Abortion arguments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Abortion arguments - Essay Example Before going into the discussion regarding ethical issues related to abortions, let us get a better understanding of what abortion actually is. â€Å"Abortion is the intentional termination of a pregnancy after conception† Abortion in medical science is a process in which doctors, with the approval of the pregnant women, kill the fetus in order to terminate the pregnancy. â€Å"Abortion can lead to problems later in life as after all you are tampering with your body and obstructing the natural course of happenings† (Godbole). Abortions are either first trimester abortions or second trimester abortions (Ravichandran). First trimester abortions are caused due to genetic abnormalities, uterine abnormalities, or placental abnormalities, whereas second trimester abortions are caused due to trauma, hypertension, or increase in the cervical incompetence. Depending on the status of fetus, there are two different viewpoints regarding abortions. The people who consider abortions legal believe that fetus is not a person and a woman has the right to decide whether she wants to carry on with the pregnancy or not. Whereas the other side believes that fetus or embryo is a life within a woman, and killing a fetus is same like killing a human. There exist some ethical issues related to the decision of a woman to abort her pregnancy. Let us discuss some of those issues in some detail. Status of Fetus Fetus is an unborn form of a human whose development takes place inside the womb of a woman. The decision of a woman to abort the pregnancy is ethical if the fetus is dead and the woman do not feel any kind of movement inside the womb, whereas if the woman starts feeling some movements inside her womb, it means that the fetus is alive and in such cases, abortion is considered unethical in many societies. Some of the conditions in which abortions become ethical and make sense include dead fetus, abnormal structure of the fetus, and threat to the life of the mother. Rape of Forced Sex Rape or forced sex, makes abortion an ethical decision because the pregnancies, which occur due to rape, are without the consent or will of the woman involved in the incident. Therefore, a woman holds the right to terminate her pregnancy because neither she was ready for pregnancy nor she had any will for that. In the United State of America, people view rape or forced sex as the valid reasons of abortion. However, in Southeast Asian countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, majority of people does not consider abortion ethical in any case because they have little awareness of the ethical dilemmas related to abortions. People belonging to such countries are usually more concerned about the issue rather than the cause of abortion. Whereas, in the European and American countries, people are very much aware of all issues related to abortion and they take the decision to abort the pregnancy based on valid justifications, such as, rape, forced sex, abnormal str ucture, threat to the life of the mother, and some other reasons. Health of Mother â€Å"An abortion can happen spontaneously as a result of complications during a pregnancy, or it can be induced† (Nordqvist). Threat to the life of the mother justifies abortion. The act of abortion becomes legal for both the woman and the family of the woman if the life of the woman falls in danger due to pregnancy. Life of mother is always more important than the life of an unborn child. A number of cases occur all over the world where doctors recommend the families of the pregnant women to let them drop the pregnancy because of the threat associated with the life of the mother due to some complexities related to the pregnancy. In such cases, the decision of terminating the pregnancy becomes ethical because it saves the life of the woman who can give normal birth to babies in future. Divorce Divorce is one of the major factors behind the increase in the number of abortions that take place al l over the

Corporate Risk Management Essay Example for Free

Corporate Risk Management Essay Risk refers to the uncertainty that surrounds future events and outcomes. It is the expression of the likelihood and impact of an event with the potential to influence the achievement of an organization’s objectives. Risk management is a systematic approach to setting the best course of action under uncertainty by identifying, assessing, understanding, acting on and communicating risk issues. The Corporate Risk Management framework is a systematic, integrated approach with a focus on managing financial risks to enhance shareholder value. The Corporate Risk Management processes are indentification of the risk, measurement , policy, process and execution. Those processes are utilised by corporate enterprises to manage the risk of fortuitous loss. Once corporate risks have been identified and their impact on the firm measured, risk management attempts to control the size and frequency of loss, and to finance those fortuitous losses which do occur. Those are the main definition about the subject, which are to be discussed in this document. Risk Management is an ongoing activity and should be carried out as a part of day-to-day business. The management of risk can only take place within an organisational framework that is inclusive of all parts of the corporate infrastructure. Without this framework, risks cannot be efectivelly discussed, communicated, compared and managed in a coherent way across the whole organisation. Risk should be a feature of any management discussion of any uncertain circumstances including new initiatives of any kind and the implementation of significant projects Risk management deals with insurable and with uninsurable risks and is an approach which involves a formal orderly process for systematically identyfying, analysing and responding to risk events throughout the life of a project to obtain the optimum or acceptable degree of risk elimination or control. Risk management is an essential part of the project and business planning cycle which requires acceptance that uncertainty exists, generates a structured response to risk in terms of alternative plans, solutions and contingencies ,is a thinking process requiring imagination and ingenuity and generates a realistic attitude in an investment for staff by preparing them for risk events rather than being taken by surprise when they arrive. Risk management involves identifying risks, predicting how probable they are and how serious they might become, deciding what to do about them and implementing these decisions. Corporates finance is the specific area dealing the financial decisions corporations make and the tools and techniques used to make the decisions. Categories of corporate financial decision making are : objectives of investment decision, financial decision and financial techniques. Corporates need a more advanced risk management approach in order to benefit from a competitive advantage from strategic risk management. They should manage risks proactively via an integrated approach with a focus on measurable financial risks. Quantitative techniques, such as cash flow-at-risk and earnings-at-risk, are necessary to look at the combined effect of risks on the formulated business objectives. Identification of risks, analysis of implications, response to minimise the risk and allocation of the contigencies are part of the process of managing the corporate risk. The objective to managing the corporate risk is to understand the risk that is known to be associated with the corporate strategy plan. This corporate risk management plan will enable the communication of the risks and risk treatments to be passed down to the strategic business units that may be impacted by the risk and maintenance of the corporate risk register. Altough risks are evaluated at the corporate level, the power they maintain over governments and consumers is phenomenal. Corporate risk startegy often implies planned actions to respond to identified risks. A typical corporate risk strategy includes the following: * accountabilities for managing the corporate risk. * A corporate risk register will be maintained as a record of the known risks to the corporate strategy plan; the types of mitigating action recorded. * Treatment plans are identified that form part of the corporate strategy and will be communicated to the SBUs, so they in turn may manage the risk which may affect them. A first estimate of potential effects can be determined using assumption analysis, decision tree analysis and the range method. These models can then be used to evaluate the effectiveness of potential mitigating actions and hence select the optimum response. Mitigating actions can be grouped into four categories and potential action : * Risk avoidance * Risk reduction * Risk transfer * Risk retention Corporate management, often referred to as corporate strategy, is concerned with ensuring corporate survival and increasing its value not just in financial terms but also by variables such as market share, reputation and brand perceptions. Thus the scope of corporate risk management is wide ranged to support the corporate strategy. A senior corporate manager owns the process and has the staff to resource the analysis and administrative activities. A board member champions the process ensuring access to information and resources. A core group of corporate broad members and strategic business unit executives can draw additional input from stakeholders such as shareholder representatives, representatives from major customers, partners and suppliers and external experts. At the corporate level a corporate strategy plan is often produced. The plan objectives are: * Create and maintain a strategy that achieves the corporate intent, corporate commitments and expectations of the customers, shareholders and other stakeholders. * Incorporate and maintain the commitments and the requirements of business sectors, specifically strategic business units and process owners that support the strategic direction. * Communicate the strategic direction and relevant objectives and target to each strategic business unit. * Manage strategic change to maintain or gain competitive advantage. The risk management process can be viewed as the application of traditional management techniques to a particular problem. Risk management is a continous loop rather than a linear process so that, as an investment or project processes, a cycle of identification, analysis, control and reporting of risks is continuously undertaken. Steps in the risk management process include: * setting risk-return goals, * identification and evaluation of the causes of potential expense or revenue fluctuation, * choice and balance of loss control and loss finance tools, and * implementation, monitoring and review. There are many opinions about those processes. For example Chapman and Ward believe that there are eight phases in the risk management process. Each phases is associated with broadly defined deliverabe, and each deliverable is discussed in terms of its purpose and the tasks required to produce it. Phases and deliverable structures: * Define : the purpose of this phase is to consolidate any relevant existing information about the project, and to fill in any gaps uncovered in the consolidation process. * Focus : the purpose of this phase is to look for and develop a strategic plan for the risk management process, and to plan the risk management process at an operational level. * Identify : the purpose of this phase is to identify where risk may arise, to identify what might be done about the risk in proactive and reactive terms, and to identify what might go wrong with the responses. Here, all the risks and responses should be identified, with threats and opportunitiess classified, characterised, documented, veified and reported. * Structure : the purpose of this phase is to test the simplified assumptions, and to provide a more complex structure when appropriate. Benefits here include a clear understanding of the implications of any important simplifying assumptions about relationships between risks, responses and base plan activities. * Ownership : at this phase client/contractor allocation of ownership and management of risk and responses occur, such as the allocation of client risks to named individuals, and the approval of contractor allocations. Here, clear ownership and allocations arise; the allocations are effectively and efficiently defined and legally enforceable in practice where appropriate. * Estimate : this phase identifies areas of clear significant uncertainty and areas of possible significant uncertainty. This acts as a basis for understanding which risks and responses are important. * Evaluate : at this stage synthesis and evaluation of the results of the estimation phase occurs. Diagnosis of all important difficulties and comparative analysis of the implication of responses to these difficulties should take place, together with specific deliverables like a prioritised list of risks or a comparison of the base plan and contingency plans with possible difficulties and revised plans. * Plan : at this pase the project plan is ready for implementation. The main processes involved in project risk management are: * risk identification, risk quantification and analysis, * risk response, selection of risk response options, * outputs from the risk response process, * outputs from the risk response process, * risk management within the project life cycle, * the tasks and benefits of risk management, * the beneficiares of risk management. Risk identification consists of determining which risks are likely to affect the project and documenting the characteristics of each one. Risk identification should adress both the internal and the external risks. The primary sources of risk which have the potential to cause a major effect on the project should also be determined and classified according to their impact on project cost, time schedules and project objectives. Inputs and outputs of the Risk Identification Process . Inputs to risk identification are given as product or service description; other planning outputs (work breakdown structure, cost and time estimates, specification requirements) historical information. Outputs to risk identification are sources of risk; potential risk events; risk symptoms; imputs to other processes. After identification risks should be ’validated’, for instance, the information on which they are based and the accuracy of the description of their characteristics should be checked. The purpose of risk identification is to identify and the project or service components, the inherent risks in the project or service, to capture the most significant participants in risk management and to provide the basis for subsequent management, to stabilise the groundwork by providing all the necessary information to conduct risk analysis. Risk quantification and analysis involves evaluating risks and risk interactions to assess the range of possible outcomes. It is primarily concerned with determing which risk events warrant a response. A number of tools and techniques are available for the use of risk analysis and quantification and the analysis process. Risk response involves defining enhancement steps for opportunities and responses to threats. Â  Risk avoidance involves the removal of a particular threat. This may be either by eliminating the source of the risk within a project or by avoiding projects or business entities which have exposure to the risk. Since the significance of a risk is related to both its probability of occurence and its effect on the project outcome if it does occur, risk reduction may involve either lowering its probability or lessening its impact ( or both ). Projects may be seen as investment packages with associated risks and returns. Since a typical project or business involves numerous stakeholders, it follows that each should ’own’ a proportion of the risk available in order to elicit a return. Basically, risk transfer is the process of transferring risk to another participant in the project. Transferring risk does not eliminate or reduce the criticality of the risk, but merely leaves it for others to bear the risk. Risk Retention .Risks may be retained intentionally or unintentionally. The latter occurs as a result of failure of either or both of the first two phases of the risk management process, these being risk identification and risk analysis. If a risk is not identified or if its potential consequences are underestimated, then the organisation is unlikely to avoid or reduce it consciously or transfer it adequately. Corporate risk refers to the liabilities and dangers that a corporation faces. Risk management is a set of procedures that minimizes risks and costs for businesses. The job of a corporate risk management department is to identify potential sources of trouble, analyze them, and take the necessary steps to prevent losses There are several steps in any risk management process. The department must identify and measure the exposure to loss, select alternatives to that loss, implement a solution, and monitor the results of their solution. The goal of a risk management team is to protect and ultimately enhance the value of a company. With corporations, financial risks are the biggest concern. Just as with standard insurance policies for physical damage, some financial risks can be transferred to other parties. Derivatives are the primary way that corporate risk is transferred. A derivative is a financial contract that has a value based on, or derived from, something else. These other things can be stocks and commodities, interest and exchange rates or even the weather when applicable. The three main types of derivatives that corporate riskmanagers use are futures, options, and swaps. Corporate risk is especially prominent during difficult times in the economy. Risk management teams will take less chances when the economy is less forgiving. They will do everything necessary to avoid additional risks, which in some cases can contribute to a decrease in credit availability and less overall spending. * Corporate Risk Management ,second edition, Tony Merna Faisal Thani 2008 * Analysis Evaluation,second edition, Neil Cowan 2005 * http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/docs/documents/1/DecsRiskManagementFramewo.pdf * http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-corporate-risk.htm

The Period Of Chattel Slavery In The Caribbean History Essay

The Period Of Chattel Slavery In The Caribbean History Essay The Caribbean during the 18th century was categorized mainly as an agriculture based region with numerous plantations. These plantation main outputs were sugar, a commodity highly demanded in Europe earning high profits for plantation owners. However, to create such vast quantities of sugar required human labour, resulting in the development of the chattel slavery system. This slavery system comprised mainly of Africans whose characteristics were suitable for the tropical climates. Enslavement was a dictatorship system where the enslavers had absolute power, like a puppet master pulling all the strings, hence, rendering the enslaved powerless, however, the enslaved reacted waging a protracted war cutting the strings of the enslavers in a fight for their freedom. Chattel slavery refers to A system of slavery whereby an individual and their offsprings are recognized by the law as being the property of another person for life1. Enslaved could be bought, sold and branded just as a piece of furniture, and these inhuman conditions enraged the enslaved resulting in resistance. This is further supported by Hilary Beckles et al who stipulated This record of resistance illustrates that there was hardly a generation of enslaved males or females in the Caribbean who did not take their anti-slavery actions. Entrapment, is against human nature, and thus, enslaved resisted from the start in a long or protracted war. Many slave revolts and plots in these territories between 1638 and 1838 could be conceived of as 200 years war one protracted struggle launched by Africans and their Afro-West Indian progeny against slave owners stated Hilary Beckles. The Enslaved worked under harsh conditions from sun up to sun down, with little rest and exposure to diseases, under strict control from supervisor who demanded productivity. The world of the enslaved therefore, was a constant battle between oppression of master control and the desire for freedom. Slave society refers to the whole community based on slavery, including masters and freedmen as well as slaves stipulated Brian L. Moore. The Societal structure was a hierarchy, white masters at the top socially and politically, the coloured in the middle and the enslaved forming the foundation at the bottom. Around 1832 there were approximately 50,000 whites and 100 000 freedmen in the British Caribbean but only 32 000 slave owners suggested B.W Higman. Freedmen owned slaves; however, it was not in any high concentration when compared to the whites. Although, representing the minority whites control the politics and the majority of wealth maintaining absolute power. The whites were highly educated when compared to the freedmen who had basic education, leaving majority of the slaves uneducated. This is supported by B.W Higman, who noted this strong contrast reflected differences in the education of free males and females, but its also indicated differences in wealth. Whites were the maters operating the plantations, while freedmen were either freed coloured or freed blacks who earned their freedom and tried to invent their own identity. These combined features and characteristics of each class created an arrangement of diverse practices and behavior that illustrated the properties of a slave society. For any society to function adequately there must be system of control and the slave society was no exemption. Christopher Humber et al stated System of slave control embodied physical, social, psychological, economic and legal factors. The enslaved were economical exploited by enslavers, as they were forced to labour in plantation through physical violence denying them personal freedom. The whip was a stimulus to labour and a constant form of punishment and for fear of the hundreds of lashes kept in line and did basically as they were told 2. Slaves lived on the plantation in small dirt huts, and enslavers positioned their mansions at the top overseeing their enslaved community and society practices, emphasizing enslaved social inferiority. Food and clothes were controlled by the enslavers, as they decided what and when enslaved should eat and also how they should dress. Slaves were not allowed to be educated; ignorance was a powerful means of control3. Denying basic social functio n such as education signified enslaved inferiority. The Enslaved religions practices, such as their drumming, music and dance were not allowed and even punishable by death. The enslavers religions were forced upon them as a form of control, and Christopher Humber et al noted Enslaved were only allowed to sit at the back of the Anglican/ Catholic churches. The enslaved were seen as inferior to the whites and the whites argued that Africans were barbaric and uncivilized. Enslavers tried to oppress and crush the spirits of the enslaved through psychological ideas of race and colour. Economic structure of society in terms of property, earnings (Money) and time were control buy the enslavers. Slaves could not legally posses property or legally make contracts, could not be paid for nay work that they did, could not own animals and could not own land4. These economic and legal restrictions crippled the enslaved freedom of movements. The different control systems implemented enforced ensla vement and entrapment, however, the enslaved resistance continued to punctuate the society. The period of slavery was characterized primarily by one protracted war launched by those enslaved against their enslavers, suggested Hilary Beckles. From the commencement of slavery, the enslaved pursed their freedom through different forms of resistance and these resistance activities were illustrated in the Caribbean. Enslaved resistance comprised of day-to-day resistance, plots and revolts and rebellion including marronage. Sheperd V. noted The several stages in the development of Caribbean anti-slavery activities in the period up to 1834: 1500-1750, 1750-1807, and 1807 up toe end of slavery. During the period 1500-1750, the society was dominantly enslaved Africans and plantation construction was now developing. The main form of resistance used during this period was marronage, which Barbara Lalla stipulated as The process of flight by slaves from servitude to establish their own hegemonies or wild territories. Maroons, also known as, Runaways were able to establish small communi ties creating independence from the plantation social, economically, and legally. However, for successful maroon developments the island had to be mountainous, Sheperd V. noted Forested and mountainous interiors of colonies like Jamaica, Dominica and Guyana facilitated the maintenance of runaway slaves. In an island like Barbados, marronage had limited success due to the lowland. Maroons developed structure, in terms of farming for food and in situations earned money by selling produce, persons were able to practice their own religion freely without feeling inferior, Possibilities of ownership of items and most importantly they had freedom of choice. Maroons were able to formulate strategies of successful revolts and attacks on plantations, under the assertive leadership such as Price, lead to arrangements between the Europeans. According to Hilary Beckles What is clear is that maroon activities which were endemic over the entire period greatly undermined the colonizing efforts of t he Europeans and the economic life of the plantations. The sugar rush peaked during 1750-1807 creating a mature plantation society, increasing some aspects of Creole diversity and Sheperd V. stated during this period resistance assumed different forms such as day-to-day acts and negotiation for rights and also marronage increasing. Christopher Humber noted day-to-day resistance as the subtle methods used by the slaves to express rejection of slavery and further supported by Hilary Beckles, who noted day-to-day resistance were generally designed not to overthrow the slave system, but undermine its efficiency. A vital part of day-to-day resistance was enslaved women and the particular strategies they employed. Field womens adaption of the strategy of labour withdraw, interpreted as laziness by drivers and overseers, was considered a universal problem suggested Hilary Beckles. Low level or productivity was not tolerated, and the malingering attitude adapted by women was a great discouragement to the sugar industry. This was particularly eff ective at harvesting time when a few hours behind schedule could make a world of difference in the level of profits realized stated Christopher W. Humber. Women also resisted through children, because the birth of enslaved children meant that the child was automatically born a slave. Enslavers wanted to use birth control as a means of maintaining an enslaved labour force, however, enslaved women committed infanticide as Hilary Beckles noted acts of infanticide are frequently cited on plantations. Acts such as harming farm animals, making them unable to turn the mill were also done by enslaved women. The variations of resistance during this period focused on ending slavery by making the plantation system unprofitable as Hilary Beckles noted These acts of resistance were considered effective strategies and undermined greatly the efficiency of the plantation. The period 1807-1834 marked the ending of slavery, with first the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and the continuous resistance from the remaining enslaved on the plantations. Hilary Beckles further noted 1807-1834 was marked by growing protest among the enslaved, particularly among creoles, linked also to the impact of growing anti-slavery discussions in the metro pole. Creoles also called country-borns undeniable had a hand in the overcoming of slavery and bringing emancipation. Creoles resisted politically, seeking to earn rights for the enslaved through lobbying in the parliament and instigating the continuing unjust behaviors towards the enslaved. It was not Africans who organized, an attorney wrote, but creoles, which were never known before to have been concerned in anything of this sort5. In Britain the profitability of the plantation system was in decline and so was the slave system on a whole. The funds from New world slavery had significantly contributed toe he primit ive accumulation of capital that enable the industrial revolution in Britain6. With Britain moving towards more profitable investments, slavery resistance in the parliaments increased leading to the passing of acts, such as, the emancipation act of 1833. Armed revolts and rebellions were the most violent, and dramatic forms of resistance that the enslaved used against their enslavers. Armed revolts were usually, bloody and many enslaved died, as Hilary Beckles noted The enslaved were conscious of the military might of their enslavers and knew it would be suicidal to always engage them in armed conflicts. The large scale slave rebellion under the leadership of Toussaint L. Ouverture end slavery in Saint Domingue, marking Haiti as the first free black republic in the Caribbean. After news of slave efforts leading to freedom in Haiti spread throughout the Caribbean, the enslaved consciousness was no longer an issue and widespread rebellion transpired all over the Caribbean. Some such r evolts as noted by Hilary Beckles are 1816 revolt in Barbados, 1823 in Damara (Guyana) and 1831/32 Christmas rebellion in Jamaica. The enslavers methods of control were failing and emancipation was no inevitable. Eric William noted in 1833 stating The alternative were clear emancipation form above or emancipation from below'. The rewards and benefits of the different forms of resistance were realized on the 1st of august 1834 marking the end of slavery. Since the existence of slavery for thousands of years, one aspect has persisted, that is, the resistance of the enslaved towards their enslavers and thus the period of chattel slavery in the Caribbean is no different. From the arrival in the Caribbean the enslaved develop anti-slavery attitudes, despite being at the bottom of the societal structure. To counteract this anti-slavery attitude control procedures were develop and implemented, however, resistance acts such as marronage, and day-to-day resistance eventually escalating to large scale revolts threaten and ultimately ended chattel slavery. From the commencement to the termination of chattel slavery, the enslaved have plagued their enslavers in a fight for freedom and such an endemic resistance could only be seen and best described as a protracted war for freedom. Notes National Glossary of the U.K National Archives Based on Caribbean History access through link : http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/caribbeanhistory/popups/glossary.htm See The Spanish instituted the Siete Partidas, the French had the Code Noir access through link : http://www.novapdf.com See Slavery, Freedom and Gender: The Dynamics of Caribbean Society page 137 See The Spanish instituted the Siete Partidas, the French had the Code Noir access through link : http://www.novapdf.com See Africa in America: slave acculturation and resistance in the American South and the British Caribbean, 1736-1831 Page 221 See Capitalism and Slavery by Eric Williams Page 68 Works Cited Beckles, H. Natural Rebels: A Social History of Enslaved Black Women in Barbados. London: Zed, 1989. Print. Bryan, Patrick. Campbell Carl. Higman B. W. Moore Brian L. Slavery, Freedom and Gender: The Dynamics of Caribbean Society. United States: U OF OKLAHOMA PR, 2002. Print. Higman B.W. Slavery Populations of the British Caribbean, 1807-1834. Kingston Jamaica: The Press, University of the West Indies, 1995. Print. Humber Christopher. Caribbean History Section B: Resistance Revolt. Teach Dip (Mico): 2006. Print. Lalla Barbara. Defining Jamaican Fiction: marronage and the discourse of survival. University of Alabama Press, 1996. Print. Sheperd V. Beckles, H. Caribbean anti-slavery: the self liberation ethos of enslaved blacks. In Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World: Student Reader. London Kingston: Ian Publishers Ltd., 2000. Print. Williams Eric. Capitalism and Slavery. The University of North Carolina Press, 1944. Print.

The American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Novel The Great Gatsby :: Essays Papers

The American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Novel The Great Gatsby Since July 4, 1776 Americans have had the opportunity to pursue whatever they can think of. This has given the people the opportunity to become whatever they want. A person who works hard can become successful; this is what the American Dream is centered around. A person who is a hard worker and persistent can reach any goal he strives for. The American Dream changed as America did. People became more and more infatuated with possessions. The characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby each work for their own American Dream. Jay Gatsby, the central character of the novel, has worked from nothing to become a very successful man. Jay is successful in the meaning that he is very rich and has everything most of the people in the novel would want. This is not what Jay is striving for though. Jay doesn’t care about the money, cars, and enormous house he has. Love is Jay’s goal, he worked for all the wealth and popularity to get to the love of his life, Daisy. Daisy is a woman that Jay had a love affair with when he was younger, but he could never have her because he was not in her social class. Jay then began to do anything to get the money that it would take to get in her class, even illegal activities. Once he reached this level of wealth, he moved close to Daisy to try to get her. â€Å"Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay†(83). The only thing that really mattered to Jay was Daisy. To try to meet Daisy, Jay threw enormous parties. He finally re unites with Daisy and he begins to show off how rich he is to try to impress her. Jay is convinced that Daisy is now in love with him, and is willing to do anything for her. Even after she kills a woman with his car, he says he will said he take the blame. In pursuit of his dream, Jay ends up being killed. Jay’s American Dream may seem to be one filled with riches and possessions, but it really isn’t. He works for all the things for his one true dream, Daisy, a goal that he never could have possessed.

The Effects of the Renaissance Essay -- European Renaissance Essays

The Effects of the Renaissance When the Renaissance crept into the world?s social senses people were moved. However, when the Renaissance began to affect the literature of the sixteenth century, the world was changed forever. The Renaissance, meaning a ?re-birth,? was a time of many changes. These changes wrought pandemonium among the civilized people of earth. There was a recovery and discovery of medieval texts in which scholars were deeply impressed by. Those in love with the arts and literature now had more choices to view and read. There was an outpour of those individuals attempting to create paintings that exemplified the feelings that saturated the minds of the brilliant scholars. Most importantly, however, was the huge change of the role of the church in everything. Martin Luther nailed up his ?95 Thesis? and thus began the Reformation of the Catholic Church. With this came a rushing tide of secularization in Europe. This, of course, blew over into literature and the arts. The Faerie Queen is one epic that included the ideals and morals that the excom...

The World from Brown’s Lounge

With The World from Brown's Lounge: An Ethnography of Black Middle-Class Play Michael J. Bell provides a narrative and interpretation of the play behavior of middle class blacks within the context of Brown's Lounge, a neighborhood bar in West Philadelphia. At the time he did his field research at Brown's, Bell was a white, male, doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. The book appears to be either his original dissertation or a somewhat edited dissertation.The prose is accessible and not marked by the frequent subordinate clauses and qualification of statements that mars a good deal of academic writing (Bell xi, 1-7). According to Bell The World from Brown's Lounge is a â€Å"study in black American folklore† (Bell ix). However he does not use the word folklore in the traditional sense of myths, tales, and traditions usually passed on orally or through folk art, but rather as the â€Å"artistic communication . . . used by ordinary people . . .[that] links us tog ether in our day-to-day interactions† (Bell ix). This folklore is studied in context, not merely as an academic exercise that might be done by reading a textbook about the folk beliefs of a people without regard to their lives. Bell describes what he saw in Brown's and claims that it is folklore but pointedly refuses engage in an argument as to whether or not the material in the book is in fact folklore. For the purposes of The World from Brown's Lounge the reader must assume that the book is folklore.Frankly, this distinction seems artificial; the text can and should be judged on its methodology and analysis and not on attempts to fit the book to a particular niche genre. Bell claims that the black middle class is (or at least was at the time the book was written) largely ignored in research with the focus being on the behavior and lifestyle of the poorer class. Even when the middle class has been addressed it has tended to interview individuals who â€Å"exemplified† their race and not observe members of the black middle class acting with each other.In essence Bell contends that at that time the research was done, the literature failed to recognize that the black middle class existed at all (Bell 1-5). The methodology Bell used was to sit in Brown's Bar at various times throughout the day, observing the patrons and participating in their interactions for a period of about eighteen months beginning in 1972. The observation periods were typically three hours each. Bell describes himself as an active participant as he engaged in the discussions that occurred at Brown's as well as participating in the consumption of alcohol.The regular patrons were aware of what he was doing and that descriptions of their activities might appear in his doctoral dissertation and possible a subsequent book. Bell recorded the conversations that occurred so that he might study them later. In addition any individual who wished to could listen to any tapes, but no one cho se to do so. Although Bell was aware that his presence in the â€Å"black† bar would affect the patrons, by being up front with them he hoped to minimize his affects on the patrons.In the process Bell did extended interviews with some of the key patrons (Bell 1-5). Interestingly he received a grant to engage in this research, which is good work if you can get it. Bell intended that his work describe how the day-to-day activities in a neighborhood bar reflect the values of the members of the neighborhood. He claims the study describes how the activities at Brown's allow the patrons to conform to â€Å"their desire to create and live within a world that allows them to be both black and middle class† (Bell 5).To do this he describes interactions between the patrons, at times actually quoting entire conversations and then attempts to classify and analyze them. These conversations are, at times, interesting, but are common to many social situations and not indications of mi ddle class black behavior in the 1970s. Bell tries to make them so however. He claims that this behavior is an example of middle class blacks playing with each other verbally and non-verbally by â€Å"talking shit,† â€Å"styling,† and â€Å"profiling† (Bell). Bell writes that these conversations are improvisations with deep, sophisticated meaning for middle class blacks.For example in a discussion on page 110 and analyzed on page 111 Bell offers the following. The bartender Harriet asks the customers generally, â€Å"was a . . . was a . . . (four-second silence) Jimmy Sailor in here yesterday? † One of the patrons, Gill replies, â€Å"I didn't see him. † From these two sentences Bell draws the following analysis. Harriet was seeking direct information. Gill responded in the same fashion as â€Å"if it were a request for information and nothing else. † This is straightforward enough and patently obvious.However Bell is not satisfied with thi s explanation and seeks a deeper meaning, â€Å"[i]n asking after Jimmy, Harriet made it clear that she believed that it was appropriate for her to know his whereabouts. † One feels the need to ask why Bell decide would emphasize such a point. Fundamentally he may be correct, but a simpler, more straightforward conclusion seems to be preferable; Harriet was curious about Jimmy. It is difficult to believe that at anytime during this process that Harriet consciously assumed it was proper for her to know where Jimmy was the day before.Similarly, Bell analyzes other conversations throughout the book. Instead of taking the discussions at face value Bell appears to believe each â€Å"interaction is a continuous exchange of images of self—of who and what one is—in order to convince the others present that all present are capable of acting coherently and correctly† (Bell 8). This belief implies that each person at Brown's is taking part in an improvisation perfor mance determined to establish himself as an individual person and as a member of the group.In reality, it is far more likely that such conversations at Brown's and similar ones at other bars and coffee shops are just that, conversations between people trying to relax and have a good time. The book suffers from a variety of problems besides the over analysis mentioned above. While reading the book one feels that Bell was describing a species that he is completely unrelated to in the same way that a zoologist might describe the behavior of a species of bird or mammal.Although the motivation for this distance appears to be an attempt to be as neutral as possible, certainly a laudable goal, when Bell describes or analyzes the activities in Brown's and fails to place them within the contact of being middle class, black, or even human the book suffers. In fact, Bell states this is what he is doing in the preface, instead of limiting his study to a particular ethnic group, age group, or oc cupation Bell defines his study to a particular place, Brown's (Bell x). This tightly focused limitation seems to greatly restrict the relevance of Bell's work to other situations or people.Despite this self-imposed limitation, Bell makes frequent references to the behavior the middle class, though in Brown's it is not the middle class, it is the only class. Bell's research lacks a clearly defined identity. Although Bell purports to be providing a description of description of the black middle class at play, he provides no insight as to how the behavior of the middle class patrons differs from or is similar to the behavior of lower or upper class blacks as well as the behavior of classes of other races in their own neighborhood bar.Much of the behavior Bell describes seems to be no different than one might see in any local bar or coffee shop for even by watching a rerun of the television comedy Cheers. As pointed out in â€Å"A Note on the Author† in the last page of the book , Bell received his PhD and at the time of publication was an associate professor of English and folklore at Wayne State University. In addition he has published a variety of articles on urban folklore in a number of scholarly journals.A quick search of the databases at Questia reveal a number of books that referred to The World from Brown's Lounge, but for the most parts these were merely listings in the bibliographies at the back of these books, although Loic Wacquant refers to it in 2004 as a â€Å"fine book† in Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer (181). All in all, Bell has adequate, if not impressive academic credentials in this area. The book could do with more careful editing. Although naturally the conversation among the patrons should not be edited, when Bell is providing narrative he should maintain consistent, grammatically correct standards.An example of a failure to do so is his inconsistent of his treatment of some words. For example, the term â€Å"m iddle-class† appears in the book's title and on page 1 and â€Å"middle class† on page 5 even though both are used to describe the same thing. Occasionally Bell uses questionable grammatical constructions that should be corrected as well. To his credit, Bell uses occasional inline citations and provides an extensive bibliography that is useful. The World from Brown's Lounge has no index, a feature that would prove useful to students and scholars using the text for literary searches.Due to the unusual meanings of many of the words used in the context of Brown's a glossary would be helpful as well. Ultimately the book is not particularly satisfying. Perhaps in 1972 when the research was done or in 1983 when the book was published the book had more impact, but in today's world The World from Brown's Lounge seems remarkably flat and uninteresting. One questions just what if anything Bell contributed to anthropological academic knowledge that justified his receiving a PhD wi th this dissertation supporting his candidacy, much less what justified its subsequent publication as a book.Although some of the play was interesting to read, Bell's over analysis reduced it the trivial. Bell's attempts to provide significance to ordinary conversations in a bar read more like long academic stretches in hopes of securing a doctorate than to do meaningful work. Works Cited Bell, Michael J. The World from Brown's Lounge: An Ethnography of Black Middle-Class Play. Urbana, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1983 Wacquant, Loic. Body & Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

70s Fashion Began Where the 60s Left Off

70s fashion began where the 60s left off. Mini skirts were popular and theflower power influence was everywhere. 60s' trends first adopted by the beautiful people filtered into mainstream wear. Trousers were flared and shirts had big collars. For men, the kipper tie was soon standard wear with a suit. These girls (above) are at a party in the summer of 1970. They show that the mini skirt was far from dead. 70s' fashion took on a multitude of different styles and influences. As well as the hippy style of the late sixties, there was nostalgia for the past. First for the 20s and 30s, then the 40s and 50s and finally the Edwardian era. There was also concern for the environment and strong ethnic influences. Men's fashion adopted a look that would have been considered too feminine a few years earlier. Shirts were tight fitting with big collars and were brightly patterned. There was also a trend towards unisex clothes. The formal suit was still expected to be worn to a dinner party in the 70s; for younger men it was usually only worn in the office or for formal occasions. Jeans, increasingly flared, were popular with men and women for everyday wear. By the end of the decade, change was on the way. Punk rejected everything that had gone before. Mini, midi or maxi The popularity of the mini skirt was challenged in the early 70s and a group of (male) truckers even organised a campaign to bring it back in 1970. However, the mini remained popular in the early years of the 70s, but women now could chose between, mini, midi, (mid-calf length) or maxi (full length) skirts. Hot pants, ultra short shorts, sometimes with a bib and braces, were a variation on the theme. The girl on the above, right, is wearing a pair of navy hot pants with long white socks. Her blouse is in a floral pattern and has a big collar with rounded corners. Longer dresses, inspired by the hippy era of the late sixties, were also in fashion, with paisley or floral patterns being popular. I lived in Portsmouth in 1970/71/72 and was aged 16-18 at that time so had the best of it. Hot pants, mini skirt/dress, long dress and maxi coat, wide brimmed hats, seed bead jewellery and a headband round my head!! I was a true hippy to begin with and went to the Isle of Wight pop festival in 1970. Chris Flares and platform soles Two trends defined the 70s in a fashion sense: flared trousers and platform soles. Flares were derived from the hippy fashion for loon pants of the late 60s. They were worn by men and women. The flare was from the knee and reached exaggerated proportions in the middle years of the 70s. The trousers were often hipsters, sitting on the hips rather than the waist, and tight fitting. The combination of flares and denim made flared jeans the fashion phenomenon of the decade. Platform soles were mainly worn by women and more fashionable men. There were health warnings about damage that could be caused to the back in later life, but the fashion did not last long enough for that to have an effect. There was an element of thirties retro in the style of some of the shoes, which echoed the thirties' love of two-tone or co-respondent black and cream or brown and cream colours. Bright colours also gave the shoes more of a space age look. Platform soles on eBay Nostalgia Nostalgia had a big influence on fashion in the 70s. Barbara Hulanicki's Biba label popularised a look derived from the 20s and 30s. There was a brief fashion for loudly checked tweed Oxford Bags for men and women from around 1972. These were usually worn with platform soled shoes in 30s style two-tone patterns. Biba took over venerable, old London department store, Derry and Toms, in 1973 and turned it into an Art Deco palace. The Biba store became a hip meeting place and a complete lifestyle emporium. The Biba look was a long cotton skirt, worn with a long sleeved shirt or smock, and topped with a floppy brimmed hat. Biba was ahead of its time in providing a complete lifestyle store. However, Biba did not make commercial sense; it was more of a place to hang out than to shop. A large part of the store's floor space was not used to sell merchandise. Big Biba, as the store became known, closed two years later. Laura Ashley, founded by Bernard and Laura Ashley in the 1950s, looked back further when they introduced British women to Edwardian style dresses and nineteenth century inspired floral prints in the mid-70s. Laura Ashley, unlike Biba, was commercially successful and is still going strong today, although sadly Laura Ashley herself met an untimely death in 1985. Formal occasions The 70s were more relaxed than the 60s. However, on formal occasions and in the office men still wore suits. The kipper tie, favoured by the fashionable in the late sixties, became a standard men's accessory. For women, long dresses were often worn for formal occasions. This wedding, left, is from 1970. The lady's floppy hat and long dress drew inspiration from the hippy era as well as nostalgia for the 1930s. The brown colour, also derived from the 1930s, was very popular throughout the 70s. Long hair was fashionable for both men and women. Beards were also popular. This again was a hangover from the flower power years of the late 60s. In many peoples' minds psychedelia was very much in, although the pop music scene had moved on by then. Jeans and the casual look In the more relaxed mood of the 70s, jeans were increasingly popular. Initially little changed from the sixties, but by the mid seventies most people were wearing flares. Printed t-shirts were also increasingly popular in the 70s, as were trainers and canvas shoes. Late 70s fashion By the end of the 70s, flares were still mainstream fashion. This group, left, shows two younger men with long hair. One wears a suede safari jacket with a wide collar and brown, flared trousers. This look was favoured by Brodie and Doyle in the TV series, ‘The Professionals'. The other young man with a short leather jacket and flared blue jeans is more casual and younger looking. The older man has a beard (a very fashionable look in the 70s) and wears a wet-look type anorak. The woman is wearing a suit. Flares, denim, long hair and cheesecloth shirts were the staple of 70s men's fashion throughout most of the decade. Inspired by the hippy movement of the late sixties, this look, echoing the hippy dream of Free Love and optimism, did not fit with the closing years of the 70s, but mainstream fashion was unable to change. 70s Punk fashion Punk came to most people's attention from 1977 onwards through the publicity surrounding the original Punk band, The Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols' promoter, Malcolm McLaren, together with his partner, designer Vivian Westwood, created the original Punk look. Their shop at 430 Kings Road, originally named ‘Let it Rock', a Ted revival store, was called ‘Sex' at the time the Sex Pistols band appeared. The look was based on a sexual fetish for black leather, mainly for its shock value, combined with ripped t-shirts carrying slogans designed to provoke. McLaren and Westwood changed their shop's name again to ‘Seditionaries: Clothes for Heroes' at the end of 1976. The new name heralded a wholly Punk outlook. The stock featured bondage trousers, bondage dresses and a new t-shirt featuring the Punk message, â€Å"Destroy†. Punk was a rejection of anything that was considered good taste. Ripped and bleached clothes were part of the look, as was spiked hair, dyed in bright colours. Black make up and safety pins as earrings were often worn. For most Punks, quite a few of whom were unemployed, the look could easily be created from modifying second-hand clothes rather than from a trip to the Kings Road. Punk itself lasted into the early 80s. Its importance though, was as a catalyst for change in the fashion world. Punk rejected the flared jeans and cheesecloth shirts which were popular mainstream fashion. It rejected the hippy style and the hippy view of the world. Vintage Punk fashion on eBay Late 70s fashion trends The end of the seventies saw the appearance of a number of youth cults formed formed in the wake of Punk. Amongst those was a revival of the Mod style of the sixties, as well as the Teddy Boy look of the fifties. Mainstream youth fashion also changed dramatically; the 1980 film, ‘Gregory's Girl' illustrates how quickly. One of Gregory's mates, who is a year older, has left school and got a job as a window cleaner. He has saved his money to buy a white jacket with enormous lapels. Gregory's contemporary, Steve, has a white jacket with lapels an inch wide. There was always a particular way to wear a school tie. In 1979 the knot was tied very near the wide end. The 3 inch long tie was tucked into a pullover, to give the impression it was a kipper tie. From 1980, it was folded in half length ways to reduce the width and pressed with an iron so it stayed put. By 1980, school ties were often worn ‘back to front' so that the ‘thin end' was prominent. The fat end was tucked into the school shirt, behind the knot. A bit uncomfortable, but very trendy. Al I was coming into my teens in 1979, but the punk look was still very much for the minority and most kids still had longish hair, shirts with big collars and flared trousers, although the flares were becoming smaller. Locally the mod revival at the end of 1979 killed off this fashion rather than punk. By 1981 seventies fashions and music had become a total joke and almost no one under 50 would be seen dead in flares. Even punk was being classed as old hat and too seventies. Glenn A High fashion was very different at the end of the 70s. Ralph Lauren designed the clothes for the hit Woody Allen film, ‘Annie Hall' in 1977. There was a distinct 80s feel to the outfits worn by Annie (Diane Keaton), who wore crumpled socks, full skirts and layered jackets. Young people dropped flares and wide collars with breath taking speed. Older people were slower to change from the 70s look, but by around 1983, the archetypal 70s style was extinct. 70s fashion reference Fashion of the 70s is another great Taschen 25. It is packed with adverts from the decade. You will find flares, hot pants, platform soles, denim, slacks, microphone hairdos, wide collars and kipper ties. There is also a short introduction to fashion in the 70s. The book is colourful and very entertaining. The adverts are all American ones, but this does not detract much from a great piece of nostalgia.