Development of Nude Photography Essay

The paper attempts to critically examine, albeit briefly, the impacts of socio-cultural structures in the development of nude photography as an art form. It highlights the broad comparison of Asian and Western nude photography by showcasing some leading photographers specializing in nudist photographs. The workings of the social norms and societal structures, including conservative state apparatuses in some cultures, will also be briefly illustrated as far as they affect the form and content of works of the respective artist-photographers. A. Development of nude photography across cultural divide and time Nude photography is a distinct branch of art photography using humans in still position as subjects. Majority of art critics hold the dominant view that nude photography studies the human body and not the person. The latter pertains to portrait photography, which is a significantly different form. As will be illustrated later, this dominant view is being continually challenged, notably Araki Nobuyoshi, a controversial and highly prolific Japanese photographer. Nude photography is dissimilar from erotic photography, which is actually suggestive of erotic and sexual contents. Although there are established criteria in differentiating one from the other, an evaluation of whether a photograph is a valid nudist photo or a pornographic material remains largely with the viewer. More liberal and aggressive photo styles and techniques blur further the already thin dividing line between art and pornography. Nude photography did not develop as one single movement. It began as separate changes in individual preferences of various notable photographers, particularly in the early 20th century. Nudity, however, has been a favorite subject of paintings and sculpture, famously beginning with classical Greek sculptures and Renaissance paintings. Admittedly, artist-photographers in Western countries were the first to explore the use of nude women as subject, owing largely to more liberal atmosphere compared to their Asian counterparts. Some of the leading initiators of the new photography art form were Felix-Jacques Moulin, Edward Weston, Ruth Bernhard and Jerry Avenaim. Asian nude photography developed albeit later than its Western counterparts did. Conservative mores and restrictive culture impeded smoother and faster evolution of nudity as both an art form and content. Societies that were largely dictated by highly formal familial structure did not provide the ideal environment for the rapid development of nude photography. Such situation can be viewed differently, however. On the one hand, the restrictive atmosphere discouraged many promising professional photographers in exploring the use of nude subjects, fearful of being rejected by the society and ostracized in the art community. Since most of the photos were featured in local photo exhibits, they took the limited form of publication, allowing the government to exercise prior restraint measures, such as censorship. The case of Nobuyoshi is particularly interesting, because no less than the literal physical might of the Japanese government, supposedly as a repository of public interest and welfare, prohibited the exhibition and publication of some of his relatively controversial art works. On the other hand, the earlier social restrictions on nudist art photography unwittingly provided also a good breeding ground for defiance, with varying outcomes. Nobuyoshi, aside from being a highly prolific photographer, emerged as a controversial public figure because of his experimentation of nudist photos, sometimes including sado-masochistic contents and strong visual imagery of the human genitalia. Extending the limits of the society is still a powerful weapon of the oppressed. Economic development also came much later among countries in Asia. Most of these countries experienced socio-political upheavals as they strived to free themselves from colonial bondage. They also struggled in eventually demolishing whatever remaining post-colonial structures controlled by local elites who replaced their previous colonial masters. Art, in general, was just one of the tools used by those who wanted to reform their societies. Photography, along with other visual arts, is a powerful medium that could effectively increase the potency of the message reformists want to embed in the public psyche. One study conducted by Willem van Schendel of the University of Amsterdam and International Institute of Social History is particularly enlightening. The study involved a minority indigenous group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a district in Bangladesh. The study reveals how photography was utilized as a potent tool against the localized colonial onslaught by more economically dominant Bangladeshi districts and cities—a grim reminder of the country’s colonial history. It also showcases the adverse impacts of what Schendel calls as â€Å"enforced nudity†. B. Edward Weston and other leading Western nude photographers Edward Weston was an American photographer born towards the end of the 19th century. He was born at the time when the artist community started reviving the Renaissance cultural legacy and reached the zenith of his career as an artist-photographer at the time when the so-called â€Å"Sexual Revolution† was slowly beginning to invade the United States. Weston started exploring photography as an adolescent using a camera given to him by his father. Although born of a family with a relatively strong intellectual tradition, he dismissed the virtue of completing formal education and began concentrating on photography and exploring various techniques that eventually led him to fame. When Weston was already embarking on his photography career, the prevailing art genre was pictorialism. Pictorialist photography is characterized by the suppression of finer details through photo manipulation. Some people called it as the abstract painting version of photography. Photography then was not considered strictly as an art form, unlike the typical paintings and sculptures. Pioneering artist-photographers wanted to emulate the painting as a legitimate art form, hence the manipulation of the photo outputs to mimic abstract paintings. Pictorialism was essentially used as a critical vehicle in the eventual acceptance of photography as a valid art. The leading figure in the said art movement was Alfred Stieglitz, notably starting with his Camera Work publication from 1913-1917. Weston eventually abandoned Pictorialism in favor of straight photography. Together with other notable colleagues, such as Ansel Adams and William Van Dyke, Weston founded the Group f/64, then initially composed of seven 20th century-photographers based in San Francisco, US. The group wanted to offer an alternative paradigm, employing unadulterated and purist version of photos, with subjects usually confined to those naturally existing objects. Western nude photographers were relatively not adversely affected by socio-political upheavals experienced then in less developed societies around the world. They enjoyed more liberal atmosphere, allowing them wider breadth to explore unusual and more controversial subjects. One specific issue, however, hounded Weston, in particular. At the time when he was slowly building his budding career, he was relatively located apart from his fellow photographers, mostly living and exhibiting in New York and other areas in the east coast. At that time, Weston was living in California. Photo reproduction was then still a developing technology, mostly relying on photo templates that required greater task in reproducing them. The state of technology and his physical location provided the fertile ground for the development of his unique ideas on photography. To a certain extent, Weston is considered by art historians as the primary precursor of purist nude photography in the United States. C. Araki Nobuyoshi briefly showcased Nobuyoshi is a leading and highly controversial Japanese photographer born in 1940 in Tokyo. He started his passion in photography when he was employed by Dentsu, Inc. , an advertising company. Soon, he embarked on a more independent career path, submitting majority of his works to leading magazines and other publications in Japan. Nobuyoshi is a seemingly interesting case. Despite living in a much-developed country compared to Japan’s neighboring countries in Asia, he was not exempted from the restrictive government regulating arms, largely influenced by the dominant socio-cultural and moral tenets. In fact, as recent as 1992, police officers raided a photo gallery where his famous book by Nobuyoshi, entitled â€Å"Erotos†, was being sold. Police personnel arrested various people behind the event on obscenity grounds. A year earlier, he was slapped with a 300,000-yen fine because of erotic photos in a photo exhibit titled â€Å"Photo-maniac Diary†. In stark contrast to the repressive state censorship of his works in Japan, â€Å"Erotos† was widely acclaimed in Western countries, with the book’s Austrian publisher expressing shock and utter disappointment. Weston and Nobuyoshi share one specific photo style. Unlike most other nude photographers who remain focused on the body shape and not the person as the dominant subject, Weston and Nobuyoshi took many photos depicting even clearly showing the human face. It was a substantial departure from the prevalent and more careful technique that gives lesser emphasis on the human face, cognizant of the blurry line dividing nude photography and pornography. Nobuyoshi went even further by taking countless photos of the human genitalia, explaining largely why he is both loved and hated by art critics in his own country. Conclusion As elucidated earlier, the evolution of nude photography as another legitimate art form did not come about as a sudden explosion of defiance against the dominant genre in photography. The state of technology in photo reproduction and existing socio-cultural tenets dictated the pace of development of nude photography as an alternative art form. Western countries, with better equipment and more liberal atmosphere, were responsible in the initial appearance of nudist photos as distinctly different from erotic and pornographic materials. Photos of nude women gained wider and smoother acceptance among the literati in these countries. Asian nude photographers have an entirely different experience. As indicated in the case of Nobuyoshi, they were struggling against repressive social structures that were consequently translated into literal censorship of their works by government authorities. Despite the economic boon Japan was experiencing as late as the 1990s, oppressive and conservative structures and mindset had then yet to be demolished and replaced. Bibliography Hirsch, Robert, â€Å"Seizing the Light: A History of Photography. † NY: McGraw-Hill, 2000 â€Å"Nude Photography. † Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nude_photography â€Å"Pictorialism. † Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Pictorialism van Schendel, William. â€Å"A Politics of Nudity: Photography of the ‘Naked Mru’ of Bangladesh. † Cambridge Journals. http://journals. cambridge. org/action/displayAbstract? fromPage=online&aid=100313

Prelude to Foundation Chapter 19 Dors

SELDON, HARI-†¦ it is customary to think of Hari Seldon only in connection with psychohistory, to see him only as mathematics and social change personified. There is no doubt that he himself encouraged this for at no time in his formal writings did he give any hint as to how he came to solve the various problems of psychohistory. His leaps of thought might have all been plucked from air, for all he tells us. Nor does he tell us of the blind alleys into which he crept or the wrong turnings he may have made†¦ As for his private life, it is a blank. Concerning his parents and siblings, we know a handful of factors, no more. His only son, Raych Seldon, is known to have been adopted, but how that came about is not known. Concerning his wife, we only know that she existed. Clearly, Seldon wanted to be a cipher except where psychohistory was concerned. It is as though he felt-or wanted it to be felt-that he did not live, he merely psychohistorified. Encyclopedia Galactica 91. Hummin sat calmly, not a muscle twitching, still looking at Hari Seldon and Seldon, for his part, waited. It was Hummin, he thought, who should speak next. Hummin did, but said merely, â€Å"A robot? Me?-By robot, I presume you mean an artificial being such as the object you saw in the Sacratorium in Mycogen.† â€Å"Not quite like that,† said Seldon. â€Å"Not metal? Not burnished? Not a lifeless simulacrum?† Hummin said it without any evidence of amusement. â€Å"No. To be of artificial life is not necessarily to be made of metal. I speak of a robot indistinguishable from a human being in appearance.'. â€Å"If indistinguishable, Hari, then how do you distinguish?† â€Å"Not by appearance.† â€Å"Explain.† â€Å"Hummin, in the course of my flight from yourself as Demerzel, I heard of two ancient worlds, as I told you-Aurora and Earth. Each seemed to be spoken of as a first world or an only world. In both cases, robots were spoken of, but with a difference.† Seldon was staring thoughtfully at the man across the table, wondering if, in any way, he would give some sign that he was less than a man-or more. He said, â€Å"Where Aurora was in question, one robot was spoken of as a renegade, a traitor, someone who deserted the cause. Where Earth was in question, one robot was spoken of as a hero, one who represented salvation. Was it too much to suppose that it was the same robot?† â€Å"Was it?† murmured Hummin. â€Å"This is what I thought, Hummin. I thought that Earth and Aurora were two separate worlds, co-existing in time. I don't know which one preceded the other. From the arrogance and the conscious sense of superiority of the Mycogenians, I might suppose that Aurora was the original world and that they despised the Earthmen who derived from them-or who degenerated from them. â€Å"On the other hand, Mother Rittah, who spoke to me of Earth, was convinced that Earth was the original home of humanity and, certainly, the tiny and isolated position of the Mycogenians in a whole galaxy of quadrillions of people who lack the strange Mycogenian ethos might mean that Earth was indeed the original home and that Aurora was the aberrant offshoot. I cannot tell, but I pass on to you my thinking, so that you will understand my final conclusions.† Hummin nodded. â€Å"I see what you are doing. Please continue.† â€Å"The worlds were enemies. Mother Rittah certainly made it sound so. When I compare the Mycogenians, who seem to embody Aurora, and the Dahlites, who seem to embody Earth, I imagine that Aurora, whether first or second, was nevertheless the one that was more advanced, the one that could produce more elaborate robots, even ones indistinguishable from human beings in appearance. Such a robot was designed and devised in Aurora, then. But he was a renegade, so he deserted Aurora. To the Earthpeople he was a hero, so he must have joined Earth. Why he did this, what his motives were, I can't say.† Hummin said, â€Å"Surely, you mean why it did this, what its motives were.† â€Å"Perhaps, but with you sitting across from me,† said Seldon, â€Å"I find it difficult to use the inanimate pronoun. Mother Rittah was convinced that the heroic robot-her heroic robot-still existed, that he would return when he was needed. It seemed to me that there was nothing impossible in the thought of an immortal robot or at least one who was immortal as long as the replacement of worn-out parts was not neglected.† â€Å"Even the brain?† asked Hummin. â€Å"Even the brain. I don't really know anything about robots, but I imagine a new brain could be re-recorded from the old.-And Mother Rittah hinted of strange mental powers.-I thought: It must be so. I may, in some ways, be a romantic, but I am not so much a romantic as to think that one robot, by switching from one side to the other, can alter the course of history. A robot could not make Earth's victory sure, nor Aurora's defeat certain-unless there was something strange, something peculiar about the robot.† Hummin said, â€Å"Does it occur to you, Hari, that you are dealing with legends, legends that may have been distorted over the centuries and the millennia, even to the extent of building a veil of the supernatural over quite ordinary events? Can you make yourself believe in a robot that not only seems human, but that also lives forever and has mental powers? Are you not beginning to believe in the superhuman?† â€Å"I know very well what legends are and I am not one to be taken in by them and made to believe in fairy tales. Still, when they are supported by certain odd events that I have seen-and even experienced myself-â€Å" â€Å"Such as?† â€Å"Hummin, I met you and trusted you from the start. Yes, you helped me against those two hoodlums when you didn't need to and that predisposed me in your favor, since I didn't realize at the time that they were your hirelings, doing what you had instructed them to do.-But never mind that.† â€Å"No,† said Hummin, a hint of amusement-finally-in his voice. â€Å"I trusted you. I was easily convinced not to go home to Helicon and to make myself a wanderer over the face of Trantor. I believed everything you told me without question. I placed myself entirely in your hands. Looking back on it now, I see myself as not myself. I am not a person to be so easily led, yet I was. More than that, I did not even think it strange that I was behaving so far out of character.† â€Å"You know yourself best, Hari.† â€Å"It wasn't only me. How is it that Dors Venabili, a beautiful woman with a career of her own, should abandon that career in order to join me in my flight? How is it that she should risk her life to save mine, seeming to take on, as a kind of holy duty, the cask of protecting me and becoming single-minded in the process? Was it simply because you asked her to?† â€Å"I did ask her to, Hari.† â€Å"Yet she does not strike me as the kind of person to make such a radical changeover in her life merely because someone asks her to. Nor could I believe it was because she had fallen madly in love with me at first sight and could not help herself. I somehow wish she had, but she seems quite the mistress of her emotional self, more-I am now speaking to you frankly-than I myself am with respect to her.† â€Å"She is a wonderful woman,† said Hummin. â€Å"I don't blame you.† Seldon went on. â€Å"How is it, moreover, that Sunmaster Fourteen, a monster of arrogance and one who leads a people who are themselves stiff-necked in their own conceit, should be willing to take in tribespeople like Dors and myself and to treat us as well as the Mycogenians could and did? When we broke every rule, committed every sacrilege, how is it that you could still talk him into letting us go? â€Å"How could you talk the Tisalvers, with their petty prejudices, into taking us in? How can you be at home everywhere in the world, be friends with everyone, influence each person, regardless of their individual peculiarities? For that matter, how do you manage to manipulate Cleon too? And if he is viewed as malleable and easily molded, then how were you able to handle his father, who by all accounts was a rough and arbitrary tyrant? How could you do all this? â€Å"Most of all, how is it that Mannix IV of Wye could spend decades building an army without peer, one trained to be proficient in every detail, and yet have it fall apart when his daughter tries to make use of it? How could you persuade them to play the Renegade, all of them, as you have done?† Hummin said, â€Å"Might this mean no more than that I am a tactful person used to dealing with people of different types, that I am in a position to have done favors for crucial people and am in a position to do additional favors in the future? Nothing I have done, it might seem, requires the supernatural.† â€Å"Nothing you have done? Not even the neutralization of the Wyan army?† â€Å"They did not wish to serve a woman.† â€Å"They must have known for years that any time Mannix laid down his powers or any time he died, Rashelle would be their Mayor, yet they showed no signs of discontent-until you felt it necessary that they show it. Dors described you at one time as a very persuasive man. And so you are. More persuasive than any man could be. But you are not more persuasive than an immortal robot with strange mental powers might be.-Well, Hummin?† Hummin said, â€Å"What is it you expect of me, Hari? Do you expect me to admit I'm a robot? That I only look like a human being? That I am immortal? That I am a mental marvel?!† Seldon leaned toward Hummin as he sat there on the opposite side of the table. â€Å"Yes, Hummin, I do. I expect you to tell me the truth and I strongly suspect that what you have just outlined is the truth. You, Hummin, are the robot that Mother Rittah referred to as Da-Nee, friend of Ba-Lee. You must admit it. You have no choice.† 92. It was as though they were sitting in a tiny Universe of their own. There, in the middle of Wye, with the Wyan army being disarmed by Imperial force, they sat quietly. There, in the midst of events that all of Trantor-and perhaps all the Galaxy-was watching, there was this small bubble of utter isolation within which Seldon and Hummin were playing their game of attack and defense-Seldon trying hard to force a new reality, Hummin making no move to accept that new reality. Seldon had no fear of interruption. He was certain that the bubble within which they sat had a boundary that could not be penetrated, that Hummin's-no, the robot's-powers would keep all at a distance till the game was over. Hummin finally said, â€Å"You are an ingenious fellow, Hari, but I fail to see why I must admit that I am a robot and why I have no choice but to do so. Everything you say may be true as facts-your own behavior, Dors's behavior, Sunmaster's, Tisalver's, the Wyan generals'-all, all may have happened as you said, but that doesn't force your interpretation of the meaning of the events to be true. Surely, everything that happened can have a natural explanation. You trusted me because you accepted what I said; Dors felt your safety to be important because she felt psychohistory to be crucial, herself being a historian; Sunmaster and Tisalver were beholden to me for favors you know nothing of, the Wyan generals resented being ruled by a woman, no more. Why must we flee to the supernatural?† Seldon said, â€Å"See here, Hummin, do you really believe the Empire to be falling and do you really consider it important that it not be allowed to do so with no move made to save it or, at the least, cushion its Fall?† â€Å"I really do.† Somehow Seldon knew this statement was sincere. â€Å"And you really want me to work out the details of psychohistory and you feel that you yourself cannot do it?† â€Å"I lack the capability.† â€Å"And you feel that only I can handle psychohistory-even if I sometimes doubt it myself?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And you must therefore feel that if you can possibly help me in any way, you must.† â€Å"I do.† â€Å"Personal feelings-selfish considerations-could play no part?† A faint and brief smile passed over Hummin's grave face and for a moment Seldon sensed a vast and arid desert of weariness behind Hummin's quiet manner. â€Å"I have built a long career on paying no heed to personal feelings or to selfish considerations.† â€Å"Then I ask your help. I can work out psychohistory on the basis of Trantor alone, but I will run into difficulties. Those difficulties I may overcome, but how much easier it would be to do so if I knew certain key facts. For instance, was Earth or Aurora the first world of humanity or was it some other world altogether? What was the relationship between Earth and Aurora? Did either or both colonize the Galaxy? If one, why didn't the other? If both, how was the issue decided? Are there worlds descended from both or from only one? How did robots come to be abandoned? How did Trantor become the Imperial world, rather than another planet? What happened to Aurora and Earth in the meantime? There are a thousand questions I might ask right now and a hundred thousand that might arise as I go along. Would you allow me to remain ignorant, Hummin, and fail in my task when you could inform me and help me succeed?† Hummin said, â€Å"If I were the robot, would I have room in my brain for all of twenty thousand years of history for millions of different worlds?† â€Å"I don't know the capacity of robotic brains. I don't know the capacity of yours. But if you lack the capacity, then you must have that information which you cannot hold safely recorded in a place and in a way that would make it possible for you to call upon it. And if you have it and I need information, how can you deny and withhold it from me? And if you cannot withhold it from me, how can you deny that you are a robot-that robot the Renegade?† Seldon sat back and took a deep breath. â€Å"So I ask you again: Are you that robot? If you want psychohistory, then you must admit it. If you still deny you are a robot and if you convince me you are not, then my chances at psychohistory become much, much smaller. It is up to you, then. Are you a robot? Are you Da-Nee?† And Hummin said, as imperturbable as ever. â€Å"Your arguments are irrefutable. I am R. Daneel Olivaw. The ‘R' stands for ‘robot.' â€Å" 93. R. Daneel Olivaw still spoke quietly, but it seemed to Seldon that there was a subtle change in his voice, as though he spoke more easily now that he was no longer playing a part. â€Å"In twenty thousand years,† said Daneel, â€Å"no one has guessed I was a robot when it was not my intention to have him or her know. In part, that was because human beings abandoned robots so long ago that very few remember that they even existed at one time. And in part, it is because I do have the ability to detect and affect human emotion. The detection offers no trouble, but to affect emotion is difficult for me for reasons having to do with my robotic nature-although I can do it when I wish. I have the ability but must deal with my will not to use it. I try never to interfere except when I have no choice but to do so. And when I do interfere, it is rarely that I do more than strengthen, as little as I can, what is already there. If I can achieve my purposes without doing even so much, I avoid it. â€Å"It was not necessary to tamper with Sunmaster Fourteen in order to have him accept you-I call it ‘tampering,' you notice, because it is not a pleasant thing to do. I did not have to tamper with him because he did owe me for favors rendered and he is an honorable man, despite the peculiarities you found in him. I did interfere the second time, when you had committed sacrilege in his eyes, but it took very little. He was not anxious to hand you over to the Imperial authorities, whom he does not like. I merely strengthened the dislike a trifle and he handed you over to my care, accepting the arguments I offered, which otherwise he might have considered specious. â€Å"Nor did I tamper with you noticeably. You distrusted the Imperials too. Most human beings do these days, which is an important factor in the decay and deterioration of the Empire. What's more, you were proud of psychohistory as a concept, proud of having thought of it. You would not have minded having it prove to be a practical discipline. That would have further fed your pride.† Seldon frowned and said, â€Å"Pardon me, Master Robot, but I am not aware that I am quite such a monster of pride.† Daneel said mildly, â€Å"You are not a monster of pride at all. You are perfectly aware that [it] is neither admirable nor useful to be driven by pride, so you try to subdue that drive, but you might as well disapprove of having yourself powered by your heartbeat. You cannot help either fact. Though you hide your pride from yourself for the sake of your own peace of mind, you cannot hide it from me. It is there, however carefully you mask it over. And I had but to strengthen it a touch and you were at once willing to take measures to hide from Demerzel, measures that a moment before you would have resisted. And you were eager to work at psychohistory with an intensity that a moment before you would have scorned. â€Å"I saw no necessity to touch anything else and so you have reasoned out your robothood. Had I foreseen the possibility of that, I might have stopped it, but my foresight and my abilities are not infinite. Nor am I sorry now that I failed, for your arguments are good ones and it is important that you know who I am and that I use what I am to help you. â€Å"Emotions, my dear Seldon are a powerful engine of human action, far more powerful than human beings themselves realize, and you cannot know how much can be done with the merest touch and how reluctant I am to do it.† Seldon was breathing heavily, trying to see himself as a man driven by pride and not liking it. â€Å"Why reluctant?† â€Å"Because it would be so easy to overdo. I had to stop Rashelle from converting the Empire into a feudal anarchy. I might have bent minds quickly and the result might well have been a bloody uprising. Men are men-and the Wyan generals are almost all men. It does not actually take much to rouse resentment and latent fear of women in any man. It may be a biological matter that I, as a robot, cannot fully understand. â€Å"I had but to strengthen the feeling to produce a breakdown in her plans. If I had done it the merest millimeter too much, I would have lost what I wanted-a bloodless takeover. I wanted nothing more than to have them not resist when my soldiers arrived.† Daneel paused, as though trying to pick his words, then said, â€Å"I do not wish to go into the mathematics of my positronic brain. It is more than I can understand, though perhaps not more than you can if you give it enough thought. However, I am governed by the Three Laws of Robotics that are traditionally put into words-or once were, long ago. They are these: † ‘One. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. † ‘Two. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. † ‘Three. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.' â€Å"But I had a†¦ a friend twenty thousand years ago. Another robot. Not like myself. He could not be mistaken for a human being, but it was he who had the mental powers and it was through him that I gained mine. â€Å"It seemed to him that there should be a still more general rule than any of the Three Laws. He called it the Zeroth Law, since zero comes before one. It is: † ‘Zero. A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.' â€Å"Then the First Law must read: † ‘One. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the Zeroth Law.' â€Å"And the other laws must be similarly modified. Do you understand?† Daneel paused earnestly and Seldon said, â€Å"I understand.† Daneel went on. â€Å"The trouble is, Hari, that a human being is easy to identify. I can point to one. It is easy to see what will harm a human being and what won't-relatively easy, at least. But what is humanity? To what can we point when we speak of humanity? And how can we define harm to humanity? When will a course of action do more good than harm to humanity as a whole and how can one tell? The robot who first advanced the Zeroth law died-became permanently inactive-because he was forced into an action that he felt would save humanity, yet which he could not be sure would save humanity. And as he became inactivated, he left the care of the Galaxy to me. â€Å"Since then, I have tried. I have interfered as little as possible, relying on human beings themselves to judge what was for the good. They could gamble; I could not. They could miss their goals; I did not dare. They could do harm unwittingly; I would grow inactive if I did. The Zeroth Law makes no allowance for unwitting harm. â€Å"But at times I am forced to take action. That I am still functioning shows that my actions have been moderate and discreet. However, as the Empire began to fail and to decline, I have had to interfere more frequently and for decades now I have had to play the role of Demerzel, trying to run the government in such a way as to stave off ruin-and yet I will function, you see. â€Å"When you made your speech to the Decennial Convention, I realized at once that in psychohistory there was a tool that might make it possible to identify what was good and bad for humanity. With it, the decisions we would make would be less blind. I would even trust to human beings to make those decisions and again reserve myself only for the greatest emergencies. So I arranged quickly to have Cleon learn of your speech and call you in. Then, when I heard your denial of the worth of psychohistory, I was forced to think of some way to make you try anyway. Do you understand, Hari?† More than a little daunted, Seldon said, â€Å"I understand, Hummin.† â€Å"To you, I must remain Hummin on those rare occasions when I will be able to see you. I will give you what information I have if it is something you need and in my persona as Demerzel I will protect you as much as I can. As Daneel, you must never speak of me.† â€Å"I wouldn't want to,† said Seldon hurriedly. â€Å"Since I need your help, it would ruin matters to have your plans impeded.† â€Å"Yes, I know you wouldn't want to.† Daneel smiled wearily. â€Å"After all, you are vain enough to want full credit for psychohistory. You would not want anyone to know-ever-that you needed the help of a robot.† Seldon flushed. â€Å"I am not-â€Å" â€Å"But you are, even if you carefully hide it from yourself. And it is important, for I am strengthening that emotion within you minimally so that you will never be able to speak of me to others. It will not even occur to you that you might do so.† Seldon said, â€Å"I suspect Dors knows-â€Å" â€Å"She knows of me. And she too cannot speak of me to others. Now that you both know of my nature, you can speak of me to each other freely, but not to anyone else.† Daneel rose.-Hari, I have my work to do now. Before long, you and Dors will be taken back to the Imperial Sector-â€Å" â€Å"The boy Raych must come with me. I cannot abandon him. And there is a young Dahlite named Yugo Amaryl-â€Å" â€Å"I understand. Raych will be taken too and you can do with any friend as you will. You will all be taken care of appropriately. And you will work on psychohistory. You will have a staff. You will have the necessary computers and reference material. I will interfere as little as possible and if there is resistance to your views that does not actually reach the point of endangering the mission, then you will have to deal with it yourself.† â€Å"Wait, Hummin,† said Seldon urgently. â€Å"What if, despite all your help and all my endeavors, it turns out that psychohistory cannot be made into a practical device after all? What if I fail?† Daneel rose. â€Å"In that case, I have a second plan in hand. One I have been working on a long time on a separate world in a separate way. It too is very difficult and to some ways even more radical than psychohistory. It may fail too, but there is a greater chance of success if two roads are open than if either one alone was. â€Å"Take my advice, Hari! If the time comes when you are able to set up some device that may act to prevent the worst from happening see if you can think of two devices, so that if one fails, the other will carry on. The Empire must be steadied or rebuilt on a new foundation. Let there be two such, rather than one, if that is possible.† He rose, â€Å"Now I must return to my ordinary work and you must turn to yours. You will be taken care of.† With one final nod, he rose and left. Seldon looked after him and said softly, â€Å"First I must speak to Dors.† 94. Dors said, â€Å"The palace is cleared. Rashelle will not be physically harmed. And you'll return to the Imperial Sector, Hari.† â€Å"And you, Dors?† said Seldon in a low tight voice. â€Å"I presume I will go back to the University,† she said. â€Å"My work is being neglected, my classes abandoned.† â€Å"No, Dors, you have a greater task.† â€Å"What is that?† â€Å"Psychohistory. I cannot tackle the project without you.† â€Å"Of course you can. I am a total illiterate in mathematics.† â€Å"And I in history-and we need both.† Dors laughed. â€Å"I suspect that, as a mathematician, you are one of a kind. I, as a historian, am merely adequate, certainly not outstanding. You will find any number of historians who will suit the needs of psychohistory better than I do.† â€Å"In that case, Dors, let me explain that psychohistory needs more than a mathematician and a historian. It also needs the will to tackle what will probably be a lifetime problem. Without you, Dors, I will not have that will.† â€Å"Of course you'll have it.† â€Å"Dors, if you're not with me, I don't intend to have it.† Dors looked at Seldon thoughtfully. â€Å"This is a fruitless discussion, Hari. Undoubtedly, Hummin will make the decision. If he sends me back to the University.† â€Å"He won't.† â€Å"How can you be sure?† â€Å"Because I'll put it to him plainly. If he sends you back to the University, I'll go back to Helicon and the Empire can go ahead and destroy itself.† â€Å"You can't mean it.† â€Å"But I certainly do.† â€Å"Don't you realize that Hummin can arrange to have your feelings change so that you will work on psychohistory-even without me?† Seldon shook his head. â€Å"Hummin will not make such an arbitrary decision. I've spoken to him. He dares not do much to the human mind because he is bound by what he calls the Laws of Robotics. To change my mind to the point where I will not want you with me, Dors, would mean a change of the kind he can not risk. On the other hand, if he leaves me alone and if you join me in the project, he will have what he wants-a true chance at psychohistory. Why should he not settle for that?† Dors shook her head. â€Å"He may not agree for reasons of his own.† â€Å"Why should he disagree? You were asked to protect me, Dors. Has Hummin canceled that request?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Then he wants you to continue your protection. And I want your protection.† â€Å"Against what? You now have Hummin's protection, both as Demerzel and as Daneel, and surely that is all you need.† â€Å"If I had the protection of every person and every force in the Galaxy, it would still be yours I would want.† â€Å"Then you don't want me for psychohistory. You want me for protection.† Seldon scowled. â€Å"No! Why are you twisting my words? Why are you forcing me to say what you must know? It is neither psychohistory nor protection I want you for. Those are excuses and I'll use any other I need. I want you-just you. And if you want the real reason, it is because you are you.† â€Å"You don't even know me.† â€Å"That doesn't matter. I don't care.-And yet I do know you in a way. Better than you think.† â€Å"Do you indeed?† â€Å"Of course. You follow orders and you risk your life without hesitation and with no apparent care for the consequences. You learned how to play tennis so quickly. You learned how to use knives even more quickly and you handled yourself perfectly in the fight with Marron. Inhumanly-if I may say so. Your muscles are amazingly strong and your reaction time is amazingly fast. You can somehow tell when a room is being eavesdropped and you can be in touch with Hummin in some way that does not involve instrumentation.† Dors said, â€Å"And what do you think of all that?† â€Å"It has occurred to me that Hummin, in his persona as R. Daneel Olivaw, has an impossible task. How can one robot try to guide the Empire? He must have helpers.† â€Å"That is obvious. Millions, I should imagine. I am a helper. You are a helper. Little Raych is a helper.† â€Å"You are a different kind of helper.† â€Å"In what way? Hari, say it. If you hear yourself say it, you will realize how crazy it is.† Seldon looked long at her and then said in a low voice, â€Å"I will not say it because†¦ I don't care.† â€Å"You really don't? You wish to take me as I am?† â€Å"I will take you as I must. You are Dors and, whatever else you are, in all the world I want nothing else.† Dors said softly, â€Å"Hari, I want what is good for you because of what I am, but I feel that if I wasn't what I am, I would still want what is good for you. And I don't think I am good for you.† â€Å"Good for me or bad, I don't care.† Here Hari looked down as he paced a few steps, weighing what he would say next. â€Å"Dors, have you ever been kissed?† â€Å"Of course, Hari. It's a social part of life and I live socially.† â€Å"No, no! I mean, have you ever really kissed a man? You know, passionately?† â€Å"Well yes, Hari, I have.† â€Å"Did you enjoy it?† Dors hesitated. She said, â€Å"When I've kissed in that way, I enjoyed it more than I would have enjoyed disappointing a young man I liked, someone whose friendship meant something to me.† At this point, Dors blushed and she turned her face away. â€Å"Please, Hari, this is difficult for me to explain.† But Hari, more determined now than ever, pressed further. â€Å"So you kissed for the wrong reasons, then, to avoid hurt feelings.† â€Å"Perhaps everyone does, in a sense.† Seldon mulled this over, then said suddenly, â€Å"Did you ever ask to be kissed?† Dors paused, as though looking back on her life. â€Å"No.† â€Å"Or wish to be kissed again, once you had?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Have you ever slept with a man?† he asked softly, desperately. â€Å"Of course. I told you. These things are a part of life.† Hari gripped her shoulders as if he was going to shake her. â€Å"But have you ever felt the desire, a need for that kind of closeness with just one special person? Dors, have you ever felt love.† Dors looked up slowly, almost sadly, and locked eyes with Seldon. â€Å"I'm sorry, Hari, but no.† Seldon released her, letting his arms fall dejectedly to his sides. Then Dors placed her hand gently on his arm and said, â€Å"So you see, Hari. I'm not really what you want.† Seldon's head drooped and he stared at the floor. He weighed the matter and tried to think rationally. Then he gave up. He wanted what he wanted and he wanted it beyond thought and beyond rationality. He looked up. â€Å"Dors, dear, even so, I don't care.† Seldon put his arms around her and brought his head close to hers slowly, as though waiting for her to pull away, all the while drawing her nearer. Dors made no move and he kissed her-slowly, lingeringly, and then passionately-and her arms suddenly tightened around him. When he stopped at last, she looked at him with eyes that mirrored her smile and she said: â€Å"Kiss me again, Hari. Please.† [1] All quotations from the Encyclopedia Galactica here reproduced are taken from the 116th Edition, published 1,020 FE by the Encyclopedia Galactica Publishing Co., Terminus, with permission of the publishers.)

Ethical Relativism and its Beliefs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical Relativism and its Beliefs - Assignment Example This argument is true because from the past, cultures were isolated and people had little information about other cultural practices. Today, people consider their practices and traditions in their own cultures, which have existed over the years, in determining what is ethical. Even with information technology and the widespread use of the internet, it would be ignorant to think that there is a universal way of determining what is ethical. It is not wise to think that one culture’s way of doing things is the best way of doing things. Cultural diversity still exists around the world. For the instant, after the recent terror attacks in Paris, where the main target was a satirical magazine called Charlie Hebdo, people in France felt that the attack was an attack on freedom of speech. As a result, the magazine published magazines with Prophet Mohamed on the front cover. Many French people supported the magazine and saw this as a way of fighting for their freedom of speech. In this country and the rest of the western countries, the publication of the magazine was ethical. However, this was not the case in the Arab and Muslim countries who considered the action unethical and a mockery to the prophet and to the Muslim religion. This example clearly shows that it is not reasonable to assume that people interpret what is ethical in the same way. The theory of ethical relativism is also valid because it avoids ethnocentrism. This means that the theory does not judge another culture based on another culture instead. Ethnocentrism makes one culture look more superior to the others. It is argued that such thoughts are a form of discrimination just like sexism and racism (Hinman, 2013). Ethnocentric people devalue and look down on other cultures. If religious opinions are brought into this debate, more cultural differences can be identified. There are different religious opinions on what is right and what is wrong.  

Chipotle food company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Chipotle food company - Essay Example it governance risk indicators which makes the company have low risks in its board, audit and compensation and a medium risk in shareholders’ rights. With the high rate of quarterly revenue growth of 24.50% against 8.90% of the industry, the company has experienced a steady growth in its branch network. Moreover, it is among the top companies in terms of market capitalization with a ROE of 23.64%, which guarantees investors of a good return. For the company to enjoy high performance, it should restructure its employment policies to word off concerns by investors due to the audits concerning immigrant workers (Schriftenreihe & Buchholz , 2008). 2. Review of the company and its business Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc is among the top service provision companies in the restaurant industry with a market capitalization of 7.75 B US dollars. It competes directly with companies such as Panda Restaurant Group, Inc, Taco Bell Corporation and Odoba Restaurant Corporation which are privately owned companies. Nevertheless, the company has indirect competitors such as Whitebread PLC, Mitchells & Butlers PLC and McDonald Corp whose market capitalization is higher. Over the years, this company has continued to spread its tentacles and has managed to establish a large network in US in 33 states. The expansion has made it find new ways of serving its large clientele through product innovations and appealing selling propositions Key product lines Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc has a wide range of products made up of dishes and beverages. These include burritos, selected beer, salads, salsas, lettuce, tacos, fruit drinks, burrito bowls, cheese, margaritas, a variety of meat types and guacamole. These gives the company a leverage as the customers have a wide variety to choose from. The extensive branch network in the 33 states in United States which are augmented by other branches in UK and Canada makes the company and its subsidiary serve a wide geographical area. The company lev erages its products by using natural ingredients which makes the products unique and appealing to many customers. This is manifested by the long queues especially during lunch times (Wylie, 2009). Strengths The competitive advantage over other business competitors is dependent on the goals and vision as well as mission thereof. The prudential guidelines make a company be able to offer quality products and efficient services to its customers. Moreover, a company gets the motivation to expand its network in a wide geographical area as its products and services get a high demand. The strengths of a company therefore, put a company in a good position to do business and be able to make profits even when others are counting losses. These key driving forces can be product innovations, strong financial postings, efficient and competent workforce, diversified business operations, competent management, conducive working environment as well as better terms of pay and compensation, and well tho ught and articulated financial and business operation policies. This is also boosted by establishment of clear

Examine a foreign currency TUR for Turkey and provide an analysis of Essay

Examine a foreign currency TUR for Turkey and provide an analysis of that currency against the US Dollar over the 5-year period ending with 2010 - Essay Example In order to understand Exchange trade fund properly, a comparison between currency of two nations namely Turkey and USA has to be carried out. The reason for the comparison is because both are developed countries and have almost similar expenditure values. The comparison will be done based on a five year period that ends in 2010. USA and Turkey are both developed countries but have different economy. The difference in economy can be reviewed through the use of Exchange-traded fund (ETF) .Additionally, various forms of ETFs which include Dow Jones Istanbul 20 (DJIST), Non-Financial Istanbul 20 (NFIST), Smaller Companies Istanbul 25 (SMIST), and Istanbul GOLD ETF (GODIST) will be considered while trying to understand ETF in the two countries. The authorized participants, comprising of large broker-dealers that have ensued various agreements with exchange-traded funds distributor, are basically engaged in buying or selling of ETF shares directly to or from the ETF. Turkey and the USA buys or sells the ETF either directly from the fund company or through the use of a broker. This can also occur in creation units, â€Å"which comprise of large segments of several ETF shares that are normally exchanged duly with baskets of underlying securities† (Wiandt and Will 37). This means that the eligible participants may opt for long-term investment in ETF shares mainly due to its high return rates and global recognition. Indeed, they play a bigger role in the open markets during the process of market making. This is mainly through the utilization of their ability towards exchanging the creation segments with their varying forms of securities. This hence provides a wide range of ETF liquidity in terms of its shares, thus assis ting in ensuring that the net asset value of all the underlying assets are approximates of their intraday market pricing values. Trading can be rated in terms of

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On the overall audit process - Case Study Example They did not aid the embezzlers, did not know about the embezzlement, and did not perform recklessly. But they failed to comply adequately with GAAS and thus failed their role as auditors. Not knowing about the embezzlement was the problem: It is the role of an auditor to discover embezzlement, financial impropriety and dishonesty. The definition of â€Å"duty of care† has changed over the centuries of auditing tradition. In 1896, Justice Lopes defined the duty of care thusly: â€Å"It is the duty of an auditor to bring to bear on the work he has to perform that skill, care and caution which a reasonably careful, cautious auditor would use...An auditor is not bound to be a detective, or, as was said to approach his work with suspicion, or with a forgone conclusion that there is something wrong. He is a watchdog, not a bloodhound. He is justified in believing tried servants of the company in whom confidence is placed by the company. He is entitled to assume that they are honest and rely upon their representations, provided he takes reasonable care† (Morgan, 2000). Under this standard, Mitchell & Moss did no wrong. But this standard is no longer sufficient, especially as the complexity of financial transactions mount. In 1958, Lord Denning established a new norm: â€Å"To perform his task properly he must come to it with an enquiring mind - not suspicious of dishonesty - but suspecting that someone may have made a mistake somewhere and that a check must be made to ensure that there has been none†. Finally, in 1997, UK Law changed to require a â€Å"suspicious† attitude. US law is the same now: Mitchell & Moss acted as watchdogs, not bloodhounds, and thus were deficient and negligent. The United States GAAS is now divided into ten standards split into three categories. Mitchell & Moss clearly were adequately trained and proficient, independent and used professional care (AICPA). But where Mitchell and Moss failed is

Russia and Eastern Europe After Lenin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Russia and Eastern Europe After Lenin - Essay Example Post war development in Russia under Stalinism influenced the economically and strategically forward European nations which had followed the system of Stalinism for a long time until the result of World War II brought drastic changes in the political and economic definitions across the world. This essay focuses on the development and decline of Stalinism in different countries across Central and Eastern Europe during the post-war period. During the time of developmental changes in Russia, Leninist followers identified the ratification possibilities of the state to approve the powers of capital investors over the working class of the country. Revolutionary leaders of Russia then framed actions and campaigns to direct the state administration to communism. The ideal principle of the movements of Leninists was the preference of revolution to evolution and social democracy to communism. However, the two leaders were guided by more less similar principle and were highly regarded as the leaders of the masses. According Foster (2007), both Lenin and Stalin were men of action and thought who have shown the example of coordination of theories and practices required for the realisation of daily needs of the masses of the country for achieving the desired outlook of socialism. By the end of Leninist era, Stalin emerged as a prime figure in the Republic of Russia with his principles of centralized administration and trust in th e employment of terror for power. The Stalinist invasion of Europe started with the agreement of Germany giving away the states of Baltic and part of Nazi dominant part of Poland to Russia (Western Civilization, 1997). Stalin’s foremost political identity was reflected by his distrust for the Western Europeans and the immediate lenience he showed to the supporting nations that stood along with his interest. The time of Churchill posed crucial protest

One-way analysis of variance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

One-way analysis of variance - Assignment Example Basically, the basis of one-way ANOVA is to partition the sum of squares within and between classes. This method enables effective comparison of different classes simultaneously assuming the data is normally distributed. One way ANOVA is determined in three critical steps starting with obtaining squares for all classes of data. The degree of freedom, which is the total number of independent data that is considered to estimate a parameter, is also determined. Estimating degrees of freedom later on becomes effective in analysing null hypothesis. According to null hypothesis, the mean of classes under consideration is taken to be the same meaning that the variation within and between classes is not significantly different if not identical. This paper applies one-way ANOVA to analyze data for three categories of doctors. To analyse the variance, one-way ANOVA helps to establish the mean of individual groups, known as the treatment mean. Further, the grand mean, which is the mean for the entire data, is also computed. A scatter diagram (data on appendix) No. of years in NHS only (x-axis) Perform a one-way analysis of variance, recording all your interim calculations. Treatment mean for the three groups is: NHS only-11.25, private practice only-25.33 and both NHS and private practice-21.92. Grand mean= (11.25+25.33+21.92)/3 = 19.5 Estimate the treatment effects of the three groups. =11.25-19.5=-8.25 =25.33-19.5=5.83 =21.92-19.5=2.42 The researcher should then compute one-way ANOVA to determine whether the differences in effects are significant. To determine the variance, the following formula is used: One-way ANOVA, MS Total = MS Total/ (J-1) = (SS Within +SS between)/ (N-1) MS within estimates variability within a group, it is also known as SS residue or SS error. N is Degree of Freedom (D.F) calculated as; N-1, where N is the total number of observation within individual group. MS within= SS within/ D.F (N-1) On the other hand, MS between estimates variability betw een the groups, it is also known as SS explained since it shows variability explained by group membership. J is Degrees of Freedom (D.F) calculated as; J-1, where J is the total number of observations in all groups. MS between= SS between/ D.F (J-1) Ti=135, Tii=304, Tiii=263 (i) (?y) ^2 =702^2 = 13,689 N 36 (ii) ?Y^2= 12^2++27^2+1^2....+37^2= 19,578 (iii) ?Ti^2 = 135^2+ 304^2+ 263^2 = 1,518.75 +7,701.33+5,764.08 = 14,984.16 N 12 12 12 SS Within= 19,578-14,984.16 = 4,593.84 SS Between=14,984.16- 13,689 =1,295.16 SS Total= 19,578- 13,689= 5,889 Therefore: MS Total= SS Total/ (N-1) =5,889/36 =163.58 MS Between= SS Between/ (J-1) =1,295.16/2= 647.58 MS Within= SS Within/ (N-1) =4,593.84/ (36-3) =139.2 Source SS D.F Mean Square F Treatment SS Between= 1,295.16 J-1=2 SS Between/(J-1) =647.58 = MS Between MS Within = 4.7 Error SS Within= 4,593.84 N-J=33 SS Within/(N-1) =139.2 Total SS Total= 5,889 N-1=35 SS Total/(N-1) =168.26 Step1: Ho= ?= ?= ?, that is, treatments are equally effective S tep2: An F statistic is appropriate measure, since the dependent variable is continuous and there are more than one group. Step 3: Since ? = 0.05 and D.F= 2, 33, accept Ho if F2, 33 < 19.4 Step4: The computed value of F-statistic is 4.7 Step 5: Accept H0. The treatments are equally effective. Explain what your results mean in a way that a non-statistician could understand. As mentioned above, one-way ANOVA seeks to compare two or more classes of data in order to determine if

Great Expectations Paper Essay Example for Free

Great Expectations Paper Essay When an individual loves someone else, it is difficult to let the person go or accept his/her return, because of the poor decision that one person made to leave his/her loved one. However, since the person already left, is it worth the pain and agony in the end to accept that person into the hurt individual’s life once again? In his Victorian Literature novel, Charles Dickens satirizes the Victorian Era multiple times within Great Expectations. For example, in the 1800’s the masculine class were the regulators of the family and weren’t aggravated by women, but in this novel the females obtain the upper position, like how Mrs. Joe overpowers Orlick. Charles Dickens named the novel Great Expectations, because its means that an individual is positive that something significant will occur with no warning if the individual wants it bad enough, but in English Victorian society, achieving expectations meant that someone was destined to collect vast sums of riches and success. Throughout Pips three stages in the novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens utilizes the character of Joe, who out of compassion and sympathy demonstrates that suffering is a sacrifice one is willing to endure for the love of another individual, and how this idea changes what Pip’s views, personality, and values are at the end of his high expectations. During Pip’s first stage of expectations, Joe explicates that he suffers greatly because of Orlick, Mrs. Joe and Pip, but only wishes to steer Pip in the right direction and to have given enough ‘love’ to change Pip’s views and expectations. First, Orlick takes Joe by surprise when he starts to get angry and jealous of Pip and tells him â€Å"No favoring in this shop. Be a man!(15.65), but because Joe wants no trouble he lets him have the day off which makes Mrs. Joe terribly angry. Additionally, when Orlick offends Mrs. Joe, Joe defends her even though she was mad at him, because he loves her and is willing to suffer through Orlicks harsh words. Pip’s troublesome behavior at the table is brought to attention when Joe states, â€Å"You and me is always friends, and Id be the last to tell upon you, any timeBut such as a most uncommon bolt as that!†(2.8) Pip’s actions got Joe in trouble while he was trying to help Pip, because the helpfu l advice made Joe ignore Mrs. Joe and which made him have to face consequences such as being â€Å"pounced on† and â€Å"knocked [in] his head for a little while against the wall behind him† (2.8). Also, it expresses how Joe dealt with Mrs. Joe’s and Pip’s spiteful behavior all because he cared for them and was compassionate to all people. Pip’s behavior shows readers that as a child he didn’t have any expectations but eventually set the bar higher which was not what Joe truly wanted to happen. This helps readers understand how having sympathy and a good heart doesn’t always payoff at first, but latter lets people become the best of friends in the long run, like Pip and Joe. While sitting by the warm fire at night Joe explains to Pip that â€Å"When [he] got acquainted with his sister, it were the talk how she was bringing him up by hand†¦. [And] how small and flabby and mean he was†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and how he â€Å"†¦would have formed the most contemptible opinion of himself self!† (7.38) which makes Pip start to cry because he felt ashamed by how he acted, but grateful that Mrs. Joe and Joe stayed with him. At that time Pip, a commoner, didn’t care about anyone and just wanted to do what he wanted, although it made him look bad and unkind. In the long run Pip’s disobedient attitude and Joe’s loving heart was worth it because he and Joe became best friends which was held together by a strong bond of love. Lastly, Joe was affectionate and loving towards Pip even when Pip was cruel to him which shows readers the sacrifice Joe endured with Pip. The forfeit Pip watched Joe go through changed him because it made him want to do something more and become someone higher who wont have to deal with pain and sacrifice. In conclusion, Pip starts to change into the gentleman he wants to become while Joe is still remaining at is side, longing for his ‘old chap’. During Pip’s second stage of his expectations Joe sacrificed his dignity and friendship for Pip, because he felt sympathy towards him which makes readers wonder if Joe gave Pip enough ‘love’ to not make him leave his dear friend, Joe, and change his personality. To, begin, Joes love is tested and questionable when he tells Pip, â€Å"But if you think as Money can make compensation to me for the loss of the little child†¦and ever the best of friends!(18.116). Pip is shocked by how much he means to Joe, but still but doesn’t see how much Joe really loves him. Pip deserts Joe â€Å"whom he was so ready to leave and so unthankful to†(18.115), and thinks to himself â€Å"I’ll see you again†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and â€Å"I’ll feel the loving tremble of your hand upon my arm, as solemnly this day as if it had been the rustle of an angels wing! †¦ â€Å"(18.115), which proves that Pip has not realized that this decision makes Joe sacrific e and suffer all the more. Furthermore, Joe had to scornfully respect his decision to leave and become a gentleman and bear the loneliness while he was away, but still loved him and waited for when Pip realized he should go back to Joe. Moreover, Pip changes his view on his future when Joe explains that â€Å"Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come†¦ You and me is not two figures to be together in London; nor anywhere else but where is private, and beknown, and understood among friends.†(27.246) Likewise, when Joe is in London with Mr. Wopsle he wants to put pity on Pip and explain to him that they are different people in separate worlds and he wants to show Pip how it hurts when people leave their loved ones. Joe thinks he has sacrificed enough and wants Pip to come back, but now Joe realizes that they are separate people with different expectations. Additionally, Pip and Joe are still great friends; however their breaking relationship hurts Pip and makes him want to restart his life and be with Joe, but he still stays a gentleman. All in all, Joe leaving Pip just as Pip did to him, once again creates Pip to think differently and regret some of his decisions in the past. Throughout Pip’s final stage of expectations, Joe’s compassionate attitude is expected to make Pip change his values and stop Joe from suffering, but makes Joe ponder if he gave Pip enough sympathy to make him come back to him. Firstly, after Pip’s benefactor, Magwitch, dies Pip starts to become ill and also gets arrested because of his debt. While sitting back at his house Pip starts to realize that he always has someone there for him, Joe, and expresses his regret by saying â€Å"O Joe, you break my heart! Look angry at me, Joe. Strike me, Joe. Tell me of my ingratitude. Dont be so good to me!†(57.388). This statement said by Pip when Joe is by his side, expresses the point that even though Pip did wrong, Joe will always be there to comfort him and make him feel better, and that Pip thinks he should not be treated good by Joe at this point. Furthermore, Pip now understands, â€Å"There was no change whatever in Joe. Exactly what he had been in my eyes then, he was in my eyes still; just as simply faithful, and as simply right†(57.389), which proves that the compassion from other individuals do change peoples values and outlooks on all things in life and expectations. Likewise, Pip appreciates that Joe was faithful to him even though endures suffering because of his high expectations and dire choice to be a gentleman. Moreover, since Pip â€Å"†¦soon began to understand that the cause of it was in [him], and that the fault of it was all [his].†(58.395), he started to feel for his dear friend Joe, again as he once did and wanted to have never of met his benefactor that lead him to leave Joe. This connects to the main point because it finalizes how love is stronger then the pain someone causes another person and how it can shape an individual in different ways. Additionally, when the shameful Pip says, â€Å"Dont tell him, Joe, that I was thankless; dont tell him, Biddy, that I was ungenerous and unjust; only tell him that I honored you both, because you were both so good and true, and that†¦ I said it would be natural to him to grow up a much better man than I did.(59.404), it shows Joe and Biddy how much Pip is truly sorry for the choice he made and, reluctantly, they responded with, God knows as I forgive you, if I have anythink to forgive!(59.404). All in all, Joe’s compassionate and sympathetic heart pays of and lets him forfeit no more, which proves the point that suffering is a sacrifice one is willing to endure for the love of another individual even if the other person doesn’t see the good you are doing until the end. In conclusion, all of the suffering and sacrifice Joe endures, because of much love and compassion he has for others in Great Expectations did prove to make his ‘dear old chap’ Pip reconsider his views, personality and values towards life and his own expectations. The significance in this novel is that sacrificing yourself out of sympathy is a step anyone should be willing to take to have an even stronger bond within the relationship. The idea of sacrifice and suffering for another individual is in the real word, like how a mama bear feeds her cubs before herself, because she cares for them, and just like how Joe suffers and hates being away from ‘his cub’ Pip. All in all, without sacrifice and suffering people won’t have as much compassion for each other and would not endure the pain if they didn’t truly care for them.

Newspaper and Credibility Essay Example for Free

Newspaper and Credibility Essay In logic and rhetoric, a fallacy is usually an improper argumentation in reasoning often resulting in a misconception or presumption. Literally, a fallacy is an error in reasoning that renders an argument logically invalid It is important to use relevant, accurate, and reliable sources in a research paper. What do you need to consider when searching for useful sources? How do you know when sources are reliable? What are some warning signs that indicate you should avoid a particular source? If biases or fallacies are part of the source material that you want to use, how do you manage this issue? Sites which have org, . gov, .edu, as opposed to .com, are all sites that are usually credible sources. I frequent both the University of Phoenix website and Facebook. UOPs website is certainly credible vs. Facebook, not a credible site, which I mostly use to keep in touch with my family in California and Hawaii.Credibility with online sources is being a reviewed and published source, and example of a non-credible source is wikipedia because anyone can go in and change the sources of information. In order to verify the credibility of online sources, you can ask yourself the following questions. Does the author of this article have enough credentials or knowledge about this topic? Does the author subject his/her works to peer reviews? Is the information on this article updated or the latest? Does the site include information on how often the site is updated? Is a copyright date listed? Credibility doesnt matter in fiction. My space ship can fly at 1,000 times the speed of light and nobody cares. Credibility always matters in non-fiction. Even when looking for support for an opinion, it is important to consider the source. Credibility is most important if you want people to know that you are dependable and reliable and your word is good. If you say you are going to do something,they know it will be done and it is less important if you do not care what people think of you. For example:Your car is not running and buddy one says he will be over in the morning at 9 am to fix it for you and then never shows up. Buddy #2 says he will be over at 9 am and shows up at 8:30 am with tools in hand. Now which one of these two do you want to associate with? Advertising has a clear money-making agenda. But bias is prevalent in everyday situations, too. One way to better understand the difference between fact and opinion is to read the news in your local newspaper and then again in the tabloids. Watch what words are used in each one. See how many facts you can spot in each story. How do they differ? Demographic factors affect views toward advertising (Shavitt et al., 1998) as do endorser and corporate credibility (Lafferty Goldsmith, 1999) and an individual’s attitude â€Å"to a particular media product within a particular medium† (Bryant Thompson, 2002, p. 289). Attitudes toward advertising differ depending on gender, age, education, income, and ethnicity. The attitudes of males, consumers between the age of 18 and 34, consumers with less education and income, and non-Whites are generally more favorable toward advertising (Shavitt et al., 1998).The credibility of an advertiser also plays a role in how people view advertising. Any bias that a source holds may not always be directly stated; sometimes it is implied by only presenting one side or viewpoint of a topic. Some people believe that the media controls the world; I feel this claim has merit. Many people do not question information reported on the news, because what would the media gain by exaggerating a story or only presenting one side? One must keep in mind that the media is run by ratings; sensational stories make for great ratings. This is where thinking critically can be your best ally. Even a seemingly impartial source could have a hidden agenda. The vital factors that influence credibility of newspapers are the decline in newspaper sales, advertising, ownership of the newspaper agencies, and inaccuracy. The severe competition for magazine sales also causes magazines to exaggerate or misconstrue their stories. Other factors that can affect the credibility of magazines are the journalists. There are various genres of television programming. Television programming can vary form news to cooking shows. TV programs also exaggerate and over sensationalize their stories to grab the attention of viewers. Between television programming are advertising. In a sense, TV programs are basically a means to get people to watch commercials (Cyber College Internet Campus, 2007, paragraph 8). These factors of advertising and the competition for viewers affect the credibility of television programming. Factors that influence internet credibility are trustworthiness and expertise. Does the source have good intention? Is the source honest and unbiased? Is the author an experienced professional on the sources topic? Another factor, that influences the credibility of the internet, is that anyone can post her or his own website. They can claim that the website is trustworthy. Thus, it is vital that one evaluates the sources taken from the internet. Advertisers use various methods to persuade the public to purchase their products or services. Advertisers know how to make their products and services appealing without sufficient information. Advertising is designed to generate a need to buy certain brand-name products, which may be more expensive than lesser-known brands, while not being significantly better (Cyber College Internet Campus, 2007, paragraph 8). The fact that advertising will fallaciously depict or appeal to one emotions to sell a product is the most essential factor that affect credibility. I personally feel printed resources to be more credible. People increasingly rely on Internet and web-based information despite evidence that it is potentially inaccurate and biased. Newspapers, books, magazines, and television all undergo certain levels of factual verification, analysis of content, and editorial review, whereas Internet information is subject to no such scrutiny. Internet sites that parallel their print counterparts, such as major newspapers and periodicals, invoke the same editorial processes as their print forms, but they constitute only a small portion of the information available over the Internet. More people are turning to the internet because it is more of a convenience factor in my opinion. I stumbled across a study conducted on the credibility of printed resouces vs.online. I found it to be very interesting. Here is the link for those that are interested. http://com.miami.edu/car/miamibeach1.htm

Effort Estimation Model

Effort Estimation Model Effort Estimation Model for each Phase of Software Development Life Cycle Information Technology Abstract Assessment of main risks of software development discloses that major threat of delays are caused by poor effort / cost estimation of the project. Low / poor cost estimation is the second highest priority risk [1]. This risk can affect four out of total five phases of software development life cycle i.e. Analysis, Design, Coding and Testing. Hence targeting this risk alone may reduce the over all risk impact of the project by fifty percent. Architectural designing of the system is great activity which consumes most of the time in SDLC. Obviously effort is put to produce the design of the system. It is evident that none of the existing estimation models try to calculate the effort put on designing of the system. Although use case estimation model uses the use case points to estimate the cost. But what is the cost of creating use cases? One reason of poor estimates produced by existing models can be negligence of design effort/cost. Therefore it shall be well estimated to prevent any cost overrun of the project. We propose a model to estimate the effort in each of these phases rather than just relying upon the cost estimation of the coding phase only. It will also ease the monitoring of project status and comparison against planned cost and actual cost incurred so far at any point of time. Key Words: Effort estimation, software development life cycle, Risk Mitigation, Project Planning. Section 1:Back Ground and Motivation Existing estimation techniques such as Functions point estimation and use case estimation rely upon the artifacts generated in earlier phase. These artifacts (i.e. Use case diagrams, class diagrams, sequence diagrams, activity diagrams, state chart diagrams etc) depict the architectural design of the entire system. These diagrams are not generated out of a blue or are not instantly available without putting any effort. Standard task set and the percentage of work duration associated with it decomposes the ratio of effort put in each phase. Activity Standard Work Effort% Definition Phase Business Requirements 6% Functional Specifications 10% Delivery Phase Detailed Design 14% Code and Unit Test 40% System Testing 20% User Acceptance Testing 10% Total Effort 100% Table 1 Standard Task Set Work Duration %age [4] It is evident in Table 1 that although major ratio (i.e. 40%) of work effort is put in code and unit test phase. The rest 60 percent effort is put in different areas of the project development life cycle. Hence this signifies the importance of estimating cost for these phases of software development life cycle. Usually the effort estimation is done after the analyses phase when the project reaches into coding stage. The cost / effort is measured in terms of line of codes for each functionality to be incorporated into the software. Therefore it is very clear to understand that only 40 % (i.e. as shown in table 1) of the total software development effort is estimated. Whereas this estimation is delayed until all the analyses and design has completed. We have adapted a different approach and suggest that effort estimation shall be carried out for each phase of the development process. We propose this model to avoid the risk of low cost estimation as earliest as possible in the development process. Current software cost estimation methods first try to know the size of the software to be built. Based upon this size the expected effort to be put is measured. Estimated effort further is utilized to calculate the duration (i.e. Time required) and cost (monetary/human resources) of the project. Calculating the size of project is the foremost logical step to be taken in order to estimate the effort. If we do not know the distance to be travelled we can not estimate the cost and duration per mileage. Therefore we also first measure the size of the entire project. We know that there are mainly three categories of software projects i.e. Organic mode: These are relatively small, simple SW projects (application programs e.g. Thermal analysis program) Embedded mode: System programs which are developed within tight HW, SW and operational constraints (flight control SW for aircraft). Semi-detached mode: An intermediate level (size and complexity, utility programs) SW projects with mixed experience, mixed requirements. It can be mixture of organic and embedded software as well. Therefore these categories of the software project would effect the estimation of each phase. We propose the modular approach to be adapted for the development efforts so that even large scale enterprise information systems can also be decomposed into a mix of several modules of organic, semi detached, and embedded system. Therefore the focus can be put in individual module accordingly. Following are the sections which individually discuss the methods to estimate the expected effort to be put in each phase of software development life cycle. Section 2: Measuring the Size of each project We do not try to measure the size of the project as a whole rather focus on measuring the size of each phase i.e. Analyses, design, coding and testing phases. This can provide us different milestones in the road map of project development. Our main objective is to suggest the estimation methods for analysis, design and testing phasing. We do not focus much on coding phase, as we would refer to the already done work for this phase. We estimate the size of each phase based on the artifacts and project products which are produced in that particular phase. E.g. the analyses phase produces the detailed user requirements document (use cases etc), design phase produces the class diagram, database Model i.e. E-R diagram, Sequence diagrams, activity diagrams etc. based upon these deliverables in each phase the time and effort to produce these are estimated. Figure 1 shows the step wise flow chart of entire project planning process. After the identification of project scope/objectives, characteristics and infrastructure, the identification of all the activities is done. This identification of activities at early stage may provide the strong basis to estimate the size of each individual phase of software development process. As this involves the work break down structure to be defined and can identify the product / deliverable of each phase. Figure also shows that based on this identification of each activity the cost and risk are estimated for each activity. As this is part of project planning. Therefore we can obtain this information in the most earliest phase of project planning and do not need to wait for longer duration as have to wait in existing cost estimation models to estimate the cost of construction of the software. Hence early stage activity identification can help us to estimate the cost/effort for each phase i.e. analysis, design, coding and testing. Figure 1. Step wise Project Planning [3] Moreover the responsibility of the analysis and design of the system goes to the systems analyst. Generally system is viewed in terms of a collection of sub systems therefore each sub system analysis and design is the responsibility of any individual analyst. Hence the human resource need is very clear for analysis and design phase. But when team work is done in coding and testing phases then more stressed has to be put to estimate the required human resources. Bruegge defines the following work products to be generated in each phase of software development life cycle. Figure 2 Software Life Cycle Activities. [6] Bruegge describes and decomposes the overall system model and design into three types of design models i.e. Analysis model Object Design model Behavioral model Section 3: Requirement Elicitation Analyses Phase Size and Effort Estimation In earlier phase of the development process the scope is defined. This may also provide an intuitive vision of project size to the experienced project managers. Unified Process for software development defines the work products in different phases. [2] During the analyses phase we propose Inception points to be identified and estimated. Inception points refer to the points which must be analyzed about in context of the interest of each stakeholder. As use cases represent the points of some business operation or systems functionality, which needs to be clearly understood and modeled therefore we call them inception points. We must know the accurate number of inception points and the effort needed to develop those points. Unified process for software development describes the following main work products in Inception phase. Definition of the problem Identification of all stakeholders Identification of Functional / non functional requirements Validation of requirements [2] Therefore all the main inception points can be clearly identified. Inception point will mainly focus around the identification of the users / stakeholders (possible actors functionality needed) and requirements. The size can be estimated for this phase by estimating the requirements. This can further be utilized to estimate the cost to build the use cases for each requirement. We suggest that the elicitation of requirements may consume effort / cost relevant to the number of requirements and user present. No of Requirements No of Users Project Size Less than 25 1-10 Small 25 50 11-50 Average 50 above 50 above Large Table 2 Project size based on no of requirements. Table 2 can signifies the need to enumerate each requirement, moreover each requirement will produce a use case and would also identify all its possible actors. Hence this can produce the effort needed to build those use cases which need to be documented in the software requirement specification document. Use cases can also be weighted to measure their complexity. So that the size can be determined and the time taken to create those use cases can be determined. No of Processing Points No of Actors No of > Use case Time taken to develop No of Person 1-3 1-2 1-2 3 Hours 1 4-5 3-5 3-5 5 Hours 1 5 + 5 + 5 + 7 Hours 1 Table 3 Use Case Types We have categorized the use cases based upon the number of processing points. actors, and the extension use cases which emerge from that particular use case. We conducted a survey to get the opinion from experienced software engineers and project managers in different software houses. We had distributed the questionnaire which primarily contained the questions to ask about the time needed to develop different types of use case as described in the table 3. We have processed the survey data and have obtained the average time for each category of the use case. Hence we can sum up the total number of inception points and can multiply them by the number of hours required for each type of use case. Summing up the time required in hours for each type of use case can then further give us the total number of hours required to build inception points. Section 4:Design Phase Size and Effort Estimation Object design model and behavioral model are produced during the design phase. We can estimate the size of each model alone and can sum the effort to obtain the total design phase effort. We can identify the Design Points, therefore we can add the weight associated to each design point and hence can measure the size and effort of that particular design point. This gives the lower level granularity to perceive the effort and size of each possible system feature to be designed. Hence further gives us tighter grip on the project progress. Following can be the possible design points: Entity classes Boundary classes Control classes System decomposition System integration Aggregation / composition of objects Generalization / specialization of objects Object interaction Interfaces Application logic 4.1Object Design Model Size and Effort The main artifact of the Object model is class diagram. Class diagram is comprised of several entity, control and boundary classes. If Entity Relationship diagram has already been produced then the effort can be lessened as persistent object are already been identified. Further more each type of classes need to be designed very carefully as control classes depict all the processing and interaction responsibilities among the classes. Where as boundary classes are responsible for the interfacing with either other system components, users, or external system for electronic data interchange. We declare each class to be a design point. A class in the system primarily depicts a systems object which interacts with other objects in systems environment. Hence a class does not dangle into a void but have solid connections and interactions with other classes that must be very accurately and rightly designed. Therefore we can categorize the class based on the complexity of their design. A class would be difficult to design if it has many associations , aggregations, generalizations, functionalities, overloading, overriding etc. Table 4 depicts the parameters to judge the complexity ratio of any class to be designed therefore the effort would be relevant to the complexity ratio. Complexity Ratio No of Associations No of Interactions No of Methods No of Interfaces Time Required (Hours) Low None None 1-5 1 2 2 Medium Single Single 5-10 2 5 5 High Multiple Multiple 10-20 5 10 8 Table 4: class categories for design complexity Our conducted survey tells us that based upon the complexity ratio any class can take 2, 5, or 8 hours for designing. Remember that this time is for design of the class but coding can take extra effort in the coding phase. Therefore if we can obtain the total number of design points and multiply them with the hours required to get the total hours required for the entire class diagram. 4.2Behavioral Model Size and Effort Behavioral model comprises of different diagrams which depicts the state, interaction of different classes with each other and the sequence of activities performed in the system to achieve any objective or perform business function. These diagrams are sequence diagram and state transition diagrams mainly. We declare each of these diagrams to be the design point as it is very essential to trace the possible states of the system so that a good design can be obtained. Whereas the sequence diagrams is the most sophisticated diagram that shows the complete step by step functionality and participating classes. But if the functionality of the existing system has been well understood then creation of sequence diagrams become easier. Our surveyed data reveals the facts that each of these diagrams can be different in complexity level i.e. low, medium, high. Parameters involved for determining the complexity level are summarized in table 5 below. Complexity Ratio State Chart No of States No of Transitions / Events No of Activity of State No of Actions associated with states Time Required (Hours) 1-5 1-5 1-5 1-5 3 5-10 5-7 5-7 5-7 5 10-15 7-10 7-10 7-10 8 Sequence Diagram NO of Classes No of Actors No of Events No of Control, boundary Entity Objects Time Required (Hours) 1-5 1-5 1-5 1-5 3 5-10 5-7 5-7 5-7 5 10-15 7-10 7-10 7-10 8 Table 5 Complexity parameters for behavioral model diagrams We perceive each of such diagrams as design point and can sum up the total number of hours required for each to obtain the total size and effort estimate to develop behavioral model. 4.3Data Model Size and Effort Mainly an objective is set to achieve an Entity Relationship diagram to depict the over all database design for the entire software system. E-R diagram itself involves several steps to be carried out. The size of database model itself may relate to the type of software project. Embedded software may not be using any large data base but may work using few files available in the read only memory. Whereas organic and semi detached software projects may require the data to be accessed from large databases. Complexity further increases when database has to be distributed. For the time being we do not discuss about distributed databases and leave it for our future work. Therefore we aim to estimate the size of conventional database to be built. The following table 4 summarizes the parameters that would affect the size of the database. Complexity Ratio No of Entities No of Relationships No of Aggregations Normalization Degree Query Joins Low 10-20 5-10 1-5 1-3 10-15 Medium 20-35 10-20 5-10 1-3 15-25 High 35-50 20-40 10-20 1-5 25-50 Table 6: Complexity parameters and Ratio to develop E-R Model The larger the number of entities to be designed, larger the database size increases. It is time consuming task to identify the persistent objects (i.e. entities) in the system. Then to design its attribute set. Different types of attributes i.e. composite, derived and multi-valued attributes are difficult to design and to decide that which entity would be the best suitable place for any particular attribute. Based upon the complexity ratio we had conducted a survey to know that how much time and personnel is required to build the E-R model. We have analyzed the data and got the average time and no of personnel required to develop E-R model. Complexity Ratio Days Required Personnel Required Low 7 10 1 2 Medium 10 25 1 3 High 25 40 1 5 Table 7: Required Effort for E-R model We have considered the flexibility range in the commencement of the activities as well, therefore have concluded the time and personnel requirement in to range of lower and upper limit. Section 5.Coding phase Size and Effort estimate Much work has been done to focus at the code phase effort and size estimation. Mainly Constructive Cost Model and Use case Point method strive hard to achieve this objective. But still there is room for the refinement. But as our main objective was to talk about the other phases e

William Staffords Traveling Through the Dark Essay -- Stafford Travel

Profound Meaning in William Stafford's Traveling Through the Dark The power of the poet is not only to convey an everyday scene into a literary portrait of words, but also to interweave this scene into an underlying theme. The only tool the poet has to wield is the word. Through a careful placement and selection of words, the poet can hopefully make his point clear, but not blatantly obvious. Common themes of poems are life, death, or the conflicting forces thereto. This theme could never possibly be overused because of the endless and limitless ways of portraying life or death through the use of different words. In William Stafford's "Traveling Through the Dark", there are conflicting themes between birth and death, man and nature, and ultimately creation and destruction. It would take several years for a fully grown doe to develop, but it would only take a few seconds for that doe to be killed. Using the tools of the poet, Stafford vividly illustrates a scene in which man has completely destroyed and felt no remorse for a product of nature. This disrespect would only lead the driver to travel through the moral darkness of insensitivity and desecration towards nature. There it lay. A dead doe in middle of the road. The previous driver obviously had not thought twice after hitting the deer and had no sincerity towards nature nor the decency to at least move the carcass off the narrow road. The deer lay in the road, unburied, uncared for, unmourned, and untended. Ironically, if the carcass had remained on the road, it might have meant the taking of the life of another driver as Stafford stated in line 4: "that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead". The tone of this poem is one of sadness, but also blata... ...le impact of a car, lasting no longer than a few seconds. With few moral decisions made, the only road that lies as a result, is the road to death and ultimate degradation of society and nature both. In Stafford's poem, it was only the duty of the narrator to roll the carcass off the road and into the river, this duty fulfilled was only provoked by the lack of duty of another. Through the use of several poetic techniques, Stafford describes in a few words what would take somebody hundreds of words to describe. The brutal and harsh theme of his poem is supported by vivid images and symbols, which spotlight the situation at hand. By applying a common situation like an incidence of road-kill to all of human-kind's view towards nature, Stafford finished with a simple situation with a profound meaning. Work Cited Stafford, William. "Traveling through the Dark"

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Essay example -- Thomas Harr

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris The novel The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is said to fall under the genre of psychological horror. The stories that fall under the genre of horror include a few essential elements: a villain or one seen as evil to create an initial story line. The foil is the next element; a foil is a person who tries to stop the villain from going through with the evil plan or plot. These two elements naturally lead to conflict between the two persons or groups and then from this conflict -- suspense, the last element is added. Suspense is important to keep the reader interested and to keep the story line going. When psychology is added to a story, the definition of horror is changed completely. There are still those few essential elements above but there is also a few more added. The story now has something to do with the mind and how it works, and there is really no definition for that. The mind and it's workings are a mystery to us and that mystery of the mind adds to the suspense and t herefore the idea of psychology and horror are able to go together and become one. This essay will prove that The Silence of the Lambs is indeed a psychological horror according to the five criteria above along with other sources. The first element to a psychological horror is a villain, and the villain is The Silence of the Lambs is Mr. Jame Gumb. He is a white male in his mid thirties, 'most serial killers are white male, unemployed, intelligent and experience financial difficulty.';(Bonata, 3) Gumb is all of these things, he is unemployed but a very skilled seamstress, and using these skills is making himself a second skin out of women who he is able to take control of and render them powerless. He is also very intelligent but is anable to interact with other people and therefore remains unemployed. He experienced financial difficulties until he was the recipient of a large sum of money from an inheritance. 'The unconscious fear of women goads some men with a compulsive urge to c onquer, humiliate, hurt, or render powerless some available sample of womanhood.'; (Menninger, 183) Gumb was deeply disturbed and unable to overcome the death of his mother and he wanted to be like her and resented any woman because he feels that he should have been born a woman instead of the man that he is. He is sewing a skin of women to try to beco... .... The closing of the case did not come without suspense however. Through the entire book there was some sort of suspense weather it concerned Buffalo Bill, the actions of Hannibal Lecter, or the situation that Clarice Starling was in. The last seven chapters are the most suspenseful chapters of the story. They deal with the capture and killing of Jame Gumb, the rescuing of the prisoner that he held hostage and finally the freeing of Clarice Starling from the 'screaming of the lambs';. Clarice starling murders Jame Gumb and his prisoner is set free with a few minor injuries. Clarice Starling finally finds peace within her and is able to enjoy life to the fullest and she owes it all the Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The location of Lecter is left unknown which leave the reader without a final closing further adding to the suspense of the novel. Novels in the genre of psychological horror are said to have the elements listed above. This essay has proven that the elements are indeed in the novel The Silence of the Lambs and therefore the novel is a psychological horror. The elements listed above are found through out the novel and are just a few of the many instances in which they occur. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Essay example -- Thomas Harr The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris The novel The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is said to fall under the genre of psychological horror. The stories that fall under the genre of horror include a few essential elements: a villain or one seen as evil to create an initial story line. The foil is the next element; a foil is a person who tries to stop the villain from going through with the evil plan or plot. These two elements naturally lead to conflict between the two persons or groups and then from this conflict -- suspense, the last element is added. Suspense is important to keep the reader interested and to keep the story line going. When psychology is added to a story, the definition of horror is changed completely. There are still those few essential elements above but there is also a few more added. The story now has something to do with the mind and how it works, and there is really no definition for that. The mind and it's workings are a mystery to us and that mystery of the mind adds to the suspense and t herefore the idea of psychology and horror are able to go together and become one. This essay will prove that The Silence of the Lambs is indeed a psychological horror according to the five criteria above along with other sources. The first element to a psychological horror is a villain, and the villain is The Silence of the Lambs is Mr. Jame Gumb. He is a white male in his mid thirties, 'most serial killers are white male, unemployed, intelligent and experience financial difficulty.';(Bonata, 3) Gumb is all of these things, he is unemployed but a very skilled seamstress, and using these skills is making himself a second skin out of women who he is able to take control of and render them powerless. He is also very intelligent but is anable to interact with other people and therefore remains unemployed. He experienced financial difficulties until he was the recipient of a large sum of money from an inheritance. 'The unconscious fear of women goads some men with a compulsive urge to c onquer, humiliate, hurt, or render powerless some available sample of womanhood.'; (Menninger, 183) Gumb was deeply disturbed and unable to overcome the death of his mother and he wanted to be like her and resented any woman because he feels that he should have been born a woman instead of the man that he is. He is sewing a skin of women to try to beco... .... The closing of the case did not come without suspense however. Through the entire book there was some sort of suspense weather it concerned Buffalo Bill, the actions of Hannibal Lecter, or the situation that Clarice Starling was in. The last seven chapters are the most suspenseful chapters of the story. They deal with the capture and killing of Jame Gumb, the rescuing of the prisoner that he held hostage and finally the freeing of Clarice Starling from the 'screaming of the lambs';. Clarice starling murders Jame Gumb and his prisoner is set free with a few minor injuries. Clarice Starling finally finds peace within her and is able to enjoy life to the fullest and she owes it all the Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The location of Lecter is left unknown which leave the reader without a final closing further adding to the suspense of the novel. Novels in the genre of psychological horror are said to have the elements listed above. This essay has proven that the elements are indeed in the novel The Silence of the Lambs and therefore the novel is a psychological horror. The elements listed above are found through out the novel and are just a few of the many instances in which they occur.