The Bluest Eye Essays (563 words) - The Bluest Eye, Pecola

The Bluest Eye With The Bluest Eye, Morrison has not only created a story, but also a series of painfully accurate impressions. As Dee puts it to read the book...is to ache for remedy (20). But Morrison raises painful issues while at the same time managing to reveal the hope and encouragement beneath the surface. A reader might easily conclude that the most prominent social issue presented in The Bluest Eye is that of racism, but more important issues lie beneath the surface. Pecola experiences damage from her abusive and negligent parents. The reader is told that even Pecola's mother thought she was ugly from the time of birth. Pecola's negativity may have initially been caused by her family's failure to provide her with identity, love, security, and socialization, ail which are essential for any child's development (Samuels 13). Pecola's parents are able only to give her a childhood of limited possibilities. She struggles to find herself in infertile soil, leading to the analysis of a life of sterility (13). Like the marigolds planted that year, Pecola never grew. The concept of physical appearance as a virtue is the center of the social problems portrayed in the novel. Thus the novel unfolds with the most logical responses to this overpowering impression of beauty: acceptance, adjustment, and rejection (Samuels 10). Through Pecola Breedlove, Morrison presents reactions to the worth of physical criteria. The beauty standard that Pecola feels she must live up to causes her to have an identity crisis. Society's standard has no place for Pecola, unlike her high yellow dream child classmate, Maureen Peals, who fits the mold (Morrison 62). Maureen's influence in the novel is important. She enchanted the entire school... black girls stepped aside when she wanted to use the sink in the girl's toilet... She never had to search for anybody to eat with in the cafeteria--they flocked to the table of her choice (62-63). In contrast, Pecola's classmates insult her black skin by chanting Black e mo Black e mo Ya daddy sleeps nekked/ stch ta ta stch ta ta (65). The most damaging interracial confrontation related to color involves Pecola and an adult, Geraldine (Samuels 12). When Pecola enters Geraldine's home at the invitation of her son, Geraldine forces her to leave with words that hurt deeply, saying Get out... You nasty little black bitch. Get out of my house (92). Pecola is a delicate character because of her young age, but her delicacy lies even more in her innocence. Pecola actually believes that Soaphead Church has helped her to receive the blue eyes that she fervently prayed for. Pecola got blue eyes, bluer than theirs (Morrison 197). Dee describes the impact of the novel, saying (Morrison) has split open the person and made us watch the heart beat. We feel faint, helpless and afraid - not knowing what to do (20). Morrison herself claims that One problem was centering: the weight of the novel's inquiry on so delicate and vulnerable a character could smash her and lead readers into the comfort of pitying her rather than into an interrogation of themselves (211). Morrison didn't want readers to ''remain touched but not moved'' (211) The issues raised truly do touch the reader in an indescribably deep and special way. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison has created a powerful novel with a strong social impact. Book Reports

Missouri Applies for Statehood

Missouri Applies for Statehood- 1819 In 1819, Missouri wanted to join the Union, although in the North, as a slave state. In would make the balance of power in the Congress unequal. Many Northerners were opposed to the idea. Northerners in Congress refused to pass the bill. Northerners proposed that Missouri be slave and that no more slaves were to be brought in and all slave children would be free at the age of 25, so Missouri would become a Free State. Southerners were opposed to the idea brought up by Northerners. The Congress was in debate for many months. Henry Clay proposed that Maine enter the Union as a Free State. Also, prohibiting slavery north of the 36030, the southern boundary of Missouri. The South agreed since Plantations would not be able to thrive further North of that line. Many concerned Americans thought that the slavery issue was resolved. In 1828, A Tariff was passed to help try to protect New England Manufactures. The tariff was as high as 45% to 50% of the original European price. Opponents of the tariff called it the Tariff of Abomination. Southerners were opposed to the tariff because they exported cotton and other materials to Europe in exchange European goods were imported to America. Southerners claimed it was an indirect tax on their region of the United States. Southerners began to ask for states right. South Carolina even went as far as to ask for the tariff taken off the books or they would succeed. The tariff was lowered by Congress. Abolitionism was around before the 1830s but, it became a more radical during this time. Before 1830, Benjamin Lundy ran a anti-slavery newspaper. In 1829, Lundy hired William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison went on to publish his own newspaper the Liberator. Many people also favored a Colonization movement. In which free slavers would move to Liberia, which was founded in 1822 in Africa by former slaves. Paul ...

Anti Violence Essay

Anti violence essay Seven years ago I did not think violence existed in America. The most violent act ever committed was the tragedy of the World Trade Center in 9/11/01. The Trade Centers had been the target for something so horrible, and I thought at the time, ‘This will change the world. † I was right about that fact: our airports are more secure, we have to have pass-ports anywhere you go now, you have more thorough bagage checks, and they’re more selective as to what’s in your purse before boarding a plane. I think the most secure place in America right now is our power plants. They have increased security at all our power plants, including the nuclear plants, and also there is air space around each plant so planes have to keep their distance from them. Homeland Security is a common word in our homes today because of 9/11. I wanted to know how. Wanted to know why. Wanted to know what our leaders reactions would be. The world trade center killed many people that my friends knew and loved; that can never be replaced. This act changed the way my friends lived, loved, and acted in school. This spine-chilling nightmare was committed because terrorists took over three planes that flew into the giant buildings. The causes of this violence is the hatred between countries, states, or nations. The hatred is then passed down to the youth generation, because we hear, and see the dislike between the grown-ups. Children learn from the wisdom and actions of what the elders do. Shooting, stabbing, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and gang fights are a few examples of youth violence. All of these exist in schools, neighborhoods, malls, the movies and even in your own home on the internet. Schools have tried to stop it but there is still a lot of verbal abuse anywhere in the school system you go. Youth violence can be stopped by reporting abuse, shooting, stabbings, and anything to do with gangs. It can also be solved by not being the one that does bulling or any of the things listed above. I think it is funny how teachers wonder about why no one reports violence in America. My say on the matter is the kids are scared it will only get worse if we tell a teacher or principal or any adult because they use our name and our grade to the bully or person that Bothers you.

Cosco Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cosco - Case Study Example al., 2008, p. C-3). While this business model has been entirely successful thus far, the provision of limited choices can be problematic in the long-term. With globalization consumers are increasingly confronted with a variety of choices. Therefore shopping in an environment with limited choices may go against what modern consumers have come to expect and prefer. Costco’s business model has nevertheless been successful so far. For example in 2006, total sales in Costco’s 496 stores worldwide amounted to US$ 59 billion. Membership included 26 million private members and 5.2 million business members which amounted to US$1.2 billion in fees for Costco membership. Each of Costco’s stores realize sales each year at an average of US$128 million while its closest competitor Sam’s Club realizes only US$67 million annually (Thompson, et. al., 2008). However, since Costco and Sam’s Club are based on the same business model, the disparity in sales might be a m atter of concern. Costco can expect that at some stage Sam’s Club will attempt to take some of Costco’s market shares and the sales’ positions can be reversed. ... For example, operating costs increased progressively from US$1,037 million in 2000 to US$1,626 in 2006. However, net sales and membership fees together increased from US$32,164 million in 2000 to US$60,151 million in 2006 showing progressive increases from year to year. At the end of 2000, Costco had 313 stores operating worldwide and by the end of 2006, Costco had 458 stores. Membership has also followed a similar pattern, increasing each year from 2000-2006 (Thompson, et. al., 2008). Although membership is a big part of the business model it is a more significant marketing strategy and will be critiqued in the next section. The successful business model of offering quality goods at low prices is enabled by the warehouse membership set-up. By taking this approach, Costco is able to save the cost involved in in-store decorum and in-store customer service. In fact, Costco’s various warehouses typically display bare cement floors and shopping is designed like a â€Å"treasure h unt† experience (Thompson, et. al., 2008, p. C-6). Moreover, Costco offers limited products in volumes to lower the cost of inventory and floor management. For example, a typical supermarket or supercenter such as Wal-Mart or SuperTarget will offer between 40, 000 and 150,000 items while Costco offers only 4,000 items (Thompson, et. al., 2008). Thus far, Costco’s business model has been successful, however increasing competition indicates that Costco might have to consider revamping its business model. For instance, Costco’s largest business rival, Sam’s Club and BJ’s both use a similar business model. Both Sam’s Club and BJ’s have similar in-store lay-outs, offer about 4,000 items and feature the treasure hunt experience in which luxury goods are available at lower

The Immigrant Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Immigrant Experience - Essay Example ead it deals in a matured manner, and analyses the complex relationship between a mother and daughter, while exploring family relationships, female intuitions, and various other interrelated subjects, against the backdrop of sexual and political violence. At the end, the novel speaks of a possibility of emotional healing, even within the realms of death and destruction. The message that this book sends out, is that, for complete emotional healing one must go beyond all political reasoning, and allow the inner self to grow and metamorphose, while coming to terms with one’s traumatic past. Dandicat dedicates her first novel to all the â€Å"brave women of Haiti, grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, daughters, and friends, on this and other shores† (Dandicat, 5). This novel that portrays the travails of the lead protagonist Sophie, forges a link between the four generations of women within a family, by finding a common thread of suffering and abuse. This story with its strong political and emotional dimensions, delves into the mother-daughter relationship, and seeks to find solace at the end through various processes of self examination and self expression. There is also the complex correlation of an individual with his mother land. This is evident in the story, when we learn that Sophie was conceived when her mother was raped by a member of the Tonton Macoute (political goons in Haiti) in a cane field, which allegorically also refers to the exploitation and abuse of Haiti, the motherland. The story also portrays a community that cherishes its heritage, which speaks of courage and survival, and a strong will to fight back oppression. This heritage is transmitted through their story telling, and we see this when Sophie’s grandma tells her â€Å"if you see a lot of trouble in your life, it is because you were chosen to carry a part of the sky on your head† (ibid, 25). This tradition of storytelling to pass on the heritage is also evident in mythical

A Study of Trends in Indian Partition Literature Essay Example for Free

A Study of Trends in Indian Partition Literature Essay The Partition of India was the geographical division of colonial India into two bordering nation states of India and Pakistan based on religious demographics.1 It was proposed as an unsavoury but necessary accompaniment to the Independence of India from the British Empire. However, it was not only a diplomatic and administrative exercise but rather had a long-lasting psychological impact on the human population of these areas. Though Bapu2 was firmly against this idea, it was reluctantly accepted by Nehru and Jinnah as the only solution to the growing communal divide between the Muslim and Hindu communities. 3 However, what the political class had never predicted was the unprecedented amount of bloodshed, violence and widespread civil unrest that followed in its wake. Even years after this event, the perpetrators and the victims are still baffled as to the cause of this â€Å"madness†4 that gripped civilized society. In the aftermath, historians pretended to ignore it terming it unfortunate but somewhat inevitable while literature tried to come to terms with its bestiality and future implications. The authorial response of the first generation was severely limited however due to a level of emotional attachment and involvement in the subject matter. They lacked perspective and varied in two ways: either they were very brief and lacked empathy or tended to be voyeuristic in nature. The official responses attempted to historicise Partition through statistics, facts and figures while literature, to the contrary attempted to give voice to subaltern perspectives personalising victim narratives. Despite such a movement, it was not until the 70’s that it was realised that hardly any attention was paid to the experiences of women during Partition. There was a deep reluctance to address the gender atrocities committed during Partition and it manifested itself through the invisibilisation of women voices. Although it had been clear from the start that the worst sufferers of Partition violence had been women5, a stoic silence upon the tragic reality had been maintained. Many of these women had led forgotten lives and their trauma suppressed in an attempt to forget the onslaught upon their bodies and minds. Therefore, renewed efforts began to document and portray the forgotten stories of such women. But it was a complex problem in many ways. Partition had had a multifaceted impact on the women of India and Pakistan that not only defined their coming lives but also impacted the future generations as psycho-somatic memories and construction of familial structures post-Partition.6 Literature took the initiative of this task: there were two major strains of women oriented Partition narratives that emerged in the period thus. One school of thought dealt with Partition as a backdrop to the â€Å"larger narrative†. In such stories, the lives of the main characters were highlighted and their lives were allegorised to represent the trauma of the nation itself. The stories of their existence were represented dually: as human beings involved in personal dramas and as social creatures part of a larger mainframe. Their places within the higher superstructure and as creatures dominated by the larger contexts were analysed by writers. A startling example of this was â€Å"The Clear Light Of Day† by Anita Desai which never referred to Partition in specific incidents but rather subtle, broken reflections into the people whose day-to-day lives were affected by the growing communal tension and changing socio-political equations. It refers to the ties of family, friendship, kinship and love that were abruptly ruptured by the literal division of the nation. There were novels such as â€Å"Ice-Candy Man† by Bapsi Sidhwa that looks at Partition from the ‘outside’. The narrator Lenny is imbued with unique qualities that were highly unconventional for the times. She was a child, hence she had a limited worldview, a Parsee, hence not religiously biased and neither a participant, physically disabled, therefore able to sympathise with the suffering of others and, a girl therefore her narration is unapologetically gender-conscious. What she learns, is all by association. The story is a sharp attack on official discourses that denied the suffering of millions of people. Lenny’s story is not only her own but a mirroring of girl-children everywhere that were faced with questions with identity, sexuality, community and nation as a whole and how they shaped individual lives. A child is brutally honest and spares nobody and nothing. She has no inbuilt prejudices so she can speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. As a result of such experimental tales, women felt ready to finally speak up. But, their attempts were met with more resistance than expected. They were themselves reluctant to speak about they went through; it was too painful but combined with societal pressures, their mouths had been almost sealed shut from fear. For daring to break this unspoken taboo, some of them faced severe consequences and were even disowned by their own families for besmirching the family name. But such actions often took a huge toll on their mental and physical health and though they had survived, they hadn’t healed. As a result of mass migration, women were abruptly uprooted from their homes to move to a strange and unfamiliar place. They had to build their lives and homes anew, sometimes with no support system. Many of these women were so bereaved at losing their home and hearth, that they could never recover from this sense of loss. Women in traditional society had since ancient days been tasked with looking after the home. Since they were not allowed to venture outside their domain7, the home had been almost personified for them. It was a living breathing space. The only place which they could rightfully stake claim to and which was a source of comfort and solace for them. They were so tangibly attached to their land that family was synonymous with home and her identity came to be defined by her place in the home. Hence when forced to migrate, their sense of unsettlement and upheaval was immense. They could never return to their past lives and change was not so easy for these women who had never been given the opportunity to trespass their comfort zones. Some stories that movingly illustrated the dilemmas of such women are â€Å"Jadein† by Ismat Chughtai, â€Å"Sikka Badal Gaya† by Krishna Sobti Sahni and â€Å"The Thirst Of Rivers† by Joginder Paul . These women had to undergo the process of relocating their selves. Many women like Bebe from â€Å"The Thirst†¦Ã¢â‚¬  refused to leave their homes assured of its protection from evils outside. However, their families were broken up with some members choosing to stay back and some leaving for a new land. Due to differences in opinion, family members become estranged and refused to talk to each other or had problems meeting each other due to large geographical distances. Often, migrants did not have enough money to travel back and forth and permits were hard to come by. Due to mutual hostilities, communication across borders was sketchy at best. Hence, many a times, a natural void between families occurred. All the while, the matriarch of the family remained a silent witness to events. The family ties that she had spent all her life building up and nurturing were breaking up right before her eyes and she was helpless, unable to act or intervene. Who would listen to her? Partition had served to further communal tension and hardening religious identities than perhaps any event in the history of India or Pakistan. People who had lived together for several millennia with tranquillity were suddenly made conscious of their differences from each other. They who had been friends earlier were suddenly staunch enemies and women bore the brunt of these realizations. In â€Å"Peshawar Express†8, one such incident is narrated when at Wazirabad station, where Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities had celebrated Baisakhi together for ages becomes a site of base humiliation and gruesome celebration; the women of the Hindu and Sikhs communities were paraded around naked as if they were nothing but objects of gratification for the general public. These women had become mere shells, their souls long dead. In Kamleshwar’s â€Å"Kitne Pakistan†, the author ruminates upon the fruitlessness of Partition and the breaking of bonds of families, love and friendships due to its occurrence. It is the story of a Muslim girl, Bano who falls in love with a Hindu boy, Mangal but is not able to marry him because of religious dogmas. She is told that she will cause communal riots. There is a hidden implication in this viewpoint that seems to say that the cause of every mishappening must be a woman somehow. Rules for men and women in traditional dogmatic societies are different It is ironic that men are not chastised for forcibly marrying a man of the other religion but they will not allow their daughters to choose her spouse on her own and he may never belong to another religion. There is rampant hypocrisy and hollowness in societal mores regarding women. Bano is married off to Muneer who unable to provide for his family with his own hard work resorts to selling his own wife’s body to earn money. The shamefulness of this situation is beyond imagination. These are not falsifications as advocated by fundamental religious leaders but a retelling of many women’s lives. Another kind of psychological trauma that many women underwent was the loss of a child. Many women were forced to leave their children by their husband and children during flight. Children became a burden during this time. They had to be cared for especially with crucial funds required by the family going for their supplies. Also, escapees with children were more vulnerable to attacks by rioters since they not only had to look after themselves but look after their child as well. There are real life cases documented by Urvashi Bhutalia in her book, â€Å"The Other Side Of Silence† wherein women of Muslim as well as Hindu communities were forced to desert their infants that could raise an alarm in the rioters by making noise. Sikh men told tales of killing their children, asking the author, if they should be saving themselves or their daughters? Clearly, man’s inherent selfishness had come to the fore where no one mattered more than the self. Many children were abducted during the widespread chaos to be sold off as domestic help or prostituted in the streets. Women who lost their children during this time were incessantly plagued by guilt and grief. One such woman was Kulsum from â€Å"Pali†9 who lost her child and along with him, her mental balance as well. She was blanketed completely by her grief and only the return of her child restored her sanity. But meanwhile, Zenab who had taken care of her son, Dilip when she found him lost had developed a motherly bond with him and cannot bear parting with him. She knows that she has no biological claim over him but what the mind knows, the heart does not. Eventually, she has to reconcile herself with the reality of her situation. But her life will forever be shadowed by this sadness. Women who were forced by circumstances to give up their child were forever haunted by their own actions and decisions. They were always in search of redemption and peace and could not reconcile themselves to the loss of their offspring. One example of this can be seen in â€Å"The Abandoned Child†10. Infant as well as toddler girls were left by the roadside or killed by their families to avoid making them a target. The life story of one such girl is narrated in â€Å"Where Did She Belong† by Suraiya Quasim wherein the protagonist Munni is not sure of her religious or national identity. She is pushed into prostitution by her so-called ‘saviour’11 , who only wants to use her for economic gain. She is deceived by two of her customers who pretend to love her, but leave her bereft when Partition happens. Nobody asks for her or enquires as to her whereabouts. She is deceived by everyone in her life, ultimately. There were also cases of women who were injured and deceived by members of their own community. People who had been their well-wishers and whom they trusted implicitly, took advantage of their vulnerability and preyed on their bodies. Ayesha’s12 story is the ultimate tragedy of such a ‘lady’13. In guise of protecting her and reuniting Ayesha with her daughter, Nurul takes her with him to Pakistan but betrays her trust by prostituting her instead. She is cursed to a life of assault, on her body and her mind. Her saviour turns out to her destructor. She dies a life of desolation, her own brethren refusing to come to her aid and never seeing her child again. Afroz too in â€Å"I Am Game†14 falls weak due to her instincts of providing and caring for daughter. Seeing no option left for herself and her child, she agrees to prostitution. This depicts to us the sad state of affairs during Partition, when uncertainty and insecurity reigned supreme. Man, woman or children, all had to protect themselves on their own and women for the sake of their families were forced into professions of exploitation to earn their keep. Besides these atrocities, women were also subjected to particularly vulgar sexual attacks. Writers like Ashis Nandy, Veena Das, and Mushirul Hasan describe the bizarre and horrific nature of sexual violence afflicted on women. It was pornographic in its varied forms. Their bodies were mutilated, disfigured, slogans15 branded on them like they were animals, their wombs sliced open and their foetuses savagely butchered. Women were reduced to spoils of war who were never allowed to unburden themselves or be free. They were reduced to a part of the multitude, just one of many. Many victims had been traumatised to an extent that they lost themselves to insanity. They could not cope with their reality. Many underwent derealisation16 wherein after the superficial wounds had mended, they started to deny that anything had ever happened to them. It became something of a nightmare, horrific but fantastical. Literature becomes a cathartic medium for many such women, a chance to narrate their tale. Such memoirs also provided a base for Partition scholars to analyse the feminine subject in social and historical contexts of that time period. Partition has often been termed as the dark underbelly17 of Independence but what it really exposed was the base attitudes of patriarchal Indian society, be it any religion. It revealed how women were equated with the community they belonged to. Though the violence was inter-religious in nature, the modes of inflicting violence were one and the same. All ethics were forgotten in the frenzy of religious vendetta. Revenge was used as an excuse to inflict wounds. They were the contested sites between two opposing factions and were devoid of any agency. One example may be an incident in â€Å"The City Of Sorrow†18 , where a man is forced to strip his sister naked by someone of the other religion. When given a chance to retaliate, he forces his tormentor to strip his own wife naked. Hence, the revenge is complete but ironically, in both cases, the women were the innocent parties who became the medium of exacting justice. They were expected to uphold familial and communal honour and were sacrificed at the altar of â€Å"izzat†19 if they were in danger of being captured by the enemy. The concept of honour was internalised20 hence any stain on it was beyond tolerance by patriarchal society. Therefore, to insult and hurt communal sentiments, it was natural that in order to debase the enemy and shed him of his honour, women of his community were targeted systematically. There were also women who had been indoctrinated to such an extent by religious propaganda that they committed suicide, misled into thinking that they were fulfilling their duty as women. This tradition dates back to the time of ancient Rajputs whose women committed Johar21 to sustain their honour. Hence, it has been a concept propagated throughout the history of religions, Hinduism especially. Bhishma Sahni in â€Å"Tamas† and Jyotirmoyee in â€Å"The River Churning† present such incidents where women of Hindu and Sikh communities drown themselves in wells in order to â€Å"save†22 themselves. Women of the family were the most precious possessions and were to be protected at all costs. However, when they presented an obstacle in the escape of their family, they were brutally â€Å"martyred†23 without compunctions by the family itself. The men of the family did it all in order to save themselves first and to prevent dealing with the hassle of looking after these women. Such people had no conscience in them. This is demonstrated in Shauna Singh Baldwin’s novel â€Å"What The Body Remembers† where the daughter-in-law of a Sikh family, Kusum is mercilessly killed by her father-in-law and furthermore chopped into pieces to prevent her from being â€Å"contaminated†24 by Muslims. Her womb is also removed as a symbolic gesture to signify her being pure25. We can therefore read into the implied fear and repulsion of a child born of an inter-religious union. Hence, Kusum is a victim of her own family’s moral code. Such incidents are not hyperbolic in nature but rather fictionalized accounts of reality. Women who were misfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the â€Å"other†26 and raped by them could never again return to their roots. They were dirtied and treated as untouchable because they had lost their chastity to the enemy. In â€Å"The River Churning†, the protagonist, Sutara is treated as a lower caste untouchable would be27. Though never raped, even staying in a Muslim household had damned her. She had become polluted like Sita. Like Sita, she became a victim of â€Å"social morality†.28 If women had become pregnant somehow, it was even worse for them. They were miscarried forcibly and if the child was born somehow, he or she was never accepted as a part of the family. Women themselves had to come to terms with their reality. They had to learn to let go of their self-loathing which often took root in their minds. They had to live with a child who was a constant reminder of their suffering. Yet, women learned to let go and forgive but their families could not move past this situation. The woman was given the choice of either abandoning her children or her family. Therefore, she was kept trapped in overlapping identities of woman, mother and daughter. There was no time to consider the interests of the self. The children of such women were often physically, mentally and verbally abused all throughout their lives. They were the victims of religious hatred. It left deep scars on their psyche that could never be repaired. They were often castigated for having lived and their mothers looked at with contempt for not having died in order to preserve themselves. Women often started hating their own selves when faced with a constant stream of disgust and repulsion. It is said that â€Å"Rape is the only crime where the victim is held guilty† and these women were the prime examples of this adage. They were made to feel guilty, demeaned and dehumanized to such an extent that they often felt that dying would perhaps have been a better option. Women were at the highest risk of being abducted during migration across borders. These women stranded on the wrong side were forcibly converted and married off to their abductors. They were raped repeatedly or sold off as entertainment. Women were objectified as commodities and their bodies became alien to their own selves. They were not their own persons but mere belongings. Anis Kidwai in her novel, â€Å"Azaadi Ki Chaon Mein† writes starkly about these girls who were nothing but stuff to be shared among the men who were, but slaves of their lust. In his short story, Open It!, Saadat Hasan Manto further elaborates upon the savagery doled out to these women. The main protagonist, Sakina had been ravaged to such an extent that she had lost her personality and her sanity. She was alive only physically, but emotionally and mentally dead. She knew nothing but what she had been forced to go through again and again. Her senses had been so wrecked that she only expects men to want one thing from her i.e. her body. This story presents a horrifying picture to the reader who is compelled to question if Sakina will ever recover from her trauma. Other women were forcibly married off to their abductors and underwent alienation of the self. They were conflicted as to their identities. On one hand, they felt abhorrence for their abductors. On the other hand, such marriages often bore children which caused these women to war with their motherly instincts. Ultimately losing all hope of rescue or restoration, these women had resigned to their life but, again, they were expected to return at the behest of the respective governments of the two countries. Women had become mere tools of diplomatic manoeuvring between the hostile governments who were under immense political pressure to retrieve the population of women that had been left behind or abducted during Partition. One such woman’s tale is narrated in â€Å"Exile†29 where the woman narrator is forcibly married to her abductor, Gurpal, a man who regards her as nothing more than a maid that he brought to serve his mother (Badi Ma). What is even more poignant is the fact that Badi Ma, a woman herself is not able to empathise with her Bahu30 or show kindness towards her. She is merely there to serve their needs, like a tool. Ironically, Gurpal who is clearly devoted towards his mother evidently has no guilt about ill-treating a woman of another community. We can see here the oppressive influence of patriarchal society that does not allow for women to exercise an opinion of their own. The narrator has never been able to accept Gurpal as her husband. In nine years she has never able to understand why her brother, whom she dearly loves has not come to rescue her. She feels lonely and abandoned by her loved ones. She longs for her home and wants her life to end at last so she can be at peace. When the soldiers arrive to rescue her, she knows that she cannot return since she will not be accepted back as a ‘mother’. And she cannot leave her children. Hence she hides from the soldiers. Her apprehension of the other option can be justified by reading â€Å"Lajwanti†31 whose tragedy is shrouded by complete silence. She was treated abominably by her husband, Sunderlal who asserts his domination over her body and mind by beating her like an animal. She bore it all as part of her wifely duties clearly adhering to traditional norms of domesticity. But when she is abducted during Partition chaos, her husband, perhaps, feeling remorse for how he had treated her, became a campaigner for the rights of abductee women. He advocates their rehabilitation and reacceptance into society but when his wife, Lajo is restored to him, he distances himself from her and sets her on the pedestal of a goddess. She feels alienated, lonely and longs for her old life where she could at least interact with her husband. In the present, her husband wants her to forget her sufferings and not to speak of them. But can the past really be forgotten as easily as he wanted it to be? Many women who had built new lives for themselves post-Partition often came face to face with their pasts when their lost loved ones returned back to them. In this situation, what was the woman to do? Should she abandon her present life to return to her past happiness? This is obviously a problem to which there is no clear-cut solution. But it was often expected of women to move on from their pasts and not look back but even they are living, breathing human beings with feelings and emotions. These may be unwanted but cannot be so easily banished from the mind. Women end up feeling conflicted all throughout their lives. One text that accurately depicts one such situation is â€Å"A Visitor From Pakistan†32 where the protagonist Saraswati is trapped between her first husband, Baldev whom she had thought dead; and her husband at present, Sunderdas who had saved her and her parents during the riots. Her own mother chastises her for even talking to Baldev so then who will understand her predicament? She is blamed for something that she is not even responsible for. Partition left a long-lasting impact on the women who witnessed and suffered through it. They passed on the lessons they learned to their daughters hoping for a better future for them. It is an important part of women’s history and it should be analysed carefully to change the conservative thought processes of Indian society to avoid women from becoming subjects of patriarchal oppression and break the repetitive patterns of history. END NOTES : 1. India and Pakistan were divided along the Radcliffe Line with Muslim majority areas seceded to Pakistan and Hindu-Sikh majority areas to India. 2. Mahatma Gandhi was deemed the â€Å"Father Of The Nation† and hence affectionately called Bapu by the general populace. 3. J.L. Nehru and M.A. Jinnah were leaders of the Congress party and Muslim League respectively. They were not agreeable to sharing power in the united govt. of sovereign India and hence the only option was to divide the country with both parties ruling over their majority vote areas. 4. The metaphor of madness was used by many Partition writers like Saadat Hasan Manto in â€Å"Toba Tek Singh† to describe the religious hatred that changed normal people into rioters, rapists and murderers. 5. J.L. Nehru stated this in The International Women’s Conference in 1947 alluding to the extreme violence perpetrated upon women in North India. 6. Ideas postulated by Carl Jung and supported by Freudian theories. 7. Women were kept under purdah and not allowed to meet with people outside the family. Women lived in separate quarters of the house called the ‘antahpur’ which was solely in their control. 8. written by Krishan Chander 9. written by Bhishma Sahni 10. written by Gurmukh Singh Musafir 11. Ironic since Munni’s saviour is herself a victim of circumstances and Munni is just a way to earn more money. 12. â€Å"A Grave Turned Inside Out† by Ibrahim Jalees 13. Ayesha was the lady of a noble family but debased to the level of a common prostitute. Shows that societal hierarchies were suspended during Partition. 14. written by Sultan Jamil Nasim 15. The slogans Hindustan Zindabad and Pakistan Zindabad were carved onto their bodies as validating gestures of the victimiser’s own national identity. 16. Derealisation is a psychological condition where the subject deludes himself/herself into thinking that their present reality is illusory and unreal and that reality is different. 17. Independence was achieved after a long struggle, so there was jubilation among the people but at the same time, this happiness was marred by the grief of Partition and its aftermath. 18. written by Intizar Hussain 19. Izzat is one of the basic concepts of Hindu womanhood where a woman’s honour is defined by her chastity and any outrage of her modesty stains her honour as well as her family’s. The family’s honour is an extension of the woman’s honour. 20. Internalisation is the process of integration of certain values as part of the self-identification. It becomes a part of one’s self-image. 21. Johar is the ancient Rajput tradition of women jumping into huge fire-pits to save their honour from the enemy’s army if defeat seemed imminent. 22. Women jumped into wells to protect themselves from rape and mutilation. Dying chaste was preferred to living a life of humiliation. Hence, they were saved in the eyes of society. 23. Women who committed suicide were venerated because they were believed to have died for a noble cause. Hence, their deaths received social sanction and appreciation. 24. If women were raped, their bodies no longer remained solely of their religion. And, hence, inter-religious taboos were applied to such women. Hence chopping of the bodies signified that no one of the other side had had sex with her or would be able to. 25. The womb was removed to signify that it did not carry a Muslim bastard child and her ability to do so is removed from her. 26. During conflict, the opposing faction is alienated and presented as someone strange and unfamiliar to the minds of the mob. This requires dehumanization of the people from the other side so that they do not evoke emotions of sympathy. 27. The taboos associated with untouchability are not allowing them to eat and drink from the same vessels and prevent from touching them. 28. Sita was banished from Ayodhya because even though she was pure, the people of Ram’s kingdom did not believe her. Doubts were cast on her character since she had lived in Ravana’s Lanka for a long time. 29. Written by Jamila Hashmi 30. When a bahu arrives in her marital household, she is bedecked with jewels, dressed in finery and serenaded by shehnai. She is full of happiness and hope. Here, the narrator is exactly opposed to this situation and yet, ironically she has become the bahu of a family. 31. written by Rajinder Singh Bedi 32. written by Ramlal BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. â€Å"Partition In Fiction: Gendered Perspectives†, Isabella Bruschi, New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.,2010 2. In The Heat Of Fratricide: The Literature Of India’s Partition Burning Freshly (A Review Article)†,Jason Francisco 3. â€Å"Stories About The Partition Of India†, Vol. 1.,Ed. By Alok Bhalla, Delhi,Harper Collins, 1994 4. Re-Membering Woman: Partition,Gender And Reorientations, â€Å"Narrating Partition:Texts, Interpretations And Ideas†, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Indialog Publications,2004

Gestational Diabetes Essay example -- Health, Diseases

Along with all the worries and complications a woman might face while pregnant, one of the more serious conditions is gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes occurs in 4% of all pregnancies (Seibel, 2009). Many women are not informed about the disease, some may not know that they need to be tested, and others may have heard about it, but want more information on what may cause it and/or how to prevent and treat it. Either way this disease needs to be taken seriously by every pregnant woman or woman planning to get pregnant to protect not only herself but the unborn child. Gestational diabetes is a disorder characterized by impaired ability to metabolize carbohydrates, usually caused by a deficiency of insulin resistance, occurring in pregnancy (Seibel, 2009). After the baby is delivered the disorder disappears but in few cases it has returned as type 2 diabetes. There are many factors that increase the risk in women to acquire the disorder, being overweight prior to becoming pregnant, a family history of diabetes, having too much amniotic fluid, and having sugar in your urine are just some of them (Namak, 2010). During a normal pregnancy tissue resistance to insulin is present, and weight gain and presence of placental hormones can contribute to this insulin resistance ( Gutierrez, 2007). Pregnant women require two to three times more insulin than a woman who is not pregnant, and the insulin production and increased tissue resistance causes this glucose intolerance or increased blood sugar levels or gestational diabetes ( Gutierrez, 2007). â€Å"Almost all women have some type of impaired glucose in tolerance resulting from hormonal changes they go through during pregnancy. This means that their blood sugar levels may be higher... ...st twice the risk of developing diabetes compared to those who had breastfed (Doheny, 2010). Overall the study showed to be successful, but only for those women who breastfed all of their children for a month or longer. So with these studies it encourages women to take part in the well being of themselves and their unborn child by getting tested for gestational diabetes earlier than later. Gestational diabetes may only be a disease that last throughout a pregnancy, but it is very harmful to not only the mother but also can be for the unborn baby. It is important that gestational diabetes is widely known and understood because the earlier in the pregnancy the patient knows the better. Gestational diabetes can be extremely harmful so it is nothing to take lightly; patients have to know that they must follow the instructions given to prevent the disease to worsen.

Aging Bill in PA

This course study will dwell on the subject of the House Bill 1935 in Pennsylvania, how it came to be and the contributing factors that necessitated its emergence as a bill of rights for the elderly. Likewise, this study shall review other related studies and find the current approaches and support mechanism it receives from various government agencies and representatives.Introduction:As an important factor in the lives of every individual, a roof over one’s head is a basic need that is a vital necessity to life. For many, it offers a form of security that can be a bulwark against fear of homelessness, institutionalization, and isolation (Comijs, et al, 1998:886).The elderly individuals in PA need an ideal laboratory to age in place considering that elderly household represents 31% of the nations 1.1M public housing households (Dolon and Blakely, 1989:31). It is understood that elderly individuals consider the home as a form of security that guards them against ill-treatment a nd invasion which is an indispensable factor in their retirement years.Throughout the 1960s, older Americans with lower income were accommodated through large number of developments that built traditional apartments. Public housing did not originally target older Americans at all (US-HR; 1981).This was considered adequate for the majority of low-income older residents; although this housing program does not provide the flexibility to allow residents to age in place, nor does it necessarily provide the range of housing options needed to serve the increasing share of frail seniors (US Nat’l Center for Assisted Living, 2001) (Pifer and Bronte, 1986).More recently though, the elderly resident population is changing radically, bringing new challenges to public housing providers (Kassner, 2005). Undeniably, the increasing adult population are not only poorer, they are also older and a disproportionate minority and female, and more likely to be alone (US Nat’l Center for Assi sted Living, 2001).These population demographics are increasing and as baby boomers age, the US government and the housing authorities will be faced with problems of providing appropriate and adequate facilities for them. The increasing need of frail seniors therefore needs to extend public housing as a large federal program offering housing assistance to low-income elders (US Nat’l Center for Assisted Living, 2001).Several case studies embarked on the successful developments planned by housing authorities to address the needs of their rapidly aging populations. Efforts were offered as a supportive mechanism for housing authorities to adopt new approaches in order to meet the needs of their elderly tenants (Pifer and Bronte: 1986).Some program of development were even dismissed and simply declared as ill-equipped to meet the residential and supportive service needs of their increasingly frail and diverse residents (Pifer and Bronte: 1986). Without such acceptable services, th e government is faced with an alternative of moving senior citizens into costly, isolated institutions (Schwartz, 2000).This remedy though was seen as giving a devastating effect that might develop into unnecessary institutionalization of elderly persons which was later considered far more costly than those offered in other settings.Public housing authorities across the country were then trying to find innovative ways to serve these tenants and are building partnerships with nonprofit organizations and with the state and local service providers.They tried finding new ways to raise capital for modernization and development, creating models that can guide other housing authorities grappling with similar situations (Schwartz, D.C. (2000).In answer, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency in collaboration with the Department of Aging and the Department of Public Welfare under PA Bill 1935 aimed to provide appropriate housing and care needed by frail elderly and other benefits of enhance d senior services (HB 1935).The development of HB 1935Existing programs in the face of huge budget cuts have recognized the need to meet the shelter and service needs of the growing elderly population. This growing population is consisting of adult individuals well into the eighties and nineties who need a physically supportive environment that will sustain their needs.The government is suddenly faced with the pressing need to bring services to the existing developments that can no longer provide nor suit their frail physical condition.Faced with looming budget problems, several programs were stalled that ultimately empower the federal government to reassess the needs of the elderly individuals by fielding service coordinators to the assisted housing complexes across the country.Assumptions made by government authorities endorsed the idea that senior citizens who are growing frail will have to move to a different housing continuum as a housing option. Basically as older couples are sooner separated by illness or death, older individuals are also asked to transfer to single family homes, apartments, congregate living, assisted living and board and care homes (Brenton, 1983).Equally though, frail people are moved into nursing homes that vary according to their availability and affordability. Under this notion, housing options are differentiated by the types of services generally offered which includes the supportiveness of the setting in terms of accessibility features and design and competence of the persons to whom the housing is targeted (Holshouser, 1988).The response gathered by service coordinators however created a differing view which recognized the fact that frail, older persons do not necessarily have to move from one setting to another if they need assistance which has often resulted to health problems for them(US,APA:2002);(US-HR:1981).Studies were soon allowed to create a feasibility haven for dependent or dependent older persons who can live in a v ariety of settings, including their own homes and apartments, if the physical environment is made more supportive, caregivers are available to provide assistance and affordable services are accessible (Haber and Gratton, 1993).

Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 Essay

Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Affordable Care Act) Passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 by Congress, followed by it’s signing by President Obama on March 30, 2010, completes a massive overhaul of the nation’s health insurance and health delivery systems. The Reconciliation Act amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, which President Obama signed on March 23. Combined, the two new laws include more than $400 billion in revenue raisers and new taxes on employers and individuals. The social and political struggles of the American population served as a key contributor to the push for the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 to be formed and written into law. These struggles include but are not limited to an increasing unemployment rate of the nation which essentially meant that the average American was becoming less and less able to provide for himself and his family, therefore making the prospect of getting health insurance or paying for higher education a weightier endeavor. Also the number of Americans without healthcare was on an exponential rise and more and more people were unable to get healthcare, and take care of themselves, a condition that is detrimental to the GDP of the nation. The Affordable Care Act has shaped social, economic and political consciousness since its inception in 2010. More companies are open to providing their employees with health insurance options as the Affordable Care Act has increased subsidies to companies that provide their workers with healthcare options. The Act has also significantly increased the number of young adults with healthcare as children up to the age of 26 are able to stay under their parent’s health coverage plans. Also the $250 million the government provides in grants to the health insurance companies has assisted in cracking down on the premium hikes that were common in the pre-Affordable Care Act era. Now Americans can peacefully sign up for healthcare with the guarantee of fairly constant premiums that they know they can afford and keep up with. Numerous groups are opponents of the Affordable Care Act. Notable opponents of the Act are the Republicans and the more conservative and capitalist population of the nation. They believe that the reform would lead to government take over of healthcare and in the long run a socialist nation. They also believe that the implementation of the law would force tax payers to contribute tax dollars towards the funding of abortion; an issue that steal remains controversial in political gatherings and legislation. Lastly these opponents feel that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act into law in 2014 will ultimately drive companies to stop providing health coverage to their employees as they believe the bill does nothing to bring down the cost of healthcare as the government is transferring all the burden to the companies, strengthening their argument that the Act only strengthens a socialist system in America.

Biography of Vincent van Gogh and Igor Stravinsky

Biography of Vincent van Gogh and Igor Stravinsky Free Online Research Papers â€Å"One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet no one ever comes to sit by it. Passerby see only a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney and continue on their way.† Vincent van Gogh Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853-July 29, 1890) second child to Anna Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh would be plagued by mental instability for the greater part of his life. Vincent was one of seven children born to the van Goghs†. The first child also called Vincent and oddly enough, born on the exact same day one year prior, was stillborn. After Vincent, came five other children, two boys and three girls, but only felt the great connection to his brother Theo. During his 37 years, Vincent exchanged over 600 letters with his brother. Unlike Vincent, who saved very few of Theo’s letters, Theo has preserved most, if not all, the letters he received from Vincent. These letters can be read on http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/. Early in his life, Vincent displayed an irritable, restless, disposition that was to thwart his every pursuit. It is unknown if one specific condition affected him or a combination of a few. If you were to ask today’s experts they may tell you he could have suffered from Epilepsy, Bipolar Disease, malnutrition, or a combination of the three. Which ever condition he was inflicted with caused him many years of pain and suffering. As a young man, Vincent felt drawn to love and wanted to help mankind. Unfortunately Vincent found it very hard to carry on relationships with other individuals. As a youngster knowing he shared a name and birth date with his older brother, may have led to his feelings of powerlessness and inadequacies. When he was eleven years old, his father thought he was getting out of hand, and he was sent away to a boarding school in Zevenberger. Leaving his family at such a young age could not have been easy on the boy. While away at school he learned three languages; but, due to financial reasons, he was unable to complete his schooling and returned home. When Vincent turned 16, his Uncle Vincent, nicknamed Uncle Cent, hired him to work as a clerk at Goupil and Co. Vincent learned to be an art dealer and became interested in the new styles in painting. He was soon transferred to the London office where life seemed to change for him. Once in London he rented a room in the home of a clergyman’s widow, Mrs. Loyer. While there he fell in love with her daughter Eu?ene. When he finally mustered up the courage to tell her his feelings for her she rejected him. Sadly this would be the first of many rejections he would have to endure throughout his life. Upon her rejection, he left the quarters at Mrs. Loyer’s house and lived alone for a period of time until his Uncle Cent arranged for him to be relocated to the Paris office in hopes that his spirit would be lifted. Upon making this change van Gogh lost all of his desire to be an art dealer. He decided instead, that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a preacher. Against his parents’ better wishes they agreed to pay for his education. He decided to abandon his training in Amsterdam, and enrolled in a training school for lay preachers. Graduates of this school were not full-fledged ministers, but learned enough to spread the Gospel among the poor. He went to preach at the coal mines in southern Belgium. He went deep underground, to watch the miners work. He tended to accident victims of cave-ins and fires. He started a bible school and preached at a dance hall. During this time he was able to identify with the miners, their lifestyles, and their families. The interaction he had with the peasants and the working class becomes evident later on in his works depicting peasant life. While in the coal mines Vincent decided he wanted to become a serious artist. It was through his artwork that he could finally open up and express his feelings. He wrote Theo hundreds of letters discussing the new techniques he was practicing along with the interaction he had with the locals. In 1881, at the age of 27, Vincent went back home to his parents. Once he was back at home he set out to teach himself how to draw. He painstakingly tested a variety of different styles of drawing using different subject matters to experiment with. After a few months of staying with his parents, Vincent had another life shattering event. His first cousin, Kee Vos and her four year old son, came to live with the van Gogh family. Vincent fell in love with Kee, and to express his feelings to her, he spoiled her son. She mistook these actions as being a caring eccentric relative but when he expressed his love for her, she rejected him and parted soon after. He couldn’t bear the rejection of another woman and went out to locate a prostitute for some companionship. This is how he came to befriend Sien. Sien was a prostitute who had an 11 year old daughter and pregnant with another child. She was the subject of many of his drawings to include, Sorrow 1882. At one point had and he considered marrying her. When Vincent contracted gonorrhea from her and found himself in the hospital with a lengthy recuperation it put a strain on the relationship. He became irritable and moody and decided his artwork was more important than the bond with her. Eventually, their relationship crumbled and she ultimately moved out. From the start of van Gogh’s artistic career he wanted to draw and paint people. There are drawings that show how he mastered weathered hands as well as other body features. He wanted to create a multiple figure piece to show the artistic community that he had talent. In 1885 he created The Potato Eater. This piece seemed very dark and the attempts to paint figures look distorted. He felt that since this piece was a failure he should have some formal training in technique. This painting is considered to be his first masterpiece, which he did not come to realize while he was still alive. Later that year he entered Antwerp Academy. It was at this time that van Gogh started to study how light and color reflected on his subjects. In letters he wrote to his brother Theo, he went into great detail about all the different methods he used to try to achieve the perfect balance. By early 1886 Vincent moved to Paris and moved in with Theo. He stopped using the dark colors that he selected in The Potato Eaters, realizing they were out of date and started using brighter colors. He developed an interest in the Japanese style and met several artists of that time including Paul Gauguin, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, and Emile Bernard. He wanted to open his own art school and asked his new friends to join him. He was convinced that using his new vibrant color combinations would contribute to modern art. Toward the end of 1888, van Gogh started exhibiting more signs of mental illness. He suffered from epileptic seizures, shifting from extreme happiness to manic depression, and delusions. Even his brother Theo wrote in a letter to his family that van Gogh â€Å"appears as if there are two different beings in him, the one marvelously gifted, fine and delicate, and the other selfish and heartless†. Van Gogh decided to move to Arles France where he rented four rooms. This house was more than a place to sleep and paint in, it became symbolic for him. He referred to it as the house of light. He was hoping to use this house to open a new artists’ commune. Other artists would come and live there with him and share his expenses and work together. But when all was said and done only one artist, Paul Gauguin, came to live at the yellow house. In the beginning van Gogh was very happy to have Gauguin there; he had great hopes of having a successful artist community. But it was apparent early on that there was a great difference in the two men’s personalities. When Gauguin arrived he found the house to be in disarray as well as van Gogh. Assessing the financial needs for such an endeavor, Gauguin attempted to put the household on a budget. By early December the tension between the two men was evident. Vincent wrote to his brother expressing his feelings about whether Gauguin was going to stay or move out. Gauguin too was unsure whether he should stay or not; he even wrote to Theo expressing his feelings about leaving, then would write again about staying. There were episodes that Gauguin would awaken to Vincent standing over him; who knows what would have happened if he failed to wake up in time. I believe this indecisiveness on Gauguin’s part led to a psychotic incident with Vincent. On Christmas Eve, while taking a walk after dinner, Gauguin recounts an episode where he heard familiar footsteps coming up quickly behind him. When he turned he saw an enraged Vincent rushing toward him with a razor in his hand. Looking at Gauguin, Vincent realized what he was doing turned, and ran the other way. Gauguin went to the local hotel and fell asleep. Vincent did not return home. That night he went back to the yellow house and used the razor to slice off his earlobe. He then wrapped the lobe in newspaper, went to the local brothel, and gave the package to one of the prostitutes, Rachel. He returned to his house and was found the next morning near death from bleeding and lack of good health. After the recovery of his attack, he returned to the yellow house and began painting again. He had joked about the incident and was not even concerned about his missing earlobe. This recovery did not last long, he found himself in and out of the hospital suffering from more attacks and delusions. Vincent traveled to Saint-Rà ©my-de-Provence where he committed himself to an asylum. Although suffering from attacks, he was unable to draw for months at a time; he managed to paint Starry Night 1888 which has been labeled one of the most influential pieces in history. All in all, while in the asylum, it is said that Vincent did some of his best work ever. It is important to note that over the years there has been much speculation as to the cause or reasons behind van Gogh’s attacks. In a conversation with the son of Theo, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Vincent’s attacks seemed to be timed with certain news of the day. For example van Gogh started having trouble with Gauguin when Theo announced his engagement to Johanna Bonger. Then there were other incidences when Theo and Johanna married, the announcement of Johanna being pregnant, and the actual birth of their baby. There is no mention in Vincent’s letters to Theo about these events. It is speculated that Vincent was afraid he was going to be cut off from his allowance that Theo had been sending him most of his adult life. What was mentioned in a letter to Theo, from Vincent, is his animosity toward art dealers and the fact that a dead artist was valued more than a living one. Some feel that he contemplated suicide as a way to pay Theo back for all of his support. On July 27, Vincent went out to paint, took a revolver with him and shot himself in the abdomen. He was found the next day, weaken from blood loss. His friend (and doctor) Dr. Gachet was summoned with Theo to his bedside. Vincent died the next day, on July 29, after spending the day smoking his pipe and talking to his brother. He would no longer be a burden on his brother. Unfortunately, his brother did not fair so well after his death. He tried without luck to find a gallery to display Vincent’s artwork. He had troubles with his employer, quit his job, and eventually turned hostile. He was hospitalized just as his brother had been. Upon his recovery, Johanna took him to Holland, where he succumbed to a weighty depression. Six months after the death of Vincent van Gogh, Vincent’s brother Theo died as well. The doctor on duty noted that Theo suffered from â€Å"overstrain and sorrow.† I believe he died of a broken heart at the loss of his cherished brother. Although Vincent van Gogh’s life was short, he was able to do something that no other artist before him achieved. He introduced real life and feelings to modern art instead of just painting what you see. It is evident that he didn’t follow a prescribed path. He used his drawings to perfect his talents and he used his paintings to reflect his feelings. He idolized other painters of his day, never imagining that he too was, a great painter. He took the techniques of the time and turned them into his own creations. When he realized that his color palette in The Potato Eaters was to dark he used brighter colors. When he was not pleased with his attempts to draw figures he studied anatomy. By changing brush stroke patterns and paint textures Vincent was able to create masterpieces. But as evident in Starry Night’s swirling colors and turbulent skies; one may conclude that Vincent experienced those same emotions in his head. Igor Stravinsky (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971), Russian-American composer was considered by some to be the most important composer of the 20th century. Born in a village on the Gulf of Finland, he was one of four boys. He did not seem to have very fond memories of his parents or his brothers. When he talked about his childhood he seemed lonely and unhappy, but when asked why, he was unable to offer exact reasons for the unhappiness. It may have had something to do with his father’s quick temper or his mother’s expression of distaste for his music. He did not talk much about his brothers. Roman, eight years older than him, died while Igor was still a boy. Yury, three years older than Igor, who went on to be a structural engineer, died in 1941. But Igor’s younger brother Gury, who was also musically gifted, had a special place in Igor’s heart. Unfortunately, Igor grieved the death of his brother Gury who died in 1917 of typhus while serving i n a Red Cross Unit during World War I. The only other relative that Igor had any affection for was his Uncle Alexander Yelachich, who was a passionate musical amateur (Igor Stravinsky, pg 14). It hurt Stravinsky that his parents did not acknowledge his musical talent since both of them were musicians. His father, Fyodor Stravinsky, bass singer at the Marlinsky Theater, forbade him to study music, as he had a law education in mind for his son. He wanted his son to become a lawyer. But by age 20 Stravinsky had decided to go into music and studied with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who was the leading Russian composer at that time. Stravinsky made a student effort at composing Artifices de feu (Fireworks). This got the attention of Sergei Diaghilev who hired Stravinsky to do some orchestrations, and then a full-length ballet score, L’ Oiseau de feu (The Firebird). In 1910 Stravinsky left Russia to travel to Paris. Once he was in Paris, he composed two more works Petrushka(1911) and Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1913). The Rite of Spring caused quite a controversy. When the music began to play with complex music and violent dance steps depicting fertility rites, drew catcalls and whistles from the crowd. There were loud arguments in the audience between supporters and opponents of the work. These were soon followed by shouts and fistfights in the aisles. The unrest in the audience eventually degenerated into a riot. The Paris police arrived by intermission, but they restored only limited order. Chaos reigned for the remainder of the performance. Stravinsky was so upset that he fled the theater in mid-scene, reportedly crying. Much like van Gogh, Stravinsky was driven to learn and explore. He was interested in art, literature and life. He took this desire and collaborated with composers, poets, filmmakers and artists. Stravinsky married his first cousin, Katerina Nossenko. Katerina was a close confidant to Igor and their marriage lasted 33 years, until her death in 1939. However he was living a double life with the love of his life Vera de Bosset who he carried on an affair with from 1921 until Katerina’s death in 1939. Upon Katerina’s death he married Vera. Stravinsky’s career fell into three different stylistic periods. The Russian period consisted of three ballets, L’ Oiseau de feu, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. He composed these for Diaghilev. They are scored for very large orchestras using Russian folk themes. They are reminiscent of Rimsky-Korsakov’s scoring style. The next period for Stravinsky’s style was the Neo-Classical period starting in 1930. This period abandons the great orchestras turning to wind instruments, the piano, and choral works. The Symphonies of Wind Instruments and Symphony of Psalms are among the best ever created for wind instruments. Stravinsky goes on to write a few other great works but by 1951 he never wrote another neo-classic work. The last and final style for Stravinsky, and probably his best work, is the Serial period. This is when he started to use the dodecaphony technique. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music. All 12 notes are thus given more or less equal importance, and the music avoids being in a key (Wikpedia.com). He experimented with this technique in smaller vocal pieces such as Cantata (1952), Three Songs from Shakespeare (1953) and In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954). Probably the most important period for Stravinsky was when he returned to the ballet with Agon, a work for twelve dancers that combined the tonality of the neo-classic period with Stravinsky’s own unique take on the Serial method. Vincent van Gogh, like Igor Stravinsky, were both born during the nineteenth century. Both van Gogh and Stravinsky had a need to try new techniques with strong opinions on how to perfect their craft and they each followed a path not yet traveled by others. They lived in several different cities including Paris. And, were both constantly evolving, utilizing different styles and techniques. They differ in the fact that van Gogh was emotionally troubled the majority of his life. He found it increasingly difficult to handle even the smallest rejections. He was unable to find the one true love he longed for and died at his own hand at the age of 37. Igor Stravinsky outlived his family, married once for closeness and companionship and the second for love. Both of these artists are considered to leave behind legacies of their talent and hey have been copied by others who followed them. Stravinsky had the opportunity to see the fruition of his labors but van Gogh did not. â€Å"To continue in one path, is to go backwards.† Igor Stravinsky Bibliography Vincent van Gogh Robert Wallace and the Editors of Time-Life Books, The World of Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Time Life Library of Art Linda Whiteley, Van Gogh Life and Works, Source Books Inc. Enrica Crispino, Masters of Art Van Gogh, Peter Bedrick Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_House_(Arles) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Van_Gogh Igor Stravinsky Michael Oliver, Igor Stravinsky, Phaidon Press Limited The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001-05 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_stravinsky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rite_of_Spring Research Papers on Biography of Vincent van Gogh and Igor StravinskyThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UsePersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenTrailblazing by Eric AndersonCapital PunishmentHip-Hop is Art19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided Era

U.S history Response Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U.S history Response Paper - Essay Example Historically speaking, Britain had vast areas of America under its control in the 1760s. These areas served extensively to increase the wealth of the island and helped it regain some of the assets which it had lost during the wars with other European powers at the time. However, Britain overplayed its hand when it wished to have exclusive trading rights with the colonies and though that whatever was good for the empire was good for the colonies (Wikipedia, 2006). Much like a line of thought today that suggests that whatever is good for the rich is good for America. Up to the mid 1760s, many people in America considered King George to be a father figure for the colonists but the British parliament continued to enact laws which were nothing less than economic sanctions. The Sugar Act and the Currency Act are just two examples of this behavior and such acts not only made the colonists more wary of the government, they also encourage actions against the writ of the government (Marston, 2002). Common sense dictates that if a law is being ignored by everyone in sight, it should not remain a law because such conditions only lead to the lessening of the value of the law. The British government tried to enforce the law and failed, thereafter many of the laws were repealed but the damage had been done by then. The cause of the patriots had been set in motion by the British themselves since the patriots did nothing more than to react to whatever situation was presented to them. On the other hand, the Loyalists were willing to come to terms with the British government since the British offered a lot of things besides taxation. Many of the colonies were still young and depended on the strength of the empire to help them stabilize and tame the land (Gorn et. al., 2004). Of course the third option of remaining neutral was also available during the initial stages of

May one lend money to co-workers who need it to commit sins Personal Statement

May one lend money to co-workers who need it to commit sins - Personal Statement Example In the case of his friend for instance, who wanted the money to ‘commit sin’ with a call girl, he denied him on moral grounds. He argued that by doing that, he would be hurting the wife of this co-worker. However, his morality position can be questioned where he provides his boss with money to purchase a gift. This present was supposed to be given to a woman that the boss was having an affair with, though he was married. Though the individual in question knew about this, he went ahead and paid for the gift for his boss. The two similar scenarios have elicited two contrasting responses. This therefore begs the question of where he stands as far as morality is concerned. The lack of consistence despite the situation is enough to support the fact that most people would appear moral only when they gain more pleasure in the event. However, if there is any loss perceived, one would rather compromise to safe their status quo. My point of view and premises for that position Cons istency in terms of how one responds to issues of morality within the society is imperative. This is especially on how one conducts him/herself towards the colleagues in the working environment. For one to be defined as morally upright, it would be necessary for them to appear predictable in all situations, in terms of their position on various social issues. Fear of losing certain favors because of one’s action or position should not arise. In the case of the of the individual in question, the fact that he agreed to do his boss a favor opens a door to further compromises in future. Through one would understand his reason for taking that compromising act, he failed to take initiative of rejecting. For instance, he did not offer his stand on the issue of unfaithfulness on the part of his boss. The fact that he assisted him in paying for the gift could be explained as ‘supporting such an act.’ Secondly, one would also say that his moral position is not grounded str ongly. He is swayed by circumstances which should not be the case provided one does what they think is right. For instance, why did he not fear losing friendship by not lending money to his friend? Secondly, why did he not choose to reciprocate the same act to his boss? The whole issue of morality lacks meaning if how one behaves is determined by pain and pleasure one may incur. One would be in a position to draw a line and say ‘this is right’ and ‘this is wrong’ despite the repercussions. The notion that he would be discharged of his duty by denying the favor to his boss is just a perception that is not based on reality. For instance, there are laws which protect employees from any unfair treatment. One can seek redress if they feel they are being harassed by their seniors. According to my position therefore, morality should have a specific definition and remain consistent in all scenarios regardless of the consequences. Support by other philosopher such a s John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, John F. Cosby and Veatch. John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham seem to share similar sentiments as far as issues of morality are concerned. They raise two important social phenomena of pain and pleasure as the main determinants of how individuals behave in certain circumstances (Bentham 58). They indicate that what manners are the final result and not the means taken. Both of them agree on matters of personal happiness as what is imperative in deciding moral