Angela Carter (1940-1992) positions herself as a writer in ‘the demythologizing business Essay Example

Angela Carter (1940 Angela Carter (1940-1992) positions herself as a writer in ‘the demythologizing business Paper Angela Carter (1940-1992) positions herself as a writer in ‘the demythologizing business Paper Essay Topic: Beauty and the Beast and Other Tales Literature Mythologies The Glass Castle The Piano Lesson -She defines myth in ‘a sort of conventional sense; also in the sense that Roland Barthes uses it in Mythologies’. Barthes states that ‘the very principle of myth’ is that ‘it transforms history into nature. This process of naturalisation transforms culturally and historically determined fictions into received truths, which are accepted as natural, even sacred. -As Carter herself states in one of the interviews, the term ‘demythologizing‘ means for her an attempt to find out what certain configurations of imagery in our society and in our culture really stand for, what they mean, underneath the kind of semireligious coating that makes people not particularly want to interfere with them. -In the very conventional sense, Rolland Barthes uses myths in Mythologies to describe trivial things of everyday use, Carter tried to define ideas, images and stories we tend to accept without thinking about them. -Angela Carter’s collection of stories, ‘The Bloody Chamber’, was published in 1979 and provides a dynamic response to one of the crucial problems of radical feminism. How does one think outside the masculine myths of ‘woman’ without presenting the feminine as some ineffable and timeless essence. From familiar fairy tales and legends Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Beauty and the Beast, vampires and werewolves Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark, sensual, fantastic stories. -The title story of this collection is Carter’s tale about Perrault’s Bluebeard. Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber is for the heroine a story of sexual self-discovery. She delights in her newfound sexual awareness, which Carter brings to life with vivid words such as, I lay awake in the wagon-lit in a tender, delicious ecstasy of excitement, my burning cheek pressed against the impeccable linen of the pillow and the pounding of my heart mimicking that of the great pistons ceaselessly thrusting the train that bore me through the night, away from Paris, away from girlhood, away from the white, enclosed quietude of my mothers apartment, into the unguessable country of marriage. -Carters use of the word bore compares the heroines journey to her married life to a rebirth. The comparison emphasizes how the heroine is not just getting married, but being transformed from a girl, away from girlhood into a woman. The heroines arousal on the train, heightened by sexual verbs such as pounding, thrusting and burning comes not so much from her attraction to the Marquis but from her curiosity at the unguessable act of sex that she anticipates. Even though the Marquis evaluates her as though she is horseflesh, his condescension excites her because it makes her realize her own potential for corruption, for sexuality and desire. She does not find out until later how literally the Marquis makes love and corruption into a single act with the fetish of murdering his wives. He takes his favorite quote, by Baudelaire, literally: There is a striking resemblance between the act of love and he ministrations of a torturer. For him, the act of love is the act of torture. Because the Marquiss objectifying remarks and actions excite the heroine, we can see that until she realizes the extent of her dilemma, she is somewhat complicit in her own subjugation. -Images of rebirth and sexuality make the narrators entrance into marriage seem full of life. -But the moment she arrives at the castle, this feeling is tempered with symbols of death that foreshadow her own near-death. She arrives at dawn, a time of freshness and possibility, but in the month of November in late fall, which traditionally represents a decline into winter and death. -The sea has an amniotic salinity-the word amniotic referencing birth, but it surrounds the castle when the tide is high, so that for all its majesty the palace resembles a prison. She describes it as, at home neither on the land nor on the water, a mysterious, amphibious place, contravening the materiality of both earth and the waves That lovely, sad, sea-siren of a place! To the heroine, the castle seems like a place where reality is suspended and strange things happen. When she compares it to a siren or mermaid, who lure sailors and then drown them, she evokes another symbol of death and foreshadows her fate. -The bridal chamber itself is filled with symbols of death and martyrdom. On the wall hangs a painting of Saint Cecilia, who died by decapitation. -The Marquis sees the heroine as his own personal Saint Cecilia, whom he plans to kill in a sick bastardization of martyrdom. -The heroines necklace, which the Marquis instructs her not to remove, references the same bloody death. At the time, she does not realize that the necklace symbolizes the death that the Marquis has planned for her. -Twelve mirrors surround the bed, the number twelve symbolizing the twelve apostles and therefore referencing Christ. Since Christ is the ultimate martyr, the mirrors comprise another death reference. -Finally, the Marquis has filled the narrators room with so many lilies, which are reflected in the mirrors, that it appears to be a funereal parlor. The heroine connects sex with death most explicitly when she uses the word impale to describe the Marquiss penetrating her. -It is not the bridal chamber, but the Marquiss secret murder room, that lends the story its title, The Bloody Chamber. However, the bridal chamber is a bloody chamber of sorts because it is there that the Marquis spills the narrators blood by taking her virginity. Being a place for the consummation of marriage, it also represents the murder that always follows. -The events that surround the forbidden chamber echo Eves temptation and fall in the Garden of Eden, thus connecting each wifes downfall to the idea of original sin. As Jean-Yves explains, the heroine only did what The Marquis knew she would just as, he implies, God knew that Eve would taste the forbidden apple and be sentenced to pain and (eventual) death. -The Marquis sees himself as God because he is a man and a royal figure; therefore, he feels it is his mission to tempt and punish women. But far from being godlike or right, the Marquiss actions are perverted. He is like the man in his engraving, Reproof of Curiosity, who arouses himself by whipping a naked girl, only he is worse for being a murderer. The allusion to Eve suggests that inasmuch as the bloody chamber is a place of suffering and death for the other wives, it is one of learning and rebirth for the heroine. -In this way, the term bloody chamber can also refer to the womb; it is a physical symbol of birth and of Eves punishment; pain in childbirth as well as the pain of knowledge. -Like many traditional fairy tales, The Bloody Chamber ends happily ever after. But the heroines happiness does not come from finding a stereotypical prince charming and living out her days in luxury. Rather, she marries a blind piano tuner, gives away her fortune, and lives with her mother and husband on the edge of town. This ending embodies a feminist perspective. The heroine starts out as a sexual object, manipulated into submission with the promise of material comfort. The Marquis condemns her to death for refusing to obey him blindly and remain ignorant. Her triumph, as Moore explains, is in recognizing her own intelligence and mettle as a human being, and rejecting the role of submissive child. Having learned from her experience, the heroine rids herself of all remnants of that former identity. She rejects wealth, which is what the Marquis used to win her trust. She marries a blind man, who cannot objectify her for her beauty because he cannot see her. She even rejects the traditional household of two in favor of living with her mother as well as her husband. By doing so, Moore says, she avoids the institution of marriage with its requirement to love, honor, and obey a husband till death. She replaces a relationship between power and submission with one of mutual affection and equality. Even though the heroine is married, she does not rely solely on Jean-Yves for money or love, because she earns money giving piano lessons and has her mothers company. Even though the mark on the heroines forehead proves her triumph over both death and misogyny, she is ashamed of it. The key that made the mark was, as Moore says, the key to her selfhood, but she does not consider the mark a badge of success; to the heroine, it is a permanent reminder that she let herself be lured, bought, and mistreated. In rejecting wealth, earning a living, and residing with her mother, the narrator not only fulfills her wish for independence; she does a sort of penance for allowing sexist abuse in her former life. This penance she also does by telling her story, in hopes that other women might not fall prey to a man like the Marquis. -To begin with, one can read Carter as an exemplary postmodernist. Her stories are written in the voice of fairy tales, with ‘The Bloody Chamber’ being a first person re-telling of ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’ from the female protagonist’s point of view. A received and traditional narrative is re-told from the point of view of its classically objectified and silent other, the sexually violated women. The text inhabits a narrative to show its force, foregrounding the values and positions it creates. -However, there is also a utopian or deconstructive dimension to Carter’s text. Carter’s narrative does more than repeat the narratives of tradition as narrative; it is more than a playful postmodern inhabitation of a discourse that it also disavows. Not only does Carter add another voice to the text; she rewrites the very notion of voice. -She does not just add a ‘female’ voice to a masculine narrative; she destroys the simple way of thinking about the opposition between male and female. She shows the feminine to be a masculine construction, an image, fantasy or projection of male desire. -The female character in ‘The Bloody Chamber’ constantly views herself in mirrors, sees herself from the point of view of male desire, and adopts all the jewels, dress, fantasies and poses that place her in the position of created sexual object. In narrating the story she looks back to a time when she was both an unselfconscious and a passive object of desire and recalls the moment at which she adopts and internalizes the male gaze that fixes her as female: â€Å"That night at the opera comes back to me even now†¦the white dress; the frail child within it; and the flashing crimson jewels around her throat, bright as arterial blood. I saw him watching me in the gilded mirrors with the assessing eye of a connoisseur inspecting horseflesh, or even a housewife in the market inspecting cuts on the slab. I’d never seen, or else had never acknowledged, that regard of his before, the sheer carnal avarice of it; and It was strangely magnified by the monocle lodged in his left eye. When I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in a mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me, my pale face, the way the muscles in my neck stuck out like thin wire. I saw how much that cruel necklace became me. And for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away.† (Carter 1979, 11). -In this sense, ‘woman’ does not exist; ‘she’ is only that feared lack or absence created by the masculine assertion of presence. In order for a text or image to represent anything at all it must presuppose an absent or lost presence which it aims to recall. -Carter’s stories show the mythic production of the lost origin. Her female characters are viewed through the lens of a male desire that can be active, representing and masterful only through its production of a passive, represented and slavish feminine. The opposition between male and female then structures all the oppositions between subject and object, for the masculine is just that which is other than the represented, other than that silent body which cannot speak or represent itself. Carter exposes the feminine as a mythic presence produced through the idea of subjectivity and representation; only with the idea of a world there to be represented, and a subject who actively represents can we have the sexual hierarchy. We can only think the opposition between subject and object, presence and absence, signifier and signified through sexual imagery. The feminine is just that imagined lack perceived from the point of masculine subjectivity. -However, while denying or exposing the feminine as a lie, or while saying that woman does not exist, Carter also speaks in the voice of the feminine. The feminine is a fiction and illusion and it is also the only reality outside the play of mirrors. Carter produces a female voice or subject that disrupts the fiction of sexual difference. Indeed, the only way to destroy the fantasy of sexual difference- of woman as man’s necessary negation or other- is to repeat and intensify the fantasy, both by showing the production as a production and by producing differently. -Carter parodies the female subject who would take on all the active, violent and masterful strategies of the masculine subject, exposing such projections of the self-authoring subject to be a fiction. Often her female characters take on heroic, active but also absurdly masculine roles; the masculine model of the subject is powerfully adopted at the same time as it is parodied: ‘what other student at the Conservatoire could boast that her mother had outfaced a junkful of Chinese pirates, nursed a village through a visitation of plague, shot a man-eating tiger with her own hand and all before she was as old as I?’ (Carter 1979, 7). -Her work is therefore ironic, negative and deconstructive. -It is ironic because it inhabits the simple mythic world of sexual difference in order to expose its absurd simplicity. It is negative because it takes what is conceived to be outside language and subjectivity- woman- and shows that otherness to be an effect of representation. It is, most importantly, deconstructive because it does not just repeat and parody the opposition between male and female; it also takes the affirmative step of gesturing to all those forces of desire and difference that precede all myth, meaning and representation. Many of her stories enact a utopian promise of going beyond the human or beyond the subject for whom the world is merely so much passive material to be mastered and re-presented. -The fairy stories of myth and tradition are presented as so many ways of inscribing a border between animal and human. Carter repeats tales of werewolves, for example, in order to show the ways in which the human self was, and is, haunted and doubled by what is not itself. The subject is neither self-authoring nor transparent. The human is a collection of features that we have perceived from inhuman life: ‘her cunt a split fig below the great globes of buttocks on which the knotted tails of the cat were about to descend’ (Carter 1979, 16); ‘I could see the dark leonine shape of his head and my nostrils caught a whiff of the opulent male scent of leather and spices that always accompanied him’ (ibid. 8); ‘his white, heavy flesh that has too much in common with the armfuls of arum lilies that filled my bedroom in great glass jars’ (ibid. 15). Carter’s writing is composed of layers of scents, tastes, perceptions, recollections and quotations, with her characters’ bodies never being self-contained objects so much as sites of competing affects. Against all these bodies and layers of sensibility, Carter sets the absent male gaze, the point from which all sensations are organised and rendered both sexually different and meaningful. To be a subject, or to speak, is to be complicit with this objectifying gaze. There can be no pure and innocent femininity outside this structure precisely because the female body is produced as female only through this desire: He stripped me, gourmand that he was, as if he were stripping the leaves off an artichoke- but do not imagine much finesse about it; this artichoke was no particular treat for the diner nor was he yet in any greedy haste. He approached his familiar treat with a weary appetite. And when nothing but my scarlet, palpitating core remained, I saw, in the mirror, the living image of an etching by Rops from the collection he had shown me when our engagement permitted us to be alone together †¦the child with her sticklike limbs, naked but for her button boots, her gloves, shielding her face with her hand as though her face were the last repository of her modesty; and the old monocled lecher who examined her, limb by limb. He in his London tailoring; she, bare as a lamb chop. Most pornographic of all confrontations. And so my purchaser unwrapped his bargain. And, as at the opera, when I had first seen my flesh in his eyes, I was aghast to feel myself stirring. (Carter 1979, 15). In The Bloody Chamber masculinity is described as a mask, as achieving its power only in not being seen; it is only by viewing the body as masked, as clothed, that a male subject is posited as unseen, behind all the staging. Similarly, it is only through the threat of law, prohibition and punishment, only through a violence directed against the female body, that the male subject is produced as authority. Sexual difference is not, for Carter, a topic to be treated ironically. On the contrary, the very structure of irony is itself sexual. The point of view that observes, objectifies and is other than any determined body, or the point of view of narration, voice, desire and speech, has traditionally been defined as different from the feminine. Indeed, the feminine is just what is other than, or different from, the pure gaze of subjectivity. For this reason, Carter’s narrating female voice is not a point of view outside traditional difference. Rather, insofar as she speaks, Carter’s narrating female character is also other than her own desired body. ‘The subject’ is itself a fantasy of difference, created through narratives that differentiate desiring gaze and voice from desired and viewed body. Masculine and feminine are images or figures of a difference that is inherent to all thinking and speaking. As de Man and Derrida have noted, to use a concept or speak is to intend or posit some being or sense that is there to be presented, and to create a subjective point of view of one who speaks. One cannot adopt a postmodern play that frees itself from metaphysical commitments, a commitment to presence. But one can look at texts to see the ways in which they constitute subject positions and points of view over and against a posited presence. Carter’s narrative shows the ways in which this structure of subject and object, presence and absence, sign and sense has a sexual imaginary. To speak is to be other than the object, and the primary imagined object- that original desired body from which all speech must detach itself- is the female body. -There is also, however, an affirmative dimension to Carter’s irony. She does not just present the classic image of the speaking and viewing subject as masculine; she also intimates a new mode of difference. Here, the feminine would not just be that which is other than the voice of speech and representation, not just that towards which the active and objectifying gaze is directed. Carter’s writing suggests that bodies themselves have a differential power. Bodies become human, become animal and, in ‘The Company of Wolves’, her rewriting of ‘Red Riding Hood’, animal and human bodies fall in love and live happily ever after. Difference is not just the imposed relation between male and female on otherwise equivalent bodies. The body is not a presence that is then taken up in representation; nor is it an imagined and lost presence forever desired by a self-enclosed and disembodied voice of representation. Just as Derrida insists that speech intends or posits some sense beyond the sign, and cannot therefore be reduced to a closed system of difference, so he also argues that signs create forces beyond sense and presence. Carter, similarly, not only looks at the ways in which the traditional sexual binary posits some lost presence- the female body there to be viewed- she also looks at the way the inscription of this fantasy and the bodies it represents can have a force that exceeds sense. -Her stories are ironic repetitions of the production of the feminine as a lost absence; but she adopts this voice and then shows that it is not a simple or negated outside. The body disrupts inside and outside, male and female subject and object. Carter’s characters constantly undress to reveal an underlying animality, or a becoming-animal. The human is not some basic essence that we all share; nor is it a common ground. On the contrary, the human in Carter’s stories is achieved through performance and clothing. This allows us to add a further dimension to Carter’s irony and demythisation. -Not only do her texts inhabit and disrupt the traditional images of male and female that have been used to differentiate object and subject, she also creates new styles of voice. If traditional speech and point of view create an ‘I’ who speaks over and against a presence that is there to be re-presented, new styles of writing would destroy the singularity of point of view. This would be postmodern, not because it set itself ‘behind’ or above all the discourses that it surveyed but did not intend. Rather, the text would destroy the position of speech and point of view, producing not a subject/object or subject/predicate logic, but a humorous play of surfaces. Carter’s stories often repeat phrases from other stories, without quotation marks or a defined speaker. In ‘The Bloody Chamber’ a phrase from Red Riding Hood- ‘All the better to see you’- is printed as though it were the speech of the Count, but it is not in quotation marks and is typographically set off from the paragraphs that surround it. Carter uses the space of the page, the literal text, to display the voices of myth and tradition that traverse our narratives and perceptions. Carter presents these lines, not in sentences or quotations, but almost as objects dropped onto the page, without a clear attribution, voice or point of view. -Carter uses the position of the feminine in a critical and utopian manner; if the feminine is produced as other than the male subject, then it can be repeated to gesture to what lies beyond sense and subjectivity.

Stephen Blackpool Essays

Stephen Blackpool Essays Stephen Blackpool Paper Stephen Blackpool Paper After this tragic incident Blackpool returns back to his home with the intention to leave Coketown and seek his fortune elsewhere. In the meanwhile Louisa who is accompanied by Tom both arrive to see Stephen. Louisa expresses her concern for Stephens plight and offers him money. Stephen accepts, but insists that they are only a loan.  From this incident my colleagues we discover something new about Blackpool, that he is someone who likes to take minimum assistance and favors of people even when in desperate, critical situations. Nevertheless the latter statement can only be restricted to financial help and not all kinds of aid. This is because, before Louisa and Tom leave Tom Pulls Stephen urgently out of the room and says that he might be able to do him a favor and Stephen is ready to take the assistance in this matter.  After Tom is taking Blackpool outside his room he tells him be outside Bounderbys bank at night and wait for an hour or so. He says that if he can help Stephen he will give Bitzer a message for him. Tom claims that Louisa will agree with what he has in mind, and this single fact seems to persuade Stephen to agree to Toms request. Not only does Bounderby constantly remind people of his bad childhood, but also he claims to have made it on his own Nobody to thank for being here but myself The 19th century definition of a Victorian Gentleman also says he never speaks with himself except when compelled. This is in fact the complete opposite to what Bounderby repetitively does throughout he essay as he also speaks highly of himself, and only himself. Although he is a best friend of local school headmaster, Mr Gradgrind, Bounderby is more interested in money and power than in facts. He himself is a fiction, and a fraud as Mrs Pegler turns up and tells of how Bounderby paid her i 30 a year to stay away from him Josiah in the gutter.. no such a thing My dear boy knows, he comes of humble parents Dickens didnt think highly of Victorian gentlemen, this is shown when he uses Mrs Pegler to notify us of how Bounderbys love for money means more to him than his love for his family. When Mrs Pegler reveals Bounderbys status as a fraud, we react with irritation towards him. His whole character is based around his own raising from the gutter, the fact that this is a lie, makes us lose our trust in him, if we had any to begin with. It is not only our trust for Bounderby that we lose, but our respect for him too. The book is written so that the reader has a blatant dislike for Bounderby, but one must respect him for working his way from the gutter to the top of the social hierarchy. Until we hear the truth, all our respect for him is about his own self-raising, when we discover the truth, we lose that respect and we have little or no respect for him. This news about Bounderby is discovered it is rather ironic, as he has gone through life with his often-repeated declaration I am Josiah Bounderby of Coketown This quotation shows his inflated sense of pride for the way he was raised (by himself) and for how he turned out, in other words, his wealth. Darren Cave Page 1 5/2/2007 Although as it turns out, Bounderby was not actually raised by himself from the gutter, his parents were poor but did love him. This should mean that he has sympathy for others who are like he was in his childhood. Instead, he believes that everyman should work himself to the top, starting from the bottom, supposedly like him. This is shown in his treatment of Stephen Blackpool. Stephen comes to discuss how he could go about getting a divorce from his wife. Stephen works for Bounderby and has had a very troubled marriage as his wife is a drunken and robs him. When Stephen questions Bounderby about a divorce, Bounderby asks him if he wishes to be fed on turtle soup and venison with a gold spoon as he has unreasonable aspirations for a worker.

The Critical Appraisal of the Research Evidence Associated With an Essay

The Critical Appraisal of the Research Evidence Associated With an Area of My Professional - Essay Example Critical reviews of nursing research thus improve the experiences and knowledge of nurses in various practice areas. Hong Kong’s healthcare system has an increasing demand for evidence-based approaches. In particular, nurses face more serious evidence-based practice challenges given that the nature of their work requires that they rely on the available scientific evidence for decision making (Spring & Hitchcock, 2010). Observably, absence or lack of nurse representation in research would limit the growth and development of the profession (Duffy, Fisher & Munroe, 2008). Evidence-based practice in Hong Kong has numerous issues and implications in its establishment that need to be through the critical analysis of the available and relevant researchers. Despite the fact that evidence-based practice is a widely discussed concept in the literature, it is uncommon and not well adopted in nursing practice in Hong Kong and other countries. This paper critically appraises two journal articles on practice area relevant to Hong Kong. This critical appraisal is through the three essential elements of evidence-based practice, namely systematic reviews, clinical guidelines, and protocols. In essence, the appraisal explores some of the current issues associated with evidence-based practice in Hong Kong. It then outlines specific suggestions to researchers, nursing practitioners, managers, and academics so that the current nursing situation in Hong Kong is advanced. The appraisal is by a PICOT format question with the relevant population, intervention, comparison, outcome, and time. A critical appraisal of research evidence is a step in evidence-based practice in nursing. Through critical appraisal, the validity and usefulness of research evidence are established. This critical appraisal wasconducted in three main steps, namely validity, generalizability and

Newspaper article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Newspaper article - Essay Example Interruptions in the flow of trade in the area would have a grave impact on international economic activity, endangering the norms which have secured relatively peaceful relations in the region. In November of 2013, the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation gathered policy experts to discuss the overlapping claims in the South China Sea and consider the impact of US policy in the area (Schwartz, 2014). The participants pointed out the relevance of gathering more data to establish the features of the South China Sea, and therefore settle the issues of these overlapping claims. The NBR also assessed the implications of the US decision not to support the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in relation to options in supporting the favorable results for the disputes (Schwartz, 2014). In relation to US impact in Asia, it must seek to reduce the possibility of conflict in the region by securing support for the rule of law and ensuring peaceful resolution of conflicting claims. There are about 100 territorial features which have been recognized in the South China Sea and since problems of sovereignty impact all the countries which have the right to exploit the possible beneficial resources for each feature, the stakes are high (Beckman and Schofield, 2014). The UNCLOS where all parties are members indicate the international standard in establishing ownership of the territorial waters as well as the exclusive economic zones using coastline qualities and related features. There are different features to be considered in this case: islands, low-tide elevations, rocks, submerged features, and artificial islands (Beckman and Schofield, 2014). Such features are identified based on their status during high and low tides, including their ability to support human or economic exploitation. Other features indicate various territorial benefits, including territorial

Market Research for Zara Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Market Research for Zara - Essay Example Zara currently caters to fashion clothes for Men, Women and Children. It includes both under wears and outer wears. Besides these it also provides fashion accessories for all the categories. We will be specifically targeting our study on the women’s under wear section in our report. In this category Zara has the following products available – various varieties of shorts, briefs, Underwired plunge bras, G strings and some varieties of basks and corsets. They do not have much choice in this segment though. Most of the products are made to order and most of the clothing is stand alone. You have the option of mix and match but nothing is available in lingerie sets. Zara’s pricing is more commensurate with quality. Most of the products are on the higher side as compared to the other stores; however, they are one of the best in quality. Since many of the products are made to order, the pricing is based on the flexibility available to the customer to get products as per their choice.

Gender Discrimination in Saudi Arabia

Gender Discrimination in Saudi Arabia The issues of gender discrimination in Saudi Arabia seriously need to be alert to every woman out there. Public need to understand how vulnerable these Saudi Arabia women been living throughout their whole life and the misery they went through. There is no freedom for them. This happens because of the extremely conservation of religious culture. They are not just being retracted by the Islam law, also by the social norms and tradition. SECTION II THE ISSUES AND WHO ARE INVOVLED I have chosen to focus on prejudice and discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia and comparing it with Singapore. The reason why I have chosen this is because I realized in Saudi Arabia, women have a pitiful life. They have been categorized by men for over many decades. Men are being more prioritized over women in their country in terms of gender, education, society which I will be covering in this topic. There is no freedom of speech. Their life is being controlled by men. Hence there is a need to bring up this issue to everyone so that the discriminated gender in Saudi Arabia can be reduced and the womens quality of life can be improved. Women in Saudi Arabia are normally seen wearing dull colours veil, head covering and a full black cloak. They must cover the parts of their body except the eyes. The clothing must be thick and loose-fitting which will not interest male. The reason of dressing so is because no seduction is allowed to men. According to Saudi culture, womens employment place is at home whereas mans is at the workplace. Women are not allowed to neglect their responsibilities of house chores. A new report released by Human Right Watch (HRW), it state that Requirements that each female, regardless of age, be assigned a male guardian be it a father, a husband, or even a son who must give permission for their charges to do everything from travel abroad or locally to study, seek medical care, work and marry effectively deprives women of their most basic rights and makes their participation in public life far more difficult. (Jim Lobe, 2008 Apr 21) Also in the same article, One 40-year-old Saudi woman, who was divorced from her husband and whose father had died, who had to seek permission from her 23-year-old son to travel outside the kingdom (Jim Lobe, 2008, Apr 21) This is an extremely absurd information for any Singaporean women to believe if this act was to be implemented in Singapore. In normal situation in Singapore, it is usually the children be it of gender have to seek permission from parents to leave a country. However in Saudi Arabia, they are being based on gende r where men have all the authority over women. And in most cases, women are needed to be accompanied by a man on streets. It is extremely common to see women driving on the road in Singapore. Unlike Saudi Arabia, women are allowed to own a car but they are not given the rights to drive. Women can still own cars in Saudi Arabia, but they are banned from driving them. (Associated Press, July 5 2010) They are the only county that does not allow women to drive. In addition to such extend, Saudi Arabia women actually threaten to breastfeed their male colleagues or men that they often come in contact with. The reason why they will do so is because they think that by breastfeeding the men, it will create a symbolic maternal relation. Within the same article, it also stated that if the women give their drivers their breast milk, the chauffeurs would be able to mingle with all members of the family without having to worry about violating Islamic law. In both scenarios, women are at disadvantage because despite of breastfeeding those strangers, they are still not allowed to drive. But if they do so, it also means giving the chance for those strangers to associate with their family members without fears breaking the Islamic law. SECTION III WHY IS IT IMPORTENT FOR US TO TALK ABOUT IT? Women are often being seen as more inferior as compared to men in Saudi Arabia, especially where the lack of education further verifies this. Majority of the women are not allowed to attend school just because of gender. It affects the society as it does not give a good impression to other countries. Women in Saudi Arabia do not have any say in almost everything even basic human rights like receiving medical care or working. As stated in the first example, they must seek permission from their male guardian before doing so. They are also being forbidden from participating in political issues such as election. Giving men the authority over women could means a higher danger for them. An article stated that The power given to male guardians actually contributes to womens risk of abuse and family violence, according to the report. Even when guardians are found to be abusive against their charges, social workers, doctors, and lawyers who work on such cases told HRW that it was almost impossible for their guardianship to be dissolved or transferred. (Jim Lobe, 2008 Apr 21) As women are considered the substandard ones in the society, majority of them are not literate. The only jobs that are suitable for them are those that do not required any skills as such being a domestic worker. In the same article, it also added that Many migrant domestic workers, mostly women, were kept in highly abusive conditions, being made to work up to 18 hours every day, in some cases for little or no pay. Domestic workers have no protection under Saudi Arabian labour law and have little possibility in practice of obt aining redress against abusive or exploitative employers. The government said that a law against domestic violence was being drafted. (Amnesty International, 2009) In most situations, women can only bear with all the misery and feel so helpless regarding it. The rate of discrimination in Saudi Arabia is extremely high and need to be brought up to everyone. Women are not given a fair chance when it comes to employment. Women remained subordinate to men under family law, were denied equal employment opportunities with men, remained banned from driving vehicles or travelling alone (Amnesty International, 2009) Women tried to protest against the discrimination act that men put on them, however the way they protest has limited effect. Such as the incident of being banned from driving, women protest it by threatening to breastfeed the men. This behavior will never happen in Singapore because it is never practiced in here. One woman who was being interview by the Gulf News said Is this all that is left to us to do: to give our breasts to the foreign drivers? She commented this because she understand even such threaten will only put women at disadvantage. SECTION IV WHERE CAN WE START TO FIX PROBLEM? I believe equal rights exist for everyone regardless of age, gender. This inequality treatment women received is the society is causing women to protest. Although the International committee such as United Nation (UN) has already stepped into Saudi Arabia to help those women, nevertheless there is still much limitation they can do. There isnt much that can be done by outsiders as its my belief that sustainable change is only change that happens from within. (Eman Fahad Al Nafjan, 2010, September 9) In 2001, the UN has a Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Its purpose was to ask Saudi Arabia to take action to end discrimination against women in all forms. The convention oblige Saudi Arabia to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination against women, including any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. (Human Rights Watch, 2009 July 8) However, this convection has little effect. The Saudi government sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women. Saudi women wont make any progress until the government ends the abuses that stem from these misguided policies. (Jim Lobe, 2008 Apr 21) To end the misery of women, firstly the government have to start their part. The Islam law is the biggest factor causing the restrictions for women in the country. Men should stop being chauvinistic and mentality that they are superior, where women should be stay home, this mindset needs to be highlighted. Various actions done by the Amnesty International USA of helping these vulnerable women in Saudi Arabia was to create awareness to people all over the world about how are they being treated. They even urge readers to send in appeals to the Head of Election Committee and the Ministry of Interior to help these women. Write to the Head of the Election Committee and the Minister of Interior, calling for women in Saudi Arabia to be given their basic fundamental right to universal suffrage without delay. (Amnesty International USA, 2004 November)

African American Hate Crimes in Gwendolyn Brook’s Poetry Essay

The murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri , the murder of a black teen for playing loud music in Florida, the Little Rock integration and all other forms of abuse or hate crimes done against African Americans will always be engraved in our history and in the hearts of all African Americans as a period of injustice. It was a common tragedy to lose a family member to one of the many riots assembled by the Ku Klux Klan or simply by a group of Caucasians determined to exterminate â€Å"niggers.† Many were able to see how detrimental hate crimes were through media. African Americans who owned magazines, newspapers and so forth were finally able to voice their opinions and tell their side of the story to balance out the usually biased media run by Caucasians. As a result of the exposed cruelty towards African Americans, blacks felt justified, some whites became enraged, and yet other whites began to feel guilty for devaluing the lives of African Americans. Brooks’s ballad â€Å"A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon† illuminates the hate crime committed against a young African American boy and the guilt that consumes the speaker after she realizes her involvement caused his death. Brooks’s poem acts as a metaphor to convey how America (during the period of injustice) attempted to overlook the truth of the immoral crimes committed against African Americas, but as a result of publicized brutality, realized they were wrong. Background information regarding the death of Emmett Till will allow the reader to better understand how Brooks uses the ballad as a metaphor to represent Americas attempt to overlook the immoral acts committed against African Americans. According to â€Å"The Murder of Emmett Till,† an article addressing Emmett Till’s death and the media coverage on it, Till’s death was a prank gone wrong. â€Å"After picking cotton with his cousins all day, Till and his cousins took a joy ride with the family car to Bryant’s Grocery store where his cousins dared him to talk Carolyn Bryant (Brian). What happened as he was leaving is fiercely debated. Some white witnesses claimed he either said, "Bye, baby," or whistled at her, while others say that she became enraged after he simply put his change in the womans hand. Emmett Till’s alleged â€Å"fresh behavior† spread like wildf... ...acism seen in closed-minded individuals through Brooks’s use of fairy tale language and the depiction of the husband. Likewise, America is made up of both types of individuals, and through the use of publicized media, we can only hope to increase the knowledge of the senseless violence we known as hate crimes. After reading Brook's ballad one can only hope that Emmett Till and other victims of hate crimes will act as a reminder and provide an inclining of hope that another tragic death will not follow. Works Cited Brooks, Gwendolyn. â€Å"A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. While Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon.† Selected Poems. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print. Favat, F. Andrà ©.. Child and Tale: The origins of Interest. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, c1977. Print. Mootry, Maria K. â€Å"Brook’s a bronzeville mother loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi mother burns bacon.† Explicator 42.4 (1984): p51, 2p Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 July 2011. Thorton, Brian. The Murder of Emmett Till. Journalism History 36.2 (2010): p396-104, 9p Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 July 2011.

Homosexual Propagation in Ukraine

Evelina Habrel The Exploratory Paper Sanna Karosas ENG 113 Academic Writing 6 March 2013 Homosexual Propagation in Ukraine Ukraine is a post-Soviet country; therefore, many Soviet-style values and beliefs still exist in Ukrainians’ minds. Ukraine still shows negative about promotion of gays as it was in Soviet Union. In 2012, Ukraine faced the problem of homosexuality propaganda. Because homosexual couples became very visible, the issue of how to relate to homosexuals propagation became urgent in the society.This issue has influenced not only Ukrainian government and population, gays but also European Union. Ukrainian Parliament presented a bill against promotion of homosexual relationships which is supported even by the president’s representative. The law bans â€Å"propaganda of homosexuality,† which is defined as a positive attitude to gays in public (The Associated Press, 2012). Some politicians proposed to confirm the anti-gay law 8711 where the Ukrainian go vernment wants to prison people up to five years for any positive public depiction of homosexuality.In addition, this bill would ban such events as gay pride parades or TV dating shows for same-sex couples. An author of the Ukrainian bill, Pavlo Ungurian, stated that the bill would help to protect â€Å"the moral, spiritual, and physical health of the nation,† while Ruslan Kukharchuk, a campaigner for the bill and the leader of the â€Å"Love Against Homosexuality† group, named a homosexuality â€Å"a disease †¦ a psychological disorder,† and such people should get â€Å"rehabilitation therapy† (Druker, Boissevain, Caloianu, Persio 2012).Ukrainian political branch is strain because there are many powers that shows negative attitude towards homosexual propagation. This conflict made the Ukrainian population to split into supporters and fighters against gay promotion. Statistics shows that only 3% of Ukrainians have quite positive attitude to sexual mi norities, 10% have rather positive, 14. 5% – rather negative, and 57. 5% – entirely negative (Stern, 2012). In the article â€Å"Tajik Fighting Ends, Ukraine Gets on Anti-Gay Bandwagon† it is reported that people who participated in a march last May in Kyiv promoted the traditional family and rotested against homosexuals’ rights with a slogan â€Å"Homosexuality – No. † People in Ukraine do not want to accept homosexuals in society. As a result, they might do some protests where they express what the feel and think. The way people show their attitude to gays and the words or physical power they use is unethical in some cases. There were situations in Ukraine when homosexuals were beaten by citizens just because they promote nontraditional sexual orientation. For instance, masked assailants kicked and jumped on Svyatoslav Sheremet, the head of Gay Forum of Ukraine.A month later, unknown muggers assaulted Taras Karasiychuk, another of the para de investors, on the street as he was coming home at night (Stern, 2012). These cases show the cruelty of some anti-gay supporters. Ukrainian homosexuals fight for their rights. They ask for help and support for lesbian and gay organizations. Because of the new law, they need a protection because anti-gay movements became very cruel. Homosexuals do not think that propagation of nontraditional orientation can harm Ukrainians population (Danilova, 2012). They ask to provide civil liberties and equity for the sexual minorities.In spring 2012, Ukraine was supposed to have a pride parade, but because of the mass riots against homosexual demonstrations, organizers decided not to conduct it (The Associated Press, 2012). Homosexuals need social comfort because they feel eradication of the prejudiced and stigmatic attitude. Even though they might not promote homosexuality, they still will be treated as those who propagate it. Svyatoslav Sheremet, who leads Ukraine's Gay Forum, said, â€Å"E ventually, society comes to realize that one can only live peacefully when one is tolerant† (Danilova, 2012).Homosexuals feel themselves unsafely and prejudiced in Ukraine, and they want people to be kinder to them. The next perspective of this issue belongs to the European Union that shows its disappointment in Ukraine because of the anti-gay law. For Europe people should be treated equally no matter what sexual orientation a person demonstrates. According to Reid-Smith’s article â€Å"Europe May Punish Ukraine for Gay Censorship Law,† European Union may put new visa rules to punish Ukraine if it confirms law plan against homosexual propaganda. Of course, it will be harder for Ukrainians to have an access to Europe.The draft anti-gay law creates hostility between Ukraine and European Union. The United Nations Human Rights Committee insisted that such law could not exist with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that Ukraine approved (Intergro up on LGBT Rights, 2012). The European Union does not discriminate homosexual propagation, and if Ukraine accepts the law against it, than the results will be noxious for the Ukrainian population. Many homosexuals nowadays feel themselves uncomfortable because they cannot be accepted in the Ukrainian culture. Lots of them feel they are not treated in the same way as heterosexuals are viewed.Many Ukrainians began arguing whether homosexual propagation can exist in Ukraine or not. Lots of people were raised in families where traditional relationships were encouraged, and for them it is very hard to accept gays’ demonstrations. Based on previous political power in Ukraine, the government does not want to accept homosexual supporters in the country. Moreover, this issue forced the European Union to be involved. Indeed, Ukraine has had strain relationship with Europe, and now it can become worse. European Union wants Ukraine government to be loyal to homosexual propagation.There c an be some limits for demonstrations, but it is unethical to prison those who promote them, as a Ukrainian government wants to do. Ukrainian Parliament should think about European Commission’s reaction. The Parliament should realize all the pros and cons of the 8711 law for the Ukrainian future. References Danilova, M. (2012, Jul 18). Leaders of Ukraine's gay community say intolerance, and violence against homosexuals on rise. Yahoo! News. Retrieved from http://news. yahoo. com/leaders-ukraines-gay-community-intolerance-violence-against-homosexuals-173017972. html Druker, J. , Boissevain, J. , Caloianu, I. & Persio, S. (2012, July 26). Tajik fighting ends, Ukraine gets on anti-gay bandwagon. Transitions Online, 4. Intergroup on LGBT Rights. (2012, December). European Commission: Ukraine’s anti-gay law obstacle to visa-free travel. Retrieved from http://www. lgbt-ep. eu/press-releases/european-commission-ukraines-bill-8711-obstacle-to-eu-ukraine-visa-agreement/ Reid-Smi th, T. (2012, October). Europe may punish Ukraine for gay censorship law. Gay Star News. Retrieved from http://www. gaystarnews. com/article/europe-may-punish-ukraine-gay-censorship-law031012 Stern, D. (2012, October). Ukraine takes aim against ‘gay

Saturn essays

Saturn essays Saturn is the second largest planet and sixth from the sun. Saturn is most known for its rings, first seen in 1610 by Italian scientist Galileo and identified as rings by Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens in 1655. The rings consist greater than 100,000 single ringlets. It is the most oblate planet because of the rapid rotation of the planet, which flattens Saturn at the poles by about 10%. Its composition is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium. It is mostly liquid, with a small rocky core expected, but not directly observe. At the center, heavy elements have probably settled into the small rocky core with a temperature close to 15,000 C (27,000 F). Saturn also has an international heat source (it radiates more energy than it receives). The gravitational pull causes it to emit three times as much heat as it receives from the sun. Saturns atmosphere is 88% hydrogen and 11% helium, with traces of other gasses. The body of Saturn rotates with a period of 10 hours 39 minutes 25 seconds. The ring system of Saturn is divided into 5 major components: the G, F, A, B, and C rings, listed from the outside to inside (but in reality, these major divisions are subdivided into thousands of individual ringlets). The F and G rings are thin and difficult to see, while the A, B, and C rings are broad and easily visible. The large gap between the A ring and the B ring is called the Cassaini division. The visible rings of Saturn stretch out to a distance of 136,200-km (84,650 miles) from Saturns center, but in many regions they may be only 5 meters thick. They contain rocks, frozen gases, and water ice in lumps. One of the rings is even dense enough to block sunlight. Saturns current number of known satellites is 19. These range in size from Titan, the second largest moon in the Solar System, to small asteroid like objects. The moons are Atlas, Calypso, Dione, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Helene, Hyperion, Iap ...

Thomas Hardys Tess Of The Durbervilles Essays - Free Essays

Thomas Hardy's Tess Of The Durbervilles Essays - Free Essays Thomas Hardy's Tess Of The Durbervilles Extremities In Thomas Hardy's Tess of the Durbervilles, Tess worked in two extremely differentiating places. Both Talbothay's and Flintcomb Ash represented a time in her life whether it be favorable or horrid. Both of these spots contributed a deep meaning to the novel. The happiest days of Tess's life were spent on a dairy farm called Talbothay's. It was there that she met Angel Claire, with whom she had desperately fallen in love with and married. Talbothay's was used as a symbol of grandeur in Tess's life. It was there where she found meaning in her life for the first time in the novel and became content with herself. However, it all came to an abrupt end when she married Angel and told him of her affair with her cousin Alex. Angel was devastated and left her to fend for herself. This is when her life got much harder. Through a friend, she got a job working for Flintcomb Ash. It was a physically exhausting job, in which she had utter hatred for. While there she ran into her cousin Alex. This only worsened her terrible state of mind. From then on she longed for the days with Angel at Talbothay's. Talbothay's and Flintcomb Ash differ extremely in their descriptions. Talbothay's was a Utopia in Tess's life. It was depicted with luscious greenery and rolling hills. It was located in the Vale of Froom, which was known for its rich and fertile soil. There nothing could bother tess. Flintcomb Ash was a barren wastelan characterized by misery and pain. It was a cruel place in which Tess spent the worst days of her life. There she found the meaning of true wretchedness, but at the same time began to appreciate her days at Talbothay's. The descriptions Hardy used to depict the two places were central to the meaning of the work. The descriptive writing lets tthe reader not only see both places, but feel them as well. This allows the reader to find apathy for Tess's situation and take pity on her. The contrast made between talbothay's and Flintcomb Ash was used to symbolize the enormous conflict Tess's life dealt with. Through this type of writing the reader begins to see that no matter how bad a person might think they have it, someone else has always got it worse. Bibliography Bloom, Harold. T.S. Eliot. Pennsylvania:Chelsea House Publishers,1999. 60-68. Curley/Kramer, eds. Modern American Literature:Vol. 1. New York:Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1969. 340-341. Perkins, George, ed. Benet's Reader' Encyclopedia of American Literature. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991.300-301.

Understand Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Research Paper

Understand Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder - Research Paper Example At school, teachers may find it hard to control ADHD students, since they may not be in a position to adhere to the rules of the institution. In addition, ADHD children are bound to fail academically despite the teachers’ effort to assist them; this is influenced by low self-esteem and rejection from their peers (Harpins, 2005). Therefore, teachers should be trained by professional psychologists on how to deal with psychiatric disorders in children. In addition, parents with ADHD children should inform the teachers about a child’s condition beforehand. This will enable a teacher to offer additional assistance to the child, for instance, in reading, mathematics, spelling, and speech therapy among others (Bupa health information, 2011). Families ADHD in children affects their families as well, especially parents; this is due to the uniqueness of the child’s behavior, which differs from that of normal children. As a result, parents may be in a dilemma on how to deal with the situation. Needless to say, ADHD is usually an added cost to the family due to healthcare expenses. In addition, parents of ADHD children may get frustrated when other family members refuse to care for the child. Moreover, their ADHD child may be stigmatized, which is evident when peers do not invite them for parties or play (Harpins, 2005). ADHD children have poor sleep behavior, and as a result, parents’ rest is affected, leaving little time for themselves. Family relationships are affected by this financially and socially strenuous task (Harpins, 2005). In addition, siblings of children with ADHD suffer from emotional disorders due to unwilling care taking and victimization... Understand Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder related to the mental health, which is prevalent among children. Such children often struggle to fit in the social life, and as a result, they suffer from low self-esteem, perform poorly at school, and have difficulties maintaining relationships. Apparently, ADHD cases are being regulated, since awareness has been created over the years; as a result, the condition is becoming acceptable in the society. This research paper will focus on understanding children with ADHD and the impact ADHD has on a child’s social, family, and school life. In addition, the special attention related to ADHD process will be analyzed. ADHD impact on the Family Life, School Life, and the Child's Social Life Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder can affect all dimensions of a child’s life, as well as his parents, siblings, and friends. According to Harpin, this disorder becomes more prominent at different staged in their li ves; in some cases, ADHD can persist even in adulthood, and as a result, disrupting their personal and professional lives. According to Carey, the environment surroundings such as school, family, and society influence the ADHD symptoms in a child. ADHD children’s social life is affected as well. In school, other children may not want to be associated with the children suffering from ADHD, leaving them out from games and other social activities.

Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis Paper - Essay Example is their belief about the universe having to go through three eras, namely, creation, the present world where good and evil are mixed and the last era is the final state where the good and evil will be separated (Robinson , par 7). In the last era, it is believed that everything will be purified and those in hell will be released. This component relates to the universal needs and concerns in that the second era which is a world where the good and bad mix is very real to our existence today. This is the era where the world is now. Most people today believe that there is still another world, which Zoroastrians identify as the third era, where the good and the evil will be separated. The concept of hell as being a place where the evil men will ultimately go is one factor why people do good. Another religion which has captured my interest is Confucianism. I am impressed with the teachings of Confucius about morality and ethics. Although it can be considered more of a philosophy, Confucianism has a huge impact on the culture, politics, education and social structure in East Asia (Tucker , par 1). The Confucian values include promoting harmony amidst change. Unlike Zoroastrianism, Confucianism does not give emphasis in the afterlife. In Zoroastrianism, the afterlife is seen in their concept about a third era where everything will be purified and the good and evil will be separated. According to Confucius, afterlife is beyond human comprehension; thus, men should live in ways which are ideal to social relations instead of living based on rewards and punishment. Unlike Zoroastrianism, Confucianism gives emphasis on the life here on earth (FindYourFate , par 5). They believe though that the spirits are immortal and that they do not die with their bodies. Confucianism’s idea of creation is that it was brought about by the interaction of the Yin and the Yang which is generated by the Tao, the Great Ultimate. This is the counterpart of the first era of