In our own Interest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

In our own Interest - Essay Example During the case of Somalia, 19 Americans died while attempting to restore peace (Thompson et al 4). Following the Mogadishu case, President Clinton’s intervention was restricted by the administration, despite the fact that the recommendations offered went against their humanistic conscience. The recommendation entailed the evacuation of all the American people at Rwanda, but not rescuing any Rwandan’s despite the fact that they perfectly understood the crisis at Rwanda. This paper reviews the response of President Clinton and his staff during the Rwanda Genocide, towards demonstrating the evils that emanate from obedience and the influence of authority on human behavior. Discussion Following the orders from the American administration, during and after the start of the Rwandan crisis, the administration’s advisors and the planning teams of the US – through president Clinton and his staffs communicated a number of excuses – for failing to act in resp onse to the genocide (Thompson, et al. 2; Carroll). The reasons given by President Clinton and his staffs included that the true magnitude and the scale of the killings taking place at Rwanda was not known. They also claimed that the rate of killings did not warrant the response of the US government (Thompson, et al. 3). However, considering that the massacre continued for a period of three months, it was clear that the inaction of President Clinton and his administration was not caused by the lack of proper information. Further, it became clear that the US was aware that the plans of the attack were known, because it was reported to the US, but nothing was done about the situation. The inaction of the US was also, not because it did not have enough resources, using which to respond to the situation. The reasons behind the failure of the inaction were primarily policy issues (DIA). The President and his staffs’ inaction are evident from the fact that they were well aware of t he case, eve before it happened. This was evident from the fact that, on 11th of January 1994 General Dellaire informed the UN of planned assassinations of Tutsi officials (Carroll). His subsequent appeals for reinforcement were not served. Further, after the start of the killings, memoranda about killings were sent to the Secretary of Defense’s office, and leading news papers like the Washington post and the New York Times reported the killings taking place (DIA). The policy recommendations that went against the conscience of President Clinton and his staffs included those from the administration that military force was not to be employed, following the experience that the US government had gained from the 3rd of October 1993 raid at Mogadishu, which ended with the killing of 19 Americans (Samantha 378). Other policy recommendations advanced by the US administration included that the interests of the US had to be protected, the administration did not have any allocation to a ddress the situation and that it lacked allied and public support (Samantha 378). These administrative policy recommendations tied the president and his staff’s ability to decide in favor of the crisis at Rwanda. This case shows the effects of their obedience; because the case culminated in the killing of more than 500,000 people (O'Toole; Stanley). The president and h

Influence of Money in Sports

Influence of Money in Sports There is too much money in sports. For many people around the world these are difficult times, many have lost their jobs, and others are fretting about losing them. Every day we see more companies go bankrupt and the whole world seems to be waiting for the crisis to end. Everyone in the world, except the sports industry, who are still wasting vast amounts of money on salaries, TV deals, agents, and advertisements. The world of sports is too influenced by money, and by means of reducing or even removing advertisements, decreasing the salaries of professional players, and lowering the price of tickets we can improve the spirit of competition, make sports more available to everyone, with the money saved improve the lives of people who are not as well off as the people in the western world. Sportsmen and women are people with talent that stretches far above a normal humans ability, and for this they should naturally be rewarded. However, as much as the worlds economy sways the salaries of professionals only seem to be increasing. In 2008 the highest paid athlete David Beckham earned more than 48 million (Freedman) in the 1970s when TV was not as influential to sport as it now is Pete Rose was able to negotiate a million per year contract (Gilis) This clearly shows that the salaries have boomed incredibly over a short period. The average gross income for a citizen of the USA in 2005 was forty two thousand US dollars(United States Average Salaries and Income). Do athletes need forty million to survive? The amounts of money that go into the players salary are not motivating them to strive for perfection. It only seems that more and more are doing it for the money in it, and this, ruins the healthy spirit of competition that makes sport so interesting to watch, and most imp ortantly to play. Above all the most ridiculous amounts of money are wasted on player transfers; can anyone really be worth over a hundred million? This trend is not confined to only the players and the teams, the agents for those players have also gotten major salary changes, â€Å"Mills estimates there were 50 or fewer agents when he started in 1967. He made $3,900 on his deal for Owens. Today there are about 1,000 agents certified by the NFL Players Association. Agents now are allowed to charge 3 percent. â€Å"A player gets a $10 million bonus, theres $300,000 for the agent,† he says.† (Looney) This is definitely a good indicator of where a countries interests lie; in most countries professional athletes earn more than triple the amount of a high ranking police officer, doctor, or teacher. Suppose instead of this high average pay people started paying athletes a much lower salary per year, lets say 200,000 $, and then reward them for good performances. This would r eally separate a good athlete from a bad athlete and on top of that would make more athletes really put in that extra effort knowing they will be rewarded. Fans are part of sports no matter how you look at it; they cheer, shout, sing, and show the immense passion that they feel for their team, they are the essence of sport. Unfortunately though they are becoming more restricted in their support because of the prices of tickets, the united kingdoms national football stadium cost a whopping 1.5 billion pounds (Egan) and in order to counter these huge expenses ticket prices are raised. However it doesnt seem fair that the hardcore supporters of those teams are not allowed to come to the matches because they cannot afford tickets. A true supporter will not mind standing in the rain for hours on end to watch a sports game on a muddy public pitch, because they do not care for the air-conditioned VIP boxes, a place they will probably never go to in their entire lives. Isnt that what sports are all about, the raw passion and talent, not the rich posh businessmen impressing future clients who do not care for the game at all? If one takes a moment to look at a professional football/soccer stadium, s/he would see a green piece of grass, seats, and advertisements, lots and lots of advertisements. It seems that there is no place that companies cant get their names on. They are plastered on players shirts, all around the stadium, they even have them on the camera and security staff. Above all the most money is spent on TV advertisements, General Motors spent 578 million dollars on TV advertisements during sports games (Thomas). Is this necessary? There seem to be fewer and fewer athletes who do it just for the joy of playing, or simply to please their fans. If we can remove all the sponsors and advertisements in the sports industry, then sure there wont be the magnificent stadiums and million dollar TV contracts, there will be pure, focused, talent focused environment. Moreover, with the removal of advertisements player salaries will probably get a drop which will lead to more players that are focused on goin g down in the record books not for million dollar contracts but because of their achievements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Poverty is a huge world issue at the moment, many people are working hard voluntarily to help improve the standards of living in third world countries. If all the above measures are taken, there will be a huge sum of money left to spend. What better to spend it on than improving other less fortunate peoples lives. Oxfam a leading charity in the world spent 46 million dollars in 2008 (Charity Review Oxfam), thats almost the same as David Beckhams salary! If we cut all players salaries we would have billions of dollars to spend on emergency relief and long term charity projects. After all what seems a morally better way to spend money, giving it to the poor or giving the already rich athletes even more money? To conclude, sports have become too much about the money and less emphasis is put on player talent. Taking the above steps will ensure that sport stays competitive is available to all and is more pleasant to watch. On top of that the money that will be saved will go to charities that will improve the lives of others, although the economy of the rich countries will take a blow it might be restores when the LEDCs are improved by the charity and become more open to trade increasing economies globally. If all is performed this way, there arent many downsides. Works Cited Phil, Carman â€Å"Dont be greedy; Such a thing as too much money.† Advertiser, The (Adelaide)(n.d.):Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. Looney, Douglas S. â€Å"Money makes world go round (in sports, too).† Christian Science Monitor15 Dec. 2000: 12.Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. â€Å"EDITORIAL: Money game: There seems to be no end to the commercialization of big-money professional sports.† Journal-World (Lawrence, KS)26 July 2007:Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. Selvig, David â€Å"It really is all about the loot: Commercialization of sports has become as American as apple pie over the last two decades. Nothing we can do about that now, obviously.† Jamestown Sun, The (ND)05 June 2009:Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. Gilis, Charles. â€Å"American History 1970-1979.† Lonestar College. Lonestar College Kingwood, Aug. 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. . â€Å"United States Average Salaries and Income.† International Average Salary Income Comparison. N.p., 2007. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. . Freedman, Jonah. â€Å"A crash-course in foreign-exchange rates.† Sports Illustrated 2008: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. . Thomas, Katie. â€Å"As the Economy Worsens, Is There Money for Play?† New York Times. New York Times, 15 Nov. 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. . â€Å"Charity Review Oxfam.† BBB. BBB, 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. . Egan, Andrew. â€Å"Worlds Most Expensive Stadiums.† Forbes. Forbes, 6 Aug. 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. .

Women in The Duchess of Malfi and The Changeling Essay -- John Webster

The Duchess in John Webster’s tragic play, The Duchess of Malfi, and Beatrice Joanna in Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s The Changeling, are both strong women living in a male-dominated society. The two women attempt to free themselves from this subordination by choosing to love that they desire. Both pay with their lives for this chance at freedom, but differ in their moral decisions about how they attempt it. Beatrice Joanna’s plan involves murder, whereas the widowed Duchess merely lives the life she chooses, then plots to leave Malfi. Both women are forced into their actions, but, whereas Beatrice Joanna is Machiavellian in her actions, the Duchess is morally superior. Webster based his play on a real-life 16th Century scandal where a widowed Duchess remarried for love and did so beneath her class. The widowed Duchess had certain advantages and freedoms that the younger and unmarried Beatrice in The Changeling did not. The Duchess had significant wealth and independence, and she need not answer to a father or a husband. She no longer had the burden of protecting her virginity and the stigma attached if it was lost. Beatrice, on the other hand, had little sexual freedom, and she had to answer to her father and to the man to whom she was engaged. However a the Duchess, and Beatrice were doomed to subject to a patriarchal and male-dominated society. Upon her capture the Duchess declares: â€Å"I am Duchess of Malfi still† (4.2.141). She is a duchess only in name. In the end in both tragedies, it is the men –fathers, brothers, suitors, and the Church—who rule by physical force and by law. Moreover, both women are driven by their passions and further choose to defy society by attempting to love who... ...d such harm and destruction. In the end it is Beatrice herself who says it was love that forced her to kill. She ultimately made that moral decision. She confessed to Alsemero at the play’s conclusion, To your bed scandal, I stand up innocent, Which even the guilt of one black other deed Will stand for proof of: your love has made me A cruel murd’ress (5.3.63). Therefore, our sympathies lie with the Duchess, who only desired to live the life she chose. She does her best to protect those she loves, hiding Antonio and caring for the safety of her children to the very end. She murders no one, and before her death forgives all. She is a most noble duchess and a true heroine.

Democratic Origins and Revolutionary Writers, 1776-1820 Essay

James Fenimore Cooper (Photo courtesy Library of Congress) The hard-fought American Revolution against Britain (1775-1783) was the first modern war of liberation against a colonial power. The triumph of American independence seemed to many at the time a divine sign that America and her people were destined for greatness. Military victory fanned nationalistic hopes for a great new literature. Yet with the exception of outstanding political writing, few works of note appeared during or soon after the Revolution. American books were harshly reviewed in England. Americans were painfully aware of their excessive dependence on English literary models. The search for a native literature became a national obsession. As one American magazine editor wrote, around 1816, â€Å"Dependence is a state of degradation fraught with disgrace, and to be dependent on a foreign mind for what we can ourselves produce is to add to the crime of indolence the weakness of stupidity. † Cultural revolutions, unlike military revolutions, cannot be successfully imposed but must grow from the soil of shared experience. Revolutions are expressions of the heart of the people; they grow gradually out of new sensibilities and wealth of experience. It would take 50 years of accumulated history for America to earn its cultural independence and to produce the first great generation of American writers: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. America’s literary independence was slowed by a lingering identification with England, an excessive imitation of English or classical literary models, and difficult economic and political conditions that hampered publishing. Revolutionary writers, despite their genuine patriotism, were of necessity self-conscious, and they could never find roots in their American sensibilities. Colonial writers of the revolutionary generation had been born English, had grown to maturity as English citizens, and had cultivated English modes of thought and English fashions in dress and behavior. Their parents and grandparents were English (or European), as were all their friends. Added to this, American awareness of literary fashion still lagged behind the English, and this time lag intensified American imitation. Fifty years after their fame in England, English neoclassic writers such as Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Oliver Goldsmith, and Samuel Johnson were still eagerly imitated in America. Moreover, the heady challenges of building a new nation attracted talented and educated people to politics, law, and diplomacy. These pursuits brought honor, glory, and financial security. Writing, on the other hand, did not pay. Early American writers, now separated from England, effectively had no modern publishers, no audience, and no adequate legal protection. Editorial assistance, distribution, and publicity were rudimentary. Until 1825, most American authors paid printers to publish their work. Obviously only the leisured and independently wealthy, like Washington Irving and the New York Knickerbocker group, or the group of Connecticut poets known as the Hartford Wits, could afford to indulge their interest in writing. The exception, Benjamin Franklin, though from a poor family, was a printer by trade and could publish his own work. Charles Brockden Brown was more typical. The author of several interesting Gothic romances, Brown was the first American author to attempt to live from his writing. But his short life ended in poverty. The lack of an audience was another problem. The small cultivated audience in America wanted well-known European authors, partly out of the exaggerated respect with which former colonies regarded their previous rulers. This preference for English works was not entirely unreasonable, considering the inferiority of American output, but it worsened the situation by depriving American authors of an audience. Only journalism offered financial remuneration, but the mass audience wanted light, undemanding verse and short topical essays — not long or experimental work. The absence of adequate copyright laws was perhaps the clearest cause of literary stagnation. American printers pirating English best-sellers understandably were unwilling to pay an American author for unknown material. The unauthorized reprinting of foreign books was originally seen as a service to the colonies as well as a source of profit for printers like Franklin, who reprinted works of the classics and great European books to educate the American public. Printers everywhere in America followed his lead. There are notorious examples of pirating. Matthew Carey, an important American publisher, paid a London agent — a sort of literary spy — to send copies of unbound pages, or even proofs, to him in fast ships that could sail to America in a month. Carey’s men would sail out to meet the incoming ships in the harbor and speed the pirated books  into print using typesetters who divided the book into sections and worked in shifts around the clock. Such a pirated English book could be reprinted in a day and placed on the shelves for sale in American bookstores almost as fast as in England. Because imported authorized editions were more expensive and could not compete with pirated ones, the copyright situation damaged foreign authors such as Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, along with American authors. But at least the foreign authors had already been paid by their original publishers and were already well known. Americans such as James Fenimore Cooper not only failed to receive adequate payment, but they had to suffer seeing their works pirated under their noses. Cooper’s first successful book, The Spy (1821), was pirated by four different printers within a month of its appearance. Ironically, the copyright law of 1790, which allowed pirating, was nationalistic in intent. Drafted by Noah Webster, the great lexicographer who later compiled an American dictionary, the law protected only the work of American authors; it was felt that English writers should look out for themselves. Bad as the law was, none of the early publishers were willing to have it changed because it proved profitable for them. Piracy starved the first generation of revolutionary American writers; not surprisingly, the generation after them produced even less work of merit. The high point of piracy, in 1815, corresponds with the low point of American writing. Nevertheless, the cheap and plentiful supply of pirated foreign books and classics in the first 50 years of the new country did educate Americans, including the first great writers, who began to make their appearance around 1825. THE AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENT The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the natural rights of man. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Benjamin Franklin, whom the Scottish philosopher David Hume called America’s â€Å"first great man of letters,† embodied the Enlightenment ideal of humane rationality. Practical yet idealistic, hard-working and enormously successful, Franklin recorded his early life in his famous Autobiography. Writer, printer, publisher, scientist, philanthropist, and diplomat, he was the most famous and respected private figure of his time. He was the first great self-made man in America, a poor democrat born in an aristocratic age that his fine example helped to liberalize. Franklin was a second-generation immigrant. His Puritan father, a chandler (candle-maker), came to Boston, Massachusetts, from England in 1683. In many ways Franklin’s life illustrates the impact of the Enlightenment on a gifted individual. Self-educated but well-read in John Locke, Lord Shaftesbury, Joseph Addison, and other Enlightenment writers, Franklin learned from them to apply reason to his own life and to break with tradition — in particular the old-fashioned Puritan tradition — when it threatened to smother his ideals. While a youth, Franklin taught himself languages, read widely, and practiced writing for the public. When he moved from Boston to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Franklin already had the kind of education associated with the upper classes. He also had the Puritan capacity for hard, careful work, constant self-scrutiny, and the desire to better himself. These qualities steadily propelled him to wealth, respectability, and honor. Never selfish, Franklin tried to help other ordinary people become successful by sharing his insights and initiating a characteristically American genre — the self-help book. Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, begun in 1732 and published for many years, made Franklin prosperous and well-known throughout the colonies. In this annual book of useful encouragement, advice, and factual information, amusing characters such as old Father Abraham and Poor Richard exhort the reader in pithy, memorable sayings. In â€Å"The Way to Wealth,† which originally appeared in the Almanack, Father Abraham, â€Å"a plain clean old Man, with white Locks,† quotes Poor Richard at length. â€Å"A Word to the Wise is enough,† he says. â€Å"God helps them that help themselves. † â€Å"Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise. † Poor Richard is a psychologist (â€Å"Industry pays Debts, while Despair encreaseth them†), and he always counsels hard work (â€Å"Diligence is the Mother of Good Luck†). Do not be lazy, he advises, for â€Å"One To-day is worth two tomorrow. â€Å"Sometimes he creates anecdotes to illustrate his points: â€Å"A little Neglect may breed great Mischief†¦. For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for want of a Horse the Rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the Enemy, all for want of Care about a Horse-shoe Nail. † Franklin was a genius at compressing a moral point: â€Å"What maintains one Vice, would bring up two Children. † â€Å"A small leak will sink a great Ship. † â€Å"Fools make Feasts, and wise Men eat them. † Franklin’s Autobiography is, in part, another self-help book. Written to advise his son, it covers only the early years. The most famous section describes his scientific scheme of self- improvement. Franklin lists 13 virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. He elaborates on each with a maxim; for example, the temperance maxim is â€Å"Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation. † A pragmatic scientist, Franklin put the idea of perfectibility to the test, using himself as the experimental subject. To establish good habits, Franklin invented a reusable calendrical record book in which he worked on one virtue each week, recording each lapse with a black spot. His theory prefigures psychological behaviorism, while his systematic method of notation anticipates modern behavior modification. The project of self-improvement blends the Enlightenment belief in perfectibility with the Puritan habit of moral self-scrutiny. Franklin saw early that writing could best advance his ideas, and he therefore deliberately perfected his supple prose style, not as an end in itself but as a tool. â€Å"Write with the learned. Pronounce with the vulgar,† he advised. A scientist, he followed the Royal (scientific) Society’s 1667 advice to use â€Å"a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive expressions, clear senses, a native easiness, bringing all things as near the mathematical plainness as they can. † Despite his prosperity and fame, Franklin never lost his democratic sensibility, and he was an important figure at the 1787 convention at which the U. S. Constitution was drafted. In his later years, he was president of an antislavery association. One of his last efforts was to promote universal public education. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur (1735-1813) Another Enlightenment figure is Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, whose Letters from an American Farmer (1782) gave Europeans a glowing idea of opportunities for peace, wealth, and pride in America. Neither an American nor a farmer, but a French aristocrat who owned a plantation outside New York City before the Revolution, Crevecoeur enthusiastically praised the colonies for their industry, tolerance, and growing prosperity in 12 letters that depict America as an agrarian paradise — a vision that would inspire Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many other writers up to the present. Crevecoeur was the earliest European to develop a considered view of America and the new American character. The first to exploit the â€Å"melting pot† image of America, in a famous passage he asks: What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations†¦. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause changes in the world. THE POLITICAL PAMPHLET: Thomas Paine (1737-1809) The passion of Revolutionary literature is found in pamphlets, the most popular form of political literature of the day. Over 2,000 pamphlets were published during the Revolution. The pamphlets thrilled patriots and threatened loyalists; they filled the role of drama, as they were often read aloud in public to excite audiences. American soldiers read them aloud in their camps; British Loyalists threw them into public bonfires. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense sold over 100,000 copies in the first three months of its publication. It is still rousing today. â€Å"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind,† Paine wrote, voicing the idea of American exceptionalism still strong in the United States — that in some fundamental sense, since America is a democratic experiment and a country theoretically open to all immigrants, the fate of America foreshadows the fate of humanity at large. Political writings in a democracy had to be clear to appeal to the voters. And to have informed voters, universal education was promoted by many of the founding fathers. One indication of the vigorous, if simple, literary life was the proliferation of newspapers. More newspapers were read in America during the Revolution than anywhere else in the world. Immigration also mandated a simple style. Clarity was vital to a newcomer, for whom English might be a second language. Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence is clear and logical, but his committee’s modifications made it even simpler. The Federalist Papers, written in support of the Constitution, are also lucid, logical arguments, suitable for debate in a democratic nation. NEOCLASSISM: EPIC, MOCK EPIC, AND SATIRE Unfortunately, â€Å"literary† writing was not as simple and direct as political writing. When trying to write poetry, most educated authors stumbled into the pitfall of elegant neoclassicism. The epic, in particular, exercised a fatal attraction. American literary patriots felt sure that the great American Revolution naturally would find expression in the epic — a long, dramatic narrative poem in elevated language, celebrating the feats of a legendary hero. Many writers tried but none succeeded. Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), one of the group of writers known as the Hartford Wits, is an example. Dwight, who eventually became the president of Yale University, based his epic, The Conquest of Canaan (1785), on the Biblical story of Joshua’s struggle to enter the Promised Land. Dwight cast General Washington, commander of the American army and later the first president of the United States, as Joshua in his allegory and borrowed the couplet form that Alexander Pope used to translate Homer. Dwight’s epic was as boring as it was ambitious. English critics demolished it; even Dwight’s friends, such as John Trumbull (1750-1831), remained unenthusiastic. So much thunder and lightning raged in the melodramatic battle scenes that Trumbull proposed that the epic be provided with lightning rods. Not surprisingly, satirical poetry fared much better than serious verse. The mock epic genre encouraged American poets to use their natural voices and did not lure them into a bog of pretentious and predictable patriotic sentiments and faceless conventional poetic epithets out of the Greek poet Homer and the Roman poet Virgil by way of the English poets. In mock epics like John Trumbull’s good-humored M’Fingal (1776-82), stylized emotions and conventional turns of phrase are ammunition for good satire, and the bombastic oratory of the revolution is itself ridiculed. Modeled on the British poet Samuel Butler’s Hudibras, the mock epic derides a Tory, M’Fingal. It is often pithy, as when noting of condemned criminals facing hanging: No man e’er felt the halter draw With good opinion of the law. M’Fingal went into over 30 editions, was reprinted for a half-century, and was appreciated in England as well as America. Satire appealed to Revolutionary audiences partly because it contained social comment and criticism, and political topics and social problems were the main subjects of the day. The first American comedy to be performed, The Contrast (produced 1787) by Royall Tyler (1757-1826), humorously contrasts Colonel Manly, an American officer, with Dimple, who imitates English fashions. Naturally, Dimple is made to look ridiculous. The play introduces the first Yankee character, Jonathan. Another satirical work, the novel Modern Chivalry, published by Hugh Henry Brackenridge in installments from 1792 to 1815, memorably lampoons the excesses of the age. Brackenridge (1748- 1816), a Scottish immigrant raised on the American frontier, based his huge, picaresque novel on Don Quixote; it describes the misadventures of Captain Farrago and his stupid, brutal, yet appealingly human, servant Teague O’Regan. POET OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: Philip Freneau (1752-1832). One poet, Philip Freneau, incorporated the new stirrings of European Romanticism and escaped the imitativeness and vague universality of the Hartford Wits. The key to both his success and his failure was his passionately democratic spirit combined with an inflexible temper. The Hartford Wits, all of them undoubted patriots, reflected the general cultural conservatism of the educated classes. Freneau set himself against this holdover of old Tory attitudes, complaining of â€Å"the writings of an aristocratic, speculating faction at Hartford, in favor of monarchy and titular distinctions. â€Å"Although Freneau received a fine education and was as well acquainted with the classics as any Hartford Wit, he embraced liberal and democratic causes. From a Huguenot (radical French Protestant) background, Freneau fought as a militiaman during the Revolutionary War. In 1780, he was captured and imprisoned in two British ships, where he almost died before his family managed to get him released. His poem â€Å"The British Prison Ship† is a bitter condemnation of the cruelties of the British, who wished â€Å"to stain the world with gore. † This piece and other revolutionary works, including â€Å"Eutaw Springs,† â€Å"American Liberty,† â€Å"A Political Litany,† â€Å"A Midnight Consultation,† and â€Å"George the Third’s Soliloquy,† brought him fame as the â€Å"Poet of the American Revolution. † Freneau edited a number of journals during his life, always mindful of the great cause of democracy. When Thomas Jefferson helped him establish the militant, anti-Federalist National Gazette in 1791, Freneau became the first powerful, crusading newspaper editor in America, and the literary predecessor of William Cullen Bryant, William Lloyd Garrison, and H.L. Mencken. As a poet and editor, Freneau adhered to his democratic ideals. His popular poems, published in newspapers for the average reader, regularly celebrated American subjects. â€Å"The Virtue of Tobacco† concerns the indigenous plant, a mainstay of the southern economy, while â€Å"The Jug of Rum† celebrates the alcoholic drink of the West Indies, a crucial commodity of early American trade and a major New World export. Common American characters lived in â€Å"The Pilot of Hatteras,† as well as in poems about quack doctors and bombastic evangelists. Freneau commanded a natural and colloquial style appropriate to a genuine democracy, but he could also rise to refined neoclassic lyricism in often-anthologized works such as â€Å"The Wild Honeysuckle† (1786), which evokes a sweet-smelling native shrub. Not until the â€Å"American Renaissance† that began in the 1820s would American poetry surpass the heights that Freneau had scaled 40 years earlier. Additional groundwork for later literary achievement was laid during the early years. Nationalism inspired publications in many fields, leading to a new appreciation of things American. Noah Webster (1758-1843) devised an American Dictionary, as well as an important reader and speller for the schools. His Spelling Book sold more than 100 million copies over the years. Updated Webster’s dictionaries are still standard today. The American Geography, by Jedidiah Morse, another landmark reference work, promoted knowledge of the vast and expanding American land itself. Some of the most interesting if nonliterary writings of the period are the journals of frontiersmen and explorers such as Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and  Zebulon Pike (1779-1813), who wrote accounts of expeditions across the Louisiana Territory, the vast portion of the North American continent that Thomas Jefferson purchased from Napoleon in 1803. WRITERS OF FICTION. The first important fiction writers widely recognized today, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, and James Fenimore Cooper, used American subjects, historical perspectives, themes of change, and nostalgic tones. They wrote in many prose genres, initiated new forms, and found new ways to make a living through literature. With them, American literature began to be read and appreciated in the United States and abroad. Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810) Already mentioned as the first professional American writer, Charles Brockden Brown was inspired by the English writers Mrs. Radcliffe and English William Godwin. (Radcliffe was known for her terrifying Gothic novels; a novelist and social reformer, Godwin was the father of Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein and married English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. ) Driven by poverty, Brown hastily penned four haunting novels in two years: Wieland (1798), Arthur Mervyn (1799), Ormond (1799), and Edgar Huntley (1799). In them, he developed the genre of American Gothic. The Gothic novel was a popular genre of the day featuring exotic and wild settings, disturbing psychological depth, and much suspense. Trappings included ruined castles or abbeys, ghosts, mysterious secrets, threatening figures, and solitary maidens who survive by their wits and spiritual strength. At their best, such novels offer tremendous suspense and hints of magic, along with profound explorations of the human soul in extremity. Critics suggest that Brown’s Gothic sensibility expresses deep anxieties about the inadequate social institutions of the new nation. Brown used distinctively American settings. A man of ideas, he dramatized scientific theories, developed a personal theory of fiction, and championed high literary standards despite personal poverty. Though flawed, his works are darkly powerful. Increasingly, he is seen as the precursor of romantic writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. He expresses subconscious fears that the outwardly optimistic Enlightenment period drove underground. Washington Irving (1789-1859). The youngest of 11 children born to a well-to-do New York merchant family, Washington Irving became a cultural and diplomatic ambassador to Europe, like Benjamin Franklin and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Despite his talent, he probably would not have become a full-time professional writer, given the lack of financial rewards, if a series of fortuitous incidents had not thrust writing as a profession upon him. Through friends, he was able to publish his Sketch Book (1819-1820) simultaneously in England and America, obtaining copyrights and payment in both countries. The Sketch Book of Geoffrye Crayon (Irving’s pseudonym) contains his two best remembered stories, â€Å"Rip Van Winkle† and â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. † â€Å"Sketch† aptly describes Irving’s delicate, elegant, yet seemingly casual style, and â€Å"crayon† suggests his ability as a colorist or creator of rich, nuanced tones and emotional effects. In the Sketch Book, Irving transforms the Catskill Mountains along the Hudson River north of New York City into a fabulous, magical region. American readers gratefully accepted Irving’s imagined â€Å"history† of the Catskills, despite the fact (unknown to them) that he had adapted his stories from a German source. Irving gave America something it badly needed in the brash, materialistic early years: an imaginative way of relating to the new land. No writer was as successful as Irving at humanizing the land, endowing it with a name and a face and a set of legends. The story of â€Å"Rip Van Winkle,† who slept for 20 years, waking to find the colonies had become independent, eventually became folklore. It was adapted for the stage, went into the oral tradition, and was gradually accepted as authentic American legend by generations of Americans. Irving discovered and helped satisfy the raw new nation’s sense of history. His numerous works may be seen as his devoted attempts to build the new nation’s soul by recreating history and giving it living, breathing, imaginative life. For subjects, he chose the most dramatic aspects of American history: the discovery of the New World, the first president and national hero, and the westward exploration. His earliest work was a sparkling, satirical History of New York (1809) under the Dutch, ostensibly written by Diedrich Knickerbocker (hence the name of Irving’s friends and New York writers of the day, the â€Å"Knickerbocker School†). James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) James Fenimore Cooper, like Irving, evoked a sense of the past and gave it a local habitation and a name. In Cooper, though, one finds the powerful myth of a golden age and the poignance of its loss. While Irving and other American writers before and after him scoured Europe in search of its legends, castles, and great themes, Cooper grasped the essential myth of America: that it was timeless, like the wilderness. American history was a trespass on the eternal; European history in America was a reenactment of the fall in the Garden of Eden. The cyclical realm of nature was glimpsed only in the act of destroying it: The wilderness disappeared in front of American eyes, vanishing before the oncoming pioneers like a mirage. This is Cooper’s basic tragic vision of the ironic destruction of the wilderness, the new Eden that had attracted the colonists in the first place. Personal experience enabled Cooper to write vividly of the transformation of the wilderness and of other subjects such as the sea and the clash of peoples from different cultures. The son of a Quaker family, he grew up on his father’s remote estate at Otsego Lake (now Cooperstown) in central New York State. Although this area was relatively peaceful during Cooper’s boyhood, it had once been the scene of an Indian massacre. Young Fenimore Cooper grew up in an almost feudal environment. His father, Judge Cooper, was a landowner and leader. Cooper saw frontiersmen and Indians at Otsego Lake as a boy; in later life, bold white settlers intruded on his land. Natty Bumppo, Cooper’s renowned literary character, embodies his vision of the frontiersman as a gentleman, a Jeffersonian â€Å"natural aristocrat. † Early in 1823, in The Pioneers, Cooper had begun to discover Bumppo. Natty is the first famous frontiersman in American literature and the literary forerunner of countless cowboy and backwoods heroes. He is the idealized, upright individualist who is better than the society he protects. Poor and isolated, yet pure, he is a touchstone for ethical values and prefigures Herman Melville’s Billy Budd and Mark Twain’s Huck Finn. Based in part on the real life of American pioneer Daniel Boone — who was a Quaker like Cooper — Natty Bumppo, an outstanding woodsman like Boone, was a peaceful man adopted by an Indian tribe. Both Boone and the fictional Bumppo loved nature and freedom. They constantly kept moving west to escape the oncoming settlers they had guided into the wilderness, and they became legends in their own lifetimes. Natty is also chaste, high-minded, and deeply spiritual: He is the Christian knight of medieval romances transposed to the virgin forest and rocky soil of America. The unifying thread of the five novels collectively known as the Leather-Stocking Tales is the life of Natty Bumppo. Cooper’s finest achievement, they constitute a vast prose epic with the North American continent as setting, Indian tribes as characters, and great wars and westward migration as social background. The novels bring to life frontier America from 1740 to 1804. Cooper’s novels portray the successive waves of the frontier settlement: the original wilderness inhabited by Indians; the arrival of the first whites as scouts, soldiers, traders, and frontiersmen; the coming of the poor, rough settler families; and the final arrival of the middle class, bringing the first professionals — the judge, the physician, and the banker. Each incoming wave displaced the earlier: Whites displaced the Indians, who retreated westward; the â€Å"civilized† middle classes who erected schools, churches, and jails displaced the lower-class individualistic frontier folk, who moved further west, in turn displacing the Indians who had preceded them. Cooper evokes the endless, inevitable wave of settlers, seeing not only the gains but the losses. Cooper’s novels reveal a deep tension between the lone individual and society, nature and culture, spirituality and organized religion. In Cooper, the natural world and the Indian are fundamentally good — as is the highly civilized realm associated with his most cultured characters. Intermediate characters are often suspect, especially greedy, poor white settlers who are too uneducated or unrefined to appreciate nature or culture. Like Rudyard Kipling, E. M. Forster, Herman Melville, and other sensitive observers of widely varied cultures interacting with each other, Cooper was a cultural relativist. He understood that no culture had a monopoly on virtue or refinement. Cooper accepted the American condition while Irving did not. Irving addressed the American setting as a European might have — by importing and adapting European legends, culture, and history. Cooper took the process a step farther. He created American settings and new, distinctively American characters and themes. He was the first to sound the recurring tragic note in American fiction. WOMEN AND MINORITIES Although the colonial period produced several women writers of note, the revolutionary era did not further the work of women and minorities, despite the many schools, magazines, newspapers, and literary clubs that were springing up. Colonial women such as Anne Bradstreet, Anne Hutchinson, Ann Cotton, and Sarah Kemble Knight exerted considerable social and literary influence in spite of primitive conditions and dangers; of the 18 women who came to America on the ship Mayflower in 1620, only four survived the first year. When every able-bodied person counted and conditions were fluid, innate talent could find expression. But as cultural institutions became formalized in the new republic, women and minorities gradually were excluded from them. Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784) Given the hardships of life in early America, it is ironic that some of the best poetry of the period was written by an exceptional slave woman. The first African-American author of importance in the United States, Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa and brought to Boston, Massachusetts, when she was about seven, where she was purchased by the pious and wealthy tailor John Wheatley to be a companion for his wife. The Wheatleys recognized Phillis’s remarkable inte.

Determinants of a Demand Curve:

Movement along the demand curve: There are many factors determining demand- the prime one being price. Price and quantity are the two components which form the demand curve. Any change in these two variables doesn’t cause a shift in the demand curve but a movement along what is already existent. When prices vary, quantity is altered. Usually, applying the law of demand, more will be consumed when prices drop and vice versa. When more goods are consumed due to a drop in prices there is an expansion in demand and when less is consumed due to an increase in price, it is said to be a contraction in demand. A shift in the demand curve: Factors which do cause a shift in demand include: consumer tastes, fashion and trends, income, population, income distribution, consumer expectations and technology. When there is a change in any one of these determinants of demand there will be an alteration in the demand curve. Since these changes are not a cause of changes in price, there will be a shift in the demand curve. When more is purchased at the same price, the demand curve will shift to the right as demand increases. When less is consumed at the same price, the demand curve will shift to the left, as there is a decrease in demand. How the determinants of demand can alter the demand curve are summarised below: 1. Consumer Tastes: consumers tastes and preferences change, which may be in favour of a certain product, increasing and decreasing demand for other goods and services 2. Income: an increase or decrease of consumer income will affect their disposable income and discretionary spending trends- increasing or decreasing demand 3. Population: the population of an area will affect demand. A larger population means more consumers and greater demand and vice a versa. 4. Income distribution: an even distribution of income will mean an increase for demand of luxury goods by low and middle income groups whereas an uneven distribution would lead to increased demand for necessities by low and middle income earners and a decrease in luxury spending. 5. Consumer expectations: expectations of future course pries, economic activity and government economic policies may affect demand. If there are expectations of a drop of prices in the future, consumers may choose to postpone current spending for the future. 6. Technology: Technology allows the production of new and better quality products and services, making other products and services obsolete by substituting them. Consumers may switch their demand for a superior or more convenient product or service which technology may bring along. E. g. : a newer mobile phone or a labour saving device.

Board of Directors

Board of Directors Introduction The success or failure of any organization or company totally depends on its leadership. There are different levels of leadership in any organization and the board of directors plays a very important role in the running and management of any organization. Different organizations have different roles of the board of directors but generally there are basic foundation roles that apply to all the organizations.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Board of Directors specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This paper discusses the different roles of the board of directors and how competence can be developed as well as the various differences between board of directors in the private sector and non-profitable organisation. Ideal relationship between the board of directors and the executive is also discussed. Board of directors The main role of the board of directors in any company or organization is to act as the eyes of the shareholders of the organization. A report by Brefi (2000) claimed that any given board of directors has a role: â€Å"to ensure the companys prosperity by collectively directing the companys affairs, whilst meeting the appropriate interests of its shareholders and stakeholders† (Brefi, 2000, p. 2). The board of directors is usually appointed by the shareholders who also have the powers to dismiss it mainly through a vote. The board of directors has different roles that vary from one organization to another. Oversee vision, mission and values of the organization It is the primary role of any board of directors to oversee that the Organization focuses at achieving its vision, mission, and values by continuous evaluation of the organization progress. They have the responsibility of determining values to be upheld and constantly review goals and objectives of the Organization. They are also supposed to set and follow up the implementation of policies in the Organiza tion. A report by Gray (n.d.) was claimed that: â€Å"Directors, no matter what their reason for being elected to a board, are responsible for making decisions and setting policy for the organization† (Gray 1). Carter McNamara (2011) defined the roles of the board of directors as â€Å"oversee the purpose, plans and policies of the overall organization, such as establishing those overall plans and policies, supervision of the CEO, ensuring compliance to rules and regulations† (McNamara, 2011, p. 1).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Set strategy and structure It is the role of the board of directors to constantly do the SWOT analysis of the Organization in terms strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the current and future situations to ensure the Organization retains its relevance in the society. It also sets strategies, and ways of achieving them. Most importantly they should the Organization has the necessary Organizational structure and the potential for carrying out the laid down strategies. A report by Score (2011) claimed that the board of directors has the role of â€Å"developing and approving strategic plans, including major commitments† (Score, 2011, p. 1). Delegation It is important to note that the board of directors cannot do or perform all the activities of their Organization alone and as such the board had an important role of delegating all the necessary authorities to other different levels of management beginning with the chief executive officer (CEO). McNamara claimed that it is the role of the board of directors to â€Å"Select and appoint a chief executive to whom responsibility for the administration of the organization is delegated, including: to review and evaluate his/her performance† (McNamara, 2011, p. 1). Accountability to shareholders The board of directors is the e yes and the voice of the shareholders and other stakeholders and as such it has the role of ensuring that the interests, views and expectations are represented in the Organization by effective communication between the management and the shareholders (Brefi, 2000). A report by McNamara also claims that the board of directors must be in a position to â€Å"provide for fiscal accountability, approve the budget, and formulate policies related to contracts from public or private resources† (McNamara, 2011, p. 1) Board competence For a board to be successful it must be competent. The members must be poses strong interpersonal skills, must be well versed about the various operations of the Organization, they must always be available when needed and must be people of honor and integrity.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Board of Directors specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Loyalty to the Organization is a requ irement and the members must also poses diverse global knowledge in various fields such as law, finances which will enable the board to make good decisions. Competence in the board may be developed by proper recruitment of the right individuals to start with. Rigorous and continual training should be prioritized. It may also be advisable to keep on renewing the board from time to time to inject new ideas and dynamism. Martinelli (2011) raised concern that â€Å"nominating committee or board recruiting committee is poorly organized, board members in turn are not likely to have a good understanding of the organization and their role as board members†( Martinelli, 2011, p. 1). Relationship between the board and executive For any meaningful achievement of goals and objectives of any Organization the board of directors and the executive must work together in harmony as a team. Good relationship between the two is therefore imperative. The board of directors must have the will and commitment of understanding all the important details that concerns the Organization since they may be required to make tough, and wise decisions that the executive needs to drive the Organization to the expectations of the shareholders the directors represent. The executive expects the board members to adequately prepare and regularly attend meetings while board of directors expects service delivery and regular briefing in return. Both sides expect full and genuine participation from each other. Collective commitment to teamwork and improvement is also important (Kilmister, 2004). Differences between private sector and non-profit boards The basic roles of both private and non-profit organizations are similar to some extent but on a close analysis there are many differences between the two which generally arise from their purpose of existence. Private board members set the strategies and standards to be met and delegate the task of achievement to the executive unlike non-profit boar d members who are directly involved in raising funds for the organisation. Private sector board members are paid whereas non-profit board members are only reimbursed of their expenses. Private sector board members focus on maximising shareholders investments and have to account for returns unlike non-profit board members who focus on fundraising funds from relevant bodies and focussing their activities to charity affairs (McNamara, 2011, p. 1).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion The role of board members plays a key role in the success of any given Organization. The roles include representing the interests of the shareholders in the Organization, making and implementing vision, mission and core values of the Organization and setting and following up on strategies. Competence is a core requirement and the board members are supposed to be knowledgeable people of high integrity. The board members of nonprofit and private Organizations have differences due to the differences in the functions of the Organizations. The relationship between the executive and the board members is important in that it ensures cooperation and understanding of both parties for the benefit of the organization. References Brefi, G. (2000). The Board of Directors – Roles and Responsibilities. Brefigroup. Web. Gray, C. (n.d) Ethical Responsibilities of Boards of Directors of Non-Profit Organizations. Board Responsibilities. Web. Kilmister, N. (2004). Eight Basic Expectat ions a Chief Executive Has of His or Her Board. TCA. Web. Martinelli, F. (2011). Building an Effective Board of Directors. Create the Future. Web. McNamara, C. (2011). All about Boards of Directors (For-Profit and Nonprofit). Management help. Web. Score, K. (2011). Serving on a Nonprofit Board of Directors. ScoreKnox. Web.

Silver Water by Amy Bloom Essay Example

Silver Water by Amy Bloom Essay Example Silver Water by Amy Bloom Paper Silver Water by Amy Bloom Paper Literary Analysis of â€Å"Silver Water† In Amy Bloom’s short story, â€Å"Silver Water†, Violet, the youngest daughter describes the effects that the mental illness of her older sister Rose has on her and her family. She recalls the struggles with finding a suitable therapists, hospitals, as well as the rollercoaster ordeal of coming to some sort of wellness in her sister, only to have her slip back into debilitating mental illness. (74). In order to bring the reader closer to the experience of mental illness, Amy Bloom uses a first person narrative to show us the pain of having a loved one with mental illness. Using the voice of Violet, the reader sees how mental illness changes her big sister Rose, and the effect on the family. Being two years younger, Violet idolized Rose,† my beautiful defender, my guide to Tampax, and my mother’s moods.† (72)In this statement, Bloom illustrates how much admiration the narrator has for her big sister.Rose was blond and beautiful with a voice that could make â€Å"Jesus come off the cross and clap (73). Here again, Bloom uses beautiful symbolism and imagery to describe Violet’s reverence for Rose. At the age of 15, mental illness sets upon Rose, and she spends the next ten years in many different hospitals, with many different therapists. The best being Dr. Thorne, who refers to Violet as, â€Å"No One’s Nut, which summed up both my sanity and loneliness’ (74). Here we get a glimpse into how Violet feels on the inside. Rose’s mental health improved under Dr. Thorne and she even joined a black church choir.Although she’d have her episodes here and there, she had people who would help her steer the ship back right. After Dr. Thorne died, Rose stopped taking her meds and was kicked out of her halfway house.