The Creator Who Started the Trend of Vampire Essay -- Literary Analysi

The Creator Who Started the Trend of Vampire Bram Stoker was the creator of the overall renowned novel, Dracula (1897). He was conceived on November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland. His complete name was Abraham, however was called Bram for short. Not at all like today’s families, he grew up living with seven kin. At the point when he was youthful, he was an enfeebled youngster disabled for his initial 8 years. His dad, Abraham Stoker (1799-1876), was a government employee †somebody who works for the administration †and his mom was Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley (1818-1901). He wedded entertainer Florence Baleombe (1858-1937) in 1878. Stoker and Florence had one child named Irving Noel Thornley Stoker (1879-1961). (Merriman, 1) Despite the fact that Stoker was a colorless kid, he in the end recuperated and had the option to go to Trinity College to examine an assortment of subjects. He contemplated science, partook in sports, and was assigned a spot on the school gathering as leader of the Philosophical Society. He graduated with distinction in 1870. (Merriman, 1) Because of his father’s occupation, Bram Stoker himself turned into a government worker while investigating emotional theater. Stoker quit being a government worker to seek after his vocation as an essayist through the gathering of Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905), an on-screen character for William Shakespeare’s plays and administrator of the Lyceum Theater in London. With Sir Henry Irving, being one of Stoker’s dependable companions, he extended to him the employment opportunity of turning out to be co-chief of Lyceum Theater in London, where he kept on digging into the composing scene. (Weinfeld, 365) From there on, he composed numerous books, one of which he made the showstopper Dracula (1897). Dracula Stoker’s first duplicate of Dracula (1897) was distributed in the year 1887, beginning the pattern of vampires. It experienced numero... ...tinue to live on right up 'til today. He put together Count Dracula with respect to two verifiable individuals †Vlad Tepes and Elisabeth Bathory. Utilizing chiefly these two characters, Stoker made a book on which it would be the organizer of vampire books. Without the presence of Bram Stoker, vampires probably won't have been as mainstream as they are today. For example, in today’s world, vampire books, for example, Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Vampire Academy have gotten world celebrated through vampirism. Motion pictures have even been founded on Dracula (1897), correspondingly near the first, utilizing embellishments on the best way to murder a vampire. Without the distribution of Dracula (1897), there would not have been dim, bloody, or insidiousness stories to set off the advances utilizing another embodiment of composing. With Stoker’s extraordinary brain and capacity to make Dracula (1897), it changed the idea of numerous essayists all through the world. The Creator Who Started the Trend of Vampire Essay - Literary Analysi The Creator Who Started the Trend of Vampire Bram Stoker was the creator of the overall celebrated novel, Dracula (1897). He was conceived on November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland. His complete name was Abraham, yet was called Bram for short. Dissimilar to today’s families, he grew up living with seven kin. At the point when he was youthful, he was an enfeebled kid laid up for his initial 8 years. His dad, Abraham Stoker (1799-1876), was a government worker †somebody who works for the administration †and his mom was Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley (1818-1901). He wedded on-screen character Florence Baleombe (1858-1937) in 1878. Stoker and Florence had one child named Irving Noel Thornley Stoker (1879-1961). (Merriman, 1) Despite the fact that Stoker was a pallid youngster, he in the end recouped and had the option to go to Trinity College to contemplate an assortment of subjects. He contemplated arithmetic, took an interest in sports, and was assigned a spot on the school chamber as leader of the Philosophical Society. He graduated with distinction in 1870. (Merriman, 1) Because of his father’s occupation, Bram Stoker himself turned into a government employee while checking on sensational theater. Stoker quit being a government worker to seek after his vocation as an author through the gathering of Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905), an on-screen character for William Shakespeare’s plays and supervisor of the Lyceum Theater in London. With Sir Henry Irving, being one of Stoker’s solid companions, he extended to him the employment opportunity of turning out to be co-director of Lyceum Theater in London, where he kept on digging into the composing scene. (Weinfeld, 365) From there on, he composed numerous books, one of which he made the perfect work of art Dracula (1897). Dracula Stoker’s first duplicate of Dracula (1897) was distributed in the year 1887, beginning the pattern of vampires. It experienced numero... ...tinue to live on right up 'til the present time. He put together Count Dracula with respect to two authentic individuals †Vlad Tepes and Elisabeth Bathory. Utilizing for the most part these two characters, Stoker made a book on which it would be the author of vampire books. Without the presence of Bram Stoker, vampires probably won't have been as well known as they are today. For example, in today’s world, vampire books, for example, Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Vampire Academy have gotten world renowned through vampirism. Motion pictures have even been founded on Dracula (1897), comparably near the first, utilizing embellishments on the best way to murder a vampire. Without the distribution of Dracula (1897), there would not have been dull, violent, or underhanded stories to set off the advances utilizing another quintessence of composing. With Stoker’s extraordinary brain and capacity to make Dracula (1897), it changed the idea of numerous journalists all through the world.

Functions of Management Essay examples -- Business Management Managing

Elements of Management  â â â â It isn't anything but difficult to deal with an association. It takes something other than negotiating prudence to recognize what you are doing with regards to the executives strategies. There are a couple of methodologies that can guarantee the achievement of a business association, yet before you can decide those procedures, you need to know the four capacities. The elements of the board talked about in this paper will design, arranging, driving, and controlling. This paper will likewise give instances of how I apply these elements of the board in my very own association.                Let me start by expressing, working for any organization you start to acknowledge individuals are glad to work for organizations that treat them well. They become associated with organizations in excess of a business/worker relationship; they come to feel as though they are really a piece of an association; not only one of the representatives. Organizations which are extending to the worldwide market will require considerably more to cause all the positive commitments to guarantee representatives to feel something other than laborers.           Management takes arranging the main capacity of the executives. Arranging is figuring out what you need to achieve, turning out to be ahead how it is to be done, concluding who will be liable for each progression, and having each stage recorded. Great administration applies the means of good wanting to each piece of the association. To accomplish great arranging results with no issues, objectives and destinations ought to be set. From these dec...

Learn How to Outline Research Paper

Learn How to Outline Research PaperHow to outline research paper? An outline is a workbook in which every idea and question are compiled. They are not used as a requirement for a student to write a paper; rather, it serves as a guideline that will help the writer to compose a coherent, accurate and organized report.An outline should be written on a piece of paper and then included in the written or typed document. This helps the writer to write more clearly. They also help the author know what kind of idea they need to start with and how they plan to frame their ideas.Since an outline can be found in all writing forms, it is important that you give it time to read and understand the theme of your research paper. Before you start on writing, take time to study about topics that are already covered in the outline. This helps you to know what is the general mood of the topic.Outlines should not be read in haste. Write one outline at a time. You can have a friend or colleague read it out loud for you so that you can gauge the intensity of your ideas and information. It is best to read the outline first, write the part that will discuss each idea in detail and then do some rewriting afterwards.The outlines can serve as guides for the first part of your research paper. As the writer, it is important that you read and understand the outline thoroughly. This way, you can make sure that you deliver a well-written, coherent and up-to-date idea that can be utilized for your paper.After the first draft, you can make alterations if you find any information missing or has been categorized differently from what was mentioned. Although this is what you did when you started your research, it is good to consult with your editor before you submit your completed paper. Find out from your editor, whether he or she is satisfied with your first draft or you still need to make more revisions.Once you have finished writing the outline, it is time to create the body of your paper. The o utline gives an idea on how to organize each sentence and paragraph. On the other hand, the body outlines each idea and describes each statement with the help of examples.The outline is not the only guide when writing a research paper. However, it is one of the most helpful tools that you can use. It is best that you have one source that will tell you about the requirements of the outline.

Fossil Fuel Power Station - 4915 Words

A fossil-fuel power station is a type of power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal,natural gas or petroleum (oil) to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation. In many countries, such plants provide most of the electrical energy used. Fossil fuel power stations have rotating machinery to convert the heat energy of combustioninto mechanical energy, which then operates an electrical generator. The prime mover may be a steam turbine, a gas turbine or, in small plants, a reciprocating internal combustionengine. All plants use the energy extracted from expanding gas - steam or combustion gases. A very few MHD generators have been built which directly convert†¦show more content†¦temperatures too low.)[3] The Carnot cycle is the theoretically most efficient closed thermodynamic cycle for conversion of heat energy into useful work, and practical fossil-fuel stations cannot exceed this limit. In principle, fuel cells do not have the same thermodynamic limits as they are not heat engines. ------------------------------------------------- [edit]Coal The Grand Canal of China allows convenient access to this power station inYangzhou Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on the planet. It is a relatively cheap fuel, with some of the largest deposits in regions that are relatively stable politically, such as China, India and the United States. This contrasts with natural gas and petroleum, the largest deposits of which are located in the politically volatile Persian Gulf. Solid coal cannot directly replace natural gas or petroleum in most applications, petroleum is mostly used for transportationand the natural gas not used for electricity generation is used for space, water and industrial heating. Coal can be converted to gas or liquid fuel, but the efficiencies and economics of such processes can make them unfeasible.[citation needed] Vehicles or heaters may require modification to use coal-derived fuels. Coal can produce more pollution than petroleum or natural gas. As of 2009 the largest coal-fired power station is Taichung Power Plant in Taiwan. The worlds most energy-efficient coal-fired power plant is the Avedà ¸re PowerShow MoreRelatedFossil Fuel Power Station4909 Words   |  20 PagesA  fossil-fuel power station  is a type of  power station  that burns  fossil fuels  such as  coal,natural gas  or  petroleum  (oil) to produce  electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation. In many countries, such plants provide most of the electrical energy used. Fossil fuel  power stations have rotating machinery to convert the heat energy of  combustioninto  mechanical energy, which then operates an  electrical generator. The  prime mover  may beRead MoreAdvantages and Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels1073 Words   |  5 PagesAdvantages of fossil fuels * major advantage of fossil fuels is their capacity to generate huge amounts of electricity in just a single location.   * Fossil fuels are very easy to find.   * When coal is used in power plants, they are very cost effective. Coal is also in abundant supply.   * Transporting oil and gas to the power stations can be made through the use of pipes making it an easy task.   * Power plants that utilize gas are very efficient.   * Power stations that makeRead MoreRenewable and Nonrewable Energy Resources Essay1505 Words   |  7 Pagesnon-renewable resources; and some of these include fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil. Fossil Fuels ============ Coal, oil and gas are the sources of energy we call fossil fuels. They are called fossil fuels because they are decayed and altered remains of plants and animals that lived on earth hundred of millions of years ago. Fossil fuels are usually found below ground (like oil and natural gas). Fossil fuels hold a lot of stored chemical energy. BurningRead MoreFossil Fuels Coal, Petroleum, And Natural Gas756 Words   |  4 PagesFossil fuels—coal, petroleum (oil), and natural gas — are concentrated organic compounds found in the Earth’s crust. They are created from the remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago in the form of concentrated biomass. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), fossil fuels meet 81 percent of U.S. energy demand. Scattered records of the use of coal date to at least 1100 BC. By the middle Ages, small mining operations began to spread in Europe, where coalRead MoreThe Impact Of Electric Vehicles On The Future Of Electric Cars1613 Words   |  7 PagesBackground Electric vehicles have been around far longer than their fossil fuel powered counter parts. They have been popular as early as the late 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. One of the best-selling vehicles at the point was the Columbia Runabout, which could go 40miles on a single charge and run at speed up to 25 kmph. They were initially considered a safer option when compared to cars powered by fossil fuels, as initial ICI cars were prone to backfire. This all changed withRead MoreEnergy1130 Words   |  5 Pagesfollowing major sources of energy for the production of electricity: fossil fuels, nuclear energy, solar radiation, and hydro energy. Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are a finite, non-renewable resource. They remain the primary source for the production of electricity. The combustion of these fuels releases their chemical energy, which produces heat to power steam turbines. The steam turbines power rotating electric generators, which turn kinetic energy into electricityRead MoreThe Power of Water Essay1599 Words   |  7 Pagesand the general rise of cost of fossil fuels alternatives have been explored. One of these is hydrogen power in the form of the hydrogen fuel cell. This source of power is unique because the only direct byproduct of it is water. With hydrogen power there are several ideas that need to be understood to determine if hydrogen power can significantly reduce or replace fossil fuels in homes and cars. First, how hydrogen is able to produce power as well as what a fuel cell is and how it works. SecondRead MoreFuel Usage Of Electric Vehicles1389 Words   |  6 Pagesnon-renewable fossil fuels, and as such is not sustainable in the long term. The subject of this research is to investigate the impact of targeting 20% of the light passenger fleet being electric. The current electric vehicle fleet is less than 1% of the light passenger fleet, which consists mainly of petrol and diesel vehicles (Ministry of Transport (MoT), 2016). If the New Zealand government hopes to increase this figure to 20%, one of the main driving factors is reducing fossil fuel consumptionRead MoreUsing Alternatives Sources Of Energy1401 Words   |  6 Pages Up until a few years ago, we used to exploit fossil fuels for almost all of our needs (heating, transportation, etc.) without thinking if there are enough supplies or even about their negative effects their emissions cause to the environment. According to many scientific investigations our fossil fuel resources (oil, coal and gas) are running out, furthermore their emissions pollute the environment and contribute to the greenhouse effect. Undoubtedly, these situations as well as the fact that theRead MoreShould The Uk Replace Nuclear Power? Essay1375 Words   |  6 Pagesare facing two main problems about electr icity: resources of fossil fuels are running out and countries need to diminish their carbon emissions. Nuclear is seen as the most common alternative. Nuclear currently supplies 19% of the UK’s electricity and 11% in the world (NIA,2015). In the UK, all but one of the current nuclear plants are due to close by 2023. Should the UK replace their nuclear plants by a new generation of nuclear stations? Because of the accidents, costs and problems of nuclear waste

The Reconstruction Era During The Civil War - 910 Words

When I see Margaret Walker’s quote I believe she was saying that even though at one time African Americans were treated poorly this country wouldn’t be what it is today without what African Americans went through. They have had such a major impact on music, movies, literature, sports, and many other things. The Reconstruction Era took place after the end of the Civil War. It lasted from 1965 to 1977. It was the North’s way of making peace with not only former slaves, but the South as well. The Reconstruction Era attempted to better the lives of African Americans by making advancements in education and religion. The 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. 105 African American colleges were created after the Civil War. While life was progressively getting better for newly freed African Americans many whites established black codes in an attempt to keep them from learning. They feared African Americans getting educated and wanted to stop it. Even th ough it was passed that African Americans were allowed to vote in the 15th Amendment many polling places wouldn’t allow it. African Americans faced tremendous backlash. One of the examples of racism that they still had to endure was the Klu Klux Klan or KKK as it would widely be known as. In â€Å"Klan Skepticism and Denial in Reconstruction-Era Public Discourse† by Elaine Frantz Parsons we hear just how bad the KKK was. â€Å"Klan violence began in late 1867 and remained at a substantial level† (Parsons 1). ElaineShow MoreRelatedThe Reconstruction Era During The Civil War1370 Words   |  6 PagesThe Reconstruction Era beginning in 1865 marked the period where white men and recently freed African Americans quarreled over the concept of equality on the basis of race as well as where freedom extended to. After the Civil War, there was a power struggle between the Republican and Democratic parties as they had extremely distinct ideas on whether African Americans should be free and hold citizen rights. African Americans were able to achieve citizenship as well as have equality through the 14thRead MoreThe Era Of Reconstruction During The Civil War1630 Words   |  7 Pageswhich was imposed by the white people. This contradiction is emblematic of the African-American experience. The era of reconstruction was a short-term success, a medium-term failure, and a foundation for the long-term successes of the civil rights movement in terms of black freedom. The era of reconstruction exposed the radical limits of freedom for natural born citizens in the post-civil war United States. The idea of freedom changed in a tremendous way for the blacks. I would like to begin byRead MoreCivil War During The Reconstruction Era906 Words   |  4 Pages During the Reconstruction Era, Congress passed many laws to provide equal rights to people of color. But at the local level, specifically in the South, many Democrats took the law into their own hands. They supported the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) hoping to restore the pre-Civil War social hierarchy. The texts in Going to the Source illustrates two groups of individuals who opposed the KKK. In testimonies given by white witnesses, Republicans from the North felt the KKK posed a political and social dangerRead MoreThe Era Of Reconstruction During The Civil War1275 Words   |  6 PagesThe Era of Reconstruction started in 1855. After the Civil war ended the South was left in shambles. Southern states were left in economic and politic distress and faced renewed social issues. The objective of Reconstruction in the South was to restore the South economically, award freed African Americans the righ ts to be equal citizens in the eyes of the law, and repair the breakage in the Union. Though the people worked to restore the South they were unable to get over the differences and realitiesRead MoreBenefits Of Reconstruction Era During The Civil War Essay2309 Words   |  10 Pagesthe start of the reconstruction era. African American had also gained a voice in government for the first time in American history. These were just some of the many benefits of reconstruction era. The reconstruction era is a period after the civil war had ended which is the new and improved United States. The civil war was a conflict between the North and the South because of economic differences, social and political, but most importantly Slavery was the main cause of this war. Slavery is aRead MoreCongressional Era Of Reconstruction During Post Civil War Reconstruction2634 Words   |  11 Pagesâ€Å"Failure is simply an opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.† —Henry Ford. This was the Southern optimist’s view of what the results of post Civil War Reconstruction could be. Unfortunately, once the Congressional era of Reconstruction began, this view was squandered under federal punishment of the South. This policy led to strained relations between Congress and the ex-Confederate states. The difference of opinion was over how harshly the South should be punished for leaving theRead MoreThe Civil War Was A Grave Cause Of Many Events. Many People1663 Words   |  7 PagesThe civil war was a grave cause of many events. Many people may see the results of the war as a chain reaction to many following eras. One of the most prominent eras that emerged from the civil war was the reconstruction era. The reconstruction era emerged around 1865 and continued until 1877. This time period generally refers to the time in United States history in which the federal government set the conditions that would allow the rebellious Southern states ba ck into the Union. The States wereRead MoreHow Did The Radical Republican s Rise For The Failure Of The Post Civil War Reconstruction?1619 Words   |  7 Pagesfailure of the post-civil war reconstruction? The time between 1863, when Lincoln passed the ten percent act, until the year 1877, when reconstruction was officially ended, will be evaluated with information provided by the sources. The investigation will specifically look to how the Lincoln assassination allowed for the rise in the Radical Republican Party from 1866 to 1868 and the party’s effect on reconstruction acts leading to the failure of the post-civil war reconstruction era. Eric Foner’s novelRead MoreThe End Of The Reconstruction1318 Words   |  6 Pages1860’s there was an Era that started called the reconstruction. The main purpose for the reconstruction was to give African-American people full political and civil equality. However, it was very tough to do this, especially since most white in the south didn’t want the African-Americans to have the same rights as themselves. During this Era there were multiple good things that happened, yet, there were also many bad things that happened. For instance, during the reconstruction the 14th amendmentRead MoreThe Reconstruction Era And The Jim Crow Era1525 Words   |  7 PagesThe Reconstruction Era and The Jim Crow Era were both times of Rapid growth in the United States that were characterized by changes not only on the intrapersonal level, but also on the cultural and legislative level. The Reconstruction Era occurred directly after the civil war and spanned twelve years from 1865 t o 1877 , while the Jim Crow Era occurred from 1877 to 1954. Some of the common themes of these eras were race relations and tension between northern states and southern states. The first

Graduation Speech My Life - 942 Words

My â€Å"about me paper† is going to start with elementary school; my life has had many events, but it was not until school when my journey really had begun. Growing up I had always been the happy, naive, child most people are use to; I was always smiling, but when it came to school work I dreaded it. From first grade to fifth I had a tutor every year and almost every summer. At first it was the reading then once I concurred that, it was the math, life just never gave me a break. Being the child I was, I could not fully understand why I was the way I was. I was tested for ADHD and got on a low dose of adderall; this solved some of the problem. It helped me focus in class, but I had mood swings and was zombi like. Fifth grade came along it got only worse and with the teacher I had it only got harder. As a struggling ten year old, in a fancy private school, and a teacher that did not understand me, I was domed for failure. My teacher sat me out of recess every day to work on my â€Å"math corrections,† yet would not fully teach me what I was doing wrong and how to fix it. I would come home just about every afternoon, mad because it would take me three hours to do homework. My mom watched me struggle and feel defeated. I would say things like â€Å" I’m not going to make it to college† or â€Å" I’m stupid†. Finally, my mom took me off of the adderall, and got my tested for dyslexia. Dyslexia runs in my family so when the test came back that I was dyslexic, it was not a surprise. The school IShow MoreRelatedGraduation Speech : My Life977 Words   |  4 PagesUniversity. My parents were hosting a graduation brunch for me at the scenic Valley Green Inn in Philadelphia’s historic Fairmount Park. There were over a hundred guests present that day, a mix of family, friends, and others who made an impact on me over the course of my life. It was just a few short months away from the beginning of law school. I remember looking over at my parents shortly after the brunch began; my mother was looking at me and her eyes were filled with tears. Next to her, my dad wasRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life1578 Words   |  7 Pages Looking back at all I’ve accomplished through out my K-12 years I’ve realized it’s taught me so much about life. In elementary I was taught my manners while incorporating basic subjects such as math, reading, writing, etc. I can remember how prestigious nap times were and the little snack breaks I used to have during class. Those days were the best days. My first academic success actually came in the third grade when I was on the honor roll all four quarters of the school year. I didn’t think beingRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life1141 Words   |  5 Pages Friends that we make from our high school years are the ones that we will have for a lifetime. And I am glad I made some friends during the course of my high school years. Those fr iendships, hopefully, would travel with me until I enter college, the world of adulthood, and the very last stage of my life—death. One of those friendships, one of my treasures, is between Ryan and me. He and I first met in a math class back in freshman year. It was the first day of school, and everything—classmates,Read MoreGraduation Speech : My Life1317 Words   |  6 PagesIf someone were to ask me a couple years ago if graduate studies were in my plans, my reply would be â€Å"absolutely not!† Back then, there was not really a good reason that motivated me to continue my education after graduating with a degree in Public Health Education. The mere thought of more school exhausted me. Though my mentality seemingly changed, one thing that cannot be denied is my love for the game of basketball, which has been almost cruelly ignored until recently. The countless timesRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life Essay1362 Words   |  6 Pagesfriends, it was anyt hing any of us dreamed of. We knew it was an important next step in life, a straight line, get great grades and high scores in high school, and go to college. I dreamed of what I would good to school for, I dreamed of what I would go to school for after that. I had so many dreams about what exactly I would do, but unfortunately, life had a flurry of other plans for me. I had my path picked out, my ticket to happiness. I love learning, and the thought of more time spent in schoolRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life1196 Words   |  5 Pages Throughout my sixteen years in the military, I grew very committed to my position and job in the Army, so my college education suffered gravely and took a very low priority in my life. Fortunately during my time in the military I have been able to take some college courses and slowly work on my degree, but now as my time in the Army is coming to an end my goal is to earn my college degree before retiring to make myself more marketable in civilian sector once I am out. Luckily, many ofRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life2311 Words   |  10 Pagesschool following in the footsteps of my father. My father said that if I could not find a job after receiving my bachelor’s degree that he would continue to pay for my education until I received my masters. Although after two semesters I dropped out because I felt that I could make more money than continuing in school. At some point, I did over time make more money than someone who had a bachelor’s degree that worked under my father at General Electric. I married my first wife and had three childrenRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life Plan913 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom high school graduation my motivation became success, but how do one achieve success? Education... I made goals in order to assure my success it’s somewhat of a layaway a system of paying a deposit to secure an item, well in my case a life plan that will later on in life belong to me. Beginning my mission mid-12th grade year it has kept me moving in the right direction and one day soon that big beautiful office and authority will be mine. What kept me motivated and going was my grandmother anRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life And Alter My Perspective Essay811 Words   |  4 Pagessecond semester of my sophomore year at North Gwinnett High school. I had just come back from a vacation in Albany, New York, where I was visiting my best friend from middle school, Ethan Sheraw. Over the break I began preparing for an event, an event that would ultimately change the course of my life and alter my perspective. I had gained courage from those closest to me over this break, and realized that I had the power to decide my fate. Prior to my visit with Ethan, the tension in my household wasRead MoreGraduation Speech : My Life After High School907 Words   |  4 PagesWhen my high school graduation came around in the year of 2013 I was not sure what would be the next step in life after high school. I was undecided whether I would go to college. I didn t feel I was college material since I honestly did not do that well my last couple years of high school. I figured I would just learn to paint cars like my dad. I was working for my dad during that same summer after I graduated and I completely changed my mind on college. Going home in dust and grime everyday

Types of Managment

Question: How many types of management are there? Explain. Answer: Smart objectives are those objectives, which are specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time related. It is very important to have S.M.A.R.T. objectives so that the objectives are practical and achievable and are not based on something which is hypothetical or totally imaginable (Topachievement.com, 2016). The management is divided into five departments out of which one department is related to external partnership. The departments are Finance and administration, sales and marketing, management specialist consultant, human resource and information technology (external partnership). The key issues to be addressed in the identified managers and management are: Finance and administration: Training and development needs of the employees working in the finance and administration department. Efficiency and productivity of finance and administration department Change in processes or softwares required in finance and administration department Sales and marketing: Reassessment of sales and marketing goals based on SMART objectives Research related to Sales and marketing Training and development Management specialist consultant: Mode of communications used Training and development requirement Human resource: Training and development needs of human resources Attrition and employee turnover rates Compensation and benefit plans Organisational commitment and job satisfaction Information technology: Hardware and software related issues Information systems security Cyber defence policies Level of access into companys information The managers would be given a brief session that would increase their knowledge about the code of conduct. They would be explained about the organisational structure, job responsibilities and general guidelines of their seniors as well as the juniors. The managers would be strictly directed to manage the diversity properly and make the good use out of the talent and diverse ideas. The company would promote workplace diversity and would also try to enhance the cross cultural knowledge of the employees. The company would also formulate code of ethics and would arrange for annual sessions that would be aimed at increasing the ethical awareness of the employees. The company would consider a number of modes to communicate with the managers. It would arrange for weekly meetings with the managers while the whole progress would be assessed using social media groups. Another official channel for communication would be regular e-mails and formal text messages. There will be an open form of communication at the workplace so that the managers can freely share their thoughts and ideas. Manager name and position Consultation method Timeframe Resources Expected outcomes Dan Egan Manager of Finance and Administration E-mails, Messages, Meetings. 14 days To accomplish this task, the company would require to go through all the financial and administrative performances. Finding the problems in finance and administrative departments Farrah Walters Sales and Marketing E-mails, Messages, Meetings. 21 days To accomplish this task, the company would require to go through the performance and objectives of the teams so that the objectives are SMART. Improved marketing and sales functions Henri Yee Management Specialists Consultant E-mails, Messages, Meetings. 7 days The company would require feedback from the clients so that any drawbacks can be removed Better management Tunc Ozen Human Resource Team Leader E-mails, Messages, Meetings. 15 days The company would assess the employee and the workforce status in complete detail Better human resource conditions Nicola Pizzini IT manager E-mails, Messages, Meetings. 10 days The company would assess the software, hardware, security and personnel working in IT Better IT infrastructure and security REFERENCES Church Law Tax. (2016). 7 Common Financial Control Problems. [online] Available at: https://www.churchlawandtax.com/blog/2014/november/7-common-financial-control-problems.html [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Topachievement.com. (2016). Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals Top Achievement. [online] Available at: https://topachievement.com/smart.html [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. HRZone. (2013). Top 10 Issues For HR Teams How To Fix Them. [online] Available at: https://www.hrzone.com/community-voice/blogs/jamessheehan/top-10-issues-for-hr-teams-how-to-fix-them [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016]. Anon, (n.d.). Top 10 IT Issues, 2015: Inflection Point. [online] Available at: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/1/top-10-it-issues-2015-inflection-point [Accessed 6 Jun. 2016].

The Makioka Sisters Essay Example For Students

The Makioka Sisters Essay The Makioka Sisters Megan Guimon Saliba Alternative Calendars 11 January 2000 Change Is The Only Constant With life comes death, with destruction comes rebirth, and with fear often comes understanding and growth. Constant change within our environment surrounds and invades our existencewhich too is ever changing, growing, digressing and evolving. Often a sad tone resounds within this acceptance of uncontrolled fluctuation. It is the sad or destructive experiences that one wishes could be controlled; and often those become more apparent then the joy and happiness that accompanies change. Throughout Tanizakis The Makioka Sisters the essence of the novel is captured using subtlety to describe the timeless cyclical changes in nature, thus revealing and enhancing the acceptance of the unavoidable impermanence that is woven into the sisters lives and experiences. Transformations within their natural world saturate and undeniably affect the lives of the characters in this novel. Throughout the novel the sisters are constantly exposed to the beauties and destruction that the cycles of nature produce, changing and affecting their lives for brief and lengthy durations. Change in nature perpetually occurs and learning to adapt to its inconsistency is often demanded of the sisters. Tanizaki poetically uses the fluctuation of nature to delicately suggest fluctuation or transformations that occur within the characters. For example, as massive flooding consumes the Kobe-Osaka district with destruction, the Makiokas lives are consumed with upheaval; and yet, this inevitable chaos encourages realizations for Sachiko and transformations within Taeko. The most disastrous flood in the districts history, its transforming effects on the river are vividly described as, less a river than a black, boiling sea, with the mid-summer surf at its most violent (Tanizaki 176). Its burdens afflict the land, and all of its inhabitants, from scuttling crabs and dogs to the Makiokas, Stoltzes, an d countless other families. Physically destroying homes, railroads and schools, the flood claims lives amidst clouds of dust, mud, and sand. The rain viciously reveals its overpowering capabilities. As Sachiko searches for occupying distraction from the worry that she endures concerning Taekos safe return, she is drawn to the pictures of Taekos performance of Snow from the previous month. The effects of the flood and its devastating possibilities encourage Sachiko to view both these pictures, and Taeko in a revised light. Sachiko admits her luring interest to a photographic pose of Taeko which reveals a certain delicate winsomeness and gracein Taeko. one could see from this photograph that there was in her too something of the old Japanese maiden, something quietly engaging (189). In the midst of chaotic torment Sachiko is able to appreciate the many aspects of who Koi-san is rather than concentrate on her sisters demise. And not without sadness, she questions whether it was only by chance that Koi-san had been captured in this light or rather that it had been an unhappy omen for the disaster that now lay lurking. For Taeko, the floods transform her spirit as fear and lack of enthusiasm take root in her heart. Her environment has instilled a previously unfelt sense of fear and respect for its reigning force. Shaken, and perhaps disenchanted with the changes around her and within her, Taeko avoids work and activity for an entire month after the torrential storm. Taeko, usually the most active of the three, had evidently not recovered from the shock of the flood. This summer she showed little of her usual energy (204). As the natural destruction drains her energy it also transforms her interests in Kei-boy, killing the last of her love for him. Within both of the sisters, the inevitable changes that the floods bring, seeps deeper than the surface damage; bidding and encouraging new growth and challenge within the characters hearts and minds. Yet another encounte r with a severe storm, this time a Tokyo Typhoon, reveals the destruction and terror that nature can display, disrupting lives, and harshly revealing the change in direction that the Makiokas prestigious lives have taken. The worst typhoon in over ten years, winds literally shaking the house, dirt and sand forcefully flying through vacant cracks, and walls billowing seemingly ready to burst; the family must remain calm although terror chills their bones. They eventually find .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 , .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .postImageUrl , .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 , .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045:hover , .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045:visited , .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045:active { border:0!important; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045:active , .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045 .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ucd76a98881fb58496092d15065e6f045:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Kite Runner By F. 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SAT Admission Requirements The Importance of the SAT

SAT Admission Requirements The Importance of the SAT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’re currently applying to college or getting ready to apply to college, you’ve probably heard of the SAT and/or the ACT.You may already know thatthe SAT is a standardized test which high school students take before applying to college, but how important is the SAT in college applications? It’s hard to overstate the importance of the SAT. Your testscore will beone of themost important partsof your college application (if not themost important part). In this guide, I'll explain why test scores are a key part of your application and how you can determine the SAT admission requirements for the schools you're interested in. Why Is the SAT Important to Colleges? There are two main reasons for the importance of the SAT to colleges. Let's go through them one at a time. #1: Your SAT Score Is How Colleges Compare You to Other Applicants from Around the Globe. Applicants to one university will come from different backgrounds, will have attended different high schools, will have taken different classes, will have done different extracurricular activities, but all applicants will have taken the SAT and/or ACT (at least at non-test optional schools). Your SAT score reveals whether your GPA and transcript are accurate representations of your academic ability. Admissions officers use your SAT/ACT score to figure out if your grades were inflated or not. If you have a 4.0 GPA with a perfect 1600 SAT score, admissions officers will likely be impressed and think your GPA is reflective of your academic potential.If you have a 4.0 GPA with 1000 SAT score, admissions officers may think your grades were inflated and that your SAT score is a better representation of your academic potential. A high SAT score can also make up for a lower GPA.If you have a 3.0 GPA with a perfect 1600 score, a college admissions officer may be willing to overlook your GPA and consider your SAT score as an indication that you’re college ready. #2: Colleges Are Judged by Their SAT Score Ranges The SAT is important to colleges becausethey use it tojudge your academic preparedness for college. However, it's also important to colleges because if you're admitted, your SAT score will be incorporated into their yearly SAT statistics. Each year, universities publish their freshman admissions profile (see an example of Princeton's freshman admissions profile).In this profile, collegesprovide the data on admitted students.The data includes either the 25th/75th percentile SAT/ACT scores (sometimes referred to as the middle 50%) or the average SAT/ACT scores of admitted students. However, usually, the 25th/75th percentile is provided instead of average score.The 25th percentile score means that 25% of admitted students scored at or below that score (and therefore 75% of admitted students scored above).The 75th percentile score means that 75% of admitted students scored at or below that score (and therefore 25% of admitted students scored above).The average score is just what it sounds like, an average of all the admitted students scores. The public judges this data to perceive the selectivity of the school (the higher the range, the more competitive or â€Å"better† the public thinks the school is).When you think of Ivy League schools such as Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, you likely think, "Wow those are good schools!" Why do you think they are good schools? You might think of their alumni or campuses. However, many lower ranked schools such as Denison have beautiful campuses with famous alumni like billionaire Michael Eisner. You might think of their low admissions rates, but there are othercolleges with comparable admissions rates tothe Ivies. The mainreason you associate Harvard, Stanford and other top colleges with prestige is because of their published SAT score ranges and their ranking. When doing research on applying to colleges, you likely came across the US News World Report ranking of US colleges.Every year, US News World Report assembles their rankings based on several categories including the SAT scores of admitted students.If you’re admitted to the school, your SAT score will be factored into that school’s overall national ranking in US News World Report. Top colleges such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford want your SAT scores to be agood so that it reflects well on them. Even "second tier schools" such as Vanderbilt, USC, and Emory care about thisbecause they hope to continue to rise in theUS News World Reportrankings. Don't be blinded bybeauty or rankings! Find the right school for you! What Does This Mean for You? Because colleges rely so heavily on SAT scores in their college admissions process, you want to make sure that you have an SAT score that fits their expectations. How do you figure out what that theirscore expectation is? Remember, those score percentiles I mentioned earlier?As a brief refresher, colleges publish an admissions profile every year that shows either the 25th/75th percentile SAT/ACT scores (sometimes referred to as the middle 50%) or the average SAT/ACT scores of admitted students. Admissions officers use this data as the standard for the students they admit.Colleges willbe looking for applicantswho are in or above this range (or at or above the average). That way colleges are always getting the same or better caliber student (to either stay the same or increase their rankings). At PrepScholar, we recommend trying to get your score at or above the 75th percentile score for your target school to give yourself the best chance of admission. How To Find Out a College's SAT AdmissionRequirements? I’d recommend reading our guide to finding your SAT score for your target school first. However, the simple route is to Google Search for â€Å"[College Name] SAT PrepScholar.†That will bring you to our admissions page for your target school. You will find the average SAT score, along with the 25th/75th percentile SAT scores of admitted students, and you’ll be able to use our nifty admissions calculator to determine your chances of getting into that school based on your GPA and current SAT score. Take note of the 75th percentile SAT score listed onour admissions page for your target school. That should be your target SAT score. You can do it! What Can You Do To Improve Your SAT Score? Now that you’ve found out your target score, what can you do to reach it?If you have not prepared for the SAT, you need to. Start with our complete SAT study guide. If you’ve prepared but are still seeing no improvement, consider switching up your strategy. We’ve prepared many great SAT strategy guides. Read them hereand make sure you’re trying to incorporate some of these strategies. NOTE: not all strategies will work for all test-takers. Try out some on your practice tests. Try to figure out what works for you and what doesn't work for you. If you’ve tried all of the strategies and are still seeing no improvement, you should consider hiring a tutor or trying PrepScholar’s program.Don’t sweat! With the appropriate amount of time and effort dedicated, you should be able to reach your score. In a hurry? Check out our SAT 10-day cramming guide. What’s Next? Not sure where you’d like to go to college? Figure out how to find your target school. Worried about the rest of your college application? We’ll help you write a great personal statement and get excellent letters of recommendation. Still not sure whether the SAT or ACT is right for you? Let’s help you pick the right test for you! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Definition of Progressive and Examples of Progressive Thinking in Essay

Definition of Progressive and Examples of Progressive Thinking in Terms Of History - Essay Example According to Lawson (357), progressivists tried to expose corruption and injustice in the government and undercut political machines. They wanted the citizens to have a direct rule through the power of their vote as well as including women in the political voting arena. In education there was a need to move from rote learning into child-centered and experiment-based learning. Parker argued that it was pointless to acquire knowledge without understanding it. Reforms The progressive era is basically the period between1895-1925. It was marked by social activism and reforms. Examples of reforms during the progressive era include the initiation of direct primary elections by the legislature. This gave voters the right and freedom to choose primary candidates instead of limiting it to party officials. This was a tool of reducing the power of political machines and bosses. This was accomplished by the progressive movement under La Follette’s governance. At this time also state forest s were preserved, monopolies were broken up and railroad taxes doubled. The government started to defend small farmers and small business holders by intervening on their behalf. This was through trade control which ensured that there was competition and free enterprise. In 1911, the first national workers’ compensation program was instituted, cooperatives were encouraged, laws governing factory safety were passed and state income tax was established. The income tax was directed to high incomes alone. Limited labor hours for children and women were also instituted. These were achieved under the governance of Francis McGovern (Lawson 421) In 1913, ratification was done to the Seventeenth Amendment. The ratification required that all senators be directly elected by voters instead of the state legislature. This served to reduce their power and ensure they served the interests of the people not particular individuals who put them in office (Lawson 364). Women were allowed to enjoy their rights to vote. This was achieved through the Nineteenth Amendment of the constitution of the US in 1920. There was a widespread formation of labor unions. These were meant to protect the rights of workers. A restriction in immigration was also passed to control the influx of foreigners into the US at this period. In terms of local governance, many cities instituted municipal reference bureaus to look into the local government’s administrative structures and budgets. Major reformations of state government were done in many states for example Illinois. In terms of educational reforms, a new curriculum was developed at the Lincoln School. This curriculum was meant to eliminate obsolete material while integrating material that could be adapted to the changing needs of modern living. The new curriculum was build on ‘units of work’ which reorganize subject matter in the previous curriculum to a design that considered development of children and their future rol es as adults. Major figures that advanced progressivism Some of the major figures that advanced progressivism include Robert La Follette. He was sparked into action when Philetus Sawyer, a Republican leader wanted to bribe him as an attorney so as to fix a court case. He spends the rest of the decade traveling around the state while making a stand and speaking against corrupt railroad interests, powerful lumber barons and crooked politicians.

World History Since 1945 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

World History Since 1945 - Essay Example The writers advocate for total relook into the various governmental systems which are both embedded in totalitarianism and aloof to the social realities of ordinary masses. Thus, both books are radical and transformative in scope. The books cry out for change which is aimed at the social and economic lives of the people. Smith (2010) reckons that Belli’s ‘The Country under My Skin’ is a powerful memoir entailing both love and war. The Nicaraguan, Giaconda Belli, presents quite powerfully, her eye-openness to social realities facing the people of Nicaragua as well as her association with the Sandinistas using the rider of love and war to expose totalitarianism. In the book, she categorically illuminates on her present life with her American husband as well as children and seemingly compares this to Nicaragua with a passionate appeal. It is at the time when the poet meets Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos in the year 1978 that she sets out the book; The Country under My Skin. Gicoonda Belli describes political battles of emancipation that the country of Nicaragua went through since the years 1970s. She brings it out quite powerfully using her personal experiences especially with the authorities at that time and irrationalities around the country that were transformational (Smith 2010). She thus brings out a powerful juxtaposition in her quality writing exploring in details her adventure while working in the field of advertisement and later getting involved in politics. Saten (2010) observes that her poem creates a vantage entry point into the Sandinista Guerilla Movement from quite a young age. This involvement makes her transition into the unknown away from the comfort zone and the social as well as political security that she was always involved in and it is at this point that she brings out the spirit of activism in her (Staten 97). Using these experiences she exposes government indifferences to the plight of the

No Child Left Behind Essay Example for Free

No Child Left Behind Essay The education policy that I chose is on education today and the influence of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. In 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act. The NCBL is a United States Act of Congress, which includes Title 1 (program for disadvantaged students offered by the government). This Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. Each state is required to give these assessments to all students to receive federal school funding. This Act does not set the standards nationwide; each individual state sets the standards. Diane Ravitch, an education philosopher was a supporter of this Act when it was being passed. She believed that every child had the right to a proper education. As the years passed she acquired more experience and knowledge on the Act, and is now completely opposed to the NCLB Act. Ravitch believes that the states dumb down the standards in light of the NCLB. The question now is: is the No Child Left Behind Act seeking to repair the problem, or is it the cause? Under NCLB, the accountability of a childs education is examined by the Federal government and turned into the hands of the state. This was the first time an American president has set a goal of universal proficiency in reading and mathematics for all children. The federal emphasis on literacy, reading, and mathematics emphasizes teacher and school accountability, with negative consequences when schools do not meet established improvement goals (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). Under NCLB the state must have accountability provisions that include how they will close the achievement gap. According to the Department of Education the achievement gap is defined as such; The difference between how well low-income and minority children perform on standardized tests as compared with their peers. For many years, low-income and minority children have fallen behind their white peers in terms of academic achievement (Department of Education, 2002). States must also monitor that every student not excluding the disadvantaged achieve academic proficiency. Yearly assessments must be produced to inform parents of the progress of both the state and the  community. Schools that do not meet the academic proficiency standards must offer supplemental services and take corrective action. If within five years the school is still not making yearly progress, than dramatic changes in the schools academic direction must be made. Dramatic changes according to the Department of Education are defined as follows; †¦additional changes to ensure improvement. The definition raises the question of whether there is a plan for failure at all. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, in its National Report Card shows that these goals may be falling short. Students in fourth grade show temporary improvement in math right after No Child Left Behind became a law, but returned to pre-reform growth rate. The NAEP estimates that by 2014 less than 25% of financially challenged and African American students will achieve NAEP proficiency in reading. Using the same time frame less than half the financially challenged and African American students will obtain proficiency in math. With so much pressure on the states to perform well, a trend is becoming apparent that they are inflating proficiency levels of students. This causes discrepancies between the NAEP and state assessments especially among the financially challenged, African American, and Hispanic students. With no sufficient evidence shown on that NCLB is working, the question is as follows; is the federal government capable of running our school systems? There are undoubtedly dangers in the public school system teaching a federally mandated curriculum. When one controls peoples perception of history, one controls the present. There is, of course, a point to be made that if the nations children are kept in watered down public schools, positions of power will be opened to the children of the aristocracy, who without fail, are being sent to private schools. So many of those Politicians who stand in the way of allowing poor children to escape failing schools, send their own children to private schools (sic). In New York City, where I have spent most of my professional life, both the current and the past chancellor of schools sent their children to private schools. Six of the seven members of the now-defunct Board of Education had  also sent their children to private schools at one time or another. One might add to the list other notables in New York-the governor, the mayor, the leaders of both houses of the legislature, and the junior U.S. senator (and former first lady). In fact, I cannot remember a mayor of the city who sent his children to public school (Viteritti, 2003). The reports of success of NCLB are encouraging to those who support the project. There have been schools in Sterling, Virginia and New York City that have received No Child Left Behind blue ribbons for their success in closing the achievement gap. Other schools have earned national praise for instituting such curriculum as Fit for the Future, a standards-based health and fitness curriculum for grades 1-10; and an anti-bullying intervention program in York, Pennsylvania (Department of Education, 2005). These programs are used to show the benefits of NCLB but are they academic necessities? The curriculum in a kindergarten class in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin included a lesson entitled The Little Convincer. In which a state trooper came into the classroom with a mechanism designed to simulate a car accident. In a discussion about car seat laws, a topic critics of the curriculum call too heady for kindergarteners, the students, ages five to six years old, were asked repeatedly which one of them were actively using car seats, and whether their parents wore seat belts as well. One child who innocently told the officer that his daddy did not wear his seatbelt was told by the trooper that his daddy could go through the windshield and the glass would cut his face and arms like ribbons, and once he hit the road, the car would roll on top of him. The dramatic lesson ended with each of the students taking a turn in the mechanism that simulated the car crash. The officer would speak softly to the child asking them questions about their class or the clothes that they were wearing and when the child began to speak would jerk them forward violently to teach them that an accident could happen at anytime. The question is, are these academic lessons that parents assume that their children are attending school for? Is placing the curriculum in the hands of legislators going to further our childrens grasp of the three Rs as most parents hope, or are they going to be taught how to become complacent law abiding citizens? The problem in purposing that the public school system is flawed beyond repair is offering an alternative that people are comfortable with. When a conversation about privatizing the school system begins many questions must be answered to abate the fears of the public. Would privatizing schools be affordable to all families? Many debates have waged on the validity of a voucher program, allowing families to choose any school they desire whether it is parochial, private, public, or chartered. Without public schools, there are no taxes necessary to support the program, and that money can be returned to the families of school aged children, creating extra funds for private education. In a system of free market education the individual and specialized institutions of learning would have to compete for students, because the money would be linked to the students themselves. Never in the history of the free market have advances been made without competition. When the monopoly on our childrens future ends, a true marketplace of ideas will be born. In an interview with US News, Ravitch was asked What needs to happen to make the law more effective for school? she responded I think the main thing to change is . . . to get rid of the remedies and the sanctions because the remedies dont work and the sanctions dont work. What No Child Left Behind has given the United States is an atmosphere of punitiveness. The word accountability has come to be a synonym for punish. If students dont learn, its the teachers fault. Fire the teachers. Close the schools. Were now on a wrecking mission to destroy American public education. Ravitch has completely rejected this Act, and believes we should do something to make our education system stronger. I questioned? Is the No Child Left Behind Act seeking to repair the problem, or is it the cause? I now have the answer. The NCLB Act sounded very tempting as it was passed by congress, and many like Diane Ravitch had hopes in such a great project for our education system, but everything is not perfect. The NCBL offers great support to schools, although standardized testing is not the correct way of determining the amount of financial support each school deserves or requires. After long hours of research I believe that the No Child Left Behind Act has taken a part in the cause of our problem in our education system today. Schools will not improve if the value is set only on what is tested. The tests we have now provide useful information about students progress in reading and mathematics, but they cannot measure what matters most in education. (Ravitch. The Death and Life of The Great American School System, pg. 226) In order to improve our public school system we must start by focusing on our schools, offering them an authentic and sincere education that encourages our students to learn.

John Rawls And Utilitarianism :: Rawls Utilitarinism Philosophy Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The social contract theory of John Rawls challenges utilitarianism by pointing out the impracticality of the theory. Mainly, in a society of utilitarians, a citizens rights could be completely ignored if injustice to this one citizen would benefit the rest of society. Rawls believes that a social contract theory, similar those proposed by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, would be a more logical solution to the question of fairness in any government. Social contract theory in general and including the views of Rawls, is such that in a situation where a society is established of people who are self interested, rational, and equal, the rules of justice are established by what is mutually acceptable and agreed upon by all the people therein. This scenario of negotiating the laws of that society that will be commonly agreed upon and beneficial to all is what Rawls terms "The Original Position and Justification". Rawls states that for this system to work, all citizens must see themselves as being behind a "veil of ignorance". By this he means that all deciding parties in establishing the guidelines of justice (all citizens) must see themselves as equal to everyone paying no mind to there economic situation or anything else that they could keep in mind to negotiate a better situation to those qualities. For example, if everyone in this society has an equal amount of influence toward the establishing of specific laws, a rich man may propose that taxes should be equal for all rather than proportionate to ones assets. It is for this and similar situations that Rawls feels that everyone must become oblivious to themselves. Rawls believes that the foundational guideline agreed upon by the those in the original position will be composed of two parts. The first of these rules of justice being one that enforces equal rights and duties for all citizens and the later of the two one which regulates the powers and wealth of all citizens.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the conception of utilitarianism possessed by Rawls, an impartial spectator and ideal legislator are necessary components. The impartial spectator is one who rational and sensitive to all of the desires of society. The impartial spectator must feel these desires as if they were his own desires and by doing such, give each of them priority over other desires and organize them into one system from which the ideal legislator tries to maximize satisfaction for all citizens by manipulating and adjusting the policy for that society. By this theory of utilitarianism, Rawls argues that the decision making process is being integrated into one conscience and that this system

The Hour of the Star

â€Å"A sense of loss† and â€Å"The right to protest† A Lacanian reading of the film The Hour of the Star1 When Clarice Lispector wrote this ‘story with a beginning, a middle and a grand finale followed by silence and falling rain. ’ (HE, pp. 13) she hoped that it could ‘become my [her] own coagulation one day’ (HE, pp. 12). In fact, ‘her hour’ was near for she would soon die of cancer. The book emerged as an experimental novel gradually dialoguing with and producing illusions of itself, like images in mirrors, paradoxically portraying the invisible.Both her book and Susana Amaral's cinematic adaptation seem extremely conscious of Lacan’s concept of subjectivity and adherent to his psychoanalytic theory that reinterprets Freud in structuralist terms, adapting the linguistic model to the data of psychoanalysis. What lies beneath the choice to attempt a Lacanian reading of The Hour of the Star is not the film's patent opennes s to Lacan's ideas on desire, lack and the language of the unconscious.Despite the theoretical suggestiveness of much of the analysis that is to follow, the aim of this essay is to analyse The Hour of the Star using the methodology developed by Lacan whilst criticising its very mechanisms, stressing the importance of issues such as ethnicity, marginality, and poverty, social, cultural and political alienation, left behind by his account of the development of the human subject. A fairly mainstream cinematic version replaces the avant-garde, subversive structure of the book.In the film things fall into place more handily in the name of coherence, and social issues (the chronic plight of a certain type of North-Eastern Brazilians who undertakes a journey to the great cities of the South in search of a better life) replace the major metaphysical meditations found in the book. In The Hour of the Star everything is subjected to a multiplicity of reductions, exaggerated to the minimum, a c aricature in reverse that works in favour of a growing invisibility of things.Physical invisibility, abortion and repressed sexuality are highlighted in the film, depicting the drama of Macabea, a humble orphan girl from the backwoods of Alagoas, North Eastern Brazil, who was brought up by a forbidding aunt before making her way to the slums of Rio de Janeiro. In this city, she shares the same bed sitter with three girls and works as a typist. Centred on her (in)existence, the film explores Macabea’s marginality by placing her among the marginalities of the characters that populate the world of Rio de Janeiro.There is a strong focus on the relationships between the characters: Seu Raimundo and Seu Pereira (her bosses), Gloria (her colleague from work), Olimpico de Jesus Moreira Chaves (her ‘boyfriend’), and Madame Carlota (the fortune 1 Throughout the essay, A Hora da Estrela, (HE) will refer to Clarice Lispector’s novel (Portuguese version), while the tit le: The Hour of the Star (HS) will refer to the film, a Brazilian cinematic adaptation of Clarice Lispector’s book (The Hour of the Star, Dir.Susana Amaral, Raiz Producoes Cinematograficas, 1985). The dialogues in this work were translated and transcribed from the film, while the book excerpts were taken from the English translation of the novel: The Hour of the Star, trans. Giovanni Pontiero (Manchester: Carcanet, 1992). 1 teller). Macabea has poverty, inexperience, ingenuity, ill-health and anonymity written all over her. All she can afford to eat and drink are hotdogs and Coca-cola.Her only (unachievable) dream is to become a film star. Without any goals in life, her sole interest is listening to Radio Relogio (Radio Clock) that broadcasts the seconds, minutes and hours of the day along with random information about life. Olimpico, who she meets in the park one day, starts going out with her but ends up in Gloria’a arms, after the latter’s visit to the fortun e teller. When Macabea decides to visit the fortune teller herself, her life seems about to change completely.The promise of abundance is followed by utter disappointment when Macabea, wearing her new Cinderella-blue dress, is run over by a car and dies alone, fantasising that she is running into the arms of the promised rich lover Hans, her long curly hair in the wind. Any Lacanian approach to this Cinderella-in-reverse story would proceed with reference to the unconscious, interpreting the text as a metaphor of the unconscious and the subject as a linguistic construct. Lacan is unequivocally clear when he states that: (†¦) the unconscious is structured in the most radical way like a language, hat a material operates in it according to certain laws, which are the same laws as those discovered in the study of actual languages (†¦)2 To the French psychoanalyst, the unconscious is constituted by a signifying chain, whereby the negative relations between the signifiers3 are n ever anchored in meaning: one signifier leads to another but never to the things it supposedly represents. Macabea launches the play of signifiers in the film: the assemblages of signifiers clustered around her convey the elusiveness of the signified and the centrality of the unconscious.Her problem with the meaning of words stands for Lacan’s model which gives primacy to the signifier and not the signified. The audience feels somehow â€Å"oppressed† by the many unanswered questions and the violence of the oblique illusions of truth inside definitions. What follows is a dialogue between Macabea and Olimpico during one of their walks together: Macabea On Radio Clock they were talking about alligators†¦ and something about ‘camouflage’†¦ What does ‘camouflage’ mean? Olimpico That’s not a nice word for a virgin to be using.The brothels are full of women who asked far too many questions. Macabea Olimpico Where is the brothel? Ità ¢â‚¬â„¢s an evil place where only men go. 2 Jacques Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, pp. 234 2 ‘Just because people ask you for something doesn’t mean that’s what they really want you to give them’4, Lacan would argue, commenting on this dialogue. What Macabea desires from Olimpico is not exactly a word’s signification but something else implied in that same dialogue. She desires the meaning, yet lacks the meaning and that same lack structures her desire.Macabea asks others for definitions, but others are as ignorant as she is. The film’s plays on ambiguity, misunderstandings and misjudgments add to Lacan’s play of signifiers: Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Olimpico Macabea Well†¦ Well what? I just said well. But well what? Let’s change the subject. You don’t understand. Understand what? Oh my God, Macabea. Let’ s talk about something else. What do you want to talk about? Why don’t you talk about you?Me? What’s the problem? People talk about themselves. Yes, but I am not like other people. I don’t think I am many people. If you are not people, then what are you? It’s just that I’m not used to it. What? Not used to what? I can’t explain. Am I really myself? Look, I’m off. You’ve no wits. How do I get wits? Insofar as the Lacanian analyst doesn’t take himself/herself as the representative of knowledge but sees the analysand’s unconscious as the ultimate authority, all these questions about the meaning of words are also metaphors of the unconscious.Macabea is under the illusion that meaning can be fixed and the illusion of stability destabilizes her. According to Lacan’s view of interpretation, meaning is imaginary and irrelevant: It is the chain of the signifier that the meaning insists without any of its elements ma king up the signification. 5 In one of the last scenes, Macabea is driven to the fortune teller by her colleague friend, Gloria, in an effort to fix her life. Madame Carlota divines everything about Macabea’s past, acknowledges 3 Lacan followed the ideas laid out by the linguist Saussure, who viewed the ign as the combination of a signifier (sound image) and a signified (concept). Lacan focuses on relations between signifiers alone. 4 J. Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, Seminar XIII 3 the signs of the future but fails to interpret them. Macabea’s fate is consummated despite the fortune teller’s misinterpretations because, Lacanians might argue, understanding is irrelevant to the process. But, in this case, understanding becomes very relevant indeed for the Lacanian critics who argue that death represents the destiny of those who get hold of the Phallus.By misunderstanding the signs, Madame Carlota tells Macabea her supposedly brilliant future. As if ‘listening to a fanfare of trumpets coming from heaven’ (HE, pp. 76), Macabea learns that she is going to be very rich, meet a wealthy handsome foreigner named Hans, with whom she will marry, and become a renown famous star. Macabea believes every single word she is told, hence truly acknowledging that all her fantasies will come true that very day. Macabea’s desire to have the Phallus is now a reality. Once desire is extinguished, there are no more reasons to keep on living.This scene shows how Lacan’s view on interpretation as an easy reductionist task leading to imaginary understanding can rebound on him. The scene previously referred to is rooted in another depicting the beginning of the relationship between Macabea and Olimpico, which shows the essentialist views latent in Dr. Lacan’s theory of sexuation. Lacan’s concept of ‘object (a)’ is considered to be his most significant contribution to psychoanalysis. 6 ‘Object (a)’ is th at which is desired but always out of reach, a lost object signifying an imaginary moment in time.According to his theory, people delve into relationships because they are driven by the desire to overcome Lack (consequence of castration). Because Lack is experienced in different ways by men and women, both sexes have different ways of overcoming their Lack: they either place themselves in relation to the Phallus (feminine structures) or the ‘object (a)’ (masculine structures). Lacan argues that in the sexual relationship7 the sexes are defined separately because they are organized differently with respect to language/to the symbolic:8 masculine structure limits men to Phallic ‘jouissance’ while feminine structure limits omen to ‘object (a)’ ‘jouissance’ and also allows them to experience another kind of ‘jouissance’, which Lacan calls the Other ‘jouissance’9. By jouissance Lacan implies what ‘is forb idden to him who J. Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, Instance de la letter dans l’inconscient ou la raison depuis Freud’ In the preface to Ecrits, Lacan mentions ‘object (a)’: ‘We call upon this object as being at once the cause of desire in which the subject is eclipsed and as something supporting the subject between truth and knowledge. 7 It must be kept in mind that Lacan’s work on sexual difference crosses over the borderlines of biological distinction. He defines femininity and masculinity on the basis of psychoanalytic terms. 8 Lacan explains the alternative versions of castration: 6 5 (†¦) suggerer un derangement non pas contingent, mais essentie de la sexualite humaine (†¦) sur l’irreductibilite a toute analyse finie (endliche), des sequelles qui resultant du complexe de castration dans l’inconscient masculine, du penisneid dans l’inconscient de la femme. In ‘La signification du phallus’, Ecrits, pp. 85 9 When Lacan discusses the notion of another kind of â€Å"jouissance† (Other ‘jouissance’), he explains that women (human beings structured by the feminine) are the only ones that have access to it, while men are limited to Phallic ‘jouissance’. According to Bruce Fink, this concept roughly implies that the phallic function has its limits and that the signifier isn’t everything. ’ B. Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 107) 4 speaks (†¦)’10, that is, that completion of being which is forever inaccessible to the split subject.To paraphrase Fink, insofar as a woman forms a relationship with a man, she is likely to be reduced to an object – ‘object (a)’, reduced to no more than a collection of male fantasy objects, an image that contains and yet disguises ‘object (a)’. He will isolate one of her features and desire that single feature (her hair, her legs, her voice, etc. ), instead of the woman as a whole. In a different way, the woman may require a man to embody the Phallus for her, but her partner will never truly be the man as much as the Phallus.Therefore, ‘il n’y a pas de rapport sexuel’ (Lacan’s famous remark) because the dissymmetry of partners is utter and complete. By lack of symmetry Lacan means what she/he sees herself/himself in relation to [either the Phallus or ‘object (a)’]. Going back to the film, the masculine and feminine realms seem to be clearly limited in terms of a traditional heterosexual system (the odd-one-out being the character of the fortune teller in whom we perceive traces of homosexuality). When Olimpico first meets Macabea in the park, she is holding a red flower in her hands.Olimpico draws nearer, asks her name and invites her for a walk. At a certain point he mentions her red flower, gently asks for her permission to pull out its leaves, and finally returns it to Macabea. Under Lacan’s eyes, insofar as she holds the flower, Macabea sees herself in terms of the Phallus, the flower being its metaphor, what she desires to hold in her hands. Olimpico is, in her eyes, the biologically defined man incarnating the Phallus (her true partner being the Phallus and not the man).As Lacan’s theory sets out to show, Olimpico belongs to those characterized by masculine structure. He will search within this woman’s features, a particular one and reduce her to ‘object (a)’ in his fantasy, trying to overcome the primordial Lack. However, it seems terribly hard to invest a precious object that arouses his desire in this particular woman: ugly, dirty and looking rather ill, there is nothing in her left to be reduced to a male fantasy object. Hence the customized flower: Olimpico invests what arouses his desire11 in the flower and not the girl.If we pursue Lacan’s theory a step further in terms of masculine/signifier and feminine/’signifiance’12, we will conclude that his work on sexuation rests on the belief that subjectification takes place at different levels in different sexuated beings: while the signifier refuses the task of signification, the ‘signifiant’ plays the material, non-signifying face of the signifier, the part that has effects without signifying: ‘jouissance’ effects. 13 This is displayed as the J. Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, pp. 319 A similar flower will appear again in the film: Macabea has put it in a glass n her desk at work. Gloria, her colleague from the office, is getting ready for a first date with a man she never met before. She decides to wear the red flower in her bodice so that he can recognise her. Her appropriation of the flower symbolises her future appropriation of Olimpico’s fantasy (she will steal Macabea’s boyfriend, following the fortune teller’s advice) and her reduction to a male fantasy object. At t he same time, the man she is about to go out with is reduced to his sexy voice. 12 Lacan’s concept of ‘letre de la signifiance’, found in Seminar XX, is explained by B.Fink in these terms: ‘I have proposed to translate it as  «signifierness », that is, the fact of being a signifier (†¦) the signifying nature of signifiers. When Lacan uses this term, it is to emphasise the nonsensical nature of the signifier, the very existence of signifiers apart from and separated from any possible meaning or signification they might have. ’ B. Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 118-9 13 B. Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 119 11 10 5 heoretical reason implying that the signifier of desire can be identified with only one sex at a time, meaning that Woman can never be defined as long as Man is defined. As Fink puts it, (†¦) the masculine path might then be qualified as that of desire (becomin g one’s own cause of desire) while the feminine path would be that of love. 14 Watching this scene in isolation, one has the impression that love is for Macabea as desire is for Olimpico. This is not entirely the case, for in this scene and in the film in general, a woman (Macabea) is defined as long as a man (Olimpico) is defined.In a relationship where the partners are not identical (different feminine/masculine structures) both of them are ruled by desire. On the one hand, Olimpico desires all the attributes that Macabea sadly lacks, so he turns to Gloria, Macabea’s ideal imago (a version of what the latter wants to be, a version of herself that she can love). On the other hand, Macabea is not ruled by love. What she experiences with Olimpico is nothing compared to what she feels when Madame Carlota tells her about Hans: she feels inebriated, experiencing for the first time what other people referred to as passion.She falls passionately in love with Hans because the fortune teller had told her that he would care for her. Both Macabea and Olimpico are ruled by the desire to be loved and not by love. And if in this heterosexual relationship (which for Lacan is the norm) the dissymmetry is not entirely complete, what can we say of the homosexuality referred to by the fortune teller, who finds Macabea much too delicate to cope with the brutality of men and tells her, from experience, that love between two women is more affectionate?In fact, Lacan never theorized homosexuality very seriously, although his failure to account for it may be explained by the fact that the Symbolic is structured in favour of heterosexuality. In his theory of the Symbolic, the baby undergoes the mirror stage between 6 and 18 months old. By this time, the baby sees its own image in the mirror and enters the symbolic stage (realm of the imaginary: imaginary identification with the image in the mirror). As Lacan sets out to explain,This event can take place (†¦) from t he age of six months, and its repetition has often made me reflect upon the startling spectacle of the infant in front of the mirror. Unable as yet to walk (†¦) he nevertheless overcomes the obstructions of his support and (†¦) brings back an instantaneous aspect of the image. For me, this activity retains the meaning I have given it up to the age of eighteen months. 15 Mirrors play an important role in Macabea’s life. Looking at her own reflection, she tries to find out who she is.After having used Gloria’s trick (making up an excuse to skip work), Macabea decides 14 15 Bruce Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 115 Jacques Lacan, Ecrits, A Selection, Chapter I: ‘The mirror stage as formative of the function of the eye as revealed in psychoanalytic experience. ’, pp. 1, 2 6 to spend her day off in her room, listening to Radio Clock, dancing and looking at herself in the mirror. The camera shows her reflection and what we see is a split image in the mirror: she stands between what she is, what she wants to be and what others want her to be. 6 When she tells the mirror: â€Å"I’m a typist, a virgin and I like Coca-cola† she complements her identity split with her mirage identity: Macabea is staging her identity by identifying with other people’s perceptions of herself. She is not eighteen months old but an eighteen-year-old in the middle of Lacan’s mirror stage, looking for models (which are the models in shop windows: the parental Other is absent), learning new words (at work as a typist, at home listening to the radio), looking at herself in mirrors. It is as if the Symbolic were staging ‘reality’ too late in the character’s life.During a walk at the Zoo, Olimpico accuses Macabea of being a liar: Macabea It is true. May God strike me dead if I’m not telling the truth. May my mother and my father drop dead right now. Olimpico Macabea You said your parents were dead. I forgot†¦ As Lacan would put it, we are watching how the Symbolic can bar the real, overwriting and transforming it completely, the reason for this being that the Symbolic is but a pale disguised reflection of the Real; the reason for this not being a basic assumption about the condition of being a child without living parents, that is, about the alienation caused by orphanage.This does not mean that Lacan did not reflect on the concept of alienation (check Fink, footnote 28, chapter 7, seminar XVI). In his opinion, that is what places the subject within the Symbolic. In alienation, the speaking being is forced to give up something as she/he comes into language. Lacan sees it as an attempt to make sense by trying to act coherently with the image one has about oneself. These attempts alienate the person because meaning is always ambiguous, polyvalent, betraying something one wanted to remain hidden or something one wanted to express. Lacan does not cond emn or avoid alienation in his analysis.At a certain point, in Seminar XVI, he establishes a comparison between ‘surplus value’ (Marxist concept: the ‘jouissance’ of property or money that is the fruit of the employees’ labour, the excess product) and ‘surplus  «jouissance »Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (what we seek in every relationship/activity but never achieve). While capitalism creates a loss aiming at ‘surplus value’ (the loss of the worker), our advent as speaking beings also creates a loss (the loss of ‘jouissance’ through castration). In Lacan’s economy of ‘jouissance’, both losses are at the centre of the development of civilisation, culture and market forces.At a certain moment in the film, we 16 In this respect, Lacan explains that ‘the only homogeneus function of consciousness is the imaginary capture of the ego by its mirror reflection and the function of misrecognition which remains attached to it. ’ In Ecrits, A Selection (1966) 7 watch Macabea handing over a certain ‘jouissance’ to the Other: she is told by her boss she has to work late. The consequence is that Gloria will meet Olimpico in the park, instead of Macabea. Following Lacan’s theoretical discourse, the scene depicts Macabea being forced to give up ‘something’ as she comes into language (as she finishes typing the documents).That ‘something’ is her love object. The scene can be read as a reference to the primordial loss – castration – by meditating on the importance of the sacrifice of ‘jouissance’ as it creates a lack17 and consequently gears life (the Symbolic/the plot) onwards: Gloria steals her colleague’s boyfriend and eventually gets a husband, following the fortune teller’s instructions; Macabea loses her boyfriend and ends up at the hands of the fortune teller who guides her towards her death.This analysis foc uses on the ‘surplus  «jouissance »Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and not on the Marxist concept of ‘surplus value’, therefore neglecting important class struggle/capitalist issues. Adopting a Lacanian frame in the analysis of alienation in The Hour of the Star involves losing what a Marxist concept of alienation might otherwise bring into light: the alienating effect society operates on Macabea as an exploited underpaid employee who finds herself working (sometimes after hours) for the employer’s enjoyment.The film, on the contrary, is quite clear in its portrait of an alienated subject working for less than the minimum wage in a decadent, poor-lit warehouse. A dialogue between Seu Raimundo and Seu Pereira suggests the capitalists’ attitude towards the proletarian Macabea: Raimundo Pereira Raimundo (†¦) Pereira: Raimundo Besides, she is really ugly. Like a shrivelled pomegranate. Where did you get her? Ok, she’s a bit clumsy. But a brilliant typist would want more money. It’s the new typist, Macabea. Maca what? -beia. Maca-bea. No one else was willing to do the job for less than the minimum wage.Adding to the notion of the film as a metaphor of the unconscious are: mirrors and their fragmented reflections, Radio Clock and its fragmented, dispersed bits of information and the gaze of the camera as the audience accedes to Macabea’s world through furtive gazings behind windows, doors, in the street. This gaze could be interpreted as belonging to Macabea’s wicked aunt who has died but still haunts her conscience. Macabea’s paradoxical fantasy, her dream to become a film star, is also hooked up to the circuit of the unconscious as the end term of her desire.Lacan explains that the unconscious, ruled as a language, is overpopulated with other people’s desires that flow into us via discourse. 18 So, our very fantasies can be foreign to us, they can be alienating. Macabea’s fantasy to become a film star could â€Å"Without lack, the subject can never come into being, and the whole efflorescence of the dialectic of desire is squashed. † In Bruce Fink, The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouissance, pp. 103 17 8 be read as a way of answering other people’s desire: that she takes care of herself, eats better, dresses better, and works better.Interpreting Macabea’s dream as a response to her own desire (she wants to be loved; film stars are loved; therefore, she wants to be a film star) implies walking away from Lacanian theory. The subject is here very much implicated in the process. Others don’t seem to have had a hand in it. Olimpico laughs and humiliates her when she tells him about her dream and doesn’t encourage her to pursue it: Olimpico What makes you think that you’ve got the face or the body to become a film star? (†¦) Take a good look at yourself in the mirror.Lacan’s approach to the unconscious considerably r educes the sources from which one can carve out knowledge in relation to this film. Macabea’s ethnicity calls forth the analyst’s knowledge of Brazil’s North-Eastern structural roots of poverty (drought plagued agriculture, slums, human rights abuse in terms of health and education, the plight of street children, women’s issues in terms of class, race and land tenure). An informed reading of The Hour of the Star raises the question of marginality within the frameworks of location, gender, race, individual/social conscience, language and testimony.In the context of this film, the concept of marginality has to be addressed in the plural. There are different definitions of margin at stake, as well as different layers of marginal behaviours, each of them empowering the social/individual transgressions suggested by Macabea’s lack of attitude towards existence. The characters in this story are aware of their condition as outsiders. They are seen through their relation to Macabea: her apathy and emptiness are exquisitely painful in that they remind others of the collective pain felt in a dehumanised world.In the pyramid of the excluded, Macabea is victimised as a female and as a North easterner in search of her inner self. Her voluntary attempt, although grotesque and inarticulate, to question and witness her blunt existence stands as the last stance of her marginality. It is the hour of the tragic question: ‘Who am I? ’, echoing the major preoccupation of every mortal. Unlike the other characters, she fails in every sphere of her life but not in asking this question.She is aware of her inner otherness, although unable to verbalise or make sense of it. She witnesses it, tries to speak it, but never tells it, because what needs to be told is pure silence narrated from within. The title of the present study resonates with the limits of a psychoanalytic reading of The Hour of the Star. â€Å"A sense of Loss† and â⠂¬Å"The right to protest† are two of the fourteen titles19 advanced by 18 Lacan suggests that ‘it is in the reduplication of the subject of speech that the unconscious finds the means to articulate itself. ’, J.Lacan, Ecrits: A Selection, ‘A la memoire d’Ernest Jones: sur la theorie du symbolisme’ 19 List of titles found at the beginning of HE: The Blame is Mine or The Hour of the Star or Let Her Fend for Herself or The Right to Protest or . As for the Future or Singing the Blues or She Doesn’t Know How to Protest or A Sense of Loss 9 Clarice Lispector in her book A Hora da Estrela. They were chosen by me for two reasons. The first implies that analysing the film by giving the book behind it the cold shoulder would weaken the analysis. Another is the belief that choosing only one title would dramatically reduce the scope of this work of art.Macabea cannot escape looking at mirrors and gazing at a sense of loss that dazzles her in her opa que leading-nowhere-abstractions. But she is herself a mirror reflecting the social inequities of the Brazilian society in she lived. Taking a step further, we could add yet another title: â€Å"I can do nothing†, number eleven in Lispector’s title list. This one would eclipse the Other’s discourse, unconscious and unintentional, and give way to the informed discourse of a conscious audience viewing writing as a representative mirror of reality.Having said all this, one can only afford ‘A discreet exit by the back door’20 once a final, irrevocable question is posed. Is it still possible, having pointed out the missing dimensions of analysis and the resistances to a Lacanian approach of The Hour of the Star, to make sense of Lacan’s theoretical framework? On the one hand, answering with a ‘no’ would seem fatally solipsistic in what the existing quantities of written work on psychoanalysis are concerned, as Lacan’s work lies at the epicentre of contemporary discourses about otherness, subjectivity, sexual difference, to name just a few topics.Answering with a ‘yes’, on the other hand, would plainly simplify subject matters that are, as this work intends to show, very complex. Perhaps the question, in the fashion of all interesting questions, offers no answer insofar as a balanced account of the possibilities, limitations, meanings and implications of Lacan’s theory is not thoroughly considered. or Whistling in the Dark Wind or I Can Do Nothing or A Record of Preceding Events or A Tearful Tale or A Discreet Exit by the Back Door. 20 Final title in Clarice Lispector’s list of titles. 10 Primary Bibliography Lacan, J. Ecrits (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1966) _______, Ecrits: A Selection, trans. Alan Sheridan (London: Routledge, 1977) _______, The Seminar of Jacques Lacan. Book II. The Ego in Freud’s Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis, trans. Sylvana Tomaselli (N ew York/London: Norton & Co. , 1991) _______, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book VII, trans. Denis Porter (London/New York: Norton & Co. , 1992) Lispector, C. , A Hora da Estrela, (Rio de Janeiro: Jose Olympio, 1977) __________, The Hour of the Star, trans. Giovanni Pontiero (Manchester: Carcanet, 1992) Freud, S. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, ed. /trans. J. Strachey (London: Penguin Books, 1991 The Hour of the Star, Dir. Susana Amaral, Raiz Producoes Cinematograficas, 1985 Secondary bibliography Barry, P. , Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002) Benvenuto B. & Kennedy, R. , The Works of Jacques Lacan: An Introduction (London: Free Association Books, 1986) Cixous, H. , ‘The Hour of The Star: How Does One Desire Wealth or Poverty? ’, Reading With Clarice Lispector, ed. and trans.Verena Andermatt Conley (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1990), 1 43-163 Daidone, L. C. & Clifford, J. , â€Å"Clarisse Lispector: Anticipating the Postmodern†, Multicultural Literatures through Feminist/Poststructuralist Lenses, ed. Barbara Frey Waxman (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1993), 190-201 Fink, B. , The Lacanian Subject: Between Language and Jouisssance (Princeton N. 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(ed. ), An Introduction to Film Studies, 2nd edn (London: Routledge, 1990) Patai, D. , ‘Aspiring to the Absolute’, Women’s Review of Books, 4 (1987), 30-31 Smith, J. & Kerrigan, W. (eds. ), Interpreting Lacan (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1983) Storey, J. , Cultural Teory and Popular Culture: An Introduction, 3rd edn (Dorchester: Dorset Press, 2001) Whatling, C. , Screen Dreams: Fantasising Lesbians in Film (Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 1997) 11