The film A Streetcar Named Desire from the silent film era through the Essay

The film A Streetcar Named Desire from the silent film era through the 1950s - Essay Example Stella is married to Stanley played by Marlon Brando and they are expecting a child. Stanley and Blanche are the two central characters of this movie. The story gradually becomes interesting as friction begins to develop between Stanley and Blanche. Stanley being an uncouth, randy, sweaty and rough character does not like Stella very much which ultimately leads to immoral and violent depictions in the movie. The movie received a lot of criticism upon its release regarding the vulgarity and decadence depicted in it. Brando’s performance as Stanley is hailed as one the best performances in the history of American cinema. Brando was able to represent the exact nature of Stanley in front of the viewers. Stanley had to be uncouth yet attractive to women and Marlon Brando was just the man for that. This paper will analyze Marlon Brando’s acting skills in this movie. Later on, these skills and tools will be associated with the method acting presented by Uta Hagen in her book R espect for Acting. Stanley wears shirts that reveal his muscles and sweat; he drinks and smokes in a greedy fashion yet he possesses a grace in his personality. He is gentle in his own sense. Brando played this character in very realistic manner. He gave the character true raw emotions. His style in this movie is said to have influenced the Hollywood film industry so much that it inspired many artists such as Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson and James Dean. Before Brando’s performance in this movie, no matter how violent the emotions in acting may be, audience could always spot a hint of modesty in it. Brando left a mark on acting style that was adopted by Hollywood and embraced by the audience immediately. Brando portrayed more than just the violent nature of the character. Every single action of the Brando in this character feels as real as his anger outbursts. Moreover, Brando was able to pull off this role with such delicacy that he left a lot of fragments of Stanley’s pe rsonality for the audience to interpret. There are instances where the audience cannot easily interpret the actions of Stanley because there is no apparent cause for the way he behaves and this makes the audience wonder about the life of the character which ultimately leads to the development of sympathy towards characters. The character shows that it has much more than just his raw violent outbursts and callous behavior (Ebert). Brando sank in this character so well that the audience could not view Stanley and Brando as two different individuals. In fact, Brando himself became the character and was soon associated with Stanley. The charms of his acting can be measured by the fact that the audience started learning to develop sympathy for film characters after this movie. Brando presented Stanley to the audience in a manner that would distress them but this distress is accompanied by enticement. The audience fell in love with a loathsome character. The charm of the character overpow ered them. Brando’s sexual appeal and charms superseded Stanley’s uncouth and rowdy behavior. If we take the audience out of picture, even then it would be hard to separate the two entities as they resolved well together. It seems that Brando did not make any effort playing this character. He was so at ease that it appears Stanley is a part of Brando’s personality. Such realistic acting comes from specific methodologies that involve the resolution of the character and the actor. Unlike the conventional acting of the rest of the cast of the movie, Brando’

Jane Eyre Female Characters Essay Example for Free

Jane Eyre Female Characters Essay â€Å"Though restrained by social convention, the passions of the female characters emerge with great force. † In the light of this comment, discuss Bronte’s presentation of female characters. Bronte presents the female characters in many different ways. One early example we see of this in chapter one is Jane’s passion as you speaks out a John. â€Å"You are like a murderer – you are like a slave-driver – you are like the Roman emperors! † This is the first time we see Jane’s true passion as she is speaking out to John. By doing so, she is breaking the social norms of that time. At the beginning of chapter two we see how Bronte presents Jane as being a lower class and status than her cousin John, which would have been very common at the time, where females were seen as being less important than men. â€Å"Miss Eyre, to strike a young gentleman, your benefactress’s son! Your master. Master! How is he my master? Am I a servant? No; you are less than a servant, you do nothing for your keep† We see here that Jane is seen as being less than a servant, whereas John is known as The Master. We also see in this quote that Jane speaks out to the title given to John â€Å"Master† How is he my master? Am I a servant† Most children would just accept this and day nothing but through Jane saying this we see that Bronte is presenting her to being different, not just form the Reed family but to most children at this time. When Jane is locked in the Red Room we see more of her passion when she says â€Å"Unjust! – Unjust† rather than accepting her punishment. We see this side of Jane a lot in the early stages of the novel. We see how Jane is angry, rebellious and hungry for adventure. Charlotte Bronte saw the novel as lifting the lid on an English that was built on violence on the young and vulnerable. It also relates to the position of women at the time in which the book came out. Even though there was a Queen on the throne at this time, it made no difference to the legal and economic position of other women. They had little more power than children. Women couldn’t vote and there were no laws in favour of them. Legally a woman belonged to her nearest male relative. When married any property she owned is given to her husband as well does any money she had. Even middle class women had little rights. They allowed no economically productive careers and they were not permitted to go to university. A middle class woman was expected to stay at home until she married, then once married they were expected to stay at home and look after her new family. For woman of this time to have so little rights, it truly would have shocked some people to see Jane’s passion, to say such things to her male counterparts was seen as bad coming from a girl but from a child made it even more shocking. We see how this is backed up by the early critical reviews and how the novel was received. Despite it being a bestseller, Victorian critics did not like it Jane Eyre’s strong minded independence and many thought the novel was coarse. The novel was also blamed for the corruption of contemporary tastes and morality. Most critics felt that there was something dangerous in the novel’s underlying message, while Jane Eyre was godless and unrestrained. The Reed family are very much detestable. They treat Jane as a nobody and as we only see them from Jane’s point of view it’s hard to see any good in them! Mrs Reed hates Jane because she has been foisted upon them by a lying wish made by Mr Reed, in which he made Mrs Reed promise to treat Jane as her own, a promise in which Mrs Reed breaks. The Reeds show us how Jane is a social outcast and her response to them demonstrates how she blankly refuses to accept her. The fact that Jane has no money makes the Reeds look down on her, it makes her less important than them as they are a wealthy family. We see a good example of this on page 13 when John speaks: â€Å"You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mamma says; you have no money; you family left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentleman’s children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mamma’s expense. † In this cruel speech by John directed a Jane we see how social class in this time and more particular in Jane’s case causes her to be completely separated from being anything like the Reed family. John’s speech is something like a man would say, not a fourteen year old talking to his ten year old cousin. The above quote is the perfect summary of the plight of Jane under the reign of the Reed family at Gateshead.

Nursing Role in Elderly Person Discharge Planning

Nursing Role in Elderly Person Discharge Planning Title: Critically discuss the role of the nurse in the planning and implementation of safe discharge for the hospitalised elderly person. 1. define your understanding of discharge planning linking it to the ageing process and the reasons why older people are more susceptible to poor discharge planning. The NHS is effectively a rationed service with a finite limit on its resources. Coast points out that one of the major limiting factors which determines the overall ability of the NHS to deliver appropriate healthcare is the number of beds which are available at any given time (Coast et al. 1996) A direct consequence of this statement is the realisation that the availability of beds in the NHS as a whole is a reflection on the bed occupancy and also the efficiency with which potential patients can get into these beds. (Costain et al. 1992). It also directly follows that the efficiency with which patients can be safely discharged back into the community (or to other destinations) has a profound impact on the overall availability of beds for new patients. A patient’s discharge is ultimately dependent on an enormous number of interdependent variables, not the least of which are their physical, mental, emotional and financial state. (Gould et al. 1995). Clearly other factors such as their support networks and the availability of appropriate carers may play a critical role. If we accept that the elderly are more likely to be dependent as a demographic group, then it is clear that all of these issues must be addressed in a timely and positive fashion before a typical elderly patient can be safely discharged from hospital. If we accept that it is not ideal or practical for all of these factors to be assessed by one healthcare professional, then best practice would suggest that it is appropriate to assimilate information that is available from a number of different agencies in order to allow a proper evidence based decision to be made. (Sackett, 1996). Common clinical practice is to invoke the help of a multidisciplinary discharge team. In the context of this essay, we should note that the elderly may face a number of different discharge options and the multidisciplinary discharge team should ideally consider all of them as appropriate. We shall not discuss them all in detail here, but provide an overview of the most commonly utilised options. Victor Nazareth (et al 1994) point to the fact that multidisciplinary discharge planning may be subsumed by expediency in some cases where some immediately attractive schemes such as discharge to a nursing home may be employed as it requires only a modest investment of planning time but effectively shifts the patient sideways out of an acute hospital bed. Such options may appear to be attractive in the short term but the implications for the elderly patient and their family can be profound if they are not explored properly prior to discharge. (Stojcevic N et al. 1996) Some centres utilise the mechanism of nurse-led inpatient rehabilitation care for the elderly who no longer require medical attention, but this does not address the issue of releasing hospital beds. (Steiner 1997) The elderly, as a group, may frequently fall into a category where they are not quite well enough or independent enough to be discharged home but yet are not really ill enough to remain in hospital. (Closs et al. 1995). In these circumstances the multidisciplinary discharge team may consider the option of a Hospital at Home which acts effectively as a transition stage where help at an enhanced level can be provided in the short term which allows the elderly patient to be safely discharged from hospital thereby releasing the bed for another acutely ill patient and the original patient can recuperate in their own home until well. (Fulop et al. 1997) Martin points to the fact that, in order to be effective, a multidisciplinary discharge team needs to ensure that appropriate facilities are put in place in a timely fashion prior to patient discharge. (Martin et al 1994). Failure to do this will render the whole scheme less than optimally effective, as the patients may not get the full range of appropriate facilities, not derive appropriate benefit and this may culminate in premature or unnecessary readmission to hospital, which is effectively a waste of resources. (Pound et al. 1995) Richards (et al 1998) has provided an exemplary tour de force of the issue with a randomised controlled trial of a large cohort of patients. Their main outcome markers were, excess mortality, quality of life, cost and patient acceptability. (Coast et al. 1998) The paper is actually both long and detailed but the main findings were that all of the parameters that were measured (with one exception), showed no adverse effect of an early discharge. The differences were that there was a greater expression of patient satisfaction with the Hospital at Home scheme. (Wilson et al 1997) 2. Anatomy and physiology of the ageing process should be briefly explained. The anatomy and physiology of aging are two subjects which are specialties in themselves and we do not presume to attempt to cover them in any detail in this essay. Russell points out that older adults are not simply a more aged version of a younger adult, they have distinct metabolic and anatomical differences that alter (for example) their nutritional requirements. As humans age their variability in nutritional need becomes greater rather than narrower. (Russell R M 2000). This type of change can be demonstrated in the fact that the older adult generally maintains their ability to absorb macronutrients well into advanced years but they loose the ability to absorb a wide variety of micronutrients. (van Asselt D Z et al. 1998) Other areas where the aging adult is demonstrably different from the young adult is in the state of their DNA which undergoes progressive oxidation from free radicals throughout life. This has repercussions with regard to a number of disease processes such as diabetes mellitus and many types of cancer. (Gilchrest B A et al. 1997) There appears to be a pre-programmed reduction in mitochondria content of tissues as they age. This is manifest in a number of clinical ways. Reduced strength and energy together with muscle wasting are frequent accompaniments of advancing years and may be one of the most significant factors in the rehabilitation of the elderly person. (Navarro A et al. 2007) 3. In this assignment it is important to define and discuss your understanding of ageism and ageist attitudes in relation to appropriate discharge planning. There are many studies which explore the subject of ageism in clinical practice. They reveal a stereotypical belief that older people are â€Å"dull, disagreeable, inactive, and economically burdensome† (Spence D L et al. 1998 These attitudes are still encountered in some healthcare professionals who may categorise lives into discrete stages as a means of charting progress. The expression â€Å"Act your age† suggests that one has to comply with the cultural (rather than biological) expectations of a stage in life. These stages are commonly associated with economic power with the 40s and 50s usually being considered to be the pinnacle of life as such people tend to have good health and are most likely to have robust financial resources. (Schroots J J F 1998) Engendering positive feelings about older people will help to produce a climate of better care for the elderly. (Puckett J M et al. 1999) In terms of the multidisciplinary discharge team, one should clearly be aware of the fact that the elderly have different needs, requirements and abilities. The belief that this equates with a lesser status and a lower level of expectation should be actively challenged. There is no rational reason to expect an 80 yr old to be less entitled to dignity and a good quality of life than a 30 yr old. If we consider the Rudd study (Rudd et al 1997) we can point to a hard evidence base to support the concept that active multidisciplinary discharge planning can actually produce an improvement in the quality of life indicators for the elderly if ageist stereotypes are actively challenged. It is fair to observe that this particular study utilised a particularly wide-ranging and apparently forward thinking multidisciplinary discharge team, but the results achieved are impressive by any analysis. 4. Explore the role of the nurse in relation to multi disciplinary team working in planning safe discharge. By its very nature, the multidisciplinary discharge team is made up of members from a number of clinical disciplines. The role of the nurse is multifactorial. Very often the nurse is the lead organiser in the team. (Lindley et al 1995). In addition to this, the professional role of the nurse often will allow a special insight into the dynamics of the caring and support networks outside of the hospital environment. It is part of the professional nursing requirement that the nurse should also act as the patient advocate (in common with other clinical disciplines) and as such should speak up for the patient if she believes that a clinical or social need is being unfulfilled. (Roper et al. 1983) 5. consider the psychological psychosocial impact that appropriate discharge planning could have on the older person and their family. Because of the increased likelihood of physical frailty, secondary morbidity and financial insecurity in this demographic group, increased dependence is more likely to be found in the elderly. This dependence is almost certain to be increased in the short term in the immediate aftermath of a hospitalisation. This will inevitably have a significant impact on the psychological well-being of both the patient and their carers. Depression is commonly seen (but less commonly recognised) in the elderly as they may struggle to cope with the demands of daily living which are also likely to be more acute after as in-patient spell. (Roper et al. 1983). Anxiety is another commonly experienced entity in both the patient and their carers as, to a degree, if planning has not been adequately carried out or inadequately explained, they may be concerned about how they are going to manage. Intuitively one can suggest that both of these factors can be significantly reduced with appropriate pre-discharge planning and intervention. (Drummond et al. 1995). 6. Appraise strategies in health promotion and rehabilitation with regard to discharge planning that can assist the older person and their family. This is potentially a vast area as there are a great many papers which have looked at the efficacy of the multidisciplinary discharge team in the discharge planning process. As illustrative examples we can consider some of them. The Mahoney paper suggests that the basic minimum input for a multidisciplinary discharge team should be a nurse and an occupational therapist and that these core workers should have the ability and discretion to co-opt additional specialists such as physiotherapists, geriatricians, social workers and psychologists as they feel appropriate. (Mahoney et al 1965) Specific types of patient discharge may require specific modifications of the basic plan. Ball produced a tour de force in his paper on discharge of the elderly from a coronary care unit, (Ball et al. 2003) where patients were allowed to go home earlier than they might normally have been allowed home but with the proviso that specific teams of specialist nurses were available to reassess the patient in their own home and consider direct readmission if required. The team referred to in this study was comparatively unusual insofar as it was comprised six nursing staff but with different skills and experience and they referred the patients to other members of the team only if they felt that more expert input was required. Many papers consider the role of the occupational therapist as a specific and vital entity in the discharge planning process. Gilbertson (et al. 2000) considered the various impacts that each individual professional had on the overall effectiveness of the eventual discharge and came to the conclusion that the impact of the discharge process (as measured by the Barthel quality of life indicator) was influenced by the input of the occupational therapist more than by any other individual category of healthcare professional. In making this statement, we should note that the authors were conducting a study into the discharge of stroke patients and therefore their findings may not be completely generalsable across the entire spectrum of patient discharge. We should also note that these benefits, which were detailed at some length in the analysis section of the trial, were only demonstrable on a comparatively short term basis. Their six month follow up after discharge showed that the patients had returned to the pre-admission status of quality of life. This, in itself, should not be considered as a negative finding as ultimately, it is one of the purposes of hospital admission to try to maintain or improve a patient’s quality of life In passing, we should also note that the Logan study (Logan P A et al. 1997) produced a similar trial structure and concluded that the Social Worker had an equally important part to play in the successful discharge of the patient. 7. your discussions should address inter disciplinary practice, relevant research and government policies (including the national service framework for older people). Discussion There are a great many studies that have been consulted in preparation for this essay. An overview would suggest that it is best practice to carefully assess, consider and then implement an appropriate discharge package for each patient. This has the advantage of minimising physical, psychological and practical trauma for the patient and their carers but also, (as Hensher observes) it can reduce the incidence of readmission in the immediate post-discharge period. (Hensher N et al. 1999) The National Service Framework for the elderly makes a number of good practice recommendations together with targets and goals that have a specific impact on the whole of the discharge process. (Rouse et al. 2001). Arguably one of the most significant recommendations is the implementation of the multidisciplinary discharge team process although there is no specific recommendation as to how the team should be comprised. A number of papers have examined the impact of the various differential structures of the teams and have come to differing conclusions. We have cited some of these already but some, such as the huge STUC trial suggest that, in specific consideration of the elderly, the prime determinant of whether a patient was going to eventually cope at home or not was their ability to transfer â€Å"successfully and reliably† from chair to chair and to a large extent, this was dependent on the availability of physiotherapy input. (STUC 1997) To conclude, we should perhaps detail the structure and facilities of the â€Å"ideal† discharge team as outlined by the STUC authors. A hospital based outpatient clinic, geriatric day hospital, generic domicillary physiotherapy and speech and language therapy, hospital outpatient physiotherapy, and the usual community resources. The maximum level of home care available in the study area to all patients was three one hour visits daily by a home help for personal care, meals on wheels, and community nurse visits for specific tasks. In addition this paper also quotes details of the additional measures that were also available for the patients:- Patients randomised to the community therapy team remained in hospital until the required package of social services care could be organised and any home adaptations undertaken whereas a store of commodes, high chairs, and toilet frames was kept by the team to expedite discharge. The patients were assessed for rehabilitation needs before discharge in conjunction with the hospital based therapists to set initial objectives and to ensure continuity of care. After discharge, patients were given a planned course of domiciliary physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, with visits as frequently as considered appropriate (maximum one daily visit from each therapist). In addition to all this input, the paper comments that each patient was assessed by the team on a weekly basis for up to three months to ensure optimum utilisation of resources The team’s input base was detailed as:- i) Senior physiotherapist grade 1 with neurological training, ii) Senior occupational therapist grade 1, iii) Speech and language therapist, iv) Therapy aide. v) Nurse vi) Consultant physician To conclude, we can consider a very valid point made by Haines (T P et al. 2004) who suggests that if proper multidisciplinary assessments take place in admission units as well as prior to patient discharge, it is quite possible that some cases may not actually need hospital admission in the first instance. References Ball, Kirkby Williams, (20030 Effect of the critical care outreach team on patient survival to discharge from hospital and readmission to critical care: non-randomised population based study. BMJ 2003 ; 327 : 1014 (1 November), Closs S J, Stewart L S P, Brand E, Currie C T. (1995) A scheme of early supported discharge for elderly trauma patients the views of patients, carers and community staff. Br J Occup Ther 1995 ; 58 : 373 376. Coast J, Inglis A, Frankel S. (1996) Alternatives to hospital care: what are they and who should decide. BMJ 1996 ; 312 : 162 166 Costain D, Warner M, eds. (1992) From hospital to home care. London : Kings Fund, 1992. Drummond A E R, Walker M F. (1995) A randomised controlled trial of leisure rehabilitation. Clin Rehab 1995 ; 9 : 283 290. Fulop N J, Hood S, Parsons S. (1997) Does the National Health Service want hospital at home? J R Soc Med 1997 ; 90 : 212 215 Gilbertson, Peter Langhorne, Andrew Walker, Ann Allen, and Gordon D Murray (2000) Domiciliary occupational therapy for patients with stroke discharged from hospital: randomised controlled trial. BMJ, Mar 2000 ; 320 : 603 606 ; Gilchrest B A and VA Bohr (1997) Aging processes, DNA damage, and repair. The FASEB Journal, Vol 11, 322 330, 1997 Gould M M, Iliffe S. (1995) Hospital at home: a case study in service development. Br J Health Care Manage 1995 ; 1 : 809 812. Haines T P, Kim L Bennell, Richard H Osborne, and Keith D Hill (2004) Effectiveness of targeted falls prevention programme in subacute hospital setting: randomised controlled trial. BMJ, Mar 2004 ; 328 : 676 ; Hensher, N. Fulop, J. Coast, and E. Jefferys (1999) The hospital of the future: Better out than in? Alternatives to acute hospital care. BMJ, October 23, 1999 ; 319 (7217) : 1127 1130. Lindley R I, Amayo E O, Marshall J, Sandercock P A G, Dennis M, Warlow C P. (1995) Hospital services for patients with acute stroke in the United Kingdom: the Stroke Association survey of consultant opinion. Age Ageing 1995 ; 24 : 525 32. Logan P A, Gladman J R F, Lincoln N B. (1997) A randomised controlled trial of enhanced social service occupational therapy for stroke patients. Clin Rehab 1997 ; 11 : 107 113 Mahoney F I, Barthel D W. (1965) Functional evaluation: the Barthel index. Maryland State Med J 1965 ; 14 : 61 65. Martin F, Oyewole A, Maloney A. (1994) A randomised controlled trial of a high support hospital discharge team for elderly people. Age Ageing 1994 ; 23 : 228 34. Navarro A. Boveris A (2007) The mitochondrial energy transduction system and the aging process. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 292 : C670 C686, 2007 Pound P, Bury M, Gompertz P, Ebrahim S. (1995) Stroke patients views on their admission to hospital. BMJ 1995 : 311 : 18 22. Puckett J M, Petty R E, Cacioppo J T, Fischer D L. (1999) The relative impact of age and attractiveness stereotypes on persuasion. J Gerontol. 1999 ; 38 : 340 343. Richards, Joanna Coast, David J Gunnell, Tim J Peters, John Pounsford, and Mary-Anne Darlow (1998) Randomised controlled trial comparing effectiveness and acceptability of an early discharge, hospital at home scheme with acute hospital care. BMJ, Jun 1998 ; 316 : 1796 – 1801 Roper Logan Tierney (1983) Using a model for nursing. Edinburgh : Churchill Livingstone 1983 Rouse, Jolley, and Read (2001) National service frameworks. BMJ, Dec 2001 ; 323 : 1429. Rudd, Charles D A Wolfe, Kate Tilling, and Roger Beech (1997) Randomised controlled trial to evaluate early discharge scheme for patients with stroke. BMJ, Oct 1997 ; 315 : 1039 – 1044 Russell R M (2000) The aging process as a modifier of metabolism. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 72, No. 2, 529S 532s, August 2000 Sackett, (1996). Doing the Right Thing Right: Is Evidence-Based Medicine the Answer? Ann Intern Med, Jul 1996 ; 127 : 91 94. Schroots J J F. (1998) On growing, formative change, and aging. In : Birren J E, Bengston V L, eds. Emergent Theories of Aging. New York, NY : Springer-Verlag; 1998. Spence D L, Feigenbaum E M, Fitzgerald F, Roth J. (1998) Medical student attitudes toward the geriatric patient. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1998 ;16 : 976 983. Steiner A.(1997) Intermediate care: a conceptual framework and review of the literature. London: Kings Fund, 1997. Stojcevic N, Wilkinson P, Wolfe C. (1996) Outcome measurement in stroke patients. In: Wolfe C, Rudd T, Beech R, eds. Stroke services and research. London: The Stroke Association, 1996. STUC (1997) Stroke Unit Trialists Collaboration. Collaborative systematic review of the randomised trials of organised inpatient (stroke unit) care after stroke. BMJ 1997 ; 314 : 1151 8. van Asselt D Z, de Groot L C, van Staveren W A, et al. (1998) Role of cobalamin intake and atrophic gastritis in mild cobalamin deficiency in older Dutch subjects. Am J Clin Nutr 1998 ; 68 : 328 – 34. Victor C, Nazareth B, Hudson M, Fulop N.(1994) The inappropriate use of acute hospital beds in an inner London District Health Authority. Health Trends 1994 ; 25 (3) : 94 97. Wilson A, Parker H, Wynn A, Jones J, Spiers N, Jagger C, et al. (1997) Hospital at home is as safe as hospital, cheaper, and patients like it more: early results from a randomised controlled trial. Society for Social Medicine abstracts. J Epidemiol Community Health 1997 ; 51 : 593.

The Day Labor Market in Phoenix, Arizona Essay -- Business Economics U

The Day Labor Market in Phoenix, Arizona Introduction This paper focuses on the Macehualli Day Labor Union located in Phoenix, Arizona in the 85032 area. Throughout the history of the United States, illegal immigrants have come from all over the world to find work and a better way of life. It is estimated that right now there are about seven million illegal aliens living in America. About 69% of these illegal immigrants are Mexican and over 283,000 of them live in Arizona1. In this paper, we presuppose that the illegal aliens we refer to are Mexican. This is because the aliens living in the geographic area around the day labor center we examine are over 99% Mexican (Reza, 2003, personal interview). Many Mexicans risk everything they have, including their lives, in their attempts to cross the border and live the â€Å"American Dream.† Most immigrants are motivated by the lure of lucrative employment across the border. They come to this country with the hope of finding a higher paying job. In most cases, the immigrants are young men who leave their families behind, but intend to earn enough money to eventually bring their loved ones across (Reza, 2003, personal interview). Over the past three decades, the influx of illegal immigrants has become even more noticeable (Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1999). In the year 2000, unauthorized immigrants accounted for about 2.5% of the U.S. population2. These immigrants’ illegal status is a serious obstacle in their search for employment. Almost all employers require some proof of United States citizenship. For citizens and legal immigrants, this is easily established through a driver’s license or state identification card. Illegal workers, on the other hand, obvi... .... 11 Jun. 2003. Day Labor Union Workers. Personal Interview. 25 Oct. 2003 Gonzalez, Daniel. â€Å"Future Will Require Immigrants by Millions for Jobs, Report Says.† The Arizona Republic 31 Aug. 2003 : A6. Reza, Salvador (Director of the Macehualli Day Labor Union). Personal Interview. 25 Oct. 2003. Smart pages. 2 Dec. 2003 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. â€Å"Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1999 to 2000† 2 Dec. 2003 . U.S. Department of Labor. 2 Dec. 2003 minimumwage.htm>. Valenzuela, Abel Jr. â€Å"Day Labourers as Entrepreneurs?† Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 27.2 (2001) : 335-352 Valenzuela, Abel Jr. â€Å"Day Labor Work† Annual Review of Sociology 29 (2003) : 307-33

Morality Defined Essay

Legendary philosopher, Socrates once said, â€Å"A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.† With this statement, Socrates argues that there are few people in this world who possess an absolute morality within themselves whereas most others have a relative morality which they stand by. Absolute morality is the belief that something is always right or always wrong while relative morality is the belief that something is right or wrong depending on the circumstances. The crucial difference between absolute and relative morality lies in the viewpoints of the people who possess each one. However, Socrates’ belief is that relative morality is nothing more than a mere illusion because it really has no guidelines that it stands behind; it is solely based on opinion. In his mind, it should not even be considered a morality. In essence, Socrates is arguing that you must believe in something to its extreme or not at all; there is no in-between. Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, tells the riveting story of a father and son’s survival in a post-apocalyptic world full of thieves and cannibals. The man and the boy travel the United States in search of food and shelter, while also attempting to flee from danger and the threat of death. All through the story, they consistently struggle with issues concerning their own morality, character, and conscience. They are forced to make life altering-decisions that ultimately define who they are as people. Throughout the novel The Road, McCarthy uses nature symbolism and apocalyptic imagery to criticize that many people’s ethics dissipate and their immorality consequently rises when they are immersed in an evil world. The desolate world that the boy, man, and others have to live in results in some people going to the extremes to survive. As the boy and man journey on the road, they encounter very few people along the way. However, one day, the man realizes there are people following him and the boy, so they hide out. Three men and a pregnant woman pass them on the road. A few minutes later they are met with a shocking sight, â€Å"Oh Papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit. He bent and picked the boy up and started for the road with him, holding him close. I’m sorry, he whispered. I’m sorry† (McCarthy 198). The author deliberately describes the appearance of the burning baby using words that convey graphic imagery such as, â€Å"charred, human, infant, headless, gutted, and blackening,† eliciting a repulsive feeling and characterizing the ugliness of evil in the world. The sight traumatizes the boy evidenced when he gasps, â€Å"Oh, Papa,† and turns â€Å"and looked again [at the burning baby].† The man feels regretful for letting the boy experience such a horrendous sight and apologizes as he takes the boy back to the road. This gruesome imagery reveals the absolute social breakdown in humanity and society. The morality of the people in this apocalyptic world has completely faded because there are no governing rules or laws to keep them in line. This results in total chaos and turmoil as seen when the weakest and most helpless of human beings – an infant – is preyed upon by a group of insane man-eaters. The cannibals clearly symbolize the end of civilization and this passage represents the extremes of violence, hunger, and cruelty within the apocalyptic world. Every person in the story seems to be judged by the man and boy as either good and moral or evil and immoral. In his view, the man strongly believes he and the boy are moral and good because, as he tells the boy, â€Å"we’re carrying the fire† (McCarthy 83). This â€Å"fire† is symbolic of hope and human perseverance, despite the wicked world they are living in. The man assures the boy that they are the â€Å"good guys† who â€Å"carry the fire† within themselves to never stop trying to survive in the horrible world even amongst â€Å"bad guys† who kill and even cannibalize people in order to survive. As the story unfolds, the boy and the man encounter many potential threats to their existence and make questionable decisions in order to survive which sometimes violate their self-professed â€Å"good guy† virtues. Through his actions, the man subtly begins to show signs that he is heading towards immorality and evil. The man and the boy are awoken by the sound of a diesel truck not too far from them. They flee their camp site and listen quietly until the silence is broken by a guy stumbling through the woods. The guy wrestles the boy into his arms and the man fires his loaded pistol, â€Å"The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead. The boy was lying in his lap with no expression at all†¦covered with gore and mute as a stone† (McCarthy 66). The man’s quick reaction to save his son represents the very rare love bonds that still exist in this apocalyptic world. The author compares the boy to a â€Å"mute stone† after he obviously experiences another life-changing moment. Sickening imagery is also used in this passage, as seen through the words, â€Å"bubbling, hole, and gore.† These words portray the man’s heroic act to save his son; however, it comes at the expense of the brutal murder he committed. The man shoots the guy who threatens his son with the intention of ensuring the boy’s safety, yet it contradicts his own moral virtues. Because he did this out of love, the man can essentially justify the violent killing as being morally correct. Yet, what the man fails to realize, is what makes his choice more praiseworthy than the choices of the people who kill and even cannibalize others in order to survive. This clearly raises a contradiction which creates an ambiguity between immorality and morality. Although the man killed this guy to protect his son, his decision is still problematic because it only takes one bad decision like this to arouse the inner evil within himself and eventually drive him to immorality. After living in such a malicious world for such a long time, it is nearly impossible for the man not to succumb to immorality and evil. The boy and the man enjoy a nice walk on the beach until they come back to find their camp completely raided. Their entire shopping cart full of food and other survival necessities had been stolen and as a result, they set out to find the thief. They follow the tracks of the shopping cart and finally find the thief in front of the cart with a butcher knife. The man is enraged and pulls his pistol out and threatens the crook, â€Å"Take your clothes off. / What? / Take them off. Every goddamned stitch. / Come on. Don’t do this. / I’ll kill you where you stand. / He stripped slowly and piled his vile rags in the road. / Put the clothes in the shopping cart. / He bent and scooped the up the rags in his arms and piled them on top of the shoes. / Don’t do this, man. / You didn’t mind doing it to us. / You tried to kill us. / I’m starving, man. You’d have done the same. / You took everything. / Come on, man. I’ll die. / I’m going to leave you the way you left us† (McCarthy 256-257). The man clearly displays immorality by the way he treated the thief and how he reacted to the situation at hand. It is obvious he is incapable of any empathy for the guy who is trying to survive in the same hellish world he is trying to live in. The fact that he wanted to punish the guy by stripping him suggests he wants to make the crook suffer a horrible death because the world is too cold to live without any sort of clothing. The thief in this passage symbolizes the deterioration of the human race because he embodies the ugliness that has emerged in this new world where formerly common things are now extremely valuable. The man still believes he is a â€Å"good guy,† however, this controversial decision proves otherwise. Because the man is acting so cruelly in this scene, his viciousness can almost be compared to the brutality of the savages that roam the same barren world he lives in. Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, set in the Pre-Civil War period, tells the story of young boy named Huckleberry â€Å"Huck† Finn, who ventures throughout the Mississippi River Valley. Huck travels with a run-away slave named Jim, meets many new people, and encounters frequent obstacles along the way. Throughout the novel, Huck constantly struggles with complex circumstances affecting his own conscience and morality, but ends up making a big decision that reflects his true character in the end. Due to the social environment in which Huck grew up, his racist outlook is displayed on occasion throughout the story. In one short exchange with Aunt Sally, Huck indicates that he doesn’t actually view blacks as real people. Huck tells his aunt that his boat ran ashore and she worriedly responds, â€Å"‘Good gracious! Anybody hurt?†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Huck replies, ‘†No’m. Killed a nigger,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ to which Aunt Sally answers, ‘†Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt’† (Twain 167). Huck’s conversation with his aunt vividly illustrates the deeply embedded racism within society. Not only does this exchange exemplify Huck’s own beliefs about blacks’ inferiority, but also proves his prejudiced outlook is primarily derived from the racist society in which he lives. The conversation suggests that both the aunt and Huck think of blacks only as â€Å"things† or â€Å"objects,† not actually human beings. When Huck informs his aunt that a â€Å"nigger† had died in the crash, she casually dismisses any loss of life. Instead, she responds by pointing out that â€Å"it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt [in boat crashes],† therefore essentially revealing that she believes that blacks are not people. Both Aunt Sally and Huck offer no empathy or show any responsiveness to the death, which most people would do if another human had died. Although Huck views slavery as morally correct, he only believes this because it is customary during this time period. In essence, Huck’s moral nature has been misguided and distorted throughout his childhood, causing him to believe slavery and white superiority is ethically right. Sadly, his morality has been skewed so he believes something not necessarily because he actually believes it in his heart, but possibly because it is just what is socially accepted at the time. Bennett Kravits, author of the critical essay â€Å"Reinventing the world and reinventing the self in Huck Finn† reveals his criticism regarding Twain’s portrayal of whites’ perceptions of blacks. He specifically deals with the phrase that Huck uses to describe Jim, â€Å"white inside† (Twain 345).† He essentially explains that although that seems to be an overtly racist description, it actually has the potential to â€Å"undercut the prejudicial notions that whites held concerning blacks† (Kravits 6). It is clear Huck has a difficult time seeing Jim as an equal member of society, but he instead can view him as white inside. According to Kravits, the significance behind this depiction is that Huck discovers a way to see Jim as a fellow human being, just in an odd way. Huck’s morality has been molded throughout his childhood and he has an ingrained belief that blacks are just inhumane slaves that are property to white people; however, Kravits is actually arguing that Huck realizes black people deserve to be labeled as humans and not property. While journeying down the Mississippi River together, Huck and Jim begin to bond in a unique way. A friendship between them starts to develop and Huck’s compassion for Jim grows despite him being a black slave. Huck is faced with the particularly difficult decision of either turning Jim in or rescuing himself from the Phelps’. He struggles between standing up for Jim and what he believes is right or surrendering to the embedded racism he has grown up around. With Jim’s fate on his hands, Huck decides to save Jim instead of himself and rips up the letter to Miss Watson with the astounding exclamation, â€Å"‘All right, then I’ll go to Hell†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ (Twain 162). During the moments leading up to this heroic decision, his mind runs wild with the thoughts of the harsh punishments Jim could possibly face. Huck recognizes that he has a power to give Jim something he has desired his entire life: freedom. Huck’s empathy is so strong at this point, that combined with his loyalty and morality, it causes Huck to have a significant epiphany. The epiphany illuminates Huck’s concern for Jim and shows another step in his moral development. The fact that Huck believes he is giving up his soul for Jim’s freedom demonstrates that Huck’s morality has truly developed over the course of the novel. This shows Huck’s incredible loyalty and his ability to put himself in Jim’s shoes in order to sacrifice his owns wants, needs and desires to save Jim. His empathy displayed in this scene supports the belief that although Huck is racist, he still possesses an enormous capacity to see Jim as a fellow human being. Every person acts in accordance with their beliefs, attitudes, and values, which consequently reflects that person’s ultimate identity. Many factors are responsible for determining the principles people value and respect, including familial, societal, and environmental influences. Throughout Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is in the midst of moral development in his subconscious and his deeper feelings arise as the truer expression of his morality. He makes decisions in his adventures which demonstrate that not only does he possess morals, he possesses extraordinary ones. Huck’s moral maturity rings clear after he makes significant controversial decisions. Huck’s character progression shows that good scruples can be developed in anyone and a more empathetic part of people can triumph over heartlessness. . In the novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy describes the struggle between morality and immorality that exists within every person that walks the post-apocalyptic world. He demonstrates that some people give into the evil while others are able to remain good. McCarthy essentially concentrates on the man’s progression from the moral â€Å"good guy† to an immoral â€Å"bad guy.† â€Å"The fire† that the man truly believed he possessed slowly smolders and he begins to succumb to the immoral world he had faced for such a long time. Huck and the man serve as foils to each other by highlighting Huck’s progression towards a better morality as the man regresses and loses the morals he originally possessed. In essence, both Twain and McCarthy conclude that all people are faced with adversity and difficult decisions, but those people have the power to make certain choices which ultimately define who they really are. Works Cited McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print. Kravits, Bennett. â€Å"Reinventing the World and Reinventing the Self in Huck Finn.† Literature Resource Center. Gale, Winter 2004. Web. 22 May 2012. . Socrates. â€Å"Morality Quotes.† ThinkExist. Web. 22 May. 2012. . Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. United Sates: Tom Doherty Associates, 1985. Print.

cain and able

cain and able Everybody knows the age-old story of Cain and Abel. I wouldn't say that they were the first rivalry between siblings but they certainly were not the best brothers. Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve the first people on the Earth. Cain and Abel every year offered what they had at the beginning of the harvest. This was a thing that happened every harvest and was a norm in the lives of Cain of Abel and in their family, but why did God not accept Cain's sacrifice and accepted Abel's?In the Bible it describes only the one harvest and how it affects the lives Cain and Abel. Abel was a person that obviously loved god and gave God credit for his success and was very successful. In the Bible Abel gave the best of his new sheep to God and this was the blood sacrifice.Cain gave a portion of his crops for his sacrifice. God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's because it was not the absolute best or the first portion of the harvest. God had explained to Adam and Eve when they si nned that sin only be washed away by blood. God did not except a crop sacrifice because it simply wasn't blood.God would not accept Cain's sacrifice because of his heart and his attitude. God didn't care more about what Cain brought but his mindset when he brought it. Cain's attitude was a key factor in displeasing God. His heart was not in the right place to make a sacrifice. This is seen when God warned Cain and said" You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager...

The End of the Cold War and the New Threats to Global Security The WritePass Journal

The End of the Cold War and the New Threats to Global Security 1.Introduction The End of the Cold War and the New Threats to Global Security 1.Introduction Changing perceptions of military force and war2.1 New sources of security threat 2.2 Changing notions of war in a global world Meeting the new security challenges: a revised agenda for peace ConclusionBibliography: Related 1.Introduction The end of the Cold War marked a new beginning for the international security agenda, and the demise of the simple bipolarity brought forward a revised agenda for human rights, international peace and cooperation and stability. The end of the Cold War triggered the rise of new threats and challenges to international security, and the advance of globalization led to the redistribution of power in the international system (Baylis Smith, 2007; Brown, 2005). In the context of globalization, the capacity of the state was undermined and as a result state-to-state relations dramatically changed (Strange, 2002). Classic wars were gradually transformed into â€Å"modern wars† (Kaldor, 1999; Smith, 2006; Shaw, 2005). In this different political environment, the security challenges were no longer existent on a state-to-state level, because of the growing importance of sub-state actors. This essay will focus on the reorganization of the international system after the end of the Cold War, and will discuss the new challenges to global security, posed by the demise of the bipolar regime. The essay will support the view that with the end of the Cold War, the world became a more dangerous place, because of the multiplicity of actors on the international scene and the changed perceptions of military force, war and security. Changing perceptions of military force and war The end of the Cold War brought forward the change of the perceptions of military force in several different aspects. The impact of these changed perceptions upon the international security agenda has been undisputed, and will be discussed in detail. For clarity, the author has chosen to focus only on the most important security-related transformations following the Cold War the new sources of threat such as nuclear weapons and terrorism, and the changing notions of war in the context of globalization. Their features will be discussed in the context of the changed dynamics of the international system. 2.1 New sources of security threat The end of the Cold War led to new security challenges, because of changing notions of military force and the new sources of security threat (Smith, 2006; Shaw, 2005). The first one is related to the rise of nuclear power. With the demise of the USSR, the simple bipolarity of the Cold War world was replaced by a multipolar world, where the centrality of power was no longer clearly defined (Brown, 2005; Jackson Sorensen, 2003). The rise of the Asian economic powers, the advance of nuclear and biological weapons in countries such as Iran, Israel and Iraq challenged the stability of the mutual deterrence principle, comfortably sustained during the Cold War (Hammes, 2005). Another source of security threat after the Cold War was related to terrorism, and the rise of sub-state actors (Smith, 2006). The War on terror, embedded in the Bush doctrine, was a clear demonstration of the changing nature of war, and the elusive image of the new enemy (Shaw, 2005). After 9/11 it became clear that terrorism was not a war against an enemy, but against tactics (Baylis Smith, 2007). Its manifestations and capacity to destroy were as much the result of political construction, as of historically embedded perceptions about the East and the West and their manipulation by mass media and policy-makers. After the end of the Cold War non-state actors such as Al Qaeda and Hamas, became a new source of security threat because of their ability to operate internationally but at the same time to exist inside the state (Shaw, 2005). Also, the controversies, around states labelled as rogue and unable to comply with the international standards for peace and democracy such as Afghan istan, Iraq, North Korea, Libya and Syria necessitated new means for meeting the challenges to threat and security. They will be discussed in section 3. 2.2 Changing notions of war in a global world Here it is important to mention globalization as a factor, which led to re-examination of the capacity of the state to observe human security and human rights (Strange, 2002). In the context of a borderless world, the international human rights agenda is inevitably revisited, and the main carriers of legal standards are no longer represented solely by state actors, but by the global civil society, comprising of International non-governmental organizations (INGOs). Because of these inevitable transformations, the very perception of security, threat and war changed in several important aspects. As Mary Kaldor famously observes, the end of the Cold War saw the rise of the modern wars, which lack time and space, because they are based on non-quantifiable demands often related to ideology, ethnicity, religion and the social construction of history (1999). The old wars were pushed away by new types of threats and conflicts, such as organized crime, and religious and civil wars. The early 1 990s saw the bloody demise of former Yugoslavia, and a series of conflicts in Rwanda, Congo, Sudan and Somalia, triggered by the redefinition of political borders, the struggle over economic resources and ethnic and religious factionalism. In the context of globalization, the modern wars are interstate conflicts, executed by sub-state actors. In this sense, it is important to mention that the growing presence of the sub-state actors has posed new challenges to the classic perceptions of security, because of non-tangible variables such as perceptions, as opposed to old-time military ambitions related to territorial invasion and economic gain. Meeting the new security challenges: a revised agenda for peace In order to meet the new security challenges, identified earlier, the international community had to devise a new agenda in the post-Cold war era. First, humanitarian intervention became important, and triggered as an effect of the revised agenda, where the security of foreign nationals, whose human rights have been violated by their home state became important (Jackson Sorensen, 2003). Despite the ongoing political debate about the legality and legitimacy of humanitarian intervention, a norm of intervention was authorized by the UN Security Council in the 1990s, which was followed by operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1996 and Kosovo in 1999 (Baylis Smith, 2007). Despite the criticisms that humanitarian intervention might stop the immediate killing of civilians but is not a reliable strategy for long-term piece, it reveals a shifted emphasis from military to human security in the years following the end of the Cold War. In this relation, another trend in dealing with conflicts became prominent – the imposition of economic sanctions for the purpose of exerting political, rather than military pressure upo n non-compliant states and communities. The posts of such wars of containment are the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, the role of the global civil society and the growing influence of INGOs as advocates of peace and human rights deserve a mention. The importance of international non-governmental organizations in global policy-making has been undisputed because of the more complicated security agenda in the post-Cold War era. Also, because of the multiplicity of actors in the international system, and the new security needs, states and intergovernmental organizations are unable to deal with international crises without the development programmes and research, provided by the INGOs. Although their political success remains disputed, their role as independent observers and proponents of policy change is growing. Conclusion This essay has attempted to show the changing nature of the international system after the end of the Cold War. Today the international community faces different security threats based on a new perception of military force. Terrorism and the spread of nuclear power have shunned classic state-to-state conflicts, and as a result a new security agenda for peace and cooperation has been embraced. In the era of globalization, the transition towards collective security as a model of global governance, remains a challenge but also a prerequisite for peace. Bibliography: Baylis, J. Smith, S. (2007) eds, The Globalization of World Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press Brown, C., (2005) Understanding International Relations, Palgrave: Macmillan, Ch. 6, pp. 106-123 Clausewitz, C. (1977) ‘What is War?’, On War, Princeton: Princeton University Press Hammes, T.X (2005) ‘War evolves into the fourth generation’, Contemporary Security Policy, Vol.26, No.2pp.189–221. Jervis, R. (1991/1992) ‘The Future of World Politics: Will It Resemble the Past?’ International Security 16, no. 3 Jackson, R. Sorensen, G. (2003) Introduction to International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press Kaldor, M. (1999) New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era. Cambridge: Polity Press Shaw, M. (2005) The New Western Way of War: Risk Transfer war and its Crisis in Iraq Cambridge: Polity Press Smith, R. (2006) The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World London: Penguin Strange, S. (2002) The Declining Authority of States, in The Global Transformations Reader: an Introduction to the Globalization Debate, 2nd edition, Held and MacGrew (eds) Cambridge: Polity Press, pp.127-134 Van Creveld, M. (1991) The Transformation Of War NY: Free Press