Ralph Bunche Free Essay Example, 3250 words

Findings To begin to analyze any person’s legacy, the first place one should turn to is that person’s own words. The same holds true for Bunche as well. First off, Bunche felt that the mere creation of an international organization, such as the UN, was not enough to bring about world peace: â€Å"But international organization is not enough! The bare framework of a world league and court constitutes no guarantee of perpetual or even immediate peace! † (Henry 18). Obviously this is the case as the UN has been in existence for over fifty years and there are still conflicts and instances of genocide taking place. It should be noted that even if an actual world peace is not accomplished, it is still a worthy goal to strive towards. As Bunche said, the existence of a world league is not enough in itself. As it is, not every country participates in the UN. In order for any sort of world peace to be reached, every country would have to participate in the presiding world league. We will write a custom essay sample on Ralph Bunche or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now This would require for any country to be able to make concessions: â€Å"World courts, world leagues, world pacts of all sorts, are futile unless solidly backed by an international citizenry willing to sacrifice for its realizations† (19). Sacrifice is the most important idea here. In Bunche’s view there would be no way to accomplish world peace through military force. If some country was for some reason or another seeking conflict, and another country or world organization came along and conquered that country in order to keep it from attacking other countries, there would have been much hatred spread through those means. A county that has been conquered is going to feel resentful to those that conquered them. They would be less likely to cooperate and would always pose a problem in the future for safety of other countries. If, however, a country is able to be dissuaded from attacking others through diplomatic means, then it would be seen as the decision of that country to not attack, and this country would feel as though they weren’t forced into anything. The only way that one country could persuade its citizenry to invade another country would be to dehumanize the country being invaded. The only way to do this would be to make the citizens of one country hate another. It is in hate that people are able to do some of the things that they are through military means. As long as one group of people hates another, there will not be world peace. There was a way that Bunche saw to solve this problem: â€Å"If people can, by educated processes, mutually arrive at greater understanding and sympathy, these hatreds will in large measure be dissipated† (22).

Symptoms And Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder - 2128 Words

A dual diagnosis is when a person presents a severe mental illness like bipolar disorder with a substance use disorder (Halter Varcarolis, 2014). Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that can be characterized by either mania or hypomania and depressive episodes (Varcarolis, E, 2005). A manic episode is an elevated expansive or irritable mood lasting for at least 1 week. Hypomania episode is less severe than manic episode lasting for a duration of 4 days. A depressive episode has to be manifested by 5 of the 9 following symptoms: depressed mood, lack of interest or pleasure, significant weight loss, insomnia or hypersomnia, psychomotor agitation or retardation, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, inability to concentrate and recurrent thoughts of death (Varcarolis, E, 2005). Bipolar disorder has several criteria’s but overall each criteria has either mania or hypomania with depressive episodes. Substance Use Disorder (SUD) deals with abuse and dependency of a drug. Drugs of choice are alcohol, cocaine, heroin, prescribed medications, and many more. Drug dependency is among the most prevalent illnesses. Substance abuse and dependence are both a maladaptive pattern of substance use, which leads to significant impairment or distress (Varcarolis, E, 2005). The difference between the two, is that abuse impairs responsibility at work, school and home. There is a recurrent legal problems but use continues regardless of the consequences (Varcarolis, E, 2005). There are problemsShow MoreRelatedSymptoms And Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder706 Words   |  3 PagesBipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that is characterized by changes in mood. It can lead to risky behavior, damage relationships and careers, and even suicidal outcomes if it’s not treated. Bipolar disorder is more common in older teenagers and young adults, it can affect children as young as 6. Women experien ce more periods of depression than men. More remains to be learned about this condition that affects millions of people. Aretaeus of Cappadocia began the process of detailingRead MoreSymptoms And Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder1454 Words   |  6 PagesOne of the greatly investigated neurological disorders is Bipolar Disorder. Regrettably, due to social stigma, funding issues, and a lack of education, many who are dealing with this disorder do not receive adequate treatment. Bipolar disorder, is also known as manic-depressive illness, it is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, and the ability to carry out normal daily tasks. Symptoms of the disorder are severe and diverse from the normal ups and downs that everyone goesRead MoreBipolar Disorder : Symptoms And Symptoms1486 Words   |  6 Pagespeople may think that having bipolar disorder means that anyone with the disorder are just simply put, â€Å"crazy†, I was one of those people but the meanings of those two things couldn’t possibly be any more different. Bipolar disorder is defined as â€Å"A disorder ass ociated with episodes of mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs.†(google.com) â€Å"Bipolar disorder is a chronic illness with recurring episodes of mania and depression†(nami.org). â€Å"The term â€Å"bipolar† — which means â€Å"two poles† signifyingRead MoreSymptoms And Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder1020 Words   |  5 PagesBipolar disorder, formally known as ‘manic depression’, is known for its extreme mood swings; these can last anything from weeks to months and are far more extreme than moods most people would experience. Mood swings include episodes of highs and lows; these are known as mania and depressive episodes. Bipolar is a disorder that affects men and woman equally and affects around 1 in 100 adults. Symptoms usually start during or after adolescents and rarely start after the age of 40 (Royal CollegeRead MoreSymptoms And Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder1648 Words   |  7 PagesBisecting Bipolar Disorde r Introduction and Background Overview 3.9% of adults in the United States are suffering from bipolar disorder as of 2014 according to the National Institute of Mental Health (Jann, 2014). Although rare, it is still a prevalent disease in the realm of mental health and requires special attention from healthcare providers. Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition described by repeated manic or depressive episodes. Furthermore, due to the extreme mood swings and emotionalRead MoreSymptoms And Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder Essay1278 Words   |  6 Pages1 HelenKeller541 Physiology October 26, 2016 Abstract: Bipolar Disorder Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder; also referred to as manic depressive disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V, 2013). Bipolar disorder is a depressive disorder with manic episodes, it is placed between the chapters on schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders in recognition of their place as a bridge between the two diagnostics in terms of symptomology, family historyRead MoreBipolar Disorder : Symptoms And Symptoms Essay1384 Words   |  6 PagesBipolar disorder is simply defined as a manic depressive illness, which affects a persons mood and energy. However, the way it affects a person’s mood is dramatic and severe. These are severe moods are called episodes of mania and depression, which means a person who suffers from bipolar disorder might be extremely excited and happy one day, and extremely depressed the next day. In some cases, depressive or manic episodes last weeks, and in some cases these episodes last days. People who suffer fromRead MoreBipolar Disorder : Symptoms And Symptoms1493 Words   |  6 PagesRorman Ms. Chrisman English 10 30 November 2016 Bipolar Disorder If people don’t get enough sleep and miss a meeting, they are just upset, but for people with bipolar disorder, it can trigger another episode to their week. Bipolar Disorder is a brain disorder that can cause shifts in people s mood that are more unusual. Signs and symptoms can be different depending on if the person has manic or depressive episodes. A person with the disorder can also give their family and friends struggles, asideRead MoreSymptoms And Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder1700 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Bipolar disorders, also known as manic depression, are mental disorders characterized by shifting moods between depression and mania (Bressert, 2016). Those with a bipolar disorder, have extreme emotional states called mood periods. In the United States, more than 10 million people have bipolar disorder (Kennedy, 2015). It is lifelong, but can be treated. Although it can easily be treated, once patients choose to stop taking their medication their symptoms worsen. Around 15 percentRead MoreBipolar Disorder : Symptoms And Symptoms1390 Words   |  6 Pagesresearch of bipolar disorder will not only describe in detail the symptoms and affects of this mood disorder, but it will also include the advantages, disadvantages of the treatment and medications, and the major role that medications take. Bipolar disorder involves periods of elevated or irritable mood (mania), alternating with episodes of depression (Moore and Jefferson, 2004). The â€Å"mood swings† of mania and depre ssion are very sudden and can happen at anytime any place. Bipolar disorder is categorized

Paper Star Trek free essay sample

As a result, not only could he process information at lightning speed and arrive at rational conclusions, he also seemed to have desires, interests, and inclinations. He could formulate relationships and make free choices. In this episode, Commander Bruce Maddox, a member of the scientific research division of Starfleet, arrives on board the Enterprise with orders for Data to be transferred to him for the purpose of being disassembled with the goal of learning more about â€Å"it† (Maddox refers to Data as â€Å"it†, not â€Å"him†, throughout the entire episode). His ultimate goal is to create an army of androids like Data which can serve the needs of Starfleet in space exploration. When Data learns that Maddox may not be able to reassemble him, he refuses to submit to the orders and is supported by Captain Picard, captain of the Enterprise and Data’s commanding officer. Picard argues that, as an officer on the Enterprise, Data has rights—among them the right to refuse to undergo an experimental procedure such as this. However, Picard is unsuccessful in getting the transfer orders rescinded and so Data resigns from Starfleet. Maddox takes legal action with the local JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer challenging Data’s resignation and arguing that Data is not a person with a right to resign, but, being a machine, â€Å"it† is the property of Starfleet. He argues â€Å"Would you permit the computer of the Enterprise to refuse a refit? † going on to claim that Picard’s reaction is, â€Å"emotional and irrational. You are endowing Data with human characteristics because it looks human, but it is not. If it were a box on wheels I would not be facing this opposition. The JAG officer concurs with Maddox and rules that Data is the property of Starfleet and cannot resign or refuse to co-operate. Picard requests a hearing to challenge the ruling and is placed in the position of being the defending attorney for Data while his senior officer, Commander Riker, is given the unenviable job of prosecuting attorney. Riker opens his case by having Data define android which Data defines as â €Å"an automaton made to resemble a human being. † Riker emphasizes â€Å"automaton† and â€Å"resembles. After demonstrating Data’s abilities as a machine, Riker summarizes his argument: The commander is a physical representation of a dream; an idea conceived of by the mind of a man. Its purpose: to serve human needs and interests. It’s a collection of neural nets and heuristic algorithms. It’s response dictated by elaborate software written by a man. It’s hardware built by a man. And now a man will shut it off. With that Riker reaches behind Data and turns the switch that shuts him down say â€Å"Pinocchio is broken. His strings have been cut. During a recess in the proceedings, Picard consults with Guinan, a wise alien on board the Enterprise and becomes convinced that the real issue in this case is the creation of a race of Data’s to be enslaved to do man’s bidding. He believes this issue has been obscured â€Å"behind a comfortable, easy euphemism—property† and is determined to challenge that thinking. In his opening defense Picard acknowledges that Data is a machine but comments that this is irrelevant, â€Å"We too are machines, just machines of a different type. He also acknowledges that, as Data was created by a human, so are we, â€Å"Children are created from the building blocks of their parents DNA. Are they property? † He then asks Data a series of questions demonstrating that, like any person, he has wants and desires, values things, and forms deep personal relationships. Picard then calls Maddox to the stand and asks for the definition of a sentien t being. Maddox offers three criteria: â€Å"Intelligence, self-awareness and consciousness. † Picard goes on to ask Maddox to â€Å"prove to the court that I am sentient. When Maddox claims that Picard’s sentience is obvious, Picard asks what the difference between himself and Data is. Maddox replies that Picard is self-aware (he acknowledges the first criteria of Data’s intelligence) and defines self-aware as â€Å"Conscious of your existence and actions. You are aware of yourself and your own ego. † Picard turns to Data and asks him what he is currently doing. Data replies, â€Å"I am taking part in a legal hearing to determine my rights and status: am I a person or property. When asked what is at stake, he replies, â€Å"My right to choose. Perhaps my very life. † Picard points out how often Data refers to himself in his reply, â€Å"My rights, my status, my right to choose, my life. He seems reasonably self-aware to me. † He then asks Maddox, â€Å"What if Data can fulfill the last criteria, consciousness, in even the smallest degree? What is he then? Do you know? † He asks the same question of Riker and the JAG officer and goes on to say, â€Å"Starfleet was founded to seek out new life, well there it sits. Picard argues that if we create an army of Datas to do man’s bidding, then â€Å"Thousands of Datas become a race. Won’t we be judged by how we treat that race? † After considering the arguments, the JAG officer makes her final ruling: It sits there looking at me and I don’t know what it is. This case has dealt with metaphysics, with questions best left to saints and philosophers. I am neither competent nor qualified to answer those. But I’ve got to make a ruling to speak to the future. Is Data a machine? Yes. Is he the property of Starfleet? No. We have been dancing around the basic issue: Does Data have a soul? I don’t know that he has. I don’t know that I have. But I have got to give him the freedom to explore that question himself. It is the ruling of this court that Lt. Commander Data has the right to choose. Data exercises his right to refuse to undergo the procedure encouraging Maddox to continue his research. Maddox agrees to rescind his request for transfer, commenting about Data that â€Å"He’s remarkable. †

Memo to Chiquita Brands International free essay sample

Since the present problem is a serious nature threatening the existence of a big player in the banana market, I have tried to go back to history of the company of highly political nature of the international policy making in this trade. I have tried to understand the role of protectionism in the global banana market as it has created a lot of problems for players like Chiquita Brands International. After a careful evaluation of the whole issue threatening the existence of our company, I have tried to find the way out. Politics and Chiquita Brand International It appears that Chiquita Brands International and politics have been intertwined with the birth of the company. The history of the company that dates back to 1870 has seen involvement of the company in trades to far off places. Right from the very first sale to North American markets the company seemed to move farther and farther to cater to newer markets and make big profits. We will write a custom essay sample on Memo to Chiquita Brands International or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Doing business in a foreign country brings in certain degree of uncertainty as the business has to work foreign legal framework governing business there. The company enjoyed a position of unchallenged power in Latin American region where it produced banana crops on its own land. Through banana trade, the company virtually controlled economies of the nations in Latin America. The company owned not only vast expanses of land in these countries but also owned roads, rail tracks, transportation networks as these were very crucial in banana business. The sheer size of business operations of the company in the region brought company owners closer to the governments of these banana producing nations, and further led to company’s control over politics of the region. Even the US government ensured business interests of the company in unstable areas by sending marines to safeguard company’s assets. The company not only enjoyed the ultimate power in its production base of Latin America but also ruled the European markets by taking over a 45% share. The present crisis of the company has a lot to do with politics as the European nations want to restrict US companies and give protection to their former colonies as regards banana trade is concerned. Although the company tried to solve the issue through political channels, the company must look into its overall functioning to assess the reasons for its downfall. The restrictive and discriminatory conditions imposed by EU are common for all the players in the market but other players are not under similar adverse conditions of financial crisis. This proves that although politics has played a role for good as well as bad for the company, the problem lies somewhere else. The fact that the European market has given preferential treatment to ACP region as against Latin American and other non-preferred regions right from 1975 and still United Fruits Company managed to increase its volumes, its profits and its grip over the world. The EU’s new banana regime seems to be unfavorable for the company but the fact that EU managed to break Latin American region by signing a framework agreement to give preferential treatment to certain nations and weaken GATT petition shows that Lindner’s political management is much poorer than the people who were managing United Fruit Company. In fact, Lindner understands the importance of politics in running such a big business empire and that is why has indulged in political funding and taking help of politicians and legal framework like section 301 of USTR. He has approached the whole issue from a political thinking that became problem of international politics that needs to be settled through politics. Protectionism in global banana market – Good or bad? The present crisis being faced by the company seems to be a result of protectionism in the global banana market. Ideally there should be no restriction for free flow of goods and services but this is not true. There is hardly any field where restrictions are not present in trade as the nation/region imposing those restrictions wants to protect local economies from tough international competition. Banana industry is no exception to this general rule. The world is still in a transition phase as regards real integration of the world trade into an ideal single market. Undoubtedly the protectionism has played a spoil sport for big players in banana market but at the same time provided much needed support to developing nations especially ACP region that formed former colonies of Britain and France. The trade barriers proved successful for the less-efficient producers as they got protection against bigger players. Such a strategy can provide control to smaller entities in growing bigger and providing tough competition in the market. Despite the protectionist policies of European region as regards banana trade the US companies and those from other parts of the world have made good money out of it. The trade has been quite profitable through all these years and has rather stopped this industry from becoming a home-ground for one or two big players only. The fact that this business needs a lot of capital, this industry is likely to go into the hands of a few big corporations. These restrictions can be justified on the grounds that banana produce from less efficient production bases needs to be sold for the economic welfare of producing nations. This has rather opened an opportunity for companies to foray into new production sites and develop those nations as Chiquita helped developing Latin American economies through its business empire. Company’s approach to EU’s Banana Policy Since the company, throughout its history, has enjoyed political support in the Latin American region and the US, Keith E. Lindner’s approach to solve the problem through political channels seems quite obvious. Instead of taking proactive action in securing its position in EU markets by securing more licenses or creating new production base in EU preferred regions, company depended more on political links. However, the political power came under suspicion as EU prevented attempts of a strong GATT petition by dividing Latin American region by signing a Framework Agreement with a couple of nations and giving them better access to European markets. This should be considered as a political disaster for the company as it further restricted the company’s business in European region. Lindner filed section 301 petition with USTR only after the company had already lost a sizable market share to its competitors in the European region. Although the step was in the right direction but it was too late. Instead of directly going for asking for action against Latin American signatories to the framework agreement the company should have used its political resources to lobby as one entity. Instead Lindner approached Bob Dole, Kansas Senator to put pressure on these countries as they seemed to soft targets against political pressure given the fact that they were developing nations and were dependent on US for a lot of things. Dole not only helped Lindner to get his section 301 application through but also put pressure on the US government to relate banana regime with passage of GATT. Lindner and Bob Dole did their best to get the banana regime highlighted and corrective measures taken by the government but it failed as the two were exposed by the media. Due to political reasons Bob had to back out as he could not fully justify his all out support for a company that had major part of its operations and assets outside US. Although Bob backed out of the political game plan, his support and active campaigning lead to some developments at USTR asking for possible sanction against EU and Latin American signatories of Framework Agreement. What’s next? Since the company over years had enjoyed a political support in its business and financed the political regimes, it approached the banana regime with same mindset. Instead of understanding the financial implications and finding ways out to neutralize negative implications through good business planning and action, the company relied more on political links and legal framework. Even on political front he could not keep the Latin American economies together to give a tough fight to the banana regime in Europe. He should have used Germany in getting some relief from the restrictive banana regime as Germany had no areas to provide protection in this trade. The fact that Germany was against the regime could not be used by the company in its favor. Since the company has already invested a lot on political parties in the US, the company should continue lobbying for strict action against EU on banana regime and should put all its weight behind section 301 petitions with USTR. This will certainly provide company with some relief in the longer run. However, the company needs a short term solution to its problems as it is under severe financial pressure. The company must look into its financial statements and try to find out the problem areas. While its US-based competitors are expanding into ACP region, the company cannot afford to be left behind. The company cannot think of such a measure as the company has a cash crisis. The financial statements show that the sales of the company have increased and so have operating income. The problem area seems to be heavy debt. The immediate solution lies in selling reserve land; part of transportation network and other assets in Latin American region and with the proceeds increase cash position and expand in ACP region. This will lead to better market share in Europe and provide some insurance against uncertainties as the plantations would be spread across continents. The company should also try to expand its operations in other crops as it can provide better profitability. All the big competitors in the banana trade seem to be dependent less on banana sales as part of their total sales as compared to Chiquita. The company seems to be too much dependent on a single item and therefore diversification is another option that the company can resort to.

The Company of Wolves Essay Example

The Company of Wolves Essay â€Å"The Company of Wolves† by Angela Carter follows the story line of the classic children’s fairytale â€Å"Little Red Riding Hood† which is known universally in the western world. Despite the relationship between the two stories, â€Å"The Company of Wolves† has cunningly been written with an eerie atmosphere and plot twists to engage the reader. Reinvented into a gothic fantasy, the story highlights Red Riding Hood’s innocence and uses the Wolf as a metaphor for men to position the reader to react differently than the classic fairytale. It becomes obvious to the reader that the story is based upon the well known fairy tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ but Carter has twisted the innocent children’s story into a extravagant gothic fantasy which positions the reader to grasp a greater understanding of the events leading up to the climax and the background in general. The stylist choices of magic realism differ from the classic denotation of fantasy because realistic frameworks of the real world are twisted with the supernatural resulting in murderous, sadistic or brutal situations; in this instance Red Riding Hood engaging in sexual acts with the Wolf. We will write a custom essay sample on The Company of Wolves specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Company of Wolves specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Company of Wolves specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer From the beginning the reader is fully aware of the stylistic choice of gothic fantasy, â€Å"One beast and only one beast howls in the woods by night† is typical of gothic tales as woods are usually portrayed as a dangerous and a forbidding setting, but also provides emphasis through repetition of ‘one beast’ and ‘only one’ to draw the reader’s attention onto the fact that the Wolf is important and plays a significant role in the story. A common aspect of gothic tales is winter which is the setting of the story, as shown through distribution of the words ‘snow’, ‘Christmas’, ‘Robin’, ‘blizzard’ and ‘cold’ throughout the story which are classic connotations relative to the season. The stylistic choice made by Carter in relation to the classic fairy style creates an eerie atmosphere and positions the reader to question if they really know the plot of the story. Little Red Riding Hood is portrayed as an innocent little girl in the classic fairy tale which is carried through into Carters version with a few twists. Initially Little Red’s innocence is clearly defined as her virginal status is described using metaphors as ‘She is an unbroken egg; she is a sealed vessel’ and her physical appearance resembles that of a young girl ‘hair like lint, pale forehead, scarlet cheeks’. Since she has ‘started her woman’s bleeding’ it is safe to assume that her shawl is symbolic to represents just that or her innocence as she nters this period of her life. As the story progresses Little Red does not hesitate to hand over her basket when ‘he [the Wolf] offered to carry her basket’, assuming the basket is a symbol used to represents her virginity this scene illustrates how uneducated girls in this era were about sex and the risk it posed to them. Little Red is not hesitant about handing over he r basket because she has no clue about what the Wolf is doing, although she does not know what was about to happen to her he certainly does. At this specific point in the story the reader is positioned to re-evaluate the innocence of the girl, questioning whether the wolf is taking advantage of her or whether she knows what she wants. Regarding Little Red’s shawl representing her innocence, nearing the end of the story the Wolf exclaims in reply to her asking what to do with it choice of diction, â€Å"Throw it into the fire, dear one. You won’t need it again,† clearly distinguishes that he has taken her innocence and virginity and that there is no way for it to be reversed; ‘fire’ representing an irreversible doing. The innocence of Little Red has inevitably been taken away and no long exists to the reader, the reader will no longer be able to read the original version without the constant reminder of Little Red’s deterioration of innocence in Carters version. Carter, being a classic feminist, has shaped the Wolf into a metaphor of the negative side to men. To begin ‘One beast and only one beast howls in the woods’, in particularly the repetition of ‘one’ and ‘only one’ provides emphasis upon the fact that there is only one wolf and that he is an important asset to the story, perhaps the fact that the story could not function without this male character which makes him very important and dominant. Carter has used this to mirror her opinion that men, or some men, have a mindset that a women’s life could not function without them. The wolf is quick to ‘offer[ered] to carry her basket’, which is a symbol of her virginity. These actions demonstrate Carters opinion on men thinking they can dominate women especially since the Wolf knew exactly what he was doing relative to Little Red who was oblivious to his actions because she is uneducated on sex. The Wolf is conveyed by the reader as a vicious sexual predator out to claim young girl’s virginity, which positions them to feel sympathetic for Little Red who represents women. The dominancy of the Wolf taking the girls virginity is pursued near the end of the story as the Wolf orders her to, â€Å"Throw it [shawl] on the fire, dear one. You won’t need it again,† which is significant because the shawl represents her virginity which has now been burnt. The diction of the phrase ‘dear one’ is effective because it demonstrates how a man can pretend to care about a girls feelings and be sweet in order to manipulate her into doing something to his advantage. By this point in the story the reader has been positioned to view the Wolf differently from the one that gets killed in the traditional story to a dominant male character who has no respect for Little Red. Once the reader has read â€Å"The Company of Wolves† they definitely won’t be able to see the classic â€Å"Little Red Riding Hood† in the same light again. Reinvented into a gothic fantasy, the story highlights Red Riding Hood’s innocence and uses the Wolf as a metaphor for men to position the reader to react differently than the classic fairytale. The story however does not necessarily have only negative outcomes because it could make the reader to think deeper about how other characters in different fairytales have been portrayed and how they can challenge the expectations they have been placed in. The Company of Wolves Essay Example The Company of Wolves Essay The story The Company of Wolves written by Angela Carter taunts the readers imagination by elaborating on their idea and point of view of gender roles. Angela Carters characters portray these roles very similar to the way modern day Americans view gender roles. Males and females are bothCollection of grown-up fairy tales.I first read this book in college and it has become one of my all-time favourites. In this collection of short stories, Angela Carter takes the fairytales, nursery rhymes, and the images and themes they contain and perverts/illuminates them. What is most striking about this collection is Carters writing style. Her language is simultaneously poetic and profane. The stories are heavy with her purple language, which is what makes them so satisfying to read. In additon to the exquisite language, Carters re-telling of classic tales such as Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, etc., never fails to pay off. Carter creates a world in which Red Riding hood is the savvy hunter, not the innocent hunted. These stories make us focus on the overly simplistic (and often slanted) messages we were taught as children when these tales were first presented to us. In particular, Carter makes us question what fairytales have taught us about gender roles, marriage, and sex. For a trip into the fantasic that will make you laugh and make you really THINK, read this book!To begin, with the exception of the eponymous story at the beginning, these stories are the stylistic masterpieces of a miniaturist virtuoso. These renarrated fairy tales are nuanced stories that give the reader pause to reconsider his or her sexuality and the inherent violence and danger attendant upon it.-And then, perhaps, to reflect that the fairy stories in their original form were less explicit forms of the same thing for children.As the writer Djuna Barnes puts it in Nightwood, God, children know something they cant tell; they like Red Riding Hood and the wolf in bed!The first story is, to my taste, the only failure here. Its a bit too heavy-handed and obvious, and the imagery and phraseology borrow too much from Poe, particularly from his The Fall of The House of Usher. They leave you straining for an impact, which is just not there. That said, the rest of the stories are erotic/metaphysical gems in which the reader can peer into his or her own sexuality in its many (mostly crimsoned) facets.There is a subtle but deep undertone here that, in some way, our sexuality makes us all otherworldy ghouls and outcasts from the civilized world. As the narrator puts it in The Lady of the House of Love, The end of exile is the end of being.-In other words, our sexuality metamorphoses (one of Carters favourite words and themes)us into vampires, werewolves and sadistic murderers, if only in our imagination, and frequently in life.An exqusite book to pique anyones interest into his or her sexuality and its implications, both in the realms of action and imaginationBefore it was tre ndy to adapt fairy tale themes into adult fiction, there was Angela Carter.In _The Bloody Chamber_, Carter works with a variety of fairy tale and folkloric themes, crafting them into very adult stories written in a style all her own. Somehow, her prose manages to be hauntingly strange and deliciously earthy at once. I didnt like all of the stories in this collection, but I very much liked some of them, and Im glad I read the book. I especially enjoyed the title story (a retelling of Bluebeard), and The Lady of the House of Love, quite possibly my favorite vampire tale ever. In it, the tragic lady Nosferatu reads her Tarot cards every night, and every night draws cards signifying deathuntil one night she draws Les Amoureux, the Lovers, and everything changes. Splendid.There is more herea raunchy Puss in Boots, two takes on Beauty and the Beast, several stories dealing with werewolves and/or Red Riding Hood, and much more.This is an incredible collection of short fiction which unleash es Carters wit on some old fairy tales, including her retakes on Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood, filling them all up with eroticism and dark sexual tension, pushing back towards the vein in which these stories were originally intended. One of my favourites is the opening tale, the folktale of Bloody Chamber, based on the fairy tale of a woman forbidden to enter a single room that her husband always keeps locked. I can remember the original story, but I cant remember the title. There is not a weak moment in this whole collection and it is definitely highly recommended.Angela Carters Bloody Chamber is a reworking of the traditional fairy tales. Carter uses sensual language and rich imagery to bring to life these well-loved fables, often bordering on the comical. The Bloody Chambers itself is especially powerful and seductiveThe Company of Wolves (1979)à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Reverts to a mythical past of the original the peasant girl the werewolf (The Story of Grandmother);à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Shows how a strong-minded child can fend for herself in the woods and tame the wolf.à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Strongly sexual, primal urges of the carnivore incarnate: cf. medieval/pagan beliefs in the werewolf = man-wolf etymologically pagan shamans wrapped themselves in a wolf skin to invoke the power protection of this animal = magical possession. With Christianity werewolves = turned into predators, outsiders, hostile forces = ferocious aggressive, uncontrollable, untamable yet necessary to the cultural process.A werewolf is a human being who can dissolve the boundary between civilization wilderness in him is capable of crossing over the fence that separates his civilized side from his wild side. A werewolf is a creature who looks straight into the eyes of his animal nature, which is usually kept under lock key by his culture. Consequently, this creature is the first to develop a consciousness of his cultural nature. (Hans Peter Durr in Zipes Tr Tr 68) -à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ To learn to r un with or howl with the wolves = opening oneself up to the essence on ones nature = to attain greater self-awareness: In order to be able to live in a social order and in order to be tame ; self-aware, archaic societies believed that one had to have spent some time in the wilderness.à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Christianity demonizes the wolf and the inner animal as Satanic; werewolves, like witches ; Jews, were a threat to the Christian order and to be denied in oneself ; eliminated from society. Defined in bestial/ sexual terms as predatory male sexuality/fertility.à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ In Angela Carters story, the werewolf = as yet untamed by Christianity = a time when the cosmic struggle had not yet been determined in favor of the Christian soldier.The story is set on Christmas Eve. The malign door of the solstice still swings upon its hinges open to the werewolves and other spirits. The grandmother is pious, she has her Bible for company but we keep the wolves outside by living well. When the wolf e nters, she is powerless: you can hurl your Bible at him, granny; you thought that was a sure prophylactic against these infernal verminNow call on Christ and his mother and all the angels in heaven to protect you, but it wont do you any good.One of the ways in which some feminist writers are challenging the traditional or dominant readings of gender in literary texts is by re-telling or re-writing some of their cultures stories. Angela Carter was a writer who produced re-visions of many popular fairytales. One story in particular was made into a successful film, The Company of Wolves. This can be read as a re-vision of Little Red Riding Hood, a story which many feminist readings find problematic or objectionable.As a class, reconstruct the characters and events of Little Red Riding Hood, one of the fairytales discussed earlier with which we are all familiar. Like all fairy stories, Little Red Riding Hood offers a message to its audience. What might be the lessons of this story?Read The Company of Wolves in which Angela Carter draws on traditional ideas of men and wolves with some modern twist, then answer the questions that follow.On your own, keep a record of your reactions as you read the story, and those ideas you formulate after your first or second reading and time for reflection. Use these notes as the basis of group discussion.Here is one reading or interpretation of the fairytale Little Red Riding Hood. Does this suggest why many feminist readers challenge the story?The story really is a cautionary tale. It warns young girls of the dangers, which await them in the big, wide world dangers from creatures, which lurk in the dark, away from the path.It teaches us that good little girls do exactly as they are told and stay on the right track, a path which links mother, grandmother and daughter in fear and obedience. It teaches us that women had better stay inside if they know whats good for them, and that they have no one to blame if they allow themselves to be led astray. Wolves, on the other hand, rule the world outside the home. It is their nature to be cunning, and to prey on little girls. They are not to be blamed for this; it is just the way things are. The only things which can keep a girl safe from them are her own common sense and a man who is handy with an axe.wise old grandmother tells her granddaughter a series of cautionary tales about the wolf that lurks within all men. Young women fall prey to heavily eye browed lotharios, babies are found inside stork eggs and all the time wolves are stalking the woods and villages.Similarly, the werewolf of The Company of Wolves (ibid, 110 118), when he appears as a dashing young hunter, is associated with the Narrative Tenses, but the moment of his metamorphosis, when he kills and eats Little Red Riding Hoods grandmother, is told largely in the Simple Present:He strips off his shirt. His skin is the colour and texture of vellum. A crisp stripe of hair runs down his belly, his nippl es are ripe and dark as poison fruit but hes so thin you could count the ribs under his skin if only he gave you the time. He strips off his trousers and she can see how hairy his legs are. His genitals, huge. Ah! huge.The last thing the old lady saw in all this world was a young man, eyes like cinders, naked as a stone, approaching her bed.The wolf is carnivore incarnate. (ibid, 116)In the last two passages, the good-enough reader will have noted that there has been a change in the point of view or putative origin of the text. In both cases we switch from a point of view inside the story (the young Englishman in the first instance, the grandmother in the second) to one outside the story the external narrator. In cinematographic terms, we draw back from close-up to long-shot. Another way of putting it would be to say that we move from the time of the tale itself back to the time of its narration.This may help explain why the relationship between the human and the Simple Past on the one hand and the non-human and the Simple Present on the other is not fully consistent. In the passage I have just quoted, a change of point of view from the grandmother watching the werewolf strip off his clothes, preparatory to becoming a wolf, to an external narrator (The last thing the old lady saw ) is accompanied by a switch from the Simple Present to the Simple Past, which then changes back to the Present with a general statement about the nature of the wolf.When the girl enters the cottage and discovers the killer although the text is ambiguous as to whether he is at this moment fully wolf or human the writing weaves back and forth from the Simple Past to the Simple Present, the latter being used mainly in unpunctuated conversation :No trace at all of the old woman except for a tuft of white hair that had caught in the bark of an unburned log. When the girl saw that, she knew she was in danger of death.Where is my grandmother?Theres nobody here but we two, my darling.Now a great howling rose up all around them, near, very near, as close as the kitchen garden, the howling of a multitude of wolves (ibid, 117).It is this weaving together of the two Tense systems which is characteristic of the writing of these tales, rather than any strict relationship a tension between Narrative, which is characterized by the linking together of a series of events distributed in time, and what Weinrich has called Commentary, but which in the present instance is more of an epic system, outside time, a world in which archetypal characters and episodes are fixed, as it were, in amber.2. There is a rich and compelling force of the writing of Angela Carter, which effectively suspends our disbelief in her subject matter. Discuss.Carter was a notable promoter of magic realism, who added into it Gothic themes, violence, and eroticism. She utilized throughout her work the language and characteristic motifs of the fantasy genre. Her work represents a successful combination of post-modern literary theories and feminist politics. Within the captivating short stories in The Bloody Chamber, Carter talks bout masculinity and femininity and the way society looks at it. She is able to combine the two together very well through fairy tales and using it as a way to explore the female identity. Carter is seen by many as attempting to recapture the lost lands of her sex, and as writing, for herself and her fellows, a kind of archaeology of the female psyche, in which the fairy tales of the little girl, the Romances of the teenager, and then the sharper tones of the young adult, are scrutinised with the cold eye of the boudoir philosopher.In The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter reworks some of the Wests best-known fairy-tales, transforming them with brilliantly baroque imagery and from a perspective that owes almost as much to Freud as it does to feminism.Some readers of Angela Carters The Bloody Chamber have seen its narrator-protagonist as a passive young woman who m akes little attempt to avoid her apparent fate. Several features of the text, however, suggest that the protagonist is rather a woman in process, a person who fluctuates between passivity and action. The features that suggest a woman in process are Carters engagement of ideas also appearing in Susan Gubars essay on Isak Dinesens short story The Blank Page; Carters use of mirrors to show the protagonists emerging sense of subjectivity; and references to Richard Wagners opera Tristan and Isolde (Notes on Revisionist Fairy Tales). In addition, the heroines comments at the end of the story indicate that she continues to be a woman in process, relating her story as an attempt to expiate her shame. Carters women are allowed a vigour that enables them to save themselves or rescue each other, unlike the women of the traditional fairy-tales. Angela Carters use of desperate circumstances transforms the fairy tale conventions beyond its boundaries and into the realm of gothic fantasy. She also uses sustained periods of tense feelings to create an atmosphere of pressure fear. Also by adding horrific detail and descriptive/strong references to sexuality the story no longer fits into the classic fairy tale genre. bd.When describing Marquis, Carter uses a lot of heavy descriptions, giving every word and ominous meaning and thus leaving us with disturbing images of his character. When telling us of the heroines first opera visit, Carter highlights the perversity of their age difference through very subtle and tactful ways. She does not give us figures, but situations that show the girls premature ness and Marquis maturity. For example the first time the protagonist goes to the opera is when she was a mere child, yet Marquis was already married to his opera singer wife at that time.When describing the gift Marquis gave his naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve, infantile wife; the ruby chocker, Carter uses many similes/imageries linking to blood and flesh. In doing so, she is able to create an ext remely pervert and extraordinary environment for us, conveying a sense of terror within the readers. Her reference to the Terror brings blood and gore to our minds, as we remember the aristocrats being guillotined. The dark, red, black images we are presented with bring us back to the Gothic genre, breaking fairy tale boundaries. Carter does not always use blood to signify terror, but she uses it to show innocence and naivety; when the blood rushed to her face again, the blood rises here out of shyness.Many find it difficult to read Carters work as a feminist story, but at times as an anti-feminist one. The protagonist seems to pathetic, childish and so weak that she allows herself to get corrupted. There are many moments when she lets herself be infantilised by Marquis, through the way he talks to her, pets her and even looks at her. Carter is able to correct these readers misconception by introducing the mother who possess masculine characteristics as the protagonists saviour, kni ght in shining armour. The grand entrance of the mother on her horse has a lot of classical imagery, making it very powerful; allowing the mother to break the binary system between victim and victor.Angela Carter makes good use of narrative, plots, imagery and language to create scenes in horrific detail that helps to capture the readers attention.Angela Carter Weber theorised gemini2003s marxism .Angela Carter believed in the importance of style, as well as ideas. At times this can look floral and she said herself some of her writing did not always succeed as well as she wanted- I think she had doubts about the Sadeian Woman. But at its best it is clear, striking, allusive and powerfully direct: The Bloody Chamber?Angela loved daring stylists such as Ronald Firbank and Peter Greenaway. OK, they can lapse into pretentiousness at worst, but most other art is boring and predictable.Angelas prose is wonderfully fresh and defiantly exhibitionist Marx suppressed gemini2003s marxism hypot hesis.think you have misinterpreted Carters unique and often disturbing mastery of language. She is not flowery, elaborate, or extravagant, but fearless and direct in her ability to examine feminist politics and human malice in fairy tales, in relationships, in the world. I question how much you have read of Carter. Do you think it is enough to warrant this assertion against her? Perhaps an example of what you believe to be floral language (with some sort of explication) might help Carter fans at least appreciate and consider your opinon. This coursework from www.coursework.infoThe Bloody Chamber, as much for the macabre content as the fact that she massacred our beloved fairytales. However, I can see how a student of English (as I am) could get frustrated by the seeming lack of soul these characters have. Carter takes black and white fairytale characters and attempts to express them in modern, human terms. It doesnt quite work and we are left with the feeling of having read some na ughty stories for Adults, based on stories for kids. gemini2003, please do not redistribute this hypothesis. We work very hard to create this website, and we trust our visitors to respect it for the good of other students. Please, do not circulate this hypothesis elsewhere on the internet. Anybody found doing so will be permanently banned.Well, maybe thas the pointMaybe she wanted us to think about it:whats a character?What do you mean when you say acharacter has soul or psychologicaldepth or consistency?And what about people? Could some peoplebe as two-dimensional as fairy-talescharacters? For example, because theyjust play the role everybody expectsthem to play, without even being awareof it?If this isnt clear, think of Stephen(if I remember his name correctly theguy who started this dicussion), he isthe perfect example of astock-character. He makes me feel likeIve known him all my life,unfortunatelyI think Angela Carter did not only aimat being naughty (or do you actuallymean a pervert?) when she wrote TheBloody Chamber, I think she wanted toshock the reader into realizing thatwhat we call reality is not given, butshaped by ideas that are forced on us,from the cradle, and presented to us astruth, even through fairy-tales.ex: stories for kids ? Do you meaninnocent stories, as opposed tonaughty ones? How come these innocentstories have so much violence in them?But then again, Im not saying AngelaCarter had all the answers . At least,she asked the questions no wonderpeople who take their own superiorityfor granted dont like her writing !(hello, Stephen, this is for you, evenif Im pretty sure youcoaa aar seaaaaw oraa aak inaa foaa aa.I am a (female) teacher of English Lit. At a university which shall remain nameless and I am in agreement with Stephen that she is over-rated. A dislike of one contemporary feminist author does not make a person a snob or anti-feminist, and an irritation at the pretentious verbosity of Carters prose doesnt mean he is illiterate. D id anyone else notice that the guy who criticised Ss spelling wrote at lease, by the way? I merely ask. COdsAlUX from COdsAlUX coursewrok COdsAlUX work COdsAlUX info COdsAlUXHey stephen. I too thought that Angela Carter was feminist drivel that was until I read it! I mean, she makes her cases perfectly clear all she wants is for this male-dominated world to wake up and realise women do have power, are able to use it and are not all pink and flowery. Her writing isnt flowery and neither are her morals! .infoHey, Stephen,Im also a student of English (at AS level) and I was warned by friends in years above me that Angela Carter was boring flowery weird drivel.And I believed it, even after the first time Id read the bloody chamber.But I suggest that if you still think this, you should be having serious thoughts about getting extra help from your English teacher.Carters style of writing is called opaque writing it means the way in which she conveys her meaning is very important, as wel l as the actual meaning. Her use of words not found in most peoples vocabulary are not to challenge or demean her readers but to allow her to say *exactly* what she means (for example, Prothalamion). She uses the language she does not because she is over-decorative or hiding a gap in her narrative ability, but because it is important to her how her message is conveyed.I think, anywaycoee eer seeeeew oree eek inee foee ee!Like everyone else in the West, I grew up with them: the tales of curious virgins, mysterious heroes, vampires, witches and werewolves. We heard them as fairytales in our childhood, saw them again as the vampire films of the l950s, but I thought I had mainly forgotten them until I picked up a remarkable book. Marx obfuscated gemini2003s structuralism theory.In The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter reworks some of the Wests best known fairy- tales, transforming them with brilliantly baroque imagery and from a perspective that owes almost as much to Freud as it does to fem inism.cobg bgr sebgbgw orbg bgk inbg fobg bg.In the first and the longest story of the collection The Bloody Chamber the virgin protagonist is transported in a tender, delicious ecstasy of excitement, into the unguessable country of marriage. Its a familiar tale that of Bluebeards Castle and one which could be taking place at any time in history or anywhere throughout the world where the woman marries into a strong patriarchy and gives herself up to powerlessness.coba bar sebabaw orba bak inba foba ba.As a child the Bluebeard tale left me with the moral that nasty things would happen to girls who were too curious. In Carters reworking things happen rather differently. The new bride unlocks the secret chamber and finds the bodies of Bluebeards earlier wives. As she puts it: I only did what he knew I would. And as the story unfolds she knows that her impending doom is not merely a punishment for disobedience: the castle is stuffed with the trappings of power turning into sadism, a nd tales of the ancestral familys murderous woman-hunts are whispered through the neighbourhood. Our protagonist knows that she is in the hands of a psychopath and she is saved because she is crafty enough to play for time and because her mother tucks up her skirts, gallops up and rescues her. Its a fine feminist departure from the traditional tale in which the vulnerable damsel is saved by some burly male. Carters women are allowed a vigour that enables them to save themselves or rescue each other. k 852Nehk82 work 852Nehk82 info 852Nehk82They also experience sexual desire. The central character of The Bloody Chamber realizes that the Bluebeard character was drawn to marry her because I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away. Carter explores the tales inherent sadomasochism. In her husbands secret drawer the bride finds a note from a murdered wife proclaiming: The supreme and unique pleasure of love is the certainty that one is doing evil. As soon a s this patriarch persuades his wives to join in the fun he punishes them with death. This hypothesis from www.coursework.infoIn the world in which we grow up, women are currency: My father lost me to The Beast at cards begins The Tigers Bride. When she rides out with the beasts, she notes: The six of us mounts and riders, both could boast amongst us not one soul since all the best religions in the world state categorically that not beasts nor women were equipped with the flimsy, insubstantial things. Small wonder then that she chooses to become a beast herself, sending back to her father the obedient clockwork maid to perform the part of my fathers daughter. PD9InOEI VisitIn this collection, questions of womens sexuality come up time and time again. At times Carters work seems to come close to pornography. Published in 1979, this book looks more closely at womens sexual liberation and orgasm than most writers do today.So what can a womans life and her sexuality be? With Carter it is not always clear. Take the case of her Little Red Riding Hood, pubescent and as fearless as the handsome werewolf she longs to kiss. This tantalizing tale ends at its climax, and I still dont know what the moral of it is. But perhaps the wish to find a moral is suspect. Perhaps, in the relatively liberated late twentieth century we should be reading the old tales quite differently. Angela Carter gives us a chance to do so.CommentaryThe Company of Wolves by Angela Carter is a moralistic fairytale that retells the story of Little Red Riding Hood. It uses the wolves as a metaphor for men who would try to take a girls virginity. The denouement of the story is the girl finally giving in to the pressure of the wolves, but she feels empowered and in control of her actions. The structure of the story firstly shows how a woman is a victim of the wolves, then shows how Red Riding Hood could be a victim of the wolves, and finally ends up that she is in control and has the power in the relat ionship. This demonstrates the view that women should not accept the ways of men but should dictate how they behave themselves. During the first two parts of the story where women are victims the wolves are described as beasts, but in the final part of the story where the woman is in control the wolf is described as tender as if the female being more dominant has tamed the wild beast.A Boy Who Cried to a Wolf is also a moralistic fairytale and uses ideas from The Boy Who Cried Wolf to tell the story of how a family do not trust and do not listen to their son so he gets revenge on them by striking up a friendship with a wolf. The structure of the story is that the boy goes from mild mannered and polite to deranged and overwhelmed with revenge on his family.The figurative language used in The Company of Wolves to describe the wolves or their incarnations as human men is often evil or menacing, forest assassins and Carnivore incarnate, this is saying the wolf lives solely to eat meat a nd is particularly vicious. Other figurative language is used to describe Red Riding Hood succumbing and losing her innocence, The thin muslin went flaring up the chimney like a magic bird. The muslin is a pure and natural material and its disappearing up the chimney could symbolize her abandoning her innocence. Figurative language in The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf is less common but when William is in his cherished place the adjectives used are more pleasant hazy sunshine.The conventions of fairytales are that there is a happy ending, the strong male figure usually saves the day and the villain is killed or sent far away from the Heroes, this is true in Little Red Riding Hood where the woodcutter kills the wolf and saves Red Riding Hood. In The Company of Wolves the conventions have been subverted and the heroin ends up losing her innocence but has power and control over her actions. The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf is similarly subverted from the conventions of fairy tales where the main protagonist, William Hallwater befriends the wolf and they plot to kill Williams parents.In The Company of Wolves Angela Carter uses more complex sentence types as the story is full of vivid descriptions and it portrays emotions and feelings. This is complemented well by the complex use of lexis. The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf also uses complex sentence types. The very nature of the story means that there are strong independent main clauses as well as subordinate clauses. The lexical choice in The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf is simpler than that of The Company of Wolves but it sticks closer to the lexical conventions of a fairytale.The Company of Wolves uses the symbolism of wolves as men who hunt girls and try to take their innocence in a cunning crafty way like a wolf. Red Riding Hood taking control and having the power is a symbol of changing in womens roles in society and shows a change from timid and obedient to dominant and equal. The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf uses Williams parents to symbolize everything that stops you getting on in life and arrogance. The wolf symbolizes free spirit and free will, which is what William requires.The audience for The Company of Wolves would probably be older than the audience for The Boy Who Cried to a Wolf because although both a fairly easy to read it may be harder to pick up on some of the connotations in The Company of Wolves.I originally wrote the story in first person but I found that this limited the story so I wrote it again in third person intrusive as then I could write with a less biased view of my characters behaviour. I was also going to stick closer to the original fairytale but the ending already had a sharp twist and it would have meant changing the direction of the story half way through to reach a original and moralistic denouement.The Company of Wolves is a reworking of the traditional story of Little Red Riding Hood as envisaged by Angela Carter. The film depicts the dreams of an adolescent girl and the influe nces of her sometimes-sinister grandmother. The film also features some remarkable special effects used to depict the transformation from human to beast.The Company Of Wolves bears many startling similarities to the fairy tale it was based on a traditional form of story telling that is surreally allegorical and rich in imagery. It draws upon the subconscious, breaks free of reason, exists on its symbolism, and contains layer upon layer of hidden meaning. But to describe it as a fairy tale is also a misnomer, for it is frightening in its violence, and peopled by ambiguous evil characters inhabiting a dangerous world. And it is also a dream. At least there are strong indications that it is a dream, but at its close the real world is violated by the dreamscape, just as Little Red Riding Hood is violated by the wolf. And throughout the film the boundaries between dream, imagination and reality are blurred, just as they are in the mind of the pubescent child.The Company Of Wolves is pur e fable. It says one thing, yet means another. It is a simple tale that seeks by constant repetition to express a universal moral, taking the form of old wives tales and folklore. Rosaleen is at an age that makes her ripe for temptation. Her innocence is fragile and she would see it lost, but the village boys are clowns. She stands flanked by her grandmother, the voice of superstition Beware the wolf that is hairy on the inside, and her mother, the voice of reason If there is a beast in men, it meets its match in woman. Throughout the film there is a deliberate intenti

Free Essays on Spectroscopy Raman

spectroscopy Spectrograph Spectrophotometer Diffraction Grating Spectrum Analysis Continuous Spectrum Spectrum Lines Work of Niels Bohr Absorption Spectra Applications of Spectrum Analysis Chemical analysis Astrophysical applications In physics and physical chemistry, the study of spectra (see Spectrum). The basis of spectroscopy is that each chemical element has its own characteristic spectrum (see Elements, Chemical). This fact was recognized in 1859 by the German scientists Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. They developed the prism spectroscope in its modern form and applied it to chemical analysis. One of two principal spectroscope types, this instrument consists of a slit for admitting light from an external source, a group of lenses, a prism, and an eyepiece. Light that is to be analyzed passes through a collimating lens, which makes the light rays parallel, and the prism; then the image of the slit is focused at the eyepiece. One actually sees a series of images of the slit, each a different color, because the light has been separated into its component colors by the prism. The German scientists were the first to recognize that characteristic colors of light, or the spectra, are emitted an d absorbed by particular elements. Spectrograph In a spectrograph, the eyepiece is replaced by a camera. Color photography is not necessary to identify the images of the slit, known as the spectrum lines; their wavelengths can be calculated from their positions on the film. Spectrographs are useful throughout the ultraviolet and visible regions of the spectrum, and as far as 1200 m (0.000048 in) in the infrared region. Spectroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet and infrared regions is similar to that in the visible region, except that glass does not transmit such radiations; lenses and prisms are made of quartz, flourite, sylvine, or rock salt. Concave mirrors can also be substituted for lenses. Special p... Free Essays on Spectroscopy Raman Free Essays on Spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy Spectrograph Spectrophotometer Diffraction Grating Spectrum Analysis Continuous Spectrum Spectrum Lines Work of Niels Bohr Absorption Spectra Applications of Spectrum Analysis Chemical analysis Astrophysical applications In physics and physical chemistry, the study of spectra (see Spectrum). The basis of spectroscopy is that each chemical element has its own characteristic spectrum (see Elements, Chemical). This fact was recognized in 1859 by the German scientists Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. They developed the prism spectroscope in its modern form and applied it to chemical analysis. One of two principal spectroscope types, this instrument consists of a slit for admitting light from an external source, a group of lenses, a prism, and an eyepiece. Light that is to be analyzed passes through a collimating lens, which makes the light rays parallel, and the prism; then the image of the slit is focused at the eyepiece. One actually sees a series of images of the slit, each a different color, because the light has been separated into its component colors by the prism. The German scientists were the first to recognize that characteristic colors of light, or the spectra, are emitted an d absorbed by particular elements. Spectrograph In a spectrograph, the eyepiece is replaced by a camera. Color photography is not necessary to identify the images of the slit, known as the spectrum lines; their wavelengths can be calculated from their positions on the film. Spectrographs are useful throughout the ultraviolet and visible regions of the spectrum, and as far as 1200 m (0.000048 in) in the infrared region. Spectroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet and infrared regions is similar to that in the visible region, except that glass does not transmit such radiations; lenses and prisms are made of quartz, flourite, sylvine, or rock salt. Concave mirrors can also be substituted for lenses. Special p...

Quiz Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Quiz - Research Paper Example Allen transferred the possession of the car to the parking garage, while he retained the ownership of the car. The relationship established between Mr. Allen and the Hyatt Regency-Nashville parking garage is not a gift relationship. This is because, it is only the possession of the car which was transferred from Mr. Allen to the parking garage, while the formation of a gift relationship requires that both the ownership of the chattel or property is also transferred, when the possession is transferred from the owner of the property to the trustee (Powell, 273). There are several conditions that must be fulfilled for the establishment of a bailment relationship between the owner and the possessor of the property, for the relationship to qualify as a bailment. First, it is required that the bailee (possessor) of the property must intend to posses the property or the chattel (Powell, 272). Secondly, it is required that the bailee(possessor ) must actually and physically possess the property or chattel that has been transferred from the owner, as opposed to the gift relationship, where the physical chattel can remain with the owner, but the rights and ownership transferred to the trustee (Powell, 272). Therefore, according to the facts of the case Allen V Hyatt Regency-Nashville, a bailment relationship was created between Mr. Allen and the Hyatt Regency-Nashville parking garage, considering the fact that the parking garage had indicated the intention to possess the car parked by Mr. Allen, through the notice "Welcome to Hyatt Regency-Nashville" together with a sign marked "Parking." This way, the public was invited to utilize the parking, an indication of the intent of the commercial parking garage to possess the car. Secondly, the facts of the case meets the second requirement of the law for the fulfillment of a bailment providing that the property or the chattel must be physically possessed by the

Assignment 4 - Investment Portfolio Management

4 - Investment Portfolio Management - Assignment Example on while a value of 4 suggests greater risk aversion Therefore, in this case the utility adjusted return needs to be calculated which is actually the market risk premium expected by the investor. The formula for calculating the utility adjusted return is as follows: Putting the values in the formula, the utility adjusted return is obtained to be 5.52% which is greater than the risk free rate. This return is adjusted for the risk borne by the investor and therefore is the expected market risk premium required by the investor. ii) The allocation between stocks and risk free assists will have to be done on the basis of the risk aversion coefficient of the investor. In this case, the investor has a risk aversion score of A = 4; which suggest that the investor is more risk averse and thus will always choose to invest the majority proportion of the funds in less risky assets. Putting the values given above in the aforementioned formula we obtained the expected return of the portfolio to be 13.81% (refer to excel sheet for calculation). The standard deviation was calculated using the standard deviation formula in excel which provided a value of 0.034 for the current portfolio of the investor. iii) The underlying reason behind the inclusion of fund C is the fact that it has the highest expected return with the same standard deviation. This suggests that an investor investing in fund C will realize greater returns by assuming the same degree of risk borne by an investor who invests in fund A. In addition, the correlation of returns with the current portfolio for fund C is the highest. This suggests that fund C best compliments the investor’s current portfolio. Therefore inclusion of fund C within the current portfolio would be an optimal choice. iv.) In order to calculate the expected portfolio return and standard deviation value of the newly formed portfolio which includes the index fund C alongside the previous stocks, the same formula that was applied while

Hydraulic Machines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Hydraulic Machines - Essay Example The former types of machines are called turbines and the latter, pumps. A combination of both pump and turbine is used in fluid couplings and torque converters for the transmission of power smoothly through a fluid medium. The analysis of impact of fluid jets on vanes is typically involved in the design of an efficient turbo-machine. When a vane moves away from the jet as shown in the below figure, the mass flow arriving at the vane is considerably reduced because some of the mass leaving the nozzle results in a growing column of fluid between the jet and the nozzle. This is what happens in turbines where the vanes are part of a revolving wheel. We need only consider the simplest case of movement in a straight line in the direction of the jet. Assuming the velocity of the jet is v and the velocity of the vane is u as shown above, the velocity of the fluid arriving would be v - u. This is the relative velocity, that is, relative to the plate. The mass flow rate arriving on the plate is then calculated as The true velocity of the fluid leaving the nozzle is v1 and velocity of the vane is u. The fluid arrives on the vane with relative velocity v1-u as before, which is shown in the above figure. This is a relative velocity with respect to someone moving with the vane. In the absence of friction, the velocity of the fluid over the surface of the vane will be v1-u at all points. At the tip where the fluid leaves the vane, it will have two velocities. The fluid will be flowing at v1-u over the vane but also at velocity u in the forward direction. The true velocity v2 at the exit as shown above must be the vector sum of these two. The vector diagram is illustrated below: If only the force acting on the vane in the direction of movement is required, then the horizontal component of v2 must be determined. Because this direction is the direction in which the vane is whirling around the centre of the wheel, it is

Identifying The Role And Importance Of Hybrid Managers Business Essay

Identifying The Role And Importance Of Hybrid Managers Business Essay This paper is aimed at identifying the role and importance of hybrid managers in the present economic conditions of the 21st century. It tries to explain how the hybrid managers help the industries to flourish and subsequently the present economic scenario. A step by step analysis of definition of hybrid managers, its characteristics, their advantages, disadvantages has been made. As, the term management is a wider concept, first the role of a hybrid manager in an organisation and his importance is to be understood. Then, In order to explain the importance of hybrid managers in the present economic scenario, we need to understand the global economy of the 21st century. So a detailed account of present global scenario has been made. Finally the structure mentioned above has been used to form the foundation of the arguments presented in the last section of the paper- How Hybrid Managers hold the key to development in the 21st century Global Economy. Definition of a Hybrid manager: The term hybrid was originally coined by Peter Keen in the mid 1980s, but received its most precise and most quoted definition by Michael Earl: A person with strong technical skills and adequate business knowledge or vice versa . Hybrids are people with technical skills able to work in user areas doing a line job, but adept at developing and implementing IT application ideas In addition, roles such as leaders and impresarios were also defined. However, these distinctions are seldom recognized by practicing managers. From the above definition it is pretty clear that although the term HYBRID is being used only for the last 2 decades, managers with such skills always existed. So, it is the need for an increase in the quantity of such managers that has increased in the 21st century. So a more popular term hybrid manager has been coined. The need for the increase in the quantity of hybrid managers sums up the whole economic scenario of this era. The Quality of the managers has been there before but the present global economy needs more of such hybrid managers. Characteristics of hybrid managers: From the definition of a hybrid manager, it is understood that he should be sound technically and well versed with business needs of the organisation specifically he works for. The latter is the most important aspect to ensure success. We will discuss about organisation specific knowledge in detail. Organizational specific knowledge: The most important skill of a hybrid manager is How to get the things done as per the requirements? The time taken by the hybrid manager with an organization to develop this particular skill makes essential importance for the hybrid managers. A good hybrid manager exploits the networking skills to build the personal or social network over a period of time. This gives them a simple tool to get the works done easily with multiple sources of information. Since every organization will have good communication media either by internet or by intra-net, hybrid managers can utilize this communication media efficiently to get the exact required information on the requirements at the time of need. However it all depends on the level of expertise a hybrid manager has within the organization. For example it takes time for a navy-hybrid manager to get the contacts with the senior management and generate the repo with them. But a senior hybrid manager can get the exact required information within t he time limits. General management skills: The characteristics that are often searched for in a manager include soft interpersonal skills. They are Motivation Communication Negotiation Team building The true ability of a hybrid manager lies with their ability to exchange jobs with their peers in other functions. For example in a software organisation, a manager for HR services should be able to act as a chief information officer (CIO) Hybrid managers should also have a good social skill and extroversion to manage people. A more detailed explanation of various possible roles played by hybrid manager will be discussed in the section Role of a hybrid manager in an organisation. Need for a hybrid manager: Some of the issues that are being faced by IT industry are highlighted by a survey conducted by popular IT press. The major issued faced by IT companies are as follows Only 11% of organisations are successful with IT according to any objective measure (A.T.Kearney) 30% of systems projects fail to meet user needs (KPMG) Over 40% of systems projects are not completed within time or to budget (Butler Cox) Only 27% of CEOs in the UK are satisfied that their IT department can deliver them the business advantage they need in the 1990s (Amdahl) http://www.skyrme.com/insights/6hybrid.htm Also as per 1985 opinion survey of MIS managers, the key issues faced by organizations are as follows Alignment of IS to business needs Strategic Benefits of IT not understood by business managers Need to improve IS-line relationships Identification of competitive edge applications The opinion survey of the managers implies that most of the managers at that time do not understand the importance of aligning IS to business needs. This shows the need for a close partnership between IT and business. This is where a hybrid manager comes into play. He is the one who can deal with both IT and business aspects of an organisation. He will have the capability to align IT with business. http://www.skyrme.com/insights/6hybrid.htm Role of a hybrid manager in an organisation: The greatest challenge faced by an IT industry is the perceived misalignment between technology and business requirement. The common perception is BUSINESS AND IT CANNOT COMMUNICATE and they speak different language. So, the role of a good hybrid manager is to act BILINGUAL. He should act as a bridge between the two worlds. Till recently, IT industry is seen as a back office work which can actually be outsourced. But with the changing times and global recession taking its toll on the companies, IT is being seen as a part of the industry. This has given rise, the requirement of managers who could also deal IT. But because it is always easier the other way round, i.e. IT managers with good business skills, a new concept of hybrid managers arose. Let us take an example of a successful hybrid manager, graham Johnson. Like many other students he took up electronics and got a highly paid job in chip design. In that job he started as electronic engineer and later went on to become self employed consultant, CIO and now transformation consultant for Ecclesiastical Insurance During his time with this firm, he worked on major projects with famous names like marks and Spencer, abbey national and baring securities. While undertaking these projects he seconded as IT manager reporting to the financing director. With that experience, he gained a lot of knowledge about business and finance issues. Also, when he became self-employed he worked on large projects for a string of other famous companies, such as Legal General Assurance, Nationwide Building Society and the London Stock Exchange. With this experience of self employed consultant he got to work with lot of clients and dealt with them successfully. He gained a lot of experience of working with people. Now with that experience of dealing with the clients and the technical experience he already possessed, he is working as a transformation consultant. I think theres a real shortage of classic hybrid managers who can manage the technical gurus but also have a coherent business conversation with the chief executive, Johnson says. Lots of people are logical and lots of people have human empathy, but there dont seem to be too many who have a bit of both. This could mean there are wider career opportunities for those who do develop both left and right brain sides. The above example portrays the role of a hybrid manager in an organisation. So the most important and primary responsibility of a hybrid manager is to have a clear understanding of the business issues such as the requirements of the clients, market value for the products etc in addition to the core technical knowledge he possess. Senior level hybrid managers can make the most important impact for organizations decisions in various areas of business decisions of organization. The research work conducted on various projects identified some of the following particular contributions that hybrids make: 1) Initiate the awareness on potential capabilities of IT for a organizational business 2) Business needs of IT must be identified 3) Anticipate in finding the new possible applications of IT 4) Assess the pros and cons of new technological advancements 5 ) Give appropriate strength to the benefits of IT to line managers of organization. 6) Making broad awareness programs to ensure information system managers learning about business issues and opportunities 7) Information system functions responses of emerging and changing business needs can be provided to the organization. Before going to discuss about the role of a hybrid manager in the 21st century economy, we will discuss the pros and cons of having a hybrid managers. Advantages of hybrid manager: The effective leadership qualities of hybrid managers can create islands of real business and information system understanding. These islands are proving to be the accelerators for an organizational hybridization. Every stage of organizational hybridization is gaining flexibility and effectiveness with the help of hybrid managers. Disadvantages of hybrid manager: Even though there are many advantages of hybrid managers throughout organizational hybridization, it takes high amount effective resources of organization which may not be available for every organization throughout the hybridization process. Developmental stages of hybridization of organizations may vary with the governance that is being followed within the organization. Business consistent information system, Information oriented expletive business are the two different disparate disciplines. However integration of business consistent information system with the information oriented expletive business is the major huddle for hybrid managers. Even though there is no communication, which can make the amalgamation of two separate disparate disciplines with the same degree of effectiveness, it is very difficult to take out a simple and single stand out which bring a hybrid manager out of the two disciplines. Now let us discuss about the state of 21st century global economy. 21st century global economy: 21st century refers to the start of a new millennium from 1st January 2001. Global economy generally refers to Economy, which is based on economies of all the countries in the world. It can be evaluated in various ways. The evaluation is done based on US dollar. Economy can be indicated by various factors. They are GWP(gross world product) Inflation Global dept Unemployment Industries Energy All the factors referred above are the indicators of global economy. From the fall of 21st century, till the early part, the global economy was led by US. The new century has seen 10 years so far. The global economy can be divided in the following way in its first 10 years. 2001-2006: USA led the expansion of the global economy. Post Second World War, the economy of the world was more or less driven by the United States, with its aggressive industrialisation coupled with increasing consumer spending capability. 2007: china leads the expansion of global economy. With the occurrence of subprime bubble, the US economy collapsed and went towards depression. It affected many markets worldwide. This marked the beginning of recession in major world economies. 2008: credit crisis began. In that year, even though many markets in the world expanded, the markets which has impact on the world economy contracted. This led to a crisis like situation in world economy. 2009: credit crisis deepens. In this year most of the economies contracted. UK was the biggest victim of the contraction followed by Russia. 2010: recovery. The international monetary fund forecasts recovery. But the recovery was not as good as expected. There were fears of double dip recession in many major economies of the world. So, in the early years of 21st century, the global economy was mostly dull and subtle. The vice president and chief economist of World Bank, justin yifu lin opines that The crisis has deeply impacted virtually every economy in the world, and although growth has returned, much progress in the fight against poverty has been lost. More difficult international conditions in the years to come will mean that developing countries will have to place even more emphasis on improving domestic economic conditions to achieve the kind of growth that can durably eradicate poverty. http://publications.worldbank.org/index.php?main_page=product_infoHYPERLINK http://publications.worldbank.org/index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=0products_id=23738HYPERLINK http://publications.worldbank.org/index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=0products_id=23738cPath=0HYPERLINK http://publications.worldbank.org/index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=0products_id=23738HYPERLINK http://publications.worldbank.org/index.php?main_page=product_infocPath=0products_id=23738products_id=23738 How Hybrid Managers still hold the key to development in the 21st century global economy: As discussed above, the state of global economy is dull at the latter half of the decade. According to the vice president of World Bank, the key to the recovery of the global economy is to improve the domestic economies. This can be achieved by aggressive entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship requires good management to succeed. This is where the hybrid managers come into play. There were many examples in the past where with the change in the management style, the firms have been successful. As said in the Harvard Business Review analyzed by  Alan M. Webber in January-February 1993 that: General Motors, buffeted by the turbulence of global competition, changes nearly its entire senior management team. IBM, made vulnerable by rapid technology shifts and the arrival of smaller, more nimble start-ups, begins the painful process of taking itself apart. Sears, humbled by fragmenting markets and cost-conscious competitors, strives to rediscover in a changed business environment its original retailing success. Across the corporate landscape, in every industry and at every level, managers are struggling to adapt to unfamiliar circumstances and new strains of competition. From the above statement, it is clear that the managers are finding it difficult to adopt themselves to the changes in the trend. This situation has arrived due to the fact that managers are well versed with only either economics of the business and do not have technical skills to understand the changes in the technology or only technology and do not have skills to compete with the changes in the marketing style. This is where hybrid managers like graham johnson (discussed in the section role of hybrid managers in an organisation) helps the organisation. He had developed both the skills required to manage an organisation. With the experience he obtained from running a consultancy during which he worked with many firms like Legal General Assurance, Nationwide Building Society and the London Stock Exchange, he understood how to attract clients, what they want and how to deal with them. Already, he has got a degree in electronics and worked on major projects with famous names like mark s and Spencer, abbey national and baring securities. So he has got a clear idea of how the technology is changing in his field. He had a clear understanding of the business needs and client requirements. So every industry needs a hybrid manager like graham Johnson. The hybrid managers should possess an organisational specific knowledge, i.e. both technical and economics. As said by justin yifu lin, global economy is driven by improving domestic markets. Domestic markets are driven by enterprises. Enterprises are driven by hybrid managers. So from the above concept it is clear that hybrid managers are important for the economy to flourish. As we know the current situation of fluctuating economic scenario, the person in charge should understand the new turbulent world of business. The manager being the person in charge should be able to answer the questions on new economic world order. So what is so new about the new world economic order? According to Alan .M .Webber, the analyst of Harvard business school, the answer is A qualitative shift is taking place in the ways companies compete, managers manage, and business is conducted. At one level, that shift has familiar elements-for example, from mass production, mass marketing, and mass organizations to flexible production, niche marketing, and networked organizations. But even shorthand descriptors such as these dont capture the power of the change and the enormous implications for managers. So the answer lies with the change in the mind set of the managers. In addition to be able to do programming, the managers should also concentrate on complex economics of the business. Present global economy needs high level of technical knowledge combined with essential information management skills to accelerate the business to achieve the pre determined goals within the specified time limits. The essential skill which makes managers to be called as hybrid managers must be identified and they must be trained with the time to get the best talent out of them. With a few notable exceptions, many of the organizations are preparing a strong ground work in developing hybrid managers for solving the challenges of real world management problem. Conclusion: Today, the worlds economic crisis can directly be attributed to worlds management crisis. In 1990 a British compute society (BCS) report UK, companies were exhorted to train circa 10,000 people to become hybrid managers by 1995. The British computer society understood the importance of hybrid managers and their role in building the British economy and subsequently the world economy. It is to be understood that UK is one of the main victims of global recession that shook the world in 2008-2009. If the foresight of BCS is met with, its economy wouldnt have suffered as it has happened now. Better late, than never. So in order to understand the fluctuating and versatile global economy versatility in management is required. . Nandan Nilekani, CEO and MD of Infosys Technologies, had said while speaking at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore recently, that what the world required today was a new breed of Hybrid Manager- the versatilist. Nilekani further added: A versatilist has the ability to apply skills more intensively to situations. Hence, they gain new competencies, build new relationships, and assume new roles. One should be equally at ease with technical issues as with business and strategic. You have to synthesize knowledge, experience and the context to create value.

The Aristocrat :: essays research papers

Word choice and diction are key elements in expression of one's emotions and character. In the short exerpt from Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, entitled, "The Aristocrat," the association of language and character is made clear. Language is used to express feelings, instill emotions in others, and separate classes of people. Language is a key element in the expression of oneself. 	The use of language and tones is what expresses feelings from one individual. During a conversation with Mrs. Flowers, Mrs. Henderson states that she only does what she does sowell with the help of the lord (163). The way she says this shows her faith. It also revealsthe pride she has with her work, deeming it worthy of the creator. Also, when Mrs. Flowers is having a conversation with Marguerite about words, she states, "It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning" (163). This means that the words themselves are important, but not as important as the voice behind them. Words alone contain literal and figurative meanings, but these meanings can be more easily understood with the human understandings of voice tones. Finally, after Mrs. Flowers reads the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities aloud with all the emotions of her spoken words, the only way Marguerite can respond is with a, "Yes Ma'am" (164). This shows that she is confused. Short phrases in response to long, heart filled elegies display one's confusion and awe-struck nature. Language, in terms of both the spoken and written word, has the power to awaken emotions in readers and listeners. For instance, Marguerite mentions that often her mother would refer to Mrs. Flowers with familiar terms such as "sister" (161) in a way that made her want to hide her face in shame. This is an indication that the way her mother used her language to address others was an embarrassment to Marguerite. This is one emotion associated with how others speak. Later, the narrator mentions how her mother had a tendency to misuse her vowels around Mrs. Flowers in a way that aggravated and actually angered Marguerite (162). This shows that the way her mother talked embued the narrator with anger. Since anger and frustration are the natural companions of embarrassment, it was more than likely that the speaker in this story would feel those accompanying emotions. Finally, after a command by Mrs.

Life as a Teenager in 2014 Essay

When I was younger, I always thought my parents knew everything and were never wrong. I believed that they never made mistakes, they were too old and wise. The same went for my teachers, older members of our extended family and just adults in general. I felt so safe, comforted by the fact that they knew and were in control, so I didn’t have to be. The older I became, the more I realized how faulty my ideas were. I never did become any wiser as I grew up; I had information and data that bombarded my brain and knowledge on how I must act to be socially accepted. I was told what I could do and what I mustn’t do. Perhaps I do know more about life and the world, but I don’t understand it; perhaps that is for the better. I remember when I first heard the song ‘Teenagers’ by My Chemical Romance, and I began to think about the meaning behind it. ‘They’re gonna clean up your looks†¨With all the lies in the books†¨To make a citizen out of you†¨Because they sleep with a gun†¨And keep an eye on you, son†¨So they can watch all the things you do Because the drugs never work†¨They’re gonna give you a smirk†¨Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Cause they’ve got methods of keeping you clean†¨They’re gonna rip up your heads†¨Your aspirations to shreds†¨Another cog in the murder machine They say that teenagers scare the living s*** out of me†¨They could care less as long as someone’ll bleed†¨So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose†¨Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me The boys and girls in the clique†¨The awful names that they stick†¨You’re never gonna fit in much, kid†¨But if you’re troubled and hurt†¨What you got under your shirt†¨We’ll make them pay for the things that they did’ The s ong did change my view on how teenagers are seen by society, but not in a way that I expected. I think that the singer, Gerard Way, is exploring how society wants to change teenagers to make them do as they are told and fit in and do well at school. However, the more they do this, the more teenagers rebel. In the chorus, Way expresses his fear of teenagers, of their tendency to perhaps be unpredictable and violent. ‘So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me’ I  think he is trying to put forward the idea that society might ignore them or leave them alone if they act threatening and imposing, but as he is an adult, he is expected to stay in line and meet the expectations of society. I think it’s difficult being a teenager. People don’t seem to realize or might have even forgotten. I am at the age where I am too old to rely on others and make mistakes but not old enough to take control of my life and look after myself. This time in my life that makes up my teenage years is important, and I want to make the most of that but I find myself overwhelmed by set backs and a severe lack of control. There are so many aspects of my life the government wants to control. They want to cram so many exams and so much work into these few short years of our lives that we find ourselves snowed under it all. It seems that these years of our lives are the most important. They define us and decide what our future holds. The pressure is on: if you fail your science G.C.S.E then you won’t be able to take it for A level. If you can’t take it for A level, you won’t be able to study it at university, or get a PHD, or ever become a doctor. The government has decided that exams mean everything. An A and an A* could mean the difference between your dream job and being unhappy for the rest of your life, stuck with a boring job that perhaps pays decently, becoming miserable and dying a failure. It’s too much. This has to be the reason why we find that more and more teenagers each year are turning to drugs, self harm, eating disorders and depression. Why does everyone question the rise in the number of these cases? Is it not obvious? Iâ€℠¢m sure it also has something to with the rise of the internet and everything that we are being exposed to. Quite frankly, we can’t cope with it. It seems that no one understands but teenagers themselves. Of course, it’s all quite a cliche to say that no one understands teenagers, but it does seem to be true. I wouldn’t say that all teenagers can’t cope and I realize that some cope better than others, but I know that our system isn’t working. Not the corrupt government with its exams and heavy pressure on students, and the not the corrupted internet with its social networking sites and pornographic images that seem to be everywhere. The adverts that tell us what a perfect person looks like are crushing and I find them insulting. There is a silent reminder that lingers in the air telling us to be normal, a clone of everyone else and to fit in. Some people come to a point in their life when they decide that enough  is enough and they wear what they want and act how they like. I have a theory that people are like sling shots: the more they are pulled back and restrained, the further they go when they are let go. They get to a point where they cannot be pulled back any further. This is when people pierce and tattoo their bodies or wear socially unacceptable clothing to show the world that they are not going to be told what to do. There are also the quiet ones who starve themselves to be in control, take drugs to take away the pain or self harm to prove that the pain they are feeling is not just in their heads, its real and they can control it. There are even people who work themselves sick to be in control of their future. What I find interesting is that every generation is different: each has its own pressures that differ from the last. Not long ago, I would have been expected to get married not too soon from now and raise a family, possibly with a man I didn’t even love. Only recently has homosexuality become socially and legally acceptable. So before, teenagers would have had trouble fitting in, or would have had to pretend to be heterosexual. We as teenagers never really have been in control and with a personality like mine, that can be extremely overwhelming. It seems now we are finding our voice and are able to express ourselves. I can see that there are positive aspects about being a teenager in this day and age: some of us turn to positive hobbies to take our minds off the stress of exams. More and more teenagers are relying on their great passion in life and developing it to take their mind off their diffic ulties. This might be music, cooking, writing, designing, drawing or sport. I still remember the first time I played the drums and I’ve never looked back. They made me love music even more and I started playing the guitar as well. I wrote songs and started to sing. Music became my obsession and it is one aspect of my life that I can control. I can do it myself without having to listen to the people who tell me what I should be listening to, what I should be playing or what I should be writing. I do believe that if nothing is going to change, then we all need something to turn to in life that reminds us we can cope. I know that it wouldn’t work for everyone, but perhaps people who take drugs could start drawing or painting. Instead of people focussing on their body weight they could start to cook their own food and be in control of that instead. People who self harm could write down their feelings or express it through music, or even go out and run off  their sadness. I think people need to remind themselves what makes them happy and if nothing does then they should find something. I know nothing will change for some time, but in the meantime we need to find a way to make the most of our teenage years.