Herland Essay Research Paper Charlotte Perkins Gilman free essay sample

Herland Essay, Research Paper Charlotte Perkins Gilman # 8217 ; s novel, Herland, written in 1915, is a Utopian, feminist, fantasy. It foremost appeared as a series in Gilman # 8217 ; s magazine, The Forerunner, and did non look as a book until 1979. Gilman was a precursor herself. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is considered by many to be one of the most of import female societal economic experts, womens rightists, and sociologists of her clip. Yet, her name is about unknown or instead, excluded from many historical and sociological histories. This is despite the fact that in the first two decennaries of the 20th century, her books went through legion editions and were translated into at least seven foreign linguistic communications. Gilman, was a strong truster in adult females # 8217 ; s economic independency and was a serious critic of history and society. She attempted to make a cohesive organic structure of idea that combined feminism and socialism, even in her fictional narratives. We will write a custom essay sample on Herland Essay Research Paper Charlotte Perkins Gilman or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Herland was one of several fictional histories written by Gilman utilizing the same subjects. She suggests the sort of universe that she herself would hold liked to hold seen. About one hundred old ages subsequently, her narratives still address the jobs that are relevant today ; they focus on kids and their demands, on maternity, and on redefining the functions of both work forces and adult females in society. Herland begins on the Eve of World War I, when three American male adventurers stumble onto an all-female society someplace in the distant corners of the Earth. The work forces, unable to believe their ain eyes, set out to happen the work forces of the society, convinced that, since # 8220 ; this is a civilised state, there must be work forces # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 11 ) . However, as these work forces shortly find out, adult females have created a Utopia without work forces at all. Gilman writes a narrative where adult females are descended by parthenogeny from an Aboriginal virgin female parent, and are isolated from the remainder of the universe by unreliable drops. They build a civilisation reflecting the particular endowments of adult females free of male domination. In Herland, society is shaped by pregnancy, or maternity. Motherhood is viewed about as if it were a faith, it is considered a privilege to go a female parent. # 8220 ; They lost all involvement in divinities of war and loot, and bit by bit centered on their Mother Goddess wholly # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 59 ) . They practiced # 8220 ; negative eugenics, # 8221 ; . As Van says, # 8220 ; we are normally willing to put down our lives for our state, but they had to predate maternity for their country- and it was exactly the hardest thing for them to make # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 69 ) . In Herland, the adult females all live jointly, and the construct of a private place is foreign to them. The kids are reared communally, as in the modern Israeli Kibbutz. Indeed # 8220 ; the kids in this state are its one centre and concentrate # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 60 ) . Everything is built collaboratively, the edifices, the gardens, the schools, are all perfect. As Vandyck observed, # 8220 ; everything was beauty, order, perfect cleanness, and the pleasantest sense of place all over it # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 19 ) . What is most appealing about to me about Herland is the different construct of maternalism. As the character Van explains, # 8220 ; it is a maternalism which dominated society, which influenced every art and industry, which perfectly protected all childhood, and gave it the most perfect attention and preparation # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 73 ) . From this construct of society, all are able to populate to their fullest potency. Without the restrictions that are put on adult females in Charlotte Perkins Gilman # 8217 ; s clip, every bit good as our ain, all of these adult females were encouraged to prosecute work that they were suited to. If a kid in Herland showed an aptitude for something, or enjoyed something, that accomplishment was nourished and developed. This to me, is genuinely a Utopian construct. As Ellador explains it, # 8220 ; here is a immature human being. The head is as natural a thing as the organic structure, a thing that grows, a thing to utilize and bask. We seek to nurture, to excite, to exert the head of a kid as we do the organic structure # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 104 ) . I besides like Gilman # 8217 ; s usage of wit, peculiarly in the Character of # 8220 ; Terry # 8221 ; to chase away common myths about adult females # 8217 ; s functions, adult females # 8217 ; s features, and adult females # 8217 ; s stereotyped behaviour. Terry refuses to believe that a civilisation of adult females could be free of green-eyed monster, failing, free of feminine amour propre, free of submissiveness, and dull. Van says, # 8220 ; we had expected pettiness, and found a societal consciousness besides which our states looked like disputing kids. We had expected green-eyed monster and found a wide sisterlike fondness, a fair-minded intelligence, to which we could bring forth no parallel # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 81 ) . Other things I peculiarly liked about the society are that it is free of offense, it is peaceable, and has a high sense of solidarity. Vandyck says it best, # 8220 ; you see, they had had no war. They had had no male monarchs, and no priests, no nobilities. They were sisters, and as they grew, they grew together- non by competition, but by united action # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 60 ) . This would be my utopia every bit good. Another thing I like about this society is their construct of faith. There seem to be no regulations or formal ceremonials attached to spiritualty. Their faith was maternal, and their moralss were based on development. I truly liked that they had no theory of the indispensable resistance of good and evil, to them life was growing, their pleasance was in turning, and it was their responsibility besides. I besides like that for them its a cardinal theory, # 8220 ; their cleanliness, their wellness, their keen order, the rich, peaceable beauty of the whole land, the felicity of the kids, and above all the changeless advancement they made # 8211 ; all this was their faith # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 115 ) . Something I truly liked was the fact they don # 8217 ; t believe in idolizing past faiths, or graven images, # 8220 ; every bit shortly as our faith grew to any tallness at all we left them out, of class # 8230 ; .They knew less than we do. If we are non beyond them, we are unworthy of them # 8212 ; and unworthy of the kids who must travel beyond us. # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 111 ) . This belief is possibly the one thing that struck me as the greatest portion of their civilisation, it s so logical to me. What is losing for me in this Utopia is the sense of passion, and sense of escapade. Although I feel that all of these adult females are both strong and dare, they are so stray in their universe that it is instead dull. This would include the demand for, or even thought of, sex or romantic love in any context. Gilman makes no reference of either heterosexual or homosexual love. There is no fluctuation in love, there seems to be the one type of love for all. As Van says, # 8220 ; they loved one another with a practically cosmopolitan fondness, lifting to exquisite and unbroken friendly relationships, and broadening to a devotedness to their state and people # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 94 ) . This for me, would be humdrum, it might be a romantic impression, but in my thought of a Utopian society, love and all that goes with it would be a necessity. If I were to take a womens rightist, Utopian society, I would take one really much like Herland. The lone things I would see altering would be the deficiency of love affair and romantic love. I think that every bit hard as love may be, it is critical to the human spirit. I besides don # 8217 ; t agree with the position that all adult females are female parents, that this is natural and right for every adult female. I don # 8217 ; t believe that it is. I think that in my Utopia this would be a free pick and maternity would non be viewed every bit extremely as it is here. I think that it s dull because they have no jobs to busy their clip. It is benign and inactive, and possibly that is something else that I would alter in my ain Utopian society. I wouldn # 8217 ; t want the jobs our society has, but some of the struggle that comes from deep, interpersonal committedness might do Herland a more interesting topographic point to populate. I besides would see doing my utopia unfastened to work forces every bit good as adult females. Although this contradicts the thought of a typical, feminist Utopia, if the point of Utopia is to make your highest, fullest sense of humanity, so to except person on the footing of gender would belie that intent. The Herlanders viewed work forces and adult females as people, non as their sex functions. We, as womens rightists must make the same to make that same degree of consciousness. Charlotte Perkins Gilman # 8217 ; s novel, Herland, written in 1915, is a Utopian, feminist, fantasy. It foremost appeared as a series in Gilman # 8217 ; s magazine, The Forerunner, and did non look as a book until 1979. Gilman was a precursor herself. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is considered by many to be one of the most of import female societal economic experts, womens rightists, and sociologists of her clip. Yet, her name is about unknown or instead, excluded from many historical and sociological histories. This is despite the fact that in the first two decennaries of the 20th century, her books went through legion editions and were translated into at least seven foreign linguistic communications. Gilman, was a strong truster in adult females # 8217 ; s economic independency and was a serious critic of history and society. She attempted to make a cohesive organic structure of idea that combined feminism and socialism, even in her fictional narratives. Herland was one of several fictional histories written by Gilman utilizing the same subjects. She suggests the sort of universe that she herself would hold liked to hold seen. About one hundred old ages subsequently, her narratives still address the jobs that are relevant today ; they focus on kids and their demands, on maternity, and on redefining the functions of both work forces and adult females in society. Herland begins on the Eve of World War I, when three American male adventurers stumble onto an all-female society someplace in the distant corners of the Earth. The work forces, unable to believe their ain eyes, set out to happen the work forces of the society, convinced that, since # 8220 ; this is a civilised state, there must be work forces # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 11 ) . However, as these work forces shortly find out, adult females have created a Utopia without work forces at all. Gilman writes a narrative where adult females are descended by parthenogeny from an Aboriginal virgin female parent, and are isolated from the remainder of the universe by unreliable drops. They build a civilisation reflecting the particular endowments of adult females free of male domination. In Herland, society is shaped by pregnancy, or maternity. Motherhood is viewed about as if it were a faith, it is considered a privilege to go a female parent. # 8220 ; They lost all involvement in divinities of war and loot, and bit by bit centered on their Mother Goddess wholly # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 59 ) . They practiced # 8220 ; negative eugenics, # 8221 ; . As Van says, # 8220 ; we are normally willing to put down our lives for our state, but they had to predate maternity for their country- and it was exactly the hardest thing for them to make # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 69 ) . In Herland, the adult females all live jointly, and the construct of a private place is foreign to them. The kids are reared communally, as in the modern Israeli Kibbutz. Indeed # 8220 ; the kids in this state are its one centre and concentrate # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 60 ) . Everything is built collaboratively, the edifices, the gardens, the schools, are all perfect. As Vandyck observed, # 8220 ; everything was beauty, order, perfect cleanness, and the pleasantest sense of place all over it # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 19 ) . What is most appealing about to me about Herland is the different construct of maternalism. As the character Van explains, # 8220 ; it is a maternalism which dominated society, which influenced every art and industry, which perfectly protected all childhood, and gave it the most perfect attention and preparation # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 73 ) . From this construct of society, all are able to populate to their fullest potency. Without the restrictions that are put on adult females in Charlotte Perkins Gilman # 8217 ; s clip, every bit good as our ain, all of these adult females were encouraged to prosecute work that they were suited to. If a kid in Herland showed an aptitude for something, or enjoyed something, that accomplishment was nourished and developed. This to me, is genuinely a Utopian construct. As Ellador explains it, # 8220 ; here is a immature human being. The head is as natural a thing as the organic structure, a thing that grows, a thing to utilize and bask. We seek to nurture, to excite, to exert the head of a kid as we do the organic structure # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 104 ) . I besides like Gilman # 8217 ; s usage of wit, peculiarly in the Character of # 8220 ; Terry # 8221 ; to chase away common myths about adult females # 8217 ; s functions, adult females # 8217 ; s features, and adult females # 8217 ; s stereotyped behaviour. Terry refuses to believe that a civilisation of adult females could be free of green-eyed monster, failing, free of feminine amour propre, free of submissiveness, and dull. Van says, # 8220 ; we had expected pettiness, and found a societal consciousness besides which our states looked like disputing kids. We had expected green-eyed monster and found a wide sisterlike fondness, a fair-minded intelligence, to which we could bring forth no parallel # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 81 ) . Other things I peculiarly liked about the society are that it is free of offense, it is peaceable, and has a high sense of solidarity. Vandyck says it best, # 8220 ; you see, they had had no war. They had had no male monarchs, and no priests, no nobilities. They were sisters, and as they grew, they grew together- non by competition, but by united action # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 60 ) . This would be my utopia every bit good. Another thing I like about this society is their construct of faith. There seem to be no regulations or formal ceremonials attached to spiritualty. Their faith was maternal, and their moralss were based on development. I truly liked that they had no theory of the indispensable resistance of good and evil, to them life was growing, their pleasance was in turning, and it was their responsibility besides. I besides like that for them its a cardinal theory, # 8220 ; their cleanliness, their wellness, their keen order, the rich, peaceable beauty of the whole land, the felicity of the kids, and above all the changeless advancement they made # 8211 ; all this was their faith # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 115 ) . Something I truly liked was the fact they don # 8217 ; t believe in idolizing past faiths, or graven images, # 8220 ; every bit shortly as our faith grew to any tallness at all we left them out, of class # 8230 ; .They knew less than we do. If we are non beyond them, we are unworthy of them # 8212 ; and unworthy of the kids who must travel beyond us. # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 111 ) . This belief is possibly the one thing that struck me as the greatest portion of their civilisation, its so logical to me. What is losing for me in this Utopia is the sense of passion, and sense of escapade. Although I feel that all of these adult females are both strong and dare, they are so stray in their universe that it is instead dull. This would include the demand for, or even thought of, sex or romantic love in any context. Gilman makes no reference of either heterosexual or homosexual love. There is no fluctuation in love, there seems to be the one type of love for all. As Van says, # 8220 ; they loved one another with a practically cosmopolitan fondness, lifting to exquisite and unbroken friendly relationships, and broadening to a devotedness to their state and people # 8221 ; ( Herland, p. 94 ) . This for me, would be humdrum, it might be a romantic impression, but in my thought of a Utopian society, love and all that goes with it would be a necessity. If I were to take a womens rightist, Utopian society, I would take one really much like Herland. The lone things I would see altering would be the deficiency of love affair and romantic love. I think that every bit hard as love may be, it is critical to the human spirit. I besides don # 8217 ; t agree with the position that all adult females are female parents, that this is natural and right for every adult female. I don # 8217 ; t believe that it is. I think that in my Utopia this would be a free pick and maternity would non be viewed every bit extremely as it is here. I think that its dull because they have no jobs to busy their clip. It is benign and inactive, and possibly that is something else that I would alter in my ain Utopian society. I wouldn # 8217 ; t want the jobs our society has, but some of the struggle that comes from deep, interpersonal committedness might do Herland a more interesting topographic point to populate. I besides would see doing my utopia unfastened to work forces every bit good as adult females. Although this contradicts the thought of a typical, feminist Utopia, if the point of Utopia is to make your highest, fullest sense of humanity, so to except person on the footing of gender would belie that intent. The Herlanders viewed work forces and adult females as people, non as their sex functions. We, as womens rightists must make the same to make that same degree of consciousness.

A Stranger Watching essays

A Stranger Watching essays A Stranger is Watching is a terrific book. I enjoyed reading this book very much. The non-stop action kept me reading for hours. One of the best features of the book is how it was written.The point of view changes every chapter.For example Chapter 1 is written in the point of view of the infamous Foxy character.Chapter 2 is written in the point if view of our protagonist, Steve; and so on.I also liked how the author built the relationship of the characters up,so you care about what happens to them and feel like you're going through what they are going through.For instance,the author tells us of Steve's wife's death.We find out that Steve's son, Neil was never the same after this tragedy.When a new women,Sharon comes into Steve's life,Neil rejects her.Neil thinks that if Sharon and his father get married ,his father will send him away.When Neil and Sharon are held hostage together, Neil's feelings for Sharon change;he begins to see her as a nice person and a motherlike figure.I felt the author built this relationship up well so that the story would have a happy ending.ly conflict with the antagonist.The protagonist,Steve is a successful man with a family and no problems;at least in the mind of the antagonist.The antagonist has problems with females,a career he feels is going nowhere,and a lack of good friends.throughout the story we find out that the antagonist is very jealous of the protagonist's life and that's why he indirectly targets him.This contrast was an addition to the already excitng plot of the story.. In my opinion the best part of "A Stranger is Watching"is the end,chapter 52.this chapter contains one of the greatest climaxes I ever read.The chapter begins at a frantic moment.All of the characters lives are at risk because Foxy's bomb is about to go off.After a fight with Foxy,Steve manages to release Sharon and Neil.At the same time Ronald Thompson(a juvenile convicted if murder)is about to be executed f...

Explaining my scheme Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Explaining my scheme - Essay Example In this chapter, an overview is given in Section 4.2. Then, Section 4.3 illustrates how the initial labels are allocated and how the different relationships are determined. Section 4.4 describes how insertions are handled and how different relationships are preserved. A validation of the relationships using algebra is shown in Section 4.5. Finally, in Section 4.6, the chapter ends with a general conclusion that leads to the following chapter which discusses the scheme from the point of view of implementation. The proposed scheme is based on the parent-child grouping to facilitate the identification of parent-child and sibling relationships faster, based on a simple comparison. Parent-child grouping was also selected due to the high number of xml documents that come with this type of relationship (Goldman & Widom, 1997). Again, parent-child and sibling grouping facilitate smother insertions of new nodes, given the fact that in this form of grouping only a simple tree structure will be dealt with rather than the whole tree (Cohen, Kaplan & Milo, 2002). The advantage of allowing smoother insertion builds on the prefix GroupID labelling scheme but does not determine a fixed number of nodes to be inserted. Gusfield (1997) also observed that when dealing with parent-child groupings, labelling can be thought of as being easier, faster and more accurate as it deals with a simple tree structure. The simple structure has to do with a root node and its direct children nodes. Another critical characteristic of the scheme is that it uses two labels for each node in order to facilitate the processing nodes within the same group that uses their simple local labels. This is in contrast with multiplication-based scheme where the global label is used to connect a group to the whole tree which helps in identifying relationships between nodes belong to different group (Milo & Suciu, 1999). Based on existing schemes such

Millennium Development Goals Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Millennium Development Goals - Assignment Example Primary education will help the development of countries because it helps develop and improve the essential human learning and life skills which are necessary for gainful employment and productivity, which on the other hand are important for economic progress (Bruns, Mingat and Rakotomalala 2). This goal is still significant for developed countries because while most of the children in the urban areas are already given primary education, those in the rural or remote places many not have the same opportunity. Furthermore, the more educated people there are in other countries, the more the global economy improves, which affects all countries of the world whether they be underdeveloped, developing or developed. Part 2- How successful are we globally in meeting this goal? What are the victories or concerns laid out in the discussion provided on the website? What statistics or evidence do they use to support these conclusions? Based on the facts given by UNDP, the pace of progress is insufficient since in 2009 not all boys and girls are in primary schooling, as evidenced by data on the sub-Saharan African countries alone, where at least one of four children are not enrolled in 2008 (United Nations Development Programme , par 3). The concerns presented are the high drop-out rates among the children, that is, in the sub-Saharan Africa, more than 30 per cent of the children drop out before reaching a final grade (United Nations Development Programme , par 4). Another major concern is the lack of teachers and classrooms (United Nations Development Programme , par 5). Part 3- Discuss the data that you have been reviewing. What sorts of measures are they recording? How does this tie into the goal? What do the overall trends suggest? How does this compare to the conclusions discussed in part 2 of your homework? The measures that they

Cargo Cult Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cargo Cult - Essay Example Even though cargo cults continue to be discovered, they ceased to exist as a phenomena â€Å"as soon as anthropologists figured out how to explain† it (Dalton 2000:345), however, they can be seen as a successful (in certain aspects) revitalization movement for the indigenous population, who often needed to vent out their frustration with the new way of life under the colonizers. Cargo cults, as the specific millenarian movements in the Melanesian region are called, were not studied very closely before the twentieth century; after F. E. Williams published The Vailala Madness and the Destruction of Native Ceremonies in the Gulf District in 1923, interest as well as publication on them have increased (Long 1974:403). Usually, a cargo cult is formed when some member of the tribe has a dream (a myth-dream) whereby the rest of the tribe is instructed to follow certain orders, which can include touching things or ritualistic destruction objects, or not going to their garden to work, or dance around open altars (Stephen 1997:1) or even baptism and insistence on giving up local culture in favor of the European (Long 1974:410); what is more, as Worsley notes, there is also the â€Å"cultivation of large gardens and the building of stores, sheds, jetties and landing-grounds for the reception of good which will never come† (Dalton 2000:358). According to the native rituals and social norms of the Melanesians, anyone who could give a lot of material gifts to others was automatically someone to be respected and looked up to. With the arrival of colonials, who brought with them many material products, the natives saw their material wealth and automatically assumed that the colonizers were respectable people. As, on the converse side, the person who could take gifts but could not give anything comparable in return was frowned upon according to the same norms, therefore, the Melanesian, based on their own cultural norms, lost respect in their own eyes. The product s that the colonials brought with them were things that the natives wanted, but which the natives, in their lack of exposure to technology, had no idea how to produce even though they had been seeing them delivered to piers and landing strips. Certain cargo cults were formed, whereby certain mythological stories were exchanged to make sense of just why nothing that arrived was for them but for the colonizers. As per this explanation, the ancestors of the natives were busy making things for their descendants, both within the volcanoes that the locals worshipped, and living amongst the lands of the colonizers, disguised as white men. These ancestors were sending all the cargo that they had accumulated and manufactured to the locals, however, the white colonizers, entrusted with the transport of the cargo, were robbing the natives by changing the labels of the cargo to steal it and claim it as their own (Long 1974: 409). It can be argued that the irrational rituals were created in a bi d to get the wealth of the colonials (Lindstorm 2000:296). Clearly, this shows a sense of resentment on the part of the natives who felt not only threatened by the colonization but also used and abused. As Burridge puts it, the natives have their own rituals and ways for proving â€Å"their integrity as men. But faced with a white man, the moment passes them by. They feel themselves children of sin†

Analyses eu-ecowas historical relation

Analyses eu-ecowas historical relation 1.1 INTRODUCTION EU-ECOWAS relations did not commence until 1975 due to the fact that ECOWAS only came into existence on May 28th 1975 with the signing of Treaty of Lagos by its member states (ECOWAS, 2010). However, prior to ECOWAS formation in 1975, some of its member states, particularly the Francophone countries such as Benin, Cote dIvoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo had been foundation members of Associated African states and Madagascar (EAMA). This group of countries had been actively involved in the ‘regime of association as enshrined in the Treaty of Rome (1957) which arranged a relationship between the former French and Belgian colonies with the EC (ACP, 2010). The early relationship with these ex-colonies became a key aspect of the process of European integration and also established the basis and rationale for subsequent arrangements (Reisen, 2007; Holland, 2002). The Commonwealth countries within the ECOWAS grouping such as Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone did not participate in EC cooperation programme until the UK accession to the EC in 1973. With regards to ex-colonies activities in EC cooperation programme prior to 1973, it had been a case of domination of development agenda by France (Holland, 2002). So, the inclusion of the ECOWAS Commonwealth countries was necessitated because the UK was keen to put its special trading preferences for bananas and sugar under the EC umbrella and to extend its assistance to some former colonies beyond bilateral support (European Commission, 2010a). Since ECOWAS establishment in 1975, EU-ECOWAS relations have been framed by the trade policy understandings as well as other development cooperation arrangements as contained in the partnership agreements that the EU has entered into with developing countries in Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACPs) countries (World Bank, 2007; Oyejide and Njinken, 2002). The ACPs currently comprises 79 countries (48 African, 16 Caribbean and 15 Pacific). The EUs relations with the ACPs are today governed by the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement signed in Cotonou, Benin in June 2000 which came into force in 2003 (ACP-EEC, 2005). However, it has since been revised and the revised Agreement entered into force in July 2008. In a sense, both ECOWAS and ACPs are closely linked but the paper focuses on EU-ECOWAS relations with a view to unravelling its specificity in historical perspectives. 1.2 BACKGROUND OF ECOWAS ECOWAS is a regional group of fifteen West African countries, founded on May 28, 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos. ECOWAS is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community and its mission is to promote economic cooperation and integration. The overall objective of ECOWAS is to promote co-operation and integration in order to create an economic and monetary union for encouraging economic growth and development in West Africa (ECOWAS, 2010a). The grouping contains a very wide diversity of economies in terms of size, development and resources (EBID, 2005). There were 16 nations in the group until very recently when Mauritania voluntarily withdrew its membership from ECOWAS. The countries include the 7 UEMOA countries of Benin, Burkina-Faso, Chad, Cote dIvoire, Mali, Niger, and Senegal. Other non-UEMOA member countries are Cape-Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The UEMOA is the French acronym of West African Economic and Monetary Union. It is an organization of eight states of West Africa established in 1994 to promote economic integration among countries that share a common currency, the CFA franc. In terms of achievements, UEMOA member countries are working toward greater regional integration with unified external tariffs than ECOWAS. It is both a customs and monetary union and has initiated regional structural and sectoral policies which ECOWAS is adopting. Within ECOWAS also, there is a West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) which comprises a group of five countries (mainly English speaking) that plan to introduce a common currency, the Eco by the year 2015. The WAMZ was formed in 2000 to try and establish a strong stable currency to rival the CFA franc. Though, the desired goal is for the CFA franc and Eco to merge, with a view to giving all of West Africa countries a single stable currency (ECOWAS, 2010b). 1.3 OVERVIEW OF EU-ECOWAS RELATIONS ECOWAS shares a resemblance with the EU in its objective and modes of cooperation for regional integration among member states. Though, their history of establishment differs. Unlike the ECOWAS model, in which all countries came together at once (except Cape Verde which joined in 1976) to form an economic arrangement, only six countries initiated the current EU arrangement, while other European countries joined at different points through its enlargement and accession strategy (Alaba, 2006). It has often been argued that integration in the West African sub-region has largely been informed by the integration processes in Western Europe, primarily because of EUs ‘commitment to regional integration (Smith, 2008; Ogbeidi, 2010). A point of departure between the two groupings however, lies in their performances over the years. While their performances could be a reflection of the level of development of the member states that constitutes the membership of the sub-regional unions, the most important single factor is their level of commitment towards achieving their goals. Unlike the EU arrangement, commitment to various protocol meant to facilitate the achievement of the vision of ECOWAS has been very low and implementation targets have never been met. For example trade liberalisation within the ECOWAS region has been generally low and ineffective (UNCTAD, 2009). The same compliance failure applies to an ECOWAS protocol on free movements of persons, the right of residence and establishment which was agreed as far as back 1979 (World Bank, 2007). 1.4 TRADE AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF ECOWAS WITH EU For virtually all ECOWAS countries, the EU is the main trading partner (Eurostat, 2008). This high dependence of the countries on the EU market is largely due to their historical links and the nature of their trade patterns which has often made them trade dependent (Fontagne, 2008; Greenidge, 1998). The economic structure of the West African sub-region is largely dominated by agriculture which is closely followed by mining. Agriculture contributed about 25.17%, to sub-regional GDP as at 2006, up from 24.19% in 1995, while mining accounted for 22.13% slightly higher than 21.45 in 1995. Trade contributed about 14.64% of the Groups GDP, down from 15.39% in 1995 (Ecostat, 2010). Most of the ECOWAS countries tend to be highly specialised in a few key products such as petroleum and a few unprocessed agricultural commodities such as coffee and cotton. ECOWAS is the largest trading partner of all the EUs sub regional groupings/cooperation. It accounts for about 40% of total trade with the EU by regions (Eurostat, 2008). Out of the fifteen ECOWAS countries, thirteen of these countries are ranked as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) while three are non-LDC (HDR, 2009). The non-LDC countries in the region are Nigeria, Ghana and Cote dIvoire. These 3 non-LDC countries and Senegal to some extent account for the bulk of trade relations with the EU. In 2008 EUs rankings of African countries in terms of value of goods traded, Nigeria and Cote dIvoire ranked the 4th and 10th for all EU imports while Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana were ranked 5th, 9th and 10th respectively for all EUs exports (Eurostat, 2009). West Africas main exports are oil from Nigeria (50% of West African exports) and agricultural tropical products (cocoa, bananas, pineapples, wood) mostly from Cà ´te dIvoire and Ghana (European Commission, 2009) while Senegal is noted for groundnut (Bergtold et al, 2005). For nearly all the countries the leading import items are heavy equipments, chemical and chemical products and textiles, rubber and metal products. 1.5 EU-ECOWAS EPA NEGOTIATIONS As mentioned earlier, EU-ECOWAS relations are governed by the agreements between EU and ACP group of States. In order to achieve their objectives, the relations between the two bodies have historically been framed by a series of conventions. For EU-ECOWAS relations, the most operative conventions are Lomà © Conventions (1975-2000) and Cotonou Agreement (2000-2020). The Lomà © Conventions (1975-2000) consist of four regimes of conventions from Lomà © I which was first signed in February 1975 in Lomà ©, Togo to Lomà © IV which ended in 2000. The Lomà © Conventions are a trade and aid agreement between the European Community (EC) and the ACP group of states. The first Lomà © Convention was designed to provide a new framework of cooperation between the then European Community (EC) and developing ACP countries. The Lome Conventions most important attribute is its non-reciprocity, which allows ACP exports duty free access to the European market while enabling the ACP states to maintain tariff barriers against European goods. It introduced the STABEX and SYSMIN system which were designed to compensate ACP countries for the shortfall in agricultural export earnings and mining industry activities respectively due to fluctuation in the prices or supply of commodities (ACP-EEC, 1995; 1975). The Lomà © Convention was a commitment to an equal partnership between Europe and ACPs (Holland, 2002). A critical review of the trade agreement/convention however, shows a perpetuation of unequal power relations between both parties. For example, the reciprocity clause has always been geared towards meeting export interests of European firms (Orbie, 2008) and the negotiation for the Lomà © convention itself was a reflection of Third World commodity power, which the EU was keen to preserve through its privileged access to these commodities via its ex-colonial links (Gibb, 2000). Nevertheless, Lomà © conventions have been considered as the hallmark of the EUs policy with the Third world and the most institutionalised of all EUs group-to-group dialogues. It marked a distinctive progression from a regime of association to what could be called a forum of partnership and cooperation (Hurt, 2003; Holland, 2002). It has also been argued by Crawford (2007) that Lomà © Convention is the most significant agreement for Sub-Saharan Africa. The Cotonou Agreement (2000-2020) is the most recent agreement in the history of ACP-EU Development Cooperation. It is based on four main principles: partnership, participation, dialogue and mutual obligations, and differentiation as well as regionalization (ACP-EEC, 2000). One of the radical changes and fundamental elements of the Cotonou Agreement concerns trade cooperation between EU-ACP states. This is not surprising given the fact that EU has exclusive trade competencies and trade policy instrument has been a key strategy of its external policy (Lightfoot, 2010; Orbie, 2008; Bretherton and Vogler, 1999). The most striking feature of the new trade cooperation is the fact that the non-reciprocal trade preferences have been replaced with a new scheme of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The EPAs are schemes aimed at creating a Free Trade Area (FTA) between the EU and ACP countries (ACP-EEC, 2000). The EPAs are a response to continuing criticism that the non-reciprocal and discriminating preferential trade agreements offered by the EU are incompatible with WTO rules. Apart from the issue of WTO compatibility, it was also argued that generous trade preferences were not enough for economic take off (European Commission, 1995). It was therefore seen as having achieved limited success in terms of promoting accelerated development in ACP countries. So, what does the EPA signify for EU-ECOWAS relations? The negotiations on an EPA between ECOWAS and the EU were launched in Brussels in 2002 (ECA, 2007). However, the negotiations have so far been inconclusive due to some concerns that the EPAs will lead to large trade imbalances in West African economies, as well as substitution of local and regional production by European imports (Perez and Karingi, 2007). The decline in import duties due to the preferential tariff elimination has also been a major concern for West African countries (Busse and Grobmann, 2004). In particular, the reciprocity condition implicit in the agreement, implied that at some time before 2020, the ECOWAS countries must have to open up their economies to imports from the EU countries. This may invariably lead to trade diversion, trade creation, loss of trade revenues and deindustrialisation (World Bank, 2007; Adenikinju and Alaba, 2005). In a study on the impacts of the EU-ECOWAS EPAs, Lang (2006) found that Ghana and especially Guinea-Bissau could lose up to 20% of their Government budget revenues in case of a full liberalisation of EU imports. Although tariff revenue falls were considered highest in Nigeria in absolute dollar terms, those two countries will be the most affected. In a similar study on the impacts of the EU-ACP EPAs in six ACP regions, Fontagne et al (2008:6-7), ACP exports to the EU are forecast to be 10 percent higher with the EPAs than under the GSP/EBA option. On average ACP countries are forecast to lose 70 percent of tariff revenues on EU imports in the long run. The most affected region is ECOWAS. The implication of a loss of tariff income would translate into public budget constraints and could therefore pose great developmental challenges for ECOWAS countries. Nevertheless, both Cote dIvoire and Ghana agreed and endorsed interim EPAs with the EU in December 2007 (European Commission, 2009). These agreements were principally put in place because full regional EPAs could not be agreed upon. Of these three largest trading partners with the EU, Nigeria opted out of an interim EPA. For now, the country can only benefit from the regular EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). This is far less advantageous than the nonreciprocal Lomà © preferences because the GSP covers fewer products and has stricter rules of origin (Hurt, 2003). Though the Nigerian Government has twice applied to be placed on the GSP+ status, the EU has rejected the applications purely for political reasons (Nwoke, 2009). The rest of the West African region is largely made up of Least Developed Countries (European Commission, 2009). They have an option not to negotiate since they have duty free access to the EU under the ‘Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme (Orbie, 2008; Bilal, 2007). The EBA is the differentiation component of Cotonuo Agreement made in the treatment of least developed countries (LDCs) and non-LDCs. For these thirteen countries, the EPA may not carry additional benefits over the EBA except for the technical and financial support that the former may carry (Adenikinju and Alaba, 2005). So, their level of commitment to signing full EPA is marginal. It needs pointing out that the small gains which might result from the EBA initiative are expected to fade away as a consequence of the EU negotiations on EPAs (Kohnert, 2008). Besides, the contentious nature of EBA scheme due to its unilateral introduction makes it less attractive (Bilal, 2002). As Flint (2008:60) argues the EU has highlig hted further problems facing policymakers by the split into separate blocs of LDC and non-LDC. This is very illustrative of EU-ECOWAS relations. From the foregoing, it is discernible that in effect, the EPA will play a significant role in terminating the ECOWAS group as the main development partner of the EU. Prior to the EPA negotiations, ECOWAS countries have not had great success at significantly enlarging trade amongst member states. Intraregional trade as a proportion of total trade remains much lower in African regional integration (UNCTAD, 2009). And, with the new EPAs strategy that seeks for unilateral negotiation in practice, trade improvement amongst member states is further undermined (Borrmann et al, 2005). Concisely, the EPA is detrimental to the cause of regional integration. For EU-ECOWAS, the two principles of reciprocity and deeper regional integration are likely to pull in different directions (Lang, 2006). 1.6 AID FOR TRADE AND DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN EU-ECOWAS RELATIONS The Aid for Trade initiative emerged within the Doha Round out of the need to help all countries to benefit from trade i.e. to maximise the gains from trade. Yet, demand for, and capacity to absorb, aid for trade still exceeds available resources (World Bank, 2005). The EU Aid for Trade strategy adopted in October 2007 confirms the European commitment to provide EUR2 billion per year in Trade Related Assistance by 2010 and to increase spending for the wider Aid for Trade agenda (ECDPM, 2009). A review of Aid for Trade however shows that donors have achieved their pledges simply by applying the modified WTO-OECD monitoring rules, without initiating any new projects (Brà ¼ntrup and Voionmaa, 2010). So, for ECOWAS countries whose capacity building and supply-side constraints have been a major factor in the lack of competitiveness and the relatively poor trade and growth performance (AU, 2006), Aid for Trade can only be meaningful if it is translated into genuine fresh aid for utilisati on. Also, the issue of democracy promotion in EU-ECOWAS relations is more of rhetoric than accomplishment. Crawford (2005) argument that the EUs interests in Africa focus less on democracy promotion and more on the perceived burdens and security threats to Europe arising from political instability and conflict seems more instructive and matter of fact. 1.7 CONCLUSION The EPA negotiations to establish a Free Trade Zone between EU and ECOWAS in line with Cotonuo agreement for a period of 12 years have significant implications on the economies of ECOWAS countries. Given the structure and trade patterns of ECOWAS countries in which manufactures account for about 75% of the EUs export to ECOWAS, full liberalisation of their economies will result in loss of revenue, deindustrialisation and will make the countries to be more vulnerable in the global economy. It is less to be seen if the IEPAs/EPAs negotiations would engender trade that will result in development and poverty reduction for the West Africa sub region. The trade cooperation upon which EPAs is founded symbolises regional integration in principles but its strategy of interim EPAs among individual countries of the region and EBA for least developed countries encourages unilateralism in practice. BIBLIOGRAPHY ACP, 2010, The ACP Group, The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States http://www.acpsec.org/en/about_us.htm accessed on 07/03/2010 ACP-EEC, 1975 Lome 1 Convention, ACP-EEC Convention 1975 ACP-EEC, 2000 The Cotonou Agreement: Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states of the one part, and the European Community and its member states, of the other part, signed in Cotonou, Benin on 23 June 2000 ACP-EEC, 2005, Agreement amending the partnership agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states, of the one part, and the European Community and its member states, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 ACP/CE/2005/en 1 Adenikinju, A. and Alaba, O. (2005) EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements: Implication for Trade and Development in West Africa Trade Policy Research and Training Programme (TPRTP) University of Ibadan Ibadan, Nigeria Draft Paper for Presentation at the Silver Jubilee Meeting of WIDER-UNU, Helsinki, Finland, June 2005. African Union, (2006) AU COMMISSIONS PROPOSAL ON THE WTO AID FOR TRADE INITIATIVE African Union Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA Alaba, O. (2006) EU-ECOWAS EPA: Regional Integration, Trade Facilitation and Development in West Africa Trade Policy Research and Training Programme (TPRTP) University of Ibadan Ibadan, Nigeria A Draft Paper for presentation at the GTAP conference, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May, 2006. Bergtold, J. et al (2005) Lomà © to Cotonou Conventions: Trade Policy Alternatives for the Senegalese Groundnut Sector Journal of Agricultural Economics. Volume 33, number 3. 2005. pp. 315 Bilal, S. (2002) The Future of ACP-EU Trade Relations: An Overview of the Forthcoming Negotiations ECDPM ODI Discussion Paper No. 1 2002 Bilal, S. (2007) EU Bilateral and Regional Agreements The Case of Free Trade Agreements European Centre for Development Management (ECDPM) 14 March 2007 Brussels Borrmann, A. et al (2005) EU/ACP Economic Partnership Agreements: Impact, Options and Prerequisites. Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA), Germany Intereconomics, May/June 2005 Bretherton, C. and Vogler, J. (1999) The European Union as a Global Actor Oxon; Routledge Brà ¼ntrup, M. and Voionmaa, P. (2010) Aid for Trade an opportunity for re-thinking aid for economicgrowth International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development Volume 9 Number 2, 2010 Busse, M. et al (2004) The Impact of ACP/EU Economic Partnership Agreements on ECOWAS Countries: An Empirical Analysis of the Trade and Budget Effects HWWA Hamburg Institute of International Economics Prepared for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Hamburg, July 2004 Crawford, G. (2005) ‘The European Union and Democracy Promotion in Africa: The Case of Ghana, The European Journal of Development Research, Volume 17 Number 4, 571 600 Crawford, G. (2007) The EU and Democracy promotion in Africa: High on Rhetoric, Low on Delivery in Mold, A. (2007) (ed.) EU Development policy in a changing world; Challenges for the 21st century. Amsterdam;Amsterdam University Press pp 169-197 EBID, 2005 ‘The Bank for West Africas Development The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development group (EBID) Newsletter October, 2005 ECA, (2007) EPA Negotiations: African Countries Continental Review ¨ African Trade Policy Centre Review Report 19 February 2007 ECOSTAT, 2010 Data and statistics- ECOWAS National Accounts http://www.ecostat.org/en/National-Accounts/National_Accounts/Tables1.pdf accessed on 13/03/2010 ECOWAS, 2010a ECOWAS: Achievement and Prospects http://www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm accessed on 14/03/2010 ECOWAS, 2010b ECOWAS in Brief and Treaty of ECOWAS http://www.comm.ecowas.int/sec/index.php?id=about_alang=en accessed on 07/03/2010 European Commission (1997) Green Paper on Relations between the European Union and the ACP Countries on the Eve of the 21st Century (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities). European Commission, 2009 Fact sheet on the interim Economic Partnership Agreements WEST AFRICA: IVORY COAST AND GHANA January 2009 European Commission, 2010a, Lome 1 Development and Relations with African, Carribbean and Pacific States http://ec.europa.eu/development/geographical/cotonou/lomegen/lomeitoiv_en.cfm accessed on 07/03/2010 Eurostat, 2008 Africa-EU: Economic Indicators, Trade and Investment. Eurostat General and Regional Statistics Flint, A. (2008) Marrying poverty alleviation and sustainable development An analysis of the EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement. Journal of International Relations and Development (2008) 11, 55-74. Fontagnà ©, L. et al (2008) An Impact Study of the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in the Six ACP Regions. Commission of the European Union Directorate General for Trade N ° Trade SPECIFIC CONTRACT N ° SI2.453.883 Implementing Framework Contract No TRADE/05/H3/01/1c Gibb, R. (2000) ‘Post-Lomà ©: the European Union and the South, Third World Quarterly, Volume 21, Number 3, 457 481 Greenidge, C. (1998) ‘The African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States; Experince of Partnership with the European Union in Lister, M. (1998) (ed.) European Union Development Policy London; Macmillan Press Limited pp 39-63 Holland, M. (2002) The European Union and the Third World. New York; Palgrave Human Development Report (2009) Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. United Nations Development Programme New York: Palgrave Macmillan Hurt, S. (2003) ‘Co-operation and coercion? The Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and ACP states and the end of the Lomà © Convention, Third World Quarterly, 24: 1, 161 176 Kohnert, D. (2008) EU-African Economic Relations: Continuing Dominance, Traded for Aid? GIGA Research Programme German Transformation in the Process of Globalization Institute of Global and Area Studies Number 82, 2008 Lang, R. (2006) A partial equilibrium analysis of the impact of the ECOWAS-EU Economic Partnership Agreement Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, 2006, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Lightfoot, S. (2010) EU and Economic Conditionality Free trade out of poverty? Lecture Notes March 2010 Mechanisms for delivery of EU Aid for Trade to ACP regions European Centre for Development Policy management (ECDPM), Maastricht (Netherlands), July 2009 Nwoke, C. (2009) EU-ECOWAS Economic Partnership Agreement: Nigerias role in securing development-focus and regional integration Prepared for presentation at the 2009 African Economic Conference, organized by the African Development Bank and the Economic Commission for Africa, on the theme Fostering Development in an Era of Financial and Economic Crisis, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11th 13th November, 2009. OGBEIDI, M. (2010) Comparative Integration: A brief analysis of the European Union (EU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) The Journal of International Social Research Volume 3 Num 10 Winter 2010 Orbie, J. (2008) A Civilian power in the World: Instrument and Objective in European Union External Policies in Orbie, J. (2008) (ed.) Europes Global Role: External Policies of the European Union Aldershot; Ashgate pp. 1-34 Oyejide, A. and Njinken, D. (2002) African preparation for trade negotiations in the context of the ACP-EU Cotonou Partnership Agreement African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) Perez, R. and Njugun-Karingi, S. (2007) How to Balance the Outcomes of the Economic Partnership Agreements for Sub-Saharan African Economies? The World Economy, Vol. 30, No. 12, pp. 1877-1899, December 2007 Reisen, M. (2007) ‘The enlarged European Union and the Developing World: What Future? in Mold, A. (2007) (ed.) EU Development policy in a changing world; Challenges for the 21st century. Amsterdam; Amsterdam University Press Pg 29-65 Smith, K. (2008) European Union Foreign Policy in a changing World (2nd edition) Cambridge; Polity Press UNCTAD, 2009 Economic Development in Africa Report: Strengthening Regional Economic Integration for Africas Development. UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT New York and Geneva 2009 UNCTAD/ALDC/AFRICA/2009 World Bank (2005) Aid for Trade: Competitiveness and Adjustment Joint Note by the Staffs of the IMF and the World Bank April 12, 2005 Zouhon-Bi, S. and Nielsen, L. (2007) The Economic Community of West African States Fiscal Revenue Implications of the Prospective Economic Partnership Agreement with the European World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4266, June 2007

Omnipotence And St. Thomas Aquinas :: essays research papers

Omnipotence and St. Thomas Aquinas Omnipotence literally means the ability to do all things, or to have absolute power. This quality seems to be generally accepted as an intrinsic characteristic of the Judaeo-Christian god, as it says in Luke I. 37, "...there is nothing that God cannot do.". Certain objections can be raised to attributing this characteristic to god however, in-so-far as this characteristic seems to conflict with other accepted attributes of god. In The Summa Theologica St. Thomas Aquinas addresses some of these objections, the most telling of which can be restated as: (I) To sin is an action, however god is unable to sin. Therefore god cannot be omnipotent. (ii) The greatest act possible of god is his practice of "sparing and having mercy". There are actions judged to be much greater however, such as creating a world. Therefore god is not omnipotent. (iii) If god is omnipotent, then everything is possible and nothing is impossible. If this is true however, things which are necessary (things which cannot possibly not exist) are no longer so. This is impossible - therefore god cannot be omnipotent. Aquinas begins his rebuttals by defining what is encompassed by the characteristic of divine omnipotence. He explains that god is able to all things which are "possible absolutely", which he defines as all things which can be logically expressed without the predicate being in conflict with the subject - i.e. god is capable of all things which do not involve a contradiction in terms. This does not imply any defect in the power of god, Aquinas goes on to say, because impossible things by definition have "no aspect of possibility", moreover, it is absurd to expect divine omnipotence to encompass the logically impossible. (I) Aquinas answers the first objection as follows. He explains that "...to sin is to fall short of perfect action; hence to be able to sin is to be able to fall short in action..." which he attests is contrary to the meaning of divine omnipotence. (ii) In answering the second objection Aquinas points out, "It is not

Heaney’s Poetry Essay

I have recently studied some of your poetry for my leaving certificate english course and I feel greatly changed by what I read. To say the least, it made a strong impression on me. It was a memorable experience. I looked into five of your poems with great depth and they were; â€Å"A Constable Calls†, â€Å"The Forge†, â€Å"The Underground†, â€Å"The Tollund Man†, and of course â€Å"The Skunk†. These poems inspired a range of emotions in me that I would never have expected to feel while reading poetry. In the poem â€Å"A Constable Calls† I feel that the predominant mood is one of tension and hostility. In my opinion it is an explanation of the relationship dynamic between two traditions juxtaposed in the north of Ireland. It is clearly not a friendly, personal relationship. I felt that the way in which you portrayed a young Heaney -an objective observer- was particularly effective to say the least. Even more impressive the young Heaney appears to offer up no opinion yet within the first couple of lines we have a clear sense of the constable. The image we are presented with of the constable is one of authority and control. It appears even â€Å"The pedal treads† are delighted to be â€Å"hanging relieved† from â€Å"the boot of the law†. It seems to me here that not only does this boot refer to the actual boot worn by the constable but also the impersonal, forceful, powerful presence that is the law. I think you captured equally successfully the significance of the exchange between your father and the constable and its meaning to you with the phrase â€Å"Arithmetic and fear†. The air of unease and fear on the part of your father is almost tangeable here. The lack of friendliness is accentuated by the brief exchange of words between your father and the constable. The stern, authoritarian tone of voice he takes with your father when he says â€Å"Any other root crops? Mangolds? Marrowstems? Anything like that? † and the single, unaccompanied response of your father â€Å"No† sent a shiver down my spine as I read. To me, this poem portrayed, extremely effectively, the relationship between your family and the law. â€Å"The Forge† in all its sensuous beauty is by far my favourite poem of yours. The manner in which the â€Å"door into the dark† presents the reader with an interior, strange and atramentous, that as a young boy you are unsure about whether the threshold should be crossed or not. On a literal level, the image you give us as readers and to me as a seventeen year old boy is one of staccato rhythym, life and an abundance of energy, which, while I read it, bestowed onto me a sense of the importance the forge holds in the protection of Irish heritage and tradition as the old is pushed to give way to the new. The incredible way that you blend together the â€Å"clatter/ Of hoofs† from the memory of the blacksmith and what now replaces it, â€Å"Traffic (is) flashing in rows† is enviable at least. This said, I believe too that there is a far deeper meaning, buried deep in under the skin of this poem, much more than just a celebration of local craftsmanship and of cultural roots. In my opinion you also mean to explore, rather ironically, the creative process and the writing of poetry through poetry. The forge in this case being an extended metaphor for the mind and the creative process. Possibly representative of the centre of creativity, you speak of the anvil which â€Å"must be somewhere in the centre† but is not visible to you, the eager observer. If someday I am married and it turns out the way your marriage appears to have in â€Å"The Underground† I will be a lucky man. It is my firm believe that there is a strong divide right in the middle of this poem. It changes from pure ecstasy and excitement to a more sombre, worried, unsure mood towards the end but this is not negative. This is merely pointing out that not everything is all hugs and kisses. It is saying that there are things that need thought to go with everything but that this is part of life. This, I believe, must be understood by the end of the poem to make it worth having read. At the start of any new journey there is aways a sense of excitement and exhiliration, but when things don’t go your way, you can be left â€Å"bared and tensed†. The poem encourages you to delve deep into yourself and seek out the part of your soul distant from even yourself and analyse why you have left this part of you isolate itself. I have an enormous admiration for the way you do this in this poem. As well as this, I feel the unconventional way through which you portray love while also proclaiming your undying love for your wife is fascinating. The mellifluous writing and easy reading of this poem is something admired and envied. â€Å"The Tollund Man† in my honest opinion the most morose, grave, hard hitting poem of yours. It inspires a lot of thought about the human nature. It was written in response to the troubles in Northern Ireland and I feel that using the medium of poetry you search for an answer to modern problems in the past as it is well known that history is constantly repeating itself. It is clear that you are drawing parallels between the ritual killings of the past and the murder of innocent victims nowadays in the north of the country. I feel that you search the memory of the Tollund to get answers but you do not want to â€Å"risk blasphemy† and â€Å"consecrate the cauldron bog/ Our holy ground and pray/ Him to make germinate†. It is my interpretation that in your mind the Tollund man is the key to enlightenment. Is it that you find it hard to confront the reality that is the mindless violence in Northern Ireland? As this is how it appears. You also create a witty but macabre oxymoron at the end when you say â€Å"Unhappy and at home† as you would assume that the one place where a person should be happy is at home but that’s not the case here and I felt that here also you refer to the people who live in Northern Ireland that must deal with the worry of â€Å"The Troubles† everyday. I feel that a nice poem to finish discussing is â€Å"The Skunk† as even thinking of this poem brings a small smile to my face. The lighthearted humourous approach to missing and longing in this poem is astonishing. I believe that this is a poem about your wife. It captures with an breathtaking level of finesse the beautiful nature of an everyday relationship. The ordinary mysteries at the heart of the normal relationship. The comparison of the skunk is probably to emphasise the animalistic naturalness of the relationship along with the primative, erotic nature of the attraction. As you â€Å"begin to tense as a voyeur† as you feel almost as if you are spying on the skunk as she passes, you are reminded of your wife and start to remember the way things were at the start, so romantic, so beautiful. â€Å"After eleven years I was composing/ Love letters again† is a lovely image showing that the excitement and spark that holds a relationship together will not be evident every minute of everyday but that in the end of the day, if you love someone you will always be ready to show them if you need to show them. The long lines, and the enjambement of the poem add to the excitement, playfulness and ease of the poem. It is both sensuous and sensual as you begin to smell â€Å"Small oranges† and see the â€Å"desk light softened†. The tension and expectation you feel is clearly akin to the way you felt about your wife at the time. This sensual imagery all portrays the richness of love. That is all I wanted to say. I believe that it was one of the most memorable experiences of my whole life reading your poetry and I mean that in a good way. It is something I will never look back upon doing in a negative light as I have gained some very important insights into life, love, tradition and conflict resolution from this.

Buddhism and Islam throughout the world Essay

Buddhism and Islam throughout the world Essay Buddhism and Islam throughout the world Essay Michael Ahn Fung Laoshi The Buddha: His life and Teachings 2/25/13 Short-term Paper Mahayana, meaning â€Å"Great Vehicle†, is considered itself as a more authentic version of Buddha’s teachings. Mahayana Buddhism is essentially a vision of what Buddhism is really about and contains a vast corpus of philosophical and devotional texts and Buddha’s teachings. One of the most distinctive themes in the Mahayana Buddhism is Emptiness of mind. According to the Mahayana teaching of Emptiness, sunyata, refers void or openness, symbolizing that all beings and phenomena have no intrinsic existence in themselves. From Mahayana teachings, Emptiness is the understanding that the things of the phenomenal world do not exist as separate, independent and permanent entities, but rather appear as the result of an infinite number of causes and conditions, are a product of dependent origination. From the Mahayana Buddhism, Sunyata refers to the fact that everything is dependently originated, including the causes and conditions. â€Å"All phenomena are dependent for their existence on complex networks of causes and conditions† (pg.26). For example, suppose there is a book. A Book is dependent on the printing press that printed it, and dependent for its existence on the papers and ink that constitute the book. Printing press, ink and papers are dependent to each other to create the book itself. There is no inherent book essence inhabiting the ink and papers. The material is not the book, the shape is not the book, and the function is not the book. All these combined features make up the book. In addition, Emptiness means no permanent and unchangeable existence. â€Å"All phenomena are empty of essence, but exist impermanent† (pg.26). For instance, the human body is changing every second like any phenomenon. It does not have permanent and unchangeable existence. Body can be the emptiness. From the Buddhism teachings, this is the truth of nature which is a continuous process. Beings and phenomena arise and perpetuall y cease for other new beings and phenomena. Rising and falling are the common characteristics of worldly existence. All phenomena are always in the cycle of rising and falling. Thus the truth of sunyata is the nature of each individual existence. Each step in understanding that each minor form has a nature that is not described by words is steps to the realization of sunyata. According to Buddhist teachings, when people realize that we ourselves are empty, freedom from suffering accomplished. The fourth noble path is closely related to sunyata. In fourth noble path, the third one is â€Å"the cessation of suffering is attainable.† From this path, it states that the state of Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. The state of Nirvana can be reached when the emptiness is

The De Lacey family Essay Example

The De Lacey family Essay Example The De Lacey family Paper The De Lacey family Paper Essay Topic: In Cold Blood This essay will be an exploration of the causes of Victor Frankensteins downfall, and eventually his tragic fate, from the famous Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein. There are several aspects of this novel that I need consider when writing about this tragedy, for example the style that Mary Shelley uses when producing the novel and the old English format of writing. At a first glance of the novel I feel that Victor is solely to blame for his own tragic death, as he was the man who put together the creature who eventually killed him because of the lack of emotion Victor had shown towards his creation. This novel deals with Victor Frankensteins love of modern science, which he uses to construct a monstrous creature. As victor first sights his creature, he is quickly to reject his unsightly appearance. The monster become increasingly frustrated with his creator (Victor), and ultimately begins to murder the friends and family closest and dearest to Victor Frankenstein. The creation begins to feel a tremendous hatred towards the human race because of there prejudice. This hatred turns towards Victors younger brother William, as he captures and kills his brother in cold blood. The creature uses his knowledge gained from the De Lacey family to frame Justine (a family servant of the Frankenstein family) for the murder of William. Soon after the murder Justine is hung for murder and the creature approaches Frankenstein and demands he creates another being to become his companion. At first Victor agrees to create the monster a companion, but at the last minute changes his mind and stopped creation the new being. This was the final straw for the creature, which showed his creator was truly against his him, and as a result the monster killed Victors only true love Elizabeth. And later Victor was to die of natural causes in his sleep; the creature and the creator were both burnt together, just as they were at the start of the novel, together. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1816, at a time when there was a tremendous advance in science and technology. These advances had wide spread affects on society. New manufacturing techniques were developed, which affected cost of the traditional development of products. These developments in technology and science may have affected the thoughts that Mary Shelley has used in producing this novel, for example the technological advances were both exciting and frightening. Exciting because of the venture into the unknown, and the possibility of new discoveries. But on the other hand frightening as the true unknown is ahead of them. The Gothic and Science Fiction genre may have also been a factor, which has led to certain aspects of this book. Gothic novels were very popular in the nineteenth century and Frankenstein was one of the first Science Fiction novels. Mary Shelleys experiences of summer 1816 may have supported this gothic genre as during her stay in the Swiss Alps, she, and some of her friends began to entertain one another with ghost stories, and these stories were used to complete the plot for the novel Frankenstein. Science Fiction novels show the consequences of new discoveries, which have clearly been reflected in this novel.

Reflection of motion picture Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflection of motion picture - Assignment Example As opposed to the movie industry, the structure of television industry is very different. My understanding is that television industry is more tightly regulated by governmental laws as compared to the movie industry, since the medium through which it is transmitted (airwaves) is considered the property of public; hence increased government interference. The cable systems and the satellite-delivered television programs however enjoy exemption, as they do not utilize public’s airwaves. I have noted that interestingly, the movie industry that was in older times a rival of the television media, now uses television as a means of promotion of its products. This channel is utilized to invite audiences for an experience of a bigger better screen and extraordinary sound effects, which are lacking in the television medium. Despite all this, the movie business carries with it a high level of uncertainty which manifests in the forms of monetary peaks and troughs during the various seasons of the

Hersey Blanchard Theory a case study application Coursework

Hersey Blanchard Theory a case study application - Coursework Example Alex and Stephanie are students who work in a supermarket (part-time) to supplement their income. Alex is stuck in the produce department (as per his boss, Dan’s style and approach), while Stephanie is assigned to different tasks by her boss Jonathan. Moreover, one of Alex’s colleagues gets paid more (for the same task) because she pleases her boss by saying complimentary comments to him. Jonathan is friendly, relaxed and easy to work with. Stephanie is highly excited to work in the culinary centre where she (and her colleagues) helps customers to create new and innovative recipes for their customers. The end result is that Alex is bored with his job while on the other hand Stephanie looks forward to her work. The Hersey Blanchard Theory: The Hersey Blanchard Theory is a situational approach to leadership. It is indicative of the psychological and job maturity levels of employees. (Muralidharan, 2009, 63). Situational leadership in management circles means, adjusting approach to employees according to their maturity or readiness levels. The Theory categorizes four types of employees termed as R1, R2, R3, and R4 according to their attitudes and approach to work (Robbins, & Coulter, 2009, 63). R1 level of maturity indicates low maturity. In this instance, the employee is unwilling or unable to follow orders, or even due to insecurity and lack of confidence in their abilities. In case an employee is categorized as R2, he or she will be willing to follow the leader and have a high level of personal confidence. But they may lack the ability or skill to do a job allotted to them. They will be confident about any task or job they have already mastered, but lack the sufficient skills and ability to perform new ones. R3 indica tes a situation that is directly opposite to R2. In this instance the employee has the ability, skill and confidence to undertake a specific job or task, but is unwilling to follow orders. R4 level employees are confident, willing, and ready to take up responsibility. They have high levels of job and psychological maturity. These are the four situations that managers (and supervisors) face in the work place regarding employee attitudes, and the reason why the Hersey Blanchard Theory is referred to as situational. It is up the manager to identify these traits and manage according to the situation at hand. The theory then provides four leadership approaches that will be suitable to handle each of these situations referred to as S1, S2, S3, and S4 (DuBrin, 2005, 144). S1 – Telling: As the term indicates, the manager simply tells or orders (autocratic) the employee to do a certain job or task. S2 – Selling: This is similar to S1, but here the manager uses a persuasive (or selling) approach. S3 – Participating: There is a high degree of participation and interaction between the manager and the employee. Employees are free to voice their opinions and suggestions which will be seriously considered by the manager. S4 – Delegating: Here the manager delegates employees to undertake their duties and will not interfere in their activities unless absolutely necessary. All that is required is that the manger be kept informed about the progress or completion of the duties (tasks/jobs) assigned. Hersey Blanchard Theory applied to the case study: With regard to Dan it can be said that he can be categorized as an R3 employee. He appears confident, but not happy in his current position. It could be out of boredom and the difference in pay scales (mentioned in case study). But there is no mention about