Of Mice and Men Coursework Rough Essay

Introduction. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is written by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The novel is set in the 1930s during the great depression in California. The two prominent characters, George and Lennie are farm workers who have a dream of one-day owning their own ranch. They find work in a ranch near Soledad, after escaping from Weed because of George’s incident. They are met by different characters on the farm that all have a dream. Lots of farm workers would share the dream of all one day owning some land of their own. This dream became very popular and was named the ‘American Dream.’ Its people came from every country and background with the one belief that America would bring them wealth and happiness. For very many others, America offered escape from poverty and starvation. It was a new country, an undiscovered one. In Europe land had always been the key to money and status. Only in America could the poor of Europe hope to own their own land. The country became more and more heavily populated as the word got around of gold mines, and new homes and villages developed creating communities. At its simplest the American Dream was the popular idea that America was a country that allowed men and women to make a clean start. Like all dreams the reality did not always match the dream. However the destruction of the Indians, the American civil war and the creation of city slums were all growing pains of a great country. Yet the dream survived. That is this dream survived until the late 1920s. By then there was no more land to be claimed and America had built up its own rules and laws. This marked the start of the great depression. Farming was badly effected, as over farming had caused huge areas of land to just dry up. This was the creation of the famous ‘dust bowl.’ Poor crops meant that many of the farmers were unable to pay back the debts they had taken out in the first place to buy the land. This meant that the way of life of men such as George, Lennie and slim was coming to an end when ‘of mice and men’ was written. All the events above occurred during the writing of the novel and perhaps suggests that the story is about the end of the American Dream, the social changes and the new reality of living a full American life. The Setting. The book opens with a description of the country around the Salinas river, south of Soledad in California. When describing this landscape Steinbeck uses a very wide variety of different colours and animal descriptions in only the first short paragraph. He has a very powerful descriptive style. ‘Lower leaf junctures,’ that are green, then he notes that the deer’s tracks are ‘split wedge.’ This description is used when the author used direct speech. As the two characters give us information about what they think and their personalities by how they talk. This landscape is the appropriate backdrop to the introduction of the two characters George and Lennie because it shows a typical background for migrant workers. Who would travel great distances, either walking, using cheap bus services, hitch hiking or traveling by train. We know that this particular novel strictly focuses on the life of these men from a few short quotes on the first couple of pages. â €˜The path beaten hard by boys.’ This line suggests that George and Lennie are following in the footsteps of hundreds of other men. The path had been used to walk to and from work many times which symbolizes the employment and unemployment of men. Walking the road and trying to achieve the all ‘American Dream’ by making a fortune and living the high life. ‘ The tree worn smooth by men,’ this shows how often migrant workers had collapsed and sat on that log suggesting how tired and utterly exhausted the men were after traveling miles and miles. This proves determination that those men had, to actually make something of their lives. ‘Ash pile made by many fires.’ This conveys the notion of starving men who had set up camp in that area. By lighting fires that kept them warm and fed. The fact that so many fires had been lit before just proves the amount of people who had been in that baron area. George and Lennie’s previous job in Weed was probably something to do with farming as they were itinerant farmers. They are drifters who move from ranch to ranch. This means that they are very skilled in various aspects of farm work and labour. The only security these men live on is the hope of more or new work. ‘Murray and Ready’s’ was like an employment agency which was set up as a result of President Roosevelt’s new deal which directed migrant workers into agricultural work. From this place George and Lennie had both collected ‘work cards’ which secured their working position and acted as evidence and identity. They had no permanent home and solely relied on the rough farm accommodation. They carried all their belongings around in a bindle of clothing and cooking utensils which were made portable by wrapping blankets aroun d the outside. When migrant workers arrive at their work place after traveling and sleeping rough. They often find they have to stay in very simple, poor accommodation. The conditions in which the migrant workers lived were primitive. Bunkhouse walls were whitewashed, the floor unpainted. There were eight bunks in the bunkhouse, which showed that there was a lack of privacy for the men. Even their few personal belongings were on public display â€Å"†¦over each bunk there was nailed an apple-box with the opening forward so that it made two shelves†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The only places for the men to sit were boxes. George saw that the conditions were also unhygienic when he found a can in his apple-box which said â€Å"†¦positively kills lice, roaches and other scourges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Even the stable buck, who is not permitted to sleep with the other men in the bunkhouse and has his own room, also has to live in primitive and unhygienic conditions. For example â€Å"†¦a manure pile under the window†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . One characteristic that the migrant workers share is that they all long for a better life. Loneliness. Loneliness is a very key part of the migrant workers life. They have no time for meaningful friendships or long relationships. Little trust is shared and the men work solely for themselves. Many of the characters are lonely and this motivates them to look for an alternative way of life. This is one of the reasons why there are drifters; they are continually searching often not knowing what they are looking for. Characters are also lonely because of something within themselves, something which seems to make their loneliness inevitable. Different characters seek comfort and solace in different things. For Candy it is his dog, for George and Lennie it’s each other, for Crooks it’s his pride and his skill at pitching horseshoes. In the novel George and Lennie find themselves a ‘Few miles of Soledad.’ This is a real place in California and its name, which is Spanish can mean loneliness or lonely place. George describes himself and Lennie as the sort of people wh o ‘are the loneliness guys in the world.’ Although the boss of the ranch thinks that George exploits Lennie, all the ranch workers come to see that the reason for their relationship is mutual loneliness. Candy’s relationship with his dog is much like the relationship between George and Lennie. Candy has a parental role towards his dog, just as George has a parental role towards Lennie. Lennie can be compared with the dog in the sense that he listens, but does not talk; this provides comfort for those who talk to him about their feelings. ‘He ain’t no good to you Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him Candy?’ Carlson is unsentimental about Candy’s dog as he can see no further practical use for it. Although his suggestion is perhaps reasonable, he seems oblivious to the strong bond between Candy and his pet. Lennie turns to petting animals for comfort. He means no harm to the creatures and sees them as on a similar level to himself. Lennie is unaware of the feelings of the pups as he heavily touches and plays with them, this causes the ranch workers to become concerned. ‘Well you ain’t bein’ kind to him..’ With these words Carlson is ironically ‘sentencing’ Lennie who will later suffer the same fate as the dog. Carlson assumes that Candy can soon get another pet, just as at the end of the novel he seems to assume that George can easily get another friend. From this we can see that Carlson, like some of the other characters does not appreciate the bonds that occur. Candy and his dog are obviously very alike to George and Lennie, even to the way the dog follows Candy around in the same way as Lennie follows George. Just as Candy feels tied down by his relationship with his dog, so George feels trapped by his sense of responsibility for Lennie. Curley’s wife is one of the loneliest characters in the novel; she has no identity, she is seen as an object, a possession of Curley’s. Curley’s wife is seen as a flirtatious ‘tart’ by the other ranch-hands, true, Curley’s wife does flirt, she is very conscious of the effect this has on men, but she is not a tart. She wants attention and by gaining that attention, she act the way people think. ‘She had full rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red.’ She likes to dress up and wear a lot of make up, to attract the men. The men on the other hand do not flirt with her, as they are afraid of what Curly might do. This leads to the loneliness of many characters. Although the men think it is wrong of her to flaunt herself sexually and give everyone the ‘eye’, the men all visit a ########## for sexual gratification and momentary companionship. Those like George and Whit contradict themselves when they talk about Curley’s wife as being ‘jail-bait’. ‘She’s gonna make a mess. They’s gonna be a bad mess about her. She’s a jail-bait all set on a trigger,’ George senses danger coming his way, but he chooses to ignore it, as he needs the money. During the 1930s, women were seen as possessions of their husbands who were to stay at home. George’s view of women, seem to be very basic and biased, he sees them as instruments to relieve physical urges. All the ranch-hands one evening go off to ‘Susie’s place.’ This Brothel is a place were the men can enjoy the company of women and sexual pleasure. As the men have no need for a relationship it means they can still have fun without all the strings attached to love and friendship. ‘She never talks dirty, neither. Got five girls there.’ George does not express the need for any female companionship mainly because he is too busy keeping Lennie out of trouble. All these things link up to suggest clues behind the real reasons as to why the ranch workers are so lonely. They try to shy away from commitment and responsibility. Violence. The lives of the men in the novel is filled with unnecessary violence. The boss is a good example of this in the way he treats the men and permits fighting. Curley is another good example with all his completely irrational aggressiveness. Carlson is another character who seems to thrive on violence either when he is arguing with others or when he is erring them on. The guns’ easy availability causes inevitable trouble throughout the book. From the text it is simple to separate the more frustrated characters who resort to uncivilized behavior from those who are not quite so uptight. In a world of such mistrust it is not hard to see why violence is a constant issue. When George and Lennie first enter the bunkhouse they discover how bad the accommodation is. Suspecting his bed contains vermin George inspects it cautiously. As he does so Candy chatters on about the boss. We learn that he vents his anger on the black stable hand, provides the men with whisky and allows a fight betw een the stable buck and ‘Smitty,’ one of the Skinners. The boss could be worse: Candy insists he’s ‘a pretty nice fella’ and, after all, he keeps two of the cripples on payroll. The atmosphere of later violence has the potential to create trouble for Lennie. Finally friction builds up between Curley and Lennie. ‘Let the big guy talk.’ This harsh confrontation is caused by Lennie’s attempts to obey George’s instructions to say nothing. Curley’s presence is not good for Lennie and George’s safety. This is emphasized by Candy’s comments ‘he’s alla time picking scraps with big guys.’ Since Lennie is a giant man it seemed certain that a violent assault would come from Curley. As Candy explains, Curley is a small man and feels that he cannot loose this kind of situation. This seems very dangerous as Lennie ‘don’t know no rules’ when it come to fighting. It is typical that Curley should pick on Lennie for his display of violence. In picki ng on the large but apparently harmless man, Curley demonstrates his own cowardice. There is an irony in the fact that it is Lennie’s happy thoughts about the farm which leave a smile on his face, which is misinterpreted by Curley. Despite his size Lennie has two distinct disadvantages, he will not act unless told to do so by George and he is terrified by aggression. Because of this he does not make any attempt to defend himself. Curley is a vicious fighter and is out to inflict damage on Lennie. Animal imagery is used towards Lennie as he stands like a ‘bear’ with ‘paws’ covering his face but Curley is the ‘dirty little rat.’ Lennie’s strength and grip crushes Curley’s hand . This is not aggression but more of a reflex action, it is a defensive move. Carlson is not a cowboy, but does possess a handgun. There is a conversation about Carlson’s gun in the bunkhouse this lets George know where it is kept. The sensitive slim points out that when Candy’s dog is killed there will need to be a decent burial so a shovel would be needed. This compares the shooting of the dog with the shooting of Lennie later on. John Steinbeck emphasizes the long wait at this period in time in the novel by using sounds like ‘shuffle,’ ‘rippled,’ and ‘gnawing,’ which contrast the eventual ‘shot.’ After Lennie is accused of killing Curley’s wife the ranch workers all go searching for the criminal. The prospect of a manhunt and the opportunity to use his luger excites Carlson, who seems to want to solve all his problems with his gun. His keenness to use his luger on Lennie reminds us of his former enthusiasm to use it on Candy’s dog. The hunt for Lennie continues and the consequences for Lennie are that as George has just been saying that there ‘Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nor steal from ’em.’ These things would have been the rewards they were hoping from their dream farm. There is heavy irony in Lennie’s urgings to George to ‘do it now.’ Earlier on in the novel Candy said that he ‘ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.’ This is probably the main reason as to why George decides that he should be the one to shoot Lennie, but he may also be protecting him from the treatment he would receive at Curley’s hands if he were to find him first. Prejudice. In Of Mice And Men there are several different levels of prejudice shown, all contributing to the failure of the American dream. The main types of prejudice shown in this novel are racial, sexual and age related. Racism is very prominent. There is much racial prejudice shown in Of Mice And Men towards Crooks the black crippled stable buck. Crooks is more permanent than the other ranch hands and has his own room off the stables with many more possessions than them. This room is made out to be a privilege and also because it means he is nearer to the horses but in fact it is really because the other ranch hands do not want him in the bunk house with them. As a result of this prejudice Crooks has become bitter and very lonely. When Lennie comes to pet the puppies, not even realizing that Crooks’ room is ‘out of bounds’, Crooks instantly becomes defensive â€Å"I ain’t wanted in the bunk room and you ain’t wanted in my room† but Lennie is childish and is completely without prejudice † Why ain’t you wanted† he asks. Crooks replies to this ,†Cause I’m black, they play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well I tell you, all of you stink to me† This line showing that Crooks desperately wants to join in, be accepted, but because of his colour he can’t and so he feels the only way he can make himself feel better is to cut himself off further, it is a vicious circle. When Crooks realizes that Lennie means no harm he invites him to † Come on in and set a while† Lennie begins to talk about George and his dream, it makes Crooks remember his childhood which he looks on as a kind of paradise. â€Å"The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them and some of them were pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now†. Crooks’ didn’t experience racism in his childhood, making his current situation even worse. Crooks is fascinated by the strength of the friendship of Lennie and George, especially how close they are. Crooks said, â€Å"Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?† Crooks asks these questions because he does not have any friends, and wouldn’t know how losing them unexpectedly would feel. He was curious and envious, about the friendship of Lennie and George, noticing that Lennie is retarded, he takes advantage of this situation to â€Å"torture† him mentally, to make him feel better and ease the pain of having other reject him â€Å"Crooks’ face lighted with pleasure at his torture† he also does this to ease his jealousy towards the friendship Lennie has, but that he, Crooks, will probably never have. He wants the people to feel the way that he does, completely alone. Crooks goes on to talk about his loneliness † ‘A guy needs somebody-to be near him’ He whined:â€⠄¢ A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you’ he cried ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick'† Crooks is looking for sympathy, he is so incredibly lonely even to the point to saying that loneliness can make you ill. Curley’s wife is shown a lot of sexism over the course of the novel. Living on a ranch where the large majority of the people are male she is very lonely. George says â€Å"Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl† Perhaps to prove the fact she is insignificant, she is always referred to as ‘Curley’s wife’, never given a name. She experiences sexual prejudice in that none of the ranch hands will talk to her. This is partly because she can make up things about those she dislikes who will subsequently get ‘the can’ and also because she is a ‘looloo’ who flirts alots. â€Å"She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck they eye. I don’t know what the hell she wants† says Whit. The ranch hands don’t trust her or understand her. George says â€Å"Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her† An old lover told her that she â€Å"coulda went with the shows, not jus one neither† He promised her that he would write â€Å"Soon’s he got back to Hollywood† but he never did and so she married Curley. Because of this she’s upset and feels she’s been deprived by life. In fact she doesn’t even like Curley â€Å"He ain’t a nice fella†. Because she has nothing to do but sit at home she goes out on the ranch under the reason of looking for Curley. Some of the sexism she experiences is her fault, she scares the ranch hands with her womanly actions but she isn’t really a tart, she just craves attention which she doesn’t get from Curley. Ignored by both the ranch workers and Curley she has ended up very lonely, the one thing she most wanted to escape. Throughout the novel there is a small protest for the weak. Steinbeck sees an opportunity to emphasise on how strong men had more authority over weaker or disabled onees. Candy, the old swamper is prejudiced against because of his age and his disability. Because of his hand he is unable to do a lot of the jobs that the other ranch hands do making him instantly an outsider. Also because he thinks that he is old he puts himself in a state of mind which handicaps him far more than his missing hand ever will. His life echoes that of his dog, he was once â€Å"the best damn sheep-dog I ever seen† but now is next to useless, Candy’s life has gone somewhat the same way. The novel shows the amount of predjudice at the time of the 1930s. At the time of the novel blacks in America had no rights, they were seen as nobodies. Because of this prejudice many of them, like Crooks â€Å"retired into the terrible protective dignity of the negro†. Women also had very few rights. There are many different levels of prejudice shown in Of Mice And Men. Through these prejudices the characters such as Crooks and Curley’s wife have become lonely but they are in hopeless position which they can do nothing about. Dreams. Many ranch workers would share George and Lennie’s dream of a small farm. Such a dream would allow men such as George to be their own master, to make a decent living from their own hard work. This dream forms part of the much larger phenomenon known as the American dream. The American Dream has its roots from when American first became populated. Many of the characters in the novel have dreams, in the sense that they have hopes or ambitions. These dreams are often kept secret to begin with. George is displeased when he discovers that Lennie and Candy have told Crooks about their secret ‘dream farm.’ George always talks wistfully about his mental picture of the farm. He sits ‘entranced with his own picture.’ Georges dream like description slows down the pace of the novel and provides a period of almost calm before all of Lennie’s destruction. George’s life and Lennie’s would be more closely related to nature on his dream farm as he says, ‘when we put in a crop, why we’d be there to take the crop up’, so the cycle of nature would be complete. Since George and Lennie’s ambition in life is much like all those around him he believes it to be pretty impossible to come true. But suddenly George realizes that what had been until a certain point a distant dream was then a real possibility. ‘S’pose I went in with you guys.’ Candy’s involvement and contribution made the dream make more sense. It offers George and Lennie the prospect of companionship and self-living. The characters dream is a sharp contrast to that of their current surroundings. Crooks is rather scornful of the dream as Lennie explains it to him ‘you’re nuts’, he says. Crooks compares human hopes with religious belief and says that the search for ‘a little piece of land’ is like the search for heaven. His comments create tension as Candy, George’s and Lennie’s dream seems so close to them. Crooks thinks that the chances of them successfully achieving their dream farm are remote. Few ha ve achieved it before. Despite Crooks negativity he seems drawn into the same dream of a better life and of companionship. During the discussion with the ranch workers his attitude changed from sheer disbelieve to almost excitement. Unlike most of the characters in contrast, Curley’s wife seems almost desperate to tell Lennie about her dreams. It is ironic that she confides in someone who appears to have no interest or little understanding of what she is saying. Curley’s wife reveals her own dreams of a better life. Her dream is parallel to that of Candy, Crooks and George. Curley’s wife seems to be starstuck to have taken all the flattering comments she received from the men she met. She finds her dream in the glittery world of show business, the cinema and glossy magazines. This is a sharp contrast to that of the three men. Her interest in the world of cinema and film stars suggest that her dress sense is there to make her stand out from all the other ‘ordinary’ girls. Eventually though in one way or another all the peoples dreams die out because of Lennie. Candy, George and Lennie’s dream is destroyed because of Curley’s wife. Lennie sinned and the heaven of the small farm became a dream again. George realizes that his own prospects are now no better than those other ranch workers, with their limited ambitions of cheap sex and gambling. Georges vision is an example of the second kind of unhappy vision. When he sees his future aimlessly drifting.’ I’ll take my fifty bucks an’ I’ll stay in some lousy cat house. Or I’ll set in some pool-room till ever’body goes home.’ Lennie’s dream is shattered. He starts to have visions after killing Curley’s wife. The appearance of a giant rabbit is to do with Lennie’s fear for the future. The rabbit is a symbol of a time of peace in quite and natural surroundings. Lennie tells himself that his dream has been destroyed by what he has done. Steinbeck again creates a sort of parallel not only between the shooting of Candy’s dog and of Lennie, but also between the emotions which motivate the killings. George ends up by killing Lennie, Lennie has killed Curley’s wife, and Carlson killed Candy’s dog. All killers are motivated by passion. Many of the workers have dreams of one kind or a another, and sometimes they share the same dream. Generally though the characters have one choices of an almost realistic dream. This is the dream that includes companionship, honesty and love or the ‘dream farm.’ Which represents the ambition and the possibility of escape from the workers loneliness and poverty. These factors eventually stimulated the violent deaths and therefore the abrupt ending of dreams.

Straight Edge

straight edge parents wonder what's wrong with their children. people wonder what these kids have to hide†¦ there must be something wrong with them†¦ why? because they look more scary than other youths? no! because they are more violent than others? no! because they praise a weird, new kind of god? no! but what is the reason the reason simply is – they live the â€Å"straight edge†. but what is â€Å"straight edge† exactly? the basic â€Å"definition† was created in the early 1980s in a hardcore-punk song of the washington d. c. and â€Å"minor threat† whose singer ian mackaye wrote a song about living a life without drugs – the song which included the six legendary words â€Å"don't drink, don't smoke, don't fuck! † – it was a song called â€Å"straight edge† – a song that gave a name to a new movement amongst the youth of then and preserved its fascination and attitude up to the new millennium. to expla in the history of the term â€Å"straight edge† even a bit more precisely: the words became the meaning for after the drummer of minor threat saw the symbol of a straight edge on a poster and thought – only god knows why – it would be the perfect symbol for this new lifestyle. asically it was a thing about cleaning oneself. in the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a big frustration in the punk scene worldwide. it was pretty much all about sex and drugs and rock'n'roll – and whoever wanted to be a real punk got drunk or stoned every time there was an opportunity. the problem was that the political backgrounds of punk became more and more unimportant, and people didn't even have the power to be active anymore. the poison took their power. o some kids – especially in new york – rethought this whole punk-idea and decided for themselves not to participate in this organized chaos anymore – to resist against the peer pressure. to get clea n and save their power for the fight to reach their ideals. the important thing which gave those kids the platform and power to start out their mission around the world was the music. fast punk. it was the new kind of punk. today we call it old-school hardcore. bands like minor threat, ssd and the teen idols were only some of the first straight edge bands. thousands of others followed their way. he music was the basis – but what was the background behind this â€Å"don't drink, don't smoke, don't fuck! â€Å"? was it just a frustrated group of kids who wanted to get attention by living like askets? not at all†¦ the part about the drinking and smoking is easy to understand. it means: â€Å"concentrate your power on the important things in life† – but what about the sex? why should people not be allowed to make love according to this lifestyle? well, that's not quite what it was supposed to mean and still is: it is supposed to mean, that one shouldn't have promiscuous sex – sleeping around every time one gets the chance. o pretending of love just to get sex. the reason for that is to show respect to others. not to see them as things. this is probably one of the most discussed about points of this whole definition. during the years some things changed. political engagement became en vogue – which is just too logic because the movement actually was born as an idea to strengthen the political power of each individual. respect of life also implies animal rights. that's the reason for vegetarism and veganism being very wide spread in the scene. lot of the straight edge people are active in human and/or animal rights groups and support direct action. but then there is the bad side of the movement: in public straight edge is often regarded to be narrow-minded and egotistical. but – it is quite the opposite. the bad image occurred because some groups split off and gave the whole scene a really bad name: there was on the o ne hand a new important part for some groups: religion – which was completely against the basic idea and straight edge. to question norms and to find it's own way of living. specially the big religious scene in the mormon area salt lake city / new mexico caused a lot of negative publicity. people supposedly even got killed there out of twisted and misunderstood straight-edge reasons. the problem there is the big connection between religion and straight edge there. the whole lifestyle isn't against the norm there at all – mormons get raised there that way anyway – but the motives are completely different. so kids are much more likely to call themselves straight edge even though the basic idea is not going along with their backgrounds at all. nother huge negative movement out of the straight edge scene is shown by so-called â€Å"hardline†-straight edgers. mostly they are involved in the religion of islam (don't ask about the reasons – it is totally incomprehensibly! ) and fight against anything â€Å"impure† and â€Å"unnatural† like abortion – most of them are real hardline pro-lifers – or homosexuality. there were also tendencies amongst right-wing groups who tried to adapt straight edge for their means. but they all just didn't understand what straight edge is about†¦ but straight edge is about tolerance, respect and activism. nyone who gets in touch will discover, that the letter or sign â€Å"x† has an important meaning. it dates back to the 1980s in new york when – like it was and is common in the united states – on concerts and shows underage kids got marked with a big â€Å"x† on the back of their hands so that they wouldn't get alcohol to drink at the bar. older kids solidarized with them and marked their hands themselves – to show the don't even want to drink. today a lot of people use the â€Å"x† in their names – like xsidx for exampl e – wear it on shirts or as tattoos. lso the abbreviation sxe for straight edge is really popular and common. unfortunately a lot of kids see it as a cliquish and â€Å"cool† hing to be straight edge – but they won't stay like that. they will live on their lives just like a lot of their â€Å"never-been-straight-edge†-fellows. it is important to develop ones own definition and style of straight edge. one has to live it. then it is the right decision and the appropriate lifestyle. then it is the â€Å"true till death† lifestyle – in contrast to â€Å"true till college† which characterizes the stylish kids mentioned before. he music changed a lot too. there is still a bunch of old-school bands but especially during the 1990s there emerged many sxe-bands that played all different styles of hardcore like the heavy-metal like hardcore or the softer emo-core. it is impossible to still find names for the style of every band – the vari ety is just too big. important are still the hardcore shows were kids from all over meet, trade records, and just hang out. the scene is pretty much selfly-sufficient too. here's kids who publish (mostly still vinyl) records for young bands – others who have little mail orders and distributions to sell and trade tapes, records and cds, some kids organize shows for bands (even from overseas), and others who even buy vegan food you cannot get here abroad and sell it to the kids. all â€Å"do-it-yourself† (= diy). all anti-capitalist. straight edge is nothing suspicious. straight edge is personal choice. straight edge is the decision to find ones own norms. straight edge is support for weak and disadvantaged beings. straight edge is the attempt to make the world a better place!

Patrolling Policeman Ride Along Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Patrolling Policeman Ride Along - Essay Example This department, in addition to the police officers, also has a Special Weapons and Tactics Department and the S.P.I.D.E.R. (Special Police Investigative Division and Emergency Response) Unit that responds to all critical and life-threatening incidents in the city limits and the surrounding area. On this evening, Officer Kerr reported in 9 p.m. Upon arriving to the office, he reviewed department emails, read reports that were taken between the time when he got off the previous day and when he came in. There was also a shift meeting where information is passed down from one shift to the next one that is taking their turn to discuss anything that may be going on in the department. Some of the information is about suspicious activity, people being looked for questioning or any other information that needs to be transferred between shifts. During the ride along, we did routine patrol and traffic enforcement as well as responding to calls for services. During routine patrol, we just drove through neighborhoods and alleys looking for people out walking around, open car doors, open doors on houses, broken windows on houses, and basically looking for things that look out of place and any other suspicious activity that may have been going on in the area. ... ir business which meant we were dispatched and had to go to check out the door locks and then contact the business owner to come and reset their alarms. It turned out to be nothing other than something had set off the business' motion sensor detector. We were dispatched to go on a domestic violence call in which a married couple were arguing. The husband left, went to a bar, became intoxicated and came home. While she was at home, the wife became intoxicated and locked the husband out of the house. The husband then called the police department to try to get his wife to let him back in the house as she was screaming at him through the door and refused to let him in. Upon patrolling, we went through one of the city's parks. We found that a group of 15-year-old kids hanging out on the playground at 12 a.m. which is after the city curfew. We gathered up all of the kids, took them to the police department. We then called all the parents to come get them. Once the parents arrived to pick u p their child, we collected both information from the parents and the kids to be and put it in a report to be forwarded to the juvenile department for review for curfew violation. At one point we received information from an anonymous caller that was in regards to a noise complaint in their apartment complex. After gathering information about where the complex was, we made our way to an area where we heard loud music from the outside, lots of loud noise and found that several people were going in and out of the apartment. At this point, Officer Kerr knocked on the door, asked to speak to someone inside the residence that lived there. He made contact with an underage male (he was wearing a letterman's jacket with his graduation year on his sleeve) and the male happened to have a big group of

Transcription and language creativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Transcription and language creativity - Essay Example Not with ((confused)) exactly with wooden clog, unless it is got a veneer (.) ((laughs)) (xxx) is carefully covered wooden clog that can be a problem ((laughs)) Host: Just the first answer we had ((laughs)) so (.) no answers really from the scientists until Brian came up with clogs ((laughs)) which was unexpecting first Answer today //((laughs)). //I don’t know I don’t where (xxxxx) I don’t know what to say. Host: Oh! Come on lets carry on with the clogs. Host: An easy launch pad,[ a way to go ((laughs)) (.)Anyway back to the science table]. Introduction Conversation has different features that need to be analyzed in order to give a critical account of a piece of conversation. Conversations are mostly spontaneous; the speaker and listener develop their conversation according to the situation, atmosphere, topic and personal relationship that both the listener and speaker share. Conversation is done through language; the use of language however differs from person to person and the type of language used between two persons is a function of the nature of the relationship that exists between them e.g. the closer the relationship the more intimate the conversation will be. In order to analyze a conversation, some technical features of the conversation and linguistics of the words used is necessary. Conversation is an important part of life; it communicates ideas, feelings, intentions and goals. The study of conversation tells about the creativity used in spoken language. The language has various features i.e, context, type, tone, subject, turn-taking, interruptions etc. A study of these features enables us to get an insight into the creativity employed in any piece of work (Maybin & Swann, 2006). Discussion The above transcript is the written script of a verbal conversation. Verbal communication is an act of conveying messages, ideas or feelings by vocal means; non verbal acts are also important part of this phenomenon. This communication is the main and ordinary way of communicating face to face. Apart from these important features other key components of verbal communication are words, sound, speaking, tone and language. By analyzing the technical features, language and creativity of the conversation can be analyzed in a systematic way. The people involved in a conversation unintentionally make use of creativity. This usage is also a very important part of the conversation as it tells about how good a person is at conversation and how good he/she makes use of vocabulary, turn-taking and switching. The written script of a dialogue above is between two people, the host and a person called Paul. The conversation is based on question and answers about a particular subject; as the conversation is in the form of interview; it is supposed to be less intimate and formal. To make a more deep analysis, it is necessary to examine other important features that this piece of written conversation carries. Context is a very important p art of the conversation (Carter, 2004); it is the situation that describes conversation. There

The study of sociology and its applications Essay

The study of sociology and its applications - Essay Example However, in order to be successful, I know that I need to get an in-depth knowledge of how sociology is efficiently done. Thus, in recognition of the availability of various resources in the World Wide Web, this paper will include mostly articles from the internet together with books and magazines where doing sociology can be easily understood and efficiently taught. The best starting point in undertaking the research in doing sociology is Lee Harvey and Morag McDonald's Doing Sociology: A Practical Introduction which is published by Palgrave and McMillan in 1993. Though the edition is quite old, the book is still valuable in the sense that it encourages readers to learn by doing "combining sociological theory with research methods and social philosophy in an accessible way." Being focused on first-year degree students, this book is a must for starters. On the other hand, Sociology: The Core with PowerWeb written by Michael Hughes and Carolyn Kroeler provides a more recent discussion of sociological issues. After a straightforward presentation of what sociological imagination is, the book specializes in applying the functionalist, interactionist, and conflict perspective to the various sociological debates and issues. The best feature of this book is its ability to relate real world examples to the theories and concepts presented inside the classroom. Recognizing the popularity of internet in the provision of data and information used in understanding the happenings and situations of an individual nation and the world as a whole, visiting the Virtual Explorations in Sociology created by Prof. Robert E. Wood of the State University of New Jersey also proves very helpful. This virtual tour is designed to introduce students to the resources for sociology in the internet. T is broken down in areas most discussed in sociology like deviance, race and ethnicity, and the field where I am most interested at-economics. The websites presented in the tour comprises "official U.S. and U.N. sites, academic sites, advocacy sites, personal sites, and others" which are very important for data mining. The virtual tour also tests the progress of students by giving quizzes. This is a fun way of interactive learning. Focusing on the relation of business and sociology, much information can be gathered in the websites where recent business news and ideologies are presented like Times online and Financial Times. These websites contain the most recent news in the global arena and is also organized in a way that readers and users can choose the geographic region the news comes from. It should be noted though that these articles do not directly relate sociology to real world cases but stimulates the readers by making them think how sociological imagination explains the recent trends in the business arena. I find searching the archive for specific news and articles about human interaction, behavior, and global trends as an exciting way to learn and explore how sociology is imprinted on business activities. For example, I am amused at how business organizations are increasingly turning to use of social corporate responsibility in order to enhance their image and increase their bottom line. For me, this is a new trend that sociology can explain through its theory of social contract and social

Business Law 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business Law 7 - Essay Example The ferns were liable because they were active in business operations. Explanation: Signal, Co had an appraiser who valued its subsidiary at $230 million to $260 million. Another company, Burma Oil offered to buy the subsidiary at $480 million. Signal’s board of directors accepted the offer. Signal Co.’s shareholder sued Signal to prevent sale. Rule: The board of directors violated the business judgment rule, by accepting the offer without getting the approval from other shareholders. An injunction is necessary until both parties determine the company’s value. The Eisner case is only one of the many cases that show how companies are generous to some employees even when they have underperformed. In the course of 14 months that Michael Ovitz had worked, he did not increase foreign revenues and he also lacked experience when it came to managing a diversified public company. Ovitz was excessively compensated by the compensation Board of directors, who had not consulted the shareholders of Disney. It was not only a waste of corporate finances, but the board violated the business judgment rule. This problem is widespread in companies where employees are favored by some team members in the management. The most viable solution for this issue would be to compensate a little amount of severance pay to an employee after consulting all shareholders in a

General motors project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

General motors project - Research Paper Example Each of these segments is charged with organizing their designated world regions in sales, production, marketing, and development of products. Major factors that have been initiated by well performing companies such as Coca-Cola and Toyota include training of the employees, effective organizational structure, annual bonuses and gifts among others. In this regard, General Motors has emulated similar motivation strategies in order to be at par with its rivals both in the local and international market. The current business environment takes the tendency of globalization. Most business organization enacts the policy of diversity in their human resource management. The purpose of this is to make competitive, and ensure that they attract the market brought about by the diversity in its work force (Certo, 2000). For example it is essential for a marketing firm appealing to the Chinese market, to have a Chinese in its sales team. This is a report on the recommended ethical practices in an o rganization, and how to manage diversity in the team. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 2.0 ACTION PLANS 4 3.0 SWOT ANALYSIS 25 Memo to HR Management 28 Instructors Feedback Section 31 M1A1 - 31 References 32 2.0 ACTION PLANS 2.1 General Motors as a learning organization A learning organization is a term for an organization that implements learning for its members for its continued transformation. These organizations develop from the need to face the pressures surrounding them by enabling them to compete in a business environment (Marquardt, 2011). Sequentially, a learning organization has five concepts that govern the attainment of transformation. One, there is the system thinking in which the organization views itself as one body with different organs that make up its overall appearance. Secondly, personal mastery makes the next feature in a learning organization where an individual commits him or herself to the learning process. In addition, mental models and shared vision become the third and fourth parts of the process respectively. The former are the personal assumptions within an individual about the company while the latter is the common goal shared by all members of staff9 (Sessa & London, 2006). Lastly, the team learning aspect becomes the fifth key pillar in this organization that is mainly the collective pooling of individually learnt aspects drawn from other members of staff (Marquardt, 2011). Objectively, this paper will give the name of a company in which transformation will aim at by including the intended broad principles. Further, it will include recommendations to the chosen learning organization that may include motivation, team management, culture, ethics, and empowerment. The learning organization chosen would be General Motors Corporation. 2.1.1 Brief overview of General Motors General Motors is a name commonly associated to remarkable car brands in the world. Arguably, GM is the leading multi- state car manufactu rer with its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan in the United States. Globally, it has establishments in a hundred and fifty seven countries spread across several continents. It has over two hundred thousand employees under its wing by either employing them directly or indirectly. GM has four regional clutters namely, GM South America, GM Europe, GM North America, lastly GM International Operations. Each of these segments is charged with

Proto-oncogene in prevention of cancer is my focus biochemistry Research Proposal

Proto-oncogene in prevention of cancer is my focus biochemistry - Research Proposal Example A mutation at the proto-oncogenes results in the production of oncogenes that can cause the hereditary cancer syndrome. The mutation causes the change in the oncogene protein expression level and a change in the structure of the protein. If more than one oncogene is activated in the cell, then the abnormal cancerous cell production occurs. Proto-oncogenes are activated by three mechanisms. They are point mutations, chromosomal translocations, insert mutations, protein-protein interactions and gene amplification. Ras protein is an important product of proto-onco gene. Ras is one of the most important switches in the cell signaling pathway.1 There are three Ras proteins in the mammals. If any mutation occurs in the ras protein then it will result in the cell proliferation stimulation and finally apoptosis will be inhibited. Thus tumor cells will be produced. The ras mutation is one of the reasons for 30% of all the human cancer. H-ras, K-ras and N-ras mutations are found in almost all types of cancers. 1 Hence research in this field is much essential because of its importance in the carcinogenesis. Anti cancer therapy for the Ras protein is preferred in order to reduce and cure the cancer. Can anticancer therapy cure cancer? Scientific Background: McGlynn et al. (2009) looked up at the Ras/Raf-1/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and looked its role in the development and proliferation of cancer.2 They used chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer. Tamoxifen was used for the treatment. They looked up to know whether MAPK pathway has any major role in the carcinogenesis or not? Tamoxifen is an estrogen antagonist and the study was performed to check whether they can act as a target for the estrogen cancer therapy or not? For these two questions Mcglynn et al have found that Ras pathway responds very less for tamoxifen and good for chemotherapy. pRaf(ser338) is found to be the best marker with great effect for the targeted estrogen therapy. A combinati on of chemotherapy along with tamoxifen is required for the therapy. Further new researches are going on to identify small and simple molecules for the treatment of cancer. The signaling pathway molecules are considered to play a very important role in the cancer therapy. Farnesyltransferase (FTI) is an important inhibitor of small molecules. This enzyme is very important for the prenylation of Ras. Tipifarnib is one of the FTI that are used for the treatment of cancer. Here the role of tipifarnib in the Ras signaling pathway was analysed and the growth arrest and cell death related to the ERK and MAPK pathways were looked upon.3 Tipifarnib treatment was found to inhibit and sensitize the ERK and MAPK pathways. They have concluded that geranyl geranylated N-Ras or K-Ras BÂ  are sensititve to tipifarnib and interact in a different manner in the downstream signal processing at the osteosarcoma cells. This helps to maintain the balance between the cell death and proliferation. 3 The m etasatasis ability of the cells is found to be enhanced by the ras activity. The poor understanding of the Ras protein is a big draw back in the treatment of cancer. Here Varghese et al (2002) have looked up to know whether macroscopic metastases are being affected by Ras or not. They have used Green fluorescent protein-transfected NIH 3T3 and T24 H-ras-transformed (PAP2) fibroblasts in the mouse and looked for the

Survey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Survey - Essay Example These three types are following: Here I will discuss the entertainment poll that was published in Los Angeles Times. It is a Bloomberg survey of pop culture and entertainment in the United States. Population of this survey is teenagers between age of 12 and 17 and young adults between age of 18 and 24. Old age is not considered in this survey because age limit is most important in entertainment industry. In this survey they want to know the opinions of young people either the entertainment industry release the music for downloading or for CD sales, either they release the movies to DVD for downloading when the movies are screened first time in theatre or not, is piracy affect their profit margin or not. These are all the questions of poll that is published in Los Angeles Times. The target group is young people and teenagers because they are the people who run and shape the entertainment industry. Young people demands multitasking in the entertainment industry. They demand downloading and CD’s of music at a time. They demand movies on DVD and in theatre at a time. Teenagers do their homework while listen the music that’s why they demand multitasking art in entertainment industry. Most teenagers reported that they listening music most of hours in a day therefore they demand multitasking art in music. Computers and cell phone are playing biggest role in entertainment industry. Now the teenagers download music and videos from their computers and spend most of the time on it. Sample of this survey is 1904 respondents from which 1650 was qualified. From the qualified respondents 839 were minors from the age of 12 to 17 years and 811 were young adults from the age of 18 to 24 years. This sample was selected because it presents the benchmark according to the U.S. Census population. Most newspaper not provides information on the basis of number of people responded because from the respondents some of them not qualify

Trusts Law And Reasons For Appeal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Trusts Law And Reasons For Appeal - Essay Example 2. The facts of the High Court case are as follows: Vallee the plaintiff was an adopted child of the deceased. She was staying in France, but one day she called on the deceased before his demise in the third quarter of 2003. She promised him that she would return during Christmas, to which he answered that he did not contemplate to live up to the time and that his desire was to hand over his house to her upon his death. The deceased handed over the title deeds to the land on which the house was built and a key to the estate to her. He also gave her a plastic container with his war treasures and a photo album. Four months later, he passed on. The defendant was informed of her father’s demise by the Coroner’s Office, which regretted that the deceased had not left any valid will specifying how the estate would be divided. 3. In 2006, the defendant directed lawyers, who contacted the treasury solicitor in writing to claim the property on the grounds that her father had given it to her by a donatio mortis causa; which is a gift whose ownership remains conditional until the death of the donor. The treasury refused her claim and proceeded with an advertisement for any potential claimants.  The defendant, a clinician who was running a business organization named â€Å"Celtic Research Limited†, established through his â€Å"heir hunting† that the deceased had a surviving male sibling, Mr. Mykola Bogusz. He acquired a power of attorney from the surviving Bogusz and made applications for, and was given documents for administering the property on October 8, 2009, â€Å"for (his) use and benefit.† The treasury solicitor permitted Mykola Bogusz’s claim and placed a caveat on the property against further claims. Ms. Vallee filed proceedings in court seeking to claim the property by a donatio mortis causa. 4. The case came before the Oxford County Court on 26th October 2012 and was presided over by Justice Harris.

The Delian League Essay Example for Free

The Delian League Essay Explain the methods used by the Athenians to transform the Delian League into the Athenian Empire. (25 marks) There is certainty no evidence to suggest that the Athenians had any long-term plans, in the years 479-470 BC, to change the Delian League into an empire, although from the beginning the potential to develop into an imperial power were there. Because from the beginning, Athens had considerable power as she was the permanent hegemon. The most important aspects involving the transformation of League into empire was the changing relationships between Athens and her allies, Pericles? mperial policy, Athens selsh self interest in gaining more power by using the Leagu   power and establishing laws onto her allies such as the Coinage Degree and the Chalcis Degree. These aspects had portrayed Athens? gradual alteration of the Delian League into an imperial power. Originally the Delian League was formed as an alliance of free and equal states. At there were only two types of members of the League; those contributing ships (larger states) and those contributing money. But over time when Persian threat were no longer in sight, allied states started to leave the League. Athens then force the allies back into the League as tribute paying subject allies. This caused these states to pay tribute with nothing in return and lost their autonomy. The event with Naxos, as they were the ? rst to leave, was a warning to other ally states of the consequences of breaking the oath of the alliance. Additionally, the use of the League? s power to reduce the state Thasos to subject status because of a personal quarrel with Athens, indicated a change in the nature of the League. And by 446-445 BC, there is no longer any doubt or pretence about Athens? imperial position. Although in the beginning, the Athenians did not aim for an empire, these events did however, depicts the starting point of the transformation of League into an imperial power. Furthermore, the boost of the deteriorating relationship between Athens and her allies can be seen between 450-446, when Athens launched a system of cleruchies, which were settlements of Athenian citizens on con? scated land of subject allied states. The establishments of cleruchies had cause much resentment from other Greek states towards Athens. According to Plutarch, this system had relieve â€Å"the city of a large number of idlers and agitators and raise the standards of the poorest classes†, but at the same time it implanted amongst the allies â€Å"a healthy fear of rebellion†. It also allowed Athens to gain more numbers of hoplites, as only Athenian men with money can become a hoplite soldier. This had increased the military force in Athens and had strengthened Athens? old on her empire, as they were located at strategic points in the Aegean. The worsening relationship between Athens? and her allies in the League is due to Athens? sel? sh self interest in developing her imperial power, and this had allow Athens to gradually grow into an empire. This sel? sh self interest can be seen after the Peace of Callias. At the aim of the League was, according to Thucydides, ? to compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the King of Persia? but in 449 BC Persian lost the battle against Cimon in Cyprus and signed a peace treaty called   Peace of Callias. Although this meant that the League? s aim had been fullled, the Athenians argued that the Persians would strike again if the Greeks appeared weak. This argument from Athens had an underlying aim, that was so the Greeks states would not leave the League, or else Athens would lose its? power as hegemon and to continue to pay tribute to the League, or in a more accurate sense, to Athens. Athens? gradual sense of alteration of League to empire is also seen in Pericles? imperial policy. The end of the war with Persia and the 5 year truce with Sparta confronted Pericles with a major problem. Thousands of soldiers and sailors, previously away on summer campaigns and supported by League funds, were now unemployed. He used the Temples on the Acropolis that had been in ruins since the second Persian invasion as a way to deal with all the unemployments. However this required funds. Pericles then called on a Panhellenic conference of all Greek states of the mainland and the Aegean to discuss the rebuilding of all temples destroyed by the Persians and the security of the Aegean sea as an underlying intention to get support for the rebuilding of Athens? temples and for the recognition of the Athenian navy as protector of the Aegean. This excuse used by Pericles was to force the allies to continue their contributions in order to further his policies of carrying out a building program, developing democracy, and maintaining Athenian forces over a wide area. Plutarch records how Pericles? enemies, denounced his actions as â€Å"barefooted tyranny†. Pericles replied that â€Å"the Athenians were not obliged to give an account of how the allies? money was spent†, and as long as Athens provided the services paid for, she could use the surplus any way she wished. Therefore, the tribute from allies was not used for the Delian League, but to be used for Athens? interest in building up their city. By passing out laws, it had restricted Athens? allies of their freedom by obliging to Athens? rule. This is seen when Athens had passed out a Coinage Decree in 450-446 BC, enforcing uniformity of coinage, weights and measures among the members of the League. This measures had made trade much easier to handle, it was a further example of the allies? loss of freedom. Furthermore, the Chalcis Decree, issued after the Euboean cities revolted, required the inhabitants to take an oath â€Å"not to revolt against the Athenian demos† and â€Å"to be obedient to the Athenian demos†, which revealed no doubt that the original members of the League were now very much subjects of an imperial power. In conclusion, Athens? gradual transformation of the Delian League into the Athenian Empire can be seen in the deterioration of her relationship with her allies due to her arrogant actions on bene? ting her own interests, Pericles? imperial policy which further his policies of carrying out a building program, developing democracy, and maintaining Athenian forces over a wide area, but also the establishing of laws onto her allies such as the Coinage Degree and the Chalcis Degree. There is no evidence to say that the Athenians had any long-term plan in turning the League into an Empire, but according to Thucydides, Athens had â€Å"three very powerful motives security, honour and self-interest†, which were the reasons why the Athenians took control of an empire. These events and actions by Athens had led the Delian League, which was once an alliance of free and equal states, into a tyrannical imperial power known as the Athenian Empire.

Marriage Between The Prophet Hosea And Gomer Religion Essay

Marriage Between The Prophet Hosea And Gomer Religion Essay At the centre of the Hebrew Bible in the book of Hosea chapters one and three, lays a controversy about the marriage between the prophet Hosea and Gomer the harlot. But Hosea 3:1 seems to be an interpretation of Hosea 1: 2. Taking these passages as historically true may defeat the nature of the righteousness of God. Moreover, the name, Gomer, also seems to be not historically true because of its being both a masculine and feminine. Therefore the narratives may not be a real historical reflection of the marital unfaithfulness but it may have meant to convey the message of Yahweh. The discussion of this subject will therefore, include; who was Hosea, who was Gomer, the metaphor for the unfaithful marriage and then conclusion. HOSEA: Hosea (Hoshea-saviour) was an eighth century prophet -a mouthpiece of Yahweh. He prophesied in the Northern Kingdom, which was under King Jeroboam II (Hosea 1: 1). The reign of Jeroboam was characterized by material prosperity but it was morally reeking and rotten due to idolatry as attested in Hosae 4:2 and 2 Kings 14: 23-29 (Halley, 1957: 321). Israel had committed great harlotry by forsaking the Lord (Hosea1: 2). The great sin that Israel had committed, compelled God to command Hosea to demonstrate it through his personal life. Hosea, a prophet and a staunch patriot of Yahwhism, received the message from Yahweh. The prophet was commanded to go and marry Gomer, a prostitute (Hosea 1:2). The marriage between the prophet and a prostitute is surrounded by controversies as recorded in Hosea chapters One and Three. The controversies include the doubtful possibility of Yahweh to expose Yahwehs prophet to a prostitute. However, scholars have said that the drama between Hosea and Gomer is a metaphor that demonstrates the unconditional love of God for Israel and humanity at large. The message was complex as Hosea spoke both of disaster and hope for restoration. By disaster he warned that the Assyrians would come to invade them. The demonstration involves the unfaithful marital drama between Hosea and Gomer his wife. This is seen in Hosea 1:2 and 3:1-2 where God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute and he repeated the command saying go again and love a prostitute. From these two texts, Gomer is seen as a prostitute before marrying Hosea. And she continued being unfaithful to her husband to the extent of defecting him for other men. Speculatively, the harlot in chapter three whom God commanded Hosea to marry again may be Gomer though the Bible does not mention the name Gomer. GOMER: The name seems to be masculine (Genesis 10: 2), but Hosea depicts it as a feminine name. Gomer was the wife of Hosea. She had three children and only the first-born is portrayed as a legitimate child of Hosea. The other two children were born out of wed log. The scripture records that Gomer left her husband-Hosea for other men. Therefore, the Bible depicts Gomer as a prostitute. Therefore, it is vital that the type of prostitution she indulged in is stressed precisely from scholarly point of view. Scholars have interpreted the first three chapters of Hosea in different ways (Hinson, 1992: 168). However, James Hastings suggests that Gomer was a temple prostitute (Hastings 1963: 398). This type of prostitution was common in Canaan as Werner Keller puts it; In Canaan in those days the cult of sensuality was regarded as the worship of the gods, temple took the place of brothels, men and women prostitutes ranked as sacred to the followers of the religion, their rewards for their services went into the temple treasuries as an offering for the god (Keller, 1956: 262). From this understanding, it is possible to conclude that Gomer could have been a temple prostitutes as Hastings puts it, Gomer was, before marriage, a temple prostitute (Hastings, 1963: 398). Further, it is uncertain that Yahweh, who is worthy, could allow his prophet to marry a prostitute. Prostitutes or adulterous women were deserved to be stoned to death and not to be take back to their marital homes (Psalm 85; Deuteronomy 22:20). Nevertheless, it has been the nature of God to reveal His plan in both words and actions as seen in Isaiah 20:1-6 and in Jeremiah 28:10f. Therefore, the metaphor could mean that Yahweh was transmitting his message through this drama. THE METAPHOR FOR THE UNFAITHFUL MARRIAGE: In this drama, Hosea is the representation of God who loves both the righteous and the sinner but hates sin. Gomer represent the Israelites who became broke the covenant made between them and God. The names of their children signify the attitude that God had developed against Israel due to idolatry (Hosea 1:4, 6, 9). Meanings of the names; The names of the children born in this unfaithful marriage show that the time of God (kairos) to punish Israel had come (Jezreel). Lo-ruhamah meant that God had no longer mercy for Israelites and Lo-ammi meant that Israel had rejected God. But later, Yahweh changed His mind and decided to forgive Israel (Halley, 1957: 317) as demonstrated by Hosea who redeemed his wife from playing harlotry. Hosea also is depicted as having accepted to keep the two illegitimate children. This shows how inclusive the love of God is. Hoseas attitude towards Gomer; Though with great pain and love of losing her in such a dramatic way, Hosea followed, called and redeemed his wife to himself. This is the exactly picture of God who is constantly mindful of human kind as portrayed in Psalm 8: 4. This is also depicted in the incarnation of Christ in the dispensation of salvation for humanity. As Hosea redeemed his wife, so is God ready to redeem humanity from any apostasy life as well as the bondage of sin despite being sinful (Romans 5: 8). In this view, the marital unfaithfulness represents how Israel became unfaithful to God by broking the Sinai covenant that was made between them and God as seen below. Defection and restoration of the covenant; The drama was the reminder to the Israelites that they were a holy nation. They were unique by having entered a relationship with God through a Sinai covenant. John Miller states that God, in the wilderness, initiated the covenant after the Israelites escape from Egypt. God showed the tender love for Israel. And this love is likened to the love for an infant who is dearly loved by the parent (Miller, 1987: 80). In this exclusive covenant, Israel is seen as a wife while Yahweh is the husband (Hastings, 1963:506). But Israel broke this covenant and became unfaithful to God by indulging in idolatry. This departure from worshipping Yahweh to other gods is likened to prostitution, which was rampant in temples (Miller, 1987:82). And of course sexual activity is a natural pattern of humanity. From this explanation, sacred prostitution implanted a belief of increasing prosperity and fertility, for example, agricultural product, as Israelites were an agrarian people. They depended on agriculture. Therefore they could not avoid adopting worshipping of Baal; a fertility god as Israel pursued material goods from other gods (Hastings, 1963:506). Attached to this worship was the belief concerning the cycle of growth and decay, birth and death and success in war. But in Canaan, they were openly shameless such that mother goddesses were branded as whores. (Keller, 1956: 262-263). This worship was connected to everyday life to ensure that by having sex in the temple; success was certain. As sex was performed in the temple, the god of fertility was impregnating the earth for farms to have good produce and success in trade. This is seen in how trade was conducted as goods probably food was sold by the rich to foreigners like Tyre; neglecting the fellow poor Israelites who could have worked for it. The seller-buyer relationship is also viewed as prostitution. These were the activities that penetrated Yahwism. And it was at this that the prophets were raged with patriotism zeal to fight the survival of Yahwism. The metaphor also refers to alliances with other nations on political basis. These alliances are likened to lovers whom Isaiah condemned. These foreign alliances brought idolatry into Israelites faith. Thus the depiction of Israels unfaithfulness to God (Jeremiah 2:18, 36-37; Hosea 5:13; 7:11-12). That is the breaking of covenant or the seal of salvation. As seen in this way, Israel committed adultery by being idolatry. Israel also followed the gods of violence, assassination and injustice. They totally rejected the precepts of Yahweh as stipulated in the Decalogue- Ten commandments (Hosea 4:2). Miller also points out thatWhen the austere worshippers of Yahweh entered Canaan from the wilderness of Sinai and first encountered such practices at Baal Peor, they were both shocked and intriguedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. numbers 25: Hosea 9:10 (Miller, 1987:82). Miller clearly states that Israel was a monotheistic nation. But the influence of the Canaanites swayed her away from Yahweh like a woman who leaves her only husband for other men. Iam therefore contend with the drama itself that demonstrates how loving Yahweh is. Yet even the changing of the names of Hoseas children from abandonment to embracing from not being my people to being my people is also a good honour to show that God cares. (Halley 1957:317). This shows that there is no slave or free person in the sight of God (Galatians 3). Though the children had no paternal inheritance because they were born out of wed log, they were also given access to inheritance in the house of Hosea. This is how Gods nature is (Hastings, 1963: 506 ). God wants a relationship between Godself and human beings. That is why God instituted the covenantal law to be the cord of bondage in this relationship. But this bondage has been weakened due to sin (Isaiah 59: 2). The sending of Hosea to remarry his wife demonstrates the concern of God for liberation of humanity. On the other hand God is reminding the people to return to God as Revelation 2:4-5a attests. This was the desire of Hose to see the salvation of Israel. He wished that Israel would be reconnected to the covenant. CONCLUSSION: The unfaithful marriage between Gomer and Hosea represents the broken Sinai covenantal relationship between Israel and God. The Sinai covenant was meant to be a practical, functional and a permanent-self definition and self-understanding of Israel as a chosen nation. But they forgot that God had entered into a covenant with them in the wilderness, which was their guide in political, social and religious spheres. Israel lost the morals. This resulted into idolatry, oppression and injustices. They forgot that they were a chosen nation that was required to live an exemplary life to the surrounding nations. It was the neglection of this covenant that God was displeased with the Israelites that his wrath raged against them. Yet, he brings word of compassionate hope for restoration and encouraged Israel to uphold the covenantal law, as Israel was a chosen nation who should have lived exemplary life.

Allisons Foreign Policy Models

Allisons Foreign Policy Models Graham Allisons Essence of Decision offered alternative conceptual models on foreign policy decision making and a specific discussion on the Cuban missile crisis; and has been one of the influential book in history of foreign policy analysis. It gives a significant contribution to political science study, as it has been heavily cited in most international relations textbook and also discussed by foreign policy analysts. However, despite the models strong influence in foreign policy study, it has been heavily criticised by foreign policy analysts about its utility and value in decision making analysis. Number of criticism has risen regarding Allisons conceptual framework, ranging from its originality until the problem of evidences that have been used by Allison in explaining the Cuban Missile Crises. Cornford and Horelick, for example, argue that Allisons model is not wholly original work, rather than it is developed from previous study. Moreover, another group of criticism have questioned the account of the Cuban Missile Crises that explained by Allison. Despite these two criticisms, there are number of criticism that will be discussed in the following section. By looking at number of criticism about Allisons model, there is a big question about the usefulness of the model in foreign policy decision making process analysis. This essay aims to evaluate the utility of Allisons conceptual policy in foreign policy decision making. This essay will also critically discuss each of the three models by looking from some perspectives. Moreover, taking into account that this essay relies on Allisons Essence of Decision, this essay will also look at the decision making process regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. Allisons Conceptual Framework Model I: The Rational Actor (RAM) Model I is the basic yet critical conceptual framework that mostly utilized in foreign policy decision making analysis. RAM is the best model in explaining and predicting of an individual behaviour, as well as purpose generalization in states action. The model reduces the organizational and governmental political complications by looking at government as unified actor.  [1]  Thus, a complete-informed government -regarded as black box- will process information to optimize rational action. The internal structure within decision making process will calculate theà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬pros and cons, and afterward, rank all the options by their chance to succeed.  [2]   Its feature of being simple and easy to utilize, RAM could be useful when a state has limited or even no available information about the enemy. Moreover, RAM which stresses on interaction among states, will immediately produce prudent decision after considering the pro and con. Therefore, since it does not require much information to analyse a case, RAM would be very suitable in a crisis situation. Its simplicity in analysing a case makes RAM one of the popular methods in foreign policy decision making process. On the other side, some foreign policy analysts argue that in the real foreign policy formation, number of external and individual interest factor will eventually impact the policy making process. Moreover, RAM tends to ignore a large state with complex bureaucratic nature that has various kinds of departments with their own different political and ideological perspectives.  [3]  Therefore, along with the argument that intra-national factors are very importantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦yet critical when one is concerned with planning policy, Allison has proposed so-called, Bureaucratic Politics Model.  [4]   Model II: Organizational Process Difficulties will arise when the cases that are going to be examined is not the behaviour of an individual or a state with simple bureaucracy model, but the behaviour of one organization or government with a complex structure inside. Therefore, Allison provides two alternative conceptual frameworks that will open up the black box to evaluate internal structure inside the government, which is later known as Model II and Model III. Model II or Organizational Process Model focuses on the existing organization and their standard operating procedures (SOP) for gaining information, defining possible option and implementing programme.  [5]  Each organization has its own mission and function and series of program are developed to carry out those missions. In defining feasible option, Model II is restricted based on SOP that they believe, will enhance performance and efficiency. Moreover, Model II is not optimizing rational actor, as model I does, but rather, it is satisfying decision making actors. Its account that foreign policy outcomes are derive from bureaucratic programs, routines and SOP, produces some advantages. It emphasizes the importance of domestic political influences in foreign policy decision making process that sometimes missed out in RAM. Therefore, model II reminds the analysts that the policy was formed not only by a high level decision-maker, but sometimes it is formed by organization.  [6]   Nevertheless, a set of criticism has arisen in the utility of model II. Its emphasis on organisational culture may ill-serve higher level officials and finally can lead to impair the analysts understanding of organizations and their behaviour.  [7]  Even though this kind of problem does not occur for most of the time, but we can take it as a consideration of the effectiveness of the model II. Model III: Governmental Politics Governmental politics or government bargaining model focuses on key individual decision makers with their great influence in deciding on organizational action. Moreover, the model assumes that decision makers have different perceptions, priorities, commitments and also organizational positions (where you stand depends on where you sit).  [8]  Therefore, model III assumes that governmental actions are the result of a political bargaining process among key players. Furthermore, bargaining and negotiation processes will result in satisfying rather than optimizing decision making result. It obviously explained because personal ambition of key actor may diverge from public policy position and may lead to personal power considerations when making decision.  [9]   Between Allisons three conceptual frameworks, model III adds important detail about domestic politics that obviously, cannot be found in model I. In addition, model III does not only explain the roles of key individuals, but it also explains why sometimes individuals are working at contrary purposes to the interest of the government as a whole. Lastly, model III gives us explanation why policy sometimes appears to be irrational if we look it from a unitary government perspective. Nevertheless, model III also received many critics, especially on the complexity of the model. It is focus on individual key actor that makes it difficult to study and analyse. Moreover, it requires too many variables, some variable are unknown and it is hard to apply for other countries with unclear bureaucratic politics inside. Criticism toward Allisons conceptual framework Allisons conceptual framework has been attacked by number of criticism, varying from the originality of the model, different interpretation of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the US political system, and also methodological criticism. As Stephen D. Krasner has argued that Allisons model à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦is misleading, dangerous, and compelling.  [10]  Therefore, in this section, number of criticism of Allisons model will be critically discussed and assessed. Some foreign policy analysts, such as, Cornford, Horelick, Ball and Art have claimed that Allison did not present a completely brand new approach to analysing foreign policy process; but rather it just development from previous theories. Cornford has claimed that organisational process mode is previously done by writers such as, Simon, March and Simon, Cyert and March.  [11]  Furthermore, Cornford has claimed that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Model IIIà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦is pure Neustadt.  [12]  Horelick et al. supported Cornfords argument by suggesting that the bureaucratic model is closely related to previous work done by Kremlinologists.  [13]  Ball and Art also mentioned names of analyst that originally make the bureaucratic policy model, such as Huntington, Hilsman, Schilling, and Neustadt.  [14]   Nevertheless, Allison has dedicated a section in his book to acknowledge previous scholars that become his foundation in developing his methods. He is fully aware that he utilized and developed earlier scholars work as he mentioned in his book, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦this encourages much repackaging of existing theoriesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚  [15]  Therefore, he identifies a group of writers such as March and Simon, Barnard, Cyert and Simon and so on for foundation of model II.  [16]  Furthermore, Allison also acknowledged his intellectual debt to previous scholars that related to model III paradigm, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦model III variety have attracted increasing attention since 1960à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the publication of Presidential Power by Richard E. Neustadt.  [17]  Moreover, Bernstein has argued that the model is a helful summary of earlier decision making research to present a practical mode of analysis and guide to understand business and organizational decision.  [18]  Hence, we coul d argue that Allisons originality does not claim the originality of development of the model. The originality does not lie in his model, but rather in his approach to apply his models consistently to one particular case study, the Cuban Missile Crisis.  [19]   Another criticism can be seen from methodological perspective; numbers of similarities between model II and model III have shaped ambiguity between those two models. In many occasions, some foreign analysts will combine model II and model III to analyse a case study, including Allison himself. In his article with Halperin, Allison combines those two models and become one major model the bureaucratic politics paradigm- as an alternative model to RAM.  [20]  As Cornford argues that the three models is not totally incommensurable model to analyse foreign policy making process.  [21]  Therefore, even though Allison distinguishes three kinds of model in foreign policy analysis, those models is not easily separable in their actual application. In bureaucratic politics model, decision is not arise from one unitary actor, but through some bargaining between organisation structures with their own agenda. Model II and model III have identical characteristics that enable them to be grouped as bureaucratic politics model. The two models are similar in a sense that both models focus on departments and organizations inside the decision maker; however, it is slightly different, in a sense that, if model II will reach a decision through Standard Operation Program, model III will make a decision through bargaining between various players within government. Despite the insignificant difference between those models, they are usually combined as the bureaucratic politics model.  [22]   However, Caldwell has raised bureaucratic politics models major problem regarding the use of evidence and data. The model requires detailed data that hardly available in term of quantity and quality. In addition, Caldwell argued that there is huge possibility for analyst to imposing the model on the evidence rather than testing the model against it. Therefore, bureaucratic politics model has significant problem in analysing the data and evidence, since previous empirical problems show that data was made to fit the model.  [23]   Allisons alternative model has also been argued that it eliminated decision-makers responsibility toward the policy. The strong criticism has risen from Steel and Krasner, which argued that no one, even the President, holds responsibility of the policy as the outcome from bargaining process among bureaucratic groups. As Steel argued that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦where everyone is responsible for a decision, no one is responsible.  [24]  The same argument also comes from Krusnet who argued that bureaucratic politic eliminates the importance of election: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Elections are a farce not because the people suffer from false consciousness, but because public officials are impotent, enmeshed in a bureaucracy so large that the actions of government are not responsive to their will.  [25]  In contrast, Smith argues that criticism regarding the elimination of bureaucrats responsibility à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦is only valid to the extent to which the President is unable to get his wishes carrie d out.  [26]  In some cases, the President still has the power and responsibility in deciding the final decision and for most of the cases, the President will be the one who chose the key group of decision maker. Therefore, even though Allisons model can be an excuse for bureaucrats, we can argue that the criticism from Steel and Kranser is not applicable for all cases and need to be modified. Furthermore, following previous criticism, there is criticism about Allisons model utility to other countries. Even though Allison clearly points out his intention to present two additional frameworks to other countries foreign policy analysis (not only limited to the US and Soviet Unions policy making)  [27]  , a group of writers has argued the inability of the model to analyse foreign policy behaviour in other countries, to be precise, un-industrialized countries. As Hill has noted that there is a growing consensusà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦over the inapplicability of the insights of Allison, et al. to foreign policy-making inside less modernised states.  [28]  Migdal has also argued that the model cannot be applied to the countries that do not have stability of organizational structure, routine, and even bargaining process.  [29]  Moreover, Brenner also argues that Allisons model is not a universal model and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦more distinctive in the United States than elsewhere.  [ 30]  Despite all criticisms regarding its utility to other countries, Weil has proved, in fact, the model could be utilised in the North Vietnamese foreign policy analysis; as he has noted that examining North Vietnamese foreign policy decision making from a governmental politics perspective complements understanding gained from a rational actor analysis.  [31]   Nevertheless, some analysts have argued that the model is not even applicable to the Soviet Union, although the Soviet Union foreign policy has been heavily discussed in Essence of Decision. It is not only because the model requires more specific information than is available, but also as Dawisha has noted that the bureaucracy in some countries (e.g. the Soviet Union) is fundamentally different from its position in the United States because the persistent influence of the Communist Party.  [32]  Therefore, there is a doubt about the utility of Allisons model in other countries, as Wagner has pointed out, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the extension of Allisons model III to other countries may be a less straightforward enterprise than he implies.  [33]   Case Study: Singapores Defence Posture Change In the early 1980s, Singapore announced a major important change in its defence policy, from a defensively deterrent strategy (poisonous shrimp) to a more actively deterrent strategy (known as the porcupine). In an article done by Pak Shun Ng, he applies Allisons model to analyse Singapores domestic decision making process. Pak Shun Ng treats Singapore as unitary rational actor to utilizing model I (RAM); the military organisations as the unit of analysis for model II; lastly, the military and political party leadership (including senior military leaders and civilian leaders of Singapores ruling party, the Peoples Action Party (PAP)) as units of analysis for model III.  [34]  The article argues that model II and model III provide the most reasonable explanation of the change in Singapores defence position in the 1980s; while model I has failed to fully explain the change in its defence posture from a poisonous shrimp to a porcupine. Model II first reveals the appropriate developm ent of both Singapores military capability and military planning ability. Furthermore, model III then proves details how the Singapore Armed Force (SAF) could announce the change convincingly to improve its stature among Singaporeans and foreigners by persuasive them that Singapore has appropriate capability to defend and survive any potential threat.  [35]  Even though the article heavily honours the utility of Allisons model, but it still proposes modification of the models in order to be able to analyse a decision making process in a small and non-western states under absence of crisis condition. Pak Shun Ng has argued Allisons assumption that policy is the outcome of bargaining process is not applicable policy making in reality. In fact, decision makers do not automatically have different missions.  [36]  Therefore he argued that political bargaining model assumptions are too restrictive to explain real-life government decisions sufficiently, they should be relaxed so as to increase the explanatory power of the model.  [37]  Furthermore, the case study of Singapores policy making shows the evidence of model II and III complete each other and make one alternative model against RAM. Therefore, it supports the criticism that previously discussed that Allisons models, especially model II and III, have strong similarities and hardly separate. Conclusion The essay has discussed Allisons conceptual frameworks, by looking at each model and its pros and cons. Moreover, a number of major criticisms about the utility of Allisons model have also discussed and critically assessed. The first criticism is regarding the originality of the model, which has been criticised that, in fact, Allison did not bring anything new to the table; instead the models are just developed from earlier scholarship. However, we can argue that the originality of Allison model does not lie in the formulation of the models, but at the consistency in applying the model to one case study, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Hence, the fact that it focus on Cuban Crisis has leaded us to the following criticism, the flexibility of the model to be utilized to other countries. Some foreign policy analyst have argued that Allisons conceptual framework is not applicable to other country that is not industrialized enough to have a complex bureaucratic politics, like the United States. A group of analyst also argued that the model actually is not applicable for country with strong influence of communist party, namely the Soviet Union, even though it is heavily discussed in Essence of Decision. Another criticism also attacked the relationship between Allisons model, especially model II and model III. There is an argument that model II and model III are hardly separated from each other, and in some cases, they are combined into one major model, the bureaucratic politics model. Moreover, problem arose from the model about the availability of the data. The bureaucratic politics model requires specific data and evidence that hardly available. The model has also been argued to eliminate responsibility of top level bureaucrats in policy making. However, we can argue that in some cases, the President will be the one who holds the final decision and responsibility toward the outcome (policy). In the final section of the essay, there is a case study about Singapores policy change in early 1980s. By looking at the case study, we can conclude that after some modification, we can apply Allisons model to small and non-western countries like Singapore. Moreover, after Ng modified the model to be more applicable to non-western countries, he argued that model II and model III give better explanation on the policy change, rather than model I. However, from the case study we can also point out that model II and model III are completed each other and hardly separated. This essay has discussed some general criticisms, aside from specific criticism about its utility on Cuban Missile Crisis. Even though its a complex model and has been heavily criticized by some analyst, Allison has successfully provided fresh yet provocative alternative conceptual frameworks in decision making process. Allison does not intend to supplant any previous model, rather just provide a supplement framework in decision making study. Furthermore, in his book, Allison strongly emphasized that the model itself is unfinished; therefore he encourages foreign policy analysts as well as the reader to join and carry on the discussion about the model. Moreover, even though it cannot be fully utilized in all states, as case study of Singapore has shown, with small modification, the model can be utilized and proved to give better explanation than RAM.

Free Raisin in the Sun Essays: Bad Dreams :: Raisin Sun essays

Bad Dreams in A Raisin in the Sun The issue of racism is one of the most significant themes in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Many black men have to deal with inherent racism. The frustrations that they deal with does not only affect them, but it also affects their families as well. When Walter Lee has a bad day he can't yell at his boss for fear of loosing his job Instead he takes it out on his family, mainly his wife Ruth. Walter is thirty-five years old and drives a limousine for a living. This job provides just enough for his family without there being extra money left over to spend. It is so bad that when Travis asked his mother Ruth for fifty cents she said she couldn't give it to him because they couldn't afford it. Walter hears this and gets a little upset with Ruth and gives Travis a dollar instead. Walter tells Ruth that she shouldn't tell Travis that they can't give him fifty cents because they don't have it. I believe Walter is upset because he realizes that he isn't able to provide his son with pocket change without becoming broke himself.   What kind of man would he be? What kind of role model would he be for Travis if he can't bring home enough money to support his family? How would he be a strong black man for his family? It's obvious that Walt er is not able to provide his family with what is considered the "American Dream". Walter complains to Mama about the way he feels about his job. I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, "Yes sir no sir very good sir shall I take the drive, sir?" Walter wants to be the one sitting in the back of that limousine while someone else is doing the driving. Walter wants financial freedom, he doesn't want just enough money to provide for his family but rather he tells his mother "I want so many things." Walter is materialistic and greedy, he has been corrupted by a superficial â€Å"American dream†. Walter has no desire to find out about himself through his African American Heritage. He believes he can define himself through money, money is everything to this man. Money is status, money is wealth, money is happiness, money is almost God to him.

An Inspector Calls as a Tool for the Political and Social Criticism Ess

An Inspector Calls as a Tool for the Political and Social Criticism of the Elite "An Inspector Calls", by J.B. Priestly, is in effect a method the playwright uses to convey an imperative political and social message to his readers. John Boynton Priestley was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in the north of England. After finishing school, he decided to abandon education to pursue his passion for writing and literature. In 1914 at the age of twenty Priestley was called to fight in the First World War. As one may expect, the years Priestly spent on the frontline, had an immense impact on his ideas towards the social and political system in Britain, and are what fuelled his great politically charged writings. Priestly began to ponder the state of society and the way the social system worked. Perhaps most importantly, he realised that while large numbers of people were suffering, there were many egocentric individuals who were enjoying grand luxuries. "An Inspector Calls" was written in the very week that the Second World War culminated. This shows the urgency with which Priestly wanted to communicate his message. This play, like some of Priestley's earlier work, explores the concept of time, and the phenomenon of how someone's actions can affect someone else's life in the long run. The play is set in an industrial Midlands town in 1912, just before the First World War started. There are 5 main characters, other than the inspector who appears at the very end of Act 1. These are Mr. and Mrs. Birling, their children Sheila and Eric Birling and Sheila's fiancà © Gerald Croft. All of them are upper class citizens and are shown to consider themselves to be part of the social elite. Priestley uses this soci... ...of pay. In his defence, Mr. Birling says: "Well, it's my duty to keep labour costs down, and if I'd agreed to this demand for a new rate we'd have added about twelve per cent to our labour costs." (Act 1, pg 14) Again greed and egocentricity is shown among the higher class. Birling says he had to come down sharp or else they would have been asking the Earth. To this the inspector replies: "They might. But after all it's better to ask for the Earth than to take it." (Act 1, pg 15) Here Priestley is bluntly expressing his anger at the exploitation of the poor by the rich. At its simplest, "An Inspector Calls" is just another moral story, no different from Aesop's Fables. Priestley is trying to teach his audience that individualism and narcissism are one of the greatest evils. He wants us to be aware that our actions today immensely affect events tomorrow.