The Crucible By Arthur MillerThe Crucible Is A Dramatic Play Written

The Crucible By: Arthur MillerThe Crucible is a Dramatic play written by Arthur Miller in the early nine teen fifties,depicting the Salem witch trials and the hysteria that surrounded them. The story takes place in Salem Massachusetts in the late seventeen hundreds. The story depicts a small puritan village and the witch hysteria that is mainly created by some little girls. Arthur Miller never tells the reader why the girls start the hysteria but when u read it you get the feeling that its a game that has escalated and is uncontrollable. The main incident that begins the hysteria is when Betty Parris daughter to Reverend Parris goes into a mysterious comma. None of the village doctors can seem to find the cause of the comma, when Reverend Parris questions Betty?s friend Abigail Williams of her mysterious illness Abigail confesses to him that they were dancing in the woods with a slave from Barbados name Tituba. One thing leads to another and words gets around the village and auto matically people start to accuse each other of being a witch.The author does not clearly state the theme of the play, I believe for one main reason. The author wants to let his reader think about the story and think about what it means to him/her. So I believe that the main theme of the book is that a person should not be persecuted for there beliefs no matter what they are or who they worship. This theme can be adapted to fit many situations and can be seen in many events in history. Even though this story took place in the 17th century it still pertains to matters in the 20th century. Even today you will still see people being persecuted because of their beliefs of ideals. I believe that a story like this is universal because until people learn to live with each other and each others beliefs stories like this will always have meaning.The main character of The Crucible in my opinion is Abigail Williams. Abigail William?s is the Proctors servant and also is Reverend Parrises niece. Abigail is involved in the main event leading to the hysteria and she is the unsaid ring leader of the hysteria. Abigail changes from a shy and quiet girl to an emotionally disturbed girl who is in the middle of the witch hysteria. It seems that Abigail controls the other girls who are said to be involved in the events. The other girls seem to follow whatever Abigail does as seen in the court when Abigail says she sees a bird in the rafters of the court house and instantly another one of the girls is scared that the bird is trying to get her. In my opinion Abigail Williams is one of the most important parts of the plot.The Crucible is in the style of play and is pretty easy to read. The vocabulary that is used is for the most part fairly easy, and the sentences are also fairly easy. The most challenging part of reading The Crucible is how the author Arthur Miller uses the language from the seventeenth century. But for the most part the story is pretty interesting and easy to read. I personally would probably not be to quick to read another book written by Arthur Miller only because I find books about history boring. I personally got mostly entertainment from the book but, at some times i found it interesting and after reading it I got a better understanding of the witch trials and the hysteria that surrounded them.

Chem lab Essay

Chem lab Essay Chem lab Essay Results: Part A: 3. 41 mL of HCl was added to 2.01 g of sodium benzoate solution and a thick solution formed with a white precipitate. After the pH of the solution reached 2, the solution with precipitate was separated by vacuum filtration and dried. After the first drying period the mass of the watch glass and solid was 27.50 g. After the second drying, the solid and watch glass weighed 27.38 g. A constant mass was reached after the second drying as the change in mass was 0.44% indicating a change in mass less that 0.5%. The final mass of the recovered solid was 0.97 g, which in comparison to the theoretical yield of 1.25 g showed a 77.6% yield. Melting point of the recovered solid was also determined to be 118.8-122.8 Â °C, which shows there may have been some impurity in the solid. Part B: A -10-260 Â °C thermometer was calibrated using 3 calibration points. The freezing point mark was calibrated using crushed ice and distilled water and a final temperature of 0.15Â °C was recorded with a -0.15Â °C calculated correction factor (see Table 1). For the boiling point, distilled water was boiled and the thermometer was placed in the vapour and a temperature of 102.1Â °C was recorded. The correction factor was calculated to be -2.2 Â °C, taking into account the atmospheric pressure of 757.4 mm Hg. For the 3rd calibration point the melting point of a sample of succinic acid was determined using a melting point apparatus. The melting point range was determined to be 185.4-189.2Â °C, giving an average melting point of 187.3Â °C with a correction factor of 0.70Â °C. See Figure 1. Thermometer Calibration Graph for a plot of the temperatures recorded vs. their correction factors. Discussion: Part A: Sodium benzoate is used to preserve certain foods against bacteria, yeasts and molds and is used to prolong their shelf life. This compound, when ingested has the potential to mix with stomach acid and undergo a chemical reaction. In a lab, sodium benzoate can be combined with hydrochloric acid (HCl) to simulate the stomach environment. The purpose of this experiment is to determine when these two substances are combined, whether a new substance will be formed. It was predicted that a new substance would form from the combination of sodium benzoate and HCl because when combined, a reaction takes place where protons will transfer from the acid (HCl) to the base (sodium benzoate) and will form benzoic acid, which being water insoluble, will precipitate from the solution. If the pH is low enough, this reaction should occur and since HCl is a strong acid, it is predicted this will occur. In the lab, when 2.01 g of sodium benzoate solution was combined with 3.41 mL HCl (which was when a pH of 2 was reached, similar to the pH of stomach acid), a precipitate did indeed form. 0.97 g of solid was recovered and a melting point range was determined to be 118.8-122.8Â °C, which supported the formation of benzoic acid. In conclusion, the lab experiment showed the formation of a new substance, which supported the initial hypothesis statement. The combination of sodium benzoate with HCl forms benzoic acid, a new substance, which may or may not have heath effects on those ingesting sodium benzoate as a preservative in foods. Part B: Lab thermometers differ in accuracy and therefore need to be calibrated. Three points were used to calibrate a thermometer including freezing point, boiling point and melting point. The temperatures measured were compared to literature values and a correction factor for the thermometer was determined accounting for any errors in thermometer temperature measurement. These points were plotted onto a graph so that future temperatures taken by the same thermometer can be corrected according to the determined correction factors from the thermometer calibration. For the freezing point a temperature of 0.15Â °C was measured, which gave a correction factor of -0.15 in comparison to the literature value of the freezing

How tai chi chuan can help you quit smoking Essay

How tai chi chuan can help you quit smoking - Essay Example â€Å"Originally developed as martial art, Tai Chi looks like a slow graceful dance, but behind the deceptively simple movements is a wealth of Philosophy, Medicine and Science. Tai Chi is about balance and harmony†(About Tai Chi). Tai chi can help a person to refresh his mind and develop a sound personality. Some of the proven benefits of Tai chi are â€Å"Stress reduction, Improving balance, flexibility and muscle strength; Improving sleep quality; Lowering blood pressure; Increasing energy, endurance and agility and Improving overall feelings of well-being etc† (Mayo Clinic Staff). Tai chi training involves elements such as; drills, self defense techniques, weapon use etc. Tai chi training helps to bring a state of mental calm and clarity apart from providing health benefits and stress management abilities to the people who practice it. â€Å"Tai chi is often described as "meditation in motion," but it might well be called "medication in motion." There is growing ev idence that this mind-body practice ... has value in treating or preventing many health problems† (World Tai Chi & Qigong Day). Tai chi chuan is gaining popularity in the world not only as a self defense technique, but also as a method to get rid of some bad habits. Since practicing Tai chi chuan can help a person to gain better control over his emotions, it is possible to use it for avoiding some bad habits like smoking, alcohol addiction, drug addiction etc. This paper briefly analyses how Tai chi chuan can help a person in quit smoking habit. Even though everybody knows about the possible health consequences of smoking, for some of the people, it is difficult to refrain from the smoking habits. It is believed that cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, which can cause severe diseases like cancer, obstructive pulmonary disease, heart diseases, stroke and adverse reproductive outcomes. Still many people are addicted to smoking because of different reasons.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Smoking definitely creates lot of problems not only to the smoker but also to others who forced to breathe the smoke produced by the smoker. â€Å"Low self esteem and low self confidence are the major reasons for smoking† (Brizer, 2003, p.27). Tai chi chuan can help the smokers to improve their self esteem and self confidence and hence the smokers can manage their emotions more effectively or positively. â€Å"To do tai chi, you perform a series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner. Each posture flows into the next without pause, ensuring that your body is in constant motion† (Mayo Clinic Staff). Smokers usually smoke only when they feel physical or mental fatigue. Practicing Tai chi chuan exercises will help the smokers to improve their physical and mental health and hence they will improve their stamina reduce fatigue. There are many scientific studies which revealed the effectiveness of practicing Tai Chi to avoid smoking habits. According to a study conducted by The University of Miami Division of Complementary and Integrative Medicine in conjunction with the Medical Wellness Centre, â€Å"Tai Chi may provide the ideal mind-body awareness to help you put out that last cigarette†Ã‚  (Tai Chi & Smoking Cessation). Deep breathing is one of the major exercises associated with Tai chi. It helps to reduce the stress normally a smoker experience prior to smoking. Smokers usually experience some kind of stresses before they think of smoking. Smokers have the illusion that smoking may help them in getting rid of their

Housing and Urban Regeneration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Housing and Urban Regeneration - Essay Example Housing reforms were also constant in the market as there was little dissemination of information to the public as Isobel Anderson ( 2010, p9) insinuates. In this paper, the main focus is on housing inequality in relation to the black minority ethnic group and other related groups which Harrison Malcom( 2003, 128) largely explains. This has been largely contributed by factors such as socio-economic and institution groups that are in control in the market platform. Currently market dynamics have emerged providing diverse range of housing that has increased the consumption levels. In contrast there were few choices in the previous past which limited the people from accessing housing. Huang and Clark (2002, p322) state that some housing units in countries such as China were set aside as welfare benefit especially on basis of non-monetary factors such as job rank, job seniority, marital status and household size. However, this situation is changing as privatization is taking ground in th e market corridors. Public housing was previously meant for institution groups such as the political status and those working in government agencies. Individuals working in these sectors had an advantage over the migrants and farmers. They were allocated public houses that were subsidized. It did not matter if they received low incomes. On the other hand the governmental heads and the political elite accessed considerably large housing with the best facilities. This pattern is however changing as market forces are gradually gaining ground. Even though this scenario is taking effect the black minority ethnic groups and asylum seekers cannot still afford better housing (Finney & Peach, 2004, p302). Public housing was privatized through selling at subsidized prices. Privatization also led to new private housing where real estate developers were constructing a wide range of housing to create diverse preferences. Households living in public houses had an advantage over the migrants and f armers as they were able to purchase public houses sold off. They were able to obtain home ownership while the minority such as single women with children could only afford rental housing ( Harrison, 2004, p128). Those working in government and organization agencies earned low income and had retired; they were able to purchase good and large housing. This was made possible by the housing policy reforms that were in place. On the contrary the minority could only enjoy poor housing as they were excluded from accessing these benefits. Therefore they were still constrained to small and poor housing. The political status had considerably great advantages as they used their position to gain control by purchasing public housing and investing heavily in construction of rental housing. The educated and those who had occupations had access to good housing and better standards of living individuals. Housing inequality increased continually due to income inequality. Individuals at top levels su ch as managers and heads of governments enjoyed the top cream. They had huge incomes as compared to those at low levels. This gave them great access to a wide range of varied housing. They had an upper-hand as they could invest in rental housing and developing of real estates. Therefore, they continued to get richer as those at lower levels were subject to rental housing. This was

Women during the Italian Risorgimento Research Paper

Women during the Italian Risorgimento - Research Paper Example However, as Schwegman suggests in the book titled, Amazons for Garibaldi: women warriors and the making of the hero of two worlds, the role of the women in the uprisings are rarely recognized (417). To demystify this perception, Scwegman offers us classical examples on how women participated in the war, starting with the Garibaldi’s first wife Anita and others who joined the Red Shirts (432). The women offered themselves to serve the Italians, despite many hurdles such as lack of support from the male populations. This paper examines ways in which the women population contributed to the Risorgimento, either by participating in the armed struggle or through indirect means. Before going into the main subject area, it will be pivotal to revisit some background information. Background Italian reunification, otherwise known as the Risorgimento, describes the period when the Italian embraced a sense of nationhood. The events that took place during the Risorgimento are inspired the F rench revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, which resulted to the colonization of some of the Italian provinces. While reunification took place in 1870, before then, most of the states were under either the Austrian or French rule. The first attempt to re-unify the states came in 1848, but it failed while second attempt took place in 1859. The Italian leaders relied heavily on the help of Napoleon III to drive out the Austrians in exchange of Nice and Savoy. The war between Piedmont and Austria broke out in 1859. The re-unification of Italy was impeded by many factors, including dominance of the Austrian forces, which ruled Lombardy and Venetia states. On the other hand, the French forces controlled the Southern Italian Kingdoms, and to defeat this powerful army, the Italian forces had to amass substantial foreign aid. Some of the key leaders who played an important role during the reunification include Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi. In addition, the Italians had to se ize the moment after the French forces were withdrawn during the Prussian war. In May 1860, a small army led by Garibaldi led a revolution, which led to the capture of the island of Sicily. The role of Garibaldi in the re-unification efforts through his small army of Red Shirts is highly recognized. The army, which was mainly composed of volunteers from Romagna, Lombardy, and Venetia, set sail in May 1960 for Sicily. After arrival of the Red Shirts, the army registered huge success within the first two months, although they were ill equipped. The re-unification for Italy would not recomplete without the re-capturing of the province of Venetia, which happened 1866 and thereafter the Papal States. This was made successful through the help of the Cavour, who encouraged riots and uprisings, thus giving the troops an opportunity to capture the Papal States. By the end of 1960, most of the states had been captured except Rome and Venetia, which at the time were heavily guarded by the Fren ch troops. The opportunity to recapture, these remaining areas presented itself in 1870 after the Franco-Prussian war broke out. In 1871, Rome became part of the large Italy and was made the capital city. The role of women in the army The role of women in Risorgimento is well captured in the documentary titled, three women of the Risorgimento, which was created and directed by Alessandra Ciotti. One of the figures that are highlighted in this moving documentary includes Antonietta De Pace, who is recognized as a founder of the Female Poetical Committee of Napoli. The organization helped the Garibaldi’s army in the mobilization of resources and actual execution of the military campaigners against the Austrians. Other key figures whose efforts are

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button | Adapting literature

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button | Adapting literature Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18. This quote from Mark Twain inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald to write his short story à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 1922. Just recently, in 2008, it has been adapted as a motion picture movie directed by David Fincher with great success. There have been many adaption of literature into film and the quality of the outcome as well as the number of parallels to the original work often differ greatly. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a very extreme example and for a long time the nouvelle wasnt even considered to possibly be turned into a movie due to the lack of techniques to have the reversed aging process of Benjamin Button seem real. I found the idea of living life backwards and the difficulties and experiences which are linked to such an extraordinary phenomenon very appealing. Therefore I wanted to find out more about it and read the short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Even though book and film differ in several ways, the main idea is the same and so fascinating that I decided to do my research paper on comparing the book with the movie. B: I As we will see, the movie is a very loose adaption of the book, basically, the only consistent occurrence in both the movie and the book is Benjamin Buttons unusual, reversed aging process. Yet not even this is completely similar: while the book ´s character of Benjamin Button has the mental age of 80 at the end of his life, the movies version gives Benjamin the mindset of an infant trapped in an 80 year old body. Film: The story starts at the day when Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans. At this very day Daisy Williams is waiting in a New Orleans hospital on her deathbed for her end to come. There with her is her daughter Caroline, who stands by her and reads to her mum out loud of a diary given to her by a man called Benjamin. His mother died by giving birth to him. Now the difference to all the other newborn babies is that he was old and wrinkled. Thomas Button, his father, horrified of his son leaves him on the doorsteps of an elderly care-home. Where Queenie a black NANNA? Takes him in and treats him like her own son. Benjamin fits in well even though of his young age he looks as old as most of the residents. Soon Benjamin realizes that he is physically growing younger not older. SZENE . Early in his life, he meets Daisy, the woman of his life which he first meets when shes a young child. Both lives go different ways and sometimes their paths even cross each other. Until they finally can manage to make a life together, which however because of there different fates isnt of a long duration. (QUELLE) Book: Benjamin Button was born in 1860 in a hospital in Baltimore. But not as a baby, he had the mind and appearance of an old man in his 80s. Mr Roger Button, Benjamins father, is member of a eminently respectable family and the president of Roger Button Co., Wholesale Hardware. Because of his high social status he has difficulties accepting his son for who he was. He tries to build up the illusion that his son is in no aspect different from any other person. The times society cared a lot for conformity and therefore had very little tolerance for this curious case of Benjamin Button. Benjamin still lives a very full live just in a different kind of way. He ages backwards at the same rate as everybody else is getting older. In 1880 Benjamin Button is twenty years old (but appears approximately 50) and meets and falls in love with Hildergarde the beautiful daughter of General Moncrief. Hildegarde turns out to be attracted to older men and six month later against all moral standards becaus e of their great age difference the get married and even have a son called Roscoe. While Benjamin is getting younger Hildegarde is getting older, and he soon looses interest in her à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾He wondered what possible fascination she had ever exercised over him.(p.37) Benjamin goes off to fight in the Spanish American War, as he returns home he appears about the same age as his own son, Roscoe. Growing younger everyday he attends Harvard University at the age of 18. After Benjamin graduates he is young enough to go to prep school, until he ends up beeing playmates with Roscoes son. Without being able to stop the reversed ageing process he goes to kindergarden until he finally is even too young for that. As he grows younger and younger he looses the memory of his entire past life until ..it was all dark(p.52) While the plotline is a complete different one when comparing book and film, there are however obstacles Benjamin Button has to overcome during his lifetime. In the book mainly because of the nonacceptance of society and in the movie because of II b ; One main theme in the book is how a new born baby, physically and mentally in his 80s, is accepted into society. In the short story, which plays in 1860(first few lines), Benjamin is born in the hospital and right from the beginning one can see how Benjamin is considered to be beneath social standards of that time. When Mr Button arrives at the hospital, the doctor even worries about his own reputation : Do you imagine a case like this will help my professional reputation? One more would ruin meruin anybody. (Page 4). Mr Button still unsuspecting of what happened has to realize, that the doctor who brought himself into the world and had been the family ´s physician for over 40 years, has no interest in seeing any of the Buttons ever again as he makes clear by saying : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Im through with you! I dont want to see you or any of your relatives ever again! Good-bye! (Page 4) It is not only the doctor who is upset and hostile. It seems like the whole hospital is worried because of this unusual event.. The hospital will never regain its flawless reputation after-(Page 6) complaint the nurse seconds before she showed Mr Button the way to his new born child. The fact that his new born baby actually is an old man outrages Mr. Button to a degree, that he even calls his own son an imposter and lier (page 8). This shows very well how the society back then reacts to phenomenons which do not fit their norms and believes. From this moment on, Roger Button does everything in his power to threat Benjamin appropriate to his age. He wants to keep the old age of Benjamin a secret and even thinks further what the best solution would be to do so. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾If, say, he could only find a very large boys suit, he might cut off that long and awful beard, dye the white hair brown, and thus manage to conceal the worst, and to retain something of his own self-respect not to mention his position in Baltimore society . Roger Button is determined to keep his illusion alive and deny the obvious which is made very clear by the following words :Benjamin was a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾baby, and a baby he should remain(page 15) What the mishap would have cost the Buttons and their kinsfolk socially cannot be determined (page 17) But the citys attention is very soon drawn onto other things the outbreak of the Civil War. By the age of twelve Benjamins parents got used to him and even felt that he was not any different from other children. This was the time when Benjamin was not troubled by society because of his appearance. Later in the book though he has once again troubles to find his place in society. This occurs when Benjamin Button who just passed his entrance examination to Yale college is called into the Yale registrars office to receive his schedule. Benjamin cant die his hair before he enters the office and therefore cant hide his elderly appearance. The registrar first thought hed be talking to Mr Roger Button. As Benjamin made is case clear and insists on his age of eighteen, once again Benjamin meets with his à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾curse he has to deal with since his birth. The idea! the registrar shouted. A man of your age trying to enter here as a freshman. Eighteen years old, are you? Well,Ill give you eighteen minutes to get out of town. (Page 23) Being unable to gain a proper education at college because of the social inacceptance of his case he starts working for his fathers company Roger Button Co. During this time, Benjamin also starts to mingle with society and meets the daughter of General Moncrief, HildegardeIt whom he marries 6 months later. The story of Benjamins birth is being remembered again but many stories were made up such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Benjamin was really the father of Roger Button, that he was his brother who had been in prison for forty years(page 31) Therefore the real story is forgotten or just so unbelievable that nobody believes it, not even his own wife. Many years Benjamin is able to life a happy life without having to worry about his physical aging process which makes him appear younger by the day, until he comes back from the Civil War to his wife and has to face that his ever younger appearance drives his wife nuts, she honestly believes its his way of annoying her and she is in the illusion that he could stop his aging process any time he wants. But, Hildegarde, I cant help it. You can too. Youre simply stubborn. You think you dont want to be like any one else. (page 37) After that point, the gab between them begins to widen. Benjamin keeps getting younger until he is a young boy. He receives a letter from the army asking him, since he served as an officer with a higher rank during the Spanish-American War to go back into service. He sees this as an opportunity to go back in time and do the duty he once enjoyed so much. Again society does not comply with his intentions. He arrives at the headquarters where he is turned down and sent home considered a little boy who wanted to play soldier. This also is the last conflict concerning the aspect of society and Benjams process of becoming younger. From that moment on Benjamin continues living his life backwards going back to kindergarden then under a nanny ´s custody getting younger and younger until hes finally gone. The skit of Benjamin Button is that the need for social self-preservation plays such a big role,that it blinds everyone from seeing Benjamins fate for what it is, and for accepting him for the person he is. Fitzgerald criticizes the community of the upper class whos reputation mainly is secured throughout conformity and their status is determend by their wealth. The social aspect or concerns about someone ´s reputation and how its influencing the book however is almost absent in the whole movie. In the film, Benjamin appears like a child, but his appearance still is so shocking to Mr. Button (PHOTO) that he grabs the baby wanting to get rid of him. It seems like he even attempts to throw the little baby into the river. (9:57) The appearance of a police officer stops that thought and he leaves Benjamin with 18 Dollars on the steps leading to a New Orleans boardinghouse for the elderly , the Nolan House (QUELLE), where Queenie, takes him in and raises him like he was her own child, hes accepted right away. There is no hint in the movie that Mr Button gave his son away for any other reason than his outer appearance .Mr Button:I thought you were a monster (1:43:23) c; In the movie, Benjamin Button has to overcome several obstacles linked to his reversed aging process such as witnessing people constantly dying in front of his eyes during his earlier time in the Nolan House, where à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾death was a common visitor. (25:03) When Benjamin talks about his process about getting younger with one of the residents living in the Nolan House. Its made pretty clear by the words of the resident what heavy burden he has to carry upon his shoulders. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Well I feel sorry for you, you have to see everybody you love die before you do, its an aweful responsibility(52:47). In the movie theres a love story which helps to understand what it means to live a life backwards like Benjamin does. He meets Daisy who is the grandchild of Miss Fall and sometimes comes to visit her over the weekends at the Nolan House. Benjamin falls in love with Daisy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ from the first time he saw her (36:47) But her being only 10 and him physically in his 70s and the mentally young age of both makes a romance impossible at least for this moment. It turns out to be a love story which develops slowly, over the course of many decades. At the age of 17, Benjamin goes on a long intense trip on a tugboat. Even though Daisy and Benjamin write each other constantly, many years pass until they meet each other again in the Nolan House in 1945 when Benjamin is 26 years old. Even though Daisy makes strong suggestions to sleep with Benjamin, he turns her down for the reason that she is to be leaving the next morning. This incident though is not important for the aspect which is discussed here. Its mentioned here only for the better understanding of the plotline. However in spring 1962, 19 years later Daisy and Benjamin meet again in New Orleans at the Nolan House where they both fall in love with each other at once. The fact that Daisy is many years older than Benjamin seems to be irrelevant for quite a long time until the reality of his curse pops back into his life. Daisy gets pregnant and Benjamin asks himself the question :How can I be a father when Im heading in the other direction? Even though his wife knows the consequences she gives him words of encouragement and insists that they will somehow make it work. But life doesnt always go according to one ´s wishes, therefore not long after the baby is born Benjamin realizes that his son needs a father and not a playmate. He makes a very tough decision and goes away, leaving his wife and daughter with enough money to live a good life. Giving up the love of his life is probably the biggest obstacle Benjamin has to overcome because of his reversed aging process. SETTING: III a;Charactere In the short story Benjamin is born as an old man apparently about seventy years of age.(p.7) He has almost white hair and a long smoke-colored beard(p.7) Benjamin starts out with a lot of demanding and complaining. Just born and still in the hospital he announces This is a fine place to keep a youngster of quiet tastes. With all this yelling and howling, I havent been able to get a wink of sleep. I asked for something to eat.(p.9) He also doesnt act anything like a baby. When he is alone he secretely smokes cigares and finds more interest in an encyclopedia than in kids ´ toys.(FOOTNOTE) Instead of playing with children of his age he finds more pleasure in sitting and talking to his grandfather. Benjamin occassionally breaks things on purpose to create the illusion beeing a normal baby just to delighten his father. he only did these thing because they were expected of him, and because he was by nature obliging.(p.18) This is also the reason why he dies his hair and shaves his bear d, he tries to please everybody around him even if hes not comfortable with it. Aging backwards for Benjamin means to overcome many obstacles as shown above and still Benjamin always keeps his dignity and never complains about his faith. Benjamin, once he left the hospital, took life as he found it.(p. 17) As Benjamin gets older, or younger for this matter, he turns out to be very intelligent and succesfull in what he does. Not only did he graduate from Havard University but also made his fathers company way more profitable due his new ideas. He also becomes an expert in dancing and great in playing golf. During his army time in the Spanish-American War in 1898 he becomes a lieutenant-colonel. He was slightly wounded, and received a medal. Benjamin also becomes more and more attracted by the gay side of life. He was dancing with the prettiest of the young married women, and chatting with the most popular of the dà ªbutantes.1912 though is a turning point in Benjamins life. His glor y years seem to be over now- as his physical appearance now is the one of a sixteen year old teenager his mental ability grows back as well. And therefore his social status is following the same process, he finds himself much alone, except for the companionship of three or four fifteen-year-old boys in the neighborhood. Now at the end of his life he behaves and thinks the way he was supposed to during his early years. He reads little boys stories and for him now playing with little stripes was the most fascinating game in the world.(p.49). He is a little boy now and he was very happy(p.49) Slowely he starts to forget no token came to him of his brave days at college, of the glittering years when he was flustered the hearts of many girls. And then he remembered nothing. In the movie Benjamin starts his life by looking like a normal baby except for his skin which is heavily wrinkeled, just like the skin of an old person. He cries like any other baby but after a closer examination by the doctor they find out that his health condition is rather in a state which can be found by elderly people than by a newborn child. Details then bookaccommodating Father: In the story Benjamins dad is very present right from the beginning. He is a succesfull man and helds a high position, both social and financial. And therefore is always concered about other peoples opinions of him. He seems to not be very open for things he doesnt understand or he doesnt believe in. Which is shown by his attempt raising his son Benjamin the normal way, which is only made possible through illusions he built for himself to avoid the confrontation with the truth. He has a hard time accepting Benjamin as his son until he gets older which is either because of Benjamins trumendous success with the company (It was mainly due him that the family fortune was doubled chpt. 7) or due to the fact that Benjamin finally appears younger than his dad. In the movie however his name is Thomas Button. He also is the head of a successful Button company, but he doesnt seem too concerned about what other people think about him, he even seems like a man without any scruble by abondoning his son just because of his appearance. Later in the movie it accured that Mr Button is sick and his time on earth is very limited. He wants to make up for everything and regrets his mistakes. He tells Benjamin that he was his father and furthermore tells him that he should never have abondoned him (1:34:37). Though the apolgy was long overdue and what he did unforgivable this small move still makes him a sympathic character at the end. Mother: While in the book the mother is alive there isnt anything else mentioned about her. In the movie however Benjamins biological mother dies giving birth to Benjamin. At her place steps Queenie, his black surrogate mother. This character is very strong and independant, its basically her who runs the whole Nolan House with all its elderly residents. Which also shows how responsible and caring she is. Her joyfull acting and her supportiveness towards Benjamin thouroughout the movie makes her a loveable character.

Aristotles Definition of Nature :: essays research papers

Aristotle’s Definition of Nature Nature, in its essence, is the cause/effect relationship offered to things with ascertainable objectivity, occurring without cause. From this we can logically state that the nature of something (something being an object with "thinghood", as humorously described in class) is its beginning, purpose and stereo-type. There are two debatable definitions of nature, which under scrutiny are seemingly very similar. On the left hand, we have nature described as "the first, inchoate, thing belonging to it". Simply, an object’s nature is it’s core material – i.e., the nature of my couch would be polystyrene foam. On the other, we have nature described as "the shape or look". This statement points to nature as the stereo-type of an object, that is, my couch dose not have the nature of a couch until it assumes the look of a completed, stereo-typical couch. When examining these definitions it is hard to find a large degree of difference as the stereo-typical couch is not only composed of those parts generally used to construct a couch, but also its acceptance and appearance as a couch. For further clarification we can examine Aristotle’s example of a doctor healing himself. A artisan of medicine dose not have the nature of a healer, as that would imply that he came about this skill naturally, which is not the case. For something to have nature, that nature must come into being without cause. Therefor we can assume that the healer, being an artisan of medicine, is a healer but has the nature of a stereo-typical human being. What then, causes differences amongst couches and people, even between healer A and healer B? This question is answered by exploring the idea of chance. By chance variations are made upon things (with thinghood) not to it’s nature, but to it’s physical or otherwise growth from it’s nature. For this reason we must assume that all things have a categorical nature, with variations to it’s structure.

Great Expectation Essay

Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round[1] from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times. [2] Great Expectations is written in the style of bildungsroman, which follows the story of a man or woman in their quest for maturity, usually starting from childhood and ending in the main character’s eventual adulthood. Great Expectations is the story of the orphan Pip, writing about his life and attempting to become a gentleman along the way. The novel can also be considered semi-autobiographical of Dickens, like much of his work, drawing on his experiences of life and people. The main plot of Great Expectations takes place between Christmas Eve 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old (and which happens to be the year of Dickens’ birth), and the winter of 1840. [3] On Christmas Eve of 1812, Pip,a boy aged 7, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting his mother and father’s graves. The convict scares Pip into stealing food for him and a file to grind away his leg shackles. He threatens Pip not to tell anyone and do as he says or his friend will cut out Pip’s heart. Pip returns home, where he lives with Mrs. Joe, his older sister, and her husband Joe Gargery. His sister is very cruel and beats him and Joe regularly, while Joe is much more kind to Pip. Early the next morning, Pip steals food and drink from the Gargery pantry (including a pie for their Christmas feast) and sneaks out to the graveyard. It is the first time in Pip’s life he’s felt truly guilty. This is an important event in the book because the convict will never forget the kindness (albeit forced) that Pip showed to him. The convict, however, waits many years to fully show his gratitude. During Christmas dinner with the minister, Mr. Wopsle, Mr. and Mrs. Hubble, and Uncle Pumblechook, Pip and Mrs. Joe’s moderately wealthy uncle, no one notices the missing food or brandy until Uncle Pumblechook drinks some brandy and spits it out. Pip realizes that he filled the brandy jug not with water, but with tar water. Pip sits at the table being told how lucky he is by all the relatives and holds on to the dining table leg for dear life, scared that someone will notice the missing pie. When Mrs. Joe gets up and goes to the kitchen for the pie, Pip bolts to the door. However, his way is blocked by police officers. They ask Joe to repair their handcuffs and invite Joe, Pip and Mr. Wopsle to come with them to hunt for some escaped prisoners from the local jail. As they hunt through the marshes outside the village, they accost the two convicts while engaged in a fight. One of them is the convict helped by Pip; however, when questioned about where he got the food and file, he claims he stole the items himself in order to shield Pip. The police take the two to the Hulk, a giant prison ship, and Pip is carried home by Joe, where they finish Christmas dinner. A while after Pip’s encounter with the convict, Pip’s life returns to normal. He goes to school, run by Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt, and becomes friends with Biddy, an orphan who was adopted by the Wopsles. He still feels guilty for the theft. Pip’s Uncle Pumblechook gets Pip invited to the house of a rich old woman named Miss Havisham, who lives in the village in Satis House. Miss Havisham is a spinster who wears an old wedding dress with one shoe on and has all the house clocks stopped at 20 minutes to nine. She hasn’t seen sunlight in years and claims to have a broken heart and just wants to see Pip play cards with Estella, a young girl she has adopted. After this first meeting, Pip frequently visits Miss Havisham and Estella, for whom he harbours a feeling of obsessive attraction. He begins to tenaciously learn everything he can from Biddy in school, in an effort to impress Estella who called him a common labouring boy. One day, when Pip goes to the town pub to pick up Joe, they are approached by a messenger sent by Pip’s convict. He mixes his drink with the stolen file and gives Pip two pounds before leaving. Pip visits Miss Havisham on her birthday where she shows him her wedding cake, which is being eaten by mice, and where she will be laid out when she is dead, a death she looks forward to. He also meets the Pockets. Pip works with Joe for a few years in the forge, doing work that he hates. In an agreement with Joe, he visits Miss Havisham only on his birthday, when he receives a half-holiday. He and Joe work with a journeyman named Orlick. When he returns home, he discovers that Mrs. Joe had been attacked. She becomes a horribly brain-damaged invalid. Pip feels guilty again when the police believe escaped criminals attacked Mrs. Joe. The detectives from London are inexperienced and do not discover anything. Mrs. Joe spends her days calling for Orlick and draws a capital â€Å"T† on a slate. Biddy thinks that the â€Å"T† represents a hammer and that Orlick is the attacker. When Orlick arrives, Mrs. Joe tries to please him and shows him the slate. Biddy moves in with the Gargerys and Pip confides in her about his feelings for Estella. When Pip and Joe are listening to Mr. Wopsle read a murder trial from a newspaper, a London lawyer, Jaggers, approaches Pip, revealing very startling news: Pip has inherited a large sum of money from an anonymous benefactor. The conditions of the receipt of said money require him to leave for London immediately, buy some clothes and become a gentleman. Pip behaves badly in society (mostly over jealousy of Estella) and squanders his allowance, running into debt. He is rescued on his 21st birthday, when he is notified by Jaggars that he is awarded 500 pounds and an increased steady allowance, until such a time as his benefactor will appear. Pip originally believes Miss Havisham is his benefactress (and so the reader is led to believe, as well) for several years as he begins to learn to be a gentleman, helped by the now grown Herbert Pocket, who is assigned as his companion. During this time, Mrs. Joe dies. However, in one of Dickens’ patented plot twists, Pip’s benefactor turns out to be instead Magwitch, the convict whom Pip helped, who had been transported to New South Wales, where he had eventually prospered and become wealthy. Magwitch left all his money to Pip in gratitude for that kindness and also because Pip reminded him of his own child, whom he thinks is dead. The revelation of his true benefactor crushes Pip. He’s ashamed of Magwitch’s criminal past, however, Magwitch now expects to spend the rest of his life living with Pip. Pip, very reluctantly, lets Magwitch stay with him. There is a warrant out for Magwitch’s arrest in England and he’ll be hanged if he’s caught. Eventually, because Magwitch is on the run from the law, a plan is hatched by Herbert and Pip which involves fleeing the country by boat. During these events, it is revealed to Pip that Estella is the daughter of Jaggers’ housemaid, Molly, whom he defended in a murder charge and who gave up her daughter to be adopted by another of his clients, Miss Havisham, in return for his service in allowing her to be acquitted of the charge. Pip later realizes Magwitch is Estella’s father. Pip has an encounter with Orlick, who admits he was the one who attacked Pip’s sister. Meanwhile, Estella has married Bentley Drummle, a marriage that will be an unhappy one. Before Pip flees with Magwitch, he makes one last visit to Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham realizes that she created a monster out of Estella, who broke Pip’s heart, and asks him for forgiveness. Pip confronts Miss Havisham with Estella’s history and present circumstance in an unhappy marriage, blaming Miss Havisham for teaching Estella to be cold and unloving. In the heat of the confrontation, Miss Havisham stands too close to the fire and ignites her dress. Pip heroically saves her, but she later dies from her burn injuries. Pip, Herbert and another friend, Startop, make a gallant attempt to help Magwitch escape, but instead he is captured and sent to jail. Pip is devoted to Magwitch by now and recognizes in him a good and noble man. Pip tries to have Magwitch released but Magwitch dies shortly before his execution. Under English law Magwitch’s wealth forfeits to the Crown, thus extinguishing Pip’s â€Å"Great Expectations†. After an extended period of sickness during which he is looked after by Joe, he returns to good health and returns home to ask Biddy for forgiveness and for her love. However, when he arrives, he finds that it is Biddy and Joe’s wedding day. Thankful for not mentioning his interest in Biddy to Joe while he was sick, Pip congratulates the happy couple. Afterwards, Pip goes into business overseas with Herbert. After eleven relatively successful years abroad, Pip goes back to visit Joe and the rest of his family out in the marshes. Finally, Pip makes one last visit to the ruins of Miss Havisham’s house, where he finds Estella wandering. Her marriage is over, and she seems to have children and wants Pip to accept her as a friend. In the book Dickens says â€Å"There was no shadow of them parting† which is led the public to believe that Estella and Pip ended up together. ‘After over 50 chapters of Pip longing for her, they ended up together in the end of the book’ is the basic logical explanation for why people believe the book was ended as them being â€Å"more than friends†

Needs Analysis Essays

Needs Analysis Essays Needs Analysis Paper Needs Analysis Paper Essay Topic: 8th Grade Needs Analysis Name: Course: Date: Survey question was introduced by creating a baseline of how often teachers believed students should be checking their work. By first understanding this, it would allow a determination If there was In fact a difference between students actual reviewing would be if students are unfamiliar with how to check their work. By determining which skills the teachers deem to be the most productive when practicing their computation, the teachers will then be able to create a vertical alignment where instruction is built on those review skills. This would provide students with a foundation where their knowledge can be increased without the troubles of having to learn a new way to review. Typically the reverse operation would be done in order to check for the correct answer. However, if there is an issue in the basic computation it would hinder students being able to check their work. This was the reason why students were also given survey questions and were interviewed. Students would be asked how often they check their work and they would also identify their self-efficacy in computation of problems with decimals. If there is a need in that students do not check their work and if they do not feel competent in completing the problems with decimals, then it would dictate a need to retrace the material. Surveys and interviews were given to students due to their speed and their ability to quickly assess where a need was. Data Analysis Techniques Used The first survey question asked the students about the percentage of the time they reviewed their work after completing a math problem. The answer choices included: teen 0-20 percent, between 20-40 percent, between 40-60 percent, between 60-80 percent, and between 80-100 percent. Table 1 Percentage of Time Students Reviewed Work Percentage of Time Reviewing Work (%) Respondents 2 3 4 5 0

FINDING TIME WITH TOO MUCH TO DO

FINDING TIME WITH TOO MUCH TO DO I find it amazing that the more I have on my plate, the more productive I become. People ask how I accomplish what I do, and I never have a good answer. This week, however, I seemed to have caught up to myself. No signings or conferences for the entire month of July. No immediate deadlines since the manuscript for book two of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series is in the hands of the publisher. And I caught myself piddling more than ever. Some psychologist types might say it was my schedule catching up to me, that I needed the down time to go into idle-mode for a spell. Maybe. The problem is, idle to me means getting outside to garden, weed, or create some new wing on a chicken coop, and its too friggin hot to do all that. So Im seated at my computer, finally, with time to breathe, and I slow down. Back in my day-job years (geez that sounds old), I ran wide-out with kids, writing, jogging, and serving as administrative director for a small federal agency, answering to a politician. I fell into bed and rose tired, but once I had my coffee, I counted the juggling balls and prioritized which ones to handle first. I firmly believe we perform relative to the degree in which we are challenged. And the first people to argue this are those who are seeking reasons for not being productive. Go ahead. Throw tomatoes. But just think about it before you do. Athletes who perform the same routine, without challenging their limits, do not excel. Intellects who quit challenging the status-quo, do not find break-throughs. Doctors who treat the norm instead of seeking answers to anomalies, turn their backs on patients. Its the challenged who make a difference. And when we stop to ponder that, we can reply in one of two ways: 1. We can complain about our limitations, or 2. We can keep fighting to make a difference. Really, it IS that simple.

Stock Price and Trading Volume Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stock Price and Trading Volume - Essay Example Wood, McInish, and Ord (71), had found contradicting evidence, in the price-volume relationship. For they established the ratio between the price change and trading volume to be greater for the share prices downticks. Smirlock and Starks (64) had found that the relationship could only be supported during the time intervals when they could distinguish when the new information ex ante had reached the financial market. Due to the lack of the delivery of information to the financial market and the upbeat transaction costs, small amounts of evidence found that the relation had been lower for the up-ticks in the price than for the downticks. Data collected over an hourly basis from an extensive market index by Jain and Joh (38), had discovered the trading volume relates positively to the enormity of the price change. Findings have shown though, that the volume is more sensitive towards the positive price changes in contrast to the negative price changes. Epps, Hanna, Jain, Joh and parts of Smirlock and Starke's findings shown an implication of a positive correlation between the price change and trading volume per se. Ying's items (1) and (2) and a numerous number of researchers had found a similar positive correlation as found above. Rogalski (60) had... tedly found a positive correlation as well as Richardson, Sefcik, Thompson (58), Comiskey, Walkling and Weeks (12) all had found through tests on annual volumes of turnover and the price change to have positive traverse correlations. No such correlation had been found however by James and Edmister (39). So by looking at the empirical evidence summarized in Table 2, the two features discussed are, all the findings are from data collected from stock and bond markets, unlike previously mentioned empirical correlations between the price change and trading volume, and the data collected has not been collected from any futures markets. The statistical results found are weak, certain correlations found by Rogalski were found to be low for example and there were a couple findings that were inconsistent with a positive relationship to be found. Theoretical explanations by several authors of their findings, say the association of volume with the methodical risk through to stock returns, suggested by Morgan (51). A positive correlation between the price change and trading volume had been implied by the 'mixture of distributions hypothesis', only if the conditional indication of the stock price procession is in proportion to the quantity of new information into the market. There is however an unclear sense as to how the above could actually work. For the MDH with indicating minority is inconsistent with the markets equal balance, since it implies that the price change expected is from the arrival of new positive information into the market. Epps (20) found that a positive price change is cause for a larger volume on share transactions than for the negative price changes. His assumption that the 'bull' investors are optimists about their asset value at the close of the

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Research Paper Example However, the highest number of students was found to spend averagely, having their clothes purchasing expenditure between $150-450, which is the category that exceeded half the number of female students sampled in the study, at a 55%. However, the statistics for the male students gives a totally different picture, with a substantial 14% of the male students spending between $0-50 per semester, a number that is also equal to the male students who spends above $450 per semester. The male students spending pattern is interesting, considering that those spending between $50-150 and those spending between $150 to 450 were also equal, at 36% in each category. The statistics of the students with a favorite brand for clothing was however peculiar, since the male students seemed to have a higher rate of preference for brand clothing, compared to female students. 45% of the female showed a brand preference, compared to 55% who did not, while the male students who had a brand preference stood a t 48%, while 42% did not show any interest for brand preference. Nevertheless, the overall number of students who indicated a preference for a certain brand was higher, standing at 52%, while 48% of the students did not show any brand preference. Do you have favorite brand for clothing? Female Male Total Yes 15 21 36 NO 18 15 33 Among the sample of 69 students, 33% seemed to have a brand preference from a company that utilized animal fur, wool or leather in manufacturing clothing, while 31% did not prefer brands from a company utilizing animal products for cloth manufacturing. Nevertheless, 33% did not seem to know the materials used by the company from which they have a brand preference. 22% had a brand preference from a company that utilized renewable materials, while 25% had a preference for a company that did not utilize renewable resources. However, the majority did not seem to know whether the company from which they have a brand preference utilized renewable or non-renewable materials, accounting for 55% of the students with a brand preference. Even with the knowledge that the company from which the students had brand preference