Comparing Gothic Romanticism in The Fall of the House of Usher and Lige

Gothic Romanticism in The Fall of the House of Usher and Ligeia The Gothic style found in the majority of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories is obvious to the average reader. The grotesque, the desolate, the horrible, the mysterious, the ghostly, and, ultimately, the intense fear are all the primary aspects of the stories which are emphasized. But few writers remain uninfluenced from their contemporaries and Poe is no exception. He is clearly a product of his time, which in terms of literature, is called the Romantic era. Poe combines these two threads in almost all of his stories. For this reason critics often call Poe’s style â€Å"Gothic Romanticism.† The two stories â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† and â€Å"Ligeia† are very similar to Poe’s other short stories, in that they to have this thread of Gothic Romanticism. The Gothic and Romantic themes can be analyzed separately in each of these two stories but together these themes drive the plot and the ultimate success of each. One common characteristic of Romanticism is the importance of the intuitive and emotional and the rejection of the rational and intellectual. Such is the case in â€Å"Usher.† Those who are skeptical of Poe’s Romantic influences would use this aspect of Romanticism to claim that he is not a Romantic because throughout the story the narrator attempts to explain the unexplainable with the rational. An example of this is when the narrator attributes an â€Å"iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart† merely to the â€Å"combination of very natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us† (Poe, â€Å"Usher†). This argument is week because the narrator fails miserably to provide solid rational explanations for these â€Å"strange† events and f... ...ic thread seek to further Poe’s overall goal of terror. Either they develop the character in such a way that would increase the gloomy, mysterious, and supernatural mood of the stories, establish the mood through the setting, or help to further this mood in some other way. The combination of the Romantic thread in these two stories is no different. Poe uses various aspects of Romanticism, such as obscurity and the emphasis of emotion and intuition to increase the terror felt by the reader. But perhaps, the most important aspect of Romanticism is one which is also common in the Gothic tradition is the emphasis on one effect. In the Gothic tradition this single effect is that of terror. â€Å"Ligeia† and â€Å"Usher† are no different in that Poe establishes this terror through the use of his own style of Gothic Romanticism. 2177 1 Marlow Engl. 12 Sect. 37 Comparing Gothic Romanticism in The Fall of the House of Usher and Lige Gothic Romanticism in The Fall of the House of Usher and Ligeia The Gothic style found in the majority of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories is obvious to the average reader. The grotesque, the desolate, the horrible, the mysterious, the ghostly, and, ultimately, the intense fear are all the primary aspects of the stories which are emphasized. But few writers remain uninfluenced from their contemporaries and Poe is no exception. He is clearly a product of his time, which in terms of literature, is called the Romantic era. Poe combines these two threads in almost all of his stories. For this reason critics often call Poe’s style â€Å"Gothic Romanticism.† The two stories â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† and â€Å"Ligeia† are very similar to Poe’s other short stories, in that they to have this thread of Gothic Romanticism. The Gothic and Romantic themes can be analyzed separately in each of these two stories but together these themes drive the plot and the ultimate success of each. One common characteristic of Romanticism is the importance of the intuitive and emotional and the rejection of the rational and intellectual. Such is the case in â€Å"Usher.† Those who are skeptical of Poe’s Romantic influences would use this aspect of Romanticism to claim that he is not a Romantic because throughout the story the narrator attempts to explain the unexplainable with the rational. An example of this is when the narrator attributes an â€Å"iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart† merely to the â€Å"combination of very natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us† (Poe, â€Å"Usher†). This argument is week because the narrator fails miserably to provide solid rational explanations for these â€Å"strange† events and f... ...ic thread seek to further Poe’s overall goal of terror. Either they develop the character in such a way that would increase the gloomy, mysterious, and supernatural mood of the stories, establish the mood through the setting, or help to further this mood in some other way. The combination of the Romantic thread in these two stories is no different. Poe uses various aspects of Romanticism, such as obscurity and the emphasis of emotion and intuition to increase the terror felt by the reader. But perhaps, the most important aspect of Romanticism is one which is also common in the Gothic tradition is the emphasis on one effect. In the Gothic tradition this single effect is that of terror. â€Å"Ligeia† and â€Å"Usher† are no different in that Poe establishes this terror through the use of his own style of Gothic Romanticism. 2177 1 Marlow Engl. 12 Sect. 37

Do You Think? Essay -- Creative Writing Thinking Philosophy Essays

Do You Think? Do you think? When was the last time you really sat down and thought about something? Was it a few minutes ago or a few months ago? Our society is so reliant on someone else thinking for them that we have become a co-dependent culture. Did you watch the news today? Was some guy on a killing spree? A serial killer. Did you ever wonder if they felt any mercy for the person as they killed them, each one of them? Or maybe they were merciless and they felt nothing. Or maybe, just maybe, they are a figment of your imagination. Did you wake up this morning or are you still dreaming? Or are you possibly in a computer generated and controlled world that will keep you there until you wake up, like in the movie the Matrix? Are people fond of you or do people hate you? Maybe as you were walking past that person this morning and you said hi and they smiled and waved back, they were just doing it to make you go away. Or maybe they have a crush on you. Maybe, in the middle of that movie you were watching in English class, there was a subliminal message that said "FOOD" and so you thought you were hungry. Is there really an afterlife or do you just die and cease to exist? A Heaven? A Hell? ANd ghosts. Are they there? Are they what give you the shivers when you're waking up in the middle of the night, wondering if someone is lurking around the corner? ALiens? Do they exist or are they just some media generated piece of America's collection of dreams? If they ...

Do We Have True Separation of Powers in Trinidad and Tobago? Essay

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely! (Lord Acton, 1834-1902). This phrase aptly demonstrates the reason for the separation of powers, which is meant to prevent abuse of power in a democracy and preserve each and every citizen’s rights through the division of government responsibilities into distinct branches, averting one branch from gaining absolute power or abusing the power they are given. The intent is to avoid the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances. Though it can be traced as far back as ancient Greece, the first modern interpretation of the separation of powers was introduced by the French enlightenment writer Charles Montesquieu in De L’Esprit des Lois (The Spirit of the Laws) in 1748. He believed that for liberty and freedom to be maintained a safeguard against centralisation of power in one person should be provided. Montesquieu wrote that a nation’s freedom depended on the three powers of governance â⠂¬â€œ legislative, executive and judicial – and that these three powers must be separate and act independently to effectively promote liberty. This principle has been widely used in the development of many democracies since that time. The question is asked though: ‘Is the separation of powers truly separate?’ This essay would be focussing on the separation of powers in Trinidad and Tobago and the question of whether there exists true separation of powers in this country. For this purpose we will also examine the differences of the Unitary and Federal State and will be using the USA as an example of a Federal State. Trinidad and Tobago is a Unitary State governed by a democratic system. Unitary States exists in homogenous societies; there is one central government and all taxes goes back to the central government; one law making body and the laws made applies to the entire State. It is a single state. Federal states consists of a heterogeneous society, it is a combination of states and each state has the authority to make certain laws which may differ from state to state but Federal laws can override State laws; power is shared; and there is a State and Federal tax system. The USA is a Federal State. These two countries are governed under a democratic system which abides by the separation of powers and whose governmental systems both  consist of an executive, judicial and legislative branch. The legislative branch is responsible for the making and changing of laws. Trinidad and Tobago has a Bicameral Parliament, which means there are two houses, the Upper House or Senate and the Lower House or the House of Representatives. The Senate consists of 31 members: 16 government senators appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, 6 appointed senators on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, and 9 independent senators appointed by the President to represent other sectors of society. They are all appointed by the President. The ratio in the Senate is always fixed because that is what is allowed in the Constitution. The number of members in the House of Representatives is not a fixed ratio because it all depends on the voting process during elections, which are supposed to be free and fair and free from fear, meaning that you can choose to vote for whoever you want without any victimisation or force to do otherwise. Whoever wins the seat will be appointed a Member of Parl iament, by the President, and allowed to sit in the House of Representatives. Currently the House of Representatives, in Trinidad and Tobago consists of: 27 People Partnership seats, 1 ILP seat and 13 People National Movement seats. The party who wins the majority of seats would form the Government for the next 5 years. The United States Congress is also a bicameral legislature consisting of two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both representatives and senators are chosen through direct election. Members are affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party and only rarely to a third-party or as independents. Congress has 535 voting members: 435 Representatives and 100 Senators. The Vice President is also the President of the Senate.The Congress debates on and approves bills concerning various matters and approves all treaties and all nominations to key foreign policy postings. The most important authority given to Congress overall is the power to declare war. But there has always been a tension between this and the president’s constitutional role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. According to the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, Ch 5 (74) and (75), Executive authority is vested in the President and, subject to the Constitution, may be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him. Supreme command of the armed forces is also vested in the President and the exercise of this power shall be regulated by law. Under Ch 5 (80) 1, â€Å"In the exercise of his functions under the Constitution or any other law, the President shall act in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet or a Minister acting under the general authority of the Cabinet†. The Cabinet falls under the Executive arm and have the general direction and control of the government of Trinidad and Tobago, and is collectively responsible to Parliament. The Cabinet is headed by the Prime Minister who is appointed by the President. The leader of the political party that won the majority of seats via the voting system in a general election usually becomes the next Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is responsible for the allocation of function among Government Ministries. Other members of the Cabinet include the Attorney General and other Ministers of government appointed by the Prime Minister. Apart from the Prime Minister the Attorney General is the only member of the Cabinet specifically mentioned in the constitution relating to the executive branch of government, which is why they must be present for this arm to function. The constitution also provides that in exercising his powers, the Attorney General shall not be subjected to the direction or control of any other person or authority. Also, the Prime Minister can remove any member of Cabinet or a Government Senator because they are chosen by the Prime Minister, but not a member of the House of Representatives because they were voted into office by the peop le. The functions of Cabinet include the initiating and deciding on policies, the supreme control of the government and the coordination of government departments. According to the Constitution Ch 5 (77) 1, where the House of Representatives passes a resolution, supported by the votes of a majority of all the members of the House, declaring that it has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister does not within seven days of the passing of such a resolution either resign or advise the President to dissolve Parliament, the President shall revoke the appointment of the Prime Minister from office by members of the legislature on a vote of no confidence, but this is unheard of since the members of both arms share the same political agenda. They may  also vacate office by replacement or by ceasing to be a member of the house to which they belong. Apart from being the leader of the Cabinet which has effective control of the nation’s affairs, it is most certain that by the power vested in this arm of government it is easy for intimidation to occur, contradicting the very back bone of Montesquieu’s theory on the hallmark of democracy with regards to the separation of powers, with his main argument being for liberty and freedom to be maintained the three arms of government should be separated and apart – entrusted to different people. In a Federal State the President is the head of the executive branch of government. The Cabinet also consist of the vice president and fifteen executive departments – the Secretaries of agriculture, commerce, defence, education, energy, health and human services, homeland security, housing and urban development, interior, labour, state, transport, treasury, veterans affairs and the Attorney General. The purpose of the cabinet is to advise the president on matters relating to the duties of their respective offices. These members of cabinet are appointed by the president and must be confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate. They cannot be a member of congress or hold any other elected office. They can be dismissed at any time by the President, without the approval of Cabinet.The President is responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws written by congress. The main duties of the executive are making sure that the laws of the States are obeyed. They deliver programs and services to the population within the framework of laws, expenditures and tax measures approved by legislature. The Judiciary is known as the third arm of government in a unitary or federal state. The Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago is headed by the Chief Justice, and in a democratic country as this, the Judiciary is established by the Constitution to operate independently from the executive arm. They interpret and enforce the laws, and acts as a forum for the resolution of legal disputes among citizens of the State. The hierarchical order of the courts is as follows; magistrate, supreme, appeal and Privy Council which is the last and highest level located in England. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President after consultation with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. Under the constitution the judicial and legal  services commission (JLSC) which is made up by the Chairman of the Public Services Commission, one person who was a Judge, two persons with legal qualifications and the Chief Justice, is charged with the tasks of appointing Justices of Appeal, High Court Judges, Masters of the High Court, Magistrates, Registrars of the Supreme Court and the Administrative Secretary to the Chief Justice, all of whom are judicial officers. Although the law clearly protects the Judiciary from political interference, the Judiciary is economically dependent on the executive arm of government for the allocation of funds causing them to not be as independent as proposed. The Attorney General, who is the second in command in Cabinet under the Executive, is the Minister responsible for the administration of legal affairs. There were complaints made by the Chief Justice in 1999, about the Attorney General’s plans to make the Judiciary a department under his Ministry, requiring the Chief Justice and his staff to report to him on matters concerning the operation of the courts in general. A detailed report by the Attorney General to the Parliament argued that a dispute did exist concerning his role in relation to the administration of justice, and he asserted his right of control over administrative matters not pertaining to the judicial function. He saw it fit that he should superintend the administrative affairs of the J udiciary. Another issue facing the judiciary is the national awards. The Chief Justice heads the committee which receives recommendations of citizens deserving of the award, this is then passed to the Prime Minister who has the power to insert and delete nominees. This has caused major concern in the real independence of the Judiciary as it pertains to the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary and some may see this as being politically motivated. In the past an inquiry into the interference by the other arms of government in the Judiciary was investigated by one of the Lords at the Privy Council. His findings gave no comfort to the allegations made, instead he noted that the real issue was the lack of co-operation by the Executive and the Judiciary arm of government and stressed that they should work together for the good of the country. In a federal judicial system such as the USA more than 600 judges sit on district courts, almost 200 judges sit on courts of appeals, and 9 justices make up the Supreme Court. Federal judges have life terms, therefore, no single president will make all of these appointments.The Supreme Court is the highest court and consists of the Chief Justice and 8 other associates. The Constitution provides broad parameters for the judicial nomination process giving the responsibility for nominating federal judges and justices to the President, who relies on many sources to recommend appropriate nominees for judicial posts.Recommendations are received from the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, members of Congress, sitting judges and justices, and the American Bar Association. Some judicial hopefuls even nominate themselves. Nominations are also required to be confirmed by the Senate. A special, very powerful tradition for recommending district judges is called senatorial courtesy. This practice allows senators from the state in which there is a vacancy, and who is also of the same political party as the President, to send a nomination to the President, who almost always follows the recommendation. To ignore it would be a great affront to the senator, as well as an invitation for conflict between the President and the Senate. The Constitution guarantees that judges would be protected by any reduction in salaries and removal from office. This concept is the backbone of the judicial independence which was establish by Brittan. The judiciary arm of government in a federal state may serve different purposes. Their functions can range from judicial to non-judicial with its main function being the administration of laws, interpretation of laws, guardianship of the constitution, advisory jurisdiction, protector of the fundamental rights and supervisory to smaller courts. Whilst stressing on the independence of the judiciary in the separation of powers external threats arise from the powers that the Constitution leaves to congress and the president to control the judiciary’s resources. In both the Unitary State which is Trinidad and Tobago and the Federal State which is the USA there exist a system in place for the separation of powers but in Trinidad and Tobago there is an overlapping in the system. The Parliament and the Cabinet has some of the same people, for example the Prime Minister, Attorney General and Government Ministers form the Cabinet  but they are also members of the Parliament. This means that there is no true separation of powers between the Parliament and the Executive because according to Montesquieu to ensure that liberty and freedom is maintained the three arms of government should be entrusted to different people and this has not happened with these two branches. The only one that remains totally separate is the Judiciary. In an article from the Guardian Newspaper, Tony Fraser wrote on the Separation of Powers, he said: â€Å"Having an operational separation of powers is important to achieve democratic and quality governance. It is absolute ly dangerous for the Government/Cabinet and the Prime Minister to have full control of the passage of legislation, to be in a position to implement policies and programmes, the vast majority of which have a base in the laws passed, and to then have control of the judiciary whose responsibility is to interpret the laws. Imagine the power of a prime minister as CEO who could pass legislation which does not require a special majority, have a majority to alter the Constitution to take away the right to free expression, have total control of all major appointments to state office — including the President of the Republic and the Chief Justice, the Commissioner of Police, the operations of the Elections and Boundaries Commission, the Service Commissions — and appoint independent senators and on and on. Imagine, too, a Prime Minister having full control of the operations of the judiciary so that judges and magistrates would have to make judgements based on the desires of the CEO. Effectively, this would mean that the PM could determine who among the political opponents of the Government should â€Å"make a jail† and who among the supporters of the ruling party could engage in corrupt activity â€Å"la blash,† free sheet without fear of prosecution. If the doctrine of the separa tion of powers does not function effectively, the Prime Minister would have total legislative power and power too over the judiciary, and all of this in addition to being in total control of the establishment and functioning of the Cabinet including, for instance, deciding which minister should be fired, who should be protected, and what policies and programmes are to be implemented without a continuing check on the power.† This article clearly illustrates the importance of the separation of powers, and the corruption that could ensue without it. In Trinidad and Tobago the separation of powers does not truly exist because too much power is centralised in one person – the Prime Minister. In a federal state there is true separation of powers because each branch is entrusted to different people. The only exception is that the Vice President is also the President of the Senate, which can lead to abuse of power, such as in the case of Senators who gives recommendations to the President, forcing the President to choose the person they recommended or face conflict in the Senate. Lord Acton could not have said it any better, power truly corrupts but he also said that â€Å"Great men are almost always bad men.† If no one else believed what his words conveyed then a need for the separation of powers would never have been realised. Checks and balances are not just needed for Government officials but also in everyone else’s daily lives. Businesses has managers, supervisors and labourers and they all have different degrees of power which helps to keep staff in check and ensure that everything is running efficiently, if they all had the same status then there would not be an incentive to keep others in check and chaos would reign supreme. There must always be a mechanism to help maintain order/good governance and even though it may not be a perfect system, some abusers of the laws have been brought to justice, more so in the federal system. We do, however, look forward to the day that it works efficiently in a Unitary State. BIBLIOGRAPHY Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Act 4 of 1976. http://www.ag.gov.tt/Portals/0/Documents/TT%20Constitution.pdf Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Retrieved from http://rgd.legalaffairs.gov.tt/laws2/alphabetical_list/lawspdfs/1.01.pdf Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Contributors, Gaurav Shukla, Grace Young, Separation of Powers, The Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/473411/contributors http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/az.htm Martin Kelly, Separation of Powers, About.com American History http://americanhistory.about.com/od/usconstitution/g/sep_of_powers.htm NCSL, Separation of Powers – an Overview. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/separation-of-powers-an-overview.aspx Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. Retrieved from http://www.ttparliament.org/members.php?mid=25 The Phase Finder: Retrieved from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely.html Tony Fraser, Separation of Powers, Guardian Newspaper Article. Retrieved from https://guardian.co.tt/columnist/2012-12-19/separation-powers Wikipedia: The United States Congress, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress

Mythology and literature Essay

The definition of mythology is deprived from the word ‘myth’. The word itself comes from the Greek word ‘mythos’, which means fable, legend or sagas. The word â€Å"myth† is a story that seeks to rationalize the universe and the world around us, passed down orally from generation to generation explaining religious origin, natural phenomena or supernatural event. Mythology is a collection of myths that concerns with cosmogony and cosmology, shared by a particular society at some particular time in human history. Literature is a body of written works of language, period or culture. Literature can be divided into fiction (e.g. fairty tale, gothic, saga etc) and non-fiction (e.g. essays, journal, science fiction etc). There are many distinctive natures of mythology and they seek to describe what a particular person or society believe during that period of time. Myths serves as an charter for their institutions, customs and beliefs. The typical mythology is the explanation of the universe and its ethology. Normally, the setting is set in a previous proto-world (simliar to the current world but also different) and they often revolve around non-human or â€Å"extroadinary† people such as god, goddess, supernatural beings (e.g. zeus, adam and eve, prometheus etc). These story explains why things are and how they became to be. It ‘rationalised’ our way of thinking, reconcile us to reality and establishes our pattern of life. Apart from the explanation of the creation of the universe, mythologies seek to explain everyday natural phenomena. Certain myths explains way the sun exist and why there is night and day. Some explains the existance of seasons: Spring,Winter,Summer and Autumn while others shows of mother nature providing us with food and shelter. These myth suggest a way of understanding nature and organizing thoughts. For example, structualism recognizes different contrasting aspect (light and dark, good/evil) as centres to myths which charters for social order or value within a society (functionalism). Myth have been created by human beings for many reasons over thousands of years. They are an intellectual product of humanity and a rich resource for the ideas and belief of past generations. Their extroadinary and unbelievable aspect combined with the constant thought that there might be something ‘out their’ is what keeps mythology functioning and is what keeps literature moving. There are also many differences between literature and mythology. For instance, they were used for different purposes and existed in different times. Myth several purposes, including to socially/politically control society (e.g. to spread a myth about something to control people, to scare people when facts were not available). Literature on the other hand, is more about persuading and informing people. There are also other benefits to mythology that cannot be achieved in literature, such as there is no boundary to the world, there is no such thing as ‘false’ and there is low risk of anyone challenging your theory. The sets of beliefs also differ and the way they view the world differs. For example, literature’s audience are educated modern people while mythology’s one is from the old generation where there was not much information about the world and how it works. This would mean that the two different texts have different intended audience which would inev itably show why they differ so much. Both are products of humans but during different time frame. The arrival of the modern era would inevitably mean the death of mythology. The transformation from one to another was the belief that myth was useless, false and outmoded and that it did not ‘work’. Science (regarded as a ‘fictional literature’) was the objective explanation of how the world around us work while the subjective myth was about faith and believing something ‘unfounded’. Scientific rational thought was based on empricial knowledge, a priori (not falsifiable) and our way of thinking is based on facts. Myth is ultimately a different knowledge, an ideology, a set of ‘belief’. Systems of myths have provided a cosmological and historical framework for societies that have lacked the more sophisticated knowledge provided by modern science. Myth is related to science, however it only provide basis for a theory, not knowledge. For example the myth of how the origin was created would have lacked modern day rational scientific belief because they would prefer a more ‘true’, superior and more authority theory, which is the big bang theory. Our modern rational paradigm thought is based on observation. Scientific rational thinking is based on logic to solve or explain how the world works and as it becomes a part of our everyday thinking, mythology will be inevitable cast aside. Carl Jung invented modern scientific theory and for him, the world of dream, and myth represented the most fascinating and promising road to deeper understanding. The significance of literature in mythology as said ‘We need the stories of myth to make sense of the confusion of our society and our own psyches. Myth voices the truths of our unconscious selves, and the gods, goddesses, and heroes of myth embody aspects of creativity, cleverness, grief, joy, aggression, and ecstasy. Carl Jung believes that even the most sophisticated and important literature requires some mythological aspect. (E.g. the Lord of the Ring depends on mythical characteristic to drives the ideas; horror movies have a ‘message’ and some urban myth taps into child’s fear of a ‘bogyman under the bed’) Northrop Frye criticises literature and states the importance of cultural myth underlying literature (E.g. Sea, land and sky, control, creation, decay, regeneration, our ‘fear’). Mythology evokes our sub-conscious mind (e.g. dream) which is employed by reference to mythology in literature. Frye states that mythology provided themes for some of the world’s greatest drama, and similar themes can be traced back to the Renaissance literature, through to Shakespeare (E.g. Hamlet, Midsummer Nights Dream) and finally to modern poetry and thus mythology plays a significance role with literature. One could even say that literature is based on mythology. Karen Armstrong book â€Å"A Short History of Myth† is about how literature and mythology were shaped by the problems of the society people lived in. Armstrong states that the existence of Mythology from an early period: ‘Human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value.’ With the coming of the ‘great revolutions in human experience’ science was used to explain ‘facts’ as opposed the theory of myth, which became ‘useless, false and outmoded.’ Literature, which could explain things that was never thought possible, was regarded as the next ‘step’ from mythology (from an uneducated society to a civilized society). The relationship between literature and mythology is one of similarities as well as differences. They are both important creation by human beings and will continue to play an important role in the intellectual world. Literature will always include some aspect of myth which will continue to shape our modern world like it did in the past.

Gender Issues Essay

According to Elisabeth Horst, Erik Erikson’s theories pertaining to identity and intimacy disconcerns sexual differences. The primary consensus of several writers concludes that Erikson believes that women rely on marriage to develop their identity. This was written at a time when differences in sexes were treated as afterthoughts. He based his theories on the masculine version of experience. Yet Erikson did not portray women as inferior. There seems to be a conflict in underemphasizing women’s roles and overemphasizing women’s roles and overemphasizing their role in the social system. Very little was written about women in this time. One author (Marcia, 1980) implicated that intimacy becomes more of a feminine task and identity demonstrates a masculine task. Orlosfsky (1977) defines the masculine traits such as independence, autonomy, and assertiveness even more important to forming identity than the more feminine characteristics of warmth, tenderness, and understanding. Some writers disagree with Erikson’s theory of human development because they considered him to be a sexist. His writings involved the masculine aspect more than the feminine side in his studies. Horst, E. A. (1995). Reexamining Gender Issues in Erikson’s Stages of Identity and Intimacy. Journal of Counseling & Development, 73 (3), 271-278. Marcia, J. (1980). Identity in Adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed. ), Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. New York. Wiley. Individuation and Attachments Many feminist critize Erik Erikson’s theory because of neglect or misprotrayal of female experience. He seems to presume that identity precedes intimacy. This seems to add limitations to his universal theory of human development. Even though he includes trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity into his theories. Erikson demonstrates the stages of life as: (I) Infancy showing trust vs mistrust ages 0-16 months (II)Early Childhood 17-36 months (III) Play Age (IV)School Age 6-12 (V) Adolescent (VI) Young Adult (VII) Adulthood (VIII) Mature Age It appears as if Erikson did not elaborate on attachment during infancy and childhood, thus the need to apply the notions of Jean Piaget.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories Essay

Arthur Conan Doyle was a well known writer during the Victorian Era and still is today. He was famous for his stories. One of his books had a fictional character that caught people’s attention. This character is a spectacular detective, Sherlock Holmes. People loved Sherlock Holmes so much because he always solves the case and always defeat evil. In fact, in one of Arthur’s short story, ‘The Speckled Band’, Sherlock Holmes was described as â€Å"the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office† and â€Å"the busybody!† This period of time is called the Victorian Era because the ruler during this time was Queen Victoria. There were a lot of crimes committed at this time. Common ones were murder and drug abuse, which were feared greatly by people. The life style of people in the Victorian Era was different to everyday life. In the Victorian Times, there were three different groups of people. These were the upper class – rich and powerful people who don’t need to work, middle class – have to work to support but not physical work, and lower/working class – poor people with no money and works physically. ‘The Speckled Band’ and ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ are one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. This piece of writing is to show how these two stories give the readers an idea of how people lived and behaved in the Victorian Era and what people expected of certain people because of either their gender, their ethnicity or their class.  In Victorian Times, women were treated differently to men. Women within this time were considered to be very emotional. We know this because in ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ when Mrs St Clair saw the blood on a window, she â€Å"fainted at the sight of blood.† The quotation tells us that women were hysterical and they are not strong enough to receive bad news because they’d sometimes break down. Another situation that proves this is when Sherlock was being assured by Mrs St Clair that if he answers her question, he should â€Å"not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given to fainting.† Also informing the readers that, women knew their weaknesses and their strengths. However, men in the Victorian Times always thought things through. We know this because Sherlock said, â€Å"†¦ the impression of a woman may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner.† This let the reader know that men looks at the fact and take time to analyse and observe things and they don’t just jump to conclusions. They thought they could handle situations for themselves and don’t need women’s help at all. The readers detect this when Mrs St Clair â€Å"†¦was escorted home†¦as her presence was no help†¦Ã¢â‚¬  We know that Neville’s wife saw everything and the police knew that she saw her husband but still said she couldn’t help their investigation. Men had everything and they were in control financially. Women couldn’t have control over their money until they were settled with their own husbands. This happened to Helen Stoner, from the story of ‘The Speckled Band’. She wanted Sherlock Holmes to investigate something for her but she didn’t have the money on her then however she guaranteed Holmes that â€Å"†¦in a month or six weeks I shall be married, with control of my income†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Men had authority over a lot of things. People that were not British were disliked by a lot of the Victorians. They are thought to be a danger in the society and are unwanted. There were different ethnic people in the Victorian Era. These people were not White British. They had different lifestyle to Victorian people. Some of this people were the Malays. Malays was what they called Malaysian people. In the story of ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ the Malays were mentioned just once. This was when Dr Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ assistant and loyal friend, entered an opium den, â€Å"†¦a swallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Opium den is like a drug den which was run and supplied by the Malaysians. In the same story, we are made known to a different ethnic individual, â€Å"lascar.† A lascar is an East Indian sailor.

HR Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

HR Final - Essay Example A proposal to convince the president should emphasize that a new training program is critical for the improvement of performance of the employees given that the corporation is a global information technology firm. Training would require that the employees undergo instruction to upgrade their knowledge and skills and to improve their attitudes in order to make them qualified for their respective jobs. Since the global market is constantly evolving, there are training trends and challenges which face the organization that would be addressed by appropriate training. One training trend is hypercompetition. Hypercompetition is a type of highly competitive challenges facing global corporations resulting from greater rates of changes in the environment necessitating adaptive and immediate response from organizations in specific endeavors. The president should be made aware that as a global firm, training is critical for both domestic and international operations due to advancement on technologies and updates in trade agreements. As a consequence, senior management is required to design appropriate strategies to adjust and adapt to challenges in competitive stance in the environment. Another training challenge is in the area of maintaining high level of talents. In response to the demands of the increasingly competitive environment, there are tendencies for products and services to be replicated. The most effective advantage that the organization could count on is their human resources. In this regard, training is necessary to maintain high level of talents and to ensure that they are competent and qualified to respond to advancement in technologies and competitive challenges in the environment. The third training trend is changes in workforce. As universities and institutions to produce newly graduates from diverse fields, training is necessarily required to prepare them for their respective responsibilities. There are identified underutilized group