Respond To Pupils’ Use Of Home Language

Karen is working with a small group of children who have brought a toy in from home and have been asked to talk about it to the rest of the group. Ben is from Wales and has a very broad accent which is different from other children in the group, who are from London. When Ben stands and starts to talk a girl in the group starts laughing with her friend and tries to imitate him. What should Karen do? Why is it important not to ignore the pupils who laugh? Karen should talk to the girls who were laughing and explain that every person is a unique individual and we all have differences.They may not have intended to upset Ben or realise the impact their behaviour could have on him. She should ask the girls how they would feel if somebody laughed at them because of their accent or their appearance or other factor that is beyond their control. Considering the feelings of other people should always be encouraged. It is extremely important not to ignore this behaviour as pupils may think that it is acceptable to do this. Ben could become upset and feel isolated, which could have a serious impact on his self-confidence.His work may also be affected, he may not want to attend school, become withdrawn or even start to display unacceptable behaviour himself. To help promote diversity, Ben should be encouraged to talk to his peers about where he is from. If Ben speaks Welsh, he could teach a few basic words to the class. At Meadow View, some teachers encourage children to answer the register in a different language. A situation like this would be ideal to educate students about Ben’s background and hopefully make him feel included and accepted amongst his classmates.

Juvenile Crime Paper Essay

The amount of crime that is committed by juveniles in our country is astonishing. This crime is on the rise in many cities across our nation because we see news reports often concerning juveniles. The reasons behind this crime may be sociocultural or even biological. As a nation, we need to enforce ways to keep our youth from turning to a life filled with crime and ultimately, a life inside the correctional system. There are programs, but the final decisions lies within the juvenile himself. Our nation has several court systems. In the juvenile court system, one will find that there are some similarities with the adult court system. There are differences between the juvenile and the adult court systems also. One specific difference between these two courts is one’s constitutional rights. In a court which judges adults, these adults have the constitutional right to have his or her case heard and tried by a judge or a jury of his or her peers. In juvenile court, the judge makes all of the decisions. The judge decides whether or not the juvenile has broken the law and whether or not the juvenile is guilty. Another difference concerns sentencing. When a judge in juvenile court is sentencing a juvenile, he takes into consideration that juvenile’s history and behavior. The judge may ask the parent, teacher or employer to speak concerning the juvenile’s behavior before sentencing. The main goal of the juvenile court is not to incarcerate the juvenile, but to deter him from crime and to rehabilitate him rather than punish him. Sometimes when an adult commits his first crime or a petty crime, he is â€Å"let off the hook† or given probation or even a short jail sentence. In the juvenile system, they are usually ordered or sentences to attend a juvenile facility, counseling, house arrest with electronic devices or boot camp. Juveniles are not offered bail as adult offenders are offered. Juveniles are sometimes turned over to their parents. In the adult system, bail can be requested. Even if the bail is denied, the adult offender is allowed to ask for bail. Juveniles do not have this advantage. These teenagers or juveniles who often times get into trouble are labeled as juvenile delinquents. A juvenile delinquent is a minor that fails to do what the law of duty requires (Schmalleger, 2011). This person is under the age of eighteen and has been found guilty by law of committing a crime. This is regarded by state law that the minor is lacing responsibility and because of this, he cannot be sentenced as an adult, but only as a juvenile. Crimes such as breaking curfew, offenses at school, drinking and graffiti are crimes that juveniles are normally charged with. These crimes are sometimes more of an annoyance than they are crimes. Juveniles are prohibited from smoking, drinking and carrying firearms. A status offence is a type of crime that is not based on prohibited actions but it rests with the fact that the offender has a certain personal conditioner of a specified character. Status offences are offences which are committed by juveniles and because of their age they are not considered to be an adult and therefore cannot be tried as an adult (Schmalleger, 2011). Status offences protect juveniles from harm because they are essentially too young. They are children in the sight of the law. Delinquency can relate to status of offences because of the things that these delinquents go through and how they can be different from the things that adults go through. Juveniles and children deal with anger, peer pressure, depression, childhood trauma, dysfunctional families, need for high academics and pressure regarding academics, idolizing rappers, actors and even criminals and bullying.. All of these things can cause delinquency to relate to status of offences. Research shows that there is not just one single cause for delinquency. While the things that I mentioned above may very well lead to delinquency, one doesn’t out rank the other and not one is the specific cause for delinquency. Many children in my town idolize this local rapper. For a very long time, he was suspected of hiring people to kill other local rappers. Even though this happened, he would give away turkeys during Thanksgiving, give away school supplies or even bicycles. Maybe he was thinking he was paying a penance and that his good deeds would balance out with the bad things that he was doing. Children all over this town were passionate about this young man. He was found guilty and sentenced to prison. However, the children want to be like him. I volunteered at an inner-city school and this man is the main topic of all the kids’ conversations! They absolutely idolized him. Therefore, they even formed gangs in his honor and began fighting and killing each other. I asked a student his reasons, and he told me the lyrics to the song are how they live. There are also positive variables that bring the rate of juvenile crime down. There are programs that are based in schools as well as outside of schools that help juveniles deal with emotional distress. Some of these programs just provide a release for these youth. They are taught how to control their emotions and behavior. They are even taught how to interact with each other in some programs. One key point of many programs is to teach juveniles conflict resolution. When they are faced with conflicts, they need to be able to make smart decisions. These are skills they are needed and are provided to them. They have to be taught how to make the right decisions when they are put in bad situations and this is the aim of such programs. At this time in our country, we are experiencing a difficult time with bullying. There are many anti-bullying campaigns which are in place in cities all across our nation. Bullying can have a horrible adverse effect on a juvenile. It can cause him to retaliate at worst, or even to act out in a harmful manner. These programs could possible reduce bullying by making juveniles aware of the harm that bullying can cause not only to the person who is being bullied, but to his family and friends as well. This will hopefully reduce the negative, aggressive behavior of bullies. Saying â€Å"No† to peer pressure can be another way to deter juveniles from crime. When they feel that they do not have to please their friends or to fit in, they can make better choices. I believe that the main support that juveniles need is the support of their family. When a child is raised in a functional home with rules, he has a better chance of not entering the juvenile court system or even the adult corrections system. These children not only look to their parents, they look to their older siblings, leaders in their communities, pastors, teachers and even their politicians. When we as adults break laws and are punished, even though we are punished, it still sends the wrong message to our children.

Calculating cash flow and net present value (see paper for details) Assignment

Calculating cash flow and net present value (see paper for details) - Assignment Example From the presented case of the manufacturing organization, revenue outflows are the additional support costs of  £4K every year. Capital inflows refer to those incomes that are generated from other activities other than the normal trading of an entity. In the case of the manufacturing organization such capital inflows is the sale of machinery. On the other hand, revenue inflows are those incomes that are generated by an entity from its normal operations by selling goods or services. To establish the payback period, the cumulative cash flows was established, but from the above calculations, the manufacturing organization could not cover its initial investment costs of  £410K from the net cash flows it generates within a period of five years. It is also a discounted cash flow technique that uses the principle of NPV. It is individual investment’s rate of return when it is considered in isolation or independently of all other investments that the firm undertakes. It is that rate of return which is inherent or internal to the cash flow of a given project. It is the discounting or required rate of return that gives a zero NPV i.e. ∑PVs – I0 = 0 NPV. Internal rate of return is established through trial and error, interpolation, or extrapolation method. Through the trial and error, a rate of interest is selected at random and is used in the establishment of NPV of the cash flows. If the rate chosen gives a lower NPV than the cost, a lower rate is chosen and if the rate gives a greater NPV, a higher rate is chosen. The process continues until the final rate chosen gives a zero

Poverty and Pollution in Japan, Europe and North America Research Paper - 1

Poverty and Pollution in Japan, Europe and North America - Research Paper Example Many Third World cities have significantly high concentrations of industries and the industrial output also forms a prominent part of the world’s industrial production. These Third world cities face equivalent environmental pollution. Over the years the industrial development in these cities or city-regions has progressed tremendously and the greater the industrial development, the bigger will be the magnitude of the environmental pollution faced by the inhabitants of the countries. An inter-relation of poverty and pollution will be highlighted through a case presentation and the ethical implications of the business owners towards the society, basic rights of the humans for a cleaner environment and the reasons for industrial development in Third World countries will be discussed in relation to the case study. Popularly referred as Brazil’s â€Å"valley of death†, this particular valley, Cubatao, is a home to 100,000 people, living amidst critical environmental circumstances. The valley can be considered as the most polluted place on Earth where the inhabitants are constantly faced with tons of pollutants discharged by the industrial plants each day. The air, in which the inhabitants breathe daily, is polluted with a plethora of toxins, predominantly benzene which is a known carcinogen. 13,000 urban residents suffer from respiratory disease and infant mortality rate is 10 percent higher as compared to the whole region. The residents are, however, completely aware of the circumstances and the poor health conditions of their children and families, but the industrial plants are a source of employment for them. Few wish to move out of the valley, but their financial status doesn’t allow them to do so. The circumstances in the valley of Brazil, pointing out that poor have t o face the price for industrial  development. They are faced with environmental hazards and they cannot even reach out for environmental protection due to their low economic conditions (Shaw 2011).  

Writing an evaluative essay about the experience

Writing an evaluative about the experience - Essay Example The play begins with the appearance of the three witches where they meet the two generals Banquo, Macbeth. We later find that the heinous crimes committed by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have affected their psyche. Lady Macbeth is seen suffering from sleep walking malady and finally she kills herself. Macbeth is left alone to fight with the enemies after he has been crowned the King of Scotland. The play ends with the death of Macbeth. He is beheaded (Shakespeare, Gill). I have analyzed the play based on- The program note informed that the director designed the theme based on a 16th century mandala, which was present at the backdrop of the play. The play was spectacular. The supernatural scenes, which were played by three men, were exquisite. The witches looked perfect in their black gory dressed with their accompanying high-pitched voices. The dresses of the actors looked perfectly of the Elizabethan period. The dim lights and the shadowy backdrop reinforced the effect of darkness and mystery that portrayed though out the play. To enhance their effect the witches were dressed in rotting costumes, which were types of shrouds. The porter scene was also very symbolic. The drunken porter went on rambling about the inner hell of Macbeth’s castle. His drunken yet appropriate metaphors not only enhanced the plays but also lifted to another level. The sleepwalking scene of Lady Macbeth is also nerve chilling because it shows the complete disintegration of her psyche. It is seen that she tells to herself that not all the perfumes of Arabia would sweeten her hand. By this she means that the crimes that were committed by these hands could not wash away and the heinous deeds were as if smelling even after they had been washed away repeatedly. The doctor informs later the audience that she used to keep on washing her hands. We

CRITIQUE of 1 out of 4 FILMS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CRITIQUE of 1 out of 4 FILMS - Essay Example Maria searches for Kynaston to learn more about the craft of acting. What they find in each other is something that they never found on stage – love. The basic human drive that motivates Hughes’ and Kynaston’s behavior, I think, is the need for acceptance and search for identity. Kynaston grew up being trained to portray female roles in the theater. It was on stage that he found his identity regardless of the roles he played. King Charles II’s proclamation indirectly detached Kynaston from his true being, leaving him searching for his identity. Hughes, meanwhile, was an aspiring actress who struggled to find her identity on stage. Although considered a star in her own right, Hughes needed an affirmation and validation for her acting skills which she struggled to get on stage. The film â€Å"Stage Beauty† shows the fine artistry in portraying roles that are alien to one’s being, as in Kynaston’s portrayal of female roles. Acting like a man or a woman on stage can be learned through years of training and hard work. The stage, therefore, is the place where these various roles are performed and lived out. The stage’s appeal lies in the illusion and trickery conjured by its performers who act out different roles. Like the society from which we play a part (whether as a mother, a son, or a lover, for instance), the world is our very own stage where these gender roles are played out, or rather, performed to maintain the trickery and illusion which separate one gender from the other. The film, as this paper argues, breaks the artifice of gender roles by showing precisely that these roles are performances rather than naturally occurring through one’s identity. Moreover, the film challenges society’s definition of how a ma n or a woman should be and invites us to transcend the differences between gender roles. The film’s elements (mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, music, and

News Perspective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

News Perspective - Essay Example This is the reason why online newscasts can have a better chance of placing the advertisements as and where they are required as compared to a television newscast. The marketing perspective within this online newscast served its purpose because I was able to view the advertisement for a period of 30 seconds before I could reach the exact content of the newscast. It made sense to me that the online newscast placed its advertisement right before the actual content of the newscast. The sources used in the news stories were deemed as both appropriate and credible. The sources deployed have actually brought quite a good amount of credibility and authenticity to the whole process. This is because the newscasts were seen as a form of research which exhibited true value for the advertisers and marketers. They were able to project their stories in a manner which was deemed as most fitting under the changing marketing dynamics. They believed that these newscasts could bring forward credible sources that shall make the audience perceive them as truthful at all times. It is indeed a much positive aspect related with the sources because these are viewed as credible and trustworthy. When one concerns the basis towards the television and the online form of newscasts, the onus always falls upon their source genuineness because it aims to resolve the ambiguities that exist within the relevant fore. Hence it is important to validate the sources present within the online news casts because these keep on changing from time to time. There is good enough evidence that these newscasts might have been tampered so as to attain some hidden agendas, which might be accomplished through these newscasts. The element of biasness was evident within the broadcast since one aspect was being portrayed while the other was found missing. This meant that one perspective was taking the

Marine Insurance Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marine Insurance Law - Essay Example A very important aspect of Marine Insurance law is the risk of ‘perils of the seas’. In maritime journeys, the risk of perils of the sea is the most probable risk to the ship. It is very natural for a ship owner to contemplate marine insurance so that he can recover any loss caused by destruction of the ship due to perils of the sea. There is a condition that is strictly attached with Marine Insurance which is the seaworthiness of the ship in question. S. 39(4) of Marine Insurance Act, 1906 states that, â€Å"A ship is deemed to be seaworthy when she is reasonably fit in all respects to encounter the ordinary perils of the seas of the adventure insured.† It means that the ship must be able to bear the ordinary risks that are encountered in a voyage and the owner must take necessary steps to make any repairs that are required to make the ship seaworthy. If it turns out that the ship was sunk or destroyed because it was not seaworthy, the owner would not be able to recover anything from the insurer. It is also important that the ship is insured against the risk of perils of the sea. The burden of proof that a ship has sunk due to perils of the sea lays on the plaintiff i.e. the owner. However, the defendants are allowed to prove that the ship has not sunk due to the perils of the sea but it is not obligatory. The Popi M In The Popi M [1985]2 Lloyd’s Rep. 1, Popi M, a conventional cargo ship, sank in calm weather in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria in deep water and it was laden with a cargo of bagged sugar. The plaintiffs sought to claim insurance from the defendants, hull underwriters, claiming that the ship sank due to one of the perils that they had insured against. The burden of proof that the ship sank due to the perils of the sea was on the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs explained that the ship had collided with an unidentified, moving and submerged submarine which was unseen and went undetected. Inquiries were made as t o the seaworthiness of the ship and it was found that the ship was seaworthy. It was held that as the true cause of the sinking of Popi M was in doubt and the plaintiffs had failed to provide a justified explanation that the ship had sunk due to the perils of the sea, the plaintiffs’ claim was rejected. This case reveals that the proof on balance of properties is very important in Marine Insurance Law. It means that the proof which has to be given by the plaintiffs must be probable and convincing so that it can be relied upon. A collision with a submarine would surely have a two-fold effect and there was absolutely no evidence to believe that there was, in fact, a submarine that had collided with the ship. It is also very improbable that the collision occurred accidently because the submarine was undetected because even if it was, the ship itself was very detectable and the operators of the submarine would have seen it surely. In any case, this is not included in the risks of perils of the sea. The proof provided by the plaintiffs was insufficient to fulfill the balance of probabilities and the court declared that it was impossible that it could have happened. The defendants had no obligation to give an alternate explanation. It was enough for them that it was very improbable that the ship sank in a calm weather due to perils of the sea. The Marel Another very important case regarding ‘perils of the sea’

Manage diversity in the workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Manage diversity in the workplace - Essay Example Maintaining a diverse base of customers so that the organization doesn’t get identified as a niche firm, offering products to only a certain set of people. The company follows a recruitment policy that includes people from several regions of the world. This policy helps the organization to address the needs of the customers belonging to the various parts of the international market. The organization puts much emphasis on the welfare of women and the under-privileged section of the society which assigns a social purpose for their functioning. The organization doesn’t support any kind of discrimination and thus considers racism, sexism, ageism etc as problems for both the organization and the society as a whole. The diversity champions of the organization range from the top level positions to the shop floor employees. A diversity committee has been formed by the company that ensures the implementation of the diversity policy in the day to day operations of the business an d also in the strategic planning of the organization. Training and development facilities are provided to the employees where they learn to cope with the people belonging to the various diversified backgrounds. The organization offers other services like flexible working hours, employee education assistance, open communication, childcare assistance and the mentor programmes. The weakness of the policy- As we can see that the organization has introduced several policies supporting the diversity within the workplace therefore it is must for them to maintain a conflict resolution system. The organization has to deal with people and it’s very common that where there are individuals coming from diverse backgrounds, there are high chances that conflicts can arise at any time. Different people with different culture and point of views could be confused, threatened or even annoyed by each other in the team, from views and background different from their own. It could create disagreem ents and disturbed political atmosphere that might slow down project advancements. The organization should create an environment of tolerance and understanding in the team. They should also encourage the employees to adopt this mindset, to challenge their belief system and to be open-minded enough to hear each of the members’ view. It will help members realize that there isn’t only one way of thinking. The managers need to accept that they can’t make everyone think and act like they do. They need to be attentive to verbal and nonverbal cues that might course tension. For example, â€Å"Pointing with one finger is considered to be rude in some cultures and Asians typically use their entire hand to point to something.† And In Western culture, eye contact means you’re attentive and honest; yet for a Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, or Native American, eye contact is thought to be disrespectful or rude. Managers should be aware of this kind of things a nd get people in team to understand different cultures in order to make the team run well without struggles (Universim, 2012). Also the organization lacks proper human resource staffs that will be looking after the employee grievance system, address their personal and professional issues, focus on the employee engagement aspects, and must ensure that the concept of equal treatment of employees must not make the more talented individuals feel de-motivated. The issue that women employees are lesser in number at the

Architecturall theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Architecturall theory - Essay Example ntellectual context in thinking about architecture and the final built work is intrinsic to the understanding of how ideas reoccur, and even old theories have relevance today. Despite its past and present history, the aesthetic beauty and practical usefulness of theory remains a positive and necessary influence on the subject, and the discourse created by it an important element in the future growth and evolution of architecture itself. A good theoretical starting point is undoubtedly Lucas Koolhass and his theory of The Generic City—an idea significantly [and we might assume coldly] modern in its tendency to accept the twentieth century axiom of form follows function--‘generic’ as in having no particularly distinctive quality or application. In essence, nothing in terms of urban architecture should be written in theoretical or historical stone. Koolhass, the Dutch architect, architectural theorist and urbanist suggests that in approaching urban design we â€Å"stop looking for glue to hold cities together† [in the old thinking, town squares etc] and simply allow the place to develop as natural needs apply, where the only judgments are â€Å"taste† and â€Å"aesthetics† (Grà ¶nlund, The Generic City par 4). Removing the sociological component, The Generic City then is one that does not rely on history for its identity and disputes old notions of â€Å"endless repetitions o f the same structural module...more varied boredom, [and] redundancy...† (Grà ¶nlund, The Generic City par 2). But Koohaas does not leave the architect completely without options. He is simply providing a realistic backdrop that allows the professional to judge and create his work from a modern more clinical standpoint. In a1991 lecture at Rice University, Koolhaas, in pointing out â€Å"the constant movement that occurs between documenting and critiquing the phenomena to trying to interpret what they mean to architecture...† explains how his approach to writing and theorizing â€Å"work in tandem

The Life of Schubert Essay Example for Free

The Life of Schubert Essay Christopher H. Gibbs’s slim volume, â€Å"The Life of Schubert,† in Cambridge University Press’s series Musical Lives, is therefore timely and valuable. Though terse, it brings all those matters up to date in an eminently readable manner. Mr. Gibbs, took part in the later stages of the decade long Schubertiade at the 92nd Street Y. which ended in 1997. Although he relies heavily on secondary sources here, he has also done original research, and he proposes a neat little theory of his own: a secret program for Schubert’s E flat Piano Trio. That work was begun some six months after Beethoven died, and given its premiere on the first anniversary of his death on March 26, 1828 (eight months, it turned out, before Schubert’s own passing). Mr. Gibbs finds similarities in the trio, with its movement resembling a funeral march, to Beethoven: especially to the Eroica Symphony, written in the same key in memory of a great man. Although it was obvious to few others at the time that Schubert, still little known outside Vienna or in grand musical forms, was a logical candidate to take up Beethoven’s mantle, from this and other evidence it was apparent to Schubert, Mr. Gibbs plausibly suggests, as it has been to posterity. While previous commentators have called Schubert’s movement a funeral march, and a few have noticed the tonal, melodic and structural similarities to Beethoven’s symphony, Mr. Gibbs writes of his interpretation, the greater meaning has remained secret. But in so concise a tome, something has to give, and Mr. Gibbs hastens to point out that the book is not everything it might appear. This book concerns less The Life of Schubert than The Life of Schubert’s Career, a story more of the artist than the man, he writes. In certain respects this book aims to be an autobiography. Gibbs shall emphasize the distortion and trivialization of Schubert’s life that formed and informed popular images. At the same time Mr. Gibbs is no iconoclast or sensationalist. They are currently at a point where some unproven claims about the darker Schubert threaten to become a new orthodoxy in the absence of sufficient historical investigation or evidence, he writes judiciously. He spreads his skepticism evenly on new evidence and theories as well as old. Schubert remains in the shadows, he notes, even as some try figuratively to bring him out of the closet and the pub and into the psychiatrist’s consulting room. The approach is loosely chronological. But Mr. Gibbs begins by examining three artistic representations of Schubertian soirees to set the scene. And one biographical chapter is constructed around themes raised in an 1824 letter from Schubert to his friend Leopold Kupelwieser. In a word, â€Å"I feel myself the unhappy and wretched creature in the world, the diseased composer writes, imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair over this ever makes things worse and worse instead of better. † Mr. Gibb’s emphases, though sometimes repetitious, are often fascinating. He notes, for example, that for the composer, most of his output was prelude. In 1827 Schubert acknowledged, among other works, three operas, a Mass and a symphony. Mr. Gibbs elaborates: At first the comment seems curious: Schubert had written some eight operas, five Masses, seven (and a half) symphonies and so much else: yet he willingly acknowledged only fully mature pieces. The musical discussion is non-technical. Although many works are located in the unfolding of Schubert’s career, few are discussed in detail. Still, what comment there is cogent, as when Mr. Gibbs cites Schubert’s uncanny ability to make the major mode sound despairing? Can any listener fail to be relieved, for example, when, in Gute Nacht, the opening song of the cycle Winterreise, the music slumps back into D minor after the painfully illusory hope raised by the excursion into D major? Mr. Gibbs spends perhaps too much time trying to tie the mood of the composer when writing it. Yes such correspondences can sometimes emerge, the more so with such new evidence as Mr. Gibbs supplies. Still, the creative process is at bottom mysterious, and those one-to-one alignments inevitably break down sooner rather than later. It is also surprising to see so redoubtable a Schubertian refer to the composer’s great C major Symphony (No. 9, that is, in mere contradistinction to the little C major, No. 6) loosely as the Great Symphony. No matter, Mr. Gibbs, with his solid grounding and balanced view, packs a great deal into a small space and supplies a corrective still sorely needed: or, as he suggests, needed now more than ever, as seductive new theories mingle freely with comfortable old myths. The two protagonists of Richard Power’s new novel. Plowing the Dark, each spends their days in empty rooms, living through their imaginations. These two characters never meet each other; their stories never converge. The first, a woman named Adie, is an artist who is helping to construct a virtual-reality chamber in Seattle in the late 1980’s; the second is an American hostage in Lebanon, a man named Tai Martin, who passes his days in captivity trying to re-imagine his former life. Representing Schubert: A life devoted to art In February 1828, Schubert sent to Schott’s, the music publisher in Mainz, a complete list of individual works available for publication. Schubert only listed works in the most marketable types of domestic, social, and chamber music. In closing his letter, however, Schubert could not resist referring broadly to some compositions he had written for the public arena, three operas, a mass, and a symphony. Knowing these would not be of immediate interest to Schott’s, he added the disclaimer: Mr. Gibbs mention these last compositions only in order to acquaint Schott with his strivings after the highest in art. Two things are noteworthy here – Schubert’s selectiveness in the public works he offered and his invocation of distinctions between higher and lower aesthetic levels. Almost certainly, Schubert was selectively offering only the large-scale works of his early maturity, those operas, symphonies, and Masses completed since about 1820. (After 1820, Schubert repeatedly made clear that he was no longer promoting most of his early works. If Schubert’s own selectivity gives us the license to focus on the operas of his maturity, his discussion of the highest in art gives us the license to focus on the operas with the expressive range, the expanded scale of musical-demand structure, and the serious subject appropriate to a grand heroic or Romantic opera. It was his grand operas, and not his Singspiels and other early operas, which were capable of standing alongside his grand symphony, representing the highest in Schubert’s art. Young Schubert: the master in the boy In his eleventh year, Schubert passed the entrance examinations for the Convict School, which trained choristers for the Imperial Court Chapel Life at the Convict was not without hardship, the young music-students frequently suffered cold and hunger Hunger has become so pressing, Schubert wrote to his brother, Ferdinand, that willy-nilly â€Å"I must make a change. The two groschen that father gave me went in the first few days, If, then, I rely upon your aid, I hope I may do so without being ashamed. How about advancing me a couple of Kreutzer monthly. †? When Schubert became acclimated to his new surroundings at the Convict he was far from unhappy. He was completely absorbed in music-study, finding therein endless fascination and adventure. He also made some intimate friendships, particularly one with Josef Spaun, seven years his sensor, who remained his intimate friend for the remainder of his life. In the Convict school, Franz Schubert began his first compositions. Supplied with note-paper by Spaun, Schubert composed his first song, Hagar’s Klage, which came to the notice of Saheri; director of the Convict Saheri was so impressed with this achievement that he placed Schubert under the personal guidance of Ruczizka, professor of harmony. Then, when Ruczizka confided to Saheri that Schubert seems to have been taught by God himself, the lad knows every thing, Saheri decided to take the boy under his own wing. One of the first exercises which Schubert composed for Saheri was – an opera Franz’s, you can do everything, Saheri told him you are a genius. Ingenious Schubert: the Prince of Song Schubert created the genre of the Kunstlied near the beginning of the nineteenth century and Mahler re-created it in extraordinary ways less than a century later. Many of the most pressing compositional and aesthetic issues relating to subsumed song are connected to their accomplishments. For, even if it is an exaggeration to say Schuberet is the â€Å"Father of the Lied, (infact he is usually called the â€Å"Prince of Song†), his elevation of its artistic status had profound impact not only on that particular genre, but also more generally on matters relating to instrumental lyricism, compositional technique, folk-like simplicity, naturalness, expression, and hermeneutic association allied with words. Popular Schubert: the turning point 1823, that year in which Schubert composed Die schone Mullerin, D. 795, was a turning point in his life, a time fraught with crisis. The venereal disease, probably syphilis, that was to kill him five years later first become evident in late 1822 or early 1823, and its initial virulent stages wracked the composer’s health for much of the year. For all the chronological mysteries and gaps in the chronicle, people know that the genesis of the cycle is interwoven with the beginning of the end of Schubert’s life. Despite the compound of the respect accorded genius and a linguistic veil of nineteenth-century euphemisms, three of Schubert’s contemporaries, speaking in guarded terms, identify the cause of his illness as venereal disease and attribute his early death to its ravages. Joseph Kenner, writing in 1858, is possibly biased by his hatred of Franz von Schober, whom he blames for leading Schubert astray. Anyone who knew Schubert, he writes, knows how he was made of two natures, foreign to each other, how powerfully the craving for pleasure dragged his soul down to the slough of moral degradation, and how highly he valued the utterances of friends he respected episode in Schubert’s life only too probably caused his premature death and certainly hastened it. The unsympathetic Wilhelm von Chezy in 1863 wrote that Schubert had strayed into those wrong paths which generally admit of no return, at least of no healthy one and adds that ‘The charming â€Å"Mullerlieder† were composed under sufferings of a quite different kind from those immortalized in the music which he put into the mouth of the poor lovelorn miller lad. Schober himself spoke in discreet terms of Schubert’s hospitalization as the result of excessively indulgent sensual living and its consequences. These and other references to a streak of coarse sensuality in Schubert’s character have led the modern scholar Maynard Solomon to speculate convincingly that Schubert was a sexually promiscuous homosexual who chose to spend his brief adulthood within the protective environs of the gay subculture of Biedermeier Vienna. Whatever the full truth of the matter, the piper came due in 1823. Schubert would have known that the disease spelled the ruin of his health for whatever length of time remained to him and that it would lead to his death. Schubert himself first mentions illness in a formal letter to one Councilor Mosel, to whom Schubert had sent part of his opera Alfonso und Estrella. On the other hand, for Schubert was amiable and modest, devoted to his friends from the bottom of his heart, and acknowledges with affection the achievements of others, as was shown, for example, by his ever recurring delight over each little drawing done by their highly gifted Schwind. For what was evil and false, he had a veritable hatred. Bauernfeld describes Schubert’s Austrian element uncouth and sensual. If there were times, both in his social relationship and in art, when the Austrian character appeared all too violently in the vigorous and pleasure loving Schubert, there were also times when a black-winged demon of sorrow and melancholy forced its way into his vicinity not altogether an evil spirit, it is true, in the dark consecrated hours, it often brought out songs of the most agonizing beauty. But the conflict between unrestrained enjoyment of living and the restless activity of spiritual creation is always exhausting if no balance exists in the soul. Fortunately in their friend’s case an idealized love was at work, meditating, reconciling, compensating, and Countless Karoline may be looked upon as his visible, beneficent muse, as the Leonore of this musical Tasso. Whatever the truth of his last remark, Bauernfeld had no doubts of the Countless Karoline’s importance to Schubert. Poor Schubert: Miserable reality â€Å"Poor Schubert. † Ever since his death this expression appears over and over again in the writings of Schubert’s friends, critics, and biographies. One reason is that he died so young, at the age of thirty one. More prosaically, the adjective refers to the composer’s precarious financial state throughout his life, although he was far from the destitute artist later sentimentalized in novels, operettas, and movies. The tag also conveys the sense that Schubert was neglected, that his gifts went largely unrecognized. One can easily pick out a few more brush strokes in the established portrait: Schubert is viewed as a natural and native genius who wrote incomparable songs. And then there are his festive friends in the background. Even if the public at large ignored him, at least he enjoyed the loyal support of his circle. Always the best man, never the groom, Schubert is seen as unlucky in love. Early death meant that his artistic mission was left unfinished. Even with so many miserable circumstances, Schubert’s music laughs through its tears, and the maudlin conflation of his life and works in myriad biographies and fictional treatments makes readers past and present weep. Poor Schubert. Late Schubert: who shall stand beside Beethoven To Schubert belongs the dubious distinction of being the short-lived composer of his stature, a situation commented upon since the day he died. Schubert’s early death, while an indisputable reality, should not blind to its symbolic significance. In this respect, Schubert’s most popular instrumental work, the Symphony in B Minor, proves instructive on two counts. First, the premiere took place well over forty years after its composition. This late unveiling powerfully underscores how relatively unknown Schubert was and how unceasingly his reputation had to be reevaluated throughout the nineteenth century. Second, its nickname the Unfinished Symphony epitomizes the unfinished quality of Schubert’s life and art, and serves as a fitting metaphor, a recurring reminder of unfulfilled promise the theme first sounded by Grillparzer’s epitaph. It may seem odd, even inappropriate, to discuss the late period of an artist who died in his early thirties; yet Schubert condensed the artistic productivity of a lifetime into his remarkably brief career, and moreover persevered in his final years with the knowledge of a mortal illness. Professionally and compositionally, Schubert entered a new stage during the final two years of his life, the period, significantly, coinciding with Beethoven’s final sickness and death twenty months before his own. Now thirty years old, and at the peak of his creative powers, Schubert surpassed even what Beethoven had accomplished at the same age. Immortal Schubert The defunct popular composer not only becomes immortal in the poetical sense, but by a curious felicity which publishers can best explain, actually goes on composing after he is dead. All Paris has been in a state of amazement at the posthumous diligence of the songwriter F. Schubert, who, while one would think his ashes repose in peace at Vienna, is still making eternal new songs and putting drawing-rooms in commotion. In the entire realm of art it would be difficult to find many examples of the kind of creative genius possessed by Franz Schubert. Not that he was the greatest composer who ever lived; certainly the horizons of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart were far writer. But for sheer native gifts, he is excellence only by Mozart. Music came to Schubert as naturally as breathing. He could create beauty as freely as the ordinary man talks in cliches, every melodic idea that sprang in him soared on lyric wings. And these ideas seemed inexhaustible both in their endless variety of mood and in their consciousness. As he himself once confessed, he was unable to complete one work without having several others crowd in on his consciousness. Musical ideas came to him, not merely in a spontaneous flow, but in a veritable geyser eruption which he could not hope to curb or canalize into disciplined and formal order. Schubert as composer of symphonies fond himself in the shadow of Haydn and Mozart from the past and Beethoven in the present. He was haunted not only by their symphonies but also by their other instrumental works. The result was a series of thematic references as well as concepts of musical composition overall structure, tonal plans, orchestration, and harmonic-rhythmic patterns which Schubert modified and incorporated into his own works. But the mighty Viennese triumvirate was not Schubert’s only source for his larger sonata-like structures. Like Beethoven, Schubert provides an important bridge from the classic to the romantic symphony. The early up to No. 6 are among the most romantically oriented classical symphonies in existence. In dimension, instruction, and esthetic posture, they clearly belong to the eighteenth century; in orchestration and harmonic language, they look forward to future generations. The artist is someone who can take pain and the commonplace and spin them into unforgettable insights. The hypothesis set out in this paper will, Christopher Gibbs knows, antagonize some and be found ludicrous by others. Nevertheless, as a specialist in human complexity and a wide-eyed lover of Schubert’s music, Gibbs find that to have some possible inkling of the ghosts that may have both inspired and haunted him makes the little mushroom even more special. Reference Gibbs, C. H. (2000). The Life of Schubert. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Machiavelli, Plato, Aristotle Essay Example for Free

Machiavelli, Plato, Aristotle Essay Machiavelli in his book â€Å"The Prince† seems to sap the very foundations of morality and stops at nothing short of capsizing the entire edifice of religion. His thoughts resonate with a loathing of true virtue and propagate corrupted politics. Actually, today the term Machiavellianism is used to refer to the use of deceitfulness to advance one’s goals or desires. In ‘The Prince†, Machiavelli breaks from the classical view of virtue as represented by his philosophic predecessors Plato and Aristotle. Whereas his predecessors held virtue in an ideal environment (idealism), Machiavelli defined virtue in a real environment where one is judged by his actions and not by the way his actions ought to be (realism). According to Plato and Aristotle good life only exists in total virtue where a person will be most happy. Plato places emphasis on the extinction of personal desires through love so that one can achieve happiness (Barker, 1959). Aristotle on the other hand believes that an ideal or perfect state brings out the virtue in all men. A person will gain happiness when all their actions and goals are virtuous. This implies that according to Aristotle happiness is a group goal and not an individual goal (Barker, 1959). Plato equally in bringing out the essence of love which must be shared among people suggests that happiness is a group goal. However, virtue in the Machiavellian sense seems to lack a moral tone. By virtue, he alludes to personal qualities needed for the achievement of one’s own ends (Machiavelli, 1998). His view seems to be directed at self interests and not a common goal. In pursuing personal interests, one is not careful about the means by which he does so and therefore is not bound by a moral imperative. In â€Å"The Prince† Machiavelli describes two types of principalities. One is hereditary and the other is acquired. He observes that though no virtue is required to attain a hereditary principality, it takes virtue to acquire and maintain a new principality. The basis of his views does not entirely contradict the classical view on morality, however, he goes on further to illustrate and make allowances for evil, and this is what brings about the contradiction. For example Machiavelli states, â€Å"When a new territory does not share the same language and culture as the prince’s original territory, the prince must have the wisdom and ability to assimilate the new territory† (Machiavelli, 1998). This view wholly concurs with Plato’s on the need for wisdom as a virtue. On ability however, Machiavelli alludes to the use of force or violent means which defies views on classical morality. In the same chapter, he goes on to say that a prince ought to protect his weaker neighbors and prevent the powerful ones from gaining more power. The virtue of courage here echoes the principle virtues as outlined by Plato, courage being one of them. However, Machiavelli encourages the prince not to hesitate in using force to enforce this (Machiavelli, 1998). This goes against the grain of conventional virtue as it encourages people in power to use whatever means, even ruthless, to preserve their power. Machiavelli suggests two ways by which a private citizen can become a prince, either by fortune or by ability. Among those who became princes through ability, Machiavelli cites Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, and Francesco Sforza among others. He gives the example of Borgia who inherited power and later lost it to dissuade princes from depending on fortune but rather to use their abilities to attain success. He makes it clear that virtue or ability is more related to statecraft and less related to morality. In undermining morality, he allows for the use of force to gain and preserve power. He says â€Å"A prince who comes to power by evil means is said to have neither fortune nor ability. Such a prince may gain power, but not glory† (Machiavelli, 1998). By â€Å"evil means,† he refers to the use cruelty in proper and improper ways. He explains that if cruelty is utilized to achieve a necessary goal, then it is proper. However, if it is used to achieve no purpose but to instill f ear into the citizens, it is improper. Consequently, the proper use of force according to Machiavelli is a virtue. This contradicts the virtue of moderation as outlined by Plato which puts restrictions on the use of extreme means such as the use of force to achieve goals. One can infer that Plato would advocate for diplomacy rather than force if a prince aimed at achieving allegiance from his subjects. According to Plato, good life is only attained through perfect love which comes about by a submersion of personal desire. According to Machiavelli, â€Å"a prince does not have to be loved by the people, though still he must not be hated† (Machiavelli, 1998). He goes further to explain that history has revealed that men who were not loved but feared were more effective leaders. A ruler who brings mayhem to his state because of his imprudent kindness should not be considered a good leader. For Machiavelli, the virtue a prince should pursue is â€Å"fear from his subjects and not love (Machiavelli, 1998). Such a prince, he explains, will be able to sustain the morale of his subjects, which takes both wisdom and courage. Therefore according to Machiavelli the prince is better of being feared than loved which contradicts the earlier views of Plato, who placed a great emphasis on the pursuit of love as a major virtue. In chapter eighteen of â€Å"The Prince† Machiavelli argues that total honesty is only practical in an ideal world. However, since the world is characterized by dishonest men, a prince cannot be expected to keep all his pledges. Therefore he should endeavor to use deception to his benefit. Machiavelli uses the analogy of the fox and the lion to encourage the prince to be both cunning and courageous. He explains that whereas â€Å"the fox can recognize snares but cannot drive away wolves, the lion can drive away wolves but cannot recognize snares† (Machiavelli, 1998).In this he means that a prince does not need to possess good qualities but should just appear to possess them, since subjects are only interested in outward appearances if they lead to a favorable end. It is from this view that the term ‘Machiavellianism† has been coined to in today’s usage to mean the use of cunningness to achieve undue advantage over one’s subjects. In comparison to the classical view of virtue, Machiavelli’s view lacks a moral sense. Machiavelli’s work on the prince has received wide criticism from a large front including the Catholic Church. As the devil’s advocate, he seems to break away from the conventional virtues of his predecessors Plato and Aristotle openly deriding the church and its fundamentals. Whereas Plato and Aristotle relate living virtuously to godliness, Machiavelli’s virtue involves lying and subordinating atrocious means to practical ends. Realism, which Machiavelli subscribed to, has been defined as a cynical view to politics devoted to furthering personal interests with no regard to moral or religious structures (Schaub, 1998). This view implies that a prince can be at odds with the moral virtue, a contradiction to the classical concept of virtue postulated by both Plato and Aristotle. At a glance of Machiavelli’s â€Å"The Prince†, we largely infer that he goes all out to ill advice the prince against the classical virtues of his predecessors. He seems to herald the triumph of evil over good. However, taking a critical look at the work, one cannot help but notice gaps and disjunctions in the text. For example the characters he picks to illustrate his case. In showing the proper and effective use of cruelty in chapter seventeen, he uses Hannibal and compares him to Scipio as compassionate and therefore ineffective. This is violently at odds with the truth and is ironic at the same time because Scipio accused of compassion defeats Hannibal at the battle of Zama (Machiavelli, 1998). Also, Machiavelli writes in Italian and not Latin, the language of the scholars of whom the princes are. This leaves the question as to who exactly was his target audience. Was he really advising the princes who already knew how to be cruel or was it the subjects, and if the subjects then for what purpose. Therefore, just as much as we have illustrated how Machiavelli strays from the classical virtue, it rests upon the attentive reader to ingest and make a personal judgment as to what Machiavelli really intended to put across.

Writing For Children

Writing For Children Peter Hunt writes that ‘some idea of a child or childhood motivates writers and determines both the form and content of what they write (2009a, p13). Prompting  Ã‚   that an authors choice of book type and content stems from their image of the child they are writing for, elements of which come from their own ideology of society and childhood often shaped by their own lifestyles. It is arguable however if the authors idea of childhood is indeed their motivation or if there are other factors in their writing that point to an additional agenda. In considering Hunts statement we will see the changing childhood ideologies of Victorian and postmodern realism in Louisa May Alcotts, Little Women (1868), and Melvin Burgesss Junk (1996), and also the differing concept of childhood in fantasy literature with Phil Pullmans, Northern Lights (2004). It is also significant to discover what constitutes the authors notion of childhood in their books, and if there are external elements which c an shape the content and form of childrens books such as mass marketing and the commodifying of children. Early childrens literature was highly didactic and as Zipes (2009) suggests even the earliest renderings of fairytales were designed to turn children into the type of adults their societies would prefer. Its First Golden Age from the later half of the nineteenth century introduced a change in how we viewed children, we began to celebrate the joys of childhood, (Carpenter, 2009) the most notable books entertained and also gave their readers a sense of empowerment and individuality. An example of such a novel is Louisa May Alcotts Little Women,following the narrative tradition of domestic and informative stories for girls such as Sarah Fieldings The Governess (1749), and ostensibly remaining within the conservative restrictions of her era, Alcott presents the contemporary life of four sisters growing up during the American civil war. Her book, written as a request by her publisher to fill a niche in the market, is to all appearances moralistic and patriarchal. The title, as phrased by the childrens father ‘little women'(Alcott,1868, p12) exemplifies the Victorian ideal of childhood, where children were seen as miniature adults and taught the puritan morals to be dutiful , obedient , hard-working and God-fearing (Styles,2009), puritan John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress(1678) is used extensively throughout the book . Little Womens third person omniscient narration is also in quite a condescending adult voice effecting to keep the March girls as children who need guidance, even when they mature, ‘Amys lecture did Laurie good, though, of course, he did not own it till long afterward (LW, p384).The narrators frequent interjections with opinions and views guides the readers into making the required conclusions, thereby giving instruction to its girl readership on how to be good wives and mothers. Arguably however as Fetterley (2009) suggests there are statements within the novel that portray an undercurrent of ambivalence, showing Alcotts perhaps true feelings to opportunities available according to gender and class, depicted primarily in her portrayal of Jo an antagonistic of the submissive young girl of the times. Alcott herself was rather an oddity of her time, a spinster, woman activist and the family breadwinner, her motivation to write was often purely financial (Alderson, 2008). Accordingly Jo is often seen as based on Alcott, portrayed as a talented headstrong writer, Beths words ‘You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.'(LW, p361), echo Alcotts own lifestyle, yet could also be seen as advice to her girl readers to embrace their freedom, rather than their expected domesticity. Even the outwardly repressive marmee, and her ideas of marriage ‘the sweetest chapter in the romance of womanhood (LW, p95), also states ‘better be happy old maids than unhappy wives'(LW, p95). She also occasionally shows her ambivalence to her life, ‘Mother isn t sick, only very tired, (LW, p109), as Hannah their housemaid points out ‘housekeeping aint no joke (LW, p109) and as Alcott is perhaps trying highlight, domesticity is not so wonderful a role to aspire to. Alcott quite understandably given her precincts denied any subversion in her novel yet it is arguable that it contains many instances of her own childhood. In her journal she recalls the daily drudgery and struggle of her mother as she strived to sustain her family while her father as in LW gave little help (Alderson, 2008). Alcott used the then accepted ideal of the quintessential patriarchal Victorian family childhood and her own family memories to give form and content to her book. The March girls are lost in their own wonderful family plays and games, a loving safe playful family unit that nurtured and trained the child, giving much needed stability to a society shaken by war. This was not however Alcotts only motivation, she disliked her own novel as she says ‘I do not enjoy writing moral tales for the young, I do it because it pays well (Alcott cited in Alderson, 2008, pxxiii), and her covert messages of rebellion, portray distaste in the directives which shape the young, especially girls, to be compliant adults. Her novel is also motivated and shaped by her social stance on opportunities available to the gender, class and race of her time, Little Women represents childhood as preparing for future roles, yet covertly it also uses its representation with the potential to disturb societal expectations. Over a century later Melvin Burgess again fills a publisher recognised niche in the teenage market also focusing on the adolescent experience, Junk is unrestrained from nineteenth century conservatism in its graphic depiction of the fall of two runaways into prostitution and drugs. Burgess states children or young people should read about their lives not idealistically but as they really are, his characters are not invented but based on his memories of real people, he also does not preach to his readers yet allows them to evolve their own conclusions, (Burgess, 2009). It has been said Junk ‘neither glamorises nor demonises drug addiction (Falconer, 2009, p375), yet Junk conceals a strong sense of morality within its text, its principles obscured so the book appears to be non didactic or opinionated and so appeal to Burgesses idea of the modern teenager. Junks individual character narration lends to a documentary style of neutrality, yet textual guides bring the reader to the re quired conclusions, as Tar says ‘If you dont mind not reaching twenty theres no argument against heroin, is there?'(Burgess, 1996, p166), Gemma is the spoilt little runaway child ‘How do you think her parents feel? asked Vonny. They were just keeping her in. Its not like Tar is it?'(Junk, p75). The events have a moralistic ending, Gemma recognises they have all been deceiving themselves and condemns them all to their fate; her own is to be a single mother. Such reality based writing lends itself as Tucker(2009) says to the authors belief that childhood is primarily a transitional stage leading to adulthood ‘giving readers the truth is seen as providing them with an important aid to their own eventual better understanding of themselves and others (p190). Junk follows this form well, Burgess gives his child readers autonomy in interpretation, viewing them not as innocents, but inexperienced young people, who need empowerment and guidance to make the right decisions. As we have seen it is impossible to read Junk and come out defending heroin or the runaway, it could be said that Burgess brings Alcotts moral tale for the young into todays modern world. Yet in challenging the ideology of the innocent child, Junks view of childhood is at the opposite end of the spectrum to that of Little Women, he dispels the nostalgic innocence critics connect with childhood. His explicitness ‘Lily said, Ive been a little prossie for half an hour (Junk, p158) ‘foregrounds how altering conceptions of the child†¦can cause both controversy and anxiety among consumers (Squires, 2009, p189), leading to Burgess having to defend his authorial intent over the charge of sensationalism. In response to criticism from Anne Fines, and defending the explicit nature of his books, Burgess says ‘Underneath Annes whole article is that same nasty sneer I remember from when I was small How revolting. Arent you a dirty little boy? the same attitude which was exactly what made me want to write the thing in the first place (Burgess, 2004). It could then be suggested that part of his motivation was indeed to rebel against as he calls it ‘the moral majority (Burgess, 2009, p317), and stretch the boundaries of appropriate childhood reading matter. Nevertheless saying that drugs and underage sex are what teenagers want to read about could perhaps show that Burgess himself has a distorted idea of todays childhood. An idea he needed to uphold in order to construct his model of the non-reading (conceivably moronic) teenager and defend the sensationalism of his novel, he is perhaps modelling his child to suit the aspirations of his book. Junks content worked as a hook for his teenage audience and also generated him much publicity, conceivably showing another aspect of his motivation, content and form set to shock the critics, produce an outcry and gain him notoriety, all in addition to providing teenagers realistic age related literature. His post modern realism , takes the assumption that children are not innocent, but they still need guidance, also that in order to connect with todays child , this guidance must be hidden all owing the reader perceived autonomy in their decisions. Burgess also shows a sad irony in the loss of childhood, Gemma wanted ‘a slice of life'(Junk, p161) but could only find this in leaving home, unlike the March girls, in Junk childhood was something to be quickly left behind in order to really live.   An authors understanding of childhood as Hunt says can influence the form of their writing ,‘ those who see childhood more as an end to itself may prefer literature that is clearly more fantasy based (Tucker, 2009, p190). Phil Pullmans Northern Lights conforms to this ideology using a fantasy world to rewrite the biblical story of creation. Eighteenth century philosopher Rousseau stated that ‘Nature wants children to be children before they are men (Jenks, cited in Hunt, 2009, p23), he believed childhood should be a time of innocence , with children allowed to grow at their own pace not forced into civilisation. Pullmans similar view on childhood freedom is apparent in Northern Lights , Lyra is safe and happy in the freedom of Jordon College, ‘What she liked best was clambering over the college roofs'(Pullman, 2004, p36), as she grows her freedom is stifled by the intervention of her mother, state and church . Poet William Blake also used Rousseaus concept of natural innocence, corrupted by adult intervention, and Pullman uses Blakes contraries and commentary on Miltons Paradise Lost to ‘reverse the morality of the biblical fall to celebrate knowledge (Squires, 2009, p278). He advocates the co-existence of good and evil (body and soul) and free will, which the church refuses to, acknowledge (Bird, 2009, p264).   As such Northern Lights, casts an unfavourable light on how religious fundamentalism suppresses knowledge, the Magisterium symbolising the church is shown as repression and death, killing the children whose souls or daemons it removes as it endeavors to preserve innocence ‘all that happens is a little cut, and then everythings peaceful .For Ever!at the age we call puberty†¦daemons bring all sorts of troublesome thoughts and feelings (NL, p283). Pullmans idea of the child is shown in Lyra, her innocence and freedom of mind give her the ability, unlike adults, to easily read the alethiometer, Lyras ‘childlike state'(Squires,2009, p281) when reading makes her feel ‘like a young bird learning to fly'(NL, p152). Which is a suitable metaphor for how she represents Pullmans main concepts of innocence and experience, seeing similar attributes in young people giving them the ability to deal with significant issues free from outside influence; as he says ‘he hopes that young readers will finish †¦having gained the understanding that trusting ones own thoughts and feelings is an essential part of self-discovery and growing up (Travis, 2010). Through his use of the fantasy form Pullman is able to transgress difficult subject areas normally out of bounds within a childrens book, capturing his young readers imaginations while keeping the stark realities of his metaphors at bay. He insists on realism and the ‘real implications of his fantasy stories (Wood, 2009, p274), exhorting his readers to take an activist role in creating the world that they want. So saying ‘If I write fantasy, its only because by using the mechanisms of fantasy I can say something a little more vividly about, for example the business of growing up (Rustin and Rustin , 2003 ,cited in Montgomery, 2009, p255). Within Northern Lights, Pullman shows Lyras growth from innocence, he demonstrates the malleability of childhood with the changing form of the childrens daemons that represent their character , which set at puberty into the type of person they are, for example ‘he was a servant , so she [the daemon] , was a dog (NL, p7). Pullman promotes childhood as an innocent time when children are impressionable and make the important decisions that mould their moral fibre, he follows the traditional pattern of childhood freedom, as seen in the like of Ransomes Swallows and Amazons() as the children create their own idyllic morally responsible world (Squires, 2009, p282). Northern Lights uses the Magisterium to establish anti-religious ideology and shows the infallibility of religion in that Lyras saviours are those marginalised and demonised by society; the non religious gyptians (gypsies), risk all to rescue the children, and the witches save their lives in the final battle. Such radical views may seem better placed in adult literature yet as Reynolds (2009) informs ‘avoiding cultural spotlight is one reason why writers may find themselves drawn to write for children (p109). Pullman may be using childrens literature as a vehicle to publicly air his opinions on religious fundamentalism safely hidden within childrens fantasy, to a less judgmental audience. It could be that Pullman simply finds this medium more liberating; however Northern Lights also manipulates its readers opinions in line with Pullmans, ultimately, as with Junks evils of heroin, the reader cannot fail to see the Magisterium as the evil villain. Pullmans use of fantasy fiction proves he can more succinctly air his own opinions, and he could be seen as using the medium of childrens literature in the same way. As he states ‘there are some themes, some subjects too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a childrens book ‘(Pullman, cited in Falconer, 2009, p378). His view on how we underestimate the potential of the young in order to maintain our own nostalgic view of childhood has certainly shaped the form and content of his book. Reynolds (2009) informs that ‘childhood is a time to negotiate and find a place in society, yet more so with Northern Lights ‘it is also about developing individual potential suited to a future in which societies could be different in some significant ways'(p100). It could perhaps then also be said that Alcott, Burgess and Pullmans motivation to write for children is also their aspiration to create a better society, ‘So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they we re born in, and looked towards the sun, and walked into the sky (NL, 397). As authors draw on their ideals to write for their audience, it is the book publishers who set the market trends and decide what children would like to read and subsequently influence what an author writes, an area touched upon with LW and Junk. Twenty first century novels show a commodification of childrens literature (Squires, 2009), in which we also see the decline of the individual author with publishers such as ‘Working Partners, where a storyline is created by a conglomerate of author /editors then given to a writer to create the book (EA300, DVD2). Thus providing a quick turnaround and commercial sense but little scope for individual ingenuity and signifying that as Hunt (2009b) says, ‘the cart of marketing, is driving the horse of creativity (p81). A further consideration on external influence is the competition from digital media, which as Burgess (2009) says also has a great impact on what children are exposed to, compounding the difficulty in producing literatu re that appeals to the modern child ,a fact he uses to support his hard hitting realism. Childrens literature has been seen to catalogue social, economical and political changes, embolic of societys view of childhood (Hunt, 2009b, p71), a view set as the gate keeping adult world considers what children need to read, putting additional pressure for authors to produce the ‘right book. In conclusion to Hunts statement, it would seem that in order to write a childrens book, the author must indeed have an idea of the child they are writing for, and this determines the form and content of their novel. Yet as we have seen they are also motivated by their own additional agendas, and this can lead to their constructed child being modified for their own purposes and also manipulated by the forces of modern media and marketing. This contributes to the complexity and often popularity of a novel that can then be read on many levels, Pullman could be seen as writing a religious allegory, propaganda or an adolescence adventure story. Authors still have their own view of what childhood should be, and incorporate this into how they believe it is or wish it to be seen. Our realistic view of the modern child is radically different from earlier popular books, such as Little Women, or Swallows and Amazons and as contemporary writers make efforts to loose the nostalgic view of childh ood innocence, there is also the concern that we are now ending childhood too soon, and as Jacqueline Wilson says forcing children to conform to societys teenage image (EA300, DVD2). Yet from Little Womens childish carefree plays to Junks depiction that children are now living real life adventures, we find that, as Lyra does, there is still always hope in childrens books. Childrens literature as Hunt (2009a) says shows what society thinks of childhood, and also what the author and we as adults need to believe it represents.

Langauge Essay -- essays research papers

Language   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My language has mainly been influenced socially and politically. The society taught me the proper way to speak, when to speak, and to whom to speak. The politics taught me what views I should hold when I speak. Yet the influences are different through out the world as I have learned when I moved to United States, at the age of nine, from The Former Soviet Union. It has been a very unique experience to learn the social and political boundary differences of the two different nations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My first language experience was through my family and pre-school, as they both taught me the proper ways to say letters. Later on they putt a heavy infuses on me to learn how to make proper sounds when saying words. I recall that one of the hardest sounds I had to learn was to roll my r‘s. I learned other unique sounds as well through out my younger years. I had to learn the proper way to speak in order to sound educated. In The Former Soviet Union a person would be seen inferior if he or she could not speak properly. After pre-school I moved on to the first grade and was expected to learn political poems and other text. The poems that I learned had their own influence on my speech and its content. The nation was heavily influenced by political patriotism and there for so was the language. I remember as a kid my friends and I would always say that we swear on Lenin, an x - national hero, as people in United States say they cross their heart. I would always see adults seating down and arguing about politics and would always think why are the arguing so hard about it if they cant do anything about it. Now I understand that they argued because it was patriotic and proper to care about the government so much. When I watched the television as a kid I would always see cartoons that would teach me the proper ways to communicate with others. But at many times when I would turn the television on I would see the president speaking on every channel. I never really understood his patriotic speeches to the nation. I was expected to be very respectful to all elders by waiting to speak to them after they were done speaking, and to never interrupt two adults while they are talking to each other. And if I was very to address an adult the only proper way to do so was to make eye contact and speak ... ...n in the same way by analyzing the content of their speech and the grammar. Of course those are very stereotypical ways to judge people, but it is the way that the class system works in U.S. Unlike in Soviet Union were people where there were two classes of either educated or they were not, in U.S. there are many levels of the class system. I have learned that it is helpful to be able to communicate with all types of people, there is no single best way to communicate. But when communicating through various types of reports it is very important to be able to use proper grammar, formatting, and sentence structures. That is the only one standard that everyone needs to know. Every person’s ideas and feeling can be expressed on paper, yet the only way to really do that is to know the proper techniques. Oral Communication is world wide in different molds, but communication by words on paper is a world standard. Therefore, the greatest language lesson that I have learned so far is the impotents of knowing how to properly communicate my feelings and ideas on paper.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Lack of Vision in Carvers Cathedral Essay -- Carver Cathedral Essays

Lack of Vision in Cathedral The narrator in Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" is not a particularly sensitive man. I might describe him as self-centered, superficial, and egotistical. And while his actions certainly speak to these points, it is his misunderstanding of the people and the relationships presented to him in this story which show most clearly his tragic flaw: while Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who cannot clearly see the world around him. In the eyes of the narrator, Robert’s blindness is his defining characteristic. The opening line of "Cathedral" reads, "This blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night" (1052). Clearly, the narrator cannot see past Robert’s disability; he dismisses him in the same way a white racist might dismiss a black person. In reality, any prejudice—be it based on gender, race, or disability—involves a person’s inability to look past a superficial quality. People who judge a person based on such a characteristic are only seeing the particular aspect of the person that makes them uncomfortable. They are not seeing the whole person. The narrator has unconsciously placed Robert in a category that he labels abnormal, which stops him from seeing the blind man as an individual. The narrator’s reaction to Robert’s individuality shows his stereotypical views. The narrator assumed Robert did not do certain things, just because he was blind. When he first saw Robert his reaction was simple: "This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say" (Carver 1055). When Robert smokes a cigarette, the narrator thinks, "I . . . read somewhere that the blind didn’t smoke because, as speculation had it, they c... ...nd optimistic" (Watson 114). The few critics who have written specifically about "Cathedral" tend concentrate on that optimism, seen at the end of the story with the narrator’s "esthetic experience [and] realization" (Robinson 35). In concentrating on the final "realization" experienced by the narrator, the literary community has overlooked his deep-rooted misunderstanding of everything consequential in life. The narrator’s prejudice makes him emotionally blind. His inability to see past Robert’s disability stops him from seeing the reality of any relationship or person in the story. And while he admits some things are simply beyond his understanding, he is unaware he is so completely blind to the reality of the world. Works Cited Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 1052-1062.