic as working primarily in language itself. Questionsof genre are frequently passed over, and, despite the generic claim ofShelleys title and the features of classical hymn that appear in the poem,critics are reluctant to come to terms with hymn. In fact , criticaldiscussions of the generic resonances of the Hymn often rest onmisapprehensions about genres that Shelley himself did not share,particularly that genres exist immutably and apply equally to all past andpresent literary works. Adopting a vague exemplar of the Christian hymn,for instance, recent readers of Shelley conclude that the Hymn toIntellectual Beauty is an ironic hymn or simply an ode (Cronin 224; Curran58; Fry 8; Hall 136). Observing the critical confusion surrounding itsgenre, Stuart Curran writes that the poem seems to present us with ageneric crux (58). But largely overlooked by commentators, the traditionof classical hymn can be brought to bear in ways that both supplement ourunderstanding of the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty and illustrate Shelleysshrewd employment of genre to oppose its potential to become fixed andinert. Modern critics of Shelley discern a dialectic of containment and effusionin the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. Primarily, they understand thatdialectic as operating in language itself. For Tilottama Rajan, it is themechanism of a Romantic deconstruction that unfixes, disseminates,disarticulates, and disrupts ostensible meaning and unity, so that thepoem survives not as what it originally was but as a series ofindeterminate self-transformations (292, 283, 296). Shelleys languageunravels the statement to be illustrated through it and intimates hisprofound uneasiness with the relationship of poetic conception andrepresentation (Rajan 281-82). According to Rajan, illustration andrepetition make expression a differential process in Shelleys writing bycreating crevices between the parts of any analogy or between the differentconceptual and figurative planes. The resultant Hymn is a fissuredtext that cannot contain its meaning and that can become poetry onlywith the aid of a reader, who will save it from the disfigurations ofhistory or representation by supplying a unity not in the text (280-81,2). For Rajan, the dialectic of containment and effusion in the Hymn toIntellectual Beauty is detectable in places of linguistic indeterminacy orgaps in representation that call for additions by the reader beyond thefeatures of the original. She claims her approach paradoxically renews theoriginality of the text by liberating it from the tyranny of the originalintention behind it (293).(1)In his detailed analysis of Shelleys perpetual transference from a stateof containment to a state of effusion, Jerrold E. Hogle, like Rajan,conceives literary context in terms of linguistic indeterminacy. For Hogle,transference is a preconscious invasion of awareness that prompts inShelley a conscious will to write that can never recover the originalimpulse exactly as it was (24). Since it impels Shelleys peculiarlanguage, he writes, transference must finally be put in linguisticterms (12). Hogl es remarkably abstract approach (Wallace 17)nevertheless sheds light on an inherently iconoclastic and revolutionarypoetic impulse in Shelley that constantly criticizes any limits that tryto confine it and exploits the tension between established andexperimental methods of composition (Hogle 14). That mobile impulse can beexamined in relation to genre as well as language. Surely, as Hogle pointsout, Shelley strives to modulate canonical thinking about the properstyle and themes of poetry, and he is drawn toward a peculiar combinationof traditional and rebellious techniques of writing, toward modes ofcharacterizing, image shifts, genre choices, stanza arrangements, rhymeschemes, and stances of address (vii) that frequently explode the mostestablished, conventional thought-relations into interconnections withothers that were rarely thought to be analogous before (26-27). ButShelleys conception of genre is of secondary interest to Hogle, whodevelops his theory of transference along dif ferent lines. Like Rajan,Hogle considers linguistic indeterminacy the basis of every stage ofShelleys thinking and writing (18). Generic and stylistic consistenciesin Shelleys poetry become antithetical foils in Hogles subsuming processof transference. His reading of Shelley nevertheless leaves room for acritical approach to Shelleys writing that conceives the dialectic ofcontainment and effusion in generic terms and locates a worksindividuality in relation to generic conventions. The Hymn to Intellectual Beauty has, of course, a linguistic order. Butas Alastair Fowler points out, literary order need not inhere primarily inwords (5). In the Defence, Shelley acknowledges a sublexical literaryorder: The language of poets has ever affected a certain uniform andharmonious recurrence of sound, without which it were not poetry, and whichis scarcely less indispensable to the communication of its influence, thanthe words themselves, without reference to their particular order (484). Critics who inventory the lexical and sublexical features of a literarywork its repertoire can recover patterns, structures, and meanings thathelp to illustrate coherence and communicate meaning. Ascertaining a worksrepertoire is also useful to critics who would relate that work to literarytradition, for repertoires often are generically organized. As Fowlerexplains, superstructural (57) features (rhyme, closure, topic, metricalforms, stanzaic scheme) and common linguistic features (rhetoric, idiom,presentational mode) have a privileged status unqualified by subsequentsound-changes, semantic changes, or changes in convention (256). Whenmarked by a traditionally recognized complex of substantive and formalfeatures (74) that includes a distinctive linear sequence of parts(whether organized typographically or by contents), a literary work can beassociated with at least one genre and, thus, will maintain the continuityof generic descent (60). Continued from page 1. This is not to say that a single set of characteristics can define a genre,that genre boundaries cannot change, or that a work can belong to one genreonly. Shelleys Hymn to Intellectual Beauty includes generic featuresthat suggest it is in dialogue with the classical hymn, but it is not aHomeric hymn, despite family resemblances. The character of genres is thatthey change, writes Fowler; only variations or modifications ofconvention have literary significance (18). A genre, for Shelley, is notcrudely prescriptive. It is a historical process, that is, a set ofconventions subject to the flux of history (Cronin 33). In Shelleys view,genres are mobile and ever-changing; they are bound up in perpetualtransference. A poem has artistic significance for Shelley only if itmodulates or departs from its generic conventions and restyles them for thefuture: Every great poet must inevitably innovate upon the example ofhis predecessors in the exact structure of his peculiar versification(Defence 48 4). Shelley remains suspicious of the communicative efficacy of traditionalgenres, however, and he adopts a particular form only after considerabledeliberation. As a number of critics have observed, Shelleys assertion inthe Defence of Poetry, when composition begins, inspiration is alreadyon the decline, underscores his ambivalence about poetry as a medium oftransmission (504).(2) For Shelley, writing poetry necessarily involves thedegradation or distortion of inspiration; inspiration is inevitablycompromised when it takes material form. Indeed, Paul Cantor points out, heregards the collapse of imaginative vision into fixed form as thefundamental fall (92-93). Shelleys view makes the status of genre in hiswriting problematic, but he is far from regarding poetry, or indeed theentire history of literature, as a mere record of failures. Nor does heregard the examples of literary history as necessarily fixed. Compositionbegins despite declining inspiration, and in a few remarkable cases ther esult is enduring poetry. Shelley explains in the Defence that, at least in part, efficientcommunication relies on the appropriation of a suitable poetic structure. Only supreme poets can subdue the evanescent visitations of divinityunder the light yoke of poetic form without complete devitalization (485,505). Such writers are, in Shelleys view, spirits of the most refinedorganization, whose poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and mostbeautiful in the world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which hauntthe interlunations of life, and veiling them, or in language or in form,sends them forth among mankind, bearing sweet news of kindred joy to thosewith whom their sisters abide (505). Shelleys objective as a poet is toredeem from decay these visitations of the divinity in man and thereby tojoin the ranks of foremost poets. Despite acknowledging the existence ofelite poets and enduring poetry, however, Shelley questions thecommunicative efficacy of the established literary forms. Dante,Shakespeare, Milton, and other supreme poets capable of perceiving andteaching the truth of things have employed traditional forms in order tocommunicate t hat truth (485). But how viable would traditional forms be inShelleys own hands? In the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Shelley wrestleswith a literary tradition for which he has great esteem, of which hedesires to be a part, and upon which he aims to innovate. Appropriately, Shelleys poem is in dialogue with classical hymn, one ofthe oldest and most neglected genres in that tradition, which conveys thesingers reverence for his subject, desire to do it justice, and, often,anxiety about his own compositional skill. Because Coleridge, Wordsworth,Byron, and other contemporary poets had failed to revitalize the dormantclassical hymn, Shelley would test his resuscitative and innovative skillsunhindered by competition. Shelleys knowledge of Greek literature allowedhim to realize the heterogeneity of ancient writers and to reflect thatvariation in his own writing (Wallace 4). His familiarity with classicalhymn is confirmed by his translations of the Homeric Hymns, begun roughly ayear after the composition of the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. AndShelley is attracted to the genre for a number of reasons. Tradition grantswide latitude to composers of classical hymns; as a result, the genre isunusually flexible. Works in the genre are not characterized by meter orlength and are often mixed with other genres, including epic and elegy(Cairns 92). All classical hymns address gods, but the composer or singeris by no means bound to believe in them, nor is the writer precluded fromsyncretizing them, obscuring them, or altering religious or philosophicaldoctrine associated with them. Callimachus, who takes his gods seriouslyonly as literary figures, provides Shelley with a firm atheistic precedent. Since classical hymn must reckon with fundamental separation (of singer anddeity, of human and divine, of temporal and eternal) while aspiring toreturn and integration, the genre is congenial to the dialectic ofcontainment and effusion that Shelley develops in the Hymn to IntellectualBeauty. Even in prose, Shelley describes the influx of inspiration in theterms of hymn, as the union of divinity and humanity: It is as it were theinterpenetration of a diviner nature through our own (Defence 504). Shelleys gods exist and can be worshipped only in, or by means of, poetry. In the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, he presents himself as a modernclassical hymnist who will expand the tradition by apostrophizing,describing, and praying to a unique migratory divinity in an innovativeway. He also figures the brief visitations and departures of that divinity(or activates the dialectic of containment and effusion) structurally andstylistically by employing and by altering a number of the classical hymnsgeneric conventions. The only classical hymns that survive before the year 400 BC are ascribedto Homer; Shelley translated seven of these between 1817 and 1820. Thethirty-three extant Homeric Hymns are hexameter oral compositions that werepreserved later in writing. There is little firm knowledge about thecircumstances surrounding their composition and performance, but criticsgenerally agree that the hymns were presented at public feasts, festivals,and religious occasions (Clay 6-7). Thucydides refers to the Homeric Hymnto Apollo as a prelude, which would have been chanted by a rhapsode beforean epic recitation, and a number of the Homeric Hymns presumably servedsuch a function (Evelyn-White xxxiv). Although they range in length from ahandful of lines to several hundred, and address numerous divinities, theHomeric Hymns share recognizable linguistic and superstructural featuresthat organize the works and establish a distinct generic repertoire.(3)They are predominantly narrative pieces with subsidiary ly ric sections. They appear in a linear sequence of parts: exordium, exposition, andperoration. A firm decorum of subject relates the hymns to the actions andattributes of the Olympian gods. The hymns presuppose a special stylisticattitude of inferior to superior, particularly of supplicant to deity. Theyfollow an interlaced or discontinuous pattern of action. Their epideictic,elaborate, and elevated rhetorical style is fitting for the honoring ofgods. Most of these features are not discrete aspects but functiontogether in the poetic context with other characteristics (Rollinson 22). Of course, there is nothing like exact equivalence from hymn to hymn. Thegreat disparity merely between the length of the Homeric hymns To Zeusand To Hermes precludes any one-to-one correspondence. Nevertheless,there is a kinship about the Homeric Hymns and a sequence of influence andimitation that proceed from them to the hymns of Callimachus, Cleanthes,and the Roman Emperor Julian, all the way to Shelleys Hymn toIntellectual Beauty. This tradition connects the works generically whileallowing wide variation. Philip Rollinson outlines the tripartite structure of exordium, exposition,and peroration introduced in the Homeric Hymns and shows that it is amongthe most pervasive and influential characteristics in subsequent classicalhymns (16). The Homeric Hymns generally begin with an exordium, whichincludes an invocation and often an apostrophe to the god praised, proceedto an exposition describing some of the deitys basic attributes or acts,and close with a perorational prayer or salutation to that deity. Even theshorter Homeric Hymns tend to follow this pattern, as the hymn ToHephaestus illustrates:Continued from page 2. Sing, clear-voiced Muse, of Hephaestus famed for inventions. With bright-eyed Athene he taught men glorious crafts throughout the world, men whobefore used to dwell in caves in the mountains like wild beasts. But nowthat they have learned crafts through Hephaestus the famed worker, easilythey live a peaceful life in their own houses the whole year round. Be gracious, Hephaestus, and grant me success and prosperity! (Hesiod 447)The tripartite structure of the Homeric Hymns organizes and incorporatesother genre-linked features, including the singers reference to himself inthe first person, a catalog of epithets describing the god, and recurringrhetorical formulae that introduce narrative sections and close the hymns. Like the Homeric epic, familiar features in the Homeric Hymns make iteasier for listeners to pay attention while simultaneously educating andinstructing them. Further, consistent patterns in the individual HomericHymns confirm the works as members of a particular genre, one that aims toinstruct listeners in the propriety of invoking and worshipping theOlympian gods. Formal patterns and generic identification, therefore, bearupon the meaning of the Homeric Hymns. In his six imitations and adaptations of the longer Homeric Hymns, theAlexandrian poet Callimachus modulates and varies the generic conventionshe inherited (Rollinson 22). The Callimachean hymns range in length from 95(To Zeus) to 326 lines (To Delos) and follow the pattern of exordium,exposition, and peroration. They include descriptive epithets for the gods,first person references to the singer, and sections narrating rituals ormyths associated with the deity praised, and they instruct listeners in theproper means of praise. But as Rollinson points out, Callimachuss hymnsare very skillfully constructed artifices that reveal the composersdistinctly literary ambition (25). Their structural details,rhetorically ornamented formality, and emphasis on the display ofhistorical, geographical, and mythological erudition sharply distinguishthem from their Homeric predecessors. For instance, Callimachus abandons strict hexameter lines for elegiaccouplets in On the Bath of Pallas (Hymn 5). At one point he introducescontemporary persons and events in To Delos, lavishing praise on hispatron, Ptolemy Philadelphus, another god, the most highest lineage of theSaviours (Hymn 4, lines 165-66). In To Apollo, Callimachus gives agenealogy of his native Cyrene, and lists the city among the most blessedof Apollo (Hymn 2). The status of the Olympians becomes problematic in theCallimachean hymns. Callimachus, Rollinson writes, did not take hisOlympians seriously at all, except as literary tools (32). He gives them anew relevance that is not religious, but purely literary (26). The godsare imaginative springboards for Callimachus. He exploits their richmythological associations in order to showcase his learning, to questionthe veracity of previous accounts, and to ornament the formal patterning ofthe hymns. Reflecting an Alexandrian literary appreciation of the gods andach ieving a very high degree of structural organization and technicalfinish in his hymns, Callimachus consequently alters the conventions ofclassical hymn for the future (22). International Business Ventures EssayPerhaps it is appropriate that, attempting to join tradition by subduingthe brief visitations of inspiration and harboring suspicions about thetransmissive efficacy of traditional poetic forms and genres, Shelleyshould compose a poem in dialogue with a genre fraught with dialectics. Shelley brings to the genre a nontraditional divinity that is accessible bymeans of neither doctrine nor reason, but by poetry only. He does notintend to teach or elucidate divinitys principles, but to show that itsprinciples cannot be taught or elucidated. Because classical hymn grapplesfundamentally with the problem of containing and expressing the divine andthe ineffable, the genre proves to be a positive support and building-blockfor Shelley. Genre-linked features of classical hymn also reinforce Shelleys stylistictroping of containment and effusion, to which we now turn. Even beforereading it, readers are aware of the unique stanzaic form of the Hymn toIntellectual Beauty, merely because of the way the poem appears on thepage. Shelley appropriates a homostanzaic (one recurrent stanza) patternwith a rigid program of indentation instead of the irregular strophes andverse paragraphing he uses in other poems of this period, includingAlastor and Mont Blanc. Shelleys translations of the Homeric Hymns,most of which are written in heroic couplets, suggest that he believesclassical hymn adhere to a systematic formal pattern. His original worksbearing the title of hymn or ode also demonstrate Shelleys tendency towardtypographical regularity. Of Shelleys eight multi-stanza hymns, five arestanzaically uniform; of his five poems designated as odes, only the Odeto Naples is stanzaically irregular (although it is composed in repeatingP indaric triads of strophe, antistrophe, and epode). In the remaining odeshe employs a single, recurrent stanza. Since Shelley composes homostanzaichymns and odes with such frequency, it is difficult to ascertain thestructural distinction he draws between the two genres. Indeed, manycommentators assume that Shelley makes no distinction.(7)The elaborate typography of the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty suggests thatit is a contained whole, its continuity fully in Shelleys control. Henever veers from the poems stanzaic uniformity. The twelve-line stanza ofthe Hymn, which appears to be original with Shelley, employs threedifferent line lengths, a distinct pattern of indentation, and a strictabbaaccbddee rhyme scheme.(8) For Shelley, it is a beneficial support. Itoffers a proportioned space in which to write and by which to order hisexperience by during composition (Fowler 31). The stanza also offers achallenge by enticing Shelley to transcend its boundaries stylistically. Asstanza 6 illustr ates, Shelley seems to show off the very form by which heintends to contain the Spirit of Beauty:I vowed that I would dedicate my powersTo thee and thine have I not kept the vow?With beating heart and streaming eyes, even nowI call the phantoms of a thousand hoursEach from his voiceless grave: they have in visioned bowersOf studious zeal or loves delightOutwatched with me the envious night They know that never joy illumed my browUnlinked with hope that thou wouldst freeThis world from its dark slavery,That thou O awful Loveliness,Wouldst give whateer these words cannot express. (61-72)Shelley uses a rigid pattern of indentation to exploit the contrary pullsof formal continuity and discontinuity. The first five lines emphasizeregularity and containment. Indentation corresponds to rhyme. The first,fourth, and fifth lines are left-justified and rhyme; the second and thirdlines are indented identically and rhyme. Only the fifth line, a hexameter,varies from the pentameter norm. As the stanza develops, the symmetry ofthe initial lines is compromised by a sudden elasticity in line-length andindentation. Indentation for the last seven lines corresponds to meter,with tetrameter lines indented the farthest. The sixth, seventh, ninth, andtenth lines are tetrameters and rhyme. The eighth line rhymes with thesecond and third, and is likewise pentameter, but a string of interveningrhyming couplets enfeebles that correspondence. Structural symmetry iscompromised as the stanza develops; in the lower half of each Hymnstanza, Shelleys lines expand and contract like a beating heart (63). Looking at the mechanisms of prosody that operate within the Hymn toIntellectual Beauty, one gains a broader view of how Shelley structuresthe genre-linked dialectic of containment and effusion. Since the classicalhymn does not have a fixed form, Shelley need not adhere to a particularmeter, rhyme scheme, or stanzaic arrangement. Nevertheless, he composes thepoem in a demanding metrical and structural pattern. Shelley uses rhyme,varying line-length, repetition, and assonance to emphasize the poemsstructural boundaries and to suggest visual and aural integrity. Thesedevices help establish sublexical order in the poem, including a uniformand harmonious recurrence of sound, which, for Shelley, is indispensableto any poetry capable of communicating its influence (Defence 484). Atthe same time, Shelley enfigures effusion by use of enjambments andcaesurae (which disrupt the poems syntax) and by use of what JohnHollander calls the bridging, associating, linking function of rhyme andother pr osodic devices (119). Linking words, lines, and stanzas, Shelleyestablishes an expanding chain of figures and sounds that often seems toextend and operate outside of poetic form. Shelley is thus able toapproximate the passing of the migratory Spirit of Beauty. As Harold Bloomremarks, the Hymn communicates a vision whose reality is, and can onlybe, embodied in a chain of metaphors; a single metaphor could not fit theevanescent nature of the phenomenon that is the poems theme (37). Shelleyactivates lexical and sublexical figures to produce this intricate chain. Continued from page 6. Numerous enjambments and caesurae in the Hymn to Intellectual Beautyoffset the primary typographical metaphor of containment and magnify theimpression of effusion, not through any linking function, but by jarringthe poems syntax and opening up alternative, short-lived syntacticstrains. In their very abruptness, the structural impositions of enjambmentand caesurae figure the sudden disappearance of the Spirit of Beauty fromthe grasp of the singer. Over a third of the poems eighty-four lines areenjambed, producing periodic disjunctions between syntax and lineboundaries. In nearly half of the Hymn, caesurae break the syntax withinline boundaries. An overview of this dispersion shows Shelley movingfurther away from uninterrupted syntax as the Hymn proceeds. Whereasstanza I contains only two caesurae within line boundaries, central stanza4 and concluding stanza 7 contain nine syntactic interruptions apiece. From the poems opening lines, the dialectic of containment and effusion inthe Hymn to Intellectual Beauty is apparent, structurally andstylistically:The awful shadow of some unseen PowerFloats though unseen amongst us, visitingThis various world with as inconstant wingAs summer winds that drift from flower to flower. (1-4)This is a power that transcends the tangible landscape, making its verymateriality seem false (Watson 206). The power itself is thrice removed, aninvisible shadow further distanced through simile. In the above quatrain,enjambment works to extend the separation between singer and Spirit to theverge of imperceptibility. Shelley stresses the transitory by cutting offhis lines at unseen Power (1), visiting (2), and inconstant wing (3),and then leaving these already transitory terms to dissolve quickly intothe empty space beyond each line. The linking function of rhyme heredestabilizes the quatrain. Although Power and flower rhyme, theintervening and feebler visiting / wing rhyme, along with therepetition of flower in line 4, weaken the resonance of the enveloperhyme. In the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Shelley establishes a sense ofstability in the first stanza by means of repetition, but it is immediatelycompromised because the repeated words, unseen, inconstant, andvisit, are not associated with stability (1-3, 6). He uses the wordlike five times in the first stanza, and each time it introduces atemporal simile. Summer winds, moonbeams, shades of evening, clouds, andmemories of music come and go, like the Spirit of Beauty, without regardfor human desire (5, 8-11). In this series of similies, as Bloom notes,instead of creating an impression of containment, all of the naturalcitation is wavering (37). In the stanzas last line, the singer stressesand repeats how dear the Spirit is to him, Dear, and yet dearer for itsmystery (Hymn 12). But his use of the comparative suggests that theinscrutability of the Spirit is more precious than any of its temporaryavatars. In addition to suggesting the Spirits inscrutability, the finalword in stanza 1, mystery , leaves both reader and singer uncertain oftheir ability to apprehend the Spirit within the poetic trappings of theHymn.Containment and continuity are reasserted in the opening lines of stanza 2,but these qualities fail and fade as quickly as they appear. It is as ifreaders were expected to share the singers hopelessness upon eachdisappearance of divinity:Spirit of Beauty, that dost consecrateWith thine own hues all thou dost shine uponOf human thought and form, where art thou gone?Why dost thou pass away and leave our state,This dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolate? (13-17)Shelley continues to enfigure containment and evanescence by employingindentation, enjambment, caesurae, line length, and assonance. The firstquatrain again displays the symmetry produced by indentation. But itsinitial line, split by a medial caesura into two segments syllabicallyequal, undermines this symmetry. The Spirit of Beauty and its consecratingpower are separated: linear disruption compromises t he Spirits integrity. In lines 14-15, Shelleys enjambment of all thou dost shine upon / Ofhuman thought creates at least two interpretive strains without disruptingthe stanzas syntax. One might read line 14 as a description of theSpirits infinity: it makes sacred every single thing it shines upon. Butthe syntax spills rapidly into line 15, making it evident that the Spiritof Beauty specifically illuminates human beings and their produced forms. The Spirit consecrates all . . . / . . . of human thought and form onwhich it shines: all is qualified by human in lines 14-15. Shelleysenjambment here suggests that the Spirit of Beauty is uncontainable at onemoment and confined to human minds and art forms at another. To make thestatus of divinity even more problematic, Shelley allows neither of thesestrains to prevail. Created and sustained by enjambment, the firstdissolves as the next line is read. The second strain is abruptly cut offby a medial caesura in line 15. Just as the singer apprehends divinity, itevaporates: where art thou gone?Shelley employs the hexameter in stanza 2 with particular figurativeefficacy. Following the light pentameter of line 16, which approximates theswift departure of the Spirit of Beauty, the hexameters heavily accentedmonosyllables dim vast vale of tears, top-heavy disyllabic vacant andtrisyllabic desolate, /a/ assonance, and repeating phonemes /v/, /d/, and/t/ underscore and prolong the singers ho pelessness upon the Spiritsabrupt departure. The accumulation of syllables in the hexameter gives way,just as abruptly, to the tetrameter of line 18 (Ask why the sunlight notforever), calling attention again to the linear elasticity of the lowerhalf of the Hymn stanza and to the brevity of the Spirits visit. The closing couplet of stanza 2 why man has such a scope / For love andhate, despondency and hope? (23-24) offers another example of howShelley exploits the implications of line and stanza-ending to underminestructural continuity. Shelley weakens the stanzas and couplets effectsof closure by ending with a question. The question reverberates across thestanzaic break before the singer informs us that it cannot be answered inany poetry or by any metaphysical inquiry: No voice from some sublimerworld hath ever / To sage or poet these responses given (25-26). Shelleyhas actually intimated the unanswerability of this question in the asking,by playing off its scope (23). At the end of line 23, the questionappears to be an inquiry into the (presumably vast) extent of humanintellect and is left open by the enjambment after scope. But Shelleyabruptly restricts that scope to the non-rational qualities of love andhate, despondency and hope in line 24. The seemingly unhindered range ofhuman bei ngs is thus reduced to a view determined by irrational powers andvery limited in extent. Shelley implies that the possibilities for a returnto or union with the sublimer world are diminished by humanitysmisreading of its own scope (25). In the manner of Julians hymns, the singer narrates in stanza 5sexposition his personal experience of union with divinity. Shelleyreinforces the union by figuring it in meter and rhyme. The Spirit ofBeauty descends on the singer unexpectedly, in swift tetrameter, anddissolves along with the singers extacy in the very next line (60). Shelley places this brief rhapsodic union (the sheer sublimity of whichobliterates all of the Frail spells and poisonous names that can besqueezed into a hexameter) within stanza 5s closing couplet, that is,within a mere two of the Hymn's eighty-four lines: Sudden, thy shadowfell on me;! I shrieked, and clasped my hands in extacy! (29, 53, 59-60). The associative chain produced by the provocative feminine off-rhymes,ruin / pursuing / wooing / blossoming, parallels the growingintensity of action in stanza 5 leading up to the climactic final couplet(50, 51,56, 58). It also traces the developmental stages of the singer thatled to his encounter with the Spirit of Beauty. Continued from page 7. Just as the singers devotion to the Spirit reaches a new level followingthe Spirits descent, the poems syntax takes on a new degree ofaccommodation in the peroration in stanza 7. The Spirit of Beauty issomewhat more subdued, for it now inspires calm instead of extacy (81,60). The singer, too, seems more at ease. His focus is on his onward liferather than the dark reality of the grave, and he recognizes a sereneharmony and lustre where he once saw adim vast vale of tears, vacantand desolate (80, 47-48, 73-75, 17). The passive youth who once wanderedthe starlight wood now appreciates the harmony of an autumn afternoon(79, 51,74-75). The final couplet in the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty,however, upsets this tranquillity:Whom, Spirit fair, thy spells did bindTo fear himself, and love all human kind. (83-84)This is a tightly-knit ending, predominantly iambic and reinforced byrhyme. But the sense of formal containment is countered by a subtle senseof disruption. Three caesurae interrupt the syntax of the couplet. Thebreak at line 83, like those at lines 14 and 23, establishes at least twointerpretive strains: the first associates human beings with metaphysicalpower; the second revokes this power and circumscribes human beings withinvery particular earthly limits. Shelley frees his syntax from a singlestrain by paradoxically using bind at the point of enjambment. At the endof line 83, the singer is bound to a boundless Spirit. In the next line,however, we find that the singer is not bound to the Spirit of Beauty afterall. He is specifically bound To fear himself, and love all human kind(84). This, it appears, is the obligation of singer, devotee, and reader;one might be tempted to interpret this as atheistic doctrine. But as wehave seen, Shelley aims in the Hymn to avoid the didacticism of previousclassical hymns. He does not wish to add to the long line of Frail spellsand uttered charms that distort the vital poetic ideas inspiring them(29). The final line of the poem , which may appear to be doctrinal, isambiguous. Shelley does not specify whether fear denotes mistrust,respect, doubt, or reverence. As the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty ends,the syntax again begins to open up. Yet Shelleys solemn and serene andcongregational final image, of human unity in the service of an inspiringSpirit and in the face of transience, is another reminder of the classicalhymns peroration and a sign that Shelleys dialogue with that genre isopen until the end of the Hymn (73). Shelley has managed both to mediate a number of opposing qualities in theHymn to Intellectual Beauty and to keep his synthesizing consciousnessintact (Curran 78). The poem is a precarious mediation of enclosure andeffusion, separateness and union, innovation and convention one thatleaves many tensions unresolved. Appropriately, the Hymn is in dialoguewith the classical hymn, a genre linked by convention to such dialecticsand granted wide structural variability by literary tradition. Shelley doesnot imitate a particular example of classical hymn, but employs a number ofits genre-linked features to transcend the limitations established byprevious works in the genre. In the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, just asCallimachus, Cleanthes, and Julian restyle the Homeric Olympians and thegenre-linked features of the Homeric Hymns, Shelley also employs theresources of hymn to restyle time-worn values associated with the genre. Shelley introduces a personal, non-traditional deity that exists only inpoetry. Knowledge of this deity is derived neither by doctrine nor reason,but only through patterns of internal consistencies and disruptions in thepoem itself. As the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty demonstrates, patternsbrought to light through the analysis of genre affect meaning in Shelleyspoetry, and while genre criticism is not the whole of criticism, it makesan invaluable contribution to Shelley studies because it helps toillustrate the coherence of works that might otherwise appear enigmatic orindeterminate. Notes1 Rajan points to the association in the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty ofdarkness to a dying flame (45) as a paradigmatic instance of a Shelleyanrepresentational gap or place of indeterminacy. In this instance, shewrites, An idea is embodied in a figure whose subtext generates adifferent and autonomous idea (Rajan 286). The figure of darkness canseem to continue the idea of beauty as fostering human development, butRajan regards this reading as secondary to the one that suggests darknesssmothers the dying flame (286). The point is well-raised, but if Shelleysmeaning is vacuous, as Rajan argues it is, attending to primary connotationseems to compromise the aim to be free of the tyranny of the originalintention (293). 2 See esp. Cantor 92-93 and Wolfson 912. 3 For a discussion of the major Homeric Hymns (To Apollo, To Hermes,To Aphrodite, and To Demeter) as a genre that bridges archaic Greektheogonic and epic poetry, see Clay 3-16. 4 I cite Julian by manuscript section number as presented in the LoebClassical Library edition of his works. 5 For a helpful explanation of Julians syncretized and philosophical gods,see Wilmer Cave Wrights introductions to Julians hymns (348-51; 439-41). Rollinson also provides useful information on Julians hymn innovations (28-32). 6 For an extensive survey of the classical hymn tradition during theRenaissance, with particular emphasis on Spenser and Marullo, see Rollinson(50-155). See also Schlueter (esp. 214-50), who claims that a secondarytradition of classical hymn, with a particular hymnic model, wasintroduced during the Renaissance by Sidney and Milton and continued byGray, Collins, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats (244). Drawing onthe rhetorician Menanders description of the hymnos kletikos, Schlueterconceives this model as a tripartite structure similar to the one positedby Rollinson and discussed here. Schlueter provides few examples, however,to buttress his argument that Shelleys To Night is in dialogue with, orinnovating upon, the primary tradition of classical hymn. 7 Shelleys hymns include the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, the Hymn ofPan, and Hymn of Apollo, and translations of seven Homeric hymns. Hisodes include Ode to Heaven, Ode to the West Wind, Ode to Spain, Odeto Naples, and Ode to Liberty. Shelleys Hymn to the Sun consists oftwo twelve-line stanzas in heroic couplets, and the Hymn to Mercury ispresented in ninety-seven stanzas of ottava rima. Of Shelleys remaininghymns, two are composed in irregular strophes (To the Moon and To theEarth, Mother of All), two are a single stanza long (To Castor andPollux and To Mercury), and one is incomplete (To Venus). 8 Critical notice of the form of Shelleys Hymn, particularly of itstwelve-line stanza, has been cursory. In their respective studies of thepoem, Harold Bloom, Stuart Curran, Paul Fry, and Susan Wolfson do notinvestigate the unique Hymn stanza. Among the few references to thisstanza, Ernst Haublein observes merely that stanzas of ten, eleven, ortwelve lines hardly occur in English poetry . . . Shelley has a twelveline stanza in Hymn to Intellectual Beauty,' (33). David Robertson, inhis comparison of Shelleys hymn and Psalm 90, notes that Shelley choosesa very demanding stanzaic form (twelve iambic lines, the first four ofwhich are pentameter, the fifth hexameter, the next six tetrameter, and thelast pentameter, with rhyme scheme abbaaccbddee) and invariably adheres tothat form (63). Shelleys stanza is in fact pentameter at line eight; onlyin the first stanza is line eight tetrameter. Curran suggests, as Bloomdoes to a lesser degree, that Shelleys Hymn responds antithetically toColerid ges Hymn Before Sunrise,' written in 1802 (Curran 58; Bloom 11;35). Formally, the two works are quite different. Coleridges Hymn iswritten in blank verse and appears in eight irregular strophes; ShelleysHymn is homostanzaic and follows strict rhyme and indentation schemes. Although the twelve-line stanza of Shelleys Hymn is unique, similarstructures are used elsewhere by Coleridge, Thomas Gray and Sir WilliamJones. Coleridges Ode to the Departing Year (1796) contains a twelve-line strophe that appears twice and is very similar to Shelleys Hymnstanza. The single difference in rhyme scheme shows at line 5, whereColeridge has a b rhyme, Shelley an a. Coleridges alexandrine is placed atstanzas end, while Shelleys is placed at line 5. Only two tetrameterlines (a couplet) appear in the Coleridge strophe, their indentationmatching the two previous rhyming couplets. To illustrate the similarity ofShelleys and Coleridges typography, here is the first strophe from Odeto the Departing Year:

Oroonoko And Narrator Role Essays - Novellas, Oroonoko, Behn

Oroonoko And Narrator Role In Oroonoko, Behn establishes her authority within the opening lines and consistently reminds her audience of her position as narrator by mentioning her personal role in the story. In the second paragraph, Behn establishes this authority by saying, "I was myself an eyewitness to a great part of what you will find here set down, and what I could not be witness of, I received from the mouth of the chief actor in this history, the hero himself who gave us the whole transactions of his youth...(1867) In this passage, Behn uses first person and testifies that she was indeed a personal acquaintance of Oroonoko. She also says that Oroonoko gave her his life history from his own mouth. The rest of Oroonoko, Behn was herself, "an eyewitness". This also means that the author and the narrator are one single entity. Behn acknowledges that it is she who writes this story, through her own narration. In other words, the narrator is not a character of the story, but the authoritative author. Throughout the first half of the story, Behn maintains an aura of authority through various devices. She speaks to her readers almost as if in an informal conversation, using contractions such as "'em". Behn also frequently uses asides such as in the following, "There is a certain ceremony in these cases to be observed, which I forgot to ask him how performed; but 'twas concluded on both sides that, in obedience to him..." (1872) In this Behn draws her readers into an intimate account of a personal story. To strengthen her position, Behn's account is wrought with detail. One would assume that the readers of her time would be quite unfamiliar with her subject matter, so she seeks to enlighten with descriptions of detail. For example, Behn describes Oroonoko, "[h]e was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied. The most famous statuary could not form the figure.... His face was not of that brown, rusty black which most of that nation are, but a perfect ebony or polished jet. His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing, the white of'em being like snow, as were his teeth. His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat; his mouth the finest shaped that could be seen..."(1871) Without this detail that Behn paints, her readers could not have such a clear picture, but because she was there, she has taken it upon herself to provide her audience with a clear image. Behn also made a statement about Christianity by comparing Oroonoko's morality with that of the Christian men. "For the captain had protested to him upon the word of a Christian, and sworn in the name of a great God, which he should violate, he would expect eternal torment in the world to come." Behn then includes Oroonoko's retort, "Let him know I swear by my honor; which to violate, would not only render me contemptible and despised by all brave and honest men..." (1886) Through Behn's depiction of the two men, the captain and Oroonoko, she expresses the contrasting moral values, thus making a strong point about her own culture. As the author and narrator, she exercises her authority to do so, making simultaneously, a point about her position of authority. Had she not been able to represent, in herself, a position of authority, she would not have taken such a stance. Finally, in the closing lines of her story, Behn acknowledges that she, "by the reputation of her pen" has the authority to convey such a story. In those innocent six words, Behn not only acknowledges her authority of Oroonoko's story, but her own greatness as author as well.

Twain essays

Twain essays Drifting toward Freedom In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain, through the character Huck, tells the story of a young boys coming of age amidst the conflicts and constraints of mid-1800s society. A recurring theme throughout the novel is the conflict between society and the individual. As Twain developed the plot he was able to to weave in his criticism of society. The idyllic life on the raft contrasts sharply with the deceit, greed, and prejudice found on the shores of the Mississippi. For Huck and Jim, the River serves as a refuge from the crippling values of the dry land of civilization. The river embodies the freedom for which Huck and Jim were searching. These two runaways - one a slave, the other an uneducated, and defiant boy - attempt to build a sanctuary from civilization upon their raft. It is here on the river that they can experience what it is like to be truly free from the expectations of society. Huck longs for nothing more than an escape from the harsh cruelties of sivilization so he lit out...and was free and satisfied(Twain). The river offers Huck refuge from a society so corrupt, that it would place a young boy in the hands of a drunken and abusive father. On the river Huck is finally able to be himself. He is free to make his own choices and form his own opinions. Jim, a slave, is not even considered as a real person, but as property, yet he was free, while on the raft, to live and think as any white man. Jim speaks with great compassion of saving money buy his wife..and...work[ing] to buy the two children(Twain 75). The dialogue between Huck and Jim also illustrates the fact that Jim is more than someone's property. He is a human being with feelings, and hopes for a better future. The river represents opportunity and chance at the freedom and equality that civilization lacks. ...

Aint No Makin It

In this paper I will explore some concepts that I saw that were prevalent in her undercover research. Weberian Sociology The first concept that I immediately grasped was Max Weber’s theory of stratification of equality. Weber’s view of stratification differed from the one-dimensional class theory of Karl Marx. Weber theorized that there are three different factors that help shape class formation, class status, and party. All but the latter of the three were evident in the book. The first notion of Weber’s notion on class stated that people with common occupations, earning approximately similar incomes, constitute a class. Marger p. 39) In each city that she worked in the living conditions and earnings were about the same, most of her coworkers had living arrangements that involved sharing housing with someone other than their spouse, if they had one. Another trait that was displayed from here coworkers in each city was the proximity of where they lived into relat ion to where they worked. Transportation plays a key role in life chances for people. If a person is mobile they may go for that higher paying job on the other side of town. Weber’s second theory of social stratification of inequality, status, was made evident while Barbara was working in Maine. While Barbara worked in Maine as a maid she noticed how convenience store clerks, who made $. 65 less than she made an hour, look at her and her coworkers as if they were beneath them. Another example of this was when she stated that everywhere she went people looked at the uniform and instantly regarded her and her coworkers as lower class citizens. People saw there green and yellow uniforms like the white and black stripes of a convict and that their style of life isn’t as good as people in their social class. One particular instance when she bought a beer from the grocery store she could feel the cold stares that implied that the reason she had that maid job was because all her money was going to support her alcohol habit; even though Barbara has a PH. D and probably made more money than many of them all they saw was a lower class citizen. Social Mobility Another sociological concept that prevalent of the working poor that was portrayed in the book was the theory of social mobility. It will be difficult for many of Barbara’s ex-coworkers to ever move into a different class because mobility rates in the U. S. have been on a decline over the past five decades. It is said in America that everyone can lace up their boots and pull themselves out of poverty but mobility is getting harder to accomplish. One factor of mobility is marriage; statistical data has said that women that never marry are 16% to 19% more likely to fall out of the middle class. Barbara worked with three females, Gail, Annette, and Marianne, who all fell into this statistic. Two of the three women lived with boyfriends but since they were not married it will be statically harder to make their way up the class ladder . Married women usually benefit from their husbands class and prestige; â€Å"shacking up† is not conducive to women making a climb up the ladder. Gender is another factor that hinders mobility; although the workplace has gotten better the fact still remains that women are still far behind men. In this system of inequality women have to work harder and are not usually respected as much as men. In lower paying jobs, like the ones Barbara worked, most of her coworkers were woman with a man being their immediate supervisor; the only exception was Linda which was her supervisor at the nursing home she worked at in Maine. This injustice to women played a major role in her life as an undercover journalist. Immigration to United States also dictates class mobility. Barbara worked with people from Haiti and the Czech Republic. The movement of immigrants moving up the class ladder is getting harder to accomplish. The lower paying jobs that they had were jobs that many Americans do not want to do but Americans blame the immigrants for taking â€Å"good† jobs away from naturalized citizens, which in all actuality the immigrates create as many jobs as they take. (Marger p. 34) The current trend is that Americans look at unskilled foreign citizens as a burden and hindrance to the economic growth to America. Americans forget that their great great grandfathers and great – great grandmothers came to this country looking for a better opportunity for their families and that they often had to jobs and work in conditions that most people did not want to work in. The lack of generational mobility was also displayed in the book. Social mobility can also be measured from one generation to another, how well the children of the previous generation do in their lives and workplace. I mentioned earlier that one of the women who Barbara worked with was unmarried, Annette, well she has another tribulation that will hinder her movement up the social ladder; she lives with her mom. Instead of creating upward mobility for herself and her family she has gone down, Annette’s mother worked as a postal clerk. The social mobility of Annette’s family took a vertical turn downward and it’s highly unlikely that her life chances will promote upward growth. Horatio Alger Jr. The mythical days of success stories portrayed in Horatio Alger Jr. s books are long gone. Horatio Alger Jr. wrote and published stories were young men were able to change their class system and life chances by working hard to gain economic and social success. (Marger p. 98) In his stories the young man always worked hard and had good moral values to make it out of poverty. This concept inspired workers back then but the farce of the books still apply in today’s society. One far ce of his books is that one can work harder only by working hard. A person can work hard all their lives and still not vertically move up the social ladder. One question that rises to me is what the definition of hard work is; is hard work physical, mental, and/or both. In the book Barbara worked so hard that she had to ingest a heap of ibuprofen pills just to make it through the day; the deterioration of her body showed that she worked hard but the fact remained that neither Barbara or her coworkers could not move up the corporate ladder in the companies that they worked at. Alger Jr. Books also portrayed young men as heroes, excluding women, minorities, and immigrants. Times have changed since his books were published; there are women, minorities, and immigrants in the modern workforce. These groups have entered the Caucasian male driven workforce to have the same opportunities of their white counterparts. Although in modern times the inequality of the groups has closed a meniscal amount each year those groups will never be the same across the board. Social Functions of Poverty The 2nd part of poverty, the political economy of capitalism, according to structural sociologist explains that poverty results from the way the economy and government operate. America is set to be a capitalistic society; in capitalistic society corporations profit first objective. Corporations decide where to do business and structure employment and employee hours to maximize profits. The inequality of these practices was blatant in every city that Barbara worked in. Barbara first victimized to this practice while working as a waitress at the Hearthside Diner. The diner did not have a break room for employees. The employees were not allowed to have idle time, there was always something to clean, resupply, or make more visually pleasing. The objective of this was to get the employees to work continuously through their shifts without breaks. The practice of this theory could also be seen while Barbara was working in Minnesota at Wal-Mart, the store had a policy that employees were not allowed to â€Å"time steal† ; all associates were told to always look for something to complete in the store. Wal-Mart also cross-trains it associates in different departments in order to be well-rounded; this is a capitalistic practice for validating not giving the employees a decent wage, if one employee has knowledge about many areas of the store then the company can maximize profits by just hiring one person to do the job instead of hiring more that are specialized in that particular section. A dentist is a doctor but I would not want the dentist to perform open heart surgery on me because the dentist is only specialized to work on teeth. The best way to explain our capitalistic society is to quote Gail, Barbara’s coworker and training partner in Florida, said it best â€Å"They don’t cut you no slack. You give and you give, and they take. †(Nickel and Dimed p. 22); because of these practices Gail vowed never to work for a corporation again. Economic Function of Poverty The 1st point of the economic function theory is that poor perform the dirty work of society because they have little choice to do other jobs. Barbara’s coworkers were unskilled laborers so their opportunities for better employment were limited to jobs that require service instead of a skilled job. Another example of this in book was the story of Isabelle. Isabelle was a coworker of Barbara in Minnesota that previously worked as a waitress; she worked at a high class restaurant but when the restaurant closed she had to work at Wal-Mart because the available high class restaurants would not hire her because of her age. The 2nd point of the economic function of poverty is that since poor people receive little wages that subsidize the rich and middle class. Over the past thirty years manufacturing jobs have been downsized or outsourced to other countries, most of the jobs in America now are service jobs. The jobs that Barbara worked at were all jobs that catered to servicing people’s needs and wants. The jobs that are offered to lower class citizens make the lives of the rich and middle class make life more â€Å"convenient†, the mind state of the rich and poor is I don’t want to do this so I can pay someone to do it for me. The rich and middle class in today’s society rely on the underprivileged to do the work. There is not a caste system in America with serfs, but the two share similar values. Slavery in Modern Form The modern system of slavery in America has transformed from owning people to controlling people through economic exploitation. One technique of corporations to control the lives of their employees to implement the practice of a pre-job drug screen; in today’s society companies want to know want their employees do in their personal lives. Although studies have shown that pre-employment testing does not lower turnover rates or absenteeism it is still a practice. I believe that employers should probe into the personal lives of their employees, what one does in their own time and not on the companies’ clock should not matter until it affects their performance on the job. Today’s society and companies assume that all lower class people do drugs that will hinder them from performing their jobs at an optimal level. The fact is that people from every class ingest drugs into their bodies; the drug cocaine is preferred by other classes because the drug does not remain in the body for an extended period of time. Barbara had to experience this form of slavery when she applied for a job at Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie in Minnesota. Barbara had to spend extra money on a detoxification drink that she did not really have, lower her sodium intake, and drink plenty of water to get marijuana out her system just to have employment at Wal-Mart. Another example of employers assuming that workers use drugs was in Florida; the manager of the Hearthside Diner, Stu, assumed that the George was stilling money for drug, but in fact it was him that stealing money from the cash registrar. Religion Karl Marx examined the relationship between religious values and its effects on the economy; he concluded that the two things are essentially the result of capitalism; one cannot exist without the other. Marx examined this and published a book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism which detailed the relationship between the two. Early protestant religious figures believed that working to acquire material success and wealth was an indicator that God chose that person to enter heaven and this believe is still practiced today. I believe that relationship to be true but do not believe in the philosophy behind it. Barbara visited a church tent revival in Maine and was preached on how Jesus gave up his life for the sins of his followers. I used to attend church regularly and I always wondered why the church would always ask for money to support different things within the church, tithing was pushed the most. Tithing requires that one give the church at least 10% of their income, if people work and can barely make it on the low wages they earn it astonishes me how they give money to the church every week. I also agree with Barbara’s notion that Jesus was a sociologist, Jesus worked spreading the word of God and performing miracles but he was never paid for doing them. Barbara also mentioned in the book that the churches were always the place to go when one is down on their luck or experiencing tough times; she noted that one of the first things people said was to get help at a church. Once again the church, because of people’s cultural values, is the center point focused on the poor. I believe that church reality wanted to end the poverty cycle and help people in poverty that the church would use their political power to stop poverty instead of lobbying in Congress to pass laws that hinder the poor. In conclusion Barbara Ehenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed, had many sociological concepts within her travels from Florida, Maine, and finally Minnesota. The jobs low wage jobs she took to see how lower class people survive gave validity to many of the sociological concepts I have learned in this class. There are many other concepts that were evident in the book but the concepts of Weberian Sociology, Social Mobility, Horatio Alger Jr. , Social Functions of Poverty, Slavery in Modern Form, and Religion were instantly apparent . The book gave deeper insight on how lower class people survive from low wages and demeaning jobs to make higher class people’s lives better.

IT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

IT - Essay Example Affect-based Trust is related to the the benefits that the client would get directly like quick and improved services whilst Cognition-based services relates to those advantages that a client would see and have evidence of like reduced cost of transactions and access to money without queuing and the like. Jointly, these two add up to the satisfaction a client would gain by patronizing e-commerce products of a bank. In this research, we therefore ask, what are the important factors that affect e-banking in UAE? What are the main consumer attitudes towards e-banking services in UAE? What is the effectiveness of e-banking services rendered by banks to individuals and organizations in UAE? The research seeks to add up to the stock of knowledge on the effectiveness of e-banking services rendered in UAE and the customer attitudes to e-banking services in UAE. ... The research would provide a background for the study of trends and matters pertaining to e-banking. This can enable banks, consumers and potential consumers to get a good understanding of the reaction of consumers to e-banking products and services that are offered in the UAE. Literature Review Online banking is the â€Å"process that allows a consumer to perform banking functions online. Online banking can be accomplished through the internet with specific account information and a consumer password† (Sam, 2008: 7). Online banking refers to an electronic form of carrying out traditional banking processes and transactions through the Internet and other forms of computer software systems. This implies that online banking enables a consumer to complete a banking activity using the internet and other related electronic tools like mobile phones and other sophisticated computer systems. This is also referred to as e-banking, which encompasses banking carried out in an electronic f ormat. In a bank, e-banking a typical e-banking department consists of groups responsible for marketing and sales, internet activities, electronic commerce, call center services, ATM operations and mobile phone bank services (Hlupic, 2003: 109). In other words, e-banking combines the operations and activities of several related departments in a bank to ensure that the clients of the bank get the opportunity to undertake normal banking services through electronic means. This requires the co-operation and combined efforts of several units to ensure that customers get prompt attention about their transactions, reduce fraud and get a good understanding of the internet banking

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

Industry - Essay Example The industry can be further divided into the types of automobiles/vehicles that are manufactured by the various companies that are presently dealing in this commodity. Vehicles can be categorized differently depending on their purpose and design from heavy duty to transportation purposes to leisure brands. The cars vary in size, cost and luxury, and there are cars available for every type of individual in the market from trucks to saloon cars. The automobile manufacturers supply a number of markets from private owners to companies who may require specific types of vehicles, for example, a construction company will require a number of heavy duty trucks to transport their material from one place to the other while a taxi service will require a large number of saloon cars to transport their clientele (J.D. Power). It is for this reason that the market structure of this industry can be referred to as an oligopolistic market despite the fact that they deal in basically what can be describ ed as the same product (that is, vehicles). The automobile industry is made up of 15 major companies which supply vehicles to the wide consumer base in need of cars (Schmitt). The market structure has allowed for the firms present in this industry to have a chance at fair competition as a manufacturer can determine to target either one segment of the market or decide to dabble in all the different types of vehicles. The fact that there are so many vehicles to choose from means that the competition for the market in this industry is not as harsh as others and organizations involved have enough wiggle room to operate without exactly worrying about being bullied out of their share of the market unless faced with extraordinary circumstances. Some firms choose to focus on one particular category of vehicles so as to set up a stronghold in that area which makes it easier for them to handle any competition that they may face (J.D. Power). For example, CAT mainly focuses on heavy duty machi nery that is used in industries like construction such as cranes and tractors and this has enabled it to establish a foothold in heavy duty machinery vehicles. The profit margin on the other hand is not as evenly shared out as the more popular car brands hold a majority of the market when it comes to private vehicles thus some companies can be said to hold a lion’s share of the profit when it comes to car sales. At the current moment, there are more firms exiting than entering the market due to the economic crisis that has hit various parts of the globe such as Europe leading to the reduction in car sales for a while which has meant that the less popular brands have been able to sell even fewer cars than usual (Eisenstein). The manufacturing of cars is not a business venture to be entered to light heartedly, and it costs a considerable amount of money to set up. Thus, if a company is not able to sell most of the cars that it produces they stand a chance of incurring losses at an alarmingly speedy pace that may through the company into an irrecoverable debt if the situation is not handled soon. A good example of this is the Chrysler Company that had to stop operations after failing to be able to move the required quota of cars that would have kept it afloat. The market for the product (that is, vehicles) can definitely said to be an international one as automobiles of all shapes and sizes can be found globally. Cars have

Transculture Final Essay Example for Free

Transculture Final Essay The movie Hotel Rwanda focuses on the story of a man named Paul Rusesabagina, a manager of a European-owned hotel in Rwanda. By creating a seret refuge camp in the hotel, Rusesabagina was able to help save the lives of 1, 200 Tutsis from the Hutus during the brutal genocide in 1994.   The gist of the film is depicted in the underlying genius of how the film was able to portray a hellish event without using too much distressing scenes just to be able to show the audience the brutality of the genocide, the narrative of political criticism and comments from the lines spoken by the artists   served as a replacement for these scenes   leaving it to one’s imagination on how severe the true event was. Many social issues were touched in the film. For one, the indifference of the West towards the African lives is believed to be the reason behind the genocide. (Theis, 2004). Another is that the social structure as to who should be on top and who should have the power is discussed all through out the film since the genocide was planned by the Hutus long before to take in effect the   â€Å"one man-one vote† which served as an opportunity for them to kill as many Tutsi Christians. (â€Å"Hotel Rwanda†), this is not only in a political sense but in a religious perspective as well. Many of these issues exist not only in Africa but also in other countries which remain unresolved.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most straining parts of the movie is the presence of the peacekeepers and their inability to intervene because they were told not to and this makes the situation more devastating for the hopeful Tutsi. The tension showed in the film address the inability of some to be able to help in giving out solutions to the problem even if it already requires personal judgment. What really makes me uncomfortable is the inequality shown in the film and the brutal solutions done. It is also frustrating to see that while most of the foreign nationals were saved from the holocaust many of the Tutsi are left hoping to be saved by the intervention of others and relying only in the abilities of one man.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This film allowed me to reflect more on my social responsibilities the way it has challenged Paul to help his family and still be able continue to saving lives of others without questioning personal judgment. Moreover, the film was able to show me how one man can make a difference during desperate times and create measures that may appear as inevitable to others. References Theis, P. 2004. Hero. Off Off Off.   Retrieved June 18, 2008 from http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2004/hotelrwanda.php Hotel Rwanda. Frontline Fellowship. Retrieved June 18, 2008 from http://www.frontline.org.za/articles/hotel_rwanda.htm

Uncle Toms Cabin: Stowes Paradoxical Christian Message Essay

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Stowe's Paradoxical Christian Message Perhaps the greatest criticism levied against Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is that it comprises of nothing more than Victorian sentimentality, and that the death of its two moral exemplars, Tom and Little Eva, do little which actually remedies the injustices of slavery. Critic Ann Douglas sees the novel as emblematic of the "feminization of American culture," which in religious terms figures as "a move away from the morally forceful Calvinism to the sloppiness of the humanistic cult of gentle Jesus" (Rachel Bowlby's paraphrase, 205). In order to recoup the novel from such charges, critics such as Jane Tompkins have attempted to demonstrate that the novel's coupling of sentimentality and Christianity results in far more than a luxuriating in lachrymose emotions. For Tompkins, the force behind the novel's sentimental Christianity is its subversion of the power hierarchy. Incidents like the deaths of Tom and Little Eva enact a "theory of power" in which "the powerless die to save the power ful and corrupt, and thereby show themselves more powerful than those they save" (128). Thus, the traditional locus of power, is in effect, decentered, and religious faith gives marginalized figures like slaves, children, and women a power, to which in strictly secular terms, they have no access. One problem with readings which stress the salvific function of the deaths of Tom and Little Eva is their failure to account for the novel's self-conscious acknowledgment of the social forces which constantly challenge the brand of Christianity which it advocates. The Christian message of Uncle Tom's Cabin is ultimately paradoxical. On the one hand, the examples of Tom and Little Eva demonstrate ... ...f sustaining one's Christianity within the context of slavery, as well as the limitations of the individual's power to challenge such a large institution. George, in deferring his acceptance of Christianity until he reaches a place of freedom, ultimately comes closest to Stowe's agenda of establishing a true Christian nation, uncorrupted by slavery, on earth. Works Cited: Bowlby, Rachel. "Breakfast in America--Uncle Tom's Cultural Histories." Nation and Narration. Ed. Homi K. Bhabha. New York, NY: Routledge Press, 1990, 197-212. O'Connel, Catherine E. "`The Magic of the Real Presence of Distress': Sentimentality and Competing Rhetorics of Authority." The Stowe Debate. Eds. Mason I. Lowance, Jr., Ellen E Westbrook, R.C. De Prospo. Amherst, MA: U. Massachusetts Press, 1994, 13-36. Tompkins, Jane. Sensational Designs. New York, NY: Oxford U. Press, 1985.

Argument Essay

The following passage comes from â€Å"The Common Life,† a 1994 essay by the American writer Scott Russell Sanders. Read the passage carefully and then write an essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies Sanders’ ideas about the relationship between the individual and society in the United States. Use specific evidence to support your position. A woman who recently moved from Los Angeles to Bloomington [Indiana] told me that she would not be able to stay here long, because she was already beginning to recognize people in the grocery stores, on the sidewalks, in the library. Being surrounded by familiar faces made her nervous, after years in a city where she could range about anonymously. Every traveler knows the sense of liberation that comes from journeying to a place where nobody expects anything of you. Everyone who has gone to college knows the exhilaration of slipping away from the watchful eyes of Mom and Dad. We all need seasons of withdrawal from responsibility. But if we make a career of being unaccountable, we have lost something essential to our humanity, and we may well become a burden or a threat to those around us. A community can support a number of people who are just passing through, or who care about no one’s needs but their own; the greater the proportion of such people, however, the more vulnerabl e the community, until eventually it breaks down†¦.Taking part in the common life means dwelling in a web of relationships, the many threads tugging at you while also holding you upright. PITFALL ONE: not understanding the task or the directions Make sure that you read the passage correctly and understand your task. Don’t get caught up in tangential issues. Figure out what Sanders’s central thesis is. This student had trouble understanding the issue: For example, when people get caught doing something wrong and they don’t want to admit to their mistakes, they sometimes think of a lie, which is a defense mechanism people use when in trouble. Who hasn’t lied at some time  in their lives? The guilt will haunt the lady in the passage who moved to Bloomington, tearing up everything in her life from inside then out. The example about the woman from Bloomington is not the central issue in this prompt—it is an example Sanders is giving to make his point. An EXAMPLE WILL NOT BE THE CLAIM, it will illustrate the claim. So, to determine the claim think about what point the example supports. PITFALL TWO: merely paraphrasing the passage If your whole essay consists of explaining what Sanders is saying in this passage, you will not score above a five out of nine. Resist the temptation to tell what the entire passage is saying. The readers know what the passage says. {This mistake seems especially common when the argument prompt is longer.} Refer to the claim of the passage in as few words as possible. Unlike the rhetorical analysis, you do not need to quote long sections of the passage—this eats up time and accomplishes very little. Your job here is to figure out and clarify what the central issue is and then to defend, challenge, or qualify that issue. In this passage, Sanders writes about the relationship between the individual and society. He talks about a lady that moved from Los Angeles to Bloomington, Indiana. She says she would not be able to stay long because she was already beginning to recognize people. Sanders writes that the lady gets nervous when she is recognized. She liked not being known and not having to get involved in that society. Sanders says that a couple of people like this help society run, but if there were too many, society would collapse. Society depends on some people to interact so that it can keep going. {If this were only the introduction, and the student followed up with an assertion that defended, challenged, or qualified Sanders’s assertion, this paragraph would be acceptable, although it’s not necessary to paraphrase this much. But when a paraphrase is your whole essay, you’re looking at a low score.} PITFALL THREE: not taking a definite stand This is one of the most common errors students make. You must have a definite opinion and state that opinion unequivocally, even if you are qualifying. And even if you don’t really have that opinion in real life. Sanders describes the relationship between the individual and society as a contrast. The individual is nervous around a too-familiar society. A society feels threatened by a great number of individuals that are unfamiliar. In a big city, most people become accustomed to unknown people because of the large population. However, in a small town where everybody knows everybody else, a newcomer might be seen as a threat to their way of life. In a small community, most people have their familiar routines. For the traveler, though, it is still a new opportunity for the community. The unknown traveler may be thought of as an alteration to their everyday routine. The essay above discusses the workings of a small town and a big city and makes some interesting observations about the contrast. The writer, however, never takes a definite stand on whether or not it is healthy to remove oneself completely from society. On the other hand, this writer takes a definite stand and backs it up with appropriate evidence: Sanders says that â€Å"we all need seasons of withdrawal from responsibility.† There are times when people need to forget about what others expect from them and do only what they feel is needed. (concession) While Sanders’s statements are true, people cannot live a responsibility-dodging life forever. He feels that if people are to do so, â€Å"We will have lost something essential to our humanity.† If everyone were to give up their responsibilities and do only what was best for themselves, then society would not function. Organizations would fall apart because people would no longer be able to work together. Eventually our entire government would break down and the nation would erupt into total chaos. The more careless people a community has, â€Å"the more vulnerable† the community becomes. Thus, people must learn to take responsibility for themselves rather than dodge  it. (assertion) PITFALL FOUR: using inappropriate or weak evidence to support your position The strength of your essay is in direct correlation to the strength of your evidence. Weak or inappropriate evidence will produce a weak paper and a low score. The readers are looking for writers who can write logically and reasonably, who can evaluate and analyze someone else’s argument, and who can find the best evidence to convince someone of their position. This student’s evidence has to do with crime rates: A small town culture is often seen as boring and old-fashioned, but it is just as important to our nation as any of the modern big cities. In New York City people have that opportunity to wander the city anonymously. Perhaps that is the reason why crime rates are so much higher in larger cities. People are far less likely to behave badly if people they know are watching them. This constant concern of others judging you is perhaps more beneficial than some may have you believe. It can get quite nerve-wracking to always be under watch, but those that watch you also come to your aid in times of need. For example, when you go out of town you can ask your ever-watchful neighbors to keep an eye on your house for peace of mind. If everyone went around with a total disregard for others, society would break down and the world would become a terrible almost primal place. This student effectively supports his position by reasoning that knowing someone is watching you may deter crime. He concedes (another way to reason logically) that it is bothersome to â€Å"always be under watch,† but those who watch you also watch over you. PITFALL FIVE: writing aN analysis of the passage instead of aN ARGUMENT Your job is not to analyze the way Sanders writes. Your job is to write an argument. Read the prompt. Sanders’s use of diction reveals his negative attitude toward wanderers†¦. Sanders uses a word with negative connotations when describing the twisting threads†¦. Sanders was accurate when he said  the many threads tug, yet hold one another upright. His metaphor identified individual lives as threads. The metaphor makes the reader reflect to a special blanket or person that brought them comfort, evoking emotional reactions.

13 Reasons Why: Story Essay

Hanna’s and Clays dual narrative enhance goes by they tell each point of view in the story because its like he is not talking to anyone but himself and his conscious, it would’ve probably been the same way because that’s probably what most of them thought. If it was Tony he was going to think the same. I don’t think her reasons are of equal importance some people are on the list for playful reasons. The main one I found unexpected was when Bryan walker molested her. I think all thirteen reasons are responsible that’s why they all have tapes and I think she committed suicide to get away from her problems. I think that’s creepy because you visualize her being there and that would creep me out but then you would tend to feel exactly what she felt as she was their so you experience her inside life. The tape is different from the impression of a suicide note because when you get to hear a voice you know exactly how their feeling. She recorded and left the tapes for the rest to hear them and remember that day for the rest of their lives. Yes because that’s what people use today, tapes are old. When she says that she means that there are other peoples point of view in the story and she tells what happens and what she thinks about it. See more: Beowulf essay essay If she listened to it she probably wouldn’t be dead because they would have discussed about it first. She thought that if she moved place to place the rumors would be left behind. A rumor is something going around as gossip known as â€Å"not true† they say that she has â€Å"things† in her dresser. No one isn’t powerful then the other were all the same, rumors can’t be positive. Yes it does because rumors are just lies. The different perspectives of how her story plays out is like they didn’t know that what they do and how they act contributes to others. What she means by â€Å"pushing it† is that every time something happens to her it takes her deeper and deeper each time till she feels like killing herself. All of the thirteen reasons pushed her to her final decision but they kept treating her wrong so she gave up. Yes they would’ve changed, if they knew. what she means by this is that for you, you would investigate something before saying it so you just need it to be true because nobody wants to be called a liar so at first you say the lie then you know your going one day have to say the truth because you know its not your choice to say the lie so you say you need it. She reacts to it because she knows something is wrong with him and the way he acts she thinks it’s unusual. Yes I think she knows he is lying she should know her son. She doesn’t question him because she knows he will tell her a lie so she doesn’t bother because that’s the way she feels about the poem and she wants the rest of them to know. I agree with her reasoning because that’s how she feels about everything and they should know this reappears throughout the story but she still uses the same tore of voice. The â€Å"lost-n-found† gazette applies to the themes because once you tell something and put it out there, it will soon be found and spread else where so when you say a secret or a bad rumor it will go around every where and it wont be lost but soon found. â€Å"The truth will set you free† applies to Hanna’s story by instead of spreading rumors you should tell something that’s the truth and you’ll be free and not on a list. No truth really doesn’t gift freedom because sometimes the truth hurts and affects others. Yes there will always be peace in knowledge you would know wrong from right. What the man says is significant to Clay because he sees that there is something wrong with him with the way he acts and how he feels and he sees that he is suffering from something but he doesn’t have to know he sees it so he lets Clay not have to pay to feel better. To describe the difference between incidents and non-incidents is that an incident and is tragedy and a non-incident is something done on purpose and isn’t that bad. Clay Jensen relates to the previous state because of what happened to her about what was said on a rumor and people just wanting to believe it. So on what was said about Clay was so good she knew she had to believe it regardless if it was true or not. Hanna’s reputation is important to her because she doesn’t want things put down on her that’s not true. The reputation that others have on the tapes is bad and is most likely to be changed. I think most of the people on the tapes are disproved through the information. Hanna’s reputation influences Clays interactions by he knows who the real Hanna is and wants to meet her. Clay is afraid of getting hurt by her. The reason why Clay left the room after kissing Hanna was because she forced him too. I think he really didn’t have to leave, she just needed help. He could’ve asked her why she wanted him to leave and just get her talking. She puts Clay as one of the thirteen reasons why because she wants to say sorry. When Clay says that, yes I agree with him because I know that he really did like her n he really would’ve helped. Yes Hanna made that choice, she wanted to kill herself. The choices she had was that she could’ve talked to someone or talk to them about how she felt. For those thirteen reasons she ended her life I think that there were also thirteen equally reasons she had to live. When Jenny hits her car to a stop sign actually symbolizes something hazard because she can cause an accident. What Clay means when he says â€Å"we all could’ve stopped something† really shows that all those things that goes on there can be a positive to it. This relates to the Bryce and Jessica situation because she could’ve stopped Bryce for taking advantage of Jessica. The roles adults play in what happened to Hanna is like they should’ve paid more attention to her and take what she was saying very seriously. Yes I think an adult could’ve done something to help her and stop her from her decision she includes one adult so everyone could know she went for help. She opens the truth to an adult so they can help her and give her advice. She chose Mr. Porter because he was a trust counselor.