Monday, September 30, 2019

Dramatic Techniques in “Oedipus the King” Essay

Sophocles was one of the most celebrated playwrights of his time, writing more than 100 plays to captivate and delight his ancient Greek audiences. Today, although only seven plays remain, his work continues to be enjoyed, evoking a variety of emotions and passions from his meaningful and disturbing tragedies, proving that he revolutionised the face of drama. One of Sophocles most legendary plays, Oedipus the King, demonstrates his outstanding writing skill, by the number of techniques he incorporates, such as dramatic irony, symbolism and his usage of the Chorus. Dramatic irony is a prominent device used in many tragedies. It allows the audience to feel a sense of privilege and engagement in the play and develops an alliance between the dramatist and the spectators, so that mere curiosity is not the only aspect keeping the viewers interested. Such tragedies containing dramatic irony include Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Time in the Conways by J.B. Priestley. In Oedipus the King, everyone in the audience knows from the beginning that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother, not only from the prologue, but due to the fact that the basic story of Oedipus was a well known myth of the time. The tension of the play, then, builds up from Oedipus slow but foreseeable advancement towards this horrifying self-knowledge. Watching Oedipus fate unfold, the audience associates with the protagonist, vividly sharing the horror of the reversal he suffers and recognising the command that fate has. By relating with the audience, Sophocles accomplished the catharsis that Aristotle thought was so essential. One scene in particular illustrates an obvious example of dramatic irony, when Oedipus is addressing his people about the plague they are suffering. And while you suffer, none suffers more than I. You have your several griefs, each for himself;But my heart bears the weight of my own, and yoursAnd all my peoples sorrows. I am not asleep.(Lines 51-54)Oedipus relates that he suffers from the fact that his people are sick, however, the viewers know its double meaning, that, although he does not know it he suffers from another type of sickness- that of being contaminated with the crimes of incest and murder, and actually, in the end  he does suffer from the shame of his people, therefore carrying their grievances. Dramatic irony increases a sense of suspense among the audience as they wait for the inevitable, foreshadowing what is to be the climax of the story; that destructive moment of realisation which is the basis of most Greek tragedies. However, apart from their base knowledge of the Oedipus legend, the audience is unaware of the order and particulars of the play, therefore a medium is needed to relate between the audience and the drama on stage. In Greek theatre this comes in the form of the Chorus. The major roles of the Chorus are to commentate and to react fittingly to the events onstage. They provide the audience with clarification and reinforce the morals of the play, reacting in a way the ideal spectators should react. The Chorus in Oedipus the King are wise Theban elders who long for stability and composure among their society, advising Oedipus to Be merciful and learn to yield in order to keep peace between himself and Creon, and in lines 875-894 they essentially exclaim that man should not try to rebel against fate, law or the gods. They also tend to keep the continuity and urgency of the play alive by summarising and foreshadowing particular events; Why has the Queen, sir, left us in such deep passion? / I fear some vile catastrophe will out†¦ The Chorus is also a tool Sophocles used to influence and control the audiences reaction because the Chorus were, in terms of status, personality and attitudes and values, very similar to the audience therefore they felt implied to feel how the Chorus was feeling. In this respect, the spectators were taking part in the play since the Chorus represented their voice. In Oedipus the King the last words are spoken directly to the viewers by the Chorus; a final summary and confirmation of tragedy, they state that all men are to be wretched until the day they die. In this tragedy the Chorus is a symbol of the common ideologies of the time and other symbols aid in giving meaning to the drama and allowing viewers to delve deeper into the plot. Symbolism is a method of revealing ideas or truth through the use of symbols. In Oedipus the KingSophocles uses symbolism in a number of instances, proving his great ability as a playwright. As mentioned, symbolism gives depth to drama, and although symbolism may not have been evident to the  ancient Greeks when viewing the play, on reflection these clues may have come known, revealing a whole new outlook of the play. In this particular tragedy sight is a consistent symbol throughout the text and it occurs both literally and metaphorically. In the beginning, clear sighted Oedipus sees only what he wishes to and is blind to the grave truth of his past (and future). He seems to pity Tiresias physical blindness more than he marvels at his gift, treating it as a significant disability and using it against him. Living in perpetual night, you cannot harm me, nor any man else that sees the light. Consequently when Oedipus comes to know of the truth he blinds himself in order to escape the shame of his children. As soon as this happens we see a change in his character; he becomes more modest and although the chorus thinks only of the hurting Oedipus must be in- Foulest disfigurement that I ever saw! O cruel, insensate agony!(lines 1298-1300) -Oedipus makes no mention of physical pain. Another symbol is that of a crucial decisive moment in the play, the three cross roads where Laius is murdered. The symbol of the crossroads shows us how although Oedipus was destined to a certain thing he did have some free will- if his character had allowed him to stay calm in the situation with Laius, Oedipus may have been better off. A further symbol is Oedipus swollen feet and his name. The link between Oedipus name and his ankle is vital because it proves that Oedipus was the child that was left to die and therefore the one whom the oracles prediction was made to. It also gives a lasting physical proof in the form of his limp that he has had from birth. In addition to this feet are a symbol for humans in this play-the Sphinx riddle demonstrates this, therefore the meaning of Oedipuss swollen feet could also describe his flaw as a human being. Through the study of some of the techniques Sophocles engaged in his plays, his aptitude and flair as playwright has become apparent and have most definitely helped his plays succeed throughout history. Dramatic irony kept viewers interested in the plot and increased suspense, symbolism gave depth to the plot and the Chorus developed the plays ability to universalise, by enabling the audience to relate to the feelings of the Chorus and the protagonist. When it was written it was, in the opinion of Aristotle, one of the greatest tragedies. Today, although attitudes and values have changed,  it has the same effect and it is still said to be original tragedy from its universal techniques and morals.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Characterisation of Eddie Carbone Essay

Explore the ways a central character is presented in the drama text. Use examples from the text in your response. Eddie Carbone, a 40 year old Italian American Citizen from Sicily, is the tragic protagonist of A view from the Bridge by Arthur Miller. Alfieri, the chorus in the story, first introduces Eddie as a good, hard working man who does normal things like raising a family, eating, getting old, etc. However as Alfieri states, no one can know what his true self is like. Alfieri prepares us for the discovery of the secrets in the play. That two illegal immigrants Marco and Rodolfo are taking shelter in Eddies home and Eddie’s deep secret of his quasi-incestuous desire for his niece, Catherine. At first, Eddie is shown as a good man who is happy and respected by his family. Eddie behaves like a normal, fairly overprotective uncle towards Catherine and the audience would probably not have guessed that he has any desire of her other than the standard uncle and niece relationship. However it is not the standard uncle and niece relationship in Eddie’s mind but far more complex. The first sense of uneasiness we see is when Catherine lights his cigarette. Eddie receives some kind of unnatural pleasure from this experience. A woman lighting a man’s cigar can have a sexual implication and this is what Eddie see in Catherine. Knowing that Eddie has these feelings, there are clues earlier back in the text to his obsession with Catherine. When Catherine sits on her heel beside him, he criticizes the length of her skirt. He doesn’t want Catherine to look attractive in public because he is worried that some man might ask her out. He wants Catherine all to himself and does anything he can to prevent her from getting a boyfriend. Eddie also does not want her moving out of his home. He wants Catherine always within his grasp. When Catherine tells Eddie that she got a new job, he disapproves straight away: â€Å"No – no, you gonna finish school. What kina job, what do you mean? All of a sudden you-â€Å". He is very panicky and disturbed by this information that Catherine is getting a job meaning that Eddie would see Catherine less which seem like a realistic reason for an uncle to be upset about, but knowing Eddie’s true intentions, he want Catherine to be near to him as close as possible. Eddie’s inner feelings are also somewhat exposed during when Eddie and Beatrice argue. Although Eddie cannot yet grasp his own feelings, is seems like other character like Alfieri and Beatrice are aware of his interest in Catherine: Eddie: â€Å"What are you mad at me lately? † Beatrice: â€Å"Who’s mad? †¦ You’re the one is mad. † Eddie is referring to â€Å"mad† as in angry and asking why Beatrice is cross with him. Beatrice responds by referring to the â€Å"mad† as in mentally insane and suggests that Eddie had lost his mind, which he eventually does. Eddie is also show to be a selfish natured and an untrustworthy man. He reminds Beatrice not to let her tired cousins sleep in his bed because the bed is his own property. This could link with the way that he feels about Catherine; she is his personal property and that no one can ‘use’ his personal property apart from himself. Eddie’s experience with life and work has led him to become untrusting of others. He advises Catherine â€Å"the less you trust, the less you be sorry† showing that Eddie has not trusted al lot of people in his life and that when he does, it turns out going wrong. This prepares us for the suspicion and distrust he has when Rodolfo arrives. Eddie becomes increasingly jealous of Catherine’s interest in Rodolfo. â€Å"Catherine: (enthralled) Leave him finish, it’s beautiful! † Catherine likes Rodolfo from the instant she met him and Eddie, aware of this is, wants Catherine to like him in the same way instead of Rodolfo. Eddie quickly comes up with an excuse to stop Rodolfo from singing by saying that â€Å"you don’t want to be picked up, do ya? † which seems like a plausible reason – if Rodolfo sings too loud then someone might notice something strange and inquire. However Eddie’s true motive for preventing Eddie from singing is to stop Catherine from being amazed by Rodolfo. Eddie’s jealousy becomes further exposed as his face is described as being ‘puffed with trouble’ in the stage direction where Catherine is making Rodolfo coffee. He is jealous that Catherine is getting Rodolfo a drink when before Catherine was getting him a beer. Eddie state of mind is shown when Catherine is talk to Eddie after she has got back from Brooklyn Paramount with Rodolfo. Catherine has told Eddie that she likes him and the stage directions show hiswd reaction to this: â€Å"He looks at her like a lost boy†. Eddie feels a sort of saddened jealousy but he is unable to realize this dishonourable emotion and incapable of admitting this to himself. He is indeed emotionally â€Å"lost†. Eddie’s obsession with Catherine and his spiteful nature grows throughout the story. He tries to do anything he can to put Catherine of Rodolfo. In his conversation with Beatrice, Eddie says to her that he is homosexual: â€Å"Paper Doll they’re callin’ him. Canary. He’s like a weird†. Eddie is trying to make Beatrice and everyone turn against Rodolfo but ironically everyone turns on him. Eddie tells Catherine that Rodolfo only likes her because he wants to obtain an American citizenship by marrying her: â€Å"Katie, he’s only bowin’ to his passport†. Eddie is trying to make Catherine doubt Rodolfo but this is unsuccessful and ends up in Catherine distrusting Eddie. This strong obsession Edie has with Catherine did not just start when the cousins arrived but has been an ongoing process from before. This is shown in Eddie’s conversation with Beatrice where she tells him that she has worries of her own: â€Å"When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie†¦ It’s almost three months†. Eddie and Beatrice have had no sexual affiliation for three months because all that has been on his mind is Catherine. Near the end of Act 1, Eddie’s is show to be violent and cold hearted. He mocks Rodolfo’s skills in singing, making clothes and cooking and compares him to himself and say that this is no place for him. He is suggesting that he is not manly enough to be here like him and that he should be in some other place. Eddie tries to supposedly â€Å"teach† Rodolfo boxing all of a sudden: â€Å"Well, come on. I’ll teach you† However Eddie knows that Rodolfo is weaker than he is and uses this as an excuse to punch Rodolfo in the face and show everyone, especial Catherine, how weak Rodolfo is and to humiliate him however this had the opposite effect and exposes how sadistic Eddie can be. Eddies motives for his actions all originate from his quasi-incestuous love for his niece. As Alfieri describes, â€Å"His eyes were like tunnels†, he can only see Catherine and no one else. He cannot understand why he only sees Catherine but that is all he sees and refuses to let any feeling or any person enter that tunnel nd making sure that Catherine stays only in his tunnel and not anyone else’s. Significantly, the lyric of the song Rodolfo sings, â€Å"Paper Doll†, symbolically reflects Eddie’s feelings for Catherine: â€Å"It’s tough to love a doll that’s not your own† â€Å"I’m gonna buy a paper doll that I can call my own† â€Å"A doll that other fellows cannot steal. † Figuratively, Eddie is the one singing the song and Catherine is the subject of the song, the doll, and that is has been ‘stolen’ by someone – Rodolfo. This song was carefully chosen by Arthur Miller to act as an intimation of what was to come. Eddie is unable to comprehend his true feelings but other characters have a clearer view than he does. Like Alfieri, who knows of his love for his niece and describes this as â€Å"a passion that had moved into his body†. This is significant because this metaphor is close to the truth of what has happed to Eddie; this newly found passion of Catherine as grown over time and has became strong enough so that it fully controls his body, and is behind every action in Eddie’s life. Eddie’s first conversation with Alfieri shows that Alfieri knows his feelings: â€Å"sometimes even a daughter, and he never realizes it, ut through the years – there is too much love for the daughter, there is too much love for the niece. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? † But Eddie does not fully understand what Alfieri is saying, he think Alfieri mean â€Å"love† and in a Uncle and niece love, but Alfieri knows Eddies feeling and is talking about real physical love for Catherine. Eddie blindness towards his inner feeling and stubbornness in letting go of Catherine are Eddie’s tragic flaws that bring upon his downfall.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

French missionaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

French missionaries - Essay Example Some people held the notion that the missionaries had a smooth time in their missions simply because they were Christians. On reading this article, they must have changed their thinking. Reading about the hardships faced by the missionaries, people agree that their work, though considered in good faith, must have taken them a lot of tolerance and determination. The narrator chooses to give the narration in two faces; one where their leader Father Paul advised them on how to behave with the Savages and the events that happened in Oumamis and Machkoutench in India. In his astounding speech to the missionaries, Father Paul issued stern and stick rules to the yet to depart missionaries. Since human is to error, he made it clear that misconduct was intolerable. Their character was supposed to depict them as the astute Christians they were, by maintaining good morals and having a clear mission and vision. While some of them could be tempted to socialize, in his speech, he made it clear tha t were to stick to their mission. Not only was this advice a warning to them, but also a sign of the seriousness of the assignments they were to handle in India. The mission to Oumamis and Machkoutench had a number of challenges, but yet very successful. In his narration, the narrator reveals the naivety these people had in their reasoning that missionaries could solve their issues. For instance, when the Savages met them, they gave them tobacco to smoke, as a sign of appreciation and their welcome. No sooner had they started smoking than one of them started addressing their issues, begging for mercy. Problems and real issues clobbered the Village, as this man reveals. They were dying of hunger, their land produced no yields, and neither did the waters harbor any fish. In their appeal, they wanted the missionaries to reverse these misfortunes, and make their land yield, diseases stop taking away their children among other problems facing them. The narrator had to correct them that t hey were not indeed the true God, but servants on a mission to spread his gospel. Thus, he managed to convince them that missionaries would pray to the living God to reverse the situation. The tone used in the narration gives the article a formal and serious appeal. Even as he narrates the incidence with the Savages, though sarcastically the villagers thought of them as God, he maintains that the serious narration of the story. Not at one point does he use casual and light wording, rather, he maintains the tone established as he gave Father Paul’s advice to them before their departure. Evidently, he proves of the difficulties they faced, right before their departure. Father Paul spared none of them, when issuing the code of conduct to them. He warned them of making the savages wait for them, cautioned them of being ceremonious with the savages, they were to provide the savages with mirrors or a tinder box or both to light their smoking pipes, they were supposed not start some thing unless they were sure they would accomplish and eat anything provided to them by the savages. On their arrival at the Village, the Savages invited them, where they offered them tobacco to smoke. Immediately, they started confessing of their problems, leaving none. Following the strict advice given by Father Paul, the narrator offered his services to the people in different capacities. After reading the article, it is hard to believe of the hardships the missionaries had to contend with in their

Friday, September 27, 2019

Should football managers be sacked when results (on the field) are Essay - 1

Should football managers be sacked when results (on the field) are poor What does your answer tell you about how we should - Essay Example The models influence two different leadership succession theories that will come in handy in the discussion of the subject matter. The two leadership succession theories are vicious cycle theory and common sense theory. The two theories give different relationship of leadership succession and performance of the organization thereby providing the basis for and sacking unsuccessful managers. The integration provides great context to explain the effect of leadership succession. The common sense theory holds that the performance of an organisation will improve when an organization sacks an unsuccessful leader. This indicates that the managers are hired to control the performance of a firm and hence are responsible for good performance. According to the resource dependence theory, the manager has control over the performance of the organisation since he has the ability to start or terminate actions at his discretion. The managers bring on board resources, information and legitimacy. This results if the organization sacks a manager with poor results and hires one with the right mix of resources, the performance will improve. This therefore roots for the sacking of the manager since he is to blame for the organization’s poor performance and hire a manager who has the right mix of resources to spur good performance in the subsequent time period. This thus provides the basis for sacking unsuccessful managers (Soebbing & Washington 2011). The other leadership succession theory is the vicious cycle theory, whose underlying support is organizational learning. The vicious cycle holds that succession in leadership naturally disrupts the organization leading to poor performance. Organization learning provides that for an organization to improve its performance there should be strategic renewal, which focuses on the whole organization not just the managers. The model disregards that managers are an important component, which determine how well the organization is run an d how well information diffused to the lower offices and employees. Organization learning holds that when a poorly performing leader is sacked the performance of the team becomes even poorer. This thus supports the vicious theory that poor performance in an organization leads to organizational change but lower performance is a result of change (Soebbing & Washington 2011). This paper will not use institutional theory in arguing the subject matter at hand since it supports the ritual scapegoat theory. The ritual scapegoat theory holds that there is no relationship between leadership succession in an organization and the performance of the organization. From this perspective the leader is only a symbol and does not influence the performance of the organization. This promotes that change is undertaken to promote social constructs, therefore going contrary to the main market consideration that change is undertaken in the search for performance gains. A non-performing manager should be s acked since a new manager spurs immediate short-term reprieve. Of nine studies scrutinizing six countries that included England and Spain, showed that replacing a poorly performing manager does improve the on-field performance of the club. This leads to increase in the club’s short-term performance when a new manager is appointed. The sacking is usually based

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Spain Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Spain - Research Paper Example Spain is re-known as the land of flamenco and bullfights, blazing heat and dusty landscape churches and castles. Moreover, it is also home to a rich cultural heritage which has been influenced by many people who have conquered Spain over thousands of years ((Lior, and Tara 4) (Faiella 7). The evidence of Spanish culture is visible everywhere, in the ancient ruins and castles that dot the landscape; in the art, music and folk dances enjoyed in different regions; in the festivals, called fiestas celebrated throughout the year and in the languages spoken around the country (Lior, and Tara 4). Undoubtedly, Spain belongs to a select group of developed western democracies- nevertheless, little over three decades ago- Spain was a comparatively shy nation mostly isolated from its European neighbors and ruled by dictatorship- even more than other countries cannot be appreciated without some understanding of its history (Christopher, Bill, and Begona 1). One explanation for the prevalent interest in Spain’s political culture is the remarkably peaceful as well as successful political transition since 1975. From a dictatorial political structure to a contemporary liberal democratic system, a succession of deep changes which have far reaching cultural consequences. Up to 1975, Spain was an abnormality in Europe, the longest as well as last surviving remnant of the military autocracies of the 1930’s. A bare seven years afterward, Spain not only held free elections, parliamentary government and a ratified democratic constitution, nevertheless had established a center left social democrat regime. Spain accomplished this by a blend of modernization as well adaptation of existing establishments as well as creative ideologies such as the substitution of unyielding unitary democratic structure of the Franco autocracy with a quasi-federal constitution producing a structure of autonomous communities which acknowledge the political , economic, as well as cultural diversity of

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Business Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business Management - Assignment Example An internal customer could be anyone within the organization. For e.g. Jessica and her team is an internal customer for the accounts department of that company because Jessica's team can not serve the suppliers and customers well until they have proper information from accounts and they are dependent on accounts. The suppliers were unhappy because they were given incorrect information at one instance and they rejected the products because some inputs were not of quality. This caused embarrassment and could have been prevented by close internal coordination. Another way of coaching employees, so that they can effectively fulfill customer needs, is to hire external consultant or auditor who periodically monitors their performance and can guide and train them. The customer service department at medical company was not in close communication with top management and their complaints and advice were not given due importance. Thus it will result in low motivation, poor customer service and people may tend to leave as their suggestions were not considered important in the organization. I have selected State library as the service provider organization as I have been interacting with this library for quite some time. The library provides a great environment to study with latest books on all subjects; magazines, periodicals, newspaper plus internet facility. The library is famous because it has taken in to accounts the needs and wants of their target customers who are between age 18 to 50. They conduct surveys to know about the preferences of the subjects of various age groups and keep the books according to it. The customer service policy of the library is attached at the end in appendix. ENSURING QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE The library through feedback process keeps themselves aware of the changing needs of the customer. Their staff go for unofficial visits to other libraries to observe what other best services are being offered there. This helps to improve themselves. Moreover they also take help of the best librarians of the country who guide them as to how they can improve their services. RESPONDING TO FEEDBACK The feedback from the customer is taken through the feedback forms placed at the entrance. Moreover a monthly feedback is taken from the permanent members of the library. Most of the customer's requests are regarding a new book or magazine to be kept in the library. They try to arrange that book and then personally inform the customer about the status of his request. The employee base of the

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Enterprise and Enterprenerual Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Enterprise and Enterprenerual Management - Essay Example There are many reasons that businesses fail, some of them fail because they are unable to recognize the threats that exist in the outside world and as well as the dynamics of the business world. Before starting a business it is very important that a business man tries best possible ways to make his business a success. For making a business a success it is extremely necessary that the business man has studied the environment of the probable business environment so that he does not delve into risks without any preliminary investigations (CAN?AS, SONDAK, 2011). When starting a business it is extremely necessary for the person who is starting a business to know whether the business he is starting is actually the one that is near to him and he can understand the essence of it. If a person starts a business related to things that is of no interest to him he will end up losing interest in it and ultimately closing down the business, without any further exploitation of opportunities. To star t a business it is necessary that everything has been worked out properly and the person starting the business should have the whole layout of the business in front of him so that he can understand what are the pros and cons of the business that he plans to start. It is very important that the business has been thought out in its fullness before being started by a person. If a person fails to account for all the minute details then the business will never be a success as many important factors will be missed out. A business plan is a very important stepping stone for any business, without a business plan if you want to start your business then you will never be able to take it forward, as you will never have much idea as to what path has to be taken to guide your business in the right direction. A designed business plan will help and guide the businessman as to what is best for the business (COVELLO, HAZELGREN, 2006). A business plan is really very important to take the business for ward as it gives the blue print of the business. A complete business plan is designed in a way that it will take into account all the profits and loss and then give the results of the impact of any kind of transaction on the bottom line of the business. It is a reflection of the possible expenses and the revenue generation of the business. It helps the new business man decide what are the possible costs that have the possibility of being incurred by him while doing the business that he plans to start and how should he work and prioritize the arrangements so that he can minimize the costs that he might incur for the business. Also, when he has designed a complete business plan then he can look for ways and methods that will also help him in looking for alternates of the possible cost incurring units of the business. When a person starts a business the main thing that he has in his mind is to earn money from it and to make profits. The only reason that he looks for new ventures is tha t he wants to have greener pastures to graze and better results than he is getting in the current job that he is doing. Designing a complete business plan will always give him an idea as to what is the best thing that can be done to overcome the possible hurdles that might come up once he starts the business. It

Monday, September 23, 2019

Risk Management & Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk Management & Project Management - Essay Example Threats are specific events that drive the project in the direction of outcomes viewed as unfavorable (for example, schedule delays, cost overruns, and inferior product performance (Heerkens, 2001). Risk management is an activity that occurs throughout the life of the project. It begins in the planning process and continues until the closing process is completed (Heldman, 2003). Many approaches can be used to address risk and the threats it produces. However, most processes for managing risk tend to follow some variation of a basic four-step approach. The first step is identification, that is, determining what threats exist. In this step, identify all significant uncertainties (sources of risk), including specific threats (also called potential problems or risk events) that could occur throughout the life of the project (Heerkens, 2001). In Project X, the areas of risk are scope, time, cost, and technology. The company would like the AMDS to be able to operate while it is being moved, while it was not included in the design accepted by the DoD. The risk is present in the project scope. Also, the project should take 5 years to complete at a cost of $1.5 billion. Is the team able to complete the project within 5 years within the budget of $1.5 billion There are also risks in the technology. The AMDS may be successful in a demonstration environment.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Marriage and family class Essay Example for Free

Marriage and family class Essay There are many different factors of communication in relationships. One of the most often asked questions about communication is how one achieves mutual communication in any type of a relationship. People sometimes feel that communication makes a better marriage. Many people often wonder how to reconnect with their partner after communication has stopped. Body language or non verbal communication plays a major role in communication. These are some the topics that will be discussed in this research paper. Mutual communication is achieved when both partners in a relationship can effectively listen and communicate their feelings with one another. Some say that this is the basis for a healthy long lasting relationship. There are many skills a good listener has to have. Some of which are easier to express than others are. The most important of which is expressing empathy (De Jong). In mutual communication both partners should make eye contact with one another. Usually when one makes eye contact it shows that they are paying attention to what the other person is saying to them at the time. When mutually communicating neither partner should send destructive messages. Destructive messages include but are not limited to ordering, threatening, lecturing, and ridiculing (Lauer). Destructive messages lead to conflict and not resolution. When one person sends a destructive message to the listener the listener more than likely will get discouraged and that will make the situation worse. Ordering and threatening lead to more of a power struggle rather than to effective communication. There are many  different styles of a poor listener. There are people who fake the fact that they are listening when their mind is in another place. For example John is making it seem like he is listening to his wife Julie when in fact he is thinking about his golf game the next day. There are people who interrupt. Interrupting decreases mutual communication. There are also people who can intellectually listen and carry on a conversation. An example of an intellectual listener is Jessica. Jessica has just told her friend Jake about her new teacher at her college. She tells Jake what he taught and the manner in which he taught it. Jessica is clearly giving Jake non verbal cues that should lead him to believe that she has a romantic interest in the new teacher. Jake does not pick up on the cues but criticizes the style that the teacher uses to teach his classes. Some people say that communication makes a better marriage. Everyday conversations increase satisfaction by offering a broad range of topics to be discussed. Usually in a marriage, when everyday conversation increases happiness, and the partners often laugh more together. Everyday conversation also allows the couple to talk about their interests and the happenings of their day in a relaxed and calm setting. When you have good communication in a marriage, conflicts are often calmly discussed. People in a marriage are self disclosed. Self disclosure is defined as the honest revealing of ones self to another. Self disclosure increases intimacy and marital satisfaction (Lahey). Partners who are in a married situation often feel the need to communicate their feelings and ideas to keep their marriage open, happy, and healthy. The main reason for breakup of marriages is a lack of communication (Stark). The cause for the lack of communication most often is that people do not know how to properly communicate with one another especially in a conflict situation where they do not agree on a point. Sometimes it takes someone from a neutral point of view to point this fact out to couples, who are having problems in the relationship. Most often the couple will not realize that they have a problem unless an outside source points it out to them. This could help them or create more conflict with in the relationship. If there is a problem, and there is no communication between the two partners in the relationship the problem will  grow. However, if there is good communication the problem has potential to be resolved and to possibly never reoccur (De Jong). It is also important, to effectively communicate, to maintain the boundaries. Maintaining boundaries is the separation of home life from work life. If you bring your work life into your home life discussions, it is more than likely that you will get distracted from the topic at hand (Stark). Some people bring their work life home it creates jealousy. Jealousy is also a leading cause of breakups in a relationship (Laurer). When people effectively communicate in a married relationship, exchange and role equity are heightened. Exchange equity, for example is the female being the primary bread winner and the male staying home. Role equity, is sharing the chores of the house as well as the duties of the head of the house. Partners in a married relationship may have different opinions about role and exchange equity. Some people feel that the female should stay home and be a traditional house wife. For example the woman would do the dishes, laundry, and take care of the children. Some people feel that both the male and female should be able to go to work and have a career. Effective communication in a marriage about these kinds of feelings can solve many future problems in a rational and timely manner (Lauer). Therefore, if there is ample problem solving and good communication, in a marriage it will generally be a healthier, happier, more satisfying marriage. Body language or non-verbal communication is said to be used between 50-80 percent in a relationship. Women use non-verbal cues or body language more often than males do. Non verbal cues froe example are the position in which a person is sitting, the expression on ones face, or the amount of eye contact that they are making. If you have an open posture, and are leaning in towards the speaker, you are giving off good body language. If you are sitting with your arms crossed, and a closed posture then you are giving off bad body language. Women also tend to read into body language and the meanings behind it more than men (Lauer). Women tend to read body language on a more emotional level than men do. For example women tend to see when someone has a romantic interest in another where as men do not see that. Partners, generally speaking, in a good relationship should be able to read  the other partners body language and know what they want to say without them always having to verbalize their thoughts. Body language can tell your partner what you are thinking without actually having to say it. I decided on this particular topic for a few reasons. The first of which is that I have seen a lot of friends and family who have been in relationships that did not last and wanted to figure out why that was. The second reason was because I thought it could help me in my future relationship(s), and to help me from making the same mistakes that I have in the past or that others have made. Another reason that I chose this topic is because I am also interested in being a counselor and counselors need to be able to have good communication with their clients. Another reason is because counselors need to be able to understand, in some sense, where their clients are coming from and to be able to help in any way possible. One good analogy that I found one day while surfing the internet was this: If you were to be in thorough and complete communication with a car and a road, you would certainly have no difficulty driving that car. But if you are in only partial communication with the car and in no communication with the road, it is fairly certain that an accident will occur. This was said by Ronald Hubbard who is an expert in the field of scientology. He deals mainly with the realm of communication. That quote really inspired me to look into the realm of communication further. I wanted to know what effects that it had on a relationship and / or a marriage. Just an ending piece of advice: The best problem solving agent is honest open and effective problem solving. Works Cited DeJong, Peter. Interviewing for Solutions, 2nd Edition. California: Wadsworth Group, 2002. Hubbard, Ronald. www.standardtraining.com Church of Scientology International: 2000-2002. Lahey, Benjamin B., Psychology: an introduction, 7th Edition. New York: McGraw Hill, 2001. Laurer, Robert H. and Lauer, Jeanette C., Marriage and Family, 4th Edition. Chicago: Brown Benchmark, 2000. Stark, Rodney. Sociology, 8th Edition. Wadsworth Group, 2001.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Researching Human Service Agencies Essay Example for Free

Researching Human Service Agencies Essay Researching Human Service Agencies Michelle Pacheco HSM/210 June 20, 2012 Morgan Gamble The Family Outreach, Inc. serves over 400 families and individuals that live within the 12 counties of Southwestern Montana by providing services to families and individuals with developmental disabilities or at risk of developmental disabilities. The client base is from birth to adulthood. The main goal for this program is to keep children and families together, to educate families on how to live together, and educate on the disability. The needs being met are for both children, adults with special needs, and families. The article states the needs being met include: â€Å"primarily educational we teach families and friends how to teach skills to children and adults with special needs. We teach families and individuals how to become advocates. We encourage the development of skills that move people towards greater independence and inclusion in their communities. Supportive based on a family’s or individual’s chosen goals and expressed needs we provide other support services and help families find appropriate services. We assist families and individuals in building their own resource and support systems. We help provide services that wrap around children and adults in their natural environments. † Parents, Lets Unite for Kids-PLUK- PLUK is a non-profit organization that serves children with special needs in the state of Montana for the purpose of information, support, training and assistance. It was founded by parents who felt strongly that parents of children with disabilities need to band together to give each other information and support. The two groups are focused on the same thing and that is assisting individuals and families that are dealing with developmental disabilities. The Family Outreach attempts to meet the human needs of not separating families. They try and keep the families together and for families and adults to be nurtured and loved. They attempt to give the basic needs to families and individuals with education, shelter, and assistance on how to live as a family unit while dealing with the disability. The PLUK is focused on assisting children and adults with disabilities at school, work, and in the community. Support for families so that they can nurture their children in the home. The differences observed between the two agencies are that the Family Outreach only serves parts of Montana, while the PLUK serves families all over the state of Montana. They both have the focus of being non-profit and assisting families through education and support. The PLUK is based on the needs of children with disabilities and the Family Outreach is based on children and adults with disabilities. The PLUK is more focused on outsourcing for assistance such as doctors and psychologists, etc. While the Family Outreach is more focused on keeping the services â€Å"in house† so to speak. They both want the best for families and individuals dealing with disabilities and assisting in any way to help the individual maintain a â€Å"normal† life. The Family Outreach started in 1977 with 64 families and has grown to assisting over 400 families and individuals. The PLUK is much larger and has over 30,000 families that receive assistance. There are no statistics on their website and no one was available to speak over the phone regarding statistics when I called either place. The challenges that may be preventing the agencies from meeting certain goals are funding (donations). The Family Outreach runs off of donations and government funding with certain programs. The PLUK is parents and community members that volunteer their time. If the Family Outreach were to lose funding or if people were to stop donating, they could lose the agency as a whole. Many of their clients are on Social Security and on Medicaid. If either one of those programs were to go away, the clients would turn more to the program for assistance and without the funding, grants, and donations the agencies receive they would have nowhere for their clients to turn. They would have to turn down many clients. Volunteers are another challenge. Many people do not want to volunteer their time and if the people that are volunteering stop, the clients would be affected the most. The PLUK serves over 30,000 families. Without the families, doctors, psychologist, and friends donating their time, there Sources for this Assignment: Parents, Lets Unite for Kids- PLUK. (2011). Retrieved from http://www. pluk. org Family Outreach Inc.. (2005). Retrieved from http://www. familyoutreach. org

Friday, September 20, 2019

The Religious Democracy And Its Theocracy Politics Essay

The Religious Democracy And Its Theocracy Politics Essay The outbreaks of the late 20th century were especially notable in light of the Western assumption that less developed countries would naturally secularize their politics and culture as they modernized their society and economy. Instead, rapidly developing Iran succumbed in 11 February 1979 to a religious revolution led by Imam Khomeini. Soon after, an interim government in Tehran gave way to a political form of government in early 1980 that made so many changes in its policies, the most important one was to practice the idea of Islamic Republic in which the government was to wed with religion of Shiite Islam indissolubly. However, there exist different and even contending conceptions as to what form actually it is. Some argue that the form of Islamic Republic is just a theocracy  [1]  and some others has recognized the constitutional theocratic character of the regime.  [2]  Some argue that theocracy as the kingdom of God on earth has not fully realized yet and thus prior to this full realization, theocracy can coexist with any transitory system of human government. This coexisted or combined form of government is an ecclesiocracy that seek to give the human religious hierarchy absolute control over the political power of a state.  [3]  Whereas to another one, theocracy can occur in any society where a powerful religious group or combination of religious groups has/have the decisive voice in a ruling political or judicial system.  [4]   On the contrary, some believe that the Islamic Republic is just one kind among so many democracies  [5]  or one of the most democratic states.  [6]  Even the US officials who used to oppose the new Islamic Regime in the past 23 years, now insist that there are some democratic characteristics found in there.  [7]  There are also others who observe it as a totalitarian tyranny, an absolutist autocracy, oligarchy or even all clerical oligarchy and call Islamic Republic a clerical regime.  [8]   What I am going to argue here is that on the path of human development towards perfection and human felicity throughout human society, the Islamic Republic in Iran has brought a kind of mixed or combined form of government that includes the best characteristics of various forms prescribed by the Islamic principles and norms and the current practices that may ensure the active and broad participation of all segments of society in the process of social development, as explicitly mentioned in its Constitutional Law. Forms of Governments Most of the key words commonly used to describe forms of governments, such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy, are of Greek or Roman origin. The central question of politics in all these was always the same: the distribution of power among the citizens so that freedom and happiness is best preserved and defined. Plato believed that the object of politics was virtue, and that only a few would ever thoroughly understand the science, which believed to contemplate all truth and all existence by which virtue could be attained and only these trained few, then, should rule. To his view the best was the form in which kings are philosophers or philosophers are kings which could be either monarchy or aristocracy but the fundamental laws of the State will be maintained. To this perfect ideal of just and good succeeds different forms of oligarchy, democracy, tyranny after which Plato added some other intermediate forms of government but all these are nondescripts and may be found equally amon g Hellenes and among barbarians.  [9]   But his pupil, Aristotle, gave another classification of the forms of government. To him the government which is the supreme authority in states could be in the hands of one, or of a few, or of the many and based on the purpose of a state, it may seek either the common interest or the private interest. Accordingly there would be three (not one) true forms of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ kingship or royalty, aristocracy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a constitution and three perversions that are tyranny à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ oligarchy, [or] à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ democracy.  [10]  In analyzing various forms of governments of the time, Aristotle, however, came to this notion that the whole system of government tends to be neither democracy nor oligarchy, but something in a mean between them.  [11]   This combination form of government could be seen in the new monarchy of Macedon arose and mounted in the battle against Sparta and Athens (338 BC) and also in Rome that emerged as the strongest state in the Mediterranean after the victory of Hannibal at Zama (202 BC). The Greek historian Polybius, who chronicled Romes rise, suggested that its constitution was such a success because it was a judicious blend of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. The Romans, a conservative, practical people, showed what they thought of such abstractions by speaking only of an unanalyzed public thingres publicaand thus gave a new word to politics. From then onward various combined or blend forms governments were set up every where in the world. Justinian, the greatest of the eastern Roman emperors, in the 6th century, Charlemagne, king of the Franks, in 800, and later centuries the dynasties of Hohenstaufen and Habsburg so, as late as the 19th century, did Napoleon Bonaparte tried to restore the empire though none were succeeded. In the 7th century the Arab Muslims defeated the first of the two great powers of the time and conquered quite many parts of the second in North Africa and Spain. Beside to the strong monarchies that gradually developed almost everywhere in the world, various institutions and social classes were to fill the gap too. The church and the mosque, against enormous odds, had kept the light of religion and learning alive and spread what was left of Roman and Islamic civilization into modern city-states. Military aristocracy called nobiles in the Roman fashion and appropriated various late imperial titles suc h as comes (count), dux (duke) and khans have also effective powers. This dynamism in European society and elsewhere in the world prevented it from setting permanently into this or any other form and pattern even in the most characteristic governmental form of the modern world, the nation-state. The application of the principle of parliamentary representation together with the concepts of divine, natural, and customary law as a restraint on the exercise of power besides some other fundamental occurrences of the Enlightenment and the Renaissance, the Reformation, the discovery of America and the American and French revolutions caused a new form of government known as modern democracy which is quite different from that of old Greek. The modern democracy repudiated the divine right of kings, the ascendancy of the nobility and the privileges of the Roman Catholic Church. Equality before the law was to replace the system of privileges that characterized the old regimes and judicial procedures were insisted upon to prevent abuses by the king or his administration. By destroying the monarchy, a republic was set up and its centuries-old labours were crowned. Now in the name of rationality, liberty, and equality (fraternity is not a foremost concern anymore), the nation makes the que st its own. Free election of government bodies under (eventual) universal suffrage, competition for office through organized and permanent parties, freedom of speech and the press, and the rule of law together with greater influence for the working classes, women and foreigners are common in all three basic senses of a form of government either as direct, representative or constitutional (liberal) democracy. Theocracy, too, derived from two Greek words meaning rule by the deity, was the name given to political regimes that claim to represent the Divine on earth both directly and immediately. Most governments throughout history and across cultures have claimed to be following their gods designs or to be legitimated by a divine mandate. The kings in a number of ancient civilizations had been worshipped as gods on earth so, by definition, the king could not be wrong and in a number of others the Gods prophets or theologically trained elites were the rulers on behalf of Him and rule by divine right. As the holly books, archaeologists, and historians show, the ancient Hebrews, Tibetans, and Egyptians lived in theocracies for some of their history. Theocracies are also found within the three great heavenly faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as Hinduism and Buddhism. Some examples are Jesus message of the dawning of the Kingdom of God, and not anyone else  [12]  or the fulfilment on Earth of Gods will as the central theme of Jesus teaching, and his expressly rejection of any collaboration with the Roman emperor,  [13]  the community established by the prophet Muhammad in Medina in 622, and ruled by him until his passing away in 632,  [14]  the Papal States under various popes whose purpose was to manage worldwide Catholicism, fundamentalism as seen within modern Judaism of Gush Emunim and the Haredim  [15]  , within Christianity of Jehovahs Witnesses, within Protestant Christians of Evangelicals and some political action groups,  [16]  within Hin du nationalists in India, Sikh radicals in Punjab, and Buddhist militants in Sri Lanka, within Sunni Muslims in the political activities of Muslim Brotherhood. The more important one within Shiite Islam is the Islamic Republic of Iran, during which a Shiite teaching retrieved and developed into a politically useful doctrine: the Rule of the Jurist. Religious Democracy The form of government in revolutionary Iran is neither a sole theocracy in which people have no say in their political destiny nor a sole democracy in which peoples vote can change every thing from the bottom to the top of the political hierarchy whenever they wish. Rather, as the official name of the Islamic Republic illustrates, it is a combination of all forms of government previously known especially both these two particular forms: theocracy and democracy and in some parts quite different from both sole of them, if one can find or even imagine. The characteristic of this combined form of government and the major building block of the Islamic regime in Iran, as explicitly stated in several articles of the Constitution and the spirit surrounding it, is based on two pillars. One pillar is that of inspired by Imam Khomeinis notion of the Absolute Rule of the Jurist (Velayat-e Motlaqeh-e Faqih) by which the leading cleric has no limitation over society and politics and he is the one last position that can make the decisions to the benefit of all citizens. He is elected by the whole people in an uprising like what happened in February 1979 that led to the leadership of Imam Khomeini or by the Assembly of Experts (the representatives of people mostly clerics) through a popular suffrage of both sexes of 15 years and more like what happened in the nomination of Ayatollah Khamenei in June 1989. The ruling jurist is just one nominee among so many other theologians and according to Shiite tradition, and is identified as the successor o f the 12th Imam. The latter kind of election is similar to the election of the US president by the Electoral College. Standing at the top of the political hierarchy as the Supreme Leader and equal with others against the law, the ruling jurist supervises the three branches of the government. The regular armed forces, the Islamic Guards Corps, the police, and the radio and television network are under his command and he determines the direction of foreign policy and any other whole compassing or general policy. He appoints the Supreme Judges, has the power to dismiss the elected President, and selects the six jurists of the twelve-member Council of Guardians. The second pillar is the democratic institutions that have been well incorporated in the Constitution. Under section The Form of Government in Islam, the preamble of the Constitution reads that the government does not derive from the interests of a class, nor does it serve the domination of an individual or a group. It expressly asserts that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Government à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ represents the fulfillment of the political ideal of a people who bear a common faith and common outlook, taking an organized form in order to initiate the process of intellectual and ideological evolution towards the final goal, i.e., movement towards Allah [God]. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The Constitution guarantees the rejection of all forms of intellectual and social tyranny and economic monopoly, and aims at entrusting the destinies of the people to the people themselves in order to break completely with the system of oppression. (This is in accordance with the Quranic verse He removes from them their burdens of the fetters that were upon them.  [17]   The Constitution devotes Chapter 5 including six articles to the Right of National Sovereignty and the Powers Deriving there from and explains the fact that the Iranian people have a lot say in the management of their country and how every one of them is the master of his own social destiny. The National Sovereignty is considered a divine right dedicated from Absolute sovereignty of God over the world and man and should never been deprived or subordinated to the vested interests of a particular individual or group. (Article 56) Separation of Powers into three independent ones of legislature, judiciary, and executive functioning under the supervision of the absolute religious Leader and the Leadership of the Ummah, in accordance with the forthcoming articles of this Constitution has been accepted in Article 57. Direct recourse to popular vote through a referendum, as a function of the legislature, is also anticipated by Article 59 for cases of extremely important economic, political, social, and cultural matters. The Islamic Consultative Assembly, as national assembly, is constituted by the representatives of the people elected directly and by secret ballot (Article 62) and has the power to establish laws on all matters (Article 71) and has the right to investigate and examine all the affairs of the country (Article 76) including a vote of confidence or a vote of no confidence to the Council of Ministers (Articles 87-88) and can interpellate the Council of Ministers or an individual Minister or even the President. (Article 89) In this way not only the national executive power, but all local governments of provinces, cities, divisions, villages and other officials appointed by the government must abide by all decisions taken by the councils (Article 103) elected by the people of the locality in question. (Article 100) Democratic concepts such as equality before the law, rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, freedom of belief, conscience, association, assembly and the press, secrecy of communication, recourse to the courts, respect for minority and womens rights, economic development, and social justice are all explicitly expressed in Chapter 3 (Articles 19-43) of the Constitution and several guarantees have been given to succeed. The judiciary as an independent power and the protector of the rights of the individual and society is one of these important guarantees. Concerning status and duties of the Judiciary, Article 156 reads such: The judiciary is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ responsible for the implementation of justice, and entrusted with à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ investigating and passing judgement on grievances, violations of rights, and complaints; the resolution of litigation; the settling of disputes; and the taking of all necessary decisions and measures in probate matters as the law may determine; restoring public rights and promoting justice and legitimate freedoms; supervising the proper enforcement of laws; uncovering crimes; prosecuting, punishing, and chastising criminals; and enacting the penalties and provisions of the Islamic penal code; and taking suitable measures to prevent the occurrence of crime and to reform criminals. The concept of Velayat-e Amr va Imamat-e Mostamir (rule by the leader and the perpetual leadership), according to the preamble of the Constitution is another such guarantees of those democratic rights in which an all qualified and trustworthy jurist, recognized as leader by the people, is to prevent any deviation by the various organs of State from their essential Islamic duties. Article 107 too asserts that the Jurist is an elected one either by recognition and acceptance as marji and Leader by a decisive majority of the people as happened for Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or by the Assembly of Experts which is also elected by the people. The Experts are to review and consult among themselves concerning all the fuqaha (jurists) possessing the qualifications specified in Articles 5 and 109 namely scholarship à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in different fields of  fiqh, Justice and piety à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ right political and social perspicacity, prudence, courage, admini strative facilities and adequate capability for leadership. (Article 109) The Article adds that in case of multiplicity of persons fulfilling the above qualifications and conditions, the person possessing the better jurisprudential and political perspicacity will be given preference. It is true that the Supreme Religious Leader is at the top of the government hierarchy and can make final decisions of general policies but it is only if in accordance with the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ articles of this Constitution (Article 57) and after consultation with the Nations Exigency Council that consists of the heads of the three branches and some other relative cabinet and Parliament members, all Council of Guardians members, and a few more experts (Article 112) to which some heads of different parties and political fractions are added in action. When the revision of the Constitution comes, as Article 177 expresses, some contents are unalterable among them the Islamic character of the political system; the basis of all the rules and regulations according to Islamic criteria and the religious footing; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the democratic character of the government; the Velayat-e Amr the Imamate of Ummah; and the administration of the affairs of the country based on national referenda. In so doing, the government in Iran is quite different from dictatorship or tyranny in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations. The religious democracy is thus a form of government which links religion and peoples beliefs to their will and wishes. There seems no conflict in its dual legitimacy of the Islamic Republic or any juxtaposition between popular sovereignty of the president or parliament and supervision of the ruling jurist. The letter of the constitution asserts on the equality of the two pillars in order to get the goal which is virtue, happiness and as a whole the movement toward God Almighty. In theory too, as Poul Weber has noted, there is no reason why a theocracy and a democratic form of government are incompatiblevox populi, vox dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God),  [18]  a combination that seems possible and rational for Peter Schmid to conclude that because Islam is compatible with both secularism and democracy, a religious democracy is in Irans future.  [19]  According to Soroushs theory of Contraction and Expansion of Religious Interpretation too, secularism and democracy not only do not threaten religion but also they merely help to increase the understanding of religion and all are complementary, for the religious understanding is merely a variety of human understanding.  [20]  Soroush continues in an interview that: There is no single God-given shape for Islamic government The system of Velayat-e Faqih, introduced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is an anachronism Though religion itself is sacred, its interpretation is not sacred and therefore it is criticizable, modifiable, refinable, and redefinable.  [21]   One may ask why a sole theocracy or a sole democracy is not favourable or even desirable among the majority of Iranian Muslims and why we need such a combination. The answer is that theocracy as an absolute sovereignty of God to the will of man and the state is far from our hands because we are sometimes unable to understand the true Gods will and commandment. Such understanding and knowledge requires long preparation, several degrees of training, and education People are not able to comprehend Gods will through the explanations contained in the Quran and the Sunna. Acquiring such comprehension requires several years of studies and much effort.  [22]  And in some other times we are unwilling to surrender to His will and law, and to implement His orders in our daily life for virtue need much much effort, deprivation, and abnegation.  [23]   Furthermore when they do gain power, theocracies tend to be short lived for a number of reasons, some internal to the regime and others external to it. Internally, clerics trained in religious dogma and jurisprudence, are rarely skilled in political, economic and other social matters and have difficulty maintaining a complex modern society. When corruption occurs among government officials, ensuing scandals undermine religion as well as politics if those officials are also clerics. Resentment grows among the nonclerical populace when religious laws seem arbitrary or excessively strict and are enforced through civil power. Religious taxes, imposed on top of other taxes, especially in times of economic hardship, cause added resentment. Finally, clerics who presume to speak in the name of the Divinity have difficulty engaging in normal compromises so essential for political effectiveness. Such compromises may even seem to them to be immoral or sinful. Finally, in states controlled by on e or no party, which theocracies tend to be, police are often tempted to resort to brutality and other harsh measures that undermine the legitimacy of the regime. Externally, rulers in other nations often fear the exportation of religious dogma backed by political power and move to isolate a theocratic regime. And because secular cultures from outside can exert a constant seductive influence on young people through music, arts, clothes, and movies, and infuse them with political ideas of freedom, democracy, and equality, a theocratic regime is inclined to limit contact with the outside world. Such actions increase isolation of the country but often lead to a fascination with the outside and an underground opposition to the regime. Such conditions are not conducive to longevity, and theocracies rarely outlive their founding generation. The sole democracy is not the best form of government either. That is why you see different types of democratic governments in the world. Even Great Britain and the United States, nations with relatively similar cultures, politics, and economies, have developed significantly different forms of democracy. Besides, many governments today (around 140 out of 191 states) in the most parts of the world claim to be democratic in the ascendant. Numerous authoritarian and totalitarian states, notably the communist nations of the 20th century, had also adopted outwardly democratic governments that nonetheless were dominated by a single authorized party with no opposition. States with Marxist ideologies asserted that political consensus and collective ownership of the means of production (i.e., economic democracy) were sufficient to ensure that the will of the people would be carried out. Moreover, there are some elements still threatening the existence of this democracy: class conflicts muted rather than resolved, nationalism still distorted voters judgments in matters of foreign policy, demagogues abounded as much as they ever did in ancient Athens, and many politicians were corrupt. Furthermore democracy places high value on the freedom of the individual and generally stresses the self-directed, self-contained, and comparatively unrestrained individual or ego. This characteristic as Alexis de Tocqueville described is a kind of moderate selfishness, disposing human beings to be concerned only with their own small circle of family and friends. Conclusion It is right that in some cases (such as Egyptian nationalism, Taliban imposition of sharia in Afghanistan and Saddam Husseins holy war in 1991 and 2003) we may find some unclear forms of government which claimed to establish a true theocratic or democratic form of government but failed to do so, or some tried to use religious rhetoric, symbolism, and values for nationalistic purposes, or religious ideals may be used to win popular support for liberation from foreign domination, from an autocratic ruling elite or to encourage economic renewal, but one can surely find some historical and contemporary examples to support a true combination of different forms of government as the Islamic Republic in Iran was a combination of such ideals and facts. This form of Iranian government is neither a sole theocracy or ecclesiocracy nor an oligarchy either clerical or financial or military, nor a sole democracy of its any kinds but a political order between them all: the head of the state elected indirectly on a universal suffrage is not a philosopher who claims to know the truth from the false out of any way he can, but he should be a Islamist jurist prudent that obliges himself to explore the Shiite cannon law and seek to find the truth out of sharia and should think and function in the interest of the whole people not himself or any particular fraction. As the people try to elect the best as their rulers, the aristocratic element is also present in this regime. There are lots of legal conditions and qualifications for peoples representatives and heads of governmental departments that only part of the well educated and qualified bureaucrats can hold the official positions. For these reasons, aristocracy, in a more objective sense, mea ns the upper layer of a stratified group. Thus, the upper ranks of the government form both legally and factually- the political aristocracy of the state. The principles of the constitution distribute the powers and make the government and its rulers constitutional and obliged to uphold the Constitution. This form is thus quite different from any given sole form of government. Additional References Web Sites Home http://www.God.com http://www.iranonline.com/iran/iran-info/Government/constitution.html http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/ir00t___.html http://www.religioustolerance.org http://www.rulers.org/ http://www.secularislam.org http://www.usinfo.state.gov http://www.watchtower.org http://www/dictionary.com/religion Books Dahl Robert A., Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963) Kepel, Gilles. The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism in the Modern World, (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994) Levine Andrew, Liberal Democracy: A Critique of Its Theory, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981) Sisk Timothy D., Islam and Democracy (Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1992) Sprinzak, Ehud. The Ascendance of Israels Radical Right, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) Tocqueville Alexis de, Democracy in America (New York: Harper and Row, 1996) Weiler Gershon, Jewish Theocracy (Leiden: Brill, 1988) Wright Robin, The Last Great Revolution, (New York: Vintage Books, 2001) Articles Cooper Julie E., Is There a Jewish Political Tradition? (Book Review), Tikkun, July, 2001 >http://www.findarticles.com Dawson Lorne L., Anti-modernism, modernism, and postmodernism: struggling with the cultural significance of new religious movements, Sociology of Religion, Summer, 1998 >http://www.findarticles.com Mohit Morteza, Background to the Parliamentary Elections in Iran, Monthly Review, March, 2001 >http://www.findarticles.com

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Heart Of Darkness :: essays research papers

1. Does Conrad really "otherize," or impose racist ideology upon, the Africans in Heart of Darkness, or does Achebe merely see Conrad from the point of view of an African? Is it merely a matter of view point, or does there exist greater underlying meaning in the definition of racism? 2. How does Achebe's personal history and the context in which he wrote "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" reflect the manner in which he views Conrad's idea of racism in the novel? 3. Taking into account Achebe's assumptions and analysis of racism in Heart of Darkness, how does this change Conrad's novel as a literary work, if it does at all? The literal heart of darkness in Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness does not merely incorporate the Belgian Congo, the African savages, the journey to the innermost soul, and England as the corruptor in its attempted colonization of the African people for selfish and commercial purposes. In "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness ," Achebe accuses Conrad of racism as the essential "heart of darkness." Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man's vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality...it is not the differentness that worries Conrad but the lurking hint of kinship, of common ancestry. For the Thames too 'has been one of the dark places of the earth.' It conquered its darkness, of course, and is now in daylight and at peace. But if it were to visit its primordial relative, the Congo, it would run the terrible risk of hearing grotesque echoes of its own forgotten darkness, and falling victim to an avenging recrudescence of the mindless frenzy of the first beginnings. (4) One might contend that this attitude toward the African in Heart of Darkness does not belong to Conrad, but rather to Marlow, and that far from endorsing it "Conrad might indeed be holding it up to irony and criticism." (9) According to Achebe "Conrad appears to go to considerable pains to set up layers of insulation between himself and the moral universe of his story." (9) For example, Conrad has a narrator behind a narrator -- he gives us Marlow's account through the filter of a second person. Achebe thus elucidates how "Conrad seems.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Abolish or Reform? :: essays research papers

Throughout the world, students are encouraged to attend high school and continue their education. However, many students find it worthless and become uninspired. They blame the faculty, school policies, and fellow students, when they should be blaming themselves. Unchallenging course work is most likely a sign that the student isn’t taking a hard enough course. During my high school experience, students had the opportunity to take college courses through our high school. This gave the more advanced students a chance to practice the same routine as â€Å"normal† students, but still challenge and educate themselves. Abolishing high school would not solve any problems in our educational system. There are many ways to improve upon our school system; however, we need to start at the beginning. In an essay by Harley Tong, high school is portrayed as â€Å"a waste of time and a struggle to remain interested in schoolwork.† He continues to describe his own experiences and how they led him to begin his college career two years earlier than most students. He complains of the way that he was physically and verbally abused by other students, which is the case in many high schools. High school is not only a cognitive learning environment; it is also a social learning environment. Students learn how to communicate with fellow pupils, teachers and administrators. They find out how to come independent from their parents and how to prepare for the rest of their lives. I believe that Harley Tong was simply too advanced for his surroundings. He most likely found the other students immature and didn’t fit in with them. In his case, he found a solution to attend a community college instead of his high school, which I commend him for. Many students in his situation would simp ly drop out, and that is not the answer. George F. Will’s â€Å"College President’s Plan: Abolish High School† conveys ideas that had never crossed my mind. He states, â€Å"For various reasons, some rooted in American history and others reflecting recent developments, education has become, for the moment, the most salient social concern and therefore the most potent political issue.† Will introduces Leon Botstein, who doesn’t actually option to abolish high school, just to change the structure of our schools in general. Botstein says that high school was created for 15- to 18-year-olds who were still children. In today’s society, those children are now young adults who are physiologically and psychologically more advanced.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Prostate Cancer in African American Men Essay

Prostate Cancer is the gland below a man’s bladder that produces fluid for semen. Prostate cancer is common among older men. Prostate cancer is a silent killer, and because it grows slowly, many men have no idea it’s there It is rare in men younger than forty. Risk factors for developing prostate cancer include being over sixty five years of age, family history, being African American, and some genetic changes. There is an estimated of 241,740 new cases and 28,170 deaths from prostate cancer in the United States in 2012 (National Cancer Institute, 2011). Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men, behind skin cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men especially in African American men. one out of six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. For example, if you’re at home having a cookout with 11 of your friends, it’s likely that two of you at some point in your lives will be diagnosed with pros tate cancer. and If you’re an African-American man, those odds increase to nearly one in five. Prostate cancer affects African American men twice as often as Caucasian men; the mortality rate among African American is also twice as high. African American men have the highest rate of prostate cancer of any ethic group in the world. In the African American community men are at high risk due to low socioeconomic status, and not getting cancer screening because of no health insurance. With the increased amount of men being diagnosed each year it is shocking that many men still avoid visiting the doctor because it makes them uncomfortable and they are afraid of what the results will be even when some clinics give free prostate cancer screening. While prostate cancer screening test can have abnormal results even when cancer is not present, it is important for men to have prostate screening done.prostate cancer is usually detected through screening, and there are two methods for early detection. The prostate-specific antigen test (PSA) is used, but there are many factors that can inf luence the outcome of the PSA test. Medications such as antihistamines, physical exertion or recent ejaculation can raise a PSA level. Another test for early detection of prostate cancer has been the digital rectal exam (DRE). Although, DRE is a better method for early detection, it is also a hindrance among men, particularly African-American men, to screening and early detection According to American Cancer Society (ACS) and American Urological Association (AUA), the PSA and DRE should be offered annually for all men beginning at age 50. However, they also recommend that African-American men with a family history of prostate cancer should begin testing by age 45. Early intervention is the key to a 5 year survival rate. Prognosis of prostate cancer diagnosed at an early stage is noted as being optimistic. Despite these credible statistics, free prostate cancer screening and early detection remains a problem area for many health care practitioners when it comes to the African American population (Plowden 2009) Madeline Leininger’s Sunrise Model has been used in many studies over the past twenty years. Between 1999 and 2008, over 200 citations of articles were noted using Leininger Theory (McEwen, 2011). She postulated that nurses should attempt to increase knowledge related to the care of people who value their cultural heritage and way of life (McEwen, 2011). The Leininger Sunrise Model of cultural diversity is used to obtain compliance with prostate cancer screening among African-American men; the goal has been to build a relationship of cooperation between clients and health care workers. Educating the men as well as examining their fears and anxieties is useful in removing barriers of resistance and gaining trust, thus empowering the client (McEwen, 2011). The Health Belief Model (HBM) â€Å"postulates a person’s perception of disease threat and benefits of taking action will predetermine taking action† (Rivers, 2009). The HBM is used to determine the African American male understanding of prostate cancer and to identify factors that would motivate that populatio n to seek screening and treatment of prostate cancer. The HBM has been used to design intervention to educate as well as facilitate access to screening and treatment (Rivers, 2009). Leininger’s Theory of cultural care diversity is a middle range theory that is based upon the major concepts of culture, culture care and understanding the differences as well as the similarities to transcultural human care. Her other major concepts of transcultural care are, caring, and ethic views, the system of health care, the professional system of care and culturally congruent nursing care. (McEwen, 2011) The strength of Leininger Theory lies in the fact that it is a holistic theory seeking to cover both the diversity and universality of nursing care concepts. Caring aspects within and between cultures must include the acknowledgement of the similarities and differences. The theory has been widely used within the credibility and confirm ability of data gained from research (McGee, 1994). Because the Leininger Theory places emphasis on cultural s ensitivity and cultural congruence, it can be said that cultural knowledge will improve care. However, because the approach fails to take into account a political and structural inequality of minorities and focuses on differences and deficits, it can be construed that the culture itself is the problem. The possibility of reinforcing stereotypes and increasing the gap between provider and patient may actually make the care aspect less than culturally safe (Orià ¡, 2005). Leininger Theory can be used in a wide range of modalities when considering the problem of prostate screening. When examining the focus of this clinical problem i.e., how to get increased participation from a high risk group to prostate cancer screening, Plowden reached several conclusions that are applicable to today’s practice for advance nurse practitioners. For example, African-American men were more likely to seek screening and participate in the treatment process if 1.) There was a perceived susceptibility to prostate cancer and that threat was perceived as severe in life threatening or disabling . 2.) There were perceived benefits to the screening such as early detection and accurate diagnosis. 3.) There were no perceived barriers. 4.) Sufficient triggers need to exist to motivate behavior (Plowden, 2009). When applying these findings to advanced nurse practitioners’ practices, it can be said that men in the high risk groups must first be educated on the risks of prostate cancer. They need to understand the implications involved with failure to be screened. Early detection and accurate diagnosis are very important to the 5 year survival post diagnosis. Screening is essential to the quality of life for a person diagnosed with prostate cancer. For example, lifestyle changes would have to be made after a radical prostectomy versus a chemo radiation treatment of a localized slow growing tumor. When health care professionals can successfully manage to remove or go around barriers, whether real or perceived, the goal of seeking medical intervention is improved. Health care professionals can attempt to established sufficient triggers so that the behavior can be motivated to attain compliance to screening. The advanced nurse practitioner’s challenge will be to first establish trust and reputation as a caregiver who cares and is approachable; educate the population of the high risk group to the benefits of early detection versus late discovery; provide easy access to screening and the follow up phase of the intervention; and maintain confidentiality. Peer group discussions with professionals have shown to aid in getting better compliance (Plowden, 2009). The African-American males’ decision making process when considering prostate cancer screening is influenced greatly by cultural mores and beliefs. These cultural beliefs often lead to a lower rate of compliance to free screening versus all other races i.e. Caucasians, etc. Leisiniger’s cultural diversity theory can be used to effectively educate and increase compliance by teaching practitioners ways to overcome these cultural barriers. By following the concepts of care, caring, and understanding feelings of self, as well as the feelings of others, it is possible to overcome cultural barriers. Works Cited Cherath, Lata, et al. â€Å"Prostate Cancer.† The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Ed. Laurie J. Fundukian. 4th ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 3578-3584. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 Dec. 2012. â€Å"LATEST RESEARCH: Faster Prostate Cancer Growth In Black Men?.† Prostate Disorders (2011): 31. Health Source – Consumer Edition. Web. 7 Dec. 2012 â€Å"Prostate Cancer.† National Cancer Institute. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009 (Vintage 2009 Populations), National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2012. .

Monday, September 16, 2019

Preface to ‘Joseph Andrews’

In his Preface to ‘Joseph Andrews’, Fielding claims that human vices in his novel are ‘never set forth as the objects of ridicule but detestation’. To what extent are ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ concerned with issues of morality?Despite the fact that ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ approach their concern with issues of morality differently, they both interrogate the subject to the extent whereby, throughout the majority of both novels, they reveal and question existing ideals of society’s principles: â€Å"Robinson Crusoe initiates that aspect of the novel’s treatment of experience which rivals the confessional autobiography and outdoes other literary forms in bringing us close to the inward moral being of the individual† (Watt, 75). This quote summarises the argument ahead and captures Defoe’s intentions.It is also one of the many critical debates that surround this concern, that accentuate how Fielding and Defoe’s involvement in this matter is significant and almost revolutionary. Whereas Watt’s comment below encapsulates what Fielding aims to achieve: â€Å"Fielding†¦ attempts to broaden our moral sense rather than to intensify its punitive operations against licentiousness. † (Watt, 283). Both of the above quotations provide an insight into both writers’ new and innovative approaches that can be considered to be quite rebellious, compared to other works from the eighteenth century.Throughout Andrew Wright’s essay titled ‘Joseph Andrews: Art as Art’, it is argued that â€Å"Fielding believes that the function of the novel is to provide a paradigm of civilisation which is above the level of ordinary moral imperatives† (Wright, 24). Thus, one may assume that Fielding’s intention is to set a raised barrier of morality in order to demonstrate how low civilisation measures up to it. He also contends that there is much evidence within and outside Fielding’s novel’s to suggest that Fielding did not have high hopes for human beings to become perfect or for society to transform and become flawless.This pessimism entails that human beings are hopeless. However, Fielding wrote in ‘The True Patriot’ on November 12th, 1745 that there are â€Å"some imperfections perhaps innate in our Constitution, and others too inveterate and established, to be eradicated; to these, wise and prudent Men will rather submit, than hazard shocking the Constitution itself by a rash Endeavour to remove them† (Wright, 30). This statement implies that Fielding’s exploration of vices within the narrative was not designed to change civilisation but to reveal its comportment in all veracity.Wright almost discusses the same notion and argues that â€Å"it is impossible to make a bad man good, and good men will very probably grow wise without much prompting. The function of art, therefore- and if this is not a tautology- is to provide a kind of ideal delight† (Wright, 30). Therefore, it is fair to suggest that Fielding does not intend to improve society or change the nature of human kind. Instead, he aims to encourage acceptance of civilisation; his revelation of flaws is formulated in order to allow his readers to find a way of rejoicing them.Thus, morality is a significant theme within the narrative and could be argued to be the purpose of the book. The rationale as to why this does not appear obvious or heightened is because it is not a concept of morality that is usually highlighted or celebrated. Within this balance of rejection and acceptance, Fielding creates a new type of morality and happiness and this can be reinforced in book three, chapter three, when Wilson unfolds his tale of moral deterioration and debauchery in London: â€Å"I soon prevented it.I represented him in so low a Light to his mistress, and ma de so good an Use of Flattery, Promises, and Presents†¦I prevailed the poor Girl, and convey’d her away from her Mother! In a word, I debauched her. -(At which Words, Adams started up, fetch’d three Strides across the Room, and then replaced himself in his Chair. ) You are not more affected with this part of my story than myself: I assure you it will never be sufficiently repented in my own Opinion† (Fielding, 180).This extract promotes acceptance of immorality and shamelessness. The way in which Adams reacts for a moment and then replaces himself in his chair demonstrates a sense of tolerance but also acknowledgment. This is symbolic of Fielding’s approach to morality throughout the entire novel; it is important to be aware of corruption but to attempt to repent it could cause more damage. Similarly to ‘Joseph Andrews‘, ‘Robinson Crusoe’ shows many preoccupations with the concept of morality.However, more so than Fielding (al though Fielding also uses this device), Defoe utilises religion in order to determine a social moral code; he uses the boundaries and margins of religion in order to measure Robinson Crusoe’s principles. For example, the novel presents a protestant work ethic where success in business, in life is a message that you will go to heaven. Throughout the novel, Crusoe suggests that God is capitalist and that material increase suggests spiritual happiness and a closer relationship to God.This is evident on many occasions throughout the novel, for example, Crusoe converts Friday to Christianity and relates closer and closer to God as the novel progresses: â€Å"From these things I began to instruct him in the knowledge of the true God. I told him that the great Maker of all things lived up there, pointing up towards Heaven. That He governs the world by the same Power and Providence by which He made it. That He was omnipotent, could do everything for us, give everything to us, take e verything from us; and thus by degrees I opened his eyes. (Defoe, 213). The significance of the theme of morality (or the Protestant religion as it is referred to within the novel) can also be reinforced by the way in which Crusoe teaches and learns about religion and preaches about its glory to others, such as Friday. This is also evident within ‘Joseph Andrews’ as the reader witnesses Joseph’s attempts to gain attributes similar to Joseph from the bible. For example, he is seen as a father figure within his community. Within his essay, ’Robinson Crusoe and the state of nature’, Maximillian E.Novak argues that â€Å"Defoe was not only delineating the condition of man in the state of nature but also the cultural and political evolution which, by transforming the state of nature, created civilisation and government† (Novak, 23). This suggests that Defoe contributed to a more polished and advanced society that was in the making at the time of t he novel’s publication. He discusses three opinions on the private physical men that were current in Defoe’s day: one being that despite being isolated, man would achieve the same intellectual and moral condition that he would if he ould were raised in society. (Novak, 23). Although the category that Novak feels Crusoe belongs to is the third whereby â€Å"he survives his solitude, but he is always afraid, always cautious. Defoe recognised the benefits of the state of nature, but he believed that the freedom and purity of Crusoe’s island were minor advantages compared to the comfort and security of civilisation. † (Novak, 23). This view implies that human beings almost do not exist without society because they are so formulated by society that without it, there is nothing left.Novak suggests this when he states that human beings are more affluent in society than alone and isolated. This therefore entails that it is society that provides our moral groundin g and that aspects of society such as religion are dominant of what we believe to be right and wrong. Thus, religion is our guide to life and what encourages us to follow codes of moral conduct: â€Å"it is Puritan individualism which controls his spiritual being† (Watt, 74). This can be emphasised within the text as the reader follows Crusoe’s spiritual journey.The reader witnesses how God brings Crusoe back onto the track of Providence which is why he has to relearn everything, including how to behave. Throughout ‘Joseph Andrews’, religion acts as a principal for people to live by and the characters that live up to the standards are used to set an example, such as Joseph. Creating another relationship between both texts, religion is a way for morality to succeed; Fielding makes moral characters virtuous and successful, he also mocks the immoral society that does not have religious beliefs and thus shows that morals equal success.While Defoe shows that re ligion provides Crusoe with moral demeanour. This has an underlying tone of significance about human beings’ behaviour and what we need to survive, as we observe how Crusoe needs routine and time in order to allow him to feel as though he has control. This also relates to the politically charged atmosphere of the time about the need for a ruling monarchy and colonialism because the restoration demonstrated how the public were unable to direct their own lives; they needed demands from authoritative figures in order to provide them with comfort and assurance.For example, Crusoe recreates what he knows from England, such as, farming and building: â€Å"In about a year and a half I had a flock of about twelve goats, kids and all; and in two years more I had three and forty, besides several that I took and killed for my food. And after that I enclosed five several pieces of ground to feed them in, with little pens to drive them into, to take them as I wanted, an gates out of one piece of ground into another† (Defoe, 146).Consequently, both ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ are concerned with morality to the extent that they aim to produce ideals of morality that they believe to be revolutionary compared to the capitalist society from which they derive from. Ian Watt argues that â€Å"the highest spiritual values had been attached to the performance of the daily task, the next step was for the autonomous individual to regard his achievements as a quasi-divine mastering of the environment. It is likely that this secularisation of the Calvinist conception of stewardship was of considerable importance for the rise of the novel† (Watt, 74).Thus, it can be argued that not only were ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’s’ moral content innovative and enlightening, they were also significant contributors to the ‘rise of the novel’ and a new way of thinking. This renaissance c an be considered as an essential element of the restoration of the time. The fact that Watt explores both novels and novelists in his book ‘The Rise of the Novel’ also accentuates this notion. Throughout her critical study of eighteenth century literature, Pat Rogers discusses the context of the writer’s of the time.She suggests that it was literature’s responsibility to reflect reality and also make sense of it; â€Å"to distil general laws and detect patterns in apparently random occurrences† (Rogers, 11). This is evident in both novels, for example, the way in which Fielding crafts a ingenuous representation of the moral state of society within ‘Joseph Andrews‘: â€Å"Your Lady talks of servants as if they were not born of the Christian Specious. Servants have flesh and blood as well as quality† (Fielding, 260).It is also a dominant feature of ‘Robinson Crusoe’ whereby there are many references to the immoral natur e of English society:† greatly concerned to secure myself from any attack in the night, either from wild beasts or men† (Defoe, 74). For example, this suggests that men are the equivalent to ‘wild beasts’ and also just as threatening, implying that men have become corrupt and out of control, showing a lack of consideration for the rest of society. Thus both novels formulate parodies of the truth that reveal the decay of decency and morality.Rogers supports this argument and reinforces both writers’ methods of portraying such ideals: â€Å"they deal for the most part with the experience of everyday of men and women in society; their tone was plain and worldly, they sought to avoid a recondite air, and they addressed the reader with easy confidence†¦the actions of other people form the most obvious objects of our moral perceptions; when we make moral judgements, we apply ourselves decisions we have made about the behaviour of others. Not only do w e perceive that an act is right or wrong, but we assign merit or blame to the perpetrator of the act. (Rogers, 147). To conclude, both novels have dominant themes of morality, ‘Joseph Andrews’ concentrates on everyday life and behaviour and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ approaches morality from a broader perspective and through the characteristic of religion. Consequently, both novels attack the negative attributes of society and mankind in a rather satirical manner; they observe the truth about people’s principles and encourage enthusiasm for the reader to reach their own conclusions, in order for them to recognise flaws.Not only are both books innovative and rather rebellious, but they can both be considered as fundamental stimulants for the ‘rise of the novel’. Historical evidence of the eighteenth century and the tradition of writing at the time can also support both writers’ objectives in incorporating such dominant themes of morality. T his is because of the lack of individualism and the control of a newly capitalist civilisation. Therefore, overall there is much evidence to support this argument and many existing critical debates, to suggest that both Fielding and Defoe are deeply concerned with the issues of morality.Both ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ can be read as a reflection of life and human behaviour to the extent whereby they highlight the state of morality and its function within society. Bibliography: Bell, A. Ian. ‘Defoe’s Fiction’. Kent: Biddles Ltd, 1985. Butt, John. ‘Fielding’. London: Longmans, Green & Co Ltd, 1959. Defoe, Daniel. ‘Robinson Crusoe‘. Berkshire: Penguin Books Ltd, 1994. Fielding, Henry. ‘Joseph Andrews‘, ‘Shamela‘. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. Novak, E. Maximillian. Defoe and the Nature of Man’. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1963. Macalister, Hamilton. ‘Literature in Perspective- Fiel ding’. London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1967. Paulson, Ronald. ‘Fielding- A Collection of Critical Essays’. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc, 1962. Rogers, Pat. ‘The Context of English Literature- The Eighteenth Century’. London: Methuen & Co Ltd, 1978. Watt, Ian. ‘The Rise of the Novel’. London: Chatto & Windus, 1963. Wright, Andrew. ‘Henry Fielding: Mask and Feast’. London: Chatto & Windus, 1968.